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simoneashleydaily · 3 years ago

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Simone Ashley as the Cover Story for Porter Magazine

COVER STORY HOT PROPERTY With Simone Ashley

Sex Education fans will already be familiar with her withering quips, but now SIMONE ASHLEY is trading high school for high society as the new lead in the second instalment of Bridgerton. Here, the actor explores responsibility and representation with SHANNON MAHANTY – and reveals how living without fear has shaped her success

Photography Petros StudioStyling Marquessa Whyte

In a French cafe in Chelsea, Simone Ashley is sipping tea, while simultaneously spilling the tea. “The second season is much grittier,” she says, giving a coy grin. “There’s a lot of drama and a lot of sexual tension. My parents will be watching it – but not with me!”

She is, of course, talking about the return of Bridgerton, the second-most-watched show on Netflix in 2021. Courtesy of Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland production company, the adaptation of Julia Quinn’s novels – which follow the love lives of Regency-era high society – became a breakout blockbuster hit. The antithesis of stuffy period dramas, it was full of deliciously opulent costumes, parties and sex, while the diverse casting and quick-witted script gave the genre a much-needed update.

Ashley joins the cast for the highly anticipated second season, playing Kate Sharma, a new arrival to London and the love interest of the eldest Bridgerton brother, Anthony (played by Jonathan Bailey). “It’s like a fairy tale,” muses Ashley, “but, you know, it’s not a typical fairy tale because these [are] two incredibly complex characters. For want of a better expression, [it’s] fucked-up people with a complicated history.”

Intricate, forbidden romances are what the show does best; last season’s leads, Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page, were propelled to global fame after playing the eldest Bridgerton daughter and admiring Duke of Hastings, who found real love during a duplicitous courtship. As per the books, the second series focuses on a different Bridgerton sibling – this time, the troubled and emotionally unavailable viscount.

Ashley’s character, Kate, is headstrong and sharp (the role required her to take a crash course in horse riding), and when she meets Anthony Bridgerton, the two instantly clash. But then he pursues her younger sister and pure hatred turns into passionate tension – and a messy love triangle ensues. There are tantalizing will-they/won’t-they moments galore and Ashley assures me it’s worth the build-up. “Johnny and I have incredible working chemistry together. It was explosive on set.” It was helpful that they got on well off-camera, too. “There was no real time to hang out, but we did manage to sneak off for a drink together one day when we were filming on location. We’ve always had each other’s backs from the start; it’s a partnership.”

Did it feel intimidating joining the already-established ranks of the cast? “I think I’m quite good at detaching myself from the pressure,” she considers. “I really clicked with the part, which gave me confidence.”

When the show’s first season arrived on our screens at the end of 2020, it brought a much-longed-for dose of glamour, never-ending balls and salacious gossip. Ashley admits she was late to the party in watching it. At the time, the 26-year-old was filming season three of Sex Education, another zeitgeist-defining Netflix series. “We were in Wales shooting, but I remember everyone was talking about Bridgerton – it was so incredibly popular. Then, two weeks later, I got a text saying they were interested in me for season two.” Praised for its refreshing and frank portrayal of sex, relationships and teenage experiences, Sex Education – like Bridgerton – has challenged the status quo when it comes to diversity and representation in the characters and storylines it depicts on screen.

“Being part of these shows feels amazing,” says Ashley. “And it also feels like the right thing to do. [The diversity] isn’t really commented on in either of them, it’s just normalized, and I think that’s what makes them so great. I think the more these shows are being created, the more normal it’s becoming. I can certainly feel a temperature change.”

These titles might be breaking ground, but South Asian women are still woefully underrepresented onscreen – a US study of 2020-2021 TV found that their share of screen time stood at just 0.3 percent. As a woman of Indian heritage playing the lead role of a major drama, did Ashley feel an increased sense of responsibility for the job? “Of course I am deeply proud of my heritage, [but] no,” she says, firmly, “because I’m not a spokesperson for Indian people, I’m an actress. For me, my responsibility is to read the script, do the work, turn up on set and do a great job. That’s it. I guess everyone deals with it in their own way, but I am an actress at the end of the day. Opportunities should be open for any individual, and I just think us being there is enough.”

Ashley says that she is drawn to roles that “do something different. I am interested in some culturally specific parts, but I want to go up for roles that anyone can go for. I love movies about the human experience, [and] characters with a really interesting journey, who I really want to fight for. And it’s got to be fun at the end of the day – whether it’s a drama or a comedy – because you’re giving up months of your life for it, [so] why wouldn’t you want to have fun?”

Born in Surrey, Ashley moved to London as a teenager to pursue acting. “My family don’t have a background in this kind of industry,” she explains. “I realized at a young age that if I wanted to gain experience and connections and understand how it works, I would have to go and do it. I was always fearless; if I want something, I’ll go and get it. I’m like that with a lot of things in my life.”

After studying performing arts at college, she landed a place at ArtsEd drama school before picking up small television parts and eventually joining the Sex Education cast as a member of the school’s popular clique. Now about to embark on the rigorous press cycle for Bridgerton, she is committed to balancing her hard work ethic with time for herself.

“I always make sure I get 20 minutes at the end of the day to just switch off,” she says. “I’ve got a dog, so I walk her every morning. Even if I’m knackered or bored, I put my phone away and I take her out for an hour and a half in the morning. Knowing that I’ve been in the fresh air, that I’ve been in a park, it makes such a difference.

“Self-care, looking after your holistic self is so important,” she continues. “But I do think it’s about finding balance; you’ve got to live your life, too. I always say the heart is like a house and if you clean all your dirty rooms, then you can invite people in. Self-care is cleaning the house, but then you’ve gotta go and have a house party! This industry is supposed to be fun, so I also like to put my heels on and have a boogie.”

When she’s not donning a corset onscreen, you are likely to find Ashley sitting front row at fashion week or, as she did last year, attending the Fashion Awards in a custom AZ Factory two-piece, inspired by Cher. She scrolls through a WhatsApp group to reveal the slew of reference images and designer sketches that went into creating that look. “I felt very spoiled; it was just the coolest [outfit], and that’s what I wanted – to feel cool and elegant and sexy at the same time.” Ashley works with stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray, who the actor credits with making red carpets feel fun. “I always feel like I’m in great hands. She’s got amazing taste, but it goes deeper than that; she’s so confident in her opinions and she’s got such a good heart.”

As we get ready to leave, Ashley reflects on this period of time before Bridgerton season two, her biggest role to date, is released. “I haven’t seen the last two episodes yet, but I don’t know if I want to! We’ve already wrapped the season, [so] once I’ve seen it, that’s it – it’s over. So, I’m kind of holding on to those last two, [then] it’s not quite done yet.”

Bridgerton season two will be available to stream on Netflix from March 25

#simone ashley #kate sharma #bridgerton #bridgerton netfix #kate sheffield #bridgerton cast #olivia hanan #porter magazine #interview #shannon mahanty

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justplainwhump · 2 years ago

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@whumpmasinjuly Day 1: Re-Introduction

Hi there 👋 My intro has been a long while ago, and I don't even know what I said. So, time to do it again.

Me-

I'm Sara, she/her, German, and well in my thirties.

I've been a part of the whump community for three years give or take and I've made a bunch of wonderful friends here, as well as falling in love with even more stories and OCs.

My content-

Writing is my whump of choice, and if we're friends I might even be down to rp with you!

I have a bunch of series and collaborations with other writers, one story that is actually finished (Mark and Gemma get a pet) and one that has a satisfying cliffhanger and is almost finished (Shattered Diamonds). The others are also very good but might just never be finished.

Currently, I love torturing Dany, daughter of a mob boss fallen into mean people's hands in both canon and various AUs.

All links are in my pinned post.

This blog is 18+, even though not all of my content is nsfw. I like exploring dark themes, and I am an adult, so I wouldn't want minors following me.

My favourite tropes-

I love hurting ladies, because I'm into ladies. (Even though I don't think lady whump is a trope, still think my love for it needs to be mentioned.)

I enjoy creepy, intimate whumpers; whumpees messily dealing with the aftermath of trauma; whumpees finding the strength to survive in their core; caretakers who realize they might be failing; the bleak and mundane horrors of institutionalized whump; complicated human relationships, messy emotions and angst cranked up to 11.

Many of the stories I read and write contain noncon because I love the power dynamics this involves. I can also get into many BBU stories, where the dystopian nature of the system is explored.

My squicks-

I have no triggers, but I'm not much into stories that are very hopeless and bleak. Also, whumpees thinking they are deserving of the pain can squicks me. And, especially in noncon settings, but really in all of them, whumpee falling in love with whumper makes me nope out. Messy dependencies, manipulative whumpers, weird sense of being a team, omg, yes - but romance, big no.

My friends-

Everyone on the @whumpawoman discord server.

Biggest impact on my writing had @whumping-newbie and @hackles-up whom I owe so much motivation and happiness and amazing content!

Second @sableflynn @whumpopology @painful-pooch @for-the-love-of-nsfwhump @ocean-blue-whump are just amazing whump friends I've made here and great writers, too.

And last but not least, my absolute idols, @whump-tr0pes who showed me how great lady whump can be, @ashintheairlikesnow for what she does for this community, absolutely mind blowing content and the amazing worldbuilding work she invested in the BBU, and @just-horrible-things and @deluxewhump for their amazing series and character dynamics.

#whump intro #whump reintro #wij day 1 #whumpmasinjuly #about me

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blackbird-brewster · 2 years ago

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JJ and Tara are super cute together! I always love the idea of JJ just being so in awe of Tara. I’ve been trying to figure out what to write for them, too but I’m not sure where to start haha.

Also I had been reading your Je’temily stories as well, and they are amazing! I really love the idea of JJ and Emily dating, and Emily having a thing for Tara that JJ teases her about, until JJ sees why Emily is attracted to Tara. Then JJ’s like “oh. I think I like her too.”

Hi!!

Tara is just SUCH a good character. It's not surprising that she catches both Emily and JJ's eye.

Eeee TYSM for reading! <3 Obviously [Fooled Around] is an AU, so it was a bit easier to write healthy polyamorous Je T'Emily. I think to write it in a canon context, I'm going to have to ignore quite a few logistics of their jobs lol. But I still want to write more Je T'Emily (that isn't just threesomes) bc I love their softness. My main fic vibes for each ship are SO different, so it's really fun to mix things up and try writing new stuff with these incredible characters. Not that you asked, I've just been thinking about this lately Jemily: They had a history that is long and messy and complicated. There will always be love there but a lot of times I write them as sort of 'we found each other at the wrong times of our lives and it never quite worked out', especially bc of Will/kids. (I write some Domestic/Fluff Jemily but not often). I just feel that's really a true to life experience. Not every story has a happy ending Temily: OH GOD TEMILY!!!! Basically Emily and Tara being hesitant about approaching each other bc they've both been burned in relationships in the past. But then Emily being like 'wow this is so easy?' bc Tara is single and out and proud. Their connection is so natural and not complicated. (Also, I rarely write Temily that doesn't have prior-Jemily because I think prior-JEmily really navigates Emily's motives and hesitations) Jara: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm currently working on a multi-chap that's post-divorce for JJ. Tara and JJ are bff and Tara has been through a divorce before so she's there for JJ in anyway she needs. And then...oops??? Turns out we really like each other!? Sort of how Jemily is always messy imo, Jara really only makes sense in JJ is single. Because I really don't see Tara being someone to mess around with a married woman (no offence, Emily!). So I'm currently exploring that relationship. I love their sass together and I just really love their friendship. They're such a great pair!!!!

That brings me to Je T'Emily!!!!! GOD WHAT AN IMPORTANT OT3!!!!! Whether it's established Temily or established Jemily, I think it's really easy to imagine either of those situations where they look at the third woman and both people go 'oh....fuck. she's....amazing???'

I am very emotional about Je T'Emily right now because Fooled Around just ended and I miss them so much already.

Thanks for the ask, here's an unsolicited abridged version of my deep emotions about my fave fictional women!

#unitchiefs blackbirdphoenix #reply post #cm head!canon #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau #tara lewis #temily #jemily #jara #je t'emily #head!canon

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camxnoel-updates · 4 years ago

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Cameron Monaghan brought the character of Ian Gallagher to life on Showtime’s hit series, Shameless. The series aired for a total of 11 seasons after originally premiering in 2011. It ranked as the network’s no. 1 comedy, longest-running series, and had the youngest-skewing audience of any Showtime series. Monaghan also joined two legendary universes with roles in both Gotham and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which I got to ask him about too!

The final season of SHAMELESS finds the Gallagher family and the South Side at a crossroads, with changes caused by the COVID pandemic, gentrification, and aging to reconcile. As Frank confronts his own mortality and family ties in his alcoholic and drug-induced twilight years, Lip struggles with the prospect of becoming the family’s new patriarch. Newlyweds Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) are figuring out the rules and responsibilities of being in a committed relationship while Deb embraces her individuality and single motherhood. Carl finds an unlikely new career in law enforcement and Kevin and V struggle to decide whether a hard life on the South Side is worth fighting for.

Along with the final season, fans also got a six-episode series that featured new Shameless scenes juxtaposed with a retrospective look at each character’s journey over the prior 10 seasons, titled, Shameless Hall of Shame. The first episode followed Ian and Mickey, showcasing their unique relationship and its evolution from a teen fling into a loving, complicated marriage.

I was able to chat with the actor over zoom and ask him all of my burning questions regarding the series finale, Ian and Mickey’s future, the show’s open ending, the representation his character provided to those watching, what he kept from the set, his future projects, and so much more! Keep reading to find out everything he told me.

So first of all, I want to say a huge congrats to you for wrapping Shameless after 11 seasons and bringing this character to life, who has inspired so many and that so many relate to. I wanted to ask, what has your time on the show meant to you and how would you describe how it helped you grow as an actor?

Cameron Monaghan: I mean, it’s so difficult to distill 11 years into some sort of concise answer, but it’s meant a lot for so many reasons. I think that obviously it’s been important for my career and my life in a sense of how it’s not only given me exposure but also given all of us a platform as performers to be able to tell interesting and challenging stories and to really develop and grow. Obviously, we had a couple of old pros on the show– when I say old pros, I’m not calling them old, just that they’re professionals and they’ve been doing it for a long time, but like William H. Macy, Joan Cusack, and a number of people who had very storied careers. Then we had actors on the show who had never appeared on anything prior and for a lot of us, we were somewhere in the middle, where we’d been working for a number of years, but hadn’t been given the opportunities to really put ourselves out there in such a significant way.

So being able to get an audience over the course of 11 years– and the show grew steadily, it was a marginal success at first, but it wasn’t until like season 4 or 5 that it really started to be seen by people and really connect on a larger platform, and a lot of that had to do with Netflix. When that happens we had such an influx of people kind of saying how they related to it and I think that that’s something that I’ve really taken away– I think we’ve all taken away, to be able to hear a lot of other people’s stories and how they’ve connected these stories in entirely different ways. Everyone has had different favorite characters or storylines and they have brought their own personal experiences to that, but for people to say that they feel seen or heard in some ways by these stories, I think is very special. You know, the character that I was playing was an LGBT love story, as well as a story about mental illness, and coping and struggling with that. I had so many positive responses from people regarding those things, and it was amazing to hear people’s responses. So I think that not only was I able to grow as an actor but being able to hear that response and feedback helps you grow as a human being too. I guess that’s what one of my major takeaways is.

What was that final day of shooting like for you, and how did you feel when you officially wrapped?

It was a bit surreal. I don’t think it really set in at first. It’s always funny when you wrap on a project, I feel like it comes in waves, and with something like a TV show, you start to feel it on the last few episodes of like, “Oh, wow, it’s going to be over.” You start trying to find your little ways of saying goodbye to people and understanding that these conversations are obviously not the last for everyone; we’re still close with each other, but you start to recognize that within the context of the show they’ll be your last so that’s a difficult thing. I’ve never been particularly good at saying goodbye, you know? I feel like in general, I’m kind of a person that just likes to be like, “I’m just going to walk away from it cause I don’t know what else to do really.”

