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sleekervae · 8 months ago

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New York Romantic .7

Masterlist

pairing: Tom Blyth x ballerina!oc

summary: sunny confides in tom, noelle and bianca play pool

word count: 3,429

taglist: @watercolorskyy @carolanns-world @alana4610

Snowflakes drifted lazily from the sky, replenishing Manhattan's winter wonderland cover. Noelle, her feet throbbing from the cold and her shoes, was bundled up in her scarf and jacket. She watched as Maurice and Chiara dashed down the block, waving frantically at passing cabs. Franca, however, remained inside, opting for warmth over the snowy scape. Tom and Noelle sought shelter under the protective awning of the auditorium, their breath visible in the frosty air as they waited.

"How are your legs feeling?" he asked, his hands stuffed deep in his jacket pockets.

Noelle simpered, "Like they went through the worst leg day in gym history," she replied.

"It paid off, though. You were amazing up there," he praised, "I should've brought you flowers, or something,"

"Don't worry about flowers," she assured him, "I'm just happy you came out tonight. And thanks for --" she motioned towards her uncle and cousin, "-- Putting up with my family. I know they can be a lot sometimes,"

"Don't be ridiculous, they're lovely!" Tom replied "And I can tell that they love you a lot,"

Noelle smiled back, "Yeah; I know how tough it was for them to let me come out here -- I'm sure the same could be said for your family. And they really like you -- my family, I mean,"

"Really?" Tom cocked a brow.

"Yeah! They're a loving family but also really protective, so bringing you out with us is a good sign," she replied, "You know... so long as you don't turn out to be a pervert or a serial killer or anything,"

"Oh no!" he gaped listlessly, much to Noelle's amusement, "There go my plans my murder you. What a shame!" he smirked.

"Such a shame!" Noelle chuckled, "In all honesty though, I'm really happy I met you, Tom. You're... you're a really cool guy," she prayed that her face wouldn't go red as she spoke.

Tom felt a rush of excitement coursing through him, her words stirring up some fluttering hope that maybe it was his moment. Maybe he could the opportunity to shoot his shot? The thought that she might feel the same way filled him with hope and anticipation, for what could be.

However, alongside the excitement lingered a sense of apprehension. Tom couldn't help but wonder if he was jumping to conclusions, reading into things that might not have meant much to Noelle. The uncertainty of where their relationship was heading weighed on him, casting a shadow over his excitement. What if pursuing these feelings changed everything? What if it jeopardized the friendship they already shared? Tom knew he had to tread carefully, balancing his newfound excitement with a sense of caution.

"I'm really glad I met you, too," Tom replied, "You're one of the few people I've met here that..." he trailed off with a shake of his head.

"What is it?" Noelle asked.

"You're gonna' think I'm corny," he chuckled nervously.

"And what's so bad about that?" she asked, lifting her chin at him.

Tom glanced warily at his shoes, could feel the cold creeping in his toes, in his fingers, nipping at his nose; but none of that could sway the warmth in his gut.

"You feel like home; like I've known you for forever," he admitted, "That sounds weird, I know,"

Noelle hadn't expected such a heartfelt confession from him, and the realization of the depth of his feelings took her aback. Yet, his words also filled her with a sense of warmth and comfort, knowing that she had such a profound connection with him. His admission deepened her feelings of affection for him, and in that moment, she couldn't deny the special bond they shared. It was a revelation that left her feeling both vulnerable and deeply touched, unsure of what to say but grateful for the honesty between them.

"No, not at all," she shook her head, "I think that's one of the sweetest things anyone's ever said to me. And I might feel the same way about you," she nudged him gently with her elbow, "I've never connected with someone so quickly like I have with you,"

The scene was set perfectly: snowflakes drifting lazily from the sky, creating a soft, magical atmosphere. Tom and Noelle stood in close proximity, their breath creating small clouds in the cold air. The quietness of the moment enveloped them, and for the most part, they were alone in their own winter wonderland. It was the ideal moment for Tom to take a chance.

The worst she could say is no, right?

"Noelle,"

"Yes, Tom?"

He took a deep breath, "Would you... would you ever consider --"

"Okay, we got one!" Maurice suddenly hollered, waving over Noelle and Tom, "Let's go, guys! Chiara, go get your mother," Chiara trudged through the forming snow banks, throwing a glance at the pair's way.

"Room for Jesus, you two!"

Despite the holidays passing, the cold in New York was here to stay. The only saving grace was the snow had finally melted away. Jackets and scarves were still layered on, frost nipped at people's noses and of course, it wouldn't be a complete winter if the generator didn't conk out.

The kids had called Doris, who in turn called her husband, who in turn called in one of their relatives to try and help out. Tom and Sunny were quite curious when they took off for school one morning and found three older men shrouding Doris' desk with random tools and a layout of the building plan that looked older than half the artifacts in the Museum of Natural History.

"So, how was the recital?" Sunny asked, his fingers hung around a ceiling loop while Tom gripped the handle bar on the bus. He had returned from England a few days ago, and telling from his heavy eyes and slower speech, he was still affected by the jet lag.

"It was really good!" Tom replied, "Noelle and Bianca did great,"

Sunny nodded, his shoulders slumping, "How as Iseul?" he asked.

"She was great, too," Tom nodded, "The school uploaded some videos on the Facebook page if you want to see,"

"Yeah. Yeah, I might just do that," Sunny muttered, "... Do you ever... talk to Iseul?"

"Not very often, but she's nice," Tom replied, though he still grimaced at the smile on her face when she dared him and Noelle to kiss, " -- Have you ever talked to her?"

Sunny snapped suddenly, "No!" then he composed himself, "I -- I mean, no I haven't. I see her in the lobby sometimes with Noelle and Bianca,"

Tom couldn't help but let a little smile worm its way onto his face, "Do you like her?"

"... Yeah," he admitted sheepishly, "I mean -- I think she's beautiful. And she seems so nice and sometimes we pass each other in the cafeteria and she smells amazing. But then again, I've never talked to her. She probably doesn't even know I exist,"

"Well, you'll never know if you don't try, mate," Tom said, "Why don't you try talking to her?"

Sunny scoffed back, "Why don't you ask out Noelle on a date?" he replied.

Tom paused momentarily, knowing fully well his cowardly answer, "I don't want to be rejected and risk our friendship," he admitted.

"Exactly," Sunny nodded, a wishful sigh following, "Face it Tom, the ballerinas are too good for us. If we were famous I'd get it but -- they're just out of our league, mate,"

The bus came to their stop shortly thereafter, though Tom was deflated. Any shred of confidence he had been gripping to was suddenly dashed away, Sunny's words, while hurtful, rang true to him. Noelle was an extroverted, high energy dancer and he was a shy, introverted would-be actor.

Noelle and Bianca had a free block between classes, and typically they liked to spend their free time in the recreation room the school had set up. There was foosball, some couches, a small kitchenette area and a pool table. The girls frequented the pool table mostly, while they weren't the greatest players it was a good way to kill a little time.

The sticks struck fast across the white ball, the multicoloured balls clicked and flew sharply across the felt, though much to Noelle's dismay she couldn't get her shot.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath.

"You gotta keep your grip looser on the stick, kind of like a pendulum swing," Bianca wound up her stick and made the shot, sinking the blue ball into the pocket with ease.

"Alright, Liz Hurley," Noelle simpered, "You've been practicing without me?"

"Derek gave me a couple pointers when I was home," Bianca replied, "Speaking of my brother -- can you tell your cousin to stop texting him? She's still in high school and it's just -- it's weird,"

Noelle scoffed back, "Well, she might stop texting him if he wouldn't answer back," she pointed out.

Bianca shook her head, "Alright, alright, I'll talk to him," she conceded.

Noelle went on to wind up her next shot, none the wiser as they were approached by another student.

"What's going on, ladies?" the girls looked up to find Trey, another student in from their class. Trey was what was considered the equivalent to Matthew McConaughey's character in Dazed and Confused, laid-back, suave, and ready to party. He was also always looking to lock down his next "piece of tail" as the word went around. And for reasons beyond Noelle's comprehension, Bianca had a huge crush on him.

"Hey Trey," Noelle nodded.

"Hi Trey," Bianca smiled, her posture immediately straightened out, her arms braced up on the table's edge and her chest pushed out, chin raised and her head tilted just right. She was an image right out of a pinup rag, she would've been right in Trey's league.

"I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind having a third player cut in," he grinned. He glanced between both Bianca and Noelle. Noelle didn't mind Trey, he could be a bit of a player and his ego could've been pulled down a few notches, but he was a really good dancer.

Despite her reservations, Noelle wanted to be excited for Bianca, "You know -- we only got two sticks at the moment but why don't you and Bianca play? I'll sit out," she volunteered, turning gleefully towards her friend. However, she was a little dismayed to find Bianca's smile had disappeared, her pool stick set down and her arms folded as she backed away from the table.

Noelle tried to get a read on her, subtly shaking her head as if to say what are you doing? Here's your moment to shine!

Trey was none the wiser to any rising tension within Bianca, he took his moment to check her out between glances at Noelle and the table. He would've gone for either one at the moment and it showed.

"We could take turns?" he suggested, his brows furrowing to emulate some sort of blue steel, "Winner gets a kiss,"

Noelle would've laughed right in his face if not for Bianca, so she turned to her again, "I'm a bit tired anyway but Bianca is a really good pool player!" she exclaimed, trying to hype up her blonde friend. Nevertheless, Bianca remained still and stone, staring a hole through Noelle.

Noelle was thoroughly confused at this point, recalling moments when Bianca would go on and on about all the tiny interactions she and Trey had in dance class, and all the fantasies she had about him doing whatever to her. This was her opportunity to shoot her shot with Trey, for whatever satisfaction she thought he might provide her and for some reason she seemed more upset with Noelle. Had something happened Noelle wasn't aware of? No, she and Bianca told each other everything, right down to when they got their first periods.

"You okay, Bianca?" Trey finally asked.

Bianca nodded, grabbing her backpack as she stepped back, "Yeah, I gotta go," and she started off down the hall, "C'mon Noelle!"

Noelle smiled sheepishly at Trey, saying a quick goodbye, grabbed her bag and followed Bianca.

"Girl, what the hell was that?" she tried to ask as she quickly caught up, "That was your moment!"

"No it wasn't!" Bianca snapped sharply.

"What are you talking about?" Noelle asked, "I gave you a bigger opening than a great dane's doggy door!"

"It wasn't a good moment, Noelle! So forget it!" Bianca exclaimed, her tone teetering on anger and annoyance.

"What does that even mean?" Noelle asked again, "You want a Daisy Buchanan moment in a garden? We're not in West Egg!"

"I said forget it!" Bianca echoed again, walking faster now. Noelle trailed behind by a few steps, her brain spinning to understand what had suddenly got into the usually perky blonde.

Meanwhile, Tom and his friends had settled at a table in the cafeteria, chatting amongst themselves with a plethora of snacks and to-go coffee cups scattered between them. Tom saw Noelle and Bianca from the corner of his eye, he turned his head toward them. Noelle found Tom near immediately in the crowd, some sense of relief washing over her as he gave her a little wave. She waved back, not wanting to interrupt the group, though much to her surprise she heard Bianca huff and grumble beside her. Noelle stopped dead in her tracks.

"What is wrong, Bianca?" Noelle asked, her patience quickly running out, "I've never seen you act like this!"

