#love this anne depiction so much

[annabolinas]

Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970)

edited by me; apologies for any remaining artifacts! I’ve tried to get rid of them all but it’s still somewhat visible in the first picture

First two pics are from episode 1 (”Catherine of Aragon”, written by Rosemary Anne Sisson); the rest are from episode 2 (”Anne Boleyn”, written by Nick Mccarty). Henry VIII was played by Keith Michell, Eustace Chapuys (in the second picture) by Edward Atienza, and Thomas Cranmer (in the last picture) by Bernard Hepton. 

[freddiekluger]

moment of silence for all the goth iwtv fans living their worst nightmare rn. they de-gothed the vampire rockstar and his band formerly known as satan's night out...................... </3

[pynkhues]

I would LOVE to read your analysis of louis as byronic hero as apposed to his reading as gothic heroine. lots of the latter and zero of the former in the fandom.

Sure! Mmm, okay, so –

What are we talking about when we talk about Gothic Heroes?  

When we talk about gothic heroes, we’re really talking about three pretty different character archetypes. All three are vital to the genre, but some are more popular in certain subgenres i.e. your Prometheus Hero may be more common in gothic horror, whereas your Byronic Hero might be more likely to be found in gothic romance. That’s not to say they’re exclusive to those subgenres at all, and there is an argument that these archetypes themselves are gendered (in many ways, I think people confuse Anne being an author of the female gothic with Louis being a gothic heroine, but I’ll get into that later), but this is also not necessarily something that’s exclusive.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself, haha, so the three gothic hero archetypes are:

Milton’s Satan who is the classic gothic hero-villain. You can probably guess from the name, but he was originated in John Milton’s 1667 poem, Paradise Lost. He is God’s favourite angel, but God is forced to cast him out of heaven when he rebels against him. As an archetype, he’s a man pretty much defined by his pride, vanity and self-love, usually fucks his way through whatever book or poem he’s in, has a perverted, incestuous family, and a desire to corrupt other people. He’s also defined as being “too weak to choose what is moral and right, and instead chooses what is pleasurable only to him” and his greatest character flaw, in spite of all The Horrors, is that he’s usually easily misguided or led astray. (I would argue that Lestat fits into this archetype pretty neatly, but that’s a whole other post.)

Prometheus who was established as a gothic archetype by Mary Shelley with Frankenstein in 1818. Your Prometheus Hero is basically represented by the quest for knowledge and the overreach of that quest to bring on unintended consequences. He’s tied, of course, to the Prometheus of Greek myth, so you can get elements of that in this character design too in that he can be devious or a trickster, but the most important part of him is that he is split between his extreme intelligence and his sense of rebellion, and that his sense of rebellion and boundary pushing overtakes his intelligence and basically leads to All The Gothic Horrors.

And the Byronic Hero, who as the name implies, was both created by and inspired by the romantic poet, Lord Byron in his semi-autobiographical poem, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage which was published between 1812-1818. The archetype is kind of an idealized version of himself, and as historian and critic Lord Macaulay wrote, the character is “a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection.” Adding to that, he’s often called ‘the gloomy egoist’ as a protagonist type, hates society, is often self-destructive and lives either exiled or in a self-exile, and is a stalwart of gothic literature, but especially gothic romance. Interestingly too, in his most iconic depictions he’s often a) darkly featured and/or not white (Heathcliff being the most obvious example of this given Emily Bronte clearly writes him as either Black or South Asian), and b) is often used to explore queer identity, with Byron himself having been bisexual.

Okay, but what about the Gothic Heroine?

Gothic heroines are less delineated and have had more of an evolution over time, which makes sense, given women have consistently been the main audience of gothic literature and have frequently been the most influential writers of the genre too. The gothic genre sort of ‘officially’ started with Horace Walpole’s 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto and Isabella is largely regarded as the first gothic heroine and the foundation of the archetype, and the book opens even with one of the key defining traits – an innocent, chaste woman without the protection of a family being pursued and persecuted by a man on the rampage.

The gothic heroine was, for years, defined by her lack of agency. She was innocent, chaste, beautiful, curious, plagued by tragedy and often, ultimately, tragic. Isabella survives in The Castle of Otranto, but she’s one of the lucky ones – Cathy dies in Wuthering Heights, Sybil dies in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Justine and Elizabeth both die in Frankenstein, Mina survives in Dracula, but Lucy doesn’t. There’s an argument frequently posited that the gothic genre was, and is, about dead women and the men who mourn them, and Interview with the Vampire certainly lends itself to that pretty neatly.

Of course, the genre has evolved, and in particular by the late 1800s, there was a notable shift in how the Gothic Heroine was depicted. The house became a place of imprisonment where they were further constrained and disempowered, she was infantilized and pathologized and diagnosed as hysterical, and as Avril Horner puts it in her excellent paper, Women, Power and Conflict: the Gothic heroine and ‘Chocolate-box Gothic’, gothic literature of this era “explores “the constraints enforced [by] a patriarchal society that is becoming increasingly nervous about the demands of the ‘New Woman’.”

This was an era where marriage was increasingly understood in feminist circles to be a civil death where women were further subjugated and became the property of their husbands. This was explored through gothic literature as the domestic space evolved into a symbol of patriarchal control in the Female Gothic.

Female Gothic vs Male Gothic

Because here’s the thing – the female gothic and the male gothic are generally understood to be two different subgenres of gothic literature.

While there are plenty of arguments as to what this entails, the basics is that the male gothic is written by men, and usually features graphic horror, rape and the masculine domination of women and often utilises the invasion of women’s spaces as a symbol of further penetrating their bodies, while the female gothic is written by women, and usually features graphic terror, as opposed to horror, while delving more specifically into gender politics. More than that though, its heroines are usually victimized, virginial and powerless while being pursued by villainous men.

The Female Gothic as a genre is also specifically interested in the passage from girlhood to female maturity, and does view the house as a place of entrapment, but she is usually suddenly “threatened with imprisonment in a castle or a great house under the control of a powerful male figure who gave her no chance to escape.”

That’s not Louis’ arc, that’s Claudia’s arc twice over, first with the house at Rue Royale, then with the Paris Coven, and Lestat and Armand aren’t the only powerful male figures who imprison her.

Claudia as the Gothic Heroine

Claudia in many ways is the absolute embodiment of the classic gothic heroine. Even the moment of their meeting is a product of Louis’ Byronic heroism – his act of implacable revenge against the Alderman Fenwick which prompts the rioting that almost kills her. She’s a victim of Louis’ monstrousness before they’ve even met, and while he saves her, he arguably does something worse in trapping her in the house with both himself and Lestat, holding her in an ever-virginal, ever-chaste eternal girlhood, playing into Lestat’s Milton-Satan by enhancing the perversion of family and ultimately infantilizing her out of his own desire for familial closeness.

Claudia has no family protection before Louis and Lestat – a staple of the gothic heroine – she is completely dependent on them in her actual girlhood, and again in adulthood, never developing the strength to be able to turn a companion, to say nothing about the sly lines here and there that further diminish and pathologise her (Lestat calling her histrionic, Louis making her out to be a burden, etc.). This is all further compounded again with the Coven, and when the tragedy of her life ultimately leads to the tragedy of her death.  

Louis as the Byronic Hero

Not to start with a quote, but here’s one from The Literary Icon of the Byronic Hero and its Reincarnation in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights:

“Generally speaking, the Byronic hero exhibits several particular characteristics. He does not possess heroic virtues in the usual, traditional sense. He is a well-educated, intelligent and sophisticated young man, sometimes a nobleman by birth, who at the same time manifests signs of rebellion against all fundamental values and moral codes of the society. Despite his obvious charm and attractiveness, the Byronic hero often shows a great deal of disrespect for any figure of authority. He was considered "the supreme embodiment [...] standing not only against a dehumanized system of labor but also against traditionally repressive religious, social, and familial institutions" (Moglen, 1976: 28).

The Byronic hero is usually a social outcast, a wanderer, or is in exile of some kind, one imposed upon him by some external forces or self-imposed. He also shows an obvious tendency to be arrogant, cunning, cynical, and unrepentant for his faults. He often indulges himself in self destructive activities that bring him to the point of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself. He is hypersensitive, melancholic, introspective, emotionally conflicted, but at the same time mysterious, charismatic, seductive and sexually attractive.”

Louis as he exists in the show to me is pretty much all of those things, and I think to argue that he’s a gothic heroine not only diminishes Claudia’s arc, but robs Louis of his agency within his own story. Louis chooses Lestat, over and over again, he’s not imprisoned by the monster in the domestic sphere, he is one of the monsters who’s controlling the household, including making decisions of when they bring a child into it and when Lestat gets to live in it – he wanted to be turned, he wanted to live with Lestat in Rue Royale, and while there are certainly arguments to be made about their power dynamic within the household in the NOLA era, importantly Louis actually gained social power through his marriage to Lestat, particularly through The Azaelia, he didn’t lose it in the way that’s vital to the story of the gothic heroine.

Daniel Hart even said it in a recent twitter thread about Long Face, but there is an element of Lestat and Louis’ relationship that is transactional, and to me, for that to exist, they both have to have a degree of control over their circumstances and choices in order to negotiate those transactions. Claudia is the one who can’t, she’s the one who’s treated effectively as property, and she’s the one who lacks control over her circumstances.

While you could perhaps argue the constraints of the apartment in Dubai lend more to the gothic heroine archetype, I’d argue it as furthering the Byronic trope again by being representative both of Louis’ self-destruction and self-imposed exile. As Jacob has said a few times, Louis does seem to have known to a degree that Armand was involved in Claudia’s death on some level, and it’s that guilt and misery that has him allowing Armand his degree of control. The fact that Louis was able to leave Armand as easily and as definitively as he was I think demonstrates that distinction too – after all, to compare that ending to Claudia’s multiple attempts to leave the confines of the patriarchal house, both in Rue Royale and Paris, which were punished at every turn – first by her rape, then by Lestat dragging her back off the train, and then by the Coven orchestrating her murder.

Louis gets to leave because Louis can leave, he has both the social and narrative power to, and the fact that he does is, to me, completely at odds with the gothic heroine. Louis can, and does advocate for himself, Louis is proud, moody, cynical. Defiance is a key part of his character, just as his exile from NOLA society due to his race, and his chosen rejection of vampire society in Paris, is. He’s intelligent and sophisticated, travels the world, and has misery in his heart, guilt that eats him up, and self-destructive tendencies. That’s a Byronic Hero, baby!  

