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s0ym1lk · 3 years ago

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I finished Disco Elysium last night and have come to the conclusion that it is, ironically, about learning how to honor history while also letting it go.

Disco Elysium is set in a world drowning in history. You spend the whole time walking through a bombed-out city, exploring walls where people were lined up and shot, bunkers filled with propaganda, and monuments that were put up and torn down and put up again. The layers upon layers of history that you dig through in every encounter just overwhelms you.

Harry Du Bois is likewise drowning in his own personal history. When you start the game, you literally wake up in the 'ruins' of Harry's own personal country - the room he'd wrecked on his multi-day bender prior to starting the game. He clings to an outdated music style and an outdated celebrity that he models himself after. He worships his ex so much that his brain turns her into a god.

It's no surprise that the most joyful parts of the game are ones in which history is erased or made irrelevant. Harry's relationship with Kim, for example, has no history to it at all. While Kim knows that Harry is a self-destructive asshole, based on the aftermath of Harry's bender that he's able to witness, Kim also begins his relationship with Harry from a point where he's fundamentally a different person, who can and does make different choices than old Harry would havea. Every time Harry's past comes up, Kim is able to relate to him in a different and more positive way, simply because the old Harry and the new Harry are different people. Contrast this with Harry's interactions with his old partner Jean. Those interactions are really depressing, because they're so one-sided - Jean is left to shoulder all of the pain Harry caused to him, but when he tries to lash out, Harry doesn't understand. For example, when Jean tries to pull a mean prank by dressing up as the reporter Harry drove away, the joke goes completely over Harry's head, because Harry doesn't remember his past OR his old partner. Jean is stuck in a cycle of trauma and abuse that he's trying to perpetuate with his actions. Harry literally can't remember enough about himself to be a part of that anymore. That's why his relationship with Kim works so well in comparison - he can leave his past behind and become a better person who has healthier relationships.

Another place you see this quite well is in the storyline for the dance club at the church. The church itself reeks of history, and not in a good way. It's abandoned, worn-out, broken, and it has a giant stained-glass window of a woman who blanketed Elysium in terrible history and destroyed it, then convinced everyone that she was a saint. The history in that stained glass literally towers over you and forces you to cower beneath it. When you help the teens turn the church into a dance club, you disrupt all that. The power and sanctity of the church's history doesn't totally disappear, because the church is still there, but it fades into the background as it's overtaken by a new history. That new history extends to everyone present. It covers the teens, all of whom are either running from a bad past or leaving the people they were behind(you'll notice Disco Elysium has a lot of characters who have become different people than they used to be). It covers Harry, who has struggled to let go of the cool person he was in the days of disco, but ends up not just writing the new anodic music but busting a move to it. It covers Soona the programmer, who's trying to essentially come to terms with her history at Fortress Accident and move on from it. It's a really powerful image, to find the seed of the world's destruction in the church and to be concerned about that, but to then turn it into a bass track and dance to it joyfully anyway. Sure, the end of the world is coming. That kind of sucks. But in this joyful moment, who cares?

Look at Harry's former relationship with Dora. You spend all this time being triggered by things related to her, like chewing gum, the Dolores Dei references, and near the very end of the game finally have a dream where she turns into a god and leaves you. Harry is obviously an obsessive person. He obsesses about Dora and turns her into something larger than life, even though she tells him frankly that she's just a regular woman. Harry tries to cling to that history by getting her back. He gives her figurines that he remembered she would like. He tells her he's a better person and that they can make it work. He can try to kiss her. He can beg her not to go. She leaves anyway. Despite Harry's desperation, you can tell as the player that this is an unhealthy relationship, and that it's good that Dora left him. You can also see how her leaving triggered Harry's descent into brokenness, and how he never truly recovered from it because he couldn't let go. I don't think it's a coincidence that Harry only manages to face this history after he loses his memory. Some of that past had to be scraped away before he could face the truth and overcome it.

Finally, the reveal of the killer absolutely drives this point home. The whole game follows the traditional detective novel arc, where every detail is a Chekhov's gun leading to one big conclusion. The footprints, the eighth Hardie boy, the drugs, the smoker on the balcony, all of it. And the kicker is that it does all come together - but not in the way you want it to. Because most of the clues are smoke and mirrors. The killer is a sad old man you've never met before hiding on an island, clinging to (you guessed it!) the past. He's drowning in history and can't let go of it. If he feels totally irrelevant to the rest of the game, that's because he is. He doesn't matter! The world let go and moved on without him. The game strongly implies that it was this moving on, and not the old man's politics, that cause him to commit the murder. When he pulled the trigger, he wasn't really thinking about moralintern supremacy or being loyal to the communist revolution. He simply couldn't watch two people steeped in history choose to let it go and find happiness together in moving on. So he killed the merc in a fit of jealousy. Everything else you track down in the game is just people trying to mitigate the consequences of that murder by protecting each other.

History is important, and paying attention to it is how we learn from our mistakes. But what Disco Elysium doesn't want people to do is to get so obsessed with the past that we get stuck in it. You can't live in a bombed-out city or a trashed hotel room forever. You have to let it go.

You may ask, what about the pale, and the end of the world? To me, the game is literally manifesting existential dread as a parallel to the player's own understanding of our world and our limited existence. We know the world will end at some point. Elysium knows it literally - it's being slowly swallowed up bit by bit. We as the players know it metaphorically. We know that we get 100 years, give or take, to live. We know that the planet is slowly being destroyed. In a way, that's our history too. And so the game says to you, it doesn't matter. You should care, but don't get so caught up in caring that you forget to live. Ultimately it doesn't really matter that the world is ending. What matters is something smaller and more personal - that you care about the people around you, that you try to help where you can, and that you dance to anodic dance music while you have the chance.

#disco elysium #disco elysium spoilers #i don't know if people will agree with my conclusions but #if you do #it becomes very funny that so much of the game is then made totally irrelevant #i played SmartCop so my playthrough was all fact dumping about the world #even the politics gameplay becomes irrelevant #which i think fits the conclusion because the politics stuff is so satirical #to me it reads more as a criticism of people who care about that stuff than as a real analysis of it #the game essentially says 'every single one of these political philosophies hurt people #'isn't it time to let them go and start caring about something else?'#okay i could go forever but i'm done

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ladyherenya · 4 years ago

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Books read in December

I set myself some reading goals for the end of the year -- finish any books I’d already started, read the books I'd already borrowed, and to read ebooks I’d bought before buying any more. But I guess most of those books just weren’t the right genre? A few exceptions aside, this month I read a bunch of other things instead.

Also read: The Frost Fair Affair and Holiday Brew by Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Sweetest in the Gale and 40-Love by Olivia Dade.

Reread: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn and Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston.

Total: thirteen novels (including two audiobooks and two rereads), three novellas, and three story/novella collections.

Favourite cover: The cover was what caught my attention for Finding My Voice and Old Baggage.

Still reading: Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, Or What You Will by Jo Walton and The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett.

Next up: A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis.

Queen’s Play by Dorothy Dunnett (narrated by David Monteath): In 1548, Francis Crawford of Lymond arrives in France, incognito in order to protect Scotland’s queen, seven-year-old Mary. I enjoyed this, even though I am not very interested in the antics of the French court and thought The Game of Kings benefitted from having more characters who I found wholly likeable and/or who matter, personally, to Lymond. Dunnett is an impressive storyteller -- vivid descriptions, lively dialogue, nuanced characters and twists that take me by surprise. Moreover, those satisfying puzzle pieces explain the plots and intrigue, give insight into personalities and develop the narrative’s themes (here, the consequences of power).

The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim: In 1950, four year old Inja lives with her grandparents and uncle in Seoul, while her sister Miran is in America with their parents. War delays the family’s reunion. This is a fascinating portrayal of two sisters growing up in different countries, and an incredibly poignant story about a family separated. Compelling, and beautifully written, and despite moments of intense grief, hopeful. I liked how, in the end, Inja and Miran didn’t have all the answers.. But I wonder if I’d have found the ending more satisfying if I had a deeper understanding of who they both were as adults.

Teacup Magic series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:

Tea and Sympathetic Magic: Stephanie Burgis recommended this novella as something similar to her Harwood Spellbook series and it certainly has a similar appeal: romantic fantasy, bordering on comedy-of-manners territory. Like Georgette Heyer but with magic and diversity and an intention to challenge problematic and outdated attitudes. Charming and cosy, like a good cup of tea rather than a frothy hot chocolate. Miss Mnemosyne Seaborne, a reluctant guest at a houseparty. She joins forces with the other guests after an unexpected abduction occurs. Entertaining, and even though it was too short for me to really become invested, I immediately wanted to read the sequel.

The Frost Fair Affair: After her previous adventures, Mneme has new friends, a suitor and a campaign: overturning the social conventions which prevent women from travelling by portal. After someone in Town steals her political pamphlets, she gets caught up in a mystery. I enjoyed this oh so much! I found myself caring a lot more about Mneme and her relationships; I liked the mixture of intrigue and danger, and how in the cause of dealing with these, Mneme learns more about the man she hopes to marry; and the Frost Fair, on a frozen river, makes a delightful setting. I'd love to read more.

Belladonna U(niversity) series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:

Unreal Alchemy: Oh, this is my new favourite! Urban fantasy about Australian uni students who are connected to an indie rock band, Fake Geek Girl. These stories are funny, geeky and romantic, with great chapter titles and lots of fandom references. They employ different points of view and different narrative styles in a way that’s really effective. I love the characters and how important and intense their non-romantic relationships are. Between them they have a variety of romantic/sexual relationships and feelings, but friendships and familial relationships, like the one between twin sisters Hebe and Holly, also drive the narrative. The first collection contains four stories/novellas.

Fake Geek Girl -- Ferd moves into the Manic Pixie Dream House; Holly and Sage argue about the future of the band.

Unmagical Boy Story -- Viola has feelings about her best friend losing his magic, transferring colleges and making new friends.

The Bromancers -- The band and frriends spend a weekend at a magical music festival.

The Alchemy of Fine -- A prequel about the band’s origins.

Holiday Brew: This collection is more serious and less overtly fandom-y than the first, but arguably still very meta (especially if you consider Viola, Jules and Ferd as a response to the trio in Harry Potter). I sat down intending to read just one of these stories -- and ended up reading them all.

Halloween Is Not A Verb -- Holly invites various people to their mums’ place for Halloween.

Solstice on the Rocks -- A short story about university graduation.

Kissing Basilisks -- Begins on New Year’s Day, is compelling, and picks up the non-band-related narrative threads from Fake Geek Girl.

Missing Christmas by Kate Clayborn: This novella is loosely connected to Beginer's Luck but stands alone. It's sweet. Business partners and best friends Jasper and Kristen pay a last minute trip to a client and get trapped by a blizzard, which pushes them to reconsider the boundaries they’ve drawn in their relationship. I liked the moments which showed that they’re an effective team because they know each other so well and can communicate through subtle body language.

Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee: Ellen is a Korean-American teenager in her final year of high school. Her story is about applying for college, gymnastics training, Ellen’s relationships with her best friend and her first boyfriend, dealing with racism at school and with her parents’ expectations that she will follow her sister to Harvard. It’s very short, first published in 1993. I was aware of all the places where a YA novel written today would be allowed to give more details and to expand the story, but it was still interesting.

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas: I’ve borrowed this several times this year, only to return it unread each time, and I was starting to wonder if I really wanted to read it. But once I actually sat down and focused, I quickly realised that I definitely did! I became completely engrossed in this Mulan retelling. It’s a tense adventure. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, particularly the elaborate courtesy of formal conversations, and the way Mulan and her companions value loyalty and camaraderie. I thought this was a very believable take on the whole girl-disguised-as-a-boy thing too.

Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce: In 1940, Emmy wants a newspaper job but is instead typing up letters for a women’s magazine and discarding mail from readers whose problems are Unacceptable. Frustrated that Mrs Bird won’t offer advice to so many women in need, Emmy's tempted to take matters into her own hands. Her optimism means she makes some naive mistakes, some of which made me wince, but it’s also an incredible strength. She's delightful company. I really like how much of this story is about her friendship with Bunty and I enjoyed the insight into women's magazines and the Auxiliary Fire Service.

The Lonely Hearts Dog Walkers by Sheila Norton: Recently separated, Nicola moves back in with her mother, starts as a teaching assistant at her daughter’s new school, gets a puppy and joins a group of dog walkers, who embark upon a mission to save the local park. This was very low-angst and, once I realised the sort of story it was, kind of predictable. I can recognise the appeal of this brand of realism, but personally would have preferred more humour or more emotional complexity. Were Nicola a colleague, it’d be easy to find things in common to discuss, but her story wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett: When Josie and her mother return to Beauty to look after the family bookshop, Josie has plans -- keep to herself, finish high school, secure a photography apprenticeship, move to LA. But after Josie accidentally breaks a store-front window and her childhood friend Lucky takes the blame, Josie’s priorities change. I enjoyed this more than I expected to. I particularly liked how Lucky subverts people’s expectations, and how Josie’s family works at communicating better with each other.

