#this has tickled me since I first read 15
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ettaevie · 1 year ago
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Some of the creative choices made by the bsd anime adaptation for the sake of cool visuals end up causing some funny implications
For example:
Light Novel Mori: So I pretended that the old boss needed routine emergency throat surgery in order to open his airway, and then reported that he ultimately succumbed to illness during the procedure.
Anime Mori: Yeah so then I slit the old boss' throat with a KNIFE and let him BLEED OUT in his own bed. The stains from the blood-splatter can still be seen on the wallpaper TO THIS DAY.
Now which version sounds more suspicious to you?
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vivispec · 4 months ago
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Hello there! I'm not even sure how to start. So I felt very disappointed by DA:TV, because of various reasons. Not trying to dampen the mood, I am super happy for you if you actually enjoyed the game! If you do not mind, could you list the things you liked/loved about the game? Help me see the "bright side"? Just gush a litte about it, I could use some positive input around my favourite gaming series of all time. :') thank you <3
Absolutely! For me, I think I always figured I was going to like this game, even if it wasn't my fave of all time? Trick Weekes always writes characters/quests that I like, and for me, story/characters come before anything else. I liked Andromeda, flawed as it was. Even if the gameplay was mediocre, I was certain I'd find something I'd like.
But the gameplay wasn't mediocre. It was actually really, really fun. I played Spellblade, and honestly, the gameplay might be a highpoint for me. I don't really like action gameplay, I tolerate it. I loved this, though.
The biggest thing that really sold me is the fact that the big choices in this game are difficult in a way Bioware has been trying to capture since Origins, but I don't think they've ever nailed until now (except maybe in Mass Effect). Even in Origins, when they had big choices like what to do with Connor, or how to deal with the werewolves, there was always a cop out choice. There isn't one in this game, so far as I can see. At the end of EVERY companion quest there was a choice I couldn't choose, something that made me wonder just what would've happened if I'd picked something different, and don't get me started on the endgame. The endgame was brutal :')
I love the characters, too! I do think some of the writing can get a bit campy or be a bit on the nose, I think some subtlety is lacking for certain characters especially in the beginning, but once shit hits the fan just about every companion has their gutwrenching moment. I felt for every single character in this game, during their act 2 personal quest moments. In all the other games there was at least one character I just couldn't care about, but even the ones that I thought wouldn't tickle my fancy snuck up on me. By the end, I loved all of them so much. I only wanted more.
I like Rook, too. I think I can see how their characterization might be disappointing, though. I think the key for me and my friend @sweetmage was finding the right Rook to play. We both had lots of concepts and while I plugged in the right one first, I know they struggled until they found the right one. Rook is kinda like Hawke in the way that they have a bit of personality already and a defined character path, which can get in the way of true RP. Once I stopped fighting it and let Rook be Rook, I liked the game a lot more, and I liked my character a lot more.
Then there's lore. Oh, lore. I have listened to or read every codex. I have a treasure trove of theories I keep locked in my head. All I need is a corkboard and some red string. Getting to see so many of those theories come to fruition? Things they've been teasing since Origins, that I picked up on when I was 12? Absolutely magical! Some of it I think they bungled--there's one reveal I've been waiting for for 15 years that I found in a note, not codex, on a bridge in Minrathous, no fanfare or anything--but the majority of it punched me right in the face with so much force I had to pause the game and do a little pacing. I won't get into specifics for spoiler reasons, but seeing all those little dots connect? seeing when I was right, and when I was wrong? SO euphoric for me!
A lot of the things I didn't like, too, like making the Crows less shitty--so easy to headcanon around, in ways that don't contradict canon! It's one of my favorite things to do, it feels like a puzzle to me, making everything that is for certain and everything I want fit together. That one, for instance, Zevran totally gutted all the shitty Crows, and left only the good ones :)
I will say, it's clear they were trying to wrap things up. I got the sense while playing it felt that they didn't want to leave any loose threads in case this was their last DA game, so that felt a bit rushed. But I loved it. To me it was a love letter, saying goodbye. Wrapping everything up in a nice little bow. I've always struggled to choose a favorite game in the DA series, they all do something I love so differently that I can't pinpoint one singular favorite, and I think this one is right up there for me, tied for 1st place with the other three games. Like DA2 and DAI I think it could've cooked just a little bit longer, there's a lot of potential for it to be a 9/10 game imho if they'd smoothed a couple of things out, but there's a lot in there for me to love.
Thank you so much for the question, I hope the wall of text will help you see a bit of the light haha. I don't mind that people didn't like it--that's just how it goes sometimes, and I think there are a lot of valid criticisms to be had. For me I was just super bummed that it was the only thing I was seeing online. I'm following lots of positivity now, so the occasional disenchantment is not a problem. Idk if it'll work for you, but @sweetmage was similarly disappointed until they streamed it with a friend, and then just having someone there to converse with it on really helped them to enjoy it. I hope you can find something to love in it, too!
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ladylooch · 1 month ago
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Bones - Part 15 [Mack x David]
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A/N: I have said this so many times, you are all probably sick of hearing it BUT THIS IS MY FAVORITE CHAPTER!!!! This was the first chapter I wrote for their series and it has stayed mostly the same since I originally wrote it in May 2024. Considering that, I think I've been patient long enough! I can't wait any longer so it's going up a few days earlier than I said. Please, please, please come talk to me about this one 😭 I want to know every single thought that comes across your beautiful brains as you read this. Literally on my knees and begging. Okay, okay, go.. now.. run please! Read! Enjoy 🥹
Word Count: 5.8k
Warnings: Vivid descriptions of child birth, birth trauma (nobody dies, promise!), mentions of bodily fluids including blood.
July
“It’s David. Leave a-”
Mack clicks off the phone as she gets her husband’s voicemail again. She pouts her lips out, looking out the window at where she can see Felix and two other farm hands in the barn. 
Maybe he knows where her husband is. 
Normally, Mack doesn’t worry about where David is at lunch time because he comes home, or she drives out to meet him in the field. Today, neither of those things happened and Mack ended up eating lunch without him. The unusual behavior makes her want to get eyes on her husband to make sure he is okay. 
The closer Mack gets to giving birth to their son, the quieter David has become. Mack knows it’s not about second guessing their choices or any of that. But it is another moment in his life he is navigating through without his parents. She gets to talk to her parents about what this was like for them- creating life, those last few weeks before everything changed, the delivery room. He doesn’t have that and as such, Mack treats those conversations as a luxury.
Mack kicks off her house shoes, then slides into a pair of sneakers. Her belly is so big now, she has to lean slightly to the side to make sure her foot is going into the shoe. The second Mack opens the door and feels the Iowa humidity, she groans. What was she thinking being this pregnant in the summer? Oh yeah, that her husband would be home for the birth. Crazy of her though, to think that being 39 weeks pregnant in the middle of July would be fun. 
She never wants to do a summer baby again. She would do another baby, but not in the summer. Bring on the winter coolness that would help alleviate the furnace of a baby inside of her. Clearly, this one is going to run hot like his daddy.
Mack braces a hand on her back, then grabs the railing to walk the three steps down the porch. Her tired feet scuff along the dirt as she flips her sunglasses down over her eyes, heading towards Felix. When she gets close to the barn, a tickle sticks in her throat as the wind whips up some dry dirt from the road.
“Hi Felix.” Mack murmurs as she pauses at the entrance of the barn. He is working with another farm hand in replacing a section of rotting wood in the far corner.
“Oh! Mrs. Mackenzie, there’s a lot of dust. Stay out there. I’ll come out to you.” Mack can see the dust flying around and wisely stops her forward progress. She stays in the opening of the barn, edging her way back out slightly. “Hi.” He says breathlessly as he comes out to her. “How can I help?”
“Do you know where David is? I’ve been calling to see if he is coming up for lunch but he isn’t answering.” 
“Oh, uh, he’s right there.” He points behind her. Mack turns around, shielding her eyes over her sunglasses. On his knees in black dirt, is her husband, shaping and working in his mom’s rose garden. She didn’t see him with the angle she took out of the house. 
“Ah… wow, I didn’t see him. So sorry for bothering you!” Mack apologizes with a grimace.
“No worries. He should have answered your calls.” Felix gives her a shrug. Mack supposes that is true. But it is not like David to ignore her, especially 39 weeks pregnant.
She walks over to him, hands crossed over her chest as her shoes kick up dust around her feet. The wind is blowing hard today. A storm is set to sweep into the area tonight, bringing with it some cooler, less humid weather. Music to this pregnant woman’s ears. 
“Hey.” Mack calls to David as she gets to the edge of the garden. 
He is shirtless, tanned skin pulling tight over this muscular back, chest, and arms. He has work gloves on his hands, protecting them from the black soil he is working with. Specks of black dot his forearms up to his elbows. The distinct white of his AirPods against his slightly curled black hair tells Mack he is deep in another world right now. She walks around the garden towards the house, getting in his line of vision. He glances up, then immediately sits back on his heels seeing her. Mack’s heart skips a beat, taking in his sexy, sweaty form looking at her like she’s his next meal. 
“Hi honey.” He says, tilting the brim of his ball cap up and wiping at his forehead with his dirty forearm. Dirt smears across his skin. She smiles as he pops an AirPod out. He looks so good right now- her hard working man, grinning at seeing her hand as she strokes her bump. “You okay?”
“I am now.” She murmurs back.
“Now?”
“I’ve been calling you?”
“Oh shit. I’m sorry. Had my notifications off cause I am listening to a pepper podcast. Tryna figure out what the fuck I’m doing wrong with the bell peppers this year. They’ve all got bottom rot out there.” The peppers were for their family use, not the farms, but David takes anything that doesn’t grow perfectly personally. “What’s up?”
“You thinking about lunch anytime soon? It’s after 1.”
“Ah… I’m not that hungry.” Mack bites her lip with worry at his response. David is always hungry. He also was supposed to be out checking fence this morning, but here he is knee deep in his mama’s garden again.
“Okay.”
“Sorry, honey. Were you waiting for me?”
“No. We can’t.” She laughs, tapping her big belly. “Your son wouldn’t allow it.” 
“Our growing boy.” David smiles. He looks down at the garden. “What do you think?”
“It looks great, babe.” She says. “Will be nice to look out at this from the baby’s room.”
“Yeah.” He nods, hands on his thighs as he scans the various colors of rose bushes.
The bedroom in question is the smallest in the house, normally an office, but the closest to the master bedroom, which is on the main level. The house layout is a little discombobulated, but David wants to keep the integrity of the farm house. He isn’t ready to change what it was like for him growing up here. The only work he has done in the house is re-doing the flooring on the main level, put a new coat of paint on, and renovated the shower into a mini spa for himself after a long day of work in the fields. 
“Mama would love it. Good growth this year. I’ve been working on splitting up a few of these big ones. Thought maybe I could plant them by her and dad.” 
“That would be really nice.” Mack nods. “I’m sure your mom would love that. Your dad would allow it.” She smirks. She never got to meet David’s parents, but she knows enough about them to feel confident saying so.
“If mama was happy, he was happy.” David smiles. “Sound familiar?”
“Mhm.” She grins at him. “Come give me a kiss. I’m going back in. My boobs are melting off right now from this heat.”
“Can’t have that.” He murmurs, pulling his gloves off. “I’m filthy.” He warns her.
“I’m well aware of how dirty you are, sir.” She winds her arms around his sweaty body, pulling him down to her height. He smirks against her mouth, making his mustache tickle her nose. She squeaks, pulling away to rub the tickles away from her nostrils. “That thing is out of control. You need to trim it.”
“Not what you were saying this morning.” He jokes. “Ohhhh baby, don’t stop.” His words hiss through gritted teeth like hers were, then he attempts to nip at her neck. 
“Shush!” She slaps his bare stomach, looking over her shoulder towards the barn. “You’re such a dick.” He laughs loudly, pulling away from her. 
“Then you must like me.” He wiggles his eyebrows. 
“Put some more sunscreen on.” Mack calls back to him, slowly meandering her way back towards the porch. She carefully steps up the porch, hand braced on her back and the railing as she does so. She glances over to her husband who watches her with careful, green eyes, then waves one more time before getting his knees back in the black dirt.
- - - & - - -
While the Iowa weather thunders and soaks outside, Mack tries to get comfortable in David’s embrace. She shifts every which way, grabs extra pillows to stuff between her legs, but nothing seems to work. It’s been like this especially since dinner when the storm clouds started to roll in.
“Ugh. This baby is so damn low.” Mack snaps. “It feels like I can’t even close my legs anymore. I might need to put a mirror down there to make sure he isn’t actually coming out.” She throws the pillow she was trying to wedge between her legs across the room in frustration.
“What can I do?”
“Nothing.” She grumbles. David brings a hand to her thigh, rubbing up and down in reassurance.
“You’re amazing, hon. I’m sorry things are tough right now. I love you.” Mack mumbles a thank you. She deeply appreciates that David has sympathy for what her body is going through, and that he regularly tells her how in awe he is of her, but tonight she is grumpy. She doesn’t want him to make anything better. She wants this damn baby out.
Mack only lasts five more minutes of her sour mood and uncomfortably shifting positions. With a final sigh, she wiggles her way to the edge of the couch to stand. David stands too, giving her his hands to help her get up with a limited struggle.
“I’m going to bed.” She tells him. His lips twist into a disappointed frown, but he nods without much fuss. A loud clap of thunder makes Mack jolt in surprise. “Holy mother of…” She trails off in Swiss German. Her heartbeat sprints in her chest as David chuckles then gives her a kiss.
“Well, you’re at least going to lay in bed.”
“Yeah. I guess.” She shakes her head, moving towards the kitchen to fill up her water bottle.
“Goodnight, baby. I’ll be in soon.”
“You don’t have to go to bed because I am.”
“I know. I want to.” He says simply. “Wanna hold you if you’ll let me.” 
Mack smirks in the kitchen, twisting on the top of her water cup before padding through the living room. On her way behind the couch, she drops a kiss on David’s head. She cups his face, gently tilting it back towards her to smooch his lips, stroking his jaw sweetly before continuing on to bed. 
“I love you.” She murmurs over her shoulder.
“Love you, hon.” He calls back.
Mack goes through her night time routine of washing her face, putting on lotions and creams as well as ten minutes of meditation through her Calm app to try and get centered into a less frustrated state. She reminds herself how grateful she is to be pregnant and have the opportunity to bring life into the world. Being pregnant in conjunction with Savannah has encouraged Mack to be appreciative for how easy her and David’s journey has been. Savannah and her have become close, sharing in so many experiences together.
Mack works on a pair of compression shorts and a t-shirt of David’s that allows for her boobs to breathe. She pulls the covers back on their bed, then slides into the cool sheets. She savors the temperature with a little shiver, but knows this feeling won’t last long. She grabs her phone, texting David to turn down the air conditioner before he comes to bed. Even with the storm blowing through, the humidity lingers more than she would like. 
Mack is scrolling through Instagram when David comes into the bedroom. He heads to the closet where Mack observes him pulling back on his work jeans and a clean Carhartt grey t-shirt. He grabs another pair of boot socks, which clues Mack in that he is heading back outside.
“Something wrong?”
“Yeah. I gotta head out to help Bob. A fence blew open and his cattle are scattered along the southern edge of our property and into the road. Gotta round ‘em up.” He flips the light off in the closet. “Just gonna help til his hands are able to get over there.” He puts a warn, Coors hat on his dark locks after pushing his hair off his forehead. “Won’t be long.” He comes to her side of the bed. He puts a hand on her bump, then at the back of her neck, stroking fire across her lips when they touch. 
“Be careful out there.” She tells him. 
“It’s done storming. Well East of us at this point.”
“Yeah, but still be careful.” He smiles, kissing her again.
“Always so worried.” He chuckles, kissing down her chin and chest to her bump. He presses his nose in, green eyes closing as Mack places a hand on the back of his head to cradle it.
“Yeah, cause I don’t want to raise this baby alone.” 
“I’ll never let that happen. Promise, mama.” He murmurs against her belly. “Be good.” If he is talking to the baby or Mack, she can’t tell. 
Despite her best efforts, Mack still cannot get comfortable after David leaves. Again, the baby feels so low and the pressure is almost unbearable. She gets up, wandering around the room, trying to find what position relieves the ache of pregnancy from her body. She practices her breathing exercises, then again tries her Calm app. Still nothing is working. She throws her phone onto the bed in frustration, then says fuck it, and heads to the freezer where pints of Ben and Jerry’s is waiting for her. It won’t solve being pregnant, but it will provide comfort. 
“What flavor do we want?” She asks her belly. She opens the freezer, looking down at the tops of the lids, reading off the options she has. “I feel like… Ew, why did Daddy get Cherry Garcia? We hate that one!” She chuckles, picking it up. It has already been opened, half eaten. David likes the weirdest, most out there flavors sometimes. “Mmm brownie or strawberry cheesecake?” She murmurs, tilting her head. “Strawberry sounds good. And it has fruit in it, so we can both lie about it having nutritional value!” She leans down, grabbing the top of it. As she comes back up, wetness begins to dribble down her right leg. 
Mack pauses. 
She focuses in on her body, then realizes exactly what that liquid is.
“Oh fuck.” She squeaks. She drops the pint of ice cream, then puts both hands on her belly. “Buddy…” She trails off. 
It’s David. Leave a message or I’m not calling you back.
Mack rolls her eyes at his voicemail and hangs up, incredibly more stressed than she was this morning when this happened. She immediately dials his number again. From her perch in the kitchen, she faintly hears a buzz. She pauses, tilting her ear towards the living room to listen better. The sound cuts off when his voicemail plays again.
“Oh you have to be kidding me.” She sighs. She presses his name again, then watches between two couch cushions light up. “What the hell, David.”
Mack puts her hands on her lower back, rubbing vertically up and down the muscles. She closes her eyes as she begins to pace, trying to stay calm as she feels some tightness happening in her back and abdomen. She remembers the coaching from the doctor’s that first time mothers tend to be in labor for awhile. She figures she has time, so there is no need to try to find her husband. She can wait until he returns.
Time is not on her side tonight.
Mack starts to experience intense pain in her abdomen while she is cleaning herself up. She grips the counter in the bathroom, moaning out in pain as another contraction takes over her. These are fast, much faster than she was expecting. She feels her abdomen release it’s tension, then stands back up to her full height. She meets her eyes in the mirror, seeing the intensity of what she is experiencing there. This must be active labor. Is it possible for her to be at this stage already?
With immense struggle, she finishes getting clean clothes on, including her roomiest pajama shorts. From their bedroom, Mack looks across the first few fields to the other house on the property. She can see a single light on in Felix and Lorena’s kitchen. She grabs her phone and the keys to the Gator, then makes her way there as fast as she can. Being alone seems like a terrible idea right now.
After parking, she stands up, then immediately bends over, moaning at the horrible pain rocketing through her. 
“Holy fuck. Why does my ass hurt so bad?!” She screeches in Swiss German. Her knuckles go white around the metal pole of the Gator. Lorena notices from where she is washing dishes at the sink. The front door flies open and she rushes down.
“Are you in labor!?” She exclaims. “Where is David?”
“He went to help Bob and- uhhhhhhh.” Mack squats down on instinct. She breathes out the way she learned in the brief Youtube video she watched, then opens her eyes into tiny slits to look at the other woman. “He doesn’t have his phone.”
“Felix!” Lorena snaps loudly, slapping the dishtowel against her thigh. “Get out here!” Felix rushes to the door, looking concerned at Mack’s state. “Go get David from Bob’s. Fast! She doesn’t have much time.”
Mack looks at Lorena, delirious from pain. She has time… right? It’s just painful. This is how labor is.
Felix takes off in his truck as Lorena puts Mack back in the Gator to get her home. Lorena stays with Mack, holding her hand as the contractions continue full force. Lorena times them and they are closing in on three minutes apart. There is no doubt anymore that Mack is in active labor. She thinks about that long, half hour drive to the hospital and tears fill her eyes. She needs relief but the drugs are a ways away at this point. 
“Ooooooo…” Mack trails off as the pain from the contraction steals the noise right from her throat. Holy shit, this is so painful. She is pretty sure cartoon stars of pain are floating in her vision as she looks across the wall at a picture of her and David laughing at their wedding. “Where the fuck are you, babe!” She howls through the room. Lorena pats her hand assuringly. 
“It won’t be long now. I’m sure Felix found him. They’re on their way.” 
On cue, David storms through the front door, bringing with him the smell of wet dirt and the cooled summer breeze.
“Honey, how we doing?” He calls to her.
“Horrible!” She yells. David walks into the living room, tossing his work gloves to the side and kneeling on one knee between her legs. He rubs the outsides of her thighs, collecting her forehead on his shoulder.
“Can you walk?” He mumbles against her right ear.
“Honestly, I don’t think so.” She cries, tears leaking down onto his shirt. “Everything is so intense- ugh.” The next contraction hits her, more forceful than the last one, somehow. She wildly searches for David’s hand. He threads her fingers into hers. 
“Great job, baby. Keep breathing.” He coos into her ear. He keeps one hand in hers, then uses the other to rub her lower back. Mack focuses on his tight, circular motions, letting his skin on hers keep her grounded through the pain. 
“We gotta go. I need drugs. Like now.” She says after the contraction is done. 
“How long between contractions are you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe like two minutes.”
“Damn. Are you serious? Maybe I should have started with that question.”
