#putting it in English because in Spanish nobody pays attention to it
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perrytheagente · 12 days ago
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I've always thought that if Perry were a human with an uncle relationship to Phineas and Ferb, he would be the typical guy who stays with his mother until he's 30-50 and God knows where he gets money and girls from... I mean, a combination of the REAL cool guy and the bad-looking guy. 🧍‍��️
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night-market-if · 2 years ago
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I just saw something about poly and Milo-Mal-MC?? I dont know if this is gonna be true or not, but I really hope you can have the option because, I really, really think this can be a very sweet relationship, and very necessary (at least for Milo, poor guy need a lot of attention and love), now I really excited about reading it, but other part of me are a bit afraid, making romance relationship is (in my opinion) very difficult, because you can fall very easily in stereotypes and toxic cliches, and in my opinion poly relationships are even harder because you need to pay attention to 6 bounds at the same time (Milo-Mal/Milo-MC/MC-Mal and vice versa) and unfortunately open or poly relationships still have a stigma nowadays, that means, that means that they are still not very well known and for that everyone (obviously me include) can fail in a not very realistic way
Now, with this im not trying to say you will have this problem (I mean, I dont even know if this would or would not be an option in the first place lol) on the contrary, (if happen) I have high hopes for you (not in the pressure kind, lol the bad thing about English not been your mother tongue is you can express yourself in a form you want it without looking like a robot or a scum) because I really love your story and way of writing and I really really think we all need more poly (well writing) stories.
But if I can jus say one tiny thing… as an advice you don't have to follow, there are a LOT of stereotypes and weird forms a lot of people fall when they write poly, one of them is putting the MC like the absolute pilar of the relationship, instead of a threesome (I prefer the word in Spanish "trieja" I dont know if there is a word better suited for relationships of three people in English), create relationships that are in a between poly and open relationships, I dont know if im explaining myself well enough, I think what im trying to say is, its not the same to be in a trieja relationship that a open relationship, I (personally) are okey with both of them, but if, for example, this couple was created because Milo and Mal have a super sweet badass relationship more that because there can be a very good bounce between everyone, I really, really prefer to put the "tag" open relationship having Milo two separate romances than one "poly" and in that way it could also be less weird(?) for people who are not used to polyamorous relationships, although I guess jealousy will always be there for those people :( but its true than, if this will happen, you should put a lot of options about possibles reaction MC could do or even (unfortunately) finish the relation (I really think a person can love more than one person, for that reason we can fall in love so many times lol, but I can understand that not everyone need to feel in the same way)
Im so sorry for all this text nobody ask for, I even dont know if this relation could even be real, but I wanted to express my opinion, I really courage you (if you really wanted) to try and explore this kind of love because I really think you can do something magical, but at the end is something you need to think yourself, if you will do it, there will be people who will not like it, if you will not do it, there will be people who will not like it (although probably much less) so do whatever you want xD
If you read this, thank you for your interest and patience! <3
Hey anon!
Never worry about long asks. I really love reading the different perspectives people have on how a route could go. It also helps me navigate certain moments that I may not have thought of yet.
I have not made a ton of decisions about how the poly is going to look. It's not something I've had to worry about yet because I'm not writing book 2 for a few more months. But, I can say that I think a lot of how the poly is presented, might depend on the reader. I know how I will head cannon it and gear the writing towards, but choices might actually affect how it is read. I tend to try and give decisions on who you spend time with in the game and I will be doing something similar during the poly routes. I don't believe if you are in a poly or an open relationship or if you have an understanding with another, you have to spend all your time with those other two people. I'll be giving the option for solo moments along with poly, if that is the chosen route.
As for Milo, Mal, and the MC. In reality, these three are heavy hitters. All the RO's are really. But they are heavy hitters in a way that's a bit different. I do not think their ideas and how they handle situations always align. I think they are very independent people (the route MC will start to take) and they are not very dependent on the three of them constantly being attached. They can value each others opinion and still take their own course. So, I think this will be an opportunity to negotiate something between three adults who still wish to have their own agency outside of their relationship.
I do think there will be genuine affection to see each other in the evening. I can tell you past the initial negotiations, I'm not going to put the jealousy routes between them because I'm personally kind of done with reading the rhetoric that full grown adults can't seem to work things out with each other when in a relationship. LOL! I think that there is a lot of opportunity for this to be something very deep and interesting to read. It's just a matter of convincing people it's worth their time. Which, that seems to be the harder sell. Either way though, I enjoy characters more than anything else. I enjoy deep diving into them. Putting them in situations that challenge normal beliefs (in our world or the NM) . And then sitting back and seeing what happens. I think this will be no different.
I don't know if I answered any of your questions or just rambled back at you but I hope this helps! Thank you for such a cool opportunity to discuss this.
🪷✨🪷✨ If you want to support me 🪷 ✨🪷✨
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yuraimi-lee-bunny · 4 years ago
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GRAY’S CHARACTER ANALYSIS Part III.5. Graham Calloway: The Walking Enigma.
After a full  two weeks of work I managed to finish this part! As I mentioned before, it will be part "3.5", where you will see interesting details about Graham. It will be a long chapter guys, I warn you. Thank you very much for all your support in the previous chapters and I’m glad that you’re liking it and that it has also helped some to understand Graham in some aspects. Nothing more to say:
Here we go!
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In the third season there was nothing of Gray, just a scene where it gave us to show that the moment has come: The return of Gray and his importance in the fourth season is now inevitable.
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And well, who would have thought that Gray would be the first thing it showed us in the first scene of last season.
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I told you, it’s something important. The first scene with which a season begins is sometimes, in some cases, used to show some signs of what the whole season holds, or what a character holds throughout the season. A great example and one that is one of my favorites, but at the same time it’s painful, is from second season of 13 Reasons Why. The first scene that opens the season is where Tyler Down comes out, a character that with his dialogues and the cut to black of the first scene with which he opens the seaso, is basically anticipating EVERYTHING that Tyler would bring in that season. Showing Tyler, a secondary character, and not showing the main characters, is an indication that you should pay attention to that character, that Tyler (and Gray) would be an important character throughout the plot to point out something, which will be important at some point in history (or the most important). Believe me when I analyzed the Tyler scene, I was fascinated by such visual/narrative language, but at the same time I almost cried to understand everything… sorry, let's get on with Gray.
Here, in my opinion, is the same: it show in just one scene EVERYTHING that will happen to Gray this season. I explain:
(Earlier, Congratulations Gray! You were promoted to Lighting Technician!)
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He’s in a dark room, illuminated with the light of the work, which is a red light. As we know, Graham, actually has amnesia, he doesn't know anything about who he really is, that's why the allegory with the dark room. The red light represents Carmen, who watches over Graham, he trusts her a lot, so he's "protected", because Carmen will not allow him to remember that he was a VILE agent. For this reason, a dark room and a red light, and he’s calm and happy.
Well, no more.
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ACME has arrived, has revealed his full name, has opened a door that illuminates the other side with white light. ACME is the one who will unknowingly cause Gray to know the truth, and with that, a new path for Graham that will lead him to the light.
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A path where he will choose which identity will predominate in his life. But before going to light, Graham/Crackle and Gray will have to endure and deal with many obstacles and decisions. He’s the only one who will decide, No ACME, No VILE, No Carmen.
One more thing.
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Graham, what is your obsession for wristbans? All I can say is: Graham likes to do his job well.
Chief introduces herself to Graham, and he can't help but know what would happen if he touches Chief's hologram. As I have already said: he wants to know the answers with his own hands.
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She asks him a question and Graham, as he’s in the habit and I had previously analyzed it, he gives details that no one asked, but he likes to give. Fun fact: in the original dubbing, Graham says the english name of the Opera "The Thieving Magpie." In the Spanish dub, Graham says “La gazza ladra” saying the original name, even using a slight Italian accent.
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I loved this little detail because it adds to that curious Graham/Gray habit of giving details to his answers, and let's remember something: the dubbing is supervised by the crew, so I guess they liked the idea.
Gray asks if they are Interpol or the CIA. Faced with CHIEF's response that they are "Consider us all of the above. Except they don’t know we exist" Gray thinks of a single person. That is somehow cute like him until he gets excited that maybe this is a new chance to see Carmen again. For Chief it’s a new path towards Carmen.
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You don't know how much I would have liked to hear all the conversation Graham gave Chief. With those details that he loves to give. But it makes me laugh a bit as even he has a cup of coffee, hinting that the story was going to be long. And once again, showing his love for coffee. How nice of ACME to have given Graham coffee. One more thing to make you laugh more.
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His expression, that expression that seems to express "Thank you but... you aren’t Carmen"
Chief's questions confuse Graham because since he already lived what Carmen does from his own experience, he’s sure that Carmen is one of the "good guys". Confusing Chief further. We move on to how Chief believes that Graham is no clue to be closer to the truth behind Carmen, but Chase arrives, and finally finds Gray again, that missing link for Carmen. Gray is still being targeted by ACME.
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Chase arrives and thinks that everything will be easy, but again, he won't be able to get anything because Gray doesn't remember being Crackle back then. Gray finally reveals to ACME his "accident at work" that has caused him to have a year-long amnesia. It's funny how Graham responds to Chase that he's an orphan. As he does not like to mention that part of his life. Interesting point is the only thing I will mention.
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Graham when mentioning such an accident and the consequences of it, it shows that deep down, he is worried and intrigued in all that year he disappeared from his life. As if he feels that he can't be himself if he doesn't have all the memories of him. From his body language, he shows how something really affects him.Mentioning this, in addition to showing for the first time more clearly that Graham really cares about his amnesia, this data is interesting to Chase, he believes him and that serves to make Graham closer to the truth. 
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Chase and Chief reveal everything to Gray, that although Graham left the hospital, he never entered, all the details, and Gray doesn’t remember anything. It’s revealed that he is telling the truth, and Chief says one of the best ways to describe Gray.
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This phrase, this phrase for me is the best way to describe Gray, and not because of his current state with amnesia, but since the beginning of the series, his actions and feelings are a mystery, his empathy for Carmen is clear, procuring the good of people he appreciates, but also his ambition and being successful, going too far to the point of taking actions of questionable morality. Now, something that has left me thinking a lot, is that he really seems very concerned when he notices that many things don’t make sense, and as I already said and this proves it one more: the truth matters a LOT to him. He cares a LOT about identity, really being himself.
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Graham already said it, he's an orphan. Of course, no one but him cares to know the truth, of all those memories that are blank. In himself, he doesn’t know anything about his roots, the phrase "Not that I know of. I’m an orphan" suggests that he really doesn’t know ANYTHING about his parents, he doesn’t even know if he had siblings. Surely he doesn't even know if they died or abandoned him. I may be over-analyzing everything, but I think that's why Graham/Gray cares about being himself, being a person of integrity, and want to be successful: because he only has himself. And he can only trust himself. He wants to show himself that he can achieve many things. But everything is for his own benefit. Something that has caused me a lot of curiosity is that Gray is never seen around people, or that he is seen to be extremely sociable. He gets off work and he's alone, he's at work and he's alone, he's in the cafeteria and he's alone. I don’t know if it’s the factor of the series, I mean the fact of not putting more character in the story and the whole story mobilizes faster. But I want to believe that this also reflects how Gray is lonely, for his own sake, because he just trusts himself. Yes, he has a certain personality of being able to work as a team and interact with them, but that was within VILE, but outside, in the world, it seems that he doesn’t connect, or doesn’t want to connect with the world. Why? I think I have a slight idea:
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we had already heard it before
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Although it’s a good joke, it’s curious that he asks this kind of thing. He’s afraid of the unknown and that it may harm him. This is just my little theory, but maybe just maybe, Gray doesn't like to be and feel vulnerable. He always looks calm, being out of the unnecessary drama, he recovers quickly to any failure or mistake he makes. But deep down, I've noticed that at the 3 phases: Graham/Gray/Crackle, they don't like being vulnerable, being in the unknown and not knowing what to do, being in danger and being harmed. Physically and emotionally. I think I understand why: the world has already hurt him since he was born, living alone, not knowing what to do and why he came into the world.  He doesn’t know his roots, he doesn’t know why he came to the world. What kind of parents he may have had and what kind of "customs" he inherited from them. He only has himself, what he knows is the only thing he has, his memories, his experiences are the only thing he has and he knows what his personality has shaped him, his way. Nobody built his path, nobody guided him, it was him alone. We don’t know if somebody adopted him or if he just wanted to survive as he could. But at least, from what I can see, is that he has always wanted to be alone. Now that he doesn’t have that amnesia, he feels that he has lost himself, because that year of experiences, of memories is important for Graham, because it’s the only thing he has that makes him feel complete in this world where he is alone. I hope I have been clear and haven’t confused you.
His actions and personality come from there, from realizing that he only has himself, that he doesn’t belong to anyone or anything, but still he will give everything to himself, he will not let anyone or anything make him feel bad. He will take advantage of everything he knows and can learn to do, live his entire life completely, be successful, show himself that for him and for him, he will be able to do interesting and great things.
This makes me a little thoughtful and empathetic, because here Graham, seeing all the details that his stay in the hospital doesn’t make sense, that he doesn’t know what happened, and just having himself, as never before, Graham feels lost, he maintains control as much as he can, but little by little he’s overcoming the situation, he feels a little vulnerable and the saddest thing in some way is that there is no one to help him. Apparently there never was. And let's be honest: Chief is proposing the experimental method just because she wants to know about Carmen and the connection she has with Graham, nothing more, it isn’t to fully help Graham. It isn’t by putting ACME as being “not at all empathic” but rather that this reaffirms how alone Graham is in the world. I hope I don't sound exaggerated with all this I have mentioned.
The moment has arrived:
They put the device on Graham, activate it, and memories begin to emerge.
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When Chase asked about the train trip 18 months ago, it’s one of the first memories he sees: attacking Carmen with the Crackle Rod. He screams, and I think I know why, because he appreciates Carmen and can't believe he was going to attack her.
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This scene in his eyes is VERY important for later, in the next part of the analysis it will be mentioned why. I loved this scene because taking this approach to his eyes invites you to be inside Graham's head and his memories. And at the same time, it will have a reason for being later.
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Seeing the scenes of how Graham suffers without understanding anything, seeing VILE, the Faculty, the training, his first mission. Graham, the one back then who cared about being one of the "good guys" was facing memories where he was a "bad guy." The crew seriously did a good job of showing how much he is shocked and suffered when dealing with so many memories that made him confront his morals.
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They turn off the device, Chase worries and wants to see how Graham is doing. But, as someone had already mentioned before:
he woke up AND CHOSE VIOLENCE
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He goes out. Without a problem he takes down some Acme agents. And he leaves ACME.
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The reason for his uncontrolled "bad" side is because Graham believed that he only had amnesia, but as we already knew at the beginning of this season, they also suppressed his stealing side, his "VILE side", the device not only caused a clash of memories , but also one of morals. Crackle left ACME, but on the street it was Graham, remembering only numbers to dial, which was VILE. Crackle did actions that only confused Graham more and more. Crackle was awake but only unconsciously and for lapses.
Crackle dials the number, but Graham is the one who answers. He doesn’t recognize anything that he does, but those memories, that unconscious that is Crackle is the one who responds. This shot to his eyes again, now with a green glow. The visual language they use in the series in general is simply wonderful.
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One of my favorite scenes: Graham saving this boy.
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Believe me something, this scene, this action is not filler, it wasn’t only to continue the suspense of "Crackle to Graham and vice versa" but it tells you a lot about Gray's true morality, of his experiences in 18 months with empathy are beginning to bear fruit.Including how much Carmen impacted on his life.
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I mean this: Gray is supposed to have had his "VILE side" suppressed, the side of him that steals, but only that, the rest that complements Gray's personality is still intact. Now that Crackle is unconsciously awake, it’s only for lapses. Because Graham didn’t understand those memories in VILE, Graham, the one who cared so much about being one of the "good guys", that body identifying himself as Graham who lived 18 months of empathy, had an effect on his cognition.
Remember in part 3 of this review, I asked if everything that was presented to us in past seasons about Graham was a lie? Well, from these first 3 episodes of this season I can confirm that NO, all that moments weren’t a lie. Although Crackle/Gray didn’t voluntarily make the decision to be "good", his body, his cognition responded well and he agreed to do those actions. Crackle didn’t take full control of Graham, he appeared only when he saw the opportunity to steal.
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But when doing something for others, Graham appeared.
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The Graham/Crackle body was having a "moral" discussion. Graham was holding on to his belief that he was the good guy. Graham is latent like Crackle. If we call it very crudely, the "good" and "bad" side of it are coming out at the same time, one doesn’t predominate more than the other. Very chaotically and unwillingly, because of ACME's experimental apparatus, he was being Gray. Without fully understanding yet that he’s what he really wants to do: be empathetic or ambitious. When actually it can be both, but then we'll get to that part later.
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Graham goes to the boy's house. He considers going to boy’s house to return his wallet.
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A point that isn’t from me, but from a friend who insists that I put this. I appreciate her very much, so I will: My friend thinks this smile is because Graham when he looks the house, he imagines what it would be like to have a home and a family. I leave it to your own criteria.
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When he looks out the window to see if there is someone, it opens for isn’t properly closed. Again, Crackle emerges.
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The unconscious never speaks, it only acts. It's interesting to see that whenever Crackle shows up, he never speaks, it just acts, it just steals.
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This is one of the most interesting scenes (and at least for me, it hurt me a little bit)
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Do you notice how Graham returns when the world has contact with him? When Crackle arises it’s because he sees his ambition, when those VILE memories come out and they’re the ones that impacted him the most, that marked his life. But when the outside world makes an appearance, makes contact with him, Graham appears again. Graham in 18 months of empathy vowed to be good, and his cognition agreed with that, no matter how strong his memory drives were in VILE. Because this is his personality as he has already been mentioned several times: he’s committed to what he wants to achieve, to what is really born to him.
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He sees this woman, and remembers the archaeologist. It’s the same as with the boy who was almost going to get run over, this scene isn’t only for the suspense, it’s to show that memories in VILE have marked Crackle back then. Being in VILE, studying there, the crackle rod, the adrenaline of stealing marked him, but the archaeologist's event also and from another way. When he was going to take a life for the first time. In the second part of my analysis I said it, it was obvious that he wasn’t convinced to do it, something inside him didn’t like doing such an act. This confirms it.
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Remembering that whole event, how he almost took a life shocks him so much that he fell to the ground. He’s actually suffering from confusion, but also from remembering something so vile that he was about to do.
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He answered not only because the woman asked him, he's telling himself too. You can see that by the tone of his voice, the way he's closing his eyes. He wanted to deny that the one he sees in his memories is him. He doesn't want to believe that he was bad.
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Well… now Graham is going to jail. Making him a target now of all: ACME, VILE and Carmen.
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He’s locked up in jail, just because Iceland has a very low crime rate, he doesn’t want to eat, he looks sad, and not even the police are there to investigate further his answers. Graham claims that he doesn’t know why he wasn’t in that house. The police only answered by mere logic, that if he had other people's belongings, it was theft. They don’t bother to delve further into Graham's answers to at least realize that he suffers from amnesia and incoherent seizures. Again: he feels alone in this world.
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... you know? this whole chapter watching Gray so confused and sad made me feel sick. I'm a very empathic person, so everything that was going on Graham really I feel it. And seeing this scene with Gray's photo, I was between laughter and suffering. I couldn't bear to see him more and more confused.
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This shot makes me very sentimental but it's great, can we appreciate it for a moment please?
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In addition to showing how frustrated Graham is, the visual narrative in this image also explains his situation. He’s alone, he feels that no one can help him, the shadow covers the part of his head, his forehead to be concrete, where are all those memories that he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t want to accept. Where he lies and now is awake unconsciously Crackle. But his body is in the light, he clings to the light and in believing that he is Graham Calloway and he always was. And at that moment, he’s no longer alone, Carmen's shadow emerges from the light, somehow erasing the fence, that separation between the two. Because unconditionally she was always there. She will always be there Carmen for Graham.
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He’s amazed to see her but at the same time he feels so relieved. She’s the person he trusts the most and that he knows that she will help him. But the cleaners arrive and give Carmen a tough fight. Graham helps her with whatever he can. After they leave, Carmen doesn't know why but she doesn't waste time trying to get Graham out of the cell. But the Bellum Robot arrives. And now Graham is in VILE’s hands.
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Did you realize that these 3 episodes happened in a whole day? Graham basically hasn't slept. The boy goes a long way without sleeping I guess.
I never believed that he would analyze so much in these 3 episodes, I’m still surprised but very happy. I hope you liked it and as I always tell you: if you have any questions or want to comment/add something that was commented on, do so, what better than feedback from everyone. The fourth part will be published soon, I promise. Greetings!
Part. I Introdution
Part. II Empathy vs Ambition
Part. III Amnesia and it’s Future Consequences
Part. III.5 Graham Calloway: The Walking Enigma (HERE)
Part. IV Integrity At a high (and unfair) price
Part. V The final decision and a new beginning
Plus 1. Gray and his strange habit of explaining things
Plus 2. Crossover: Sabrina And Gray: New Beginning
Plus 3. Crossover: Hawk/Eli and Crackle/Gray: Redemption
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tinyboxxtink · 4 years ago
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“My Fairy Abogado” *Part 4*
If anyone ever wants me to put the English translations of the Spanish I use in here, please let me know.
Or are you all just googling them?😂
Tag List:
@dumauier
@chasingeverybreakingwave
@word-scribbless
@objection-argumentative
@wanniiieeee
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5
“What the hell did he want?” 
Beto’s voice startled you from behind. 
“Beto! Language!” You scolded him, trying to shake off the fear in your voice.
“Whatever, I think we have bigger problems,” He rolled his eyes.
“What did he want?” he pressed you. 
“Nothing! Just...nothing,” you waved it off.
“It wasn’t nothing-- it was about that abogado, wasn’t it?”
“Rafael? Why would the Diablos hate Rafael?” Chloe chimed in.
