#lucy was sort of moving on in a way while married. and she would be far away from gelsin for a long time.

[technovillain]

Sometimes I think about the fact that Lucy was married and has never once spoken about it. I wonder about Gelsin Mux every single day actually.... Imagining Lucrecia as young and in love in Grulovia before she got tied up in any sort of crazy Psychic 7 nonsense is so bittersweet to me. I like to imagine her ties to Gelsin as being like her ties to her old life. Gelsin and Marona and Lazarus after a certain point of interacting with the psychics in America become almost like characters in someone else's life to her. I'm really fascinated with this idea of Lucy really losing touch with her old life. It's obvious that she had a lot of love for Grulovia and for her family but what she was doing with the rest of the Psy7 was extremely important to her. I like the idea that maybe she just felt a little suffocated and isolated for a while in Grulovia as a powerful psychic and couldn't find anyone to relate to (I hc that neither Marona nor Lazlo were psychics) so the Gulch became a place of acceptance and self expression that she had never been used to having. But the way that the Gulch made her grow as a person meant that she could never really go back to "the old Grulovia" that she grew up in, especially considering that the country was war-torn upon her return.

Also realizing that this image here means that it is highly likely that she left Gelsin in Grulovia with it very questionable if she would return. Since it is canon that Gelsin died in the Grulovian war, and not the Deluge.... and Ford met Lucrecia as Lucrecia Mux. I like to think that they fell in love when they were young and back when things were really simple for Lucy, but after she was able to identify how vital being psychic was to her as a person, they lost the ability to relate to one another like they used to could. I don't think she ever really fell out of love with him, they just grew apart in a sad way...

[vickyvicarious]

Quincy has lots of foresight and level headedness as Van Helsing says. He is laconic less in the meaning of "Says little" and more with the actual definition of "Gets straight to the POINT". He sees what the matter is and instantly goes for the solution. I think that getting Mina a Portable Typewriter is part of that.

But it is still fascinating that it was him and not Jonathan who bought it. Jonathan might have been too deep into despair to think of a future in the horizon?

I mean, he also does say little as soon as matters get serious, which I think fits his character as well. It's not just Stoker writing him as more background character and forgetting to give him many lines (though I feel sure that's part of it too) but also, Quincey only hams it up when the situation calls for it. He's talkative with his buddies, and with the girl he hopes to marry, but as soon as we get into survival situations then he gets much more quiet and to the point.

Jack says that "In all our hunting parties and adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been accustomed to obey him implicitly." And I think that does seem clear. He tends to think very simply/practically, and while he doesn't take on the role of leader in this group it's easy to see how he would be able to do so in another situation. He doesn't get as caught up in philosophizing or emotion; like you (and Art and Van Helsing) said, he's level-headed. He is pretty good at recognizing the core of a situation and just zeroing in on it, not being afraid to ask the relevant questions even when they might seem absurd or rude. My favorite moment being of course "Where did the blood go?" but there are others as well. And yeah, every time he tries to find a way to act about it. He notices Lucy might love someone else, asks, gets rejected, and then keeps his distance because he doesn't want to get in their way. He recognizes the blood must be going somewhere, asks about it, and then decides to guard against bats because he knows bats are something that could do that. That sort of thing. He also acts preventatively quite a lot (that foresight you mentioned), with stuff like shooting at bats or spying to see which way Dracula might flee or volunteering to ride up the riverbank in case Dracula got off at some port along the way. These are all just-in-case type actions taken to prevent a possible bad outcome.

Him getting the typewriter for Mina is nice in another way because it goes against his tendency to step back when he thinks something isn't his place. He's shown to be pretty hesitant about being somewhere he thinks he would be intruding, from stuff like not coming back to visit Lucy until Art asked him, to not going to see her on her deathbed since she didn't even know he was there, to stepping out of the room when he saw Art having a moment with Mina, to even being weirdly nervous about bursting into the Harkers' bedroom during a life-or-death situation. He likes to wait for an invitation first (not in a vampire way, haha) when it comes to interactions with people. But here, he doesn't. And I think it comes down to the day they met, when Mina saw how he was feeling and offered him comfort and validated his own grief as just as worthy. He was deeply moved and promised to be her friend from then on. Then he vowed to kill her in the name of that friendship. This is a gentler, perhaps less grand but no less meaningful, way he can express how much he cares about her, and try to in some way return the favor by attempting to lift her spirits when she is suffering.

(Mina and Quincey's friendship gets me emotional every time.)

As for why Jonathan didn't buy it... I think it is partially him not seeing the future right now. He has already said that he and Mina don't talk of the future, and while he of course is fully dedicated to hunting Dracula down and ensuring they will have a happy future together, I'm not sure it is anything he can really visualize right now. He is so very absorbed in caring for Mina in her current condition and planning to take care of Dracula in a distinctly different meaning of the word, that he doesn't have room for anything else right now. He's on the edge of breaking down as it is, and is just trying to push through, sort of like it was for him back in the castle.

But also, in a less angsty way, I think it might not have occurred to him as something he could do. He and Mina have only recently come into any sort of wealth, and a typewriter like this would be pretty expensive (I believe someone looked it up last year and it seems like Quincey dropped a pretty hefty sum on this gift). He's become used to using money much more freely of late, but it has always been for the purpose of a specific goal, not purchases for pleasure. It may not be something that even comes to mind as a reasonable act he could do for her, not yet anyway.

[bella-rose29]

episode 3 - Doubt Thou the Stars

major spoilers for the show and books, swearing, I go feral on multiple occasions, spent most of this simping for cam/lockwood and I'll apologise now for some of the things I've said (multiverse of George I'm blaming you for a couple)

I would just like to reiterate that this is not a proper analysis of the show, this is my immediate reactions to what happens in the show. barely anything constructive is actually said in here 👍

a ring is what we're looking at

Georgie I love you

hands (oh dear starting early)

hands again

"which you stole illegally" honey-

you have me in a chokehold lockwood

hehehe fairfax

"George, this... negativity, it's why I don't tell you things in advance" first of all I am weirdly obsessed with the way he says that, second of all I wanna give George a hug

hands

ok but who gave cam the right to look that good

"miss Kingston got her hair done special" George I love you

"straight into the office. that's a classy move"

omg I love lucy's jumper

his cheeky smile omg

hands

ring

"you lie like a politician" yeah bc he has to

you can do any job for me lockwood

hands and ring

absolutely we have a deal I'll do anything for you

hands (omg I need to stop)

they're children how did they get alcohol

bottle opener thingy scene

omg Georgie in his apron and gloves 😭

so sad we didn't get the "nice... towel" scene

barnes is so sinister sometimes

I love lockwood and george's friendship, just yelling at each other about cleaning

ooo green lighting when she's taking the keys

tut tut

"I visit my gran in Sidcup" "...sidcup is in London"

"you've got a real hard-on for him, haven't you" "well, if... you wanna put it like that"

"I'm practically a serf" aw lockwood honey

all I can think is the Traitors castle even though I know it's not the same

lockwood's so pretty

oh lord what the hell was that look lockwood don't lower your head with that intense gaze wtf

"apart from anything else, we've got much better flares" 😂

don't you just love it when someone who doesn't have any clue about your job tells you how to do your job

lots of smashing

he's fishing (where tf did he get a fishing rod from)

hands

his grin omg

oh crikey this boy needs sleep I can see his eye bags even though the lighting is dim and my room is bright

"What, and deny us all this... beautiful moment?" you're a beautiful moment- wait that doesn't make sense

his smile I am on the floor

aaa suspense I don't like it

omg we get to see George's Touch again I love that

ew cobwebs

hands

well that was silly

oh no

you can disrespect me anytime woah what is happening to me holy shit

EXTREME CLOSE UP

ewwww cobwebs

I could never be an agent I have arachnophobia

ok those special effects were awesome

"probably wanted to warn us not to go down there" *proceed to go down there*

Lockwood say what's on your mind

ok I get why Ali said that the monks were terrifying that chanting haunts me still

turn your torches off you'll see the ghosts better

ohh I don't like this

Lucy no

LUCY NO

LUCY NOOOOOO

aw the boys saved her

hands

"make a wish" I wish for you to marry me and we live happily ever after

slap

"my cheek hurts"

husband calls out pathetically for wife after waking up, she crawls over and he reaches desperately for her hand

"oi, where's his slap?" fair

hahaha the way they just drop to the floor

you look so silly in those goggles

lockwood's voice is doing Things to me

I love that you can see Ellie rethinking as Fairfax goes on

"we don't travel round with it, we're not insane" *while focused on Lucy*

"you're just a performer too, aren't you?" we love a masking king

MICRO-EXPRESSIONS!!! CAMERON CHAPMAN THE MAN YOU ARE

"She stole it again, Lockwood" yep

I love that you can sort of make out the flowers on her dress

oh christ that was scary

ew old man burning

hands

heavy breathing lockwood (I blame the multiverse of George chat for that)

"I'm working with maniacs" got room for another one?

why did Ellie think it would be a good idea to try and run straight through the middle

"Shut up!" their faces afterwards

kipps pls stop sounding so smug

dw I believe you lockwood

punch me like that wall pls

barnes looks so sad

omg he's being a protective dad

hands

ohhhhh lockwood in a proper suit 🪣 (bad timing for it I know)

"do you know my name?" George I love you

"that's a shame, she was a fool but... she really fitted in there actually" *lockwood nudges him* George I love you even more and I think we would be the bestest of friends

I love the lavender in the pockets of Penelope and Ellie

hands

omg Lucy's drawing! like she said her hobby was in the books!

hand + ring

*George casually pulls out stolen evidence*

I want lucy's jumper

the way lockwood's sat on the chair has me weak

"You belong here" *stares at her with heart eyes*

hehehe

hehehe

oh dear

why does he keep sprawling on the chair

I don't want to talk about the sound I just made at that one frame of lockwood

"She's good, and... she's finally starting to get me" aw Georgie I love you

"she's a lot tougher than you think" *thumps as Lucy passes out*

I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE SOUND I JUST MADE AT THE OTHER ONE FRAME OF LOCKWOOD (YOU ALL KNOW THE ONE) - "Luce?" shgisuhuigjd

seriously who gave him the right

[ilovemalfoys]

jealousy, jealousy; lucissa

WARNING: smut

Backstory: Narcissa was talking with an ex and Lucius got jealous

Narcissa and Lucius were out shopping for Narcissa’s birthday in Diagon Alley. Lucius decided to spoil his wife and she was not one to deny that offer.

