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disregardcanon · 1 year ago

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yellowjackets disney's descendants au

okay so a quick run down of basic roles. these will not directly correspond to everything but it's a basic framework

how the roles line up

VKs

natalie as mal

jackie as evie

shauna as carlos

van as jay

crystal as dizzy tremaine

AKs

lottie as ben

tai as audrey

jeff as chad charming

misty as jane

laura lee as rapunzel and eugene's daughter <3

akilah as tai's best friend in auradon tiana and naveen's daughter. if she has a corresponding role it's probably lonnie?

mari is a madrigal who hates singing. absolutely ABHORS IT

coach martinez as the tourney coach who is also the coach from airbud because i think that's HILARIOUS.

airbud as dude the dog

travis and javi don't really have corresponding canon roles but they're here and i love them

okay so. here is The Vision

lottie has recently been given the crown of auradon. this is due to absentee parenting from king malcolm and his wife, who are off doing vacations because they had so much fairy tale bullshit over the course of their lives. queen charlotte the first decides that it's unfair for the children of the isle of the lost to suffer for the actions of their parents and does some research about who would be the best to invite to move to auradon to test out a relocation program.

tai is the daughter of sleeping beauty who has issues with supernatural sleepwalking, presumably a strange holdover from her mother's curse. she's not entirely sold on lottie's idea, but she tries to give it a chance, at least. if there's anyone who feels stifled by every bit of auradon's pomp and circumstance and Why Don't You Find a Nice Prince or Nobleman to Settle Down With? it's tai.

lottie, tai, akilah, laura lee, and mari are The Tourney Girls. there are some other extras out there but they are the main ones. airbud is the next most important player. he doesn't talk he's just there barking and being Amazing At The Game. travis is there but he hates it. like, absolutely HATES IT. he is so bad at tourney but there aren't enough good players for his dad not to have an excuse to make him play. tai akilah and mari really resent him for Being There, Sucking, laura lee is kind because she feels like she has to be, but lottie actually really likes him. she doesn't talk shit so travis talks nothing but shit. For Her

javi is always around just chilling in the stands and drawing. he goes to the attached auradon middle school.

misty wants to be the equipment manager and do lots of Cool Things TM for Cool People TM but her mom wants her to do certain fairy things. and she HATES IT.

okay so our VKs

natalie- okay so natalie is mal but she has a different backstory. maleficent did not want to deal with raising a kid, but since abortion does not exist in descendants, she dropped the kid off with her dad and peaced out. the dad was clayton from tarzan and natalie never knows who her biological mom is because her canon mom is around and married to clayton. things go basically the same as yellowjackets canon where a year before the events of descendants clayton is beating her step mom and nat gets the gun and he accidentally puts a bullet through his own head. her "step mom" that she never knew wasn't her bio mom throws her out on the streets with nothing but the name of her bio mom and nat, angry and hurting, goes directly to maleficent's lair. maleficent, who never wanted to have a child, is more than happy to have an angry, powerful teenager who presumably killed her shitty ex.

jackie is evie and mrs. taylor is the evil queen. she grows up with all of evie's Must Be Perfect Wonderful Wife conditioning, the knack for poisoning and subtle manipulation, and the love of fashion, but she has source of solace in-

shauna, from a narrative standpoint, is carlos. she's not cruella's daughter, though. shauna is the daughter of one of cruella's goons (take your pick). on the isle there is a very strong expectation that henchkids become henchmen, and this, of course, does NOT work for shauna shipman and her sixteen different complexes. her dad tries to conscript her into following around and doing cruella's kid's bidding at a young age, and it... does not work for her. she has a violent little outburst and then runs away, living on the street and killing animals to eat for a while. she finds jackie instead. perfect, wonderful, Almost Fit for Auradon princess jackie. they clump together and shauna moves into their castle, under the pretense that she's become jackie's handmaiden. (a princess needs a handmaiden, darling). this chafes too, but with jackie's insistence that it's not true, not their real relationship, not anything tangible, it's a lot easier to ignore. they go to school together everyday at the weird little isle school, and shauna is the top of their class. it's hard for that to feel like it matters, though, when the biggest currency in the outside world is fear and the biggest currency inside is Being Jackie. the resentment still happens and chafes, but it's just simmering. it won't boil over until auradon.

van, from a narrative standpoint, is jay, but she's the daughter of madam medusa from rescuers rather than jafar because. van is so white it could blind you. madam medusa has a junk shop just like she did in the world before the isle, and van spends a lot of her time super athletically stealing for it with a lot of parkour. her mother spends all the time she isn't running the shop collapsed on the couch, just like in van's canon. she doesn't really have anyone her own age until natalie, daughter of maleficent, starts upending the power structures on the island and she decides she wants in. they become fast friends, but it's always "second" and "commander", because van never met a power dynamic that she didn't jump on. they also try their hardest to make things as good as possible for the isle kids in their area, but they refuse to admit that. come on, and look weak? dumb

jackie and shauna end up with nat and van pretty soon after they become a They. natalie wrests control of the taylor castle from jackie's mother and the evil queen refuses to surrender, leading to a bitter siege. jackie and shauna finally come out to try to broker a surrender, but natalie steps on jackie's toes and then jackie turns from Perfect Princess to Top Tier Bitch. and then she's like oh shit oh shit oh sHIT i pissed off maleficent's daughter this is going to be-

and shauna's back here getting her hunting knife out like sure, maleficent's daughter might have magic but if she DIES first then she can't use it- and nat just laughs. boisterous, delighted laughter.

"i think this castle's already got a queen." then she glances over to shauna's no longer concealed knife. "maybe two?" they both blush.

natalie, feared daughter of maleficent, setting the isle into a chaos it hasn't known in more than a decade, holds out a hand.

"Truce?" she asks. then suddenly natandvan becomes natandvanandjackieandshauna and they have half the isle under their collective thumb.

but then the invitation comes from queen charlotte for four children to move to auradon, and suddenly maleficent, who is still the most powerful person on the isle, has a single, itsy bitsy favor to demand from the daughter she so kindly took in after her father's death. who she taught to wield the magic she barely knew existed, who she loved and cherished and fed and clothed-

and a plot to steal the blue fairy's wand and dismantle the barrier is born.

how things go in auradon

natalie is torn between what she feels she owes to her mother and the other denizens of the isle, her friends (who are the most important in this equation), and then her emerging feelings for lottie. lottie who is so kind and who trusts her and is trying so hard for her and her friends, who she's so attracted to but is just using (right, that's all this is? right????) who is trying to make her own shitty society better too.

jackie is finally in the land of the royals and is trying to put all that life training to good use, but it's not... really working. we have something resembling the chad plot with jeff and something resembling the doug plot with laura lee, who thinks that jackie is very kind and deserves to be treated better (though their relationship isn't romantic). shauna is standing at the sidelines and crossing her arms and pouting. fine! if jackie wants to get her heart broken by this dumb auradon boy be my guest! i'll just. go do something else. fuck you

shauna and van both join the tourney team, because it's part of their collective How to Infiltrate Auradon Society and Get Lottie's Good Graces plan. also because shauna is very angry right now and needs a physical outlet and van has been cooped up for too long and is gonna go crazy. they're both good enough to make it and travis is like FUCK YEAH I'M FREEEEEEEE

his dad is very upset about this but shauna and van are way better than him already and it's hard to justify making his son do something the kid doesn't want to when there are better options and the nepotism isn't even wanted.

shauna and javi become friends and she encourages his interest in art like. huh. wouldn't it have been nice to have one singular adult who was nice to me? and then does not examine it beyond that. shauna also befriends tai, who tries to show her all of the things auradon has to offer because shauna is the most obviously Intelligent TM of the isle kids.

van flirts with tai a lot, but neither of them make a lot of progress with that because tai is pretty closeted and van is. not trying as desperately as shauna to try to be acceptable TM here.

by the end of the movie, they all decide that they don't want to use the wand to burst the barrier and talk with lottie about ways to help the other kids integrate over here in auradon instead. lottienat happens first, taivan happens second after van starts to commit to being in auradon and tai starts to commit to Going Against Dumb Auradon Rules like Homophobia (I'M A PRINCESS DAMN IT) and learn more about what's up with her sleepwalking with van and also nat. it takes a really long time for jackie and shauna to work things out because jackie keeps trying to force things with prince jeff and shauna finds better uses of her time and energy than worrying about it, but eventually they come together too. and crystal comes too! and she and misty become besties. and misty does not do any insane things, thnx

#yellowjackets #yellowjackets aus #descendants #lottienat #taivan #jackieshauna

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raspberrydaisieschlb · 2 years ago

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HOO BOY FINALLY WATCHED IT

I have a lot of thoughts but I’m going to focus on our protag right now, because god was she good. (Semi-rant)

(spoilers. Read at own risk)

Like, there are a lot of things that have yet to be answered, about Sora ALONE, but it’s the first episode so of course we’ll have to wait. But so far, Sora is pretty solidly written, and already distinguishing herself from other leaders, minus the color.

Because let’s be honest: What she did was stupid. Her first idea when seeing an explosion at a castle was TO GO TOWARDS IT, she chased after a superpowered terrorist pig unarmed, went into the villain dark matter portal, and tried to fight the motw with no powers whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, it was cool to see but it was FUCKING DUMB. But they didn’t change the gravity of the situation and girl is bruised and struggling to get up before she becomes Cure Sky. And it’s clear some part of her knows what she’s doing is stupid because it was emphasized more than once that she was scared. I believe at the beginning of the episode she said something along the lines of “What kind of hero would I be if I was scared?” and yet, at least twice, she showed fear. But girl kept fighting for Ellee (how do you spell her name?) despite everything that happened. That amount of strength and determination is not something I’ve seen in a Cure before (not this early in the season at least)

But again, it’s only the first episode, and all seasons have their flaws, so considering what has happened in past seasons, I just have a few concerns:

They won’t acknowledge failure. Like, I get it. It’s a kids show. And failure sucks. But since this show has a bit of a superhero theme this time around, there should be a moment in time where they acknowledge that even heroes aren’t perfect and can be prone to failure as much as the next person.

2. They won’t acknowledge the potential stress and overwork that is going to be Sora’s life. I’m not as worried with this one, but I’m still worried. Sora has a personal code of conduct and still wanted to fight despite the fact she was struggling to stand, so this might not happen, but it’s 40 episodes, things get forgotten, and they can (and sometimes do) pretend that any unresolved stress the character has just doesn’t exist anymore! Or at all! I don’t need her life to be struggle city, but at least recognize this ain’t easy.

3. They’ll overplay this. Again, seeing Sora do stuff no one has ever done before was pretty cool! But they could keep pointing that out. A lot. Act like she is the best thing since Black and then say the same thing the next season. I (personally) like the powerhouses, but there is a reason why people have issues with things like Parthenon Mode and Forever Lovely. And this also mixes in with Sora getting too much focus. We’re supposed to have 5 leads by the end of this season, and from what I’ve heard, Prism isn’t showing up until the fourth episode. Balance is important.

4. They’ll forget her flaws. Currently the only one I can note is that she’s an idiot (not an obvious one, but still an idiot), she just makes up for that with her determination. But, similar to point 3, I have seen characters either become that of a Mary Sue, or an oversimplified version of their character. We don’t need that.

But I’m just going to silently pray none of this happens and hold on to the Sora Harewataru that was shown to me.

#precure #pretty cure #precure spoilers #hirogaru sky precure #hirogaru sky pretty cure #hirogaru sky spoilers #sora harewataru #cure sky

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woodchipp · 10 months ago

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The slog continues.

The general quality of the writing doesn't improve at all. It's just as mind-numbing as before, both in Headspace and Faraway Town. The only gag I found genuinely clever was the "P" keyboard key hovering above a toilet in Last Resort

I neglected to mention this in my original post, so I'd like to mention it now - one of the game's main antagonists is literally called Something. The writer must've thought that it'd sound mysterious and intimidating, but it just comes off as her not bothering to think of a proper name instead

Omori overcoming his fears in an instant via the game flatly informing the player that he's no longer afraid of heights/spiders/drowning is hilariously anticlimactic

The idea that Sweetheart represents Mari's more unsavory qualities/Mari herself is interesting. However, the game doesn't show the impact said unsavory qualities had on Mari, Sunny and their friends before the game's plot twist happened (nor does it ever show that Mari had any significantly unsavory qualities, for that matter), and the idea goes nowhere as a result. Moreover, if Sweetheart is supposed to represent Mari, what does it say about Mari, then, when Sweetheart is an obnoxious, immature narcissist who tries to force Hero to marry her multiple times?

