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unholyplumpprincess · 4 years

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Eternal Honeymoon Phase

For @itsthesinbin bc we were yelling about Morticia and Gomez and it’s spooky season so the Addams Family works perfectly. I HOPE U LIKE IT!!!!

Summary: You’re the newest addition to the Addams Family couple and you’re a little shier when it comes to their sexual appetites. You’re, well, a virgin, and when you finally ask to do more, Morticia has a better idea on how and when to take your virginity. Under the moon of Halloween, you shall be their sacrifice.

PLEASE REBLOG IF YOU LIKE! Minors and ageless blogs DNI or you will be blocked.

Fandom: Addams Family

Relationship: Morticia/Gomez/Reader

Warnings: NSFT/R18+, Reader is gn and has a vulva, also reader wears a dress but it’s a costume for an angel costume!, implications of virginity kinks for Gomez and Morticia, uhhhh ya get eaten out and ur face fucked, overstimulation.

Words: 3.3k

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Morticia and Gomez had never been against adding a third to their little ‘eternal honey moon’ romance.

It’s just that no one had ever quite...fit into their world of them as a couple. They could come off a little strong, a little, ah, overbearing and well. Downright indulging in intimacy like rabbits tended to not be something people enjoyed, much to Gomez’s and Morticia’s surprise. Whatever did people mean that they lost a ‘spark’? They just didn’t see it.

They had met you at a family gathering. You’re a friend to one of the many, many, many family members there, exuding such a sweet and kind energy amongst all the dread and vulgarity. You’d seemed a little overwhelmed among everyone else yet still was just as polite with everyone. Your state of dress had been borrowed, Morticia had noticed, from cousin Lilith. The dress you had on spilled off your shoulders and you kept adjusting it with a little shy bow of your head and flashing a small smile.

Poor thing.

~Rest under the cut~

You’d caught Morticia’s eye first, who had hummed her interest as Gomez dipped her upon the dancefloor. Her head had been tipped back, showing the long, pale expanse of her neck that he ached to kiss as her hair spilled behind her. But, he’d seen her eyes lingering on you, trailing up and over to you from where she was looking and a grin spreading across his face. “Cara mia?” He questions in a teasing tone, kissing over her shoulder and up to her neck before pulling her to a standing position. “The one Lilith brought has your attention?”

“Yes...Don’t you think they look rather sweet standing there?” Morticia hums in reply once she returns to his embrace, swaying their bodies together and making sure to twist so they both could glance over at you. You’re talking to another cousin, tucking hair behind your ear and smiling kindly at something someone else says. A laugh graces your features, and even Gomez is humming now.

“Out of place,” He agrees, taking her hand and letting her spin from his grasp only to bring her back in time with the waltz, resting his head upon her breast with a sigh from his lips. “You have always been fond of the smaller ones, haven’t you, Tish?” A playful tease that earns him that charming little laugh from his wife’s lips.

That night they had both approached you, each offering a dance. Morticia quite liked the way your cheeks warmed a healthy shade of pink and you’d been honest about how your dress kept falling. To which Gomez, ever the gentleman had offered his assistance there. Brandishing a pin from seemingly nowhere and getting behind you to help pin the dress closed better. You’d smiled so bright then, thanking him with a hearty laugh. “I thought I was going to pop out of it any second now! Thank you- Would you both like to dance? I’m sure we can come up with something together!”

And how odd you had been. Breaking traditions of just two in an intimate dance. Showing them how Gomez could hold your waist from behind and you could hold Morticia’s from the front and all sway together. Over your shoulders you hadn’t seen the way the two looked at you. A bright spray of sunshine in their gloomy, dark worlds.

They quite liked their rainy days full of thunder and harsh winds, and at first, they thought that wouldn’t be your speed.

You’re invited privately to come into their home for dinner. You’re such a vibrant ray of sunshine in the otherwise dark room, lighting it up with the glow of your presence. There are quiet tests here and there as they get to know you. Such as inviting you on terribly stormy days only for you to excuse yourself with the children to go out and play. Only to come back in soaking wet and smiling just as bright as Gomez wraps you in a towel with a laugh as you exclaim how beautiful their home always is.

And how much you loved that it was always storming or cloudy.

Another time, Mama offers you something and exclaims it to be a sort of poison. Morticia had watched as you smiled, only questioning if it at least tasted good before you’d put it into your mouth. It had been laced, of course, Mama was always good at such things. Thankfully it only made you terribly drowsy. Such a sweet thing you had been with your head in Morticia’s lap that day. Gomez having helped you out of your shoes and let you lay your legs across his lap, stroking over your calf. You’d smiled so lazily up at them, your voice happy as could be. “It did taste good. She wasn’t lying on both accounts, huh?”