 While they were in what had to be the tenth shop, Narcissa was looking through the racks while Lucius was on the other side of the shop, sitting down and keeping track of his wife’s every move.

“Narcissa Black?” a voice called.

Narcissa turned around and smiled brightly at the voice. “Oh! Atticus! How have you been? I haven’t seen you since graduation!”

“Me too! I heard you got married and had a kid or two” he said.

“Oh yes, yes. I married Lucius and we had twins, Draco and Allora. What about you? I heard you married Sierra Rowle” 

Lucius was watching their exchange with a clenched jaw. Before Lucius and Narcissa started dating, she was in a relationship with Atticus Selwyn. They had broken it off after 3 years due to a mutual agreement to be just friends, though every time they were talking or in any sort of engagement with each other, Lucius would become jealous, though he would never dare to admit it.

As their conversation wore on, Lucius finally had enough when Narcissa laughed at something he had said and put her hand on his arm. 

“Selwyn!” Lucius called politely, making his way to the pair. Atticus paled when he saw Lucius and chuckled nervously, composing himself. A few years ago, Lucius had punched him when he found out Atticus tried to kiss Narcissa. That was just after graduation when Atticus had tried to convince Narcissa that he was better for her than Lucius and that he regretted breaking it off with her. 

“Malfoy” he nodded respectfully. “How have you been?” he asked, trying to contain his nervousness, but clearly failing.

“I’ve been alright, but I’m afraid Narcissa and I must take our leave. We need to get back to the twins” he said.

“What?” Narcissa cut in. “They’re fine-” she said, but got cut off by Lucius.

“You know we can’t trust Dobby with the twins. Come, we must leave” he said and quickly took Narcissa’s arm and strolled out of the shop, apparating them both to their bed chambers.

“Merlin Lucius! What’s wrong with you?!” Narcissa asked, when they had landed in their bedroom.

“Nothing” he shrugged and cupped her cheeks with one hand and kissed her furiously. 

“Luci- Lucius!” she shouted against his lips. 

“That’s what you get for flirting with Selwyn” Lucius smirked and pushed her down on the bed.

“Flirting?!” she burst, outraged. She was sprawled in the middle of the bed, and tried to get up but Lucius pushed her back down.

“Yes. Flirting” he said simply, and began kissing and sucking at her neck and running his hand up and down her thigh slowly.

“Lu- Lucius” she moaned softly, and arched her neck to give him more space.

“You’re in a for a long night. By the time I’m done with you, you won’t be able to walk and Draco and Allora will be wondering what’s wrong with their mother” he said and by now, his hand was all the way up her dress and tugging on her knickers. He pulled them down and threw them from the bed, not caring where they landed. 

He thrust his fingers inside her causing her to scream out.

“Be quiet” he hissed but continued thrusting his fingers in and out of her. She muffled her moans with her hand and Lucius kept thrusting his hand in and out faster and harder causing her to buck her hips.

"Please, more. Yeah just like that" Narcissa moaned.

"You like that?" Lucius asked. Narcissa nodded but Lucius wasn't pleased. He slapped her thigh and demanded her to speak.

"Yes, I love that" she moaned, trying to keep quiet. When Lucius felt her nearing her orgasm, he pulled his fingers out, just before she came. "Lucius, don't do this" she sobbed quietly.

When her husband would do this, she knew she was in for a long night before she was able to cum.

"What would you rather, I edge you until you beg me for an orgasm or I overstimulate you until you can't think straight?" Lucius asked, his fingers making way to his mouth as he tasted his wife's juices.

Narcissa thought about it for a bit and she knew she would regret it when she said that she would rather be overstimulated. 

Lucius chuckled, kissing her neck before putting his head between her thighs. Her orgasm built up fairly quickly after being denied and before Narcissa knew it, she was coming into her husband's mouth but Lucius didn't stop. He continued licking and sucking until Narcissa was on her fourth orgasm of the night and started pushing him away.

"I'm sorry, please stop" she sobbed but Lucius did nothing but hold her thighs tightly and continuing his ministrations. When Narcissa came twice more, Lucius pulled away from her thighs and flipped her around roughly.

He quickly stripped of his robes and boxers before sliding into Narcissa from behind without any warning. Narcissa tiredly pushed him away but Lucius held her hands behind her back and started thrusting into her roughly.

He pulled her body up so his chest was to her back and moved to whisper in her ear.

"Do you now understand what happens when you talk to other men? You're mine, Narcissa. No one else's. Your body belongs to me and if you let any other man touch you, I will bury him 6 feet under and fuck you until you become putty in my hands" he said and Narcissa moaned at his dominance, finding it incredibly hot. "Do. You. Understand?" he said with each hard thrust.

Narcissa couldn't respond. She was having orgasm after orgasm, and couldn't think straight enough to respond to her husband's words. He pushed her down so she was on all fours. He spanked her arse and repeated, “Do you understand?!"

"Yes, yes I understand! I'm yours!" she moaned and heavily came on her husband's cock. Lucius nodded and flipped her around as he held her leg up with one hand. He pushed into her from an angle which made Narcissa's head spin. She couldn't keep up with this anymore.

Lucius pushed into her as he felt his orgasm coming and thrusted into her as fast and hard as he could. He pulled out of her.

He lifted Narcissa to her knees and put his cock in her mouth as Narcissa sucked and licked at it. Lucius reached down to Narcissa's pussy and entered his fingers into her, her moans vibrating around his cock.

She used her hands to rub the parts of him she couldn't fit in her mouth and soon enough, spurts of come leaked from the base of his cock, landing in Narcissa's mouth as he wanked himself to get the most out of his release. Narcissa had come three times in the last 4 minutes while she sucked him off.

Once Lucius had finished with her mouth, he laid on the bed, pulling Narcissa into his arms, spent from the afternoon they'd had.

"How do you feel my love?" he asked as he stared into her shiny blue eyes.

"Exhausted" she sighed and rested her head against his chest.

"I love you" Lucius said. "And Happy Birthday"

"I love you too, handsome. Thank you" she said and leaned up to kiss him. Lucius kept their lips connected as he pulled her onto his lap and made out with her furiously, until they heard a knock at their door.

"Mummy! We're hungry" Allora's little voice sounded through the door.

"Yeah" Draco's quiet voice added. Narcissa quickly got off Lucius and put on her silk dressing robe from that morning. Lucius looked disappointed at how quickly Narcissa was able to get off him.

"Come back" he groaned.

"No, the kids haven't eaten yet" Narcissa said. "Now either put on your boxers or put a sheet over yourself"

Lucius grabbed his boxers from the floor and put them on before he went back and laid on the bed, sweat still dripping from his chest. Lucius watched as she limped over to the door and when it swung open, two little blonde children were standing at the door.

"Hi mummy!" Allora said as she lifted her arms, signalling Narcissa to carry her. Narcissa picked her up as she affectionately tousled Draco's head of bright blonde hair.

"Hi baby" Narcissa said, and kissed her cheek. "You guys hungry?"

"Yeah!" They both cheered.

"Let's go get you some food then." Narcissa said, walking down the hall.

"Mummy, why are you walking like that?"

[the-kestrels-feather]

Im not done with ABOSAS quite yet but I know there's no way Snow and Lucy Gray get a happy ending (and thank GOD honestly, Snow is an abusive possessive piece of shit) but since I don't believe Coryo is capable of love in the slightest, except for maybe towards Tigris and the Grandma'am and even that's iffy, but because Snow has a grand daughter I choose to believe that he married Clemensia or Lysistrata. Maybe not out of any sort of love or anything, but from how he talked about, well, every other female in the book that's not his cousin, grandmother, or Lucy Gray, he seemed to at the very least hold more affection for her than anyone else. I don't think he loved either, even a little, It'd be more a marriage of convenience than anything, but in terms of how he talked to them.