“Yeah, I probably should have said that.” She nods rapidly.
“Arms around my neck.” He instructs. Mack does so and then he lifts her into his arms. Mack looks up, seeing Felix and Lorena in the doorway.
“Thank you so much.” She says to them both.
“Good luck you two.” Felix tips his hat to them. “I’ll lock up for you. Just go. Truck is running.” 
“Thanks.” David sighs in relief. The truck’s headlights beam across Mack and David as he carries her to the passenger side. The door is open already, so David can slide her in easily. 
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Mack hisses, gripping David’s shirt as he tries to work his way out of the cab. He halts, putting his hands on her thigh and shoulder. This time, he doesn’t say anything. When Mack comes out of this contraction, she looks at her husband. “Are we going to make it?” She may be a first time mother, but she can tell the baby’s head is close to crowning. The ring of fire is so severe she can feel vomit pushing at her esophagus. 
“I don’t know.” He says honestly. “But I’m gonna try, honey.” 
Not even five minutes into their drive, Mack already knows the answer to her previous question. The pressure between her legs has her moaning at every dip and bump in the Iowa highway. This isn’t good. Her eyes screw shut again in agony.
“David, he is coming…” She pushes through her gritted teeth. Her finger nails pierce into the palm of his right hand as his thumb rubs at her thigh.
“I know, baby.” He takes his hand back to put both hands on the wheel, pushing down harder on the right pedal.
“No, he is coming. Right NOW.”
David takes his eyes off the road, looking at Mack’s face. It’s flushed and twisted in pain. Her breathing is labored as she shifts uncomfortably in the seat. That Youtube video didn’t have the best suggestions for when you’re raw dogging labor in an old truck at 90 MPH. Listen to your body, Mack can hear that calm, mocking voiceover of the video. Personally, Mack wants to turn that communication all the way the fuck off right now. 
“Okay. Do you want me to keep driving or stop?”
“Um.. ahh!!!” Mack starts to whimper.
David takes his right hand off the wheel again, giving it to her so she can squeeze. Her fingernails pierce through the skin on his knuckles. A gush happens and Mack startles. Something feels different now, she cups her stomach, feeling it slightly squishy. In concern, Mack brings her other hand down, then gasps at David, looking wide-eyed at him. “I can feel his head. Ohmygod, it is partially out.”
David immediately guides the truck off to the shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Mack panics. “We have to keep going!”
“Baby, we need to focus on getting him out now. There isn’t time for us to get there. I gotta make sure you’re both safe.” He dials 911 as he gets out of the truck. Mack watches him, shocked and dumbfounded at what is happening right now. 
“Hi, we need an ambulance on County Road 63 near Anderson Lake Trail. My wife is giving birth.” He pauses, pinching the phone between his shoulder and his head as he opens Mack’s door.
“Turn, honey.” Mack is horrified, yet finds herself trusting David completely as he tilts his head in. He gently peels her shorts and panties down, looking directly at her spread legs. He works them all the way off so she is bare and spread eagle in the country night.
“Oooohhhh my god.” Mack hiccups in disbelief. “What’s happening?” She slaps a hand on her forehead. 
“She is 39 weeks. And, uh yeah, his head is partially out. I can see his hair.” He looks up at Mack with sparkling green eyes. Despite it all, she tearfully grins back at him. Their son has hair! David reaches for the lever on her passenger seat, tilting her back further. 
“Scoot back a bit, hon.” He rubs her calf comfortingly with his thumb. Mack watches him in awe now, how completely calm he is as he puts a hand between her legs, ready to catch their child when he enters the world completely. Tears collapse over her lashes and she hiccups from the fear of it all.
Another hearty contraction forces Mack forward, she bares down as David tosses the phone onto the dash. Her knees come up her body and she puffs her breaths through the contraction. 
“Perfect, Mack. You’re doing perfect.” Her husband encourages her softly. A sob retches from Mack’s chest as she feels the baby progress further. “Head is completely out.” David calls towards the phone as more instructions are murmured by the operator. 
“Ow, ow, ow!!” Mack’s howl sears through the dark night. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” Mack grits down on her teeth, shaking from adrenaline and pain. Tears coat her cheeks as she shakes her head no at David. His face is calm and controlled, even his green eyes as they search her face.
“The only way through this is to get him out now, honey.” David says calmly. Mack wants to ask him if he is as scared shitless as she is, but before she can, she feels the build of another contraction. The next scream gets lost in her esophagus. She slams her head back into the headrest, closing her eyes to try and keep from completely losing it right now. Her baby needs her to get him out. She can’t be scared right now. David is here. He won’t let anything happen to them. He is going to get them through this.
And so is she.
“Okay, guide the baby down and to the side for the shoulders to come out.” The 911 operator coaches David. Mack arches off the seat in pain as the pressure builds excruciatingly fast. Then the next contraction comes and she pushes as hard as she can to end this for all of them.  A roar sounds from her chest that sounds nothing like her. Then the baby hits David’s palms as he hollers excitedly, his hearty “Yes!” filling the dark night.
“He’s out!” Mack opens her arms for the baby and David settles their son’s face into the exposed skin coming through her V-neck. “He is on mama.” David tugs his shirt off, gathering the soft cotton to put on their son.
“Great job, mom! Be careful not to pull anything. Is the baby crying?” The operator asks.
“No.” David says, already rubbing at the baby’s back. He has delivered hundreds of farm animals. He knows there needs to be a noise coming from their baby to deem him okay. He needs to breathe. Mack adds her hand too, rubbing limply at him with her husband until that first cry hits their ears.
“Oh!” She exclaims joyfully. Once the baby is consistently sobbing, David leans into the truck more over Mack’s face to kiss her tenderly. 
“You are a fucking badass, baby!” He kisses her harder then works his way over the tear tracks on both of her cheeks, smearing who knows what on her face too. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” She nods, holding tighter to the baby. David’s eyes drift down to their son and he grins wider.
“Look what our love made, honey.” He whispers as the faint sound of sirens crawls closer. David looks over his right shoulder, seeing the flashing red, white and blue lights. “Hold on.” He murmurs, reaching into the back seat for a blanket. He covers Mack’s still spread legs to give her some modesty until they have to check on her. His big hand drapes over her head, thumb brushing her forehead as she closes her eyes and sighs. “You’re okay, baby. He is too. You’re bleeding some still, but it’s not too much.” David assures her. Fresh tears leak out from her corners. Their son continues to cry in his mama’s arms. Then red and blue lights flood over Mack and David’s faces. She opens her eyes, seeing two paramedics rushing to them.
“How are we doing?” One paramedic asks. David steps aside for them, but opens the back door of the truck to stay close to his wife. He gets in, putting his hands on her shoulders so she knows he is right there with her.
“Um, okay?” Mack laughs, letting them see the baby. He has gotten quiet and curious of his new surroundings. They put a blood pressure cuff around her arm, then put the stethoscope on the baby to hear his heartbeat.
“Baby’s heart sounds good!” The paramedic confirms.”I’m gonna check you, okay?” She moves down between Mack’s legs, assessing the situation. With all the adrenaline pumping through her right now, Mack can’t tell how she is doing. She’s on fire and numb all at the same time.
“We might need a new truck.” Mack says nervously.
“Nah, it’ll come out in the wash.” David assures, kissing the top of her head. 
“Dad, did you deliver?” The other paramedic asks as he checks on Mack’s vitals. 
“Yeah!” David grins excitedly. “I knew all that calf birthing would come in handy one day.” Mack scoffs at him.
“Did you just compare me to a cow?”
“No! You were much nicer than the heifers, honey.” The paramedics chuckle in agreement. 
Mack smiles tiredly.
“Weirdly comforting.”
In another few minutes, they have Mack and the baby strapped onto the stretcher. Mack assures David they are okay and he should drive the truck the rest of the way. He follows behind, using the ambulance as an excuse to rip down these old highways from his childhood. He parks the car fast, then runs to the ambulance where they are unloading Mack. Several nurses and two doctors are waiting for them. They all converge on Mack at once.
“David?” She calls weakly, losing him in the sea of people. 
“I’m right behind you, baby. It’s okay.” She nods, holding their son tighter. 
“Congratulations! What a night for you!” A doctor in a white coat says, holding a clip board. “Did anyone happen to catch a time when baby came into the world?” The doctor asks. “Not that you were busy at all?” David laughs. 
“11:14pm.” Mack swoons, thinking of how incredible he is. Everything felt so rushed and crazy. How did he even think to get the time of birth? Because he is David- calm, cool and collected in the rawness of any moment. She loves that about her husband.
Once Mack is settled into a room, they finish the final steps of delivery. The team checks her over, deciding she will need a few stitches. No one is surprised. Their son came fast and furious and Mack didn’t even quite know it was happening until he was being put in her arms by her husband on the side of the road.
Mack looks down at their son as they work on her. He has been cleaned and diapered, covered by a hospital blanket advertising back is best and a striped hat on his head. David stands next to her, rubbing her scalp gently as a tension headache throbs against her skull. The room is quiet and calm, much different than the last hour. Their son closes his eyes and puckers his little lips, already content in his new world.
“Does baby have a name?” A nurse next to the computer asks from across the room. David looks at Mack, kissing her as they both smile, thinking of the person they are naming their son after, who they hope he takes after too.
“Nico Carlson.” Mack answers. 
“Welcome Nico!” The room cheers excitedly. Mack starts to weep, thinking of her dad back in Switzerland, going about his day having no idea he has a grandson with his name now.
Later, when the lights are dim and everyone has left them alone, David sits in a chair next to Mack’s bed, looking down at their son in his arms. They’ve both already done skin to skin, now it’s time to rest, but David can’t. His gaze lifts from their son, who will go by Nicky, to Mack who is sleeping lightly in her bed. She glows now, even after her hard night. He can’t believe how lucky he is to have her.
The night replays in his head- the storm, Mack’s constant discomfort, how low she kept complaining the baby felt. David should have known. He should have sent Felix to help Bob so he was there to help his wife through labor. Instead, he barely got to hold her hand through any of it like he promised her. David reaches out for her hand, resting by her hip. He is careful of her IV as he threads their fingers together. Mack’s eye lashes flutter open. 
“Is he okay?” She asks.
“Yes. Are you?”
“Yes.” 
“Then we are all good.” He squeezes her hand.
“You need to get some sleep. You’re going on almost 24 hours being awake.” 
“Nah, I run on minutes.” Mack quietly looks him over, then slides her hips back across the bed.
“Come lay with me.” 
David slides into bed beside her, carefully holding their son in his arms. Mack settles on the other side of David’s chest from their son, looking at his sleeping face. His little lips are split open, with fast breathing pushing in and out of them. 
“How did we live without him before?” Mack murmurs, rubbing her fingers along his swaddled arms.
“I don’t know. Suddenly, he’s all the world revolves around.”
“I can’t stop staring at him. He looks like your twin.”
“Minus those big dimples in his cheeks. Those are mama’s.” Mack chuckles. Yes, but before they were hers, they were his namesake’s. David sighs, pressing his fingers deeper into her back as he kisses her head. “I’m so sorry you had to do so much of yesterday alone. I should have checked for my phone and I didn’t. I let you down.”
“You delivered our baby…” Mack trails off, blinking incredulously. 
“Well, I had to deliver the baby in the truck because we were so late. If I had my phone, or didn’t go to help Bob-"
“We will never know.” Mack says quietly. “And as parents now, we need to let that stuff go. The things we can’t change or the paths we didn’t take, like not being parents. We are here- exactly where we are supposed to be- perfect and healthy.” 
“I knew you were going to be an incredible mama and wife. Thank you, honey, for giving me my entire world.” 
Mack puckers her lips. He leans down to kiss her hard, lovingly, relentlessly. His hand cradles her firmly to his chest, then they both turn back down to stare at their son’s face. 
Nico Carlson has already changed the world.
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sexisbetteronthemoon · 2 months ago
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Can we have any insight into what’s going on in Lance’s head up until this point in the fic? What’s his opinion on Planet Red and Keith? (And the baby!)
thanks for the question!
ok, so, i spent most of the day thinking about how to answer this question and i'm still not quite sure? i might be overcomplicating things — i tend to do that, but it feels like a broad question since a lot has happened (it's a lot to cover lol). and i feel like i'll just be overexplaining things we already know. 😭 i'll be trying my best!
okay, this is going to be long and filled with spoilers, so if you haven't read sex is better on the moon to the current chapter (15), don't read this! putting this under a read more too.
so most of Lance's thoughts are in dialogue, actions, and subtext.
What Lance Thinks of Planet Red:
he's not jazzed about a planet that keeps trying to kill him, but it's also fear that stems from ignorance of the world around him. he complains a lot, but then there's the unicorn who brought him fruits (impressive), the kazoo bird that landed in his hair (cute, but embarrassing), and his baby girl, (the absolute best thing to ever exist!) so he understands there's both good and bad on this planet. he's also seen Keith handling animals and how it softens him, and that just makes him more appreciative.
the fact that they're dangerous animals sometimes, and Keith doesn't tend to show fear is also really reassuring to him and lessens his own!
then Keith teaches him things, and you'll notice a significant drop in his fear and complaints. and when Keith shows him the notebook, he reads the notes and realizes there's a lot more to observe about the world around him than the superficial. he starts seeing things differently. he pauses to look at creatures and plants.
and when Keith shows him the glowing flowers and moths, it's like the last nail in the coffin. he realizes Planet Red can be beautiful, and he comes to understand a little better why Keith likes it so much there.
What Lance Thinks of Keith:
at first, he's wary and unimpressed by what he sees, even a little afraid of Keith. he's just crash landed on the planet and he's scared and alone, and there's this wildman that looks more beast than man. keep in mind that Lance is the crown prince, and thus has never been treated like Keith has treated him in his life.
people always present their best faces (even if they're false or sneering) in front of Lance, and he's used to that. but then there's Keith who manhandles him and scoffs at him and throws blankets at him. he treats Lance like he is just another person who has to earn respect instead of automatically (forcefully) giving it.
and how does Keith start off? by being surly, rude, and intimidating.
Keith also calls him "princess", which leads Lance to believe that Keith knows who he is, and might even have something to do with the attack on his ship, hence the distrust in the beginning.
and then Keith keeps saving and protecting him (and despite Keith's bark, he keeps letting Lance have his way) even when Lance sometimes makes things harder for him. he's concluded that Keith is ornery and antisocial, but Lance begins to see that there's an actual person under all the hair and dirt. and he finds that Keith could really be someone he can depend on.
this leads him into revealing his name.
then Keith actually starts a tickle fight and calls him beautiful, which takes Lance off guard and makes him realize that Keith's not just the man that's helping him, but a man, with desires and wants, that thinks Lance is beautiful. suddenly, Keith isn't just "that mountain man who helps me", but "that man of flesh and blood who might genuinely find me attractive and i'm entirely alone with at all times".
at this point, Lance is well aware that Keith has an attractive body, given he's seen him naked a few times already and also been held against that muscle at night.
but finding someone attractive doesn't mean he wants to start something, and it goes for both of them. so Lance keeps his boundaries pretty clear and firm! he's very adamant in Keith not peeking at him while he changes, bathes, pops a squat etc.
at the same time, Lance is trying his best to get to know Keith, and Keith keeps resisting until he finally gives in at the swamp, where he tells Lance he's from Earth and lonely sometimes.
and when Keith gives him the comb for his hair, Lance learns Keith is thoughtful and actually listens to him when he talks.
skipping Keith's poisoning. Lance was terrified the entire time.
When Lance gets to see Keith's notebook with the various sketches of himself, he realizes Keith doesn't just find him attractive, but that he likes Lance. you don't just draw someone over and over without feeling some type of way, ya know? and Lance might be clueless about survival, but he's not socially inept like Keith is (and he learned survival from Keith, so he's not clueless about that anymore either!)
the most significant change happens after Keith takes Lance frog gigging. that night, it's the first time that Lance doesn't get on Keith's case about peeking at him. Keith is the one who brings it up and turns away, but Lance didn't actually say he should look away. before this, Lance was very quick about snapping at Keith. so... 👀 i believe this says everything.
from this point on, Lance starts flirting, flustering Keith.
it doesn't last very long, though, as this is when the pollen makes them fall asleep, there's the alleged dream of the yellow caterpillar, and Kosmo nearly dies, and then the bird woman shows up.
and now there's a point of contention between Lance and Keith, because Lance has realized Keith has a tendency to throw himself in harm's way to save Lance, while Lance wants nothing more than to watch his back and help in any way that he can.
Lance is also sticking up for himself and establishing himself as Keith's equal, such as when he tells Keith not to shove him again. he's pushing back against Keith who has so far done all the leading and decision-making. he's trying to prove that he can be a partner instead of a weight to carry.
then Keith starts putting distance between them, and Lance is hurt by that. thus far, he has been attempting to get closer to Keith, chipping away at his layers, and suddenly, Keith is saying that once Lance leaves, he'll never come back. we saw Keith be confused by Lance's sudden emotional distance and snappish attitude, and it was a direct reaction to Keith's claim that Lance "can forget about this place entirely".
and we're back to the glowing flowers and moths.
this was a very big deal. so far, Keith has proven himself to be kind of a hardass who drives them both hard for the sake of keeping Lance safe and them both ahead of The Six. but then Keith stops them at a pond for a little date (not a date, but so totally a date, we all know it). and several things become very clear to Lance
1) it's in the opposite direction of where they need to go.
2) they only have eleven days to get to Keith's cabin.
3) The Six are still around
and yet, there they are. because Keith thought Lance would enjoy it.
now, it's not a secret that Keith has certain feelings for Lance. Lance knows this! it's as obvious as the nose on his face! but Keith insinuated they would have no further contact after Lance leaves.
and so this date pretty much cements the idea that Keith is once again being socially inept and/or pulling away on purpose, and that it's up to Lance to make it clear what he wants between them. thus, the flirting picks up again, but it's like flirting with a brick wall tbh. Keith is NOT making it easy.
now, i'm sure we've all noticed Lance has a secret. seeing as we're heading toward it, i won't say much more on the subject, but HOO BOY.
What Lance Thinks of Kosmo:
perfect in every conceivable way. 1000/10. wouldn't change a thing.
What Kosmo Thinks of Everything:
Planet Red: lives here! it's perfect! plenty of food and room to play!
Lance: doesn't know how to use his nose, but still a perfect adoptive parent! beautiful! good hugs, excellent scritches! makes noises that make the tail go swoosh-woosh. always has food, love, and attention for Kosmo! 1000/10
Keith: also doesn't know how to use his nose. protective pack leader, but bad mate material. keeps ignoring pheromones potential mate is putting out. forgets to let potential mate eat first. doesn't participate in social grooming but allows attempts from potential mate. gives good scritches and always leaves best pieces of food for Kosmo. 999/10
-
anon, i hope i didn't misunderstand your ask (i haven't eaten, so i'm not firing on all cylinders orz). if i did, then that's my bad. feel free to ask for clarification 😅 or if you wanted a specific scene, you can ask for that too!
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sarcastic-sketches · 27 days ago
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Kida reads all of the EDA's (mostly)
PART 1 #1 - #15
I started writing down my impressions of each of the books as I finished them, including the dates of when I finished them and any screencaps I took of my favroutie bits and then just ... kept doing it. I am not a fast reader by any means but these books have me hooked right now so I wanted to keep a record of my progress. [Part 2]
I'm using this EDA reccommendation list as a rough guide for which books I should absolutely not bother with and to brace myself for what I'm about to get into, so let's go~
#1 The Eight Doctors
25th November 2024 I honestly don't remember much of Eights shenanigans with his former selves since I'm writing this retroactively, and I vaguely put the timey whimey bullshit down to a metaphor for learning yourself over again. But I DO remember finding the events in 1997 funny. Not even 10 minutes since he landed in Totters lane and he'd incapacitated four drug dealers and then promptly got arrested for having said drugs in his possession (literally in his hand) just as the cops turned up. He does an excellent job driving the investigators around the fucking bend, once again proving to be the most annoying mf you will ever meet on any given planet he happens to be on at the time.
#2 Vampire Science
4th December 2024 This book is hysterical for a plot that has multiple people considering offing themselves at one point or other throughout the book. It also highlights that this incarnation is silmultaneously far more 'human' with his emotional availability as well how alien he is for Not Realising what he is doing.
Also shout out to these scenes in particular:
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TARDIS gf confirmed
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Fred the Eternal Snail we salute you
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The idea that he has pet bats that he casually just grabs out of the air tickles me
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Just this entire segment honestly. Eight is three years (?) into his new regen and has no idea his Charisma stat is that high. He used to have to actually do stuff before. Now he seems to do it by accident and honestly? That might just have worse consequences.
Really enjoyed the dialogue and characterisations, also the narrative had a personality too which I always enjoy.
#3 Bodysnatchers
25th December 2024 This was a bit of a slog to get through for me (as you can probably tell from the timestamp) as everything seemed to happen in the last 50 pages, but MAN Eight cannot catch a break even when they are trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. Very gorey scenes towards the end (not a complaint) but the environment descriptions were often oddly ... overly complex? I feel like it tried to give so much detail to describe the alien settings that often times it just became a jumbled mess. I struggled to actually picture the scene in my head most of the time.
