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bluecatwriter · 5 months ago

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Thank you, dear anon! I decided on "Angels Unawares" because I want to gush about my OCs. ;) "Five times people helped Jonathan Harker reach safety between Castle Dracula and Buda-Pesth."

(Major spoilers, discussion of Christianity)

-I was inspired to write this fic based on the gigantic gap between Jonathan lizard-fashioning down Castle Dracula's walls and showing up in Buda-Pesth, and began to think about who might have encountered him along the way. From my days backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail, I am very aware of how difficult it is to travel large distances without good supplies (just finding enough water is a huge headache!), and I kept thinking that he had to have people helping him along the way.

-This fic was very inspired by my solo travels around the U.S. (and a bit in Europe) when I was in my early 20s— I was never in dire circumstances, but the way that people went far out of their way to help me made a huge impact on me. I wanted to explore the themes of the kindness of strangers, and how doing one little useful thing can help set things in motion for bigger good to be done.

-The title is a reference to a verse in the New Testament book of Hebrews, which one of the characters quotes in the first chapter: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." This verse was used in my immediate and extended family quite often, to encourage us to be kind to strangers and do what we could to help (my paternal grandmother swore that her family gave food and shelter to a pair of angels who showed up at their farm in Iowa when she was a kid). Someone in the comments show that in some sense Jonathan is an angel— an avenging angel who will return to destroy the foe who is haunting this part of the world.

-In each of the chapters, Jonathan encounters a different person or group of people who help him get a little closer to his destination, told from the outsider's perspective. I didn't have any strong themes or motifs in mind when I started out, but after a couple chapters, I noticed some running threads emerging: 1) Jonathan receiving a gift from each of the strangers, such as shoes or a handkerchief, and 2) the viewpoint characters helping him because they were able to see someone they already knew/loved in Jonathan. After I noticed it emerging I emphasized it intentionally, and I think it gives the story a good kind of structure.

-Chapter 1, set in Romania fairly close to Castle Dracula, is told from the viewpoint of Pavel, who lives with his son and his grandma and is grieving the death of his wife from a vampire. This one was one of the most difficult to write, because of a language barrier (it didn't make sense for them to speak English, and I decided that Jonathan was in no state to remember much of the German he knows) and because of the overwhelming fear that the characters are facing: at first thinking Jonathan is a vampire, then learning he's a victim instead.

-This chapter features some herbal remedies that I pulled from a book my brother got for me called "Russian Folk Remedies." Grandma uses herbs for dressing wounds and treating rabies (and in a rare burst of doing actual research, I made sure the herbs would be able to grow that far south).

-Jonathan reminds Pavel of the wife he lost, and Jonathan is sent on his way with shoes, a pack, and food.

-In Chapter 2, we meet Cristian, an old man with an estranged son. I actually made myself pretty emotional writing this chapter, drawing from my parents' stories about how difficult it is to let go of the childhood stage and accept your children as adults.

-It was important to me that Cristian is kind of a grumpy guy, and was initially going to chase Jonathan away. I didn't want everyone to be sunshine and rainbows— just ordinary people of various personality types who learn to have empathy, anyway.

-Jonathan reminds Cristian of his son, and is given Cristian's coat.

-Chapter 3 introduces Nicolae, the station-master at Klausenburg. I decided to make him young for some contrast to Cristian, and eager to do his job correctly. Meanwhile, I had to figure out how to show Jonathan's "violent demeanor" in a believable way.

-I decided to give Nicolae a seizure disorder to make him sympathetic to Jonathan having a meltdown in public. One of my family members has seizures, and even in the modern day, handling people's reactions when a seizure happens in a crowd is… not fun. There would have been even more social stigma back then, so I thought it was a good way to show that Nicolae is more open to Jonathan than other people might be because he knows what it's like to have people be afraid of him.

-I looked up some pictures of the Klausenburg station, but few of those details made it into the story.

-Nicolae gives Jonathan a sandwich with pickled garlic paste on it (yum!) and Jonathan can barely eat it; at this point it becomes a bit clearer that Jonathan is just a lil vamped right now.

-Jonathan reminds Nicolae of himself, and takes Nicolae's handkerchief with him.

-Chapter 4 introduces a retired nurse from the Romanian War of Independence, Maria. She's my favorite character! I based her no-nonsense personality on one of my sibling's in-laws, who was an ICU nurse for many years.

-Originally Maria was traveling with her niece, who translated for her, but the logistics got ridiculously complicated, so I left out the niece and just made Maria fluent in English.

-This is definitely the most gory chapter as we see the full extent of Jonathan's wounds. Fortunately he has someone to patch him up…

-Jonathan reminds Maria of the soldiers she tended during the war, and she gives him one of her spare shirts to replace his raggedy one.

-In Chapter 5 we finally get to Sister Agatha! I decided to make her one of the younger nuns working at the hospital, thinking that she probably wrote the letter not because she was the person in charge but because she was the one who spoke/wrote English most fluently.

-At the time I wrote this, my spouse and I were watching the show Call the Midwife, and that vibe informed the way I wrote the nuns.

-Once I figured out that each viewpoint character would see someone they loved/knew in Jonathan, I was champing at the bit to get to this chapter, because I knew Sister Agatha would looked at bedraggled Jonathan and be like, "Yeah, that's Jesus." She also gives him a rosary, which burns his hand, but he doesn't want to relinquish.

-I liked the little epilogue with Jonathan, still disoriented, waking up and taking stock of all the gifts he's been given along his journey, even if he can't really remember what is happening. Although the story doesn't necessarily "resolve" in that he hasn't found Mina yet, he's left with a feeling that people will continue to help him along his journey… and they do!

Well, this got a bit rambly, but thanks for the opportunity to gush. :D

(Ask game here)

#ask games #answered #director's cut game #dracula daily #dracula daily spoilers #my writing #jonathan harker #sister agatha

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poisonous-honey · 9 months ago

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Genshin Masterlist

X-X-X-X-UNDER CONSTRUCTION-X-X-X-X

(Collection links don't work on the app yet!!)

Honestly assume it’s SAGAU unless stated otherwise

3.3 Tier List Mayhem

Scaramouche- I guess you should say Wanderer, has finally been released, and you’ve used him all week. After you’ve basically drowned yourself in content surrounding him after the Sumeru Interlude Quest you feel an update to your tier list is in order

36-Stars Of Jealousy

After a year worth of grinding you’ve finally conquered it, but at the cost of Venti’s exclusion. He should be happy for you, but can’t break away from his seething jealousy and sadness.

Cats On Crack (Collection)

Luck never seems to be on your side. You always seem to end up helping other unlucky souls on their own journey, as if fate itself thought it was your job to be a substitute guardian angel. Maybe that’s why you find yourself standing in front of a group of cats protecting one of their injured. It doesn’t matter if it’s Lady Luck or the Goddess of Fate condemning you to this role, but you hope they step on a Lego Brick. (Not SAGAU)

Child of the Otherworld

ASK: Hello, could I request a SAGAU + Child!Creator!Reader (Platonic, of course) - And since the people were expecting their god to be of adult size, all of (Reader)’s robes are too baggy, and their sleeves drape over their hands, but everyone finds it cute so no one cares lol - And I would just like to see some scenarios about them being overprotective of (Reader) not in an obsessive way, just in a parental way

Inspired by this ask. There was more to it, but it heavily relied on the Reader being the creator, which I did not do, so a lot changed and didn’t work.

The Cruel Act Of Breaking The World

They try their hardest to keep you entertained. To keep you within their realm of ones and zeros, so your immersion doesn’t fall, and their mind doesn’t shatter. They know their walls are fake and lives are merely code, but that doesn’t make seeing the out-of-bounds any less harsh.

Fontaine Is Committing Childe Slander FR

Childe’s treatment in the Fontaine Archon Quests puts you in a terrible mood

Garden Of Eden

The world has ended and there was nothing they could do about it. Xiao and Aether share a quiet moment in a sea of flowers. (Not SAGAU || Illusions to God Reader)

Genshin Is Crossing Over (Collection)

where all the crossover fics are kept (i.e. The Venti Parable, Does Having Animal Ears Make You A Pokémon etc.)

Genshin Incorrect Quotes (Collection)

Silly and crack. Basically what the title says.

In The Abyss We Learn To Worship

Why does Childe seem to be your most devoted acolyte, even surpassing that of the Archons? (KINDA CULT AU (ALSO OLD))

Irodori Festival

Little blob!

Just Unbuilt, Or Am I Unwanted?

As you try to improve Xiao’s build for the 100th time, some of the others finally lose their patience

Losing Your 50/50

ASK: I’d love some headcanons (or a scenario) about SAGAU(and SAHSRAU if you can) hearing the reader yell and cry of frustration about this. Like: “I’M DONE I’M SO FUCKING DONE!! CAN I JUST HAVE THE ONLY THING I’VE WANTED FOR WORKING AND WAITING THAT HARD!!?? FUCK ALL OF YOU I HATE MY LIFE!!!!”

Nahida’s Precious Tailor

The little lord of Sumeru calls upon your aid as she wishes for a wardrobe change.

Naming Wanderer Something Silly

ASK: I was reading your sagau fics and suddenly remembered that I named Wanderer Omega.kitten as a joke… how do you think he and the other characters would feel about that?

Red In Stones

After a lot of begging and promises of farming (and swearing to a few you wouldn’t just up and abandon them the first opportunity you got), they finally agreed to let you explore other game worlds. As long as a few of them came with you and you had to start with a simpler game within your library. Not that you were complaining. Now you’ve been having a blast in Minecraft for a few days with a handful of other people who were willing to join you for your journey. Unfortunately, you broke your only way to communicate with the others so you've been forced to stay at base.

SAGAU Darling That’s Been To Other Games

What if for the SAGAU Darling doesn’t end up in Genshin first, but in a different game. Or maybe they were in multiple different games before they landed in Genshin. (HAS IMPOSTER AU IN IT (AND OLD))

Skipping Dialogue

What do the characters do when they find out you’re not paying attention?

Soul Crushing Guilt

The Knowledge That You’ve Been Controlling Real People With Thoughts And Feelings Has You At A Loss

Twins In SAGAU

For the self-aware Genshin AU there have been some slices where Darling has a twin and the twin either isn’t respected as much or in the villain au they’re treated as the imposter. That’s cool and all, but what if the twin worked for Mihoyo (KINDA CULT AU (OLD))

Why Are Their Designs So Complicated???