Bianca simply rolled her eyes, turning on her heel and walking in a different direction, mumbling words Noelle couldn't quite make out. She didn't bother to follow her this time, she stood stiff as a board in the middle of the bustling cafeteria, trying to piece together what had gone wrong.

Meanwhile, Tom and some of the actors had watched Bianca storm off, they too were very curious.

"That's your neighbour, right?" Marceline asked. She was sat across from Tom and cradling a half-drank matcha latte.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I've never seen Bianca look so upset,"

"Maybe they had a fight?" Jordan suggested, peaking over Tom's shoulder to watch.

Marceline scoffed, "And they say we actors are dramatic. The ballerinas are a whole other ballpark,"

Their conversation resumed onto another topic, but Tom couldn't help but keep glancing Noelle's way, right up until he looked and she had disappeared.

The generator was still out when Tom got home from school, as evident by the bone-chilling air in the lobby and the tiny space heater Doris had on her desk. She lit up when she saw Tom come through the glass doors.

"Oh, Tom! How's everything?" she asked.

"Can't complain," he shrugged back, nodding down to the space heater, "I guess the generator's still broken?"

"Like a clock that got run over by a semi," she shook her head, "My husband's bringing in his nephew's coworker tomorrow and they're gonna take a look at it. I'd like it to be fixed by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, you know?"

Tom simpered, "Have you thought about just calling in a repairman?" he asked.

Doris scoffed back, "Do I look like I'm mad of money? Get real," she replied, "Besides, between the income I make here and all the other bills I gotta pay, I'm lucky con-ed hasn't written me up,"

Tom didn't want to know what she meant, so he figured it best not to ask. He did however jump when Doris's desk phone suddenly rang. She picked it up immediately with a sharp, "Make it fast, I'm busy,"

Tom peaked over her desk, finding the most she was busy with was an episode of Emmerdale. That brought a little smile to his face.

"What?" Doris snapped, what little smile she had on before had formed into concern, "What room? Alright, alright, I'll be right up," she then hung up the phone, "Curse my knees, and curse that stupid elevator," she grumbled as she stood up.

"What's going on?" Tom asked, falling in step with Doris as they started for the stairs.

"Noise complaint. Your neighbours are scrapping," she replied simply, grumbling under her breath, "Don't they know I got better things to do? I gotta find out how James escapes from Emma!"

They marched up to the third floor and sure enough the closer they got, the more yelling they could hear. Much to Tom's dismay, the commotion was coming from Noelle's apartment. She and Bianca were in some sort of shouting match; accusatory names and curse words being thrown each other's way. Some of the other students had peeked out of their doors to see what was going on, including Sunny, who still had his violin bow in hand. Tom lingered back as Doris marched up to the door, pounding loudly with her fist.

"Girls! Clam it up! This isn't the Bravo Network!" she shouted, "Open this door, now!"

The fighting immediately ceased, the silence suddenly becoming just as tense as the noise. Everybody awaited apprehensively to see who was going to emerge. And sure enough, Noelle opened the door a few moments later, flushed and embarrassed as she came face-to-face with Doris.

"H-Hi, Doris," she greeted sheepishly.

"Where's your roomie?" Doris asked, clearly not in the mood to play around.

Noelle turned back around and shouted "Bianca! Doris is here!"

"I'm in the bathroom!" came a faint reply. Noelle's eyes slipped shut and her head hung low.

"Are you guys okay in here?" Doris asked, "Because when I come up to screaming like that in this city, I wonder if I have to call the special victims unit,"

"I'm so, so sorry," Noelle replied, "We're fine. It's just a misunderstanding,"

"A misunderstanding?" Doris gawked, "If that's your idea of a 'misunderstanding', I'd hate to see what your version of 'emergency' is. Is that what your parents teach you upstate?" the entire time she spoke, Noelle's eyes locked with Tom's. She appeared disheveled and exhausted, and her overall demeanour falling way to shame. Tom felt for her, he wanted to help her, or at least try to understand what was happening.

"It's okay, we're fine. And I'm sorry we were so loud, it won't happen again," Noelle promised.

"It better not," Doris cemented, "You've already got one strike and three months left of your school year. Don't make me have to evict you now," all the while, the other students continued to watch and gawk.

"It won't happen again," Noelle nodded, "I'm so sorry,"

"Good," Doris huffed, "And give my warning to your roomie. Next time I might not be so forgiving," she then glanced up and down the hall at the other students, "What're you all looking at? This isn't vaudeville! Back to your business!"

And everyone swiftly disappeared and slammed their doors shut. Doris then strutted back down the hall, patting Tom on the shoulder, "Have a good night, Tom," and she started down the stairs.

Tom watched her go before turning back to Noelle. She'd slumped against the door frame, her forearm cushioned between the wood and her forehead, she looked more exhausted than when she had coming back from dance class. Tom approached her cautiously.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, sneaking a peek inside her room. Nothing looked broken, and Bianca still hadn't returned.

"Yeah," Noelle nodded, her tone of voice deflated, "I'm sorry you had to see that,"

"Hey, don't," Tom shook his head, "You have nothing to be sorry for," and instinctually he placed his hand on her arm, giving her a squeeze, "I just want to make sure you're okay,"

Noelle glanced up his way, quickly becoming entranced with his hazel-blue eyes. His touch was comforting, she craved nothing more to slam the door behind her and run into his arms. She was so embarrassed she let herself come to this point, even more so that Tom and seemingly the entire building had watched this go down. She didn't want Tom to remember her this way, as some sort of loose cannon who couldn't keep her cool, that wasn't who she was.

"I'm okay. Thank you, though," she assured. From behind her echoed the opening of a door, "Sorry -- I gotta run,"

"No worries," Tom nodded, "Let me know if you need anything, yeah?"

"For sure," she tried to smile as confidently as she could, though it didn't quell Tom's worry as she slipped back inside and shut the door. With a shake of his head he crossed the hall back to his own apartment, and the building remained quiet for the rest of the evening.

#tom blyth #tom blyth x reader #coriolanus snow #coriolanus snow imagine #coriolanus snow fanfiction #coriolanus imagine #coriolanus x reader #coriolanus fanfiction #the hunger games the ballad of songbirds & snakes #the hunger games x reader #original story #original female character #imagine blog

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impishtubist · 10 months ago

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Factually, I know that there are a bunch of younger people in the marauders/wolfstar fandom who haven't actually read the books, but the thing I just can't wrap my mind around is: WHY??? And I don't even mean it in the sense of "these kids are ruining the fandom and should read the canon before they start writing fics" (well... at least not entirely). I mean that I utterly don't get it as a choice for them. Like, there is SO MUCH media out there that (a) has way better canon, (b) has canonically queer characters, and (c) wasn't written by a racist TERF. For example, Young Royals. In itself, a really good show. And if these new MWPP fans' fics are anything to go by, it has the exactly the kind of character archetypes, character relationships, and story lines that these folks are actually interested in seeing/reading. There's also Good Omens, OFMD, the (small but great) the Old Guard, etc. The options are abundant these days!

Now, for all I know, a lot of these folks might be in a few of these other better-suited fandoms in addition to MWPP. But why do they bother with MWPP at all? I get that MWPP & Harry Potter in general is a bigger, older fandom with a lot of existing content. But I feel like this newer pack of MWPP fans could really help build up more vibrant communities in the fandoms that genuinely suit them if they just invested their time & energy on that instead of on attempting to shoehorn characters & story arcs that they don't even (canonically) like into a form they enjoy.

I have many thoughts about this, actually! It's an interesting thing to discuss.

(I'm going to start out by saying that if you're a newer/younger fan here and you are reading this post...cool, you do you. I understand that the hyperfixation brain worms sometimes lead you places you didn't expect and you can't extract yourself very easily. But I'm still going to talk about how it 'tis a bit puzzling to me.)

This is not going to be universal at all, but I find personally that the fandoms I'm more active in are the ones where the queer relationships aren't canon, or are only hinted at very very slightly. Like, I wrote 18 fics for Good Omens before the romance was confirmed, and after that I wrote...1. I've written one fic for Maurice and 130 for Sherlock. I think that once the couple I want to get together is actually confirmed in canon, there's nothing left for me to do, you know? No more writing sandbox to play in. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that Aziraphale and Crowley kissed and I cannot wait for season 3. I'm just not as compelled to write fic for that fandom now as I am for, say, Temeraire. So I can see people being more drawn to write for MWPP, with so many possibilities to play with and so many characters/couples, as opposed to Young Royals, which was a fun show to watch but I am not compelled to write anything for because the romance already played out on screen! Same with OFMD and Old Guard - LOVED watching them, don't really feel compelled to write for them.

Obviously this is not universal because those fandoms are thriving, but it's just kind of how my brain works.

Also, there must be something about the way that Sirius's and Remus's characters have been watered down/changed entirely for TikTok videos that is compelling to the younger crowd. I don't know, because I don't go there, but I've heard so many younger fans say they started shipping Wolfstar because of what they saw on TikTok.

So...yeah. I am as baffled as you! With the abundance of queer content out there not written by a TERF, it is definitely surprising to see the fandom gain new members. I am only here because Sirius Black grabbed me by the throat when I was 7 years old and hasn't let go since. If I hadn't been seized by the series at a formative age (and before her TERFness was known), I don't know if I would have gotten into it as an adult. But I can't speak for those fans! I can only speculate, like you.

#imp speaks #chaos night #we are turning this into an analysis night actually i feel

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atruththatyoudeny · 2 years ago

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Happy 28th! Here are all the fics I read and loved this month:

Remember Me Before You | kingsofeverything | [293k] Desperate to find a new place to live after he comes home to find his boyfriend cheating, Harry moves into a loft with three strangers. A New Girl AU.

Eyes on the Horizon | yeah_alright | [12k] Freshly dumped, recently fired, and about to turn 40, Harry's friends insist on taking him skydiving to cheer him up. His younger and extremely fit instructor Louis makes him even more nervous than the idea of jumping out of a plane, but both may be exactly what he needs to turn his life around.

Late Night Talking | kingsofeverything | [54k] Louis Tomlinson has a new album coming out and a second world tour on the horizon. Promo season gets underway with a stop at Late Night Talking, the late night show hosted by Harry Styles, and Harry Styles just happens to be the man who blew a chance to date Louis a decade ago.

Unholy | wickedarcher_08 | [12k] When Harry Styles started acting different after his 26th birthday, Father Louis Tomlinson is the only one that may be able to save his soul. He has successfully performed exorcisms before. This should be easy. Until it isn't. Harry is more than he seems. The battle of wills test every bit of faith Louis has. And Harry? Well, he's just getting started. "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."- Matthew 26:41.

Secrets, Santa? | indiaalphawhiskey | [20k] Right, okay, so Harry had confessed his deepest, darkest, dirtiest secrets to a stranger who turned out to be his boss. No big deal. This was probably just the beginning of Harry’s own hilariously heartwarming, wildly romantic Hallmark Christmas movie, come to life, right? …Right?

Moonlit Renault | softfonds | [38k] It's the early 20th century, and Louis Tomlinson learns just how much he is willing to do for a love that is considered wrong, but feels so right. A Maurice AU.

It's Thursday. Let's Get (un)Dressed. | bananaheathen | [9k] When Louis is peer-pressured into downloading TikTok over the holidays, he fully expects to hate it. And he does hate it. All of it. Well... except for aspiring OOTD influencer, @harrystyles.

