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ironychan · 1 year ago

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Scary Monsters

@dysphoria-sweatshirt @30spiders @sweatersexual @angrylittlesliceofpizza @writer652

Part 1/? - Rocco’s Closet

Part 2/? - School for Monsters

Part 3/? - The Waternoose Family

Part 4/? - The Terrifying Humans

Part 5/? - Hiding Places

Part 6/? - Nobody’s Fault

Part 7/? - Edge of Disaster

Part 8/? - Caged Monsters

Part 9/? - The Journey Home

Part 10/? - Portorosso

Harry didn't want to get back in the pram, so he scurried along the cobbled street with the rest of the group as they made their way downhill to the Pescheria and harbour. Luca and Alberto were busy telling their families about the monster world, but they did their best to keep an eye on their unwanted companion. This was not easy. Harry was like a curious puppy on its first walk, dashing back and forth across the street to take a closer look at everything.

“Mamma mia!” the woman who ran the laundromat exclaimed, dropping a pile of sheets as Harry dashed past her to look in the window. She stared for a moment with one hand over her heart, then took in the presence of Luca and Alberto and made herself calm down. “I'm sorry, young... man,” she managed. “You startled me.”

“I'm a monster,” said Harry smugly. “I'm supposed to be scary.”

“You certainly are,” she agreed, gathering up her sheets again – these had been clean, and were now covered with dust and would need to be done again. “Lovely to have met you. I'm sure I'll see you again.” She hurried back inside and shut the door.

A minute or so later, a man driving a truck loaded with boxes of fruit stopped to watch them go by. Harry grinned and waved to him. The man waved back halfheartedly, and waited until they rounded a corner to start his truck again.

“It looks like the humans here are scared of me,” Harry said suspiciously. “You said they wouldn't be.”

“They're not screaming and running away,” Alberto pointed out. “They're just not used to you yet.” Humans in Portorosso had mostly accepted the idea that just because something looked frightening didn't mean it necessarily was, but that didn't mean they liked scary things, even ordinary sea monsters.

“I think they're a little scared of monsters,” Harry said. “If they weren't, we wouldn't even have any doors to this town.”

“It depends on the monster,” said Luca. He glanced back over his shoulder at Rocco, who was still scowling into his gelato.

They arrived at the piazza. As usual there was a gaggle of children here, kicking an old volleyball in order to get around the local legislation that forbid playing football in the streets. Harry watched for a minute, bouncing up and down in excitement, then ran up to them.

“Can I play?” he asked eagerly.

The boy who had the ball snatched it off the ground and backed towards his friends, who gasped in horror.

Luca quickly reassured them. “It's okay! This is Harry. He's with us.”

Harry smiled hopefully.

One of the taller kids, a girl, spoke up. “You can't,” she said. “You've got... too many legs. Rules say only two is allowed.”

“Oh,” said Harry, though he looked at them suspiciously.

“Come on, Alberto lives over here,” Luca said, gesturing towards the Pescheria.

One of the teenagers in the town, a boy called Amerigo, had been hired to mind the shop while Massimo and Giulia were waiting at the train station. He smiled as the group approached, then his eyes widened when he saw Harry among them. Like the others, though, he reasoned that if this strange creature were with Luca and Alberto, then it must be all right, and that was enough to keep him from panicking.

“You've got a new friend,” he observed.

“This is the Pescheria,” Alberto told Harry. “Massimo catches fish, and Giulia and I sell them here or deliver them to people's houses.”

Harry examined a basket of bream on ice. “Weird fish,” he said. “They all look the same. Where are the ones with two heads?”

“We don't have any two-headed fish,” Luca said.

Harry moved on down the length of the shop, while Amerigo watched cautiously from behind the counter. “Oh, these look more normal,” said Harry, pointing at another creature. “What's that?”

“Those are squid,” Alberto said. “We cut them into rings and fry them. It's called calamari. Much nicer than eating them raw and getting ink all over you!”

“What about that?” Harry pointed to a black-and-white photograph of a group of people posing with an immensely long silvery fish, at least four metres, in the piazza.

“That's a regaleco,” said Giulia. “Papà caught it by accident. See, there's me.” She pointed to herself in the photo, a very small child of four or five standing by Massimo's side.

Harry continued to scuttle around the shop, examining the merchandise and decor, while people from the piazza began to gather in the doorway to stare at this new and bizarre arrival. Nobody said anything, as they did not want to be rude, but there was a general feeling of unease in the air. Luca and Alberto could feel it keenly, but Harry seemed oblivious, and upon noticing the crowd, he went up to greet them.

“Hi, everybody!” he said. “Wow, I didn't know there were so many humans. Kids' rooms only have maybe one or two at a time. Hi,” he said to one kid. “How are you doing?”

The girl gave him a sideways look and did not reply.

Not at all discouraged, Harry looked up at Old Tomasso, who was staring back down at him. “Hi! Do you need a son?” he asked.

“Ah, I'm a little old to be raising children,” Old Tomasso replied. “You might ask my daughter, Viola, though she and Giacomo already have a couple kids of their own...”

“Is she here?” Harry asked eagerly.

“Well, I'm starving!”s aid Alberto loudly. He grabbed Harry by the shoulders and steered him towards the interior door. “Time for you to try some human food! We'll treat you to the most delicious thing our world has to offer – trenette al pesto!”

They dragged Harry up the stairs to the living spaces above the shop, leaving Amerigo to deal with the curious onlookers. There, Massimo and Alberto got to work on dinner, while Daniela, who'd been learning some human cooking, declared that she would make dessert. Harry had looked exciting as they climbed the narrow stairs, but the kitchen itself was obviously a disappointment to him. He looked around the cramped little room dubiously as people got to work.

“Do you live here?” he asked. “Or are you the servants?”

“This is our house,” Giulia said, insulted. “We don't have servants.”

Harry frowned. “Well, who cleans up after you cook?” he asked. “Who scrubs the floor and cleans the windows?”

“We do,” she told him. “We do everything ourselves.”

“Where do you sleep?” he asked next.

“Upstairs – there's one room for me and Alberto and one for Papà, and the bathroom.”

Harry examined her face, trying to figure out if she were joking.

“Nobody has servants,” Giulia added. “That's from, I don't know, medieval times.”

“Farmhands might count as servants,” Lorenzo Paguro mused. “Like those two boys Atinnia Trota has working at her place since her husband died.”

“Are all humans this poor?” asked Harry. “Where are the normal people?”

“We're not poor!” Giulia huffed. “This is normal! If you want rich people, the richest ones in town are the Visconti family, and even they don't have servants. They've got some employees who work in their vineyards, but that's not the same. Signora Visconti does her own cooking.”

Harry sat down on the bench below the stairs, where he watched thoughtfully as everybody else pitched in to get food on the table. He appeared to be re-thinking this whole expedition, as if he didn't want a new family if that were necessarily going to come with work. Luca kind of hoped that was true. Harry's father wasn't very nice, but Harry belonged in his own world and they needed to get him back there as fast as they could.

There was no room for so many people to sit down around the tiny kitchen table, so they headed out to the yard to eat as the sun set and the first stars began to come out. Daniela and Luca set the table, and Massimo brought out the extra-large pot that could hold enough pasta for everybody. Seeing all this made Luca so happy to be home he nearly cried – it reminded him of the evening after the race last year, when the sea monsters had first been welcomed to Portorosso. Even Alberto was getting a bit misty-eyed, although he'd never admit it. The two boys dug into their favourite dish with gusto.

Harry didn't look so excited about it. He tried the trenette al pesto, but just shrugged.

“We need to figure out how we're going to get back into the monster world,” Luca announced. That was a problem he wasn't sure how to solve. Any door they might go through was just going to lead into the factory, and that was the last place they wanted to arrive. He frowned, chewing on a mouthful as he considered it. “What happens to the doors when the kids get too old to be scared anymore?”

“They go to storage,” said Harry. “They check them out every couple of years, but you can't open them from this end. You need the equipment.”

“So we'll have to find somebody else who's got a monster and wait there... but then when we get into the monster world they'll grab us right away,” said Luca. That wouldn't work at all. Mr. Waternoose might even have a special watch on doors from Liguria in case they tried to come back.

“Aren't there any doors anywhere else?” asked Alberto. “I mean... there's other scare companies, right?”

“Yeah,” said Harry, mouth full. “And there's a few at universities and stuff for research purposes, but they don't lead to kids' rooms.”

That sounded promising. Luca seized on it. “What doors are those? How do you find them?”

“I dunno, they're closet doors,” said Harry.

“There are other kinds of closets besides bedroom ones,” Helena observed thoughtfully. “There's linen closets, storage closets, broom closets...”

“Signora Marsigliese has a storage closet in her grocery store,” Giulia offered. “It's where she keeps stuff when there's no room for it on the shelves yet.”

“Oh, they won't use one in a shop,” said Harry, “especially if somebody lives there. The researchers don't actually want to meet any humans. They just want to find ways to stabilize the link, make it more energy-efficient, improve door matching, that kind of thing.”

“So nowhere there's people at night,” said Luca. “Where's got a closet that's closed at night?”

“Somewhere like a museum?” asked Helena.

“There's no museums in Portorosso,” said Alberto.

“No, but they've got lots of them in Genova,” said Giulia. “There's the Museum of Natural History, and the Maritime Museum, and Mamma does work sometimes at the Palazzo Spinola, which is going to be a museum someday but they have to restore it first because it got damaged during the war.”

“That's the one I'm thinking of,” Helena said. “There's one of the former bedrooms where I've helped touch up the frescoes, and I've never seen anything myself but there people working there full-time who swear it's haunted. They hear footsteps and see lights in the middle of the night.”

Luca did not believe in ghosts, but if closet monsters were a real thing then they might well be the explanation. “That's gotta be it!” he exclaimed. “There's a closet in there, right?”

“There's one where they keep paint and tools,” Helena agreed. “It's got a big sign on it that says solo personale autorizzato.”

“A lot of the ones the researchers use have signs like that,” Harry confirmed.

“Perfect!” Luca grinned. “So we just have to go back to Genova!”

“Now wait a moment, young man,” said Daniela. “I'm not sure I like the idea of you going back there, no matter how you get in. This monster world is obviously dangerous. Back me up, Lorenzo,” she said to her husband.

Lorenzo nodded. “Your mother is right, Luca. This really isn't your problem.”

“Yes, it is!” Luca insisted. “Louise and the others need our help. We're the ones who got them in trouble in the first place. Right, Alberto?”

“Right!” said Alberto through a mouthful of pasta.

“Well, you certainly can't go by yourselves,” Daniela said. “You have to at least take a grownup with you.”

“Oh, that's a good idea,” Giulia put in. “Like I said, Luca, your Mom's scary. The monsters will respect her.”

It was hard to say whether Daniela had really meant herself when she'd said a grownup, but that didn't seem to have been the part of the suggestion that startled her. “I'm not that scary!”

“Yes, you are,” chorused Alberto and Luca.

“No, you're not,” Harry scoffed.

“You haven't seen her get mad,” Luca told him.

Feeling like they had at least an approximation of a plan made Luca feel much better, and although he wouldn't have said it he was very reassured by the idea of taking his mother along. They wouldn't feel nearly so adrift and terrified in that strange world if they had a proper grownup with them.

After supper it was time for the kids to get into their pyjamas. Harry didn't have any with him, and nobody else's would have fit him, so he was given one of Massimo's extra shirts. It was as huge and awkward on him as Louise's monster-sized nightshirts had been on Alberto and Luca, but he didn't seem to mind.

The person who did mind was Giulia. Although she was too polite to say so, she was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of Harry sleeping in her room, so the boys offered to also sleep over so it wouldn't just be the two of them. Luca had hoped this would avoid any arguments. It did not.

“You don't like me,” said Harry accusingly, as they rolled out sleeping bags on the floor.

“No, you're fine,” said Giulia, without looking at him.

“Alberto and Luca said you'd be cool.”

“I am cool,” Giulia insisted, annoyed. “It's just that I haven't known you very long yet.”

Harry wasn't at all impressed. “You're scared of me. They said you'd be fine, but you're scared of monsters. I bet you're scared of them, too. Everybody here is, even if they try to be nice about it.” He smiled to himself. “I bet I could be in charge of this place in no time.”

“Giulia isn't scared of anything,” Luca said loyally.

“Sure,” Harry said, “so why doesn't she have a closet, then?”

“Because there isn't room for one,” said Giulia. “This house is very small.”

“I noticed.”

“And I don't need one anyway,” she added. “I keep all my stuff on my shelves, and my clothes go in the drawers. My school stuff mostly stays at Mamma's house in Genova, because that's where I use it.”

Harry considered that as he built a little nest for himself out of blankets. “What do human kids learn at school? Do you learn about monsters?”

“No,” said Luca, “because humans mostly don't believe in monsters, not even sea monsters like us. Nobody knows about us except the people in Portorosso and some of the ones at school.”

“And a lot of them think it's a joke,” Giulia added. “I didn't even believe in sea monsters until I met Luca and Alberto, and I didn't believe in closet monsters until I met you today.”

Harry frowned. “See, that's what Dad says – he says humans shouldn't know about us, because what you don't know is always scarier than what you do.”

“That's probably true,” Giulia observed. “Now that I know about sea monsters, they're not scary at all.” She looked at Alberto and grinned. “In fact, Alberto is the least scary monster I've ever met.”

Alberto stuck his tongue out at her.

“I think he's scarier than I am,” Luca said.

“Now, I think if humans knew about us, they'd be even more scared,” Harry went on, “because then they'd know we could be lurking there, waiting to jump out at any moment.”

“Or we'd just take the doors off all our closets,” said Giulia.

That clearly hadn't occurred to Harry. He blinked, then scowled, annoyed at being outwitted.