You thought Kaveh would be an easier character to draw. At a glance, his outfit is much simpler than a majority of the casts, so you thought he’d be a safe pick for fanart. How wrong you were.

#Pois.Posts #masterlist #genshin #Pois.Navi

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dogueteeth-fhr · 1 year ago

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WIP Not-Wednesday

Thanks @silvery-bluish for the tag!

I'll forward this to @wonda-fhr ! As always, not pressure to participate ;) <3

Hmmm let's see what I've got for my WIPs that I can share a bit of!

ACT 1

a Tokyo Ghoul!AU FHR series I started on a little while ago. WIP title for now, I think i like the idea of setting up the story as "acts 1 & 2" for Rebirth & Retri. Here's a lil snippet from it I might publish soon once I get the "scenes/chapters" planned out more. Riding heavy on Tokyo Ghoul's "tragedy" quote for my titles on this WIP lol.

He beams, sunshine and smiles, the thousand-watt smile that melts hearts, melts hers a little too. She can feel the smile grow on her face, feel the way that damnable knot between her shoulders loosens a little still, after all of these years, and shit, that's a complication she doesn't need. Didn't and doesn't, not back then and not right now. His hand lands on her shoulder, friendly and comforting. To anyone else but her.

It feels like a lasso. A leash. A noose. Leading her to the front gates, dragging her to her doom. To the gates. The gates. That.

The gates in the Rangers' HQ that scan for RC cells.

Standard. Necessary. No, not standard. State-of-the-art.

Always the best for the Rangers.

Her pulse grows cold. Is she pallid? What does her face look like? Is it terrified, is the the mask crooked?

Last time. Last time, last time, years ago, the RC scanners were still new tech. Not strong enough the pick up her trace, the trace of a half-ghoul. But that. That was almost ten years ago.

A decade is long enough to make improvements.

stray.

Collection of small segments that talk about both of Isa's escapes from the Farm. Alas I'm still working on this! Just haven't made much progress as of late since my brain is rather fried but here's a little snippet!

The stars are beautiful.

Most places she's been deployed have swallowed their stars. Shot them down, trapped them in little plastic and glass containers, anchored to the earth to light roads and pavements and rooms. Kept like animals poached from the wild. Surrounded by wall and window cages in the comforts of humans' homes to chase away the dark. So many caught, so many brilliant stars brought down by man, leaving the skies above filled with an inky emptiness.

But here, in the Nevada desert where man could not remain, where they couldn't take and claim, not the stars nor the arid land, the night sky celebrates with the splendor of galaxies above her head. She stares into the wonder of purple-pink clouds of cosmic dust and the glittering shine of stars, motionless and quiet. She should be running. She should be taking advantage of the darkness that she had waited so long for, curled into a small ball beneath a pile of road debris to keep hidden in the light of day. She never understood the concept of beauty before; it was a uniquely human perception. Less-thans can't afford to think about such things. But she might understand it now. Just a little.

kiss & tell (it's called: freefall)

Another snippet from a piece of the "freefall" series I'm taping together in my free time! Hehehe so many good moments in this series it's always so hard to pick a snippet without potentially spoiling a part of the series's story.

"That's not the point!" He cries out, tossing his arms in the air and biting back the sting of regret when she flinches in the corner of his eye. Regret, then anger. Anger aimed at himself for regretting that. She does not deserve his sympathies right now.

"I get that you're not sorry. I get that you're going to do it again, even if I don't agree with it, even if I wish you would be sorry. What I want to know is why, Cerrísa. Please." His voice cracks, and he can see the way her face falls at the sound. "Please, explain yourself, Cerrísa. Because I'm running out of ways that I can understand you, and I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, that you're not just doing this- killing people- for shits and giggles. Please."

He's almost in front of her now, taller and casting a shadow over her but he feels minuscule in front of her, begging for understanding. She refuses to look him in the eye, and he hates that she's chewing on the already-cracked part of her lip, and he tries not to think about how the metallic taste would feel echoed in his own mouth. Her mouth opens and closes a few times, and every time it falls shut, he feels a little bit of hope within him die.

#wip not-Wednesday #fhr #sidestep #cerrísa becerra #fhr sidestep #oc #writing wip

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kiku91 · 1 year ago

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This week’s aggies (TW: parent loss, parent death)

So this was a more personal piece, but kept it vague since it was in a group Aggie. On Friday it was my late mother’s birthday. She would have been 69 years old. This fall it will have been 19 years since I lost her.

So I decided to do a little art piece in her memory. My mother grew up on a dairy farm in the green mountain state, Vermont. Ever since she could walk, she would take the cows to the pasture every morning, before breakfast, and bring them back in the evening. She named all the cows and their calves, and one of these days, I want to make some comics of the funny childhood stories I grew up hearing about.

She also loved cats. There was always a cat and dog living on the farm. (I think their names were Smokey, and Smudge) and when my Mama and Dad settled down in my hometown, they adopted (to my dad’s irritation) two tabby kittens: Benjamin and Socrates. My mother’s favorite colors were orange and purple, and many of the flowers she would grow (her green thumb wasn’t much better than mine) geraniums, pansies, marigolds, and violets. So these are usually the kinds of flowers I plant on her grave.

The quote is one I found in one of her diaries, and it was something I never heard her say aloud, but it also felt like a thing she would whole heartedly believe in.

Happy Birthday Mama. I love and miss you, but don’t worry, I’m doing alright.

#jay jay art #kiku91 #tw: parent death #tw: parent loss #aggie drawing #reminiscing #This was done a little quickly which is why the cats look derpy #lol

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niobefurens · 2 years ago

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Censory Deprivation.

Why stop at fatness? If you are going to put a red pen through Roald Dahl—as his publisher, Puffin, did recently—there are so many better bits to choose. The sensitivity readers contented themselves with excising such words as “fat”, “flabby”, “ugly” and “Kipling”. But Dahl doesn’t merely offer sexism, racism and colonialism; in his adult fiction you can find sins so frankly filthsome and swigpilling there has yet to be an -ism coined to cover them. There is violence, voyeurism and an unforgettably frightsome story in which a scorpion collector accidentally has sex with a leper. Not for nothing did his family call him “Roald the Rotten” and—more bluntly—“Roald the Bastard”. Listen to this story.

Something seems to be changing in British publishing. You can see it in the sheepish announcement from Puffin after news of its edits prompted a backlash, that Roald the Revolting will still roll off the presses unaltered, alongside the works of Roald the Redacted. You can see it, too, in almost-silenced books that are now thriving. “Time to Think”, a book by Hannah Barnes about the Tavistock’s gender-identity clinic in London, which referred children as young as nine for puberty blockers, was rejected by 22 publishers. Swift Press, a nimble newcomer, took it on and it made the bestseller lists. People in the industry suggest that the red pen is being wielded less freely. As one publishing executive puts it, there is a sense that things “had gone too far”. (Though since this person did not want to be quoted by name, not far enough.)

A change is overdue. The editing of Dahl by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin, was a symptom of something frogglehumping in the publishing world, but far from the only one. Authors have been dropped; books have been buried; people have lost jobs; sensitivity readers have been employed to ensure modern morals are adhered to. James Bond has even been edited to make him less vile—the literary equivalent of trying to make water less wet.

There is a line of argument that says that this isn’t really a problem. Suppression of speech, this argument runs, is the preserve of totalitarian, Orwellian-style states and institutions that use force to stop people speaking out. In a country like Britain, speech is still free. This is pure gobblefunk and Orwell’s “1984” is the wrong Orwellian work to understand why.

Better by far to turn to an introduction Orwell wrote for “Animal Farm”. Orwell had finished his satire on the Soviet Union—which many consider his masterpiece—in 1943, whereupon it was promptly rejected by four publishers. As with Ms Barnes’s 22 rejections, some offered reasons. One publisher pleasingly suggested Orwell might want to rethink the pigs. Having swine as the ruling class might “give offence…particularly to anyone who is a bit touchy, as undoubtedly the Russians are”. Orwell kept the pigs; “Animal Farm” sold half a million copies in two years.

He later reflected on all this in that introduction. There is, he wrote, a “veiled censorship” in British publishing. “At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question.” It is “not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it”. Anyone who tries to do so “finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness”. They still do. A book on colonialism by Nigel Biggar, an emeritus professor of theology at Oxford University, was welcomed by its publisher, Bloomsbury, as a work of “major importance” and then postponed, apparently indefinitely, because “public feeling…does not currently support the publication of the book”. It is now out under a different publisher.

What is striking is how apparently mild the sanctions are for speaking out. People think, as one author puts it, that you are afraid of Twitter death threats. You aren’t: what really terrifies you is that your colleagues will think a little less of you. Most people do not require the threat of being burned at the stake to shut them up; being flamed by their peers on Twitter is more than enough.

This is true of more typically Orwellian states, too. When Anne Applebaum studied the Sovietisation of central Europe, the historian found political conformity was “the result not of violence or direct state coercion, but rather of intense peer pressure”. Publishing, an industry in which every third person is called Sophie, seems particularly susceptible to such pressure.

All this involves no laws, no police, nor even any obvious threats. Polite people write polite emails and books are politely buried. “The sinister fact about literary censorship in England”, Orwell wrote, “is that it is largely voluntary.” To go against that ominously amorphous “public feeling” is deeply uncomfortable. Ms Barnes found writing her book about the Tavistock’s clinic hard not because she thought it was wrong but because “I thought: ‘People are not going to like me.’” Publishers are equally nervy. In the name of looking likeable they panic and pre-empt offence: they cull the pigs; drop the book on colonialism; cut the foulsome bits.

The problem with all this nervousness—this desire-to-look-nice-ness—is that it has very nasty results. In “Fahrenheit 451”, a novel by Ray Bradbury, a society has taken to burning all books lest any cause offence. As one character explains: “Don’t step on the toes of the…second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen….” This book-burning wasn’t mandated by the government. “There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship to start with, no! Technology…and minority pressure carried the trick.” Now the books have all gone. Now “thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time.”

