#its still not really correct and it should probably be way bigger and i almost drew 4 thumbs instead of fingers but i tried my best!!!!
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enelo · 9 months ago
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olberic · 2 years ago
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games ive played in 2022, ranked from least to most favourite:
11: hollow knight (2017)
(i cant find a good gif for this one sorry đŸ„ș)
i tried so hard to like this game. i should like it. its got bugs. its got atmosphere. its got worldbuilding and multiple endings. but god i hate platformers. i hate metroidvanias. this was painful to play and i will not be playing any more.
10: project diva future tone (ps4) (2017)
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its a rhythm game so it really cant go any higher. i like it more than megamix (plus using the playstation is better than the switch i think) but yknow. i cant say its got great characters or story yknow? but the songs are good and its fun
9: final fantasy x (2001, switch remaster 2019)
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i wish i liked this game more
 its good but so watery. such old graphics. idk i just couldnt get into it even if the ending was really good
8. tales of phantasia (1995, gba version 2006)
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very surprised at how well it holds up. its a tales game so it ranks higher than it probably should for me, but the characters are fun, the gameplay is fun, and its the first game in the series, so its iconic as hell. the old graphics and lacklustre combat knocked it down a few points (as did the goddamn mines
) but the enjoyment i got from it won out. good game. i played the gba version
7. splatoon 3 (2022)
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sorry for not playing the other splatoon games this shit is FUN. salmon run is so good, yall. i put more hours into salmon run alone than most other games ive ever played. stream deep cut
6. ys viii (2017)
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im actually still playing this one but MAN is it enjoyable. killer soundtrack. cool time mechanics. challenging combat. nice well rounded cast of npcs (and theres like 20+ regular ones!). makes me wanna try the rest of the series. even tho im kinda peeved that theres like no content for this game here but WHATEVER its good. play ys viii.
5. pokemon scarlet (2022)
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yes it had bugs & ur correct to say i shouldnt have bought it. but theyve really perfected pokemon games with this one. open world is the way pokemon is meant to be played. the new pokemon are really good designs. the story was actually riveting at the end, the rivals are up there with sun and sword for how well done they are, koraidon’s one of my new faves, and holy god the soundtrack is good. the literal only thing that would improve it would be if it had a bigger dex and wasnt made in such a rush. i wish this game had come out next year or the year after bc then itd be perfect.
4. triangle strategy (2022)
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this is the first strategy game in the genre that ive played, and i enjoyed it! i played it 3 times in a row to get all the endings + ramping up the difficulty made it such a good challenge. npcs couldve been a bit better developed, and the roland/benedict endings were bad to play, but the overall enjoyment of the gameplay and different paths puts it so high to the top.
3. pokemon legends arceus (2022)
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i know i said scarlet perfected the series but whatever. ive always preferred catching to battling and arceus did a better job of that. between that and the way your character could actually get involved in things its probably my fave pokemon game ever ehehe 😅
2. tales of arise (2021)
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i dont care what anyone says this was a REALLY good entry to the series. i liked the story and the twists. i loved the characters. combat was excellent (law main ↖) and exploration was more fun than other tales games. might not be my favourite tales game but its better than (almost) everything else from this year!
1. tales of the abyss (2005, 3ds version 2012)
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I LOVE THIS GAME. IF YOU HAVENT PLAYED THIS GAME YOUR LIFE WILL BE IMPROVED BY PLAYING THIS GAME. its about identity and tragedy and legacy and remembering the past and respecting the present and growing to care for yourself and your loved ones. its about herding rappigs and falling out of landships and going WHY ARE YOU ME. IM ME. it made me cry. its one of the best tales combat systems. why are you still reading this go play tales of the abyss.
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readerxlit · 2 years ago
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The 3-5 protagonists (including femc) with an older S/O
Minato/Makoto
Haha you have to take care of him now
Okay maybe not but the third year SEES members not withstanding, he's rarely dealing with people older than him, and even more rarely not the one helping others through things.
(Though that may have more to do with being bad at telling people no than age)
But if you've been with him a while- rank ten long since achieved- you'll probably notice he treats you differently.
Not just in the sense that you're in a romantic relationship, but also in the sense that he's clearly comfortable relying on you.
This isn't entirely because of age, but it certainly helps. Just like he's more likely to trust the third years with important responsibilities within SEES, it's clear that the little authority being older than him gives you has made him lower his guard, if only a little
Honestly there's no bigger sign of his trust than asking you to take care of something for him
Nevermind if he actually asks you to take care of him in some way- if he's sick, or injured, or just far too tired- because he's locked you in as an important person and there's no escaping
You may think: "this would be true regardless of age" and you'd be correct
However he has a much easier time reaching this point if you're older than him
Best hope you're also more experienced with relationships too, else you fall victim to excessive teasing for "being older and still needing him to teach you things"
8/10, he's kind of a menace about it but it's mostly sweet
Hamuko/Minako/Kotone
She does not care. Stealing lines from her counterpart, but really she doesn't care.
Well, more like she doesn't consider it an important factor. Is she, typically, into people who are older than her more often? Yeah. Does she actively take it into consideration? Not really.
she does enjoy teasing you about being older. Sometimes by pretending to swoon over an older partner. Sometimes teasing you for "dating a younger girl" even if that difference is minimal.
The biggest differences would likely be when you're in public.
Unlike normally where she feels obligated by any given responsibility she's been given to, "act mature," she's able to let her guard down a bit more in this situation.
Having someone she can turn to and say, "I can rely on you" is super important to her, in a relationship, and she finds it the slightest bit easier to get there with someone older than her, not that she can't otherwise, but it helps.
Jokingly insists that as the older one you should be paying for/buying her things. Never actually follows through with that.
You'd more likely have to trick her into letting you pay for things. Shadows do make funds easier to come by, after all, to its not as if she needs you too.
9/10. Almost perfect bit the teasing may be a bit much
Yu/Souji
Seeks unhelpful advice about the relationship from the IT rip
Genuinely worried about if you'll think he's not mature enough, even if your actual age difference is inconsequential overall. No, Yu, this is not weird.
He does not see the hypocrisy in how he wouldn't be worried about it were the roles reversed.
He likes taking care of people. Like a lot. So he gets kind of nervous about having an older s/o. What if you want to take care of him, as those roles might generally dictate?
In spite of his overthinking, his quiet nature means you probably won't be aware of any of his internal struggles over this until he finally brings them up.
He, ironically, tends to take things at face value. Unless he already has a reason to be thinking deeper about something, he'll accept apparent facts fairly easily. This is something he works on more post-game, considering the plot, but that doesn't mean it's never still a thing.
All that is to say he takes your supposed roles in a relationship at face value. You're older so he shouldn't expect you to let him take care of you, right?
When he finally brings it up, if you assure him your relationship doesn't need to be- shouldn't be- one person exclusively taking care of the other, but more mutual, he'll finally get put of his head about it.
Is genuinely very sweet in general, but it's things like continuing to use respectful honorifics that make it obvious how much respect he has for you, being older, even if your age difference is incredibly minimal.
Does occasionally joke that he's irresistible even to older people since he got you to go out with him. Whether or not you find this funny is up to you.
He looks so happy with himself about it though you'd be hard pressed to tell him it's not.
9/10, little too in his own head about it, but otherwise sweet.
Ren/Akira
Run while you can
Boy he does not care if you're older than him, no respect.
Okay that's an exaggeration he does respect you of course, but just look at his confidants and tell me he is going to treat you differently because you're older.
He won't, except maybe for teasing purposes.
Or "no you have to treat me you're the older one :(" purposes
Menace the sequel now with more blatant disrespect
On a more genuine note he has trouble actually letting his guard down. He tries with the PT but even then he sometimes falls into "keeping up the act of strength not to worry them." I mean look at how he returned from the interrogation.
Which is why, despite you being older, he often still tries to take care of you all the time. He wants to be relied on and trusted by those he cares for, sometimes to his own detriment.
And to that point, if you do manage to break through that, you'll probably be startled by how fragile the person under that mask is.
You might actually find it more difficult to get through to him as someone older than him, because his general experiences have not given him much faith in being cared for by people who are.
If you can get him to ask for comfort of some kind you've won, he definitely trusts you. Give him some well-needed cuddling or something, boy's traumatized
7/10 being older is a hindrance more than anything
No idea why I gave number ratings but I did
I'll idk make a sequel for if you're younger since by years of birth Ren is the only one I'm actually older than lol.
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asoulofatlantis · 2 months ago
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Alright guys. I doubt we will finish this today, as it was yet again another awful day at work. But I at least wanted to start with the final Stream. (By the way Inferno actually uploaded all the Memento Episodes, this time we will check them out for sure! But only after finishing the final. Right now, as you can see, we are still in Team "golden child".
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These two are not only hot, they are also very cool! (Damn do I miss the days were I hated that damned Azure traitor...) We are currently fighting some... uh... people... could be part of Shizunas tribe. Could be someone else. Not sure to be honest, but they do look more like Samurai to me.
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That is why you do not bring someone who can not fight to a freaking battlefield. Altina can do shit with Towa there! (Isn't that Kuroganes weapon by the way? Than it is obviously Shizunas Team. But I do not see him anywhere...) OH! Killika saved us... together with... some Heiyuu people? Gee, there has always been a thin like between friends and foes in this game, but this is almost ridiculous at this point ^^')
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Okay... what things to you know? Why does everyone know more than we do? XD
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If the translation was relatively correct and I got that right, this old pervert let Rean struggle ever since CS1 on absolut full purpose. Altina and Fie were angry at him but Rean seems to understand his reasoning. I guess this is a... Sword-Fighter-Thing.
Ka Fai knews freaking everyone. He knows someone from Fies, Towas and Crows Families. And honestly, if Altina had a father I am sure he would know that one too XD OF COURSE he also knew Killikas father who was Walters and Zins teacher.
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I am honestly disappointed with the "people behind the mask" from the Calvard-Arc. Not that the characters themselves are disappointing. The reason for them wearing masks just is. We don't know them. The Characters don't know them. It was just for the anticipation and to make those characters have a low profile until they were playing bigger roles. That was really not something that I feel was really necessary or useful. It build up expectation that they could not keep up with.
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Well... at least this guy is related to Yun Ka Fai.... not that his face would have revealed that to us, but at least his is not the random woman whos personality has basically done an 180 after taking her helmet off... *cough* Hermes *cough*
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Speaking of masked people... I guess Zin and Walter will have their hands full with previous Almata-Members for a while... or rather dead Almata-Members ^^'
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This was over faster than I thought... but we are too late. The Launch is already starting. We should definitely work on our timing next time... and there better will be a next time.
(BTW... fun fact: Shizuna was supposed to help Kurogane and Ka Fai but as far as I know... she should be with Van right now ^^')
And this is the end of Reans route for this game? Surprised? Oh trust me, you have seen nothing yet! (So sad for me that this marks the end of me enjoying my golden child being finally back in a Trails game... but oh well... he has to be there next time, if it ends here...)
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Now lets see what kind of open ending our Kevin gets...
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So they did make new models for the random church-helper-duds but not for Ries?
If I got that right (I mean the translation is not bad but very wonky at times...) Kevin kept Ries at home so she wouldn't have to dirty her hands. Cute.
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You will not believe me when I tell you were we currently are... I guess visiting sad places in third games is a thing now, huh?
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WTF are you guys all doing here at this sad, sad place?
No one of the people in chat fully gets why we fight... in the middle of what is basically a mass-graveyard. But apparently, we do. Its probably one of those stupid "we have to clash Swords to trust each other" - situations were they use that as an excuse to include a big fight in what would otherwise be a rather boring situation. Okay. Inferno too agrees that this was a fight for no reason.
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For once... lets hope ypu are right.
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I did not expect to find Hamilton here of all places... but somehow it oddly makes sense.
There was a moment of prayer for the poor souls that unnecessarily died in Creil and I felt like joining them for a moment. I feel like we have never experienced something like this before to this extend. Not like this. It was devastating. I remembered the Cat I found and the girl it belonged to, the Nun that just wanted to work in the church of her hometown... the woman with the food... all those people who we did sidequests with and for... and just a few chapters later... they all were gone. It was the crulest thing Trails did to us since almost killing off Olivert.
Domenique Ranster knew freaking Sheena Dirke (or however they both get spelled but WTF?! I thought this was like AGES ago but its only been 100 years? Gee...
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Guys! These are Professor Epstein. Domenique, Agnes grandmother, Professor Hamilton and Sheena Dirke in this picture and for some odd reason... that makes me feel really old XD
You know its really frustrating that not everyone is here. That might not be something Reans team is too interested in but Vans team for sure would have loved to hear about this story.
So the device that helps the Ransters to become Grimcats has been made by Epstein and the "fake" Genesis were created by Hamilton.
Poor Marielle on her knees after Hamilton revealed she knew what was in store for Dingo and still let it happen... or something along the lines of that.
So we know stand against Celis, Rion, that discount prince and his discount bodyguard woman who decided to backup Hamililtion because they are basically in her debt for doing many good things among... you know... the shitload of bad things.
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She would not be the first one who "gets away with it" for seemingly good reasons or something along the lines of good excuses at least.
