#he said that if march gets a 5 star counterpart

[q-theeccentric]

haven't made an hsr theory in a while, so have this mini-theory

I watched CatWithBlueHat's video on certain Penacony details and theories, and one thing that stuck out to me was their analysis of Misha. I won't bore you guys with the details (y'all can watch the video if you like), so the summary is that Misha is the Watchmaker's legacy and that he is either a part of this individual named Mikhail (who is deeply related to the Watchmaker) whom Misha broke off from or is a descendant of the Watchmaker. Another point made is that Misha and Mikhail are the same person and are not at the same time, because Misha may have been a part of Mikhail or Mikhail was Misha in the past.

Another detail is that the name "Misha" is a diminutive of the name "Milkhail", so... 👁👁

What then, is my theory? Well, I suspect that Misha will eventually get a 5-star counterpart (like Dan Heng); however, his name will not be Misha and instead be called Mikhail.

[miss-choi-park]

Sin never tasted so...

Chapter 1 - Fate is a bastard

A TXT Yeonjun Fanfiction from Mrs. Choi-Park

CEO/non-idol/dom/bully!Yeonjun! / Confident/sub/named/fem!Reader!

No obstacle - made of stone - stops love, what love can do, it dares to do. - pretty cheesy, right?

Romeo and Juliet, literature that can only be endured through modern language and films, nowadays. We all know the plot.

~A boy and a girl, madly in love with each other but the tragic circumstances of the family dispute kill both of them in the end.

The "most beautiful" love story in the world...if you don't experience it yourself. Fate is sometimes an ice-cold bastard.

Warnings under the cut

Warnings: rough language, hate speech, bullying, sex language, they kinda hate each other, caring yeonjun

Please remember that I fully respect the privacy of all K-Pop Idols and that this is just a fantasy. It's not my intention to harm anyone! (I've been a MOA since March 2023)

The hot whirlpool was just right thing for my muscles, which were pretty acidic from two days of skiing.

I still had four days ahead of my parents and my winter sports trip. And even though skiing was my favorite sport after hip-hop dancing, it was pretty tiring. My parents and I also received an unpleasant surprise yesterday.

The 5-star sports hotel high in the Pyeongchang Mountains has also attracted another rich Korean family from Seoul.

Why did the Choi's - my father's chosen mortal enemies - have to have a vacation in the same hotel as us in the same week as us?!

Ever since I was little, my parents always instilled in me that the Choi's were truly the spawn of hell.

It wasn't until I was 13 years old that I really found out why our family's didn't get along at all.

My parents, who had moved from Germany to Korea four years before I was born, had started with a small bookstore, which developed into a publishing house for small authors and later into the second largest publishing house in South Korea. My parents have always hated the Choi's, who put obstacles in their way, even now they were holding back our really great success.

The Choi's owned the number one publishing house in Korea, which had also been producing Manhwa's for several years now. (Counterpart to Japanese anime)

Because of this family, my parents struggled with racism, failure and stagnation. We had to deal with copyright lawsuits again and again - fights that emptied our Bank account and were never really justified. We also couldn't follow up with the manhwa's because it was forbidden to us. The old Choi was "a big animal in the world of Politics," as he always said. And even though my parents had come a long way...we had to constantly look into our pockets while the Choi's lived in luxury.

The 5-star holiday was the first in 6 years. Before that we either couldn't go on a skiing holiday or we could only go to a 3-4 star hotel. That's why I wanted to enjoy the whirlpool now and do not think of anything bad, who knows when I'll have that again.

For two minutes I enjoyed the flow of water and the bubbles massaging my back.

Until~

"Oh no, that can't be possible! I wanted to go into that hot tub, potato!" I heard a voice. It didn't take a split second before I recognized the voice. The unpleasant nickname, only one person used it for me, was the final hint.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head, which I had rested on the edge of the hot tub.

Choi Yeonjun.

As expected.

The 24-year-old son of the family I had grown to hate.

Yeonjun stood on the stairs that led up to the hot tub where I was relaxing. I rolled my eyes, not giving him a second glance after dropping my head back down again.

He wasn't worth saying anything back.

"Come on out, I want to relax!" he grumbled. Without saying anything, I raised my hand out of the water with my middle finger held up.

There was silence for a moment. Before I was about to look up to see if he had disappeared, I heard an angry murmur. Then noises coming from the water. I raised my head again and actually saw Yeonjun across from me climbing into the large whirlpool.

"Fuck! What are you doing?!" I threw it at his head and Yeonjun looked up. His look more than disgusted as he lowered himself.

"Maybe I can get you out of here when I'm in." Yeonjun's arm swirled through the water in front of him as his gaze followed his movement. I saw him grin evilly, "Cool, through the whirlpool bubbles, you can't even tell that I've just made bubbles."

As his gaze climbed up to me, I understood what he meant and jumped up immediately. I had 100% confidence that he had just farted in here. So I rushed out of the water, exclaiming in disgust: "You really are the stupidest creep I've ever met!"

Yeonjun laughed as I tied my towel around myself, crawled into my flip flops and rushed away.

Stupid asshole! Why did I have to bother with something like that? Life could be so beautiful.

Even at school he was the biggest idiot I knew, who made every day there a living hell until he finally graduated and I could enjoy four years without him.

Stupid private comprehensive school from the first to the eighth grade we were in one school. Luckily he was always four steps above me, but I was always afraid the stupid idiot would repeat a year and we will sit together in a class at some point. Surprisingly this never happened.

He ruined everything. My school days, my school dance club - which he also signed up for after I signed up - the success of my family and so much more.

I really hated Yeonjun.

He was a brat, idiot, know-it-all and disgusting. I had asked my fate several times 'Why him? Why do I have to know someone like that?' ~ I would never have received an answer.

I really hoped he wouldn't come to the little party in the mountain hut by the ski slopes this evening. Hopefully he wasn't in the hut today where there were a thousand posters saying that today was a Party. Because as far as I knew Yeonjun, he took every party with him and always a slut from there who fell for his tricks and then was dropped by him afterwards.

Asshole!

I didn't want to spend any longer in the hotel's swimming area so I went to my room.

The smarter one always gives in, right?

*

Hope dies last, but eventually it dies too.

For me the time had come when the door of the cozy mountain hut opened and Yeonjun entered.

From my seat at the bar I could see the door perfectly and everyone who entered could also see me. Unfortunately, our eyes met immediately. I exhaled in frustration and rolled my eyes. The nice young man named Danwoo, who I had already met on the ski slopes yesterday, looked at me in surprise.

"What's up?" He asked over the loud music in the bar as I looked deep into my cocktail glass, hoping Yeonjun would just ignore me.

"Nothing…I"

"Heyjo Sumi!" A loud voice shouted at us.

Oh, please don't! Why me?!

While Danwoo turned in the direction the voice had come from, I drank my cocktail, which was actually quite strong, in one go.

When I put my glass back down, I was immediately greeted by Yeonjun's sharp eyes. He had stopped close to Danwoo and leaned on the counter so he could look at me.

"I thought you didn't like parties, sweetie." He greeted me.

I gave him a dark look.

"First of all, don't call me sweetie, second of all, I don't like parties when you're around and third, fuck off!" I replied.

Unfortunately, I knew that Yeonjun wouldn't be shaken off so easily.

Yeonjun gave a half-hearted laugh and raised his eyebrows: “That’s bad, I wasn’t planning on going.”

"Excuse me...may I ask who you are?" Danwoo interrupted our conversation and I clenched my teeth so hard that my jaw hurt as Yeonjun looked disparagingly at my acquaintance.

"The question would be mine first." He replied to Danwoo, who seemed a little taken aback.

"Yeonjun! Just shut up and leave!" I protested, causing his gaze to turn back to me. His bored look turned into a wickedly amused grin.

He rested his head on his hand: "Why so pissed off, little one? Your problem if you're always looking for someone who can't satisfy you."

A fire burned inside me. I immediately jumped up from my chair, wanting to choke Yeonjun with the small silver chain that hung around his neck.

I walked up to him and held my finger close to his nose: "I'd like you to-"

Before I could even continue speaking, I felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me back and away from Yeonjun faster than I expected.

It turned out to be Danwoo who pulled me through the dancing crowd, out of Yeonjun's sight. When we finally got to the corner where sofas were, he looked at me a little surprised: "Who was that?"

I looked at Danwoo for a few seconds before I glanced over my shoulder and was relieved to see that Yeonjun didn't seem to have followed us.

"Oh, that was nobody. I've called him my problem my whole life...please don't worry about him, he's just an asshole." I said and Danwoo's facial expressions relaxed a bit.

"Why is he here?"

"I would like to know that too, believe me, fate is just not kind to me."

"Then let's get out of his way."

"Deal!"

Surprisingly, I didn't even see a trace of Yeonjun in the hut for the next 2 hours. He had probably already grabbed the next poor girl and was fucking her somewhere.

I didn't care. Danwoo was so generous in ordering me a ton of alcohol that I didn't even think about Yeonjun. Until Danwoo went to the toilet around 2am, I took a short break from dancing and sank onto the couch in the back compartment of the mountain hut.

The party was surprisingly well attended, the songs were first class and the atmosphere was electric. I was happy to have met Danwoo because I would never go to a party like this alone.

My vision was still clear, but I noticed that my mood was getting significantly better with every second. I also started some conversations with complete strangers on the dance floor. Well, my inhibitions were long overcome.

"Where did you leave your boyfriend?" Someone asked me. I looked to my right where a bad awakening awaited me.

Yeonjun.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I asked, horrified. My good mood immediately disappeared.

"I was sitting here the whole time." He grumbled, taking a sip from his beer bottle that had been resting between his legs.

I stood up immediately.

I thought Yeonjun had already left the party, what was he doing here all of a sudden?!

I stood up immediately.

"Hey, wait! I asked you something!" He protested as I tried walking away. I ignored him and tried to escape through the dancing crowd. Unfortunately, this turned out to be difficult, thanks to the somewhat chubby man in front of me.

"Hey!" I heard Yeonjun say, shortly afterwards a surprisingly warm hand on my forearm. I was spun around and to make matters worse, lost my balance due to my drunkenness.

The next moment I found myself on the floor, between Yeonjun's legs. When I glanced up at him he seemed confused, but this was quickly replaced by a broad smile.

"Oh what did I do to deserve this honor?" He asked and I furrowed my eyebrows.

But before I could get up, Yeonjun leaned forward, his face now close to mine.

"Will you answer my question now?" He asked. The smell of beer could be clearly smelled from his breath. But my breathing probably wasn't any better.

"Why? Jealous?"

"Pfft!" with that amused sound, Yeonjun leaned back and I took the chance to get up.

"Why should I be jealous? You should be." He said and I looked down at him confused.

"What does that mean again?!" I wanted to know and Yeonjun shrugged indifferently.

"I thought I saw your guy disappearing into a cubicle in the toilet with someone earlier." He explained himself and I raised an eyebrow.

"God! How much have you drunk?"

"3 beers and a soju shot. I know what I saw.", He murmured before taking another sip from his bottle, "Think about it, how long has he been gone now?"

Oh my god...he wasn't entirely wrong. Danwoo had probably been gone for a little longer than 15 minutes. I bit my bottom lip, rather unconsciously, as I looked over my shoulder at the toilet entrance.

Well maybe the queue was long…

"Come!" Yeonjun said in a firm voice and walked past me. More successful than me, he made his way through the dancing crowd. I was left a little surprised. It was Yeonjun we were talking about here...he probably just wanted to convince me of something again. Lies were his specialty.

"What's wrong now, potato?" Yeonjun shouted, just loud enough for me to hear him over the music. I bit my lip again before hesitantly moving forward. I trotted after Yeonjun through the crowd. We got to the toilets pretty quickly.

From what I got to know - Danwoo was the complete opposite of Yeonjun. Funny, understanding, decent and attentive...I wouldn't trust him to ever cheat on anyone-

I froze when I saw Danwoo in the doorframe of the men's toilet. A short woman with long black hair stood in front of him, giggling wildly.

"Danwoo?" I immediately forgot it when I saw him and the unknown girl together.

Danwoo turned his head to the side and immediately stood upright. His features looked shocked. Like a little kid who just got caught stealing candy.

"Hey Sumi... uhm it's not what it looks like."

"Oh no! It is exactly what it looks like! What was he like, doll?" Yeonjun joined the conversation, the question obviously directed at the black-haired girl.

So he was right...Yeonjun hadn't lied to me. Then why did I want him to do it?

Contrary to my expectations, my eyes began to burn. A sign of impending tears.

Oh no!

The girl standing in front of Danwoo looked back and forth between me and him, more than surprised, as if she wanted to make sure we both were real.

"What do you want again? I don't even know you." Danwoo said to Yeonjun and I just turned around and ran. I didn't know where my legs would take me, but I just wanted to be somewhere else right now. Somewhere far away.

Why were all boys so shitty? My first boyfriend had already cheated on me...why does it have to happen again?! Why does fate always have to put obstacles in my way?! Why can't I be lucky too?!

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the mountain hut in the freezing cold winter when the first tear finally ran down my cheek.

The cold wind that blew over my arms, which were only covered with a thin sweater, gave me goosebumps. But I was less interested in that right now. I folded my arms and pulled my shoulders up to my ears, as I ran from A to B and cursed things that even I couldn't understand.

Only the light from the window of the hut and the light from the drag lifts twenty meters away brought light to the pitch-dark ski slope that stretched below me.

It's not what it looks like! It's always what it looks like! - "Asshole, idiot, wanker!" I called out into the clear evening air.

"I hope you don't mean me again?" A voice suddenly came from behind me.

I turned around and recognized Yeonjun in the dim light of the surroundings. I quickly turned away again.

Never let your enemies see your tears!- my father always says.

"Are you crying?" He asked further and I heard the snow crunching under his feet.

I frantically wiped my cold teary cheeks.

"Pff, not because of him! How long have you known him - a day?" Yeonjun said. His voice now close behind me.

"What do you want here, Yeonjun? Leave me alone, I have enough to worry about right now!" I replied sharply. For a moment there was silence. I kept my gaze fixed on the snow beneath me. I started to shiver, unintentionally but no wonder given the cold.

"I'll make sure you don't freeze to death out here." I heard him say. His answer was a little softer than usual.

"Ha! That would be fine with you." I hissed back.

"That's nonsense!" Yeonjun exclaimed, the next moment I felt his hands on my shoulders and I promptly were turned around.

"Why are you crying and trying to get yourself killed out here? Boys suck, you should know that."

"Cheating is not only shit, it's anti-social, unrespectful and a crime!", I pulled myself out of his grasp, "I just want to be alone right now, so get lost!"

"You're such a stubborn person sometimes that I just-"

"That you want to - what? - You want to kill me? Then make it easy and get inside! The cold will do the jo-"

Before I could finish, Yeonjun grabbed my forearm and pulled me with him surprisingly easily.

"Let go of me, asshole!" I protested as he opened the door to the mountain hut again.

He showed the tall, broadly built security man his party entry bracelet and also mine, since I was wearing it on my wrist, which he was holding tightly. The man nodded and looked at me a little confused as Yeonjun dragged me further.

"What's your jacket?!" He wanted to know when he got to the cloakroom and finally let me go. His grip would definitely leave bruises. "Mind your own business?" I asked and Yeonjun gave me a dangerous look.

"If you have your jacket, you're welcome to stand outside all night long, but you won't die." He growled.

"Since when have you been interested in my health?" I didn't give in.

"SUMI!!!" Yeonjun shouted clearly for everyone in the hut to hear, even over the loud music. I winced.

"Can't you forget your fucking pride for once and tell me what your fucking jacket looks like?!" He cursed at me. I looked at him for a few moments and then at the woman in the dressing room who had been watching us in shock. Finally, I rummaged through my back pocket of my jeans for the little chip that told the woman where my jacket had been hung.

The woman accepted the chip and disappeared into the cloakroom without saying a word.

"Finally!" Yeonjun turned his back to the coat rack and slumped against it. He looked at me and I suddenly felt very small. My gaze went down.