[mynqzo]

Hey heard you like vampires what are your thoughts on Twilight

it gets an unprecedented amount of hate mostly for being a show with an audience of young women and girls (so therefore people think oh girls like this so ew). its also undeniable that twilight very much shows the progression of how vampires are depicted in media and is an important facet in the history of vampire mythology especially in books/movies. it being a romance movie with cliche and maybe cringe scenes doesn't take away people's right to enjoy it and by extent its version of vampires (id argue that twilight vampires are just a spiritual successor to vampires like lestate or 'romantic vamps' in general)

with that being said, it is the straightest and most mormon vampire depiction which therefore makes it less enjoyable for me! vampires, historically, existed to represent minorities and people who were considered outcasts to 'normal' society and were first and foremost used as caricatures for racist, lgbtq-phobic and sexist stereotypes, so i feel like their reclamation by queers, poc and minorities in general is the only good way to depict them. bram stoker's dracula represented the english man's fear of jewish immigrants (and immigrants in general, the visual description of dracula in that book plays into popular caricatures of jews during those times), eastern europeans, and queer people (dracula and jonathan yada yada as well as the wives of dracula initiating a saucy moment with jonathan which was a man' job because the man was the pursuer and the woman was pursued, but the roles were reversed. also, i don't think i need to tell you how fangs, blood and the extension of dracula through his wives were used as a gay metaphor). and carmilla by sheridan le fanu, depicting the imagery of a predatory lesbian hunting for innocent upper-class women. during these times vampires were not yet characters with complex personalities and values, but folklore monsters in a way, a way to show an enemy and defeat it rather than learn to understand them, which was a product of its time.

fast forward to the vampire chronicles and especially interview with the vampire by anne rice, vampires became complex people, who's oddities were considered alluring, beautiful, queer and unabashedly proud of it. descriptions of androgynous men, womens love of each other, several nods to gay culture throughout the books with the characters themselves having more to them than just being monsters (with that being said there are several critiques of an interview with the vampire, esp the original book, it is by no means the creme de la creme of queer rep in vampire literature!)

so, circling back, twilight vampires were in themselves like that, kind of. edward wasn't exactly the most macho man as was popular to faun over in media, he was, kind of, more androgenous and sensitive and a character with complex values and thoughts - but that doesn't take away from the fact that the book is lacking a lot of soul and seemingly doesn't show the true reasons why vampires became so popular (amongst young queers especially who found themselves relating to this sense of otherness because of who they were. it is a very sanitized version of a vampire romance, which doesn't mean its bad or that people shouldn't like it! but i'm just saying.

huff

[lunawings]

While I was in Japan during March 2024, I was able to visit the Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live 10th Anniversary Exhibit. This is my favorite anime of all time, so it was an incredible honor.

Unfortunately, you could not take pictures in many areas and I always try my best to be respectful and follow the rules. So, I will describe it.

The walls of the first room were covered in several tapestries depicting each individual episode of the anime, so you could reminisce about everything that happened as you slowly walked through the room. In the middle of the room, there were several exhibits perfectly recreating every single paper, notebook, sketch...

Hokkaido itinerary? Wakana and Bell's test scores? Momo's Happy Rain costume sketches? Naru and Bell's manager applications? The score to pride? Any piece of paper you can think of that appeared in PRRL, it was all HERE! Recreated with meticulous accuracy...

The next room was the photo room where you could take pictures in Prism Stone or in front of Rinne's feathers.

Something else they had here which was really neat, was all of these mini photo ops of various scenes from the anime that you could put your plushies or figures into! As I rarely have someone with me to take photos of myself at events like this, and I rarely post them even when I do, NGL I loved it. I wish I had brought something! I did have a PAF Naru on my bag I could have used, but it would have taken time to unpin her so unfortunetly I did not.

The next room contained an exhibit of various merch from throughout the years.

Unfortunately, there wasn't really much merch to look at in the classic section. Just the guitars, some stones, and the Smart Pod Shot. But I definitely think there was more than that back in the day! There has to have been because I own at least one thing that was not in here (a pool bag) haha!

They also had a REAL prism guitar on display, which apparently they are actually going to sell at some point!?

The last part of the exhibit before going to the gift shop, was a hallway with messages from all the voice actresses and the director. This was also a zone where photos were banned, but I remember in the director's he acknowledged Rainbow Live as being the only Pretty Rhythm season to achieve a 10th anniversary celebration and ended his commentary with "Glorious Pretty Rhythm" hahaha. Next was the gift shop...

Which was honestly super disappointing... I was prepared to spend a lot of money here, but in the end, I barely bought anything. Everything, EVERYTHING good was blind and the stuff that wasn't was just so expensive.

Like, they had this set of Hiro cards with his magazine covers and debut poster and I really wanted them but when I actually saw them it was like... 2,000 yen? FOR THREE CARDS!? Those tiny little cards you can see up there below the keychains?

????????????

Am I missing something!?

In the end I bought two Wakana boards and two clear files. And the one blind thing I couldn't resist was the Prism Stone badges... which turned out to be Otoha x2 and one Ann. Gah.

I also might have bought a Wakana plush doll, but she was sold out. Out of all the Rainbow Live girls she was the only one sold out both here and at Tokyo Station Prism Stone.

And here were the bonuses I got. Including, yes, the AiPri card. So for people who saw me posting it over on @pretty-idol-hell, this was where it came from.

I also got a very special letter, which I am saving to translate at a later date...

Outside the event was an up and running Pretty Rhythm machine, or so I thought. Wow, no line! I said to myself as I happily bounced up to it only to find the coin slot taped over and a sign reading it could not be used. Darn. (I know there's no prism stones left in the wild, but come on, there's no free play mode...? Well, I guess even if there was they wouldn't want people loitering around the exhibition.)

Anyway, as you read I did have a few complaints, but it still makes my heart happy that this event existed at all. I loved all the time and effort that went into making all the recreations of things!

[i-stand-unshaken]

Pepper Ann appreciation post

So my bestie recently introduced me to the classic Disney cartoon Pepper Ann that aired from 1997 to 2000.

I'd seen it some as a kid, but for whatever reason I slept on it at the time and in the ensuing decades. Having finally watched the whole thing, and seeing how slept on this show is online? I wanted to make a post telling you why it's well worth checking out.

It's hilarious... much more hilarious than you may think at first glance. It seems like a fairly lowkey little slice of life show (and in several ways is), but the protagonist is such a girlfailure that her exploits always go to some hysterical places. And beyond that, the show gets downright batshit insane. Here's a sampler: Mark Hamill becomes President of the United States. And I'm not talking about a character voiced by Mark Hamill, oh no. It's literally Mark Hamill as voiced by Mark Hamill.

Despite this, the show has so much heart and can be genuinely emotional. It's also not afraid to tackle some mature subjects, like death, cultural appropriation, feminism, and even puberty.

The main characters - Pepper Ann Pearson herself, her best friends Nicky Little and Milo Kamalani, and her mother Lydia and sister Moose - are all very lovable with well-defined personalities who play off each other really well. And it is so refreshing that we have a dude who hangs out with two girls, and there's nothing romantic going on whatsoever. They're just really close platonic friends. (that said I have become shameless Pepper Ann x Nicky trash and this ship has taken over my mind please send help)

On that note, there are practically no unlikable characters. Even the more antagonistic characters are amusing and charming in their own ways.

To elaborate on Pepper Ann herself, she's such a fantastic, unique protagonist. It seems like a shows aimed at girls, especially around the time this one aired, were afraid of depicting their protagonists as anything less than basically perfect. Pepper Ann? Uh-uh. No. She's a total girlfailure who is somehow both REALLY smart and REALLY dumb at the same time (we're talking some WataMote tier cringe comedy at times) and can be a selfish jerk but also has a huge heart. She's just so fun and has an A+ character design and amazing voicework from Kathleen Wilhoite.

There are like zero bad episodes. And it got a proper finale that's a very satisfying and emotional ending.

So yeah, this is just a show that deserves way more love and attention. At least it's on Disney+, but can we get a Complete Series DVD release too?

[mothmanssweetsucculentass]

Lmao what’s this? I’m back with more Creepypasta headcanons, this time for Eyeless Jack.

TW for the following: graphic descriptions of cannibalism/murder/gore, depictions of drug abuse, lacing food with sharp objects, body horror, and generally anything you’d expect from horror.

THERE ARE NO CENSORS BEYOND THIS POINT, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DISTRESS CAUSED BY MY WRITING.

Eyeless Jack Headcanons

He/they

Obviously no longer human

Still has a humanoid-ish body

“Died” around 2011, physically 22

Dark gray skin with a faint blue-ish tint

His blood is black. Like it’s basically oil or tar now. Moves much slower and is thicker than normal blood. He hasn’t checked but he’s pretty sure all his organs share the same color and viscosity now. Like that one breed of chicken with black organs y’know?

Long ears

Lots of sharp teeth. Practically a shark mouth

Y’know what, I like you. Gives your EJ a jaw that unhinges, a mouth that rips open, and a second jaw further back in his mouth (eel jaw EJ supremacy)

3+ long black tongues depending on his mood and how well fed they are

Because of the multiple mouth appendages he has a soft lisp and often accidentally bites his tongues since they move involuntarily

Eyes are constantly leaking the black sludge. Clothing/face/belongings are always sticky

Constantly salivating the same substance, just thinner/more liquidy

Wears a surgical mask under his regular mask to combat it

Very good sense of smell

Seriously he could smell a specific blood type in the middle of a massacre of a shit ton of bodies

Can’t swim

Reddish-brown wavy hair, forgets to cut it sometimes so he sometimes has a fluffy mullet

Claws that can’t retract

Wears a black trench coat and dark gray turtleneck when actually going out and doing shit, the black hoodie is lounge clothes

Has a tail!!!! Closest resemblance to a lion tail, but larger

Lots of catlike/animal like behaviors unconsciously. Will sit on any elevated surface

Purrs like holy fuck the first time someone hears him do it they freak out

Can also growl and hiss

Despite the animalistic behaviors and feral demeanor he isn’t above being civilized

Mostly calm. Gets the zoomies after eating tho

And by zoomies I mean he’s more excitable and extroverted for a little while

Has probably ran around the woods like a maniac at least once tho

Besides Nurse Ann, he’s the most medically competent of the pastas. People usually go to him for more major injuries or sicknesses

Despite his constant orifice leakage he tries to be as clean as possible

His lab is SPOTLESS

somehow figured out a way to dilute his face goop to clean it better. No one knows how he does it tho

Is still very much a nerd. Loves reading any kind of book he can get his hands on

Starts going blind if he doesn’t satiate his hunger for flesh and organs

If he goes blind before getting food, he’s able to use echolocation pretty damn well

Can also see thermal outlines of stuff if his vision starts going

Eyes aren’t reflective so it’s pretty funny when he’s gargoyling somewhere in the manor in pitch black and someone walks in and gets startled by him sitting there staring into the void

HOW are his footsteps so silent

Dude you’re 5”8 and have a stockier build how do you not make floorboards creek

Can eat normal food, but poses no nutritional value to him

Can halfway survive off raw animal meat in emergencies, but doesn’t give him enough energy for long

Only fully kills someone about once a month, the rest of the time he’s able to meticulously and stealthily steal a kidney from unsuspecting victims without incident

Not that he hates killing or anything like that, he’s just as violent as the rest of the freaks

But he HATES the feeling of losing control he often gets when he indulges the violent urges. So he holds himself back most of the time

Besides murder and organ harvesting he often goes out to steal medical supplies from houses and smaller town clinics

Remember him being a nerd? Likes to impress people with gross biology trivia. Most are about the human body but he knows a ton of animal facts too

“Did you know flies and roaches can still live without their heads” type shit

Can’t cook for shit. He’s not allowed in the kitchen period after one of his organ jars exploded in the fridge due to air pressure bs. Ruined all the food in there

Stores his organs in four different mini fridges in his room and lab

Kidneys give him the most energy but he enjoys flesh more than organs when it comes to taste

His favorite is cheek meat and anything involving the neck

Loves to burst the carotid artery and mess around with the blood like a sprinkler toy

Gives the bones of any corpse he fully consumes to Slender. Has no idea what he needs the bones for but never cares to ask

Friends/close with Ben, Helen, Liu, Ann, Masky, and Hoody

Has a tolerable relationship with Jeff, Kagekao, Slenderman, the Puppeteer, Jane, and Clockwork

Doesn’t get along with/hates LJ and Nina

Sally is TERRIFIED of him. Y’know cause little kids are scared of the doctor and whatnot. He tries his best to be as unintimidating as possible when around her but she still prefers Ann over him

HATES being called EJ. It’s a horrible nickname. What if he walked up to you and called you legless Larry after cutting off your legs?

