#le premier sit

[viandclintbarton-supremacy]

All Star (Millie Bright x GN Reader) Featuring WSL + BPL players

Warning: Swearing, Mature content

Sam Kerr XL VS Erling Haaland XL

A massive day in English football that was arriving. The Women's Super League and The Premier League were in a agreement to have a All Star match. Both teams made up from Stars of the WSL and the PL and the week would draw a lot of inspiration from the NBA all star week, Contests, Celebrity match, etc

Even though their was some concerns about the players playing too much, the game would be in off season and players had a choice to play if they wanted too. The idea of playing with some of the best in the country and friends was a exciting idea so when where contacted to be apart of Pep's side you jumped at the chance

Much Excitement was gathering for the event, especially since you was contacted to be apart of the Haaland XL and would take on the Kerr XL. The days following up to the event was press, media and training with the teammates for the match. The likes of Haaland, Mead, Foden, Son, TAA, Leah Williamson, Walker and more. Whilst the other team would have Sam Kerr, KDB, Russo, Millie Bright, Daly, Ederson and more.

During training camp you met with friends like Mead, Leah and Heung Min Son and new like Haaland, Lauren Hemp, Thiago Silva just to name a few.

Training camp was filled with banter, fun and energy. You loved being around the league's top stars that sometimes it you had to pinch yourself to see if this was real.

"Ok team, this will be the line up for the game. everyone will have time on the pitch. Even though this is a game of fun, I'm sure we all don't like to lose" Pep said in a light hearted tone which was responded with smiles and head nods. The slide would show the line up and you study it.

GK - Mary Earps

DEF- Walker, McCabe, Le Tissier, Sliva

MID - Williamson, Son, Foden

ATT - Y/N, Haaland, Hemp

You smiled at the line up, This team looked good and the bench was good too. You felt a nudge behind you to see Haaland and received a high five turned into a fist pump. Hemp who was sitting next to you also did the same. Leah, Son and Foden would just be magic. the back 4 screamed hard work and aggression and Mary had that passion to motivate the entire team. You, Hemp and Haaland is a dangerous trio. Hemp with her pace and quick thinking, Haaland is well Erling Haaland and you were the Top Goal scorer in the F.A cup and Champions league last season. This Team was powerful.

The meeting went on as Pep gave game plans and who would most likely deal with who. Like the defence and Mary having to hold off Sam Kerr and Salah. Midfield up against Rice, KDB, Cuthbert and Toone.

"Y/N, Hemp,Haaland. You will most likely be up against Trippier" You rubbed your chin, he can be a challenge "Steph Houghton" You lean forward excitement filled you as you go up against a lioness legend "Harry Maguire" You smirked at the easy challenge "And Millie Bright" Your smirked turned into a full blown evil smile, Not only would you a Arsenal Striker go up against a Chelsea captain but you LOVED challenges and Millie fitted that category. You looked at your attacking teammates who also looked intrigued and ready untill "I got a tenner on F/N making one of them break" you hear McCabe say from the back who made the room laugh, you turned to her with you smile on show. What did McCabe mean by her bet? Well you had a reputation..............for being one of the biggest shit talkers there is.

Whenever you were marked by a defender you just talked...and talked.... and talked until you were in their head or made them so irritated that they would try and two foot you and not be able to focus most of the time you catching them off guard and finding yourself through on goal

One thing that everyone knew about you when playing

No one could shut you up.

"I SAY TWENTY!" Hemp shouts taking the bet on you gave an eye roll

"THIRTY AND A ROUND OF DRINKS ON ME IF IM WRONG!" You had to double take as Son jumped in on it which threw you off "SONNY!" you said flabbergasted as the rest of the team were taking that bet

"HUNDRED!" You turned to Pep and gave him a really look

"I HAVE ONE FOR YOU F/N!" you turned back to Leah " Millie is a tough one and won't be easily broken" You tilted your head a little bit, interest building "If you can get Bright to break, I will be your assistant for a 24 hours" The room filled with oohs as you crossed your arms leaning back, biting your tongue, feeling a nudge from Hemp as Son put his hands on your shoulders and shock you "Go on!" Son said "Yeah you can make her suffer" Hemp said You smiled at your friends

"And if I don't?"

"You would my assistant for a full day" You smirked and leaned forward "And then McCabe's for another 24 hours" Your smirk dropped god knows what Katie would make you do. The Team were enjoying every moment of this after the brief thought, You knew you were the best at it when it came to cracking people. You turned to Katie who had the most terrifying smile you have ever seen in your life and past lifes. Leah walked over to you with a smug and extended her hand "do we have an accord" she said in a posh accent

"I Accept" You stood up and shock to the team clapping and voicing excitement. As Leah back to her seat you gently pulled her towards you with a evil smirk "Sonny!" You said gaining the Korean's attention "Yes?" "You don't happen to have a spare Tottenham shirt i can borrow right?" You asked in a innocent voice to which Leah's grin dropped and the blood drained from her face as the room started to giggle. "Yes i do, Why would you need one" He said smiling innocently "Just thinking Leah suits white and black clothing" Leah gave you a glare before returning to her seat.

The bet was on!!!!!

After many training sessions, interviews, social media posts, recordings for tv and youtube

The day was here, The team arrived at a sold out Wembley Stadium. Fans were on a high to watch football, see interactions they thought they would never see. The whole team was excited and determined to have a great match.

The team would go out for the last training session on the field before the game, it was there you would see the other team on the other side of the pitch and there she was. Your challenge Millie Bright, you looked at the Lioness she was quite the looker and you shamelessly checked her out. But then had an idea that hopefully would work, It was simple. She just needed to look at you. and thankfully she did.

She caught you looking at her and she nodded at you but frowned at little when you didn't nod back. She waved but all you did was smirk and went back to warm up. You were all ready trying to get inside the Chelsea captain's head.

The match was about to start, you walked out to the field with your team and waiting to shake the enemy teams hand and say good games and such. As you looked around you had to admit. Being in Wembley, on the pitch in front of that crowd was something.

You felt like a immortal everytime you played there, the cheers, the atmosphere. To you Wembley was the stage where legends made. And you know that after you scored the last minute goal for arsenal in the F.A Cup final against West Ham last season. You loved it here.

You were shaken out of your thoughts as you saw Sam Kerr approach you, clasping your hand and both winking at each other before saying "Have a good game" and this would continue down the line until you held Millies hand and gave a smirk which made frown a little bit.

As the match kicked off, you went to your position and found yourself marked by Millie. You glanced at Hemp who gave you a smile and raised her eyebrows at you

"This gonna be a great match" you said to Mille "Yeah it's crazy it's happening" She said in a happy voice

"Too bad i didnt get the male chelsea captain to deal with"

"Ooh is that How's it gonna be?" Millie replied in a amused voice as she glanced at you as you just gave a smirked.

A couple minutes later, you would find yourself running through on goal and was heading towards goal as you feel Millie trying to push you off the ball as Eddison was ready to challenge you. As Millie tried to kick the ball away she ended up dragging you down but you got a kick out of it but Eddison's fingers tip skimmed the ball enough to divert it to the post.

Next thing you knew you hit the ground hard as you felt someone fall on you. You looked at who was on top of you and was Millie "Sorry if that was a bit rough, you ok?" She said with her own smirk trying to get back at you. You couldn't help but get hot under the collar feeling her hot breath fall on you as she was on top of you but you remained composed

"Nah I'm good. I like it Rough, especially in the postion" you said in a flirty voice as you looked Millie up and down who responded with a flabbergasted face before she quickly got up and brushed herself off. You evilly cackle to yourself loud enough to hear.

Later as your team received a corner you would take your postion and felt a strong presence behind you. You glance to see Millie. She stood next to you as she got ready to fight in the air. You felt her hand on your waist.

"Oh Millie" You said in a fake shock but flirty voice. To which Millie give you a seconed look and glared at you. But heard McCabe cackle and you saw Kerr in front of you starting to chuckle. And a friendly bump on the arm by walker. But at that moment you heard the whistle and the ball was kicked in by Hemp and you locked on to the ball and was about to jumped but saw Haaland jump into the air for the header. You would jocky agaisnt Millie and you managed to throw off balanced so she couldn't challenge Haaland who buried it into the net.

Thr crowd cheered as the team chased Haaland but before you ran, you looked to Millie who was in the ground.

"That wasn't the brightest idea, Brighty!" You said before running off. Not noticing Rachel Daly heard the pun and couldn't help but feel proud at the pun. "It'd beginning to look like you gonna be wearing that spurs shirt Leah" Daly said as he walked past a worried Leah. Millie was being broken down slowly.

The game was 1-1 and you weren't slowing down with the jabs either, you tell Millie irratation was rising. "You seem to not be enjoying the match Millie. What could be wrong?" Nothing. You were standing behind her and couldn't see her face as you started to walk in front of her getting ready to make a run for the ball as the counter attack was coming "It's a nice view by the way Millie"

"What?"

"You backside"

"E-excuse me!" You heard her say in a shock voice as she stuttered the sentence out. In that moment before she could register you sprinted off towards the goal as Son lobbed the ball towards the goal as the chased it. "LITTLE SHIT!" You heard Millie shout trying to chase you down. The sentence threw her off long enough for you acceleration to get distance on her. You saw Maguire coming in for a tackle to which you did a Ronaldo chop to the left sending Maguire sliding in embarrassment. The crowd rained oohh and cheers, as you continued but the slight delay of the move let Millie catch up and you then would pull off a Cruyff turn which resulted in something the world rarely saw with Millie Bright. You sent Millie falling face first onto the ground, you didn't looked back as you ran towards the goal you were one on one with Eddison. Calm and collected to curled the ball past the Brazilian into the goal which led to cheers and claps as you ran off to find Son to thank him for the assist. "LETS GO SONNY BOY!" As you embraced each other and felt others join the bundle. Not knowing Bright was at her limit

Half time would come along and you would walk back to the locker room not before noticing a glare from Millie

You sat down waiting for Pep to talk about the game plan and you felt hands on your shoulders "I can't see much from my postion but I think you winning this bet L/N" you hear Mary Earps say. You turn to her "yeah I feel bad though, hopefullyshe doesn't kill me" you grimaced "Oh she is gunning for you. I saw her face and know what that face means. Whatever happens Just apologise after the game. Hopefully you haven't pushed her too far that we never see you again" She said patting you in the back. Rest of the team walked in over the next couple minutes.

After the talk about the game plan and getting ready to go back out, you see Leah "You seem quiet Leah" Leah sighed

"Cause she bit off more then she could chew" Foden cheekly said as he grabbed a drink "Are you really gonna make her wear a Tottenham shirt? Couldn't be me" Declan Rice said giving you a friendly punch on the arm Leah groaned in annoyance "I'm getting annoyed here" She voiced in the room "So is Bright, You gonna be a good assistant" hear McCabe say as you and her step put of the locker room "ATLEAST I DIDN'T GET BOOKED A YELLOW!" You hear Leah shout at Katie before the door shut behind you, leaving you and Katie laugh as you walk back to the field

You were running into the box as a counter attack was on and Rice lobbed the ball into the box and you went to for the ball but felt a pain in your back sending flying as you jumped and just narrowly missing the goal post and falling to the ground. You gasped the wind was knocked out of you and winced "Jesus" you said sat up and saw Millie staring at you "Oh are you ok? I didn't break you did i?" She said in a sarcastic tone. You smirked "Yeah I deserve that one" you winched as you sat up "Yeah ya did brat" as she walked towards to you and extended her hand. You accepted her hand "Though I must say, You hit me so hard I started to angels. Then one helped me up" You winked at her "Oh for the love of"

*Whistle blows*

You notice the sub board

You run off to the sideline not before clapping and sending love to the crowd, high fiving the team and the enemy team

You glanced at Leah and wiggled your eyebrows. You won the bet and she looked miserable and fearful for that 24 hours

You approached your replacement Bethany England who became a close friend of yours during the All star team training.

You doubled high fived her "She all weared down for ya Bethy" She smiled and shook her head "GO GET ONE" You shouted to the the Tottenham captain

The match ended 5-3 to your team. You would shake hands and show respects

"Oi Millie!" You saw her coming towards you, You put your hands up as a sign of meaning no harm "You really a tough defend-Oof" She shoulder barged you into a stagger and walked to her team. You looked at her leave and then glanced at Daly who gave you, you are in trouble and I fear for your life look. You were shaken from your thoughts by two Tottenham players calling you. You turned with a smile and jogged to Son and Bethany for the trophy lift.

You be lying if you said you didn't feel bad about Millie. You admit you did a bit much especially in efforts for a bet. You found yourself in a secluded area of the hotel both teams would away for the night. You asked Leah if you could have Millies contact details in efforts to apologise. To which she did even after the endless teasing from the team after losing the bet. The team all agreed that Millie cleary let you in her head. You messaged the lioness

"Hey Millie, it's Y/N. Leah gave me your number. I wanted to apologise for my actions I got carried away and went to far in my shit talking today and I am at the hotel and I wanted to apologise in person. If you want nothing to do with me I understand"

"What door number and I will you at 11 pm"

You responded with the door and was left on read thus leading to you waiting outside your door with it open with anxiety building

"OI L/N!" You eyes snapped to the voice and there she was a furious lion that was Millie Bright marching towards you that you would say was murderous intent. Oh she gonna kill you. You put your arms up in defence

"Ok Millie, I'm sorry I really messed and you are very right to be piss-" You were cut off by Millie shoving into your room sending you stumbling. You hear the door slam and felt Millie grabbed you and put you agaisnt the door. You breath quicken as her face was inches away from yours as her breath was heavy and her eye were starring into your soul.

You gulped

------------------Mature Content-------------------

She grabbed both your wrist pining them above you head as she aggressively captured your lips with hers, shocking you, you tried to fight out of it. but couldnt help kiss back. She put her hand under your shirt rubbing your abs and grinded against you. You couldn't help but submit to this lioness. The frustration you gave her today made her lose it

You started to moan as she controlled you like her own toy. You could feel Millie smirk before slipping her tongue in your mouth. You were in bliss, Millie was pushing all the right buttons like you pushed hers on the field.

