#mathilda mai edits

[simswamp]

Welcome to my very first post on Tumblr ever (help me I have no idea what I'm doing), and the opener for a new decades playthrough! I've been Simming since 2000, and this is by far my favorite way to play.

Some things to know:

I go by a different time table than the classic Decades challenge. I don't switch decades until the next generation is born, which is weird and doesn't make a lot of sense, but well same here so this is what we're doing. When playing the traditional way, I find that the game starts moving too fast, and the 18 collective hours I've spent downloading vintage CC seems like a much less effective use of my time. So my playthrough is starting with 1880 (founders), and will become 1890 with the YA birthday of their first child, and will STAY 1890 until the next generations heir has their YA birthday. If this sounds too confusing/dumb, please leave because I am the most confusing and dumb bitch you'll ever meet. But I've spent thousands of dollars on this franchise over the last 23 years and I owe it to myself to do the absolute most.

I'm really not a storyteller, I don't use poses, and I don't edit my screenshots, 50% because I'm lazy and 50% because I don't know how. There will be a paper-thin attempt at something resembling a plot, but that's about as deep as it gets. I love this game the most when it gets weird.

I fill the world with gallery Sims that are hashtagged with the appropriate time period, so that the background characters are still very appropriate without me having to actually make them. Again, lazy. So you may see some Sims you recognize, if you do the same or happened to have made those Sims. The same is true of some buildings, which may be lightly edited on occasion, and which I will never take credit for or pretend to have built. All Sims that see any playtime and all buildings that the legacy family live in will be 100% made by me.

I'm new please be gentle :3 I'm truly just here to dump screenshots and hopefully find people to interact who are also this into this game.

Once upon a Monday around 8pm, an imaginary, immortal cartoon based on a human loser, got extremely bored. Sure; she's immortal, with immortal versions of her partner and pets to keep her company, and also unlimited money and artificially perfect skin. But what's it all about?

And then, a brainstorm. Why not create imaginary people and control every aspect of their lives? But they can't enjoy the decadence that usually comes with being a pretend person, because that's just boring. The best part is when they're stressed out, right? So they'll have to be pretty damn quaint.

She built a church to the only deity she had ever fully believed in: Dibella. Of the Nine Divines, Goddess of beauty and love, from a video game series so 1) appropriate and 2) also very imaginary. From the pulpit, she could call her little sheep to flock, checking in on their lives and encouraging a meager lifestyle. Just because we KNOW the cheat codes, doesn't mean we should USE the cheat codes.

Three newlywed couples were created.

Imogene and Ambrose Merriment,

Mathilda and Vernon Revelry,

and Amina and Roger DeBauch.

After an afternoon spent around their adorable little gathering place, she decided on the Merriment family being her primary focus, receiving the most attention and the least control of their own fates. All three families will be largely controlled, but not to the same obsessive level as the Merriments.

They were given a farm, complete with a barn, cow, chickens, small garden plot with seed packets, and 100 Simoleons. Much more important, they were given a randomized mixed-breed puppy, Llewelyn, for protection and company.

Setup complete, let the great experiment begin!

[byneddiedingo]

Mathilda May in Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985)

Cast: Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, Patrick Stewart, Michael Gothard, Nicholas Ball, Aubrey Morris, Nancy Paul, John Hallam. Screenplay: Dan O'Bannon, Don Jakoby, based on a novel by Colin Wilson. Cinematography: Alan Hume. Production design: John Graysmark. Film editing: John Grover. Music: Henry Mancini. 

Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce is a delirious mashup of space travel sci-fi, vampire thrillers, zombie movies, sexploitation flicks, and apocalyptic disaster films. A British-American crew exploring Halley's comet, making its appearance near Earth, finds an alien vessel caught up in the comet's wake. All of its batlike crew seem to be dead, but there are three containers on board with naked humanoid beings, one female and two males, in some kind of stasis. Back on Earth, when mission control loses contact with the space ship, a rescue ship is sent. It discovers that everyone on board, except the three humanoids, is dead. The aliens, brought to Earth, awake and begin to create a mess: They apparently have the ability to shape-shift and to suck the life force from humans. Meanwhile, a member (Steve Railsback) of the crew from the original ship who managed to board an escape capsule arrives on Earth to explain what's going on and to help save the planet from the aliens. It's a standard horror-from-outer-space setup, but the script keeps embroidering on it until the creepiness turns ludicrous: Patrick Stewart, for example, plays the administrator of an insane asylum that belongs in a Universal horror movie from the 1930s. The heroes, played by Railsback and Peter Firth, have to dash across an embattled London to St. Paul's Cathedral to kill the female alien (Mathilda May), who is lying on the altar transmitting a glowing stream of human souls to her ship. Somehow, the only weapon that will kill her is an antique sword. Lifeforce, in short, is the stuff of which video games are made. Other than noise and carnage by the bucketsful, it has little to recommend it beyond some wildly entertaining overacting and a preposterousness that can only be called chutzpah. 

[edisonblog]

Mary Shelley was a renowned English novelist, best known for her Gothic novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus."

She was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on August 30, 1797, in London, England. Her parents were the philosopher and political writer William Godwin and the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Unfortunately, her mother died shortly after Mary's birth.

Mary Shelley's life was marked by personal tragedies, including the death of her mother, and later, the death of her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Despite these challenges, she emerged as a prominent figure in the literary world.

"Frankenstein," published anonymously in 1818 when Mary was just 21 years old, is her most famous work. The novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature through a scientific experiment. "Frankenstein" is often considered one of the earliest examples of science fiction and has had a profound impact on literature and popular culture.

Mary Shelley's other notable works include the novels "The Last Man" and "Mathilda," as well as short stories, essays, and travel writings. She also edited and published her husband Percy Shelley's poems posthumously.

Mary Shelley's contributions to literature extend beyond her famous novel, as she played a significant role in shaping the Romantic literary movement. Her life and works continue to be studied and celebrated, particularly for her groundbreaking contributions to the science fiction genre and her exploration of ethical and moral questions in the context of scientific advancements.

#edisonmariotti @edisonblog

.br

Mary Shelley foi uma renomada romancista inglesa, mais conhecida por seu romance gótico "Frankenstein; ou The Modern Prometheus".

Ela nasceu Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin em 30 de agosto de 1797, em Londres, Inglaterra. Seus pais eram o filósofo e escritor político William Godwin e a primeira feminista Mary Wollstonecraft. Infelizmente, sua mãe morreu logo após o nascimento de Mary.

A vida de Mary Shelley foi marcada por tragédias pessoais, incluindo a morte de sua mãe e, posteriormente, a morte de seu marido, o poeta Percy Bysshe Shelley. Apesar desses desafios, ela emergiu como uma figura proeminente no mundo literário.

"Frankenstein", publicado anonimamente em 1818, quando Mary tinha apenas 21 anos, é sua obra mais famosa. O romance conta a história de Victor Frankenstein, um jovem cientista que cria uma criatura sapiente por meio de um experimento científico. "Frankenstein" é frequentemente considerado um dos primeiros exemplos de ficção científica e teve um impacto profundo na literatura e na cultura popular.

Outras obras notáveis de Mary Shelley incluem os romances “The Last Man” e “Mathilda”, bem como contos, ensaios e escritos de viagens. Ela também editou e publicou postumamente os poemas de seu marido Percy Shelley.