Penguin, incidentally, offers an audiobook of “Fahrenheit 451”. Perhaps its executives might be encouraged to listen to it before they get their red pens out. Then again, they might be tempted to edit it as well; after all, Puffin took the words “Japanese” and “Norway people” and “Yankee-Doodles” out of Dahl. Best be sure we can all stay happy all the time. ■

#censure #sensitivity #roald dahl #orwell #bradbury

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darkwood-sleddog · 2 years ago

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I think it's funny that the OWL blog is spouting what they think is correct here and that they are making wild assumptions about outdoor only dogs when the dogblr community is generally pretty pro-outdoor dog with proper care and pro nuance for this situation.

Outdoor dogs are NOT a fringe scenario, but a reality and a necessity for many all over the world (for example sled dogs if not kept outside will fail to acclimate to the weather properly which makes using them for fun, sport and work a much more dangerous activity for the dog if they were kept inside vs outside).

To assume my post, which clearly states that it's okay to keep dogs outside "Given proper housing, water, food, vet care, and enrichment dogs" (direct quote from above) = the promotion of: free roaming dogs, unsupervised dogs, access to feces, unmonitored health is absurd and shows how LITTLE time you have spent with 1.) working dogs 2.) well kept outdoor dogs because in a scenario where the dog is given "proper housing, water, food, vet care, and enrichment dogs" these things do not happen.

1.) dogs should not free roam. outdoor dogs should be provided with an enclosure or tie out that gives them the space they need while not giving them the ability to escape. This goes for indoor dogs too. Just because some breeds are escape artists when outside does not mean that they cannot be kept safely outside be it outside permanently or outside just on a several times a day basis.

2.) dogs should be kept in clean environments. This means picking up fecal matter twice a day as many kennels standards will show. This also means disinfecting areas where lots of urination occurs.

3.) dogs should be provided enrichment. this can include work, play, training, etc. from sledding, hunting, farm work etc. Just because a dog is outside does not mean that the dog does not get enrichment or interaction with its owner. There are dogblrs on this very website that keep their dogs outside and guess what. the owners are also outside a majority of the time and thus the dogs spend a great deal of time with their owners.

The blanket statement of "outside dogs that aren't LGD are a red flag" (and don't pretend the statement was more nuanced than that at the time bc it really fucking wasn't) is akin to LOTS of ARA propagandist claims about the neglect of outdoor dogs or even dogs that spend a lot of time outside despite living and sleeping in the house with their owners. These talking points are used frequently to promote legislation in state and city legislatures here in the US (and elsewhere) that greatly restrict outdoor dogs and moves the goal posts of what is considered neglectful.

I think its funny that 1.) the owl blog is coming for my wig and 2.) people take my post as a jab at the original when it really was not, rather an expansion of the nuance i personally thought it required. That's why i made a post on my own blog, in my own words, without dragging others into it. But go off i guess.

you cannot fight against Animal Rights Activist bullshit for only certain circumstances and spew ARA rhetoric when a situation pulls at your heartstrings.

Agricultural animals can be kept and produce eggs, dairy, fiber, etc. ethically given they are provided proper housing, water, food, vet care and enrichment.

Given proper housing, water, food, vet care, and enrichment dogs can live fulfilling lives outside of the interior of the home. Extreme weather is NOT dangerous for specific breeds of dogs (this goes both ways for hot and cold temperatures).

Given proper housing, water, food, vet care, and enrichment wild animals can live full lives out of the wild and in the care of conservation focused zoos.

Anyways.

#dogblr #outdoor dogs #please sit the fuck down

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monstersinthecosmos · 2 years ago

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I didn't follow any of the pre-release promotional materials; do you have a link to the showrunner(s) stating/implying that queerness is merely "subtextual" in the absence of literal sex? (Apologies if you've shared it before and I just wasn't paying attention.) Also, thank you for your prolific and thorough critiques. I'm a more casual book fan and was tentatively excited to see the show forge a new narrative path while still guided by the same lifeblood, if you will. But at this point, hmmmmmm

I don't recall him commenting on it being about literal sex, THAT WAS ME EDITORIALZING LMAO.

I haven't been able to stomach the entire SDCC panel but I know they talked about it in there, I kinda peeked around for a transcript but didn't find one. ANYONE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THE DIRECT QUOTES please I don't have the strength. There's a summary article here, though, which touches on the convo a little:

(Don't even ask me to start unpacking the Fiona Apple comment dude what?)

This article also talks about the SDCC panel and doesn't directly quote him but it sums up:

There's just been article after articleeeeee of people who didn't read the books or just watched the film or whatever and keep going WOWIE IT'S NOT SUBTEXT, GREAT JOB, when like ? It was never subtext lol. And that's not entirely the show's fault, how mainstream perceives it, but they've been running with that and taking credit for it.

Like there's just been tons of headlines and praise like this -

I think the show & RJ have also been pretty blurry with how often they claim they're not a remake of the movie and yet constantly make digs at the movie and even reference it often on the show itself. So I think sometimes they're commenting on the movie when they forget they've already told us they're not remaking the movie. =P

There's also this quote (I didn't screenshot bc there's an ad in the middle LOL!) but:

"It’s aggressive subtext in the first book, but by the time you read books eight and nine, it was the love affair of the century. Without spoiling too much, subtext becomes text in our show."

(Let's not point out that books 8 & 9 are ... *checks notes* Blood & Gold and Blackwood Farm. Okaaaaaay Rolin. 😪)

Also sorry by love affair of the century do you mean Lestat goes around and has adventures and uses everyone while Louis stays safely tucked away at Armand's house until he's needed, or? Sorry lmfao I'm so fucking. dghadgkjs.

That interview is full of nonsense that will make you want to scream if you're feeling brave.

Anyway I feel like, I've been obsessively watching the production unfold for the past year and I kept getting so many red flags like there's been so many odd comments and little sexist quips, the complete misunderstanding (or lack of fucks) about what Claudia is supposed to mean in the story, etc. I just keep getting aggressive CISHET MAN vibes from this team and the lens they read VC through.

And yknow what, fair whatever I guess, we all read different versions of the same book and they're the ones that got to make it. But idk I like VC for the dark elegant spooky existential angst, I didn't need it to be gritty and open up with shit jokes. And five episodes in I didn't need it to use outdated, dangerous rape tropes and I also don't need it to oversell the domestic abuse. (Hint: Lestat was already abusive as fuck from the moment we met him, don't oversell!)

It's an okay show lmao. It's not recognizable as VC at all except that it recycles the names. None of the characters have been accurate so far. Even Lestat, where Sam Reid is doing so many fun things with his delivery and mannerisms that almost seem like Lestat, is just so fucking OOC and a caricature and just really lacks the depth and nuance and sensitivity of who he is in the books.

If you can turn your brain off and not look at it as VC there's some fun moments, but it's also full of continuity errors and just plot holes and bad writing when you look too close, so don't try to analyze it too hard or you'll have a bad time lol. Even the stuff that's really interesting and that they get right, they tend to lose interest in and drop, or they mix it into so much vampire soap opera shenanigans that it's hard to walk away knowing what the episode is actually about. It's just. Woof!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#vampire pajama party on amc #amc iwtv

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forthegothicheroine · 2 years ago

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I need to share with you all an Ask a Manager letter from a person working at what seems to be a costume/prop store and is irritated by what horror nerds their coworkers are. I am actually sympathetic to a certain extent (everyone endlessly repeating movie quotes would get old even if I like the movies) but it raises many questions.

I live in a small city which doesn’t have many employment opportunities. The city has a high unemployment rate, and it’s rare to find work that isn’t in shops, farming, etc. Six years ago, the city council launched a project to fund start-up business ideas for marginalized individuals, including those with disabilities.

One of these ideas has become extremely successful. It’s essentially four neurodivergent eccentrics who live every day like it’s Halloween. They are commissioned by various organizations around the state to create bespoke services and goods. They’ve attracted something of a following with projects coming in all year in preparation for October. Jobs include making props for a small amusement park, making decor for a children’s hospital, local authorities hiring them to run haunted houses, etc. Because it has council funding, the start-up needs a couple of additional employees for administration. I accepted one of these admin roles as there are so few office-based jobs in the area.

I have worked there for two years and I feel like I’m in some sort of alternative reality. The office is filled with robotics, costumes, and prop projects. I’ve kept my complaints to what I thought was minimal, but the number of official logged complaints about the four people is in double digits. As an example, one was about a ruined handbag that had been seized as a prop and filled with jelly and rubber eyeballs. The other admin worker isn’t helpful — he has multiple Halloween-themed tattoos and named his kids in obvious tribute (think names like Casper, Salem etc.).

The entire city sees the team as underdog heroes and they really are involved in worthwhile projects. I appreciate that they probably have been excluded through their lives and have finally found an opportunity to form a community and work in a field they love. But my nerves are in shreds with the constant screams and cackles emitted from every corner of a small office. The latest is a wildlife charity wanting to put nesting boxes for actual BATS! in the office. They’re paying for it as a promotional/marketing service, with the resident ghouls blogging about and videoing the bats. Am I nuts, or is this completely bizarre?

After I submitted a complaint about the plans to move bats in, the local newspaper ran a massive double spread about the Halloween grinch trying to destroy this deeply loved community enterprise. They took the stance that I am some stuffy busybody ruining disabled people’s opportunities to shine and create joy and community spirit. I wasn’t named in the article but it was obvious to locals who the villain was.

Quitting means I’d be signing up for many years in a manual or service job in a city where everyone hates me. My son is counting down the days until he can legally change his name so he won’t be recognized. I had minor surgery last year and the week off felt like the first time in two years I could breathe.

As I’m writing this to you, my coworkers are bellowing out lines from films at each other repetitively, then identifying them. Here’s a sample:

A : What an excellent day for an exorcism! J: The Exorcist, 1973!

T: Listen to them, children of the night! J : Dracula, 1931!

Help!

The advice given is basically “If you work at a Halloween place they’re going to be into Halloween, you just have to decide if you can stand it or not.” But questions people in the comments are raising are:

1. Was that “ruined purse” something that belonged to someone and coworkers filled with jelly, or was it a discarded item that they repurposed into a prop?

2. Putting bats in the office? Really? A real charity wants to do that? Or is this hyperbole for putting bat boxes outside?

