#jewel���s dream journal

[scullysexual]

A Jewel Beneath The Moonlight [Rewrite]

@today-in-fic | ao3

Summary: For Mulder, a wealthy English-bred socialite who's had everything given to him since birth, the Titanic is shipping him off to a prison, a life he no longer wishes for or wants. For Scully, an Irish stranger from the lower class, it offers a new life, a future she can truly envision in America. What if the universe put them on the same path to achieve those dreams at the cost of life?

Chapter Four.

“What do you think?” Monica asks, stepping back.

Scully looks at the almost unrecognisable person who stares back at her in the mirror. Monica and her maids had done an incredible job of fixing her up, taking her from the practical, albeit frumpy looking third class girl and changing her into someone who looks just the part. Her hair, which is usually braided or loose, has been twisted and braided, pinned to the top of her head. Monica had touched up the natural curls that hung around her face, wrapping the strands around the curling rod. Dana had winced at the smell and sound of burning hair but Monica assured her it was all worth it.

The dress Monica had found was red and black. The maids had modified it slightly to fit Dana’s slightly smaller frame and it hugged her in all the right places. The dress was tight, constricting, nothing she would ever picture herself wearing again. Then there was the makeup that Monica had applied herself. Her sister, Missy, put makeup on her once for Missy’s wedding; Dana’s face had burned the entire reception and party. The next day, she’d woken with her face red and puffy. Allergic reaction the medical journals had called it. When it is applied this time, Scully waits for the burning sensation but nothing happens.

Now she surveys herself in the mirror. “I look…”

“Perfect,” Monica finishes. The touches up Scully’s hair. “You look the part.”

Scully’s stomach clenches with dread but she wills it away and smiles at Monica.

“Can I offer you some advice?”

“Absolutely.”

“You look the part, now you just have to play the part. It’s all a game to them, a performance. None of it is real.”

Scully nods. She can be the perfect little actress.

“They’ll try to cast you out,” Monica continues and Scully thinks she hears a slight twinge of hatred in her voice. “Claim you aren’t one of them simply because your name isn’t as old as theirs. New money,” She spits the words out like they’re poison. “they call us as if it’s different, as if it doesn’t come from the same bank.”

Dana refrains of telling Monica that she isn’t new money, she’s…no money. Just a simple Irish girl who grew up on a potato farm who got lucky because her brother decided to play poker…who also got lucky. But Monica knows all that. This is Dana’s part to play: new money.

“So you were…poor?” Scully asks intrepidly.

Monica grins. “Oh yeah,” she says. “My parents were immigrants from Mexico. My father hit a gold mine two years ago and suddenly…we weren’t poor anymore. Not that it seems to matter to these people, they still think I don’t belong.”

“I’m sorry.”

Monica smiles sadly. “So I get it. I know what you’re going through. And that’s why I was so disgusted at Phoebe Green earlier. But she’s just jealous.”

“Jealous? Of what?”

Monica gives her a pointed look.

“Of me?” Scully could laugh. How could Phoebe Green be jealous of her.

Monica’s voice drops lower, quieter. “There’s a smart girl under there,” she says covertly. “There’s rumours she used to be quite the book reader when she was younger, and I don’t mean those sappy, romance novels you see them reading, she read real books, factual books.” Monica pauses, letting that sink in.

Dana thinks to her medical journals, their factual writings, designed to educate, the diagrams meant to inform. Missy’s confused look when she picked one up and looked through it, wondering how Dana could be interested in it and Dana’s response; “They’re not supposed to be interesting, they’re supposed to inform.” She thinks of a younger Phoebe doing the same thing, reading through so many medical journals, trying to absorb as much information as possible, like somebody is about to test you on it at a moment’s notice.

“That was until her father found out,” Monica continues, pulling Scully from her thoughts. “He told her she had no business reading such books and when Phoebe said she wanted to go to Oxford he laughed at her and apparently torched their home library not long after, attempting to burn the…” Monica looks for the word. “curiosity out of her. And it worked. She is the perfect example of what that world means. She threw away her potential for fake conversations, for pretty things but there’s a brain in there, Dana and you can’t forget that.”

Scully swallows, nodding. She sees Phoebe in a different light, in a more…dangerous light. That woman was terrifying.

“And…Fox?” Dana says. “Does he know about this?”

Monica shrugs. “I would assume so. It was what endeared her to him, after all.” She smiles knowingly. “He fell for her, you know.”

That shocks her but Scully recovers quickly. “Then what happened?”

Monica picks at the paint on the dresser. “Fox is a…different creature. A Big Foot in the desert, so to speak. He believes the grass is greener on the other side. He wants things he can’t have.” She smiles. At Scully. A chill runs down her spine at all Monica has told her tonight and suddenly, Dana doesn’t want to go. She wants to run away back to third class, to her medical journals, her stupid little brother, turn her back on the door to this world, to Mulder and his endearing smiles, his drawings, his honesty.

But she can’t. She is drawn to this world, to Mulder. They wait for her, he waits for her, his green grass on the other side. Yet the other side is filled with bogs. It is filled with prejudice, with a door slamming in her face. It is the smell of potatoes, of loud, growling, hungry stomachs, a gold cross necklace snatched from her neck, a little boy trying to feed his family, a little girl crying as he tries to take away the last connection to her father. Dana fingers that same gold cross absentmindedly, thinking.

Could that really be greener grass for someone like Mulder?

        When she and Monica finally get downstairs to the dining hall, the others are waiting for them. Mulder’s brooding face lifts up when he sees her.

“Scully!” He unlinks his arm from Phoebe, striding towards her. Scully doesn’t miss the offended look Phoebe gives her.

“We didn’t keep you waiting, did we?” She looks towards Monica. Their conversations kept them longer than they planned. Monica had fell into a panic looking at the time, ushering Scully downstairs as quickly as she could. Her stomach had clenched the whole way down, telling herself just to play the game.

“Not at all.” His eyes roam her body, taking in her appearance. A flush begins spreading through her and suddenly the room is 10 degrees hotter. “You look…”

Scully wants to say Different? Strange? Abnormal?

“Beautiful,” he finally says and Scully beams. She looks towards Monica but the other woman in engaged in conversation with a man Scully doesn’t recognise. She looks around the room. There’s a lot of people she doesn’t recognise and suddenly she feels like a fish out of water, an outcast. Her eyes land back on Mulder, revelling in the familiarity. He is her anchor tonight.

He takes her arm and just as Scully is about to ask about Phoebe, Mulder looks at her, a sorry smile across his face as he drops her arm and moves to back over to Phoebe instead.

She doesn’t miss the woman’s smug smile.

“Miss Scully.”

Scully turns to find Mr Mulder standing next to her. He holds out his arm as an invitation. Scully looks around, looking for Mrs Mulder and finds her holding the arm of another man who smokes a cigarette in his free hand, chatting away to him. Mr Mulder stares at her expectantly and Scully takes it with a smile. This has to be deliberate.

“I must say Miss Reyes has done an excellent job.” His eyes skirt over her but they lack the warmth his son had earlier. “You almost look like one of us.”

Scully is about to reply with her thanks when suddenly Mr Mulder pulls her into him, hard, his nails biting into the skin of her exposed bicep. “Almost,” he repeats with emphasis, lowering his voice as he speaks into her ear. “She hasn’t quite managed to mask the smell of poverty.” He lets go of her arm and Scully glares. Mr Mulder pulls out her seat, smiling at her like nothing had happened, and gestures to it. She sits, finally able to breathe when Mr Mulder walks to his own chair.

She takes a moment to look around the room. A lot of money went into making this place look as grand as it does, from its high ceilings to the massive chandelier in the middle of the room, to even the pristine carpet. Charlie could work for his entire life and still not make up the earrings equivalent to the cost of this room.

She looks to the people seated at the tables, probably unaware of the money they are sitting in. They’ve probably never once given it thought but it’s all Scully can think about.

That is until her eyes fall to a dog that sits in its own chair, eating its own scraps of meat that looks better than what is served downstairs.

Even the dogs eat better than us, Scully thinks with a sickening thought.

Scully looks away and finds herself sitting opposite Mulder and Phoebe. She wishes they were sat next to each other but at least she can look up and see him. Mulder smiles at her, kicking her foot beneath the table and Scully smiles back, reassured as she places her foot on top of his.

His smile drops as he gazes at her and the look in his eyes steals her breathe away. She could be the only person in this room right now.

Scully breaks the eye contact, her eyes falling down to look at the plate and the cutlery that sits either side. Three spoons one side, two forks and a knife the other. Scully stares at it, bewildered and wondering why the need for so many utensils. She’s gotten through life just fine with a spoon and the occasional knife every once in a while.

She feels a nudge against her foot and looks up to see Mulder smiling at her with an amused look on his face, casually lifting up the normal looking fork as if to use it. Scully kicks his foot, unimpressed with his finding enjoyment in this.

Dinner begins and despite Scully’s initial fears the conversation doesn’t gravitate to or about her. They discuss the engagement, of what their lives will be like back in New York again, they gossip about people on the ship, so-and-so being seen with so-and-so whilst married to so-and-so. Scully doesn’t listen much, she eats her serving which is a lot more than she usually eats and plays footsy under the table with Mulder. She’s fine and somewhat happy here, eating decent food and no longer feeling like she’s out of place.

That is until the dreaded words exit Phoebe’s mouth.

“Miss Scully…”

The chatter around the table stops as all eyes fall Scully. She stops the game of footsy she’s playing with Mulder, shifting her own eyes towards Phoebe.

“How are you finding all this?” the girl asks. “Not too overwhelming, I hope.” Her voice is laced with false concern.

Scully looks around, taking in all the faces that have gathered around the table.

She swallows her food before speaking. “It’s not too much different to downstairs, actually,” she says, her eyes moving back to Phoebe. “Better food, though.” It gets a few awkward laughs. Her eyes find Monica who looks away almost disappointingly. Suddenly Scully remembers their cover story, new money and now she’s gone and blew it.

“How is steerage, Miss Scully?” Mrs Mulder asks to the side of her. “I heard the accommodations were well on this ship compared to others.”

Scully shifts in her sit, putting her fork down on the table as she leans forward to see the older woman. There was no getting out of it now.

“Beats the cargo hold on a ferry,” Scully says with a smile. “A lot less rats here, too.” She looks pointedly at Phoebe. The woman seethes.

“Miss Scully is joining us from third class,” Mr Mulder explains to the new people on the table. “She met my son the last night on the back of the ship.”

Scully sits back, cautious of the reactions around her. Some make inquiring faces towards Mr Mulder and Mulder and to each other.

An older man begins to speak. “Do you often find yourself conversing with…” he looks unsurely at Scully. “third class passengers, Fox?”

“Not usually,” Mulder admits and Scully watches with curiosity at how he handles this situation. “Though I would consider doing it again,” he looks to her then. “They are quite interesting people.”

Scully smiles, impressed.

Of course Phoebe has to ruin it.

“How is it that you’re here, Miss Scully?”

You asked me here, you eejit is just on the tip of Scully’s tongue before Phoebe herself saves them both from embarrassment and elaborates.

“I mean, how did you get on the ship with so little money?”

Scully begins to play her own game. These people want to degrade her, drag her down and make a mockery out of her, so be it. She’ll be honest.

“It was my brother, really,” Scully says. “He won the tickets when he won a game of poker. We were on our way home actually and instead we ended up here.”

“And where is home?” another man asks.

“Belfast,” she answers. “Or just outside of it to be exact.”

“Titanic was built in Belfast, wasn’t it?” Mulder asks but it’s clear he already knew the answer.

“It was,” Scully says proudly. “It’s the city’s pride and joy. We don’t have much but least we have Titanic.”

“Do you and your brother travel around together a lot?” Mrs Mulder asks.

“Only recently.” She thinks to Charlie who is probably wondering where is she. Or he’s too drunk to care. “He’s fifteen, see, so he’s only just been allowed out of my mother’s eye. He’s never been one to stay put and has wanted to leave Ireland for a while now. Mam wanted me to watch over him, make sure he didn’t get into trouble and that.”

“Looks like all mothers are the same regardless of class,” Mulder says and Mrs Mulder smiles though it looks like it takes a lot of effort.

“How is Ireland given the, er…circumstances?” somebody asks.

Scully pauses. Her battle-worn country wasn’t doing so well lately.

“It could be better.” she says truthfully.

“They should leave Ireland alone,” Mulder says seriously. The table falls quiet minus some disgruntled grunts. “It’s obvious they don’t want to be under the union, just give up and leave it be.”

Scully sits back in her seat, enamoured with Mulder’s statement.

“Doesn’t work that way, son,” Mr Mulder says.

“Why not?” asks Mulder, sincerely.

Before Mr Mulder can answer, Phoebe cuts in.

“Do we have to talk politics tonight? It grows heavily tiresome.”

It’s that comment that has Scully transported back to her conversation with Monica. A sudden image of a young Phoebe reading about politics comes to mind. She wished she’d asked Monica if the rumours said what Phoebe had been interested in.

Her eyes catch Monica’s who smiles, giving her that knowing look and Scully turns back to Phoebe who is laughing at something the man beside her just said. It was politics she was interested in and a sudden pang of sorrow takes over Scully.

Just like that the conversation drifts to something else, something other than Scully or Ireland to which Scully is grateful for.

Dinner moves on, course after course, full from her firsts Scully declines another and soon grows bored. Mulder is in deep conversation with a man who introduced himself to the table as John Byers, Phoebe talks with the fourth woman who had been on the deck earlier- she is called Heidi, is the same age as Scully, and is pregnant with her second child. Monica has disappeared to another table, Scully can hear her loud laughter to which the other patrons look towards her with disapproving glares. Nobody is paying any attention to her, the novelty of a third class passenger in their midst having worn off. Her mind wanders to downstairs, to the party that is no doubt commencing down there and how much she longs to be there with them not up here with sore ears from the piano music and her head hurting with trying to keep up with these people.

Mulder catches her attention with a tap against her foot as he mouths, You want to go?

Looking around, still nobody paying attention to her, she nods.

“Father,” says Mulder. “I’m going to take Dana back to the gate.”

Mr Mulder looks towards Scully, “Have we tired you out already?”

Beginning to stand, Scully replies, “I’m afraid so.” She turns to Phoebe. “Thank you for the invite, Miss Green. I’ve enjoyed it.”

Phoebe smiles, an act for the people. “My pleasure, Miss Scully.” She turns to Mulder then, grabbing his arm. “You won’t be too long?” she asks.

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

He presses a kiss to the side of her cheek in goodbye and Scully feels her heart twisting painfully at the sight.

The cool air is welcoming, as is the freedom, too. She’d done well, Scully, even with the less-than-appealing questions. He was proud, though he had no right to be.

“So, how did I do?” she asks, as if reading his mind, a habit they had seemed to fall into.

“Amazing,” he says. His eyes roam her body again. God, she looked stunning. Not that she didn’t always but seeing her dressed up like this made him crave more. He would sit through a thousand first class dinners if it meant his view could always be her dressed like this. “You fitted right in.”

