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rapha-reads · 5 months ago

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IWTV rewatch

(s1 finale… Ready for pain and blood? Let's do this. *grabs tissues*)

Season 1 episode 7 [The Thing Lay Still] - part 1/3

- Oof, opening with the Moonlight Sonata, how to put you right in the mood.

- Daniel side-eyeing Rashid/Armand…

- [Daniel] "Can an immortal meet mortality?" - weeeell, to paraphrase our favourite rockstar, "the sun or the fire might kill me, but then again, it might not".

- [Louis] "Decapitation. He confided that to me one blood-drunken night in Bâton Rouge." - and then Louis proceeded to never forget it. I want to know more about their nights of hunting and partying. There's like, 80 miles (is that roughly 100km? I'm French, I don't know miles) between NOLA and Bâton Rouge, even if they're vampires, that's still a little trip that could be special when they have all of New Orleans to hunt (an anniversary? A date? A special performance of Macbeth or Puccini? Someone needs to write a fic)…

- [Louis] "Add to the toxic air a new ever-present paranoia, and now, you are with us." - kinda wish I wasn't tbh. "The toxicity, in my city"… Ahem.

- [Louis] "Lestat de Lioncourt. 179 years in the Savage Garden. 148 years the blood-drinker, the bringer of death… the deer come up the trail." - ooof, first point, Lestat, or at least, Louis' version of Lestat in this recollection, oozes danger and predator. He looks, feels and moves dangerously. And acts unhinged. His words heavily accented. Go figure if he really was that scattered and angry at that time, or if Louis' anxiety, trauma and guilt color the scene that way.

Second point, another mention of the Savage Garden! Made by Louis this time, so one could imagine that Lestat told him about it, that they had a conversation or more about the subject during those 30 years together, given that the theme is a Lestat special.

- Ooooh, the unholy family moving and acting together as one, totally in synch! Say what you want about how toxic they are for each other, it can't be denied that they are a family that knows each other by heart.

- Hey, who turned off Moonlight Sonata? Now I'm left wondering if it was extra or intradiegetic music. A disk playing in NOLA in 1940 or in Dubai in 2022? Can't decide.

- [Lestat] "Enough! Two in one night. Dolls, Bibles, letters become torches and pitchforks. We have to leave this place. We have to leave New Orleans." - should have left 10 years ago when Grace decided to kill off Louis… I wanna say better late than never but given that people are actually openly seeking your house to ask for healing and whatnot… Y'all are in danger. And obviously it's Lestat so there's no leaving discreetly. Gotta make a show out of it.

- Looooove Daniel getting distracted by Armand's presence. Cannot wait for some more Devil's Minion.

- Hello social commentary, segregated tramway, another slight to Louis and Claudia. I love the layers.

- [Claudia] "'You share a coffin with him.' [Louis] 'I don't talk in my sleep.' [Claudia] 'You share a heart with him.' [Louis] 'I can cut it off!' [Claudia] 'No, Louis. You can't. You spend an hour with him and you're breathing in sync together.'"

Thank you for confirming that they've still got it bad for each other, Claudia. Love the way the heartbeat starts getting louder, love the way Lestat can feel Louis looking at him and immediately looks back.

[Claudia] "'He'll know. It'll only work if you give in. Give him all your heart and I'll do the rest.' [Louis] 'I can't do that. I'll lose myself in him.' [Claudia] 'Leave a little shelf inside there for me. I'll jump back in and pull you out before I kill him. Can you do that for us, Louis? Louis?' [Louis] 'Yeah, I can do it.'"

*screams* First the wink and Lestat obviously seeking Louis' attention. Then Claudia directly asking Louis to keep a part of his heart for her, all that she's ever wanted, to be put first. Then her overestimating her pull on Louis and underestimating the intensity of Lestat and Louis' relationship. And then Louis very clearly knowing he cannot resist his feelings for Lestat no matter what. And finally Louis outright lying to Claudia saying he can pull it through while already knowing it will destroy him, have you seen his face in the last shot before leaving the tram? He knows he can't but he'll still try and maybe do it, but he'll lose a part of himself, and he's already grieving for it.

Then again. That's 2022 Louis describing the scene and the conversation, with the hindsight of 80 years or more (I'm bad at maths) of knowing what he's lost and how he lost it and how much of himself he's lost. Maybe 1940 Louis wasn't thinking of that at all.

*screams a little bit more* Maybe if y'all learn to openly communicate, we wouldn't be currently plotting a murder. Maybe.

- [Louis] "'What about Greece? Cradle of Western civilisation.' [Lestat] 'Sun worshippers, hot springs…. Those Who Must Be Kept.' [Louis] 'What was that?' [Lestat] 'Nothing.'"

Yeah, absolutely nothing. Don't mind that. It's really not important. Not at all about to come back and bite you all in the neck.

Things that mean nothing for show-only and everything for book readers… *jumps around the room in excitement*

Do we think Marius is still in Greece in 1940? If Lestat still meets him around 1789-1790, it's been a century and a half, he's definitely moved them somewhere else.

Love how Lestat's face goes vacant and momentarily dreamy when he starts thinking about Akasha. You can tell she still lingers in his mind.

- [Claudia] "'Bach. Always back to Bach.' [Lestat] 'Bach is beyond you.' [Claudia] 'Yes, the music of the master race is… not made for these mongrel ears.' [Lestat] 'You irritate me. Your very presence irritates me.' [Claudia] 'I came to make peace with you, Uncle Les.' [Lestat] 'Mm. Sister, daughter, infant death, you must think me an idiot.' [Louis] 'Could you two please just…?' [Claudia] 'Musique française pour les mains françaises ?'"

Pleaaase I love them. Toxic mother-daughter relationship, it's like looking into a mirror. Love all of Claudia's punches. Bailey's French is really good. And love how Louis immediately moves in to turn the pages for them.

- Oooh, so the party idea is not Lestat's but part of Claudia's murder scheme? How delightful!! Like father like daughter I guess, how they resemble each other so much. And love how Lestat starts by being against it and then gets slowly seduced by the idea.

- Oh, goddamn fucking bloody Tom Anderson is still bloody fucking alive. Kill hiiiiiim, please kill him. Wonder why he hasn't led a mob to their doors yet, with how he literally has known them since 1910 and has a pic showing them still as they are. Too chicken, Tom? Or too New Orleans, rather not know and keep going as is? Oh, I see, tempted to make your own deal with the "Devil". Ha. Idiot.

- [Louis] "The weird brothers and their doll-like sister were coming out." - I just like this line. Tells about a whole story hidden behind the main story.

- "Let the flesh instruct the mind." - now that is one hell of a line.

- Lestat playing his bloody Marie-Antoinette fantasy is simultaneously so bad taste and so hilarious.

- Their outfits are GORGEOUS. And the white is making Louis' green eyes even greener.

- [Louis] "The blood was everywhere. The veins and arteries of a few hundred hearts ringing out like air sirens, drowning out the rhythm section of the hired band."

I love how Louis' narration is almost inaudible beneath the sounds of heartbeats.

- Lmao, Lestat has groupies everywhere he goes.

- [Louis] "A cascade of feelings came over me as I watched him sponge up the adoration. I wanted him dead. I wanted him all to myself. The fasting was a mistake. I wasn't thinking clearly. Something was off."

You never think clearly around Lestat, Lou babe. Case in point, the besotted face you were just making at him, that he was returning to you (where are Sam and Jacob's awards), and the fact that suddenly you can't even tell Claudia's mental voice from - oh, a wild Antoinette appears. Yeah, something is off.

- When can we get rid of Tom Anderson. Soon? "It's got to be one of those tricks that you and your fag pederast satanic trio got in your pocket." Ugh, he looks so proud of his dumb line. Please tell me we're draining him soon. Thank you Louis.

