#nicholas clarke imagine

[the-imaginative-hobbyist]

Playing around with those set pictures...An homage to the legend Alex Ross...

Follow @the-imaginative-hobbyist for more content like this.

[helloalycia]

the boy who cried wolf // alicia clark

summary: when you piss off Alicia without meaning to, the only way to get her attention is to 'injure' yourself. Of course, everybody knows the story of the boy who cried wolf.

warning/s: mentions of fake blood, injury and stuff to do with your eyes (AKA eye drops, idk if anyone is squeamish about this, but here's the warning just in case).

author's note: this is a drabble to me but a full blown imagine to others haha, either way i hope you like it! just a lil cute one for our fave zombie slayer <3

wattpad / masterlist

I played with the keyring in my hand, spinning it around on my finger mindlessly as I kept my eyes focused ahead. I was on guard duty, seated at the top of our gate with the perfect view of the land ahead, just in case anyone tried to enter the stadium. I didn't mind the job, but it was definitely a little boring at times, especially when I was on my own.

"You look like you'd rather be anywhere but here."

I glanced over my shoulder, rolling my eyes playfully when I saw Nick Clark climbing up the ladder and taking a seat in the chair beside me.

"Nah, I was just anxiously awaiting your arrival, you just mean that much to me, Nicholas," I teased.

He grinned, shaking his head with amusement, before looking ahead. "So. Anything happening?"

"As quiet as it always is," I filled him in. "Which is a good thing, I suppose."

"Not even a squirrel?"

"No squirrels today," I replied with a chuckle.

We caught up with each other for a few minutes, making small talk, before it went quiet. I thought it would stay that way, a comforting silence, but then Nick spoke up again.

"So, apparently you and Alicia aren't talking," he said, and when I looked his way, he had a cheeky smile on his face like this was all he'd wanted to say the whole time.

"She isn't talking to me," I corrected him knowingly.

"Right, right, of course," he agreed, playing along.

"I would happily speak to her, but she's being immature," I said with a shrug, crossing my arms.

He quirked a brow, intrigued. "And why's that? What happened?"

I shrugged again. "Beats me. She's been acting like that a lot lately."

He snickered, looking ahead again. "You guys act like kids sometimes, you know that?"

"She acts like a kid," I corrected him for the second time, making him laugh. "All I did was offer to go on that supply run in a few days and then she just flipped out on me! She does it every time I offer as if I'm insane to want to help. I go, she pouts, I come back, then she gets over it. But it's getting old now, Nick, c'mon. You'd think she'd get over this whole routine of hers."

"Hmm," he hummed in agreement. "And is Hannah gonna be on that supply run?"

I furrowed my brows, confused. "Hannah? What's she got to do with this?"

Hannah was just some girl who lived at the stadium, a nice friend to have around. I didn't understand why she was relevant to this.

He smirked, amused. "Just answer the question."

I sighed, wondering where he was going with this. "Yeah, I guess."

"And was she on the last ones you went on?" he continued knowingly.

I quirked a brow. "Yeah, that's kind of what she does."

He hummed again, this time with a stifled smile, and it was driving me up the wall.

"What?" I pressed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

He glanced at me sideways, lifting an eyebrow. "When was the last time you were in a relationship, Y/N?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," he confirmed, and for some stupid reason, I entertained it.

"Well, I haven't had time to be in one since the world went to shit," I told him truthfully.

"So, what – three years?"

"Damn," I realised, leaning back in my seat. "It's been a while, but... yeah."

He snorted, trying not to laugh. "That explains so much."

Growing tired of his games, I smacked him on the arm. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean, idiot?"

He rubbed his arm that I know definitely didn't hurt, before leaning in slightly. "Look, I don't usually like to get involved in my sister's life and relationships, but I like you, okay? And I think you'd be good for her."

My eyebrows knitted together, the confusion on my face clearly evident, because what was he talking about? Alicia and I were best friends, that's all.

"Dude!" he suddenly said, startling me, and slapping me on my arm. "She likes you!"

I raised my eyebrows, not expecting this in the slightest. Alicia liked me?

"She's jealous, you idiot," he continued to explain. "Every time you go on these supply runs with Hannah, she's jealous that it's not her going with you."

I swallowed hard, shaking my head, refusing to believe it. "But I– I mean– I ask her if she wants to come– but–"

Nick groaned quietly, fed up. "She doesn't like that you're always with Hannah when you're not with her."

I blinked, needing a minute to process what he was saying. All this time Alicia liked me? Out of my league, headstrong and super smart Alicia? Stunning, makes me weak in the knees with a simple smile and has the prettiest eyes I've ever seen Alicia? No, that couldn't be right. Could it?

"D'you like her back?" he asked when I didn't speak.

I hesitated, eyes meeting his curious ones before looking away. As much as Nick and I got along, he was still Alicia's brother. Would admitting I liked his sister not be extremely weird?

"Don't think of me as her brother," he said, practically reading my mind. "Just your friend. C'mon."

My palms were suddenly sweaty and I found myself exhaling slowly, trying to find words.

"I, er– yes, I do," I admitted, avoiding his eyes because it was still embarrassing and I'd never really admitted it aloud. "But it's Alicia. It's just a crush, not an actual possibility."

He snorted. "You may wanna reconsider that..."

She liked me? I couldn't believe it, I was amazed, excited and nervous all at once. This was quite literally the impossible to hear.

"You should talk to her," he encouraged.

I should talk to her. Now that I had confirmation – kind of – that she liked me, too, maybe I had a chance. Nick was right! I just needed to–

Wait. Alicia hated me right now.

With a defeated sigh, I shook my head. "She won't even look at me."

He let out the most dramatic groan ever. "Jesus, do I have to do everything around here?" Glancing at me, he added, "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Please, for God's sake, figure something out. It's annoying watching her pout."

I pressed my lips together as another silence fell between us. Maybe he was right and I would figure something out. I had to, after all. Because Alicia liked me.

A smile curled on my lips and I tried not to let my giddiness get the better of me.

She liked me.

Naturally, all I could think about were Nick's words for the rest of my guard shift, and they continued to rattle around my brain well into the night when I was finally able to go to sleep. When I awoke the following morning, I knew what I had to do. It had been so long, too long, of me hiding my feelings and pushing them away. But not anymore.

No, now I was going to tell Alicia how I felt.

I tried to find her at breakfast, spotting her at a bench with Nick and Luciana, looking a little tired but otherwise content with eating her scrambled eggs.

"You got this," I mumbled to myself, before heading over there to speak to her. When I stopped by the bench, I smiled down at her. "Alicia, hey. I–"

But I didn't even get to finish greeting her because as soon as she realised it was me, she rolled her eyes and left, taking her tray with her. I raised my brows, surprised, and watched as she left the area altogether. I knew she was annoyed at me from yesterday – jealous, as Nick had said – but not to this extent. Okay, maybe it made sense considering she always acted like this, but I didn't want to mess around anymore.

Nick and Luciana trying to stifle their laughter is what made me look to them questioningly. I frowned, giving Nick a look.

"Try harder?" he suggested unhelpfully.

I closed my eyes, groaning to myself, before knowing he was right.

After finishing my usual morning chores, I attempted to find Alicia again. Every time she got into one of her moods, the length of them varied. Sometimes she'd ghost me for all of the days leading up to the supply run and other times it could be over within a day. Maybe I'd get lucky and she'd be over it by now.

Madison kindly pointed me in the right direction, telling me that Alicia was working first aid today, so I immediately headed over to the medbay, hopeful that I might finally be able to confess the truth to her.

Upon spotting the door to the medbay, I sucked up a breath and knocked on it. After a moment, it opened and I was relieved to see Alicia.

"Hey," I started with a small smile, still unsure whether she was annoyed at me or not. "I was looking for you everywhere and–"

"Are you dying?" she cut me off with a blunt tone, eyes narrowed.

"No, but–"

"Then go away." She closed the door in my face before I could even register what she'd said.

So still annoyed then.

Chewing on my lip, I turned around and tried to think of a way to speak to her, or even just have her attention for more than a few seconds so I could tell her how I felt. If what Nick had said was true, then maybe this would make things right.

That's when someone walked past with a bandaged arm and I got an idea. She was working first aid today and there was no way she could ignore me if I was injured...

Trying to dial down my prideful grin, I approached the door to the medbay barely an hour later. Though this time, I had the genius idea to appear injured. All it took was a little ketchup dribbling down my hand and I knew she'd have to give me the time of day.

I knocked on the door yet again and managed to keep the smile from my face, wanting to play the part of victim as realistically as possible. When it opened, Alicia was surprised to see me again, especially with my 'bloody' hand raised.

"Oh my God, Y/N, what did you do?" she asked instantly, her moody resolve fading as she seemed to forget that she was supposed to hate me.

Ushering me inside, she led me to a bed to sit on, keeping my hand elevated and already grabbing some bandages.

"Silly mishap with a knife," I lied, feigning pain. "But now that I've got you–"

"Wait," she interrupted, pausing, and her eyebrows furrowed over curious green eyes as she sniffed the air. Suddenly, her eyes fell to my hand. "Is that ketchup?"

I swallowed nervously. "No."

It was silly of me to think I could trick one of the smartest girls I knew, especially when her irritation returned and she began to glare at me.

"Alicia, it's not–"

She licked my hand, the ketchup coming off with her tongue, and I pretended to be offended as I snatched my hand away.

"Alicia, that is not hygienic!"

"Oh my God!" she shouted, before slapping me on the arm hard. "It is ketchup! I can't believe you!"

I sighed, my pretence failing. "Okay, maybe, but–"

"You're an idiot!"

"–but you you wouldn't speak to me!" I continued desperately. "I'm sorry for lying, but it was the only way to get you to listen to me!"

She scoffed. "Well, guess what, I'm not. And you can't make me, Y/N. Now go."

"Alicia, please–"

"Now," she warned, eyes sending daggers my way.

"If you could just give me one minute–" I tried once more, and she groaned in response before leaving the medbay herself, knowing I wouldn't.

I sighed yet again, disappointed and impatient. Wiping the ketchup off my hand and cursing myself for my stupidity, I wondered if it was time to just give in and let her moodiness simmer for a while longer, like always. Maybe when she calmed down I could tell her the truth about my feelings.

When the day of the supply run finally arrived, I hoped it would also be the day Alicia stopped ignoring me. Especially considering I didn't go on it and so her whole reason for hating me wasn't applicable anymore. But of course, she still didn't speak to me and there was nothing I could do about it.

Having no choice but to busy myself with more chores since my best friend didn't even want to be in the same room as me, I was helping Nick build a structure for a shed by the kitchen area. It was his fault I was in this mess, kind of (not really, but it was easier to blame him), so he was subjected to my endless rants about the whole situation.

"...and I just think you were wrong, Nick," I was saying with a sigh. "She doesn't like me, not like that."

"Oh, she definitely does," he assured me with full confidence.

I resisted the urge to glare at him. "Did you actually hear her say that word for word?"

He snorted. "As if she'd admit that." I sighed inwardly, shaking my head, and he continued, "Look, she'll come around. She's just being petty."

"I know, I hate petty Alicia," I grumbled to myself.

He laughed, distracted by prying out a screw with a hammer, but he was clearly struggling. "Wait, I can't get this out."

I went quiet as he attempted to yank it out with the back of the hammer, but it wasn't budging. I was going to offer to help him, but before I could say anything, he suddenly pried it out with a start. Unfortunately for me, the screw flung out of the wood and back into my eye, making me yelp in pain.

"Fuck, Nick!" I shouted, immediately covering my closed and throbbing eye. "You arsehole!"

He panicked, eyes widening as he dropped the hammer to look at me. "Oh my God, Y/N, I'm so sorry! Let me see, shit."

I breathed out slowly, hoping the pain would go with it, but my eye was watering and it hurt too much to blink.