She smiles bashfully at the decking. He likes it when she grows shy.

“Did you enjoy it?” Mulder asks. He knows what the answer will be but just out of curiosity really.

Her answer is as expected.

“Does anyone enjoy that?” She giggles to herself and it’s a sound Mulder finds himself wanting to hear again. “I think one night is good enough for me.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” He thinks back to that dinner, to the one pressing matter he’s most anxious for her to hear.

“I meant what I said in there, about Ireland, it should be its own country.”

They stop just outside the third class gate. She looks up at him, searching, woefully. “I’m afraid you’re preaching to the choir.” She looks down then, to the stairs, to where the sounds of a party are escaping through the cracks in the door. It sounds appealing, fun, something Mulder has yet to experience of this ship, save from his meetings with Scully.

“Come down with me,” she says suddenly, her eyes big and asking.

Mulder begins to shake his head. “I- I can’t…” he begins, though he wants to protest. “I promised Phoebe…”

Scully sighs, big and heavy, exasperated. “And how many of those promises have you actually kept?” He blinks at her. She sighs once more, calming herself down and shaking her head. “Whatever. You go back and have fun in there.” She spins, beginning to unlock the gate. Mulder stands there, watching, his heart heavy, his heart telling him to go down there and just have some fucking fun, it’s not going to hurt.

“Scully…” he says, catching her arm and she turns. “Will I be okay down there?”

“They’ll be too drunk to care.”

It’s loud and busy. A band composed of various instruments play in the corner, their music floating around the room, upbeat and celebratory. It’s a celebration of life down here, people dancing with whoever, others who drink, play poker, darts, laugh. It’s alive. There’s no need for talking, no need for language or verbal communication, they communicate through dance and laughs, everything is clear and there are no lies. They’re just people. Just people living.

He sits on a stool, a Guinness beside him and watches Scully dance in circles with a little boy who stared imploringly at her hair, not that Mulder can blame the boy, he too has often found himself captivated with it.

He likes it here, likes how he has this corner to himself and he can just appreciate everything- appreciate Scully more so- how much happier she looks down here. She had excused herself to go change when they got downstairs and now she is back in her usual attire, her hair loose but clipped back from her face, her natural curls mixed in with the curls Monica had made. The makeup had remained, though now it was smeared in places from sweat. She was breathtaking.

His gaze stays on her. He can be a voyeur down here; he can watch her without feeling like he’s intruding or looking at her like a creature of wonder. He never has but when it’s just them, and when she looks back at him, he feels like he is.

The boy yawns and the two stop what they’re doing. She wanders back over to Mulder once she’s sent the boy off, a full smile doing its own dance across her face.

“His name’s Willem,” she says as she picks up his drink and drinks from it. Mulder doesn’t protest, they can share everything if she wants.

“Come dance with me?” she shouts over the noise and Mulder had been distracted with the thought of her saliva on his glass that it had taken a moment for him to process her request.

This he protests.

“No…no…” he says, shaking his head.

Scully rolls her eyes, outstretching his hand. “Come on. I’m sure a rich fella like yourself learned how to dance.”

The truth is, his parents had tried to teach him, put both him and Sam in lessons when they were younger and while Sam had naturally excelled (even though she protested originally) he’d lumbered about like a giant (it got worse when he actually grew into a giant)

“And even if you canna,” Scully continues. “Neither can anybody else here.”

Mulder thinks about that for a second, before looking around the room to see that the ‘dancing’ was really just jumping in time to the music. Somewhat less nervous, he takes her hand and pulls himself up.

His hand naturally gravitates to the dip of her waist, and only then does he become aware of how close they are. They bask in the moment of just being free to touch each other, away from all those who might say otherwise. They can do as they like down here and nobody upstairs would know any different.

The tension is broken when a smile breaks out across Scully’s face. “We’re essentially in a tavern, Mulder,” she tells him. “You don’t have to be so formal.”

Mulder doesn’t feel formal; his tie off, buttons undone, sleeves rolled up (he hadn’t missed Scully’s look when he’d done that) He takes his hand out of hers, missing the feeling of it, as it joins his other one at her waist.

There’s a break in the music and Mulder, nervous once more, leans down towards her.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Scully shrugs, “Just do what everything else does.”

And with that, there’s the change of music. Instantly he spins her and then begins jumping around the room, weaving their way in and out of people who are also doing the same thing. It’s fun, Mulder thinks, dancing is actually fun, he could spend the night doing this if he wanted to.

Time speeds up and he has no idea how long he’s been gone for. They know where he is and who he’s with and Mulder couldn’t care any less. He’s six beers in, ready to spend all of Daddy’s money in one night, and in the middle of an arm-wrestling match with someone he thinks is from Belgium.

He refuses to lose, that competitive schoolboy coming out of him. His opponent seems to be the same. There’s no winnings at the end of this- no money or even a free drink. They play for the fun of it.

Mulder loses and he shakes Mr Belgium’s hand and moves on.

Later in the night when the bar has emptied out, the music stopped playing, losing count of how many beers he’s drank but knowing he’s drank enough for the room to be a wee bit out of focus, he gets into a conversation with an American about baseball. Barely anybody in England really knew what he was talking about half the time.

Scully also listens with drunken rapture and he explains the rules to her with a promise that they will play as soon as the ship docks.

The party slowly comes to an end with those left slowly drifting off to their rooms, the bar closing and the band packing away. Mulder sits back in the corner, slouched against the bench, head down, as the room spins around him.

“Think we need to get you to bed,” he hears Scully say.

Lifting up his head, his stomach lurching slightly, a heavy loopy grin crosses his face as he sees two Scullys in front of him.

“Only if I get to go in yours,” he answers back, too happy and drunk to care about the consequences.

He sees her bite her lip and it’s incredibly attractive.

“Come on,” she says, ignoring his comment and helping him stand up.

It was worth the try.

He tries his best to get himself up the stairs but all he wants to do is shut his eyes a sleep, the world spins and he can feel the ship rocking back and forth on the waves making everything worse and he doesn’t like it. He just wants to curl up next to Scully, she’ll make it all go away.

They get up the stairs and he stumbles against the wall, needing a moment to just breathe in the salty air and hope he doesn’t throw up.

“Jesus Christ, how much have you had to drink?” Scully asks.

“A lot more than I usually do,” Mulder says, shutting his eyes against the spinning and the rocking and the overwhelming urge to just throw up.

He opens his eyes and she’s incredibly close to him, concern littered across her features. He focuses on Scully, wills himself to see just one, to use her as a way to calm his twisting stomach.

But something changes as the two Scullys become one Scully, his Scully and he’s had so much fun tonight then he can remember having, he wants this fun for the rest of his life.

He moves forward, ready to capture it, to take that fun and make it stay, make it never go away.

But her hand falls to his chest and all she needs to say is one name.

“Phoebe…”

It sobers him up. Or he sobers himself up. He nods slowly, bringing himself to full height. Phoebe, he thinks over and over again. Phoebe doesn’t deserve this.

Content that he now isn’t going to throw up, or pass out, or whatever Scully moves away from him, taking her hand off his chest and he immediately misses the contact.

Phoebe…Phoebe…Phoebe…

“Goodnight, Mr Mulder,” Scully says, she opens the gate, allowing him to leave.

And Mulder goes, against everything he goes, back to Phoebe, back to his life.

He makes sure to watch Scully go back down the stairs, however, until she disappears from sight.

“Goodnight, Miss Scully,” he mutters to the space she’s left behind.

With a sigh, and a hand rubbing his face, Mulder prepares to leave it all behind and savour the fun he’s had, the world Scully’s opened up to him. Just as he’s about to walk, a voice stops him.

“Had a fun night, Mulder?”

And Mulder’s blood turns cold.

[beautifully-lumpy]

the beautiful person's journal - #16: the collectible world of caddicarus review!

sooo....this is about 3 months late, i know. BUUUUUT i have much more free time now that it's summer, and i can sing this box's praises!

ever since i was a young caddicarus fan, i'd always wanted to own merch from him. however, being in a family that wasn't too fond of a 12/13-year-old watching youtubers who swear like sailors, i couldn't express my love for caddy, let alone ask for merch. however, now that i'm in my 20s, i was able to ask for and receive this wondrous blu ray box set for christmas...well, at least the idea that i'd be receiving the box at some point.

if you stay up to date on all the happenings in the caddicarus community, you may have heard about the nightmarish experiences people have had with pixel empire and the shipping of this box.

needless to say, i was among the lucky ones who received theirs in mid-march. pixel empire just seems unable to handle merch drops for million-sub youtubers - scott the woz fans are still waiting for their $100 merch boxes to ship.

but pixel empire woes aside...was this $100 blue ray box set worth the wait?

✨ absolutely! ✨

upon receiving this adorable ps1-shaped box laced with references - both visual and auditory - i was the most excited i had ever been in all my years as a beautiful person/lumpy germ! and the contents inside did not disappoint.

to this day, i still haven't used all the stickers yet. but the ones i have used currently live on my sketchbook...

the stickers have such pretty art by prominent comedic game reviewer thumbnail/branding artist kevin fagaragan. they're super high quality too! i love how we have an official sticker of the "good!" thumbs up guy now - that's the one surviving pre-2020 thing that made it to this box. speaking of which, the box includes very few references to pre-2020 caddicarus aside from the history video so if you're a veteran fan who hasn't watched/doesn't like the newer vids but still wants to get this, you're out of luck.

as shown in the pictures above, i've used the pins on my backpack! but during the time since i took that picture, the pins have moved to my beanie! it's now blazing hot where i am in the mid-south, so i'm obviously not wearing this out anymore lol, but anywhere i went when it was cooler outside, this beanie would be on my head, showing off my caddicarus and onward fan pride! just like the stickers, the pins are really high quality, much higher quality than the disney enamel pins and buttons i've had. the caddicarus ones stay on super tight!

and let's not forget the gorgeous poster that's on the top of this post!! i feel like it's a comedic game reviewer rite of passage to have a beautiful 80's-style poster designed by PE founder dylan west. pixel empire may tend to bite off more than they can chew but damn, do they have some talented folks.

and that sapphire ticket in the first pic? that's a $10 pixel empire gift card. it can't get you much on the site, but if you got the gold and platinum tickets, you got $50 and $100 respectively...and a 15/30 minute zoom call with caddy!! to this day we haven't seen any reports of gold or platinum tickets yet, strangely. but man, that would've been a dream come true for me.

the picture of jim by the sticker sheet is actually a scratch and sniff. and in true caddicarus fashion, he gave us fans the ability to smell his beard - which actually smells very nice! and on the back is a thank you note signed by the man himself!

but of course, that's not all there is to this box. the meat of this wondrous collectible is the blu ray - packaged in a jewel case with PS1-style boxart. it even comes with a "game" manual that features all kinds of references, and interviews from different people who have worked with caddy!

the disc itself resembles a UK PS1 demo disc. and when you pop it inside, it carries on that aesthetic, as the menus look and sound like old demo discs!

(on the right is the gif i pulled from the pixel empire page for a visual)

the root menu uses the actual music from UK demo discs, but the "press start", main features and bonus features menus use these beautiful, ethereal, supposedly original pieces that i adore so much. unfortunately, while the credits specify who did which pieces of art for the box and menus on the disc, they don't specify who composed the menu music, or if the music was taken from epidemic sound. i tried shazaming it and got nothing. i wish we knew who composed that beautiful music! :(

and now - let's take a look at the videos on the disc!

the first one i watched was "how did i get here, and why is it damp?", as i'm obviously a connoisseur of caddicarus history and i was interested to see how jim himself would recap it. and this is how i learned why jim unlisted all those private videos - sir toasty needed access to them so he could edit the video! this video was the shortest of all of the main features, only being around 40 or so minutes. and i loved it!

not only was it such a surreal experience watching a caddicarus blu ray on the big TV in the living room - as i said, this never could've happened when i was younger - but also, the video was a trip down memory lane and the ending actually made me tear up a bit. it's a reminder of how the caddicarus channel wasn't even supposed to keep going after the 2010s, and it was because of jim's determination that he was able to pull through and make it to 1 million subs.

after that i watched "the secretive world of filming stories", which was about a whole hour longer. it was basically caddy, cerys and olly going through different scenes of the caddicarus show's reboot, and telling the stories about how they were filmed. i adored this one too, as the history and production of the caddicarus show is (obviously) a huge special interest of mine!

then i watched the last main feature, which was "the precious world of caddy's PS1 collection"! this one was also around an hour and 40 minutes, and it was exactly what it said on the tin - caddy going through his PS1 collection and discussing it.

also as a sidenote, seeing jim standing in front of his shelves and talking, along with him bending down to grab two video games off the floor gave me flashbacks to season 10 caddicarus, as that was his exact filming setup and he would bend down to grab the slaughter and salvage guns during the intro...

while i loved this video, i will admit i didn't love it as much as the previous two, but that's pretty much just because i mostly love caddicarus for the comedy/production/history aspects rather than the video game aspect. however, i have seen caddicarus fans who only cared about the PS1 tour and not the history or filming stories vids. different needs for different fans!

and onto the bonus features...

the hidden block reunion podcast was so good!! for a caddicarus veteran like me who was around during the golden age of hidden block, it was so emotional seeing these boys together again, even though balrog wasn't there.

the battle between caddy and brutalmoose was like, a 30 second video. i won't say what it was, but oh my god it was the funniest shit ever.

the stanley's phrase of the week compilation was cute, but honestly any fan could've made that and put it on youtube. i don't get why it had to be a feature on the blu ray.

and finally...the credits!

this is where my biggest disappointment with the blu ray comes in. don't get me wrong, i am 100% grateful with what we got and i couldn't ask for anything more wondrous than this. but in advertisements for the box, there were a few scenes animated in a PS1 style that showed jim fighting different bosses, and the bosses were different characters he's faced throughout the caddicarus reboot. the back of the case states that there are "animated gameplay featurettes", implying that there are multiple animated shorts. however, the credits seem to be the only animated featurette on the disc, and they only showed those exact shots we saw on the advertisements, including a couple extras. the only other animated thing was the secret video on the "press start" menu, which was only a few seconds long. idk i just expected there to be much more drawn-out, fully-voice acted featurettes. they even went to the trouble to make 3D models for olly and caddy's family, and they were only used for a second in the credits. i wasn't the only person confused about this, as there were also others on reddit stumped on it. and it's sad bc i was really excited about that :(

but other than that...i wholeheartedly recommend this box to any die-hard caddicarus fan!! it's a piece of merch that none of us could've ever dreamed of years ago, let alone 8-10 months ago!!

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Fic Titles: Alphabet J-L

Take one and start to create!

