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anythingforstories · 24 days ago

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Okay, so I liveblogged my reactions to reading LOTR; now I'm watching the movies and figured I'd share my reactions.

(I had planned to wait a bit before watching the movies, but I keep seeing screenshots that make me think different elements are pulled out and emphasized, and I'm fascinated to see how they take the same base story and present it in this different medium. So here I am. XD)

...

The Fellowship of the Ring

Ooh, I like the narrator lady's voice.

Is that an orc? They're terrifying!

Also, Sauron looks less terrifying than my mental image while reading the books showed.

I fear I might get jumpscared by Gollum. The way he flicked his head around? And they got the glow of his eyes so well!

(Also, it's so fitting that LOTR starts with several minutes of backstory infodumping. I think Tolkien would've been disappointed by anything less. XD)

Ahhhhhhh the hobbits seem extra charming!

"If you're referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved." OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH THAT'S A LOTR QUOTE!!

Ahhhhhh the Nazgûl are so creepy! I mean, I knew they were creepy in the books too, but they feel extra creepy now that I see them on screen.

Ahh! Got jumpscared by Gandalf. (I'm easily startled.)

Oooh! I was hoping they'd do this—mix in the scenes with Gandalf's meeting with Saruman instead of him just recapping it much later. I felt as I read the books that it would have been better pacing (or at least, I should say, better pacing to my modern sensibilities as a reader—I shouldn't assume that the original audience back then consumed media exactly the same way as people do now).

I need to rewatch part of this scene again because all I can do is chuckle at Merry-Go-Gandalf.

Annnnnnd just got startled by Merry and Pippin. X'D

My goodness they got to Bree quickly! *flashes back to weeks of reading* I feel that a lot of characterization got skipped over, but also, the movies may find other ways to thread that in—plus it may take a slightly different spin on the characters.

(Am slightly disappointed that Merry and Pippin did not get nearly eaten by a tree. Pity, that.)

But also, that lower, hobbit-sized window in the door? PRECIOUS!

SECOND BREAKFAST SCENE YESSSSSSSS

Hmm. The orcs are smaller than I'd imagined. (Still quite scary tho) Though I guess to a hobbit they would seem quite a bit larger.

I had wondered if Aragorn was going to look too kingly to pull of the Strider side of him, but he does it quite well!

The working conditions in Isengard are not OSHA compliant.

Oh, that's a— that's a big scary orc!

Arwen! I was not expecting that. Like, at all. (Movie Arwen is so epic. I love her.)

Ahhhhh! One does not simply walk into Mordor!

The Council of Elrond is much more chaotic than in the books. XD

AHHHH Bilbo gave me a half jumpscare there.

Their journey seems so much less cold and miserable in the movies compared to the books. XD

OSHA violations. OSHA violations everywhere. (I know they don't have OSHA there but I'd like to think they had a Middle Earth equivalent with the exact same requirements anyway because it adds a significant layer of mirth to the situation, so we are moving forward under the assumption that they do.) Look at this. Look at it.

I know Saruman is tall, but that guardrail can't be the required 42 inches. And I highly doubt that he filed the necessary paperwork for an exemption.

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH How did I miss the significance of the password being "Friend" in Elvish? Because it's a dwarven mine but the elves were friends—the way the movie hovered on Gimli for a second there made it hit me like a ton of bricks because I started wondering, "I wonder what this means for him?" I love how different storytelling forms can draw things out!

(Adding in a parenthetical while circling back after the first movie ended—I do wish they'd put a little more focus on Legolas and Gimli's relationship changing. But even so.)

CAVE TROLL JUMPSCARE! (Yes, yes, I know, I totally expected that... but it scared me nonetheless. I fear I would not do well watching a horror movie.)

The dwarves also have no regard for Middle Earth OSHA. No handrail at all on that bridge??

Also, THIS was much closer to my mental picture of the scene (prior to reading LOTR) than the book had. Perhaps I've seen enough screenshots over the years that it worked its way in. XD

I wasn't sure at first what I thought of Aragorn knowing that Frodo was going off alone and sending him off. But after thinking it over, I think that him letting the great source of power go away fits within the thematic context of the movie very well. That, and the fact that the movie has fewer layers of complexity surrounding their route make it just make sense that they handled it this way.

And also, it's twice now that I've cried during the death of Boromir.

I really like the way The Fellowship of the Ring ended here—I mean, yes, it's the same as the book. But the pacing and cinematography was great!

Also, beautiful credits music.

Overall, I really enjoyed this adaptation. It does remove some complexity, but it also adds some other details and complexities that the books just gloss over entirely. If I were looking for a 1:1 copy, I would probably find myself disappointed by the movies. But as it is, I'm happy as long as a movie holds true to the spirit of the source material. I think that the movies nicely take and build upon the themes of the books in a way that makes sense for the storytelling medium. And that's a good adaptation.

(Watched some scenes from the extended edition the next day. The extra scenes definitely hit on some of the character moments more! I like the tiny bits it shows between Legolas and Gimli.)

The Two Towers

Gandalf: A sword won't help you now Also Gandalf: *dramatically grabs sword while falling and proceeds to repeatedly whack the Balrog*

How deep did those dwarves dig??

Awww, poor Gimli, trying to keep up on his little legs

AHA! "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!"

See this Saruman?

See the very nice guardrail system in Mordor? When MORDOR has better workplace safety standards than you, that means you're doing something wrong.

Ewwwww Grima is so creepy! (Excellently done.)

"We ain't had nothing by maggoty bread for three stinkin' days!" OOOOHHHH it's like the Sporks in VeggieTales Lord of the Beans (which, until I read the book mere weeks ago, was the most exposure I had to the entirety of the LOTR plot XD)

Can we talk about the environmental irresponsibility of leaving a bunch of still-burning orcs in the middle of the grasslands? Like, are they TRYING to start a wildfire??

(I think that watching it already knowing what happens next is making it much less scary and suspenseful. XD)

OH NO I DIDN'T EXPECT THEM TO GET CHASED BY ANOTHER ORC!!

SARUMAN!! Whaaaaaaaaa?

Oh, apparently not. Scratch that.

SHADOWFAX!! ❤️❤️❤️

The best anti-aging regimen is the Saruman cleanse

Now, see this? Complete lack of adequate fall arrest systems (as evidenced by the blurry man mid-fall).

With the elephant being just a little bit agitated, people are falling left and right, even without being shot first. Simply poor form in terms of personnel management—believe it or not, if your people are dying without the enemy even needing to be involved, it reduces your numbers. *mind blown*

I know some people dislike any deviation from the books, but I'm quite intrigued by Aragorn going cliff jumping. I honestly don't have any guesses about how or when he'll return, but I'm riveted.

One thing this is doing really well is showing the ugliness of war—especially as children are being outfitted with armor.

Was not expecting elves, not gonna lie.

Also, this lack of a handrail?

Middle Earth OSHA Inspector: *lets out deep sigh and rubs forehead*

(To be fair, they might actually have a pass as it's clearly meant for military use, and the military does not answer to OSHA. Saruman and the Dwarves, however, do not have a pass. Isengard might have raised up an army, but it was not a legal military entity.)

I'm not sure I like movie Faramir. His whole thing was not wanting the ring, y'know?

Oh, okay, good, he passed the test, all is good, he's a solid dude after all. Still prefer book Faramir.

WHAT, NO SPIDER LADY?? I MUST WAIT FOR SPIDER LADY?

(After watching the extended scenes, I like movie Faramir a touch more. But book Faramir is a paragon of virtue.)

The Return of the King

(I'm watching the extended edition right off for this one. Four hours, twenty-three minutes, five seconds, let's GOOOOOOOO!)

Worm. (Dat's me when I see a cool worm.)

The speed of how fast Smeagol was corrupted really puts into perspective how long Frodo and even Boromir held out.

(Also they way I felt during that whole bit of his backstory is proof that I REALLY wouldn't do well in horror movies X'D)

Oh good. I would've been disappointed if they'd cut out the scene with Merry and Pippin greeting them.

"I feel something. A slight tingle in my fingers! I think it's affecting me." "He can't hold his liqueur." *clunk* X'D

Sam is the MVP for sure. (Well, either Sam or Gollum's well-placed, ever-present loincloth. It has served us well.)

I can really feel for Elrond here. He wants nothing more than to protect Arwen, but she will never be happy if she lives an eternity of regret. </3 But she's his child.

"In fact, it's better if you don't speak at all." XD

Hmm, wonder what Pippin's up to.

If I was trying to do a sneak attack, I would simply not have torches lit. They don't even need that many torches. It's just for the vibe. (No trust me I'm on the edge of my seat here; just had to get that thought out.)

Oooooh, that's what Pippin's up to!

Poor Faramir :( Denethor's hateable side is really coming out here. Even the cinematography zooming in on the nice meal he's having in the safety of his castle while sending his son to likely death. Excellently done.

Oof, I would simply Not Sleep There. I mean, I sleep on a top bunk without a rail every night, but the stakes are much lower.

Gollum driving Frodo and Sam apart really adds to the tension (and hurts my heart!)

"War is the province of men, Éowyn." Mmmm, I love a good conversation where the people are talking about one thing but really talking about another.

Slightly disappointed that Merry isn't going to spend the two-day ride thinking Éowyn is some bloke named Dernhelm. But the smile of realization and the "My lady" made up for it.

*aggressively blows ghosts away*

You know, until I finished reading the books last month, I had NO IDEA that ghosts played such a pivotal role in LOTR. Or any role, actually. It just never made it into the spoilers.

Almost-buried-in-skulls is another LOTR thing I never knew about.

I actually didn't expect them to do the heads catapult thing in the movies. Another case of showing the horrors of war well!

Go Gandalf! (Seeing someone beat up Denethor is quite satisfying.)

See, an orc just fell off the side of that siege tower without even encountering battle. Why? No handrail. (Again, Middle Earth OSHA doesn't have jurisdiction here since it's an army, but even so, this is why there ought to be better safety systems all around.) AND THEN some soldiers of Gondor fell too! Handrails, people, HANDRAILS!

SPIDER LADY COMING SOON!! :D

SPIDERRRRRRR LADDDDYYYYYY!!!!

"It will soon be over." The depth of the portrayal of those lines </3

THE RETURN OF THE SPIDER LADY!!