EDIT:

Headcanons about the marriages:

Clemmie: I don't think it would've ever been a happy marriage. Not hostile, but more of a mutual toleration I guess? At the start at least. Clemmie's parents are thrilled, and of course Snow lands on top. I think Clemensia would slowly grow to resent him, especially knowing he worked under Gaul. She still has nightmares filled with colorful scales and neon puss, and the fact that her own husband can still stand to work beside her despite knowing what she did to her, despite witnessing it firsthand, sickens her. They spend most of their time in separate rooms, however when facing the public or Clemensia's parents they're the "happy couple", and all of the Capitol is secretly jealous. They have one son that Clemmie raises almost entirely on her own, rarely getting the time of day from her husband. After she dies it creates an even larger rift between Snow and his (now adult) son, who has married and had a child while Coriolanus was busy chasing power. He joins a rebel cell along with his wife, and Snow quietly has them killed to avoid public scrutiny, staging it to look like a random accident rather than a planned assassination. He adopts his granddaughter to appear the hero and model grandfather, trying desperately to ignore the fact that she has her grandmother's eyes.

Lysistrata: Lyssie didn't want to marry the already Apprentice Gamemaker Snow, but did so to please her parents. And maybe just maybe because a small part of her believed that with Coriolanus in the room she could advocate for change, real change. However that dream died quickly, as it became clear her husband's ambitions were set on something else. She resented him wholeheartedly, quietly withdrawing from the public under the guise of giving the one son the couple has together a normal life, while in reality she and Coriolanus have separated. Divorce would mean prying eyes and public scorn, but that didn't mean Lyssie had to live with him and subject her son to Snow. She raised him entirely on her own, trying to pretend that he wasn't the spitting image of his ruthless father. As the child grew, Lysistrata became involved with supporters of the rebellion, serving as a Capitol contact of Plutarch Heavensbee right under her husband's nose. Snow knew he couldn't outright kill his wife, that would be to obvious of a move. And maybe, deep down, a small part of him held some form of affection for her. His now adult son that he'd had little interaction with and his faceless wife, that was another story. The news stated it was all a terrible accident, but Lyssie knew the truth. She fought like hell to get her granddaughter, her baby, away from Coriolanus but wasn't able to reunite with her until after the events of Mockingjay. She and the girl live free from the Capitol, deciding to live elsewhere rather than stay with bad memories.

FUCK Snow though, Clemmie, Lysistrata, Lucy Gray sweethearts you can all do SO much better

[strangedreamings]

E7. Marianne's on the mend and Mrs. Dashwood has arrived. I can't help but wonder if she would have been equally distressed if it had been Elinor who was deathly ill instead of (her obvious favorite) Marianne.

Brandon needs a shave. It's a nice way of showing how single-minded he's been.

"That terrible business with Willoughby," eh, Mrs. D? You seemed to like the man well enough while it was happening. What is it with these mothers of unmarried daughters who are so fickle when it comes to which suitor they prefer? She and Mrs. Bennet can start a club.

"But worthy men are so uninteresting, especially men of his age." Oh, I cannot WAIT for you to eat those words, Marianne, you arrogant little twit. Have you learned NOTHING from all of this?

"My skin looks terrible." Well, maybe if you had eaten regularly while you were pining after that moron Willoughby, you wouldn't be in this state. You've got no one to blame for your condition but yourself, Marianne.

Back at Barton Cottage, she plays what I think is the song she and Willoughby sang together then bursts into tears. There are only 13 minutes left in this episode, how much longer are they going to drag this out? Get over him, girl.

Marianne and Elinor are outside and that stupid mesh is back. Couldn't anyone in the production team see how visible it was? Or maybe they could and they just didn't care.

"I brought my illness on myself" FUCKING FINALLY! She actually does have a brain, I'm glad to see she's put it to good use.

Can they PLEASE put Willoughby behind them now? STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM, for fuck's sake!

Marianne called Mrs. D "Mother." Nope, she's "Mama" to you, Marianne. Only sons used "Mother."

Tom tells them "Mr. Ferrars" (the subtitles spell it "Ferris") has married Lucy. Marianne starts crying and runs out of the room. Fucking hell, girl, stop that. You've officially crossed the line between "sensitive" and "ninny."

Mrs. D's saying she's only been thinking of Marianne. Yeah, we know. "But unlike (Marianne), we're brave." "We"? There's no "we" here, Mrs. Dashwood. Elinor has been the brave one. All you've done is cry over and with Marianne and complain about not being the mistress of Norland Park anymore. You don't get to claim any sort of camaraderie with Elinor after all that.

Edward explains his brother is the one who's married and Mrs. D and Marianne burst into giggles. Yes, they're happy and relieved but it's pretty ridiculous, especially from Edward's POV. And they just don't stop. Elinor borrows one of Marianne's moves and just leaves the house entirely. Now Edward's insulted and Elinor has run off into the woods. WTF? Can I hit the screenwriter, please?

I still hate his haircut. :P

What I'll never understand is why Mrs. F making Robert her heir cannot be revoked now that he's married the universally despised Lucy. Mrs. F hasn't died, so she should be able to change her will as often as she wants.

That's it? We get Elinor and Edward engaged but all we get for Marianne and Brandon is him giving her a bunch of books, and decidedly unromantic ones at that? Bah. He might as well be her tutor, not a man desperately in love with her.

1995 is still the best S&S, this one is after 2008, and possibly after 2024, I'd have to watch that one again to be sure.

[daughter-of-melpomene]

I heard you'd like some asks? What about 7, 19, 23, 40, 51, 63, 79 and 90 from your Spotify Wrapped for the OC association thingy? Giving you lots of numbers to think about, hope that's what you're looking for. Get well soon <3

Evie, I know I say this pretty regularly, but I absolutely love you, thank you so much for this!! <3

So, number seven on my Spotify Wrapped is "You Should Probably Leave" by Chris Stapleton, and I definitely associate this with Wyatt Friedman and his relationship with Kelly Severide during their hookup phase! The repressed longing in the lyrics, the wanting to push the other person away a bit so you don't catch feelings but also wanting them to stay with you... it all just screams this phase of Wyatt and Severide's relationship to me!

Number nineteen is "Wendy" by Maisie Peters, and to me this song is definitely one of my new Ted Lasso babies, Day Harvington! For most of her romantic relationships before falling in love with Roy and Keeley, Day has been content to just stay in the background and let her partner be the main character in their story, even when it meant she just wound up getting hurt. After her most recent breakup before her story starts and she and her two friends move to Richmond, though, she makes a promise to herself that she is never going to play a background character in her love story again, if she ever manages to fall in love again, and I think this song is a really good showcase of that.

Number twenty-three is "Somebody To Love" by Queen, and you just know I have to give this to my Good Omens girl Luci Evans! Not only is Queen's music a big part of Good Omens and therefore part of Luci's story, but she's a pretty big fan of the band herself, and "Somebody To Love" is definitely one of her favorite songs from them.

Number forty is "First Burn" by Ari Afsar, and while this one was a little bit harder to figure out, I think I'll have to give this one to Ivy Kekoa, seeing as she's my resident show tunes girl! I can definitely see her singing this with some of the other Glee girls when she first finds out Sam has sort-of kind-of cheated on her by kissing Quinn, because even though they're not married and this isn't even on the scale of Alexander Hamilton's cheating she is just that dramatic. She would definitely sound amazing singing it, though!

Number fifty-one is "Cell Block Tango" from the musical Chicago, and honestly I'm going to have to give this one to my boy Will Welton, purely because I think it would be funny if he convinced Rebecca and Keeley to join him in a performance of this number to try and help Rebecca get over her feelings about Rupert.

Number sixty-three is "ocean eyes" by Billie Eilish, and I definitely associate this with Ivana Morozova and her reluctance to fall in love with Dick Grayson! Dick really does have those beautiful blue eyes, and as much as Ivana would like to resist them and resist falling for him (for many reasons, not the least of which being that the whole reason she came to Gotham was that she was sent there to kill his brother), she always winds up staring deeply into those ocean eyes and getting herself even further in!

Number seventy-nine is "Born This Way" by the Glee Cast, and maybe this is cheating, but I'm gonna go ahead and say my girl Bailey Taylor for this one! This would definitely be one of her favorite performances with the New Directions, and it's also a song she resonates with, having struggled with her sexuality and self-worth before. So on top of being a fun song to sing, it's really helped her and made her feel good about herself!

And finally, number ninety is another Queen song, "Another One Bites the Dust," and I figured we'd stick to the Good Omens OCs theme and go with Zazzadon! I can totally picture this being her intro song the first time she struts up to Earth to help out Aziraphale and Crowley, and it would definitely be playing during the fight in Aziraphale's bookshop in season two while she tries to keep Muriel safe and kick the asses of the lesser demons who are part of the raiding party!

send me a number 1-100 and I’ll tell you the song it corresponds with on my top 100 spotify wrapped playlist, and the oc/ship it reminds me of!!

[electricbluebutterflies]

“we couldn’t find a condom so we’re getting each other off in other ways” + garcy

Usual post-canon-divergent 'verse / look y'all I wrote smut and I don't hate it! Also on ao3.

There are, on occasion, some distinct downsides to living in isolation.

