#it's just wentworth here ok
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
annepsilvaauthor · 9 months ago
Text
Begin Again - Lee Dutton
Tumblr media
Pairing: Lee Dutton x OC (Natalie WentWorth)
Summary: The life of renowned lawyer Natalie WentWorth was quiet in Boston, but everything changed when she received a call from a former Harvard colleague, Jamie Dutton. After reflecting a lot, Natalie agreed to solve some problems at the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, but she did not imagine that her life would change completely when she arrived in Montana. One of the reasons for this change was Lee Dutton, the eldest son of John Dutton, cowboy and livestock agent, who would represent all the comfort she needed to have in the midst of the chaos of the Dutton family. Natalie could begin again at that ranch.
Warnings: Subtle sexual innuendos, brief language, alcohol consumption, angst, smut, fluffy.
Fix the law after you break it
A few more kilometers and she would finally arrive in Yellowstone. Her Volvo XC40 exceeded the thousands of miles at a speed fast enough to make a journey of thirty-six hours of travel in less than thirty hours. Yes, she liked speed. It was one of the few things she allowed herself to "lose control". Her life experience and her profession had taught her to take care of her own control. If anyone would lose their mind, it would be the other side and not her.
She looked at the folder on the bank next to her. There was her name engraved on it: Miss Natalie WentWorth. She smiled proudly. She had not chosen the law, the law had chosen her. And her last civil hearing had proved it.
Natalie's thoughts were interrupted when she observed a movement a few kilometers ahead. There were men mounted on horses, armed, wearing bulletproof vests, on one side of the fence, and other men without any armament, but with unfriendly expression were on the other side of the fence. Natalie reduced her speed and a lawyer's sense of curiosity did not allow her to move forward, stopping on the shoulder.
Looking more closely, she realized that the men on the other side of the fence were indeed armed, some police officers and other civilians. She also noticed that there was a huge herd of cows on the side of the fence and she soon considered a problem. Natalie got out of the car and put her high heels on the dirt floor, something she wasn't used to.
"You should move on, ma'am. The thing here will soon be very bad." One of the cowboys warned her by jogging next to her.
"What's going on?" She asked ignoring his request.
"What happens every day here in Yellowstone: big dog fight." The cowboy waved his hat and trotted towards the discussion that was forming.
Natalie noted that the fence was free of barbed wire, so it would not be very difficult for cattle to go from one place to another. However, she doubted that the cowboys of that ranch had left the fence like that, just as it would be almost impossible for the cattle to take a different direction from what they took every day, unless someone attracted them with food. She got closer to the scene and noticed the remains of hay on the other side. Wow, a crime scene right on her first day in Montana.
"Madam, I'll ask you to leave, please." A serious and deep voice echoed behind her and she turned around. One of the men in the bulletproof vest was in front of her and at that distance she could read Livestock Agent on his chest. He carried a powerful rifle between his hands.
"As far as I know, the road is public." She responded without being able to see him right, because the strong light of the sun prevented her.
"This one is not. It belongs to the Reservation."
"Well, then they should take me out of here and not you...agent." Natalie replied pointing to the police and heard a low laugh coming from him. "Besides, I'm much more helpful here."
"I doubt that."
"OK, agent. I can tell what I know to the police officers of the Reservation and so they can win this fight." Natalie crossed the fence and walked a few steps on the pasture, but his voice came up again.
"I could get you out of there with little effort, ma'am!"
"Try it! Let's see what happens to you after that."
Natalie turned her back on the agent and approached the Indians of the Reservation, but seconds later a heated argument began. One of the Indians insulted one of the cowboys and he crossed the fence to attack him, but the Indian quickly knocked him out on the ground. The scene was transformed without Natalie being able to keep up. The police officers lifted their weapons, as well as the cowboys on the other side, but soon the agent came up with the rifle and threatened the Indian with his barrel on his head.
"Whatever happens next happens to you first." The agent threatened in a loud and deep voice.
"Son of a bitch." The Indian released the cowboy under his hands and faced the agent with danger in his eyes.
Tensions were stifled with the arrival of a helicopter on land. Natalie managed to read Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in the helicopter body and smiled playfully. What an unusual way to meet the boss. He got off the vehicle dressed as the good landowner he was, with simple clothes and a hat. The livestock agent went to meet him and exchanged some words that Natalie could not hear due to the distance and noise of the helicopter propellers.
The two men approached the fence and John exchanged glances with Natalie, surprised by her presence there, but he had more urgent matters to deal with than to know why a white woman dressed in a white satin blouse, navy blue pencil skirt and high heels was on the other side of the fence. She soon found out that she was on the wrong side of that fight, so she walked slowly towards the track, and she had difficulty walking due to her high heels sinking into the grass.
"This is a tribal issue, John. Livestock commission's got no authority here." One of the police officers informed John with caution.
"Those look like livestock to me." He pointed to the cattle on the other side of the fence and kept walking.
"The Chief's at Commencement, but I'm calling the shots."
"I'm impressed you said that with a straight face, Ben." John mocked with a smile and continued walking on the tribal ground until he approached a gentleman sitting on the hood of the truck that was among the cattle.
"If you know anything, it's better to say it now. Things won't be more friendly between us and them for much longer." The agent approached Natalie again and she remained looking at John's back, wishing to hear what he said, but it was too far away.
"If I say what I know, I lose the letter in the sleeve I have, don't you think?"
"Look, ma'am, I don't know where you come from, but here in Montana we solve the problems in two ways: either we follow the law, or we break it." The agent responded politely after a brief pause, as if he were thinking about what he should say. She liked it, he didn't want to push her away, he thought she was important enough to try to insist on the subject.
"I come from Boston...and from what I see now, you will need a good lawyer."
"I don't think we'll win this fight through laws, ma'am."
"You really won't go, so you'll need a lawyer: to fix the law after you break it. I have my card in the car, if you want."
The agent smiled openly, showing his white and big teeth. Very perfect for a cowboy and livestock agent, she thought. Either he spent all the money on dental appointments or...
"Lee Dutton." He supported the rifle in one hand and offered her the other. "Can I know your name, Madam from Boston?"
"Natalie WentWorth." She accepted his greeting and had her small hand engulfed by his big hand, tanned and full of calluses in a strong but gentle grip. "Don't worry, I'm on this side of the fence."
He just kept smiling and Natalie could watch him at that moment, since he covered the sunlight from her face. Lee was tall, although any man taller than one meter and seventy was taller than her, he wore a cream hat that covered most of his hair, and he wore a grown beard, blonde, and looked well cared for. And there was that smile that besides being beautiful, was cheerful. How could he be happy in that situation? She didn't know, but she was curious.
"Lee!" John Dutton's voice sounded authoritarian when he crossed the fence. "Clear everyone out."
"You know, there was barbed wire on this fence a week ago." Lee explained to his father.
"I know. Clear them out."
"Alright! Move on!"
While Lee gathered his men, Natalie hurried the step to accompany John Dutton, but her high heels did not help, so she removed them.
"Mr. Dutton! Mr... Dutton!" She called feeling her feet pincing due to the tall grass. After a few seconds, he stopped and waited for her to approach.
"It wasn't a good choice to wear these shoes today, ma'am." John mocked with a smile as he observed the high heels in Natalie's hands.
"I'm a newcomer to Montana, sir. I can get used to it." She put on her shoes and extended a hand to him. "My name is Natalie WentWorth. Your son Jamie told me that you were in need of help."
"All the help I need is in my house, ma'am. I don't need another lawyer." John seriously informed without accepting her hand.
"But I came here from Boston. Jamie told me that..."
"I don't know what Jamie wanted with you, miss, but it certainly has nothing to do with me or my ranch." He stared at her in a mixture of pity and anger. "If you want, we can take you back in the helicopter."
"I've been driving, sir."
"I'm sorry for what Jamie made you go through. I hope you have a good trip back." John put his sunglasses on his face and walked away from her with slow steps towards the helicopter.
Natalie was planted in the same place for so long that the police officers of the reserve had left, as well as the tribals and most of the cowboys. She couldn't believe that. After all the effort to get there, after thinking long before getting close to cowboys again, she was rejected. Natalie didn't know who else she was angry with, if it was Jamie, Mr. Dutton or herself.
"Miss WentWorth, is everything okay?" Lee appeared next to her and she had to control herself so as not to shrook another Dutton next to her.
"It'll be." She started walking again and heard his steps following her. She rolled her eyes and growled softly. "Go back to your work, Mr. Dutton. You're going to need a lot of work."
"What do you mean? Hey, wait!"
Natalie was already used to walking with high heels on the grass and was already approaching her car on the side of the side. However, to her misfortune, one Dutton was determined to leave her away while the other did not leave her alone.
"What did you mean?" He put himself between her and the driver's door.
"I need to go now, Mr. Dutton. Can I get in my own car?" She asked impatiently, but Lee remained in the same place.
"Only answer the question." Lee asked kindly, but Natalie was too angry to notice.
"I am not obliged by law to answer anything. And if you don't get out of the front of my fucking car now, I'll sue you for so many things that you'll never have a penny in your cowboy pants again." She threatened him fervently and Lee took a few seconds thinking to then clear the way. "Thank you, Agent."
"Aren't you going to give me your card?" He asked at the window when she got in the car.
"It will no longer be necessary."
Natalie started the gear and started the car, causing the tire to leave stains on the asphalt.
