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phykios · 3 years

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honesty and promise me part 6 [co-written with @darkmagyk] [read on ao3]

Ah, the age old question: what to get for the guy who has everything and also when you’re trying make up for the fact that you actually missed his birthday entirely while spending as little money as possible?

“Where the hell are you taking me?” Percy asks as they wait their turn to disembark. “I haven’t been to Staten Island in ages.”

Annabeth has never been at all. She knows there’s a handful of Greek revival buildings in the Historic District, but she’s never had a car to get there, or the stomach to get on the ferry. Percy had practically climbed onto the bow, his own personal reenactment of Titanic, arms thrown out to the wind, while Annabeth attempted to keep her breakfast down.

Having spectacularly flamed out last week in Philadelphia, she can’t let Percy’s birthday go without some sort of commemoration. The Staten Island Ferry is just part one. “All in due time,” she says, checking her phone for directions. They still have a bus they need to board, and Annabeth is getting sweaty in her leather jacket. Thank God Percy volunteered to carry the backpack with all their gear; otherwise, when this jacket comes off, it’s going to smell worse than his tights at the end of a long day.

Like a magnet, his gaze is glued to the strips of the bay he can spot through the bus windows, his head resting on his chin, a soft, serene smile lifting his lips. All the tightness, all the stress he’s held in his shoulders the last few times she’s seen him, it melts away at the sharp, salty tang of rust and sea air which suffuses every corner. She doesn’t even mind that he isn’t looking at her.

Hand in hand, finally, they get off the bus, and walk to the overlook. Slinging the backpack off his shoulder, he sets it down at his feet, eyes fixed on the strip of shoreline which can be seen, even all the way over here. “What is that?” he breathes, shielding his eyes against the glint of the sun on the water.

“That,” says Annabeth, “is the Staten Island ship graveyard.”

Still stewing in her guilt over how she missed his birthday--despite the fact that he didn’t even tell her--Annabeth decided to swallow her pride and ask for help. It took an inordinate number of coffee orders and one instance of her actually getting down on her knees and begging, pleading to their long friendship together and swearing that Annabeth would never use this information for evil, but she had finally wheedled the secret out of Thalia: Percy’s greatest love, after the ballet, was sailing. Ship construction, naval battles, maritime history, they were, according to Thalia, the only things which could entice Percy to actually set down the tights and “get some frickin’ sunshine for once in his life.” Annabeth hadn’t believed her, until Thalia had dug up an old photo which had never been posted to his socials--and Annabeth had certainly scoured them for long enough, she would have recognized it had she seen it before--of Percy, on a glittering, jewel-like sea, a rope wrapped around his fist as he leaned over the side of a sailboat, eyes squeezed shut, mouth wide in a graceless, unrestrained joy.

“Back in the eighties, there used to be over four hundred ships down there,” Annabeth says, coming up beside him. “A lot of it’s been scrapped or sold, but there are still maybe a hundred or so boats, including the USS PC-1264, one of the--”

“One of the two predominantly African American crewed Navy ships from World War II,” he interrupts, eyes light. “No way!”

“Yes way,” Annabeth grins, unzipping her jacket. The midday sun beats down on them, the air sticky and heavy, and she needs this thing off, pronto. “And, there’s a ship that was supposedly the command post for the General Slocum disaster.” Not that she really knows what that is.

He whirls around. “The Abram S. Hewitt is there? Holy sh--”

His jaw drops. His eyes bug out.

Part two of his present was the ship graveyard. Part three is the outfit.

Annabeth, one hand on her hip, slings her jacket over her shoulder with the other, the leather hot against her bare skin. She has chosen to forgo a shirt entirely, wearing nothing but her nicest pair of black jeans with the thick suspenders and a shiny, red bra. And yes, she had Thalia touch up her hair, five inches of curls lopped off on one side, undercut sharp and severe.

“I thought we could have a picnic here,” she says, a smile curling her lips without her permission. “Then, if you want, we could do some light trespassing? See the ships up close?”

Percy swallows. He breathes in through his nose, shuddering. “Sure,” he whispers, hoarse. “Sounds good.”

Dropping to the ground like a rock, studiously not checking her out, Percy unpacks their picnic, laying out the blanket, something blue, old, but soft Annabeth had knitted in a fit of pre-finals’ anxiety in college. Annabeth had hinted the night before that he should make them some food, as no one could make a grilled cheese like Percy, and she sure as shit wasn’t going to buy them some prepackaged, tasteless garbage.

Percy’s sandwiches, just like the man himself, are stacked: thick, sourdough slices (which she suspects he made himself), bacon, turkey, apple, tomato, lettuce, avocado, mayo for her but none for him. She’d always been under the impression that dancers needed to watch what they ate, endlessly in pursuit of some unattainable ideal of beauty. Nope. Percy eats everything and anything he can get his hands on, high carb and high protein and high everything else. It makes sense, she guesses, for someone who basically has to bench their own body weight daily. Every inch of him is tailored for power and velocity, to propel him out of the grasp of gravity--rabbit food just isn’t going to cut it here.

Munching down, he maneuvers himself into a number of splits and stretches, unable to give up his routine for a single day. “When I was probably thirteen or fourteen,” he says, halfway through a tirade of reminiscence, “my dad took me and Triton and Kym to Cyprus, for some family bonding time.” He rolls his eyes. “You can probably imagine how well that went. Most of that trip was… well, Cyprus was definitely the best part. We went to Kyrenia Castle, which has this amazing museum that holds one of the oldest known ships in the world. Like, this thing was operational during the lifetime of Alexander the Great, and it sank about a mile away from the harbor.” He takes a heroic bite, chewing with his lips firmly shut.

“Cool.”

He swallows. “Very cool. I love really old ships, but you can imagine how few of those are still left, and not just because we haven’t found them.”

Annabeth feels her neck heating up, despite the shade they sit in. “Well, I hope these ones are old enough for you.”

“Oh, these are incredible--don’t get me wrong! I had no idea there was anything like this so close to home. Who needs Cyprus when you have Staten Island?” He grins, placing his sandwich down, throwing his arms in a stretch.

“I know it isn’t Tokyo or Moscow or anything…” she trails off, self-conscious even as she doesn’t actually ask the question that’s on her mind.

Shamefully, she has found that she still thinks about what Will had said at his apartment over a month ago at this point: Percy Jackson, boy toy of the rich and famous. But if she actually asks, it will make her look like some totally jealous girlfriend or something, like she honestly cares about Percy’s past sexual conquests.

She doesn’t care. She doesn’t.

He’s just led a really interesting life, and she wishes she could relate. That’s all.

“It’s not,” he agrees, bending his back with an audible pop. “It’s better.”

“Really? A little ship graveyard is better than the sites of Tokyo?”

“I didn’t see any sites in Tokyo,” he said. “Mostly just Mittie’s hotel room.”

“Mittie?”

Percy looks at his sandwich, suddenly very interested in the crust.

“She’s someone important, then?”

Silence.

Annabeth laughs to break the tension. “Okay, I'll bite--who’s Mittie? Another model?”

Taking a small bite of sandwich, he chews, methodical and deliberate. He swallows, clearing his throat. “Margherita Savoy.”

The name doesn’t ring a bell. “Who?”

“Princess Margherita Elisabetta of Sardinia.”

Her mouth drops open a little. “A princess?”

Percy shrugs. “Technically. The throne of Sardinia doesn’t exist anymore, obviously, but she’s big into the money and the titles and stuff.”

A princess. A fucking princess. “But she lets you call her Mittie.”

He looks a little constipated. “She didn’t… until she took me to Tokyo.”

“Oh,” she says. Because what else is there to say? She’s certainly no princess.

“She was nice,” Percy says, softly. “You know, eventually. Once we got to know each other.”

Her phone is hot in her pocket, like it’s preemptively searching Google for pictures of Margherita Elisabetta of Sardinia, downloading them all so Annabeth can scribble all over her face like a bad high school movie. “A pretender?” She scoffs, exaggeratedly, her fists tight against the grass. “Talk to me when you get a real princess.”

His ears go red. “Um…”

No way. “No fucking way.”

“Look, Eugenie was just kinda pissed when Triton broke up with her, and so she just thought that we’d have some fun.”

“Oh my god.” She says, looking at him in something like horror. And telling herself at least it wasn’t her distant cousin Madeleine.

“It was only for like a week or two,” Percy protests. “We went to a club in Berlin she knew Triton liked to go to so he would see us and get annoyed.”

“A princess dated you because she was pissed at your brother?”

“Only twice,” he says, casual, like any of this is normal and not absolutely insane. “Eleonore is one of Kym’s friends. And she’s technically, like, an archduchess, not a princess. But I don’t know. A couple of his other girlfriends wanted to get back at him, and I was in Europe and available, so we just…” He trails off. She can hear the ellipsis, hanging hot and heavy over them, each dot dropping like a stone. What is this, fucking Mamma Mia?

“When was the last time this happened?” she asks, not really wanting to hear the answer.

He rubs a hand over his mouth, gaze unfocused as he thinks. “Um… not since the week after Frank left, I think. Mittie wanted to go to Bora Bora but she didn’t want to go alone, you know?”

“No, I meant,” she pushes through as her stomach flutters, tight and uncomfortable, “girls using you to get back at your brother.”

His face falls, just a bit. “Oh. Last year, I guess.”

“Who was she?” And where is she so Annabeth can punt her off a building?

“Calypso Atlas.” He sighs, wistful, with more reverence than he had given any of the princesses, and Annabeth’s stomach flops, different from the flutter. Painful this time. “She actually liked me.”

“Everyone likes you,” she says, faintly. Maybe wearing the leather jacket is giving her heatstroke.

“You know, they really don’t. Not how it counts, anyway.” He picks at a blade of grass, rubbing it between his fingers. “Most of the girls who wanted to use me to get back at Triton only did it because they knew how much he liked to bitch about me--the ‘half-breed bastard.’” He rolls his eyes, huffs a laugh. “And even Kym’s friends didn’t actually like me. Like, yeah, they’d fly me all over with them, but they didn’t want to be seen with me. Mittie and I were on and off for years, and she gets photographed constantly. I’m not in any of them.”

Annabeth thinks she might actually be sick.

But he doesn’t stop. “It wasn’t so bad when they went around saying that I was a dancer with the Paris Opera, because I was, and I was proud of it. But it wasn’t… I don’t know. It wasn’t like with Frank, whose family does have a ton of money, but who only ever dated me because he liked me.” He picks another blade of grass, tearing it between his fingers. “Calypso, though. She was different.” And he smiles, a little.

“How?”

That smile grows wider. “She just called me one day, out of the blue, and very publicly asked me to be her date to Milan Fashion Week after she and Triton broke up and he immediately turned around and got engaged. She was super up front about it, didn’t try to sleep with me or anything, even though I know she was friends with some people and probably heard about my various talents.”

She knows exactly which talents he means. He winks at Annabeth, ironic and self-conscious, and she forces out a little laugh, as though the idea of him going down on someone else is charming.

“But then we actually had a good time together, and a few weeks later, she called me up again, and again, and again, until eventually she introduced me to her father--which was a hell of an experience, let me tell you. The Atlas family puts the Olympianides family to shame as far as dysfunction goes. But it was nice, in its own way; if I’d ever asked Mittie to introduce me to her dad, she’d have laughed in my face.”

“Sounds like you were pretty serious,” Annabeth manages.

“That was the problem.” He looks away, towards the sea. Always towards the sea. “She wanted to leave Paris, travel the world. And she wanted me to go with her.”

“To leave the Paris Opera?”

“To leave ballet entirely. I just…” He holds the silence for a moment, lost in the fog of reminiscence, the mist of possible futures long since dissipated. Sighing, he shakes his head. “I couldn’t do it. So, in March, she went to Dubai, and I started making calls back to New York.”

“You broke up with her this year?”

“She broke up with me,” he clarifies, turning back to her. “It was all very romantic. I always left my comp at the box office for her. She didn’t come to my show, but she showed up at the stage door the day before she was set to leave, telling me that she had an extra ticket with my name on it. I turned her down.” And then he looks her in the eye as he says, “I don’t regret it at all.”

She swallows, her face flushing, tongue numb as she searches desperately for something to say to that. “Atlas, you said her family was? It sounds familiar.”

“Oh, you’re probably thinking of Zoe Atlas,” Percy says, easing off for the moment. “You probably know about her because she and Thalia were archenemies in boarding school. Or maybe girlfriends? I have yet to get a straight answer.” Annabeth’s eyes nearly bug out of her head. Thalia, in boarding school? What? “But I like Zoe. She’s an activist, and absolutely hates her father. Like I said, there’s a lot of dysfunction. And she came to my first show way back when, and she wasn’t even weird when I dated her sister when we ran into each other in Paris. So that was nice.”

“She went to your first show?” What in God’s name is up with these one-percenter families? It’s like they all overlap in one big incestuous slurry. And as the daughter of the Chases and the Pallases, she tries not to think where she might fit into that.

“Thalia brought her. Her first not-date. It was Thalia’s first ballet ever, too. It… it meant a lot.”

“What show was it?”

He smiles, wistful. “The Nutcracker. I was one of the kids at Clara’s party. Most scared I’ve ever been. When I got out backstage after intermission, Thalia was waiting for me with my mom. She punched my shoulder, called me ‘Kelp Head,’ and told me I did great. Then I hugged her,” he says, snickering. “She punched me again.”

Annabeth laughs, huffing through her nose. “Good to see some things never change.”

“That’s our Thalia for you--looking out for everyone, even when it kills her inside.” He glances at her pointedly.

It’s her turn to share.

Annabeth’s mouth is dry, like sandpaper.

She grabs her backpack, pulling out a sketchbook and a pencil. Beside her, Percy sighs, deflating a little.

Annabeth flips open a new page, and starts drawing.

Each sketch delivers a challenge: bringing order to the whole through design, composition, tension, balance, light and harmony. Sometimes, buildings spring to life on the page, fully formed. Sometimes the page stays blank, an empty pencil.

Pencil to paper. Letting whatever wants to come out, come out. “My mom invited me to lunch one day,” she says. Her eyes follow the line of her pencil, ninety degree angles and symmetrical shapes. “I had moved to New York like six months before. Single girl, in the big city, to follow her dreams.” She’d gone to boarding school in New York before that, but it wasn’t the same as picking out her apartment and taking the train to the Manhattan skyscraper her office was held in. Sometimes she’d walk down the street, feeling like she was smack dab in the middle of Sex and the City, which she and Piper use to watch in secret, huddled under the covers in the dorms at Miss Minerva’s. “Unfortunately, my mom didn’t love my dreams.”

“She didn’t approve of anarchist architecture?”

Annabeth’s laugh is hollow. “She thought I should have been charting some new path in business for a woman. But not in a feminist way. In, like, a capitalist way. But architecture was not really negotiable for me. And once that became clear, she had her own expectations about that, too.”

Annabeth has always been a prideful know-it-all. If all her mother had wanted from her was ambition, they probably could have made it work. Annabeth wanted to reshape the skyline, she wanted her name on buildings that would last and impress.

But even Annabeth couldn’t do that in six months.

“She wanted the best schools, the best companies, the best projects.” She sighs. “I was lucky to find a job in New York that wasn’t just carrying coffee.” She had gotten a bigger offer from a more well-known firm where she had interned one summer, but it had been for an assistantship, heavy on the assistant. Her eventual Junior Architect label hadn’t been great, but it had been something, being a rising star at a smaller firm. It seemed like a good fit. “I did not make my mother proud. I… she lived in New York, and I lived with my dad all over.”

Percy frowns. “Your mom didn’t have custody of you?”

“My mom didn’t want custody of me,” she laughs, bitter. God, it feels weird to tell someone else this. Piper and Leo and Luke knew, obviously, but they had witnessed it all firsthand. Telling someone else, out of the blue… Well, Percy had divulged his tragic backstory without complaint. It’s only fair that she does as well. “I mean, my dad didn’t either. But when it became clear my mom wasn’t an option, well, there we were. He stepped up as best he could. That wasn’t always a lot, but when compared to my mother, he seems like a perfectly involved parent.”

“Are you trying to make my parental situation seem more reasonable?”

“Is it working?”

“If you ever meet my dad, we can compare notes.” He shudders at the thought, playfully. “So, what happened with your mom?”

“She made her displeasure known.” Annabeth sighs again, shading a corner. “I mean, she’s always made her displeasure known. I wasn’t getting good enough grades, I wasn’t in the right activities, I wasn’t going to get into the right school, yadda yadda yadda. But for a long time… I don’t know, it at least seemed like she was worried about me.” She thinks of the Eta party, of the man in the brown suit, tutting about Athena Pallas’s druggie daughter, and scowls. “My mother has always had an all or nothing outlook. If I wasn’t the best, I might as well be nothing. But the thing was, this time I thought I was making real progress. And when she invited me to lunch after six months in the same city, I thought she would see that.”

She had not. Because to Athena Pallas, having a daughter who was an architect instead of an executive Vice-President on her way to CEO, having a daughter at a small but growing architecture firm instead of the best one in the country, was like having a daughter who was drunk in a gutter somewhere.

And Annabeth had realized as much that lunch.

All her work was never going to earn her mother’s love.

And suddenly, she wasn’t sure what work had been her’s and what had been her mother’s ambitions.

She’d started crying. In the cafe and right now, on Staten Island, with Percy. “I’m sorry,” she sniffs, wiping her nose on her arm. “Wow, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He reaches over and wraps an arm around her, gently, rubbing her shoulder, and she more or less crumples into his side. “It’s fine. Take your time.”

Her arm, still free, keeps moving. The drawing takes a shape that she can’t quite name yet. A tree, maybe, in a box. A window to another world, possibly. She spills tears on the paper.

“She disowned me.” Her thin line trembles, before righting itself. “I ran out of there. I stumbled into the first tattoo parlor that didn’t smell like piss, and got my owl done.” She brandishes her left arm, the grey shape blurry and faded against her elbow. She had had a stuffed owl as a little girl, her protector against the spiders in the closet. “I cut off my hair, got my eyebrow pierced, found a club, and just… had a rough couple of days. Got really really drunk that night.” Like, too drunk. Crying on the floor of a filthy bathroom drunk. “Thalia found me under the bathroom sink, took me back to her place, helped me kick the hangover the next day, and that was that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” Annabeth says. And most of the time, she isn’t. She wipes her eyes, smudged makeup getting smudger.

“Your mom sounds like she sucks.”

“She does.”

“What about your dad?”

She sniffs. “What about him?”

“You just haven’t really mentioned him. What’s he like?”

Shrugging, she wipes a tear from her cheek. “He’s a history professor.”

“And?”

“That’s about it.”

“I mean, do you like him?”