3. Were those “double digits” of complaints from different people, or all from the letter writer?

4. Are all these details just changed to avoid identifying anyone, and is this really a Christmas prop place?

What do you all think?

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kattestrophe · 2 years ago

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Hey there! I'm having a debate with my mother and thought I'd ask an actual Frederick expert. So did he actually have STDs/broken dick to explain his lack of children, was he gay or both? Like what is the source situation? Thanks.

Hi! Oh boy, I am not used to asks and I'm sick, this is gonna get rambly... :'D

Frederick's sexuality has been a subject of debate pretty much since the man himself was a teenager. The story about him sleeping with farm girls and sex workers "because his father kept him away from reputable women" and contracting syphilis/gonnorhea in his youth originates with Johann Georg Zimmermann. Zimmermann was Frederick's contemporary and a doctor. And also Frederick's biggest fan. I vaguely remember a story about him meeting his idol and breaking down in tears afterwards because there was "nobody he loved more than the King of Prussia".

Anyway.

Zimmermann became Frederick's physician in the last months before his death and published multiple books about him afterwards, one of which contained the theory mentioned above. According to him, Frederick was actually super into his wife (and women in general) and they had an amazing time together before the gonnorhea flared back up. This flare up was allegedly treated with a surgery that deformed Frederick's nether region and thus he pretended that he had no interest in his marriage despite loving Elisabeth Christine so very much. Instead, he pretended to be gay for clout in enlightenment circles and so the public would know that the King was still able to fuck.

Sounds wild? Tabloid-y? Absolutely.

Now one would think that, as the last royal physician, Zimms would know best about the state of Frederick's dick. However, a surgeon who also saw the King naked (albeit post mortem) said that there was absolutely nothing unusual to report. Zimmermann doesn't give a source for any of his biographical claims either and even other contemporaries thought he was full of shit (Kotzebue was on his side though. You may know Kotzebue as the reactionary poet and playwright who got assassinated in 1819, in part leading to the so called Karlsbader Beschlüsse. Old Zimms sure moved in a popular crowd).

Still, Zimmermann's writing was used as a source on Frederick's sexuality up until the early 2010s because nothing says "great source!" like unsourced claims about maritial love from someone who was five years old and in Switzerland at the time. Other than Zimmermann, some people (Venohr, Ohff quoting Venohr) also quote an excerpt from an alleged letter from Frederick to an unspecified friend that basically just says "I love my wife's vagina", but that one is probably fake. I'd love to know when it started showing up in literature though.

In the early 2010s, the overall tone shifted (not that nobody noticed that Frederick was queer before, there are 19th century articles about that too iirc and Mitford alluded to it in the 1970s). Newer biographies, like Burgdorf and Blanning, as well as an article for the big Friederisiko exhibition of 2012 clearly state that there is no reasonable doubt that Frederick was (primarily) interested in men (there were a few women that he may have had feelings for, but this post is getting long).

There are other contemporary accounts that suggest relations with men (even if we're not counting Voltaire), there's his poetry (oh God, his poetry...), letters, his general group of associates, and, funnily enough, even Zimmermann, who says that everyone close to the King said he "loved like Socrates Alcibiades" (Zimms, of course, knows better and saw right past the facade or something).

Frederick did definitely try to have kids (at least partly because his dad promised him a trip outside of Prussia if he produced an heir...) and was not successful. This could be due to many reasons, we probably won't ever know the real answer. Maybe his dick really did fall off, maybe he just thought he was impotent, maybe there were some issues on EC's part, maybe he just didn't try enough. What we do know is that he evnetually outsourced the heir-department to his brother (Augustus) William, who was definitely into women and from whom the modern main line of the Hohenzollern descends.

Boy this post is a mess, I hope that any sort of insight was gained from this :'D For a more orderly analysis of Frederick's sexuality and more source quotes I would suggest reading Blanning. Burgdorf is fun to read too, especially for an overview of the people close to Frederick, but he doesn't source his claims properly and is kind of the opposite extreme to the "he was totally straight"-crowd.

TL;DR: Zimmermann was full of shit, but maybe his dick was broken, who are we to judge. He was probably not straight anyway.

Stuff that's not necessarily directly relevant but that I can link to: A personal favourite primary source are the Marwitz letters (which @your-disobedient-servant translated), which are mostly proof for the sexuality of Frederick's younger brother Henry, but which are hilarious to read nonetheless. There's also a man shown in William Hogarth's satirical painting Marriage a la mode from 1743/44 who plays the flute, has Frederick's nose and tan, and is positioned among "the homosexuals" in front of a painting of Ganymede being captured by Zeus in the form of an eagle... That's not really a good source for Frederick's own life, but a fun tidbit on the side about the european gossip situation. Marriage a la mode is an interesting painting. (Article about Frederick's nose in contemporary paintings, I'm sorry I only provide links to useless knowledge)

#frederick the great #anon

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dahlia-coccinea · 3 years ago

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A few thoughts on the scene of Catherine returning to the Heights after her stay with the Linton’s - it is commonly cited in discussions about her character and generally, the narrative goes that she shows herself to be vain and narcissistic in laughing at Heathcliff, and this honestly confuses me? I think that is quite selective in what details are noted about the scene and misses placing it in a wider context. To start I think its best to reference the scene in its entirety, sorry it is quite long (bolding is mine):

Heathcliff was hard to discover, at first. If he were careless, and uncared for, before Catherine’s absence, he had been ten times more so since. Nobody but I even did him the kindness to call him a dirty boy, and bid him wash himself, once a week; and children of his age seldom have a natural pleasure in soap and water. Therefore, not to mention his clothes, which had seen three months’ service in mire and dust, and his thick uncombed hair, the surface of his face and hands was dismally beclouded. He might well skulk behind the settle, on beholding such a bright, graceful damsel enter the house, instead of a rough-headed counterpart of himself, as he expected. “Is Heathcliff not here?” she demanded, pulling off her gloves, and displaying fingers wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying indoors.

“Heathcliff, you may come forward,” cried Mr. Hindley, enjoying his discomfiture, and gratified to see what a forbidding young blackguard he would be compelled to present himself. “You may come and wish Miss Catherine welcome, like the other servants.”

Cathy, catching a glimpse of her friend in his concealment, flew to embrace him; she bestowed seven or eight kisses on his cheek within the second, and then stopped, and drawing back, burst into a laugh, exclaiming, “Why, how very black and cross you look! and how—how funny and grim! But that’s because I’m used to Edgar and Isabella Linton. Well, Heathcliff, have you forgotten me?”

She had some reason to put the question, for shame and pride threw double gloom over his countenance, and kept him immovable.

“Shake hands, Heathcliff,” said Mr. Earnshaw, condescendingly; “once in a way that is permitted.”

“I shall not,” replied the boy, finding his tongue at last; “I shall not stand to be laughed at. I shall not bear it!” And he would have broken from the circle, but Miss Cathy seized him again.

“I did not mean to laugh at you,” she said; “I could not hinder myself: Heathcliff, shake hands at least! What are you sulky for? It was only that you looked odd. If you wash your face and brush your hair, it will be all right: but you are so dirty!”

She gazed concernedly at the dusky fingers she held in her own, and also at her dress; which she feared had gained no embellishment from its contact with his.

“You needn’t have touched me!” he answered, following her eye and snatching away his hand. “I shall be as dirty as I please: and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty.”

With that he dashed headforemost out of the room, amid the merriment of the master and mistress, and to the serious disturbance of Catherine; who could not comprehend how her remarks should have produced such an exhibition of bad temper.

Importantly Nelly specifies that Heathcliff isn’t just his usual level of childish dirtiness and unkemptness, which assumedly Catherine wouldn’t have noticed when she comes home eager to find him. She wasn’t expecting him to be so neglected and her worst fault here is carelessly misplacing the reason for Heathcliff’s dirtiness, and not recognizing the larger neglect done by Hindley and how laughing could very understandably have hurt him (I don’t think many 12 year-olds are particularly emotionally intelligent though). Initially, she doesn’t seem to notice his state since she runs to him and gives seven or eight kisses. What she does not do, is she does not come back and say she’s better than him, acts embarrassed of him, or indicates she doesn’t want to be friends anymore - she says “it will be fine,” he just needs a wash.

Catherine’s presence must have been part of what kept him tidier as Nelly notes that it during her absence is when he fell into such neglect. This would be in line with Nelly’s previous description of the two of them of when Hindley first comes home: “Heathcliff bore his degradation pretty well at first, because Cathy taught him what she learnt, and worked or played with him in the fields.” Just as she would teach him what she learned and worked with him in the fields I’d say in this scene she’s simply consistently showing care for his wellbeing, even if she isn’t completely considerate when expressing it.

Not to get too off subject but I think this is pertinent - the line, “They both promised fair to grow up as rude as savages” might be another quote that is taken too literally at times - I don’t think they were just running around dirty all the time as Nelly noted that Heathcliff isn’t generally this uncared for. Also, this line ends up being understood as their rejection of all society and their resistance towards growing up which I think may only be partly true. While I love that Nelly calls them “unfriended creatures,” I don’t take this to mean that they are simply elements of nature. Along with @astrangechoiceoffavourites’ recent post about how “Heathcliff does not reject Culture. Culture rejects him,” I think it’s also often overlooked that they both admire the beauty of the Grange. He describes the house in great detail:

“ah! it was beautiful—a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver chains from the centre, and shimmering with little soft tapers.”

He tells Nelly if they were in Edgar’s and Isabella’s position, “We should have thought ourselves in heaven.” Catherine is not more vain or materialistic than Heathcliff, or vapid just because she tells a 13-year-old boy who works on a farm and is only washing once a week he needs to wash more.

Still, Heathcliff has every right to feel hurt, he’s facing terrible physical and emotional abuse and as mentioned previously this has repercussions on his self-esteem for his whole life. Hindley in this scene is clearly trying to demean him to the level of a servant in the eyes of Catherine. A few months previously he was loved and cared for by Mr. Earnshaw but now any bright future is quickly disappearing. Heathcliff must know his situation won’t change under Hindley. The encounter with the wealth of the Linton family and Catherine’s acceptance into their world is also a stark example of Catherine’s ability to have something better than being with him forever. They both will grow up one day and she will eventually marry and there is no way Hindley would allow them to do so, nor would he give Heathcliff any means or education to provide for a family and have a home.

