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sorreysorren · 9 months ago

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if you think about it, it's like a game

he was enthralled by you in the same way he'd be when he found a game that was actually challenging.

(a/n: so you make his heart go doki doki?? and then you both go kiss kiss fall inlove???)

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phase i — the trigger

(aka the storm)

you stood at the entrance of the training field, although it was well past midnight.

it would take a while for blue lock’s backup generators to kick in during the storm.

everyone had already headed off to wash up or return to their dorms– in pure darkness.

a handful had planned to continue practicing, but after various hits to the faces, from one to another, ball after ball; deeming it impossible to continue, everyone begrudgingly left.

but you decided to come back. you could make it work, or at least that’s what you thought.

you thought wrong though, because the flashlight from your phone wasn’t enough to let you practice effectively. you didn’t have to see through the darkness to be able to tell that you were missing goal after goal.

you decided that maybe you could stay up until the backup generators began operating. you wanted time to practice solo, rather than in a group setting, so you thought maybe you could be the first one to use the training field.

of course, though, you weren’t sure when the generators would actually come and do their job, so this could end up being a waste of your time.

you sat in the training grounds, mindlessly playing papa’s freezeria, humming along to the soundtrack every time you finished an order correctly. there was a customer in the game: he had a bowl cut and glasses, heavily resembling ego, which caused you to snicker. it was almost taunting because soon, your thoughts circle back to the power outage.

you mentally scold ego in your brain for the way he chose to invest blue lock’s funds.

seriously.

you ought to think he’d be doing his best to get everyone back on schedule, considering his evident distaste for the current situation, but surprisingly; he too, suggested calling it a day.

at some point, you decided to get up and head to the cafeteria, having grown slightly hungry after also playing papa’s donuteria. and papa’s cupcakeria. and papa’s bakeria. and– okay. you were really hungry.

as you walked out towards the hallway, your heart leaped out of your chest when you thought you saw a shadowy figure.

you do a double take, and flash your phone’s bright flashlight at what you thought was something resembling the babadook (if this was a horror movie, you would’ve just wasted 15 seconds and caused your own death.)

you sigh in relief after realizing it’s only nagi.

you’re certain you can still hear your heart thumping through your ears.

“..sorry.” you tell him after seeing his scrunched-up expression, quickly retreating your phone from his face, “i didn’t think anyone else would be out here”

“oh. same.” he yawned.

your eyes wander behind him, from the direction you assumed he came from. “were you in the cafeteria?”

he nods. “i forgot the outage meant the food order system wouldn’t work.”

you pause. you hadn’t thought of that.

but then an idea pops into your head: “did you try the vending machines?”

he looked at you as if you were stupid, “that’s also powered by electricity”

“well, yeah,” you say while removing one of the bobby pins from your hair, “but these exist too.”

---

the two of you sat at a table near the corner of the cafeteria. in front of you were a crap ton of different kinds of snacks, candy, etc.

it was silent at first, the only noise was the crinkling of your kitkat bar.

nagi didn’t seem to mind it, as he started watching a video on his phone.

you took notice of how many twizzlers he’d gotten. an ungodly amount.

you were a twizzler hater.

“do you really like those?” you hadn’t meant to sound so judgy, but you couldn't help yourself.

“if i didn’t, why would i be eating them?” he answered simply. he didn’t seem to take offense. though it wasn’t really an answer if he was replying with another question.

to each their own , you thought. at least it wasn’t black licorice.

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phase ii — the manifestations

(aka the feelings)

the following day, the power was finally back.

everyone was eating their meal, talking, or doing their own thing.

near the end, ego’s face popped up on the wall, making yet another announcement before signing off, out of spite, ego announced the vending machines would be out of service for a while until the various amounts of snacks that miraculously… "disappeared” (as ego emphasized with a scornful tone) were replaced.

nagi’s eyes instinctively wandered towards where you were, and the two of you made eye contact. it was sort of like an inside joke.

nagi didn't speak to many others except reo. in fact, he wasn't interested in being around anyone else. so if reo saw nagi show even the slightest interest in anyone, reo would know they must have something of a character.

---

days passed.

there was a morning in which nagi found you in the training field,

well, he didn’t find you.

he left his water bottle there earlier and he would’ve sent reo to get it, but he was in the shower.

he watched you dribble, touch drills, and practice target accuracy.

nagi continues to recall the night of the power outage.

you’d just been coming out of the training field.

he wondered if you were trying to practice then as well.

he was enthralled by you in the same way he'd be when he found a game that was actually challenging.

what he didn't know is that you'd be a challenge to him in more ways than one.

it wasn't just your looks.

it was how you played, and how you presented yourself; you were egocentric, but you were genuine. you were egocentric when you needed to be, and you still found the time to be kind. you kept a balance.

every now and then, with a shy smile on your face, you’d offer him a pack of twizzlers.

that action made his chest twist in an unfamiliar way.

it was a hassle.

this feeling distracted him when he played his favorite games. it distracted him when he was trying to multitask (50% whatever he’s doing, 40% that feeling, 10% listening to reo).

he came to associate that feeling with only you. the y/n effect , he’d subconsciously come to call it. (50% whatever he's doing, 40% you, 10% listening to reo).

these were the thoughts that went through nagi's head. things he would never say aloud. the kinds of thoughts foreign to him– as many things having to do with human-to-human connections and interaction were.

reo knew this. reo noticed this.

when he caught nagi staring at you for an extended period, he realized this was nagi's edition of a crush. which was weird. because nagi wasn't the type of guy to just get crushes.

but now, every so often nagi’s gaze would leave his phone, and he’d glance around until he caught sight of you.

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phase iii — ???

nagi wasn't a jealous person.

he wasn't even jealous whenever you got your hands on some rare game that just came out that you happened to earn through the amount of goals you scored (reo's trust-fund-ass would probably just get for him anyway, but still.)

he could see that this “y/n effect” that’s taken over his life didn’t affect him alone.

he didn’t like that.

nagi was not a jealous person.

but whenever he saw you smile at another the same way you smiled at him, the grip he held on the phone in his hands grew tighter.

“nagi? hey chill, don’t get too upset over a game.” reo would tell him after taking notice of his white knuckles. reo had a hunch this wasn’t about the game on his phone at all, though.

of course, nagi didn’t know that the smile you gave to others wasn't the same smile you gave to only him.

---

during meal hours you’d started sitting with nagi, reo, and zantetsu.

it wasn’t really a thing that was premeditated, it kind of just happened.

reo was wary of you at first. he wanted to dislike you, but he couldn’t find a genuine reason to do so. plus points for liking some of the same artists as him.

zantetsu didn’t really care. you were just another face to the table.

at first, you sat across from nagi, but soon, you began sitting next to him. sometimes you’d exchange parts of your meal. for example, you could have some of his ramen, if he could have some of your onigiri.

you still brought him a pack of twizzlers every day.

each time, he’d stop his game for a second to open the pack. before resuming, he’d glance at you and mutter a quick “thanks.”

---

it was unconscious, the way your pinky interlocked with his as you sat next to him in the cafeteria. that was another thing that just happened on its own. neither of you ever acknowledged it out loud, but people (like reo, specifically) took notice.

the interlocked pinkies would turn into hand-holding. again, another thing that wasn’t addressed out loud.

in a way, it was like a game.

one small achievement leads to another step, which leads to another achievement, which ultimately leads to an ending.

and if there’s one thing that nagi is good at, it’s winning games.

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#blue lock #bllk #bllk manga #bllk x reader #bllk x you #blue lock nagi #nagi seishiro #blue lock reo #bllk reo #reo mikage #bllk nagi #nagi x reader #nagi seishiro x reader #nagi

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judasgot-it · 2 years ago

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dazai seems to go after women who don’t fall for him easily; what if you did a reader who didn’t really care or be affected by his romantic advances?

oooooo rip Dazai would 100% go CRAZY bro. I don't do yandere but lowkey Dazai would be a bit of a yandere in this case...

Scenario: Dazai getting rejected by reader constantly (Trigger warnings for Dazai's alcoholism and addiction, also for other depression mentions)

The known flirt was at it again.

You knew his name - he insisted on making you ring up his order every time he came to your store every day. It was innocent enough really. You didn't even notice it, since he was so easy to be drawn into a conversation with, and you wouldn't lie when he asked if you thought he was cute.

He was, especially compared to some of the older men you've seen come in, those who would buy cigarettes and alcohol at odd hours of the night. A real shame that he was just as bad as them once you saw him come by time and time again.

The man would buy the cheapest alcohol and some of the cheapest foods, occasionally splurging on some 'nice' sweets - only if he was with seemingly young coworkers of his. At least he was nice in that aspect, not forcing children to pay for themselves whenever he was out shopping for his assumedly drunken nights.

A part of you wished that you could feel attracted to him. He was really charming when he wanted to be.

But his shopping habits disturbed you.

What man, in his early 20s and living assumedly alone, needed to buy so many different medications? You weren't one to judge, but he was just extremely strange.

He might not have realized it either, but you worked day and night shifts at that store - you saw him when he was at his worst buying pre-packed sushi, and you've never seen a man appear more...haggard.

So maybe it was hard to find him attractive when he was put together for work the next day. He might have looked nice, smelling of a strange cologne, but you could never get the picture of him in his slacks, with sweat stains on his shirt, tearing open his pre-packaged sushi like a rabid anime out of the mental movie you held.

He was like the babadook.

It disturbed you deeply.

"Well, good morning my belladonna! Tell me, do you think this wouldn't make just a lovely hour to feel our entangled hands grow cold together? Watching the rising sun fall upon our corpses?"

More than that, somehow.

How did he ever lose his virginity when he flirted like that? You wished you could ask him that one day.

"Let me ring you up, Dazai."

Your boss would kill you if she ever learned that you were rude to customers. Unfortunately, Dazai was just another customer you would have to put up with. His words would simply have to roll off of you.

"You know Ms. y/n, I really wish we could see each other more often, without a counter between us. I know this really great place that serves excellent coffee."

"Better than what you bought?"

Dazai laughed that comment off.

"Oh, you're funny Y/n. They have a little secret about how they keep their coffee so fresh, I'm quite close with the owners you know?"

You just shook your head, placing his items in a bag. He had bought bulk coffee grains and...canned crab? You didn't want to know why he ate that.

"Your total is 9.35, congrats. Cash or card?"

Dazai took his careful time taking out his wallet, leaning onto the counter, and taking up as much of your personal space as he could. He took out his card and not so subtly looked at you as he inserted it into the card reader.

"Y/n, you should really think about my offer. It would be quite sweet, don't you think?"

"Coffee or the suicide?"

Dazai laughed again - his weird wet laugh, the one that made you feel like you were talking with some sort of deranged serial killer. He gave off the vibe. There was something he was hiding in his smile.

His bandages hid something, which you frankly didn't want to know more about.

"Whichever works, I like how your misery feels. It makes me feel less alone in my own."

You looked up at him, meeting his eyes. They were empty, dark holes that stared right into you, leaving you exposed. His smile was vacant as well, watching with interest as you absorbed whatever he was. There were many words you wished you could say, but your work cameras were watching this transaction carefully.

"That's nice. I hope you have a good day."

You turned away from him, signaling that the transaction was over.

There was no one else in the store but the two of you, not even the sunlight.

Just you, him, and the silence.

Dazai gleefully reached over, taking his bag into his arms and pressing his body into the counter, leaning his face as close to yours as he could. You could feel his laughs against the low collar of your shirt - his dark eyes as they slowly traced up your form, which still looked right through your body.

He was invading through something deeper, and you wished you could put up some sort of barrier. Crossing your arms over your body did little to ease you as you tried to play him off, trying to give him as little of a reaction as he wanted.

Dazai wasn't a pervert, he wasn't a creep - he was something else.

He wanted something else from you.

It had you on edge. You didn't even know how to stop him from eating that part of you, swallowing you into whatever abyss he was.

That man was human, but every time he came close he made you want to run.

But despite being so close to you, he didn't say anything. No leering comments, no threats.

You heard him leave, which was when you finally had the courage to look at where he last stood.

He didn't even leave anything in his wake.

Nothing to truly disturb you, at the very least.

Just a daisy, which you were sure he had kept in his pocket this entire time.

He was odd like that. The guy always tried to keep his moments elaborate, so he would stick in your head for days.

Unfortunately, it worked. No matter how much you tried to ignore him.

I have no idea if this is actually the prompt haha but I like the idea of Dazai not being like a full-on yandere even though that's kinda canon? But him being like a real freak. Also oml thank you for being so patient cause this was in my ask box forever! and I still have more!

#bsd x reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #dazai x reader #bungo stray dogs #bsd x y/n #daza x y/n #dazai x you

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grownfairytale · 3 months ago

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If you're not against all of this, then you're for it, or you might as well be

So I saw Cabaret last week and have finally decided to put down my thoughts as promised to those I said I'd write this for. But being me, I also then went and watched different performances/versions (1987 revival, 1993 revival, 1998 revival and 2014 revival) in order to see what works and doesn't for me.

Based on what I had heard about this revival, I had my doubts but after seeing that Adam Lambert was cast as the Emcee, I decided that having a queer Jewish man as the role might add what was missing with Eddie Redmayne just in terms of the character. Whereas the idea initially was (and is) that the Emcee/Kit Kat Club are the soul of Berlin, Redmayne has said the Emcee is the puppeteer or conductor, whereas Lambert has infused his identity into the role, and the choices made are based on survival (https://playbill.com/article/how-adam-lambert-and-aulii-cravalho-are-spitting-in-the-face-of-fascism). After all, as noted by the initial production, Redmayne is a cishet white man with that Aryan look, he'd be fine. Having a queer Jewish man in the role automatically changes that dynamic. Auli'i Cravalho wasn't on when I saw the show but I would have loved to see her rendition of Sally. So, despite my initial misgivings, I did enjoy the show. Anyway, onward to the actual review as well as some comparisons.

The first thing about the show is the immersive aspect. The theater itself was redone to be like a cabaret club, so everything is done via theater on the round. You're brought in through a hallway and given a sticker to cover your camera phone and there are pre-show dancers/performers. There's also an option to buy a package that gives you food/champagne to more bring you into the world of extravagance. To lull you into that false sense of security the first act gives you.

The costumes really are the main way to tell what's going on within the show. Because of the theater in the round aspect of this production, even as being part of a club as there are tables around the stage (part of that initial extra package for food/champagne), there really are no actual sets and instead you have to rely on the performers and costumes. It heightens the idea of the Kit Kat Club as the soul of Berlin. They make the staging work and trust the audience to figure out where a scene is taking place. The costumes begin as being very elaborate for those in the Kit Kat Club, then grow more uniform as the show goes on. From the more unique costume per dancer to a green fringe/flapper dress, to beige essentially lederhosen to finally the beige suit of uniformity at the end of the production while the named characters are more unique, even in this last moment. The Emcee has the most drastic change as he is separate from the dancers while really showing the way the city and country are going. (https://playbill.com/article/in-cabaret-set-and-costume-designer-tom-scutt-wanted-to-celebrate-queer-individuality) This both works and does not work at points.