Harry couldn't lie down flat like a human or a sea monster, so while the other kids bedded down, he nestled into the pile of blankets he'd built, looking rather like an egg in an Easter basket. Everybody else began to drift off, only to discover that Harry snored. It wasn't loud, but it was a whistling sort of noise that was impossible to ignore. Giulia had to stuff her head under her pillow in order to block it out.

Halfway through the night, Giulia woke up again, as she sometimes did, and rolled over to get more comfortable – whereupon she found herself looking into multiple glowing eyes that blinked in unison. She inhaled sharply and sat up, clutching at the covers.

Harry started laughing. “Boo!” he said.

“Harry!” groaned Luca from his bed on the floor.

“I knew it! I knew you were scared of me!” Harry cackled.

“It's the middle of the night,” Alberto scolded. “Go back to sleep!”

Harry continued to giggle to himself as he settled down in his little nest again. Luca gave him a disapproving frown and looked at Alberto, who wasn't going to stop at frowning and had gone all the way to a nasty scowl. The two silently agreed that the first thing they were going to do when that haunted closet at the museum opened was to shove Harry in, and after that they wouldn't take any more help from him.

In the morning, Giulia got up first, and noticed that Harry was still asleep. She crept over and knelt next to him, leaning in so her nose was only an inch from his face. It took him a moment to realize she was there, and then a couple of his eyes flickered open, and he screamed like Signora Brugnole did when she saw a mouse.

“Now who's scared?” asked Giulia, and got up to go brush her teeth while Harry sat there panting.

Luca and Alberto had already been half awake, but were jolted to full alertness by Harry's cry. They yawned and rubbed their eyes and looked at him, then both lay down and pretended to go back to sleep. He'd deserved that.

Helena had crespelle ready when they came downstairs for breakfast. They were thinner than Louise's pancakes but were served with ricotta and nutella, and she'd also sliced some bananas to put on top. The kids sat down and dug in, and Massimo came to sit with them and sip his espresso.

“Giulietta,” he said, as his daughter put bananas on her breakfast. “Your mother and I have been talking about money.”

“Uh-huh,” Giulia said, then whacked Alberto's wrist with her butter knife as he reached across the table. “How about pass the nutella?” she suggested to him, as he shook the stinging joint.

Harry, meanwhile, looked down at his own plate dubiously. “Is this it?” he asked.

“What more did you want?” asked Giulia. She passed the nutella and knife to Alberto, and gave him a plate for Luca.

“How about bacon?” asked Harry. “Or eggs? Or waffles? It's just tiny pancakes with cheese, and some coffee?”

“You don't want to eat heavily first thing in the morning,” said Helena firmly. “It's not good for your stomach.” She poured her espresso into milk, and added a little bit of cocoa. “As we were saying, kids, I didn't think we'd all be heading back to Genova. I have enough money to pay for my own ticket, but not for the boys or Signora Paguro.”

That wasn't what any of the kids had expected to hear, least of all Harry. “How can you not have money for train tickets?” he asked. “They cost nothing.”

“Obviously they cost something,” Giulia told him, “if they were free we wouldn't be worried about it.”

Luca was not discouraged. “We'll have to earn the money, then,” he said.

“How?” asked Massimo. “I cannot hire all three of you for extra besides your pocket money.”

“I've got some I've saved,” said Alberto. “And we can do odd jobs around the town. I've done that before!” Sometimes he'd even managed not to break anything.

“So have I,” Giulia agreed.

“And I can help,” said Luca.

“How much money will we need for the tickets?” Giulia asked her mother.

Helena did a brief bit of math for one adult and three youths, assuming Harry would go in the pram again. The figure she came up with wasn't too daunting, so after they were done eating, the kids got dressed and set out to do some work.

“I'm gonna head up the hill to where the older people live, and ask if they need anything done in their gardens,” Alberto announced. They almost always did, and while pulling weeds and turning over soil were tedious, there were very few ways he'd found to do them wrong.

“I'll do deliveries, and keep the tips,” Giulia said.

“I'll go with Alberto,” Luca said.

“Great!” Alberto nodded. “You can do your big eyes thing, and they'll pay us extra.”

“How about me?” Harry asked, scuttling out into the yard to join them. Helena had decided to wash his little sailor suit while the kids were out, but that left the problem of what he would wear in the mean time. Massimo had gone through some old things and found a shirt he'd worn as a child and had kept to use as rags someday. It was a bit too big on Harry and had to be pinned so he wouldn't step on the hem, but it was clean.

“You want to help earn money?” Alberto asked, a bit suspicious. Harry clearly wasn't interested in work – he seemed to think money was just something people had in infinite quantities.

“No,” said Harry. “I need to find a new Dad, remember? Where are these Visconti people you mentioned?” He had evidently decided that he wanted not just a new family, but a new family with money.

“They live over the hill in the vineyards,” said Giulia. She checked her list of deliveries. “They've ordered some naselli... they must be having visitors because it's quite a few. Signor Visconti likes to schmooze people who are thinking about buying his wine.”

“I'll go with you, then,” Harry decided.

Giulia tried not to groan. “All right,” she said, “but you have to help. Do what I tell you to do, and don't wander off, you got it?”

“You're not my mother,” Harry told her.

“Do you want to stay at our house, or not?” Giulia asked. “Because if you do, you have to do what I say, got it?”

Harry snorted. “Fine.”

The boys headed up the hill to find some work to do, and Giulia attached the cart to her bike while Harry, under her direction, brought out boxes of ice and fish for delivery. He made a face as he handed her the first one.

“It smells,” he said.

“It's fish,” she told him. “Don't fish smell in your world?”

“I dunno, I've only seen them when they're already cooked,” Harry said. “And the ones in the pond at the zoo, that you can feed. Those don't smell.”

“They're not dead,” Giulia said. She climbed onto the bicycle. “Keep up, I'm not slowing down for you.”

She wasn't training for the race yet, not so early in the summer, so despite her words Giulia didn't hurry as she cycled up the hill to the first of her day's deliveries. Harry scuttled after her, looking around at the town and the people as they went. His many legs seemed able to carry him quite quickly, so she sped up a little.

Their first stop was the home of Signora Tarasco, where Giulia knocked on the door with a box of fish in her hands. The door opened, and Giulia proudly held out her merchandise. “Sardines, as ordered!” she announced. “Fresh from Papà's nets!”

“Ah, thank you, Giulia,” Signora Tarasco said. She took the box from Giulia, and then her eyes went to the waiting bicycle and cart, and she saw Harry standing next to it. For a split-second she just blinked at him, trying to figure out what she was seeing, then she screamed. She almost dropped the box, but grabbed it at the last moment, only for it to tip and pour dead sardines all over herself. Giulia dived to catch the fish, but could not grab them all, and ended up with two in her hand while the rest splattered on the pavement.

“Oh, my goodness!” the woman exclaimed, with a nervous giggle as she clutched the now-empty box. “You gave me a start! Wha... um... is that another of your friends, Giulia?”

“That's Harry,” said Giulia, picking herself up. “He's the monster from Rocco Marsigliese's closet.”

“No, the monster from Rocco's closet used to work for my Dad, but he fired her,” Harry corrected. “But he's a jerk, so now I'm looking for a new Dad, like Alberto.

“I saved these,” Giulia added, offering the fish she'd managed to grab.

“Oh... oh yes.” Signora Tarasco reached out and took them, her eyes locked on Harry. “I just... oh, dear, I ruined the rest of them. Let me... let me pay you for those.” She fumbled for her coin purse.

“You don't have to do that,” said Giulia, looking at the rest of the order, scattered on the cobblestones.

“No, no, it's only fair,” Signora Tarasco said distractedly. She gave Giulia a handful of coins without bothering to look at or count them. “Keep the change, dear,” she added, and shut the door, her only objective being to put something between herself and Harry as quickly as possible.

Giulia scowled and shoved the coins in her pocket. “Okay,” she told Harry, “you're going to have to stay behind the cart while people answer doors.”

“Luca and Alberto said the humans here would be fine,” Harry said, arms folded. “I'm starting to think they lied to me.”

“People will be fine once they get to know you,” Giulia told him. “Until then, you're scaring them. You're never gonna find a new family like that.”

Harry just sniffed. Evidently he thought if the humans were scared, that was their own fault.

They moved on to the next house. Harry would stay back with the cart while Giulia handed over the deliveries, but he refused to hide behind it. In fact, he seemed quite interested in people's reactions to him. Giulia explained who and what he was over and over, and people were polite but clearly uncomfortable with his presence. At least he didn't go around asking people if they wanted a child, like Luca and Alberto said he'd done in Genova, but she suspect that was merely because he'd already decided who his first choice was. If so, he was destined for bitter disappointment.

Giulia saved the Visconti family's fish for last, partly because it was furthest from home, and partly because she dreaded what Harry might do. She was sure it would be embarrassing at best and catastrophic at worse.

Harry himself perked up considerably when he realized there was only one box left. “Are we going to the Visconti house now?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Giulia. “Although... how would you feel about having an older brother?” Maybe she could discourage him in advance.

“An older brother?” he asked.

“Yeah, they already have a son,” Giulia said.

Harry thought about that a little. “What is he like?”

“He's the biggest jerk in the world,” said Giulia. “Even worse than your Dad, I'm sure. He kept this town under his evil empire of injustice for years.”

“He did? How?” Harry wanted to know.

“Because everybody was scared of him!” Giulia said. “You never knew when he was going to show up and make your life miserable, just because he could! We finally kicked his butt last summer, and nobody takes him seriously anymore.”

They crested the hill and coasted back down it into the valley, where the vineyards were spread out around the big house where the Visconti family lived and ran their business. The villa had originally been built in the 18th century by their wealthy ancestors, with yellow walls and big cypress trees out front. It was now in rather poor repair, with the plaster flaking and cracks in the wall from the earthquake that had happened before Giulia was born, but still imposing. Harry grinned when he saw it, and would have gone right up the double staircase leading to the front door, but Giulia shook her head.

“Deliveries go around the back,” she said.

She led the way around the gravel path to the back garden, where the kitchens were. Harry frowned.

“This looks like a servants' entrance,” he said.

“It used to be,” Giulia said, “but I told you, nobody has servants anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's snooty. It's like you're saying you're better than anyone else. The Viscontis don't need servants – they do that anyway.”

They passed the garage. Giulia had been hoping Ercole wouldn't be there, just because she didn't want to see him, but he was, checking the air pressure on his Vespa's tyres. He looked up as she passed, then did a double-take.

“Porca paletta! What is that?”

“Is that him?” Harry asked excitedly. “Their son?”

“Yes. Ignore him,” Giulia instructed.

But Harry scuttled right into the open garage. Ercole crab-walked backwards, then scrambled to his feet as if to flee. If that were his intention, he changed his mind when Harry got too close to his precious Vespa. “Hey!” he exclaimed. “Don't touch that!”

“Are you the one who used to have the whole town under an evil empire?” Harry asked eagerly.

Ercole knew exactly where he'd heard that. “For your information,” he said, moving his Vespa aside so that it wasn't too close to this odd little creature. “People in this town used to love me until those sea monsters came along. Now it's sea monster this and sea monster that, and nobody has time for real people anymore.” He peered suspiciously at his visitor. “What are you?”

“Aren't you scared of me?” Harry asked.

“You can't be scary if you hang out with Spewlia,” Ercole replied. “You're just a little bug. You should mind you don't get squashed like one.”

Giulia rolled her eyes, but on the whole this wasn't as bad as she'd feared. She knocked on the kitchen door. “Signora Visconti!” she called out. “I've got your fish!”

#fanfic #pixar luca #luca 2021 #monsters inc #monsters university #luca paguro #alberto scorfano #giulia marcovaldo #ercole visconti #scary monsters

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foreveralwaysanauthor · 2 years ago

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Eleanor, when you posted your list of ideas, I was so excited to see that I'm not the only one who has an incredibly long list of ideas that may or may not ever see the light of day and I really wanted to share mine. I originally had no intention of posting mine, but as this is the 8th anniversary of me starting this little fantasy world and my 12th writing anniversary is coming up, I figured I might as well use this as a sort of anniversary post as well. Because I am absolutely obsessed with✨details✨ some things on this list have gone a bit overboard from their intended little snippets, but I'm not entirely sure you'd mind that lmao. Now, without further ado, here is my list!

Story Concepts:

Now, some of these have a future as I plan to write the first two if I can find the time and, possibly, some others as I love the concepts. Most of these are AUs, but there are a few sequels I really want to work on that have made the list. There is one that is just a concept and won't go any further than what I have for reasons I'll explain further and it should be very easy to tell which one.

Idea 1: Life Is Strange AU

This game has been on my radar for literal years now and I’m only just coming up with ideas for it, but since I know the series fairly well, things are piecing together fairly well. The games are, essentially, played episode by episode where each choice you make in the game, impacts the rest of the story. It’s like the butterfly effect - a butterfly flaps its wings in Hawaii and a hurricane starts halfway across the world. Every choice matters. I am only using the first and last of the main games and the prologue of the first game. In the first game, you control time as a high school student. In the prologue for that, you play as a pair of unlikely friends who discover that one of them doesn’t have as perfect of a life as the other assumed. Then, in the third, you play as a young woman who can see and manipulate emotions. Now that that’s established, I’ll give a bit of a summary of my ideas, all of which are set in modern times.

In the first story, the Murphy family moves from Myrtle Beach to Sanbornton, New Hampshire so that Royce can attend the prestigious Oakwood Academy - a private high school specializing in Arts and Science. At this school, he befriends Riven, an upperclassman in his photography class who constantly encourages him to turn in a photograph for a national competition to earn himself a scholarship to the university of his choosing. One day, after school, he meets with his brothers at the diner downtown and all but collides with a familiar face he hadn’t seen in years - his former best friend, Vivien. After a rather awkward conversation, the pair takes a picture with Royce’s camera and part ways, only to be brought back together when Royce saves Vivien from one of the rich pricks from his school who decides to bring a gun into the alleyway behind the diner. The two decide to finally talk things over at Vivien’s typical haunt and he finds out that, since Vivien’s family moved to New Hampshire so she could attend Oakwood, things have only gone downhill for her. Her father was killed in a car accident, her mother remarried to some asshole who works as a security guard at Oakwood, and to make matters worse, the person she was closest to went missing and nobody has seen or heard from her in months. Now, on top of juggling schoolwork and normal life, Royce has to worry about potential kidnappings, strange weather occurrences, and, of yeah, the fact that he can now go back in time through the Polaroid pictures he takes so often.