YESSSSSSS I was worried for a few minutes there that the movie would gloss over Sam's moment of glory. I worried in vain!

(Watched through the entire rest of the battle with no recorded reactions because I was too busy being riveted and sometimes crying, so now I'm at the part with the orcs fighting in the tower and I SWEAR next time I watch this, I'm going to do a preventable-fall-death count.

Poor Sam. His whole role in the movie is running up stairs for Frodo.

THOSE ARE THE TWO MOST ADORABLE ORCS I HAVE EVER SEEN!

(Coming back later to add in: The FOR FRODO charge. The hope against all odds. The stubborn refusal to give up courage. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.)

I'll excuse the lack of fall prevention system inside Mt. Doom because it's ancient and Middle Earth OSHA didn't exist yet when it was built, probably, so it's grandfathered in.

Can't say much about the rest except that I cried a lot more than I thought I would. I think I'll have to make whole posts for each element instead of trying to include it here.

(Also despite my earlier predictions, I was not jumpscared by Gollum even one single time.)

#lord of the rings #lotr #also osha i guess

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little-peril-stories · 1 year ago

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The Queen of Lies: The Mark of Thieves

Story Intro | Content Warnings | Mood Board | Vibey Song Lyrics | Ao3

Contents: blood/injury leftover from the previous chapter, angst bc I just can't help myself

Previous | Masterlist | Next

Word count: 3350 || Approx reading time: 14 mins

The Mark of Thieves

Teaser: As the rest of her body awakened, Bree turned over to face the man who had come to her rescue the night before. Who had bandaged her arm with shaking, unconfident, but staunchly determined fingers. Who she had kissed, and who had kissed her back. A man who had fallen asleep with his limbs draped over her, holding on with a tightness both impossibly gentle and impossibly fierce.

Honeycomb sunlight gushed through a warped glass window framed by haphazardly pulled curtains. The lacy panels must have been pristinely white at one time, but now they hung yellow in the morning sun, dust coating the finely woven, delicately patterned mesh. A pillow lay beneath Bree’s head, faintly musty but soft and downy nonetheless.

Throbbing pain pulsed up her arm beneath a clumsily tied bandage that, against all odds, had remained in place and unsoaked with new blood through the night.

For a moment, Bree could not recall why her arm hurt.

But there was another arm curled around her, someone else’s, warm and soft and solid.

As the rest of her body awakened, Bree turned over to face the man who had come to her rescue the night before. Who had bandaged her arm with shaking, unconfident, but staunchly determined fingers. Who she had kissed, and who had kissed her back. A man who had fallen asleep with his limbs draped over her, holding on with a tightness both impossibly gentle and impossibly fierce.

He roused slightly when she moved, letting loose a quiet “Hmm?” Although he still seemed asleep, or at least just barely awake, the sound made her heart flutter with its near-childlike vulnerability.

Will.

Her fingertips tingled in memory of drawing over the table’s rough surface, of each clumsy, scrawling movement that had revealed the letters of his name. Will. He was Will, and she was Bree, and the story they were writing together seemed infinitely more remarkable than the separate, lonely ones through which they’d staggered before the threads of their lives entwined.

Perhaps she said something; perhaps she whispered his name or pressed closer against him than she intended. He opened his eyes.

In greeting, she said softly, “I feel like Alice, waking up in the looking glass world.”

Those sleep-misted eyes misted just a little more with confusion. “What’s that mean?” After a moment, he mumbled, “Your…friend…Alice?”

“No—no. Not Alice Wright.” Reluctant to giggle at his endearing literary ignorance, she merely said, “It means everything is different today than it was yesterday.”

“Yeah?” A smile, slow and still-sleepy, crossed his face. “How so?”

“Well,” she said, unable to resist smoothing down a shock of his hair that was nearly standing on end, “I had the strangest dream.”

“Mmm hmm?” For a moment, his eyes closed again, as if she could lull him back to sleep with the sound of her voice and the brush of her fingers through his hair. “What was it about?”

She pretended to think back. “I dreamt… I dreamt that a wicked man with lovely eyes and a bad attitude gave me a kiss.”

This description, into which she prided herself on having imbued both great hyperbole and great understatement, seemed to wake him up. “Wicked? Bad attitude?” He huffed. “I don’t know anyone like that.”

“What a pity,” said Bree. “It was rather nice, actually.”

He choked. “‘Rather nice’?”

“A shame it was only a dream.”

He sat up a little, leaned closer. “Want me to give you a kiss?”

“Well,” she said, “I suppose you could try.”

“You might like it.”

“Perhaps.”

Will brushed his lips against hers, hardly close enough to bring with it a hint of warmth.

“Hmm,” she said. “That was nice, but not as nice as…”

Closer he pressed against her, one hand coming to rest on her collarbone, his lips parting hers.

“Better,” she murmured. “But…”

He kissed her again, but did not stop at her lips, rather trailing down her neck, teasing as he went, the stubble along his jaw pricking into her skin and making her shiver.

She knew her face was deeply flushed when he looked up again. “Well?” he asked. “Was that rather nice?”

Unable to keep up the facade of apathy, she told him mock-sternly, “You’re far too good at that,” and he smirked.

“What? You don’t like it?”

“Hush,” she said. “I like it very much.”

For a moment, Bree imagined living the rest of her days like this—warm and safe, cocooned in the arms of someone whose kisses felt like more than chaste obligation.

“This isn’t a dream, though, is it?” Her voice drifted out breathier and quieter than she meant it to. “It’s real?”

His answer made her laugh. “It better be. If it’s not, who the hell have I been kissing?”

“You have no excuse for not knowing,” she chided. “You’ve known my name for weeks.” As she spoke, however, she faltered, wondering if she shouldn’t have made such a joke. Hadn’t she hidden her name from him once, too?

But he just shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “Who are you, again?”

“Will!” She reached out to flick him on his arm, only to wince as the cut stretched and pain flared over her skin. With a grimace, she drew back.

Just like that, the spell was broken. The vivid colours of the realm beyond the looking glass faded around them, dimming to the muted hues of the real world, and to the pains and fears that came with it.

The light in his eyes dulled, too, as his gaze fell upon her arm. “That hurt a lot?”

“No,” she said. “I just moved too quickly, that’s all. I…I forgot.”

But his worry didn’t dissipate. “If I ever see that bastard again, I’ll kill him.”

“No, you won’t.” She reached for his hand. “You’re not that kind of person.”

“He hurt you.”

“And I’m fine.”

He was quiet. Thinking, perhaps, or recalling the night before, his gaze distant now. “You know…” He spoke again quite suddenly. “I wouldn’t blame you. If you…if you wished you hadn’t.”

Bree blinked. “Hadn’t done what?”

“Helped me.” He swallowed. “I wouldn’t blame you. If you…if you regretted it. Wished you didn’t do it.”

“I am in the looking glass world,” she said incredulously. “You’re talking utter nonsense. Why on earth would I regret it?”

He glared pointedly at her bandaged arm. “Uh, everything?”

For a moment, impatience and a touch of hurt flared inside her, for how could he earnestly believe she might regret liberating him from Baden’s clutches? It guttered out, however, as quickly as it had come. Didn’t she, too, know the weight of constant fear, of splintering self-doubt? Hadn’t she spent far longer than a mere four years in the company of men, first her father and then Baden, who’d reminded her again and again that she was not good enough no matter what she did? Could she really blame him for feeling guilty the day after their mission to find his friends had landed her with a sliced-up arm?

“Do you think I’m doing this for a lark?” she asked, trying to keep her voice soft. “For a laugh? Why would I have stayed here if I didn’t want to?”

“You don’t want this kind of life.” He ran his fingers down the bandage, the pressure light enough that it did not sting. “You could have died last night.”

“I know.” She caught his hand again, lacing their fingers. This time, she would not let go. “As I could have the night we ran away. Or I could have been burned. Or hurt. Or arrested. But I did it anyway.” Her fingers wrapped more tightly around his. “I did it anyway. Because I wanted to. And I’m still here because I want to be. And I don’t regret it.”

He was silent. Bree watched his chest rise and fall, perhaps just a touch too fast, as if those cruel voices inside his head were still feeding him some wicked falsehood, insisting that the single cut on her arm, an injury which in the grand scheme of her entire life hurt far less than the ones inflicted by people who were supposed to have loved and protected her, must mean that she regretted ever laying eyes on him.

“Will.”

He looked at her, still worried—but listening.

“All my life,” she said quietly, “everyone else has told me what to wear and say and think and believe and do. And always, always, I did what I thought I was supposed to. I knew what Baden was like before I married him—” Will flinched, more darkness pouring into his stare at this confession. “I knew, and I married him anyway. Because my father had promised I would, and even though he was dead, I felt like I had to, and because…and also because I was so afraid that if I ran away, my life would be even worse.” She wiped away her burgeoning tears and wondered if she didn’t see an unexpected sheen in his eyes, too. “So I married a man I didn’t love, and I knew—no, I know he doesn’t love me, because if he did, he wouldn’t—he wouldn’t be how he is. And I’ll never know what would have happened if I had run away, and maybe—I guess it doesn’t even matter, because I didn’t. I stayed.”

“Bree…” His voice, too, was quiet. “I’m…”

Now that she had begun, however, it seemed she could not stop. “But then there was you.” The ache to be, somehow, even closer to him, to melt her body into his even more, burned—an impossible fancy upon which she could not act yet desperately wished she could. “And for the first time in my life, I did something that I wanted to do and that I thought was right. And even though last night was—it was so frightening, and I was—and well, my arm hurts, yes, but—I still don’t regret anything. Anything.” She leaned closer. The sunlight danced off his eyes, turning the green hue almost gold. “Every choice led me here. To you. And every one was my choice. I did it for myself—and I also did it for you, because I—because I—”

She stopped, and in wordless answer, Will laid his hand on her cheek, brushing away her tears that had fallen.

“So don’t you dare,” she whispered, “tell me what I do or don’t want. I want to be here. With all my heart. I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

He laughed, short and a little breathless, as she fell silent, the outpouring of emotion ceasing as quickly as it had begun. He pressed his lips against her hair.

When he pulled away, he was grinning.

“Well,” he murmured, “I don’t know what to say other than…uh… Yes, ma’am.” He kissed her again. “You’re the boss, princess. If you say it, then it’s true.”

