#that’s the production where like all my stills are from so she is My Jessica | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sp4ceboo · 8 months ago

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Upon the Sands of the Arena: Feyd-Rautha x Reader

A/N: basically reader fights feyd in the arena, my apologies if there are any inaccuracies, i'm dUmB

tw: 18+, smut YAAA, fighting, swearing, i use fire metaphors too much, blood, violence and death (it's in a a gladiatorial arena ffs), creampie, one ass spank, fingering + oral (f receiveing) hella lot of sexual tension, Fighting as Foreplay, feyd sorta has a blood kink but he's just freaky like that, sort of fluffy at the end, hint of voyeurism if you squint really hard, lmk if there's anything else

wc: 4.1k

part 2

The Bene Gesserit are distracted.

If the Kwisatz Haderach was not so near, they would have disposed of you properly. Instead, they sucked you back into their dark web of deceit and occulted plans only to spit you out just as fast, leaving your fate to the blood soaked sands of Giedi Prime’s arenas. You believe that if it were not for the actions of Lady Jessica Atreides and her defiance of the order, they’d pay you more attention.

Not that you’re complaining.

You were trained to flourish in the dark, lurking in the shadows of the deepest of nights, awaiting a time to strike. However, you are not like your mentors, you do not believe in the hoping, the weaving of bloodlines for the production of a distant messiah, nor do you dirty your hands to obey an imperious Reverend Mother.

Truly, you admire Lady Jessica for doing the same as you did - defying the order and thereby splintering from it; all the same, you do not desire what she wants. For she wants power for her son and her unborn daughter, and you want nothing but to be left alone.

In a universe full of yearning for a greater purpose, you want the opposite. Often, you find yourself wishing you were something of nature: not mundane, by any means, but uncontrollable, like the desert winds that sift through the sands of Arrakis simply because. To be like them, without a master, without the endless search for purpose, is freedom.

Instead, you have been branded with the title Bene Gesserit - ex Bene Gesserit now - and you wield too much power for the order to ignore you, even alone. Hence why they incorporated your capture into their plans, engineering it so that you face the Baron’s brutal, bloodthirsty nephew in the arena.

They’re going to have to try harder than that to kill you.

You think they forget that you once were as good as the rest of them. They forget that you still possess the ability to alter the molecules in your blood to resist the drugs they pump into the arena prisoners, and they forget that you trained beside the best in combat.

The arena is where you thrive.

The roar of the crowd is deafening. It excites you, the swell of noise that is thousands of harsh Harkonnen tongues heckling for blood; the stamp of their feet as they cry their na-Baron’s name vibrates through the arena, through the grains of sand beneath your feet, deep and heady like burgundy wine.

Your fingers tighten around the blade given to you, barely sharpened and made of unsanded wood, but solid all the same. It’s all you’ll need against the na-Baron. He is but a cruel man set on fire with exterminable blue flames, and you are Bene Gesserit: defiant of the order or not, it is who and what you are, and it is pure power coursing through your veins - power that answers to you and you only.

The roar of the na-Baron soars over the crowd’s cheering, animalistic and full of fury that makes you wonder what incenses him so much. Something in his past, maybe, something that he only acknowledges in the inner machinations of his cunning mind.

The grate in front of you opens, and you allow yourself a smile as you step out into Giedi Prime’s tortorous ebony sun. High above, you spot the slit of a balcony where the Baron himself reclines, watching his nephew with a benevolent smile and a pipe in his hand, flanked by subservient concubines with bowed heads. All around, the crowd shouts, thunderous, urging their na-Baron to spill blood on the sand, to paint the arena red. It swirls around you like a washed out dream, black and white but simultaneously vivid, the stink of rotting bodies and sun bleached white sand pungent in your nostrils, the occasional pop from the fireworks overhead heavy in your ears.

Rolling your shoulders, you pace a few steps in before sitting down in the sand, cross legged, the backs of your hands against your knees with your blade flat against one of your palms. Pitiless, you watch as the na-Baron slices the throat of the first prisoner that staggers his way, throwing him an enigmatic smile when he glances towards you.

His eyes are cold; calculating. They’re dark, striking against his pale skin as they suck in the light, and hungry too, as if he strives for something he does not quite know, always reaching, always burning for more.

Intriguing.

He circles in on the next prisoner, who meets his end by the same savage knife work as the first, his guts spilled out onto the greedy sand. Insatiable, chest heaving with excitement more than fatigue, the na-Baron turns to you, his final prey - his black teeth are bared in a magnificent, maniacal grin, his footsteps silent as he approaches.

Facing him now, you understand why the Bene Gesserit believed that by crossing the Atreides’ meant-to-be daughter with the Harkonnen’s na-Baron, they would make the Kwisatz Haderach. There’s no doubt in this man’s genetics, in the solid lines of his strength sheathed bones and the sheer virility and ferocity that permeates the air around him - it’s almost elegant, the way he prowls towards you, his stride lilting and laced with power. They picked him well.

Too bad you’ll have to kill him.

If he proves to be obtuse, you’ll have no choice but to slay him in order to save yourself. If he is, however, as cunning as they say, you’ll give him a chance to live - it’d be a shame to end him, actually: something draws you to the rawness of his nature, to the frigidity of the ire in his eyes.

The na-Baron circles closer, his skin like moonlight. He watches you like a hawk, as if he’s the one who’s hunting, ready for his next meal; his eyes flash in the sun, studying you, watching for your tells even as you identify his. Smiling, you drop into a crouch, knife outstretched like a twisted mockery of a peace offering, waiting for him to take the bait and strike.

He cocks his head. ‘It’s rare that I face a woman in the arena.’

‘I’m sure it will still be of pleasure to you, Feyd-Rautha.’

‘I believe it will increase it tenfold, little witch.’

You don’t have time to figure out how he knows you’re Bene Gesserit, because he slashes at you, once down towards your ribs and once back up at your throat. His knife flashes in the sun, reflecting the bloodlust in his eyes as it arcs towards you; light on your feet, you parry both of his blows, dipping in to land your own. He’s strong, which is of less concern to you than his speed. Feyd-Rautha fights as if he’s dancing: not in the aspect that there’s flourish in his bladework - quite the opposite, he keeps his strikes efficient and tight - but in the smooth, hypnotic way that the movements of his body blend seamlessly together.

The crowd screams as he forces you into defence. It’s temporary, though, because he gets reckless, both driven and blinded by his hunger for blood - enough so that you can dart your foot out, hooking it around his ankles and overbalancing him. Sprays of sand are kicked up as he tries to steady himself, and you force him down with the tip of your blade to his pale throat.

A single, sleek drop of scarlet slides down his skin. Unhurriedly, he brings a hand up to catch it before it leaks onto his black armour, lifting it so he can see the blood your knife has shed. His gaze flicks up to you, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

‘Huh,’ he remarks, pleasantly surprised.

And then he lashes out, bringing you down into the sand beside him. With the hilt of his knife, he knocks your own out of your hand, and it’s catapulted into the air, spinning end over end and catching the light before it somersaults into the ground a few feet away. The grit plumes up at your face as you scuffle with him, and you hiss, frustrated that the sand does not lend you any more traction.

Rolling you over so fast your head spins, Feyd-Rautha drives his knife down towards your exposed neck. It makes a bolt of panic shoot through you, followed by the deep seated, survival impelled instinct to use the Voice on him, but like hell you’re doing that; honour prevents you, as well as the desire to finish this fight properly. You have no choice but to grab his forearm, slowing his blade’s descent, and a mirthful, rasping noise leaves his chest - a laugh that sets his eyes alight.

And then, the pressure dissolves, falling away. He stands, smirking down at you, the sun like a damning halo around his head. Silence falls over the arena, the anticipation thick in the air as he raises his hand, gesturing somewhere over your shoulder.

‘Go on, little witch, get your knife.’

You sneer, seeing the greed in his eyes, the misguided belief that he’s got you where he wants you. He wants to play, and it delights you.

Taking a few steps in the direction of the knife, you feign acquiescence. You can feel his eyes on your back, can sense the triumph oozing off him, and you let the adrenaline coursing through your veins guide your limbs, twisting you around so you can lunge at him, one hand wrapping around his bare forearm and bending it backwards as you spin him sharply until his back meets your chest. Viciously, you yank his arm further back, and the pain of that combined with your elbow tight around his throat, constricting his airways, is enough to loosen his grip.

A gasp ripples through the crowd as Feyd-Rautha drops his knife. It lodges in the ground beside your foot, and you flick it up with the toe of your boot, your hand darting out to snatch it from the air. The man in your arms bucks and writhes, but you keep your hold on him as you bring the knife to his neck for the second time.

‘Uh oh,’ you sing-song into his ear. ‘What’s happened here?’

He stills in your arms a little. ‘Why don’t you do it?’

‘I fear I’ve grown attached to you during our little fight,’ you hum. ‘It would be a shame to end a specimen like yourself.’

‘You are Bene Gesserit, I’m sure that you have arrangements - ’

‘I may be one, but I do not follow the order,’ you snarl. ‘I spare you because I wish to. Now, Harkonnen, knock the knife from my hand.’

You feel his muscles tense, the hesitation coursing through his body as he determines whether your bid is a trick or not, and then he does as you say, catching it smoothly and spinning to bring it to your throat. Calmly, you stare into his narrowed eyes, the cold caress of the blade harsh against your exposed skin.

‘What’s stopping me from killing you now, little witch?’

You laugh. ‘I trust I’ve piqued your interest sufficiently, na-Baron.’

‘Just Feyd is fine.’

You open your mouth to mock him, but he slices the blade away from your neck, very purposefully nicking you. Blood beads at the seam of the cut, hot and vengeful; he grips the back of your neck, exposing your throat to him, and prickles of pain shoot through you as the wound stretches. Frozen, you wait to see what he’ll do next, heart fluttering in your chest in a way that you know is not fear.

Insouciantly, he licks a long stripe up your skin, his scorching tongue following the trail of crimson his blade left behind. All consuming heat wells up in your stomach when he grins at you, displaying the hint of red coating his obsidian teeth, his eyes igniting the air between you as they dip down to survey your body, your heaving chest.

And then he releases you. You find your knees have gone weak, and you stumble as the guards close around you, grabbing you roughly under the armpits and dragging you out of the arena, your knees making twin tracks in the sand.

Managing a glance behind you, you catch sight of Feyd, his fist held triumphantly in the air as the crowd roars for their na-Baron.

Unsurprisingly, they throw you into a cell. Its walls are made of smooth, dark metal which seem to swallow up any sound that you make - it doesn’t surprise you that Vladimir Harkonnen has a Bene Gesserit proof cell - and the only thing furnishing it is a black blanket on the ground. A servant comes in and treats the shallow cut on your neck, but he refuses to meet your eyes and scurries off as fast as he can, almost forgetting to lock the door behind him.

You estimate two hours, maybe three, before Feyd appears in the doorway. His silhouette appears in the small glass window set in the door and pauses; you wonder if he’s considering leaving you there for a little longer, but then the lock disengages with a whoosh and the door slides open.

The air is immediately charged as he strides down the steps, eyes locked on you. With the smooth hiss of hydraulics, the door closes behind him, and he prowls forward, not quite smiling yet - you sense that he’s here to continue what you didn’t finish in the arena, and your back straightens a little as his gaze rakes over your body. He’s taken off his armour, leaving him in the thin black underclothes beneath, and he too has had someone treat the wound in his neck.

‘Your resistance to the drugs is remarkable, little witch. My blade was laced too.’

You raise an eyebrow. ‘I find that matter quite disappointing, actually, that you must face your opponents in the arena when they are half sedated in order to best them.’

He smiles, stepping closer to you until you share air. ‘It’s not just the winning I seek.’

‘Oh, what is it then?’ You ask. ‘Pain?’

Quick as a snake, you strike, letting the thrill of the fight shoot through you yet again as he matches you blow for blow. He looks at you as if he wants to eat you, to taste you - not just your lips or your tongue, but the defiant burn of your lifeblood too, and it makes you want to sink your teeth into him.

Slipping past his guard to catch the front of his shirt, you bunch the material in your hand and tear, baring his well muscled chest to you. The sight of it makes your lips quirk upwards, further so at the sound he makes: a half growl and a half groan as he lunges for you, wonderfully infuriated by the way you dance just out of his grasp, slipping through his fingers like water. His eyes are kindled with ardour - for both your blood and your flesh - and when they meet yours, shivers snap down your spine and tug at your stomach.

Feinting to the left, you jab at his neck. Like a scorpion waiting to strike, he grabs your wrist, tugging you towards him; you glance down at his feet, easily predicting that he’s going to sweep your legs out from under you if you let him bring you any closer. Yanking your hand back, you attempt to shake his grip on you, but he refuses to let go.

You slap him across the face.

Hard.

His fingers loosen on you as his head snaps to the side, the noise your palm makes against his chiselled cheek sharp and ringing in the cell. A soft, animalistic sound leaves the back of his throat, and when he lifts his chin, his jaw clenched to perfection, the pure lust in his eyes makes you stumble back a step.

Rushing at you, he takes advantage of the heady swoop of desire that messes with your head, slowly backing you against the wall with each punch and kick he throws. Heat roils in his gaze, so intense that when he slams you against the wall, you don’t know whether he’s going to kill you or kiss you - the not-knowing thrills you, sets your bones and soul on fire. One of his hands comes up, his fingertips caressing your throat before he pounces, mercilessly cutting off your air supply.

Leaning into your space, he brings his lips up to your ear. ‘If I’d had my way, little witch, I’d have fucked you right there on the sand, with all of them watching.’

Your head spins, and you can’t tell if it’s because of the lack of oxygen in your lungs or the feeling of his strong thigh pressing between your legs, relentless as he grinds it against your clit. You allow yourself a second to enjoy it before you retaliate, adrenaline seething in your blood.

Burying your nails into his arm, you twist it to the side, unbalancing him and taking him to the floor - his fingers grip your shirt, bringing you down with him. You land on his torso, straddling his hips, and as you do, he snaps his wrists down and rips your shirt from top to bottom down your back. The cool air of the cell sends ripples of goosebumps up your skin, and Feyd’s wide, calloused palms follow their path, surprisingly warm, deceptively gentle.

Bucking his lower body, he flips you over, pinning your hands over head, his long fingers circling your wrists as his hips press heavily into yours. Your eyes flick down to his mouth as he dips his head, his breath ghosting against your cheek; the curve of his lips is soft and almost graceful compared to the rough way he grinds against you, eager for more, yet eager to torture himself with the wait.

Tipping your jaw up, you let your lower lip brush his before you turn your head to the side, denying him. Amusingly, he follows your touch, insistent that you kiss him, but you ease out of his grip and trap him between your arms when he gives chase - a growl sounds low in his chest, one of his hands gripping your thigh, futilely yanking at your trousers as you grapple, rolling over and over on the cell’s floor.

His hand slams down beside your head, stopping your course, his forearm flat against your throat - not quite choking you, but not letting your air supply run free. Feyd’s touch sears your skin in the best way, and you wish to be consumed by the flames.

‘Must I tie you up, little witch?’

His voice is low and rasping, sending shivers up your spine. You don’t answer, instead claiming his lips, welcoming the insistent press of his tongue as you thrust your hips against his, seeking that exquisite friction. Running your hands up his strong back, you hook your elbow around the nape of his neck, locking him to you as he explores the taste of you.

Abruptly, he pulls away, and you open your mouth, protest on your lips until he tugs down your trousers and underwear, tossing them somewhere to the side, his own garments following. You get one good look at him, at his powerful, muscle lined thighs framing your hips and the curve of his leaking cock against his stomach before he swipes his fingers between your folds, sending jolts of pleasure through your core.

When he lowers his face to your heat, his tongue darting out to wet his lips, a breathless moan slips from you, loaded with anticipation. You can’t stop the louder echo that leaves you when he dips his fingers into cunt, curling them to hit your sweet spot, and your nails claw at his shoulder blades, leaving red trails behind them.

‘That’s it, little witch,’ he croons. ‘Sing for me.’

And sing you do, as he wrings the pleasure from you with his tongue and fingers until your legs tremble and close around his head. He pins your thighs to the floor, holding you open for him as he tastes you, insatiable, pushing you unrelentingly over the edge, again and again until hot tears slide down your cheeks and your voice breaks from crying his name.

Finally, he buries his length inside you. Your eyes roll back at the stretch of it, your pussy fluttering around him; you muffle the moan that rips itself from your chest by biting down on his shoulder. He chuckles as you mewl his name, your back arching as he pulls out, only sheathe himself up to the hilt when he thrusts back in - he’s as drunk on your sounds as you are on his cock: he needs more. More of you, of your delicious sounds and your intoxicating scent and that sweet, sweet cunt of yours.

Feyd fucks like he fights: ruthless, full of passion and lust, remorseless.

Just as you’re about to come around his cock, he pulls out, leaving you scrabbling against the floor, hips futile as they follow his, his name like a plea on your lips. He drinks in your desperation, flipping you over and cracking his palm down hard on your ass before slamming himself back into your weeping pussy, the ragged cry that escapes you like the nectar of the gods on his tongue as he swallows it with a kiss. Gathering your hair in his fist, he pulls your head back, pounding tirelessly into you as he pins you to his solid chest, mouthing at the skin behind your ear.