Seeing Catherine obviously well cared for I think ignites a little jealously and fear that he is already losing her company. He seems at least mildly aware of Edgar as a potential rival as we see the next day during his conversation with Nelly when he tells her, “...if I knocked him down twenty times, that wouldn’t make him less handsome or me more so. I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!” He did already note Edgar’s reaction to Catherine at the Garage saying, “Edgar stood gaping at a distance...I saw they were full of stupid admiration.” It seems easy to assume he is at least starting to be aware of her - three months prior he mentions to Nelly Catherine’s “beautiful hair,” “enchanting face” and says, Catherine is “immeasurably superior to them—to everybody on earth.” Catherine of course doesn’t necessarily know he feels this way and most likely isn’t fully aware of all his feelings about the situation he’s in. Seems reasonable to assume that she’s somewhat blind to his inner conflicts - later when talking to Nelly she seems to think that Heathcliff understands her completely yet its apparent they aren’t on the same page. She is as blind to the extent of his feelings, as he is of her’s.

Anyway (getting a little off topic), Catherine’s subsequent reaction to this scene is totally out of line with the narrative of a wildly self-loving and cruel girl, and again we get a glimpse of a morose Heathcliff, nursing his pride and slowly pulling away from her. The fact that he storms off and they don’t immediately go back to their former relationship before her stay at Thrushcross Grange completely shocks her. After this encounter Catherine shows feelings of guilt and distress over the sour encounter. “She cried when I told her you were off again this morning,” Nelly tells Heathcliff the next day. And later again Catherine cries over Heathcliff’s mistreat by Hindley upon the Linton’s arrival. Later that evening when he’s locked in a garret Nelly details how she sneaks off to visit him:

“She made no stay at the stairs’-head, but mounted farther, the garret where Heathcliff was confined, and called him. He stubbornly declined answering for a while: she persevered, and finally persuaded him to hold communion with her through the boards. I let the poor things converse unmolested, till I supposed the songs were going to cease, and the singers to get some refreshment: then I clambered up the ladder to warn her. Instead of finding her outside, I heard her voice within. The little monkey had crept by the skylight of one garret, along the roof, into the skylight of the other, and it was with the utmost difficulty I could coax her out again.”

Later on she tells Nelly that his miseries have been her miseries - and she certainly isn’t ever as classist in her treatment of Heathcliff as her daughter is towards Hareton. When she misses Heathcliff for three years she’s only missing a “ploughboy,” as Edgar calls him. When he returns a gentleman she scoffs at Edgar’s suggestion that Heathcliff be let into the kitchen and mockingly gives the order: “Set two tables here, Ellen: one for your master and Miss Isabella, being gentry; the other for Heathcliff and myself, being of the lower orders.” And later tells him “Heathcliff was now worthy of anyone’s regard,” which shows she’s obviously blind to how many will always perceive him as an outsider and never a true gentleman.

For fun, here is how this scene was adapted for the 1939 film - in the scene Catherine dreads seeing Heathcliff and upon seeing him makes no move to embrace him, then they have this AWFUL exchange:

Heathcliff: Why did you stay so long? Catherine: Why? Because I was having a wonderful time. A delightful, fascinating, wonderful time...among human beings. Go and wash your face and hands, and comb your hair...so that I needn't be ashamed of you in front of the guests.

I have a lot of questions. Number one: how dare they? lol How did they extrapolate that from the book? This has become the lasting memory of her for many film viewers, and also somehow for people that have read the book.

I know there are many conversations that could be had on Catherine saying it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff, or at various time saying he is a baby, a pitiless wolfish man, and a brute. I’m not trying to gloss over when she is demanding and not always kind to him or other characters but people really choose to be blind to some of her actions in order to paint her as the villain of the story. Catherine Earnshaw is a wonderfully flawed and human character and these interpretations make her so 2D.

I feel like a lot of these views are an expansion on this discussion as well as this other post (credit to @princesssarisa) about the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff before he leaves - I’ve found so few critics talk about them in a realistic, rather than metaphysical, way. Fewer yet discuss Heathcliff’s role in their failed relationship. More commonly they assert that Heathcliff’s feelings for her are true and hers are based on a shallow self love or whatever. So I guess I’ll just have to write it myself lol.

#wuthering heights #catherine earnshaw #emily brontë #she does not deserve the slander lol #this was supposed to be short...#i totally lied at the start - this isn't just a few thoughts #i get worried posting things this long because i'm sure the i forgot to edit something #thoughts

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sooibian · 4 years ago

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Twist of Fate

image credits: @/exoxoxoid (twitter)

Pairing: Criminal Psychologist Kyungsoo x Crime Reporter OC (Miss Jung) ft. Minseok, Jongin

Description: Much against your wishes, you are back in your hometown to write about the murders of two young women - your only ticket out is the criminal psychologist who has been assisting Superintendent Kim Minseok with offender profiling.

Inspired by: Sharp Objects, The Fall and this moodboard by @is-that-baekhyuns-shirt

Tags/Warnings: Serial killer AU - angst, grief, loss, murders, descriptions of anxiety, reactive and attentive immobility, asphyxiation, indicative of humiliation, explicit and graphic situations. Please do not read onward if any of this triggers or upsets you!!!!

Word count: +3.7k

A/N: ...i need to stop watching crime dramas.

@leewalberg @his-mochi-cheeks @changshapatrol

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

When you left Cheongsong, you’d left for good. Or so you’d thought.

Ten years later what brought you back was not your family, for you had none left, but the murders of two young women that had left the quaint little town, surrounded by hills artistically contoured by apple orchards, shaken and distraught.

Everyone knew each other in Cheongsong which should have made Superintendent Kim Minseok’s job easier, but he was caught in an ugly snare of emotions which seemed to have clouded his critical thinking faculties. These were people he knew closely, people he’d grown up with. For him, pointing fingers at any of them meant carving permanent cracks in relationships that were stronger than most familial ties.

“Off the record, then”, you shoved your scratchpad back into your purse, turned off the recorder with a click and looked at Minseok square in the eyes, only to find the amiable, portly, catlike footballer you went to school with hidden in their farthest, darkest depths - reduced to a mere whimsy. The memories of the man who sat before you, now seemed abysmally distorted by the colossal burden of the unknown.

“It never is.” He chuckled darkly, took a measured sip of his bourbon and rolled it around his tongue before swallowing. “Never thought I’d see you here again.”

“That makes two of us. Write about killings in your hometown...it makes an impact because it’s personal, my boss says. We’re to...exploit the fact that nobody substantial is covering this.” You recited, eyes trained on the sliver of grime on the coaster.

Minseok clicked his tongue in disapproval and enquired, “Where have you been staying?”

“A guest house by the Country Club.”

“So, not the Mansion”, he remarked callously.

Wounds that had barely healed came undone at the mention of your family home. Your throat tightened and you felt as if you had been shanked with a broken bottle in the stomach. The ill fated house reeked of misfortune, grief and loss. Its inhabitants had fallen one by one like lined up dominoes. This curse had forced you out to start a new life in Seoul.

“It’s still quite well kept, you know.” Minseok stated matter-of-factly.

Taking a deep swig of your bourbon, you explained earnestly as the burn of the liquid blazed down your throat, “Minseok, I want nothing more than to get out of here. So, please, give me something. A nugget.”

“I don’t want to be quoted on this. Or misquoted. This is all new to me as well. Two bodies in three months? Can you imagine?” Overcome with emotion, he ran a hand through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut.

You put a comforting hand on his and offered in a voice laced with empathy, “Listen, from where I stand, all you need is a new line of inquiry and linking these two murders would give you one. I’ve seen the pictures.”

You swiped through images of two dark haired women on your phone - Park Soojin and Seo Jinri. Both of them were in their late twenties. They lay in their own beds as if soundly asleep, modesty protected only by sheer white blankets, crimson tinted lips parted ever so slightly, freshly painted nails shining in dim lighting. And roses. There were a couple of red roses placed by their side as if in condolence. The blood curdling strangulation marks around their necks made them look like dreadfully divine paintings.

“They could be sisters”, you observed with moist eyes, voice hushed to a whisper.

Contemplating on the images with pursed lips, Minseok responded with a tight nod and waved a 50,000 bill in the waitress’ general direction.

“Where’d you find these?” He asked in a threateningly calm voice, averting his eyes from your apparently disagreeable gaze.

“You know that’s confidential”, you replied, half-shrugging, nonchalant.

“I’ll drop you home”, he muttered, and shoved his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans.

With a defeated sigh you grabbed your purse and phone and proceeded to follow Minseok out of the only bar in Cheongsong, “No, it’s fine. I could use a walk.”

Suddenly, he turned around, searched your eyes for a fleeting second before admitting begrudgingly, “Kim Jongin. He’s the prime suspect in the first case. The murder of Park Soojin.”

Your legs froze. “What?! Why?”

You knew Kim Jongin, like you knew everyone else in this town. His family owned one of the biggest apple orchards in Cheongsong but Kim Jongin never manifested that in his behaviour. He was known to be friendly, kind, sensitive. Almost too sensitive some would say.

“That’s it. That’s your nugget. Here.” He handed you a business card bearing the name ‘Dr. Doh Kyungsoo’. “He’s been informally assisting with offender profiling. He’ll talk to you. Seems like he’ll talk to anyone, really. Now get in the car, it’s freezing out here.”

“Dr. Doh, thank you for taking the time to meet with me.”

Dr. Doh Kyungsoo’s home office was a detached unit with a separate entrance, distanced from his main residence. It was exactly the way you’d imagined a psychologist’s office to be - light coloured walls, comfortable chairs, soft pillows, insipid artwork. Neat and clean, fostering a sense of comfort for visitors.

The Doh family had moved into Cheongsong shortly after you’d left for Seoul. Coming from old money in search of some peace and quiet, they invested in agricultural distribution, Cheongyang Pepper farms and assumed one of the more significant estates to live in while their only son, Doh Kyungsoo, was sent abroad to pursue higher education.

“Please, call me Kyungsoo.” He took your hand in his, gave it a good, firm shake and gestured you to take the chair opposite his.

“I think ‘Dr. Doh’ should be fine”, you stated plainly and he acknowledged with a curt nod.