***

How wonderfully absurd it was to be in Will’s home—the headquarters of Iustitia aecum. Oh, what Baden would give to know what she knew.

Bree found she no longer cared.

The house was small, only a touch larger, really, than the apartment where she’d been living when her father died in poverty and disgrace. Yet there was a coziness to each tiny room, a sense of home in each well-worn floorboard, hole-ridden curtain, and scratched-up surface, that had never pervaded any of the places she had lived before, save perhaps the fleeting and far-between moments when she was very young, nestled in her mother’s arms and far from the red-faced wrath of her father.

She thanked Will when he inspected and re-bandaged her arm with her with gentle, calloused fingers. Thanked him for how fastidiously he tried to care for the wound, even when he was not sure what to do. Told him about her parents, and the life she’d known before she was Mrs. Breanna Hatchett, the constable’s wife. About her mother and the awful way she’d died, from a cut on her finger even smaller than this one, and how by the time they’d realized what was making her so sick, it had been too late.

“You’re not going to die like that,” he told her firmly.

“How do you know?”

“Because. I won’t let you.” He ran his fingers over her palm. “I’m sorry about your ma.”

“It was years ago now,” she said, though her heart twinged in memory of the old grief.

“Your dad?” he asked. “Dead, too?”

“A few years later,” she said bitterly. “Not soon enough.” Will gritted his teeth at this; she needed to say no more about the man Silas Cooper had been.

He drifted toward the oven, where the fire had fallen and was close to burning out. “I was fourteen when my ma died. It was… Yeah. It was awful. She got sick.”

“I’m sorry,” said Bree softly. What an awful thing for the two of them to share.

With a shrug, he merely said, “Life’s hard. Always has been.” Through the distant sadness the topic had brought to his features, a lightness broke through. “When you got good people around you, it ends up not so bad.”

At these words, Bree’s gaze fell to the tattoo on his arm. It was beautiful, captivating in a way she would have never believed a gang’s sigil could be. When he was done adding to the fire and had settled by the window, gazing through the glass at the cloudy sky above, she joined him, unable to resist running her fingers over the ink. “What does it mean?”

He glanced down, catching her eye for a moment before she went back to inspecting the tattoo. “Iustitia aecum? I don’t know. Spider suggested it.”

“Spider?” Bree blinked, wondering who would name themselves after a creature with eight legs. “And…you have friends who can speak Latin?”

He burst into a laugh. “Well, one, I guess. She—Spider—learned some. Must’ve. We just trusted her, that she was giving us the right translation or whatever. Something about justice, I think.”

“Yes, justice, I knew,” Bree murmured. “Justice for…um…for men? I think. Something like that.”

Snorting, he said, “Men? I doubt she meant that. I hope I get to bust her balls about getting it wrong.”

Will’s words sank in belatedly, drawing her attention to one in particular. “She? You’ve got a woman in your group?”

“Yeah, and don’t tell her I said this, but we’d all be fucking lost without her.”

Once again, Bree found her idea of what his life had been like before they met being challenged to its core. “Really?”

“Mmm hmm. But I’ll be real mad if you tell her that.”

“I promise I won’t,” she said, laughing, though something shuddered a little inside her at the awe and esteem in his voice, behind the teasing quality to it. “If I ever get the chance to meet her.”

This other girl, this “Spider,” had he… Had they…

“But I really meant the picture,” she said quickly, pushing the question from her mind. “Does it mean anything?”

Will shifted his arm to peer down at the image inked onto his skin. “I mean…I’m sure the others could probably say it better.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

He took her hand, guiding her fingers to the letters I.A., tracing over them as he had when he revealed his name. “Justice for everyone. All folks, rich or poor.” He moved her hand to the tree and its swirling roots. Beneath Bree’s fingertips, the leaves seemed to come alive, unfurling in full health and bright colour through some magic born of their clasped hands. “Life and, uh, people, and the world we’re in. Growth and new beginnings.” Finally, he let her fingers trace the ring around the roots. “Everything, everyone, we’re all connected.”

Bree blinked back sudden tears. “It’s even more beautiful now that I know that.”

Studying her for a few long moments, Will smiled, and he pulled away without a word. Crossing over to the desk that had been tidy when they arrived and was now strewn with detritus, he rummaged around until he’d retrieved a pen.

When he turned to her again, he said simply, “Want one?”

“One…one what?”

He held up his arm, and Bree gaped at the tattoo he was showing off and suggesting she don.

“Not for real,” he said, laughing. “It’s just a pen. I don’t know how to do the real thing. All I know is that it hurts like a bitch.”

It seemed so absurd, so infantile, so downright silly to consider letting him draw in her arm. Like playing pretend. Like a little girl dressing up in her mother’s wedding dress. “Um…”

Something lifted its head inside her, a creature newly roused from dormancy that she had not known was there. It suddenly burned, more than she was, perhaps, comfortable admitting, with the desire to wear the Iustitia aecum tattoo.

“Yes,” she said, beaming, and she followed him across the room.

“Oh, by the way,” he said, snickering as he brandished the pen. “You’ve made a terrible mistake.”

“Why?”

“I’m an awful artist.”

Indeed, his skill at wielding the pen to draw a tree on her arm seemed at least about the same as his skill at handwriting, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to resent the crooked, hesitant lines. “It’s not that bad,” she said, deciding as he made it to the roots of the tree that it wasn’t as hideous as he had foretold. “I like it.”

“You’re too nice,” he said, but he was laughing, apparently unembarrassed. “The others made the picture. I did the coins, though.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. Carved them.” He stuck his tongue out and fell silent as he concentrated on drawing the circle around the roots. Bree held back a giggle.

“There,” he said, blowing lightly on the drying ink, the coolness of his breath sending gooseflesh up Bree’s arm. “That’s as good as it’s gonna get.”

Bree felt inexplicably warm as she peered down at her tattoo, and no matter what he said, it was the most beautiful mark anyone had made on her skin in her entire life. “I think it’s perfect.” The lopsided circle, the few spots of smeared ink, the roots that ran into one another, the slightly distorted I. and A. She wouldn’t have wanted anything else. “Thank you.”

Looking down at her arms made Bree feel as if they belonged to someone else. On the one, a bandage, hiding a war wound dealt by a rival gang member while she was out at night doing IA business. In the other, the sign of criminals, of Iustitia aecum—as if she really were part of them now.

“It’s perfect,” she said again, touching her fingertips to the ink to see if it had dried. It had.

When she looked up, there he was, watching her with something that seemed almost like awe. “What?”

“Oh, you know,” he said, going red, “just thinking of how I was so fucking wrong about you at the start.”

She shrugged. “Well. You know better now.” Glancing sideways at him, she asked, “Do you remember calling me a whore? That was the first thing you ever said to me.”

Instead of looking guilty, Will burst into a laugh. “I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry.”

“You had better be.”

“Oh, yeah? What you gonna do about it if I’m not?”

Well. Now she was stuck, and he was giving her a look that was full of challenge—not just challenge but open flirtation, and what was she supposed to say back? “I’m going to…”

Higher went that obnoxious eyebrow. “Yeah?”

Laughing, knowing she had to be blushing, she gave him a playful push. “Stop teasing me.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

She couldn’t think of anything to say that, because she didn’t want him to stop teasing her, ever—didn’t want to envision a future where he wasn’t next to her to rib her and run his fingers over her skin and bandage her wounds and give her play-pretend tattoos and press his lips to hers.

So she kissed him instead, and he kissed her back, and although that wasn’t quite an answer to the question he had asked, it was answer enough.

Optionally, this scene continues on ao3 (this links to ao3). if you know what I mean (this links to a video).

Previous | Masterlist | Next

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!)

@starlit-hopes-and-dreams

@clairelsonao3

@gala1981

@pleasestaywithmedarling

@kixngiggles

✨

#lps the queen of lies #whump #whump story #whump writing #original writing #original story #original content #lady whump #guy whump #romance #angst

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nellie-elizabeth · 2 years ago

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Outlander: A Most Uncomfortable Woman (7x04)

Oh boy oh boy, things are a-happening!

Cons:

So, I honestly really liked Jamie and Claire's sex scene in this episode, but as a small note: I'm not a fan of the slow-pan away from them on the bed, over to the shot of them in the mirror; it's just so cheesy and feels played out. Isn't there a different way to do a sort of fade to black situation?

Ian and Rachel are just... bland nothingness to me, sorry. I don't really care for them much in the books either. I like Rachel as a character, but the romantic entanglements she finds herself in are always a bit of a snooze fest. The way they played up the connection of Ian and Rachel in the brief time they met just felt so forced, like, oh, a young single woman and two young single men! We've got to have romance blooming immediately! Kind of lazy, honestly.

I feel like Tom Christie's horrible abusive behavior is sort of ignored here? Like, we can feel some measure of sympathy or gratitude for the man, sure, he saved Claire's life after all. But he was an absolutely horrible father to his children and I feel like the show has come around on Tom too much, presenting him as more sympathetic than I think he's supposed to be.

Pros:

That said about Tom, I did really like the scene it prompted between Jamie and Claire. I'm on record as saying that Gabaldon's sex scenes as written are kind of mediocre. But one thing she gets really right is the vibe that Jamie and Claire genuinely have fun with each other. Their flirting, teasing dynamic is always something that sparkles off the page, and it's also when I think the chemistry between our on-screen Jamie and Claire works best, too. I loved Jamie half-joking half-serious offering to kill Christie, I love how Jamie can be kind of jealous but also feel sorry for Tom. I love the two of them bantering about how well Jamie knows her, as they climb into bed and chase all thoughts of other lovers and admirers out of one another's heads. Super cute.

Also shout-out to how awkward and embarrassed Claire was when talking to Tom. "Your gallant feelings towards me" indeed. So funny. We also have the mystery of the obituary cleared up, as it seems Tom had heard the news of the fire on the Ridge, and had had something posted, believing Claire and Jamie both to be dead.

I'm going to jump to the year 1980 now, as learning the truth about the newspaper clipping puts an interesting snag in Roger's current mindset. He's feeling uncertain about his place in his life, as he watches Bree get a job, and doesn't know what his own purpose is, or how to provide for his family. He's feeling complicated about his faith, because he now believes that he and Brianna definitively changed something about the past by going back to save Jamie and Claire. That shakes his understanding of a fixed universe where God's will prevails. And I like that they kept in the aspect of Brianna getting a job and Roger feeling insecure about it. It's not very feminist of him, but it's hard to hate him for how he feels, either. He does tell his wife he's proud of her, and he is: he's just got his own complicated feelings about masculinity to work through, too.