“Because he sent one of them away for a very long time,”  Beto answered her.
“Yay! I knew he was a good guy!” 
“Yeah he won’t be, if he gets us killed,”
“BETO!” You threw your hands over Chloe’s ears. “Stop. You’re going to scare her,”
“Well she should be scared, if you’re willing to risk our lives because some abogado made goo goo eyes at you!” 
“That is NOT true, and you know it,” you snapped.
“Yeah Rafael is going to help us get Mami and Papi back, Beto!” Chloe yelled, making you remove your hands. 
“You can hear us?”  You asked, she nodded. 
“What do you want Chloe, do you want mami and papi back or do you want your life?” 
“BETO, Seriously,” You hit him on the shoulder.
“Don’t listen to him Chlo, he’s being dramatic,” Yaz finally piped up.
“I swear it’s like you are a woman sometimes,” She added.
“Well look what I live with!” He gestured to all three of you. “And I’m NOT being dramatic,”
“YES, you are,” You grabbed a mop and a bucket.
“Nobody is hurting us, and we’re not talking about it anymore,” You warned him as you put the mop in his hands.
“Chloe, Yaz-- wipe down the counters and windows for me, yeah?” You handed them two rags as they begrudgingly agreed. 
“Ok I’ll be right back-- ASH!” You called over to Ash at the hostess stand, she was on her phone per usual.
“Watch them for me,” You motioned between the three of your siblings.
“Watch them? You gonna start paying me for babysitting too?!” She yelled back. 
“I don’t need a babysitter, I'm 15! I’m a man!”
“Yeah a man CHILD,” Yaz laughed.
“I’ll show you man child--” Betro grabbed the mop and put it up to Yaz’s face, making her scream in disgust. 
“Ewwwww! Beto!!” She screamed as Beto chased her with the mop.
“See what I mean?”  You put your hands together in a begging stance.
“Five minutes,” She rolled her eyes.
“Thank you!”
-------
You went to the back, dialing Rafael’s number.
“That was fast,” You heard him smile through the phone.
“H-How did you know it was me?” 
“Call it lawyer’s intuition,” 
“Yeah well apparently your intuition didn't think about hanging around a Diablo’s territory,”
“What?” 
“They came in here after you left,” 
“What did they say?”
“They know you got one of them sent away,” 
“Shit--I should’ve figured that. After I gave Maria that money it figures she probably went to a Diablo dealer--” 
“Wait, did you just say you gave her the money?” 
“Yeah…” 
“You gave Ash’s mom money to go kill herself?”
“I didn’t-- it wasn’t like that!” He was frantic.
“Then how was it, counselor?” 
“I...I wanted her to calm down, so that she would be able to testify. I just wanted her to be calm. I didn’t...I didn’t think…she’d...” He trailed off, on the verge of tears.
“But she did,” You scoffed. 
“Look don’t you think I carry that around with me every day? You know that’s why I give Ash the money I give her! I thought you said she told you that,” He replied angrily.
“No, she told me that you knew who gave her the money. I don’t think she knows you’re actually the one who killed her,” 
“I didn’t kill her!” 
“Yeah you just gave her money to do it herself,” 
“Did you call me just to guilt me about the biggest mistake I’ve ever made?” He gruffed.
“No…” you sighed. “I’m sorry…” You felt a pang of guilt; you knew he was a good guy, he probably felt guilty about Ash’s mom every day and here you were shoving it in his face.
“I’m just scared,” You bit your lip.
“Did he threaten you?” 
“No, he offered for all of us to go out for some coffee later-- OF COURSE he threatened me!” You threw your hands up as it was totally obvious.
“Dammit, I’m--I’m sorry, Y/N,” He sighed. “I should’ve thought about that when Ash invited me to dinner at your place,” You could picture him pacing in his office.
“So you regret coming down here?” You asked softly.
“No! Not at all. Do...do you regret meeting me?” You could hear the fear in his voice.
“No!” You immediately answered, but then paused. “I mean, not really,” 
“If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have a target on your back right now,” 
“Oh please Rafael, you lived here. There’s ALWAYS targets on people’s back, no matter who they know,” 
“That is true,”
“But--” you sighed nervously. “He--He did threaten the kids, and my family, if you came down here again,” 
“Fuck…” He muttered. 
There was a long pause, so long you thought he might have hung up.
“...You need to come here,” 
“I’m sorry, what?” You almost lost it laughing.
“I can’t protect you from here!” 
“I didn’t ask you to protect me!” You half laughed.
“Then why are you calling me?” 
“I called you to say stay away from us,” You sighed.
“...Do you really mean that?” You could picture his puppy dog eyes as he spoke.
“Rafael, look-- I already told you. I have to put the kids first-- I can’t put their lives in danger just because your smile makes me weak,” 
“...Does it now?” You could hear him smirking through the phone.
“Shut up, you know what I mean. I can’t put what I want before them,” You replied in a flush.
“But you said they need their parents,”
“They also need to LIVE,” You scoffed.
“Please, Diego is all bark and no bite. I grew up with his brother, they’re full of shit,” 
“Well I’m sorry I don’t have the luxury of taking that chance while I sit in my ivory tower,” You said sarcastically.
“....That’s not fair. I told you how hard I worked--” 
“Yeah and I’m happy for you! I’m glad that you got out of here, I really am. But I’m still here,” You ran your hands through your hair. 
“That’s why I’m saying come to me!” He argued.
“Are you not hearing me? I run a restaurant, Rafael! I have kids to think of! I have a LIFE here. I can’t just run away with you,” 
“I didn’t mean it like that,” He sighed. “I meant bring the kids,”
“Did you? Because I think you know that’s impossible. Where are you gonna put all of us? You’re going to rip them away from their home? Their friends? Their life? And and then, then when we’re gone they’ll just go after Mari, or worse Ashtawnja! Or do you want her blood on your hands too?”
“...That’s the last time I’m going to let you bring that up again, or I’m hanging up.” He growled.
“Fine, you’re right. But you also know I’m right-- you can’t save everyone, Raf,” You blinked back tears. “But you can save us by staying away,” 
“I...I can’t do that,” He muttered.
“YES, you can. And you better because I swear to God Rafael if you show up here and the Diablo’s take it out on me or my family I will NEVER let you out of the guilt from that,”
“Just...Look just...just let me come and talk to--” 
“NO. No, okay? Just lose this number,” You hung up abruptly.
You put your hands over your face as you slumped down the wall slowly, silent tears falling down your face. You hated having to tell him to stay away from you, that was the last thing you wanted. But you knew it was for the best. 
Little did you know, Rafael wasn’t that easily deterred. 
----
It was late, you had closed hours ago and the kids had been asleep even longer. You couldn’t sleep, you were thinking about Rafael. Suddenly, a knock on the back door of the restaurant knocked you from your guilt. You grabbed one of Beto’s old little league bats and crept downstairs, as the knocking continued. You crept closer, and swung it open, waving a bat in the intruder’s face.
“DON’T FUCK WITH ME!!!!” You screamed, only to miss the guy and fell flat on your face.
“....And what exactly were you going to do to a Diablo with a bat in your shorty shorts and a tank top, hermosa?” 
You turned to see Rafael dressed in street clothes. His usual pristine suit was replaced with a leather jacket and jeans that showed off his amazing ass, topped with the black fitted tee showed off the fact that he may be older, but he took care of his body. VERY well. He was decked out in tons of gold chains and rings, you were half shocked he didn’t have a fake grill as well. 
You leapt to your feet, trying your best not to stare. If you didn’t have kids upstairs you would jump him right there in the alleyway. 
“...Is that how they dressed when you lived here?” You smirked, trying to hide the fact that you were incredibly turned on. 
“Oh come on, you know I look sexy,” He winked. “....Or at least your nipples do,” 
You glanced down at your pretty thin tank top to see your nipples standing at full attention. You clamped your arms around your chest quickly, feeling your face growing hotter by the second.
“...It’s cold out here,” You scoffed, but you knew you were totally busted. You hurried him inside, locking the door behind you.
“Okay sexy flirting aside, I told you not to come here!”
“You said the abogado couldn’t come here, so he didn’t,” He presented himself.
“Oh right, so you think you came here under the radar in that outfit, do you?” You half laughed.
“Well that and the fact that I came down here on my bike and not in an Uber,” 
“On a bicycle Raf, seriously?” You were now snickering. 
“No, smart ass. My BIKE,” He nodded outside. You cracked the door open to reveal a black motorcycle. 
“You, ride a motorcycle?” You raised an eyebrow. 
“I do,” He smiled. 
“You are full of surprises, counselor,” You smiled as you bit your lip.
“Keeps it interesting,” He smirked, pulling on your tank top. 
“So....does this mean I can ‘fraternize’ with this Rafael?” 
“Rafa,” He corrected you, rolling the R. “And he can protect you,” 
“I never said Rafael couldn’t protect-- is that why you did this?” You suddenly felt guilty for making him think he couldn’t be who he was to be with you.
“Rafael can protect you with restraining orders and lots of legal bullshit-- Rafa can protect you, the way you need to be protected right now,” 
“And how exactly is that, ese?” You raised an eyebrow.
He smiled slightly and moved his leather jacket, revealing a Glock in his belt. Your smile quickly faded, pushing him angrily.
“What the FUCK, Rafa?” You hissed, trying not to wake the kids. “You brought a gun into my house?!”
“I thought that’s what you wanted!” 
“You thought I wanted another cholo? This place is crawling with them, Rafa. I want the nice, handsome man that came in here the other day,” You pulled on the collar of his leather jacket.
“No you don’t, you told him to leave you alone,” He looked down and away at the floor in sadness.
“I…” you put your hand over your head, running your fingers down through your hair. 
“You’re right. I did,” You couldn’t fault him for listening to you, kind of. 
“So...you gonna let me protect you or what, carino?” 
You thought about it, milling it around in your brain. You glanced upstairs towards the kids, then looked at this new “Rafa”. 
After about a minute, you walked up to Rafa, pressing your body against his. 
“Alright guapo, you can stay,” you smirked. “But THIS, can’t,” You pulled the gun from it’s holster. 
“Fair enough,” He nodded and then went outside to lock the gun under his seat compartment. When he returned, he had a huge mischievous smile.
“So does that mean we--” He started to talk but that jacket with those abs couldn’t hold you back any longer. You grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him into your face. He responded by picking you up, you wrapped his legs around his chest as you two continued kissing. You fumbled with his jacket, trying to rip it off his body. 
“Easy hermosa, this jacket’s $200,” He chuckled, calmly sliding it off his arms and tossing it on your back table. He continued to kiss you, going for your tank top to pull off when…
“Rafael?” 
You both immediately ceased the making out and turned to see a sleepy Chloe, standing at the top of the stairs staring at the two of you. 
BUSTED.
21 notes · View notes
nekoannie-chan · 5 years ago
Text
My Princess
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Pairing: Dark! Steve Rogers X Reader
Word count: 3628 words.
Summary: What will Steve be able to do to have the person he loves with him?
Warnings: Obsession, stalker, non-con., kidnapping, physical and psychologic punishment, maybe torture, violence, abuse, death of characters (not explicit), if I miss a warning, please let me know. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18, DON’T READ IT.
A/N: This is my entry to the @sherrybaby14 ‘s Sherry’s Reader-insert Smut Prompt Challenge! with the Steve Rogers’ prompt #9:
“Dark! Steve x Reader where he takes her and brings her to his mansion that he designed to be like a castle? And he calls her princess all the time and makes her dress like a princess”
My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistake please let me know and I will correct it.
I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don’t steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other’s people. The only exception is the ones I gifted ‘cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and is not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.  THIS ONE-SHOT IS +18
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Marvel’s characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.
My other media where I publish: Wattpad, Ao3, ffnet. 
If you like it please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.
DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU’RE UNDER 18. 
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Steve kissed your shoulder a little, the night before he had left you exhausted making love with him.
Seeing that you were not waking up, he got dressed and left without anyone looking at him, he had to go to supervise that everything was in order and finished.
Steve was overseeing how the mansion had turned out, he had asked for exaggerated discretion for the transaction, he did not want anyone to know of that property, he had made the design to look like a castle and he wanted his princess to feel like one.
He went in and began to check the closet, the princess dresses he had sent to make especially for you were already arranged there, he was sure that you were going to see very well with them. He did not even care how much he had to pay for them, he had also taken care of the design of each one of them, not only dresses but also nightgowns, slippers, tiaras, hair accessories, whatever he thought was necessary.
He put the last perfume he had taken from your room on the dresser, he had made sure to get the makeup you liked the most.
He smiled, he observed one of your photos he had on his cell phone, realizing the time he decided to leave, and he did not want to be late for training
“Where were you babe?” you asked to see he came in.
"I went for a walk," he replied.
You approached him to kiss him when the door opened and Tony entered.
“Am I interrupting something? Are you going to do something? Ah… of course I forgot that the Capipaleta is a virgin, “Tony scoffed.
“Stark! “You warned him.
Steve smiled internally, no one suspected what they had, they still thought he was so innocent, that would be very helpful for what he planned to do.
While you were with your friends, Steve sneaked into your room.
Everyone believed that you slept in separate rooms, but it was not so until now no one had discovered them.
It was the third time that Steve entered your room without your permission, he smiled with satisfaction when noticing that you hadn't noticed yet, he took one of the perfumes that you had in the dressing table.
He searched among your drawers, careful not to disturb anything, he took the set of underwear that he liked so much to wear; He stealthily left the place, he was always very careful so that no one discovered him, he could not arouse any suspicion.
If Steve was in love with you, according to him, who could not fall before your charm?
But he was also clear about something, no one could deny what he wanted, everyone adored him, he knew that girls could not resist his physique, he could take advantage of those advantages of his position.
He had taken advantage of that to convince you that you were in a relationship.
“You still don't agree that Y/N and Steve are dating, right?” Pietro asked.
"No," Wanda said.
“Y/N loves him, I don't see the problem.”
"There is something I do not like about all this, I would not like something to happen to Y/N" Wanda commented with concern.
Pietro made an awkward gesture.
"It's all his fault, Steve likes to have all that attention, he's obsessed with her, he doesn't want to leave her for a single moment alone," Wanda continued. 
Steve watched you while you slept, he couldn't help it, he seemed beautiful to him, and he took out his cell phone and took some photos, being careful not to wake up
"So beautiful looks like an angel," he thought.
He came out trying not to be noise, but he didn't realize that he threw your jewelry box on the floor.
Because of the noise, you woke up.
"Who's there?" You asked sleepily.
When there was no answer, you turned on the light of the nightstand someone or something had entered your room
You got up, covered your body with your robe, and went out, saw Steve in the hallway.
"Steve, did you see if anyone came out of my room?"
"No doll, shouldn't you be sleeping?" he replied trying to look calm.
"I already was, but someone threw away my jewelry box, by the way, what are you doing here?" Shouldn't you be on a mission?”
“I finished it earlier than expected, I was going to train, and I’m still not sleepy.”
You shrugged, there were not many explanations for what had happened to you.
"Maybe it was a Stark experiment or there are ghosts at the base," you determined.
Steve laughed upon hearing your deduction.
"Always such a creative doll."
"Well, I'll go back to sleep," you said with a bit of annoyance.
"Rest" he approached and I kissed you on the forehead
"Wanda, something strange happened last night," you commented.
“What?”
“Someone came into my bedroom while I was sleeping, I woke up when I heard the jewelry box fall.”
"Didn't you see who it was?" Wanda asked.
"No, there was nobody when I turned on the light apart some of my things are missing," you replied.
“What kind of things?”
“A perfume, some of my makeup, some accessories, and…”
“AND?”
"Clothes, even underwear," you said embarrassed.
"That's weird, don't you have a suspect?"
“No.”
"Steve!" Wanda called him.
He ignored her, she ran to catch up with him, seeing her in front of him stopped.
"Steve, what are your true intentions with Y/N?" Wanda asked.
"Y/N is my princess, so I don't think it's your concern."
"YOU'RE OBSESSED WITH Y/N!" She yelled at him.
"No Wanda, you are jealous of our relationship
"I'm not jealous, Y/N is my best friend and I care about her" Wanda said firmly.
"You're not going to separate us," Steve said.
Before she could answer, he was gone.
"I must find out before I tell her," Wanda said as she paced around the room.
"If you are so suspicious of him, you should read his mind," her twin suggested.
"I can't, it's I don't know ... I don't know what he's doing, but it's as if I can only read his superficial thoughts but not his true intentions."
"We must warn them, this can become dangerous."
Steve finished preparing, everything else was ready, the only thing missing was for you to receive the notification, so no one would suspect what was about to happen and when they realized it would be too late.
He was not going to allow anyone to interfere between him and his beloved, not even the consequences that it might have.
He sent the message, now he was going to look for you, obviously taking care that no one else saw them, especially Wanda.
You were walking through the corridors of the base when you met Steve.
"Why aren't you ready?" he asked.
“Ready for what?”
You were confused, you didn't remember having any plans.
"We have a mission," he informed you.
“What you mean? No, none notify me.”
You checked your mobile phone, there was the notification, and it had arrived just five minutes ago.
"Aren't the others going on a mission?"
"It's just the two of us," he clarified.
"I'm going to go to tell to Wanda so she doesn't worry," you said, turning around.
"Y/N, we have to go now."
He took you by the arm, you sighed.
"Okay, let's go."
You went on his motorcycle.
"You look good," he flattered you.
“Thanks.”
He stopped suddenly, they got off the motorcycle, and it looked like you had arrived at the place.
"Did they give you the information?"
“This”.
He gave you a few papers that he had taken out of his pocket. You started reading it, it seemed kind of routine so it shouldn't be difficult.
You started walking through a forest, Steve was guiding you until you reached the place
"It looks creepy," you commented.
You had a bad feeling, that place looked like a horror movie.
"There is nothing to fear, I will protect you," he assured you.
"What about Y/N?" Wanda asked.
"I don't know," Pietro replied.
"I haven't seen her," Nat said.
"Does anyone know where Steve is?" Tony asked.
“Oh no...”
"Is something wrong?" Nat asked.
You entered the place, agreed that it was better to separate to cover more terrain, and finish the mission faster.
You walked into a room, what you saw there left you frozen, one of the walls was full of photos of you, photos that you never remembered someone took you, some of them looked as if they had been taken in fragrant and your lost things were also there. Steve appeared behind you.
"Steve ... What ...?" What is this? ”You questioned as soon as you saw him.
"I didn't think you'd find it that soon," he replied.
"Steve, what does all this mean?"
Steve's face changed, a malevolent smile appeared on his face, and you swallowed out.
"Steve, honey, what does this mean?" Do I have a secret admirer or something? It's a joke?” You questioned.
Silence, for a moment it crossed your mind that this was a trap.
"Steve, let's go please, let's go back to the base," you asked, trying to stay calm.
"There is nothing to fear princess," he assured you.
"We have to go back to the base," you ordered, your voice faltering.
"You don't know how much I love you," he replied.
"I know you love me, but Steve is scaring me," you said as you turned to go to the door.
He was faster than you and closed the door with a lock so you could not escape, you tried to take out your weapon, but he took you by the arm, the struggled a little, he managed to make you throw it, with another movement he knocked you unconscious.
He took you to the castle, took off your clothes and put on the lilac princess dress that he had liked so much, he smiled with satisfaction, you looked just as you had imagined, he brushed your hair put on your tiara, and left you in the room.
Now he had to get rid of the communicators and anything that might indicate the location.
A few hours later you woke up, you blinked several times to adjust to the light, where you were lying was not your bed, it had tulle, it seemed like the beds of the princess stories you read when you were a girl; As you sat you saw the outfit you were wearing, you frowned, you have never seen those clothes before.
How did you get there?
And above all, why did you have a dress on?
You got up looking for your boots, but you only found matching shoes, you sighed, you had no choice but to put on a pair, you looked up and saw yourself in the mirror.
Was it some kind of joke?
You looked down at the dresser, there were almost all the things you were missing from your room, you covered your mouth with your hand.
Had someone taken the form of Steve and kidnapped you?
You looked for all the furniture and drawers for the communicator to ask for help, nothing was there, then your mobile phone was not there, none of your belongings that you had taken to the mission.
You saw the door, maybe there was someone on the other side waiting for you, you went to the window, it had bars inside and outside, you couldn't escape through there, you opened the door, it was rare that I didn't have a lock, you tried to open the others but if they were closed with insurance, all the windows in the hall also had bars, you tried to peek through one, it seemed that what you saw was the tower of a castle.
For a moment you thought you were in Transylvania, you walked up the stairs and down, you went to the main entrance and tried to open, it was impossible.
"You woke up princess at last," Steve said.
"Steven, what does this mean?" you asked.
He did not answer your question.
You came up annoyed and you slapped him, I was hoping that if he was someone with the appearance of your boyfriend maybe he would show his true face, but nothing changed more than his expression, now he felt a little annoyed.
Steve grabbed your wrist and dragged you to the table, you tried to get away without success.
"Let go of me, you hurt me," you complained.
"You have to eat," he ordered.
He forced you to sit down, you looked at the plate with food, you were not going to eat anything, but your stomach protested, so you had no other option, although you could not deny that the food was delicious.
"Let's dance princess," Steve said suddenly.
"I don't want to," you refused.
He pulled you hard to get up.
"I said we are going to dance."
He was guiding you, you were trying not to move, but it was practically impossible.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I love you and they want to separate us," he replied.
"Steve, let's go back to base, please," you asked.
"No princess, I will not allow anyone to separate us."
He tried to kiss you.
“Don’t!
You pushed him, took off your shoes, and started running all over the place trying to escape, all the doors were still closed, and he caught you.
"You are behaving very badly princess," he sentenced.
"Leave me!" You shouted.
He struggled and dragged you to the room where you woke up, you kept screaming, maybe if someone listened to you they could help you.
"Shout all you want, no one will listen to you, I built this castle especially for you," he explained.