Nothing frightened you. Nothing turned you away. Somehow you took doom and gloom and made it into something bright and beautiful without modifying what it looked like. Even the children took kindly to your presence. The house just came to life with you inside it, everyone seemed more active. Even Gomez had taken to leaning over the railing with wistful sighs as he watched you, and Morticia knew it was up to her to do something about it.

You’d been asked to accompany them both to dinner privately. Neither Gomez or Morticia had been into the dating scene- as is they married practically a month after they had met and proposed the day of meeting. Yet, you seemed a little old fashioned to just be proposed to in such short notice. Much to Gomez’s dismay who already had a ring picked out for you and had pouted when Morticia gently closed the box to tell him as such.

You’d agreed joyously to dinner, and not long after had your relationship begun. Gomez had been the one to ask if you would be moving in with them, both of them delighting in the flush on your face and stuttering out about how you weren’t particularly attached to your apartment. He’d insisted with a big smile, and you’d agreed. The children were just as excited, even if Wednesday had showed her own happiness in her own little way of offering to hide weapons in your room ‘just in case’.

Prompting you to ask, of course, “Just in case? What, an attacker?”

“No,” Wednesday had spoken as if it was the most obvious answer on Earth. “Just in case I want to test your reflexes.”

Morticia and Gomez had the delight of watching you spare a grin to her, pretending to pout and telling her. “Aw, man, that’s too bad because maybe I waaaant tooo test,” Only to quickly scoop her up, resulting in their daughter letting out a shriek of terror and joy. “YOUR reflexes!”

The look they had shared was full of love, Gomez’s smile lighting up the room and Morticia having to resist the urge to steal your moment and whisk you away to the bedroom.

To present day, you three have been a couple for nearly half a year. Your first kisses with both of them had been shared, as well as some more intense heavy petting. Normally resulting in you in between them with scarlet red lipstick marks curling up your neck and bite marks on the other side. No one went further than just making you a blushing mess, always one of them murmuring to you that you just need say the word and they would ravish you.

A week before Halloween you shyly tell them that you’re ready to go further.

Morticia has to rest a hand on Gomez’s leg to keep him still when he sits up eagerly in their bed like a dog hearing the word ’treat’, but Morticia only cups your cheek fondly. Smoothing her thumb over the apple of your cheek and drawing you into an oh-so-soft kiss. “In a week, my dear, we shall have a ritual on Halloween night. You are a virgin, correct?”

Her bluntness had made your face burn, a huff going from your nose but you’d nodded. Gomez had hummed next to her, reaching over to replace her hand with his own rougher one and letting you lean into his palm with a pout. “Now, now, none of that, sweetheart! We’ll have plenty of time to plan for you and get questions out of the way. Like condoms! Shall we need condoms? Tish- we don’t have condoms, do we?”

“No, my love, we have never desired them before.” Morticia had responded with a sly smile on her lips, sharing a look with you. It seemed you would burn up before they even got to play, but you’d shaken your head, your voice seemingly caught in your throat.

“Good,” Morticia near about purred. “We shall inquire further- would you like to join us in bed tonight to make preparations?”

You had joined them that night. Talking of consent and what you thought you might want to try or be comfortable with. Ending up curled up in Gomez’s arms with your face buried in his warm, hairy chest and Morticia’s freezing cold arms around you from behind. Embraced and safe within their bodies.

When Halloween approaches, the children are so excited to drag you and Fester outside to come up with games. Pugsley had dressed as a pirate fit with an eyepatch and a sword in hand, whilst Wednesday had merely taken dressing brightly for once. When questioned, she’d merely said in a stoic tone of voice, “A majority of the animal kingdom has brightly colored flesh in order to identify who is poisonous.” You’d thought it was rather clever.

Yourself, you had dressed as a cliché angel. With a white dress that reached the floor with a slit up each leg for more freedom. The top was a plunge neck with criss crossing strings over your chest, and flaring sleeves down to your fingertips. You’d even gotten a little halo headband and little wings to match. Though your halo was quickly given to Fester who had quite the fascination with it, smiling as you told him you two matched.

Perhaps you had dressed as an angel as a tease. Morticia had admitted that she was quite attracted to the fact that you hadn’t had penetrative sex yet, spoken exactly like that. And Gomez had agreed, not as bluntly but definitely implying that it was very much a ‘thing’ for them both. And maybe you were trying to get a little payback for in the middle of the week. When you had been so comfortable resting with them only to find yourself teased with hot and heavy kisses from Gomez and little nips on your neck from Morticia as they both told you how good of a sacrifice you were going to make on Halloween night.

When you’d arrived, you’d certainly felt their hungry stares. You’d call this righteous payback, thank you very much.