She shrugs again. “Sure.” There was a lot to like about Frederick Chase. “I haven’t really spoken to him in a while.”

Mouth in a sympathetic twist, he brushes the curls from her eyes, a gesture so sweet it makes her heart pound. “You should call him,” he says. “I’m sure he misses you.”

Her phone burns in her pocket, heavy with the weight of unread texts. “Maybe.”

“Do you want to change the subject?” he asks.

“Please,” she blurts out, digging the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. “God, please. Let’s go back to your cute backstory. Tell me more about your first ballet. I want to hear all about the time you were in the Nutcracker.”

Percy fishes out a napkin from somewhere, handing it to her. Grateful, she blows her nose into it, wet and disgusting. “I hate to tell you this,” he says, “But I have been in the Nutcracker, like, fifteen times.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he nods, “It's the big moneymaker. Have you ever seen it?”

“It's a holiday classic,” she scoffs, a little wetly. “Of course I’ve seen it.”

He snorts. “Like, for real, or the recorded one they play on Netflix with Macaulay Culkin?”

“I've seen it live! My dad lived in San Francisco when I was in high school. They have a fancy ballet there.” She’d seen it as a little kid in NYC, she thought, too. Maybe when her parents were still married, or her mother was still willing to take her for Christmas.

“Would you be willing to see it again?”

“Like, for real,” she parrots back at him, “or the recorded one they play on Netflix?”

“Ha ha. I mean for real.”

“I mean… maybe if they switched things up a bit.”

“It's a classic!” He protests. “I mean, it isn’t like we do the Balanchine everywhere, every time. But… it's a classic.”

“I’m sure the dancing is fine.” Annabeth says. She remembers going with Luke in Boston and thinking it was nice, but also hoping Luke would kiss her at the end of the night, so she hadn’t really paid attention. “But they get to design a land of magic and sweets and fairies, and every time the costumes and the sets are just, like, pink glitter and white gauze mixed with weird racial stereotypes. There’s no imagination.”

“Well, okay then.” There’s something in his smile, in the turn of his head that she can’t quite identify. “What would you do?” he challenges.

She holds his gaze for a moment, looking into those eyes that almost reflect the color of the sea around them. Her eyes feel a little puffy still, but he doesn’t look away. Then, without breaking away, she flips open a new page in her sketchbook.

“Space,” she says. “It needs space.”

“Outer?”

“Negative. Lots of space for dancers to move around.” Her pencil scratches over the paper, familiar blocky shapes springing to life. Doric fluted columns split the wings, because of course. “It’s Christmas, so we want color: no sterile, snowy landscape. We know it’s all frozen over--we don’t need to see it again. Obligatory Christmas tree here,” she sketches a crude triangle off to one side, approximately along the golden ratio, “and a big fireplace in the center, preferably a functional one.”

“You know there was this dancer in the nineteenth century that died because her costume caught fire, yeah?”

Annabeth tilts her head, capitulating. “Fair point. We’ll raise it up on a pedestal, keep it out of the way.” She draws a little platform beneath it. “But color is key.” Up above, she draws a pediment crowning the proscenium. She scribbles in the empty space, a placeholder. “Everyone knows the story, so you lay it out up here, episodes merging into each other from start to finish.”

Percy peers down at her page, his chin perilously close to resting on her shoulder. She can’t draw like that. “Kind of reminds me of the Parthenon.”

“You’ve been?”

He nods, his hair tickling the side of her face. “Couple of times. I thought you said you wanted color, though. The Parthenon’s all white, isn’t it?”

“Not originally,” she says. “Do they not explain that on the tours?”

“Um…” Sheepish, he looks away. “I, uh, I’m not always great at listening.”

God. It’s so endearing. What the hell. She kisses him on the cheek, enjoying the way he flushes lightly. “Me either.” He is so fucking handsome. “But no, the original Parthenon, all those white statues, they were painted. Ergo, color.”

He blinks, momentarily stunned. “Wouldn’t--uh, wouldn’t that distract from the dancers? People would just be staring at the ceiling.”

“Then… it’s only lit up before and after the show. During the show, you turn the lights down, bring the focus back down onto the stage.” She considered it. Something she’d worked on for a production once, a fashion show Piper had done at Pratt. “Or, you set it up so the colors are mostly lights. Lights that shine through during the snowflake dance and when Clara rides off with the prince. But then you also get the white for the frosted look. But, they’re still too pink, so I don’t think some color variety is bad.”

“So, not to kill your vibe,” Percy says, pulling back a bit, “but I gotta say, I don’t see how this is that different from the billion other Nutcrackers out there.”

She glares, lips pursed. He’s trying so hard not to laugh. Dick. “The set is only half the problem,” she says. “You'd need to redesign the costumes, too.”

“Tell you what. Why don’t you come see my show in December, and then you can tell me all about how you’d fix it.”

“Me and every tourist in New York at Christmas time?”

He nods, like he was expecting it. “Then come to my current one. September isn’t Christmas, so it’ll be a lot less crowded.”

“I don’t know,” she grimaces, sketching a star in the corner of the page. “I don’t really think I’d fit--'' Fit in with those people like the ones from the Eta awards, who thought not being her mother’s lackey was the same as being in rehab.

“Annabeth.” Percy takes her drawing hand, lifting it off the page entirely. The pencil is caught between them, an ineffectual barrier to the sweet, rubbing thumb on the mound of her palm. “I want you to come to my show. I’ll leave you a ticket. No one will care what you look like, I promise.” He stares at her, baby seal eyes in full effect.

Fuck.

“As long as you leave me a ticket,” she says, weakly. “I mean, I wouldn’t be able to afford a good seat.” The lie slips out, easy as anything. She can’t help it.

He smiles, soft and warm and way too inviting. “And in the meantime,” he says, softly, you can come with me tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“I’m going to my parents’ for dinner. It’ll be just my mom, Paul, and my sister. They’d love to meet you.”

“I can’t,” she replies, immediately, almost without thinking. “I’ve got--I’ve got work to do.”

She doesn’t. But boys don’t bring girls like Annabeth home anymore. She isn’t meant to settle down. She’s meant for grimy bars and ship yards. She'll leave it to the princesses to be brought home.

He deflates, just the slightest bit. If she hadn’t had so much up and personal time with his naked chest and the movement of his shoulders, she probably would have missed it. “Maybe next time, then?”

“Yeah,” she agrees, not entirely certain if she means to follow through. “Maybe next time.”

#ballet au #percabeth #pjo #the rivalry ends here #darkmagyk #perseannabeth #byima #uhhh whoever else #my fic #pjo fic #look at them having a real conversation and then immediately blowing it

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gallavictorious · 3 years

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I was delighted to be tagged by Our Lady of Words and Joy @howlinchickhowl Cheers, dear!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Earlier today it was 40. Now it’s 39. WHAT GIVES? Did someone eat a story? Which one? I am so confused.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

137 098. At least that hasn’t changed...

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Highs, and Your Lows (i will weather them)

This Time (We'll Be Fine)

Teenage Tales

To Keep Your Gentle Heart

Captive Look

Huh. Would you look at that. All Gallavich stuff!

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Eh. Well. Listen, I always want and mean to respond to comments, because as a commenter I always love a response from the author, but I am procrastinator supreme so a lot of the time I just... don't. Not for a great long while at least. Then, two years AFTER you left a comment, you might get an e-mail notification about me responding. It's horrible, really, because I keep the comments in my heart and treasure them so much and the lovely people taking the time to leave a few words on my silly stories really do deserve better.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Life, Still to Come has the one main character Jim Moriarty killing himself and his lover Sebastian Moran after he's diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, so I guess that's pretty angsty? The tone of the fic, however, is... kinda soft and peaceful, really. It doesn't feel so very sad, I think.

For Gallavich, I've got Chapter 7 of my ficlet collection Highs, and Your Lows (i will weather them). It's an Wild West AU kind of deal, where Ian Gallagher is visited by the ghost of the young fiend Mickey Milkovich after his dad beats him to death. That one is sad, but there's the glimmer of a promise that they might meet again one day, in a better world.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

My fics mostly end on a happy note, and I have a hard time pinning down which is the happiest. Hm. I'm gonna say Pressure or possibly Foreign Country, if only because the happy endings there are offered in contrast to the otherwise angsty story and so seems all the happier for it.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have, once. Well, started one, really. Notes Regarding the End of the World is a crossover between Sherlock BBC and Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire trilogy. I still feel there's a bunch of potential there, but I'm very hesitant I'll ever finish it.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not to my recollection, no. Back when I posted my SW fic on the Jedi Council forums you might receive critical comments at times, but no hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not really, no. I'm not very interested in reading it, and so see very little point in writing it. There's been a few semi-explicit depictions of sexual acts – most notably in Claim – and I'm not averse to writing kink fic, even if they don't typically include actual sex when I do. For instance, I did The Ways We Bend and Break and Mend for X-Men, and the whole point was Charles first whipping Erik and then cuddling him – except in the end it turned into a character study with lots of emotions, and I think any attempts to write smut would be like that for me. Accidental character drama. XD

I might have a Gallavich thing for kinktober that is likely to be pretty explicit and kinda messed up. We'll see.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. There have been a few instances of stuff popping up bearing a strong resemblance to things I've written, but there's also been times when I realize that things I have written bear a (very much unintentional) strong resemblance to other stuff that predates them, so I really think that's the nature of the beast. In any big fandom, the same ideas are likely to occur to multiple people, and we are all, often unconsciously, inspired by the same things and by each other.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, to Chinese and Russian.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Pathoftheranger and I co-wrote (How to Break the) Alibi Armistice, which was fun!

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I'm a creature of ever-changing affections, so I'm not so good with ”all-time favourite” and to be honest, I mostly tend to have favourite characters and ship them with everything in sight... Currently it's all about Gallavich but pretty much all ships including Jim Moriarty is forever gold to me (though MorMor is The Best. Or is it Sheriarty? Or maybe Mormorlock? Or Moriadlock? Or Johmlock – notice the 'm'?). Cherik's a big one too!

Ask me again in six months and my answer might well have changed!

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The aforementioned Notes Regarding the End of the World. And I have this superlong Star Wars fic I started writing when I was 16 and wrote for years and years and then just... stopped writing, when I was maybe 20 pages from the end? It's currently at 180k words. This one I DO have some hope that I will go back and finish one day, although it's likely to be a jarring experience since I'm very much not 16 years old any more and my ideas about writing and the characters and everything have shifted quite a bit.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I do pretty well with the short format, I think. And with dialogue? Finding the voice of the characters (some more than others, certainly). Writing in my native Swedish, I think I'm pretty good at offering decent prose – I'd like to think I have a fairly developed ear for the flow of the text, and the melody of it? But when writing in English, that gets quite a bit harder. This really annoys me, because I'm rather preoccupied with the stylish elements of writing – though I've found that a lot of people seem happy enough to overlook clunky writing as long as they find the story otherwise engaging, which is a huge blessing for me. I believe I can build a decent plot, but since I can't write anyting longer than a few K these days there's no telling, is there?

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Primarily getting any writing done at all. Mostly, I stare at a blank page and despair and then I give up. This is why I no longer write long fic. I also tend to reuse favorite phrases or themes far too often. And there are so many subclauses... Proofreading happens to other people (I'd like it to happen to me too, but I'm terrible with it). I'm not good at accepting constructive criticism, even when I ask for it. I will often favour style over efficiency, and I'll stubbornly refuse to admit that this can be a problem.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

This question makes me feel like I ought to have developed thoughts on this, but I don't so much... I don't mind it? I've used it. Uh. It's a good idea to do a bit of research and not just rely on Google translate for it? If you don't like it, don't use it. Those are my thoughts.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars. <3

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Buffy/Angel/Spike. The Book of All Hours. Heroes. Maybe something based on The Coldfire Trilogy... ? Oh, and the Bible. I'm sure there are others.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I really don't have one. There are a few I'm particularly happy with, but no one that truly stands out... That said, I was quite chuffed with how the first ficlet in Or Else Into the Light, my (tiny) collection of Anakin redemption one-shots, turned out. And Claim. I’m very pleased with Claim.

Tagging @dreamylyfe-x @fiona-fififi @pathoftheranger @abundanceofnots and @captainjowl

#tag games

12 notes · View notes

another-dr-another · 3 years

Note

insert those coins babey! no point in holding onto them if they aren't used !

You Now Own:

001 - Mineral Water (x2)

Drawn from the ocean depths and rigorously purified. Ideal for a modern on-the-go public unsatisfied with tap water.

002 - Sea Salt

A basic seasoning produced from the evaporation of seawater. It also sees use as a preservative.

003 - Ration

A set of canned and vacuum-sealed foodstuffs. The taste isn't bad, and a certain snake that wants to play hide-and-go-seek is just crazy abou- wait, what?

005 - Ramune

A sweet, lemon-flavored carbonated drink. A marble plugs the opening of the uniquely designed bottle. The bottle can also be reused if you bring it to the ramune store.

010 - Ship In a Bottle

A intricate creation, a model ship within a bottle. Made with time, love and care.

012 - Envy-Enducing Envy CD

A CD of songs by Japanese band Envy. Full of unreleased tracks/first recordings.

014 - Children's Book

A children's book about family and forgiveness! The plot is about a sister who can't get along with her younger brother, but they find common ground and bond over causing trouble for their parents.

016 - Sour Soda (x2)

No flavor is listed on the bottle other than sour, which may just be a flavor in and of itself. It's a near black shade of blue... I think.

017 - Gentleman's Guide

A book that's meant to help shape you into the perfect gentleman. However, it's rather demeaning towards the reader, which doesn't feel very gentleman-ly.

018 - Masculine Cologne

Very masculine, can only be used by masculine people. No weaklings allowed, or people with the common sense to smell it before purchasing, and realize it smells really bad.

019 - Fancy Sword

True to it’s name, it looks very fancy, and very intimidating. However, it's only for show, and rather blunt- perhaps inexpensive?

022 - ??? Alcohol

It's something alcoholic. This is a school, it should be confiscated, and you won't be receiving any more information.

024 - Hair Cutting Scissors

Snip snip snip, meant for hair-cutting at home, as these aren’t professional grade. Still though, try and make it even, okay?

025 - Purple Hair Dye

Pretty purple hair dye guaranteed to not come out of hair for weeks! More of a pinkish-purple than the box advertised, but still pretty.

028 - Constellation Skirt

With patterns matching actual real constellations. Despite matching the night sky, it almost seems sun-rise themed, with its pink background and pale gold stars.

030 - Bottled Tea

When heated up, it's meant to help soothe upset stomachs, and muscle aches. Popular among student athletes.

031 - Alarm Clock

It's a digital alarm clock. One of the few normal and functional things here, and it's the thing that screams at you to wake up every morning.

032 - Broken Stopwatch (x2)

It won't stop running, no pausing or restarting. You can however make it record different laps.

034 - Baseball Cap

Perfect for keeping the sun out of your face! This one is all black though, so it'll retain a lot of heat.

038 - Card Game (x3)

One easy to play, and popular among kids. The front side of the package shows a family of four playing.

039 - Reminder Booklet

A small pamphlet that gives reminders for daily things, such as eating, drinking, taking meds, etc. Also has room for you to add in unique personalized reminders.

041 - Tiovita

A Japanese energy drink sold at most convenience stores. Pretty inexpensive, and with a nice fruity flavor- but hey, only one per day!

044 - Lie Detector (x2)

Fun for the whole family! Though not incredibly accurate... wait, how do you know that?

045 - Evidence Encylopedia

A book focusing on evidence found in crime scenes. From most overlooked to most common, this book talks about it all.

049 - Track Award

A award from a middle school track and field award. The recipient of the trophy seems to have come in second in two events, and first in one.

050 - Plane Tickets (x2)

Anywhere, anytime, round trip tickets. Probably given as some sort of thank you for volunteering to get off of a accidentally over-booked flight.

051 - Therapy Advertisement (x2)

Some therapist endorsing themselves. Upon looking at the services they offer, I don't feel very inspired to go there.

056 - Soulmate Sweatshirt

A sweatshirt that supposedly brings the most comfort not when you wear it, but when holding someone wearing it. Currently smells strongly of... lavender?

057 - Scrap Metal x3

Seems to be broken bits and pieces of some sort of engine. Could be repurposed, or simply a cool trinket.

059 - Old Journal

It seems to be from the late 80s, and kept being written in up to the early 90s. There's a entry on the last page, synopsizing the birth of the owners son, and how proud the owner is of his now five year old.

060 - Paper Boat

A piece of paper that's been folded into a boat. Apparently you can fold and tear it as you tell a story to provide a visual aid for the story, but no one here knows how.

061 - Calendar

It's got pictures of internationally famous towns on it! This particular one has been written on with a note on almost every day.

064 - Face-paint Kit.

A professional face-painting kit. However, it’s missing it’s red, yellow, blue and white paint- those colors have been all used up.

065 - Life Quote Sign (x3)

A sign with some stereotypical life quote written on it in flowery lettering. Most likely to be seen hanging in a kitchen.

066 - Throwing Rings (x2)

Meant for fair games. If you have good enough aim, maybe you'll win a prize!

067 - Pleasant Savior

Seemingly a CD filled with various performances by the same person. I haven't played the CD, so I don't know what kind of performances he does though, and the name is off-putting.

069 - “Fresh” Bouquet (x3)

Somehow still smells sweet with flowers that look flawless. It's comprised of roses that have been dyed rainbow, all of them.

070 - Hair Ribbons (x3)

They come in a variety of colors, but the Monomono Machine only dispenses yellow. Guaranteed to make the wearer feel a certain sense of self-satisfaction.

071 - Girls Profile

A student profile from a all-girls academy. The paper is water-stained and some of the ink has run, so it's hard to make out what's on the paper.

073 - Baby Doll

It seems to be from around the 90s and... not quite well-loved, but well-played-with. Doesn't come with the original clothes... or hair.

075 - Dream Catcher

Made by a past SHSL. It's actually been pretty effective, and is part of the reason they got scouted.

080 - Retro Game

It's handheld, old, and extremely broken. The screen has been shattered so it displays wrong, all cracked and distorted.

081 - Blackout Curtains (x2)

Completely block out any and all light. Strong enough to plunge a room into darkness.

084 - Noise-cancelling Headphones

They completely block out all sound! Also come with the ability to adjust the size of the band, and will stay on your ears even if you pull the band down to your neck.

086 - Wall Decals

Stickers you can put on your wall. They do a decent job of covering up holes in said walls.

087 - Antique Stuffed Animal (x2)

It seems to be bunny themed, and dressed in clothes you'd see on babies in the 1930s. It's in pretty good shape, other than a few tears where the lace trim at the end has had it’s stitches removed.