#4 Genocide
27th December 2024 Despite the name, much more enjoyable read than the last one and kept a steady pace throughout. Bit disappointed they didn't lean more into the horror shit of finding Homo Sapien bones in an era far too early for them, only to find another has appeared retroactively since the last time the site was visited. But that just wasn't the story that was intended to be told, alas. Jo Grant appearance was nice though! I love former companions meeting later versions of The Doctor.
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These can't possibly have any bearing on future events, right? Foreshadowing, what's that? -chuckles nervously-
#5 War of the Daleks
29th December 2024
I, ironically, forgor that this was mentioned as one to skip, but I got through it ok. The whole plotline of the Thals becoming warrior like because of the Doctor's interferance way back when he was One and more hands on (we don't talk about the Fire of Rome) was juicy.
This is Sams first encounter with the Daleks and man she is not having a good time between battling teenage hormones or the pepper pots tbh. Though, could do with less of clearly adult men eyeing up a seventeen year old as a viable target for flirting. I also got pretty sick of the 'yet another plot twist' pretty quick after the first 3... and we weren't done by a long shot.
(I can see why this was listed as a skip orz)
#6 Alien Bodies
2nd January 2025
Oooooh it's a biggy. I didn't go into this reading list completley blind and I knew this was a big hit and I can see why. This one kicks off with the Third Doctor giving Laika a funeral and burying her and WAAAAAAA - I immediately start crying whenever thinking about Laika.
The body horror in this one is superb, also I love seeing how shit scared the rest of the universe is of the Doctor - this is where the rumblings of war start and the hints of certain Sam related plot points I know will be coming up later get seeded.
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(picturing the potential future of Time Lords as giant bat people is kinda cool ngl)
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(Oh, Eight, buddy I am so sorry about what's lined up for you)
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('hyperactive even as a corpse' shut up, I say, as I laugh to myself)
There's also bits in here that could tie in well with the Timeless Child backstory if you wanted to retroactively put them together which I just think is neat to consider:
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#7 Kursaal
5th January 2024 Man oh man I loved this one. It had a fantastic start with a scene at the beginning right out of Dog Soldiers (one of my fave horror/sci-fi films of all time), only for the Doctor and Sam to stumble upon all the carnage and near immediately decide they need to get the fuck outta there. Do not investigate, do not pass Go, just hit the bricks. And it didn't stop there, the horror elements were played so well in my opinion and was all over a fun read. Was surprised more wasn't made of the green figure we see described in the mural of the central location this book is written around, seeing as Eight wears green all the time and later Sam gets given some green scrubs. Maybe it was implied somewhere and I just missed it (would not put it passed me).
The Doctor actually showing he can BE a Doctor with a medical degree and all apparently. Despite Eight's (reasonable) fear of Hospitals.
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(Eight canonically being traumatised by his experience in American Healthcare hospital is such a good take. He's holding back the flashbacks by the skin of his teeth)
Also carrying on his tradition of Grand Theft Auto only this time he stole a cop car and then masterfully dodged said cops. Phenomenal.
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(I want more bitchy Eight)
Sam was excellent in this book, still written believably as a teenager but still given the space to show initiative of her own.
#8 Option Lock
9th January 2025 Have I mentioned how funny Sam is? She's hysterical.
The two seemingly completely related plot lines running in parallel at the start reminded me of The Monks episode in Twelves era, flashing between the pyramid and the growing lab incident. Then it gave me vibes similar to the Apocalypse serial from American Horror Story what with the secret society all working behind the scenes though for very different reasons.
Also someone please help this autistic man, they are not thriving
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(Honestly same)
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#9 Longest Day
25th January 2024 Again, from the timestamp you can probably guess how this one is gonna go. This one wins the record of introducing a character within the opening pages of the first chapter that I quite happily saw die and Sam is once again subject to the rampant sexism that pervades the entire cosmos apparently?? Sci-Fi of the 90s I guess...
This was another book that took me an age to get through because it just didn't keep my attention that well. Characters doing actions. Characters I don't really feel emotionally invested in one way or another, which is just as well. Sam and The Doctor are now separated through no agency of their own.
There were some fun passages though:
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Eight is such an asshole, I laughed so hard at this exchange, I love them
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Wasn't The Doctor's tutor Borusa?
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As introductions go, this one's fairly efficient
#10 Legacy of the Daleks
25th January 2025 From what I'd seen it was best to skip this one (especially since Susans family situation gets retconned in the audios, which I've already listened to) so I skimmed it for Susan and Eight interactions... of which there weren't any. It doesn't progress Eight's search for Sam either. He picks up a kitten at the end thats about it as far as continuity goes.
This section got me though, I can hear the sass that Nine will weild later to lethal effect
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#11 Dreamstone
26th January 2025 This was a fun one, mostly for all the different characters and how interesting they all were. I kind of predicted where they were going with the crystals and thought they could have done more with them but, ultimately, this was a story about human nature not the stones really.
Sam really developed a lot in this story realising that making decisions isn't easy but making them for herself all the same. The Doctor is just good at making it look easy so people go with it. If you look confident about a decision people argue less and waste less time
#12 Seeing I
26th January 2025 Seeing I is here!! I'd heard good things about this one. I felt Sam was really trying to bite off more than she could chew but thats 17yr old pride for you. Only to fucking smash right out of the park and break through that barrier she'd been struggling with to become her own person. The Doctor once again weaponising his ability to be the most annoying mf on any given planet to get his way. At least, until his meddling came and bit him in the ass and bit him hard. The fact that he was still suffering from those consequences even after the event had passed was very good. Japser and Stewart mention <3
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#13 Placebo Effect
Skipped.
#14 Vanderdekens Children
28th January 2025 I actually really liked this one. It turned into another sci-fi tropes I love to see but mostly the Messing With Gravity thing. It did remind me a little of Event Horizon, looking for faster than light travel by simply going from Point A to Point B without actually travelling anywhere only to not realise where the Point B might end up. Ships haunted as a result naturally. Then you find out why.
I do like The Doctor very obviously using hypnotism in this book to calm someone down and being utterly guileless about it too.
You can tell Sam's time away has done her the world of good, she's looking to The Doctor for direction less and less and trusting herself more.
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Glad to see some things never change though
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Ah yes, a scene familiar to anyone who has ever played or seen Alien: Isolation.
#15 Scarlette Empress
1st February 2025 Scarlette Empress is so far one of my favourites simply for the insights it gives us into each of the characters from their own mouths, right next to how they are perceived by the characters they are sharing space with. Actually, this whole book is kind of about challenging your perceptions of others and yourself. Huh.
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These two sections were fascinating to me on how The Doctor perceives himself through the interactions of others. He's about 7 years into his current Eighth self and still working out who he is and I don't think that ever stops.
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Old Empress who lived in a jar for thousands of years like a genie gets freed and, as my friend described it, 'Comes straight out of the jar hornier than god'
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This guy has The Traumatic Experience With Spiders in one of his earlier lives and now needs back up. Sam is that person who gets the cup and a piece of card while The Doctor is standing on a chair - he doesn't want to kill it he just wants it away from him... Only to then befriend said Spider in the next few scenes because of course he does. Turns out it's half the size of Iris' double decker bus and bored as all hell.
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thegnomelord · 1 year ago
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was thinking about drawing Ifrit from "Hell has a basement floor" and had some headcanons on his appearance.
on one hand i was thinking to make him tall and burly, built big to store all the mana and power he has, make him built like a volcano.
on the other.... what if and hear me out.... Ifrit.... skinny. tall and gangly, long limbs, underfed, outlines of bones poking out from underneath the skin, sunken eyes for that extra unsettling factor. besides magic does have a cost. maybe it's just your body that needs to be exchanged.
now i thought of the second hc because tall and skinny isn't exactly associated with the kind of brute force Ifrit has but he's still strong even if his lifestyle is gonna put him in an early grave. now imagine when he's finally part of tf 141 they notice that he's not very well in the food and weight department for his height and the amount of energy he spends so... they start feeding him (especially Price and Soap because protect and care hoard/pack)......
i've also been getting into the trope where characters gain weight as a sign of health and living a better life. so yeah tell me what you think
and maybe share your hcs on Ifrits appearance because i don't want to butcher your creation on accident
Okay 1: you have no idea how happy it makes me when I hear ppl want to draw fan art of my stuff :DD, internally I'm like that dog video where the dogs happily tapping his paws lol bc he can't contain his excitement lol. And also yeah, I'm a huge sucker for the trope and your little idea with Price amd Soap tickles my brain.
And 2: man you did some mind reading bc your hcs are actually very close to what I've made up for the lore of the whole au. While I want to overall leave Ifrit's body type ambiguous to give readers some space to imagine themselves in Ifrit's place, Ifrit is 100% underweight with more of a volleyball/basketball player type build, as mages focus on stamina and endurance rather than raw strength bc that can be augmented with magic. Also has stretch marks because their weight fluctuates a lot lol
Okay lore spoilers so if y'all want to find out through the story skip this-
Okay so— magic is increadibly taxing on the body, not just by eating away flesh and creating mage marks as a Mage's power grows, but just by simply existing inside the body magic stresses the body. Because fundamentally magic is toxic to humans, and even mages who have the needed adaptations to utilise magic are no better than our ancestors when they were first learning to stand on two legs.
The best metaphor I have for magic is chemo drugs. They're used to kill a cancer but they also damage healthy cells. Magic, similarly, damages the body by existing inside it, but also is used by mages to heal the damage as soon as it happens. This uses a lot of calories and also why mages have really irregular weights, losing 10kg in a week isn't an uncommon thing.
Someone possessing even half of Ifrit's capabilities would need to eat 3x that of a regular human of the same height and weight. Mages are literally Shaggy from Scooby Doo lol. And that's only to get the bare minimum their body needs, caloric need becomes much bigger if they're active like Ifrit is. So you'll find that many mages, but especially military ones, are underweight and need to regularly get Iv fluids and nutrients to help their body recover from using magic. They also need to eat a lot of highly caloric food, which isn't easy when one of the most common side effects of magic use is puking your guts up.
Most military mages don't reach 30. The average life expectancy is around 25, with active duty (i.e. constant missions and daily magic use) mages lasting on average 3-4 years before their body basically breaks down, but they can last longer depending on how conservatively they use magic.
Now, knowing all that, Ifrit has been actively using strong magic on par with military mages since they were 14-15 years old and while they're not the healthiest, they're healthy as a horse when compared to most mages. The reason behind their continued survival — their mage marks.
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averys-nightmare-zone · 6 months ago
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since landing is closing down soon, i decided to take a quick break from SUPERSTRUCTURE (although i will be back don't you worry two fans) and made some fashion moodboards for the 14 fears from the magnus archives to accompany this post there will be some notes and insight on each collage under the cut.
the buried: the buried was really underutilized in the podcast imo. some of my favorite episodes revolved around the buried like lost john's cave and we all ignore the pit. i really hope this did it justice since jonny sims did not.
the corruption: oh my god this one was so hard to make. my google search history is full of terms like "bug infested dress", "moldy clothing" and "yucky fashion" the corruption girlies really seemed to like my last post so i felt obligated to get it right. i think i did okay.
the dark: making a black on black collage look decent is really hard 😭 I was originally going to go victorian for this one but ended up doing nu goth instead since I thought victorian fit a lot better with the end.
the desolation: this is one of my favorites. there's somthing so satisfying about combining ashy greys and black with orange it just tickles my brain. other than that, i don't really have any notes
the end: as mentioned earlier, i went with victorian mourning wear for the end. i mean queen victoria herself was in mourning and only wore black for forty years. that era is so synonymous with death it only felt fair to work its customs and fashion into my end board.
the eye: eye avatars are legally required to wear academic fashion. it just comes with the job description. i don't make the rules. have fun being jonathan sims
the flesh: this one really took me down a rabbit hole. first:, i could only find those anti-vegan shirts that your unemployed uncle wears to the family barbecue and then i came across this fashion designer and spent like an hour on her shop trying to figure out how she got her clothes to look like that. after that it took me another two hours to find all of the accessories. pinterest has been both my best friend and worst enemy over the course of this project.
the hunt: i am so sorry the supernatural gas leakage returned to my home when i made this and I age regressed into being 15 again. when i was making this i pictured it more as the trevor and julia flavor of the hunt instead of say, daisy. god breast america.
the lonely: this one was pretty easy to make once i got a handle on the color scheme. the aesthetic of the lonely has always striken me as a romanticization of the melancholy. think wanderer above the sea of fog. So i gave this one all the things i would romantasize about my life at my loneliest, which is why there's a teacup and a heart locket. the book was also a part of that, but it also doubles as a recreation of a leitner by theponderingalpaca on reddit.
the slaughter: yeah yeah i know the slaughter is supposed to be about war as well as murder, but forgive me for not making a fashion collage about military uniforms. that's really boring. i had just watched woodstock '99 before i made this though and decided to go more for that angry punk/metalhead fashion that korn was wearing in that concert. them and limp biskit are the closest we'll ever get to irl grifters bone.
the spiral: i made this moodboard twice. i know its crazy that the fear meant to represent insanity is hard to pin down, but i think i did it better the second time around. the first one read too much as regular kidcore/decora for my taste.
the stranger: i had to do this one last. i could not for the life of me figure out how to make a circus/uncanny fashion board without just doing clown fashion. i'm still not entirely sure how i feel about how it turned out, but at least the masks are cool.
the vast: vast avatars rise up!! this is a mike crew fan blog and i only wanted to base the fashion around him. he's in the top three list of guys i'm autistic about with elliott stardew valley and daniel powell from archive 81.
the web: not much to say here except if you are a web avatar you have to wear a cunty dress. it is simply non negotiable
thank you to @artmadval for giving me the idea to do this with your amazing fashion archives art, along with everyone else who went through all my yapping to get here. love yall!
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sachirobabe · 7 months ago
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Chapter 15
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Gojo Satoru x reader
Wc: 3643
Curseless au
Summary: Amidst the zombie apocalypse, your courage shines as you not only saves lives but capture the heart of Gojo Satoru. Together with his first-year students, you all embark on a perilous journey, not only for survival but in a quest for a cure that adds a poignant layer to the unfolding romance.
<— Previous | Masterlist | Next —>
Taglist: @spindyl
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You've never been happier than right now. You spent every waking second with this man, not that that's out of the ordinary, only now is you're sure of his feelings towards you. And it makes it that much better.
Nobody even batted an eye at the enhanced affection, Satoru had been like this since almost the beginning with you. If anything, it took away their suffering from seeing the painfully obvious crush he had on you.
It's been quiet around the base, nothing abnormal has happened, and with each passing day it made you worry just a little more.
But now that another month has passed, you're starting to let your guard down a little and work with Shoko on potential ways to counter the zombie apocalypse.
You wonder what happens if you're able to get a cure, how would humanity come back together? Would you live off the base forever? Was there any plans that you guys didn't know about?
Your mind spirals sometimes, and each time it does, Satoru never fails to comfort you and bring you back to the present. He doesn't want you to stress about the future and the what ifs. He knows you'll all be able to work through it.
Satoru frowns as he sees you in the lab again, it was getting late and he knows you haven't eaten in hours. "I just watered the plants again." He says and his voice startles you a little.
The book you're nose deep in is temporarily forgotten, "Thanks." You smile and stretch in your seat.
"Let's take a break, yeah?" Satoru stands behind your chair and wraps his arms around you from behind. "Even smart pretty girls need to eat."
You smile at his words, "I'm almost finished." You say and resume reading the last couple of pages.
"Microbiology?" Satoru reads the title of the book. "Sounds boring. I think dinner with me would be a lot more interesting." He tries to convince you.
You chuckle, "Depends. Where are we going for dinner?" You play along.
He hums thinking before answering, "I heard that little place down the hall is real good. They're serving soup and crackers, a real fine meal."
Your laugh is everything to him, he loves making you smile. "I think it definitely sounds more fun than my boring old book, huh?"
"Oh, absolutely." He nods, his hair tickling your face. "Cmon, let's go eat."
You sigh, "I guess you're right." You say and stand up from your seat and face him.
He grins and wraps his hands around your waist. "Good." He leans down and is centimeters away from your lips. Before you're able to whine about what he's doing, his lips are already on yours. Softly kissing you.
This is how it's been for a month with him. Shared kisses and heated make outs, but neither of you were able to go further yet. You wanted nothing more than to, though, it just hasn't been very good timing.
Sometimes you'd be on watch, other times it was him, his students also seemed to know the perfect time to bother you guys when things were getting heated. Don't even get him started on Nanami, that man was the biggest cock block of all, Satoru is convinced he has a sixth sense.
He finally pulls away reluctantly, "Let's go eat, sweetheart." He holds your hand as he brings you to the table.
You softly gasp as you see the table, there was some kind of sheet laid over the table. Two candles were lit—where he found them? You have no idea. He made a nice candlelit dinner for the two of you, you think you could cry at the gesture.
"Satoru, this is so cute. Thank you." You giggle happily. "You did this all yourself?"
He nods, "Yeah, for you." He smiles warmly. "You've been working hard all day."
"Why don't I get a special reward for my hard work, too?" Shoko teases as she walks by, seeing the cute table made.
"Go ask Nanami, not me." Satoru glares at her and he turns his attention to you again. "Do you like it?"
"Like it? I love it." You smile widely, "Thank you so much." You wrap your arms around him and give him a nice long hug. Everything was so romantic, he pulled your chair for you, made sure you were comfortable, and he swooned you the rest of the night.
You couldn't help but wonder if the world was different if you would've had the opportunity of meeting him. You're finally relaxing and taking a much needed shower after being cooped up in the lab all day.
Shoko and you have been working hard at making plans, and it's going great, only thing is that you'll need to start applying those plans to learn more. Which means getting blood samples from infected and not infected. You obviously know which one is harder.
You let the water cascade down your body as you get lost in thought about how you're going to do this without costing anyone or injuring somebody. It was going to be extremely risky.
Nanami and Satoru wouldn't be very happy, it was an insane idea, but without it, you and Shoko can't proceed. You think Satoru would be the easier one to convince, but you'd be getting those blood samples no matter what.
"Sweetheart, did you die in there?" Satoru's knock on the door brings you back to reality, you're suddenly aware that the water has turned cold now.
You quickly shut it off and shiver, "No, I'm okay." You say, "Just finished." You step out and dry yourself, putting on your clothes for bed.
"Hurry. I miss you." He says and you already know he's pressed up against the door.
You chuckle lightly and clean up a little before opening the door. He stumbled forward a little, but was able to catch himself this time. "Hi." He smiled widely, but it immediately fades, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." You lie and put your towel in the small laundry bin.
Satoru shakes his head, "I can tell you're thinking about something." He says and brings you over to the bed, "Talk to me." His fingers tuck a piece of your hair behind your ear.
You sigh softly, "With all the research Shoko and I are doing, you know what we'll have to do eventually, right?"
He nods, "You're referring to the blood samples, right?"
You can see in his face he already knows what's bothering you about it, "I just don't know how we're going to do it."
"I've talked to Nanami about it already, so if that's what's worrying your pretty little head you can stop now." He softly smiles. "He agrees that we'll need them and we'll get them."
You let out a breath of relief, "That's what I was most worried about."
"We'll get them, sweetheart. I promise." He presses his lips to your forehead in hopes to comfort you.
You nod softly, "Thank you."
"Don't worry, princess." He whispers and lays on the bed, he pats the spot next to him and you cuddle up to him. Your sweet smile made his heart do flips in his chest. "There we go." He hums and wraps his arms around you tightly.
"What even happens after all this?" You say a little helpless. The thought plaguing your mind.
"Hey—hey, we're not doing this. No worrying, okay? We'll figure it out. Just like we always do." Satoru kisses your neck affectionately. You're quiet as you lay there, still thinking. "Look at me, sweetheart."
You gently turn to face him and look into his gorgeous blue eyes. "We will figure it out. I propose you." He holds your chin with his fingers, softly moving them to caress your cheek. "Let's take it one step at a time, yeah?" His eyes frantically search yours for anything sighs of panic.
You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, effectively calming yourself down. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me, sweetheart." Satoru shakes his head, "I'll always be here for you. Always." He softly kisses your forehead. "You're not alone in this."
"I know." You nod softly, "I have you and everyone else to rely on." Your small smile creeping onto your face, making Satoru's heart rate go down.
"That's my girl." He grins, "Hi, beautiful." You shyly look away and he forces your head forward to look at him again. "You still wanna talk about how you're feeling?" He asks quietly and brings you into his bare chest, his fingers playing with your hair.
"I just want to lay here with you...and hold you." You voice softly and Satoru's heart swells at you only wanting him.
"Okay." He quietly says. His hands going from your hair, to your arms; drawing small shapes that you recognize as hearts after he draws it for the 10th time, the gesture making you smile. He's been good at getting you to do that.
You feel your eyes grow heavy with sleep, finding it harder and harder to keep them open. His rise and fall of his breathing, along with the combination of his heart beating slowly and his soft humming, it's no surprise when you're out like a light.
"I'm so happy with you." He says quietly, when you don't respond he frowns a little and looks down at you, his frown was replaced with a softer one as he looked down at the sight of you. "Your brain was working overtime." He chuckles lightly and kisses your forehead, he fell asleep not too long after.
The next morning you're eating breakfast with Shoko, leaving Satoru as he was still sleeping. "In these next few days I wanted try and get the blood samples." Shoko says.
You stop eating and slowly nod. "We'll need to make a plan, one with the least amount of damage."