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cyber-celeste · 3 years ago
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Twst Characters Reaction to a Cosplayer Reader
A/N: (they/them) This is fully my characterization of the characters so please correct me if i get something canonically wrong also this is just NRC students i will be doing staff and RSA. I also took out jack, lillia, ortho, rook, silver and sebek because i either dont know much about them or simply dont want to
Riddle Rosehearts
Doesn’t get why you’d dress up as someone else yet supports it fully
He’ll ask about the characters if they interest him in the design
Very confused, flustered and kinda scared if you show more skin and/or wear more extreme cosplays like Tomie’s true form from junjito or anything more graphic
“Y/N may I ask you more of the people you’re dressing as?” He questions as he walks with you, he had always loved seeing you excited so he makes sure to pay attention and ask questions with a bright smile on his face.
Trey Clover
Doesn’t really care (in the sweetest way) though he may get a little jealous if people stare at you
Enjoys baking with you while you’re in cosplay and/or you just talking about the characters as he does most the work
Likes to observe but I can’t really see him trying it out himself
You sit on the the counter talking about why you cosplayed them today while trey makes the tarts for the unbirthdays only occasionally speaking for questions on the character and asking you to hand something to him “uh could you repeat that? Sorry I was too caught up in fillings” he says now moving on to the next step in the recipe.
Cater Diamond
Really likes to hold photoshoots with you all the time
Supports and loves all your cosplays
Loves posting you on his magicam
“Hold still for five more seconds please!” Cater rushingly shout at you, you were probably in the most uncomfortable position ever but well beauty is pain as you hear the final click of his phone you both let out a tired sigh moving from the positions.
Deuce Spade
Doesn’t care about what you wear and what you do he will always love and support you
Will totally go to cosplay/fabric/any store with you and try his best to help with anything from bags to picking out what makeup you should wear
Defiantly gets flustered when you wear something that shows more skin
“Which one
 which one
” you mumble to yourself looking through wigs “I can’t decide between lace-front or regular wigs” you whine for no reason “
 well for the character wouldn’t it be best for a lace front because it shows their hairline?” Deuce says holding bags of random items “ yes! You’re so right!” You almost yell gleefully grabbing the wig you finally chose.
Ace Trappola
Makes fun of you (or teases you whatever you wanna call it)
Doesn’t like when you go out in more revealing outfits
“How long is that gonna take” ace says impatiently walking around “sorry its gonna take a second to get on ace” you whisper-yell from the room you’re changing in “well we don’t have a second” he argues back as you finish up and walk out “do I look good?” You ask him while walking “I think you look great” he almost whispers looking away
Leona Kingscholar
Doesn’t care but thinks its a pain at the same time
Only likes the comfy cosplays ïżŒso he can sleep with you
He despises pokey armor and/or bigger cosplays
“Oi herbivore c’mere” Leona says waving you to come closer “what is it?” You ask leaning down at his lazing form and before you know it he’s pulled you down causing you to yelp “calm down would ya? Im just tryna get some sleep” he says as he pulls you to his chest
Ruggie Bucchi
He thinks it’s adorable!
Might try to talk about who you’re dressing up as
I don’t know much about ruggie sorry
“Hi, who are you today?” Ruggie asks jokingly with a big teasing smile plastered on his face “Oh hi ruggie! Im in *insert character* today.” You say smiling back waving your hand “you look cute” he says rubbing your head “thank you!” You said smiling.
Azul Ashengrotto
He may be a little confused at first but he catches on quick and tries to think of how he can incorporate it into the monstro lounge
If you deny it he doesn’t mind and if you guys are good friends and/or his S/O he will buy you expensive and high quality cosplay items
If you accept he will make it the most comfortable experience he can making your safety and comfort his number one priority
“Hello
” you say as you open the door to azul’s office “oh Y/N just the person I wanted to see, please take a seat.” he says grabbing something from a cabinet “do you know why you’re here?” He questions as he walks to sit on the couch in front of you “am I in trouble or something?” You question fidgeting with your hands “oh heavens no maybe even the opposite.” He says overly exaggeratedly while crossing his legs “I’m here to offer a job to you Y/N.” He pushes the paper towards you patiently awaiting your response, its a job offer for you to work as a waiter/waitress in cosplay, as soon as he sees you put down the paper he asks “so Y/N is it a deal?”
Jade Leech
Finds the hobby very interesting
Likes to sew you little accessories and even full cosplays
Enjoys helping you with makeup
“Hold still dear I just need to do one more thing” he says sewing on the buttons on the back of your costume “all done
 how does it feel?” He says after he buttons up the back of the costume “ It feels perfect jade thank you so much!” You say as you get up to leave “bye-bye!” You say as you soon after exit “goodbye.” He says as he puts his sewing supplies away.
Floyd Leech
The worst tease ever
Sometime accidentally rips cosplays because of how tight he squeezes you
“Ahhh~ koebi~chan! You look so cuteeee!” He says squeezing you in a tight hug “Floyd you might rip something!” You manage to squeak out “awww no more squeezing?” Floyd pouts as he crosses his arms “not for a while floyd sorry” you say apologetically
Kalim Al-Aslim
Funds everything you do. You need wigs? He has the most high quality custom made wig for you. You need a new costume? He has every costume of the character ever just for you <33
Loves and supports everything you do financially, verbally and physically
“Aww you look amazing Y/N!!” Kalim shouts, he bought a whole load of cosplays for you to try on its been hours of trying to figure out where random attachable pieces go, seeing if they actually fit and showing off to kalim throughout the whole process he had the same smile plastered on his face the only way you could stop trying these on is if jamil intervened or you finished with all the costumes.ïżŒ
Jamil Viper
He’s like trey almost exactly doesn’t care that much yet again in the sweetest way possible
Only really cares if you dress up showing a little more skin
You try your best to help jamil with cooking in your favorite cosplay nonstop talking about the character “pass me the flour please” he says as he multitasks as usual he does enjoy silence but prefers much more if you have a smile on your face.
Vil Schoenheit
Finds cosplay interesting not in a bad way nor in a great way
He helps with outfits and makeup but he does get a little upset if the characters not fashionable
Overall great help and not good help at the same time
“But with that shade of pink there should be something else to draw more attention to you.” Vil says annoyed with the outfit you were wearing “well sorry but I didn’t make the character so theres not a lot I can do.” You responded sort of upset with him, you get what he’s trying to do to help but its not working “well whatever if you wish to go out like that do it.” Vil says walking away he’s only trying to help but he doesn’t get it.
Epel Felmier
He either doesn’t mind it or thinks its the coolest thing ever
He may or may not ask if you can use your cosplay skills to make him more manly looking
If you cosplay men/more masc characters he definitely watches you and takes notes on your apperence
(I have no idea what to write for epel sorry.)
Idia Shroud
Funds everything you do pt2 + couples cosplays????
So incredibly embarrassed if you do couple cosplays
Enjoys dressing you up himself
“P-please hold still Y/N
” Idia asks as he drags the brush across your face “almost done?” You ask he stops to grab something else “almost please sit still a while longer.” Idia replies focusing on your face, you loved when he offered to do your makeup just sitting still for him while he skillfully applies it though when you look in his eyes he gets flustered and messes up a little.
Malleus Diasomnia
Doesn’t understand it what so ever supports it though
Another one that likes to watch you get ready
“Child of man are you dressing up again?” Malleus asks as he enters your room only for you to hum as answer “may I watch?” He questions as he starts to walk over to you “of course malleus.” You reply as you apply your makeup skillfully, he loves watching you whether its to see whats normal or just to watch, seeing you content makes his day.
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thefanficmonster · 4 years ago
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Fated
Karl Heisenberg x Autistic, Sound-sensitive Reader (Female)
Warnings: Swearing, Spoilers for RE8:Village, Noise sensitivity
Genre: Romance, Comfort
Summary: Not everyone could love a man like Heisenberg. But Y/N isn’t everyone, nor is she just anyone. She loves him as the whole package he is: murderous intentions, human experiments and all.
Requested by @phoenixofthevalley Hi dear! Here you go - the first fic I’ve ever written for Karl Heisenberg (first of many) and thank you so much for being my first ever Resident Evil 8 requester! Hope you enjoy the read! Feel free to correct me if I’ve described anything incorrectly or in an accidentally offensive manner. I have no intention of spreading hate or any type of misconception so I’d really appreciate the correction. Love, Vy ❀
Watching Karl get so excited over this grand plan of his - the destroying of Mother Miranda, his revenge - it all makes me feel uneasy. I can’t explain the feeling, mostly cause I’ve never felt it before, and I can’t quite describe it either. I don’t connect to people easily and I’ve always been told I’m the problem but I guess it took the right person to make me feel things I haven’t felt for no one else all my life.
“The weren’t worthy of your emotions, darling.“ Karl told me on one of the rare occasions when I opened up my mind to him. I felt his words wrap around me like a comforting embrace. For the first time in my life, I felt understood.
I think that’s what took me the longest to get used to - being understood, seen and validated. My opinions had never before been taken into account seriously, my personal boundaries were rarely respected by others and people always had a hard time dealing with how distant I can be. But what bothers me above all is how people refer to me as dramatic because of my sound sensitivity - something no one took seriously when I’d tell them about it.
Karl did though, surprising me to no end.
He respects that I like my personal space and prefer not being shown much affection, especially not physical. He understands that I have a hard time showing people affection myself. He goes out of his way to make sure I’m ok with whatever it is he’s doing, saying or suggesting. And I’m sure that if I were to ever tell someone about this, they wouldn’t believe me. That’s most definitely due to his rough exterior and intimidating appearance. Also probably because he comes off as downright selfish and rude when you first meet him, but getting to know him was a journey worth taking because I now know the real him. A trust me, his rough exterior and the softness of his true self have nothing in common. Although, he does claim that softness is only reserved for me.
With all that laid out, it’s completely understandable that I don’t want him going up against Mother Miranda. Thanks to Karl I’ve never had the displeasure of running into her, but I’ve heard countless stories of how powerful and downright terrifying that witch is. Bottom line: I don’t want Karl walking into something that’s the equivalent of suicide.
And I’ve finally decided to let him know exactly how I feel about it.
I’ve been sitting here, searching for my voice as I observe Karl in his deepest thinking space. He’s constantly in it, if you ask me - constantly thinking, looking for ways to make his innovations better, stronger, more powerful to add to his chances of victory against the sadistic ruler of this village. He was already at his desk when I walked in, hunched over dozens of drawings drawn with cut-edge precision yet in his mind they are probably not near good enough. In his mind, all he does is never good enough. He prides himself on this factory and what he’s produced thus far but he cannot stay proud of himself for very long, he constantly feels the need to better himself in order to remain worthy in his eyes. I wish I could change his mindset on those grounds but I know that my tries would be futile and pointless.
“Karl?“ I suddenly speak up, surprising both him and myself. I don’t know what I was thinking opening my mouth when I still have no idea how to go about this without making it seem like I don’t believe in him. That is in no way the case. I believe he can defeat her, if he cannot do it himself, his robo-army most certainly can. But I don’t want defeating her to cost him his life cause without him in mine I’m not sure what will be left of me.
He straightens up from where he’s been hunched over for the past God knows how many hours, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms as her turns to look at me, his sunglasses capturing the white neon light in the office as he does so.
“What is it, darling? Something wrong?“ he takes a step towards me as I stand up and go to approach him.
“Actually...“ Suddenly, that thing he keeps in a safety cell just below this room starts going off with that annoying loud sound it makes. It’s always disturbed me, ever since it came to exist which was not so long ago considering it’s been his latest project. It not only terrifies me but triggers my sound sensitivity as do most of the machines in this forsaken factory.
I close my eyes tightly shut as I cover my ears with my hands, praying for the sound to go away as soon as possible because I can’t take it. It almost makes me physically nauseous and gives me vertigo, bringing me to the brink of tears because of its loudness and intensity, like it’s drilling right into my brain.
I can’t quite pinpoint the exact moment the sound went away because when faced with such a pain-inducing experience, my senses tend to tune out while I still remain conscious, but when my hearing returns I the only thing I’m able to hear is a steady heartbeat and a steady breathing. 
“It’s ok, darling. You’re ok.“ I hear Karl’s quiet whisper, giving me peace and coaxing me into opening my eyes.
When I do so, I come to realize why the rest of the world has gone quiet. Why I’m suddenly so flooded with comfort like no one is able to bring me. No one but him.  One of my ears is pressed up to his chest while the other is covered by his warm hand which travels up to move a strand of hair from my face and put it behind my ear as he repeats his soothing words like a chant, slowly starting to let go of me out of fear that he’s crossing a line. He’s always so wary about that and I’ll forever be grateful to him for it.
“Are you ok, sweetheart?“ His hands gently cup my cheeks, tilting my head so I can look him in the eyes - directly in the eyes, for he has ridden himself of his glasses. I’ve found he does that often when around me - removes his glasses. I once asked him why that is but the answer he gave me was vague, all the while a small smile played on his face. Guess he’s a bigger secret-keeper than I primarily thought. It doesn’t bother me really, I know the only secrets he keeps are the ones that would be a hazard for my safety if he exposed me to them, so I allow him his secrets and I keep some of my own to myself. It’s only fair, after all.
I nod, blinking up at him, “Yes, I’m ok. But...“ Now or never, girl. Now or never. “But if you want me to be honest, I will be.”