088 - Embroidery Kit

Or rather, a needle and thread to be used for embroidery. There's only one needle, and one spool of thread, but hey, it’s something.

090 - Scented Markers (x2)

A full rainbow set, all with their own unique smell! Be careful though - it's hard to get these out of clothes.

092 - Fake Christmas Tree (x2)

Too plastic to be a real tree. It's also incredibly small, but real trees can be small too, so that doesn’t really mess with the realism.

093 - Hair Gel

Top of the line hair gel, and completely unopened! Helps you style your hair and keep it in place, but doesn’t give it the nicest texture.

095 - Instant Noodles

Just add water to get something hot, salty, and/or spicy! A nice meal if you're looking for something that's quick and easy, you can dress it up some too.

097 - Drink Mix

A powder used for ??? warm drink, made with milk, tastes like... something? You try it and tell me, but it smells good at the least.

099 - The DSM-I

Self-explanatory, it's the original version of the DSM, from 1952. Index cards have been slipped in-between most of the pages, talking about what happened with the information listed there.

100 - Collection Of Old Ads

Dating back to the 1920s. A magazine full of ads from a different time, it’s somewhat of a miracle the paper held up while the ideas in it didn’t.

101 - Wooden Ruler

It's a wooden ruler. Used for measuring things, nothing else- why do you ask?

102 - Building Blocks (x3)

Stacking and stacking, and sending it all crumbling down. And then you rinse and repeat.

104 - Cutesy Hair Clips

Snap clips in pastel colors and covered in designs. Oddly enough, there isn't any non-pastels, unless you count the few white clips.

106 - Newspaper Collage

Seems to be a collection of snippets from newspaper articles. There must be hundreds in here... it's a big collage.

107 - Cropped Sweatshirt

Cropped specifically due to a parent saying not to. The sweatshirt seems to be related to some organization, with the big fancy emblem on it.

109 - Pins And Patches

A mix-and-match bag full of enamel pins, buttons, and iron-on patches. Good luck finding something to do with them all.

110 - Origami Paper (x2)

Simple origami paper, in a variety of colors and patterns! Comes easy to tear out of a book, which includes instructions on basic origami types.

112 - Colorful Band-Aids.

They come in many colors, designs, even different sizes. Some seem to be made to cover up paper cuts, others meant to help skinned knees and scraped elbows.

Thank you for visiting the Monomono Machine!

~*~

Maeda, narrating - And I thought the coins were kinda heavy...

Maeda - What now?

[Free Time Event - Uehara]

{Head to Your Room}

#dra #au #fangan #fanganronpa #yuki maeda #chapter 2 #daily life

8 notes · View notes

wendibird · 4 years

Text

SPN 15X18 Observations

Let me preface this by saying, I apologize ahead of time if I and/or my notes seem a bit cynical. I’ve had a rough week. (I think everyone has.) But for whatever it’s worth, here are my notes, observations and meandering thoughts on tonight’s episode.

Oh, one more thing though. For episodes 19 and 20 (and anything really to do with them) in addition to my usual tags for the episodes and season, I’ll be tagging them with #dontspoilthefinalhunt for any who wish to avoid spoilers for them.

Pre-Episode thoughts:

So, I’ve heard enough rumors already to know that mooooost likely Cas is going to die this episode. And let me be clear, he’s my second favorite character in this show after Sam. But I have trouble feeling strong emotions for something when I go in knowing that I should. But I’m going to try to go into this one with an open mind.

Also, in the past I liked Billy as a character because though she still had some biases, she still seemed mostly neutral, like OG Death had been. And from previews it looks like maybe they’re turning her into an outright villain like they’ve done with God? Yey.

- Where’s Chuck? Did he just bampf off?

- So he’s gonna blow up in the Empty?

- Yep.

- So now Dean cares about him? (Jack)

- Poor Jack. He doesn’t get what’s going on.

- Yey! Jack is back!

- “You’ve snapped me out of worse.” When?

- They’ve prayed to Michael? Yey for not overlooking options! (Not being sarcastic.)

- Charlie!!!! And yey she has a girlfriend! (Are they gonna kill her?)

- Aaaaaaand there she goes.

Commercial thoughts:

So, I get the whole narrative idea of taking a character that everyone assumed was kinda on your side and revealing that they were always working towards their own interests. I get it. And it can be effective. I still don’t like it with Billy.

I’m glad Dean said what he did to Sam. Even if Sam says (and probably thinks) that he doesn’t need to hear the apology, sometimes it needs to be said anyway. And I think saying it all helped Dean a bit too. He needed to know that Sam understood.

I’m glad Jack’s back though!

- Oh Jack. You’re worth more than your death.

- I’m glad Cas is saying this, but sadly, I think the “we” only applies to him and Sam.

- So Jack is powerless when he came back? Did the bomb thing burn out it all out?

*is confused*

- Yey! Eileen! (Please don’t have her just vanish….)

- I’ma cry….

- Oh no……

- “If I let myself go there I’ll lose my mind. I can’t go there right now.”

- Oh Sam. Always trying to push down his feelings because there’s other shit going on.

- Hug!!!!!!!

- Sam’s gonna drive Eileen’s car. Just shoot me now….

Commercial thoughts:

So yeah… Wonder what Billy’s plan is here with this random picking-off of people but not like, all at once. She COULD do it all at once, she has the personel. (The Empty didn’t kill all her reapers.)

I think she’s setting her own kind of trap or something.

Also, I take it Chuck just vanished? They didn’t say anything about it but that seems to be the impression given.

Still pisses me off though that after bringing Eileen back and only half-assing her role they just had her vanish. (At least Rowena’s in charge of hell, so if she wound up down there again, she SHOULD get a better shake than she did the first time.)

- Donna!!!!

- Eileen’s Car…… *cries*

- Sam’s got so much emotional stuff going on this episode. He’s got this grief for Eileen in the background and he’s worried about Jack and trying to help him, and trying to save all these people.

- OUch……. Double ouch. (Were in references to the expressions on Sam’s face when Donna first comforted him about Eileen and then Charlie made her comment about not wanting anyone else to go through what she did.)

- (Yes, I’m worried about Dean and Cas too.)

- Sam’s still their “Chief”.

- That's weird….. Why does his touch kill plants? (Not people at least.)

- Yeah, she (Billy) was waiting.

- Oh dear…..

- So what IS causing this?

- NO! NOT DONNA!

- WTF?!

Commercial thoughts:

So Chuck is doing this? I mean, it makes sense. He’s gotten petty enough. But now what?

Also poor Sam. I mean, he tries so hard to save people. And time after time it just doesn’t work out. It could be seen as part of “Chuck’s Plan” because of how he wants his big story to go. So now I guess he’s just being more direct about it. Sam isn’t allowed to do well unless it’s been authorized by the Narrative. (AKA, him.) When he tries, he just gets shown the error of trying. (But he’s beaten down if he doesn’t try too. Like S8.)

Also still don’t like how Billy’s character has changed.

- She thinks she’s Freddy Kruger?

- Heart attack? His first “death” was supposed to be his heart. (In “Faith”) Wonder if that’s intentional here?

- Oh god… please don’t tell me they’re going to….

Commercial thoughts:

Okay. I don’t ship Destiel. At all. I’m not an anti though, cause I’m firmly a ship-and-let-ship kind of person.

But that scene while very heartfelt just didn’t do anything for me because it felt more than a bit like revisionistic history. However, I will say, congrats to the Destiel fandom. They killed Cas, but that scene was definitely for you all.

They’re killing off so many people though it’s like… this is one of my problems when I’m going into a situation where I’m “supposed” to feel a certain way. It makes me awkward. (Like the Episode “Lebanon”.)

- Gah, poor Sam.

- WTF?! Is Chuck taking everyone in the world?

- FUCK?! THAT’S WHERE THEY’RE LEAVING IT OFF?!?!?!?

Okay, so my hope is now, since they’ve gone THIS far with what Chuck is doing, that unless the ultimate resolution of the story is going to be “everything goes away forever” they’re going to have to leave some way to bring people back.

I’ll be honest, I had trouble connecting emotionally with this episode. But that may not be the episode’s fault. I’ve been working some long hours lately and I just today found out that someone I work with has tested positive for Covid. (I just got tested today.) Plus with all the election stuff still going on, there’s a lot of real-world things on my mind.

Also, as I said, knowing that these are the final episodes, it’s pretty much a given that things are going to ramp up. (And the people involved with the show have been telegraphing the hell out of Cas’ death, so it wasn’t unexpected. And I get it. Some people really do need that time to prepare emotionally and adjust their expectations.) But I still feel like a lot of the things they’re asking/expecting us to care about, they haven’t put the actual effort into the storytelling to make that happen. I love the absolute shit out of Eileen, but for most of this season she’s been written as little more than an accessory to Sam. And just so he can have some “feels” about someone. And then she gets vanished without so much as a last glimpse of her? (And this episode was filmed before everything closed down due to Covid.)

I mean, his reaction STILL tore me up, because Jared is that damn good at conveying those emotions. But once again, like LAST time they killed her off, it was amongst so much other shit that there’s barely time for him to even feel it. In fact, he even said that he couldn’t because of what else was going on. And by the end of the episode pretty much everyone else in the world is Thanos-snapped too?

And I get it, this episode is clearly not about her. It’s about the whole situation. It just still feels like a disservice to the character.

And speaking of disservices to characters…

So, about what Cas said in his speech/confession to Dean. The revisionistic retelling of history has been strong this season, but that was especially bad. We know from past episodes that Cas has ALWAYS had “a crack in his chassis” and always had sympathy and love for humanity. We know that he cares about a lot of people, and has put a lot of effort into becoming a better being. (Just a few episodes ago he talked about how he truly found his purpose when he became a father. And he also had talked about finding his true family.) But no. Apparently all of that character development was just because of Dean. What bothers me isn’t that he told Dean “I love you.” What bothers me is that it truly feels like Cas’ entire character was reduced to one half of a ship.

Okay, and what also bothers me is that Sam was literally an afterthought in all of that. When for most of these years, Sam has been the one who’s been the most supportive and understanding of Cas. Sam is the one who lately has had the closer connection with him. But naw. He ain’t important, except as an extension of Dean.

And I get they were trying to throw some fanservice to that corner of the fandom, especially since Cas was slated to die 3 episodes before the end. But they could have done it better. I’ve read fanfic that handled Destiel in a more believable way. (I was reading for the Saileen content as they’re often put in as a sister-ship and it can be hard to find fic of them without it.) And technically this wasn’t even requited. Dean looked more shocked than anything, though I admit that's up to interpretation. But someone in one of the discord servers I'm in posted a picture of that part of the script for this episode and it outright said in the directorial notes that Cas said what he did knowing that Dean didn't/couldn't return his affection the same way. So, there is that.

There were other aspects of the episode I also had thoughts on, like, wtf is up with Jack not having his usual powers but wilting plantlife? Some extension of the bomb-thing? Is he radioactive now to anything with “Celestial energy”? But wouldn’t that have made him give Cas problems too? Or is this supposed to be indicating something else? Amara did that too before she started turning lighter, back in Season 11. Is he somehow turning into the Darkness? Or did he come back from the Empty partially possessed by Lucifer? Gah. I don’t even know. I’m just throwing ideas at a dart board now. *LOL*

And at this point, wtf CAN they even do against Chuck? I really don’t know. I’m hoping the next episodes are better, but I know 19 was written by Buckleming and they don’t have the best track record. True, a few of their episodes I’ve actually enjoyed. But sometimes they fall short on writing the Brothers Winchester.

Anyway, I think I’ve probably rambled enough for now.

#spn 15x18 spoilers #spn season 15 spoilers #episode review #my thoughts #some salt #sam winchester #dean winchester #castiel #jack kline #eileen leahy #donna hanscum #au bobby singer #au charlie bradbury #billy/death #meg!empty #character death

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

Note

Hi, I have questions about trigger warning terms, can you help? Grayson # 12 or any time a character is hit by their family, should it be tagged as domestic abuse or any other term? Also like in Grayson, those uncomfortable sexual situations are under sexual harassment right? Not assault, because that means something else? Sorry, it's not my first language and I need to put warnings before discussing comics, closest I can get the better. Honestly every comic could have abuse warnings.

I mean, there are no hard and fast rules, which is part of what complicates things here. Domestic abuse would work, certainly, but its not necessarily what I would go with as domestic violence just as often carries connotations or impressions of partner on partner violence rather than between siblings or parent and children....which, given the nature of a lot of ships in this fandom, IS something to consider, I believe.

Personally, I would go with something like “Sibling Abuse” or “Parent/Child Abuse” because the more specific the better and its like there’s no reason not to be. Also, it can only help matters to see terminology like that become more widespread and commonplace, to combat the instinctive pushback a lot of people have, like “siblings can’t abuse each other, that’s just fighting” - like, no. Sibling abuse is definitely a thing, and the more its just matter-of-factly used as a description where the description applies, the less easy it is for people to contest it, or even just overlook it entirely in their own writing.

Specifically, what makes Grayson #12 definitively an instance of abuse that should not have been written IMO, let alone validated by so many fans, is not simply Jason punching Dick. I mean, that’s not ideal, but some people are always gonna go well boys will be boys and sometimes brothers fight and blah blah blah. I mean, I have issues with all of those takes because lol toxic masculinity and also ‘sometimes brothers fight’ usually refers to like....aggressive amateur wrestling which is still not quite interchangeable with just hauling back and sucker punching your brother in the face. But whatever. Sticking to that example specifically, the thing that pushes it definitively into the abusive category is the fact that it was framed contextually by both the issue AND fandom as a kind of....penance. A just punishment.

It was NOT brothers fighting, it was one brother taking out his hurt on the other in a way that definitively should NEVER be approved of in a family, and with the implicit EXPECTATION that he wasn’t going to have to defend himself from any follow-up attacks from Dick in response to what he did. It was clearly written as though Dick was just letting it happen and okay with it happening, that ‘he deserved it’ and its extremely upsetting that even people who push the idea of a kinder, happier, more functional Batfamily in fics and such still found justification for cheering Jason on in this moment. Punching your brother as punishment for upsetting you. That’s defensible....why?

And of course, I don’t say any of this to vilify Jason. I don’t hate his character for doing it, I hate that his character was written doing it in the first place. I hate that so many people see so little problem with him doing that they have him do it again and frequently in fanfic. Honestly, its just as damaging to Jason’s character, because hello, he’s an abuse survivor himself.

People don’t seem to understand just how much male abuse survivors struggle with the stigma of it our whole lives, where the SECOND people find that out about us, we can often visibly SEE them regard us differently, take extra note of every single outburst of ours, treat us as though us snapping and actually harming someone else is an inevitability rather than a possibility, because we all grow up surrounded by nothing but narratives that spread the myth of all abuse victims eventually grow up to become abusers, its a vicious cycle.

No, in reality, many of us work really fucking damn hard to never become the people who hurt us, to never do to others what was done to us. Just because we’re angry or frustrated or have a lot to vent about doesn’t mean we don’t know how to keep ourselves from actually doing harm to others, and that’s why its particularly grating how often people like to point to our anger as being somehow inherently different from their own, simply due to information we voluntarily offered up about ourselves.

And yes, this obviously has a lot to do with my fixation on Dick’s temper and how its regarded, but just as much with how matter-of-factly its treated that of course Jason is casually violent with his brothers and nobody thinks twice about it, that’s just how he IS.

NO.

That’s how people are CHOOSING to write him, because of their own blindspots in regards to abuse and the many realities and nuances and dynamics of it. Abuse is just as damaging and carries just as much trauma and impact for abuse survivors as rape does for rape survivors, even when there is no crossover, but there is a very big tendency to just....not regard that as the case at all.

And there’s a very big, very real disconnect between the way people write Jason with a focus on his childhood history with abuse and how that impacted him…..and then just…not connect this at all to writing him being casually violent even with loved ones and friends, as though…..its not like its treated as if its an inevitable extension, its more just like, people completely FORGET that aspect of him when writing him being casually physically violent as though this wouldn’t have any bearing on how he views his own actions and interactions with others in light of that, y’know?

And everyone who writes him this way and doesn’t think twice about it because oh its just Jason, that’s just how he expresses himself, like, is doing a huge disservice to a lot of the very same stuff they unpack in their own stories about his history of childhood abuse when they DO focus on it. And that’s very…..bewildering, to be honest.

As to the second question about the sexual harassment scenes in Grayson, no, I think you have the right idea there. Think of it this way: sexual assault typically describes unwanted physicality, the other person forcing body-to-body contact in some way. Sexual harassment typically describes unwanted situations, the other person forcing you into scenarios or situations where you’re forced to put up with unwanted sexualization of yourself or others (usually the self though). So most of what happened in Grayson I personally would term sexual harassment rather than assault, but that doesn’t make it ‘better’ - there’s a tendency I think to view sexual harassment as being ‘sexual assault-lite’ and that’s like….no.

I hate bringing any kind of ranking into it at all, but its not even that so much as its apples and oranges….they describe two entirely different scenarios, and sexual harassment can be plenty damaging in its own right, often due to its frequency of recurrence ‘making up’ for it not being as intensely damaging in a single situation as an instance of sexual assault, perhaps.

So for instance, in Grayson, all the times Dr. Netz like, was very implicitly depicted as groping him during his physicals and medical exams, especially during the times when on top of that, she was verbally objectifying him in narration that made it perfectly clear she knew exactly what she was doing and exactly how uncomfortable she was making him (also emphasized via the facial expressions he was drawn with)…like those were sexual harassment, no ifs, ands or buts. The harasser was taking advantage of a situation they knew Dick had no way of gracefully exiting and had to put up with and endure because its not like a spy agency likely had much in the way of an HR department that was open to listening to claims about this shit….and even if there were, his undercover op demanded he make as little waves as possible.

Which even without Netz knowing that latter part….she still knew from the second she capitalized on his vulnerable position with him a) distinctly uncomfortable as a result and b) making no actual move to stop it (since there weren’t really any available to him)….like, the first time was ‘testing the waters’ kinda, and the second the harasser determined they could get away with it without consequence, it became a frequent, regular occurring thing, something both parties were more or less matter-of-fact about, though each instance only made the harasser bolder, and the victim, Dick, more resigned to his vulnerability in that position and even LESS likely to attempt to enforce personal boundaries or bodily autonomy, as they weren’t being respected as it was already.

I hope that makes those distinctions easier to conceptualize, and sorry for taking so long to get back to you on this!