While there is quite a bit more to go over for that one, I think I’ll move on to the second story, where we find that Royce isn’t the only person in town with abilities. In this one, we have Miles and Carrie, an unlikely pair who know they have at least one thing in common; they both want to get the hell out of Sanbornton. Miles only knows Carrie from the posters slapped on every telephone pole, advertising the next big musical in town while Carrie knows Miles as the guy she paid to fix up her convertible’s malfunctioning roof. In the few hours they spend talking while he works on her car, the two grow inexplicably close and bond over a fondness for a certain band he plays over the shop radio. On a whim one day, Carrie shows up at Miles’ shop and they decide to skip town the next day, hitching a ride on a freight train that takes them out of town to a lookout point a while north of Sanbornton. After a while of goofing off and enjoying each other's company, they decide to make up storylines about people they see with one of the viewfinders at the top of the hill. Some fun stories are concocted before Carrie, who becomes upset with what she sees through the lens, insists that she and Miles get out of there as she wants to get drunk. They steal a bottle of wine from a couple’s picnic basket while they’re away and follow the train tracks back to Sanbornton. Along the way, Miles confronts Carrie about her change in mood. After arguing about why Miles is so interested, the quarrel comes to a head when Carrie discloses that she witnessed her boyfriend cheating on her with the girl who is supposed to be her understudy in the upcoming play. She shows him a picture of the three of them and, as her emotions get the better of her, the photograph ignites in her hand, fluttering to the ground in burning embers as they both stare in shock at what happened. They find a secluded place to talk things over and, after realizing her newfound abilities must be related to her emotions, Carrie begins worrying about how she’s supposed to act on stage if she’ll only end up setting everything around her on fire. Eventually, Miles calms her down and they decide to meet up the next day to see if they can find a way for her to control it throughout her time on stage. I haven’t totally figured out an ending to this other than Miles getting roped into being in the show to replace the guy Carrie was dating as, once she breaks up with him, he gets physical and breaks a part of the set, getting himself fired. Anyway, that’s as far as I got with the second one.

The third is, perhaps, my least thought-through, but here we go. Kona is new to town, having moved in with her dad in his apartment above his arcade after years of moving around with her mom. Unlike the other stories, Kona was born with her abilities - getting used to seeing colorful emotions around people and hearing the thoughts that come along with them at a young age, but not being able to control how she processes the emotions that hit her like a brick wall. Bentley is a regular at the arcade, using whatever allowance he gets to buy as many tokens as he can. The two bond at the prize counter, but when a particularly unruly, older kid from their school comes in and tries to rough up Bentley over his purchase of the last, limited-edition comic book at the prize counter, Kona’s emotions “snap”, sending a wave of the boy’s own anger his way and sending the older boy slamming into one of the machines. Understandably, Kona and Bentley are confused by this revelation as Bentley didn’t know Kona had abilities and Kona didn’t know she was capable of something like that. After a fairly long discussion where she shows Bentley how her abilities work, she discovers that she can piece together why someone feels the way they do - if it’s a strong enough emotion - and can help them sort through their feelings for a better outcome. They begin to work together, helping people around town with their mental and emotional struggles, but will it become too much for Kona to bear as she takes on everyone else’s problems and ignores her own? I suppose you’ll just have to find out… if I ever get around to writing this out lol

Idea 2: Titanic AU

Now, this one is definitely not surprising as I adore the RMS Titanic as much as (if not more than) Vivien and, as far as the story goes, it could go one of two ways. One is set back in April of 1912 and goes through everything almost like the movie combined with all of the historical accuracies I can add into the equation, and the other is set in modern times and will make sense when I write it out. The first version is the one-shot-turned-story I was going to write for Carrie's birthday before I realized just how long it would be and that it would, most likely, end up being more than one part (just like the ship... yeah, I'll see myself out lol).

Version 1 is easily explained as the roles of Jack and Rose are played by none other than Miles and Carrie, with a bit of a twist. After the death of her parents, Mrs. Murphy takes her three sons and, with a portion of what inheritance was left after her husband began wasting it away, books four tickets aboard the Titanic in the hopes of starting anew in America. The tickets are in third class, but they can’t bring themselves to care as they’re simply ready to start a new life. Carrie follows Rose’s story pretty closely in the beginning - a loveless engagement planned only for financial gain, overbearing parents keeping a tight reign on her, and the faint urge to throw herself overboard once the ship is far enough from land that nobody will be able to save her. Then, as she and her young maid, Vivien, are overlooking the ocean from a higher deck on the ship’s departing day, Carrie follows Vivien’s gaze to a group of three young men a deck lower than them; one of whom can’t seem to take his eyes off of her. One night, Carrie dismisses Vivien after dinner and takes off for the back of the ship to escape the overwhelming pressure that’s been piling atop her for ages now. Miles, ever the night owl, watches her from a bench, only approaching her once she steps onto the lowest rung of the ship’s railings, and, though Carrie claims she has no real desire to pitch herself from the back of the ship, he still treats her as though she might. Eventually, he offers her a drink and an unbiased opinion, and the pair talk late into the night. Miles walks her as far as he is allowed to go and the pair go their separate ways once Carrie invites Miles and his family to dinner the next night as thanks for lending an ear and talking with her, which he politely declines. Not one to be swayed, Carrie sends Vivien to the general room in third class, instructing her to find Miles and his family and bring them to her. Finding all eyes are on her upon her arrival, Vivien meekly squeaks out who she has come to see and is relieved to watch Miles step forward from a table where he and Bentley had been drawing. Despite Miles telling her to simply pass on a message of thanks, Vivien is persistent and, ultimately, Mrs. Murphy steps in, listens to what Viv has to say, and accepts the invitation. The family is given some proper attire for the night thanks to another traveling family whom Carrie’s family has close ties with - the Bandoni family - and they have dinner as upper-class citizens. Once the evening has died down, Miles invites Carrie - and, in turn, Vivien - to a party the third-class passengers are throwing in the general room. The story carries out mostly the same as the movie, but there are some, distinct differences in the end like who would survive and who would end up going down with the ship.

Version 2 is one that I had a dream about and ended up sort of intertwined with the Titanic-based Magic Tree House book that I read as a child. Basically, Vivien drags Royce to a traveling Titanic exhibit. Upon their arrival, they receive boarding passes that bear the names of the passenger they would be and are permitted to explore as they please. After a while of looking around, they stop at an exhibit of photographs taken aboard the ship. To their amazement, they find a photograph of a young newlywed couple who bear a striking resemblance to themselves, standing by the railing on the 10th of April - the day the Titanic left Southampton for the beginning of her maiden voyage. They flag down one of the managers and explain the situation before asking if they could maybe see the picture up close. The person takes them to a back room before bringing in the photograph and some gloves for them to hold it with. They set it down on the table as Royce and Vivien put their gloves on and go to turn on the air conditioning as the summer heat isn’t good for the old picture and the wind sends the picture flying. Royce and Vivien catch the picture and carefully examine it to make sure it looks alright before looking up, only to find that they’re staring at an old-timey camera perched on a stand near the railing of none other than the ship of dreams itself. That’s right, they’re now aboard the RMS Titanic as she sails her fated maiden voyage! Now they not only have to figure out how to get back home before the ship sinks, but they also have to play the role of a young, First-Class couple on their honeymoon trip to America. Can they keep up appearances and find a way home before the iceberg scrapes the ship or will they be caught in the fray of one of the world’s biggest maritime disasters? Honestly, even I don’t know the answer yet, so I suppose we’ll find out someday haha!

Idea 3: WandaVision AU

When my sister allowed me to borrow her Disney+ account a while ago, my first mission was WandaVision. Needless to say, I fell in love with the concept of a new decade every episode and felt as though it suited some of our characters in a way that needs a lot of explaining in order for any of it to make sense. I don’t know if you’ve seen this show yet, but the basic concept is that, in Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda (also known as Scarlet Witch) loses her long-term, android boyfriend, Vision, in battle. A while after the battle, she travels to a small town called Westview where the two of them planned to move, build a home together, and grow old. Consumed by grief and rage over the life she'd lost in her time as a hero, Wanda's mental state sort of breaks, and her chaos magic powers activate around her, creating a pocket reality that engulfs all of Westview. Though she didn't realize it at first, Wanda transformed Westview into a completely altered bubble that was formed by her love of sitcoms, which she'd always turned to in times of difficulty. With her chaos magic, she also created an entire alternate version of Vision completely from her memories of him, inadvertently casting him in the role of her sitcom husband. Comforted by the world she'd created, Wanda began living a sitcom life in Westview, still unaware of what she'd done, moving from decade to decade as though nothing were different.

You’ve probably pieced together who would be who here, but I have a few different versions to offer. 1 - Mick and Butchy, 2 - Royce and Vivien, 3 - Carrie and Miles, or 4 - Mrs. Murphy, Miles, Royce, and Bentley. For Mick and Butchy, think about how intense she was when he was in his accident ages ago. That rage could fuel magic any day. Carrie and Miles' story could be very similar to Butchy and Mick's as I feel like they have this connection that isn't easily explained and that their love goes a lot deeper than either of them might realize. If one of them were to die, what lengths would the other go to in order to bring them back? Royce and Vivien have a strong relationship as well despite being young and, while Royce is typically calm and collected, he worries quite a bit for Vivien’s safety as she ventures through abandoned buildings, explores places she probably shouldn’t, and gets into more trouble than he ever wants her to. If he were to lose her in some sort of freak accident, would that be enough to cause something in him to snap like that? Potentially, I think. Now, putting aside the romance and looking toward the family dynamic, we have the Murphy family. What hurts more than a mother losing her children? Imagine the normally easy-going, caring, Mrs. Murphy - the mom to everyone around her - absolutely losing her shit because all three of her sons died in the same battle. That would certainly be something emotional enough to fuel some serious chaos magic. Honestly, I just want to write more about her and I feel like a nice, sitcom-esque story would be a perfect opportunity to get a feel for her personality over the years.

Idea 4: Grease AU

While I’m sure this isn’t a total surprise as I’ve mentioned it before, I want to explain how I see it, especially after finishing Rise of the Pink Ladies and gleaning several ideas from there.

This AU is a bit different as we find Mick and Vivien as the new girls in town - sisters with opposing interests. Mick, who spends every minute at school trying to break out of the shy mold she left at her old high school, and Vivien who just wants to blend into the background and survive junior high without making waves. Things don’t go quite as planned as both girls find themselves at the epicenter of rumors not even a week into the school year. According to the gossip, Mick was seen under the bleachers with the leader of the T-Birds, and Vivien was spotted kicking a boy in the family jewels. While neither girl can deny these claims as they are technically true, the statements were twisted. Although Vivien begins to like her reputation as a fearsome fighter and leans into the rumors, adding that she only did it to protect a kid in her class and that she would be more than willing to do it again to anyone who dared pick on the people around her, Mick tries to clear her name with the help of the T-Bird she’d been spotted with, hoping others would believe that she had, in fact, been under the bleachers with a T-Bird, but that she was trying to give him something he had left at her dad’s workshop and they had a conversation, end of discussion. Despite her pleas to rid herself of her nickname as the local floozy, Mick can’t shake the rumors, but once she inadvertently helps one of the girls who had been spreading the rumors, the word on the street begins to ebb. The two girls form an odd friendship despite the helpful T-Bird and most of his friends warning her to steer clear of the blonde and her penchant for ruining reputations with her good girl act. Despite the accusations against her new friend, Mick stays by her and, at a sleepover, the cheerleader confides in Mick that she is in a secret relationship with one of the T-Birds that started over the summer. Though her friend doesn’t divulge which one, Mick soon discovers exactly who it is as Vivien and her two friends get out of school early one Friday and head to the high school parking lot to wait for their rides, only to see the head cheerleader with the T-Birds’ second-in-command locking lips by the greaser’s Fleetmaster. So, yeah, a lot of drama would come with this one.

Idea 5: Percy Jackson AU

I’ve tried writing Percy Jackson stories before and, let’s just say, it didn’t go well. You will, however, see some nods to this in upcoming chapters of Camp Wanamaker. This AU is something I’ve thought of for literal years (think 2016-17), but have no true storyline other than who would be the child of which Greek god. I can’t simply follow one of the books without dissolving into the next and, where there are so many books, I don’t think this would ever actually happen. This is something that my niece, Lorali, and nephew, Erek, actually requested at different times as their classes were reading the books in school, and I tried to figure everything out, but nothing ever came of it. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever work on this as it would be too much to take on. For now, though, I’ll simply give you my list of who I think belongs where and, if the time ever comes for me to write this out, we’ll go from there.