The entire day goes rather well, you’d thought. The children had a day full of fun and were being put to bed by Lurch, slung over both his shoulders as they both wave to you before vanishing around the corner of upstairs. Immediately you feel arms wrap around your waist from behind, a warm kiss pressed to your shoulder and Gomez’s voice sighing out. “As much as I appreciate the time you spend with the children, I am glad it is our turn now.”

“And what if I’m too tired, hm?” You tease out, only to fall into giggles from your lips when his arms squeeze tighter around your waist and a low growl comes from his throat. You hear the click of heels approaching before Morticia is in front of you, her long fingers tipping your chin up with two fingers. You can practically hear both yours and Gomez’s breaths leave your body at her beauty. She always looked so regal, especially tonight in a more spider web designed dress that had a slit up the leg.

“If you are too tired, we shall simply put off until next Halloween. I am patient.” She speaks coolly, a quirk to a corner of her mouth when you whine aloud and lean back into Gomez’s arms who makes the same sound as you. Clearly the most patient one in the room was Morticia, but even then, her eyes are flicking down the front of your low plunge dress and you have a feeling that wouldn’t last long.

After a few teasing ‘double checks’ from the both of them, you are brought to a room that you don’t recognize. It’s wide open with windows covering one side, and in the center of the room is soft looking cushions and blankets. In a star formation on either side of the center where the comfortable spot looked were lit up candles, all black with roaring red flames. You should have realized Morticia wasn’t joking when she said sacrifice, but in your heart, you knew nothing bad was going to happen. Nothing you didn’t want would happen.

Gomez is the one who strips you from behind, warm kisses placed on everywhere he exposes behind you. Trailing kisses down your back until he can’t reach whilst standing anymore and letting your dress pool to the floor. Morticia watches, patient as ever with her hands folded at her waist, though her head does tilt, this hungry gaze in her eyes as they fall to your hips. You weren’t wearing underwear, you thought it would give your dress undesirable lines. You flush when you hear the appreciative sound behind you, a firm hand tracing down your side and squeezing your ass.

“You were just as eager to get here as we were all day.” Gomez growls in your ear, both his hands grabbing your hips now and yanking you back against him. You whimper faintly, tipping your head to the side when guided to feel the searing hot kisses up your neck. You’re already dizzy with arousal, faintly hearing Morticia say something only to be released and guided to the cushions instead by her hands.

You’re lain on your back, watching Gomez strip from his suit jacket and loosening his tie to work on the buttons. Morticia slips out of her dress, revealing a black lacy get up with matching bra and panties, a garter belt holding spider web thigh highs on her long legs. You swallow thickly when she crawls up to you, nudging your legs apart that tremble as they fall open. Cold kisses leave scarlet prints up your inner thigh beginning at your knee, her lips coming up and over your hip to your lower abdomen and kissing her way back down, down, down.

Her fingers part your lower lips and you throw your head back in embarrassment when she smiles up at you under her lashes. “Already so wet, little one? How sweet.” You can’t even help the way your hips jump when her cold mouth presses an open-mouthed kiss over the hood of your clit, her tongue pressing downwards against you before sealing her lips lightly over you.

A low whine leaves your throat, your fingers quickly twisting into the sheets beneath you as your hips start to hump against her mouth without thinking. You feel a pressure by your head before your eyes flutter open halfway, looking up at Gomez who pushes your hair out of your face adoringly. “Open your mouth, sweetheart, stick out your tongue for me.” Murmured gently from his lips, and you do as told, a shudder racing through your body when Morticia’s tongue dips lower.

His cock is in his hand, thick enough to the point not even his fingers touch when holding it. It looked shorter, maybe at about five inches with the foreskin pulled back with a tug of his hand across his cock. Your mouth waters at the sight of the flushed head, fluttering your eyes closed when he glides the head of it across your tongue. “Ah, there you go, darling, just get used to the taste for now.” Spoken lowly in his throat, as if he’s holding back from just grabbing you and slipping into your throat.

You get to experiment with little laps of your tongue after a moment, keeping your lips parted to allow him to slide the shaft over your lips so you could get used to the weight. A moan spills from you when you feel Morticia’s tongue back on your clit, applying pleasant pressure and moaning against you in turn. You whimper sharply, your hand reaching down to try and find her. She takes the hint, her fingers lacing with yours at your hip to hold your hand there.

It isn’t long before Gomez is pressing the head at your lips, talking you through it ever so softly. “Breathe through your nose, relax your jaw- there you go, that’s my sweet pet.” Crooning as he presses carefully into your mouth. It stretches your jaw, your head tipped backwards and your breath stuttered. He only dips halfway, his hand coming down to rest on your jaw, helping you keep tilted and supported.