"You can be quite annoying, you know that?" He said and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. But I didn't say anything, even though there was something on the tip of my tongue that I had been able to respond.

A moment later the woman came back and put my jacket over the counter.

"Here you go, I wish you a pleasant evening." She murmured casually as she eyed Yeonjun skeptically, who still had his back to the woman.

I grabbed my jacket and decided at that moment that there was no point in staying here. So why not leaving?

Without saying another word to the woman or Yeonjun, I turned around and left.

"Put it on in front of me, otherwise I'll have to go out again!" Yeonjun asked me, but I kept going. When I finally got back outside, I put on my warm ski jacket and adjusted my scarf that was stuck in the sleeve of the jacket. Then I stalked off. The snow crunches beneath my feet.

I loved that sound and it always brought me a childlike joy, but right now it didn't spark anything in me.

I was drunk, sad and pissed off...sleep would help...maybe.

"Potato!" I heard Yeonjun calling, who seemed to have followed me outside again. I didn't stop, just looked over my shoulder in the direction of the mountain hut. Yeonjun ran after me, also frantically pulling his jacket over his shoulders.

"Hey, where are you going?" He asked when he was no longer two meters away from me.

"To the hotel, I don't want to stay anymore." I explained myself and trudged up the stairs to the drag lift.

"Oh, fuck Danwoo! He wouldn't have made it anyway!" Yeonjun said. The sound of a zipper followed his statement.

"Is it always just about the one thing for you?” I asked as we arrived at the drag lift platform, that was supposed to bring us down. It was empty except for the two of us. The lift attendant had probably gone home hours ago and had just left the lift running.

"Well, I'm just saying, you always pick the losers." Yeonjun said as we stood so that a lift could swing directly into our legs. What happened immediately afterwards. We dropped into the cold seat of the seat lift and began our way down.

"How do you know? Danwoo wouldn’t have-"

"Oh no, don't tell me that. Danwoo wouldn't have gotten anything done. And that's exactly your problem!" He interrupted and I looked at him questioningly after I pulled down the bar that now served us as a belt.

"What's my problem?"

"You're totally unsatisfied! That's why it's so annoying with you."

I tried my best not to give the most sarcastic laugh the world had ever heard.

"You're such an idiot! That's not my problem, it's you! I'm a gentle little flower to others, you know...but as you are to me, I'm to you!"

Yeonjun raised an eyebrow, "A gentle flower? How much did you drink?"

"To be honest, a lot, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm telling the truth." I said and crossed my arms.

"Hm...I'd rather stick to my opinion - sounds more logical." Yeonjun grumbled.The rest of the ride was silent. After we got out, we had to walk about 10 minutes to the hotel.

It was strange. I almost didn't feel the need to avoid Yeonjun. Of course he was annoying me - to hell - but I was almost happy not to be alone, even if it was Yeonjun...with whom I shared the silence of the night.

In the second minute of the walk, Yeonjun found his voice again: "Honestly, when was the last time you had really good sex?"

I looked at Yeonjun in horror. He looked at me almost innocently. A stark contrast to his question.

"As if I'm telling you this..." to be honest I've never had sex...but he didn't need to know that. With my first boyfriend it never got further than foreplay. Well, I was 20 now, but I never put any pressure on myself to have sex.

You don't miss what you don't know, so why the rush. The right one will come at some point.

"So it's been ages?" Yeonjun asked and I rolled my eyes. "Why am I even talking to you?!" I grumbled and Yeonjun gave a small laugh. "Because you know deep down that I'll bring it." This statement makes me stand still. I never expected such a statement even from Yeonjun. "Please what?" It slipped my mind and Yeonjun also stopped two steps in front of me. He smiled broadly at me and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I don't want to praise myself, but I've only ever received good feedback. I could get you to your high." He said and you could practically see him mentally patting himself on the shoulder.

"You're disgusting! I thought I am too annoying to put up with for even two minutes." I pointed out and Yeonjun shrugged.

"Drunk you're ok." He said and continued walking. After a few seconds I started moving again.

"Still this won't happen in a thousand years!" I said, earning a laugh from Yeonjun.

"Not even if you were the last one in the world." I continued my thought. Now nothing came from Yeonjun. The thought shook my body.

No, no, I would never go into bed with him. Disgusting!

"I..would." I then heard and looked up. Yeonjun looked over his shoulders at me.

"I do not think so."

"I guess so!"

"Oh man Yeonjun, are you really just thinking with your cock?"

"Would be a huge space for thinking." It took me two seconds to understand what he meant. When it clicked, I pushed him aside: "You're really gross!"

The hotel was already in sight. I almost thought we had a good moment, a minute ago, but now I just wanted to get away from this conversation quickly. Luckily, Yeonjun stayed behind me and kept his mouth shut. But I felt his gaze very present on me.

"Apart from your stubbornness, which really annoys me, you have a really nice body." Yeonjun finally said as we turned into the hotel parking area.

"Yeonjun stop, this is really strange!" I protested, only hearing a deep breath behind me.

"Are you really drunk?" He asked further and I looked over my shoulder. His warm breath puffed into the cold air, clearer than my own.

"I don't think DRUNK but ON DRUNK." I said as I pushed open the front door of the hotel. The lobby was only dimly lit, but cozy and warm. Nobody was here anymore - sure it was about 3am. I stopped briefly in front of the fireplace and stretched out my cold fingers. The ember still released heat.

Mmm, that was nice.

Suddenly someone grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back violently. Immediately afterwards I noticed the corner of the old wooden reception desk on my lower back. Startled, I looked up and was greeted by Yeonjun's sharp eyes. I knew that Yeonjun was significantly taller than me, but he was just so close to me that I had to look up high. His hands firmly on my hips, holding me close to the reception.

"What the hell-"

"Funny...I'm pretty horny right now." He murmured and I saw his eyes suddenly darken. That sent a shiver down my spine.

Please feel free to let me know your opinion 🤗

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[likelycatherinemay]

Diary 5/?

I'm writing this at the same moment as my previous post, but it won't post until today, Sunday, September 15th. How's the future? In any case, I was struck by something from high school and worried I would forget about it if I did not write about it. God, it's really hard to write at two in the morning. OKAY. RALLY.

When I was in high school, I loved a boy. Shock, panic, crisis, do whatever you need to do to process that information. It wasn't a passionate love by any means, he loved and loves women, and he was in a fiery romance for three of four years in high school. She, while I did not love her as I loved him, was incredible as well.

My parents, as far as I ever saw, never loved one another. When I was eight, I sat on the couch with my oldest sister, and she told me as much.

"They used to fight, but they don't even care enough anymore," she said. I guess the marriage wasn't even worth fighting over. Marriage, to them, was the unspoken agreement that kept them living under the same roof for nine more years. If they told me they forgot about their marriage and it was just more convenient this way, I would be tempted to believe them. Consequently, I was eternally puzzled as to how romance functioned. As my sisters grew up and found successive partners of their own, I did not.

As I type this, I'm not sure why. At 21, I'm far from planting my flag firmly. The thoughts of asexuality and aromanticism have crossed my mind on many lonely nights. Clearly, my parents can't be completely to blame. My sisters have both found partners of their own. I have dated but nothing serious.

'So what? Why bring up your friend and crush at the beginning of the story?'

My goodness, dear reader, I didn't know you were so impatient. I worshipped at the altar of this boy. He could have marched me right off the side of the Empire State Building. He says, "Jump!" and I say, "How high?"

I think you get the picture. But, I think what made me love him was how much he loved his partner and much she loved him. For two years, I believed in love. Have you watched someone with the love of their life? And no, I don't mean envy. Watch them as they laugh, act foolish, make mistakes, argue while their worlds burn around them, and come back together. They were a marvel, unstoppable, and brilliant. Their relationship survived tragedy and long distance for a year. Then, it ended.

Distance wasn't even the killer. Truly, I believe it would have been easier for him if it was. They just changed. The piece at the corner of the puzzle no longer fits its counterpart. Even thinking about it now makes me want to cry. How can it be over? I want to wake up in the morning and know my North Star is still shining. Every day there is something undeniable and real waiting to remind the world that cannot erode the pillars we build our life upon. Not every single one, not every single time. But alas, the wind and rain come for us all, sanding away at the foundations of our world.

Did you know the Appalachian Mountains are older than trees? Isn't that incredible? Every day, the ancient forces of a world-long departed bathe under the same sun as you and me. It's wonderful. But, it's not the same. They are a shadow of what they used to be. Older than oxygen, time has beaten down on the giants of the world long since departed. I wonder if my parents ever felt that love. I wonder if I could have watched their love and felt the same as my friends. I have a hard time imagining that. But perhaps.

Love each other enough for someone to love you. That would make me happy.

I don't know how much I've read, future nonexistent reader ;).

"It's much older than you and me

I'm love, I'm alive

I belong to the stars and the sky."

[thesvenqueen]

The Mummy - Chapter 7

Rating: M (to be safe; gore, language) Main Pairing: Kristanna Summary: Hamunaptra. A place filled with history, legends and mystery. A place Anna Arendelle had only dreamed of finding since she was a little girl. When it seems faith supplies her with the opportunity to find this hidden city, she jumps head first at the chance to find it. But a revengeful mummy, an apocalyptic curse, a deadly adventure (and possibly love) where not exactly on her list of things to discover. Previous Chapters: [ P 1 2 3 4 5 6 ]

NOTES: uhhh...so....it’s been a while. I legit have no excuse or reason but uh...yeah? Will I update faster? lol who knows tbh but um, yeah, we’ll see what happens. Let’s hope I keep my groove up with this for once (probs not lets be honest lol)

The cool night breeze sent a chill up Anna’s spine. She wrapped her arms around herself as she stood on the banks of the river.

Just mere moments ago, she had been in her cabin below deck getting ready for bed. She had been so lost in thought (absolutely not thinking about that kiss...again) that she didn’t hear her door opening. The intruder had easily snuck up behind her as she had stared at her book, trying to focus on the words and not the way a particular someone had blushed earlier in the night. It wasn’t until she felt the cold blade of the knife against her throat did she finally snap out of her thoughts. 

Then, all hell broke loose. 

The boat now slowly drifted down the river, completely engulfed in flames. 

Anna tried to steady her breathing as she looked across the way to the other side of the river. Horses were running amuck out of fear and she could just make out men scrambling to grab as many horses as they could before they took off into the night. Some men were still swimming to shore, a few standing in the shallows to help their counterparts. She could make out a few just standing in shock, watching the boat as she had. 

One man in particular stood on the shore, arms outstretched and he yelled, 

“Hey Bjorgman! It looks to me like I got all the horses!” 

Anna simply glared. Though that may have been true, who in the hell was this man to boast such a thing?

She was ready to retort with every obscenity she could muster when she heard a growl in frustration. She turned just in time to see Kristoff march to the shore’s edge & stop,

“Hey Weasel!”, Kristoff boomed, “Looks to me like you’re on the wrong side of the river!”

There was a pause, Anna looked back to the man on the other side of the river and watched as realization slowly came over him. She couldn’t help but grin as the man began yelling obscenities & kicking the water in frustration. 

“Though that may be true,” she heard Sven say, and she turned to watch him squeeze water from his shirt, “we’re still in a bit of a rut here. We lost all we had on that bloody ship.”

“There’s a village not far from here,” Kristoff replied, “should be there before dawn. We can stop there for supplies.”

Sven nodded, “Right, well, guess that’s the best we got.”

Anna began to trudge out of the shallow water and shivered again as the cool night breeze blew. She wished that she had thought of grabbing a coat before deciding to abandon ship.

Or a blanket. 

Or anything besides her silk nightdress & robe. 

“Are you alright?”

Anna jumped slightly at Kristoff’s voice interrupting her thoughts. “Oh...um, yeah, I’m ok.”

“You sure?”

Anna huffed a laugh, “I just lost all my belongings, which I could buy again sure but still, it’s all gone. I was shot at and threatened at knife point for...who knows why? Then the ship caught fire and I was tossed overboard I…” She paused, taking a deep breath of the night air, “Honestly, I’ve had better.”

Kristoff rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah….I’m sorry about that.”

Anna looked at him, “For what?”

“For uh, throwing you overboard?”

“Oh…” Anna huffed a laugh, “It’s ok, really.”

“I just…”

“Seriously,” Anna said reassuringly, “I was panicking and you were just trying to help. I get it.”

“Yeah well, my Ma would kill me if she knew I did that.”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh, “Throwing a lady is quite rude of you.”

Kristoff smirked, “I think the situation called for it as you said.”

“Still rude.”

“I’m sure my Ma would understand.”

“Oh would she?”

He paused. “...No, she’d still kill me on the spot before I could explain.”

Anna laughed and a comfortable silence fell between them as they walked through the desert. The night was calm and quiet, the complete opposite of what they had just left behind at the river. The moon was bright enough to light up the desert around them, the stars shining brightly in the sky. It was beautiful, Anna thought, comforting in a sense. 

Another breeze blew and Anna shivered violently. 

“Are you cold?” Kristoff asked, frowning with concern.

Anna looked at him, “A little…”

“Could we stop and make a fire?” Sven questioned. 

“No, it would slow us down.” Kristoff said, “We need to keep moving if we want to make it to the village. Plus, the fire could attract unwanted visitors.”

Sven looked at Kristoff confused, Anna could tell that a question sat right at the tip of her brother’s tongue. Most likely the same as Anna’s: 

What unwanted visitors did he mean?

“Here.” Kristoff said, and he wrapped his arm around Anna’s shoulder, pulling her close. Anna gasped, her heart skipping a beat at his sudden boldness. “We can huddle together for warmth. Best thing to do right now till we reach the village.”

“Shouldn’t we get rid of our wet clothes?” Sven asked. “It won’t help since they’re still damp.”

“If you want to wander into the village naked, then by all means, be my guest.” Kristoff said. 

Anna giggled as her brother pouted, “I was just trying to help is all.”

“And I’m just trying to help you not get killed by scared villagers.” 

“Would they be scared? Really?” Sven said as he huddled to the pair, throwing his arm around Anna’s waist, “I bet the women would be excited.”

“Their husbands wouldn’t be.”

“I’m sure they’re not all married.”

“Most are.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t.”

“Ah, so you’re guessing.”

“I’m assuming based on past experience.”

“Still not a fact.”

Kristoff groaned, “Look, if you’re going to strip then go ahead, but don’t come crying to me when things go sour.”

Sven took a breath to retort, but Anna chimed in “Sven, please.”

He pouted, “Oh you both are no fun.”

“We are fun,” Anna said, “I just don’t want to explain to Kai why I came back without you.”

“Ah, but then you could create a wonderful story on how you survived because of my heroic sacrifice. Saying how if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have made it back and go on to tell an amazing, epic tale of my passing.”

“Yes, I can see it now: the tale of my brother Sven, the idiot who decided wandering into a village nude was completely sensible.”

Sven glared as Kristoff chuckled, the sound making Anna’s heart flutter. 

---

“Ridiculous!” Sven raged, pulling the camels along, “All of that for three bloody camels?”

Kristoff rolled his eyes, “They’re prized commodities out here, what did you expect?”

“Not that! My God, you’d think he was trying to give me an entire herd with the price he was offering.”

“He was.”

“Yes, before he realized I could understand him perfectly.” Sven smirked, “Git.”

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Arabic.”

“Oh,” Sven smiled, “Mum taught us when we were little. We lived in Egypt for a while, so she wanted us to understand as much as we could.”

“How long were you in Egypt?”

“Few years I think? We were young and we moved around a lot with Mum & Dad exploring and what not.” Sven stared off into the distance, “Egypt was always Mum’s favorite though, Dad’s too. Taught us all we know about it, it’s why we both came back really.”

“...what happened?”

Sven took a breath & looked to his feet, “There was a dig, supposed to be this amazing discovery. Mum & Dad got invited and of course they couldn’t resist. They left and...never came back.” 

“Oh.”