As Feyd spills his warm seed inside you, you wonder if the Bene Gesserit were actually distracted, or if that was what they wanted you to think as they crossed bloodlines, even despite your defiance of their order.

You flop onto the blanket as Feyd eases himself out of your spasming cunt. Your head is fuzzy, warm, and a dumb smile pulls at your lips.

Feyd chuckles. ‘I have not broken you, have I, little witch?’

You send him a look half as fierce as it should be. ‘Barely. You have merely sated me - for now.’

He laughs again, lying next to you on the blankets. His body is angled towards you, but he doesn’t reach out - that he lay down beside you is surprising to you in the first place, but you seize the opportunity and curl up in the curve of his body, enjoying the warmth of his skin. Slowly, his fingers card through your hair, and you close your eyes, letting yourself enjoy the moment of softness from the bloodthirsty na-Baron of House Harkonnen.

Reaching out, you grab the blanket and fold it over the two of you - he rolls over so that he lies with his head resting on your chest. His lips brush the skin between your breasts, and you're struck by the glimpse of vulnerability that Feyd allows you to witness; this is not by accident, this is a gift from him, a way of silently telling you that he has come as close to trusting you as he could ever come to trusting someone.

Silent, you bask there in the afterglow, eyes half closed. At some point, you seek Feyd’s lips, and he obliges you, lazily exploring your mouth in a way he did not get a chance to do before, sighing contentedly as you trace the lines your nails carved along the grooves of his broad back. Eventually, you pull away, staring into his eyes where the embers of the fire that had blazed in them still glow with the heat of it. You need to go.

Gently, your breath mingling with his, you kiss his cheek, your lips gliding against his skin before you get up, briefly laughing at the wobbly nature of your legs before gathering your clothes and dressing as best as you can, considering he ripped your shirt all the way down the back.

When you glance over your shoulder, he’s propped himself up on his elbows; the blanket has slipped down to reveal most of his moon coloured stomach, and he regards you with mirth mixed with something like respect.

You pause in the doorway. You can tell he’s letting you leave.

A smile plays on his lips.

‘We’ll meet again, little witch.’

It’s not a question, nor a whimsy. It’s a promise.

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minarisplaything · 1 year ago

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The Producer: Late Night Sessions ft. Kwon Eunbi

It was late at night, far past the typical clocking out hours, when you finally shut down your computer and prepared to leave the office. It wasn’t unique to be working this late into the night, particularly in this industry, but that didn’t make it any easier. Despite your best efforts to keep things manageable you always seemed to find yourself staying longer than intended. While others were out enjoying drinks and unwinding on a Friday night; you were getting ready to head home and get some much needed sleep. Not exactly ideal but with the debut product well underway, there was little time to rest. With a tired yawn you got up, gathered your things, and left the office, certain to shut-off the light as you did so.

Given the hour, the last thing you expected to hear was music playing as you descended the stairs. You stopped, poked your head in on the second floor and the music grew louder coming from the direction of the practice room. As you rounded the corner you could see the bright lights from the room still on, further verification that someone was still in there.

“Huh,” you muttered to yourself.

You knew there were more than a handful of diligent workers among the trainees but at this hour? Unable to contain your curiosity you ventured towards the practice room door. Why you felt the need to be quiet was anyone's guess. Maybe it was the sense of feeling like you were intruding on someone's personal time. Whatever the reason, you found yourself peering through the door to see who was the hardworking member this late at night.

Through the door window was none other than Kwon Eunbi; the eldest member of the trainees. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, doning a t-shirt and sweatpants as she practiced her routine in the wall-sized mirror. Her shirt was drenched with sweat, clinging to her body and her sizeable chest in particular. You remembreed Jessica telling you that the girls had recently begun practicing a new routine. It seemed Eunbi wanted to get it down perfectly even at the cost of her sleep.

Even if a part of you wanted to chastise her about being at it this late, you couldn't help but smile when thinking about her dedication. You put your plans to leave on hold and went over to the vending machine to grab a bottle of water. Leaning against the wall, you waited until she had finished her the song to make yourself known, startling the older girl when the door suddenly opened.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you," you chuckled. "I was just on my way out and I was surprised to see you here. Care for a break?" You held up the bottle of water as an offering and apology.

"Oh. Thank you, Producer," Eunbi gave a nod of appreciation, moving to sit in the corner where she had placed her things and you followed suit.

Her body was still drenched in sweat, her bangs clinging to her forehead while the rest of her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail.

"You know you’ve impressed me enough as it is, you should be catching up on your sleep,” you said as you handed her the bottle of water.

It was true most, if not all of the trainees had impressed you. Among the dancers, Eunbi certainly stood out. She also had a number of intangibles you had noticed, even if she was too modest to admit it. The other girls followed her example, they listened when she spoke. You hesitated to think about assigning a leader before everything was finalized, but those qualities certainly made Eunbi a strong contender.

She gave a light chuckle as she nodded, "Thank you for saying that. But more practice never hurts. I know some of the girls have left a…strong impression."

On it’s surface that was an innocent statement to make. But the side glance Eunbi gave you coupled with the knowledge of just exactly how some of the other girls had been making strong impressions caused your cheeks to tinge with a hint of red. Did she know about some of the things that had transpired? You had witnessed the others confide in her; had they confided that much as well?

“Even still,” you cleared your throat, averting your gaze as you did so, “I’ve seen you dance. You’re one of our best.”

"Sometimes talent isn't enough” Eunbi chuckled drylyl. This time you didn’t get the sense that she was trying to make some kind of innuendo. You glanced over at her to see that Eunbi’s gaze had grown distant and couldn’t help but wonder what was going through her mind in that moment.

"Jessica mentioned you’re one of our longest tenured trainee..." you started, approaching the topic cautiously. "I suppose you know more than most what it takes to debut."

Eunbi was quiet in response, merely nodding before she spoke, "I was at some other companies as a trainee before I came here. But time kept passing and there were never any plans for a debut. All the girls I came up with as a trainee were gone or made their own debuts. Eventually I thought that I'd have to give up my dream or go somewhere else too," she paused, "When Jessica-unnie offered me a place here I thought it was my final chance. But as time passed…"

She trailed off. Her story wasn’t wholly unique and you briefly wondered how many of your other trainees had similar storise. How many viewed this as their last chance to fulfill their dream? Suddenly, and not for the first time, you felt the weight of responsibility crushing down upon you. Before you could get too lost in your own thoughts, Eunbi spoke up again.

“But then you showed up,” she turned to look at you, “And everything’s changed.”

That felt like an understatement.

“You’re giving me too much credit.”

Eunbi shook her head, her ponytail shaking slightly. You hadn’t noticed it at first but she had shifted closer and her voice had gotten softer. You were suddenly aware of her plump lips, of the sweat still dripping down her forehead, of her large breasts pressing against your arm.

“Eunbi…”

Your breath caught in your throat, unable to move or react. Before you could speak another word, the dancer closed the distance between the two of you, pressing her lips against yours. It was hard to describe the kiss, a mix of passionate and desperate. Searing even as she leaned into you. Your brain malfunctioned only for a moment before you began to kiss her back.

Her tongue running over your bottom lip as she arched her body into yours. Without hesitation you opened your mouth, your tongues dancing together in an erotic kiss. This was different then your run-ins with some of the other girls. But rather than question it, you surrendered yourself completely to the embrace.

It seemed you weren’t the only one giving yourself over to the moment. In a flash, Eunbi had shifted from her position beside you on the floor and moved to sit herself in your lap. Her large breast pressed against your chest as her arms looped around your neck. All the while, her lips remained attacked to yours. Despite the professional side of your brain telling you this was a terrible idea; your more base instincts begged you to give in further.

Fortunately, the moment you felt Eunbi grind her hips against your lap, the decision was made for you.

You moaned against her mouth, her own lips tugging into a grin at the sound of them. Your hands reached up, somewhat predictably, and pawed at her round mounds. Even behind a shirt her globes filled your palms and then some. As much as you’d like to say you never noticed their size before, well, that’d just be a bold faced lie.

Eunbi moaned, arching her chest into your touch as she pulled finally back from the kiss, “I knew you’d go for them first.”

“Can you blame me?” you replied, guilty as charged.

You remembered overhearing a conversation once between Chaewon, Yunjin, and Jiwon; each of the three girls commenting how their bust didn’t match up to that of the older girl. Now, as her breast spilled out of your palm, you couldn’t help but agree with them. Eunbi leaned forward, stealing another kiss as you fondled her chest, her breathing growing heavy as she continued to rock back and forth on your lap.

“No, but I think you deserve more,” Eunbi said as she pulled back.

Reaching for the hem of her shirt she pulled it over her head, revealing a grey bra barely continuing her mounds. There was a moment when you merely admired the sight before you but a moment was all it lasted. A second later your hands were on her breasts again, yanking the bra cups down to expose her erect nipples to your touch.

”Did you think about this often?” she breathed out, her voice husky as her forehead pressed to yours.

Your response died on your tongue, completely lost in the act of fondling Eunbi’s tits. Admiring the way they filled each hand and the sounds she would make when your finger teased over her hard nipple. You were quite literally left speechless, so you did the only thing you could think of. You leaned forward, taking her newly exposed breast into your mouth. Eagerly your tongue swirled around hardened nipple, suckling while your hand continued to tease the unattended one.

“Ah! I take that as a yes,” Eunbi moaned, her voice breathy and a grin on her features.

Her fingers tangled in your short hair, keeping your head close as you continued your ministrations. Her hips began to rock on your lap, grinding back and forth over your growing erection. However impulsive the first kiss had been, it was clear that she had no intention of stopping what had come after. And from the way your face was buried in her tits, it was more than obvious that you weren’t either. There was a time when you had more shame. When you might head the professional warning in your head. But as more time passed, and more run-ins with the girls happened, that voice was getting quieter and quieter.

“Saerom and I had a debate whether you were an ass or tits man,” Eunbi said, chuckling, “I think I have the answer now.”

Had they discussed this? Who would get you to give in first. Which asset would be the one to make you crave? Is that why Saerom had worn those tight gym shorts today? You’d have to remember to revisit the topic of them discussing your sexual preference at a later date. For now you came off her breast with a pop, saliva trailing from your mouth, and turned to take her unattended one into your mouth. The dancer moaned, arching her chest into your mouth as her grinding hips began to move faster against you.

“Producer! Fuck!”

Anyone could walk in on the two of you. They could see the oldest trainee grinding on top of you as you suckled at her breast. They’d hear her moaning shamelessly, her head thrown back as she clutched your head. Yet that didn’t cause you to cease your actions, if anything it only encouraged you more. Visions of Saerom walking in, seeing that she had lost the bet between her and Eunbi, and deciding to join the display filled your mind and caused your cock to ache.

“Shit!”

Suddenly Eunbi cried out, her sounds of pleasure echoing in the practice room as she shuddered atop you. Her sudden orgasm rocked her body. She clutched your head close to her bosom. ,It was all you could do to keep your mouth on her breast, savoring the taste of her skin, as she rocked her hips on your lap. When she finally came down, the older girl pulled away from you with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I got a little too excited there," she sighed breathlessly. “I’ve never…from only sucking on my tits I’ve never had that happen.”

“It was my pleasure,” you replied, having finally pulled your mouth off of her.

Despite the erection in your pants, you were still in a bit of a daze. A pleasant one as opposed to feeling denied or blueballed. As much as you wanted nothing more than to free your cock and stuff it inside of the dancer in that moment, you felt like you shouldn’t push your luck any further than you had already.

“We should – we should probably clean up. It’s late,” you said.

Eunbi nodded, despite the fact she was still seated in your lap and had a lustful gaze in her eyes. Something told you this wouldn’t be the last run in the two of you shared. Not if she had anything to say about it.

A/N: so another one-shot into the future. i am working on the main chaptered series as well but these episodic one-shots are just good for the muse. also after waterbomb i just had to. hope you guys enjoyed!

#eunbi x male reader #kwon eunbi smut #izone smut #male reader #series: the producer

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madamevirgo · 8 months ago

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Could i dare request rebecca Ferguson X her younger actress girlfriend? Like she is the new Hollywood face and its always in something doing awesome roles?

And becca goes with her to the oscars to see her winning for the first time and they are so lovey dovey for each other

Promises

Pairing: Rebecca Ferguson x (f!)reader

Words: 3k

Warnings: angst, softness, cheesiness, my writing

A/N: I want you all to know that I immediately started writing this after I finished writing & posting the Lady Jessica one. At around 5am, at its 6pm now. Also, I was going to pair this one with a similar request, but then I got sooo many ideas for this. I loved loved writing this! Thank you for the request :)

I put on my best smile as I stepped in front of the live audience where Jimmy Fallon was waiting for me. I was here to promote my new film, a romcom.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, our first guest tonight Y/n L/n!” I danced my way to the small podium and kissed both of Jimmy’s cheeks, taking the time to blow some kisses to the crowd before settling down on the chair.

“Wow, what an energetic audience,” I said with a laugh as the crowd cheered.

“That’s right! The last time I interviewed you was during COVID.” He realized

“Right, I did it with sweatpants on and from the comfort of my place.” He laughed at that.

“I mean I’ll wear sweatpants next time if you do.” He said, and I extended a hand for a handshake to seal the deal. “Another thing that’s changed is you weren’t an Academy Award Nominee the last time we talked.” And I laughed as the crowd cheered.

“It’s been quite a journey, Jimmy.” I giggled, feeling heat rush to my face.

“I’ll say! Let’s take a look here.” He reached down to grab a file and I leaned over to see what else he was hiding. He swatted me away playfully and I pouted. “Right, so since the last time we met, you appeared in a Marvel production, a role you’re set to reprise. You became a series regular for a book adaptation, appeared in three music videos, starred in a RomCom, attended the Met Gala, and got nominated for 5 awards, including the best leading actress. And still found the time to see me today.” He pretended to be out of breath, making me and the crowd laugh.

“I’ll always have time for you, Jimmy,” I said with a sweet smile.

“See! That’s what I’m talking about. This sweetness that you’re known for, I can’t wait to see it in the RomCom.” the crowd applauded.

“I wouldn’t count on it. My character is quite different from me.” I said secretively. “And that’s all I’ll say about that. Go watch the movie if you want to know more.” I added as he opened his mouth to no doubt get more information.

“Okay, that's fair. But since we’re on the subject of love,” I rolled my eyes at that, knowing where he was going. “Is there a special someone in your life right now? One you’ll be seeing the movie with?” He added devilishly.

“Well, there are multiple loved ones I’ll be seeing the movie with.” This caused the crowd to boo at me and I laughed. “Look, all I know is that I’m very happy right now and not lacking love in my life,” I said with a smile.

“I guess your happiness is what matters ultimately.” He said with a sigh, making me laugh.

“Thanks, Jimmy,” I said as I squeezed his hand softly. The crowd awed

“Alright, enough cheesiness. We’re taking a quick break, and when we come back - Y/n and I will be playing a game.” He said before turning to me to continue the conversation we were having before going on air, as the crew rushed in.

———————

I let out a sigh as I was finally able to take off my heels after a long day, before dropping on the couch in my hotel room. Today was the last day of our press tour. We had just flown in from Paris last night and after an early morning, we spent the day running around New York for interviews. Some of them, I did alone - others with my costar who thankfully was a gem.

Still, it had been an exhausting few weeks, and day - and there was only one thing that I wanted right now. I reached the coffee table where I had dropped my handbag and searched for my phone. I composed a number I knew by heart and waited.

“Hello?” Instantly, my eyes lit up and a smile appeared on my face.

“Hi, honey.” I started as I got comfortable on the couch. “Can I FaceTime you?” As soon as I’d uttered the words, I received a request to switch to video. One I was more than happy to accept.

My smile immediately widened as the face of my girlfriend appeared on the screen. It wasn’t the same as having her with me, but it would have to do for now.

“There you are,” I whispered

“There you are.” She echoed back and we shared a soft smile. From the looks of it, she had just woken up from a nap on set. I recognized her trailer, and I was suddenly aware of the fact that she was in the UK, in a different timezone.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to speak these past few days,” I said softly

“This is the life we signed up for, Y/n/n.” She said with a soft smile, although her eyes lacked the glint that they usually had. Something was wrong. “I wish we could always be together, but that’s not possible.” She whispered.

This caused me to frown. “Rex? What’s this about? This is only a busy time in our lives, and frankly, we’ve overcome bigger issues.” I said. “You’re done promoting Dune: Part 2, and you’ll finish filming Silo soon. After that, we’ll have some time to ourselves before the crazy starts back again. We just have to get through award season and then things will settle.” I said convincingly.

“You’re right. It’s just - I was watching your interviews and it sucked to see you avoiding all questions regarding your love life. With the distance, it kinda feels like we’re not together anymore.” She sighs and suddenly lets out a humourless laugh. “This is so stupid, we’ve been dating for two, almost three years! I shouldn’t be so bothered by the distance. I must be getting my fucking period or something.”

“Rebecca,” I say as my voice breaks. I had no idea she felt like that and seeing her so distraught, broke my heart.

“I’m sorry, honey.” She says with that same humourless laugh that I despise. It doesn’t hold a candle to her real one. “I guess the long filming hours and going back and forth between Silo and promoting Dune has gotten to me more than I thought.” She sighs and rubs her eyes.