By the time he finally slips all the way into your mouth, his balls against your nose and your eyes nearly rolling into the back of your head, you’re cumming. You squeeze tight to Morticia’s hand, automatically swallowing around the weight in your mouth with moans blossoming from your chest. Your body trembles, hips stuttering up against her mouth where she licks you through each wave and even afterwards. Until your tremors are too much and you’re making soft whimpers around Gomez’s cock and trying to shake your head, but his hand holds you still.

“Mmh. That was one. Just four more.” Morticia practically croons, pressing a kiss to your engorged clit that’s surely circled by a ring of lipstick right now. Your hips jerk upwards, moving your free hand up to Gomez’s thigh and clinging to him when his hips start to move lightly.

Four?! Four more?! You try to sob out, but only the tail end of it gets out when Gomez pulls his hips back until the head rests heavy on your lips. You try to speak, but Morticia’s nails tracing up your thighs as she sits up catches your attention more. “My love, the toys?”

“Behind you in the bag, dearest.” He hums out fondly, the hand gripping your jaw smoothing his thumb over your wet lips until your lips part again, taking his cock once more with a low growl in his voice. “I think you were made to be a toy for us, little one. How well you take me.”

You can’t help your own whimper when he slides all the way back into your mouth. Your eyes fluttering just as you feel Morticia return with the light pressure between your legs. She lifts one of your thighs, angling you better for the rounded head of a smaller toy that you assume is a dildo, already wet with lubrication. “I would ask Gomez to prepare you as my nails are too long,” Morticia explains, her hand lying flat on the mound of your sex, her thumb circling your clit to not overstimulate you just yet. “But, it seems he is preoccupied at the moment. I cannot say I am not jealous.”

“In d-due time, my dear,” He huffs out, his hips speeding up slightly when you prove you can take the smaller thrusts. Your toes curl, feeling the toy slowly slide into you with a delicious, slight stretch to it. It isn’t long before Morticia’s moving it in sync with Gomez’s hips, your eyes rolling into the back of your head and feeling just like the toy Gomez claimed you were.

You know by the end of the night you’ll end up well taken care of and tired out. But for now, you’re happy to be caught in between them, drooling around Gomez’s cock and feeling Morticia’s cold tongue lapping at your slick.

You think Heaven is a lot darker and gloomier than thought to be.

#Addams Family #Morticia x Gomez x Reader #Morticia Addams #Gomez Addams #nsft #lemon #princess writing

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drummergirl231-2 · 4 years

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I don’t even know what to title this.

I’ve been trying to come up with a title for I don’t know how long and now I’m legit crying because I can’t even figure out how to start this post... so this will have to do.

I’m not okay. I can’t keep up with all this and everything going on in my life. I feel like I’m strapped into a car on a collision course for a brick wall and I’m just frozen in fear anticipating the impact.

Everything has kind of been spiraling out of control in my personal life (if you want you can skip to the bolded headings for what’s relevant to this blog).

My parents - whom a lot of you know about from my GoFundMe - are moving from California to Tennessee. I can’t afford to stay in California so I have to go with them (though they insist my going with them is my choice and that I totally have other options... but whatever. At least I’ll be out of California).

If my job can’t transfer me, I’ll lose it just when I was going to get the most hours (and therefore money) of the year, but my parents refuse to wait until after Christmas to sell.

My grandma recently died and even though my grandpa (step-grandfather) invited us up to the house at one point, his horrible son met us on the porch and rudely refused to let us in, telling us his father wasn’t seeing anyone. Now that his horrible son has left, grandpa invited my uncle and aunt up, but not my parents or me, and my uncle said he’s going to do what he can to bring us what we want of grandma’s. I didn’t get to say goodbye to my grandma because her death was sudden, and now I’m scared I won’t get to say goodbye to the only grandpa I’ve ever known, either, because I’m moving to Tennessee and he’s 89 and has heart problems and I’m scared he’ll die of a broken heart in every sense. I’d have liked to say goodbye to the house, too. My grandma didn’t want a funeral. She was one of those “Don’t fuss over me,” types who fussed over all of us. I have zero closure in this situation.

I have to get ready to move but have no idea how/when/where to start. I’m terrified of the 4 day journey to Tennessee, trapped in an SUV with my parents and five animals, including my poor elderly cat, Kira, whose anxiety makes mine look mild. I have Misophonia and so many food allergies I can’t eat out so I don’t know how I’ll do food for four days. My parents say they won’t bring the camping stove for me to warm up my lunches. It’s like they never raised an autistic child.

Things have been crazy for “Kristen,” me, but losing my grandparents, my home, possibly my job, and moving far from any family or friends I trust aside... things haven’t been easy for “DG,” me, either.

As badly as I want to start a youtube channel about Autism, Misophonia, food allergies, gut health, emotional abuse, etc., I cannot find the answers no matter how much I google when it comes to the tech problems I’ve faced. And I’m not even sure when I’d be able to record these videos because my parents are almost never gone. And when they are it’s not for long, and I just want to relax, and breathe, and be in the living room, and talk and sing out loud, and do all the things I don’t get to do when they’re here for just a little bit. I stay in my room so much I feel like I’m a diver holding my breath and as soon as they leave I can surface and gasp for air.