As contribuições de Mary Shelley para a literatura vão além de seu famoso romance, pois ela desempenhou um papel significativo na formação do movimento literário romântico. A sua vida e obras continuam a ser estudadas e celebradas, particularmente pelas suas contribuições inovadoras para o género de ficção científica e pela sua exploração de questões éticas e morais no contexto dos avanços científicos.

[literaredits]

━ mathilda mai icons

like/reblog if you save it. ©️ rosecalioway on twitter.

[myangeledits]

🦋 ৶ ──── ❪ ❝mathilda mai. ₊ ˚ 彡 like or reblog ❫ ꒱‧₊˚✧

[icegirleditions]

Mathilda Mai 250x400

Por favor se usar dê like ou reblog/ Please if you use it like or reblog.

Não retire os créditos/Do not remove credits

[opalsmetanoia]

𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 & 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐢

❀ 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟔𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟗�� (𝟐𝟐)

✿ 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲: 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧

❀ 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝟓 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝟕 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 (𝟏𝟕𝟎 𝐜𝐦)

✿ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬: 𝐒𝐡𝐞 / 𝐇𝐞𝐫

[thearchivestoday]

Overlooked No More: Claude Cahun, Whose Photographs Explored Gender and Sexuality

(June 19th, 2019)

Society generally considered women to be women and men to be men in early-20th-century France. Cahun’s work protested gender and sexual norms, and has become increasingly relevant.

“Untitled (Claude Cahun in Le Mystère d’Adam)” by Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, 1929.Credit...Estate of Claude Cahun, via San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

by Joseph B. Treaster for The New York Times

In early-20th-century France, when society generally considered women to be women and men to be men, Lucy Schwob decided she would rather be called Claude Cahun.

It was her way of protesting gender and sexual norms. She thrived on ambiguity and she chose a name, Claude, that in French could refer to either a man or a woman. She took the last name from her grandmother Mathilda Cahun.

Cahun (ca-AH) made ambiguity a theme in a lifelong exploration of gender and sexual identity as a writer and photographer. Decades after her death, she has a growing following among art historians, feminists and people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

Working in Paris in the racy 1920s and ’30s alongside Surrealist artists and writers, long before the rise of the gender-neutral “they” as a pronoun and the advent of terms like transgender and queer theory, Cahun created stark, sometimes playful, but deliberately equivocal photos of herself.

Here she’s a man. There she’s a woman. Sometimes she’s a little of both. Sometimes her head is shaved. In one photograph, Cahun brings together two silhouette portraits of herself, bald and austere, sizing each other up. “What do you want from me?” her caption reads.

“Que me veux-tu?” by Claude Cahun, 1928.Credit...Claude Cahun, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, via Alamy

“Masculine? Feminine?” she wrote in her book “Aveux non Avenus,” published in English as “Disavowals.” “It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

As writer and photographer, Cahun worked at upending convention. “My role,” she wrote in an essay published after her death, “was to embody my own revolt and to accept, at the proper moment, my destiny, whatever it may be.”

Cahun’s writing is complex and often difficult to follow, scholars say. But it provides context for the photographs and the weave of her life.

The photographs are by far her most compelling work. At first, scholars thought of them as self-portraits. But the gathering consensus is that Cahun choreographed and posed for the photos, and that her romantic partner, Marcel Moore, who was born Suzanne Malherbe, often pressed the button. It was a collaboration.

Cahun died on Dec. 8, 1954, at age 60, on the tiny Channel Island of Jersey off the Normandy coast of France. Hardly anyone noticed. “Disavowals,” her most heartfelt book, had not been well received. And she had never exhibited the photographs.

In the 1990s, however, she received a rush of attention as gender issues were gathering steam around the world. “Suddenly,” said Vince Aletti, a New York photography critic and curator, “she seemed incredibly of the moment.”

A French writer, François Leperlier, published a book on Cahun and helped organize the first exhibition of her work, at a museum in Paris. An English edition was published as “Claude Cahun: Masks and Metamorphoses.”

Professors and graduate students in art history and in feminist and gender studies began writing about her. Art museums wanted her work.

Cahun’s photographs have been displayed in group shows in the last two years in nearly a dozen museums in London, Paris, Washington, Melbourne, Warsaw and elsewhere. She is featured in a group exhibition running through early July at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Another group show opened in Bonn, Germany, in late May, and one opened in Sweden in mid-June.

“Untitled,” by Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, circa 1928.Credit...Estate of Claude Cahun, via San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Tellingly, many middle and high school students have attended the San Francisco exhibition, said Lori Starr, the museum’s director.

“In Cahun you’ve got an artist who turns the camera on themselves to see who else they can become,” said David J. Getsy, a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who specializes in gender and sexuality in art. “Isn’t that what we’re all doing now with cellphone photos? This is one reason young people might see themselves in Cahun.”

Paris named a street for Cahun and Moore in 2018. That same year, Christian Dior brought out an androgynous collection inspired by Cahun.

Cahun’s art spoke to David Bowie, who was known for his shifting personas. He arranged a flashy, high-tech, outdoor presentation of her photographs in New York in 2007, telling reporters her work was “really quite mad, in the nicest possible way.”

Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob was born on Oct. 25, 1894, in Nantes, a provincial capital 200 miles southwest of Paris, to Maurice Schwob, the owner and publisher of the regional newspaper Le Phare de La Loire, and Victorine Mary-Antoinette Courbebaisse.

When she was 4, her mother began to show signs of mental illness and her grandmother took her in.

At 12, Lucy was sent to boarding school in England after French classmates began harassing her with anti-Semitic taunts. Back in Nantes at about 14 or 15, she met Suzanne Malherbe, who was two years older. The encounter, Cahun would write, was like a lightning strike.

Eight years later, Cahun’s father remarried. His new wife was Marie Eugénie Malherbe, Suzanne Malherbe’s mother. That made Cahun and Moore stepsisters, which created the appearance of a conventional relationship.

In Paris, they lived comfortably off family money. Drawing on her studies at the Sorbonne, Cahun wrote for literary magazines and journals, published at least two books and performed in experimental theater.

Moore worked as an illustrator and theatrical designer. Their apartment became a gathering place for writers and artists. They talked about social justice and debated communism as a counterforce to fascism. André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement, wrote in a letter to Cahun in the early 1930s that she was “one of the most curious spirits of our time.”

Left, “Marcel Moore” and right, “Self Portrait,” by Claude Cahun, 1928. Credit...Jersey Heritage Collections/Jersey Heritage

Scholars are convinced that the choice of the name Claude Cahun was an important and symbolic expression of Cahun’s worldview. “It was not just a pen name,” said Jennifer L. Shaw, an art history professor at Sonoma State University in California and the author of a biography of Cahun. And yet Cahun and Moore usually called each other Lucy and Suzanne. Many friends and relatives also addressed them by those names.

In a similar separation between the intimate and the public, scholars say, the photographs were more part of a private conversation than something to present to the world.

“They were in the mode of investigation, who you could be, how you could be, projecting yourself into another skin, another universe,” said Tirza True Latimer, a professor at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, who first wrote about Cahun in her Ph.D. thesis nearly 20 years ago. “These were two lesbians living within certain constraints. The photographs, the acting out, were a way of being free. It wasn’t really about producing an art object.”

In 1937, with tension rising in prewar Paris, Cahun and Moore decamped for Jersey, where they bought a large granite house overlooking St. Brelade’s Bay.