As previously mentioned, the staging is sparse and as it is a theater in the round, the cast plays to both sides of the stage. The most utilized staging was the use of the center of the stage that moved up and down into tiers. During Tomorrow Belongs to Me (Reprise), the performers singing the song and thus part of the ideology are on the lower level while the two couples (Cliff/Sally & Schultz/Schneider) are on the next turning table that’s lifted silent and then the Emcee comes up in the babadook costume from ‘Money’ conducting everyone - again referencing the way the Nazis are taking over even before the 1933 election where they won seats in government. During ‘What Would You Do?’ this effect was used again so that when Bebe Neuwerth as Fraulein Schneider is singing what is less to Cliff and Sally and to herself, she is raised in the center while the lights are darkened and just on her before she joins the two on the stage again, once more asking and begging for an answer on what should be done. This effect was used again at the end of the show with everyone in the beige suits on the turntable with the Emcee in the middle. Another powerful staging moment that works better in this sort of staging where it’s more metaphorical and symbolic versus a more straightforward production where there are props and sets is during Married (Reprise). The Emcee comes in as Herr Schultz is trying to reassure and reconnect with Fraulein Schneider and is seen wrapping a glass before stomping on it and paper falling down as glass when the brick is thrown in, showing both what would be a typical part of a Jewish wedding ceremony and also representing Kristallnacht and what will come in the future for Jewish citizens.

When it comes to the performances, they were extremely strong. There have been a lot of comments that, for Broadway at least, Redmayne’s Emcee starts off creepy and unsettling and thus has nowhere to go. That he’s more puppet than character. This is not the case with Adam Lambert’s Emcee. Even in the same costuming, when he welcomes you in, he is having fun, being charming, luring you into the Kit Kat Club and the hedonistic atmosphere. There is a dynamic between him and Sally and he’s always there both as a character but also the spirit of Berlin. Despite using the same script as the 1998 Sam Mendes revival, there is a departure during the first time we hear ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me’, instead using the original arrangement even as instead of the waitstaff, it is the Emcee singing the solo and the male performers backing up with harmonies as they place male dolls on the turntable to turn in counter with the Emcee. The entire time, he’s in a robe and looking at a box and making the decision to put on a blonde wig that is inside of it though we don’t see this until later in the second act. But it is this moment where he makes the decision to go along with the political tides that are changing, instead of listening to a gramophone of a school boy before defiantly saying “to me” at the end.

During ‘If You Could See Her’, the Emcee is in a clown costume as he will be for the first part of the second act and while other productions have had the performer who is dressed as a gorilla in some sort of of get up (pink bra and tutu, full one dress, cover the face before ‘introducing’ her to the audience), this time the performer in the gorilla suit is just in the gorilla suit with nothing else on. I’ve heard people reference people laughing at the end of the song after the “She wouldn’t look -Jewish- at all.” There was one person who did when I saw it, but given the tense atmosphere that was going on during the song as this is done after the window smash and Fraulein Schneider leaving Herr Schultz after realizing what it would mean to be married to a Jewish man, it was more of an uncomfortable laugh than a laugh in thinking the moment was funny, even as the rest of the song is played for laughs and even that moment, there wasn’t an overt sinister moment of the line.

It is during ‘I Don’t Care Much’ that the full transformation has taken hold. The Emcee is in the blonde wig and a beige suit. The layers of the song are such that it is clear he is pushing down his personality, his identity, to fit this new mold. As he sings, we see the other Kit Kat Club dancers in the same suit, watching, especially as he interacts with Sally. Previous versions have the Emcee singing the song away from the action (either without his coat in the 1988 pro-shot of the 1987 revival or in a dress as the Sam Mendes revivals had) whereas this time he interacts with Sally and even grabs her arm as she makes the decision to go through with the abortion and go back to the Kit Kat Club, even as it means losing her individuality as she has put on Cliff’s suit jacket to (mostly) match the others.

By the end of the show, the Emcee has completely changed. Similar to the Mendes version where the Emcee is also the train conductor who sees Cliff off. Instead of the welcoming and fun character from the beginning of the show, the Emcee/conductor is strict, even angry, when asking if Cliff did not find the country beautiful, as if why would anyone wish to leave? There seems to be a sort of recognition as Cliff sees him so when Cliff begins to sing Willkommen, the Emcee begins to reprise the dance slowly as if a flash of memory to Cliff and himself. Yet there is a definite double meaning to when the Emcee asks “Where are your troubles now? Forgotten? I told you so” both as the idea that with everyone falling into line but also, at least to me, pointing out how compared to a lot of problems, at least we are not in 1930s Berlin where fascism is on the rise, even as that can change as seen in the show and history. Following that, the Emcee is almost angry or trying to convince himself/the audience that “there are no troubles here, here life is beautiful.”

Auli’i Cravalho ended up not performing the show I went to, so I got to see Gabi Campo as Sally and she did well. Sally is an interesting character because she keeps so much hidden and instead flits between roles of what she thinks others want from her. The first time we really see Sally’s feelings is during “Maybe This Time” as she looks up at Cliff and pictures a life she didn’t expect to want and maybe doesn’t even want but because someone is offering her stability, she holds onto it. She had Sally’s anger down as seen during “Mein Herr” after being fired with “Mein Herr” as her final performance and lets that anger infuse the entirety of the song instead of going on with the show as previous versions done. It’s when she sings “Cabaret” that this really comes through as she wipes off the make up to fit with the rest of the other performers yet goes on to have a breakdown during the end where she is trying to strip out of the jacket even as she puts it back on, though unlike the others, she doesn’t have the jacket buttoned up and a shirt on under it, instead in her bra and the suit jacket and pants.

Cliff falls into my category of missed opportunities/mixed message with the themes of the show. This production leans heavily into Cliff being queer, even more so it seems than the previous Mendes versions, by having him as a Black queer man, some lines/interactions don’t add up - especially with Ernst Ludwig, who both sometimes seems to maybe flirt with him and also just befriend him - yet as Ludwig is a Nazi (not actually revealed until the end of the first act to both Cliff and the audience), it’s one of those moments where the theme and what it seems the creative team was going for missed the mark by not exploring the race dynamics, even as the original actor for this production leaned into his personal identity and of historical queer Black men for his performance (https://playbill.com/article/how-claude-mckay-informed-ato-blankson-woods-take-on-cliff-in-cabaret-on-broadway). Even by using him as a courier, it is mixed because on the one hand, he would be more noticed by train personnel as well as in Paris, yet also as an American (and this is noted by Sally), Ernst using an unsuspecting American because they are less likely to have their luggage opened and checked. It also adds weight to Cliff wanting to learn about the politics of Germany given they would have a more immediate impact on his life, American or not, as opposed to Sally, who wants to just go one and even says, “Oh politics, what has that got to do with us?” The actor I saw as Cliff, Calvin Leon Smith, does sell the dynamic between Cliff and Sally very well. By overtly changing Cliff’s race though, it highlights one of the concerns I had going into the production, that while the production was very interested in the queer community of Berlin and how the Nazi ideology impacted that, they didn’t focus on the underpinnings of Nazi ideology with regards to the extermination of the Jewish population and racism.

The romance between Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider fills the emotional heart of the show, even if Cliff and Sally are the main couple. It’s both unconventional in that we typically expect a love story between younger characters, but also that historical weight of knowing what will come for a Jewish man and German woman to be together at that point and both Bebe Neuwirth and Steven Skyball bring so much heart to the roles and their relationship that started as a flirtation to an unexpected proposal (even while it is clear how much they love one another) to Fraulein Schneider realizing the truth of what her future would hold and backing out while Herr Schultz has this belief that things will work out, that he may be Jewish, but he is German and that is what matters, that different parties come into power so why wait, which was a prevalent belief at the time (https://forward.com/culture/theater/610579/its-60-year-old-boy-meets-60-year-old-girl-steven-skybell-on-playing-herr-schultz-in-cabaret/) This is particularly obvious after the reprise of “Married”, where after Fraulein Schneider leaves following the breaking of the glass, he has a staredown with the Emcee, as if finally seeing what is going on in Berlin. Yet even then, he holds onto the belief that things will be fine soon enough, that he knows Germans because he is one. Meanwhile, Bebe Neuwrith in “What Would You Do?” sells the need to survive, to do what she must and will not be judged by those younger than her who have the choice to leave. Because of the blocking with the stage, there is that moment where she is essentially screaming in her head, begging for someone to tell her there is another way, yet at the end, she feels the need to do what she must, fall in line over whatever she may personally believe, in order to continue her business, and simply accepting the world as it is because it is easier to keep her head down.

There are a lot of strengths in the production, however, there are just those missed opportunities and themes that are not quite hit well. There’s the Cliff dynamics that can go either way but underpin some of my concerns, there’s even the way the show ends. With a smaller cast and strictly using costumes more as a storytelling mechanism, there are times where the message becomes muddled because Fraulein Kost is also a member of the Kit Kat Club (Fritzy) and during Tomorrow Belongs To Me, you have the cast still in their regular Kit Kat Club outfits so while there is a feeling of ‘the leopards won’t eat -my- face’, it is still disjointed. Especially at the end, as yes, the costuming of everyone barefaced and in the same suit is supposed to represent everyone falling into line and becoming homogeneous, even those who were once free in their identity, it misses the mark specifically because of the fact you have women in a male suit, which would go against the Nazi ideology of specific gender roles. So while I see what they were going for, it doesn’t quite hit.

Now, there are three main endings to Cabaret and each has its own message. In the 1987 revival, like the original production and movie, there is a mirror that faces the audience. While the original production had the characters singing, in the 1987 revival, there are poignant lines repeated by the main cast amidst the singing of Willkommen:

Schultz: Just children, mischievous children on their way to school, you understand

Schneider: I understand one does what one must

Sally: It will work out, it’s only politics, what’s that got to do with us

Kost(?) hysterical laughter,

Schneider: I must be sensible, if the Nazis come, what other choice have I?

Schultz: I know I am right, after all, what am I? A German

Ludwig: If you were a German, you would understand

Kost/Ensemble: Singing die die die before laughing,

Sally: Made my mind up back in Chelsea, when I go I’m going like Elsie…Cradle to tomb isn’t that long a stay, Life is a cabaret old chum, life is a cabaret old chum, life is… - During this, there is a swastika initially in the mirror with the dancers as Sally is in the middle.

This ending shows the complicity of not just the cast, but also the audience via the mirror as they are watching this all play out.

In 1993, the lines were the same but the staging was vastly different and would be the same staging for the remaining revivals, where the Emcee shows up in a leather jacket and then at the very end takes it off to reveal a concentration camp uniform with the yellow star and pink triangle and (in 1993 at least) the red triangle as well, so instead of representing the soul of Berlin as it falls into Nazism, he instead represents the victims.

Then there is this ending, which Redmayne says represents everyone as the perpetrators when the Emcee/Kit Kat Club are the soul of Berlin. Perhaps if they used the earlier script, or at least for the finale with the echoes of dialogue, it would hit more? I’m not sure. But by essentially using the Mendes script with some minor tweaks to it, something feels slightly off. Or just again, missed the mark in that regard for me.

Overall though, I really did enjoy the production and a lot did hit, it’s just the ending that really feels like it wasn’t quite right even as it was still a gut punch as any production of Cabaret should have.

#cabaret #cabaret at the kit kat club #xii reviews things

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admirange · 4 months ago

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Mcl style contest outfit dump pt. 5

Devil's night

Looked it up if it means something specific. Found out there's a book (?) series with this title, saw some fanarts and every character was in black, kinda military like clothes. Also devil's night was a day on October the 30th or 31th where in some american towns ppl did mischief and vandalism and stuff. At least that's what I read, idk about these stuff. But I continued this thought process and thought the Purge movies would fit with this theme too? The vibe I was going for is a little extra, going to parties, doing whatever the hell she wants, killing, anything. Taki robbed a bank.

Got well ranked with top 20%

Devil's advocate

Took the theme quite literally. But also didn't want to do a normal formal outfit, this is the DEVIL's advocate after all. So sort of formal, but still extremely slack. Taki shows off how rich they are.

Got well ranked with top 15%

Hollow lantern

I used very extra, overly-decorated clothes to give that feeling of those beautifully decorated lanterns. A bronze color would've matched more, but white is what I have. A little over-dressed for my taste, I don't know how to feel about it. I don't expect great ranking with it.

Got well ranked with top 25%

Demonic entity

My first thought was the nun Valak! Did a test run but it's really hard to make a decent nun without cloaks. Give us cloaks pls!! I also thought about the Babadook so I went with that idea after the nun didn't really work out. It's still kind of a mix between those two. Gave her that sunshader because it felt really empty, to have her just stand there. I actually pondered a lot if I should give her that or stay without stuff but I don't know, somehow it felt more sinister with the shader. Maybe just for me.

Got low ranking with it. The podium is a disaster. But not surprising since every second outfit in this theme was a fairy sparkle butterfly princess. Are we familiar what a demon is?

Dragon slayer

Although I watched it like 10 years ago, my first thought was still Fairy Tail... then Lance also came into my mind since yk... he killed his lil bro. Who was a dragon. So he's a dragon slayer. No? Okay. Searched for a picture of Gajeel from the anime and used it for reference. Not a 100% but it wasn't my intention anyway.

Got well ranked with top 28%

Pirate

Harr! The theme song of Pirates of the Caribbean was the ringbell for the end of the class in my school for 3 years. Went for a classic pirate, I honestly don't have much to say about it. I like it!

Got well ranked with top 22%

Ghost

Not much to add, tried to do something a little bit different since it's getting a little repetitive. We had like 3 different ghost themes so far. The goal was to put the whole character in white and look kind of old. The lore is that this is a library lady ghost, I just had to come up with something because yeah. It's getting boring.

Got well ranked with top 22%

Dark rituals

Pretty messy and a lot is going on, but that was my intention. As I said I'm getting a little bored with the clothes I have so I just tried doing a little more chaotic look. She doesn't even have a lore :(

Got well ranked with top 28%

Vampire

NADJA FROM WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS!!!! I can't even describe how much I love vampires. Both portrayed seriously and in a comedic way. I love playing with vampires in the sims and I love forgotten hollow. I love looking like a vampire. The scented wax I'm using rn is called vampire blood. The outfit is obviously referenced from Nadja, but only from my memory. Taki reminded me of Guillermo because of the vest and the glasses! I hope hope hope some ppl will recognize my vision 🥹 this may be my all time favorite outfit so far.

Got well ranked with top 12% (so much only for the basic looks to win again... I saw so many great cosplays, it's so disappointing but not surprising)*

Black widow

Looked up some inspos. I didn't want to do anything extra, an elegant but more tight fitting outfit. She's like the sims we make to marry the rich ones then kill them in the pool. Taki is enjoying their money. Idk about the background, it's something between a rich home and a funeral house? Like she's still at the husband's funeral lol. Spent an awful lot of time creating the outfit and it isn't even my best one.

Got well ranked with top 30%

*I don't wish to attack anyone with this, it just genuinely feels like I'm seeing the same outfits over and over again in different colors. Seems like a lot of people dress as the "color" of the theme rather than the theme itself... I promise a demon does not need butterflies and flowers, red or not it does not fit the idea.