Also, I’m getting more and more self-conscious about my acne and this one tooth I have that’s crooked because my mom has enjoyed commenting on them lately and it makes me kind of scared to share my face with the internet and last night I legit had a dream about trying to get these things fixed with more braces and foundation. Like what even I literally don’t care about this stuff when people don’t comment on it. Why do I have to be so sensitive?

Problem is, I am figuring out why. I’ve been doing so much research on Narcissistic Personality Disorder and narcissistic abuse to try to understand my parents and childhood and young adult years, that not only have I been able to identify it in my abusers, but I’ve found some traits in myself. And I’ve searched and studied and tried to see if I have it and after this inward witch hunt I have to conclude I don’t have Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but I have a few signs of vulnerable narcissism. Even if they’re not enough for a label, they’re definitely things I need to work on (things like hypersensitivity, victim mentality, sulking and shut down, self-sabotage, things like that... and now apparently vanity, but only when people frequently give me flack about my face). Trouble is I don’t know how to work on these because I have no mentor, no counselor/therapist, no pastor, nothin’. And most of the videos about Narcissism are about identifying it or surviving it as the victim, not growing past the traits, because full-blown narcissists generally don’t acknowledge their flaws and try to fix them. So I’m at this annoying and fruitless phase of “self-improvement” where I just frequently scold myself for my thoughts.

YouTube ambitions and flaws aside, I have people waiting for the next chapter of my fanfic, and no one’s been pushy or anything, but there’s this huge weight on me to write, write, write, but with everything else going on in my life I just feel stuck. Like my brain is just “NERP.” And I feel guilty, like I’m the biggest disappointment to people.

And then there’s this blog itself.

It’s begun to feel more like an obligation for me rather than recreation. Every week I dread the time after a new episode airs. I want to make posts at my pace, about what I want to talk about, like what I used to do.

But sometimes the link I get has a weird video player window that I can’t make the right size to make decent gifs, and sometimes I can’t even take screenshots because when I pause it it’ll have the play triangle in the middle of the screen and the bottom of the screen will get dark, or sometimes the link just stops working. So I wait for the episode to go up on watchcartoononline because that’s where it works best for me but in the meantime I’m missing out on the fandom being online and by the time the episode goes up I’m just like, “What if the post I make of this moment gets like zero notes because it’s already been giffed and talked about a million times and I’m late to the party? What if I’m disappointing everyone?”

I try to not post anything until I can post about the episode properly, and I’ve asked people not to send me asks or messages with episode spoilers until they’ve seen proof on my blog that I’ve seen the episode, but that hasn’t stopped them. I get spoilery asks anyway.

I get a link relatively quickly but mainly I ask for people to wait for proof I’ve seen the episode because I want a chance to get my own thoughts on the episode out first before people ask me about specific things or straight up demand I talk about what they want me to talk about on my blog.

For a couple weeks I even made all my posts and saved them as drafts first so real quick I could just post ‘em all in a row and get ‘em out, because I know the second I post one thing I’ll have everyone going “OMIGOSH SHE’S ONLINE,” and trying to send me asks and messages and I’ll be trying to juggle them all while trying to make more posts about what I want to talk about. I feel like I have to reply to those messages because if I don’t I’m scared they’ll see me make another post after they’ve sent their message and be like, “What the heck she’s online why won’t she reply to me?” So sometimes I’ll just stop posting and hope and pray they think they just missed me or something, which isn’t fair to them.

But then I’ll see something new on my dash - art from khionyohann, new screencaps for the upcoming episode that DuckTalks shared - and I’ll want to reblog it, but then I’ll think: “I can’t reblog anything... people will know I’m online then. And I still haven’t posted about the episode. I can’t do things out of order. They’ll think, ‘Why isn’t she talking about the new episode? Why isn’t she answering my asks? Why isn’t she replying to me?”

And by the time the episode gets posted on watchcartoononline (and as long as I don’t have a migraine and I’m not paralyzed with fear), I make my posts, but by then I feel like I’m super late and I don’t even know what the point is of me reblogging things anymore, if I even remember there were things I wanted to reblog.

My time here has become nothing but me trying to please people while simultaneously trying to hide from them.

So... blarg. All that to say, I’m closing my ask box for a while. And I’m sorry to disappoint people. I’m just so overwhelmed by everything right now. Extroverted thinking isn’t even a cognitive function that comes naturally to an INFJ! It’s utterly exhausting.