He looks baffled by my answer but he doesn’t falter, quickly regaining his composure before he replies, “Of course, dear. I always want you to be honest with me. What’s on your mind, what’s bothering you?“
Now “I haven’t been really ok for a while now.” I take his hands in mine, removing them from my cheeks but holding them firmly between us - a gesture that surprises me just as much as it shocks him. Never have I felt the need to be so close to someone. It may be momentary and temporary, but I refuse to dwell on that as I push forward with my argument, “I haven’t been ok since you told me about your plane. The whole thing with Mother Miranda and all that...” Not the time to be leaving me, words. I started this, I’ll finish it. “Look, Karl, I know you and your army can bring that witch to her demise but...”
“But what, Y/N? Tell me.“ He encourages me softly, his hands subtly tightening their hold on mine as if to keep me grounded, remind me he’s listening closely to every word I’m saying. Like he always does.
“But what if it doesn’t go as planned?“ I blurt out, biting my bottom lip nervously. It makes me anxious, being so honest and emotionally exposed. That’s so rare for me I doubt I’ll ever get used to it, but that’s the only way I have at least a fragment of a chance of convincing Karl to drop this. “What if things go south and you end up killed or turned into a monster or something else?“
The concern on his face washes away when he hears my words, getting replaced by a soft, consoling smile. I quickly look away, feeling that confession on my part was quite odd. I feel out of place but not uncomfortable, I don’t know how to explain it. It almost feels like relief, like I’ve finally gotten a huge boulder off my chest and I can finally breathe properly. But I can’t, not until I hear his reply. That smile should probably tell me something but it doesn’t - I won’t believe anything until I hear it come out of his mouth with my own two ears.
“Oh Y/N, darling, you won’t lose me. Ever.“ His thumb swipes across my knuckles soothingly, drawing abstract patterns on the skin of the back of my hand, “You never need to worry about me, hun, I ain’t going anywhere. No one can take me away from you or you away from me. Anyone who dares to try, well, bad things will happen to ‘em.“ He chuckles, easing the tension enough for me to able to look up at him again. When our eyes meet again, I see something I can’t name nor describe. All I know is that what he’s telling me is genuine and comes, “I’ll always be here, by your side, Y/N. I will always be here to shield you from anything and anyone. Any rogue lycan or any loud sound, I’ll be there to prevent it from reaching you. Never forget that. Ok?“
That urge to be have him close takes over me again. I think that somewhere in the back of my mind I see a clock ticking down, counting down the numbered hours we have together before he inevitably carries out his plan. As scary as that is, I think I can do nothing but accept it.
And so, that’s exactly what I do.
Wrapping my arms around him tenderly, enveloping him in the first hug I’ve ever given him - probably the first hug anyone has given him - I accept our fate, silently hoping it changes somewhere along the lines.
“Ok.“
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yippeeometer · 2 months ago
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headcanons for all.....
wy/ny-
litch the kind of insufferable loser boyfriends where they both love personal space to the extent that they'll go months without seeing each other in person.
theyre hanging out in wyoming's ranch though. theres no way either of them are going NEAR another person.
they go to nyc one time. they leave after 10 minutes. wyoming takes a short leave of 8 months to recover. this is normal behaviour
lethal amounts of sass over here though. mr 'point to me on a map' mr 'why the fuck would i say pardon' you'd leave crying if you ever visited them.
michi/alaska-
they bond over moose and elk facts. michigan sends him daily updates on the moose being relocated int native territory. alaska replies within 7-8 business days. which is very quick for him.
alaska, knowing exactly 4 things about the midwest was completely shocked and confused when he first witnessed football season and several relationships almost ended.
'did you enjoy your visit to the midwest' they ask. alaska's eyes are haunted. he turns and walks into the forest.
they'd definitely play ice hockey together. alaska is banned from being in goal bc hes just too big. michigan is banned from shooting bc he gets really mean and competitive about it. its a hard game to play.
flo/wash
enemies to lovers in a huge way. hate at first sight.
washington (politically correct) and his insane man-eating boyfriend that loves to antagonize him, what could go wrong.
they get sat together in a meeting to prevent flo from bullying cali, forgetting that wash is just cali in a different shirt.
wash tells him off for smoking. every day for the next month flo comes in with comically large pipes that just keep getting bigger and bigger until wash threatens his life in a meaningful way.
sexual tension so extreme utah cant look either of them in the eye. the way it should be. they hook up once and never again.
nv/maine
beautiful hot sexy gorgeous beautiful transfem and horrible adam sandler jorts transmasc. as is the way of the universe
the rizz was probably insane. and by that i mean maine was too shy to speak for months until one of his dickhead friends shouted 'he likes yoooouuuuuu!!!!!' across the table like it was fucking middle school.
still cant get over how funny they are when they go out. its a fancy dinner. nevada is overdressed. maine's wearing neon flipflops and leather socks. table for two sir.
not sure our local noreaster could handle the heat in nev. hey baby how you want to be free from the government. please let me stay in my lighthouse.
guys what's the most random wttt ships you can think of mine are
wy x ny
michi x alaska
flo x wash
and nv x maine
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iamanartichoke · 3 years ago
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I wasn't sure if I was going to post this, but I may as well.
I keep starting to reply to things and then stopping bc the words just aren't there, and I suppose I figured out the core of what bothers me so much (and is making me have such a rollercoaster of a fan experience) about the show.
(cut for length)
It's not well-written. My opinion is my opinion, so I'm saying this subjectively, take it or leave it, but ... I feel that it's not well-written. The overall story is fine, and the plot is fine, but I don't know if it's because of the limited number of episodes not being enough to house the story, or because of the relative inexperience of the writer/showrunner+director, or both, or something else, but -
In an earlier reaction post to episode 4, I mentioned really wanting to sink my teeth into all of the subtext I picked up on. That was what made me initially enjoy the episode so much - there were a lot of little moments that I initially felt revealed so much about the characters and about Loki, and I wanted to analyze them. But at some point, as I gathered more information, my perspective changed and now I no longer want to analyze the subtext bc ... subtext = good. Subtext w/out payoff = not as good.
I'll go into more detail in a moment, but I think the tl;dr of it is that I feel like the narrative requires the audience to work way too hard to put together all of the moving pieces here and, like, I kinda just don't want to do that work? Not so much of it, and not in vain. A lot of the enjoyment of Loki's characterization is coming from fans who are rationalizing why he's behaving as he is, but the narrative never actually confirms those rationalizations. It's asking us to figure it out and maybe our conclusions will be correct but maybe they won't, though. At some point, subtext isn't enough without explicit follow-through.
I thought my issue was with the lack of character development - that is, not having enough narrative space to really earn the big things that are happening now, like Loki/Sylvie or Mobius turning against the TVA. And that's still true, to an extent; I still feel like the pacing is all very off and it seems like most of these things kinda came out of nowhere (but are not unbelievable - just undeveloped).
But, yknow, it is what it is, it's a limited series, and I can excuse some things. Ultimately, my issue isn't a problem with what the narrative isn't doing, it's a problem with what the narrative already failed to do and probably cannot recover from at this point.
The narrative has left out significant details that should at least help us do some of the work here. If a person turned on Loki and started episode 1 and had no background knowledge of the character besides that he tried to take over New York - how would that person interpret Loki? Would that person say, oh, well, he's been through X, Y, and Z, and plus A happened, not to mention B, C, and D, so really, it makes sense that he seems off-the-rails, or that he'd want to get ridiculously drunk at the worst time ever.
Maybe we'd like to believe they would, but how would they be getting to that conclusion? The narrative hasn't led them in that direction so, no, they would not say well we have to consider this, this, and that. It would be impossible to really understand Loki as a character from just what we've gotten in the series. The general audience would probably interpret Loki as being out of his element and so it becomes, I wonder how this character is going to get the upper hand here. And, while that's not wrong, it's just so limited.
The narrative at face value does not address Loki's identity crisis from Thor 2011. It does not address his hurt and devastation at being lied to, nor does it address how complicated his self-image is (bc it sucked to begin with and that was before he found out he was part of a race of "monsters," as he'd been taught his entire life). It does not reference Loki being so broken at the end of Thor 2011 that he deliberately let himself fall into the void of space (aka tried to kill himself). It does not reference that he was tortured by Thanos or even that he went through a seriously dark time in between Thor and Avengers, and it absolutely does not reference or address any influence or control of the mind stone.
These are all things that we, the fan audience, know because we've already invested our time into this character's story. But tons of people, the general audience, wouldn't know these things. Or if they did, bc they saw Thor and Avengers, they wouldn't be thinking about them as deeply as we would, nor contextualizing them with how Loki is behaving now, or why it would make sense that he needed to get drunk, or why it's understandable that he needs to keep going-going-going in order to not have a spare second to think or feel.
They'd probably look at Loki, again, as a character who was a villain and is now getting his comeuppance in a place where he has no power or control, and no literal powers, and even when he manages to escape and catch up to the variant, he proceeds to fuck up their plan for seemingly no real reason except that he wanted to get drunk bc he's hedonistic. Which Sylvie even berates him for! I mean. This is not exactly a complex character breakdown, nor a very flattering one, but that's what the narrative has given us.
(If the narrative has addressed Loki's mind control, his torture, his mental breakdown, his suicide attempt, and his general shitty self-esteem as a result of his upbringing, please point it out to me. If the narrative has explicitly acknowledged and referenced these things anywhere and I am missing it, please show me where. Please explain to me how the casual viewer would know any of these things that they need to know in order to actually understand what's happening in this story.)
So I mean, okay, we have a narrative that doesn't paint a full, accurate picture of Loki. Fine, sure. But because the general audience starts out on the wrong footing, they're not going to get out of the overall story what the writers probably intended them to. For example, in episode 3, a lot of us theorized that Loki had some kind of plan - that he broke the timepad on purpose, for some reason, bc otherwise it wasn't believable that he'd be such a failure. But episode 4 revealed that no, there was no bigger plan, Loki just plain old messed up. Which is fine if, again, one is only considering the surface-level portrayal here, but it's not true to Loki's actual characterization.
I mean. Loki is not perfect and Loki actually fails a lot, this is true. He fails for a lot of reasons, but incompetence has never been one of them. Usually it's that either things grew beyond his control, or there ended up being too many moving parts, or he had to change his plan at the last minute due to some roadblock or another being thrown his way, or even that he got in his own way - whatever the case may be for his plans' failures, he was always at least shown to know what he was doing.
That wasn't the case here. The "plan" to fix the Timepad failed as a direct result of Loki's actions, which were careless and made him seem incompetent, like he couldn't even handle this mission. "You had one job," etc. And there were pretty big consequences for this; they were not able to get off-world in time and would have been killed had the TVA not shown up at the last second.
And maybe none of these things matter bc the writers never intended any of this to be a reflection on Loki's character, positive or negative. The situation exists solely because the writers needed to put Loki and Sylvie together in some kind of hopeless scenario so that they could get closer, and thus the narrative could set up their romance. I get that - but, there were other ways to do it that didn't require Loki to look foolish.
Furthermore, the whole reason they needed to set up the romance is to show Loki eventually learning to love himself (like, figuratively but also literally). The audience is supposed to gather that Loki and Sylvie fell for one another, possibly due to the high emotional aspect of, yknow, being about to die (in addition to the variant-bond). The intent is clear: Loki and Sylvie almost die but get rescued at the last minute, having now created an emotional bond --> Loki and Sylvie team up and the narrative further establishes that Loki, at least, has caught feelings --> Loki might confess them but is pruned before he gets the chance --> he somehow survives, he and Sylvie are reunited and don't want to lose one another again, and the combined power of their love is enough to break the sacred timeline and spawn the multiverse, and the reason that the power of their love is so, well, powerful is because it's about self-love and self-acceptance as much as it is about having the capacity to love someone else. The end.
I get all that. The writers more or less said all that. And, I mean, it's certainly not the way I would have chosen to go about it, but it's a fair enough arc to explore. I don't really have an issue with the intent - but my question, however, is this: if the narrative has so far not addressed Loki's background issues (as outlined above), and has furthermore kinda gone out of its way to portray Loki as hedonistic and narcissistic, among other things (like kinda incompetent), and the context the audience starts with is that Loki's this villain who deserves what he gets -
- my question is 1, why should the audience care whether or not Loki gets to a point of loving and accepting himself (thus to make the theme of self-love, via the romance, hold weight) if they don't know that he hates himself to begin with and 2, why should the audience root for Loki to reach that point when so far the perception of him is that he's "kind of an asshole"? if he's a hedonistic narcissist, he probably already has a pretty inflated sense of himself, right? A misplaced inflated sense of himself, at that, because, again, the narrative has made him out to be not that capable of much of anything. (And it didn't start out that way! It seemed to start out with Loki being capable and intelligent but it's like episode 3, in trying to set up the romance, just jumbled it all up somewhere. I think this is why I'm harping on the Loki/Sylvie aspect so much - it's frustrating bc it kinda messes up the whole story and can't even accomplish what it's supposed to anyway.)
Anyway, that's beside the point. What I'm ultimately getting at is, at what point is the audience supposed to get invested in Loki's personal growth journey?
They can't, not really. Without understanding and having the context of everything Loki has been through up until now, and why he hates himself, and why it's so important that he learn to love himself, then the "payoff" becomes kinda pointless bc the significance of it is lost in translation. So suddenly we're left with this romance that comes off as either "Loki loves Sylvie bc of Reasons" (best-case scenario) or "Loki loves Sylvie bc he's vain, narcissistic, and kinda twisted" (worst-case scenario). Neither of these conclusions are what the writers intended or were going for, I'm positive, but there we are, regardless.