“Maybe I could-” I’m interrupted by a knock on her trailer door. As she goes to open it, I hear voices, before she reappears on the screen, to end the call no doubt.

“I’m sorry baby, they’re waiting for me in the writers’ room. I’ll talk to you later, ya?” I nod softly, the lump in my throat preventing me from speaking. She smiles at me before ending the call.

As I stare at the hotel’s ceiling, I make a decision.

———-

The second I step outside the airport, I’m greeted by the seemingly permanent English rain. It didn’t take me long, after my call with Rebecca had ended to get my things in order and get on a flight to the UK, where she was filming.

Thankfully, the press tour for my movie had ended, because that would have put me in a very difficult situation, what with having to cancel some appearances. My girlfriend was sad, and nothing was going to stop me from getting to her.

As I got into the cab that my assistant had arranged for me, I felt grateful that no reporters were around to hound me. It was still quite early and my disguise of a hoodie and sunglasses protected me long enough from the sight of the few of them lingering around.

I didn’t spend much time at the hotel. Just enough for a shower and a change of clothes, before I was once again back on the road towards her filming location. I was let into the premises without too much of a hassle. I had the foresight to reach out to Rex’s assistant on the flight over and she had been able to grant me access, and before long I was being led to my girlfriend’s trailer by her assistant.

“She just finished filming so she’s already in her trailer. I didn’t tell her you were coming as you asked, so she’ll be quite surprised.” She talked quietly.

It was still early morning on set, some people were either starting to wake up or getting in from filming all night.

“How has she been doing?” I had a vague idea, but I wanted to hear it from someone who was with her when I couldn’t.

“She’s been exhausting herself a lot. The press tour for Dune is over, but she’s still doing a lot with filming and being an executive director here.” She said sadly, and I nodded. “I’m glad you’re here Y/n. It’ll do her good to see you. I cleared her schedule for the day, so you could at least get some rest together. I know you’ve been busy too. I spoke to your assistant.” She said sternly and I rolled my eyes. These two.

We arrived at the trailer and my heart started beating a little faster. “Thanks, Kelly, I owe you one,” I said to the assistant as I slipped inside the trailer.

It didn’t take me long to find her around the vast camper. She was in bed, seemingly asleep. I approached her quietly and sat on the other side which had been left untouched. The side of the bed I usually slept on at home.

I rubbed her shoulder gently, to not scare her. She opened her eyes softly and looked around, slightly disoriented before settling on me. I smiled.

“Hi, my love,” I whispered. She stared at me for a few seconds, before sitting up and grabbing my face with both hands.

“Y/n/n?” She said with wide eyes. “Are you really here?” She asked, roaming over my face and caressing my cheeks as if to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“I’m here, Rex,” I replied with a smile before she latched herself to me in a hug, making me laugh.

“How? Why?” She asked in the crook of my neck.

“You sounded so sad on FaceTime, I had to make sure you were okay. Plus, I missed you - so I grabbed the first flight here.” I explained as I tightened my hug and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

“Let’s get some sleep, and then we can talk about what you’re feeling. Okay?” I felt her nod and rearranged our positions so we were lying down. She immediately spooned me.

For the first time in months, we slept together peacefully.

—-------------------------

When I woke up, I felt much more at peace. I slowly opened my eyes with a smile, one which widened when I met the eyes of my girlfriend.

“You’re staring,” I whispered, my smile not leaving my face.

She put a hand on my cheek and caressed softly, before leaning down to put her lips on mine. Once we separated, she put her forehead on mine.

“How are you feeling?” I mumbled, not wanting to break the trance we were in.

“How are you feeling? She mumbled back, and I smiled.

“Better now that I’m here.” she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Sap,” she said before taking a break. “Last night, I- It was a lot wasn’t it.” she finished.

“No, you expressing how you feel will never be a lot or too much,” I added hurriedly. “It just kinda felt like you were on the verge of ending things,” I said quietly, I felt my heart beating widely as I held my breath.

“Ending things? Y/n. Y/n/n, look at me.” she said as she grabbed my face in both hands forcing me to look at her. “I. Love. You. and it’s because I love you that I am finding our current situation so hard. Not being able to be with you or have you with me in front of everybody to celebrate our achievements. Or how we have to act single or like we’re just friends. I hate reading about the people they’re linking you to romantically. I just want to scream ‘She’s mine. Back off.’ And it’s kinda killing me.” she said as she leaned against the headboard.

“I am yours,” I said as I grabbed her hands, willing myself not to cry.

“I know baby. Just like I know you understand and feel the same way,” she said as I looked down. We stayed quiet for a moment, thinking of our predicament and what was being stolen from us.

“The Oscars,” I suddenly said with renewed hope, as she looked at me in confusion. “I know we’re both technically going with our own cast - but would you go with me as my date,” I asked before quickly adding. “Unless - maybe our agents are right and we sh-” she interrupted me as I felt the doubt take over.

“They’re not. And we should have never let them silence our love,” she said. “Of course, I’ll go with you. We’ll pose on the red carpet, I’ll kiss you in front of the camera lights and when you win - no one will cheer louder than me,” she said with a wide smile. I was quick to tackle her to the bed, kissing her all over her face.

Her laughter made my heart sing.

—-------------

This was not how I wanted the day to go. I was supposed to wake up bright and early, have some breakfast from her favourite cafe in the city delivered to her hotel room at the same time that she would receive the huge bouquet I had ordered weeks in advance. Then, as we both got ready in our own hotel, we’d be texting like teenagers going on a first date, right until the red carpet. There, I’d see her and rush to her without a care in the world. I would tell her how beautiful she looks and we’d pose for pictures and kiss. Interviewers would have questions about our relationship, and we’d laugh our way through them. Rebecca, answering with her usual charm and wit, and me with heart eyes solely focused on her.

Instead, my flight from Toronto had been delayed and I was rushing to get ready. I wouldn’t make it to the red carpet on time, with this traffic, only being able to slide in as the awards started.

I had spoken to Rex when I landed and obviously, she hadn’t been happy.

“Hi, honey! Where are you, it’s kinda loud,” she said joyfully. I could hear the rushing around as her glam team worked.

“I’m at the airport,” I said and closed my eyes, as there was silence on the other end.

“I’m guessing you’re not going to make it to the red carpet?” she asked, and my lack of answer confirmed the statement. “Of course, it would’ve been too easy. It was stupid to hope th-” She cut herself off and let out a sigh.

“Rex, don’t say that. This is nothing, we still hav-” she interrupted me as I tried to fix things desperately.

“I have to go. I’ll see you there.” and with that, she ended the call.

She hadn’t answered any of my calls or replied to my texts since then. I wanted to believe that they had taken her phone away so they could focus on getting ready, but my anxiety was telling me something else.

The car rolled up to the venue and I was quickly rushed inside and to my seat as the host was in the middle of his opening monologue.

“And here comes Y/n L/n, everyone. She’s nominated for best leading actress tonight, ladies and gentlemen.” the audience clapped and I tried to calm my heart as my face appeared on the big screens. But the host wasn’t quite done with me, yet. “Doesn’t she look beautiful? Straight from a fairytale. Although, if I recall correctly, Cinderella rushed out of the ball, not to it.” he said as the audience laughed and I felt myself wanting to die.

Thankfully he moved on, and the ceremony started. I was almost breaking my neck trying to find Rebecca, and when I did, I tried to catch her eyes - to convey how sorry I was. But she never glanced my way. I was so lost in thought that I would have missed my category coming up if it wasn’t for my costar grabbing my hand in support.

I held my breath as the nominees were listed. And when I heard my name being called, I felt myself freeze, before being lifted in a hug and passed around from one costar to another. I willed myself to put one foot in front of another as I approached the podium under the congratulations and applause.

I was almost to the stage when I glanced left and saw Rebecca’s face with a wide smile, clapping widely. That’s one promise that had been kept today.

She looked beautiful, and it was as if I were in a trance as I approached her. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of her. She looked at me with a soft smile and with anticipation in her eyes, and that was all the invitation I needed to kiss her in front of all of Hollywood. That was another promise kept.

And later on, when I posed for pictures with my Oscar and I danced at the after party, she was right there with me, as we kept our promises to each other.

—-------------

“Hi, I’m Y/n L/n and I’ll be reading your tweets,” I said with a smile as I reached into the fish bowl for the first one.

“Okay, this one is from @lesbianstan2000: Do you think Rebecca Ferguson uses The Voice on Y/n L/n?” I read before letting out a laugh. “She doesn’t need to. I’ll happily do whatever she asks.” I say as I wink into the camera.

#madamevirgowrites #dune #dune part two #lady jessica #lady jessica x reader #rebecca ferguson #rebecca ferguson x reader

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taraljc · 7 months ago

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So in the out of order haphazard rewatch, last night included Vendettas because we had just watched Lex crash his motorcycle in Awakenings and then I had to explain Vinnie (and Brenden and Margot and the jogger) and then I got to recount that one time at the first Earth 2 convention in New Mexico when during his panel someone asked Clancy Brown if he was doing more episodes of Gargoyles and he was all 'yeah no that's all finished now' and from the back of the room I was like 'Actually the episodes you did by voice patch from Albuquerque during production last year where you played Hakon, Wolf, and Brod the Eastern European gangster haven't aired yet but they are airing in the next 2 weeks,' and he was like 'thanks' and then there was this pause and he was like 'how do you know that?' and his e2 costar Jessica Steen was like 'That's Tara. She knows everything' and it's not like I do it on purpose. It just kind of happens.

(at dinner the night before, when I was being 300% nerdy fan girl Jessica was like 'You've seen more of my work than members of my immediate family' and I was like ... sorry? But she was weirdly cool with it and then we went on a trek to find a VCR at midnight so we could all watch the gag reel. That is also the dinner where I was sat next to Kirk Trutner who played one of the non-speaking extras in every episode and made a friend for life.)

ETA: holy shirtballs there are still pics online. only extant photo of tiny baby me as Joey's minder during autographs. Also apparently at one point someone sold one of the T-shirts that I designed on the internet. and in the picture with Kirk in the blue shirt I'm 98% certain I am the hand holding the glass of water next to Jeff.

#gargoyles #earth 2 #new pacificon 1996 #clancy brown

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imsogayyippee · 3 months ago

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18 and 40

hi i am SO sorry ive been ignoring this ask for like a month and a half. i wasnt feeling like answering asks idk why😭

Song 18: Again by Crusher-P (sorry if this is a cover and not the person who actually made it, I've seen other versions and idk if this is the original but this is the one I listen to lol)

this is more of an alex song than a timlex one but anyways!!!!!!!!!!

"I haven't been myself lately/I don't blame you for not wanting to stay/Saying things that I don't mean, not meaning what I say" "What am I supposed to say/When I end up driving everyone away?"

pre mh alex slowly growing more like,,, aggresive or whatever because of the operator

"Cause I am on fire/A crying, burning liar/Seeing nothing/Nothing/But myself/And I'm the one with the lighter!"

self explanatory. I do feel like this kind of works as a way to show their parallels though

"God, what happened to my heart?/I'm about to fall apart/Again, again"

Alex thinking he's unfixable/incurable from what he's done. Maybe this would be post-MH and the fall apart thing is like falling apart even when he tried to better himself.

"And you're never coming back/And I'm not okay with that/And I should've never let myself get attached/Again"

I wasn't really gonna include this but since this is supposed to be about Timlex. I will. Tim and Alex separating, each going their own ways, after Alex dropped the production of MH and maybe Alex eventually thinking back on that?

"What's done is done/And nothing's gonna change/I should be moving on/But I still feel the same"

Alex forcing himself to not think about the people he's killed/what he's done.

"And it's like everyday is a fight for my life/To get some self-control/And when you've forgotten who I am/It just feels, it just feels/Like I'm nobody at all"

Again, post-MH Alex being encouraged to try and better himself (by Tim), but after what's happened, he's never gonna go back to what he was before MH. Even if Tim probably wouldn't expect this, knowing that after what they've both gone through, they probably couldn't "go back to how they were before", Alex would still think that's what Tim thought would happen.

"I found myself hitting the ground/I held my breath incase I drown"

Kind of a stretch, but it's like implied(? that the operation sickness symptoms mimic drowning, such as the coughing and stuff. I mostly got this from night mind's videos lol

"I should've known when to let go/And when to see who I was being"

Alex maybe thinking back(? to how he should've tried to get help when he noticed himself growing more paranoid, aggressive, etc because of the operator.

Song 40: Dead Girls by Penelope Scott

This song to me is more "Tim after MH" than anything else but yeah. It's more in here specifically for timlex because of like one line so. oopsies :3

"Sometimes I see her on the sidewalk/Biking on the wet chalk/Spelling out their names/And I feel insane/Cause I know it's just a game that I'm playing with my brain/I don't see her, but I see her/And I know it isn't real"

Tim after MH hallucinating/having nightmares about Jay/Brian/Alex.

"But I fake it anyways/Pull a smile and wave/Nod and look away/Wait for it to fade/But it happens all the time/People say it's fine/My roommate says they're killing us/But we're killing ourselves"

Him ignoring the hallucination/nightmare or maybe playing along with it(? to at least pretend that they're still alive. I know they don't really interact much in post-MH, but the roommate thing could refer to Jessica? Since it's kinda like. excluding her from "people say it's fine", which would make more sense since she actually went through MH too lol

"I'm surrounded by/Dead girls on the road/Dead girls on my phone/Dead girls, where do they go?/All of the fucking/Dead girls, all around/Dead girls in my town/Dead girls, I don't know/Dead girls, where do they go?"

"On the road" could refer to Jessica, still alive but a reminder of MH. "On my phone" well. marble hronets channel. "Where do they go?" could refer to the ark? lol

"And it'd be wrong to say I miss them/I didn't really know him/I just had a couple friends who say they knew him well/He'd seemed like something special/Really, don't they all?/I guess before you're gone, it can be kinda hard to tell"

THIS IS THE TIMLEX LINE!!!!!!!!! Tim might start feeling like he misses Alex even if (in this song's case) they didn't date before MH nor did they really know each other. He'd probably start thinking about how Alex was literally just some guy and then he had to go through something similar as Tim, but he just 'couldn't handle it well'.

"And if all you ever see are dead girls/If all you hear is terrible news/Maybe it's not all about them, the dead girls/Maybe it's more about you/The living need attention too"

In a way, this could be seen as how Alex said that Tim was the source: "if everyone around you gets operator sickness, why do you think it is?"

YEAH if you wanna add anything. go ahead!!!

#marble hornets #tim wright #alex kralie #timlex #asks

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sequinsmile-x · 1 year ago

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I love your family fics... A happy marriage, happy kids, unlike what I had. You make my days better and I spend couple of hours before going to sleep reading all your fics. Thank you so much

Hi bestie!

I haven't stopped thinking about this message since I saw it last night. I genuinely feel honoured to help in anyway, and knowing you find comfort in my fics means more than I can put into words.

I've always said that I write because it helps me. It helps get thoughts out of my head, it stops me from thinking when I really don't want to, it helps me channel my creativity in a way that feels productive. And the fact it helps other people in whatever way? That's incredible to me.

Anyway, I thought I'd write you something that is for you. A fic where they are happy and have kids and have the family we all deserve. I hope you can come back to this as often as you need to, and know it was written with you in mind.

So this is for you, and anyone else who might need it!

-x-

Daylight

March 7th. The date that had once been carved on her gravestone and one she didn’t want to be written on her little girl’s birth certificate.

-x-

Words: 3.6k

Warnings: Pregnancy, labour/birth

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

From the moment she found out her due date, she was determined that it wasn’t going to be her child's birthday. She’d gone as far as doing her own research, comforted by the fact there was only a 5% chance she’d have her little girl on the predicted date. She was further assured by the memory of her son’s birth. Oliver was almost two weeks late and she’d been induced. Aaron always joked that if he could, their 2-year-old son would climb back up inside of her, always keen to be wherever his mother was.

It mostly calms her nerves down, and lets her reassure herself for months that her daughter wouldn’t be exactly on time, that the day would pass as it did every year with little fanfare.

March 7th. The date that had once been carved on her gravestone and one she didn’t want to be written on her little girl’s birth certificate.

It felt wrong. The thought of something so happy, so full of joy as they completed their family, being on the same date as the day she died. The day her life changed forever five years ago, altered in a way she once thought she’d never get past. She didn’t want to associate her daughter, her sweet face still not something Emily could quite picture yet, with the worst day of her life. When her found family’s opinion of her was permanently shifted, when she died to save them, sent to another continent by the man she was now lucky enough to call her husband and the father of her children.

It wasn’t going to happen, not if she could help it.

Which was why she was absolutely not in labour.

She’d felt the first twinges in the middle of the night. The discomfort had torn her from sleep, her hand flying to her belly before she was even fully awake. She’d told herself they were Braxton Hicks contractions, something she’d been experiencing on and off for a couple of weeks. The pains had continued but were few and far between, and by the time Aaron woke up in the morning she’d half convinced herself it was nothing and just what came with being very pregnant.

Denial, she would later realise, was a very powerful thing.