There’s the fact that, when in his own timeline, Flynn’s world is limited to half a dozen people – almost all of whom are excellent housemates, he will point out, but it’s still a damn fishbowl. There’s the fact that, while the current safehouse is spacious and being the only structure for several miles means outdoor time is an option too, being stuck in the same place gets boring at a certain point. And right now in particular, there is a particular set of issues regarding supply runs and things that are awkward to clearly put on a list that someone else, likely someone he is several degrees removed from who he will never meet, will have to interpret and acquire and-

One of these days he’s going to accept that normal penetrative sex with his current partner is just… not going to safely happen until their war is over. Today is not quite that day. Adapting to the circumstances, yes, fine; being calm about it, not so much.

He can’t recall ever being the more practical one in a dynamic before – his late wife, much more predictably his type to the extent that he’s ever consciously had one, was impeccably cautious and set her boundaries very clearly. Lucy, by contrast, is impulsive and self-destructive and he knows her tendencies all too well and someone has to be the more reasonable one and-

It’s hard to make good choices when she’s kissing him like she’s never wanted anything more in the world, but he’s trying.

She pulls away and lays herself out on their bed, this bed he’s not sure was designed to accommodate a human body of his size let alone a smaller one in addition but they’ve made it work since she decided she sleeps better curled up with him and oh there really is no going back from this. If there is a life after, if they both survive, it will involve her and some kind of attempted domesticity somewhere quiet and-

He wants so many things right now, and very few of them are good ideas, and at least he’s capable of making good choices, and-

“We can’t-“

“I wasn’t… let me daydream for five seconds,” she sighs, almost a pout. “Let me forget for five fucking seconds that none of this is normal.”

At least she allows that caution. At least… after what she’s been through, he couldn’t fault her for anything, but she’s been cooperative enough about this one boundary he’s defined, and there are still so many other ways they can take care of each other, and-

“Move down for me,” he says, halfway to an idea.

She does, legs parted, plan understood before he’s even sure about it. She’d been more hesitant the first time he went down on her, a few months ago now – bad history, he suspects, not bad enough that he felt a need to ask about it but clearly past partners hadn’t properly enjoyed her. He… is trying to be less proud and to compare himself less to what he does not know, but he’d like to think he’s at least competent in whatever he does, and he was happily married for over a decade and that’s a more pleasant lingering ghost in this new relationship, and-

He knows what he’s doing, he thinks as he places a kiss right above her slit. If this is the easiest and safest way to have her, so be it.

Lucy is, he is learning, more delicate than she thinks and decidedly not used to attention. She has this tendency to make herself small – again, questions he won’t ask about past lovers because he suspects the answers would wake up something territorially violent in him – and he is trying to bring her out of it but that sort of thing takes time. Years, probably. Decades. The rest of natural lifetimes he’s unsure they’ll get.

They are here now, in this room that was probably never meant for two occupants but they’ve lived peacefully for months, and he is not trying to fix her. Let that be his defense, if some higher power decides to side-eye this shade of his life choices. She is perfect, her sensitive parts warm and soft and begging to be kissed, and what changes he would wish upon her would only be to add to her happiness and take her pain. Perhaps he is the wrong person to give her this, perhaps in a better world she would find her way with someone who doesn’t have such a perfectly complete set of emotional baggage, but…

They are here now, and he adores her, and the goddamn moment they return to civilian life he’s going to thoroughly wreck her in some cheap roadside motel and that too will not quite be what she deserves, and that’s enough future motivation to make both of them behave.

He can’t help but wonder if she’s naturally quiet or if she’s just adapted herself to the circumstances, if she’ll be different as a lover when they are not living like sardines and the walls around them are far too thin. She is perfect caution now – he glances up to see her bite her lip and skip a breath, the only signs that her body feels the right things, that he has done right by her. Another thing to add to the list of future daydreams, he decides. Find out if she can scream. Find out if-

No. He highly doubts that’s who she is. Still a pleasant thought.

She melts down to the floor beside him and takes a few kisses, and she’s wide-eyed and soft like she almost never is and it’s a goddamn tragedy that he can’t move her just slightly and let their bodies rest together and-

“Okay if I just touch you?” she asks, and in her hesitance he has another undirected homicidal thought.

“Please.”

It’s not ideal but it’s enough, her hand almost too light on his cock, they have time they have time they have time and she is using every second she can, the closeness and the kindness of her, he wants to close his eyes and he can’t, he can’t miss a single moment of the way she looks at him, like everything he’s ever been has led up to this, to her, to-

He does not naturally run quiet, and he accidentally bites her lip hard enough to draw blood but at least no one else heard anything.

“I didn’t mean to…”

“You didn’t mean to,” she repeats like that makes it completely okay.

“If I-“

“For all the things you’ve done, you still apologize too much,” she says, untangling their bodies and wiping her hands on his discarded shirt. “You don’t need to. Not with me. Not anymore.”

He did, he forces himself to remember vividly, basically ruin her life. On multiple occasions. That she still decided to accept his various offerings of atonement, that they have still become something almost functional, is…

“I will never deserve you,” he murmurs.

“I’ve heard that one before, but… you say it nicer.”

There are too many things he’d like to say to that, but instead he moves behind her and kisses the back of her neck. “However many times it takes you to believe it.”

“Might take a while.”

“I can wait.”

[saintes-rpg-promo]

● THIRTY ● MERMAN ● CIS MALE ● SWIM INSTRUCTOR ●

“I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.”

The year was 1993, Lucy Reeves was a twenty one year old girl on Summer break with her friends in Florida, where she was having the time of her life. The Law Student had been studying hard all semester, so it was time for her to let her hair down and have some fun. The first day of her trip to Florida, she was at a party with some girlfriends, a band was playing, and that was the first time she saw Dallan. He was singing with the band, and she was immediately hooked. Every day of the trip she spent with Dallan, the two had a whirlwind romance that ended when Lucy had to go home to Oregon. Little did she know, Dallan had left more than a great memory, she had gotten pregnant over the summer, and in February, she gave birth to a son. She named him Cash and raised the boy happily while still studying at school. Cash was a rambunctious boy who never seemed to care that he only had his mother, but Lucy saw this as the perfect reason to find Dallan again, and when Cash was five years old she returned to Florida, under the guise of taking the boy to Disney World to try and find his father.

As it turned out, finding Dallan wasn’t that hard, but Lucy was heartbroken to find Dallan had gotten married over the time they had been apart. But to Lucy and Dallan’s wife’s surprise, Dallan immediately took to the boy and vowed to help in any way he could. He convinced Lucy to move to Florida, so he could be a part of Cash’s life, and as Cash got older, he began to spend more and more time with his father. He loved going to the beach, but as he got older he began to notice a rash would break out on his legs anytime he was in the ocean, so he avoided the sea until one day Dallan took the young boy to a cove near his house and told the twelve year old what they were. He, Dallan, was a siren, a water being that had passed the genes onto his son.

The two men connected over the shared secret, and Dallan began to teach his son everything he needed to know about what he really was. He taught him how to accept what he was, how to control it, and soon Cash was loving his life as a siren. After finishing High School, he took some time off and told his mother he was going to spend some time with his father, visiting his family, and that was the last Lucy and Dallan’s wife heard from them for years. Her eighteen year old son was gone, and with no way to contact him, Lucy was scared and alone. Dallan had just disappeared with Cash, and he waited, desperate to hear from her son again. Six years later, she woke up to a call from the police, they had found her son, unconscious on the beach. While he was gone the Great Announcement had happened, and Lucy wondered if there was something… Different about her son. The police informed her there was no sight of Dallan, and when she made it to the hospital station to pick him up, she found not her happy, cheerful son who had left, but a different man entirely.

When he had left, Cash was carefree and happy, but returned a morose, serious man, who seemed to take a much more pessimistic view of the world. Trying to help him in any way she could, she encouraged him to try and make friends, but he turned his back on that idea, he spoke often about the sins of humanity, how terrible they were and how little regard they had for the planet, and most of all, the ocean. He would go to the beach every day to pick up trash, and yell at tourists who he caught littering, and after a few fist-fights that he won easily, Lucy realized her son was on a dark path. She had let him go on this path for a year, but she realized she couldn’t do that forever, so after begging and crying for him to tell her what had happened, to which he ignored her pleas, she made a decision. He could either tell her what had happened, where Dallan was, if he was some sort of supernatural creature or not, and where Dallen had taken him- or he could leave and find his own way.

Cash didn’t say anything, he just watched as his mother tearfully told him his options. After a long moment he asked if he could have some time to think about it- to the end of the week, which gave Lucy hope. Maybe she was going to get through to him, maybe he’d finally tell her everything she wanted to know- but when the end of the week came, Lucy woke to find Cash was gone. He had taken his things, and had left. Little did she know, Cash had been paying more attention than he let on, and had heard of Saintes. He was also in communication with a few sirens who lived on land part time, who had told him that if he really wanted to make a difference in the human world, he’d need to do so from a safe place for Supernatural folk. So he moved to Saintes, away from his mother, without her knowledge and began to work as a swim instructor to make money and support himself while he tried to find a way to make a difference in the world he hated to try and protect the environment he loves.

Cash is an open character, if you think he looks right for you, feel free to fill out the application and submit it here!