Old Baggage by Lissa Evans (narrated by Joanna Scanlan): It’s 1928 and Mattie Simpkin, a now-middle-aged militant suffragette, lives in Hampstead with her friend Florrie Lee (aka The Flea). Mattie gives lectures about the suffragettes but realises she’s not reaching the younger generation. So she starts a club for “healthy outdoor fun” for teenage girls. Mattie is wonderfully forthright -- amusing, engaging and informative when it comes to things she’s passionate about -- but she’s also fallible. A really delightful yet bittersweet story about friendship and loss and the opportunities available for women. I liked its awareness that being able to loudly be yourself is a privilege not everyone has.

There’s Something About Marysburg series by Olivia Dade:

Teach Me: Rose is unimpressed -- not only must she share her classroom with the new history teacher, he’s been given her Honors World History class. There’s something particularly satisfying about people who have been hurt and lonely finding support and love in each other. I like that they get to know each other over many months. I like Martin’s relationship with his teenage daughter and Rose’s relationship with her ex’s parents is so touching that one scene made me cry. And it was interesting seeing the US school system from the perspective of experienced teachers; I appreciated the details about their jobs.

Sweetest in the Gale: a Marysburg story collection contains three novellas about couples in their forties.

Sweetest in the Gale -- Griff is worried when Candy, a fellow English teacher, returns for the new school year uncharacteristically sombre and subdued. A really sweet romance about people who are navigating loss and grief.

Unraveled -- Maths teacher Simon is assigned to observe and mentor the new art teacher, Poppy. I enjoyed the threads of mystery.

Cover Me -- After a concerning mammogram result, Elizabeth marries an old friend so she’s covered by his health insurance. Predictable as anything, but that made it a safe position from which to explore serious and sobering topics.

40-Love: I’m not interested in tennis or holiday resorts; I was disappointed that this novel wouldn’t show Tess being an assistant principal; and even though some of my favourite fictional couples have a significant age-gap, I’m wary about age-gap romances (and socially-programmed to think it’s odd for a woman to date a much younger guy). But I liked the other stories in this series and I was curious. It’s Not really My Cup of Tea, but I was convinced that Tess and Lucas were both capable of making their (somewhat unconventional) relationship work. An interesting exercise in challenging my social-programming.

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn: After watching Bridgerton (not always to my tastes but mostly fun), curiosity prompted me to read the opening of the second novel, and I was so entertained by Kate Sheffield verbally sparring with the viscount, whom Kate is determined to prevent from marrying her younger sister. I continued to be entertained up until the viscount acts a bit too entitled on his wedding night (that’s unattractive, if outrightly problematic). Which left me in rather an uncharitable mood for the final act, so I can’t identify if the drama of dealing with past traumas didn’t meet the standard of the earlier comedy or if I just hold such scenes to differing standards.

#Herenya reviews books #sooner or later

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excuseme-youpretty · 5 years ago

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Bewitched

Pairing: Jeon Jeongguk/ Reader

Side Pairings: Kim Namjoon / Kim Seokjin. Min Yoongi / Jung Hoseok. Maybe a little Kim Taehyung / Park Jimin if you squint.

Rating: Teen

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1937

Notes: I originally wrote this drabble as a prompt-piece for my sister but I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. Hopefully I'll only go from strength to strength from here! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Fighting!

Also shout-out to my beautiful fiance @flightysquip and to @youarejesting for giving me the confidence to post this garbage!

You had never been known as a party person. There was always too much motion, too much chaos, faces all melting together into an arrangement of bubble wrap and hands which would linger for a fraction longer than necessary. Add in a cocktail of flavorless, cheap liquor and the evening is just begging to end in disaster. Not your scene at all.

But Hoseok’s parties always played out a little differently. Realistically, they were just as loud and manic as the swollen gatherings which haunt almost every American sitcom as soon as the designated parental figure disappears for the night, Hobi wasn’t exactly known for his zen energy, but there’s just something about your best friend’s organized gatherings which leaves you feeling safe and adequately monitored.

And, of course, the mention of a Halloween Party in the dorms heavily implied that a certain golden maknae would be there, too. So that certainly helped to exacerbate your enthusiasm.

“Ah, there she is!” Hobi exclaims as soon as he sees your silhouette hovering around the entryway to his dorm, the spare key he had given you dangling limply between your knuckles.

He bounces merrily on the spot, his fingers wrapping comfortably around your wrist to usher you further into his home. The party is already in full-swing, absolutely packed full of faces you don’t recognize, and you find yourself nervously scanning the crowd in search of Hobi’s friendly roommates just to be tethered to something - someone - recognizable.

“Everybody, this is my best friend!” Hobi beams, his voice somehow dancing several octaves above the music. He’s clearly tipsy, his lightweightedness a common topic of discussion around your small friend group, his hands gathering yours where they smooth down the layered tulle of your skirt to spin you around in a speedy circle.

As always, Hoseok’s kinetic energy leaves you positively dizzy. You giggle in response to his actions, tumbling onto the nearest couch whilst Hobi nods assertively.

“You need a drink.” He states, firmly, already turning to fetch you a beverage before you can argue further.

You tip your head backwards to rest against the back of the couch, being mindful of the pointed black hat perched atop your head. Instantly, your features light up as you take in the sight of a glossy eyed Jin perching cross-legged beside you. He smiles against the rim of his soju bottle, taking in the full extent of your costume and nods appreciatively.

“I love the costume. It’s very you.” He teases with a wink.

“Thank you.” You guide your eyes over his designated garb for the evening, from the crisp white of his dress shirt to his perfectly pressed slacks and the pristine apron draped over his torso. “A chef? That’s hardly much of a stretch, Jin.”

“I know. I just grabbed what was in my closet already.” His lips split open, eyes creasing up at the corners as his signature squeaky laughter fills the air.

At that, a passerby pushes his fingertips through Jin’s hair in an affectionate caress. Namjoon stands proudly behind the couch, dressed in an almost identical portrayal of an upstanding barista if it were not for the platinum flash of his hair.

“Doesn’t he look good, though?” Namjoon announces proudly, dimples thumbed into his cheeks.

“Of course I do! I always look good!”

You just barely catch the sight of Namjoon’s eyes rolling, and the petulant whine which tumbles from his boyfriend’s lips, before you redirect your attention elsewhere. Your eyes gloss over the nameless crowd in search of your best friend, regarding their foreign faces as nothing more than a bag of skittles which has been spilled across the dance floor.

You hear Hobi before you see him; it appears as though his quest to quench your thirst has been temporarily derailed. He leans back against the refreshments table, his mouth hanging open as an abundance of loud cackling laughter trickles off his tongue. Yoongi is next to him, pressing a plastic stethoscope against the three-dimensional skeletal structure of Hobi’s costume. His lips are pursed in faux concentration, his eyes glittering with intoxication and cheeks as flushed as the punch swirling beside them.

From a distance you can just barely make out a sharp gasp and the extension of Yoongi’s pointer finger signalling a ‘eureka’ moment. Hobi giggles and Yoongi turns his head sharply, propping himself up on his tiptoes to press an affectionate kiss against Hobi’s temple.

Behind you, a chorus line of perfectly harmonized chuckles signals your attention. You turn toward Taehyung and Jimin, delighted to see that their soulmate dynamic has been considerably heightened by a pair of brightly colored overalls and heavily stenciled moustaches. Taehyung's raven curls protrude messily from underneath an emerald cap emblazoned with a signature 'L', whilst Jimin's blonde ringlets clash comically with the brunette ‘stache stuck to his upper lip, his own crimson cap decorated with a stencilled 'M'.

They make quite a picturesque pair, especially with their crinkled eyes and boyish smiles and Taehyung's cellphone held dangerously close to their faces, undoubtedly circling through a collection of comical filters which only elongates their hyperactivity.

It boosts your morale to see your friends feeling so relaxed, delving headfirst into an enthusiasm for the season with their undeniable commitment and matching costumes; you only wish you had gotten the memo to dress in accordance with another. Then you wouldn’t feel quite so isolated.

Not that you have a partner to match with in the first place, of course.

Before you can become too transfixed by your own contemplative thoughts, the crowd before you suddenly erupts with voluminous applause and infatuated cheers. Their animated bodies part with ease, splitting down the centre as though they were velvet curtains tugging open to reveal an illuminated starlet.

And when you see Jeongguk's hips swivel in full fluid circle from underneath a heavy Hogwarts cloak, his lips parted and milk-bottle glasses slipping down his nose, you immediately understand the grandiose presentation.

His cheeks are tinted rouge, raven locks plastered across his forehead, and he looks far sweeter than the wrapped candies presented in a large pumpkin bowl for various guests to devour.

He catches the final beat of the song with his pelvis, rolling his body through the rhythm until he settles once again on the flat of his feet. He pauses, sucks in a breath, and despite dressing up as Harry Potter himself the most spellbinding sight is how quickly Jeongguk can transform from verifiable sex god when dancing to picturesque bunny-rabbit with gleaming teeth.

He claps enthusiastically and smooths down the adhesive of his fake lightning-bolt scar before turning on his heels and skipping over toward the refreshments table. He bumps his hip against Hoseok's own, temporarily distracting him from the shape of Yoongi's mouth so that he can pour himself another generous glass of jungle juice.

There's a beat where you can see the three of them whispering among themselves before Yoongi nudges Jeongguk on his shoulder and redirects his attention toward you.

Jeongguk glances your way, his mouth sticky from syrupy punch and simply hanging open. And it's utterly preposterous how quickly your stomach erupts with butterflies from just a singular glance.

For months now, you and Jeongguk have been toying with the idea of flirtation. Stolen glances which feel like constellations across your skin, his fingertips ribboning between your own and lingering there, the brush of his lips against your cartilage as he inundates you with compliments.

Every time you are together, it feels as though you are building up toward something more. Something permanent.

And then, just like that, he is detaching himself, dropping you as though you were a sparkler searing through his palm and throwing himself at whichever companion happens to be closer.

You often wondered if the fault lied within you. Signals crossed, perhaps. Maybe you were glancing at your would-be relationship through a magnifying lens. But Jimin had assured you that his attitude was nothing more than Jeongguk's predisposed anxiety; that his actions only indicated a reciprocated fascination.

You weren't sure what to believe.

But now he is approaching you, his posture shifting into a serpentine waltz and a determined glint in his eyes which just barely manages to perforate through his cloud of intoxication. He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip, winks at you with both eyes, and fumbles underneath the layers of his flocked cloak to pull free an elongated wand forged from warbled plastic mahogany.

You quirk your brow at him, crossing your arms tightly across your chest in an attempt to keep your pendulous heartbeat satiated. You observe him with caution. Although he visually represents a beloved childlike fantasy, his actions are the perfect juxtaposition to his ordinarily reserved demeanor. He exudes confidence, staring you down, and you feel yourself beginning to dissolve around the edges like sugar-syrup across the valley of a hot tongue.

Your own mouth suddenly feels drier than you remember it being not even five minutes ago, your tongue wedged like cotton up against the roof of your mouth. Mentally, you curse Hobi for deeming the flavour of his boyfriend's mouth a priority above your own exacerbating thirst.

Right now you could really use the sharp spike of questionably-shaped ice cubes against your teeth and the medicinal burn of ethanol caressing your throat. Just to help galvanize your rapidly dissipating nerves.

"Hey, you~" Jeongguk coos, dragging his scalding hot gaze over the cinched lace contour of your costume. "You look amazing. Absolutely… bewitching."

It's a cliche line, but one which floods your bloodstream with honey nonetheless. Heat stipples across your cheeks in a glow so prominent that even the kaleidoscopic lighting of Hoseok's packed livingroom cannot conceal your flush.

Before you can repay his compliment in kind, Jeongguk is extending his replica wand out toward you once again. He swishes it wildly throughout the air, seemingly without direction, before thrusting it toward your chest.

"Kookie, what're you-"

"Abracadabra!" He grins, an eyebrow hitching high on his forehead. "You're my girlfriend, now. I made it so. No take-backsies."

His words are so utterly ludicrous that you can't help but to giggle. And yet, there is no denying the expansive heat ricocheting deep within the flourish of your soul at such a prospect. The words sound sincere despite Jeongguk's booze-slicked speech.

Authentic. Final. Real.

And yet, you can't help but to call his perception into question.

"Are you sure about that, Jeongguk?"

Jeongguk's palms bracket around your pelvis without another word. He tucks the tip of his nose against your own, winding and looping back and forth until you are left completely breathless, starstruck by the devotion of such a simplistic action.

"You're so beautiful." Jeongguk sighs, lifting his fingertips to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

His lips press against yours with such authority that you almost lose your footing entirely.

If it were not for the rigid proximity of Jeongguk's biceps wrapped securely around your midsection you would have surely tumbled into the persuasive call of gravity.

But he's here. He's here and his lips move against your own as though he were reciting stanzas of pure poetry against your cupid's bow and you are once again left without a means of oxygen intake.

But Jeongguk smiles against you, whispers saccharine catcalls of 'my girlfriend!' between kisses and everything falls right into place.

He may be intoxicated enough to put all his faith into a flimsy mass-produced wand but you are absolutely positive that magic was definitely involved in finally - finally - bringing you two together.

Maybe you're a party person after all

#bts #bangtan boys #jeon jungkook #bts ff #ff #jeon jungkook x reader #bts fiction #bangtan sonyeondan #namjin #vmin #sope #yoonseok #bts prompts #bts imagines #bts imagine #peanootzramano #writing #jeon jeongguk #jeon jeongguk x reader

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summahsunlight · 5 years ago

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This Way Became My Journey, CH. 15

Two weeks after Voyager is taken from the Alpha Quadrant...