Thanks for reading and/or looking through my creations! <3

#mclng #mcl new gen #mcl #my candy love #my candy love new gen #mcl style contest

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anhed-nia · 4 months ago

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BLOGTOBER 10/3-10/4/2024: BOWLING 4 EVA and SAID OF A DEER THAT SHEDS ITS ANTLERS

Last week I hosted two nights of shorts from the Final Girls Berlin Film Festival. It was a lot of fun, but I have to confess that I'm usually a little bit shorts-averse; I just feel like they tend to come out like little cocktail jokes with a windup and punchline, which can run the additional risk of being too messagey. A story needs more than 30 minutes to fully develop, and I think your uh Fibonacci sequence or whatever needs to run longer than that to feel seriously engrossed. Obviously I don't think there shouldn't be any shorts. THE BABADOOK started out as a short, SMILE started out as a short, among other things I really like--and I did see some things this year that gave me that feeling of a preamble to something bigger.

BOWLING 4 EVA is a surreal black comedy that I could not stop thinking about after I saw it. Filmmaker Aelfie Oudghiri packs a lot of interest into this fifteen minute movie about a suicidal teenager whose family shuttles her between boarding school and a psychiatrist's office to try to fix her. She gets prescribed a "loneliness inhibitor" that produces hallucinations, specifically attached to the only thing that gives her life any meaning--bowling.

The gruesome and weirdly horny climactic dream sequence in which she confronts an anthropomorphic bowling ball that embodies all of her dark thoughts is really great, but I loved the exploration of how the protagonist's alienation and affects her family life, her social life, and her online life. I saw it as a sharp refutation of the idea of the "male loneliness epidemic", which concept somehow suggests that only men and boys experience sexual frustration that can compound mental health issues. There's also an interesting layer about the specific culture of rich Koreans living in Queens, but I think you'd need a feature film to work all that out. Maybe they'll make one, but meanwhile I have discovered that you can watch this cool movie online! Hooray:

Probably my favorite film from the second night was a Belgian movie called SAID OF A DEER THAT SHEDS ITS ANTLERS. I'm noticing a new trend in horror where in recent years the focus has been on grief, and now it's shifting toward elder care. There were a few examples just in this program, including the award-winning OLGA'S EYES and the mysterious SPOOR, which is one of the strangest things I've seen in a while, but Salomé Crickx's SAID OF A DEER looks at the subject through an amusing metaphorical lens.

The film takes place on the day of ritual culling of elder adults in a rural community (although the practice could be universal, who knows!). While most of the young adults celebrate killing their parents with a sweaty basement kegger, one woman deals with the consequences of giving her mischievous folks a few more hours on earth. The point of the film comes into focus when some of the young people playfully gang up on a peer who is approaching middle age without kids or marriage prospects, meaning there is no one to kill him when it's time; this seems to carry the same stigma as having to go into a nursing home without enough family to look after you. It's a smart, funny film, and you should see if it you can! I won't be surprised if Crickx turns out a feature in the near future.

#blogtober #2024 #shorts #horror #black comedy #belgian #Salomé Crickx #Aelfie Oudghiri #bowling 4 eva #animation #said of a deer that sheds is antlers

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writing-rat · 2 years ago

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Birthday Celebration

It was Sam Carpenter’s birthday and Tara was excited. She knew Sam didn’t want to do anything special so they decided it would just be her and Gale. It would be a small at home celebration after all, where it would be watching different films of Sam’s choice as well as just a simple meal.

Tara was quick to go over to Sam’s room who was cuddled up to a pillow. Tara was soon running over and bounced on her sister, laughing as she did so. Sam woke up quickly, letting out a small scream before she realised who it was and quickly grabbed Tara, holding her in a chokehold. Tara laughed as she was looking at the bed. “I’m sorry,” she was teasing and was looking at her.

Soon Sam was letting her go as she stretched and sat up, checking the time. “Did you really have to wake me up at 7am on my birthday?” Sam teased Tara, who rolled her eyes and smirked.

“Gale said to be up early, I didn’t want her to see you lazying around. You know how she can suddenly get in mom mode,” Tara explained before she was going over to Sam’s closet and stole a hoodie. “You can shower first, I will cook breakfast. I will then shower,” Tara planned out. “Thank you,” Sam spoke, standing up as she pulled her loose shirt down, covering her boxers before she grabbed some jeans and a tank top, it being a hot day. She proceeded to grab her towel and went into the bathroom.

Tara was cooking meanwhile, smiling as she did so and listened for a knock. She had on some shorts and a sports bra as she hummed, soon hearing a knock on the door. She looked at the bacon before she ran to the door quickly and unlocked it. “Come in, I’ll be in the kitchen,” she yelled out, scampering over to the bacon as she quickly turned it over. In walked Gale. “Smells good,” she spoke, leaning against the door frame. “Thanks mom,” Tara smiled out as she was soon plating it up. “Want some food too?” she asked to be polite.

“No, I already ate but thanks,” Gale responded. “Where’s the birthday girl?” she then asked. “Showering,” Tara explained. Soon Sam came out, stretching before blinking. “Gale, hi,” she spoke with a soft smile as she was going over. “Hey hon,” Gale responded. “Happy birthday,” she spoke and was patting her shoulder. Tara left to go shower then, letting Gale and Sam talk. “Thank you… did Tara call you mom?” she asked curiously. Gale nodded. “I don’t know why, she just started so I am going along with it. Is that ok?” she asked. Sam nodded.

“Of course, she needs a positive role model after all. How are you?” Sam asked.

“I am doing ok, and you need one too,” Gale responded. Sam smiled as she was hugging the smaller woman. Gale smiled. “So… what’s the first movie you have planned?” she asked putting a bag on the table. It had food in it for dinner it seemed.

“I was thinking of ‘It Follows’,” she spoke with a smile. Gle nodded. “Good choice,” she spoke. Tara soon walked back in. This time she had on some more basketball shorts and a tank top with her favourite horror film on, The Babadook. “Morning,” she spoke to both officially before she flopped on the couch. “You ready for the films?” she asked. Sam chuckled before she was nodding, Gale quickly putting the groceries away before she was joining them on the couch.

Soon it was reaching lunch time and Gale was seeing the movie ended. “Want to have some lunch out? It’s on me,” Gale spoke. Sam looked at her.

“What if I want to pay?” Sam asked. “You can’t. It’s your birthday,” Gale stated like it was obvious. Sam chuckled and looked at Tara who thought. “We should,” Tara contributed. Gale smiled. “See,” she spoke. Sam nodded, reaching for her boots immediately. Tara put her converse on as Gale put her heels on.

They were soon walking over to a cafe called ‘The Day’s Cafe’. Tara was picking a booth seat as Sam chuckled, preferring a booth too. Gale followed them as she sat across from them, both sisters cuddled up to each other deciding what they wanted. Gale had been here many times already so she knew what she was wanting. She was going to have a tuna melt panini. That’s when the 2 girls decided what to have. Sam was going to have a cheese toastie while Tara would have some chicken nuggets. Eventually a waiter came, as they all ordered their food and everyone also got a drink of Dr Pepper.

It was quite a nice relaxing meal when it was ready as they all ate in comfortable silence, Gale was happy to see both girls relaxed after everything they had gone through. It gave her a sense of pride. Soon everyone finished as Gale paid the total amount. “Ready for even more films?” she asked Sam with a smile, who was nodding.

“Thank you for being for me on my birthday,” she thanked Gale who smiled.

“It’s no problem at all,” she spoke and kissed Sam’s forehead, who hugged her. She felt relaxed, like Gale was their mother.

Soon they arrived back at the apartment, going back to film watching, as they were watching Halloween.

It was soon 6pm, and Gale was getting up to make Sam’s favourite meal, chicken fajitas. She had seen Sam and Tara asleep so she knew she was safe for a while, as she was preparing the food without incident. She checked up on the 2 girls every now and then, nodding when they were both ok.

Soon she started to shake them, as they were groaning. “I made dinner. Chicken fajita’s,” she spoke quietly. Sam shot up at that and immediately went to the table as Tara chuckled. “You would be a good mom,” she spoke before she left.

That was when Gale decided she would adopt the 2 into her life. They were her children now.

#Sam Carpenter #tara carpenter #gale weathers #ratboy writing #ratboy writes

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mgentamn · 7 months ago

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movies i watched yesterday

yesterday i finally watched insidious the red door. im not sure what i expected but i was disappointed. i wasnt very engaged with the movie the way i am with others but from what i did see, i just wasn't impressed. when i was younger i always thought that insidious was 1 of the scariest horror movie franchises ever so i never watched any of them. anyways starting off. the part where the dad was in the mri machine and saw the thing crawling towards him was so stupid. like umm ok. and then the part when the main guy, i dont even remember his name was at the party and saw the guy throwing up everywhere. i mean ok that's kinda creepy i guess especially when he was telling him to close the door but other than that i was just bored. the part that made me the most irritated was the part when the song by tiny tim was playing. i was hoping that that would be left in the first movie. imo tiny tims songs are actually really good. I dont find his voice or songs to be creepy the way i used too when i first heard them. my whole problem with this movie is that they tried too hard to make it scary. like ok jumpscares and creepy music and songs by tiny tim. but at what point do ppl not get bored with that. like all horror movies after 2010 are basically the same. they're all so boring and repetitive and try too hard to be scary that they just end up not being scary at all. jumpscares only go so far. without jumpscares, the red door wouldn't have been memorable or 'scary' at all imo bc the plot itself really wasnt that scary, memorable or intresting. and another thing. i feel like movies that focus on just 1 monster/entity tend to be more interesting bc in this movie, there were like 3/4 different monsters. the main one i guess, the thing in the mri machine and then the demon tht kept throwing up. like atp who or what am i even supposed to be afraid of. it was just all over the place. 3/10 rating from me i hated it

the babadook: ok this movie did creep me out a bit. what scared me is the lighting and the setting of the house and everything like that. the depressing nature of the house especially since the dad had died was done really well. the book itself was weird and i thought the design of the babadook was pretty creepy and creative. he looked creepy especially when he was on the tv. i also got scared when the mom started changing and the way she killed the dog was like. ew. no. and also the way the babadooks voice sounded whenever it said its name was freaky so yeah. other than that i was neutral about it. what i will say though is that i hate parents in horror movies 🤦‍♀️ like the little boy literally pushed the girl down and would talk nonstop about how he had to kill the babadook and like first off if that was my child i would question why they were even thinking about killing things 24/7, and why he was constantly talking about some character in that way. and the mom the whole time was just like '😄' like girl no. i hate the trope of adults being passive abt weird things their kids do just bc 'they're kids.' Like when has that ever played out well

#my opinion #horror #horror movies #horror fan #movie opinions #the babadook #the red door #insidious #insidious the red door

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honeysmokedham · 1 year ago

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TIMING: August 3rd, 2023 PARTIES: Nora @honeysmokedham & Thea @notstinky LOCATION: The Crypt of Annalise Bellowmore SUMMARY: Thea decides Nora NEEDS to have a clean crypt and she's going to make it happen. Nora's just trying to be okay. CONTENT WARNINGS: None!

The thing about chapels was that they didn’t have a doorbell. Thea felt wrong inviting herself inside, but she justified it by thinking of the chapel as an apartment lobby and Nora’s apartment was just down a very narrow set of stairs. She dragged her clothing rack down the stairs, tucking the stack of hangers under one arm and her broom under the other. The bow she had put on the rack so the present appeared more dressed up, had fallen off in the chapel somewhere. It was too late to go back for it. “Nora?” She called out. “Nora? Is that…is someone crying?” It was probably some recording Nora had to add to the atmosphere but Thea had to admit, the crypt had great acoustics. Why wasn’t Nora hosting karaoke nights down here?

Nora was more paint than human, bear, whatever she was supposed to identify as, at this point. Her crypt has steadily been growing into a collection of stolen art supplies, and now, after her return from the mines, she had thrown herself into the art of creation. The only time such an act was more valuable than its sister, destruction, was when her brush touched canvas and the world stopped to exist. The world didn’t stop existing. The clattering sound of metal on stone steps brought Nora to an attention that not even the crying Munch doll could have. “Thea?” She had invited the other over, but Nora wasn’t used to people accepting invites to her crypt. This was her first official visitor. Nora extracted herself from her place in front of the canvas and moved through the empty space to the door. Babadook following close on her heels. “I told you not to buy anything.” It was a poor thanks for a gift that was so thoughtful. “Thanks.” Nora helped, tried to help with the rack and getting it into the main part of the crypt since Thea had her hands full. “Welcome to my crypt.” It was really one large room, everything in view once you got to the main area. “This is Babadook,” Nora nodded a chin to her dog. “Then Munch is the one crying, over there.” She pointed. “He’s a sad clown. I think its his thing to cry.”

Thea wanted to be polite. She didn’t say that Nora’s crypt-house smelled like dirt, dust, mold and paint— like the wet rotting corpse of an artist had crawled into the stone. She didn’t say the cobwebs were unsightly or that she didn’t exactly think it was safe for Nora’s horrifying cosplay dog to be in a space with snakes and spiders. As she did with everything else in her life, Thea focused on the positives. It was cool down here despite the summer heat and all the spiders must have been fun to watch crawl around. It was a unique place to live and, certainly, very Nora. “Hello, Babadook— we met last time, actually. I’m happy to see him in his costume again.” When the rack was settled, Thea busied herself with setting the hangers up for Nora to use, hoping that her clothes would get out of the pile on the ground and somewhere clean. She thought about the scene from Mary Poppins during ‘A Spoonful Of Sugar’ where Julie Andrews snaps and all the clothes and mess goes back into place. When she snapped, the best she got was a spider shifting on one of its many hairy legs on a web that was a little too close to her face. Thea wasn’t even going to say anything about the floating clown doll, that was, in fact, the source of the crying.

“Were you painting, Nora?” Thea asked, picking up her broom. She had a lot of work to do— the crypt was more dirt than stone. And she wasn’t going to ask about the floating clown doll. “I am a little confused about what you do with the paint smells.” She was not confused, one sniff to the air told her exactly what Nora did with the paint smells. She was not going to ask about the crying, floating clown doll. “It’s not entirely healthy to breathe them in all the time.” She was not going to ask about the doll. “I also wonder about what you do with food… do you have a fridge or…” She wasn’t going to do it. She wasn’t going to— “How are you doing that?” She pointed at the floating clown doll, asking. “Is it on strings? Does it have a speaker? It’s moving like it’s actually floating. Is it magnets? It’s magnets, isn’t it?”

"Oh right." Last time. Nora knew there had been a last time. Because it had been the first time Thea and she had hung out. It had been the start of their friendship, and the day that Thea had become damned for her association with Nora. Because last time was before Debbie. Last time had been before the phantom memory of the pressure it took to plunge her knife into Debbie's skull haunted her hand. Nora blinked, at the realization that last time had been a lifetime ago. Suddenly a new guilt was weighing her down. Why hadn't she been checking on Thea. Why hadn't she been apologizing to the girl who hadn't even wanted to break into a supermarket that day? Why was she letting that same innocent Thea, come into her crypt and clean it. Because Nora had already proven that she was a black hole, taking and taking, and Thea had already proven that she was better. Nora stood there, a statue as she tried to find the words. How've you've been since Debbie? Are you okay? Are we okay? Please don't clean. Please just be here as my friend.

But words had never been her friend, and each imagined sentence never made it past the lump in her throat.