“Turns out the excavation was in a very remote, hard to get area. They took a small plane to get there and they got caught in a sand storm. They never made it to the site.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was years ago,” Sven sighed as he looked up, “Shit luck really.”

“Still.”

“It’s ok. We keep moving on to the next as Dad said.” 

Kristoff sighed, looking out to the village. “Did they find anything at the site at least?”

Sven huffed a laugh, “No, nothing but dust apparently. What makes it worse to me really. If they had found something, it might have made it better. That the trip would’ve been worth the risk. But it wasn’t; all that, for nothing.” 

“I’m sorry.” Kristoff said, looking over to Sven, “They sound like they were great people.”

“They were.” Sven smiled. “Loved us dearly, even when I was a right pain in the ass.”

Kristoff chuckled, “Had to be hard I’m sure.”

“Oh completely.” Sven said, “I was a little shit sometimes...well...most of the time. But I just got caught more, Anna was just sneakier.”

Kristoff’s eyes widened, “Your sister was a troublemaker? I find that hard to believe.”

“Oh ho ho,” Sven said with a laugh, “She caused quite the trouble. Anna just knew how to get away with it. Could talk herself out of anything, I remember one time…”

But Kristoff heard nothing more. From afar, he could make out a group of Bedoiun women walking towards them. Leading them was Anna. 

She was an exclamation point to the beige, bland land around her. She wore a black dress, accented in gold along the trims of the dress in swirls and flowers delicately designed in to the light fabric. The dark veil shared the same gold designs, sparkling in the bright desert sun. A small gold chain wrapped around her waist with a long string of coin rosary to match that sat across her chest, accenting the outfit.

The dress alone was stunning, but what caught his attention was her eyes.

Against the dark fabric, her blue eyes seemed to shine as brightly as the gold. They were captivating, a sea of blue found in a barren wasteland. Kristoff found himself drowning in them.

It wasn’t until he realized those same blue eyes were staring back at him that he turned away, hoping the heat would hide his blush as he gave his camel his utmost attention.

“I see the Bedoiun women treated you well.” He heard Sven say. 

“Oh they were lovely! The sweetest people and look at this.” Anna said, and Kristoff turned in time to see her twirl with the biggest smile.

God she was beautiful. 

“How much did that cost you?”

“Oh, not much.” Anna said, “I tried to offer money but they wouldn’t hear any of it. Doesn’t go a long way in a village so far from the city. So, I gave them a better offer.”

“Which was?”

“A camel.”

“A what?!”

Anna grinned as she walked to one of the camel’s Sven was holding, “The next village is a far walk, it can take a day or two just to get there. A camel makes the trip faster for them and they can carry more when they have one. The family that gave me these can’t afford one, so they have to take turns making trips.” Anna pulled the camel’s head down to her gently, cooing as she began stroking his head, “I knew we had more than enough to get another one, so, I offered to get them one in exchange for the clothes.” Anna turned to Sven, “And don’t give me any lip for this either. I can pay you back for it when we get back to town.”

Kristoff smiled, turning his gaze to a still bewildered Sven who threw his head back and groaned. 

“Fine…watch this lot then.” Sven handed the reins to Anna and marched off. 

Kristoff turned back to Anna, watching as she continued to pet her camel. 

“Did you find everything you needed?” 

He blinked, realizing that she was talking to him. “Oh,” he coughed, “yeah, we managed to gather a few things. Some food and a couple of supplies. Should be able to last us for a while.”

“How did you even find this place?” She asked, turning to look at him.

He paused, watching her eyes twinkle in the sun like jewels, “I uh...came upon it by luck actually. I was trying to find the river but found this place instead. It was a good thing I did too, don’t think I would’ve lasted much longer.”

Anna furrowed her brows and tilted her head, “Why's that?”

Kristoff looked away, thinking over his next words carefully. He didn’t want to lie, far from it, but how much did he really want to tell her? “I...got lost. Got left alone and ended up lost out in the desert.”

“Left alone?” Anna questioned, a look of concern on her face. 

“Yeah…” Kristoff said, 

“What happened to your group?”

 “Things didn’t go as expected, I got lucky and managed to escape but my comrades...they weren’t as lucky.”

“Comrades?” Shit. “You were a soldier?”

Kristoff sighed, turning his gaze to his camel, “I was, yeah.”

He braced himself for how she would react. Over the years, he’d dealt with good and bad reactions to his position. Some were kind; giving him praise for his duty and sacrifice he made.  Other times...well, some were not at all pleased at the idea of foreign presence. 

“...That must have been awful.”

Kristoff turned back to her, finding nothing but sincerity on Anna’s face. “It was.” 

“Were you the only…?” Anna asked, looking away as she hesitated to finish her question.

“I thought I was.” Kristoff said, “But apparently I wasn’t. That man from the river? Weasel? He was also in my battalion.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah.”

“How did he manage it?”

“Who knows, the last I saw him he was running.”

“Running?” Anna questioned, furrowing her brow, “Running from what?”

“The Medjai.”

“The Medjai?” her eyes widened, “I thought they were just a myth.”

“Oh no, they are very much real.”

“But why were they attacking you?”

“Because we found something we weren’t supposed to find.”

“What?”

Kristoff turned away, debating with himself. 

Should he tell her the truth? Should he tell her that just finding Hamunaptra itself was what caused the Medjai to attack? How a though small, but well armed, platoon from the French Foreign League was completely surprised & overrun by the fiercest warriors he’d ever seen; would she still want to venture to the secret land? Or would she want to abandon the whole adventure outright? Truly he wouldn’t blame her, so far the trip had already been disrupted by the Medjai. However, would that mean they’d completely part ways? Would they return to Cairo to part ways, never to see each other again? 

The idea of never seeing Sven again, sure, that would be well and fine. But Anna? Something about her made him never want to leave her side again. 

He turned back to Anna, curiosity written all over her face.

Even through the veil, he could still see the small cut on her neck. Though small, it was still a large reminder at what was truly at risk here. 

If she knew who the men on the ship who attacked them were, that the Medjai were already well aware of where they were heading, most likely preparing for their arrival, what would she do? Could he really risk her life for this? 

Would he himself be able to live with her dying because of some ancient city?

He took a deep breath, knowing that telling her the truth could very well end this trip all together...and he may never see her again. 

She deserved the truth though, more than anything. 

“We found--”

“Alright,” Sven yelled as he stormed up to them, making them both jump, “I am done bargaining anything else here, let’s get the hell out of this village before they scam me out of anything else.”

Sven pulled one of the camels from Anna, starting to head to the outside of the village. They watched him for a moment, then Anna turned back to him, 

“What was it?”

Kristoff blinked, “What was what?”

“What did you find?”

“Oh…” Kristoff hesitated, he had to tell her, he had to “we found...we found--”

“Will you both come on.” Sven yelled, scrambling onto his camel. 

Anna rolled her eyes, “We’re coming.” She huffed in annoyance, and turned back to him, “Later then?”

He clenched his jaw, “Yeah...later.” 

She smiled & turned to catch up with her brother. 

Kristoff watched her, wondering and hoping there would be a later.

[ofregiums]

all the world’s a stage, and VIOLA RYU is merely one of its players. the twenty-five year old bartender is called the chameleon by most that know her. loyal to no one, she’s certainly a force to be reckoned with, considering that she’s rational and sincere. however, if you want to bring her down, i’ll have you know she’s reticent and delicate. – played by park sodam.

— THE BASICS

full name: viola ryu, born ryu jae-hwa  alias: wren 
date of birth: june 9th, 1995 place of birth: chicago, illinois 
age: twenty-five 
star sign: gemini reimagined: viola from twelfth night 
profession: bartender faction loyalty: neutral alignment: lawful good mbti: intp spoken languages: english ( native speaker ), korean ( native speaker ) talents: creative writing, mixology, factory work, shoplifting mother’s name: unknown father’s name: unknown siblings, if any: sebastian jung ( twin brother ) height: 5′5″ hair colour: black eye colour: brown

— THE BACKSTORY

from the very beginning -- from the moment that jaehwa entered this world -- her twin jaeyoung had been the center of her entire universe. but for twelve whole minutes, the same could not be said about her brother to her. . . and perhaps that was the tragic indication of what was to come.

she never met her parents. some days, she wondered who they could possibly be. were they drug-addled ? heartless ? teen parents who simply could not handle such a responsibility ? regardless of the identity, their decision landed the two infants at the local orphanage.

the conditions of the orphanage was abysmal. the beds were hard and the food was tasteless. and my god, the other kids could be needlessly cruel. jaehwa, with her knobby knees and sweet, meek disposition, was an easy target to pick on. they liked stealing her meager possessions and yanking on her impossibly long hair. thankfully, her brother was always there to defend her. every single time.

in hopes of making them more approachable when it came to getting adopted, the wardens of the orphanage told the twins to change their names. after much deliberation, viola and sebastian were decided on and with that, there came those silly hopes that finding a family would be one step closer.

viola survived her time in the orphanage with her brother by her side. he was everything she was not, and therefore everything that she wished to be. there was always a part of her that was convinced that she needed sebastian far more than he would ever her. that had it not been for the womb they shared, he would not have even looked her way. it was a silly thought, really. her brother loved her. but she was so used to people not wanting her and sometimes that fear manifested even on the quietest of days.

they didn’t have much luck getting adopted as they grew up. most families only wanted one, not two, but weren’t cold enough to separate the clearly co-dependent twins. it wasn’t until the jung family arrived one day, so elegant and so fabulously dressed, when absolutely everything changed.

viola remembers the excitement clear enough when the head warden pulled both her and sebastian into his office. it was happening ! she had seen the family’s interest since the very first day. they were finally getting adopted ! at least, that was what she thought until the head warden gently ( perhaps, sadly ) informed them that the jung family only wanted one -- sebastian.

she would be lying if she said she couldn’t remember every single detail of what happened next. every moment felt permanently ingrained in her brain despite the hysterical sobbing, pleading, clinging. her brother -- her only sense of purpose -- was ripped from her and off to god knows where without as much as an address or even city to go off of. after twelve years, viola’s biggest fear manifested into reality: she was alone. 

any sense of protection that her brother provided her was instantly gone. the taunts of being unwanted followed the little girl everywhere. kids shoved her face into her meals for a cheap laugh. and on open house days, some of the older boys would even grab a screaming viola and throw her into the locked closet. no one would miss her, they would say. she spent every night for a month crying herself to sleep.

she turned to books for comfort. despite the mediocre education, viola had always been a very intelligent young girl. literature in particular sung to her soul. she desperately grabbed any novel, no matter how torn and stained, as a form of escape.

viola expected sebastian to come home. sometimes, adoptions didn’t work out. maybe, just maybe. . . her brother could find his way back to her. they could be together again like it was meant to be. but as the months turned to years, the stupid dream of hers began to fade.

at the age of fourteen, viola was placed in the foster system in hopes that a family would take to her enough to adopt her. the family she was placed under ended up being far worse than some mean kids at the orphanage. they made it quite clear that they considered viola an absolute burden, that they were only in it for the paycheck they received from the government every month. it wasn’t long before she started to flinch at lifted hands and raised voices.

she endured eight months of it before she knew that she could not take anymore. if this world would so cruelly treat her as if she was alone, then alone she would be. in the middle of the night, viola packed up her bare belongings and ran away from her foster home. far too hesitant to return to the orphanage, she took to sleeping in parks and under bridges as a means for shelter. and with no real need to call chicago home any longer, she hitchhiked with strangers to get from state to state.

viola took to stealing for clothes and food, very narrowly missing law enforcement countless of times. but it was the only option she had -- it wasn’t like she had any money and who the hell was giving a homeless high school drop out twig of a fifteen year old girl a job ? absolutely no one. it wasn’t until she passed by a job recruitment flyer that an idea formed: a local factory was in search of male workers from the age of sixteen onwards.

being a girl had never gotten viola anything. it was the reason the kids at the orphanage thought they could bully her. it was the reason sebastian was chosen over her. it was the reason her foster parents thought they could lay a hand on her. if anything, being a girl was a curse. so as the wheels turned in her head, she took a pair of broken scissors and hacked off her beautiful hair ( that reached the small of her back ) until it was nothing more than a pixie cut.

she marched up to the factory and introduced herself as WREN. her gamble worked. she ( well, wren ) was hired to sweep the floors.

factory work was grueling and despite how meager, it was the first paycheck viola had ever seen in her life. much like her true identity, wren didn’t have much luck in making friends. fairy and pussy were just a few of the colorful words used to insult wren’s “effeminate” appearance. when viola moonlighted as her counterpart, she found it easier to keep her head down and not attempt to reach out to anyone. 

after a while, it became easier to just be wren full-time. yeah sure, there were some taunts. but for the most part, viola noticed how far more regarded a man was compared to a woman. it felt like the only way to protect herself from a world that had proved time and time again that she was worthless.

however, all good things come to an end. close to her twentieth birthday, a factory supervisor uncovered viola’s secret and chased her out of town. with the little bit of savings that she had, she had to start over and over from city to city until something stuck. wren was at the forefront to help her with possible jobs and protect her when needed. 

she didn’t lay down roots again until she found herself in verona at the age of twenty-two. wren got a job as a bartender and viola could continue her solitude in a new place where no one really knew her. it’s been three years now and she still has barely made any friends or offered anyone information about herself. she wakes up, she goes to work, she sleeps -- and repeat.

in verona, she is strictly known as wren and even then, the word known is a bit of a stretch. sometimes, she finds herself lost in the role she’s now playing. little does viola know, she is about to receive the cruelest reminder of who exactly she is.

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

LinkedUniverse Fanfic Ch. 4: The Beach pt. 2

Stop! You’ve Violated the Law!

So, you’ve stumbled upon this original post for my Linked Universe fanfiction. That’s okay, it happens to everyone. As of March 2021, I’ve uploaded the entirety of this fanfic to my Archive of Our Own page. Along with finally giving the story a name--Oops! All Links: A Linked Universe Story--I made substantial edits to some of the chapters. These range from minor stylistic revisions to fixing a gaping plot hole that kinda completely broke the character conflict in the earlier chapters. I also renamed and renumbered (but not reordered) the chapters. Specifically, this is now Chapter 5: Stars and Stories.

The AO3 iterations of these chapters are the definitive versions. So, if you would like to read this fanfiction, please do so on AO3, right here. With this embedded link. Hehe. Geddit? Link?

Note: My screen name on AO3 is FrancisDuFresne. Yes, that is me. I am not plagiarizing myself.

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, the rest of the original post is below the cut.

Continuation of my @linkeduniverse narrative you can find here Thank you again @jojo56830 for creating this AU that is so inspiring to write for! Word count is 2143.

Wild checked his Sheikah Slate. The map function was finally working again, having lost reception in the cave. The village the nine heroes were traveling to was still a day’s walk away. He looked up from the slate and stared into the distance. The beach faded into rolling hills, obscuring their destination. He turned back to his companions.

They were drying off from their swim. Hyrule found wood washed up on the shore and started a fire with it. The orange flames complemented the purple dusk as the sun set. Wind and Twilight sat together facing the ocean. Wind was splayed out, enjoying the view that reminded him of home. Twilight had his knees tucked close to his chest, hugging his shins.

The younger of them turned to the older. He was about to compliment him on his Great Spin Attack back in the water but stopped when he saw his face. An odd expression played across Twilight’s features. Was it sadness? Contemplation? Regret? Wind couldn’t tell but decided against asking. It was probably better, he reasoned, to let Twilight be.

Wild started walking back to the fire. Legend looked up at him, opening his mouth as if about to say something. Wild shot him a glare, then spoke. “Before you ask me rudely, I’ll just say it. The village is a day’s walk away. Once we leave this beach, it’ll be hills for a few hours, a brief walk through light woods, then flatlands to finish it off. If we don’t hit any snags, we’ll be there by sundown.”

A general murmur of acknowledgment passed around the circle. Wild sat down between Four and Warrior and lowered his head. He felt awful for letting his friends down in the cave. “Guys,” he began. “I’m sorry about back there. I didn’t think that would happen.”