In order for the writers' intent in these storylines to land, they need to address the context of what makes these particular stakes high for Loki. So far, they haven't done that. They're asking the audience to pick up on all of these things, and they're showing things that subtextually make sense and are relatively in-character - but only if you realize there's subtext in the first place.
But you can't expect the audience to do all of the work for you. If you don't want the audience to think that Loki is a narcissistic asshole and instead you are trying to convey that, worst-case scenario, he thinks he's a narcissist but is an unreliable narrator, then you have to address that. If you need the audience to understand why you're going the selfcest route and why it's important to explore Loki's capacity to love himself and others, you have to address where that exploration is starting from and why it matters. Etc etc etc.
The narrative isn't doing any of that. And it isn't like it'd be that hard to do it. They don't need to reinvent the wheel here; a lot of the pieces are already there. A few lines of dialogue for context, a brief scene here or there addressing the issues, a little more care and consistency in how Loki handles things - these are all little things that could go a long fucking way in making the narrative stronger.
I'm rambling. My basic point is that my rollercoaster of emotions with this show is because
- as a part of the fan audience, not the general one, I can contextualize and analyze the subtext and come to the conclusions the show wants me to, and thus find the story and the characters more or less enjoyable,
- but I am also going to be using the subtext to come to conclusions that aren't there but probably should be (I think it would be a better story, for example, for Loki to confuse platonic love with romantic love bc it would pave the way to explore just how fucked up Loki's understanding of love - whether of other people or of himself, and the different forms it can take - actually is)
- and when they're ultimately not there, then I think, okay why am I bothering doing all this work just to ultimately feel very unfulfilled? They don't even have to write it the way I would, I'm not saying that, but they do have to do something to make the story feel rewarding.
If we don't get some confirmation of what Loki's been through, and where his headspace is, and why it matters for him to love himself, then the story remains pretty shallow and, for me, it's not fulfilling enough. It's not engaging enough. There isn't actually anything to sink my teeth into, so it becomes kind of boring. Maybe it's rewarding to other people, and that's great for them, but like - I need more than whatever this is.
So I'm just like - well, I had a lot of worries about this show, but my being bored wasn't one of them and now there's only two episodes left and am I really not going to get anything out of this, in the long run? No new canons, no new depths or layers, no new information on Loki's experiences? This is it?
I don't dislike it. I didn't start out disliking it, and I probably wont end up disliking it. I mean, there are a lot of good moments, and good things, and fan service-y things that I appreciate. As far as inspiration for fic goes, it's a goldmine, both plot-wise as well as aesthetic-wise. All of that is great. I don't dislike this show.
But I am disappointed in it, and I feel like I'll be watching the next two episodes lacking the sense of anticipation that would make it exciting. I'll still enjoy them, probably, if for nothing else just the sheer Loki content, but whatever it was I felt watching episodes 1 and 2 is gone and I'm sad about that, too. Because I really wanted to feel fulfilled by this series; I wanted it to fill up the void that Loki's death in IW created three years ago. And I just ... don't feel it. Maybe, maybe that'll change over the course of episodes 5 and 6. I don't know.
Everything that I end up enjoying long-term, I think, will come about as a result of my own interpretations and analysis and while theoretically there's nothing wrong with that, if I had known all I'd get out of this series was more headcanons or support for my current headcanons then, well - that's fine, I suppose, but I'll definitely a little bit robbed.
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inksandpensblog · 3 years ago
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Random scattered thoughts and observations on the Battinson movie, spoilers under the cut
The camera lingered on the actor’s faces a lot. More than I’m used to seeing in film. There’s so many moments where the character in question isn’t saying anything, just staring either at the camera or at something off-screen and emoting. And there’s so much physical acting in this movie. The entire cast really brought out their best in microexpressions. It really contributed to the movie’s unique atmosphere.
I appreciate how noticeably uncomfortable Selena was during the club infiltration scene, and just as much I appreciate how oblivious Bruce was to her discomfort. Not out of any harmful intent on his end, but just because he’s focused on a different element of the scene, and given his life up to that point he probably hasn’t moved in the kind of circles where it’d be common knowledge to look for that sort of thing. Also a brilliant way of hinting that Bruce is part of The Problem before Riddler ever has to spell it out for him.
My brother proclaimed his happiness at finally getting to watch a Batman film that didn’t deliberately sexualize Catwoman. I don’t think that’s an entirely accurate take; I know plenty of people found this Selena sexy. But in terms of the “male gaze” in film as it is commonly understood, I think my brother was absolutely correct. There’s nowhere in this film where Selena’s sensuality is glorified, nowhere where she is objectified as a desirable woman to the eyes of the audience. Even the scenes where she is “dressed for work” at what is basically a strip club, the movie is far more interested in showing us what she’s thinking and how she’s feeling in those moments than on trying to make us think she looks hot. Heck, she is depicted changing clothes on-screen and not once did it seem voyeuristic; the action is given the same degree of attention as the preceding actions of Selena arriving at home and consoling her roomate, and the goal of the scene is very obviously to show us what’s going on in Bruce’s head as he tries to figure out who this person is, what her motivations are, and why she is doing what she does. Bruce is observing her to gather clues, his attention is on whatever he thinks might help him solve the mystery, and to him, the fact that she changes into DIY cat-burglar getup and runs off to do crime is way more intriguing than the fact that she had to get almost naked first. Sometimes, when people get home from work, they change out of their work clothes, and sometimes, those people are women. It’s normal, which makes it irrelevant to Bruce. I just
wanna commend the movie for handling its adult themes so tastefully while simultaneously being by far the most adult-in-theme of all the Batman films to date (that I can recall, I haven’t actually seen many. Just “The Dark Knight,” really.)
I love that the bat and the cat didn’t part with a kiss. I don’t think I would’ve seen anything amiss if they had, but there’s something so much more melancholy and longing about the two of them riding out of the cemetery side-by-side on their motorcycles in quiet companionship until they reach the inevitable fork in the road.
We get no explanation for how Gordon and Batman came to trust each other so much and I love that everyone else in the movie is just as clueless about it as we are. It’s not just that they work together, they seem to know each other more confidently than I’d expect for a 2-year-old Batman who’s still figuring out who Batman should be.
My brother pointed out the frequent use of perspective shots, which serve to give the audience a more intimate view of the scene and to make them deliberately focus on a specific part of it, but can prevent them from seeing the bigger picture, which we both agreed fit the themes of the movie well.
Some very intriguing sound design choices in this movie. I’m not just talking about Riddler’s breathing or the frequent use of minor-key Ave Maria. It’s interesting when this movie decides to mute all diegetic sound and let the background music control the mood.
I didn’t know it was possible to be so campy and so thrilling at the same time.
I think the only time my immersion really broke was during the gliding scene, because I thought the effect was a little clunky. That didn’t matter though because I was catapulted back into the deep end of immersion as soon as he wiped out. Like, I was both-hands-over-mouth, jump-in-chair startled.
The rat thing was squick. No thanks.
I had no trouble seeing what was happening in scenes that took place at night or indoors, and I’m so happy the movie had a lighting crew that knew what they were doing.
Bruce is Batman for nearly the entirety of the movie. He spends far more time in the batsuit than out of it, and even in most of those scenes he’s still doing Batman things, or doing Bruce things for Batman reasons. Possibly the only scene where the bat rests and he is completely Bruce Wayne is the scene in the hospital when Alfred wakes up.
Cathedral imagery is evoked everywhere. The supports holding up the bridge outside the club are shaped like gothic arches, material aside. Bruce’s house put me in the mind of an abandoned and possibly haunted church. The stairwell in the police station may as well lead up to a belfry. The interrogation room at the station and the visitation room at Arkham are close-quarters, boxy, and restricting, almost like a confessional booth.
Riddler addressing his audience like a Twitch streamer or YouTube vlogger was both hilarious and unnerving.
The car chase was amazing.
I’m surprised Bruce can move so quickly in that suit, that thing looks and sounds so heavy.

was
there a reason for the shirtless scenes?? If the dude didn’t wanna get spraypaint on his good clothes it’d make more sense to put on an outfit better suited to the job than to go bare skin.
I wasn’t sure about this movie but when a spry old lady with a pearl necklace I crossed paths with at work couldn’t stop going on about how amazing it was I figured I was at least in for something memorable.
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hellsbellschime · 3 years ago
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Why Jaime Lannister's GoT Ending Was Actually Bad
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Nearly every aspect of the end of Game of Thrones earned ire from the majority of the show and book fandom, but one aspect of the show's conclusion that seems to have frustrated fans across the board was the ending for Jaime Lannister. More specifically, that after a seemingly solid and nearly complete redemption arc, he returned to Cersei and King's Landing to die in a manner that somewhat works as a metaphor but didn't resonate well with the audience at all. And, while Jaime's ending was a flop, it didn't fail for the reasons that many viewers seem to think that it did.
The Lannisters are obviously some of the most complex and important characters in A Song of Ice and Fire, but one of the most interesting aspects of their family dynamic is that it was established far before the contemporary storyline actually began. And, while Game of Thrones seemed to paint it as if Cersei was a source of toxicity that Tyrion and Jaime couldn't get out from under the thumb of, the truth is that the bad apple that spoiled the bunch was never Cersei, it was always Tywin.
One of the most meaningful and important themes of George RR Martin's work is the long-term effects that abuse has on children, and there isn't really any example that is more present and potent than the horrific effects that Tywin's abuse had on all of his children, and how it affected them in different ways.
Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion all have some of the most intriguing points of view in the entire story. And one aspect that all of their POVs seem to share in common is that while nearly everyone in their world perceives them as a villain, they all see themselves as victims. And the truth is, both sides of this coin are correct.
Yes, the Lannister children have done many horrific, irredeemable things in their lives, but they have also been the victims of extremely traumatic abuse that understandably altered their outlook on the world and on themselves in general. There is a balance between victim and perpetrator that needs to be struck with their characters, but one of Game of Thrones' bigger flaws was its inability to do that.
Unsurprisingly, nearly every character's book point of view grants themselves more sympathy than they should. Almost everyone sees themselves as a better person than they are or is capable of rationalizing away their bad deeds and focusing on their more positive decisions and personality traits. But this is of course one of the many ways in which George RR Martin utilizes his POV traps.
Translating a story that is told through the eyes of the characters themselves and filming it from a more objective third-person perspective means that plenty of important information is going to be lost in that translation. But one of the fatal flaws when it comes to the Lannisters is that, while Game of Thrones does still present Cersei as pretty forthrightly villainous, the narrative pretty drastically whitewashes Tyrion and Jaime. Essentially, it seems to take Tyrion and Jaime at their point-of-view word and treats them like they're much better people than they truly are. Thus, Jaime's ignominious end with the supposed biggest baddie of them all feels like a betrayal of his character development when it really shouldn't be.
Every character needs to be held responsible for their own choices, but the downfall of House Lannister really does rest in the hands of Tywin, and Game of Thrones ignoring that fact did a disservice to every one of the Lannister children in one way or another.
Yes, out of all of the Lannisters, Jaime was as close as Tywin could get to the golden child of his dreams, but it's easy to overlook that while Jaime may have been the favorite on the surface, every single one of Tywin's children was disgustingly mistreated, and the effects of his abuse all showed themselves in different malignant ways.
While Jaime may have gotten preferential treatment over his siblings, Tywin was never anything other than a terrible parent, and more importantly, Jaime's superior treatment only told him exactly how he could expect to be treated if he ever failed to live up to his father's high ideals. And of course, in many big and small ways, he did ultimately fail to live up to Tywin Lannister's exacting standards.
Tywin was a terrible parent because he was an abuser, but he also raised his children with his own values of pride, entitlement, and superiority. Obviously, the notion that they were simultaneously failures who had earned their own mistreatment but were also Lannisters who deserved to be above everyone else is opposing perspectives that are in constant conflict with one another, but it also seems to be how Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion see themselves as constant victims while still perennially victimizing others.
George RR Martin has repeatedly discussed that one of the strongest themes of his work is the idea of the human heart in conflict with itself. Game of Thrones lost the plot with this in nearly every character adaptation, but Jaime's was one of the worst, largely because he is a character who has done some of the most monstrous and most heroic things in the story. He is both the man who doesn't hesitate to murder a child and the man who stopped a king from slaughtering thousands, and therefore his inner conflict is extremely vital.
Jaime's character arc in Game of Thrones follows a classic redemption arc almost perfectly, but that clearly doesn't seem to be the intent behind the character in the books. Yes, there is a part of Jaime that wants to be redeemed, but he does often revert back to his more brutal and nihilistic side, and his desire for so-called redemption seems to be driven more by how he wants the world to see him rather than how he wants to be.
And in that sense, the show did him a great disservice. Because there are many ways in which Jaime hasn't healed from Tywin's abuse, but the fact that he still seeks the approval of others in a rather superficial manner rather than developing a deeper understanding of true honor and justice is one of the clearest indications that, while Jaime does want to get out of the path that his father laid out for him, he is still crippled by what Tywin told him being a Lannister meant. And ironically, Tywin's belief about what being a Lannister means has essentially trapped all of his children into trying and failing to live up to that example simply because they can't survive unless they do.