So, we were shooting pretty late at night and we were all there hanging out and cracking jokes, and it was just of like, “Oh, I guess that’s it.” We all kind of looked at each other like, “Well, what do we do now?” A bunch of us stuck around for a few hours afterward, we popped a bottle of champagne, and we sat in each others’ trailers and just kinda hung out until pretty early in the morning, the next day. Then we’ve all kind of just been hanging out and seeing each other since. Everyone’s been really busy, thankfully. So we’ve been traveling and going to different cities for work, but when we’ve been in town we’ve been trying to see each other. I had dinner with Jeremy and Ethan, who played my brothers on the show last week. Noel Fisher, I just saw yesterday. I’m going to see Shanola Hampton in a few days. We’re all still staying in touch with each other is what I’ll say.

Were you personally satisfied with the ending of the show? I think it was very open-ended, which was kind of nice and left a lot open for the future. And was there anything you wanted to see for your character that we weren’t able to?

Endings are difficult in general, but I feel like, especially with a show like Shameless, which is a show about a slice of life and sort of how existence doesn’t really fall into a perfect narrative; it tends to be messy and kind of just continue in spite of itself, and it’s a stream of these little victories and these constant mistakes. So you can’t really cap off a pure ending to a story like that. I think that what John Wells tried to do with writing it is not really conclude the stories. He concludes certain aspects, but the way that he explained it to us is he wanted it to feel like if you were walking through the streets of Chicago, maybe you might bump into these characters. Maybe they’re still out there and maybe they’re still doing things. Some of us had more resolution than others.

I would actually say that the Ian and Mickey storyline was one that did have a fair amount of resolution for the final episode. It was about their anniversary, how they were going to deal with their future, and they’ve kind of figured out some sort of life with each other. There are still large questions, whether or not they’re going to have kids and what the terms of their marriage will entail in the future, but those are questions that are lifelong questions, and ones that I think that we know these characters well enough and we understand their relationships well enough that we can draw our own conclusions for. I think there is something beautiful about the fact that the audience will project what their future for these characters will be.

I think it was a challenging final season because of so many extenuating factors in the world. All shows, businesses, everything was trying frantically to keep up with a changing landscape, and the fact that we were able to make it in spite of all of those things, I think is a victory in itself; one that we are all proud of and happy with. I do think there’s still a future, years out, where we might return to these characters and explore them further. I think that I’m happy putting them to bed for now, I think we all are, but I would like to maybe check in with these characters in 5 or 10 years, and just kind of see where they’re at and what they’re doing.

Kind of like a little Shameless movie, just to play catch up for a little bit.

Yeah, I think that’s something that is kind of more possible now with these streaming networks. They’ve done it with a few series, to sometimes success and sometimes mixed results, but I do think there is a possibility of a reunion season or something like that, depending on where the show fits into the public consciousness in a few years, you know? It’s an open question, but one I’d be excited to see.

How you would describe Ian’s evolution and journey on the show?

I think that Ian has come a long way in terms of confidence and assuredness in himself and his own decisions. I think that’s what a lot of the exploration of the character was, especially in the middle seasons between seasons like 3 to 8 or 9, are this guy who sort of just doesn’t necessarily know what he wants for himself and he’s dealing with a bunch of surprises about himself that he doesn’t necessarily understand, or hasn’t really come to terms with. I think it’s amazing to see Ian in these earlier episodes where he’s kind of getting kicked around by his relationships and by his family. He’s kind of a forgotten kid a little bit. He’s like a middle child, who’s just sort of– people aren’t really looking out for him. His brother does to a certain extent, but also his brother is kind of telling him what he wants for himself and Ian isn’t as active.

At a certain point, he starts to really come into his own as an adult and as a human being. I think it’s amazing how we see him as not only a big brother by the end of the series, but also sort of– there’s something a bit paternal about him. He becomes a bit of a father figure, even a little bit in his relationships. I think it’s interesting how Mickey was always sort of the commanding force and deciding factor for so much of the series; when Ian was really struggling with mental illness and down in the dumps, Mickey is the kind of guy who was looking after him, but by the end of the series, Mickey is a bit childlike in certain ways. Ian is kind of protecting him to a certain extent, and even with his older brother, Lip, Ian is sort of looking out for him in a slightly paternal way, which I think is kind of interesting. He really comes a long way in sort of being confident enough in himself to start looking out for other people that I think is a really great quality. It makes him a character who has made a fair amount of mistakes but mistakes that we understand, and I think that ultimately he’s a guy that I understand and really relate to because he does have this quality to him.

So I have to ask you some questions about Ian and Mickey. I personally love them together, they were one of the reasons I started watching the show. In the end, as you said, we kind of get some closure, but also an open ending with them and it’s a happy one; they’re together and celebrating their anniversary. In your head, what do you think that their future holds? Do you think kids are in the picture; do you think they’re going to be parents? Ideally, what is your version of their happy ending, if you could create it?

I think that they both still need to do some work. I would say that they need to do work as a couple in their marriage still of just defining the terms of what is it that they want financially, sexually, intimately, personally, all of these things. It’s a show full of people who aren’t great at communication or dealing with their own feelings– I mean to a certain extent, most human beings aren’t, but these guys, especially, come from a rough background and they have that tendency of just kind of wanting to push that stuff down. Ian has really opened up Mickey and Mickey to a certain extent has really opened up Ian over the course of the series, but I still don’t think they’re fully all the way there. Mickey has a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to parenthood, his father, and dealing with responsibility.

I don’t know if Mickey is fully there. Hopefully, he would be one day in the future. And hopefully, Ian would be patient enough to give him the space to make that decision and to not want to rush into it. I do think that it would be something in their future. Parenthood was a huge motivating factor for Ian earlier in the series, going so far as to steal someone’s baby at some point because he wants to be a father. I would hope that they would be able to provide that for him and for themselves, but there’s no way to know, we have to sort of make that assumption for ourselves, but I think so.

Ian and Mickey have been this fan-favorite couple that means so much to the LGBTQ+ community in terms of representation. What was the moment that you personally started rooting for them?

I think it was pretty early. I was rooting for Ian from the first episode, from the pilot, but the second that Mickey gets introduced to the show, he brought such a fun dynamic with him. Obviously, a massive amount of charisma that was coming from Noel Fisher. The scenes were always fun, exciting, and felt steeped in a lot of dramatic tension. Whether or not they were destined to be together was kind of a question that still was developing. In the first season to the third season, the Mickey character is pretty rough emotionally and physically; he is at points pretty, extremely abusive in a way that is great for a character and for a story, but if I was talking to Ian as a person in real life, I would probably say, “Get the hell away from this guy. He’s awful for you.”

But within the context of the story, we’re able to get the internal life of these characters and we understand them well enough to really want to be rooting for them and see them succeed. It builds into this pretty epic love story of these characters that really do feel kind of intertwined by fate and something greater. It feels like you have these forces pulling for them in a way that you want with every fiber of your being to see it work out for them because you care for them. So obviously, Noel and I had been rooting for these characters the entire time, but it was really fun playing some of the ridiculousness of the situations of the two of them, where they were just very at odds with each other at times. It was a joy bouncing off of each other in both the highs and the lows of the character.

Is there sort of a message that you hope their love story gives to viewers that see themselves in these characters?

Well, I think the aspects of the characters, especially for Mickey, that I’m sure a lot of people relate to, and it is sort of the greatest tragedy of the character, is how he is deeply in the closet and he feels that he can’t embrace his own self and also this beautiful love because of this situation that he’s in; a traumatic home life, specifically an abusive father, and also an environment that doesn’t allow him to be what he wants to be. I guess the message that I do hope that people who are relating to that get is that there are places where you can be accepted and there are better options for you, and sometimes that takes time, but as cliched as it is, it does get better. So hopefully people are able to find these safe environments for themselves to be able to improve the quality of life and to get better situations. I hope that people find hope in the story ultimately.

Another relationship of Ian’s that I have to discuss is his relationship with the whole Gallagher family; that was a focus of the series since day one. What was your favorite part of their dynamic and playing off that?

Obviously, the chaos of the family is always really fun to play. We had these scenes that were kind of an amazing balancing act of like 8 or 9 people in a scene, all messing around with these different storylines that are bouncing off of each other, intertwining, and you have this really biting sharp satirical dialogue that all had a very specific rhythm to it and was a sort of flow that was established early in the show that was kind of kept across the entire series; one that was a genuine joy as a performer to play. But I think that specifically the relationship that I’ve always been a fan of and I love from the start, is probably– it’s definitely one of my favorite relationships on the show– was the relationship between Ian and Lip.

There’s not a lot of depictions of brotherhood and intimacy between men that are deeply sensitive, close, and uncomplicated. Those are definitely scenes that I felt very personally moved by, of two brothers who have just had a world of shit, a lot of complicated and messed up things that have been dropped on their heads that they’ve been dealing with for the entirety of their lives, but they’ve sort of made a pact that they were just gonna be there for each other no matter what. If they weren’t there for each other, who knows if they would have survived. I think that there’s something really amazing about those scenes in that they’re just very open with each other, and that’s something that’s established right from the start and was kind of one of those key relationships for the show that survived until the very last episode and that I’m very proud of, cause I do think that those are some of my personal favorite scenes of the show.

Here’s a fun three-part question: most challenging, fun, and insane storyline for you as an actor?

Most challenging would probably have to be… we reached a point in the series around season 8 and they were trying to contextualize the characters in a modern way, put them into new circumstances, but try to retain what the characters were, but they’ve moved a lot from where they originally were. We were at a point where we were getting so many new writers onto the series, and the show I feel struggled for a second, which happens with any series that’s been on for a while. It felt like there was a point where they didn’t know what they wanted to do with Ian. There were a couple of episodes where I was kind of looking at the story and being like, “What are we doing here? It doesn’t really feel like anything is happening with him and we’re kind of floating across these relationships.” I wasn’t sure what we were trying to say, but that being said, that is kind of true to life, to a certain degree, where we do find ourselves sometimes in these ruts where we don’t know what we’re doing with our relationships, our lives, and ourselves. There is a little bit of a struggle there and that is kind of real to a certain degree, and I do think having those episodes make when they started finding the way with the character and relationships again, kind of more satisfying cause he sort of loses his way and he comes back. So it was kind of a challenge, but I think it all worked out ultimately.

Craziest would have to be… so this is one that no one would even know is like a thing really, no one would even think of it as a thing, but the scene in the pilot episode, Lip and Ian jump out of like a window and they run out of a house to escape an angry parent, right? And they’re kind of running in a rush. So they run out in their socks, down the street, and it’s the middle of January in Chicago and the streets are covered in mud, water, and ice. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever felt in my life that I actually thought my feet were going to like fall off. I thought we were going to have to amputate a toe because of frostbite. We did the scene a bunch of times, and because Jeremy and I were young, we were just sort of trying to be tough, just like, “Yeah, whatever, it’s not a problem. We can do this over and over, not a big deal.” Then I definitely learned a lesson of like, when something is a problem, you have to say, it’s a problem.

Most fun… I don’t know if I can distill it to just one scene. I think the most fun was just getting to interact with all of the wildly different personalities of our show, and just kind of get to sit around and hang out with everyone. There were times that we would just be laughing so hard that one of us would start and we just end up crying, laughing. Usually, it was because of Howey cracking jokes or something like that, but it could be just the dumbest to smallest thing, but it’s the kind of thing when you become so comfortable with people, it just starts to happen. Sometimes it was just the downtime and these little small kind of boring or mundane moments that really ended up being some of my favorite experiences.

Did you take anything from the set at all?

I did. So in the final season, there’s a storyline where Frank steals Nighthawks, the Edward Hopper painting, and that was actually done in cooperation with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Edward Hopper estate. They did these really high-resolution prints of it that were then painted over by hand, and they even took pictures of the back and mimicked the way that the canvas wrapped over, the small writing, and everything. It’s a pretty damn good forgery of Nighthawks. So I stole one of those and that’s hanging up in my living room. I also stole one of the mugs cause in the show we’re always having breakfast and drinking coffee, so there are these rooster mugs and I stole one of those.

Since you’re talking to The Nerds of Color, I have to ask you about Star Wars and Gotham. What stood out to you about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order compared to your other work, and what did it mean to you to join that iconic universe?

I mean, what stood out pretty quickly was that it had a tone all of its own. Star Wars is a very specific tone. It has sort of its own language, pacing, style, and rhythm; there’s something very specific about it, something that I’m a big fan of. I grew up watching the Star Wars movies and that was definitely… you know, anytime that you’re jumping onto something with an active and passionate fanbase it’s going to be slightly intimidating. There’s no way around that. Thankfully, I’ve at this point done enough projects with really passionate fanbases to kind of understand what that entails, which is that there’s going to be a lot of opinions. A lot of people are really excited about things and no matter what, even the smallest things, someone’s going to be very, very angry about it. That comes along with the territory, but that’s kind of fun to a certain degree; it’s fun to hear such minutiae and being examined, and these conversations are ones that are being had on set too.

There’s so much conversation between the Lucasfilm story group, Respawn, and EA, who are the production companies behind the game, and also the cast, directors, and everybody involved are sometimes discussing, “How does a person stand? How does one get onto a speeder bike? What kind of sound does this monster make?” And there’s always a genuine deference and respect to the series. We know how much people care about it. We know because we care about it a lot, and everyone on this project are huge fans of the source material. So that was exciting to be a part of, obviously; I mean, that should go without saying. It’s so freaking cool to be a Jedi and to be the face of this massive franchise, and to be able to not only be a part of a really well-known property and part of this large project but also to be able to tell an interesting and intimate story within it. For as bombastic as all of the action is, and as big as the Star Wars universe is, I feel the story of Cal Kestis and the people that he interacts with is a somewhat smaller one and a more intimate one. It’s ultimately, at least for me, a pretty emotionally resonant one and a story that I actually very much care about and relate to. I think that was probably the most exciting part about it, was being able to within the framework of this big machinery of what Star Wars is, still tell a story that might actually affect people and make them feel things, I think was just really cool.

Could you describe how it felt to take on the role of the Joker?

Exciting, intimidating, an honor, and challenging; it’s a role that I didn’t take lightly. I understood what it was, which is that a lot of the people who were seeing me in the role had never heard of me and didn’t know who I was, and it was a way to prove myself and to show off my take of what I could do with this. It was really cool too with that show that we were getting to do something that had never really been done before with the character, which is to show multiple versions and possibilities of what that character could be, and to kind of tip our hat to some of the famous stories that came before, and then kind of give a unique spin and show off some new things with it as well.

Obviously, that show was heightened to a certain degree and kind of existed in this wacky over-the-top violent, but also slightly cartoony universe that was kind of its own little thing. That was really fun to play around with it and to totally get to do something kind of different with that, something that we hadn’t seen before. But I think it was specifically really intimidating because, at that point of casting when I performed the episode in the first season of that show, no one had played the role since Heath Ledger had posthumously won the Oscar for the role. So the only people who had touched it in live-action had been Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, which are just massive, massive shoes to fill and two people that I deeply admired. Again, it’s just sort of a case of respect and wanting to kind of come in, just do my absolute best with the material, and to try to pay a certain level of honor to the people that came before.

Anything you can tease about what you’re going to do next? Any future projects?

Absolutely. It’s always difficult with this stuff because there’s only so much you can say. I can say that I just shot a film that hasn’t been announced yet, but I was out of town shooting it for a while. It’s the starring role in the film, and that will come out to theaters in the near future. I’m also working on another project over the course of the next year that I will be working on and off for. Again, thanks to the joys of NDAs, I can’t actually say what it is. I have a movie that I will be doing in June and then also I’m starting to move a bit behind the camera as well. So I’m working on producing and starring in a feature in August or September. And I’m writing a couple of projects right now as well. So it’s a loaded year for the next year, but it’s all very exciting that’s happening.