- Aaaah, a balcony scene, aaaaaah! Aaaah, the lightning of cigarettes, aaaaaaah! Aaaaah, Lestat being emotional and genuine, aaaaaah!

Time to sing Sam Reid's praises:

"I'm going to miss this place. There's not an inch of this city that wasn't built from the fierce wilderness that surrounds it. Hurricanes, floods, fevers. The damp climate on every painted sign, every stone facade. High windows, through which enamelled bits of civilisation glitter. Silhouettes emerging, wandering out to catch a silent flash of lightning. The silky warmth of summer rain. Desperately alive… and desperately fragile. The hunger has me too, it seems."

*pterodactyl screech*

It's the way his voice wavers with barely restrained emotion. It's the tears glittering in his eyes. It's the way he never stops looking at Louis. It's the way New Orleans was, is and continues to be a metaphor for him, for Louis and for their relationship, "I am she, she is me".

The way his voice breaks on "desperately alive", because at the end of it, that's what Lestat, little Wolfkiller, who refused Magnus' bite and was forced into the darkness, who rejected the idea of a coven, who gazed upon the Mother of all vampires, Lestat who is constantly struggling to run away from his pain, trauma and loneliness, that's what he is, desperate and alive and desperately alive. And so afraid to show his real self to Louis and be rejected for it that he immediately makes a joke out of his deeply genuine moment.

And the way Louis refuses to engage with this moment also says a lot about where Louis is at at this stage. Refusing to give in fully, rejecting the true emotions, running away from both Lestat's love (because that's what it's about) and his own love (the shame and the guilt and the fear)… Refusing to open up his heart and thus forcefully closing down any door that could be opened.

Imagine for a moment that Louis had answered Lestat's feelings in truth? What would it have changed, in what ways? Or would it not have changed anything, because neither he nor Lestat are in control of the narrative at that point and Claudia holds the power? And what would Louis responding in kind and giving in to Lestat's depth and his own emotions look like? It would be interesting to explore it…

ep1 | ep2 | ep3 | ep4 | ep5 | ep6 | part 2 | part 3

#i think i'll need 3 parts only idk might be longer #interview with the vampire #iwtv #iwtv amc #amc iwtv #iwtv s1 #iwtv rewatch #episode reaction #the thing lay still #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #daniel molloy #armand de romanus #claudia de pointe du lac #the vampire armand #the vampire claudia #rapha talks #rapha watches shows

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stellar-constellations · 1 year ago

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An Alliance (Part 4)

Fem! Spy! (Y/N) x Yuri Briar

Parts: One, two, three, current part, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten (to be continued when Spy x Family has more Yuri content!)

(Y/N) is given her own backstory that is important for the story!

The setting for this story is based off West and East Germany's (because Spy x Family is heavily based off Germany in the 1940-1950) laws (or at least replicated to the best of my abilities since it's unknown what time period Spy x Family is exactly in, we'll go with 1950 for the sake of this story).

Historically-accurate women misogyny and mistreatment! Only small comments and historically-accurate laws (replicated to the best of my ability).

The story, plot, and settings might not match up to the Spy x Family manga as it's not completed and the manga is still being crafted.

This series contains spoilers for the manga and anime!

I followed the first and second-lieutenant down the city hall hallway, holding our heads up high and walking with purpose. I tried to appear confident but I wasn't quite sure if I was as convincing as Briar and lieutenant—I look like a joke compared to them and it's all cause of my height (I'm sorry if you're not under 5'10").

I mentally glared at Briar and lieutenant.

If I was taller, people would take me more seriously. Maybe if I was 6'6", Briar would stop being a jerk.

I ignored the thought we entered an open-door room. Immediately, Jim was nervous.

"D-do you people need something?!" he spoke, nervous in his seat.

Tsk-tsk. You're already acting like you know why we're here.

The lieutenant showed Jim his SSS badge, then spoke: "We're from the State Security Service. Jim Hayward, correct? You're under arrest for suspicion of espionage."

Me and Briar both walked behind him and grabbed his arms.

"Y-you think I'm a spy?! Hey, wait!" he exclaimed as we dragged him as he tried sliding his feet on the floor.

People gathered around, shocked and scared at the scene they're witnessing

Wussies. And why the hell is everyone here? Does nobody know how to mind their damn business? I thought, my anger starting to raise as we were being gawked at by noisy bystanders.

"Stop this! Let me go!" Jim protested.

"Shut up. You can give your story back at HQ." Lieutenant spoke.

Thank you. I was about to tell him off in a much more unprofessional way.

We dragged him to an armored van, throwing him in the back as me and Briar closed the door and opened the backseat doors, hopping in as first-lieutenant jumped in the passenger-seat.

"Drive to HQ." Lieutenant ordered the driver.

The driver nodded as he sped off. I softly sighed and leaned my head on Briar's shoulder.

"Get. Off..." he harshly muttered, nudging me away from him.

I glared at him, sticking out my tongue before leaning back on his shoulder.

"I don't wanna..." I muttered back.

"I don't care what you want..." he quickly retorted.

I mentally whined, leaning off of Briar and huffing as I crossed my arms and legs to show I was angry.

"Thank you for your assistance today, you two." The lieutenant spoke, causing me and Briar to both jump slightly, forgetting that he was here.

I looked up and saw him staring at us from the driver mirror.

"T-thank you, sir!" Briar quickly spoke, nodding his head in respect.

"Y-yes! Thank you for allowing me to accompany you both on this mission." I smiled, nodding my head too.

I didn't really want him to assume I was being disrespectful or naive; this guy kind of scares me.

The Director waited outside of the interrogation room with me and Briar, waiting for any word from the lieutenant.

"Second-lieutenant Briar and female-lieutenant Mrs. Briar." The Director acknowledged, then looked at Briar. "Show your wife how it's done." The Director spoke, placing a cigar in his mouth.

Briar smiled, his eye twitching as I mentally gagged. We didn't say nothing since other officers were around us.

"Yes, sir!" he saluted as I quickly copied his actions, "I'll give this my best shot!" he smiled, his eyes darkening as I mentally eyed him, confused with his sudden confidence in this.

Is there something up his sleeve?

We both walked into the dark room, seeing Jim facing the wall and at Lieutenant. A man sat in a nearby desk, documenting everything on paper as he wrote.

"Good work, Lieutenant. The boss asked me to switch in." Briar spoke.

"Okay. I'll leave him to you two." Lieutenant spoke, a cigarette in his mouth as he stood up and patted Briar's shoulder.

He walked over to me and patted me on the head. I watched him leave the room, visibly shocked and glaring holes into the back of his head.

What'd he do that for?! Why didn't he pat me on the shoulder like Briar? Was that his way of saying he doesn't respect me as he does to Briar? Did he do that cause I'm a woman? Was it because of the height difference? I know Briar's more his height but the audacity of that man!

Briar took a seat in front of Jim as I decided to watch a few steps away, watching closely to see how different he decided to take the approach as he did to me the first time we met.

"Hello there, Mr. Hayward." Briar spoke, taking off his hat and taking a seat, just as he did when we met yesterday.

"...I have nothing to say." Jim sighed.

I took a good look at his face and did my best not to cackle.

I guess being a woman isn't that bad if I don't get tortured like him. I thought to myself.

Mr. Hayward had a completely bruised and swollen left eye, his face bruised and bloody as blood trickled from his nose and mouth (he was also missing a tooth). His arms and hands were burnt with cigarettes; I was able to tell from the specific blisters swelling up a pale red and the container containing smushed cigarettes (also because lieutenant walked out with a cigarette in his mouth).

"Listen to this!" Briar spoke excitedly, leaning on the table. "After this, I'll be going to congratulate my sister on her wedding!"