She gets through most of the day ignoring that the pains are getting closer and the fact that Aaron keeps asking if she’s okay, clearly accepting the fact she was in labour much faster than she was. She shrugs him off, insisting she’s fine as she grips the arm of the couch whilst her stomach tenses and pain rolls over her like a wave. She gets through it, wanting nothing more than to simply make it to the end of the day, to get past midnight so her baby would be born on any other day.

Jessica comes round to pick up the boys after dinner, something that they’d agreed she’d start to do every evening in the lead-up to the baby being born so she wouldn’t have to come over in the middle of the night if Emily went into labour. Emily hugs Jack and Oliver a little tighter than she usually does as she says goodnight to them, aware, even underneath all her stubborn refusal, that the next time she sees them Oliver will no longer be her baby, and Jack will be an older brother again.

She’s standing in the kitchen making herself a snack when she’s stopped by another wave of pain, the spoon of peanut butter she’d had in her hand clattering to the countertop. She groans as she leans forward, her elbows on the kitchen counter as she breathes out slowly. She shifts her hips side to side, attempting to ease some of the pressure in her back.

“Sweetheart, I really think we should go to the hospital” Aaron says, reaching out to rub firm circles on her back, something that they’d figured out had provided her relief during her labour with Oliver, “The contractions are getting closer-”

“They aren’t contractions,” she insists as she cuts him off, her denial starting to sound weak even to herself, “It’s just some back pain,” she looks up at him. She attempts to smile, blowing out a breath as the wave of pain comes to an end, the tension in her body finally lifting, “I have done this before you know,” she says, trying to lighten the mood, to convince him that everything was fine. That she wasn’t having this baby today, “I know what I’m doing.”

Aaron watches her carefully and sighs as he shifts his hands to her hips and gently turns her to look at him. He sighs as he tucks some of her hair behind her ear, his knuckles brushing against her cheek. He knew what was wrong, what was making his usually logical wife act so out of character, what was making her deny the obvious. He knew the significance her due date held the moment the doctor had told them, the day engraved into his memory just as it once had been on a gravestone that bore her name. He’d been preparing for this eventuality since that appointment, aware that whilst it was unlikely she’d give birth on her due date it wasn’t impossible.

She’d been defying the odds since the day he’d met her, so why would now be any different?

“I know what day it is, Em,” he says carefully, his heart twisting in his chest as she tenses. He cups her jaw and rubs his thumb back and forth over her cheek, “I understand what you’re trying to do, but you are in labour and we need to get the two of you to the hospital, okay?”

She clenches her teeth, misplaced irritation aimed at him flooding through her in an instant. Sometimes she hated how well he knew her, how he could read her like a book. It had been jarring when they first got together before she allowed herself to settle into the comfort of the way he loved her. She’d mistaken the way he liked to care for her as control, the small but loving actions he did to make her day easier, difficult to get used to. Cups of coffee before she’d ask for them, snacks placed in front of her before she even knew she was hungry. His embrace always willing and waiting to hug her, to provide comfort she still wasn’t very good at asking for. She shakes off the irritation, a physical movement of her head that ends with her leaning into his palm, his thumb wiping away the tear that the movement dislodges from her lashline.

“Today can’t be her birthday,” she says, her voice raw, torn open by emotions she’d stuffed in her chest for months, the words sharp and bitter as they finally escape from where she’d held them captive. She places her hand on her stomach, her arm curling around her bump as she tries to protect her unborn daughter, “It just can’t be, Aaron. I never want to associate…”

She drifts off, her voice catching as she tries and fails to suppress a sob. He tugs her forward, looping his arms around her as best as he can with their daughter trapped between them. He shushes her, his lips against her forehead as he rubs his hand up and down her back.

“Sweetheart, today might end up being her birthday,” he says softly, shushing her again when she holds on tighter, her fingers digging into his skin so tightly he can feel her blunt nails through his shirt, “But that means it’s the start of something new, right?” He asks, pulling back to look at her, his heart clenching at the look on her face, the unshed tears in her eyes, “It means that today wouldn’t just be sad, it would be good too. A new beginning for us.”

She sniffs, blowing out a steady breath as she wipes her face, irritated at herself as more tears fall onto her cheeks, “I just hate that he’s in this,” she says, hiccuping through a sob as she speaks, “He tried to kill me, he almost did, and the anniversary of that might end up being the day she's born.”

“Ian is not in this,” he says firmly but calmly, cupping her cheek to make her look up at him, her gaze having drifted to the floor at the mention of Ian’s name. She furrows her brow and scoffs and he smiles softly at her, storing away yet another moment in their lives when she managed to look intimidating even when crying, “He isn’t. It’s just you, me, the boys and our little girl.” He places his hand on her stomach, linking his fingers through hers, “We’re about to meet her, and that’s in spite of him, not because of him.”

She blows out a breath as she nods, leaning forward and pressing her head into his shoulder, “You’re right.”

He smiles and kisses the side of her head, “Really? I don’t think you’ve ever said that before.”

She hums and pulls away, wiping her cheeks again, “Yeah,” she says, stamping a kiss on his lips, “Plus, my water just broke all over your shoes.”

He pulls back and he looks between his now wet shoes and floor, the damp patch on her sweats, and the smirk on her face. He leans forward and kisses her, a fierce but quick thing against her lips, before he pulls back.

“I’ll get you some fresh sweats and grab myself some different shoes, then we’ll go to the hospital,” he says, squeezing her hand before he lifts it to kiss her knuckles, “Let’s go have a baby.”

She nods, her smile only fading when he’s out of the room again, her hand on her stomach as she starts to feel the beginning of another contraction, rolling through her body as it’s chased by anxiety she can’t shift.

“Yeah,” she says, blowing out a steady breath, “Let’s go have a baby.”

___

She grunts as she leans back against Aaron, whining as her body is barely given a chance to rest, her next contraction already building.

“Fuck,” she exclaims, squeezing Aaron’s hands tightly, “This sucks. This is so much worse than I remember,” she huffs out a breath, “Why didn’t I remember how much this sucks?”

“It’s nature’s way of tricking us into having more than one child,” her doctor says from the end of the bed, looking up at Emily from between her legs, her hand comfortingly on her knee, “Just another couple of pushes and your daughter will be here, Emily.”

Emily whimpers, a sound she would later deny entirely, and rests her head on her husband’s shoulder to look up at him. He’d climbed into the bed behind her hours ago, taking the same position he had when she gave birth to Oliver, her support both physically and emotionally as she brought their child into the world. She looks at their joint hands and sees the time on his watch.

11.35 pm

“Maybe she can wait 25 minutes,” she says, looking at her doctor, “It’s just another 25 minutes.”

The doctor exchanges a quick look with Aaron. He’d pulled her aside when they arrived, giving her a very abridged version of what was happening, why his wife was so hesitant to give birth today. He knows Emily wouldn’t thank him for it if she knew, but he wanted to keep her and their little girl safe, even if it meant enduring her wrath at a later date.

“Emily,” the doctor says, her smile so kind it makes Emily ache, “give me your hand.”

She nods, unclasping one of her hands from Aarons and reaching out to her doctor, letting her guide her until her fingers touch the top of her baby’s head, tears springing to her eyes as she chokes out a sob.

“She’s got so much hair,” she breathes out, her voice shaking almost as much as she was.

“And she’s almost here,” the doctor says, “We don’t have 25 minutes.”

Emily nods and leans back against Aaron, reaching for his hand again, her body starting to take over, pushing despite the fact she really doesn’t want to. She falls back against her husband again as she takes a moment to breathe in between pushes, aware that with every passing second, she gets closer to having her little girl in her arms.

“It’s all your fault you know,” she says, squeezing his hands tightly, “She gets it from you.”

He chuckles softly, his lips against the side of her head, “She gets what from me, sweetheart?”

She groans as the next contraction starts, “Being punctual.”

Her words turn into a scream as she pushes for a final time, her body sagging into Aaron’s as the piercing cry of a baby fills the room. Emily breathes out and it catches in her chest as her daughter is held up for her to see and she reaches her shaking hands to hold her.

“Congratulations,” the doctor says, her words, and everything other than Aaron and the baby in her arms, fading away as Emily looks at her daughter's face for the first time.

“Hi sweet girl,” she says, tears spilling down her cheeks as she holds the still-screaming baby against her chest, “Look at you,” she looks up at Aaron and isn’t surprised to see he’s crying too, “Look at her.”

“She’s beautiful,” he says, kissing his wife, “I love you so much,” he murmurs against her lips before he looks at the baby, now slightly calmer as she settles against Emily, “Hi princess,” he says, his eyes taking in every feature of her face, committing it to memory because he knew how much of a thief time was, how quickly she’d change right in front of him, “You look just like Mommy.”

Emily chuckles, “Sorry about the nose, baby,” she says, rubbing her hand up and down her daughter’s back, shifting to press her lips against her forehead. She looks up at her husband, “What time is it?”

Aaron looks at his watch and then back at his wife, blowing out a slow breath before he answers, “It’s 11.50, sweetheart.”

She chokes out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob, shaking her head as she looks back down at her daughter.

“That’s okay,” she says, her voice still shaking, overwhelmed with hormones and emotions she can’t find the name for. Suddenly everything she’d spent months worrying about didn’t seem to matter. She doesn’t feel sad, or disappointed, two things that seem impossible as she looks at her newborn’s face, but instead she feels happy, overwhelming joy she never thought she’d get to feel at this time five years ago, “That’s more than okay,” she strokes a finger up and down her daughter’s cheek, “Happy birthday, sweet girl.”

___

Emily smiles as she rests her head on Aaron’s shoulder, looking down at the baby girl in his arms. They were snuggled together in her hospital bed, both of them exhausted but happy as they stared at the latest addition to their family.

“Jess said she’s on the way,” Aaron says softly, looking at his wife. She was beautiful in her exhaustion, ethereal almost with her hair in the braids he’d done for her after she’d showered, “Apparently the boys are very excited to meet their sister.”

She hums as she reaches out to touch the baby’s head, stroking over the thick dark hair that was impossibly soft, “We need to think of a name,” she says as she continues to stroke her hair, “None of the ones we thought of seem right.”

They’d gone back and forth for months, arguing over girl's names ever since they’d found out they were having a daughter. Nothing seemed like it fit their little girl, especially now they were looking at her. The baby starts to fuss and Aaron immediately hands her to Emily, smiling at the sight of his girls together.

“I have a suggestion,” he says as Emily settles the baby into her arms, her smile soft as she looks up at him.

“Yeah? What is it?” She asks rocking the baby as she calms down, content to be in her mother’s arms.

“Alba,” he replies, reaching out and adjusting the blanket around the baby, “It means dawn, or sunrise,” his smile turns shy as she stares at him, her expression unreadable to him for once, “Since she’s our family’s new beginning.”

She chuckles, the sound wet as it catches in her lungs, and she shakes her head at him, “How long have you had that in your back pocket?”

He shrugs, “Since we found out your due date,” he says, watching as she looks back down at the baby, nerves making his heart seize, “If you don’t like it-”

“I love it,” she says, cutting him off as she looks at him, her smile wide, “It suits her. Alba Hotchner.”

“Alba it is,” he replies, leaning forward to press a kiss to her lips, his hand cupping the back of their daughter’s head, “Hi Alba.”

There’s a knock at the door just before it opens and Jessica’s head pops around it, “Is there a tiny baby in here?” She asks, her smile soft, “I have two very excited little boys out here.”

Aaron stands up, “Come on in.”

As the door opens fully he grabs Oliver, hauling the toddler onto his hip as he makes a beeline for his mother.

“Remember what we said, Ollie,” he says, walking over, his other arm around Jack’s shoulder as his eldest is more controlled in his excitement.

“Gentle with Mama and baby sissy,” Oliver says, his thumb in his mouth as he looks at Emily, his smile wide as he rests his head on Aaron’s shoulder, “Hi Mama.”

“Hi sweet boy,” she says, making sure Alba is tucked safely in the crook of one of her arms whilst she wraps the other around Oliver once Aaron eases him onto the bed, “I missed you.”

Oliver snuggles up into her side, a little rougher than she can take, and she hides a wince, never wanting to scare him, “Missed Mama.”

Emily smiles at Jack who was standing next to the bed peering into the bundle in her arms. He beams at her, the same excitement in his eyes that he had when he first met Oliver a couple of years ago. There were moments when she wondered if Jack missed when life was just him Aaron, when it was quiet and he didn’t have a little brother, and now sister, splitting his parent's attention and following his every move, but then there were moments like this. When she saw the love in his eyes, the joy she’d been a part of, her role in helping Aaron fulfil his final promise to Haley something she held dear.

“Jack, Ollie,” she says, looking between her sons, purposely ignoring the clicks of both Jess and Aaron’s camera phones as she speaks, “This is Alba.”

“She’s so pretty,” Jack says as he looks at his sister and then back at Emily, “She looks like you, Mom.”

Emily unwraps her arm from around Oliver and cups Jack’s cheek, pulling him in his kiss his forehead. She still wasn’t entirely used to him calling her Mom, and part of her hoped she never would be. That it would always make her feel as overjoyed as she had the first time, that random Tuesday morning when she’d shifted from Emily to Mom with little fanfare from the little boy.

“Thanks, sweetie,” she says, “Do you want to hold her?”

Jack opens his mouth to say yes, but is cut off by his younger brother, his voice a little too loud in the otherwise peaceful room.

“I want sissy,” he insists, his eyebrows furrowing in a way that never failed to make him look exactly like Aaron.

“You can both hold her,” Aaron says, stepping forward to pick up Oliver and placing him in the large chair next to the bed, “Jack, you sit next to your bother.”

Jack nods enthusiastically and does as he’s told, “I remember what to do,” he says, wrapping one of his arms around his brother, “We have to be gentle, and make sure her head is supported.”

Emily hands over Alba to Aaron, ignoring her instinct to snatch her back even though she wasn’t leaving her line of sight.

“That’s right Jack,” Aaron says, handing Alba to Jack, making sure that she was safely in the laps of her brothers. He stays close, his hand under Jack’s elbow to provide additional support. He turns to look at his wife as he sees a flash go off, and he raises his eyebrow at her when he sees her phone in her hands pointing at them all.

“What?” She asks, raising her eyebrow in challenge, “You can take pictures and I can’t?”

He winks at her before he turns his attention back to his children, softly talking to the boys as they ask questions about Alba. Jessica walks over too, leaning over the back of the chair to look at her niece. Their conversation fades out as Emily looks at the picture of her husband and children on her phone. She immediately sets it as her wallpaper, wanting it as a reminder of what she has now, what she had been able to create for herself despite everything.

Her new beginning and happy ending wrapped up all in one, the soft epilogue she knew she truly deserved.

-x-

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hows-my-handwriting · 1 year ago

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Into the Rift (spiderverse!pacific rim au)

so going into more detail because the actual drawings are coming along really slowly xD (i love drawing robots but coming up with original robot design hard)

The story would be essentially the same as the movies where a mysterious rift opens up in the bottom of the Pacific ocean releasing giant monsters. To combat them, the world governments join together for the good of humanity and create the Jaegers. Those are giant robots piloted by two people through a process called a 'drift'.

The only thing that changes is the characters and the story developed from that idea.

this post has been sitting in my drafts for like a month now oml

(loooooong wordvomit under the cut)

So the jaeger program is basically a stand in for the spider society and all the spiderfolk are pilots or staff. Everyone is also aged up 2 or 3 years to cover international military requirements and such.

and for the sake of the story having a 'pilot shortage' in which only the lucky few being able to actually pilot a jaeger, drifting is much harder and rarer. this leads to the program accepting younger applicants than they normally would. (eg. miles, pav, peni etc)

(character list in order of rank or.. something)

Miguel (34-35) is the stand in for the marshal. I'm not totally sure if he *is* the marshal or not? because he could absolutely just be the pilot manager or the mission overseer. but for now we shall stick with marshal. He primarily serves as the head of the department and representative for the pilot body. He also doubles as a pilot of a gen 1 jaeger (Blue Revenge*) with Peter B Parker, previously Jessica Drew.

Jessica (34-35) is Miguel's ex copilot. She served for two years and during a faux time of inactivity from the rift, she and her husband decided to try for a child. She was called back during the next attack but in the post-fight medical checks, she was ordered to go on maternity leave. She did, for a couple months, but very quickly felt frustrated that she wasn't helping. She moved back into the military base and instead took up a leadership position in combat training. I think her rank would be lieutenant but I don't know enough about the military to make that official.

Peter B Parker (42-43) is a retired pilot. He served as a pilot up until the gen 3 jaegers went into production and was sent home when he got a major back injury. During his time off he started a family in his old New York home and began to forget about the jaegers and the war. He chose to live in ignorant bliss until it all came back when he was summoned back. He brought his entire family, despite the many warnings, and has rather enjoyed his grand return. Currently copilots with Miguel in the Revenge*. Previously piloted the Crimson Core*.

Ben Reilly (24-25) is a jet pilot. Previously a jaeger pilot of the Scarlet Gutter that was decommissioned after it suffered extreme damage in a fight he took solo with a class 2 kaiju. His twin brother was his copilot and died early on in the fight. He currently pilots a fighter jet as backup. The impact of that fight still haunt him and everyone knows to leave him be.