Abrosexual

Loves loves loves LOVES doing dissections/vivisections. Has somehow been able to convince or bribe the other undead and non human mansion inhabitants to let him do a vivisection on them at least once.

Ben enjoyed it the most because he’s a freak like that

“And this is your heart” “gross……. can I poke it” “yeah ok”

Is unfortunately able to understand the corrupt scripts of [REDACTED] thanks to the ritual that took his eyes and life. Tries his best to ignore it.

Nightmare haver! Is too stubborn to go to someone like Ben or Slender to get them less frequently even though both could easily help him

Kind of an insomniac anyways but since his face is almost always covered no one notices the eye bags

Usually takes the top layer mask off around his friends, or if the other masked pastas take theirs off around them as a sign of mutual trust

Surgical mask on their face stays on constantly unless eating or doing anything privately

Has to keep the meds locked up because Ben, Masky, and Jeff have drug problems

“STOP trying to get high off Benadryl it’s not even allergy season anymore you don’t need it”

Not a “dad” character he just doesn’t like wasting resources like that

Doesn’t care about the actual habits JUST STOP STEALING HIS MEDS

LJ for some reason keeps stealing any of his used needles and scalpels. Jack’s best bet is he puts the sharp objects in candy. Gross.

He’s befriended Seedeater the same way a zookeeper befriends a large dangerous animal

Both have a mutual understanding Seed is NOT a pet

It hasn’t even let them pet or touch it

Does follow him closely like a dog whenever he walks through the forest for any reason

Jack has witnessed it take down and decapitate a bear with a single bite before

If he ever has leftovers or parts of corpses about to go bad that they can’t eat himself, they feed it to Seed

Has a small collection of the black fur and feathers that naturally shed from Seed’s body

Also collects other odd things like animal bones or human teeth

His favorite weird thing they’ve collected is a taxidermied axolotl stolen from a victim’s home

Is also super blunt

Not out of malice, he just has a very technical straightforward way of thinking

Always asks anyone for consent when doing anything physical like medical procedures or even just nudging someone out of the way if he’s trying to get somewhere

HATES being touched without their permission or knowledge

Will bite if provoked. Will bite as a warning too

[coltishcaterpillar]

Unmasked / Platonic!Alastor x Teen! Daughter Reader

Chapter II: Sneaking Suspicion

Summary:

After reading over thirty-one entries, three disturbing pages are brought to light….or the darkness, depending on how Emily wants to look at it.

WARNING: This entire chapter (and probably the next one) depicts a very disturbed, traumatized, paranoid child (who is you, the reader.), who has just lost the person she loved most in the world. A HUGE deterioration in her psyche is seen here.

Look out for: Murder, Mental Illness, Paranoia, Anxiety, Delusions, Cannibalism, etc….

November 12th, 1933

I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, my dear diary. Please, Jesus, please help me find my way back, I’m…I’m shaking relentlessly and the monsters at night won’t leave me alone.

My Pa….he’s not come home in three weeks. I know he will never open that door again, but I wish he would just one last time.

It started with a simple hunting trip. I saw him bringing a large trash bag over his shoulder whilst he was going out, and I just assumed it held his gun and other necessities.

A few hours later, people heard gunshots go off in the area he hunted and now he’s…..

When they opened the bag they found another mangled body….and concluded that my Papa was the serial killer terrorizing New Orleans since 1922.

No, he couldn’t have done anything of the sort. He was a good man. PAPA was a good man. He was. He is.

I read it in the papers…nobody wants to see me anymore. I’ve tried contacting everyone I knew and loved, and they told me to never set foot on their property again, they thought I was involved in this hellish situation!

Anne, James, Elbert, Carol, Mr. Devereaux, Charlotte, Martin…..EVERYBODY has abandoned me!

I wanted to desperately contact Grandma, so I wrote her a series of letters. Her caretaker wrote me a letter back that she went into shock after finding out Pa died, and she’s….well, she’s in Heaven now too.

I just turned sixteen, please. I need my Papa back….my Grandma….

I’ve been in the house surviving off of scraps. I’m afraid to leave again; I don’t want to be shot, I don’t want people coming after me because of what my Papa allegedly did. I’ve lost so much weight, I’m tired, I feel sick….

I’m not ready to be a woman, to grow up, quite yet. I grew up taking things for granted; I thought I would have my family and friends for life. How will I find a job? Will anybody take me in? Can I find a new family?

I’m still here, I’m still here, my dear friend. My beautiful…I’ve not lost my mind, not yet. I’m not crazy, am I? No, no….I’m just….going through some traumatic moments!

I’m hungry….

My stomach is hurting so bad, I’m perspiring and my toes are curled…I need more food. I’ve eaten nearly everything, I have no money to purchase anything else…

Every time it growls, there’s a new tang of pain….

Papa, you would never….you’re a good man, Pa. I love you, I’ll always love you….

Oh, it all makes sense now! Why you never wanted me to see what you brought home, why you were always out late, why you were so secretive…oh, Pa, why didn’t you tell me?! I…I would’ve….contacted the authorities.

Which is what you didn’t want.

I HATE YOU, YOU FUCKING DEMON! HOW DARE YOU BRING THIS UPON ME AND GRANDMA, I HOPE YOU ROT YOU SICK, TWISTED, SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN-

I miss your kisses and your hugs, Pa. Please….please come back. At least tell me where your grave is so I can hug your body one last time….I’ve never wanted to hear your voice more, whether it be in real life or the radios, please!

Oh my god, what are we having for dinner? I’m starving, Pa….

I have a headache, Pa….please give me some medicine to ease the pain…..

I need you, I need somebody. Anybody. Please….

I never want to see you again. If I ever see you again after this lifetime I will do everything in my power to slaughter you a second time for all the pain that you’ve caused….

I’m going to take a breather soon, my dear friend. I need to let off some steam. I’m….I just need to find an energy source. I’ll be back, I promise.

——————————————

November 13th, 1933

Oh, I’ve found something to eat, finally. It didn’t taste as terribly as I thought, and in fact, it tasted similar to how you cooked our meat, Pa. So tender….so, so, tender…..

The gangster didn’t even see it coming. I don’t think he liked me, he was looking at me like I did something wrong. I hushed him, hushed him well, and said,

“No, no, sir. Why are you giving me that look?? I’m only hungry! I’m just trying to survive! Please don’t let me starve!”

I hated that gaze. That look on his face made me feel like a monster, like I wasn’t justified in my action to cut him into tiny little pieces-

Pa, it’s just like you used to make. I never knew how…similar the meat tasted until now. Why did you do that? To so many innocent people….this man was not innocent, Pa. He was part of a cartel, I was doing this world a favour!

I feel better, I think. My stomach feels more satisfied than it has in days.

I don’t feel any better, though. I just…I just ate somebody….

I don’t know what to do! How is….how is his family going to react when they find this out?! I….I caused him pain, so much pain….

But I need more. I want to live….I have so much goodness to offer to the world, I promise I can be better! I’m not usually like this! I promise to make you proud! To make everybody proud…like I’ve always tried to do!

I know how much I was lacking in performance, I’ve never been cut out for the big leagues, but I am positive I can amount to something! If this world will give me a chance, I’ll be the best version of myself I can ever be. I can, I can! You always said I could do anything I put my mind to, I can do this. I can still be a happy girl and young woman, I can still grow up, I can make new friends. Perhaps I’ll move? Yes, maybe that’s a good idea…

I miss you. I miss Grandma, I miss our talks. The things you would do with me…how you used to sing to me when I was scared of the monsters under my bed, our weekly theatre nights; we’d always go to see Charlie Chaplin, that was your favourite; and it grew to be mine too.

I miss how close we were to each other. We were like….we were like two peas in a pod. We couldn’t be one without the other.

1917, was the year of my birth. How well do you remember picking me up that day? When I was alone, cold, nearly dead…in a dumpster? You saved me.

That’s why….I don’t want to believe you did those things, Papa. I don’t. I have a very strong sense of morality, you know that. I….I can’t fathom you ever being capable of something like that.

I…I don’t think I knew you, Papa. You…

You betrayed me.

Everybody was right, you know. The suspicions people had about you. Anne…she always talked about you with a certain look of fear in her eyes, and I always made the time to defend you to anybody who ever judged.

How was it, that the only person who never saw the signs, was me? The person who lived with you for sixteen years?

Maybe I just didn’t want to believe it.

And now look at what you’ve done. You’ve killed a part of me…you killed Grandma; your mother! I was supposed to meet her up for tea a few days after your death, but time had beaten me to it. What ever will I do, without your love?

I miss you, Pa. And I love you, so very much. But you better pray to the devil himself; that I do not die for another five decades. I won’t be able to hold myself back…from hurting you. And I’ll hurt you bad.

To be hated….to be attacked by somebody you protected, nurtured, loved with all your heart….yes, that’s the pain I want to inflict on you. Your daughter, the person you’d kill for, turning against you.

I love you, Pa, I really do. But….a serial killer will never be somebody I bode well with.

———————

January 10th, 1934

I am sorry. For everything. It’s very frigid out here due to winter, and I’ve been camping outside for quite a while…I can’t feel my legs anymore.

To….anybody I may have scared or hurt, from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry.

[extremely-judgemental]

Even when I don’t like an artist’s works, I have respect for them for their discipline and dedication to the craft. But that’s hard to muster for SJM. I was told one of her favourites is Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewels series which could have been an influence for the vivid and unnecessary violence in her plots. I haven’t read those books and so I googled it.

One of the major character is Lucivar Yaslana who is Half-Hayllian/Half-Eyrien which sounds suspiciously close to Illyrian. And in fanart, he is depicted with (surprise surprise) bat like wings which are uncannily like the Illyrian wings, and mind you, the first book in this series came out in 1998.

Going through the plot in wiki, there are a lot of names or titles that are similar to the ones in ACOTAR. Prythian. High Priestess. Whore/Consort. Dark Court and First Circle. One of the books’ title is Dreams Made Flesh, and that instantly reminded me of the Made weapons and the phrases often associated with them but that could be nothing. Even the male lead Daemon has quite similar experiences as Rhysand.

Since I don't have much authority in this case to call out SJM or her books, here are some from people who have read both series.

This on Reddit listing the obvious parallels between the two.

And this from @alexcollix7 is by far the best and detailed post I could find on this topic where they address all three series.

I would love for the SJM fans who think she invented commonly used genre conventions to read the Black Jewels trilogy and tell me Cassian isn't a direct result of Lucivar existing (or Rhys and Daemon, for that matter).

By author Katee Robert although she said this in favour of authors reimagining tropes.