J

Jailbreaker

Jar full of dreams

Jealousy looks good on you

Jeopardizing all we built together

Jewels in your eyes

Joining forces

Jokes on you, my friend

Joy of being wrong

Joyful adventures

Joyous occasions

Joyrides through the night

Journal full of love letters

Journey back home

Judge, Jury and Executioner

Judging of the heart

Judging eyes surrounding us

Jumping to conclusions

Just don't let go

Just for a moment

Just for tonight

Just in time

Just one more time

Just say yes

Justifiable actions

Justice was served

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

K

Kaleidoscope of our memories

Karma is a friend

Keeping it between us

Keeping secrets

Key to my heart

Kidnapping hearts

Kilowatt smile

Kill ‘em with kindness

Killer instinct

Killer smile

Killing memories

Kindest lie

Kindness of strangers

Kindred spirits

King of nowhere

King of the castle

Kings in their own rights

Kiss me goodnight

Kissing bruises

Kissing in the shadows

Kneel before the queen

Knight in rusty armor

Knightliness is not dead

Knowledge is key

Known to no one

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

L

Ladies' night

Land of love and lust

Land of milk and honey

Lay by your side

Leave it all behind

Leave out the bad parts (think about the good)

Let's get out of this town

Library of lost chances

Lighthouse in the dark

Lighting up the room

Lightweight at the party

Like a supernova (blinding lights)

Like waves in the ocean

Lilac skies

Local man just trying to live life

Lonely nights

Long lost lovers

Looking for love

Lost at sea

Loudmouth (kiss and shut up)

Love letters to you

Lovemaking

Lovesick days

Lovers in the night

Luck is not lost

Find more titles: A-C|D-F|G-I|M-O|P-R|S-T|U-V|W-X|Y-Z + Numbers

>>All the Fic Titles.

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee! And check out my Instagram!🥰

[minaslittleone]

I've really been enjoying all the tagging games going around so I thought I'd make one for the Sarahs (there certainly are enough of them). Feel free to pass around or just use to introduce yourself 😘

💙 Billie Dean Howard: 4/15 Long flowing skirts | Floral prints | Champagne | Sweet smelling perfume | Spring mornings | Fresh floral arrangements | Acrylic nails | Dusty pink | Pearls | Loose curls | The Bangles | Sweet talker | Long, tight hugs | Sharing dessert | Fresh linen

🧡 Lana Winters: 6/15 Flared jeans | Scotch on the rocks | Dreary winter afternoons by the fireside | The smell of old books | Dark, cosy corners | Modern classics | Ink-stained fingers | Statement jewelry | Burnt orange | Lana Del Ray | ABBA | Corduroy | Favourite blankets | Earl Grey tea | Holding hands under the table

💚 Cordelia Goode: 8/15 Plants as decoration | Silk blouses | White wine | Petrichor: the smell of dust after rain | The first light of daybreak | Herbal tea | Veritable drugstore in your handbag | Minimalist tattoos | Forest Green | Fleetwood Mac | Florence and the Machine | Palazzo pants | Scalp massages | Secret notes | Star gazing

🤍 Bette and Dot Tattler: 4/15 Drive in movies | Freshly baked cookies | Snuggling up in bed on a cold morning | The Beatles | Ribbons in your hair | Daisy chains | Hand written letters | Virgin cocktails | Hot chocolate | Bullet journaling | A-line dresses | Hopeless romantic | Musical theatre | Old, worn photographs | Not giving up on your dreams

🖤 Sally McKenna: 3/15 Neon signs | Vodka neat | The Cranberries | Chokers | Chipped nail polish | Vintage clothing | Vinyls | Friendship bracelets | Nirvana | Dark, rainy nights | Dive bars | Open mic night | Ripped jeans | Dark lipstick | Animal print

💛 Audrey Tindall: 9/15 Lace trim | Fruity cocktails | Lazy summer afternoons | The smell of the ocean | Chunky knit cardigans | Always barefoot | Messy buns | Taylor Swift | Kissing in the rain | Pinkie rings | Buttercup yellow | Cindy Lauper | Overalls | Drunken Karaoke | Laughing until your sides hurt

❤️ Ally Mayfair-Richards: 7/15 Skinny jeans with oversized sweaters | Red wine | Vanilla scented candles | Late night conversations with close friends | Bubble baths | Tattoos in hidden places | Mulberry red | Rolling Stones | Tracing messages on bare skin | Fresh fruit | Power suits | Queen | Ankle bracelets | Protective mumma bear

💜 Wilhemina Venable: 7/15 Stilettos | Espresso Martinis | Minimalism | The peaceful silence at 3 am | Wide belts | Classical music | Lavender | Slick ponytails | Poetry | Indigo | Kate Bush | Intertwined pinkies | Classic literature | Fierce love | Shy smiles

🍑 Mildred Ratched: 8/15 The smell of freshly brewed coffee | Tailored clothing | Slow dancing in the living room | Breakfast in bed | Jewel tones | Mulled wine | Michael Bublé | Dimples | Sharing your deepest fears in the safety of the moonlight | Practical heels | Dextrous fingers | Irrepressible sweet tooth | Rosé | Making funny faces at babies | Eggshell Blue

Tagging: @lucyintheskywithxanax @stayeviildarling @lovelypeasantjellyfish @vintagepaulson @welshdragonrawr @ka-s @lilypadscoven @honeyvenable @winslctrg

[thebadgerclan]

SFW Alphabet: Lucius Malfoy

Requested by Anonymous

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?) Lucius is a very affectionate man, always wanting you to know just how loved and adored you are.  He’s almost always holding your hand or has an arm around your shoulders, or both. When you’re alone at home, Lucius will hold you in his lap, pressing kisses all over your face.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?) Lucius has very few people who he considers friends, Severus being among them.  But having him as a friend, you’re never alone on anything.  Lucius will stand by your side through anything, acting as a confidant and a shoulder to lean on whenever you need it.  If you need some sway with the Ministry, he’s more than willing to help you there too.

  C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?) Lucius adores cuddling: having you in his arms, holding you close, it’s one of his favorite things.  When the two of you are alone, he likes to have you in his lap as the two of you read or just spend time together.  Lucius is always the big spoon, with you either facing him or with your back to his chest.  He also likes it when he’s on his back and you’re tucked into his side or lying on top of him.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?) Lucius does want to settle down with you, he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. You already own his heart, he knows that there’s no other woman for him, so he sees no reason not to settle down with you.   He’s already got the massive manor, but if you want to move somewhere smaller, he’s already signing the deed.  Lucius is shit at cleaning, he’s had house elves for his entire life, but he can cook pretty well.  He doesn’t do so very often, but sometimes, when he wants to surprise you, he’ll shoo the elves from the kitchen and cook you a romantic dinner (he has to call them back because he has no clue where stuff is, but he does cook the meal)

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?) It would break his heart into a million pieces to end things with you, but if he had to, Lucius would put on the icy, cold, unapproachable exterior he shows to everyone but you.  “This can’t go on, Y/N,” he says, feeling ill with himself.  “We’re done.  I’m sorry, it’s over.”

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?) Lucius most certainly wants to marry you, and now that Narcissa’s out of the picture, he can.  You’re together for about a year or so before he gets you a ring, and as soon as the little box is in his hand, he’s planning a super romantic evening for you.  After a 5 star meal, complete with champagne and dessert, he gets on one knee and asks you to marry him.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?) He may seem like a cold, cruel man, but around you, he is the gentlest, kindest, warmest man you’ve ever met.  Lucius is such a gentle man around you, treating you like a fawn (and fawning [pun not intended] over you as one does a baby deer), always being tender and gentle.  Emotionally, he’s such a sweetie, never raising his voice at you.  I won’t say he never gets angry with you, because he’s human, but he tries not to.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?) Lucius likes hugs, though you’re usually the one to initiate them.  He prefers to be able to hold you for longer periods of time, and as hugs are usually short lived, they’re not his favorite.  Don’t get me wrong, he loves it when you hug him, he loves any form of physical intimacy with you, he just prefers cuddling.  That being said, his hugs are strong, he squeezes you tight against him, sometimes knocking the wind out of you.  He’ll rest his chin on your head, and kiss you sweetly when he pulls away.

  I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?) Lucius waits until he’s 100% certain of his feelings for you, more for your benefit than his.  He doesn’t want to rush into telling you he loves you if he thinks he might walk back on it (that’s very unlikely, but he wants to be sure).  After 5ish months, when you’re away for a week and Lucius feels physical pain in his chest for missing you, that’s when he knows he loves you.  The first words out of his mouth when you return are “I love you, Y/N.  I love you more than anything else in this world, and I will always love you.”

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?) Lucius is a VERY jealous man, you are his and his alone, no one else gets to have you.  If he sees someone looking at you a little too long, making eyes at you, hitting on you, or making you uncomfortable in any way, he’s at your side immediately.  Lucius will pull you into his side, arm tight around your shoulders or waist, grey eyes staring daggers at whoever dared to speak to you.  “Are you alright, my dear?”  As soon as you’re alone, Lucius will kiss you hard, usually pushing you against a wall, snarling “Mine.”

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?) Lucius is a very skilled kisser, he knows how to convey every single emotion just by pressing his lips to yours.  He’ll pull you fluff against him, arms around your middle; one hand cupping the back of your neck, the other either on your back or ass.  He likes to kiss your lips, obviously, but he also loves kissing your forehead, neck, hands, chest, and thighs.  He likes being kissed on the lips, again, obviously, on the cheeks, the chin (because that might be all you can reach), hands, shoulders, basically anywhere.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?) I HC that Lucius played a massive role in raising Draco, so I think he’s pretty good with kids. Kids that aren’t his tend to get on his nerves a little, but his own kids, man, they’re the moon and the sun to him.  He adores his own children to no end, and if you want to have kids with him, Lucius is more than happy to be a father again.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?) Lucius gets up early most mornings, so he’s not always there when you get up.  But there’s always a cup of coffee/tea/whatever you like on the nightstand under a stasis charm, usually with a little love note under the cup.  On the days he can sleep in a bit, you wake with Lucius wrapped around you (he’s wrapped around you every morning, you’re just awake for it this time).  He’ll gently kiss you awake, smiling when you open your eyes.  “Good morning, my love.”

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?) Nights and evenings are quiet intimate affairs between the two of you.  Evenings usually entail a private, often romantic dinner before the two of you retire to the sitting room.  Lucius will usually hold you on his lap or have you tucked into his side.  You either read together, talk about your day, or watch a movie (Lucius has a home theatre type setup, fight me).  When it gets late, he’ll lead you up to the master bedroom where you usually share a bath or shower (which can lead to sex), before going to bed, you held close to Lucius’ chest.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?) Once Lucius is sure and comfortable in your relationship, he’ll start to reveal things about himself.  Not all at once, more like when you ask him questions, but he won’t hide things from you once he’s comfortable.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?) Lucius has a temper, but he keeps it in check with you.  You do make him angry sometimes, but it’s never long lasting, and it never gets physical.  He might brood in his study for a little bit, but after an hour or so he’ll come out and apologize for being a bear.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?) At the beginning of your relationship, Lucius is so dedicated to remembering every little thing about you, he actually keeps a little journal.  It’s filled with random things that you’ve said on your early dates, things like “Favorite color: blue, Hogwarts house: Y/H, had three dogs as a child: Kelly, Mary, and Pepper.”  Obviously, he doesn’t need it after a while, but he still has the journal in his bedside table.  The last addition he made was: “Likes princess cut diamonds, jeweler on 5th has wide selection.”

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?) Lucius’ favorite memory of you is the first time the two of you had dinner with Draco.  The only thing more important to him than you was Draco liking you.  After Lucius had escorted you back home, he returned to the Manor where Draco was waiting.  “So?” Lucius asked, pacing nervously.  Draco just smiled.  “I like her, Father.  She’s not Mother, but I like her.”  He was so happy to hear that his son liked you, he couldn’t sit still for hours.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?) He’s very protective, Lucius wants and needs to know that you’re safe at all times.  He’ll never stop you from doing something or going somewhere, but if there’s potential for you to get hurt, he’s either going with you or putting measures in place to make sure you’re safe.  Lucius loves you more than anything or anyone, he can’t bear the thought of losing you.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?) This man has the resources to make you feel like royalty every single day, so you’d better believe that Lucius goes all out on dates and anniversaries.  Fancy restaurants, expensive wine and food, and anniversaries and gifts are on a whole nother level.  Trips to Paris, Athens, Madrid, anywhere you’ve ever dreamed of going, Lucius will take you there.  His gifts are usually very expensive, diamond earrings, necklaces, bracelets, designer clothes, but they can also be sentimental: a book you’ve had your eye on for a while, candy from Honeydukes he knows you like.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?) Lucius can be a bit narcissistic, very self centered.  He sometimes gets so wrapped up in his own head that he forgets that he has a girlfriend who wants and needs his attention.  He always feels so guilty afterwards, apologizing profusely to you.  He usually ends up surprising you with a fancy dinner or seducing you into be to show you how much he loves you

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?) Have you seen the man?  Lucius cares about his appearance, like, a lot.  At the beginning of your relationship, he refused to spend the night with you, solely because he didn’t want you to see him when he work up; with bedhead and morning breath

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?) Yes, you’ve stolen his heart, and Lucius cannot live without you.  When he was away for a week on Ministry business, he felt like a shell of himself, like part of him was missing.  You feel the same, hating when you’re away from him for too long.  The thought of leaving him forever makes you feel sick, but Lucius is quick to reassure you that he’s yours forever.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.) Lucius has a very in depth skincare routine, and if he misses or skips a night, he’s blotchy in the morning

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?   Lucius can’t be with someone who can’t be serious.  Of course, he loves it when his girl lets loose and laughs, but in more serious situations, he needs her to be serious.  He’s all for being laid back and just having fun, but he feels there’s a time and a place for that versus being serious and sophisticated.  

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?) Lucius puts lavender oil on his pillow to help him fall asleep.  He has a bit of insomnia, and it takes that or 4-5 rounds of sex to knock him out

[bittybattybunny]

Day three of not feeling good so here’s a snippet of the Villainous Grim au (hahaha bet you thought I forgot huh?)

This is a flashback that is around when she first got her memories back

-------------

She leaned on her hand as she worked on writing the things she recalled. She sighed and looked over her notes. At least her penmanship had stayed when she was reborn. Amaris flipped through her notes carefully. She was the villain from her favorite dating sim. She felt her eyes watering again and sighed. This sucked.

Why did she die when she was heading home? Keith had… she felt her stomach roll and she laid her head on the desk. Keith had to see something horrible. She sighed, worst friend ever. She shut her eyes as she sighed.

“My lord, the young lady is very.. Lethargic and depressed… ever since that night,” one of the maids reported as the oversized Duke Nightingale paced in the hall near his daughter’s study.

He slicked his silver hair back before bursting in, shocking her, “Ammy!”

“Y-Yessir!” she got down quickly to curtsy to him and he gave a saddened look.

He knelt down to the child’s level, “Sweetie… my wonderful pup, my bright girl… why are you so worried…?” he asked her. He reached and picked her up. She sniffled and began to let go of the tears she held back. The duke was truthfully unfair with how much he reminded her of her father. Even as an adult she still missed the peaceful days in her hometown when he father got home from work and carried her around. She nuzzled into the nape of his neck and he rubbed her back.