She nods in agreement, "Ideally, we'd need about 20 to 30 samples." Your eyes widen, there was no way you'd be able to manage getting that many in one go.
"That's too big of a risk, I already know Nanami and Satoru will freak." You say, already imagining how that conversation would go.
"But I think as long as we get 5-10, we can manage with small samples and make assumptions, then we can work our way up." Shoko sighs.
"Even 5-10 sounds rough." Your worry is evident in your tone. You watch as Nanami comes down the steps, he can see he's interrupting an important conversation.
"Perfect." Shoko smiles at Nanami and waves for him to sit down with the two of you, "Y/n actually had a question for you."
You look at her in betrayal, she avoids your eyes as Nanami takes a seat. "Everything alright, Y/n?" He asks.
"Uh..yeah! Actually—what Shoko meant, was we have a question." You rephrase and Shoko looks at you in betrayal.
Her eyes silently say, 'If I ask he'll definitely say no.' As she glared at you.
"Are you two..well?" Nanami asks very confused, looking between the two of you.
"No." Shoko says
"Yes." You say at the same time as her.
You both look at each other. Nanami chuckles lightly, "Go ahead. Ask away." The two of you take a deep breath before explaining the situation.
He listens attentively, asking questions and voicing his concerns often to get on the same page. "We need Satoru awake and the others so we can prepare a plan." Nanami says. "I'm sure none of us are excited for this part of the research."
"Yeah." You sigh, "This is definitely the hardest part."
A few hours pass and a plan was devised that would cause the least amount of damage and keep everyone safe. The plan was recited multiple times per day leading up to the actual event.
You grew more nervous each day, hoping that nothing horrible would happen while trying to get these samples.
Some nights you weren't able to sleep properly, waking up in cold sweats from nightmares that felt way too real. You pant heavily as you sit up again, holding your heart and working on trying to calm your heart rate down.
Satoru stirs awake, "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Was it another nightmare?"
You breathe heavily and simply nod, not able to find your voice at the moment. He settles himself behind you, rubbing small circles on your back. "Everything's okay." He repeats, "Breathe with me, baby."
You squeeze your eyes shut, working on calming your anxiety. You breathe along with Satoru, along with listening to his soft reassurances. Slowly, you stopped shaking from fear.
Soft tufts of air hit your neck, cooling you down. Satoru blows lightly on you, knowing you'd be able to focus on the sensation instead of feeding into your anxiety.
A few more minutes go by and you feel your body crash from the intense sensation, your eyes hurt from trying to keep yourself awake.
Satoru silently wraps his arms around you, noticing the subtle changes to your body language. "You're okay." He whispers. "It's just you and I."
"Thank you." You fall back into his chest, your breathing finally going back to normal. "I wouldn't have been able to do this without you." You quietly say.
Satoru gently shakes his head behind you, "No, sweetheart. Don't say that. You're the bravest girl I know." He kisses your temple, resting his head in the crook of your neck. "You make all of us brave."
"That nightmare was awful." Your voice breaks, tears welling up in your eyes.
"Oh, no, sweetheart. Please don't cry, it's okay. We're okay." Satoru holds you impossibly closer to his body. He hears your soft cries and forces you to sit facing him so he could see your face.
Tears slowly stream down your face, Satoru's strong arms pulled you closer to him, he rubbed your back slowly, whispering sweet nothings and reassurances in your ear.
He pulls away slowly, wiping your tears. "Please don't cry, you're breaking my heart." His eyes worriedly look into yours. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm all ears, baby."
You shake your head, "It's been the same every night." Satoru's eyes soften at your broken voice, he doesn't think he can handle you being so upset, it's killing him.
"We will all be okay tomorrow." Satoru firmly says, "Nobody will get hurt. I promise."
"But—"
"Nope. Not doing that." Satoru says and holds your face gently, "Breathe with me, sweetheart. Don't think about it anymore." You follow the slow rise and fall of his chest.
After a few deep breaths, you're feeling normal again. Satoru continues to hold you, making sure you're comfortable. "Better now?" He whispers in your ear affectionately.
You nod, "Thank you."
"Don't thank me, sweetheart. I'll always be here for you." He says softly, laying the two of you back down on the bed. He looks around the room, trying to find something to distract you with and make you smile.
"Look," He says and your eyes train on his finger, he was pointing to the moon; it was full and shining brightly. "Doesn't the moon look beautiful?"
"Yeah." You smile, "It does." His eyes went from looking at the moon, to being trained onto you. "We should invest in some curtains, it's too bright." You say and turn to face him.
His hand instinctively goes to your hair to play with a strand, he simply nodded his head. You feel your faces get closer, and soon enough his soft lips meet yours in a slow, tender kiss.
He can feel his heart beating quickly against his chest, his feelings growing more and more each day for you. 'This is the best.' He thinks, his lips gently moving against yours, he reluctantly pulls away. If it were up to him, he'd be kissing you every second of the day; he can never get enough.
"Hi." He whispers and smiles.
"Hi." You chuckle and say back, mirroring his smile.
"Think you're up for a few more hours of sleep before our big mission?" He asks quietly, kissing your forehead tenderly and bringing you closer to his chest.
You nod against him, his hand held the back of your head comfortingly.
"I won't fall asleep." He gently says, "I want you to feel safe. I'll be here for you in case anything happens."
"Thank you." You mumble sleepily, not having enough strength to tell him to also get some rest. He'd be having one of the hardest jobs tomorrow.
You softly close your eyes and fall back asleep, this time though, you dream about Satoru. A world without this horrible apocalypse, a normal life. He taught at his school and excitedly came back home to you, doing the most mundane things seemed to be the most exciting with him. Everything with Satoru was exciting.
Satoru gently wakes you up, knowing it was still early, but a job needed to get done. "Sweetheart." He mumbles, kissing your face softly, trying to get you to wake up.
Your eyes flutter open and you quickly shut them, the light being too much. "Is it time?" You ask.
He hums, "It's time, baby. Everything will be okay." Satoru caresses your face.
Your anxiousness had faded for the most part, Satoru did a good job at calming you down. You sit up and stretch and got ready in silence, mostly preparing yourself and running the plan over and over in your head.
Satoru pressed a firm kiss on your forehead and silently left. Knowing you were in the zone and he needed to help Nanami set up the trap for the zombies.
You slipped on your hazmat suit and other protective gear, then walking off to find Shoko, she was also wearing her suit and gear, she gave you a small smile as you both nodded at each other.
"I have all the equipment in here." She held up a bag and handed you a smaller one.
"This is for extracting, right?" You ask and peek inside, she hums, confirming your question.
"The others are ready." She says and pats your shoulder as she walks out. You follow behind her and meet up with the rest of the group, your nerves settled a little more after seeing Satoru.
You frown, noticing Panda and Inumaki aren't present, but before you could ask, Satoru answered. "They're in the control room. We need someone to open and close it."
"And walkie us." Nanami says and zips up his hazmat suit, "Ready?" He asks the group and he gets a series of nods.
There were zombies walking by, some in groups, and some by themselves. There was a small group scavenging, hovered over something dead and eating its flesh.
You hold back a gag and Satoru walkies Panda to open the gate, he grabs the zombies attention, successfully luring one into the field and the gate closes. A heavy net is thrown by Megumi and Itadori, Nobara and Maki hold their guns firmly in case of anything.
The zombie falls down and begins to screech and make all sorts of noises that leave your ears ringing. Nanami and Satoru use heavy chains to bind the zombies limbs and anchor them to fixed points in the ground, ensuring it wouldn't break free or cause any damage.
"All set." Nanami says.
You used a long hand syringe to extract the blood, it quickly fills up and you withdraw the syringe and hand it to Shoko and she places it in a sterile container. You got two more samples off of the one zombie and after you're done, Satoru shoots the zombie.
"We'll take care of the bodies later." Satoru says and once he confirms the zombie is completely dead, he and Nanami undo the bindings.
Shoko labeled the containers and kept them organized, not wanting to mix the samples up. This was repeated with four more zombies, you were able to extract three tubes from each.
As you finished up with the last one, you look to the gate and see that you've all gained some more attention. There was a group of zombies weakly banging on the gate, but every time they did, they got electrocuted.
"I think this one's our last." You say and pull the syringe out.
"Agreed." Satoru says. "We're all done." He walkies Panda and Inumaki. Satoru and Nanami took care of the bodies and everyone else made their way back inside.
Clean up was a crucial task, you all were careful and diligent. Making sure nothing suspicious touched you directly. As you finished up your shower, you felt an immense amount of relief.
Your eyes felt heavy, in need of sleep despite it still being fairly early in the afternoon. You opened the door and Satoru smiled as he saw you, his wet hair sticking to his forehead.
"See? Told you everything would be okay." Satoru smiles and opens his arms up for you to cuddle him. You almost collapse on him, feeling extremely fatigued. "Woah." He chuckles.
"I'm very tired." You mumble.
"I see that, sweetheart." He presses a soft kiss to your forehead, twirling a piece of your hair with his finger. "It's too early for a nap." He frowns lightly.
“I think I exhausted myself leading up to today.” You say, your voice laced with tiredness.
He hums and holds you close to his body, he notices your eyes were shut and your breathing began to slow down, he smiles at the sight. “I guess I’ll let you take a quick nap, I’ll wake you in an hour.”
You nod against his chest and let yourself relax in his embrace, the constant worries of ‘what ifs’ leaving your mind now that the extraction was over.
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wolfiemcwolferson · 2 years ago
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Calamar’s Club 2023 Fantasy Fest
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We had so so much fun hosting the Fantasy Fest for 2023 in the Calamar’s Club Discord and we want to thank all of our participants for feeding us prime Piarles fics! I will link all of them below, please go and read them! You will not be disappointed! The Mods for this fest are:  @singsweetmelodies @boxboxbrioche @welightitup @river-ocean @duquesademiel and me - WolfieMcWolferson
Title: the blood’s run stale by the lovely @m1tchevans (7k words, complete) Summary: Charles thinks he knows everything about Pierre until he finds him on the finish line in Monaco, his eyes pitch black and his shirt stained red. Further down the street, in an apartment with a familiar red and yellow flag hanging from the window, a dog growls, and a man starts to scream. "Why would someone do that? Give their life?” Charles asks, his mouth suddenly drier than the desert. "I didn’t check," Pierre answers quietly. "But I’m pretty sure it was for you."
Title: the anatomy of us by the wonderful @pinkierre (currently 4k words, WIP) Summary: When his life at home doesn’t satisfy him anymore, Pierre boards a ship from Marseille, sailing into the open world. Charles is a terrified and lonely shifter, who loathes himself, and his shifter form, more than anything. The two meet through an unfortunate event. Can they help one another to find themselves? 
Title: if it weren’t for the everything by the sublime @gaslybottoms​ (24k words, complete) Summary: “You talk about humanity as if they are nothing more than a meal to you.” Pierre shrugs at Charles’ comparison, because in a sense he isn’t that far wrong. Pierre had his fair chance at meeting anybody he felt the desire to over the years, and they always ended up the same way: six feet under and of no use to him. “What else do they have to offer me?” he asks instead, knowing Charles’ answer before he even says it.
Title: hold your hand in mine (starlights in your eyes) by the first-rate @your-littlesecret (20K words, complete) Summary: Charles still remembers the day they found his dragon vividly, he was barely 6. He also remembers the day they found Pierre's dragon, at 15. It has been the four of them ever since, never one without the other.
Title: the cold winds that blow us together by the terrific @yukierres​ (8k words, WIP) Summary: Pierre came to Orkney to escape, to find his freedom in these strange haunted islands at the edge of the world. And to follow the pull calling him here, the inner urge that made him board the boat and find out what awaits him. It isn't until he uncovers a strange seal figurine in the dirt and gets thrown into a quest to help out a Selkie with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and 4000 years of pain in his deep brown eyes that he understands what the call was. Destiny.
Title: Slow Sips by the sensational ghostmyghosthost (9.5k words, complete) Summary: They say the best way to deepen the bond as bonded mates is to French kiss with mouthfuls of blood. Just like vampire bats do.
Title: No matter how far the paths for both of them are (Those who are made for each other connects) by the superb @forelsketparadise​ (1.5k words, WIP) Summary: Pierre is starting to feel like the universe is trying to play a sick joke on him. Why else would his mate be the future Beta of the enemy pack? It makes no sense to him. The pack from Maranello has been rivals with Pierre's pack for centuries now. Certainly life won't be so cruel to him? There is no way he can even think about pursuing his mate and put his entire pack's safety at risk. He is the pack's future Alpha. He has to put the pack before himself.
Title: the bride of gévaudan by the grand @pipitwrites​ (12k words, complete) Summary: At the altar, Charles’s hands trembled as he took the cup of sweet wine from the priest and drank. It was only a small sip, but he felt the rush of heat spreading from his stomach, making him dizzy in a matter of seconds. There was a soft tickle at the back of his hand, barely even a touch. The tip of the Wolf’s tail swayed back at Charles’s elbow. Startled, Charles met the Wolf’s eyes. They were a shocking shade of icy blue and almost human in their regard.
Title: Intret amicitiae nomine tectus amor by the delightful @chipsandnuggets (5.5k words, complete) Summary: "Do you like Quidditch?" He says this, looking surprised. "Most of the time, Papillonlisse people don't." Charles nods with happiness. "I love Quidditch! My favourite team is the Cavalli Rampanti, and yours?" "Mine too!" or: Piarles wizards who happens to love Quidditch as much as they love each other but they don't know yet.
Title: Finally by the magic @car-bo-hydrate​ (3k works, WIP) Summary: Charles, Pierre's college dorm roommate, being a vampire wouldn't be much of an issue, if it weren't for the fact that Charles needed to fuck the other person he drank blood from because he would be overcome with lust. Or, 5 times Charles brought someone else back to their room to fuck after he had drunk blood from them, and the 1 time Pierre found out from Charles why he drank from everyone except for the very person he's sharing a room with.
Title: you are the light that’s leading me by the struggling @wolfiemcwolferson​ (series, 39k words, complete) Summary: Charles gets sucked into the multiverse. Can he get home?
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stellanslashgeode · 3 months ago
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ao3 wrapped [writer's edition]
1. How many words have you written this year?
266,592 so far but I'm not done yet.
2. How many works did you publish this year?
14, though I think 2 were carryovers from last year.
3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?
I'm really proud of how Way of the Mynock is turning out and it will definitely be my longest work. BUT overall, I am most proud of Permission to Come Aboard, Admiral because I was hesitant to dip my toe into the Thrawn series and it was well-regarded by that fandom and I was asked to put it into a Thrawn Rare Pairs collection. That just tickled me.
4. What work of yours has the most hits?
Way of the Mynock by far, only one to get over 2k which isn't a lot but I've only been at this two years so I'm pretty small. And it's not close to done so it'll just keep persevering.
5. What work of yours got more feedback than expected?
Dissonance and Upheaval has 40 comments and while half of them are my replies I'm tickled that something with such a wonky high concept engendered such engaged readers.
6. Favorite title you used?
Serpentes Tremens is one of which I am particularly proud. Poor little drunken snake.
7. If you use song lyrics, which artist did you pull from the most?
That's gotta be Kate Nash. Way of the Mynock wouldn't exist without Skeleton Song, though the chapter titles aren't exclusive to that.
8. Pairing you wrote most this year?
Only 4 out of 14 were not Barrissoka so I remain that bitch.
9. Favorite pairing you wrote this year?
Vampire Barriss and vampire hunter Ahsoka followed closely by Emerie Karr and Riyo Chuchi.
10. What work was the quickest to write?
I wrote I Love You, Fulcrum directly into the AO3 interface in under an hour.
11, What work took you the longest to write?
Dissonance and Upheaval took a lot of research, and I have to be in the right mood to get the vibe.
12. How many WIPs are you taking into next year with you?
I am hoping to get a few finished, but it looks like seven as well as four or five I have planned but haven't started.
13. What's your longest work of the year?
Way of the Mynock is at 82,571 and not even half done.
14. What's your shortest work of the year?
I Love You, Fulcrum is 756 words young.
15. What WIPs are you taking into next year with you?
idk how this one is different from 12. Way of the Mynock might not even be completed next year. I'm taking it into the Sequel Trilogy era and I'm still on Rebels/Andor. I am hoping Don't Get Captured, Dissonance and Upheaval, and Serpentes Tremens will get finished by the end of the month. Contrasts is giving me trouble. It will get done when it gets done. I haven't even finished the first chapter of The Convor and the Tooka Cat. Poor Operations Other than War is just lying there at the bottom of the ocean.
16. What is your most common "Additional Tags" tag.
Probably "Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon". I'm a slut for that one.
17. Your favorite character to write this year?
Tempted to say vampire Barriss but Emerie was really fun to write since she had some standout episodes but didn't get much backstory or closure in canon. NAH, nah scratch that. It's the Seventh Sister, actually. Both versions of her.
18. The character who gave you the most trouble this year.
Post-Tales of the Jedi Barriss. Still getting to know that girl. After having this version of her in my head post TCW it was hard to connect with new canon.
19. What's one paring do you want to explore next year?
I want to get more into Anidala, if I can find the time. I find them very easy to write and I want to explore the space since they're usually background in my work.
20. Which work of yours have you read the most?
Finishing up Dissonance and Upheaval has me reading the whole series over and over so I get the tone right.
21. How many kudos did you get this year?
482 which pleases the heck out of me as a small creator. That's over half my total!
22. Which work has the most comments?
Way of the Mynock at 52 so far.
23. Did you do any collaborative works this year?
No, but I will next year.
24. Did you write any gifts this year?
Three, same as the number of licks it takes to get to the gooey center of a Tootsie Pop.
25. Did you receive any gifts this year?
Nope, but it's not over yet!
26. What is your most common category?
A tie between Explicit and General Audience, which makes sense. They're usually the short one-offs.
27. What do you listen to while writing?
I often pick either one artist or genre for a story. Dusk of a Golden Age is all Dead Can Dance, for instance.
28. Favorite work you wrote this year?
You know what, it's hard to choose but I think my words in her voice is my most personal and I am really happy with how it turned out.
29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?
“Why, Miss Offee. You are sopping.”
30. Biggest surprise while you were writing this year?
I didn't expect to have so much fun writing a Sith character having a philosophical debate.
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renjouu · 2 years ago
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Hello! Can I request lee!beomgyu and lers!yeonjun and soobin please? :)
— GAME OF UNO —
POSITIONS: LER! YEONJUN & SOOBIN X LEE! BEOMGYU
WARNINGS: TICKLE FIC
A/N tysm for requesting! enjoy reading everyone :)
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the three were hanging out at living room playing uno. every round was intense and all three of them were competitive, especially beomgyu who was actually upset since he was the one who kept losing most of the rounds. the other two oldest members kept track of this and yeonjun couldn’t let this moment go.
“i have an idea, let’s add a twist. whoever loses this round has to face a punishment from the other two members.” the oldest of the three suggested, and soobin looked at him with an agreeing smile.
however, beomgyu was the only one against the suggestion, “aish, hyung! you’re just saying that because i keep losing, huh?! you just want to give me a punishment!” the youngest of the three argued, and soobin laughed.
yeonjun had nothing to hide, “of course!”
beomgyu let out a shocked gasp, “you-!”
“okay stop arguing, who knows beomgyu? maybe yeonjun might be the one losing or even me. and you don’t even know what the punishment may be, let’s just follow along.” the leader stepped in and beomgyu rolled his eyes as soobin started shuffling the cards.
the three all began started playing as soon as they were handed their cards. it was an on-going round that lasted for at least 10 or 15 minutes. by the time it ended, let’s just say…someone was not happy.
soobin won first, so it was just yeonjun and beomgyu who were playing against each other. and to beomgyu’s dismay, yeonjun had won.
the youngest gave the other two an annoyed look as they huddled up to think of a punishment for him.
“what should we do?” soobin whispered, and yeonjun was in thought for a while, before he came up with an idea that would make beomgyu go absolutely crazy.
“5 minutes of tickling.” yeonjun replied, but he purposely said it quite loud so beomgyu could hear him. and when the youngest did hear him, his eyes went wide.
“what?! nonono!” beomgyu backed away as he begged yeonjun to think of something else, but it was no use.
soobin grabbed beomgyu and pinned him down while yeonjun sat on his legs.
“it’s only 5 minutes beomgyu, i’m sure you can endure it!”
“no! i caHAHAN’T!” beomgyu shrieked as soon as he felt ten fingers digging into his ribs, showing absolutely no mercy at all.
“PLEHEHEASE I REALLY CAHAHAN’T!” beomgyu screamed and thrashed around on the floor, making it quite hard for soobin to pin him down.
“yah, stay still will you!” soobin shouted as he grabbed beomgyu’s wrists with a tighter grip than before.
“I CAHAHAN’T! STOHOHOP—!”
yeonjun couldn’t help but laugh along with the younger, and soobin couldn’t help but do the same. beomgyu’s reaction was practically killing the other two members.
the oldest decided to move his fingers more down, towards beomgyu’s hips to be exact. he dug his thumbs right into his hip bones and beomgyu shrieked.
“HYUHUHUNG PLEHEASE STOHOHOP!” beomgyu begged, and yeonjun only shook his head before responding.
“no way, soobin still hasn’t gotten to tickle you yet.” he said, smirking at beomgyu then up at soobin who smiled back.
“noHOHOHO!”