Because ultimately, it's not necessarily just about what Jaime, or Cersei, or Tyrion wants. At some point, every single one of them has made obvious indications that they don't want to be a part of the legacy that Tywin Lannister laid out for them. But, when Game of Thrones presented Tywin as a super-intelligent master strategist instead of a completely unnecessarily violent and aggressive asshole, it made all of the Lannister children's choices harder to understand.
Both in the A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones fandoms, Tywin is typically put up on a pedestal, and that's completely baffling. Many viewers and readers perceive him to be brilliant and badass, but everything that Tywin is famous for actually makes him seem like a complete moron upon further contemplation. Winning battles by absolutely obliterating your enemies is a terrible precedent to set for many reasons, but one of the biggest is that it essentially requires all of the Lannister children to maintain this scorched earth policy because Tywin's hyper-aggressive superiority complex has put them in a position where they almost always have to choose to kill or be killed.
And, his cruel and dishonorable behavior as well as Jaime's reputation as the Kingslayer essentially guarantees that even if Jaime completely changes as a person and becomes the hero he wants to be, he really can't ever become that in the society that he lives in simply because the stigma around the Lannisters is something he can't escape.
That is one of the great tragedies that Game of Thrones failed to articulate, and that is one of the biggest reasons why Jaime's character conclusion was so off-putting to the audience. Because the audience saw the result of where this character arc would naturally go, but the story never actually took the steps to get there. In fact, the show went out of its way to erase a lot of the obvious building blocks that are leading up to both Cersei and Jaime's demise that makes it clear that, while they're obviously responsible for their own choices and actions, the groundwork that Tywin's abuse and cruelty laid and set in stone was something that they couldn't control, prevent, or undo.
Game of Thrones largely presented Jaime's characterization with the implication that if he could only escape Cersei, he would be a good man. But the reality was, if only Tywin hadn't been his father, then all of his siblings would have been better people. They may not have been good, but they almost certainly wouldn't be the kingdom-destroying villains that they became.
I also think the TV series likely bungled his character in that his story is meant to be a subversion of the classic redemption arc rather than the straightforward bad guy to good guy story that Game of Thrones told. George RR Martin obviously doesn't like flawless characters, and nearly every person in A Song of Ice and Fire does good things and bad things all the time, they never go in a straight line from point A to point B. So, of course it was going to be incredibly jarring when the show did move Jaime in a straight line from point A to point B and then abruptly gave him an ending that is probably somewhat similar to his end in the books.
But with that in mind, for all of the faults in Game of Thrones and the way they handled Jaime's character arc, I don't really understand the idea that his character was ruined by his ending either. These characters are clearly designed to never be just one thing, and if Jaime killing King Aerys or trying to kill Bran doesn't singularly define his character, then going back to Cersei in the very end shouldn't either.
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wittyno · 1 year ago
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There is so much wrong with this thread.
1) it uses the terms North America, US, and Canada interchangeably. Those aren’t the same things. Canada and US are two countries in North America, which is a continent. Not only do the US and Canada have different cultures, languages, and climates. What about Mexico? Last time I checked Mexico was in North America. Which has its own set of cultures, languages, and climates. I wonder why Mexico was left out of this Twitter thread? Mexico City is one of the most congested cities in the world.
2) this doomerism disguised as “reality” is so annoying. Not only because it is wrong and it is. People have come together and fought for change throughout history. Things will change. You have to work for them. It will take time, especially if the place is bigger than the head of a pin.
3) this person knows a generation is defined as 20 years right? Especially with the rate of technological evolution you really think you can predict what a whole continent will look like in 20 years.
4) just because it takes time doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. People dedicating themselves to change is never useless or futile. You say you want progress but when there is progress you sniff at it and say “it’s not enough”. It’s a so frustrating because that’s not how the majority of change works.
5) you think a continent of almost 600 million people is at all comparable to Netherlands which has 17.5 million people is at all the same? It’s so many more people. For comparison Texas has 29.5 million people. It’s also so much bigger. Im not saying investing in public transport is bad. It’s good. I love public transport. We should invest in public transport, but this holier-than-thou approach is just so stupid.
6) this “this is reality get used to it” reminds me of a specific kind of pessimism. It’s this “everything sucks so why try” mentality. It’s childish but it tries so hard to be adult. It’s an abdication of responsibility. It misunderstands how change works on such a fundamental level. I’m not saying I haven’t felt that way before and I sometimes still do. But I know that nihilism and doomerism aren’t the correct response.
7) I know a common critique of this way of thinking is that it’s not feasible for a lot of people, which is true but let’s say a person had the time, money, and energy to move. Even had a job lined up and housing figured out. You’re asking them to leave behind their friends, their family, and their community. Not to mention keeping in touch with those people takes a lot more effort. Depending on where in North America that time difference can be 9 hours. That’s a whole work day. The only option you are giving a vast number of people is: move. The amount of privilege that drips from “I did it so you can/must too” is too much.
8) Can you imagine if everyone in just one US state / Canadian territory / Mexican state moves to the Netherlands? The effects would be insane. Even Wyoming (the least populated US state) with its 581k people would probably put a strain on the Dutch government. Side note really but I know what your immigration policy looks like and it’s not pretty.
Here, this is starting drama in urbanist circles, I am bored take it and do what you will
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bellsyafterdark · 3 years ago
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Inspired by all the pretty dincobb art
Paz has been distracted.
It concerns Din, but he resists saying anything at first. They've all been working hard at their communication and Din trusts Paz will share whatever is on his mind when he's ready. Things come to a head the day Din travels to Freetown ahead of his alphas.
Boba and Fennec were growing to enjoy their newest playmate so they're annoyed when Paz intervenes one morning, catching their wrists as Boba and Fennec are about to leave bed.
"Din should go alone," Paz says. "We have too much work to do."
It's a clear excuse. Fennec murdered all their competition short weeks ago and the modders have been coordinating the town's rebuilding effort almost single-handed.
"I thought you enjoyed the last time he joined us," Boba frowns.
"I did."
"So, why don't you want him to see him? Don't think he hasn't noticed," Fennec says.
Paz is quiet for a long moment, an emotion coloured like guilt passing over his expression. He seems distracted by the pots of the decorative ferns by the doors. "I think Din should see him alone. But the Marshall should not come to the palace anymore."
Fennec and Boba stare at him until the meaning sinks in.
"You're swearing us off him, too?" Fennec scowls, affronted. "I was so gentle with him!"
There's red high in Paz's cheeks but his look is determined. His voice is firm. "The Marshall is an upstanding leader. Straightforward. Principled."
Boba shares a bemused look with Fennec. "That's why we like him, cyare. A man of integrity." Honestly, Boba had considered more than once asking the Marshall if he would ever turn his eyes toward governing a place bigger than a halfway port like Freetown. Boba still wondered if he was suited to this work of ruling and administration. The prospect of handing it over to someone with the right skills, values and inclination was a growing temptation.
Cobb Vanth could do it.
Paz nods, briefly meeting Boba's eyes but unable to hold his gaze. "He's the only one of us who hasn't hurt Din."
The temperature in the suite drops by degrees. The room has fallen so quiet, the hum of the bacta tank kicking over its power saving mode is audible. The smile has faded from Boba's face.
Fennec's voice is cold, eyes hard. "What are you trying to say, Paz?"
"Let Din see him--"
"He's free, we don't need to let him do anything," Fennec argues.
Paz continues. "-- I don't want Cobb here. The less influence we have on him, the better. I want better for Din. He deserves...."
The implicit judgment is left hanging in the cold space between them: Cobb Vanth is a good person. Upstanding. Integrity. Unlike the rest of them, he probably wouldn't know how to hurt Din if he tried.
Boba is deeply hurt. Hadn't he demonstrated his regret enough for Paz's satisfaction? Was Paz not convinced that the three of them, Paz himself, would do everything in their power to avoid or swiftly correct that ever again?
Did Paz not trust them?
"Well." Fennec stands, tone icy. Her hands brush down her front, meticulous and stiff. "That's a fine way to start the day." She scowls but Boba recognises the hurt she covers with brittle spite. "Fuck you, Paz."
She storms from their private suite, boots pounding the stone. Boba is slower to rise. The gravity of learning how Paz really sees them feels like a weighted shackle closing around his heart.
Paz sighs, palming the back of his neck.
Boba watches the motion, numb. "Do you want us to let Din go?"
Paz stiffens, eyes glinting, hard and bright. "Never."
"Then I don't understand."
Paz sighs. "I... want Din to have someone safe. At least one."
That shackle closes tighter. Boba almost forgets to breathe. He nods. He can't blame Paz. Boba certainly blames himself, but... he'd hoped....
"I'm sorry you think so little of us."
It was foolish to hope anyway.
His feet lead him away, numb, he vaguely hears Paz call for him, tone weary. He does not stop. He has a lot to think about.
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pufflyhallows · 4 years ago
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Getaway
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Gif not mine
Pairing: Fred Weasley x reader
Summary: Business is going bad after the war and Fred is not feeling so great, so you decide to cheer him up with a special trip.
Warnings: NSFW, 18+, smut, language, tiny tiny bit of angst, still fluffy tho
a/n: this is my FIRST smut EVER so... be nice? also, Fred fucking LIVES bc I’m in denial forever lol
Word count: 4,3k
********
You wanted to surprise Fred.
He had been feeling down lately. Ever since he and George reopened the shop after the war, things had been a little tough. The movement was still quite slow, given the fact that people were still recovering from the war, mourning their lost ones and starting new lives. It was a difficult time for everyone, and of course it affected Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes as well.
What ached your heart the most was the fact that there wasn’t much you could do to help him. Every day you watched as he took longer to get out of bed in the morning, how he sounded slower and quieter when talking to you and, the worst part, how he acted quite mechanic when doing his chores around the shop, the same ones he enjoyed so much in the past and had always gotten done with a bright smile on his face. And although he never stopped caring for you or being loving to you, the bedroom had become
 inactive. And you missed it. You missed being intimate with your boyfriend, but every time you tried to initiate it, he would softly decline, claiming to be too tired. You believed it. You could see he was indeed exhausted. And not only physically, but mentally too. Perhaps the latter was actually the one weighing more.
George, however, was quite the opposite. He kept his optimism high and was always the first to wake up every morning, excited with the new day and new possibilities. He would often go out and promote the shop, talk to people and sometimes even manage to bring a customer in.
This big difference between them worried you. No, you did not expect the twins to act the same, but you hoped in secret that Fred would follow his brother’s steps and cheer up a bit.
Cheer up. Yeah. That was exactly what he needed. And what better way to cheer up someone than a surprise trip? That’s how you were going to take his mind off of work. With Hermione’s help, you planned a very romantic weekend trip out of town. You talked to George beforehand, of course, but he assured you he could take care of the shop by himself for two days. He agreed Fred needed this.
“It’s not like we’re getting many customers anyway,” he had said.
So, as Friday approached, you felt the excitement building up. You managed to act completely nonchalant around him, making sure he didn’t suspect a thing. It wasn’t a big, expensive hotel because you knew he would worry about money and that was the opposite of what you wanted for this trip. Hermione had helped you pick a small, comfy hotel that was quite charming and fit your pocket perfectly. You wanted to make sure Fred felt loved, cared for and relaxed. There was also a little extra surprise inside your suitcase that you really hoped he would like

What you didn’t know was that Fred felt guilty. He reckoned he hadn’t been the boyfriend you deserved lately, but he couldn’t help it. The stress was almost eating him alive and his mind was always wandering back to the shop, worrying about its future. You had been so kind and patient with him, he knew you deserved better than that. The whole thing was snowballing and sometimes he couldn’t see it ending.
That Friday, when you got home from work, the shop was still open and there was actually a customer inside, talking with George. You felt relief wash over you, because you knew what that meant: Fred was probably in a good mood.
You walked straight to the flat, not daring to interrupt George, but you stopped in the middle of the stairs to watch. He was speaking with such enthusiasm, showing and explaining his products to the young boy, that it filled you with pride. You caught his eyes for a brief moment and noticed the smallest of smirks appear on his lips. Smiling back, you nodded at him. Fred was nowhere to be seen, though, so you went upstairs.
There was a delicious scent coming from the kitchen. The older twin was there, cooking. You smiled to yourself at the sight. His favorite The Weird Sisters record was playing somewhere in the flat, adding a familiar, comfortable feel to the whole scene. Fred’s back was facing you while he chopped
 carrots? on the counter. He didn’t seem to notice your presence just yet, so you took advantage of that. Placing your bag on the nearest chair, you walked in quiet steps towards your boyfriend. The fresh mint aroma coming from him meant he had probably just showered. Oh, and how you missed showering with him.
You couldn’t refrain your smile from growing even bigger once you noticed Fred’s body was swinging from side to side, so imperceptibly that you almost missed it. Carefully, you wrapped your arms around him from behind, resting your cheek on his back. You felt him tense up for a mere second before realizing who it was. He soon relaxed, letting go of the knife and placing his clean hand on yours.
“Didn’t hear you coming in,” he stated, voice low and raspy.
You hummed in response and placed a soft kiss on the nape of his neck. Fred turned around and briefly met your lips with his.
“It’s gonna take a while. Why don’t you go take a bath?”
“I will,” you nodded, running your hand from his chest to his shoulder and squeezing it gently. “How was your day?”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
“Okay”, you repeated. “Well, I hope I can make it better. I have a surprise for you after dinner.”