[delmorii]

6. Ring

A few months ago…

Their cozy home in Dravania had to be rearranged a little for tonight, and Lucy kept looking around to take mental stock of how many candles were sitting in their bedroom. Loyce had insisted on the needed atmosphere, and she readily agreed to it; she’d sat and watched him place all of the candles, and her tail flicked as he walked around to light each one individually. He hadn’t let her move anything due to her being pregnant, but she’d sat by the window and pointed to where she thought things ought to go as he pushed their furniture around. They’d both been thinking of this night ever since they got married a month ago: now, after a lot of planning and preparing, they were ready.

Lucy walked to one of the pair of plush chairs and settled down into one of them, looking up to Loyce once she was seated. Between the two chairs was a small table with an array of tattooist’s tools; her amber eyes flicked to the tools, then back up to him, smiling faintly. Loyce followed suit, taking the other chair and settling down into it: the chair creaked lightly, speaking of its age. Ignoring its complaint, he reached for her clawed hand: grinning, Lucy extended her hand for him to take. Their home was quiet, and comfortable; it was just them in their candle-lit room, and his thumb traced over the back of her hand for a few silent moments before he leaned over to pick up one of the tools.

The first of which was an old rag soaked thoroughly in a special mixture of oils. To him the scent was nothing, but there was an undeniable waft of lavender, roses, and honeysuckle. Loyce gave her hand a gentle reassuring squeeze as he wiped her hand down-- this part of the ritual was required, the skin would reject the scrawl if not properly prepared. His hands moved slow and carefully, every movement from himself was taken with precision. Their left hands now held one another's in a comforting and oiled embrace. Her right hand sat in her lap as his right hand reached for the table once more.

His eyes looked into her own, smiling softly as he studied the tattoo on her face. This wasn't her first time being under the needle. The tattoo on his own face was far less 'professionally' done, blackened ink carved jaggedly into his flesh so many years ago. Loyce's own needle reflected in kind-- a long curved thing with a small sharp point, a pen for the flesh. Another squeeze, he sets the tip down onto her ring finger then presses. It has begun.

His wife’s tail flicked and curled in her lap as he began his work: she knew what this was like, though it was so many years ago now. Still, once he set the pen to her skin, she repressed a twitch of her hand: he needed her to be steady. She drew in a deep breath through her nose, then let it out the same way. They’d settled on a simple, but meaningful design: she’d have a band of infinite loops on her hand, and he’d have a thickset band with the negative space for her design within. Another prod of the pen, and her hand gave the smallest of spasms: he pauses in his work to look up at her, and she only offers an apologetic nod. He leaned in to press a small kiss to her hand, then resumed his work silently.

It was quiet, save for their breathing and his work: small dabs from the cloth, him checking her hand before resuming inking her ring onto her hand. Watching him, Lucy felt a warm, comforting sort of feeling in her chest; before him, she would’ve insisted on a massive, over-priced ring. But with him? Tattooing their wedding bands directly onto their skin felt… right. Tattoos were far more practical in their line of work, but more than that, it was permanent. 

She was quiet all the while as he worked, making sure to not distract him or let her hand twitch too much. They sat in relative silence as he inked both of their hands with rings, a process that lasted into the late night hours. It felt fitting for this moment to stretch itself out so long and demanding that neither of them were distracted from it: another reminder of how permanent their new tattoos were, and what they meant. And even though they never spoke a word, both husband and wife were perfectly content in this moment; their hands never left one another’s.

[saintes-rpg]

● THIRTY ● MERMAN ● CIS MALE ● SWIM INSTRUCTOR ●

“I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.”

The year was 1993, Lucy Reeves was a twenty one year old girl on Summer break with her friends in Florida, where she was having the time of her life. The Law Student had been studying hard all semester, so it was time for her to let her hair down and have some fun. The first day of her trip to Florida, she was at a party with some girlfriends, a band was playing, and that was the first time she saw Dallan. He was singing with the band, and she was immediately hooked. Every day of the trip she spent with Dallan, the two had a whirlwind romance that ended when Lucy had to go home to Oregon. Little did she know, Dallan had left more than a great memory, she had gotten pregnant over the summer, and in February, she gave birth to a son. She named him Cash and raised the boy happily while still studying at school. Cash was a rambunctious boy who never seemed to care that he only had his mother, but Lucy saw this as the perfect reason to find Dallan again, and when Cash was five years old she returned to Florida, under the guise of taking the boy to Disney World to try and find his father.

As it turned out, finding Dallan wasn’t that hard, but Lucy was heartbroken to find Dallan had gotten married over the time they had been apart. But to Lucy and Dallan’s wife’s surprise, Dallan immediately took to the boy and vowed to help in any way he could. He convinced Lucy to move to Florida, so he could be a part of Cash’s life, and as Cash got older, he began to spend more and more time with his father. He loved going to the beach, but as he got older he began to notice a rash would break out on his legs anytime he was in the ocean, so he avoided the sea until one day Dallan took the young boy to a cove near his house and told the twelve year old what they were. He, Dallan, was a siren, a water being that had passed the genes onto his son.

The two men connected over the shared secret, and Dallan began to teach his son everything he needed to know about what he really was. He taught him how to accept what he was, how to control it, and soon Cash was loving his life as a siren. After finishing High School, he took some time off and told his mother he was going to spend some time with his father, visiting his family, and that was the last Lucy and Dallan’s wife heard from them for years. Her eighteen year old son was gone, and with no way to contact him, Lucy was scared and alone. Dallan had just disappeared with Cash, and he waited, desperate to hear from her son again. Six years later, she woke up to a call from the police, they had found her son, unconscious on the beach. While he was gone the Great Announcement had happened, and Lucy wondered if there was something… Different about her son. The police informed her there was no sight of Dallan, and when she made it to the hospital station to pick him up, she found not her happy, cheerful son who had left, but a different man entirely.

When he had left, Cash was carefree and happy, but returned a morose, serious man, who seemed to take a much more pessimistic view of the world. Trying to help him in any way she could, she encouraged him to try and make friends, but he turned his back on that idea, he spoke often about the sins of humanity, how terrible they were and how little regard they had for the planet, and most of all, the ocean. He would go to the beach every day to pick up trash, and yell at tourists who he caught littering, and after a few fist-fights that he won easily, Lucy realized her son was on a dark path. She had let him go on this path for a year, but she realized she couldn’t do that forever, so after begging and crying for him to tell her what had happened, to which he ignored her pleas, she made a decision. He could either tell her what had happened, where Dallan was, if he was some sort of supernatural creature or not, and where Dallen had taken him- or he could leave and find his own way.

Cash didn’t say anything, he just watched as his mother tearfully told him his options. After a long moment he asked if he could have some time to think about it- to the end of the week, which gave Lucy hope. Maybe she was going to get through to him, maybe he’d finally tell her everything she wanted to know- but when the end of the week came, Lucy woke to find Cash was gone. He had taken his things, and had left. Little did she know, Cash had been paying more attention than he let on, and had heard of Saintes. He was also in communication with a few sirens who lived on land part time, who had told him that if he really wanted to make a difference in the human world, he’d need to do so from a safe place for Supernatural folk. So he moved to Saintes, away from his mother, without her knowledge and began to work as a swim instructor to make money and support himself while he tried to find a way to make a difference in the world he hated to try and protect the environment he loves.

Cash is an open character, if you think he looks right for you, feel free to fill out the application and submit it here!

[inblackwoods]

Someone shut me up if I get redundant, but I do want to talk about how Dracula is constantly subverting the expectation of a singular, hyper-masculine heroic character to save the day and win the girl. Obviously, I find it relevant to my ongoing “Dracula is a story about love/community” idea. 

First is Jonathan, who obviously doesn't have a ton of machismo. He swoons, he's preyed on, he's locked away helpless in a tower. We all know this. He even finds himself connecting to the idea of women from the past writing letters at the desk he's sitting at in the castle, saying, “here I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love letter, and writing in my diary in short-hand all that has happened since I closed it last” [Chptr 3]. Perhaps worth mentioning is that this is written right before he’s attacked by the three women. If he’s a hero, then he’s not of the standard, invincible superman sort.

Then, when Jonathan is suspected to be dead, the narrative moves on to introduce Seward, who Lucy goes to some effort to talk-up to Mina, listing his positive qualities and reasons why he might be compatible with her. The implication is that Jonathan is dead! Someone needs to come in and save the girl in his place! But Seward is Seward. So this is obviously not going to work. Lucy immediately moves on to describe him as nervous enough to sit on his own hat and then start fidgeting with a lancet, which scares her [Chptr 5]. And then, if one isn’t yet convinced that he's an unheroic mess of a man, his own diary starts and he's brooding, obsessive, maudlin, and prone to cruel thoughts and sometimes cruel actions. He's not our hero either! He’s too dark, quiet, arrogant, etc.. Fine, who else is there?

Quincey? Yes, one might think for a moment, but then recall how, after he's so ridiculously charming in his proposal and really does seem like a knight in shining armor, he up and leaves the narrative for a while. Completely unmentioned for six chapters! When he comes back, it's relieving and exciting and wonderful and-

He has the wrong blood type. There's an implication he might have killed Lucy, who Seward says, due to the transfusion, "had got a terrible shock, and it told on her more than before, though plenty of blood went into her veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on other occasions” [Chptr 12]. She dies later in this chapter. This isn’t Quincey’s fault and no one could have known about blood types at the time, but I think it’s possible that this transfusion killed her or, at least, contributed to her death.  