“S-Sorry…” she mumbled, “Papa….”

“There we go… papa’s here.” he smiled and shifted to see her face. He held her with one arm and wiped her tears with the other. He gave her a large lopsided grin, showing his wolfish fangs off. A trait she hated oneself looked well on him and made her feel a little better. “Papa is here sweetheart, he’s going to stay here, what has my little Ammy so sad? Do you want cake? A pony? A new dress? Jewels? Just ask and papa will get it for you.”

She frowned. She didn’t really want any of that, “C-can I have a new journal…” she looked at the strewn pages of her notes taken carefully in Icelandic so no one could translate them, “i’ve run out of ink and paper…”

“Indeed you have!!” he laughed and she couldn’t help giving a laugh herself.  He beamed at the reaction and kissed her cheek. He reached to pick a sheet up, “This is an odd alphabet my sweet moonsong, what is this?”

“U-Uhm. I just. I saw it in a dream so…” she chewed a strand of her hair nervously. She felt his hand on her head as he laughed.

“My daughter is so smart making her own language!” He set her down, “do you want to go to town?”

She stared at him and thought about it. She was a bit curious. Despite she wanted to go home, she’d been there for a week already. She gave a small nod and took his out stretched hand.

“Someone send for my horse!” he grinned.

“Horse?” Amaris looked at the duke, “Not carriage?”

“Do you want to ride the carriage instead?” he asked and she shook her head. 

“No I wanna stay with… papa…” it felt odd for a nearly 30 year old to call her father papa she felt but it felt right, and Amaris was only about 6 years old so if she started calling him formally he may cry. She laughed a bit. 

“Father are you going out?” Came a set of voices barreling down the hall. Amaris hid behind the duke’s leg as the twins came panting.

Castor’s long hair was a mess from running after Pollux, his blue eyes wide. Pollux’s short and choppy hair stood on end as he tried to peek at the girl.

“Ammmyyy Are you feeling better?” he asked and got in her face. She whimpered and hid her face against the duke’s leg.

His face fell, “A-Ammy are you still scared of me?” he frowned sadly, “I-I said I’m sorry I put a newt in your ha--- ACK DAD?!” he gasped when lifted by the collar of his shirt by the duke who’s normally blue eyes had turned red as he triggered his horizon marks.

“You did what to your little sister?”

“I-It was a joke! I tried to stop him!” Castor pleaded for his brother, “F-Father we got it out of her hair after she screamed!” 

“P-papa it’s okay I-I’m not mad about the newt.” the pranks from the twins were the least of her issues. All she wanted was to go home. She tightened her grip on his pant leg and he set Pollux down who moved to fix his shirt and smooth his hair.

The duke gave a heavy sigh, “Alright, boys, I’m taking her to town for a new journal.” he crossed his arms, “beh---”

“Can we come?” they asked, “Father?”

He frowned and looked down at his daughter who stared at him. He tilted his head towards the young boys who looked at her waiting.

“W-what?” she asked nervously.

“Are you fine with them coming with us?” He asked. She looked at him confused, “Ammy this is your trip to town, do you want your brothers?”

She looked at them and their pleading faces. She nodded, “They can come.” it wasn’t her palace to deny them that. She gasped when the twins assaulted her with hugs and squeezed her. She whined until the duke pulled her away laughing. She held to him as he held her gently and she rested her head on her shoulder. 

Well. At least it wasn’t so bad to be reborn in a household who loved her she guessed. But she thought of Sena. She hoped her brother was okay. She looked at Castor who looked back at her as she stared and he gave her a gentle smile.

[13dead-ends]

Chapter Three Dates and Parties

Henry Cavill x Named OC

Chapter Three of Blood Bound

Summary: Nina’s adjusting to life in London and to working as Henry’s donor. She starts to realize that there’s more than just fancy outings and parties that come with the pay raise.

Word Count: 6k

Warnings: mentions of blood, blood drinking, wrist biting/wounds, swearing, mentions and descriptions of a riot/protest, drinking.

A/N: Chapter three yay! I really hope you all enjoy it! @hellcaster901​ watched as i suffered through a block to get this out. If i missed any warnings on this chapter or any other chapter let me know! Happy reading :)

           I couldn’t go back to sleep again, so I went to the kitchen to start dinner. I found pasta and sauce. I thought about Henry telling me to eat a big dinner and then the dream. I groaned and shook my head. Stop thinking about that. I focused on my spaghetti and watched the clock. Irene would be calling soon too. It didn’t take long to make, and I ate while watching Netflix. I sighed, thinking about binging The Witcher for the first time with Irene, we ate dinner on the couch like this so many times. I looked at my clock and she still wouldn’t call for half an hour. I finished and cleaned up, and then it was right about time for her to call me. I laid in bed and stared at my phone, waiting for her to call me. Soon her drunk selfie filled my phone screen for a facetime.

           “Ello mate,” Irene said in a terrible accent.

           “Please no accents.” I laughed at her. “How are you?”

           “Good, lonely.”

           “Aw, Irene.” I missed her bad.

           “Just keep my mind of it by telling me everything.” I told her about the flight, Penny, and gave her a little tour of the apartment.

           “Wait, Henry Cavill saw that picture of me?” She groaned. I had told her about Henry’s random compliment of my costume.

           “Hey, we looked awesome.”

           “Yeah, but I’m in a fucking orange wig.” I snorted.

           “You’ll have to come visit me. Then he can see your real hair.”

           “Of course I will. We’ll have to plan it.” She smiled. “Okay, tell me about Henry, how was it today? Did he feed yet? Has he-“

           “Irene chill out.” I chuckled. “But yes, he fed today.” She waggled her eyebrows. “He was nice.” I couldn’t think of words for what had happened today.

           “Nice? Nice? You’re gonna have to give me more than that.” I rolled my eyes.

           “It was different than before. I don’t know.” She tilted her head.

           “He is a million times more attractive.” Thinking of him in that tank top, in between my legs… “I don’t know how you don’t just combust at the site of him.”

           “Me neither, girl.” I took a big breath.

           “Have you been putting on the moves?” I scoffed.

           “Irene, he’d paying me.” She rolled her eyes.

           “Well, I heard that Mark Strong, who’s with Positive, had a relationship with a donor.” I sighed. I wasn’t sure what the rules were with that. Well, I guess in all the paperwork I had to go through there never was any mention of that.

           “I don’t know. It could get complicated.” I sighed it was hard to tell how something like this could pan out.

           “But you can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.” My cheeks burned.

           “No, I guess I can’t.” I muttered and she cackled.

           “I knew it!”

           “I fucking had a dream about him, Irene.” Her jaw dropped.

           “Tell me everything, immediately.” After talking with her for a while, I needed to go to bed and she needed to go to work. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep after hanging up.

 I stared at my closet, looking for something to wear. It was still nice out, but it would turn into fall soon and I wanted to wear something summery before it does. Henry had finally gotten a full day off so, he was taking me around the city today. I basically got to be tourist for the day. I had told him I wanted to see The Crown Jewels, but that was my only must. I was curious to see what he’d pick for me to see. I found a skirt and shirt to wear, and shoes easy to walk in. As I pulled my shirt over my head my phone rang.

           “Hello?” It was Henry.

           “Nina, good morning.”

           “Good morning,” I smiled into the phone.

           “I’m leaving to come get you now, are you ready?”

           “Yes, I am.” I looked in my mirror, my makeup simple so it wouldn’t melt off if it got hot.

           “Alright, great.” I squeezed the phone in between my shoulder and ear and began putting on my shoes.

           “I’m excited.”

           “Me too. I’ll see you soon.”

           “See you.” I hung up and got my shoes on. I went out and made sure I had everything together. I was so excited that I was pretty much ready before Henry would get here. I sighed and sat on my couch.

           If you don’t send me pictures of Henry while on your date today, I swear.

           I laughed at the text Irene sent.

           I’ll try, and it’s not a date. Go to bed.

           I didn’t wait for a reply and just scrolled through my phone until Henry got here. He knocked on my door and I grabbed my bag, all but skipping to the door.

           “Hey, ready to go?” He smiled at me.

           “I am! Let’s go,” He held the door open for me as I stepped out.

           “Someone’s excited.”

           “Well yes, of course I am.” I grinned up at him and he chuckled.    

           “I’m glad I finally get to show you around.” He had a hand on the small of my back as we got to the elevator. My skin tingled underneath the fabric of my shirt. He pressed the down button and it didn’t take long for it to open.

           “Where are we going first?”

 I stared at the glittering jewels in the glass case. They were beautiful and I couldn’t believe they existed. “You’ll fog up the glass,” Henry’s voice was right by my ear. I jumped at his sudden proximity to me. I bumped into his chest and he steadied me.

           “You scared me.” I could see his smirk in the reflection of the glass.

           “Come on, there’s still more to see.” He pulled me away by my elbow and I looked back at the pretty gems one more time. We went through the rest of Westminster and then he took me to the Eye. A giant Ferris wheel on the Thames. I stared up at it, the thing was intimidating.

           “Are you scared of heights?” Henry had our tickets in his hand, he stood next to me.

           “I don’t think so,” I chewed on my lip. “But that’s pretty high.”

           “You’ll be fine.” He smiled at me. “Shall we?” We waited in line for a bit and then he helped me on to the compartment. It was a little glass oval, so you could see outside from all angles. After jumping on the moving thing, we made our way up. The view of the city getting bigger and bigger.

           “It’s amazing.” I got closer to the window to see everything. I took a picture for Irene.

           “It’s beautiful.” He was standing next to me, arms crossed. I looked around the compartment. There wasn’t a lot of people in it, and they didn’t really notice that Henry Cavill was in here. I pursed my lips. When I looked back out the glass, we were almost at the top. I gulped, looking down into the Thames. I let out a little gasp and Henry’s hand found a place on my waist. The same tingles from before we’re there this time, my shirt was a little bunched up and my skin touched his.

           “That don’t look down thing is pretty good advice.” I muttered and He chuckled. The wheel circled back, around and we got off, Henry holding my hand as I did. He let go once I was off completely. I let him lead me down the side of the Thames.

“How about we go get something to eat?” He asked.

“Yes please.” I looked over at the Thames and boat floating through it. “Where are we going?”

“I remembered you saying something about sushi,” I smiled. “I think you’ll like this place.” We didn’t have to walk far and being this close to the river the temperature was perfect. It was such a good day for this. When we arrived I could already tell this place was fancy. I caught a little sign on the door window that said vampire owned and ran. Inside was a pretty dark-haired women at the hostess station. She smiled at us when we walked in.

“Hello! How many?”

“Just two, please.” She grabbed menus and lead the way. In the dining room was the normal looking place, but all the booths had dividers so you could be separated from other people. A lot of places like these popped up. It accommodates the vampires who want to feed in private while their donors ate as well. He’d feed again today. It had been about a week since he was at my apartment. It was about time. “A booth would be great.” She took us to the booth and we ordered drinks. I just stuck to water and looked at the menu.

“Get whatever you like.” The sugar daddy part of this arrangement was really nice when it came to food. When we ordered, Henry didn’t get anything, and when the waitress left, he shut the curtain that cut off our booth.  I thought of how it felt last time and swallowed. I felt like Henry would catch every little reaction I had. I couldn’t think about him too much, or that dream.

“What did your family think of you moving?” He asked suddenly. I took a breath.

“Well, I’m not really on speaking terms with most of my family, so I’m not sure.” I forced a laugh to make it less depressing, but he looked at me with a furrowed brow.

“Can I ask why?”

“They weren’t really into the idea of me donating like this.” I sighed.

“And you still do?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s been a really good way to make money and pay off loans. I’m okay with it and that’s all that matters.” He nodded. “What’s your family like?”

“I have four brothers.” I raised my eyebrows. “And our mum and dad.”

“Wow, what a lady. Raising four boys.” He smiles big.

“Yeah she’s the best.” He looked away for a second. “Did you go to University at all?” I guess it was twenty questions time.

“Yeah, I majored in English and Journalism.”” His eyebrows raised.

“A writer? Why don’t you do that?”

“Well, I do. I write articles for a little website sometimes, but after losing two book deals after graduating, I just, I don’t know.” I shrugged. I still wrote like crazy sometimes but kept it in journals. I didn’t even type them anymore.

“Why don’t you get back into it?” I chewed on my lip.

“That’s a good question.” I sighed. “I still write on my own. I just don’t really have the confidence to put much of it out there.” His face softened.

“I bet if you did it would do well.” He smiled.

“Well, thanks, but you haven’t even read my writing yet.” I laughed.

“Still, don’t sell yourself short.” He looked at me, his blue eyes seeing right through me, but in the gentlest way possible.

“I’m not really sure if this is a comfortable question, but how were you turned?” I didn’t know much about how the change worked. I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with the way you’re buried. I never asked questions, but I felt like I could with Henry. “You totally don’t have to answer that.” He shook his head.

“That’s a long story. For another time if you don’t mind.” He didn’t look at me, and I figured it was a touchy subject. I wanted to know more, but if he didn’t want to tell me…

“Sorry,” He shook his head, his smile returning, but it was smaller. “Did it hurt? Changing?”

“It was kind of like falling asleep and waking up, just as something else.” I nodded.

“Is any of your family a vampire too?”

“No, just me.” He pursed his lips. “Did you ever ask your last client these questions?” I tucked my hair behind my ear.

“Not really, he didn’t talk that much.” I sighed. “Sorry, I’m grilling you. Just tell me to shut up if it’s too much.” He laughed.

“It’s alright. What’s this website you write for?”

“It’s just a little site, kind of like Buzzfeed. I write articles about donor news mostly.” He nodded.

“I’ll have to check it out.” I shook my head. “What? You don’t want me to?”

“No, yes. It’s fine.” I gave him the website and he pulled it up on his phone immediately. “Not now!” In a panic I reached for his phone and obviously he was too quick for me. The phone all but disappeared from my sight. He was so fast.

“I’ll look later.” He smirked at me.

“How fast are you?” My eyes were wide.

“Very fast and strong.”

“That’s why you do your own stunts.” I leaned my chin on my hand. “What else can you do?”

“My senses are the same as yours, if your senses were magnified by a 100.”

“Are they really?” I leaned forward.

“Yes, it’s like everything I see, or touch, is more intense than when I was a human.” I thought of the way he held my wrist when he fed. How did my skin felt to him?

“That must be amazing.”

“It’s overwhelming. At first.” Suddenly the waitress came by with our food and left quickly.

“I-“My phone ringing cut me off. I huffed. Who was calling me? “Let me see who that is.” I pulled out my phone and saw Irene’s picture. I furrowed my brows; she knew I was going to be with Henry all day. Plus it was the middle of the night there. She wouldn’t call unless she had to.

“Irene? What’s up?” I answered.

“Nina! Oh my god, are you okay? Where are you?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m with Henry. Why?”

“Have you not heard? There was a huge riot at the Positive building in London. I was binging a show all night and I saw news footage.”