She stopped for a breather "Holy-"

She then kissing your neck lightly making you shut up tried to fight back moans.

"Such a brat" her kissing became harsher and harder making you curl your toes and move you hands against Millies hold but she was freakishly strong.

Millie stopped and locked eyes with you

"You are going to make up for today" you looked at her helpless as you felt her hand move from your waist to your backside and she grouped. "I can't wait to see that view." She said in a devilous voice as she grouped your backside You were in a trance, you couldn't look away from her and you were still trying to control your breathing.

"But since I didn't get a trophy today, I'm going to take another one and mark it" She said lickling her lips before biting down on your neck and sucked on it. Making your wide eyed. Squeezing you fists and your voice caught in your throat. You let herself submit under her control as she continued to grope and pull you towards her grinding movements. "F-fuck M-millie" you said as you felt her mark your neck

"We will" She said grabbing you and throwing you onto the bed and pinned you down. You were still trying to process what was happening.

"What's wrong? I thought you like it rough?" She said in a seductive voice lifted up your shirt to your neck. "And this postion" you placed kisses from the top of your abs and went lower

Making you feel scared but filled with excitement

She went Iower

You moaned as you closed your eyes

She went lower

It was at this moment you was Millies trophy for the rest of the night

-----------------Mature Content End--------------

You eyes fluttered open as you felt a hand play with your hair and stroke your head. You turned into the body you were intangled with and pressed your face into thier chest.

"Morning my Trophy" you heard the voice of Millie as you felt the vibrations of her speaking and looked up to her still half asleep. You felt her move strays of hair out of your face "You look cute when your all tuckered out" she said teasing you giving you pleasant flashbacks of the events of last night. "You say it like I didn't enjoy it" you gave a weak smile "Oh I know you enjoyed" She sat up slightly and drew you closer to her as she pecked your lips "I heard you enjoy it" You started to sheepishly smile, she pecked you again "I felt you enjoy it" you hid your face in her neck, pecking her neck and ribbing you face trying to hide

"Looks like I figured out how to finally shut you up"

The End

Well that was a different type of story I'm used to writing well the end part. I hope you guys enjoyed it and got a laugh and a gasp out of it.

I really wanted to write a story involving male and female footballers and I tried to make it work. Please let me know if you liked that idea btw

Please send feedback, If you want more Millie imagines request them 😁

[fitzrove]

The insane story of how Pia was cast as Elisabeth

"Still completely overwhelmed by the offer to play this role - not just any role, but the main role in a world premiere - I began to study not only the book of the play, but also the story of Elisabeth of Austria. [...] What is the historical truth, which real figures are behind the roles in the musical? All of these questions suddenly became relevant to me, and I found all of the answers to them in Hamann's books. [...] While studying the countless photos of Elisabeth in the picture section of the book, one particular image suddenly took my breath away. When I looked at the photo of the empress's death mask, I thought I recognized the delicate facial features of my colleague Pia Douwes.

What happened next is something Pia still likes to tell as an anecdote. After a performance of Les Misérables, I showed up in a coffee house with that book in my hand, put it on the table in front of Pia, turned to the page with the picture of the death mask and said: "Pia, look, that's definitely you!" She replied, somewhat piqued: "Hello, Uwe, that's a death mask and I'm sitting here and I'm still alive. Thank God!" Despite my uncharming comparison, she couldn't deny a certain resemblance. Apparently, that evening I spent a long time chatting to her about all the details I already knew - the musical and the historical details about the empress. A plan had been maturing in my mind for a long time: I wanted to stand on stage alongside Pia in the role of the empress, or at least I could imagine it very well. In Vienna, the castings for the title role had long been underway and were almost complete, but Pia nevertheless began to put out feelers through contacts in the scene. Names like Dagmar Hellberg and Daniela Ziegler had already been mentioned, and the division of the role within the play between a young and an old empress was also being considered. [...]

As chance or fate would have it, director Kupfer had to go to the Amsterdam Opera for work, and so he and his production team, including Viktor Gernot, who had flown in especially for the role of the already-cast Emperor Franz Joseph, took the opportunity to conduct a casting for the title role on site. After Pia had sung "Wie du" and "Ich gehör nur mir", everything was clear for Sylvester Levay, who was also present at this important decision. The subsequent duet with Gernot was just a formality."

From Uwe Kröger's autobiography "Ich bin, was ich bin. Mein Leben". Amalthea Verlag 2014.

[mochademic]

100 Days of Productivity [Day: 87] || 100 Jours de Productivité [Jour: 87]

sometimes I sit down on a sunday & make my weekly planner with very little to finish towards the end of the week. then somehow by wednesday the entire thing is full. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those weeks. there's been a wave of crazy things happening at work today & all of them seem to be 1. unheard of & 2. needing to be dealt with immediately.

academic work:

-catch up on everything missed from last week -edit paragraph assignment -re-write notes

freelance work:

-edit new layouts -do inventory -finish first book of the week

office work:

-finish reports -start consolidating paperwork -prep for payroll

currently listening // Dreaming by Lee

Il m'arrive de m'asseoir un dimanche et d'établir mon planning hebdomadaire avec très peu de choses à terminer vers la fin de la semaine. puis, d'une manière ou d'une autre, le mercredi, le planning est entièrement rempli. J'ai le sentiment que cette semaine va être l'une de ces semaines. Il y a eu une vague de choses folles qui se sont produites au travail aujourd'hui et toutes semblent être 1. inouïes et 2. devoir être traitées immédiatement.

travail académique:

-rattraper tout ce qui a été oublié la semaine dernière -révision de l'exercice du paragraphe -réécriture des notes

travail en freelance:

-rédiger de nouvelles mises en page -faire l'inventaire -Finir le premier livre de la semaine

travail de bureau:

-finir les rapports -commencer à consolider la paperasse -Préparer la paie

chanson // Dreaming par Lee

[you-remind-me-of-the-babe]

It’s high time I’ve done another rec post, so here I am, coming in hot with six WIPs you should be reading right now.

Before I get into the fics themselves, a word about reading WIPs. Look, I know it’s tempting to wait until a fic is complete. Not to mention the fact that there is an absolutely staggering amount of amazing fics out there. I’m a slow reader myself, and my TBR list, even after reading fics for nearly three years, is so damn long. I could easily sit back and only read older completed fics and probably never finish them all.

But. I love a good WIP fic almost like nothing else. Yes, binging a completed fic in one sitting can leave you flying high. But following a fic as it’s being written, interacting with said fic and cheering that writer on, gives me so much gratification. Getting that email notification for a new chapter, and feeling so eager to read the new update, is an absolute joy. I highly recommend.

Lastly, this is not an exhaustive list of current Carry On WIPs, but merely a small sampling. And if anyone has any good WIP recs for me, I’d love to hear them!

Only Creatures, WIP, currently 52k, rated E by @emeryhall

In this canon divergent story, Simon breaks up with Baz at the end of WS, leading Baz to become a recluse and a poet, growing a beard and hiding out in Scotland. When he finds out Simon is a camboy for a website called Only Creatures, they tentatively start wanking chatting again. Come for Baz’s Unabomber style, stay for the second chances and explorations of intimacy.

Everything Emery writes is amazing, and this fic is no exception. It’s a little absurd, incredibly witty and heartfelt, with a cast of OCs that quietly shine. This story has cracked my heart open and is slowly putting it back together. You won’t regret reading this one.

Hiding Out in the Open, WIP, currently 48k, rated M by @cutestkilla

Another canon divergence story, this time where Simon and Baz never got together after their truce in 8th year. After the SSR debacle, they meet again and this time start connecting over a shared interest in a psychology podcast.

This fic does an excellent job of having these boys dig into their trauma and issues via the podcast topics, letting them heal and connect, while also letting the reader marvel at the heavy Snowbaz vibes of every podcast episode. It’s so smart, I’m telling you.

I Knew A Boy, I Knew A Man, WIP, currently 83k, rated T by @shrekgogurt

This football AU has Baz and Simon ending up on the same premiere league team, years after playing together at school. The author gives us flashbacks in every chapter of their frought relationship as teens, before progressing the story in the present.

I can’t believe I haven’t done an official rec post for this fic yet. Mary writes the sports bits of this story so vividly, and the flashback bookends of each chapter so perfectly tie into the current narrative, you’ll marvel at the complex way it moves the story forward. Seriously, one of my all time faves.

Basil Pitch’s Diary, WIP, currently 32k, rated T by @bookish-bogwitch

Watford-era Baz starts a diary on January 1st, determined to record his progress on various resolutions, namely, getting over Simon Snow.

This fic has the incredible humor of Bridget Jones’s Diary and will introduce you to your favorite version of acerbic, self-depricating teenage Baz. He will own your soul. There is no other outcome of reading this fic.

The Eternal Life of Baz Pitch, WIP, currently 25k, rated M by @monbons

This story watches a three hundred year old Baz, cursed after desperately trying to find a way to be loved on his own terms, wandering aimlessly in present times until he finds a certain blue eyed barista who has an unusual reaction to meeting him.

This AU is based on The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but you don’t have to have read the book to become immersed in this achingly sad but thoroughly sweet story of hope and second chances.

Episode 6: Apres la Pluie, le Beau Temps, WIP, currently 10k, rated M by @artsyunderstudy

Another installment in the Star Trek series for the lovely @raenestee, this series is the epitome of following a good WIP story. Several authors have contributed to this sci-fi beast, and the progression of the story through several different writers’ hands is an absolute delight to watch. (And, as one of the authors, to participate in.)

If you aren’t yet reading it, this is a great time to join. We’re right in the middle of the story, leaving the four couples in Ashton’s very capable hands as she expertly guides them through various communication breakdowns. If you know nothing of Star Trek, don’t let that stop you from joining a thoroughly entertaining epic of a story.

[ryuryuryuyurboat]

les lois d'amour: premier acte.

synopsis: prélude de blancheur et noirceur.

genre: fluff, slight crack

characters: neuvillette x mermaid! reader

warnings: fem! reader, reader mentioned to be naked (sfw)

a/n: hihi @i23kazu!! submission for ebg :> likes, reblogs and comments highly appreciated!!

©2024 ryuryuryuyurboat. do not repost, translate, plagiarise, or modify in any way, shape or form.

masterlist

neuvillette would never quite forget the first day he met you. 

the sunlight peeked shyly through the floccose cloud canopy, while young birds flitted about the bushes that lined the garden behind the opera epiclese, chirping another one of their many little songs, and the air was filled with the vernalised scent of blooming flora. perfect weather for a short, uneventful walk to help the iudex take his mind off the heavy paperwork that piled up on his desk. 

an uneventful walk it was. well, till the end, i mean. 

never in his wildest dreams would the chief justice expect to find a girl– unclothed, no less– lying, seemingly unconscious, on the ground right at the end of the opera epiclese’s walkway. were you breathing? he wondered, crouching down, ready to search for a pulse when you stirred. still crouching, he stared, almost in bewildered amazement, as you stretched your arms and heaved a big yawn before you opened your eyes, and—

“AAAAAAH!” your shriek pierced through his ears. he winced.

“oh, sorry, sorry, so sorry! i was just surprised because you were so close, aaah…” you frantically sit up, waving your hands, your soft voice a jarring contrast from its previous dynamic.

neuvillette shook his head. “it’s quite alright, i apologise for the fright. although–” he looked away, feeling his ears heat up, “you… you should get some clothes. how did you get here without anyone seeing?” 

you shrugged, gratefully accepting the heavy coat he draped across your bare shoulders. “i climbed up!”

“i beg your pardon?”

“oh, honestly, you think a mermaid wouldn’t have good upper body strength?” you gave a sly grin, “i passed out from exhaustion right after, though, so there’s that…”

“you’re a mermaid?” the question slipped past his lips. “that’s strange, i was under the impression that merfolk were merely old wives’ tales.”

a little more back and forth was exchanged before he learnt that you’d left the comfort of your home in the deep waters to satiate your curiosity of human life on land– though it seemed you’d also left behind all thoughts of planning an itinerary, for you had neither clothes, mora, nor a place to stay. 

“i know someone who would be willing to provide you with a room, and i’m sure the melusines– ( “the who?”) you’ll meet them soon– i’m sure they’ll be more than willing to get you some clean clothes to use,” he’d offered, and you’d graciously accepted.

as neuvillette watched navia take your hand (you hadn’t gotten used to your legs, after all), a bright smile as she chattered all about fontaine and things you’d surely love to see, a part of him knew that this would not be the end of your encounters, but rather, a prelude for things to come.

taglist: @lynyluvr @kazemiya @meidnightrain @https-furina @dailypenpen (send ask to be added to taglist!)

if you liked this, do consider dropping me a follow for more :>

[carolmunson]

le dôme de verre (soft!eddie x badatfeelings!gf)

"Le premier amour est plus aimé, le reste est mieux aimé." 'The first love is loved more, the rest are loved better.' Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - Le Petit Prince

cw: badatfeelings!gf meets up with an old ex, eddie chaperones close by. adult themes, 20+, references to abuse, borderline abusive physicality, hurt/comfort sortaaa?, angst, humans being humans. soft smut reference. personally, i ended up actually hating this but i think i looked at it for too long. for more badatfeelings!gf click here.

He was surprised to see her in such a state when he got to her apartment. She was sat at the kitchen table, leg bouncing, the cordless phone sitting clunkily in front of her. Her hand still held the back of it, white knuckled. She had a sheen of sweat on her forehead, her eyes were rimmed red. She'd been crying. She never cries.

"Woah, hey, what's up?" he immediately went into 'fix it' mode, his innate need to emotionally regulate was sometimes for the better.

"Um, my ex called me," she said, eyes fixed on the grain of the small table, "He wants to apologize."

"Um, my ex called me," she said, eyes fixed on the grain of the small table, "He wants to apologize."