Okay, so who else? Van Helsing? Close... but he's old and not likely to get into any dramatic knife fights and he considers himself still married, if his wife is out of the picture. So no saving the day in direct combat or winning any girls for him. Even when he kills the three women, it’s while they’re asleep and its only given a page or less of description. It’s not very dramatic or heroic. Arthur? He's a bit nervous too, despite Seward calling him brave. He falls to his knees and needs to be held up by the other suitors [Chptr 16], he sits up and sits back down in nervous fits of energy [Chptr 15], and he seems generally somewhat faint of heart, being described as growing “very pale” as he sat down and “breathing heavily” in response to the news that they’re getting close to confronting Dracula [Chptr 25]. In that same moment, Quincey and Jonathan are grabbing their knives in preparation for battle! And Arthur doesn't ever get near Dracula at the end. So not him either!

None of the men are perfect, infallible heroes on their own. They’re human beings who get scared and make mistakes. They all need help sometimes; they all fall short in one way or another, which can be compensated for by the other members of the CoL.

The ending is the most convincing aspect of all of this- the final battle is anticlimactic. Dracula's asleep, he won't wake up, and the only active threats are nameless henchmen. It's not a tense, drawn-out battle; it lasts for perhaps a page or two and then it’s over. There isn't a singular hero, there's two. It's not just Jonathan who single handedly saves the day and wins the girl, Quincey has to be there too. And neither of them would have gotten so far without the others, Mina especially. And then Quincey doesn't live to get any reward for his triumph other than the knowledge that he saved his friends! 

So again, in final, there can be no singular hero. It's a story about the strength of community, love, and cooperation. The fighting isn't glorious and triumphant because that isn't the point! The point is that people need love and friends/family to function, do good, support each other when in need, and save the day together.

[thekatebridgerton]

Anthony liking Penelope more than colin is my favorite thing to talk about also I need more moments of Anthony with his younger siblings like Gregory and Hyacinth

Look that's cannon okay. Penelope has no brothers and she's been glued to the hip with Eloise since childhood. of course Anthony likes her more than Colin.

Anthony gives off such strong Dad brother vibes that he can't help but adopt little sisters as he goes along because if they don't have a dad or a big brother he's like ' look I'm here if you need anything, I protec, I atac I got ur bac' kind of thing.

Penelope is Eloise friend, so he adopted her, Felicity is glued at the hip with Hyacinth so might as well adopt her too. Sophie and Posy, no big brothers? okay they got one now. Edwina comes in a package with Kate, great, just let him get a dowry set up for her, she can marry whoever she wants, he will walk her down the aisle. Lucy's brother is sort of an idiot, that's okay, Anthony will take Lucy into account too.

Especially with Penelope, you gotta understand Anthony has raised his siblings since he was 18, he's the only father figure Hyacinth and Gregory have. And he's probably made a habit out of parenting the younger generation whenever a new friend of theirs show up.

But Penelope is a special case because Anthony probably could tell since way way long ago that Colin would eventually marry Penelope. So he's basically been watching over her since she was little waiting for when Colin makes Penelope an official Bridgeton. He totally likes her more than Colin, she's smart, adorable and witty, Penelope is Anthony's sister same as Eloise, he might not have raised Penelope with as much care as he raised Eloise because she lived next door and not under his roof but make no mistake Anthony thinks Penelope is his sister. (Penelope got away with LW stuff only because she didn't live under the same roof as the Bridgertons)

The one time Anthony tried to pressure Colin into getting a move on and proposing already, it backfired, because Colin was an idiot. But Anthony was always clear that Penelope and Colin were endgame and treated Penelope with the consideration he owed a sister by marriage. And he treated Colin with the consideration he owed to a brother who kept his future wife waiting for a proposal during eight years... (You ever wonder why Colin felt more comfortable talking about his Penelope feelings with Daphne? He probably could tell that Anthony was going to take Penelope's side and drag him to the nearest church, no questions asked!) In fact when Colin does go to Anthony, it's exactly for Penelope's benefit, not his own.

Because yes, Anthony likes Penelope more than Colin.

About the second part of your question. What people (the show) sometimes forget about Anthony's character, especially while pointing out his flaws is that, he became newborn Hyacinth's father at 18, and Gregory was a toddler, Anthony was literally a teen dad, it's hinted that Violet had post partum depression for a while after Edmund died and Anthony had to be "The Viscount" and had his whole Rake phase. Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Francesca and Eloise at least remember Edmund to some extent, But when it comes to his younger siblings, all they know is Anthony. Gregory and Hyacinth never had a frame of reference for what a father was, except what Anthony showed them.

I think that scenes between Anthony and G and H in the show really help to see that in a mental picture of how much more tender Anthony is to Hyacinth and Gregory than he is to the rest of his siblings. Because in his mid, he's more their dad than their brother, So he's more lenient and lets them get away with more things. Just Anthony being wholesome with his two younger siblings and being incapable of getting angry at them (even if Hyacinth would try the patience of a saint) works into that. And it's not until they both get married that they realize that Anthony was actually going way beyond the job description. I just love that about Anthony.

[paisley-print]

Near The Water’s Edge:   Chapter Four

After fleeing your abusive husband, you find yourself in the small coastal town of July, North Carolina. Soon you meet Frankie Morales, Air Force Veteran and single dad. As the two of you grow closer, you begin to let go of your past and learn to love again. That is until a strange man shows up in town, and you ’re forced to choose between your safety or the safety of the people that you love.

Inspired by the novel “Safe Haven” written by Nicolas Sparks.

Series Master List

Frankie Morales x Female Reader Rating: 18+ / Heavy adult themes eventual smut. Trigger Warnings: Domestic Abuse, Mentions of death, PTSD, anxiety, mentions of police case, police.  Word Count: 

Note: Another heavy chapter, but things will let lighter as the chapters go on. Enjoy the first half of the beach day. 

Tag List:@qytyy @winter-fox-queen​​​​ @sherala007​​​​@inkededucatednnerdy @quica-quica-quica​​​ @hnt-escape​​​ @giizhkens-cedar​​​@heythere-mel​​​ @toomanystoriessolittletime​​

The ride passed in comfortable silence, the three of you listening to the radio and Lucy looking out the window at the cars in the next lane. All Frankie could think about was how nice it was to have someone else there to spend the day. He knew Lucy must have been feeling the same way, since he hadn’t seen her so excited about a beach trip in a long while. 

He appreciated how patient you were with her; it was something he noticed even on that first day. The way you refused help until you knew she was alright. That moment had stuck with him more than anything else. 

The memory of what Will said earlier surfaced in his mind. He shifted in his seat and glanced at you. Yes, you were beautiful. Strikingly so. A woman who could walk into a room and turn every head in the place; both men and women alike. Of course Frankie had been taken with you. He tried to suppress it, scolding himself whenever he was alone in bed at night and found his thoughts wandering.... 

His only goal right now was to be your friend because he cared for you and knew that you needed help. He wasn’t sure what kind of help, but he sensed that you were alone and at some point in your life something very bad had happened to you. He wouldn’t pry though, he would wait until you were ready to share. 

-

The beach wasn’t too packed; it was still early in the season and  the tourists hadn’t moved into their summer homes yet. The boys had done an oddly efficient job at setting everything up. When Ben and Will got into a little spat about how to sink the umbrella into the sand , Frankie simply rolled his eyes and continued to spray Lucy with sunblock. It made you laugh, they all seemed so comfortable with one another. 

The day was hot and everybody seemed eager to get into the water, everyone except you and Frankie.  You had bought a bathing suit at the store, intending on going in... but somewhere during the car ride you changed your mind. 

“You can go in if you want,” you told Frankie “I don’t mind just watching.”

He shrugged, “I don’t normally go in either.”

Then just like that the two of you were suddenly alone, both woefully unprepared for any sort of conversation.

You thought of something quickly, filling the silence “the marina was packed today.”

“Yeah, It’s always like that on memorial day. Most of the summer too, be prepared for the restaurant to start getting busy.”

“I prefer it that way. It makes the shifts go faster. So I’ve been meaning to ask, what exactly do you do? I assumed you owned the marina?”

He paused for a moment. “Uh, technically I do. It was a wedding gift from my parents. An uncle had died and left it to them. I think they just wanted to get rid of it, but I have an office manager that does all the upfront stuff….. normally I just work on repairs.”

Married. That wasn’t what you were expecting, but still no ring. “Did you go to school for that?”

“Kind of. I had training for planes, but you would be surprised just how similar the two are.” You gave him a look. He glanced at you and laughed sheepishly. “What?”

“I’m sorry, did you say planes?”

“Yeah”

“You fix planes?”

He smiled and crossed his arms, trying to seem much cooler than he actually was. “I fly them too.”

“You fly pl-....do you take constructive criticism?”

He laughed, “Of course.”

“Lead with that next time.”

He looked at you skeptically. “How am I supposed to lead with that, exactly?”

“You say, hi my name is pilot Frankie …..” 

He shook his head, grinning. “Morales,” he informed you. 

“Hi my name is pilot Frankie Morales, nice to meet you.”

He played along, “but how will I know if people actually like me for me, or they just want me to take them for a ride in a plane?”

You shrugged “it's tough being a celebrity, I don’t make the rules.”

“Oh yeah, celebrity, that’s me,” he said sarcastically. 