“What?” Henry and I made eye contact. He pulled out his phone and started looking it up.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if you would be there today. I wanted to call.” She sighed.

“No, we haven’t been there today.” I had only been to the building once since I’ve been here. It wasn’t as big as the one in LA but had the same resources. “What did you read?”

“They were protesting the donors, shitting on vamps too. Then someone broke a window or something. Shit hit the fan and cops were all over. It looked kind of crazy.” I rubbed my temple. This was a normal occurrence in this line of work. People still didn’t like this.

“Thanks for checking on me.”

“I was just worried. I wanted to make sure.” I nodded.

“Well, you should get to bed, okay?”

“Okay. Text me later.”

“I will.” I hung up and took a deep breath. Henry was watching a video of the riot, now. He turned it so I could watch with. A large group of people holding signs stood in front of the building. The signs said things like donors are sinners and vampire whores. I cringed at them. They were directed at people like me. The front glass door suddenly shattered and the camera shook. Some of the protesters ran in, and others just stayed, yelling at who ever came close. I clenched my jaw and leaned back on the booth.

“Fucking psychos.” I mumbled. I crossed my arms.

“Did you deal with that a lot in LA?” I nodded, looking up. “It happens here every now and then.”

“It’s not that hard for them to mind their business.” I decided to focus on the food instead of the riot. I’d do my research tonight and probably write an article, but right now I didn’t feel like dealing with it. Henry put his phone away and sighed.

“How is it?” I smiled.

“It’s great! Thank you for bringing me.”

“Of course. It’s a good place.”

“Very private.” I raised my eyebrows.

“That’s what I like.” He smirked. “When you’re finished, I’d like to eat as well, if you’re okay with that?” I nodded.

“Of course.” I said mouth full of rice. I swallowed. “Sorry,” He just grinned at me, laughing under his breath. After getting my fill of the rolls, Henry stacked the dishes, pushing them out of the way. I held my arm out across the table, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

“Thank you,” Henry leaned forward and took my hand, just as delicate as before. He kissed the inside of my wrist. I kept my eyes opened as his fangs pierced my skin once again. The warmth from him came back and my toes curled. Chills ran up my back as I watched him take my blood. His eyes were shut and his hands were big around my arm. His lips were pillow soft on my skin. I let my eyes flutter shut for the rest. Basking in the feeling it gave me.

“Are you good?”He finished but my eyes hadn’t opened.

“Yep, I’m alright.” I opened them just in time to see him wipe a tiny speck of red off his mouth. I absently licked my lips. I took a long drink of water, I still felt the feeling lingering, the ghost of his lips still on my skin.

“What got you into this?” I grabbed a bandage out of my purse for my wounds.

“I girl in my dorm told me about it my first year of college. I would only donate at labs at first, and it got me some extra cash.” When started opening the band aid Henry held out his hand for it. I handed it to him and stretched my arm out again. “My last two summers I would get a lot of money for my blood specifically. I stopped after I graduated, but when I didn’t get a book deal, I came back.” Henry nodded, and stuck the bandage on, smoothing it with the pad of his thumb.

“There,” he smiled at me. “You ready to go?” I nodded and Henry paid and we left. We stayed away from the Positive building, there wasn’t really a plan to go there but now we avoided it. I was just happy to let Henry be my tour guide. He took me to local places I would’ve never heard of if he wasn’t with me. It was a fun afternoon.

“Did you have fun?” Henry was at my door; I had stepped inside while he had his feet planted in the hallway.

“Yes, today was wonderful.” I grinned at him. “Did you?”

“I did.” He smiled too. “I do have somewhere to be so I’m going get out of here. Good night, Nina.”

“Thank you so much for today, and goodnight.” I hesitated, but he walked off, so I shut the door and leaned against it. My eyes were shut, and I took a deep breath. It was such a good day. I went to my couch and turned on the TV. Of course, similar footage to the video on Henry’s phone splayed over my screen. I chewed on my lip. I had almost forgotten Irene’s frantic call. I turned up the volume listening to the reporter on screen.

“There was significant damage to the front windows of the building, but no one was hurt during the attack.” I sighed. That’s good to hear. “Police are investigating possible suspects.” I listened to the news for a little while, there wasn’t much information yet, just more videos and interviews with people who were there. I changed it eventually and just ordered food for dinner, my feet started to feel the effects of walking around all day. It was easy to fall asleep that night.

 A few weeks and visits with Henry later, I stared at myself in my mirror. I was wearing a black floor length dress with glittery sequins in lines down the entire thing. I had splurged for this evening party for the company. It was the London location’s 10-year anniversary and they were having a celebration. Sarah and Kari would even be there. Kari had emailed me asking if I wanted to be sat next to her. It was an assigned seats kind of party, so with Henry’s pay checks kicking in, I got a nice dress. I even curled my hair and winged my eyeliner. Obviously, employees and donors could go. What I didn’t know until this morning was that clients were invited as well. I was glad I got the dress. If there was a chance that he might be there I wanted to look good. I smoothed the dress down and took a deep breath. It’s okay if he’s not there. You got this dress for yourself. My phone ringing brought me out of my thoughts. It was my Uber, here to pick me up.

           The party was being held at a very fancy hotel downtown. It towered over me as I stepped out of the car. I walked up to the door and a door man held it open for me. I thanked him and gripped my small purse in my hands. Inside was a beautiful room with two large desks on both sides. A fountain surrounded by a few comfortable looking couches was in the center. I turned to a woman at the desk, she looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. I cleared my throat.

           “Could you tell me where the Positive party is?” I smiled at her.

           “Do you let those things bite you?” I stepped back at the bluntness of her question.

           “I-“

           “I’m so sorry, Ms, the party is down the hall on your left.” A man came from a door behind the desk, gesturing toward the hall. I only nodded and walked off. What the hell was that? I didn’t look back at the girl and just went straight to the open grand double doors. I heard light music playing from them and golden light spilled out onto the floor. I turned and saw a large ballroom. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and large white tables surrounded a dance floor. I blinked at the beautiful place.

           “Hi there!” I turned to my right to see a table filled with names and seat numbers. “What’s the last name?” A smiling women sat behind it all.

           “Locke.” I told her, trying to see if Henry’s name was anywhere.

           “Nina?” I nodded. “Table 17.” She handed me the number and I thanked her, then walked out to find the table.

           “Nina! Over here!” A few tables a head is where Kari sat, waving me over. I walked quickly over to her. “You’re next to me.” She patted the chair next to her. I sat down, admiring the pretty dishes set up in front of me. “You look beautiful.”

           “Thank you. So, do you.” She did. She wore a gown that fit her figure perfectly.

           “How have you been? Do you like London?” She smiled at me.

           “Yes, it’s amazing. How are you?” We did a little small talk and then other people came and sat down. A girl sitting next to me.

           “Nina, this is Abbey, another donor.” I shook her hand, she had pink lip gloss and blonde hair. “Abbey this is Nina.”

           “Hello, welcome to London. Kari told me you just moved.” She smiled.

           “Yeah, are you from here?” She nodded. “How long have you been donating?” I loved meeting other donors. I liked hearing their experiences.

           “Around five years.”

           “She’s Tom Hiddleston’s favorite.” Kari nudged me and my eyes widened.

           “You’re Tom Hiddleston’s donor?” She rolled her eyes at Kari.

           “Yes, he’s a good client.”

           “Oh, he’s more than that.” I furrowed my brows.

           “What do you mean?” I asked.

           “They definitely sleep together.” A man with curly hair came and sat on the other side of Kari. My mouth fell open a little. “I’m James by the way.” He smiled at me. “I’m a donor as well.

           “James is very mouthy.” Abbey glared at him.

           “I didn’t realize you were allowed to-“

           “Oh, the company doesn’t get involved with your relationships.” Kari told me.

           “Oh wow.” I mumbled. I looked behind me at the door and didn’t see him. I imagined myself giving in to the feeling his feeding gave me. What if I did? It wouldn’t matter contract wise. I shut my eyes for a second and took a breath. They began talking about their lives and I listened, getting served drinks and dinner as we spoke. James was a donor for multiple people, one including Lady Gaga. Before she was Tom Hiddleston’s donor, Abbey was a donor for a really rich engineer. He had given her yacht for her birthday last year. I couldn’t believe half the stories they told me. They gossip about other donors too, and I never realized how competitive it could be.

           “A lot of ladies were mad when they found out Henry Cavill had picked a donor.” I had told them who my client was, and everyone’s attention was on me.

           “Really?” I looked between the three.

           “Oh yeah, his profile was very popular.” Kari took a drink of wine. I wondered again why he picked me. “He wanted me to get it to you first though.” She looked at me. “Have you and him…” She nudged me and I shook my head.

           “No, nothing like that.” I gulped.

           “Is he coming at all tonight?” I had been looking at the door throughout all of dinner. He wasn’t here yet, so why would he show up now?

           “I don’t know. We never even spoke about this. I only just found out clients were coming this morning.” Abbey sighed.

           “Tom isn’t here either.” She crossed her arms over her stomach. “Filming.” Henry had told me he’d start filming soon. I wonder how that will affect how much I get to see him. The waiters took our plates and the dance floor was opened up. Abbey and Kari went out there and James was talking to some one who had come over from another table. I got up to get another drink. Maybe if I had something a little stronger, I’d be confident enough to dance. I held my dress up as I walked over. I ordered a screwdriver and a shot. I felt drained from the socializing. The bartender handed me the drinks and I tipped him. I took the shot and my face scrunched up at the taste.

           “Damn it.” I cursed.

           “Didn’t taste good?” I jumped and turned around. Henry was standing there chuckling at the empty shot glass still in my hand.

           “Shit, you scared me.” I set the glass down.

           “Sorry,” He smiled at me. “I’m not sure if the shot means it’s been a good night or a bad one?” I licked my still bitter lips.

           “It’s fine, it’s a good night. Being social just gets to be a lot sometimes.” I chuckled, my neck feeling warm from the booze. “How’s your night?”

           “Great, I’m glad I decided to come.”

           “Why’s that?”

           “I wasn’t sure if you were coming, and I would’ve been bored if you weren’t here.” I couldn’t help but grin up at him.

           “I’m glad you came too.” We stood at the bar and talked, I liked his stories better than the drama Abbey and James spoke about. He had started training for the next season of The Witcher, he told me about the moves he learned, and I was hanging on his every word.

           “So basically, when I turn around the sword will-“ We looked up as someone called Henry’s name. “Oh, that’s a friend. I’ll be right back.” I just nodded and leaned on the bar. I had got most of the drink down and hearing the music made me want to go dance. As I took another drink a beautiful, curvy, red headed women stood at the bar a few feet away from me. She was hard not to stare at, but when my eyes met hers, I froze. She was staring right back at me. One perfect eyebrow raised; lips pursed. If looks could kill.

           “Nina! Come on, you have to dance a little.” Kari had run up from the dance floor. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back with her. The girl flicked her hair over her shoulder and turned away. Who the hell was that? Kari didn’t give me time to think as she spun me around, forcing me to dance with her and Abbey. I don’t know how long I danced before the music changed to something slower. Almost from muscle memory I began walking off the floor, but just before I got to the edge I was stopped by Henry. He held a hand out to me.

           “Do you want to dance?” I smiled and took his hand. It was colder than mine. He pulled me close, a modest grip on my waist, but his touch felt good. He held one hand up and I placed my other one on his shoulder. My heart was racing.

           “I’m probably not very good.” I looked down at my feet as we began moving.

           “You were doing fine with your friends.” I looked back up at him and he was smirking at me. “Just relax. I can hear your heart beating.”

           “So, you can hear that.” He rolled his eyes. It felt like he was gliding me over the floor.

           “Yes, I always can.” He whispered and a shiver ran up my spine. “You look beautiful by the way. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that.”

“Thank you,” I looked back down at my feet, to make sure I wouldn’t step on him.

“Look up at me, don’t worry about your feet.”

“It’s not mine I’m worried about. I feel like I’m gonna step on you.” I laughed, and so did he.

“You’re fine. You haven’t stepped on me yet.” I nodded.

“True,” I tried to keep my eyes on him, but sometimes his blue eyes were hard to stare into. It made me feel vulnerable, but almost in a good way.

“I saw your article.” That’s when I almost tripped.

“You did?” I had written an article about the riot at the company. It became the top story on the site within a few hours. I was pretty proud of it. I wanted to lace the danger of the riot with my background of donating. I wanted to show how protesting something that’s my choice is wrong.

“Yes, it was amazing. It was very beautifully written. I could almost hear you reading it to me.” My face broke out into a grin and I forgot completely about my feet.

“Really? You liked it?” My heart felt like it was going to burst.

“Of course I did! I found other ones you’ve written as well. I loved them.” He never lost eye contact with me I knew he wasn’t just saying it.

“That means a lot to me, to hear you say that.” I wasn’t used to getting face to face feedback. Since moving over seas, I mostly communicated to the website online and through phone calls, plus the comments from readers were all on the website itself. Hearing Henry say these things out loud made me proud. “I’m surprised with how popular it got.”

“You shouldn’t be. It was a good piece.” My grin never stopped as he spoke. “I want to read more of your work.” He pulled me in tighter as another couple came close to my back. My chest was brushing his now.

“Can I ask you something?” Man, that shot must me working.

“Of course.”

“Why did you request me?” He tilted his head.

“Well, at first it was your blood type.” I nodded.

“I hear it’s very popular.” He chuckled.

“Yes, but something about your profile made me curious, plus you had experience. I thought it may be better that at least one of us knew how it was gonna go.” It made sense. “Not to mention you’re beautiful.” A blush rose from my neck to my face and my skin felt hot.

“Thank you. You’re definitely way more attractive than my last client.” He burst out laughing, stopping our movements for a second.

“Glad to hear it.” I laughed, the heat under my skin still not going away. The song ended and he lead me off the dance floor, my arm hooked in his elbow. “Where’s your table?” I lead him to it and he kept my arm locked through his, so close that my dress brushed his leg. I felt hyper aware of his closeness. At the table everyone was sitting down again, but a familiar red head was in my seat. I furrowed my brows.

“Nina!” Kari’s cheeks were pink and there was a few shot glasses stacked on the table. “You missed shots, but I see now that you were busy.” Everyone turned around, including the red head.

“That’s okay.” I smiled at them.

“I’m Lila, by the way.” She smiled and her white teeth blinded me. She held out her hand, but it wasn’t to me, it was to Henry. He let me go as he shook it she didn’t bother to offer a hand shake to me.

“I’m Henry, and this is Nina.” Henry touched the small of my back, a little lower than he did while dancing.

“Nice to meet you. You’re obviously a client, I’m a donor at Positive.” Lila finally decided to turn to me. “And what do you do here?” I blinked.

“She’s my donor, actually.” Henry cut in and I smiled at her. Her eyes narrowed at me.

“Oh isn’t that just-“

“Wonderful! Nina’s adjusting quite well to the company.” Kari rubbed my shoulder. “Aren’t you, Nina?”

“Yes, it’s wonderful here.”