"I don't care, I want to go back to base, I don't want to be here," you whimpered.
Steve looked hurt, he had done all that especially for you and you didn't appreciate it.
"You need a punishment," he sentenced.
He took out handcuffs and chained you to one of the bedposts.
"You will stay like this until tomorrow, I hope you think about your behavior princess."
You saw the clock, it was four o'clock in the afternoon, you screamed and cried until you fell asleep, you did not know where he had gone, you hoped that others would notice that they were not there and would look for you and find you, although you were not sure if they would believe you.
At seven the next morning, Steve came in, he saw you asleep, started kissing you.
"Time to wake up princess," he whispered in your ear.
"Steve, let's go back to the base please," you asked again.
"No princess, let's have breakfast," he refused.
He took you to the dining room, maybe it was best not to make him mad, but you probably wouldn't eat all day.
Then he decided it was time to take a bath, he entered the bathroom with you but not the tub, and he began to wash your body with the sponge.
"Steve, I can do it alone," you said calmly, you didn't want to alter it.
"I want to help you, princess," he replied.
It was awkward, yet you were at a noticeable disadvantage.
"Put this on," she said, giving you another dress.
“Don’t you have jeans or something? “You asked.
"I want you to dress appropriately princess."
You put on the light blue dress that you had reluctantly chosen under Steve's watchful eye.
“You like them? I had them made especially for you, “he commented.
“They are cute”.
He brushed your hair and then put on another tiara, you felt ridiculous dressing like this, and you looked away from the mirror.
"Like you, princess, you know, we are going to be very happy here," he assured you.
"Something must have happened to Steve and Y/N," Natasha said concerned.
"I'm sure Steve is guilty," said Wanda.
"Come on, I don't think Capsicle will be able to harm someone," Tony commented.
Wanda tried to call you unsuccessfully for the tenth time. After several more attempts, they managed to locate your mobile phone near a river.
Steve managed to send false leads, making others believe that here you were kidnapped by some enemy.
Again he had left you alone, but this time you were not handcuffed, you started to check the place looking for an escape.
As soon as you heard the castle door open, you ran, maybe you could escape, Steve threw you to the ground to get away so you got up and changed your strategy, you locked yourself in the room, he opened it easily since he had the keys.
You started throwing at him what you were hiring without importing if you broke or hit him, you wanted to keep him away from you and as soon as you had the opportunity you would go out the door.
He kept coming closer, he threw you against the bed and got on top of you, easily taking off your dress.
"No, no, what are you doing?" you asked, trying to pull him away from you without success.
"You need a lesson, I wanted to do things well, but you refuse to cooperate, then it will be otherwise," he said.
He started stroking your breasts roughly and sucking your body, you kept struggling and the tears started to come out of your eyes, previously Steve had never forced you into anything, but now he seemed not to care what you want.
He penetrated you without caring that you weren't ready, it hurt a lot.
“Stop!”
He covered your mouth with one of his hands as he continued, stopped until he came.
"We will get married and have many children," he said before leaving.
You did not know how much you were going to endure, but you were completely sure that you would find a way to escape.
Taking advantage that Steve was asleep, you hated that princess nightgown that forced you to sleep.
You didn't put on your sneakers, which would give you away, you carefully took the keys, and you knew Steve was smart, but anyone could make a mistake.
You held your breath, one wrong move and it could all end… it didn't sound like such a bad idea if you were sure he was going to kill you, but you knew it wouldn't, it was much worse.
You walked as fast as you could.
You opened the door and started running through the garden, you had no idea where the entrance was.
You didn't even care to feel the grass against your bare feet or the stones, you ran as fast as you could look for the exit.
You heard Steve's voice calling out to you behind you.
You entered the maze, there you could lose it and sneak away, and you hoped that the exit was the door if so, you would go to the nearest town to call Wanda.
You kept walking, sometimes you stopped when you thought you heard Steve close by.
It seemed endless, honestly, you had no idea where you were going, and suddenly Steve tackled you, knocking you to the ground.
"You did something very bad princess," he said between his teeth.
He carried you, you tried to get away, bit him, kicked him, however, he was stronger and taller than you, easily pinned you down, took you back inside the castle.
He tore your nightgown and put you in the tub, he carved you with great force.
"Steve, stop, you hurt me," you asked.
"You have been a very bad girl, princess," he repeated.
“You can have what you want, I can give you anything and still you're trying to escape”
He tied your hands to the headboard.
"You have me kidnapped!"
He slapped you so hard that tears came out of your eyes, he turned you so that you were face down.
“When princesses are bad, they should be taught a lesson.”
He took off his belt and hit your ass several times with it, at first you tried not to make any noise, but the pain was more so you ended up screaming, after a while, you weren't sure if it had been minutes or hours, but what that if you knew is that probably in a few days you could not sit down.
What were you going to do? You had no way out.
If you tried to run away again or something he did not like, he was surely going to do the same, if you did what he wanted even if it was against your wishes, you did not know where you had gone again, he refused to answer your questions, your body still hurt and you were hungry.
"My King, you returned," you said in a shaky voice.
"I see that you finally understood, princess," he congratulated you.
You looked away, you didn't know exactly how you should behave and you were terrified of doing something that would infuriate him, but you were determined to play along.
"I have something to show you," he commented.
He took your hand and led you to the living room showed you some photos.
You covered your face with your hands horrified to see the photos with the crime he had committed, Steve had murdered everyone, your friends too.
"Steve ... why?" You asked crying.
"No one is going to separate us," he assured you with a smile.
No one was going to save you, you would be trapped in that place for the rest of your life. 
236 notes · View notes
jacearthereal · 4 years ago
Text
Written panel of Guillermo Rojas (Dean Winchester’s voice actor):
Note: I’m not fluent in spanish, but my native language is portuguese and I could understand a lot from what he said. I hope this clarifies more things in this fandom, because everyday a new thing comes up and we try not to panic.
What it’s not here, it’s because I didn’t understand enough to write something coherent, but I tried my best. I hope y’all like it.
Ada: He's been a voice actor from season 12 to episode 15x18. He tells us that unfortunately he got covid in the last 2 episodes and he understands that he will have to record the [last] episodes again. Let's start with the easier questions, because I don't know if you guys know, but the Mexican dubbing ‘broke the internet.’
Guillermo: Yes, I’m sorry I couldn’t answer all your questions, but I was in the middle phase of covid, with a tracheal symptom that didn’t allow me to speak. Now I’m working with therapy. Apparently, I have two sequels. One is bad and the second is not. So I couldn't answer everyone I was looking on the internet. On insta, facebook, youtube — A channel that I never updated — on the situation that happened with Dean and this other companion, right.
Ada: but let's start with other questions. Because you've worked on a lot of series, live-actions and animations. And the first question is “how different is the process of directing live-action and directing animation and which one do you prefer?
Guillermo: The process for each other is somewhat similar. Because we have a quality that we have to respect and give in this case.
Ada (translating what Guillermo said): The dialogues are given by the production house or as we call “the client”.
Guillermo: And in this case we have to pay attention to the alignments that they ask us, which depend a lot on the production we are working with.
(Ada repeats in English)
Guillermo: Yes, none of them are the same. It would be lying because we could have two live-actions and they’re not the same alignments. These are basic points that we need to follow.
Ada: (speaks very similarly and says): When you're acting, that's when the change comes.
Guillermo: The big difference that I can tell you would be the technical points to follow in each one of them. The question would be authorial, in this case. And what gives 100% of each one of us. 
Ada: Ok, next question. What is your favorite role you've played and why?
Guillermo: I believe that the first one I can tell you — today it’s not the most and I will say why — It remains Kiefer Sutherland / Jack Bauer 24h. First, because it has a very beautiful story of how I stayed with (Jack Bauer?). Basically, I was directing the dubbing in the country and the idea was that I shouldn’t do it because I had many directions, but in the end we continued to record through the years because the people listened to me. And then I worked extra hours.
(Ada says in english that they managed to organize themselves).
Ada: So they paid you more?
Guillermo: No.
Ada (About Guillermo): They pay me more because I work more, but not for extra hours. It was my first leading role. It was not worth losing it.
Guillermo: I have worked for 25 years with voice acting in all areas. I'm an audio engineer. I work as an audio engineer, as a post-audio producer, as a talent director and as a talent.
(Ada repeats in English)
Guillermo: [...] very complicated content because it was a lot. Record, edit, direct and be there.
(Ada repeats in english and congratulates him)
Guillermo: Yes, it will be many years for me. I do audio production and post production of audio and video. And a friend one day; and it was because one day we went to eat. I don't remember the day, and he said “You don't work, you play(?)—” and it's true, I like what I do. But if you ask me which character I liked the most, today, it would be the 911, the Fox series that is just being produced if I'm not mistaken for the fourth or fifth season. A team of firefighters, and just from recording, my tears fall with the empathy that the production brings, but the acting has an impressive ending.
He says something about authorial issues to feel empathy with Peter Krause. 
And he talks about the director having an impressive drive not only to direct, but to adapt dialogues and there’s a synergy working on this TV show. 
He says something about the director supporting him and giving him characters and that he really enjoy doing because the director gives him a certain freedom to act and that allows him to feel the character and that he loves to work with him.
Ada: In the dubbing process, do you try to get clues or directions of performance from the original script and if you do it do you feel limiting or try to get your own inspiration from the dialogues?
Guillermo: I think there is a bit of both in that last question. Original alignment would be to follow what we are seeing as performance. Remember that dubbing has been a part of it— we must make a parallel alignment with the language.
Ada (repeats): A parallel work with the original.
Guilhermo: So the initial alignments we try to expand all the possibilities and all the alignments that authorially they allow us to practically give 100% of us. So the limit wouldn't always exist, I mean here in Mexico, at least.
Ada (referring to what Guilhermo said): We follow the instructions, we follow the original voice, there are no limits, as long as we don't — as we say here in Mexico — don't pee outside the toilet. The instructions are very clear.
Ada: Since you mentioned the paths and as I mentioned at the beginning, I have a question. What was the guide in this latest supernatural dialogue that broke the internet?
Guillermo: It’s a curious thing, because no director or server had so much idea of ​​the trend that was there because in the information they said previously, we didn't know that something like this could happen.
Ada says something about his birthday being last week because Guilhermo is eating a cake (?) and she asks us to say congratulations to him and he thanks her.
Guillermo: So it was sincere when we recorded. So we were like, "What happened?" We did that, but we saw nothing of the others in the production. (I think he's referring to nobody saying anything) and not even after the recording that this could happen.
Ada: And here I have to make a change because it’s obvious that we are referring to Castiel declaring himself to Dean after twelve intense years, but the question is Dean's answer, because everyone heard very clearly “Y yo a ti”.
Guillermo: Y yo a ti. Yes.
Ada: Where did that “Y yo a ti” come from?
Guillermo: The adaptation was entirely from my director. The adaptation lineup was his and I said what he asked me.
Ada (about Guillermo): I asked him about the “i love you”, I know that Tumblr was waiting for this moment. It was the director's adaptation, he gave me the instructions, it was his fault.
Guillermo: But we all love it. Everything enchanted us. We have never heard it come so directly. If we remember well, throughout all the seasons, we hardly see a story in which Dean finds himself really in love with a woman. It didn’t happen. Unlike his brother.
Ada: I will say more. A little bit ahead of his time.
Guillermo: Yes, but never able to separate from empathy in general. It never conflicted.
Ada (About Guillermo): It wasn't his [...]. We can compare Dean with his brother. We remember the relationship he had (Sam) the past two seasons. Eileen.
Guillermo: And it was quite intense and painful in the end. Dean basically didn't suffer that. (and he says something like the closest thing to Dean was when he lost his mother).
Ada: More than once. We have a question. So it’s not a rogue translator, but a rogue director?
Guillermo: [Adrian] Fogarty has a tendency, he has very intense skills. And one of them is to adapt dialogues. You see Fogarty's work when they translate it and you have time to do it. Even if you’re not directing [...] in spanish. And in the script, if I don't forget, it said “también yo” or something like that and then we changed to "Y yo a ti".
Ada (about what he said): Because of the movement of the lips and other things. I can explain as a translator, my absolute hatred for lip sync.
Guillermo: This part is an important topic, but nowadays with the speed of production we have, it’s difficult to pay attention to this part, but we should. And in that sense, specifically, we don't have this ability to adapt like that. When we put our skills together [...] Fogarty does his job. There’s a Fogarty in every company.
(Ada talks about her cat that showed up).
Ada: This is my cat. He's a huge Dean Winchester’s fan. But he gets irritated with Sam.
(Guillermo asks why).
Ada: I don't know.
She talks about muting (?) the episodes (in spanish and english) in Sam's parts or the cat gets irritated and that he already stole Sam's Funko arm. She talks about getting funkos for Guillermo. He didn't know about them.
Ada: They are asking a lot if you know what Dean said in the original script before Fogarty changed it?
Guillermo: It was something like that. It was totally correct, clearly. It was something “Yo también, también yo” something like that.
(My note: I have to say that I think Guillermo thought it was about the spanish script here).
Ada: Did you hear the original when you were dubbing?
Guillermo: Yes, of course.
Ada: And do you remember hearing in English "I love you too"?
Guillermo: No.
(Ada says that supernatural has a very intense and real fandom, as he can see).
Ada: What was your favorite dubbing episode?
Guillermo: With my short-term memory, the latter.
(Ada repeats in english)
Guillermo: It's because it says a lot. In one scene it said it all. So it’s impressively very beautiful. I will never forget.
Ada tells him that in the episode after Castiel, Dean finally has a dog. Guillermo is surprised and says "He finally has one" and Ada says that the dog is called Miracle.
Ada: We have a question. Before you started working with supernatural, had you seen the TV show?
Guillermo: Yes. Before I started working with supernatural, I was watching between season 5 to 7. I watched at midnight and I was scared. I lived in a house that was kind of an abandoned house so there were some strange noises.
(Guillermo says he heard the original Dean's voice actor from that time).
Ada: They’re asking if the original script said anything about Dean's feelings for Cas or was it all put up by Fogarty?
Guillermo: In the original we received there was no indication that Dean was in love, or that he corresponded, that I know of. That line was what launched the whole series. We didn't see it coming.
Ada (adding): It was the director because that was what made sense.
Guillermo: I looked on the internet so many questions about what happened. And yes, both the director and the writer decided to take a very hidden trend between the two of them in various takes and very sensitive dialogues, to satiate that ‘we’ have feelings for each other’, but it was so tenuous that they hardly noticed anything.
Ada says that it was the director in English, who took this sensitive and subtle path. And he says that this brings to the fact that he’s a heller.
(My note: Who didn’t notice? Warner? All of them? And I also think Ada said “in english” by mistake).
(Guillermo goes back to saying that he was taken by surprise).
Guillermo: Because all we saw was that to be a real man you have to be like Dean Winchester.
Ada: You’re going to break the internet again with this. (she repeats what he said and adds) And Dean Winchester is in love with Castiel.
Guillermo: And to me, it was beautiful. Because it's not about gender, it's about feelings. So it was a wonderful move by the writers. I didn't see it coming and still liked it.
Ada: I believe it was very beautiful. It was a play by the original american writers. That you didn't see it coming, but when you saw it, you liked it.
(My note: She said american writers, but why? Guillermo was talking about Fogarty’s script, wasn’t him?)
Ada: We have two questions. Was anything left out of the translation? (And Ada herself answers with) No. Nothing was left out of the translation.
Ada: Have you ever been called back to re-record the “Y yo a ti”?
Guillermo: No.
Ada: He was not asked to redo the dubbing.
Guillermo: It was clear to me that the director understood the perfect texture of this text.
Ada: I have a question. From experience, because at some point I wanted to dub, but also to translate dubbing, and I noticed a couple of very complicated dialogues [...]
Ada talks about how they had to change a line (the original was in Japanese) but they said it was for children so even if it was what the character said in the original, the company didn’t accept it.
Ada: So my question is, do you know if supernatural has quality control by Warner?
Guillermo: I would lie if I said yes. But I have worked for many years as a director and actor. Some materials like superheroes and things like that would fit in a title like this, but not supernatural. So the decisions and directions are all up to the director.
Ada: Did you act Dean like he was in love with Castiel all this time?
Guillermo: No. It was a surprise. I will be very sincere. For me to say to a very dear friend, to a very dear person, I’ll say "I love you."
Ada (adding): I have no problem.
Guillermo: So I didn't feel that way, I'm sincere.
Ada: You went that way, then said no.
(My note: Strange, uh?)
Guillermo (laughing): Yes, what happened?
Ada: Are you going to voice Jensen on The Boys?
Guillermo says nobody told him anything. That he’s practically being a month just virtually. So they don't have all the invitations.
(My note: I don’t know if this part is entirely correct, but that’s what I got).
Ada: He didn't receive the invitation because he had to spend a month away because of the covid. So he cannot speak to you.
Ada asks fans to write that they want Guillermo Rojas to dub Jensen Ackles on The boys.
Ada: You can do it. Start writing now.
Harlequin: Is Dean Winchester your favorite character to voice or is it another one?
Guillermo: No, no. [but] he's one of my favorites, of course.
(He talks about it being a spectacular job).
Ada: Are you on twitter?
Guillermo: Yes, but I don't use it very much. I like facebook more.
(My note: He scaped from us).
Ada: What is your opinion, now with everything you know, about Dean's declaration to Cas?
Guillermo: I love how they did it, because none of us saw it coming. And we recorded it. And I believe that of all the personality from what we have of the character, we can know that if there’s someone who keeps his feelings reclusive it’s Dean Winchester.
Ada asks about his coworker, Castiel's voice actor, if he knows his opinion.
Guillermo: I didn't see him. We don't see each other very much because the companies we work for don’t coincide much. He has already recorded with me in productions that I directed, but I haven't seen him in four months or more.
Ada says someone asked if he can do a “Hello, Cas” like Dean Winchester, to ease the pain of the finale.
Guillermo: Sure, why not. (he says “Hello, Cas”)
Ada: There you are, girls.
Guillermo says he has a friend who loves Dean, and she said he killed the character she loves most, because Dean has a thicker voice [in the original].
Guillermo says that if she doesn't like it, she should watch the original.
Carolina, friend of Guillermo, appears and Ada repeats the question.
Carolina says Dean Winchester is her boyfriend. And she says that after hearing the dubbing, she will never be able to see or hear Dean as her boyfriend anymore.
Guillermo playfully pushes Carolina off the screen.
Ada: Have you seen the end of the last episode?
Guillermo: No, I want to see it when I record it.
(My note: #PrayforGuillermo)
Ada starts talking about him recording a “Hola, Cas” and Guillermo asks “In what sense” and Ada says “When they meet after the declaration” Guillermo thinks it’s a spoiler and goes “They meet again?” and Ada says she will not give spoilers. Guillermo thought that Dean said "I love you" to Cas and Cas didn't come back from the empty and if Cas comes back, that's how he would say "Hola, Cas".
And Ada reminds him that in the first few seasons, Dean said to Cas “It's not for nothing, but the last person who looked at me like that, I got laid.”
Then she said that someone asked him to tell Cas the whole declaration of love, but Ada reiterated that they wouldn’t break the internet anymore.
Ada: They are asking you to be godfather of the fandom.
 Guillermo: Of course.
Ada tells him that he’s the godfather now and asks him to leave a message for fans who are now discovering the mexican dubbing. He thanks us for being part of this. He says that they do this work with passion. And he thanked all the people from all countries who are watching this project.
Ada: With that in mind, as you didn't see the ending of supernatural, What’s your ideal ending for Dean Winchester?
Guillermo: I believe that for everyone, since they sacrificed their lives for their families once again, for the well-being and happiness of everyone, I believe that if someone deserves to be well, peaceful and happy, [it has to be] at least one of the three.
(Ada talks about Jack)
Guillermo: Jack has joined, but he can achieve his happiness at another nest.
They say goodbye. Guillermo wishes ‘Merry Christmas’.
The end.
28 notes · View notes
survey--s · 3 years ago
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61.
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Do you ever find yourself worrying about things that probably won’t happen? Welcome to life with a diagnoses anxiety disorder, lol.
Has your imagination ever made it hard for you to sleep? Yep, see above lol. I struggle to switch my brain off at night unless I’m thoroughly exhausted when I go to bed.
Have you ever had a weird dream and obsessed over what it might mean? No, I’ve never really been interested in interpreting my dreams.
Or do you usually forget about your dreams? I remember them for a few minutes, then after that they’re generally gone for good apart from a few random snippets.
Do you know your heritage? I do.
If not, would you ever try one of those DNA kits? No. I really don’t trust companies like that to keep my DNA safe. There have been so many scandals where companies have been hacked and peoples’ personal information has been spread - what’s to stop the same thing happening to someone’s DNA?
Which languages can you speak? English and French, as well as some very basic German, Italian and Spanish.
Which language do you speak the most and why? English, because I live in England surrounded by English speakers, lol.
Which languages do you wish you were fluent in? Spanish and maybe Chinese would be useful too.
With films in languages you do not speak, do you prefer a dub or subtitles? If I understand some of it, then subtitles, but otherwise dubs are much easier as you don’t need to pay as much attention that way.
Which cuisine do you like the least? I can’t tolerate anything that’s too spicy as it makes me vomit - I have such a sensitive stomach when it comes to spicy foods.
Are there any foods you dislike because of the texture? Bananas. I like the flavour though and I’ll eat banana bread or drink banana milkshakes.
Which type of chocolate do you like best? Milk chocolate, or the 50/50 stuff you can get.
Do you have a favorite kind of dog? Beagles and spaniels.
Do you let your pets sleep in your bed? Archie sleeps in our bed every night, and the cats are allowed up there during the day as well. The only reason we don’t let them up there at night is they chase each other and it would just keep as all awake, lol.
Do any of your favorite musicians ever write music for/with other artists? I’m sure they do.
What is your favorite collaboration between two different musicians? I like quite a few of Ed Sheeran’s collaborations.