"For?" Eddie asked, slowly, cautiously, taking a seat across from her.

"I think it's for twelve step or something," she shakes her head, "Can't imagine he actually thinks he did anything wrong."

"Is he an alcoholic?" he asked, trying not to sound too eager about finding out a new thing about her. He knew she'd had shitty boyfriends before, her feelings -- or better yet, lack of them -- made that clear.

"Was," she says, "I think he's been sober for a while now, he was when he called me a few years ago."

"He's called you before? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know," she let's go of the phone like she's finally out of a trance, "Didn't seem like it was important enough to bother you about it."

"Why haven't you ever talked to me about him?" he asks softly. She gets up and puts the cordless phone back on the reciever in her tiny living room, a loaded sigh leaving her lips, concaving her chest.

"I don't know, babe," she shrugs, "I think I talked about him for too long."

The bar is stuffy when they get there. Normally she never asks his permission to do anything, but they had a big conversation about whether or not her and her ex could meet -- how he felt, if he was okay with it, what he needed to know. They agreed that he can sit by them and supervise from a short distance, he didn't want her to be by herself if she was so shaken up from just a phone call.

They sit at the bar, her around the corner end closest to the wall and him on the opposite side with a seat between them. She places her purse on it to wait for her ex to come around and Eddie orders for the both of them.

"Hey, can I get that pretty girl at the end of the bar something to calm her nerves? Tell her I sent it over." Eddie winks at her, exaggerated and goofy -- she waves him off with a blush and a laugh. His heart skips -- his girl. The bartender puts the drink in front of her as he walks in. Eddie sees her entire demeanor stiffen. He almost laughed at how taken aback he was to see her like this -- suddenly smaller, the shine in her eyes a dulled black, posture straight, her smile meek. She pushes the drink away from her slowly while he makes his way over, sitting gruffly on the stool between them. He ignores Eddie, but of course he does -- he doesn't know who Eddie is, what he looks like. He's just some guy at the bar. "Hey Len," she says quietly. He leans forward to hug her and she obliges, sweat forming on her forehead, color draining from her face. She doesn't look at Eddie while her head is over Len's shoulder, her eyes shut tightly while she takes him in. Eddie's jaw clenches when he looks him over -- she certainly has a type. Form fitting ripped jeans, dark wash. He's thin -- sinewy -- his Led Zepplin shirt clings slightly to his biceps when he crosses his arms as he sits down and waits for his diet Coke. His chains, and he has a lot, clink on his pants. His boots are steel toe. His hair is a long sheet of dark auburn, he's coated in freckles and a deep summer tan. His jewelry glints in the light shining through the dusty bar window, catching on his nose ring the most. He's pretty. Eddie gets why she was probably so taken by him to start -- he shifts in his seat, nursing his beer while he sketches in a small note pad, ears pricked and prickling.

"Hey, bunny," he coos back at her, "You look real nice."

"Thanks," she says softly, "You look good, you look healthy."

Eddie lets a puff of air out of his nose, biting the inside of his cheek when he hears it. Bunny. That's his nick name. That's what he calls her.

He listens to them talk, it's innocent catch up -- she barely touches her drink. He tenses when he watches Len lean in to listen to her, coasting his fingers down her forearm. Lingering soft touches here and there -- she never lets him touch her like that. He watches the way she looks at him, it’s a face he’s never seen before. Cautious, she swallows a lot. Eyes big and attentive, she nods at every word he says -- like she's at a sermon, everything out of his mouth is a prayer.

Eddie sketches her like this, pen dropping when Len scoots closer to her and his hand warmly cups her knee on her crossed legs. His thumb slides over part of her thigh, palm moving upward. It's like he's watching from underwater, hearing Len's garbled muffled words -- something like 'Since I know how much you like having your legs touched.'

"I have a boyfriend," she says, "I told you. That's not why I'm here."

"Heh," Len chuckles dryly, leaning back on his barstool, arms crossing, "You assume a lot about how much I wanna fuck you."

The sentence even stings Ed, he swallows when he hears her soft 'Oh...I was just -- sorry.' The conversation gets a little tense after that, it hurts him to hear her explain her side of things. She's walking on eggshells, her voice soft and apologetic, pleading -- he's never heard her talk like this before. So soft spoken. So...tamed.

"Yeah, no, we've been together for five years he's -- he's really great," she says to him, shrinking into herself, ripping at the raw, peeled hang nails around her thumbs. Ed always knocks her hands when she does that, wrapping them up in his, giving her something else to play with so she doesn't keep breaking the skin.

"I don't need to hear about your boyfriend, bunny," his voice is stiff when he says it, "Surprised there's someone else willing to put up with all your bullshit."

"Well that's not really a fair thing to say," she says curtly, finally getting some fight back in her, "I wasn't the one coming in and out of our relationship all the time. That was you."

"Because I was sick. Do you hear yourself?" he speaks calmly to her, soothing, like he's explaining to her how the world works, "That's so like you, to make it about yourself. You're always finding ways to make me a bad person when I reached out to you to apologize."

He speaks to her in riddles, in sentences that sort of make sense but not all the way. The kind where you have to replay them in your head a few times to make them make sense and even then, they’re a little skewed. He does it on purpose — it throws her off and makes her nervous. She stutters and squirms just so he can catch her in a lie that he fabricated to begin with. Desperate to convince her that she’s bad. His arms are crossed when he speaks to her, he’s not yelling — he looks like he’s trying to convince her of something. Eyebrows raised every time he finishes a sentence, nodding so that she’ll nod too. Eddie’s grip is so tight on his pen he’s surprised he hasn’t broken it. He doesn’t even know what they’re talking about, but her voice breaks and it takes everything in him to not intervene. Red hazes over his vision while she desperately advocates and apologizes for herself.

“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for? Or are you just saying sorry to say it?” Len asks pointedly.

“I — Len, please — please stop,” she sobs out quietly, “I’m sorry for — for —”

“And of course you’re crying,” he says with a bitter smile, “Should I call everyone over so everyone can see what an awful guy I am? Look what I did everyone! Look! She’s crying!”

“Stop, Len. I'm sorry -- I'll stop," her voice raised slightly, furiouslt wiping her eyes, breathe rattling to steady herself, “Stop it.”

“Don’t yell,” he says sharply, leaning into her space, “If you’re gonna cause a scene I’ll call the fucking cops. You’re acting insane. I'm having a normal measured conversation with you -- why can't you ever be a fucking adult about anything? You're so dramatic.”

Tears well up in Eddie’s eyes while he listens, finally understanding why she never cries. He swallows thickly, his hand twitches, but he remembers what she said before they left, ‘Don’t intervene. I’m probably gonna cry, you’re gonna wanna get involved — just don’t. It’ll make it worse.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he watches her mouth form the words at Len, a shell of herself while he continues to kindly berate her. She nods, taking every emotional punch like she's grateful for it.

'You're right, I should've listened better.'

'I'm sorry, I should've been paying more attention.' 'No, you're right, you're right. I know.' He can tell she's just trying to appease him, this is how she talks when she doesn't wanna fight anymore. Isn’t Len supposed to be apologizing to her?

Eddie watches her search for him, tears welling in her eyes again while they make brief eye contact before Len's hand reaches up to grab her chin to make her face him.

‘Do I need to talk to you like a child?’

Oh.

Absolutely not.

Ed closes his notepad, shaking his head, "That's enough."

He hops off the barstool, walking around Len over to her, taking her hand, "Let's go baby, you've heard enough. I think this talk is over."

She shoots him a look, terrified but obedient, collecting her purse and getting off the bar stool with shuddering breaths. The bar spins around her, body numb, chest a mess of pins and needles.

“You’re kidding? You had your boyfriend spy on us the whole time?” he laughs, “Of course you wanted to start a whole scene, it has to be about you, doesn't it?”

"If my buddy didn't work at this bar, I'd start a real big fucking scene pal," Eddie barks -- chest puffed, head held high and tilted. Len follows suit and it makes her shrink behind her boyfriend who has no intentions of letting up.

"So if you wouldn't mind, y'know -- " Ed smiles tightly, "Fucking off and out of the way so I can take my girl home, that'd be great."

Len backs off, demeanor fading back into soft and understanding. He turns his attention to her, "You've always been my best girl, bunny. I'm glad you found someone who cares about you so much. Hope he knows how lucky he is."

He nods at Eddie, curt and tight, tossing some cash on the bar and walking out. Eddie's face quirks into confusion but her grip tightens on his hand. Her heart pounds, and new crop of tears threatens to rip through her at the sentiment -- because that was so nice. Maybe she really just wasn't listening well enough to him. Maybe he really is right. Maybe she does always make it about herself. Maybe she is bad. Maybe she's the issue, maybe she made it all up.

The scent of leather and cigarettes hits her nose and the slam of the van door jolts her out of her thoughts. She doesn't remember leaving the bar. She's heaving. Because what if everything Len said was true? What if everyone really is tired of her bullshit?

"You're okay, baby. I'm here, s'just me," Eddie says, pressing his forehead firmly against hers. He's caging her in against the side of the van, thumbs pressed into her cheeks, "C'mon take a deep breath with me."

She hears him take a sharp inhale through the nose and she follows suit, the van fills with the sound of her snotty breathing.

"Hold it, hold it," he mutters, keeping the breath in for a few seconds, "And let it alllll out, good. Good."

"One more time for me," he whispers, her body shaking with each rough and cracked sob bubbling up and out of her chest. They breathe together again and it quells her for a minute before her shoulders shake. Her face crumples, heat rushing to her cheeks when she starts to cry again -- broken, inconsolable. Deep, guttural sobs pouring out from her chest -- she sounds terrified. He pulls her to him, arms wrapping tight around her, hard enough that she feel him -- that she feels safe. He presses her face into the crook of his neck, feeling her tears stain his skin and the collar of his shirt.

"I've never heard you cry like this," he murmurs into her hair, his eyes welling up with tears at her broken sobs, "He hurt you really bad, huh baby?"

He lets her cry it out on his shoulder, soothing her, rocking her, singing to her, running his fingers gently over the back of her arms, the back of her neck, over her spine. When he hears the final, deep, shaky breath -- a sound he's heard so often when she stops herself from crying in general -- he knows she's done. She looks up at him, wiping her eyes, puffy and red, mascara in gray streaks down her face.

He presses a kiss to her forehead, "You need some water?"

She nods, sitting up and back on the seat while he rifles through old McDonald's wrappers and plastic bags. He finds a half filled bottle of Poland Spring only to open it and be met with the sharp sting of vodka.

"Fuck," he mutters, "Um..."

"S'okay," she sniffles, climbing up into the passengers seat.

"We'll stop on the way home," he offers gently, "That okay?"

She nods and looks at him while he climbs into the drivers seat, "Can we go to yours?"

"Sure, honey -- you don't wanna go to yours?"

"He knows where I live," she confesses, "And he's mad so I don't -- I don't want him to start another fight."

He knows what she means. She doesn't want that asshole to show up looking for her. In his side view mirror he can see him sitting in his beat up truck across the street, tossing a cigarette out the window and lighting up another. He's waiting them out.

"Sit tight, I'll run inside and see if they have any waters I can grab," he says with a pat on her thigh.

"Don't you get out of this van now, y'hear?" he twangs the sentence like a cowboy and a smile breaks across her face.

"You're so stupid," she croaks, "But wait, wait --"

He looks back from the open door.

"I know what you're doing, and I know you wanna go say something to him but just -- please don't. Don't start something," she pleads.

"M'just gonna tell him to go home, baby," he says softly, "Look how upset he's making you."

"Whatever you do or say to him, no matter what it is, it will become my fault -- so please, please let's just go back to your place, okay?" she begs, "Let's just be done."

He tosses a look over to Len in his shitty truck and takes a deep breath. He looks back at her and nods, "Fine."

After a quick stop at the store and the many, many, many, times she looked in the side view mirror to make sure Len wasn't following them they made it back to Ed's trailer unscathed. He keeps her close to him, the closest she's been in a while -- draped over his chest while they both lay on the couch covered in an old crocheted blanket his Uncle Wayne passed down to him. The TV and radio are off -- they lay there occupied by eachother's breathing.

He toys with her fingers, taking his rings off and sliding them onto hers, then back onto his, "That was really brave, y'know? M'proud of you."

"I cried and had to have my boyfriend come save me," she retorts.

"Stop," he says, "Stop doing that."

"You always...I don't know, you never let yourself just have an accomplishment," he doesn't mean to sound like he's admonishing her, but it comes off that way.

"You never let yourself be proud -- don't you know how good you are?"

His eyes search for any recognition of understanding in her face but it doesn't come. She looks confused, afraid.

"You're so good," he confesses, looking up at the ceiling, "You're the fuckin' best."

"Thanks," she says quietly, looking past him to study the weaving pattern on the couch cushions. She's half there, half gone. Somewhere between being in the trailer with him and still stuck on her barstool. Still stuck in her teens and early twenties. Still stuck being screamed at on the sidewalk, getting phone calls at four in the morning, stuck in the waiting room of a hospital when every attempt at his life feels like the last.

"What're you thinkin' about?" he asks, backs of his fingers brushing over her temple, "Talk to me."

"What if I'm not good?" she asks, voice catching in her throat.

"No, no, you --"

"But what if I'm not?" she repeats, "Ed I -- everything he did -- "

"I do that to you."

He doesn't say anything for a minute. He knows she's not like him but it doesn't erase the ways she's hurt him before. The push and pull, the give and take. The constant tenseness, biting sarcasm. The nights he'd flinch when she'd slam the phone down on him. The nights he'd replay the sentences she said to make sense of them.

And he did it to her, too. Revenge, he guesses, for the times she's done it to him. Their fight at the diner in the winter, the guilt trips, the way he'll stare her down until she gives up on a fight.

"You're not like him, bun," he says, shaking his head, "You're like you."

"Maybe," he starts, shifting on the couch so he lays next to her, noses touching, "Maybe we need to be a little better at talking about what we need, hm? 'Cause I think you went a long time without someone asking. Maybe I need to be better at asking."