Tom Paris stumbled on his way out of the holodeck thanks to a horribly placed vending cart in Rome circa 1920. Things hadn't gone according to plan, hell they never seemed to go according to plan for him. Perhaps he should have told Harry the truth from the beginning, but Harry wouldn't have ventured down to the holodeck if he had told him the truth. So he had told a little white lie, what was the harm in that?

Apparently a lot because Harry was stalking off down the corridor to the turbolift. "Harry, wait up!"

Harry Kim shook his head. "No way, Tom. "

"Aw, come on Harry, I've been smoothing out the details for this date for days now! You can't leave me in the dust like this!"

"Oh yes I can," Harry snapped, pressing the button to call for the lift.

Tom caught up with him as the lift opened and pressed the button to send it on its way before Harry could step inside. His friend turned to glare at him. "It's the Delaney sisters, Harry, they come as a package. It's a double date or no date, Harry."

"I never agreed to a date of any kind."

"Sure you did," Tom replied. "Last night."

A blank expression passed over Harry's face. He couldn't recall ever have such a conversation. Of course, he was so tired last night he probably would have agreed to jumping out of an airlock. "I never agreed to any date last night. We ate dinner with Lieutenant Barrett, who told me to enjoy some recreational time while she was away to quell my homesickness. There was never anything about a date in that conversation Tom."

Tom grinned mercelessly. "Well, dates are recreational. You're following counselor's orders."

"She didn't order me. She suggested recreational activities," Harry fumed. "Why am I arguing with you on this? I have a girlfriend back home, I don't need to go on any dates."

"Harry, Harry, Harry, you honestly think she's going to wait for you?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed quickly.

"That's rather selfish of you, don't you think?"

"Look who's telling me about being selfish," Harry hissed. "It was rather selfish of you to think I'd go on this date so you can get with Meghan Delaney."

Tom shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, it was rather selfish of me, but you are my best friend Harry, who else would I ask to go on a double date with me?" He looked innocently at his friend. Harry rolled his eyes doing his best imitation of Sarah Barrett when Tom got this way. "Can I help it if I thought I was helping my best friend out?"

Harry grunted. "Helping me out with what?"

"Moving on!"

"Tom, we've only been out here two weeks, you think Libby's moved on that quickly?"

"Well of course not," Tom retorted, "but she's going to, eventually, Harry. You know it."

He did know it but he didn't want to acknowledge it. He wasn't ready to accept that Libby was going to move on without him, that she was going to think that he was dead. It seemed rather unfair to be so far away from home and going out on a double date with Tom when Libby was probably grieving for his loss back on Earth. Why should he be happy when he knew that his loved ones were not? Tom on the other hand didn't have this dilemma. He could care less about his family and had no girlfriend back home. Girlfriends just weren't Tom Paris' style. Harry wondered how long the chase of the Delaney sister's was going to last. He opened his mouth to speak, but no word came out.

Tom grabbed him by the arm. "Now come on, they're waiting for us and I only have forty five minutes left of holodeck time saved up."

Harry allowed Tom to pull him all the way back to holodeck, the whole time awestruck that he had every intent on not going back there but Paris found some way to drag him along. Every time, he thought as they entered the holodeck, he gets me every time with the moving on and selfish of me to think she'll wait bit. But even as he was dragged towards the candlelit table, with a very smiling Jenny Delaney, he wondered just how much trouble Tom had really gotten him into. It's going to be a long night.

The constant thrumming of the engines was soothing to him as the tiny shuttlecraft cruised along to the home world of the Karvaians. Voyager had made first contact with one of their scout ships two days before and the Captain wanted to immediately send out a diplomatic party to speak with them. The first officer had been given the mission, taken a shuttle, and departed from Voyager. Chakotay had always found that piloting a ship manually was a good source of therapy and relaxation, better than sitting in a chair and talking to a psychologist for hours on end. Maybe that was why he was having trouble getting to know Sarah Barrett.

It wasn't that he didn't like her; she was a bright young woman with a strong personality. However, she was a psychologist and whenever he opened his mouth to speak he wondered if she was taking silent notes about his mental state. It was this reason, that he was uncomfortable around her, that he believed Captain Janeway had sent them on the mission together. She was hoping that the time alone would help them work up a little bit of a rapport aside from the first officer/counselor relationship. Well, it was proving to be hard to do just that since Barrett was barely speaking to him. She had helped him with preflight and everything else that Starfleet protocol demanded of her, but once they were well on their way she had barricaded her self so to speak in the aft cabin of the shuttle, reading over PADDs.

Her eyes were narrowed, reading over the material vigorously, as if she felt that she didn't have enough time to read through it all. He recalled her concern for Neelix not being allowed on this mission, but Janeway had not felt comfortable allowing the Talaxian on another away mission just yet, not after what had happened on Ocampa with Neelix deceiving them to help rescue Kes. So, instead, Sarah had been handed stacks of PADDs on the data that Neelix had on the Karvaians right before they left.

He had been trying to get her to talk about what she was working on, to break the ice, but she had responded coldly that once she had a better grasp on Karvarian culture she would let him know, and the discussion had ended there.

But despite the lack of communication on this trip, he could see why Janeway liked the young woman so much. She could switch from hard and calculating, to soft and caring when the situation presented itself. And, he admitted, she had a wry sense of humor. But other than her personality, he didn't know much about her, except what her service record had indicated, and even then that didn't go into depth. He did know that she had a dark past, one that she was trying to turn her life around from. Like so many other people on this journey, he thought with sudden realization, as he made a course correction.

He had also tried asking her about her time at the Academy, perhaps make a connection between the two of them there. She had remarked, perhaps another time.

Looking at his panel he concluded that had been over two hours ago, just after they had cleared Voyager and been on their way to Karva. They would be reaching the planet in about thirty minutes. "Captain Janeway tells me you were a part of a team that studied the Borg," he spoke up, hoping to get something from her. It seemed that if they didn't have the integration of the Maquis into Voyager's crew to talk about, then they had nothing to talk about. And he didn't know why, but that bothered him.

"I was the head psychologist on a research vessel that composed of some of Starfleet's top engineers, science officers, and doctors," came her subdued reply. "Our mission was to collect as much information about the Borg as we could, such as their psyche and their technology and bring it back to Starfleet in the hopes that a better defense against the Borg could be made and spare us from another disaster like Wolf 359."

"Really? What made you want to study the Borg?" Chakotay asked her, brown eyes peering up for only a few seconds. "They aren't exactly the warmest species in the galaxy to be hanging around with."

"My mother was killed at Wolf 359," Barrett replied, a bit of pain etched in her voice. "I guess I wanted to justify the reason they had killed her."

Her answer had deadpanned the conversation, just when he felt like he was getting somewhere with her. The console blared suddenly and the ship lurched to the left. Perplexed, Chakotay corrected their course thinking that they had run into some form of spatial distortion; another blare and an even more violent lurch.

"A ship just appeared off of our port nacelle. They're firing on us," Barrett announced. She had jumped up from her seat in the aft cabin and into the one besides Chakotay. Her fingers were running over the console. "I don't understand why sensors didn't pick them up coming in!"

"I've never seen this type of ship before, it's not Karvaian," Chakotay said. "I'm going to try out running them. Try hailing them on all frequencies."

"No response," Sarah replied as the shuttle was hit again, this time causing sparks to emit from the conduits.

The shuttle craft in reality was no match for the alien ship. The readings were showing them that they were up against a ship that had vast technological advances, superior to their own, but perhaps, if they could get in communications range of Karva, their new friends could assist them. But with the next hit, the port nacelle caught fire, sending the shuttle into a downward spiral. Chakotay tried to right the shuttle with the only engine he had, as smoke filled the cabin. Barrett was screaming that the aliens were trying to take out their engines, causing the hull to breach around the nacelle, in affect, ripping it off the tiny ship. They were hurtling towards the surface of a small planetoid.

"Can we land?" Chakotay asked her.

"Land?" Barrett repeated. "We're going to crash before we do that!"

"Is the atmosphere compatible for us?"

"It's a Class L atmosphere," Barrett replied, sapphire eyes roaming the readings the computer was giving her. "The surface consists mostly of mountains and rock, not a lot of water; high concentrations of carbon dioxide. Can we survive down there? Yes, but that's only if we survive the crash first."

Chakotay shook his head, looking at the controls determinedly. "We're not going to crash."

Sarah looked up him skeptically. "How can you say that?" Her body lurched about violently as the tiny ship entered the atmosphere. "We only have one engine and those aliens are doing everything they can to take the other one out! Commander, if we hit the rock at this speed it will tear the ship apart and us with it!"

"Not if I can help it!"

"Commander! Even if we survive the crash or landing as you put it, we don't know if those aliens will come after us," Barrett pointed out. They had only been in this part of space for a couple of weeks, but already they had learned that most of the species in this quadrant weren't friendly, the Kazon, for example, were not to be trifled with and they hadn't gotten off on the best of terms with them.

"We're going to make it look like we've been destroyed. On my command I want you to vent the plasma," Chakotay instructed her, eyes running over his console, trying to find a good place to put the shuttle down. They were coming in fast towards a very rocky region. It was not going to be a smooth landing. "Hang on!" he cried out as the aliens fired across their bow. Sparks emitted from the aft cabin and he could see Barrett gripping the console, however she held a calm expression. No doubt it was something that she had learned while studying the Borg. Who knew that experience was going to come in handy now?

"Chakotay, we're going in too fast," the Counselor rasped out, anxiously.

"Unidentified ship, surrender."

Chakotay slapped at the comline. He didn't want to hear them implore surrender. They weren't out of tricks just yet. If they were lucky the alien ship wouldn't follow them into the atmosphere. The shuttle began to quake violently as it entered the upper atmosphere. "Vent the plasma, Sarah, and target phasers on it. Fire when I tell you too."

"But that would ignite the plasma," Sarah said, even as she followed through with his orders.

"I know, I want them to believe that we've burnt up in the atmosphere."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Sarah replied.

Me too, Chakotay thought as the shuttle hurtled faster and faster towards the surface. "Fire now!"

Phasers burst forth from the shuttle craft, igniting the plasma into a fireball behind them. The alien ship backed off, whether or not they believed that the shuttle had indeed exploded and were avoiding exploding themselves, the two officers couldn't be sure. They had other problems. Chakotay noticed on his fading sensors that the alien ship was reversing course. For the time being the threat had been eliminated, but now they were spiraling out of control towards a rocky planet. "Dispatch an automated distress signal to Voyager!"

Sarah moved about so she could record a message and send it to Voyager. It was brief, seeing how they didn't have much time before the ship hit the surface, but she hoped that it was effective. Turning back towards the Commander she only had a few moments to grip the console as he cried out to brace for impact.

Despite Chakotay's best efforts, and even though he managed to slow the ship's descent, the shuttle hit the rocky soil hard and both officers felt their bodies being thrown about against the panels and controls as the shuttle tore a path through the rock. It swayed back and forth, first the port nacelle was sheared off, and then the starboard nacelle came ripping off as well, exploding in a ball of flame that sent both Chakotay and Sarah flying from their seats as the shuttle slammed into a solid rock wall. In a blinding flash of light, both officers were knocked unconscious, the shuttle coming finally to a stop, crumpled against a mountain side.

He awoke with the taste of blood in his mouth and smoke in his eyes. Chakotay blinked, trying to take in his surroundings. The lights were flickering on and off, the consoles as well, and the memories began to return to his jostled mind. Rising up on to his elbows he peered out the view port. The shuttle was in shambles, but lucky for them, the shields had held long enough to protect them from the fires and explosions of the nacelles. Now, they were rested against a solid bed of rock. It hadn't been his best landing, but at least they had managed to get down in one piece.

They. He suddenly realized that he had no idea where Sarah was. Turning about, which sent a shooting pain up his right leg, he tried to locate her. She was a few feet from him, plasma burns covering a part of her face and hands. There was a huge gash across her cheek and she did not appear to be breathing. Grabbing the emergency medical kit he pulled out the tricorder and ran the hand scanner over her body. She was breathing and alive, but she had not faired as well as he had when it came to the crash landing.

She had several broken ribs, one had punctured a lung. The burns on her face and hands were second degree plasma burns that he could easily treat with a deremial regenerator, but that was the least of his concerns, she had suffered massive internal bleeding as well. If Voyager did not find them and find them soon, the young woman was going to die. Her eyes opened then and she looked at him, confused.

"We made it?"

"We made it," Chakotay replied, helping her sit up slightly. She winced in pain. "You were injured in the crash."

"How bad?" Sarah asked, trying to grit her teeth and bear the pain.

"Nothing too serious," he lied to her, reaching in the medical kit for a hypospray.

"You're a terrible liar; didn't they teach how to lie with the Maquis?"

He laughed, giving her a warm smile. "Should have known I couldn't fool you," he whispered, pressing the hypospray to her neck. "Here this will help with the pain. I'm afraid that's all I can do for now, besides treat your burns. You need surgery."

She nodded her head as the pain began to dull. "What about Voyager?"