90 notes · View notes
wqnwoos · 1 year ago
Text
seventeen as jane austen characters
because i’m self-indulgent & rereading pride and prejudice for the 739482837th time
seungcheol as captain wentworth (persuasion) — if you haven’t read it, you just have to trust me. if you have, you will get it.
jeonghan as henry crawford (mansfield park) — slick charming dude with like. very mischievous undertones (no spoilers but jeonghan is better than this man it just fit him the most)
joshua as henry tilney (northanger abbey) — omg. charming and sweet but also a little witty and sarcastic.
jun as colonel fitzwilliam (p&p) — ok this is odd bc this character is barely present in the story but i was just reading the part he’s in and he just. seems like a really nice guy. in a jun type of way.
hoshi as mr bingley (p&p) — just a cheerful joyous lil fellow. happy to be here.
wonwoo as anne eliot (persuasion) — “elegance of mind and sweetness of character” YESSIRRR. (alternative could be colonel brandon from sense & sensibility?? idk i feel like anne is just my self indulgence running wild because i’m in love with her and also with wonwoo)
woozi as georgiana darcy (p&p) — she’s super good at music & just always described as “highly accomplished” and that reminds me of him. talented ass people.
dk as jane bennet (p&p) — a sweetheart who can do no wrong ever. and i mean ever.
mingyu as catherine morland (northanger abbey) — a little bit of a scaredy cat. but we love her still. v sweet & caring.
minghao as mr darcy (p&p) — he has nice hands.
seungkwan as emma woodhouse (emma) — gossip queen. also i feel like seungkwan would play matchmaker.
vernon as mr bennet (p&p) — THIS ONE IS. idk it makes sense but it doesn’t but it DOES okay like he’s so funny. and u know what it doesn’t have to make sense to YOU. it makes sense to ME.
chan as marianne dashwood (sense & sensibility) — very passionate and maybe a little bit impulsive but very loving & loyal.
70 notes · View notes
elliespuns · 8 months ago
Note
I was wondering, would you mind introducing yourself a bit? Your age, hobbies (except for blogging of coure), music taste, your favorite movies, etc? I love the content you post and i love you and I don't even know you. I wanna know my favorite blogger.. lol. Only if you're okay with it
First of all, thank you for such a lovely compliment. I love you too and I don't even see your blog, mate!
To answer you; I was answering something similar once. This anon sent me questions and I filled them in, so if you allow me to just copy and paste those so I wouldn't have to type it all again (nothing has changed since then, honestly) then I'll be happy to oblige.
How old are you? I'm 30
Tall or short? Very short, I'm only 5'1 ft, 1,56 m
Sexuality? Eh, I don't like labeling myself but if I HAD TO, it'd say bisexual/demisexual.
Describe yourself briefly I'm an introverted dork that doesn't vibe with most people. I dig music, art, and I love a lot. I either love too much or not at all. I've been vegan for over 10 years now and I love funny people. Other than that, I'm just a very poetic soul that also loves to play video games from time to time and I write. I write a lot.
Something you like about yourself? I'd say it's my knowledge in English. I've been self 'learning' it for 9 years now (never been abroad) and I was able to learn the language to the point where it became a huge part of my life. Like I literally use it more than my mother language. That's a thing I'd say I like about myself.
Favorite hobbies outside your blog? I write; creative writing, poetry. Both fulfil my mind. Then I love reading (ofc). I also draw, play video games, work with graphic programs and I love taking pictures.
Something no one would guess about you I have a very high sex drive, lmao 🫣😂 and people would never say so about me, because I literally look like I have a ribbon buckled to my vagina.
Weird quirks you have Oh, god, I can't stand hand cuts. Like you can literally show me a video of someone having their throat slit and I'll be fine, but then you show me a vid of someone having their palm sliced, or simply just someone cutting their finger and I'll go all asdfghjklsdfghjk.
One talent you wished you had Damn, I wish I could draw from imagination. I can draw but I can't seem to draw anything just by trying to see it in my head. That's so fucking frustrating. And weird. Anyone else having this problem?
A word your friends would use to describe you Idk about one word, but my best friend says I'm the funniest person she has ever met, so does that count? Lol, Idk why she says this. I'm literally a potato.
Craziest thing that's ever happened to you Omg, trauma alert… when my boss (a 70 year old male) caressed the top of my head telling me I'm pretty.
Have you ever been in love? Yes, for over 10 years now (no, it's not a fictional character, lol).
What is your biggest fear? Fuck, it's hurricanes and tornados. I actually have a phobia, it's called 'ancraophobia' and it's a fear of strong wind. (I swear I don't fear normal wind tho, I'm not that weird, actually, ok?).
Why did you start this blog? When I came here one day I realized that there were only a few blogs that were dedicated to the game stuff. So I said why the hell not? I didn't expect to have an actual fanbase here, it's crazy. Love you guys.
Your favorite food? Lentils, that's the shit.
Least favorite food? I'd say meat.
Favorite TV shows? Okay, not gonna mention TLOU cause it's obvious, but the very first show that pops into my mind every time is Breaking Bad. I love this show to bits. Then I also love TWD, OITNB, Better Call Saul, Wentworth, This Is Us, Lost, The Killing.
Favorite movie of all time? My most favorite movie of all time will forever be Ginger Snaps (2000). I've loved this movie ever since I was 11. It's been 19 years ever since and I still love it to pieces. Aaaaah!
Favorite musicians? I love a lot of music, but my most favorite is Damien Rice. I love that guy and what he does. Right behind him are Cigarettes After Sex and Mazzy Star (just pure love). Then it would be Joshua Radin, The Hope Arsenal, Yaeow, The Paper Kites, The Smiths, R.E.M., Blur, BoDeans...
Do you have any pets? My chonky boi guinea pig.
13 notes · View notes
triviareads · 4 months ago
Note
What's your ranking of the Jane Austen heroes?
I'm going based on the books, and I haven't read Sense and Sensibility (but I have watched the movie and then promptly forgot everything) Mansfield Park, or Lady Susan (or Sanditon now that I think about it), plus I read these around a decade ago so here are my rankings:
Henry Tilney because he's just so EASY to like— the way he walks a fine line between finding Catherine's naivete charming (and he's into it. for sure.) but he never condescends her (see: when she straight up admits she thinks his dad killed his mom, and while he's perturbed, he doesn't take it out on her), and he's just a funny guy in general.
Mr. Darcy because when I do selectively reread P&P, I find myself laughing at his and Elizabeth's convos in the first half because his delusion(!!), but on the other hand you get why he might.... have thought she was into him. And he's actually so cute when he "smilingly" replies to her while she thinks she ripped him a new one
Captain Wentworth for his hissy kitty energy (thanks @jeanvanjer for that one) after being rejected by Anne and being a petty bitch about it 8 years later, and then for the sheer romance of his letter and the last 2(?) conversations they have.
Mr. Knightley because I do feel like I project a lot of what could be onto him (it's the age gap ok 💀) and forget what is, which is that he's a nice guy and a very paternal kinda friend to Emma, but as far as the romance, he doesn't bring it the way the other guys do probably because he's a little too good at hiding his emotions (which he basically admits at the end but still).
3 notes · View notes
madellaine · 9 months ago
Text
anya's characters/ships in SRRP as jane austen characters
SORRY im crashign emma's vibe but this has been ON MY MIND since i made my aesthetics, because I very very deliberately picked quotes from the most Relevant TM Jane Austen books SO without further ado:
MAXELLA: Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot -- I literally went to Lins when I was drafting up Drizella's bio and told her we should do Persuasion vibes, but I wasn't going to do Drizella. READER, I WAS WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In retrospect, I can't believe I decided to pull a plot from my favorite Jane Austen book and thought I would not do it.
Anyway, I said this in a gifset I reblogged, but I've been approaching Drizella here in an attempt to reclaim the HORRIBLE Netlix Persuasion, which made Anne a sort of #girlboss. It did NOT work for Persuasion, as the story was, but I thought about how it might make sense for Drizella. Anne breaks the fourth wall in a very Fleabag way and that would be perfect for a spinster who was laughing at society and critiquing it instead of one who had been pushed around by her elders.
WOLFING: Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars -- yes most of this is just bc I massively associate Ting with Elinor, but it is also because of the P I N I N G and the R E P R E S S I O N and the THINKING THEY CANNOT ACT ON THESE FEELINGS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TOO!!!!!!!!!!!! They have a sense of Duty and responsibility which keeps them from expressing their feelings :'')
MADDNEY: Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland -- this one appeared to me during their promenade walk, because Maddy is that starry-eyed country girl who wants a good story out of this and John is like love that energy, but also i know more about the world, but also you're kinda making me soft about that. I mean, there's obviously our own B-Plots here, but just for the pure surface vibes its great
DAYLILY: Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner -- sorry this doesnt count but jane austen didnt do scandalous class differences but i couldnt leave them out
--
tagging my boos @trackedbymaximus / @wolf-innsheepsclothing / @poor-princejohn / @halfawitch-willow / ok that is all
2 notes · View notes
halfurganymede · 1 year ago
Text
The Vicar's Betrayal: Part 12
SPOILERS: The following contains spoilers for The Outer Worlds and The Empty Man (Max's companion quest)
‘Please tell me you’re here to rob me.’
‘I... what?’ The captain blinked rapidly as she was caught off guard by the question. The hermit sighed and rose from her seat at the small table littered with papers.
‘I tire of the truth seekers the solar winds bring to my doors. If you’re bandits here to kill or steal from me that would be much more exciting,’ the hermit’s eyes settled on Max and she sighed heavily. ‘But that’s not what you’re after is it.’ The question was directed at the vicar, but the captain answered.
‘We’re here to get this book translated. Max?’ He handed over the journal somewhat reluctantly. He’d had it with him for so long now. It was the symbol of everything he’d struggled for, every disappointment and trial he’d been through. To hand it over just like that was... difficult.
‘We’ve been told this was once yours,’ Max explained as the hermit leafed through its pages. ‘I believe it contains the answers I seek.’
‘I can translate it,’ the hermit conceded. ‘But it wouldn’t do you any good. I can see you’re a man in a hurry, and the insights in that book would take you years of study to fully comprehend.’
‘I have spent my life in contemplation,’ Max countered, gravely. ‘I believe my mind is prepared to receive the truth.’
‘We’ve come all this way,’ the captain interjected. ‘Please. Can you help us?’ The hermit turned to the captain, her eyes softening.
‘There is a way that can speed up the process. But I won’t lie to you, its not for the faintest of heart, or the unprepared, and it may prove fatal.’
‘I think Max is probably the most prepared man you’ll meet.’ The vicar almost smiled at the captain’s certainty but when the hermit turned back to him he kept his face straight, trying to convey how ready he was through expression alone.