No one spoke for a moment. Warrior spoke up. “Don’t worry about it. Luckily, Sky here kept a cool head and was able to guide us out. Just warn us when that might happen again. It always pays to have a contingency.”

“Wait a moment,” Sky piped up. “What do you mean ‘if we don’t hit any snags?’”

Wild sighed. “There may or may not be enemy camps in that forest. My map can’t say for sure. I’d say we’re well-prepared for a fight, though. How’s our arrow count?”

Legend shuffled through his pouch. “Forty-two. We’re going to want to stock up when we hit that village. You sure your weapons are battle-ready?”

He was referring to the chipped sword and dented stalfos shield lying by Wild’s pouch. He was going to ask Wild about the shield but figured that the fight damaged his original shield beyond repair. Wild wasn’t very selective about the weapons he used. “Yes,” Wild said sharply. “They’ll be fine.”

“So, monsters,” Warrior said. “What are we looking at?”

“I can’t tell. Could be moblins, bokoblins, who knows? At least this time we’re walking through the woods during the day. I’ve had enough fights in the dark for a while.”

“Hm. Well, we’ll just have to be on full alert. Which also means we should get some shuteye.”

Wind patted Twilight on the shoulder, got up, and strolled over to the fire. “Wait,” he said. “I still want to know about Four’s power.”

The shortest Link’s Four Sword had the power to split him into four separate heroes. Prior to using it in desperation during the stalfos fight, he had never mentioned it to any of his companions. It took so much energy out of him that he fainted immediately after becoming whole again. He only woke up hours later, when they had reached the beach.

Four sighed. “Well, it’s my sword. It was gifted to the Hylians by the Minish race. It was originally called the Picori Blade. The sorcerer Vaati shattered it when he unleashed evil upon Hyrule. I journeyed the kingdom finding four sacred elements. With the help of the Minish, I forged it into this.”

He raised the Four Sword, firelight playing off the blade. Like Sky’s Master Sword, it somehow seemed to reflect light brighter than anything else around it. “The Four Sword,” the hero continued. “It has the power to split me into four people. They’re fragments, not copies. My personality splits between them. We used to argue a lot, but now we can fight in perfect unison.”

Sky, Wind, and Legend exchanged glances. They had all gone through a similar process to make their swords. They used sacred flames, pure metals, and dwarven blacksmiths and a great fairy, respectively. It occurred to them that there seemed to be a pattern.

Four continued: “It takes a lot of energy out of me to use that power. I didn’t want the burden of you all pressuring me to use it. I’m sorry.”

“Like I said earlier,” Legend spoke up. “Don’t worry about it. Without that, we would have kicked the bucket back there.”

A moment of silence passed. Legend scanned the group. “So, that being said, anyone else have any powers they haven’t mentioned? Now would be an opportune time to tell us.”

Wind perked up. “You know that my sword can stop time, right?”

“Yes. How could we forget with you always telling us? It would help if you actually remembered that when we’re in combat. I seem to remember Twi needed to save your hide in the cave because you forgot. Again.”

“Geez, I get it. Don’t have to rub it in.”

Time froze. He did indeed have powers he had never told anyone but Malon of. The masks he acquired in Termina were instrumental in stopping Majora’s Mask, but he hated wearing them with a passion. Wearing a dead person’s soul had always made him feel sick. The Fierce Deity’s Mask terrified him. Its power was so great that he feared if he ever put it on again, he might not want to take it off.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Legend pointed flourishing his left wrist. Everyone looked at it expectantly, figuring some transformation would happen. It didn’t. “This bracelet here is a gift from my counterpart in an alternate world,” he said. “His name is Ravio. Dunno where he got the thing, but I can use it to transform myself into a painting.”

This was met by a mix of mild surprise and indifference. “What?” Legend asked. “No big reaction?”

Sky shrugged. “Well, that sounds cool and all, but how useful can it really be?”

Legend snorted and cocked an eyebrow. “You’d be surprised. It’s gotten me out of many a sticky spot.”

“Why haven’t you used it around us yet, then?” Hyrule prodded.

Silence. Legend flushed and sat there a moment, then admitted: “I… haven’t had a good chance to use it.”

“You probably could have used it in the cave,” Sky suggested. “We were surrounded by walls. Could’ve pulled a sneaky on the Stalfos.”

“Well, I haven’t used it for so long that I… kinda forgot about it.”

Wind shouted out, “Ah ha! Look who’s forgetting useful powers in the middle of combat, now!”

Time chuckled. “You do have to take it off and put it back on every time you get dressed. You’d think you would remember of it.”

“Listen!” Legend growled. “I just wanted to tell… urgh, whatever.”

The Links had a good laugh over this all. Time sighed in relief. No attention had fallen on him after all. As much as he hated keeping secrets from his friends, he was still afraid they would ask him to use the masks. Worse still, if they would become afraid of him. Fortunately, that discussion could wait until another day. A day that might never come, Time hoped.

After the laughter subsided, Four remembered the question that had been nagging at him all day. “Alright, so after I rejoined and fainted, Legend carried my weapons. Who carried me?”

“It was Twi. Not really a shock, is it?” Warrior said. “He picked you up as soon as I made sure you weren’t dead.”

It didn’t occur to Four that it wouldn’t be obvious that he fainted, that they might think he died. They had never seen anything like that before. “Oh. Thanks. Didn’t mean to give you guys a scare like that.”

Warrior shrugged. “Eh, you’re good.”

“Thanks. But what about Twi? Is he okay? He’s been sitting there by the water since we got out.”

Time was facing away from the water. He turned around to face his friend. Twilight was in the same position as before, staring off into the ocean. The sun had long set, so all that could be seen out there was the stars and their reflections. Still facing Twilight, Time said to the rest of them: “It’s probably not the first time he’s carried a fallen friend on his back. Maybe he’s reliving bad memories?”

Wild bowed his head fraction and sighed. “He wouldn’t be the first. Someone ought to check on him.”

“I will,” Time said. “Don’t wait on us to get some rest. We have a long day ahead.”

“When is it ever not a long day?” Wind muttered. This got a few giggles.

With a grunt, Time pushed himself off the sand. He turned and strolled over to Twilight. He paused a moment to appreciate the beautiful ocean view. The breeze was getting chilly. Content, he lowered himself to the ground next to Twilight.

“Twi.” Time said. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight kept staring ahead, but Time could tell his eyes were red and his cheeks damp. Time had never seen him this upset; it was a tad unnerving. “I need a minute,” he choked out, “okay?”

Time shook his head. “You’ve had plenty of minutes. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… carrying Four out of there reminded me of a really terrible thing that happened… At one point, Midna was mortally wounded by a light spirit. As a wolf, I ran all the way to Hyrule Castle with her on my back. She barely managed to say that we needed Zelda.

“I was terrified that she wouldn’t make it. It was pouring that night. By the time I reached Castletown, my fur was sopping wet. I couldn’t get into the castle through the gate, so I had to take the sewers in. Every detour, every obstacle, every monster slowed me down. I felt like there was a clock ticking in my head, reminding me that Midna was on borrowed time.”

Clock ticking in his head, Time thought. If only he knew.

“Once we reached Zelda, she said that it wasn’t her duty to save Hyrule. It was up to Midna and me. Then she held Midna’s hand in hers and…”

Twilight choked up again. He didn’t bother to wipe the fresh tears off his face. After staying silent for almost a minute, he continued. “Zelda gave her life force to Midna, reviving her. By the time Midna realized what was happening, it was too late. She was screaming, begging Zelda to stop, but before we know it, Zelda was just… gone.

“Of course, it ended up working out for us all. For the most part. But that was awful. Carrying Four wasn’t really that bad. We knew he was okay, and I only needed to carry him until he woke up. But—”

“But,” Time interrupted, “the strangest things can trigger these awful memories. Trust me, I know… I’m sorry. About what happened that night.”

With a sniffle, Twilight finally looked up at Time. Between the puffy eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and wind-disheveled hair, Twilight was an utter wreck. Time gazed into his eyes. They had a certain depth to them that he saw every time he looked in a mirror. His expression softened.

“Come here,” Time said as he put an arm around his friend and pulled him closer. They sat there a while in silence. The only sound was the gentle surf moving to and fro ahead of them. The breeze brought a biting chill now, and Time could feel Twilight shiver under his arm.

Time withdrew his arm and stood. He turned to face the fire. It was starting to die off. The Links seemed to either be asleep or falling so. Wind was snoring softly. Wild was rolled on his side and could have been asleep had the faint light of his Slate not been glowing. Time remembered their earlier exchange about Twilight not being the only one to relive bad memories.

Twilight stood as well, and the two heroes walked forward together. They laid down in the company of their other selves, their friends. It was a beautiful scene: nine young heroes circled around a dying fire on a secluded beach, starlight glittering off the ocean. As the embers cooled and flickered to darkness, so were the Links stolen by sleep.

[theguardianangel-fanfiction]

⭐️

Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

Reblog this if you want readers to come into your ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines.  

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

Thank you so much for submitting this! There’s one section of chapter 26 (We Hope For Better Things) that had me stumped for literal months, and I wanted to kind of discuss my thoughts and concerns behind it, its canon counterpart, and the ways that I intended it to be interpreted; however, any way that you interpret it is fine.

Fun fact: Chapter 26 takes place during episode 2, A House Divided, which actually came out on my 13th birthday (March 4th, 2014).

This will contain spoilers for Once Bitten, Twice Dead chapter 26, We Hope For Better Things. 

First off, let me talk about my grief with season 2’s treatment of Christa. Now, I don’t absolutely hate that she was, presumably, killed off; I dislike the way that they, in fast succession, killed her and Omid off, never mentioning the baby except for a very brief hint in episode 4 (Clementine closes her eyes and says, “Not again…” when AJ doesn’t immediately move after he’s born). Because of the fact that Clementine is literally around Rebecca for almost the entirety of season 2, I found her lack of reaction to Rebecca’s pregnancy a bit strange.

Like I said, my dislike of the handling of Christa’s pregnancy and Clementine’s thoughts about it have a lot to do with the following paragraphs. I’m all for Clem being able to actually stop and deal with her thoughts and somewhat deal with her emotions (I mean, shit, read my other series posted on AO3 and you’ll see what I mean).

In chapter 26, we get a discussion between Rebecca and Clementine about the baby, Alvin, and the circumstances surrounding this, something that leaves Clem feeling ill, anxious, and somewhat guilty about what she knows that Alvin doesn’t. But the discussion also leaves Clem thinking of Christa, and of her thoughts about Christa’s pregnancy. She is also very prone to comparing Christa and Rebecca, as seen below:

Clementine grasped her left wrist, leaning against the railing as she spoke, watching Rebecca’s mannerisms. She looked nauseous, though Clementine found it hard to tell, as she hadn’t exactly known Rebecca very long; Christa used to get sick, something Clementine could easily remember, when she smelled Omid cooking meat of any kind over the fire. At least until she started showing. In the later stages of her pregnancy, Christa didn’t have any sickness or dizziness. But maybe Rebecca was different.

This only adds to the way that Clem adjusts to and interprets Rebecca’s pregnancy, something that I intend to tackle in another chapter (somewhat in chapter 29, and likely a lot further than that).

Crossing her arms, Clementine spoke in a low voice. “I don’t know.” She hesitated, but then sighed as she thought of herself. She was still alive. But she thought of Duck – the only other child that she spent longer than a few hours with after the beginning of the outbreak – and she thought of his end, and how Kenny couldn’t protect him.

How Kenny couldn’t protect Katjaa, either.

She thought of Christa and Omid. She thought of their child.

This brings up the subject of Christa and Omid’s child, and why Clem is so uneasy about Rebecca’s pregnancy is also brought up. This leads into Rebecca asking Clementine if she wants to listen to the baby kicking. Now, in the game, I said yes, and the scene was absolutely adorable. I love the relationship between Rebecca and Clementine. But with Clem’s past with Christa, I found it to be a little bit unrealistic. Clem obviously has feelings about the baby, and because it was never explored, we as players don’t know whether or not the subject was traumatic to her.

Now, I have almost the exact same age difference with my younger sister that Clementine and AJ have. I’m 18, and my sister just turned 7, if that gives you an idea. Therefore, I remember what my mother’s pregnancy was like, and I remember the kicking and listening to her kicking – it’s a very surreal thing, and for someone like Clem, who for all we know could have witnessed the baby’s death, it can be downright triggering.

That brings me to Clem’s actual apprehension.

“She’s kicking.” Rebecca suddenly spoke, removing both hands from her stomach. She used one to push herself forward, and the other to reach out to Clementine. “Wanna listen?”

Clementine froze in her spot, still staring Rebecca in the face. Rebecca’s expression didn’t change, and she instead reached for Clementine’s hand, but Clementine’s mind was elsewhere.

Can you feel her kicking, Christa?

I don’t think she has feet yet, Clem.

Blinking, Clementine retracted her hand from Rebecca’s grasp and slowly shook her head.

“Can I… just… feel?”

Rebecca’s lowered smile was subtle, but she nodded anyway as Clementine reached out again, her fingertips barely close enough to feel the fabric of Rebecca’s shirt. Carefully, she placed her palm flat against the area that Rebecca guided her to; immediately, Clementine felt her heart racing.

The smallest thump against Clementine’s hand made her slowly pull it away again.

I believe there was a developer or writer for season 2 that claimed that Christa miscarried, but after the amount of misinformation and, might I say it, somewhat lazy writing that came from season 2 (don’t get me wrong, I love season 2), I don’t like this reason.

Why? Well, in All That Remains, Christa appears to be about 7-9 months pregnant. My own mother was about that size when she was 8 months along with my sister, though my mom is 5’2 and Christa looks to be closer to 5’10-6’0. But I digress. Anyway, since Christa was probably about 8ish months along, a miscarriage would probably have killed her. The baby would be nearly fully formed by then. But in OBTD, my idea was a little bit more realistic – not every baby survives birth, and some die before labor.

Clem’s canon reaction, as she looks at a barely conscious newborn AJ, kind of gave me an idea. Stillbirth is a much more likely reason for Christa to lose that baby, as sad as it is. Either that, or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Therefore:

Clementine crossed her arms, but only to hide the sudden lack of feeling in her fingers as they trembled. Slowly, she asked, “Do you think she’ll be okay?” Just as soon as she spoke them, Clementine regretted it.

And just as soon as Clementine spoke and regretted speaking, Rebecca’s eyes became wide, her eyebrows scrunched. Clementine crossed her arms tighter, her shoulders arched as she did so, and mentally scolded herself. She shouldn’t have said that. She should not have said that.

Just because what happened with… Clementine’s thoughts were cut off when Rebecca spoke in a hushed voice.

And a little bit later, we have:

“I’m… I’m not trying to be weird.” Clementine turned back to Rebecca, “I just… I don’t know.” Once again, she crossed her arms and peered over the railing. Both Sarah and Sarita had abandoned the Christmas tree. “I was just… thinking.”

“About what?”

“Christa.”

“Your friend.” Rebecca placed her hand on her bump and looked into the same direction that she had before, as if expecting Alvin to walk back into the room at any moment. “Why?”

“She was pregnant for a while.” Clementine paused, biting the inside of her mouth and her tongue. She avoided Rebecca’s face. “And I don’t like thinking about it.”

Even later than this, we get a bit more confirmation and insight into Christa’s baby:

Clementine’s gaze focused on Rebecca’s bump just as much as she focused on the words that Rebecca spoke earlier – It’s not his. As in, it wasn’t Alvin’s. Rebecca wasn’t carrying a baby that was her husband’s. If Clementine’s very limited education on the art of where babies came from was any less, then she wouldn’t have even believed Rebecca. Yet, here Rebecca was, pretending that nothing was wrong. Flirting back to her husband.

Her stomach hurt, and Clementine locked her hand onto her opposite arm as she weeded through the other possibilities. Clementine knew that Christa’s baby girl (as much as it pained her to think of that cold, dead face) was Omid’s. She had looked just like Omid, after all, with very little of Christa.