#LOVED THIS #cameron monaghan #shameless #shameless us #ian gallagher #gallavich #noel fisher #mickey milkovich #jerome valeska #the joker #gotham #jeremiah valeska #mr j #cal kestis #jedi fallen order #star wars

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aibidil · 4 years ago

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On female characters being held to a higher standard

I want to discuss something I've seen in fandom that applies much more broadly, and it involves internalized misogyny toward fictional characters.

Fictional characters often do some shitty things. In fandom, we often explore the shitty things they've done in canon or introduce new shitty things! I can't even begin to list the number of shitty things I've read characters do. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I love moral ambiguity in fiction! I think we humans have lots to learn from thinking about the inherent messiness of life and of relationships.

I write mostly mlm fic. Which means I write mostly male characters and have mostly female readers. (Another whole thing but not focusing on that right now.) And what I've found is this: in fics where I have prominent female characters who are exactly as messy and complicated as the male characters I write, the comments I get are much different. I can think of maybe one or two comments EVER in which I've been criticized for a male character doing something wrong. But Hermione and Ginny? Lots.

I wrote a fic in which Hermione is literally under attack by men's rights activists because she got love potions outlawed. The fic spends a lot of time exploring the complexity of the issue, and in the fic Hermione is challenged by allies with more and less robust challenges and by men's rights activists who are trying to sexually assault her in retaliation. I have received DOZENS of comments (many extremely impassioned) telling me how wrong Hermione is, how can she think outlawing them is the right answer?!, etc.

I wrote a fic in which Harry and Ginny get pregnant almost immediately after the war and Ginny has an abortion without telling Harry. Harry is triggered and gets super upset, etc etc. I recently got two very serious comments telling me that Ginny should've talked to Harry about the abortion, that her behavior wasn't healthy, and that girls shouldn't do that.

I don't care about the comments. But I do feel like we need to have a conversation about this double standard we apparently have wrt fictional characters—because I'm not writing these women any differently than I write men, and the comments are wildly different.

Why are we expecting so much more of female characters? Why are we expecting what amounts to perfection? Do we not see that this contributes to really poor female representation in books and fandom?

Why are we expecting that fanfiction is offering life advice? And if we are expecting that, why are we expecting it more when it's female characters on the page? Fiction isn't life advice, even if sometimes we get amazing life lessons from it.

Both of the fics I mention above are Harry/Draco fics. My most fundamental question, then, is why it's so easy for readers to redeem Draco when they can't do the same for female characters WHO HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING NEARLY AS BAD AS HE HAS?

Draco was a bb nazi. Draco joined a hate group that sought to genocide ppl including Harry's bff and mother and his father was the lead torture. Draco idolized that father's actions until the whole thing got too close and bummed him out.

Listen. I am all for redemption stories. I think Draco is a fantastic character (as should be obvious from my fics). But why is it that we as readers can forgive that type of behavior, but not Hermione having a radical political position on love potions? Why is it that we can handwave bigotry and torture but not a 17yo girl who is traumatized and grieving for getting an abortion without consulting a man?

So first, fictional characters do not always behave in ideal human ways. An author writing that isn't condoning any of the behavior.

Second, if you find yourself outraged by a female character's behavior, maybe take a moment to ask yourself whether your internalized misogyny is showing. Are you excusing much worse behavior in male characters?

#fandom #gender and fandom #female characters #double standards #hp fic

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lunaekalenda · 4 years ago

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Heyo can I get an Armin x fem reader where he’s currently dating Annie and reader is a new student and Armin and reader start to get to know each other more and start to gain feelings for each other and reader doesn’t know he’s dating Annie and shes on pretty good terms with her since Annie sort of envies her cuz she’s sweet and outgoing, so reader asks him out he says yes and things are great for them until Annie starts to realize Armins been distancing himself from her and hanging out with reader a lot and she confronts him about it and he admits that he just fell out of love and started gaining heavy feelings for reader and they break up even though Annie’s hurt she tries to stay happy and accepts reader and armins new found relationship:3 (can it be a modern AU and can it be in 1st POV from either reader or Armin please and thank you)

hiii!! :D omg yes!! i hope you like it! sorry if i took long to write it :’) and i think it’s a little messed up sorry

i hope it is what you’ve asked for! i didn’t want to make it longer, so this is it!

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

❁ Private lessons

❁ Armin x female reader

❁ !! : cheating

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

"So this is your new classmate, I hope you get along well."

Everybody smiles, specially a blue-eyed girl on the first row. The professor tells me to sit next to her.

"Hi, I'm Historia." She smiles sweetly. I smile back at her. Professor Keith starts his class, and I do my best to follow his explanations.

I used to study in a south zone institute, but my dad was posted north which made me move and switch to this institute. Near to Historia, and looking at her, is a tall girl with brown eyes and a low ponytail. On my other side, there’s a brown-haired boy with freckles, looking nice and smiling. Behind him, a boy with an undercut looks bored. The professor starts talking about history, and Historia passes me a paper.

“I can give you my notes for you to copy” I smile at her and nod. An hour after, the class is finished.

“Okay, I’ll introduce you to all. This girl here is Ymir.” she points to the tall girl, that is walking towards us. She hugs Historia while talking.

“I hate history classes, oh, my sweet and beloved Historia, if you...”

“I’ll help you to study this afternoon.” Ymir smiles at her and kisses her cheek in signal of thanks. “Oh, the new one.” I smile at Ymir and she does the same.

Historia points a huge blonde boy, that was sitting behind me. He’s talking with a black-haired tall guy. “Those two are Reiner and Bertholdt. And the blonde girl coming is Annie” A girl with a bun goes to the door, followed by a boy. “And that’s Armin. He’s always with Eren and Eren is always with Mikasa.” They are following Armin. The boy with freckles comes and smiles at me.

“Hi, I’m Marco! I hope we can became friends! He’s Jean, my best friend.” The boy with the undercut waves his hand at me.

“Oh, and the two fighting for cup of ramen are Connie and Sasha. Now, should we eat together?” I nod to Marco and Historia. They pull their tables together and star eating. They tell me how was the first semester and try to know if my institute on the south was giving the same subjects than here, and told me to join their study group.

“Armin gives us classes. He’s really smart and catches up all the subjects, and he also likes to explain.” They tell me that the next session is going to be tomorrow afternoon on Reiner’s. “We take turns studying at each other's house, so it's not always the same host” Actually that’s a good plan, so I guess someday I’ll have to be a host too. My face darkens as I remember that my house is too small to accommodate more than three people in the same room. Mom and Dad live in a flat that dad's company gave them, but the distance between that apartment and the institute made them decide to rent a one-man flat for me. We keep eating and attending the next classes.

Faster than I thought, the afternoon of the study group arrived. I took all the books before leaving home, and walked towards the entrance, where Marco, that lives literally next door, was waiting to help me arrive to Reiner’s home. He was dressing casually, not a huge difference between seeing him on the school uniform.

“Good morning!” Marco says when I left the entrance. I wave my hand at him. “Ready for a studying session?”

“I think so, but everybody raves about how well Armin explains, so I’m impatient to see it! I think I need a lot of help to pass this course.”

“That’s normal, you arrived in the middle of it! But I’m sure you’ll be okay, your grades on the other institute were pretty high!” Marco, as the class delegate, had to pass my expedient to the new institute, and he looked at my grades to do it. We walk in silence while he explains me some streets or where our classmates lived.

“Reiner’s house is the one furthest from the institute, the rest of us live near it.”

Once were in Reiner’s house, a lot of classmates were waiting outside. Jean walked towards Marco.

“I knew you could guide the new girl here without problem!” Jean smiles at me and Historia comes, followed by Ymir.

“Oh, you arrived!” Historia says. Then, Reiner makes us enter his house. We all sit when Armin arrives. He has his blonde hair messy, and his hands are occupied with some papers.

The studio group is outgoing and nice to me, but when Armin starts to explain history of the north, I’m totally lost. He looks at me with curiosity.

Armin’s eyes were so beautiful, and every time he looks at me my heart flutters.

“Do you understand it?” I shake my head. The north history is totally new for me, I never studied it. “Don’t worry, are you free tomorrow?”

“Hm, yes, I am” He smiles before writing something on a paper. “There’s were I live. Come at four and I’ll explain everything to you, with detail.”

He was so sweet I couldn’t say no, so I nod and smile at him.

Walking back home, Marco explains me where Armin lives.

“Up that street, the last house. He lives in front of Eren and Mikasa.”

Marco invited me to have dinner with him and Jean in a near bar, where, surprisingly, also Connie was having dinner. When I asked him why he was there alone, he told me.

“I took some dinner with me but Sasha ate it, and now I have to have some dinner because I’m about to pass out of hunger.”

“Can we sit here, Conn?” Marco asks and Connie nods. We have dinner between laughs and stories. and everybody leaves once we’re finished.

The next day, I'm in front of Armin's house, waiting for him. He makes me go into his house.

"Sorry if my room is messed up, I just woke up." He says, with his hand on his neck. I laugh.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure your room is more organized than mine.” He lets me pass in front of him to a clear and enormous room. It has a lot of books and a shelf full of seashells. He tells me to take off my jacket and put it on a near chair. We sit on the floor, near to the coffee table he has in the middle of the room. He takes some books with him.

“Okay, so North History.” I nod. He starts to explain me with calm and quiet voice, making sure I understand everything, and looking me in the eyes.

I can’t concentrate if his ocean eyes are fixed on mine. Once Armin ends explaining me the unit, we agreed in having a little break. He passes me a cup of coffee and a couple cookies.

“So, do you like the city?” he asks. I nod while swallowing the coffee.

“Yes, it’s pretty cool. In the south we don’t have this big cities like in the north, Is more like a rural place. So at first it was complicated for me to move.” Armin nods, telling me without words that he understands me.

“Well, I can show you the city. I’m not a talkative person but I know a lot about the history of the place, so I can tell you about some of the famous buildings.”

“That would be amazing...” Thanks to my parents, I was born without the gift of shame. Armin had caught my eye, so why not give it a try? “Something like a date?”

Armin laughs, kinda blushing.

“Yes, something like a date.” he answers.

A couple weeks later, after passing a lot of time with Armin, we decided to go and explore the city. I choose a yellow dress my mum bought me for our date. He was there when I arrived.

“Hi!” He looks at me when I talk to him. He smiles a bit.

“Hi” answers. We start walking. Where do you want to start?”

“What about the park?” He nods. We walk, and he tells me a lot of curious things about the city. “Did you know this was a prison?”

The, he invites me, buying me an ice cream. We sit on a cool park, and we eat the ice creams in silence. His phone starts to sound. He looks the name of the person who’s calling, but he puts his phone again on his pocket.

“Sorry, you know how many times a day do telephone companies call.” I nod, totally clueless. He was kinda nervous after that, and it made me think he maybe wasn’t talking with telephone companies.

After the long day out, my feet hurt. Armin laughs and accompanies me home. Once we’re at my door, Armin smiles sweetly.

“Do you want to enter?” I ask. Armin’s face blushes. “N-No! I wasn’t asking like that?!”

“I know, I know.” he laughs, “Anyway, I should go home. It’s kinda late.” he looks the hour on his phone. I can glimpse a blonde girl on his wallpaper, smiling at the camera.

“Well, thanks for today...” I say, in low voice, He smiles and lends closer to me. His gaze fixed on my mouth.

“See you tomorrow?” I ask. He hums before leaning even closer and he kisses me.

I kiss him back. I was literally hoping for this to happen. His arms are around my waist. When we part, I’m kinda dizzy. He’s an awesome kisser, not gonna lie.

“Bye, then.”

He’s about to leave, but what kind of boy leaves a girl right after kissing her? I took his hand.

“Does this mean that now we are dating?” I ask. He smiles wide.

“Probably. I’ll wait for you tomorrow.” He kisses me again, lightly, and then he leaves.

Our relationship grew really fast, but he didn’t want to look that closer at school.

“You know, professors might think we’re not fixed on our studies.”

And he also was really close to Annie. I wasn’t jealous, he spends a lot of time at my house, my mum loves him and we are so in love...

Annie looks at me with anger while we’re in music class. She’s fixed on me. When she comes to talk with me, Armin intercepts her.

“Annie! can we talk outside a bit?” He says. She looks at me, but then nods. I stand up and follow them. They’re talking in the corridor. I tell myself to sit and mind my own business, but her tone makes me stay there, listening,

“You’re really close to her now.” she says. Armin asks her to be quiet.

“Annie, I only love you...”

“You’ve been lying for a fucking month. Stop it already, Armin. Tell me the truth, or I’ll ask her.”

“I...” I can hear Annie’s steps, but it’s late to go back to my seat. Fortunately, Armin calls her. “Wait, Annie! See... I... I don’t love you. It was fast, but I fell in love with her. She’s really sweet and I couldn’t handle it. She studied so close to me... Her lips so close... And admit it, our relationship was about to die.” He says. Annie doesn’t make a sound.

Were Annie and Armin dating?

Did I break a couple?

Oh, no.

“Well, we...”

“We were sinking, And because of you.” he says. “You wasted a lot of time with Reiner and Bert. You were the one always occupied to see me. The one that never came to our dates. I need someone to be with, Annie, and you weren’t filling that desire, so I started to feel less and less for you. And she loves me. She always asks me to do something with her, either watch a movie or just lay down together. She counts me on her plans. I deserve something like what I give. So, I hope you can be happy with another one.”

“But why you waited so long to break up with me?”

“I thought you knew I was cheating on you. I was kinda obvious.”

Annie keeps being quiet.

“Hope you two be happy then.” she says, before walking to the opposite direction.

Maybe their relationship was made to sink. Armin enters again, and I look interested to the books on the shelf.

“You’re so cute...” he says. I smile a bit.

The doubt about asking him or not about what just happened dissapears when I feel his lips on mine.

“We don’t have to hide now?” I ask. He shakes his head.

“No more.”

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peachypunk22 · 4 years ago

Text

Harringrove Feedback Fest

not me participating in something when I haven’t been active in months 😅

fic recs from AO3 authors that inspire me! these fics are all incredible and i’ve re-read each one listed multiple times!!

@gothyringwald thank you for putting this together! its such a cute idea!

knit more tightly together by lymrics (E) @lymricks

part one of the blues in chicago series. i think one of the first harringrove fics I read. love the steve/billy dynamic and so emotional and high tension that im pretty sure it made me cry at some point? even though it’s not a sad fic! idk it just really pulled some emotion up. literally the fic that got me into the fandom and wanting to write for it! the whole series is amazing!

Steve takes a second to feel relieved it's not Dustin getting all sorts of arrested in places he shouldn’t be, then he goes back to staring.

It's Billy, who looks as good now as he did the last time Steve saw him: three years ago. He looks just as complicated, too. He’s got bruises on his face, a split lip.

star-crossed bullshit (black holes feast) by ?? (E)

this work got orphaned, but i’m so glad the author didn’t delete because it’s one of my all time faves! strong dom/sub undertones and messy relationship with an incredible use of the unreliable narrator! plus it has mechanic!billy

Billy makes a mixtape for when he fucks boys, except it’s on Spotify, and he’s only fucking Steve, and all the songs are oddly, and suspiciously, romantic.

liquor (on your lips, makes you dangerous) by eternalgoldfish (E) @eternalgoldfish

i love a college!au with some gross hot Billy and this one is so good. equal parts cute, funny, and sweet with a side of kinky that I hadn’t read before

“Careful, sweetie, don’t break a nail,” Billy said, leaning over Steve’s shoulder, lazy cat’s-grin gleaming up to his eyes.

“I’m not going to break a fucking nail.” Steve hissed and elbowed him, like he hadn’t been thinking the same thing as he struggled to wedge one of his shiny red nails into his wallet’s tight leather pockets.

Or, Steve makes a bet he can't win and Billy doesn't realize his mistake.

i’m saucing on you by Boardingschooled (E)

speaking of college!au’s this one has fratboy!Billy being gross hot in all the best ways. also sweaty concert grinding, boys being absolutley smitten, and waffle house breakfast dates? it’s like college slaps you in the face and makes you listen to AMINE and it’s great

Steve wants a ticket to the biggest party on campus; Billy's got one with Steve's name on it.