“A surprise?”
“Yes. I have an idea of how we can spend your days off.”
“Hm
 Making plans already, are we?”
“Very good plans, yes. But you’ll have to wait until dinner.”
“Or you could tell me right now so I won’t have to.”
“But where’s the fun in that?”
You smirked and gave him another peck on the lips before rushing off the kitchen and leaving your boyfriend to his curiosity and imagination.
The warm bath made you think about a lot of things and you came to realize you were very lucky. The war was over and there you were, taking a bath in your boyfriend’s flat, the person you loved the most in the world. So many people lost their loved ones, their homes, their entire lives in that war. You knew you had many reasons to feel happy and should not take them for granted. Life was good for you right now, and you acknowledged it, promising to yourself that you were going to enjoy it the best you could, with Fred by your side.
George joined the two of you for dinner, which turned out to be the best you had in months. Not because of the food, although it was perfect, but because it felt like everything was back to normal, like all the meals you had shared before the war. Maybe it was the idea of a day off and the mention of a surprise from you, but you could see that Fred was already less gloomy or aloof.
After the meal, as if sensing you wanted to reveal your plans to Fred, George excused himself to his bedroom, claiming he still had to finish some work. You wished him goodnight, not missing the discrete wink he gave you.
“So
” you started, watching as Fred emptied his glass of pumpkin juice. “Remember when I said I had an idea on how to spend your days off?”
“Oh, yes. The surprise.”
“Well
 I figured you could use a little rest from everything, so I made a reservation at a very nice hotel for the two of us to spend the weekend at.”
“You what?” Fred asked, a small smile starting to grace his lips.
“The portkey is set for our departure at 10 a.m. tomorrow.”
“But-”
“Nope. No buts,” you shook your head. “I have already packed our bags.”
“Y/N, doll, I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell me I’m amazing, the best thing that ever happened to you, an angel sent from heaven
  Something humble like that.”
Fred chuckled, that contagious sound you missed hearing so much. “You’re amazing. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, a true angel sent from heaven.”
“I know! We’re gonna have so much fun,” you smiled excitedly, clasping your hands together.
“What exactly are your plans for us, though?” your boyfriend questioned, curiosity dripping from his lips.
“Oh, you’ll find out once we’re there.”
“The surprise doesn’t end here, I see.”
“Exactly. I have everything planned, baby.”
The look in Fred’s eyes seemed to indicate he had an idea of what you had planned, but he did not say a word about it. He would like to see the surprise reveal itself in the right moment. He wasn’t going to spoil your plans in any way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You always had your doubts when it came to ads, but this time you had to admit this was spot on. The hotel looked exactly like its pictures and descriptions.
“Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?” the receptionist asked as soon as you stepped in the lobby.
It was something so small, so simple, but it made your heart flutter and stomach fill with those restless butterflies. Mrs. Weasley. Were you ever going to become that? You wondered if Fred even noticed the little misunderstanding.
“Um,” you cleared your throat. “Actually, it’s just one Weasley. Fred Weasley. I’m Y/N Y/L/N.”
Your slight flustered manner didn’t go unnoticed by Fred. Despite the obvious nervousness, he thought it was rather cute. In fact, he liked to hear you be called that. Perhaps he should do something about it

“Oh, I apologize. Mr. Weasley and Miss Y/L/N,” the receptionist corrected herself as she checked the reservation’s book. “You’re right on time, your room is ready for you. I just need your wands for ID confirmation before I give you your key.”
Both of you handed your wands to the young woman behind the desk and she did as she was supposed to. Sooner than you had anticipated, you were in the lovely suite you had reserved.
Fred placed the small handbag on the bed – blessed be the extension charm, that’s all you had to carry for that trip – and walked around the room curiously. You went straight for the big window and opened the curtains. There it was. The view you had seen on the ad and that had made you instantly choose this hotel.
“Fred,” you called softly, looking behind you. “Come see.”
Your boyfriend let go of the catalog on the nightstand and approached you, eyeing the outside in awe.
“Wow,” he breathed. “It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it?”
When making the reservation, you were met with the question: would you like a room with view to the street/village or to the beach? And you chose the beach, although the village was a lovely sight. Now, seeing Fred’s reaction, you were absolutely sure you had made the right choice.
The hotel was in a small village where both wizards and muggles lived. With a little help from magic, the wizards could go unnoticed and the muggles lived everyday life without a single clue of the existence of such peculiar neighbors. The beach was right behind the village, and your room being in the back of the hotel, you had a wonderful privileged view of nature’s beauty.
“Wanna go down there?” you asked.
“What’s in your plans?” he asked back, switching his gaze from the window to you.
“Beach,” you replied with a small smile. “Basically the entire day at the beach, lunch at a muggle restaurant down there too. But dinner here.”
“I’ll follow your script, doll.”
Fred placed his hand on your waist and pulled you closer, pressing his lips ever so gently on yours. You instantly let go of the curtains so you could run your fingers through his soft hair. The light fabric fell back to its place, covering the windows again and leaving the room a little darker than before. Fred’s gentle kiss wasn’t so gentle anymore.
No, not yet.
You broke the kiss and pulled back, biting your lip as you started to feel that you might not be able to wait until the right time for your surprise.
“I’m starving,” you whispered against his lips.
“Me too,” he pulled you closer again.
“Let’s go, then.” You managed to get out of his embrace and grab the handbag before heading to the bathroom to change into your bathing suit.
A hungry Fred was left standing by the big window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been hard.
It had been hard seeing you in so little clothing, dripping wet, skin glistening as droplets of water reflected the sunlight. But Fred managed.
All he had in his mind every time he saw you leaving the water was how he wanted to take you then and there. He had to distract himself from those thoughts, paying attention to what you were saying but not too much to your moving lips. He knew you had something planned and he was appreciative of how much effort you had put in this weekend for him. That was the only reason he wasn’t indulging to his not-so-pure thoughts.
Lunch was a good distraction too, specially since you had to convince a muggle child she had imagined it when she saw Fred stop his falling fork mid-air.
Now, as the two of you walked hand in hand back to the hotel, he wondered if he was going to be rewarded for the self-control test he had just passed. You were humming a song as you observed the houses, trying to guess which ones were muggles and which ones were wizards.
“What’s next?” he asked.
“Dinner!” you answered excitedly. “But, if I were you, I wouldn’t go overboard.”
“Why, if I may ask?” but Fred already suspected why.
“Well
 there might be plans for after dinner as well.”
Fred held your hand tighter and pulled you towards the hotel in a faster pace. You chuckled, feeling the excitement grow bigger and bigger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Dessert?” the waiter asked as he took the empty plates from your table.
“No, thank you,” Fred replied before you had the chance. “We’re calling it a night, aren’t we, sweetheart?”
“Actually,” you smirked at your boyfriend before looking at the waiter. “I’d like chocolate pudding, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As soon as the waiter left, Fred gave you a look.
“What?” you asked nonchalantly.
“I thought you said we wouldn’t go overboard.”
“I’m not going overboard. I had a small plate,” you shrugged.
“Right,” Fred sighed, bouncing his leg under the table.
When your chocolate pudding came, you grabbed the spoon and took a small amount to your mouth. Fred watched your every move, arms crossed and brows slightly furrowed as he saw you slowly lick the spoon. You pretended you didn’t know he was watching, eyes on the tiny bowl in front of you, and you mouthed another spoon, unintentionally getting pudding all over your lips.
Your boyfriend gulped as he watched you run your thumb over your lower lip, getting rid of the chocolate there, and gently suck on it.
“For fuck’s sake, Y/N,” he mumbled.
“Hm?” you looked at him innocently.
“Just eat the damn thing.”
“You want some?” you raised the spoon at him.
“Yes, I want some.”
You felt your cheeks burn just a little bit with his remark, heart begin to race as the ideas for what you wanted to do to him tonight started to flood your mind.
“If you wait patiently, you might get what you want,” you teased, looking back at the bowl and already serving another spoon, which you quickly brought to your lips, licking all the content off of it.
Fred shook his head, one corner of his lips going upwards ever so slightly, eyes glued on you.
“You sure you don’t want to taste it?” you offered again, lips glistening as you cleaned them with your tongue.
“I will taste it,” his eyes pierced through your body and suddenly the hotel was too hot.
You had barely served the last spoon of pudding when Fred stood up and let the waiter know you were headed to the room.
“I haven’t finished yet,” you protested and he immediately took the last spoon from your hand and into his mouth.
“Now you have,” he said as he pulled you from the chair.
The way back to the suite felt much longer than it actually was, but as soon as you reached the door, Fred’s lips were on yours. You had trouble to get the key with your boyfriend’s hands all over you, pulling your body hard against his.
“Fred,” you breathed, stepping back. “There’s another surprise.”
Before he could say anything, you unlocked the door and went inside.
“Sit down,” you slowly pushed him to the bed. “And close your eyes.”
Fred complied with no protests, but you could see he was getting flustered, probably guessing what was coming.
You blew out most of the candles illuminating the room and left only a few to create the romantic atmosphere you wanted. You went to the bathroom and changed into the expensive lacy lingerie you had bought for this exact occasion. It was red, a color you had learned Fred was very fond of when it came to this kind of clothing, and had one small, delicate bow right between your breasts.
“Are your eyes closed?” you asked from the bathroom, hand on the doorknob.
“Yeah,” you heard in response.
“No peeking ‘til I tell you to,” you warned.
“
‘kay.”
You opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom. Fred was still sitting on the bed, one leg bouncing impatiently, and a slight frown between his eyebrows.
Slowly, you approached the bed and stood right in front of him.
“Open your eyes,” you whispered.
As soon as he did, Fred sucked in a shaky, quiet breath. He eyed you from head to toe, not hiding his astonishment.
“Baby,” he mumbled in a deep voice, already feeling his pants get a little too tight as his eyes still traveled through your entire figure.
“Do you like it?” you asked.
“Mm-hmm,” he nodded, biting his bottom lip.
“Good,” you smiled, placing your hands on each of his shoulders. “Now let me show you how proud I am to be your girlfriend.”
Your lips met Fred’s in a slow, deep kiss as you climbed the bed and straddled him, your arms thrown around his neck. Fred let out a soft moan when he felt your weight against his lap, his hands going up your back, fingertips sending shivers down your spine as they searched for the bra clasp. However, you stopped them and placed them back on your hips.
“Not so fast,” you whispered against his lips.
Before he could protest, you kissed him again, now pushing him all the way back to lay down on the bed. Hovering above him, you started pulling up his shirt, which he quickly got rid of for you. You chuckled. Maybe you weren’t the only one who had missed this.
Now that you had free access to his torso, you began to place soft, wet kisses on his neck, slowly moving down to his chest and stomach, painfully taking your time.
You could feel Fred’s breathing get deeper and deeper as you kissed his abs, working your way down to his pants. Once there, you stopped the kisses for a brief moment, so you could focus on getting rid of that piece of fabric. Again, Fred quickly helped you out until you were both just in your underwear.
The sight sent goosebumps through your body and you inevitably bit your lower lip. He was already so hard, you felt the anticipation building up inside you.
You decided to torture him for a little bit – just a little bit – and carried on with the kisses, not taking off his underwear quite yet. However, Fred’s impatience was growing and he didn’t think he would manage to wait for too long. His hand found your hair and he started stroking it, running his fingers through it, a disguised way to guide your head to where he needed you the most. You realized his intentions, but you did not stop him. You let him take you where he wanted and soon your lips found his still covered length.
“Shit, Y/N.”
You smirked.
Slowly, you started pulling down the last piece of clothing until you completely freed him. He was so beautiful. You still had a silly smile on your face as you ran your tongue all the way up from the base to the tip, where you placed a gentle kiss. Fred’s soft moan reached your ears, a beautiful sound that made you even more wet.
You took him in your mouth and started sucking the tip in a slow, teasing pace, while your hand loosely stroked him. You didn’t want him to cum yet. You wanted him to last. And you were going to make him last.
Fred’s hand never left your hair, and he began to slightly pull it, asking for more. He needed more.
“Y/N,” he moaned. “Y/N, please.”
You ignored him and kept going in that insanely slow pace, taking your time. What was the hurry?
You heard a low groan, and felt him move his hips against you. You stopped.
“Behave yourself, Weasley.”
“Baby
 Please.”
You smirked again, giving him one last stroke, and you let go of him.
Fred looked at you in a way you hadn’t seen in a while. His eyes were dark, full of pure lust. But also desperation and discontent with the sudden lack of touch.
You crawled on the bed until your face was right above his, and you kissed him. It was a deep, passionate, hurried kiss between two people who were eager for each other. This time, you didn’t stop Fred’s hands from going up your back and unclasping your bra. He took it off and you quickly felt his left hand on your right breast, squeezing it. His right hand, however, was going up and down your side, sending shivers through your bare skin. He rested it on your waist for a little bit before going down to your ass and squeezing it tightly. You moaned against his lips, your own impatience growing.
You only stopped the kiss to get rid of your panties, the last piece of fabric separating you from him.
Fred watched as you got off of him and started to pull it down your smooth legs. He could feel his cock throbbing at the sight of your completely naked body. You were breathtakingly, heart-racingly beautiful. He loved the lingerie, he really did, but he loved your body a thousand times more. And he would never get tired of looking at it.