Do you like any of those oldies groups (like the Four Seasons)? Definitely.
Do you know who Bernie Taupin is? I feel like I should, but no.
What are your favorite one-hit wonders? Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks.
Have you ever changed your clothes in the car? Yeah, a few times.
About how quickly does your hair grow? Not too quickly...about the average pace, I suppose?
Do you have to/choose to shave anything unusual? No.
Do you groom (wax, pluck, or thread) your eyebrows? Pluck.
Most unusual thing you have worn in public? I can’t think of anything too unusual or weird.
If you wear makeup, what are your preferred brands? I don’t really have any preferred brands.
Do you use flavored lip balm? Yes, it’s a honey flavoured one from Burts Bees.
What about tinted lip balm? Nope.
What is your favorite swear word? Fuck.
Do you make your own iced tea, or buy it in jugs/bottles? I buy it, but I only really drink it a couple of times a year.
Have you ever made sun tea? I’ve never heard of that before.
Do you use sugar or honey to sweeten your tea? Sugar for hot tea, honey for iced tea.
Do you ever put milk in your tea? Yes.
Do you prefer powdered or liquid coffee creamer? Liquid, for sure.
Did your school have somewhere for girls to get emergency pads or tampons? They did, yes.
Did you have to wear a uniform for gym class? I had to a wear a uniform full-stop.
Did you have to take showers after gym before going to your next class? No - we had the option but nobody ever took it because who wants to get naked and shower in front of their classmates? lol.
Were you in any extracurricular activities or clubs in high school? No. Extra-curricular activities have always been my idea of absolute hell, lol. I had to join some in primary school and hated every second of it.
Have you ever picked up and kept a rock because it caught your eye? Yeah, I had a pretty impressive rock collection as a kid - mainly quartz or round pebbles but I also used to buy geodes on holiday.
Have you attended any rock (literal rocks, not music, lol) shows? Nope.
Have you ever laughed at a scene (TV/film) that wasn’t meant to be funny? Of course.
Do you think they should make a movie about Hatshepsut? Sure.
Any great books you would recommend? The “Alice” series by Christina Henry. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.
Were you disappointed with Fox’s version of the Rocky Horror Show? I purposefully never watched it. I don’t think anything can live up to the original with Tim Curry, though I did see a decent enough stage version of it about a decade ago.
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deberiaestarescribiendo · 4 years ago
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Saint Jude's Miracle: A Javier Peña x OFC (Isa) Fanfiction. Chapter IV
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Summary: Javier left one small detail about his partnership with the DEA, a insignificant one but that changes how Isa perceives this job and the risks he’s about to take. They spent the last weekend before he leaves in Laredo where they made many memories at the beginning of their relationship.
WC: 4,3k
Warnings: angst and many hurt feelings, miscommunication, swearing. NSFW +18 SMUT at the end of the chapter (fingering, male masturbation, p in v and a bit of sex talk but not that explicit)
A/N: Hi! this is chapter four and I think that I can wrap up this story in a few chapters more (4 maximum, at least that’s the plan) I literally based the whole end of the chapter on my first participation on #Writer Wednesday that you can read here and my love for Juan Luis Guerra. The song mentioned is “Burbujas de amor” I grew up dancing and listening to that tape while my mami cooked and later in my life I really paid attention to the lyrics discovering that well, it’s about sex 😅, still it’s a beautiful bachata and the hopeless romantic in me wishes that somebody (Javi Peña please) would dance it with me someday while being madly in love 💃❤
Listen and Lyrics here (there's a few verses translated by yours truly in the chapter)
Masterlist | Chapter 3⬅
Chapter IV: Small details
Isabel tries to focus on her daily routines like doing the chores; it’s easier than to think about anything else, she tries to keep going as if nothing is going to happen. But every time she looks at the door where Javi has left his luggage, she feels her stomach twisting. She’s desperate; thinking how she could make him stay: maybe she could lie, pretend that something has come up, but she dismisses those thoughts straight away, she must be overthinking, it’s just a week, she repeats herself but she cannot help feeling that something is wrong and that she should do anything to make him stay.
Javier plays with Elvira on the garden, the little girl screams and laughs out loud while her father tries to catch her; Isabel looks at them amused from the sliding door when the phone rings.
“Hello?” she answers
“Hi! It’s Steve, is Javi home?” a deep male voice she doesn’t recognize replies
“Yes, who is this again?” she actually has an idea. He, this Steve, it's the one that has convinced his husband to go, the one that called a thousand times during the night.
“Steve, I was your husband’s partner back in Colombia. You’re Isa, right?”
“Yes”
“Nice to meet you, well, through the phone at least” he chuckles
“Nice to meet you too”
“Javi has told me about you and, let me tell you, me and my wife, we’re dying to meet you”
“I’d love to say the same but he doesn’t share much about that time” she blurts out, she actually feels hurt, why did Javi tell him about her and nothing of the man calling to her, his wife? “Are you going with him to Mexico? You are the one that asked him?”
“Ask him? We didn’t...” Steve says confused “Yes, y-y-es, we’re going together” he coughs “Can you pass him the phone, please?”
“Yes”
Isa strides angrily towards the garden and calls for Javi to come inside. He stops immediately the games with Elvira and returns to the house with a curious look.
“Sí, amor?”
“The phone, it’s your friend Steve” she hisses
“Steve?”
“Jav...I think I might have fucked up talking to your wife”
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The rest of the day is a symphony of Isa stumping through the house, slamming doors and grunts and curses slurred.
“She’s angry again” Elvi confides leaning on her father’s ear while their watching a movie after dinner
“Yeah, I think so too” fuck Steve and his big mouth
His wife is doing the dishes and if he wasn’t able to hear the water running, he would think she is actually destroying the whole kitchen rather than cleaning; she lays things unnecessarily loudly and the clack clack sound of the plates smashing against each other announces that she’s losing her cool and that she’s about to break some of them soon enough.
Crash
“Fuck!”
Eli gasps and cringes hearing her mum say a bad word for the first time.
“You keep watching, I’m going to see if she’s ok” Javi gets up and walks to the kitchen
She’s cleaning the thousand tiny pieces muttering a list of bad words in Spanish and English.
“Are you ok?”
“Yes” she says abruptly
“Clearly not, but...”
“Of course I am not” she starts shouting but she lowers her voice immediately knowing her kid can hear her “I’m about to lose my mind”
“Isa...” he approaches her but she backs away and stops him
“You forgot to tell me some small details, Javier” she accuses
“What details?”
“Why did your friend imply that they didn’t ask you to go?”
He sighs placing his hands on his hips
“I didn’t want you to...”
“Worry?” she interrupts “We’re passed that”
“Alright, I did offered my help” he confesses
“What kind of help?”
“I’ve told you. See what they got and testify when necessary about the information I found” he looks tired, dark circles under his eyes and he lowers his arms defeated “Can we please talk about this later...”
“You’re telling me that you are an informant, Javi?” Isa waits for his answer with her fists close tightly; her lips are a fine line now
“Yes, more or less” he sighs
“Javier... why did you put yourself at risk like that?” her voice is low and she closes her eyes before speaking trying to control what she’s about to say “You know what those people do to whoever dares to speak up?”
“Of course, I fucking know, Isa!” he screams and slams his hand on the table, making her flinch
Helena
Maritza
Carrillo
Even fucking Mr Pickle
The list of people Javi had seen die or their lives distroyed because they dare to face the Narcos or say something they shouldn’t have was long and his mind repeats those names again and again when he tries to forget about what happened in Colombia.
“What did you want me to do? Look the other way? Ignore it as everybody in that fucking stupid job? Let those people go?” his eyes glow with the white light on the kitchen. He never loses his temper; he’s actually pretty calm even when they’ve fought before. But in that moment, Isa see how his hands shake how his body tenses
“What I want it’s that you don’t want to comprise yourself, your health to something that isn’t your job anymore” she mutters
“Yeah, but guess what? It’s the only thing I know how to do and I’m actually good at it, not that stupid office job that kills me every fucking day”
“If you don’t like it you can change, Javi, nobody is holding you there” she suggests
“Nobody is holding me there? Well, we have to keep paying this fucking house don’t we?” he snarls
“It’s our fault then that you have accepted to put yourself in this position? that you always want to run away?” Isabel gawks. She’s about to say something else but Elvira’s cries and screams are loud now after she has listen to her parents fight, so Isabel storms out of the kitchen to her. The little girl is sitting on the couch trying to muffle her whimpers holding her unicorn.
“Mi cielo, ven aquí” (My love come here) she jumps to her mother’s arms and she shakes and sniffs “We’re going to bed, come on” Isa lifts her tiny body up and walks towards the stairs, she glares at Javi when he tries to reach for them and shakes her head.
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Isabel comes to bed late and when he’s already there, in the dark, she undresses and takes her place on the right side without saying a word.
“Isa” he murmurs
Javier stretches his arm to reach her but as soon as she feels him, she moves away.
“C’mon Isa” he raises putting his weight on his elbow “Talk to me”
“I don’t want to talk”
“Then listen to me. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have screamed and say those things”
“Doesn’t matter how you said it if you think them, though” she counters still not turning to face him
“I don’t think them”
“Which part?”
“I don’t think you are responsible of me wanting to do this or that I’m bored and disgusted of my job”
“You’re doing it again”
“What?”
“Lying to yourself. You’re bored of your life I can understand that, I didn’t choose to be in this life either, but I have to accept it. And you’ll have to accept that the life you had back in the day can’t come back at least Elvi and I we don’t fit in it”
“Amor it’s not like that”
“Then stay”
“I can’t” he sighs
Isa stays quite and tense hugging the pillow and when he tries again to touch her, she gets up and strides outside the room
“I’m going to sleep with Elvi tonight”Javier raises to stop her but again she refuses his touch. Defeated, he throws himself on bed. Then stay, I wish it was that easy
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They leave to Laredo the next morning to spend the weekend with Chucho before Javi crosses the border.
Isa responds with just “yes” or “no” to anything her husband says during the ride and focuses on distracting Elvira with music or playing with her Barbie dolls.
Her last sentence, the one she said the night before, burns in his brain.
You want your life back and we don't fit in it it makes his stomach turn, because deep down he knows it's true.
That hunger he feels, the thrive that hooks him to this job is a lingering ghost that whispers in his ear, a siren singing until he's about to drown.
----------------------------------------------------------
He remembers one night back in Colombia a few years ago. Gabriela under him, her soft skin glowing in sweat as he poured his frustration in her, she was sweet and always understood what he wanted, beautiful but with a sadness in her eyes, very common among the girls in the same job, and he had ask her why she didn't stop and she responded with the same question back to him.He didn't have an answer back then, and when he did stop, he was forced to because the system wouldn't allow him to do his job properly. His departure from the DEA was a bad break up; he didn't find closure no matter how many times he did say that he was through.
Chucho welcomes his family with tamales and cold beer. He lets Elvira roam around the chickens and the rest of the animals on the ranch before dinner. He's not naive and senses the tension between his son and daughter in law since they've gotten out of the car.
“¿Bueno qué te hizo este pendejo?” (what did this idiot do to you?) He asks to Isa while setting the table
“He's going to Mexico you know, with the DEA”
“What?”
“He's an informant now apparently”
“An informant”, Chucho thinks about that information and decides not to mention anything during dinner as he prefers to listen to his granddaughter stories. Once they're done and Elvi and Isa are cleaning the dishes he forces Javi out of the house.
“Isa told me you’re going to Mexico with the DEA”
“Just for a week, I'm helping them with something”
“You remember that day after you got back from Cali? In this same place”
“Yes”
“You told me you were through”
“And I'm, I'm just being useful. That information landed on my lap what was I supposed to do? Ignore it, pops?”
“You could just passed the tip and let them do it. When you got back from Cali I've found you here, every morning watching as the boats go up the river with los kilos, you were never through Javi, don't lie to me”
“You and Isa are just perfect for each other” Javi scoffs
“She worries about you, she loves you, mijo” he grabs his son’s arm
“I know”
“You're not the young man that left Laredo, Javi, nor the man that came back from Colombia, you're a dad now. And let me give you a piece of advice, out of experience, even if you think your father is annoying” Javi shakes his head “Parents always know, they know you and see you for what you are even when yourself is trying to deny it. You've been always like that, Javi, always trying to do the right thing even if it costs you your health and your heart and blaming yourself endlessly for the things you couldn't control”
Javi listens in silence, chewing hard on a nicorette.
“Now the right thing is not going after those Narcos, the right thing is to stay with your family”
Javi has his gaze fixed on the moon and stars that illuminates the river under them.
“But that's only this old man opinions, your family will wait for you here, we always do” he adds
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“So can we go? Please please” Elvira begs at the table
“Claro, mija” (Of course, love) His grandpa always spoiling her pinches her cheek before hers parents can answer “We’re going all of us together”
Javi and Isa look at him. Isa is still giving Javier the silent treatment and has being avoiding him even though Chucho forces everybody to share every meal on the leaving room and do the same activities together; even though Javi has tried to approach her many times a day, she finds ways to reject him.
“Papá...” Javi starts
“There’s no discussion, son. Mi nieta quiere ir a la feria y vamos a ir a la feria” (My granddaughter wants to go to the funfair and we’re going to the funfair”
“It could be fun” Isa agrees and gives a timid smile; it’s the most she’s spoken since they’ve arrived.
Laredo’s funfair takes place at the end of the summer and it’s practically the only activity for a lazy summer evening so the whole town is there. Isa watches as her daughter grins, her mouth already sticky thanks to the cotton candy she’s eating, and the sugar is starting to kick in, she’s jumping and screaming pulling her grandpa’s hand and the poor man follows trying not to fall down.
“Easy on abuelito, Elvi” Isa laughs
Isabel is beautiful tonight, like many years ago, she wears a sunflower summer dress and her dark curls clipped on both sides. Javi smiles, his mind wandering through the memories from the past when they were starting to know each other.
“You remember our first date?” he asks
“Yes” she nods “It was a pretty good date I think”
“Never thought we will be back to this funfair with our daughter years later”
“Me neither. And I think your father regrets now that he said yes to this” Isa motions to her right where Elvi is forcing his grandpa to get on one of the rides.
“I should go with her instead if I don’t want to collect my father’s corpse after this” he grins and they walk towards the people queuing.
“Elvi, leave abuelito, Dad is going with you” Isa tries to sound like an authority but she keeps laughing watching poor Chucho scared
“No, I want to go with you” she crosses her arms and pouts “With you both, mami y papi” she says
“I-I” Isa simpers
“Leave mami, she doesn’t like this kind of things”
“No!” she cries “Like abuelo said, we’re going together all of us”
“Honey...” Javi bends to her, but Isa posses her hand on his shoulder
“Okay, I’ll go too, but you leave abuelo stay”
She seems to hesitate for a bit, but then she nods and finally Chucho breathes deeply in relief.
“Be careful” he says walking way too fast away from the queue
The attraction simulates a ship going forward and backward, each time farther away and faster. Isa exhales trying to calm herself down while Elvi and her husband laugh at her.
“Remember I told you I puked in one ride the first time I came to the fair? So this is the one, you two won’t be laughing once I vomit all over you both” she screams and that makes them laugh even more
The first two rounds are not that bad. Isa holds one hand on her seat the other over Elvi’s body. Javier reaches timidly at first to brush his fingers over hers as to reassure her, he’s about to recoil but she holds on tightly to his fingers, her eyelids strongly closed. When thing finally stops, Isa can barely walk.
Elvira is already jumping towards Chucho trying to convince him to get on another round with her.
“Hold on to me come on” Javi says holding her by the waist it’s been two days since he last touch her. Two days where he has tried to hold her hand or subtly tried to bump into her while on the kitchen but she has refused his touch. So he closes his fingers on the dress trying to hold on what she has finally given him and not force the situation and make her go back to that state again. Although all he wants is to hold her in his arms and take the pain he sees on her eyes away. Pain you have caused, idiot.
“No way, señorita, you will kill you grandpa” he responds
Time passes and Isa is no longer shaking and can stand on her legs, but lets her husband’s arm around her, his hand rubs gentle circle on her side.
“We should get you something to eat”
There’s a big plain at the center of the fair where they’ve installed a stage and some tables facing it; around the terrain many foodtrucks offer anything you’d like to eat and fill the air with million different and delicious scents.
Javi kisses her temple “I’ll be back”
After ravishing a burger and fries Isa feels the cold sweat and the nausea fading away. The band is now playing slow songs and a many couples are dancing around the colorful little lights that cross over the flatland. Chucho clears his throat and looks at his son in a not very subtle way and motion his head to the people dancing and then to his wife.
“Do you want to dance?” Isa sips her soda and seems confused by his offering
“You don’t dance”
“I dance... sometimes, c’mon, it’s been a long time” he stand up and tends a hand to her gaining a smirk and a wink from his father.
The band starts playing a bachata. Javi lays her hand on her lower back feeling the way her hips go right and left, her soft breath on his chest while he brushes his lips on her forehead.
“I think this one was on that tape I gave you” she says on his ear, raising her voice over the music
“Suggestive enough” he smirks “We listened to that tape on a loop in my car that summer”
“I don’t know if I’d call listen to a tape what we used to do in your car” she laughs
“Yeah, the nights at the riverbank and that tape...I remember”
“I wish we could go back sometimes” she whispers so softly that Javi is not sure if she just says it to herself
The song ends and the people cheer and clap but they stay in a tight embrace knowing that when they let go and they’re back to square one. Javi is still parting on Monday and Isabel will stay always waiting for him to come back.
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The trip back home is calm; Chucho drives while the radio plays some classics from the 60’s, Isabel holds her child’s head on her chest, her other hand lays lazily between the seats, slowly advancing towards Javi’s thigh until she brushes her knuckles over his jeans. He turns to face her but she keeps looking through the window at the night sky and the fading lights of the fair. After leaving Elvira on bed, Chucho feels that it’s time for him to leave the two of them alone.
“I’m going to sleep, you don’t have to wake up early but I’ll go to church tomorrow at nine” Chucho announces before going to his room
The humble space in the living room suddenly feels like a world away from one end to the other, from the corner where Javi stand to Isa on the other. She looks down trying to find the things she wants to say and to command her feet to walk, to run to him.
“I think I’m going to sleep” Javi says unbuttoning his shirt
“Do you want to walk with me? Just for a bit” she interrupts
“Yeah...okay” he raises his brow confused but agrees instantly, whatever makes her talk to him again.
They walk around the property, the crickets and breeze the only sound around them. The animals are asleep and the current of the nearby river is stronger in that part of the ranch.
“I used to love nights like this” she says eventually
“Yeah, I’d pick you up after your shifts at the bar and we spent the night right here” he points to an old red truck now dusty and abandoned.
“I should have known better than to end up with a guy that fucks you on a pick up because his father is sleeping inside the house” she scoffs
“Well, to be fair, I remember I fucked you in plenty other places” he jokes back “Do you want to see if that old tape is still there?”
They approach the shed where Chucho keeps the old car, the door squeaks when Javi opens it.
“Ladies first” he lays out a hand so Isa can get inside and impulse herself on the step. They sit, as many years ago, on the black leather seat that is well preserved even if it’s been years since the last time it was used. Isa throws a look behind her; the blankets they used to cushion their bodies are still there, and she sighs softly
“When was the last time that we did it here?” she asks while Javi struggles to open the radio that’s full of dirt and rust.
“Probably two weeks before you told me that you were pregnant” he guesses
“Poor Elvi, we made her on this old thing” she laughs
“Our lives and my back were never the same” he jokes
“It was me who was most of the time on back” Isa slaps him playfully “So dumbed by you I’d let you do anything over those old rugs”
“Under the stars, listening to Juan Luis Guerra...it was romantic, you told me yourself” he defended
“Again I was dumb”
“I still think this old thing brought us many joyful moments” he taps on the dashboard
“Nostalgic I see” Isa smirk
“A little, you?”
“You’re trying to fuck your way out of this one too” she sighs shaking her head
“Just trying to give my wife a good orgasm before leaving”
“Oh, you’re so sure of yourself”
“Empiric fact, don’t I always make you cum?”
His hand raises the hem of her dress and pulls her legs apart. Her panties already have a damp patch on its center and he grunts feeling her moan just with the faintest brush of his finger between her folds
“What did the song say? I want to spend the whole night wet in you”
Isa gasps when he pulls her to his lap in a swift motion.
“Something like that” she bends her head and kisses him hard biting his lower lip softly
“I want to make love shapes under the moonlight” Javi raises slowly her summer dress until he takes it off and wastes no time in kissing and licking her bare breasts once they’re liberated from the fabric. He tends to one first cupping it, licking and sucking on her nipple and then to the other until her soft skin gets gooseflesh. Isabel moans and rocks her hips back and forth trying to find relief.
“Face to face, kiss by kiss, I want to live always wet in you” he whispers before resuming his sweet attention on her tits
“You learnt it by heart” she laughs
“Cos it’s accurate, that’s how I feel about you, baby”
Isabel unzips his jeans and palms his length over his underwear before releasing him. She wets her hand with her own saliva before stroking him up and down. Helping her, Javi reaches for her core and slips the wet panties to the side not without caressing her clit first with his thumb
“Isa” he moans feeling her arousal, his head on the hollow of her neck nibbling over her pulse. The way he pronounces her name, how he caresses every letter sends her shivers and increases her hunger for him. She reaches between her bodies and lets his cock slide inside her. She starts rocking her hips, moving up and down and in a few thrust she finds the perfect angle where he hits that sensitive spot.
“Shit” she pants
Javi whispers praises in her ear how good she feels, how beautiful she looks naked in the moonlight with him buried so deep inside her. And with that she loses control and rides him faster and harder with her back arched against the dashboard; sensing her immediate release Javier locks his lips on her breasts sucking on her nipples and reaching for her clit between their bodies.
“Cum for me, my love” he says, his gaze fixed in her contort expression, eyes closed and mouth open and she shakes around him feeling tense for a second and then as if her bones had melted she collapses on his chest.