I think the kids they've got playing Jem and Mandy do a pretty okay job, and book readers will know where all this business of the missing food is going: I'm really excited to see how that plays out. It's some of the best material Roger gets in the books, and ties back around to some old plot developments really nicely. I'm still kind of in shock that we're getting this whole plot thread on the show at all, to be honest.

Back to the 18th century: Jamie has been waylaid and tasked with joining the rebellion properly at Fort Ticonderoga, and he and Claire set off in that direction. Ian plans to join them, but he's going to travel ahead separately, in order to see if he might be a liaison between the revolutionary troops and some of the tribes nearby. On his way, he meets William Ransom, who has been sent by a man name Richardson to deliver top-secret letters to various contacts.

I really, really loved Ian and William on screen together. The strange affinity of this relationship, where Ian knows who William really is, and William just knows that Ian is a strange man with face tattoos who's related to his old groom from childhood... it's such a bizarre setup and the tension there works really well. There's some instantaneous affection there, I loved the two of them talking about the Mohawk death songs, William saying his secret Catholic name "James" as he's listing who he is... and Ian giving William the strength to face the possibility of losing his arm from his injuries. I liked their vibe so much that I was a little sad to meet the Hunters, because I know where this is all going from the books. Still, I'm pleased to have seen that connection flourish! (Although I didn't need the vivid and detailed shots of William's infected wound - yuck.)

As the episode ends, Jamie and Claire have reached Fort Ticonderoga, and the next saga of our tale begins. How long will this detour last before they can get back to Scotland? What will they have to endure on their way there? What will William and Ian and our new friends Rachel and Denny get up to next? I'm excited to see it all play out.

8/10

#review #outlander #outlander review

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sohnyun · 2 years ago

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hi lissita, i hope you got a nice little screenshot out of that message. i hope you don't mind that i also use it.

rather than go back and forth with you behind the scenes, which i'm sure would have been to your preference due to it being known in the past i'd get pretty frustrated by this (which ultimately would merely prove your point as i'd lose my cool eventually). understandably i'm a big advocate of "if i don't like you, you gotta go" - which i've been criticized for relentlessly as being tyrannical and dictatorlike. among many other unpleasant insults that many people enjoying tacking on to me (anonymously of course). though i'm at a point in my life now where i'm actually a bit tired of the way people like you get away with being hypocritical. if the roles were reversed and i just - simply didn't like you - it would add on to the already abundant claims that i'm "bullying", when simply i just didn't feel like you should be in my [personal] space. i understand that staff doesn't view themselves as bullies however, despite essentially pulling a very retro cairo move.

it's extremely tiring playing by a different set of rules and expectations because i'm a well known individual in the rpc. somehow due to simply being "me", i became synonymous with tmh. which is shocking considering i'd been a member since january, granted largely inactive due to having a extremely busy life, but let's please put this into perspective: i'd been a member for much of the entire year without issue so long as i was hardly around, hardly had characters, and broke no rules. which mind you - i [still] have yet to break any rules on tmh or even in the discord. rather, i'm being punished for having the audacity to say things off anon (because i am aware others in the community have been submitting things under anon), and that somehow "reflects negatively on the community". what does trolling a week ago to hate commentary directed mostly at myself have anything to do with you whatsoever? are you romie? when did i become a representation of your site? i'm not staff. which i know is something that probably bothered you when anons continued to claim that i was somehow backseat modding the site - it's very easy to make a scapegoat and "example" out of me by doing this, isn't it? unfortunately i'm at a loss where this needless pandering is meant to land your 'community' when the people you're pandering to legitimately doesn't like your site [anyways].

i'd also like to see where i was spoken to multiple times in the past, because this is the first time i've heard about it. i never even got a warning when i called them stupid in the suggestions thread. so while i understand that is added text to make your actions in the screenshot look "justified", please do not fabricate situations to make yourself look authentic. i agree it's easy to tact that on to me and people would just run with it, but again - i've broken no site or discord rules. call it as it is: scapegoating. which would be completely fine with me if you had the gusto to be real and admit it. also, unanimously doesn't sound as believable. i at least know iris will always tell me the truth. i imagine you did the "uwu babie" tactic behind the scenes first in dms to gauge everyone's feelings on the matter - the typical gossip girl antic where "unu am i the only one? unu… unu you feel the same way right?" which i should point out is a form of manipulation when you already have a set agenda in mind.

i find it funny that you're claiming to be a drama free community yet you're "closely watching" a drama blog. you can't be both sweetie, choose a struggle. and don't worry, you and bree are the ones i already figured didn't like me and were waiting for a way to get me off the site, it's a tale as old as time. either way, my piece is said and i hope this move will be worth it in the end. i'm no longer just "quietly leaving" spaces or making myself smaller for other's comfort due to being a cis male or because of the perpetual smear campaign by miserable entities projecting their own unhappiness on others.

anyways thanks for the ban, when it happens it always motivates iris to get our skin / codes done. :) it'll be a productive weekend for sure.

#tmh

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yllowpages · 3 years ago

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in like 9/10 situations, shawna is in a committed relationship with matthew schreiber ( @decimatlas ) so unless we’re plotting a specific verse where that Is Not the case, i’m defaulting to that

#ooc.#icb i came up with two random-ass names #for a different thread bree and i had #bc it was just for background world-building things #and now here we are

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breesays · 2 years ago

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Life is a highway?

I forgot how much I loved driving to think, driving to work things out. When I (finally) got my license (21) and I lived in OC, I would drive up and down PCH - sometimes to silence, sometimes to music. Or maybe I didn’t forget, I just didn’t have access to it. Everything has been maps and efficiency and $20 for parking since I moved to Los Angeles.

I do walk and hike to think. But I lost driving and I think the clouds and the air and the surroundings lend itself to a certain mindset.

I thought a lot today, during our 6-hour commute from Mountain View, about how I quit nostalgia in 2015. I met Tim in 2014, and I really thought it was the best thing to do at the time. A lot of my life as a writer has been digging into and drawing from past experiences, but I decided to make a hard line. I stopped reflecting, I didn’t listen to older music, I changed my name. I thought I could make a new me, a new future.

I packed away those journals, made new playlists. No one told Tim that when I was asked if I wanted to get married, I replied, “I want a wedding.”

I’ve thought so much about the time I begged my Dad for some connections for Jeff (1st bf) and he said, “I thought you didn’t like people.” I’ve thought about it so much I’m pretty sure it was woven into my wedding speech. My Dad is gone, but maybe he knew me better than I knew myself. He had three daughters, a whole family before us. He knew I was different.

The frustrating thing is, I knew I was different.

I thought I could fake it til I made it. I thought I could dull, water down my personality enough that I could just pass for someone else. A thread of apathy. Fatigue. It was a disservice to Tim and to all the relationships I tried to create or maintain before it, but I didn’t know any other way. I knew I wanted to share experiences, banter, to secure some kind of a bond.

There was never any opt-out for sex, do you understand? That was the pinnacle of intimacy, all you have left. 3 dates or 3 months or 7 years past, it was an offering, a bridge. Why did the ace have sex? To get to the other side of the relationship.

I’ve forced myself into so many relationships because the dude made me laugh and that released some kind of chemical in my brain that said “spend more time with this human.” One of the humans I wanted to spend the most time with was one I felt I worked well with. I’ve never thought, “I want to have sex with this person” and it was alarming to me that this thought occurs to other people. I like that he had a language and I had a language and he could translate mine -- that brought me so much joy. “bree speak”

When things are sharp and clear, I don’t want to negotiate with my bodily autonomy. But, it’s a tool. And so is blackout drinking.

The thing I want to do is be there for those 5th graders who know their own mind. I’m not saying a detour is not worthy. Desmond has an incredible origin story now. But I’m choosing to view my experiences through a lens of humor and philosophy. I’m reframing. The journey is not without its pain points. We didn’t know any better, but now we do.

#identity #asexuality #relationships #breesays

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macgargan · 2 years ago

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they are not popular characters so no speedrun for you, but please ve right about the dark avengers! or the hood, if you prefer! Please and thank you!

See, the Hood is a weird one, because I think it's simultaneously really easy and really hard to be right about him. Several writers have done different things with him, and they're all fairly valid?

What I mean is that, I think I would have preferred that after the BKV series they had played more with the fact that he was supposed to be a sort of antithesis to spider-man with the whole "with great power comes great opportunity" thing, but I also don't hate where they ultimately went with him? It makes sense that he would take on a role similar to Kingpin along the way.

I simultaneously want him to have some sort of redemption arc while also thinking that he's fine the way he is. That malleability kind of comes at a heavy cost, though, because it has ended up with Parker going through several arcs of reaching high highs and hitting low lows, and he's not really like Kingpin or Dr. Doom in the sense that he can rebound really well from his falls so it ends up feeling a little unsatisfying.

The biggest wrong writers have done, I think, is his family doesn't really feature as much as it should. Not just Sara and Bree, but also John. Plus like, they really dropped the ball on White Fang, I think she could have been a really cool nemesis for him, but no writer ever really grabbed that thread.