When you straddled him again, skin to skin now, he thought he would cum right then and there. You smiled at him, that beautiful smile that never changed, and kissed him one more time. Fred placed his hands on your waist, squeezing it gently, as if to encourage you. Not wasting another second, you guided his tip to your entrance and slowly sank down on him, allowing him to get all the way inside you, quite easily given how wet you were.
“Oh fuck, baby,” he moaned.
Letting out your own whimpers, you placed your hands on his chest and started riding him, still slowly, still teasingly. Fred’s moans soon turned into groans, complaints. He was getting tired of the teasing, he was already on edge. He couldn’t take it anymore. With a swift move, Fred shifted the both of you so now he was on top. He started thrusting into you, quite roughly, earning a loud approving moan from you.
“Fred,” you gasped, digging your nails into his shoulders.
He kept going, pounding harder and harder, moaning as he did so.
You started kissing his neck, biting, sucking, anything that would leave a mark.
“Yes, baby,” you cried out as he thrusted even deeper.
The bed was making a discreet creaking sound that you weren’t sure if the people in the other rooms could hear. You hoped not, but honestly? Right now you didn’t care. The sound of Fred’s heavy breaths, moans, groans and whimpers were all you were paying attention to. Beautiful sounds that had the power to shut down anything else in your mind.
The rhythm he had created was sending you to heaven with every motion. His lips soon found your own again and he kissed you as if he hadn’t done it just minutes before.
“Fuck, Y/N. I’m close.”
“Me too.”
As you felt your body tense, Fred came inside you with a low groan, slowing down just a tad bit. He kept thrusting, however, knowing you were about to reach your climax too. And not long after him, you felt a wave of pleasure wash over you, and your body relaxed completely.
Both of you were panting against each other’s neck, your arms still loosely around his shoulders as he slowly pulled out and collapsed on top of you.
Hugging him more tightly, you felt Fred leave small kisses on your neck, and you closed your eyes, enjoying the extra-tingly sensation. You started to run your fingernails up and down his back, the other hand caressing his hair.
If you concentrated hard enough, you could hear the waves crashing on the beach, the giggling of children playing down there, and the muffled music coming from the muggle restaurant. You felt so at ease.
After a long moment of peaceful, comforting silence, Fred looked up and smiled. “I love you so much.”
You smiled back. “I love you too.”
Not bad for round one.
********
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miutonium · 3 years ago
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Thinking of them again ahahsjaahskka. Im obsessed with the thought of them started dating. I mentioned that the one who eventually asked to go for a date is Utonium and ahhh he probably brought her to a roller skate rink first because she mentioned how fun it looked like when they see people skating at a park once. What he didn't know is Chloe never skate once in her whole life so she couldn't balance properly and had to hold his hand almost the entire time. He tried to keep himself calm because she keeps almost tripping and he had to catch her and he is losing his mind over being so close to her and holding her waist and arms to keep her safe. She did ended up manage to get on her foot though and skate and proudly show at him "Utonium,look! I'm a pro now!" And tried twirling but she almost fell and Utonium have to catch her again hhhh. When Utonium stares at her after catching her in his arms, they had a brief eye contact and both of them are blushing but Chloe flicked Utonium's nose to snap him out of his trance and jokingly teased him "Caught your nose~".
They went to another diner downtown for dinner because they wanted to try something new other than their usual spot and both of them doesnt want anyone from uni to spot them and starts whispering about them from a distance. Utonium is nervous but more nervous than he usually is because he never goes on a date that went well and Chloe noticed it so she asked if he's feeling alright. He admitted that he's still a bit nervous about it even though they probably hanged out together many times before since this time they're technically on a date. She giggled and tell him its okay and say just pretend theyre hanging out just like usual but they give googly eyes to each other and smile a lot this time. He felt relieved afterwards and they chatted and chatted late until they noticed the crowd is getting bigger in the diner so they left.
On their way back to dorm, Utonium asked if he can hold her hand while they're walking and Chloe thought it was sweet and funny because she never had anyone asked her to hold hands after a date and boys usually just hold her hand during dates. She reached out for his hand and hold it as a response and hskdjalak I think Utonium probably exploded inside especially when she locked her fingers inside his and mentioned "Huh, your hands are big but it fits me perfectly." They walked slowly just so they could talk and be together a bit longer before the night ends. At this point, Utonium is a lot less nervous than he is earlier and Chloe felt more relax knowing he doesn't feel that nervous or uncomfortable, she just wants him to know she had a good time with him.
As usual, he walked her back to her room first because he wants her to return safely and when they reached her front door, both of then are a bit sad that they had to let go of their hands now. Utonium apologized to her if he screwed up and admitted it was his first date that went well and hoped they could do it again. She interjects him and say it was good and she really had a good time and feels a bit sad that it was over. She then paused for a second, before turning around, scanned her room and remembers her roommate are away since it's the weekends so she asked,
"Hey, do you want to stay with me for the night? Lisa's back at home so I'm all by myself tonight."
Utonium was taken a back and made an audible snort because he wasn't mentally prepared for that even though at that point he knew Chloe returned his feelings and Chloe quickly corrects herself "nO NO OH NO i didn't mean to come off that way I'm sorry! I mean like do you want to cuddle and fall asleep with me? It's okay if you don't want to...."
At this point, Utonium is screaming in his head because not only did he nailed his date, his date even asked him to stay over. He's arguing inside his mind whether or not if he should stay. A part of him says he should because it's late at night and if he returns, his roommate either asked him bunch of questions on how it went and try to pick on him and poison his mind by saying it didnt actually go well or he probably asleep with another random girl on his bed and he has to sleep at the top bunk again. Another part of him says he shouldn't stay because he still has work to do and he doesnt want to postpone his work and sacrifice his goodnight sleep.
He did in the end agreed to stay with her, there's no harm staying with Chloe just for a night and accompany her. And it's basically just like any other night where he hangs out in her room until late at night talking mindlessly about everything.
Both Utonium and Chloe are always close to each other when they hang out. She likes to lean on his shoulder when she feels tired or she just wants to slouch comfortably. Their legs touches each other and Utonium had no issue with skin contact before. Sure he definitely does have feelings for her and sometimes he feels really warm and his chest feels right when she's around but most of the time both of them ended up feeling pleasant around each other.
With that being said, when they're now in bed together, with Chloe being so close to him, resting her head on his chest, their hand intertwine comfortably and her leg on top of his, instead of feeling very nervous and anxious about being so close to the person he really liked, he finds it to be comforting and pleasant. He still wonders what their relationship are now and softly asked her, "Hey, so what are we now?" And Chloe lightly giggles, probably feeling sleepy but still awake, "You're my boyfriend,duh...." and she can only hear a pleasant hum from Utonium before he slurred "Boyfriend....I like the sound of that" and they both fall asleep like a baby the whole night close to each other ;w;
In the end, it became a weekly activity for him to stay over for the weekend just to cuddle with his girlfriend now ahhhh
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mochegato · 4 years ago
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Paper Lanterns for New Beginnings
Another meet cute Monday fic.  Not going to let being sick stop it.  Hope you like it @boldlyanxious
“What do you think, Lian? Should we get a yellow one and a red one?” Roy asked holding up two paper lanterns.
“More, Papa.  We need lots,” Lian jumped excitedly as she answered, reaching up for more lanterns on the wall.
Roy shook his head, trying to hold in his chuckle.  She definitely got that need for more from him.  “Sorry, Sweetie, our hotel room doesn’t have room for more.  I think it’s just going to be the two for us.”
Lian pouted and sent him a glare to let him know how unhappy she was with his answer.  This time he was unsuccessful in keeping in his laughter in the face of her adorable three year old glare.  “I know you want a bigger celebration, but it’s just us this year so I think we’ll keep it small, okay?”
“No!  Big, Papa.  I want big!” she exclaimed loudly opening her arms wide to show him how big she wanted.
“Not this year, Honey. Maybe next year we can get Grandpa Ollie involved.  He’ll love to go over the top for you,” he answered firmly, sending her the most sympathetic look he could.  He understood she wanted to have a big celebration, like her mother would do for her, but he was not prepared for it.  In all honesty, he probably shouldn’t have taken the assignment from Oliver or pushed it back so they could celebrate TĂȘt at home, but it was too late now.  “Come on, let’s get these and find a Vietnamese restaurant to get dinner at.  They might have some kind of party going on we can join.”
He started moving toward the front of the store, looking back to encourage Lian to come with him and make sure she was still following him instead of pouting in place.  His attention was so focused on Lian, he missed the young woman who was also making her way to the front with a box that almost looked larger than her and was overflowing with decorations.  He walked backwards into her box, knocking it out of her hands and pushing her off balance.
His arms reached her seconds before she fell into his chest, doing little more than wrap around her protectively.  He barely set his foot as a brace in time to keep them from falling over.  She lifted her head from his chest to look up at him with wide, beautiful, blue eyes.  Her eyes caught on his for a few moments before she shook her head lightly, seemingly bringing herself back to reality.  “I am so sorry!  I’m so madly clumsy.  Are you okay?” she gushed out quickly.  She looked him up and down, searching for any evidence of injury.
He chuckled lightly and checked her quickly to make sure she was okay too, which was a mistake because now his cheeks were heating up as he found himself unable to stop himself from checking out the absolutely beautiful woman in his arms.  Arms he hadn’t retracted from around her yet.  Arms, he noted, which she hadn’t removed herself from yet either.
“Daddy?  Okay Daddy?” Lian asked worriedly.
Roy jumped back from the woman, pulling his arms back quickly.  He chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.  “Yeah, Sweetie.  I’m fine.” He turned back to the woman in front of him.  “Are you okay?  I’m sorry. I was watching my daughter instead of where I was walking.”
He moved to reassure Lian, but his feet got caught on the contents of the box that had spilled out around them when the woman fell.  He searched for a clear spot to set his foot to brace himself, but couldn’t find a spot before gravity took hold.  This time the woman was there for him.  She reached out and steadied him before he could fall.  “Thank you,” he grinned sheepishly at her.
She gave him a sweet smile in return.  “Just glad I could return the favor.  We’re even now.”
He smiled back at her, staring into her eyes.  He lost track of how long he was staring when Lian spoke up again.  “So many lanterns!” she squealed excitedly.
The woman jumped slightly and looked over to her with a kind smile.  “Yeah, we’re having a party tomorrow night for TĂȘt.”  She knelt down to start gathering the decorations.
Roy knelt down next to her and started helping as well.  She gave him a grateful smile.  He shrugged back at her.  “Least I can do after knocking it out of your hands in the first place.”
“You’re having a TĂȘt party?” Lian exclaimed.
The woman giggled.  “Well, I’m not. My friend’s mother is.  She always throws a big celebration for the second night. Everyone is invited.  If you guys want to come, you’re more than welcome to.”
Lian gasped loudly and looked at Roy with big, hopeful eyes, practically vibrating in excitement.  “Can we, Papa?”
Roy looked from her to the woman and back. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t want to impose on their celebration.  “I don’t know, Sweetie
”
The woman gave him a shy look and spoke quietly so he could hear her but not Lian.  “If you’re worried about imposing, don’t.  It’s a big party and she makes a point to invite anyone who wants to come. Everyone contributes, hence the
” she motioned toward the decorations.  “In fact, she’d have my head if she found out I ran into people who were interested and didn’t invite them.”  She gave him another bright smile that made him lose his breath. “So please, feel free to come and bring whoever with you.  You’ll be saving me a lecture.”
He found himself smiling back at her and nodding.  Like he would ever say no.  “Thank you. That would be great.  I wanted to do something for Lian, but I don’t
”  He paused to calm his mind and sort his thoughts. “That would be perfect, yeah. Thanks.”  His hand tingled where it had brushed against hers as they reached for the same lantern to put in the box.  
“I’m Roy.”  He extended his hand to shake hers.  “This is Lian.”
The woman smiled at Lian and turned back to Roy as she shook his hand, letting her hand linger in his as she spoke.  “I’m Marinette.  It’s nice to meet you both.”
“It’s really nice to meet you too.  Um
 but, for the party, it’s just us.  There’s nobody else
 here or at home.” He internally face palmed at his awkwardness.
She grinned pointedly at him and took her hand back to pick up the last of the decorations.  “Well, don’t tell Thim LĂȘ Chiáșżn that.  She’ll try to set you up with someone and since I’m the one inviting you, it’ll probably be me.”  She winked at Lian and chuckled as she put the last of the decorations into the box.
“You say that like it wouldn’t make me tell her first thing.”  Roy gave her a charming smile and grabbed the box, as he moved toward the front with her. “I wouldn’t mind the help actually
 if you wouldn’t,” he added hesitantly.
She smiled ruefully at him.  “Normally I wouldn’t, but this party is actually celebrating more than just TĂȘt.  It’s a bunch of new beginnings.  It’s TĂȘt and birthdays and the defeat of Hawkmoth and
 my goodbye party.  I’m moving in a few weeks so
”
Roy’s heart clenched slightly at the thought.  His charming smile turned sad.  He really would have liked to get to know her better.  But, then again, Paris would have been difficult anyway.  A new place couldn’t be much worse, right?  “That’s great for you though.  I mean, assuming you’re moving for something good.  Where are you moving?”
She took Lian’s hand as they made their way to the front together.  “I’m starting an internship in New York next month.  I’m moving in a few weeks to get settled and find an apartment.”