Javi thrusts lazily feeling how she quivers around his cock and lets her relax from her orgasm before increasing the pace again to find relief.
Regaining a bit of her conscience, Isa straightens her body and lets him push in her hard and fast until he crumbles.
They stay there under the moon and starts in the old car where all started; a thousand times they had lost themselves in each other like this, and a thousand times Isa wishes that everything would be as easy as this with him.
She strokes his arms drawing soft circles over his muscles “I know you can’t, but I really want you to stay with us, with me. But if leaving this time helps you understand that you belong to me and your place is here, with me, then so be it”
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nicecarito · 5 years ago
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Something I wanted to say since I started being in this fandom....
The most people who ever tried to -cancel- me and talked behind my back without face me directly, the 90% have been Americans... And I say it, cuz it's like super wtf how latin americans, europeans or Asiatics fans treat me so nicely and these fellas are like if they wear a Monk attire from the Inquisition.
(not all Americans of course, I have very good friends and wonderful followers who are from America , such sweeties, so I will not generalist as everyone, let's just focus on the meanies, unfortunately , the meanies that I had to deal with are from there )
(I actually know which artists were the ones who dared to say bad stuff about me without even daring to face and know me as a person... I will only give you this ...🙃 Have a wonderful day!)
The worst thing they ever said is that I draw CP Like, when in my fucking life. I have two kids at home! I have raised them, I was a mother figure to them, I am a kids teacher too and I love my kids so much so YOU making such rumor hurts me a lot ... Not all the world is America, so we don't see some stuff like u do.
How they can assume that shit of someone when I had to give my life to two boys. Really these guys taking to serious the freaking fiction it's a pain in the ass... Then... That I pro-incest. NO, MOTHERFUCKERS, u really have a big imagination! Please give me some cuz Sometimes I have a lack of imagination and I can't draw anything!!
That I draw Mug and Cup well I do have a story about it... Forgive cuz my NATIVE LANGUAGE IT'S SPANISH
When the very first trailer of Cuphead came out (the black and white one) and WHEN MY ENGLISH WASN'T STILL GOOD and nobody knows they were siblings at least not me I said, oh two cute cups, I will ship them :$
Like, it's not like I could find more information, I couldn't read it anyway and the spanish information about the game was alway "Two BEST FRIENDS TRYING TO GET THEIR SOULS BACK" so well,Sorry for that I guess??
Then time passed and then the game came out and well tadaaaah they are siblings
And I waS Like "SHIT! WHY ALL THE SUDDEN?! well, I don't think it's a big deal, I still have my headcanons where they aren't siblings at all and I always drew them As adults (THEY ARE KIDULTS BY THE WAY),well not big deal after all .....THEY ARE TWO CUISINE UTENSILS AND NOT HUMANS AND NOT REAL PEOPLE SO..."
But UUUUF NOOOH how dare uuu ,Carito, you are the worst person of the world , let's try to cancel u so you will learn to not draw two utensils kissing cuz they come from the same ceramic oven :)))
If you are gonna give me the excuse that fiction alterate reality or something of that style.... Well, in that case I will try to cancel EVERYONE WHO DRAW ASSASSINATION, MAFIOUS STUFF, CHILD VIOLENCE, DRUGS, AND ALL THE BAD STUFF OF THE MOTHER FUCKER WORLD, and cuz I unfortunately been witness of all of it ... I saw two murders in my life that was about drug dealing, narcos and I sadly saw child abuse to the point of super strong violence.... in my family there’s stories of violations between familiars, so sad.
-But one thing isn't that bad than the other >:U- (a real excuse that I got)
.... ARE YOU SERIOUS?! don't try to put a parameter to height if something is less bad or viceversa, THAT is stupid and hypocrite. Things are bad and POINT. BUT
I'm not going to cancel someone who decide to get into that MATURE THEMES to tell a story!
Because if you are mature enough to make a big difference between reality and fiction then you will enjoy the story, you will understand the concept of the story, why the artist decided to choose these themes for their story, etc...
That's why Something called MATURE ADVERTISEMENT exist.... It's a part of text were the artist tell you that they will talk about themes that might trigger you so...
If you choose to watch it, well it's your decision BUT DON'T TRY TO COMPLAIN IF THE ARTIST WARNED YOU AT VERY FIRST. People Sometimes doesn't read if there's not a damn colorful image there! People just pay attention to certain stuff if looks cute.
I think that trying to eliminate these kind of themes to make everything more -pink and healthy- it is unhealthy.... These themes exist in the end, storytelling exist for a reason.
If you have a boundary, it's super fine. I do have my boundaries too and I do avoid things that doesn't make me feel happy at all but that doesn't give me the power of destroy a person cuz -their content doesn't make me happy-. You aren't a hero... You are just a bully.
and if you are gonna -try- then at least come to say it in my face!! Always behind the stage cuz they always been to coward to come to me and talk! COWARDS!. YOU ARE COWARDS!
THEY SAID LIES ABOUT ME, AND some of them destroyed some friendships that I had or make people try to avoid me to -take care of their reputation cuz if I talk to Carito that will make -friends- think the worst of me-
Well, if your friends push you to not talk to someone cuz very silly stuff, what kind of friends you have :/ are we at elementary school or something?
But to be honest they weren't really my friends cuz they doesn't really cared about my feelings enough so whatever. But yeah..... Angery but they never were able to cancel me for real.....
cuz not for being sassy or shit, But I think I showed who really I am and I believe people likes me. I don't need to pretend shit or stop drawing or change my stories at all. I do what I want and cuz obviously I'm not hurting no one, then people get closer to me.
I like them too and I will continue drawing cuz that's my fucking career, motherfuckers. I draw to pay my debts so, don't tease.
I hope them to show that interest of cancel stuff in real life for people who really need it! The world is outside the screen, and we are REALLY full of bad people outside so... I think you should turn off your computer for once... pinchis morros mensos
And if you ever felt trigerred cuz I ever say hola to you just cuz someone told you a -rumor- about me .. well, you are really manipulable. You should give yourself the opportunity to speak to someone and know them first instead of -take care of your reputation- that's bullshit , it's hypocrite and maybe it was the best cuz I don't need people to give me false smiles and turns around to say shit.
If I EVER did something unforgivable well... Let me see it ._. I can't say sorry if I don't know what the hell are you talking about
I had this inside my heart that really hurted me for so long , sorry for the vent and I'm truly thankful that you follow me cuz you like my art and me as a person.
I'm truly grateful of all my friends too! Thank you for being there for me
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shalebridge-cradle · 4 years ago
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When You Smile and it Tears Your Face (It’s Time for the Inhuman Race)
Warnings: Blood. Implied Violence.
“Anna?”
Anna von Kleve, former minor noble of the Holy Roman Empire, pries open her eyes. It’s well into the night – the heavy curtains are drawn, as usual, the grandfather clock is ticking away, and the electric light flickers ominously above her.
She herself is sprawled on the sofa, with her date’s head in her lap. Ah, yes. A night on the town, a few drinks (well, more than a few on her part)… she hopes he’d had a good time.
“In the drawing room,” she calls, lazily.
“Have you seen my book?”
Anna has seen lots of her housemate’s beloved books. So very many volumes she’s collected over the years – in her day, the emperor himself would be hard-pressed to afford such a selection. Still, she’s proud it was a German who invented the printing press and started the whole thing off.
“Which one?”
“Pride and Prejudice, volume three. It’s got a red-brown cover.”
von Kleve frowns, looks around herself, lifts up her date to check under him.
She grimaces.
If the book didn’t have a red cover to begin with, it certainly did now. She never intends for the whole biting-people-and-drinking-their-blood business to be messy, but it always ends up that way. Strange how that happens.
She quickly drops the man’s unconscious body back on top of the book, just as her housemate materialises in the doorway.
Catherine Parr sighs. “Seriously? What have I told you about putting down plastic when you bring your food home?”
“I know, but we get kind of… into it, you know? You know me, I live in the moment – well, not live, but… you get what I’m saying.”
“That’s the problem, hence, the need for plastic.”
A pause.
Anna knows what she’s about to say, and preempts her. “No, not your type. Not terrible, but he couldn’t talk about anything that wasn’t his football team.”
“Oh. A pity.” Another pause. “Have you seen my book, though?”
“No books here. Did you leave it at Seymour’s?”
Parr hums. “Possibly. I’ll visit later. It’s your job to get rid of the poor soul, though.”
“Yes, yes, personal responsibility and all that.”
Before Anna leaves, she tucks the first edition under the sofa cushions, and hopes her housemate doesn’t look that hard for her precious book.
~~~
The shovel plunges deep into the black, wet soil, and out again. In, out, in, out, methodical and practiced. The hole needs to be deep enough, and wide enough. She’s underestimated the size before, and that simply causes problems. There are bits that need to stay underground.
Once she is satisfied, and with great care, Jane Seymour places the rose bush into its new home.
Gardening might be considered an odd hobby for someone like her to have. Even if she rarely gets to see the fruits of her labour (which is most certainly a metaphor for something), it keeps her busy and helps her feel productive. It’s terribly easy to fall into a rut if you don’t have something to do, and caring for plants gives her plenty of that.
Just so long as they survive everything.
There is a loud bang from inside the house. Jane turns briefly, listening for something further, before she goes back to patting down the soil.
Another bang, followed by a crash.
Jane squeezes her eyes shut, and growls under her breath. That had better not be anything important.
Really, she should go in and stop them from doing any more damage, but they’d probably just ignore her like they usually do. Maybe you shouldn’t have your thrice-bedamned battle in the house, where there are things that you both like and are easily breakable all over the place. Is that such an unreasonable concept?
A third bang.
“For heaven’s sake,” she grumbles, and makes to get up, turning to her gardening tools. Initially, she shies away from some of them out of instinct, but… then again… this may the only way they’ll listen…
-
The fearsome duel is still going on when Jane reaches the hall.
One combatant has a name she knows well, mostly because she insists on using the whole thing whenever she is introduced. Catalina Trastámara de Aragón, former Spanish infanta. The other has gone by many different but similar names – Anna de Boullan, Anna Bolina, Nan Bullen, but she generally responds to ‘Anne’, so that’s what they go with.
Catalina has her hand around Anne’s neck, hoisting her up in the air, whilst Anne has a hold on Catalina’s arm, hissing up a storm. Another bang – Catalina slamming Anne against the wall – sends a cloud of dust trickling down on top of them.
Jane enters, in her gardening smock, boots too big for her, a straw hat (you must always wear a hat while gardening, though Jane isn’t sure why), and with a wooden gardening stake in each hand.
“Down! Both of you!”
Anne turns her head slightly, and her eyes widen when she sees what Jane’s holding. “Shit.”
This gets Catalina’s attention, too, but she manages to keep the quiet part quiet. She releases her grip, and Anne sinks to the floor.
“What are you doing?” Catalina recovers her regal demeanour, or at least part of it. “Have you gone quite mad?”
“Have you? Look at what you’re doing! What on earth is noble and queenly about repeatedly smacking your housemate into a wall?!” Jane stops to compose herself. “What is it this time? Territorial dispute? Long-standing grudge you refuse to talk about? Monopoly?”
“Anne? How many glasses would you say are in the sink?”
...No.
Anne rubs her neck. “Well, maybe less if you weren’t such a toff and drank like the rest of us.”
That can’t be right. Was that it?
“Unlike you, I like to keep some of my dignity about me.”
“Oh, don’t you fucking talk to me about dignity -”
Jane is between them in a blink. “Anne, do the bloody dishes.” Anne groans, probably at the unintended pun, but is interrupted. “We have the chore wheel for a reason. We have standards.”
“You’re no fun.”
“I know. Dishes now, fight later.”
Anne huffs, and stomps into the kitchen. Jane’s attention turns to Catalina, who is trying very hard to suppress the smug smile on her face.
“How many languages to you know, Catalina?” She already knows the answer to this question, but Catalina will happily tell her anyway.
“Five. Spanish, Latin, French, Greek, English.”
“Five languages, and you still don’t know how to use your words?”
Catalina simply stares at her.
“You would have been very upset if you knocked any of your paintings down, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, but we couldn’t take it outside. You would have been upset if we crushed your plants.”
“Well, that simply reinforces my point. Violence is very rarely the answer when it comes to who you live with.”
“You’re threatening me with a lethal weapon right now.”
Oh, right, she forgot about them. Jane looks down at the stakes, flinches again, and throws them unceremoniously to one side. “Fine. We all need to work on discussing things, and remember we all have our part to play. Anne’s doing the dishes now -” There’s a clatter from the kitchen – “I’ve been taking out the rubbish; can you tell me your royal responsibility, or do I have to check?”
Catalina’s eyes are everywhere but on Jane. She brushes a bit of powder off of her sleeve, and mumbles “Dusting.”
~~~
“Look what I found.”
Parr looks up. It is a whole entire person Anna has come to show off, which usually isn’t something Catherine needs to see – it does not pay to get attached. This girl has her long hair tied up, dyed an almost neon pink at the ends, and is clad in one of Anna’s oversized fur coats. She seems to be faltering under Parr’s gaze, trying to make herself look as small and insignificant as possible.
“I see no plastic in the drawing room,” Catherine says to von Kleve, as a warning.
“What? No! No, no, no. Not that. Big smile, Katie.”
The girl’s lips curl into a rictus grin, revealing a set of fangs not unlike Parr’s own.
“Oh!” Immediately, Catherine’s attitude shifts, and speaks with a soft, comforting voice (she hopes), “Okay, hello. I’m Catherine Parr, of the Westmorland Parrs, and this is Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg of the Holy Roman Empire. Neither of us are going to hurt you. Please, take a seat.”
She gestures to a nearby chair. The girl walks over to it, unsteady on her feet, and sits down.
“It’s been a bad week,” she mumbles.
“Tell us about it.”
“Well, it started with a night I couldn’t remember, which always freaks me out, and then I was really sick, and then I’m pretty sure I died – no, I did die… I died…” She goes quiet once more, aghast at the revelation.
“Found her ripping some dude’s throat out behind a nightclub,” Anna explains, then shrugs. “It happens.”
The girl shuts her eyes tightly, as if she is trying to block out the memory. Parr takes her hand, and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Katie, is it?”
“Or Kate. Or Kat, or Katherine – but, that’s you as well. I’m rambling.”
“That’s alright. The transition can be stressful. May I call you Kat?”
Kat nods.
“Good. Now, from what you’ve told us, it sounds like nobody explained to you how this works. What is it that you think is going on?”
“’M a vampire. Right?” Parr hums an affirmation, and Kat laughs, without humour. “And, because I’m a vampire, and I was going insane with how thirsty I was and because he wouldn’t stop talking and he kept touching me after I told him not to…” She looks to Anna. “That man. He was my boyfriend. I killed my boyfriend.”
It’s usually cold in the house, but it seems to get even colder after that statement.
While Catherine intimately knows the feeling of wanting to murder your former significant others (Thomas – Foul rake! Blackguard! She shall curse his name after death and beyond!), she is aware that this may not be the case for Kat. Most couples these days actually quite like each other – one need not rely on a husband to vote for them anymore, after all. She’s been looking out for someone like that, but she hasn’t found them yet. Maybe someday.
There have been so very many days…
Thankfully, Anna is there with a kind word, so she need not answer nor dwell on her failure to find love. It is just one word, however, and it is not spoken with great compassion.
“Condolences?”
Kat waves a hand, shakes her head. “The only good thing about dating Francis is – was – that he gave me a place to stay. Everything else… I don’t think anyone will be that upset he’s dead, put it that way.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “It was so easy. Too easy.”
Well, it’s good to know that nothing of value was lost, at least.
“Subtlety and control are the results of practice,” Catherine tells the girl, “and that will come, in time. Until then, since the one who turned you is not around to help, I humbly request that you allow us to assist you.”
“We have a spare room. Um. Not that you have to take it, or anything, but the option’s there -”
Kat cuts Anna off. Nobody’s had the gall to do that for centuries.
“Why are you doing this? Any of this?! You want something from me, don’t you? Otherwise, I’d still be out there, dealing with my boyfriend’s corpse! Be honest with me, please. What is it you want me to do?!”
She is looking into both of their eyes, searching for an ulterior motive like she knows it’s there – Parr gets that, unfortunately, and she’s disgusted that something has happened to the poor girl to prompt such suspicion and mistrust.
Catherine does not raise her voice, speaks calmly and carefully, just like she was taught. “We are not doing this in the hopes of a favour, or any material gain. We – or, at least, I – am behaving in this way because I want to see you turn out well. Perhaps there is a vain hope of a new friendship out of this, but that is the loftiest of my wishes, and you should not feel obligated to fulfil it if you don’t want to.”
“You’re the most interesting thing that’s happened in at least a decade,” says Anna.
“But you’re vampires. Why are you helping a competitor?”
“Why not? Just because we’re bloodsucking monsters doesn’t mean we can’t be nice about it. Plenty of fish in the sea.”
“Okay. Okay. In that case… might I ‘humbly request’… a hug, please?”
~~~
“How do you feel about it?”
Catalina does not turn away from her painting; yet another Spanish vista. She has been told that the Inquisition is over, that she can return for a holiday, but there is no doubt in her mind that what is there now must be wildly different from what she remembers. The latter is what she puts to canvas, to show off what she knows, what mortal eyes can no longer see.
“You shall have to be more specific,” she says to Anne, her voice clipped.
“You know.” She refuses to give Anne the satisfaction of looking at her, but she can feel the fluttering eyelashes, the lazy grin, just from her cadence. “Us. What we have.”
“What on earth are you implying?”
“That thing we do. The one where I press all your buttons, and you beat the shit out of me. Great way to work out that tension, yeah? But then there’s Jane – Plain Insane Jane – putting stakes in our faces and telling us to end it.”
“Would you have listened to her if she hadn’t?”
“Nah.” No hesitation whatsoever. No hint of shame. “But it’s fun. Don’t you think so?”
…Frankly, Catalina does not know. She knows it is not a healthy way of relieving stress. She knows Jane is justified in her motivations to stop it, if not her methods (though both of them make it difficult for her to use a softer touch).
But, if she is truly honest with herself, she likes to feel powerful sometimes. Yes, she is powerful when compared to a regular human – but that was true when she was alive, too. Now, she is no longer in the line of succession, she is no longer a princess. She is ‘just’ a vampire, and that fact irks her more than it should.
But she doesn’t tell Anne any of that. She puts her brush down, and turns to the source of her self-reflection. She’s hanging in the air, as if she were watching Catalina from an invisible sofa.
“You’ve been out drinking, haven’t you?”
Their kind can, in fact, get drunk. It’s more of a roundabout process than it is for mortals – one must find someone that’s absolutely cup-shotten, take them somewhere quiet, and… share their blood alcohol content. Catalina knows this because Anne is a master of the process.
“Of course I have!” Anne replies, with a funny sort of smile. “That’s why you go out, why Jane goes out. To have a drink!”
Oh, she definitely has been. She’s wearing the silly spectacles again, the ones where you can’t see her eyes properly.
“I’m not having this conversation with you while you’re out of your wits,” Catalina carefully enunciates.
“I always have my wits. Do you even listen to my jokes, princess?”
“You’re drunk.”
“And? You don’t talk when I’m sober, you won’t talk when I’m toxed – what is it that you need me to be for you to be honest?”
There is a knock at the door, and Jane’s voice comes through loud and clear. “Catalina? We have a guest.”
That’s interesting. They don’t often have guests – well, not ones that aren’t ‘invited for dinner’, and Jane likes to keep that private, if it’s her. It can’t be Parr or von Kleve; Jane would have said as much.
Perhaps it is someone important, she thinks, and immediately her mood sours.
“Who do you think it is?” Anne asks.
“I don’t know. All I ask is that you don’t make a complete fool of yourself.”
“And what if I do?”
“Then I take no responsibility for your actions.”
-
“She’s very new, apparently,” Jane tells them, and she is doing only a slightly better job than Anne at holding in her excitement. “She doesn’t remember who turned her. Cathy thinks it’s Thomas, but you know how she is.”
Yes, Catalina does. Thomas may be responsible for a lot of things, but if he showed his face in this part of town, he’d probably find himself dismembered by his very angry ex-wife.
They reach the top of the staircase. Below them, on the ground level, Cathy is speaking quietly to – good Lord! That woman’s hair is pink! How is it that vibrant a shade?!
Anne gasps in delight. “A baby! You’ve found a little baby, Cathy!”
“I’m not a baby. I’m nineteen.”
“Exactly. Two-digit age. Baby.”
“I apologise for her conduct,” Catalina sighs. “Someone had a bit too much to drink, and she had too much of them. I am Catalina Trastámara de Aragón.”
“And I’m Anne. Sometimes.”
The girl blinks. Probably thrown off by that introduction. “Oh-kay. Uh, well, I’m Kat Howard. Katherine, actually, but you see how that will cause problems. I’m moving in with Cathy and Anna, and Anna thought it might be good to introduce myself.”
There is an image of vampires being solitary creatures, living in ruined castles and moping about in their every waking hour. It’s not untrue, but Catalina hated it when she had a go. Eternity? With no-one around her? What torture!
No. Ever since she found Jane sobbing in front of her own grave, since Anne had her chance encounter with a Spanish princess, she’s resolved never to be alone again. She shall, of course, extend that invitation to this new girl.
It’s practically her duty.
“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Kat.”
~~~
Vampires own nightclubs.
That makes sense, right? They only operate at night, they attract a crowd, many people there aren’t expecting to remember what happened there, only that they had a good time and feel terrible in the morning, if they make it that far.
Well, Anna doesn’t own a nightclub. She owns a chain of 24-hour off-licences. But, she can hypnotise the bouncer into letting them in, so that’s alright.
The music thrums in place of Kat’s heart as she watches the mass of bodies swaying and jumping with absolutely no sense of rhythm. Coloured lights flash, the DJ plies his trade, glasses clink and sweat permeates the air.
Anna is watching only her.