Chakotay shook his head. "I'm not sure our message was received and I'm not sure I can send another one. It looks like our systems took heavy damage." He wiped some sweat from his brow and glanced around the cabin. He wasn't sure how they were going to get out of this one. Pulling himself up to his feet he moved towards the communication panel and saw that it was burnt out, probably where Sarah had received the burns from. So much for trying to send another message out to Voyager; he realized that even if he were able to get another message out, the aliens that had attacked them may pick the transmission up and come back to finish them off. Then they'd be in more trouble then they were now.

It was best to try and survive on this planet and wait for Voyager to find them. Glancing at Sarah he wondered how much time she could hold out. He wasn't a doctor, knew some basic first aid, but even he knew that she didn't have time on her side. One thing was for sure, they were going to need something to keep them warm and water. They had enough emergency rations to last them a few days, but a quick glance at the systems told him that the replicator was down and so weren't environmental controls. Once they lost the sunlight, it was going to get cold in that tiny shuttle. He grabbed a tricorder and a phaser. "I'm going to go look for water and something to start a fire with."

"You really think we'll be here that long?"

"There's no telling how long we'll be here," Chakotay responded, opening the hatch. Before he left he turned about and offered her a smile. "Don't go anywhere while I'm away."

A small, pain filled smile spread across her face. "Don't worry, Commander, I won't."

#star trek voyager #star trek voyager fanfiction #kathryn janeway #chakotay #tom paris #sarah barrett (oc)#tuvok #harry kim #b'elanna torres #kes #neelix #the doctor (emh)#janeway x chakotay #tom paris x ofc #this way became my journey

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dream-beyond-the-fantasy · 6 years ago

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Pinkie here!! So now is your turn!! I want to know your top 5 female characters!!! Thank you!!

Phoebe Halliwell, Charmed - Even though I love all of the sisters and I am probably more like Piper, Phoebe was my favorite. She is beautiful, sexy, and funny. Phoebe has some of my favorite powers, premonition and empathy. Levitation is pretty cool, too. Phoebe is a style queen! I love nearly all of her hair styles and clothes. She has also had the most romances on the show. Phoebe has grown so much in the show’s eight years. And she is played by the ever awesome Alyssa Milano, a favorite actress since my childhood.

Leia Organa (Solo), Star Wars - One of my favorite characters since I was a little girl and one of the first main female scifi characters. Leia was smart, strong, and sarcastic. She cares about doing the right thing, despite the danger and cost. Leia is a princess, a senator, a rebel/freedom fighter, and a mother. I grew up reading the books and some comics of the Expanded Universe, now termed “Legends”. The Leia I grew up with married Han, was a mother to three amazing and powerful children, went on to become the Chief of State of the New Republic (twice, I believe), became a Jedi, and just kept fighting for the safety and good of the people and the galaxy. The new canon still has Leia as an inspiring figure as a general in the Resistance. I also loved Leia’s various hairstyles and clothes in the films and on book covers.

Kimberly Hart, Power Rangers - Kim was one of my first female superheroes. As the first Pink Power Ranger, she was very feminine and still could kick villain ass. Kimberly could do almost anything: gymnast, Power Ranger, cheerleader, environmental activist, volunteer. She could even sing and play the guitar. I always thought that Kimberly was incredible beautiful and kind. I loved her romance with Tommy and never forgave Power Rangers Zeo (or Kat) for breaking them up. I even love her when she is briefly turned evil in the Turbo movie.

Martha Jones, Doctor Who - Martha is one of my favorite companions of the Doctor. She is one of the few women of color on the show and to be a regular companion to the Doctor. I love that she is a doctor in her own right. Her family is important to her. I hate how the Doctor didn’t see how awesome she was until too late because he was so hung up on Rose. I didn’t mind her crush on the Doctor, because why wouldn’t you fall for him? Martha grew a lot over the course of the show. She was jealous of Rose in the beginning, but when she finally met her, she was so happy that Rose and the Doctor found each other. I love how Martha made the decision to leave the TARDIS on her own terms.

Daenerys Targaryen, A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones - Dany is compassionate and strong. She has gone through so much in her young life and keeps fighting. She cares about the people, particularly women and children. She tried to get the Dothraki to stop raping the women of the people that they conquered and pillaged. Daenerys abolished slavery in Meereen. She has a personality that inspires respect, love and loyalty, as seen with the Unsullied, Missandei, Jorah, and now Jon on the show. I love the storied history of House Targaryen, despite some of its darker moments and rulers. I love the dragons and how she brought them and magic back to the world. Daenerys shares qualities with her ancestors, such as Aegon I and his sister-wives, Jaehaerys I & Alysanne, and Aegon V. I also love the parallels with Jon and their love story.

And here are the additional five @cobrakaiseriesfan allotted me:

Fran Fine Sheffield, The Nanny - The Nanny was one of my favorite shows when I was growing up. Fran was a style icon. I always wanted to dress like her. And even though my hair is dark and curly, I wish I could pull off some of her hairstyles. But maybe not as big. She is gorgeous and funny. Fran is from a working class/working poor family, so she is easily relatable. I love her relationships with love interest/boss Maxwell Sheffield, his kids, Niles, her own family, and Val. Fran teaches the kids great lessons in unconventional ways. She may not be book-smart, but she is street-smart. Fran is such a warm and compassionate person.

Hermione Granger, Harry Potter - I relate to Hermione because she loves to read, is intelligent, and her friends are very important to her. Hermione will also fight for who and what she believes in. She can be a bit narrow-minded at times, but she does learn from her mistakes.

Usagi Tsukino/Serena Tsukino, Sailor Moon - I was a little girl when I first saw the English dub of Sailor Moon, which I loved. She was one of my first female superheroes. I love how much her friends mean to her and that she would do anything to save and protect them. I loved the love story between her and Mamoru/Darien. I love how she has a big appetite. I also loved the clothes she wore. Sailor Moon was my introduction to anime.

Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake, General Hospital - Robin is a strong and compassionate person. She has a strong moral compass, which she usually follows. Robin has overcome many struggles in her life (”death” of her parents, HIV+ diagnosis and living with the disease, Stone’s death via AIDS, romances, being a hostage, postpartum depression, Lisa, etc.) and has come through them with grace. I love all of her romances and how they are each an important chapter in her life, even though Patrick is my favorite. Robin is a great friend to have, a dedicated doctor, and probably one of the most stable mothers on the soap. Her story provides an education on HIV/AIDS.

Bianca Montgomery, All My Children - Much like Robin, Bianca is a strong and compassionate character that has seen many struggles. She is the heart of her family, which includes her mother, daytime legend Erica Kane and her half-sister Kendall, but that doesn’t mean she is a pushover. Bianca is an iconic character, in that she is the first lesbian lead on a daytime soap opera. I have loved watching her romances with Maggie, Zoe, Reese, and to a lesser extent, Marissa. Her baby swap story was one of the first soap opera stories to real hook me and get me hooked on two soaps at one time.

I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to finish this post! Please forgive me.

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savagefm-blog · 5 years ago

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it looks like KIM CHUNGHA has stepped off of their private jet and into the hamptons – oh wait , that’s actually ARIANA LIM ! word on the street is you’re TWENTY - THREE & CISFEMALE , preferring to go by SHE / HER pronouns . don’t worry , your mansion has been waiting for your return from CHELSEA , NEW YORK , so we do hope you’ll stay for a while . it seems like everyone who knows you best loves you for being DEXTEROUS & POISED , but god ! your SALACIOUS & VIRULENT tendencies can be such a turn off . either way it goes , everyone on instagram likes to associate you with CARTIER RINGS STACKED ON NIMBLE FINGERS , RED WINE STAINS ON WHITE COUCHES , AND DESIGNER CLOTHES PILED ON THE FLOOR . ( kyrie , 22 , eastern , she / her and cancer and gore . )

hi babies ! it’s admin kyrie here ready to introduce you guys to my absolute mess of all messes , ariana ! please forgive me for how late this intro is -- i’m usually more prepared than this . honestly , i have no idea why i named her that other than the fact like i love ari as a nickname , so there we have it . i’ve been REALLY wanting to play chungha lately ( stream snapping ) and her blonde hair makes me melt , so here’s my lady love ! please don’t roast me too bad since this intro might get a little lengthy since ariana is like ... brand brand new , but i look forward to writing and plotting with everyone and thank you so much for joining !

BIRTH NAME : lim ah-jeong.

AMERICAN NAME : ariana lim.

PREFERRED NAME : ariana lim.

NICKNAME(S) : ari.

AGE : twenty-three.

BIRTHDATE / ZODIAC : january 10, 1996. / capricorn.

RELIGION : roman catholic ( non-practicing ).

SEXUALITY : sexually fluid.

HOMETOWN : chelsea, new york.

NATIONALITY : korean-american.

ETHNICITY : korean.

OCCUPATION : socialite and heiress.

VIRTUES : commendable, systematic, dexterous, articulate, poised, and warmhearted.

VICES : duplicitous, menacing, salacious, hedonistic, virulent, and labyrinthine.

LANGUAGE(S) : korean, english, and conversational japanese.

since she was born on a cold, winter day in january, ariana lim has had a silver spoon in her mouth. in that hospital room were her parents: the ethereal bo-young and handsomely talented jung-sik lim were welcoming their first and only baby into the world, and the media outside were desperate to get the first glimpse of the power couple’s pride and joy. bo-young is the sole heir of a billion dollar jewelry fortune ( think swarovski or harry winston ) who was raised primarily in seoul, sk. bo-young did as expected of her, going to college so she could someday take over the family business, but considering that her grandfather was still the head of operations, bo-young could do whatever she wanted.

the then twenty-three year old joined an entertainment company and debuted in one of the top-watched k-dramas of that year. that was the beginning and end of bo-young’s acting career -- she found more joy in posing for advertisements and on magazine covers, so after starring as the cover star for vogue korea, bo-young’s career began to really take off. twenty-five and on top of the world, all it took was attending a single industry party for her to meet her soulmate : soccer midfielder lim jung-sik.

jung-sik was the object of everyone’s affection. unlike bo-young, he was born to a poor family in daegu -- the family wasn’t below the poverty line, but they were definitely living paycheck to paycheck. despite this, jung-sik’s parents made sure that their son had the opportunities that he deserved, so they paid for his soccer lessons even if meant borrowing money or taking up second jobs. the lim family owned and operated their own moderately successful restaurant, but it definitely didn’t pay all of the bills. so, jung-sik grew up with the all too common mentality that once he made his wealth, he’d reward his parents.

after years of diligence, practice, and working at his parents’ restaurant, jung-sik finally got his big break while playing for a minor league team. a manager for the jeonbuk hyundai motors team had come to one of his games for a bit of leisure with his family, and jung-sik’s skills stood out to the manager. the two made contact after the game, and about a year after negotiations began, jung-sik made his debut on the team. jung-sik played for the team non-stop until his military service, and once he returned is when he came into contact with model and heiress park bo-young.

bo-young and jung-sik’s relationship came under a bit of scrutiny due to how quickly the two had gotten married, just eight months after their initial meeting. their wedding was big, loud, and lavish, which was expected. the two adorned glamorous custom rings from bo-young’s family’s business and soon decided to move from seoul to new york, where bo-young had signed to img models and jung-sik transferred to the us men’s national team ( and they SUCK but it is what it is ). after a few years of living the good life, bo-young and jung-sik welcomed their baby girl, ah-jeong ‘ ariana ’ lim into the world.

growing up, ariana was something of a handful. she has always been outspoken to the point of being rude at times, but she knew how to charm the pants off of her parents. in their eyes, she could do no wrong. due to that mentality, ariana had a way of getting away with some of the negative things that she had done during her time in school. attending some of the best schools that manhattan had to offer, ariana went to school with the children of actors/actresses, politicians, debutantes, musicians and everyone in between, so it’s safe to say that she ran in some pretty wealthy social circles.

while she was in school, it was clear that ariana ran her school like a little tyrant, and i use that term loosely. she was mean to her classmates and nice to the administrators, often messing with other students who might have been wearing something off season. ariana saw no wrong in what she was going, as she was childish and immature during that time. she knew how to fake tears to get what she wanted and all it took was her faking those tears or mentioning all of the great things she had done ( like winning debate team championships or being the captain of her school’s varsity cheer team ) and she was given just a bit of a warning.

after graduating from high school, ariana found herself wrapped up in a whirlwind summer romance with malaki sterling ( @malakitm ). their love was something new, something wild, and something pure. so pure, in fact, that all it took was a drunken night at a club for the two of them to become engaged. the night was wild and ridiculously overwhelming, but in the best of ways. since she wasn’t proposed to with a ring, ariana went and got malaki’s initials tattooed on her ring finger ( which she still has to this day ). so, the wedding day comes -- she’s surrounded by her best friends while she slipped into her custom gown and veil that could rival that of meghan markle’s when a close friend of the two barged into the room just as ‘ here comes the bride ’ was expected to begin and declares ‘ he’s gone ! ’

ariana gets left at the alter. her wedding had been the talk of the town, she had even been featured on the cover of vogue, but here she was storming around the venue ready to punch anything she could get her hands on, and eventually sobbing in a small diner surrounded by bodyguards to protect her from the paparazzos that wanted to get a glimpse of the heartbroken girl. after she takes the trip that was supposed to be their honeymoon, ariana doesn’t immediately return home to chelsea. instead, she makes the decision to visit the family’s vacation home in southampton, which has since become something of a tradition.

now, ariana has never been a huge fan of the country club, but her parents like the status they have while being a part of it. so, when the cat was pulled out of the bag about the harrington family, ariana was the least bit surprised. she always had a feeling that the harrington family was a little too ... out of place. so she never went out of her way to befriend the harrington children. anyways, since she originally came to the hamptons, ariana has made it her mission to come out especially since being in the hamptons works well with her socialite-esque lifestyle.

tl;dr: ariana is a woman who has everything, almost to the point that she doesn’t know what else she could possibly want. since her break up with malaki, ariana has sworn off romantic relationships and has no interest in sparking up something with anyone, although she can be quite promiscuous at times. she’s definitely the steal your man/woman type and despite her outward appearance, the one that the media loves, ariana can at the very least be described as mean-spirited. she can be friendly when she wants to be, but for the most part she’s very sharp tongued and can be very short for no reason.