"C'mon, let me see," he said gently, grabbing my hand.

I let him pull my hand away, forcing myself to open my eye and wincing at the stinging in that area. He scrunched his face up unhelpfully.

"It's going red really fast," he said with uncertainty, taking a careful look.

"Yeah, because it fucking hurts," I complained, before closing my eye and covering it with my hand again. It probably wasn't helping, but the pressure gave me something else to focus on.

"We need to go to the medbay, come on," he said, grabbing my hand and leading me there.

"Oh yeah, let's go see Alicia who hates my guts," I mumbled to myself.

When we reached the door, Nick didn't bother knocking as he opened it and led me straight inside. As soon as Alicia turned to see who it was, her eyes narrowed.

"No way, we're not doing this again," she said firmly, before attempting to push us out. "No more ketchup, stab wounds, gun shots, whatever you have planned!"

"I'd love to say I had a better trick up my sleeve, but I'm not joking," I told her as Nick stopped her from getting rid of us. "Your brother is just an idiot."

"Hey!" Nick exclaimed.

Alicia, who looked like she didn't believe us in the slightest, sighed and looked between us. "Fine. I'll entertain this for a minute. Go on. What's the problem?"

I smiled awkwardly, before removing my hand and opening my eye with a grimace. It mustn't have looked good as she dropped her attitude and widened her eyes.

"What the hell happened?!" she asked with concern, stepping forward and grasping my face gently to get a better look at my eye. "Nick, what did you do?!"

Admittedly, the contact drew the breath from me, making me forget how to speak. Then she slightly turned my head and I flinched at the pain in my eye, coming back to reality.

"It was an accident to be fair," I defended him. "He was pulling out a screw and it just happened to hit me in the eye."

Alicia's worried eyes flickered over to mine, jaw clenched, before she rolled her eyes with irritation.

"It'll be okay," she assured me, as if biting her tongue. "It just needs some saline solution, a compress and some painkillers."

Nick nodded. "Awesome. So, I'll leave you to it then! That okay, Y/N?"

I glanced over to see him smiling sheepishly at me, awaiting my confirmation.

"Bye, Nick," I said, making him give me a thumbs up before departing.

Alicia scoffed to herself before pointing to the bed sternly. I took a seat at the edge, holding my eye comfortingly as she went to look for aforementioned items. I may or may not have snuck in some cheeky eye rubs, hoping to relieve the itchiness that I couldn't quite seem to abate no matter how much I blinked, but Alicia noticed without even turning around.

"Stop it," she ordered, back to me, and making me jump.

"It hurts," I whined, but lowered my hand.

"It's gonna hurt if you keep rubbing it," she mocked in the same voice I used, returning to me with supplies in her hand. "It's irritated, you moron."

I pressed my lips together, knowing I shouldn't say anything to further piss her off, especially considering I needed her help before I got a stupid eye infection from Nick's mistakes.

She began to squirt some saline solution on to her hand to test it out, and I couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow with thought.

"Were you seriously not going to help?" I asked, referring to when she was about to kick me out before.

"Can you blame me?" she asked, not even glancing up at me. "You're the boy who cried wolf, Y/N. Or the idiot who thinks ketchup doesn't smell like ketchup."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Once. And it was only so I could talk to you."

"Whatever," she said sharply, before nodding at me. "Lay down."

I did as she said, though I wasn't going to let this opportunity slide. "You don't need to be upset anymore, Alicia. I didn't go on the supply run with Hannah."

She clenched her jaw but didn't say anything. Instead, she leaned over me with the saline solution tube and held it above my eye. Just as she squeezed it to drop in, I instinctively closed my eye, feeling it hit my lid.

"Y/N!" she said with a scolding tone, and when I opened my eyes, she was glaring at me.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologised nervously, eyes unable to look away from the tube. "It's scary!"

I was never good with eye drops or anything that needed to go in my eyes, so this was truly a nightmare.

"Quit being a baby," she muttered with annoyance, before returning to her position above me again.

"Sorry," I said again, before blinking a few times then looking up at the ceiling. "At least you're talking to me again."

"Stop talking and let me do this," she instructed impatiently.

I sighed, humming, before trying to distract my thoughts from the tube that was awfully close to my eye. This time, however, when Alicia squeezed it, the drop landed in my eye.

"Keep your eye closed," she said, not quite annoyed but not quite empathetic either.

I did as she said, then felt her fingertip on my lid, gently rubbing over it to massage the solution in. It was only for a few seconds, but again, the mere contact had me forgetting what was going on.

"Up, c'mon," she said, and I opened my eye to see her packing the solution away.

I pushed myself into a sitting position, immediately feeling the corner of my eye watering.

"My eyes are watering," I told her, blinking a few times.

"Shame," she said without pausing, and I wasn't sure what to do, but then she groaned quietly and grabbed a tissue, holding it out to me.

"Thanks," I said, accepting it and watching as she packed away some things with a pent up aggression. It was beginning to amuse me the longer I watched.

"Are you really that jealous?" I asked with disbelief, patting the corner of my eye dry.

She paused, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

I tried not to laugh as I held her steady gaze. "Jealous. Of Hannah."

She scoffed harshly. "As if I'd ever be jealous of that ever-present, clingy girl."

"Uh huh... then why are you so annoyed at me for going on supply runs with her?"

She rolled her eyes before going to the opposite side of the room to wet a cloth at the sink. "I'm not."

I gave her a knowing look, even though she was avoiding meeting my eyes. "Alicia."

Again, she rolled her eyes, which I caught as she returned to me with the damp cloth.

"Put this on your eye," she said, changing the subject. "You're done."

I lifted the cloth to my eye, relieved at the cold compress, but the pain was still stuck behind my eye. "It still hurts," I told her, whilst trying to read her expression, but she was good at hiding how she felt.

"Fuck, the painkillers," she mumbled to herself with frustration, before turning around to get them.

"Look, I just wanted to say that I don't think Hannah is that bad," I continued, whilst she was distracted, but she only snorted in disagreement. "She's just being nice."

"A little too nice," she mumbled to herself, but I heard it loud and clear, and it made me smile to myself.

Maybe Nick was right after all.

"I don't like Hannah like that," I assured Alicia.

Playing dumb, Alicia asked, "Why would it matter if you did?"

"It doesn't, I suppose, but I'm telling you just in case it means you'll talk to me again," I told her truthfully. "Because I miss you, Alicia."

Alicia stopped her searching and sighed, shoulders relaxing as she did. From behind, I could see her rubbing her face before she turned around, expression softened and free of anger.

"Maybe I've overreacted," she realised regretfully, still not meeting my eyes. "I just–" Catching herself, she shook her head and grabbed the painkillers from behind her before returning to me.

"You what?" I asked curiously.

She forced a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I'm just being overprotective. You're my best friend and I've got to look out for you. Hannah didn't seem right. That's all."

"Is that it?" I asked, watching as she played with the painkillers in her hand distractedly.

She nodded, but I saw the disappointment. "Yeah."

I stood up, lowering the cloth and throwing it on the bed. "Nothing else?"

Confused, she glanced up at me. "What else could it be?"

I swallowed hard, wondering if this was it. Should I tell her? Was Nick right? Should I make the first move?

"Well?" she pressed, eyebrows furrowed.

I needed her to admit it.

"Why do you think Hannah isn't right for me?" I asked, searching her eyes.

She tried not to pull a face. "Well, for starters, she knows nothing about you."

"Seriously?" That was a new one.

"Yeah, and don't get me started on his flirty she is in public," she said with an eye roll. "It's just gross."

I clenched my jaw, trying not to smile with amusement, because how had I not see this before? The pure jealousy? Her usual bright eyes were darkened as she spoke of Hannah, matching her slightly pink cheeks. Adorable.

"It's true!" she defended once she saw my humoured expression, only serving to deepen the blush on her face.

"Okay, okay," I played along. "So, what is right for me, if not her?"

She shrugged and began to pour me a glass of water, clearly not appreciating being put on the spot.

"Oh, no, c'mon, you have to have some ideas," I encouraged, a smile forming on my lips.

She handed me the glass and some painkillers, which I busied myself with as she spoke.

"I don't know, I guess somebody who isn't annoying for one. Someone who knows you. Someone who isn't irritating to be around."

"Someone who isn't clingy," I added, repeating her words from earlier. "Someone who isn't ever-present."

"Yeah," she agreed, crossing her arms and staring at me with an unreadable expression. "Someone who isn't overzealous."

I hummed in agreement. "Someone who gets my jokes, right? Someone easy on the eyes and fun to be around."

She nodded in agreement, relieved I was understanding. "Exactly."

It was too easy, I could almost laugh.

"Someone who makes me smile," I continued. "Someone who can be there for me." She was nodding as I spoke, and then I said, "Someone like you?"

"Yes, exact– wait, what?"

I chuckled as I put the glass to one side, taking in her stunned expression and red face.

"What– why would you say that?" she asked, attempting indifference, but I could see right through her.

"You know, I didn't really think that jealousy could be the reason," I commented, ignoring her question. "I truly wouldn't have suspected it in a million years. Not with you, Alicia. Confident, outspoken Alicia. And definitely not for someone like me. But when Nick mentioned it, it made sense. I mean, he knows his sister better than anyone, right?"

She opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, nerves visible from the the tightened crossed arms to the complete and utter silence. "What are you talking about?" she finally asked, the words barely escaping.

"You like me," I said to her straightforwardly. When she didn't speak, I quirked an eyebrow. "You do, don't you? That's why you've been annoyed at me for hanging out with Hannah."

She didn't speak, nor move, and in fact looked a little scared, despite trying to hide it.

"It's okay," I told her quickly, not wanting to worry her. "I like you, too. A lot, actually. Which is why it's sucked when you ignore me."

She frowned, looking down at her shoes.

"If I had known you felt the same, I would've said something," I admitted, eyes unable to look away from her. "I wasn't trying to make you jealous or anything. I was genuinely just hanging out with Hannah because she's nice. Yes, she can be a little flirty and clingy, but it didn't matter to me because I don't like her like that. The last thing I'd want to do is annoy you or upset you, Alicia, and I'm sorry if I did that."

She sighed, shaking her head. "No. You don't need to apologise. But I do." Finally, she looked up and I was relieved to see her expression, no longer irritated. "I've been immature, ignoring you like I have. I'm sorry."

I smiled a little, holding out my hand towards her. Thankfully, she accepted it.

"Bygones?" I asked.

She nodded, letting me squeeze her hand gently.

"You still haven't said if you, you know," I added, a playful smile tugging at my lips.

"What?"

I gave her a knowing look. "You like me."

She closed her eyes, breathing out slowly, before meeting my gaze. Green eyes softening beautifully, she said, "I like you. Happy?"

Grinning, I said, "Ecstatic."

She rolled her eyes, but a smile ghosted her lips.

"So, does the injured girl get to ask her very cute nurse on a date or is that against the rules?" I asked lightheartedly, taking a step closer and not quite letting go of her hand.

"Oh, shut up," she muttered, shoving me in the arm.

I laughed at her embarrassed expression, beginning to appreciate this flustered, nervous version of Alicia. If I'd known I had this much of an effect on her, I would've done something sooner.

"So, do you want to go on a date with me?" I asked with a bit more seriousness.

She pursed her lips, eyes flickering between mine, before nodding slowly. "I'd like that."

I couldn't stop smiling. "Awesome."

She suddenly pointed a finger over my shoulder, to the door. "Try not to walk into a wall on your way out, yeah?"

I snickered, but didn't move a muscle. Even though my butt-of-the-joke vision was definitely a nuisance right now, I could still see enough to admire how beautiful Alicia looked right now.

"Alicia?"

She lifted a brow with mild annoyance, as if expecting another joke. "Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?"

Once again, she was stunned, eyes looking everywhere but at my own as she tried to find her words. "I– sure. Yeah."