‘Hmmm... I believe you may be right.’ The hermit’s eyes were piercing, making Max shift uncomfortably. ‘There is violence and peace warring inside you Max. This process can be extremely tenuous for one such as yourself.’ Max gritted his teeth.
‘I’m committed. No mater the cost.’
‘I’m in,’ the captain chimed.
‘Wait what?!’ Max turned sharply to the captain. ‘You’re not doing this.’
‘I am if you are.’ She crossed her arms stubbornly.
‘Did you miss the part where she said this could be fatal?’
‘Did you? I’m not letting you do this on your own. What if something goes wrong?’
‘Exactly! I am prepared for this captain. You are not. And if something were to happen to you... I will not have that on my conscience.’
‘You’re not doing this alone Max.’ She had that stubborn fire in her eyes and Max realised, with despair, that he wasn’t going to win this fight. He nodded reluctantly.
‘Well shit, we’ve come this far. If we die at least we’ll be hearing colours and seeing sounds,’ Nyoka said, happily.
‘No Nyoka, you’re staying here.’ The captain was firm. ‘If something does go wrong I’ll need you to help us out ok? Is it OK if she stays here with you?’ Addressing the hermit now. ‘She can regale you with some of her hunting stories while you wait.’ The hermit nodded her consent, eyeing Ms Ramnarim-Wentworth with bemusement.
‘When you’re ready, head into the meditation room and partake of the sacramental incense.’ The hermit gestured to the other doors in the small domicile, pointing to the room on the right. The captain nodded respectfully and moved towards the “meditation room”. Max followed, feeling uncertainty building up in his gut. What if this was all some cheap trick? What if, at the end of all this, he was still no closer to his answers? What if something went wrong? What if something happened to the captain? What if... what if... what if...?
‘Max?’ The captain was waiting for him. He shoved all his anxious thoughts back and stepped forward, once more, to meet her.
3 notes · View notes
internallydeceased · 7 years ago
Text
In the Mist (7)
i’m putting myself on a writing schedule so expect weekly (every monday/sunday?) updates from me! no one looked over this so excuse any mistakes there may be. i can’t be bothered to ask anyone and i’m fairly confident in my writing ability. enjoy!
previously
The Light in the Dark Sussex, Virginia 31st March 1858
An endless abyss of emptiness lie before me; so dark and black that I could scarcely see my hands held out in front of me.
I didn’t know where I was or how I got there, only that I needed to find a way out.
I took off running in one direction, thinking that perhaps if I ran long enough I’d eventually find a way out. But for all I knew, I could have been running for an eternity.
My entire body was screaming for me to stop, begging for a respite no matter how short. I could hardly feel my legs anymore, but what I could feel, was pain. My muscles were cramping and pain ran through my every nerve, shooting up my spine and wrapping itself around my racing heart.
The metallic-like taste of blood coated my tongue and throat as my lungs constricted painfully in my chest as they struggled to take in the oxygen they so desperately needed.
Each part of my body was like an instrument in an orchestra, each one joining in a grand crescendo of pain until my vision blurred and I collapsed altogether.
When I woke I found that darkness still surrounded me, but not the same black emptiness as before.
I was in a corner of some dank room, the only light source was a small torch near the door. A cell door.
Across the room I could see the dark silhouette of a man and I could hear him struggling to free himself from the chains to which he was bound.
There were also the far off screams that echoed through the building (a prison, most likely). Bloodcurdling, heart wrenching screams of men whose souls were damned to a hell on earth.
But the man before me did not scream, and it wasn’t until the light of the torch glinted off of his hair—hair the same color as the fire that lit it— that I realized this man wasn’t a stranger. This man was Jamie.
I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach, heavy and painful. I knew that this wasn’t reality, that I was in a dream of sorts, but that didn’t make what was about to happen any less real.
We were suddenly transported outside with a gray sky that loomed overhead; rain threatening to fall. We were in a courtyard of some sort, Jamie chained to a post atop a platform while I watched helplessly from the audience.
I didn’t need to see to know what was about to happen or to whom the hand that held the whip belonged; I already knew.
I knew the man all too well and what he was capable of— I had experienced it myself.
Time seemed to pass in slow motion, making an already horrific event that much more agonizing; but that wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was that while I watched Jamie’s back being flayed to the bone, I felt it too.
Every snap of the whip was followed by stinging pain, the tiny bits of metal at the ends burying themselves into my flesh and ripping it away.
Jamie was stronger than I was, because while he hardly did more than flinch, I was screaming and crying and begging for mercy amongst a crowd of people to whom I was invisible.
While the time I spent trapped and alone in the dark with Randall was horrific and traumatizing; it was a different type of abuse.
For me it was mind games and control, power over me and my body but for Jamie…
For Jamie it was physical. He had walls that refused to crumble at the hands of that bastard, so he resorted to physical violence.
But even that did not break him.
“Claire!”
I woke to find Jamie— the real Jamie—standing over me, concern coloring every feature.
I could still feel vestiges of the lash, the gaping wounds that covered the entirety of my back; and his.
One big hand came up to cup my cheek, my own eyes drowning in his blue ones.
“Are ye alright, lass?” His voice was deep, still thick with sleep.
Images flashed through my mind: the smell of blood, sticky and wet. Wrists rubbed raw from iron cuffs that were too small. Screams of men begging for their lives that no one would ever hear.
“No.” I rasped, squeezing my eyes shut as if it would erase everything I had just witnessed.
“What’s amiss?” The mattress dipped beneath our combined weight as he sat at the edge beside me.
I swallowed, throat suddenly thick.
I sat up, fully aware that I was only wearing a thin cotton shift that he could see right through, but I didn’t care.
“Do you remember what you were telling me earlier? About you and Randall?”
I felt more than saw his body tensing at the name, I myself winced every time I heard it.
“Aye. What of it?” His voice was careful and measured, cautious of whatever would come next.
I rested my back more fully against the headboard, my hands mindlessly playing with the hem of my shift beneath the blanket.
“What happened?” I let out a deep breath, thinking that I already knew but wanting to hear it from him first.
Jamie let out a breath of his own, and sat silent for a long while before finally speaking again.
“That’s a verra long story, Claire.” He gave me a pointed look before his face softened and continued.
“I suppose you don’t really know anything about me at all, other than the bits I’ve told ye.” He smiled, taking my hand in his. A connection.
I gazed down at our join hands, a smile creeping onto my face. “No, I don’t believe I do.”
“Well, perhaps I should start by introducing myself? James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser, at your service.” He bowed his head over our hands before kissing mine. The room was still and black, other than the glow of the fire in the hearth on the far wall; but I could still make out the dark pools of blue that stared up at me beneath auburn lashes.
“I grew up on an estate called Lallybroch in Broch Mordha. My father built the place himself, ye ken? My mother, Ellen, died when I was young; in childbirth. My older brother Willie died shortly before my mother due to the smallpox. So I was left with only my father and my older sister, Jenny.”
Jamie released my hand before standing up and crossing over to the hearth, feeding more wood into the fire.
“Anyways, one day Randall came down to our place while my father was away. I was workin’ up in the hay fields when I heard Jenny scream. I ran down to find a redcoat tearin’ at the front of her dress so I knocked the bugger out cold. I’d told Jenny to run but the next thing I knew Randall was standing in the doorway with a pistol to her head. I’d no choice but to surrender.”
“He’d tied me up in the dooryard and beat me with his riding crop while forcin’ my sister to watch. After a while he’d gotten tired and said to Jenny, ‘Have you seen enough? Or would you like to go inside and offer me better entertainment?’ I told her not to, even if he slit my throat right before her eyes. He took out his knife and knocked me out cold. By the time I came to, I was joltin’ down the road to Wentworth trussed up in a wagon with the chickens.”
He stood and made his way back over to me on the bed, but he did not touch me.
“The English; they flogged me twice in the space of a week, though it was on a different charge.”
“Which was?” I looked up at him expectantly, but he kept his gaze trained on the fire.
“I believe it was obstruction?” His brows furrowed as he thought back to his past life.
“Obstruction? What’s that? It doesn’t sound very serious.” I added, curious.
He did look at me then, with half a smirk on the corner of his mouth. “‘Spose it means whatever the English say it does.” He shrugged and looked away once more.
“After the first flogging and on the day of the second, they were taking me to Randall when I saw my father. He’d tried to get me pardoned, but it was of no use. It was the last time I ever saw my father, his last words to me were ‘You’re a braw lad, son!’ and he kissed me on the cheek.”
“Randall told me that my father had tried to get me pardoned, but in order to do so he’d need the signature of some duke. He said even if he managed to get it he likely wouldn’t make it back in time before they flogged me. So Randall offered me a proposition.” Jamie stood again and stared into the roaring flames.
“He said ‘Give yourself to me. Make free of your body, and I will make sure there is no second flogging.’ My back was still raw after the first, I could scarcely bear my own shirt. So, I considered it. I had no real way of knowing, but I figured that being buggered would hurt a great deal less than gettin’ flogged a second time. But I could still feel my father’s kiss on my cheek… So, I couldn’t do it.” His head dipped forward, his hands scrubbing his face aggressively.
“Apparently my father was there in the audience the second time. I’d passed out after a while, due to the loss of blood. My uncle, Dougal, told me later that it was then my father had died. That he must’ve thought me dead; he made a small sound before falling to the ground, dead. Dougal said he died of a broken heart.”
I heard the break in his voice and thought I saw the glimmer of a tear roll down his cheek. I stood and made my way over to him, kneeling beside him and taking his hand in my own.
“I’m sorry, Jamie.” I said, squeezing his hand and bringing it to my lips.
He smiled and grasped my hand with his free one and finally looked me in the eye. “Och, it’s no’ your fault.”
“But to make a long story short, my friends helped me escape and I got on the first ship to America I could find. I haven’t looked back since, I only wish I could’ve said goodbye to Jenny. Said goodbye to my father’s grave.”
He shook his head and moved to stand, bringing me up along with him. “Suppose I should let ye get yer sleep, aye?” He smiled and released my hand, making to move toward the door before I stopped him.