Sweetheart's theme, World End's Valentine, is actually pretty neat! At the very least, it didn't make Beev's ears bleed like most of the soundtrack did lol. I think it's decent, but I don't understand the praise towards it since I've heard better music tracks

The books with Sunny's old memories in Lost Library ultimately amount to boring fluff that should've been shown rather than told if the game wanted it to have any weight. One book in particular tries to set up the argument that forms the backbone of the game's plot twist, but ends up inadvertently implying that Sunny flipped out at Mari because he wanted to watch more cartoons with his friends

Sunny reluctantly agrees to help his Best Friends Ever™ and his sister build their treehouse even after seeing them work their asses off for the whole day. Reluctantly. "I will just be their moral support" my ass

Sunny gaining all three plot-relevant fears at once because he fell nto a deep body of water from a great height due to a spider is a circumstance so contrived that it becomes hard to take this plot point seriously

Kel asks Sunny whether the latter wants to tag along for a trip to the supermarket and then immediately responds to the question for Sunny. I'd feel bad for the boy because he never gets a say in anything if I gave a shit about him

The game's tendency to write out sound effects like "sigh" in the dialogue boxes as if the characters are actually saying them out loud drove me insane. M U N C H

Aubrey and her Hooligan friends don't seem to be concerned about Sunny, who slashed Aubrey with a knife just the day prior, interacting with them at Gino's pizza joint. One of the Hooligans even loudly calls out Sunny and Kel's names if you interact with him, but the rest of the group have no reaction whatsoever

Kel reveals that Hero's nickname originated from his love of hero sandwiches, which is the dumbest explanation the writer could've come up with. It would've made more sense if it was treated as some sort of in-joke for Sunny's social circle, but Hero and Kel's parents inexplicably refer to their son, whose real name is Henry, as "Hero" too. Imagine consistently calling your child "Cheeseburger" without ever using their real name just because they like cheeseburgers

Polly entrusts Sunny and Kel, two 16-year-old children, with finding Basil when he goes missing even though she, as Basil's caretaker, is supposed to make sure this exact sort of thing doesn't happen. Talking to her later has her mention that she barely knows the kid she's been taking care of for two years. Polly sucks at her job lmao

(speaking of Basil, another thing I forgot to mention in the original post is his mental breakdown in his house's bathroom on the first day in Faraway Town. it's the epitome of the game's unintentional hilarity since the player still retains control of Sunny, which means that you can make him run circles around his best friend while the latter is presumably choking on his own tears. the game doesn't even make Basil look like he's having a breakdown either - he just stands in the center of the bathroom. likewise, Basil remarks that Sunny looks "scared", but inspecting the bathroom mirror shows the latter's default resting bitch face. amazing)

Kel doesn't allow Sunny to enter the bathroom in the former's house until you visit his room under the pretense of "I want to show you my room first!", unintentionally making him come off as an asshole

Kel doesn't even slightly protest against Sunny digging around in his mom's purse to steal the pepper spray. It makes sense that Kel wouldn't jump to his parents' defense given that he was largely ignored by them in favor of Hero, but it still felt a bit weird considering how morally upright he strived to be up to that point

Aubrey's reaction after she accidentally shoves Basil into the lake is as priceless as you'd expect. tfw you commit attempted murder

Kel tells Sunny to dive into the lake and rescue Basil even though he should know that Sunny has a fear of drowning since he was there when Sunny nearly drowned in that very lake before. Not only that, but neither Kel nor Aubrey attempt to help Basil themselves, pointlessly arguing on the pier instead. They're such good friends, aren't they?

The choice prompt to save Basil doesn't have any sort of time limit to show the urgency of the moment and the game doesn't punish you at all if you choose "No". You can just have Sunny stand on the edge of the pier and do nothing while his best friend is drowning. game_design.exe

The "fight" against Sunny's fear of drowning is downright farcical because the animations for the skills Sunny needs to use in order to end the fight are the same as they were in the previous fights with his fears, which means that Sunny is breathing underwater. Logically, he should've died due to his breathing filling his lungs with too much water. So much for realism!

Hero frequently tends to sound less like a realistic person and more like a self-help booklet. He's mild and unremarkable otherwise

Hero asking Sunny to help him buy flowers for the former's mom doesn't make any sense. Why couldn't Hero just do that himself?

Finally, Hero's "Everything feels so different now... but it seems like you've pretty much stayed the same." line that he says while sleeping over at Sunny's empty house could have actually been poignant (considering that Sunny did spend the last 4 years being unable to move on from Mari's death) if the writing was competent enough to make the player care about any of these characters

All this, and we're still not even halfway through the game. Truth be told, I think it says a lot about the quality of OMORI's writing that the most fun we had with it was @the-crow-binary making memes about a completely different game concurrently with my playthrough.

Black Space awaits.

Currently replaying OMORI because I'm a masochist with my best friends @beevean and @the-crow-binary providing emotional support lmfao. Even despite how soul-crushingly boring it is, I think we're still having some sort of fun with this clusterfuck of a game

Highlights (and the misc. problems we've managed to spot) so far include:

I already knew that this game's length was detrimental to it during my first solo playthrough, but this playthrough is helping me put into perspective just how bloated OMORI is, even when it comes to an aspect like dialogue. For example, a single conversation between Space Boyfriend and the main cast took us approximately 5 minutes to get through, and it's not like the writing is gripping enough to make us give a shit about the characters or anything they're saying

Speaking of the dialogue, you can just see how hard it tries to be witty and Quirky™ the way Earthbound and indie RPGs like Undertale were. Needless to say, it fails horribly, and the end result of that was me having to fast-track some conversations because they were unfunny and weren't relevant at all

I got unintentionally (!) stuck in White Space for 15-20 minutes because I couldn't find the map the game needed me to find to let me open the door. Beev came to hate the repetitive 8-bit BGM the area had by the time I finally found the map lol. game_design.exe

Headspace's music is so ear-gratingly abysmal oh my god. I can only call it "dollar-store Kirby music" because that's the most appropriate description that comes to mind and I'm pretty sure Lost at a Sleepover gave Beev severe PTSD. Of course, the music of Faraway Town isn't any better: the "track" that plays in the first fight with Aubrey is less music than it is the result of an .exe file being put through an audio player. Sonic Chronicles might have some serious competition in the "worst video game soundtrack" category asdfghjkl

The plot of the Faraway Town segments is so cookie-cutter that it genuinely hurts to sit through. Character writing (or the lack thereof) aside, Sunny and Kel spend half a day loitering around the town and asking Aubrey's cronies where she is even though Kel could've easily gotten that information from Mikhael had he just indulged the latter's delusions of grandeur a little bit

Faraway Town's daytime sky is literally a scrolling JPEG of a cloudy sky. The battle backgrounds of the real world segments are edited JPEGs as well. Everyone's houses look exactly the same on the outside save for some of them being a different color. The developers spent six years and more than $200,000 on this game.

Sunny's fights against his fears are boring. You just need to wait until a particular turn when the game grants you a special skill you use to end the fight immediately. What was the point of designing these hallucinatory monsters if the player doesn't get to fight them at any point during the main route?

Aubrey (ostensibly) swinging a nail bat at Sunny is not treated with the same degree of realism as Sunny slashing her with a knife. Additionally, Aubrey rides away on her scooter just fine even though she's supposed to be bleeding

Mari's picnic baskets are inexplicably scattered all across the town and fulfill the exact same function as they do in Headspace. So much for realism!

I won two of the fights against Aubrey's goons even though I was trying to lose. gameplay.exe

Sunny is even more unpleasant than I remember. He doesn't respond to Basil - who is supposedly his best friend - when the latter talks to him, stays silent while (and after) Kel vents to him about Hero yelling at him and barges into the church despite Kel advising him to wait until the sermon ends. Why should I feel bad for him again?

Kel generally seems to treat Sunny like an actual baby, spelling out incredibly obvious things to the latter (e.g. that Sunny shouldn't be carrying a knife or walking in the road because it's dangerous) and making all of Sunny's decisions for him, to the point of not allowing Sunny to return into his own house until nighttime under the pretense of "there's so much to do! it's a brand new day!"

Finally, the "fight" against Sunny's fear of spiders comes completely out of nowhere since nothing triggered said fear during Sunny's adventures outside

Peak game, everyone.

And it's going to get way worse down the line!

#omori #omori game #wood et al play omori

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lightsblooming · 2 years ago

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hi! this is an independent low-activity rp blog for a child oc! enjoy your stay!

❀❀❀

as a girl so much smaller than her peers, mary is a quiet child that has grown up in her very few years of life being invisible to everyone around her. accustomed to neglect at the orphanage, she's developed the habit of internalizing her thoughts and needs; now driven by her anxieties, to the point where just about everything brings her fear.

despite her comfortability with being a background character, she's also an aspiring princess who tries her best to be kind and friendly - hoping to one day become an expert at hosting the kind of fancy tea parties where everyone is invited so that no one has to feel alone.

from an unfavored start to suddenly being thrust into the beginning of the rest of her life, mary's story is one about navigating the fragility of childhood, the perserverance of heart in the face of cowardice, and the journey of girlhood in a world that does so little to protect it.

at the end of this story, mary will never be brave. she will grow, as all little girls who learn to love themselves do, and eventually she'll come to realize within herself that maybe fear isn't a tragedy, at all—but a strength.

❀ RULES ❀

this is a low-activity child rp blog!

i have beta editor only.

PLOTTING IS NECESSARY. it will take all of two seconds and consists of two questions: 1. is mary under your muse’s care? 2. and if you’d prefer that she isn’t, what is your muse’s relationship to hers? ( optional; see: here ) … all done!

multiverse; mary is an ordinary girl that can fit into any canon

i’m aware that child oc blogs are kind of dependent on other muses, so i am least likely to follow blogs first, with a few exceptions to other kid muses and related characters

if you’d like to create a verse together with your muse, feel free to let me know! this is what the flexibility of my oc is for!

I WILL UNFOLLOW BLOGS that don’t plot / write with me

DNI: pr0ship losers, minors, non-mutuals

be nice : )

thanks for reading!

❀ BIOGRAPHY ❀

Name: mary Birth date: march 17 Gender: cis girl Sexuality: hetero

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Age: 4-5 years old Weight: 43 lbs. Height: 3'5" Body build: slim Shape of face: round Eye color: brown Glasses or contacts: none Ethnicity: unknown ( ambiguous ) Skin tone: beige, tanned Distinguishing marks: none Predominant features: large, bright eyes, long eyelashes Hair color: brown & light brown Type of hair: mostly straight, medium-thick, curly at the ends Hairstyle: shoulder length cut, loose sweeping bangs, sometimes wears double buns Voice: soft, high Disabilities/disorders: anxiety, ptsd Usual fashion of dress: dresses, shoes, ribbons, soft colors Favorite outfit: frilly yellow dress, white stocking / socks, babydoll shoes, hair ribbons, glitter polish Jewelry or accessories: ribbons, bows, barrettes, stickers, earrings, bracelets, rings

PERSONALITY Good personality traits: friendly, curious, helpful, polite Bad personality traits: shy, afraid, anxious, doesn’t speak up about needs Mood character is most often in: calm, happy, dreamy, cautious

FAVORITES Color: yellow, pink, cream Least favorite color: green, black Music: music box, sing-a-longs Food: peanut butter and honey sandwiches

HABITS Hobbies: dolls, dress up, tea parties Plays a musical instrument? no, but might want to Plays a sport? no How he/she would spend a rainy day: playing pretend in her room Nervous tics: hiding, crying, fidgeting hands, looking down, thumb sucking Usual body posture: correct posture, tucked to herself Mannerisms: lots of careful nodding and headshakes, expressive eyes, gripping the hem of her dress, gentle touching Peculiarities: hoards flowers, silent mover

TRAITS Optimist or pessimist? optimist Introvert or extrovert? introvert Daredevil or cautious? cautious Logical or emotional? emotional Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? both Confident or unsure? unsure Animal lover? mostly in a theoretical sense, not practical

RELATIONSHIPS W/ OTHERS Opinion of other people in general: strangers are scary, but everyone is important Does the character hide his/her true opinions and emotions from others?: yes, because she has trouble speaking up about her needs and sharing her opinions Person character most hates: bullies and monsters Best friend(s): n/a but probably an imaginary friend or a stuffed animal Love interest(s): n/a Person character goes to for advice: stuffed animal Person character feels responsible for or takes care of: toys Person character feels shy or awkward around: everyone Person character openly admires: pretty people, brave people

#|| pinned.#do not reblog /

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chuplayswithfire · 2 years ago

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i love the writing for Stede because he's an excellent example of how a person can be marginalized in some ways and privileged in others, which is, in general, the way the world actually works. its rare for there to exist a person with absolutely no privilege and only marginalizations, but people generally don't think of the ways that we're privileged, especially when we're suffering from the ways that we're marginalized

and that's why stede is a great example, and his writing does an excellent job of digging into the topic. because stede experiences a lot of marginalization as a gay man, from childhood bullying and abuse from his father right up to being pressured into marrying a woman and having children - but he's also immensely privileged by virtue of being rich, white, and a man, with each of those things insulating him from the realities of the world that other people, including the people around him, suffer through.

like, with mary - stede's marriage to mary as viewed by stede is one where they're both miserable in monotony, but when you look at the show in reality, stede checked out of his marriage because he didn't want to be there. mary didn't either, but she tried to make it work, because she doesn't have any other options in her society - she would be disgraced and without support, monetarily, or familial in most cases, if she left her husband, and she wouldn't be allowed to divorce him. she has to make it work because this is her only option.

but stede has options. stede can check out. stede can leave his wife to do the hard work of raising the kids while mary has to be the one to ask them to stop running around the house, and initiate conversations with them at the dinner table, and nurture and care for them. stede is the fun dad playmate, and its why when he decides that he wants to leave his monotonous life, where he's uncomfortable in a married state, that he leaves the children behind with her.