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thehandsomeasshole · 4 years

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@starttheanarchy from X

"Then why use them for a job they are not meant for, just keep them to their original purpose and make something new that works for what you need. And because quality work will save in the long term with less repairs, replacements, and malfunctions over all. And your welcome." The wide grin could be heard in her last three words. She was raised to have some manners after all. "And DT could probably do it as long as the load weight isn't over hmmm..." She drifts off as fingers tap together, mental math being calculated. "Eight tonne? Maybe less. I'm not exactly sure on that front since I actually haven't tested his limits on that front. Hmm something to test another day." Her eyes drifted over the floating form of her robot as it stayed ever vigilant of her surroundings. She knew it could do some heavy lifting since she had used previous versions to move things in the junk yard.

Eyes roll at yet another reason on why to avoid corporations, and another as he seems to enjoy being a pest.

"Actually last thing I did was fix up several things that were in disrepair in Overlook, since too much of the population of that poor town have the skull-shivers and had no access to the medicine. Something about repair tickets being ignored or something like that. And I didn't come here for the shallow reason of becoming rich, I'm opening the vault to try and prevent a very clearly corrupt corporation from monopolization on something that might be a blessing or a curse." If she had it her way, she would keep it locked forever since no one has a full understanding of the capabilities and issues of Eridium that began to spawn after the first one opened. To many variables and yet everyone wanting to just add more into the chaos.

"Yes, yes. The definition fits, but you seem to think I am on the same level of depravity like the Fleshrippers or the Bloodshots. To which all I can say is, rude and incorrect. And princess? Really?" That got her to shoot a glare back at the space station.

"Not everyone. Yes there are people who still deserve a chance to be treated like a decent human because they are. But you seem to be hard at work for making it so those people are just as dead as the rest. And you are right, no one has used an army of robots to lay siege on a planet in the name of their own ideals. They used armies of people, and all of them were considered like a plague upon humanity in the context of history. Dictators, tyrants, oppressors, authoritarians, monsters. Wonder how will you be written down."

At the laughter, and how it grew as she talked about what started this whole hot mess off for her on planet side, it made her skin itch with irritation. Out of everything on this fucking disaster hellscape, it was Hyperion that tried to kill her first. Sure others might have had to deal with bandits at other stops, but she went from off the inter-space shuttle to the train with no issues.

It was fair to say Jack was the first person to try to actually kill her. Even when escaping Eden-5 they were aiming for capture to make her life a living hell instead of a death sentience. It was one of the reasons she was trying so damn hard to keep surviving at this point, out of spite for the asshole who tried to kill them after using some shitty signs to inform them of their supposed doom.

Hands were clenched into fists and she could feel a chill roll through her body. It was like the ice never left at times.

A deep breath as she turns her face to the sun that burns the landscape, she is fine and alive. And she isn't going to follow his script and get pissed. She isn't going to scream like everyone else on this planet. The Mechromancer is going to do what she always does, go against what is expected.

"How about you tell me something else instead. You worked with the Crimson Raiders? What happened? What is the full story, from beginning to end?" Her voice is calm and even, one that seems to hold no judgment and wanting to listen. And she does, after all there isn't much information on the group. Gaige had no plans to jump ship, but she honestly had as much trust for them as she did for most anyone on this planet that wasn't shooting at her. Eden-5 taught her that the only person she could ever trust was her father and the friends she created with her own two hands.

"No bullshit, no propaganda. Just your side of the story. I have time."

Jack did smile at the little sass she threw his way, despite himself. "Well, empty, those things weigh nearly five tonnes. So, nice try. I guess." He chose to ignore her initial comment about using the loaders for their designed purpose. There was not enough patience in Jack's body to unpack all of that right now.

"Oh, the vaults are definitely a curse. But, once you get the ball rolling around here, there's not really anything anyone can do to stop it." Jack shrugged lightly, scanning through the first four pages while he spoke, "You just… gotta do what you can before another idiot comes along and screws everything up even worse than you did."

"Nah, you're right. Princess made me feel a little icky. How about… I- I'll get back to you, I'll think of something real good." he laughed lightly, beginning to scribble down some notes on the papers before he continued.

"You sure as hell act like 'em, you and your bandit buddies. Just exactly how many things or people have you killed since you got to Pandora? Hey, look, I'll even give wildlife a pass cause- Well, you could kill a hundred skags one day and the next day there'd be two hundred more. Let's just focus on people. Maybe you're not running around screaming about meat bicycles, and maybe it is a little rude of me, but it's also correct. You just don't wanna admit it."

"The people who are still decent in this universe are few and far, kid. In my entire life, I've only met two people who were truly selfless." One's dead and the other’s… worse. "But, you do realise that if it wasn't me up here, it'd just be someone else? Hell, Dahl and Atlas would still be plowing through planets like they're big balls of paper and slaughtering everyone in their way while going off about fighting for those planets' freedoms and peace."

"Ooh, I love tyrant! Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Always considered myself more notorious, than anything else." The sharp, almost humorous-sounding edge to his voice gave the impression he was teasing her, "Kid, it's nothin' I haven't heard before. You really think I'm gonna be kicking it anytime soon, anyway? Nah. Nope, not happening! I got way too much to do."

Jack's brows knitted together and slowly raised in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Sure, maybe she didn't care, he'd just never had a person who hated him ask for his side of the story before.

He decided not to express his shock.

"So, I'd been working on Helios since it launched, I was, uh-... A- a programming and engineering specialist for Hyperion for ten, fifteen years, maybe. I was in charge of most of the construction, getting together schematic proposals to give to my bosses, all that kinda shit."

"The first time I met Lilith and Roland was when Dahl decided they wanted to massacre all the workers on Helios and take it over. They… They didn't discriminate. If you worked for Hyperion, they'd gun you down without even batting an eye. They killed so many of the workers up here, I knew them all personally. We- we didn't even have a real military then, for God's sake! They shot workers out of the sky when they were trying to evacuate. That was the level of murderous psychopaths we were trying to deal with. We defended as best as we could, but even the freaking loaders weren't weaponised yet, I had like… Six hours to get them into a position to defend themselves, and you bet your ass I did it. I guess that actually answers your earlier question, too. I used them for a job they weren't made for out of necessity, the damn Lost Legion shot at them when they were running away, too. Assholes."

"I managed to get the vault hunter's I'd hired down to Elpis in a moonshot, think you've met a couple of them. They got to Concordia thanks to-" Shit. He hadn't actually thought about Janey in a while. He'd ask Athena how they were both doing, but she'd probably curb stop his head before he could even say hello. "-uh, this mechanic. They asked Lilith and Roland to help cause, y'know, Dahl had stuck a jamming signal somewhere on that moon and I couldn't work Helios's defences until it was shut off. They knew people on Helios were dying, and they said no."

"They only started to help when their lives were in immediate danger and Dahl got control of the moonshot laser and start firing away at Elpis. I really did trust 'em to help us, y'know? Like they promised they would."

"I guess they kinda did. We managed to get control of the laser again and… They blew it up. They nearly took the whole space station down just because they didn't want Hyperion having it. That stupid laser could've saved Pandora, you know. It could've- The blasts were so concentrated we could've wiped out an entire bandit settlement and their nice neighbours next door would've barely felt the ground tremble. I'd worked so hard on that laser. You have any idea how hard it was to make? How much progress they destroyed when they blew that damn thing up? A lot! A whole, freaking lot and-... Sorry. Off topic. Uh…"

He made a small noise, "Oh, yeah. Anyway, after that it was just a rush trying to get to the vault before anyone else did. Dahl was already there, but after what happened with those two I wouldn't have been surprised if they got to the vault first just so we couldn't."

"But, we did. My vault hunters took care of the- The Empyrean Sentinel, I think they called it. Big bastard, more human than the other vault monsters. Freaky stuff."

"So, the Sentinel was dead, and we finally got to the vault relic. It looked like… Nothing. Very underwhelming. Just a weird little floating vault symbol. I decided to touch it and-..." Jack went quiet for a while, his knuckles growing white with how tightly he was gripping the armrests of his chair, "And I saw… everything."

He felt sick even talking about it. The pit in his stomach growing deeper and he knew if he didn't stop soon he'd fall into a full blown breakdown. So, he took a shaky breath in and continued.

"Wasn't long after that when Lilith made her grand entrance. She destroyed the relic and- blasted the fuck out of my face. You ever had your face branded by some freaky eridian technology? It sucks. Real bad."

He let his head drop back, and he rubbed his eyes, "So, there's my side. Think I can quit my day job and become a professional story teller?" Though he tried to make a joke, the fire in his voice seemed to have dissipated. He just sounded… tired.

#jack was not expecting that either hsndkdkd #and also i do see what you mean about this turning into a whole ass novel hahaha #it could've been paradise // borderlands 2

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anchorsandadderall · 5 years

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Dolly

Sterek Week, Day 7: Halloween

Words: 2,629

Summary: Nothing in the Stilinski-Hale house is ever normal, of course. Not even birthday gifts for their son Herald.

Genre: Horror (sort of), Humor

If you do not yet know the tale of Herald, please go and view/read this absolute gem of the fandom here. Herald and his origin story belong to @spaggel and @grimm-times

Aside from the Sheriff, Cora was probably the one most unaffected when she met Herald. Derek and Stiles introduced them via FaceTime, because that tends to be the easiest way to introduce new, woefully unsuspecting people to him. They have the opportunity to hang up and swear the call dropped if it’s too much all at once. The amount of people who suddenly ‘lost signal’ when FaceTiming It for the first time is staggering. Scott swore he thought their kid was super adorable, he just lost signal while in a tunnel, despite the fact that he was calling them from a Burger King.

It’s also helpful that electronics seem to malfunction around It a lot, and while sometimes the flickering screen has the same effect as the reveal of the girl in The Ring, a lot of times the static helps to… soften things. While sitting on the couch with Derek and It, Stiles bangs the side of his phone to try and sort out the heavy lines of distortion running up from the bottom of the screen, making everything wobble as it passes. That has to actually be making things look worse, surely.

“Okay, now please remember that Herald is like… eight years old now, so he understands stuff that people are saying.”

Derek clears his throat. “He’s five.”

Stiles pauses and counts in his head. Time seems to go a lot slower when one is awaiting possible eminent death in ones own home all the time. “Five. But he can still understand you.”

“Sti- Stiles.” Cora’s voice jumps and doubles back as the screen wobbles. “The only danger here is you making me motion sick. Lemme see my nephew.”

Stiles sighs and tilts his phone to bring It into view. “Herald. This is your Aunt Cora.”

Herald takes the phone, grasping it in his knobby little fingers and stares at Cora’s flickering image. His eyes unfocus and the pupils drift apart slightly. Stiles braces himself for the hang-up but Cora just laughs.

“Hey, he’s got Derek’s eyebrows!”

***

The package arrives four weeks later, and it’s covered in red ink stamps and writing on the shipping label. It’s in Spanish, written in a dying ballpoint pen. But the mailman didn’t hang around to say there was extra shipping due or anything. Plus it’s from Cora, so it has to be fine. Stiles just cuts the box open and sifts through the balled-up newspapers.

And finds the doll.

The doll is some sort of cloth nightmare creation from Cora’s neck of the woods in South America. It’s rail-thin, the body wrapped in some kind of lacy doily to make a dress. The arms are too long, and the eyes are too big, bugging out of her head. For some reason the eyes are sewn onto black felt circles. Stiles thinks it’s supposed to mimic eyeliner, but the eyes are too high on the head and the circles form large, dark crescents under her eyes.

Stiles shudders and stuffs her back into the newspapers so it hides those bulging eyes, grabbing the piece of folded cardstock that’s been rifled around with the papers. Cora’s messy scrawl is inside, written in red pen.

‘1 missed birthday present down. More to come. Love, Aunt Cora’

“Hey kiddo,” Stiles says automatically as he hears the front door open as Derek comes home from picking It up from kindergarten. He shoves the box aside so he can mail the hideous thing back to Cora and tell her to buy It a less creepy doll off Amazon if this is what they all look like where she shops. “How was school?”

“He didn’t bite anyone today,” Derek says, releasing It’s hand so he can wander freely around the kitchen while Derek hangs up his backpack. “His teacher is thrilled.”

“Me too, because that means he gets to stay another week.” Stiles presses a kiss to Derek’s cheek. “Our kid might learn those pesky social graces yet.”

“Can I see her?”

Stiles looks over at where It has perched himself at the edge of the table, staring up at the box without blinking. “What?”

Herald points up at the box.

“What are you talking about, buddy?” Derek walks over to the box and sifts the paper around, pulling the doll free. When he flips her over and the wiry black hair falls away to reveal the huge eyes, he startles and drops the doll… right into Herald’s waiting arms.

“Your uh… sister decided to send that for Herald,” Stiles says, internally screaming. Herald has the doll, and looks quite pleased about it. Stiles is probably a terrible person if he gets rid of it now.

“Oh.” Derek looks down at it, a shudder running up his spine. “…Why?”

“How the hell should I know? She always had a weird sense of humor.” Stiles sighs. Time to foster good habits and all that parental stuff. “Let’s call Aunt Cora tonight and say thank you, okay?”

It turns his head slightly, not looking at anyone. Turning his ear towards the doll, maybe? Then he nods his head.

“She packed her too close to the strawberries. She didn’t like that.”

“Right.” It’s not the weirdest thing Herald has ever said. It’s not even the weirdest thing thing week. “Well, we don’t give people feedback when we’re thanking them for a present. So don’t say that to Aunt Cora.”

“Yes,” It says, and then departs with the doll.

When Stiles is dumping out the newspapers to fold the box down, he finds a bag of candies tucked in the bottom of the box. There’s a smiling piece of red, round candy on the front of the bag, holding a strawberry.

***

The doll is called Amaia. Stiles takes note that It always just says that her name is Amaia, not that he named her. He likes to talk to her, which, again, isn’t all that weird. It talks to a lot of inanimate objects. And then he forgets to talk to his very animate parents for long periods of time.

So he loves the doll and calls her his new friend and everything is great. Stiles can overlook the creepy factor since it makes Herald so happy. Hell, his kid has a creepy factor, who is he to hold it against a doll? But one does have to draw the line somewhere, and for Stiles, that’s at the front door.

“Maybe you can take Amaia for the next show and tell day, okay?” Stiles offers after having successfully distracted It with Pop Tarts long enough to pluck the doll off the table.

“She doesn’t like my teacher,” It says, watching the doll. “I want to show her that she’s nice.”

Ooookay, the doll is never going to show and tell. Ever. “Well, when you come home you can tell her all kinds of nice things about your teacher.”

It gives this a long moment of consideration. “Yes,” he finally agrees, and goes back to carefully biting his Pop Tart into the shape of an anatomically-correct heart. Stiles gives Derek a ‘dodged a bullet’ look of relief. Once Derek leaves to take It to school, Stiles stows the doll on top of the fridge so he doesn’t have to look at her creepy bug eyes all day.

Stiles is working at the kitchen table at his laptop, tapping his fingers on the edge. He’s half focused on his screen, but something sort of... itches in the back of his head, but on the inside. A twitchy, uneasy feeling.

“Derek, quit watching me,” he says, not taking his eyes off the screen.

No answer. The prickling doesn’t go away.

Stiles sighs and rubs his eyes, breaking the spell of concentration with the screen (which wasn’t exactly helping him make progress). He turns to the kitchen doorway to tell Derek to stop being a creeper and make sandwiches or something.

The doorway is empty. The kitchen is empty.

Stiles rubs the back of his neck gingerly as he looks around and confirms that... he’s definitely alone. The kitchen is quiet, save the slight hum of his laptop and the ticking of the clock that’s hanging over the stove.

It’s cold. Well, Stiles thinks it’s cold, but there’s also the very real possibility that he’s just bored, and neither of those problems will be solved by him just sitting here. He gets up, trying to rub a little warmth into his arms, and heads out of the kitchen. A quick walk around the house, maybe asking Derek if he was hanging around the kitchen recently, grabbing a jacket if he needs to... then he can get back to work.

When Stiles opens the door to the home office where Derek is working, he’s trying to pull a second sweatshirt over his first one. “Hey Derek. Were you in the kitchen?”

“Not recently, wh...” Derek turns to the door and fades out in the middle, eyebrows coming together as he looks Stiles up and down. “Are you okay?”

“It’s kinda chilly downstairs, don’t you think?”

“I-” Derek pauses as his computer begins humming louder, like it’s running harder. The screen dims. The lamp in the office dims, casting a brown tint on the walls. The bulb sputters, slight pops of yellow as it tries to fight back to full brightness.

Then it passes. The light comes back on fully, the cheerful orange light from the bulb radiating comfortably. The computer quiets back down. Derek immediately saves his work, just in case.

“That was... weird. Uh, I haven’t been downstairs since I got home,” he says.

“Oh,” Stiles says, for lack of anything better to say. He can’t very well insist that Derek had to be downstairs because it’s way creepier if he wasn’t. “Right. Well. I’m gonna go... get back to work.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Derek asks, leaning over his desk like he’s tryin to get a closer look at Stiles, but he’s already making a beeline for the staircase.

The kitchen light is off when Stiles gets back downstairs. So is his laptop. Everything is silent except the clock.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Stiles yanks his chair out, wondering how the hell he was gone long enough for his computer to go into sleep mode. Movement on the chair makes him glance down before he tries to sit.

Amaia is on his chair. The force of him pulling it out has tipped her onto her side, one long arm falling past the edge of the chair. Bulging eyes staring at him.

Stiles grabs the doll and shoves her into the freezer, slamming it shut.

“Don’t make me call a priest,” he warns through the closed door. “You better not have screwed up my computer.”

***

It’s hard to be phased by much of anything after a life in Beacon Hills and now five years of fatherhood to the creepy little gremlin that is their son. Stiles and Derek just kind of take the first week in stride. Weird stuff happens when It is away at school. It usually stops when he comes home and Stiles returns custody of the doll to him. At worst, Stiles nicks his fingers on every knife in the utensil drawer while trying to find a wooden spoon. Messy, but not too bad when one’s mate has pain-removing powers.

Then It stays with his grandpa for the weekend. Stiles makes him leave the doll again, because hell if he’s sending that thing to his dad’s house.

Amaia does not appear to like that.

Stiles taps his fingers on his knees while the phone rings in his ear.

“Stiles.” Cora’s voice on the other end is groggy but suspicious. “Wha’s wrong? It’s... 5 in the morning.”

“1 in the morning for us. Cora, where did you get that doll you sent to Herald?” Stiles asks, tapping his fingers faster.

“Is that Derek growling I’m hearing?” she asks. Stiles can hear rustling on the other end of the line as Cora sits up. The phone buzzes in his ear as the connection weakens.

“Yeah, that’s Derek. There’s a little girl standing at the foot of our bed.” Stiles rubs Derek’s shoulder to try and keep him from launching himself at whatever is standing there and staring at them. “Or, I think there is. She’s suspiciously featureless in the shadows.”

“What the hell?” Cora sounds fully awake now, and Stiles will at least have the petty satisfaction of dragging her up at a horrible hour on a Saturday after all fo this bullshit.