"I don't need anything," she says, eyes catching a stitch of fear -- like she got caught in a lie, "I got it."

He smiles defeatedly at her, "Baby, you do. There are things that you need."

"No, I'm okay, I promise," she begs, "I don't."

He sighs, not wanting to press it. Right now this was enough, having her close to him. Knowing she needs him. At least for right now.

"I don't wanna be like him to you, Ed," she says, nestling back against his chest, "I wanna be better."

He hums, arms finding his way around her again before they fall asleep. Later that night, they don't fuck like they usually do, no. He makes love to her, slow and deliberate, both of them teary eyed and clinging to each other. He'd never had her to vulnerable under him -- he would bottle it if he could, this version of her. So open, so soft, so different than what he's had for some time.

“You know why I love making you feel good?" he asks, panting and sweaty, pressed against her under the covers. She looks up at him, her eyes answer for her 'why?', glassy and wet with feelings she had left over from the afternoon.

"You deserve it."

[thegettingbyp2]

Hey! I have a request for Austin butler x Musical theatre actress reader pls! Just him being a very supportive boyfriend!

Proudest Boyfriend Award

Good luck baby, I’m front and centre!

You let out a disbelieving laugh as you read the text you’d just received from your boyfriend. You were still in your opening week of playing Eponine in the West End production of Les Miserablés; a role you had been dying to play since you could remember and your boyfriend, Austin, had been to every one of your performances so far. You couldn’t help the smile that appeared on your lips as you typed out your reply before putting your phone back in your bag and leaving your dressing room to head out on stage.

For the entire show, you were hyperaware of Austin’s eyes trained on you and only you and it took everything in you to not turn to face him and during the curtain call, he was the first one on his feet, clapping furiously with a giant grin on his face. As soon as you stepped forward to take your bow, you finally let yourself look over at him and your grin quickly matched his, excited to go and meet him.

‘You were incredible!’ he exclaimed the second he had his arms around you, lifting you into the air, letting you bury your face in his neck.

‘You didn’t have to come again,’ you said, shoving his arm lightly.

‘Baby, I’m going to be here at every show this week, all eight of them. And I’m going to be front and centre each time. It’s amazing watching you up on that stage, I can’t take my eyes off of you. You’re so beautiful and watching you up there, knowing that you’re mine, it’s better than any other feeling in the world.’

‘What? Even better than going to your movie premiere?’ you teased, running your hands lightly up the blazer he was wearing.

‘100%,’ he replied without hesitation, pulling you closer again by your hips and pressing his lips to yours in a soft but firm kiss.

You were both pulled out of your moment by a tapping feeling on your arm. You pulled away, causing Austin to pout slightly before he saw the elderly woman standing next to you. He immediately stepped a little further away from you; assuming that the woman was going to have some choice words at your public display of affection. ‘Oh, sorry ma’am,’ Austin spoke towards the woman, only to be stopped by the woman’s hand lifting up between them.

‘Oh don’t mind me,’ she said, chuckling lightly, ‘after sitting next to you in the audience, I assumed that you’d be coming straight back here.’ The woman then turned her attention onto you. ‘You sounded beautiful up there, dear. You’re also very lucky to have a boyfriend as proud of you as this one.’

You frowned slightly, wrapping your arm around Austin’s waist and stepping into him slightly before smiling at the woman. ‘What have you been saying?’ you asked, looking up at Austin to see his cheeks blushing.

‘He was taking every opportunity he could get to let everyone around us know that you’re his girlfriend and how proud he is of you.’

‘Oh, really?’ you replied, raising your eyebrows at him, amused.

‘I can’t help it if I’m proud of you can I?’ he replied, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of your head. ‘You know, I should probably win an award for it.’

‘Hmm,’ you hummed in agreement, ‘the Proudest Boyfriend Award.’

[batsplat]

“So funny how again in early 2008 there’s an argument to me made that Valentino was the LEAST annoyed with him of the four” ooh what was the Casey / Jorge beef of 08?? I didn’t think those two had any!! Actually would you be willing to go thru all the Jorge beefs of that year briefly? Ik you’ve done him & Dovi and him & Vale a lot more in depth but I’m curious about Casey and Dani…ik some of the Dani stuff but I don’t really get the WHY of it hahaha

okay I've started and gotten stuck on writing a post about casey and jorge's relationship way too often by this point BUT if we're just localising it to early 2008 that's WAY more doable. jorge lorenzo early 2008 drama corner coming right up

Some people think he's - not a show off, but he's a little bit arrogant. Actually he's a really nice guy, isn't he, he needs that bit of arrogance because - when you're on the edge as he is, that's what makes him the champion, the way he is.

^Qatar 2008 commentary excerpt

just as a quick summary of the time span we're talking about. casey is the defending champion, looks scary good pre-season testing, but ducati gets a bit lost after the opening round and he has some pretty messy races. valentino has made the very very high-profile controversial decision to walk away from the tyre manufacturer that had bagged him all his premier class titles and move to casey's bridgestones, which is what necessitates the wall in the yamaha garage. if this goes wrong, if he just loses to his rivals purely on merit, it might actually be over for him. dani was the bloke who was supposed to have casey's 2007 season on the lighter 800cc bikes everyone believed would favour him, and now has something to prove. jorge and dovi are both rookies in the class, having fought it out for two years in the 250cc class. jorge won both titles, albeit on clearly superior machinery to dovi's

here's the opening few rounds (though most of this will be just about the first four):

jorge secures the first three pole positions of the season and wins his first race in estoril. after three rounds, him and dani are exactly tied in the standings - not just in points, but also in countback since they've both had a p1, a p2, and a p3. valentino had a meh first race at qatar after leading at one point, AND is overtaken on the final lap by dovi... but gradually makes progress with the tyres - and by shanghai, everything's clicked. by contrast, jorge's fortunes take a nosedive in shanghai, with a truly massive highside during practise. he rallies and manages to take a fourth in shanghai and a second in le mans (this is the podium where he's on crutches and valentino ends up sitting on his lap for the podium photo)... but after that things go from bad to worse as he has a series of painful, demoralising and confidence-sapping crashes, including one that forces him to withdraw entirely from his home race at catalunya. by this point, he is firmly out of the title hunt - and catalunya is also the race where the season swings back in casey's favour, with the post-race test doing wonders for the ducati. which is where the build-up to laguna starts in earnest

so! with all that context in mind! here's some photos from pre-season at jerez:

I'm sure the photographers just missed the extensive discussions valentino was having with jorge sitting next to him

right then. let's take them in order. jorge/valentino had quite a bit of attached hype to it, where people looked at jorge, looked at valentino, rubbed their hands and went 'surely this isn't going to go well'. (this would've been me.) this energy, right:

This was all done, of course, because Yamaha were fearing, and MotoGP fans were looking forward to, a potential clash between Lorenzo and his team mate, the equally flamboyant Valentino Rossi. But so far, all has been peace and light in the Yamaha garage, a situation possibly helped by the huge wall splitting the garage in two.

(just to give you a sense of how keen everyone was to get things kicked off between those two, the commentators are talking about valentino edging ahead of jorge on the sighting lap of qatar 2008 to take his grid slot first as "just a bit of psychology". like people were ready for these two to go to war)

and there's plenty of evidence that suggests valentino took an immediate disliking to jorge that went beyond just seeing him as internal competition. it's quite likely valentino tried to keep him out of the factory yamaha team, though probably less nefarious plotting and more 'asking yamaha to please not do it'. once he lost that particular war, however, valentino's approach was mostly just not to engage with jorge at all. no stress, no drama, limit both his levels of personal irritation and jorge's opportunities to learn from him. early 2008 valentino also had very 'we move in silence' energy, he's really just working away at getting to grips with the tyres and generating little drama of his own accord. doesn't panic at the adjustment period to the bridgestones or about how his rookie teammate seems to have the better of him in the early rounds... it's obvious by his reaction to winning the race at shanghai how much this meant to him, but he's mostly been shutting up and getting on with it. and while jorge was going on his little drama tour, he was actually at pains not to be publicly starting shit with valentino:

Lorenzo was much kinder to the man he was expected to be at war with. “I see the press and hear what people say, and they have already decided to bury him,” said Lorenzo. “He finished 5th on tires which, apparently, weren’t going very well in the conditions. I think he will be fighting for the win at Jerez, and will be winning races soon enough. I don’t believe that he has dropped his game.”

though obviously valentino won't have been particularly thrilled by jorge getting a win before he did - and I suspect jorge did secretly think he might already have the better of his legendary teammate... way more on that teammate dynamic here, including context for the dynamic headed into 2008

^Post-Estoril 2008

tbh the vibe you get from watching 2008 is that valentino wasn't really thinking about jorge all that much, even during the first few races of the season. if anything, his delight at jerez and estoril kinda makes you feel like he was still primarily preoccupied with casey's results. as long as he felt like he was making progress on the tyres and casey wasn't building up an unassailable points lead, everything else could work itself out

Some say there's bad blood between them, they both say they get on fine together - I've seen them chatting in press conferences all right, but I think there is a little bit of needle between the two of them.

^Qatar 2008 commentary excerpt

moving on. jorge/dovi didn't have anything specific early 2008, but I just sort of assume dovi had this constant low level of annoyance towards jorge - especially immediately off the back of two title fights. he beats out valentino in this list by having had more actual encounters with jorge and more time to build up genuine antipathy. reading between the lines for their dynamic that year... well, they were competing to be the best rookie in the class - and you could argue that contest was way closer than it had any right to be, given the disparity in machinery. jorge the chosen boy on a factory yamaha, dovi scrapping it out on a satellite honda (interestingly, the disparity is described here as lesser than what they had in 250cc). also, fun fact: jorge's first race crash in motogp comes when he's fighting dovi at mugello. dovi had a front row seat, wonder if he enjoyed that

on to casey/jorge. so, I'm going to present these tidbits in a sensible chronological fashion, but I just want to say that I came across them in a completely different order. very different experience. I read casey's autobiography early enough in my motogp journey that I just sort of took him at his word with way too much of what he was saying. so my initial reaction to the early 2008 jorge stuff was going 'lol jorge what a prat' and going about my business. anyways. just thought I'd mention that!

anyhow, obviously these two had already had a few run-ins in the lower categories, including that assen 2004 incident where jorge kinda runs casey off track during the last lap that casey did not take kindly to. AND perhaps the first record we've got of valentino acknowledging casey and jorge's existence!! really fond of that clip idk, something about his 'those crazy kids' energy obviously is a bit ironic with benefit of hindsight

moving on to 2008. here's casey on jorge's chances of making an immediate impact, around a week before qatar:

Ducati’s Casey Stoner, who won 10 races in a dominant 2007 season, said: “We’ll have to see what happens with Jorge. “He has proven himself very fast in 250s by being double world champion. He is obviously a very fast rider and he is learning very quickly with the Yamaha. “But I think it is also very, very difficult to beat what Dani did in his first race in MotoGP. “To finish second in your first race is truly amazing, so I think it is very difficult.”

nothing egregious, I think we can all agree. though the direct comparison with dani probably won't have been particularly welcome. but just keep this in mind when you read the next few bits!

and here, from the qatar 2008 commentary:

And Stoner actually talked about Lorenzo, didn't he, in the pre-event conference - saying, I'm not sure Lorenzo will be able to challenge for the title. He may change his opinion about that after seeing the race here today, but he felt the challenge was more from Rossi and Dani Pedrosa.

ended up being correct, but did he HAVE to say it... aged poorly for the first month or so, you'd have to say. knowing jorge, I don't feel like it's a stretch to say he was motivaed to prove casey wrong lol

as we've already established from this clip, unlike dani and jorge they were at least on speaking terms at jerez

^Jerez 2008 pre-event press conference

casey has a messy pair of races at jerez and estoril, which brings us to shanghai - where, as said at the top, jorge and dani were joint championship leaders. let's bring in a press conference clip!

The season started in Qatar. [...] points - anyway, the riders that do not have good results, they say it starts now. The riders that started good... say that, what I am saying, so... For sure for Casey, starts now.

oh no. jorge. oh you've really done it now. off-hand remark right at the end... bit of hesitation but he just can't help himself. you CANNOT say something like that about casey. he will literally never forget this

and luckily, we know that casey would never forget this - because this incident makes it all the way to his autobiography! here we go:

Despite my first impressions of Jorge in the 125ccs I got on pretty well with him during our days together in the 250cc class but after winning the World Championship in that category twice he seemed to me to have become arrogant beyond belief. I remember after Estoril he said something to Livio like, 'What happened to Stoner? A problem with the head?' He seemed to think he'd broken me in that race and that I was weak minded. He thought his success was the reason for my poor results and clearly had no idea about the problems we had with the camera, not to mention the bike. A couple of weeks later we were in the pre-event conference in Shanghai and Jorge made a smart remark like, 'Maybe the championship starts now for Stoner.' I couldn't believe it and I'd never known such arrogance before. But what Jorge didn't realise at the time was that his confidence, generated by his impressively fast adjustment to riding a MotoGP bike, was a big reason he was so quick in those early races. Confidence is an incredibly powerful tool in elite level sport but it can also be very dangerous, especially in motorcycle racing. He hadn't learnt that yet, but he would.

okay. so. obviously jorge had managed to accidentally stumble across the number one way to get under casey's skin - by implying he was mentally weak. pretty much the worst thing you can say about casey, like yeah you've found the thing he's most sensitive about. congrats. and the shanghai remark was probably not a good idea. but if you watch that clip... I mean. it's a dumb throwaway line isn't it. this is a dumb twenty year old being a bit of a brat. high on his own success in his first few races in the premier class. now just picture casey sitting next to him, thinking that he'd NEVER KNOWN SUCH ARROGANCE BEFORE. casey, he's a rookie, you're the defending champion. and you said he probably wasn't going to be able to compete with you!! HE probably thinks YOU started it

^Shanghai 2008 pre-event press conference

and as it happens, casey doesn't stop there. because this story is what prompts a couple more paragraphs on casey's feelings on the subject of confidence in motorcycle racing, essentially using jorge's rookie season as a case study of sorts into how it can all go wrong. here's how it continues:

When a rider starts to build confidence they push the limits of the bike further and further until they find speed they thought they never had, speed that other riders find it impossible to live with. It is a fine line though. The problem is that as the level of confidence continues to increase so does the level of risk and before a rider knows it he is past the limit. Sooner or later reality bites and in motorcycle racing it bites hard. This is why I am careful to be a realist. If I know I have the tool to get the job done then I can be confident, but I am careful never to ride on confidence alone. Unfortunately for Jorge, just 48 hours after he made those remarks in China it became clear he was in over his head, literally, and he suffered one of the biggest crashes I have ever seen. In the split second he hit the ground and fractured both of his ankles he also shattered the one thing that had taken him to the top of the championship. Once his confidence was gone he had nothing left to fall back on and he couldn't have copped any more of a beating than he did that season. He had crash after crash, bringing him back to earth so hard that he seemed to become scared of the bike. For a while his results were pretty ordinary, considering the equipment he was on.