and with the crew - stede is a terrible captain in terms of actually knowing how to sail a ship or do anything that a ship needs doing. we all know this. the characters know this. there's a reason oluwande agrees that stede is going to get them all killed, and jim calls him the worst pirate captain ever - when stede sets out to be a captain, he genuinely sucks at this. he's terrible at it, because he didn't have to learn anything about doing any of it, he just needed to be rich to achieve everything he ever wanted, and then rely on the labor of poorer white men and poorer men of color to make it all work out for him.

in episode two, when stede finds his courage to go after the hostages and prove himself as a captain, he says "i am adequate", which is both played for comedy and empathy - comedy because its such an understatement for a positive affirmation, empathy because it's *such* an understatement and goes to outlining stede's overall low sense of worth, but i think it's also important to note that it's kind of right? at best, stede is adequate at that moment.

and throughout the show, we see stede take a lot of things to heart, but also, in many ways fail to take responsibility for things he does wrong - he overcompensates and makes them about his lack of worth, or he deflects and makes them not his fault, or he gets overly critical towards others so he doesn't have to accept any blame or fault - and it all stems from this mindset that's been built into him from youth, that he's worthless and terrible and pathetic.

and here's the thing: i'm not saying that stede's abusive father or the badmintons or anyone else who bullied and tormented stede were right. he's not a lily-livered little rich boy who's never going to be anything else. but they did impart a lot of learned helplessness into stede, at least as i see him, where because he has such low self-esteem, he genuinely seems to think that he can't possibly cause harm to other people. he feels guilty about abandoning his family, he feels guilty about leaving them behind, he feels that this makes him a bad person, but it's not until episode 9 and he learns that he's been reported dead that he seems to genuinely think about the ways that his family could have suffered without him.

after all, in keeping with the times, it's very possible that mary would have been educated on managing a household, but not finances or businesses, or the land that they run. it's very possible that other relatives could have come crawling from the woodwork for the fortune. it's possible that with the money being louis', not mary's, by right, that she could have been with very limited access to their funds.

a lot of bad things could have happened, even WITHOUT the emotional hurt that being abandoned by a husband/father would cause, but stede doesn't seem to have expected any of that. in episode 10, he's surprised and hurt that his children are angry and have forgotten him. he's angry that mary has found a person to be in love with. he's upset that he came back and coming back wasn't enough for anyone, because he didn't think he, stede bonnet, could hurt anyone.

and that's partially because he's always seen himself through the lens of victimization and the ways that others have hurt him, and not in the ways that he could hurt others. mary's life is better with stede gone not because of his inherent lack of worth as a person, but because he was a terrible husband, wrapped up in himself and his griefs and his hurts and his very real marginalizations, and in doing so completely failed to be compassionate or kind or even an active participant in his own domestic life.

by the end of the season, we see stede finally starting to own that. we see that he's recognized his part in the harm he caused, and that he's finally being active, not reactive, in his own life. he makes the decision to leave openly, he carefully removes himself from at least one of his privileges - his class, by abandoning his wealth fully, this time, no longer leaving himself a lifeline to the world of the wealthy elite, and setting out to be an equal to his crew and to ed.

and that's a GOOD way to show this kind of story. because we are often much more attuned to the ways that we experience marginalization than the ways we enjoy privilege. privilege functions near-invisibly for the privileged, because we don't see all the ways we benefit from a world that's purpose-built for us. it takes intentional thought and perspective to see that the world is not built equal, and that we don't all move through it in the same way. often times, we have to confront sources of our marginalization, like stede did in coming back home and dealing with the life he left behind, to acknowledge our privileges - like stede did again, facing his fellow disaffected rich peers and the wife and children he hurt - to begin being active participants in our lives.

i'm really glad for the way stede's journey is handled. it would have been SO easy for the show to say that stede has no fault in his actions, that he had no choices, that he was just reacting. instead the show shows us that stede had options all along, but he was so embedded within himself that he didn't see them, and straggled along, hurting people because he was too busy in that mindset, until finally he came out of it.

i'm excited to see season 2. i'm excited to see where stede grows next, now that he's finally actively shaping his life, not bowing to his learned helplessness, not looking away from the negative impacts of his choices.

#stede bonnet #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 speculation

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sneverussape · 3 years ago

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What kind of person do you think lily was? There's a lot said about her in the series, but i have trouble reconciling pure, shining paragon lily with someone who would marry someone that spent years tormenting her friend, 4 on 1.

ooh boy this will be a LOT. i can't even promise it will be coherent but i'll make an attempt to be. (going under a cut to save us all the grief).

first off, i think it's fair to state that one of the biggest drawbacks of lily's character is how she was written. she is a plot device. she exists to boost other characters’ narratives: she's simultaneously the Rich Boy's trophy wife, the self-sacrificing mother of the Boy Who Lived, the best friend slash lost love of the Fallen Hero, and, at the same time, also no one at all. lily is a character with little to no background and character development that she can barely stand on her own two feet without any of the associated (usually male) characters to prop her up. it absolutely sucks but that's how it is. that's how jk wrote her.

given that and working with the scraps that we do have, my opinion of lily is...complex. i try to give her justice by trying to understand her context, the workings of her mind, and the possible pressures she was subjected to, but it can be challenging especially since lack of canon pushes you into a space where you have to put them in Either/Or situations. my opinion of her has also changed as i got older. when i was younger (i read the books waaaay back, as they were getting released in fact) i only saw her as an extra character (i was most interested in snape, if that's not obvious enough, but neither did i think snape was 'obsessed' with her as a lot of hp fans now think). i saw her and snape as good friends who had had a falling out, and that he'd probably had a crush on her at some point, and it got naturally overtaken by guilt etc when she died. then when i reread some chapters containing her, i was quick to put her in the Bad Friend camp. i don't think that now. i think that she, like snape, was a complex human being who made a lot of questionable decisions but shouldn't be entirely vilified for them.

my main thoughts of her that are kind of built on material from canon as well as what jkr has said herself:

- she was not posh. she grew up in cokeworth, in the same town as severus. i don't think she was middle class as a lot of fics portray her. i think the evanses were slightly better off than the snapes but they were all working-class, and living was a day-to-day struggle. the kids spoke in the local accent, their clothes were all worn and patched over, there were no green spaces or public infrastructure for kids to safely play in, and they were all mostly running wild about the town since all their parents had to work. food was something to be thankful for because there was never enough, and sometimes they had to share with their neighbors. that's the kind of setting i think lily and severus grew up in, although severus suffered abuse on top of it all. it's possible that lily did too because of the setting (post-world war 2, poverty, adults dealing with repressed trauma from the war, etc) and it wouldn't even be that surprising if she had been;

- she and petunia got along fairly well up until the point lily found out she was a witch and, as a result, became friends with severus. it's stated in canon that petunia had also wanted to attend hogwarts with them, going as far as writing to dumbledore to allow her admittance. her jealousy upon his rejection had festered and grown into outright hate that she projected onto harry as an adult, but i don't doubt that she continued to love lily even after her death and despite how she treated harry. i think as kids they had stuck together and were very close, but magic had torn them apart. suddenly lily had a world of her own that petunia wasn't welcome in, and that would have hurt. pottermore stated lily attended vernon and petunia's wedding or engagement party but james made a right mess of it. i think lily TRIED to maintain their relationship but external factors always got in the way. i don't doubt she had also loved her sister very much;

- i don't think she had any other friends. she may have had a lot of acquaintances but i think her only real friend, the one who saw her for who she really was, was severus, and i think, at a certain point in their lives, she saw that as a weakness and resented it;

- i think, from the interactions we saw in canon of lily with other people, that lily had a penchant to please people, especially the ones who ranked higher than her in terms of power dynamics - petunia (who was the older sister), professors (sluggy comes to mind, the head of slytherin with a lot of connections), even the marauders whose actions she defended. it's not necessarily a bad thing, but i've always seen it as her being borderline manipulative. i noted that she wasn't the same with severus (based on their conversations, especially the ones in 5th year, before SWM) because he's lower than her in a lot of aspects, being a slytherin and quite likely of a lower social standing. she could boss him around and tell him to piss off and he probably wouldn't have minded. she actually strikes me as someone who could have been in slytherin; a perfect arrangement, save for the fact that she was a muggleborn. i think lily knew her place and the cards she was dealt with more than anyone, but she was also determined not to stay there;

- this brings me to the point as to why she ever went out with james potter in the first place. i think her friendship breakup with severus was inevitable because they were in the middle of a burgeoning war and both of them were being pulled to opposite and opposing ends. as an added complexity, i think she also wanted to be better than being muggleborn lily evans of cokeworth, best friend of the evil greasy slytherin git, and her way out was to associate with housemates who were in the upper echelons of power. like, we don't even know what her life was like in gryffindor tower. ron was poor, but he was also a pureblood, so that may have saved him from ridicule. but what if you were a poor muggleborn, with a northern accent to boot? in the same way severus trained himself to be more posh, lily could have done the same and could have furiously tried to blend in. maintaining a friendship with severus would have ended in heartbreak as there were too many risks and it likely outweighed the gains. this was the wizarding world too which is much much smaller than the muggle world and relied on connections more than anything. openly siding with the marauders would have saved her skin and secured her a future (which, as we all know, was forfeit anyway but whatever);

- jumping to the jily relationship, i honestly think it was also not one that was meant to last. iirc jkr projected a lot onto lily, so i'm surmising jily reflected a lot of her own failed relationships. i think james and lily had a less-than-ideal relationship, one that involved abuse (verbal, emotional, mental, physical, take your pick, but at least one form of it), and i think she may have been unhappy in the last year of her life, living in hiding with none of her own friends (if they even existed) and seeing no one else but james' pals. her only light in that darkness was likely harry as she couldn't even see her own family. i think, during those times, she thought a lot about the home she left behind and, as a consequence, her lost friendship with severus. she probably missed him, and i'm sure she must have been very lonely.

in sum, i don't think she was the Virgin Mary figure a lot of hp fans paint her to be. imho she had her own questionable but utterly human moments, and i just tried to fill in the blanks as to why she would have acted the way she did. i don't think it was easy to be lily evans at all, and majority of the 21 years of her life was likely a struggle.

#lily evans #and the cards she was dealt #i wish we knew more about her tbh #ask #hp #also mentions #snape #of course

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jesslockwood · 3 years ago

Text

Photo Opportunities

Word Count: 2.7k

Pairing(s): Tom Holland x Actress!Reader

Warnings: FLUFF with a slightly (barely) suggestive sentence towards the end

A/n: damn I can't write anything except actress reader? smh but this is for @londonspidey ‘s sit-com Writing challenge (ik I'm early lol) but I was so excited I wrote the whole thing in one go lmao the prompt is bolded!

Calling yourself a fan was an understatement. You were obsessed with anything and everything marvel. And oddly enough, you could after today say you were in the club. It wasn’t a public fact yet, until later that day actually, at the Marvel panel at comic con that you were being announced as the actress for the character, Felica Hardy and no one else knew except for the people who cast you and your best friend who signed an NDA. You were technically still a known actress for your roles on television mainly as Thalia on the PJO Disney + series and a couple of still decently sized films.

You were currently wrapping up signing autographs for fans of yours for today. Your team had planned it out so it wasn’t suspicious that you were at the con with a few of your castmates scattered doing other junkets and press so people wouldn’t guess who they were acting as the cast for new marvel projects.

You had been planning to go meet your best friend, who wasn’t in the industry before getting a text that she bought you both a photo-op with someone and she wouldn’t tell you who. You couldn’t only assume it was a marvel actor that you would indeed, freak out.

Y/b/n: btw I brought you a mask. I get the wig lol.

You: please tell me it doesn’t cover my full face. Also, how are we posing?

Y/b/n: I bought as many photo ops as I could so a lot of different ones, And if I tell you the poses it’ll spoil it.

You: is this with the money I pay you to be my assistant with? Lol fine I’m omw with security

Y/b/n: maybe…

Y/b/n: and they’ll need more backup security for who we’re getting a photo op with than you do for your hellfire.

You roll your eyes before taking your stuff and exiting the booth, before heading out the backways with staff security and your detailed security for the day. You only had security because you wanted to explore the con when you weren’t needed.

Your best friend had also been your assistant for the con weekend, but you didn’t want her to be confined to you the whole three days so when she could, you would let her explore it, at least she could experience it as a fan, right?

When you made it to that part of the building, you wanted to wait in line with her, which your security didn’t agree to so she texted you when there were about five people ahead of her. She was one of the last in line, with you asking her to be kind, so others would get their chance to be first with whomever it was.

When she texted you and your detailed exit, getting a few stares and others taking their phones out to either take photos or tweet, you wave at them before joining your best friend in line.

“Here,” she says before handing you none other than a black cat mask before she puts on a red wig.

You glare at her slightly trying to not make a scene, before putting it on.

“I’m assuming you're Mary Jane?” you laugh figuring out that it had to be someone from Spider-Man.

“How’d you- never mind.” She laughs with you.

She then explains how she’s going to pose for your five photo ops, joking in between how she should “get a raise for this”.

You catch sight of him before sucking in your breath. This was either going to go down amazingly or terribly, there was no in-between with you.

“Excuse Me, are you Y/n Y/l/n?”

You turn around and are met by some fans who were standing in line behind you.