“Yeah. The light has been unplugged somehow and there’s a little girl standing at the foot of our bed in the dark. Staring at us,” Stiles repeats. He can’t see her eyes, but ohh, it’s easy to feel they’re being stared down. “Presumably here to kill us because Herald is away.”

“What the fuck kind of doll did you send our son?” Derek growls, not taking his eyes off the still figure facing them.

“I mean... it was just a doll,” Cora protests. “Lots of the women around here sew and make kids’ toys.”

“Are they all in a cult or something?” Stiles hisses, trying to toe the line of belligerence. He’s not sure if it’s possible to piss this thing off and he doesn’t really want to find out either. Not when he’s only wearing boxers and he’s carelessly moved his bat to the closet after It tried to use it to beat a hole into the wall. (He wanted to go into the crawl space. Stiles absolutely did not ask why.)

“No. They’re just a bunch of old grandmas who make clothes and toys,” Cora huffs. “I know what a cult looks like.”

“Then why is there a demon attached to the doll they made?” Stiles asks. Because they still have no explanation for what’s at the foot of their bed.

“I don’t know! I showed one of them a picture of Herald and said I wanted something he would like. That’s it, I swear.”

“And... then what?”

“She crossed herself. Which people do a lot when I show them a photo of Herald.” Cora sighs and Stiles can hear her tapping her nails on some surface as she thinks. “And then she sold me the doll. Simple as that.”

“Great. I think your grandma friend was some kind of vigilante trying to rid the world of our creepy kid.” Stiles holds the phone away from his ear as the static hisses and distorts the line.

The shadow at the foot of the bed flickers and appears on Stiles’ side of the bed. Derek lunges for her and the shadow makes a sound like static on a dead television channel that makes Stiles’ ears hurt.

“Oh, thanks Cora! Send me the replacement doll so I can burn this one,” Stiles says loudly into the phone.

The shadow shrieks angrily and vanishes just in time for Derek to pass through her and land on the floor.

“Stiles?” Cora’s voice is faint as Stiles drops back against his pillows and sighs in relief. “Stiles, what doll? What are you talking about?”

“Where did she go?” Derek snarls, eyes blazing blue in the dark room, whipping his head around.

Stiles groans and rubs his face. “Bye, Cora,” he says, hanging up the phone. “Come back to bed, babe.”

“What the hell are we supposed to do about that thing?” Derek growls, climbing back into bed.

Stiles pulls the blanket up to his shoulders, hunkering down under it. He’s still getting his goddamn child-free night of sleep, and no haunted doll is going to stop him. “We order another creepy-ass doll from Amazon and use it to keep her in line until she gets too strong and we have to exorcise her. Obviously.”

#sterekweek2019 #sterekhalloween5 #mild horror #my writing- beware #featuring Herald Stilinski-Hale #who remains one of my all-time favorite fandom creations ever #I half-wrote at least 6 different stories for Sterek Halloween #October has been kind of a bastard month #but hey I finished something #and got it posted while part of the US is still on Halloween #and writing about Herald made me ridiculously happy

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vedj-f-bekuesu · 5 years

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2019 in Retrospect

2019 has been fairly quiet, so I decided to start off this year by looking back on it. I’ll be dividing it by main fandoms/characters/ships because this year there were actually some new ones. That hasn’t been the case since, like, 2013.

Sonic the Hedgehog

It was an...alright year for Sonic. TSR was fine but too light on content, Mario and Sonic Tokyo felt like a step down from Mario and Sonic Rio but was still alright, and I have not played SEGA Heroes (and haven’t bothered with the Chao in Space short). Lowest spot for me was the IDW comic; the Zombot arc has had one interesting story so far, but the rest has had either bad writing (primarily aimed at Shadow’s turn) or it’s just been wallowing in its bleakness in a way even Shadow the Game didn’t. Then again, I find zombie stories uninteresting to begin with, so no duh I’m not interested in a Sonic take on it.

Chaotix kind of mirror that. Vector’s managed to get a good showing in, batting 3 for 3 on the game front, and having a key role in two of them. And like I said before, the Chaotix have genuinely had the most interesting stories within the Zombot arc, although with Vector and Charmy turned this may become more limited. Speaking of though, Espio and Charmy have had weaker presences. Espio managed to get into all three games in some form but to a lesser extent (one just by name), and Charmy was really left behind.

As for Vecpio, it’s been pretty bare for canon material stuff. Espio got mentioned in TSR as contributing the report that reveals Dodon Pa’s true role (with him and Vector being the key to making everyone shut up about him being suspicious, proving they’re best as a team). And Mario and Sonic Tokyo has something if you headcanon some stuff; when Vector talks about the medals, Espio is the first person you’re directed to. Nothing is said by Vector about Espio in text, but you can implicate that Espio was chosen first because of his strong link to Vector, being the first one Vector would trust to compete at a gold level. Other than that? Dry. And with no announcements for Sonic games in 2020, this may just continue.

Crash Bandicoot

On the reverse side, we have Crash Bandicoot having a really strong year. CTR:NF came out (which is a remake of my favourite Crash game) and has been doing gangbusters. On top of this, it has been going out of its way to revive pretty much every dead character in the franchise, to the point that we have RIlla Roo back in the fold (something I genuinely didn’t think would happen 19 years beforehand).

Skipping straight to the shipping for this, I wouldn’t have imagined it for Crash ever, but there’s actually some in-game material for me to latch onto for DingodileXKomodo Joe! Dingodile has been pushed into a more jovial character since N-Sane Trilogy, being even more doubled down on in CTR:NF. However, for the past 20 years Komodo Joe has managed to avoid being given traits closer to Espio. This game finally catches up to him, and does it hard. Seriously, his character took a hard turn for the stoic badass Espio did after Heroes, and when did Joe ever use Martial Arts magic ever? Aside from making that dynamic naturally more matching, Slide Coliseum joins in the fun with the visual upgrade. It has holographic projections of a trophy girl repping a couple of racers dancing each, and guess who the devs felt could be paired up for how they go together rhythmically? That’s right, my reptile boys. Man.

Super Mario Bros

What a weak year for Mario for me. What Mario got for new games this year were Luigi’s Mansion 3 (which I’ve not played), Mario Maker 2 (which isn’t new story content and doesn’t interest me in the slightest), Yoshi’s Crafted World (which I forgot was a thing) and Mario Kart Tour/Dr Mario World (which...um).

Because of this set-up, Bowser hardly got anything to do so he’s really been on the backburner. Considering how he’s been pushed in the rest of the decade that’s saying something. In fact, the most character stuff he got was in Mario and Sonic Tokyo, and even that was mostly just alright (I think Bowser Jr got the best deal out of that).

Spyro the Dragon

Spyro was alright, but this one’s more understandable. With 2018 being the big year for Spyro’s return, 2019 was a rest for the little guy. That being said it wasn’t completely quiet; Spyro Reignited Trilogy finally got its port on the Switch, and to tie in with that Spyro got an appearance in CTR:NF.

Because of the latter point, Gnasty Gnorc got a surprisingly strong year. Not only having more people learn about his glow-up in SRT, but bringing over that petty and angry character to CTR:NF. Seriously, his bit in the grand prix intro video is great, and he has more lines in his racing quips than any other game.

OK KO

I don’t think I made a post about OK KO on Tumblr (or maybe I did one, I can’t remember). But I did manage to get into this just before it got cancelled so there’s that.

I maintain that the Sonic crossover (aka the first thing I really knew about OK KO) didn’t give me a good impression of the show.It just seemed like “here’s the Sonic and Eggman dynamic but with more cartoon shenanigans*” and it spent more time making endless Sonic references. While some were deeper cuts which actually were impressive, most were references I could see in pretty much any Sonic-referencing material. It wasn’t until I decided to look up more info on Lord Boxman sometime after because I wanted to check if N.Gin was an influence that I found out the plot of the actual show (crossover notwithstanding) was pretty nuts and way more up my alley.

Speaking of, there’s Voxman. Whereas other ships on here I have to dig through material to construct nuggets from them, this was literally in the text. And why not, they have a good dynamic and are usually the most fun to watch bounce off each other. And I still like the fact that if KO and Lord Boxman were the Sonic and Eggman parallel, the story ends with Eggman becoming Sonic’s stepfather. Let’s see IDW tell a story like that, it’d be better than the Zombot stuff.

*I think that was the point but still.

LEGO

Man I wouldn’t have thought they would have remade LEGO Racers but the one they made this year was gre--

Okay no, this year basically reignited another flame that I thought was snuffed out like 16 years ago. For a brief history of me and LEGO, when I was six I had a freestyle box which I used to make an elemental superhero persona. I played with this until I was 11. Before then, my sister got some LEGO Harry Potter sets (which we still have in the loft), I played LEGO Racers a lot (and wasn’t very good at it), and I owned two random other LEGO sets (the trike from Life on Mars and Lava from RoboRIders).

After that, I only dabbled in LEGO when there was a Sonic set done for LEGO Dimensions. I did try to play more into it, but it was really prone to crashing in certain worlds so I eventually got frustrated enough to stop playing it. Sometime in the interim though my sister started enjoying LEGO films without me knowing, so when February came around I was dragged to see LEGO Movie 2 when all I wanted to see in 2019 was Toy Story 4. Dad insisted on it since we rarely have family outings. In retrospect;

youtube

LEGO Movie 2 hit me in a way a piece of media hasn’t for years, or even decades. It’s shot up to be my third-favourite film of all time. And it’s revealed to me that LEGO is shockingly good at making endearing characters. So much so that breaking it down (pun not intended) has to be done by theme.

LEGO Movie: Part of the reason why I didn’t get into LEGO earlier was because I did see LEGO Movie back in 2014 when my sister was given it on DVD (she wasn’t into LEGO then) and I wasn’t impressed with it. In retrospect, I can appreciate what it did more, and I bring it up because it’s what makes Unikitty, Benny and Metalbeard so endearing when combined with what happened in TLM2. Lucy’s okay (moreso in the sequel), Emmet’s cute, President Business is fun but the MVP is definitely Rex Dangervest, who’s this feral monster but with Emmet buried away deep inside ready to flesh him out. When I make LEGO stories, I just have Rex change his mind on rescuing himself after getting the dinosaurs, and instead wreaking havoc in the present. This kills Emmet off in any story I do but it’s a worthy sacrifice.

LEGO City Undercover: As a video game person I’m kicking myself for not getting into this before. Frank Honey is the best; he’s adorable and weird yet still feeling very much human and basically the Emmet of his city. Rex Fury has grown on me lots since my initial assessment of him,it’s infectious how much fun he has with being a criminal (while Vinnie is more fun when not doing criminal stuff and Chan seems to be more focused on doing criminal stuff as a job. I also think his calmer side is criminally (no pun intended again) overlooked). Also Ellie is underrated, she is the best straight man you could ask for.

LEGO City Adventures: As I’ve said before, pretty much everyone in LCA is adorable, especially Duke and Harl. Still hoping for more Daisy time in the second season, she could be a riot if played properly and not just a Fendrich stooge.

Ninjago: Coming in with the hot take here; I prefer the movie version of Ninjago to the series. I think the problem with the series is that it has so much baggage from before the series started to iron out some of its issues and cliches that it’s kinda hard to get into as a new person, whereas movie Ninjago is a lot more approachable and written better off the bat (although I do see why it wouldn’t go down well with existing Ninjago fans). This all just makes me think of that moment in series 11 where Nya sees her worst fear of being normal in an artefact and it shows her movie self, almost as a take that. It just makes me think the show writers are salty about movie Nya kicking show Nya’s ass in being a better character. Also shout outs to Kai, Cole, Zane and Lloyd for being great characters as well (Jay is cute in the movie, his show self can be punted off a cliff for all I care). And I am with the movement to have Cole come out as gay (or at least bi if they want to keep Tournament of Elements I guess).

Nexo Knights: This show is regarded as another Ninjago wannabe, but it feels very different to Ninjago to me. So much so, there’s not a single one of the heroes I don’t like and they all need to be cherished. Macy gets props for being the best female character to me, Aaron is probably my favourite now and this is a house of Clance for future reference.

So, with all that being said, what do I think of the prospects for 2020? I think it’s going to be quieter than 2019 to be honest, since there’s a lot winding down, and on the game side there’s been zero announcements. Crash and Spyro having a rest is understandable, Sonic’s going to have to get past the movie before gearing up for 2021 probably (for the record I have no interest in the movie) and Mario just needs to try harder. And with OK KO dead, only LCA is holding the fort for guaranteed new content I want to engage in right now.

You know what would be fun though? Series 20 of the minifigures theme is due at the end of this year. Wouldn’t it be awesome to use the occasion to give some phsical minifigures to characters who never got them before? LIke, Rex Fury somehow still has enough demand to be a persistent feature in the customs market, give him an official figure (especially since he’s the only character from LCU that’s not Chase that’s even appeared in merch outside the game). Or let Sky Lane get her LEGO Universe look in physical form to go with her LIXS look. Or heck, finally give Rocket Racer his original look, that’s how I discovered the minifigure world in the first place!

#VEDJ-F talks #a lot #2019 #sonic the hedgehog #Crash Bandicoot #Spyro the Dragon #super mario bros #ok ko #lego #vecpio #tagging the vecpio because this is still a vecpio centric account at heart #but please I do not want lego chaotix that would just look weird

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moonlightreal · 4 years

Text

Winx Club season 8/26

In which we get one last surprise retcon.

26 Written in the Stars

Recap says the last prime star is the “star of brotherly love.” Were the other stars “of” things? I totally missed that.

Valtor’s asteroid! ...wait, what’s this? Valtor is having a chat with a bunch of unforeshadowed Shadowy Figures he calls “my brothers of the darkness dimension.” Valtor gathered the prime stars to free them and they’re getting impatient.

Gee, this series already dropped one big fat surprise motive, I was not expecting another one in the very last episode!

So Valtor wants to be a powerful sorcerer so he can unseal the darkness dimension and free his buddies. Whaaaaaat even is this? Valtor’s not from some weird dimension, he was created by the Three Ancestors! His backstory is what made him cool, and “buddies in the dark dimension’ is so uninspired!

Season 8, whaddaya doing to me? -_-

Alfea at sunrise! they’re squeezing the best gorgeous Alfea shots out of their software for this last episode and I am here for it. Upgraded Alfea is just the greatest.

Kiko rocks on with headphones. The Trix walk in behind him. How did they get iiiiiin?! Into the Winx common room, past the school barrier and all the students and teachers.

Kiko sees the Trix and freaks out. Icy knows the bunny’s name, which is kinda sweet. Knowing your enemies’ pets! Kiko pelts the Trix with apples from an apparently infinite fruit bowl. The Winx wake up and find witches dodging apples.

Badass Bloom: “I don’t know how you got here, but I know how you’re gonna leave!”

The Trix turn out to be Stella, Flora and Aisha transformed. Not bad, writers. Professor Wizgiz made the spell for them for Bloom’s plan to get into Valtor’s asteroid. Flora says it’ll be dangerous and Aisha sounds kind of fed up when she says, ‘Ok, Flora, but don’t worry too much.”

Bloom’s phone rings, it’s Sky with a be-careful call.

The star box poofs in. “The goal of your venture will not slip away, but listen carefully to what I’m going to say...” I assume she’s telling them where Valtor’s asteroid is. The Wishing Star would know, and I don’t see how else the Winx would.

We cut to the real Trix walking down a dark blue and purple corridor. Icy is keen to challenge Valtor, she thinks their prime star will give them enough of an advantage. Darcy and Stormy are not so confidant. Stormy sensibly suggests they just take their freedom and clear out.

Icy: ‘because right now we’re standing on the needle of a scale. A scale that will tip in our favor when we take Valtor’s three stars. We’ll have the power of the wishing star all to ourselves.” Icy wants to break the spell on Sapphire. Stormy wants them to be undisputed queens of the magic universe. Darcy’s dream is to “overturn the law of nature itself. A world of illusion, can you imagine?” Ok, they’ll try attacking Valtor with Icy.

Wow, and Icy says, ‘If things go bad, run, and leave me to my fate.” so Icy is putting it on the line not just for Sapphire but for Darcy and Stormy, which is remarkably honorable, for Icy. They hug, and it’s sweet. Then they enter the throne room!

Valtor’s just done chatting with his shadow buddies I guess. Icy starts to say something, I think she’s going to bluff that they couldn’t get the star, when the room shakes and rocks fall from the ceiling. Thunder.

Stormy: ‘don’t look at me, I didn’t do it.” Heh. Valtor orders the Trix outside to check it out.

Outside, it’s Bloom, Tec and Musa who’s hitting the building with “sonic shake” I think meant to draw their enemies out. And it worked!

The Trix are happy to have a fight, even though this would be the perfect time for Icy to do a little “enemy of my enemy” stuff. But the Trix just like fighting the Winx I guess. It’s their hobby.

Inside, fake-Trix walk along the corridor and Aisha-as-darcy nearly falls over because her shoes are too tight. it’s an illusion spell, why are you wearing Trix shoes? Flora suggests they fly instead.

Fake-trix sneak into the throne room. Valtor is back to taking to his shadow buddies and he explains his whole plan before turning and seeing the fake-Trix. Stella is kinda hilarious doing the whole, ‘prime star? Oh, um, didn’t you have it?” thing as Icy. She says it might be in her pocket and Valtor reminds them they have no pockets. Pffffft. Seriously, Valtor is dumb as a doorknob not to realize.

The real Trix and Bloom bust in through the roof and Valtor is momentarily confused before the Winx all turn back into themselves.

Valtor demands the star from Icy. Stella says, ‘don’t give it to him!” and spills Valtor’s plan to release his shadow buddies. Valtor tries activating his mark on the Trix but surprise, it’s gone!

Bloom does a little speech about “if you give it to Valtor it will be the end of everything, the magic universe will cease to exist, is that really whet you want?” and “On Dyamond I realized there is love in you.” Bloom doesn’t know about Sapphire, remember, she just knows Icy likes cute baby animals.

Valtor blasts Bloom and reminds Icy that the Winx are their worst enemies and that they’ll be rich and powerful beyond imagining if they help him out! Then he blasts Bloom again, but she shields herself, lights up, and says, “In your heart you know there’s only one thing to do.”

But Valtor evil-lights up.

The Winx and Trix know a bad thing when they see it and fly away.

The whole castle busts open and there’s a gargoyle with Valtor’s mark across its chest. It doesn’t look or sound like Valtor at all, but I guess that’s him. Giant gargoyle goes after the Winx. It throws blast after blast of dark magic at them and the girls raise their shields. Rainbow put in a little detail, Tec’s is green and techy, Aisha’s is morphix. But they can’t hold out for too long.