#scorpion.txt #comics #marvel #the hood #parker robbins #lhassinu #i'm going to be honest i don't really care about the dark avengers #i preferred mac in the thunderbolts and the only other dark avenger i know much about is daken #and norman i guess but #i've gotten pretty burnt out on the team over the years

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smhalltheurlsaretaken · 4 years ago

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MASTERLIST

(posts that just got added are in bold)

(note: I hate to DRASTICALLY shorten this because of tumblr’s 100 inline links limit. I’ll address it soon and probably make a few other, shorter masterposts for the posts I like but had to exclude)

METAS

Anakin and the Council/the Order:

Yoda loves Anakin, actually

The Council and Anakin bantering

Anakin calling Council members by their first names

The Order’s opinion of Anakin as Ahsoka’s Master

Anakin never gets punished by the Council in canon

Obi-Wan:

How Obi-Wan expresses emotions

Obi-Wan and Kids

Why Maul tries to get Obi-Wan to Fall

Obi-Wan(2022) #3: War meets Faith

Obi-Wan (2022) #4: Apocalypse Now, Obi-Wan’s resilience

Obi-Wan’s speech to Grievous – the Clones vs the Droid Army

What Obi-Wan’s reaction to Maul’s death says about him

The ANH Manga’s delightful portrayal of Obi-Wan

Obi-Wan in the Citadel arc (and why he’s not being callous)

Trauma doesn’t make you Fall

Yoda:

The Jedi in Yoda’s vision of a world at peace

How the Council handles Yoda’s s6 visions

Thoughts on “Do or Do Not, There is No Try” (ask)

Yoda’s empathy in the Prequels

A very wholesome frog troll grandpa

Yoda (2022) #1-3: Bree's hero-worship

Kanan and Yoda in the Rebels Manga

Dooku:

Dooku and Yoda in the Immortality arc

Dooku and Ventress

Tales of the Jedi: Dooku and masochism

Dooku and Christopher Lee’s insight into his villainous characters

Why Dooku’s political idealism is bullshit (and why whatever genuine ideals he still holds are pure delusion)

“Love Encouraged”

Nearly every instance of physical touch between a PT-era Jedi and another sentient being. (New installation of the series: The Kenobi Show)

The Jedi Order:

A tour of Jedi views on blood ties and traditional families in LucasFilm canon

Other faiths within the Order

Hebrew meaning of the surviving Jedi’s names+ ‘Adi’ and ‘Dan’

Would Jedi have their own language? (ask)

Does TCW portray the Jedi positively? (ask)

Are Jedi ever allowed to see their birth families again? (ask)

Was Anakin forbidden from contacting his mom? (ask)

At what age would Jedi be allowed to leave the Order? (ask)

Were Jedi allowed to leave the Order during the war? (ask)

Parents giving their kids to the Jedi is on them, not on the Jedi (ask)

Are ‘lineages’ canon?

Are the Jedi a “minority”? (ask)

Are “frivolous uses of the Force” prohibited? (ask)

What it means to be a Jedi (ask)

Could Jedi get married? (ask)

Why Kanan and Hera’s relationship isn’t against the rules

Are Qui-Gon and Luke Gray Jedi? (ask)

Different adoption scenarios

Flipping the ‘Jedi meeting their bio family’ trope

Appreciation posts:

Paintings

Jedi Temple (tag)

Jedi Music (ask)

Telekinesis

Mace's attitude towards Boba

Mace Windu and his troops

Shatterpoint and Stover’s writing of Mace

Deleted AotC scene – How Mace and Obi-Wan discuss Anakin

How well the Jedi know the Clones

Protective 212th feels’ thread with @cacodaemonia

“Gramps” and permissive parenting

Into the West/Order 66 (fanvid)

In defense of the Jedi:

The Clone Wars and Shatterpoint thoroughly debunk every single aspect of the Children of the Force comic (or why calling the Jedi child-thieves is beyond laughable) (ask)

The Siege of Mandalore diatribe

Why the Council couldn’t have prevented Order 66

10000 Jedi isn’t a lot

The Jedi aren’t corrupt – and slavery in the Galaxy isn’t their fault + Slavery in the Galaxy – Padmé and the Jedi

How Prosset Dibs' opinions of the Council don't hold up

“Jedi friendly” Council-bashing isn’t a thing

The flaws of the Order(ask) + Do you have criticisms of the Jedi Order? (ask)

The Jedi Code and Compassion (Ki-Adi-Mundi thread)

Mace Windu’s Compassion (ask)

The Plo Koon fandom double standard:

Dealing with Boba

Dealing with Anakin

The question of eugenics in SW (ask)

Are the Padawans child soldiers? (ask)

War crimes against robots aren’t a thing

Digging into canon:

What “Canon” means to me (ask)

‘The Box’ is Naboo

Anakin’s Terrifying Power Level (TCW s07x09)

The Dark Side and Shitty Hair

The 'Baby Ludi' Story (and why it doesn't mean what it seems to mean)

What the CIS is all about (money. obviously money.)

Living Force, Cosmic Force, Unifying Force (canon vs legends vs fanon) (ask)

Attachment vs love (ask) + Are attachment and possession the same thing? (ask)

What the Jedi and the Clones actually were to each other (ask)

Clone culture - Fanon vs Legends vs Canon

Hondo’s introduction and why he's far from an idiot)

Zeb and Kanan as genocide survivors

Why would Sidious tell Vader to ‘search his feelings’?(ask)

The Great Darksaber Retcon (tag)

The Satine posts:

Satine's attitude towards other Mandos

Why there’s no evidence for Satine suppressing Mandalorian heritage

Satine’s compromises and accommodations (ask)

Shmi’s agency:

Did she even want to leave Tatooine?

Cliegg and Shmi’s marriage

Mortis still makes sense regarding what “Balance” means

If any of the stuff I write interests you, check out @gffa, @jedi-order-apologist, @david-talks-sw, @ilummoss, @laciefuyu, @blackkatmagic and the many other great people we all reblog from.

#meta #my meta #sw talk #masterlist #in defense of the jedi #jedi order #jedi council #jedi positivity #obi-wan kenobi #intergalactic therapists #mace windu appreciation #yoda appreciation #jedi culture #jedi temple #jedi training

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brian-in-finance · 2 months ago

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Inside Hello, Goodbye • Part 3

🧵 Outlander_Starz: The wedding wasn't the only moment tugging on heart-strings this episode... Roger meeting his father Jerry was so bittersweet and filled with emotion.

The actors had a challenge: acting in 10°F weather! Said Director Jan Matthys, "The temperature helped Richard get to that emotional level... What I've learned in Scotland is you'd better embrace the temperature and weather and use it in the scene. It's special effects. The condensation from breathing... that adds to the heroic atmosphere."

Jerry's costume not only established his character as an RAF pilot, but helped Roger and Buck track him down as they locate parts of his uniform on the road.

Military plane cockpits at this time were very cold, so while Roger and Buck found Jerry's uniform jacket, pilot's helmet, and leather helmet, we still find him wearing a woolen sweater and leather jacket with lining, which were standard issue for pilots in those days.

🧵 Outlander_Starz: The Errochty Stones that Jerry goes through mark yet another set of iconic standing stones for Outlander! See some of the original renderings below.

🧵 Outlander_Starz: Because Outlander gained access to working dam sites, shooting time was limited. That meant that the scenes of Brianna in the tunnels in Part 1 and Jemmy in the tunnels in Part 2 were actually shot at the same time.

The dam site was incredible... Jemmy goes through a similar journey to what Bree went through. So we really shot it one for one. I'd go in, we'd shoot the sequence, l'd come out. Blake would go in, shoot the sequence, and come out. We'd watch each other to replicate what the other did...

It was freezing in there and very dark but beautiful actually. The way that they have it lit almost looks like fairy lights... It was a great place to see. It was very different for Outlander. — SOPHIE SKELTON, BRIANNA MACKENZIE

🧵Outlander_Starz: Can we give it up for Blake Johnston-Miller and Rosa Morris, who play Jemmy and Mandy this season? Hear from Director Jan Matthys and Sophie Skelton about what it was like to work with these stars in the making.

The key to working with kids is to make it playful. They have a natural tendency to play. To be very honest, I still have it as well... Blake, who plays Jemmy, we actually did sort of an acrobatic act together at the end to celebrate our collaboration. With Blake... I could raise the bar and ask him for difficult things... For Rosa, I made it very playful and brought her literally into that playful world. It's more stealing moments. You have to be very flexible as a director....

Sophie is key in that collaboration. She also finds a way to get the best performances out of the kids. She becomes like a co-director in these moments. — JAN MATTHYS, DIRECTOR

I've had so much fun with Rosa and Blake this season... It's such a lovely feeling and so rewarding when you see these kids who first look at you like you're a complete stranger start to really trust you...

There was a scene when Brianna goes into the graveyard in Season 7, Part 1. There was one take where Rosa tripped on a pebble and fell. The chaperones are there, who she trusts. Her dad was there. But she ran to me. And it was so sweet. She didn't want to do another scene. She was just crying on me for ages. So I was like, "Shall we tell off the stone?" We said "bad stone," hit the stone, and wiped her tears. I asked, "Better now?" and she said “Yeah, let's do one!" They're just such great kids. We are very fortunate. — SOPHIE SKELTON, BRIANNA MACKENZIE

🧵 Outlander_Starz: That's a wrap on this episode's "Inside Outlander!" See you here next week for more. In the meantime, hear even more insights from our cast and creative team:

youtube

Inside Hello, Goodbye • Part 3 of 3

Threads 🧵

Remember… what I've learned in Scotland is you'd better embrace the temperature and weather and use it in the scene. It's special effects. The condensation from breathing... that adds to the heroic atmosphere. — Jan Matthys, Director

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Outlander #inside Outlander #S07E13 #Hello Goodbye #Part 3 #Threads #Youtube

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elvish-sky · 4 years ago

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Half: Old and New

A.N: So first of all, I just made myself cry while writing this. That’s never happened before, so be warned. Anyways, this is the first part of my new Legolas x Reader series, called Half. The series is based on a personal thing about me, and I wrote a little intro post that explains it and all the details here. I’m so unbelievably excited to be able to share this with you all, I’ve been planning it for three weeks at this point, and I really hope you enjoy it.

Word Count: 1,776

Warnings: Death, angst, grief, comforting, there’s really nothing happy happening in this part.

*IMPORTANT: Just so you know, the reader only uses their right eye. Everything in their left just looks blurry.

****

Old and New

You had watched as the faceless black shadow cut down your kin like they were nothing. Sweeps of the blade felled man after man, and you were unable to lift your eyes from the terrible scene below.

You drew your swords, knowing you were supposed to stay hidden but not being able to bear watching your friends be slaughtered. You sprang down from the tree, lifting your blades as you sprinted to put yourself between the shadow and your brother. Parrying the stroke, feeling it resonate down your arm in all its wrongness, you could sense the air of terror surrounding you. You sensed something moving on your left and spun just in time to be whacked by the flat of the blade, your swords knocked out of your hands. Dazed from the blow, you tried to rise, watching as it advanced on your brother, who was lying helpless on the ground.