Warm Chilling | Larry_you_know | [8k] Louis moves into a cosy cottage in the English countryside with his dog Clifford to look after his great-aunt's animals. His next door neighbour, Harry, is an eccentric young man who swims in the pond every morning, owns cats and chickens, grows his own vegetables and wears, according to Louis, grand-dad clothes. He's the opposite of Louis, who is a true city man and has tiny little troubles adjusting to life in the countryside. It's only a matter of time before Louis falls madly in love with his endearing neighbour.

baby, you're the end of june | disgruntledkittenface | [16k] “Up for it, Harold? We can go over the rundown when we get back. If you’re not busy then.” “Yeah, sounds good,” Harry says, closing his laptop and setting it on Louis’ desk. “It’s just Harry, though.” “You look like a Harold,” Louis says, standing up and brushing some brownie crumbs off his t-shirt. Harry briefly wonders how he’s still hungry for lunch after demolishing half the plate of brownies as he stands and moves into the hallway. “It’s the cardigan, I think.” “You guys can flirt on the way,” Niall says over his shoulder, beckoning for them to follow him as he strides down the row of cubicles. “Come on, I’m starving.” Harry looks at Louis, but he just laughs as they follow Niall. Oh. He thought he’d been picking up a vibe while they hung out, but apparently not. Well, it’s better to know how Louis feels now, so he can nip his growing crush in the bud. Louis is a great guy, at least they can be friends as well as coworkers. In which Harry courts Louis. Entirely by accident.

Something Blue & Someone New | littleroverlouis | [6k] Single Alpha Louis moves into a new apartment building and doesn't realize he misses courting someone until meeting his next door neighbor, a charming Omega named Harry. Louis is working up the nerve to officially ask him to court, but what if Harry secretly beats him to the punch?

These High Walls | LarryAlways28 | [69k] Harry Styles should have the world at his feet. Born to one of Seattle's wealthiest families, Harry was raised exactly as a Styles heir should be: sharp as a tack, witty, charming, and powerful. He was the ideal son - until he presented as an Omega. Now, barely a year after his old man dropped dead and running the family company, if he makes a mistake with the Tomlinson and Sons merger and acquisition, it's game over. ___ Louis Tomlinson is in over his head. After the tragic death of his older brother, Louis has no choice but to put his music career on hold and head back home to handle the family affairs. The family business is drowning and Louis doesn't know what to do. So... when the older, and wildly attractive Harry Styles offers him a deal in exchange for saving his family's legacy- how could Louis ever refuse that? But what happens when emotions get tangled and a good business deal turns into something much more powerful?

bitter ends turn sweet in time | me_her_themoon | [24k] “Are you…” Louis looks back down at the paper, voice almost getting caught in his throat, “Harry Styles?” Oh, fuck. Harry Styles.

Chicago | HelloLovers13 | [3k] They hadn't seen each other in four years, why was Louis still writing songs about Harry? Larry take on the song Chicago

I'm Weaker Without You | The_Halcyonic_Lachesist | [20k] Alpha Lord Louis Tomlinson is a rake who refuses to settle down. Will he settle down for the Society's most talked about Omega? What about the enticing scent that belongs to the Beta? How will he react to said Beta pursuing the Omega too?

Behind closed doors | bluegreenish | [10k] “You should ask that whoever he’s currently fucking.” Liam’s eyes grow wide. “No.” His tone is unbelieving, just like Louis’ would’ve been if you had told him what turn today would take. “Yes.” “How do you know?” Louis’ room mate’s eyes barely leave him as he tries to untie his shoes without looking. “Went to his dorm earlier, found a sock on his door handle. He’s such an arsehole.” or, the one where omega Louis finds a sock on alpha Harry's door handle that causes a big misunderstanding but is also the beginning of something new.

lost in the sirens | akatomlinson | [53k] abo fic where alphas and omegas can’t cohabitate as friends and harry ‘supposed-to-be-a-beta’ styles presents a few weeks before he and louis ‘hot/spicy-omega-bestie’ tomlinson are set to move into their new uni flat. featuring sephora louis, a world run by abo stereotypes, and harry who just wants to know what it means to be an alpha

#28th appreciation #fic rec #monthly reads #monthly fic recs #my reads #completed fics #larry fics

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variousqueerthings · 2 months ago

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favourie movies i watched for the first time in the first half of 2024

(yeah I originally wrote this post in July and forgot to finish it, shhhhh ignore the date)

a death in the gunj: i went into this one not knowing what was going to happen. it's a profile of a young man who doesn't fit in the world around him, portrayed in a microcosm of familial events -- it was so intensely emotional and set off a lot of the underlying thematic thread of this year's watching

beau travail: this is one of the "top 100 movies lists" movies that i watched and i spent a good deal of it wondering where it was going and what it was exactly doing and we get to the final scene and my mind suddenly flips and goes "oh it's been doing it the whole time!!!" it's a film that felt like i was soaking in it, rather than watching something chronological or putting together a puzzle. white, colonialist toxic masculinity in djibouti and homoeroticism

maurice (vietnamese film club extended edition): i've seen maurice sans these scenes before, but then this youtube channel uploaded a version with the deleted scenes spliced in and ohhh my goodness it gives so much more Moreness to the whole story. i also read the book for the first time afterwards and truly the movie follows it so closely, but yeah. there's something special about maurice, on a meta level as well as quality. doubly so with the deleted scenes

to kill a mockingbird: yeah yeah i'd never seen it before, duh it's a really good movie. tbh i do think there's something in the water of more classic hollywood Cinema. a messy af place, but i'm a sucker for the beautiful acting, astounding scores, the sincerity of the story and the acting. it's a perfect film

the watermelon woman: interestingly, on the flipside of the "movies that mean something" scale, about as non-hollywood as you'll get, a movie about who gets remembered in movies, a movie about documentation, a movie that wanted to make a documentary, but instead is making a movie about trying to make a documentary (that isn't a documentary), a movie about black lesbians throughout history, a movie that was nearly impossible to find for awhile (god bless piracy), a movie about in/visibility

southern comfort: a documentary about the final year of robert eads, who died of what would have been initially treatable ovarian cancer, but who had been told he didn't need his ovaries removed and then later was denied treatment until it was too late. this is incredibly sad, yes, but it's also a movie about the trans south, a community documentation that feels incredible in its existence, a group of people who would risk being forgotten were it not for the hungry, beautiful need to document

the zone of interest: one of two oscar-nominated movies on this list, i had never heard of this term before, which was shocking to me -- but even moreso when i realised how few people in my life knew about the term either. this film is not-about auschwitz from the pov of its commandant, rudolf höss and his family, and about how easy it is to casually dehumanise. the director - a jewish man named jonathan glazer - faced censure for drawing parallels between his movie and the treatment of palestinians, especially considering Big Walls

fahra: a movie based on the real-life recollections of a survivor of the first nabka. fahra gets locked in a cellar while her village is overrun by troops and tries desperately to get out and find her father. the way it's told -- almost never leaving the cellar -- is both deliberate in that this is what happened, but it also serves as an intimate eye through which the audience is given perspective on some of the violence perpetrated during the first nabka and since

the advocate for fagdom: a documentary/portrait of bruce la bruce, the creation of queercore, queer punk scenes in the american 80s, tbh it's just a good time and a good insight into history -- particularly enjoyed the bit where they talked about queer already being not radical enough in the 90s and wanting to shake things up. *glances at corporate queer* oh little did they know (or maybe they did)...

monkey man: i was not necessarily the only trans person at the screening of this film i was at, but i was definitely outnumbered by heterosexual couples and we'll never know what the other cinema-goers felt about it, but this being mainstream-but-not. mainstream, in that dev patel is a name that draws audience, not in that this was all his production and certainly not a massive budget film for what it was doing. mainstream in its cool action set-pieces, not in that it's politically right in your face. dev patel is hot, also

the holdovers: the other oscar-nominated film and one i feel went waaay under the radar. hearkened back to an older era of american film-making that wasn't in a hurry, that had a simple story with deep reservoirs of feeling to tell, with quirky (but real) characters going through things together. the fact that it's set around the vietnam war makes that image even stronger. i just felt things. movie emotions, the emotions you get when you're watching such a solid fucking Movie, yaknow? *harry styles voice* It's a Movie

desire lines: gay trans men and mascs and gay saunas and lou sullivan and documentary but also the story of a middle-aged iranian trans guy who meets a younger american trans guy in an archive and they bond and he gets invited to the trans night at the sauna, i was so emotionally overcome by this film that i couldn't go back to the film festival i was at the entire rest of the weekend (two whole days i missed after this film got to me!!!) where do you hear gay trans men and masc stories? ever???

femme: fucked up gay revenge story in which a black drag queen (played oh so fucking well by nathan stewart-jarrett who is getting what's his after being done dirty by misfits back in the day, oof my boy is killing it in angels of america, in candyman, in this gem!) is hatecrimed by a group of white homophobes, and then proceeds to meet the leader of them in a gay bathhouse... oh if you can deal with the delicious tension of it (practically nonstop) it's so so worth it

secretary: first of two james spaders i watched for the first time, making me come to the realisation that mr spader is a Freak and so so good. a young woman yet to uncover her latent sub-side (the great maggie gyllenhaal) leaves a mental health institution and gets a job as a secretary for an incredibly repressed dom... and youknow....

crash: the other james spader i watched for the first time, ngl i was building to crash because i need to know when sex is going to happen onscreen, i need to approach it from the side, i need to be analytical about it lest it get too discomforting for me. i actually don't mind sex so much onscreen anymore, because im quite desentised to its being "not-real," but it still needs a bit of build. point being, these people get off on car crashes and that part is hot. idk what that says about me (kinky ace)

kamikaze girls: two girls from two different worlds meet, one is a member of an all-girl biker gang, the other wishes for nothing more than to be a rococo era girl (helpless, feminine, prone to fainting, beautiful, cared for). it all gets very gay very fast. this movie was delightful, i had such a good time

angel's egg: i am getting more into watching animation on the whole and so far this is the one that's knocked me the most over the head this year. i cannot describe it, it needs to be watched. it's just visual poetry wrapped in a fairytale wrapped in a series of questions, but you've gotta just... bask. just live in its world

tetsuo: the iron man: feel like there's nothing I can say about this movie that other people haven't said much better. I don't know much about this period of film-making, this feels like the intro to it all (for me), and it's. I mean really I ought to just go out there and make some fucked up movies in black and white with a bunch of simple special effects that come together to leave you oh-so-disturbed. they all become machines and fuck and vore each other i don't know what else to tellya

love lies bleeding: idk what to tell you man. fucked up lesbians. greasy smoker butch stewart, who's jonesing the entire time and so fucking into her pretty bodybuilder girlfriend who you think is the reasonable part of the equation but truly truly not. there's some body-stuff in there i did not expect. everyone is kind of terrible, and the score is great. lesbian crime hits different, it just does

SO FAR TOP MOVIES FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR: Flee I Saw The TV Glow Death By Hanging It Must Be Heaven The Act Of Killing/The Look Of Silence Becket This Is Not A Film

#cinema #film #queer cinema #movies #there are other movies i watched that were Good or that i Enjoyed #but these are like. the ones for me

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mischievouslittlecreature · 1 year ago

Text

Part 16: Because You'll Be Together

Fandom: Inception

Pairing: Robert Fischer x OC

Summary: Alice helps with the planning of the inception.