“I am! How’s your con going?” you ask politely to the two of them.

“It's going amazing! We love you as Thalia! Could we maybe get a picture? Only if it’s okay?”

“Of course! Thank you for supporting me!” your best friend grabs their phone to take the photo, before you take off the mask, and stand between the two fans, and your best friend snaps a few photos.

“Thank you so much! And Are you fans of Tom?”

You start slowly walking back to catch up to the line.

“Yeah, I love him as Spiderman, but I also enjoy his other roles. He's very talented, I'd love to work with him one day!”

“Have you seen him in Uncharted? We love Him as Nathan drake!”

“I have, he was amazing per usual! How are you two posing with him?”

They show you their innovative pose. You laugh and tell them it's great before you have to wish them goodbye before heading up for your turn for the photo op.

“How do we want to pose- hang on, I recognize you!”

You freeze slightly before your friend mouths for you to flirt. You look down at the mask in your hand before getting into character and saying “Of course you do Spidey, I'm always causing you trouble.” you put on the mask and wink.

He seems slightly stunned, laughing, feeling like he’s seen you somewhere, not only because he found you extremely gorgeous, while in his peripheral vision he sees his brother/ assistant, Harry waving like a madman on the side.

Your friend directs you both through the poses, first, one both him putting “webs” onto you as she looks over his shoulder, the second one, both of you kissing his cheeks, the third, all jumping in the air in your best superhero poses, the fourth one she gets a photo op alone and the last one she gives to you,

“Seriously, who are you?”

“Your Wildest dreams, baby,” you say, taking off the mask.

Your best friend yells “freestyle” from the sidelines before Tom dips you, gently, with you shocked, holding the mask out with your free arm and the photo captures that moment.

He gently helps you stand back up fully, not before you drop the mask.

“Nice moves Spider-Man.”

“Not so bad yourself, Black Cat.”

You laugh before, taking off with your best friend, well more her dragging you to the printing station leaving the mask behind. Tom picks it up before shoving it in his back pocket to hopefully give back if he could find you.

`You were sitting in the green room, trending on Twitter before you were actually supposed to be trending on Twitter, and god knows where else.

Someone had snuck a video of you and Tom, up till him dipping you, and a video of you interacting with the fans in the line.

Your Y/b/n was currently reading off some tweets out loud

“‘A kind queen we stan.’ I agree, I also agree with ‘Date her if you can't date me tom!!!’.

‘THALIA AND PETER PARKER??? My two fandoms have collided.’ same, same. Oo this one says, ‘if she ain’t playing black cat I will sue marvel.’ I'm dying at the reply ‘She needs to post the photos or I'll sue her!’. This one’s funny, ‘she could squash him like a bug in heels but he liked his queen like that.’.”

She pauses watching you texting.

“Y/n? Y/n?”

“What? Sorry I was only half listening. I was texting my publicist. She said to stay on the DL until tonight.

“Well we should get food, you haven't eaten since this morning.”

“By the way, your show has shot to number one on Disney +. Also, you have like three times the followers you had before, probably cause you're trending on every platform, even Tumblr!”

“Wow you should just become my social media manager now.” you joke trying to ease the joy yet weirded out feeling in your stomach.

“Does that come with a raise? Because after today I've spent way too much of what I'm paid.” she jokes back.

After finishing his photo ops Tom asked Harry who she was and to find out. By the time he finished autographs for the day, Tom and Harry walked to the panel room in the back for announcements, one that included him for the new Avengers movie, while Harry gave him the rundown.

“So she’s an actress, she plays Thalia on Disney plus’ Percy Jackson series, and that's her most known project. The other girl with her is her assistant best friend, and now she's trending everywhere. People dug up some old photos of her being a marvel/Spider-Man fan, so there's that. And she's here at the con for the rest of the weekend. She's doing photo ops tomorrow at one, and yes she's single from what I gather since you were looking at her like this.” he makes a weird face before tom smacks him.

“And plus you have time in your schedule to get a photo op with her, that is if you eat lunch quickly.”

That gave Tom an idea.

“Harry I’m going to need you to book me one, oh and help me find a Spider-Man costume!” He says, before leaving harry to do ‘assistant’ work. entering the green room for the announcements, watching them announce a new movie.

“We are so excited to announce to the Marvel Universe, and spider-verse-” that perked tom’s ears, “-directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and today we are announcing our amazing Miss Felicia Hardy, please give a warm welcome to the stage, Your Black Cat!”

You suddenly emerged in an aisle way, dressed in all black with a leather jacket, black ankle boots, and of course black sunglasses indoors.

The music is marvel music until it suddenly changes after a recorded laugh from you into “I can’t be tamed by Miley Cyrus”.

You start owning the music while saying hi and touching fans’ hands. You decide to take off your sunglasses and throwing them to a fan, for them to keep, before getting on stage.

“What a Performance from the one the only Y/n Y/l/n!”

You laugh, being met with the loudest applause you had heard all con before being handed a Mic.

“Thank you but I'm a terrible dancer.” You Joke.

Tom was staring at the screen stunned. You had been the black cat all along. You were in the marvel universe and spidey one, so he'd definitely be seeing more of you. The hard part is that you seemed so genuine when you talked, interacted with fans and was no doubt, stunning.

“Better close your mouth or the flies will get in.” Tom turns around to find the voice of none other than his friend slash bully, Sebastian Stan, along with Anthony Mackie.

“Looks like the kid has a crush!” Anthony laughs, pointing to the screen you were on.

“I-I don’t! I don’t even know her!” Tom tries to come to his own defense, hopelessly.

“She’s got you whipped already don’t even deny it.” Harry comes in, joining the teasing of one, Tom Holland.

“Maybe we can invite her out for drinks tonight, then fanboy over here can meet her, and then probably scare her off!” Anthony mentions.

“You haven’t looked on the internet? They’ve already met.” Seb says, before showing Anthony twitter.

Anthony stands there slightly shocked before bursting into laughter.

“Well, she’s damn well a keeper for Tom since she obviously likes him.”

A staff member peaks their head in the green room to tell Tom he’s up next.

“Well, that’s my cue to leave you two!”

On the other hand, you were on an adrenaline high from being on stage, and seeing all the fans. You knew tomorrow was going to be crazy, as you expected people to book your photo op left and right since the announcement.

You had decided to decline an offer from your fellow marvel universe castmates, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, which they so graciously told you that whenever you’re free, the offer still stood.

You had gotten to your hotel room seeing your phone blowing up on the social media apps for the second time that day.

You responded to the important stuff, before heading to bed, knowing it was going to be hectic.

You had been right, it was absolutely insane, the number of people who showed up. You had fully booked all your time slots for photo ops. You had seen so many people dressed up in marvel cosplay, ranging from Loki to Ironman, even some people dressed up as your character, which was wildly insane to see.

You had been nearing the end of the line and had enjoyed every moment with the fans, and you couldn’t wait for your autographing session later that day, to truly get a chance to talk to the fans and connect with them and how they felt about you being their beloved Black Cat.

After a few more photos, posing how they wanted, you see a fully dressed, head to toe, mask and all, Spider-Man. You had seen some spider-mans but most took off their masks to snap a picture. The person was the last in line.

“Hey Black Cat.” The southern American accented voice tells you, seeming very familiar.

“Hey, Spider, what poses do you have up your sleeve?” you ask kindly.

“I bought a few, Cat.” they laugh.

“Okay, You can do whatever a spider can right?” you pull out a line out of the comics jokingly.

“I can do flips if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Is that some kind of nerd pick-up line? Because it’s only kind of working.” you laugh.

“I really can, but this is one.”

He gets down on one knee, holding a black cat mask instead of a ring. The photographer captures the shocked expression on your face.

“I- Don’t- What- Spider I-”

“Ow My feelings…” Suddenly their voice changes into a British accent before they pull off the mask to reveal-

“Tom?”

“I guess you don’t have a spidey sense darling?” The photographer captures the moment without warning eating the moment up.

You laugh at that.

“I guess you found out my true identity Spider. And it’s nice to officially meet you, Tom.”

He laughs, just as nervous as you, he notices he has gotten closer to you and a strand of hair loosely is blowing in your face, so naturally, he pushes it behind your ear. Another snap of the camera can be heard.

“NOW KISS!” a voice belonging to your best friend yells from the side, mid-eating a churro.

You both laugh really hard at that.

The both of you calm down, slowly leaning lost in the moment. The camera snaps again. You both look at the photographer weirded out, and they just shrug.

“Wait can you actually do a flip?” you ask, pulling away, not wanting prying eyes aka the photographer, to pry in your business.

“I can, though I’d show you later, maybe in the greenroom?”

“That sounds naughty, but, sure.” you joke around.

He laughs before, you both take off from the area going to grab the photos.

After spending most of the day together when you could, you get Tom’s number, before heading back to your hotel room. He texts you as soon as you get back.

Spider: I had fun today, minus finding our assistants making out.

You: we should ‘snog’ too, it’ll gross them out ;)

You: I had fun too btw. Are you leaving tomorrow?

Spider: lol we should. And yeah an early flight, 6 am to be exact. Hbu?

You: Yeah me too... another day another dollar lol

Spider: ill miss you, Cat.

You: stop talking like we’ll never see each other again lol. As a matter of fact, come to my room, we’re watching a movie!

Spider: alright, I’ll order snacks.

You sigh smiling at your phone. You haven’t felt this giddy in a long time.

Your phone pings with a few Instagram notifications.

Tomholland2013 has started following you.

Tomholland2013 has tagged you in a photo.

You open Instagram to find the photo of him “proposing” to you posted.

“Ow, my leg, my- feelings...Welcome to the Universe, Cat.” the photo is captioned. You decide to post, the photo of him dipping you.

“So what do you say, Spider? Wanna help me pull off the Heist of the Heist of the Century?” you caption it, Before getting comfortable to watch a movie.

What an opportunity ;)

Tags:

@lolooo22 @webmeupspiderdaddy @harryhollandsgirlfriend @spideyspeaches @greenorangevioletgrass @queenofthepouges @sheranatic111 @keithseabrook27

#tom holland #peter parker #marvel #spider-man #tom holland fic #tom holland x reader #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x y/n #tom holland imagine #tom holland one shot #comic con #ace comic con seattle #ace con #comiccon #Katies4kwc

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diamondcitydarlin · 3 years ago

Text

you know i absolutely stan a stede and mary best friendship and it kinda sucks to see the unhappy stretch of their lives be used against the bond they've managed to form despite it all, but i do sort of get it in that it often feels like mary is really cruel and dismissive to him at times while they're married

but consider that like the dinner conversation that Stede tries to take part in unsuccessfully is told from Stede's POV and we know from his various visions of Nigel that he tends to project his insecurities on to others and is sometimes not a reliable narrator because of it so we can't really be sure what actually happened at dinner

we do know objectively that mary makes a pretty valiant attempt (imo) to connect with stede as best she can before he leaves. She paints him a lighthouse as an homage to their wedding, she tries to get him to open up to her about their shared unhappiness so they can at least figure it out together, but stede is pretty resilient to letting her see far beyond the walls he puts up

so did Mary actually hate Stede and intentionally try to isolate him from the family during this time? I really don't think so. The events we can mark as having definitely happened the way they did regardless of Stede's pov (aforementioned) point to Mary having always tried to make the best of their situation and connect in some way with her husband (I'm not saying Stede is inherently in the wrong for not having opened up to her sooner, but you can see how this might cause friction)

However by the time Stede comes back the resentment is real, but I don't really know how anyone could blame her for that? Consider yourself in Mary's position- you got married to someone you barely knew bc your parents said so, throughout your life together your spouse has been fairly closed off from and seemingly disinterested in you yet you continue to try to find some kind of common ground, but tHEN he decides this isn't actually working out and leaves so okay, big change, but you're ready and eager now to make your own life and so you do, and you finally fall in love for real and you have this new successful career that's taking off and then...he just comes back. As if he never left, as if you and the kids were just stalled in place until he decided to resume your life together and you have no choice really but to let him push his way into this existence you've made in the meantime.

This sort of loops back into the post I made earlier about how OFMD writes forced heteronormativity/societal expectation/toxic masculinity as a corrosive thing, because ultimately when Stede comes back he's trying to push himself, Mary and the kids back into those societally-approved roles such that Mary feels her only way out of the situation is jamming a kabob through his head. Again, this is only remedied by Stede finally opening up to her and allowing them to talk frankly about each other and their situation. When Mary finally knows who he REALLY is, she embraces him.

My point is, I don't think Mary has ever hated Stede for who he actually is. I think, like him, she was unhappy and resentful towards their forced arrangement, she was increasingly frustrated by Stede not providing the emotional feedback she needed (his reasons for doing so are valid however imo), and later on she's just outraged that he'd try to push them back into roles that never fit and made them miserable in the first place.

the evolution of their relationship into something even closer because of his love for Ed is something that can be so personal, esp when in a m/m set up it's easy to want to vilify the woman for 'being in the way' or when through no fault of her own a writer decides to foist her on one half of the pairing with no build up or explanation just to detract from all the queerbaiting they did earlier. like I LOVE that OFMD handled it this way, I love that Mary and Stede can be friends now and accept each other for who they are, I love that Mary is allowed to have her own resentments and frustrations without being the villain of the piece or the obstacle on the way to true love. I love that she is allowed to want and receive her own version of happiness and it doesn't have to be some huge blow to Stede's ego, in fact he's happy for her.

idk I just think to try to make Mary out to be a villain in The Story of Stede is to miss the point the show is trying to make about how this situation could be handled instead, in a way that doesn't dehumanize anyone or narrow a character down to how they help or hinder the main romance.