And Thea was talking. Wonderful, kind, thoughtful Thea didn't question the black hole consuming everything she was giving without returning anything. Thea didn't stop and ask why she was carrying the conversation along with the burden of friendship. Nora swallowed back the lump in her throat and forced he voice to croak out a "Yeah.' She had been painting. It was a self-portrait of crystals consuming Nora's body, a successor to Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son. Because just like Goya, a madness overtook her in this art. An escape from the truth.

"I don't have any ventilation." Nora kept forcing the words past the lump, begging it to disappear back inside her. Let her deal with it later. Let Thea be free from this extra burden. "No. Maybe I should get a fan." But wouldn't the fan only flow it around the crypt? It wasn't like the paint fumes would escape. "I don't have a fridge. I don't normally eat here." Then Thea was pointing at Munch, who was still sobbing. The crying clown doll was perfect for him. How Sofie hadn't noticed that there was a ghost in there was beyond her. "It's possessed. We talked about it. You can touch him if you want, but he'll punch you."

Microplumes of dust flew up under Thea’s rocking broom. Her gaze was fixed on the magnetic clown doll. Possessed, Nora kept saying, as if it was a state of being that made sense for a doll. Thea was possessed, in the metaphorical— the only way that word could be used and mean something. Grief possessed her, memories haunted her, her body was hollowed out like the sort of fake rock her father put their spare set of keys in, thinking no one would ever look inside. Sometimes, even Thea lost that rock in the sea of real ones. She’d have to pick each of them up and shaking, waiting until she heard a ratting. No one had stopped shaking Thea. Thea was possessed, the doll was just a trick of science. Thea approached the doll.

Thea was always a curious person, as a child, if a question struck her in the night, she couldn’t sleep until it was answered. The world was a massive, horrifying jumble of mysteries and questions; if she understood it just a little, just enough, nothing was scary anymore. Everything became normal. She ran her hands along the side, hoping she’d feel the magnetic pull on her bracelet and be down with her questions. Nothing. She tried underneath. Nothing. She tried on top. Nothing. Behind. Nothing. Thea poked it. The doll’s hand snapped out and punched her in the nose and Thea stumbled back; it wasn’t that the doll was a particularly heavy hitter, it was some mixture of confusion, fear, and the embarrassment of being punched by a floating clown doll. When she spun, regaining her footing, she opened her eyes to find Nora’s self-portrait. Thea shrieked; fear pulsed off of her in heavy waves.

Thea snapped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry, it, um…” She swallowed, lowering her hands. “It’s a very visceral painting. It, um, for a moment…I really thought that was you. It felt like you were really…” Thea’s gaze dropped to it. “….consumed by crystals.” She turned to the doll, still floating, still a clown. “H-how did you program it to punch me? How did…” Thea turned around again. “Nora, this…” she gestured around. “…isn’t normal, is it?”

It was weird seeing Thea come into her home with the intent of cleaning it. As if it was something Nora should want. It made Nora examine her living space with new eyes. There had been a joy in the reclamation of herself, and space, with the lack of care. A direct pull into doing the opposite of everything she’d been told to do her whole life. Keep herself clean. Keep herself presentable. Become approachable. Now her personal hygiene, the state of her home, everything about her had become a rebellious statement against that. But Thea cared. Thea cared enough to bring a broom and a clothing rack and clean up a place she’d never considered worth cleaning before.

Luckily Thea became distracted by Munch. With Thea bothering the doll instead of sweeping, Nora got to forget the uncomfortable feeling that came with watching the back and forth of the broom. As if the broom was more than just a broom, but what the broom stood for was something she couldn’t put her finger on. Nora blinked once. Twice. Three times as Thea moved her hand around Munch until Munch punched her. Right in the nose. “Brutal.” Nora mumbled. “Munch stop, she’s a fucking guest. You can’t just go around fucking punching people.” The ghost was shouting, the ghost was in a temper. Munch was always in a temper. Nora suspected his temper was how he became a ghost in the first place.

Thea was screaming and Nora was feasting. A tasty little snack. A treat for Nora. She walked over to stand next to Thea, tilting her head at her unfinished portrait and trying to imagine how Thea saw it. “Are you sure it wasn’t being punched by a ghost that scared you?” Nora questioned, but Thea still didn’t believe in ghosts. “I didn’t program Munch to do anything.” The sad clown ghost had flown off to a different part of the crypt to cry, and Nora kept staring at the self-portrait parsing through what Thea had said about it. The crystals had consumed her. “It was me.” Nora agreed finally. It was still the me she wanted to be. “You know those weird crystals that sprouted all around town?” Nora gestured to one that had popped up in her crypt. A large space was left around it. “If you touch it, that’s what happens. You receive the “blessing” and you become a crystal.”

The world spun and Thea stood unmoving— left-behind. The first time she saw the grainy footage of her bones shattering and fusing together into the hulking frame of a wolf monster, she’d felt much of the same. It wasn’t a new feeling then; every time a ‘bad day’ turned to days and even opening her curtains felt like too much of a chore, time stretched to swallow her. It wasn’t a new feeling now. The only thing that tethered her to reality was Nora, whose contorted face in the painting knotted Thea’s stomach with concern. Nora was hard to read and her painted face was no different; it was the words that Thea clung to. There was no blessing in the world that involved the transformation of the body into other: not a wolf, not a crystal. Thea knew that Nora didn’t adhere to the conventions of normal like she did, nor did Nora seem to find comfort in the idea, but she did understand transformation. “Did it hurt?” She asked, turning to face Nora. “When I…” Thea gulped. She glanced over at Munch, the magnetic programmable clown doll that was not possessed, because ghosts didn’t exist. Her nose throbbed. She glanced around her: all the dust and cobwebs and gray stonework. Finally, she looked back at the painting and into the crystals that couldn’t have literally consumed Nora, because crystals didn’t do that. Well, if they were going to talk nonsense, what did it matter?

“When I transform, my bones snap and my skin stretches and—I don’t really remember it much, mostly I just feel it after, everything hurts and sometimes I just lay down for a few hours waiting for my legs to feel like legs again but—it’s like…” Thea swallowed, searching Nora’s impassive face for understanding. “It feels wrong. When I wake up… My body feels wrong. It feels like something bad happened to me and everything feels wrong. I don’t feel like me anymore, it feels like someone else crawled inside and shook everything up. And just when I start to feel like me again, it happens all over.” Thea pointed at the painting; her grip tightened on the broom’s handle. “W-was that how it felt for you?”

A pause in time to consider the question. Did it hurt? “Yes.” Physically Nora had thought she was dying. She had ripped flesh off her face to reveal crystal underneath. Her body had torn in new ways as the crystals popped through her flesh. It had been brutal and drawn out. Answering the question, did it hurt, wasn’t what it took time to consider. What Nora considered was it didn’t hurt enough to stop. If her mind would remain her own she would touch the crystals everyday for the rest of her life to become that, become her, the portrait on her easel. Or maybe the real pain was emotional. Being given the gift of your dreams with a burden attached to it, too heavy to accept. A carrot dangled in front of her face by a master who wanted a different beast. “It hurt.” Could three words encompass the experience? Could they tie the turmoil up in a nice bow, and offer it as a shared experience? Were words that powerful?

Nora might have gotten lost there, in her own thoughts, had she not offered a shocking new turn of conversation. When I transform. The hair raised along Nora’s arms at the confession. Thea was a shifter? There had always been something animalistic about her scent, but Nora had ignored it. Part of Thea’s job, or something. She was sensitive about her smell, there had never been a reason to ask, but the picture was coming into focus. “You’re a shifter.” There was nothing in Nora’s voice. No judgment. No acceptance. Just the plain neutrality that her monotone always offered. “When the crystals transformed me it was long. I felt like I was dying.” Or had that only been the banshee’s lie that put the thought in her head? “When I turn into a bear, it’s a moment. My body breaks and remakes. Then I’m me again. As a bear.” Nora blinked as she digested the words Thea had offered. “You don’t-” She paused, trying to make sure she had this right. “You make it sound like you don’t remember when you’re shifted? What do you change to?”

“Shifter?” Thea felt the word in her mouth, the weight of each syllable and the curve of her tongue around the sounds. The word was new for her; she assumed--if she was going to assume she was anything--that she was a werewolf. It made sense to her, based on the grainy footage of her sleepwalking camera. Like most things regarding her issue, she didn’t really think about it. “I’m not a shifter,” she swallowed, scratching her forehead, leaving behind pink streaks across her skin. “I’m not a--I’m me. I’m not anything. I’m just me. I’m a normal girl. I’m a normal girl with a little problem.” The broom trembled in her grip, her fingers tight against the plastic rod. “B-bear?” Thea blinked. “Bear?” She asked again, as if the answer could change. She wasn’t a bear, her grainy recorded body was too slim and her mouth too dog-like. She knew there were big cats, like Felix, and now bears? Why had she gotten a wolf? The broom snapped in her hands. “D-do you eat people? Does the bear eat people?”

The conversation about crystals seemed far off. She didn’t know what crystals had to do with Nora--what they had to do with the bear. She wanted to ask how different each had felt; if the crystals hurt but made her whole again or if it was just the bear that did that. Thea couldn’t get anything out but a series of hiccups and gasps. “I don’t remember,” she croaked. “Only a little. Sometimes. But I know…I know because…” Her trembling body didn’t care for the breathing exercises she attempted to employ; in, out, hold, in, out, none of it mattered. Her throat tightened. “...hair between my teeth and blood under my nails and I feel full. Inside. I feel full.” Thea sucked in a quivering breath. “It happens with the moon. I don’t know what it is. I’m normal, I’m a normal girl. It just--with the moon.”

With each stuttering word, and trembling finger Thea seemed to crumble. A shell of anxiety and emotion. Fear radiated off her friend, mixing with denial and apprehension. The broom snapped. A similar sound to her bones, their bones during shifting. Nora blinked at Thea, puzzling through the fractured broken sentences that had yet to shift into something complete. They lay wounded and open between the two of them while Nora waited for their transformation to complete. With each additional statement from Thea a form began to shape and Nora began to understand. Compassion, love or something of the like bloomed over Nora as she saw her friend painted in a new light before her. A girl alone and scared in a world that no longer made sense. A story she thought might be familiar to many of the werewolves she’d met, but they would have to know other werewolves to know it was familiar. With each panicked and hurt word, Nora felt herself become calmer and more resolved. How could she be angry about crystals and the mines in the face of her friend’s turmoil?

Nora stepped forward to her friend who just confessed to have eaten people. To her friend who didn’t want to be stinky. To her friend that had come over to clean Nora’s place because she wanted to. To her friend that had once told her she would die on the hill that nothing is a lost cause. Nora’s hand reached out, gently placing it on Thea’s arm. “You’re just Thea.” Nora confirmed. Because what else did you tell your friend who could turn into a wolf and ate people, but couldn’t remember it. “Normal can be different things. Normal can be turning into a bear or a wolf. Normal can be what we make it.” When Nora had been alone, she wished there had been someone else like her. Someone who ate fear and turned into a bear and could show her what her normal was supposed to be. Nora wasn’t a wolf, but she could make sure her friend knew she wasn’t alone. “You can be normal and the wolf. Just like I’m normal and the bear. We’re just us. You know?”

Thea whimpered, the sound caught in her throat and left a watery sob. Tears stung at the edges of her red eyes and when Nora touched her, the dam broke and they rained down her face. All her life she had wanted to be normal. She was too poor to be like the other girls in her school, her shoes had holes in them and her clothes came down from her older cousins. She was too smart to be average in class, which hadn’t felt like a curse until every hand she raised threw a series of daggers into her back and whispers burning her ears. She liked girls too much to join in on conversations about boy bands and movie star heartthrobs. No matter what she did, she was different. She was born different. Normal could be what they made it; Nora made it sound easy and Thea wanted to believe her. “C-can I hug you?” She sniffled. The second the affirmative left Nora’s lips, Thea threw her arms around her friend and held her tightly.

She breathed in her scent of dust and mold; felt the scratchy fabric of her clothes with dubious laundry schedule; and felt more at home holding Nora than she’d felt under any roof. “You’re a good friend,” Thea whispered into her hair. “I’m sorry I tried to clean your crypt; it’s just you and I like you and I don’t want to clean you up and turn you into something else.” She’d only been trying to take care of her a little but truly, through the fog of her lies, she’d been hoping to make Nora a little more normal and she was sorry for that. “We’re just us,” she repeated, “we’re just us.”

They were a bear and a wolf and somewhere behind them a floating crying clown doll that was definitely possessed, and that was okay. That could be normal. It was only the two of them and their life and it was normal.

#chatzy #chatzy: thea #mtv crypts

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pynkhues · 2 years ago

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Roles or projects you want to see the succession cast take on next? And somewhat related but any career predictions for the main cast? I wonder if Succession will be the high point for a few of them or if some will go on to win Oscars...

I can't take credit for this one, but I saw someone comment somewhere that Jeremy should work with Ruben Östlund, and having finally watched Force Majeure last night, it's literally all I can think about. I'm not sure if it would be that much of stretch though really, as I think Östlund has a similar sense of humour to the Succession writers and explores similar themes of wealth, masculinity and toxic families, but the way he utilises nature to amplify tension feels like something new and I just think Jeremy would eat it up, haha.

I think his interests as an actor tend to skew towards drama, and I do suspect he has directors he wants to work with (his last three films being quite weighty / noteworthy directors in Guy Ritchie, Aaron Sorkin, and James Gray [albeit I thought they were all weaker offerings from all three directors unfortunately]). I'm not sure if I can see him flipping genre at all really, but he might for the right director in that sense. I would like to see him in something that maybe toes the line between drama and genre? I think he'd do well in a gothic period drama like The Little Stranger or The Others, or a magical realism thriller like Barton Fink. Ooo, actually, I think he'd be great in something by the Coen Brothers.

I'd also really love to see him in a Jane Campion movie. I think he'd really work in a moody, tense, romantic period drama like The Piano or Power of the Dog, and I think they'd work well together given Jane generally encourages immersion with the actors in a way that plays with method acting in the way Jeremy seems to.

On that note, I would love to see Sarah work with Jane Campion too, particularly in something like The Piano or my personal favourite, Bright Star. I think she's got such a good look for it and would eat up that sort of sweeping romance (I am forever bitter we didn't get her Persuasion with Joel Fry).

Really, I think Sarah can pretty much do anything and I do think she's more adventurous with genre than Jeremy is. She's already done high sci-fi (Predestination), quite a bit of horror (Jessebelle, Winchester), prestige drama, romcoms and even family films. I'm curious as to her new one about the rise of the beanie baby empire, but from the trailer it doesn't look like she's being given much to do, which is a bummer.

I'd love to see her in more lead roles, and I'd especially love to see her work with Jennifer Kent, who between The Babadook and The Nightingale has a real knack for sharp edged, damaged women on the edge. I think she'd be great in a David Fincher project too, something like Mindhunter or Gone Girl - - ooo, actually, I'd love to see her in an adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Dark Places (I don't count the Charlize Theoron adaptation).

I guess that means I want to see her in crime? Haha, I do think her comic timing is underrated though too, and I think it could be fun to see her in more of that. Maybe a Wes Anderson style thing?