“See anyone?”
Kat scans the crowds, a grim expression on her face. “No-one looks particularly appetising.”
“Well, of course they don’t. We’re not looking for the cream of the crop here, we’re looking for someone who deserves it.”
Kat leans her head on her hand. Anna told her she could come to her for anything – so, Kat had, when she started to feel hungry again, and so Anna planned this little night out.
“There are two choices,” she’d said. “Either you pick someone out yourself, or you go mad with hunger and some other poor sod ends up like your boyfriend.”
“You’re sure of that?” Kat questioned.
“Oh, yeah. I speak from experience – I’ve always regretted what happened to the Duke of Lorraine…”
Anna had refused to say anything more about that.
Kat has… mixed feelings about what happened with Dereham. Okay, she’s horrified that she murdered him, but she doesn’t feel bad that she wiped that arrogant look from his eyes for a few seconds (before he, you know, died). He didn’t care that she was sick, didn’t answer her texts when she told him her reflection had vanished, or that she was bleeding from her eyes – and as soon as he got back from his work trip, he dragged her to a nightclub to ‘show her off’ and pretended nothing was wrong…!
…Okay, she’s getting a bit heated. The man’s funeral was three days ago. No point in holding a grudge, now.
“What about that one?”
Kat follows Anna’s gaze. A man is swaggering over to the bar with a confidence that nothing about him implies he’s earned. She gets the feeling this man used to be handsome, or liked, and no-one has told him otherwise just yet.
“Dunno. Maybe.”
“Do you want me to stay?”
Kat automatically bites her lip, before remembering that’s probably a bad idea now. She doesn’t want to be alone, exactly, but at the same time…
“Is it alright if you hang out slightly further away?” She asks. “If I need your help, I’ll laugh really loudly.”
Anna smiles in acknowledgement, nods, and wanders off. Kat might be wrong, but she seems almost gleeful.
Thankfully (or not), the once-handsome man notices her staring, and saunters over. Kat’s skin crawls.
“Hey.”
Kat gives a small, brief smile in return.
“You here alone?”
She risks a quick glance over to Anna – she still has an eye on her. Kat isn’t alone. “Yeah. Just… needed to get out, you know?”
“I do.” He smirks, points to himself. “Henry. You know Tudor Real Estate?” She does, and the man grins at the recognition she must be showing. “I’m the co-owner.”
Kat doesn’t want to say the wrong thing, but this guy has only a passing resemblance to the man on the ‘for sale’ signs.
“Must be an important job,” she tries.
“Very. My brother relies on me for a lot.” Oh, okay, he’s the brother. Wait, the brother she’d read articles about? The one who got acquitted last year? “Sometimes I just need to blow off some steam, you know? Have some fun. Speaking of, can I buy you a drink or two?”
Wow. That look in his eyes. He clearly hasn’t changed as much as the judge thought he had.
“I don’t drink… alcohol.”
He scoffs. “Listen. You heard how important I am, right? Nothing will happen to you without my say-so. We can have fun if you just let me help you.”
This man is made of red flags, isn’t he? A blind woman could see the warning signs. He’s a creep with overly-inflated self-esteem, seems to have spent his whole life getting everything he’s ever wanted…
And that means he’s perfect.
“I guess you’re right,” she says, quietly. She doesn’t have to fear his kind any more. “I am here for a good time. If you’re offering…”
Henry grins. “Anything you want, babe! Name it, and it’s yours!”
“Anything?” Money and connections won’t protect you from me.
“Anything at all, princess.”
“Hmm…” Kat makes a show of looking him up and down. Yes, this is the one. “Maybe we can take this somewhere private?”
Henry is clearly thrilled at the prospect. He grabs her hand, roughly (though Kat is sure she could break his arm if the need arose), and leans in close.
“I know just the place.”
He leads her away, to a location where there are no witnesses, no-one to save him. From across the club, Anna gives her a thumbs up.
Kat returns the gesture.
-
She comes in the front door with her phone in her hand. Henry has a Wikipedia page. Not very long, pretty much goes on about his brief stint in custody and that he’s Arthur Tudor’s brother.
Or, was. They might have to change the tense, soon.
Cath is on the sofa, chatting quietly with… Kat wants to say… Jane…? Yeah, Jane sounds right. She’s friendly enough, but always seems like she’s on her second-last nerve.
“How did it go?” Cath asks.
Anna grins. She’s been like this all night, and Kat feels conflicted about all the praise she’s received.“Oh, fantastic! Kat was a natural; that idiot fell for it hook, line, and sinker.”
“Turns out I have a vendetta against people who can’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Kat adds.
Parr’s smile grows sharp, but her eyes still sparkle. “Well, there won’t be any shortage of those. Come, sit with us.”
So, Kat does. The things they speak of are so normal, Kat is initially confused. Jane’s gardening is a topic of discussion, as is Cath’s ever-expanding collection of stuff she finds interesting. When Jane asks about Kat’s “little slate-thing”, they both listen with rapt attention at her explanation of modern technology.
Kat had forgotten what it’s like to have people listen. It’s a shame she had to die to experience it.
~~~
“Yes, I’ve received a notice recently about outstanding bills owed – no, no, don’t shut off the – listen to me. The account has been paid in full. Enter that into the system. Okay, great. Thanks for that – no, no, everyone makes mistakes. Alright, bye.”
Anne hangs up. Great, power bills are sorted.
Contrary to popular opinion, she actually does do her share of work around the house. Yeah, the dishes are her least favourite task. Vampires shouldn’t have to do the dishes. But, that doesn’t stop her from helping in other ways.
She’s just about to start dialling the telephone company, when there is a knock at the door. Few are brave enough to do that at this place. As she stalks over, she wonders if it might a debt collector – if it is, that means she can have a snack, too.
The heavy oaken door swings open with an agonising creak, and the eyes of the figure on the other side glow in the evening gloom.
Oh, it’s that pink-haired girl. Katie, maybe? Anne can’t actually remember her name, and at this point she’s too afraid to ask.
“Hi.” The girl waves slightly. “Can I come in?”
Do you really want to? Anne thinks, but she says, “Uh, sure.”
With a sigh of relief, Kiara steps over the threshold.
“Apparently I called you a baby last time you were here,” Anne says. “Sorry about that. That’s not fair to you, and you don’t scare the shit out of me like an actual vampire infant would. But, I’m guessing you’re not here for an apology.”
Kitty smiles awkwardly. “Uh, no. I’m here to try and fix your computer. Um, the little television-box-thing you never use?”
“Oh! That! Yeah, I never knew how to get that thing working.”
“Yeah, no promises,” Kelly says, “but Jane thought it might help you… connect.”
That really gets Anne’s attention. She’s not surprised it was Jane who told her, because of the way Kim described the computer, but that part about connecting.
Anne wants honesty, for once. If Kat (that sounds right) is offering, she will take it.
-
To Anne’s surprise (and shame), Kat is able to get la machine infernale up and running in just a few minutes. She explains the mouse, the monitor, and the programs built into the operating system. The computer is not to get wet, nor is it to be fed. Do not sacrifice anything to it in an attempt to make it work properly.
Why Kat felt the need to include that instruction is a mystery, but it was probably necessary.
“Now, I had this whole speech with my step-grandma – back when I talked with my family – and I’ll give the same to you. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. A lot of it’s lies, or personal opinion. On that note, not everyone you talk to is who they say they are. Don’t do things like send money or give out personal details if someone asks, and don’t meet with someone without people around.”
“Okay, I’m absolutely going to do that last one – but for the rest of them? Sure!”
Kat genuinely smiles. Wow, when was the last time Anne did that, and didn’t eat the person afterwards? Must have been ages, because it feels like she’s come across an oasis after months in a desert.
“So,” she goes on, “what exactly is the internet? I know I pay the bill for it -” ‘pay’ is a strong word - “but I don’t actually know what it entails.”
“Okay, well, you know… books?”
“Yes.”
“You know the television?”
“Yeeesss.”
“You know those coffee shops where people yelled at each other about philosophy, in the eighteenth century?”
“Yep, yep, yep.” Even though she was never invited, the sexist pricks.
“The internet is all of those things together,” Kat explains, “but worse.”
Anne gasps. “I love it already.”
-
The room is dark. No lights, curtains shut. The only source of light is the faint white glow of the monitor.
The internet is, as Kat had warned, a shitshow. Anne thinks it’s just the best thing. University professors and the lowest common denominator share the same spaces, and send vile, scathing messages to one another over fictional characters. Maybe she should do some research, just so she can play along. It’d be just like her days at court, getting one person at another’s throat, playing them off each other… ah, she misses that, if nothing else. It’s just not the same, now.
Oh, but then there are the videos. Little mortal Anne would never have thought it possible. What an idea! What awful and wonderful things humans create when they’re not being killed!
Anne’s exploration is interrupted when the light from the hallway fills the room.
“Ah. So you haven’t left.”
Catalina? Come to check on her? Anne turns – yes, it is her, likely wondering why her evening hasn’t been ruined yet. Or, maybe not. Anne has a terrible habit of putting words in other people’s mouths.
“You haven’t been downstairs this evening,” Her housemate continues. “Jane was worried about you.”
Anne doubts that’s true. Not that Jane doesn’t worry, she worries about almost everything (who cares if her teeth show when she smiles?), but she would be thrilled to know Anne is being quiet.
“Just looking at things,” Anne mumbles.
“Hm. Ominous. What ‘things’?”
Well, the best way to explain would be to show, right?
Anne plays the video. Normal night sky, a deep navy. Then, violet, then orange, and the fiery sun rises over the horizon, accented by the crimson heavens.
There’s a thump from behind her. Catalina has flattened herself against the opposite wall, eyes wide, fangs bared.
“I will not die so easily, Boleyn!” she snarls. “I’ve survived assassination attempts before, and I’ll do it again!”
“I’m not trying to kill you, girl! It’s a video! Do you almost die every time you put the sun in one of your paintings? Because that would be a much bigger problem than me showing you this.”
She presses the button to make the video play once more, and makes a show of standing in front of the screen, conspicuously not combusting.
Catalina stares at her. Then, at the monitor. She approaches, slowly.
“Can you make it go again?”
Anne does. The sun is reflected in Catalina’s eyes for the first time in over five hundred years.
“…I miss it, sometimes.”
Oh God, it’s happening, Anne thinks. Out loud, she says, “Miss what?”
“The sunrise.” From the sound of her voice, calm and quiet, Anne gets the impression Catalina’s not really here. “My home. My family. It doesn’t matter how far away I am, in years or in miles. They’re gone, and the name Trastámara means nothing.”
Oh, that’s it. Of course it is.
Anne did not what it was like to be a princess in the early 1400s, partially because she wasn’t born yet. She knows from her own experiences with Whatever the Fuck the Sun King Was Playing At that the nobility was constantly having to be perfect at all times; not even a twitch of emotion could play upon your face, even as you drain all your resources to support the near-impossible standards of fashion, or it could easily be all for naught.
She’s just been thinking, maybe, something like that might be why Catalina has the sort of aversion to talking about her emotions that would normally be reserved for holy symbols.
“Catalina. You’re not a princess anymore.”
Catalina sneers, all traces of vulnerability gone. “Yes, you have taunted me about that many times before.”
“Not a taunt.” Sometimes. “A reminder you no longer have to try and be perfect. I’m not gonna tell any peers of the realm if you feel sad sometimes.”
“So you feel the need to drive me to madness in the hopes I accept your view?”
Okay, so maybe Anne’s been a little coarse. In fairness, she tried passive-aggressive behaviour and it didn’t work. There’s a reason she goes after Catalina, and it’s not just because it’s easy.
Anne points to herself. “Unstoppable force.” To Catalina. “Immovable object. You move, I stop.”
“…Right. Okay.” A pause. “I know, logically, that you are right – about that particular thing. But, it makes me feel like I’m ignoring part of myself.”
“Just have the good without the bad. If the King of Spain has anything to say about it, kill him and rule the country as their immortal god-queen.”
“I would never be so rash,” Catalina huffs. “I’ll try. Just… don’t mock me for it. If I’m keeping at least one good thing about my life, it will be threatening anyone who insults me with imprisonment.”
“Yessssss…”
Both Anne and Catalina jump at the voice from outside the room. Anne acts first – she opens the door a crack, and sees Jane’s eye on the other side.
“You’ve been at it for two hundred years,” Jane says. “Two. Hundred. Years. I don’t care if you don’t get along straight away, let me have this.”
And, fearing her ire, they do.
~~~
Anna’s on the roof again.
There are two main reasons for this. One, her room is in the attic and it’s the easiest way out of the house. Two, it’s a good place to sit, look up at the stars (at least the ones you can still see, anyway) and think about things.
Kat is on her right, arms around her knees, looking up at the moon. Anna does not think she’s paying much attention to it, however.
“Whatcha thinking about?”
Kat doesn’t answer straight away. “Just how things are better.”
“…They are?”
“I’m living… uh, residing in a house with people I actually like. This is the first time that’s happened since I was about eight, I think.”
Wow. Anna hadn’t had a terribly good time when she was alive – no rights, no fun allowed, go marry some dude you’ve never even met, and no you can’t have fun then either – but Kat’s life might beat out Cathy’s hopeless search for love, in terms of tragedy.
“I cannot truly speak for you, but I have found this…” Anna waves her hands, trying to find the right way to put it, “whole thing to be very affirming. There is no-one to hold you down. No-one to stop you from doing what you like. Well, except priests, but they can be ignored, mostly.”
“You don’t brood about it too much?”
“Why would I? It’s the only reason I’ve been able to see the things I’ve seen. To be here, now, talking to you.” All because she told the wrong (or right) person about how bored she was. Of course she would accept the offer to have fun, even if the whole process wasn’t. “Do you?”
Kat stops to think again, so that’s a ‘yes’. “I’m still getting used to it. But, I don’t mind it. I’m not scared of the things I used to be afraid of. That’s good, right?”
“Sounds good to me. But, if you falter, that’s okay, too. We have supported Cathy, who was the youngest before you, we can do the same here – so long as you support us in turn.”
“Oh, yeah. She’s got that thing about finding the one.” How does Kat manage to fit so much bitterness in only two words? “Don’t get it. She’s got people who love her already. You, and those three around the corner. She doesn’t need them.”
“That’s a very good way of putting it, actually.” Anna’s argument against serious dating has been that three of the people Parr’s courted have tried to murder her, and her ex-husband technically succeeded. It hasn’t worked, but maybe a more positive viewpoint might win out against two centuries of stubbornness.
“Anna von Kleve.”
von Kleve looks down. Ah, speak of the devil. She’s on the balcony below them.
“Cathy! Kat has had some good thoughts about love!”
“Oh? How wonderful.”
She doesn’t seem like she thinks it is, though. She almost looks angry, with the hard eyes and pursed lips and the red-brown mottled book in her hand -
Oh no.
“I think, Anna,” Cathy intones, her voice sharper than any stake, “that we should talk about personal responsibility first.”
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just-a-writer23 · 5 years ago
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Entering the world of the unknown - A Nam Sun Ho x reader and Kim Seok-jin imagine
Authors note: This imagine is based on a crazy dream that I had after watching the first episode of :My country new age”. My friend @bl597 suggested that I made a fanfic about it and I think that is a great idea to do so. Thank you for reading. Nam Sun Ho is Korean, I will be using google translate to get him to say some stuff his native language. Since I am making the female character based on myself she will be speaking both Spanish (My first language) and English (My second language). I will have a list of the stuff that I write in Korean and Spanish. Don’t worry, the characters will talk to each other in English, I just want to make this as close as possible to what I dreamt. 
_______________________________________________________________
Life can be ironic, wonderful, hectic, fun and unpredictable, not many would believe the story that I am about to tell but no one can say that it was not real. It was currently September 15, 2020 and after a long day I surely wanted to rest. However, once I lay down on my bed I heard mysterious noises that grabbed my attention because it was rather intriguing. At first I wanted to verify whether it was my neighbor that arrived from work but once I did so, I realized that he had not done so; taking my pepper spray for precaution. Therefore, I stepped to the balcony carefully in order to verify if there was an intruder in my house which of course was terrifying and the only thing I could defend myself with was pepper spray. 
Subsequently, I looked around and realized that there was a strange light coming from the backyard area of my house. I walked towards it and the noise was turning stronger which made me feel curious yet scared to find out what it was. Therefore, I decided to open the door slowly and carefully, placing the pepper spray in front of me as if it was a sword or something similar; making me feel safe in someway or another. As I looked around, I realized that the avocado three from my backyard extended and the source of light was coming from a hole that looked like some sort of door. In fact, the noises were coming from it which made me feel curious which is why I decided to get closer to it. 
As I got closer to it, I made the decision to look inside of what seemed to be a door and once I did so, I ended up falling inside of it. It seemed as if I was going to be falling inside of the hole endlessly which caused me to panic. However, after I started panicking I ended up landing on a rough surface; a surface that was covered in grass. I looked around and realized that I was next to a river, I stood up and got closer to it in order to refresh myself. As I sat down next to the river, I rolled the bottom of my pajamas pants up to my knees in to place my feet in them without getting them wet.
In that moment, I close my eyes to enjoy the sound of the water and the tree leaves when the air hit them. Part of me wanted to enjoy the moment while the other was panicking about my whereabouts or how I would get back to my house. As I was fully relaxed my mind, I felt something grabbed my leg which caused me to scream my lungs out. Subsequently, I looked down realizing that there was a man holding my leg and looking at me in shock. I rapidly got away from him as he let go, realizing that I was sitting on top of what seemed to be his clothes and slowly moved the other way but was still looking at him; he grabbed his clothes and started getting dressed as soon as he could. 
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“Ibwa, neoneun nugugo yeogiseo mwohaneungeoya?” he said to me in an unfamiliar language and clearly annoyed. 
I looked at him wide eyed without knowing what do but look at him with confusion and fear. Then I said “No se que me acabas de decir pero podrias decirme quien eres y en donde estoy?”. At that moment, he looked at me as if I was an alien or something of that sort but I guess that it was because I spoke another language. Subsequently, he kneeled down to look at me and said “Dangsin- eon yeogi chulsin-i anijyo nungunga dangsin-eul bonaessseubnikka?”. “No tengo la minima idea de lo que me estas diciendo, no se donde estoy ni quien eres... okay, so maybe you understand English...um, I don’t know where I am or who you are...can you tell me?” 
At that moment, he look down and chuckled as he was shaking his head. Then he proceeded to stand up and grabbed my upper arm, I tried to get away from him but I couldn’t. Therefore, I had no other choice than to follow him wherever he was taking me to. As I was looking around, I realize that things around us looked ancient, even the clothing of people was rather traditional...it seemed as if I travelled to one of Asia’s countries from the past. I was deep in my thoughts that I hadn’t payed much attention to where he and I were heading to. 
Subsequently, we arrived to a place that seemed to be a house but I wasn’t certain about it. People seemed to follow the orders from the man that was with me. Well, I thought that they were orders because he would talk to them and then they would start doing stuff. I couldn’t understand anything that they were saying so I was just guessing what was happening. As people had gone to do other things or so I assume, the stranger and I entered what seemed to be a room. He remained quiet but told me to sit down with his body language and so I did even though I wasn’t sure if that’s what I was supposed to do. 
He sat down in front of me and served a drink in two cups, then he passed one of them to me. I grabbed it but didn’t drink it because I didn’t feel comfortable enough plus I didn’t even know what was the liquid within the cup or if he put something in it. Therefore, I smiled politely and place the cup that he had given me in the table that was near me. Then he said, “Who are you? You are a foreigner, aren’t you? Did anyone sent you?”. At that moment, I let out the breath that I didn’t know that I was holding and said “You speak English? Why...why didn’t you say anything before?”. 
I looked at him expecting for an answer but when I did get one it wasn’t what I was hoping for. “I ask the questions and you answer them if you want to remain alive. Now answer them” he said sternly. Taking a deep breath, I said “My name is Margarita De Jesus, I am from Latin America and nobody sent me here. I got here because my avocado tree extended somehow, a light and noises were coming from it and I went to look at what it was then fell inside, ending up where you found me”. He looked at me with a look of disbelief and I sigh then said “You don’t believe me and I understand that... but I am not a liar”. 
The man in front of me remained silent and then said “Your story does not convince me but I guess that I can give you time to prove your sincerity. I am keeping you in custody for now, if you do anything that makes me doubt you or do something suspicious, I will kill you”. I looked at him in fear and said “I won’t do anything of the sort...I will prove my sincerity to you sir”. 
“What are you wearing?” he asked as he looked at my pajamas and I explained to him what I was wearing. Subsequently, he left the room and came back in about half hour with “proper clothes” as he refer to it. 
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Time had gone by and I was almost sure that I was never going to be able to get back to my country or actual timeline. I was currently in South Korea in the year 1388 living with a man that was planning to join the military which sounds rather insane. Somehow, I had gotten use to live in the past and in another country and got closer to the man that found me, his name is Nam Sun Ho. Both of us got closer when he had come back to the house and was wounded. Although I normally get sick and sometimes even faint at the sight of blood, I managed to help him. 
As I was attending his wound we began talking and opened up to each other, revealing personal things to one another. During that conversation, I found out that he was an illegitimate son and that his father hates him. His brother and mother had died and the only family member he had was his dad. Therefore, he needed to succeed in the military test and prove himself to his father in order to live for his own. In order to do that he had to sacrifice important things to him even his long time friendship. 
Needless is to say that I was more empathetic with Sun Ho and he was nicer to me. Even though I was not allowed to step out of the room that I was in, he was trying to teach me his native language as I was teaching him mine. In all honesty I was trying to not get attached with him because at some point the door could open and I would have to get back to my normal life. Plus, he was going to join the military meaning that he would be in the war and his survival was not guaranteed. However, my mind wanted one thing while my heart wanted another which made it complicated for me; we began to have secret romantic encounters. 