Black Jewels is explicitly dark fantasy and deals with and normalises strong themes such as abuse and sex slavery to name a few. It explains why abuse is romanticised in ACOTAR as well since SJM seems to have copied so much from these books. Given the initial drafts of the sequels were scraped off after TAR received much appreciation, there’s no excuse that this was only a fanfic that developed into an original series. Though the plot development and most characters like Tamlin are her own, some key plot points or motivations leading up to it might not be. Her books are applauded as original and unparalleled fantasy of this age by many young readers but the foundations of her world-building heavily imitates Bishop’s own.

A quick google search proves Maas is more popular than Bishop, so is ACOTAR over the Black Jewel series, and maybe it’s the reason why not many are talking about this. Drawing inspiration from real world and existing art or paying homage to one’s favourites is understandable and healthy but what SJM does seems dangerously like rip off.

Thank you @thrumbolt for giving me new reason to hate her.

[niki-phoria]

Hello there! If its okay can you do gn neutral reader x Chishiya,so the scenario is Chishiya seeing his campus crush on borderland and they are the new excutive member who is sarcastic, kind but mean as a joke and pretty intelligent and THEY ARE REALLY REALLY ATTRACTIVE.I hope it's not much if you do it, it will be a another motivation for me to shift tysm!

xiao's love of doctor chishiya gifs returns

pairing: chishiya x gn!beach executive!reader (they/them pronouns) genre: fluff, comfort (??) word count: 1.7k

warnings: kinda ooc chishiya, reader gets shot with an arrow (non descriptive), mentions of blood, implication of stitches, the person helping reader is supposed to be tatta but i couldn't figure out to bring it up (my boy deserves better), niragi, poor depiction of the beach executive scene, niragi, i am a niragi hater and a dori lover until the day i die, tumblr glitched and the original post i wrote for this didn't save and it scared the shit out of me lmao

a/n: thank you for requesting !! i couldn't really figure out how to add reader being chishiya's campus crush so it just starts with them knowing each other lmao. thank you for being so descriptive with reader's personality that's super helpful i hope you like it :))

additional note: i'm almost at 500 followers (HUGE thank you btw that's crazy) and i was thinking of doing an event thing ?? but i'm not sure if anyone would be interested so lmk ig lmao

requests are open !! read my rules first

“y/n?” you perk up at the familiar voice, quick to leave your conversation with ann and mira. 

“chishiya!” he stands with his hands stuffed into the pockets of a white jacket. he’s wearing a pair of swim trunks and sandals. you can barely see his wristband from where the sleeve of his jacket ends. “i can never get rid of you, can i?” you tease.

“i suppose not.” chishiya leans back against the wall, a little uncomfortable at the stares of the other beach members in the room. 

sensing his discomfort, you glance over your shoulder at them. “ah, i should give you a tour. have you picked a room yet?” 

“i was hoping you could help with that.” 

you tug chishiya along with you, guiding him through the different areas of the beach. 

your shoulders brush against each other as you sit by the pool, dunking your legs in the cold water. “how long have you been here?” you ask. 

“just a few days,” chishiya replies. “i’m still not entirely sure what’s going on.” 

you glance behind you over your shoulder, dropping your voice to a whisper. “you know about the visas and the cards?” he nods, subtly leaning in a little closer. “hatter thinks we’ll be able to send someone back to the normal world once we collect all of the cards.”

“you don’t think so?” 

you sigh. “i’m not sure. we only have a few cards right now, but something tells me it won’t be that easy.” despite the pool being completely empty, you lean in even closer to chishiya to whisper in his ear. “i don’t think we can trust the people here.” chishiya shivers. your breath is warm against his neck. he can feel his ears burn slightly when you pull away. 

an unfamiliar feeling settles itself in his stomach. fear? dread? anxiety? you kick small ripplies into the water, slowly reaching over to hold his hand. despite all of the unknowns he’s sure you’ll be forced to confront, chishiya finds comfort in the feeling of your hand in his. 

chishiya paces along the outside of the beach, continuously looking out at the horizon. “waiting for someone?” kuina asks, leaning back against the wall of the hotel. chishiya sighs, knowing her question is rhetorical. 

“y/n’s not back yet.” 

kuina pushes off of the wall, suddenly serious. “they’re not?” he shakes his head, looking out into the darkness again. “well, do you know who they were with during their last game? maybe someone knows something.” 

“i haven’t seen anyone since i came back.” 

“what about the other executives? have you told them?” chishiya doesn’t answer. “there has to be something we can do, right? what about-” 

“hey!” in the distance they can barely see a man struggling to pull someone towards the beach. “help me! i need help!” 

kuina is quick to react, rushing over to the man. chishiya watches her as she runs to meet him, gasping. “chishiya!” she yells. “it’s y/n!” 

he can almost feel the blood in his body go cold. kuina shoves herself underneath your other arm, helping the man pull you to the beach. it feels like the world has stopped - everything frozen at this moment in time. 

after what feels like forever chishiya manages to will his body to move, rushing to you. blood coats your side and jacket, seeping through your shirt. he presses a hand against your wound, supporting your weight. 

“what happened?” he hopes his voice isn’t shaking. 

“they had crossbows,” the man pants. “i had to pull it out but i think it went straight through. i didn’t know what else to do.” 

“chishiya,” you whimper, clutching his body. 

“it’s okay,” he whispers. “it’s gonna be okay.” 

you grunt as he wraps an arm around your waist, lifting your body into his arms. you cling to his body, letting him carry you into the beach’s basement. he gently sets you on a metal table before frantically searching through the room for medical supplies. kuina leans over you, pressing a towel against your side. you wince at the pressure, tears stinging your eyes. 

“sorry,” she whispers. “i’m sorry.” 

chishiya takes over for her soon after, moving the towel to the side. “this is gonna hurt,” he warns. you grab his hand, squeezing it. 

“i trust you.” 

the pain is sharp and sudden. it feels like someone is pressing on your chest, preventing any air from entering your lungs. the ceiling above you blurs into a mix of blue lighting and gray metal before it all goes black and the world disappears. 

the pain has subsided greatly when you wake up. your vision is blurry as you blink a few times, trying to clear your vision. sunlight shines through open curtains, illuminating the hotel room you lay in. it’s clean - cleaner than your room. the sheets feel nice against your skin. 

you grunt, forcing yourself to sit up. your body aches as you lean back against the headboard. the door opens quietly before it closes. a man sighs before he enters. “chishiya?” your voice is raspy when you try to speak. your throat stings. 

“y/n,” chishiya rushes to your side, opening a bottle of water and handing it to you. you gulp it down quickly, desperate for any liquid. “how are you feeling?” 

“sore.” 

chishiya takes the empty bottle, sitting down next to you. he reaches out to grab your hand, running his thumb along your knuckles. his voice is quiet when he speaks again. “you really scared me, you know.” 

“about me dying? come on, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” you squeeze his hand. “chishiya,” you whisper. he looks down at you. “i’m okay. you saved me.” 

“i know, i just…” he sighs, staring back down at your hands. you intertwine your fingers together, a silent way of encouraging him to continue. “i can’t lose you. you were back late, and then when you make it here you were hurt. and then you passed out and…” chishiya takes a deep breath, tension from his shoulders relaxing a little. “i don’t want to see you hurt. i love you.” 

“‘shiya,” you bring a hand up to his face, wiping away a stray tear he hadn’t realized had fallen. you lift his chin, forcing him to look at you. “i know everything will be okay as long as i have you. i love you too.” 

chishiya gives you a small smile, pulling your hand up to press a kiss against your knuckles. “don’t ever do this to me again.” 

you chuckle. “i won’t. i promise.” 

you pull the chair out between chishiya and niragi, taking your seat at the executives table. arisu stands uncomfortably at the other side of the room, watching you. chishiya raises his hand, waving at him. you playfully elbow his side. “he’s nervous, leave him alone.” 

“i’m just waving,” he retorts. 

“you looked just like him when you got here,” you tease. “give him a break.” 

mira, ann, and kuzuryu sit across from you. on your right, next to niragi, aguni sits at the edge, right next to hatter. 

“we are here to discuss the potential promotion of our very own, arisu!” hatter enthusiastically introduces, pointing over at the man. arisu shifts uncomfortably at the attention. 

niragi scoffs. “are we really trusting him to be an executive?” 

“we’re trusting you to be an executive.” niragi glares at you, reaching for his rifle before ann interrupts. 

“he was able to win a seven of hearts. we haven’t seen that card before.” 

“it’s a seven of hearts,” mira exaggerates. “if arisu was able to win the game, then, we should be able to send someone back to the normal world soon.” 

“she’s right,” kuzuryu says, leaning back in his chair. “heart games are the most difficult.” 

“i vote for promoting him.” you say. under the table, chishiya reaches over to grab your hand. “he won a heart game we’ve never seen before. people have been promoted for less.” 

“why don’t we test him? send him into a game with an executive and see how he operates under the pressure.” ann suggests. hatter points at her, tutting. 

“now that’s a good idea. any objections?” after a few seconds of silence, hatter stands. “perfect! this meeting has been concluded.” 

chishiya’s hand remains in yours as you leave the room, slinking through the various corridors of the hotel you’ve found to a private area. “what are you thinking about arisu?” he asks. 

“he won a heart game and you said he was good in tag. he could be a useful ally.” he hums in agreement. 

the fire burns around you as you re-enter the remains of the hotel you used to call your home. a man stands in the center of what used to be the lobby, hands stuffed in his pockets. 

“chishiya?” you call, avoiding the heat as you step closer. he glances over his shoulder at you, picking something up off of the table. you lean over to see what he’s holding. it’s a card. the ten of hearts. 

“you were right, you know,” he says, throwing the card back onto the table. he smiles when you cock your head at him in confusion. “when i first arrived, one of the first things you said to me was that i shouldn’t trust the people here. you were right.” chishiya steps closer, intertwining his hands with yours. “i’m starting to think collecting the cards was pointless after all.” 

the flames around you only grow stronger. “as much as i’d like to bask in your praise, we really need to leave,” you say, reaching over to grab his arm. “let’s go. kuina’s waiting.” he hums, pressing a kiss against your temple as he follows you out.

[108garys]

The Clarkes haunting the narrative is THE point

The following was a response to the idea that the prologue and end hold little hope back that ended up being way longer than intended, no shade on the person who said that I just realised that I didn't want to drop a whole essay on them, so without any more preamble:

Truthfully I am completely disinterested in making Little Hope more palatable to people who require the story's soul to be torn out to enjoy it because that's what the beginning and ending is. The broken heart of little hope.

That said I very much love the middle too but the Clarke family's story is the heart and soul of little hope and the whole point, otherwise why does anything in the town matter? Vince? Just some dude, the subplot of the town falling apart, being in the literal wreckage of 1970s era Little Hope? Random set dressing because a straight up three century old ruin of a town would just lack the infrastructure required to have the facade of searching for help in town… So many of the secrets are about them, you straight up spend a good chunk of the runtime passively learning about the individual family members both in private and public and even though I think some people choose the shallowest reading out of spite it is very deliberately stated that there is an element of choice in interpretation, the curator says so at the start. The more praised facets would be greatly diminished without the Clarkes, the subtextual nature of overcoming your demons gives meaning to the outright textual fighting of demonic monsters and the parallels would not be as strong between the 2020 and 1692 eras alone.