There was, I think, a 5 month difference in this update from the one before this one. Now, I suck at updating as it is, but I will fully admit that this scene stumped me for quite a while. I had a conversation with my dad, and I recall saying to him, “I need a realistic reaction to seeing a pregnant woman in the apocalypse. [Clem] is supposed to have PTSD and her last interaction with a pregnant woman resulted in the death of the baby. You got any advice?”

My dad actually did help a little bit with a reaction; he suggested avoidance, and I was like, “Holy shit, that’s true.” And that’s how I wrote Clem. I have written Clem with implied PTSD and mild anxiety before, but I felt that this was a different situation, because this is meant to be a form of establishing her character in OBTD. She’s similar to one of the ways that I played her in season 2, which is someone who only really talked a lot to certain people (like Walter or Sarah) and was silent in certain situations (like at the dinner at the lodge or after Sarita’s bitten death in episode 4 when Kenny goes off on her).

I’m doing my best to be the best writer that I can, especially while writing from the POV of an 11 year old who has experienced violence, kidnapping, emotional manipulation, and has now seen both childbirth and infant death. Part of the reason that some of more recent chapters have taken so long is this reason, and the surrounding circumstances.

Because of how long OBTD is meant to go for (trust me, we are barely even started), I have to establish both Clem’s actual, legitimate fears and her more childish fears and quirks. I’m trying to do this without her being that mature for her age; yes, she is mature for her age in OBTD and canon, but she is not an adult and I absolutely cannot stand when people write her as so.

It’s different when we’re talking about season 4, where she’s literally been raising a child on her own for quite a while, but in season 2? No, she’s still going to have some childish thoughts, fears, and quirks.Her connecting Rebecca and Christa is, in my opinion, something that realistically would happen if the events of TWDG were real and she were an actual person going through this. The establishment of her issues in not connecting a trauma and a similar act are something that I think was somewhat touched upon in season 2, but I wanted to look a more realistic angle.

In summary, I’m looking to get further into her psyche and how a child in her situation would actually react, but in a more consistent way. Stories need consequence, and I think the small changes in the way that characters feel about each other should actually impact their actions. She feels uneasy Rebecca’s pregnancy, and later what she believes is an affair, and she feels guilty from keeping this from Alvin. Hopefully, I can do this justice as time goes on.

Thank you for your ask, and thank you to anyone who made it to the end. 😊

[solecize]

REPLY 2009 ⠀ ⠀⠀.⠀⠀.⠀⠀.⠀(or: 2009, year of us) — 001.

now playing: forever young by got7

summary: ten years ago, we found ourselves at a turning point in pop culture as the decade began to close. this was the year that brought the world obama, the death of michael jackson, and the highest grossing film of all time, avatar. however, in south korea, something big was brewing as well and it started off with infectious lyrics, colourful costumes, and sensational dance moves: kpop. the korean wave that started to build several years ago begins to find its footing in the international limelight in 2009. this was the golden era of kpop. this was the time of sorry, sorry. the debut of quite possibly the most different and groundbreaking girl group in korean entertainment, 2NE1. the rise of shinee, one of the most consistent boy bands of this era and beyond. the throne of bigbang would remain steady with their ventures into japan. and of course… snsd’s gee that would solidify their place as the nation’s girl group and overtake their male counterparts. nothing can touch this legendary age.meanwhile, in the very city that milled and churned out these stars, eight teenagers were also coming to a certain close in 2009. youth was suddenly running out like grains of a darkened hourglass, as everything and everyone brought tension into their lives. where was the next step on their path? high school is nothing more than a cruel halfway point between childhood and adulthood, but this group of friends made the most out of it. after all, this is the youngest that they’ll ever be. this age is the time where hopes rise higher than ever, where love burns the most passionately, and the desire for freedom expands the furthest. in 2009, we follow these teenagers’ stories to the background music of the opening chapters of kpop’s greatest legacies.but, ten years later at their high school reunion, where do we find them.

or highschool!got7, dancecrew!got7, coming of age, school reunion angst, reader x ?

PRESENT DAY (1)

The familiar smell of textbook induced tears and broken hearts filled my lungs like a smokey, forgotten haze as I remained in an entranced stare towards my old high school building. No other place had such a vile, but hexing scent. Jinyoung tugged me out of his car when I didn’t move, too mesmerized by the scenery that I’d thought I left at the very back of my mind when I threw my cap in the air for the very last time ten years ago. In 2009. However, finding my feet meeting the ugly concrete of the parking lot, I realized that it was always going to be somehow lingering, bothering me like an itch that I cannot reach, when I let out a shocked breath of air.

“So, we meet again,” I mumbled, as if reuniting with an old foe—wasn’t that was high school was for anybody?

Jinyoung’s lips stretched out into a wide grin and I could practically see the memories in his head doing a full flashback reel. “Nothing’s really changed, huh?”

With a glance to my phone screen, I couldn’t help but shoot a glare towards my brother when I noticed the time. “Dude, we’re early. And not like early enough to get to the hors d’oeuvre before anyone else, but as in the parking lot is almost empty early.”

He’d always been the punctual one between the two of us and it was like that since we were born. I usually wouldn’t have a problem with that, unless of course, I would be forced to become punctual as well. Being the less sociable and more restless one, it wasn’t enjoyable at all. Jinyoung only shrugged after taking a glance around us and too, noticed the lack of vehicles in the parking lot. The event was supposed to start at 6:00, but it was only 5:00.

“Who cares? It gives us more time to explore.” He rubbed his hands together in excitement, as he started to walk away. I called out his name in irritation, but he only raised up his arm and with a click and beep, locked the car doors in response.

Since graduating, there was no reason for me to return back to Haerin. Not even alumni events or my fiance’s occasional commitments to the school. If only he was able to make it, I wasn’t even sure of that. I opened my mouth to complain about his lack of presence, but remembered that I’d been doing it the entire car ride to the school, until Jinyoung begged me to “shut up before I do it with my foot” and that “he’ll be here soon, don’t worry.”

Strolling closer to the building, after a half-assed jog to keep up with my brother, it didn’t even feel like I’d left. I’d spent so many years on this campus and went through an entire rollercoaster, especially during my final year. Everything seemed to come flooding back in at once.

There was some muffled chatter coming from inside, indicating that there were indeed people inside. I was met with disappointment when I saw some teenagers at the front, who seemed to be busy with setting up a sign-in table adorned with ribbon. Beside it, there were large balloons that represented the words “CLASS OF 09” in the classic school colours of silver and maroon. They dressed in the usual Haerin attire of polyester uniform and all black shoes, I realized they were current students that were probably volunteers.

One boy with the name tag that read Woojin looked up at Jinyoung and widened his eyes in surprise, nudging his fellow volunteer. “O-Oh! Hello. We weren’t expecting the attendees until six—” I gave an I-told-you-so look to my brother, who pretended not to see it.

“Here’s a button! There isn’t really anyone here yet, though, so. . “ The girl next to him, her name tag indicating that she was called Ryujin. She handed the two of us a little button pin that read “HAERIN CLASS OF 2009 TEN YEAR REUNION.” I smiled and thanked her, as she showed us where to sign in.

As Jinyoung and I did so in silence, I felt as if we were being watched. I looked up and noticed a third volunteer, a boy who was putting up a banner on the front doors and eyeing us at the same time. When our eyes met, he raised his eyebrows.

“U-Um, excuse me. You guys don’t happen to be the Park siblings, do you? Part of the founders of the school dance crew?”

Jinyoung’s head snapped up, clearly surprised by the recognition. “Yeah! Well, this one wasn’t a founder, but that’s us. You know who we are?”

MARCH 2009 (2)

“Well, if you don’t want to join choir, that’s fine. There’s definitely way more options, anyway. Uh, chess club, baseball, the school newspaper—”

Spring rolled around faster than I’d expected and soon enough, I was buttoning up my uniform shirt and putting on my backpack for my final year of high school. I’d always imagined what it’d be like to finally become a senior since I was little, watching the dramas and movies about teenage life. When it finally hit me, I didn’t even feel the blow. The end of my childhood creeped up on me without me even knowing it. Yesterday felt like swing sets and multiplication tables as homework and today was suddenly university applications.

It was the year 2009, the first decade of the 21st century coming to a close. It was the year of blue avatars and Zac Efron, where everyone had A Feeling thanks to the Black Eyed Peas, and everyone was nose deep into the world of Facebook. Every American teen star wanted to have tantrums in front of the whole world. Whether you liked to admit it or not, you definitely over accessorized in 2009 with ugly hats, chunky belts and layered necklaces. Everyone hated Lady Gaga, wanted to be her, or were confused by her. Not to mention, everyone was obsessed with the sparkly vampire kids from Twilight.

Meanwhile in Korea, BIGBANG, DBSK, and Super Junior were the kings of kpop, but it seemed as though Girls Generation were looking to become royalty in their own right, with Gee having just come out. It was all we fucking heard over the school break, that was for sure. Though it may not sound so long ago, looking back, the events of 2009 feel like a lifetime ago. I was closing the chapter on my high school life, but this would be my most eventful one yet.

“Is the dance crew any good?”

I looked at my best friend as if he just grew three heads and a tail. We were walking along the halls and he suddenly stopped to look at one of the flyers that the crew obnoxiously posted on almost every surface in the building. He was looking at the bottom, below the dancer figure that was way too cool to represent the crew, where the auditions were being held.

Youngjae turned to me and when he saw the expression on my face, his smile faltered. “What? Hey, wait up!” I began to walk away, having better things to do than look at the crew’s flyers. “Isn’t your brother on the crew?”

“Yeah, says he needs something to do in his freetime or whatever. I don’t know if you wanna join, though…” I trailed off.

It wasn’t like I had some sort of vendetta against the crew, I just believed that Youngjae could be better off pursuing other things. Reading off the school handbook that held the school teams and clubs, I wanted to help him out. I wouldn’t have imagined that he’d even be interested in dancing after the fiasco that was his stint as an idol trainee, but he managed to prove me wrong. Looking into his eyes, I could see that he was genuinely interested, though.

He asked, “Why, is there something wrong with them?”

“No, it’s not like that. I mean, they’re pretty okay, they’re more like a club since they aren’t really competition people.” I shrugged. “I just don’t know if you’d …fit in with those kind of people.”

I clearly didn’t want Youngjae to join the crew. He had the talent for it and already knew Jinyoung, so there was a good chance that he’d pass auditions. I said that I didn’t have a vendetta, but after breaking up with Mark, I wasn’t sure how I felt about my best friend hanging around him and my brother, considering I used to have to fight for Youngjae’s attention when we were kids.

Youngjae was confused at that. I had to nudge my head towards the front foyer, where some of those very members were gathering. It was four of them, lounging around, probably catching up with each other as if they didn’t spend every waking moment as a unit during the break and playing catch with Jinyoung’s student ID while blasting Chris Brown from one of the three’s boombox. Between the ruckus causing Jackson and Bambam with the wannabe DBSK haircut was their apparent crew leader, Im Jaebum.

Upon watching them for a few moments, he came to a conclusion. “So, they’re delinquents or something?”

I thought of my book smart brother and reserved Mark, even the laidback Yugyeom. “What? No. Individually, they’re quite the personalities and they’re all fine, but as a collective,” I paused looking to string together the appropriate words, “they’re not quite respected around here. Students think their dance crew is a joke and girls just want to throw themselves on the boys because they’re good looking.”

I had my fair share of having to reject the fragile hearts of girls that confessed to Jinyoung on his behalf. It was embarrassing, having to do it. Having seen them dance in action one or two times, I’m sure they weren’t terrible, but I wasn’t sure why anybody would want to join them since all they did 90% of the time was fool around.

“I take it that you’re not auditioning, then.”

Jumping at the voice that seemed to appear out of nowhere, sounds of scribbling granite was heard behind me. I turned around and was met with the face of Jackson Wang, the usual power forward of the school basketball team. He’d made his way here without me noticing. Rumours spread towards the end of the last school year that he was the top candidate to be this year’s captain. He had a bright red mechanical pencil out, writing his name onto the sign-up sheets for basketball tryouts, as if he even had to try out.

Smiling shamelessly, I replied, “I’m no dancer anymore. I was going to do basketball this year again, but—” I raised up my left hand, showing off the cast that adorned the area. It was all thanks to an unfortunate accident when playing basketball with Jinyoung the week prior, the Jinyoung who couldn’t do sports if his life depended on it and ended up hurting me in the process.

The Hong Kong native sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s terrible, man. What’s the team going to do without you?” he teased, which somewhat offended me. I hadn’t been a Jackson-esque star on the girls’ team, but I was a first string player and played a decent amount to be considered important.

“Like I said, you should join volleyball  after basketball season ends! You’re tall and you hit hard, so you’d make the cut for sure,” Youngjae chimed in and it was at this moment that Jackson noticed the other male, searching for familiarity in his face, but found none.

I decided to step in. “Jackson, this is Youngjae. He transferred from Hanlim. And Youngjae,” I watched the two attempt to exchange a handshake, with Jackson going for a fist bump, but failed when the other decided to be a little bit more formal, “this is Jackson. He’s on my brother’s dance crew.”

“Hanlim? The arts school? You’re lucky to have a cutie like her showing you around,” Jackson winked in my direction, but I ignored it. He was naturally a flirtatious guy and I was immune to such mannerisms at this point, even though I’d tease back at some times. It wasn’t one of those times. Just the subject of basketball brought irritation to my senses, as I’d been looking forward to the season as a senior for the longest time.

Youngjae grew uncomfortable at the mention of his old school and chose to ignore it. “How many members is the dance crew looking for?”

“One.”

At that, Youngjae let out a sound of shock and sputter. “O-One? Why only one?”

“We usually only perform as seven and our seventh got into a huge argument with Jaebum. Chairs were thrown.” Jackson whispered the last part into the other’s ear in an ominous manner and looked around as if someone was watching them. “And because Jaebum is our leader, he has final say on everything and he wanted Wooyoung out.”

“So, he threw his usual hissy fit because he didn’t get along with someone?” I said dryly. I didn’t know Jaebum that well, but I knew him well enough to see how exactly he ran the crew.

He chuckled at what I said, not denying it, and turned back to Youngjae. “You got any previous experience?”

“If you could call it that.”

Attempting to cut in, I could see exactly what Jackson was trying to do. He cocked his head to the side, looking at me up and down. I knew well enough that Jackson wasn’t checking me out, it was some unconscious habit that he had. “I didn’t see you hanging around Jinyoung or the house over the break, did I? Where were you?”

“Stop trying to change the subject! I was working and visited my grandparents for a bit without him. Don’t you dare try to recr—”

Youngjae slyly slid Jackson his number on a piece of paper. I’m interested, he mouthed behind my head, which I only noticed when Jackson nodded in response.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Before I knew it, phone numbers were being exchanged and further info and tips were being provided by Jackson to him. After the basketball player left, I gaped at Youngjae, who I’d just spent time warning him about the crew. He only looked at me with the innocence that only Choi Youngjae could successfully feign.

“What? Hey, do you think I should audition with Gee?” He looked genuinely excited and that was something that I couldn’t deny. “It is 2009, after all. A whole new year, new opportunities.”

[starsrshiney]

Offshoot of Starsnapped 5

Not putting this in the Starsnapped tag because this isn’t canon to it. Though it might be canon to world 1.1? or 1.1.1?

This is the self indulgent 1.1(.1? Starting to lean more towards Groupchat!Stars being the one to do this) Stars falls into Starsnapped that I was talking about in 1.1.1 Part 3. Basically 1.1(.1?) Stars, after the current crossover I’m doing with friends but before the sequel crossover that’s planned to happen, gets involved with the mess. Like I said in the notes there, 1.1(.1?) Stars kills the tension here, since he’s just done with Carmo. Unlike Starsnapped!Stars, who still has the Trauma in his head. Also unlike Starsnapped!Stars, he has all his equipment, including stuff he got/ it’s planned for him to get in the crossover.