I stifled my laughter and leaned in to kiss her, having wanted to do so for a long time now. She kissed me back, falling right into it, and any nerves she once possessed were gone. Instead, she was full of confidence, hands falling into my hair, and my heart was thumping way too loud for her to have not heard.

Finally, I had told Alicia Clark how I felt, and it had paid off.

[fideidefenswhore]

The elite of the Benedictines at their Oxford studium were vocal critics of the divorce and lampooned the person of the king. They made the king's marriage the subject of their skit in December. Outside the university but still within its social networks, at the Cistercian Rewley Abbey (Oxfordshire), Abbot Nicholas Austen fumbled in his effort to hush a row between the monks on the rights and wrongs of the divorce. It is difficult to imagine the sharp rebuke of the king for 'bastardyng the Lady Marie,' made by a Wiltshire burgess, Thomas Temys, had not resonated at Lacock Abbey where his kinswoman Joan was head. It seems that casual critical chatter was widespread and communities were none too careful to keep it inside their enclosures. William Copley, a lay brother of Roche Abbey, was called before the court of [the] King's Bench after calling Queen Anne a 'bawd' and disparaging the marriage as being 'under a gusshyn [cushion]'. Copley apparently made the matter worse by absconding; he was detained at Spalding some seventy-five miles south of his house.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History, James G. Clark

[overdecorated-furniture]

Writer Introduction

Greetings, fellow writers of Tumblr! I thought I should introduce myself, as I have been lurking quietly for a while now, and you all seem like excellent writers with interesting projects.

About Me

I’m a teenage English girl, with a passion for history, literature, the odd cosplay, and storytelling. I’ve been making up roleplays with myself since I was small, and my stories have always kept me company.

I’ve grown up reading Shakespeare since I was seven, as well as the more traditional children’s classics, and have since found that my passions lie in fantasy worlds, historical fiction, and detective fiction/murder mysteries, although I like to dabble in all genres if I get the chance.

My WIPs

I am currently in the middle of writing two novels, a short story that has accidentally turned into a novella, and various short stories, flashfiction and any other bits and pieces that take my fancy.

The Jack of Diamonds

This is a historical fiction set in 1890s London, and focuses on the criminal classes, and the anonymity of personal and public life that is so prevalent across Late-Victorian Literature.

The plot centres around a young Aristocrat called Philip Devlin, and the double life he leads as London’s most infamous criminal. It’s still very much half formed, so I can’t be amazingly accurate about everything that’s in it, but it might be your cup of tea if you like:

Close Male Friendships that fall apart unexpectedly.

A strong female character who doesn’t fall in love with the protagonist.

The adventure/mystery style of Conan Doyle and Maurice LeBlanc.

And the inevitable morally grey Venetian of all good stories.

Echoes of Eternity (Working title)

This is a fantasy/folklore work, centred around the Arthurian legends, and has a time travel/time slip element to it. There is also an exploration of power and the damage it causes, as well as how death affects the living.

This is still mostly at a world-building stage, although I have written the odd scene out, so the plot is still fairly nebulous, but it follows the dual paths of a young mage called Amser from Arthurian times, and the story of Rose and Jay Fleetwood, as they attempt to right the wrongs of the past together. This might be up your street if you like:

A Morally Grey protagonist with dubious motives.

The magic of King Arthur and his knights.

Magic systems similar to those used in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott.

And randomly angry ghosts leading to time travelling quests

A Monstrous Regiment of Women

This is historical fiction meets fanfiction, with a good helping of biographical info thrown in. It’s set during the Napoleonic Wars, and examines the place of women in that society, the psychological effects of war, and how the Napoleonic Wars shaped Europe.

I Have reimagined Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington as women, Letizia Bonaparte and Francis Wellesley respectively, and have imagined how their lives would look if they had still enlisted in the military. This is probably the most complete of my major WIPs, as all the information and plot is already available in history books, I just need to jig it around. You might like this if you enjoy:

Stories with good depictions of battles in them.

Regency Literature, or pastiches like Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Strong female protagonists acting outside societal norms.

Sweeping story arcs that cover a character in a range of situations and moods.

Other Bits and Pieces

I often write short stories, and most of them end up on my AO3 account. It’s a rather eclectic mix, with a lot of crossovers, but I enjoy writing them a lot. You can find it below:

I am more than up for being sent asks, participating in tag games etc, and love writing socially. I’m also happy to share any tips or prompts I think up, although those will be very sporadic given all my writing to date has been mostly self-governed. Generally speaking I’m somewhat uncomfortable with NSFW type prompts, asks etc, so avoid those if possible.

Finally, I look forward to chatting to you all and sharing my creations. Happy writing everyone!

[lashids]

Im not sure if anyone else noticed it but this show is just Luz Nocedas adventures with the Heir of Breath. And im lovin it. Lois is such a Luz and somehow its believable for her to be this way? Also John Egbert Clark is so stupid, but i can not stop seeing it. Goofball. I can imagine those two going to watch Willys Wonderland and simpin to Nicholas Cage

Also Jimmy is just Ronaldo Fryman but gae.

[clarktooncrossing]

Giraffe's Eye View: Christmas Specials Special (2023) | A Christmas Special: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again. All the dogs in the neighborhood somehow learned to bark Jingle Bells in sync. Yet retail workers are still more annoyed with Mariah Carey. Snow is getting shoveled, tossed, and formed into sentient beings leading parades without permits. It makes for an excellent distraction as the Krampus abducts children for bad behavior. Fruitcake is exchanged only to find its permanent home in the garbage. Terrorists have hijacked the Holiday office party right before your boss can give you a Jelly of the Month Club membership as your bonus. And of course, the Turducken has returned to wreak its fiery vengeance upon an unsuspecting world! If all this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit, perhaps these following Holiday specials will!

Greetings people of today and robots of tomorrow! It is I, Santa Clark, your geeky giraffe friend with a deep love of Christmas! My obsession for the yuletide is rivaled only by Maleficent’s hatred for it, which is saying a lot considering she once teamed up with Mad Madam Mim to kidnap the literal Spirit of Christmas. Yes, that really happened. I know this due to my annual pilgrimage to the Island of Misfit Specials, home to obscure or nerdy festive media ranging from movies, TV episodes, and comics. It’s no easy journey. Constantly I find myself confronted by sinister snowmen, genocidal gingerbread men, and worst of all, crappy commercials. Getting stabbed in the foot by a candy-cane wielding cookie is one thing, but I swear I’ve seen that ad for Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium more times than I’ve seen Miracle on 34th Street! Sometimes at night I catch myself reciting that jingle. Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium: Where Christmas meets Convenience! Huh, maybe Maleficent had a point.

Nah, my deep-rooted appreciation for this time of year can weather even the most moronic marketing! It helps that most of the merry media I’ve seen have put me in the perfect Holiday mood! Examples include the time a Ninja Turtle found himself trapped in a truck full of stollen toys, a drunk department store Santa stumbling onto a wish-granting magic bag, Big Bird nearly becoming a popsicle, Gwenpool waking up in a world where Galactus took the place of jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas, a terrifying tree stump trying to slaughter some saps over a stupid ship war, and the year when Death gave the Little Match Girl the greatest gift of all. Needless to say, I thought I had seen it all. That is, until I took my friends on a trip to the Island, tasking them to find me new, strange, seasonal specials to review! Some of them were fair, finding me festive favorites as comforting as coco in front of the fireplace. Others were fiendish, wanting to feed off my misery like Gremlins after midnight. Regardless of how naughty or nice my companions were, I’ve compiled all of their suggestions into a makeshift advent calendar! So stay tuned everyday until Christmas to see how badly my buddies can shred what little sanity I have left.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my buddies gave to me...

I am a geek. Yes, surprising innit? There’s a lot of dorky information about various things that live in my head rent free. Miraculous Ladybug is not one of them. My only exposure to this show has been the copious amount of fanart littering deviantART, otherwise I have no absolutely no connection to it. So naturally you can imagine my confusion when my companion Fluffy (xXFluffyPachirisuXx) asked me to check out the episode A Christmas Special: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The confusion only grew after reading that title. Were the writers being paid by word? Did they think fans would be confused if it was simply called A Miraculous Ladybug Christmas? Why not go the extra mile by adding ‘Dawn of Justice’ or ‘Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’? I don’t know and I don’t care, for this title is très magnifique! Seriously, somebody give these peeps an award just for how ridiculously long that is! No kidding, this is actually how it’s listed on Netflix. Disney+ had the common sense to shorten it to Santa Claws, a more fitting name as you’ll soon see. Just a reminder, I’ve never seen any other Ladybug adventures before, so forgive me if I get a few details wrong.

We open with the titular Ladybug in her civilian identity Marinette (Cristina Valenzuela), passing out treats in her parents’ bakery while singing one of five subpar songs sprinkled throughout this episode. The first one is about Marionette's secret love for her friend Adrien (Bryce Papenbrook), her hidden desires on par with the title in terms of subtlety. Or at least, I presume that’s what she’s singing about. Much like a majority of the dialogue, it’s delivered so quickly that I barely have any time to register what was said. Was The Flash the vocal coach on this production? My only guess as to why everyone’s reads are so rapid is due to this show being Parisian, meaning they have to dub everything in English later. With French being the fast-paced language that it is, it’s no wonder all the characters are speaking at sixty syllables per second. I’ll have to go to a hospital when this is over due to how badly I suffered whiplash. 

Time to slow down is given when we are introduced to Adrien, having a notably less joyeux noel at home. His mom has recently passed away and his dad is too busy sulking in his office to mourn alongside his son. Realizing he’d rather not spend Christmas Eve alone in a mansion, Adrien activates a Sailor Moon transformation, becoming Cat Noir to spend Christmas Eve alone outside. Personally I would’ve just put on Die Hard, especially if it meant I didn’t have to go out in that skin-tight supersuit. People say Black Cat’s costume is senseless, but at least hers doesn’t come a pointless tail in the back. Bad guys must stomp on that thing all the time! It’s impressive how impractical this kid’s suit is. My mocking remarks can be applied to Mary’s form-fitting ladybug onesie too, having switched into it to find her runaway romantic interest. She finds him soon enough, having calmed down long enough to befriend a mysterious mall Santa. Aw, that’s nice. Ladybug proceeds to pummel the crap outta the old man. Our hero, folks! She assumes the jolly stranger is secretly under the control of  their enemy, Hawkmoth (Keith Silverstein), Adrien protesting that wasn’t the case. Ironically, it’s only after Bugbutt assaults this kindly elder that he’s mutated into a monster by the aforementioned fiend.

Gotta give Hawkmoth credit, his corrupted Claus looks more like the Grinch than Illumination’s iteration did. Now it’s up to the combined might of Cat and Bug to stop Santa Claws before he does something evil or something. All he ends up doing is riding around repeating the same song before having his reindeer eat some spoiled millennial’s presents. That twisted bastard! His sled can fly, yet the story goes nowhere, that being the major issue I have here.

Plot points are presented, then never given any proper conclusion. Mary gives Adrien a gift, he never tells her thank you. Adrien runs away, returning with some stranger dressed like Père Noël and everybody’s apparently cool with it. Hawkmoth corrupts the Claus, it’s fixed almost immediately. All that time spent coming up with that confusing title couldn’t have been spent streamlining the story? I know you folks only have eighteen-minutes but ease up on the gas please! Twenty-second Christmas commercials have better pacing, most of them delivering payoffs to whatever stories they started. Having said all that, there are aspects I liked. The characters themselves seem likable, I dig the idea of setting a superhero series in Paris since not a lot take place outside the States, and the animation style I thought would be awkward actually worked well for the action sequences. Overall this wasn’t bad, but it didn’t miraculously turn me into a fan. Maybe what I need are some different teenagers with attitude.

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[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

And, exit Victoria Winters. After being played by a different actress for awhile, she finally faded 200 years back into the past to be with Jeff Clark/Peter Bradford.