When the Nazis rolled over France in 1940, they took Jersey and the other Channel Islands. Cahun and Moore fought back — with their typewriter and pens, writing short messages to the Germans under the guise of an unhappy soldier they called “the soldier with no name,” said Louise Downie, the director of curation at the Jersey Heritage Trust, which has the main collection of Cahun’s and Moore’s work.

The messages — written on small bits of paper, sometimes even toilet paper — said that the war was lost, that German troops should look out for themselves. They called Hitler a vampire. Whatever the soldiers’ commanders might say, one note read, “Nobody dies for us.”

They slipped the notes into uniform pockets at the laundry, under windshield wipers and into cigarette packs left on cafe tables, Val Nelson, the senior registrar at the Jersey trust, said.

“Self Portrait,” with cat, in garden, by Claude Cahun, 1950. Credit... Jersey Heritage Collections/Jersey Heritage

It was a small-scale effort, with serious consequences. Cahun and Moore had a suicide plan and carried barbiturates. After three years they were caught and sentenced to death. Twice, they tried to kill themselves but underdosed. The war ended and they went free.

Cahun died nine years later and was buried in the churchyard next to their house. Moore took her own life 18 years after that. They are now together under a single gravestone inscribed with two Stars of David and their birth names.

Why they did not put Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore on the tombstone — or use them in their handwritten wills — is a mystery. There are no clues at the Jersey trust.

But whatever their reasoning, Cahun and Moore remain symbols of how people can break free of society’s preconceptions.

“Their lives were a performance around the questioning of identity,” Jonathan Carter, the chief executive of the Jersey trust, said.

[starberry-cupcake]

Free Short Stories: Aromantic Recommendations

Aro week is over but I spent it reading aro stories that are entirely accessible online (with their authors' consent) and thought I'd share some with you, as well as some extra resources. I’m going to include under “read more” content warnings and specific details, like the kind of rep included or important notes, so if you want to be sure and safe before reading them, you can click “read more” for all that information, or if you prefer just the blurb, avoid it easily enough. There you will also find the extra links of interest and other masterposts.

Edit: This post used to be split in two parts, I’ve integrated them into one whole post for everyone’s convenience. 

1. Nkásht ii by Darcie Little Badger

Josie and Annie set to investigate a strange death that may involve more than they expected. Sometimes the love that heals isn’t romantic and bonds that are strong are those chosen.

2. Hope of the Future by Elizabeth Barrette

In a fantasy setting, a human cleric finds an elf bard and a strong female dwarf, all cast aside for their identities, and create their own home and family. The same characters also appear in another poem that continued their story: The Underground Gardens.

3. Tanith’s Sky by Penny Stirling

Ash is left with the loss of Tanith, after she sacrifices herself to save the world. Tanith's memories resurface in people's minds and Ash has to navigate their identity, their memories and how to label for others’ sake their lost relationship.

4. And If The Body Were Not The Soul by A. C. Wise

Ro is a human who forms an unlikely bond with an alien refugee, discovering a different layer of proximity that doesn't chain to the type of physicality humanity sets. In that process of discovery, Ro learns about the other side of the social oppression in their own city.

5. The Crows Her Dragon’s Gate by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

An exploration of the background and re-telling of the story of the goddess Xihe. Marrying out of the obligation of customs and pressure, this story explores the feelings of Xihe, her relationship with Di Jun and the freedom she ultimately seeks.

6. The Girl Turns West by Darcie Little Badger

Another tale set in Native American culture (the author is a Lipan Apache writer), this story is about family, sacrifice and forms of non romantic love and devotion that transcend the limits of life and death.

7. Kin, Painted by Penny Stirling

The narrator can’t find a place in a family that seems so determined, so certain, painted each in a specific way. A poetic prose filled with magic and the colors that we paint ourselves with, which can sometimes change with time.

8. Cucumber by Penny Stirling

A queerplatonic couple in a fantasy setting deals with social pressure in a story written in poetic verse.

9. The Famine King by Darcie Little Badger

A woman is chased by fear, memories and a being that affects her relationship with her own identity and mental health, while finding refuge in a found family. These characters are also included in a previous story called To Sleep.

10. How My Best Friend Rania Crashed A Party And Saved The World by Ada Hoffman

Emma, a Relator, finds out that her best friend Rania, a World Saver, is being used by her boyfriend and can lose her credibility as a Hero for it, so she enlists a tech-savvy Number Fiend, Deborah, to crash a high school party in a forbidden sector to confront the guy.

11. Unlike Most Tides by Darcie Little Badger

Mathilda is in peace with her solitude until she communicates with energy beyond her understanding and finds the voice of a murdered woman who asks her for help to deal with her killer: her ex boyfriend.

Content Warnings and Extra Details

1. Nkásht íí by Darcie Little Badger

Details: urban fantasy, folklore, suspense, aromantic lead character, main platonic relationship between female characters. CW: minor characters deaths, accidents, the death of a child is mentioned, domestic abuse in flashbacks.

2. Hope for the Future by Elizabeth Barrette

Details: aroace male lead in a poly relationship with a female and male character, fantasy, story in poetry, happy ending. CW: arophobia and acephobia, family abandonment.

3. Tanith’s Sky by Penny Stirling

Details: fantasy, sci fi, drama, hurt/comfort. Main qp relationship between an aroace cis female lead and a non binary allo lead. The aroace lead is dead by the start of the story, which I had my hesitation about, but the story does a wonderful job capturing Tanith’s life in an aftermath of what would be another untold story, as well as Ash’s identity and their relationship, as well as the process of grief and moving forward. CW: major character death, grief, depression, transphobia, arophobia and acephobia.

4. And If The Body Were Not The Soul by A. C. Wise

Details: explicitly touch-averse asexual non binary lead, very likely aromantic (expressed but not named in the text), sci fi, social strife, hurt/comfort, found family and friendship (nb and cis female, nb and alien friendships). Many commenters have expressed that Ro is potentially an autistic character, some autistic authors and reviewers have agreed or disagreed but I couldn’t find whether the author stated that at any point. CW: mild depictions of violence, xenophobia, social issues and unrest, happy ending.

5. The Crows Her Dragon’s Gate by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

Details: the goddess Xihe is depicted as aroace yet marries the god Di Jun for a time in which she lives troubled. Fantasy, mythology, re-interpretations, angst with a happy ending. CW: internalized acephobia and arophobia, dubious consent, violence, animal death, toxic marriage, there is a side wlw couple of mortals who die.

6. The Girl Turns West by Darcie Little Badger

Details: there isn’t romance in the story, the lead character doesn’t seemingly have romance in the future and there is a side female character who explicitly rejects suitors and prefers to live independently yet with her family. Considering that the author has written several aroace characters, I decided to include this one and another story in Part 2 as strong potentials (there is another story by the same author that other sites recommend as aro-representative, but I think these two are a lot less vague). Fantasy, mythology, folklore, bittersweet ending. CW: death mentions, wounds and accidents, blood mentions.

7. Kin, Painted by Penny Stirling

Details: poetic prose, fantasy, aromantic lead character, trans male character, non binary characters.

8. Cucumber by Penny Stirling

Details: fiction in poetry form, queerplatonic relationship in a fantasy setting. CW: arophobia and acephobia, social pressure.

9. The Famine King by Darcie Little Badger

Details: mystery, suspense, horror, folklore, hurt/comfort, angst w/optimistic ending, explicit non romantic & non sexual main relationship between to female characters. CW: blood, wounds, cannibalism mentions, mental illness with hallucination episodes, racism.