#hamptons:intro #u h.. .. . idk how i feel about this KJBKJBJKBKBJ #but it's long and i'm v sorry oainfda #i still need to do my tags #and put up a wanted connections page but !!!#tysm again to everyone who joined !!! i can't wait for tomorrow !!

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thefilmfatale · 5 years ago

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Always Be My Maybe and How to Ruin a Rom Com

There is an art to a good romantic comedy.

Let me preface this post with a confession: I am a rom com enthusiast. Go ahead, turn your nose up at me, you snobs! But I unabashedly love romantic comedies. Yes, I’m aware that the genre is much maligned for being painfully predictable and vapid, but it would surprise you how tough it actually is to produce a solid rom com that hits all the right notes.

You see, there’s a formula. Boy Meets Girl (yes, I’m being deliberately heteronormative for this example, put your pitchforks down). Girl plays hard to get. Boy persists and wins her over despite how much the lady doth protest too much. A conflict introduces tension and separation (”Gasp! This was all part of a bet?!”), throwing the relationship into jeopardy. Boy performs Grand Gesture™ to win back Girl’s heart. Girl forgives Boy and the two gallop into the sunset. Cue Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life” as the credits roll.

The formula works, but only if the filmmaker can trick the audience into believing that this on screen romance has real stakes. To do that, you have to have a script that at least pretends to explore an interesting relationship which, as it unfolds, gives the audience butterflies and makes them want to root for the star-crossed lovers. Without audience investment, you have no rom com.

To get the audience to invest, you need likeable leads who have great chemistry and just enough tangible sexual tension to create that air of “Will they or won’t they?” After all, no one ships a couple who are devoid of personality and lack chemistry. Most of this sexual tension is physical—in the way the actors interact with each other—but what can really help establish this is verbal, by way of witty repartee.

Think of some of the classic rom coms, like When Harry Met Sally. Why does it work? Sally is a Type A personality. Prim, proper, particular, and uptight. Harry is more laid back, casual, and candid— unafraid to tell it like it is. He’s also a bit of a troll who enjoys getting a rise out of someone. Throw the two on a road trip together and you have a recipe for romance (or disaster—however you want to look at it). As a viewer, you begin to root for them because we’re told that opposites attract and complement each other. Harry softens Sally’s rough edges, Sally helps Harry realize he needs some maturing.

And you all know the Big Gesture™. A New Year’s eve confession that inspired a thousand sappy rom-com speeches.

What makes When Harry Met Sally successful?

Harry and Sally are different enough from each other that there is enough sexual tension and push and pull to make their interactions interesting.

Each half of the couple has their own personality that feels authentic to their character. They have their own ambitions and goals. They also have traits and quirks that uniquely position them to attract each other.

The relationship does not seem guaranteed—the audience has to have a moment of doubt or uncertainty that makes them will the couple back together.

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal have fantastic chemistry.

It seems pretty straightforward. Follow the formula, and you’ll be fine. In fact, it’s hard to screw up a good rom com if you just imagine unconventional ways to put two individually interesting but opposite enough people together then lean back and watch the sparks fly.

So all this to say that nothing could have prepared me for the soul-sucking awfulness of Always Be My Maybe, the Netflix flick starring comedian Ali Wong (know for her Baby Cobra Netflix special) and Fresh Off the Boat’s Randall Park.

The story follows Sasha Tran (Wong), a renowned chef and restauranteur, who rekindles a romance with her childhood best friend Marcus Kim (Park) when her marriage engagement suddenly falls through. Tran is portrayed as ambitious and driven, while Kim is unmotivated and immature, using his widowed father as a crutch to not follow his dreams. In its purest form (this summary), the gist of the story seems fine. Nothing to write home about (certainly not novel), but this is romantic comedy and the bar is more of a footstool so no one’s begrudging sticking to convention. But Always Be My Maybe takes that convention and, in true Asian fashion, approaches it with textbook diligence that just sapped the joy and life out of what should have been a fun, light-hearted romp. So much for subverting Asian stereotypes!

Now I’m a fan of Ali Wong and Randall Park’s, but this movie was so mind-numbing, it made me physically ill. Ali Wong? Hilarious! Randall Park? Extremely likable and has great comedic timing! Together you would think they would be dynamite. Fireworks! An explosive affair of epic proportions! And for those of us who’ve had a hankering for a rom com with Asian leads (and God knows we’ve waited a long fucking time—thank you, Crazy Rich Asians) we know about the demand for one.

Alas, what a disappointment. A telephone pole and I would have had more chemistry than Ali Wong and Randall Park. As much as it pains, I have to say that Always Be My Maybe just might be one of the worst romantic comedies I have ever watched.

Not only did this movie put two leads together who had zero chemistry—or at least enough sexual tension to help the audience suspend their disbelief that these aren't just actors—but the story unfolds in a fashion that actually makes the audience keenly aware of the formula. I know I said if you just follow the formula you can’t go wrong, but Jesus they didn’t have to make it so obvious! It’s like Fight Club, you know? The first rule of making a good rom com is YOU DO NOT MAKE THE AUDIENCE AWARE THAT THEY ARE WATCHING A ROM COM. I mean, at least try to approach it like it’s actually an interesting story about two people.

Instead, the movie followed story beats that seemed to exist for the sake of moving the story along instead of actually selling us on the relationship. The beats were so obvious that you can actually pinpoint where they begin and end because they were helpfully (and often unnecessarily) bookended by old school hip hop songs. Cue music! Here comes the conflict, the part where Boy and Girl rekindle their romance only to find that the years apart have made them different people. Boy judges Girl for being pretentious and obnoxious. Girl judges boy for being immature and unmotivated. A big fight ensues! Insults are hurled at each other that are so truthful they hurt! But it’s only a sign that they are meant to be with each other because they can trust each other to be this honest!

You know your movie is bad when your story beats are so obvious that they take the viewer out of the movie. You know your rom com is bad when Boy’s Big Gesture™ felt like a very clear When Harry Met Sally rip-off with dialogue that makes you want to get a lobotomy. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being referential or, even better, deliberately parodying romantic comedies. But Always Be My Maybe wasn’t really trying to be either. It was just stuck in this weird gray area of trying to be a romantic comedy and failing.

Always Be My Maybe’s biggest problem is in its turd of a script. It was so cringeworthy, filled with inauthentic lines and tired Asian jokes (the joke about Asians hating tipping was played out to the point of exasperation). Even their attempts to make fun of woke culture (which is an effort I wholly endorse) felt contrived and flat, which is such a bummer because that would have been a cool differentiator. Even the promising jabs at the pretentiousness of haute cuisine were awkwardly executed. Most of all, it didn't do its lead actors any favors, turning them into cartoonish cardboard cut-outs that were designed to follow the formula of a rom-com without putting in the work to earn the audience’s investment. Performance-wise, Wong did a passable job, but there were times when it felt like she was reciting a line that was clearly more apt for a comedy skit rather than a piece of dialogue that a character in a movie is saying. Park’s attempt at faux awkwardness, on the other hand, was excruciating to watch. Couldn’t he just be a dude in a rap band who happens to live with his dad? That's a decent enough back story. There really wasn’t a need to give him a personality quirk that seemed put on rather than authentic.

The film’s most promising moment was a Keanu Reeves cameo. And it’s only because Reeves was so game at poking fun of himself and the pretentiousness of celebrity that it worked. But just like the tired Asian jokes, at a certain point the humor was played out to the point where it became unwelcome. I also want to give credit to the film for portraying an Asian American upbringing that wasn’t the Fresh Off the Boat variety. While there isn't anything wrong with that portrayal, it’s also a treat to be able to see a different dimension of Asian culture, one that shows how typical and relatable it is to the average American’s upbringing. Premarital, promiscuous sex! Rap music! Being into pretentious food! Much as I hate to admit it, the whole “Asians—we’re just like you!” approach is kinda needed in film and television because it removes this layer of exoticization that can be restrictive to Asian characters.

While not tokenizing Asian characters is a positive, it still doesn’t make Always Be My Maybe a good movie. While I did watch it all the way to the end (despite my body’s vehement protests), it hurt my soul in ways I didn’t anticipate. How did they ruin this rom com? First, and most importantly, there was a shocking lack of individual character development. You don't get a sense of who these people are individually. Instead, they just seemed to be characters created for the sole purpose of putting them together and contrasting them enough to where they should have some sort of chemistry. But you can’t manufacture that. Each actor has to go through the work of making their characters likable. If I like the characters individually, I like them even better together! See how that 2+2 worked? But without dedicating the right amount of time and space in the story to showing their inner lives and what makes them tick, you’re setting them up for failure.

Second, and on a related note: there were no real stakes to the relationship. because setting up Sasha and Marcus to be together just seemed like a given from the get go. There didn’t seem to be any real jeopardy to their relationship, even once the conflict was introduced. The forced repartee between the characters came off like lines of dialogue instead of natural conversation, not to mention the very apparent lack of chemistry between Ali Wong and Randall Park. So much so that you didn’t really want to see them make out, let alone root for them to end up together. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you ruin a rom com.

If you, a friend, or family member just watched Always Be My Maybe and are experiencing similar symptoms of nausea and misanthropy, may I direct you to a Netflix original rom com that is actually good? Go check out Set It Up, if you haven’t already!

What did you think of Always Be My Maybe? Am I full of shit? Did you like it? What are some of your favorite romantic comedies? Sound off in the comments below!

#always be my maybe #movie reviews #Ali wong #Randall park

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jonathantaylorthomas · 6 years ago

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[excerpt] 15. This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Does anyone apart from Pusha T relish a good diss track as much as Swift? 2017’s Reputation might have its patchy moments of just-out-of-date beats but it’s also full of deliciously vicious moments. I Did Something Bad was a beautiful middle finger to an ex (Calvin Harris, apparently), Look What You Made Me Do cut down her critics and this track, which is effectively a more bitter Bad Blood, battered Kim and Kanye. “Friends don’t try to trick you/Get you on the phone and mind-twist you” she sings in an apparent swipe at the ‘I made that b**** famous’ controversy, while underneath stuttering electro-pop clashes with tinkling piano. The chorus is Swift at her most bitingly patronising, smiling as she twists the knife in.

14. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Swift managed her first US number one with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. The singer’s knack for an earworm is obvious here, with the song one of the simplest but strongest of her career. The rest of Red dabbles with pop but Swift’s country roots are still very visible here. A foot-stomping acoustic guitar riff is right at the heart of the track, which is a much lighter take on the relationship at the heart of All Too Well. The old Taylor might not be able to come the phone right now, but she was on top form here.

13. Our Song

Jaunty violins, talk about God, a Nashville accent that twangs like a banjo string: Our Song is Taylor in full country mode. It’s got all the hallmarks of her early verse-chorus-bridge songwriting, and Swift reportedly put it together in 20 minutes for her ninth grade talent show before the record company nabbed it for her debut album. Built around a colossal chorus, where her delivery cracks like a drum beat, Our Song is a vivid picture of her teenage years and a testament to Swift’s natural songwriting nous – a reminder that, despite the headlines, she’s built a career on talent, not merely hype and controversy. Tim McGraw, which starts the album, has much the same effect.

12. I Knew You Were Trouble

2012 album Red took Swift’s popularity to new levels and the universal appeal of I Knew You Were Trouble was a key part of that success. The song became one of the most parodied tracks of the year but even adding screaming goats into the mix couldn’t the hamper its impact. It’s perhaps surprising that despite the song’s success, the chorus marked one of the singer’s most experimental to date, flirting with dubstep, pop and dance influences. It’s the perfect example of Swift’s early musical experimentations – as was the U2-esque album opener State of Grace – which would eventually pave the way for the reinvention on 1989 two years later.

11. Shake It Off

Shake It Off is perhaps the perfect song to explain Taylor Swift and seems to encapsulate the contradictions which have made her a star. For everything that’s toe-curling and cringeworthy (see: “this sick beat”, the whole “my ex man” riff), it’s also infectious, irresistible and triumphantly confident; Swift knows it’s geeky and doesn’t care. It’s a song to shimmy to – and then to kiss your crush to, when she asks the fella with the hella good hair to shake, shake, shake. Grab the white wine and go be basic – sometimes it’s fun.