You scrambled for a dagger, a sword, any weapon that might be able to save him, and your hand landed on an arrow from the quiver still strapped onto your back. Seizing it, you threw it at the shadow, hoping to distract it more than anything else. It splintered as soon as it touched the creature, who didn’t even notice it, and stepped forward, stabbing your brother right in the heart.

“Hallas!”

You grabbed another arrow, standing, and cast it at the shadow only to watch it splinter as well. It turned towards you, and whipped its sword back at you, knocking you over again but not piercing your skin.

“Worthless girl.” It stood over you, and its voice sounded like all that was evil, making you feel like no light could ever pierce this overwhelming darkness. Your eyes followed its hand as it descended towards your face. It looked as if it was moving very slowly, but you knew this not to be true as you felt it strike your jaw, everything fading to black.

You blinked your eyes open, gazing up at the darkening sky as your brain tried to piece everything together. Why did your side hurt? Why was your jaw aching?

Oh.

You looked at the bodies of your fallen comrades, strewn around the clearing, and your eyes came to rest on the still form of Hallas. You crawled over to him, dragging his body onto your lap as you let out a scream raw with grief. You let yourself sob as you cradled him, rocking back and forth, but pulled yourself back a few minutes later, knowing that you needed to be thinking rationally.

If the shadow had slaughtered everyone at the Sarn Fords, then its comrades that you had seen riding off earlier had probably caught the Rangers sent to warn Aragorn, the chief. So it was up to you now.

You crept through the trees, making sure to stay silent as you made your way to the clearing, about five miles from the fords, where you’d left your horse, praying that the shadows hadn’t found him as well. Nahar, for that was his name, was peacefully grazing on the grass. You almost broke down at the sight of him but settled with stroking his velvety nose before swinging into the saddle. You knew you had to tell Aragorn, and you knew he was in Bree, so you tugged on the reins and Nahar set off at a brisk stride, living up to his namesake.

While you rode, you scoured your brain trying to figure out the shadows, ignoring your grief as best as you could. Some things were more important than sorrow. They were like nothing you had ever seen before, the fear that had crept over you was like nothing you had ever felt before. You thought back over stories you had heard, tales from your childhood. The Ringwraiths. It hit you, and you quickly nudged Nahar into a gallop.

You had arrived at Bree to find the town reeling. The shadows had appeared there two nights after you had fought one, and Aragorn, or as they knew him, Strider, had left that same night. Knowing that he was headed to Rivendell, you refused the night’s rest that had been offered to you and set off again.

Swinging out of the saddle, you handed Nahar’s reins to a startled stablehand and tore through the halls of Rivendell, heading for the terrace where you knew at least someone would be.

You heard shouting, and spun around the last corner, passing two small hobbits, and ran down the steps, seeing a small crowd gathered on the terrace. Not caring, you burst through the circle to skid to a halt in front of your chief.

“Aragorn!” You collapsed at his feet. “The nine walk again. Mordor has awoken.”

A silence fell, broken by the voice of another hobbit. “I will take it.” Everyone turned towards him. “I will take the Ring to Mordor.”

As he spoke, you glanced at the pedestal in the center of the group and saw a golden ring resting there. You recalled more tales from your youth, of great power and twenty rings, and put the pieces together. The one ring.

“If by my life or death I can protect you, I will.” You watched as Aragorn strode over to the hobbit, kneeling before him. “You have my sword.”

“And you have my bow.” A tall, blond elf stepped forward.

“And my axe!” A red-bearded dwarf joined him.

“You carry the fate of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done.” A tall man stepped forward, joining them.

You started as a hobbit appeared from your left, and then two more, all lining up as if forming ranks for battle.

“Nine companions,” declared Lord Elrond, “so be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring.”

They all stood there, looking very regal and such until you rose from the seat next to Aragorn where you had been catching your breath.

“I shall join you.” You walked over, intending to join their little formation, but Aragorn grabbed your shoulder as you stood next to him.

“Y/N. You cannot. You must rejoin our kin by Sarn Fords.”

You held back tears at the name of the place. “They are all dead.”

You heard gasps at your words.

You watched Aragorn’s face as the realization sunk in. “Hallas?”

You nodded, not trusting yourself to be able to speak.

“Oh, Y/N.” He quickly gathered you into his arms, and you bit your lip to stop yourself from breaking down right then.

You heard a cough and quickly stepped back, composing yourself.

“I suppose you shall be ten companions, then. Very well, I do not see the difference from nine.” You nodded your thanks to Elrond as the council dissipated, the members of the newly formed Fellowship heading off in pairs or groups of three. As they headed off, Aragorn quickly drew you to the side.

“I have to go speak with Gandalf.” You blinked back tears again at the prospect of being alone but nodded at him.

“Go. I’ll be fine.” You watched him jog to catch up with the wizard, greeting him with a smile. You sat back onto the bench. Hallas had never been to Rivendell, you were always sent to retrieve Aragorn or deal with the elves, but he had always wanted to. Looking around at the splendor you had become accustomed to, you finally let the tears pour, bowing your head as you mourned your brother, your better half.

A soft shuffling sound caught your attention. You lifted your head, blinking to clear the tears as the blurry figure of the blond elf came into focus. He was approaching from your left, which explained why you hadn’t noticed him until then. You felt a small bit of shame at not noticing, you prided yourself on your skills making up for your lack of sight but dismissed it.

“Y/N, right?”

You nodded.

“Aragorn has told me much about you. I’m Legolas.” He sat next to you. “Do you need to talk about it?”

You automatically started to shake your head before pausing. You would be traveling with him, Aragorn trusted him, and you really needed some sort of comfort.

Taking a deep breath, you spoke. “I was one of the Dunedain holding Sarn Ford against the nine.”

The concern clear in his eyes encouraged you to continue.

“I tried to stop them, but they killed everyone. My brother…” and on that word, your voice broke, and you tried to keep yourself from dissolving into sobs again. His hand started tracing soothing circles across your back, and you kept going.

“My brother Hallas was the last to die. It killed him right in front of me, I was powerless to stop it.”

Your thin thread of control over yourself snapped, and you let the grief take over again. The elf beside you was dismayed as you buried your head in your arms, body wracked with sobs. He gently wrapped his arm around your shoulders and drew you in so that you were leaning into him, face now buried in his chest as he continued to move his hand across your back.

Legolas held you until your sobs died down into hiccups as you slowly regained control. You pulled away from him, wiping your eyes with your sleeve, embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry, Legolas, I did not mean for that to happen.”

His hand on your shoulder forced you to look into his eyes.

“It is alright. You needed comfort, and I was happy to provide it.”

“Does it get any easier?” You needed to hear the answer, needed to know if this pain would ever go away.

“No. It never does. I have watched as many friends died, and been powerless to save them. But I’ve come to learn that the best thing we can do to honor their memories is to not dwell on how we could not save them, but to live lives they would be proud of.”

Gazing up at him, you mulled over his words as he blinked back tears of his own.

“That is very wise.”

He forced a small chuckle. “I’ve had lots of practice.”

“No, truly. Thank you for that. It helps.”

He smiled. Not a big smile, but one of acknowledgment. You smiled back. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and drew you close again.

You sat there together for hours, together in your grief as preparations were made for departure. He mourned with you, and you with him, for losses old and new.

everything tag💖: @entishramblings @itgetsatadhazy @boyruins @anjhope1

legolas tag: @sheriffgerard @bitter-sweet-farmgirl

series tag: @claraofthepen @sheriffgerard

lmk if you want to be added to a taglist for this series!

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little-peril-stories · 1 year ago

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Character Backstory Playlist Tag

I was tagged in this post by @mysticstarlightduck. Thanks for the tag!

Rules: Pick 5 songs you feel represent/inspired your OCs' backstories, or just otherwise fit their past's vibe/aesthetic. Choose as many or as few OCs as you want.

I'm leaving this an OPEN TAG - please play if you want, and let me know if you do! 💕

So I did once make a playlist for The Prince of Thieves (find it here), but it is a typical WIP playlist - not backstory-focused. (I *did* steal a few songs from there, though.) So this was a fun challenge!

Will and Jamie Wardrew

Tough to be a Dreamer by Felix Hagan & The Family

I built my castle on broken dreams, and as time goes by, I must admit it seems that I was sold a lie.

In the Meantime by Randall Kent

You’ve got a friend when times get mean; yeah, in the meantime, I’m on your team.

Same Suit, Different Tie by The Maine

All done up in my hand-me-down clothes, shaking off the dust and assuming a pose. Well, these threads are so old, but they'll never know. No one will ever know.

Is It Really You? by Loathe and Sleep Token

Face away, deal with the pain your own way.

Some Days by Brent Morgan

Some days I'm overwhelmed. Some days I'm lost inside this hell.

Bree Cooper / Breanna Hatchett

Sleepless Nights by Faber Drive

Put yourself in her position; all she needs is recognition. Love's not enough when you say it. Don't you know you gotta mean it?

Because of You by Kelly Clarkson

I will not make the same mistakes that you did; I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery… I was so young; you should have known better than to lean on me.

Running Away by Midnight Hour

I'll never let you find me; I'm leaving you behind with the past. No, I won't look back.

All I've Ever Known from Hadestown

I was alone so long, I didn't even know that I was lonely. Out in the cold so long, I didn't even know that I was cold.

(Un)Lost by The Maine

And you are not allowed to be anybody else. Control what you can and confront what you can't, and always remember how lucky you are to have yourself.

Colette Meunier

Boulangerie by Recent Rumours

She's gone, she's gone, she's gone; she's not coming back.

The Man by Taylor Swift

I'm so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a man.

mars by YUNGBLOOD

She can't be herself when she's somebody else... Do you feel like you're irrelevant?

Perfect by Simple Plan

Hey, Dad... Did I grow up according to plan? Now it's just too late, and we can't go back. I'm sorry I can't be perfect.

Safe by All Time Low

Gotta take your time, find your space.

Geoff Marks

3 Hours of White Noise

Bonus Songs

Jamie & Will: I Steal Everything from Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier

Want food, but got no money? I’m screwed, or so it would seem… That’s why I came up with this brilliant scheme! Just steal everything!

Bree & Colette: What the Hell by Avril Lavigne

All my life I've been good, but now I'm thinking, "What the hell?"

Will: I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

In Catholic school, as vicious as Roman rule, I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black, and I held my tongue as she told me, "Son, fear is the heart of love," so I never went back.