“Stay? Just for a while?” I smiled, hoping he would agree.
He sighed and took me in his arms, holding me securely against his chest. “Alright, but only for a while.” He said before kissing the top of my head and leading both of us back towards the bed.
107 notes · View notes
annepsilvaauthor · 9 months ago
Text
Begin Again - Lee Dutton
Tumblr media
Pairing: Lee Dutton x OC (Natalie WentWorth)
Summary: The life of renowned lawyer Natalie WentWorth was quiet in Boston, but everything changed when she received a call from a former Harvard colleague, Jamie Dutton. After reflecting a lot, Natalie agreed to solve some problems at the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, but she did not imagine that her life would change completely when she arrived in Montana. One of the reasons for this change was Lee Dutton, the eldest son of John Dutton, cowboy and livestock agent, who would represent all the comfort she needed to have in the midst of the chaos of the Dutton family. Natalie could begin again at that ranch.
Warnings: Subtle sexual innuendos, brief language, alcohol consumption, angst, smut, fluffy.
Part I
Cowboy stuff
Lee was sitting in one of the stands of the Greater Montana Livestock Auction when the president of the session asked everyone to get up, as the Montana anthem would be sung. There were around a hundred people scattered around the shed, some went to really buy the cattle, the buffaloes or the horses arranged surrounded in the center, others accompanied those who would come to buy, to have fun, and others, those who were upstairs of the place, came to do politics. It was in that place that his father was at that moment.
Lee stood up, took off his hat and held it on his chest as a sign of respect. The little girl of no more than twelve years old singed the Montana anthem in the microphone while the rest of the audience stared at the Montana flag extended from top to bottom on the wall behind the auction directors' table. He had not yet returned home since what happened at the Reservation, he just had time to stop by a cafeteria to buy some donuts and remove the bulletproof vest. Lee wore the same heavy boots dirty with mud, jeans, flannel shirt and a cream jacket, which matched the color of his hat.
After the anthem was sung, everyone clapped their hands and the auction actually started. Two cowboys rode on the horses and began to chase half a dozen cows in the enclosure while the announcer explained the qualities of those horses. However, Lee could not pay attention to the first batch because the entrance door opened and that lawyer appeared. Like him, she still wore the same clothes that afternoon, with the difference that the curls of her blonde dyed hair were falling apart, but she was still beautiful.
Lee watched Natalie walk aimlessly through the corridors between the stands as if she were looking for a familiar face or some specific place to sit. Her small size probably prevented her from seeing on the other side of the fence, despite wearing very high heels that highlighted the shape of her legs. She walked confident, with her expression concentrated, but Lee somehow knew she was lost.
Then he raised an arm and waved to her with a smile. Natalie didn't realize it right away, since he was on the other side of the enclosure and the announcer screamed in the microphone. Lee got up and went down the stairs from the bleachers, walking towards her.
"Are you lost, Miss WentWorth?" He joked as he approached her, scaring her slightly.
"Why are you everywhere I go?" She asked, still looking upset.
"This is my state, madam. You're the intruder here." Lee mocked by trying to pull out a smile from her, but she was irreducible. "I can guide you where you want to go."
Natalie sighed strongly and pierced her eyes through the environment. "I have no idea. Jamie told me he would be here, but he didn't clarify where he would be."
"Jamie? Jamie Dutton, my brother?" He asked surprised and she nodded. "I'm confused."
"I don't have time to explain now, Mr. Dutton. I just need to talk to your brother urgently."
"OK." Lee sighed and looked up at the office on the second floor of the auction. "He's up there."
"Thank you." Natalie was already heading towards the office, but Lee interrupted her with a hand on her small arm.
"I don't think you're allowed to enter there. There are only the most influential people in the state and they don't allow anyone to enter." Lee explained politely, but you could feel a little afraid in his tone.
"I was invited by your brother to be there. I'm sure they'll let me in." She got rid of his touch easily since he didn't squeeze her tightly. Natalie took a few steps towards the cabinet again, but stopped and caught up with Lee. "Aren't you like John Dutton's successor? Shouldn't you be up there too?"
"I spend all the day busy with this political bullshit, ma'am. I don't want to waste my night with that either." He explained looking upset about something for the first time. "If you want to try your luck up there, it's your problem. I'm going to stay down here doing something I know and like to do: cowboy stuff."
Lee hid his hands inside the pockets of the jacket and turned his back on Natalie, walking back to his place in the stands. He observed that she disappeared through the door that gave access to the stairs on the second floor and he decided to concentrate on what he had come to do there.
"Now, we're gonna start out with lot number two! It's Royal M. Duke a 2013 registered English bull ofered by Double G Angus Ranch sired by Supreme Domino out of Miss Domino. Now, we're gonna start the bidding out at 25,000." The announcer screamed in the microphone while the animals paraded in the enclosure.
"I'm at 25!"
"I'm at 50!"
The ranchers raised their plates to warn about the auction bid and Lee was just watching for now. He used to do that long enough not to be enchanted by the first lots, because they were usually the most expensive and did not always have enough potential for the price. If it were his father there he would certainly buy those oxen, since they were strong and virile, after all it would be a great way to resell them later. But Lee just thought about how those animals would behave in the pasture, whether they would be able to help or destroy the ranch. It was like his father always said, Lee had a thought of a cowboy and not a landowner.
After lot two was sold, Lee noted that Natalie reappeared on the ground floor with a worse expression than she was before. She stepped on her heels so firmly that even from afar Lee could swear that he heard the 'tec-tec-tec' noise on the floor. Natalie crossed the fence and found Lee's bleachers. She snaked between the people until she reached the last step, sitting next to him with all the strength she had. Natalie snorted so much that she looked more like one of the oxen being sold down there, although those oxen seemed more docile than her at that moment.
"Do you want to...?" Lee tried to talk, but she interrupted him with her index finger in the air.
"No word. If I hear another Dutton speak today, I'll explode!" She squirted keeping her hands closed next to her head and Lee widened his eyes.
Then he scrambled in the bag and removed a pink box, where the donuts were stored. Lee chose one with a vanilla flavor and offered one of the donuts to Natalie without saying a single word. He watched her eyebrows descend in accordance with her shoulders and she chose a chocolate-flavored doughnut. When taking a big bite, Natalie let out an exhausted sigh mixed with satisfaction. Lee didn't say a word, just smiled and continued to observe the following lots.
When lot five was sold, Lee felt confident enough to talk to the woman next to him. She seemed calmer, she had eaten almost all the donuts he bought, but he didn't care. She seemed to be having a very difficult day, so a little sweet wouldn't hurt her.
"There's only one thing I like more than taking care of my father's ranch." He started in a mild, polite tone.
"And what would it be?"
"Donuts." Lee lifted the empty box and Natalie seemed to realize that she had attacked those donuts.
"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have..."
"It's okay. They were really a lot of donuts." He smiled playfully and she gave a mini smile. "A smile. We're getting progress, aren't we?"
"I'm not always like that, you know? You're only seeing me on a bad day. And getting hungry affects my mood even more." She confessed watching the horses run through the fence.
"I'm glad I had food, otherwise I would probably be the food." He played once again and she kept her smile. "How many hours have you not eaten?"
"Since I arrived in Montana. It's a novelty after novelty and I didn't have much time to eat or even to go to my apartment." She paused to look around. "And now I'm sitting in the stands of a livestock auction next to a person I don't even know. What a strange way to end the day, don't you think?"
"What do you mean we don't get to know each other? You know my name and my job, you even know who my family is. And now you know I love doughnuts. That seems to me to know a lot about someone."
"This argument is so unbelievable that I almost agree." She crossed her legs and watched him for the first time that night, noticing that there were doughnut crumbs on his beard. She laughed internally. "There are...crumbs in your beard..."
"What?" He tried to look down as if it were possible to see the crumbs that way and tried another way. Lee ran his fingers through his beard, but because it was too thick it was difficult to remove the pieces.
"Here, let me help you." Natalie advanced her hands towards him, but Lee interrupted her with a dazed look.
"Be careful, it's hard to make it perfect like that."
Natalie rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'll be, now, shiu."
Lee watched her little fingers reach for his beard, wiping his hair with concentration and dexterity. He watched her small face, brown eyes, prancing nose and small, full lips, as if they formed a heart. She was a really beautiful woman, a different beauty from the one he found in Montana, it was something refined, subtle, feminine. He could barely feel her touch, but he still did. It was a delicate one, even kind. Lee was enjoying that version of her. At least, Natalie didn't want to kill him anymore.
"Your father doesn't want my help." She confessed seriously while still touching his beard. "The reason for this you must know by heart."
Lee reflected for a moment and understood what she wanted to refer to. "He didn't let you in there, did he?" Natalie shook her head confirming his question. "What about Jamie?"
"Well, he asked me to wait out here." Her tone regained a certain annoyance. "I don't understand why I left my city to come here and be humiliated like that."
Lee sighed strongly, grunting a little. "What do you have with my brother anyway?"
"We studied together at Harvard. We become friends and even work together in some cases. Then he returned to Montana and we lost contact every day. Two weeks ago he called me asking for help with his family's affairs, but apparently he didn't ask for his father's opinion."
"He didn't ask because he knew that his answer would be no. My father doesn't trust those who are not in the family, much less those who are from another state."
"And what does he do up there if he doesn't trust people outside the family?"
"It's an influence. To do politics it is not necessary for there to be trust from both sides, in fact, it seems to me the complete opposite. You must be suspicious of people to be able to be two or three steps ahead of them."
Natalie lowered her hands to her own lap and looked at him with a reinvigorated curiosity. He could even swear that he could see a smile on her graceful face. "For someone who is not interested in politics, you seem to understand it well."
Lee let out an ironic laugh. "I said I didn't like it, I didn't say I didn't understand it."
It was her turn to laugh, but in a restrained mode. "You are more than your name and your job, Mr. Dutton, much more than that. If you were up there you would probably be the kindest person in that room."
"I'm not sure about that, but I certainly wouldn't prevent a competent lawyer from entering."