Word Count: 3,306

Notes: No warnings this time.

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 2: Catharsis

She arrived at the warehouse with Eames in the late afternoon, both of them a little frazzled from the plane ride. Well, she was a little frazzled. Eames would probably be more or less incapacitated until tomorrow. But she’d wanted to see where they would be working and say hello to everyone, and he’d agreed to tag along.

She suspected that he just wanted to see Arthur, but she didn’t mention it.

“Well, look who’s here,” Arthur beamed when he saw her, coming forward to pull her into a hug. “Glad you decided to join us, Al.”

“Yeah,” she smiled sheepishly, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Good to see you, Arthur.”

“Uh, this,” he gestured with a sweeping arm to a woman only an inch or two taller than Alice, with curious eyes and dark hair. “Is Ariadne. The new architect.”

“Hi,” Alice smiled at her, shaking her hand warmly.

“Hello,” Ariadne had a soft voice, glancing at her shyly.

“Look at that, the three As, together at last,” Eames said. Arthur shot him a puzzled look.

“Jetlag,” Alice explained in a whisper.

“I hope that nickname isn’t gonna stick,” Arthur mumbled.

“Just for that it is!” Eames shouted from where he’d gone to set his bag down. Alice snickered, stretching up on her toes, she craned her head around a mess of vials and tubes in the corner.

“Hi, Yusuf.”

He poked his head up from under a shelf. “Oh! Hello, Alice,” he waved to her. She turned back to Arthur.

“Where’s Cobb?”

He jerked his head towards a back room. “Brooding. You gonna say hi?”

“After I shout at him for a little while.”

Arthur cracked a smile. “Don’t be too rough. He didn’t know Robert was the mark until after he’d accepted the job.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she set her bag down and began to make her way towards the room Arthur had gestured towards. Banging her knuckles against it, she waited until she heard a grunt of acknowledgment before wrenching it open and stepping inside.

He was just standing at a table, staring at the spinning top, not moving at all as it spun and spun. Neither of them said anything, until it had toppled to a stop and he snatched it up.

“Hello, Dom.”

“Alice,” he looked up, face twitching into a sad attempt at a smile. “Eames actually convinced you to come.”

She slammed the door shut with the heel of her shoe, stalked towards him, then stopped. If she got any closer, she might strangle him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, voice trembling with rage. Cobb sighed.

“Look, I didn’t know it was Fischer when I said yes–”

“You shouldn’t have said yes the second that inception was mentioned!” she shook her head. “Of all the people here…”

He hung his head. “I have to get home, Alice.”

A sound of frustration left her lips as she began to pace, back and forth steadily across the room, shaking her head. Cobb watched her.

“Why’d you come back, Alice?”

“Because I know that you’re going to try this with or without me. And with me, at least Robert has some chance of not coming out of this a fucking vegetable.”

“I would never do anything to endanger Robert, I know how much he means to you–”

“You already are endangering him,” she snapped. “This mission inherently endangers him, so don’t give me that shit.”

Cobb looked her up and down. “You swear more than when I last saw you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a stressful fucking year.”

“Maurice’s failing health has made things difficult, I imagine.”

Scoffing, she slumped backwards against the table, her hands bracing against it. “Like things weren’t difficult enough already,” she muttered.

“He can’t break free, can he?”

Alice jammed her eyes shut, both grateful and hating her former mentor’s power to so easily read her. “No,” she admitted. “He wants to, but he can’t bring himself to.”

“Maurice fucked him up good.”

“It’s not just Maurice, it’s the entire company. It’s like a massive cancer, destroying everything in its path. And everyday, I watch it chip a little more away from him,” she wiped at her nose. “Everyday, he turns a little more into his father. I see it. He sees it. He talks all the time about getting away. About not wanting to be like Maurice. But he just…can’t bring himself to do it,” she wondered if this was what Cobb had felt like, with Mal, when they were trapped in limbo. Trying to break free from her shattered reality but not able to fully do it. She ran a hand tiredly down her face. No. She wouldn’t be like Cobb. And Robert sure as hell wouldn’t end up like Mal. Not if she had anything to say about it.

“So that’s why you came? To help him break free?” Cobb had walked around the table to stand beside her with a sigh. Alice looked at him gravely.

“I have conditions.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Precautions will be taken, to ensure the idea won’t spread or follow him afterwards, like it did with Mal. Eames and I will be in charge of actually implanting it.”

“Why Eames?”

“Because given your track record I trust him with this more than I trust you.”

Cobb frowned. “Harsh,” he gave her a humorless smile. “But fair.”

“Cobb…I understand that you want to get back to your children, but Robert’s safety has to be my priority here.”

“He won’t be in any danger.”

“Point still stands.”

“I understand.”

“Cobb,” she still didn’t feel like he did. “Promise me, that you won’t let anything happen to him.”

Cobb looked at her steadily. “I promise.”

∗ ∗ ∗

They gathered in a small circle of chairs around the room. Cobb had newspaper clippings and photographs splayed out over the desk. Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked it all over.

“Thorough. You know you could have just called me, right? I’d have been able to tell you most of this.”

Cobb shrugged. “I wasn’t as convinced as Eames was that you’d say yes.”

“Ye of little faith,” she spun around her chair, grinning at Eames where he was sitting next to her. She continued to swing back and forth lazily in the chair as they began to bounce ideas off of each other.

“I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. We all yearn for reconciliation. For catharsis,” Cobb was saying, tapping the table. “We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this.”

“Alright, well try this: um…‘my father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps,” Eames suggested. Cobb nodded.

“That might work.”

Alice shot Eames a triumphant look. They’d had lots of time to brainstorm together on the plane trip from Sydney.

“‘Might?’ I think we need to do a little better than ‘might,’” Arthur grumbled.

“Thank you for your contribution, Arthur,” Eames bristled. Alice rolled her eyes. Like kids on the playground, those two. Pulling each other’s hair so the other would notice them.

“It’ll work,” she said as the two continued to bicker, taking a sip from her coffee. Cobb glanced at her and she shrugged. “I know him better than anyone,” a pinprick of sadness struck her. “All he’s ever wanted is for his dad to love him.”��

∗ ∗ ∗

The planning was going well. Her narratives for each level were coming along nicely, and everyone was working well together. Ariadne had fit into the group seamlessly, and Alice liked her. They spent a significant amount of time in the dream space during their planning, and she often kept an eye on the little architect, playing around with the landscape of buildings in the background while the rest of them paced around the streets she’d already constructed and talked. She’d picked up on it fast.

The only one who was a bit of a problem was Saito. He’d made his distrust of Alice clear, and refused to speak a single word to her after their first introduction. Alice couldn’t exactly say that the feeling was unreturned. It wasn’t like he’d hired Cobb out of the kindness of his heart to help Robert wrestle himself free from a company intent on sucking the very soul out of him. He just wanted his company to win.

But, Cobb must have said something to convince him she was trustworthy, because he permitted her to stay, despite his clear misgivings.

She was leaning against a table in Yusuf’s makeshift lab next to Eames, watching with growing amusement as he tested out the sedative he’d been designing. Specifically that the inner ear customization he’d included in it worked, so that a kick would actually wake them up.

Neither of them could hide their snickers as Yusuf tipped over the chair Arthur was sleeping in. Arthur shot awake while he was in free-fall, arms flailing as he landed on the group with a thump.

“Glad you both are enjoying yourselves,” he glared up at them. She and Eames just grinned at him innocently.

∗ ∗ ∗

It was later than she usually stayed, but she’d wanted to wrap up her work on the second layer before going back to her hotel room. Her stupid, cold, empty hotel room. It had surprised her how homesick she’d become, considering how often she and Robert traveled.

She was probably just missing him.

Yawning and stretching in her chair, she flicked off the little lamp at the corner of her desk, pulling off her reading glasses and rubbing her eyes while she tucked them into a case that went into her purse.

Standing, she spotted another light on in the warehouse. Head cocking, she approached Ariadne’s work station lazily to find her hunched over in her chair, fiddling with a pen.

“You know, if you made a big enough of a fuss, you could probably get Cobb to pay you overtime,” Alice smiled good naturedly, hopping up to sit on the table next to her. Ariadne started, giving her a nervous smile.

“I’m not working on sketches or anything.”

“Then what’re you doing?”

She sighed. “I’m trying to pick out a totem. Arthur said I needed one.”

“Hm,” Alice tilted her head as she tugged her hair out of the bun she’d put it in while she was working. “Any ideas?”

Ariadne sighed again. “Not really.”

“You don’t have anything that you keep on yourself at all times?”

“Nothing unique enough.”

“Well, sometimes you have to find an object, and then make your own modifications to it to make it unique,” she watched Ariadne frown. “It can be difficult,” she comforted.

“What’s yours?”

“It’s, uh, this,” reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the little silver pocket watch, holding it up. “I have the time set to run a specific way, so all I have to do is check it.”

“I see.”

“It’ll come to you,” she tucked the watch back away. “Sometimes the totem choses you just as much as you chose it.”

“Yeah,” Ariadne rubbed a hand across her face. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” jumping off the table, Alice tugged the strap of her purse up higher on her shoulder. “I’m going back to the hotel. Don’t forget to lock up when you leave.”

“I won’t.”

She got only a few steps before Ariadne called after her.

“Hey, Alice?”

Spinning on her heel, she looked at Ariadne quizzically. She was biting at her lip.

“Cobb stays late. Sometimes with Yusuf. Sometimes by himself. Says he’s running experiments, but…”

“You’ll get used to Cobb’s eccentricities,” she said, but still cocked her head. Considering everything that had happened, the idea of Cobb running experiments made her nervous. “Any idea what they’re about?”

Ariadne shook her head. “I thought you might know.”

“Mm,” her foot tapped against the floor anxiously. “I’ll ask him about it,” when she looked back at Ariadne, she saw the same worry she carried reflected in her eyes. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Sure.”

∗ ∗ ∗

She just about flew across the room at the sound of her phone buzzing, snatching it up and holding it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart.”

A wide smile bloomed unconsciously across her face at the sound of his voice. “Hi.”

“How are things going?”

“Good, actually. It shouldn’t be long before I’ll be able to come back home,” she plopped down on the bed. “Any updates?”

“Nothing noteworthy,” he sighed, sounding tired. “How are your friends?”

“Everyone’s good. The new architect is sweet. I like her,” she stretched out on top of the comforter, staring up at the ceiling as she talked. “It’s been good to see everyone.”

“I bet. Maybe when this is all over I can finally meet some of them.”

“I think they’d like that. How’s work?”

“Ugh.”

She couldn’t help the soft laugh at his grunt of disdain. “Alright, I won’t ask.”

“No, it’s fine. Just…you know,” Robert huffed. “The cats miss you. Spooky keeps waiting by the front door like she expects you to come home.”

Her heart twisted a little at the mental image. “Aw, I miss them too. They’ve been keeping you good company though, right?”

“Oh, yeah. They’ve officially stolen your spot in the bed. I think you may have to fight them in order to get it back.”

She laughed. “What time is it over there?”

“Uhhh,” she heard him shifting as he probably checked his watch. “Almost eight in the morning. You?”

“Almost midnight. I was just about to get in bed when you called.”