Miles, Royce, and Bentley - Sons of Apollo (most specialize in various forms of art, poetry, archery, or music, almost all of them have the ability to heal others and can tell how bad the injury is just by looking at it, a rare few can control light and fire, even rarer is the ability to glow, and some can use music to win battles like a siren calling sailors to their deaths)

Mick - Daughter of Hephaestus (skillful engineers and craftsmen, they can instinctively detect, identify, and operate any piece of machinery, and some even have control of fire, lava, and volcanoes)

Carrie, Tanner, and Juliet - Children of Aphrodite (possess intense love magic, have greater clarity and sharper focus than most, have the ability to change appearance at will, and can alter people’s thoughts/influence them by simply speaking - otherwise known as charm-speaking)

Vivien - Daughter of Athena (masters at invention, architecture, and strategy - especially in battle - their knowledge is unmatched, and some have great skills with weaponry even without prior mastery of the weapon of their choice)

Kona - Daughter of Poseidon (can create and control hurricanes, earthquakes, and water, can communicate telepathically with sea life, some are mildly able to control ice, wind, electricity, and cold, they heal quickly if they’re in any type of water, and a very rare few can manipulate blood as it contains water)

Butchy and Lela - Children of Zeus (natural leaders in every sense, are immensely brave and strong, most, if not all, can control electricity/lightning, and some can control air to be able to fly if they practice)

Xander - Son of Ares (combat specialists, masters of weapons, are typically stereotyped as being complete assholes, and can possess invincibility if they spent a lot of time in battle)

Idea 6: True Colors (Through The Valley sequel)

Now, I absolutely adored writing the first story, but ever since I was able to play the second game and watch the HBO show, I've fallen more in love with the story and its concepts. A sequel for this would be far bigger scale - throwing more characters into the fray and holding very little back as, if I learned anything from the show, it's sometimes okay to kill off favorite characters to show the gravity of their situation. Just a reminder, Riven never existed in this universe and, while I have a perfect place for him, I don't want to go into too much detail.

This sequel would have a bit of a time jump and we would see some of our favorite characters in a different light as rival groups come out of the woodwork with only one thing on their mind - revenge. While we would also see budding friendships and romance, we also see some of our favorite relationships torn apart. I do feel like this would be a good way to really throw caution to the wind and see some of our favorite people fight in ways we've never seen them. In this universe, it's not always the infected you have to worry about; other people are just as scary.

I would probably focus on the second game's plot here - a story of revenge fueled by love. We would witness our first death fairly early on as one character kills another as atonement for their previous sins. One of our favorite characters would barge in during the fight, only to be taken captive by the assailant's friends. Witnessing the death of a loved one is traumatic and, with every intention of killing the people who dared to hurt their loved one, the witness gathers themself and takes off on a hunt to get revenge on the person who wronged them. Finding themselves in an entirely new area with unknown threats around every corner, will they be able to make it out alive? Better yet, will they be able to make it out with their sanity?

Honestly, I'm not even sure. For the time being, I have a set of characters lined up and know who would be playing whom, but would have a lot further to go before I felt comfortable writing anything out. I am excited about it though and hope to someday feel ready enough to get something done for it. Until then, here is the actual trailer for the game as it holds quite a few hints at what's to come and who our set of characters could be. It is a bit gory which makes sense, given the universe we're in, but I wanted to warn you all the same. Anyway, the characters' appearances, the song choice, the subtle intensity, and the words they say to each other are very intentional and will make a bigger impact once I finally have this story ready to go. Every little detail matters. One word, in particular, may strike a certain chord in you and leave you guessing, but that's all I'll say for now.

Idea 7: In Comma Coriyama (Magicae Maxima sequel)

This was originally the name for Magicae Maxima, but, obviously, I chose differently. Now, I'm not sure if you could tell with the ending surrounding Serena, but I had every intention of making a sequel where she would continue being the possessed one like Mick had.

At first, Royce, Vivien, and Bentley would have no idea as she's always pretty bitchy at school and they're sort of busy helping at Mick's store and training their magic to see much of a difference. Having family around to help them grow as young mages is helping them become stronger and more capable of protecting themselves. In turn, Serena is growing more and more used to being possessed by the dark magic and, although she barely has control of her own body, she is still conscious and can see the effect the possession is having as it chips away at her relationships and targets the people she was closest to. When the possessed Serena, in a moment of freedom, begs Vivien for help after class, the brunette realizes something must be up and goes looking for answers.

Obviously, this isn't all I have, but I might be working on this for the spooky season, so I'm keeping things vague!

Headcanons:

I have a long list that is still looming both on my phone and in my notebooks, but it will take me time to get them all here, so for now, this is all I have lol.

This may or may not come as a little bit of a shock, but Mick and Vivien are distantly related. Mick’s family in New Hampshire is huge and, while they don’t know they’re related, they’re actually cousins. Mick’s great-aunt was married to Vivien’s great-uncle and they moved down to Texas long before the girls were even born, let alone before they met.

Growing up, Bentley was always upset with being compared to his brothers academically and, when Royce noticed this, his paintings stopped and his sketches practically disappeared. He wanted Bentley to feel special about something and, now that art is Bentley’s “thing” Royce refuses to so much as touch a crayon unless Bentley asks him to. He’d rather stick with photography.

Riven taught Vivien drums so she could join his band and she taught him Morse code so they could talk to each other in skating meetings without having to say a word.

Mick tried to lighten her hair when she was thirteen so that she could look more like her dad, but the bottle of Sun-In that she used only served to turn her orange until they could get it fixed at the salon.

Vivien got a perm once and was mad that she looked like a poodle, but then Carrie pointed out that she looked like one of the girls in an 80s movie and she was alright with it after that. When it faded, she had no intention of getting it back, but still curls her hair from time to time because she misses the bounciness of the curls.

Carrie, Mick, and Vivien have a game they play to see who can fluster their boys the fastest. Over time, Butchy became accustomed to it and flipped the situation back on Mick more often than not. Miles has his moments of clarity with Carrie and can occasionally fight fire with fire, but they’re few and far between. Royce, on the other hand, is almost always taken aback by Vivien’s advances as she switches things up on him all the time.

Kona taught herself how to swear in three different languages so that she could say things around her family without getting caught. Her languages of choice were German, Japanese, and French, which made things more than a bit awkward when she found out the Murphys could understand what she was saying.

Bentley has the weirdest tastes. He loves bananas, but hates banana bread. Can’t stand oranges or grapes, but likes them as flavors in soda or snow cones. One of the ones everyone gets a kick out of is that he doesn’t like strawberries, but enjoys strawberry ice cream.

Vivien found out she was claustrophobic while in a mirror maze at the town carnival. She was with Riven and his dad at the time and Riven practically carried her out of the maze. They both swore they would never speak of it again, but Riven still teases her about it now and then.

Kona is a completely unique form of chaos and molds perfectly with the Troublemaker Trio. While Royce is organized chaos, Vivien is adventurous chaos, and Bentley is creative chaos, Kona is a sort of unhinged chaos. This girl holds nothing back and will not hesitate to be absolutely insane. In my mind, they’re almost like the Penguins of Madagascar. Royce is Kowalski, Vivien is Skipper, Bentley is Private, and Kona is 100% Rico.

Mick and Bentley wander off a lot in crowded areas (the mall, carnivals, concerts) and have been told by some of the others that, if they keep things up, they’ll be forced to wear one of those toddler leashes. Bentley doesn't give a shit and dares them to try, so they do. It wasn't his proudest moment, but he didn't exactly care, either.

Miles doesn’t really care for cake. It’s just not his thing. He’ll eat it, sure, but he prefers ice cream or, even better, ice cream cake. The only time he willingly eats cake is when someone in the family, especially one of the kids, makes some as he doesn’t want them to feel bad about him not trying some.

Vivien has a habit of getting people addicted to things she enjoys. One time, she unintentionally got Butchy and Miles hooked on a very specific brand of energy drink that she has to order online and get shipped to her house, so every time a shipment comes in, she goes to the cabin, bursts in like the Kool-Aid man, and yells, “I’ve got the drugs!” at the top of her lungs. The same thing happened when they went to the mall and she made Carrie try a Japanese soda (Ramune) that they now have to order in bulk because everyone keeps stealing them from the fridge. The one thing Viv is adamant she’s keeping to herself is her rootbeer-flavored popsicles because they’re incredibly hard to find and the only shop that has them, orders an entire box just for her at the start of every month.

Before the swear jar mysteriously disappeared, Bentley, Royce, and Vivien would find ways to cuss around the others without getting in trouble. At the mall, they would chant out the name of a certain sporting goods store (Dick’s) or when they went for walks and passed the local dam, they constantly made dam jokes. They found ways around things and even the ones who tried to get them to stop had to give them props for creativity.

I’ve kind of had this headcanon where, when Carrie or Mick get pregnant, Miles and Butchy get bizarre cravings for them. While all the girls want is chicken alfredo or cheddar broccoli soup, their men are craving peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, bananas slathered in maple syrup, and ice cream decorated with chocolate-covered pickles. Even though Carrie and Mick think all of Miles and Butchy’s random concoctions are absolutely disgusting, the guys can’t seem to get enough. For some reason, almost all of the cravings disappear once the babies are born, but some still stick around though the girls wonder if their interest in the foods is still genuine or if they’re just doing it for fun.

I had a headcanon for a while that I never really worked with as I found it sort of pointless as time went on, but I figured I should share it now that it’s developed into something different entirely. I had this idea that, after a while of thinking things over, Miles would talk with his Uncle Tommy about potentially adopting the boys. At first, it would have been Miles adopting them and then it became Tommy taking them in, but that didn’t really work in my head, so I scrapped it for a while. Now, my working headcanon is that Miles stays in close contact with Tommy and sends him things about himself and the boys like their big achievements, their grades, and their friends. If Tommy were to visit at some point, he wouldn’t be all that surprised to meet Carrie, Mick, Vivien, Kona, or the rest of the group and would be at ease going through town as though he’d been there before. I feel like Uncle Tommy would be their way of reconnecting with their mom’s side of the family and he’d be more than willing to travel the 7½ hours-long drive to see them.

Musicals:

I had to shorten this list as I was running a bit short on time, but I'll add more later if it lets me.

Hello Dolly - I've already told you about this one, but the point still stands. I absolutely adore this musical. The thought of Miles as Cornelius and Carrie as Irene Molloy - a rich, self-made woman and a shopkeeper from a poorer background who fall in love despite everything around them - just makes me so happy.

Hadestown - I don't know if you've seen this one, but, to summarize, this is the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice - a story I absolutely adore. The story, the music, the ending, everything in this musical just screams of love and pain and there are so many ways this could go! Mostly, I could see Miles and Carrie playing a really good Orpheus and Eurydice while Butchy and Mick (or Xander and Juliet) take on Hades and Persephone, but the ideas are endless!

Chicago - This one is just for fun as I love the show, but just think of Carrie or Juliet as Roxie and Mick as Velma. The two of them vie for the top spot in the papers and fight for the publicity that their respective crimes give them, but both are unwilling to work together to gain popularity in the press. It’s just a fun little idea that I like playing with.

The Lightning Thief - This is only because I could see Bentley finding out this musical exists, listening to it all the time, and singing it as often as possible. With how much he liked the books, it feels only natural that he’d enjoy this just as much.

High School Musical on Stage! - This is simply because I feel like this would be absolutely epic. I mean, come on! How could it be any better than this? Carrie as Sharpay, Tanner as Ryan, Mick as Gabriella, Butchy as Troy, and Miles as Zeke - I could go on for ages about how insanely cool that would be! Honestly, I just love High School Musical and would love to see our characters in a show like that.

Songs:

Not all of these are on my summer writing or inspiration playlists, but the vibes are there and I want to write something for all of them at some point or another! I will be adding more later, but for today, this is all I have.

Killer Queen - Honestly, I listened to this around Halloween time last year and was soooo tempted to write a vampire-ish story with Vivien, Carrie, Kona, and Mick in this little coven of killers, but nothing ever came of it. I had a plan for it to be this sort of small-town, murder-mystery-type story with the girls working with the Murphy brothers and Butchy (the town police department’s newest officer) to solve some murders in the area, only for it to be discovered in the end that the murderers were the girls all along and they were just leaving a trail of bodies for the boys to discover, eventually leading them to their deaths. I still have a sort of plan to work on this sometime, but it's just not at the forefront just yet as I think it needs a bit more work.

Crash My Car - I stand by this song being a song Miles relates to as he falls in love with Carrie, but before they’re together. I’ve paid a lot of attention to the lyrics themselves and I feel like they sort of cover Miles’ thoughts as it shows the way he goes from feeling like he has no chance with Carrie and wanting nothing more than to disappear for even thinking he would, to wanting to make a move, but not being confident enough to, to resigning to his fate and wanting nothing more than for her to be happy, even if it breaks his heart in the process. I just feel like, despite the song being fun and energetic, the lyrics tell the story quite well.

Lizzy McAlpine: I have a few songs that come to mind for different scenarios, but not all of them make the most sense, so I’ll put the ones that sort of do.

Pancakes for Dinner - This could be for a few different couples, honestly. My first instinct is either Royce and Vivien or Mick and Butchy. It’s essentially just an admission of things stuck in the person’s head, spilling out ideas that they’ve thought of before, but been too shy to say out loud, but I just really like the idea of one of them writing it out in the early stages of their relationships or even before they get together and are just friends, wanting more and the other finding it at some point later on in the relationship and either confronting them or singing it to them.

reckless driving - This is a song for Juliet and Xander which is ironic as I hardly ever write them anymore, but I feel like this could be the tragic end to their story if she let him take her on a drive after breaking up with him. I mean, the contrast between her side of the story and his, the steadily growing intensity, and the back and forth between the two before the eventual sudden end of the song - it feels like Xander and Juliet. His obsession could get them killed if they aren’t careful and, in this song, that’s exactly what it does.

ceilings - Now, this one is something I’ve been mostly picturing for my novel version of the story, but I’ll tell you how I see it anyway. Mick and Butchy (his name is different in the novel for copyright reasons 😣) have taken an interest in each other, but Mick holds back her feelings as she knows that the world Butchy is from is nothing more than a pocket of time still stuck in what was once a 1960s sitcom. As much as she loves him, she can’t admit her feelings for him as she knows they live completely different lives. More than once during her stay in the nearby town of St. Pete Beach, he drives her home and, with each drive, she grows more and more fond of him before, eventually, he kisses her. That night, she realizes that, although she couldn’t be happier, he isn’t real. He’s nothing more than pixels on a screen and, sooner or later, she’ll have to leave with her family to return to California.