"I would really appreciate that."
Lee noticed her gaze changing towards him, it seemed more friendly, even kind, as if she were lowering her guard with him. He returned her comment with a complete smile trying to show her that despite being a Dutton, he was not so thick, unless he needed to be, which hardly happened. Dirty work usually stayed with his father or with Rip. Lee only dealt with the real affairs of the ranch and the livestock commission. The conversation between the two did not stretch for long, because they noticed Jamie approaching the stands.
"Maybe I need to buy more donuts?" Lee asked her when Jamie approached.
"Thank you, but I can deal with it more calmly now." She replied with a tiny smile.
"If you think so..."
Jamie crossed the steps of the stands and asked one of the ranchers to move away so that he could sit next to Natalie. It was a discordant vision, two lawyers properly dressed among ranchers who only cared about cattle being auctioned in the fence in front of them. They were displaced, so they caught the attention of almost everyone present in that place, including the people upstairs. They caught their father's attention.
"I see you've already met my brother Lee." Jamie announced it to her with a smile and waved to his own brother.
"It seems that he is the only Dutton who really gives me some credit here." Natalie seriously mocked and Jamie gave up his smile. "Don't tell me I came here for anything, Jamie."
"I wouldn't say that. I just didn't have enough time to tell him because I called you here."
"You had two fucking weeks to tell him, Jamie."
The Dutton sighed strongly and lowered his head, shaking it in accordance with what she said. "He doesn't know the seriousness of what we are facing. There was no one here competent and reliable enough who could help me with that."
"So because of your cowardice in talking to your father about my arrival I was humiliated all day. I'm not surprised that you need help, Jamie, you can't even have the courage to try to convince your father about the matters of his own interest." Natalia acquired a firm and even enraged tone by pouring her indignation on Jamie.
"I understand your anger, Nat. And I'm sorry about that, I'm really sorry. I will be honest about what we are facing and I am sure he will accept your help."
"Are you really convinced of that? He didn't seem willing to change his opinion."
"I can talk to him." Lee intruded in the conversation, having the curious look of both lawyers. "One cowboy understands the other."
"That's not your job, Mr. Dutton. It wasn't you who made me drive thirty-six hours from one state to another." Natalie stared back at Jamie, who swallowed it dry and fixed his suit.
"I'll fix it, I promise." Jamie didn't wait for her to give a triplica about that and soon got up. "Do you need help with the change?"
"I can take care of myself."
"I know you do, that's why I called you."
Jamie went down the steps and was soon walking back to the cabin on the second floor. Lee listened to Natalie's strong and accelerated breathing next to him and decided to leave her quiet, after all, he had no more donuts to calm her down. The next few weeks would certainly be busy and he couldn't wait for them.
46 notes · View notes
elliespuns · 1 year ago
Note
I've seen ppl answering these and I know you probaby don't do these but I thought I could at least try via ask. Anyway, you don't have to answer these if you don't want to. Love you dude, btw
• How old are you? • Tall or short? • Sexuality? • Describe yourself briefly • Something you like about yourself? • Favorite hobbies outside your blog? • Something no one would guess about you • Weird quirks you have • One talent you wished you had • A word your friends would use to describe you • Craziest thing that's ever happened to you • Have you ever been in love? • What is your biggest fear? • Why did you start this blog? • Your favorite food? • Least favorite food? • Favorite TV shows? • Favorite movie of all time? • Favorite musicians? • Do you have any pets?
I don't usually participate in these, but you being so nice and all... I can make an exception.
How old are you? I'm 30
Tall or short? Very short, I'm only 5'1 ft, 156 cm
Sexuality? Eh, I don't like labeling myself but if I had to, it'd say bisexual.
Describe yourself briefly I'm an introverted dork that doesn't vibe with most people. I dig music, art, and I love a lot. I either love too much or not at all. I've been vegan for over 10 years now and I love funny people. Other than that, I'm just a very poetic soul that also loves to play video games from time to time.
Something you like about yourself? I'd say it's my knowledge in English. I've been self 'learning' it for 9 years now (never been abroad) and I was able to learn the language to the point where it became a huge part of my life. Like I literally use it more than my mother language. That's a thing I definitely like about myself.
Favorite hobbies outside your blog? I write; creative writing, poetry. Both fulfil my creative mind. Then I love reading (ofc). I also draw, play video games, work with graphic programs and I love taking pictures.
Something no one would guess about you I have a very high sex drive, lmao 🫣😂 and people would never guess this about me, cause I literally look like I have a ribbon buckled to my vagina.
Weird quirks you have Oh, god, I can't stand hand cuts. Like you can literally show me a vid of someone having their throat slit and I'll be fine, but then you show me a vid of someone having their palm sliced, or simply just someone cutting their finger and I'll go all asdfghjklsdfghjk.
One talent you wished you had Damn, I wish I could draw from imagination. I can draw but I can't ever draw anything just by trying to see it in my head. That's so fucking frustrating. And weird. Anyone else having this problem?
A word your friends would use to describe you Idk about one word, but my best friend says I'm the funniest person she has ever met, so does that count? Lol, Idk why she says this.
Craziest thing that's ever happened to you Omg, trauma alert... when my boss (a male) caressed the top of my head.
Have you ever been in love? I still am.
What is your biggest fear? Fuck, it's hurricanes and tornados. I actually have a phobia, it's called 'ancraophobia' and it's a fear of strong wind. (I swear I don't fear normal wind tho, I'm not that weird, actually, ok?).
Why did you start this blog? When I came here one day I realized that there were only a few blogs that were dedicated to the game stuff. So I said why the hell not? I didn't expect to have an actual fanbase here, it's crazy. Love you guys.
Your favorite food? Lentils, that's the shit.
Least favorite food? I'd say meat.
Favorite TV shows? Okay, not gonna mention TLOU cause it's obvious, but the very first show that pops into my mind every time is Breaking Bad. I love this show to bits. Then I also love TWD, OITNB, Better Call Saul, Wentworth, This Is Us, Lost, The Killing.
Favorite movie of all time? My most favorite movie of all time will forever be Ginger Snaps (2000). I've loved this movie ever since I was 11. It's been 19 years ever since and I still love it to pieces. Aaaaah!
Favorite musicians? I love a lot of music, but my most favorite is Damien Rice. I love that guy and what he does. Right behind him are Cigarettes After Sex and Mazzy Star (just pure love). Then it would be Joshua Radin, The Hope Arsenal, Yaeow, The Paper Kites, The Smiths, R.E.M., Blur, BoDeans
Do you have any pets? My chonky boi guinea pig
4 notes · View notes
shenanigans-and-imagines · 3 years ago
Note
Hope the commute goes ok 😊
Idk if this will make sense but top 5 pining idiot touches? Or just affectionate touches that build tension? Like the Darcy hand flex thing in the remake, because he can still feel her hand:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
That would honestly be top of my list, not gonna lie. The hand shot alone makes me swoon every time. 😭
Alright, need to think about this. In no particular order:
"Are you alright?" - The Mummy (1999)
Tumblr media
Okay, this. This right here. This is the most underrated moment in The Mummy fandom. Look at how gently Rick check's Evie's face for injuries. Look at the concern on that man's face. Look how Evie can't stop looking at him! There is no real close up on Evie's face, or Rick's for that matter, but for me that little show of gentle concern spoke volumes.
Helping Anne Up - Persuasion (1995)
Tumblr media
Admittedly, I think the moment is more impactful in the book and I'll stand by my statement that there hasn't been a really good adaptation of Persuasion. All that being said, this moment is so important! It's Anne's first proof that Wentworth still cares about her. It's Wentworth cracking and wanting to help Anne, because damn himself he does still care about her. It made my breath stop the first time I read it.
I'm glad I happened to be awake. - Jane Eyre (2006)
Tumblr media
This is the best adaptation of Jane Eyre. I don't care what you all say, it's my favorite. And this scene. This whole god damn scene. It was spicy in the books, but this version is ready to set the room on fire all over again. When he puts his robe over her shoulders? I just...my brain short circuited.
Maria and The Captain Dance - The Sound of Music (1965)
Tumblr media
This is the moment five year old me understood what chemistry was. I didn't know exactly what was happening, but something was definitely happening. My cheeks still get a little warm when I watch it.
The Elevator Scene - Rogue One (2016)
Tumblr media
You already mention Pride and Prejudice, so I'm going to talk about the moment that made me lose my god damn mind in the theaters. It's not even a scene. Its barely five seconds long, but the way Cassian looks and Jyn... They don't know for sure they're succeeded. They know they're both going to die. Nobody is coming to rescue them. But there alive in that moment and they have each other. They never even kiss! I just...fuck!
287 notes · View notes
halfurganymede · 1 year ago
Text
The Vicar's Betrayal: Part 10
SPOILERS: The following story contains spoilers for the game The Outer Worlds and The Empty Man (Max's companion quest)
They found Chaney’s room quickly enough in the middle of town, moving swiftly past Fallbrook’s patrons and SubLight employees. The doors parted for them but the room was conspicuously empty.
‘This is Reginald’s stuff all right,’ Max muttered, almost to himself. He raised his voice slightly. ‘Looks like he’s not home. We should search the room and try and figure out where he’s gone.’ He shuffled the papers on Chaney’s desk, setting aside the bottles of Spectrum Vodka and tastefully ignoring the look on Ms Ramnarim-Wentworth face as she eyed the bottles. He could hear the captain moving around behind him and her soft, thoughtful hum that indicated she’d found something. The vicar turned to see her holding a datapad in her hands, head cocked as she read. When she handed it over her expression was unreadable. He scanned the text quickly, hands gripping the pad so tightly the casing creaked.
‘Sounds like Chaney’s gone gold panning down on the river.’ Max was struggling to keep his voice even. When he looked up at the captain again she was watching him carefully. ‘Uh, I guess even scholars need to find ways to make ends meet in exile.’ He couldn’t meet her eye.
‘To the river then.’ The captain’s tone was light. He moved to the door but Nyoka cleared her throat.