Will: Where Dreams Go to Die by The Downtown Fiction

Teacher thinks you're rude, says, "I don't like your attitude." Well, maybe you're just condescending. But bring us up to follow rules and throw us all in cubic rooms - but we're not gonna sit by idle.

Breanna H: According to You by Orianthi

According to you, I'm stupid, I'm useless, I can't do anything right

Me begging my sisters for song recs because I had NO CLUE…

#tag game #character backstory playlist #also if you're wondering why the banner looks different #like different fonts and stuff #I'm learning to use Photoshop! and I wanted to practice #so I didn't have access to my usual Canva fonts etc #anyway nobody talk about how often Twisted shows up as inspiration for me #I just love it. OKAY?#and on an administrative note: the songs for Bree are obviously applicable to Bree (TPOT) and Breanna (TQOL)#and actually there's so much overlap between Bree and Colette's backstories lmao #so a few of them are applicable to both gals #anyway this was really difficult because I mostly like cheesy love songs or cheesy emo PINING FOR LOVE songs #neither of which have anything to do with my characters' backstories #le sigh #despite that it was fun!

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nellie-elizabeth · 5 years ago

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Outlander: Never My Love (5x12)

I... Have... Issues.

Cons:

I don't want to blame the show-runners too much for the story-line with Claire, as it is lifted straight from the books. But do you know what occurred to me as I was watching this? The rape was actually completely unnecessary to the story. Like - seriously. Change nothing else. Show Claire being beaten and bloody and tied up, and it's awful and it's hard to watch and the performance is raw and honest and all that jazz.

But why rape? Why rape again? We've already had a story-line about Jamie being raped, and a story-line about Brianna being raped. At some point it's just torture porn. And the fact that she is sexually assaulted makes Jamie and the other men's journey feel like this really gross macho revenge fantasy. Again, I know this is all lifted straight from the books. And let me tell ya - it's one of my least favorite things in the books, too.

They added in this interesting thing where Claire is fantasizing about a happy life in the twentieth century with all her family around her, at Thanksgiving. So we keep cutting between Claire tied up and crying in the forest, and these happy idyllic snapshots, of Jocasta and Murtagh, Ian in a uniform, Marsali and Fergus and their kids, Claire and Jamie happy together. There were things about this idea that I liked, but I had two big problems, as well.

For one thing, the thought that the fantasy Claire escapes to is of the future, of her own time, is... really sad, isn't it? It's not poignant, it's just depressing, to think that while Claire fantasizes about Jamie and the rest of her eighteenth century family, she longs for the trappings and safety of a twentieth century existence. That's not the sense I've gotten from her character at all, that she's still missing her old life. It felt really awkward and out of place.

And secondly, why did Brianna and Roger and Jemmy die in this little fantasy escape of Claire's? I guess it has something to do with the pain she feels at not thinking she'll ever see Bree and Roger again, but it felt out of place in the fantasies, which in turn felt out of place in the scenes.

Speaking of Brianna and Roger... I already felt like last week's goodbyes with them were really tepid and unmotivated. I didn't understand why they were leaving at that exact moment. In the book, as I said, there was a very clear reason for their departure. But here, they go through the stones, and end up back where they started. Ian is startled to see them, and it turns out that when Brianna and Roger thought of home, it took them back to where they started, because the Ridge is home to them now.

Ugh. Barf. That's... way too cheesy for my taste, I'm sorry to say. And it makes last week's weirdly underwhelming goodbye... even more underwhelming. After all of that, the Mackenzies are just content to stay in the past? And it just made the plot more confusing, because this final episode wasn't about them, and their choice to stay after all. It was about rescuing Claire from Lionel Brown. So Roger shows up, Jamie is glad to see the family, but there's no time to really process it - Roger is coming along on the mission to save Claire. Why not change it up, so that Roger and Bree decide to leave, but before they can set off, the attack happens and they have to stay because Claire was taken? Then they could have a talk, after it's all over, about how they don't want to leave while things are so uncertain, and maybe they don't want to leave at all.

This season's timeline is very disjointed to me. We just saw Marsali give birth to her baby girl, right, but now she's pregnant and showing again? When was it that months passed without my noticing? Did anyone else feel some whiplash with all of that?

I'll finish off this "cons" section by circling back to a complaint I already made last week, which is that this did not feel like the natural culmination to a season of television. The Browns were barely characters, the whole subplot about Claire being Dr. Rawlings was hardly a thing. This was a season about Bonnet, about Roger almost dying (and oh boy that didn't get very much screen-time did it?), it was a season about the War of Regulation. This attack on Claire feels like it came out of nowhere and only existed to make something dramatic happen in the finale.

Pros:

Okay so I didn't actually despise this episode, despite my litany of complaints about it.

To start with, while I had some problems with the revenge fantasy aspect of Claire's rescue, I did think the fight choreography was really good and conveyed the brutality of the violence being committed. That's something Outlander very often gets right. The image of Ian and Fergus looking down on Claire as Jamie kneels beside her, so much compassion and honor for their mother-figure... that was really powerful. And Roger taking a life, the significance of that, and the way he confessed it to Brianna in the dark... all of that left quite an impact. I also love how seriously Jamie takes Claire's oath as a doctor, that she will do no harm. It's a great moment from the books that was borrowed here, where Jamie says that Claire cannot kill for herself - "it is I who kills for her."

While I question the whole point of the twentieth century fantasy stuff, it was still fun to see everyone in more modern, recognizable clothing and hair-styles. Very much of the '60's, but still. It was strange to see Marsali with the long straightened hair, and Jocasta and Claire with their conservative shortened styles. Seeing Ian and Jamie in modern garb was legitimately disconcerting, which goes to show how wonderful this show is at total immersion. The setting and time period is very solidly 1760's, and I get totally swept up in that to the point where it was really fascinating and kind of fun to see them all in this different setting.

I'll go ahead and say that Caitriona Balfe did a great job with her performance. It was hard to watch the torture porn but I did appreciate her dedication to Claire's experience, and she did a great job with some frankly clunky dialogue when she was listing all the trauma she's experienced and talking about how she won't be broken by this.

The real show-stealer of the night, though? Marsali. This is the best thing that the show-runners have changed from the book to the show. Placing Marsali in the position as Claire's protege, giving her more personal agency and more to do outside of being a wife and a mother, paying off the difficult beginning of her relationship with Claire. All of this is top-notch stuff. When Claire comes back after Jamie rescues her, we see her and Brianna embrace, and that's sweet or whatever, but I felt so much more when I saw Marsali approach, with her face all bruised, to embrace Claire. They weathered the attack together.

And then Marsali killing Lionel Brown... chills. When she said "I've taken no such oath," and then Jamie finds her and she's freaking out about killing him, asking if she'll go to Hell. There was just so much going on in that performance, so many layers to what was happening, and I was totally spell-bound.

I try not to harp on and on too much about the books vs. the show, but in this case I want to praise the show for taking out a part of the book that I hate, which is Jamie being worried that Claire might be pregnant from one of her rapists, and wanting to have sex with her right away so he can have plausible deniability that he might be the father. I am just... grateful that they didn't include this aspect in the show. It's gross. I don't want to deal with it.

In place of that we see Claire grieving what has happened to her, we see her telling Lionel Brown: "I will do you no harm," we see her breaking down but finding inner strength, and we see her curled up in the arms of her husband, taking strength from him. I really wish this story hadn't happened like this in the show, but I did appreciate the care and attention given to the aftermath.

So there you have it. This season was... disjointed at best. I really do wonder if season six will be the end of Outlander. It would make a certain amount of sense, given how many of the plot threads from the books have been excised/shortened into a more streamlined format for the show. Unfortunately, I feel like there were a lot of misses this season, and I hope they can come back with something stronger in the future!

6.5/10

#review #outlander #outlander review

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i-write-fanfics-to-procrastinate · 5 years ago

Note

Can I request some nice Vergil/Lady because I think the world needs to see it No I am no one you know I hacked your computer and read your DMC fanfictions and they are too darn good to be hidden from the interwebs. Anything will do but they have to be sassing each other, obviously 😤🙏❤️

I know this you, Bree >:( EXPOSING ME LIKE THIS. VL is my favorite thing right now so...here, have some :D

Feelings

She woke up gasping, and then burst into a cough, which made her back and head throb. “Shit…” she bit her lip, and blinked away the haze of sleep. She was on the couch at the office. Soft blue blanket pulled over her, a bandage around her head.

“You’re awake!” Dante’s voice, much too loud, pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Dante… what happened? The last I remember…” Lady paused, they had been facing a whole host of demons, and their leader—some sort of old god summoned from the depths of hell (or so they said). All in a day’s work, of course, but she couldn’t remember anything past getting rid of most of the hoard.

“You were injured,” Vergil stepped down from the stairs. He wasn’t wearing his typical blue coat, and though his hair was still brushed back away from his face it was more of a mess than usual. “It’s no wonder you can’t remember.”

“You hit your head pretty hard.” Dante frowned, “There was a lot of blood. Vergil was freaking out.”

Vergil scoffed, “Tch. I was not.”

“He was.” Dante stood, grabbing his coat. “I’m going to pick up my pizza and since I’m out, I’ll grab some pain killers for you. You look like you need ‘em.”

“I really don’t remember anything. But… it couldn’t have been too bad,” Lady said, glancing up at where Dante had paused in the doorway.

“It would have been a lot worse,” he said, “If Vergil hadn’t taken the hit for you.” And then he was gone.

Lady was silent for a long moment before turning to look at his twin brother. Vergil had crossed the room to where he had left his teacup on Dante’s desk, lifting it gingerly with his hands, before turning to face her again.

“Is it true?” She frowned, staring into his pale blue eyes. Vergil didn’t respond, taking a sip of his tea. “Answer me!” she snapped.

Vergil let out a deep sigh, “It is true that, while you were in imminent danger, I pushed you out of the way.”

She bristled, gritting her teeth. “I can take care of myself!”

“If I had let you ‘take care of yourself,’” Vergil said coolly, “You would be dead.”