I know it happened because original actress Alexandra Moltke (now Isles) wanted to leave the show due to her reduced role and pregnancy, but it was a shame to lose Vicki, who was originally the main character of Dark Shadows. We never got a resolution to Vicki's search for her past. Apparently, the original plans for Vicki involved her being the illegitimate daughter of Paul Stoddard (Carolyn's shitty dad) and another woman, those plans were then changed to Vicki being Elizabeth's secret illegitimate child, given away for adoption. I understand that Barnabas the vampire produced far more interesting stories, but I wish we'd at least gotten a resolution or acknowledgement of Vicki being an actual Collins. The 91 revival was also planning to explore that plot line, but was cancelled after one season.

Having now watched all the Vicki episodes, I think she wound up being a stronger character than I remembered from watching bits and pieces of show via reruns on the Sci-fi channel as a kid. Vicki often had characters (men especially) pressuring Vicki to agree to things and generally be agreeable and pleasant in a way that seems related to her being a young woman in the 1960's. But she often pushes back. She remains polite, but she is firm, and is often (but not always) able to stand her ground. Vicki even manages to defy Nicholas Blair, a character who can hypnotize people and get them to do things with just a casual conversation. And in the early episodes she is very proactive in investigating the mystery of her past, and why Elizabeth chose to hire her (which Elizabeth is clearly lying about).

I wish the last real Vicki episode hadn't spent so much time on Barnabas and his feelings. I know Barnabas is our main character now, and he is really into his "noble (former) vampire" redemption arc, he seems to genuinely care about everyone at Collinwood now (remember when you had to be talked out of killing David, Barnabas? Willie and Julia remember). But I really don't care that Barnabas loves Vicki. It's character development for him - emphasis on for him. Vicki is so much more than a potential love interest or damsel in distress for Barnabas to protect/pine after. And she never loved him, not in a romantic sense. She considered him a friend and greatly respected him, she didn't love him. When given a choice to marry Barnabas and forget Peter, Vicki chose to fade 200 years into the past to be with Peter, completely separating herself from the life she knew forever. And after Vicki spent so much time with men (including Jeff/Peter) trying to rush her into marriage, at least Vicki's decision there was entirely her own - she had to convince Peter to take her along. But anyway, I wish we'd gotten a final goodbye with Vicki and David, or Vicki and Carolyn (who was both like a sister, and an actual sister to Vicki).

I have a soft spot for the 91 revival, and I actually liked how that show made Vicki the "reincarnated Josette" rather than Maggie, as it seemed like a way to keep Vicki as a main character alongside Barnabas. And Maggie got the affair with Roger (ugh, Maggie you can do better) and also psychic powers/knowledge of the occult. And I actually liked that as well, it gave Maggie something to do while Vicki was the new "Josette." I didn't care for the whole Roger affair thing, but it set Maggie up against Laura, whom the show was planning to bring on in the cancelled second season. I can imagine Vicki and Maggie joining forces to stand up against Laura, it would have been great. Oh well.

Anyway, bye Vicki, it was fun following you for several seasons. Sorry you didn't get a better send-off on the show. Also apparently Alexandra Isles is now a documentary filmmaker, good for her.

[harmonyhealinghub]

The Enchanting Tale of Santa Claus: A Symbol of Joy and Generosity Shaina Tranquilino December 27, 2023

During the holiday season, one cannot help but think of the beloved figure who embodies the spirit of giving and spreads cheer to children all around the world. Yes, we are talking about none other than Santa Claus! This legendary character has captivated our hearts for centuries with his iconic red suit, jolly laugh, and a sleigh full of gifts. In this blog post, let's delve into the enchanting tale of Santa Claus – his origin, evolution over time, and enduring significance in today's world.

Origin Story: The story of Santa Claus is deeply rooted in folklore and mythology from various cultures across the globe. One popular account traces its origins back to Saint Nicholas, a Christian bishop who lived during the 4th century AD in what is now modern-day Turkey. Known for his generosity and love for children, Saint Nicholas became renowned as a patron saint and protector of young ones.

Evolution Over Time: Over time, the legend of Saint Nicholas evolved through different customs and traditions. In parts of Europe, particularly Germany and the Netherlands, he was known as Sinterklaas or Kris Kringle. However, it was not until the 19th century that Santa Claus took on many characteristics we associate with him today.

Influenced by Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (commonly referred to as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas") published in 1823, Santa gained popularity in America. Moore depicted him as a plump, merry old man who travels on a reindeer-driven sleigh while delivering presents down chimneys.

The Visual Transformation: Santa's visual representation also underwent significant changes throughout history. Illustrations by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly during mid-19th century America played a crucial role in shaping how we perceive him today—depicting Santa as a bearded, rotund man with a red suit and white fur trim.

The Spirit of Giving: Santa Claus has come to symbolize the spirit of giving and selflessness. While the focus has shifted from religious origins to a more secular celebration, Santa's mission remains the same – bringing joy and happiness to children worldwide. The act of placing gifts under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve is an enduring tradition that brings families closer together.

Lessons from Santa: Beyond the fictional character we know and adore, Santa Claus teaches us valuable lessons. His generosity reminds us of the importance of giving without expecting anything in return. He embodies kindness, compassion, and the belief that everyone deserves joy and love during the holiday season.

As we prepare for another festive season, it is heartwarming to reflect on the magical figure who continues to inspire hope, imagination, and goodwill in people of all ages. Whether we view him as Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus, this enchanting character will forever remain a cherished part of our holiday traditions.

So, let's embrace the spirit of Santa Claus – spreading joy, practicing kindness, and sharing our abundance with those around us. After all, isn't that what makes this time of year truly magical?

[randominagines]

Hii !!! Could I request prompt "Fuck everything, I just want to be with you" with Nick Clark please? (p.s could you try to keep spoilers to minimum? I'm only 5 episodes into the first season)

Thanks for the request!

Pairing: Nick Clark X Fem!reader

Setting: season 1, episode 4. Remember when Madison slapped Nick because he was stealing morphine? Here we are.

Warning: angst, fluff

P.s. if you find any mistake please correct me, English is not my mother tongue and I want to improve. Reblog, if you can, it helps a lot, thank you💕

P.p.s. gifs belong to the creators.

Certainty

If there was something y/n had always known, was the fact that Nicholas Clark was one of the most important person of her life. With the outbreak of the zombies epidemic she had lost her mother and Nick officially became her whole world. He was a certainty.

Getting used to the fact that her mother was gone was the worst part, but having the chance to live with the Clarks and being treated as part of their family was a blessing. She had been Nick's best friend since they were kids and Madison ended up considering her as a daughter too.

There was nothing y/n and Nick had not shared while growing up together, so when Alicia told y/n that Nick needed her, she immediately ran to him.

Y/n knocked at his door and he didn't answer, so she sighed. "Nick, it's me." She whispered from the other side of the door. It took Nick just a second to stand up, he walked to the door and slowly opened it. Y/n widened her eyes: Nick's eyes were watery and his cheek was purple. She immediately stepped inside and closed the door at her back. "Let me look at you." She commanded while raising his face and staring at it, he shook his head. "I'm okay, y/n." He lied and looked away.

Y/n tilted her head. "Who did this?" She asked and he sighed, his hand massaging his forehead. "My mum." He answered. Y/n widened her eyes, a gasp escaping her lips. "Madison?! But why..." She asked, her voice a whisper.

Nick bit his lower lip and shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He said and took her hand in his, a gesture that was pretty familiar to y/n: he used to do it when he needed comfort. Nick was in love with her and he had been for years, he just never managed to summon up enough courage to tell her; then he became an addict and he started to think that she deserved so much better by her side.

Y/n looked at him. "It matters to me." She insisted and caressed his hand, he nervously chuckled. "If I tell you, you're going to think that I'm a disaster." He joked and she shook her head. "Nick, I've never judged you." She reminded him, at it was true. Even though she had suffered immensely for his addiction, she never even once made him feel like a failure. He looked at her in shame, his eyes filled with regret. "I was stealing morphine from one of Liza's patients, Hector. She slapped me. He is dying and I was stealing his morphine, how noble, uhm?" He nervously joked but y/n knew him: he was deeply sorry. She squeezed his hand with hers and put the other under his chin to raise his head. "Hey, look at me," she said and he finally looked at her. "You're suffering, you just wanted some relief. Was it a good thing to do? No. Does this make you a bad person? Also no." She said and he shook his head, a frustrated chuckle escaping his lips. "How do you do this?" He asked. She frowned. "Do what?" She said and he shrugged. "Always seeing the best in me." He concluded. For a moment, y/n didn't know what to say. She did not have an answer, then she realized: in that moment, standing right there in front of him, after years of emotional confusion, she finally knew it.

"Because I love you, Nick Clark." She whispered, her voice shaking and her eyes stuck into his. Nick froze, his body in tension and his hand stop caressing hers. He looked at her in total shock, his lips parted. Y/n widened her eyes, realising what she had done, and she shook her head in panic. "I mean, I... Oh my... I just--" she tried to say but he interrupted her. "You love me?" He asked, finally saying something.

Y/n hesitated and thought that she could have lied and could have told him that she meant in a friendly way or something like that, but there was no point anymore in pretending. She took a deep breath. "This is a weird world, Nick, and maybe there is no time for love, but I love you. I could die tomorrow, I could turn into a zombie, as my mother did..." She paused, tears pinching her eyes. "I could lose you and lose my mind and I don't want to think about this moment in the future and regret the fact that I haven't been honest. I do, I love you, and even if you see me as your best friend, I--" he stepped closer to her. "I love you too, I've loved you since we were kids." He spit it out, all at once, without even taking a breath.

It was her time to freeze in shock. She looked at him while opening her mouth. "W-why haven't you told me?" She asked, her arms automatically crossing over his shoulders. He looked at her, eyes filled with tears. "Because I'm a mess and you deserve the world. I'm an addict, I'm egoistic, I'm impulsive, I'm carelessness, I'm--" he tried to say but she put a finger on his lips. "Nick, you are my best friend and I know you since forever. I know your heart, I know you're kind, thoughtful, protective, sensitive." She said, her lips closer to his. He put his hands on her waist and stared at her, he looked torn. "What about the fact that we could die, turn into zombies, lose our minds?" He asked and she shook her head, her fingers tracing his cheekbone. "I want you." She said and he slightly smiled, his hands pulling her closer. "What about the fact that there is no time for love in this world?" He asked, his lips barely touching hers while his eyes kept travelling from her eyes to her lips and vice versa. She held her breath and looked at him. "Fuck everything, I just want to be with you!" She finally said and he crushed his lips on hers.

She gasped at the contact, it was totally new for her. Y/n was kissing her lifetime best friend and it couldn't be better: she parted her lips to let his tongue in while he squeezed her hips, his fingers digging into the fabric of her shirt. She ran her fingers through his long hair and smiled on his lips, her body attached to his and their heartbeats one against the other. He took a breath. "You can't imagine how long I've been waiting for this, how many times I had to force myself not to kiss you. I've been watching you growing up next to me, I've shared so much with you, I've been dating girls to try not to think about you and I've been tearing myself apart every time you dated someone. I've hated myself for letting you down when you found out about my addiction and every time I went to rehab, it was just because I had you. All of this for this moment and I would do it again for you, because I love you." He whispered out of breath, she smiled while sweetly caressing his cheek, careful on his bruise. "Never again. I'm yours, Nick, I've always been." She reassured him, her voice soft. He smiled as if he had just realized and kissed her again.

[justrandomimagines-blog]

IT WAS WORTH IT.

GIF BY: @/diver5ion

PROMT: Nick puts his life at risk once again and you, his best friend, decide that it’s time to confess your feelings.

PARING: Nick Clark x reader

WARNINGS: none.