She watched as a grin found its way back on his lips.  “Do you believe in luck?” he asked smugly.
She eyed him suspiciously. “You live in New York?”
“I live in Star City, which is less than an hour outside it.  And I love visiting New York,” he answered, his roguish smile firmly back on his lips.
“Daddy, you said you hated when you had to go to New York.”  Lian’s face scrunched up in confusion.
Roy grimaced slightly and turned back to Marinette quickly with an overly wide smile.  “Hated that I don’t have a good reason to visit more often,” he corrected, cutting her off before she could say more.  “I have friends that live in New York if you need pointers and recommendations.  Maybe I can give you some at the party or over dinner tonight?
Marinette gave him a bemused smile, her eyes sparkled with mirth.  “Don’t you want to spend the first night with your immediate family?”
He motioned to Lian.  “This is my immediate family.  And we would love to invite you to join us.”  He gave her another charming smile.  “What do you think, Sweetie?”
“Yeah!  Please come.”  Lian clapped excitedly and turned to Marinette with wide kitten eyes.
“Well that’s just playing dirty,” she playfully scolded.  
Roy set down the box at the register and picked up Lian, setting her on his hip.  “It really is.  Luckily, she only uses her powers for good
 mostly.” He gave Lian a mock glare that caused her to start giggling.
Marinette joined in the laughter and handed over her card to the checker.  “I’m not sure if I’ll have time.  I have to help set up for the party now and I’ll be spending most of the day tomorrow preparing food for the party.  So I’ll probably be busy until the party tomorrow
 unless you guys want to help with the decorations?  If you want more TĂȘt experience.”
“I don’t want to
” Roy started.
“Again,” she cut him off, “don’t worry about imposing. Thim LĂȘ Chiáșżn would absolutely love to have Lian helping.  She loves getting kids involved in the celebration.  And seeing Lian will only increase her harassment of my friend about when he’s going to have kids so that’s just another bonus for me. Please don’t take causing that away from me.”  She looked up at him with her own kitten eyes.
He chuckled lightly and looked down to give himself a brief reprieve from the lightheaded feeling he felt whenever he looked in her eyes.  “Who’s being unfair now?” he playfully chided.
“Is that a yes?” she asked, looking to Lian conspiratorially.
“Please, Daddy?” Lian added, matching Marinette’s kitten eyes.
“Oh God, too much cuteness,” he laughed shaking his head.  He raised his head to look her in the eyes again and send a genuine, grateful smile. “Yes.  We would love to help and get to know you better.”
Marinette smiled brilliantly at them.  “Sounds like a great start to the new year.”
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morganayenneferburnham · 3 years ago
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Have I Known You 20 Seconds or 20 Years? – Nikolai Lantsov Series
Chapter 2: You Did a Number on Me A very short summary of the fic: Y/N has been working with the crows for a few years. Her life feels complete until she meets the insufferable Nikolai Lantsov. She finds herself forced to work with the King of Ravka on one of Kaz Brekker’s crazy schemes. Word count: 2.1k A/N: Here is the 2nd chapter! If anyone wants to be added to my taglist just send me an ask or a message 😊
Chapter 2: You Did a Number on Me
“I’m going to bed. I can’t work on the more difficult tailoring for either of us until I’ve had at least a few hours of sleep.” Everyone else had gone to bed about an hour ago, leaving her and Nikolai alone for the first time since they’d met. While he had been a lot more pleasant in the last hour all she could think of now was her bed.
She slowly got up and left the room. Her head felt like it was going to implode. She was already dreaming of crawling in bed under her soft blanket, letting her feet navigate the familiar hallways and stairs.
“Y/N! Wait.” Nikolai had followed her down the hallway and caught up to her before she had a chance to reach her room. So much for my well-deserved rest.
She whirled on her heels “What do you want, Sturmhond?” Her tone had been harsher than she’d meant but she was exhausted. The last thing she wanted was to spend one more moment in the privateer’s company.
“Please, call me Nikolai.” His easy-going flirty tone was gone. He sounded genuine now, almost pleading. “Listen, I know I haven’t made it easy on you. I need you to know that this job is important to me too. I am taking it seriously despite my natural devilishly charming demeanor. My country depends on our success.”
She took a moment to consider this new version of the man standing in front of her. He had almost slipped back behind his mask, but she could tell he was sincere. She understood the urge to hide all too well. “I’m sorry Sturm – Nikolai.” She amended. “I’ll try to sleep for a couple of hours. I should be better company when I wake up.” She genuinely smiled at him for the first time since they’d started working on Dirtyhand’s crazy scheme. “I’ll do all I can to make this job a success. If only so that Kaz won’t kill me.” She laughed softly “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Y/N.” he replied with a quick bow. He left her standing in front of her door and walked back towards the slat’s main floor.
She would have to consider the different personas Nikolai had shown her, at some point, if she hoped to understand him. However, that was a problem for another day. All thoughts of the privateer left her mind when she slipped into sweet unconsciousness. — She woke to loud knocking on her door. She groaned. She was going to kill them. Whoever the idiot was. It felt like she’d only just gotten to bed.
She opened the door with enough force to almost rip it off its hinges. “What the fuck do you – ?” She was standing face to face with Zoya Nazyalensky. Oh, she thought, guess I just shut my chances straight to hell.
Zoya smirked at her. “Good morning to you too. Everyone’s waiting for you downstairs.” She turned to walk away but shot a glance over her shoulder before disappearing down the stairs, her eyes trailing Y/N from head to toe and back up appreciatively. Raising an eyebrow, she added: “You might want to get changed before joining us.”
Y/N had forgotten she was only wearing her short lacy, somewhat see-through, nightgown and felt her cheeks heat up. “Yeah, sure, tell Kaz I’ll be there in a minute.” She stammered. She leaned back against the door as soon as it closed. Oh, well maybe not straight to hell? She quickly got dressed and tailored her cheeks back to normal before making her way to the others. The last thing she needed was to be teased by her friends for being so flustered over Zoya fucking Nazyalenski. She took a deep breath before entering the room.
“How long did I sleep for? Feels like I just went to bed.” She grumbled walking through the door.
Nikolai looked at her apologetically “Judging from when I last saw you, I’d say you probably slept for two hours?”
“Alright” She ran a hand through her tangled hair. “I guess that’s all I could really hope for.” She let herself fall on the couch next to Nikolai. Kaz raised an eyebrow at her. Interesting, he thought. There had been an empty armchair, but she’d chosen to sit next to the privateer. Maybe there is hope for the job yet. Torturing her is just a nice bonus.
She turned in her seat to face Nikolai. “I’m going to get started on the more advanced tailoring. It might get a bit uncomfortable. Changing bone structure always is. Let me know if you need a break.”
He’d only nodded at her in reply. She raised her hands to his face cupping his cheek with her left hand and running the fingers of her right hand down the line of his crooked nose. “Zoya, I’ll need you to tell me if the changes I’m making get too close to his actual features. Everyone else can piss off.” The crows took her dismissal seriously and scurried off to make other preparations.
Y/N settled into her work making corrections when needed following Zoya’s comments. She leaned back to admire her work after about three hours. She’d straightened Nikolai’s nose, made it slightly larger, raised his cheekbones and brow, and rounded his strong jaw to make him appear a bit younger. “Alright, I think this should work? The only major thing left is changing your eye colour. I’ll touch everything up once more after that.” Zoya had approached to examine Y/N’s work, staying quiet. “It’d probably be easier to make them hazel instead of green.”
“No,” interjected Zoya. “His eyes are usually hazel. You should make them blue. Nice work. I don’t think I’d recognize him in the street.”
Y/N beamed at Zoya. “Blue it is! That’ll take a while. Do you need a break, Nikolai?”
“I’m alright. Do you need a break? You’ve barely slept, and you still need to tailor yourself.” Well, she thought, that’s new. When did he become so considerate? He had let her work mostly in silence since she’d started that morning. He might not be so insufferable after all. Still a bit too full of himself to her taste but not insufferable.
“I’ll take a break after I’m done with you. I’ll need you to be very still for this.” She took a good look at him. “Zoya, can you make sure no one comes to bother me while I’m finishing up?” she called.
“Sure thing. I’ll get coffee. I have a feeling we could all use some.” As soon as Zoya left the room Nikolai’s shoulders bunched.
“I’m going to start now. You need to let me know if anything’s wrong alright?” Her voice was soft. She almost sounded worried.
He flashed her a bright smile. “I have full confidence in your talents, my dear.” He straightened his back once more. “Let’s do this.” She could tell he was tired and was only putting on a show. She wished he’d stopped hiding behind the self-assured ruler persona he’d mostly shown so far but she didn’t want to push him. She said nothing, opting to get back to work instead.
By the time Zoya got back with coffee Y/N was done tailoring Nikolai. Zoya let out a low whistle. She’d almost dropped the cups she was holding.
“He looks nothing like himself!” She exclaimed. “Once this job’s done you need to come with us to Os Alta. Genya would never forgive me if she didn’t get to meet you.”
Y/N smiled at Zoya and handed Nikolai a mirror. Genya Safin was the most talented tailor in recorded history, a member of the Grisha Triumvirate. Y/N couldn’t believe she’d ever take interest in a barrel rat like her. “Zoya’s right. You’ll have to come with us, or I fear our dear Genya will attempt regicide again.”
“She wouldn’t attempt it, moi tsar. Genya doesn’t fail. She would succeed in getting rid of you.” Zoya sounded amused at the idea.
He shrugged. “She’d probably murder you, my prized general, as well.”
The crows filed in after Zoya to take in Y/N’s work. Sturmhond’s strawberry blond curls were gone, replaced by chestnut brown ones with just a touch of red when exposed to direct sunlight. His green eyes were now a deep blue, slightly bigger than they had been. His shoulders were narrower, his skin tone lighter and his facial structure completely altered. He truly looked nothing like the privateer, or king, he truly was.
“Well done, Y/N.” Kaz’s raspy voice sounded from the back of the room. “Go rest and tailor yourself. Meet us back here in three hours. We’ll go over your covers again once that’s done.” The girl nodded and made her way back to her room on the second floor. — Nikolai couldn’t help but be impressed by the work Y/N had done on him. He was used to Genya’s skills, yet he never thought he’d meet another tailor as talented. He was pretty sure Y/N had even been faster than Genya ever was. She must have had years of practice to be able to perform such advanced tailoring this efficiently.
“How does it feel, Lantsov?” Nikolai jumped. He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t noticed Kaz standing in front of him.
“How long has she been working for you, Brekker? I’m pretty sure you have one of the most talented tailors of all time on your crew. How did you manage it? Where did you even find her?” Nikolai just couldn’t wrap his head around Brekker’s luck. How does he always manage to have the best of every field on his crew?
Kaz chuckled. “While I appreciate your new-found interest in my tailor. I’m gonna need you to focus on the task at hand until we’ve pulled off this heist.”
Nikolai had been about to reply when Y/N’s voice cut him off. “I am not yours, Kaz Brekker.” She was standing in the doorway.
Nikolai was suddenly very glad he’d been sitting. The grisha had done just as good a job on herself as she had on him. Her usually dark auburn hair was now a vibrant shade of red. Her beautiful green eyes had been replaced by a darker brown. She hadn’t needed to change her complexion, but it looked like she had changed most of her bone structure. Her face was rounder, her lips narrower, her cheeks fuller. She’d even tailored her body, reducing her natural curves to make her seem slightly taller. Nikolai would have never recognized her. Her voice, still captivating, was the only thing that hadn’t changed. He found himself looking for any trace of the girl he had spent hours observing, and even grown to appreciate, in the last few days. Even though this tailored Y/N was beautiful, he had to admit he already missed her true features.
Jesper slung his arm around her shoulders. “You surpassed yourself, love.” He guided her towards the couch. “I have no doubt the job will be a success if everything goes as smoothly as your tailoring.” He only released her to push her down by Nikolai’s side.
Jesper’s attempt to calm things had been evident to everyone, nevertheless, it had seemed to work. Y/N leaned into Nikolai’s side and took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. “Do we look like Kaelish newlyweds yet?”
They spent the next few hours going over every single detail of their new identities. Covering everything that could come up in conversation at the party. Y/N had comfortably settled on the couch never straining too far from Nikolai, playing the role of the perfect little wife. The smell of her hair was intoxicating, and Nikolai was finding it increasingly difficult to focus on the proceedings. All he wanted to do was wrap his arm around her shoulders and pull her closer to his own body.
Eoin and Ainsley were 24 and 22 years old. They had met two years before getting married. They had had an unusually long engagement, lasting a full year, because Ainsley’s father had gotten sick, and she’d had to take care of her sisters. They had only been married for a few months but were looking into expanding the business to support Ainsley’s family. They wanted to get settled a bit before thinking of building their own family. That’s why Ainsley was working with her husband rather than stay behind at the mansion. How the engagement came to be had already been covered multiple times. Kaz made them rehearse telling the story over and over again.
Only once Kaz was satisfied did they get to take a break and sit down for a quick dinner, which had consisted of sausages, fried potatoes, and bread rolls.
“We’ll go over everything again tomorrow morning. I’ll make sure your clothes are ready by 3 bells. You’ll need to be at Van Verent’s house by 6 bells. Go get some sleep. All of you.” No one dared contradict Kaz, as they were all half-asleep on their feet by the time they were done. —- Tagged: @power-of-words23
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