And while I do still want to do more posts about the latest episode, I hope you’ll understand that things are just crazy for me right now and I’m not in a good place. I’m trying to be okay and I’m trying to be so excited about an episode that I get motivated enough find ways to blog about it no matter what but I don’t have the energy. I want to reblog stuff, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to interact.

And for the few I consider true friends on here, please know I’m not asking you to leave me alone or anything. Just know I might not respond as soon as you message me... which, honestly, you’re probably all used to by now, but I still feel super guilty about it.

I just need to simplify my time on here a little bit because I’m not okay.

#personal post #probably the longest i'm-closing-my-ask-box announcement ever #is ask box one word or two when it's referring to tumblr?

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gemsona-hq · 5 years

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End of An Era

(Don’t worry, this post won’t contain any spoilers from tonight’s episodes. Gemsona-HQ still has a “one week spoiler-free” rule we abide by, even for the season finale!)

If you’ll indulge me, I wanted to share a little bit of this blog’s history.

In 2014, Steven Universe was already nearing peak popularity. The first Gemsona Week had wrapped up, we finally got our introduction to Sugilite, a long-anticipated character and episode, and gemsonas were popping up faster than Gems out of a Kindergarten. Fueled by love for the show and love for the wonderful gemsona community Gemsona Week exposed me to, I created Gemsona-HQ April of 2014 and posted our first monthly prompts in May.

In the nearly 7 years since I started this blog, I’ve never once stopped being impressed by the amount of love and creativity the gemsona community puts into their characters. From fanart to fanfics to animation and music, this community has always been bursting with positivity, and it’s something I’m proud to be a part of. As both a professional writer and educator, I’m always amazed by how people can take inspiration from the series they love and make their own creations from it. When I first designed this blog, I wanted to give advice on character design and give young creators a nudge in the right direction in the hopes that they remembered my advice when designing original characters for their own stories. Now, I think what I enjoy most is being able to give people time in the spotlight by sharing their work on Gemsona-HQ.

As Rebecca Sugar put it best:

So what’s next?

Like with all shows that experience *cough* setbacks due to poor network scheduling, it’s unsurprising that both the Steven Universe and gemsona community have seen a slowdown lately (especially within the past few years, due to the fact that Tumblr is, frankly, a dysfunctional social media platform that seems incapable of not shooting itself in the foot). I don’t expect to see this trend do a 180 anytime soon, especially now that the series is over.

What does this mean for Gemsona-HQ?

I like running this blog. I wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t. I may feel a wild range of Abject Unquantifiable Emotions every time I remember how many years I’ve been doing this, but it’s true. For the foreseeable future, as long as the gemsona community continues to exist, I’ll stick around and keep queuing things. As for the prompts, I may start phasing out the Monthly Prompts within the next few months. I always try to keep prompts fun and relevant to the show, but now that the series is finished, I worry they might become repetitive or stale. To compensate, I could continue to do the Monthly Gem Challenge posts if a significant amount of people are interested, but as of right now, I haven’t decided.

For the time being, I wanted to say thank you for sharing your gemsonas, and thanks for sticking around. I know some of you have been with Gemsona-HQ from the beginning, and I always smile when I see your Gems show up in the tag.

I hope you and your family and friends are all staying healthy and safe during these stressful times. Take care of each other.

Thanks!

#Gemsona #Steven Universe #Blog Announcement #So much has happened since I started Gemsona HQ....#from helping to run Gemsona-Week to watching the Crewniverse submit a goof character to GW #I graduated HS and College and lived through awful life events #and yet I kept doing this blog #Like I said: Abject Unquantifiable Emotions every time I think about that #Belatedly I realize I should've drawn a picture of our mascot Moon #Ah well! It's already very late but I did want to get this posted tonight #Have a nice evening / day everyone #I'm going to bed #I know a few things popped into the inbox tonight--I'll get to them tomorrow!

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acti-veg · 4 years

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Hello! Could you offer some more insight on antinatalism, and why it is harmful? Thank you. Your blog is one of my favourites. All the best xx

Thank you for the kind words, anon. This will be a bit of a long one, but I want to first qualify that this is an issue I find that people approach in a particularly irrational way.

A lot of people who advocate for this sort of ideology want to bring up their trauma, the pessimistic views which have been borne out of that and their misanthropy more generally. While those are all fine as ways to determine why a person feels the way they do about a specific issue, they shouldn’t be used as the basis for a philosophical position on an important and complex issue. I qualify with that because every time I talk about this issue the comments (and often my personal messages) are flooded with a surprising number of people wanting to tell me why humans are terrible, why ‘we need a new plague’, why they wish they’d never been born.

That out of the way, I don’t find antinatalism as a concept irrational per ce, just pretty flawed in how it is applied. As a personal philosophy it’s fine, if you don’t want to have kids because you believe adding to the population is bad then that’s your business, but that is seldom where antinatalists stops, they almost always go on to apply that philosophy to other people as well.