—————————————————————————————————-

Y/n was totally sure that, even if the apocalypse was the worst thing ever, at the same time, for some strange and ironical twist of destiny, it was also the only way she had to stay closer to his crush. Nick Clark had been her best friend since they were kids, since his father was still alive and her mother not yet a alcoholic. They had been spending practically all of their lives together, they knew each other so well they could understand the other through one look; nevertheless, y/n was still wondering how it was possible that Nick couldn’t realize that she had feelings for him.

– Y/n, we have to leave this place.

Alicia said making her turn, the girl nodded. Leaving the Abigail, even if for some hour and a very important reason, had been hard for all of them. Of course, the only one who seemed to enjoy the little trip on land was Nick. Y/n looked around and puffed realizing that he disappeared again.

– Where the hell is your brother?

She asked to Alicia, she shrugged.

– Even Chris is lost.

She said crossing her arms. Y/n covered her face with her hands, trying not to scream because of the frustration. Nick was always putting his life at risk, he had been doing that for years. Y/n thought that the drug would had been his ruin, then the apocalypse started and she realized that he would had been forced to give up to it. When her mom died and she found herself alone in the world, the Clarkes welcomed her and Nick stayed close to her like no one else. She realized she had feelings for him the day she almost risked to lose him forever, when he was taken away by the police with Liza.

– I think something is off here, we have to go.

Alicia said, she was worried and nervous. Y/n touched her shoulder and looked at her.

– Let’s find that two idiots and leave.

She said, the girl nodded and they separated. Alicia was almost like a sister to her, she saw her growing up and she loved her a lot. Alicia liked y/n a lot, she liked the fact that she was smart and calm and she admired her. Before they could take another step, Daniel called their names: a group of infects was slowly walking toward them, and a woman was running with her arm pointing toward the sea.

– Shit!

Whispered y/n. What followed was almost routine by now: they realized that Chris and Nick were God-knows-where, they grabbed the first thing that could be used as a weapon and the started to stab the zombies in the head. The first time y/n had killed, she felt like the world around her was vanishing, letting her in the total nothing. When killing started to became a necessity, she almost got used to do it, but it still left her destroyed after every brain she stabbed.

– I will kill your brother, I swear.

She said while she was sticking a wooden beam in a zombie’s eye. Alicia repressed the instinct of throwing up and nodded in agreement. Of course, between all the things y/n could pay attention to during an assault like that, the only thing she really focused about as soon as she saw it was Nick. She almost passed out when Nick looked at her, totally covered in blood and walking like he was one of them.

– Nick!

She screamed in desperation, killing a woman who was trying to bit her arm and walking toward him. He looked at her and raised his left hand signing her that he was alive. She recognized his usual smirk under all of that blood and sighed in relief. What happened next made her cringe: Nick was staying in front of one of them and was looking like one of them; no one would had noticed that he was alive and well, he was fooling them all. Of course she knew he was brilliant, but that was the confirmation, he found a way to walk among them without risking to die.

– Nick! Are you okay? Are you bit?

Alicia run in his arms as soon as every infect was lying on the sand, Nick hugged his sister back.

– I’m fine, I’m fine..

He gently whispered caressing her back. The trip back to the Abigail was the quietest moment of her life; they were all too scared and tired to talk. Travis remained totally shocked when he saw Nick, not to mention Madison’s face turning white. As soon as they took care of the situation of that woman and that boy, Nick reassured them all that he was fine and went downstairs for a shower. Y/n took a shower too and laid down on her bed, her whole body still shaking because of the adrenaline, the fear and her teary eyes making her view blurry. Of course it was almost normal for Nick putting his life in danger but she couldn’t handle it no longer, she was losing her fucking mind.

– Y/n?

Nick’s voice made her stand up and open the door; he was clean and smelling great, his hair still wet, the droplets dripping on his shirt. He was beautiful, she always thought that he was, but she was realizing it more and more day after day, and that was a problem because it made keeping her feeling for herself even harder.

– So, you have been giving me the ‘’silent treatment’’ since we came back on the Abigail.

He said sitting on her bed, she shrugged and tried to stay as far as possible from him.

– I am just tired.

She said sitting on the chair close to her desk, he lifted and eyebrow.

– Y/n, I know you, I know when something is off, so just tell me.

He simply said, she sighed. The best and worst part about their relationship was the fact that there were no secrets between them. He could read her and she could read him, easy. There was no chance that one of them could get away with an unsaid thing, there was too much complicity between that two.

– For a moment, I thought you were gone.

She whispered, her eyes on her hands and her voice almost shaking. Nick stood up and took her hands in his, she stood up too and he grabbed her chin; now they were looking in each other’s eyes and y/n bit her lower lip, his eyes were able to make her feel confused and weak, like vulnerable.

– I’m alive and I’m fine, it’s okay.

He reassured her and gently squeezed her in his arms; she closed her eyes and decided to stop being afraid for a second. The thought of losing Nick made her think that there was no time to waste in a world where you cannot be sure for how long you’ll stay alive.

– Nick..

She said grabbing his shirt and lifting her head to look at him, he smiled caressing her back and invited her to go on with his eyes. She took a deep breath and summed her courage.

– You know, when I thought you were gone, on the beach, for a moment I just felt angry with myself.

She started; her voice was lower than how she expected, but she was intentioned to free herself from that burden, because it was killing her.

– I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to you and I wouldn’t have been able to let you understand how much I care about you. Since when I have lost my mom, you became the most important person of my life. You have always been by my side, when dad left us, when I started to isolate myself, when I lost of all my friends… I thought the reason why I cared so much about you was because you are my best friend, but it is not that simple.

She sighed; Nick was looking at her and he was listening carefully, with his big brown eyes fixed on hers.

– I am in love with you.

She dropped the bomb. Nick opened his eyes and looked at her, the shock drawn on his face and changing his features. She decided to go on, seeing that he had nothing to say.

– I know, I know I probably screwed up our friendship, but today I thought I had lost you and this secret was driving me crazy. I expect nothing in return, I want you to be safe and I want you to be happy, so I just ask you to be careful with your life, because it is important for so many people, myself included.

She said and covered her face with both of her hand. He was still staring at his best friend, still trying to process the fact that the girl he had been in love with for years loved him back.

– Please, say something.

She begged looking at him, she wanted to scream because of the frustration. He said nothing, but did something better: he kissed her. Y/n was kissing his best friend and there was nothing better in the entire world. Her lips slowly opened to let his tongue in while her hands were caressing the back of his neck and playing with his long wet hair. He pulled her closer touching her hips and bit her lower lip, he couldn’t believe he was kissing her.

– You own me an explanation.

She whispered on his lips, he smiled and gave her another quick kiss before looking at her.

– I’ve been waiting for this kiss for years, but it was totally worth it.

He joked, she looked at him in surprise and opened her mouth.

– Wait, are you saying you have feelings for me?

She asked, he laughed and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

– Y/n, I’ve been in love with you for years.

He confessed, his checks turning red while a smile was opening up on y/n’s face.

– Why haven’t you said to me?

She asked touching his chest, he shrugged.

– Same reason that stopped you, I was afraid to ruin what we have.

He said; she nodded and run her fingers through his head, pulling him closer to her.

– We wasted a lot of time.

She whispered on his lips and attached her body to his, he smirked understanding her intentions. He knew her, she wanted more, and he had been waiting a lot for that moment. He grabbed her legs and lifted her up, she smiled and let him lead her toward the bad. He gently laid her on the bed and moved on the top of her body trying not to hurt her. She caressed his check and smiled, he looked back at her best friend and, for a second, he forgot about the fact that they were experiencing the end of the world

– It seems like we have to make up for the lost time.

————————————————————————————————-

OKAY, you should know that I’m in love with Nicholas Clark and I probably am going to write so much about him. I hope you liked it, send me requests if you want me to write something and let me know if I made mistakes.

[god-of-my-world]

Collected Reading List for Hello Charlotte

I have collected every book either directly referenced (character names or bookshelves) or thematically relevant (that I can find. I am sure there are more.) in hc! Books marked with an * are the most relevant to the game/my personal recommendations. Notes under the cut.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

The Kingdom of God Is Within You - Leo Tolstoy

Golden Apples of the Sun - Ray Bradbury

Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku

Physics of the Future - Michio Kaku

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Flatland - Edwin Abbott

On Aggression - Konrad Lorenz

Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk

*Childhood's End - Arthur Clarke

The Castle - Franz Kafka

Simulacra and Simulation - Jean Baudrillard

*1984 - George Orwell

Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins - Konrad Lorenz

*Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Cats Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

*Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Time Machine - H.G. Wells

On the Freedom of the Will - Arthur Schopenhauer

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks

The Joyful Wisdom - Frederich Nietzsche

Etherane loves classic sci-fi literature huh.....

Notes:

I have not read everything on this list so I can’t personally attest to their relevancy/if they’re a good read but I am personally quite a fan of Vonnegut’s work! Recently read slaughterhouse 5, which is most relevant to ep 1.

I am also sure there are other works referenced less openly that I missed, so if anybody catches one, or has a recommendation, please do add it under the list. I hope to expand this with time. I may also make some individual posts on specific works and their relevance to hc.

The spoof romance novel titles, unrelated references and bear pun titles are not included here.

There were several titles on various bookshelves I could not source: “The player synthesizer” “the snake who ate it’s tail” “eden” “a select collection of forensic cases” “new philosopher vol. 4 [possibly from the scientific journal of the same name]”

in game, the book is listed as “one flew over the koel’s nest”. I do not know if this is a translation or typo issue, but I decided it was safe to assume “one flew over the cuckoos nest” is the right book.

---

For further reading, here are all the books Etherane mentioned in the yearly book recommendation twitter posts (I haven’t read many of these so I cannot say how relevant they are to HC):

The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt

Some we love, some we hate, some we eat - Hal Herzog

Zero Degrees of Empathy - Simon Baron-Cohen

Things to Make and Do in Fourth Dimension - Matt Parker

Against Empathy - Paul Bloom

Bit Rot - Douglas Coupland

Civilized Man’s Eight Deadly Sins - Konrad Lorenz (also appears in HC)

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe - Dr. Steven Novella

Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Design-code: semiotic discoursive modeling methodology - Lola G.N.

Liquid - Mark Miodownik

Timequake - Kurt Vonnegut

The Courage to be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari

The Collected Schizophrenias - Esme Weijun Wang

Mikita Keeleaabits - Valdur Mikita

Chaos Imagined - Martin Miesel

Insectopedia - Hugh Raffles

Underland - Robert McFarlane (I really liked this one)

A brief history of though - Luc Ferry

A Sleepwalker’s Guide to Social Media - Tony Sampson

---

As a bonus, here’s a few more I personally find relevant to hc, but lack any textual references:

Piraneisi - Susanna Clarke (a fantastic novel set in an infinitely tall library with an infinite number of stories. I found this comparable to the experience of contless charlotte stories, and the House’s floors.)

Nabari No Ou (manga) - Yuhki Kamatani (etherane is a known fan of this series and the influence is very evident! very clear parallels can be drawn between the protagonists and charles/vincent. don’t watch the anime.)

Loving Vincent - 2017 film (this is a good film as a whole, but the relevant part here is actually a reference made in van gogh’s letter which discusses a philosophy similar to C’s. worth comparing)

The Prelude - William Wordsworth (this author is my best guess as the reference to Vincent’s surname. His poetry seems thematically appropriate)

Thus Spake Zarathustra - Frederich Nizsche (his concept of “Übermensch“ may be relevant to the Aliens’ backstory. Regardless, the philosophy and theology discussed here is applicable)

[Credit to @o-05-65 ! ] Tokyo Ghoul (manga) - Ane is openly a fan of this series, and has drawn fanart for it multiple times before and during HC production. It is not directly referenced in game (as far as I can tell), but there is a noticeable influence! Thank you for pointing this out to me!

[normal-horoscopes]

I can't imagine your specific field of study is taught anywhere (exciting if I'm wrong), so what would you say is the closest university field of study to what you do? Something in history?