“Mm. I’ll let you go so you can sleep, then.”

“Yeah,” the mattress shifted under her when she sat up. “Listen, I mean it. I’ll be home soon.”

“Okay. Just keep me updated.”

“Will do,” she worried at her bottom lip. “I really miss you.”

“I miss you too, sweetheart.”

She was half tempted to curl around the phone, not wanting to let the sound of his voice go yet.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Of course. Sleep well.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The line went dead and she sighed in soft longing. She loved her friends, and it was wonderful to get the chance to actually spend more time with them. But Robert was her person; always had been, and ever since they’d gotten together they’d been practically attached at the hip. It was hard being so far away from him for so long.

Setting the phone aside on the bedside table, she wriggled underneath the comforter and flicked off the light, curling up. It felt strange to sleep alone. She’d grown accustomed to the weight of him beside her, the warm heaviness of his arm around her waist. More often she used his chest as a pillow more than her actual pillow, and the soft sound of his snores lulled her better than any sort of sleep medication ever could. It felt foreign to sleep alone. Lonely and cold.

She didn’t sleep very well that night.

∗ ∗ ∗

“Ari says you’ve been working late most nights,” she brought it up to him as casually as she knew how, while they were going over the narratives she’d written.

“I have.”

“She said you’re running experiments.”

Cobb shot her a pointed look. “Nothing like…like what happened.”

“Yeah, but something’s wrong. And it’s not just worry for your kids,” she leaned closer.

“It’s nothing.”

Alice rolled her eyes, grabbing her coffee and taking a large gulp. “Don’t pull that shit with me. I know you too well,” kicking the other chair out towards him, she nodded at it. Cobb looked for a moment like he was considering just booking it away from her, but then he huffed and slouched down into the chair, expression a little like that of a child brought into the principal’s office for doing something bad.

“Arthur says that there have been some problems on some jobs you two’ve been on,” she hugged the paper coffee cup to her chest. “That Mal’s been showing up and sabotaging things.”

“It’s under control.”

“He said she shot him.”

“Goddammit, Arthur,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Look, I have it under control. I’m taking precautions…it’ll be fine.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t–”

“I’m not sitting this out, Alice,” he said sternly. “With Ariadne designing the mazes and me not knowing the designs, there’s no way even if Mal comes in she would be able to get to us.”

“Okay.”

He seemed surprised that she gave in so easily, leaning back in his chair. She just looked him up and down for a while, taking in the tired, stressed appearance. So unlike the man who had hired her so many years ago.

“Is it a relief? Whenever you see her?”

“When it’s just us in the dream, she seems more herself. But when there are others…” he shook his head. “I don’t recognize her.”

“I’m sorry,” she remembered what a comfort Robert’s projection had been to her, during the time that they’d been apart. And he wasn’t even dead.

Cobb just shrugged, helplessly.

∗ ∗ ∗

“Oh, shit,” the realization came to her suddenly. Oh. Oh. Cobb was going to be so mad at her. “Hey, Yusuf?”

He peeked his head out from behind a tower of vials. “Yes?”

“So, uh, ha ha. Funny story. Before you all came to me about this, I may have trained Robert’s subconscious to defend itself from extraction.”

Yusuf took off his glasses and stared at her. He leaned back for a moment, deep in thought, and then shrugged.

“I doubt with sedation it will be much of a problem.”

“You sure? His projections will be militarized.”

Yusuf shook his head. “The sedation typically helps keep the projections a bit more…docile. They’ll still attack if provoked enough, but they’re slower about it.”

“Okay, then. I guess we don’t have to worry about that then,” she nodded, relieved.

∗ ∗ ∗

It was the last day before her scheduled flight back to Sydney, and she was gathered with Cobb and Eames, ironing out the final details of the plan.

“He hasn’t got any surgery scheduled, no dental, nothing,” Eames grumbled.

“Wasn’t he supposed to have a knee operation?” Cobb asked.

“No,” Alice shook her head.

“Nothing. Nothing that’ll put him under for anywhere we need. We need at least a good ten hours,” Eames muttered.

“Sydney to Los Angeles,” Saito pipped up from where he’d been staring stoically out the window. “One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two weeks.”

“That’s right,” Alice nodded. Eames stared at her.

“Really? Every two weeks?”

She nodded again. “It’s grueling.”

“He must be flying private,” Cobb mused.

“Not if there were unexpected maintenance with his plane,” Saito tilted his head.

“It’d have to be a seven-forty-seven,” Arthur was approaching them with Ariadne in tow.

“Why’s that?” Cobb asked.

“Because in a seven-forty-seven the pilot’s up top and the first class cabin’s in the nose. So no one would walk through. But you’d have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.”

“I bought the airline,” Saito announced. They all stared at him. He stuttered. “It seemed…neater.”

Cobb nodded, smiling. “It looks like we have our ten hours,” he began to jog down the stairs.

“I’ll make sure that he gets on the same plane as you,” Alice said softly to Eames.

“When’s your flight out tomorrow?”

“Early.”

“What will you tell him?”

She shrugged. “As much as he wants to know,” she scratched at her nose. “I’ll call you when Maurice is dead. If the doctors are to be believed, it won’t be long now.”

He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “This’ll work.”

She gave him a wobbly smile in return.

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Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

#robert fischer #robert fischer x oc #inception #alice emerson #alice emerson x robert fischer #my ocs #my fanfiction #because you'll be together

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lumiereandcogsworth · 7 months ago

Note

that baseball ask you sent (which I'm answering rn :3) made me wonder if Belle or Adam or any of their kiddos ever play sports? or enjoy any? 👁️

FUN QUESTION YAY!!! i am going to divide it between canon and modern au because i think about BOTH.

CANON:

adam: he… does not like exercise at all. he got teased a lot as young lad for preferring to sit in the shade (or inside) and read during recreational time, rather than joining the other boys in activities. now, i did a bit of digging, and actually at this point in time, france wasn’t a very sporty place. they were much more into the ✨intellectualism✨ of it all. and sports were rough and grimy. blegh! even still, the upper class (i.e. where Prince Adam would be hanging, if you can believe it) had lots of tennis, fencing, and equestrian things. i think adam liked Watching equestrian races/obstacle courses/polo matches, (and probably(definitely) developed crushes on some jockeys) but wasn’t super interested in Doing those things. he preferred to just ride horses freely, not so much for challenge’s sake. but he loves horses a lot so watching them was fun for him :3 anyway, he hated tennis because there’s way too much running and coordination involved and you’re usually just standing directly in the sun. disgusting. even if it was indoors it’s too SWEATYYY. BUT! i do think he enjoyed fencing a lot! he sees it as less exerting (though it is) and more of an art form to master. and he was pretty good at it! which was a nice confidence boost. i have a fic that’s a few years old but it’s when adam & belle are still courting and they FENCE!! it’s incredibly adorable. here it is

belle: ACTIVE ADVENTURE GIRL WHO RAN LIKE A MILE AFTER GASTON PROPOSED TO HER????? hell yeah she sports. like i said though, “sports” weren’t much of a thing. and especially since she didn’t have any friends to play with :( BUT i absolutely think that her and maurice would toss/kick a ball back and forth of SOME kind. you can’t convince me otherwise. she always wanted to be outside!! and maurice was with her much of the time!! so i think they played catch. i also hc that he taught her how to swim in the river that flows past the village, and i think she’d enjoy swimming A LOT. when she learns about mermaids she loses her freaking mind and wishes on stars to become one. but anyway, she was as sporty as a french 18th century village girl could be!! she climbed trees constantly (definitely has lots of little scars like giselle!!) and loved to RUN ! she just had (and still has) So Much Energy. she also just made up a lot of silly games that requires running between trees and making her own obstacle courses. and as an adult, as QUEEN! i think she enjoys tennis and plays with either her kiddos or her ladies in waiting. (or just anyone. i could see her being like “hello sir we need to figure out this business thing. shall we discuss over a game of tennis?” and he’s just like ??? okay ?? your majesty ???????)

renée: SPEAKING OF ENERGY! little renée is just like her mama. loves running and jumping and climbing!!!! but a major difference is they grew up in entirely different stations!! when renée grows older she gets REALLY into polo and maybe even equestrian obstacle courses - though idk the policies on women doing that stuff at that point >:/ but she’s the princess royal so fuck you. anyway she also enjoyed fencing and tennis when she went to university. (i don’t think she was super good at either of them but… she does her best) she’s just such a horse girl !! so that’s where she shined. (her & adam sometimes go to horse races/shows together,,, bonding time. i’m sure belle joins a lot too but she’s BUSY and adam is more willing to play hooky from work, lmao)

juliette: not really a sports girlie. she loves running around and playing with her siblings !! but she wasn’t as brave in terms of climbing trees, and she was afraid of horses until she was like, 8 (and even then, she’d only ride with adam or belle). i think her favorite way to be active is either going on walks or swimming :)

maurice: little reecy is much like his mama too, just chaos and running and climbing. he has fun swimming too. he also likes to WRESTLE even though he’s not all that muscular. he and his best friend xavier, since they were toddlers, simply attack each other for fun. (maurice also likes picking play fights with adam, and adam’s always like sON PLEASE— but maurice has already tackled him onto the bed or sofa adjskd) anyway i think it would be so funny if he just absolutely DOMINATED in tennis when he goes to university. like just an absolute legend. they put his name on the plaque in the trophy hall and everything. and what’s so annoying is he doesn’t even care about it that much. he’s just having fun and making friends. he’s one of those people that is naturally good at a lot of things… very annoying but he’s so charming and sweet that you don’t even care 😮‍💨

(oh and, obviously, all the kids are WELL verses in many many many different dances. just comes with the 18th century royal territory ✨ they all took classes and they all enjoyed it to varying degrees!)

okay, MODERN AU!

adam: once again, sports were not his vibe. PE class was a damn nightmare for every possible reason. later on when he’s with belle, she Tries to take him on runs or at least to do some yoga or something. and he just hates it man😭 “why must you TORTURE ME” but then it always bites him in the ass later because he’ll be groaning from aging and being randomly sore and belle’s like “if only you stretched!😌☕️” and he’s just like 😒

belle: sooo sporty as a kid, i can’t even decide if she had a favorite. soccer basketball softball volleyball track cross country tennis lacrosse swim team ?? i think she’d enjoy basketball and soccer most, just because they’re the most stimulating and active. but she really did enjoy trying all of them!!! i think cross country was also lovely for her bc she could just run and THINK! in college she probably took a lot of fitness classes (i took kickboxing and spin, which she Definitely would too) and just be at the rec center as much as she could (which unfortunately wouldn’t be much, since she was doing two majors and So Busy). and as an adult she probably is always doing some kind of fitness class, as well as going to gyms to swim! and going on runs when the weather is nice (the runs make adam uneasy because WHAT IF SOMEONE KIDNAPS YOU!!!! so she’s like 🙄 and turns on location on her phone so he can check if it’s been Too Long. also he makes her carry pepper spray. the man worries Okay) anyway she’s always doin somethin <3

renée: again, like belle, she tried lots of sports!! not as many as her mama, but lots. she also did dance/ballet for many years. like from toddler age to maybe 10 or 11 or so. and that took a lot of her time, but she still somehow found a way to try other sports too. i think of the ones she tried she probably liked volleyball the most. and it’s the only one she did in high school. (she focused more on academic stuff anyway, so one sport was satisfactory). she’s still a horsegirl in modern au though and, given their financial capabilities, she probably did horse stuff on the side like polo. i think she always wanted her own horse but it was never realistic, she focused more on other things and couldn’t devote her time to it. but she definitely complained about it A LOT when she was younger. looking back as an adult though she’s glad she didn’t Have A Horse to care for still. she had her favorites at the ranch she’d go to and that was good enough!