After watching Sorry to Bother You a few weeks ago, I was actually thinking about how good Kieran would be in a Boots Riley film. I think Kieran's energy naturally lends itself really well to absurdist comedy - a big part of why he could sell some of Succession's more unhinged moments, haha - and there are so many interesting directors operating in that space at the moment that I just think Kieran would sing with. Particularly the Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Swiss Army Man), Yorgos Lanthimos, and Taika Waititi.

Oooo, actually, I think he'd be great in something by the Safdie Brothers too, something like Good Time or Uncut Gems. I didn't particularly like the latter, but I do think they're interesting directors, and I think they could do something with Kieran that really lets him show off his range again. I'm not sure if I can see Kieran really doing high drama any time soon (which is kinda funny given he has done it before), but it'd be great to see him in things that straddle genre-lines. Oh, actually, I think he could be great in something by Jordan Peele too.

Okay, this got suuuper long, so I might just leave it there, haha.

#actually sarah and jeremy would both eat a yorgos movie too #now i want the three of them in one together haha #succession cast #hbo succession #kinda #jeremy strong #sarah snook #kieran culkin #welcome to my ama

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spiciestmarinara · 4 months ago

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I finished ‘Incidents Around the House’ and while I compare the set up and stuff under the 80/100 page mark to how I felt watching Skinamarink (My favorite ‘child tormented by unknowable evil’) , the rest of the book feels like any Conjuring/Paranormal Activity/Child Is Haunted movie.

(Spoiler review under the cut)

I think I did like Bela being the character the reader is tethered to, kids do notice things and make connections adults don’t. I really enjoyed times where she said or thought something that she isn’t aware is funny, very little kid behavior. But- I didn’t completely buy how she was handling all these things happening to her, every time an adult character was like “you’re so strong your so brave” I was like “she kind of the cameraman, there is no writing her out of the scene without taking us with her so she has to be here”, you know?

The otherworldly description of Other Mother and her strange powers were perfect for a “boogeyman” and I would reread descriptive scenes trying to capture what she would look like in my mind.

All that said- maybe a shorter story with way less emphasis on the parents would have been better. I don’t understand the purpose of all the running around for about three days and then going back to the house anyway. I know the idea was to wear the family down and make them feel isolated and alienated, but it felt like the author had very distinct scenes and scares he wanted to do and it would have gotten silly if it was all in one location.

The only good thing we get from this scrambling was Grandma Ruth and she really was The Best Adult. (Also, I would have totally kept Brian because there’s something so funny and infuriating about the idea of a ghost hunter who fucking leaves the moment he’s satisfied with having “seen and touched one”. )

Here I deleted about three paragraphs about Russ and Ursula- especially Ursula. I don’t think I hated her, maybe I’m impatient because I didn’t understand why the whole cheating storyline with her was in the book at all or worth the time spent on it. Having a flawed mother who may or may not have been the cause of this haunting would have been really good, almost Babadook-esque, but the author goes out of his way to emphasize that revealing all this information did nothing and telling Bela who her real father was didn’t work.

I don’t know how old the parents are supposed to be read as but they are hot messes together and apart. Because we’re following Bela, there were a lot of times their moods or attitudes towards each other would shift and it felt like it didn’t always make sense. Again, I can see this being a stronger short story with the parents only being passing figures- maybe keeping some of the memories Bela has with them to emphasize the idea of a ‘nature vs nurture’ angle in her approach to Other Mother.

I’m not someone who shys away from a bleak ending, again see mention of Skinamarink above, but it truely felt like I just read one little girl have a terrible week and then get spirited away- quite literally- after finally giving into this monsterdemonghost.

I’m not even sure who I would recommend this book to because the parts that work (ie Bela and Other Mother) really work and the ones that don’t slow down the whole experience. It’s still not the worst thing I read this year, but my idea of checking out Josh Malerman’s other works might be out of the back burner for a while.

#incidents around the house

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leticiahewett · 8 months ago

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Looking back at my early stages of grief (taken from my journal)

This will be all over the place because my feelings and thoughts were all over the place back then (from my journal).. I’m writing this in May 2024 approaching the 3 year angelversary..

My house felt eerily quiet, it was once filled with love, laughter and noise..

I’d get Waves of crying and sadness wash over me

My head and legs feeling heavy

An occasional ache around my heart when I thought of Isiah

my stomach feels like it’s constantly stuck on a rollercoaster..

thinking of eating something doesn’t come to mind I remember people forcing me to eat because I’d gone 2 days without food..

sleep was scarey, night time was scarey while the world slept the thoughts and feelings began.. some nights I couldn’t lay on my back cos a thought like “this is how isiah is laying in his coffin” or when it was dark I’d think “what if isiah woke up all he’d see is darkness” these thoughts would send me spiralling and give me anxiety so until I was able to control these thoughts I’d sleep when the sun came up or whenever my body got exhausted

Some nights I’d cry myself to sleep either in my husbands arms or when everyone was sleeping.. sometimes I’d just lay sobbing quietly so I didn’t get heard I wanted people to think I’m strong and I’m okay I didn’t want them to worry about me..

connecting with other people including my Husband was far from my mind too but I did want family around me..

I’ve grieved for many family members but never to this extent, being this vulnerable was scarey and weird.. I felt like I was a sook every time I shed a tear and then I’d remind myself I’m allowed to cry, my tears show my love for isiah

walking into his empty room was too real it was scarey walking In there for the first time after his departure..

On occasion it felt like isiah was still in Sydney with his aunty..

so many times I clutched my chest full sobbing or howling.. the heartache was unbearable my head was a cloudy mess some days I couldn’t think straight..

I have many questions why did he die? why didn’t he msg for a ride home? why didn’t he get a ride from someone else? is there a way I can bring him back? why did this happen? did he know how much I/we loved him? could this have been prevented? how could he just be left like an animal?, did he know his time was coming to an end? if they stopped could he been saved? how will I cope when this finally hits me properly?

Some days I just stayed in bed and only moved if visitors showed up..

I’d carry Isiah’s shirt around with me cos it was a connection to him

I shut down a lot and stopped talking to people.. I was scared of breaking and crying in front of people or thought people didn’t truly want to hear my thoughts or feelings it would make them feel uncomfortable..

I became a complicated person.. I was weak but yet I was strong.. I was tough yet I was sensitive.. I was scared of many things like a lil child..

I wanted to be with isiah but yet I wasn’t suicidal.. I stopped caring for myself cos what was the point..

I watched babadook and other YouTube movies or series surrounding death, grief or loss.

I even downloaded apps such as spirit talker and ghosttube.. I did everything I could think of to help me try to understand death and what happens in the afterlife

#tragedy #child loss #heartache #family

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waitimcomingtoo · 4 years ago

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Kiwi

Pairing: Peter Parker x film enthusiast!reader

Synopsis: Peter is skeptical of your new guy friend

Masterlist

You were a bit of a film nerd.

You always had something to say about a film. Whether it was random trivia about the actors or the original version of the script, you knew it and you had to share. Every time Peter heard you say, “did you know…”, during a movie, he knew he was in for something great. You seemed to know everything about every movie, and it brought Peter a great deal of amusement. His favorite thing, however, was when you showed him your favorite movies. You’d stay silent during these, always so enchanted by them. But when your favorite scene was coming, you’d let Peter know by giving his hand an anxious squeeze. That’s when he knew he had to stop looking at you and pay attention.

“Okay.” You turned the movie off and looked at Peter. “Be honest. What did you think?”

“I liked it.” Peter lied. He had barely paid attention. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the soft smile that rested on your lips throughout the film.

“That’s all?” You whined. “Did you know it took seven years to animate that dinner scene? Seven years for a three minute sequence. Isn’t that amazing?”

“It is.” Peter chuckled. “I was very impressed.”

“Me too.” You gushed. “It gets better every time.

“I bet. So how was your day today?” Peter asked as you laid your head down on his lap.

“I had a great day, actually.” You smiled up at him.

“Yeah?” Peter grinned as he stroked your hair. “What happened?”

“I was talking about The Babadook in theater today and this guy chimed in and told me it was his favorite horror film. Other than Midsommer, obviously.” You began. “Apparently he loves movies just as much as I do. Can you believe that?”

“Wow.” Peter nodded. “What’s his name?”

“Kevin.” You answered. “We’ve been texting all day. He’s making a list of his favorite movies and I’m making him a list of mine. God, I love when you meet someone and instantly click.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Peter said a little flatly. He didn’t love that you’d been texting this guy all day, especially when Peter didn’t know him. What he loved even less was how much you had in common with this guy.

As the weeks went on, Peter heard at least one mention of Kevin a day. Whether he was sending you a funny Tik tok or asking you for movie recommendations, Peter always saw his name on your phone. He checked out Kevin’s Instagram to see what he was like and saw a picture of the two of you with your arms around each other. Whenever Peter checked Kevin’s story on Snapchat, you were usually in in the background. It bothered Peter more than he liked, but he didn’t want to tell you he was jealous. He didn’t want you to think that he didn’t trust you, but he wasn’t so sure he trusted Kevin.

“Whats so funny?” Peter asked when he heard a giggle escape your lips. You were sitting on Peter’s bed, staring at your phone while he did his homework.

“It’s Kevin.” You chuckled as you typed something back. “I thought everyone in that class was uptight but he’s hilarious. I can’t believe we never spoke before this month. He’s like the funniest guy I know.”

“Wow. Good for you.” He smiled softly. “I’m glad you made a friend.”

“Me too. But enough about him. I want to hear about my lovely boyfriend.” You left your phone on the bed and went to Peter’s desk to sit with him. You sat down on his lap and wrapped your arms around him, bringing him into a long kiss.

“Your lovely boyfriend is very stressed about his annotated bibliography.” Peter sighed when he pulled away.

“Aw.” You cooed. “What’s it on?”

“Residential segregation in urban areas.” Peter told you.

“Hm.” You frowned. “I don’t know too much about that. But I could tell you five films that deal with it.”

“I’d love to hear them.” Peter smiled before leaning in for another kiss. Your kiss was cut short by the sound of your phone ringing.

“Hang on.” You sighed. “Sorry.”

“Who is it?” Peter asked as you went back to your phone.

“Kevin.” You answered before picking up. Peter frowned, feeling insecurity settle in his tummy.

“Hello?” You laughed softly. “I’m good. Yeah. It was Moonrise Kingdom. You’re welcome. Bye.”

“Sorry.” You said as you tossed your phone back on the bed. “He couldn’t remember the title of the movie I told him to watch.”

“Hm.” Peter nodded, not trusting himself to say anything helpful.

“Is everything okay?” You asked as you sat back down on his lap.

“Yeah.” He lied. “Everything is okay.”

A few weeks later, Peter was walking down the hallway when he spotted Kevin by the water fountain. He was too busy talking to some boy to notice Peter. Peter was thankful for this, since he was supposed to meet you between classes and he didn’t want Kevin to interrupt.

“There you are.” You came down the hallway and threw your arms around Peter. “Hi baby.”

“Hey princess.” Peter smiled before pulling you into a long kiss. He opened his eyes and flicked them up to see if Kevin was still there, which he was. He closed his eyes and deepened the kiss out of spite.

“Woah.” You pulled away breathlessly after a minute. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Just wanted to show you some love. Since I love you so much.” Peter shrugged before kissing you again.

“I love you too.” You giggled between kisses.

“Do you want to come over after class today? I have a lot more love I want to show you.” Peter mumbled against your lips. He flicked his eyes to the side again and this time, Kevin was watching. He was too far to hear your conversation, but he could clearly see how affectionate Peter was.

“Yes, please.” You bit your bottom lip. “But I can’t come until after four. Kiwi and I-“

“Kiwi?” Peter wondered.

“Sorry, Kevin. Kiwi is my nickname for him.” You explained as Peter’s smile fell. “He and I were gonna get coffee after class.”

“Alone?” Peter pulled away a little with a pour. “Like on a date?”

“No.” You laughed. “Peter, Kevin is-“

“Can we not talk about Kevin?” He cut you off and pulled you back into his arms. “I want to hear about your day. How was class?”

“Good. It’s just so long. I can’t sit through it all without zoning out. That’s usually when I start thinking about you.” You smirked as you rubbed your nose against his.

“Thinking about little old me?” Peter touched a hand to his chest before pulled you into another kiss. He slid his hand down your body and gave your butt a squeeze, making sure he was extra affectionate in front of Kevin.

“Whew.” You pulled away in surprises for laughed. “We are in the hallway, mister. Save that for later.”

“I will.” He smacked your butt for good measure. “I’ll see you after four.”

“See you.” You blew him a kiss as you walked away. Peter smirked and leaned against the wall, pleased with himself for his little public display of affection.

Since Kevin was so very fond of posting you on his social media, Peter made sure to put a picture of you sleeping on his story. He added the caption “when she sleeps in your bed more than her own” just so everyone knew what was going on.

A few weeks later, you went to Peter’s dorm after a long day of classes in need of some cuddles. You opened Peter’s door and found him laying in his bed.

“Hey, princess.” He sat up a little in his bed. “You had a midterm today right?”

“Yeah. I didn’t do too well though.” You sighed. “There was an essay at the end that I didn’t really know how to answer.”

“I’m sorry.” He frowned and opened his arms to you. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.” You mumbled as you climbed into his arms. “I was kinda bummed but then Kevin and I went to Dunkin so I feel better. It’s just a test.”

Peter quieted down when you mentioned Kevin, feeling that familiar sense of jealousy in his stomach.

“Is something wrong?” You noticed his mood change.

“Why are you and Kevin always together?” He asked quietly.

“I don’t know.” You shrugged. “We just like spending time together.”

“Do you hang out in a group or just you and him?” Peter wondered.

“Usually just me and him.” You told him, which is exactly what he didn’t want to hear. Peter pouted and tilted his chin up, not wanting you to see that he was upset.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, sitting up a little to stroke his face.

“He knows everything about movies. He’s the funniest guy you know.” Peter repeated the words you used. “And he takes up all your time. I don’t know, I’m a little worried.”

“About what? Kevin is just a friend.”

“But is that all he wants to be?” Peter asked. “Think about it, princess. You have the same passion as him and you’re drop dead gorgeous. There’s no way he’s not into you.”

“I promise you, he’s not.” You chuckled softly. “And he knows I have a boyfriend. I talk about you all the time.”

“You talk about him all the time too.” Peter said quietly.

“Hey, Petey.” You rolled on top of him and cupped his face. “You have no reason to be worried or jealous. I love you, okay? No one could take your place.”

“Okay.” Peter nodded, satisfied with what you said. “I believe you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you told me how you were feeling.” You smiled softly. “I’ll stop talking about him as much if it bothers you.”

You kept your word and stopped bringing Kevin up, which Peter appreciated. What Peter didn’t know was he’d still have you watch you laugh at Kevin’s texts and see the two of you in the hallways.

A few weeks later, Peter surprised you outside of your economics class during his free period.

“Hey, princess.” He came up behind you and pulled you into a hug.

“Peter!” You lit up. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Really?” Peter asked hopefully.

“Yeah. Kevin is about to get out of class. You can finally meet him.” You told him, and his smile fell. Of course your excitement was Kevin related. Before Peter could respond, Kevin walked out of a classroom and went up to you.

“There’s my girl.” He squeezed your hand. “How was economics?”

“Boring but he wore those pants again.” You laughed a little. Kevin seemed to know exactly what you were talking about, but Peter didn't.