Probably the Exeter center for Esoteric studies at Oxford. The one started by Nicholas Goodrick Clarke. It's the most academic version of my job.

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Nick would be very yummy ❤️

The New Partner || Nick Fowler

Summary: Your employer teams you up with Nick but he doesn’t like your smart ass commentary. Warnings: 18+ only, nsfw, unprotected sex, pullout method, squirting, spanking, choking WC: 1566

You watched from across the Parisian cafe as your target waited for their buyer to arrive. Whispers of a device that could control any digital piece of technology had the criminal underworld in a tizz, everyone wanting a chance to have the world in their hands. You were no different, only you had a secret benefactor who was ready to pay top dollar for it and funded your trip to France. 

You had started to think no one was going to show until a couple strolled down the footpath, too perfect and pretty they just had to be CIA. Placing your almost empty cafe latte down, you started to make your way past them, your shoulder brushing the hand man’s jacket as you passed but his eyes were glued to his partner and he didn’t notice you at all. 

Taking a new seat at a bistro across the road, you opened the leather wallet and flicked through the cards, drivers licence and too many loyalty cards to keep track of. Nicholas. You looked across the street to see him and you tilted your head as you watched him laugh with his perfect white teeth on show, he probably went by Nick. It was then you decided he suited Nicholas much better.

Suddenly a scuffle broke out and you watched a new party enter the interaction, taking the backpack you assumed held the cash for the buy while your mark was shaken and bolted. You rose as he did, crossing back over with a group of pedestrians and thought better than to try and join the chase, instead you waited for Nicholas to brush you aside - slipping the wallet back in his jacket as he passed. 

The blip on your phone moved quickly through the busy streets as you sat back down at your original table to finish your croissant and coffee. Finally he came to a stop and you assumed he had caught the man so you wiped your lips off the pastry flakes with a napkin and placed a note on the table courtesy of Nicholas Fowler. Climbing onto the Vespa you had hired, you followed the tracker you had left in the wallet to find an unexpected situation unfolding.

“Mr Clarke, I didn’t realise you were in town.” You said as you found Nicholas held at gunpoint.

“And I thought with two of you working this drive, one of you would at least be successful.”

“Wait, he works for you?” You gawked as you looked at the CIA agent.

“Don’t sound too shocked, sweetcheeks.” He smirked, the sweet and kind features of his ruse completely erased by arrogance.

“Great to see you two getting along, ‘cause guess what? You’re partners now. Fail again and you’re both dead.” Mr Clarke warned before walking back to his sleek sedan, the tinted windows blocking him from sight as his driver reversed out of the alley.

“So where do we start first?” You asked as you leant against your scooter.

“We?” He laughed. “Me, and don’t get in my way.”

“You didn’t notice when I did it before, Nicholas Fowler.” You smirked as his eyebrows furrowed together. “Sorry, did we not do introductions already? I’m y/n, others would call me a master thief but it’s just a little patronising, at least call me mistress.”

Recognition filtered through his features as he recalled hearing stories about you, mostly because you were wanted by the CIA for many, many thefts they had linked to you. 

“You’re not what I expected.” He finally said after running his bright blue eyes slowly down the length of your body and back up again, charm replacing his arrogance. “It’s a pleasure."

“I hope so.” You flirted back. “I’m guessing you’ve burnt your hotel room. I have a safehouse not far away.”

He drew his bottom lip between his teeth and you could already imagine how he would mark your skin with them, a shiver of anticipation rolling down your spine. “I’m driving.”

You shuffled back on the leather seat knowing nothing good would come of starting an argument, and you were quite happy to wrap your arms around his waist as he settled between your legs.

“Who was the girl you were with?” You asked in his ear as you rested your cheek on his shoulder and watched the shops pass by in a blur. 

“No one.” He stated cooly which made you think it was quite the opposite. 

“Wow you suck at lying, especially for an agent.” You chuckled. “I thought they trained you better than that.”

“I can incapacitate you without wasting a breath, stop talking while you can.” He growled as he followed the gps on your screen to the safehouse. 

“Sounds like a challenge, baby boy.” You purred. “I love a challenge.”

Your bodies crashed through the door, your keys going flying to the coffee table as his jacket went over the futon. The rest of your clothes soon followed as you made your way through the apartment to your bedroom at the back, the air of arrogance putting him in charge every step of the way. The back of your knees hit the bed and he pushed you back so you fell onto the duvet, his knees already nudging your wider before he stepped into the space. 

“You’re gonna regret that attitude of yours.” He warned with a dark smile, his hand stroking his hard cock as he pressed the head to your entrance. “You won’t be able to get a single smart comment out of those pretty lips when I’m through with you.”

He shoved roughly inside you, your cunt straining to accept the thickness he speared you with before he eased himself out again. “Oh, fuck, is that all you’ve got?” 

His hand darted out, gripping your throat as he cut off any further taunts from you and you drew in what little air you could as his control left your walls fluttering. “This turns you on, huh, baby girl? You like it rough?”

You nodded against his hand, your own hands running over your body, cupping your breasts with one and teasing your clit with the other.

“Fuck.” He moaned at the sight, almost coming undone before he had even started having fun. “Go on, make yourself cum all over this dick.”

Your back arched as you rocked against him, wrapping your legs behind his ass as you pulled him deeper inside you and moaned at the added contact. Reached up you pressed your fingers to his full lips and sighed when he sucked them into his mouth, tasting you as he slicked the digits up. Satisfied they were wet enough, you pulled them out and mewled as they glided over your sensitive nub and brought you closer to release.

“Jesus, you’re so fucking tight.” Nick shuddered as your core clenched around him and he dropped his hold on your throat to roll a peaked nipple between his fingers. His hands moved to grip your hips and the headboard slammed against the wall as he pulled you against him with every thrust. You were in ecstasy as he fucked you with long hard strokes and then his palm came down on the flesh of your ass.

“Fuuuck.” You cried out as the skin began to burn and the heat spread across your entire body, as your orgasm was ignited.

His palm came down again even harder and white flames flickered across your vision as your legs trembled and your clit pulsed beneath your touch. “On your knees, now.”

You did as you were told, with the help of his hands when your legs refused to obey your brain. There was no time to recover before his cock rammed back inside you and his fingers dug into your skin as he rode you with a fury.

Your head was spinning as your high never ended, his cock stimulating your g-spot with the new angle and his hand leaving its hot touch across both of your asscheeks. Burying your face in the duvet you screamed as your climax peaked maximum pressure, the proof of it in sporadic squirts that ran down your thighs.

“That is so fucking sexy.” Nick growled as he felt the hot liquid lubricating his shaft with every thrust until he couldn’t hold back anymore. He pulled out, letting the flood of your cum run free from your abused hold and pumped his fist along his glistening cock. The hot spurts of his release splattered across your lower back and you felt incredibly empty without your cunt stretched around him. Collapsing without a care, you sagged to the mattress to regain your breath, your limbs twitching with aftershocks as Nick climbed off the bed.

“Bathroom?” He asked as he pointed to a closed door off your room.

You nodded dumbly as you felt disconnected from your body, like he had unplugged a crucial wire that connected your brain to your mouth. Instead you looked like a guppy as you opened your mouth only to close it with a confused frown.

“Fucked the attitude out of you, didn’t I?” He smirked as he returned, the water running in your bathroom. “Maybe this partnership won’t be too bad after all.”

[noshitshakespeare]

do scholars know the purpose, on a meta level, of the third murderer in macbeth? i've read theories that it's macbeth himself, but that's never stated... but having a random third assassin show up feels almost unnecessary?

This is one of those textual things people love to develop theories about and that theatrical companies like to exploit to try and add a twist. People have suggested, as you say, that it’s Macbeth himself, or that it’s Ross or Destiny... I’ve seen directors who have chosen to cast Seyton in the role in many theatre performances, no doubt partly because there is that Seyton/Satan homophone that’s so very tempting. 

But as you say, it’s never stated, and if it was Macbeth or Ross, or any named character, it’s quite unlikely that it would go unmentioned because Shakespeare tends to be explicit about that kind of thing (when someone is in disguise). Nicholas Brooke, the editor of the Oxford edition is pretty dismissive, saying that ‘Speculation about the identity of the Third Murderer... is absurd’. His argument is that the opening lined when the first two murderers ask, ‘But who did bid thee join with us?’ and the Third Murderer replies, ‘Macbeth’ is sufficient to explain his presence. The Arden editors ( Sandra Clark and Pamela Mason) are less dismissive but agree that it makes enough dramatic sense because ‘as Dover Wilson says, the introduction of a further assassin shows that Macbeth, “tyrant-like, feels he must spy even upon his own chosen instruments”’. Given the overall paranoid feeling of the play at this point, I find this pretty convincing, and even if it’s not staged, you can imagine Macbeth having even more doubts and sending a spy to join the murderers. 

For the sake of the murder itself, the Third Murderer is not necessary, as you say, but there is something dramatically effective about having this other figure who’s not really acquainted with the other two. It means, for one thing, that when one of the other murderers (most likely the First Murderer) strikes out the light, the Third Murderer is not on board with it and can accuse the other two of messing up the assassination. This is quite a typically Shakespearean technique: he introduces a little bit of a dynamic even between minor characters to create drama. 

The presence of the Third Murderer is definitely something that theatre directors will continue to exploit to their advantage, and there are no doubt scholars who have investments in particular interpretations. Still, the general consensus is that there’s not much mystery here as the text provides a sufficiently convincing reason for the Third Murderer to be present. 

[oneboxofmatches]

All You Need to Know About Matchups!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WAITLIST

Hi y'all!

This account is solely for matchups for several different fandoms. That means requests for imagines, oneshots, headcanons, etc. will NOT be taken.

Here are some basic things to know about requesting a matchup!

Unless otherwise specified for a certain fandom, a request yields one romantic pairing AND one friendship pairing as well as information on why I think you work well with the individuals I choose. Of course, if you only wish to receive either just the romantic matchup or just the friendship matchup, just let me know!

You can request matchups for several different fandoms at once! For each fandom you request, I will match you up with one romantic partner and one friend unless you request differently.

You can ask to exclude any character(s)!

Where can I request a matchup?

Requests can be made in the MATCHUP REQUESTS/ASK ME ANYTHING tab.

What do I need to include in my request?

Required

Fandom(s)

Your gender and/or pronouns

Your sexual orientation and/or preferences

Description of personality

Optional (but definitely helps me out!)

Description of appearance

Hobbies

Personality alignment (Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Hogwarts House, etc.)

What you would look for in a partner and/or friend

Any other information you think would be helpful – the more you provide, the more I can work with!

Now with that out of the way, onto the fandoms!

Listed directly below is a shortlist of all the fandoms I take requests for as well as some extra information as needed.

Disclaimers

If a title is in italics, it means that while I feel comfortable providing matchups for this show, I have not watched every season. If a character drastically changes after a certain point, I may not be aware. The last season I watched of these shows will be included in parentheses.

All movies/shows based on novels will most likely focus on the on-screen adaptations of characters.

SHOWS

The 100 (6)

Good Omens

The Good Place (3)

Lucifer (4)

On My Block

Parks and Recreation (4)

Prodigal Son (1)

Sherlock

Space Force

Supernatural (14)

The Walking Dead (8)

MOVIES

Clueless

The Greatest Showman

Harry Potter -- Unless specified in request, will entail 2 sets of matchups as a student (Golden Trio and Marauders eras respectively)

The Hunger Games

Marvel Cinematic Universe -- Unless age is specified, underage characters will NOT be available for romantic matchups

BROADWAY

Anastasia

Beetlejuice

Carrie (2012 Off-Broadway)

Hadestown

Hamilton

Les Misérables

The Phantom of the Opera

Six

VIDEO GAMES

Detroit: Become Human

Red Dead Redemption 2

What’s below the cut?