Tale as Old as Time by hoppnhorn (M) @hoppnhorn

i’m an absolute sucker for beauty and the beast au’s and hoppnhorn is such a fantastic writer that i had to include this one

Prince William, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Steven, a man who bewitches him from the very moment he steps foot in his enchanted castle.

Honeyed Wine by Antarc (T) @rascheln

am i biased because this fic has literally all of the thing i like because it was written for me? perhaps. but for real, this fic is SO sweet and well-written! it has baker!billy and a twist at the end that i did not see coming at all. every time i read it i just have a huge smile on my face

While he recovers from an injury at Robin's farm and helps run her market stall, Steve unexpectedly reunites with his old high school rival. Billy, once a tough asshole who got into weekly fights, is now a proud owner of the best bakery in town and mans the stall right next to Steve's- with the best croissants Steve has ever eaten.

samarra by gothyringwald (T) @gothyringwald

i think this was the first fic in a long time that i’ve read that took a more gen/mystery/sci-fi approach, with the romance taking a backseat for most of it, and honestly this fic made me remember how much i like reading. the story and universe building is excellent. very trippy and gives off a lot of twin peaks dream walking surrealist vibes.

When the kids bring Billy back from the dead, it doesn’t go quite as expected: he’s alive but his soul has been left behind. And Steve is the only person who can bring it back.

Salt in the Wound by SheWritesDirty (E) @shewritesdirty

if ‘fuck your enemies’ was a genre, this would be THE fic. rough, gritty, and violent. I could wax poetic about how much I love the writing style and imagery and how different it feels in comparison to other fic. steve and billy are toxic and messy and so bad that its good

The way he ate slow, like his jaw hurt. Like it was tender, like whatever had put that bruise on his face had left more of an impact than just… flesh and bone. And now that he was seeing it... Steve knew that he hadn’t done that to Billy.

That someone else had, after that night and over the weekend... someone else had gotten their hands on Billy and put karma into his skin.

And he still hadn’t looked at Steve.

Here I Go Again by HeckinaHandbasket (E) (WIP) @heck-in-a-handbasket

oh god oblivious!Steve is top tier in this A/B/O fic. combine with a lifeguard!billy that’s trying (and failing) in his rough, fumbling way to make it obvious that he’s courting him and you get this adorable mess. it’s so sweet and funny and the rest of the gang are actual little kids that run around and create havoc. i’m always excited when it updates!

Not just a new lifeguard, either. No, Billy was the lifeguard supervisor.

Because of course he was, the prick.

Swing Away by lemonlovely (E)

sports!au sports!au sports!au - specifically a baseball!au that actually serves as a really cool character exploration of billy and his dad and sports. this one is so bittersweet and i love the dynamic between steve and billy as they figure out a rocky start to a friendship and romance

Steve and Billy go to the same Hawkins Baseball Camp that Steve's been going to since he was a kid, and Billy is not particularly thrilled to be there - he fucking hates baseball, alright? And he tells Steve as much.

lamp-bright rind by nagdabbit (G)

chef!Billy teaching his neighbor Steve how to cook au. unbelievably sweet and a writing style that is unique, expressive, and comedic. you really fall in love with the characters, as flawed as they may be, and the descriptions of food. did i mention its an almost 100k slow-burn?

Billy spies on his cute neighbor, his cute neighbor doesn't know how to cook. Luckily, Billy can do something about that.

#harringrove feedback fest #harringrove #i tagged everyone's tumblrs that i could find #but yeah check these out!!

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aeligsido · 3 years ago

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So I recently saw some posts about the new Batgirls title and how it’s possible that StephCass becomes canon in it. And I have some thoughts™️ about it, and StephCass in general.

I’m going to start this by saying that yes, absolutely, I want representation. It’s super important, and I’m not mad that writers think about making it more canon (bc apparently it’s already canon in Future State, which, valid), and honestly, if there’s a wlw couple to make canon this one works very well. I’m also not here to destroy anyone's joy or anything, I just want to give my opinion about something that has been bothering me for a moment now. This ship, and the people who ship it, is very valid, and I totally understand why it’s popular and why people like it.

That being said, this ship doesn’t spark joy for me. It’s a question of personal taste, I suppose, and there’s a few things that bother me that really have nothing to do with what I want to talk about today (not really, at least).

It’s just that, as a Steph fan, I can’t help but feel like it’s a huge disservice to her character. She was created to be Tim’s love interest, then fridged when the writers realized she was becoming more popular than him, then brought back to life when they realized that people wanted her back. And sure, having her not being Tim’s love interest anymore and existing outside of it, choosing the person she will love herself, it’s amazing and totally something that should be done to get her further away from these origins.

The problem for me is that Steph is still stuck having to be the love interest of one of the Batkids to exist -- both in fanon and in canon, apparently. With Tim and Cass for the most part, or sometimes Jason or even Damian -- and there’s no shame for anyone if you like these ships!! It’s totally valid, once again, and I’m not here to police what you should like or not. It just bothers me that Steph can only exist as a love interest, and no, the fact that she went from a boy to a girl is not really an improvement. Because at the end of the day, she’s still stuck as being nothing more than the girl who has to fall in love, and nothing more.

And, again, as a Steph fan, it bothers me a whole lot. Like, for starters I can’t read a Steph-centric fic without it having TimSteph or StephCass, both ships that I don’t personally like, so it’s upsetting for me, but I also feel like it spits on the face of all the development she should go through. Steph is a strong young woman, who was raised in abuse, comes out from it, and chooses to be smiling and optimistic and to believe in a better future, even if she has to fight for it. She has her own personality and her own history, her own moral and her own belief, and it’s too often relegated to nothing so she can be the perfect girlfriend.

Besides, Steph has proved herself a dozen times already. She shouldn’t have to be “the girlfriend” to be accepted into the Batfam. She shouldn’t have to be a love interest to be considered interesting and good enough for them. It’s forgetting, once again, everything she is, but also her other relationships. The fact that she’s Damian's big sister, and that she was the one who helped him being a kid. The fact that Dick did try to mentor her, as much as he could because back then he has his own very messy life, and then when he was Batman and she was Batgirl -- sure, he wasn’t okay for her to go out again at first, but you have to consider that his latest memories of her was probably her funerals and how yet again a kid died in his family colors, so, yeah. But he still accepted her and tried, and they could have an interesting relationship if anyone really tried to write them. She has an interesting relationship with Barbara as well, who was her mentor but who also was judgemental toward her at the beginning; with Bruce, whom relationship with her is extremely complicated, but I can’t help but feel like they would probably have been closer if Bruce hadn’t been lost in his grief and refusing to get his head out of his ass -- he did like Steph and recognize she was good, he was just too afraid to really do anything else than reject her; she has her relationship with Leslie, who sacrificed so much just for her; even in the new comics and the New52 that make me want to commit arson, Steph has a relationship with Duke, apparently friendly and/or sibling-like, and it should be explored more!!

But instead, once again, Steph is relegated to love interest. And it’s sad. It just makes me sad. She deserves so, so much more.

AND, I’m absolutely not against Steph dating a girl. I’ve been hcing her as pansexual since I started in the DC fandom lmao. I just feel like Steph should have contact outside of the Batfam and Gotham. She should be a real part of Young Justice, or the Teen Titans. She should have friends outside of that one time with Kara (who has been used as “the super best friend” of almost every Batgirl, btw, so I don’t even feel like it’s special), have way more contacts, have way more people she could get to know and date and go out with and laugh and cry with and everything.

Steph should be spreading her wings, but instead DC -- and, despite all, the fanon as well -- keeps her pinned to the ground. And it’s just very sad for me.

(Steph wasn’t a Robin for nothing. You can debate a lot about why she was one, how she became one, but the point is the same -- she’s a Robin, and she’s meant to fly.)

(Tbh I also have a lot of things to say about how annoyed I am about Cass using the Orphan codename, how deaged they both are right now and how it destroys so much of their history, but that’s probably for another time lmao.)

So. Yeah. I’m not mad about DC plans -- or not -- to make StephCass canon, or whatever. I just don’t vibe with this ship, but again -- personal taste! I’m personally aware it’s only my opinion, but yeah, I just wanted to get it out. You’re all free to ship whatever you want, I’m not here to judge that!!

And, again, as a huge Steph fan, it just makes me sad as a whole. She just deserves better than constantly being the love interest.

#dc #batfam #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #meta #AGAIN i have nothing against the ship #it's so valid #i totally get why people ship it #but steph deserves better #not better than cass bc cass is cass and wonderful #but better than being the love interest #also side note that i absolutely adore cass #even if she too is mistreated a lot by fanon #but it's probably a meta for another time #i just love my girls so much and the situation makes me sad #it just feels like a 'let's put these characters together and calling it a day'#beside when i see them in fanfic it's so often just in the background #just so tim can be free to date kon or another boy #and uuuuurg it's a whole another thing entirely but upsetting all the same #ANYWAY YES that was my controversal post lmao #love to you all #remember to be civil to each other if you interact with this post plz <3

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ladyreapermc · 5 years ago

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Rules of Engagement 1/? (Henry x OFC)

Summary: Henry and Em have been friends for almost ten years and involved in a casual affair for just as long. The rules were simple: no romantic attachment and their friends and family couldn’t know. Easy enough to do right? However, when new complications emerge, Henry and Em will need to navigate this relationship of theirs, if they can even call it that. Chapter 02 | Chapter 03 | Chapter 04 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 06

Author’s Notes: Here it is. My first official series for Henners. I’m strangely nervous, because it’s sort of my baby and I have been putting lots of work on it for a couple of months now. So I would really, really appreciate feedback if you could take some time to do it.

Wordcount: 4815

Warnings: alcohol consumption; smut (oral; dirty talk; penetration)

Chapter 01: Casual Affair

It was by pure chance that when Emeline’s flight coming from Istambul had technical difficulties while on air, they stopped in Budapest of all places. However, it was straight bad luck that what was supposed to be just a quick stop turned into an allnighter due to more serious engine problems, with her new flight being scheduled for the next morning.

She considered just getting herself a hotel but it was nearly ten p.m. she was exhausted and Em really didn’t want to deal with finding a half-decent place to crash when she could just call Henry. That was what friends were for right?

Henry came, of course. That was the kind of person he was. Kind and helpful. Dependable. He hugged her tight, since they hadn’t seen each other since Clara and Todd’s baby had been born, before taking her carryon like the perfect gentleman and ushering Em into the rental car he had been using during his stay.

During the drive, he talked in an excited tone about the series and all the work he had to do. Em could only smile at the huge grin on his lips and the glint of excitement in his blue eyes. It was quite something to see Henry this happy and engaged with a project. Em was truly glad for him, but she was also tired, never being one to sleep on airplanes, so her contributions to the conversations were just hmms and nods every now and then, not that Henry seemed to mind.

“Did you eat?” Henry asked once he parked at the driveway of the cute white house and its perfectly maintained lawn that had been his home for the last couple of months.

“Airport food? Please!” she pulled a face, making Henry laugh as he led the way through the stone pathway.

“You’re such a food snob,” he commented, pausing by the front door, and Em was already smiling because she could hear Kal’s whines through the door.

“I’m not. I just have good taste.” Em dropped to her knees to pet and greet Kal which shot out the second Henry opened the door.

She had always loved dogs but never had a chance to have one for herself. At first, her father didn’t allow it, but once she moved out Em didn’t really have the space to keep one so she channeled all her dog mom tendencies towards Kal.

“Sometimes I think you’re only friends with me so you can see Kal regularly,” Henry teased once she let go of the dog long enough to step inside and Em smirked at him.

“You are not wrong, Cavill,” she said, her gaze traveling over the tasteful décor of the house, but her focus was instantly drawn to the kitchen and as soon as she shook off her coat on Henry’s waiting hands, she made a beeline to the room, in Em’s opinion the most important part of any house. “I love your kitchen.” She ran her hands over the wooden countertops and light blue cabinets.

“Technically, it’s not mine,” he chuckled, moving towards the fridge. “I have aubergine lasagna leftovers. Want some?”

“That sounds disgusting,” Em said with a grimace. “But it will do.”

She settled at the isle with the heated lasagna, once again listening to Henry babble about the project and his castmates and how things were going in the set. Some of it she had already heard since they texted every day, but Em enjoyed listening to Henry and actually missed his deep baritone voice.

It made her glad that she chose to do this, instead of staying at some crappy motel by herself, awake most of the night since Em had a hard time sleeping in other beds that weren’t hers. At least here she had Henry and she missed him.

“So how was Istambul?” he asked, bringing her plate to the sink, refusing to let her clean up herself.

“It was amazing,” Em sighed, chin resting on her hand as she watched Henry’s back unseeingly. She was actually thinking back on her journey, in which she had spent a week exploring the city and the sights, completely by herself just like she preferred.

Now, with her belly full, it was her time to babble about everything she saw and experienced while there. Em knew Henry had seen the pictures and stories on her Instagram. He liked everything she posted during the week, but there something about the way he was watching her, the focused look in his dazzling blue eyes like she was telling him the most interesting story in the world, that just made Em keep going, even as Henry finished the dished and they moved to get more comfortable in the couch.

“It does sound like you had fun,” he smiled at her, body turned her way on the couch, head resting on his palm as he listened, his other hand holding his glass of wine. “But don’t you miss having someone to share the experience?

“Sometimes,” Em shrugged, sipping her wine, she was in her third glass by now and she really ought to slow down, her mind was already getting a little foggy.

She had been doing these travels since she turned eighteen. First, she had her best friend Clara as her companion, but as they got older, Em started doing by herself since Clara couldn’t. One or two boyfriends in her time had offered to come along once, but it felt wrong to taint the memories of those trips with someone that might not be with her for the long run.

“But it’s nice too, you know? To have my own thing, without anyone else,” she scratched Kal behind the ears, just like he liked it, smiling at the way he rested his head on her knee to keep being petted. “Thanks again for letting me stay.”

“Anytime,” Henry replied with a smile, his own eyes clouded with alcohol.

They had been talking for hours, one and a half bottles of wine gone in the process. Enough alcohol to make Em’s mind wander as she took in Henry’s impressive physique, the stupid amount of muscles he built up for the series stretching his blue button-down. His dark hair falling in messy curls over his forehead, just like she Em liked it and the blush of alcohol making his cheeks even sharper.

Fighting the allure of the man before her, Em shifted her gaze down to Kal, but it was like he could pick up that something was about to happen, because pulled away from her touch, trouting out the back door, leaving her with only one option now.

Henry’s palm was warm and rough against her jaw as he tilted Em’s face back towards him, his eyes searching for her consent before his lips landed on hers in a soft kiss that gradually grew heated as their mutual need for each other was set alight.

Em sighed against his lips, giving in to the urge that had been brewing from the second she dialed his number. She inched closer, fisting his shirt, licking into his mouth and chasing the taste of wine on his tongue as Henry let his fingers wander down her torso, sneaking under her blouse to touch skin.

“Bedroom,” she mumbled against his lips. “Last time on the couch was a mess.”

“Yeah,” Henry chuckled getting to his feet and leading the way backward, his mouth never leaving hers, his touch getting bolder as their kisses because more desperate.

“This is the last time we do this,” Em declared, fingers undoing the buttons of his shirt or at least trying to. The amount of alcohol she consumed was enough to leave her a little uncoordinated. Henry was doing only slightly better.

“You’ve said that the last five times.”

Em could feel his smirk as his mouth descended over her jaw, pressing sucking kisses on her neck. He loved to leave marks all over her. No matter how many times Em asked him not to, Henry would just ignore it. It was as if he knew she secretly loved to watch herself in the mirror in the following week and be reminded of how amazing the sex had been.

“I mean it this time,” Em said, finally undoing his shirt and pushing it down his shoulders, exposing Henry’s chiseled chest to her wandering hands.

“I think you said that too, last couple of times,” Henry pointed out, shaking his shirt to the floor and pulling hers over her head, leaving Em standing there in only jeans. “Just admit it: you love how I fuck you.”

“Like you don’t enjoy it too,” she said, pushing him towards the bed, and Henry fell back with a bounce and a chuckle.