Now that caught me off guard.

We're going to visit Briar's sister? I thought, before immediately shaking my head. Of course I'm not. Briar would never trust me around his dear sister, he doesn't even trust me to make coffee without running! Not to mention he gags just at the thought of us being legally married, so there's no way he's making me see his sister. He'll probably just drop me off in the Director's office.

That thought made me angry. I wanna meet her! I want to know if she's a jerk like Briar or if she's nice!

"I haven't even seen her for so long! I can't wait!" Briar cheered.

"Uh...okay..." Jim spoke, confused.

"She's so kind and beautiful! I've always been so proud of my sister." Briar continued on.

I silently-huffed, crossing my arms as I showed my distaste.

Why he is so excited? It's just family? If my family was still alive, I'd be visiting them every weekend! It feels like I have competition for Briar, and I hate it.

Competition? For Briar? I mentally gagged. No, no. I just don't want him to get distracted. Maybe if he realizes his sister knows about me, he'll kill me because he's so ashamed of his sister finding out about me! I'm not worried about fighting for his attention! That would be childish of me.

Yeah...childish...

Just the thought of imagining this kind, beautiful, older sister of Briar's just left a disgusting, bitter taste in my mouth that not even plain black coffee or aloe could compete too.

I'm not jealous! I thought, tapping my boot on the ground to cope as I bit my cheek harder.

"Um, but...I..." Jim was utterly confused, just like me.

"Oh! And she even works at the same office as you!" Briar beamed.

The financial department in city hall? Is that why Briar wanted to know who I met when I was at city hall for a recent mission? Wow! He must really hate me if he doesn't want his sister to even know of my presence!

I bit my cheek even harder, my foot tapping more rapidly as I started to dig my nails into my arms.

"That reminds me, I really need to call her office soon! Actually, I still haven't told her I'm coming..." Briar spoke, looking at the watch on his wrist. "Anyways, I'd like to finish this up and clock out. So how about you just tell me everything real quick?" Briar smiled.

"T-there's nothing to tell! This whole accusation is bullcrap!" Jim shouted.

I watched as Briar pulled that yellow envelope out of his pocket that he collected from his office earlier. He emptied out the contents of it, showing pictures of Jim Hayward giving a man with a trench coat, suitcase, and hat a folder.

Ooo. Red-handed! I thought, resisting the urge to gasp. Wait, where did he get those if he didn't know about Jim yesterday?

"These are photos of you handing over the documents. That is you, right, Mr. Hayward?" Briar smiled contently.

"Hold on! You! Why weren't these photos in evidence until now!?" the man documenting this shouted, hastily writing with one hand as he looked at Briar, holding a photo of Jim Hayward committing treason in his other hand.

"Sorry, I forgot to turn them over. Ha ha." Briar smiled.

I eyed him suspiciously but decided not to say anything until later.

Hayward looked down and scoffed in defeat. He stayed quiet for a minute before speaking.

"...All I did was make copies of the documents they asked for and leave them at the designated location in exchange for cash." He admitted. "It's true that I don't know anything about the other man. Not even his name. Just that he's from the West."

Briar immediately looked at me, causing me to mentally scoff and shake my head: "He said a man; not a woman." I said with my eyes. "Wasn't me."

Briar looked back at Jim. "Did you notice anything unusual about him? The way he speaks? Body language? Maybe just an uncomfortable feeling? For example, did anything about him not match his apparent age?" Briar questioned.

"I'm not sure... I don't remember anything like that..." Jim spoke.

"Alright then." Briar sighed, leaning his head on his hands. "Have you ever heard the name...Twilight?" he questioned.

Twilight again? Really? He should really change his codename or something since all of SSS knows that name. He must've slipped up and had a witness if his codename got in the hands of SSS. I wasn't even a known spy until that mole screwed me over. I thought, mentally scoffing. If I ever meet the bastard that got me in this situation, I'll do WISE a favor and execute the mole.

"Huh? Whose that?" Jim questioned.

"A spy from the West. A master of disguise. And a villain who would throw this country into chaos. You could call him a natural enemy of an organization like ours." Briar explained.

I mentally rolled my eyes. And here he goes again with his caveman talk of "West bad! East good!"

"S-so you'd let me off the hook if I help you catch him...?" Jim questioned, a hope in his eyes and tone.

"Well, do you know anything?" Briar questioned, serious as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"H-hold on, I'm remembering something..." Jim spoke, making me cock an eyebrow at his obvious lie.

"Do keep in mind that feeding us nonsense will only add to your crimes." Briar pointed out.

"...C'mon! I wasn't trying to hurt anyone! I just wanted some pocket change to mess around with girls! Honest!" Jim cracked.

"Don't you have a wife though...?" Briar questioned, judgment in his voice.

I resisted the powerful urge to slap Jim in the back of the head and scream my head off about his behavior and motivations.

"You're a man, you know how it is! Don't you want to sow your oats?" Jim spoke, trying to defend himself very poorly. “All I did was lose some scraps of paper, right? That’s not treason, right? You’ll let me go, right?” Jim spoke, smiling nervously as his eyes widened.

“You know, Mr. Hayward. I’m keeping my job at the SSS a secret from my sister. After all, you can never be too careful in this line of work. But more importantly…” Briar reached into his pocket and grabbed black gloves as I leaned closer to see what he was about to do.

“I don’t want her to know how much dirty work I have to do.” He spoke, quickly grabbing Jim’s head and slamming it down on the desk.

I jumped, gawking as the transcriber looked back to make sure I was alright, to which I nodded to as I observed closely from a different distance as I took a step back.

“What you’ve done, Mr. Hayward, is absolutely treason.” Briar spoke, keeping Jim’s head down. “Maybe to you it was just a scrap of paper. But do you realize how many of our civilian’s lives you put in danger? Unlike you, I love my family. I love my sister. And I’ll do anything to protect the country she lives in.” Briar spat out harshly.

Aw. That’s kind of cute but definitely not the time right now. I thought to myself.

“Anything.” He spoke sinisterly, leaning forward and darkening his voice.

Yeah, not so cute anymore. I thought to myself.

Briar sighed and looked back to the documenter. “Was that enough of a confession?”

The transcriber nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

“Good work, sir.” He spoke.

Briar stood up, removing his hand from Jim. Jim shot up immediately and stared at him, shocked and shitless out of his mind.

“W-what happens to me?” Jim questioned.

“Oh. You’ll be going away for a very, very long time.” Briar smiled, removing his gloves. “But that doesn’t bother you, right? You won’t see your wife ever again, so what’s the problem?”

“H-hey! Wait! You can’t just leave me!” Jim spoke as Briar walked towards me.

“You got him, right?” Briar questioned towards the transcriber.

“Yep. Have a good day, sir.” He answered.

Briar walked out, closing the door as I followed behind him, keeping a slight distance in case he was still mad.

“Did I scare you?” he questioned.

“Yeah.” I admitted. “But your strength was kind of hot.” I spoke, causing Briar to whip his head around so damn quickly.

“I—! You! You can’t just say that out of nowhere, especially at work!” he shouted, causing me to laugh. “My strength is to provoke fear, not…that!” he spoke.

“I was just being honest?” I spoke, tilting my head and acting like I did nothing wrong.

“Yeah? Well, keep those thoughts to yourself.” He huffed, his face red as we continued walking down the hallway to the Director’s office.

We knocked, which was answered by an “enter.”

“Here you two are! My favorite workers!” he smiled.

I ignored the slight pride in my chest as the praise as Briar and I saluted.

“We got the confession from Jim Hayward.” Briar said.

“Wonderful! I knew you could it, Mr. Briar. And how was the lesson, Mrs. Briar?” The Director asked me as me and Briar cringed.