10. How My Best Friend Rania Crashed A Party And Saved The World by Ada Hoffman.

Details: high school setting, uplifting, sci fi, aroace lead character in a friendship with a heterosexual girl and a bisexual girl. CW: arophobia by the best friend, which is not confronted or discussed, mentions of racism. Notes: I read this story for the Pride list last year and I didn't include it because I had a bone to pick with Rania's character. The story is fun, a lot more lighthearted than many of the ones here and has a distinct tone that makes it good to include, plus Emma (the lead) is a very friendly, social and well-liked person, rather than the traditional robot/alien foil aro, ace and aroace characters tend to receive. So, even if I'm still uneasy about Rania and how her bad attitude is not acknowledged in the story, I’m still including it for all its perks.

11. Unlike Most Tides by Darcie Little Badger

Details: there is a protagonist who prefers to live in solitude and speaks about it and about her favorable feelings towards it. It isn’t explicitly stated that she is aromantic but, much like The Girl Turns West in Part 1, I’d say it’s a good addition to the list, though it's probably the least explicit of the bunch. Mystery, supernatural, sci fi, suspense, positive ending. CW: murder, corpses, side character death, blood, femicide.

Other masterposts:

@coolcurrybooks's first and second masterpost I consulted

Penny Stirling's recommendation list

LGBTQReads recommendations list

Claudie Arsenault recommendation list

Aro and Ace character database

Aroaessidhe recommendations list

YA Pride masterlist

My own LGBTQ+ free short stories rec list from last year, some of these stories are in it but the majority is not

[365days365movies]

January 19, 2021: Léon: The Professional (Epilogue)

Hey, look! An elephant in the room! We should address that, huh?

So, recently, actress and Léon star herself Natalie Portman was interviewed about acting in this movie, and she said that the movie itself was fine to act in. It was the response to that work from...y’know what, perverts - let’s not dance around that - that she wasn’t the biggest fan of. It changed the roles she was willing to accept, and her acting style in general. Which makes absolute sense for her to do.

But now, you may understand why this film is...awkward. Because let me clarify something: this is a good movie! But, especially with relatively recent revelations from Hollywood in the last few years, you know that some people enjoyed this movie in a WHOLLY UNACCEPTABLE fashion. Which is...well, again:

Because of that, this film was gotten a lot of negative attention, then and now. And, let’s also be fair here: I’m not a fan of the fact that Luc Besson put Natalie Portman in this...uncomfortable position in the first place. It’s a little squicky to be putting a 12 year-old in that context, is what I’m saying. Roger Ebert agrees, in the closing statement of his review on the movie:

But always at the back of my mind was the troubled thought that there was something wrong about placing a 12-year-old character in the middle of this action. In a more serious movie, or even in a human comedy like Cassavetes' "Gloria," the child might not have been out of place. But in what is essentially an exercise - a slick urban thriller - it seems to exploit the youth of the girl without really dealing with it.

.Yeah, I agree with that. But OK, if we take that uncomfortable aspect away from the movie (and it is possible to do so), then what did I think? Well, let’s get into that, shall we?

Recap

Cast and Acting

Strap in, this one’s gonna be long. Three parts, and a coda at the end.

OK, first I gotta talk about Léon, or rather Jean Reno as Léon. Here's the thing about these heroic bloodshed protagonists; they’re always these cold, reserved badasses with armored hearts that have been closed off by a personal tragedy, from when they were more innocent. But with Léon, we never see that tragedy; we have no idea what makes this man who or what he is. And yet, he still has dimension as a character, hidden depths within an unknown past, and also a surprising innocence injected into him. He genuinely enjoys going to see old movies, he’s teaching himself how to read, we only really see him drink milk, he cares deeply for his plant. And, before Mathilda, he’s lonely, and you actually feel for him? THis is, by the way, despite the fact that the first sequence of the film is him MURDERING A BUNCH OF PEOPLE. And despite that, I really did feel for him in the end there. And while the directing and writing take a part of this, GODDAMN does Reno do an amazing job! He perfectly portrays the nuances of this character, but puts on an incredibly badass demeanor when he needs to. Reno deserves more credit as an actor in the USA, because he’s astonishingly great in his movie, seriously.

And then...then there’s Natalie Portman. See, back in the wild, wild west of the ‘90s, child actors were ALL OVER THE GODDAMN PLACE. And the vast majority of them weren’t very good, let’s be honest. But in her turn as Mathilda, awkward preteen crush and all, Portman KNOCKS it out of the goddamn park with this portrayal. And by the way...THIS IS HER FIRST ACTING ROLE. Yeah. Holy shit. She’s brilliant, and I’m a little mad that she didn’t get an award nod AT ALL for this role. She’s fantastic, seriously, it’s insane. And yeah, her character and the dynamic with Léon definitely makes me uncomfortable...but maybe it’s because Mathilda is surprisingly believable, acting with a surprise innocence of her own. Seriously...amazing job to Nathalie Portman.

If Reno was understatedly nuanced and complex, and Portman was talented and emotional, Gary Oldman was BATSHIT INSANE. And holy shit, is he a wonderfully engaging and terrifying villain. This is Oldman dialed up to...eh, 8? You get him dialed up to 10, and I’m pretty sure you get Dracula. But he’s a HELL of a lot of fun here, honestly, if also extremely creepy and frightening. He steals every scene that he’s in, with his speeches, mannerisms, and affectations. He upstages, well...EEEEVERRRYYYYYOOOOOOONNNNNE!!!

And is everybody else in here good? Yeah, they are, but they’re completely drowned out by these three. The acting in this film is wonderful all around. 10/10. I mean that, 10/10.

Plot and Writing

If I had a single word about the writing, it’d be...French. There are some lines, ESPECIALLY Mathilda’s lines about love, that definitely sound more French than American. After all, this is a French film, and the writer is Luc Besson himself! And other than that...the writing’s fine. Plot’s fine, too, straightforward and all that. I really don’t have much to say about the plot, if I’m honest. And if I had one negative thing to say...yeah, the childhood crush thing is still super uncomfortable, honestly. Still, put in context, it’s a little bit better. And I should mention that, while it’s SUPER CONTROVERSIAL here in the good old US of A, this wasn’t nearly as big of a deal in France. And I should also mention...it’s mildly autobiographical. Yeaaaaaaaah, that blonde girl in the very beginning of the movie is actually Besson’s WIFE. You know...the 17-year-old, who’d known Besson since she was 12 and he was 29, and they started dating when she was 15, and the had a child a year later, before this movie was made. Y-yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

 7/10 here, nothing bad, nothing great. Basically average heroic bloodshed plotline, with some...other elements.

Directing and Action

Fun fact: Luc Besson’s reception in his home country is mixed, especially early in his career. This is because his directing style is focused far more on spectacle and bombast than it is on emotion. Definitely more American in style than French. And this movie definitely has some of that, although it’s definitely not as crazy as some of the other movies on this list. But some of the shots here are weird, some of them here are crazy cool, and most of them are just great. But this movie still focuses more on emotion and character buildup and revelations, than it does on action. Which is great, but this is Action January, so how was the action? This takes off of the gun-fu genre, with essentially all of it focused around gunplay. And the interesting thing is, while these aren’t the most bombastic action scenes, its the emotion around them that keep you on the edge of your seat and invested. So, weirdly, this might be the movie that’s integrated the action scenes with the movie’s overall emotional tone the most seamlessly. Well...of the English language movies, anyway. Overall, 8/10 here!