“Oh, I definitely enjoy it,” he declared, that same smug smirk in place as she undid his pants. “Never said otherwise. Never been in denial either. You’re the one…” He trailed off with a groan when Em freed his hard cock, giving a couple of quick tugs before running her tongue over the underside vein.

Em didn’t want to think about the fact that Henry was absolutely right. She had always been the one to often have second thoughts about this casual affair the two of them had been keeping for years, but not because she didn’t like Henry. It was quite the opposite, Em liked Henry a little too much, but knew it just wouldn’t work, not when he was always all over the world shooting his movies and tv shows, while mostly she stayed in London due to her own work.

And they were both too career-driven and unwilling to concede to the other. If even as just friends, she and Henry were frequently bumping heads, Em could only imagine how terrible they would be as a couple.

She still remembered that fateful night that Clara dragged her to a sport’s bar of all places because she wanted Em to officially meet Todd. She had been at one of his rugby matches earlier that week but ended up leaving before being introduced. In hindsight, Em should have known something was up because of the way Clara made such a big deal about this meeting and fussed over her outfit

“You can’t wear jeans and t-shirt!” she complained, digging though her friend’s wardrobe as Em just huffed a breath and laid back in bed.

“Why not? I’m meeting your boyfriend. What I’m wearing doesn’t matter.”

She had just baked and decorated 150 cupcakes for a children's birthday party. She was exhausted and the last thing she wanted to do was going out, but Clara invoked the best friend rule, so Em was stuck.

“What if there’s a cute guy there?” Clara asked, coming out with a tight, black dress that Em hadn’t worn in 3 years and it definitely wouldn’t fit her now since she gained more than a couple of pounds. She really needed to do some spring cleaning in that closet.

“If a cute guy is hanging in a sport’s bar, big chances he’s a douche, and I already filled my douche quota for the year,” she replied as Clara dove back into the closet. “Besides, I don’t have time for relationships.”

And Em really didn’t. She has just invested all her savings in opening her dream bakery. No way she would be getting distracted by guys while she was trying to get her business off the ground.

“There’s always time for relationships!” Clara declared, coming out of the closet, this time holding one of Em’s favorite sweater dresses. “You never know when true love is gonna knock on your door.”

“Tell it to come by later,” she joked, grabbing the dress and walking into the bathroom to change. It would be a lost cause to argue with Clara. Her friend was a lawyer and could talk her ear off, so Em might as well just get this over with.

She put on the dress and the heels and the makeup Clara pushed her way before she was finally deemed worthy of stepping out of the flat for the bar. At arrival, they found Todd already in his third beer and accompanied by his friend Henry.

Todd and Clara played innocent, pretending to be surprised that the other decided to bring a friend too but Em knew right away this was an ambush. And if Henry’s eye roll was anything to go by, he knew it too. It was their friends' not so subtle attempt to set them up.

Em had to give it to Clara though, Henry was a handsome man but maybe too handsome. She was a run of the mill kind of girl. Not unattractive, mind you. She did pretty well dating wise, especially when she put an effort like tonight, but never with guys that looked like Henry.

He was all dark, curly hair, blue eyes with just a tiny fleck of brown. Perfect features and the kind of chiseled physique that his hoodie didn’t manage to hide completely. He also looked kind of familiar, but Em couldn’t place him right away in her memory.

As they talked, she kept staring at him with a thoughtful frown, trying to come up with subtle questions that could enlighten her of where she knew Henry from because the longer Em talker to him, and she couldn’t help but notice that Todd and Clara kept finding excuses to leave the table so she and Henry could be alone, stronger that familiarity became.

“So how did you meet Todd again?” Em asked, sipping on her drink, which was too sweet but she didn’t mind.

“We went to school together and still play rugby from time to time,” Henry replied, cradling his pint of Guinness. He had shifted on the booth so his back was to the corner and he could properly look at Em. “How about you and Clara?”

“We grew up together. Neighbors all our lives,” she replied, popping a chip in her mouth. “Clara dragged me to one of Todd’s matches on Sunday. Did I see you there?”

“Umm, no.” Henry smiled indulgently. “Just got back yesterday. I was out of town for work.”

She only hummed in response, trying to think back on anything that could have put her and Henry in the same place and explain this feeling of familiarity.

“The Tudors.”

“What?” She asked in confusion at Henry’s random comment.

“You’re trying to figure out from where you know me,” he pointed out with a smirk and Em felt her cheeks heating up. “I mean, I did some other stuff too, a couple of very bad horror movies but that was my biggest role, so you might know me from there.”

It was like a lightbulb finally switched in her brain and she finally managed to place him in her memory.

“Oh my God, you did that weird-ass movie with the nazi vampire zombie! The one with Fassbender and the guy from Prison Break.” Em exclaimed a little too loudly, but Henry only chuckled. “That movie was terrible.”

“Yes,” he nodded, ducking his head a little, and was that a blush? “And seriously? That’s where you know me from?”

“I like crappy horror movies, ok?” Em shrugged with a grin.

“Clearly.” Henry laughed too.

And just like that, conversation flowed easily between them. Henry was a fun guy, surprisingly dorky, and a huge geek for videogames and the fantasy genre. It was nice to talk to someone that seemed to appreciate Lord of the Rings as much as Em did and she didn’t even notice when Todd and Clara slipped out without a word, obviously thinking their job was done.

Maybe if Henry was someone else, not an actor or that hot, they could have been right but as it was, Em didn’t see things going beyond a cool friendship.

That was what she thought at least until Henry walked her home, like a perfect gentleman, making her laugh with so many stupid jokes her sides were aching and she felt like she hadn’t smiled this much in days.

“You didn’t need to walk me all the way to my door,” She commented, turning to face him, her back leaning against the frame. Even in her heels, she needed to tilt her head up to look at him.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Henry snorted. “You can barely stand on those.”

He wasn’t wrong, but it was more because her feet were sore from the constricted space than from the amount of alcohol she consumed, though that definitely played a factor on Em turning her head just when Henry leaned closer to lay a goodbye kiss on her cheek, making his lips land on hers instead.

They just stared at each other until Henry closed the distance again, his mouth returning to hers for a harder, much hotter kiss that had Em pressed against the door. His hands found their way under the hem of her dress; hers to his hair, pulling him even closer, desperation clawing inside her gut because it had been a while for her.

That was only the first of the one-night stands with Henry. Back then, Em thought it would be the only one, but as years passed, whenever the two of them found themselves single and in need of release, they would get together, no strings attached, no commitment, just a purely physical thing that none of their mutual friends knew about.

Her attention snapped back to the present when Henry tugged on her hair until she let his cock out of her mouth with a pop, crawling on top of him to meet his lips for a messy kiss.

“Where did you go just now?” he asked, panting. His hands working on the buttons of her jeans to push them off. “Your mind was so far away.”

Strangely enough, this casual affair they shared made her friendship with Henry stronger because once you’ve seen a person naked and on one of their most vulnerable moments, it could be so easy to open up to them.

“Just thinking about when we met,” Em replied, sucking on his lower lip and Henry let out a weird wheezing sound that it was half a groan, half a laugh.

“That’s was a good night,” he said, rolling them until Em was lying on her back and he was on top of her. His blue eyes, despite being clouded by lust, were still so intense and seemed to be able to look straight into her soul. “But I want you here, in the present with me.”

Henry met her lips so softly and with so much affection that her breath caught in her throat, hand tightening on the sheets beneath her as his mouth descended over her body, kissing and sucking and biting. Lingering over all her pleasure spots and lavishing them with attention.

This was why Em needed to put an end to this thing with Henry. Lately, every time the two of them ended in bed together, it was getting harder and harder to keep the doors closed against the growing feelings in her heart.

To keep herself from not letting the love she felt for her friend Henry to be contaminated by the lust that ignited in her body whenever the two of them fucked, turning this into something else that would definitely end with her heart broken.

“I can hear you thinking,” Henry chided, biting her lower belly and making Em jolt and giggle.

“Sorry, sorry,” she looked down at him with a smile. “Just too much in my head tonight.”

“Let’s see if I can make you relax.”

He smirked at her, his mouth moving lower, planting soft kisses over your hipbones, tongue tracing the waistline on her panties, and anticipation started building in her center. Em wanted to press your legs together to find some kind of friction, but Henry was kneeling between them, his strong hands keeping them open; thumbs rubbing circles on the sensitive inner skin of her thighs and she couldn’t focus on anything else even if she wanted to.

His mouth finally moved lower, tongue teasing her folds through the lace of her panties and she gasped and tried to thrust up but Henry kept her down before hooking his fingers on her panties and pulling them down, exposing her wet cunt to his warm breath and she shivered in expectation.

Henry seemed to be keen on driving her crazy because he was taking it so very slow, kissing and nipping her mound on his way down until finally, his tongue flickered against her clit. Only the briefest of touch but it was enough to make Em buck and moan, her hands coming to his hair and fingers digging in his scalp.

“Stop teasing,” she asked, making Henry chuckle against her and a groan ripped from Em’s throat at the sweet vibrations. “Hen… please.”

“That’s better,” he replied, rewarding her with a broad stroke of his tongue over her slit before he sucked hard on her clit. Her eyes rolled back and she raised her hips to try to get more of it.

Fortunately, Henry seemed to be done teasing because he moved things along, licking and sucking and even nipping very, very gently on her clit, while two of his thick fingers moved in and out of her drenched slit. Every outer motion he crooked his fingers up, hitting right in that spot to make Em see stars.

It was easy to get lost in sensations whenever she was with Henry. He knew her body like the back of his hand and made sure to keep her completely engaged. He kept his eyes on her face, reading her expressions to make sure she was enjoying herself but also because he knew Em loved the sight of him like this, his mouth on her cunt, his eyes dark with his desire for her.

He also made sure to hum and grunt for her, so she could hear how much he loved her taste and smell. Whenever his mouth wasn’t busy, he would also whisper the filthiest things in her ear, because he knew it turned her on.

His free hand roamed her body, touching and kneading her breasts, pinching the nipples to make Em arch and mewl, sending bolts of pleasure that seemed to gather on her core, coiling into a knot of ecstasy that made her writhe and shake. Her body tense with arousal, toes curling and thighs quivering as her orgasm approached like a rushing wave.

Henry also knew exactly when she was close to the edge. Em never needed to let him know and he would always redouble his effort, suck her clit harder, finger her faster, until that knot finally snapped and she arched against his mouth, her release soaking his fingers and chin.

Her body felt weightless like she was floating. Her muscles spasmed with the aftershocks of her pleasure and her mind, always running, was for once pleasantly blank as Em grinned wide, enjoying her high.

She barely noticed when Henry pressed one final kiss to her clit before he crawled on top of her again, meeting her lips and letting Em taste herself. It was one of the things that turned him on, to have her lick her juices from his mouth and chin, letting her tongue running over the rough skin of his stubbled jaw, chasing every last drop and Em felt his cock twitching in response against her hip.

“Fuck me, Hen,” she gasped against his cheek before her lips moved to his ear, nipping the lobe to make him groan. “I wanna feel you deep inside me.”

With her brain still swimming in endorphins, She barely noticed Henry getting up and moving to the bathroom. She only registered the curse he let out as he came back to the room with an empty box.

“Do you have some?”

She gave Henry a look, propped in her elbows. Em was a little too old to go around with condoms in her purse. She kept them on her toiletry bag which was in her suitcase, still at the airport.

“Shit! I really wanted to fuck you tonight.” He dropped the box on the ground, combing his fingers through his hair before climbing on top of Em, his kiss searing and stealing her breath away.

She moaned against his mouth, fingers digging on his shoulders. It had been a while for her and Em shared Henry’s frustration. She wanted to feel him inside her, filling and stretching her in that perfect way only Henry could do.

“Do it,” she declared, meeting his confused gaze. “It’s fine, I have an IUD and it’s not like I’ve been with anyone else in the last four months.”

“Me either,” Henry replied, his forehead resting against hers. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, smirking at him. “Fuck me, Henners.” He groaned and glared, making her chuckle. He hated the nickname and Em knew it.

“I’m gonna make you regret that.”

He flashed her a mischievous smirk, reaching between the two of them to guide his cock to her slit, pushing inside in one rough stroke and Em cursed and clawed at his back, the sudden intrusion with just that edge of pain made her clench tighter against him and Henry grunted against her ear, pulling her legs around his waist.

“Fuck, Henry!” she hissed breathlessly, slapping his shoulder blade, which felt more like hitting a brick wall. “A little warning would be nice.”

“You love it,” he smirked down at her and nipped at her bottom lip before grinding his hips against hers, making Em moan. “No point in pretending otherwise.”

His movements started slow and deliberate. Henry’s goal was to drive her crazy all over again because he loved to see Em lose control and he loved to gloat over the fact that he was the only guy that ever managed to make her cum more than once on the same night.

Taking her hands in his and pinning above her head, Henry started to add some more strength to his movements, pulling almost all the way out before slamming back in, making Em mewl at how deep he was going. His mouth on her neck, and collarbone returning to the task of marking her as his, even if the two of them weren’t like that.

Her hips raised as best as she could to meet his movements and welcome him in. Her walls clenching tight as if refusing to let him go and every time, it made Henry grunt and suck harder on her skin before he soothed the spot with his tongue. She arched closer, seeking more as he licked a path from the hollow of her throat to her chin, lapping at the sweat gathering in her skin before his lips met hers again.

Soon, all Em knew was the way their bodies moved in tandem, meeting each other in search of pleasure. Henry praised and whispered dirty things in her ear, while her fingers entwined with his and her heels dug on the small of his back, urging him to move faster, harder, give her everything she craved for.

The knot of pleasure started to form in her core once again, growing and expanding as she could feel every single ridge of Henry’s thick cock filling her up, his pelvic bone slapping her clit at each thrust. She knew he was close too, his motions losing its controlled rhythm, becoming wilder, messy. His grunts turning throatier, his words filthier.

“God, I love your cunt. The way it squeezes me so tight,” he mumbled against Em’s mouth, his breath coming in short pants. “It feels even better without that fucking latex. Shit! I wanna fill you up with my cum. Do you want that? Can I cum inside you?”

“Yeah.” Em nodded, too far gone to form a reply more elaborate than that.

“I wanna see it trickling down your pussy.” Henry’s grin was absolutely filthy and she cried out as his words brought forth her second orgasm of the night.

“Oh fuck, yes!” He grunted his grin widening, his hips snapping harder against hers, dragging out the ripples of pleasure shaking her body. “Just like that! Yeah. Fuck! I’m gonna…”

His words hung in the air as Henry stilled above her, muffling his growl against her shoulder as he spilled inside her and she could feel his cock pulsing against her quivering walls and Em never felt more complete before.

In the back of her mind, a treacherous thought broke free and she couldn’t help but think that she could definitely get used to this. Having Henry every night, without barriers, without anything in the way. Just the two of them. Like it was meant to be.

x(tbc)x Chapter 02

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#henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill x original character #henry cavill imagine #fanfic #smut #series #original character

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booknerdproblems · 4 years ago

Text

Liberty Chapter 8

Hello! I am SO sorry for the wait- I wrote the first half of the chapter, hated it, and was too lazy to rewrite it. Just a heads up, this part.... is not very good. I’m not happy with it, but I wanted to post it so I could just move past it and get onto the next one!

You can find my masterlist here.

They sat on the bed, back against the headboard, hands intertwined as they grinned. Or at least, until Aelin broke the silence.

“So I guess I was slightly jealous of Remelle when you kissed her.” She sighed.

“I told you so.”

“But you are the one who kissed her.”

“She kissed me! Big difference.”

“Mmmhmm.” Aelin shook her head in amusement, and Rowan sighed, glad to see it was all in jest.

Rowan gingerly rested his head on her shoulder, the angle slightly awkward for his neck.

“So, I guess we should talk about it.” Aelin started again.

“So I guess we should talk- oh.” Aelin’s voice cut off into a quiet moan as Rowan pressed a soft kiss to her neck, right above her pulse point.