“Did you take a picture?” Kevin’s eyes widened in excitement.

“I couldn’t.” You whined. “He was always facing us.”

“Ugh. Next time.” Kevin laughed. Peter looked between the two of you and cleared his throat, signaling that he was there.

“Oh, right.” You giggled. “Kevin, this is Peter.”

“It’s about time.” Kevin reached out to shake Peter’s hand. “Y/n told me all about you, Mr. Biochemistry and engineering major.”

“Nice to meet you.” Peter said stiffly as he draped an arm over your shoulders.

“You too.” Kevin smiled. “I gotta say, you’re the luckiest man in the world to be dating Y/n. I’m ready to marry her and I’ve only known her two months.”

“Yeah, well.” Peter smiled tightly and pulled you closer. “She’s taken.”

“I know.” Kevin sighed wistfully. “She never lets me forget it.”

“Haha.” Peter faked a laugh and hugged you even tighter. “I won’t either.”

“Aw.” Kevin smiled at the two of you. “Well, I wish I could stay but I have class in five minutes. It was great to meet you, Peter. We should all hang out soon.”

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. “Sure.”

“Bye Kiwi.” You called after him once he w no as walked away. You turned to Peter to see his reaction and noticed the displeased look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” You asked.

“Did he seriously just say he wanted to marry you? In front of me?” Peter asked angrily.

“He was kidding.” You assured him. “He would never marry me.”

“He didn’t take his eyes off you the entire time we were talking.” He grumbled.

“Hey.” You put a hand on Peter’s chest to calm him down. “You have nothing to worry about. Kevin is harmless. He likes me as a friend. He would never see me as something more.”

“I don’t know, princess.” Peter sighed and put his hand over yours. “He seems to really like you. I don’t think I’m comfortable with you guys hanging out alone all the time.”

“I understand what you’re saying.” You nodded. “But I promise, I wouldn’t be hanging out with this guy if I had any impression that he liked me.”

“Maybe he’s just good at hiding it around you.” Peter shrugged.

“He and I were gonna watch Eternal Sunshine this Friday. Would it make you feel better if you came too?” You suggested. “I’ve been meaning to show you that movie anyway.”

“Okay.” Peter nodded, feeling a little better. His frown didn’t let up, so you pinched his cheek.

“I love you.” You teased him.

“I love you too.” He broke into a smile finally.

Come Friday, you, Peter and Kevin were sitting in your dorm in front of a white sheet. Peter and Kevin sat in awkward silence as you fumbled with the projector.

“Okay, I think I got it.” You said finally, and the image appeared on the white sheet. You went to sit between Kevin and Peter, but Peter had other plans.

“You can sit with me, princess. Right here.” Peter loudly patted his lap. You laughed a little and took a seat between his legs, letting him pull you into his body. He wrapped his arms securely around your waist and pressed loud kisses to your cheek.

“You guys are so cute.” Kevin commented as he grabbed some popcorn.

“Thanks.” Peter said through an evil smile. He kissed your cheek again and snuggled you closer.

As the movie went on, Peter became progressively more affectionate. Usually you wouldn’t mind, but you didn’t want to make Kevin uncomfortable.

“Baby, not now.” You whispered to Peter as he kissed your neck. He had already left a hickey right where Kevin could see it.

“Sorry. I just can’t resist you.” Peter whispered back. Instead of kissing you, he slid his hands up your shirt and cupped your boobs. You craned your neck to raise an eyebrow at him, but he played dumb.

“What?” He asked innocently. “My hands were cold.”

“Sure.” You chuckled and let him keep his hands there the rest of the movie.

The following week, Peter walked through the halls feeling better about the whole Kevin situation. You spent the weekend in Peter’s dorm, only ever leaving for the bathroom or food. Peter made sure he posted pictures of you together throughout the day for Kevin to see. He could tell his jealousy was getting a little out of control, but he couldn’t help it. As long as Kevin was around, he had to keep his guard up.

Peter spotted your backpack in the crowded hallway and began to make his way to you. You usually walked back to the dorms together on Mondays since your classes ended at the same time. Peter stopped walking when he saw Kevin come out of a classroom and go over to you. He kept his back against the wall as he watched you and Kevin talk, feeling insecure once again. You were laughing loudly at whatever Kevin was saying, which made Peter roll his eyes.

“See you tomorrow, okay?” Kevin asked, brushing your cheek lightly with his thumb. You smiled excitedly and put your hand over his to keep it in place. Peter felt a white hot jealousy shot through his body when he saw this, a jealousy that quickly turned or anger. It was made even worse when Kevin pulled you into a hug. Peter had seen enough at that point and walked over to you and Kevin with heavy footsteps.

“Hey.” Peter said, shooting daggers at Kevin as he put a protective hand on your shoulder.

“Hey Petey.” You smiled and leaned into him.

“Hey, Peter.” Kevin waved. “Your girlfriend is a saint, by the way. I would not have made it through this semester without her.”

“Aw.” You gushed. “Stop.”

“I wouldn’t have.” He insisted. “I wish I could stay but I better run. Austin is waiting for me.”

“Ooo la la.” You teased. “See you at rehearsal.”

“See you.” He waved goodbye to the both of you and Peter was finally able to let out the breath he’d been holding in.

“Are you ready to walk home?” You asked as you turned to Peter.

“What the hell was that?” Peter jumped in right away, surprising you with his tone.

“What do you mean?” You blinked in confusion.

“You and Kevin.” He said. “Why was he touching you like that? And why were you touching him back?”

“Kiwi was just-“

“Enough of this Kiwi shit.” Peter cut you off. “How are you going to tell me I have nothing to worry about and then let him touch and you like that?”

“He was only touching me because-“

“Because he likes you? Like I said he did?” Peter didn’t let you finish. “You guys are together all the time, you’re always talking about him, and now you’re openly affectionate right in front of me? If you’re going to cheat on me, you could be a little more subtle.”

“Cheat on you?” Your eyes widened. “I am not cheating on you. I thought we cleared this up.”

“I thought so too. But apparently not.” Peter snapped. “Apparently you and your new boyfriend just can’t keep your hands off each other.”

“Kevin is not my boyfriend. You are.” You said quietly. “But you’re really hurting my feelings, Peter. How could you accuse me of something like that?”

“How could I not? It’s not like you’re trying to hide it.” He scoffed. “If I wasn’t standing right there, he probably would have kissed you.”

“I can promise you he wouldn’t.” You said as you looked at the ground.

“I can’t believe you’re still denying it after what I saw.” Peter said, getting emotional now. “How can you throw away everything we had for a guy you just met?”

“I didn’t throw anything away.” You looked up with tears in your eyes. “You’re the one ruining things with this stupid fight. How many times do I have to tell you that there’s nothing going on between me and Kevin? And how could you accuse me of cheating? Do you really think that little of me?”

“Now that you’ve shown me who you really are, I do.” Peter shot back. You sucked in a sharp breath and took a step back from him.

“You can walk home yourself.” You said through tears. “I don’t want to talk to you ever again.”

“Fine by me.” Peter shrugged, but he was already starting to regret everything. Before he could apologize for making you cry, you walked away. He decided to give you some space instead of running after you right away. Instead, he walked in the opposite direction and began to wander around campus. And sure enough, he ran in to...

“Hey Peter.” Kevin greeted with a smile. “I thought you were walking home with Y/n?”

“She left without me.” Peter grumbled without looking up. Kevin was the very last person he wanted to talk to right now.

“Is everything okay?” Kevin asked when he noticed Peters angry demeanor.

“It’s not really any of your business.” Peter narrowed his eyes at him.

“Okay.” Kevin backed off. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Kevin.” Peter rolled his eyes.

“Ugh. I hate the name Kevin.” Kevin tried to lighten the mood.

“Why?” Peter took the bait.

“It’s so masculine.” He grimaced. “It’s like, ‘hey, I’m Kevin. Wanna hear how loud my car engine is?’ Please. It’s so not me.”

“Is that why Y/n calls you Kiwi?” Peter asked, genuinely curious.

“Yeah.” Kevin smiled. “Cause I’m little fruity.”

“Fruity?” Peter wondered.

“Sorry.” Kevin chuckled. “I mean gay.”

“You’re gay?” Peter’s eyes widened. “Like, gay gay?”

“Yes sir.” Kevin replied. “But I haven’t come out to everyone yet. Only Y/n and my boyfriend Austin know. I asked them not to tell anyone. I don’t need anything else for people to target me for, you know?”

Peter stared at him for a moment, feeling a panic run down his spine. He had just accused you of cheating on him with your gay best friend.

“I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend.” Peter mumbled, feeling himself begin to sweat. You endured all of Peter’s accusations to keep Kevin’s secret, and now Peter felt awful.

“Damn.” Kevin said. “Does Y/n not talk about me? I tell Austin all about her.”

“She tries. I never let her.” Peter said sadly, angry with himself now.

“Why not?”

“Because I was stupid and super jealous.” Peter sighed and rubbed his face. “I was jealous even when she told me not to be.”

“Jealous of me?” Kevin laughed. “I don’t even like girls.”

“I didn’t know that. All I knew was you could talk to her about films and movies and I couldn’t.” Peter shrugged sadly. “I kept thinking you could make her happier than I could, so I got jealous. I’m such an idiot. You know I yelled at her today because of this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw you touching her face in the hallway and nearly lost my mind. I completely took it out on her.” Peter stressfully tugged at his hair.

“Oh, that.” Kevin laughed. “I’m the male lead in Y/n’s film project. My character is straight and I was having trouble portraying an accurate straight guy. She was teaching me some mannerisms that you do so I could use them on my scene partner. That thing in the hallway was just me joking around and showing her that I had been practicing. I never would’ve gotten through this theater class without her.”

“Oh my God.” Peter covered his mouth with his hand. “I made her cry over that? I thought you guys were sleeping together or something. I didn’t know she was helping you.”

“Yikes.” Kevin grimaced. “That’s not really fair. It’s not like she was the one touching me. Why would you yell at her over that?”

“Because I’m an idiot.” Peter said lamely. “And I don’t listen. She told me so many times that I had nothing to worry about. She said you didn’t like her like that, said you’d never marry her. She told me you weren’t a threat in every possible way without telling me your secret. And I just didn’t listen.”

“Peter, Y/n loves you. She would never cheat on you.” Kevin said like it was obvious. “She deserves a better apology than “I’m an idiot.” If my boyfriend tried to apologize to me like that, I’d tell him he was right and dump him.”

“Do you think she’s gonna break up with me?” Peter worried.

“Well how did you end things with her?”

“She told me to never speak to her again and walked away crying.” Peter recanted.

“Oh.” Kevin said quietly.

“What?” Petwr panicked.

“The good news is she’s not gonna break up with you.” Kevin began. “The bad news is she already did.”

“What?” Peter worried. “That was her breaking up with me?”

Before Kevin could answer, his phone buzzed with a text from you. He looked at it and cringed before looking at Peter.

“Oh no.” Peter gulped. “What did she say?”

“She said she just broke up with you and needs a coffee pick me up.”

“Okay.” Peter nodded.

“She also says she hates you and you broke her heart.” Kevin continued.

“Fuck.” Peter sighed. “I really messed up.”

“Yes. You did.” Kevin nodded. “And I’m sorry, but have no sympathy for you. She told you I wasn’t a threat and she was right. We both know Y/n, and you know her even better than I do. So we both know she’s not a cheater or a liar. She’s just a film nerd who likes to talk about her passions.”

“I know. I really fucked up.” Peter mumbled. “You’re her best friend. How can I win her back?”

“Why would you ask a gay man how to win a girl back?” Kevin asked. “Fuck if I know.”

“Right. Sorry.” Peter stammered. “Did she say anything else?”

“She said she’s meeting me at Dunkin in five minutes. And then she wants to watch Pride and Prejudice. Jesus, Peter. Pride and Prejudice? How bad did you hurt her?”

“Really bad.” He feared.

“Well now I have to go clean up your mess.” Kevin sighed. “And just so you know, I will be telling her the best way to get over you is to get under someone else. It’s always been my dream to say that.”

“Please don’t do that.” Peter begged. “Don’t tell her to sleep with anyone else.”

“If you’re under him, you ain’t getting over him.” Kevin shrugged as he sent you a text.

“What?” Peter asked. “What does that mean?”

“I’m sorry, Peter. But I’m on Y/n’s side with this. I can’t help you anymore. So don’t show up, don’t come out, and definitely don’t start caring about her now.”

“Are you speaking in riddles?” Peter whispered.

“Walk away.” Kevin nodded. “You know how.”

With that, Kevin walked away and left Peter all alone.

Peter trudged back to his dorm alone and sent you a long apology. You texted him back a day later and told him you needed some space, which he understood. He let two weeks go by before knocking on your door.

“What are you doing here?” You asked when you opened the door for Peter. He could tell you had been crying and could hear a movie playing in the background.

“Apologizing to my beautiful girlfriend who’s feelings I hurt.” He said sheepishly as he held out the ice coffee he had brought you.

“I’m not your girlfriend.” You stated, eyes flicking to the ice coffee. Peter held it out further and you took it from him, grabbing a reusable straw off your dresser.

“Yes.” Peter agreed. “But for the small price of letting me in the door, you could be again.”

“Fuck off.” You scoffed and tried to close the door.

“Here me out.”Peter pleaded and stuck his foot in the door. “What if I fuck in so we can talk? Please? I really miss you.”

“I don’t miss you.” You said without missing a beat.

“You posted the lyrics to All Too Well three times this week. You have to miss me a little.” Peter reasoned.

“What are you doing here?” You sighed, knowing he was right. “I thought I told you not to talk to me.”

Peter frowned and looked around for anyone who might be listening.

“I didn’t know Kevin was gay.” He said quietly.

“He isn’t out yet.”

“I know.” Peter nodded. “He told me.”

“You talked to him?” You raised an eyebrow at him as you sipped your drink.

“Yeah. He’s a cool guy.” Peter smiled shyly. “I see why you hang out with him.”

“Yeah. He is a cool guy. He trusts me when I ask him to and doesn’t misplace his anger.” You said through a tight smile as you walked into your room. Peter followed and shut the door behind him. He saw that you were playing Little Women on your projector and had tissues strewn all around the room.

“I fucked up.” He told you. “I never should have accused you of cheating. And I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You didn’t deserve that.”

“How many times did I tell you Kevin wasn’t a threat?” You set down your drink and folded your arms. “You said he made you uncomfortable so I stopped talking about him. You said you didn’t want us to be alone all the time so I invited you to hang out with us. I did everything I could to make you feel more comfortable without outing my friend and it still wasn’t enough for you. You just don’t trust me.”

“I do trust you.” He promised. “But I was insecure and jealous, even when you told me I didn’t need to be. I couldn’t help but feel like he could be a better boyfriend to you. He can talk to you about your passions in ways I can’t. That’s why I got so mad. I felt like I couldn’t measure up.”

“No one asked you to.” You shrugged. “I never expected you to know random shit about movies. It’s just something I like. I was happy with you just the way you were.”

“And I was too blinded by my jealousy to see that.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. You told me to trust you and I didn’t. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

“I don’t care.” You told him. “I just want you to leave.”

“I’m scared that if I walk out, we won’t fix things.” Peter said softly.