“chill-ax beomgyu-ah…you’re making it sound like 5 minutes of tickling is an eternity.”
“BECAHAHAUSE IHIHIT IS!”
soobin tilt his head, “is it really? i doubt it…anyways, two minutes are up hyung, it’s my turn!”
the two members switched places so now it was soobin sitting on beomgyu’s legs and yeonjun pinning him down. the youngest of the three couldn’t help but whine and roll his eyes, wishing for this punishment to be over as fast as possible!
soobin smiled, “where should i start?” he asked the youngest who grumbled and turn his head to the side.
“here?” soobin poked the boy’s side twisted to the side. “or here?” beomgyu felt a poke to his armpits.
the leader began starting slow, by poking every where his fingers could reach, and beomgyu was twisting left and right, trying to get away. but unfortunately for him, yeonjun was much better at holding him down.
“stohohop!” the boy giggled out, but of course no one listened to him.
“hey, try his armpits soobin.” yeonjun suggested, and beomgyu struggled.
“nonono pleHEHEASE!” the boy’s laughter came back to life again as soon as soobin dug his fingers into his armpits.
beomgyu arched his back off the wooden floor which made it easier for the leader to tickle him, but then again, beomgyu couldn’t handle this. he was just doing anything at this point to stop the tickles.
“STOPSTOPSTOHOHOP!” the youngest once again, thrashed around making it slightly harder for the oldest, but he got the hang of it.
“YAHAHAH! CHOI SOOBIN!” beomgyu shouted, and the said boy stopped what he was doing and widened his eyes in pure shock.
“choi soobin? you just dropped the honorifics like that? oh you’re so getting it now.” soobin said before signaling yeonjun to attack the boy’s underarms while he attacked everywhere else.
“WAHAHAIT I’M SOHOHORRY! PLEHEHEASE! AHAHA—!” soobin went from tickling beomgyu’s ribs, to his sides, to his hips, and to his feet. everything was happening with a quick pace that the youngest couldn’t even keep track where soobin’s tickling fingers were at.
“PLEHEHEASE!” beomgyu wheezed, and just before the timer rang, his laugh went completely silently. his face all red and embarrassed because he was getting wrecked by two of his members.
yeonjun stopped the timer and soobin got off of the youngest who was sweating.
“i’m never…playing uno with you guys again!” the boy frowned as he sat up, wiping his sweat off with a towel that yeonjun had just gave him while laughing.
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daydreaming-nerd · 9 months ago
Text
SJM ask game
Thank you so much to @kennedy-brooke for tagging me, I hope I did this right (I have zero competence) I hope you guys know that when you tag me in these I totally kick my feett and giggle I get so tickled.🖤
1) What’s your favourite SJM book? A Court Of Silver Flames, that book literally changed my life
2) Which is your favourite series (tog, acotar or cc) Oh my god, it depends on what I last read, which right now is ACOTAR but TOG is my baby
3) Who is your favourite character? (And why?) Nesta and how much time do you have? I'll say this, I'm Nesta through and through, I had a friend who once said I looked like her. Nesta is how I feel about myself and seeing her working towards being better makes me want to be better too.
4) Do you have a favourite quote from one of the books? "So Nesta had become a wolf. Armed herself with invisible teeth and claws, and learned to strike faster, deeper, more lethally. Has relished it. But when the time came to put away the wolf, she found it had devoured her too."
5) Favourite ship? I'm going with Nessian or Rowaelin because I hope I can find someone that sees all of me and chooses to love me anyways too one day :)
6) Elriel or Gwynriel? Or neither? If you're holding a pew pew to my head I'm going Gwynriel. Because I love Lucien too much. but honestly neither.
7) Who’s the most underrated SJM character? This is SUCH a hot take but Tharion Ketos. Has he had his moments recently? yeah. But the way that guy flirts? Oh I would be giggling and kicking my feet.
8) Which character do you wish to learn more about? Eris Vanserra, did I tear him to shreds in my Cassian series? yes. Do need him in a carnal way? Absolutely. I just know he's got shit going on.
9) Are there any characters you don’t like? Ithan Holstrom and I have beef...
10) Favourite bat boy? Shoot me it would hurt less. Honestly I think if I was in a room with them and none of them had mates I'd run to Rhys first. He's a scorpio and so am I (shocker) so I know we would vibe. but on the official mate quiz I got Azriel so???
11) Favourite court?/ Which one would you most like to live in? I'm a night owl (but y'all knew that) and a scorpio, so either night court or autumn but honestly, I think autumn.
12) Favourite SJM villain? Arobynn Hamel, simply because I think good villains are people you absolutely despise and I would find so much catharsis from curb stomping him.
13) If you could change one thing in any of the books what would it be? Might be a hot take but the Nyx plotline. It makes no sense for Rhys and Feyre to be like "we have all the time in the word" and then decide they want a baby right after. like what?
14) Favourite SJM theory? That Ruhn is a shadowsinger (maybe this isn't a theory but I have a fic coming about it soon so shut up)
15) Favourite Archeron sister? I think we all know...Nesta
16) A character you feel is over-hated/ underrated: I can't say my real answer or y'all will kill me so I'm gonna say Tharion Ketos again.
17) Aelin, Bryce, or Feyre? AELIN ASHRYVER GALATHYNIUS
18) What’s your favourite character from each series? Aelin, Nesta, and Rhun
19) If you wrote an acotar book what would you call it? A Court of Blood and Embers (and it would be the blood duel with Az and Lu Lu)
20) Who is your favourite acotar blogger? @tadpolesonalgae (I seriously love everything you.write)
21)What fics would you recommend to people who love the series? I'm not answering this one ONLY because I'm actually working on a fic rec list for y'all
Questions for writers
22) Easiest character to write for? Rhysand, I feel like I am Rhysand (scorpio buddies) so if I would say/do it so would Rhys.
23) Hardest character to write for? I haven't written anything for them yet (plz request) but I'm gonna go Rowan and Lorcan. Only because it's been a while since I read TOG
24) What’s a character you’d like to write for but haven’t yet? ERIS VANSERRA, y'all I am begging you, send me your Eris ideas. I want to write him but I have no ideas.
25) What’s a court you’d like to write about more? Day (incoming jealous Az fic you are all going to love) and Autumn.
26) What’s a character you won’t write for and why? Probably Elain, I just don't know enough about her to be able to do a good enough job.
27) If you could only write for one character ever again, who would you pick? Azriel, he's just such an easy guy to write for right now, and I think people like reading Azriel fics the most.
28) Whats your favourite trope to write about when it comes to Azriel? Reader being Rhysand's sister, I will literally make the reader Rhys' sister in every fic Idgaf, I want our girl to be a pretty princess. and the on top of that JEALOUSY.
29) What do you think is the best/favourite acotar fic you’ve written? I gotta pick between my babies... aight.
How Did It End? put my heart and soul into her and it flopped.
I'll Crawl Home to Her again, put my cooch into this and flopped.
The Prophecy (Azriel's Ending) guess what? put my cooch into it and it flopped.
so bascially if I liked it? It flopped, jail time.
30) Who are your favourite friendships to write about? Cassian the reader, I haven't gotten a chance to do much with it but I hope to soon.
31) For first time readers to your blog, which three fics would you recommend they read? *cracks knuckles*
You want plot? Young Love, Old Money or The Bonds That Break Us
You want smut? You Want a Baby? or Our Girl
Angsty af: How Did It End? and Implode
Tagging (and no pressure if you don't want to do it! ps love y'alls work) : @honeybeefae, @marvelsmylife, @throneofsmut, @azsazz, @sarawritestories
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bleachbleachbleach · 1 year ago
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who is your fav fav character from bleach?
if you want you can separate answers for male/female or for shinigamies/arrancars/etc 🤲🤲🤲
meow 🐱 have a great day
Whipplefilter:
Hitsugaya! 😭🥰 He was my favorite when I first read Bleach ~15 years ago and he’s still my runaway favorite now, having come back to it in 2020. He’s who I think about every day, whether I’m spinning out fanfic scenes in my mind or lovingly returning to some microdetail in canon or just building out completely inert, ephemeral headcanons that have no intended use. He’s who I’ll go full Close Reading on—every bodily expression! Every linguistic tic! I want to know it! He’s a character about whom I feel so intensely that I feel like the only way I can convey that love with the fullness and specificity I’d like is to write him in fanfic, and even that is something I think is really, really hard. I’d say the impulse, "I want to write you" is peak love for me, but I guess really it’s "I have to write you," which is the peak atop the peak. I just really love him, I cry.
I think he has such an interesting way of perceiving the world and of understand who he is and where he’s placed in it. He has these really incisive reads of things while also simultaneously knowing absolutely nothing, and often knowing that he knows nothing. Like, he’s willing to accept the WIP of it all, but is really aggressive about doing the work. Narrating your fights is a typical convention of shounen, but I am so tickled by the fact that at multiple points an opponent issues a taunt or points out a weakness and he’ll just be like, "Yes" and go on to explain in detail where he thinks there’s room for improvement. I find this completely bananas but also very endearing. He manages to be very forthright and straightforward and the squarest person alive while also constantly doing or saying things that are inscrutable and/or outright arcane. This doesn’t even get into the other 119 things I Think Are Core to Hitsugaya, which is why I feel like I can’t actually tell, I need to show. It also feels very personal, so I get self-conscious and shy about it/worried that I am going to overburden everyone around me with the magnitude of my blorbo feels, even though this is literally what fandom and Tumblr are putatively for.
After Hitsugaya, my favorites are Byakuya, Renji, Rukia, Matsumoto, and Hinamori; they move around in terms of in what order they appear. Then Hisagi, Akon, and Mayuri. Thennnn probably like… Ashisogi Jizou (Zanpakutou Rebellion Arc) and Sasakibe. I’ve probably made some horrible erroneous omission here and there are characters that outrank Ashisogi Jizou and Sasakibe but this is what my heart is saying right now.
ippoddity:
One time I tried to make a list of my favorite Bleach characters, and then I realized that it was impossible to make a tiered list. So then I tried to make a mind map thing of my favorite characters and it was so sprawling and ever-changing that I had to scrap the whole thing. If I had to choose some favs that are consistently at the top of the heap, I think I would have to go with Aizen and Renji. Aizen has long been my fav, ever since my first go-around with the series years and years ago. I think he’s probably one of the best manga/anime characters of all time. The deception! The motivations! The power! But also, the fallibility and the loneliness 🥲. Renji because who doesn’t like an underdog story? Renji is one of the first characters to bring humanity to the shinigami, because he shows that they are more than just their military training, they have regrets, and the capacity to love. Plus, he just looks really cool.
Other favorites which I am incapable of ranking: Hisagi, Byakuya, Ishida. And then the next batch includes Akon, Mayuri, Matsumoto, Ukitake, Ichigo. These groupings have very permeable membranes, and characters move in and out of them all the time. If you asked me in a month who my favorite characters are, I would probably give you a different answer lol.
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the-rewatch-rewind · 1 year ago
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My final guest episode, with not one but two very special guests!
Transcript below the break
Jane
Hello and welcome back to The Rewatch Rewind! My name is Jane and this is the podcast where I count down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies in a 20-year period. Today I will be discussing number 7 on my list: Disney’s 2001 comedy The Princess Diaries, directed by Garry Marshall, written by Gina Wendkos based on a book by Meg Cabot, and starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.
Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a shy and unpopular 15-year-old just trying to survive high school, when the grandmother she’s never met, Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews), shows up and reveals that she is the queen of a small European country called Genovia. Since Mia’s father, whom she also never met, has recently died and had no other children, Mia is now first in line for the throne. While she’s still deciding whether to accept this job, Mia receives princess lessons and a makeover, and has to deal with how these changes affect her relationships, especially with her best friend Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) and Lilly’s brother Michael (Robert Schwartzman).
This movie is so fun and iconic that I felt like I needed two special guests to talk about it with me, so in a few moments I will be joined by my sister Rosemary, whom you may remember from the Newsies episode, and my friend Sophie, whom you may remember from the Enchanted episode. But first, the breakdown of when I watched this movie after I started keeping track: three times in 2003, three times in 2004, five times in 2005, twice in 2006, twice in 2007, twice in 2008, once in 2009, once in 2010, once in 2012, twice in 2013, once in 2015, once in each year from 2017 through 2020, twice in 2021, and once in 2022. Yes, I watched this movie 30 times in 20 years, and I would do it again. So let’s talk about it!
Hello, Sophie and Rosemary.
Sophie
Hi!
Rosemary
Hello.
Jane
Welcome back to both of you. 
Sophie 
Thank you. Happy to be back. 
Rosemary 
Thanks for having me back. 
Jane 
I'm so glad to have you both here, even though you've never met each other before, but I know that you both love this movie, as do I. So I'm very excited to talk about Princess Diaries. I think we can start with how we got introduced to this movie, if we remember. I know that Rosemary saw it in theaters and I did not. 
Sophie 
That's too bad. Rosemary, you want to go first? 
Rosemary 
Sure! Um, I don't remember exactly all of the circumstances. I do remember going to see it in theaters with my mom and it was really good. We really enjoyed it. And we're like, Jane will love this, and really liked the line, “Goodbye trolley people!” That really tickled us. And then I do remember around the same time, the local like, bookstore and newspaper, I think, put on this contest where someone could, like, write an essay about why they should be like princess for the day or something. And one of my best friends at the time was like the winner of it.
Sophie
Wow.
Rosemary
So that was when I like, realized that, oh, these are actually books too, and then got really into the books around the same time as well. 
Sophie 
That's so cool. 
Rosemary 
So those are my like, early memories of Princess Diaries. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I actually can't remember if I got into the books or the movie first. Probably the movie, but I would say my trajectory was really similar. Like if I saw the movie first, then I read the books immediately after. And I probably saw like a trailer for the movie on Disney Channel or whatever because I… I do distinctly remember, like they did this thing where like they would if if the movie or show or whatever had a song, they would do, like a music video of whatever the big song was in the movie, and show that as like a commercial for whatever it was. And then in this case, because they're, I mean, there was Miracles Happen and they probably did a music video of that. But they also did, they would show like a scene from whatever it was like, sneak peek into our latest whatever. And so they did the the tea scene at the consulate where the “Gosh, Gee whiz, golly-wolly” exchange happens. And so of course, like me and all my other little 6-year-old friends were saying “shut up” to each other and thought that was the peak of hilarity, which I'm sure our parents were thrilled with. So that was, that was definitely a big, a big scene for us. 
Rosemary 
And then I also remember like, early on, like shortly after it came out on VHS or whatever, for Jane's birthday, her like birthday party was like… I remember our family, but I don't know who else was there, and we all just, like, gathered in the living room on the pull out couch with the like, little like 12 inch VHS player. And we all like gathered around it and watched Princess Diaries. 
Sophie 
That's so fun. 
Rosemary 
And that was like your 12th birthday party or something. 
Jane 
Yeah. Yeah. No, I I was trying to- cause I definitely remember you and mom going to see it and and coming back and being like, “There was this really funny ‘goodbye trolley people’ scene!” And I was like, what does that even mean? [laughs] But I don't remember like I assumed that I'd seen it before that birthday party, because otherwise why would I have asked to watch it for my birthday?
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
I didn't see it in theaters, but maybe we had rented it or something before that. But I definitely remember that because I we watched it for my birthday party and then since we had rented it, we had it for a few more days and I watched it like multiple times all of the days that we had it because it was also like my birthday was during spring break. And that was only like a couple of months after our aunt died. So it was like a weird time and I was like, kind of sad during that time. But like that week, I just remember like, watching this movie over and over and just being like, “I love this so much! This is the thing that makes me happy!” But I wasn't keeping track of movies yet because that was 2002 and so I'm like, OK, well, if I if I'd started a year earlier, then this movie would have so many more watches.
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
Because as it is, I've watched it 30 times in in the 20 years that I counted. But I don't remember how many times I had watched it before, but I definitely was just, like, so in love with it. I'm not exactly sure what it was about this movie that I was so excited about when I first started watching it. 
Rosemary 
Well, it's very… it's a very comforting movie.
Sophie
Mm-hmm.
Jane
Yeah.
Rosemary
Like, it feels very like warm and like a hug.
Sophie 
Yeah. I do… like, I always worry with the movies that I feel that way about. Like, is it nostalgia or is it really a good movie? I think this one airs on the side of it's really a just a good movie. 
Jane 
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I I would agree. I just I every time I watch it, I'm just like, this is just so nice.
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
It's, it there's, I mean there's conflict and there's like a few uncomfortable moments. But overall it's just like a nice story. 
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary 
And it has a good it's a good tone between silly, goofy and also like very sweet and sincere, and like it never feels like overreaching in the, like emotional moments that it hits.
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
Like it all feels very like genuine and earned and like realistic. 
Sophie 
Yeah, for like for finding out that you're a Princess when you're 15. It's a really realistic movie. 
Rosemary 
Well, yes. Is it based on a true story?
Sophie 
But no but I get what you're saying. Like the premise is absurd and at the same time it's very grounded in reality. And I I appreciate that, like, the characters seem to be genuine, like good hearted people. I love that people apologize when they do the wrong thing. Like, and Jane and I were talking before we started recording about the some of the changes between the book and the movie. And I think making Clarisse a nice person is one of the things that this movie does really well. Because book Clarisse would never have apologized to Mia for making her feel bad or, like, not listening to her. And then you get Julie Andrews, who's like, “I'm really sorry that I judged before I, you know, heard your side of the story.” 
Jane 
One of my favorite stories about this movie coming to be is that when they were talking to Meg Cabot about how they were going to adapt it, somebody was telling her, like, “We're thinking about, like, killing off the dad and expanding the grandmother’s role.” Because because the dad is alive in the books. And like, “We have someone, like a really big star in mind to play the grandmother and we think like, we should expand her role and get rid of the dad.” And Meg Cabot was like, “Well, who… who you were thinking?” and they said “Julie Andrews,” and she immediately went, “Kill the dad.”
[all laugh]
Rosemary
Yeah.
Jane
And Julie Andrews… this was an interesting point in her career because she had recently undergone surgery that caused her to lose a lot of her singing voice. Like that was in the mid 90s. And so she was kind of. In retirement to a certain degree, like she wasn't really sure what the rest of her career might look like. And this was also her first Disney movie since Mary Poppins.
Sophie
Wow.
Jane
And it's just so cool to see her sort of mentoring Anne Hathaway, who is making her feature film debut in a big Disney movie, which is exactly what Julie Andrews had done with Mary Poppins. And first of all, just… hard to believe that this is Anne Hathaway's first movie because she's so… she carries the movie so well, like I do think that's a big part of why you get that grounded feel is like she brings such a like realistic sense to the role of Mia. And I just think she was perfectly cast. And I also just think it's so fun that she's kind of following in the footsteps of Julie Andrews. I mean, obviously her career has looked very different overall, but it's kind of fun that they both have the same introduction to movies. 
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary 
That is really interesting that Julie Andrews didn't do more Disney movies after Mary Poppins. 
Jane 
Yeah, right? Cause you think, she's such a Disney icon. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, you would think that like they would be really fighting for her to have roles and stuff. 
Sophie 
Keep her in. Keep her in the family, in the fold. 
Jane 
Yeah, that was that was something that I hadn't, I wasn't really aware of until relatively recently. I was looking at more facts about this movie, and I was like, wait really? It's just very interesting. I'm not really sure how that conversation went, of like convincing her to do this movie if she was, like, really excited about it, or if she needed some persuasion. But I'm really glad she did because like, I'm sure I had seen Mary Poppins and Sound of Music multiple times before Princess Diaries came out. But, like, that's really what made me become a Julie Andrews fan is seeing her just totally kill it in this role. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I think Mary Poppins probably was my first, but this is the first that I like, really remember of her. 
Jane 
Yeah. So the two of them, I mean, everybody in this movie is great, but I love the dynamic between the two of them and like the whole scene when they're like at the arcade together is really nice, and and just like seeing their characters relationship transformed throughout the movie is great. And I… just thinking about like, yes, this is a romantic story and like there's some focus on her and Michael, but there's so many other relationships that are really important and really focused on in this movie and like, Mia and her grandmother, Mia and her mother, Mia and Lilly. Like there's friendships and family relationships, and it's like, and there's a romance, too. But it's kind of like, that's not really what the majority of the movie is focused on, which I think has always resonated with me. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I would definitely agree that although the Josh versus Michael conflict is a really big one, it is a romantic conflict and yet it's not like… it's not romantic. It's just, like, kind of an allegory for Mia trying to, in much the same way that to be a Princess or not to be a Princess is like her growing up and developing. Like maybe the things that I thought I wanted aren't the things that are going to make me the happiest. And I do sort of like in the book that she's always had this kind of pining crush for Michael, I think that's very sweet, but it's nice that Josh serves as like a, this, you know, this is what I've thought I've been working towards this whole time and then it turns out it actually is really horrible and I don't like it. And I would rather do something else. I think it serves the same sort of purpose that she's like, growing up and becoming more like sure of herself and confident. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, I think things that I've always liked about the movie, like the romantic teen sort of aspects of it, is that it feels more realistic to what people actually go through in their high school years than a lot of teen movies. Where they're like, “Oh, this is my true love. I'm going to marry them. I'm gonna…” you know, whereas like Mia has this crush on this guy and like, she gets all giggly and flustered when she's around him and she's not smooth and neither really is he. But, you know… 
Jane 
He thinks he is, though. 