He did it again, taking some skin between his teeth and tugging gently. Aelin’s head dropped to the side, and she swallowed before speaking again.

“I’m trying to have a serious conversation!”

“And I’m subtly trying to avoid it!” He smoothed his tongue over the point his teeth had abused, following his instinct. It worked. Aelin let out a small noise before weakly hitting him on the shoulder in protest.

“I know, I know. We should talk. But...later.” Rowan continued, shifting himself over her and attaching his lips to her neck, exploring slowly. He tugged her down a bit beneath him and her hand clutched at his shoulders. He had her hair and the taste of no doubt some sort of moisturiser in his mouth, but it was worth it from the reaction he pried from her, as well as his rapidly escalating situation down below.

“Knock knock!” A bright voice chirped from the otherside of the door.

Rowan threw himself off Aelin, but ended up overcompensating as his backside hit the floor. He looked at Aelin, sprawled on the bed and wiping her mouth. The door opened, revealing a smiling Rhoe holding a tray. Rowan flopped back, attempting to make it look like he was on the floor by casual choice but only succeeding in looking like a bemused starfish.

Rhoe stood in the doorway, smile faltering slightly as he looked between the pair. Aelin gave him an innocent smile, and Rowan held his breath as the man seemed to shake it off, coming further into the room.

He came over to the side of the bed, placing two steaming mugs on Aelin’s bedside.

“Brought you some hot chocolate, it’s super cold out there right now.” The First Gentleman flashed them a grin, “what you guys up to?”

“We- we were just- um- chilling. Chatting. Not much, really.” Aelin stuttered out, Rowan nodding his head mutely in agreement.

“Well alright then, I’ll leave you to it.” Rhoe sent them a quizzical look, before backing out the door, leaving the pair sitting in silence.

Rowan got up off the floor and collapsed back on the bed. The mood was killed, but Rowan was totally happy as Aelin shuffled over and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

They lay there in silence for a while, just content to be in each other's company.

Rowan pressed a kiss to Aelin’s hair, before opening his mouth, “I was wondering-” He stopped, cleared his throat. It was crazy, how nervous he was to ask this despite the amazing kiss they’d just shared.

“Yes?” Aelin prompted, pushing herself up onto her elbows and twisting around to face him.

“Doyouwannagoonadatewithme?”

Aelin’s eyebrows crossed, “what are you, speaking Eyllwe?”

Rowan took a deep breath, picking at the skin on his fingers “do you want to go...on a date?”

Gods, it was so hot in here. Maybe he’d got the wrong end of the stick. Maybe she didn’t want a relationship. Oh Mala- what if-

He was broken off his self doubt by the press of her lips on his. He attempted to deepen the kiss, but Aelin pulled away.

“I’d love to go on a date with you, stupid.”

-x-

Rowan looked at himself sideways in the mirror, running a comb through his hair. He was… nervous. Excited. Exhilarated.

Two days later, and he was taking Aelin out on a date. A date. An actual, real-life date. They hadn’t told any of their friends about the kiss, only that they’d made up. Rowan was glad he’d had the weekend to recoup, before having to face the rumours again on Monday.

His phone buzzed, and he hurriedly opened up the notification.

Fireheart, 5:30pm: So, buzzard, where are you taking me?

Rowan had reservations at a pleasant, smart-clothes-are-requested-but-not-required kind of place, and then had a special treat planned for afterwards.

Buzzard, 5:30pm: It’s a surprise ;)

Fireheart, 5:31pm: Well then how will I know what to wear?

Buzzard, 5:31pm: Dress however you like, fireheart, but bring a warm coat.

Fireheart, 5:35pm: Um...sorry.. Rowan? I actually need to go where we’re going, so they can do a security sweep.

Buzzard, 5:37pm: 29 Parade Street.

Fireheart, 5:39pm: I’m sorry again

Buzzard, 5:41pm: Don’t worry, Fireheart, I have surprise plans for after..

Fireheart, 5:42pm: I hope they’re dirty.

Rowan choked as he read the message, grabbing his wallet and keys before heading out the door.

Buzzard, 6pm: On my way.

-x-

Rowan stepped out of the car, crisp air nipping at his skin, heart in his throat as he fiddled with his phone. It was cold, night just beginning to creep in as he waited for Aelin to come down.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait too long as the door opened and Aelin stepped out.

She was wearing a dark green slip dress that hit mid-thigh, paired with chunky black boots and gold jewellery everywhere. Her golden hair was in a messy bun, with stray pieces artfully pulled down, framing her face. Her lips were painted deep red, and golden glitter decorated her eyelids.

She looked… Rowan didn’t have the words to describe how she looked. Except that his eyes were fixated on her bare legs.

“Hi.” He said breathlessly.

Aelin smiled, “Hi.” She sounded almost… shy, which was so unlike Aelin it made Rowan grin.

She stepped forwards, pulling on a thick winter jacket and gloves, and Rowan blinked, opening the car door for her. He murmured the location to a Secret Service agent who nodded once.

“You look amazing.” He said once he’d started to drive.

“I know.” Aelin replied smoothly, flashing a sideways smirk at him, “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

Rowan blushed, cursing his awkwardness. Truth was… he’d been so anxious about what to wear that night he’d asked for his mother’s help, who slapped him over the back of the head for not telling her he was going on a date sooner, before demanding he try on every item his wardrobe had to offer.

He’d settled on a grey shirt with a black blazer and jeans, and he’d tied his chin-length hair, which he still needed to get cut, up in a bun.

“Are you sure you’re not going to be cold?” Rowan glanced at her bare legs, before blushing furiously and returning his eyes to the road.

“I have on flesh-coloured tights.” Aelin explained, “and besides- I’ve got you to keep me warm.”

Rowan didn't think his face could turn redder, his blush was so strong. He shifted in his seat, gripping the steering wheel tighter as desire tore through him.

“Sorry.” Rowan whipped his head round, to find Aelin’s eyes firmly on the windshield as she apologised.

“Whatever for?” Rowan hurried to fix her discomfort.

“Making you uncomfortable.” Aelin chewed on her lip, looking out the window.

Rowan’s eyebrows crossed, before realising and laughing disbelievingly.

“You didn’t- I’m not... uncomfortable.” He sighed.

Aelin looked at him disbelievingly, “Then why’d you do the-” She imitated his seat shuffle dramatically, “when I made a joke?”

Rowan was sure he must be purple by now. “Aelin- that’s not- I mean. I’m not- I’m just.” He sighed, trying to at least make himself comprehensible.

Aelin looked so confused, and he smiled sheepishly at her.

“It’s just, when you make...those kinds of jokes.” Mala fucking fry him, he was making this difficult for himself, “it kind of, does some things-”

Aelin let out a bark of laughter, and Rowan looked over at her to find a hand clamped over her mouth.

“Ohmygods did that turn you on?” Aelin’s voice was muffled by her hand.

Rowan winced, “No?”

“So earlier, when I sent that text and you didn’t reply…” Aelin’s voice trailed off, and now she was the one blushing furiously.

“I’m sorry. Gods, that's weird isn’t it- I’m sorry. Fuck. I’m such an idiot.” Rowan cursed himself internally.

“No, no- Rowan. It’s fine. It’s just. I’d never- thought about the fact that… you know. I might. Like… turn you on.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I mean. You get me hot and bothered all the time, I just never assumed that you…reciprocated it.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for a beat as Rowan turned into the street.

“Wait.” Rowan started. “‘Hot and bothered’?” A grin started to spread on his face.

Aelin had gone bright red. “Shut up, Whitethorn.”

The pair shared a sheepish smile with each other, right as Rowan pulled into the restaurant.

-x-

The waitress showed them to their table, and Rowan sat, placing his hands on his lap. Then the table. Then fiddled with the cutlery.

“Rowan… this is… a really nice place.” Aelin began.

“I thought, after all this time… why not have a proper date?” Rowan smiled.

“Yeah but… this is kind of expensive.” Aelin checked the prices on the side of the menu, before meeting his eyes worriedly.

Gods, she was cute.

“Oh don’t worry about it.”

“But I don’t want to make you…” She chewed on her bottom lip. Rowan wanted to kiss it.

“Aelin. It’s fine. I can afford it.”

She smiled sheepishly, “How?”

“I um… work here.”

Aelin’s brows rose, “You work here!?”

“Uh yeah. So I get an employee discount.”

“How am I your best friend and never knew you worked here?”

“You never asked.” Rowan said simply.

It was true, he worked here most evenings and Saturdays. Aelin didn’t have a job, as the logistics were too complicated for someone who was only seventeen, so Rowan had long guessed it just never crossed her mind to ask.

Aelin looked down at her napkin, clearly uncomfortable, taking a sip of her water.

Rowan took her hand from across the table, reproach swimming in her blue eyes as she looked at him.

“I’m really glad I kissed you.”

Aelin’s eyes softened, and then she smirked, “of course you are buzzard, I’m very kissable.”

Rowan just shook his head at her, smiling, letting go of her hand and picking up the menu.

“Hey.” Rowan looked up at the sound of her voice, and she bit her lip adorably, “I’m glad you kissed me too.”

Tagging: @bookworm232020 @yesdreamblog @morganofthewildfire @more-espresso-less-depresso-xx @alyx801 @woollycat22 @ireallyshouldsleeprn @autophobiaxx @faerie-queen-fireheart @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @http-itsrebecca @stardelia @rockgirl321 @queen-of-glass @sjmships @inthecityair @really-a-mermaidd @thesurielships @lysandra-ghost-leopard

#aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #rowaelin #throne of glass #fanfic #liberty #liberty chapter 8 #throne of glass fanfic #throne of glass fanfiction #aelin and rowan #rowan x aelin #modern au

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vihola · 4 years ago

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For the OTP asks, the fluff section for Relu/Merkara (because they deserve to be happy dammit XD) and uhhh, angst for Seidala/Thirteen? 👀

I already answered some of these, so here’s the rest!

What is/are their love language(s)?

Physical touch is the love language they both share. And the reason is that they had to hide their relationship for years and meet only once in a while. They would get so touch-starved between their meetings that they wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off each other the entire time they were together. You’d think that they should calm down when their relationship is out in the open, but they develop a serious case of PDA instead. Maybe they’re just being spiteful and it’s their way of saying “We had to hide our relationship because of y’all, now y’all have to watch us make out in public.” Either way, my condolences to all the people who ever were deeply uncomfortable to be in the same room with Relu and Merkara. Double condolences to the poor souls who walked in on them doing inappropriate things in inappropriate places.

Gifts are Merkara’s thing. It started with birthday gifts and rapidly escalated to very random gifts out of nowhere. She gets Relu something because she feels like it, because she finds a thing he might like, or simply because he would never buy anything for himself if it’s not a necessity. Relu stopped asking what’s the occasion a long time ago, Merkara doesn’t need one. It’s her way of saying “You’re important to me.”

Acts of service are Relu’s thing. He comes up with several tea blends for Merkara ― for when she’s tired, when she’s cold, when she’s stressed, when she’s having nightmares again. He helps her get dressed and undressed when it’s time for complicated fancy outfits, makes sure that no one wakes her early in the morning, and checks if she didn’t forget to eat. These are his little ways of saying “I’m here for you.”

What would be their ship name?

Oh, I suck at ship names. Meru? Relara? I’m open to suggestions.

If they complimented each other, what would they say?

Merkara’s compliments are weird, good luck figuring out what she means. She would probably be like:

Meanwhile, Relu’s compliments are very simple and straightforward. He would tell her that she’s brilliant when she infodumps. He would say that she’s beautiful when she wears one of her pretty dresses or wakes up in the morning with messy hair. He would tell her that she never ceases to amaze him because that’s how he feels.

What were their first impressions of each other?

Relu doesn’t really know what to make of Merkara when he talks to her for the first time. Aren’t Sith supposed to be corrupt genocidal psychopaths? But this one subverts his expectations from the start. She seems genuine when she talks about peace, she shows no prejudice toward him and his Order, she’s not at all interested in the war. She might be lying, of course. Relu is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but he’s watching her closely. If she says one wrong word, he will refuse her offer to work together. She’s treading on thin, thin ice.

Merkara is very curious about Relu, but at first he looks just like another prejudiced Jedi. He doesn’t ramble about the dark side vs. light side and doesn’t stare at her like she’s everything that is wrong with the galaxy, but he questions her every word and narrows his eyes in suspicion. It doesn’t discourage Merkara at all. If anything, his hostility is a challenge: “Oh, so you don’t like me? Too bad, you’re going to like me a lot!”

What activities do they enjoy together?

They both share passion for knowledge. They can spend hours talking about some research on Force techniques, or sharing their experiences of exploring the galaxy, or discussing history. Relu is the first to know when Merkara discovers an artifact. Merkara is the first to see the holocron he has just created. They’re both such nerds, and they love being nerds together.

And even if they’re doing different things, they like to hang out in any way they can. They snuggle up while Merkara is writing letters and Relu is reading reports. When Relu trains early in the morning, Merkara might force herself to get out of bed and watch him with a steaming cup of tea and a datapad in her hands. When they’re on different planets, they keep communicating through calls and messages and even their Force bond. They just enjoy each other’s company because they’re best friends.

What are things they both find funny?

They tell awful academic jokes that other people don’t usually understand. And even though Relu rolls his eyes at Merkara’s never-ending puns, they still make him smile or stifle a laugh.

As always, Thirteen belongs to @sunsetofdoom ~

What are traits they dislike in one another?

Seidala doesn’t like when Thirteen puts on a show and hides behind one of her many masks. Thirteen is used to being a lot of different people, it’s part of the job. But Seidala only wants the real Thirteen, she doesn’t want any of that performative bullshit. She’s frustrated when Thirteen acts too much like a spy because she doesn’t know how to deal with this person.

Thirteen probably doesn’t like Seidala’s self-sacrificial mode. Not only would Seidala die for something she believes in, she would also punish herself for failure. She might push herself to exercise until she breaks down, refuse to eat because she supposedly doesn’t deserve it, or find another damaging way to “atone” for not being good enough. It hurts Thirteen to see Seidala like this. While she can distract Seidala for a little bit, she can’t convince Seidala not to do this ever again.

Have they made each other cry?

Listen, if anyone makes Thirteen cry, Seidala is going to beat them up. If she’s the one to make Thirteen cry, she’s going to punch herself in the face without hesitation. Even if they’re in the middle of arguing and it looks like one of them is getting very upset, they will most likely stop because they can’t stand seeing each other sad.

What causes them to fight?

Mostly Thirteen’s secrecy and Seidala’s family. Seidala doesn’t like it when Thirteen keeps something from her, especially at the start of their relationship. She tries to be more understanding, reminds herself that secrecy has shaped Thirteen’s life, but her frustration takes over. And Thirteen doesn’t like how Seidala lets her family push her around all the time. I don’t think she raises this topic often, but when she does, Seidala gets defensive and goes all “You don’t understand any of it.”

Do they have differing political opinions?

Seidala is a passionate Imperial patriot and Thirteen is just doing her job. Thirteen doesn’t particularly care about the good of the Empire and all that, she cares about surviving through another day, another mission, another twisted attempt to control her. But Seidala can be very inspiring. When she talks about the things that matter to her, you can’t help but start feeling at least a little bit emotionally involved. When Thirteen sees the Empire through Seidala’s eyes, she understands how it can be worth all the admiration and sacrifice.

What would be a dealbreaker?

If they acted according to the expectations they had about each other when they met. If Thirteen tried to manipulate Seidala, if Seidala was all condescending and arrogant toward Thirteen. The reason why they are together in the first place is because they subverted these expectations.

If they broke up, what would be their opinions of each other?

It wouldn’t change. The only reason I see for their breakup is an attempt to protect each other. Thirteen has enemies who might try to get to her through Seidala. And Seidala has a controlling toxic family that can easily hurt Thirteen. It’s not at all safe to be in a relationship with either of them. So if they broke up, they would not stop caring about each other. It would be because they love each other so much that they can’t stand the thought of putting each other at risk.