This starts off the same as Starsnapped 5, so if you’ve read it already you may want to skip to the part where Carmo is fantasizing about a Pyrril wedding.

‘If this is how my luck’s going, those kidnappers had better have left a mess when they kidnapped me.’ Stars growled mentally, looking at the scene below him.

He had stayed in the tree for a good while, letting the fruit digest enough for him not to be sick once he left the orchard. He was taking a final look around before leaving his hiding place when he noticed pollen flying around unnaturally. That was enough of a cue for him to lie on the branch and condense his aura as much as he could.

His observations had continued, noting that the pollen seemed to flit from tree to tree. His eyes widened when he got it- someone was magically pollenating the trees. It was an impressive display, at least until the person who was doing so showed herself.

Waving a crystal wand filled with wood energy- ‘thankfully too dark to be mine,’ and wearing something she should not be- ‘That’s MY robe!’ Carmo Medeiros strutted through the orchard with a servant in tow.

Which lead to now, with Stars keeping his aura as condensed as possible and hoping ‘no one ever looks up’ remains true.

“We can’t just let my darling be whisked away by his parents though.” She said, with a slight spring in her marching. “At least, not until he proves to be my hero again, saving my family from that awful phantom thief.”

‘Spectette targeted the Medeiros’? I’m more inclined to applaud her at that.’ Stars thought with a frown. ‘What happened in my life for me to think that wa- oh wait, C happened.’

Carmo continued to go on, talking about how she was sure Stars would help her as she walked circles in the center of the orchard. The servant never gave more than a ‘yes Miss Medeiros’ or other such comment, which made Stars wonder if he’s only there because he’s paid to be.

‘How much of their staff is like that?  And she mentioned my folks?’ It didn’t take long for Stars to figure out his team’s logic. ‘If there are employees here who only listen to the elder Medeiros’, they’ll probably keep me safe until I get picked up. I’ll call that plan B.’

Carmo’s spiel continued, something about a Pyrril wedding, when her servant’s voice cut in. “Miss Carmo, look over there!”

If Stars were in the direction the servant pointed, he would have panicked. Instead, he also looked finding what looked like a floating, glowing hole hovering just above the ground. ‘That’s not something you see in Socon every day.’

Stars had no idea why he felt like he just thought the most ironic thing he possibly could have.

Carmo was about to say something when the sound of screaming came out of the floating hole. She seemed to perk at that. “My darling is through there!”

‘Is that really what I sound like?’ Stars thought to himself.

The screaming got closer, and then someone fell out of the hole, which sealed itself shut soon afterward. From his position in the tree, Stars could agree the stranger looked like him at first glance- same build and skin tone, orange hair and long sleeved, hooded shirt. But glancing more than once brought some noticeable differences. The other him’s fringe was maroon, like it had somehow gotten undyed. He wore dark green jeans instead of Stars’ normal blue. There were a series of other minor differences-

“I swear I am going to have fricassee elf as soon as I get home.”

‘He’s me.’ Stars thought. ‘Cross and his time travel are always to blame for weird situations like this.’

“You can eat whatever you like, my darling~” Carmo cried as she dashed toward him.

The other Stars looked at Carmo, just realizing she was there, and gave a long, tired sigh. A chartreuse aura came up and soon solidified into a him-sized hand, that Carmo ran into face first. “No. Today’s been a long day without having to deal with your bull as well.”

‘Future me is my hero.’

“But darling~” Carmo tried to make her way around the aura hand. “You don’t understand! Spectette threatened to steal from my family and-

“Wait, again? Didn’t she do that last year- Wait, dimension travel.” Other-Stars looked over to Carmo’s servant. “What day and year is it?”

“Lachlus 19, 924, young Master Shiner.”

Other-Stars just hummed at that, continuing to block Carmo’s advances like it’s a second thought. “One more question, have my sister, AlChemistrist, and I been missing recently?”

Stars frowned at the question. ‘Anniey and Von went missing too?’

“I had my people bring you here last night!” Carmo declared proudly.

“So this is another Socon, one that’s a year behi- What.” Other-Stars snapped his attention to Carmo as he fully registered what she said. “You kidnapped me? To deal with Spectette? Even a year ago I would have happily helped her screw you in particular ov- Madara’s seedings, is that my-his robe you’re wearing?” He had the oversized hand grab Carmo to stop her moving around.

Carmo stopped, not even sure how she was feeling about this.

Stars meanwhile, digested what his counterpart was saying. ‘So he is from a future, but not my future. He supposed to have gone missing with Anniey and Von around this time? Does that mean my Anniey and Von are missing?’

Other-Stars reached for his head, rubbing his temples to fight off a headache. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. Probably because this is the first time I’ve fallen into another Socon. Tears find a way to surprise me every time.

“Where am I anyway?” He looked around. “Is this a Nemirest tree orchard?”

“Yes young master Shiner.” The servant replied. “Miss Carmo has been growing this orchard ever since you mentioned how useful y-“

“Not to be rude, but I really don’t care about what Carmo decided to do with her stalker information.” Other-Stars declared. With a sweep of his arm, he pulled every leaf, fruit, and flower from the surrounding trees straight off the branches.

Including the tree Stars himself was in, causing a yelp of shock.

A yelp matched by a second person, as Spectette was also revealed to be hiding in a nearby tree.

Other-Stars just shook his head while all the natives stared at each other in shock. Taking advantage of the bought time, he mentally grabbed onto some loose pollen in the air and brought it to Carmo’s face. She had a brief coughing fit before falling under the pollen’s effects.

“Just. . . just take her back to her place.” Other-Stars sighed, dumping her in the servant’s hands and taking the robe with his aura, before having it moved to the version of him wearing aura clothes.

Stars put on the robe and climbed down the tree as Other-Him asked Spectette how to get out of here. She looked shocked at some of his word choices, so he assumed that the cat was out of the bag where he was from.

Stars clapped other him on the shoulder. “My folks are already aware I’m here, which means my team knows and informed them. And if our teams are remotely similar-”

“They’re on their way here.” Other him finished, turning away from Spectette. “Quick question, do you happen to know a Captain Walker?”

“. . . No?”

Other him sighed. “Then the trains are the fastest way, barring Spectette.”

“I don’t have that much power.” She replied. “In fact, all of this-” She waved her arms at the two of them, “Is so far out of my wheelhouse.”

“His too,” Other-Stars jerked his thumb. “But this is just barely out of mine. You go do your thing and try to pretend the last ten or so minutes didn’t just happen.”

“Yeah. . . yeah, that sounds great.” Spectette jumped with the power of wind, leaving the two copies of Stars alone in the orchard.

“So, Spectette said the train is south-southwest from here.” Other-Stars stated. “We should go and wait for the team there.”

Stars just nodded. “You’ve got more equipment and magic than me, so you lead for now.”

Other-Stars gave him a look, before reaching into his shirt- ‘Is that an inventory crystal attached to a ring base?’ and pulling out a chartreuse-glowing crystal.

“Use this to recharge on the way.”

Stars nodded, taking the offered crystal. “So. . .” He started as they made their way out of the orchard.

“We’re not from the same Socon, so I’m not going to tell you-.”

“Its more a technique development question than a ‘tell me the future’ thing.”

“. . . I can’t guarantee anything. We have different pasts from Siywoina on, just after we start dealing with Cross. Wait, is Cross-”

“He exists here.” Stars sadly informed. “But noted. Anyways, did you ever come up with uses for our aura mimicking tree sap?”

Other-Stars just gave him a baffled look. “Our aura can mimic tree sap? Since when?!”

“Since today, for me.”

“Huh.” Other-Stars looked somewhere between impressed and amused. “I’ll have to try when I get home.”

[opedguy]

Britney Griner Caught in a Vice

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), July 5, 2022.--When she was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetytovo airport Feb. 17 for possessing hashish-oil vaping pods, 31-year-old WNBA basketball star Britney Griner could not imagine she would be in a geopolitical vice.  Only one week later, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, starting what’s turned into a nightmare for her and everyone experiencing war on the European Continent.  Griner has languished in a Russian jail awaiting trial, now officially a high-value hostage of 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Girner wrote President Joe Biden and handwritted letter July 4 begging him to put her a top priority, not sure how much longer she could survive Russian captivity after 140 days.  Griner told Biden in her July 4 note she was “terrified I might be here forever,” asking Biden to not  “forget about me and other American detainees,” and “do all you can to bring us home.”

State Department officials led by 59-year-old Secretary of State Anton Blinken are involved in high level talks with Russian officials to swap Griner for 56-year-old  Russian drug lord Viktor Bout, a former Russian military translator-turned drug kinpin, rotting in a federal prison since 2012.  Whether the Griner for Bout swap does the trick is anyone’s guess, but clearly Putin wants as much leverage as possible prosecuting the Ukraine War against a determined U.S. proxy war against his regime.  Biden decided early on in the Ukraine War that he must get rid of Putin, telling a crowd in Warsaw, Polance March 26 that Putin should not remain in power.  Biden started his presidency on the bad foot calling Putin as “souless killer” March 18, on the eve of a get-to-know-you summit with China in Anchorage, Alaska.  Now that Biden’s committed to defeating the Russian Federation, it complicates Griner’s release.

Putin really has no incentive to give Biden any reason to keep his proxy war going against the Russian Federation.  While Griner begs Biden to not forget her, Blinken is doing everything possible to strike a deal with his Russian counterpart, 72-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.  Blinken, like Biden, has created so much bad blood with the Russian Federation, it’s doubtful the Kremlin cares one lick about getting rid of Griner.  Any leverage the Kremlin holds now only helps its ability to exact concession from the White House and Kiev.  Griner’s spouse, Cherelle said Britney wrote the letter because she “cherishes the Fourth of July,” a day she likes to honor her Vietnam veteran father.  But whatever the reason for writing the letter to Biden, it underscores just how little leverage Biden has in negotiating her release from a Moscow jail anytime soon because of the Ukraine War.

Rotting in a Russian jail for 140 days, Griner has little hope that her situation will change anytime soon.  There’s only so many pleas the State Department can make when Biden continues to supply Ukraine unlimited lethal weapons to prosecute the proxy war, using Ukrainian troops, against the Russian Federation.  Had Biden treated the war with Ukraine as a border dispute between antagonistic neighbors, Griner’s fate could have been more predictable.  But instead of understanding both sides of the conflict, Biden blasted Putin as a “butcher and war criminal,” making the situation impossible for Griner.  Griner whose trial started Jul 1 could face up to 10 years in a Russian jail without any prisoner swap or ransom paid by the U.S. government.  Putin and Lavrov see Griner as leverage for the Russian Federation, currently in a bitter proxy war with Washington without no signs of letting up..  

Russia still holds  52-year-old former marine Paul Whelan since 2018 on espionage charges, something he vigorously denies.  But in Griner’s case, the U.S. government says Moscow is “wrongfully detaining Britney Griner,” despite saying nothing about the charges that she possessed hashish oil in Russian territory, a serious drug offense.  “President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who hare help hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Britney Griner.  The U.S. government continues to work aggressively—using every available means—to bring her home.  The President’s team is in regular contact with Britney’s family and we will continue to work to support her family,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.  Watson knows that the abysmal nature of U.S.-Russian relations makes communication all but impossible.

State Department officials haven’t informed Cherelle that things don’t look good for striking a deal with the Russian Foreign Ministry at the moment for Griner’s release.  If the U.S. were not in a proxy war with the Russian Federation, it theoretically would help things, but only if Biden changed his attitude toward Putin.  Biden can’t call the Russian leader a “butcher and a war criminal” without creating negative consequences for someone like Griner.  “I will find that balance of harm vs. help in pushing our government to do everything that is possible because being quiet—they’re not moving, they are not doing anything and so my wife is struggling and we have to help her,” Cherelle said.  Cherelle doesn’t understand the state of war that exists between the U.S. and Russian Federation.  Negotiating prisoner swaps is tough enough but trying to do it while you’re at war is a whole new ballgame.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[thorne93]

Inexplicable Fate (Part 21)

Prompt: When a blinding pain overtakes you at work, what will be in store for your life when you run into the Winchesters and learn Lucifer’s son is about to be born?

Warning: Language, pain, angst, violence, fighting (verbal and physical)…fear of insanity??

Word Count: 974

Notes: This is for @roxyspearing gif challenge. It’s a Jack x Readerfic (so Season 12 and 13 spoilers) Long, slow burn, (a little slow paced at first).

Feedback always appreciated. Feel free to send a message, ask, or leave a comment! :D

Beta’d by the ever fabulous @like-a-bag-of-potatoes

Forever Tags: @capsmuscles @cocosierra94 @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @missinstantgratification @thejemersoninferno @rda1989 @munlis @thefridgeismybestie @bubblyanarocks3 @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @hardcollectionworldtrash @igiveupicantthinkofausername@kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr @kaeling @friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo

IF Tags: @iamafishandigosplish @myfamilysincarolina @ilovemyangelforever @kazuha159 @bisexualdolphinthings @mysteriouslydeliciouswerewolf @justiceiswater @millard-our-savior @polkadottedpillowcase  @hunter-demigod-timelord @octo-cow52 @damnedangel98 @bad-moose @weirdoblogger69

Dean Winchester: @akshi8278 @mogaruke

Sam Winchester: @mogaruke @lenawiinchester

Castiel: @lenawiinchester

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11  Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly three weeks had flown by since your first date. Everything was heaven for you. The first thing you did when you woke up was rush to Jack’s room and jump on his bed, showering him with kisses, love, and affection. The two of you would cuddle for a few minutes before getting up to start the day.

You hadn’t gone on any more dates, but you didn’t care. You didn’t need them. You had Jack, and dates would feel like a formality that needed to be filled. The two of you couldn’t be happier, as it seemed.

Sam had finally found a dreamwalker, after hours of research. The five of you were planning to meet him very soon, in order to get Mary. But you decided it was time to push hardcore on the research for what you were, how you came to be. So this morning, the two of you would show the rest of your family what happens when you two touch. You’d been so cautious about touching in front of them, not wanting them to freak out. But now, between you two dating, and hoping it might provide some insight, once they gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, you two showed them.

“Okay, we wanted to show you something,” you said when the three men sat at the table in the kitchen, finishing their food, Jack by your side. “We found this out back when we were in Florida,” you explained. They gave you a curious look but you just turned to face Jack, putting your hands up and touching, the same effect happening as it always did: golden light, euphoric feelings, the light flowing down your arms, and when you released, a small orb of light.

“What the hell’s that?” Dean asked when he stood up, walking to the light.

“We aren’t sure. We were hoping one of you might have an idea,” you said.

Sam stared at it, stammering, “I--Uh---I---No, I have no idea what that is. Cas?”

Castiel eyed the object, getting up and coming closer to it before it fizzled out. “It’s a star. On a microscopic level, and clearly not as hot, but it is a star.”

“We’re..making stars...with our hands?” you asked incredulously.

“It would appear so,” Cas said, still thinking.

After a moment, you looked over to Sam and asked, “Have you found anything about my roots? About what I might be?”

“Nothing...I’ve read and researched everything about nephilim, there's nothing about a twin being born or a counterpart or anything.”

You frowned, thinking, searching every crevice of your mind. “You searched...everything?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What about that guy that was a prophet or something?”

“Kevin?” Dean asked. “He’s--”

“I know,” you said, cutting him off so he wouldn’t have to say the hurtful fact of his friend being gone. “Not Kevin...The other one. The one that got Dean killed and tried to kill Cas?”

“Metatron?” Castiel asked.

“Yeah! I wanted to say Megatron...Wrong thing,” you mused.

“He was the scribe of God, not a prophet,” Sam corrected.

“Even better. Do you still have his stuff?” you asked.

With a frown, Sam said, “Yeah. Why?”

You inquired, “Wouldn’t God’s secretary have something written down about nephilims? Maybe?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Sam admitted, his eyes drifting to a far off spot.

“Well let’s get crackin’,” Dean said. “Gotta figure out why we got two for the price of one.”