Production and Art Design

START SPREADING THE NEEEEEEEEEEWS, because it’s New York, New York! Most of this film was filmed on location, and it shows! As someone who grew up going to NYC on a regular basis, it definitely feels authentic to ‘90s New York. Which, of course, it is. Costume design, for Mathilda especially, is good, although one or two of her outfits feels a little over-complicated at times. Still, no complaints, really. I love Léon’s tiny glasses, and Stansfield’s suit (plain as it may be). Really, this movie is simply an authentic feeling New York, and there isn’t too much else to say about that. 8/10 again. 

Music and Editing

Music’s definitely good, including this song by Sting that we hear at the end. Editing is mostly OK, although there are some weird cuts here and there. And...I’m not sure I have much to say about this category. Oof. Sorry, honestly, this is probably a sign of good editing, since it wasn’t obvious. And as for the music, I remember it...but it was mostly overshadowed by the events of the film itself. So...7/10?

80%! And I’m satisfied with that, honestly!

This movie is built to make you a little uncomfortable while watching it. But, I still believe that it’s a movie to be watched. Good action, prominent emotional development, great acting. This one’s good, and give it a watch! 

Luc Besson, Luc Besson. You gave me a French English-language heroic bloodshed action movie about an older man saving a girl a generation or so younger than him, that also produced a well-known meme on the internet. More, please!

January 20, 2021: Taken (2008)

[ljreflet]

Pegasus Knight/Falcon Knight Conrad (Guide/Analysis)

NOTE: In my mod, I edited Conrad so that he appears and joins as a level 11 Pegasus Knight--one level away from Falcon Knight promotion. In this guide, I will analyze Conrad according to my mod.

Growths

HP: 45%

ATK: 25%

SKL: 60%

SPD: 50%

LCK: 45%

DEF: 45%

RES: 8%

Analysis

Conrad’s biggest and most glaring flaw in SoV is not only his join time, but the fact that he joins at a time where nearly all of the following maps are swamps--and he joins as a Cavalier.

His extremely hindered movement prevents him from reaching the frontlines to help defeat enemies, despite joining with fairly good bases. He comes in with a Blessed Lance, but with the three Whitewing sisters joining beforehand, his role as an anti-Terror unit is typically handed off to them instead with their built-in Banish as Falcon Knights.

However, he finds his saving grace as a Pegasus Knight.

Flight is the what Conrad needs the most in order to prove himself worthy on Celica’s route--and the Pegasus Knight class line is what offers him that. Not only does flying cure his inability to traverse through Celica’s late-game maps, but Falcon Knight also grants him Banish, which when combined with his Blessed Lance, helps him capitalize on damage against Terrors--which are abundant in Celica’s route. Once on wings, he can fight alongside the Whitewings and show his full potential as a unit--and possibly make Est a lot more irrelevant.

He has pretty solid, balanced overall growths as a Pegasus Knight, with his only weakness being his base 30% strength growth getting knocked down to 25% as a Pegasus Knight. Due to his late join time, his growths won’t really matter as he has very little time to grow, but his bases are solid enough and significantly much more workable than Est’s. He actually can prove to be a great and arguably a much, much better replacement for Est, who is the namesake of the “Est” archetype--a unit who joins late with great growths but terrible bases.

Due to the fact that he comes with a Blessed Lance, he can be be your de facto anti-Terror unit once promoted to Falcon Knight, as Blessed Lance’s anti-Terror effect stacks with Banish. His high speed will also ensure that he will double Terrors, even the faster ones such as Gargoyles and Mogalls.

Almost nobody in SoV has a “good” resistance growth, but Conrad’s relatively high base resistance--on top of his good defense--allows for him to tank magic attacks fairly well on top of physical attacks, which is something very few can do. Of course, magic-tanking should always be left to the Dread Fighters, but not many have both a good resistance and defense stat like Conrad.

Altering his class from Paladin to Pegasus Knight may seem redundant on Celica’s route because she already has Palla, Catria, and Est, and doing so sacrifices Celica’s only natural Cavalier (if Atlas is not reclassed into one). However, Cavaliers see very little use in Celica’s path due to the abundancy of the aforementioned terrain in Celica’s maps, such as the desert maps and swamp maps. Cavaliers suffer from the highest movement penalty of all classes and can contribute very little in Celica’s late game maps. There is very little opportunity cost to switching Conrad’s class to Pegasus Knight, and the benefits significantly outweigh the consequences.

Overall, out of all the units in Shadows of Valentia, Conrad benefits the most form the gender-lock removal and the Pegasus Knight class fits him like a glove.

My Personal Experience

As I mentioned above, Pegasus Knight really, REALLY helps out Conrad.

In my first ever vanilla playthrough of SoV, I didn’t find him bad, but I found that his class was just bad on the route he’s in. If he was on Alm’s route, he would have competition with Clive, Mathilda, and Zeke, but at least he wouldn’t be hindered by terrain penalties and could actually move across the map.

Regardless, I seriously question why they never just made Conrad a Pegasus Knight in the first place. He has good speed, low attack, and high resistance--all traits of your typical Pegasus Knight. Heck, some of his base stats even match those of Falcon Knight’s bases. He performed way better as a Pegasus Knight than he did as a Cavalier, and I didn’t feel like I had to grind his way up to success unlike Est. Sure, he made Est irrelevant, but I’d rather have one unusable unit instead of two, you know what I mean? LOL.

In the end, he was definitely one of my top units, performing on par with Catria and Palla (aside from my Dread Fighters). He’s one of my favorite characters and I was happy to see him finally excel.

Once again, the class fit him like a glove. And on top of that, his outfit looks great on a Pegasus LOL.

[sxveme-2]

blueberry pancakes // bucky barnes

MASTERLIST

Description: A single mother. Juggling being a mom, a full time pediatrician, and a difficult ex who believed now would be the best time to finally be a father. A soldier ripped out of time. Ex-assassin turned superhero. Learning how to balance a new domestic life with handling demons of his past, while facing the trials of the future. a love story began over something as simple as chocolate chip pancakes with hidden blueberries.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original Marvel characters! All canon plots and canon characters belong to Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. This is an original work. You may not publish it anywhere else

Status: Edited

Note: Takes place after endgame. I have elected to ignore Tony's death and Steve's leaving. Did not happen. Quick Reminder! My works are only published here, AO3 and on Wattpad, thank you.

Chapter Seventeen: The One With the Dancing

Warnings: Explosions

Word Count: 3026

     Ever since Lily was a child, her parents were the one constant thing that never changed throughout her life. However, as each individual Osborne child grew up and grew out of the nest, things seemed to change. Their work became more of a taboo topic, and they'd never share the research they were doing. But it became worse when Lily married Scott. And it seemed as though things just...it was like there was something changing within the lives the Osborne children believed they had. Puncturing holes in that pristine image of Alicia and Abel.

Lily blamed herself for it, as she tends to do. She believed she allowed her relationship to become distant between her and her parents, which is why they didn't talk as much about these things. A part of her even believed it to be a factor from her and Scott’s marriage. She knew her parents weren't his biggest fans, and dinners were always tense. They would always pull him aside during holidays...but Lily never really thought twice.

She didn't feel the need to. She somewhat hoped that the little talks they had were them finally getting along. Because at one point, Lily did indeed love Scott. And he loved her. So she figured that was all. But that was simply the socially naive side of the girl.

It wasn't until now did she realize there was something deeper going on.

"What are you insinuating, Sergeant Barnes?" Abel countered, leaning forward.