... okay. I get that they're competitors, and I get that you probably get quite desensitised to crashes if you're a motogp rider. but. uh. this does read... just a wee bit satisfied that jorge had been brought 'back to earth' by way of a series of very very nasty crashes. "clear he was in over his head, LITERALLY" is such a wild way to describe a horrendous highside. you do get just a tinge of schadenfreude about the whole thing, right. slight vibe that casey thought karmic justice had come for jorge after he'd been so arrogant towards casey

should be noted that in the next autobiography passage, casey is quite nice about jorge and essentially said he'd learned from his mistakes and become more pleasant later - plus that casey felt they were both misunderstood in different ways. given all that, though, it is interesting and fun that casey in no way backs down from his initial impression of jorge's behaviour (or if this is him backing down, it's still pretty harsh). you agree he gets misunderstood, you know he was a bit of a mess back then, but you're STILL talking about him like this! never known such arrogance before uh huh

there's also one specific story I'm choosing to leave out here beyond a brief mention - because it is pretty nasty and I'm not sure it entirely passes my own standard of evidence for a story like that. the sparknotes version is that a commentator said casey told him jorge was faking the extent of his shanghai injuries in rather forthright a manner. not out of the realm of possibility given we know casey was pissed at jorge that weekend, we know casey spoke to that commentator that weekend, and we know casey can be a bit weird about his competitors' injuries. but yeah, idk, it's so completely anecdotal that I'm not going to properly include it

and here, just to round things off, is what casey said about jorge before the le mans round:

Stoner, who raced Lorenzo previously in the 125 class, said: “I’ve been racing against the rookies for years, I know they are fast. “There is a lot testing compared to the past so when you arrive at the first race you’ve already done half a season so if they are not comfortable with the bikes by then there is something wrong. Jorge has done a good job so far but I expected this.”

did you expect this?? DID YOU EXPECT THIS?? going from saying 'yeah idk jorge probably won't be able to do what dani did' to saying 'well if he WASN'T fast already then there'd be something WRONG with him' is just classic stuff. never change, casey

on jorge's end, my sense is that he really wasn't thinking all that much about casey pre circa 2010. this is just a vibe, but I kinda feel like jorge's tell for when he doesn't really know what to make of someone is when he doesn't really talk about them all that much... including in that biography of his - where casey features comically little, given how he is like. the defending champion during jorge's rookie season. dovi gets mentioned a reasonable amount given he's kinda unavoidable, but both him and casey massively lose out when compared to dani and valentino. those latter two have Designated Roles in the jorge lorenzo story, whereas jorge just... doesn't know what to do with dovi and casey

an impression I feel is backed up by how jorge frames his viewing experience of the 2008 catalunya race in the biography

 Having watched the race from my room I would like to congratulate Dani Pedrosa for a great race. He rode the best from the start and had a perfect race. I also thought it was a nice touch that Dani showed his support for the anti-guardrail campaign. I had also planned to support the initiative because it is a great cause. Valentino also deserves congratulations for such a great fight back. I’m keen to fight for victory with both of them and if I manage to beat them one day, ‘mano a mano’, I will feel very proud. The pair of them are as different as they are difficult to beat.

who. who was valentino fighting for that second place. who was he fighting for basically the entire race in a repeat of their dramatic duel the previous year. who was the third person on that podium, jorge. who was the defending champion when you were watching that race. jorge. WHO WAS IT

that being said, we do get one short bit in jorge's biography about his early impressions of casey. and it's just too good not to include here:

'The first time I saw Stoner was in the CEV, back in 2000,' recalls Jorge. 'We looked down the entry list and spotted this really young Australian, riding a Honda. Since there were two groups we were able to take a look at him from the control tower at Albacete. He was really fast but at the same time he looked out of control. He was running wide but he kept on the throttle, giving it full gas, the bike swerving all over the place. He is aggressive, very brave and extremely talented, and he rides without fear of crashing. Having said that I think he could get a little more out of what he is doing if he was a bit more lively - if he was more in touch with the fans. He's like Doohan in that respect, but he's happy that way and each to his own, I guess.'

young jorge looking at young casey and going ?? why isn't he working to build his CHARACTER to appeal to the FANS ?? is just so beautifully in-character for both of them

anyway, yeah, that was their early 2008 vibe. jorge being kinda confused by casey but also wanting to prove himself against the defending champion - not as much as he did against dani and valentino, but he was way warier of starting shit with valentino and would never ever have said something like the shanghai thing about him. and casey with plenty of resentment in his heart, maybe chafing at jorge's golden boy status and how everyone was falling over themselves to praise jorge, consistently reserved in his own assessment of jorge - first downplaying his chances and then suggesting jorge had basically been doing the bare minimum. it's pretty likely that jorge would not remember that shanghai press remark if you asked him about it today, but there is absolutely zero chance casey doesn't. and for all that their later relationship considerably warmed later on, in part due to a shared antipathy towards valentino, that's not the kind of thing casey ever quite forgets

MOVING ON to the big guns. now, look, we're not going to get into a full history of the dani/jorge rivalry, it'd take way too long. here is another jorge biography excerpt about the early bitchiness in 2005, you've got stuff in this post about how the rivalry fit into the context of the puig/amatriain rivalry, dani also featured heavily in the motegi 2005 controversy, plus there's that time in early 2006 when mr zero world championships said "I am better than pedrosa and time will judge if I am right or not" and "maybe my rivals are a little scared of me". again, this isn't a full chronology, but they already obviously disliked each other headed into 2008

it's this dynamic of two young athletes vying for the love of their nation... with dani reserved and businesslike and very much influenced by his mentor puig (see also the puig description in this post), coming up against jorge in all his loud-mouthed brashness who is gagging for attention from anyone willing to provide it. the worst thing dani could do was ignore jorge, which is what he was always inclined to do... and jorge unsurprisingly never reacted well

In fact, the constant comparisons with Pedrosa had occasionally got to him. 'Why does Dani Pedrosa, with his boy next door image, get such good press yet I don't?' he'd asked Miguel Angel Violan. 'He used to hate that,' remembers Violan. Juanito Llansa has his own views on the matter. 'Jorge and Dani Pedrosa are completely different. They are poles apart. Dani is cold, impassive, while Jorge is vivacious, sometimes too extroverted. The thing is that Pedrosa started winning before Jorge did and we [Spain] had been going through something of a drought in terms of titles, so people had started watching motorcycle racing again because of Pedrosa. Naturally, the fans had taken to Dani more. When Jorge emerged on the scene, and started winning too, people had got used to Dani's character and thought that Jorge was too cocky. But that's just the way he is! The fans already had their hero, but then somebody totally different came along. Now the fans had to be shared out between the two.'

^Excerpt from Riveras Tobia's 'Jorge Lorenzo: My Story So Far'

'boy next door image' hm

which is how we get to early 2008, where jorge starts off his premier class career by securing pole position. and then follows that up by beating (an injured) dani to second place in the race. at which point dani commits the grievous insult of not shaking jorge's hand (x)

So it came as no surprise that Lorenzo fanned the flames of old divisions this week, complaining bitterly to the Spanish daily AS.com that Pedrosa refused to congratulate him on the podium at Qatar. “I have no interest in causing controversy,” the Spaniard told AS.com, without a hint of irony, “but if I see something that’s wrong, I say it publicly, without hesitation. I don’t like the fact that he didn’t congratulate me, but each man must do what he thinks is right. If I’d been in his place, I would have congratulated a rider who had managed to finish in 2nd place in his first race. But then, I’m not Dani Pedrosa.”

'without a hint of irony' lol get him again

and here from the biography:

ER: Jorge, you were on the podium with Dani Pedrosa. Did you say anything to each other? Did you shake hands? JL: In Qatar everybody who saw me on the track - mechanics, riders and race officials - congratulated me on my performance. But Dani Pedrosa didn't. He didn't say a word to me, didn't look my way, didn't congratulate me. He didn't even wave or hold his hand out at the end of the race. ER: And do you think he was supposed to be congratulating you and not the other way round? JL: When somebody finishes their first MotoGP race on the podium, the least he can expect is a wave. I'm not talking about friendship, just a simple raised hand. It's a question of good manners. Everybody is responsible for what they say and do. If I was him I'd have been congratulating a rookie who finished second. Dani Pedrosa disappointed me.

dani DISAPPOINTED jorge :((

which is how you get to jerez 2008, second race of the season, and ofc the presser from which this clip stems

^Jerez 2008 pre-event press conference

by which point the qatar handshake thing had obviously become a big controversy. here, again from the biography:

A mere handshake had become a matter of national debate. Everybody had an opinion on the subject — and since Lorenzo was the only one prepared to speak publicly about it, with Pedrosa opting to state his case silently, Jorge bore the brunt of the pressure. Even members of his own team were telling, him to take the sting out of the situation as soon as possible, 'it always seemed that it had to be him who took the first step,' says Javi Ullate. 'I also made the mistake of thinking that it was down to him to sort it out. It was another unnecessary problem. It was a ridiculous situation, that wasn't getting anybody anywhere. I asked myself, if rivals can't greet each other, then how is it that Pedrosa can greet other riders? He is civil with Rossi and Stoner, but not with Lorenzo. 

all this over a HANDSHAKE mind u

jorge once again secured pole position at jerez - but this time dani took the win well ahead of jorge, whose expected race pace had failed to materialise. jorge ended up finishing third behind valentino

which was obviously followed by the infamous moment where the spanish king forces the two of them to shake hands:

really fond of dani looking at his hand like it doesn't belong to him while jorge sucks at his lollipop

the pair of them have obviously discussed this moment in a great amount of detail since, which we're not going to cover in full. but just to give something closer to the time, here's more from jorge's biography:

'Yeah I'd do it again because I believe that it gives off a bad image when two riders from the same country, representing millions of people, can't get on. Trying to shake hands with Pedrosa isn't a bad thing. It is a good thing, for the sport and for the country. At the time I thought it was pretty unpleasant that he didn't want to shake my hand but it's not the biggest worry in my life. I would like our relationship to be cordial because we're both putting our lives at risk on the track, we're battling fairing to fairing and yes, it is good that there's a rivalry on the track, but off it we should be presenting a picture of the good sportsmen that we are. '

he goes on like this at length. SO committed to the image of it all, to being honourable, respectful competitors... he wants blood in his rivalry but also DIGNITY, man-to-man taking each other on in the heat of battle... again, a dozen films playing in his head, all of which are of extremely little interest to his irritable rivals

anyhow, it's a podium with fun awkward vibes. you've got dani and valentino palling around:

and jorge and dani existing in each other's vicinity:

just continually refusing to acknowledge in each other's presence

which gives us what I find a tragically ignored funny dani moment where he like?? visibly seems uncomfortable with the idea that he's only got jorge close to him before the podium photo, looks over to valentino (currently engaged in extensive shenanigans with the nearest camera), beckons him over, eyes fully glued on him as he makes it to the top step of the podium, leaves precisely fuck all space for jorge, at which point jorge physically pushes dani to the side a bit so that he can stand on the podium without in any way standing close to dani

I'm sorry but this is comical. why does nobody ever talk about this. what are they doing

and lastly we get to estoril, the final race before jorge goes on his injury spree. as stated up front, it's jorge's first win, leaving him tied with dani at the top of the standings. there's not any real CONTROVERSY here beyond the continuation of the general wretched vibes. this time it's dani who looks like he's been force fed half a dozen lemons while jorge is enjoying life to the fullest

and valentino remains proudly committed to Just Vibing

but this race had to get a mention primarily for the follow-up to the jerez podium photo. where valentino is once again the last to stop faffing about, which unfortunately leaves him in a bit of an awkward position when he realises jorge and dani are standing like. a metre apart. and just ends up having to get very close to jorge to make it work. which gives us a very evenly placed podium photo

the beauties of third-wheeling a feud. finally valentino too gets to experience having to navigate two people who loathe each other

anyway! that's your lot. one little baby rookie who has many of his rivals wanting to strangle him after four race weekends. 'flamboyant' 'arrogant' whatever you want to call him... but. y'know. I am obviously a little bit of a jorge lorenzo defender for this time period, and not just because I feel very strongly that he needed a responsible adult in his life and maybe also a hug. dani could have shaken his hand!! casey could have been a bit more chill!! valentino could have spoken more than two words to him!! but that's the fun of it... jorge was annoying, so were his rivals, what a great constellation of irritating blokes. just this little brat rocking up to the premier class and immediately making an impact by pissing off everyone around him. really spiced up the early 2008 season too, gave everyone something to talk about before valentino got back into the plotting and scheming business. we thank jorge for his service

[thegirlwholied]

fellow period-piece swooners, I have a movie rec for you and I am downright flexing my hand about it. and I am sorry, so sorry, that you cannot watch it right now- because I attended the world premiere at TIFF last night and apparently it's still seeking distribution which means unfortunately there are no gifs yet for me to reblog - but this is your notice to keep a weather eye:

the movie is the Widow Clicquot. the plot is champagne!