“Anyways, Lila you’re in Nina’s seat and they’re about to serve dessert.” Kari ushered the women out of the chair.

“I’ll be seeing you around.” She said, only looking at Henry. When she was gone, I let my brow furrowed. What the hell was that?

“You better get to your seat as well, Henry.” Kari patted his arm.

“Come find me before you go?” Henry turned to me.

“Yeah, of course.” He kissed my cheek and walked across the room to his table. I sat down at mine and fiddled with a fork.

“Oh shit, you pissed her off.” James was giggling in his seat. “She hates you.”

“What did I do? Who even is she?” I leaned forward. I needed everything these guys knew about her.

“She likes to call herself high-profile. She only donates to people with money or fame. She’s just greedy.” Kari rolled her eyes. I’m surprised she would even speak about her like this. “She lost us two donors in two months because she wanted their clients.” My jaw dropped.

“As soon as Henry Cavill’s profile hit the website, she was on him. Obviously he picked you, so it didn’t matter, but she wanted Henry.” Abbey shook her head. “She’s just a bitch. That’s all I have to say.” I saw her a few tables over, red hair cascading down her back.

“So she doesn’t like me because Henry choose me and not her.”

“Don’t worry about her, Nina. She’s just petty. There isn’t much she can do anyways.” I couldn’t help but think that if Henry ever wanted another donor, he could have her. The thought made my stomach churn. She looked over her shoulder and smirked at me. I looked away.

“You and Henry looked good out there.” James winked. I looked around and found Henry already looking at me. He smiled as we made eye contact. I smiled back until he got distracted by somebody at his table.

“He’s such a gentleman.” Kari gushed and I wondered if Henry heard that. “You picked a good one Nina.”

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

Taglist: 

@xxxkatxo @omgkatinka​ @thatgirly81​

thank you so much for asking to be tagged! Message me if you’d like to be tagged too!

[uesp]

I don't mean to bother you but there's a typo in your last post where in the quoted text Vaermina is spelled Vaernima

That’s not a typo. Vaernima is, in fact, almost used as commonly as Vaermina. It’s even used interchangeably!

Standing over Darius Shano while he lay quietly in his bed were his mistress, Vaermina the Dreamweaver, and the Madgod Sheogorath. Vaernima looked down with pride at this disciple of hers, and was boastful of her little jewel.

Sixteen Accords of Madness

It may be correctly supposed that each land of Oblivion is ruled over by one prince. The Daedra princes whose names appear over and over in ancient records (though this is not an infallible test of their authenticity or explicit existence, to be sure) are the afore-mentioned Sanguine, Boethiah, Molag Bal, and Sheogorath, and in addition, Azura, Mephala, Clavicus Vile, Vaernima, Malacath, Hoermius (or Hermaeus or Hormaius or Herma -- there seems to be no one accepted spelling) Mora, Namira, Jyggalag, Nocturnal, Mehrunes Dagon, and Peryite.

On Oblivion

Vaernima, whose sphere is the realm of dreams and nightmares, and from whose realm issues forth evil omens.

The Book of Daedra

Prince Helseth smiled. I swear by Vaernima the Gifter, my dark liege, even you have never seen a smile such as this one. 

A Game at Dinner

He was not in the Deadlands, but Quagmire, the nightmare realm of Vaernima. Every few minutes, there was a flash of lightning and reality shifted, always to something more horrible and horrifying. A dark castle one moment, a den of ravening beasts the next, a moonlit swamp, a coffin where he was buried alive. Fear got the better of my master, and he quickly passed to the next realm.

The Doors of Oblivion

"(Worshipper's name) is one of Vaernima's agents of corruption in (region)."

"(Worshipper's name) is one of Vaernima's dirty little spreaders of corruption."

The Skull brings forth a target's dark half from Vaernima's plane of Oblivion."

Dialogue from Daggerfall

(Date): I have made a contract with the Daedra Prince Vaernima. She will order her agent in (town) to give me her artifact, The Skull of Corruption, if I can meet (him/her) at (building) with the dust of a certain Lich on my hands in (time limit) days or less. All I know about the Lich is that it lives in (dungeon).

Your Journal in Daggerfall

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “The Lost Harp of Mervana!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Colleen Evanson

Storyboard by: Vincent Aparo, Kristen Gish, Victoria Harris

Directed by: Tanner Johnson

I am being trustworthy with this one.

In the season opener, Huey managed to find a diary filled with the missing treasures Isabella Finch couldn't find, and with the help of her wisdom, he's going to guide the rest of the family to find each one of them. Scrooge lets the others know that this search for an item in Isabella Finch's journal of lost treasures is specifically Huey's quest. This is supposed to be Huey's season, after all; one was about Dewey's quest to find his mother, two was about Louie's quest for more money, and three is all about Huey trying to follow in the footsteps of Finch; the Uncle Scrooge of even Uncle Scrooge as revealed in that episode. No relation.

This episode specifically has him do a speech on the titular Lost Harp of Mervana, Mervana being a place that was lost to the sea, much like Atlantis. He's doing a really good job at being an adventurer already, as he's even mimicking Scrooge's long-winded monologues, as much as Scrooge doesn't like it when people call them that.

Even Scrooge can’t help himself with his love of long winded explanations of lost items and joins in on the description, giving details about how the people of Mervana were legendary creatures that were half fish and half man, and could walk on land and swim in water. They try to make him look like a crazy old man along with his crazy young nephew, even if this is pretty normal for him. It’s pretty normal for Huey too, to be honest; the only thing unusual is that it’s not the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook he’s reading from.

Webby is far more intrigued by the mere mention of half man, half fish creatures, even if the creature he was holding a picture of didn’t look anything like the kind of creatures Webby was thinking of. She can't wait to see them on this new adventure!

Louie doesn’t exactly have a positive outlook on this adventure, though, as he immediately assumes whatever they find is going to attempt to kill them in some way. Seinfeld always finds a girlfriend he’ll eventually disgust, the Three’s Company will always find a misunderstanding, and Huey Dewey and Louie will eventually end up in some sort of mysterious or historic peril.

Louie even pulls out a running tally of all the times each of them were offered as a sacrifice. Dewey’s especially proud of his record, as his tallies go far below everyone else's. He's the wacky one, and he's going to remain the wacky one throughout this episode. In fact, while some episodes, everyone has a role. The important ones are that Louie is the skeptic who always thinks the worst of the situation, while Webby is the positive thinker who thinks nothing can possibly go wrong. This may be one of the rare moments where Webby is clearly in the wrong, as I can't imagine anything otherwise would lead to a good episode.

Eventually, Webby gets the chance to say the M word that Huey and Scrooge specifically avoided, as a bunch of them swim on by. Even Louie appears to be impressed; it isn’t every day where someone sees a mermaid swim with such grace. While Zeus is more like the original myths, these are indeed Disneyfied mermaids: half duck, half fish, and no willingness to drag people into the ocean to drown them. We already had the Kelpies for that.

Not impressed at all is Della, who decides to activate the torpedoes, because she has ichthyophobia. I am not aware if they ever brought up her hatred of sealife before; it seems like something she would have forgotten after being stranded on a rock that almost definitely doesn’t have them. Those torpedoes aren’t even mentioned again; it’s just a way for them to have a cold open and to reinforce how much Della hates them fishies.

But hey, it's a cold open to the full opening this time. Hooray, I thought we would never see it this season. It's here we find out all the Della scenes are in the shortened version; they didn't bother adding her in any of the other shots. Is it a sign that this is going to be a rarity?

The two introduce themselves as Aletheia and Vero. They’re all about truth, and, as they hint in their introductions, their names even mean truth in Greek and Latin, respectively. They also describe Mervana as a place without suffering, a place where one can find their inner truth, and a place where material belongings can be gotten rid of in the name of peaceful harmony. Scrooge isn’t too happy about any of those aspects, and that’s going to be a theme in this episode.

Not everyone shares Scrooge's lack of enthuiasm, though Louie has good reason to believe otherwise. Meeting all of these mermaids in this cave between the deep blue sea and their destination is basically her dream for Webby, and one of the first lines she says while exploring this new place cements it.

Webby: Look at this stuff! Isn't it neat?

No, not in a sing-songy way, though I'm sure most would read it that way. That reference was almost as blatant as that "rescued" pun from the previous episode.

As they reach Mervana in their quest to make their collection a little more complete, Aletheia decides to tell the visitors the story of how Mervana ended up under the sea, as shown with a stone wall with pictures on it. Generations ago, these mermaids used to spend time equally between the land and the sea, until King Honestus, another mermaid named after a word for truth, decided the troubles of the land were too much for his people. He left to find his own truth, only to never return. According to legend, he became one with the ocean. The mermaids of Mervana continue their quest to find their inner truth in honor of him, in the hopes that one day, he will return. Not sure where becoming “one with the ocean” would mean he could return, but it's the legend they believe in anyway.

Louie expresses his opinion on this story in the most subtle way possible.

Louie: Something’s fishy here.

Surprised that line didn't come sooner, to be honest. Webby tries to convince him that this must be his dream world because everything is free, but he responds that it’s too perfect. Forget all of the trust, he assumes that King is going to come back to eat him, and they don’t know anything about a harp. Mrs. Beakley drowns out Louie with some bongo playing, telling him that the mermaids are harmless. Webby knows this must be proof: there's no way her Granny would ever lie.

Louie offers a different sort of proof: a cave behind a waterfall saying “do not enter.” Of course, they don't obey that; Louie definitely needs to find out if those mermaids are mermurderers, and Webby follows to find out how wrong he must be to come up with such a pun.

There is a B plot here: the rest of the family are going to join in on the truth searching, starting with an arts and crafts session where they make fins that represent their inner truth. Huey tries to convince Scrooge that joining in on that would lead to the mermaids letting out their secrets, including one about that Harp, and he reluctantly agrees. Scrooge tries to do this with the least effort possible, clearly showing how little he wants to participate. It ties in pretty well with the A plot, as people may look for clues for either Louie or Webby's interpretation on what these mermaids are really up to. The truth may lie somewhere in the middle, or maybe it's somewhere completely different.

How are the kids doing on that cave trip? Well, they did hear some mysterious singing that implied that some girl is "fibbing, fibbing, fibbing", which must mean there's something weird and mysterious.

While that may have been something related to the harp, the weird and mysterious something turned out to be a giant fish monster. If one looks closely, they can see that the monster wears a crown, giving some credence to Louie's theory that the king is just going to return to have duck soup, but neither Louie nor Webby can pay attention long enough to notice it.

Thankfully, they're saved by Mrs. Beakley, who managed to go from the bongo corner of Mervana to deep within a cave with a giant monster without them noticing. I'm sure "because she's Mrs. Beakley" is a good enough excuse.

Webby desperately tries to hang on to her belief that the mermaids aren’t people with gills that want to kill, saying that they must be thinking that they’re telling the truth, but they just don’t know. Her 100% positivity clashes with Louie’s 100% negativity, and that’s the crux of the A plot. It may seem like we would have Mrs. Beakley as the mediator, but she tells Webby that this is definitely some sort of mixup and that the mermaids are definitely people to be trusted.

Or, maybe not, as, once she tells Webby to take the lead, she picks up Louie and tells him she doesn't trust the mermaids either, while Louie raises his hands with victory. She says this for reasons she doesn’t really reveal, though it wouldn’t be a stretch if it was similar to Louie’s. Her conflict is that she doesn’t want her granddaughter to know about any of this suspicion, because this would completely ruin her positive attitude. I would assume any unknown danger that she just decided to let her granddaughter deal with by herself would ruin it, but maybe she's just that trusting of her abilities.

While the kids are having a cave story, the fin story is going about what one would expect. Dewey paints Hot Rod flames on his, Huey draws the Junior Woodchuck logo, and Scrooge just has a dollar sign clearly scribbled in a few seconds. He really wants to get to that harp, but until Scrooge can find his true self, the mermaids won't give them the knowledge they seek. The A plot's about Louie and Webby, and the B plot is mostly about Scrooge, and Huey, who was the focus in the intro, is just kind of there for the rest of the episode. In his own season!

There is one thing unexpected: Donald Duck, of all people, managed to find his peaceful soul with his rainbow colored fins and meditative pose, which impresses Aletheia and Vero. While this would be far from his inner truth, this does make sense: as this is a place without suffering, this can certainly change Donald Duck's way of life, who’s life was always followed by his bad luck. If one ever wanted to hear Donald Duck say "namaste," this is their episode.

Dewey wants to use his Hot Rod Fins to let his mother know that fish are totally awesome. Unfortunately, this does not do anything to cure his mother's hatred and/or disgust of fish. Dewey showing off his fin like Homer Simpson showing off his new chainsaw and hockey mask isn’t helping anyone, though we don't get to see her reaction beyond her gagging at the sight of one of her sons with those disgusting fish fins. This C plot honestly doesn’t need much discussion because it doesn’t really heed it. This is not to say it won't converge with the others, but, one will see.

Getting back to a plot that matters, after climbing a bunch of stairs, as Louie complained about the lack of escalators in these ancient place, Louie, Webby, and Mrs. Beakley go to the room that happens to have what they were looking for...

...the Lost Harp of Mervana, who was under a blanket. It is suggested that other people have tried to find out, but couldn't get past that giant monster. The harp is actually part mermaid, part person, part harp, which really makes Webby happy. As a person, she can talk and sing, as it turns out that she was the one who was mysteriously chanting "fibbing, fibbing, fibbing" this whole time. She never gets to play herself, though.

The Harp of Mervana seems to involuntarily sing if someone is "corr-eeeeect" or if they're "fibbing, fibbing, fibbing", and this is shown with her singing "corr-eeeeect" when Louie talks about how those stairs were a mess. There’s a subtle hint already of how this could play out just with that stairs quip; while the stairs were a mess that needed to be repaired, Louie was just saying that because he doesn’t like climbing so many stairs. With this ability to show the truth, Webby can finally prove to her housemate and Granny that there's nothing sinister under the sea.

Of course, the harp tells them that wouldn't be the truth if there was nothing sinister under the sea. They ask what the real story is, and she decides not to tell them. See, since she's a harp, she's going to sing it instead.

We know this is the real story because this is told via flashback rather than via a stone wall. To make a long story short, Mervana sank because he simply decided the sea was way less of a bummer than having to repair what’s on the land. Namely, the decaying tower. This led to the buildings sinking, and the mermaids decided to stay in the sea for the rest of their lives.

This turns out to be a bad thing, because their ability to turn their legs into fins has a horrible side effect if prolonged for too long. This is connected to that monster from earlier. I debated whether I should spoil this plot point, since the monster's design does hint at it to the point where it's kind of obvious with that 4-shot up there, but Louie treats the revelation as a complete surprise, so I'll try to be slightly vague about it. I'm not saying I'm going to hide it well.

Mrs. Beakley tries to comfort her granddaughter, who is starting to lose her positive attitude with all of this knowledge, but having a living lie detector in the room helps about as much as Dewey talking like a maniac in that previous scene. Honestly, even the show forgets about that scene; Dewey just appears in Mervana the next time we get back to it. Anyway, she tries to tell Webby some comforting lies, like...