#swtor #sith inquisitor #jedi consular #sith warrior #whew that's a lot!#it was interesting to think about this stuff though #I didn't include the prompt questions because unfortunately my brain didn't have anything for them #my brain is very picky when it comes to prompts #swtor oc #merkara #relu #seidala #relu/merkara #seidala/thirteen #itstheelvenjedi

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julies-butterflies · 3 years ago

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I must admit, sometimes I do feel like a ye olden solider, sending letters to my beloved across the waves during wartime. Oh my dearest Lydia, I hope the kudos and comments crops have been plentiful this season. Your last letter left me weeping. Why must you put poor Reginald through such pain?

(I gotta admit, I still can't believe that I'm talking to you. I've been looking up to your work for so long...it just feels a bit surreal, even now! Glad you like hearing my ramblings! And that you liked my vampire prompt! Did not realize you'd write back when I sent that in. Look at us now, huh?)

(Speaking of prompts, I sent those jukebox and willex ones too. And I loved them both so so much, I shall scream about them more when it is not 2 am because I need sleep)

(Oh and the update of If I Was You!!! Amazing, Stellar, Incredible, Reggie, Carrie, Julie shenanigans is my new favorite thing, DID YOU JUST DOUBLE THE CHAPTER COUNT, and I'm like 90% sure Trevor is in deep trouble with a certain angry jazz ghost. Seriously loving it)

I actually do not remember what it was like to send in 1/5 asks, because I did not get a Tumblr until very reccently! I've always been a nerdy person, but Jatp is my first time being really in a fandom. You gotta do something new in quarantine, right?

Ah yes. Luke and Emily. To me, it just seems obvious that there's so much love between them. Even with all the pain. You get it. You put it down so eloquently.

As for what kind of stories I like to read...it seriously depends on my mood.

I like niche aus, passion projects. Stories where you can just feel the author's love for the world they're inventing. But I tend to lean towards cannonverse. I like ghost stories, it's what drew me to this show in the first place. And I love exploring that concept. (Being forever gone, and always the same...it's just fascinating to me)

Platonic goodness is just WONDERFUL for this show. I will read anything with cuddles. I am touched starved and these kiddos are too, and I will cry about them puppy piling every damn day. Plus there's just some much POTENTIAL for future friendships! I love ones where Flynn and Carrie get to interact with the boys as well. And 90s content, from before and after the orpheum, just hits hard.

I really wasn't expecting to get invested in the couples on this show, but something about them is moving to me. So I do love to read about them. Watching two queer kids who lived during incredibly important areas of queer history find love together after death really hit hard for me, and there's just something so bittersweet about a girl and ghost deciding to love each other for the little time they're given.

I love family dynamics too. Anything with Ray and his seven disaster children, the band and Trevor.... I think Julie and Emily is one of my favorite dynamics to explore. A girl who lost her mother and a mother who lost her son, both grieving but with one able to speak to the dead...it's just very powerful to me.

(And of course, Luke and Emily, but I figured you already knew that)

Mostly...I like seeing the messy stuff. The unexpected consequences, the baggage. I want to see the messy emotions, the grief and anger, the jealously, the disorientation. I look for those glass shards, that might be too sharp to ever be addressed on the show. Not even the big, monumental plot lines just... the harder pieces of life, the little moments that don't fit neatly into a nine episode arc.

I just want to see them live you know? Love, laughter and loss all mixed together.

(One of my all time favorite tropes is "found family gets broken apart by trauma, only to find each other again and come back stronger than ever." I feel like this explains a lot of my taste in fiction)

Thank you for the writing advice. Your words were very motivating. I am trying to begin! I got up the nerve to start working on a little piece. Who knows if it will go anywhere. But it's been nice, to finally put some words on the page.

The POTC au is so freaking good man. The character dynamics are just on FIRE. Everything is broken and messy and the relationships genuinely tug at my heartstrings. It's such a fascinating story. Highly recommend, even with the cliff hangers.

OH HOW COULD I FORGET PAWPRINTER? Man oh man I love all her work. The wheelies art and steals universe is freaking amazing, not an avacado had me in tears (of laughter, till things got surprisingly sad). And All that Remains...slow burn Willex perfection. Jedi Alex and Pilot Willie have my HEART.

I don't think I've read firefall and weneedglitter (or if I have, I'm just not connecting the names to their pieces. I don't always remember author names. it's a problem). I will go look for them though! Cannot wait!

For more recs, I recently binge read We Found Wonderland. I was not mentally prepared for the sheer amount of feelings that gave me. Highly recommend, if you ever want an emotional rollercoaster with an incredibly satisfying end.

Going on to more serious subjects...I'm sorry your family doesn't see your grief for what it is: honest. Better to feel everything quietly, than make it an easily understadnable performance. Fake grief is so easy to spot.

I think of that scene from "Forever," when Buffy breaks down and tells Dawn that she has to keep busy, because if she stops, it means Joyce is really gone. There's a lot of truth there.

On a tangent here but.. there was a very long period in my life when I was told the ways I expressed my emotions were "incorrect". And I found that sometimes, no matter how you show your emotions, you'll always be criticized. Numbness can be called disinterest, but sobbing can be called attention-seeking too. Too big, too small: that jury was impossible to please This may not apply in your situation but...it's okay to feel however you can. It's the only think you can do, really.

As I've said before, Grief is such an odd trickster.

Don't you ever get tired of missing people... This past year, I've been so weary of grief. Sometimes it can be so sharp, but it's that dull ache. That ball and chain, no longer cutting through your skin, but rubbing it raw, weighing you down.

And people don't like to talk about that part, because it's long and tiresome, but oh, is it there. I find it hard to talk about my grief, because sometimes there's just so much of it. I could drown in it, and that fear keeps me from looking to close. To incorrectly quote Jane Austin: "If I missed you a little less, I might be able to talk about it more."

(Sometimes it's faceable. But sometimes you just can't bear it. And that's okay.)

But what you wrote in that eulogy...the love is there. It's in every word you write. I cried reading that section. I feel honored once again to see some of your jagged pieces. You're sharing your heart, and there's just so much love.

In the wise words of an author I know, "Love is like the snow Reggie. It never goes away."

And don't worry, I'm always with you.

Sending Love,

-LydiaStan7845 (aka Vampire Anon)

So...that Reggie and Nicky prompt

my god

my GOD

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

I think it's safe to say congrats, you've officially destroyed me! I was not prepared for that at ALL. I should know better by now I guess.

I can't get over that even though they all take place in very different universe, all your stories just feel so connected! The way this talked about those headphones, which you mentioned in the first chapter of Kill Your Heroes...it's just so cool. All the characterization and backstory is just so well thought out, and it genuinely blows my mind.

I didn't think I could love Nicky Peters more. I was wrong. The way you write about him...even though you never go into exactly what happened to him after Reggie's death, you can just feel how much it's shapped him as a person. And the trauma around his father, and how he fears becoming like that, was just so beautifully written. He's just so lovable and flawed and trying so damn hard and you made my heart ache for him. Again.

You always take these genuinely crazy situations and...you just make them feel so real. I love you explore the strains such a revelation would put on Nicky's own life, it just makes everything so compellingly messy. It seriously feel like I was watching a real-life account of a family trying to deal with such a massive complication.

That porch scene had me in tears both times I read it. Reggie's just always a big brother, even though Nicky is more than twice his age now. My heart was shattered, and then you slowly mended it, piece by piece. And for absolutely no reason at all, you wouldn't happen to have a reference for the porch, would you?

Just wow. Hope you're doing well. Sending love and applause

-Vampire Anon

i’m not even gonna reply, but i want these documented... on my blog... for posterity. ( for any curious onlookers, i’m dating this anon now!! )

#vampire anon my beloved

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gold-pavilion · 5 years ago

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Red’s Complete Guide to the SDR2 Stage Play

The following is a sort of walkthrough/summary of the SDR2 stage play, mostly focusing on what’s different in this shorter but also highly expressive version of the story than the game, and what extra content is in it.

It’s mostly aimed to help non japanese speaker friends (or not fully fluent ones) enjoy this amazing play even without english subtitles available; in general terms, just having good memory of the game’s events will allow you to watch and follow it just fine, but anything else you could be missing, this guide will point out for ya! That being said, you can either read this all on its own, or keep at hand to check as you watch. I’m dividing it in parts according to what would be the game’s chapters, so you can easily find your place. Hope it’s useful!!

PROLOGUE / INTRODUCTION

The beginning is quite the same as the game: Nagito waking Hajime up on the beach, memory gaps, no one knows why they’re there when they should’ve just been at their entrance ceremony, etc. The minor differences would be that they’ve already separated and had a look around, thus cutting out the island exploration from the main POV. They’ve all warmed up pretty fast to the place too. The setting of it being a fun class trip is established and everyone’s excited to go to the beach, minus Hajime of course.

More small changes: as you’ll notice, Hiyoko being unable to tie her own kimono sash, getting help offered by Mahiru and getting attached to her happens at this point (‘cause of the swimsuits they want to put on) instead of in chapter 2, so their relationship gets established this early. Also, Teruteru and Kazuichi are caught trying to sneak in to where the girls are changing, ahem.

As in the game, Hajime’s hesitating a lot about just relaxing like that. We get a cute little new moment where he sees that even “Byakuya”, though claiming it’s to “research the way to leave this island” is prepared to go play at the sea, and with some prodding from the boys overall, he gets convinced to join in and have fun too. All super sweet, before Monokuma hijacks the scene. The killing school trip begins!

The opening and character introduction sequence is absolutely amazing and stunning, but since the intros and the comments Hajime and Nagito exchange as they go from character to character together are pretty much the same as in the game, there’s nothing to note from me. Just how amazingly it was put together!

After that, along with the basic intro to the killing game, there is an added rule for the students to see: the one/s who earn/s the right to leave the island will be given back the stolen memories of the last 2 school years. So, the amnesia period is immediately established, and Hinata’s own amnesia about his talent is taken as proof that it could be true. Teruteru is openly agitated about the possibility of having that two-year blank, more than anyone else, and while revealing there’s a restaurant waiting for him on land he tries to get reassurance from the others. He’s much more transparent here.

Monokuma gets the group under control with a different method than his monobeasts: he makes lightning shoot at them. Real lightning, no tricks, as Byakuya says. Here, he reveals he can control the weather so that’s what he uses to keep the students intimidated. Different, but easier for stage representation than robots and achieving the same purpose. After all is done and Byakuya has sent everyone to rest for the night, there’s a small added scene of Hajime and Nagito staying behind, and having the following exchange that I thought best to translate directly:

Nagito: “So it turned into this kind of despairing situation…”

Hajime: “Why would that Monokuma guy do something like this?!”

Nagito: “It’s unforgivable, right?! That killing game…! It’s absolutely...!

That’s it… we… we have to join our forces and stand against this despair!”

Hajime: “I’m glad that the first one to call out to me here was you, Komaeda.”

Nagito: “Yeah... me too, I’m glad to have [met] you, Hinata-kun.”

CHAPTER 1

The next day, Byakuya announces the party and the group accepts his proposal without suspicion. The old building is suggested as the place, cleaning duty is required, the straw game comes out and Nagito ends up chosen to do it. So far, no news. But on the party scene, we do have several differences:

From how they explain it, the old building consists of just the dining hall and the great kitchen. With this simplified setup, everyone is closer together, so there’s no messy deposit room, no office to guard, no fire door to take into account and Byakuya isn’t checking anyone for dangerous objects. Also, no guard outside and no Monomi, since she’s been locked up by Monokuma. The scene with Hajime speaking to Byakuya privately is preserved (though it doesn’t take place in the kitchen and he wasn’t dragged off to it, but rather, approached Byakuya himself to raise his suspicion that the party was planned for everyone’s wellbeing) and his mysterious dialogues are the same.

When the blackout occurs, they’re able to find the breaker and turn electricity back on their own. Only when the body is discovered do they get told there’ll be a trial, and how it will work. Investigation time!

When everyone scatters, they’re mostly talking about having things they want to check out or thought were weird, with a very active attitude about it. The times when the sound effect rings and the spotlight is focused on Hajime, is when he’s established a key clue, a class trial bullet, so he’s naming/explaining them out loud. Not much else to note, but isn’t the whole investigation scene SO dynamic and enjoyable? Such brilliant staging!! For the trial too!!

Not much is different in the trial until its very end, in fact it goes faster than in the game with all the complication factors that were skipped, so it reaches Nagito’s breakdown quickly. As I’m sure many people will want to know what the dialogue is in the famous getting-touchy-touchy-on-Hajime scene, I’ll note that it’s Hajime saying “is that your true nature?! Have you been deceiving us all this time?!” to which Nagito replies “that’s… wrong.” Quite sure the writing is the same as in the game, it’s just the acting that carries it differently.

After that, in the end, the way they figure out the culprit is from the existence of a passage to get under the floor that they’ve concluded the killer used: since it’s clearly not in the dining hall, it must exist in the only other room of the building, which is the kitchen, where only Teruteru was. Case closed in a much more brief, yet complete manner.

During the reconstruction of how it happened, the conversation Nagito and Teruteru had in the dining hall is very different from the game. Instead of the monologue focusing on his love for the ultimates and how he wanted to see them display a bigger hope, his words are much more manipulative. He asks Teruteru: “hey, Hanamura-kun… could it be true... we’re missing 2 years worth of memories? 2 years is a long time… if it were true… what then?” and insistently “Don’t you want to know? Don’t you want to go back home?”, playing from the worries he was displaying earlier. He is also more straightforward in remarking that Teruteru wasn’t his victim nor acting in everyone’s defense, that he could’ve said something when he realized he had killed Byakuya instead of him, but kept quiet to save himself (a dialogue that, in the game, is said by Monokuma instead). He also claims to love that hope Teruteru had of going home, a hope so strong that Byakuya and everyone else could’ve died for it.

You’ll see that the execution is also very different, as almost all of them will be (personally, I love them even better than in the game). As Teruteru dies, his last words are: “momma… I’m sorry”.

Post trials comes another surprise: the group gets a freebie for their effort, which is a new piece of info. They’re told there is a traitor among them. Of course they suspect Nagito, but then, as they’re confronting him, we get this:

Hajime: It’s your fault! That Hanamura… and Togami...

Nagito: Ah, right, about that… that wasn’t Togami-kun.

Gundham: What are you saying?

Nagito: During the investigation, I found this.

Hajime: Togami’s e-handbook?

The name’s… different.

Ultimate… imposter.

Ibuki: Daaaaang! That Byakuya-chan wasn’t Byakuya-chan, then?!

Nagito: But what an amazing talent! Because, out of all of us, no one even thought it wasn’t Togami-kun! He sure got us!

But… since he’s dead now, it’s not worth caring about, is it…

Akane: I’ll beat ya up, you bastard!

Hajime: Not worth caring about?

The fact that he was a wonderful leader, who protected us with all he had, didn’t change.

That he’d tried to protect us till the very end… and not allow the killing game to happen… he was a proud, worthy leader.

Chiaki: Yes… that’s true.

With that very early revelation, the chapter closes.

CHAPTER 2

Shortening matters, through the night Monokuma already gave to everyone a piece of their past: the envelope containing the pictures of the girls in their Hope’s Peak uniforms and of Fuyuhiko’s sister’s body. They all have seen it by morning, but naturally don’t know what it could all be and don’t discuss it. As in the game, Nagito is being kept away, tied up, though here Akane helped as well; she intended to beat him up while she was at it, but Nekomaru stopped her claiming the strength of her muscles wasn’t meant for stuff like that.

It seems Peko is getting a few more added interactions with Fuyuhiko as well, mostly since she can be closer and take more physical actions in this medium. As she tries to stop him from breaking away from the group, she tells him “if we’re together, it’s certain you’ll be safer”, with this same nuance in English where she could mean together with the group, or together with her. Neat stuff.

Moving on: everyone knows Nagito’s situation. Mahiru suggests taking breakfast to him in front of everyone in this version instead of privately to Hinata, to which everyone reacts complimenting her kindness. No one actually goes to give Nagito food tho (ouch), since everyone starts taking off to the beach and to mess around, doing their own things. Also, Sonia’s interest in Gundham is already made noticeable. A fun little addition:

Hajime (to Gundham): Sonia wants to invite you though, so… will you come to the beach too?