Rosemary 
He thinks he is and and I feel like that's very like, sweetly portrayed. And like a very innocent like teen romance feel. But I think a lot of teen movies, they rush into being way too adult and like heavy feeling, but I've always, I've always really liked that Mia doesn't… she doesn't... Josh doesn't notice her because really, any other reason other than because she's a Princess. She doesn't have smooth pick-up lines. She's not like, cool and confident. There's not really any focus on, “Oh she's like, really sexy. So he’s, of course he notices her.” It's really just because he wants to be… have some fame. And then like this guy that's like her best friend's brother, like, I feel like that's stuff that happens to people, you know? It's like you're around these people for your whole growing up years and you're like, “Well, I have feelings. I don't know what these are. But maybe I'm in love with you. But maybe I just…” you know, trying to figure things out. And like she wants to get her first kiss. And it just feels so sweet and innocent in a way that I think a lot of teen movies really miss that point and are really like thrown into like much bigger, like, “I'm desperately in love with you” or “I want to sleep with you” or things like that. And this movie really like, keeps it, like at least more of what my experience as a teenager was where it was like, “Oh, I have a crush on this person. I'm awkward, and then we move on or we hope they notice us. But then when they do, I don't know what to do and…” So that aspect of, it does have that romantic story, but it definitely feels like, yes, these are teenagers who are, like, feeling things for the first time. And what does that mean, and what does that look like? 
Sophie 
Right. It's very sweet and innocent. She's like, very concerned with if her foot's gonna pop or not. Like she's not…. there's no like, you were saying, it's not like desperate. She's not like, this is, you know, “My my parents say I can't be with this person. And so therefore I have to have them, and we have to run off and get married and then he's going to turn me into a vampire” or whatever. And she wants to be kissed and she wants to have this little like old movie moment. And then she does get that and it's… But it's… with Michael it also is a little bit of maturity. Like, “I don't like him because he's, you know, cute or popular or he has a boat or whatever” it's, you know, “You… you noticed me. You saw the real me and you like me anyway.” 
Rosemary 
“You saw me when I was invisible.”
Sophie 
Tears. And then all the lights turn on and the fountains come on and we’re in the garden with the roses and yeah, so. 
Jane 
Yeah, that's it's interesting because so much of the movie feels so like relatively realistic given the premise. And then that moment, it does kind of seem a little bit fairy tale-ish. But it's also explained because multiple times throughout the movie, The Queen is talking about how she needs the gardens to be fancier. 
Sophie 
“Make me an Eden.” 
Jane 
Yeah, exactly. So they're like working on the gardens the whole time. And so like that kind of that pays off in that moment, too. And it's like, it's not just this came out of nowhere. It's like, this is what the garden needed to be beautiful for! 
Rosemary 
And I love that we keep going back to, “Yeah, this movie is realistic. The story is realistic” because, OK, first of all, she finds out she's a Princess for the first time when she's 15. And Josh, who's, like a 15/16 year old, has a boating license? And his own boat?
Sophie
[laughing] Yeah.
Rosemary
But otherwise it's it's realistic. 
Sophie 
They go to this high school that can rent out an entire private beach with a DJ and catering. What even is this party? They’re… Josh is on his boat. The the girls are doing their like studio sound system concert. There's like random food with whole watermelons, for some reason. They do like a close up shot on this kids plate, and he's got half a watermelon filled with grapes like, what are you doing? Who provided this? Who is this for? 
Jane 
And in a deleted scene they did a banana dance.
Sophie
Right. Yeah.
Jane
But I mean, I guess part of it is explained like, that it is a really fancy rich school because, like, it seems like her royal family members were paying for it, which she seemed to be somewhat unaware of. 
Sophie 
In lieu of having a relationship, I'll just like send my child to private school and buy a Faberge carousel for her bedroom. 
Jane 
Yeah, because of course. 
Sophie 
I did really want that though as a child. The little music box thing. And the diary that opens with the locket. That was the coolest. 
Jane 
That is really cool. I also think it's funny though, because like the books like the whole conceit of the books is that they are her Diaries, like she's writing them, and in the movie she doesn't even get the diary until the end. 
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary 
Well, you know, but OK, so books that are turned into movies. Generally, I'm like, the book is better. Why do we even have the movie? The movie tried, but it didn't do anything. And I feel very differently about this. I…love Princess Diaries as a movie and I love the book series and they are two very different things. 
Sophie 
Completely separate entities. 
Rosemary 
Yeah. And also all I want in the world is like a miniseries that takes place in the early 2000s in New York, where the books take place and shows these teenagers in the early 2000s, actually doing what the books are and like, have it be really good. And I would pay a lot of money to see that. So whatever major streaming service is listening to this, I would love that and to have actually have the main grandma and the dad who's alive and justice for Tina Hakim Baba. 
Sophie
God bless!
Rosemary 
Because we love her and she needs her moment. 
Sophie 
She sure does. 
Rosemary 
So I would love that. 
Sophie 
Yeah. Well, I I volunteer to to write it. I I I will be in the writers’ room once the strike is over, but with the caveat that it can't be gritty. Like they can't, it can't be dark. There can't be, like, you know, we're all really depressed and sneaking around and like, it has to be as like sweet, but a little more aged up than what the movie was. 
Rosemary
Yes.
Jane 
Yeah, cause I do definitely feel like the movie is for a younger audience than the books. 
Rosemary
Mm-hmm.
Sophie 
Yeah, which is weird because I'm sure that I started reading them when I was like 7 years old and she's talking about, like, getting her period at the Moscovitz's house and like wanting to make out with someone at Lilly's bat mitzvah. And I was like, what is what is this? 
Rosemary 
And then there's that, like, weird stalker man that like is stalking Lilly and wants to see her feet, and…
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
But like, I loved that series so much. Reading those books like, really got me into, like, YA realistic fiction? Realistic. We're going with that again.
[Jane and Sophie laugh]
Rosemary
But like I was obsessed with, like, YA books all through, like middle and high school. And I think it really did start with Princess Diaries. And I was always, like, so excited when a new one came out and would like just devour it. Like even like last year when the…or earlier this year? I don't know. When Quarantine Princess came out, I was like, We have a new one. We still need more of this story. 
Jane 
How many books are there now? I mean, I guess there's some that aren't, like technically part of that series and…
Rosemary 
Yeah. So there's ten that encapsulate her, like high school years, and then there's like a few extra ones that go in there that are like little short ones. And then there's the one I think it's like her wedding, maybe? Yes, that one came out, I think maybe in, like, 2015-ish. And then there's Quarantine Princess, which came out like in blog format in 2020 and then got like compiled and more things added to it and came out like within the last year. So Mia is still around. She survived COVID. 
Jane 
And there's the spin off ones about her half-sister, right? 
Rosemary 
Yes. Yeah. So then… I think around the same time that that the one that came out in 2015 that I can't remember the name at this moment, Meg Cabot also made like a middle grade series that there's a younger half-sister that came into the picture. And so she has her diaries as well. So there's like, supplemental content there. And I I read the first one. And it was very sweet and good, but I don't think I read any of the other ones. 
Sophie 
I just found out about that. So that's all new to me, but I did... I did love the little like Princess Diaries and a half, much like The Lion King 1 1/2 I think is the best Lion King. I think some of the Princess Diaries and 1/2 are my favorites. I think the only one that I actually had was the one where she and Michael do Habitat for Humanity together. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, I was gonna say, I was like, isn't there one where they, like, build houses together or something?
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
Yes. And then there's like a Christmas one too, I think. 
Sophie 
OK. And then that's probably why I didn't have that one.
Jane 
Being Jewish. 
Sophie 
Yeah because they needed like Lilly’s Hanukkah or whatever. And then I also had, I don't know if you know about these, there's one like companion book written I think by Clarisse. And then there's one written by Paolo and they're like… It's essentially The Care and Keeping of You, but the care and keeping of a princess?
Rosemary
Mm-hmm.
Sophie
And so Clarisse's one is like etiquette. All these etiquette rules for like dining at a fancy party. And then Paolo’s is like, how to, you know, do hair and makeup and stuff. And I love those. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, I remember reading those too. Is that when they talk about the cousin Sebastiano that like, doesn't finish his words and then he's like, “Please pass the butt.”
Sophie
[laughing] Probably. 
Jane 
I remember that character. 
Sophie 
Don't be like him and say “Pass the butt” at dinner, especially when meeting with heads of state. 
Rosemary 
So there's a lot of Princess Diaries content is what… what we can sum up this conversation with.
Jane
Definitely.
Rosemary
And all of it is good.
Sophie
Yeah. 
Jane 
I feel like, I mean, I know you were, like, way more into the books than I was.
Rosemary
Mm-hmm.
Jane
But I I feel like we read some of them together.
Rosemary
I’m sure we did.
Jane
Like you'd already read them. But like, we used to read stuff out loud to each other a lot. So I think that that was one of the things, at least… cause I remember really liking the third book, and now I'm like, I have no idea what even happens in the third book.
Rosemary 
The third book is the best. It’s really good. 
Sophie 
If that's the one with the non-denominational winter formal, that's I totally agree. 
Rosemary 
And that's when Michael makes a computer program to tell her that he loves her. 
Jane 
Oh yeah, okay.
Rosemary 
I would read that little section like over and over and over again, and I would be like, if only someone would love me enough to make a computer program that says- 
Sophie 
Aww, to code for you. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, and it says, like, “I love Princess Mia.” And then she, like, gets up and runs away because she's like, all embarrassed. And then she's like, later they talk and she's like, “I thought you were making fun of me,” and he's like, “Never.”
Sophie 
Aww, what a sweetie. I I love Michael. 
Rosemary 
I love Michael too. 
Sophie 
I think casting for him was great. He's so freaking weird in the movie and I love it in the scene where he's he's like still kind of mad at Mia and he comes over to the house. And she, like, gives him the last check for the car. He puts in it between his teeth as he walks out of the door. 
Jane 
Yeah, for no reason. 
Sophie 
He has nothing in his hands. What is wrong with him? I love him. 
Rosemary 
But he's also really weird in the books too. 
Jane 
Yeah, yeah, it worked. 
Rosemary 
“He fixes cars, he plays guitar,”
Rosemary and Sophie 
“and he can sing. He is so hot.” 
Jane 
“He is wicked sweet.” I think the person who said “he is wicked sweet” is the infamous cousin Meredith, who was Anne Hathaway's like… I don't know if she was technically her guardian. She was only a few years older than her. But like, I think that Anne Hathaway was still 17 when they started filming. But she was… she turned 18 during filming and that was… helpful to the filmmakers, because then she could work longer. But she was such a baby!
Sophie 
I know. Oh, she's so cute. 
Rosemary 
No, I've always loved Michael. I think he's a great character. He's a great person. He invented a robotic surgical arm in the books that, like, does heart surgery. 
Sophie 
Yeah, he's- I mean, he was… He's great. I… like I also I really get it as like someone who had – had? has - an older brother who, like all my friends were like, “Wow your brother's actually kind of hot.” And I'm over here, like Lilly, being like, what are you talking about? Are you blind? Because I live with the guy. But yeah, I definitely related to their to their family, as like neurotic Jews, just hanging out. 
Jane 
I think it's really funny how, like the moment at when they're like about to dance and at the ball at the end and and Mia doesn't know if Michael's going to show up or not and then he comes in. He like comes through the crowd and he passes Lilly and he like tickles her or something. It's like they have a weird little sibling moment there before he goes to dance with Mia and it's just like- 
Rosemary 
I knew you were gonna bring that up because I think of it every time, Jane’s just like, “It's so weird when he tickles her stomach!” 
Jane 
It is weird, but it's it's like, a good kind of weird. Of like like I think that too often, again going back to the whole like, romance versus other relationships thing. I think that that too often in romantic stories, it's like, they kind of forget about how everybody, how they're connected to everybody else once the like two get together. And I think that it's nice that their friends are there too. Like that, that Lilly and Jeremiah are also there and like it's showing that that it's like they're all connected and it's not just this. And that like Lilly is really the one who pushes Mia to to realize what being a princess could mean and how that could be a good thing and like a responsibility. 
Sophie 
Yeah. And I I also, I would agree with you, Jane, that it's weird. I think it's, maybe not on purpose, but like that is a very like, at least in my experience like my brother would do that too, and it would be very awkward, but he would like mean it in a loving way.
Jane
Right.
Sophie
He just doesn't know what else to do. 
Jane 
Yeah. No. And I I think that's great. I mean it's it's weird but, like, I I love that I love all the little weird things that happen. That's a big part of why I love this movie. There's so many weird little moments that you just kind of like, why is that there? But also I love it. I mean, just the whole thing with like when she breaks the statue, and puts the- 
Rosemary 
“Maybe it's string cheese.” 
Jane 
Yeah, exactly! She puts the finger in the mouth of the statue and and that scene is really funny too. I love when she breaks it and she immediately like shushes the statue. Like, “Don't tell anyone that I broke you.” And then like, she just sticks it in there and it's just like kind of a throwaway thing. And then it comes back in the best way. “They're famous for their cheese. Maybe it's string cheese,” and it's just, ah, it's so good. But like that, that serves no purpose, but it's hilarious. 
Rosemary 
Also, how did she break that statue? Like isn't it made out of like marble? Like…
Sophie 
Right. 
Rosemary 
That she would just like touch it and it would break? Like what? What is that statue made out of? 
Jane 
That was an untapped part of the story that she also has super strength. But just like nobody- that's why she always falls down and stuff like she does. She can't really control her own strength. 
Sophie 
Yeah, gravity is too strong. 
Rosemary 
They would be like, “We can't put that in there because then it would not be realistic.” 
Jane 
[laughs] But we'll have hints for it anyway. Ah man. 
Sophie 
Yeah, and and that her first idea is to reattach it with saliva. Like, that's good work. 
Jane 
[laughing] Uh, I love it. I love it so much. Just like fun moments like that is really, I think what makes it such an enjoyable movie, because like just, there's stuff that still makes me laugh when I've seen it more than 30 times.
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
Just like…
Rosemary
“Please don't crush my soy nuts.”
Jane
“Your soy nuts are safe.” Ohh man. Yeah, just so many great moments. And I mean, I do enjoy the movie Princess Diaries 2, but it just like has nothing to do with anything. I feel like it's so weird that they just like went ahead and made it even though the guy who played Michael couldn't be in it and they’re just like, “Well, Michael's not important anymore.”
Sophie
Yeah. 
Rosemary 
The fact that they made them break- “Oh, we're still friends, but we're broken up. And now I'm going to like, go fall in love with someone else.” That is not Mia Thermopolis. She is obsessed with Michael. She's in love with Michael. I don't care. Book, movie, whatever. It's fine. Princess Diaries 2 is fine as a movie, but it's a totally different universe. One where Raven is randomly there. And there's mattress surfing. 
Sophie 
A an African Princess.
Rosemary
Yeah. It’s just-
Sophie
Like, get someone from Africa! I mean, she's American. 
Jane 
Like, is she an African prin-? Like it's we don't know who she is, she's not explained. It's just like she shows up and and Mia’s like, “Oh it’s you!”
Sophie
“It’s my best friend!”
Jane
And it's like, who is this? We've never seen her before. Please introduce her to the audience! 
Sophie 
I do. I do wonder if at the end of the first movie they like on the plane to Genovia they enter some sort of like slipstream wormhole situation and just like land in another universe. And that's why everything is crazy in the second movie. 
Jane 
The castle that they see out the airplane window is completely different in the second movie. 
Sophie 
I do love it, in like a very campy removed from book and first movie reality way. But yeah it's it's not like… It's not the first one. 
Jane 
No, and it has a terrible script, like so many of the lines are so forced, and it's like, man, these actors were working really hard to sell this.
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
Like, certain certain moments just, like, don't work at all. There are funny lines in the second one, but I just think the the first one… And I know that like a lot of the script of this movie was changed by Garry Marshall like while they were filming it. They talked about that in - oh, I should mention the commentary, because, while this commentary is not quite as iconic as Ella Enchanted I do… I have seen this a lot of times with the commentary with Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway having tea and Julie Andrews mostly just wants to talk about the tea, like the literal tea, not like spilling the metaphorical tea of the movie. She's just very excited about having tea. But Anne Hathaway, like, remembers the names of everybody and is, like, wants to give everybody credit for everything. But they talk a lot about how Garry Marshall would expect them to be, like, ready with the lines, but also ready to just like, chuck the entire script out on the day and be like, “No, actually now we're going to do it this way and say completely different lines.” And so a lot of it I think was… not exactly improvised, but sort of changed last minute, and if you watch other Garry Marshall movies, you can see that there's just so many things that he just likes to have in his movies that don't have anything to do with anything. And I think that's part of what makes this movie weird. And it's part of what makes it work too. I think that it feels more cohesive because it's so… there's the Garry Marshall trademark through it all. And that he had his children work on it and gave it sort of a family feel, I think really worked for this one. 
Sophie 
Yeah. Rosemary, I was saying to Jane that I need nepotism justice for Penny, because Penny is the only Marshall member that is not in this movie. And he mentioned in… I can't remember if it's the commentaries or like, one of the special features that he's like, “They wanted me to cast Penny as the queen and I said absolutely not.”
[all laugh] 
Jane 
That's got to be a joke, though. I don't think that anyone considered Penny Marshall for the queen, but that would be a hilarious movie. It'd be a very different movie, but it would be hilarious. 
Sophie 
Yeah. Well, Penny Marshall and actually Carrie Fisher in one of my favorite childhood books they did like a star-studded Emperor's New Clothes reading, and Penny Marshall and Carrie Fisher played the ladies in waiting, who are like very bitchy and talk about the queen behind her back. It's fantastic. 
Jane 
That sounds amazing. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, what role could Penny Marshall have played? 
Sophie 
That's a good question. They could have taken out the puppet and had Penny be the puppet instead. On strings. 
Jane 
But they didn't use the puppet thing at all. The person who says “Maybe it's string cheese” I believe is Garry Marshall's wife, so she- Penny could have just been one of those like background people. 
Sophie 
Yeah, she could have been at the state dinner. 
Jane 
She could have been the pear juggler. 
Sophie 
That would have been great. 
Rosemary 
Or one of the reporters.
Jane
Yeah, Suki- What's… Suki Sanchez?
Sophie
Suki Sanchez? Yeah.
Rosemary
No, we don't want to get rid of Suki Sanchez. I mean, one of the ones that were like, “I’m from Teen Scene Magazine!” 
Jane 
Oh yeah. OK. 
Sophie 
“She's wearing a grunge look.” No, she's just wet. 
Jane 
That is so funny. I love that moment. It's like, “She's styling a wet sort of grunge-look hairdo.” It's like yes. 
Rosemary 
“And is wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and Docs.” 
Jane 
“…jeans and Docs.”
Rosemary 
The important things. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I do, I do appreciate that the Docs are like the one thing that made it from book to movie. Because those are very important. 
Rosemary 
They are her trademark. 
Jane 
They mentioned in the commentary that like originally, that scene was going to be like very regal and she was going to be in her ball gown and stuff and they changed it so that they would have her looking like looking sort of… mot all put together and to show that her confidence was coming from within rather than from external things, but they still gave her a makeover. So like it was still partly external. I mean, OK, the makeover scene… I don't like makeover scenes in movies. There's too many of them. I will say this one is pretty good. Just because Larry Miller is hilarious: his weird like accent, and then his like, fake European language thing is just like-
Rosemary 
“Brushka, Helga!” 
Jane 
Yeah. Like. Yeah, [imitates nonsense phrase]. Like, he just makes up stuff and it's just so silly and that, like his his little things that he says, like her eyebrows are named Frida and Kahlo. And it's like, really weird things. And so it's it's like not bad. But I also kind of wish that she hadn't had to have a makeover, and they could have just, like, left her hair as it was. I know… I know that her makeover is really to make her look more like Anne Hathaway, and she was like- Anne Hathaway had worn a wig and like fake eyebrows and stuff like that in her, like, earlier look. But I think it would have been really interesting to show like a quote unquote “ugly” person not having to change to be conventionally attractive and still being able to be empowered. But like of course, I'm not saying that they shouldn't have cast Anne Hathaway because she's great in this movie.
Sophie
Sure.
Jane
But at the same time, it's like, Anne Hathaway is also very conventionally attractive. So like, it would have been cool to have a like more not conventionally attractive looking person in this role, and just like, let her be who she is and look the way she looks. But that obviously wasn't what this movie was trying to do, but like that is one thing that that bothers me a little bit about it.
Sophie
Yeah. 
Rosemary 
She's also blonde in the books.
Jane
Yes.
Rosemary
Don't they give her a Pixie cut? 
Sophie 
Yeah, they cut- I think that's what Paolo's referencing when he says, “Next time a little shorter.” But yes, there's a very distinct reference in the book where she says her hair looks like an upside down yield sign because it's so it, like, here and then goes straight. You can't see me in the podcast, but I'm gesturing. 
Jane 
Yeah, it's like a triangle hair thing. I remember that being mentioned. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, I think about that a lot. Like,
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
Her yield sign hair.
Sophie 
I feel like part of what makes the makeover scene work  - I I will agree with you, Jane. I think they give her way too much makeup for a 15-year-old, and then they just like the framing of it as like, she started out so hideous and then look what I… look what I made of this mess you gave me - is Paolo's, like you said, he's just so funny. He's so weird and a little gross, but like in an amusing sort of way. And she also seems to be… once they finish plucking her eyebrows, she seems to be really enjoying herself. She's got her Walkman. She's got cucumbers on her eyes. She's like, bopping to the music a little bit. 