10. 22

While Swift can occasionally lean-in on her wry way of seeing the world, she’s also gloriously unafraid of big, dumb pop. 22 is almost comically simplistic: the opening guitar riff is just a watered down Wild Thing, the drum beat is mindlessly insistent – a bass kick on every single beat – and the main hook (“I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22”) has all the intelligence of a failed GCSE. None of it matters; the song is a joyous riot, set in a world where there are no pressures, no bills and the sun only goes down so everyone can go to bed together. It is fun, it is silly, it’s happiness is infectiously single-minded and the best lines come right at the end: “You look like bad news, I gotta have you”. There’s even Nile Rodgers-style guitar thrown in on the chorus. Splendid stuff. No wonder it’s said to be Harry Styles’ favourite Swift song.

9. Fifteen

Much has been made of Swift’s big transformation from country singer to pop behemoth but even before she was out of her teens she was flirting with stadium friendly rock. Still, Fifteen had plenty of banjo all over it, while her voice charmingly twangs as she talks boys and cars and heartbreak. Of which, it’s the lyrics that make this one: the song itself is so polished and clean it could have been assembled on a Tennessee production line, but Swift manages to infuse it with a sense of failed teenage romance that feels real – unsurprising, perhaps, given it’s based on her and her best friend Abigail Anderson’s years at Hendersonville High School.

“In your life you’ll do things greater than/Dating the boy on the football team/But I didn’t know it at fifteen” she sings, “Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now”. Ain’t that the truth.

8. Love Story

Ten years ago, pre-Kanye-at-the-VMAs, Swift was, in Britain at least, still that country girl with that one catchy song. This was that song; a hopelessly romantic tale of teenage love, Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet over pop-punk guitars and key changes and, of course, a happy ending replacing the tragedy. Eight million copies sold, making it the best selling country single of all time and paving the way for the decade of massive success that followed.

7. Blank Space

Blank Space is a minimalist masterpiece that paradoxically is crammed with hooks (something she manages again, like a magic trick, on Clean). The song in itself is actually surprisingly slow-moving; chords are long, drawn-out and the drums snap but are unhurried. The genius here in is Swift’s vocals, which are catchy enough that the whole thing seems to be one long chorus. Blank Space also marks the beginning of Swift sending herself up; in it, she satirises her media image as a man-obsessed, relationship addicted nightmare who serially dates for songwriting material. Hilariously, the key line (“Got a long list of ex-lovers/They’ll tell you I’m insane”) has often been misheard – including by her own mother – as “all the lonely Starbucks lovers”, which rather changes the point somewhat. The video is a work of art too, introducing the world to the ‘new Taylor’ – before the new Taylor became the old, dead Taylor. Oh, and look out for her slip up at 3.40, it’s hilarious.

6. New Year’s Day

The beautiful, reverb soaked piano that flutters through New Year’s Day is a sign of what could be to come for Swift – not now, perhaps, but maybe in 20 years. It could be played then and just as good. If All Too Well is her great grown-up heartbreak track, this is her great grown-up love song. Whereas 1989’s You Are In Love used a similar sound for a rip of Bruce Springsteen’s Street’s of Philadelphia, here it’s more of a James Blake vibe. The beauty is in the simplicity; this is a love as rational as it is passionate. The metaphor is about being there for the good times (the party at midnight) and the bad (cleaning up bottles on New Year’s Day). There is a stroke of brilliance, too: “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognise anywhere” she sings as a reprise, realising what too few of us do until it’s too late: love is as fragile as it precious.

5. You Belong With Me

Taylor has a long-standing love affair with power chords and pop-punk goodness. On Red, there’s Holy Ground, before that was Speak Now’s girl-breaking-free-to-rule-the-world Long Live and before that was You Belong With Me on Fearless. It’s sometimes criticised for being too similar to her other early hits but in truth, it’s just the best example of them. It’s also wonderfully full Taylor: she plays the self-deprecating dork in love with her best friend, and the video is completely, brilliantly hysterical. There are all the elements needed: crashing guitars, unrequited love, a little teenage angst. It’s far from perfect: the lyrics are her corniest, the premise is cliched and the country embellishments have been tactlessly tacked on as if purely to placate the country audience. But, in the end, it’s catchy, sweetly endearing and you’ll be singing along merrily. If you want another fill of the good stuff, put on Fearless, which is just a little less catchy but with a better guitar solo.

4. Ronan

Little known, not on any albums and barely performed live – to date it’s only been aired twice, with the first version live on a Stand Up to Cancer telethon the one to listen to – Ronan perhaps seems a unlikely entry on the list, but it stands the Swift song that aches the most, and is unlike anything else she’s written. Over the chime of trembling guitar chords, she sings as the voice of Maya Thompson, a mother who lost her four-year-old Ronan to cancer. Written after reading Thompson’s blog, Swift articulates the unsteady, insistent rhythm of grief with painful clarity. In the end, like in life, the loss stings the sharpest in the little things. “And it’s about to be Halloween, you could be anything you wanted” she sings, her voice shaking and her eyes glassy with tears, “If you were still here.”

3. Out Of The Woods

Like the heartbroken logic in All You Had To Do Was Stay (the song Ryan Adams’ did best on his mixed 1989 cover album), it’s the naivety in this one that makes it so damned sad. Jack Antonoff produced a piece of driving rock dressed up as radio-pop, the stuttering drums and Blade Runner synths casting shadows over everything, the choir on the chorus giving it enough size to fill stadiums. It’s one for anyone who’s been wrapped up in a love that’s left them shaky with the uncertainty of it all, who’s gone to sleep and woken up with the same thought, of praying they’re getting as much love as they’re giving.

2. Style

Like a designer parading a new collection down the runway, Swift showcased her new direction perfectly on this aptly titled track. Pulsating synths drive the verses along before a huge sing-along chorus kicks in, marking a dramatic change from her guitar-led earlier compositions. It’s a formula that Swift would return to time and time again in her later work, not least on the similar Getaway Car from 2017 album reputation. The song remains a highlight at Swift’s live shows — after all, pop hooks as good as this will never go out of style.

1. All Too Well

Everyone jokes about the lost scarf, but this is Swift’s most sincere tale of heartbreak and is heartbreaking itself. Though it takes a handful of listens at least to ‘get’ this track, it’s worn out and weary and the hurt goes deep. Swift says it was one of the hardest to write, and it’s one of the hardest to listen to; she sounds like she’s singing right from the bones and it’s searingly, uncomfortably intimate. Having it on doesn’t feel so much like listening as eavesdropping: other ruminations in her back catalogue are broader, relatable, but here we’re hearing her specific turmoil. Nowhere else on record does she sound as cut up the way she does halfway through this one – Jake Gyllenhaal, you realise, really broke her heart.

Plenty of Swift songs are overwrought, but the drama here is sincere: her voice trembles with pain, and the song, which starts sparse, swells and hardens up like a lump in the throat. It’s little surprise the original cut was 10 minutes long; the song is cinematic, with a touch of Raymond Carver in the sparse, classically American lyrics: “'Cause there we are again in the middle of the night/We’re dancing round the kitchen in the refrigerator light”.

When she gets to end of it, there are lines that induce a wince: “You call me up again just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest” she says. Then you hear her lost to her heartbreak: “Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it/I’d like to be my old self again/But I’m still trying to find it”. Love – especially when it cools – changes everything.

#this list is a mess #lol

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westallen-world · 7 years ago

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“Trial of the Flash” isn’t a bad episode – but for such a long-awaited storyline, we expected

It finally happened – Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is behind bars. We knew this was coming, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. In the mid-season premiere of The Flash, Cecile works to defend Barry in court, while Iris (Candice Patton) grows increasingly desperate about her newlywed husband’s situation. Meanwhile, Team Flash (just Caitlin, Cisco, and Harry this week) deal with a radioactive metahuman situation sans The Flash. It’s the long-awaited “Trial of the Flash” storyline, but did the episode hit the mark?

RELATED |

The Flash Roundtable 4×10 “Trial of the Flash”

As far as spring season openers go, “Trial of the Flash” certainly works, and it’s impossible to deny that it’s an entertaining hour of television. If such a beloved comic book storyline wasn’t attached to the episode, it perhaps would function better – but prior knowledge and anticipation turned this episode into, well, a bit of a disappointment. The trial itself is rushed, which takes away the emotional weight that should be ever-present in an episode such as this. The actors work with what they have, but it’s difficult to really sell the gravity of Barry’s trial in such a short amount of time. It’s clear what the show was going for – its B plot perfectly sets up a moment in which we see the hypocrisy of Central City’s turn against Barry Allen and adoration of The Flash, but it certainly would have been done better given (again) more time.

Despite being one of the most highly anticipated storylines on the show, “Trial of the Flash” was extremely short-lived and surprisingly rushed

It’s not quite clear why The Flash chose to condense its trial storyline into one episode. Perhaps they are more interested in a Barry-in-prison story than a trial. For whatever reason, the show chose to speed through the legal process in order to keep it under an hour. The result is a feeling of whiplash and frustration. We hear much more from the prosecution than the defense, and it leaves us screaming at our televisions. Why didn’t Cecile question Barry’s motive? Why didn’t she point out that, as a CSI, Barry would know better than to murder someone in his own home with his own wedding gift? And why does her defense consist purely of proving that Barry is a good person? It’s not bad writing, exactly, but it’s certainly bad planning. By giving themselves only one episode to spend on the actual trial, the showrunners wrote themselves into a corner, and the only way out was by bypassing key details that would’ve really helped sell this story.

“I hereby order that Bartholemew Henry Allen should be incarcerated for the rest of his natural life without the possibility of parole.”

There are only about twenty minutes between the beginning of Barry’s trial and Iris’s climactic and desperate attempt to reveal his secret. Crime shows do this all the time – Law and Order fits an entire investigation and legal process into an hour on a regular basis. The problem, though, is that we are invested in the defendant, rather than the prosecution, of this case. We only have minutes to root for Barry and Cecile to succeed, and the show asks us to understand the emotional impact of this trial while we are still attempting to process the fact that it’s even happening. A story like this deserved at least two episodes to be fully fleshed out, but the choice to shorten it isn’t entirely surprising. The Flash loves to take on a comic storyline (in name only, usually) and speed through it – just look at last season’s attempt at Flashpoint. The Flash would do well to slow things down, take a breath, and give the audience a chance to invest in a storyline before we are thrown into the next one.

The secondary storyline is unnecessary and feels shoehorned into the larger episode

The Flash certainly has a formula, one that the Arrowverse in general regularly follows. You’ve got the A storyline, usually featuring Barry, and a B and sometimes C storyline following other characters. It’s a great set up normally, but it okay to break the mold once and a while. The show seemed reluctant to do so, and as a result delivered a choppy B storyline about Cisco, Caitlin, and Harry fighting a radioactive metahuman. Just when the audience began to settle into the trial, we were ripped across town and asked to care that some truck driver was turning green. It’s a fine story on its own, but it created an imbalance – while Barry and Iris deal with the most devastating event a couple can deal with, we are expected also care about some other horrible thing endangering the city. The result is a disjointed mashup that cheapens the entire episode.

Cisco: “The city’s about to explode. Everyone, everything you know and love, the birds, the trees, the fish, the puppies! The puppies are going down because you didn’t want to… show up for work!”

As is common on The Flash, the two storylines converge toward the end, but the episode is not made better for it. Is it even legal to leave your own murder sentencing because you got a phone call? We completely see the point of the scene – even as he’s on trial for a murder he didn’t commit, Barry puts the city accusing him above all else. It really does testify to the very point Cecile was attempting to make – Barry Allen is a hero and Central City is lucky to have him. But the fact that he misses his own sentencing is unrealistic. Barry is hanging at STAR Labs moments after he was legally declared a murderer – what? Can you really just mosey on up to the courthouse for your life sentence whenever you feel like it? The choice does pay off, at least partially, with the justaposition of Barry’s sentencing and the Flash’s Award of Valor, but the set up to that moment was too clunky for it to fully resonate.

The episode is carried by its actors, who’s performances lend an emotional weight to the story that the writing failed to provide

Two performers absolutely shine in “Trial of the Flash.” In an episode about the conflict between two men, their wives steal the show. Candice Patton and Kim Engelbrecht each deliver emotional gut punches with very little dialogue. Engelbrecht’s Marlize DeVoe mourns the loss of her husband (or, more accurately, the loss of his physical body) and struggles to kiss another man’s face. Later, she puts on a performance in the courtroom of a woman in shock and grief. The truly impressive thing about Engelbrecht is that she somehow manages to make these two moments different – in both, she is crying over her husband, but the first one feels real and raw while the second is convincing enough for a jury, but feels artificial after the prior moment. It’s truly outstanding that Engelbrecht can distinguish her own acting from DeVoe’s in such a convincing manner.

Marlize DeVoe: “I am doing what I have to do for my husband, Mrs. West-Allen. The question you should truly be asking is: what are you willing to do for your’s?”

Candice Patton, arguably The Flash’s most valuable resource, never fails to impress with her acting ability. Her strength lies in her wordless expression – we see so much on Iris’s face without her saying anything at all. We see anger in her eyes when she speaks to Mrs.DeVoe, hope when she tries to convince Barry to reveal his secret, and devastation and resignation after Barry is found guilty. Patton’s chemistry with Grant Gustin is truly exceptional, and the two of them easily sell us on their love for one another – so much, so, that it even distracts from the nonsensical nature of their speedster conversation in the courtroom.