juliette: still not a sports girlie! lmao. PE was Also a damn nightmare 😭 but she did ballet with renée for a handful of years as well, and i think she liked taking swim classes, so adam & belle found some kind of swim team club thing for her to join that was less intense than school competitions. (which Really helped her get a tad better at socializing !! but still always a struggle for her 😞) anyway i think she still swims sometimes in college, but is much more focused on school and being in the orchestra (we got a violin prodigy over here!!!!) so it’s less and less. but as an adult she walks and such. whenever her & renée can meet and catch up, they go on long walks together :”3 and sometimes horseback riding !

maurice: okay reecy ALSO did ballet as a kid, just like his sisters, but he only did it a few years because he got Really Into Baseball !!!!! so he traded his dancing shoes for CLEATS! i think he did other sports too, soccer, track, maybe even tennis to be reminiscent of his 18th century counterpart, but baseball is his love. he may even play in college, perhaps! as an adult i can totally see him being the baseball couch for his nieces/nephews/kids later on. i think he’d enjoy that a lot :”3 AND he’d also be really into hiking. he’d wanna be all “into the wild” and go on a solo hike somewhere lesser known but adam 1000% forbid it. “that boy was an idiot. you’re not doing that.” and maurice says “DAD! don’t speak ill of the DEAD!” and adam goes “my point entirely😮‍💨” but anyway reece obeys and only goes on hikes with groups of friends and in Relatively Known Areas🙄. he even drags his family on a hike every now and then when they’re all adults! only belle and his partner eloise really enjoy it with him 💔 reecy & belle prob do (VERY CUTE) mother-son hikes sometimes though!!!!!🥹

#EEEEEEEEEEE :)))))#sorry i talked so much but AH!#i couldn’t Not include modern au. i think about that universe A Lot #anyway thank you🥰🥰🥰#alex tag #answered #batb 2017 #batb headcanons #adelle #modern au adelle #oc writing #adam #belle #renée #juliette #maurice

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asparklethatisblue · 2 years ago

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actually fuck it, here’s the discworld books I’ve already read and my thoughts.

1. The Colour of Magic

It’s alright, funny but not as captivating as some of the others. I remember watching the movie as a kid without knowing what it was

2. The Light Fantastic

Liked it much more than Colour of Magic, there’s just something... more creative about it? Also baby turtles

3. Equal Rites

Fun! First Granny appearance, and I like the attempt at witch vs wizard as something distinct

4. Mort

I really liked it! I mean, who doesn’t love Death? The gender stuff is annoying, and I did notice that he writes straight couples in a more miss than hit way early on

5. Sourcery

I do enjoy the Ricewind books. The weird stuff with the side characters going on in the background is always... eh? I love the theme of expectations parents put on you, and having to follow them despite hating it so much. Not sure if it worked perfectly all the time, but good book.

6. Wyrd Sisters

Fun! Loved it, I love Granny, and I like the plot as well, and how they solve stuff

7. Pyramids

8. Guards! Guards!

Ya. Vimes my love

9. Faust Eric ( did read this but don’t remember anything besides ONE joke, I don’t even know if I finished it)

10. Moving Pictures

11. Reaper Man

I loved it, I adored it. The quiet peace and sadness of it all... The quiet horror of being immortal and not wanting to be. I didn’t quite get all of the jokes I think, especially with the glass balls, but still so good.

12. Witches Abroad

GOOD. I really enjoyed the subversion of themes in fairy tales, and happiness vs being happy and also Granny being extremly willing to do horrid things to help people, or not to avert her eyes. I loved the New Orleans style and the magic and the gators. Good shit.

13. Small Gods

Struggled to put it down as I read it, I think I accidentally stayed awake till 2am finishing this, really good, made me feel things.

14. Lords and Ladies

AH. Very good. Delightfully creepy, I love the “Elves Suck” agenda. Genuinely scary. I believe Pratchett maybe wrote. Two. good hetero couples. All the others suck.

15. Men at Arms

I swear to god more miss than hit with the straights...

16. Soul Music

17. Interesting times

18. Maskerade

Good, when you get over the constant shit with Agnes and the fatphobe. Like? Was that???? NEEDED??? least favourite Witches Book.

19. Feet of Clay

I tried reading it years ago and my ADHD was too unmedicated and I didn’t know what was happening. Trans Dwarves! Golems in an actual respectful way? You know they’re a Jewish thing, yeah? Well this felt... right.

20. Hogfather

21. Jingo

Really good between the “Oh god is he gonna be weird...?” worries at the first readthrough. Man. I love how annoyed TP is by politics like this

22. The Last Continent

23. Carpe Jugulum

Sickass. I loved it.

24. The Fifth Elephant

I actually don’t remeber it as much for some reason? But I loved it!! The Dwarves! The Werwolves!!! AH! Vimes in trouble!

25. The Truth

Really good! I love the “Invention” books, they’re really fun, and I love Otto, I love the murder mystery and the commentary on people reacting to news, and what people care about or no.

26. Thief of Time

27. The Last Hero

28. The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents

29. Night Watch

Maybe my second favourite? Man....

30. The Wee Free Men

31. Monstrous Regiment

I have it on audiobook, I must have relistened to it like... 5 times last year. It was the first Discworld book I read and I adore it deeply.

32. A Hat Full of Sky

33. Going Postal

How dare you make me care about a man named Moist von Lipwig??? He is exactly the character archtype I go bonkers for

34. Thud!

YEAH BOY

35. Wintersmith

36. Making Money

same as for going postal. ADHD king...

37. Unseen Academicals

38. I Shall Wear Midnight

39. Snuff

I actually wasn’t sure at the first half of it, like... before the goblin plot kicks in, it felt kind of like making fun of something that isn’t relevant within the industrial setting of the Disc, so is double irrelevant now. But then it becomes amazing once the real plot starts.

40. Raising Steam

Good and fun but something is off and idk what

41. The Shepherd's Crown

#discworld

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kimyoonmiauthor · 2 years ago

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Kinda a note to myself about story structure...need to add notes about erasure

I have a habit of looking up the paratext of books I kinda know, but don’t know well, especially around book adaptations. I’m the type that loves Behind the Scenes and probably have watched a ton of BTS more than some of the shows.

And yeah, umm. CW, gay erasure coming up. Iunno if this is CW, but yeah... you’re about to be frustrated. I need to share it with someone.

The first time I was introduced to Forster was when I was younger, and full disclosure, I really didn’t like Howard’s End. I thought it was boring as !@#$. No, I’m not kidding. I hated a lot of it. Might not have helped that I watched it with my parents who like to think they are art snobs, but that’s questionable in my PoV.

That given, when I ventured into doing story structure, I found him again through writing books, and I kinda like a lot of his writing advice, though some of it isn’t great, the take down of Percy Lubbock, I did enjoy after reading Percy Lubbock’s Craft of Fiction (1921). Aspects of the Novel, is not that bad, but it gets used by the structuralists later as the pinnacle of horrid writing advice repeatedly (Say like Robert Scholes’s Fabulation and Metafiction (1979, BTW, in the backslide era after the 1960′s) who manages to go on a good clip of hating women, and gays in the same two pages in a WTF rant, comparing the 3/5 act structure to cishet male version of sex.), probably because Forster is gay. But in all honesty, I don’t think this is fair. I mean I’ve read a lot of writing advice books to track down the history of it, etc, and Forster is not the worst of the lot. (I’m kinda leaning towards Freytag to be honest, with Aristotle up there, but in this particular case, it was the times does work for Aristotle, though Aristotle was not a storywriter and also a terrible person--which to be clear yet again, is not excusable with “It was the times”. Maybe some of my ire is at how horrible they were. But some of the advice is things they did were rotten.)

So, I was watching Lady Chatterley's Lover, so looking up the Paratext, and I found that the story was likely influenced, or wholesale stolen from Forster. !@#$. Forster had a novel, “Maurice” and yeah, it’s very close to the plot of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

Only privileged people say crap like people can’t steal ideas. Privileged people steal ideas from marginalized people and then scrub the diversity.

Anyway, the reason I was writhing is such pain was because I saw the damage people had tried to do to Forster and to try to take his ideas and scrub them either out of literary canon, discredit him, snobbily call him a Modernist without commercial value, or steal his ideas without credit. And the thing is that I’ve seen this behavior before with other writers in the Literary canon. They ignore or shoot them out, not for their ideas, but the identities they cannot control.

If you don’t have Forster, you have Lubbock, who came out gay later, and they quietly erased all credit to him. (I feel stabby about that one too--I don’t agree with him on a lot of things, but seriously, I hate plagiarism and erasure and while how he demonstrated his examples were probably rotten, some of his ideas are not?). If you don’t have Lubbock, then quiet erasing of Woolf’s commentary on Lubbock. Because if you mention Woolf as anything other than a Modernist, you have to mention Lubbock and her reaction to his text. (She didn’t hate it, she was iffy on it. More like Hate-love relationship to the text.)

If you don’t have Lubbock, then you have hating on and actively trying to erase Gertrude Stein. (The amount of free for all on her isn’t fair, really... I mean without her a lot of conventions you think of as normal wouldn’t be in film, plays or books.) But hate on the openly lesbian (And don’t worry, hating on women, in general, is a theme with structuralists, either directly or indirectly. Such as Field mentioning how he knew some great modernists in one version of his book, but then hating Stein anyway, even if she influenced their work.--;;)

If it’s not hating on gays, women, lesbians, then it’s also hating on Jews. !@#$. Of course they tried to erase Freytag for a time, but I think he came back with credit later. Introducing erasing credit for Lajos Egri, whom Syd Field didn’t credit until the last edition of his book when he was in poor health and died shortly after, as if 2008-ish was a terrible time to tell everyone you got some of your ideas from a Jew. (Yes, some sarcasm, considering the treatment of women in Field’s text even through 2008)

We haven’t even gotten to the erasure of PoCs who often didn’t get writing advice books published, so had to do it through memoirs. The amount of queer memoirs by fiction writers I had to read to delve deeper is kinda high. (If you’re queer, your icon’s advice are in memoirs and autobiographies).

Honestly, this part irks me about story structure study. The amount of discovered painful erasure. I love undoing the erasure, but discovering the erasure itself is always a moment of “Why?” And also “Why did that matter to this author?” (Rowe though I don’t understand... why plagiarize so hard and then warp the ideas of the original authors?)

The fun parts of it are that I love that people philosophically think about it and it’s not as brutal as say, discussing the tea trade which the first 3/4 makes me happy and then the last 1/4 makes me incredibly sad. As an import/export item, Story structure is pretty harmless, maybe more harmless than humans themselves. This is because while story structure is often imposed destructively, people also still remember their old story structures, change and adapt, go back and forth with them, so the colonized never really get colonized with story. And to me, the best parts of humanity aren’t when we are hating each other, but when we’re thinking, examining, and consensually sharing with each other.