LEGO Spiderman (24-25) and Peter Parkedcar (25-26) are two unrelated pilots that are drift compatible. LEGO Spiderman (Lee Godwin aka LE-GO for short) has a chronic condition with locking joints and Peter Parkedcar is a selective mute. They pilot the Titanium Wall that is essentially just an immovable object to the kaiju's unstoppable force. Yes this is a meme lineup. Laugh.

Peter Porker (31-32) is the head of research. He's john mulaney in all aspects except for occupation. He is more of the morale backbone of the entire operation and spends more time out of the lab making sure to bring a smile to everyone's faces. He wears a cute pig beanie when out and about. He always has candy on him and is famous in the kitchen for hot dogs. No one knows where he gets the hot dogs from, since those are rarely stocked. There's a rumor going around that it's kaiju meat, not beef. Absolutely fascinated kaiju and a biology fanatic.

Margo Kess (20-21) is the head of technology. She's the surveillance guy who takes orders directly from Miguel and is in charge of relaying commands and judging actions on the battlefield. She's a young college graduate- more accurately a child prodigy- and took the first opportunity she had to put her skills to the test. She's very friendly and will always get to know the pilots personally. Drift compatible but has avoided training to not have people learn about her strained home life.

Peni Parker (17-19) is the daughter of the head of engineering. She is just under the required age to actually assume the position but has the most knowledge on jaeger design of anyone else in the program aside from her father. Her father was killed when one of the outposts was destroyed in a kaiju attack. Parentless, the organization arranged for her to stay at the main base, waiting for her 21st birthday so she can acquire an actual rank. Had a personalized jaeger her father had been slowly building, fit for one person, that she's slowly been working on to one day pilot in combat.

Peter Benjamin Parker (Benji or Ben for short) (22-23) was hired as the strategy lead after his impressive work as a police/military investigator. Had a lot of experience with international crime networks and hand picked by Peter B. He was enthusiastically handed over to the Jaeger program after he got just a bit too close to some apocalypse-profiting corruption. No one really knows why, but he's taken more of a liking to pilot training and has shied away from Miguel's leadership team and more towards Jessica and the recruits. He has a good eye for cadets with amazing potential and even applied to be a pilot himself, stepping away almost entirely from any kind of leadership role. Pilots Silver Noir with Hobie(**).

Hobie Brown (20-22) is a pilot. He was recruited early on as one of Britain's undesirables and turned out drift compatible. He was assigned a jaeger that was built and sponsored by the British Government named the Union Jack. Disgusted, he refused to respond to that name and instead calls his jaeger the Stark Screamer. The name has been adopted by command and no one has bothered to correct it. His pilot quit for unknown reasons after only a year on the field and the Screamer was retired until they can find another pilot to partner with him. Has been paired with Benji for the time being.

Gwen Stacy (18-19) is the youngest pilot to date but more than capable of jaeger combat. She was brought in by Jess, despite her father's refusal, and skipped all cadet training except for the essentials and given a jaeger assignment almost immediately. She was picked out when her father, a military rep instead of a cop, was visiting one of the bases that Jess happened to be in. She showed incredible potential in [insert event that im not 100% sure about yet] and was incredibly interested. Originally paired with Hobie because of their similarity in hobby and age. They were drift compatible but she didn't like the Screamer's kit or fighting style and requested a new assignment. She's still best bros with Hobie though. She marks the beginning of the youth recruitment.

Pavitr Prabhakar (17-18) is a cadet in training. He volunteered along with a large number of Indian civilians to chase the fame and glory that surrounded the now-martyred jaegers. Of the hundreds, he and a handful of his peers were selected and he was sent to his specific branch to complete training. He is drift compatible with almost anyone. Having no sense of fear or darkness in his past or his present, he's an incredible asset- if not a little naive. He and Hobie became best friends as soon as they met and has been promised to pilot the Screamer when he completes his training.

Miles Gonzalo Morales (17-18) is a new cadet starting training. He was supposed to be one in a pair but his twin was stuck in Spain with a travel complication. Miles could wait a couple months though and eagerly started training. He was selected because he had an identical twin- which are usually assumed to be drift compatible- but ended up being paired and drift compatible with Gwen. Despite him not having clearance, Gwen and many others think he shows enough potential to pilot a jaeger within the first month of his stay. He is currently assigned to a new jaeger in production: a gen 4 titan named the Clawed Viper***

Mateo Davis Morales (17-18) is a future cadet. He and his twin were split up before highschool for [insert reason i haven't figured out yet here] and he moved to Spain to finish his highschool education and eventually enlist in the jaeger program. However, due to transportation delays and possibly finances, when he and his twin were drafted, Mateo was stuck in Spain until nearly three months later. Just in time for . . . well, the drama (tm).

*Blue Revenge is not final. i don't know if i like it or not but the other option was the blue panther, for the shits and giggles. pretty sure i want to keep the blue but idk. Crimson Core is also a placeholder, but it does sound cooler

**Silver Noir is not final. I want to work in Noir somewhere and make a matte black jaeger but not a lot of words go with 'Noir'

***Clawed Viper is not final. Viper is final, but again, not a lot of words go with 'Viper'

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lo-diehards · 1 month ago

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2024-25 Premiere Review: Can the Law & Order Franchise Deliver?

I’m going to jump right in and be up front with this, Law & Order: Organized Crime really showed up and showed out on NBC with it’s truncated season due to the strikes that occurred a season prior. The ratings however disagreed, which prompted NBC and Wolf Entertainment to strike a deal to move the newest L&O procedural fully to the streaming service, Peacock. It is where first-run new episodes of OC will air, likely as an entire season drop as the show is currently in production on it’s 5th season. Likely 2025.

Meanwhile where does that leave the broadcast network L&O shows? Still remaining where they are on the network. SVU is approaching yet another record-breaking season – the 26th season – and the mothership reboot is now going into it’s 4th season, 24 seasons in total of the flagship formula. So where do these 2 shows stand? Right now, teeter tottering is one way to describe it. Click below for my breakdown. Potential spoilers below.

Here’s the breakdown:

Law & Order

Last season, the original reboot saw quite a bit of change for an entire season basically. 13 episodes. Jeffrey Donovan (Det. Frank Cosgrove) and the series parted ways before the season even began production. Donovan was replaced by Veep co-star, Reid Scott (Det. Vincent Riley). Long time star, Sam Waterston (DA Jack McCoy) chose to depart after doing over 400 episodes total of the series, not including his appearances on other spinoffs. Tony Goldwyn (DA Nicholas Baxter) replaced Waterston. After production on the end of the season, it was announced Camryn Manheim (Lt. Kate Dixon) departed the series, to pursue other projects. Manheim is replaced by Maura Tierney as Lt. Jessica Brady. All this change is just the cast.

Meanwhile Rick Eid basically has departed the FBI franchise on CBS to put his sole focus on Law & Order. Last season’s opening was very weak with a politically charged episode that did not do the series and the characters justice at all. Over the course of last season, there were some uptick in the quality of the storytelling, something the show has struggled in since it’s reintroduction back in 2022.

“Catch and Kill”

POTENTIAL SPOILERS: (Written by: Rick Eid & Art Alamo. Directed by: Eriq La Salle) A ripped-from-the-headlines premiere that eerily resembles Sean “Diddy” Combs’ hotel assault on Cassie Ventura. Diddy is in current events for a whole lot more now than just assault. The victim in the case a Brooklyn prosecutor who is murdered, through the course of the investigation it’s discovered that she was a victim of domestic violence. This case a very personal one for ADA Sam Maroun (Odelya Halevi) due to her sister being a domestic violence victim, who was murdered and the guy who did it was not brought to justice, something that clearly drives Maroun as a prosecutor.

Odelya Halevi stole the show, hands down. Her performance was out of this world, it’s not strong emotion we’ve seen from a main character since season 20. The case clearly was affecting her character Maroun, to the point DA Baxter told ADA Price (Hugh Dancy) that Maroun needed to ‘control her emotions’. This line rubbed me the wrong way, because when men get overly emotional, there isn’t a call-out for them to tamp down on their feelings or to dismiss them for bigger picture optics. However Price’s explanation to Baxter on why Maroun was emotional kind of renders a response to his statement, Baxter’s demeanor clearly changed when Price disclosed it about her murdered sister not getting justice.

One thing that irked me, and no, it’s not Brady (Tierney) coming in strong, most new characters come into these shows this way. Why is it so hard to write characters out who will not appear on screen? Understandably Brady may or may not have known what happened to Dixon, but to shut down any concerns from the detectives about her? It’s struck me as unprofessional of someone in her role as a leader. But then the text messages Riley got from Dixon don’t exactly help. She just up and quits the force to go to Miami with her son? She didn’t transfer to Miami PD? And it seems uncharacteristic to me of Dixon to pull “an Irish goodbye” and not have a heartfelt goodbye to Riley and Shaw. I mean I get it if Camryn didn’t/couldn’t appear on screen but they could have wrote it in a way that suggested Shaw and Riley got to say goodbye to her. Just seemed kind of cold to me.

All in all, “Catch and Kill” is a much better improvement over last season’s opening episode. A solid story from the headlines, even if it’s literally still unfolding. The story didn’t inject political undertones other than the occasional liberal jab or conservative stereotype. They focused on the crime, I could have used some more focus on the legal aspect of it all, the back-and-forth between the prosecution and the defense with the law. However Odelya Halevi’s performance definitely more than compensates for the lack of that, she really brought this episode home and you can’t help but feel bad for her (and her sister) while also wanting “rich bastards” who break the law, to get what’s coming to them. Great to see Nolan Price supporting her too, I’m still struggling with trying to get who he is as a prosecutor because sometimes he just seems to be a straight-laced lawyer with no tick, no “rizz” (charisma) as the kids say these days. However I liked seeing him consoling his partner and keeping her from throwing away her career. Hope the writers don’t throw away this storyline, we definitely need to see where this takes Maroun through the course of this season, and maybe even her career.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Last season, SVU didn’t see much officially in the way of cast changes, but Lord knows that the majority of 25th landmark season was a dud. To be fully transparent in my opinion, I feel creatively SVU seems to have stalled since David Graziano has taken the helm. The revolving door on the main and recurring casts don’t help it either. Kelli Giddish’s firing back in season 24 has put the series in a vulnerable position. Other than Mariska Hargitay and Ice T (Olivia Benson and Odafin Tutuola), you don’t really have enough veteran support to sustain the police portions of the show anymore. Why is Captain Benson [still] doing hands-on with these investigations on a regular basis? Peter Scanavino’s ADA Carisi is very underutilized and legal/court scenes seem to be repetitive. We haven’t really seen the legal side in play in a substantial way since season 21 in my view. Kind of like the original reboot, SVU falls short on a lot of the legal back-and-forth these days. It’s never been the driving force of the series, which remains Hargitay’s Benson, however the legal side helps weave the episodes together. Besides, it is LAW & ORDER: SVU. Velasco (Octavio Pisano) is written as a filler character. This character’s development stopped in season 23 to me. In season 24 the 2-3 storylines that centered Velsaco all fell short, one especially due to Molly Burnett (Det. Grace Muncy) departing the show.

This season: Kevin Kane (Det. Terry Bruno) and Juliana Aidén Martinez (Det. Kate Silva) join the cast. Kelli Giddish is set to recur this season, Rollins rejoining in NYPD’s Intelligence Unit.

“Fractured”

POTENTIAL SPOILERS: (Written by: David Graziano & Julie Martin. Directed by: Norberto Barba). The case was a pretty cut-and-dry case a young woman is killed after having a threesome. She was basically killed out of jealousy by a fourth friend. This episode wasn’t horrible, it basically was a by-the-numbers scripted episode as far as the case is concerned. Truthfully I lost interest about mid-way into the episode. I wish the writers would have put some focus on the substance of why “people/students hate the police right now” because that was the repeated message within the episode but it wasn’t extrapolated enough throughout… where is the why? We have a lot of current events that play into that, I wish they would have deep dived more into this portion, it might have made the overall story more captivating. I would have loved to see some “Fin insight” or even some Carisi insight regarding the state of how both law enforcement and even the criminal justice system itself are perceived these days. Lost opportunity here.

However speaking of Carisi, Peter Scanavino truly brought the premiere home and deserves the callout and his roses. Defendants cracking under pressure and blurting out and confessing on the stand is nothing new to the Law & Order world, it sometimes even happens in the real world. But Carisi/Peter was truly captivating to watch, it had a familiar feeling of ADAs either Cabot or Barba (Stephanie March, Raul Esparza) pushing to get the defendants to slip-up and tell the sordid truth. “You’re not my professor! You’re not my father!” Carisi responds in that matter-of-fact tone “No, I’m not,” that honestly left no further argument. The SVU writers – like the mothership writers – need to put some focus and energy into the legal side of the series. That’s where Benson also is losing a partnership with, and her relationship with Carisi [should be] just as close as hers with Cabot or Barba. We don’t see much of Benson and the ADA going up against the legality, it’s basically “deal with whoever ‘Carisi’s boss’ is and then go to trial.” Where are the legal arguments, precedence with case law, back and forth with the defense in motions or pre-trial hearings, the trial prep itself?

And speaking of Carisi’s bosses… another lost opportunity went by the last 2 seasons as we never saw Carisi interact with District Attorney Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), I hope with Tony Goldwyn (Nick Baxter) on board mothership, we can get him to crossover with SVU. Behind the scenes and in interviews both Tony and Mariska have expressed wanting each other to appear and/or direct episodes on each other’s shows – Mariska actually appears on mothership this upcoming Thursday, Oct. 10 w/ Elizabeth Marvel as Defense Attoreny Rita Calhoun – we shall see what this season can/will hopefully deliver on that front. Fans definitely want it.

In closing: both of the season premieres gave great performances from our cast members who are portraying our assistant district attorneys; especially Odelya Halevi and Peter Scanavino. “Catch and Kill” had that original mothership run feel to it, something I hope the writers will continue to strive for. According to show runner/EP Rick Eid, he is going to put some focus on character driven storylines this season, let’s see where it takes us. So far so good. SVU was very solid, I was expecting more character driven from them for the premiere, maybe here’s to them exploring more as the season goes on, especially as it concerns the newest additions to the cast. I want SVU to focus on the stories, not on the record-breaking. Sometimes it feels like episodes are scripted just to “put one more in the can.” That’s all fine and dandy, but make it count, and make it matter. After 25 seasons, the audience (many of whom are victims/survivors of sexual assault) still deserve that.

#Law & Order #Law & Order: Special Victims Unit #Law & Order: SVU #SVU #Mariska Hargitay #Tony Goldwyn #NBC #Dick Wolf #Hugh Dancy #Odelya Halevi #Peter Scanavino #ICE T #Peacock #SVU26

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yourkimjaejin · 1 year ago

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Blame It On My Youth

"Hannah-ssi, you missed the timing again."

"Ah! Sorry, again." Hannah sighs, the disappointment written all over her face.

Hannah was recording for WayV's much anticipated 2nd full album. After literal years of waiting it was finally time for the group's comeback. The members had been in and out of the practice rooms and recording booths for weeks now. Perfecting every move and note to get the best product for their fans. Recording the title track, On My Youth was the last thing left to do and the dancer kept messing up. This was her third time in the booth this week.

It had been tough recording and shooting everything for the album all while getting ready for AG's first tour but she'd pushed through every hurdle. Singing all her parts for the b-sides was easy. Like everything was finally coming together. But now she was stuck on her lines for the second verse of On My Youth.

The producer started the music over.

It's okay Hannah. You got it! This is the one. The dancer hyped herself ready to nail this take.

. . .

"Hannah-ssi...."

"You don't have to say it......I already know."

Within the last thirty minutes, Hannah tried and re-tried ten times. TEN. DIFFERENT. TIMES!!! She either came in late or started early

"Why don't you take a break while we reset." Hannah didn't even respond to the producer. She just let her body hit the wall behind her then slid down until her butt hit the floor. She buried her face in her hand. The sounds of frustrated screams were muffled.

You have to nail this.....Everyone's waiting for you so they can finish the song. You're incredibly unprofessional. It's four line in English how is it this hard! Her thoughts kept spiraling. Water began to pool in the corner of her eyes.

"Hannah-ssi? Wanna try again?"

"Cou...could I step out? I'll be right back." Her voice cracked in the middle, betraying her.

"Of course, take as much time as you need." Hannah was out the door and down the hall in seconds. not even noticing two of her members walking by.

"Was that Hannah-jiejie?" Yangyang and Ten watched her run down the hall turning toward the elevators.

"Definetly. Follow her, let me know where she goes. I'm gonna see what happened." Yangyang nodded taking off in Hannah's direction while Ten made his to the recording booth.

He knocked before coming in, smiling when the managers and producers greeted him. "Hello. I hope I'm not interuppting."

Jessica, one of WayV's eldest managers, waved him off, "We were just waiting for Hannah. Did you happen to see her? Is she okay" Jessica asked.

"I came here to ask you. Yangyang and I saw her running down the hall."

One of the producers turned around, "That because she's been having problems with On My Youth. She's probably feels bad cause her part is last thing we need to finish the song." Ten nodded, seeing what the problem is before anyone else explains. His phone beeps with an incoming message for Yangyang

We found Jiejie. She's in our practice room.

"I'll have her back within in thirty minutes. I promise." Ten bowed and rushed out of the room. The WayV group chat was blowing up with messages from the members. Everyone dropping what they were doing to get to Hannah's side.