“Eh. It was…amusing and something I’m glad I didn’t miss.” I smiled, eyeing Briar as he huffed, his face going red.

“I got a question for you, sir.” I spoke up.

“It better not be something stupid.” Briar mumbled to me.

“Why do I got the hat? I mean, it’s cute and all, but isn’t it for lieutenants? That, and it has roses.” I questioned, pointing at the hat.

“It’s cute. And you’re our first female lieutenant. Who knows, we could have a female branch in the SSS and you’ll be in charge!” The Director spoke, fantasizing.

“Segregation.” I pointed out.

“But it’s not discriminatory.” The Director smiled.

“Not in your book...” I grumbled, crossing my arms.

“It’s a cute look. At least I didn’t give you the pink uniform, I was really contemplating it too.” The Director sighed, causing me look at him disgusted.

“Yeah. Thanks for not ordering that pink uniform.” I sighed.

“Actually, I’d think it’d suit you.” Briar chuckled.

“You think?” The Director questioned, excited as he smiled.

“No!” I retorted.

“Yes. Especially because it’ll match your stuffed bun—“ I elbowed Briar hard in the stomach, causing him to double over and groan as the Director immediately decided to not laugh.

“That wasn’t cute…” Briar wheezed out as I smiled.

“Sorry, honey.” I chuckled as Briar groaned, rolling his eyes as he stood up straight.

“Well, we should get going and clock out.” Briar spoke, a smile on his face (probably from thinking of his sister).

“Oh, you’re not going to ditch me here?” I questioned.

“No? I mean, it’s a good idea.” Briar spoke. "Do you want that?"

“Don’t leave me!” I immediately shut down the idea. “I just thought since you’re going to visit your sister you’d hide me.” I spoke.

“Your visiting your sister?” The Director spoke. “That’s cute. Meeting your in-laws already.”

“Yeah. Couple goals.” I spoke sarcastically.

“Who said I was going to leave you? I have to make sure you don’t do something stupid. But there will be rules.” Briar stated.

“Yes, sir.” I spoke, saluting, then looked at the Director. “Bye, Director, sir.” I spoke, bowing as Briar said his own goodbye.

We walked out of the office and down the many hallways, getting to the outside of the locker rooms. He told me to"wait here", then grabbed our bags from his locker since I don't have my own locker yet.

“Alright. I’m going to go change in the locker rooms, you go change in the fitting rooms there. We will meet right here. If you are not here in five minutes, I’ll pull this alarm right here and the whole building will go in lockdown.” Briar explained, pointing to a red button with a glass case surrounding it.

“Okay.” I nodded.

I grabbed my bag that Briar handed to me and I walked to the changing room, quickly changing into my black long-sleeved shirt, black tights, dark gray shorts, and my black shoes. I stuffed my uniform into my bag and walked out of the room, stopping at the spot me and Briar agreed to meet at and waiting for him.

“Took you long enough.” I spoke playfully as he walked to me.

I grabbed his hand and held it, then made our way to the parking lot.

“We’re going to go stop by a bouquet before we get there.” Briar spoke, and I nodded.

We entered the car (with no tomfoolery from Briar) and shoved our bags in the backseat. We had a quiet and peaceful moment of silence, Briar drumming this fingers on the steering finger as I looked out the window. The sun was setting already.

Has it really been that long? Today felt so short and…strangely fun? I thought. That’s weird. I’m not supposed to be enjoying my time with the enemy. I should be finding a way back to WISE's HQ before they realize I’m alive and working with the enemy.

“Yuri.” Briar suddenly spoke.

I looked at him, confused.

“What?” I questioned.

“My first name is Yuri, my last name is Briar.” He sighed.

I looked at him, surprised as I blinked.

“Don’t think you earned it—because you didn’t. But my sister doesn’t know about us at all; I just told her today that you’re my wife and that you’re coming with me for our visit.” Briar, no, Yuri, spoke.

I smiled, my heart swelling at how he didn’t say “wife” with any sort of disgust or regret, simply stating it as if it was second nature.

“My sister also doesn’t know about our jobs as the SSS, and she’s not allowed to know either. If you tell her, it’ll be a breach of the contract and I’ll execute you—with or without permission from the Director. My sister means more to me than my job or your life because of all she’s done for me. I won’t allow you to disrespect or take her kindness to your advantage. You will follow my lead.” Yuri spoke.

I hummed, nodding to show I understood as I looked out the window, the sky darkening.

“Yuri, Yuri…” I muttered. “I really love your name, Yuri. I think it suits you.” I admitted, turning my head so he could see my honesty as I smiled.

He huffed, grumbling out a "thanks" as he hid his face.

Parts: One, two, three, current part, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten (to be continued when Spy x Family has more Yuri content!)

Want more Yuri content? Check out these headcannons and one shots!

Yuri Briar x Sick! Fem! Reader

Slightly mean! Yuri Briar x Fem! Reader

Yuri Briar x Fem! Reader headcannons + other fandoms!

Have any requests? Check my masterlist to see the characters I write for: Masterlist (Please request, I have too much free time and too little fics).

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rebuke-me · 6 months ago

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⭐️

look. this is from a fic that like 3 people care about but I wanna talk about it damn it bc I think it's one of my best metaphors in fic recently. I'm gonna put it under the cut, mild spoilers for wasteland, baby.

It was a simple thing; a peace offering, or a sympathetic gesture. But the way Joe was looking at him, the slight furrow in his brow, the slight concern in his eyes, made Jed’s heart twist in an odd sort of way. For some reason, he knew that taking it would change something, pull the string taut like cat’s cradle. If he put his hand through the wrong opening, he’d be caught. Everyone knew the middle one trapped your wrist. Everyone chose it anyways, wanting to be amazed by the way the string wrapped around them.

tldr: sure, this guy's offering him a cigarette, but it's going to ruin him eventually. but then I remembered that while cats cradle is probably a historically accurate reference, considering this fic takes place in vaguely 1940s, it's kind of obscure to other modern readers so! cats cradle explanation. at least how I played it when I was a kid.

this is cats cradle, it's a kids string game. I think in the original game you're trying to contort the string into various shapes, but. again that wasn't how I played. with cats cradle, you'd go up to someone and tell them to stick their hand in any one of the openings, and then you'd pull it tight, usually dropping two of the strings. if they put their hand in the top or bottom opening, the string would just fall off of them. but if they put their hand into the middle one, the string wrapped around their wrist.

once you do it a few times you learn which opening let's you go free, and which one catches you. even if you're a kid. but you keep picking the middle one anyways, because it's just. kind of fascinating.

in this way I'm using it as a metaphor for doing things you're not supposed to, especially in a queer sense. you know that this thing will be dangerous and get you hurt. it'll wrap you up in something you can't get out of. you're stuck, no going back.

Jed reached out, his fingers brushing against Joe’s as he took the cigarette, and he felt the chafe of string on his wrist as he sealed something between them.

and then you do it anyways, because you want to, because you're a kid who wants to have the sort of magic of being caught and being tricked. you put your hand in the middle.

And yet, when he found himself closing the gap again, he thought of the cat’s cradle again. The easy thing to do would be to not play the game at all, or to choose the easy way out. He chose to get trapped one more time, feeling a warm hand on his wrist, pulling him taut.

because it's more fun to get caught. it's more fun to play the game, to know exactly what will happen and do it anyways. a combination of reckless behavior (in a much more controlled environment, of a kids game) and a sort of. predictability. you know exactly what will happen. you know exactly how and why it'll hurt. it's string snapping on your wrist, it's a kiss between two people that really shouldn't be acting this way.

It was far more fun to play the game.