#ofmd #mary bonnet #only respect for mary in this house #i hope we see more of her #i hope she and stede are pen pals somehow

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marauderundercover · 3 years ago

Text

Taking Chances Ch. 16: Summertime Nightmares (Alt prompt: Consolation/advice)

AO3

The following week was the last of the school year. And it was...weird to say the least. Some of her classmates were upset that she hadn’t been the one to tell them. Many of them (most) assumed that she’d known and just hadn’t told them. She didn’t want to argue with them and she knew her dad hadn’t announced her existence in Gotham yet, so she just pointed out the fact that the Wayne family was very private.

That mostly worked. Lila kept poking though, insisting that Marinette would have told them if she trusted them. Nino disagreed, which shocked Marinette. He usually believed Lila, or at least he hadn’t ever openly gone against her before. But not this time. This time, he insisted that Marinette trusted them and it was probably her dad who asked her not to say anything. While wrong, Marinette didn’t disagree. She’d let her dad take the fall for this one. Alya though...she wasn’t taking it well. She thought Marinette should have told her ages ago. If she had known before Lila came, maybe she would have told Alya. But Alya had been more lax on what she posts on the Ladyblog since Lila’s arrival. She’d done less research, and was posting things not related to Ladybug and Chat Noir. While that wouldn’t usually bother her, Marinette did not want her newly discovered family to be the next big story on Alya’s blog.

So she basically just kept her head down, kept quiet at the class hangouts. And now school was finally out for the summer. It would be a little over two months with no Lila. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Marinette walks into the bakery and smiles widely at her Maman and Papa.

“Hello honey, how are you?” Her Maman asks, sliding a croissant into her hands.

“I’m fine, Maman.” She says, mentally preparing herself to ask what she’d been avoiding. Her dad had offered to let her stay in Gotham for the summer. It was both a chance to bond, and a chance for him to train her a little so that she could fight better, help her make a case against Hawkmoth, maybe even find his identity. He also wanted to give her a break. He thought that taking a step away from Paris, from always policing her emotions, was in her best interest. She agreed, but she still hadn’t talked to her Maman. Or her Papa.

“Bruce called.” Her Papa says. Marinette freezes. He wasn’t supposed to call yet! “Asked if we’d made a decision about letting you go to Gotham for the summer.” Rats.

“I was gonna talk to you guys today! I didn’t wanna upset you. I love you guys so much, but I also really wanna spend time with the other half of my family because I just met them and we haven’t really had a chance to bond or get to know each other and-”

“Honey, we understand.” Her Maman says, cutting off her ramble with a smile. Marinette blinks.

“Really?” She asks in a small voice. She didn’t want to hurt them. Her Maman smiles and relief floods her body.

“Of course honey. It would also give you a chance to not deal with constant akuma attacks.” She says. Marinette squeals in excitement, running over and wrapping her parents in a hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She yells. Watch out Gotham, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Wayne is coming back!

---

“Why hasn’t Marinette answered yet? She’s always down for a class picnic.” Alya says with a pout. Lila suppresses an eye roll, opting instead for a worried frown.

“Do you think she’s mad at you?” She prompts, knowing exactly why the little brat wasn’t answering. She was supposed to be on a plane right about now. Lila had borrowed Alya’s phone the day before (to make sure Marinette hadn’t tried to say anything about her again) when she saw the text. Marinette would be spending the entire summer in Gotham.

Lila, in a moment of what was surely pure excellence, deleted the text. It was perfect! Alya wouldn’t know Marinette had left and Marinette would be waiting for a text from her stupid BFF. But Lila had thought of that too. She’d changed the phone number on Marinette’s contact in Alya’s phone. It was now set to go to a fake number in a messaging app that Lila spent €1 on each month. It was worth it though, it’d definitely come in handy before. And now all she had to do was wait. Sure Marinette could always text Alya first, but Lila had heard too many times that Alya usually reached out first. Probably because of how much of a scatterbrain Marinette is.

“Why would she be mad at me?” Alya asks with a nervous smile. Hook, line and sinker. Lila frowns and places a hand on Alya’s arm in a faux attempt at reassurance.

“I didn’t wanna say anything, I really shouldn’t.” She says, shaking her head.

“Please. I’ll owe you one!” Alya insists, just as Lila had hoped. This would be a key part of her plan later on. Once Marinette has been silent for a few weeks.

“Well...okay. I heard her talking to Adrien the other day.” Lil starts, using the only other person who could go against her (but won’t!) “She said- she said she couldn’t trust you!” Alya flinches back as if she was hit.

“She said that?” She asks in a small voice. Lila nods sadly, celebrating on the inside. She’d be able to use this summer, while Marinette is away, to finally take everything away from that no good brat. It would be glorious.

---

Marinette was moments away from committing a murder. She was only going to do it because she knew for a fact that she’d get away with it. With a singular pout, she’d have the world’s greatest detective on her side. She was certain of it.

“Miss Marinette please put down the knife. I assure you prison is not lovely this time of year.” Alfred says with a sigh as he walks into the kitchen.

“Then tell Dick to get out of the kitchen!” She complains, pointing at her oldest brother who was currently covered in frosting and flour. She was trying to make cupcakes for after dinner, since she knew how much Dick likes sweets. She was trying to do something nice. And when Dick came into the kitchen, claiming he just wanted to spend time with his baby sister, Marinette let him stay. Because she loves her brother, she does.

But somehow in the two minutes that he was in the kitchen, he managed to dump the entire canister of flour. Not good, but she’d already baked the cupcakes so it wasn’t the end of the world. But then somehow, he’d managed to dump the entire mixing bowl of frosting. The entire thing. She had no clue how he had managed to do that, considering the fact it was frosting. It didn’t exactly run smoothly out of a bowl. It’s supposed to be able to hold its shape. Honestly, it was a mystery.

“Master Dick, you know that you are not allowed in the kitchen.” Alfred says with a frown. Dick pouts.

“I just wanted to spend some time with Mari.” He mumbles. Marinette almost regrets wanting to kill him. Until she watches as he wipes some of the frosting off of his head and eats it. Yeah, she doesn’t regret it anymore...but she does still love him.

“Okay, we’ll definitely have to spend more time together later. But for right now please go take a shower or something. I need to make more frosting and I do not trust you to be in the room when I do.” Marinette says exasperatedly. Dick sighs but leaves. Marinette puffs out her cheeks, giving Alfred a look.

“Yes?” He asks, his lips quirked up slightly.

“I honestly don’t know how you deal with them sometimes.” She grumbles before grabbing a new bowl. The cupcakes aren’t going to decorate themselves.

---

Jason huffs, annoyed that he’d been talked into staying at the manor with Marinette. He wasn’t mad at Marinette, he would do just about anything for the kid. Didn’t mean he wanted to stay at the manor just to make sure she didn’t sneak onto patrol. She’d assured them that she was too tired to try anything, but Bruce hadn’t believed her. Thus, Jason stuck at the manor.

But the kid had made a shit ton of cupcakes and Jason had a copy of his favorite book, so the night wouldn’t be too bad. After a few hours lounging in one of the rooms near Marinette’s, Jason starts to nod off. He’s about to welcome the rest, knowing everyone would be back from patrol soon, when he’s yanked from sleep by an ear piercing scream. Shit.

---

Marinette blinks as she looks around. Oh god. No, no please don’t let this be real. She chokes out a sob as she looks around her. Paris was once again completely underwater. The Eiffel tower was split in half. Hands shaking, she glances up and sees the moon. Or, what’s left of it. She moans in distress, letting her tears fall freely. She tries to breathe, but it won’t come. She’s panicking now, trying to ignore the burn in her chest as she sees the disaster around her. The terror around her. The destruction. She clutches her throat, trying to force her body to breathe. Force herself to suck in air, to be okay.

“Oh, Marinette, I see you’ve decided to join us again.�� A familiar voice says. She tenses, slowly turning and looking behind her. Standing in front of her, just as she remembered him, was Chat Blanc. She should’ve known. She should’ve known that just because it was okay for a couple days didn’t mean it would stay okay. She should’ve tried harder to find Bunnix, should’ve tried to find a way to stop Adrien from finding out. Movement by Chat Blanc’s feet catches her attention and she glances down, regretting it immediately.

“What have you done?” She asks, rushing forward and falling to her knees, desperately trying to stop her little brother from bleeding out. “What have you done?” She yells, glaring at Chat Blanc through her tears. Her hands shake as she puts pressure on the wound, using Damian’s cape in an attempt to stop the blood.

“Marinette-” He tries to say, and she just shakes her head, hating that there’s blood coming out of his mouth. She knows what that means. She knows that this is bad. And there are no hospitals anymore. Everything is underwater. Everything except the three of them.

“Hey no, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, I’ve got you little brother.” She chokes out, trying to smile at him.

“Father,” He manages to say, his voice barely audible. “Help him.”

“No, no, please. Please don’t leave me! Please, no, no!” She screams, trying to wake him back up, trying to force him to get back up. He couldn’t die like this. He couldn’t die at all. She just found him. And now she’s lost him.

“Now we can be together forever Marinette.” Chat Blanc says, finally speaking up. She glares at him and his stupid smirk. The smirk that had haunted her since the first time she saw the white suit.

“I don’t want anything to do with you! You killed my brother!” She screams. Glancing down at her shaking hands, she can’t help but notice they’re covered in blood. She shudders, trying hard not to throw up.

“Brothers, actually.” He quips. She snaps her gaze back to him.

“What?” She hisses, standing so that she can hopefully run and get to one of her brothers before it’s too late. She can’t lose all of them. She can’t. He casually steps to the side, revealing her other brothers. But none of them are moving. Cass is also lying with them, but she’s not moving either. Gone. All of her siblings. And it was all her fault. She let Adrien know her identity. She didn’t try to fix that mistake and this is what happened. She lost every- her dad. Damian said- She turns and runs away from Chat Blanc, scanning the horizon and trying to stay as together as possible. She had to try. She could still save her dad. She could still help him. As she looks around, she manages to spot his cowl. Rushing towards it, she lets out a sigh of relief.

“Marinette?” He says, looking at her with a frown. She scans him for injuries, relieved that he just had a few small wounds. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

“I’m so sorry dad.” She whimpers, throwing her arms around him. He holds her for a moment before pulling away.

“Marinette, we have to go. We can’t stay here. It’s only a matter of time before-” He stops talking and his face morphs into the most horrified, anguish filled face that Marinette had ever seen. Right before he starts to crumble into ash.

“No!” She screams, horror and grief washing over her in waves. She was all alone and it was all her fault. And now she was going to die too.

---

“Come on Pixie, wake up kid. Come on, it’s okay, I’m here. Jay’s here.” A familiar voice soothes. Marinette stops thrashing, coughing slightly as she realizes the loud noise had been coming from her. She’d been screaming. Jay’s here? But then- She immediately opens her eyes, sobbing in relief when she sees Jason looking at her. No blood. Okay. She lunges forward and wraps her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

“I’m sorry.” She cries. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh kid, you don’t have to be sorry. It’s okay. You’re okay.” He whispers, holding her close. They sit like that for a few minutes, until a knock on the door frame makes her reluctantly pull back. She glances over and a new wave of tears immediately appears. She launches herself off the bed and runs into her dad’s arms, sobbing once more.

“Jason, what happened?” He asks quietly, she knows that Jason doesn’t know, but she doesn’t answer for him. She can’t. All she can do is cry in her dad’s arms, relieved that she could cry. That her nightmare didn’t end with her almost being akumatized like it had before.

“No clue. Heard her scream so I ran in here, but she was asleep. Once she woke up she started crying and apologizing.” Jason says softly, probably for her benefit. She tries hard to remind herself that the nightmare didn’t mean anything. Her family wouldn’t be hurt because of her.

“Is everyone okay? Damian and Tim and Dick?” She asks, still buried in her dad’s arms. She’d ask about Cass, but she was still in Hong Kong. Marinette made a mental note to text her later.

“Everyone’s fine. Did you- do you want to talk about it?” He asks, and she almost agrees. Maybe it would be better to finally tell someone about Chat Blanc. To share that burden with someone else. But...maybe not her dad. Especially not since Adrien actively knows her identity and she wouldn’t be opposed to dating the boy in the future.

“I- er, um.” is all she manages to say before shaking her head. She won’t talk to her dad about this, and she doesn’t want to leave his arms right now. Not while she feels safe. She can almost hear him whispering to Jason, but she knows he’s trying not to let her hear, so she ignores them and instead wraps her arms around him tighter.

“Can I go get you a glass of water? Maybe a cookie for Tikki?” Her dad asks after a few moments of whispering with Jason. Marinette frowns. She didn’t want to be left alone. Not yet.

“I’ll stay with ya Pixie Pop.” Jason says, almost as if he had read her mind. She nods, giving her dad one final squeeze before walking back over to the bed and climbing up, letting Jason wrap her in a hug.