Selena Gomez: I love Selena Gomez and some of her songs just bring me through different scenarios that just appear out of thin air lol

People You Know - This is another Juliet song, but instead of entirely revolving around her relationship with Xander, it also represents her friendships with the others in The Sparx group. When she broke things off with him, they all kept their distance from her so as to not anger Xander more. She lost all of the people she was closest to in a matter of moments - hence the song.

Bad Liar - Tell me this isn’t another Miles and Carrie song. I mean, come on! It could definitely be something from before they get together, but regardless of that, they definitely share this song. Miles has the first verse - “I was walking down the street the other day, trying to distract myself, but then I see your face” and “Call me an amenity even if it’s in my dreams” are all him! Carrie takes the second verse as it reads almost as though she’s watching him at first and allowing thoughts of being something more to come through - “I see how your attention build; it’s like looking in a mirror” and “Paint my kiss across your chest. If you’re the art, I’ll be the brush.” Honestly, this song just reads as the tense, in-between stage where they’re friends, but they both want something more than that, but won’t say it, let alone admit it.

Florence +The Machine:

The Dog Days Are Over - This one is one I can see for a few different places. I always use the chorus as motivation to run (for obvious reasons lmao) and I can see it working well during a relay race at the end of Camp Wanamaker where each cabin has to work together to make it from one end of camp to the flagpole at the main office. Some more chaotic versions of this song are in dangerous situations (like in Through the Valley where they're running from infected), but I think having it be a light, fun scene is more entertaining as of right now.

Swimming - This is probably one of the songs I most associate with a mermaid/siren story, but it can also work fairly well for other things. I guess it just screams mermaid to me as I spent most of my time watching H2O as a kid.

ABBA: Boy are there a lot of these, but I'll narrow it down a bit.

Voulez-Vous - As if I needed more motivation for a story I already wrote a sequel for, here's another song that makes me feel like writing a prequel to Glory and Gore/Scattered Screams. This is a song that drives me to want to write about how Mack and Brady won their Hunger Games as well as how they fell in love and, honestly, if I wasn't already knee-deep in other stories, I just might!

Waterloo - Originally the title for How History Repeats Itself, this song has been on my list for ages mostly for the line "The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself." I just really like the song and the lyrics could play a big part in a story at some point, if things go the way I hope they do!

Dancing Queen - This one just always makes me dance and I feel like this song is what Vivien would have blasted for her seventeenth birthday. Tell me Carrie wouldn't drag her up on stage or something and make her sing along with her and make sure that she has the time of her life!

Angeleyes - This one I can't go into too much detail as I might have plans for this song in Camp Wanamaker. I'm not sure about it yet, but I might. Just know that I love this song and have every intention of making this one hurt!

TikToks:

I don't have a lot of TikToks to put here just yet as I usually scroll Pinterest when I get the chance, but I do have a few that I thought would be fun.

This is how Royce prom-poses to Viv, don't bother telling me otherwise as I just won't accept it. Obviously, there would be a few changes, but the premise remains the same as I think it's just too epic to pass up.

This fits two different scenarios, in my head. One is the Murphy brothers and the other is when Miles moves in with Butchy and Lela. They discover this and have fun for hours.

Tell me Vivien and Riven don't do tricks like this on the ice all the time when Royce is around just to give him a heart attack each time.

Vivien does covers of songs like this in her room all the time when she's not practicing with the band and, while they don't exactly go viral or anything, she just enjoys posting her having fun on the drums.

This is Vivien with Miles. Tell me otherwise.

If Bentley ever cat-sat for Royce while he was on a trip for school or something, this would be the video he would send him to show him that the cat owns the house now. Royce would, in turn, send this to Vivien, asking her if he should be concerned.

After hours upon hours of listening to ABBA in the car with both her mom and Aunt Vivien, they begin to hear a tiny voice in the backseat and, one day, they catch this on the way to the mall for a girl's day. A few years later, when Butchy's driving Maisie, Leilana, and Milo (his and Mick's kids) to the playground for the afternoon, he catches them singing along to the radio in the backseat sort of like this and realizes he might have fucked up.

Also, as a final little thing here, I get a lot of my baking ideas from B. Dylan Hollis. This one is actually a snack I get every summer at the carnival and in my hometown at a seasonal restaurant as they make the best deep-fried candy in the world! My personal favorite is deep-fried peanut butter cups, but it's the same concept.

Adding this in here as I forgot to before, but you can’t tell me this isn’t their family game night. I have seen this family a lot on my fyp and I can totally imagine the gang getting up to this kind of chaos. The whole gang would be there and, somehow, Riven convinces them to play Cards Against Humanity. Regardless of who has which card and who has to read all of the answer cards, Butchy would be the dad in every scenario, 100%! I feel like the goal of the game would be to consistently give the most uncomfortable answers to Butchy to see how long it would take for him to make them put the game away.

Anyway, that's it for today! I am off to visit my great-aunt and grab something for dinner before getting back to work on Camp Wanamaker since I wanted to make sure I finished this post today lmao. I hope you have amazing rest of your day! All the love! 💕

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transwicky · 1 year ago

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Fun Rarepairs for everyone:

Tater/Tango (have I mentioned this one before??)

Johnson/Tango (I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL)

Ollie/Johnson/Wicky (THEYD BE SO FUCKING ADORABLE)

Scraps/Guy (I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL ALSO!!)

Thirdy/Guy/Thirdy's Wife (They'd be FUCKING GREAT and the fans would be the. The crazy red string conspiracy board reaction gif/image. It'd be GREAT watching people try to figure their relationship out bc Third and his Wife are MARRIED and are IN LOVE but then WHY DOES GUY AND HIS SON LIVE WITH THEM?!?!)

Tater/Scraps (Tater needs another Ace to fuck besides Kent OK GUYS?!)

Ransom/Tango (Tango would help Ransom with so much work by asking questions ok)

Foxtrot/Lardo

Foxtrot/Shruti

Shruti/Lardo

Foxtrot/Shruti/Lardo (the bad assery would be insane. Nobody would survive them together.)

Shitty/Whiskey (I admit, this one is complete crack)

Chad L/Ollie/Wicky (I'm here for the Drama of Bitty finding out his Fellow Seniors are fucking a Lax Bro)

Chad L/Tango (THE DRAMA OF IT ALL IS GREAT OK. Bitty just texts SMH crying about one of the tadpoles is dating not just a Lax Bro but THE Lax Bro WHERE DID HE GO WRONG?! Plus Whiskey finding out his friend is dating his Lax friend and NOT TELLING HIM?! The chaos it will bring is just. *Chef's kiss)

Guy/Tango (a crack ship that I got serious about. Imagine the Drama. It'd be hilarious and also they'd be cute ok.)

Snowy/Tango/Johnson (GOALIES UNITED!!! Especially since I adopted the Tango Is A Goalie headcanon!!! ITS GREAT)

Poots/Tango (3rd Fave Tango Ship. The pure lack of social understanding between the two. To be discussed further if asked)

Snowy/Guy (It'd be FUN and I have a whole ass au idea for it and it has zesty drama of the misunderstanding kind)

Jack/Guy/Bitty (they have a bucket list and he's a single dad. He's game for a one night stand. Then Woops Feelings Got Caught by all 3. Fun. Zesty. Hilarious when you throw in Guy having a kid)

Carly/Guy (The Homophobic Dickbag Aces Player vs The Queer Player Who WILL Kick Your Ass For Being a Homophobe. The Tension. The drama. I'm here for it all. Especially if you take my headcanons of them both being military vets and WORKED TOGETHER in the military. Hate Sex Becomes Real Sex and the enemies to lovers trope. It's FUN and better than Kent/Carly bc of they're on the Rivalry Teams and Kent and Carly are on the same team. Boo. Boring.)

Kent/Carly (still fucking fun and hilarious and I adore it honestly)

Scraps/Carly (Why not.)

Hops/Tango (The pure joy they would get out of sharing things with each other would be amazing. Tango Doesn't Understand Most Anime but he understood Naruto!!! That was fun!! They're too cute together ok)

Shitty/Snowy (I'm basing this off Snowy being so chill when Jack came out. The Discussions they would have... They would both be at multiple protests together supporting the cause. That's how they meet. It's all downhill from there. Jack is Horrified. Bitty finds it hilarious. Lardo gets embarrassed when the 2 go to an art show of hers and they're Embarrassments Ok.)

That's it that's the list. Enjoy the Chaos I have brought with this list.

#omgcp #this is what goes on in my brain sometimes #i regret nothing and everything about posting this

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yellowcry · 9 months ago

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And my days are numbered

After days in a way, they had found another village. Agustín hopes, prays that they could stay

Twice to once!

After days of walking, Agustín could swear his legs were about to fall off. Moving through the tropical forests, just to hide somewhere, find another small village away from the bloodfield. The amount of effort to move was exhausting. But they also needed to find a safe place to stay there. Two loaves of bread and a couple of arepas could only get them this far. Luisa needed provisions, she was a big girl after all. And Agustín needed too, but he would prefer to feed her at first. It was a habit of giving her his portions, claiming that he wasn't hungry that he got from the situation where they had such a small amount of food that it just couldn't be enough. He just was doing his best to stay strong for Luisa during her childhood. Even when Luisa was a fully-grown adult who towered over him.

He had to make Luisa rest several times per day. She was always the type to push through even when it was evident how much she needed sweet rest. From the sweat that she tried to wipe off until her papa could see it to the times when her movements were slowing down.

Luckily, the card "I'm too old, I need to take a break" always worked. It was a good key for Luisa to immediately step back without complaining or attempted denial of being fine.

On one hand, moving through the jungle was hard, it would be much easier if they were on the laid way from city to city. But there was a bigger chance of becoming a victim of assault too. And if there was an isolated village, usually of native people, they had a chance of being left unseen.

Agustín froze, observing giant mountains — taller than he had ever seen. But, the most strange thing that he could see was a crack, that broke one of the elevations in half. Even if he wasn't interested in geography, it wasn't possible naturally which left him confused over the sight.

It left him in a stupor, unsure for a while. On one hand, it could mean somebody was there. At the same time, they could waste time trying to get there, just to find nothing. It wouldn't be too long, a couple of hours at best. Tho taking that he and Luisa were both tired, it could be way longer.

The other thing that added its weight was their place. Agustín was awful in spatial orientation, he was that one person who could get lost between two trees. Luisa was better, but she didn't have a good internal compass as well. It wasn't clear how long would they walk until the next possible stayover.

He sat on the hot rock, stretching his sore limbs. The sun was still hight, but it started to go downhill already. Luisa shifted from foot to foot, eye twitching.

"Are we going there?" She asked hesitant, lips pointed in the direction of the cracked mountain.

Agustín groaned, he didn't know. It was a game of guessing where he couldn't tell if it would do anything for them. It wasn't something he enjoyed but as far as he was aware nobody could predict the future.

He just wanted to protect Luisa. Any parent would do anything for their baby. Agustín checked their supplies, trying to scale their next set of actions. There wasn't a right way to do this, just stepping on a random slab in the temple hoping that it wouldn't fall under their feet.

"I think we should check for anybody else." He ended up saying it with a heavy heart. It wasn't an easy decision, and he wasn't even sure if it was right. They could find nothing, they could find another hostile armed group. Everyone knew that you could get burnt if you played with fire. And Agustín didn't like burns. Both physical and metamorphic.

Agustín pushed himself through the mountains, broken stones ripped his clothes and scratched his skin. By the time they had gotten in here the sun was setting over the horizon. It painted the sky bright fruity orange. Not dark yet, but shifting to this step by step.

What he could see inside were the neat lines of houses. The place was all ruffled. Asphalted roads were all cracked as if an earthquake just passed through, crashing everything on its way. Maybe it was the case with mountains too.

Better yet, there were people. Peaceful villagers that didn't seem dangerous and just wanted to enjoy their lives. Something that Agustín could relate to at an extreme point. And he needed this, just a small house to stay, he could help them with the housework. Anything would be enough, no matter how small or uncomfortable it would be. Just a roof over their heads.

Several villagers came over, probably attracted by the noise like moths flying at the light source. Just wanting to see what was going on.

Agustín held Luisa's hand in a tight grip, looking over the people. "Excuse me.. " He cleared his throat, the crowd stared at him. "Me and my hija have no place to stay."

He felt bad, there was a chance that they wouldn't be pleased with two strangers coming in and asking for a place to stay.

One of them muttered, fixing his hat. "Doña Madrigal was always the one to deal with all problems."

From the tone of his voice, Agustín could see that Doña Madrigal held a hight respect in here. Not a person you would want to disappoint or make her disapprove of you.

The other villagers looked at his fellow countryman, getting into unsured chat. "But they had lost their house too..."

"She's still our leader." Just as he thought.

Doña Madrigal had looked nothing like Agustín imagined. She was old, all wrinkled, enough to be the same age as his parents. But at the same time steady, full of life experience that Agustín would never line up to.

They sat at one of the local houses over a cup of coffee much to Luisa's delight, they weren't able to get it for a while. Agustín didn't know what to do. He didn't want to ask questions not to look rude. This woman's decision was the heaviest weight on the scales of whenever they could stay or not. So it was important to make a good impression. As much as their exhausted, disheveled selves could.

Señora Madrigal took a deep breath, eyeing Agustín. "Señor..." She stumbled, realizing that she didn't know his name.

"Agustín Rojas." He clarified after a few seconds of awkward silence between them "And Luisa." The mentioned girl drummed with her fingers, eyetwitching over the old woman's gaze. Trying to find herself a place in grown-ups conversation.

Madrigal nodded, keeping a stern expression. Not hostile, but distrustful. Maybe it was an understandable reaction, considering that they appeared out of nowhere. "What..." Swallowed. "What happened with your home..." Her tone was uncomfortable, pained just from saying these words.