...not the celebratory spritz and spray of it all, but the dedication and innovation and passion and knowing-your-taste-and-insisting-on-it of getting bubbles to be just the right size and fuck Napoleon's embargos actually...

also, the people expressing opinions about Napoleon are a British cast pretending to be French - which I guess appeals to the piece of my soul that is Les Mis.

it's beautifully filmed in a way I specifically associate with Pride & Prejudice 2005... which makes sense given the director, Thomas Napper, directed the second camera unit on P&P 2005 & Atonement & Anna Karenina & etc. Joe Wright, who directed those, is a producer here (and was on stage last night & I had no idea who he was whoops).

there's a scene of exploding champagne bottles that may haunt me forever the way the floating cotton in North & South 2004 does. that & the vines.

to quote Taylor Swift, "it's giving cinematography."

the Widow Clicquot herself is played by Haley Bennett (who has been in many things I haven't seen...yes I had to imdb Haley while sitting in the row right behind her but) who I have seen before in Music & Lyrics! As Cora Corman! "Way Back Into Love"! & "Buddha's Delight"- I believe in karma (la, la, la)

anyway she's great in this - the Q&A host after called her performance "transcendant", not wrong - she had a SAG-AFTRA waiver to be there, and thankfully because this was very apparently a passion project throw-everything-you-are-into-it role for her. And her post-movie quotes speaking both about the character's passion and her own- "do something that makes you feel like a goddess!"; "do what you love and let it kill you"- made me a fan.

the Widow Clicquot's dead husband? Tom Sturridge, The Sandman himself and playing just as much a dream as Dream (note: I do not promise "dreamy" I promise "dream" which can also have adjectives like "wild" and "fever" applied). You need a good voice when leaning on some voiceover from letters/memory for a character; he sure has it.

but. Sam Riley. aka Mr Darcy from Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, and Maleficent's hot raven (and looks even better in this imho)- his character is Louis Bohne, Veuve Clicquot's wine merchant, and as much as the Widow herself, his character made me go, "I need to read the book" to learn how much was history v fiction there.

the character dynamic was: damn, of course you're cool with your husband's libertine BFF/possibly-lover, you're secure and he's such fun company.... your husband's tragically gone but his friend helps you out & appreciates your true love of the vineyard without overstepping... well. get yourself a friend you can both giggle with over how hot the new foreman is (Leo Suter filling a historical-eye-candy role) ... AND hook up with yourself. you go girl, & bless your hot bisexual heart fictionalized Louis Bohne.

(hottest kiss in cinema off the top of my head is always the Timothy Olyphant & Jennifer Garner first kiss in Catch & Release. But some scenes here flirt with that level, & it was the Widow/Louis scenes for me).

the sound alone made this one worth seeing in theaters; sounds were so well used (maybe when a movie is so much about taste, & you can't convey taste through a screen, you double down on the senses you can) and it was scored by Bryce Dessner from The National (whose brother has been collaborating on Taylor Swift's recent best tunes)-

the Widow's name is Barbe-Nicole and not to make a Champagne Barbie reference but this hit in the spot Barbie also reached for, in a subtle way, with the effortlessly close relationship she has with her maid (Lizzie from Peaky Blinders! thanks imdb, knew I knew that face) and the woman in a man's world of it all - obviously one who created a successful dynasty of champagne and how did I never know how instrumental women have been in creating champagne as we know it, about to jump down a historical rabbit hole here-

+ also. grief. "you don't understand. he wasn't just someone's first love". an early line + the one that stuck with me.

anyway. not to say I think it's a perfect movie (there were a few "wait I need more information" beats that left me feeling like I *need* and not just want to read the book)... and it didn't make me think "this better be up for an Oscar" (One Life, with Johnny Flynn & Anthony Hopkins which I saw Saturday: made me cry & should be)- though I think it could be for sound!... and I don't know if I'd say it's the movie I enjoyed the most (Flora & Son, out Sept 29) or learned the most from (Paul Simon documentary, all 209 minutes of it, probably takes that of the 4 films I saw)-

But it's the one I'm writing this post about. & I'm going to get the book. It made me want a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. & to go to the champagne region. & to see gifs of it on my dash, immediately. & I would read fan fic if there was some- it built the characters and its own movie world enough for that, with enough space left to wonder- and when a movie can do that, it thrills me.

anyway Tumblr, or at least the side I always land on. I think you'd like it. I think it's your kind of movie too. and it's filled with a lot of love from people who clearly loved making it. here's to independent productions and the unions fighting for fair deals to make a living doing what they love, here's to feeling like a goddess, here's to gorgeous period pieces and gif makers of scenes to come, here's to the author in the audience who got to see her book on screen- and the movie star who got it made and all of us still working on making our own art into something that can be seen someday. Here's to the passion of creativity in whatever shape it takes, pour the champagne 🍾🥂

[subzeroparade]

What's a ballet with real snazzy costume work, in your humble and/or professional opinion? c:

Oh, you’ve activated my trap card - asking about costume design and ballet and not expecting me to barf up the entirety of my PhD. I’ve also done work on the ballet blancs costumes (Giselle and La Sylphide specifically) but they are interesting on a theoretical level and not so much visually, so I’ll skip that.

So here are some personal favs of mine - the highlights, if you will. Caveat: long post, and mostly limited to the work of the Ballets Russes, because they are my longtime obsession and I think (and have argued) for their role in fundamentally changing stage and costume design (to say nothing of dance, and George Balanchine can sit the fuck down). I didn’t put that in my thesis but I wanted to.

Anyway tldr in the first decade of the 20th century a troupe of dancers from the Russian Imperial Ballet (later the Mariinsky) travelled through Europe under impresario Serge Diaghilev, for what became known as the Saisons Russes, or Russian Seasons. They performed both opera and ballet, and are probably best remembered today (if at all) as the troupe that danced the premier of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and caused a riot at the Theatre des Champs Elysées. The eminent artists that worked with them include Debussy, Cocteau, Picasso, Chanel - and these are only a few recognisable names. But my focus was primarily on the Russian roots of the ballet, in their visual language and presentation of gender and nationality, more precisely around the work of artist Leon Bakst and dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. 

Second image of Nijinsky from Le Dieu Bleu, and Bakst’s set design from Scheherazade (1911). These are mainly photos and scans I have from the year I spent in the archives of the Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera) where all the good stuff is.

The crux of why these costumes are insanely interesting to me is because they are very specific to their time - they are a product of a resurgence in nationalist interests in Russian art (Diaghilev ran Mir Isskustva and worked with Savva Mamontov before he organised the BR) as well as a carefully crafted, highly artificial presentation of Otherness, expressly destined for export to the west. French audiences in the first decade of the 20th century (because there is a stark cut-off at the beginning of WW1) still had an appetite for Orientalism, despite their flagging colonial power. What the Russians brought them was compelling mix of performative Orientalism just vague enough to be appealing and fantastical, visually intriguing, and refreshing to a society that had otherwise come to recognise itself as decadent, fallen “victim” to modernity. In the athletic virtuosity of Russian bodies, Bakst’s exotic visual language and the soaring music of Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky, the French devoured what they deemed a sort of noble savagery (yes, that kind). Despite the oversaturation of Orientalism in painting throughout the 19th century, the French identified a kind of masculine vigour and freedom in these live performances they found they themselves lacked, and longed for. Primitivism, as demonstrated in myriad ways by the BR, was for them a way to reconnect with a virility that they felt modernity had stolen, or at the very least, weakened. If you think this sounds eerily akin to the discourse around mounting desire for war to “cleanse” or “reset” Europe during that same period, you are right. 

A few of Bakst’s lesser known designs from the archive, for context (including a reprod by Barbier which I don’t have the OG of but is saved in my Bakst folder so please take my word for it). I have a thousand more of these but tumblr has an image limit per post 😤

Tamara Karsavina, who often performed with Nijinsky, and one of my most beloved historical figures. The existence of a strong classical ballet cirruculumin the UK today is in part thanks to her. 

One of her most famous roles, as the Firebird:

Nijinsky is by far the most interesting figure to come out of the BR. He combined virtuosity and strength (that most audiences identified as masculine) with a glittering, joyful, and expressive queerness on stage (and off). Some of his greatest roles are expressly feminine in their costume design: Le Spectre de La Rose, for example.

There’s a colorised version of this out there where you can see every pink rose petal on him.

While others are much more decorative but still markedly Orientalist (or Russian-Orientalist): Le Dieu Bleu, La Peri, Les Orientales, L’Oiseaux de Feu. 

This last image above is not, the last I saw it, in a private collection. It hangs above the vestibule of the Palais Garnier archives (also Napoleon’s private hangout room) where it faces the sort of “diptych” version that features Karsavina, and on occasion I would stand below them and weep quietly).

Either way, there is an argument to be made about Nijinsky’s physicality and, more importantly nationality as a kind of avenue of permission through which the French could admire both his beauty and athleticism and even, to a degree, imagine themselves in his place while still maintaining that safe distance of Otherness.  

But I would argue that his greatest role was the Golden Slave in Scheherazade, a wild, erotic orientalist fantasy that has little to nothing to do with the actual tale of Scheherazade. In it, Nijinsky - bejewelled, wild, ecstatic, (and yeah often in blackface) - cavorts with Zobeide, the Sultan’s favourite, in a very sexually explicit storyline. Both characters are equally decorative in their costumes, and both, in real life, were recognisably queer(ed) figures. It’s Scheherazade in particular that helped accelerate an obsessive trend in fashion (Paul Poiret was at the centre) for Orientalist design. Bakst himself did some silhouettes that are hard to distinguish from his costume design, and through the remarkable illustrations by Paul Iribe, Georges Lepape and Georges Barbier, we can see some of the blatant repetition of motif and silhouette in these ensembles that are designed, among other things, to be worn to the theatre. 

3rd and 5th are depictions of costumes of the Firebird and Zobeide respectively; the rest are fashion plates. This doesn’t even include the lampshade dress - which I don’t have a handy picture of, but have seen in real life - that is a pretty blatant melange of the Firebird and Zobeide, as designed by Poiret. Below is one of my favourite examples: A woman in a lampshade-style dress, standing against a backdrop not unlike Bakst’s set design above, attended by a archetypal oriental servant wearing Nijinsky’s Golden Slave costume.

These motifs also proliferated in advertisements and in all kinds of other consumer products (perfumes, for example, and decorative objects). Thus, there’s a performative aim in wearing these designs that I read as a sort of pseudo-kinetic empathy (and can funnnily enough probably be compared to cosplay). There is an attempt here to channel what is being presented onstage, to reenact it, to physically embody it, in the way that fashion is, at its core, a tool through which to construct identity. That the French pulled inspiration from an openly queer man leaping across the stage dripping in jewels, and from femme fatal-style odalisques, says a lot about the visual and cultural impact the BR had on the theatre-going public at the time.

You can see in these fan designs by Paquin some pretty obvious references to the BR aesthetic: L’apres-midi d’un faune, Daphnis et Chloe, Scheherazade, even a little Le Pavillon d’Armide in that first one. 

Nijinsky was not the only one to queer the stage: despite not being a dancer trained to the level of the BR troupe, Ida Rubinstein, no doubt purposefully channelling Sarah Bernhardt, was also a beloved stage presence, whether as the sly harem favourite Zobeide or as the strikingly androgynous St Sebastian, gayest of saints. 

This is not to say there haven’t been wonderful and brilliant costume designs since - and quite a few known fashion designers working alongside dance companies, to great success or otherwise. I will, however, shoutout my favourite contemporary work: Akram Khan’s Giselle, which has everything and yet nothing to do with Adolph Adam’s 1842 piece. I don’t even want to post pictures because the costumes of the nobles (the landowners, in this very apocalyptically late-stage capitalist version) are so fucking breathtaking in relation to the overall design, and their entrance itself is probably one of the most spectacular parts of the ballet, that all I can say is just see it. Or buy the dvd. What Khan does gesturally is beyond words, what Vincenzo Lamagna does with Adam’s original score is visceral and haunting and churns my insides. I make a point to see it live at least once a season when it’s touring with the ENB, and I will do so until it leaves the repertory or until I die. It’s my contemporary Scheherazade. It’s a gesamtkunstwerk. 

Tldr Leon Bakst is one of the greatest costume designers of the 19th and 20th century and criminally underrated. 

It’s not ballet, and it’s not the sumptuous costumes from Boris Godunov, but as a bonus here’s my favourite image of opera star Fedor Chaliapine as Ivan the Terrible.

[cemeteryangel725]

Beyond the Barricade: A Good Omens theater kids AU by CemeteryAngel725

Special thanks to FourCatsAndCounting for the amazing cover art!

Summary:

Az Eastgate and AJ Crowley have been best friends and roommates since freshman year, when they met playing minor gangsters in their university theater company's production of Guys and Dolls. Az has been in love with AJ ever since, but he's never quite worked up the courage to tell him. Now it's senior year, and they've been cast as Marius and Enjolras in Les Miserables. Will Az finally work up the courage to tell AJ how he feels? Or will they graduate from college and go their separate ways?

Rated E, 29,853 words (complete work!)

Excerpt:

“So, you and me, leading the revolution?” AJ's amber eyes sparkled in the dim light. “What a way to finish out senior year.”

“I know, it's so exciting.” Az let his head tip back against AJ's arm. If AJ was going to let him get this close, he might as well enjoy it.

“I mean, actually, I'm the one leading the revolution. One look at a pretty face, and whoops! Off you go, leaving me behind.”

“But I come back! I'm there when the barricade falls, after all.”

“Only because you think Cosette left your sorry ass. Me and the revolution, your rebound relationship. Or your suicide mission.”

Az sighed. “Hard to believe Marius could look at anyone else with Enjolras onstage. You're going to do him justice, my dear. Marius is dull as dishwater by comparison.”