A masterlist of characters in each fandom that will be considered for each request (unless marked with an asterisk (*), all characters are assumed to be available for both romantic AND friendly matchups while names marked with an asterisk are only available for friendly matchups). Listed alphabetically by first name.

Don’t be afraid to tell me about a typo!

Any questions? Just want to talk? You can also use the  MATCHUP REQUESTS/ASK ME ANYTHING tab to get ahold of me!

SHOWS

Bellamy Blake

Clarke Griffin

Echo

Finn Collins

Harper McIntyre

Jasper Jordan

Johnathan “John” Murphy

Jordan Green

Lexa

Lincoln

Marcus Kane

Monty Green

Octavia Blake

Raven Reyes

Roan

Wells Jaha

Aziraphale

Anathema Device

Crowley

Newton Pulsifer

Mme. Tracy*

Witchfinder Sgt. Shadwell*

Chidi Anagonye

Eleanor Shellstrop

Jason Mendoza

Michael*

Tahani Al-Jamil

Amenadiel

Det. Chloe Decker

Det. Daniel “Dan” Espinoza

Ella Lopez

Eve

Dr. Linda Martin*

Lucifer Morningstar

Mazikeen “Maze”

Cesar Diaz

Jamal Turner

Jasmine Flores

Monsé Finnie

Oscar “Spooky” Diaz

Ruben “Ruby” Martinez Jr.

Andrew “Andy” Dwyer

Ann Perkins

April Ludgate

Benjamin “Ben” Wyatt

Christopher “Chris” Traeger

Donna Meagle*

Gerald “Jerry” Gergich*

Jean-Ralphio Saperstein*

Leslie Knope

Ronald “Ron” Swanson*

Ainsley Whitly

Det. Dani Powell

Edrisa Tanaka

Lt. Gil Arroyo

Det. James “JT” Tarmel

Jessica Whitly

Malcolm Bright

DI Greg Lestrade

Mrs. Hudson*

James “Jim” Moriarty

Dr. John Watson

Mary Morstan*

Molly Hooper

Mycroft Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Dr. Adrian Mallory*

Capt. Angela Ali

Brig. Gen. Bradley Gregory*

Dr. Chan Kaifang

Duncan Tabner

Erin Naird

F. Tony Scarapiducci

Kelly King

Maggie Naird*

Gen. Mark Naird*

Abbie “Bela” Talbot*

Adam Milligan

Alex Jones

Balthazar

Benjamin “Benny” Lafitte

Castiel

Charlene “Charlie” Bradbury

Claire Novak

Crowley

Dean Winchester

Sheriff Donna Hanscum

Eileen Leahy

Ellen Harvelle*

Gabriel

Garth Fitzgerald IV

Jack Kline

Jessica “Jess” Moore*

Joanna “Jo” Harvelle

Sheriff Jody Mills*

John Winchester

Kaia Nieves

Kevin Tran

Lucifer

Meg Masters

Michael “Mick” Davies

Patience Turner

Robert “Bobby” Singer*

Rowena MacLeod

Rufus Turner*

Samuel “Sam” Winchester

Aaron

Abraham Ford

Andrea*

Beth Greene

Carl Grimes*

Carol Peletier*

Dale Horvath*

Daryl Dixon

Dwight

Enid*

Eugene Porter*

King Ezekiel*

Father Gabriel Stokes

Glenn Rhee

Hershel Greene*

Maggie Greene

Michonne

Morgan Jones*

Negan Smith

Paul “Jesus” Rovia

Rick Grimes

Rosita Espinosa

Sasha Williams

Tara Chambler

Tyreese Williams

MOVIES

Cher Horowitz

Dionne Davenport

Josh Lucas

Tai Frasier

Travis Birkenstock

Anne Wheeler

Charity Barnum

Jenny Lind

Lettie Lutz*

Phillip Carlyle

Phineas “P.T.” Barnum

W.D. Wheeler

Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody*

Albus Dumbledore*

Arthur Weasley*

Cedric Diggory

Cho Chang

Draco Malfoy

Fleur Delacour

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Ginevra “Ginny” Weasley

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

James Potter

Lily Evans

Luna Lovegood

Minerva McGonagall*

Molly Weasley*

Neville Longbottom

Nymphadora Tonks*

Oliver Wood

Remus Lupin

Ronald “Ron” Weasley

Rubeus Hagrid*

Severus Snape

Sirius Black

Viktor Krum

Cinna

Effie Trinket*

Finnick Odair

Gale Hawthorne

Haymitch Abernathy*

Johanna Mason

Katniss Everdeen

Peeta Mellark

Anthony “Tony” Stark -- Iron Man

Dr. Bruce Banner -- Hulk

Carol Danvers -- Captain Marvel

Dr. Christine Palmer*

Clint Barton -- Hawkeye

Drax the Destroyer*

Edward “Ned” Leeds

Gamora

Groot*

Harold “Happy” Hogan*

Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym*\

Hope van Dyne -- Wasp

Sgt. James “Bucky” Barnes -- Winter Soldier

Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes -- War Machine

Loki Laufeyson

Luis*

Mantis*

Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Carter*

Cdr. Maria Hill*

May Parker*

Lord M’Baku

Michelle “MJ” Jones

Nakia

Natasha Romanoff -- Black Widow

Nebula*

Col. Nicholas “Nick” Fury*

Okoye

Peter Parker -- Spider-Man

Peter Quill -- Star-Lord

Agt. Phillip “Phil” Coulson*

Pietro Maximoff -- Quicksilver

Rocket*

Samuel “Sam” Wilson -- Falcon

Scott Lang -- Ant-Man

Shuri

Dr. Stephen Strange

Steven “Steve” Rogers -- Captain America

King T’Challa -- Black Panther

Thor Odinson

Valkyrie

Virginia “Pepper” Potts

Vision

Wanda Maximoff -- Scarlet Witch

W’Kabi

Wong*

Yelena Belova

Yondu Udonta*

BROADWAY

Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov

Dimitri Sudayev

Gleb Vaganov

Countess Lily Malevsky-Malevitch*

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna*

Vladimir “Vlad” Popov*

Adam Maitland

Barbara Maitland

Beetlejuice*

Delia Schlimmer

Lydia Deetz*

Carrie White

Christine “Chris” Hargensen

Susan “Sue” Snell

Thomas “Tommy” Ross

Eurydice

Hades

Hermes*

Orpheus

Persephone

Aaron Burr

Alexander Hamilton

Angelica Schuyler

Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler

George Washington

Hercules Mulligan

James Madison

John Laurens

Margarita “Peggy” Schuyler

Maria Reynolds

Marquis de Lafayette

Philip Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson

Cosette

Enjolras

Éponine Thénardier

Fantine

Insp. Javert

Jean Valjean

Marius Pontmercy

Carlotta Giudicelli*

Christine Daaé

Erik “The Phantom”

Mme. Giry*

Meg Giry

Raoul de Chagny

Anna of Cleves

Anne Boleyn

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine Parr

Jane Seymour

Katherine Howard

VIDEO GAMES

Carl Manfred*

Chloe

Det. Chris Miller*

Connor

Elijah Kamski

Lt. Hank Anderson*

Capt. Jeffrey Fowler*

Josh

Kara

Leo Manfred

Lucy*

Luther

Markus

North

Rose Chapman*

Simon

Abigail Roberts

Arthur Morgan

Beau Gray*

Charles Smith

Daniël “Dutch” Van der Linde

Eagle Flies

Hosea Matthews*

Javier Escuella

Johnathan “John” Marston Sr.

Josiah Trelawny

Karen Jones

Kieran Duffy

Leonard “Lenny” Summers

Marion “Bill” Williamson

Mary-Beth Gaskill

Micah Bell

Molly O’Shea

Penelope Braithwaite*

Rev. Orville Swanson*

Sadie Adler

Sean MacGuire

Simon Pearson*

Tilly Jackson

[perennialessays]

Crisis and Critique

What is critical theory, and whence the notion of critique as a practical stance towards the world? Using these questions as a point of departure, this course takes critical theory as its field of inquiry. Part of the course will be devoted to investigating what critique is, starting with the etymological and conceptual affinity it shares with crisis: since the Enlightenment, so one line of argument goes, all grounds for knowledge are subject to criticism, which is understood to generate a sense of escalating historical crisis culminating in a radical renewal of the intellectual and social order. We will explore the efficacy of modern critical thought, and the concept of critique’s efficacy, by examining a series of attempts to narrate and amplify states of crisis – and correspondingly transform key concepts such as self, will, time, and world – in order to provoke a transformation of society. The other part of the course will be oriented towards understanding current critical movements as part of the Enlightenment legacy of critique, and therefore as studies in the practical implications of critical readings. Key positions in critical discourse will be discussed with reference to the socio-political conditions of their formation and in the context of their provenance in the history of philosophy, literature, and cultural theory. Required readings will include works by Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Husserl, Benjamin and others, with suggested readings and references drawn from a variety of source materials ranging from literary and philosophical texts to visual images, film, and architecture. You are invited to work on your individual interests with respect to the readings.

Week 1                                                                                              

Critique, krinein, crisis (Koselleck, Adorno)

 Required Reading

Reinhart Koselleck, “Crisis,” Journal of the History of Ideas 67.2 (2006), 357-400.

—, Chapters 7 and 8, Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1988 [German original, 1959].

Adorno and Horkheimer, "The Concept of Enlightenment," in Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. John Cumming (New York: Continuum, 1989), pp. 3-42.

 Recommended Reading

Michel Foucault, “What is Enlightenment?” in The Foucault Reader. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984: 32-50.

—, The Politics of Truth. New York: Semiotext(e), 1997.

Friedrich Hölderlin, “Nature and Art or Saturn and Jupiter,” in Hyperion and Selected Poems. Ed. by Eric Santner. Translated by Michael Hamburger. New York: Continuum, 1990: 150-151.

  Week 2          

Judgment and Imagination (Kant)

 Required Reading

Immanuel Kant, “Preface [A and B],” in Critique of Pure Reason. Translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998: 99-124.  

—, “Preface” and “Introduction,” in Critique of Practical Reason, in Practical Philosophy, trans. Mary Gregor (Cambridge UP, 1996), pp. 139-149.

—, §§1-5, 59-60 of Critique of the Power of Judgment, trans. Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews (Cambridge UP, 2000), pp. 89-96, 225-230.

—, “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose,” in Kant: Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991 (2nd ed.): 41-53, 273.

—, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? [1784],” in Practical Philosophy. Translated by Mary J. Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999: 11-22.

 Recommended Reading

Immanuel Kant, "Analytic of the Sublime," in Critique of Judgment. Translated by James Creed Meredith; revised, edited, and introduced by Nicholas Walker. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007: 75-164.

Theodor Adorno, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (2001 [1959])

Henry Allison, Kant’s Transcendental Idealism (2004)

Hannah Arendt, Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy (1992)

Geoffrey Bennington, “Kant’s Open Secret”, Theory, Culture and Society 28.7-8(2011): 26-40.

J.M. Bernstein, The Fate of Art: Aesthetic Alienation from Kant to Derrida and Adorno (1992)

Graham Bird, The Revolutionary Kant (2006)

Andrew Bowie, Aesthetics and Subjectivity: from Kant to Nietzsche (1990, 2003)

Howard Caygill, The Kant Dictionary (2000)

Ernst Cassirer, Kant's Life and Thought (1981)

Gilles Deleuze, Kant's Critical Philosophy (1984)

Will Dudley and Kristina Engelhard (eds.) Immanuel Kant: Key Concepts (2010)

Paul Guyer, Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment: Critical Essays (2003)

Martin Heidegger, Phenomenological Interpretation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1997)

Laura Hengehold, The BODY Problematic: Political Imagination in Kant and Foucault (2007)

Otfried Höffe, Immanuel Kant (1994)

Jean-François Lyotard, L’Enthousiasme: La critique kantienne de l’histoire. Paris: L’Éditions Galilée, 1986.