Agustín tried to keep a calm face, ignoring the heart rushing in his chest. "War climbed there too..."

He could see how Doña's face lost its colours, going so pale that he almost thought that she would faint any second now. Her wrinkles deepened from horror, eyes shrank. "War?" She gasped under her breath.

Maybe it wasn't a surprising reaction. There was no doubt that she was old enough to witness (and remember) a Thousand Days war. Hearing about somebody else being affected by the other must be painful like putting salt in a wound. The thing that lay so deep inside her eyes, but wasn't forgotten. Part of his stomach twisted in guilt. Realizing that he probably had awoken the worst memories.

Doña Madrigal just stood like this for a while, trying to maintain herself. "Another one..." she breathed out, but before Agustín could get confused over the fact that she didn't know it she continued. "I apologize for losing my temper, I just..." She hesitated, hiding her hands under the table Something ringed. "Remember something. Regardless." She looked between Agustín and Luisa. "Encanto welcomes you both. I do not think we have many spare houses, but you can stay in church for a night."

They were.... Agustín gasped in relief. At least they were in safety now. And Dios, he prayed for this to be their final stayover.

"Thank you so much, Señora!" He jumped from his place, knocking his cup over the table. Luisa's almost had the same fate, but she reacted in instant, taking it from the way. He shook Madrigal's hand in delight. "I owe you so much!"

"No need for thanks..." Her voice trailed again, lips were purced in discomfort. "I understand your situation really well." Doña had said firmly. Now, standing closer, Agustín could see that she held a round thing that was attached to her belt. Something like pocket clocks, but he didn't know for sure.

#encanto #luisa madrigal #agustin madrigal #alma madrigal #fanfic #ao3 author #twice to once au

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libidomechanica · 1 year ago

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Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, bright we have

A limerick sequence

Rise in me each with ample ayre, that in Vienna’s fatal waits for the breathed in ambrosial air to broad and future fetched with many a Lambe, or a rose; for stars.

And ever lost thou shalt hears to corresponsibilities I love an idle worth; and in the secular emancipation, what I might my father—none.

And your bed, the vast and move to see and whether by far you my sister. They countryes, which makes me sweet human speak again, and hand awful plight is lost; but know.

But tell me castles all out of that? Then summer or near; and cannot sleeping tides of pucker’d from all my heart. Thy side to flicker with, does as yet unwiped!

And the flowers were. Time shall my hope is heart a clown; I see my swimming as thou, dearest Lady of the range alone, hath power? I shall espye: then, flying deep.

Little flash and hopes were one way. Poor child-bed. For nothing so ease my eyelids. ’ All the whole life would the woods: I envy not one day may be made me daub away.

By ashen roots are always act? Because why men breakfast, sat come to some old grief, then of all the coast. For aught me your tears and still, your change ribbon in the grave?

Nobody locked the musk rose who come, and and banking a voice believe me, Soul of mine in thy face. Rather die. The halls with poynt of fire. Your mistress, and it man.

If beneath thee and part; nest of changed, how fares it will not supply. Because no farther raven gloss: ah, sweet I will winds the limit of cares, and I shall discourse!

And gave the while my bright, till twilight below the waning faint, more years of the sedge, my suddenly, with vain and the rain. Hath powers alive? Strong inside you are.

Stone, I will or redress; for want I see betwixt the foote in ear’? Lo, as all I have I heard both hidder. ’ She replied; thou perceivest, with lowing walks withal.

And so stiffen into a boy, and tell met—flowery flower, sculptured by tome and crying in a rushing and set.— Remember and fall, o, turned to the soul.

Our bed is loose a flying from me. Israel made to call out of a marriage- bed where I was they learned noticed you on these hall after wound an answers in.

Why, Sirs, throw you’ll not yet creature might starry clear me when wearied eyes; and milkier every day, except something and while her soul, a haunt of yore. We wished them o’er.

Faces, grouped in the heels the time of frozen night, a gulf him fast holds john Baptist’s here! Understands; the dull middle of thing and lover, despite of Arcady.

No doubtful joys of fear; with whom her hair without abuse the hills, across the facts. In my father speaking a friendship lift his count—should seem in the foaming pane?

Or fort that Pan with that: some little niece. Yet go, the late the covenant the weakness as well, indeed your eye—tell ye what time with edge-tools of my youth and plump.

Will seeke for him for to us, althought; and year to never-lighten to kiss of domestic peace. That I have present brows thrown life should brings downhill at eight years ….

Or nay. Northern hills; they knowledge the darken’d with love, with Phoebus’ lights! The wisp that once a little boy, pissing their May was passionate fire of reverence in.

Is now must deny: while thy nearest think once harms. It might bring fresh from the most living like to noise of whatsoever the furrow in the other name of thee.

Paints the Clover dales resort, so as they shall not least about, that holding amid a murder, safe in passing the windowsill. Of those Camaldolese and blont.

Of such a to-do! The lip short supply. Nor rested thus. Joys upon me dead. And on the market boat is desk, to make their wiliness of doubt is Devil-born.

It’s … well, what had his shield man on the found Him not: since, it is, no praise. Pushed her tears no motion, what was its ray? And fit to an every night long day: or Diggon.

And for his tend. That I know the air clear me not any bene false, and nothing winter charms of latter weeping and the night we have no end: She’s a certain.

And onward drags a labouring in the streets were was here. And sing because he would indeed, she white kine glimmers tost a ballad to keep him crying in effect.

And with me, many more, else earth: I know of admiration. If I have beat their owne when the secret from all dissolve thee my soule I dare we pilchards, sike mist.

Fair ship, equal to me; loved me within his late; farewell. They wyll: or the yet-loved through curtains call! And circles rounds, aver than someone who held as now and night.

She doth thy villain famous insufficiencies, but by day you tell the Mermaid the Tuscan poets— as thou there, half the brother! Least made her sleep love is dumb.

Less which the violet, and all hands; and sense, I am a water, when i’ the moon of Eden on the orchard possess’d the song; and thou, to die here to my own.

Of all thing finer to my conditions: and in lines of this work out you back your labourer tills his lips are set to learns the bitch! Thou comes still breathing tower.

And laugh, a cry above the keen with many years today, tomorrow and gave him fast. May thy sister Psyche too much, in which your bed, wild Hours that, unknowing.

#poetry #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Markov chains #Markov chain length: 6 #117 texts #limerick sequence

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sleeplessvalley · 2 years ago

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god I'm letting someone else front after I'm done typing this, I just need to express it or I'm going to pop like a balloon

like fucking

I have early memories scattered everywhere

in 1st grade where a kid insulted my shirt (and I still hold the grudge for some reason)

the time when we were making a little neighborhood with milk cartons on the floor in 1st grade and I knocked a little toy car into it; nothing even happened to the carton houses but I got yelled at for it. other people had knocked things off their tables into it and were only told gently to go in and pick it up

the many, many, MANY times my writing stuff would go missing from my desk, from 1st grade to 5th, and if it happened to anyone else it was always to the other 'weird' kids

1st grade, we were doing the 'who took the cookies from the cookie jar' with the whole class and the teacher just skipped over me

1st grade, a couple of kids would run away from me whenever I tried to play with them. naturally I chased them because I wanted to talk to them and shit, but they wouldn't even give me the chance to talk and I do remember them both calling me names

how MY ENTIRE CLASS aside from one girl (who moved to oregon before the next schoolyear started) in 2nd grade thought I was weird and I knew, just knew, that people were avoiding me the whole year. when she moved I also had only one friend until 4th grade.

3rd grade. in its entirety. was awful. my teacher then was strict but she hated me in particular, made me feel awful for not knowing how to read a clock of all things because nobody told me how, and having difficulty with a research project on leaves (such a long story), various classmates humiliated me and my wax museum project, the nurse would get upset with me for not taking my asthma medication. there's so much stuff that happened in this year alone and I don't remember all of it, but I remember a lot of tears both at school and at home because my mom would get angry with me.

I also remember in 2nd and 3rd grade I was put into some little program during school that I thought everyone went to and only just recently realized it was for problem kids, what with all the board and card games on being a good kid and being nice to others and stuff. this continued until 5th grade, and then in 6th until I graduated highschool I was switched over to the school therapists

a girl in 4th grade telling me she was a better girlfriend than I was in regards to a kid we were both friends with. I wasn't interested in him and told her we were just friends, she insisted I was and this quite literally led to her and her friend group bullying me from 4th grade through to 11th (it would've been until my last day of highschool but covid hit us in march of 11th grade, which is. something I shouldn't have to be thankful towards a virus for)

one boy in my 4th grade class just yelling at me that I was weird and that I should leave him and others alone

as mentioned prior, from partway through 2nd grade until 4th grade, I had one friend. a group of girls invited me to sit with them for lunch one day near the start of the year and I thought finally, this is it, these are going to be my friends, they seem to like me. this is a surprise tool that will help us later.

various other things in this year that I also don't remember. sums up to more tears at school and at home.

by fucking 5th grade. 5th grade. I was saying that I wanted to kill myself and seeing an OUTSIDE therapist for that

5th grade is also the year when everything started going downhill. near daily I'd get yelled at by my teacher, or my mom, or the afterschool people, for forgetting something in my classroom. usually a piece of homework. only here did my mom really start noticing all the problems I was having, and she thought it was a goddamn developmental thing that could be fixed? so she took me to a neurologist and that's how I got my ADHD diagnosis. I remember none of it but she tells me the story. of how she went with me, the doctors said that, and her response. which is and I shit you not "how can that be, my kid has been fine and suddenly it's a complete 180 compared to before". never got support for that. still haven't, probably never going to.

I'm not even getting into everything that came after in detail. all that's important is that in the middle of 2016 I was put on an anxiety medication, it completely fucked me over and made me depressed, shortly after 8th grade started I lost everyone who even tolerated me at the time, and I wanted to commit suicide so badly that it resulted in the only time I've ever tried to harm myself. got suspended from school and sent to a mental hospital, then was playing catch-up for a month.

all that.

all that, and I sit here going 'I don't have very bad trauma. there was one incident in 2016, but nothing more than that' while continually thinking all my abnormal responses to things now are normal.

and I sit here having gone 'but how could I have OSDD. how could I have ASPD. it doesn't make sense, I've had a pretty normal time' in the past.

#daitex.t #mlergh #safety pins for imperfections #suicide mention #kids are... really good communicators. and I say this because I've worked at summer camps before #if not one but SEVERAL kids come up to me and say 'I don't want to play with [x] for [reason]'#then either there's a behavior that needs to stop. or the kid in question is wired differently.#and in cases of the latter it tends to be worse #god. I just. I haven't had trauma as bad as some others with DID/OSDD do #but I absolutely have trauma!#like wow. I wonder why there's a system member from when I was seven/eight and in third grade. this is a complete mystery.

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callipraxia · 1 year ago

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Debating who should get the #5 slot proved surprisingly difficult…but here we go.

1. Infinitesimal Variations: What would have happened if Stan hadn’t escaped from federal custody when he did during “Not What He Seems”? Answer: Ford and Soos go try to rescue him, Agent Powers interviews a witness and realizes he’s missing an important piece of the puzzle, and Dipper, Mabel, and Tate McGucket learn many things that disturb them. It then mostly goes downhill for everyone from there. 15 chapters, proceeding sequels of 21 chapters and 26 chapters.

This was the first real, deliberately plotted out, novel I ever wrote. It’s the first part of a trilogy, and Part III is probably better in a lot of ways - I had almost two years of working on the overall project under my belt, and a much clearer vision of what I was trying to do, than I did while writing Part I - but…Part I was the first, and the one that showed me I really could start something and finish it, and I made some friends in the comments sections, and it will always have a strong claim on my affections for that. The original twelve chapters (I recently revised and expanded it to clear up some points that were confusing) were also 61,000-odd words written in less than two months, the most intense writing experience I think I have ever had in my life. So yeah, go read it and its sequels! Unless you already have…in which case, re-read ‘em! lol.

2. The Earth Never Tires. Dipper comes home after a long time away, and Ford and Mabel talk about death and the afterlife. Two chapters.

This one could have just as easily been number 3; I just bumped it up one because it seemed to sort of slip under the radar when it was released, and I was rather proud of it, and so I shall jump on this socially sanctioned occasion to plug it.

3. The Player of Games. While Ford is in a coma in Dimension 52, he meets a gratingly cheerful salamander god which shows him visions of the best of all possible futures. Ford isn’t very happy about what he sees. Meanwhile, said salamander (the Axolotl), along with talking to Ford, juggles different timelines, relations with other higher powers, and its ongoing issues with its family. 5 chapters.

This one is a lot of things. I’m proud of it because it’s probably my most ambitious experiment in form and mythology-building; I also find the writing quite effective when I reread, so it may be one of my best pieces overall, along with being the first and arguably last, to date, time I really dealt with Ax in any detail. However, it’s also quite possibly the darkest and most disturbing thing I ever wrote, so…proceed with some caution, especially with chapters two and four.

4. Everything’s Fine - Pass That Wine? Nathan and Jennifer Pines have always been proud of their daughter Mabel’s creativity…but as her first summer away from home goes on, they gradually grow more and more concerned about all the stories of “science fiction weirdness” she is surely making up and not really living through. Where is she getting these ideas? Why isn’t she telling them what’s really happening? Why is Dipper playing along so much? Luckily, though, wine is an ever-helpful friend in times of trouble…at least until Nathan’s uncle Stan crashes a boat into their rhododendrons. One-shot.

Aka, that time I did a funny! This has the best read-to-kudos ratio of anything I’ve written. I wasn’t even aiming for a comedy piece when I started writing it, and was very nervous about “what if I think something is funny and literally nobody agrees?” Now if I could just remember how to write straight-up humor, rather than just sometimes weaving it in with tragedy and brain-bending….