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” Her dad says before walking away. The silence only lasts a beat.

“You wanna tell your big brother why you woke up screamin’?” He asks. Marinette squeezes her eyes shut, desperate to get rid of the images from her nightmare.

“Nightmare.” She says simply. Jason chuckles.

“Kinda figured that part out Pix.”

“I’ve had it before.” She starts, aware of how her voice shakes. “But this time it was a lot worse. This time, I wasn’t the one who died.”

“What could be worse than dyin?” Jason asks, though she can tell by his tone that he knows. He knows what’s worse than dying.

“Watching all of you die.” She says simply. His hug tightens and she lets out a shaky breath, desperately wiping at her tears. “That’s not even the worst part Jay.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t wanna.” He says softly.

“I know.” She says. “A version of it has happened. In a different timeline. That’s the worse part. Luckily when I had to go save that timeline, I didn’t know you guys. So you weren’t caught in the middle of everything. But in my nightmare, since you know about me and- and you guys just wanted to help but no one can win against that. No one. It was so hard to beat him when it actually happened. But the dream. It was awful.” There’s silence as he just holds her, lets her know he’s there without saying it. She’s so thankful for her family. For her brothers.

“Here’s your water.” Her dad says. She finally sits up and looks at him, noting the way his face is creased in worry. She manages a small smile.

“Thanks dad.” She says, her smile growing slightly as his face begins to relax.

“Mari! You’re still up?” Dick says, walking into the room. She blinks at him in confusion, not expecting him to just walk in. She watches as he looks between everyone else, clearly putting it together that something was wrong. He frowns, before his face stretches back into a grin. “Come on, bring all your pillows and blankets and we’ll have a Disney movie marathon until we fall asleep.” He directs, running out of the room to presumably get his own materials for the movie marathon.

“You don’t have to.” Her dad reassures her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She shrugs.

“Might as well. I know I’ll definitely not be able to sleep anymore tonight.” She says, grabbing a couple pillows and her blanket, dragging it with her to the movie room. Leave it to her brothers to have a way to help her feel better after a nightmare. Marinette smiles to herself, once again relieved that she was in Gotham.

Masterlist

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82

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thepeakyfckingblinders · 4 years ago

Text

Never Again || Thomas Shelby x reader

credits to @saralou23 for the gif

⤠ MASTERLIST⤟

Anon requested/summary: “can I request a fic where the reader is found unconscious or faints in the shop or something and tommy freaks out? I just find protective tommy so ❤️💓💟!! Thank you, your writing is absolutely INCREDIBLE” (Thank you so much honeybun, you’re making me blush, pls, forgive me for being late ❤️)

Warnings: swearing, bossy Tommy, basically Tommy freaking out and being overprotective, me always loving him with all of my mangled soul

Author’s notes:

I hope you are okay darlings, I love you, please stay safe ♡

I’m so sorry for being this late, I have no excuses, forgive me. Also the end sucks, but I’m struggling with my writing lately, so, sorry again.

I love protective Thomas so much, he’s an ass, but he’s a softie, and I’m gonna lose my mind some day.

Behind each one of these works there are sleepless nights and something really close to multiple mental breakdowns, so, please, take a minute to send me a message about it, I need actual actual feedbacks to understand how to improve my skills and grow ♡

If you want to be added to my tag list, please, directly message me

I’m Italian, English isn’t my first language, so I apologize for every possible mistake I made. Also, please, help me improve my writing by telling me if there’s something wrong

ENJOY!

Birmingham’s gelid air hit your sensitive skin with no mercy as soon as your red mary-janes crossed the doorway of the Garrison, only to disgracefully sink into the greyish muddy loam in which the whole of Small Heath seemed to be covered.

Your fingers felt like rigid appendages burdening your already wearied arms, while you tried your best to wrap them around your coat’s edges, in a disperate effort to keep that warm tissue on your bulging clavicles left exposed by the woollen dress you were wearing. No matter how many heavy clothes you decided to put on, that implacable cold still succeeded in making you feel constantly out of forces, debilitated to the core; it had always been that way, since you were nothing more than a little girl obliged to spend one every two months confined in your bedroom, afflicted by incredibly high fever and sometimes even bronchitis.

Truth was that your body had never got used to England’s humid weather, yet, even though you poor healt had previously put you in danger, for your sake, thanks to the enormous progresses made by medicine in the past fifteen years, it was now easy to fight against the ruthless chill of those endless winters. Plus, since the earliest days of your attendence, your wardrobe had been perpetually refreshed with high-quality pieces perfectly in step with the times, for your fiancée had been literally covering you in furs and duvets of all kinds, concerned as he was that you could’ve eventually caught another bad fever, whose deathly consequences he had already experienced on his own thick skin. And for no reason in the world he would’ve even risked to lose you too.

So, as everybody could’ve easily predicted, Thomas was perennially paying attention to your wellbeing: the most famous specialists from inside and outside the United Kingdom had come directly to your country house; if one thing could be taken for granted, it was that your medications would always be settled on your side cabinet, together with a glass of fresh water, every day and every night; and, come hell or high water, he would accompany you during your routine visits to the hospital, even when it meant leaving all of his business without any prior warning.

Needless to say, you were perfectly able to do those things on your own -pheraps except for getting a crowd of world renowned doctors in your living room- and you sure as hell had tried to persuade him that there was no need at all for being so preoccupied all the time; still, he was Tommy Shelby, he simply couldn’t help it.

The concern for his loved ones’ lives kept stealing his sleep, even on those nights when there was no trace of imminent dangers on the horizon, it kept excoriating the insides of his drained brains, to the point that, more than once, you’d had to sleep alone in your immense king-size bed or reach for him in his study, curling up on one of his uncomfortable armchairs, ready to appease his fears as best you could. In short, for as much as you needed him to relax, you were still able to understand his protective behavior, against which, as a matter of fact, no one could do much; thus you at least tried not to give him more reasons to be worried by paying some extra attention to all those small things you could solve without Tommy even knowing about it. Regularly taking your iron tablets, for example. Nonetheless, it had now been already a week since the Peaky Blinders had started a brand new business involving in effect every metalworking factory in and around Birmingham, and the whole family, you and Tom included, had been so turbulently tied up with work to let every other thought and need slither on the back burner. As a direct consequence, your doctor’s latest prescription was unfortunately left lying on the bottom of your drawer, that being the fourth day in a row you’d spent without taking those pills, and, even though everything appeared to be going well until then, that one Thursday morning your period eventually came and stroke the fatal blow, having you feel so faint and aching that, all of a sudden, the few metres separating your side of the street from the betting shop seemed to implausibly dilate right under your blurred vision, a vexing sense of nausea assaulting your empty stomach led you to lean against a lamppost, your skin still crawling beneath all those heavy tissues. Dizziness and lethargy almost took over your sore mind, before you shook your head with an abrupt move in a bid to dispel those unpleasent sensations; clients would’ve arrived in less than a hour, Esme had taken John’s kids on a brief fieldtrip, Michael was already in his office, the boys were making their usual rounds of the mills, Finn and Isaiah were dealing with a couple folks in need back at the Garrison and Polly was nowhere in sight, which made you the only available blinder for the opening and, with Friday’s race approaching, there was no way the box-office could remain shut. Hence, more determined than ever, you chocked down the knot forming in your throat due to queasiness and just forced youself to put one foot in front of the other onto the dusty road, until you reached the shop door, not without the risk of tripping over multiple times in the process. Your frozen fingers clutched to the small side-wall now carring all of your weight, whilst your lungs tried to let in as much air as possible. And it worked, each plodding breath seemed to fight your sickness, also your heartbeat was gradually slowing down, thus you shut your eyelids and continued to inhale deeply for a full minute, before your trembilng hand managed to finally turn the key in the lock, giving you free access to the place.

However, the small click produced by the latch closing again did not live to reach your ears, for they were already brimful of ominous hisses, in a scant moment a bulk of hypnotic grey worms prevented you from seeing anything else, they relentlessly squirmed in front of your dilated pupils, that repulsing view sending brutal shooks straight to your clenched stomach, again. And, before you even had a chance to realize what was going on, your brain completely blacked out.

~ ~ ~

Words would not be sufficient to describe the fright taking over Arthur’s features the second your inert silhouette entered his line of sight. Just returned from their daily patrol, he had indeed noticed a small crowd waiting outside the office, cursing and fussing because of the lacked opening, and that alone had been weird enough for him to punch and kick his way up to the entrance, profanities spilling from his mustached mouth every time somebody’s elbow digged into his ribcage, inducing him to hit back so to stand his ground, only to eventually find himself powerless in front of that ghastly scene. It took him a while to recover from the shock, yet the eldest Shelby eventually regained control of his limbs and moved towards your shape with a single step.

“Polly! Pol, come here, for God’s sake!” Those hoarse yells filled the room, reverberating through the brickwalls, so loud that they could’ve been heard from the other side of the city, Arthur fell on his knees right beside you, gently placing a hand under your nape in order to lift your head. Blind panic streaming in his veins kept him for thinking clearly, he didn’t know what to do, thus he simply shook you from your shoulders, hoping in vain to see your eyes fly back open, but your neck just bent backwards.

“Where the hell is that bloody woman when I need her?!” he grunted those words in between his teeth while tigthening his grip on you, then his chest raised in a sharp move: “Jesus Christ, Polly!” He shouted once more, this time conveying all of his breath and blood towards his larynx, his abrasive voice shriveled and insisted on the last letters of his aunt’s name, until swift strides frantically hit the creaking steps, announcing Polly’s arrive. Her eyes struggled to remain open, her left palm was pressed against her forehead in a silly attempt to soothe the tremendous headache resulted from the previous night’s booze, she didn’t even have the time to put proper clothing on, since her mad niece was apparentely going berserk. “You, son of a bastard-” cursed words died underneath her tongue when she understood what was going on, soon her feet took on a life of their own, as they picked up their peace, leading her next to your body now held in Arthur’s arms.

“She’s freezing, Pol, she’s a fucking chunk of ice!” Hiccoughs shattered his worried cries, he almost whined, shifting his gaze from yours to Polly’s face over and over again, she, on the other hand, used the whole lenght of her right arm to clear in one smooth motion the closest desk. “Quick, lay her here” The deafening noise produced by those items colliding with the pavement barely grazed her hears, whilst she nodded to herself in the effort to impose some order on her obfuscated head, searching for a prompt solution that was late in coming, to the point that Finn beat it to the draw and stormed in, pointing a loaded gun to each corner of the room with fear in his cerulean irises. “What the hell’s going on?” That hysterical question echoed through the place, even though the young boy was finding it hard to get his breath, due to the crazy run he had made to reach the shop immediately after hearing that insane screaming. Nonetheless, in the space of an instant, he saw you as well and fell utterly silent, violent dismay caught him off guard, his wide eyes hesitated on your motionless figure; all of a sudden he didn’t know what to think, nor he could get the thought of your death out of his brains.

“My God, she’s as pale as death” Finn let his mind talk through that throttled murmur, regretting it right away, for silty goosebumps crawled on his skin under the pungent pressure of his brother’s instantaneous lethal glare. “Don’t talk shit, kid! Just fucking go and get Tom!”

The redhead didn’t waste any time, he somehow managed to recollect his guts and steadily disappeared behind the door previously left open. While struggling for air and internally searching for the right words to say in front of Thomas, Finn covered the whole distance between the office and the Garrison. Labored gasps coming out of his slightly parted lips in louder groans as he slammed the heavy pub’s doors open, using only his strongest shoulder; both Harry and Isaiah watched him run towards the back room where Tommy was going through the books, they did not dare spill a word and, after all, the boy didn’t even look in their direction, such was his concentration. Still, once he reached the place, all of a sudden his tongue felt dry, his well-organised speech faded away.

“Finn?! What’s wrong?” Tom’s icy eyes were now staring at him through his round glasses, the paper he’d been reading was instantly dropped, although his tone remained steady. “Y-you need to come, now! She... she’s-” A frown formed upon Tommy’s marble face at his little brother’s furious rambling, something wasn’t right, that was crystal clear, yet he wasn’t able to keep up with those hasty and stuttered sentences, so he approached him, putting both his hands on Finn’s shoulders in order to give him a little shove and maybe get some decent information. “Breathe, kid, and tell me what’s going on” That deep, adamant tone somehow sounded scarier than usual roaring inside the boy’s head, hence anxiety definitively won him over, gaining complete control of his mouth too. “It’s Y/n! I don’t fucking know, Tom, s-she looks dead!” All at once, time and space seemed to collapse around him, one single second dilated, covering the space of a whole lifetime beyond his vacant blue irises now fixed on an undetermined spot of the white wall behind Finn’s back. A gruesome, yet familiar sensation raided his petrified body, it felt like having a beast’s fangs gnawing his throat off, lacerating his flesh to the bone, he could sense every little laceration, his chest being plundered, till even his sable heart was eradicated and then mauled. A strangled wheeze barely lived through his plump lips, that being the only sound he uttered, then his black pupils shrinked and immediately twitched, nailing his sibiling’s gaze. Without receiving an order from his brain, his fists violently gripped Finn’s jacket at the height of his biceps, bringing him a span away from his gnashed teeth with a sharp pull. “Where?” He snarled liked a rabid dog, striking, if possible, geater terror in the young man who struggled to spit an almost inaudible “The shop”, before being shoved against the doorframe as Tommy dodged him and rushed out.