Perhaps over-hyped, “Trial of the Flash” is a rushed but nonetheless emotional episode full of noteworthy performances (especially from its female cast)

Flash fans have been talking about “The Trial of the Flash” for years, ever since that brief moment in season one when we saw a flash of Barry behind bars. Perhaps this is why this episode feels like a letdown. With no expectation, the episode would have been simply “good,” rather than “good but disappointing.” Still, there are brief moments that show us what could have been – Marlize’s testimony, Iris’s interjection, and the juxtaposition of Barry’s sentencing and The Flash’s award ceremony were truly outstanding moments, however short-lived.

The episode was largely a set up for a coming storyline about Barry in prison, so we have high hopes for what comes next. Hopefully, The Flash has a plan for the rest of the season that’s going to justify the rushing of this particular story. With one of the show’s best villains so far, and a great cast dynamic, the potential for an A+ spring season is certainly there, let’s just hope they deliver.

QUESTIONS & COMMENTS

Someone please explain to me how that courtroom scene worked?? Barry was moving so fast that everyone else was still?? Was Iris moving that fast too?? Does that mean that they were talking at superspeed?? How would Iris, a human, be able to understand a conversation at superspeed?

Don’t let my review fool you, I still loved this episode. I love every episode of The Flash, and that’s why I found this one disappointing – I know they can do better.

Kim Engelbrecht is going places – mark my words.

Barry is in his father’s cell?? Ouch. My heart.

Barry and Iris’s relationship is truly one of the best examples of love on TV right now. They are just so… real.

Seriously, if you can explain that courtroom conversation please comment below because I do not understand.

#trial of the flash

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crimsonrevolt · 7 years ago

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Congratulations Kim you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Andromeda Tonks!

↳ please refer to our character checklist

I can’t tell you how absolutely thrilled we all were to find your app in our inbox! You sum up perfectly the contrasting aspects of her personality along with some wonderful headcanons and gave us a deeper look into who she is making her so very well fleshed out. The writing sample was beautiful and provided an insight into how the war is affecting Andromeda as well as exploring her relationship with her husband and daughter. Welcome to the group and we can’t wait to see what you do with Andromeda.

application beneath the cut

OUT OF CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION

Hello! My name is Kim, I’m 23, she/her are my pronouns and my timezone is EST.

ACTIVITY

I’m on pretty much every single day. I haven’t done group rps in the longest time because of life but I’d love to get back into them. I have been doing 1x1′s however, and I’m active on those every day/every other day so I would give myself about an 7.5-8/10.

TRIGGERS

*removed for privacy

HOW DID YOU FIND US?

I found you through the ‘hp rp’ tag. Like I said I’m dying to get back into group rps!

WHAT HARRY POTTER CHARACTER DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH MOST?

Probably Harry himself (because I too could never catch a break), but in all honesty I think I fell in love with Harry’s sense of adventure, loyalty and constant need to please others. I can relate.

ANYTHING ELSE?

None that I can think of at this time!

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED CHARACTER

Andromeda Walburga Tonks, née Black. Andromeda means persistence and ruler of men, and is a constellation in the northern sky. It is fitting for a steadfast woman like Andromeda and she is actually very content with her name. The first one, at least. Andromeda hates her middle name, Walburga, mostly because it is the name of her aunt whom she cannot stand for good reason.

FACE CLAIM

Jenna Coleman is perfect!

REASON FOR CHOSEN CHARACTER

Andromeda was actually the first character that I began playing in tumblr rp around seven years ago. I connected to her right off the bat because I felt like she was such an underrated, unexplored character with one of the most fascinating backstories in the Harry Potter universe. A woman who left everything she had ever known to marry a muggleborn must have so many different conflicts, demons and emotions, and I was really drawn to fleshing out what those could be.

I see Andromeda as a very conflicted character. Unlike most members of her family she was always an individual thinker, taking what her family fed her and questioning them at every turn. Admittedly when she was younger she bought into it easier than when she first began attending Hogwarts. When her entire world was within the walls of Black Manor, it was easy not to be subjected to the ‘monsters’ her parents would complain about on a daily basis. But Andromeda just truly did not understand what was so wrong with these seemingly normal wizards and witches, going as far as questioning them one day as to why they hated them so. To Andromeda they truly didn’t seem so bad. Andromeda received a strike across the cheek from her mother, and never again did she outwardly question their beliefs. Until Ted, of course.

Andromeda is probably a mess of contradictions. She comes from a pureblood, preppy family and grew up to prefer parties with friends than lavish balls, leather jackets than ballgowns. An originally quiet girl she really grew into her own and gained a voice most prominently after meeting Ted. Finally she realized that her life truly never resided in the confines of Black Manor in the luxurious world of the purebloods. Andromeda preferred fire and brim, muggle record players and London pubs, spending time with newfound friends other than senior purists. It took a lot for her to grow out of her biases and learn from her mistakes, and while she is still the lady she was raised to become Andromeda has learned to stop squashing her rebellious spirit…which she feels guilty about from time to time. Like I said, it’s complicated.

PREFERRED SHIPS // CHARACTER SEXUALITY // GENDER & PRONOUNS

Andromeda & Ted // Heterosexual // She/Her Pronouns

Ted Tonks is Andromeda’s saving grace. Meeting him turned Andromeda’s world upside down, prompting her to question everything that she thought she had known from the moment he had caught her attention. It wasn’t love at first sight by any means – Andromeda’s own insecurities and doubts certainly left her guarded at first. But Ted always had a funny effect on her. Soon she was unable to get him off of her mind. He filled her every thought, every whim, every desire. It came as no surprise that he found a place within her heart. Ted is the other half of her whole, the love her life. Every day Andromeda falls more and more in love with her husband, and will never regret her decision to choose him over her family, especially whenever she looks at their daughter.

Many would probably be surprised to learn that Andromeda is actually a very sexually positive person. It probably has to do with her stuffy upbringing, having been viewed for years as the ‘untouchable Andromeda Black.’ But she finds sex and intimacy to be extremely important. Ted is the only man she’s ever been with and always will be. Andromeda has always been a curious girl by nature, eager to learn and try new things. Ted opened her up to so many different things that she hadn’t known even existed, and I’d imagine that sex would have just been another thing she was eager to learn from him when they got together.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER:

Determined/Stubborn - There’s really no stopping Andromeda once her mind is set on something. It was why there was no dissuading her once she realized that she wanted a life more than what her parents had planned for her, and there was no stopping her when she decided to leave them for a muggleborn. Andromeda now remains most determined to keep her family together, at whatever cost. Ted and Nymphadora are her entire world now, and she lives in fear that her old family will try and rip it from her. This goes hand-in-hand with how stubborn she can be. It’s difficult to sway her once her mind is set on something.

Loyal - Andromeda is loyal to a fault. She is protective over her family and her friends, and there isn’t anything that she wouldn’t do to keep them safe. Funny, considering many purebloods would not see her as loyal. They see her as disloyal and traitorous, but what they don’t know is how much she struggled with the decision to leave. In the beginning she couldn’t stand knowing that the relationship she had with her sisters. Andromeda loves her sisters and she always will, even though she completely and utterly abhors what Bellatrix does. A part of her hopes that they will see the fault in their ways just like her…but she isn’t holding her breath waiting for that to happen.

Brave - It takes a large amount of bravery to completely leave everything that she had known for a life of the unknown but that was exactly what Andromeda. She has always had a streak of bravery that has led to where she is today. Andromeda was brave when she stayed in her room during countless Black parties, resigned to a book while protesting everything all the party guests stood for. She was brave sneaking out to be with Ted and their friends, and she was brave when she ultimately made the decision to change her life to be with them. Now she is brave in the way that she continues to fight to keep her family together, and despite her worries and doubts nothing will stop her from keeping her loved ones safe.

Emphatic/Feisty - When Andromeda was younger she was considered a quiet child, which was a big mistake. Andromeda isn’t quiet. She is polite and understanding but quiet she is not, and she really came into that trait as she matured. Just like her beloved Sirius, Andromeda learned to speak out against her family and hold her head high in her differing beliefs. Now she has no problem being passionate and loud and outspoken, although there are some hesitancies when she comes across someone from her past. Andromeda may be loud but she isn’t foolish; she wouldn’t say or do something to put Ted and Nymphadora in danger.

Afraid of letting others down/Self-Conscious - Leaving her family was the hardest thing that Andromeda ever has and will ever have to do. It shattered her heart leaving behind everything that she had ever known and abandoning her home. As time as passed most, but not all, of her wounds have healed. Still, she remains terrified of letting others down. She knows the awful, crushing feeling when disappointing someone, most harshly felt by the disappointment from her sisters. Perhaps it is from her upbringing why she is so worried of how she will perceived and if she is making the right decisions, but especially nowadays Andromeda has to think out her every move to ensure that she does not endanger those close to her.

Headcanon: If you ask Andromeda what her favorite music is she would say ABBA. Or The Beatles. Honestly it depends on the day and what kind of mood she is in. Marrying a muggleborn opened her world to plenty of new and exciting things, including muggle music. Andromeda holds a special fondness for muggle music, and she usually has some kind of record playing in the house when she’s home with Nymphadora.

Headcanon: Before motherhood Andromeda couldn’t cook to save her life. Her family never taught her (since that was house elves were for as her mother liked to say) and she was hopeless following recipes. Apparently they were even more complicated than potions, a class she excelled in at Hogwarts. After she and Ted were married Andromeda tried her hand at cooking. The first night she almost burnt down the kitchen after fiddling with the oven. Needless to say, she leaves major kitchen duty to her husband.

Headcanon: Her favorite book is a muggle one, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was the first book she picked up at a muggle bookstore that Ted had brought her to and she reads it every year at Christmastime.

Headcanon: Andromeda’s patronus is a chestnut mare. The chestnut mare has an appetite for freedom and is adventurous at heart. They often follow their own path, and are passionate creatures. They are highly emotional as well as family and friend oriented.

Headcanon: Andromeda’s amortentia is a mixture of vanilla (her favorite scent), leather (because it reminds her of Ted), pages from an old book and Christmas trees (because Christmas is her favorite time of year).

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

♔ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it:

“Perhaps a spell that would prevent my daughter from changing her hair color or facial features whilst out in muggle London. I know that she cannot help herself – she takes after her father in that regard – but there’s only so many obliviation charms a woman can do.”

♔ You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one other character and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you’d want with you:

“I cannot imagine choosing anyone other than Ted, especially if we are venturing into the Forbidden Forest.” Andromeda paused, a funny little smile crossing her lips as she fondly shook her head. “Although I can only imagine how worried he would be despite my constant insistence that I could handle myself. Regardless, I would take Ted and a flashlight if a wand is impermissible. There’s no navigating that forest without one.”

♔ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

The decisions that she has made in her life were already some of the most difficult one could possibly make and Andromeda knows that all too well. “Anything regarding my family. Whether or not it is safe to take Nymphadora somewhere, or if I am making the right decision in protecting them. Everything that I do, I do for them.”

♔ What is one thing you would never want said about you?

“I’ve learned not to care what people say of me.” Such knowledge has not stopped her, however. “I’ve been a hot topic of conversation since I was sixteen.” In reality, however, Andromeda despises having it said that what she did was a mistake. Many did, particularly those pure of blood. But she cannot stand the thought that there are those who believe that Ted and Nymphadora are a mistake.

WRITING SAMPLE

It was truly a picture perfect moment, one that Andromeda wouldn’t have any other way. It was everything that she wished to obtain in a world like the one of today. Sitting on a couch in front of the fire, a sleeping husband on one side and a sleeping daughter curled up on his chest. In the Tonks household no one would have known that there was a storm brewing just outside the window, a war within a world where no one appeared to be safe. But right then and there Andromeda had her husband and her daughter, a roaring fire, and a moment of peace. How much more could she have asked for?

With everything that was going on they deserved the moments of normalcy, moments where they could all be together as a family. That evening Andromeda had found an old scrapbook, her curiosity and wave of nostalgia prompting her to open it. She flipped through pictures of her and Ted and their years at Hogwarts. Nymphadora had laughed at the fact that Andromeda somehow looked even smaller next to her giant of a husband and laughed at the funny faces that he would make until both her and her daughter were laughing at him and Ted was grinning from ear to ear. At some point they had all grown tired over pictures and stories and the warmth of the fire and had drifted off to sleep, leaving Andromeda still smiling to herself and more content than she had been for a long time. But a picture perfect moment never lasted forever.

It was only after Ted and Nymphadora had fallen asleep did the thoughts begin to creep in, the thoughts that she tried to keep at bay. What would happen if she lost all of it? What would happen if this was the last night that she was able to sit on the couch with Ted and their daughter? Andromeda’s eyes fell upon the open scrapbook that was in her lap, focusing on a picture of her and Ted smiling and laughing without a care in the world. At first glance it would be easy to miss the worry that was in her younger version’s eyes as she stared up at her. She could see the paranoia that it would all disappear in the blink of an eye, that she would lose everything that she had fought so hard to attain. But Andromeda knew that she was a ticking time bomb, someone wanted in the eyes of many for abandoning her family and committing the almighty sin of marrying a muggleborn and bearing his child. Everyday it seemed like more and more people were disappearing or dying and all that she could do was hold onto her family by keeping them safe, protecting them, making sure that they were happy while the situation outside their four walls was growing more and more dim with each passing day.