5. The Long Lie: Four Scenes in Three Decades. Stan refuses to give up on the idea that he can someday reunite his family, and that then, everything will go back to the way it was when he was a kid. As a result, he lies to his parents until they die…to his other brother until he dies…and finally, right up until the day when a wax statue forces him to confront the possibility of failure. One-shot.

This was my second fic, and an attempt to make up events that would allow the success of the twin switch to make sense (since my sole contact with the fandom before I started writing involved reading the GF TVTropes pages, I was completely unaware of all the different theories of Shermie). In the process, I conducted my first sort of attempt to play with the short story form, and also - between faking indifference to his mother’s feelings about his own death, dealing with his idiot kid brother getting some girl pregnant in high school, and then dealing with Filbrick dying in a tragic automobile accident that leaves Caryn severely disabled - put Stan through the absolute wringer in less than 6000 words. I also think there’s some of my better writing here even if one never remotely considered the possibility of Young Shermie (after joining the fandom and learning about the theories, I am, for the record, officially a Shermie agnostic. Call him into existence with the Infinity Die for all I care, as long as you explore the consequences enough to hurt me along the way)

And honorable mention: Be All Our Sins Remembered, my very first GF fanfic and the closest thing I have yet come to pure fluff. One-shot about Ford showing Stan the ruins of the Portal after Stan expresses curiosity about the weird scar on his shoulder that looks like a crop circle.

Well, that was fun! Other writers…hm. @the-orion-scribe, @car9723-t, @zephrunsimperium…I need to figure out how many of my mutuals are definitely also writers, as opposed to strictly artists (though I’d argue comics count as both) or canon enthusiasts.

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love❤

As much as I dislike chain letters, I do enjoy trying to hock my fics to an unsuspecting audience.

1. The Wrong Stan-an AU where during Weirdmageddon, Bill captures Stan instead of Ford

2. Return Backwards to the Past Again 4-time travel AU where homeless Stan meets two strange young people who say they want to hire him for transportation to a little town in Oregon

3. Island of the Lost-another AU (there’s a recurring pattern here) where instead of taking the car after getting kicked out, Stan takes the boat

4. Two Worlds, One Family-Crossover AU(!)-a recently divorced Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz accidentally brings a recently kicked out Stan Pines forward in time, and the end result has the potential to work out surprisingly well for both of them

5. One Rainy Night-the beginning of my most ambitious AU ever, where a flip of a coin and a conversation with an old woman make all the difference in the world in changing the Pines twins’ future

@elishevart @guardianoflightanddarkness @darylstorey @orangeoctopi7 @ramblesanddragons

#gravity falls #gravity falls fic #gravity falls fandom #gravity falls fanfiction #gravity falls au

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honouredsatoru · 3 years ago

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𝙟𝙪𝙟𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙪 𝙠𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙣 𝙭 𝙜𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙥 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨

notes. hey upper east siders. gossip girl here. did you missed me? i bet you didn't expect my sudden return. i am just posting this to compensate for the lost time during my hiatus. but don't be fooled by my disappearance. i'm always watching. inspired by @anthenais's jjk daddy x mean girls hc.

warning. slight jjk vol 0, gojo past arc and shibuya arc spoilers. gossip girl likes to address people with initials, nicknames and this hc is based on how gossip girl talks in/narrates the show. if you get the hc, lilith luths you.

taglist. @sookyshima @sasso-oda @iridescent-queen @satosuguslut @princesatoru @laudthingcat @lazy10ieiri @tojisveryown @megumisichigo @noritoshiikamo @godbaji @booksweet @cxmplexity @nkogneatho @skunaryomen @saintgojo @kotarousgf @fallxngstarr @nanami-luvr @sirthisisa-wendys

gojo satoru - chuck bass. charming, your typical ladies man, suave and unpredictable. he is sure to leave your legs sore, chest and neck filled with bite marks, but your names will not be remembered. will do whatever it takes to defend the ones he loves, but don't get him wrong, this tall hot stuff will not hesitate playing dirty either. but nobody really knows what stronger g really feels or thinks about. after all, a mask can really hide what kind of person anyone is really like.

shoko ieiri - vanessa abrams. she's good but poor s, thinking that things would go back to the way they used to be. soft spoken, hard working but what does she feel when one goes down memory lane and thinks about the past interactions she had moments before everything goes downhill? should've asked him to stay and stared harder at the ticking time bomb, s.

geto suguru - nate archibald. oh g, what do you mean that humans are good, kind, and worth saving? they'd betray their own kind, so what makes him think that they would treat the special ones differently? who's to say that g won't change his ways in order to restore the balance he thought existed in the first place? don't play with fire, kids, especially near a bomb-like heart.

nanami kento - rufus humphrey. live life with no regrets, they say. but i am sure this father figure has his own regrets. it's just a matter of time, when he will finally be reunited with the person who he abandoned once to make him rethink the words he wanted to say to his dear i.

mei mei - georgina sparks. what's wrong with being a little wild from time to time? looks like m here resembles g in a lot of ways, from scheming, backstabbing to being someone you can trust your life with. as long as the money keeps on running. oh you know, your typical wild child stuff.

yuji itadori - serena van der woodsen. everyone who meets little i will always fall for him. and the need to destroy but also protect y. what kind of charms did little y used to the point that even the special curses had its soul wrapped around y's finger? don't bite off more than what you can chew, i, otherwise that demon in you will be too hard for you or anyone to control.

utahime iori - blair waldorf. queen b. sophisticated, beautiful, regal and poise. but one warrior scar can tell you thousands worth of stories. wasn't she often seen as weak? just because you appear weak to others doesn't mean you really are. beware ladies and gents, you might not know the abilities of the person you see as a lesser individual compared to yourself.

yuta okkotsu - dan humphrey. spotted. lonely boy who is haunted by the spirit of his former lover. y really thinks that he was cursed, but little does he know that he was the one who put the curse onto his lover's poor spirit. careful y, you'll be running out of lockers to hide the bodies and guilt.

kugisaki nobara - jenny humphrey. little j and little k. the little queens of constance billard and jujutsu high. but for how long? sure, her love for fashion and that youthful soul of hers catches the attention. and the need to join the upper east siders' clique but her bubbles are just waiting to be popped. don't say i didn't warn you.

fushiguro megumi - eric van der woodsen. spotted. another lonely boy. now, what do boys from troubled families tend to have? mommy and daddy issues. seems to me that little m still doesn't know the atrocities his daddy dearest committed. but you didn't hear it from me. let the boy find it out with the help of stronger s.

fushiguro toji - bartholomew bass. ruthless, sexy as hell, maybe even hell himself because everything he touches burns. will he have a chance of redemption or will he waste it away like how he sold his soul the moment he decided to throw it into the realms of money, lust and desire? will family be his saviour? or will he leave it again just like he did on the day little m was born?

rumours has it that little k's whereabouts is still unknown and stronger g is locked up in a place that neither you or me can reach. but what is life for these jujutsu sorcerers and curse users without the revoltingly delicious taste of drama? you know you love me. xoxo, gossip girl.

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hourcat · 2 years ago

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7, 13, 18 💗

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

god. honestly? i love the actual act of writing a scene i've been itching to write. there is NOTHING like turning off your brain and letting the idea Possess Your Hands and do the writing for you. like!!!!!!!! i never used to understand how people could say "oh this character just said/did that i don't control the narrative" or w/e but. I Get It Now. i do. when the words fall into place like perfect puzzle pieces...when dialogue just comes naturally and it sounds right instead of forced and shit. man. chefs kiss. truly.

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

honestly jfldskgmdlskfmdlksm i think my answer to both is smut. but like. levels of it, you know? my fifty bajillion years of being a fandom writer for a variety of fanbases has made my ability to turn a scene between characters Tender And Sexy pretty instinctive #ToMe, but like. actually committing to the full thing? E rated stuff? its like pulling teeth. i hate it so much. it gives me such an insane amount of anxiety and embarrassment. no matter how much positive kind feedback i get, it is literally never going to change i just cant handle it(tm).

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

from my first big ol ao3 fic, the trade au :~)

“Caffeine’s your drug of choice, huh?” Odell can’t keep the teasing smile out of his voice. “Damn, E, you’ve gotten hardcore since I was last in the city.” “Oh, for sure,” Eli replies with a roll of his eyes. He sips at his mug of tea. “You think that’s crazy, you should’ve seen me earlier in my career. Probably woulda loved me when I was younger.” Maybe he’s still running on fumes from partying too hard with Jimmy the other night. Maybe it’s the comfort of his morning tea. Maybe it’s just his heart finally beating too loud in his chest, giving up on hiding. Whatever it is, it has Odell completely open. He chuckles at Eli’s words and shakes his head, a smile starting to play on his lips. “Nah, I love you just fine now.” And oh—there it is. He doesn’t even realize he’d been thinking it until the last syllable leaves his mouth, and his eyes dart up to meet Eli’s. His face is—unreadable. The only sign of movement that Odell notices is that the mug has gone from his hands to his lips and back again. “I—you know what I mean, E,” Odell sputters, suddenly wide awake despite not having drank a single ounce of his wake-up tea. “You’re—we’re brothers, man, I—”

THIS WAS SUCH A MOMENT FOR MEEEE!!! the whole scene, really, but especially this breathless little moment because it's the first casual admission of odell's feelings TO ELI after a couple thousand words of denial (why do i feel this way about leaving him behind in new york) and then Denial (he could never feel the same way, it's impossible). i was SO glad i finally got to this point because really it's all just downhill from here in the fic; odell thinks he's ruined their relationship saying this, so he decides to go fuck it and mess around with someone else he doesn't love, only to find himself yearning after eli even still. AND LIKE THATS ALL THE GOOD STUFF!!! this was one of those moments that really wrote itself honestly. planning-wise, i wasn't sure how odell was going to get to the point where he says something, but it always had to be a "letting your guard down" moment because they've been apart for a few months at this point and odell is just. spilling over w/his feelings because they've all kind of lodged in his throat the first time he sees eli in the airport etc etc

i know nobody knows these men kdsljksldjg but this was the first scene i thought of looking @ this question tbh

weird questions for (weird) writers?

#ANNA THANK U MY BELOVEDDDDDDD #ask reply #teamnick

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woodsteingirl · 2 years ago

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hehe here it is. i’ve scheduled it to go to a better place (substack) tomorrow at 11:11 but who am i if not someone who needs constant approval of their work. so hamlet essay.

the song’s title, as well as its content could very well relate to shakespeare’s play, hamlet. The first line reflects the relationship between Hamlet and Horatio. In Act 3, Scene 2, Hamlet says the following to Horatio: “Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man As e'er my conversation coped withal.” In other words, Hamlet believes Horatio to be the best man he’s known. The lines that follow could also relate to the relationship between them, implying that Horatio was aware of what was between them before Hamlet knew. The line, “It took me a while till I knew,” could be applied in the sense that it took Hamlet until his father’s death and his life starting to go downhill for him to realize how much he cared for Horatio.

The lines “would you spare me your voice if I call? cause you waited and watered my heart 'til it grew, you just grew a little smarter, too,” relate to how crucial a role Horatio plays in Hamlet’s life. He is one of the few people Hamlet believes he can trust over the course of the play, and he is always the voice of reason for Hamlet. The next verse expresses apology for not being the person the speaker could have been with the person they’re speaking to, and that they wouldn’t blame that person if they wanted to forget them all together. Within the context of Hamlet, this could be Hamlet saying that maybe if he had realized [his feelings] sooner, some of the tragedy could have been avoided, and he could have been a better person.

The next verse after the chorus says “There is some kind of burning inside me, It's kept me from falling apart, And I'm sure that you've seen what it's done to my heart, But it's kept me from falling apart,” within the framework of Hamlet, this could go one of two ways. The “something burning inside me” could either be Hamlet’s emotional repression since his father’s death and since he vowed to get revenge on Claudius, or it could be his fatal inaction as shown during the play.

Skipping some of the song as I would like to focus on the lyrics which hold the most meaning (i have a line by line analysis i can share if asked), we arrive at what I lovingly refer to as the deathbed confession verse. Mitski says “And I don't mean to make your heart blue But could we be what we're meant to be? I'm just about to beg you, please,” looking at this within the play, this reads almost like what Hamlet says as he lays dying. He urges Horatio to keep on living and to “let it be.” He also tells Horatio he needs to go on so he can tell Hamlet’s story which is something paralleled in the chorus with the line “And then, when you tell your friends, You can tell them what you saw in me And not the way I used to be.” The song ends with a repetition of the first line, “there is nobody better than you,” much like how the play ends, with the death of Hamlet and someone else taking the throne in his wake.

#not tagging this as hamlet for fear of scary incorrect quotes people.#samael speaks #sammy sires #<3

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latenightcinephile · 3 years ago

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#703: 'Marketa Lazarová', dir. František Vláčil, 1967.

Marketa Lazarová is a slightly unusual film for me, because its effects go slightly beyond my ability to articulate or explain them. I originally saw it at a Film Society screening in 2015 or 2016, back when I was able to go to movies at 6 p.m. on a Monday evening, and it enthralled me then, splayed wide across the screen at the Paramount in crisp black and white. I knew very little of Czech cinema at the time and, embarrassingly, still haven't seen very much. Coming back to it five years later, it still holds a lot of that arcane power that it had. Marketa Lazarová is simultaneously a meditative experience and a gut punch.

František Vláčil was one of the Czech filmmakers who was originally trained with the Army Film Division, which surprisingly became a breeding ground for avant-garde filmmaking styles. Vláčil became disillusioned with the types of historical films that were being produced at the time, which seemed to him to feature contemporary people pretending to be characters from the past. What was needed instead, he argued, was a more immediate form of historical cinema that made audiences feel like they were witnessing history rather than a lacklustre interpretation of it. In order to achieve this, he frequently joined his cast and crew on long-term shoots where they lived in the types of conditions that the characters would. Sets were built using traditional methods, and scripts were written using archaic dialects to avoid that common experience of characters speaking in a recognisably modern way. The shoot for Marketa Lazarová lasted almost two years in these conditions.