Any time any sort of child reduction policy has been put into effect anywhere in the world, it has always disproportionately impacted disabled people, women, people or colour and poor people. Anyone who believes that the social ills of a phased extinction would be equally felt among different classes and different countries are either incredibly naive, historically illiterate or are just refusing to see a glaring hole in their philosophy.

As soon as we start saying ‘fewer humans should be born’ we are also asking the question ‘which humans shouldn’t be born?’ That line of thinking is dangerous, and we’ve seen where it leads throughout human history. It invites questions of which human lives are worth more than others, why, and what we could do about that.

This is why antinatalism has been taken on as something of a dog-whistle by quite so many racists. If we instead say ‘no humans should be born’ then we’ve at least escaped that issue, but the result is no less horrifying. Are we prepared to police the reproductive systems of literally everyone on earth? Do we honestly suppose that the rich won’t be better equipped to avoid following that policy than the poor? Who enforces it on those who don’t agree with it? How?

Even if we did somehow find a way to overcome those significant practical issues, if the goal is to reduce suffering, what about the final generation? Even Benetar (the thinker who popularised antinatalism) had no real answer for this question. A final generation and the generations leading up to it would be subject to profound suffering on a scale we can barely even conceive of. Food shortages, the breakdown of law and order, mob rule, riots most likely, and a complete disintegration of society as we know it. There may be no suffering after they are gone because nobody capable of suffering would exist (ignoring non-human animals, as antinatalists almost always do), that still fails to take into account the enormous amount of suffering required to get to that point.

Not only would that suffering be unequally distributed, it’s causes are not equal either. Antinatalism posits that humans = bad, with no differentiation at all between different humans living in radically different ways. It is again just wildly socially ignorant to pretend that all humans are guilty of (or even capable of) inflicting suffering on anywhere near the same scale. I can go out on a killing spree, but I can’t inflict institutional violence against an entire population in the way that billionaires or dictators do.

My lifestyle causes harm to the earth, but you can’t put me and the board of Exxon in the same category and just wipe us both out because ‘humans are trash.’ The whole idea is incredibly western, no nuance and consumer-centric as well. There are plenty of humans, including indigenous societies, hermits and off-the-grid communities who have been living ecologically successful lives for generations, why should they suffer for the issues caused by everybody else? Who is going to tell them to stop reproducing? The military?

I could go on much further but I won’t, as I think the point has been made. Antinatalism is a fringe philosophy mostly taken up by misanthropes, and for those people I think it’s relatively harmless, but it’s really not a serious philosophy. That said, if it were ever put into effect on any sort of societal scale it would be up there with eugenics (not an unrelated ideology) and white supremacy in terms of the harm it would cause before it collapsed under it’s own contradictions. It’s just a deeply flawed philosophy when applied to anything other than your own body.

#ask #antinatalism #overpopulation #environment #politics

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dr-who-said-lgbtq-rights · 3 years

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i, a fan of superwholock, dissect and give my opinion on the individual shows

idk i thought this would be fun and i currently have 4-5 hours to kill soooo

let’s start with

doctor who

(only new who. i have not seen the older stuff :( )

k. so. i have been a fan of this since i was pretty young. honestly i think i was a little too young to be watching it when my mom first showed me it but that’s beside the point. basically: i really like dr who

this is probably the best show out of superwholock, both in my opinion and in general. however... i am going to be nitpicky bc why not

1. the canon.

(yes the example is abt a dr who episode)

in short, the canon is comprised of a) retcons and b) contradictions. im not an avid follower of canon with any media but good god nobody can keep up with dr who canon

(i am blaming moffat bc i hate him and i think a lot of it is his fault anyway)

2. representation

honestly, the representation isn’t bad. however, i would describe it less as “good” and more as “a good starting point.”

for example, there is quite a bit of queer rep, POC rep, and a lot of characters are women. however, while this is nice, the show could still use a lot more rep, and the rep it has currently should probably be improved upon (for example: jack harkness is NOT straight, but he falls under the “multi-spec person wants to screw everyone” stereotype (i have not seen torchwood so this may be amended in that i just needed an example off the top of my head)).

3. story

some people yearn for romance. i yearn for the days when the doc would take their companion to some party, flirt with a tree, the companion almost dies while britney spears is playing in the background, etc. etc.

basically, the story starts out nice. just a bunch of goofing off, maybe a “big deal” thing here and there. life was fun.

then, the story changes. (this happened specifically from eleven onward, so yeah you can bet your ass im blaming moffat ‘cuz it’s his fault) things gradually became less fun. conspiracies ran amok; just when you thought it was over, turns out there’s an even bigger part of this plan that what you just defeated. the doc actually started caring about the timeline (what happened to time being wibbly wobbly?) sure, there are still fun episodes where the doc and the companion(s) go out for funsies but it’s just not the same as it was.