Mrs. Beakley: I believe there's a little good in everyone...

Harp of Mervana: She's fibbing, fibbing, fibbing!

Mrs. Beakley: I believe people are trying to be good...

Harp of Mervana: She's fibbing, fibbing, fibbing!

Is she saying that everyone having a little good in them is a fib, or that Mrs. Beakley doesn’t actually believe that everyone has a little bit of good in them? Maybe I’m overthinking it, as it is probably the latter, but I do like how it could be the former, too.

But enough granddaughter-grandmother talk about the morality of telling comforting lies, Louie says that they need to get the Harp back to the Mervanans, or they will die. To Louie's dismay, the Harp finds no fib in that claim.

Let's let a short cutback to the C-plot hint towards why that would be, where Della decides that, because she's Della Duck and nothing should stop her so easily. Unfortunately, that crowned monster happened to be swimming nearby, showing that he has escaped the cave. I guess that monster must have known a shortcut past Mervana.

With either interpretation of the harp's claim that Mrs. Beakley was fibbing about people being trustworthy, Mrs. Beakley was lying to her granddaughter. Her positive attitude is gone, and she has to be dragged down by Louie. Mrs. Beakley grabs the harp, and rather easily too, to the surprise of even the harp.

Harp of Mervana: You’re very strong!

Mrs. Beakley: ...correct!

Nice reversal, though I can see that Mrs. Beakley is above mimicking her “corr-eeeect!”

This all leads to a climactic showdown between the monster and Clan McDuck, as the mermaid's spirit is broken merely by the former's presence. That leads to about a minute of moping until Louie convinces them to fight back by "embracing their inner truth". Even he seems to fight back against this by uttering an "ugh" before that line. This also convinces Webby, too; I'm glad that plot is resolved in a relatively decent matter.

There's some pretty neat scenes with this encounter, though I feel like they do skip around a bit. Donald Duck is convinced to drop his relaxation act so he can fight this monster in his usual way, and the next scene has him cowering with the others with no real connection. While I won't say what this monster is, though I can imagine anyone could guess, I will say who deals the final blow to this monster.

...Della, who suddenly decided to get out of the submarine and swim all the way to this beach! See, those scenes where she had a fear of fish had a point after all: it's to show that she can get over her fear of fish. Not sure if I could say she got over her hatred; she is delighted with kicking this monster she knew nothing about.

Of course, there's more to it than that, but I got to leave something out. Watch the episode to find out, but I will say it is a satisfying ending.

How does it stack up?

The episode itself does have some interesting twists and turns, but I wouldn't say it's among the series' best. All in all, it's pretty good. I'll give this one a 4.

Next, Louie's about to start a scheme. Oh, and Daisy Duck’s there, too.

← Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice! 🦆 Louie's Eleven! →

[sweetlittlevampire]

Tag Meme²

I was tagged by two people, so instead of making two separate posts Imma make one. :D

For the first set, I was tagged by @mirroroferisedx

rules: answer 17 questions and tag 17 people you want to get to know better

nickname: My name is Karima, but I like to shorten it with Rima. Many people online call me Sweet, or even SLV, which...sounds like a type of car to me. XD

zodiac sign: Gemini! Born June 2nd.

height: 153 cm (5′)

hogwarts house: Slytherin

last thing i googled: Fried Rice recipes

song stuck in my head: Annie’s Song by John Denver

following and followers: I’m following 1.101 blogs and have 1.202 followers as I’m typing this.

hrs of sleep I get: Sleep? What’s sleep?

lucky number(s): 24

dream job: I am still debating whether or not to go back into journalism, especially into radio. I loved having my own show and going to press conferences and doing interviews and such. I still dream of having a small café though.

wearing: my nightgown, It’s almost 10 pm and I’m in bed.

favorite songs: "Starry Starry Night” by Don McLean

instruments: I had a harmonica but was never allowed to practice, and I do have a tin whistle but I don’t practice enough. I would have loved to learn how to play the piano or the violin though.

random facts: I have a pretty substantial scar on my right leg.

aesthetic: A mixture of blush pink, black lace, pastels, and jewel tones. Flowers and gothic castles. The starry night and the sea.

---------------------------------------------

I was tagged by @fanbinbun

Top 3 Ships: Wangxian, Grindeldore, Bagginshield

Lipstick or Chapstick: Usually chapstick, but if I use lipstick it has to be matte blood red one. Like, the bombshell version.

Last Movie: One of the many Indiana Jones movies.

Last Song: I believe it was “Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE

Reading: a metric ton on fanfics tbh

I’m cheating and tagging no one in particular, but feel free to answer some of these yourself if you feel so inclined. ♥

[darkvolley]

The energy/vibe each KH game gives off for me:

(Turned out way longer than I expected so it's under a read more)

KH1- It's kinda creepy and I think it's mainly due to most people, including myself, playing it at a young age. There's a giant shadow monster right off the bat as the tutorial boss, a creepy figure in a brown cloak with a deep voice that you meet in a dark enclosed area that no one else should be in. The first new world you go to is permanently in nightime. Everything feels empty(but not in a bad way), like even with two others in the party you still feel alone and helpless. As cute as some of the Heartless can be, they all still feel creepy and lifeless in a way. Hollow Bastion almost has a haunted mansion feel to it and The End of The World needs no words to descibe its eeriness.

CoM- There's something oddly calm about CoM. Being in the white rooms of Castle Oblivion feels relaxing. Nothing feels urgent and everything is contained solely in the castle. It's sorta slow feeling I guess. There's lots of moments where characters are just talking. Even despite the obvious issue of Sora and Co. losing their memories it still strangely feels unconcerning.

KH2- I think because of the battle system it makes the game feel fast. Most movement and combat is fluid and easy. Fights are very action packed and flashy so it sorta feels like a fight straight out of an action film, adding to the fast-paced vibe of the game. Things are very familiar so it loses most of the creepy feel of KH1 and replaces it with action and more humor.

Days- I think it's sorta sad and melancholic. A big part of it is constantly being in the grey room before missions with the hollow music in the background. Everything is white and almost feels like the world is frozen with its inhabitants being foreign to the world(which the Org actually is). The other worlds have the same empty feeling as in KH1 which adds to the melancholy vibe. Adding in the story of a friendship being ruined just makes it worse, especially when you know ahead of time that things don't turn out well. The Roxas vs Riku fight feels like a final last stand that you know Roxas won't win but by God is he gonna try out of pure rage and spite anyway.

Coded- In a strange way I think Coded feels like learning, if 'learning' had a feeling associated with it at least. Most of said feeling revolves around Data Sora. He starts out as just a data copy of Sora but I feel through everything he learns, he becomes his own person and not just a data copy. There's also everything that Data Riku(i.e. the journal) explains throughout the game and eventually in the end when we learn from Data Namine that the hurting needs to be mended. I feel that learning all these things are a major part of the game's overall feel.

BbS- Despite it's downer ending BbS still somehow feels very cheerful and bright. The first thing that stands out is how much brighter all the models look compared to other games. There's a weird shine to everything that just screams 'bright and cheery'. A lot of the worlds feel like this too. Dwarf's Woodlands has the shiny diamonds and jewels in the mines as well as the brightness of the sky when outside and not in the creepy part of the woods. Enchanted Dominion also has it's own woods and the castle, which despite being empty, is still brightly colored. The inside of Cinderella's house and the castle are just as bright as well. It's daytime in the Keyblade Graveyard and Radiant Garden, not to mention how vibrant Radiant Garden is in general. And Disney Town is the most cheerful of all with it's upbeat music, overall Disney feel, the fun of the minigames, and sweet moment with the ice cream prize. The Command Board even adds to this. Everything is just colorful and fun in BbS, which probably makes the ending much more dissonant, but not in a bad way.

3D- It didn't feel like this the first time around since a lot of things went over my head for 3D, but looking back on it now, it sorta feels like there's an encroaching danger that gets closer the further you go, which is probably a perfect description of the game considering the further Sora goes, the deeper he gets lost in the dream. The feeling of going deeper into the darkness makes sense with 'dropping' being apart of the game. Even when you don't know where the story is going there's still a sense of worsening danger that no one, including yourself and your Dream Eaters, will be able to save you from. Even on Riku's end it's a similar feeling all the way up to the Ansem fight with him trying to drag Riku back into the darkness like he did once before.

0.2- This game feels almost old and antique in a way. I believe it has to do with the Disney worlds chosen for it and the overall dark lighting. There's even something about the models and their prototype feel compared to KH3's improved models. The worlds are all old movies. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, these are Disney's earliest princess movies. The aesthetic of each world reflects the oldness of the movies they originate from. And the darkness consuming them along with the way each world feels like its being broken down by said darkness makes it all feel antique. Like an old vase that's seen too much in it's life as evident by all the cracks in it.

KHUX- I think the style kind of overwrites any other feeling the game could give me, sadly. Even when things get dark its still feels... cartoony. Like the whole game could be a cartoon. Of course, this doesn't lessen the impact of tough moments such as the war, Strelitzia's death, and every other sad or creepy moment we've had in the game. Cartoons can be still be sad even when they're cartoons, but it's still the most striking thing about the game for me.

KH3- This one really drives home the feeling of things ending. Of course, things aren't actually over, but so many plot points have been wrapped up by the end that some things really truly did, indeed, end. The whole game builds up to the final battle between light and dark and stresses finding Aqua in order to find Ven and Terra. There's focus on trying to get everyone back together and ready to face Xehanort in the final clash. Especially at the end of the game there was still the lingering feeling of things being over. From here on out things won't be the same as any of the other games. Everything is heading in a new direction, so in a way, the feeling of things ending is very much true. Kingdom Hearts isn't over, but many of the things we've been fighting for since 2002 are over.

[suchatinyinfinity]

Angel, awe, butterfly, buttons, cozy, dear, dobby, doll, dreams, honey, jewel, jiggly, moonlight, munchkin, smitten, snuggle. I know there are a lot but I want to get to know you more! You don't have t if you don't want to, but feel free to send me some asks too!

No apologies, I love getting to know my mutuals! And I know these asks are a few days old, but I’ll send some your way anyway! Thank you for these.

Angel: Do you have a nickname? Answered this one already, but i will again. Dani is my nickname; it’s short for Danielle.

Awe: How old are you? I’m a very young-at-heart 34 (which sounds really, really old.)

Butterfly: Dream destination? It’s always been NYC, and I’ve been and loved every minute of it. I’d love to go again! Also Venice, London, Greece, and anywhere I can get a good look at the Northern Lights.

Buttons: Are you religious or spiritual? I am a very bad Catholic. I don’t believe in all of the “rules” of the Church; I was baptized Catholic and sent to Catholic school from K-8. I don’t go to Mass; I feel much more connected to God and my faith when I talk to him alone. I am, however, a very strong believer in God. I’m always proud how unwavering and strong my faith is. Nothing could change my mind. I’ve had some hard things happen in my life and not once did I doubt God’s existence. 

Cozy: Eye/hair color? My eyes are a deep, sapphire blue. Natural hair color? Boring medium brown. Current hair color? A nice, warm, autumnal auburn.

Dear: Zodiac sign? Sagittarius

Dobby: Dream job? Well, nursing was definitely one of them (when I was still able to work)! I’ve always found medicine fascinating. A writer; it was never an “if” I would get published, but a “when”. I have a medical condition that affects cognition and my writing has suffered greatly as a result, but that’s probably my #1 dream job.

Doll: How do you like to dress? A million different ways. When I’m at home? Comfortable! Give me some soft pajama/yoga pants and a t-shirt. Otherwise, I like the grunge look-- not like, current soft-grunge stuff, but more authentic 90′s grunge-wear (ripped jeans, my black Dr. Marten’s boots, that sort of thing). Sometimes I’m very boho-chic, sometimes classic. I’m a chameleon!

Dreams: Do you want or have any tattoos? I don’t have any, but sometimes want one. I feel like I’m too damn fickle to commit to something so permanent, however!

Honey: Coffee or tea? How do you take it? Here in the South, sweet iced tea is a thing, so the two aren’t even related in my mind! I take my coffee with one Sweet N Low and a little bit of cream; enough to cut the bitterness down some.

Jewel: What’s your favorite kind of weather? Cool, rainy weather with rumbling thunder. Nothing torrential or dangerous, but more relaxing and soothing and sexy.

Jiggly: What do you usually like to do on weekends? Not much! I’m a total homebody. I like to read, play games on my phone, maybe be crazy enough as to watch a movie or television show!

Moonlight: Do you prefer soft pastels, warm neutrals, or cool darks? It’s a cross between the pastels and darks. I’m not much of a neutral person.

Munchkin: What do you look for in a significant other? Answered this one, love!

Smitten: Do you collect anything? Notebooks and pens. My mom jokes that I have a fetish. Pretty journals that I never want to write in. Books! Ben Barnes movies (I just got 4 for $30 on Amazon!)

Snuggle: What is your favorite candy? I’m not a huge candy fan, but I do have a love affair with almond M&M’s

[doomonfilm]

Review : Richard Jewell (2019)

I was a sophomore in high school when the Olympics came to Atlanta, Georgia, and with the World Cup having just been in the United States two years prior, Americans were eager to put their best foot forward.  The world was changing rapidly at the time, and the 24 hour news cycle was just beginning to present itself, though we had yet to name it or identify how it would be so powerfully influential.  Then, in one fleeting moment, a random bomb changed all of that, and a man went from being a security guard to public enemy number one in the blink of an eye.  Clint Eastwood has always had an eye for humanity, especially when in the director’s chair, which piqued my interest when it was announced that he would be taking on the previously mentioned story in the form of his latest film, Richard Jewell. 

In 1986, a young Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) meets attorney Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), and the two men form a bond that Jewell was unable to make with any of the other attorneys and partners that he worked for at the firm.  Ten years later, Jewell has landed a job as a security guard at Piedmont University, which finds him closer to his dream of a job in law enforcement.  After repeated reports of abuse of power, however, Dr. W Ray Cleere (Charles Green) is forced to fire Jewell, who transitions into a job as security for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.  Shortly after midnight on July 27, Jewell breaks up a group of drunk and unruly teens, but notices a suspicious package in the form of a backpack that was near the ruckus.  Jewell urges the officers on location to call in the package, and when the bomb inspector investigates, he discovers three extremely large pipe bombs.  Jewell and the authorities attempt to clear the area, but the bomb explodes, injuring or killing over one hundred people.  Jewell is initially seen as a hero, but after Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) coerces a tip out of FBI Agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm), she runs a story identifying Jewell as the primary suspect, causing worldwide attention to be cast upon Jewell and his mother Bobi (Kathy Bates).  With the help of Bryant, Richard Jewell attempts to fight attacks from the FBI and the news media, all in hopes of clearing his name.