It is a common mistake that there are better or worse versions of the characters but it's simply not true as they are all different aspects and much like a triangle needs three points the cast of little hope needs all three points of reference to fully appreciate their stories. My earliest read of Little Hope centred on Anthony recontextualising his family in two divergent ways, 1692 where they are presented as victims of circumstance and 2020 where they are more deliberately flawed people who must overcome their demons because the truth is that both things are true of the Clarkes and so they are separated out into their different aspects and analysed accordingly.

Angela's characterisation doesn't work exclusively compared to Amy, her story of fighting for her agency doesn't land the same without Anne, Amy on paper is a woman who did everything right bar being too harsh to a child and was killed for it, Angela is a woman burnt by her past yet soldering on and still retains the same flaw of blaming the child, where as Anne being a snowed under house wife who struggles with keeping her family together and feels like she has zero agency in her situation and all the while fails to understand the perspectives of the very people she feels responsible for is the context between Amy the beloved wife who is wrongfully accused and uses her one bit of agency to place mistaken blame on Mary and Angela who refuses to rely on or believe in anyone or anything, the fact that she's divorced and starting over in her late forties does not work when only compared to the wholesome yet tragic Lamberts who's marriage is never depicted in the negative to justify Angela's divorce. She'd appear as a nearly fully different person for no reason without Anne to bridge the gap and make their depictions consistent, without the 1970s it just looks like she's angry at her husband for failing to save her despite his best efforts and that severely damages her character and arc.

Connected to that, J places his trust in the wrong places, delegates, blame shifts and runs from facing the bigger problem, the alcoholism is emblematic of this but the refusal to see the truth about M's innocence and place responsibility at the feet of the proper authority because he'd have to confront his misplaced faith requires all three, Joseph failing to his dying breath to understand Mary's innocence and James getting blackout drunk over the stress of problems he finds insurmountable are necessary context to John's sobriety and further arc and John being a recovering alcoholic would just be flavour text without the harsh sting of how addiction colours James.

Daylor wouldn't lose its questionable reading if they were only siblings in 50% of other eras instead of two thirds but Dennis expressing his frustration at Tanya pulling away contextualises their codependency and mutual need to be needed in a way that is incomplete, you see a couple in the early stages of dating and siblings who got killed three hundred years prior, the 70s contextualise T's need for stability and dependability and her survival instincts pushing her to flee and D's arrested development in the way he struggles to function when they aren't a unit, beyond that David and Tabitha care for Mary together in Amy's trial scene and after her death he doesn't even fight his own execution, not even to continue the task of raising his only remaining orphand sister alone, this isn't to say David doesn't love Mary as he blatantly shows care for her in not wanting her to be traumatised by his death but he simply falls apart without Tabitha and Dennis being the way he is when Tanya is pulling away from the family shows a lower stakes, longer depiction of that breaking down but she's still physically there so it isn't collapsing in grief, it's the simmering resentment of feeling like a person you care for isn't prioritising you reciprocally, these feelings aren't wrong in of themselves but they aren't pretty and Daniel's outbursts and more negative dialogue choices and David's quiet grief don't capture the way that feeling of being stabbed a million times over everything time you aren't the first choice but the other person didn't wrong you by choosing differently so there is no proper way to get that out feels. D is often mistaken as a shallow generically decent guy with a random angry iteration that doesn't fit into a boring whole but it's simply not the case, him proving he can be reliable in 2020, his fight against his various insecurities is something he needs to do for himself as much as T, the others aren't better adjusted or better people compared to Dennis, their circumstances just present entirely differently.

Furthermore Taylor feeling like an outsider doesn't work alone with Tabitha being part of a family unit, I've seen it misinterpreted as Taylor being less proactive than her counterparts but the truth is that T's behaviour is characterised by survival instinct and a need for stability, Tabitha realises something is wrong after the first death and attempts to protect Mary but counsels keeping their heads down, Taylor being vocally in favour of staying put and Tanya's quiet desperation to get away from everything are not opposite but different flavors of the same base needs, Tanya legitimately being a practising witch adds a layer between the other two versions, Tanya appears very conventional despite her secret unconventional beliefs and Taylor is the inverse being visually the most nonconforming member of the cast while her desire for a knight in shining armour is very traditional in its own way, pair this with the straight forward trial of Tabitha and you get an exploration of not going with the first assumptions that blankets the rest of the narrative.

Carver is a great antagonist all his own but without 1972 there is no broader context, and even if you still have that era but not the Clarkes it would just be "this guy's bloodline remained assholes for centuries" and not the direct parallel to Carson, there is no canonical 2020 equivalent to his character yet he haunts the narrative beyond himself, judge wyman intentionally mirrors the passing neighbour who immediately demanded to know what Anthony had done when the matchbox is revealed, the accusatory paranoid hysteria of puritan little hope and Anthony's poor treatment after the death of his family are directly connected and that's the point, Melissa is there to bring the conversation about the little girl's guilt or innocence to the forefront in a way that makes it a present plotline that goes beyond Mary and brings in the nature that the past is reflected in other eras and without Megan you lose a lot, Melissa requires her context in a way that Mary alone doesn't achieve and Abraham and Andrew's decision on the matter is in fact a question over Anthony's guilt and his internal struggle between blaming himself and blaming Megan and the further grief around this unresolved guilt to the point where he was psychologically unable to process the death of his family for nearly fifty years is the point, the whole point, of the 1692 reframing.

the Clarke family haunts every aspect of Little Hope and without the ending it would be pointless, the way their deaths hang over everything to the point where the puritan versions are doomed to die in the same way they were already depicted as dying and the way an engaged person would quickly catch on that 1972 death=1692 death and therefore 2020 character faces the same fate, it would be meaningless without the Clarke tragedy, it would simply be shock value that builds towards nothing without the ending and the ending doesn't make the game any less about the other eras because they are one and the same in every way that matters.

[moonkissedmeli]

literally not a single soul asked

but, i'm going to share anyway. here are my favorite reads this year in no particular order:

Fiction - Novels

Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" (Honestly, a masterpiece. I can't wait to devour his entire library. Read it. No notes.)

Leo Tolstoy's "Ana Karenina" (If you're looking for your next existential crisis, here ya go.)

Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" (I know I'm super late reading this and the whole world has already been in love with it for ages, now I finally know why.)

Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (In all fairness, this is on my list every year).

Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" (This is also always on my list, idec. Shelly's monster may teach you a bit about being human.)

Stephen's Fry's "Mythos" (Honestly, just a super fun read. Really good starting point if you're a budding Hellenic or into ancient Greek mythology, in my opinion. As long as you take it as a starting off point for further research and understand that he has put it together to be entertaining.)

Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" (You will never love a book so much where 97% of the characters and their actions are entirely insufferable. You might wonder why you began, but won't be able to stop and will be grateful that you didn't. Handsomely and meticulously written, as well.)

Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" (Historians, anthropologists, romance, and vampires. Chef's kiss.)

Madeline Miller's "Circe" (I JUST LOVE IT OKAY)

Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" (I will never take criticism about this book. No notes, lmao.)

Fiction - Novellas

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwitch Horror"

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Lost City"

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Festival"

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla"

Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" (Every moment of this will have you saying what the actual fuck lmao)

Non-Fiction

Viktor Frankl's "A Man's Search For Meaning" (Just saying, this is written by a Holocaust survivor who is also a psychologist. There are graphic depictions of his sufferings. Major trigger warnings and all that - but, I still highly recommend as this is a really life changing book. His message and eloquence touched me in an indescribable way.)

Walter Burkett's "Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical" (Really, I recommend this as required reading to all Hellenics and those interested in ancient Greek religion.)

Dorsey Armstrong's audiobook, "Medieval Myths & Mysteries"

Lacy Collison-Morley's "Greek and Roman Ghost Stories"

Anne Baring and Jules Cashford's "Myth of the Goddess: An Evolution of an Image"

Estelle B. Freedman's "The Essential Feminist Reader"

Alexandra Kollontai's "The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman"

Bernadotte Perrin's Translation of Plutarch's "The Parallel Lives" (Juicy Roman drama).

Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"

Robert Graves' Translation of Suetonius' "The 12 Caesars" (Juicy Roman tea, with a hint of bias though)

[sissyisawitch]

You're Losing Me

Relationship: Sebastian Sallow x f!MC

Summary: After seven years of relationship, MC feels neglected by Sebastian when he's been spending too much time at work.

Word Count: ~3k

Author's Note: So Taylor Swift finally released You're Losing Me a few days ago, and in honour of my favourite song of hers, I wanted to write a short story based on it. Also, this is the very first one shot I've ever written, so if anyone ever reads this, I hope it's not too bad and that you'll enjoy it.

Warnings: Angst with no happy ending If you've listened to the song, you know what I'm talking about.

MC was sitting alone in the dimly lit living room of her and Sebastian’s flat in London. She had been waiting in the same place for almost two hours, dressed in a long, elegant lace dress. Sebastian had promised to pick her up on his way home from work to take her to the restaurant to ‘celebrate a special occasion’. But he was almost two hours late.

Just like every day.

Weary of waiting without doing anything, MC stood up and found herself drawn to an old framed photograph resting on top of the mantelpiece.

The faded image depicted Sebastian and her in the early days of their relationship. They had been together for just over a year, recently graduated from Hogwarts, and had just finished moving in together. In the picture, MC was grinning and waving at Anne who was taking the photo, while Sebastian only had eyes for his girlfriend and placed a tender kiss on her cheek, clinging to her waist. Their smiles were genuine, and their eyes sparkled with the innocence of young love. It was a time when laughter flowed effortlessly, and every shared glance held the promise of a bright future.

This picture had been taken in front of the same fireplace, where MC was now standing alone. The slightest noise she made echoed through the empty flat.

As she traced her fingers over the photograph, a wave of nostalgia washed over her, bringing both warmth and sorrow. MC could not help but notice the drastic contrast between the joy reflected in that frozen moment, and the current state of their relationship. Whereas at the very beginning, Sebastian had always been by her side and found it hard to part with her, he now had little time for her, preferring to devote his entire days and weeks to his job as a researcher for the Ministry. The smiles that once came so easily had become strained, and the sparkle in his eyes had dimmed.

The passage of time had woven complexities into the fabric of their connection, and the former carefree happiness seemed like a distant memory. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she pondered the journey they had taken, acknowledging the inevitable changes that had altered the landscape of their once-unblemished love story. The photograph became a poignant reminder of the bittersweet nature of time and the inevitable evolution of their relationship.

Nothing had gone according to plan.

Their original plan was to get married soon after leaving school, and then start a family together.

But Sebastian had wanted to put off the idea of marriage until they had found a home together. When they did find somewhere to live, he wanted to wait until he had more money to support them both, even though MC had a job of her own. Then, once he had enough money, he wanted to wait for his career to develop, and for him to climb higher up the social ladder.

Long story short, Sebastian always wanted more, and therefore still had not proposed to MC in the seven years of their relationship.

Lately, MC had been coming home to an empty flat, sleeping in a cold bed, and spending her weekends alone, with Sebastian becoming increasingly more obsessed with his work. MC, in her attempt to be the bravest soldier, had not made any remark to Sebastian about it. She had sacrificed pieces of herself, bleeding emotionally in secret to keep their relationship intact. Instead, she spent many evenings sitting in the dark, wondering if it was time, if their relationship had finally come to a dead end.