Ten raced down the hall once the elevator doors opened. The door to the practice room was cracked. As if a closed door would keep him away from his precious dongsaeng. He made sure to close the door behind him and took a seat on the floor across from Winwin near Hannah's feet. There wasn't any tears or sniffling sounds. The older took that as win.

"Hannah?" Kun started grabbing the hand not covering her face, hiding the tear tracks. "If you feel up to it....wanna tell us...whats going on?"

Hannah just sighed, already feeling ridiculous for getting worked up over this. Her thoughts already spiraling at the thinking of what had gone on the past three days.

The dancer bit her lip but still removed the hand from her face. Gently, Xiaojun used a wet tissue to freshen up her face. She nodded, quietly thanking her same aged friend. He wrapped an arm around her waist, his way of accepting her thanks.

Hannah took a deep breath before starting, "I keep messing up. I've missed the timing for my verse for three days straight and I'm this close to letting SM use an ai to finish the song so we can move on." It felt like some of the weight was lifted off her shoulder but some stuck around.

After some time Winwin asked, "Okay. Its normal to have a problem recording. Everyone does but we get through it. And you'll get through this as well." The older's words brought her tears back to the surface. Hannah shook her head, disagreeing.

"I have to nail this. It's been too long. We've been waiting too long. I can't be the reason this comeback is held back. After everything that happened with him," A chill settled in the room. His mention bringing back a year of hurt the seven of them were still getting over. "We don't deserve anymore waiting. Not from me."

A silence fell over them. Nobody really wanting to admit that Hannah.....was right. More than a year of waiting and they were finally coming back. Stronger than they were before. Even more ready to represent the NCT name internationally.

But despite they're readiness, it was still daunting. To comeback after all this time. Had fans forgotten about them. None of them felt like dealing with answering the question of if they were NCT or not again. Phantom was them dipping their toe in to see if the water was warm.

On My Youth was them diving headfirst into the deep end with no floaties. Just waiting to see if they'll sink or float.

"We're not waiting. Not anymore." Kun spoke confidently, determination in his eyes. "It is finally our time. We can't waste it. We have to attack everything we're given. We fought for this." The leader used his pointer finger to draw a circle in the middle of the seven member. "We not giving up now. And no matter how many times any of us mess up a recording or goof off in practice," That gets some laughs from the members, "Nobodies getting left behind.

With every word Kun spoke, the lump in Hannah throat grew smaller and smaller. Maybe what she was really worried about was losing the six boys around her. They had been through so much and this album felt like their last chance. Hannah wanted to make it count. She wanted to give her all.

She wasn't losing WayV without a fight.

Hannah stood up and walked to the door without a single glance at her members.

"Jie-jie! Where are you going."

"The recording booth." She answered with a smile. "I have a song to finish so that we can have an album to promote."

I think it goes without saying Hannah nailed her verse in one shot.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I really wasn't expecting to love On My Youth so much but that album is flawless. It's somehow different but it still feels like WayV!! Also congrats to the boys on becoming million sellers!!

anyways have a great day and enjoy the post ~ Author Izzy

Taglist: @alixnsuperstxr / @1-800-call-ria / @sophrodite / @sunflower-0180

#NCT AG #NCT AG.Writing #NCT AG.Hannah #nct female addition #nct female member #kpop addition #kpop!au #kpop!oc #kpop!addition #nct female oc #kpop female member

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nessa007 · 1 year ago

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ppl who said Ryan was "too old" are about to be proved wrong by that box office $$$$$ he's about to rake in. he's hilarious and perfect for this role. and also gorgeous??? A TRUE BEAUTY KEN. "I saw a ken face down in the mud and texted Greta a pic with I must tell this man's tale" xD also there's never a person (until RECENTLY) saying the female actors aren't cast old enough (I'm not taking about Margo). The viral moment a little while ago was when Emmy Rossum was cast as Tom Holland's mom (and it's only because it's Tom hype it was noticed, I love him but still this has been happening since cinema has existed) she's only ten years older than him. That just happened in a Jessica Chastain movie like two years ago and no one said anything. My neices were watching a utube soap and I kid you not the "mom" was the SAME AGE. It's every movie; every show. I'm so happy Halle was cast as Ariel - appropriate age!!! I understand productions cast older teens/young adults rather than kids because then they can cut corners with union rights/demands like kids needing more breaks and parents on sets and like... basic human decency. also shows like R!verdale have teens sleeping together every weeek and sexy shots yada yada that actual teens WOULD NOT be permitted to do in filming (thank god they have intimacy coordinators now FINALLY). I forget who pointed it out, but you never see a news woman with grey hair. On a man it's distinguished on a woman it's ugly or she's a crone. I'll watch movies where they cast a 30 something woman and make her 50 by graying her hair. Like wtf? Anytime I'm watching a high school scene with a friend I say "none of those people are high schoolers". I'm an actor who's repeatedly told I AM LUCKY MY FACE LOOKS YOUNGER THAN I AM. This is going to last me about what 3 years? 2? I was just basically let go from a gig because FB feedback on photos were I looked "too old" for a character and it was because our boss was casting TEENAGERS illegally so yeah, of course I'm going to look about 80 years old (at 31) next to a 13 year old. She said "we're going to cast you as older roles" yeah we NEVER get requests for those. I wonder why. Okay, sorry for the rant... These reasons are why I'm so happy for Ryan. Prove the haters wrong and hopefully more light is shed on this too old/too young/ageism issue as a whole. Perfect moments and the movie hasn't even come out: THE JUST KEN SONG I DIDN'T KNOW WOULD HAPPEN JUST DROPPED?!

He thought of the KEN underwear!!

he's not afraid to poke fun at himself, wear pink a whole movie and funny outfits and dye his hair - so many "action movie" macho men actors would NEVER. this is the same guy from Blade Runner, Drive, The Gray Man (lol for their shoutout to his Ken)

the tassel shaking, "I'll need clicky pen", the changing scenery and outfits montage, rock paper scissors, crossing his fingers when he asks barbie if he can come over xD EVERY MOMENT IS PERFECT.

yeah, sadly ageism is always gonna be a thing with hollywood and especially for women.

i don’t care how old ryan is, he is PERFECT in this role and that’s just judging from the few clips and trailers released. i love seeing all the early reviews saying this will be the role he is remembered for and he steals every scene he’s in 👏👏👏 i’m so excited to see the movie, especially for ryan !!!

#*replies #long post

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sregan · 8 months ago

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Thoughts on Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two" (2024)

Following on from my recent viewing of the first part when it returned to cinemas, I've now been able to apply myself to view the second part also. Once again, in lieu of a proper essay I have merely recorded my impressions in roughly chronological order.

As a reminder I previously wrote about how I might adapt Dune, years before Villeneuve's latest effort, as well as creating some concept art (I am working on my take on Shaddam Corrino IV). I did not re-read the book ahead of my most recent viewing and therefore some of my critique might be inadvertently comparing it to my own ideas on adaptation rather than the source material.

I was amazed and a little aghast that after all the talk of not doing introspection and critiquing the 1984 version's clunky opening narration by Princess Irulan, Villeneuve's Part Two opens with ... a clunky opening narration by Irulan. Perhaps there was a desire to have the 'other woman' do the narration as the first film opened with Chani as our viewpoint character; here we start with the view from the Imperium, introducing the Emperor.

Irulan implies the Emperor loved Leto like a son and is torn up about ordering his death. Was this in the books? When she says 'And the Emperor says' - we are on the edge of our seats, waiting for Walken's dialogue - 'nothing'. I am unsure if this was a clever trick or not. Shaddam here is portrayed as an older man, perhaps infirm, manipulated by those around him and particularly women. This is part of the sexual politics Villeneuve presents to us specifically in Part Two which stood out to me as either peculiarly heterodox for a mainstream modern Hollywood production, or perhaps was intended to be progressive but poorly assembled and unable to overcome Herbert's own (but noticeably different) views - some might say hang-ups - on the sexes.

My sense is very little time has passed on Arrakis since the end of the first film, despite Irulan's narration creating the impression it is old news. The column is still carrying Jamis's body and on its way to the sietch.

This sits oddly with Stilgar's blithe dismissal that the Harkonnen are there for the two Atreides. Are you sure? In-universe that was no more than 72 hours ago (the first night in the desert and the second in Kynes' weather station, with the sun coming up during the Jamis fight). He doesn't know the Baron ordered Rabban to commit genocide against the Fremen, so the logical conclusion is they are still looking for Paul and Jessica.

The opening fight scene seemed interesting, even if I wasn't sure why Paul and Jessica were where they were or why they didn't seem to be armed. Villeneuve seems to have forgotten that at the very least Paul has his crysknife and the gun he used to threaten Stilgar just hours earlier in-universe. I didn't mind the pregnant Jessica clubbing the Harkonnen over the head to protect her son, even though I feel like if this film had been earmarked differently by the usual suspects on YouTube and Twitter it would have been viewed as ridiculous and 'woke' given criticism of the same in games like Wolfenstein II.

As a note: The Harkonnen in the opening scene are now using Sardaukar antigrav tech; I feel this works poorly because we've been conditioned from the first film to associate this with the Emperor's forces, even though they weren't involved. I wondered if they had just randomly changed up the Sardaukar uniforms (which they have, but more on that later).

Sietch Tabr felt interesting but not quite as I imagined; did I miss something or were we really not properly introduced to the terraforming effort? We see some bird nests and the precious underground water and Stilgar says when Lisan al-Gaib comes he will use the water to transform Arrakis, but we seem to have dropped any mention of the idea they were already working towards it. And indeed, Kynes won't appear in this film at all - my preference to kick off a two-parter would have been Kynes wandering in the desert, dying of dehydration while having his revelation about how the sandworm life-cycle works, re-introducing us to the setting and the worms.

I feel the need to mention Villeneuve's racial politics here, which, like his sexual politics, seem awkward in ways commentators don't seem to have entirely picked up on.

When the sietch receives Paul and Jessica with hostility, there is a noticeable shift in who the camera lingers on, to the extent that the Fremen seem abruptly almost entirely black or very dark-skinned, with the lighter Stilgar and Chani the only ones speaking up for the outsiders. I hope I shouldn't need to explain this; if it's calculated, it is calculated to induce a kind of gut-reaction fear in white audiences. I noticed this in the first film where Jamis was cast as black and presented as noticeably wilder and crazier than the other Fremen. One might be tempted to suggest this is establishing ethnic groups within the Fremen - after all, later we learn that Stilgar comes from the south, so perhaps the north is darker-skinned (which would sync with some of the black city-dwellers we see in Arrakeen). It would even make sense as the south is said to be covered with dust storms and thus not exposed to direct sun. Except, as soon as the sietch turns and becomes more welcoming, the camera begins favouring the lighter-skinned north Africa and Middle Eastern Fremen actors.

This leads quite neatly into the Fremen culture and language. David Peterson, the linguist who worked on Game of Thrones, was tapped to create languages for Dune based on the phrases in the book, and others have picked up on the strange decision to avoid using actual Arabic words wherever possible - explained in inverviews as Peterson feeling that thousands of years into the future languages would have evolved so far that any similarities are mere coincidence. This means that words that are too important to the franchise to change, such as 'Lisan al-Gaib' (which they use a *lot*, seemingly to avoid relying on real-world messianic titles like Mahdi), stay as-is but others are radically changed. "Ya Hya Chouhada", a real-world battlecry meaning 'long live the martyrs', is changed in Part Two to a fictional phrase (I didn't remember it and seemingly others I haven't either) in the Peterson conlang. This is disappointing and actually not true to life given how Latin survived for thousands of years as a holy language.

UPDATE: The new phrase based on Peterson's conlang is something like 'A t'la abisi a santar!'. I can vaguely see something like 'life' in 'santar', but it's from a Latinate root. 'Toward the fighters, life'? Maybe 'At'la savaşçı uzun ', incorporating the Turkish word for 'fighter' and '?

It also means that Villeneuve's Dune is oddly sanitised and stripped of the book's Islamic and Central Asian cultural touchpoints. Very little mention is made of God; characters pray but I think at one point Paul says that they prey to their dead relatives (?). 'Jihad' and any mention of the book's main religions (Zensunni and Orange Catholicism) are excised.

All this begs the question - where is the line between inclusion and Orientalism? Where is the line between diversity and caricature? Or between cultural sensitivity and the kind of flattening that insists on Western neoliberal values everywhere at all times, even in our fiction? In 1984, the Fremen were mostly cast as white (likely due to actor availability) - not necessarily an incorrect reading of the book, given Herbert's inspiration 'The Sabres of Paradise' was not about Arab but Caucasian mountain tribes. Change them to a mix of interchangeable 'non-white' actors and have them led by Timothee Chalamet and the accusations of 'white savior complex' gain weight. Selectively show darker extras when you want the audience to be afraid and lighter when you want them to feel sympathetic and, to be honest, you probably deserve a few thinkpieces which I haven't seen in the press.

Stilgar threatens Jessica that he'll have her killed unless she agrees to become the new Reverend Mother. I felt this went back on his development in the first film, or even a couple of scenes ago where he fought their corner against the unsympathetic female elder. Jessica's flippant, almost Marvel-esque dialogue in the next scene where she references this annoyed me. Villeneuve has Jessica's experience with the water of life happen early in the movie and long before Paul's. This is somewhat true to the book and better than the 1984 version where Paul only takes the Water when his prophetic dreams randomly stop working, but my favoured method of compressing this for film has Jessica take the Water, fall into a coma, and Paul rescue her by taking the Water himself, entering into the same vision. This is when Jessica begins to suspect they are not merely using prophecies created by the Bene Gesserit, but Paul may in fact be the Kwisatz Haderach.

In Villeneuve's version, Chani is initially skeptical of the prophecy, saying only the southerners are superstitious (an invented distinction not found in the book). This is set up fairly competently as a romantic conflict; Paul wins Chani when he only wants to be one of the Fremen, but doing so means giving up on his revenge - however, the way it's resolved is frankly offensive and one of the things that I found most disrespectful about Villeneuve's Dune as an adaptation.

The first we see of wormriding in this film (Stilgar on a small worm) didn't entirely impress me; I feel it should have been much farther off to give a greater sense of the scale of the worms. However, Paul's own wormriding trial eliminated my doubts; again, no-one is doing cinematic scale like Villeneuve right now, where the audience is absorbed completely in *witnessing* a monumental event, without the need for quick cuts or snappy quips.

The 'naming' scene was also great and felt plausible as Paul being welcomed as one of the Fedaykin (interestingly Peterson didn't rename that one, despite being almost identical to 'Fedayeen').

The Harkonnen 'evil spice harvesters' bothered me - the harvesters we saw in the first film *WERE* Harkonnen harvesters! The Atreides literally just assumed control of the operation days earlier. The ornithopter mini-guns were pretty great but also felt un-Duney. The use of lasguns also felt good even if perhaps not book-accurate.

I actually really liked Rabban's failed reprisals, with the Harkonenn getting lost in the dust of their own carpet bombings and and the big guy losing his nerve when he sees Muad'dib's shadow. Bautista is surprisingly (?) one of the stand-out performances in the two movies.

We get some much-needed off-world politics, with Irulan talking to the Reverend Mother and deducing (I feel this wasn't in the book) that Muad'dib is Paul Atreides. There's clearly an effort made to present Irulan as a more hard-nosed politician in the making, with Shaddam even saying she will be a 'formidable Empress'. Mohiam introduces us to the idea of Feyd-Rautha being an alternative 'candidate' to Paul (did they actually say 'to be the Kwisatz Haderach'?? I don't think they did).

My feelings on Giedi Prime being an insane hellplanet are a matter of public record; it goes against a central theme of Dune, which is that a harsh environment breeds both discipline in the sense of espirit de corps and discipline in moral life. Whether you agree or disagree with the 'Fremen Mirage', this is Herbert's central idea. In the book, Giedi Prime is a neo-feudal world, with a cheerfully painted blue keep where 'fearful perfection' under military jackboot is the order of the day, but just off the main street you can see dilapidation and decay. It's a Potemkin village, feeding into the idea that Baron Harkonnen and his house are fundamentally about falsity and fakeness. He wears suspensors to convey the idea he is more physically able than he is. Feyd fights in a gladiatorial arena, but the combatants are drugged to make him look more competent. When a combatant isn't drugged, it's a plot to win over the crowd and he's not really in danger. Everywhere gets a fresh coat of paint and smiles at gunpoint when visitors arrive, but under the surface they don't genuinely care for the people.

In Villeneuve's Dune, Giedi Prime is an infrared nightmare under a 'black sun' (yes, the pasty skinhead Harkonnen live under a black sun, a seemingly deliberate allusion to fascist occultism trivia that made me raise an eyebrow). No diversity among the Harkonnen; it's just an anonymous tide of bobbing bald white heads. Again, I was unsure how to read this obvious Villeneuve innovation (in the original books the Harkonnen are mentioned as having dark hair). For what it's worth, Lynch did something very similar when he decided the Harkonnen were universally ginger. I also feel we've seen this archetype quite recently in 'Mad Max' with the white-painted radiation-sick Warboys.