“What brings you here?” Asked Kyungsoo, holding your gaze, hands folded in his lap as he leaned back into his chair with a soft sigh.

Grimacing, you waved your recorder at him, “They say you’re my ticket out of this godforsaken place.”

Minseok had helped you set up the meeting so you thought it proper to waive cumbersome introductions and niceties and Kyungsoo seemed very much in sync with your line of thought.

He smiled, “I’m merely a bystander, Miss Jung, with slightly more informed opinions, maybe.”

“Informed opinions are what I’m here for, Dr. Doh.” You smiled back, “Superintendent Kim Minseok doesn’t seem to like you very much.”

“He’s a man shackled by bureaucracy and I’m a constant reminder of his team’s staggering incompetence, If I were him, I wouldn’t like me very much either.”

“Do you think there’s a link between the two murders?”

He nods. “I’m fairly certain there is.”

“But the police won’t look into it? Why is that?”

“Nobody likes a serial, Miss Jung. Besides, there’s no way the team could cope with the increased workload of linked inquiries. There are over a hundred statements, documents, officers’ reports waiting to be read and actioned. And the case of Park Soojin is a peculiar one.”

“Kim Jongin’s girlfriend? How so?”

“She was the ex-wife of a member of the parliament. This case does absolutely no favours to his image so he needs it solved immediately.”

The word solved was treated to air quotes.

“So, they’ve ruled him out as a suspect?”

“His alibi checks out. They suspect Kim Jongin.”

“Why? Just because Kim Jongin fled immediately after her body was found? How did the police react to that?”

“Because Jongin fled, his brother was asked to provide DNA which turned out to be a familial match to the DNA gathered at the crime scene. But that does not necessarily mean it’s the killer’s DNA. Miss Park was in a relationship with him. There’s no surprise his semen was found in her esophagus.”

“Do you rule him out as a suspect then?”

“I prefer to reserve my comment.”

“Why do you think he fled?”

“Grief drives us to do irrational things, Miss Jung. Maybe he just needed a breather from everything that was going on here. Can’t say for sure.”

“You’re certain the perpetrator is male?”

“Yes, I am. The perpetrator is male and an athletic one at that. Probably in his late twenties or early thirties. While the strangulation marks may be different, the pathologists reports suggest petechial haemorrhage in both cases which means he strangled and released and then strangled again, over and over. He’s either a sadist, or his hand lacks strength. You try it, grab my wrist.”

He extended his arm towards you and you politely declined. So he wrapped his right hand over his left wrist and held firmly for a few moments.

“Forty seconds. It’s amazing how quickly the hand tires!” He exclaimed as if awestruck. It was the maximum emotion the inscrutable Dr. Doh had displayed during the course of this interview.

“Victims of strangulation are known to make a mess of themselves. They defecate and / or urinate..”

“That is correct. The bodies were both found posed and clean. Which means he spent hours after, washing them and cleaning the sheets, even. There could be a religious angle to this. Washing away their sins...maybe his own, considering he probably gets into the bath with them.”

He pushed a cup of long gone cold tea towards you, but you shook your head. As a crime reporter, you thought you’d seen it all but the possibility of this being the work of a serial killer was a first for you. Also the fact that it was happening in the place you grew up in was starting to gnaw at you a little more aggressively than you’d liked.

“I’m not going to lie, Dr. Doh, this gives me pause for concern. Do you think there is a sexual angle to these killings? As far as I know, the victims have shown no signs of any such abuse.”

Kyungsoo sipped on his tea and worried at his lower lip briefly before responding. “I believe he’s the kind to take pictures, momentos from the scene. They sustain him between killings.”

“And the roses? There were..”

“Three next to Park Soojin’s corpse and two next to Seo Jinri’s.”

“Does it indicate -”

“- a countdown? Perhaps.” He studied your face intently and offered you tea again. This time you complied and then proceeded with the interview.

“There was no sign of forced entry in either cases. The police think the perpetrator was known to the victims.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. You see, Miss Jung, the problem is that these cases were treated as self solvers from the get go and that’s where it all went wrong.”

His smile at the end of that sentence was one of finality, somehow indicative that you’d overstayed your welcome. To be able to milk him for all he was worth, you were going to let him loose for the time being.

Clicking your recorder off, you tilted your head to the side, smiled politely, “Well, thank you for your time, Dr. Doh.”

“It’s been a pleasure.”

While he was walking you to the front door, you couldn’t help but ask, “Dr. Doh, if I may, were the victims known to each other? Were they friends? Acquaintances?”

“That’s for the police to investigate. They were both in their late twenties, highly qualified - one was a solicitor the other a botanist, both tan with double eyelids, a little over 5 feet”, He took a step closer to you, instinctively you took an uncomfortable step back but found yourself trapped between him and the front door. His burgundy turtleneck smelt like warm, sweet gingerbread mixed with the contrastive redolence of something woody. He put his hand on the clip that held your hair in a bun, an elusive smile dancing on his lips as he allowed your hair to freely ripple down to your waist. “...and they both had dark, waist length hair”, he whispered into your ear, sending a frisson of fear down your spine.

You looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights as he slowly retracted. Eyes locked with yours and face contorted in a fierce frown, he concluded grimly, “You fit his profile.”

Unable to sleep well that night, you went for an early morning run the next day and took a detour to Minseok’s residence. After discussing your findings with him, he offered you a close protection officer who’d moonlight to provide you security just until they’d made an arrest. Which meant you’d have one uniformed officer standing guard outside your guest house all day. You knew that they wouldn’t have done this for you if your family name wasn’t Jung.

“Kim Jongin’s back in town.” Relief seemed to have smoothened the lines on Minseok’s forehead and there was a boost of confidence in his voice when he broke the news to you.

“Are you planning to take him in?” you asked, sipping on coffee in Minseok’s kitchen while he made you some eggs.

He looked victorious and his brows shot up to his hairline as he explained animatedly, “We have enough evidence to put him on trial. I’ll get the warrant in two days.”

“Hand to your heart, do you think he did it?”

“Yah, I’d never be able to make an arrest like that. If you promise not to quote me, I will say that -”

He peered at you questioningly and you eased him with a reassuring nod, “Go on.”

“This looks like the work of an outsider.”

Later that evening, you found Jongin seated alone at a table in the bar. Beaten, as if overcome with exhaustion he was crouched over a glass of scotch, a silent tear sliding down his cheek. You sat next to him and ordered him another drink.

“I killed her.” He stated simply, eyes trained on the empty glass in front of him. To see a man whose taste buds didn’t even agree with coffee back in the day downing hard liquor effortlessly, broke your heart.

“What?” you enquired, sparing no effort to lay the edge off of your voice.

“That evening, we’d had a huge argument. She- she’d been wanting to move out of here for the longest time and I never agreed. It was as if she knew!” Burying his face in his hands, he broke into full blown sobs. It was a while before he composed himself and spoke again, “Here, you have your story. Following a trivial spat, a small town chaebol kills his girlfriend.”

Shaking your head furiously in disagreement, you held him tightly by his shoulders, “This is your chance, Jongin. Speak your truth. Tell them that you didn’t do it. They’ll need to hear it from you!”

Jongin looked you in the eyes, his own brimming with tears, “I was twelve when my puppy died and I couldn’t seem to get over it. My mother gave me this book which said the only way men can get over grief is by showing indifference, I tried that with Soojin.”

Brows furrowed, you asked, “And?”

“It worked for an hour.” He chuckled darkly, “I loved her and I always will. At this point I just don’t care. I should’ve listened to her. Maybe I even deserve this. I see the way people look at me, I- I feel written off, ostracized. A goddamn parliamentarian wants me in. My truth won’t survive their might.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, you started to talk him out of potential suicide, “Jongin -”

But he raised his forefinger to silence you. Trembling, he asked, “I just find myself wondering, can you die from a broken heart?”

Kim Jongin had turned himself in.

Acquiescent to the slow wheels of justice, moderately satisfied with the first draft of your article, and concerned about your safety, your boss agreed to call you back to the Seoul office, at least until there were further developments in the case.

During the course of your stay in Cheongsong, you drove past the little street leading up to the Mansion several times but not once did you glance in its direction. Before your flight the next morning, you decided to pay the house a little visit to say a final goodbye. The first snow had laid a fleecy white blanket on the ceramic roof that gleamed from the light of the astral light of the night sky. You were flooded with memories of chasing butterflies in spring, climbing the only mango tree in town which still stood proud in your backyard, the stories of monsters and ghosts your parents would read to you in the blanket forts you’d build together… blissfully unaware that in a not so far future this was all your life would entail - monsters and ghosts.

The great oakwood front door turned on its hinges and a familiar aroma of caramel apple hotteok invited you in. They say every house has a peculiar smell and yours smelt of caramel apple hotteok, even after all this time. Your lips curled upward at the strangeness of your sentiments. The demons you tried so hard to escape all your life seemed like bad dreams and what was left of this place within you was just the good. The pure, unadulterated joy that was once your childhood.

You proceeded to the kitchen to fetch yourself a cup of hot water, and that’s when you heard a knock on the front door. You ignored it at first thinking it was just the wind but the knock came again. Louder, this time. You left the kitchen to answer the door.

“Dr. Doh!” you exclaimed, utterly surprised to see him here at this hour.

“Miss Jung”, he smiled sheepishly, “I went by the guest house but the guard said you were at the Mansion. I just wanted to say goodbye, I’m leaving for Gyeonggi in the a.m.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Uh - I’m sorry, please, come in.”

He followed you to the kitchen and said apologetically, “I hope I’m not imposing.”

“No, not at all! Never quite realised just how massive this house actually is - It was starting to eat me up. Gyeonggi, you say?”

“Oh, it’s a cursed life as an independent consultant, Miss Jung. I’m mostly living out of a suitcase..”

“I wish I could say differently. So your presence here was requested by Minseok’s team?” You asked as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

“No, I arrived just about a month before the first murder. My parents passed in a car crash three years ago. So I decided to sell the estate and the pepper farms.” He explained, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

“Would you like some tea? I brought some tea bags with me. I don’t know which tea it is, though.” You offered, mindlessly pouring hot water into two cups.

“Sure” , he nodded.

“So did you?”

“What?”

“Manage to sell everything? And I’m sorry - uh about your parents.”