#be more chill #bmc #jeremy heere #jake dillinger #deere #dillinjer #jupescribbles #wasteland baby bmc

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jennycalendar · 1 year ago

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oh yes you said it so well! you have a very good way with words which i shouldn't be surprised with but still consistently am lmao. the jenny/her past and giles/his past with the watcher comparison is soooo on the nose i had to stop for a second and stare like yeah. YEAH! i'd love to hear more of your thoughts about jenny and her past/her family and the way she carries herself in regards to that, whether they are headcanons or not!

but back to jennyangel. you bringing up your vamp!jenny fic made me think about the situation of vamp!jenny but angel, not angelus, because i (like the typical angel blogger in this fandom) am obsessed with guilt and the question of forgiveness and redemption and how those things coencide and whatnot. i'm pretty sure you've already talked about this before but if you haven't! any thoughts!!! please send them my way.

in regards more to the classic jennyangel... i agree with you 100%. i do think there's something to be said about hate escaping those little corners jenny hasn't really managed to tape shut. not because she can't, but because somewhere, subconsciously, she needs that air. jennyangel are soooo appealing to me because of this especially: jenny is trying to convince herself she has forgiven angel, over and over again, because she wants to be Brand New, and angel is so focused on trying to convince himself that this forgiveness is enough, in some way, that in some way it will take some weight off his shoulders, but even in the act of being with jenny, more guilt is placed on his shoulders. and he ALSO wants to be Brand New. they all want to be Brand New but they never can................. sorry i'm really quite crazy about them. to me souled angel and human jenny operate as some weird 1940s great depression married couple. if that puts it into words.

i love the Trying To Be Brand New couple. buffy has quite a lot of them but perhaps that's just me as an angst lover. if spike survived post s7... spuffy falls into this trope for me.

sorry went quite off topic there. i apologize! thanks for indulging my asks <3

this ask made me light up! again! aaaaaaaah!!!!! my reply will be long so i'm putting it under a cut!

so first of all -- my very very very convoluted backstory for jenny involves her mother's side of the family being the one that's all tied up in the angelus stuff, so it's very much a trauma that's passed down through the women (and janna is in fact the name of the matriarch that pushed the resouling ritual forward at the beginning of everything, which, if one wants to get into jenny's mom's decision to name her daughter janna, one COULD, but all i will say now is "read the what you make sequel when it comes out.") and a lot of that desire for retribution got lost along the way bc enyos was the one who had to pick up the mantle For Reasons that had a lot to do with how much of a Problem jenny's mom was. not that any of this was ever communicated to jenny. so she feels a sense of obligation as the only surviving member of the angelus-destroyed line, save enyos, and there's also a lot of weird shit going on with her dad's side of the family where she's convinced none of them want her around (ALSO A VERY LONG STORY) which means that there is this part of her that really, really likes having this thing that ties her to something bigger than Just Janna. in my heart of hearts, i think jenny is a very lonely person who really wants a safe place to land but refuses to admit it, and that manifests in a lot of giles-related weirdness because giles is so open about wanting to be that safe place for her & she has no idea what to do with it. the mortifying and infuriating realization that you can have everything you want if you ask for it.

as for vamp!jenny and angel...i actually have Plans For That, but i am a little superstitious, and if i'm super serious about writing something, i do not generally talk in any real detail about it on this here blog. IF you wanna come off anon or smth i will absolutely share all of the details with you in messages, but if you're more comfortable keeping those excellent glasses on (also super valid) pls just know there will be a fic coming out at some point that you will probably really enjoy :)

I UNDERSTAND YOUR ENERGY ENTIRELY. for me it's always been that i don't actually want jenny and angel to get together, i just want their latent mutual desire for each other to eat them both alive while they both refuse to acknowledge it ever being a thing because to love this person would be to fully stare into the face of the most horrific traumatic life-shaping event ever and come to terms with the person that they became because of this person in front of them, and Neither Of Them Want To Do That, Ever. so i do absolutely agree that a situation where they DO actually consummate their connection and try to work out a relationship would sorta be Level Two of this determined avoidance, wherein they're both so aggressively going "we'll never have problems again!" a la the crazy ex girlfriend soundtrack and mutually refusing to admit that jenny wants to rip angel's spine out and strangle him with it + angel thinks he deserves it and would happily let her. gothic horror couple of my heart.

#THESE ARE GOOD ASKS AND I WILL INDULGE THEM ALWAYS #asks #miscellany #jenny and angel

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allthemusic · 10 hours ago

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Week ending: 15th June

I have to say, just looking at the line-up this week, I'm quite excited. It feels like we haven't had a female artist - or a Brill Building songwriter - in a little while, and Lonnie's usually fun, too, when he's not trying to do comedy. So yeah, tentatively looking forward to seeing what this week brings us!

I Wanna Go Home - Lonnie Donegan (peaked at Number 5)

Oh, okay. I know this one! It's the Sloop John B, recognisable right away from the intro, which has a sort of calypso feel, complete with lots of Latin percussion, and lyrics about a trip around Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. A tropical hit, right in time for summer, then!

That said, the trip the song depicts is anything but a holiday - Lonnie and his grandfather are sailors on the Sloop John B. But we learn that we were drinking all day / And fighting all night, and that I feel so break-up I wanna go home. At which point you'd think Lonnie would quit the drinking, but apparently he's been driven to drenk by the captain, who's a wicked man / He gets drunk any time he can / And he don't give a damn for gradpappy and me. I think this is the strongest language we've heard so far? So yeah, Lonnie's having a properly miserable time at sea, despite the fun tropical sound.

None of this is typical pop fare - because this isn't a pop song. It's a Bahamian folk tune that dates back to at least 1916, probably earlier. There are some suspicions that it was a "manufactured" folk song, created for a chain of hotels owned by one Henry Flagler. But either way, it uses real events - there really was a sloop called the John B named for its owner, John Bethel, who sailed it around for a while until it was wrecked. No record, apparently, of whether the drinking and fighting's accurate, but it definitely was wrecked. The song spun out of that, and would have stayed in Nassau had it not been for folk enthusiast Alan Lomax, who travelled to the Bahamas in search of "purer", more African-sounding black folk music, which he suspected the islanders there would know. Lomax's recordings brought the song to the attention of the up and coming folk artists of the 1940s and especially 1950s, with the Weavers and later the Kingston Trio doing popular versions that you have to suspect inspired Lonnie - though he added the tango rhythms and castanets, it turns out. Not a bad addition, honestly, though Lonnie's take on the song then got eclipsed by the Beach Boys' much better-known 1966 version. Which is the main version I know, so there's that.

Mamma - Connie Francis (double A-side, 2)

Ooh, and after our (admittedly disastrous) trip to the Bahamas, we're on our travels again, this time to Italy, with a massive, dramatic intro, all deafening strings and harps. It's what experts would call "a bit much", but thankfully the song quickly puts and end to it, cutting to just Connie and a piano, and only gradually bringing the strings back in. The overall effect, once you hit this bit, is fine, if a little syrupy. I think a lot of the reason it just about works is Connie's voice, which as ever is excellent, just dripping in emotion. She almost sounds like she's starting to cry, a little, as she sings about how, when the evening shadows fall / And the lovely day is through, / Then with longing I recall / The years I spent with you. It's hard to sound vulnerable or to act while singing, but Connie manages it here, her voice catching, with these little breathy moments and sighs - skillful stuff. About as subtle as a hammer, but hey, if anyone has the right to show off, it's Connie.