‘A word cap’?’ The captain nodded and motioned for him to move ahead. He stepped out the door and turned his gaze up the road towards the river. Max was shaking now, finding it difficult to get himself under control. He could hear the women talking behind him but their voices were too low to make out. Just as the vicar was growing impatient, they emerged from Chaney’s room. The captain gave him a distracted smile but Nyoka’s gaze was dark.
‘Let’s go meet your man vicar,’ the captain said softly. She moved to touch his arm but he was already moving away from her and towards the river. Max strode with grim determination, barely allowing the women to keep pace with him. When he reached the water’s edge, he hesitated.
‘This way I think.’ The captain was slightly out of breath but she didn’t even pause before moving into the ankle high water. With a set jaw, Max followed her, Nyoka a silent ghost beside him.
And there he was. Surrounded by detritus and smoking a cigarette, a sour look on his stupid fucking face. He saw the captain first.
‘What do you want?’ The sprat asked, his voice sour. When he saw Max his tone changed immediately, lighter with a sharp edge of nervousness. ‘Oh... hey Vicar Max! What, uh, are you doing on Monarch? I thought scientitians aren’t welcome here.’
‘Haven’t you heard?’ Max snarled. ‘Everyone’s welcome here. It’s a fucking workers paradise. But you wouldn’t know anything about that would you? Never worked a day in your miserable life. You’re just a parasite living off of my good will. Well guess what? My good will is exhausted, along with my patience.’ Max took a step forward, his fists clenched as Chaney mirrored the motion backwards, panic in his eyes. Max was about to launch himself at the cretin  when the captain grabbed his arm hard enough to hurt.
‘Hey!’ She cried. ‘What’s are you doing?! Let’s all just calm down here.’
‘I lied about finding a scholar,’ he spat, never taking his eyes off Chaney. ‘This is the guy that told me about the book while we were in prison. And now I’m going to inflict massive amounts of pain on him.’
‘Maybe he didn’t’ know the book was in French.’ The captain’s voice was desperate as she continued to cling to his arm, barely holding him back.
‘Oh he knew. Didn’t you? Didn’t you?!’ Max took another step and Chaney went white. It was only the intervention of the captain that was keeping this piece of shit’s blood off of his knuckles.
‘OK, ok I admit it!’ Chaney held up his hands in defeat. ‘I was tired of all your high and mighty speechifying all the time! It was just a joke I swear! I didn’t mean nothin’ by it!’
‘You are not helping,’ the captain hissed.
‘See captain?’ Max gestured to Chaney with a harsh stab of his finger and the man before him flinched. ‘I’ve dealt with this swine before. I know how he thinks. Now where we’re we? Oh yes. I was about to beat you. Severely.’ Max took another step, knowing the captain’s fingers were going to leave bruises and not caring. Chaney’s back was against the steel wall that separated the Fallbrook river from the rest of Monarch.
‘Wait, wait, wait!’ The panic was squeezing Chaney’s throat now as sure a Max’s hands were about to. ‘I know who can translate the book for you!’
‘It’s too late for that. I threw my life away chasing fairy tales. Will punishing you fix any of that? Of course not. But by the Law it will make me feel a whole lot better.’
The captain stepped in front of him putting one hand firmly on his chest.
‘Max, stop, please.’ She was insistent, pleading now. He hesitated a moment. But a moment was all she’d ever needed to get under his skin from the first moment he saw her.
‘It’s not too late,’ she continued, her voice soft and tinged with desperation. ‘Maybe the answer you’re looking for is in that book.’ He took a deep breath, ready to explode at her, ready to vent most of a lifetime’s worth of frustration and defeat onto her. But when he saw that look in her eyes, the look of hurt, the look of betrayal upon the realisation that he’d been lying to her the whole time, he knew he couldn’t do it. Any of it. He couldn’t keep lying to her, he couldn’t pour his anger out over her, and, he realised, he couldn’t kill Chaney. He couldn’t live with how she would look at him then. When he let go of his breath, all his rage flowed out with it. Max’s shoulders slumped and he ran a hand over his weary face.
‘OK... OK. Talk Reggie.’
‘It was stolen from some sort of expert on Philosiphism.’ Chaney babbled. ‘Weird hermit lady on Scylla.’ He went on to explain that his father had stolen the journal from her while running supplies to the mining outpost, but had been unable to sell the book when it turned out that it was both in French, and banned as an added kicker.
‘I don’t think so,’ Max scoffed. ‘A crazed hermit on Scylla? He’s playing us for fools.’ The captain was giving the sprat a long, hard look. Chaney flinched but his glassy, twitchy gaze seemed to convince her.
‘We’re leaving now.’ The captain’s voice was cold. ‘But if we don’t find this hermit we’ll be coming back for you Chaney. And this time I won’t stop him.’ She jerked her thumb at Max. Chaney’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he nodded so rapidly the vicar thought his head might detach. The captain turned on her heel and stalked away. Nyoka, having not said a word the entire exchange, followed. Max, not sparing another look at Chaney, quickly hurried after them.
Now that the anger and the adrenaline had left his system he felt drained and more than a little ashamed of himself. The vicar moved as quickly as he could to his captain’s side. He reached our to touch her arm.
‘Captain? I has hoping I might...’
‘Fucking save it vicar.’ He reeled. He didn’t think he’d ever heard the captain swear, but the venom in her voice bit into his heart. She turned back to the road, heading for the Fallbrook landing pad. The SubLight thugs guarding it took one look at her expression and decided that they weren’t paid enough to deal with a force of nature. They didn’t say a word when she moved up the ramp to insert her data cartridge and recall the Unreliable. While they waited she stood as a statue, her expression still but her eyes alight with anger. Max chose not to say anything, standing with his hands clasped behind his back to prevent himself from fidgeting. Nyoka had affected a casual air, leaning against the railings, but she was continually giving her companions side-long looks. Max wondered if she regretted signing onto their motley crew now.
When the ship landed, the captain was climbing the ramp to the door as soon as it was lowered, the vicar hurrying behind her.
‘To your quarters vicar. I’ll talk to you in a minute.’ The captain wouldn’t even look at him. Max bristled.
‘You can’t send me to my room like a... like a child.’ Max sputtered.
‘That was an order DeSoto.’ He recoiled. He didn’t think she’d ever just called him by his last name. It felt like an insult, like a slap. He almost felt like protesting but instead he slunk up the stairs while a hovering Parvati (always close by the door given her preferred spot in the hold) swooped in to ask the captain what was wrong. Max didn’t hear her reply but he heard the captain’s tone. She was even snapping at Parvati now. What had he done?
Ms Ramnarim-Wentworth followed him up but he barely registered her, or cared about how lost she must be feeling on the new ship, retreating to his room to lick his wounds. When he turned to close his door she was standing there. She didn’t look lost, she was merely studying him with a critical eye.
‘I don’t need your judgement.’ Max tried to inject some bite in his voice but he just sounded tired. He felt tired. So often these days. That was what happened when you spent all of your energy fighting the Plan, he supposed, bitterly. Nyoka was shaking her head.
‘She knew you were lying to her.’
‘I... what?’
‘The captain. That’s what I was talking to her about back in Chaney’s room. I asked if she could tell if you were lying to her and she told me that she knew you’d been lying from the start.’ The hunter studied her nails. ‘Didn’t seem to care. Said that you were her friend and that she was going to help you. Don’t think she expected you to try and murder a man in front of her.’ Max sat down heavily on his bunk and felt misery over take him. It had all been for nothing. All the lies, fighting his affection for her, trying (and failing) to keep his distance. All of it for nothing because she had known he was lying the entire time and she’d helped him anyway. And now she hated him.
‘Friends,’ Nyoka was saying. ‘Friends like the captain, who would go to the end of the most Law-forsaken moon in this system for you, friends like that are rare as diamonds in raptidon shit. I don’t know you much, and I don’t know her much either, but I can tell she’s good people. Be a shame to throw all that away yeah?’
‘Yeah.’ Max’s voice was quiet but the hunter heard him, and nodded.
‘Hey Nyoka? This is Parvati. She’ll show your room and help you get settled.’ Max sat up ramrod straight at the captain’s voice. Ms Ramnarim-Wentworth and the engineer moved away to the last room available. Max supposed their little crew was finally complete... apart from the ominously silent automechanical next to the stairs that no one but Parvati seemed to want to go near.
The captain stepped into his room and closed the door behind her. Max thought back to the last time that had happened, with a drink in her hand and an easy smile. Now, her face was stormy and he wilted under the anger in her gaze.
‘Captain I...’ She held up a hand to stop him. He fell silent as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
‘What on Earth were you thinking vicar?’ Max found himself wrinkling his nose at both her odd phrasing and her refusal to use his name. He wrung his hands.
‘I...’ he swallowed hard before continuing. ‘I owe you an apology captain. I’ve been so obsessed for so long... I couldn’t see anything else. You offered me a place on your crew, friendship... more than that! You’ve gone out of your way for me time and again and I used you to get to Chaney. You owe me nothing but... Please, I’m begging your forgiveness.’ He didn’t want to see the expression on her face but he forced himself to look up from his knotting fingers. She had one hand over her eyes, seemingly unwilling to meet his gaze either. To his surprise, she laughed; a horrible, bitter sound. Max flinched.
‘You know what the worst part of all of this is?’ The captain lowered her hand. Her eyes were hot steel, glowing with anger, tempered by sadness and betrayal. ‘The worst part is that even if you’d told me the truth, even if you had told me everything, I still would have helped you!’
‘You would have tried to stop me,’ Max mumbled. He lowered his head, feeling like a school boy in the principle’s office.
‘I fucking did stop you!’ The captain was shouting now. ‘For fucks sake vicar we’re not murderers!’
‘We kill people every day,’ he shot back, feeling a sudden flare of anger.
‘Marauders! Bandits! People who shoot at us as soon as look! Not unarmed men because, what? They pissed you off? Lied to you? ‘Cause that’s a dangerous road to be going down vicar, especially from your position.’ Max grimaced and that, looking away. The captain sighed and ran a hand through her hair. ‘What am I supposed to do about this? How am I supposed to trust you?’