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There was a particular day in which Sun Ho asked me to join him as he practiced so that I could get some fresh air. During the practice he was working his bow and arrow skills but he seemed rather frustrated as he did so. Therefore, I got closer to him and whispered “You’re the great Nam Sun Ho, there is nothing that you can’t do” as I hugged him. He turned around quickly and looked at me in shock then said “You are not supposed to distract me, are you?” to which I responded saying “I apologize, my intentions were to demonstrate my support”. As soon as I said that, he nodded and gave me a half smile before turning around and shooting an arrow that was directed to the main target.
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After practicing for another hour, he grabbed my hand and led me inside the house. Sun Ho, was clearly exhausted and his wound needed to be attended immediately. He lead me to his bedroom in which the objects that I needed to use to help him with the wound were at. Subsequently, he took the upper part of his outfit off, revealing his fit body and the wound that he had on his arm. I gathered the things and I began to attend his wound that was finally looking better since it started scarring. 
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Once I finished, I planned to leave to my room in order to leave him some space so that he could relax. However, he grabbed my hand and asked me to stay with him for a little longer. In that moment, I sat next to him and we began cuddling which lead us to make out. Making out lead us to devotedly give each other, one another; in other words, we decided to become one in the act of intimacy. Out of all of the secret romantic encounters that we had in the past, this was the one in which just making out wasn’t enough for either of us. 
Time went by and things had gotten quite intense since he had passed the test, his friend Hwi was sent to the war because of Sun Ho’s father and Yeon (Hwi’s sister) was staying in the same residence as I was. Of course, I was pretty much hidden from Sun Ho’s father since he would probably harm or even try to kill me. However, since they had gone into war I was able to at least stay there without any worries, other than the worry that my pregnancy was going to be noticeable by the time that Sun Ho would come back...if he came back. That night of intimacy had lead to me expecting a child from the man that I had started to love. At this point, I didn’t know if I was going back into my world or not which terrified me; a part of me wanted to stay in this world because of Sun Ho but another part of me knew that I needed to go back to my world. 
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When Sun Ho came back, he realized that I was expecting and his feelings about it were unreadable. He told me everything that had happened in the war and what was to come. Also, he told me that I would have to find a way back to my world in other for me and the baby to be safe. Sun Ho didn’t trust his father and was terrified of what he would do to me if he found me. According to him, he would protect us no matter what but that his father was an evil and ambitious man. 
Sun Ho told me that his father was just using him and that didn’t care much about the fact that he was his son. In fact, if he wasn’t useful for him, his father would have already killed him. Therefore, he feared that I would be in grave danger in times in which he wasn’t around. After having this conversation, he put a hand in my growing stomach and apologized for not being able to be the father that the baby deserved. Then he looked at me and said “You should leave at midnight tonight, go to Ihwaru tell them that I sent you, stay there for the night then carefully look for a way back to get back to your world”. 
After he said that, he left the room without letting me say anything regarding the subject. Even though I understood where he was coming from, it hurt knowing that he wanted me to leave him as soon as possible. I didn’t know how I was supposed to go back to my own world or if that was even a possibility. Although I was unsure about how I was supposed to do that, I gathered my things and waited until midnight to leave the residence. Once it was midnight, I heard a knock on my door and I carefully opened it to find Sun Ho waiting for me to walk me to the entrance. 
Once we reached the entrance, he opened the door and I gave him a reassuring smile as he returned it with a sad one. Then he proceeded to kiss my cheek and rub my belly while saying “This is the only thing I can do to protect you both”. I nodded then thanked him for everything and saying that I understood, subsequently, I started walking away. Although I wanted to look back to see him for the last time, I decided to keep on going in order to find Ihwaru. However, I didn’t really know my way to it and therefore, I ended up going to the river in which everything had started at, realizing that there was an area of the sand near the river that was glowing. 
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I walked towards the light scared whether or not it was safe to do so and if it was actually the opportunity back to my world. Once I did so, I started to fall endlessly which scared me but it felt familiar. Therefore, I began to feel a bit relaxed since it might mean that I was going back to my world or at least that is what I hope. At some point, I felt myself falling asleep and not being aware of what was happening at my surroundings. When I woke up I looked around me and realized that I was in a modern room. 
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All of a sudden, I heard a man’s voice saying “Where have you being nae salang?”. I turned around to see my actual husband from my own world standing there. Then I said nervously “Seok-Jin, I had the most unsual experience. I am afraid you would not even believe me”. He walked towards me and hugged me as he whispered in my ear “I don’t remember you wearing traditional Korean clothes or being pregnant the last time I saw you! I guess that trying to get pregnant finally paid off”. As soon as he said that I pulled away and looked at my self in the mirror saying “Ay Dios santo, it wasn’t a lucid dream. It actually happened...but how?” 
I began to feel anxiety and started breathing heavily, therefore, Seokjin guided me to our shared bed as he cuddled me while whispering the key words that would calm me down. It took some time to be able to calm down but thankfully I was able to do so and I looked at him. He smiled at me to reassure me that everything was okay yet he looked quite confused. However, he told me that I could explain everything to him whenever I was ready. I nodded and stare at him for a few seconds then said “I need to tell you something, amor”. 
In that moment, he nodded and I grabbed his hand as I explained everything that happened in the other world. At first, he chuckled saying “Did you drank the drink that Hoseok left us? love, I told you to only drink it when I was home”. I laughed at his comment and then said in almost a whisper “Amor, I am being serious about this. I travelled to the Goryeo era and now I am pregnant by Nam Sun Ho. I really didn’t meant to get involved with him, in fact, I didn’t even know if it was a real thing or not. I even thought that if it was real then I might not be able to come back. I am so sorry”. The smile that was on my husband’s face suddenly disappear as he realized that I was being honest with him. 
He remained quiet for quite some time and then said “I need a moment to process all of this” he stood up, leaving our bedroom. After a couple of hours, he returned to our shared bedroom and said “I am deeply hurt to know that you were involved with another man as I never imagine that you would do something like that”. I took a deep breath and said “I don’t know what to do or say to express how sorry and ashamed I am of my actions. If I could turn back time and undo what I had done then I would do so”. He sighed and then said “I don’t know what to say. However, we can’t be sure whether or not the child you are expecting is his or mine. We have been trying for so long that perhaps...it could be mine...ours”
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A few weeks had gone by when we finally made the decision to do a dna paternity test in order to verify who the father of the child I was expecting was. Even though I was still pregnant it could be done, I just needed to get blood sample and a cheek swap from my husband. We were afraid that we would not be able to do until the baby was born but thankfully this method could be done after being seven weeks pregnant. Certainly I was not seven weeks pregnant since I already had a baby bump... I actually didn’t know how far along I was. Therefore, we were going to be verifying that as well.
When the results came, we realized that the baby’s father was actually Kim Seokjin which made both of us feel extremely happy. When I was checked, it turned out that I was 14 weeks pregnant with twins. It made the two of us shocked and I even asked how it was possible since I was getting my monthly cycle. However, I was told that it was common to bleed a little during the first trimester which is why I got confused and thought that it was my monthly cycle. Also, being this far long they could tell us the gender of the babies but we opted to only let Hoseok’s sister to know about it; both her and Hoseok wanted to throw us a gender reveal party... this was decided since Jin literally called the boys to tell them the news as soon as we left the hospital. 
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Although this all started as some weird Alice in Wonderland type of experience, I must say that reality was much better than so. If there was a thing I was able to learn is that love and forgiveness are the key to a healthy life. Be thankful for all of the moments that you experience in life, they surely grant you life lessons. That is how everything should always be like...an unending learning experience even those experiences that are unexpected. Live your life to the fullest!
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Yes this imagine was based on a dream I had!
Translation:
ibwa, neoneun nugugo yeogiseo mwohaneungeoya? =Hey who are you and what are you doing here. 
dangsin-eun yeogi chulsin-i anijyo? nugunga dangsin-eul bonaessseubnikka? = You are not from here, are you? Did someone sent you? 
Nae Salang= My love
No se que me acabas de decir pero podrias decirme quien eres y en donde estoy? = I don’t know what you just said but could you tell me who are you and where am I?
No tengo la minima idea de lo que me estas diciendo, no se donde estoy ni quien eres... = I don’t have the slightest idea of what you are saying, I don’t know where I am or who you are. 
Ay Dios santo= Oh Holy God
Amor= Love
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fics-of-my-mind · 5 years ago
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Trust - Chapter I.
'Do you need light?' asked the deep voice. I almost got scared – it was the middle of the night, in a strange city after all -, but as I looked up from the steps, I guess the shock took over my mind way too aggressively to be scared.
'Sure,' I replied after about thirty seconds of looking up at him and realizing that I was gaping like an idiot. I quickly stood up and realized that the crowd leaving the stadium was nowhere to be seen anymore. I guess almost everyone left already.
I needed to blink a few times to make sure, I wasn't hallucinating, as the guy next to me gave me his lighter. Silver, engraved. Of course, it wasn't something cheap from the tobacco shop. I lit up my cigarette and handed him back the lighter.
'Thanks,' I muttered. I tried concentrating on the city in front of me, tried to focus on the beautiful lights, but I couldn't. My senses were concentrated on him, the unknown guy next to me, who wasn't so unknown to me. I could smell his scent, freshly showered, manly musk, which wasn't too aggressive but it was more than addictive. From the corner of my eyes, I could see him lighting up his cigar – of course – and in a few seconds the scent of it mixed with his own musk. 'Nice concert."
'Thanks' he chuckled.
Warnings: mature content, BDSM content Pairing: Nick Jonas / Other Female Character This fanfiction can also be found on Wattpad by fnntth
I don't own Nick Jonas or any other recognizable characters. This fanfiction is completely fictional, its only purpose is entertainment.
Chapter I. - Come on, let’s be free in Barcelona
It was our semi-annual girl trip, this year to Barecelona - once again. Since all of us were so busy on the weekdays, that we barely saw each other, a few years ago we decided that we were going to travel somewhere every year – just the tree of us. And since our home country's selection of concerts wasn't satisfying enough – thanks to it being too close to Eastern Europe – we always choose a big world phenomenon's concert to attend to. So far this was hands down the best one.
'I mean just... wow,' I smiled as the others lit their cigarettes. "I guess this is number one for me now."
'Mine's still Beyoncé,' Amalia shook her head. 'Nobody beats that dance.'
'Thanks for leaving me out of that one,' said Vanda in a sarcastic tone.
'Well, you were the one that wanted to be home for your boyfriend's birthday,' I shrugged.
It was a nice February night. It was much warmer than home, thanks to the Mediterranean climate, and I liked it for a change that a leather jacket was more than enough and I didn't have to wear the heavy puffer coat.
The girls drifted into a conversation about something about their work that I wasn't really paying attention to, meanwhile I noticed the merch store truck not far away from us.
'I'm going to see what they have,' I announced, turning my back to them and walking up on the stairs of Palau Sant Jordi.
I didn't buy anything in the end – my job was way too serious for me to wear something like a Jonas Brothers hoodie, and I never really wore the Beyoncé T-shirt I got last year either, so there wasn't a point of getting anything. My point wasn't buying anyway, it was to get away from the girls for a few minutes and do something, instead of just standing in one place.
I was still pumped with adrenaline by the concert – it was just soooo good. I mean, the Jonas Brothers. The band that I've loved since I was like twelve. That's more than half my life now. And the show was amazing, they did really great, even played some tunes from Camp Rock. It truly was one of the best concerts of my life.
I looked down to the girls under, who were now onto cigarette number two and decided that I had more than enough time to walk around for a while. Not that I didn't like their company, I loved them like my sisters, but I hated the fact that they'd stop everywhere to smoke and sometimes these breaks took an hour. Whereas, while I was in Barcelona, one of my favorite cities, I liked not to just stand in one place but discover it properly.
I ended up wandering around alone, and even though normally I wouldn't have felt so confident walking around alone in an unknown city, this was Barcelona. I was almost fully confident in where I was going – my basic Spanish knowledge, and the fact that I've already been here, around this stadium helped a lot – so in about fifteen minutes I was sitting on top of the stairs above the – now dry - magic fountain, enjoying the view.
It's not like I was alone, people leaving the concert walked by me constantly. It wasn't so late either, not even midnight, and I knew that we also had to leave this way to walk to Placa d'Espanya for the metro, so the girls would find me anyway. I had this strange sense of calmness as I was looking down to the lights of the city. Barcelona was amazing. It's whole atmosphere, the buildings, the sights, the people, the food, everything. It was easily one of my favorite cities and even though this was my second time here, I was sure it wasn't the last one.
I checked my phone only to see, the girls haven't called or messaged me yet, which meant that they were still smoking, probably buried in one of their work stories. Vanda and Lia worked together at a travel agency, mostly surrounded by older people, so they could always talk about how annoying and awful they were. They didn't plan on staying for long anyway – they wanted to open their own travel agency which would've focused on LGBTQ+ travelers, an idea that I quite honestly thought was amazing. This, sharing a dream led to them being able to everything connected to tourism, and even though I didn't mid the topic – I've spent 5 years studying it in university after all – I could get tired of it.
Fumbling through my bag, my fingers landed on my pack of smokes. I wasn't big for smoking, only did it occasionally, when I was nervous or stressed, or, when smokers were around me. Through this trip I was already though half pack, I guess this was the bad effect of Lia and Wanda on me. I took the back out, searching for my lighter. Not that I was craving one, but it seemed idyllic at the moment, just looking down at the city in front of me while I was waiting for my friends.
It took minutes to go through every pocket of my belt bag, even though it wasn't too big. I couldn't find it, not even in the pocket of my leather jacket or my jeans. I almost gave it up, and put the pack back into the bag, when someone stopped by me.
'Do you need light?' asked the deep voice. I almost got scared – it was the middle of the night, in a strange city after all -, but as I looked up from the steps, I guess the shock took over my mind way too aggressively to be scared.
'Sure,' I replied after about thirty seconds of looking up at him and realizing that I was gaping like an idiot. I quickly stood up and realized that the crowd leaving the stadium was nowhere to be seen anymore. I guess almost everyone left already.
I needed to blink a few times to make sure, I wasn't hallucinating, as the guy next to me gave me his lighter. Silver, engraved. Of course, it wasn't something cheap from the tobacco shop. I lit up my cigarette and handed him back the lighter.
'Thanks,' I muttered. I tried concentrating on the city in front of me, tried to focus on the beautiful lights, but I couldn't. My senses were concentrated on him, the unknown guy next to me, who wasn't so unknown to me. I could smell his scent, freshly showered, manly musk, which wasn't too aggressive but it was more than addictive. From the corner of my eyes, I could see him lighting up his cigar – of course – and in a few seconds the scent of it mixed with his own musk. 'Nice concert."
'Thanks' he chuckled. 'You're a fan?'
I wasn't sure that I wasn't hallucinating, that my mind wasn't playing games with me in the form of some cliché fanfiction, in which the singer sees you in the crowd and falls in love with you right away. I hated those things. Big plus for my mind that at least this was almost completely possible, just two people smoking in silence. Whatever this was, I just decided to play along – maybe I was going to wake up later in a hospital bed, because someone knocked me over at the concert and I fell, or whatever, but I was going to enjoy this moment.
'Does it take this long to decide?' I heard his voice again, which made me realize, that I was looking at him in silence for a couple of seconds, like an idiot. He didn't seem so surprised though, there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice and his eyes glistened mischievously. There was also a half-smirk around his lips, which made my stomach clench even more.
'I was just trying to find a way to play this cool. To say that I'm just here for my niece / sister / friend and be super cool,' I shrugged, an embarrassed smile playing around my lips as I breathed in the smoke. "But the truth is, I've been a fan since, like, when I was twelve, so...'
'You know, you could've lied,' he noted, chuckling.
'I'm not so big of a liar,' I admitted, shrugging again. 'But don't worry, I'm not going to like scream or something.'
Nick's eyes were on me for a few seconds, then he turned back to the city. He looked amazing. I couldn't exactly remember when he became the hottest Jonas – yes, I could, by the time of that photoshoot -, but he was it now, that's for sure. He was also wearing a black leather jacket and some jeans and his hair was styled nicely. The golden ring on his finger gleamed in the moonlight. There was something in his demeanor that made me calm – seemed like just as Barcelona, Nick Jonas also had this effect over me.
Don't get me wrong, I was nervous like hell. Standing next to one of you celebrity crushes, a boy that you've just seen on the stage a couple of hours ago, you're bound to be nervous. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach and even though I was absolutely sure in my knowledge of English, I was scared to forget how to talk in his presence. My mouth felt dry, and my fingers were shaking a little as I lifted the cigarette to my mouth again.
But I still felt strangely calm as I inhaled his scent once again, a scent that I never thought I'd smell. I could still function as an adult, have a semi-coherent conversation with him, which was more than I've ever imagined I would be able to do.
'Why are you alone? Where are your friends?' he asked after some silence.
'They are back at the stadium, still smoking I guess.'
'And you? Why aren't you with them?' His voice was almost concerned, but still quiet as he spoke slowly, while smoking his cigar.
'I just like this city too much to stand in one place and not to see anything.' I also took another smoke. 'Do you like Barcelona?'
'Honestly?' he raised his eyebrows and I nodded. 'I've barely seen anything. We never have enough time to properly explore. My brothers and I, we went for a short bike ride today, but it wasn't nearly enough.'
'That's a shame. This is one of favorite cities.'
'You live here? That accent of yours doesn't really sound Spanish.'
'No, no, just visiting. I'm from Hungary,' I said, putting my smoke out. I should've left, seeing as I had no more purpose of standing there with him, but I didn't. I examined his whole demeanor, tried to get a read on what the hell was going on.
'But you've been here before?' he asked.
'Yeah, once. My friends and I have this thing going on, where we visit a city and go to a concert which we'd have no chance seeing home. We were here about two or three years ago, so this is my second time.'
'Cool. That's nice. What concerts did you attend?' he asked, genuinely seeming interested.
'When we were here, we saw John Legend, then we went to Paris for Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Also, we went to Vienna for Ariana Grande, but that wasn't really a big trip since we live fairly close. And now we're here,' I said, smiling up at him. Our eyes met in the moonlight, and I felt so drawn to him, that I've hat to hold myself back from touching at least his arm and making sure that he was real. Instead, I took out another cigarette, and he instantly handed me his lighter. When our fingers accidentally touched, I felt a jolt of electricity, which I decided to call a normal reaction. After all, I've just touched Nick Jonas.
'It's a nice idea. Seeing cities and going to concerts,' he nodded with a smile.
'Yeah, and it's pretty great since the concerts give a nice touch to the memories. Like, they are always a huge plus. For example, we've also been to Valencia and we didn't go to any concerts, and in my memories, that city isn't so huge. I'm not saying I hated it, but it didn't have that plus that all the other cities had.'
'Trust me, I get it, just the other way around. I've been to countless cities, liked all our concerts but I always like those places more where we got to spend a few days just to explore,' he nodded, understanding what I was saying perfectly.
'So you've never had the chance to explore Barcelona,' I stated, repeating what he said earlier. He shook his head. 'It's a shame, you really should.'
He hummed, putting out his cigar with slow motions. He looked at me, and I couldn't read his face. I wasn't too good at reading his facial expressions, even though I've been through hundreds of YouTube videos of him and his brothers.
'Don't you have to get back to your friends?' he asked. I checked my phone to see Vanda's text saying that they met some Spanish guys and headed to a bar with them. I wasn't really surprised.
'They've just ditched me,' I shrugged.
'That isn't very nice of them,' he frowned.
'It's okay. They know that I know my way around here, and they are also people that make friends easily,' I explained. I really wasn't angry with them, I rather stayed here with Nick until he didn't have to leave than to get in a bar with some strangers. Not that he wasn't a stranger, but still. Something in him made me want to stay as long as possible. This whole talk was just so easy I didn't even have to think about my words. 'But don't you have somewhere to be?' I asked. He was Nick Jonas after all, I was pretty sure that he had another concert tomorrow, or the day after where he had to travel to.
He scratched his neck, but didn't seem embarrassed, as the people scratching their necks usually did. He was contemplating what to say, this I could read on his face. I was sure, he had somewhere to be, maybe his wife was waiting for him, or his brothers were searching for him. He seemed a little tired, yet somehow energized.
'I do, but I told the others I needed some time just to...' he was searching for words.
'Take a breath?' I guessed. I was sure that doing show after show was stressful, and I didn't even need my profuse fanfiction knowledge to know that. It was just self-evident.
He nodded with a smile, and he had a look in his eyes that I couldn't read yet again.
'You kinda' made me want to explore this city,' he admitted, looking at the lights, while I put my second cigarette out. I didn't want any more tonight, two was more than enough.
'What's holding you back?' I raised my eyebrows with a smile on my face.
'We're leaving tomorrow morning for Montpellier,' he explained. I turned towards him with my whole body, and crossed my arms in front of my chest.
'And? The night is young,' I grinned at him mischievously.
'I kinda' need a tour guide,' he chuckled.
'At your service, sir,' I grinned, and for a split second I could see an unknown expression on his face, but before I could examine it, he turned his features into a grin matching my own.
'Fine, I'll call a car,' he nodded, taking his phone out of his pocket. I could see from the missed calls he had from someone, that had a heart emoji next to their name – I guess it was Priyanka. For a minute I felt bad, talking to him, agreeing to go on a sightseeing trip with him, while his wife was waiting to hear from him, but I managed to convince myself that this was fine. It was just sightseeing with someone that I surely wasn't ever going to see again. I owed it to myself to have some fun, especially if this was just a fantasy in my head.
'Nuh-uh,' I stopped him, raising my arm to put it on his hand, but I took it back the las second. I didn't really dare to touch him – what for? I wasn't someone that just touched strangers, especially not someone who every fan was so keen of touching like he was their own. I didn't want to crawl into his private sphere like that. 'If we're doing this, we are doing it the tourist way.'
'What do you mean?' I could see confuse written all over his face.
'When was the last time you took the metro, Mr. Jonas?'