With that, all of you moved all of Metatron’s stuff from the basement storage to the library, digging through notebooks, tablets, scrolls. Often needing Cas to translate the enochian. Every now and again, you found something small about nephilims, but it was simply a description of the power they hold and what should be done if they’re born. Hours and hours of digging, and nothing. You had even went and made lunch, and now you were about to make dinner when Sam seemed to locate something that sounded promising.

“Hey guys,” he started, lifting up the ancient parchment, “listen to this. Two nephilims shall be born under the moon of the year two-thousand-seventeen.” You and Jack looked at each other, questions filling your eyes. “The first nephilim shall be born two decades before the second, the lineage tracing back to Michael conceiving with a human--”

“Impossible,” Castiel argued, marching over to where Sam sat at the table to read over his shoulder. “Michael never bred with humans. Even if he did, we would’ve felt it,” he stated sternly.

“Keep reading,” Dean instructed, partially ignoring what Cas said.

Sam continued, picking back up where he left off, “The lineage tracing back to Michael conceiving with a human, whose powers will lay dormant, until the presence of the rightful nephilim is felt.” He swallowed, looking up at you. In fact, everyone’s eyes flashed to you for a moment before going back to Sam. You felt as if your head started to spin, the more he read, the harder it was for you to breathe.

After a second, he kept reading, “One shall bear the fruit of my angel Lucifer, the other shall bear the fruit of my angel Michael. Through procreation, the descendant of Michael and the direct child of Lucifer will repopulate my endangered fierce warriors. Together, they will conceive angels, to fulfill the need of Heaven. Lucifer's son shall be known as Jack Kline; his mate, Michael's distant daughter shall be known as Y/F/N.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to you. Sam gazed at you in bewilderment, Cas had curiosity burning in his eyes, Dean’s green orbs were indecipherable. Jack had a look of hope on his face.

But you? You couldn’t breathe. Air wouldn’t make its way into your lungs. Choking on the air around you, you were staring back at your new family in profound bewilderment.

[newjerseyprelawland-blog]

Where is Gypsy Now?

By Kush Bansal, Rutgers University Class of 2024

August 24, 2021

Parents are the ones that we look up to for advice any sort of situation when needed. Parents can even sometimes be seen as “overprotective,” which in many cases can frustrate their children for caring too much, even though this type of parenting can be seen as helpful in the long run. However, in some instances, being overprotective can be seen as abusive causing a huge strain in a mother-daughter relationship and even getting one of them killed; That was the situation in the case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

Ever since she was a baby, Gypsy had been brainwashed into thinking she had a plethora of illnesses, including muscular dystrophy, Leukemia, and even needed a feeding tube, as well as having to be placed in a wheelchair. Gypsy’s mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, would even go on to say that Gypsy suffered asthma, seizure, hearing and visual issues. Despite all of these medial issues, there was only one problem, Gypsy was suffering from none of these illnesses. It was believed that De Dee, however, was suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) [1].

(MSP) is a disorder in which a caregiver is constantly seeking, specifically, medical attention by other people in society. This illness generally affects mothers, and people suffering from MSP are known to fabricate their child’s illness to gain empathy from everyone around her [2].

As Gypsy got older, Dee Dee continued to lie about the Gypsy’s medical issues and even lied about the stage of their home life, which in turned caused many individuals to want to help the mother and daughter. Dee Dee received a new house built by the organization “Habitat for Humanity” and even got an enormous number of benefits from other organizations, and even a free trip to Disney World. However, as Gypsy got older, it was getting more difficult for Dee Dee to dictate her life and at one point, Gypsy went behind her mother’s back and met a boy on a dating site and told him the truth about the abuse she suffered by Dee Dee. Gypsy then asked the boy from the dating site, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill Dee Dee so that Gypsy could run away and be with Godejohn. In June of 2017, GodeJohn came to the house and stabbed Dede Blanchard to death then left to go to GodeJohn’s house in Wisconsin [1]

Gypsy was charged with second degree murder for the death of Dee Dee Blanchard and had pleaded guilty and is now serving ten years in a Correctional Center located in Missouri. Gypsy will be eligible for Parole after serving seven years of her sentence which will occur in 2023. GodeJohn however is serving life in prison with no eligibility for parole [3].

Due to the harrowing life Gypsy went through, Hulu was intrigued by this story and decided to make a television show based on Gyp’s childhood entitled The Act. The Act is a 8 episodes series show the events all preceding the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard. The show stars Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee Blanchard, and Joey King as Gypsy Rose Blanchard. The series said in a statement that “‘some of its events have been “dramatized or fictionalized,” [4].

Even though many people enjoyed the show and connected to the series in some way, many people were not as much fond with the The Act, including Gypsy herself. Gypsy was extremely disappointed of how the show portrayed her childhood. Even though Gypsy was quite excited that Joey King was going to be playing her, since Gypsy was a huge fan of King, Gypsy was not a fan of the show overall. Gypsy was especially disappointed of how the showed showcased her childhood friend Aleah. Gypsy had described Aleah as “a positive influence for her, like an older sister and Gypsy felt that that was shown accurately in the series [5].

People were shocked when this case first made headlines people were shocked to hear how the hoor Gypsy endured. However, many people did not realize the illness Dee Dee was suffering herself, which caused her to act this way and even treat her daughter like a pet. Even though people in our society may not be pleaded with the show, it’s important for individuals in our society read about this case and how people are suffering and not that they want to act this way, they can’t control their emotions or actions.

______________________________________________________________

Kush Bansal is a rising sophomore at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He is a pursuing a double major in Criminal Justice and Theatre Arts. After Rutgers, Kush is looking to possibly attend law school to work in criminal law and become a prosecuting attorney.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Kettler, S. (2021, June 3). The story of gypsy ROSE Blanchard and her mother. Biography.com. https://www.biography.com/news/gypsy-rose-blanchard-mother-dee-dee-murder. 

[2] WebMD. (n.d.). Munchausen by PROXY (msbp) or induced illness BY CARERS - what to watch for. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/munchausen-by-proxy. 

[3] Canning, K. (2019, March 26). Here's when gypsy rose blanchard could be released from prison. Women's Health. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a26949387/how-long-is-gypsy-rose-blanchard-in-prison-when-is-her-release-date/. 

[4] ABC, H. and. (2019, May 3). How the act's actors compare to their real-life counterparts. Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/the-act-the-true-story-of-gypsy-rose-and-dee-dee-blanchard.html. 

[5] Bonner, M. (2019, July 12). Apparently, Gypsy ROSE Blanchard is super pissed about 'The Act'. Cosmopolitan. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/a27141392/gypsy-rose-very-unhappy-the-act/. 

[acsversace-news]

Emmy nominations may be four months away, but the campaign season kicked off on Monday night, when the cast and producers of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story reunited for a For Your Consideration event at the Directors Guild of America theater in Los Angeles.

After a screening of the season finale, “Alone” (March 21 at 10 p.m. ET on FX), stars Darren Criss, Edgar Ramirez, Ricky Martin, Cody Fern, Max Greenfield, Judith Light, and Jon Jon Briones, as well as executive producer Brad Simpson, EP/writer Tom Rob Smith, and Vulgar Favors author Maureen Orth, talked openly about the challenges of bringing the story of Andrew Cunanan and his victims to the screen, the most difficult scenes to film, and, of course, which wardrobe pieces they really wanted to steal.

Here are a few highlights from the event:

Playing Versace’s partner was ‘very painful’ for Ricky Martin

To portray Antonio D’Amico, Gianni Versace’s longtime partner, Martin had to revisit a time in his own life when he was not yet publicly out as a gay man, and the actor told the crowd that dredging up those memories was “very painful, to be quite honest.” Martin added that shooting episode 5, when Versace talks openly to a reporter about his sexuality for the first time, was particularly moving. “When I was in the closet, I unfortunately made a lot of my partners lie. So I was reliving that,” he explained. “I’ll always be so thankful to [executive producer Ryan Murphy] for allowing me to tell this story with everyone on this panel, because it’s been so therapeutic for me.”

The hardest scene Darren Criss had to film did not involve murder

Though he murders four people onscreen as killer Andrew Cunanan, Criss said the most difficult scene for him to film was the intense encounter in episode 3 between Andrew and his third victim, Chicago real estate mogul Lee Miglin (played by M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell). “People always ask me what the hardest thing to shoot was, and I think they want to hear the violence, the aggression — but those are simple things,” said Criss. “Violence is a base act from a very accessible place — it’s easy to get angry. But what is truly twisted and heartbreaking is looking into Mike Farrell’s eyes [as he’s] playing this deeply closeted man who loves his wife, and is truly a good man who is fighting a demon he can’t escape — and then me having to drive the car as somebody waging psychological warfare on this person. When I would leave those scenes, I’d feel like, Ugghhh,” the actor continued. “I think people on set maybe thought it was because I was getting intimate with Mike Farrell — it wasn’t that, it was having to, like, penetrate a man’s soul who was trying so desperately to keep it together.”

Jon Jon Briones might actually be the hardest working actor in Hollywood

Veteran stage actor Briones gives a star-making performance as Andrew’s father, Modesto “Pete” Cunanan, a fast-talking, truth-stretching Filipino immigrant who had big dreams for his favorite son. Maureen Orth, who wrote the book this season of Crime Story is based on, marveled at the accuracy of Briones’s portrayal. “I interviewed Pete Cunanan,” said the author. “And when I saw Jon Jon, I thought I was watching [Pete] on the screen.”

Briones’s performance is all the more impressive considering that during production on Crime Story, he was also working another job — all the way across the country. “While we shot that episode, Jon Jon was performing in Miss Saigon as the lead on Broadway in New York,” said exec producer Brad Simpson. “So often he would shoot with us, take a red eye, then arrive in New York and do a matinee and evening performance.”

Fortunately for the actor, he had a very supportive director: American Horror Story star Matt Bomer, who made his directorial debut with “Creator/Destroyer,” Briones’ breakout episode. “I would recommend it to every actor — on your first big break, get another actor to direct you,” Briones said with a laugh. “Because [actors] are the most insecure people in the world. And every single take we’d cut, and he’d come to me and go, ‘That was amazing. Let’s do another one.’ He kept telling me during filming, ‘You know, if you don’t succeed, I don’t succeed.’”

Everyone loved the wardrobe…

Naturally, a show about renowned fashion designer Gianni Versace is replete with beautiful costumes — and naturally, the cast and creators coveted some of those exquisite pieces. Exec producer Brad Simpson recalled how Ryan Murphy was so enamored of the long, flowing pink robe Versace wears in episode one, costume designer Lou Eyrich had a replica specially made for him to own. Ramirez told the crowd that he still has the keychain bearing Versace’s Medusa head emblem, which his character wore in the premiere, while Martin admitted that he considered sneaking off with another actor’s costume: “I wanted the wings on the male escort that was dancing at the club.” As for Andrew’s pink Speedo, which made its debut in episode 2, Criss joked, “I’m wearing it right now.”

…with one key exception

Martin, who talked with his real-life counterpart during production, said that Antonio D’Amico took issue with a “shocking green” shirt Martin wore during a scene where Antonio and Versace are walking on the beach. “I talked to Antonio, and he goes, [in thick Italian accent] ‘But Reeeky, Reeeky, you have to understand I would never wear a green shirt in my life! I wear black.’”

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayor’s Edition 2320

RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 3 : MAYOR’S EDITION

with Jacob Aere

Super Bowl LIV is in the record books, but celebrations in Miami continue. On Monday night, HSBC and Rick Horrow present SportBusiness 50: Lessons And Leadership From Legends Of The Game. The event, held at the University of Miami, features panelists including Dolphins Vice Chairman Tom Garfinkel, NFL Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker, and RISE CEO Diahann Billings-Burford. The “Lessons And Leadership” Series will draw on contributors to Horrow’s latest book, The Sport Business Handbook: Insights from 100+ Leaders Who Shaped 50 Years of the Industry. The collaboration between HSBC and Horrow kicks off in Miami, focusing on the greatest moments in South Florida sports history and how technology has disrupted the industry. “We are always looking for new and interesting ways to connect with our clients and support their personal and professional growth,” said Michael Rogan, Head of Corporate & Strategic Partners, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, HSBC USA. “Collaborating with Rick on the launch of his new book provides us with an exclusive platform to share insights, perspectives and solutions from luminaries in the sports industry that will help support the long-term business success of our clients and prospects.” We will share the top “greatest moments” next week.

A new report predicts that sports sponsorship spending will increase the most it has in a decade. Global spending on sports sponsorships by advertisers is predicted to total $48.4 billion this year, up 5%, according to a new report from marketing intelligence firm WARC. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is expected to garner $5.94 billion in sponsorship dollars, with $1.95 billion coming from Olympic partners including Coca-Cola and P&G, double the amount sponsors spent at the previous games. The report also predicts that local sponsors in Japan including Canon, Asahi, and Fujitsu will spend $3.33 billion, four times the amount spent during Rio's 2016 games. The report also forecasts that brand investment in esports will total $795 million this year, up 23.1%, with $584 million going to sponsorships and $211 million to ad breaks. Further, NBC projects that the Summer Olympics in Tokyo will set a record by surpassing the $1.2 billion in TV commercials it sold during 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, per Front Office Sports. The network has already booked $1 billion in ad revenue commitments, and the Games are still five months away.

Tokyo 2020 organizers enter the final stretch of a decade of Olympics planning. According to Japan Today, the organizers are dealing with fewer issues than their counterparts did in the build-up to Rio four years ago. But a few challenges still remain before the opening ceremony on July 24, including the city's notoriously hot summer weather. "Everything is coming together now, and we are extremely excited," Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya told Reuters. "It has been a long journey, with some bumps here and there, but for the most part everything has gone well. Everything is where we wanted it to be with six months to go – sometimes in an even better place." Noticeably different from Brazil is the weight of public support behind the Tokyo Games, with almost 4.5 million Olympics tickets having already been sold on the domestic market. By contrast, the Rio Olympics were met with widespread criticism over the use of public funds, as money was poured into venues that have since largely become white elephants. The centerpiece of Tokyo's Olympics is the 68,000-capacity National Stadium, opened by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December.

A U.S. House of Representatives resolution targets minor league contractions in baseball. Less than two weeks before major league pitchers and catchers are due to report to spring training on February 12, a group of U.S. representatives led by Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) have introduced a resolution imploring MLB to "abandon its proposal to strip major-league affiliation from 42 minor-league teams across the country." The bipartisan legislation, according to the Boston Globe, is an "outgrowth of the 'Save Minor League Baseball' Task Force formed late last year." The measure is "non-binding, but after being assigned to a committee, the sponsors' goal will be to bring the measure to the floor of the chamber for a full House vote." Approval is "not guaranteed but the bipartisan support suggests passage would be more likely than not, an outcome that could stiffen headwinds MLB is already facing” in its talks with MiLB over a new working agreement. As baseball season inches closer and the 2020 elections heat up, look for more candidates nationwide to come out in support of MiLB and what it means to our communities.

The PGA Tour announced that the Tour and its tournaments have surpassed $3 billion in all-time charitable giving. The charitable total, which includes a record $204.3 million in 2019 to bring the all-time total to $3.05 billion, includes donations made by tournaments on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Series-China. “It’s truly a pleasure to thank our fans, sponsors, tournaments, players and volunteers for helping us generate over $3 billion for charity and positively impact millions of lives,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. “Together, we look forward to continuing to reach – and celebrate – millions more.” That’s an impressive number – as is the winner’s take just announced for the 2020 Players Championship. The PGA Tour, according to the Florida Times-Union, has “boosted the purse" for the event to $15 million in total and restored it to its "position as the tournament with the richest purse in golf.” The 2020 winner will take home $2.7 million, up from $2.25 million for the 2019 event won by Rory McIlroy.