‘All I can say is that I promise to be nothing but truthful from now on.’ The captain moved to sit beside him on the bed, elbows resting on her thighs and hands hanging off her lap, fingers entwined and shoulders slumped.
‘I wish I could believe that,’ she said. Her voice was, once again, soft. She sounded defeated. How could he possibly fix this? How could he make this right? Before he could speak, she asked him a question.
‘So... how was prison?’ That caught him off guard.
‘Oh exactly as you’d imagine,’ he responded grimly. ‘I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the stint but it did provide me plenty of time to think. The way I see it, the universe was snapping me back to where I needed to be. You stray too far from the course of your destiny, the world will try to correct for it.’
‘And now?’
‘I... I don’t know.’ The captain nodded slowly. She remained by his side silently for a while. Max busied himself with taking the bandage off his hand completely now. The cut was gone, only the faintest of lines to show that it was ever there in the first place. The captain reached out to take his hand from him gently. The vicar started at that and she held his hand loosely, giving him the opportunity to pull away. When he didn’t, she ran her thumb over his knuckles and Max suppressed a shiver, either at the cold of her touch or at something else that her touch brought out in him. He wasn’t sure.
‘Do you want to go to Scylla?’ The captain asked, so quietly he almost didn’t hear her.
‘I... I don’t know captain.’
‘It’s the next step isn’t it? Go to Scylla, find this hermit.’
‘If she’s even there. If she even exists.’
‘You have to have faith vicar,’ she smiled at him but it was tainted with sadness.
‘You’d help me? Even after all this? Even after everything I’ve done? After everything I tried to do?’
‘Oh Max,’ she sighed and raised one hand to his cheek, the other still holding his hand. ‘Of course I would.’ For an impossible moment, Max thought she might kiss him. Instead she just pressed her forehead to his and closed her eyes. He followed suit. Max took a deep breath, inhaling her closeness, savouring it. When she moved away he almost pulled her back to him.
‘To Scylla then.’ The captain got up and moved to the door, leaving Max sitting on the bed.
Coward, he thought to himself, bitterly. He didn’t know if he was directing the sentiment at himself or the captain.
3 notes · View notes
lewis-winters · 3 years ago
Note
Pls talk us through your Austen and BoB pairing choices because they sound incredible
Anon, whoever you are, I want to kiss you on the mouth.
Ok, so, I think you're talking about this post, yes? I know I said in the tags that I'd only elaborate with moodboards but, truly, the only moodboard I made was one for Emma!Winnix; certain screenshots c/o of @lupoteodoro):
Tumblr media
and, idk, but something about Emma just hits me as a Winnix Jane Austen AU, yeah know? it's just so clear cut when I think about it. on one hand, Dick as your upright, never wrong, severely repressed, and hopelessly in love Mr. Knightley, who is so SO proper he's practically a walking etiquette manual, but manages to lose all basic composure when confronted with his best friend, who he cannot help but love and adore, despite being spoilt and selfish and apathetic at the worst times while also being probably the kindest, bravest man he knows at the best of times.
and Nix as Emma Woodhouse! handsome. charming. rich. and so SO bored with his life-- so SO lonely, rather, trapped under his father's thumb and pretending that it doesn't quite bother him. and so SO nosy but so SO loving, despite what he thinks, despite what he feels he's capable of. he loves people, wants them to be happy, and falls over himself just to make sure they get as much happiness as he could give them. his arrogance is his downfall, but his heart will always pull him to do what's right.
then later on, after everything, Dick stands before Lew under a great big tree, cradling his face in his hands, frantically wiping away tears with his thumbs while his own run down his face. "Lew," he croaks, trembling with fear and anticipation and an inability to keep it all in any more. He must say it, otherwise he just might explode. "I'm sorry--"
Lew shaking his head. Confused. "What--"
"I just. I'm so silent, and here you are, always so honest, with everything out on the table," Dick lets out a shaky exhale. "I cannot make speeches... Perhaps, if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."
... more under the cut because I rambled:
So. I know when people think Pride and Prejudice, their first idea would obviously be Webgott, and honestly I don't disagree. Web as a snobby, arrogant Mr Darcy who is actually just socially inept but so willing to change, so willing to break through his own apathy in order to meet Elizabeth!Joe's standards-- not to win him, or anything, but simply because he thinks Joe has some merit, despite looking down on him for his lack of wealth. And Joe as a fiesty Ms Elizabeth Bennet, who simultaneously loves and hates his family, who loathes this arrogant man, who never has a nice thing to say about Joe, who only ever insults him, only to turn around and proclaim to have been bewitched, body and soul, by Joe's supposed charm-- Joe likes to pretend nothing in him softens at the admission, and he does well at first. But the more he gets to know him, the more he can't seem to stay away.
Except, I also love the idea of Persuasion Webgott-- particularly with a focus on this post, a meta from Wentworth's POV of the novel. Where they're old lovers who were thwarted by Anne!Web's awful family, intervening because they think they know better, that Wentworth!Joe will lead Web to nothing but ruin. Except, Joe becomes a rather successful navy captain, while David rots in his family home, largely ignored and sometimes exploited, wasting away as regret and yearning eats at him from the inside.
When Joe comes back, he has every intention to rub it in David's face-- finally! after years of hurt and resentment, he can come back a wealthy man and watch the boy who broke his heart lead a miserable life while Joe himself gets everything he thinks he deserves.
Except he doesn't enjoy it. Because no matter how much he has stewed in his resentment, he can never actually wish Web any harm. He watches this once vibrant, laughing boy turn into a shy, miserable young man, who keeps his blue eyes trained on the floor, whose attempts at conversation get pushed aside. Nobody seems to realize that he's hilarious and utterly enlightening when he gets passionate enough, and that he can take a joke more gracefully than anybody gives him credit for, and that children adore him, because he's the only one willing to treat them like actual people. Nobody knows these sides to him-- nobody but Joe. And seeing them so forcibly smothered by the oppressive air of the Webster clan is far more painful than Joe thought it would ever be. How could people ignore him like that? treat him like he's dead? Why? Don't they know how funny he is? how kind? Joe wants to scream.
Meanwhile, David carries his cross with all the grace of a man beaten down by everything. He made a mistake-- he was young and in love and afraid and now, he's paying for it. But Joe looks so happy. He's moved on, and though it hurts, Web knows that he has nobody else to blame but himself, and so he moves through the world like a burden and nurses the regret in him like a leaden stone.
And while there's Persuasion!Webgott, I want there to be P&P!Speirton, particularly based of the 2005 movie-- do not come into my house and tell me Ron wouldn't be the most emotionally constipated and socially inept Darcy ever because he would be PERFECT and Lip. Oh wonderful Lip, who doesn't quite stand up for himself all the time, but who finds the way this man looks down on him grating at best, and downright offensive at worst. He's hissing and spitting at Ron the whole damn time while Ron is looking at him with stars in his eyes, utterly confused but loving every second of it.
And lastly, Northanger Abbey!Baberoe, with Cathy!Babe, his head perpetually in the clouds, his imagination a wild, wild thing, and Tilney!Eugene, who is this mysterious heir to this massive, southern gothic estate. Who has the looks of Byronic, brooding hero and is anything but. Who is kind and gentle and absolutely smitten by this bright-eyed, fiesty redhead who's stumbled into his world, head filled with stories. Babe is a breath of fresh air on the Roe estate, and Eugene, against his better judgement, is drawn to him all the more.
Except this time, Babe's stories have opened new doors for him, and perhaps, out of everyone in this genre confused tale, he is the only one who sees reality for what it is. And what he sees might not be anything Eugene would like.
... I just might create a moodboard for this one too, mostly because Southern Gothic is an aesthetic I adore and would love to put together an edit for HOWEVER I haven't managed to find the right pictures just yet. Also I want to read Northanger Abbey again. So this is a great excuse.
110 notes · View notes
maraczeks · 5 years ago
Text
persuasion thread
0 notes
crypticcrossword · 2 years ago
Text
Persuasion Dream Cast yes i know no one is thinking about this anymore
I love this book too much, and have read it too many times. I have been trying not to think about this out of anger but inspiration bows to no one. If no one else gets this, fine, but that doesn’t make it less correct
Sarah Snook and Joel Fry as Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth.
Tumblr media
Are you fucking kidding me they would have been perfect. The loss of what might have been is even more painful if I had never known it was a possibility, and I wouldn’t have beacause I wouldn’t have pieced this together originally. I wouldn’t have thought of Sarah Snook as Anne Elliot until I became not stupid (watched the season 3 finale of Succession) and realized no one else could play the hold your emotions in until you combust game like her. I have also fallen in love with Joel Fry to the point that I am considering watching Cruella. Having a comedic actor play Wentworth is galaxy brain, because the tragedy of his love life can only be countered by how ridiculous it is. Also he could perfectly pull off writing a letter to someone who’s in the room, then leaving it conspicuously on a table, then coming back and handing it directly to her just to be safe.
Richard E Grant as Walter Elliot.
Tumblr media
I am sick in my stomach to think that the only way I can hear Richard E Grant say Sir Walter’s lines is by also sitting through Dakota Johnson Fleabagging the camera like she’s making one of those annoying ass TikToks. I used to be ok with Dakota Johnson now her voice just makes me wanna punch that gap back in her teeth. Meanwhile Richard E. Grant could shit talk men’s haircuts and recommend a better beauty product to his daughters for two straight hours and it would still be funny
Danusia Samal as Elizabeth Elliot
Tumblr media
She’s perfect and highhandedly bitchy as Countess Svenska in The Great, and that’s also how I know she can bring the right Hot Entitlement to the role.
PATTI HARRISON AS MARY MUSGROVE.
Tumblr media
You are a fool and a coward if you think Mary shouldn’t be played by the funniest comedian in the movie. No one else could make Mary’s histrionics over her toddler breaking his arm funnier than Patti Harrison, and now I can only dream about it.
Lolly Adefope as Louisa Musgrove.