At this point, the only cure for their couple would be for Sebastian to propose.

MC remembered Poppy's words. When the Hufflepuff had come to visit her earlier in the day, she had told her that this impromptu dinner at the restaurant was suspicious, that he was bound to propose. He had asked her to wear her best dress, after all. Besides, it would explain why he had been even more absent than usual in recent weeks; he had certainly been busy planning the perfect proposal.

Once her friend had sown the seeds of doubt in her mind, MC could not resist the urge to rummage through Sebastian’s belongings. In the drawer of his bedside table, she eventually found a jewellery order form, with a red stamp reading ‘paid and delivered’ across it.

All of MC’s doubts had vanished. He was going to propose to her this evening, and she had put her glad rags on for the occasion.

“MC! I’m home!” She heard Sebastian call from the doorway. “Are you ready to go?”

**********

After a delicious dinner at a fancy restaurant of Diagon Alley, the couple indulged in their dessert. MC’s eyes sparkled with excitement, her mind racing with thoughts of a romantic proposal. She anticipated the moment when he would make a magnificent declaration of everlasting love to her, get down on one knee and take out the beautiful engagement ring he had chosen specifically for her.

As Sebastian poured them both champagne, he cleared his throat, “So, as you know, I've brought you here to celebrate a special occasion.”

“Yes?” She grinned at him, more ready than ever for what was going to happen next.

“Well brace yourself, because I have been promoted! You're looking at the new head of the Ministry’s research department.” He announced with a smile of professional triumph.

An amalgam of surprise and disappointment replaced MC’s initial beaming smile.

“That's wonderful news, honey…” MC managed to reply, trying to mask her unmet expectations with a supportive tone.

She had imagined this evening to be the oh-so-awaited milestone in their relationship, a step towards a shared future. Instead, Sebastian was excitedly explaining to her that he will be dedicating even more time to his career, and be even less present for her.

“It was Alcamene, the department secretary, who helped me get this promotion. Her uncle is in a powerful position at the Ministry, and she spoke to him about me. It was really nice of her, so I bought her a necklace to thank her.”

The champagne lost its sparkle as the weight of his words sank in. MC had not been given the declaration she had so longed to hear. Instead, she had received a proclamation of increasing separation. Added to this heartbreak, was the gut-wrenching betrayal that Sebastian had given a piece of jewellery to another woman, when he had not bought her one for years.

If hell was a place on earth, MC was right in the middle of it.

“Couldn't you have asked Ominis?” She asked bitterly, and Sebastian only shrugged nonchalantly.

“I didn't want to bother him. I'm already asking too much from this bloke.” He chuckled.

“Right.” She took a sip of champagne, but the taste lingered on her tongue with a hint of unfulfilled expectations, and the realisation that the gulf between them was about to widen even further. “So, in practical terms, now that you've been promoted, what more are you gonna do?”

“I'm going to be in charge of planning all the research. For my first project, I wanted to do things on a grand scale, so we're going to go in search of a stone that's rumoured to be able to cure any illness or curse. Me and the team are going on a five-month expedition to Estonia.”

MC nearly spat out her champagne, “I’m sorry, what? You’re going to be away for five months? And in Estonia?”

“I know it seems like a long time, but don't worry, time will fly by in the blink of an eye. I'll be back before you know it.” He flashed her a comforting smile that did nothing to reassure the girl.

“Is this expedition really necessary?” She asked, begging him between the lines not to leave, not to abandon her.

“You know it's a subject that matters a lot to me. This stone could help so many people, especially Anne.”

“But Anne's condition has stabilised thanks to my ancient magic.”

Sebastian let out a heavy sigh, “Maybe, but I’m sick and tired of you having to visit her every week to put her out of her misery. The curse is still present in her body, and your ancient magic is clearly not a long-term solution.”

MC found herself unable to form the response he was waiting for. She was too busy imagining her near future, where she would wake up alone every morning, make coffee for just one person, have no one to kiss or hug, and come home to an empty flat at night to lie in a cold bed. In the end, she realised, it would not be much different from now. There would just be a thousand miles separating them, and it would last longer than usual.

Her glazed over eyes reflected her quiet resignation. Deep down, she understood that convincing him to prioritise their relationship over his career ambitions – and especially a remedy for his twin sister – would be futile. After all the means he had used to try to save Anne – from a Shrivelfig to losing himself to the Dark Arts – it was obvious that he would never stop, not until she was entirely out of danger.

“You could be a bit more enthusiastic for me, MC. I'm finally going to do something that counts, that could make history, and here you are sulking.” Sebastian threw his napkin on the table in annoyance.

“Let’s go home. I’m tired.”

**********

The night air was crisp as MC and Sebastian returned from the restaurant, in complete silence, the remnants of their dinner conversation lingering uncomfortably in the space between them. As they stepped through the front door of their flat, the air became thick with loss and indecision.

As they stood in the living room, near the fireplace, MC took a deep breath and turned to face Sebastian, her eyes searching his familiar chestnut ones for a connection that had eluded them for far too long.

“Sebastian…” She started, her voice steady but tinged with vulnerability. “Did you have another question for me this evening?”

Sebastian frowned in incomprehension, “No… Why?”

“Nothing, forget it.” She glared at Sebastian with storms in her eyes.

But he unfortunately remained oblivious to the dying embers of their love, “No, tell me, because you’ve been acting strange tonight. I don't understand.”

She scoffed bitterly, “I know you don’t.”

“Love… Talk to me, please.” He approached her slowly, as if trying to tame a frightened little animal, and then reached out to cup her face in his hands, gently caressing her cheeks with his thumbs.

For a moment, MC leant into his touch, feeling as if she were in the presence of the old Sebastian, the one who cherished and cared for her, a presence she missed agonisingly now. She lifted her gaze to look at him, believing that the man she absolutely adored had returned, but when she saw that the flame in his eyes was still extinguished, she was quickly brought back to reality, and reluctantly pushed him away.

MC, her heart heavy with the weight of unspoken words, was overcome by a surge of courage, “When are you going to marry me, Sebastian?”

“Soon, baby. I promise.”

“You’ve been saying that for years…” She shook her head in disbelief, as if she were trying to push away the terrifying thoughts that perhaps she simply was not enough for him. “You know… I’d understand if you didn’t want to marry. I wouldn’t either. I’m just some boring people pleaser…”

Sebastian was quick to take her hand in his and reassure her (or at least try), “Hey, you know it’s nothing like that, darling. I told you I wanted my situation to get better before committing myself.”

“But your situation couldn’t be better!” She withdrew her hand from his abruptly, her tone becoming louder and louder as she grew increasingly frustrated. “You’re an honoured researcher, who’s able to afford anything he wants with his salary, but you’re never satisfied! What could you possibly want more?”

“I want to be the best. For you. Because you deserve it.”

MC laughed humourlessly in his face, “And yet, here you are, not even able to give me the worst, because you’re not giving me anything anymore, Sebastian! I barely see you anymore! It… It’s like we’re not a couple anymore! I can’t bear the distance between us any longer.”

“MC, calm down.” Sebastian said in a firmer tone, as if warning her not to take this argument any further. It was palpable that his irritation was growing too. “It’s only a matter of time. You just have to be a bit more patient. It’s not that bad–”

“Not that bad? I’ve waited seven years, Sebastian! I’ve been more than patient! I gave you all my best me's, and my endless empathy, but all you’ve done these past months is ignore me! Anyone else would’ve left you long ago!” At this point, MC was fully screaming at him, no longer having the strength or desire to contain her torrent of emotions any longer.

The intensity of her outburst left Sebastian taken aback, her words cutting him like a sharp dagger straight to the heart. A stunned expression etched itself across his face. He stood there, momentarily at a loss for words.

MC was biting her nails to the quick as she stared at him. She was waiting for him to find the miracle solution to all their problems, like he always did, and for their relationship to be saved. However, he did nothing more than stare right back at her, lips parted as he struggled to find a response that could bridge the growing chasm between them.

The icy silence reminded them that their relationship was nothing more than a ship that was slowly sinking. Its demise was inevitable. This realisation was unbearable for MC, who could not stop herself from snapping at Sebastian.

“Do something, Sebastian. Say something. You’re losing me!”

The echoes of her plea filled the space, and for a moment, the silence spoke volumes. Sebastian, caught off guard by the rawness of her honesty, met her gaze, recognising the urgency in her eyes. It was a pivotal moment, the point of no return where they needed to confront the cracks in their relationship and decide whether to mend or let go.

“I love you, MC.” Sebastian finally said. These were the only words his mind could muster.

MC huffed at how basic and devoid of authenticity his declaration was, “How can you say that you love someone you can’t tell is dying?”

Sebastian stammered, his usual poised demeanour shattered by the force of her cold indifference, “I… I… I don’t know. I don’t know what to say…”

“Then I’ll make it easier for you. It’s either me or your research. You have to choose now.”

“I can’t believe it!” He exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips in exasperation. “You can’t ask that of me, MC. I need to do this research, but you have to understand that it doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. You’ve got to believe me.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, “I’ve got nothing to believe unless you’re choosing me.”

Sebastian, confronted with the reality of losing the woman he had taken for granted, faced a choice that could either breathe life back into their love or push it beyond the point of no return. Nevertheless, he did not need to rack his brains for very long, for his choice was already made.

“I’m going on this trip, whether you like it or not. It’s too important.”

MC’s eyes widened at his answer.

“More important than me?” She asked, her facade of indifference cracking in the same way as her voice.

Sebastian looked away without responding, but there was no need to. His silence spoke louder than any words ever could.

And just like that, he had dealt the final blow, carrying away with it the last vestiges of MC’s feelings for him.

Her heart, once resilient like a phoenix, now struggled to find a pulse. Her heart would not start anymore for him. She was tired of always having to mend the gashes he had been inflicting on her heart every day for months. She was done.

“Leave this house.” MC ordered in a weak, strained voice, indicating that her tears were about to flow.

“MC…” Sebastian called her name like a prayer to reconsider her decision.

“LEAVE!” She shouted again, this time firmly to force Sebastian to comply. “I don’t want to ever see you again, Sebastian.”

Sebastian nodded in resigned agreement, and retreated to what is – or rather once was – their shared bedroom. He mechanically began to pack his belongings, the act itself a silent testament of their love being beyond repair. The sound of clothes shuffling and drawers closing punctuated the oppressive silence that did nothing to help forget about the gravity of the situation.

With one last lingering gaze at the space that held memories both beautiful and painful, Sebastian shouldered the weight of his bags and walked towards the door, leaving behind his home, his lover, his best friend, and his life.

The thud of the door closing behind him sounded the death knell of seven years spent together, brutally gone up in smoke.

Her tears began to flow down her cheeks, as abundant as torrential rain. MC was suddenly overwhelmed by a profound sense of loss that instantly made her collapse to the floor of a room that had once been a sanctuary of light and love. She looked around the gloomy room that was adorned with remnants of their shared history, and had now become a silent witness to their break-up. Photos, souvenirs, and gifts of them were everywhere. MC had no idea if she was supposed to throw out everything or keep it.

They had chosen this flat together. They had bought it for its living room, which they both loved because of the light. That same room was now shrouded in the darkness, with MC alone and crumpled to the ground, crying her eyes out.