But the dark side of humanity is still in the study of story structure. So I’m crying for Forster. I’m not exactly in love with his fiction, but I do like his writing advice. Someone else has to feel my unending pain at how shafted this guy got by the writing community. People hate him for being openly gay. But why not celebrate some of the good things he contributed to us?

(Maybe I don’t love his attitudes towards colonialism, but I still can appreciate Maurice? We need nuance.) BTW, I would 100% watch an adaptation of Maurice.

#em forster #gay erasure #story structure #where are the diverse people in story structure?

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rootsofdread · 2 years ago

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The Entity feeling bad for something?? That's a first I've heard lol. But good for Maurice!

Oh also ok so I've always been so curious about Pyramid Head so I watched the Silent Hill movie just for big ol triangle man and I was not disappointed. I'm excited to see the second one and then watch game plays. It's been the same with Leatherface, I watched the first 3 movies and they were so good omg.

Masked people>>>>>

Oops caught me simping LMAO 💚

yeah i was surprised reading that about his lore too, but it's good to know the entity has, y'know, some semblance of a heart lol, and maurice wasn't left to suffer!

and oh i love the SH movies honestly, i think they're considered bad by the fanbase but i remember liking them, always have loved pyramidhead as a character as well, i LOVE him in SH2 (the game for clarification, i love SH2 sooo much)! and i ADORE bubba too, he's just a sweet lil guy 🥺❤️❤️

#💀#bubba is my fave slasher next to jason. little guys <3 #i await the day jason gets added into dbd. him and a few other slashers but he's at the top of my list #and i never have been romantically interested in pyramidhead myself but i salute everyone who is. godspeed pyramidhead enjoyers

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sylvielauffeydottir · 3 years ago

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Hello, it is I, your friendly neighborhood historian. I am ready to lose followers for this post, but I have two masters degrees in history and one of my focuses has been middle eastern area studies. Furthermore, I’ve been tired of watching the world be reduced to pithy little infographics, and I believe there is no point to my education if I don’t put it to good use. Finally, I am ethnically Asheknazi Jewish. This does not color my opinion in this post — I am in support of either a one or two state solution for Israel and Palestine, depending on the factors determined by the Palestinian Authority, and the Israeli Government does not speak for me. I hate Netanyahu. A lot. With that said, my family was slaughtered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I have stood in front of that memorial wall at the Holocaust memorial in DC for my great uncle Simon and my great uncle Louis and cried as I lit a candle. Louis was a rabbi, and he preached mitzvot and tolerance. He died anyway.

There’s a great many things I want to say about what is happening in the Middle East right now, but let’s start with some facts.

In early May, there were talks of a coalition government that might have put together (among other parties, the Knesset is absolutely gigantic and usually has about 11-13 political parties at once) the Yesh Atid, a center-left party, and the United Arab List, a Palestinian party. For the first time, Palestinians would have been members of the Israeli government in their own right. And what happened, all of the sudden? A war broke out. A war that, amazingly, seemed to shield Benjamin Netanyahu from criminal prosecution, despite the fact that he has been under investigation for corruption for some time now and the only thing that is stopping a real investigation is the fact that he is Prime Minister.

Funny how that happened.

There’s a second thing people ought to know, and it is about Hamas. I’ve found it really disturbing to see people defending Hamas on a world stage because, whether or not people want to believe it, Hamas is a terrorist organization. I’m sorry, but it is. Those are the facts. I’m not being a right wing extremist or even a Republican or whatever else or want to lob at me here. I’m a liberal historian with some facts. They are a terrorist organization, and they don’t care if their people die.

Here’s what you need to know:

There are two governments for the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. In April 2021, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas postponed planned elections. He said it was because of a dispute amid Israeli-annexed East Jerusalum. He is 85 years old, and his Fatah Party is losing power to Hamas. Everyone knows that. Palestinians know that.

Here’s the thing about Hamas: they might be terrorists, but aren’t idiots. They understand that they have a frustrated population filled with people who have been brutalized by their neighbors. And they also understand that Israel has something called the iron dome defense system, which means that if you throw a rocket at it, it probably won’t kill anyone (though there have been people in Israel who died, including Holocaust survivors). Israel will, however, retaliate, and when they do, they will kill Palestinian civilians. On a world stage, this looks horrible. The death toll, because Palestinians don’t have the same defense system, is always skewed. Should the Israeli government do that? No. It’s morally repugnant. It’s wrong. It’s unfair. It’s hurting people without the capability to defend themselves. But is Hamas counting on them to for the propaganda? Yeah. Absolutely. They’re literally willing to kill their other people for it.

You know why this works for Hamas? They know that Israel will respond anyway, despite the moral concerns. And if you’re curious why, you can read some books on the matter (Six Days of War by Michael Oren; The Yom Kippur War by Abraham Rabinovich; Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergmen; Antisemitism by Deborah Lipstadt; and Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis). The TL;DR, if you aren’t interested in homework, is that Israel believes they have no choice but to defend themselves against what they consider ‘hostile powers.’ And it’s almost entirely to do with the Holocaust. It’s a little David v Goliath. It is, dare I say, complicated.

I’m barely scratching the surface here.

(We won’t get into this in this post, though if you want to DM me for details, it might be worth knowing that Iran funds Hamas and basically supplies them with all of their weapons, and part of the reason the United States has been so reluctant to engage with this conflict is that Iran is currently in Vienna trying to restore its nuclear deal with western powers. The USA cannot afford to piss off Iran right now, and therefore cannot afford to aggravative Hamas and also needs to rely on Israel to destroy Irani nuclear facilities if the deal goes south. So, you know, there is that).

There are some people who will tell you that criticism of the Israel government is antisemitic. They are almost entirely members of the right wing, evangelical community, and they don’t speak for the Jewish community. The majority of Jewish people and Jewish Americans in particular are criticizing the Israeli government right now. The majority of Jewish people in the diaspora and in Israel support Palestinian rights and are speaking out about it. And actually, when they talk about it, they are putting themselves in great danger to do so. Because it really isn’t safe to be visibly Jewish right now. People may not want to listen to Jews when they speak about antisemitism or may want to believe that antisemitism ‘isn’t real’ because ‘the Holocaust is over’ but that is absolutely untrue. In 2019, antisemitic hate crimes in the United States reached a high we have never seen before. I remember that, because I was living in London, and I was super scared for my family at the time. Since then, that number has increased by nearly 400% in the last ten days. If you don’t believe me, have some articles about it (one, two, three, four, and five, to name a few).

I live in New York City, where a man was beaten in Time Square while attending a Free Palestine rally and wearing a kippah. I’m sorry, but being visibly Jewish near a pro-Palestine rally? That was enough to have a bunch of people just start beating on him? I made a previous post detailing how there are Jews being attacked all over the world, and there is a very good timeline of recent hate crimes against Jews that you can find right here. These are Jews, by the way, who have nothing to do with Israel or Palestine. They are Americans or Europeans or Canadians who are living their lives. In some cases, they are at pro-Palestine rallies and they are trying to help, but they just look visibly Jewish. God Forbid we are the wrong ethnicity for your rally, even if we agree.

This is really serious. There are people calling for the death of all Jews. There are people calling for another Holocaust.

There are 14 million Jews in the world. 14 million. Of 7.6 billion. And you think it isn’t a problem the way people treat us?

Anyway (aside from, you know, compassion), why does this matter? This matters because stuff like this deters Jews who want to be part of the pro-Palestine movement because they are literally scared for their safety. I said this before, and I will say it again: Zionism was, historically speaking, a very unpopular opinion. It was only widespread antisemitic violence (you know, the Holocaust) that made Jews believe there was a necessity for a Jewish state. Honestly, it wasn’t until the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that I supported it the abstract idea too.

I grew up in New York City, I am a liberal Jew, and I believe in the rights of marginalized and oppressed people to self-determine worldwide. Growing up, I also fit the profile of what many scholars describe as the self hating Jew, because I believed that, in order to justify myself in American liberal society, I had to hate Israel, and I had to be anti-Zionist by default, even if I didn’t always understand what ‘Zionism’ meant in abstract. Well, I am 27 years old now with two masters degrees in history, and here is what Zionism means to me: I hate the Israeli government. They do not speak for me. But I am not anti-Zionist. I believe in the necessity for a Jewish state — a state where all Jews are welcome, regardless of their background, regardless of their nationality.

There needs to be a place where Jews, an ethnic minority who are unwelcome in nearly every state in the world, have a place where they are free from persecution — a place where they feel protected. And I don’t think there is anything wrong with that place being the place where Jews are ethnically indigenous to. Because believe it or not, whether it is inconvenient, Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. I’ve addressed this in this post.

With that said, that doesn’t mean you can kick the Palestinian people out. They are also indigenous to that land, which is addressed in the same post, if you don’t trust me.

What is incredible to me is that Zionism is defined, by the Oxford English Dixtionary, as “A movement [that called originally for] the reestablishment of a Jewish nationhood in Palestine, and [since 1948] the development of the State of Israel.” Whether we agree with this or not, there were early disagreements about the location of a ‘Jewish state,’ and some, like Maurice de Hirsch, believed it ought to be located in South America, for example. Others believed it should be located in Africa. The point is that the original plans for the Jewish state were about safety. The plan changed because Jews wanted to return to their homeland, the largest project of decolonization and indigenous reclamation ever to be undertaken by an indigenous group. Whether you want to hear that or not, it is true. Read a book or two. Then you might know what I mean.

When people say this is a complicated issue, they aren’t being facetious. They aren’t trying to obfuscate the point. They often aren’t even trying to defend the Israeli government, because I certainly am not — I think they are abhorrent. But there is no future in the Middle East if the Israelis and Palestinians don’t form a state that has an equal right of return and recognizes both of their indigenousness, and that will never happen if people can’t stop throwing vitriolic rhetoric around. Is the Israeli Government bad? Yes. Are Israeli citizens bad? Largely, no. They want to defend their families, and they want to defend their people. This is basically the same as the fact that Palestinian people aren’t bad, though Hamas often is. And for the love of god, stop defending terrorist organizations. Just stop. They kill their own people for their own power and for their own benefit.

And yes, one more time, the Israeli government is so, so, so wrong. But god, think about your words, and think about how you are enabling Nazis. The rhetoric the left is using is hurting Jews. I am afraid to leave my house. I’m afraid to identify as Jewish on tumblr. I’m afraid for my family, afraid for my friends. People I know are afraid for me.

It’s 2021. I am not my great uncle. I cried for him, but I shouldn’t have to die like him.

Words have consequences. Language has consequences. And genuinely, I do not think everyone is a bad person, so think about what you are putting into the world, because you’d be surprised how often you are doing a Nazi a favor or two.

Is that really what you want? To do a Nazi a favor or two? I don’t think that you do. I hope you don’t, at least.

That’s all. You know, five thousand words later. But uh, think a little. Please.

#jumblr #free palestine #zionism #gaza #signal boost #antisemitism #jew tag

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nyxnygma · 2 years ago

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Are You Blind in Every Way Possible or Just Dumb?~ Maurice Moss

[Maurice Moss x Fem!Reader]

Summary: no matter how many times you hit on Moss, he never makes a move

Warnings: Moss being stupid and awkward, pining, so bad I couldn’t even be bothered to proof read if.

Masterlist

A/N: I’ve never seen a moss fic so here we are

“Hey Moss. Is that a new tie? It makes you look handsome,” You wink as you walked pass his desk.