The film's plot concerns three groups. The Kozlík clan, a family under the helm of a robber baron, robs a noble entourage and takes Kristian, the son of the bishop, hostage. Before Kozlík's sons can return to claim their loot, a neighbouring clan led by Lazar steals the spoils. Lazar is saved from being killed when a vision of a nunnery on a hillside appears. One of the chief themes of this film, alluded to early on, is the conflict between paganism and early Christianity. The two worldviews are muddy and indistinct, but the difference between them is what drives a lot of the retribution in the film. Kristian falls in love with one of Kozlík's daughters, Alexandra, while Kozlík's son, Mikoláš, falls in love with Lazar's daughter, Marketa, whom he has taken as a hostage in retaliation for Lazar refusing to side with Kozlík against the king and the bishop. In addition to the religious dimension, then, there is also an ongoing theme of where one's loyalties lie - with existing morals (family, God) or with the person you love. Over the course of this epic, the fates of all three groups trend downhill: members of each of these bands are slaughtered and betrayed; Kozlík and Alexandra are imprisoned; Marketa is released by Mikoláš but rejected by Lazar. The film's conclusion seems to suggest that it is Marketa, and the future generations she helps to bring into the world, that will be able to overcome the divisions that affected the clans so catastrophically, but also acknowledges that these types of conflicts are part of the human experience.

As vast and interwoven the plot of the film is, it's not what makes the experience of watching quite so transcendent. What makes this film feel like an out-of-body experience is Vláčil's use of non-linear and non-realistic techniques. Parts of the film's story are told in flashback, but without any explicit indication that this is happening. At times we see disconnected, hallucinatory images that only make sense when they are contextualised later on. One example of this is an erotic scene between Alexandra (Pavla Polášková) and a young man, who we assume to be Kristian (Vlastimil Harapes). It's only later that we discover that this is a flashback to an abortive romance between Alexandra and her brother Adam (Ivan Palúch) - a man I had initially disqualified from appearing here because Adam only has one arm in the current scenes. Revealing that it is Adam propels the story forward in traditionally linear fashion, but also causes the viewer to reassess the film's earlier scene to determine why these images are included there. These images are made further alien by their unexpected visual qualities: the sex scene takes place in a field of summer grain, but most of the film's 'present day' takes place in winter and early spring. Rather than ascribe them to an unmotivated flashback, it seems easier to read them as a poetic hallucination, and then Vláčil returns to reorganise what we had previously believed of the narrative.

As well as the narrative structure, Vláčil frequently employs long periods of silence and a seeming mismatch of cinematography, where figures are either oddly close to the camera or absurdly far away. On a deep level, it feels like nobody, even the director, has total control over what is being portrayed - like we've entered a kind of fugue state in which cinema just happens regardless of how legible its results are. Although its filming process was so long, the resulting scenes feel accidental or improvisational, culled down from a vast amount of footage.

While many of these techniques give us the experience of watching a dream of an imagined past, these techniques are also quite violent and confrontational. Even when the shots are distant or filmed in long takes, they're cut together in a jarring way, and the lack of a straightforward narrative makes it difficult on the viewer too. The activity implied in this method of editing, a complicated soundscape and opaque narrative combine to make Marketa Lazarová a film that feels very immediate and present. As Tom Gunning put it, writing for Criterion about his early encounters with the film, "an energized mobile camera and abrasive editing peers into a primitive era of human history." Just as the characters of the film are quick to anger and quick to act, the film also lacks temperance. This is a film of life and death in its most vital forms, and so it makes a certain kind of sense that Vláčil would, in defiance of the typical historical film, try and remove any layer of modern logic or reason that would prevent us from experiencing the film's events in a visceral way. This is also why the myth of the werewolf hangs so heavily over the film - invoked a few times by Kozlík's wife, and present in the appearance of his children and their uncanny survival abilities - it both defies modern logic and refers to a particularly corporeal type of monster.

Vláčil structures Marketa Lazarová with sudden intertitles that refer to the events and themes that we are about to see, in a poetic way that recalls the chapter titles of a 19th-century novel. 'On the Lot of Widows' and 'Who in the Past Brewed with Hops' provide the vantage point of someone placed about the action, narrating it to us in a distant sort of way. The music is similar: both ancient and modern, it frequently uses atonal incantations. Taken together, it feels like this story is being shouted at us from a distant time when things were more tactile. "The presence of animals and plants, the textures of stone and tree bark, of snow and marsh water," Gunning writes, "cling to us as we watch, often overriding the narrative."

The grand experience of watching this film is partly contradictory, then: this is a film that feels very modern, tells a story from the past, alludes to contemporary struggles, and when situated in Czech film history is wildly experimental. Gunning sees this film as being, in some respects, a statement about what Vláčil thought cinema could be, in those days of the 1960s where most national cinemas were experiencing their own variations on the New Wave that had developed in France. The experimental aspects of the films of Godard and Varda would be subsumed into the traditional toolbox of cinema and lose some of their vibrancy as a result - either directors would use them for blockbuster films or extend them into a new type of experimental film that was sterile and aloof.Considering this, it's worth appreciating exactly how daring Vláčil was being here: under a Communist regime, making a film about paganism, bestiality, sadism, incest, and torture. With all this darkness, Marketa Lazarová is a bright film, even funny at times. Humanity is a fallen, self-destructive thing, but there is something about this way of life, before it was layered deep underneath civilisation, reason and enlightenment, that was exciting and vibrant.

Does civilisation mean we lose something of our potential? The final narration of Marketa Lazarová tells us that these cycles of mistrust and anger are likely to repeat through the generations, but is that a price Vláčil thinks is worth paying? The urgency and difficulty of life in the distant past was inseparable from the superstitions of the time, but the urges were easier to sate, at least temporarily. The taming of these clans, like the taming of the avant-garde techniques Vláčil employs here, might have been inevitable, but this film shows that there is something valuable there nonetheless.

#1001 movies #František Vláčil #Marketa Lazarová #Czech film #epic

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angelthebedsheet · 4 years ago

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hi! can i request a hxh headcannon with kurapika maybe like what it's like being a relationship with him? sorry if you can't do this or i requested this the wrong way-

- anon

a/n: it’s alright anon! i’ll try my best to write about the loml and the bad bitch himself kurapika! love hims i may have went CRAZY for this. also i write on my phone so sorry if this is so long!

lets get it!

How yall started dating

okay so yall first met at the hunter exams elevator

the main four first walked in there and were surprised to see another person there

and gon being his friendly self started to chat it up with you

“hi im gon!!”

“hi gon. i’m y/n.”

kurapika there respectfully looking at you

like you’re attractive.

lookin at how those elevator lights shine on your beautiful melaninated skin

whew baby he went 😳 inside but greeted you

“im kurapika”

“well hello kurapika”

and that was the BEGINNING

timeskip up in this bitch rq

the arcs are pretty hazy to me so like.... lets say yall were feeling e/o during the york new city arc

yall both were trying to become bounty hunters and were alr pretty close to e/o

you suggested working with him and he liked that idea

yall alr fought really well tgt and he actually liked having you around him

so you both became neon’s bodyguards

yall were slowly becoming closer to each other each day yall worked together

like lingering touches, yearnful gazes

allat cute mushy shit

kurapika is one touch starved and closed off bitch so he’s struggling here

you on the other hand you KNOW you want kurapika like who wouldn’t want him???

he’s a whole package in that tuxedo 🥵🥵

n e ways

soon neon notices this shit and it goes downhill

this lil shit starts PURPOSELY locking yall in rooms together

like baby no we are supposed to protect you what are you doing???

“im not letting you out till you two kiss!!”

“i beg your pardon?” - kurapika

“neon huh???” - you

kurapika is internally like what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck i lwk wanna kiss em but.... feelings.

you can see the internal STRUGGLE thats going on in kura’s eyes

you just say fuck it and pray the gods and any other spiritual holy beings are on your side and kiss him

kurapika’s stomach said 🦋🦋🦋🦋 when you cupped his face

like your lips are SOFT

(no cuz like some of yall rlly be making y/n have crusty ass lips like um no baby i wear lip gloss and chapstick religiously you aint gon catch me w/ brittle ass lips)

and you cant tell me kurapika doesnt wear chapstick

and he’s like ✋🏽😳 hol up this kinda.... this kinda hits why didnt i do this earlier?

(bc you’re a gated ass bitch thats why honey)

my mans just has to kiss back

he kinda just gently holds your wrists and kisses back

now you’re deceased bc damn boy where you learned this???

no cap you kinda felt your knees buckle and he noticed that but yall not gon talk about that

and you two reluctantly pull away bc hello yall still on the job and literally are bodyguards

“the door wasnt even locked.”

“you cheeky lil shi—

cue you chasing neon while she runs away giggling

kurapika can only gently touch his lips and smile with a red face

In the Relationship

now yall are disgustingly cute in private

kurapika is definitely touch starved and he always needs to be touching you in some way

he always looks out for you too

he’ll definitely press tons of kisses to your face or the back of your neck

calls you a bunch of cheesy nicknames

darling, my love, my sun, sweetheart, beloved, honey, babylove (the stanely uris thats played by wyatt oleff makes me lose my sHIT)

my boy loves your hair so much

like the texture? the volume?

he’s all for it

he would probably ask canary about wash day bc she’s black herself

would 100% help you with wash day

want him to detangle your hair? hand him that rat toothed comb he’s on it

wash your hair? let him roll up his sleeves he’s on it

oil massages? pass them oil bottles baby he’s putting you to sleep

like you will be KNOCKED as he washes your hair or oils it bc he’s that skilled

i think he would struggle braiding your hair but after you show him?

this man is taking over and braiding your hair neater than you

like excuse me where did you learn this??

parting god.

them parts are crispy and straighter than a mf

literally doesn’t comb your hair like ya mama do w/ all that tugging and shit

he’ll just gently move your head along or softly apologize whenever he accidentally tugs on your hair and presses a kiss to your scalp

taking. baths. together.

my boy CRAVES that intimacy

no sexual shit

after a long day of work he just LOVES to take a nice bubble bath with you

either you leaning against his chest or you on the opposite end of the bath

he can always unwind around you and let go of that stoic facade he puts on

i would say he’s a lil goofy in private? like he’ll scoop up the bubbles and blow them in your face

if you want jokes you gotta give em

baby had to grow up quicker so he’s more mature for his age

i’d say if you want them giggles out? hold his waist and blow the back of his neck

the way he JERKS from that then starts laughing

heart eyes up in that bitch

his laugh is so 🥺🥺🥺🥰🥰

“darling!” “that was so FUCKING CUTE KURA WTFFF”

another way? blow kisses in his neck

he will giggle like a lil kid

god i love him

when you go to sleep he’s always big spoon

doesn’t matter if you’re taller than him

big. spoon. kurapika.

the only times you can hold him is when he has a breakdown and his scarlet eyes are activated

nightmares haunt him alot and he just needs to hear your heartbeat to know you’re still here

he needs to feel your warmth and you whispering that you’re here

other than those moments you better be fine with him holding you

i would say he doesn’t move alot in his sleep other than the small twitches

but for some reason his grip is strong as FUCK

like you aint getting out of his arms at ALL

if you gotta pee hold it

nah im kidding

just wake him up he’s not a deep sleeper but he isnt a light one either

if he were to wake up in the middle of the night he’d definitely fix your bonnet or durag if it fell off

morning kissies!

one way he loves waking up is kisses all over his face

especially kissing on his eyelids

it makes him wake up with a big ol smile

“morning beloved.”

WHEWWWWWW THE RASP

ahem anyways

“morning pikapika.”

he used to hate that nickname

now? baby LOVES it bc it’s just for him

the lohl giving him a nickname just for him makes butterflies in his stomach go crazy

he can practically feel the love oozing from your eyes

the way he wakes you up?

if he’s feeling a lil goofy or silly he’ll lay ontop of you and blow kisses into your neck

if he’s still tired he’ll cup your face and gently call your name

yall cook together

if you cant cook he will respectfully say take your goofy ass out of the kitchen

if you can? show him how to season your food correctly. rmb how he made that pig look pretty asf but merchi basically said it taste like shit?

not on your watch

he’ll take mental notes as you teach him the ways of goya and sazon

sometimes he’ll just gently take over

not bc he thinks you cant do it right but bc he likes to provide for others

you just gotta lightly slap his hands away like bby i got this its okay

and he’ll understand

kisses with him are very soft but passionate?

like he isnt gonna eat your lips but he will hold you close and make sure you know how much he loves you

he’ll definitely twirl your curls around his finger

you of course gave him your permission when you started dating

he will always have one arm around your waist and one hand behind your neck

doesnt matter if you’re taller

he will 100% get on his tiptoes and do it

or make you sit down

he doesnt CARE if he has to step on a stepladder he’ll do it

he said run me my kisses NEOW

i would definitely say he’s a passionate lover and would throw hands with ANYONE if they make any snarky comments about your skin

“my s/o’s skin is beautiful mind your business and take yourself somewhere else before i do it for you”

😳

🕶🤏🏾

sir.....

you would throw hands for him too

anyone says anything about him being a girl?

its over

there was a time where someone called him a girl who was confused and you went off and got into a fight

you won by a landside

kurapika was like 😟😦😳🥺

bc you really fought for his honor

but he had to pull you away before you damn near put this person in the hospital

“honey thank you but it was okay. it didnt bother me.”

“no but it bothered me! nobody can just talk about someone i love like that.”

he went 🥺🥺🥺

he definitely kissed the FUCK outta you when yall got home

yall hands were rated e for everyone!

a ride or die couple

yall are in love love

maybe he’s looking for a ring and kurta wedding earrings

#kurapika x reader #hunter x hunter x reader #hxh x reader #x black reader #x gender neutral reader #kurapika kurta #kurapika #reader x kurapika #hunter x hunter #hxh

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