She could not believe what had just happened. She could not comprehend how everything had gone downhill so rapidly.

Sebastian had lost her.

[heather123fan-blog]

Firebrand-Catherine Parr 2024

Hello all,

So I am American and got the opportunity to see Firebrand today after I got off work in the afternoon. It premiered today, June 14th, in the United States. I loved it and thought it did a great job of authentically portraying the characters from this period of Henry VIII's reign. However, there were a few things I didn't care for that deviated pretty significantly from the historical record.

The good parts:

Catherine Parr's relationship w/Princess Elizabeth. I was so scared that the screenwriters would mess up their story knowing the atrocious novel this is based on but I was pleasantly surprised at how they handled it. Catherine was portrayed accurately as a very loving, protective mother to both Elizabeth and Edward. Someone who cared about them deeply and encouraged their Protestant education. There are a few scenes where they share a bed together, Catherine comforts both children and discusses Elizabeth's Latin translation of the Bible with her. Edward even runs up to her, hugs her and calls her Mama in one scene. That was so sweet!

Catherine also has a good relationship w/Princess Mary though their relationship is more of a friendship as opposed to a mother-daughter bond. As it was in real life.

Mary's portrayal wasn't great but could've been worse. She reminded me of the actress who played her in Wolfhall.

Henry VIII was portrayed as extremely monstrous and cruel to those around him. His entire court is terrified of him.

He is abusive towards Catherine Parr but thankfully the violence wasn't too graphic or excessive.

Catherine Parr oh my goodness this is probably the best portrayal of her I've ever seen. She is brave, bold, intelligent, charismatic and passionate about reforming the Church of England.

The film did a fantastic job of depicting her Protestant faith and how that was such an anchor for her life. Unlike BE's Catherine she has ambitions and goals that are deeply rooted in her religious beliefs.

Her scenes as Regent were great. Her relationship with Anne Askew is depicted as being a close friendship as opposed to mere acquaintance. This might be stretching things too much but was fun to see explored.

The costumes, props, and set design were amazing. Wonderful attention to detail. Henry VIII even plays Pastime with Good Company on I believe the piano at one point.

[nalyra-dreaming]

i agree w/ the other anon wrt loumand. the book version was flat & anticlimactic too, & imho that was likely anne's intention. i know some disliked the show toning down the 'infatuation' & depicting a muted romance, but imho they served the book's actual themes, just not in the way some wanted! it was a rebound of sorts in both versions, w/ louis convincing himself armand could provide him w/ things lestat couldn't, then being brutally disillusioned. to depict show!loumand as an intense, passionate love story would've been redundant bc louis already had that w/ lestat. he didn't want a mentor either, he wanted agency & respect, to be treated like an equal. and ofc in the end he just swapped one cage for another, armand was just better at playing pretend.

i know some fans take book!loumand's 'infatuation' at face value & i think that's where the disappointment comes from. to me, they were just 2 strangers projecting impossible fantasies onto each other & setting themselves up for failure. & while i sympathize w/ fans who wanted their romance elevated, i don't truly think the show 'did them dirty' overall, & even the more controversial changes made sense in context. they did capture the essence of loumand, while giving them way more dramatic scope than in the book. i'd be surprised if we ever got a trinity gate-esque reunion, but who knows?

I don't think we'll get lovey-dovey-Loumand in any kind of Trinity Gate in the show.

I used to think Dubai was Trinity Gate, but.... it very much wasn't.

And, I mean... Trinity Gate is not what a lot of fans seem to think it is from fanfics as well, at least not canonically?

Because Louis goes to Armand, yes, after lets the ever multiplying vampires drive them from NOLA - and Louis is with Armand so he is safe.

"So I let them drive me away out of the cities, and even from New Orleans, I let them drive me away. My beloved Louis de Pointe du Lac left soon after, and from that time on lived in New York with Armand. Armand keeps the island of Manhattan safe for them—Louis, Armand, and two young blood drinkers, Benjamin and Sybelle, and whoever else joins them in their palatial digs on the Upper East Side."

This is from "Prince Lestat". Yes, Louis lives with Armand, he stays in those connected townhouses with him. Lestat comes by from time to time to listens in, before he finally returns for the events that unfold there, but this is the book where Louis literally comes to terms with his own story (he reads "Interview with the vampire" and accepts his own story and himself) and which ends with LOUIS saying this:

“Beloved maker, beloved Prince, I will be with you soon.”

And in the next book they reunite for good.

Like... I know there is a lot to be said about Trinity Gate, and that Louis and Armand came a long way for Louis to be safe there.

But... while there is certainly a level of trust and love there... it is the place where Louis realizes he wants to be with Lestat.

[whatsaninterestingplacethisis]

Be Sweet

Imagine

Jack Hughes x Latina!Reader

Synop: y/n rushes to help her friend and accompany her to a masquerade themed ball but bumps into Narcissus’ incarnate.

a/n: prompt inspired by this: lovers trope. 3.9k words😵 Jack is depicted as an ego-typical guy with too much rizz 🥴, an important background character's name is "Em" fyi, themes & discussion about love and fate 🧀

cw: cussing, reader brings up unhinged hypothetical situation about a kidnapping and a shooting 😭, mentions of cheating , I think thats it

+

It was a warm evening to start the preparation of getting dressed for a ball and it only got more chaotic as the sun set. You slept through your alarm and had to rush to shower, eat breakfast, buy gas to drive to pick up you and your friend's elegant dresses, and finally drive over to the venue.

To your poor planning, parking was clearly not available. You cringed as your freshly bought gas was idling as you kept weaving through the small lot. Almost half an hour goes by as you find a white car backing out and you quickly turn to claim it's spot until a small black car inches close as possible to take the free spot,

"Don't you fucking dare," you yelled to yourself in your car. As soon as the white car drove off, the black car pulled in, in reverse. You honked for a few seconds and tried to get a good look at the theif but couldn't make out a face.

"What an asshole, I hate people." You whined to yourself and finally decided to park farther away to at least enter the venue in time.

+

"Where the hell have you been?" your friend with her hair up in heating rolls approaches you and sees your face glisten in sweat

"Everything that could wrong today went wrong. Here's your dress." you handed her dress and reached for your water bottle, the walk from your car to the venue in the sun wasn't ideal.

"Why are you sweating?" she grimaced as she wiped your forehead with a tissue,

"Because some asshole stole my parking, so I had to park farther away and walk all the way here."

"Oh, well sit down and try not to sweat as much. Ashely's going to start on your hair." she passed you a mini fan to cool down but at this point you were defeated and didn't want to get dolled up for something you were forced to attended.

"Are we doing makeup as well?" Ashley the hired makeup artist indirectly asked you through your friend

"Yes" your friend said

"No" you said

"It's a ball y/n, you have to wear makeup." she complained to you

"Can't we do something natural? No smokey eye, I mean I'm wearing a mask aren't I so what's the point?"

"The point is to look good to take pictures and if a man is lucky enough, to see you bat your lashes at him." your friend always tried to set you up with someone.

"A natural but classy look, Ashley, nothing too glamorous." you made eye contact with Ashley through the vanity mirror.

"Got it"

Ashley did what you asked and you started to feel better about the night and more confident, she even added a bold red lip to y/f/n's request.

"Here" your friend handed you a black laced mask, the main reason you agreed to attend the ball; the anonymity of it all was intriguing to you. The mask matched with your long silk dress but it wasted on by helping passing drinks around. You didn't plan to but once the night started to get boring you figured to do anything else.

"Y/n what the hell are you doing?" your friend sees you for the third time the night talking to an older couple after offering them champagne,

"Excuse me," you guided your friend with the empty tray of drinks away "Learning about Paul's and Anne's love story."

"I didn't hire Ashley to do your hair and makeup to talk to the elderly-especially passing out drinks. You're supposed to be finding a guy to dance with." she nagged on you

"Is it sad that it's easier to talk to old people about love rather than with a boy my age?" you jokingly asked but knew the answer

"Very. And concerning." She gave you a deadpanned look, "Here, give me this and find someone." she took the plastic tray from your hands,

"Everyone has a mask on, so what's the point?"

"The point is to talk with a boy your age even if he's ugly or not." well she was blunt for sure.

"Well that's a bit harsh."

She holds you by the shoulders, "Look y/n, I truly want the best for you and you don't know when the love of your life can appear-" she slowly guides you backwards, "You are going to make me fall if you don't let go of me." "And who knows he might appear tonight-" she completely ignores your concerns as you trip on the trail of your dress falling into the arms of a stranger.

You curse her name as you fall into sturdy arms, your eyes meet with dark ones behind a mask, "Are you alright?" the stranger asks before you quickly stand up straightening your dress out,

"Yeah, I'm so sorry my friend-" you turn to blame your friend to see her back walking away from the scene,

"She- I didn't mean to bump into you, she sort of pushed me, sorry." you looked up to the dark haired man in the low lighting.

"It's fine. I'm just glad I caught you in time" he chuckled, "Do you want to dance?" he asked with his hand out,

"Sure" y/f/n's wish was coming true.

"I saw you passing out drinks, didn't feel like dancing?" his hand reached for your waist and you began to sway together to a slow song,

"Not after the day I had, no."

"What happened?" you briefly summarized your day and mentioned the person who stole your parking spot and he laughs,

"I'm glad my stressful day makes you laugh," you say giggling along,

"It's not your miserable day that's funny but that asshole who stole your spot might have been me..." he says scrunching his face in preparation. Your smile and shoulders drop,

"So its your fault that I had to walk half a mile carrying ball gowns in the sun."

"It's possible, yeah." he said calmly holding back a smile

“You owe me for making my day worse then.”

“I don’t think so, and I’m pretty sure that spot was mine first” he said with confidence

“You are joking. I had my blinker on before you even showed up!” His teasing was making you a bit irritated

“Whatever you say,” he stops to think of what to call you, “can I ask for you name?”

“No.” you state flatly

“Why not?” He scoffs

“A thief like you, doesn’t deserve to know my name.” you found joy stringing a man's patience.

"Well I'm Jack."

"I didn't ask."

"But you were wondering, weren't you." he cocked his head to the side, eyeing you through each other's masks,

"Nice ego you have there. I wasn't wondering," you most definitely were, "You know not every girl is falling over after you." you looked right back into his eyes to observe them being a dark blue color.

"I mean you kind of did, literally.” to be fair you did kind of set yourself up for that one.

“That’s because my friend pushed me, don't get me wrong."

"It's y/n." you got lost in your train of thought as you stared into his eyes, "Screw your perfect blue eyes" you whispered knowing it would inflate his ego any possibly more,

"So you are falling for me?" a smug look painted on his face.

"You know what's funny? My friend said I might find the love of my life tonight if I actually made an effort. Do you think me, accidentally, falling into your arms counts as- I don't know whatever she claims love's rules are?"

"Are you saying, you accidentally falling into my arms is fate talking?" to your surprise he didn't scare off running at the talk of love, but he took interest in your wonderment if love and fate were real and or connected.

"You said it, not me." you shied your head down

He chuckles, "I think your effort of dressing nice with red lipstick can possibly set things into motion" his hand softly reaches for your chin making you meet his eyes again.

He breaks the silence, "Will you be my date to this wedding?"