Here come the Specialists in their ship! It flies back and forth distracting the gargoyle.

Back on the asteroid, Darcy and Stormy want to skip town, leave the Winx to deal with the giant monster. But Icy does not want the magic universe destroyed! Darcy and stormy plead with her, Let’s just save ourselves!”

Flashback to Princess Icy on the overlook, vowing to save her sister. Young Icy raises glowing hands to her hair, smoothing the yellow frizz into sleek silver, and conjuring the tall thingy Icy uses to hold up her ponytail. “So, sis… Icy.” Like she’s embracing the darker possibilities of her name.

Present time Icy: ‘I watched a world crumble before. I won’t let it happen again. we’ll face this threat!” The other two go with her.

Valtor at first thinks they’re on his side, but then Icy gives the star to Bloom! She puts it in the star case and the other three fly out of the castle and go into the case as well. We fade into magc-space and the Wishing Star gets herself back together!

“Yes Winx, you’ve achieved your goal, and I am free. To make your greatest dream a reality.”

Stella’s stoked. Wishes! But the others realize they have to ask for something that’s good for everybody. Bloom knows what they should wish for!

Bloom: “Our wish is to be able to protect the magic universe. We want to preserve it in harmony, now and forever.”

The star: ‘so be it, Winx. My brave and generous fairies of light.”

The star sends her light to the Winx and they all glow golden.

Valtor gargoyle tells the Trix this is all their fault.

But before he can bring the violence the glowy Winx all blast him and he is swallowed up in light. The asteroid disappears, leaving empty space. In the spaceship, Sky cheers.

The Trix realize there’s nothing else for them here, and head off to their next scheme. Before she does, Icy and Bloom look at each other and share a moment of understanding.

Ok, I think that was a dumb wish. The Winx protect the magic dimension already! If you get a wish, you should save it for something you can’t accomplish with the powers you already have! Maybe they couldn’t have defeated Valtor without lighting up, but they defeated him last time without star power. I would’ve liked it better if the Winx had been zapping and then the Trix had to join in to defeat Valtor, or some other use of having three sides in this fight.

I’m also so sure that Bloom would have used the wish to save Dyamond if she’d heard the story about Icy’s sister. Bloom’s a softie anyway, and she literally suffered the same thing herself. They could’ve used the wish without powering Icy up further… sigh. it’s such a weird skipping of such an obvious plot.

The Wishing star flies off, and we see her pass the star ship Purripla. The nautical lumens are happy. The star visits the cave lumens, unilumens, surf lumens, and then we see Twinkle fly into the throne room on Lumenia. ‘The Winx have won, my queen! The Wishing Star is back!” Time for a party on Lumenia, but Twinkle is more interested in the one at Alfea.

Where they’re having a concert, of course. This song’s a bit livelier than some. The minor fairies, the boys, teachers and Knut, a couple of lumens, and Twinkle and Lumilla are there. They are my OTP! I scan the crowd for Orion, but he doesn’t seem to have made it.

In the sky the Wishing Star zooms past, drawing a W between six stars. It’s the Winx constellation!

And that’s season 8!

But you’re not getting out of here without more ponderings!

It occurs to me that the Winx know—or at least Bloom thinks she knows—that Icy is capable of love, but they know nothing about what the white fox really is. In the real world where things don’t end after 26 episodes the next thing Bloom would want to do is go back to Dyamond and figure everything out. Making Icy stop being a threat to the magic dimension would be a huge win. Although… Icy has spent ten-ish years doing really awful things, she’s not a good person. She’s a terrible person who loves her sister, and if Sapphire regained human form Icy would be… still a terrible person, just one with a human sister. it’s hard to imagine Icy just returning to being princess of Dyamond and doing a good job. Or even enjoying it.

I do wonder if we’ll see Sapphire again. I guessed this is setup for movie 4, it could also be setup for season 9 or it could just disappear like the fairy animals from season 7 just disappeared.

Some thoughts:

The art bugged me less than I thought it would, I honestly stopped noticing after a few episodes. Even the boys… still looked weird, but my brain didn’t remind me loudly just how weird they look.

Musa/Riven, why must you be so bad as to force me to take a side in a fandom I don’t want to take sides in? -_-

Liked seeing Knut and the Alfea teachers again, and I’m glad they took the time to bring the minor fairies along to the new art style. Of course it was all made very confusing since some parts of the world seem to have gone back in time and others don’t. Mielle looked much younger but was described as being still a teenager.

All in all, I liked this season! I will have at least one more post of afterthoughts, and maybe a deep-dive into Icy’s past. The official Winx youtube channel has a video about it that I haven’t watched since I didn’t want to spoil myself. We’ll see. Depending on just how unemployed I turn out to be and how hard I’m working on my fanfics, I may have plenty of time to write about Winx!

#winx season 8 #winx club

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whitewolfofwinterfell · 5 years

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Back at you with the Misfits questions because I'm watching it now! (on 3x04) :) Who's your fave character, what are your fave episode(s), which power would you have and why, what do you think about Simon and Alisha? Also Alisha and Curtis? Curtis and Nikki? Nathan and Kelly? As a whole what do you like most and what do you dislike most about the show?

Thanks! I loved reading your responses to these questions, by the way!

(Response under the cut because it’s pretty long)

Favourite character: I don’t really have a favourite character. I like all of them for different reasons (although they all have qualities and traits that make them somewhat unlikeable), but I think that what really works about the show are the group dynamics. I have to admit I have a soft spot for Rudy although I find his behaviour disgusting at times. But I completely agree with what you said about Kelly. I always felt that both Kelly and Curtis were more overlooked than the others, which was really unfair because they both had a lot of depth to them that wasn’t always fully explored.

Favourite episodes: I’m like you and have so many favourite episodes, but since I’ve watched the whole of the series I do have some from the later seasons too. My favourites are: 1x01 (it’s a great pilot), 1x04 (I agree, it’s such a good episode), 2x03 (Nathan being in love with Simon is comedy gold), 2x04 (an all round great episode), 3x02 (any Curtis-centric episode is generally great), 3x04 (this episode is kind of dumb, but I also love it), 3x08 (a very dramatic and memorable episode), 4x01 (this is one of my all time favourite episodes, I find it hilarious), 4x03 (a great Rudy-centric episode), 4x06 (another quite ridiculous episode, but I actually kinda dig it lol) and 5x03 (this is a very good episode for character development). Phew, that was a lot! haha.

Power I’d have: There are so many powers on the show that I can’t even remember half of them. I’d probably choose the healing power too. It’s one of the only ones that could actually help people and save lives, which is an invaluable gift. However, there’s the power to stop time which appears in one of the later seasons which I think would be really cool.

Thoughts on Simon and Alisha: My mind has always changed when it comes to Simon and Alisha. I’ve never been in love with them as a ship (I personally think there’s a lot wrong with the relationship and there’s a lot of tropes associated with it that are quite cliche and boring), but I don’t dislike them either. I do think that their relationship became too much of a focus of the show at points and that didn’t always work for me. I also think that Alisha and future!Simon worked but Alisha and present-day!Simon never quite clicked. Simon was always insecure about never being as good as his future self and it seemed ridiculous to say that because they were the same person, but they also…weren’t haha. Future!Simon was very different from present-day!Simon, even as the episodes progressed and I never really felt that the relationship Simon and Alisha had was the same as the relationship Alisha had with future!Simon. I think on paper their relationship is some epic romance and the chemistry between Iwan and Antonia is strong, but it doesn’t quite sync up for me. It might be because they’re one of those ships that was written with the purpose of being this super dramatic, epic, tragic love story and I do enjoy ships like that, but I don’t really feel like they were really special enough as a ship to be able to pull off that kind of story.

Thoughts on Alisha and Curtis: I’m pretty neutral about them as a ship. I like them but I don’t love them. I think they were well suited and I actually thought the whole no-sex aspect of their relationship was quite sweet in a strange way. Like the fact that they liked each other enough to be willing to work around that and be together. I definitley agree with you that Alisha and Curtis were more suited than Alisha and Simon. In fact, I think their relationship could’ve lasted a lot longer if it wasn’t for future!Simon bursting into Alisha’s life and seducing her (this is what I mean about the issues I have with Simon and Alisha - it’s kind of creepy and immoral how their relationship develops). I also enjoyed Curtis and Alisha as friends. They’re very comfortable with each other and honest people, so their communications were refreshing because they told each other how it was and never held back.

Thoughts on Curtis and Nikki: I really like Curtis and Nikki and think they’re one of the most underrated ships on the show. The way they met was so unconventional (like everything else on this show haha) but they just clicked and the chemistry was right. Nikki had the kind of straight-up attitude that Curtis needed and there was a lot of passion between them. I felt like her death was really unfair and the way it was swept under the rug like it was nothing was even more unfair. Curtis really loved Nikki and I don’t think he would’ve stopped until he found his power, another power that manipulated time or one that could bring back the dead to be able to save her.

Thoughts Nathan and Kelly: I love Nathan and Kelly as friends. As a romantic ship they’re a big no-no for me. They’re an odd pairing and I think that sort of works for them in the beginning but as their friendship develops you just sense that a romance between them wouldn’t be right. I actually loved that the writers chose to have them go to that place and then realise it wasn’t right and just stay friends. I thought that was very authentic (a lot of friends have similiar experiences) and true to the characters. There was an attraction between them but in my experience a lot of people have some sort of attraction to their friends but that doesn’t mean it would feel right to enter into a sexual or romantic relationship with them. I think that attraction just sometimes goes hand-in-hand with friendship. When you connect with someone, you get on really well, you enjoy each others company and have banter, the attraction sort of naturally develops but that doesn’t mean the friendship has to become romantic. But yeah, I love the combination of their personalities and I think they’re a great duo.

What I like most about the show: Like you said, I love the group dynamics and the combinations of quirky characters and personalities. But mostly I love it because it’s such a unique show. It has its own distinct style when it comes to the cinematography, the estate its filmed on, the soundtrack and its approach to the powers. The characters are all unapologetically themselves and the situations they find themselves in are SO ridiculous but also hilarious and fun to watch. It’s all round just a fun and quirky show to watch and there’s no other show out there like it.

What I dislike most about the show: That there was sometimes a lack of bigger, more interesting plots and some continuity issues. It generally followed an episode-by-episode format whereby the characters faced a new challenge/villain in every episode. I do enjoy that format (it’s actually one of my faves), but I think it would’ve benefitted a lot more if there were more consistent arcs that spanned across the whole season. This became more of an issue after season 2, because I think season 1 and 2 did have overarching arcs (the death of Tony and Sally’s quest to get to the truth in season 1 and the guy in the mask and future!Simon in season 2). Regarding the continuity issue, there wasn’t much time spent on character development and events that took place or information that was shared in previous seasons is pretty much dropped as soon as we’re told it. I also don’t like the way there was a tendency to erase the existence of the characters that left the show. When cast members leave the show I understand that they don’t want to keep mentioning the character when they know the cast member won’t be returning, but it’s unrealistic when someone that’s been part of the group for 2+ years disappears and they’re mentioned once or twice in passing.

You didn’t ask about this, but in response to what you said about watching the later seasons after the original cast has left, I think you should keep watching for as long as you can. You might get to a point where you just aren’t enjoying watching anymore, but I don’t like the way that so many fans refused to watch the later seasons or have bad mouthed it just because the original cast left. There’s no denying the original cast is great, but there’s really good aspects to the later seasons too. I think the group dynamic stays strong until the end and the mix of characters works. There’s a lot of great humour (the probation worker in seasons 4 and 5 is hilarious) and I actually think season 4 is one of the better seasons of the series (I prefer it to season 3). But if you don’t like Rudy it might not be for you. I personally always liked Rudy and felt like he was a really good replacement for Nathan, because he shared similarities with him but was different enough that he didn’t feel like a Nathan clone. And I think if you don’t like Rudy now, watching the later seasons might help you to warm to him because there’s more of an exploration of his character and why he behaves the way he does, and Rudy Too provides a lot of insight into the inner workings of Rudy’s mind.

#answered #slayers-every-one-of-us #misfits #personal

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letterboxd · 6 years

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McCarthy.

“Give me a real character like Lee who’s complicated and irritating and smart.” Melissa McCarthy talks about her Oscar-nominated performance in the acclaimed true story Can You Ever Forgive Me?

In the media discussion building up to this year’s Academy Awards, the talking points have principally concerned decisions regarding the ceremony itself, leaving many of the nominated films somewhat overlooked in the conversation.

One triple-nominee very much worthy of discussion is Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which received nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay (Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty), Best Supporting Actor (the great Richard E. Grant) and Best Actress for Melissa McCarthy’s caustic and hilarious performance as real-life literary forger Lee Israel.

Based upon Israel’s memoir of the same title, Can You Ever Forgive Me? chronicles how the writer (of biographies of Estée Lauder and Tallulah Bankhead, among others) found herself out of favor and out of work in the ’90s New York literary world.

After discovering that letters by famous writers could be highly valuable to certain collectors, Israel took to forging correspondence by people like Dorothy Parker and Noël Coward, and selling the results via rare book stores.

In addition to profiting from the deception, the acerbic Israel also took considerable pride in her ability to capture her subjects’ trademark wit.

There aren’t many movies made about people like Lee Israel, and that’s what makes Can You Ever Forgive Me? so fascinating. The character fails all the obvious (and idiotic) “likability” standards that afflict many mainstream films: she’s an alcoholic misanthrope who lashes out at everyone around her. Yet she’s impossible to look away from, and we remain wholly invested in her throughout every bad decision.

Richard E. Grant co-stars in the film as Jack Hock, an acquaintance who becomes Lee’s friend, and eventually her collaborator, via their mutual affection for booze. More than one person has accurately observed that if you dim your eyes, Hock could easily be Withnail, thirty years later. His Oscar campaign has been one of the most gleeful joys of awards season, and a pleasing reward for an actor who was “told right from the get-go that I looked like a tombstone”.

Mostly taking place in a Manhattan of wood-lined taverns and fusty bookstores, and quietly celebrating some of the city’s longest lasting icons including Julius, the city’s oldest gay bar, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a minor miracle of a film that represents a new level of achievement for McCarthy.

The Oscar nomination is not her first (she received a Best Supporting nod for Bridesmaids in 2012), but there’s a complexity to her performance here that makes it undeniably special.

Director Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and currently in production on the Tom Hanks biopic about Mr Rogers) joined McCarthy to discuss the film at a recent AFI event in Hollywood.

On what made Heller want to direct the film: Marielle Heller: I found Lee really refreshing. I feel like we have male [lead] characters who are assholes all the time and we find them to be the most interesting characters, and you never get to see women like that. And so there was something about her I just immediately went, ‘Yeah, we need more women like Lee’. Also, middle-aged women who kind of don’t fit into society’s norms. Childless, lesbian. She didn’t fit into the model of what we make movies about, and so I just thought there was something nice and radical to me about that. It shouldn’t be radical, but it felt really radical. There was something about the fact that her intellect and her work is so much more important than her appearance, that I loved. And that she’s genuinely the smartest person in every room, but no one gives her that credit.

Marielle Heller directs Melissa McCarthy on the set of ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

On how McCarthy heard about the role: Melissa McCarthy: I had a very quick introduction to Lee. I heard about it first from my husband [Ben Falcone]. There was an earlier incarnation of the movie—movies fall apart all the time for a million different reasons—and my husband had a part in it, the part he ended up playing in this one [of a rare book dealer], and that’s how I read it. We read each other’s scripts and talked about it and after I read it I was like, ‘This is incredible, this is so good and why on earth don’t I know who Lee Israel is?’. I was disappointed with myself that I didn’t know about her.

On McCarthy’s response to the character as written: MM: I had a very strong reaction. I was at page twenty and I thought, ‘Oh I like her so much’. And then I had to stop and I went back through the first twenty pages, because I couldn’t figure out why. It was intangible. There’s no moment, there’s no speech. I started to fall in love with her, and that to me was the most exciting thing. I find her intriguing, challenging. I loved that she didn’t need someone else to validate who she was. Even when she is difficult, which is often. I respected her.

It also just made me think about being so talented at something and being told at 52, ‘You know, we don’t need you to do that anymore. You’re now obsolete.’ So as someone gets better and better and more experienced, the average thing is ‘Now you’re obsolete’. I just found that whole way of thinking so insane, that I thought, what would any of us do if we were pushed to that point? So the more she kind of conned and grifted, I found myself rooting for her.

On how she got into Lee’s headspace: MM: I read everything she wrote. I also listened to stories from people who actually knew Lee, and then there is a bit of conjuring. You just wanna do right by the people. The costume and wardrobe department were very important because I had no interest in looking like myself. I think it’s really freeing to get to walk around in other people’s shoes and I think that allows you to be braver and more vulnerable. It’s a very fantastic part of what I do, I think you get to be steadier or more empowered because it’s happening through someone else. It takes the pressure off of me.

I have a real fascination in what drives us all. What our quirks are. I don’t know any perfect woman, I don’t know how to play pleasant or blonde. Give me a real character like Lee who’s complicated and irritating and smart and all these things that when I look at someone, it makes you kinda fall in love with them. All my friends are nuts. They always need a qualifier like, ‘They’re actually great, just get to know them’. That’s why we love people. You don’t love people because they’re pleasant, you love them because they’ll talk too much or say the wrong thing, but they’ll show up at 3 o’clock when you don’t feel well and help you. It’s so rare that you get to play a woman like that. Those are the women that I know. They’re complicated and challenging.

On Jack and Lee’s friendship: MM: They were both so lonely. And it’s such a universal thing. I don’t know a human that hasn’t felt incredibly lonely and undervalued. We are all so lonely. I think everyone can feel that tether to those characters, and it’s why even though they shouldn’t have been friends, they needed each other.

On Melissa and Richard’s friendship: MH: Those two loved each other from the day they met in a way that was like, every director’s dream, because they showed up and immediately got along. Richard would show up on days he wasn’t filming and take Melissa to lunch. It was amazing because they were truly becoming friends on this movie and when we got to the scene where they were essentially breaking up, they had to hug each other afterwards because it was so painful.

On working alongside Richard E. Grant: MM: He’s so completely present as a person, and that certainly translates into his beautiful acting because he is 1,000% there. If you go this way, he goes with you. There’s just an ease to it. And we do sometimes these incredibly difficult scenes that were just heartbreaking, and then when we finished, we’d both become very silly and throwaway, which is really important sometimes when you’re shooting something that’s difficult. And then we’d go right back to it. I had such an ease working with him. I think we work in a very similar way. I think we fully commit, right or wrong, and trusted that Marielle is at the helm of a ship and she did it with complete authority and a complete lightness at the same time.

Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

On the benefits of having a female director: MM: Hands down it was fantastic. And I’ve been very fortunate to work a lot of wonderful male directors [who] also have a quote-unquote ‘feminine side’, my husband, Paul Feig, Ted Melfi, they all have a capacity to listen and be collaborative. I think with Mari, what always sticks in my head, there was never a moment where you didn’t feel completely guided. And the crew, you could see it, really felt like they were all part of this, we knew exactly what Mari’s vision is. And working in this kind of time frame, you need that cohesiveness, and you need someone��I think it’s more likely to happen with a female director—you need someone to do the right thing for the movie, instead of proving that they’re right. And there’s a big difference there. And when you get someone like Mari doing that, the world just falls into place.

On approaching a dramatic role versus a comedic role: MM: There’s absolutely no difference to me. If it’s comedy or drama, it doesn’t change for me at all, I think if it’s a straight comedy, I still try to find, or I’m least very interested in, like, what’s tragic about that person. Like, if they’re so overly pleasant and happy, why? What pain are they hiding? So I do the same thing, if someone’s really aggressive, what’s behind that? So I change nothing. Maybe you’re supposed to, but I don’t.

‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’ is currently available on all the major streaming services. Reporting by West Coast Editor Dominic Corry.

#can you ever forgive me #melissa mccarthy #marielle heller #directed by women #female directors #richard e. grant #lee israel #biopic #new york #julius #letterboxd

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missvalerietanner · 6 years

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tagged by @jmhwriterblog and yeah, ‘course I’m gonna do writing stuff ;p

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag as many writers as there are questions answered (or as many as you can) to spread the positivity! Even if these questions are not explicitly brought up in the novel, they are still good to keep in mind when writing.

FIRST LOOK

(using The Seven Kings, ‘cause that’s what I’m wrapped up in right now)

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

The brutal assassination of a king sparks the partnership between a hated half-breed hungry for revenge and a well-educated prince whose father arranged said assassination.

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

Editing the first book right now. Still need to finish its ending. And I was so excited, I might have already started to write the sequel... ‘bout two solid chapters in so far. AND there’s enough happening that it’d probably be a trilogy.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

I... suck at this question every time I see it.

I guess... I’mma have to go with redemption.

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

Legend of Zelda for sure, mainly inspiration for the diverse kingdoms and people. And then, I dunno, there’s probably a little bit of every fantasy movie and book I’ve ever seen/read tucked in this story somewhere.

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

clicky - takes you to WeHeartIt

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

Valerie Tanner and Eli Orphesis (named him during my Greek obsession)

7. Who is their closest ally?

They gain several throughout the story, but the main two are Roderick, a rancher and old friend of Valerie’s (practically a second father to her), and Elyn, one of the queen’s handmaidens who joins them on their journey. Oh and then Aaron pops up later, and he’s an old ally of Valerie’s as well.

8. Who is their enemy?

Mainly: Darrean Orphesis (yep, Eli’s dad)

9. What do they want more than anything?

Valerie wants revenge for Garrett’s death, and Eli wants to forge a path to his own future, a future not doomed to exist in the shadow of his father.

10. Why can’t they have it?

Valerie: gaining revenge changes nothing; Garrett’s still dead, and she’s still an outsider

Eli: he has to grow up and learn who he is without his father’s title protecting him, and there are a LOT of tough lessons on the road ahead for my boy.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

Valerie believes she’s completely alone and useless. She believes her life is worth little, and that spending her life in service to better people/better men is the best she can do.

Eli ... is pretty arrogant, so his are kinda negative. He believes he’s untouchable, that he’s immune to certain feelings (like pity and loss). He thinks he has all the answers.

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Valerie: 28, 5′8″ (172 CM), weighs 135 pounds (yes, I did), lean and muscular, smaller-than-average bust size, wavy brown hair that ends between her shoulder blades, deep/dark brown eyes, Caucasian, Ossa tattoo on her upper left arm (all black ink), muscular stomach, narrow hips, fit legs, covered in old/faded scars from battle and/or training, wears: black trousers that fit tight, knee-high boots, a fit undershirt to keep the girls pinned down and covered (;p), and a loose white overshirt to keep her cool.

Eli: ~26, 6′2″ (188 CM - people of his race are tall as fuck), blue skin (similar to Oxford blue but a hair lighter), black hair that is a bit shorter than shoulder-length and he keeps it in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck (sexy!), bright golden eyes, muscular and well-built, hands lack callouses (only trained, never fought), no scars or wounds, wears proper royal clothes like a prince should (tunic, trousers, knee-high boots, waistcoat, the works)

PLOT POINTS

13. What is the internal conflict?

Learning to accept help, realizing that people are more than their pasts or their titles and especially their race

14. What is the external conflict?

A power-hungry king and his massive army of well-trained, well-armed soldiers who are all purebloods, so they all have magical abilities.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

For Valerie, losing the people she loves who she tries to protect. She’s watched so many die. She tends to be pretty self-sacrificing because she’d rather jump in harm’s way and die if it means saving someone else. (She has some self-esteem issues as well, so wanting to be someone’s shield makes her feel useful, and therefore, good. She also values others’ lives over her own.)

For Eli... Failure’s a big one for him. He’s probably afraid to die, but I’d say failing and letting down those around him is worse. His mother went to great lengths to make sure he was cultured and well-educated, so with all his knowledge, if he fails, yeah, that’d probably be what would crush him more than anything.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

Probably the reveal of Eli’s power. He was never trained as a child like he should’ve been (for reasons!), and so since he’s a pureblood, his powers developed on their own. He’s powerful but uncontrolled, so his abilities start leaking out, so to speak, on their own.

The reveal of what his power actually is, is a good moment. It’s subtle, but as each of the other characters begin to realize just how much power he wields, they also start to realize how REAL everything is becoming: like the war, their chances of survival, etc.

17. Do you know how it ends?

Yes. I know the jist. I know what I’m aiming for. How I get there, I dunno, and what’s said or done when we get there, I dunno.

I know which port I want to dock in. Just not what it looks like.

(I swear I am not drinking.)

BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?

Hmm... unity for sure, redemption’s a big one, some focus on equality, but I’d say mostly it’s about people finding their place in the world by following their own intuitions rather than falling into the role provided for them or forced upon them.

[cue Disney music]

19. What is a reoccurring symbol?

Valerie has a tattoo on her upper left arm that marks her as a member of Ossa, so basically an outsider. After what happens in the opening chapters, she keeps the tattoo hidden whenever possible. But its meaning causes some tension with... basically everyone she meets.

...there’s probably others, but I can’t think of any that don’t require a lot of explaining... and I was pretty vague on the tattoo for reasons.

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description)

In the country of Nubrya (hate the name, can’t find one yet to replace it). It’s the border country on a massive continent and is encircled by three (possibly four or five... haven’t finished plotting the map) other countries to its east, west, and north. The south of Nubrya is open to the water. Its eastern edge rises into steep cliffs overlooking coves dug into the mountain side to house the nation’s ships during the winter. The western border levels off into desert. The north is rocky terrain, isolated, and sitting on a raised plateau, so every step from the heart of Nubrya upward is a hike. And to the northeast, there is a massive mountain range, upon which one of the Seven Kingdoms sits. And to the east/southeast (before the cliffs) are the farms and vineyards of the country.

Every type of landscape and temperature zone and climate is represented.

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

Since the first book’s finished except for a few scenes and the final fight leading up to the already-written ending, most of the scenes are already down on paper. The second book, however, oh, boy! I have SO much planned and cannot wait for the willingness to write it down. XD

22. What excited you about this story?

I originally wrote this story back in high school. As you can tell by my username, I’ve kept the characters with me through the years. :] Recently (meaning last year, I think), I got to thinking about the original story from high school (titled: “The Unknown Soldier,” I think), and I missed it. So I dug out the original copy, started reading it, and by about, oh I dunno, page 2, I was ready to hang myself ‘cause the writing was THAT BAD.

But the plot was a good one. The characters were half-developed, but they had the potential to be so much better. So I remolded them, fleshed them out, added a ton more characters, revamped the settings, added MORE settings, dumped in a whole bunch of emotional turmoil, updated some names, increased the stakes tenfold, added more magical/fantasy elements, and landed these characters in a MUCH better story.

A lot about the story excites me, but to know I revitalized an old story, pried it off the gurney, and zapped it back to life--a life better than the one it had before--that excites me. :]

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

Frantic. Messy.

I write scenes as they come to me. Stitch them together later with transitions, and edit to fix any time lapses or to plug in missing information. I do outline, but they look like this:

Guy does this thing. it’s cool, but not too cool. Then girl finds out. And note for later: the girl’s really a guy. OH! And remember by scene five to put in a live rooster or else the whole chicken joke won’t make ANY SENSE. End with badass scene with knives. RESEARCH: knives.

Hey, I just made that up on the spot. Welcome to my brain.

But that’s the basic idea behind what my outlines look like. XD Except, I do usually write my outlines in ALL CAPS and important items are bolded or highlighted. But that’s a minor detail.

Rooster.

...

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

NOW GO WRITE! (or tag yourself and do this. T’was fun.)

#seek the seven kings #stsk #writings #ask #missvalerietanner #favorite

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misedejem · 7 years

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Florem Gardens

Six years after leaving the Glanz Empire to start their lives together, Aimee and Angelo return to the place they once called home - the place that had always shaped the course of their lives. Little did they know was that leaving it behind could not stop it from doing so.

Word Count: 6,070

(Spoilers for up to Chapter 6 of Bravely Second. Written for Day 7 of ship week using the free prompt)

“Everythin’ alright, darlin’?”

Angelo had been staring off into the distance, his beautiful face marred with a discomforted expression. Apparently, he had been deep in some unsettling thought, because the moment Aimee began talking, he looked startled and almost dropped his spoon.

“Hm? Oh, uh… I’m fine.” He shook his head. “I just have a headache, is all…”

“Really? But y’ didn’t drink that much last night, did’ya?”

Angelo was something of a lightweight compared to Aimee, but she didn’t recall him acting even a little bit tipsy during the evening, and she knew there was no way alcohol could be messing with her memories. She had spent the whole night avoiding the stuff for once.

“Oh, no, it’s not because of that… I’m just tired. Yesterday was a bit much, is all.”

Aimee pouted and rubbed his arm in an attempt at comforting him, completely overlooking the fact that her hands were coated in flour until it was too late. She swore loudly the second she noticed, and began frantically brushing away the white powder that stood out starkly against the red fabric of Angelo’s jumper. Despite her best efforts, part of it still clung to the fibre.

“You’re too honest,” Angelo said, tugging the dirtied material into his line of sight. “It didn’t even cross my mind that you had that on your hands. Now I have to get payback.”

He proceeded to dig his own hands into the bag of flour on the counter and then pull Aimee into a tight hug before she could react, making sure to pin her arms to her side so she could not exact a further layer of revenge. She muttered vulgarities into his chest between bouts of laughter.

“At least it made ya smile,” she mused, lifting her head up. “I’d say that’s worth the sacrifice of this shirt.”

“It’s my shirt anyway,” Angelo said in a mock sour voice, letting her go and pulling gently at the loose, black fabric of the t-shirt that hung from her shoulders.

“Mine now. You never wear it.”

“Because you stole it! Anyway, I apologise if I worried you, sugarcake. I really am just exhausted… The Flower Festival takes a lot out of me. I really can’t stand being in the city that long.”

“Well, I ain’t gonna make the mistake of hugging the guy stupid enough to wear red while baking with me again, but just know that I get why you feel that way, an’ if you ever think talkin’ it out’ll make you feel better, I got all the time in the world.”

“Thank you, Aimee. I think I’ll be okay though.” He bent down to kiss her cheek and then flashed a smile at her. “Anyway, I’m done with the apple-based filling. What other flavours do you think we should make?”

“Hmm… Cherry?”

“Mmm, good choice. I think I have some left over.”

As Angelo went in search of the cherries, Aimee began digging at a groove in the wooden counter nonchalantly with her finger. She recalled a day, about six years ago, when Angelo had returned from Gathelatio after signing a lease on their new property with the grim news that Denys Geneolgia had died. She had made the groove in the counter with a meat cleaver in a fit of frustration directed entirely at Janne Angard – who was allegedly going by Janne Balestra now – after hearing that he had not invited them to the man’s funeral out of spite. She’d seen him perusing the market in Gathelatio one day two years ago and had punched him in the jaw then and there. They’d spent the night in a cell in the Sanctum for it, but she felt it was worth the punishment.

The two of them had moved to Gathelatio a few weeks later, only returning to their home country to visit Angelo’s mother, or for events he’d been hired for. As a result, that had been the last time in years that she had cooked in the tiny kitchen they had in their little pancake house in Florem Gardens. She had never been all that great at cooking, even with the best baker in the world as her teacher, so usually both she and Angelo thought it best if they left all food preparation that involved an oven to him. But occasionally, if it was just the two of them eating, or if Angelo was feeling unwell or tired, she would step in to lend him a hand. She would never be as good as he was, but he had some twenty years of experience, a professional teacher, and an asterisk that specifically enhanced his talents in the kitchen. She vaguely knew how to work with shortcrust pastry now, and that was enough. After all, ten years ago, when they had first met, she didn’t even know such a thing existed.

When the two of them were fourteen years old, a division of the old Eternian army known as the Bloodrose Legion had been ordered to ransack Florem Gardens to procure, en-masse, the tiny spirits that lived there known as a Flories. When the locals who lived alongside the Flories fought back, the army set the forest ablaze and let them die. Florem had no army of its own, instead protected by the largest guild of mercenaries and hitmen on Luxendarc, capable of bringing down the mightiest of foes. When they came to the rescue of the Gardens, they, too were slaughtered.

Aimee’s entire family perished in the attack, and she very nearly joined them, had she not been rescued and brought straight back to a medic in Florem by one of the mercenaries who had managed to survive. She had been told that she’d almost drowned, having fallen into the river that ran through the forest, but she hadn’t been able to recall that experience then, nor could she now. All she had retained from the day were an ugly scar on her leg, and two distinct memories. She knew she had been spared by a woman who would later be identified as Einheria Venus, a commander of the Bloodrose Legion and now a good friend of hers, and she knew that she had eaten the most incredible thing she had ever tasted. She’d been fished from the river by a boy about her age, and he’d quickly tried to bring her back to her senses with some pancakes - the quickest thing he knew how to make - at least according to him. All she remembered was the indescribable taste and the fluffiness of the elixir that had helped to save her life. That, and the beautiful face of the boy who had made them.

A face that, in the present day, was twisted into a pained grimace.

“If it’s that bad, go lie down.”

Angelo cast a glance at Aimee, holding the box of cherries in one hand and kneading his forehead with the other.

“No… It’s fine.”

“It clearly ain’t fine,” she snapped, a little more forcefully than she had meant to. “…Sorry. I’m just a little concerned. You look dreadful, darlin’.”

His face dropped, but then after a moment it softened, and he smiled.

“…I’ll lie down for ten minutes.”

“Want me to join you?”

“Mmhm… That’d be nice.”

The downstairs of the pancake house was all one room, most of it understandably dedicated to kitchen, so they could only squeeze one sofa into the space they had, and not a hugely sizeable one at that. It was big enough for Aimee to comfortably lie down, but Angelo was much, much taller, and had to curl up tightly to make himself fit. He had placed his head on her lap and brought his knees up to his chest. She began to run her fingers through his hair.

“If I fall asleep, I give you permission to poke me,” he murmured after a few minutes of silence.

“Nah. I’m lettin’ ya sleep.”

“But the pastries…”

“They can wait. It’s prob’ly better if ya don’t stuff yerself with dessert right now, anyway. Not if yer feelin’ sick.”

“I’m not sick… I have a headache because I haven’t slept since yesterday.”

“Angelo!”

“I know…”

“Couldn’t sleep? Or didn’t want to?”

“Couldn’t…” He paused for a moment, then murmured: “too much on my mind…”

Aimee bit her lip. “It wasn’t those dreams again, was it?” She didn’t elaborate, but no doubt Angelo knew what she meant. Both of them knew, all too well, of the dreadful nightmares that had started haunting them during their days in the Glanz Empire, and that had lingered even after they left.

“No, I…” He lifted his head slightly to look at her. “You know, I don’t think I remember the last time I had them.”

She sighed in relief. “Me either. Reckon I must’a been desensitised to them a while ago, if they’re even happenin’ at all. Thought of them comin’ back is pretty fuckin’ scary though…”

“Mmm…” Angelo lay his head back down. “But no… I was just thinking too much.”

“What kinda stuff were ya thinkin’ about for it to keep you up of all people? I think the cat sleeps less than you.”

She began regretting her attempt at a joke when Angelo did not reply, or even react at all.

“It’s nothing.” He murmured eventually, and then promptly sat up. “I doubt any of it would be coherent if I tried to explain it… but anyway. I’ve had ten minutes. I want to finish the pastries. Helping?”

Aimee knew it would be pointless to press him any further. He was impossibly stubborn when it came to personal matters, and he absolutely would not share his feelings if he didn’t want to. Instead, she just nodded and returned to the kitchen area with him, hoping that this wouldn’t be one of those things he’d keep inside him forever.

When Angelo had asked her earlier that day if she wanted to make some pastry for him, Aimee had been left feeling a mixture of both flattered and confused. Flattered that he actually thought her pastry tasted good enough for his finely tuned palate, and confused that he, a man whose enormous sense of self pride when it came to his talents prevented him from even entering another bakery, would willingly pass up the reigns to someone else when he had the opportunity to shine.

But then again, it was just the two of them. That kind of stuff no longer seemed to cross his mind when they were alone, especially not when he wasn’t feeling himself. She recalled the time the previous winter, when he’d caught a bad cold and had spent the whole day curled up on their sofa in Gathelatio, letting Aimee look after him (as best as she could), instead of covering his face and hiding in his room as he often had when they had been teenagers and he had come down with a bug. He’d always let his narcissism get the better of him in the past, but now it seemed like Aimee was its exception.

“So, I’m right in sayin’ that I’m only makin’ the pastry because yer too tired to do it yerself?”

“…In essence, yes.”

“Isn’t that the reason ya still use yer asterisk though? I thought it sped up all the stuff that takes effort in cookin’ so it’s not as tedious?”

“Cooking is never tedious, it’s just a bit strenuous is all. And yes, that is why I still use my asterisk.” Angelo patted his chest where the little hunk of orange crystal hung from a necklace beneath his shirt. “But… Well, you know how it works. You can still overwork yourself even with these things enhancing your abilities.”

“And pastry is now overworkin’ yourself?”

“It is when you’ve already thoroughly burned yourself out dealing with hundreds of screaming fans. Plus, I spent all day before the festival baking for them.” He shrugged, though maintained a keen watch on the cherries he had begun preparing. “It’s easy to get tired when you have so many people you have to please.”