Tumblr media
1. She’s a genius. 2. Imagine Kitty from Ghosts going “Catch me! Catch me!” before jumping and plummeting to concrete and tell me I’m not correct. She could also play post-accident Louisa deeply, but still funny, and that’s hard to pull off.
Susan Wokoma as Henrietta Musgrove.
Tumblr media
Very excited to watch Year of the Rabbit, and I watched Chewing Gum so I know she can play the practical sister while also trying to flirt with Wentworth in the worst ways possible.
Zach Cherry as Charles Musgrove
Tumblr media
He has perfect “this guy just wants to chill but life has made that impossible” energy. Also can picture him in a “I love my wife- and yes she bought me this shirt” t shirt.
Rachel House as Mrs. Croft
Tumblr media
I want to be Mrs. Croft’s best friend and she was written 200 years ago, the casting of Fiona Shaw was genius and any actress playing her needs to convey that you can trust her with your life. She is the coolest MILF alive and there is no other choice.
Jake Lacy as Mr. Eliot.
Tumblr media
I hate this bitch now thanks to White Lotus and I need him to bring that energy here now. He wants you to trust him so bad and it’s a sick thrill that we and Anne share getting nasty gossip about him because it confirms something you already felt.
Sophie Okenedo as Lady Russell. 
Tumblr media
You should trust and like Lady Russell, but she should also be able to infuriate you like only your mother can when you’re visiting her at home and she asks a innocuous question that makes you want to eat glass.
Jamie Demetriou as Benwick.
Tumblr media
Benwick seems absolutely heartbroken by the death of his fiancee until he can read poetry to a pretty girl for a few weeks, and Demetriou can play that soggy sadness and desperation to be loved just *chefs kiss* Also I want to see his face when Sarah Snook tells him he should read less poetry and more prose for the sake of his health.
Adeel Akhtar as Admiral Croft.
Tumblr media
I just want Adeel Akhtar to be in everything. Cool uncle energy.
Honorable mention I think a truly great actress should play Mrs. Smith so that you’re totally absorbed in her story like you are in the book. Fiona O’Shaughnessy. #UtopiaHive
Tumblr media
19 notes · View notes
amarguerite · 3 years ago
Note
For the writing meme, [insert prompt here] — Frederick Wentworth, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and beer.
I'm cheating a little because this hasn't happened yet:
Darcy did not understand how he kept finding himself at parties he resolutely didn't wish to attend. Well... no. He did. It was because he never wanted to go to parties.
He couldn't think of any he had ever wished to attend. He endured them after skating championships the way he endured talking to the press, but it took giving himself several lectures on good sportsmanship in the mirror to get out of his room after all those draining days of performance and relentless social interaction.
But even with all that-- Olympic parties were the worst.
So loud, so many people, so many... hockey bros. Like his cousin.
"Come ooooon," said an extremely drunk Ryan, pulling him towards the bar. "Have a drink! Talk to people! You're two-time Olympic gold medalist Fitzwilliam Darcy, and you should like, I dunno, fucking celebrate that instead of sitting in the corner mediating on fuckin' existentialism or something."
"I wasn't," said Darcy. True, he had been longing for the sweet escape of death over another five seconds of this horrible party, but Ryan was already being insufferable, so joking about it would only result in him having to take of shot of something disgusting and then have to make conversation with a girl he didn't know and who Ryan thought he'd find attractive. (The fact that Ryan was usually right only made him more tongue-tied and trapped in anxious misery.)
"Hey bud, a couple of cold ones, eh?" Ryan said to the bartender. "Oh here, look-- hey Mr. Axel, come here a sec!"
"What are you doing?" asked Darcy, with dismay.
"I'm such a good friend, I found you another figure skater to talk to," said Ryan, shoving a beer bottle in Darcy's hand. Someone vaguely familiar, wearing a red knit toque over his hockey flow, half-stumbled towards them through the crowd. Ryan slung an arm around him, putting him into a joking headlock. "This rookie-- this rookie! He's Frederick Goddamn Wentworth! He was on the ice one game and took home the gold!"
"Oh, with your single axel," said Darcy. Even swamped with press as he had been, he'd heard far too many times about one of the Canadian mens' hockey players jumping a single axel to avoid tripping, passing the puck to Ryan, getting it passed back and then scoring the goal that won the finals. He'd even caved in and watched the footage when Georgianna insisted on it. "I heard about that. Not quite enough extension coming out of it, but I think the judges would give you a high GOE for managing to land it in the middle of an Olympic hockey game."
Wentworth grinned and took Ryan's beer. "Thanks. Congrats on the second gold, man."
Ryan groaned. "Now I gotta go find the bartender and he's all the way at the end of the bar with the speed skaters."
"Boo fucking hoo," said Wentworth. "What's wrong with speed skaters?"
"They're too fast! I'll never get to the bar. They'll always cut in!" But Ryan ambled off obligingly enough, saying, "Wentworth, speak French to him, otherwise Darcy will pretend he can't hear you and just go back to his room like a wuss!"
Great. Now Darcy had to make conversation. He picked at the label of his beer.
"So, uh--" Frederick adjusted his toque with the over-precision of the drunk trying not to show it and asked in Quebecois French, "You know Anne Elliot? The female singles skater?"
Darcy hoped the darkness hid his incredulous look. Did he know Anne Elliot? Every newspaper and TV station in Canada had been selling her as a gold medalist as much as they had been selling him. They had bonded over it, guardedly, and as much as two reserved introverted people overwhelmed with Olympic pressures could do. And that had been before her career-ending fall during the free skate. "Yes. I know her."
"Is she like.. ok?"
"You saw footage of her freeskate?" said Darcy, a little surprised, before realizing, "I suppose it must still be a headline. I've been avoiding the news." He had ever since he'd been made into a meme. Tabernac, was there anything worse than that? He had won a second Olympic gold medal and he was a meme. Worse than that: he was a Heritage Minute.
Frederick chugged his beer. "Yeah. Seemed like a bad fall."
"It was," said Darcy, with a sympathetic wince. "Dislocated her knee and tore her ACL and MCL. Her coach told mine that Anne had to be sedated when she found out-- not just from the pain, but because, well...."
"I mean, there's surgeries and stuff," said Wentworth, with the bleary passion of the drunk. "It can't be career-ending now."
"I wouldn't lay you good odds on it," said Darcy. "Coach Russell didn't believe Anne would ever skate again, and I've never known her to be wrong."
Frederick slammed the empty beer bottle on the bar with a loud, broish demand for another, before seeming to recall he and Darcy had been in the middle of conversation and turning back to him.
Darcy suddenly recalled that Anne had been a pairs skater perviously-- or had skated pairs in Juniors and switched to singles in Seniors, when her partner abandoned her for hockey. Her partner-- tabernac, he was an idiot. She'd been partners with Wentworth! That was why he knew how to jump a single axel! Embarrassment made him a little curt. "I am surprised she hasn't told you herself. Weren't you partners?"
"We were, once," said Wentworth, overloud and a little stiff. How drunk was he? "But that was in high school. Lost touch. We haven't talked in... fucking years. You know how it is."
"Who wants shots?" Ryan asked, elbowing through the crowd.
"You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take!" hollered Frederick.
Great. Wayne Gretzky had entered the conversation. Darcy took a shot and resigned himself to a miserable hangover.
46 notes · View notes
collectionoftulips · 2 years ago
Text
Also, I watched Persuasion (yes that cursed Netflix adaption). Admittedly, it is a bit like beating a dead horse, and I think that the review that said that everyone involved should be briefly put in prison until they understand their crimes against literature and cinema more broadly said it perfectly so adding my own thoughts into the mix are perhaps redundant. But I will say I have never watched anything that has made me quite so angry and offended at its complete butchering of the source material.
And I'm by no means an Austen purist - I think some of the best adaptions that have been made of her work has been made when creators have taken risks and not everything needs to be as faithful to its source as 1995 Pride and Prejudice. The diversity of the cast is about the only nice thing I will say about this movie even though its diversity felt incredibly surface level. Plus, Henry Golding clearly ought to have been Wentworth and:
They fundamentally misunderstand and butcher Anne as a character and therefore the most fundamental element of the novel doesn't work
The writers and producers have created as close to a carbon copy of Emma (2020) as they possibly could, not only copying major elements of the visual elements of the movie but also trying to change Anne's character to be more like Emma, completely forgetting the fact that they are two completely different characters
It was also like they saw how the occasional breaking of the fourth wall worked so well in Persuasion (2007) and how popular it was in Fleabag, and decided to just throw it in with little thought or consideration, thereby ruining one of my favourite least-used narrative devices in visual media, making me wonder why I even like it to begin with if it can produce such a travesty as Persuasion (2022). I might exaggerate but only barely.
Absolute garbage use of tension for a story that is entirely too reliant on the maintenance of tension. Anne and Wentworth don't go around checking in re: each other's feelings all the time because they are prevented from doing so at two levels: personal and societal. Completely removing that all together made for a movie with zero stakes and no tension. If they really wanted to ignore everything about the time period, they really ought to have just made a modernisation, instead of whatever cursed halfway house this was.
I could quite frankly write books about all the myriad of ways this adaption was just an utter flop, and I know no one asked for this, especially seeing as I mostly just write about Bridgerton stuff on here, but I just need you to know that WATCHING THIS ADAPTION IS NOT FUN - IT'S NOT EVEN FUN!BAD AND TBH IF YOU CAN AVOID AND WATCH IT LATER, PLEASE DO, BECAUSE I REGRET WATCHING IT BECAUSE NOW NETFLIX ARE GOING TO THINK PRODUCING THIS LOW-LEVEL CRAP IS OK BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO GET LOTS OF VIEWERS.
Sorry, I will resume my regularly scheduled programming soon but I just need people to know my pain. This is in my opinion arguably Austen's greatest novel and it's so quiet and delicate and this wonderful exploration of human psychology, relationships, regret, loyalty etc. It also has the most romantic letter ever committed to fiction and to have that reduced to "Now we are worse than friends, we are exes" or whatever the exact line is, is an affront.
16 notes · View notes