Jane 
“The cucumber does nothing.”
Sophie
[laughing] Nothing.
Jane
Yeah, I don't object to it too much. It's just sort of the concept of…of makeovers is a little… 
Speaker 
Sophie
Jane 
Obnoxious to me, but it it works. And I also think it's interesting because I believe from what I remember of the books, when she's exposed to the press in the books, it was actually the grandmother who told the press. And they changed it in the movie so that it was Paolo. 
Sophie 
“I, Paulo Puttanesca!” 
Jane 
That scene, just like, first of all, we also have to talk about Sandra Oh. 
Sophie
Yes!
Rosemary 
I was gonna bring her up too. 
Jane 
She, as the vice principal, Gupta, is so good. She's like only in it a little bit, but every moment she has is perfect. From the from the beginning, when she's like, “Morning, Lilly! …Lilly's friend.”
Sophie
Lilly’s friend!
Jane
And like but that scene when she like answers the phone with her iconic, “Gupta. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The Queen is coming. To Grove High School.” It's so good. And then and then when the Queen shows up and she's like fawning over her and, like, imitating her gestures and then just like, she, like, gives her this teacup. And it's like, “I'm sorry, we don't have finer China.” And then she just, like, hands a paper cup to Helen, the mom.”
Sophie
Uh-huh. “Here!”
Jane
So good. And then when Joe brings Paolo in and they have their whole little like routine of like he keeps starting to go and Joe, like, pushes him back is- that scene is just… There's just so much comedy gold there. And it's like it's amazing. 
Sophie 
Well, yeah, so Larry Miller is in two of my favorite childhood movies that came out around the same time: this one and Best in Show. 
Jane 
Yeah. And he's also in Mighty Wind. And he-
Sophie
Right.
Jane
He's he sets up one of Jennifer Coolidge's best moments too, when, because he's the one that she has one- They have one brain between them. The two of them, so yes. 
Sophie 
Oh, OK. Yeah. So he just like… The difference between those two roles, but they're both equally funny and weird. 
Jane 
Yeah, yeah. Best in Show he's awful. Like, I mean, I guess he's awful in this too. Like, his character is. But in that one, he's just like openly flirting with a married woman and then his- oh yeah, his job is like to talk people down…
Sophie 
Down off ledges, yes. 
Jane 
…who are going to jump off building, but he's terrible at it. And he's just like, “Oh, they always jump.” 
Sophie 
“Their eyes pop out like grapes!” 
Jane 
[laughs] Ah, he's so he's such a silly man.
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
But yes, so I enjoy him. I enjoy Sandra Oh, a lot. I enjoy Kathleen Marshall. I think that her Charlotte is…
Sophie
So sweet.
Jane
…a very a great character. I also… Not that I want there to be more romances, but I really like the thing between Clarisse and Joe and how they… their dancing scene is kind of… it- it has moments that remind me of The Sound of Music with Christopher Plummer like their dancing scene. But I love when Charlotte comes in and is like about to say something and then sees they’re having a moment and just like backs away.
Sophie
Yep, I’ll go away now. Yeah
Jane
My other favorite Charlotte moment is when [laughs] when she's worried because Mia hasn't shown up at the ball at the end and Clarisse is like, “Is everything all right?” And she goes. “Everything's perfect. Perfect? It's wonderful!” “You're not very good at lying, are you, Charlotte?”
Sophie 
“No I'm not.” 
Jane 
“No, I'm not, your Majesty.” Oh, it's so good. So good. There's just… I think that's ultimately… like, I mean the story overall is great and the acting is great and all that. But like, I think just all those little fun little moments are really what keeps me returning to this movie is it's just like there's so many fun little scenes like that. 
Rosemary 
“And that's enough pear juggling.” 
Jane 
Such a good- like, ah, there's just, yeah. It's just such a fun little movie. 
Sophie 
It's funny, you mentioned the- the dance scene because I was thinking about how… like sweet, that is when he says, “You've been wearing black for far too long.” And in comparison, I had no recollection of this line from Lilly, but she says to Mia, she says, “The guy died, what, two months ago? I thought you'd gotten over it already.” What are you talking about? 
Rosemary 
Her dad died 8 weeks ago and you're like, “You should move on.”
Sophie
Chop chop! 
Jane 
Well, but also, she'd never met her dad. So like…
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
True…
Jane
But also like I feel like that's also not a very long time to mourn your son? Because it's like…
Sophie
Right.
Jane
But I think that her husband died the previous year? 
Sophie 
Yeah, I think he's- I think he's referencing Rupert, not Phillipe. 
Jane 
“King Rupert, may he rest in peace.” 
Sophie 
“Rest in peace.”
Jane 
That's from the second one though. 
Sophie 
I also didn't recall Pierre. I didn't recall there being a brother at all. 
Jane 
Oh yeah. 
Sophie 
Maybe he's not in the book, but… 
Jane 
Is he in the book? 
Sophie 
I don't remember him. 
Jane 
It's really like referenced, sort of offhandedly, like, “Oh yes, my my eldest Pierre wanted to abdicate and join the church.”
Sophie
Yeah
Jane
It's like, you have another kid?
Sophie
What?
Rosemary
Yeah.
Jane
Where's he? That… yeah, that was... I feel like that was kind of unnecessary. 
Sophie 
Yeah, there are a lot of changes that I feel like they really didn't need to make. Like Mr. G in the book is an algebra teacher, Helen’s boyfriend. And now all of a sudden, he's Mr. O'Connell and teaches debate, but also coaches baseball, but also teaches English? 
Rosemary 
Is just always there. 
Jane 
They have like four teachers in the school and they're just all in every class. 
Sophie 
There's Coach Harbula, there’s Vice Principal Gupta, and there's Mr. O'Connell and maybe there's one other person floating around.
Rosemary 
The choir teacher. 
Sophie
Oh, yes. Yes okay.
Jane 
In the scene when when Mia puts the ice cream on Lana and Gupta’s like, “Oh, I was in a very important meeting,” it's just the four of them.
Speaker 
It's just them having lunch. 
Jane 
Like, that's the entire staff of the- of the school. 
Sophie
Of Grove High School.
Rosemary 
“Lana got coned! Lana got coned!” 
Jane 
I was so confused by the “Lana got coned” chant for a long time.
Rosemary
Yes.
Jane
Because I couldn't tell what they were saying. And I was like, is that a thing?
Rosemary
I know!
Jane
Or is that just like, what people would have just decided to call this? 
Sophie 
It's the early 2000s, as opposed to late 2000s equivalent of getting slushied I guess. It's just something that happens in high schools with mean kids. I don't know. I also, speaking of not being able to understand what people are saying, for my entire life until this rewatch, I thought, Fontana said after the debate situation, I thought she said to Mia, “I thought you were speaking at the Believe It convention.” 
Speaker 
OK, I thought that was just me! 
Sophie 
It’s bulimic.
Jane
Yeah!
Sophie
Which makes so much more sense, but I was like… what? Who? What is this? Is this something that I should know about?
Rosemary
Oh, the Believe It? What? 
Jane 
Yeah, that's what I heard too.
Rosemary
No!
Jane
Because she's like, “Is it true you're speaking at the Believe It convention?” and-
Rosemary
No!
Jane
Yeah, okay.
Sophie
Like I can’t believe it.
Rosemary 
It’s definitely “bulimic.” 
Jane 
Well, yes, that does make a lot more sense. But yeah, no, I couldn't understand that for a long time too. OK. I'm glad it's not just me. I thought once I figured out what they were saying, I was like... 
Sophie 
Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. 
Jane 
Of course, that's what they're saying, but OK, yes. 
Rosemary 
I was definitely… it was one of the more recent rewatch is when I realized she was saying “a yachting yahoo.” I thought she was just saying “a yada yahoo.” 
Jane 
Ohh yeah, I thought that for at first for a while too. OK. Do you remember? I I have no clue when this was, but we used to have a computer in the basement and it didn't- It wasn't connected to the internet, we just used it for like writing papers and stuff?
Sophie
Typing and stuff, yeah.
Jane
And it would have… we made it so that the screen saver was like word art. And we… it was like, the showers upstairs didn't work, so we would always shower in the basement and we walk by this computer and like every time we would walk by, we would change the screensaver to the next line from that scene when Lilly and Mia are fighting and playing basketball, like that scene. So I just remember, like we would just, we quoted that whole scene in the screen saver on that computer for no reason just because it was a fun thing to do.
Rosemary
Yeah! 
Sophie 
That that very much tracks with what I know of your childhood and your relationship. 
Jane 
Yes. So I still think about that computer whenever I think about that scene.
Sophie
That’s funny.
Jane
But I'm I'm not sure if we wrote “yachting yahoo” or if we wrote, “yada yahoo.” 
Rosemary 
Yeah, I don't know. I also need to mention that I was a youth that kept a diary pretty faithfully, and there is a section of a diary that I had around that time where I was like, “I can't believe I keep saying the word ‘I.’ I should think about other people!” And it was because I was like, inspired by Mia Thermopolis's speech. But it was like, it's so funny. There’s this little section of like 12-year-old me being like, “I need to stop saying ‘I.’” Like it was just a new thought that had occurred to me. 
Sophie 
Sure. That's… that's sad and cute at the same time. 
Jane
Yes.
Rosemary 
So what else do we need to cover? 
Sophie 
Well, I definitely want to mention the soundtrack, which I think is one of my favorite parts of this movie. I think I… I mean, I've seen the movie a zillion times and like, had the VHS and the DVD, but I also had the CD and I must have listened to the CD until it was like, so scratched beyond belief. Every song is so good.
Rosemary
Mm-hmm. 
Jane 
Yeah. I remember we got the CD from the library a few times, but we never owned it. We had the Princess Diaries 2 soundtrack. 
Rosemary
Yeah.
Sophie 
Also good, but not quite as good. 
Jane 
I was just so excited about Julie Andrews singing again. So like… 
Sophie 
Yes. That is my favorite song from the second movie. 
Jane 
Yeah, definitely. Not sure why Raven’s there, but you know, it's still a great song. 
Sophie 
She has to do some sort of hippity hoppity for the youth. They they won't they won't last doing the… just Julie Andrews doing like a musical style number. 
Jane 
“But I don’t know how to do this sort of thing.”
Rosemary [overlapping with Jane]
“I don’t know how to do this.”
[all laugh]
Jane 
Oh man, anyway, but yes, the the soundtrack for the original movie, which is what we're supposed to be talking about, is really good. There's so many great songs on it, and I really I- it's super random, but I really enjoy Mandy Moore singing “Stupid Cupid.” I don't really know why she sings it there in the movie, but like it's great. 
Sophie 
It's a weird song to have in that scene. It's weird that she sings it, but I'm so glad she does. 
Jane 
I also really enjoy that Anna and Fontana are there as backup singers, but their mouths never move. They're just like doing a dance. And like you hear the like background vocals, but they are not singing. 
Sophie 
They're not lip syncing. Yeah, I will say Mandy did not lip sync that scene particularly well. But her outfit is good enough to where it doesn't even matter. Her polka dot skirt is incredible. 
Rosemary 
And the like uni-boob tank top sweater. 
Sophie 
Yeah, the the halter sweater with the handkerchief hem. Oh my gosh, it's very Y2K. 
Rosemary 
It's exactly what I would wear to the beach. 
Sophie 
Sure. And platform flip flops. 
Rosemary 
I also need to confess something that as a child when this movie came out, whatever, I was very confused because I thought that Mandy Moore and Marilyn Monroe were the same person. And so I was so confused because I like knew that Marilyn Monroe… like I wasn't 100% sure who she was, but I knew she was like an icon and that like she was in Princess Diaries, cause it was like an alliterative M name, and I totally like was like, I don't know, it's got to be Marilyn Monroe. And then like… finding out more about Marilyn Monroe as I got older and then I was like…. I don't think that's Marilyn Monroe...
[all laugh] 
Jane 
I think she's very dead. 
Sophie 
I don’t think so. 
Rosemary 
I don't think it's the same person, but I’m not sure. 
Sophie 
It could be, but I'm not quite sure. 
Jane 
That's amazing. 
Rosemary 
But I remember being very confused about Mandy Moore and Marilyn Monroe in that movie. 
Jane 
That's amazing.
Sophie
That’s really cute.
Jane
One thing that I think is really interesting that I didn't quite pick up on until more recent rewatches is like just speaking of the whole beach thing: They're taking pictures of a 15-year-old in a state of undress and publishing them in tabloids. And it's seen as the 15-year-old's fault. 
Sophie
Mm-hmm.
Rosemary 
It's horrible. 
Jane 
It's it's terrible and like it's supposed to be bad. And you're like, supposed to think like, oh, it's- I feel bad for her, but I hadn't quite absorbed how awful that is. And it's like, I mean, that does happen, stuff like that. And it's like it's her fault when it very much was not for several reasons. But I just, it's just like, struck me as so much more disturbing to be like, OK, we're gonna have this undressed teenager that we took pictures of without her consent and blame her for it, and that was upsetting to me when I was just realizing that. But I also think that the scene when Clarisse confronts Mia about that is really well done. I think that they like, hit those emotional beats really well, and just like that, that she's really disappointed in her. But like Mia handles it well. And then I love when Joe comes in and sort of says, like “You were too harsh on her” and that they managed to slip in some levity with her with that moment of, like, “Her friends didn't help- Anna, Banana… Montana.” And I love that. And then that like, that's the moment when Clarisse says, “I have no idea what you're talking about” is great. But I also think it's like such a good point of, like, the thing. About like, “As a queen, I was too critical of the person who could become the next ruler of my country.” And he says, “No. As a grandmother, you were too harsh on your granddaughter.” And then that she takes that into the scene when they're in Mia's house talking about giving the speech or whatever, but she says, like, “I am first and foremost your grandmother.” And then that great moment when she hugs her and then just kind of goes, “Ah! I- I did it! I hugged someone!” is so great because she's been so emotionally distant and yeah. I just, I think that they really like they… they Julie Andrews-ified the queen but they didn't like make her completely like… soft and lovable. I mean, I guess it's kind of Mary Poppins too, where she's like, standoffish, but then also like sweet underneath. 
Rosemary 
But she's definitely not Maria von Trapp. 
Jane 
No.
Sophie
Correct.
Jane
She has to go through a journey too. Like the queen goes through a journey as well as Mia, and they go through very different journeys but kind of meet up at the end. And it's also just really nice that Clarisse still believed that Mia could do it and, like, had a tiara ready for her, even though she said she was going to step down and like… The whole end part of the movie just really pays off and I think that their relationship arc, the grandmother/granddaughter relationship is really… a great central story to this whole thing. Like it's like, yeah, it's about a girl who finds out she's a Princess, but it's also about, like, becoming connected with her estranged grandmother, who also needs some connection in her life. And I think that that's very well done. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I totally agree. 
Jane 
Mia's dad is dead, but we see, like pictures of him and one like flashback and that is Anne Hathaway's actual father. The voice is not. But they were going to use pictures of him, but then the scene with- when he's writing the note in the diary, they were just going to have somebody else wearing a wig to look like his hair, but then he happened to be in San Francisco for unrelated reasons while they were filming there. So they just, like, got him writing the letter. So that's kind of fun. 
Sophie 
That’s so cute. 
Rosemary 
I think another thing that this movie does well is like, adults taking teenagers seriously. 
Jane 
Oh yeah. 
Rosemary 
And like listening to them like… Mia and her mom had, like, real conversations together, and her mom doesn't just like, brush her off and be like, well, you're just a dumb teenager. Like her mom, like takes things to heart. And, you know, when she's like, “How could you lie to me for 15 years? I don't feel protected,” like her mom, like, takes that and it's like, this is where we're at now, and let's see what we can do to move forward. And then again when Mia’s like, “I can't believe you're dating my teacher!” She's like… she actually apologizes to her.
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
And like when even like… the premise of the Mia has to hit a baseball to pass gym class is stupid, but like I even really like that gym teacher because she's just like, “I'm rooting for you.” And like…
Sophie
Yeah, I love Coach Harbula.
Rosemary
Mm-hmm. 
Sophie 
She, like… without like compromising her… like Mia says, “I can't do this. I'm a girl” and she's like... “Hello!”
Jane 
“What am I, a duck?” 
Sophie 
“What am I, a duck?” Yeah. Which is hilarious when in the bonus features, you see that actor make duck noises and various other sound effects, which she's fantastic at. But yeah, she's very supportive while like being like, “You, you got to do this thing. I know it's hard.” Then she does it, and she's so proud of her at the end, which is really nice. And you know, having Josh get hit in the balls is… not a downside in the slightest. 
Jane 
I also think it's really funny that nobody else in the outfield can possibly pick up the ball. Just like, “You have to get up and throw it. We can't come over and find it.” Like I think that’s really funny. 
Sophie 
Well, one kid, one kid is on the phone with his mom about the dentist, so it couldn't be him. And then-
Jane
Bobby Bad.
Sophie
Twelve girls are doing some sort of cheerleading routine, so it couldn't be them. 
Jane 
Why- OK. But also like, why is the entire staff there? Because like Gupta- 
Rosemary 
Mr. O'Connell have picked up the ball. 
Sophie
I know!
Jane 
Yeah. Like, why was he there in the gym class? Why is Gupta coaching the cheerleaders? Like it's just like it's... I don't know. OK, two things that I was gonna say. One thing: going back to the mom relationship. I love when after the like beach fiasco, the mom says like, “My mom always told me not to cry and like to be strong. But you've been hurt. So you just cry.” And like I think that's so great. It's like, yeah, feel your feelings. Let's encourage girls to to feel their feelings and not shame them for being upset when upsetting things happen. And the other thing going way back to when we were talking about why the teacher changes from algebra to the like, debate teacher, because in the books Mia is really bad at math and then like her mom’s dating her math teacher. But I think that it really… it contributed to the arc to have her like, have this fear of public speaking and then like going into being a Princess where like you have to do a lot of public speaking and like that, adding to the reason of like, why not only why she doesn't want to be a Princess, but why she doesn't even want to show up to abdicate the throne. Like she's going to run away to Colorado in a car that doesn't run. That seems like a good plan. 
Rosemary 
Without a driver's license. 
Jane
Yeah.
Sophie 
With the cat! 
Jane 
With the cat, yeah! 
Sophie 
She's gonna take the cat to go rock climbing. And you can tell Fat Louie is like, first of all, this is a terrible idea. Second of all, please do not bring me into this. I want to live in my warm firehouse, OK, with my crazy artist mom. Do not take me to the rocks. 
Jane 
Yes. But anyway. So yeah, I think that that might have been part of why they decided to make the teacher that the mom ends up with be the debate teacher. So they could show that- set it up really early. 
Rosemary 
Yeah, it's definitely like easier to show being bad at debate in a movie than it is to be like “I am bad at algebra.” Like…
Jane
Yeah. 
Sophie 
Well, yeah. And it's, it's also like it's not Mean Girls where she has to solve the equation at the end of the movie for the big finish. It’s like she has to make this speech. 
Rosemary [overlapping]
Make a speech.
Sophie
Right.
Jane 
Yeah, it's like it's not that she's found out she's like inheriting a math thing like, “You… you have… you have to be the head of the math department because of who your father was” or something. It's like, “Oh, no, but I'm bad at math!”
Sophie 
Yeah. That's hilarious. 
Jane 
So yeah, so I think that it works. I do think it's weird that they changed his name but…whatever 
Sophie 
Hmm-hmm. I don't know, maybe there are more Irish people than Italians in San Francisco, which I don't think is true, but- 
Jane 
They changed it to San Francisco just so they could have the scene where she, like, goes down the hill and runs into a trolley. Like, that- which is a great scene, by the way, but like-
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
It's like it doesn't really have anything to do with the story. I guess I guess it shows the queen in action, which it's a little bit of like showing that royalty can get away with stuff that other people can't. But I just think it's just so great to show that the queen can like... 
Sophie 
She's loosening up a little bit. Yeah, I mean, you, first of all, get the nuns calling 911 and they're busy and they say, “For the love of God,” which is hilarious, iconic. Then you get the Order of the Rose and then at the end, she says “Goodbye trolley people.” 
Jane 
And you get the, “Does anybody have a Saber?” “I've got an umbrella!” Which I love. I love, first of all, like, of course, everyone's carrying around a Saber, and then just like “I've got an umbrella” and she's like, “uhh…” “Well, I have an emergency brake!” “This will do nicely,” so great. And then and then I love that the trolley driver and the police officer show up at the ball at the end with little like things like they got an official badge.
Sophie
With their medals, yeah. So cute.
Jane
Yeah, it's like, oh, yes, they- let's make the Order of the Rose a real thing. And, and also Anne Hathaway's “Oh- OH OOOOHHH!” is so well done. Like, every moment of that scene is just great. 
Sophie 
Yeah, 100%. 
Rosemary 
I think going back to adults taking teens seriously and paying attention to them, I think another really good example of that is Joe.
Sophie
Mm-hmm.
Jane
Oh yeah.