"It was simply a question, Abel. I'm not trying to insinuate anything. It's just odd in my opinion, that's all sir." Bucky smiled gently, sipping on his own coffee.

"I-I found it a bi-bit odd as well." Lily managed, heat flushing as all eyes turned to her. She wasn't exactly known to defy her parents or speak out really. Even Bucky seemed taken aback. But she persisted, her heart racing, "I mean I called you a month ago. I figured y-you'd come down before."

Even when it came down to dire situations, Lily had a rough time standing up to her parents. Well, she struggled with everyone doing that. But her parents posed particular trouble for her. She appreciated and loved them more than she could put into words, and never wanted them to feel as though she were defying them. Their approval was Lily's driving motive in close to everything she did. It was one of the main reasons she became a doctor, other than her sheer intelligence and love for children. She wanted to be the absolute best for them, be the best, become the best. Even at her age, standing up to her parents was difficult. Their approval was everything Lily strived for.

The only time she even slightly wavered when it came to standing up to them, was with her siblings. If they were being a tad harsh on Rose for staying out a few minutes after curfew, typically Lily would smooth it over. Cedar didn't do so well on a test and they were upset? Lily reminded them that he's trying his best and that everyone has slip-ups. That was it. Those were the only times. Except for the conversation at the cafe.

"Lily?" Alicia pondered, "I don't understand. We were worried sick we just...couldn't get down here," the blonde insisted, but the twinkle in her eyes faded, "We want to go see him today."

"Mom you're dodging..." Lily whispered, fiddling with her fingers, "Why didn't you come down when he was initially arrested?"

"Mum!" a voice called. Rose. the elder sister let out a shaky breath as she leaned back in her seat, eyes averting from her parents just across from her.

Glancing down at her lap, Lily fluttered her eyes shut. A deep instinct within her knew that there was something going on. But another part of her wanted to block it out. Hide it away. Pretend everything was fine. Act as though Cedar was walking free, her parents were simply environmental scientists, that nothing changed. She didn't like the feeling of change. The uncertainty in the air, the confusion, the constant paranoia. Her fingers began to tug at a loose thread at the end of her stark white dress, fiddling and pulling at it. Until the cool feeling of metal splayed across her wrist, rubbing smooth circles.

"Everything okay, Lil?" Gen asked, pulling the blonde out of her fixation.

"Yeah sorry. Late-night last night." she lied, giving a forced smile.

-----

"Why don't you leave Hunt with Gen and Rose for a bit and we can go somewhere quiet?" Bucky whispered as the group went to stand, about to leave the cafe, "It's just a short walk from here, a block or so."

"Yeah...Yeah, let's do that." Lily nodded along, turning towards her parents who had already left the cafe, after telling the young girl they were going to the police station, "Hunt! Buddy why don't you stay here with auntie Rose and aunt Gen for a bit. Bucky and I have some stuff to do." the blonde smiled down at the boy, running a hand through his hair.

With a nod from her son, Lily turned her attention back to the brunette. Lily felt like the world around her was closing in. Everything was out of place and uneasy. Whether it be her parents, Cedar, or her love life actually having a spark to it. Things just wouldn't sit still. They wouldn't stop for her to catch her breath. Anytime she believed some sense of normalcy was returning, the world threw another curveball her way. She just wanted to get to know Bucky and hopefully open herself up again, maybe fall for another.

Slipping his flesh hand into Lily's, the man next to her gave a gentle squeeze. With a glance upwards, the blonde blushed at the way he looked at her. Those troubled eyes becoming clear when they rested on her fair complexion. She loved the way he looked at her. Those blue eyes staring down at her like there was no one else around. There was no confusion, no pain. Just her. He looked at her, not as Lily Osborne. Not as a single mother. Not the daughter of famous scientists. He looked at her as Lily. The brilliant mind who has suffered through emotional trauma, who continues to fight through the hard days and raise a son. He looked at her like she was the most beautiful, and the strongest woman he had met.

And his touch. Oh, his touch. Ever so feather-light yet meaningful and passionate all the same. His slight hesitation with the vibranium arm, yet never failing to overcome that slight fear. Because she made sure he knew she wasn't scared of him. She knows what he had done. Who he had killed. All the pain he had caused. But she knew it wasn't really him. It was the Winter Soldier. It wasn't James Buchanan Barnes. Not the man who watched National Geographic with her son. Not the person who cooked her dinner. Not the person who kissed her as though she'd break. His touch was the most special thing to Lily. Because he touched her like a human, and she let him with no real fear.

Bucky led the young mom from the cafe, fingers brushing gently across her knuckles as the cool November wind brushed between them. Her long blonde hair gently tossed across her face as they walked east from the cafe, dodging people. Lily had lived in the city for fifteen years, yet had no idea where was leading her. It was to a seemingly quiet part of the busy city, where there were small flower bushes and a few elderly walking about.

"Where on earth are you taking me?" Lily hummed, tugging gently at the taller man’s arm.

Twirling the blonde, Bucky chuckled before tugging her closer to his chest, "Well doll, I'm taking you dancing."

-----

"A retirement home?" Lily laughed softly as Bucky led her through the moth-ball scented halls of the building they had entered. But he seemed distracted, waving and smiling at little old ladies and bright old men. All seemingly knowing who he is.

"James!" a voice called as the two walked through a set of double doors to a large rec room. Lily turned her head to see an older woman, dark skin wrinkled in a pug like way that made Lily's heart positively melt as she smiled, "We were worried you weren't stopping by today. And you brought a guest! Don't tell Mathilda, she may cry." the woman teased, a raspy laugh escaping her lips as the pair made their way over.

"Hey aggie," Bucky greeted softly, "This is Lily- "

"Lily!" the woman, Aggie, exclaimed, lifting her hands up, "The girl you go on and on about. Yes, I remember. She's even more beautiful in person. I'm Agnes, call me Aggie. It's lovely to finally meet you, dear. And you two made it just in time for dancing!"

Before Lily could properly introduce herself, the taller man swept the blonde away onto the beige floor that was cleared for the event. A small laugh left the girl’s lips as she stumbled into Bucky's chest, a new sense of calm washing over her. Gentle music, All About Us by He Is We Lily figured out, began to play lowly around the hall, and Lily felt Bucky's metal hand grip at her waist gently, fingers running along the blue yarn of her cardigan. His flesh one tangling itself into her fingers, bringing the girl close as she rested her frail hand on his steady shoulder.

Where her hand-laid, the slight feeling of scarring was evident through the thin cotton of his charcoal grey shirt. A shaky breath escaped from Bucky's lips and Lily glanced up, catching his eyes in hers. Her fingers gently traced the line across his shoulder where his metal arm met the human muscle of his body. Her deep forest eyes kept his sky blue locked onto hers, as they swayed gently along to the music. She felt the room melt away around her, his eyes keeping her locked in place. The feeling of the scar tissue left a fire burning on her fingers. His eyes looked scared, and that's why she didn't stop. She wanted him to know she loved that part of him.

"I know most people call men handsome," Lily whispered, their noses brushing ever so lightly, "but this part of you is beautiful. It shows strength, Buck." she continued, "I know the pain associated with it. And I can't undo it. But I'm going to help you make new memories to outshine them," she concluded, a new sense of boldness and confidence surging through her.

"Lily..."

"I-I know it won't be easy. You being an Avenger. My current messed-up family. Raising Hunter. But the-there's something here." she continued, squeezing her eyes shut and dropping her head, "And Hunt loves you. God, I haven't seen him smile like that in so long."