You kicked at the sand with your foot. “Also I liked you before I knew you had the coolest hobby in the world. So, you know that you can trust me.”

He glanced over at you and immediately noticed your smile. He had seen you smile before, but they would never quite reach your eyes. This one, he could tell, was real. He opened his mouth to speak when, in the distance, a wave crashed and Lucy squealed with laughter. Both of you turned your heads to look.

“Will Lucy be okay out there?” you asked. She had on a life vest and was being supervised in the shallows by the rest of the adults. Santi was holding onto a boogie board Lucy used to keep herself up. 

“Yeah, I know they seem like idiots but they are good men.” Frankie reached into the cooler to grab a bee and popped the cap off with the bottle opener. “Do you want one?”

You shook your head, “No thank you, but I’ll take a water bottle if you have it.” He set his beer down in his cup holder and reached into the cooler again. The bottle was freezing cold when he handed it to you. Perfect for a sunny day.

You wiped the condensation off on your dress. “Can I ask you something? It’s okay if you don’t want to answer.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, taking a sip of beer. 

“Lucy’s mom is she….? Are you two still….? I don’t mean to pry, I guess I’m just a little confused.”

“You and I both,” he said with a sigh. “I’m married but we are not together anymore, haven’t been for a few years.”

“Oh,” you said simply, not finding any clarification in what he told you. If anything, you had more questions, but you didn’t want to push. Besides, it didn’t matter anyway���. you couldn’t, you were married as well. “Does your family live in the area?”

“Nope, they live up north. Katie never really knew her family. She grew up in the foster system and was bounced around until she enlisted at eighteen. It’s just me and Lulu now, and the guys when they find the time to travel here.”

“I’m sorry,” you said honestly. “It must be hard not having your parents support.”

He shook his head and took another sip. “I expected it, even when I was younger, it seemed as though they were only interested in keeping me alive.” He looked down and started to peel off the sticker on the bottle as he spoke. “They are both doctors, mom is an archaeologist and dad an engineer. He actually helped design parts of the international space station…. I think they valued their careers more than anything else... they still do. The only time they ever came down to see Lucy was right after she was born, aside from that it’s usually a phone call on a holiday and a card with money in the mail.”

Although he tried to play it off as if it were just another part of life, you could see that it still affected him deeply. For a moment you thought about reaching out to take his hand, but you stopped yourself. “It really is their loss, they are missing out on two wonderful people.”

Frankie adjusted the baseball cap on his head, a sheepish little smile playing on his lips at the compliment. “Well, thank you. Lucy and I could say the same thing about you. You’re great with her.”

You glanced back at the little girl. She was smiling happily as Ben pulled her along on the boogie board. “I think little girls need to be protected, but not only that - they need to be seen and heard. She is already so independent and fierce. I can see how you encourage her to be her own person and not fit into any one mold. That’s important for little girls to learn.”

He laughed, “Yeah, she definitely gives me a run for my money, that's for sure. She can already repair an engine better than most men I know.”

A large gust of wind came through and took hold of the multi-colored beach ball beside you. Both you and Frankie sprang from your seats to race after it. The thing was fast, and you could not stop it from crashing into the waves. You noticed just how much cooler it was near the water’s edge. Although the temperature outside was sweltering, the Atlantic still held that winter chill. Both of you stared at the ball as it bobbed up and down with the tide. 

Frankie waved it away with his hand and squinted in the sunlight. “It’s fine, it’ll probably just float down the beach to another family or something.”

You smirked at him “or choke a poor dimwitted sea turtle to death.”

He paused and shot you a pretend glare, then took off his hat, dropped it in the sand and reached for his shirt. 

You giggled “no, no I’m joking. I got it.” You said, starting to strip down to your bathing suit also.

“Well, you gotta be faster than that,” he said, half jogging to the water.

You slipped off your dress easily and ran straight past him into the waves. Frankie was not far behind. You two were pushing against the tide as you reached for the ball. Fingertips just barely brushed against the plastic before it slipped a couple more inches away. This left just enough time for Frankie to swoop in and grab it.

Your stomach hurt from laughing so hard “hey!”

He shrugged, “I’m sorry that I care more about the environment than you.”

You splashed him with water playfully.

-

The two of you swam for another fifteen minutes, chatting about the town and volleying the ball back and forth. Frankie pretended not to see the way the droplets of water clung to your skin and sparkled under the sunlight. When he noticed the little lace pattern on the bottom of your swimsuit, he knew he had been staring for too long and forced himself to look away. The very last thing he wanted to do was scare you away, or make you believe he had some sort of ulterior motives to helping you. 

You both dressed again before walking back up to the chairs. When the two of you returned, the group had already come back from swimming. They were passing around Tupperware full of fruit while Santi was starting up the tiny little grill he had brought. 

“You guys really don’t play around for beach days,” you mentioned to Frankie. 

“I tried to warn you,” he said with a smirk. 

Will had Lucy thrown over his shoulder, carrying her easily with one arm. “Has anyone seen Fry?”

“I’m right here!” Lucy’s little voice drifted out from behind him.

Will started turning, pretending to look for her “Fry! Fry! Where are you!”

Lucy was hardly able to speak through her fit of giggles, “I’m behind you!”

He put her down on the sand, pretending as if he had seen her for the first time. “Jesus Fry! You scared me!”

“Lulu,” Frankie said, “come here so I can put more sunscreen on you.” Frankie took the bottle from the bag and sprayed her again, making sure to get her ears and the tops of her feet as well. He sprayed some in his hands, and Lucy scrunched up her nose as he applied it to her face.

Watching the two of them together made you smile. You were reminded again just how different Frankie was from your husband. David would have felt emasculated by having to take care of a child. If he had attended today, you would be sitting beside him silently the entire time, only getting up to fetch him a beer.

“Do you want some?” Frankie asked, and you were suddenly snapped right back to reality.  

Even though you weren’t threatened by a burn yet, you figured it would be a good idea. “Yeah, thank you.” You offered him your arms, then the front of your legs.

“I used to be terrible with remembering sunblock until I got sun poisoning in Iraq, god never again.”

“Iraq?” you asked, and turned so he could get the backs of your legs.

“Yeah, with the air force” he told you, assuming you already knew. 

Breath hitched in your throat as he brushed your hair over your shoulder. You cringed at the feeling of the warm sunscreen hitting the back of your neck and jerked away. It was enough for the others to notice. You laughed and lied quickly “damn horse flies hurt when they bite. They say you should wash off the bite with soap to get it to stop the swelling. Is there a bathroom here?”

You sounded believable. Becoming an expert liar had been the only thing keeping you alive for so long. 

Frankie felt horrible. He didn’t quite know what he had done to trigger you, but he knew it was something. “It’s pretty far, I can walk with you-”

You shook your head, a wide smile still plastered across your lips. “Nope, I just need a direction.”

Santi jumped in quickly. “That building when we first came in, near the tennis courts.”

You nodded and started forward, tears stinging at the corners of your eyes. Why was this happening right now? You were fine a moment ago and now you felt as though you couldn’t catch your breath. You shivered, remembering the feeling again and putting your hand on the back of your neck to stop it.

A soldier…. it made sense. You were too stupid to have seen it, the nicknames and the holiday...... 

Thankfully, they were single stall restrooms; you pulled the door shut and locked it behind you. The bottom of the floor was disgusting and filled with wet sand. You lifted yourself up onto the counter and sat, trying to calm down. A soldier, a soldier, you kept repeating to yourself. It was too similar. The anger, the potential for violence…. just like your husband. 

You placed your head in your hands, and suddenly you were back in New Jersey. It was a bitter February, snow still on the ground. You were in your bathroom hiding as David raged in the living room and screamed at his coworker on the phone. A little boy had been killed by his father weeks ago. David was assigned to the case. When the trial came, the jury found the man innocent and let him walk free, even though all the evidence pointed to him as the killer. It was an embarrassment to David and the entire homicide unit

“God fucking dammit, y/n! y/n!”

You pulled yourself up on shaking legs, straightened your dress and walked out. David was red in the face waiting for you. “I thought I told you to call Comcast, did I not?”

“They said that they could get someone out here Wednesday because of the snow-”

He took the television remote and threw it at you as hard as he could; he aimed for your face but it hit your shoulder instead. The plastic connected straight with your collarbone. You doubled over in pain, holding it as it throbbed. He stalked up to you and you moved back, the fear evident in your eyes.

His voice was teetering on the edge of lunacy as he screamed at you.

“I give you a simple fucking job to do and you can’t even get it done. You’re a lazy fat fucking bitch.” he shoved you hard but you manged to keep standing. “Spend all day sitting on your fucking ass while I have to go to work for the both of us! I need the television because I need to see the news coverage of the fucking case! You knew this! Or would you like me to get fired and the both of us live on the fucking streets!” He shoved you again, and you fell against the stone fireplace. Your hands came up to shield your face as he picked up the remote and hit you with it repeatedly. It caught your lip, busting it open. 

You didn’t care about the blood, all you could think about was the gun still holstered in his belt. You got the television fixed the next day-

“Summer?” 

You stood quickly and wiped away the tears from your cheeks, pretending like nothing was wrong. “Yeah?”

“Are you alright?” 

It was Frankie. 