Richard Jewell manages to provide a redemption portrayal for its titular subject without completely absolving him of base humanity or the capacity for wrongdoing.  Rather than presenting a case for specifically absolving Jewell of past accusations and completely clearing his name, the film reaches for the bigger goal of setting an example of how wrong things can go when those accused find themselves guilty until proven innocent.  It is flatly stated that Jewell could, in theory, fit the ‘false hero’ narrative, and due to being a Southern man with dreams of a role in law enforcement, his knowledge of guns, bombs and criminal personalities harm him more than help him.  Most of all, his weakness is his kind nature, and his defensive mechanism of trying to trust in the law becomes the dramatic tension that cause Bobi and Walter pain, which in turn forces Jewell to the breaking point of having to stand up for his innocence.

Interesting, as evenly as Clint Eastwood decides to posture his protagonist, he is unflinching in the manner that he positions the government and the media squarely as antagonist.  Be it the constant drone, presence and forceful nature of communication in the form of the media, or the calculated power bundled with sheer intimidation that the FBI utilizes, both parties (as entities) are looked at quite subjectively.  The characters of Scruggs and FBI Agent Shaw are not completely devoid of empathy, though Shaw does seem to be fighting his own battle over pride in his job and whether or not he will be viewed as competent, to the point that he blindly seeks the indictment of Jewell.  Watching Bates play Bobi on the verge of breakdown due to her lack of ability to protect Richard from this dual threat hits hard, hence her Golden Globe nomination.

Eastwood makes some interesting decisions as director that work well conceptually.  The visual flare, fancy camera moves and hectic editing that defines most biopics is set aside for measured camerawork, allowing the story to be the sensation rather than the way it is presented.  The choices of what is presented as stock footage, like Tom Brokaw or the Katie Couric interview, play like echoes of times when media was simpler and easier to trust, while the portrayal of Scruggs and the AJC staff, the horde of reporters, or even a recast Bryant Gumbel (Garon Grigsby) using ‘gotcha journalism’, play like personal indictments on these institutions and practices.  The muted, reserved way that the film qualifies as a period film is different than normal... period specific dress, haircuts, vehicles and the like are around, but the way that reflections on the era are used narratively, like the Michael Johnson scene, play much stronger.  The sensationalist hunger of the media and their search for the next big story is also referenced, with nods to TImothy McVey, OJ Simpson and Ted Kaczynski all popping up.  The film also manages to find ways to present humor, with most of it being found in the funny moments that manage to pop up in the extreme moments of life.

Paul Walter Hauser finds a curious rhythm that mostly involves him embodying the news media portrayal and public perception of Jewell, with brief but powerful outbursts of emotion that reveal fear in a shell-shocked man.  Kathy Bates embodies all of the motherly support that can be captured and displayed on film, with a handful of powerfully emotional moments of her own that resonate long after the film is done.  Sam Rockwell’s natural charm and offbeat nature work well in his portrayal of an anti-establishment attorney, with him showing an ability to focus force both vocally and with intense staredowns... Nina Arianda works well in tandem with Rockwell, providing a strong and supportive sense of guidance that pushes Rockwell’s character in the right direction.  Olivia Wilde finds a unique balance of her own as a comedicaly straight antagonist, posturing in extreme ways while bolstering the choices with a matter of fact nature, all the while keeping a touch of humanity in the chamber for the resolution-based moments.  Jon Hamm puts another notch on the ‘charming villain’ belt, somehow managing to be an intimidating good cop in comparison to Ian Gomez and his standard look and operation as an FBI agent.  Appearances by Niko Nicotera, Mike Pniewski, Dylan Kussman, Wayne Duvall, Garon Grigsby and Charles Green round out the film.

Clint Eastwood continues to rack up a strong directoral catalog, and Richard Jewell stands as evidence of this.  The potential director in me noticed a couple of mistakes that modern directors probably would have erased in the post, but these mistakes just further enforce the old school aesthetic that Eastwood uses.  With the film itself being an echo of a recently bygone era, all of this works to Eastwood’s benefit... this one won’t be cracking my top ten, but it is certainly worth seeing.

[book-warehouse-broadway]

As if we all didn’t have enough to read, here are the books we’re looking forward to most in November!

November 2

Voices from the Skeena - Roy Henry Vickers

November 5

The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams

Call Down the Hawk - Maggie Stiefvater

Finding Chika - Mitch Albom

The Flame - Leonard Cohen

The Dinky Donkey - Craig Smith

The Dreamers - Karen Thompson Walker

The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell

The Fowl Twins - Eoin Colfer

Girls of Storm and Shadow - Natasha Ngan

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado

The Langoliers - Stephen King

Legacy - Shannon Messenger

The Midwinter Witch - Molly Knox Ostertag

North Korea Journal - Michael Palin

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Illustrated Edition) - Neil Gaiman

Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield

Reinvention - Arlene Dickinson

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez - Andrea Beaty

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

Supernova - Marissa Meyer

Winterwood - Shea Ernshaw

The Witches Are Coming - Lindy West

Wrecking Ball - Jeff Kinney

You Are Awesome - Neil Pasricha

November 12

The Andromeda Evolution - Michael Crichton

Carrie Fisher - Sheila Weller

An Irish Country Family - Patrick Taylor

The Langoliers - Stephen King

Man's 4th Best Hospital - Samuel Shem

Run Away - Harlan Coben

Twisted Twenty-Six - Janet Evanovich

November 14

Here We Are - Oliver Jeffers

November 19

The Captain and the Glory - Dave Eggers

Cold Falling White - G S Prendergast

Magical Beings of Haida Gwaii - Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson

A Minute to Midnight - David Baldacci

My Book with No Pictures - B J Novak

The Plant Paradox Family Cookbook - Steven R Gundry, MD

The Queen of Nothing - Holly Black

The Science of Why, Volume 4 - Jay Ingram

A Warning - Anonymous

November 26

The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky - Mackenzi Lee

Ian McKellen - Garry O'Connor

The Penguin Book Quiz - James Walton

The Princess in Black and the Bathtime Battle - Shannon Hale

The Rise of Magicks - Nora Roberts

Starsight - Brandon Sanderson

Under Occupation - Alan Furst

November 28

The Hero - Lee Child

[clementlenz-blog]

“Ne cherchez plus mon cœur; les bêtes l'ont mangé.”                      — Charles Baudelaire

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Clément Lenz, middle names are for chumps. PRONUNCIATION: Clay-muhn or Clehm-ent luhnz NICKNAME(S): Clem, Clé, just straight up call him keys it’d be hilarious BIRTH DATE: 22 May AGE: Twenty-two ZODIAC: Gemini GENDER: (trans) male PRONOUNS: he/him SEXUAL ORIENTATION: who the fuck knows; likely he’s bisexual, but again… who knows. Sexuality is confusing enough without being trans too honestly. Make a betting pool on where he’ll fall lmao NATIONALITY: Luxembourgish TITLE(S): x MAJOR: Religious Studies EXTRACURRICULARS: Journalism club; peer tutoring.

BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg FATHER: unknown. MOTHER: Claire Lenz; 40 SIBLING(S): None! Could you imagine this petty bich with a younger sibling? Oh my god. OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: Grandparents; Papa Lenz and Gran Lenz ARRESTS?: Gotta get caught to be arrested, and we all know he’s more the type to goad someone else into doing the illegal thing that him doing anything of the sort himself.

OCCUPATION & INCOME

SPENDING HABITS: Very much a “if I want it… why wouldn’t I buy it?” type of person. He’s likely to buy something, use it a few times, and just lose it or trash it or give it away. MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: His watch; it’s a little big on his wrist, and has had its battery replaced a few times. It’s not even that fancy, but it’s the first thing he bought to make himself feel more masculine. It’s silver with a blue face, and is tightened to its tightest setting in order to fit on his wrist (and even then it moves around a bit when he gestures).

SKILLS & ABILITIES

TALENTS: He’s got a way with words and likes to write, though I wouldn’t say he’s got anything earth-shattering on his google docs account full of little journal snippets. Just the usual 20-something bs. He’s good at faking interest? Good at assessing a situation (though definitely not even close to being perfect at that at all)? SHORTCOMINGS: Clement is a manipulative little garbage man who treats human relationships like a fukin chess game and then wonders why people don’t like him for him. Like, newsflash kid, you have to be honest about your intentions and show your real personality to make genuine connections! Try actual friendliness instead of the underhanded bullshit you usually pull and see where that takes you, y’know? LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: Luxembourgish (fluent), German (conversational, can’t read or write), French (fluent), and English (CLOSE ENOUGH TO FLUENT)! He’s got a preference for French though, and will make comments on how English is a stupid language. DRIVE?: He’ll tell you he can but don’t believe him. This little shit is in the camp of ‘the lines and signs on the road are more suggestions than rules’ and it’s terrifying please don’t let him drive anywhere. RIDE A BICYCLE?: He likes to bike in nice weather, and is very much a leisurely biker than hardcore anything. Likes a smooth gentle ride rather than anything bumpy or fast. SWIM?: He’s not the best at it but he’ll not drown. It’s an activity that’s a wee bit hard to participate in before he’s gotten top surgery, because wearing a swim binder isn’t exactly the most comfortable or conductive to movement as, say, no shirt would be. PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: He’ll tell you that he plays violin but he honestly can’t play shit except for a really slow and deliberate scale that still screeches. PLAY CHESS?: Absolutely! He loves the thinking involved in it. Fun fact: he’s absolutely useless at checkers though — always tries to play the game just like chess and that just makes him lose so horribly he refuses to play anyone. Has a favourite move in chess and it’s castling. TIE A TIE?: YES it’s one of his favourite accessories and it’s an article of clothing he’s very familiar with, because he wore them prior to coming out as well. He loves a good silk tie, and prefers solid matte colours to anything with an obvious texture; prefers small patterns to large ones. Hates paisley; hates shine.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: Rhys Pickering GLASSES/CONTACTS?: nah this bastard can see 20/20 DOMINANT HAND: ambidextrous HEIGHT: 5’8.5” TATTOOS: nah PEIRCINGS: nahhh MARKS/SCARS: A thin white scar on his bottom lip that only shows when he’s smiling; a few scattered dark freckles over his arms and torso, though none have graced his face. NOTABLE FEATURES: His dark eyes are what stick out on his face, and he’s got crooked fingers if you look hard enough. Another notable feature would be the dips in his shoulders from (stupidly) wearing too-tight sports bras before he figured out binders were a THING. CLOTHING STYLE: Simple, clean lines made up of dark neutrals (black, charcoal, and navy are his go-tos) with the occasional cool jewel tone (emerald, sapphire) to accent them. It’s rare he wears warm colours, but a maroon isn’t necessarily out of the question as a hard stop. Every so often Clement will wear a slice of ruby or topaz, but it is usually relegated to his hems; in the stitching — where one would be surprised by the flash of it, perhaps thinking they’d seen it merely in a dream — but sometimes he’ll press the colour into a pocket square, or necktie. Just for the fun of it.

PSYCHOLOGY

MBTI TYPE: INTP MORAL ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil “legally selfish” TEMPERAMENT: Choleric MENTAL HEALTH: Good! Besides being manipulative and insecure, he’s got pretty good mental health. ADDICTION(S): Smoake DRUG USE: Curious, but doesn’t indulge because of not knowing how he’d react to anything. ALCOHOL USE: Social, and is a bit shit at holding his liquor but has yet to end a night with hugging the toilet. PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: Nahhh, not physical violence at least. He’s much more one to use his words to get at people than anything else.

FAVOURITES

ANIMAL: He’s really fascinated with snakes (go figure) and also finds dogfish really adorable. BOOK: René by François-René de Chateaubriand COLOUR: Navy and sapphire blue. FOOD: There isn’t much Clement wouldn’t eat — he’s certainly not picky — but his favourite foods range from a simple mix of fresh fruit and berries in yoghurt with honey, to heavy tartiflette. It all depends on his mood. More often than not, however, he leans toward lighter meals, and prefers them to be on the sweeter side of things. Honey cake would be the dessert for him. MOVIE: Arès (2016) dir. Jean-Patrick Benes MUSICAL ARTIST: Stromae QUOTE/SAYING: “La littérature est l'essentiel, ou n'est rien.” — Georges Bataille SCENT: Cinnamon, clove, citrus, allspice… really all the spices to make mulled wine. SPORT: He likes hockey but literally only watches at the Olympics and doesn’t have a clue what the rules are (doesn’t stop him from pretending to know what the penalty calls are for, however). VACATION DESTINATION: Marseilles, France.

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: Travel the world with a comfortable network of people he can bounce around with. This would be possible if he wasn’t such an underhanded shitlord, truly. Maybe there’s hope for it yet. GREATEST FEAR: Irrelevancy.   BIGGEST SECRET: Likely that he’s, deep down, just this scared little man who wants desperately to be liked by the people around him. TOP PRIORITIES: Come out on top. Get friends. Get this bread.

[ceeisamess]

I got tagged by @theanxiousfander for the 21 question thingy,[21 qs,you have to make a separate post and tag 21 peeps ya wanna know better]

Nicknames: I go by Cee online,my aunt calls me Jewels sometimes and my friend calls me "mother hen" because I worry a lot and am apparently a mom friend

Zodiac: I'm an Aries, but I'm not a horoscope type person

Height: Like 5'2/5'3 ish (someone called me 5'1 and i was v Upset about it lmao)

Last movie you saw: Uhhh idk, Incredibles 2? I watched to all the boys I've loved before on Netflix recently and loved it,if that counts.

Last thing I Googled: "The history of emo music" bc I'm doing a research project on what makes emo music "emo"

Favorite musician: I like Cavetown a lot,Mallrat has a cool sound,mxmtoon has a nice voice,I like half•alive,and girl in red makes hella cute songs about lesbian lovers

Song stuck in my head: Truth Hurts by Lizzo is always in my head,I'm also always humming wii music for some reason

Other blogs: I have a vent blog,boredasfrack,which gets updated whenever I'm in a shitty mood but that's all

Do you get asks: Not many but I get some mostly anons for some reason

Followers: As of rn I have 135 and appreciate all of y'all!

Following: I'm following 595,and Jesus Christ that seems like a lot

Amount of sleep: usually around 4-6 hrs

Lucky numbers: 3,9,19

What an i wearing: crop top,jeans and a beanie

Dream job: Teacher or librarian

Dream trip: I wanna go to Rhode Island again bc that was cool

Favorite food: Cassava stew

Instrument(s) I can play: Auxiliary percussion (tambourine and shite) Drumline percussion and Mallet percussion (xylophone and stuff)

Favorite song: Jenny by Walk the moon rn or Boo'd up by Ella Mai

Random fact 'bout me: Me and my best friend get shipped so much we have a ship name (CeeJay/JayCee) and shit. Highkey funny since we're both very much crushing on different people.

Aesthetic words that describe you: oversized hoodies,high waisted jeans,dollar store earbuds,Chinese food leftovers and poetry journals.

I guess that's all,these are fun to do!!! I'm sucky at tagging but I'll tag like three people and pretend like i added 7x the amount

@mapleklance @multplelifes @squiya and bonus @we-love-the-langst-family