Andromeda knew her husband loved her and that they could get through all of this together. But what would happen if it all disappeared? Everything that Andromeda had ever dreamed of, and it killed her that she couldn’t say for certain what the future would bring. She would comfort everyone that it would all be okay with a smile and a reassuring word but the truth was that she was terrified. As things grew darker, as it became more and more dangerous for herself and her family, what would stop Ted from taking their daughter and leaving? What would stop him from wanting to protect himself and their daughter? If he was gone in the morning Andromeda wouldn’t even blame him. It would kill her but she wouldn’t blame him. It would mean that Andromeda would have failed in protecting them, in keeping her family together. And Andromeda couldn’t have that. She wouldn’t have that.

“Andy?” The voice of her husband snapped her out of the more darker thoughts and brought her back to reality. She was still on the couch, still before the fire with Ted and Nymphadora by her side. She was still where she wanted to be, with the people that she wanted to be with. And that’s enough for me she silently reminded herself as she looked up from the scrapbook and turned to see Ted’s eyes looking up at her. A smile slowly spread onto her lips as she shuffled forward on the couch, leaving the scrapbook behind. Carefully she rested upon his chest, wrapping her arm around both her husband and daughter as she tilted her chin up toward him, stealing a quick kiss. “Go back to sleep, my love,” she murmured against his skin, turning her head to rest against his shoulder. Her eyes were drawn back to the fire, the effortless dancing of the flames. The world may have been burning outside their door but Andromeda would be damned if she allowed the metaphorical fire inside her home. “Everything’s okay.”

#Accepted App

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inkedangelhaz · 7 years ago

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Harry Styles Vanity Fair

The Vanity Fair interview is only available to read in Italian right now, so I decided to translate it so others (and myself) can read it too! I did change some of the wording to make it more understandable, because Google Translate isn’t always the best, but I didn’t change the meaning of anything that was said. You can read the original (in Italian) here !

Harry Styles: Vanity Fair Interview 2017

Harry Styles has grown, does not drink, and wants to become pescatarian. The only mystery: For whom did he write the songs? “For a woman in particular”, and he hopes she understands the dedication. All clear, Kendall?

The last thing that Harry Styles does before going to sleep every night is send an email with a list of what he needs to do the next day. “Even if it’s boring stuff, like 9 o'clock: coffee. If you don’t have a schedule sometimes you feel lost. I do find it a little hard to laze.” Perhaps it’s one of the side effects of the past six years with one of the most famous boybands of all time, One Direction, where every minute of their lives on tour was planned in detail. The world tours could last almost a year, and did not include only concerts in the stadiums: there was endless promo to be done during the day and recording in their “free time”.

One Direction: This Is Us – the documentary behind the scenes by Super Size Me director, Morgan Spurlock – had shown another member of the band, Zayn Malik, who was ripped mercilessly from his bed in the tour bus after only ten minutes of naptime to record a new song.

Instead it seems that Styles wallows in the discipline. “I adore routine,” he explains. “When you’re small it’s all programmed: waking up at a certain time, breakfast, school. And when it ends it’s hard to figure out what to do with yourself.” Maybe for him it was a way of keeping that part of youth tight. He was 16 years old when he had moved from Cheshire to London as one of many who hoped to succeed with X Factor. In 2010, Simon Cowell had chosen five teenagers who had failed to pass the solo audition to create a super group. Harry was soon to become the sexiest and most famous component of a group that in a short time had turned into the sexiest and most famous boyband in the world. According to the ranking of the richest people in the world this year, Styles has a heritage of 40 million pounds.

Today, at the age of 23, he is trying to become master of his universe. One Direction took an “indefinite break” last year and he spent the following months writing and recording his first solo album, and to play in his first film, Dunkirk, the epic war film of Christopher Nolan that will be released this summer. The album is titled ‘Harry Styles’ and was perhaps the most anticipated solo album since Robbie left Take That. The first single, Sign of the Times, a ballad of five and a half minutes, arrived at the top of the charts in 84 countries on the day of launch. And Harry Styles is number one in the United States, England, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Holland and Belgium, and second in Italy. It is the debut album of an English artist who sold more in America since Fimi/Nielsen began recording sales in 1991.

But I really figured out what made this guy when he called me out of nowhere, on a Friday afternoon, to arrange our interview.

“Hi, I’m Harry,” chirping a young voice. “Harry Chi?”, I say, thinking he’s a kid trying to sell me something from a call center. “Harry Styles. Do you have time to have lunch together next week?“ The “personal touch” is the brand of every true global superstar. Bono, Chris Martin and Taylor Swift know well what it means to bypass the bureaucracy of manager and PR to send a personal invitation. It is a gesture that sends many messages, from the most obvious – I am normal and approachable, and obviously I know how to use the phone – to the deepest: I am giving my time. After understanding that my agenda is quite empty, Harry proposes a date and one of his favorite downtown restaurants. Book him.

Three days later, I arrive at the restaurant and find that there are no reservations on behalf of Harry Styles (of course not, which megastar would book in his own name?). There is a table for someone with a similar name, but since I do not know, the waiter is reluctant to sit just me. Five minutes later, “Harry Spring” enters, and not only looks much like Harry Styles, but guarantees it for me. Harry proves adorable. Affectionate hugs and handshakes, thank you and please after every word. We sit down and after a second he stands up to help the waiter to bring water bottles.

He wears jeans, brown ankle boots, and a Hawaiian shirt, unbuttoned enough to take a look at his well-groomed chest and the endless tattoos he has on his breast and left arm. A pair of sunglasses on top of his head keeps his hair back. He has a crucifix on his neck and big silver rings on his fingers. Yes, he’s just beautiful: boyish face, expressive, gentle attitude, impeccable manners. But, without absolutely wanting to affect his reputation as a heartthrob, I am not sure that the desire to take him home is a wish. Rather, I wish he was my son. He has two phones: one is for private use (with the newborn goddaughter on the screensaver), the other is pink and he uses it to let me listen to his new album, which still had not come out when I met him. Although he is only 23 years old, he is already godfather of three children. Almost all his best friends, he explains, are older than him. “When I moved to London, I wanted to learn from people who could give me good advice.” At first his friendship with Radio 1 DJ, Nick Grimshaw, had unleashed gossip, although Styles denied being bisexual. Today, however, the assumptions about his private life revolve mainly around famous women.

He orders a Chicken Paillard and contemplates aloud the idea of becoming Pescatarian. “I did it for two weeks, as an experiment, but I think at some point I’ll try for more time.” Because? He thinks maybe “some discipline does well”. He is never critical of life with One Direction. “It is very difficult to complain, it was an incredible thing.” While he and the other members of the band are “on hiatus”, Malik is the only one who has officially left the group. Since then he has released to the press comments denigrating the band’s music and has also recorded a piece with Taylor Swift, the former girlfriend of Styles, for the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades of Gray. Have you seen him lately? Silence. “Mmm, not much.” Have the reports cooled down? “No, I’m OK. I think we are happy for each other, the fact that we are doing things that we like and we get it.”

The smile emerges again as soon as I ask about others of the band. “We all work a lot, but we go out together.” When did you last talk to Simon Cowell? “Oh, recently.” He called after hearing the anticipated Sign of the Times. “He said he loved it and he was proud of me.” He stops. “Not that the last calls were not pleasant, but this time they did not have that nuance of, ‘this is the boss calling’, and it was beautiful.” He can’t wait to make me feel the album, but first I ask him why he wanted to try to work solo. “Sometimes you write songs where you want to tell the whole story,” he says. “In short, if you write a very personal song, it is difficult to give it in the hands of a band.”

What stories did he want to tell? He makes a grimace. He spent the last seven years revealing as little as possible of himself. The press interviews with One Direction rarely lasted more than ten minutes, with other members of the band behind which to hide. The current level of personal analysis is a novelty for him. “I really wanted it to be sincere, without changing words. Recording this album gave me one of the most beautiful times of my life. But when it came out I felt vulnerable, and that had never happened.”

Let’s go to the album: blatantly inspired by the rock years ’ 60-70, psychedelic, glam and alternative country, it is light years away from the dance pieces and acute voices of One Direction. He wrote it and recorded it last summer in two months, in Jamaica. Styles says he was inspired by the singer and songwriter of the 1970s, Harry Nilsson, and the bands he listened to when he was small: his father adored Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, while his mother liked to hear Norah Jones and Shania Twain. Of course, they were not so fashionable influences, but maybe the point is just that. Despite the huge commercial success of One Direction, I honestly struggle to hum their songs, they do not remain in my head. Styles has replaced the ephemeral light pop with something more lasting, and it works. The lyrics are saturated with sex, nostalgia and broken hearts, a rare glimpse of his personal life. The last song is titled From the Dining Table and begins with: “Woke up alone in this hotel room, played with myself, where were you? Fell back to sleep, I got drunk by noon, I’ve never felt less cool.” You play with yourself? “I play with my thoughts!”, he immediately corrects.

In April he gave an interview to the magazine Rolling Stone in which he claimed that a woman in particular had a key role in the album. “Sometimes you just want to make a nod to someone, sometimes a real bow, and hope she understands it’s for her.“ The commentary was seen as evidence that the album was about Kendall Jenner, the model, television reality star, and Kim Kardashian’s half-sister with which Styles had been in a turbulent relationship with for two years. Are you interested in clarifying things? Obviously not. "It doesn’t seem to me that the record is a romantic tribute to a person. It’s more about me than anyone else. I think it’s all too easy to say, oh look, it’s about this person, that’s the most interesting thing. I never felt the need to talk about things like that.” And who can blame him? His sentimental life has always been in the spotlight. In 2012, he and Taylor Swift had been on the front page of the tabloids when they had been caught on their second date walking around Central Park. They had left a short time later, but the interest in their relationship had reignited when it was known that Swift had written at least two songs for him in her next album (Out of the Woods and Style).

Does always being in the spotlight make the natural development of relationships more difficult? “Relationships are difficult anyway. You don’t always understand just how a relationship goes, it’s not like you can say: in a week I will know. You are often told what it is before you really understand it. However, all that stuff happened when I was even younger, and you’re very confused when you’ve only had a few relationships.” Did you have to give up that sphere of private life or manage to have a little more confidentiality? “Not lately, because I made the album and a lot of things… I don’t know. No, I feel like I’ve worked a lot with the band. Too many things happened.” How many times has he been in love? “I don’t know. I don’t know how you could tell, so it’s hard to answer, right?” "One realizes, when it happens”, I fight. "Well, so they say.” He makes an embarrassed giggle and then takes the pink phone. “Um, you want to hear another song?”

He’s always been a seducer. His elder sister, Gemma (writes about technology and trends of the Millennium), recently wrote an article for the journal Another Man in which she remembered a family vacation in Cyprus. Harry was seven years old. “He was sitting on a bench near the pool, with people who were triple his age. When we returned to the airport, there was a crowd of girls of all ages who came to greet him.”

He and Gemma grew up in Cheshire. Their father was a financial advisor, now working in insurance. Styles was seven years old when his parents divorced. He is grateful that his parents have maintained a friendly relationship, even after his mother has remarried. "I’m lucky I didn’t have to take sides when they separated. I have always felt loved and encouraged by both.” He calls his mother most days. “A lot of friends say to me, ‘Your mom is really great.’ She never made me feel obliged to prove what I’m worth. Many grow up without ever showing what they feel, instead at our house there has always been much love.”

At the age of 14 he had started working in the local bakery, and he got up at 5 every Saturday. He had always thought of becoming a physiotherapist, but then “we did a workshop at school, to talk about what we wanted to do, and someone told me that there were no job opportunities in that field, so I had to choose something else. I was hurt.” Shortly thereafter he formed a group with some school mates, White Eskimo, and participated in a local band contest. “I was nervous before I got on stage, but that feeling of having all eyes on you doing something you like was exciting.”

Now we are waiting for hectic times, with a world tour of three months, alone, starting in September. The Dunkirk film will be released on August 31st. He hasn’t seen it yet, so he doesn’t know what weight he will play as an English soldier. Rumor has it that he also impersonates Mick Jagger in a biopic, but he denies it, although the look he chose for his solo album resembles the elaborate, androgynous, 70s look of Jagger. Despite having 30 million followers on Twitter and 20 million on Instagram, he is oddly cautious about social media. “Once I heard someone say: If Twitter was a party where you know that 30 percent of people are great, but you also know that the rest will hate you, you are just not going to go,” he explains.

I must admit that he is much more serious and sensitive than what I thought by watching him in the videos of the One Direction era. After three hours in his company, I can’t find any defect, he doesn’t even drink. “In the last two years of touring I discovered that I liked to go run in the morning. When I work I don’t like to drink. I do it when I go out with friends, but then maybe I don’t touch even a drop for more than a month.”

It’s time to say goodbye. I ask him what he wrote in the email that he sent last night, what he must remember to do. "I have to go and cut my hair.” Just a good guy.

(cover from Vanity Fair No. 24. Text by Kristi Murison. Translation of Gioia Guerzoni)

#Harry styles #vanity fair #Harry #styles #Harry styles vanity fair #English #translated #Harry interview #Harry styles update

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