The feeling of his hand dropped from her waist, only to place itself on the blonde’s chin, lifting her chin to meet his eyes once more, "I don't want to put you and Hunt in danger...I couldn't live with myself if something happened."

Shaking her head, Lily gave a weak smile, "You couldn't hurt us. I trust you with my life...I trust you with Hunter." she insisted, their faces slowly moving even closer.

"Okay...I won't complain," he teased, a gentle grin on his lips, "Let's see where this goes." he whispered, pressing a loving kiss to the blonde’s lips.

As the music continued, Lily felt something open inside of her. Something...warm. It spread through her body. Whether it was the warmth from her closeness to Bucky or the new opportunity he symbolized. A new future for her. A kinder future. One where she was able to look forward to the days to come. Not dread waking up and seeing him beside her. Waking up and seeing someone she couldn't wait to spend time with. She saw a future with him. A happy one.

The music halted in her mind. There was no noise besides the gentle breaths escaping from the pair. Peace and tranquillity surrounded them. It had only been two months since they had bumped into one another at the cafe, and that day will live forever in Lily's heart. The sneaky glances from each side of the area. Only to be brought together by a certain young boy who now seemed to be one of the driving forces in the two's relationship. Or a future one. And it just seemed to all finally fall into place. Two months can change the entire course of someone's life, and that's what happened with Lily and Bucky.

All because of blueberry pancakes.

A rumble in the ground shook Lily's mindset. The entire building shook, more like it. A shake that Lily had never felt before. It didn't come from below, no. It came from outside. Not too far from the area that they were in. Bucky's hand tightened on Lily, pulling her into his chest, acting as a shield for her. The tv station in the corner of the room switched from Golden Girls to the news, a panoramic view of an explosion. From the prison. Just two blocks away. Where Cedar was held. Lily looked up at Bucky, who had a grave look on his face.

"I have to go to work."

-----

The only thing on her mind was Hunter. As they ran through the retirement home, Hunter. As they stepped out onto the busy street, Hunter. As they sprinted through the crowded streets, Hunter. When she came face to face with Captain America and the Falcon, Hunter. Her face sickly pale, her palms sweating as she heaved. Her breathing quick and her mind frantic. She wanted, no, needed, to see her son. Ensure he was okay and for the love of God, hide him from knowing that Cedar and his grandparents had been in that building.

"Our guess is this is an escape plan," Steve commented, turning to Bucky, "Three prisoners have escaped...Hallea Tyler, Ryan Hux, and...Cedar Osborne." the man commented, glancing down at the blonde next to his best friend.

Lily felt her knees shake. Her mind fell blank. A strong grip around her waist kept her steady, that familiar cold of the metal ticking off the fact it was Bucky. Cedar had escaped. Her parents had gone to the prison to see him, after acting strange. And now Cedar was nowhere to be found. Everything fell into place too perfectly, with too many coincidences. Glancing up at Bucky, she grabbed at his jacket before whispering the faintest word.

"Parents," she whispered, grunting as someone pushed past her, "ask."

"Is there anyone in the building?" Bucky asked, metal fingers running circles over her waist.

"They've identified those who didn't make it. No one by the name of Osborne. Your parents should be okay." Sam nodded, looking down at Lily, "We'll find them."

Her parents being alive was a relief, sure. But terrifying at the same time. If Lily's assumption was correct, then she wasn't sure if it brought her comfort. The idea that this could have all been orchestrated by them fit so well with the odd events leading up to this day. And as much as she didn't want to admit this to herself, it was the only real explanation to why the exact building her brother was being held in after an odd set of circumstances...and them showing up a day before. It scared her, that her parents could be capable of this.

"Hunter...Hunter, I need to get to Hunter." Lily whispered, tugging at Bucky's sleeve, "Please I have to get back to Hunter."

"Okay...yes okay," Bucky turned back to the other two, "I'm going to take Lily to her son. If you need me back here I'm on coms." With a nod from the others, Bucky tucked Lily under his arm and pulled her from the scene of the explosion. One that she believed he felt the same way about. That this was the works of the Osbornes, and whatever sneaky business they had seemed to get themselves into.

-----

Lily's breath was heavy as they reached Gen's cafe. No one in sight other than on the other side of the street. But Lily didn't care. She just needed to see Hunter. Make sure he was okay. That was her main focus. Getting her son to safety and as far from the city as she could. Take him home, keep him safe behind the closed doors of their home. Away from anyone's eyes. She just wanted Hunter to be okay.

Pushing open the door to Gen's cafe, she was met with silence. Only the quiet humming of music floating through the speakers. Her head spun, and a panicked feeling settled in. But she saw the blonde of his hair, and a feeling of relief overtook it. Both Bucky and Lily jogged over to where Hunter sat, and the latter tugged the boy tight to her chest. She was sure he could feel the pounding of her heart, and the urgency in her coos. Hearing him breathe made her feel okay again. She felt at peace.

"Lily we should go." Bucky whispered, tugging gently at her shoulder, "I don't like this."

"We guessed you'd figure it out, Sergeant Barnes," an all too familiar voice called, "Seems you and Lily are quicker than we originally intended."

Alicia Osborne.

Lily shot her head up, watching her mother, father, and brother walk from the back of the cafe. Immediately, she covered Hunter's ears and tugged him into her chest, ensuring he didn't see what was happening. but, she figured this was the entire plan. For what though? Lily didn't know. Whatever it was, it had Bucky and Lily in the center of it, dragging Hunter along with them. Something Lily would kill to avoid happening. But the others seemed to have different plans, as Abel walked towards Bucky. And then spoke in a tongue Lily didn't know.

"Longing,"

[flowerytale]

Che libri consiglieresti ? Grazie♡

Salve Anon, beh è una domanda MOLTO generica. Ti farò una lista dei miei must-read books, ma se desideri sapere di un preciso genere ti conviene riformulare la domanda🤍 (inserirò anche alcuni titoli "banali" ma che comunque ritengo INDISPENSABILI, inoltre cercherò di dire solo due titoli per autore/autrice, altrimenti la lista diventerebbe infinita) *edit: le ultime parole famose lol

Gillian Flynn: L'amore bugiardo (Gone Girl), Sulla Pelle (Sharp Objects). Jeffrey Eugenides: Le vergini suicide (The Virgin Suicides), Middlesex. Clarice Lispector: Água viva, A Breath of Life (Um Sopro de Vida) Virginia Woolf: Io direi tutti lol ma se non hai mai letto nulla della Woolf io consiglierei di iniziare con La Signora Dalloway (Mrs Dalloway), che è senza dubbio il più conosciuto (io lo lessi la prima volta alle medie). Personalmente sono particolarmente legata a Le Onde (The Waves). Charlotte Brontë: Villette (e ovviamente Jane Eyre, ma lo inserirò in un altra categoria...) Elena Ferrante: I giorni dell'abbandono e OVVIAMENTE i libri della serie de L'amica Geniale. Devo ancora leggere La Vita Bugiarda degli Adulti, mi incuriosisce tantissimo! Isabel Allende: La casa degli spiriti (La casa de los espíritus), La figlia della fortuna (Hija de la fortuna) e Eva Luna (si sono 3, amo la Allende). Fyodor Dostoevsky: I fratelli Karamazov, Delitto e castigo. Ian McEwan: Espiazione (Atonement) dirne solo un altro è davvero complicato per me..mhh forse Il giardino di cemento (The Cement Garden). Adoro McEwan. Shirley Jackson: L'incubo di Hill House (The Haunting of Hill House), Abbiamo sempre vissuto nel castello (We Have Always Lived in the Castle). Isabella Santacroce: la "trilogia dello spavento". (So che la Santacroce non è una scrittrice molto apprezzata ed è un personaggio considerato "controverso", ma io la trovo molto interessante). Mary Shelley: Mathilda (come per Jane Eyre anche Frankenstein verrà inserito in un altra categoria) Margaret Atwood: Il Racconto dell'Ancella (The Handmaid's Tale), L'altra Grace (Alias Grace). ok no mi devo fermare qui altrimenti non ne usciamo più lol