~ ~ ~

Polly held the bottle of her almond parfume she’d just put under your nostrils as if her life depended on it, Arthur’s rough palm, instead, began to pat your pasty cheek. “C’mon, love, wake up! Don’t play games, c’mon!” The dorsum of that same hand now poking the left side of your face, and then going back to the other, at incredible speed. You started to feel your face again when his nudges grew in intensity, until he was practically slapping you; soon a tremendous metallic taste invaded your mouth, or rather, you finally sensed it, whilst your eyelids battled against gravity to get back up. Arthur noticed it, he detected that brief flinch and it felt like being pampered with a fresh breeze after days of unsustainable heat. “Oh, fuck, I think I’m having a stroke” His tone held extreme urgency as he grasped for air, tugging with two fingers at his shirt collar; sure, he was great at knocking people off, maybe the best, yet, unfortunately, after that he’d never tried to bring somenody back with the living.

Blinding light rended your shrouded eyes, everything appeared blurred to the point that you couldn’t distinguish Polly’s features, although she was right beside you; nor your hearing was working, since the loud thud produced by the wooden door hitting the brickwall, and then your name barked by your fiancée’s coarse voice, sounded muffled to your ears. With a superhuman effort you succeeded in tilting your face towards the entrance, you recognized the navy-blue suit Thomas had chosen to wear earlier in the moring, still those nebulous images reached your brains with extreme delay, it was like watching vague movie scenes stream in slow motion. Your eyelids blinked as if a plumbeous burden was anchored to them, each flutter seemed to last a full minute, so that you perceived Tom coming to you in multiple shattered motions, while he kept calling you. The moment Tommy furiously jostled against Arthur, in order to take his place by the desk, you gradually went back to see and hear clearly, now being able to seize pure dread sailing those mesmerizing ocean eyes. “Thank goodness, y/n” His big palms envelopped both your cheeks, slightly squeezing them as he lift your neck, revealing all of his hidden delicacy that you, and you only, were able to bring out. “Y/n, love, talk to me” That order came out like a prayer, his voice betraying him once too often, his fingers shaking with worry, while one of his hands held your chin and the other went to caress your locks. Those loving strokes brushed against your skin, slowly infusing a little warmth into your gelid body, he touched you with the unbearable fear of watching you pass away in between his arms, having him struggle to breathe properly. “Do you hear me?” a single, salty drop fell from his long eyelashes and poured your lower lip, you heard his voice crack, distorting, until it became nothing more than a faint whine: “Please, love, talk to me” When his forehead pressed against yours, he finally gave in to the tears that had been held back with drastic ostination, shutting his eyes for a few instants he allowed brutal sobs to trounce his already aching chest. However, that moment of raw weakness was soon restrained, so that you returned to stare into his blue irises. Then, a small grin crossed your pale mouth and, even though your throat felt like gasoline on fire, preventing you from pronouncing a single syllable, you managed to guide your tiny hand to cup his sharp cheekbone. A burning kiss was pressed on its dorsum, before Tommy completely leant into your touch, giving you a look halfway between relief and disperation, he covered your hand with his own, holding it tight. “You’re okay, you’re safe” Those soft murmurs escaped his lips, probably aimed to placate the axphyziating terror still intoxicating his veins. Indeed, as hard as it was to conceive for everybody in that room, although you were the one just recovering from a sudden collapse, Tommy was now the one trembling like a fallen leaf, his arms rested on each side of your shape, sustaining his weight, as he barely stood on his own two feet. Slowly, you regained the necessary strenght to lift your bust, leading him to flutter in your direction, promptly enlacing his forearms around your waist in order to support your movements. “Hold onto me, darling, take it slow” His raspy voice was still unsteady and full of concern, he was holding his breath out of fear, gazing at you with wide eyes and tightening the grip on your hips as if to make sure that you wouldn’t vanish in his palms. You, on the other hand, gave him a rassuring smile, caressing his face mutliple times and placing a brief kiss on his mouth. “I’m fine, Tommy, I’m here with you” you eventually spoke close to his ear so to keep that conversation between the two of you “Let go, my love, I’m here” Your lips accidentally brushed against his forehead once he listened to you and abandoned himself to your tender embrace, gradually drowning into your soft chest while his arms clung on to your figure, his fingertips almost piercing the thick material of your dress as your cheek covered his head, totally annihilating the distance. “Don’t you ever do that to me again. Never again”.

tag list: @spidey-pal, @shadow-of-wonder, @stassaurus, @peachlle, @livvtheangel, @myjbphase, @namelesslosers, @crazyonesarethebest, @vxxn128, @keithseabrook27, @spaghettirogers, @writingstudent, @hp-hogwartsexpress , @eggingamazinglove, @geeksareunique, @cailoleaf, @simonsbluee , @hereforsmutandfluff, @starxtt, @jenepleurepasbaby, @staygold-bebold, @marvelschriss, @captivatedbycillianmurphy

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utterlyinevitable · 3 years ago

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okay ofc i need to know YOUR thoughts + thots on s2 asap please!!! i already rambled so much under the ask you sent me so please dont hold back hsjsjddkdk gimme ALL your opinions 🤲🏼🤲🏼🤲🏼🤲🏼🤲🏼

hello hello helloooo

i am going to simultaneously read your response + ramble my own thoughts ++ inform you that i read the books after s1 came out and The Viscount Who Loved Me is tied for my favorite of the series. The enemies-to-lovers was absolutely delicious (i do have words on how this was handled in the series 😠)

i wanted the entire season in one sitting so i will do my best not to spoil the ending, but it all blends together. sorry in advance!

ok first and foremost i am OBSESSED with how they made the sheffield nee sharma's of indian descent. so much better than the book because of the heritage and no need for kate's traumatic backstory similar to anthonys anymore. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT.

all of your thots are correct. i concur. johnny b done did us proud. all of the gifs of him looking at kate and smelling her has me swooning STILL. ugh i cannot wait to see his character growth in the next two seasons. i want to say more but will refrain until after you watch the last episode. let us put a pin in this thot 📌

SHE PLAYED THIS CHARACTER SO WELL. Kate is an absolute entitled bitch in the book and series kate? just a woman wanting the best for her sister and not putting up with societys bullshit. Yes yes. her face and eyes and just HER 🔥🔥 Can we talk about her little lilac lingerie in the garden scene? I want.

actually let us talk more about that garden sex scene because HOLY HELL. Anthony Bridgerton in the book would NEVER. Never ever make their first (and few after) all about Kate. The Anthony of the book was very set in his 'wed bed bred' ways and not falling in love with his wife. In the books the bee scene is ICONIC. It came too soon in the series because in the books Ant actually freaks the fuck out and tries to suck the sting out of Kate's tit and Violet and Mary catch them. So she's compromised and they have a swift wedding. The rest of the book is him is being grumpy and gold to his viscountess and not falling in love with her.

Anthony never proposed to Edwina in the book either. That wedding arc was TOO MUCH. I hated it. Book Kate and Edwina have SUCH a strong relationship that Edwina actually was steering the Kathony ship even when he was still set on courting Edwina. Yelling at Kate and being angry was waaay too ooc for our diamond.

the series robbed us of even more BEAUTIFUL build up and hate sex and trying not to love the sex with them sex and the 'i don't need no one' sex and kathony being absolute SLUTS for one another.

THEIR CHEMISTRY IS SO SO GOOD IN THE SHOW. Brilliant. Wonderful. Would watch another season dedicated to them.

I honestly cried every time they talked about Edmund. My poor traumatized Ant bby. (and violet. i cannot imagine that heartbreak esp whilst pregnant. never wanna go through that)

LOATHING ANTHONY IS THE POINT!!!!!!! He's the character you're meant to hate and omfg he does it so well. literally shaving off those mutton chops makes the man at least 70% more lovable. Make the man 6'5, piercing blue eyes, and a pixel with a passion for medicine and i mean --- Anthony is a boy that had to grow to a man at 19, responsible for that big ol' loving family. Poor kid.

Your rant is not long enough and I am expecting even more after you've finished the series!! rapid fire responses:

agreed, tho simon would have stolen the show and all i'd like to see is the pull out duke™'s butt

danbury is the best and i am so happy she is an actual character of chaos / plot driver in the series instead of a side whatever in the books (really only an important character to hyacinths story)

wish there was more mary. her standing up for herself and her daughters at dinner was an iconic moment. also for not slut shaming kate. mother of the universe award right here.

i feel bad for the actress who played edwina. she played the lot she was given well, but obvi getting engaged and being the runaway bride has left a sour taste for everyone. the 'half sister' HURT SO BAD. book edwina would never. they're full sisters and soulmates and you can't tell these two otherwise.

i have a TYPE irl. i am painfully aware of. Benedict is my type and ohhhhh boy s3 here we come

spoiler alert: in the books marina walks into a lake and drowns because her post partem was so bad. so i was watching this scene insert like 👀👀👀 gurl r u ok??

my heart BREAKS for pen and eloise. that relationship was always so strong and idek what is going on anymore.

THANK YOU. WHYYY did they push portia and her lord(?) to have a thing? what was the point of that? did portia have an enlightenment and is gonna stop being snakey in the next few seasons? doubt it.

orchestral versions of pop songs is my love language.

ok.. if we're going by the books then s3 is about benedict and his 'cinderella' story. also sets up fran's season and getting married. and setting up colin making things right with penelope. and idk what is going on with eloise and pen becuase shonda has gone ROGUE.

ahhhh thank you for indulging me mal <33

#lots of rambles but i dont care!!!#askboxed #bridgerton.tv #mal <3

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nitrateglow · 4 years ago

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Favorite films discovered in 2020

Well, this year sucked. I did see some good movies though. Some even made after I was born!

Perfect Blue (dir. Satoshi Kon, 1997)

I watch a lot of thrillers and horror movies, but precious few actually unsettle me in any lasting way. This cannot be said of Perfect Blue, which gave me one of the most visceral cinematic experiences of my life. Beyond the brief flashes of bloodletting (you will never look at a screwdriver the same way again), the scariest thing about Perfect Blue might be how the protagonist has both her life and her sense of self threatened by the villains. The movie’s prescience regarding public persona is also incredibly eerie, especially in our age of social media. While anime is seen as a very niche interest (albeit one that has become more mainstream in recent years), I would highly recommend this movie to thriller fans, whether they typically watch anime or not. It’s right up there with the best of Hitchcock or De Palma.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (dir. Sergio Leone, 1966)

Nothing is better than when an iconic movie lives up to the hype. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef play off of one another perfectly. I was impressed by Wallach as Tuco in particular: his character initially seems like a one-dimensional greedy criminal, but the performance is packed with wonderful moments of humanity. Do I really need to say anything about the direction? Or about the wonderful storyline, which takes on an almost mythic feel in its grandeur? Or that soundtrack?

Die Niebelungen (both movies) (dir. Fritz Lang, 1924)

I did NOT expect to love these movies as much as I did. That they would be dazzlingly gorgeous I never doubted: the medieval world of the story is brought to vivid life through the geometrical mise en scene and detailed costuming. However, the plot itself is so, so riveting, never losing steam over the course of the four hours it takes to watch both movies. The first half is heroic fantasy; the second half involves a revenge plot of almost Shakespearean proportions. This might actually be my favorite silent Fritz Lang movie now.

Muppet Treasure Island (dir. Brian Henson, 1996)

I understand that people have different tastes and all, but how does this movie have such a mixed reception? It’s absolutely hilarious. How could anybody get through the scene with “THA BLACK SPOT AGGHHHHHHH” and not declare this a masterpiece of comedy? And I risk being excommunicated from the Muppet fandom for saying it, but I like this one more than The Great Muppet Caper. It’s probably now my second favorite Muppet movie.

Belle de Jour (dir. Luis Bunuel, 1967)

I confess I’m not terribly fond of “but was it real???” movies. They tend to feel gimmicky more often than not. Belle de Jour is an exception. This is about more than a repressed housewife getting her kicks working as a daytime prostitute. The film delves into victim blaming, trauma, class, and identity-- sure, this sounds academic and dry when I put it that way, but what I’m trying to say is that these are very complicated characters and the blurring of fantasy and reality becomes thought-provoking rather than trite due to that complexity.

Secondhand Lions (dir. Tim McCanlies, 2003)

The term “family movie” is often used as a synonym for “children’s movie.” However, there is an important distinction: children’s movies only appeal to kids, while family movies retain their appeal as one grows up. Secondhand Lions is perhaps a perfect family movie, with a great deal more nuance than one might expect regarding the need for storytelling and its purpose in creating meaning for one’s life. It’s also amazingly cast: Haley Joel Osment is excellent as the juvenile lead, and Michael Caine and Robert Duvall steal the show as Osment’s eccentric uncles.

The Pawnbroker (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1964)

Controversial in its day for depicting frontal nudity, The Pawnbroker shocks today for different reasons. As the top review of the film on IMDB says, we’re used to victims of great atrocities being presented as sympathetic, good people in fiction. Here, Rod Steiger’s Sol Nazerman subverts such a trope: his suffering at the hands of the Nazis has made him a hard, closed-off person, dismissive of his second wife (herself also a survivor of the Holocaust), cold to his friendly assistant, and bitter towards himself. The movie follows Nazerman’s postwar life, vividly presenting his inner pain in a way that is almost too much to bear. Gotta say, Steiger gives one of the best performances I have ever seen in a movie here: he’s so three-dimensional and complex. The emotions on his face are registered with Falconetti-level brilliance.