“Nah, Marius is a romantic. He's quiet, but he has all these beautiful lines to sing, almost as if he's been sitting around thinking them up, waiting to say them to someone. He sort of reminds me of you, actually. You and your head full of poetry.”

Az turned to look at AJ, and was a little shocked at how close their faces had gotten to each other. They locked eyes for a moment, and then AJ's gaze slid down to his lips.

Read more on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53335615/chapters/134984179

Premiering during the @goodomensafterdark Smut War!

[pompadourpink]

Le participe passé

The past participle (found in the pluperfect, perfect, past conditional, perfect past, past imperative, past infinitive, past gerund, past subjunctive, and pluperfect subjunctive tenses) is the second element (like been or taken) used to create several compound verbal tenses - the most common one being the perfect tense. A past participle can be masculine or feminine, singular or plural.

La conjugaison

Le premier groupe (-er except aller):

-é, -ée, -és, -ées (nous sommes arrivées - we have arrived)

Le deuxième groupe (-ir except découvrir, faillir, ouvrir, partir, sentir, sortir, tenir, venir...):

-i, -ie, -is, -ies (les filles sont parties - the girls have left)

Le troisième groupe:

Règles générales:

-s, -se, -s, -ses

-ø, -e, -s, -es (many irregulars: ouvrir > ouvert, peindre > peint)

-us, -ute, -us, -utes

Règles détaillées:

-é, -ée, -és, -ées; aller, être, naître

-ert, -erte, -erts, -erts; all -ffrir, -vrir except appauvrir

-i, -ie, -is, -ies; all -(a, e, ou)illir, -érir (not after -qu-), a few -uir(e) (fuir, suivre, rire) + partir, réussir, sentir

-is, -ise, -is, -ises; all -quérir + asseoir, mettre, prendre

-lu, -lue, -lus, -lues; résoudre

-ort, -orte, -orts, -orts; mourir

-os, -ose, -os, -oses; clore

-s, -se, -s, -ses; mettre, prendre

-t, -te, -ts, -tes; all -aire, -indre, -uire + dire, écrire, faire

-u, -ue, -us, -ues; all -oir except asseoir (devoir gets a circumflex), all -aître except naître/paître, a few -ir (courir, tenir, venir), most -re except mettre, prendre

-us, -use, -us, -uses; inclure

-us, -ute, -us, -utes; absoudre, dissoudre

-

Les règles

The past participle will have to agree with a feminine and/or plural subject if the auxiliary is Être. Les souris sont mangées par les chats - mice are eaten by cats.

If the auxiliary is Avoir and the syntax of the sentence is -determiner, noun, auxiliary, past participle, object- then you do not make the participle agree with the noun. It will stay in the neutral form, the masculine singular. La chatte a mangé la souris - the cat has eaten the mouse.

In the same way, if the object is an infinitive verb or an infinitive clause, the participle does not agree with it and stays in its neutral form. La chatte a voulu manger la souris - the cat wanted to eat the mouse.

If the object is placed before the auxiliary (as a noun or an object pronoun), the participle has to agree with the subject. La souris a été mangée par le chat - the mouse has been eaten by the cat.

N.B. If the perfect is made of Avoir + Fait and followed by another verb faire (making someone do/make): je lui ai fait faire des pâtes, or if the object comes with a preposition (indirect object rather than direct object): j'ai parlé à mes parents > je leur ai parlé, there's no agreement.

-

Les participes passés irréguliers (+e/s)

Acquérir (to acquire) → acquis

Apprendre (to learn) → appris

Atteindre (to attain) → atteint

Asseoir (to sit) → assis

Avoir (to have) → eu

Boire (to drink) → bu

Comprendre (to understand) → compris

Conduire (to drive) → conduit

Connaître (to know) → connu

Construire (to build) → construit

Courir (to run) → couru

Couvrir (to cover) → couvert

Craindre (to fear) → craint

Croire (to believe) → cru

Décevoir (to deceive; to disappoint) → déçu

Découvrir (to discover) → découvert

Devoir (to have to) → dû

Dire (to say) → dit

Écrire (to write) → écrit

Être (to be) → été

Faire (to do; to make) → fait

Falloir (to have to) → fallu

Instruire (to instruct) → instruit

Joindre (to join; to affix) → joint

Lire (to read) → lu

Mettre (to put) → mis

Mourir (to die) → mort

Naître (to be born) → né

Obtenir (to obtain) → obtenu

Offrir (to offer) → offert

Ouvrir (to open) → ouvert

Peindre (to paint) → peint

Permettre (to allow; to permit) → permis

Plaire (to please) → plu

Pleuvoir (to rain) → plu

Prendre (to take) → pris

Produire (to produce) → produit

Pouvoir (to be able to) → pu

Recevoir (to receive) → reçu

Réduire (to reduce) → réduit

Rire (to laugh) → ri

Savoir (to know) → su

Souffrir (to suffer) → souffert

Suivre (to follow) → suivi

Tenir (to hold) → tenu

Vivre (to live) → vécu

Valoir (to be worth) → valu

Voir (to see) → vu

Vouloir (to want) → voulu

Movie: Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire - Yves Robert, 1972

Fanmail - masterlist (2016-) - archives - hire me - reviews (2020-) - Drive

[jebewonmorelike]

✰⋆⁺ Steal Your Heart ⁺⋆✰

*ੈ Part One: The Fool ♡ The Beginning

♡ Steal Your Heart Masterlist

♡ Read this Introductory Post and the Masterlist for details!

˚☽˚｡⋆ Steal Your Heart: An Interactive Fanfiction Game

... Collect Points to Determine Your Love Interest and Special Ending!!

⁺⋆✰ wc: 2.9k (it looks long because of all the media, but it's not i promise!)

⁺⋆✰ reader-insert pronouns: none used; n/a -- reader is the 10th member of AU ZB1, but the group is referred to only as an "idol" group. no mentions or descriptions of gender of reader.

⁺⋆✰ chapter warnings: crime (reader was wrongfully convicted of a crime), swearing, mild violence, mentions of drinking and dui, angst... and the start of a really fun adventure! all ages welcome; pg-13+ themes.

⁺⋆✰ summary: for series summary click here. one day, a glitch in the matrix causes (y/n) to enter a different dimension where they gain special powers that will help them and the rest of zb1 to defeat their evil company once and for all. AU. based on the jrpg persona 5.

⁺⋆✰ please download the scoresheet for the game here!

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

Welcome to the start of our game, Player. Make sure you have your score sheet ready! When there’s a mini-decision or chapter choice coming up, I’ll pop in to give you a brief tutorial. But for now, let’s travel back to where our story begins, shall we?

“We’ll ask you one more time, (Y/N)-sshi,” a burly police officer says; elbows propped on the metal table as he glares at you distrustfully. Anything you say is the wrong answer. “Where were you the night of June 19th, 2022?”

“I was at an event,” you say slowly, watching as the corner of the officer’s lip begins to twitch. “It was an after-party for the premiere of our new tour documentary. The whole company was there! They all saw me there.”

The officer nods. “They did indeed. The problem, (Y/N)-sshi, is that not one of them remembers seeing you leave.”

A blurred memory of colored strobe lights, a black sportscar, and a man in a suit flash in your mind. The truth is that you don’t really remember leaving the party either.

“It was... It got kind of crazy,” you admit, pulling at the skin on your fingers. “I don’t--... I don’t know what happened.”

The officer nods, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms. “You and your group members have a bit of a reputation, don’t you?”

“It’s not like that,” you counter, furrowing your brow annoyedly. “It’s hard, okay? Being an idol is... We just--... We just want to have a bit of fun sometimes, but--.”

The officer’s interest is piqued by your confession. “A bit of ‘fun’? Can I assume by ‘fun’ you mean... partying? Drinking? S--.”

“And?” You spit. “Weren’t you young once? Or were you always a middle-aged assh*le that smells like hot dog water?”

A splash of water hits your face, running down your neck and soaking your shirt.

“You wanna be a smartass?” The officer asks, eyebrows raised. “I’ll book you right now, no questions asked. We already have you at the scene of the crime. We have your fingerprints on the steering wheel of the vehicle. Tell me: what more do I really need from you?”

“I didn’t do it,” you say softly, looking down at your lap sullenly. “I would never drive when I was like that. I wouldn’t.”

“Tell that to Park Junyoung-sshi,” the officer says, standing up from his folding chair and walking to the door of the investigation room. “You can find him in the morgue.”

“Wait! Please! I DIDN’T DO IT! I DIDN’T-- I DIDN’T... I,” you scream, your voice suddenly growing hoarse as it gets harder and harder to speak. “I... didn’t...”

You groan as the sound of your alarm wakes you from your dream. It could technically be called a nightmare, but you dream it so much that it’s become almost... soothing. 

Forcing yourself up and out of bed, you walk to your closet and throw on a suitable outfit for work. Jeans, a black t-shirt, and athletic sneakers. You open your bedroom door and walk down the hall to the shared bathroom. Taerae is standing at the sink, lazily brushing his teeth.

You smile at him sleepily and he returns the gesture before spitting and exiting the bathroom. You take his place, brushing your teeth, washing your face and examining yourself in front of the mirror. You have to admit: for a convicted felon, you’re still pretty hot.

Not funny, you scold yourself as you walk out of the bathroom and down the hallway to the kitchen. You find Gyuvin at the table organizing a bunch of papers, photographs and flashdrives. Not this again...

“Oh, hey (Y/N)!” He greets with a grin as he scoops some noodles from a pot at the center of the table into an empty bowl for you. You sit down next to him and start to eat your breakfast. “Today’s the day. I think I finally have enough evidence for KBS to take the story!”

You sigh into your bowl of hot noodles. Gyuvin thinks every day is the day that someone will finally care about Total Control Music’s injustices. The reality is, you couldn’t even get your other group members to care. 

And you couldn’t really blame them. They were tired. Distraught. In financial ruin. On an indefinite hiatus because of a crime that you were convicted of. If you were them, you wouldn’t believe you either. 

“I think the video from the 2018 trainee showcase that I broke into President Kim’s assistant’s office to steal is really gonna sway their opinions once and--,” Gyuvin babbles excitedly as you begin to type something into your phone.

“Can you just stop!?” The AI voice on your phone interrupts. You know losing your patience won’t help the situation, but you continue to type anyway-- the AI screenreader vocalizing your words for you as you go. “I don’t need your help, Gyubin-ah! I never asked for it in the first place. Get a f*cking life and stop obsessing over mine.”

Gyuvin blinks back at you; hurt. It’s not an emotion you like to see on your best friend and it should be enough to make you instantly regret everything you just said. But you’re feeling stubborn this morning. And apologies always come out insincere when read by a robot anyway.

“No,” the taller boy says after looking down at his feet and then back up at you. “I won’t. You can lash out at me all you want. I’m still gonna help you.”

Your bottom lip tucks between your teeth as guilt starts to creep in.

“I’ll be home at 6,” he says coolly as he gathers his things and walks to the door; stepping outside and letting it slam shut behind him.

F*ck, you think. 

You feel a hand on your waist as someone scoots by you. It’s Hanbin. He’s almost glowing as happiness and fulfillment radiate off of him. Jerk.

“I’m off to work,” Hanbin says, pausing in the hallway and looking back at you. “I’ll be back late, okay? Can you make dinner for whoever’s here?”

Hanbin’s attention is caught by some dirty dishes that are sitting on the floor outside of Gunwook’s room. He shakes his head sadly, walking over and picking them up before placing them in the sink.

“Please, (Y/N)?” Hanbin asks, smiling at you hopefully. You roll your eyes as you agree with a reluctant smile. “See, you’re a good egg when I need you to be.”

You put your hands together in the shape of a heart and he grins, walking back towards the front door. 

“Stay hydrated today! See you tomorrow,” Hanbin calls over his shoulder as he heads out the door to his dance studio.

You look at your phone, checking the time. Sh*t, you think, as you find you only have twenty minutes left til you’re meant to report for duty. There’s two new messages in your inbox: one from Ricky and one from Matthew.

You only have time to answer one...

This is so exciting, Player! It’s time for your first mini-decision. These mini-decisions won’t affect the course of the story too much, but they will be an opportunity to earn points.  So, Player... Who would you like to respond to?

If you picked Ricky, read below...

You've received +1 Ricky Point for your choice of Ricky. Please add this point to your score sheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

If you picked Matthew, read below...

You've received +1 Matthew Point for your choice of Matthew. Please add this point to your score sheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

Continue Reading Here

You stuff your phone in your back pocket, throwing your bowl in the sink and grabbing your work gloves from your cubby in the hallway before heading out the door.

Crunch. 

Your grabber stick closes around a water bottle. It’s covered in a horrifically foul-smelling substance and you’re practically gagging at the stench. You pick it up and throw it into the big trash bag you’ve been lugging around for an hour now. You’ve filled six so far during your “shift”.

The sun is unforgiving on this mid June afternoon. It illuminates the reflector tape on your neon orange vest as you collect trash on the side of the highway. A big sign a few hundred feet ahead of you indicates that you’re on National Route 3 this afternoon. You hadn’t worked on this highway yet.

How charming that your new “job” allowed you to keep partaking in one of your favorite things about being an idol... Travel.

Making your way back to the police tent once your trash bag is full, you join the back of the line to hand in the garbage you’ve collected. You chew your cheek, examining the dirt on your shoes when a soft snickering coming from behind you catches your attention.

“That’s that idol. Isn’t it, hyung?” A male voice asks excitedly. “The one who was convicted of vehicular homicide?”

“Community service? Really?” Another voice huffs. “All I did was rob a corner store. Should I really be serving the same sentence as a murderer?”

It doesn’t bother you much anymore. This happens everywhere you go.

“I hear the President of Total Control bribed the judge for a lighter sentence,” a woman chimes in. “Rumor has it, they’ve even started preparing for a comeback.”

“No way,” the first man refutes. “Everyone sees right through ZeroTalentOne now. All the other members are just lucky they didn’t meet the same fate.”