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phenomenal1500 · 4 years ago
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The Blood In My Veins | Black Sails
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Chapter 36: Change Of Mind
For Chapter 35: Larga Vida Al Rey click here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teach pushed me behind him and I rolled my eyes at his movement, however, I could understand if something happened, he didn't want my death on his conscience.
He opened the door carefully and we spotted a single man standing in the room, aiming his pistol, but not at us. No. He aimed it at himself.
"Larga vida al rey!" (Long live the king.)
~~~
Charles had kneeled on the ground to search through the half burned, half ripped pieces of parchments while Teach was scanning a few cabinets filled with information and papers as well. Ellers was in the back of the room trying to seek more interesting things that could have happened to be something valuable and I leaned against an already searched cabinet while reading notes that weren't fully turned into ash yet. It went on for a long time like this and nothing useful had been found.
The fragments were just boring reports.
"Spanish intelligence." Teach stepped a little bit closer to the man that not even an hour ago had taken his own life. "They'll carry files from station to station, relaying information up the chain of command. Looks like this was a heavy load."
He walked back to another wooden cabinet and bended a little over one of its drawers to survey it.
"What do you think they could have had in there?"
"Well...." Teach started while opening one of the drawers below the one he examined. "It could be inventories for silver shipments. Could be treasure fleet schedules. Could be private letters of the goddamn king. Could be anything."
"Captain. Your name's in here." Ellers unfolded a piece of paper and checked the parchment again. Finally someone had finally found something useful.
I pushed myself away from the searched cabinet as I started moving towards the man, afterwards reading it myself before giving a confirmation.
"He's right, Charles." His head shot up to me and shook his head in confusion.
"What?" I had returned the paper to Ellers and Teach instantly snapped his finger at the light red haired man, snatching the paper out of his hands before reading it himself as well.
His eyes grew a little wider as he watched the papers.
"Reports from the Bahamas." Charles unhurriedly rose to his feet to act as if he didn't care much and placed his hands on his swords while closely listening to the older man. "English operations in the area and a dossier on the new governor-...."
"Part of an invasion plan in case they decide to go in."
"No, this isn't remotely a plan. It's just someone's notes. Fragments."
"Is there anything of value in it?" Ellers asked while eyeing Teach like the man was lying to us all.
"Not unless we have an interest in invading Nassau, which I don't think we do. Do we?"
"No, we don't." Charles confirmed with no emotions and Ellers and Teach walked away arguing about how they could know so much about the governor already while I sat down. Teach didn't seem to care about what would happen to everyone on that island and I knew when I looked into Charles' eyes he tried to care less about Nassau as well, but it hurt him to leave it behind.
That's why he still hadn't left the room, same as me.
I knew he was hesitating and didn't want to give in to his curiosity, but that was until movement was finally seen within him and he leaned over to grab the pieces of paper and notes, afterwards signing to me to come to him.
"It's more than just notes."
"But if we are here, we can't pass this to whoever wants to conquer the island again." He fell backwards in exhaustion, letting himself lean against the wall while nodding at me. There were so many possibilities to get Nassau back, but since we were on a ship with no idea of what was going on there, it was impossible to put anything in moving. Charles had crossed his arms, still trying to find a solution.
"We have Jack."
"And we don't know where Jack is so how can write to him?"
"Fuck. You're right." I saw the hope drain out of his eyes and I somehow felt guilty despite that it was the truth. Flint was dead which still hurt me deep inside and Jack and Anne were, I think by now, nowhere near Nassau.
"Charles, we'll find another way."
"No.... I-.... it's over. We won't be there in time and nobody is going to help us on this ship anyway. Nassau's defeated." My fists clenched and I shook my head at the man ahead of me.
I knew that there was a core of truth in what he said, but just the way he said it, like he didn't care. His words were purely honest and emotionless. I simply couldn't understand how that thought filled his head in the first place. He had loved and hated that place, sure, but he still had fought for it and made so many memories there. However, now, he suddenly declared the place as dead?
"How can you change that quickly? Remember when you wanted to defend that place for the sake of keeping our memories and home alive and free? Though, now, because that man tries to change you to his perspective and finally found a way to manipulate you, you give up just like that?"
"Naida." He spit my name out sternly; like a threat.
"Don't get me wrong, Teach is a good and friendly man who I certainly don't hate, but fucking hell, Charles."
"Naida, you better listen. It's over.... We have to seek life elsewhere. Within a few days we will arrive at Ocracoke and we'll see from there." I began to laugh disappointingly before mixing it with a nod.
"You know what's funny? I don't even know if I'm talking to the man I love or his former mentor because I can't tell the difference anymore." I couldn't understand it, I didn't know if this was me or the bottled up rage breaking through, but without saying anything I walked away not wanting to snap at him again. This man, he was far from what Charles had been. Him siding with Teach without telling me, I was over it and agreed to it, I was even fine with it now, but I didn't know that piece for piece I lost the blue eyed man I thought I knew so well. The one that lived for Nassau and everybody in it. The man who had opened up to me the same way I did. The man that taught me to love and to feel emotions and taught me to care for people.
I was probably overreacting, but I had let my rage take over and I was tired so I couldn't care less. I stormed out of the lower deck and walked past Teach to sit down on a railing far from both men, hoping to be able to calm down by staring at the sea and how it beautifully formed itself into waves around the ship.
In the distance I could hear Teach ask Charles what was wrong with me, with Charles reacting that I was stressed, tired and in pain. Nothing more, nothing less. Laughing to myself I kept my gaze onto the horizon not paying attention to them both anymore.
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blossomhcney · 5 years ago
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( pedro pascal. forty-one. cis-male. he/him. ) in texas, matias vergara lopez is more commonly known as matias. they’ve been living in stratford for 41 years and currently police officer. some say they are vindictive & dismissive but i’m more inclined to believe those that say they’re appreciative & charming. if you walk by their house, you can sometimes hear roxanne by the police playing from their window. ( candles burning in the dark, a badge weighing heavily against his chest, the smell of an old book, warm as the sun in spring, a reckless youth. ) 
PINTEREST BOARD !
NAME. matias vergara lopez. NICKNAME. none. AGE. forty one. GENDER. cis male. PRONOUNS. he/him. SEXUAL ORIENTATION. pansexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. panromantic. HOMETOWN. stratford. OCCUPATION. corrupt police officer. AFFILIATION. none (both).
ZODIAC. sagitarrius. POSITIVE TRAITS. appreciative, charming, polite. NEGATIVE TRAITS. vindictive, dismissive, standoffish. LANGUAGES SPOKEN. english, spanish, portuguese.
HEIGHT. 6′2. EYE COLOR. brown. HAIR COLOR. brunet. TATTOOS. can be found on the pinterest board !
QUICK INFO.
trigger warnings: drugs
matias was born to sofia vergara garcia and vicente lopez sanchez. sofia, a reaper. vicente, a diablo. matias was a secret from the day he was born, hell, from the day he was conceived, nobody would know who his father was, not from sofia’s mouth. nobody would know that vicente was expecting a child. the feud between the reapers and the diablos had been going strong since before matias was born, but the love shared between sofia and vicente was unparalleled. no amount of bloodshed would tear them apart, especially once vicente slipped a ring onto sofia’s finger in the night and they made their first (and only) son. 
to their credit, sofia and vicente kept their secret for six long years. matias was unknown to the diablos until the day of his sixth birthday, when vicente had slipped up. he had married sofia right before matias had been born, unable to keep away from her for any longer. they lived together on the edge of town and each were as secretive as the other about their lives. nobody seemed to pay them much mind. but, there was always one person that would pay more attention than any other. vicente had been caught out leaving the clubhouse to head home to celebrate matias’ birthday. he stopped to pick up a couple of things, nothing too out of the ordinary. some snacks, a balloon, a birthday card and a birthday cake. he was followed home and what an unfortunate mistake it was for sofia to open the door with matias on her hip. the kiss on the lips had been the nail that sealed the coffin. 
from then on, both vicente and sofia were criticised and given the dirtiest and worst jobs that existed in either club. sure, they hated it and wished they could leave, but leaving after that? they were sure to be followed and killed and matias had become their light in the dark and to put him in danger was not an option. redeeming themselves in the clubs eyes was their best option at giving him a happy and healthy life. so, day by day, they took on each job that was thrown at them in their stride and came home to their small family with a tired smile and thanked their stars for being so lucky in a world so full of hate. 
the problem was, matias had never thought of himself or his parents as lucky. sure, they had not been killed for betraying their clubs and fraternising with the enemy. perhaps that was lucky. perhaps they had escaped their tragic fate. but they had been doomed to live a life of looking over their shoulders when they were together, never able to be who they truly wanted to be until such a time came that the peace treaty had been established and they finally felt at ease. it was still not accepted, but it was less likely to cause their early demise. 
growing up, matias had listened as his parents talked about their days, listened as they spoke of the grotesque things they had done or cleaned up after. he was aware that he had been the reason that they had both dropped from high ranks in the clubs to the bottom, the lowest rung of the ladder. this was, of course, detrimental to matias’ life. his social life was never very good to begin with, but once he understood what he had done to his parents, he had started to hang out with the wrong crowd. a most cliche story, if you will. drugs and alcohol consumed him. his grades dropped and he found his life in the bottom of several bottles each weekend. it was only ending up in hospital and seeing the look on his mother’s face that brought him to his senses. 
he got himself back onto the straight and narrow, for the pure reason that he did not want to end up like his parents. he had dreams, though not very optimistic about being able to complete them. neither club would have him and he knew this, he knew that they would always look upon him as a bastard, born out of the hatred of two clubs. he would always represent that and he wanted so desperately to be somebody else. he did not want to live up to the expectations that everybody had of him. 
it broke his parent’s hearts when he became a police officer. he knew it did. they didn’t say it, not at first, because he had been so excited about it. he had loved the idea of doing some good in the town of straton, though that was never really going to happen, was it? everybody knew the clubs ran that place and, truth be told, matias didn’t really give a shit about making a difference or a change. he just wanted to have something to hold over the clubs. he wanted to have a little more power than they did and the only way to do that was to become a cop. it wasn’t much more, just enough that he could fuck with them if he truly felt like it. 
he never intended to be corrupt. that’s a very important thing to know about matias. he had every intention of being a good cop, clean and by the book. but the first time he was offered cocaine in exchange for a record to be expunged, he had been unable to deny them. it was most certainly a downward spiral from there. he’s incredible at covering his tracks and, thus far, has not been caught out for his actions. for the right price, he’ll take the bribe, though not everybody gets that luxury and it certainly depends on the crime. and if anybody were to talk? well, matias is plenty handy with a bat and a gun. 
CONNECTIONS.
ok so i am dumb and lazy and can’t think of any connections atm. obviously a couple of shits who bribe him with things to get out trouble and some friends, maybe even some reaper/diablos that hate him???? gimme everything pls and thank u 
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wosocomix · 5 years ago
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Mapito jr., if you had to rank your 5 favorite Spaniards, who would you pick and why?
Mapito sr., I love this question because rankings are my jam but this one was super hard to do. But also fun!
Like I’ve told you before, i’ve started to pay attention to women’s football fairly recently but I did all my best to learn everything I needed to know after this amazing WWC and I’m still not done, there’s never an end I’m a good with that!
So, I just love to watch women’s football.
But it’s very difficult to follow the Liga Iberdrola and their NT games (home and away) because free streaming is still a dream for many not spanish people like me. 😔 But thank god there’s always a smol way to watch ‘em play in all their glory!
Now back with your question (annnd since english is not my first tongue, I apologize in advance if there any grammar mistakes, I did my best)
My favorite spaniards aaaaare….:
1) JENNI HERMOSO 🏃‍♀️
Granted choice? Maybe BUT there is a reason why Jenni deserves the first place: It’s a delight to see her play, she is a veteran who does not give up the bone and she’s very focused and makes terrific shots straight into the net. I sincerely think there will be a time before and after Jenni, just as there was a time before and after Vero (whom I’m starting to admire a lot lately for what she did in the past).
In addition, if I were a player of any opposite team and I happened to face her in a 1 v 1 situation I would have only two choices: to give her the ball and pray or to run away from her because she can be intimidating as I’m a reputed clown.
2) MAPI LEON 💪
Mapi is not only a cool person with questionable tattoos, but above all she knows how to play, oh she knows! She clearly likes what she does, I would even say that when she’s 100% in form, she makes love with the field. She’s physical and just so spanish that I just die a little when I see her stealing the ball in a fashionable way. Hashtag swoon.
Small note: I like to observe the different playing style of  international NTs, I have my favorites and I really like how the Spain NT play, it may seem a boring style to some, but not to me. Tiki taka olala!
And Mapi embodies the Spanish style in the highest, positive way. (Can she marry me now?)
3) ALEXIA PUTELLAS 🏅
There’s not much to add except that Alexia is a purebred, indefatigable football player. She’s also beautiful (eh....) and lovely and she cares about a lot of things. Short story: She’s my ideal woman but don’t tell that to Jenni.
4) IRENE PAREDES ⚽️
I watched her play in a couple of PSG games and she gave me a very good impression and she certainly deserves some attention… I feel great sympathy for the defenders in general because, although it may seem that they don’t do much in the field, in reality they are crucial players. They must be cold and decisive and Paredes is so talented that she deserves to be highlighted more often than the usual.
5) NAHIKARI GARCIA 👧
I still have to know her well but I confidently put Nahi in fifth place because I know she will grow as a player very very well. Now I’ll say something that maybe nobody will like it but the first thing that struck me most about her is her beauty. Here, I said it... But hey, remember that I just started to follow the espwnt not even 1 years ago and I immediately fell in love with it, I still have to know and recognize a lot of those more obscure spaniard players but I’m getting there, don’t worry!Imagine in which state I will be in 5 months from now? I’ll be ded and I’ll be not ashamed to tell you that Nahi will be one the reasons of my death.
Special mention to Caldentbae (credits to @veronicaboquetes), Sosa and Panos. Talented babes, I want to smooch ‘em in a very friendly, respectful way.
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adabassist · 5 years ago
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COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
After over 15 years of dealing with the symptoms of a neurological auto-immune disease, you start to wonder if you’ve seen all the various permutations of the day-to-day things that get in your way.  At the completion of this performance, I can safely say the answer is a big fat NO… although the “disability” didn’t come in a form associated with MS this time.
These days, when I gig out, I gotta have help. That’s just all there is to it. I warn everyone I perform with that I am not self-sufficient; to my utter amazement, nobody has refused to help or even complained. I am always very grateful for these wonderful people, whether bandmates, fans, or SWMBO (who does it a lot and even revels in directing traffic to a large extent).
When SWMBO doesn’t tag along, I have to tell people what I need help with: what’s coming out of the van, where it goes, who’s willing to park my van if a space isn’t convenient, here’s what I need out of which bag, what assistance I need getting on/off stage, where things go when they go back in the van, etc.
All of which is easy to do - unless you have LARYNGITIS.
I happen to be prone to this mostly-just-annoying condition for some reason. I think this bout made it an even dozen for me. I even used to keep a “Flintstones Magic-Slate” around - where you would write on the wax paper with a plastic “pen”, lift the paper, and the writing would vanish - for just such occasions. I used to get it every other year for quite some time, and then it quit showing up. Until the day before a certain gig in the local metropolis…
I had been rehearsing with a group that played Dominican music — bachatas, merengue, etc. —  and I didn’t even know there was such a thing a year ago. Through the various contacts I’ve made with the salsa bands I’ve been working with, I ended up being the only “non-Caribbean” musician in a group that was doing a tribute to Antony Santos. Easy stuff if you grew up listening and playing it; very difficult to sound authentic if you didn’t. Our first gig was opening for a Dominican artist at a big club about 70 miles away. There were going to be about 500-600 people in the audience, so it was a pretty big deal.
The night before the show, my voice drops an octave and a half. I have a good time imitating Darth Vader and Lurch from The Addams Family.
Wake up the next morning and my voice is GONE. Nothing.
So I warn the band members via text: I will require extra consideration at the gig because I have no voice. A few jokes made at my expense, sure, fine, whatever.
What’s making this even more difficult is that a Winter Storm Warning went into effect at 4 pm, and they’re expecting about 8” of snow.  Great.
So my mind begins taking stock of the situation:  no voice, unfamiliar club, long drive through dangerous snowy conditions, Friday night traffic. Hoo boy. This oughta be fun.
I had texted the bandleader earlier in the day asking what the odds were that weather might cancel this show. He replied that the only way this show would be cancelled is if the end of the world came that afternoon. Uh-huh.
So I leave early, expecting the worst. 
First 40 miles of the trip were fine; just barely damp roads, and hardly anyone out there. I’m guessing the storm scared most of the drivers off. Those that were willing to brave the freeway were scared enough of the left lane for some reason that I made pretty good time to that point.
By then the snow was starting to stick and collect, and I’m officially glad I left early. The last 30 miles of the trip take an hour and a half, including 25 minutes for the last 3 miles on surface roads. I’m starting to get annoyed at myself, thinking that no one is going to show up for this performance in a big snowstorm, regardless of what the bandleader said earlier, and I’ve risked life and limb for nothing.
I arrive on time - hooray! Amazing! However, nobody else managed to make it by the time I arrived. (How does the guy who had the farthest to go get there FIRST?) I drive to the back of the venue to find the sketchiest loading ramp I’ve ever seen, and to make matters worse, the snow hadn’t been shoveled or dealt with in any way. And so, with no assistance, I go and park in the HC spot up front, and wait. And wait some more.
Bandleader was right - the main parking lot was full, and overflow was nearly full as well. I watch everyone in their finest concert-going clothes — short dresses and high heels, partially covered by ski parkas — pass my van as I continue to wait.
After 40 minutes, a band member shows up! Hooray! He gets stuff out of my van, and I get my rollator (rolling walker) out and follow. I am given instructions to “go in and go straight back to the stage”. Before I could get better details, he was off. So I follow as best I can.
Got to the front door, and am waved over by the ticket guy who gave me a wristband. After a once-over by security I’m sent through to the dance floor. The bandleader wasn’t exaggerating; there’s got to be nearly 1000 people in here. It's a sea of Latinos! Latinos who apparently have never seen a rolling walker before, too, judging by their reaction. Or maybe their expressions said “I wonder if this gringo is in the right place”…
Now I'm left to guess what "straight back" means. Stage left or stage right?  I pick stage right, and 200 feet later I see the guitarist, who happens to be the only non-english speaking member of the group. I sit, shake his hand, and wait.
And wait.
So I check my phone to see if there are any updates. The bandleader is stuck in the snow on his way to the venue.  The band member who grabbed my gear is looking for me; apparently I should have picked stage left instead of right, as there is a barricade in front of the stage right steps, and I can't convince anyone to move it (I picked a very inconvenient time to lose my voice). The guitarist is just happy to wait and do nothing until someone gets his attention in spanish.
The other band member finally finds us (I guess he doesn't know what "stage right" means!) and leads us through the mass of humanity on the dance floor to the stage stairs on the other side. Stairs are a bit treacherous, but traversable (stairs are NEVER good, but there are always ways up and down even if your leg doesn’t work).
My gear is onstage waiting for me. I find my chair, sit down, plug in, have my case/etc. moved offstage, tune up, and wait.
And wait...
The soundman comes by and tells me I've plugged into the wrong DI box, and gets me set up and running through the amp. It's pretty quiet though, and the chair was placed in such a way that there's NO way I can reach the knobs to turn up. So I signal to a bandmate to help, who says he'll be right back.
So I wait some more... 10+ minutes later, he shows up again and helps me out.
Keep in mind that communication for me involved getting as close to someone's ear as possible and "shouting" to be heard. I've seen more ears close up in the last 24 hours than I want to for a while.
After what I'm sure is another 15 minutes, everyone else has arrived, set up, and been soundchecked, and we begin (30 minutes late). Very receptive crowd. Lots of folks dancing. Band sounds good, everyone is paying attention, I only made a few mistakes, and the bandleader later said that I did an amazing job. Very pleased, considering this is a totally new style of music for me!
So we finish our 8-song set, I take my bass off, unplug, and watch everyone leave the stage....
....and wait.
All this waiting because I’m sitting on a chair, my walker has been moved to the wings, and I have no voice with which to holler for help. So I can’t move or talk. I literally have to wait for someone to take pity on me, as woe-is-me as that sounds.
Finally someone comes and gets my walker, bass case, etc., and I get stuff put away and make my way towards stage left where the stairs are. A band member follows with my bass and cords bag.
I get to the stairs, someone takes the walker and parks it at the bottom, and as I begin my descent, a series of women (groupies?) try to pass me going UP the stairs - like one every 10 seconds - wanting to talk to someone from our band or the one following us. It was a bit of a confused shouting match between those who wanted up and those who were trying to help me down to explain that they need to WAIT or they were going to knock me over.
One bandmate kept saying, "Take your time, you got this, don't let them rush you." That was really helpful, just to know that someone is watching and advocating for you when you’re unable to do that for yourself (one of the many amazing things about SWMBO, for that matter).
Once I was safely down the stairs, I made my way to the back entrance w/ aforementioned loading ramp, blessedly very near the stage stairs. A band member took my bass, bag, and keys, and pulled my van around back for me. I knew the loading ramp was in no better shape than when I arrived, but I was willing to take my chances because the crowd was much larger and rowdier than when I went in. But I began to regret that decision as I made my way down what had to be a 25% grade with a rollator whose handbrakes needed to be adjusted. It took well over 5 minutes to get me about 45 feet.
Made it down a very snowy ramp, through some "plow drifts", and finally to the van. Thanked everyone profusely (if silently!), got in, and sent a message to SWMBO that I was headed home.
Surface roads might have been WORSE on the way home.  Thankfully I'm very experienced in snow driving — even with my convoluted method for operating a motor vehicle — and didn't hit anything, get hit by anyone, or panic at all. Enough gas in the car, no deadlines, slow and steady wins the race, made it home in one piece.
The show must, and did, go on!
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