Rosemary
And the ways that he, like, pays attention to Mia and like he encourages her, like, when Lilly has a negative reaction to her like getting a makeover. And he's just like, you're going to be OK. And then what we already talked about when he, like, goes… when Clarissa was like, “Was I too hard on her?” and he was like, “Yeah, you were.” I really like the ways that Joe is like a safe adult for her. And like is a really good bodyguard sort of person. 
Sophie 
Yeah, he won't let her take the flags off the limo, but he will quote Eleanor Roosevelt to her and put up the divider screen so she can put on pantyhose in the back seat. 
Jane 
Well, and he won't let her call him Joey. 
Sophie 
Right. But he'll go and buy her high heels. 
Rosemary 
He went and got her the pantyhose and the high heels.
Sophie
Yeah.
Rosemary
And like, he seems like he knows what's going on. Also when he's like, “with the beach friends” and like knowing that they're like, ridiculous and mean to her and like… Yeah, I think... I think that that is another reason why this movie was so like… comforting as a child and teen to watch because you're like, “my problems do matter,” and like “adults do care about teens” kind of thing. I think that there's that sense of it that really makes it a comforting movie and like… I hope that all teenagers have aJoe in their life, or a Clarisse, or a Helen or a Coach Harbula, or Charlotte, or, you know? The way that that Mia has these supportive people in her life that aren't even necessarily related to her. It's a really nice portrayal of that. 
Sophie
Yeah.
Jane
Yeah.
Sophie 
I totally agree. 
Jane 
Anything else that we desperately want to add? I mean, there's so much more that I could say about this movie, but uh, I don't want to just go on and on forever. I think that that that we've covered a lot of the important things about it. 
Sophie 
Maybe we can release our own deleted scenes at some point. 
[Jane and Rosemary laugh]
Sophie 
With puppets.
Rosemary
And bananas?
Sophie
Yes. 
Jane 
The deleted scenes are very interesting. I think that they did a great job of figuring out what to delete and what to keep. 
Rosemary 
A great job of deleting them. 
Sophie
Yes.
Jane 
Yeah. Because a lot of times like you, you see deleted scenes and you're like, “Oh, this could have been in the movie.” I mean, I guess the one I I do think it would have been nice to see Mia and Michael having pizza together.
Sophie
Mm-hmm.
Jane
Because it is a little odd that the pizza is so important at the end, and they've just like kind of mentioned it once in a throwaway line right before “Wait up. Wait for me! Not you. I don't even know you!” which is amazing and I love it so much. We haven't talked enough about Lilly I don't think. But she is a great character.
Sophie
Mm-hmm.
Jane
I feel like very often in movies where there's like a best friend, the best friend is just kind of there to like be a sidekick and I think Lilly Moskovitz is no one’s sidekick and she, like, is doing her best to make a difference in the world. And then, like finds out that her friend actually might have the means to really make a difference. And like, calls her out when she's like, “Yeah, you absolutely can do this.” But she's like Lilly's not perfect. Like, she gets really jealous of Mia. And so I think that that she's a very complex character. And I really like the way that she's portrayed. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I think if we were talking about the second movie we could say more because I think Lilly is a more active participant in the sequel, but we do get the great scene of her trying to vamp while she has Jeremiah on Shut Up and Listen. And you know that is one of the major conflicts is like Mia’s ditching all her friends for this, you know, popularity that she thinks she wants and then it turns out that that's not actually what's going to make her happy. 
Jane 
It's so wild to me that she doesn't even tell Lilly that she's going on a date with Josh. Like it… it seems like that would be something that you would tell your best friend, even if you forgot that you were supposed to be doing something with them. It's almost like, did Mia forget? Or was she, like, intentionally avoiding her because she- I mean, I know there was the whole thing earlier in the film when when Lilly's like, “Jerk and jerkette sighting” and like, Lilly does never like Josh, so I guess that could have been part of it too, but it's like at least she tells Michael that she's not showing up for their date, whereas like she doesn't even tell Lilly she's not going to be on her show. 
Sophie 
Yeah, I do think there could have been some sort of mention like “I can't tell Lilly what I'm doing because she's gonna judge me and like, she's gonna be even more mad if I, you know, tell her I'm I'm going to the party with Josh than if I just, like, didn't show up.” But…
Jane 
Yeah, but she doesn't even… it's like she forgot about Lilly completely.
Sophie 
Right. 
Jane 
Like it's like I'm not thinking about Lilly at all. And it's like… interesting to show her kind of starting to go off into this direction of like, “I'm going to be a mean popular kid” and then just like, totally failing at it and being like, “You know, that wasn't me. I totally messed up.” The movie does a good job of showing you how to take responsibility for when you mess up and then like showing, but you don't have to take responsibility for everything. Cause like not all the stuff that happened at the beach was Mia's fault, and it's portrayed as unreasonable that like people get so upset at her about that, but also like some of the stuff she did was bad, like she ditched her best friend and like showing her take responsibility for that, apologize, try and make amends for both Lilly and Michael, I I think I just think that's done really well. And I think that that's a good message to be giving to kids of like, you do need to take responsibility for the stuff that is your fault. 
Sophie 
And when she does apologize, she never like demands that she be forgiven. Like she says to Lilly on the roof, she's like, “I hope you can forgive me.”
Jane
Mm-hmm.
Sophie
She doesn't like expect that that's automatically going to come just because she said she's sorry, which I think is really cool. 
Jane 
Yeah and I love Lilly’s response of, “But what will I wear?” And she's just like, “Oh, I'm so glad you're gonna come!” And it's it's just a really sweet moment. 
Sophie 
And I will, I will say when she hugs Lilly after Lilly says she's going to come to the party, her foot does pop. 
Jane 
Yes it does. I I noted that as well. 
Sophie 
So it's not just, it's not just a romantic thing. It's for any kind of love. 
Jane 
Yeah. And again, that's… what I do really like about this movie is that they focus on a lot of different kinds of love, a lot of different deep relationships with different people, and I think they do a really good job of developing many of them and that's really great. 
Sophie 
I love this movie. 
Jane 
Ah, me too. 
Rosemary 
I do too. Well, thanks for… thanks for having me on to talk about it again. 
Jane 
Yes, I'm so glad to have both of you back. 
Sophie 
I'm so glad we got to talk about it. The three of us, that was fun. 
Jane 
Yes! So uh… thank you so much for being here and I… don't know how to wrap this up. 
Rosemary 
Miracles happen.
Sophie
“Thank you for being here today.” 
Jane 
“Thank you for being here today.” Yes. Oh, that's another great moment that I must mention when Joe is, like, so committed to pretending to drive the car that he even like puts the parking brake on before getting up. So great. Anyway, “thank you for being here today.” I love this movie. I love both of you and I'm so glad that we did this. 
Sophie
Me too.
Rosemary  
“Goodbye trolley people!”
[all laugh] 
Jane 
Ah, that was so fun. Thank you to Sophie and Rosemary for that lovely chat, and thank you audience for listening! This will be my final guest episode; my top six are so personal that it feels right to just talk about them myself. The next two episodes will be the final tie on my list, featuring the two movies that I watched 31 times. Coincidentally, one of them is the oldest movie in my entire top 40, and the other is the newest. The newest movie is also the shortest movie on the list, so I’ll be talking about that first. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “First off, I work alone. Always have, always will. Second, take a hike. I don’t touch Hollywood cases. Not since… The War.”
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bacta-the-future · 2 years ago
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15 Questions, 15 mutuals
Thanks for the tag, @clonemedickix
Were you named after anyone?
Nope! Although my mom did tell me that there was a really nice classmate of hers in high school that was named Erin :) my name was decided upon between my birth mother and my adoptive parents though which is cool that all of them played a part in naming me!
When was the last time you cried?
Yesterday…I watched Plan 99 again!
Do you have kids?
I don’t have any crotch goblins but I do have two dogs and a cat! A three and a half year old Keeshond named Denver, a seven month old pomsky puppy named Duluth, and a four year old calico cat named Amber!
Do you use sarcasm a lot?
What a random question lol but yes
What’s the first thing you notice about people?
Probably how much eye contact they’re making so I can try and match their intensity and I try to get a good read on their facial expressions, I like to see how they smile!
What’s your eye color?
My eyes are a bright blue color!
Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings for sure, I hate scary movies!
Any special talents?
I used to play the piano, but I haven’t done that much since I moved away from my parents’ house and went off to college a hot minute ago
Where were you born?
Minneapolis, Minnesota
What are your hobbies?
Playing video games (ACNH mostly!), reading, writing fics (this is a new hobby of mine), spending time with my dogs, cooking with my fiancé
Do you have any pets?
I guess I technically answered this one lol but to reiterate, yes I have two dogs and a cat!
What sports do/have you played?
I never really got into sports, I’m not really athletically inclined. I played soccer and basketball as a young kid, and then the closest I came to sports in high school was by being in marching band lol
How tall are you?
5’5.5” but I usually round up to 5’6” lol
Favorite subject in school?
I always loved science, especially anatomy and physiology! In high school, I took a specialized course in Firefighting and EMS though and that was by far my favorite thing I did in high school—helped me to become a nurse!
Dream job?
I am so tickled that I have my dream job, truly! My dream has changed in the last few years, but I left the Burn Unit behind once I gained my nursing license and I am now a NICU nurse! I wouldn’t trade my job for anything💜
Tags: @apocalyp-tech-a @idontgetanysleep @thattoothpick @lightspringrain @mandos-mind-trick @aeli-tan-art @acourtofsnakes @starqueensthings @mylifeisactuallyamess @staycalmandhugaclone
Please feel free to ignore if you’ve already been tagged/done this challenge before :) xoxo!!
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lainekyuu · 2 years ago
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Tsireya x Best friend y/n
Neteyam x Y/n
Y/n only see Ao'nung and Rotxo as older brothers and they see her as a sister....
A/n: This is my first time posting in Tumblr and I don't really know some basics here but I'm learning my best... Tsireya x best friend y/n and Neteyam x Y/n is my first ever fic that ever did and... If find this fic cringe please just don't read it and ignore it...
I hope you guys will like my first fic.....
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I'm Y/n,the youngest daughter of the Ta'nui clan. I did have that much work in my family because I was the baby....My eldest Brother Ru'te he's gonna be the next Olo'ektan after my Father, my eldest Sister Sae'la she is also going to be the next Tsa'hik if my brother didn't want
I was very shy girl I didn't have that much friends as I walk away or hide when ever someone tried to talk to me. And my older sisters are the once that keep on helping me to try and talk to other children around my age but I just cry when they tried to take me to one of the children.
I may be shy but I'm a skilled fighter, I was thought by my father and 2 older brothers when they have free time. Since I like to wander around going to random places or maybe swimming too far without knowing, they thought me how to fight in case they were not there to defend me.
My older siblings are Ru'te,Sae'la,Tol'te,Rei'ko.
Ru'te is 19
Sae'la is 18
Tol'te is 17
Rei'ko is 15
Y/N I'm 13
Yes as you can see three of my siblings are in order of age because in the Ta'nui clan you must have more than Two child and because my family was the leaders they must have more child faster.
Being a he youngest is not that easy but it was still fun going anywhere you want.As the youngest daughter of the Olo'ektan and Tsa'hik of the Ta'nui clan I did my duty to help my people any time they need help.
Then my mother has told me to get her some corrillia flowers. Those flowers are under the water near the Metkayina clan.
"Ma'ite do you mind gathering some corrillia flowers?. I need it for my lesson today ite" my mother ask
"No problem mom, I will go get them" I said with a big smile
"Thank you Ma'ite, don't take too long dear I need the flowers for my lessons today." my mother said with a smile
I just nod and grab the basket she prepare for gathering the herbs and I went out to my ilu.
I made clicking sounds to call my beautiful ilu lala. Once she was beside me I went on top of her and told her to dive and we both went to the other side of my village to gather the herbs that my mother wanted, the herbs were called corrillia they can be found between the under water border of the Metkayina and Ta'nui clan.
Once I reach the corrillia farm I went there and saw some other na'vis there and they were form the Metkayina. I wave to them and they do the same. While I was busy collecting some corrillia I didn't notice Tsireya swimming behind me with her mother in tail.
Tsireya swim towards me quitely and tickle my side that cause me to jump in the water and turn around and saw her smiling brightly. Then I saw her mother at the back I greeted her and smiled. She did the same and sign to both of us to go up the surface.
Once we three have went up the Tsa'hik, Tsireyas mother ask me how is my mother doing and the clan.
"How is Tu'rui doing?" Ronal ask
"My mother is doing fine and so is the clan. How about you and your family?" I said
"We too are doing fine, Tsireya here insisted we should go and find some sea shells as to make a special necklace for someone" Ronal said with a little smirk.
I look at Tsireya with a teasing smile "How nice of you Tsireya" I said with a teasing voice and she just rolled here eyes on my behavior while Ronal Chuckle on her attitude.
Suddenly Ronal face to me with a slight frown. "Y/n while I was doing my duties as a Tsa'hik I received a vision by Eywa that some na'vis will come here in the Metkayina clan. I too will tell you so the Ta'nui clan will know what is coming. I look at her and nod
After some time on talking to them I said my good byes and swim back with my ilu with the basket full of corrillia.
When I went back home my mother is already waiting for my arrival infront of our marui pod.
"Mother I apologize if I made you wait, I got carried away talking with the Tsa'hik and her daughter Tsireya from the Metkayina" I explain to her so she would not worry so much that I was late.
"That's lovely dear, how was Ronal and her daughter doing?" My mother ask
"They were fine mother and she told she received a vision that someone or a group will arrive in there clan mother"
My mother look at my with the eyes that I couldn't quite read and she said. "Ma'ite when you go back there to the Metkayina be sure you are careful it might be sky people raiding our neighboring clans." Mother said with a serious look.
"Yes mother I will" after I said it she then said.
"Well dear you missed lunch, you go better eat your lunch it's still near the pot so it's still warm"
"Okay ma thank you"
"Your welcome dear"
While I was eating my food my older brother Rei'ko went in with a big bruise in his left cheek and a bloody knuckles that looks like we got on a fight.
"Hello, brother what happened?" Reffing to his injurys.
He look at me while covering his bruised cheek"Well there was a match this morning and I decided to join, even tho I was not allowed too by father and I kinda underestimate him and he end up beating me." He said while rubbing his bruised cheek knowing it would hurt when he touch it.
I cover my mouth to not laugh."You said that he beat you up and why do you have a bloody knuckles?" I pointed to his knuckles that are bleeding and some part dry.
He give me a waring look not to laugh."Well I kinda got mad after and went to the forest to punch a tree like it was him"
I couldn't help but laugh at my brothers actions."HAHAHAHHAHA" after some minutes of laughing I calm down and told him."You know very well when you disobey dad's rules ya know? Why would you even join them, even tho father forbade it for a reason.
My brother sits Infront of me and said."Yeah I know..I was just bored okay, I can't even help them go hunting plus I can't go to the Metkayina without you." He said while carefully crossing his arms.
I look back to him and sigh I stand up "I will treat you're wounds, in exchange you can't leave my side when we're in the Metkayina clan." I stand with tm arms cross and smile widely.
My brother just nods and look away.I smile even more when he nods, I walk to my room and grab my healing pot and went back beside my brother.I start to grind some fresh herbs for his wounds.Once I finish grinding them all I gently put the paste to my brothers bruise cheek and wounded knuckles.He hiss in pain but bare it because it was his fault for being a Skaxwng.
Once I was finish putting some paste in his bruise ."I'm done.. there is still some left over paste you will apply this any time the paste wash away so it will heal faster." I said while giving him my pot so he could put this in any container he wants.
"Yeah, Thanks...btw don't tell Father about this or else he will skin me alive" He said making sure I won't tell.
"Dad? I don't think he would tho, since he doesn't care if you disobey his rules but I'm sure mom would" I said while giggling.
My brother glare at me "Shut it Bum head or one of our sisters will hear us" he said knowing our sisters loves to eves drop on people.
I stop giggling and said."Well I'm free for the whole afternoon... Do you wanna join me on going to the Metkayina?" I ask
He nods and went to grab his knife and mine on the shelf. "Yeah I'm coming, it's been a while since I last hang out with Ao'nung and Rotxo."
I smiled and take the knife that me handed me over. As we were leaving the pod Rei'ko made some clicking sounds to call for our Ilus.I dive down to the water and connect with Lala my Ilu. After a few minutes we finally arrive in the Metkayina and we decided to went down on our ilus and walk our way to some near pods.
As we were walking we heard someone above us flying an ikran five of them to be exact. I exchange looks with my brother and we both run towards the middle part of the village where everyone is surrounding the new visitors in the Metkayina.
When we arrive I greeted some of the Metkayina people and they did the same they made space for us to walk past them, I was behind my brother so I didn't really see the new comers that much. I tried to look in Rei'kos side but he keeps blocking me. And on the corner I saw Ao'nung and Rotxo entering the crowd, they didn't look at us because they were busy looking and making fun at the new commers.
Then one Metkayina girl caught my eyes. It was Tsireya I smile and called for her. She saw me and went towards me,I then lean to her and whisper.
"Is this the vision that the Tsa'hik told me about?" I whisper to her and she nods.She then went on Ao'nung and Rotxos side to scold them.
"Do not Ao'nung,Rotxo" Tsireya look at Rei'ko "You too rei stop it"
Rei'ko simply rolls his eyes and back up.While my brother was busy making fun together with Ao'nung. I look at the new commers curious on why the Forest clan come here?. I got too curious and and step in quite forward almost going near the Na'vi boy in front of me but I was not looking at him but to his side with the other Na'vi with an extra finger. I was too busy looking at his fingers I was suddenly pulled back and landed on someones hard chest.
I look behind me and saw it was my brother who was griping on my arm quiet hard.
"what are you doing Y/n?" he said while still glaring at the boy in front of us.
I look up to my brother while trying to take his hand off my arm.
"let go brother it hurts.." I said seeing some bruise on my arm due to his hard grip on my arm.
He rolled his eyes and said "No, you'll end up going near them bum head." He said griping my arm lightly.
While the Olo'ektan of the Metkayina was having a talk with Toruk Makto's family Ronal went in and inspect the new commers. She was walking around the family checking there tails and hands,she then stop in front of my and look at my brother.
"Take near Tsireya" I head Ronal said in a whisper tone to my brother.
My Brother nods and pull me gently towards Tsireya who is beside Ao'nung and the Olo'ektan. I walk beside Tsireya and she hug from my side as I do the same.My brother went on my left still staring at Toruk Makto's sons.
While they were talking I didn't notice my self staring at the eldest boy. He was pretty handsome in my opinion and tall. Then I notice him staring to me I look away immediately even tho knowing he knows I was staring at him. I got embarrassed and went behind Tsireya to cover my face on her back.
Tsireya was confused on my behavior and ask. "Are you alright Y/n?" She said in a whisper tone.
"yeah,...I'm fine Reya"
While I was hiding behind Reya I heard my name being called by the Olo'ektan.
"My son Ao'nung and Daughter Tsireya will show you're children on what to do together with our trusted Friend Rei'ko and Y/n."
I was confused on why I was included but I didn't said anything and continue to follow Tsireya in.But I didn't go near her as my brother pulled me again. I just sigh and hold his arm making his grip on my arm lossen.
"Come I will show you our village" Tsireya said happily. We followed her from the back of the Sully family. As I walk behind my brother I can't help but look at the sully boy from earlier,his back was facing us so I didn't see his face. I keep staring at his back not noticing my brother looking at me.
After some time walking we reach the marui pod that they will live in, as they put there stuff on the ground I still keep looking at the older sully boy. I haven't know his name yet, Im too shy to ask for it so I wait till someone will ask for it.
Tsireya was talking with Toruk Makto for the schedule to train with us, together with the sully Siblings."The training starts tomorrow early morning.." Tsireya said.
Jake Sully nods and thank Tsireya again for showing them the marui pod. We said our goodbyes and walk back to go to Tsireya's marui pod.
There both the Olo'ektan and Tsa'hik are waiting for us to return. While we were hangout with Reya's family Rei'ko told me we should head back now before eclipse. I nod at him and we said our good byes to them.
As Rei'ko and I walk to go our Ilus I saw the eldest sully boy his back facing us sharping a knife. I got distracted and didn't see the small rock and I trip on it. I was about to fall face flat but it didn't happened as my brother catch me before I could hit the ground. I was embarrassed because I saw the Sully boy face to us now, but my eyes didn't last long on him as my brother block the way and ask if I was okay.
"Yeah I'm good..." I look up to my brother and notice him frowning a little. "What?" He still frowns but pat my head softly."Nothing, we sould go now mother is waiting for us". He said and turn around
I was confused but didn't question him more as I walk fast to catch up to my brother.
When we went home it was dark and our both or parents are outside the marui pod waiting for our arrival.
"what took you kids so long?" Our Mother questions worriedly while hugging both of us and Rei'ko answered he question. "Both of us are with Tsireya and Ao'nung with Rotxo mother, we were hanging out and hunt for a little while." I look at my brother waiting for him to say about the new commers which are the sully family. But since he didn't say anything I step a bit forward to tell my mother."Mother about the new commers that I have told you earlier, they have arrived in the Metkayina when both me and Rei'ko went there."
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A/n: If some of you have already read this fanfic, i just want you to know that I have edited it and I have change a lot of the story.
Before I edit this the reader was a strong Ta'nui girl and a total hater of the Omaticaya especially of Neteyam something like that.
In the mean time I will continue to work on part two while school Is still far.
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