Vorrei creare una categoria a parte per i libri SUPER FAMOSI, tanto famosi da essere ritenuti quasi scontati, ma che comunque io considero davvero fondamentali e che nonostante tutto molti non leggono mai, tuttavia si avvalgono della conoscenza generale acquisita per vie traverse (cinema, shows ecc.) per aggiungerli ai libri che oramai hanno letto, metabolizzato e...fine. Si. Purtroppo è così. (questa frase non ha senso... ma ci siamo capit* dai...spero. lol)

- Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), Moby Dick (Herman Melville), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë), Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), Les Misérables (Victor Hugo), Pride and Prejudice & Emma (Jane Austen), 1984 (George Orwell), Anna Karenina (Lev Tolstoj), The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote), The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton), Dracula (Bram Stoker) e anche qui mi fermo altrimenti continuo a scrivere all'infinito ahhah

Altra categoria - Libri di scrittori di cui ho letto solo le opere che citerò, ma che ho profondamente amato e di certo leggerò di più molto presto (ma ce la faccio a scrivere una frase sensata? io non credo.)

- Auntie Mame (Patrick Dennis), Tony and Susan (Austin Wright), Girl, Interrupted (Susanna Kaysen), Far From the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy), White Oleander (Janet Fitch), Rest and Be Thankful (Emma Glass), Picnic at Hanging Rock (Joan Lindsay), Carmilla (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu), Little Fires Everywhere (Celeste Ng)

SICURAMENTE dimentico qualcosa, ciò nonostante è diventata una risposta chilometrica.. mannaggia a me lol Per qualunque altra domanda sai dove trovarmi (e se vuoi risposte private basta specificarlo) 🤍

[chronicas]

May i inquire some info on the belladonnas? Specifically about the dates on top of their heads? :o (also love how extra they look! That hat on i think pandoras head? Neat)

thank you!! :) i wanted each belladonna sibling to have a very unique and dynamic design! i’m so glad you like her hat! i love giant hats so i sprinkle them into every character design that i think fits.

the dates are the year they were born and the year they originally died. cynthia’s dates are marked out because array of cicadas doesn’t take place in a certain time frame, it’s just vaugely modern day. i put the dates on it mainly to indicate what time period their fashion comes from since i did a TON of research to make their clothes historically accurate, Arnold and Pandora being exceptions because they dress in modern clothes, while Sylvia and Mathilda continue to wear the clothes from their original time period.

aaa quick edit bc i meant to mention: the other’s dates gives you how old they were when they first died, but Cynthia’s doesn’t have that so she was 12 when she died. and while i’m at it: Mathilda was 32, Arnold was 44, Sylvia was 18, and Pandora was 26. but since they got to age, Sylvia is physically 25 and Cynthia is 16!

[getitfrenchship]

Which F/O to Fight: Pikes Edition

Tagged by @lunaeloves. Because I have a lot of F/Os I’ll boil this down to the archetypes

The Fighters - characters that train and fight a lot [Priam, Gladio, Jeritza, Hendrik, Azrael, etc.]

They live to fight, and would probably have a drink with you afterward while complimenting your techniques or telling you where you can improve. That or they may kill you. 8/10

The Gentlemen - characters that are really sweet/caring to a degree [Conrad, Theodore, Dedue, Siegfried, Ukitake, etc.]

Why would you want to harm them? They’d rather be friends. Sure, they can handle themselves in battle, but yeah. 4/10

The Strategists - characters that are too smart for their own good [Nino, Cyrus, Lukas, Risotto, etc.]

These characters would most likely elude battle or at least find humiliating/clever ways to defeat you. 5/10

The Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllladies - badass ladies I can’t help but love [Dorothea, Primrose, Mathilda, etc.]

They’ve already beaten you. 20/10

Aizawa - he gets his own category because I don’t know where to put him

He’s similar to the Fighters where you get combat experience, but he’d only fight if you really put someone he cared about in danger. That, or if you want some pointers. 7.5/10

The Bastards - characters that make me go “dammit me, you’re predictable” [Randal, Worick, etc.]

Please hit them for me, they’re like bards where they’ll charm you to avoid fighting and they’re smug when they get away with it. 9/10

Thanks for the tag! I’ll tag @promptoargentumsgirlfriend and heck who else didn’t do this yet but wanted the opportunity to

[librationpoint]

Next Time on Star Trek: Always Bold

[Episode Preview Music]

[stock footage of USS Empress Mathilda]

"What a beauty," Nate said, looking out the window at the other ship. "Is it the one I think it is?"

"Enterprise," Brad confirmed. "I think it's safe to say we're officially in deep shit."

[Cheesy Preview Announcer: "The Dominion threat looms large, and Starfleet takes bold action!"]

[Special Guest Star Shohreh Aghdashloo addresses a crowd of Starfleet Rangers]

"We are launching a preemptive strike against the new Dominion shipyards at Torros III. Our objective is to destroy both the industrial facilities and the Cardassian fleet being refit there."

[Cheesy Preview Announcer: "The Recon team may finally have a mission."]

[Cut to THE ADMIRAL in her office, along with THE LIEUTENANT and THE CORPORAL]

"I won't lie to you," Soltani said. "This is the most dangerous portion of the entire operation. Your platoon will be alone, a thousand kilometers from any other unit. If something goes wrong, you are on your own."

[Cheesy Preview Announcer: "An old enemy returns!"]

"You!" the Klingon bellowed, pointing straight at Ray and charging his way. "I know you!"

"Uh," Ray said, combat reflexes utterly failing him. Where the fuck was his holdout phaser?

"You're the one who shot me!" Yep, that was why she looked familiar. 

[Cheesy Preview Announcer: "New bonds will be forged."]

[Smash cut to a maintenance crawlspace where THE LIEUTENANT and THE CORPORAL are squeezed together.]

Nate froze in place. "I take it that's not your phaser, then."

"No, sir."

There was what might have been a chuckle, stifled by officer-grade professionalism. "Perfectly normal biological reaction. Just keep working, no need to rush."

[Cheesy Preview Announcer: "But with time running short, what will be necessary to complete the mission?"]

"Sergeant Colbert," Nate gritted out through the pain. "I am ordering you to get yourself and the rest of the men home without me. I'll find my own ride."

[That one shot from ST:VI of the bird of prey exploding that keeps getting reused.]

[There was a firefight!]

[Quick cuts between unconnected sentences that are at opposite ends of the fic.]

"What happened to that Vulcan-trained stoicism?" Ray asked. "You're not gonna snap and pull a Burnham on us, are you? You better watch out for a knife in the back, LT."

"I always knew," Brad said, "that I'd die surrounded by assholes."

[Cheesy Preview Announcer: "Coming soon on Staaar Trek: Always Bold!"]

But seriously, coming soon after editing.