“Yer not exactly a social person either, so no wonder.” She paused briefly to check Angelo’s handwritten recipe book to make sure she knew what she was doing. “Honestly, if ya weren’t so incredible at bakin’, I’d say ya had the wrong career.”

“One of the misfortunes of being both attractive and talented, no doubt. Aah, sugarcake, how do we cope sometimes?”

“I don’t kn- wait, we?” She felt her face heat up. “Well, ain’t you a smooth motherfucker?”

Angelo began to laugh, only making her blush more furiously. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.” He flourished his arms dramatically. “Why, I think you’re radiating such a pure positive energy that all my maladies have been cured!”

“Aaagh, stop it! Yer gonna make me drop dead on the dough. Then you don’t get pastries.”

The two of them continued to make jokes as they prepared their portions of the snacks. By the time they had spooned as much of the filling as they could into the little pouches, Aimee’s jaw hurt from smiling so much.

Angelo scooped up all the remaining scraps of pastry in his hands once Aimee thought they were done, and she presumed he meant to throw them away until he placed them back down on the counter and began to roll them flat again.

“We’re not done?”

“You’ll see.”

He took up a knife once it was rolled flat, and then began carving tiny, perfect shapes out with such fluid motions that the knife seemed a part of his body. He then began moulding the shapes into a tiny pastry flower, as dainty as the hands that made it. Aimee just watched in awe as Angelo placed it on the baking tray next to the little pies.

“It’s for you,” he said, smiling warmly at her face, which she was sure would be permanently set agape after seeing what she had seen. She knew the incredible, delicate things he could make, but she’d never seen him do it. “It’s a little sloppy, I’m afraid. I’m not as precise when I’m tired.”

“Sloppy? You need to get yer eyes tested, mister. It’s amazin’. Everythin’ ya do is amazin’.” She sighed wistfully. “I can’t get my head around the crazy stuff you can do with food. Shit, I barely know how to cook.”

Angelo folded his arms. “Well, cooking is my specialty. You thoroughly take the cake when it comes to, say, engineering or hunting.”

“Well, I guess…”

“And your aim is second to none. I can’t even throw a dart straight. You could shoot a target from miles away.”

Aimee felt her face heating up, and she pressed her hands to her cheeks to try and hide the redness. She turned her head away as well, instead pretending to be deeply engrossed in the recipe pictured in Angelo’s open book.

“You have many talents, Aimee. There are so many things you can do better than I can. It’s simply a matter of different experiences.”

“…Yeah, yer right there. They ain’t exactly skills you’d need, but y’are shit at ‘em, I’ll give ya that.”

“There are other things you’re superior at as well. Likewise, there are things I excel at above all others.”

“I’m better at namin’ things…” Aimee muttered, noticing the abysmal title at the top of the page she’d been distracting herself with. Angelo always came across as so elegant and serious that his taste in names – for recipes, for his weapons, and even the pet names he gave her – were shocking to see. Nobody would associate such a weird sense of humour with a guy like him.

“Huh? I… Says the woman who came up with ‘Guncleaver’…!”

“Yer puns are actually the worst thing you have ever done. And you have killed people.”

“They’re witty!”

“They’re cheesy as hell.”

“Hmph…” Angelo cracked a grin. “If the intention was to make something cheesy, then I think I did quite well.”

Aimee sighed loudly, struggling to supress a grin as well. “Still, I’ll tell ya now, yer not naming our kids.”

“I… Uh, well, nor are you,” he replied quickly. Perhaps it was just that he was tired, but Aimee could swear she heard his voice break slightly.

“Hey, go get some sleep. I’ll sort these out,” she nudged the tray of pastries.

“If you don’t mind, I think that would be best.” He nodded, then bent down and kissed her. She still had to stand on tiptoes slightly to reach his face. “Goodnight sugarcake… Uh, afternoon, even.” He cast a glance at the clock and laughed at himself. “I love you.”

He looked like he was stumbling as he turned to leave the room, and Aimee regretted leading him on such a tangent in their conversation when clearly all he needed was rest. She supposed it would be best if she left the house for a bit, as to not make any accidental loud noises and wake him.

“I love you too… ya big softie.”

---

“Not a lot of monsters about this afternoon,” Aimee mused, stepping around a puddle that had stagnated in the rock formations that marked the very edge of Florem Gardens. “Just cats… Minette’d have a field day here, that’s for sure…” She made a mental note to tell Minette about it once she returned home. She was actually at the bakery in Gathelatio for the duration of the Flower Festival, looking after Cinnamon Roll – their cat (named by Angelo) – so contacting the girl would not prove too difficult.

Aimee reached a patch of grass that was neither damp nor occupied by feline, and placed a tarp down, alongside a selection of tools, weapon parts, and a blueprint. The Crystalguard wanted to upgrade their firearms, so she had brought along one of the prototypes she had been working on in the hopes that she would be able to finish it before she returned home.

She still wasn’t quite sure how she had ended up being a weapon engineer for Gathelatio’s army in her free time. She’d been doing odd tinkering jobs about Florem since she’d arrived in the city as a young teen, and still did the same thing in Gathelatio ten years later, in their local mechanics, but that was a career she’d actively perused. All she could really explain about her side-job was that one day, she’d mentioned designing Vucub Caquix, the Empire’s transforming mech, around Yew Geneolgia, and the next day a soldier had shown up on her doorstep with a job offer.

She stared out into the distance, past the spiral of rocks that twisted the horizon, and towards the forest that lay beyond them, at the foot of the cliff. Had it not burned all that time ago, she would likely have taken up a career in the village, doing gods know what. She’d certainly have never been an engineer though. Nor a mercenary, for that matter. She wondered what her parents or siblings would think of what she was doing now. They’d probably be happy for her – she was, after all, doing what she loved.

“This place feels different now,” the ethereal voice of Mephilia Venus mused. She stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the forest, the Flories that were flourishing there once more dancing at her feet.

“Different?” Einheria, her older sister, asked, folding her arms across her armoured chest. The youngest Venus sister, Artemia, cocked her head.

“Yes. It’s quieter now. More peaceful.” She gazed up at the sky, watching the pink blossom drift by on the gentle breeze. “During the war, I remember hearing... voices. Angry voices, coming from the forests we destroyed. So much of that time is lost to me now, but that, I remember clearly.”

“The Bloodrose Legion killed everyone in those forests,” Einheria said, her voice taking on a sour tone.

“Yes… Maybe so… But sometimes a soul can remain on Luxendarc even after their body had died. I believe the people of the forests lived on in spirit… But now they lay silent.”

“Maybe because we kill DeRosa? Maybe because they know what he did?” Artemia suggested. Mephilia made an affirming noise.

“Perhaps… Maybe his death means that his victims can… move on. They can rest in peace. What do you think, Aimee? Has your village finally forgiven us our crimes?”

Aimee hadn’t realised until Mephilia had turned to address her that her eyes were welling up with tears.

“That’s a nice thought… I’d like to think they’d forgive ya… I mean, it’s not like the Bloodrose Legion had any choice…”

All three of the sisters bowed their heads.

“I mean, the people of Florem have been worshippin’ the Flories and the Orochi for centuries. We know how they work, so everyone in that village… If they knew that scumbag was poisonin’ y’all with their essences, of course they’d forgive ya. They’d know what that stuff would do to yer heads.” She pounded her fist into her hand and forced a smile through her tears. “And now they can finally be happy…”

Einheria placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Thank you for helping us find him. This country still has a long way to go, but I’d like to hope that it’s people, both living and dead, can find solitude in the fact that the people who have ruined it will never wreak havoc again. It’s the least we can do to make up for our role in the suffering Florem was caused.”

“Nah… I should be the one thankin’ you.” Aimee shook her head. “I always planned to kill him. Ya didn’t have to help me – just knowin’ he was brainwashing yer soldiers along with everyone else was enough to know you weren’t the awful people I thought you were.”

“But I just went along with it. I’m afraid I’m the only one underserving of your thanks.”

“Nah, you were just followin’ orders. DeRosa killed hundreds of innocent people because they got in his way. I reckon he’d have killed you if you objected. And given that my darlin’ and I left the Empire because we didn’t want to die, I can’t blame anybody for doin’ a shitty thing just to save their own life. Besides, the three of ya have done so much for this country over the past year anyway, and that’s more than we could ever ask. So seriously, thanks! I’m sure all of Florem feels the same way.”

When the Venus sisters had departed, Aimee remembered falling to her knees and sobbing into the earth. She cried for her family, for her friends, for all the faces she had seen every day for fourteen years that had all turned to ash that day. It was the first time, in fact, that she’d really had the chance to. At some point, someone had tucked a blanket around her and had wrapped their arms across her body. It could be nobody but Angelo – the Gardens were by that point deserted aside from the two of them – but it took a long time for the numbness to fade and for her to recognise his presence. She didn’t know how long he had sat there with her, holding her tight, only that it was dark by the time either of them spoke.

“You must be exhausted…” Angelo said softly. “You’ve been working so hard for this, for so long…”

“Yeah…” Aimee murmured, her voice hoarse.

“You can rest now, though. You don’t have to push yourself anymore.”

“I don’t think I wanna… Hey, Angelo… Is it selfish if we just ditch it all now? Just fuck off back home and forget the Empire, and the war, and the plague, and everythin’ that we somehow got ourselves caught right in the middle of?”

“Hmm… If people want to call us that, I say let them. The only stakes we had in this situation were the fact that the duchy destroyed our country, and that’s been resolved now. We’re too young to really know the impact of the plague, and as far as the Empire goes…” he smirked. “We’re just mercenaries, after all. We never had any reasons to fight for them beyond money.”

“But, we weren’t paid in cash. We said we’d help the Kaiser if he could ensure DeRosa would pay.”

“I don’t think the specifics matter… We got what we wanted, and we’re not really responsible for anything else that happened now that DeRosa is gone. I think you’ve done everything you needed to do to help right the wrongs in the world, sugarcake. A terrible man murdered the people you care about, and you avenged them.”

“Hmm, good… Because I’m tired, and I ain’t good at this heroic stuff… If it’s alright then I just wanna go back to the way things were before. Livin’ in simple peace with my family. That’s you, by the way.”

It was dark, but she could still tell that he had gone red. For the first time in a while, she felt like laughing.

“Well, I mean… peace, with my fans, might not be so easy but everything else… I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Can’t believe that happened six years ago…” she muttered to herself as she set to work on her prototype. It was based off the concept she used for Guncleaver, only not taking on the image of one of Florem’s guardian deities as her own weapon did. She hadn’t fired the thing in years, but it was still her most prized possession, and she wasn’t about to replicate it for anyone. “Right in this spot, actually. Were you there then?” she turned to look at the large, tabby cat that had prowled over to sniff at what she was doing. It didn’t seem to react to her words, but rather got distracted by a blossom that had fallen nearby and tore after that instead.

At this point, this part of Florem was practically theirs, every time they returned. The Flower Festival brought them back every year, sometimes right up until the new year, and they would spend every evening there without fail, talking about nothing and watching the clouds move across the sky. It was a special place for them, filled with memories. It was there, two years ago, that Aimee had opened the box of one of Angelo’s cakes, on her twenty-first birthday, to find the words, inscribed in icing, ‘will you marry me?’

That time, it had been him crying in their spot, but those were tears of joy. Looking back, that was the first time he’d ever let someone see him do it.

***

“Oh, there you are!”

Aimee jumped at the sound of her husband’s voice, having become so engrossed in her work that she hadn’t sensed his presence. She hadn’t even realised the sun was beginning to set.

Angelo began to make his way to where she was sat to join her, balancing the plate of pastries they had made on his forearm so that he could carry two steaming mugs in his hands. One of his large, fluffy blankets was draped over his shoulder. “I expected that I’d find you here.”

“Feelin’ better?”

He nodded, and placed the food and drink on the ground, before pulling the blanket over the both of them, careful not to let it brush against anything Aimee was working on.

“I am now, yes. Do I look better?”

“Perfect.” She grinned and tapped him softly on the nose. In truth, he was still stunning even when he looked like death. She was sure that even he knew that.

“Fancy taking a snack break?” He asked, taking a pastry and offering it to her. They looked a little more well done than they would have done if Angelo had made them entirely on his own, but given that a couple of them were already missing, it was obvious that they were still edible.

“You bet. I’m actually real hungry.”

“I imagine you must be, you’ve been out here for hours. Do you ever forget to eat when you’re working?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied, through a mouthful of the little fruit-filled tart. “I don’t even realise until after that I’m starvin’, and that I’m achin’ all over. Used to be like that when we were fightin’ as well.”

“Mm. I know what you mean. It’s especially insufferable when you’re in my business and you can’t actually eat the food right in front of you, even after you realise you’ve not had anything all day. But I suppose in a fight, it’s adrenalin, right?”

“Yeah, I reckon so. When me and the Venuses fought that red bastard, he actually broke a few of my ribs, but it took me forever to actually realise he had done. Then when we got back to the nearest town, the pain came on all at once.”

Angelo winced.

“I’m glad we’re out of the mercenary business. Even if you’re still working with the military, at least you aren’t out there getting hurt anymore.” He slipped his arm around her. “What’re you making right now, anyway?”

“Oh, this? The Crystalguard wanted somethin’ effective for keepin’ monsters at bay, and there ain’t any firearm more effective than Guncleaver for that, so it’s sorta based on that.”

“Aah, I see. The halberd is shaped like a lion, right?”

“The symbol of the Crystalguard is a white lion.” She shrugged. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s excellent. You’re really good at adding a little flair to the things you make. Have I ever told you that?”

“I don’t think so…” She blushed and pulled the blanket over her face. “But it means a lot to hear someone like you say that.”

“Well, I mean it. I do think you’re amazing, Aimee. You need to give yourself more credit.”

She always got flustered when he would start hurling compliments at her, but that didn’t change the fact that it was one of the sweetest things he would do for her. Her self-confidence hadn’t hit a low point in years now, not since she’d left the Empire, but he’d still make sure that she always knew he was proud of her. She wondered if he knew just how much those tiny gestures meant.

“Thanks, darlin’. I think I’m gonna crush it when I present this baby to the guys in Gathelatio who requested it.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sure you will, sugarcake. I’ll be rooting for you.” He turned and pressed his lips to the top of her head. She smiled.

“I do miss havin’ a big desk to work on when I come back out here though. Sittin’ all hunched over like this ain’t doin’ much good for my neck. I hope that ain’t affected my work too much.”

“I know how you feel.” Angelo sighed. “My kitchen in Gathelatio is heaven compared to this dingy little thing. It’s cute, but it’s just so small now…”

“I guess yer used to that massive space you’ve got back home?”

Their new home had always been a bakery – one owned by a big family that had been around for generations. With so many people running it, it had been built on a much bigger scale than the made-for-two pancake house Angelo and Aimee owned in Florem, so Angelo had far more space to work. He’d even been able to take on more staff and still had room to spare.

“Yes, I suppose…” He was quiet for a moment, and then sat up straight. “I actually think that’s what’s been bothering me…”

“Really? I thought… Not the city this time?”

Angelo had always hated the city of Florem, and for good reason. He’d grown up living in fear of living on the streets and dying, like hundreds of orphaned boys did every year. It was where his biological family had died, and where his first adoptive mother had been murdered. He’d seen, first hand, the slow transition into the hell it had become when DeRosa’s influence had begun to spread. He would never admit it to anyone – not to Aimee, not even to himself – but it was obvious that it made him uncomfortable to go back there. It scared him. Aimee had assumed it was those awful memories that had been causing him so much unrest that afternoon.

“I don’t think so. I don’t usually feel so weird once I’ve been away from the city for a few hours, but this has just stuck with me all throughout today. It can’t be just that.”

“Oh, darlin’…”

“I do love this place… I really do. I have so many fond memories of us here. And I know that for you, it’s so much more. It’s just the house…” He grimaced.”We’ve always made do with its size, but it’s really starting to get to me.”

“…I think I understand what’cha mean actually.”

“You do?” Relief spread across his face.

“Well, yeah. The place is tiny. Y’ve gotta leave the building if ya want space. There’s only one seat, and one bed, and one bathroom. We don’t have a dinin’ table.”

“Right. And it’s not even just the lack of space if you want to be alone… It may sound absurd, but… I kept finding myself noticing how we could never have a third person there with us.”

Aimee felt a tightness in her chest. “I noticed that too, yeah.”

He sighed deeply, and gazed up at the sky. “…We could never start a family in a place like this, could we, Aimee?”

“…No. I don’t think we could…” she paused to think. “Y’know, maybe that’s why you feel this way?”

“I… What do you mean?”

Aimee grinned at him. “I reckon this place is tryin’ to tell ya somethin’. You’ve realised there’s no way our place here would be big enough if we wanted kids, and it’s seriously bothering you. Think about it.”

Angelo’s eyes widened as the realisation hit him, but his face softened quickly afterwards.

“Yes, I… I think you’re right.”

“Y’know, I’ve always thought it was weird that a guy like you was so keen on havin’ a family. You ain’t gonna have much alone time if we do this. You sure yer okay with it?”

“I’ll manage with what I get. But you know, I don’t get much alone time nowadays anyway. Not with my customers, and my staff, and the fact that we live together. And I realised I don’t mind that. It’s a lot less overwhelming when you care about the people you’re with.”

“That’s real cute of ya to say. If yer that confident, why put it off any longer?”

“So you’re saying you feel the same? I mean, we’ve talked about this a lot over the years, so I know we both want the same thing, but does now feel like the right time for you as well?”

“Heck yeah, it does. I think we’re gonna be awesome parents… And I do miss havin’ a big family.” She tried to keep her voice consistent, but could not stop it from breaking slightly as she spoke. “I was the oldest o’ three siblings, and I loved it. I’d kinda like to have that kinda feelin’ again.”

Angelo gave her a sympathetic smile and then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. “Then let’s do it. After all, I’ve always said that we’re a match made in heaven. I have full confidence in us both.”

Aimee slipped her own arms around Angelo’s neck and buried her head into his shoulder, and for a second considered saying nothing more. Part of her wanted to leave this moment as it was – another perfect memory in a perfect place. They may have outgrown the house, but the Gardens themselves would always be special to them. As far as they were concerned, there was no place more precious.

But then, she knew she had the chance to make it better.

“Hey, Angelo,” she began, pulling away slightly so she could look at him in the eyes. “It’s kinda funny how impeccable yer timing has been tonight.”

“Hm? How so?”

“Well… If startin’ a family’s what ya want then I’ve actually got some good news for ya. Because there’s somethin’ I’ve been meanin’ to tell ya.”

#bravelyshipweek #bravely second #aimee matchlock #angelo ovo panettone #misede writes

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