“Please,” Lady scoffed, “You’re exaggerating. I’ve been hit hard before, Vergil. I’ve broken bones, I’ve been cut. I could have taken it—” As she ranted he moved silently across the room to where his coat hung up on the rack by the door He lifted it off the hook. “Where are you going?” Lady frowned, but he just silently tossed her the blue coat, and she just barely caught it. It was heavy, long, the buttons scratched and dull. As she turned it in her hands, she saw immediately why he had tossed it to her. The front of Vergil’s coat was torn to pieces, absolutely in tatters, the side opposite his heart.

“I was down for too long,” he said, face practically expressionless. “I can still taste the blood. You would be dead.”

She couldn’t deny it now. These gashes in his coat were thick. Just imagining them in her chest made her feel sick. The realization of her own mortality hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt a weight on her chest like she had never felt before. I could have died. And then what. She ran her hand over Vergil’s coat again. There were so many things that would have been left unsaid. What about their next job? Or their next? Which outing would finally end up killing her?

“Then…” she hesitated, clutching his coat in her hands. “There’s something you should know.”

He set his tea down, “I know the coat is ruined. I’ll find a replacement. It’s quite alright.”

“Not that,” she said rolling her eyes. She still held the heavy fabric in her hands. “I think I need to tell you something, in case next time… you can’t take the hit for me.” The gravity of her words weighed heavy with the following silence. Vergil set his teacup down heavily, his brow furrowed.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, irritation in his blue eyes.

“I’m saying… if I die… you need to know this.” She insisted.

“I’m listening,” he said, gesturing for her to continue. What he didn’t realize was this was so hard. She felt like there were knots in her middle.

“The fact is…. I…” She felt heat rise in her cheeks. Last week she had sat with him in the kitchen, and he had been reading. She had been admiring him from where she sat, the curve of his jaw, the way he seemed so content and absorbed with the book in his hands, pale blue eyes tracing over the words on the page. They had talked before. She liked the way he held the door for her, the way it felt when they stood back to back in a fight. She liked when he told her they would complete their job together.

But, recently it was different. Recently, she was realizing it was more than just admiration. She felt something for him beyond that… “Vergil… the fact is…” she tore her gaze away from his eyes, clinging to his tattered coat for dear life, her cheeks felt like they were on fire. Why is this so hard? I’ve faced demons and… this…? “What I’m trying to say…”

“Are you feeling ill? You’re not making sense.” He frowned, crouching in front of her to press his hand to her forehead. “You did hit your head hard… and now you appear to be very flushed…”

“No!” Lady huffed, “Shut up and listen. I have feelings for you, Vergil.”

There was silence. Lady recognized the expression on Vergil’s face, his eyes searching. She could practically see the gears turning in his head. “Feelings…” he mumbled, “Well, I suppose I have feelings for you too.” Her heart skipped a beat.

“Y-you—”

“And everyone else… of course.”

“What?”

“Dante makes me feel…” he paused, “Irritated. Trish—” Lady groaned, dropping her head against his tattered coat.

“Forget about Dante and the others. That’s not the point. How do I make you feel?”

“Confused,” he said without pause. And then he hesitated. “I used to think everything in life was so straightforward. I had my beliefs and I had my goals. I knew what I was seeking and I knew what I had to do to get there. But now… there’s you. Everything is jumbled in my mind. I want something… but I don’t know how to attain it. I try to think logically—”

“Don’t think,” She said.

“W-what?” Vergil blinked, as if it was the most absurd thing he’d heard.

“I said stop thinking,” she said, tossing aside his coat, reaching out for him. She cupped both his cheeks, pulling him towards her to press a firm kiss to his lips. He tensed beneath her touch, and then tilted his head as she threaded her fingers through his hair. He was hot against her as she deepened the kiss and his hands tightening on her hips.

When she pulled away, too soon, he held on to her. His eyes wide, cheeks flushed. “I see…. Those feelings.” His hands left her side, and her heart dropped. Of course, Vergil didn’t feel that way…. How could she be so stupid to think…?

“You don’t have… those feelings…” she whispered.

Vergil didn’t answer, raising his hand, and hesitating for a long moment before touching her cheek. “My feelings for you are a jumble,” he murmured, studying her, “But… when you kissed me it seemed as though… the puzzle was being put together at last…” he hesitated, leaning close. Lady’s heart skipped a beat. And then he kissed her tenderly once more… a chaste, quick kiss, thumb brushing her jaw. Just as she was about to kiss him again the door swung open, and there was the sound of heavy boots on the hardwood floor.

“I’m baaaack!” Dante sang as Lady sat bolt upright, cheeks as hot as Vergil’s touch. The younger of the twins paused in the doorway, glancing suspiciously between the two. Vergil reached out and grabbed his tea, sitting back in his chair and taking a sip of his drink as if nothing had happened. “What are you two doing?” Dante frowned.

“Vergil was showing me his coat,” Lady said, reaching out to grasp the heavy blue fabric.

Dante narrowed his eyes for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders with a laugh. “Yeah, it’s pretty busted, huh?” He crossed the room and handed Lady a little bag. “Here, some pain meds. And now, at last, I can enjoy my pizza.” He marched over to his desk, setting the pizza box down and dropping back into his chair, kicking his boots up on his desk and grabbing that first slice… just as the phone rang. “For the love of…”

“You better answer that, cowboy,” Lady said, leaning back on the sofa, and opening the bottle of ibuprofen. “I’m out of commission. And Vergil doesn’t know how phones work.”

Vergil glanced towards her over his tea, brows drawn together. She winked, and he quickly looked away, a nearly imperceptible blush rising on his cheeks.

Dante let out a heavy sigh as the ring sounded out once more, and he lifted the phone from the switch hook. “Devil May Cry.” Another job, possibly. Lady glanced over at Vergil. She was glad she told him. Though…. She had no idea what it meant for their future… together. She was glad he knew and… he had kissed her. He met her eyes over his tea once more. The feelings are mutual.

#dmc #devil may cry #sometimes i write things ahahah #vergil x lady #lady x vergil #vergil and lady #lady and vergil #dmc vergil #dmc lady #dante #dmc dante #dante is big confused #dante doesn't know anything #he almost gets pizza tho #almost #im so sorry honey #i luv himmmmm #iwritefanfictiontoprocrastinate #myfic

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themackenzies · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on Season 5

Season 5 is over and I’m a bit relieved. I personally did not enjoy season 5 as much as I did Season 4. I think I was expecting a lot of course correcting and for the most part, that didn’t happen. The writers continue to fail to put in the necessary legwork to get the characters from point A to B. Also, a lot of the things I was most excited to see adapted from The Fiery Cross, were adapted poorly, which is disappointing. Overall, the writers continue to prioritize drama over organic story telling and genuine relationship and character development.

The Good

Blocking and unfollowing a lot of blogs here made S5 a much better fandom experience than S4. If there are still Roger haters in the fandom, I am now (almost) completely ignorant of them. Ignorance is bliss.

Jamie’s bangs are gone for good!

Lauren Lyle as Marsali

Super cute bairns! Seriously, Germain and Jemmy stole so many scenes.

Young Ian returning early, and John Bell as a Mohawk

Jamie and Roger’s faith/religiosity being featured more prominently

It was nice and refreshing to have a spring/summer setting for the majority of the season and their North Carolina green screen backdrops have improved

I thought Sophie and Richard had a comfortable chemistry on screen this season (with the exception of 5.01, which was too sappy and ridiculous to take seriously). I enjoyed all the little MacKenzie family moments they had in their little cabin - they felt true to the book.

Y’all know I read these books and watch this show for Roger and Bree...but, I was surprised at how touched I was by a few Jamie x Claire moments this season. Most notable for me was probably the snake bite episode (5.09)

Young Ian x Roger bonding

That Sophie x Richard / Bree x Roger Clementine duet!

Roger’s beard growing out in the later episodes and his costuming, in general, were great!

The Bad

In a lot of promo before the season started, Cait, Sam, and others made comments about how each episode in S5 felt like mini-movies with each episode having its own story arc. I don’t think I’m a fan of this type of TV story-telling. And I think their leaning in to this type of story-telling resulted in even more inconsistencies in tone and characterization than previous seasons. I would have preferred more substantial overarching themes and narratives throughout the season. The threads that did make it through the entire season felt flimsy and contrived.

The regulator story line was boring and too much screen time was given to Tryon

The Big House is garish

The under-utilization of so many good side characters, like: Lizzie, Lord John, Fergus, and the Bugs.

Did we ever see Jamie pick up a tool of any kind? I still can’t believe we never saw Jamie actually helping to build his big, fancy house.

The general lack of homesteading. I need to see more gardening, farming, pigs, goats, etc.

The development of Jamie and Roger’s relationship was too slow, and it was frustrating to see Jamie’s annoyance (tinged with disdain) towards Roger in the beginning

The ‘Will they stay or go?’ for Brog all season culminating in the time travel fake out was so stupid

They really downplayed Roger’s physical injuries as a result of the hanging, and in doing so they failed to convey the enormity of what he went through. In the book, he psychically could not speak for a long time, and when he did finally speak, it was extremely painful. I understand that they can’t have Richard speaking in a rough voice for years, but I wanted to at least see that Roger had been on the brink of death, and I don’t think they really captured that.

I would have liked to see Bree playing a role other than wife or mother or daughter. Her character was used quite a bit this season to rehabilitate Roger’s character (which was needed), but they failed to really give her anything of substance (with the exception of episode 10).

My 3 episode reviews from this season

5.01 ‘The Fiery Cross’

5.05 ‘Perpetual Adoration’

5.07 ‘The Ballad of Roger Mac’

The 4 episodes I liked/would watch again

5.05 ‘Perpetual Adoration’

5.07 ‘The Ballad of Roger Mac’

5.08 ‘Famous Last Words’

5.09 ‘Monsters and Heroes’

End note: Apologies if this blog has been too negative. I honestly have considered abandoning this show several times this season, but feel that I need to give it more chances. It’s been a long time since I counted Outlander as one of my favorite shows or even one of the better shows on TV right now (I can think of at least 10 other shows I’d recommend to someone over Outlander). I continue to watch out of curiosity and obligation. Maybe I’ll rewatch season 5 one day and feel completely different about it. But at the moment, Outlander just isn’t exciting to me. I still have to read Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, so maybe I’ll come back here this summer/fall to talk about it. But for the most part, I’m going to be inactive on here during droughtlander. My ask box is still open and you can always find me at my main blog: @alt-megan.

#outlander #season 5 #show talk

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