This decision to make the Harkonnen interchangeable mooks does somewhat detract from Austin Butler's Feyd Rautha, who is just another chalky bald guy among many. Butler tries his best to infuse the role with random acts of violence against his own minions that put the 1984 version's heartplugs to shame. Couple it with Rabban's temper tantrum smashing the overseer against his monitor and you have to ask - why does anyone follow these psychopaths? At some point the bad guys end up killing more of their own than the enemy and it makes them feel incompetent and stupid.

In this version, the undrugged slave was a 'birthday present' from the Baron, who wanted to see who Feyd really was under pressure. In the book, Feyd contrives the assassination attempt with Thufir Hawat to increase his own standing with the people. There's no poison on Feyd's blades (he even licks one) but I think (the moment was super-fast) the Bene Gesserit watching mention that he uses an implanted word to stagger the slave momentarily. Odd to see that in this version the Harkonnen seem to worship their leaders ('the holy birthday of our beloved na-Baron'?).

It's an interesting reversal as in the book, Feyd tries to poison the Baron by having one of his sex slaves implanted with a needle (foreshadowing his own use of a similar hidden device in the final fight).

Margot Fenring appears here unaccompanied as a Bene Gesserit femme fatale, and her seduction of Feyd Rautha and their subsequent discussion of his levers was well done.

Around this time Villeneuve starts deciding that the Bene Gesserit are psychic, which is jarring and I don't believe foreshadowed (Jessica communicates using sign-language with her son but not in glances). I almost wondered if this scene - and the later one where the Bene Gesserit have an impromptu psychic discussion - were rewritten after filming.

Returning to Arrakis after the harsh black and white Giedi Prime seemed like a breath of fresh air and I think that was the intent. Villeneuve uncharacteristically doesn't linger long enough on the dunes for my tastes.

I should note here that in this version, Jessica emerges from the water of life trial changed, and while her motives are to protect Paul, she is subsequently framed in a very antagonistic role, always pushing for Paul to cynically embrace the prophecies and so, in this version, drive a wedge between him and Chani. This syncs up with my observations in Part One that Villeneuve almost presents her as a romantic interest for Paul; if so, here she is almost the 'other girl', and Paul has to choose between mother/prophecy and Chani/a simple life among the Fremen (this latter choice is highlighted by him removing the signet ring when he feels welcomed by the Fremen but keeping it in his stillsuit).

Gurney Halleck in this version is not leading a ragged band of Atreides guerillas like 1984's Patrick Stewart version. Rather he is now keeping a low profile and working as a spice miner, seemingly having given up hope that any remnants of House Atreides remain. The Fremen attack the harvester but Paul recognises him and tells them to stay their hand and presumably save the rest of the crew, though I don't think we see anyone else after this and he's more or less framed as the last remnant of Paul's old retinue in the final scenes. This *really* bothered me. Gurney says he managed to get offworld after the attack. OK; we know he has knowledge of the location of the Atreides atomics and hates the Harkonnen with every bone in his body; first for killing his family prior to the events of the first movie (as he reveals for I think the first time here); and then the loss of his new family with the death of Duke Leto. And so, Villeneuve imagines, he...

...goes back to Arrakis to work for the Harkonnen (the movie really seems to have forgotten who owns the original harvesters) and forgets about the atomics. What the absolute fuck? They do establish that the door is gene-coded so only a direct descendent of the Duke can open it (the line 'your genetic heritage only, m'lord' made me visibly cringe in the theatre), but in-universe, is there *any* reason he wouldn't go to, say, House Richese and say 'The Emperor was involved in the attack on Arrakis. I saw Sardaukar among the Harkonnen. I know where there are untraceable nukes on Arrakis; send in a covert mining team and you can tunnel down to get them. All I ask is you use some of them on Giedi Prime and the rest on Kaitan.'

For all that 1984 stretched plausibility that Gurney and his men could have survived in the desert without Fremen skills, it still feels more plausible than him getting off world then just coming back to work on a harvester.

(Note: in the book he joins a smuggler crew. Did they mention in an off-hand remark in the film that the crew he was with were not Harkonnen?)

The worm-drowning scene was well-done, even if I thought they should probably have set up the sandtrouts here if they have any hope of filming 'God-Emperor'.

Feyd Rautha's anti-grav ships bombard Sietch Tabr, causing heavy casualties. I almost feel like more attention should have been placed on this and how *this* is what changes Paul's mind; seeing his own new family injured and dead, rather than continuing for several scenes with will-he won't-he back and forth. Leave me here and go south - the people will only go if you go - there's an important meeting, they call the Lisan al-Gaib to appear, etc. The reunion between Paul and Chani *should* have been the conclusion of their romance arc here. I noticed the 'I will love you as long as you stay true to yourself' and anticipated the subsequent tension, but it felt clumsy.

Paul apparently just shows up and abruptly decides to drink the Stuff on a whim. This felt really bad and rushed. There was a jarring cut between him arriving and the guardian offering him the drink that I *think* was meant to represent Jessica's Voice command taking effect; she warns him 'leave or die' and then finds herself administering the Stuff.

(as a note: just how powerful is Villeneuve's Voice? It can apparently implant suggestions that take effect days or weeks later)

The female voice in Paul's visions has apparently (I think) been Alia? I am not sure about this as my assumption after the last movie was that it was future!Jessica. I didn't think the 'mind opening' was that well done in terms of mind-warping visuals, other than seeing an ocean in the desert. We caught of a glimpse of what I think were meant to be the face of his female ancestors, but a big point in the book is that the Kwisatz Haderach can access the memories of both his female and male ancestors (for all that this makes very little sense). This was crying out for a cameo from Duke Leto, instead of all people he sees Jamis (this may have been book-accurate, I can't remember at point of writing).

In the vision, he learns that Baron Harkonnen is his grandfather and 'we are Harkonnens'. So the pasty skin, black teeth and hairlessness of the Harkonnen is just environmental? Or even just fashion? This is interesting to see given the Harkonnen have been very deliberately racially 'Othered'.

In a reverse Sleeping Beauty scenario, Chani administers some more Water of Life, mingled with her tears, which wakes Paul up, because it vaguely fits the (fake, fabricated by the Bene Gesserit) prophecy? I am struggling to see how this works in-universe, for all that they clearly wanted some more action for her as female co-lead. Was it just a 'hair of the dog'?

The Fremen war council was spectacular, in a vast cavern (?) with lit podia (or was it just one with reflections on the walls?). Chani is again regrettably throughly modern, breaching her own society's rules by barging onto the podium to lecture to her leader. Her having to be restrained in accordance with Fremen decorum by Gurney Halleck *might* have been intended to be character development for him, but I think was just clumsy writing.

In general, Chalamet's acting was up to par, but something different was needed from him after his transformation into the Kwisatz Haderach and we didn't get it (for those saying he wasn't really changed; nonsense - he now has psychic powers that would make Kyle MacLachlan's version blush, actively reading minds when this is supposed to be impossible in-universe). What was called for here was a very elevated style of talking when he is consciously assuming the messianic role, reminiscent of holy text - not necessarily thees and thous but 'shall's and 'unto you's.

I cringed a little when, for example, he threatened the Emperor later in very unelevated, thuggish language. I can somewhat forgive the sections he is speaking Peterson's conlang-Fremen language it sounds quite rough; part of this is probably the difficulty getting the actors to sound fluent but it also had some echoes of rough and tumble military braggadochio in languages like Turkish.

The Emperor's reflective sphere-ship was certainly imposing; possibly too much so as it dwarfs Arakeen, something not immediately obvious from the ground shots so later when we see it just hovering over what just looks like a landing strip I wondered why it was suddenly out in the middle of nowhere before realising the shapes on the ground were the quarters of the entire planet's capital city!

I am always annoyed at the possibly royalties-motivated redesign of uniforms in sequels, and the Sardaukar here are a particularly offensive example. It's literally been less than nine months since the Battle of Arakeen; probably less given Jessica is not (I think) massively pregnant at the end. I did wonder if the redesign was to emphasise that 'the hunter has become the hunted'; now the Sardaukar are, like the Atreides, mostly bare-faced and their opponent is now the masked Fremen. On some level I feel this was deliberate, as when later the Sardaukar assume an Atreides-like sword line. I was also annoyed that we didn't hear any throat-singing as the Sardaukar form up outside the palace-ship. This would have immediately worked to remind us 'Oh yes, those guys', and differentiate them from the Harkonnen mooks who the Fremen have been killing all movie.

The attack on Arakeen was generally great - I would have liked to have seen the nuke scene handled differently and linger more on Paul silhouetted against the mushroom cloud.

The worm attack was also good; I did notice that suddenly the Harkonnen ornithopters become significantly less powerful than in the first movie, both rockets and miniguns seeming ineffective against worms and infantry Fremen alike. There wasn't really any sense that Shaddam's hubris led to him remaining on-planet (even the Dune 2000 game did this better, with the Truthsayer whispering 'Retreat, with victory in sight? Release the Sardaukar!"). I also felt like they sneakily tried to resolve a discrepancy between the visions of the first movie and this one by putting Chani in the role of infantry leader; she ends a shot in the exact same pose as Paul in the first movie when he has a vision of killing Sardaukar in a power suit (these don't appear in the second movie). In the second movie, he arrives on a worm instead. I guess this is a slight retcon and he is seeing himself in the place of whoever the vision is about. It seems a real waste though as presumably this sequence was shot - or was this implied to be during the galactic jihad?

One thing that stood out to me was the (redesigned) Sardaukar trying to regain formation after the blast takes down the mountain and the following storm. The first thing we see is one trooper trying to lift the Corrino banner and, as the wind overcomes him, another one helping to get it upright again. This felt *immensely* true to the book's universe.

Walken wasn't as bad as I feared; he mostly resisted the mugging I feared and wasn't given any lines containing 'walk without rhythm' or 'weapon of choice'. He plays Shaddam, again, as elderly, weary and manipulated, with the suggestion of fire re-emerging when he tells Paul 'your father was a weak man' ringing true. His throne room was appropriately Villeneuve-brutalist while still feeling Dune-y, and he thankfully replaces the Palpatine robe he wears at the beginning with an understated but still decently ornate tunic when holding court. No Burseg helmet as per the books, sadly. Should we read anything into the Emperor's throneroom being lit in a very obvious cross?

I understand why the plot was changed to give Paul a chance to meet the Baron and enact his revenge personally. Feyd wasn't in the first film and despite much more screen time compared to 1984 and even the mini-series doesn't feel satisfying as a final target for Paul's vendetta.

(As a note, the Baron throughout this movie now has a floating respirator with him that I am certain he didn't have in the first film. Is this supposed to be a lingering consequence of the gas attack?)

In this version, the duel between Paul and Feyd Rautha is explicitly a challenge to Shaddam for the throne, with Feyd serving as the Emperor's champion. This felt odd; has it been established that in this version the Padishah Emperor is a role you can have a knife-fight for, like the Klingons in Star Trek? I believe in both the book and 1984 version the coup was presented as a fait accompli with the duel a simple matter of honour and arguably an unnecessary risk by Paul; Shaddam's forces are shattered with only those immediately around him still loyal.

This is further reduced in the 2024 version as Paul has his Fremen kill the remaining Sardaukar and bring the Emperor to the visitor accommodation. This was a really missed opportunity as it deprives us of a huge and obvious shot; the victorious Paul sitting on the throne.

Feyd has no secret poison spikes in this version and, annoyingly, there's no tension in Paul choosing whether or not to use the Voice (Feyd Rautha reacts to Paul commanding the Reverend Mother to be 'Silent!' as if noting and remembering the ability, but we've already established he's vulnerable to it). This continues a trend of Villeneuve forgetting about the Voice in combat, where in the first film Jessica doesn't use it against Stilgar and Paul doesn't use it against Jamis, without even a one-off line like 'and no Bene Gesserit tricks'. Rather, he wins the first two clashes, even leaving a knife embedded in Paul's shoulder, before Paul kills him in a grapple that recalls his first on-screen spar with Gurney Halleck; Feyd is focused on the knife he is pushing further and further through Paul's seemingly exhausted grip, but he - and the viewer - can't see Paul's knife further down.

I *think* we were supposed to understand that as a possible Kwisatz Haderach Feyd is outside Paul's newly acquired precognition (this was sort of foreshadowed when he says he didn't foresee the attack on the sietch), together with the mention by Feyd that he dreamed about Lady Fenring, but wasn't spelled out.

A moment somewhat mocked on social media, but which I felt rang very true, was Bardem's frantic "Lisan al-Gaib!" when it is clear Paul has just barely survived the duel. This is *not* Stilgar the believer once again extolling his messiah's supernatural powers. This is Stilgar the politician and tribal leader realising that Paul looks very vulnerable and *un-supernatural* right now, and if he doesn't quickly get the watching Fremen on board with a chant of 'Lisan al-Gaib' the spell may be broken.

I liked how the Emperor was forced to plead for his life via the medium of his daughter, and the ambiguity of Paul's gesture; I initially thought he was commanding Irulan to step away from her father and take his hand in marriage (and this might be intentional), but instead, Shaddam is forced to go down to his knees and kiss Paul's ducal ring; a good use for the ring finding its way to Paul, which I complained about in the first movie (he also uses it in this movie to seal the ultimatum to the Emperor earlier).

The other Houses refuse Paul's ultimatum to accept him as Emperor (did he say this? I thought they only asked the other Houses to hear him out), leaving Paul to command his Fremen 'Lead them to heaven', ushering in the jihad. But we see their ships leaving seemingly without ill effect. This was crying out for first a few then intensifying rockets from the ground; perhaps even one of the ships burning and falling to emphasise that, yes, Paul just declared war on the entire universe and the ships are *fleeing*.

The final shot, incomprehensibly, is a grumpy Chani on her own, preparing to ride a worm. Perhaps Villeneuve has a plan for how Dune: Messiah will play out with her, maybe even taking some of the role of Alia, who obviously doesn't have the same interaction with the original cast here, being a psychic fetus the entire film-

(At this point I should violently interject; Villeneuve's politics, by God. What are we to make of the fetal personhood on show multiple times in this movie, at this time in American politics? She isn't even called an 'abomination'; that line is transferred to refer to Paul (who irritatingly doesn't even get to declare 'Look into that place you dare not look; you'll find me there' to justify it, just use the Voice, which the Bene Gesserit already know he can do!

Is the fact that it is most clearly championed by Jessica, who in this version has an antagonistic or at least 'bad influence' bent, intended to make it ambiguous? I feel this choice was probably intended to avoid the time-jump implied by a child actor; or perhaps to avoid the controversy of Alia of the Knife being a murderous toddler. But, as with his sexual and racial politics, what emerges is something that feels very odd, like he accidentally ended up throwing in a pro-life message.)

-All this should make us wonder. Villeneuve clearly likes the idea that Chani is the viewpoint character of Dune, beginning the first film with a voiceover from her and concluding with changing the story (no "history will call us wives" here) to leave her on her own but also seemingly abandoned in favour of the swanky princess; again, I feel like this last one wasn't intentional. There was probably an intent that 'Chani is her own woman and in this version she wouldn't want to marry Paul after he gives in and embraces the messianic role', but does it read as that? Or does it read as 'Chani missed her chance and Paul has married someone more suitable' (again, there's a racial reading here that can't be ignored; something not present in the 1984 version where Chani is played by Sean Young). Is this simply neo-Puritanism over the idea of the protagonist having multiple wives (I don't think any adaptation has thrown in the fact that Paul is honour-bound to marry Jamis's wife also)? Did someone say 'this feels a bit harem anime'?

The Guild are almost completely missing, and instead of using his knowledge of the worm lifecycle to threaten to use the stored water to create a chain reaction that will poison the worms, Paul just threatens to nuke the spice fields with his family atomics. When he does that, the Emperor says something like 'You've gone insane!', but no-one chips in to explain that, in fact, if he destroys the spice, the Guild can no longer navigate space, the Imperium will fall, and most of humanity dies due to the end of interstellar trade. This is the dilemma! The jihad claiming billions of lives vs. terraforming Dune claiming *literally all the lives*.

What was needed for the final shots of Dune was something like - of all things - the denouement of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. We should see the Fremen rampaging across the universe; ships burning; the shot from the vision of Paul looking out over Caladan, his again; Giedi Prime getting bombed into ashes - just to provoke us to think 'well, they liked violent gladiatorial games, but did they *really* deserve to die en masse because of what the Baron did?'. And then we cut to Paul on the Emperor's throne, looking shocked and hollow. He, like Dr Horrible, gets 'Everything (He) Ever Wanted', and it will haunt him forever. We grasp the cyclical nature of power - Paul Atreides, the exile turned revolutionary and mystic, is back on top - the very, very top, replacing the Sardaukar with his *own* brutal shock troops from a wasteland world. We needed to see that, and other than a few visions, we don't. Instead, we finish with what might, optimistically, be the message 'the traditional Fremen life will go on'? 'Sisters are doing it for themselves'? 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a desert'? 'You can't please everyone all of the time'? In-pardon my language, fucking-scusable.

All of this means I think there's definitely room for a different Dune at an appropriate distance in time once Villeneuve's series - however long it runs, and God-Emperor is looking like a possibility - concludes. I have suggested an animated film or series as something very different from the existing adaptations, possibly leaning into precognition as the conceit, and after viewing Villeneuve's Part Two I think I've worked out how to do it.