“It was a gift. I do not know where from,” he nods at me before getting on with whatever he was doing on his computer.

I shake my head. This has to be the third time today you found an excuse to be in the same room as him and compliment him. This was a daily routine for me as the guy never understood what I was doing and I was to scared to out-right confess my feelings.

I walk into to Jen’s office and dropped down the blank pieces of paper I was pretending to be important information for the Relationships Manager of the IT department.

“This is getting pathetic,” Jen snorts, “why are you trying so hard to flirt with him. I don’t know what you see in him.”

“I don’t know what I see in him either! But for some reason I always find myself want to be near that dork,” I complain.

“Then tell him. I highly doubt he’d say no,” Jen chuckles.

“I can’t!” I reply.

Next Day

This time my excuse for coming down to the IT Department was so I could enjoy my lunch with Jen. I sat next to Roy on the sofa as I admired the strange man who was eating out of a pack-lunch bag.

“This is getting boring to watch,” Roy breathed, “at first it was funny watching Moss being oblivious to a beautiful woman flirting with him but now it’s just sad.”

“Oh sod off, Roy,” I roll my eyes. “Watching you attempt to flirt with obviously-not-interested women is even more sad and you know it.”

“Alright. Alright. No need to get so defensive,” Roy puts his hands up in surrender. “Have you tried using pick-up lines? They’re cheesy but they make it more obvious.”

“Moss?” I call for him.

“Yeh, Y/N,” he replied. God, he looked so cute right now.

“I like your shirt,” I smile. I dreaded what I was about to say next.

“Thanks. My mother says it looks good on me,” he says as he moves his finished lunch away from him.

“Hmm really? I think it would look better on my floor,” I wink as I try to bite back the cringe.

“What?” The man was genuinely confused by my statement, obviously not understanding my innuendo. “Are you planning on stealing my shirt. That is theft!”

“For the love of God,” I heard Roy mutter right before he yells, “Are you blind in every way possible or are you just dumb?!”

“Where is this coming from?” Moss furrows his brows.

“This poor girl has been flirting with you for the past week and has had an obvious schoolgirl-crush on you for the past month,” Roy pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Roy!” I slap his arm.

“You like me?” Moss asks.

“I mean I like you if you like me back,” I blush as I stand up, just in case he doesn’t like me back so I can sprint out of here.

“Yeah. I like you too,” Moss answers in a quiet voice.

There’s a minute of awkward silence before Roy’s shout “Oh for fuck’s sake! Kiss her!”

And we did just that.

#it crowd #maurice moss #moss #richard ayoade #it crowd x reader #moss x reader #Maurice moss x reader #jen barber

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earlgraytay · 2 years ago

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God, yeah. Small Gods is... not my favourite Pratchett, and Brutha's characterisation is a big part of why I wound up dropping it too. It's ... kinda unpleasant. I keep meaning to go back to it, because people say it's good, but I'm not enthusiastic about it.

Infodump under the cut, I swear I'm not trying to sell you on Discworld, I feel like I need to justify liking it, sorry-

The thing with Pratchett that's really frustrating if you don't like comedy about cringing at weird people is that he slowly gets more sympathetic to his characters over time. Early Pratchett is really... "haha, this social phenomenon is strange if you look at it from a different angle, let's make a broad comedy stereotype interact with it and gently parody it". A lot of Pratchett's early characters lack emotional depth and are mostly there as a vehicle to get the story from joke A to joke B.

Small Gods is one of the first stories where he tried to tackle a social phenomenon that's bigger than "Hollywood filmmaking" or "rock music" or "late 80s high fantasy", but it's still in that mold in a lot of ways. Brutha's a one-note joke, and the joke is that he's stupid and takes things literally. From what I understand, he gets some development over the book, but that's the fundamental basis of his character. Pratchett manages to say some meaningful things with that! But it's still not... great.

As Pratchett matured as a writer he got a lot better at character work and portraying characters as people who happen to be funny, rather than as A Joke Character. Like, Vimes starts out as a fairly one-note Drunk Noir Detective joke, but gets fleshed out over time into a complex and interesting person. Ditto Granny Weatherwax, honestly, though I kind of hate her.

The later Watch books and Monstrous Regiment are the best at this; the Witch books, The Amazing Maurice, the Bromeliad Trilogy, and the Death books are okay at it; most of the books that are not in the Watch, Witch, or Death subseries are bad at it.

the trouble is, because Pratchett got better at character work as time went on, unless you're reading one of his later one-offs (like Monstrous Regiment), you're going to have to read some of his worse early work if you want to fully appreciate the character stuff he does later. and some of the early characters continue to recur but never get fleshed out too far past their initial Joke. most of the major characters do, eventually- particularly Vimes, there's a reason he's the one everyone talks about- but a lot of the side characters stay pretty one-note.

if you don't like Pratchett's style of humour, I bet those characters will continue to be grating. I do, so I enjoy the interludes where they show up.

but yeah, uh, Small Gods is one of the Pratchett books where the protagonist isn't the most well-written, and I bounced off it too.

at least it's not fucking Pyramids. ye gads.

can i ask what the deal is with monstrous regiment?

like the deal as in. the whole deal? its is probably my favorite book full stop (not even fave fantasy, fave pratchett, whatever like full stop) so its hard to condense my thoughts lmao. ok monstrous regiment is based on the english folk song sweet polly oliver. the basic plot is that our main character polly dresses as a boy and joins the army (under the name oliver) to look for her brother, who has been missing in action. if you've heard of the book b/c of the online presence you probably have heard about the gender stuff. there is a Lot of it to be fair (canon gay characters, at least one canon trans character, whatever tf was happening with maladict), but it's shares screentime with the other two main themes, war and organized religion gone bad. it's discworld so its funny and satire and heart but it's a horror show. i genuinely think the book lapses into gothic tradition at times however i cannot in good conscious reveal more of the plot cause i swear reading this book feels like tripping down the stairs at times.

where i think the book succeeds where a lot of 'girl cuts her hair and goes to war' stories doesnt is that is like. it doesnt feel like a Girl Power book. i have nothing against Girl Power books (i was in middle school in 2009) but in monstrous regiment the point isn't "a girl can be as strong as boys!" the point is that when you are stuck under a serious model of oppression and your country is lying to you and your god seems to hate you and everyone you know is either at war, starving, or both. how are you going to survive?

also would like to mention that someone did upload the entire audiobook to spotify so. stephen briggs does a really good igor voice.....get it while its hot

#small gods #terry pratchett #discworld

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mellindi · 2 years ago

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Hey India! It’s nice to see a familiar face around here, I’m hoping to return to the sims community in a couple of months!

Just a question about stories. I have this story idea, the characters are fleshed out and I have a few of the plots written out. Although I’m having some trouble with actually starting the first few scenes. I am unsure of how to introduce my story to readers and how to build up the momentum to the plots I have in mind.

Do you have any advice on how to begin writing the first couple of scenes to set up the story? & also how you approach this?

Heeeeeey! It sounds like you may have been on a much-needed break, if so, good for you! So I'd say with sim stories specifically, just based on my own observation, people usually care about the stories of sims they care about. Like when we read legacies and we watch a sim grow from childhood to adulthood and we feel all attached to them and invested in whatever happens in their lives. So I would start by introducing my sim (and you could choose how you want to do this). It could be something like a full-blown post telling us all about their background, traits, and all that stuff, or it can be more subtle with us just tagging along with them as they go through the motions of life allowing us to fall into their world. Every story I've posted on here have all been by accident lol— actually, that's not true. I have made a few intentional attempts, but with all of those, I chose to go the simple introduction route. You can see one an example with my messy lawyer chick Mallory, and another with the first sim in my failed attempt at a rotational gameplay story, Maurice, aaaaaand another with Camilla's story that started out as random gameplay, but we know how that turned out. So yeah, decide what's best for your story anon, but I think some kind of introduction is what I would shoot for 😊.

#replies #sorry this took so long to answer #I hope you find it helpful!

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lumiereandcogsworth · 3 years ago

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Belle!!

MY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes happy to :) also putting under the cut bc yeah i went off naturally <3

first impression:

it was this moment in which i chose to stan:

gosh. literally an icon. anyway when the movie was coming out and they announced it would be emma i was like nice that’s perfect!!! even though i wasn’t hyped for the movie before i watched it, i was still like yes very good decision. and she KILLED IT thank you have a nice day

impression now

MY SHE!!!! EFFERVESCENT!!!! MY BELOVED!! MY QUEEN!!!!!!!!! i love her so much. painfully defensive of emma’s performance and the yellow dress so jot that down. i just love her SO dearly. my badass thorny queen.

favorite moment

goodness. GOSH. i have a very soft spot for her reaction to the library after adam walks off. the little noise she makes. she’s such a cute little dork!!!!!! also i can’t find a gif of the exact moment but it’s right after this when she twirls around and makes the little noise?? ANGEL??

but i love all of her. her curiosity and her no-thoughts-head-empty bravery and her stubbornness and her KINDESS… ugh. i love her

idea for a story

i love working with her wrestling with entering into royal life. it’s just so opposite of how she lived, and how she expected to live out her whole life. like sure she’s a dreamer but i just don’t think she actually expected to marry a prince🤔 lol. it’s a little out of left field!!!! but obviously she takes every bull by the horns so she jumps into this new life best she can. and of course adam thinks she’s the most amazing human ever so he has full confidence in her. but i think her own self-confidence falters a lot, because she’s just so out of her depths.

i haven’t really said any specific story but i’ve thought about like, her getting to know the ladies of the court, and just feeling so out of place with them. and she decides to start a book club with them and it doesn’t pan out at first but she’s determined! anyway that’s just one example but i like thinkin about those early years as queen and how she gets into it. traveling and learning so much about global economics and politics, reforming the education system, finding ways to help the lower classes because she understands both ends of the social hierarchy now. gosh i could go on, but you get the idea!!

unpopular opinion

it seems to be unpopular to think that emma did well in her role, and that the yellow dress looks good and dances beautifully. so uhh?? sorry you’re boring and enjoy hating things. get well soon besties <3

do you want me to cry? i’m gonna cry if i look at these gifs too long. anyway. look at how they dance together!!!!!!! shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys are so loud!!!!!!!!!!! okay anyway no stay focused. the hand thing in the left gif kills me. what? when adam twirls in the right gif. WHAT? LYDIA PAY ATTENTION NEXT QUESTION

favorite relationship

can you even imagine. is it even a wonder. i’m gonna explode. the landlord and landlady of my head your honors:

have you seen them? can’t believe they’re real. anyway

favorite headcanon

mmmmm so many. she loves baking and cooking, i think growing up with her papa they cooked a lot together. she sings to herself all the time, adam always knows when she’s coming because he can hear her voice echoing in the halls. she goes to bed early but she often has insomnia and wakes up in the middle of the night. sometimes she wakes and bothers adam but sometimes she goes for walks around the castle. or she might light a candle and read. or go get a midnight snack. also one for growing up since you did that for jo!!! she used to climb up on the roof out of her bedroom window and lay up there and stargaze. she first did it when she was like 11 or so. she always thought maurice didn’t know she was doing it but years later he told her he knew and she was like :”0

—

(adam’s version) (maurice!)

#i literally love her so much my Goodness #thank you em 🥺😭💖#belle #batb 2017

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