And then we abruptly shift from English into Italian. And quite melodramatic Italian, too, addressing Connie's mother: Mama, just for you my song flies / Mama, you will be with me / You will no longer be alone. It's almost romantic-sounding, and combined with the teary opening, I was briefly confused - but then we shift back into English, with some lyrics that give a little context, as Connie sings about feeling safe in the glow of your love / Sent from the heavens above, promising her mother that I'll live in these memories / Until the day that we're together once more. Her mother is dead, it seems - hence the emotional delivery of the while song. It's sentimental stuff, and I'm not sure I really like it, to be truthful - it all just feels a bit emotionally manipulative and fake. And who's the target audience? Who's actually going out and choosing to listen to this, specifically? It all feels a bit morbid and mopey, at least for my tastes.

That said, the song was apparently a bit hit, at this point, and a familiar one, having been written all the way back in 1940 by Italian composer Cesare Andrea Bixio, and translated into English six years later. Tonnes of European singers then seem to have taken a stab at it throughout the 1940s and 1950s especially, including a version by David Whitfield in 1955 that only seems to have reached Number 12, and thus did not come up in this project - and thank goodness for that, beacuse I can only imagine how awful David's version of this particular song would be!

Either way, at the same time, over in the US, Connie Francis was trying to pull a Bobby Darin and get out of the whole "rock and roll" rut. As part of this transition to a more "adult" sound, her father apparently suggested she ought to make an album of Italian songs, with a mix of traditional folk songs and popular hits, all sung in a mix of Italian / Neapolitan and English for the sake of an audience not necessarily fluent in Italian. And thus was Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites born, despite the fact that Connie didn't speak either Italian or Neapolitan at this point. It included Mama and other well-known songs such as Santa Lucia and O Sole Mio, as well as some Domenico Modugno numbers, capitalising on Italian Eurovision success. And actually, now I think about it, the whole production on Mama is very "early Eurovision", heavy on the sentiment, and more of an easy listening vibe than anything you could traditionally consider pop. It's funny, nowadays, to think of that as something that an artist would progress to, after a rock and roll career - it really feels like a step back into the past, a return to a type of music you tend to assume was put to bed, immediately outdated, the minute Bill Haley came screaming into the charts. Which it obviously didn't, hence why folks like Connie and Bobby can still make money off records like this.

Robot Man - Connie Francis (double A-side, 2)

Okay, interesting as Mama was, this is what you buy a Connie Francis record for. It's a sparky little number, with plenty of quirkiness as Connie sings some properly silly lyrics. Seriously, this song is on par with I Go Ape - it's a similarly ambiguous "sort-of serious sort-of novelty" number, only with robots as the shtick, not monkeys, as Connie tells us all about how I want a robot man to hold me tight / One that I can count on every single night. Her robot boyfriend, she suggests, would be much more reliable than a real man. He wouldn't run around like other guys / I wouldn't have to listen to his alibis. Even better, I'd never have to worry that he wouldn't phone, plus he'd never dance with anyone but me. And as an added bonus, we would never fight / Cause it would be impossible for him to speak. An ideal solution, truly, and also, incidentally, a really nice bit of dated 1950s futurism - I love that Connie can imagine a robot boyfriend, but not a talking robot boyfriend. That would be too much.

Connie, in all of this, is back to being her usual bubbly self, no dead mothers or European pretensions in sight. Instead, we've got a song where she's just having a bit of fun. There's theoretically been a bit of heartache - hence lines about how she don't want a real-life boy, they give me grief / Always make me cry into a handkerchief - but Connie's not letting it get her down. Indeed, quite the opposite - if anything, her flaky real-life boyfriend's got her all fired up and savage. Which, as I've definitely said before, is absolutely Connie's best mode. It's not that she can't sell heartbreak or romance or any of those mushier emotions. But she's just really good at this sort of fiery sass, it's a good fit for her. She manages to sound playful but also imperious and kind of dismissive - it's great!

Throughout, there are some really nice "futuristic" touches, just to give the song that sci-fi vibe. The most obvious is the weird, whirring backing singers and whatever's making that clicking noise in the intro - the combination of which sounds like something experimental from an early Doctor Who episode, so job well done. And there are a few other boop-boop-boop-boop bits from the backing singers, too, which I like. And I appreciate that appart from that, this is basically just a standard-issue rock and roll-inflected pop song, complete with twangy guitar, hand-claps and backing yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah interjections. A perfectly charming mix of things to be.

Stairway to Heaven - Neil Sedaka (8)

Wait, Stairway to Heaven? I never realised that was a cov... oh. Right. It's not. It's just got the same title as the Led Zeppelin song. Disappointing. Not that the song's bad, but I really do enjoy the Zeppelin song. Plus I know a fair bit of their stuff's covers of earlier blues numbers, so I thought this could be Neil trying his hand at the blues. Which would have been out of character, I should have known it was too good to be true. Sigh.

Disappointment aside, I do think this is a decent song. It's a romantic, if slightly predictable, rock and roll-tinged pop number, much like Robot Man, all about how I'll build a stairway to heaven / I'll club to the highest star / I'll build a stairway to heaven / Cause heaven is where you are. Neil's love's an angel, you see? You get that? An angel! Needless to say, subtle this song ain't. Which is fine, not every song needs to have poetic, elegant lyrics. Sometimes we just need to be building stairways to heaven and climbing up over the rainbow to profess our love in slightly over-dramatic fashion. Add in a killer sax solo and what sounds like a tambourine and a glockenspiel, and you've got yourself a hit.

Actually, the instrumentation's notably good, here. That's a bit of a thing with these Brill Building hits, there's a real attention paid to how it's all been put together, and getting an interesting mix of instruments in there. They're not front and centre, they're more there for texture than anything, but I still appreciate things like including a glockenspiel, or the hit on what sounds like a timpani, which is then detuned to make a sort of pitch-bending effect at the end of each verse. They're not remarked on, but they're just there, making the song that bit more interesting and memorable - a step beyond your more standard "guitar, bass, drum and maybe sax" combo. And of course, it's all filled out with some deliciously daft-sounding wa-wap noises from the backing singers. Because what is a pop song without slightly silly noises from the backing singers, at this point?

I didn't mind any of this week's songs, and honestly, I thought they were quite interesting, as a sort of snapshot of things in the summer of 1960. We've got exotic foreign travel, calypso influences, British skiffle takes on an American folk tune, a rock and roll artist trying to branch back into something more traditional and adult, Italian sentimental balladeering, and not one but two Brill Building pop numbers, influenced by rock and roll but with more of a pop sensibility, both of them replete with overenthusiastic backing singers, jangly guitar and charmingly goofy lyrics. Good stuff, all round.

Favourite song of the bunch: Robot Man

#uk charts #1960 #lonnie donegan #connie francis #neil sedaka

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buckyshenley16 · 4 years ago

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The Tales Of The Winter Soldeir and Winter Witch

Book1, Chapter 1

3 Years before Bucky was drafted

February 5th, 1940

Ramona’s POV

Putting my stacks of paperwork on my desk ready for tomorrow as my work day comes to an end, I find myself sighing in relief after a long day of again getting nowhere with the ‘Jeweler Case.’ It seems to be a never-ending case as this is our second week trying to solve the jewelry store robbery and who did what and when, why, and so on.

“Lover boy is on the phone Ramona.” Peggy gloats with a smug grin on her face purposely making sure the speaker was not covered.

“Like I’ve told you almost a hundred times Carter, he is not my lover boy.” I exclaim emphasizing the word ‘not’ with an eye roll and taking the phone off her. “Why hello Buck, what would you be calling to ask the 3rd time today?” I ask with a slight chuckle whilst throwing a rubber at Peggy who is winking at me.

“Just checking before I leave to walk you home doll, did you bring a jacket today? It’s freezing outside and I can see your jacket still hung up, would hate for ya to catch a cold especially when you live with someone with an immune system like Steve.” Bucky says, his Brooklyn drawl being clearer than ever.