You didn’t feel sorry. What you felt was an inexplicable weight in your chest rendering you breathless. Your heart started pounding erratically and your mind clouded over with a sense of impending doom as you went about the mundane task of making tea.

“You seem a little out of it, Miss Jung. Is something bothering you?” He got off his chair and guided you to yours as your legs threatened to give away.

You sipped on some warm tea to steady yourself and said to Kyungsoo, “Oh, no it’s … It’s just this house. Maybe you were right, Dr. Doh. This isn’t a good time. I’m sorry but I might have to ask you to leave.”

Kyungsoo didn’t react. At all. He stood still, eyes fixed on your trembling frame.

“Park Soojin wasn’t his first kill”, he whispered.

“What?” you asked feebly, still trying to get a hold of yourself.

Kyungsoo sauntered over to the kitchen counter and brought you a glass of water. “Pay attention, Miss Jung. Park Soojin wasn’t his first kill. He was sloppy with the first one and it was only by a stroke of luck that he managed to get away. So he planned better with Soojin. Got even better with Jinri.”

Startled, you looked him in the eyes and he gave you a smile that raised goosebumps on your skin.

Unperturbed Kyungsoo continued, pacing leisurely in the kitchen, a spine-chilling hint of exhilaration in his voice. “His criminal sophistication indicates that he understands criminology and knows police work. Unfortunately, Miss Jung,”, his voice dropped and you suddenly felt shackled to your seat. Squirming, but unable to make any big movement like reaching out for something that was heavy or sharp or both, “The tragedy is that he’s always believed he’s inferior to these women. But -”

Kyungsoo levelled his face with yours and grinned with a glimmer of victory in his eyes, “for every tragedy, there is a happy ending.”

It took all you could muster to hold it together and dash for your purse to retrieve your cell phone. But you didn’t find it in there.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” asked Kyungsoo, teasing as he pulled your phone from the inside pocket of his overcoat and handed it to you.

You tried to turn it on to no avail. Voice as steady as could be, you said to him, “Please, please just leave!”

He took two easy steps towards you and you found yourself encased between his body and the wall. “Well then you shouldn’t have let me in! Tell me something, how could the close protection officer have given me your whereabouts if you dismissed him immediately after Jongin’s arrest? Haven’t you learnt since you were a little girl - always keep your guard up. Think before you speak. Did you think you were invincible?”

He took your hand in his and guided you back to the kitchen table. Eyes brimming tears, body trembling, and mind overcome with dread you followed him as if he were the pied piper. The familiar scent of gingerbread wafted up your nostrils making you nauseous.

As soon as you took a seat at the table, he put on his gloves, and lay a bottle of red nail polish and a red rose before you.

“Just think about how you can be with them again, Miss Jung. And don’t worry...I’ll be gentle.”

***

A/N: YES! you’re absolutely right! i just wanted to write turtleneck murderer Soo -_-

#exosnet #exowritersnet #kyungsoo angst #kyungsoo smut #kyungsoo fluff #kyungsoo fanfic #exo fanfic #exo smut #exo angst #exo imagines #kyungsoo imagines #exo fanfiction #kyungsoo fanfiction

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jessbakescakes · 3 years ago

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I wish you would write a future fic where Josh and Donna kind of argue about future careers and Josh tries to convince Donna he has a whole plan laid out for her future in politics (because I’m convinced he does).

This took forever and I'm so sorry! This was from the 'I wish you'd write a fic where' game that I started over a month ago and then... didn't finish. Anyway. This is a post-series fluffy future Josh/Donna fic.

May 2014

“I think I need a vacation to recover from our vacation,” Donna says, pulling the nearest child-sized duffle bag toward her and unzipping it.

Josh laughs. “Leave that until tomorrow. Seriously.”

“I do feel compelled to at least check to be sure one of the barn kittens didn’t accidentally hitch a ride back with us,” Donna says, employing air quotes around the word ‘accidentally’. “Nora was a little too fascinated by them.”

Josh, Donna, and their three girls spent Memorial Day weekend with the Bartlets on the farm in New Hampshire. It had become a tradition during the first year of the Santos administration, a way for Josh and Donna to get out of the city away from the fireworks and relax on an otherwise difficult weekend. Donna had always welcomed the opportunity to escape for a little while, and she was incredibly grateful that the Bartlets continued to extend the invitation as their family grew.

Abbey and Jed rolled out the red carpet for their honorary granddaughters on this particular weekend. They introduced the girls to the Bartlet Farm barn cat and her kittens, let them play in the sprinklers until they were pruny, and kept them busy while Josh and Donna relaxed. The entire Moss-Lyman clan had a great time, and the weekend came to a close with only a few minor hiccups.

“I checked as I loaded the car,” Josh reassures her. “Nary a kitten crossed state lines.”

“Okay, good,” Donna says, moving the bag back to its place by the wall and leaning her head on Josh’s shoulder. It was a nice weekend, but going anywhere with their three girls always manages to be exhausting somehow.

“I am intrigued by this ‘vacation from a vacation’ business, though,” Josh says, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

She curls up close to him, closing her eyes. “Well, coming from a man who didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘vacation’ until he was forced to take one, I can understand how the concept is nebulous to you.”

“Donna.”

Donna sighs. “I just… I like my job, Josh. I do. But sometimes it’s a lot of… I don’t know. I feel like I’m not making much of a difference.”

“Of course you’re making a difference. But if you feel like you’re not, then it’s time to move on,” Josh says. “Shake things up.”

“Josh.”

“We haven’t had this conversation in several years,” Josh starts, “and the last time we did, you tried to convince me that you could get your master’s degree in the one-year accelerated program while working and raising two kids under three.”

She remembers this conversation well. After President Santos lost his re-election bid, she was feeling a bit unsure of what to do next. Being Chief of Staff to the First Lady was an incredible honor, but it took her some time to figure out her next move. She’d finished her bachelor’s degree while she was Chief of Staff, so she eventually decided to get her master’s degree from Georgetown, then took a job with the Women’s Leadership Coalition.

Josh, of course, was incredibly supportive, taking on the duties of primary caregiver while doing some teaching at the adjunct level on the side. He did his best not to offer his opinion on her career moves unless he was asked directly, but sometimes, he had to remind her that she could only do so much. Talking her into pursuing her degree on a part-time rather than full-time basis was one of his smarter ideas.

“Okay, yes, doing it in two years was the better decision, but I ended up graduating when I was, what, seven months pregnant with Leah? I’m a very powerful and capable woman, Josh,” Donna says.

Josh stands up from the couch and pulls a binder off of the bookshelf in the corner. “I have never once doubted that. In fact, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Thank you.” Donna pauses, watching as Josh flips through the binder. It occurs to her as she watches him leaf through the binder that she has no idea what he’s referring to. “Wait, what do you mean?”

Josh opens the binder and pulls out two sheets of paper. “Each of these pieces of paper contains a timeline for your future in politics.” He taps the page in her left hand. “This one right here is an accelerated version, but I think you could easily manage either one of them.”

She glances down at the pages, a little intimidated by the idea that Josh has planned out her entire career path. Donna can feel the anxiety building as she reads. Words like campaign manager, senior political advisor, and Congresswoman, Wisconsin 2nd stand out in bold font. “Josh? What is this?”

“Which one?”

Donna points to the line that says Congresswoman, Wisconsin 2nd. “This.”

Josh laughs. “Oh, yeah. You’re running for Congress in 2024. Sam’s going to be elected President in 2022, so we’ll have to slip you in at midterms to make sure you can boost his numbers in the second half. At least he’ll know he can count on your vote.”

She smiles to herself. Josh has such high hopes for her. He’s been telling her she should run for Congress since they got married, even going so far as to occasionally send her Zillow listings for properties in the Congressional district. But he’s always done it in his Josh-like, half-joking way. She’s never really taken him seriously when he’s suggested it.

For one, she’s not really given much thought to the idea of being the ‘face’ of the political process. She’s always enjoyed the behind the scenes work, and the idea of campaigning on her own behalf sounds daunting at best. The idea of leaving Josh and the girls behind to spend time in Wisconsin without them immediately makes her a little nauseated. “I don’t know how I feel about all of this.”

“About what? Donna, you can do this. You’re so great at it. And you’d be able to make a difference the way you want to.”

There’s something about the idea of Josh’s enthusiasm toward the idea of her advancing in politics that will never get old. The fact that they’re past the days of being boss-and-assistant and nearly seven years into a marriage and almost eight into a partnership where Josh puts her career first is almost unbelievable. “It’s way too early to be talking about any of this,” Donna finally says, handing him the papers.

“It’s almost too late to be talking about this,” Josh counters. “If you’ll look at 2014 on the timeline…”

Donna leans forward and interrupts him with a kiss. When she pulls away, she gently removes one of the papers from his hand and folds it in half. “You can get rid of this one. I’m not going to be President, Josh.”

Josh looks at her for a moment, then lets out a sigh. “Good. I was trying to be supportive there, but I wasn’t so sure about the idea.”

“You don’t think I could be President?” Donna asks, taking the binder from his hands and putting it on the coffee table.

“You could absolutely be President,” Josh says. “That’s the terrifying part.”

Donna leans forward for another kiss, but stops just short of his lips. “I’m a very powerful and capable woman, Josh,” she says before giving him another kiss.

“Don’t I know it.”

#josh x donna #my fics #hufflepuffhermione #sorry this took so long!#the west wing #fics i wish you'd write game

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we-are-inevitable · 3 years ago

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OK SO ✨country songs✨

- absolutely mandatory mention of good directions by billy currington

- honey bee by blake shelton cause it has very specific vibes i enjoy

- all i can think about is the mlm/javid version of farmer’s daughter by rodney atkins and how it makes me wanna cry

- STUCK LIKE GLUE BY SUGARLAND

ok i think that’s enough of that dhdhdhdh

WAIT HOLY FUCK FARMERS DAUGHTER IS ,, HNG ,,, and good directions OBVIOUSLY..... honey bee is so cute too it's SUCH a good song and oh my GOD stuck like glue was a HUGE part of my childhood,, chandler your MIND

for the sake of Keeping My Cool i am going to be exclusively talking abt Farmer’s Daughter but AHHHHHHHHHHHHH all of these are so fucking good

summer between senior year and jack’s first year of college.

jack decides he needs some money, mainly to save up for a newer truck, and that’s when he sees that a local farmer- Mayer Jacobs- is looking for a helper.