The first scene in the book is someone - we don't see faces - being administered the Water of Life. We then cut to the dunes and the muad'dib mouse, and then it becomes clear we are watching it from the perspective of Paul and Chani.

They discuss the mouse on the moon and Paul decides that his name 'will be Muad'Dib'. Paul then awakens years earlier on Caladan. At about the two-thirds mark, Jessica takes the Water of Life but begins seizing. She sees herself drowning deep under an endless blue ocean. Paul says 'I can't reach where you are' and impulsively drinks the Water of Life himself; as Chani holds onto him he reaches out and holds his mother's hand and we see in the now shared vision that he swims down into the ocean, grabs her hand, and pulls her up. When they surface he experiences the rest of the vision, and then, awakening, says "I saw it all - I was back on Caladan; I saw us travel to Arrakis for the first time - but I also saw Baron Harkonnen; I saw him plotting with the Emperor - Shaddam! The Emperor is behind the downfall of our family". The entire first two-thirds of the movie *is* the Water of Life experience. Paul has watched the entire movie so far and for the rest of the film knows everything we, the audience, have seen, and more.

In general, Villeneuve's Dune is still probably one of the most striking and solid sci-fi films in recent decades. It is not as clearly stand-alone as I think reviewers have been prone to claim - much like the Lynch version which infamously issued a physical guide for cinema-goers to consult to understand the universe, Villeneuve's Dune does not clearly establish some of the book's most distinctive elements.

You might reasonably assume that the shields are why this universe relies so heavily on hand-to-hand combat - but why so few lasguns? (because in the book, hitting a shield with a lasgun obliterates both parties).

Why do the Harkonnen and Sardaukar feel so much weaker in the desert? Because shields act like a thumper and call worms.

(Note: This was in fact mentioned in the first film.)

Why do some people roll their eyes and do mental maths? They're mentats, human calculators. Why do they exist, and why are there no robots in this oddly run-down, primitive-feeling future? Because a thousand years ago a war called the Butlerian Jihad resulted in the absolute prohibition of thinking machines everywhere in the Imperium (it's bizarre this wasn't mentioned given AI is such a hot topic).

By the end of the second film you've also forgotten that the spice is vital for space travel (why? because it makes Navigators able to see the future, something Villeneuve has decided to emphasise only applies to Paul, and thus able to predict where a hyperspace jump will lead).

The Harkonnen were I think handled the worst of the characters, which isn't new. Skarsgard's Baron is overall acceptable and Rabban has decent menace, but he and Feyd Rautha suffer from the Lynchian 'kill your underlings' brain bug which no longer makes villains feel scary, and the random lurid elements Villeneuve has invented (gimp spiders, child slaves, cannibal prostitutes) feel just as over-the-top as the disfigured 1984 Baron pulling his servants' heart plugs for fun. The decision to make them all pasty bald troglodytes speaks to a fear to present villains as anything more than interchangeable cannon fodder lest, perhaps, the audience find them too compelling? The Fremen suffer from weird racial politics (a need to cast for diversity applied, we notice, most diligently to the desert-dwelling tribesmen, but coupled with the apparent desire to make them darker when you're meant to find them scary, which feels distinctly un-progressive) and the Corrinos from limited screen time. The Atreides in the first film felt most like a believable future society, while the glimpses we got at the Spacing Guild seemed intriguing, with their Daft Punk helmets, but were never followed through.

#dune

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gacmediadaily · 1 year ago

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Riley Weston, the writer-actress who generated an extraordinary amount of attention in the late ’90s for failing to disclose her true age while working for Felicity, has quietly found another way to enjoy success in TV: penning feel-good movies.

Her latest creation is Apples, Orchards & Romance, a new confection for Great American Family that stars Trevor Donovan (Jingle Bell Princess, “90210”) and Jessica Lowndes (I’m Glad It’s Christmas, Harmony from the Heart, “90210”).

The movie, which will air as part of the net’s annual Great American Autumn programming event that returns this September, follows teacher Drew Granger (Donovan) who accepts a temporary substitute job in his old hometown of Chestnut Hollow, Texas, where he meets Aiden, the proverbial new kid at school, desperate for a caring friend. While he would rather have taken a job anywhere else, Drew reconsiders Chestnut Hollow when he meets Lainie Abbott (Lowndes), the new manager of his parents’ massive apple orchard and cider mill business, and more importantly, Aiden’s mom. Production commences this week.

Weston wrote the screenplay (before the WGA strike) for Apples — one of many she’s penned since leaving Felicity in 1998. Her other titles include a collection of breezy movies for Hallmark such as Good Morning Christmas!, Always and Forever, and The Nanny Express.

“I love writing these rom-coms so much for a few reasons,” says Weston to Deadline. “First, I’m a diehard romantic who is still waiting for her own fairytale! Second, I love bringing joy to people, whether it’s through movies or music. My hope is that a movie like this can take people out of their work week for two hours and give them a little getaway from reality. They always make me feel hopeful and I try to get that feeling spread to the viewers. It’s also so awesome when I get to write a movie for friends. Trevor and I have wanted to work on something for a while now and this was the perfect project.”

Weston burst onto the scene in the late ’90s as a “wunderkind” 19-year-old staff writer for Felicity — until it was discovered that she lied about her real age to find acting jobs (the petite actor/scribe was actually 32). It was a rather trite offense, in retrospect, given the subsequent #MeToo era, but many executives and agents who promoted her so-called youth were left with egg on their faces.

“It’s been an accepted practice for actresses to lie about their age, especially in instances where they are always asked to play younger,” Weston said at the time. “I adopted an age appropriate for my physical appearance, never imagining I would one day become a writer. I could not be one age in the acting world and another in the writing world, so I chose to maintain the ruse. In a business fraught with age bias, I did what I felt I had to do to succeed.”

Weston left Felicity in the middle of the first season because her contract had expired, explained co-creator Matt Reeves during a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly (which was one of the first publications to play up Riley’s “wunderkind” status). Before she left, Reeves gave Weston a role as a teenager in one episode.

“People thought that we let her go because of it. None of that was true at all,” Reeves recalled to EW. “The story was blown so crazy out of proportion from the perspective of our relationship with Riley. We did discover that she was not telling us the truth, but it was after she had already finished her term. When you sign somebody on as a staff writer in those days, you had a number of scripts that you signed them to do. We just put her on the show because we thought, ‘well, let’s just let her do what we know she really wants to do as well, which is to be an actor.’ It got turned into a scandal that I’m not sure ever was. We liked her writing. That’s all.”

Weston has since settled in Tennessee where she writes and performs country songs — often at the famed Bluebird Café in Nashville. She’s garnered a dedicated following for her music and even wrote a song for Apples, Orchards & Romance.

“I’ve got a couple of great shows in July at The Bluebird Café and a few other venues,” she tells Deadline. “I’m so excited to also be working on my first Christmas album. There are a few new Christmas songs of mine that I am adapting into movies as well. Fingers crossed that I will be combining my acting, writing and music all together in a movie soon!”

Apples, Orchards & Romance is executive produced by Brad Krevoy, Amy Krell, Jimmy Townsend, Lorenzo Nardini, Cara J. Russell, Trevor Donovan, Kelly Martin, Susie Belzberg Krevoy, Don McCutcheon, and Jessica Lowndes. David Anselmo produces. Supervising producers are James Mou and W. Michael Beard. Associate Producer is Victor St. Pierre. Don McCutcheon directs.

#great american family #apples orchards and romance #jessica lowndes #trevor donovan

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gatespage · 1 year ago

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Gates McFadden Talk City Online Interview

Thursday 25th June 1998 at 9.00 pm E.S.T.

Copied and edited from here.

Mysterygirl:

Gates, welcome to Talk City! What are your thoughts on the ever-popular Star Trek series and its impact on society?

Gates McFadden:

Dear MysteryGirl, many books have been written answering that question. I think, obviously, the series speaks to a lot of people about the possibilities of our future.

Aspects of the series interest me in particular, such as Prime Directive, the concept of people being very different, but yet finding ways to work together successfully and collaborate in non-dogmatic ways is intriguing.

imzadi-1 says:

I loved you on Mad About You. Do you plan to do other sit-coms?

Gates McFadden:

I have no specific plans about doing another sitcom in the future but if a good script crossed my path, I would certainly consider it!

ezguest3 says:

Hi Gates! Does your son's mouse and your two pet cats get along?

Gates McFadden:

LOL! Our two cats believe that they get along very well with the mouse. The mouse however, thinks they are liars! The way we solve this is to keep the doors to my sons room closed at all times!We however, sometimes allow them to observe each other while we are present.

ocampa says:

It is said that you play a larger role in this new movie that's coming up than the last one, in what way?

Gates McFadden:

Where did you get your information ;-) Certainly not from the writers, alas the role is not a full meal.

boncers says:

I have several friends that were lucky enough to see you in Voices in New Jersey... I wish I were any of them!

grin:

They all are still on cloud nine that you stopped your car to speak with them. I feel their joy by proxy... so thanks!

Gates McFadden:

You're welcome! They were a terrific group of women!! I really was very touched that they came to see me in the play. It was nice to know that they were out there in the audience.

nanite says:

Hi there! I saw "Voices in the Dark" with a group of friends on closing night in April (thank you for stopping to talk to us! You have guts!) and we must know when is it going to Broadway and how long will it be there? (Yes, it's going, I just have to know when- you're not allowed to say it isn't going to be there. Thanks :)

Gates McFadden:

It looks like there will be another production sometime in October, (rehearsals with rewrites). But the details have not been worked out so it may change. I will certainly put it on the Star Trek website when I have the information.

trexphile says:

Besides "Voices in the Dark," do you have any other projects/convention appearances scheduled?

Gates McFadden:

:-) Very likely I will be in Australia the end of September or beginning of October. Then I will be in Germany in January and perhaps early May. All of this could change depending on the schedule of the play.

For the next two months I'm concentrating on being a mother :-) Having just come off a play in New York and three months of the movie in LA.

lolalee32 says:

Jessica Lange recently said that she would not start acting today, that back when she was starting "the business attracted integrity, it attracted artists, and I don't think it does anymore". Do you think she's right?

Gates McFadden:

I don't know whether she's right or wrong, that's her opinion. Certainly the entertainment business has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. However, I find that there are still pockets of extraordinary work being done by actors in theater, film and television.

heartofgold says:

Are dramatic arts taught differently in France? Is that why you left to study in France?

Gates McFadden:

I left to study with Jacques LeCoq in Paris because his school offered a unique approach to acting. LeCoq believed artists had a responsibility to work Together to change society for the better. I had classes with musicians, architects, and dancers as well as actors.

He had emphasis on both the spoken word and silence. We studied movement in order to better comprehend immobility. He was the greatest influence in my development as an actress and director.

Now there are many people all over the world, who have incorporated his ideas and techniques into their teaching of acting. Geoffrey Rush, the actor in the movie "Shine" was a student of his. Emma Thompson studied with someone in England who had worked with LeCoq for years, and so on and so forth.

kit_angel says:

I've heard that you've done a lot of stage work but never had the opportunity to see you on stage. What kind of plays have you done and do you prefer stage to television?

Gates McFadden:

I most definitely prefer stage work to television! My roles have ranged from Helena, in "A Midsummer Nights Dream," by William Shakespeare, to Ruth in "The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter.

I've done many comedies such as "Cloud Nine" by Caryl Churchill. I've also done serious plays such as 'To Gillian, on her 37th Birthday" which later was developed into a movie.

mrswizz12 says:

My 13 year old son would like to tell you that you're a great Actress and you're very beautiful

Gates McFadden:

Thank you! One can never hear that too many times!

sarah says:

As you've probably realized by now, there is a large BonC contingent here - all dying to know is the Picard and Crusher romance totally dead - or is there a possibility it may be revived?

Gates McFadden:

In this movie it is definitely not revived.However I encourage you to write letters to Rick Berman the producer suggesting that it be resurrected.

boncers says:

Thank you for being here. Would you be willing to reconsider you stance on an official fan club if it were run professionally?

Gates McFadden:

Yes!

zippity says:

Love Star Trek, and your character is superb - a strong woman, but feminine - wish men could relate to women like that in today

Gates McFadden:

I have found that often they do!

pygmalion2 says:

The drama coach in our school says that acting is not about feeling the required emotions while acting on stage, it's about PROJECTING those emotions as you act on stage. She says if you feel the emotions you'll be distracted from acting. But if you don't feel like the character is feeling, then won't your portrayal look phony?

Gates McFadden:

Keep trying don't give up! This is a tough question to answer quickly. She is not incorrect, however, I often find that during a show the feeling and the technique all come together in moments of pure poetry. It is like an adrenaline rush where you are the character, the play is bigger than yourself and you are almost inside the character and outside it at the same time.

I don't feel that there is only one method to acting. Work with as many good teachers as you can and find what works best for you.

ocampa says:

William Frakes seems like a very nice guy, how is he in private?

Gates McFadden:

Terrific!

boncers says:

Thanks for being here... is there a specific directing project that you'd like to tackle?

Gates McFadden:

Yes, but the script is not finished and has been in development for a year and a half. It's a silent film in black and white.

mick_mouse says:

Why do so many actors want to direct? It seems to me that since power is money, then the real power is in producing since it's the producers that bring the money in. Ultimately, the producer can put financial pressure on a director to make him do what she wants him to do. Am I right?

Gates McFadden:

Sometimes, not always. I went into acting because I loved it. I loved the way it made me feel, the power of my voice, the power of my imagination, the power of a situation, the words of a playwright.

If you are interested in who has the power as in the big boss who makes the most money, then it's a different situation.

Directing is an art, acting is an art, and many fine producing an art. Personally I find acting and directing more creative, but everyone has their own passion.

temporalrift says:

- looking at short description of "guest" - Have you written anything recently?

Gates McFadden:

I haven't finished a script I've been working on for years but with time and courage I hope to finish it soon.

nan1 says:

This question if from my daughter, Rebecca (sorry!). She would like to thank you for your letters and wants to know how Jack's birthday was and how is Coc and Mary Alice. Thanks for giving her someone to admire who is worth admiring!

Gates McFadden:

My sons seventh birthday was probably as good as a seventh birthday could possibly be. We had a bowling party! The cats are fine and hope you're all doing well.

mericcc says:

In your eyes what has been the most significant contribution Dr. Crushers has made to STTNG?

Gates McFadden:

A hypo-spray in the neck .... no ..... just kidding. Probably her determination to rank compassion over the Prime Directive.

captbevpicard says:

Ms. McFadden, I want to thank you for giving us six years of great acting.

Gates McFadden:

Thanks for watching!

jneff says:

What do you think of the Voyager show?

Gates McFadden:

How can I say this without being rude. The truth is I have only watched a part of one episode. Not because I don't like it, but because I watch very little television.

tori says:

What inspired your interest in mythology and masks which Jeff Greenwald brought up in his book, Future Perfect?

Gates McFadden:

I loved Myths ever since I took a class in High School. The man I worked with in Paris, introduced me to the techniques of mask acting. I then researched masks in the major cultures of the world and found they were a significant part of most cultures, so I put together a plaque on the history of masks in theater when I was teaching at the University of Pittsburgh.

Masks can be beautiful in and of themselves, but they become magical when a performer makes them come alive by the way she moves.

hondo1 says:

who was the best male actor that you enjoyed working with over your career

Gates McFadden:

I don't have one favorite. I'd rather say there have been very few that I haven't enjoyed working with.

molakai says:

Hello Ms. McFadden My real name is Michael! I would like to know do you and Marina Sirtis get along like friends as your characters did on the next generation? Thank you for your time to view my question! You're the first star trek actor or actress I have met!

Gates McFadden:

Marina and I are friends, but unlike the characters that we play we don't talk about men together very much, but we laugh a lot and cover a range of subjects.

dixonhill says:

Do you have any plans to do projects with LA Theaterworks?

Gates McFadden:

I performed the Neil Simon play "Chapter Two" this year but have no other projects scheduled with them at this point.

ocampa says:

Could you think of yourself as an doctor in real life?

Gates McFadden:

Oh I think it would be wonderful to be a doctor in real life, especially when I feel awful or my son has the flu.

bsisko says:

where can we write to get autographs

Gates McFadden:

I am taking a short hiatus from signing autographs through the mail because of my need to spend more time with my child. Next year I will probably have more time and at that point I will again be available to sign autographs through the mail.

It is always the best idea to send the mail to Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. 5555 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California.

I worry that people won't understand my reasons for not signing autographs, but the truth is when my son wants me to play with him and I have a stack of pictures to sign, I know I'm making the right choice, even though my fans will be disappointed.

kit_angel says:

If tribbles were real, would you actually want one running around your house as a pet? LOL

Gates McFadden:

Absolutely! I would continue to try to train it!

CCCMyst:

Gates, our time is nearly up for tonight. You've been a wonderful guest!! Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave us with?

Gates McFadden:

I literally drove home today from Mammoth Lake where we shot some of our final scenes in the new Star Trek movie. I had never been to the mountains in that area and was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and power of the Sierra Nevada's.

The cast had a fabulous time and I just want you all to know when you watch the movie that even though we were pretending to be very scared, we were having the time of our lives!

Thanks to all of you for the years of support! I love you all!

#gates mcfadden #year: 1998 #type: interview #star trek #media: star trek #source: linked

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