“Good.” You said flatly. “So get out.”

Peter opened his mouth to speak, but realized he had nothing productive to add. His eyes shifted to your projector, where Little Women was still playing.

“Did you know the costume designer made the same article of clothing for Saoirse and Timothee so it could look like Jo and Laurie shared clothing?” Peter asked quietly.

“Yeah, I did know that.” You nodded. “How did you?”

“I’ve been doing research on films you like to impress you.” Peter admitted. “Did you know they used Angelina Jolie’s real daughter in Maleficent because all the other children were scared?”

“I knew that too.” You cracked the faintest hint of a smile.

“Well did you know that Psycho-“

“Was the first film to feature a toilet flushing.” You finished his sentence for him. “Yeah, I know. You googling top ten crazy movie facts isn’t gonna fix this.”

“I know.” Peter agreed. “But I hope it shows you how badly I want to try.”

You stared at Peter for a long time, unsure of what to do. You chewed your bottom lip as you mulled over your options. You knew he was sorry, but you didn’t know if you were ready to forgive him.

“You asked me to leave. I’ll listen this time. I’m sorry about everything.” Peter gave you a soft smile before turning to leave.

“Peter, wait.” You said, and he internally rejoiced.

“Yes?” He asked innocently as he turned back around.

“I made more popcorn than I can eat.” You said timidly. “You should stay and finish the movie with me so I don’t waste it.”

“Okay.” Peter smiled in relief and took a seat on your floor. You sat down next to him and handed him the bowl of popcorn.

“But just so the popcorn doesn’t go to waste.” You reminded him and he took a handful.

“No, of course.” Peter nodded, not wanting to push his luck. You stared at him for a minute as he fought back a smile, losing his battle in no time. You rolled your eyes at him before resting your head on his shoulder.

“I’m only doing this for neck support.” You told him.

“I believe you.” He answered as he wrapped an arm around you. “I love you, princess.”

“Yeah, yeah.” You smiled a little as you put some popcorn in your mouth. “Whatever.”

Tag list 🏷

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#peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker fluff #peter parker x you #peter parker angst #peter parker jealous #Peter Parker x artsy!reader #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #spiderman

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stolensiren · 3 years ago

Text

pawsable break-in // nora & cass

TIMING: current PARTIES: @fearfordinner & @stolensiren SUMMARY: cass breaks into nora's house. nora's chill with it. CONTENT: none

She was trying not to do this as much. It was easy to justify stealing — it always had been, especially when the houses she was stealing from were this big, or when they people she was stealing from were as well-dressed as some of the ones who hung out downtown — but Cass always felt pretty shitty after, when the money was spent and she was laying in her bed trying to fall asleep at night. So she was trying not to do this as much, but it was hard to resist, sometimes. It was like there was a magnet pulling her in, drawing her towards shiny things that might weigh down her pockets just a little more than she needed. And this mansion? It looked like the type that was probably full of all kinds of shiny things.

Getting in wasn’t particularly hard. It was almost as if whoever lived there didn’t care whether the place was protected or not, and maybe that should have been her first sign that this wasn’t the best house to hit. White Crest was the kind of town where, instead of alarm systems, people had… other kinds of precautions.

Like, for example, the thing staring her down from across the hall.

It wasn’t a dog. It was dog-like, but it wasn’t a dog. Cass’s heart was in her throat at the sight of it, and she found herself frozen where she stood as it looked at her and she looked at it. It was like a standoff, only interrupted by approaching footsteps. For the first time, Cass was a little relieved that someone was definitely going to catch her; a person would be preferable to deal with than whatever this thing was. “Oh my god, this is so embarrassing,” she blurted, not yet looking at the presumed homeowner as they approached. “I took a wrong turn and wound up in your living room. Classic party foul. Do you mind calling off your… dog?” Far from her best lie, but she was kind of freaking out a little here.

Nora had been enjoying her time home in her mansion by painting in the nude. The truth was all occupants of the haunted mansion knew that it was fifty fifty if Nora would decide to get dressed on a given day. Everything had been peaceful. Munch was working on his art, Nora on hers and Babadook was snoozing in his bed. Until he wasn’t. Nora recognized the sign of alertness that crossed over him as he ran from the room and let out a mournful howl. Nora watched the yeth hound but decide to finish what she was doing before following. “Are you coming?” Nora had asked the haunted paint brush, but Munch had declared he was much too busy with his latest masterpiece to deal with whatever this was about.

Now where oh where could that dog have gotten off to. Nora stopped in the kitchen to get a hunk of ham to eat as she looked around. It didn’t take long for Nora to find the newcomer. “Who invited you?” Nora asked in her bored monotone between bites of ham. The ghosts normally only invited other spectators over. Nora walked over and poked the person in the face. Yeah. She didn’t seem like a ghost. Babadook continued letting out its mournful howl. For him this was a tasty treat. Someone scared of him. A victim for his little games.

Cass turned her head towards the woman when she spoke, faltering when she realized she was very naked. Flushing, she turned her head away and brought her hand up to form a wall between her eyes and the naked woman. “Sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t — Oh my god.” This was, without a doubt, the worst break-in she’d ever had. Normally, it would be easy to fall back on her silver tongue and talk her way out of the situation, be it through use of her powers or simply through her skills as a con artist. But between the howling creature and the woman’s unclothed state, Cass was too overwhelmed to even attempt it.

The woman came closer, poking Cass in the cheek, and she made a face. “Uh, my friend lives… near here, but I’d never been to his place before. I thought this was his house, and he told me to come right in when I got there, so I just… came right in to the wrong house.” It wasn’t a particularly strong lie, but it was hard to think of a better one. “Can you please make that thing stop howling? It’s really starting to freak me out.”

“I wasn’t aware that someone lived near here.” Nora made no attempt to cover herself as she considered the layout of her little hill. There was her large estate, the graveyard, some roads. The nearest house was a twenty minute walk in good weather. She also didn’t know her neighbor’s names. Maybe she should bring them meat baskets some time. That was considered neighborly right? “Who’s your friend?” Nora continued asking as if this was a normal conversation. She waved a hand at Babadook who stopped howling. “He just wants to be your friend.” Nora explained, motioning her companion closer. “He’s very friendly. His name is Babadook.” Babadook padded forward. His big eyes looked mischievously up at the intruder. Babadook even smiled, revealing his gleaming sharp teeth. “I think he likes you.” Nora added, patting him on the head.

“It’s possible that I took a really wrong turn,” Cass replied, still avoiding looking at the stranger. Breaking and entering was one thing, but looking at someone who’d thought they were naked in the privacy of their own home was a kind of invasion of privacy that Cass wouldn’t commit. Even if the woman did seem pretty unbothered by the whole thing. Taking a gamble and going for a common name, she said, “James. He, um… He’s actually the guy I went to for my fake ID, so I don’t think he’d want me giving out his last name. You know, privacy and all.” The implication she was hoping to sell was that she was younger than she was; it was something that tended to garner sympathy with people. An adult breaking into your home was a felony that you called the police for. A kid doing it was a bit of childish mischief you responded to with a scowl and a warning not to do it again. “Babadook,” she repeated, glancing down at the creature and making a face at its sharp teeth. “What, um… What kind of dog is Babadook?”

Nora’s ham juice covered hand reached out laying open in front of the girl. “Hand over the fake. I want to see if its any good.” Nora wasn’t a stranger to fake IDs but if this James was any good she might go to him for some other forgery type items. Forging was its own type of art that Nora could respect. Nora looked down at Babadook as he started circling their guest. “He’s a mutt.” Was all she answered. Kaden had said something about Yeth Hound but when she’d tried to google it not alot came up. Mutt seemed easier. Babadook’s tentacles danced happily. “Oh. Did you want something to drink? Or eat?” She offered the chunk of half eaten ham in her hand. “I’m forgetting my manners.”

Shrugging, Cass reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, producing her license. It was a fake ID, after all — even if the name on it was the one she used in place of her actual legal name. If the woman asked for the fictitious James’s information, Cass could easily claim that she couldn’t hand it out to just anyone and get her information to give to ‘James’ instead. It was an easy enough lie to sell. “A mutt,” she repeated, glancing to the creature again. “Right.” A mutt with tentacles. Just White Crest things, apparently. Looking down at the ham, she tried not to make a face. “Uh, I’m good, thanks. I should probably get going soon, actually. You know, wouldn’t want James to worry.” The longer she was in here, the harder it would be to keep up the lie. And the lie was pretty important when there was a dog-like creature she was pretty sure wanted to eat her in the mix.

“This is a good fake.” Nora declared. “Can I keep it?” Nora started walking away down the hall towards the kitchen, ID still firmly in hand. “Cassidy.” Nora read off the ID. She paused in her march down the hall, turning around and offering out the hand with ham in it. “I’m Nora, its a pleasure to meet you.” At which point it became obvious she had thrust her hand out for an introductory hand shake, not to feed the ham. “Can I meet James? Seems cool.” Plus she never knew when she’d need a fake ID. Babadook stayed next to their guest, still staring up at her and making it clear that he was going to stay near her for the foreseeable future.

“No,” Cass replied, “I kind of need it.” She could get another one easily enough, but it was a hassle she didn’t really need right now, so she followed the woman towards the kitchen. “Cass,” she replied. “I prefer Cass.” Carefully, she took Nora’s hand and gave it a shake. “You, too.” The question was one she’d been suspecting, so she shrugged. “I can give him your info, but he’d kill me if I gave you his. He doesn’t like people just handing out his contact stuff, you know.” Reaching out, she plucked the ID from Nora’s hand with deft fingers, sliding it back into her wallet and glancing down at Babadook. “Hey, do you always walk around naked? I mean, it’s your house and you can do what you want, but I kind of feel bad being here.”

Cass took the ID back. A disappointment. “Sure, you know where I live. Give him my address.” Nora looked down at herself as if just realizing she was naked. “Don’t you? How else are people supposed to see my art?” Nora motioned at the mirad of tattoos and piercings that adorned her flesh. In truth, she just didn’t care about wearing clothes. She’d walk around town as naked as the day she was born but some people just didn’t shut up about that kind of thing. “You shouldn’t feel bad. It’s just a body. Everyone… Most people have them.” Nora pushed open the door to the kitchen and pulled down two glasses. After looking at Cass for a moment she decided Cass looked like an apple juice person and poured her a glass before sliding it over the island at her. “Sucks you just got lost. Breaking and entering is a lot cooler. You could have stolen something.”

“Okay,” Cass agreed, though there was, of course, no ‘James’ to pass the information along to. If she ever came across Nora again and the woman asked about it, it would be easy enough to say that James wasn’t interested, or that his business had shut down, or that he’d been arrested. Lies were easy to tell, and easier still when you had time to prepare them. “I usually wear clothes,” she replied, “but I guess I don’t have much art to show off.” She had piercings in her ears and septum, but those were visible without requiring her to get naked. “It just… feels like an intrusion or something, you know?” She leaned against the table as Nora pulled out the glasses, taking the one Nora slid towards her and taking an experimental sip. Apple juice. Nice. “Ha,” she said, a little nervously. “Well, that’d be illegal. And I don’t see a ton of stuff I’d want to steal, anyway.”

“That sucks for you. Art is cool.” Nora poured herself a glass of Jack Daniels and took a sip. She was an adult she got to drink adult drinks. Nora forgot some people were adverse to doing illegal things because it was illegal. What were the police in White Crest going to do? She’d never seen them manage a simple arrest. “That’s a bit rude.” Nora mumbled into her drink. “My art is famous in some places.” Going into her home and saying that she had nothing worth stealing. Okay so the place was a little barren, covered in cob webs and old. Cass had obviously just not been to the right places. Noting Nora’s distress, Babadook let out a mournful howl, scooching closer to Cass. “I break and enter all the time and never tell people they don’t have things worth stealing.” She also never stole. Unless food counted. Nora mostly liked to go in to take a look. Maybe meet a few people.

“It is cool,” Cass agreed, because she had always admired tattoos and the like. And Nora’s were cool. Subtly, she glanced around the apartment at the mention of famous art, trying to see if she could find any of the pieces. “Well, maybe you just don’t have it displayed out here,” she said thoughtfully. “What would you say is the most famous art piece you have? The one worth the most money? I bet that’d be worth stealing.” It was a little weird trying to make up for upsetting someone by telling them you’d steal from them, but this whole situation had been weird from the start. And it was really only getting weirder. “You break and enter all the time? Really?”

"Everything here painted by me is famous. I'm a famous painter." Nora deadpanned the statement, her blank face revealing nothing to Cass. Of course Nora knew she wasn't a famous painter except the cult following of her more horrific series, but that didn't mean this girl knew that. Nora strode out of the kitchen, beckoning Cass to follow as she led her towards the ball room. She currently had her first White Crest bear series set up in it. The hallway there had her Ham series on display. As they walked Nora expanded on her breaking and entering. "Everyone should break and enter. Its fun. Its how I make most of my friends." Upon entry to the ballroom Nora waved a hand towards the art. "In the sitting room I have my monster series." Nora told her once they got to the ballroom. It wasn't to be confused with her White Crest series which did have monsters but those monsters were her friends. The other series they were made up from her imagination.

“Really? How much do your paintings sell for?” Cass hadn’t heard of her, but she was hardly well-versed in famous painters. All her knowledge about art came from Metzli and their gallery, and beyond that, she only knew of famous historical painters. Famous historical dead painters, usually. “So, uh… If somebody broke into your house, you wouldn’t be mad about it?” She followed Nora through the ballroom, looking at the paintings that hung. She might not know about art, but she recognized the skill involved. “You’re good,” she offered, allowing her voice to reflect how impressed she was. It was probably the least she could do, considering the fact that she’d broken in. “Where do you get your… inspiration?”

The truth of the matter was Nora hardly sold her art. Not because people weren’t interested but because she really only felt like giving it to people who she felt deserved it. Such elitism was classic for the one percent that Nora grew up in and she saw nothing odd about it. “Thirty thousand each starting price.” Nora declared, assuming that would be a pocket change amount for anyone inquiring. “No. I’d be interested in having a new friend.” It was a bold statement considering Nora was still trying to make friends with the person currently breaking and entering in her house. While in the nude. “I get my inspiration from my need to scare people. And friends.” Nora nodded. “Oh, speaking of friends, Jeremy is probably waiting for you.”

“Thirty thousand?” It sounded like an awful lot, though Cass knew there were paintings that went for far more. For a local artist, though, and one she’d never heard of… It seemed steep. Steep enough that she was pretty sure Nora was lying, but she wouldn’t call the other woman out. Not when she was still trying to get away with breaking and entering. “That’s a weird way to make friends,” Cass decided, but she didn’t push the issue. After all, it had worked out well enough for her, even if she wasn’t entirely sure Nora knew she’d broken in. At the next statement, she furrowed her brow. “Your… need to scare people?” She thought of Marley, looking at Nora a little more carefully. No red eyes. Maybe it was a figure of speech, then. Blinking at the mention of a Jeremy, Cass nodded. “James,” she corrected smoothly. Even in her flustered state, she was a good enough con artist to remember the name of the ‘friend’ she’d been going to meet when she ‘accidentally’ wound up in Nora’s living room. “And you’re right, he probably is wondering where I’m at. Um… Thanks for the apple juice. And for showing me your art. It really is cool.”