Jack doesn’t know Mayer on a personal level; he’s seen him around town, and knows that Jacobs Farm and Ranch is a pretty successful operation, but their paths have never crossed.

nonetheless, Jack heads over to the ranch one Saturday morning, and finds Mayer getting ready to head out to the barn. Jack introduces himself, talks about what he’s done for other farmers/Kelly Farms, and gives Mayer a firm handshake. when he’s done, Mayer looks him over and asks, “When can ya start?”

that’s the beginning of, undoubtedly, the hardest job Jack has ever had. not that Mayer- or his wife, Esther- are bad bosses; it’s just a lot more than he bargained for? there are a lot more working parts to it, and after his first week, he’s ready to throw in the towel.

until he sees Mayer’s son come home from a summer internship down in Florida.

now, David is someone Jack has seen around; they’re the same age, they went to the same school, but Jack was always more social, and they weren’t exactly in the same friend groups in high school.

also, not to throw this trope in there, but in high school, David was always a bit... nerdy?

he had glasses and kept his hair short and he wore t-shirts with quotes and puns that jack never got, and that’s when he wasn’t wearing a navy hoodie. needless to say, David kind faded into the background.

but, now that he’s back home after a month, Jack can see that David has really changed since the last time he saw him. he’s tan, for one; that’s something new, because Jack has never seen him when he wasn’t extremely pale, contrasted with Jack’s own honey brown skin.

he doesn’t have glasses on, either, and his curls are longer and more defined, and, wow, he’s actually kind of attractive.

the next day, when Jack takes his lunch break, he sits out on Mayer’s front porch. usually Mayer will join him, sometimes bringing Les along as well, but today it’s just jack, until David comes out the front door. he’s a little surprised to see Jack, but they end up talking for a while- long enough for them to both realize that they’re both definitely not straight, which they both new about themselves, but not each other.

cue the summertime romance!

but not really.

sure, they’re both attracted to each other, but at first, it’s just hooking up and fooling around together; it’s not like they have very many options in town as it is.

but, then... hooking up turns into talking afterward, and that turns into talking before AND afterward, and that turns into talking WITHOUT hooking up, and that turns into genuinely enjoying spending time with each other.

this DOES accompany Jack having to sneak David home a few times, but that summer is spent primarily with each other... and so is every summer afterward. Not during the school year; no, they both have college on opposite sides of the state, but every summer, Jack comes back to work for Mayer, and, every summer, Jack falls in love with David Jacobs all over again.

when they finally graduate college, they realize that they want this to be more than just a summertime fling. they start dating and, three months later, Jack pops the question.

they’re married the next spring, and Jack is grateful that he gets to come home to the love of his life every night <3

please im such a sucker for farm boy jack kelly AHHH

thank u, chandler, you’ve done it again

#jack kelly #davey jacobs #david jacobs #javid #javey #small town au #mayer jacobs #newsies #newsies live #livesies #newsies 1992 #92sies #newsies musical #newsies broadway #toursies #chandler tag #ask a jac !#jac writes

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shyrose57 · 4 years ago

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Brothers anon back again. Heads up im going to be busy for the next week about so it may be a bit til I submit my next bit. I'll try to get something in though! Even if its just a bunch of incorrect quotes I have stored up or songs that inspired the story (or if you have questions you haven't been able to ask you can ask those, literally any question is fine).

1: Not particularly, but it does give him an advantage in everything basically. Cause he was taught how to survive in many different areas (like treating wounds and how to survive in a tundra when you have nothing), this teaching is what allowed him to live alone for 4 years, and is what gives him a strong advantage in the Pit because he's almost fully trained in fighting and has many different tactics for multiple scenarios. Ranbob was distraught and was sent into a depressive episode when he discovered that, almost his entire family was dead, and got even more distraught and sent into a state of hysteria when he found out he was the one who killed them. He acted much the same when he found out he killed his friends, Ran's friends, and every single mentor and leader that was there. Knowing full well he may of very well doomed Mizu, if anyone was still left alive of course.

2: Grievous remained salty for the rest of the day, and showed distaste in Ranbob as well. But the day after Grievous was back to being friends with and gently pranking Ranbob, forgiving him for yesterday's accident.

3: Eh? It depends I'll say. For life threatening situations and stressful situations, yes definitely. He doesnt last long before breaking down and begging Benjamin for help. But if its something like getting everyone to work toghere, giving directions, stopping fights, or even making calls in a very important decision, he doesnt get overwhelmed too easily. Benjamin is basically the co-leader of the group, only really leading when Isaac is unable too.

5: Yep! Just cause this is a mythical and fake world doesnt mean there can't be some real world attributes. Im trying to keep it mythical but also use real world functions and trying to show the change/mix in times (like how while some of the world is machinery and its slowly gaining popularity, it's still mostly midevil based)

7: If the person is in the arena he gets revenge. Though sadly he can't get it outside cause last time he did that he got banned from fighting for a month. But if he sees one of the people who made fun of Jackie in the arena he makes sure to go hard to them, pushing them to their limit, but not pushing hard enough to make them lose if that makes sense. He makes sure to fight in a way that's draining and causing pain for the person, but not draining enough to make the round end so he can drag it on until the person collapses.

8: He does! He's kept all of his books from his adventures and sometimes re-reads them to make sure he doesnt forget anything. And sometimes if the others beg, he reads them outloud to the group as a sort of bedtime story. He goes wack, he wacks Jackie when he's being a little shit, he wacks Grievous after a prank, he wacks Genevieve when she brakes a training dummy, he wacks Levi especially hard when he gives Jackie alcohol after he specifically told him not too. He watched the dressmaker, baker, farmer, fletcher, cleric, cartographer, and butcher! He learned all tricks of the trade and learned how to properly make clothes, map maps, how to take care of animals and what certain animals need, how to cook anything basically, how to harvest and preserve food, and how to make arrows and the basic necessities for a bow.

Ran does not necessarily make them often, he mostly only wrote them down so he wouldn't accidentally brew a potion of poison and drink it thinking it was a healing potion. Its considered no longer necessary to go into the nether, as the only thing really needed is netherwart and building supplies, but the building supplies are very rarely needed and every major city has a netherwart farm. Also cause I wanna add it, no one knows about netherite. Only a few adventures know about it but consider it a hoax, it's only Rans netherite sword that actually proves that it does exist. I actually wasnt planning on it at first but now definitely, I could do a lot of things with them in the SMP grounds. Weeks, it takes weeks for Ran to decide their ready. Because they need to pass whats basically tests about mobs of the nether and their habits, mine plenty of gold, learn about what to and what not to do around Piglins, learn about bastions and fortresses and areas to completely avoid, learn to be able to take multiple mobs on at once, and be able to withstand the heat there. Watson tries to get Ran to lighten up on the requirements but Ran is firmly sticking his ground and Watson ends up giving up and letting Ran do whatever. Though even with all of Rans training their not completely ready for the nether. The fishermen originally refuse to go through, but eventually go through, mostly to make sure Ranbob is safe, and because Cletus wouldn't stop whining about going.

10: I am very tempted to add angst here because their fighting against Dream after all. But I've made a lot of angst so far so I'll only do it if you want me too.

12: He does end up stepping in! He goes to Ranbob one night and says how he's noticed he's been stressed and always sad and asks how he can help. Ranbob brushes him off at first but is debating going to him again and asking for help one last time.

13: Yeah he's like a final boss. When you fight as a General your allowed to use your own personal weapons and whatever tricks or tactics you want, along with 3 potions of your choice. While when fighting as a typical gladiator, you have to use the weapons supplied (although unless specifically stated you can use any weapon given at any time), and have to use tatics and tricks specifically allowed in the rules. Though there are 2 more titles! Sergeant and Corporal. Ran and Watson are both Sergeants, they get to use personal weapons and mostly any tactic and tricks they want too. While Grievous is a Corporal and only gets to use his personal weapons.

14: Yep! The whispers disappeared gradually the futher away they got from Mizu, and even while he was moving away from Mizu Dream was asking, almost begging him at the end, to come back to Mizu. Saying how the futher Ranbob gets the lonier and colder he feels, and how he's sorrh, trying to guilt trip him into coming back to Mizu, or at least coming closer again.

15: It is!

1: Huh. What kind of things would people learn if they chose other idols, exactly? Also, ouch. Why do I keep asking questions I know will hurt me later on?

2: Gently pranking. I applaud his restraint. Is that how Grievous forgives people? Gently pranking them? Just joking with them in general. Also, who laughed at that little situation?

3: So Isaac’s good with everyday things, not so much high stress situations. Gotcha. Is there a reason Benjamin is able to remain calm where he can’t? Practice, experience, personality trait?

5: Very cool. Can’t wait to see what else you do with that, honestly.

7: Petty. I love it.

8: Aww, adventure bedtime stories! Also, him wacking people is so funny to me, thank you for that. And Levi gave Jackie alcohol? How did that go down? Did Jackie get drunk, or did Watson manage to keep them from drinking it? Watson sounds like he could probably establish a small village if he so chose, and honestly, good for him.

Dang. Does this mean like, everything from the Smp has been lost? So many of them had netherite armor and stuff, what happened there for people to not even know it’s a thing anymore? What happened in general, for so much of the past to be lost to history? How does their little Nether trip go? Anyone get hurt? Are piglin tribes around to trade with? Do they find anything cool, like a fortress or bastion?

10: It’s your AU, do what you will. I’m going to read it regardless, because for some reason, I enjoy breaking my heart like that(and the AU in general). Just give us some bonus hurt/comfort if you do, please? Just a smidge?

12: One last time? What does that mean, exactly? Should I be concerned?

13: Huh. So how many people know that Jackie’s the General? What kind of status does it give him? And how many people have managed to beat him when he fights all out? Would you say he and Ran are on par? How about him and Watson? And do the Sergeants and Corporals fight before the General, as like, mini bosses?

14:Oh no. Did it ever cause Ranbob to try and go back to him toward the end, or did the Fishermen manage to distract him long enough to get away from the whispers just about completely?

15: Yay!

#Brothers AU #tales from the smp #ranbob #ran #jackie #watson #the lost city of mizu

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