Rudolf Makkreel, Imagination and Interpretation in Kant: The Hermaneutic Import of the Critique of Judgment (1990)

Jean-Luc Nancy, A Finite Thinking (2003)

Andrea Rehberg and Rachel Jones (eds.), The Matter of Critique: Readings in Kant’s Philosophy (2000)

Philip Rothfield (ed.), Kant after Derrida (2003)

Rei Terada, Looking Away: Phenomenality and Dissatisfaction, Kant to Adorno (2009)

Yirmiahu Yovel, Kant and the Philosophy of History (1989)

  Week 3          

Recognition and the Other (Hegel)

 Required Reading

G.W.F. Hegel, “The Truth of Self-Certainty” and “Lordship and Bondage,” in The Phenomenology of Spirit. Translated by Terry Pinkard. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2018: 102-116.

—, “The Art-Religion,” in The Phenomenology of Spirit. Translated by Terry Pinkard. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2018: 403-430.

 Recommended Reading

G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction [§§1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8], in Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art. Translated by T.M. Knox. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975: 1-14; 22-55; 69-90.

Stuart Barnett (ed.), Hegel after Derrida (2001)

Frederick Beiser (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hegel (1993)

Susan Buck-Morss, Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History (2009)

Rebecca Comay, Mourning Sickness: Hegel and the French Revolution (2011)

Rebecca Comay and John McCumber (eds.), Endings: Questions of Memory in Hegel and Heidegger (1999)

Eva Geulen, The End of Art: Readings in a Rumor after Hegel. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.

Werner Hamacher, “(The End of Art with the Mask),” in Stuart Barnett (ed.), Hegel after Derrida. London and New York: Routledge, 1998: 105-130.

Werner Hamacher, “The Reader’s Supper: A Piece of Hegel,” trans. Timothy Bahti, diacritics 11.2 (1981): 52-67.

H.S. Harris, Hegel: Phenomenology and System (1995)

Stephen Houlgate, An Introduction to Hegel: Freedom, Truth and History (2005)

Stephen Houlgate, Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (2013)

Fredric Jameson, The Hegel Variations (2010)

Alexandre Kojève, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980.

Terry Pinkard, Hegel: A Biography (2001)

  Week 4          

Revolution … (Marx)

 Required Reading

Karl Marx, “I: Feuerbach,” The German Ideology, in Collected Works vol. 5. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1976: 27-93.

Karl Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach," available online (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm)  

 Week 5

... and Repetition (Marx)

 Required Reading

Karl Marx, “Preface” to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy [1859], in Collected Works vol. 29. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1976: 261-165.

—, “Postface to the Second Edition” and “Chapter 1: The Commodity,” in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Trans. by B. Fowkes. London: Penguin, 1990: 95-103 and 125-177.

 Recommended Reading

Louis Althusser, For Marx (1969)

Hannah Arendt, “Karl Marx and the Tradition of Western Political Thought”, Social Research 69.2 (2002): 273-319.

Étienne Balibar, The Philosophy of Marx (1995, 2007)

Ernst Bloch, On Karl Marx (1971)

Andrew Chitty and Martin McIvor (eds.), Karl Marx and Contemporary Philosophy (2009)

Simon Choat, Marx Through Post-Structuralism: Lyotard, Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze (2010)

Jacques Derrida, Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International. New York and London: Routledge, 1994.

Werner Hamacher, “Lingua Amissa: The Messianism of Commodity-Language and Derrida’s Specters of Marx” (1999)

Jean Hyppolite, Studies on Marx and Hegel (1969)

Sarah Kofman, Camera Obscura: Of Ideology (1998)

Peter Singer, Marx: A Very Short Introduction (1980)

Michael Sprinker (ed.), Ghostly Demarcations: A Symposium on Jacques Derrida’s Specters of Marx (1999, 2008)

Moishe Postone, History and Heteronomy: Critical Essays (2009)

Moishe Postone, Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory (1993)

Jacques Rancière, “The Concept of ‘Critique’ and the ‘Critique of Political Economy’ (from the 1844 Manuscript to Capital)”, Economy and Society 5.3 (1976): 352-376.

Tom Rockmore, Marx After Marxism: The Philosophy of Karl Marx (2002)

Gareth Stedman-Jones, Karl Marx: Greatness and Illusion (2016)

  Week 6

Tutorial Week

  Week 7          

Will to Becoming Otherwise (Nietzsche)

 Required Reading

Friedrich Nietzsche, "Preface" and "First Treatise," in On the Genealogy of Morality. Trans. by Maudemarie Clark and Alan J. Swensen. Indianopolis/Cambridge: Hackett, 1998: 1-33.

  Week 8                                                                                                                      

Ascetic Ideal and Eternal Return (Nietzsche)

 Required Reading

Friedrich Nietzsche, "Second Treatise" and "Third Treatise," in On the Genealogy of Morality. Trans. by Maudemarie Clark and Alan J. Swensen. Indianopolis/Cambridge: Hackett, 1998: 35-118.

Recommended Reading

Friedrich Nietzsche, §§341-342 of The Gay Science

Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Vision and Riddle” and “The Convalescent,” in Thus Spake Zarathustra III

Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense,” in: The Birth of Tragedy and other writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Friedrich Nietzsche, “On the Uses and Abuses of History for Life,” in: Untimely Meditations. Trans. by R.J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.

Jacques Derrida, Spurs: Nietzsche’s Styles. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

Michel Foucault, "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History," in Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews. Ed. by D. F. Bouchard. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977: 139-164.

R. Kevin Hill, Nietzsche’s Critiques: The Kantian Foundations of his Thought (2003)

Luce Irigaray, Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche. Trans. by Gillian C. Gill. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.

Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Trans. by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984.

Gianni Vattimo, The End of Modernity: Nihilism and Hermeneutics in Postmodern Culture. Trans. by Jon R. Snyder. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

Alenka Zupančič, The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the Two (2003)

  Week 9          

Repetition Compulsion (Freud)

 Required Reading

Sigmund Freud, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” [excerpts], in Peter Gay (ed.), The Freud Reader. London: Vintage, 1995: 594-625.

Recommended Reading

Theodor Adorno, “Revisionist Psychoanalysis,” Philosophy and Social Criticism 40.3 (2014): 326-338.

Louis Althusser, Writings on Psychoanalysis: Freud and Lacan (1996)

Lauren Berlant, Desire/Love (2012)

Leo Bersani, The Freudian Body: Psychoanalysis and Art (1986)

Rebecca Comay, “Resistance and Repetition: Freud and Hegel,” Research in Phenomenology 45 (2015): 237-266.

Jacques Derrida, Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression (1995)

Jacques Derrida, The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond (1987)

Mladen Dolar, “Freud and the Political,” Unbound 4.15 (2008): 15-29.

Sarah Kofman, Freud and Fiction (1991)

Jacques Lacan, “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious; or Reason after Freud”, in Écrits: A Selection. Trans. by A. Sheridan. New York: Norton, 1977: 146-175.

Catherine Malabou, “Plasticity and Elasticity in Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle.” Diacritics 37.4 (2007): 78-85.

Jean-Luc Nancy, "System of (Kantian) Pleasure (With a Freudian Postscript)," in Kant after Derrida. Ed. by Phil Rothfield. Manchester: Clinamen Press, 2003: 127-141.

Angus Nicholls and Martin Liebscher (eds.), Thinking the Unconscious: Nineteenth-Century German Thought (2010)

Charles Sheperdson, Vital Signs: Nature, Culture, Psychoanalysis (2000)

Samuel Weber, The Legend of Freud. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000.

Alenka Zupančič, Ethics of the Real: Kant and Lacan. London: Verso, 2012 [reprint].

  Week 10        

Crisis of European Humankind (Husserl)

 Required Reading

Edmund Husserl, §§1-7 and §§10-21, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Trans. by David Carr. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1970: 2-18; 60-84.

Recommended Reading

Edmund Husserl, “Philosophy and the Crisis of European Humanity [Vienna Lecture],” in The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Trans. by David Carr. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1970: 269-299.

Jacques Derrida, The Other Heading: Reflections on Today’s Europe. Trans. by Pascale Anne Brault and Michael B. Naas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992: 4-83.

Paul de Man, “Criticism and Crisis,” in Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971: 3-19.

James Dodd, Crisis and Reflection: An Essay on Husserl’s Crisis of the European Sciences (2004)

Burt C. Hopkins, The Philosophy of Husserl (2011)

David Hyder and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Science and the Life-World: Essays on Husserl’s Crisis of European Sciences (2010)

Leonard Lawlor, Derrida and Husserl: The Basic Problem of Phenomenology (2002)

Dermot Moran, The Husserl Dictionary (2012)

Paul Valéry, "Notes on the Greatness and Decline of Europe” and “The European,” in History and Politics. Trans. Denise Folliot and Jackson Matthews. New York: Bollingen, 1962: 228; 311-12.

David Woodruff Smith, Husserl (2007)

Barry Smith and David Woodruff Smith (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Husserl (1995)

  Week 11        

Crisis-Proof Experience (Benjamin)

 Required Reading

Walter Benjamin, “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire,” in Selected Writings vol. 4. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003: 313-355.

 Recommended Reading

Walter Benjamin, "Experience and Poverty"

—, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproducibility”

—, “Theses on the Concept of History”

—, “Epistemo-Critical Prologue,” in The Origin of German Tragic Drama. Trans. by John Osborne. London and New York: Verso, 2003: 27-56.

—, “Convolute J,” The Arcades Project

—, The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire (2006)

Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, “Exchange with Theodor W. Adorno on ‘The Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire,” in Benjamin, Selected Writings vol. 4 (1999).

Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil; The Painter of Modern Life

Ian Balfour, “Reversal, Quotation (Benjamin’s History)”, Modern Language Notes 106.3 (1991): 622-647.

Eduardo Cadava, Words of Light: Theses on the Photography of History (1997)

Tom Gunning, “The Exterior as Intérieur: Benjamin’s Optical Detective,” boundary 2 30.1 (2003).

Werner Hamacher, “Now: Benjamin on Historical Time” (2001; 2005)

General Background

Julian Wolfreys (ed.), Modern European Criticism and Theory: A Critical Guide (2006) Simon Critchley, Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (2001) Terry Pinkard, German Philosophy 1760-1860: The Legacy of Idealism (2002)

Andrew Bowie, Introduction to German Philosophy: From Kant to Habermas (2003)

Kai Hammermeister, The German Aesthetic Tradition (2002) Gary Gutting, French Philosophy in the Twentieth Century (2001)

Eric Matthews, Twentieth-Century French Philosophy (1996)

Jonathan Simons (ed.), From Kant to Lévi-Strauss: The Background to Contemporary Critical Theory (2002)

Learning Outcomes

-       You will have a grasp of the broad trends in the development of critical theory.

-       You will have a good understanding of how different modern philosophical traditions from German Idealism to Phenomenology inform the different strains of critical theory.

-       You will be able to expound and analyse the ways in which a range of different writers and tendencies in the history of modern thought conceive of the specificity of critique.

-       You will have a sound grasp of the primary and secondary literatures in critical theory, both on general issues and specific thinkers or schools.

-       You will be able to use the ideas and texts explored in the module to inform your readings in critical theoretical texts.

 Assessment Criteria

-       Students should show a clear command of how their chosen thinker(s) and texts relate to the broader trajectories of critical theory.

-       Students should show a detailed critical knowledge of at least two of the module’s key thinkers or theoretical tendencies.

-       Students should show a knowledge and capacity to use a good range of secondary literature on both general issues in the field and on the specific thinkers and texts they address.

-       Students should be able to read the relevant texts from both critical and genealogical perspectives.

-       Students should demonstrate their capacity to develop a distinctive and coherent interpretative and analytical perspective on their chosen subject.