It was rude to get lost in someone’s house, tell them they had nothing worth stealing, and then criticize the way they made friends. Nora examined Cass for a long moment, her expressionless features giving away nothing. “Do you often tell people their choices are weird?” Nora inquired, conjuring an illusion that made her eyes into snake slits and a forked tongue hiss out of her mouth. “Or am I getting special treatment?” After the question dropped Nora turned away and motioned Cass to follow her as she escorted her towards the door. “Babadook will see you off the property. Feel free to get lost here anytime you wish.” Nora made a single to Babadook who ran out the door and stood waiting for Cass in the front yard.

“Only when their choices are weird,” Cass shot back easily, flashing a bright grin. She followed Nora back to the front of the house, to the door whose lock she’d picked to break in. It was lucky she’d closed it behind her; otherwise, things would look pretty suspicious and, despite Nora’s claims, Cass wasn’t really eager to confirm that she’d broken in. Casting Babadook a dubious look, Cass nodded hesitantly. She still wasn’t really sure about the ‘dog,’ but it hadn’t attacked her yet and she saw no signs of aggression in it now. Pausing for a moment, she held her phone out towards Nora. “Put your number in my phone,” she requested. “We can be friends, too. If you want.”

No reaction to her illusion. Maybe her new friend Cass was dead like Remmy and couldn’t see her works of art. Shame. She really did her best work with her magic. At least she made a friend from this. Even if her new friend thought she was weird. Well Nora thought she was weird. Who got lost in someone else’s home then judged people for making weird choices? “We can be friends.” Nora agreed. Because at the end of the day who was she to judge anyone. Nora placed her number in the phone. “Have a safe trip to Jimmy’s house.” She added as she handed back the phone. Under the name she’d just put a skull emoji. She was sure Cass would figure out who it was.

#fearfordinner #nora: pawsable break in

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captastra · 4 years ago

Text

Movie Night

Pairing: Jill x Carlos

Warnings: horror movies mentioned ( The Evil Dead (1981), The Babadook). I don’t mention that one scene from Evil dead

Words: 2.9K

Jill and Carlos share a movie night together! Read here on AO3.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Jill, popcorn’s ready!”

Carlos’s voice rang out from where he sat in the living room.

“I’m on it,” Jill said, making her way into the kitchen. The smell of popcorn filled the kitchen, the scent of butter bringing a smile to Jill's face. They had started having movie nights two months ago and she was starting to enjoy these nights with him. Her last roommate had been a disaster and she was nervous about what would happen when she started to live here. But Carlos had won her over their first weekend together and the rest was history. Jill smiled to herself as she thought back on that weekend before grabbing some final snacks.

“Gonna let it burn or what? I got a movie to watch and not all night to wait.”

Jill rolled her eyes and picked up the two bowls she had made. “Calm down,” she yelled back at him. “It’s not my fault you got home late. I was all ready to go, but then I got stuck waiting for you.” She had made her way out into the room, setting down the bowls as she talked. “There’s no point in getting everything ready if it's going to sit out for an hour”

She placed her hands on her hips as Carlos rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively at her complaints.

“Not my fault work held me late. Mikhail needed my help and you know how Nikolai always bails at the last minute, leaving Mikhail hanging and me to deal with it. I can’t say no to the old man.” He gave her his puppy dog eyes look, frowning slightly. “You know I wouldn’t miss a movie night with my favorite roommate...”

“I’m your only roommate.”

“Still my favorite,” he winked at her, “unless I had to. So let's just watch the movies. I have a whole week I want to forget and that starts now.” He reached forward and grabbed a handful of popcorn before settling into the couch, propping his legs on the table in front of him. “I think you’re gonna like the movie I’ve decided we should watch. A real scare, this one.”

Jill hadn’t moved as Carlos spoke, but she had to agree with him when he brought up Nikolai. The one time she met him, he didn’t leave a good impression, and wasn’t a person she wanted to see again anytime soon. She knew she couldn’t blame him if that was really the case, no matter how important movie night was becoming for her. More important than she was willing to admit but Jill ignored those thoughts.

“Alright,” she sighed, “alright. But it better not be anything like the last movie you picked. That one was gore, gore, and more gore. What was scary was how the actors didn’t drown in all that blood while filming.” She settled herself down on the couch as she spoke, her back resting against the armrest opposite Carlos, and moved to shove her feet under his leg.

Carlos raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as he lifted his leg to give her better room to hide her feet. “Comfy?”

She didn’t respond right away, focusing on getting herself comfortable on the couch. Once she had settled in, she reached for the popcorn and took a big handful to start eating. When she finally looked at him, she saw he was giving her a small smile as he rested his head on his hand.

Ignoring the fluttering in her stomach, Jill said, “It gets cold and you’re a heater. What better place to keep my feet warm.” She wiggled her toes under his leg, getting a laugh out of him. “Now what movie did you pick?”

“Ladies first.”

Jill rolled her eyes but smiled. “Tonight, we are going to watch,” she paused for dramatic effect, “Evil Dead.”

“The one from a few years ago?”

“No, the original!”

“C’mon Jill, that movie is campy as all hell,” he shook his head slightly but his smile never faded. “It’s barely watchable from what I’ve heard. Is that really what you want to go with?”

“It’s a cult classic,” she huffed. “Besides, I get to pick a movie and that's what I want to watch. When was the last time you’ve even watched the movie?” Carlos only shrugged. “Ok then. We’re watching it and that's that.” She gave him a firm nod, signaling she was done with that part of the conversation. “Now, what did you pick?”

He sat up excitedly when she asked, his smile growing wider which made Jill chuckle softly. “You’re going to love this one. A really good scary one that I’m sure will even have tough-as-nails Jill Valentine on the edge of her seat.”

“Scarier than the laundry incident?”

“I thought we agreed to never speak of that incident?” He narrowed his eyes at her and pointed at her. “You promised.”

Jill held up her hands in defeat but gave him a wry smile. “Heh, alright. So what ‘oh so scary’ movie did you pick? Or are you gonna leave me hanging in suspense?”

He scoffed slightly, but answered, “The Babadook. I haven’t seen it yet but Tyrell swears it's one of the scariest movies he’s seen in awhile. It comes highly recommended is what I can say.

“I’ve heard it was pretty good too,” Jill nodded as she tried to remember what she had heard about the film. “I hope it's as good as your friend says it is” - she gave him a wicked smile - “since your last movie wasn’t scary at all.”

Before Carlos could respond, Jill's phone vibrated loudly on the table.

“Hey, what did we agree to about phones?”

“Sorry.” Jill picked up her phone to silence it but started laughing when she read the notification. “Oh Chris,” she mumbled but didn’t say anything else as she started to respond.

“What’d he do now?”

Carlos had only met her friends a handful of times since she had moved into the apartment, but no issues had come up yet between them. They didn't seem to mind having him around when they came over to hang out and that was good enough for her.

“Oh just the usual Chris drama.” She saw the quizzical look on Carlos’s face and continued. “Issues with Wesker. Neither can figure out what they want, but it’s not like Chris listens to me whenever I offer advice so I’m just forced to suffer through his complaints.”

“Never really cared for Wesker,” Carlos said. “Guy gives me weird vibes.”

“Ehhh, yeah. I just listen to Chris and try not to get in the way.” She put the phone back on the table. “Now enough about Chris. Lets watch our movies.”

Carlos didn’t object as he started the first movie and they both settled in.

POV Switch

It didn’t take long before Carlos had to speak up about the campiness of the film. Not five minutes into the movie and almost everything that made up the film showed how low budget it was.

“Are you really going to make…”

“Shhh”

He lowered his voice instead. “Do you have to make me suffer through this?” He narrowly dodged a piece of popcorn that Jill had thrown at him. “You can’t tell me this gets any better as the movie goes on?”

“It does.” He glanced over at her and was surprised to see her focused expression as she watched the movie. He couldn’t help but admire how the light from the movie highlighted her features; her nose, jawline, the way a single hair fell across her face that he had to stop himself from pushing back behind her ear. But as he continued to glance at her here and there, an idea came into his head.

They weren’t too far into the movie before things started to get creepy, though Carlos tried to not let it get to him. He glanced back at Jill, saw that she was still engrossed in the movie while eating popcorn, and made his move

He mumbled something about needing to get up, but Jill was too engrossed in the movie and waved a hand at him in response. Getting up, he made his way out into the hallway, before sneakily making his way back into the living room. The couch was too big for him to see Jill but he figured she was still in the exact same position as before.

Walking as quietly as he could, Carlos made his way over to where she sat. The movie was finally picking up, with the music setting the perfect atmosphere for him to make his move.

“Boo!”

Jill let out a small scream as she nearly knocked over the popcorn bowl that she held in her lap. They both reached for the bowl to make sure she didn’t spill everywhere but this also put him in line of sight for Jill to see that it was him who scared her. Once they had settled the popcorn, she gave him the meanest glare he had ever seen.

“Good god Carlos!” The look on her face only made him laugh harder, which seemed to annoy her even more. “Don’t do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Carlos continued to laugh, “But the look on your face was worth it.”

Jill shoved him playfully and eventually gave him a smile. “Do that again and I will kill you. Or get back at you even worse. Don’t tempt me.”

“Ha, I’m sure you could if you set your mind to it.” Carlos went to settle back on the couch, one leg on the table in front of him and another arm out along the top of the couch.

“Good,” she gave him one more look before turning back to the movie, “And don’t you forget it.”

“Wouldn't dream of it.”

They sat there in silence for the rest of the movie. Jill was as enraptured as ever and even Carlos found himself being drawn into the movie. The campiness didn’t take away from the scariness that was Evil Dead. He was enjoying watching Ash start to slip into insanity at whatever entities were taking over his friends. There was a time or two he had to look away from the movie.

He felt the couch shift next to him and was surprised to see that Jill had made her way from the other side of the couch. He was more surprised when she sat close enough to him that he could have lowered his arm around her shoulder. But he didn’t. No, he would be good. For the rest of the film they sat that way, almost touching but too transfixed in the movie to notice.

Once the movie ended, Jill turned to him. “So what did you think?”

He thought about it for a minute, but decided to have some fun with her when he saw her staring at him intently. After a few seconds of hemming and hawing and a very loud sigh from Jill, he answered her.

“It was decent.”

“Decent?” She raised a single eyebrow at him. “I saw you look away a few times at some scenes. So you can’t tell me it was just ‘decent’

“Alright,” He threw his hands up in a sign of surrender, laughing at how heated Jill was getting about the movie. “It had its moments and I can see why it's a cult classic. But can we watch the other movie now?”

They sat in silence for a moment, neither backing down as Carlos continued to chuckle and Jill stared at him with a raised eyebrow. Carlos started to fear he had gone too far, but Jill seemed to deflate and settled back into the couch right next to him.

“Yes, yes. Put it on.” She gave him a sideways glance. “I’m expecting it to be good.”

“Heh, I certainly hope so. I need a good scare after the last movie.” He smiled at himself at the glare he imagined Jill gave him.

“Me too,” was all she said in response.

It didn’t take long after the movie started for Carlos to see what Tyrell meant about the movie being scary. He even found himself at some points wondering what would happen next after the book was read. But when he felt a shift in the couch next to him and a slight touch on his arm, he nearly jumped out of his seat.

“You ok scaredy cat?”

Lifting his arm up, he saw that Jill was the source of what had scared him. She had curled right next to him, her knees pulled up to her chin and then covered herself with one of their blankets. She continued to give him a sour look, but he could see the corners of lips fighting to curl up into a smile.

“I could ask you the same question.” He gave her a big smile. “Doesn’t look like I’m the only one…”

“Shh!” She brought one hand from out under the blanket and pointed at the screen. “Play the movie. It was just getting good.”

“Yes, mam.” He chuckled as he reached forward to start the movie again. But when he wanted to settle back down next to Jill, his arm hovered over her body next to his. He let himself weigh the risks for only a few seconds - she might get very mad - and decided it wasn’t worth giving it a second thought.

Without any ceremony, Carlos rested his arm around Jill. He tensed slightly when he felt her shift against him, fearing that she would start yelling at him for getting too comfortable with her. But when she didn't pull away and instead settled against him, he let his arm drape around her.

He sat there with his arm around her, eyes glued to the screen but not registering anything that was happening. His brain was too focused on her warmth and the way she fit perfectly next to him. It felt...right.

Jill suddenly jumped against him at something that happened on the screen, breaking his train of thought. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms protectively around her. as he remembered they were watching a movie together. Finally focusing on what happened showed that the movie was starting to pick up with whatever was happening in the story.

Focus man.

And he did. Jill wasn’t pulling away from him and he wasn’t going to let thoughts make him second guess what was happening.

When he finally caught on to what was happening in the movie, Carlos found himself surprised at how good it was. There were a few moments he found himself jumping or having to look away at certain scenes. Before long he became enraptured by the film and didn't realize that even he had curled up on the couch next to Jill. His arms were wrapped tightly around her as the story unfold.

It wasn’t until the movie finally ended that the two of them realized how tightly they were holding onto each other. He didn’t realize how close they were until, turning to look at Jill, he found her looking back at him, their noses almost touching.

“Hey.” Her breath kissed his face as she spoke, her eyes never leaving his.

“Hey back at you.” He kept his eyes trained on hers, not daring to look anywhere else. They stayed like this a moment longer, Carlos’s arms wrapped around her while her fingers curled into his shirt.

“Guess the movie was pretty scary after all.” She started to shift away from him and Carlos immediately let her go, missing the warmth of her body against his. “Here’s to a few sleepless nights after that.” She let out an airy laugh as she got up from the couch.

“You can always stay with me if you need to.” He said it as a joke but inside it was only a half lie. He wouldn’t say no to her if she needed that support from him.

Jill rolled her eyes but from her smile, Carlos knew she took it as a joke. “Don’t expect me to come running to you just because of some nightmare. I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will.”

With that, they set about cleaning up the apartment. Both of them were yawning at that point, too tired to properly clean, though Jill was trying.

Carlos let out a soft chuckle as once again he had to steer Jill towards her room. “Go to sleep. We can clean tomorrow.”

“But we shouldn’t let it sit there,” another yawn escaped her lips as she rubbed her eyes.

“It’s only for a bit and then you can clean to your heart's content.” He felt her try to fight him as he continued to move her towards the hallway. “Seriously Jill, don’t need you falling asleep on the kitchen floor because you tried to clean.”

She started to respond but when another yawn came on, she gave him a shrug. “Alright.” This time he didn’t need to push her. “You get some sleep too though. No staying up late this time. I don’t want to be the only one who’s up cleaning while you sleep in super late.”

“Ha, I’ll be up. Don’t you worry.” He gave her a wink as he started to make his way towards his room.

He was almost at the door when he heard Jill call out to him. Turning to face her, he saw that she was halfway into her room. He took in slightly disheveled hair and clothes from sitting on the couch next to him. He watched her stifle another yawn before speaking up. “Yeah?”

“Goodnight. And thanks for the movie. It was pretty good.”

He nodded, too tired to think of any funny comeback but glad all the same that she enjoyed it.

“Goodnight Jill.”

#resident evil #re3 remake #re3 roommate au #jill valentine #carlos oliveira #jill and carlos #valeveira #pre-relationship #fanfiction

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