“You know, I do have more than one coat Buck?” I ask. “Just checking Mona, I didn’t walk you today so I didn’t see what you left in. Just seen what you woke up in or should I say what you didn’t wake up in.” Bucky asks with a hint of flirting and a hint of cockiness in his voice.

“Yes, and if you carry on with your Mr, big ego act that’ll be the last time you see that, Barnes.” I retort.

“Okay we both know that’s not the truth. Anyway, I’m bouta leave doll, will be there in half an hour, will wait in the usual spot.”

“Not true but okay, see you soon Buck” I say trying not to drop the phone from between my ear and shoulder whilst locking my cabinets. “See you soon, darlin'.” Bucky finishes before putting the phone down.

Bucky and I had known each other since being 6 and 9 being introduced by our friend Steve. Steve had been like a big brother growing up, Sarah being nothing but welcoming to my family when we fled to Brooklyn from Russia. Sarah and my mother would both take turns between childcare; me, my three younger sisters and brother being at the Rogers’ every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and half the day Sunday whilst mother would go to work at the laundry where Sarah also worked.

And obviously Steve would be at our house every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Every Sunday we would have dinner at the Rogers’ with our mother. Our father stayed in Russia with mother wanting to flee a situation I wasn’t told about until I was old enough to understand. Father was abusive and an alcoholic and had a job mother didn’t agree with, but we were never told what that job entailed and whilst I found myself wondering every so often, curiosity never killed the cat and I was enormously proud of that.

Bucky, Steve, and I were best friends growing up with Bucky and Steve being stupidly overprotective of me even when I became a fully trained agent and officially full time at SSR. My mother never 100% agreed with my job and whilst Bucky and Steve questioned it at first for my safety, but once they realised I could handle myself (after witnessing me defend myself against a couple of not so nice men who got a bit too close for my comfort) they were 100% supportive of my job, especially Bucky with one less person to save from the allies and one more person to help when Steve found himself on the not so nice ends of the alleys face first into the trash cans.

It was around 18 years old I'd started developing feelings for Bucky, not that I’d never admit it to him, I was far too proud and full of denial for that because he would never go for a girl like myself; at least that’s what I thought until I found myself intertwined in his sheets with his body wrapped around mine after one passionate, unexpected night a year later.

This went from happening every few weeks, to every two weeks, to maybe once a week to every few nights and I’m still in denial that he would ever want to make things official.

I question whether I want to become his girl, especially with my line of work and seeing my parent’s relationship be the bane of their lives when I was younger. All I’ve ever seen is relationships fail and that is why I refuse to put myself through the pain of one. I care about Bucky, he’s the one person who no matter how rotten the day be I’m guaranteed to have a smile on my face when I see him.

When Sarah died both mine and Bucky's families became close ensuring two big family units to support Steve and even a year and a half after she passed; me, Bucky and Steve got a shared apartment together. Sure, it was no five stars, but it was home and as long as the three of us had each other that was all that mattered. Steve was aware of mine and Bucky's “situation” but chose not to get involved.

Stuck in my own little world I'd not realised half an hour had passed and Bucky would be waiting for me so after grabbing my coat and bag I made sure to say bye to Peggy and arrange coffee and breakfast before work tomorrow morning where we could discuss some of the cases privately, seen as though we knew we were massively undermined at SSR we got a lot of thinking and solving done mostly when we were alone together where no male could underestimate or interrupt us.

Walking down out of the doors I spotted Bucky with a glowing grin on his face, it took everything to keep my footing steady. “Hello, beautiful. How would you feel about hot chocolate and dinner on me at our spot?” Bucky asked holding his arm out to me which I gladly took.

“Gee buck, almost sounds like you’re asking me on a date!” I tease earning a nudge to my side causing a fit of laughter.

“One day doll, I’ve already asked several times but one day I will get a yes out of ya.” Bucky retorted.

“I’ll hold you to that Buck, how was your day?” I asked clinging to his arm.

“The usual, woke up to a fine dame next to me, crappy coffee, got to work. Left work, pulled Steve out of an ally, nagged Steve how he’s not ten men and should think before he acts, walked the little punk back to the apartment, read the paper and now I'm here to pick up you. How bout you doll?” Bucky explains with a hint of sarcasm.

“Same old, really strugglin’ with this case I just can’t seem to understand how a whole jewelry store could be robbed without even a fingerprint left behind nor how someone could even get a hold of that damn gas. How many men was it today? Did you or Steve get hurt?” you ask with a sigh giving Bucky's arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Hey Mona, don’t worry too much about it, we both know you’ll get to the bottom of it like always and I’m sure whoever’s guilty will regret it when they have to face the bottom of your shoe. Two guys, managed to reason with them after giving one a right hook.” he winked.

“Oh, I know I will, thanks Buck I can always rely on you for some good old confidence boosting. I give up telling the jackass he’s gotta stop this, I may as well be talking to a brick wall!” I finish with a chuckle. As we walk into the bright, retro diner Bucky holds the door open for me before guiding us both to a booth. As we take our coats off a waitress comes to us.

“Well would ya look who it is, only our two favorites! Where’s Rogers tonight?” Our waitress Nancy asks.

“Probably at home bathing his black eye, sulking about his fight whilst planning his next one.” I exclaim earning a laugh from both Bucky and Nancy.

“I don’t even gotta ask, usual for you two?” Nancy asks pointing between us both with her pen.

“Of course!” Bucky says with a grin

“That’s two hot chocolates and a portion of fries coming up!” Nancy exclaims.

“Thanks, Nance!” we both call.

Me, Bucky and Steve have been coming to this diner since we were in school. Their hot chocolates were practically the glue to our friendships. As I looked up from my hands, I spotted Bucky looking at me with a smile on his face. “What’s got you all smiley?” I ask with a grin.

“Just you!” Bucky exclaims grin turning wider.

“Are you purposely trying to make me blush?” I ask with a chuckle feeling warmth go to my face praying my blusher somewhat cancels the blushing.

“Always doll, I just like to make ya blush and to know I’ve still got it.” Bucky explains with a cocky smirk. Damn you and your godly smile Barnes!

“Glad my embarrassment gives you an even bigger ego boost Buck!” I laugh before our food and drinks get set down and we start tucking in.

*An hour later, on the way home from diner*

“Thank you for that Buck, it was fun. Was nice to be sat anywhere but that office.” I explain.

“S’alright doll, anything to put a smile on your face. I wanted to actually talk to you. This, us been goin' on a little while too long now.” Bucky stopped walking and turned me to face him taking both my hands in his.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I ask feeling my heart rip into two.

“Yeah, doll.” he grins.

“Oh okay, no I totally get it Buck we’re kinda not going anywhere and I’m really not ready to put myself into a relationship right now and you wanna move on or you’ve already found a girl. I get it, no hard feelings.” I say holding back the tears.

“Woah doll, no no! You’re completely taking it the wrong way. Mona, I like you, scratch that I’m crazy bout you. I understand you don’t wanna take this further just yet, but I can wait,” he says cupping my face in his hands looking into my eyes.

“Buck, I appreciate that so much but there’s so many better girls throwing themselves at you and you’re going to waste them just to wait for me? I could make you wait years and I wouldn’t want that.” I explain placing my hands over his.

“I don’t want them other girls, I want you. You’re the most beautiful, loyal, caring, and bad ass girl I’ve ever met. I will wait as long as you want me to if it means I can have you. Just please tell me you feel the same.” he begs his eyes searching my face for any sign of feeling the same.

“I do Buck, I have for a while.” I admit a small smile making its way to my lips. Bucky gently strokes his thumb across my bottom lip before pulling me in for a sweet, loving kiss. It was suddenly like it was just the pair of us that existed, nobody mattering in that moment but us two. Bucky pulled away keeping his hands on my face, placing his forehead against mine. “I got you, doll” he says before pulling me into his chest resting his chin on my head, wrapping his arms around my shoulders tightly; sighing contently.