The Apartment (dir. Billy Wilder, 1960)

While not the most depressing Christmas movie ever, The Apartment certainly puts a good injection of cynicism into the season. I have rarely seen a movie so adept at blending comedy, romance, and satire without feeling tone-deaf. There are a lot of things to praise about The Apartment, but I want to give a special shoutout to the dialogue. “Witty” dialogue that sounds natural is hard to come by-- so often, it just feels smart-assy and strained. Not here.

Anatomy of a Murder (dir. Otto Preminger, 1959)

I’m not big into courtroom dramas, but Anatomy of a Murder is a big exception. Its morally ambiguous characters elevate it from being a mere “whodunit” (or I guess in the case of this movie, “whydunit”), because if there’s something you’re not going to get with this movie, it’s a clear answer as to what happened on the night of the crime. Jimmy Stewart gives one of his least characteristic performances as the cynical lawyer, and is absolutely brilliant.

Oldboy (dir. Park Chan-Wook, 2003)

Oldboy reminded me a great deal of John Webster’s 17th century tragedy The Duchess of Malfi. Both are gruesome, frightening, and heartbreaking works of art, straddling the line between sensationalism and intelligence, proving the two are not mutually exclusive. It’s both entertaining and difficult to watch. The thought of revisiting it terrifies me but I feel there is so much more to appreciate about the sheer craft on display.

Family Plot (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1976)

Family Plot is an enjoyable comedy; you guys are just mean. I know in an ideal world, Hitchcock’s swan song would be a great thriller masterpiece in the vein of Vertigo or Psycho. Family Plot is instead a silly send-up of Hitchcock’s favorite tropes, lampooning everything from the dangerous blonde archetype (with not one but two characters) to complicated MacGuffin plots. You’ll probably demand my film buff card be revoked for my opinion, but to hell with it-- this is my favorite of Hitchcock’s post-Psycho movies.

My Best Girl (dir. Sam Taylor, 1927)

Mary Pickford’s farewell to silent film also happens to be among her best movies. It’s a simple, charming romantic comedy starring her future husband, Charles “Buddy” Rogers. Pickford also gets to play an adult character here, rather than the little girl parts her public demanded she essay even well into her thirties. She and Rogers are sweet together without being diabetes-inducing, and the comedy is often laugh out loud funny. It even mocks a few tropes that anyone who watches enough old movies will recognize and probably dislike-- such as “break his heart to save him!!” (my personal most loathed 1920s/1930s trope).

Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2019)

This feels like such a zeitgeist movie. It’s about the gap between the rich and the poor, it’s ironic, it’s depressing, it’s unpredictable as hell. I don’t like terms like “modern classic,” because by its very definition, a classic can only be deemed as such after a long passage of time, but I have a good feeling Parasite will be considered one of the definitive films of the 2010s in the years to come.

Indiscreet (dir. Stanley Donen, 1958)

Indiscreet often gets criticized for not being Notorious more or less, which is a shame. It’s not SUPPOSED to be-- it’s cinematic souffle and both Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant elevate that light material with their perfect chemistry and comedic timing. It’s also refreshing to see a rom-com with characters over 40 as the leads-- and the movie does not try to make them seem younger or less mature, making the zany moments all the more hilarious. It’s worth seeing for Cary Grant’s jig (picture above) alone.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (dir. Joseph Sargent, 1974)

This movie embodies so much of what I love about 70s cinema: it’s gritty, irreverent, and hard-hitting. It’s both hilarious and suspenseful-- I was tense all throughout the run time. I heard there was a remake and it just seems... so, so pointless when you already have this gem perfect as it is.

They All Laughed (dir. Peter Bogdonavich, 1981)

Bogdonavich’s lesser known homage to 1930s screwball comedy is also a weirdly autumnal movie. Among the last gasps of the New Hollywood movement, it is also marks the final time Audrey Hepburn would star in a theatrical release. The gentle comedy, excellent ensemble cast (John Ritter is the standout), and the mature but short-lived romance between Hepburn and Ben Gazarra’s characters make this a memorably bittersweet gem.

The Palm Beach Story (dir. Preston Sturges, 1942)

Absolutely hilarious. I was watching this with my parents in the room. My mom tends to like old movies while my dad doesn’t, but both of them were laughing aloud at this one. Not much else to say about it, other than I love Joel McCrea the more movies I see him in-- though it’s weird seeing him in comedies since I’m so used to him as a back-breaking man on the edge in The Most Dangerous Game!

Nothing Sacred (dir. William Wellman, 1937)

I tend to associate William Wellman with the pre-code era, so I’ve tried delving more into his post-code work. Nothing Sacred is easily my favorite of those films thus far, mainly for Carole Lombard but also because the story still feels pretty fresh due to the jabs it takes at celebrity worship and moral hypocrisy. For a satire, it’s still very warm towards its characters, even when they’re misbehaving or deluding themselves, so it’s oddly a feel-good film too.

Applause (dir. Rouben Mamoulian, 1929)

I love watching early sound movies, but my inner history nerd tends to enjoy them more than the part of me that, well, craves good, well-made movies. Most early sound films are pure awkward, but there’s always an exception and Applause is one of them. While the plot’s backstage melodrama is nothing special, the way the story is told is super sophisticated and expressive for this period of cinema history, and Helen Morgan makes the figure of the discarded burlesque queen seem truly human and tragic rather than merely sentimental.

Topaz (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1969)

Another late Hitchcock everyone but me seems to hate. After suffering through Torn Curtain, I expected Hitchcock’s other cold war thriller was going to be dull as dishwater, but instead I found an understated espionage movie standing in stark contrast to the more popular spy movies of the period. It’ll never be top Hitchcock, of course-- still it was stylish and enjoyable, with some truly haunting moments. I think it deserves more appreciation than it’s been given.

What were your favorite cinematic discoveries in 2020?

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starshine583 · 4 years ago

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Concert Craziness

(Okay so I found this in a random document and don’t think I ever posted it, but??? it’s adrinette so have fun reading lol)

Marinette squinted underneath the flashing lights. Color invaded her vision- blue, yellow, green, red. Music pounded in her ears, so loud she could feel the steady rhythm in her chest. It drowned out the screaming fans around her, who squeezed together as much as possible to fit in the stadium.

Now I know why Jagged’s concerts are usually outside. She thought to herself, pushing a few people back to keep her spot at the front. Marinette didn’t mind the chaos, though. After all, it was a Jagged Stone concert, one of her favorite musicians who’d personally invited her to come tonight. The headache she was going to get afterwards would absolutely be worth it.

Another shoulder bumped into her, and she sighed.

“Look, sir, if you wanted to be closer to the stage, you should have gotten here earlier.”

A chuckle came from her left- light and cheerful and something she’d recognize anywhere.

“Actually, I just wanted to say ‘hi’.”

Marinette whirled around, meeting a delightfully green pair of eyes. Heat rushed to her cheeks. “A-Adrien! I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Yeah, I managed to get a photoshoot done early so I could come.” He smiled. “It’s cool to see you here too. Concerts are always better with friends.”

Marinette giggled, ignoring the small jab he accidentally made. At least he wanted to hang out with her, right? That counts for something.

“You know, this is Jagged’s last song for the night, but I have a backstage pass. Would you.. wanna come see him with me?” She asked somewhat shyly.

Adrien’s eyes sparkled at the very thought. “Really? Can you do that?”

Marinette’s insides blossomed with an overwhelming warmth, and she giggled. For that smile? I can do anything.

“Course. I’m sure Jagged won’t mind one extra person.” She assured, waving her hand. So far so good. Adrien was going to go backstage with her! All she had to do now was remember to breathe.

His shining grin widened, and wow, so much for remembering to breathe. She’s never going to know how to inhale oxygen again. “Ah, you’re the best, Mari. Thanks so much!”

“A-Anytime.” She managed, completely lost in his.. well.. everything. I mean, what was there not to love about Adrien Agreste?

The song ended a few minutes later, starting the rush of the crowds to either get Jagged’s autograph or exit the building. Marinette and Adrien tried to stick together, but with everyone moving in different directions, the task seemed impossible.

She nearly jumped onto the stage itself when the soft touch of Adrien’s fingers wrapped around her hand.

“Sorry, I just don’t want to lose you. Is this okay?” He asked, ever so slightly brushing his thumb across the back of her hand.

Marinette sucked in a breath to calm herself. It would be plain embarrassing if she full-on fainted in front of him now.

“Sure! The hand, it’s great. I mean, you can handle me if you want to- I MEAN-” She cut herself off with a groan and pinched the bridge of her nose. Then, with all the dignity she had left, Marinette gave his hand a light squeeze. “This is perfect, Adrien.”

He simply smiled at her, so soft and vibrant and- gosh, how could anything be allowed to look so beautiful?

Despite the intoxicating feeling of his touch invading every corner of her being, Marinette guided them through the chaotic fans and eventually found the entrance to Jagged’s dressing room. She opened the door, quickly slipping through and pulling Adrien with her. People can be ruthless in their ways of getting Jagged’s attention. The last thing she wanted was to invite a throng of crazy people into his private space.

“Is this part of the backstage pass?” Adrien asked wide-eyed.

Marinette couldn’t help a smile. “Not exactly. You could say it’s part of my backstage pass.”

Before Adrien could question the comment, another door across the room from them swung open, and in walked Jagged Stone himself.

“Penny, remind me to never do an indoor concert again. Why didn’t you tell me we’d have less people in a closed area?” He said, setting his guitar on his chair. It was then he spotted the two of them, and Marinette gave a small wave.

“Marinette! How’s my favorite niece?” He beamed, coming over to give her a hug. She hugged him back, only a little disappointed that she had to let go of Adrien’s hand to do so.

“Niece?” The boy in question spoke up, jaw practically on the floor at this point. “You’re related to Jagged Stone?”

The two laughed at his expression, and Jagged quickly jumped in to explain.

“She’s my honorary niece. We’re not related by blood, but I count her as my lovely niece despite that.”

Adrien nodded dumbly, seemingly too stunned to form words.

“So who is this anyway?” Jagged continued, glancing at Marinette. “He a friend of yours?”

Marinette swallowed a nervous laugh and nodded herself. Yep. Friend. That is absolutely all he is. I totally don’t want him to be anything more.

“Uncle Jagged, this is Adrien. He’s one of my friends from school.”

Recognition washed over his features. “Oh, yeah! He’s the boy you’re always telling me about, right?”

A squeak escaped her lips, the tip of the iceberg to the emotional turmoil he’d just thrown her into.

“I-I talk about everybody!” She blurted out, face burning.

Adrien and Jagged gave her a questioning look which only made her want to sink deeper into a hole and never resurface.

“Well, I’m super excited to meet you.” The blonde remarked, graciously changing the subject. “I have all of your CDs.”

Jagged straightened with pride. “Course you do, kid. My music is sensational. Would you like an autograph?”

Adrien gasped. “Really? I mean, yes! I’d love one! I don’t have any paper with me though.”

“Oh, that’s alright. Tell you what,” Jagged opened his vanity drawer, digging through it for a moment before pulling out two pieces of paper. “I’ll sign these two backstage tickets to my next concert, and when you come, you can get an official signature. My only condition is that you take Marinette with you.”

Marinette had half a mind to just curl into a ball and die on the spot, especially when Jagged winked at her. Thankfully, Adrien was too excited to notice the exchange and eagerly took the tickets.

“Deal!”

Penny cleared her throat behind them, taking pity on Marinette herself.

Jagged gave his agent a disappointed look. “Aw, I’ve got to go. I promised a few interviews for the press.”

He turned back to Adrien. “Don’t forget our deal, alright?”

Marinette face-palmed, but Adrien just grinned.

“I couldn’t if I tried!”

Jagged chuckled. “Then I’ll see you there. You too, Marinette.”

She forced a smile. “Yep, I’ll see you.”

Penny shoo-ed them out of the room after that, insisting they had no more time to waste. The door closed behind them, leaving Adrien and Marinette in the crowded area of the stadium again.

Arms wrapped around Marinette’s shoulders, and she squealed despite herself as she was abruptly pulled against Adrien’s chest.

“Marinette, that was amazing! You’re amazing! Thank you so much!”

Just like that, she was putty in his arms, dissolving into a stuttering, blushing mess. “Amaz- me? No, I- you’re the amazing one. I mean- Jagged’s amazing.”

“I can’t wait to go with you to the next concert!”

Oh, right. They were going to do this again. She was going to officially attend a concert with Adrien Agreste. Marinette supposed there were worse ways to die.

“I have to go before Father gets upset.” He said, finally pulling away from her and taking his warmth and sunshine with him. “See you at school.”

“At the.. Yeah..” She muttered. How her hand came up to wave at him as he passed she’ll never know.

Adrien Agreste just hugged her. He held her hand, and told her she was amazing.

Oh, yeah. The headache was definitely worth it.

#adrinette #Adrien Agreste #Marinette #Jagged Stone #Miraculous Ladybug

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