Kazuichi: Hinata…

Hajime: What do you say, Tanaka?

Kazuichi: HEY…

Of course, everyone agrees and will be meeting at the beach house in 1 hour. So it’s not a girls-only meeting in this version, but for everyone who didn’t have other plans. Under Hajime’s advice they’ll try to stay together as much as possible to be safer.

The stage skips to what’s happening at the beach house not long after. We proceed to the murder, conveniently obscured, and body discovery.

As for differences in how the case unfolds, during the investigation, it’s Gundham and Sonia who notice the beach house has another exit: the small window set pretty high up. Then, as Komaeda joins in, he takes special interest in checking whether Hajime’s remembered his talent yet or not. He finds it pretty amazing that even without that, he’s out there solving cases, and expresses looking forward to Hajime remembering. He remarks that he’ll always be on the side of hope to clarify his position.

This class trial is also cleanly shortened without sacrificing anything important. As you’ll notice from the proof collected, the whole thing with the fake Sparkling Justice doesn’t happen. After concluding it couldn’t have been Hiyoko and the killer set her up, the point is made that the killer actually used the window to leave, which only one person could’ve possibly done: Peko. So that’s that.

Once again, it’s rather the reconstruction of the incident that changes. Hiyoko and Mahiru are talking about their friendship, how they’ll continue to be friends even after regaining their old memories, or might’ve even been friends before, when Peko knocks Hiyoko unconscious. The discussion continues.

On the 2nd part of the case reconstruction, Fuyuhiko openly threatens to kill Hiyoko right there to get Mahiru to talk about the pictures and his sister’s death. You’ll notice the image on the screen is the other one, of Sato’s body, but since it was the only picture of a live actor, they used that one as though it were the sister (please be understanding)! Plus, the story about bullying and how they were both killed doesn’t come up, so there’s nothing to be confused over in this version. All we know on the play is that Mahiru took the picture, because Monokuma said so, so Fuyuhiko believes she did the killing too. Mahiru argues that she must’ve taken it as proof. “Us photographers… can tell the meaning of a picture we took ourselves”, she says, but it’s too late.

The debacle of whether Peko is the killer or Fuyuhiko counts as it for using her as tool is, of course, maintained. Enjoy the actors’ amazing representation and another great execution scene!

The rewards for winning the trial this time: 1. The info that the traitor definitely came to the island with them. 2 The traitor belongs to a world-destroying organization called Future Foundation. (Which, in a fun dialogue I believe is new, Nagito calls a pretty hopeful name for something like that.) 3. Those who have talents will be given a present related to their talent. Nagito leaves to check that out, and with Hajime musing “will I be able to… remember my talent?”, the chapter closes.

CHAPTER 3

From here on, the stage play’s scripts starts to differ from the game more and more.

The gift Nagito received for his talent was the gun. Upon finding that it’s loaded with only one bullet, he understands it’s for playing russian roulette, a test for his luck aside from a present. I have to say, I find it insanely cool that he goes for 5 out of 6 shots instead of the 1 shot he did in the game, like holy shit??? But anyway, his reward for the game is the binder with the info on Hope’s Peak and the students.

As for the others, the gift Ibuki got is an electric guitar, Chiaki got a game system, Kazuichi got the communication/camera set that he would make at this point in the game, the one that plays an important role in the 3rd case, and so on; everyone got something related to their talent, except for Hajime. He already suspects it might be that he has no talent, after all, but the others comfort him, doubting that’s the reason.

Enter the despair disease. In this version, Nagito doesn’t get the disease; only Akane and Ibuki do, plus Mikan, who catches it from the start as well unbeknownst to the rest. The set up is like this: Mikan will be caring for the sick at the island’s hospital facility, Hajime volunteers to be there with her, and Kazuichi provides his comm set to link the hospital with the hotel lobby to stay in touch without spreading the illness.

From his position at the hospital, Hajime sees the transmission which he supposes is taking place at the hotel, so he runs over there. But from the hotel, when checking the comm system, the transmission comes on again so everyone thinks it has to be taking place at the hospital now. On the road from hotel to hospital is where they run into Mikan and Akane. Once at the hospital, the bodies of Ibuki and Hiyoko are there.

This investigation process differs A LOT from the game’s. For starters, everyone is far too discouraged by now from so many of their friends being gone and Kazuichi doesn’t even want to investigate anymore. To top things off, when Nagito arrives...

Hajime: Komaeda… where have you been?!

Kazuichi: Mioda and Saionji died! Do you get it?! Both of them at once!

Nagito: Who kills, who gets killed… I don’t care about that anymore.

Hajime: What did you say?

Akane: You asshole… if you say that, I’ll kill ya!

Sonia: Owari-san!

Nagito: Hey, Hinata-kun… did you remember your talent? Did you get any present from Monokuma?

Hajime: … no…

Nagito: Then, this is true…

Hajime: What does that mean?

Nagito: Hush! A reserve course level guy like you… could you not talk to me like we’re equals?!

Hajime: Reserve course?

Nagito: I got this from Monokuma… documents from within Hope’s Peak. You… have no talent, you were a reserve course student!

After explaining what the reserve course is, leaving Hajime destroyed, Nagito steps away to do his own thing.

With Hajime totally out of commission from shock, it’s the other characters who do the investigating on their own this time, without the protagonist’s lead we’re used to. Pretty painful to witness, honestly, but a very clever, impacting and well-handled modification. Everyone lets him have his time. In fact, when Fuyuhiko asks what’s wrong with Hajime, Gundham replies “Do not ask… it is a trivial matter.” for him, and when Chiaki talks to him, it’s only to ask case-related questions, no personal prodding. They only get to go over the causes of death, how the monitors worked (the hotel one showing a feed of the hospital, the hospital one showing a feed of the hotel) and as soon as Fuyuhiko finds a bit of the pillar-wallpaper-thing, investigation time’s over with no more evidence pieces than that. On to the trial.

Like it would happen in chapter 4 in the game, Nagito’s undermining Hajime in the trial, but no one else minds that he’s from the reserve course. Hence the physical attitude you’ll see him taking throughout. Understandably, though, from how the set up was, Hajime looks very suspicious, so the first part of the trial is on the possibility of him having committed the crime. Once that’s cleared and they’ve got it down that Hiyoko’s body was already there when he woke up, hidden under wallpaper, it’s concluded that the transmission was a trick from the killer, who had to be female and at the hospital at the time: Mikan.

Her breakdown follows pretty much the same script as in the game, as well as how she finally gives herself away by mentioning specifically the camera angle. As for the reconstruction of the case, it shows that Ibuki was already healed at the time, that Mikan used some sort of injection to kill her. As for Hiyoko, all the same, except… well, you’ll see. “I’m sorry for being a disgusting, pervert woman…” is what she says, which kinda... adds a layer of to consider in their behavior to each other.

Just as in the game, Mikan reveals what the despair disease did to her, talks about her past and her old lover before she’s executed. No additions or changes on any of that.

CHAPTER 4

… well, kinda. Chapter 4 of the game pretty much doesn’t happen in the stage play. Instead, we get the scene we can see immediately after the execution:

Angry and at her limit from everything that’s happened, Akane challenges Monokuma, like she would go off on her own to do in the game. With everyone being right there in this version, Nekomaru, Fuyuhiko and Gundham are quick to back her up, while Hajime and Kazuichi keep the more physically frail members of the group safe, and Nagito simply stands aside from everything, commenting how awesome everyone is. Do note that he takes a spear from the Monokuma army for his own purposes.

While the whole Funhouse ordeal doesn’t happen, the main points and the weight of the game’s chapter 4 are preserved, with the self-sacrificing role Nekomaru and Gundham take during the fight. All the information we get from the game chapter has already been given in the previous parts of the play, the tensions and relationships between characters were also already set up, and the victim and culprit roles kept a last-effort, self-sacrifice spirit; it’s true that it’s less morally complex and takes exposition away from Gundham, but everything is still basically covered. Even the message to “not give up on life”. So, with their noble deaths, this chapter closes.

CHAPTER 5

Here the play realigns more faithfully to the game’s order of events.

Now knowing they’re Ultimate Despair, Nagito no longer has sympathy for the group or their dead friends. Since the binder he got has info about everything except the traitor, his aim is to uncover them through his bomb threat now. Here he’s immediately revealing his aspiration to wipe out despair from the island and become the Ultimate Hope, and as Hinata asks him to stop before he kills someone, Nagito tells him: “Hey, Hinata-kun… I believe… in my Ultimate Luck!” Words that will be very important.

Here, Fuyuhiko steps up to establish what to do with the situation: Hajime and Chiaki will be staying behind to go through the documents Nagito gave, while he and everyone else will go search for the bombs. “It’s got nothing to do with talent. I’m doing it because I trust in you… so leave that up to me,” is more or less what he says, like the cool heckin bro he is. Very neat modifications. What Hajime and Chiaki have on their hands, then, is the info about the deaths of the student council, Kamukura Izuru, the most despair-inducing incident in the history of mankind, Junko, the group that constitutes Ultimate Despair… pretty much what we’d be getting during the chapter 6 exploration of virtual Hope’s Peak.

Continuing, Nagito has been spotted going into a building, which would be the factory warehouse, so the group get all back together and chases after. The discovery of his body plays out just as in the game, the case itself has the same elements too, from the stuck door to the fire to the bottles. Enjoy the amazing and chilling staging!

In regards to the investigation, even the group recognizes it was too short this time around and that they have no leads. Chiaki already recognizes that “this might not be a trial to find the culprit”.

Once again, the trial is more agile and short. Given that everyone was together most of the time and no one went in or out of the warehouse after Nagito, Hajime proposes it was suicide very quickly. A trick pulled to throw them off… and get them all executed? Although most of the others are ready to accept that as the conclusion, Hajime himself is quick to pause things and question it. Because Nagito said that he would expose the traitor, not kill everyone, so that shouldn’t be what he’d try to do. The trial goes on.

Hajime’s effort to understand the reasons behind Nagito’s actions is comes in the form of a truly fantastic change here, a new scene annexed to the case reconstruction. I’ll translate that conversation between the deceased Nagito and him:

Nagito: Hi there, Hinata-kun.

I really didn’t think you from the reserve course, of all people, would be the one to finally reach the truth.

Hajime: It wasn’t just me… it’s because everyone worked together!

Nagito: Hey, did you find the traitor?

Hajime: ...

Nagito: You haven’t found them, then. I’m glad.

Hajime: You, who obsessed over hope...

Why would you go this far to get us killed?

Nagito: To make despair into a stepping stone for hope. That’s all it is.

If I were able to overcome this despair, then I’d surely become the true hope. The Ultimate Hope!

Hajime: So what… if you die it’s meaningless, isn’t it?

Nagito: Oh, no. [The next line, I’m unable to translate at my level, due to how fast the actor is speaking I can’t make it out properly. There is an “isn’t it natural” there, but that’s all I can catch. Apologies.]

Hajime: I…

I was happy you’d called out to me at the start… when you were telling me I’d remember my talent someday… I was happy...

I… with you…!

Nagito: That’s… that’s wrong, Hinata-kun.

You the reserve course student, and me with the Ultimate Hope…! You, as someone without talent, have no reason to be talking with me, do you?

Hajime: Komaeda!!

Nagito: I’m hope… I oppose despair! And hope… moves forward.

Through this scene, Hajime has realized Nagito’s intention to save the traitor and kill the rest.

Now, quite similarly to how it goes in the game, Chiaki confesses and the nature of Future Foundation as the good guys is revealed through her. Plus, Monokuma delivers the reason Nagito wanted to save someone from that organization, the revelation that everyone else is Ultimate Despair. Why they were taken on the island is established.

It is with all that already on their plate that Chiaki asks them to execute her. Trusting both Nagito’s talent and Chiaki’s bravery, Hajime makes the call to vote for her as blackened.

Chiaki’s goodbyes are the same as in the game, but damn, does it deliver differently on stage…

CHAPTER 6

As soon as the execution is over, the graduation for the remaining students begins. It’s very confusing for me to pick apart the fine detail of what’s just like the game and what’s different, since it’s all small things all over the place, so I’ll just be thorough in summing up this whole part.

The survivors are immediately presented with the first choice, which is what appears on their e-handbooks and the stage screen: graduate and leave the game world, or don’t and stay in it. This is the first time anything about the island being a simulation comes up, so the explanations for that are due. Junko’s presence is revealed.

She explains that the group wouldn’t be allowed to graduate until a point where the Future Foundation member was dead. Now, they can. And if they graduate and wake up, their friends who died through the killing game will also go back to life (except Chiaki, of course). Hajime is unsure, so to convince everyone, Junko brings the simulation of the others back, who also pressure Hajime to choose to graduate. But he denies it, because that’s clearly not their friends. How does he know? Because Nagito just said to graduate too, and he’d never share that opinion, he wouldn’t agree in any way with the designs of Junko, who is despair. Therefore, it’s all an illusion!

The truth of that choice is explained: they WOULD all come back to life, but all of them would have Junko’s mind. So uh, yeah, that’s why they act and pose as you’ll see, and MAAAAN how I dig those once again incredible performances!!

When Monomi appears, it is to reveal the other option: the emergency shutdown command, which will take the survivors out of the program without Junko (and of course without the others). No, Naegi, Kirigiri and Togami do not appear in this version, so she is giving that information on her own and without the 11307 code. But, the Junkofied classmates explain that would also cancel everyone’s progress in the program and return them to how they were before entering it, as Ultimate Despairs.

The two options are summed up: the “hope” option that Nagito is signaling is the emergency shutdown that sacrifices the survivors back to despair but doesn’t let Junko out into the world, and the “despair” option that Imposter is signaling would be the graduation that allows the survivors to wake up with their memories from the program, but also lets Junko out occupying the mind of each of their dead friends.

On top of that, as everyone is physically restrained to pressure them into the final choice, when Hajime’s trying to talk back to Junko, she reveals he’s the one who brought her to the program to begin with. Since he has no memory of it, she goes ahead and tells him that he’s the legendary Ultimate Hope, Kamukura Izuru. “You are Kamukura Izuru,” she makes everyone chant repeatedly, to get it through his head. So, the shutdown option that reverts everyone to their despaired state, would also make Hajime return to being Izuru. And his current self? The chant is then “disappear”, which gives him the answer to that.

Just as in the game, Hajime is paralyzed. Retreating within his mind, he monologues about how he can no longer choose between hope and despair, themselves or the world, just can’t choose a future. And in much the same conversation, Chiaki hears him out and reminds him that he is himself, that he’s acted undeniably as himself within the simulation and, most importantly, that life isn’t like a game where the 2 options given are all there is; that he can create any other options he wants, create his own path. “You’re not doing it for anyone, but for yourself,” she says, before giving him a hope fragment.

It’s with that mentality, that decision to create his own future, that Hinata returns and convinces the others to do the emergency shutdown. Trusting each other and what should be a new beginning instead of their end, they press both buttons together which begins the process.

The final scene is a perfect replica of the game’s, as far as I can tell. With the digital world falling apart around them, everyone prepares for what may come after, hoping they won’t forget each other and what they went through, a bit scared, but happy to be together and determined to carve out their future.

With that, the stage play ends. Enjoy the outro!

I hope you’re able to have as much of a great time as I did watching the play. The actors truly awed me with how much life they breathed into their characters, and I strongly recommend watching the play more than once through, ‘cause you can always notice new details, other characters doing their own things in the background when the main spotlight wasn’t on them, characters slipping into poses that are so much like the game sprites, etc. The modifications were also brilliantly done to make things shorter without messing anything up, keeping the plot perfectly together; something admirable and, in my opinion, the work of a very skilled writer. The stage work was just unbelievably amazing to me too. Wanting to show all this, so that other people could appreciate how well done it was, is a large part of why I made this long-ass thing.

Have a cool time reliving the fantastic story that SDR2 was!

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