“I got you too, Buck.” I reply wrapping my arms around his waist and smiling contently to myself.

“Let’s get home to the punk before he can’t help but lead himself to another alley huh.” Bucky says whilst linking our arms together and directing us both out of the park.

“We should probably check the alleys on our way back Buck.” I suggest

“Glad we're on the same page doll.” Bucky chuckles.

So, It’s the first of many chapters🤩 I’m so so excited!! Just wanted to give a shout out to @i-write-bucky and @jbarness for proof reading this for me!! Angels🤩❤️

#james buchanan bucky barnes #sebastianstan #the winter solider fanfiction #beefy bucky #bucky barnes #bucky x baby #buckybarnes x reader #seb stan imagine #avengers #bucky barnes smut #catfa #peggy carter #agent carter #buckybarnesfluff #fanfic #winter solider fanfiction

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ckret2 · 5 years ago

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And because I'm also curious, what is the weirdest thing you have had to learn/research for a story - to the point of "Damn, that's weird. Even for me"?

Every single time I’m writing a nonhuman character—like, say, a dragon, or a giant pteranodon made out of rocks, or a robotic spider—and I realize that the character is gonna be banging sometime soon and that means I have to put at least a little thought into the mechanics of how that works for their species, I have to go to google and type in “spider genitalia” and go please show me scientific diagrams and not weird horny things, please show me scientific diagrams and not weird horny things, please show me—

At this point, my weirdometer is broken. In the past year, off the top of my head, I’ve had to look up:

- what color smoke does a fish give off when you toss it in a volcano? (answer: boring gray smoke. I thought it might be black, which is why I checked, but nah.)

- almost a whole day on researching how volcanos melt rocks when magma is actually colder than their component rocks’ melting points (answer: the melting temperature of rocks is lowered when the pressure on them is reduced or when they’re mixed with water, both of which happens when rocks are forced up through the mantle toward a volcano)

- I was only looking up how rocks melt into magma because I was trying to figure out how to build a glass melting kiln and realized lava wasn’t hot enough to melt glass (much less rocks), so how does a fire get hot enough to melt glass? (answer: if you add extra oxygen to a fire it gets hotter, so you’ve gotta have some way to pump extra air over the fire fast enough to increase the heat but not so fast it also blows extra heat away)

- listen. listen I did… a lot of research on lava. (did you know that most volcanoes form on the borders of tectonic plates but a few come from tiny pinprick holes in the middle of tectonic plates instead? These are called “hotspot volcanoes” and Hawaii is one! The reason Hawaii is a long line of islands is because the tectonic plate on top of the hotspot keeps moving and so the volcano keeps punching new holes up through the plate! The biggest island is the newest and the smallest are the oldest & most eroded, and if you look off the southeast coast of Hawaii a new island is currently being formed by a volcano underwater, and if you look northwest off the coast of Hawaii there’s a bunch of eroded-away underwater islands going off in a dotted line! If you keep following it long enough at one point the underwater islands make an abrupt turn in a different direction because millions of years ago that’s when the tectonic plate Hawaii is on hit another plate and started floating in a different direction! Did you know that we didn’t even know tectonic plates existed until like the 60s?!)

- when was vaseline invented (patented in 1872; also it wasn’t “invented” so much as “discovered,” it’s a byproduct of pumping up oil)

- is it safe to put vaseline on snake junk (yes, in fact it’s often used by veterinarians when they have to prod around to figure out what a snake’s sex is)

- Which frequencies do AM and FM radio operate on, no the EXACT frequencies, how different are they from each other (AM is on 535 kHz to 1605 kHz, or 535 thousand Hz to 1,605 thousand Hz. FM is on 88 to 108 MHz or 88 million Hz to 108 million Hz. Humans can hear from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. A Hz, or Hertz, is basically “how many times does this thingy vibrate per second.” So the lowest AM frequencies are vibrating about 26 times faster than the highest sound a human can hear, and the lowest FM frequency vibrates about 55 times faster than the highest AM frequency)

- What was gay life in the 1920s in New Orleans like, no not the 1920s in San Francisco or New York I want New Orleans, no not what gay life in New Orleans is like today I want the 1920s, no not gay history in New Orleans back to the 1940s I want the 1920s and only the 1920s and specifically the 1920s, I will take earlier if you have it but don’t you dare try to tell me about the first gay Carnival krewe in 1958 again— (… this one’s a work in progress)

- how to translate “in the grass” from Old English into modern English in a way that lets you make a grass/grace pun in Middle English (as best I can work out, Old English for “in the grass” is “in þæm græse,” and græse evolved like græse > græs > gras > grass, where “gras” in Middle English is a potential spelling for either “grass” or “grace”)

- I mean, we’ve all had to look up “what were historically-used terms for queer people in the 30s/in the 20s/in the 10s/in the 1800s/etc” and then, tiredly, had to look up “were there any historically-used terms for queer people that don’t sound even more queerphobic than they did back then?” (Fun Victorian trivia: “Greek love” was used as code for gay love because Greek mythology was one of the only places where gay romance was readable—if you had a good enough education to learn that—because it’s Greek and therefore it’s Art and that makes it okay. Another late Victorian term, based on a now-outdated presumption of a correlation between gender identity and sexuality: “sexual inversion,” which means that a given person inverts the assumed gender roles for their assigned sex. So someone AMAB who’s called a sexual invert would, under this theory, be expected to act/dress/present as a woman AND want to/try to fulfill a woman’s gender roles AND would, “like a woman,” be sexually & romantically interested in men. Obviously, this is uhhhh, Not Good by modern standards—but it was an idea put forth by some of the first modern European psychologists to be like “the healthiest thing to do for these folks is let them live out the gender they say they are and to let them screw the way they wanna screw!” so it was an actual step in the right direction. AND it was put forth in an era when sexual preference wasn’t seen as something you’re hardwired or born with but as simply an action you can choose to pursue or not pursue, like deciding to participate in or not participate in a sport. As far as I can see this is one of the first European frameworks that presents queerness as something you are rather than something you do, so a step toward our general modern perception. What I don’t know is how widely the term was known/used in queer communities rather than in psychiatric circles.)

- Exactly how deep is Charles River in Boston (sorta 15 to 20 feet deep, it only gets deeper than 30 feet in a few small spots)

- Exactly how tall are the mountains around Death Valley (god I don’t wanna look this up again, thousands of feet, the tallest is like 11k feet)

- If you’re flying from New Zealand to Mexico but like, not in a plane, you’re just out there flying, what islands are in the area that you might pass over (if you don’t hit either French Polynesia or the Pitcairn Islands you’re kinda SOL until you reach the Galapagos. Also, all three of these island chains are over volcanic hotspots!)

- how fast can a bigass US battleship go (the bigassest ship the US Navy has is Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carriers and they can go 30 knots, which is 34 mph, which sucks. screw that, just get in a car and drive across the ocean)

So like. Aside from bracing in terror every time I have to google animal junk because I KNOW what nightmares are out there? It’s kinda hard to sort out what’s weirder than the rest, because like. I’ve gotta look up everything. Nothing’s weird when everything’s on the table.

Speaking of the potential nightmare-inducing potential of researching animal junk: I wasn’t even looking for this information, I was trying to find out what the breeding season for deer is, but this is what I found out: did you know that when male deer are planning to go get laid, they bend their heads down and pee on their own faces?

You, you know exactly what character had me doing deer research in the first place.

If I have to be haunted by this unwanted unasked-for knowledge, so does everyone else.

#about my writing #gothamopossum #ask

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