"Excuse me?" you turned your head in confusion this time, the conversation turning from love to weddings was a startle.

"There's this wedding I'm invited to and you dress nice so why not be my date for it?" he asks so calmly

You laugh at his request, “I barely know you. I don’t even know what you look like. Let’s say if I left with you tonight and you kidnap me but I escape, because I have enough survival skills to do so, and then the police do a line up but then I realize I don’t even know what you look like. We're not at a very trustworthy level are we?"

He was taken aback at your ramble, “Wow um alright, I guess not. But you thought of leaving with me tonight?” and of course he only focused on the first part.

“It was a hypothetical situation." you tried to reason your overthinking, "No because I don’t know what you look like.”

“It’s a masquerade ball, it’s breaking the rules if you were to see my face.” he said

“I'm sure the servers are not going to shoot you down if you reach to take off your mask” you joke trying to sneak a peek at the full picture of the man you have been dancing with the past minutes.

Unfortunately he can joke too, “You can never be too sure.” he leans into to whisper giving you goosebumps.

You grab the nape of his neck to pull his closer, your cheek grazing his to whisper, “Then you have no date.”

An older lady interrupts the shared moment asking to dance with Jack, "He's all yours." you smile to the woman and back at Jack before turning away,

"Y/n, wait!" Jack pleads as the woman blocks his view of your figure.

You walk back to your friend who was watching from afar,

"Okay, so what happened? Ya'll danced for awhile!"

"Well he's the asshole that stole my parking, alongside that he has an ego the size of this ballroom." Jack had charm, you were aware, but if he really did want a date to some wedding he would have to work a bit harder for it.

"I'm done for the night. I obliged with your wishes as I practically fell into a man's arms tonight. Goodnight." you swiftly said before she could argue back.

You glided towards the exit, finally taking off your mask. You stopped by the door looking for Jack one last time. Across bodies of people his eyes catches yours and his body freezes in awe. You hold the contact before he begins to walk again cuing you to leave for once and all.

To your unnoticed, Jack made his way to your friend to ask a very important request.

+ The Next Day +

It was still the weekend, not as hot as the day before, but another warm morning spent in the park as you made a habit out of it. Nothing felt more relaxing and enriching than soaking up vitamin D on a park bench until an interruption,

"Is this seat taken?" a familiar voice ringed in your ears before you caught a glimpse of the man

"I guess not, how did you find me?" Although you didn't recognize him at first glance, his hair and smile were recognizable.

"Y/f/n told me you liked hanging out here in the morning so I woke up early."

You shook your head at your friend's loose trust but shocked at Jack's determination, "Wow you are desperate for that date aren't you?"

"You as my date? Yeah." he exclaimed, "But I saw your face before you saw mine so I think it's only fair that you see mine now."

"It's okay."

"What is?"

"That," you circled the air surrounding his face ensuing him into a chuckle

"So, will you be my date?" he wasn't going to let this go you thought,

"What's in it for me?" you really wanted to see how far he could go

"You get to spend the night by my side and there's free food and bar"

"Seems very convincing," you sarcastically said

"On a real note, I want to get you know better and spend more time with you," he finally said with genuine.

You thought what would be the harm if it's only one evening, even though he was annoying he was cute too,

"Fine, but I'm only saying yes because I can pick you out of a lineup if I need to."

+Later That Night+

Jack shared the details of the wedding, place and time, and he would be kind enough to pick you up. Your attire was not as elegant as the night before but still cute and picture perfect for a summer wedding.

"Oh this is definitely the car that stole my parking." you told Jack leaning on the open passenger window.

"I said I was sorry"

"You know I actually don't remember hearing an apology,"

"Well I am sorry. You look nice," a man of many words Jack was.

"You look the same from last night." you replied to his appearance as you sat in his passenger seat.

"I didn't wear this last night."

"I know," you smirked as you buckled in.

"So whose wedding is this? Are you the bride or groom's side?" you felt like you needed to do some homework before showing up to a random couple's wedding.

"Groom. He's a friend of mine, my family will be there also, but you don't have to meet them."

Your eyebrows scrunched as you wondered what he meant, "I don't see how me being your date and not meeting your family is going to work."

"It doesn't have to be a formal introduction just a quick hello."

"Right," as you guys drove there you couldn't help to cringe on how awkward this was actually going to be. Being Jack's date to an essentially family friend's wedding and meeting his family. You couldn't help to wonder if Jack finding dates to these events was a common occurrence, the guy had the charisma if needed.

It was a relatively quick drive to the outdoorsy venue and the sun was about to set. Jack's chivalry surprised you when he told you to wait in the car to open the passenger door for you,

"To be clear, I'm just your date for the night. You didn't tell people I was your girlfriend or a girl you are seeing right?"

"Geez never had a guy open the door for you, y/n?" he gave his hand to help you step out his car,

You took his hand, "Sorry, but genuine question though, who am I walking in as?"

"We'll say the truth, a new friend of mine, and possibly a girl I'm seeing." he took your arm to link around his,

"I'm not sure if that's the whole truth." you looked up at him as you walked to the entrance

"I know you don't like me that much right now but just give it the night," he gave you an infamous grin of his.

"There goes that ego of yours again."

+

As much as you wanted to find Jack and his perfect smile annoying, you couldn't. Spending the night by his side and hearing him crack bad jokes made you cringe and laugh. He kept you at arm length and included you in conversations. He even offer and eventually forced you to dance with him. His family was sweet too, especially his mom,

"You are dressed so nice sweetheart," Ellen had complimented your summer dress

"And you are very beautiful, Jack is very lucky to have you." she continued the compliments

"She's just a friend, mom." Jack was turning red making you laugh at his embarrassment,

"Well if he hasn't forgotten the charm I taught him, maybe you won't be just a friend at the end of tonight," she gave you a heartwarming smile.

But Jack had enough of his mom being a mom, "Okay we'll be going to the bar now. After you y/n," he placed his hand on your lower back leading you to any direction other than his family.

"She's amazing," it sounded sarcastic when you said it but you meant it.

"You're only saying that because she made me turn red." he found a cold beer to cool his warm face down,

"You want one?" he offered a cold one,

"No thanks. True but she wasn't wrong about the last thing she said."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean Jack."

He didn't indulge in his regular teasing behavior but started to get shy again,

he cleared his throat, "Do you want a soda or something? There's none in the cooler but I can find you one."

His demeanor didn't go unnoticed, "Yeah that would be great," but you weren't going to address it.

"I'm gonna find the restroom though, I'll find you after." you didn't have to use the restroom but you needed a mirror to check in with your appearance as things were getting real.

When you came back looking for Jack you found Ellen smiling at you across the room before you felt arms snaking around your waist. You turned around finding Jack holding you closer than ever giving you a sweet smile and you involuntary returning.

"A bit close aren't you?" you muttered up to him

"Just a little."

"Hey, Jack." a soft female voice was heard behind you.

"Hey Em." Jack's voice dipped in tone. You turned around to see who he was talking to, still in his grasp.

"How you've been?" the beautiful looking girl asked staring at you for a quick second.

"Fine, good actually." his grip tightened around your waist as he rested his head on your shoulder. His hold made you stiffen as you read his behavior.

"That's nice to hear. I think I might say hi to Ellen, I'll see you around tonight." she finished talking before heading towards Ellen's direction. As soon as she left, Jack's grip had loosened and you got out of there quick.

"Jesus christ, who do you think I am Jack?" you harshly whispered at him

"What are you talking about?" he had the audacity to looked confused, you thought. You didn't want to bother with his ignorance so you dashed out of the crowded area but he followed you after. When you reached the gravel driveway he reached for your hand,

"Do not touch me."

"I'm sorry, but what's wrong? I thought we were having a good time."

"I thought we were too until you started using me to make your ex jealous!"

“That’s not-“ you interrupted him 

"Was I just a date to make your ex jealous? Is that why you were so desperate for me to come?" you let your voice raise considering no one was around,

“You don’t understand.” 

“Explain it to me then!” he tried to defend himself but his sentence just trailed off,

“Is she not your ex?” as much as you hated it you felt your eyes start to water.

“Why do you care so much if you’re just a date to some wedding?” he didn't lash out but it rolled off his tongue too smoothly.

“Wow I should've remembered you're still an asshole.” you turned away and started walking off ready to call an Uber,

 “Y/n wait,” he yelled  

“I’m tired of waiting.” you mostly whispered to yourself but he still heard it.

“What does that mean?” he softly asked this time,

“Don’t worry about it you wouldn’t want to care too much.” he finally left you alone watching you walk to the end of the driveway.

"Where is she going?" the pervious female voice interrupted the still silence,

"What are you doing here Em?" Jack's head hanged low as he turned around to find his ex a few away from him.

"I was looking for you. I saw you two leave right after I left. You know Jack I'm still sorry for how things ended and I still think about you and us." she slowly approached him,

"Things ended because I caught you cheating. That won't change the fact that we will never be together again." his voice lashed out this time.

"Are you sure? Because from what I just heard she thinks otherwise. Did you bring her here to make me jealous Jackie?" she caressed his shoulders down his arms,

He swiftly pushed her touch off of him, "No I didn't. Goodnight Em."

Jack ended his night early after that fiasco. He knew he was completely in the wrong and had to make things right even if you didn't want to see him again.

+The Next Day+

You weren't going to let a guy disrupt you daily routine so you spent the next late morning at your designated park. You just didn't think he would be bold enough to find you again.

"Is this seat taken?" an aching voice erupted an annoyed feeling up your spine.

You didn't bother looking at him, "Not anymore." you started to pack your bag and stand.

“Before you leave, can you hear me out even though I don’t deserve it?" you didn't see his face but he scrunched his face to expect backlash.

“What do you want Jack?" you crossed your arms and turned to him,

“I want to apologize” you kept silent, “I'm sorry that you felt like you were treated for my benefit and I'm sorry that the night ended the way it did. When I asked you to be my date, I truly wanted to enjoy the night with you, to get you know better but then I saw her and I couldn’t help try to make her jealous or something. And I know that's a shitty excuse but I didn't know she would be there. Believe me or not but I invited you solely because I wanted to be near you, no one else, not her, just you.”

You slowly took a seat on the bench, “So what now” you whispered as a question and a statement, not understanding what he or you wanted.

“I’m hoping you can forgive me somehow and agree to go on another date, a real date with me this time. If I haven't screwed up that badly..." he whispered the latter as he knew for sure you never wanted to see him again.

“Why should I say yes?”

“You said it that night, what if by chance you bumping into me had to happen, because you know, fate." he made air quotation marks with fingers when he said fate,

You genuinely laughed at his reasoning, “And if I say no? Going against fate’s wishes, what would happen?"

“You will never see me again if that’s what you want but fate probably won’t care either way.” He laughs nervously as his loose defense strategy.

“I won’t go on a date with you jack." you stated firmly making his nervous smile disappear, "But I will hang out with you to see if I can possibly forgive you truly.” you didn't know what hanging out meant but it didn't hold the same significance as a date in your mind.

“Actually?” his voice peaked in pitch before he quickly cleared his throat.

“I’ll trust fate this last and final time, so don’t screw up its plans.” you gave him a sour look but he just returned a bright smile,

“I won’t.”

and he never did. 

a/n: it’s me. I’m fate :D