Snapchat promotes its ability to reach millennials and Gen Z during March Madness. While everyone else’s mind is on Super Bowl LIV, Snapchat is focused on March Madness. According to Snap Inc. internal surveys, as reported by Hashtag Sports, nearly 75% of Snapchatters who intend to watch the 2019-2020 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship use the messaging application while watching live sports. Additionally, over 65% of that group will use Snapchat to chat with their friends about the games. Snapchat saw incremental reach up 23% on average among its advertisers’ target audiences, according to Nielsen, and 72% of the app’s Gen Z reach was not reached by TV. Snapchat concluded, “Marketers can look forward to March Madness on Snapchat in 2020 because of the hyper-relevant content on our platform, Snapchatters’ engagement during live sports events, our proven ability to add incremental reach to TV advertising and the strong performance advertisers saw during March Madness in 2019.” Reaching a desirable young demographic, clearly, is a snap.

SoFi Stadium builders said that the venue is 85% complete, but "finishing touches will take up much of the construction horde's remaining time" before the Inglewood venue opens in late July. Rams Executive VP and COO Kevin Demoff told the Associated Press, "Everybody here feels confident about the timeline and how it will come together. There's been no indication to us that there's been any slippage." The Rams and Chargers will take advantage of the stadium's "late-summer concerts and their own preseason games to work out any quirks or adjustments before the regular season begins." The 298-acre Hollywood Park development surrounding the stadium will "take longer to complete, although construction is already underway on the 450,000-square-foot building that will house NFL Media" beginning in 2021. Crews also are "currently building the stadium's translucent roof, with roughly 40% of the panels already in place." USC School of Architecture Associate Professor Alvin Huang said, "They're going against the historic convention of stadium design where it is a closed roof or a retractable roof." He added, "You will literally have millions of people looking at it from above. The roof not only becomes an architectural signature, it also becomes a branding signature."

YouTube and Google sign an exclusive streaming deal with esports Activision Blizzard. According to The Verge, video game publisher Activision Blizzard will see the Google cloud platform power all of its game hosting and technical needs. As part of the deal, YouTube will become the exclusive streaming partner for all of the game publisher’s big e-sports titles, including the upcoming season of the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty League. The deal is a huge win for YouTube, which has struggled to compete with game streaming leader Twitch, despite YouTube being the largest video site in the world and the second most-visited website on the planet behind only its parent company’s search engine. Twitch has long been the go-to destination for live gaming entertainment. In the larger esports streaming context, it’s Amazon-owned Twitch competing against Google-owned YouTube, while Facebook is also trying to build out its own live-streaming platform to capitalize on the popularity of gaming content. It is only a matter of time before other big streaming players, such as Disney, HBO, and Netflix try to get more involved in the live-streaming and gaming spaces, so Twitch and YouTube need to solidify their foothold on the new industry quickly

The NBA makes major All-Star Game format changes that include a tribute to Kobe Bryant. According to Larry Brown Sports, the 2020 NBA All-Star Game will be broken into a series of mini-games in which teams can raise money for Chicago-area charities. Scores will be reset to 0-0 at the end of the first three quarters, with the winners of each of the first three quarters receiving $100,000 to donate to their charity. When the fourth quarter begins, the scores for each team from the first three quarters combined will be redisplayed, and the team that wins the All-Star Game will be the first to reach a target score in the untimed fourth quarter. That target score will be determined by the total score the leading team through three quarters, plus 24. The 24 is a nod to Bryant’s jersey number. The final score is worth $200,000, making the total game worth $500,000 for local charities. If one team leads the entire way through, the losing team will still get $100,000 to donate to its charity. In an effort to honor Kobe Bryant and contribute to local charities, the NBA will make sure to place the Lakers star center stage during this year’s All-Star game.

Adidas will launch new fabrics from recycled polyester and ocean plastic. According to Reuters, the new fabrics will be expanded into Adidas product lines after the success of shoes made with the eco-friendly Parley for the Oceans initiative. Adidas first teamed up with Parley in 2015 and gradually ramped up production of shoes using plastic collected on beaches and coastal regions to make more than 11 million pairs in 2019, still just a fraction of a total of more than 400 million shoes. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation says less than 1% of material used for new clothing is recycled, a loss of more than $100 billion worth of materials each year. Adidas will continue to make Parley-branded shoes and clothes out of ocean plastic in 2020 and will also launch “Primeblue” fabric containing Parley marine waste that it will use in existing lines like its popular Ultraboost shoes, with the aim of having 100% of its polyester recycled by 2024. In total, the German sports giant will produce 15-20 million pairs of shoes using ocean plastic in 2020. While recycled polyester costs about 10% more than the other material, Adidas ultimately wants to get the price down so more consumers can afford to choose sustainable products and help save the planet.

[opedguy]

Britney Griner Caught in a Vice

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), July 5, 2022.--When she was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetytovo airport Feb. 17 for possessing hashish-oil vaping pods, 31-year-old WNBA basketball star Britney Griner could not imagine she would be in a geopolitical vice.  Only one week later, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, starting what’s turned into a nightmare for her and everyone experiencing war on the European Continent.  Griner has languished in a Russian jail awaiting trial, now officially a high-value hostage of 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Girner wrote President Joe Biden and handwritted letter July 4 begging him to put her a top priority, not sure how much longer she could survive Russian captivity after 140 days.  Griner told Biden in her July 4 note she was “terrified I might be here forever,” asking Biden to not  “forget about me and other American detainees,” and “do all you can to bring us home.”

State Department officials led by 59-year-old Secretary of State Anton Blinken are involved in high level talks with Russian officials to swap Griner for 56-year-old  Russian drug lord Viktor Bout, a former Russian military translator-turned drug kinpin, rotting in a federal prison since 2012.  Whether the Griner for Bout swap does the trick is anyone’s guess, but clearly Putin wants as much leverage as possible prosecuting the Ukraine War against a determined U.S. proxy war against his regime.  Biden decided early on in the Ukraine War that he must get rid of Putin, telling a crowd in Warsaw, Polance March 26 that Putin should not remain in power.  Biden started his presidency on the bad foot calling Putin as “souless killer” March 18, on the eve of a get-to-know-you summit with China in Anchorage, Alaska.  Now that Biden’s committed to defeating the Russian Federation, it complicates Griner’s release.

Putin really has no incentive to give Biden any reason to keep his proxy war going against the Russian Federation.  While Griner begs Biden to not forget her, Blinken is doing everything possible to strike a deal with his Russian counterpart, 72-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.  Blinken, like Biden, has created so much bad blood with the Russian Federation, it’s doubtful the Kremlin cares one lick about getting rid of Griner.  Any leverage the Kremlin holds now only helps its ability to exact concession from the White House and Kiev.  Griner’s spouse, Cherelle said Britney wrote the letter because she “cherishes the Fourth of July,” a day she likes to honor her Vietnam veteran father.  But whatever the reason for writing the letter to Biden, it underscores just how little leverage Biden has in negotiating her release from a Moscow jail anytime soon because of the Ukraine War.

Rotting in a Russian jail for 140 days, Griner has little hope that her situation will change anytime soon.  There’s only so many pleas the State Department can make when Biden continues to supply Ukraine unlimited lethal weapons to prosecute the proxy war, using Ukrainian troops, against the Russian Federation.  Had Biden treated the war with Ukraine as a border dispute between antagonistic neighbors, Griner’s fate could have been more predictable.  But instead of understanding both sides of the conflict, Biden blasted Putin as a “butcher and war criminal,” making the situation impossible for Griner.  Griner whose trial started Jul 1 could face up to 10 years in a Russian jail without any prisoner swap or ransom paid by the U.S. government.  Putin and Lavrov see Griner as leverage for the Russian Federation, currently in a bitter proxy war with Washington without no signs of letting up..  

Russia still holds  52-year-old former marine Paul Whelan since 2018 on espionage charges, something he vigorously denies.  But in Griner’s case, the U.S. government says Moscow is “wrongfully detaining Britney Griner,” despite saying nothing about the charges that she possessed hashish oil in Russian territory, a serious drug offense.  “President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who hare help hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Britney Griner.  The U.S. government continues to work aggressively—using every available means—to bring her home.  The President’s team is in regular contact with Britney’s family and we will continue to work to support her family,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.  Watson knows that the abysmal nature of U.S.-Russian relations makes communication all but impossible.

State Department officials haven’t informed Cherelle that things don’t look good for striking a deal with the Russian Foreign Ministry at the moment for Griner’s release.  If the U.S. were not in a proxy war with the Russian Federation, it theoretically would help things, but only if Biden changed his attitude toward Putin.  Biden can’t call the Russian leader a “butcher and a war criminal” without creating negative consequences for someone like Griner.  “I will find that balance of harm vs. help in pushing our government to do everything that is possible because being quiet—they’re not moving, they are not doing anything and so my wife is struggling and we have to help her,” Cherelle said.  Cherelle doesn’t understand the state of war that exists between the U.S. and Russian Federation.  Negotiating prisoner swaps is tough enough but trying to do it while you’re at war is a whole new ballgame.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[jmsa1287]

In 'Feud: Bette and Joan,' a War Between Two Legends Retold & Reframed

i wrote about the super entertaining Ryan Murphy/FX series “Feud: Bette and Joan.”

"Feuds are never about hate. Feuds are about pain," says Olivia de Havilland (Catherine Zeta-Jones) in one of the first scenes in the new anthology series "Feud: Bette and Joan," premiering March 5 on FX.

She's talking about the very public rivalry between two titans of Old Hollywood, Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) and Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange). Though the battle of the stars raged for years, "Feud," based on the feature-length screenplay "Best Actress" by Jaffe Cohen and Michael Zam, chronicles the actresses' clashing around the production of the 1962 film "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

The feud is retold by Ryan Murphy and is framed in a very specific way that sheds light on the systemic issues women face in Hollywood today. Throughout the first five episodes that were made available, Davis and Crawford face ageism and misogyny from Hollywood businessmen and even other women.

In "Feud," Davis and Crawford are marginalized not just because they're women but also because they were considered over-the-hill. (Davis was only 54 and Crawford was just 58 during the filming of "Baby Jane" - Sarandon is 70 and Lange is 67.) Despite having successful and lucrative careers, both actresses found themselves swept under the rug and offered little-to-no-roles. At the time, Hollywood was focused on making epics; big-budget westerns and historical dramas full of manly-men shooting guns and arguing with God. The popularity of women's pictures were on the decline but a determined Crawford set out to find a role for herself, eventually discovering the "Baby Jane" novel, thanks to her maid Mamacita (the excellent Jackie Hoffman). Crawford put the wheels in motion, sending the idea for the film to director Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina).

Though sworn enemies, Crawford knew she needed Davis for the titular "Baby Jane" role (Davis was just as hungry for parts as Crawford) and "Feud" shows viewers the chain of events that shaped the creation and production of the horror film. Told with an excellent balance of humor and tenderness, Murphy, who shares writing and directing credits, recreates the glamorous era with precision and care, showing all the factors that went into fueling the feud.

Murphy echoes de Havilland's opening remarks, making it clear from the onset the Davis and Crawford feud had little to do with an organic hatred of one another. Their rivalry was constructed by mind games crafted by studio execs. As "Feud" retells it, the core of the actresses' feud comes from Jack Warner (Stanley Tucci), the head of Warner Bros. Studios at the time, who felt like Davis had been too big of a diva when they worked together during her heyday in the 1940s. To put her in her place, he signed Crawford after she left MGM Studios in 1943. Crawford was then getting Davis' passed over scripts, which included "Mildred Pierce" - the 1945 drama that saw Crawford win an Oscar for Best Actress.

Having fallen out of the limelight, both Davis and Crawford knew they needed each other to reposition themselves in Hollywood. During the production of "Baby Jane" Davis and Crawford attempt to unite and form a temporary alliance. They show each other a mutual respect - as actresses, mothers and women. But ego, drive and outside forces constantly test their thin bond. Most notably, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Judy Davis) plays a major role in "Feud," becoming one of the biggest instigators who feds into the Davis and Crawford's rivalry. Davis and Crawford can't resist getting nasty, however, and succumb to Hopper's gossip traps. Though they initially resist, the movie stars get their claws out and drag each other in Hopper's column.

Sarandon and Lange are as good as one might expect them to be in a show portraying Davis and Crawford. There are moments where Sarandon eerily looks like Davis and Lange does a fantastic job of playing Crawford with respect; there's no Faye Dunaway moment in "Feud." Nevertheless, it's impossible to see past Sarandon and Lange - who are legendary and powerful actors in their own right - and even they cannot recapture the larger-than-life essence of Davis and Crawford, proving that doing so is an impossible feat.

Even so, it's a blast watching Sarandon and Lange play off each other. There's plenty of opportunity for them to chew the scenery too, and it's obvious the duo had a lot of fun spitting out bitchy one-liners and acting out petty moments: There's a hilarious "Baby Jane" scene that required Davis to drag Crawford out of bed. Crawford made things extra difficult for her costar by secretly tying weights to her waist, causing Davis to throw out her back.

There are plenty of similar outlandish moments but Murphy shows some much needed restraint. Though furiously funny, he doesn't let "Feud" go deep in to camp territory like his other projects, most notably "Scream Queens" and "American Horror Story." At times, Murphy treats the iconic movie stars with kid gloves; it's obvious how much respect and revere Murphy has for Davis and Crawford. (In promoting the show, the showrunner said, when he was a kid, he and Davis became pen pals and he met her a month before she died in 1989.)

In episode three "Mommie Dearest" (directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton and written by "Feud" executive producer Tim Minear), Crawford is glaringly humanized in a scene involving her adopted daughter Christina, who wrote the exposé "Mommie Dearest" that was later turned in to the 1981 cult film. The scene shows a complicated side of the screen legend, suggesting she wasn't all anti-"wire hangers," but a stern, loving mother. With Lange's good but empathetic performance, it feels like Murphy and Co. are going the extra mile to tell its viewers Crawford was misunderstood.

Davis, unsurprisingly, gets the same treatment, except her humanization is deftly executed. While rehearsing lines with "Baby Jane" costar Victor Buono (Dominic Burgess), Davis learns Buono is gay. They have a tender exchange about Davis' gay following and the acceptance of LGBT people - a radical conversation in the 60s. The bonding moment has a moving payoff when Buono is arrested after cops catch him having sex with another man in a public space.

"Feud" is not a perfect show, though its fifth episode, "And the Winner is... (The Oscars of 1963)," is one of the most exciting episodes of TV this year (Murphy, who directed the episode, pulls of an incredible "Birdman"-esque tracking shot). Also the first season of the anthology series is aimed at a very specific audience - an audience who already has some knowledge of the actresses and their history. Viewers who obsess over (Old) Hollywood, those who can recite Oscar facts and have an affinity for all things from Hollywood's heyday, will surly fall in love with the show and appreciate Murphy's fastidious production design.

It's unclear how "Feud" will sit with the average viewer, however, who may find no interest in the dueling divas. Nevertheless, "Feud," like Murphy's O.J. Simpson "American Crime Story," goes deeper than a simple, surface-level retelling of events.

The emotional crux of "Feud: Bette and Joan" is deliberate and poignant. Great strides have been made since the openly problematic ways of Old Hollywood - but how far has the industry really come? A-list actresses today still don't get paid as much as their male counterparts and some notable celebs have come forward about being harassed by male directors. After the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made an effort to diversify its members, which paid off as six people of color were nominated in the acting categories for the 2017 Oscars. And of course, "Moonlight" won Best Picture in a historic upset. But there's still plenty of work to be done: No women were nominated for Best Director this year - and it's been a boys club since 2009 when Kathryn Bigelow won for "The Hurt Locker."

"Feud" is about pain and, with a Pedro Almodovar sensibility, Murphy explores the tough battle (aging) actresses faced in the 60s and how these roadblocks still exist today. The showrunner is also putting his cause to action, and launched a diversity program earlier this year, which "aims to have 50 percent of all director slots on his shows filled by women, people of color and members of the LGBT community and will begin outreach efforts at colleges to align candidates with mentors."

"I personally can do better," Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter.

Bette and Joan would be proud.