The woman suddenly sighs dreamily. “That Zhang Hao could still take all my money, though.”

“He’s very good,” the older man agrees. “I saw him on a variety show last week. Did you know he’s classically trained on the violin? I hope he can get away from that garbage group once and for all...”

Your community service shift ends at 5 P.M. as it always does. You got your license back a month ago after 9 months of good behavior. Trading in your BMW for a less conspicuous car, you’ve been trying to get used to driving again. Unfortunately being wrongfully convicted of vehicular manslaughter didn’t exactly put you in a calm state of mind behind the wheel.

Only 13 more months of your sentencing. You could make it til then. Couldn’t you?

You’ve been walking around aimlessly for fifteen minutes after the bus dropped you back at the police station, trying to find where you parked your car. You reluctantly glance across the street at a large, nauseating building looming over you— it’s your company. A sign that reads “Total Control Music” shines from above the entrance and a few young girls are outside holding protest signs.

You sigh. It’s about time you just accept that you’re lost before you get yourself into a mess. Pulling out your phone, you scroll to find your navigation app-- thankful that you put a pin on the map where your car is parked. 

But something unfamiliar next to your navigation app catches your eye...

Huh? What the hell is that?

You press down on the app with your thumb, opting to move it to trash. Must be some weird virus...

But just as soon as the app is deleted, it reappears on your screen. MetaNav? Maybe it’s a new navigation app that your phone company is beta testing.

You shrug and tap the app to open it and figure out what it is.

“YOU ARE NOW EXITING THE REAL WORLD,” a robotic, feminine voice suddenly booms from your phone. “NAVIGATION SET FOR: THE METAVERSE. HAVE A SAFE TRIP.”

Oh sh*t, is all you have time to think before the world glitches around you. The air grows hazy and the buildings and vehicles in your line of sight begin to distort. 

You look back up at Total Control Music, expecting to see the girls outside screaming and running around in confusion and fear. But the sight you see instead is far stranger.

Where your company headquarters once stood, there is now a giant, golden castle in its place. 

You squint your eyes shut-- wondering if maybe that foul-smelling substance from earlier was toxic waste. That maybe your brain is turning to mush and projecting hallucinations before your inevitable death. 

Or that, maybe, you’ve just finally lost it...

You stare at the palace in front of you for a few moments. If it really is the end, you think... I might as well see it through.

Cautiously, you make your way across the street and up the grand steps of the castle. Your brow furrows suspiciously when you realize that the giant embellished doors are wide open. Like someone left them open just for you.

Don’t be ridiculous, you think; shaking your head annoyedly. This isn’t real. Just go inside, (Y/N).

Your body tenses as you step through the doors and into the castle. It’s unbelievably lavish-- marble pillars and red carpet lining the hall. You gasp as you turn your attention to the decorated walls.

They’re lined with guilded portraits of young, beautiful people. People you recognize. 

You walk up to one of the portraits to examine it more closely. It’s of a handsome young man-- a distinctive, broad grin on his face and cavernous dimples.

It’s Kim Taerae.

Dazed, you walk up to another portrait beside it; instantly recognizing the youthful glow of the young man to be your maknae— Han Yujin.

What is this place? 

Just then, a loud grunt comes from the other side of the hallway. Your eyes land on what appears to be a huge castle guard bumbling down the corridor. He’s wearing the armor of a knight but, as he gets closer, you realize he doesn’t have a face. Instead, black mist swirls in its place. He seems to be some sort of... Shadow.

“WHO GOES THERE?” The shadow guard shouts. For someone without eyes, he sees quite well. 

You blink at the guard; swallowing nervously as he bounds angrily towards you. It’s a good thing this is just a hallucination.

“I SAID, WHO DARES INVADE THE KING’S PALACE?” The shadow guard bellows as he grabs you by the arm. It hurts.

Five more shadow guards suddenly appear as the first one kicks the back of your knees, causing your legs to buckle. You fall to the ground as your free arm is now restrained behind your back as well.

“INVASION IS A CRIME PUNISHABLE BY DEATH,” one of the shadow guards announces. “YOU WILL NOW BE TRIED BY HIS MAJESTY, THE MAGNIFICENT KING KIM HYUNWOO!”

Your eyes widen at the name. Kim Hyunwoo?

President Kim Hyunwoo?

Adorned in a long, devastatingly garish red robe and golden crown, “King” Kim Hyunwoo enters the hall. The shadow guards bow to him furiously. As he approaches, your jaw drops.

It really is him. President of Total Control Music, Kim Hyunwoo. 

“It’s been a long time since you’ve been inside this palace. And, if I’m not mistaken, it should’ve been longer. Your banishment is far from up,” he says, smiling at you cruelly. “But tell me, (Y/N)-sshi, how have you been?”

You stare at him, dumbfounded.

“Oh, that’s right! You lost your voice. Silly me,” President Kim says with a laugh. “It’s not like anyone really cares about that though. It was never as good as my voice anyway.”

Perplexed, you frown. President Kim had been an idol once. He made a couple hit songs in the early 2000s and, after being unable to match his success, founded Total Control Music in 2010. ZeroBaseOne became the company’s only successful idol group when you debuted in 2019. It was assumed that, after everything, you would also be the last.

President Kim was a bit incompetent... A little eccentric at times... Hit on every woman he met just to be turned down... But the look you saw in his eyes now was one you’d never really seen before. It was sinister.

“If it weren’t for my accident--,” he starts and then corrects himself with a smirk, “I mean, your accident, I would’ve finally made enough money off of you to fund my comeback. Now I have to pretend to put all my efforts into that Hao kid and sell your intimate details to the media for extra cash. I suppose I should thank you for taking the fall. Though I guess you didn’t really have a choice, did you?”

Your lip quivers as you stare at him in horror. You can’t be hearing him right. That can’t be true. Did President Kim really frame you that night?

“It was so easy, (Y/N)-sshi,” President Kim hisses with an evil glee. “You and your members had already built your slightly questionable reputations on your own. All I had to do was wrap your fingers around the steering wheel. You couldn’t even stumble away fast enough before someone saw your face at the crime scene.”

Rage like you’ve never known is broiling underneath your skin. All this time... You’d fallen so painfully from grace. You watched your friends follow-- all of your lives and careers, destroyed.

 In the back of your head, you’d even started believing that maybe you’d really done it.

“And the loss of your voice was just a fun bonus,” President Kim says with a smirk. “I had planned to pay off some witnesses to negate your testimony in the courtroom, but how convenient it was when we found out you couldn’t even give one!”

Something in you snaps. A white hot flash blurs your vision as an unfamiliar voice suddenly echoes in your head; a sharp pain searing through you. 

Well, well, well... It took you long enough to grow a backbone, my friend. The name’s Arsène.

You grip the sides of your head, trying to make the voice stop.

I can help you fix this, my friend. You can finally seek retribution from the people who have wronged you. Are you going to let him get away with this?

I... I--...

The pain is so unbearable that you’ve almost gone completely numb. It’s coursing through your whole body, burning you from the inside out and remaking you in its own vision: your true vision. Suddenly, something is forming around your face and fusing to your skin -- a mask? 

Or are you finally going to stand up for yourself and take back what is yours? Come on, answer me! ANSWER ME!

꩜˖ ݁ 𖥔. “I AM!” .𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜

The frantic scream rips from your throat as you rip off the mask that has attached to your skin. You don’t even feel the pain.

The wound heals as soon as it's opened and a new mask sits delicately across your eyes. It’s suddenly clear to you: you are Arsène. Arsène is you. You are silent no more.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

You smile at President Kim, noticing a glint of fear in his eyes. 

“I’d like to make my testimony now.” ‧ ₊ ✫ ˚・

President Kim begins to back up before turning and sprinting out of the hall. The shadow guards lunge for you, but you reach out your hands to stop them. A heavy gust of wind flows from your fingertips; knocking the guards to the ground.

New Skill Unlocked: New Kid on the Block ˖꩜

You glance in the direction that President Kim took off, about to run after him when screeching sirens begin to sound. More shadow guards begin to appear and you’re afraid you’re outnumbered. You sprint to the doors instead, running through them and down the steps of the palace. You start to run to the other side of the street as two guards follow you down the steps. 

“F*ck, get me out of here!”

“GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE,” a robotic feminine voice announces from your back pocket. “RETURNING TO THE REAL WORLD. PLEASE VISIT AGAIN SOON.”

You stand still as the world distorts again, the air growing hazier and the objects around you shaking before finally returning to normal. Out of breath and scared sh*tless, you look back at the castle behind you...

To find the regular, plain-old Total Control Music building in its place.

“Holy sh*t,” you breathe out.

“Holy sh*t,” a voice says behind you. You turn around to find Gyuvin gawking at you; his jaw in danger of touching the floor. “Did you just... speak?”

⁺⋆✰ Chapter Choice ✰⋆⁺

Well, Player, you've reached the end of the chapter and your first chapter choice. Chapter choices won't always come at the end of the chapter-- they might be somewhere in the middle instead. You can enter your choice in the poll below if you like, but you don't have to! It's just there because your Game Master is curious as to what you'll pick. ;) Your choice will have consequences in the next chapter that may earn you points, so remember which option you picked so you can read the corresponding excerpt!

So, Player, will you choose to...

CHOICE 1: Lie to Gyuvin

OR

CHOICE 2: Tell Gyuvin the Truth

✰

[empiredesimparte]

Charlotte: My God Louis! Napoléon V: I've suffered a bit, I must say

Charlotte (teasing): I heard some screams, yes

Napoléon V: Mock you, he who laughs last, laughs hardest!

Charlotte: You shouldn't stay too long in the sun, your skin is so red. Did you put on some cream? Napoléon V : Darling, I'm not a little boy Charlotte (teasing): Hm-hm

Napoléon V: I don't like sitting around doing nothing Charlotte: It feels good once in a while. It's only the first day Louis Napoléon V: Sorry, I don't want to seem like I'm always complaining

Napoléon V: I didn't go on vacation very often. And my father always made sure our days were full, even in the mountains or by the sea

Charlotte: We'll do a few activities, but they won't be as strenuous as waxing, so don't worry

Napoléon V: I did it for you, and I don't intend to do it again

Charlotte: But more and more men are doing it. I prefer you this way, you look cleaner on yourself Napoléon V: What are you implying? Charlotte: Nothing, my dear. What counts is my satisfaction, isn't it? Napoléon V: Yes, darling

⚜ Le Cabinet Noir | Honeymoon at Bora-Bora, 2 Messidor An 230

Beginning ▬ Previous ▬ Next

Napoléon and his wife Charlotte relax at their villa on their first day of honeymoon. The young man agreed to have his body hair removed after a relaxing session, to please Charlotte.

⚜ Traduction française

Napoléon et son épouse Charlotte se détendent à leur villa pour leur premier jour de lune de miel. Le jeune homme a accepté de se faire épiler les poils du corps après une séance détente, pour faire plaisir à Charlotte.

Charlotte: Mon Dieu Louis! Napoléon V: J'ai un peu souffert je dois dire

Charlotte (taquine) : J'ai entendu quelques cris, oui

Napoléon V : Moque toi, rira bien qui rira le dernier

Charlotte : Tu ne devrais pas rester trop au soleil, ta peau est si rouge. As-tu mis de la crème ? Napoléon V : Chérie, je ne suis pas un petit garçon Charlotte (taquine) : J'ai entendu ça

Napoléon V : Je n'aime pas rester sans rien faire Charlotte : Cela fait du bien, de temps en temps. Ce n'est que le premier jour Louis Napoléon V : Désolé, je ne veux pas donner l'impression de me plaindre tout le temps

Napoléon V : Je ne suis pas allé souvent en vacances. Et mon père veillait toujours à ce que nos journées soient bien remplies, même à la montagne ou à la mer

Charlotte : Nous ferons quelques activités, moins éprouvantes que l'épilation rassure toi

Napoléon V : J'ai fait cela pour toi, et je ne pense pas recommencer. Ce n'est pas mon truc, l'épilation

Charlotte : Pourtant, de plus en plus d'hommes le font. Je te préfère ainsi, tu fais plus propre sur toi Napoléon V : Qu'est-ce que tu sous-entends ? Charlotte : Rien mon aimé. Ce qui compte est ma satisfaction, n'est-ce pas ? Napoléon V : Oui chérie

[return-to-twisted-wonderland]

Tall Darius: Headlights

[Pomefiore]

[So many news channels were talking about Vil's Outfit at the Premiere & The Mysterious Masked Man with him - Le loup d'argent. Many people were trying to find out just who Le loup d'argent was to Vil.]

Darius (Sitting on the couch): Hm... Why did I have a feeling this could have happened? Good thing I don't have business cards.

Vil: People have no sense of having things remain a mystery.

*knock on the door*

Vil: Come in.

Crewel, opens the door: Darius. *holds up Magazine* Care to explain?

[tomhardymyking]

Dreaming about I can caress 𝗧𝗼𝗺's back and shoulders while he is sitting with this appearance and clothes in the dream, I smile at him and see him focusing on some of his work... 💖

Me yesterday 🤭👌🏻

I tried to find photos from the 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒎: 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 premiere showing his back in these clothes and this is the best I found, and with 𝗕𝗹𝘂 included 🐕 It can't be seen all of it but that's something 💓

I wish the dream would come true 🙏🏻

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Soñar que puedo acariciar la espalda y los hombros de 𝗧𝗼𝗺 mientras él está sentado con esta apariencia y ropa en el sueño, le sonrío y le veo concentrado en algo de su trabajo... 💖

Yo ayer 🤭👌🏻

Intenté encontrar fotos de la premiere de 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒎: 𝑯𝒂𝒃𝒓𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒛𝒂 en las que se viera su espalda con esta ropa y esto es lo mejor que encontré, y con 𝗕𝗹𝘂 incluido 🐕 No se ve toda pero algo es algo 💓

Ojalá el sueño se cumpliera 🙏🏻

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