You shook your head and smiled in the dingy plastic mirror in front of you. “Yeah, why?”

He could hear that you had been crying. He pushed on the door but it was locked. 

You didn’t like that at all; you slipped off the counter and sat on the floor, against the door. Bracing it closed with your body “I’m fine-”

“You’re crying-”

“No, I’m not I- I get allergies and that horsefly hurt. I am such a baby I’ve always had a low pain tolerance-”

“If it’s something that I did -”

“Nope, it’s nothing that you did. I’m fine, I’m really, really fine I promise. I just got overwhelmed and needed some air. I’ll be back in a few minutes, and you guys can eat without me. Don’t let me hold you up.”

Frankie wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t want to force anything. “Would you like me to save you a plate?”

“Yes, please.”

You could hear his footsteps start to retreat and relaxed a little. 

“Summer?”

“Yeah?”

Frankie was about to say something, but he thought better of it. He figured it was better to let you have your space now.

[platanchorsociety]

Now that Ace has wonderfully confirmed the existence of alternate universes, that means there can legitimately be some sort of 'mirror world' where the Drew Crew are all bad people. (Probably with a plot where half the Drew Crew end up trapped on the wrong side of the mirror world trying to work out how to get back while their evil counterparts escape into the real world and cause chaos)

Anyway, my ideas for their mirror world selves:

Nancy: raised by the Hudsons but hates Everett after she worked out what he did to Lucy. She fell in love with Ace but married Owen Marvin and conspired with Ace to murder him for money by hacking into the systems of a building he was in and making them go haywire. She and Ace are currently dating as they scheme to murder the rest of the Hudson family and take the fortune for themselves.

Ace: was dating Laura when he met Nancy. He immediately falls for Nancy and ends thing with Laura. Nancy demands Ace prove he loves her and won't go back to Laura so Ace lures Laura into taking him for a drive before causing the car to crash, killing Laura and leaving him with non-life threatening injuries. He and Nancy begin a relationship that continues while Nancy works to seduce Owen Marvin (which Ace is very jealous over). He helps Nancy murder Owen and moves in with Nancy in Owen's apartment.

Bess: having stole and lied her way to America, Bess quickly got into the Marvin family. She immediately began to force out the family members she felt would get in her way of securing the fortune and was furious when Nancy seduced, married and murdered Owen because she felt the Marvins were her 'turf'. When Bess, often criminal, schemes were uncovered by Aunt Diana, Bess killed her and then had documents forged proclaiming herself to be Aunt Diana's heir and the new head of the Marvin family. She and Nancy are in something of a war over Nancy’s murder of Owen and inheritance of his portion of the Marvin fortune.

Nick: although he purposefully murdered the guy at the party, Nick was able to trick people into believing it was manslaughter. In prison, he befriends Tiffany so that once he gets out he can have his revenge. Nick murders Tiffany upon his release and finds the bearer bonds while raiding her place to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. He also finds proof of Nancy and Ace’s criminal deeds and blackmails Nancy into staying quiet about what he did to Tiffany with that information.

George: having turned to petty crime as a child to feed herself as a child, George decides that she deserves much better. She and her sisters start to steal from various sources to get hold of the luxuries they feel they deserve. Eventually George begins to train more and more children up to steal for her, becoming a highly controlling mother figure for them and taking most of what they steal as 'rent'. She is slowly beginning to become increasingly violent in her crimes, furious as she watches more and more people her age take control of vast fortunes (like Nancy and Bess) and she still doesn't have the life she wants.

[newtonsheffield]

Do you have anything on how Sophie deals with the ridiculous money Benedict has? Like what happened with the New York trip??

Did Kate give her a little pep talk about it seen as she was sort of the same when she’d started dating Anthony? 😁

Please and thank you

And I love your stuff as always 🥰🥰🥰

Hello Again!! 

This has been a hot topic in my ask box and I think, honestly, if Kate had a problem with Anthony spending money on her imagine How Sophie must feel? 

Anon Asked: Did Sophie end up going to New York? How did the conversation go after Anthony’s advise to Benedict about spending money on Sophie?

Anon Asked: You did something similar for Kate and Anthony... how does Sophie cope with Benedict’s ridiculous amount of money and him spending it on her? ☺️☺️

Let’s have a little look at the way this conversation went after Benedict sprinted from Kate and Anthony’s house that Saturday afternoon.

Sophie Beckett had known Benedict had a lot of money from the beginning. For one, she’d met him at the most extravagant wedding she’d ever seen (And she’d worked at quite a few weddings) that was thrown by his family. But knowing it in a vague sense was very different from knowing it in a literal sense. She’d walked into his beautiful house and her chest had ached because she knew no matter what, they would never been on even footing. There was an uncomfortable power imbalance in it, something that had settled deep within her bones a long time ago and she hated that it was here too. Where she wanted there to never be anything between them. 

But mostly in those first few months, they’d managed to skirt around it. She’d convinced him that she liked staying in and cooking for him, which she did obviously but even so. And She hadn’t told him about her birthday, very nearly gotten away with it until he’d asked her the day before As if he’d Known. And Then she’d burst into tears in Violet Bridgerton’s living room when she’d been given a sewing machine and yards and yards and yards of fabric. And Kate had smiled a little sadly at her as if she understood perfectly, while Benedict had looked perfectly bewildered at her reaction as he wrapped his arms tightly around her and said  “Do you not like it Soph? I just remembered that you said you used to sew but you didn’t have a machine anymore and I-” and she’d cut him off with a kiss. Telling herself it was rude to return a gift, even though the power imbalance settled into her more firmly. And then she’d been sitting on his sofa this morning and he’d smiled at her in the way that always made her heart flutter nervously and he’d said 

“Sophie do you have a passport?” And her heart had stuttered, her brow furrowing, suddenly terrified of what he’d say next.  “No.” She’d said cautiously, not moving, her spoon raised halfway to her mouth. And he’d smiled and said “Okay, I can get you the forms, and there’s still time to get you one, but we should probably start today because We have to leave for New York by the 10th.” He’d rambled, barely paying attention and Sophie’s heart stopped, panic clawing at her chest.  “New York? Ben, I’m not going to New York with you.” She’d finally stuttered out and his face and fallen and god she’d felt even worse. And they’d gone back and forth and then he’d said what she was afraid he was going to say from the very beginning “It’s fine Sophie, I’ll pay for everything.” And tears had pricked at her eyes and she’d managed to choke out  “I don’t want to argue Ben. I’m going home.” And she’d hated the way he looked at her when she left. As though he she’d just crushed his heart under the toe of her sneaker on the way out. 

And she hated even more how she’d cried on the phone to his sister in law when she’d called innocently asking if she wanted to meet with Lucy for drinks tomorrow. And she’d burst into tears and said “I don’t think Ben would want me to spend time with his family.” And Kate had sounded a little startled When she’d said  “Sophie first of all, what Benedict Bridgerton wants has very little impact on my life. Secondly, I doubt that’s true.” And the entire story had come spilling from Sophie’s mouth a little embarrassedly and Kate had hissed “That idiot. I can see his car outside my house. Hold tight, I’m sending him to yours.” And Sophie hadn’t even been able to get out her  “Kate, Don’t!” before the phone had gone dead. 

So really, she shouldn’t have been surprised when there had been a frantic pounding on her door 45 minutes later. The small, cowardly part of her had wanted to sit there, ignoring the sound, not wanting to hear what he had to say. But his voice had drifted through the tiny apartment. “Please, Soph. I just want to talk.” It had crackled and her heart and clenched, and her socked feet had slid across the floor as she stumbled to open it. And he’d looked so apologetic that she just wanted to wrap her arms tightly around him but she held her ground. As she stepped back for him to come inside, chewing the inside of her cheek, staring at the floor as she shut the door.  “Sophie, I’m really sorry.” His voice came out in a whoosh. And her eyes shot up to his, shining at her across the room, begging her to believe him.  “I should have realised how this would make you feel and I shouldn’t have assumed you wanted to come with me.” 

And Sophie’s breath had caught in her chest and tears had pricked in her eyes again “Thank you, for your apology. And I know you just wanted to do something nice but, Ben, it’s too much. And I don’t want you to think that I’m with you because of the things you can give me. I love you for you, you know that right?” She’d had to stutter out, forcing herself through it as his mouth opened to protest, shaking his head desperately as she reached the end.  “Sophie, I know that okay? And I love you too. I love you so much that I just didn’t want to not be around you for a month. But it made you uncomfortable and I’m sorry. I’m still pretty new at this and you can just talk to me about this okay?” And his voice was so gentle when he tugged on her arm until she toppled against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat soothing against her ear. And finally she breathed out

“It’s just... hard for me to talk about and I’m so worried you’ll figure out I’m not enough for you. And I don’t want to be away from you either but I can’t come with you this time. Okay?” She’d said a little desperately, pulling back to look him in the eyes again. He nodded gently. “Okay, just...promise me we’ll talk every day though. And!” He said, his eyes wide “You have to stay at mine, it’s too cold here for you without me.” And laughter had bubbled in her chest and she’d found herself nodding.  “And I promise, one day you can take me somewhere.”

And, a month after he asked her to marry him, And he told her he had to travel for work she took a deep breath and said  “Can I come with you?” and the smile on his face was blinding