4. morals

morals are good. basically:

you can have a dark past but still have a bright future, and

be kind

bonus 5. cowardice

at least one of the doctors played by one of the male actors should have worn a dress. there were plenty of opportunities but noooooo there’s a gender binary or something (like,,, they’re an alien????? if gender on gallifrey is the same as gender on earth i am going to fly to britain and drop kick some writers)

OVERALL

needs work, but p good and enjoyable.

~~~

now it’s time for

sherlock

just. um. ohhh boy. basically

but i am going to do my best

1. representation

eugh. representation was baaaad in this. like, i think the only POC in the entire show that had any significance were the Chinese gang members and that is like,,, incredibly poor rep. i think the innkeepers in thob were gay but that’s as far as queer rep goes. there were a few women, i would die for all of them, we need more women. also the “im a high functioning sociopath” line makes me cringe everytime

basically this show had shit representation

2. john

okee he’s a great character right??? the common sense of the operation right??? wrong

he cheated on mary??? and we don’t address it like,,, at all??? it made me so fucking mad.

(again fuck you moffat and gatiss probably had something to do with it too so im mad at him as well)

3. sherlock

classic “let’s make him a bitch” mistake. needs the stick surgically removed from his ass

4. story

story’s actually not that bad. it’s not like, great or anything but i enjoy it

bonus 5. ending

i just want to address it. i think the ending was p good and yall tjlc-ers are just upset that they didn’t bang or anything. they’re literally living in the same [two-room] flat??? and they’re raising rosie???? TOGETHER???? like what more do you want

anyway sherlock’s ace soooo

OVERALL

eh. needs LOTS of work. i love mrs hudson tho, she’s beautiful

~~~

and finally

supernatural

ohohoh. boooyyyy.

(plz forgive me this is so shitty but i threw it together in like,,, a minute)

1. story

aight so the first five seasons? p good. not much to say there

the other ten? the skill level of the writing went wayyyyyy down but i still enjoyed it

2. representation

this show is notorious for bad rep and for good reason. kevin, our beloved prophet and the only recurring asian-american character? dead. charlie, so nerdy and fun and also a lesbian? dead. castiel, the angel who was totally gay? dead. basically: if you find yourself in spn and you are not a straight white man, etc etc, you are going to a) die or b) die but in a worse way

3. mythology/treatment of religions

okay so. a while back i had a wicca/witchcraft hyperfixation which was closely followed by a general pagan religions hyperfixation, so i know some stuff here and there abt religions.

and good golly does this show make me MAD

why is christianity the central and most powerful religion? (i know why, it’s a rhetorical question) why do you demonize the other religions?? (again it’s rhetorical)

one thing that really annoys me is when they say something is a “pagan god.” like,,, do you know how many gods that contains??? if you didn’t know, a religion is considered pagan if it isn’t under the abrahamic religions umbrella. what are the abrahamic religions, you ask? well, they are christianity, judaism, and islam. literally every other religion ever is a pagan religion. so, when they say “it’s a pagan god,” i cry.

back to demonizing... they literally made a greek muse eat someone. my greek mythology phase ended a long time ago and i didn’t really get into the muses but i am p sure they didn’t eat people. also the fact that it makes hoodoo look dark and stuff when it’s actually more abt peace and healing... i bet ten dollars it’s because hoodoo was created by enslaved african americans

there are so many examples of this show disrespecting religions... i just can’t

4. general notes

(for you himym fans: *saluting* general notes) (sorry i couldn’t resist)

-the filler episodes/episodes where random shit happened were the best

-the finale memes are *chef’s kiss*

-god there’s so much abt this show that i can’t even choose bc my brain is overloading

-am i glad amara wasn’t ganked at the end of s11? yes. am i happy about the dean/amara kiss? gods no

-john winchester 🤝 steven moffat: getting a spot on my “fuck you” list

OVERALL

there is just. so much improvement needed. however if there is an absolute shit show with likeable characters i tend to gravitate to it

~~~

and for funsies let’s talk abt superwholock as a whole

-honestly im a sucker for crossover fandoms. if you scroll far enough on my blog you may find my rotbtd fanart.

-it’s honestly just a fun idea

-there’s a lot of ways you could make it happen and all of them are fun

-great opportunities for rarepairs so rare no crackshipper has thought of it

~~~

aight that’s it. thank you for reading! if you have any questions abt my opinions abt other aspects of the shows just ask, i like talking abt this

#dr-who-said... something #as a side note: if you wanna hear abt pagan religions just ask #i may not be fixated on it anymore but i still find them interesting #superwholock

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doof-doofblog · 4 years

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"I Just Feel Sorry For You!"

Friday 4th December 2020

Good evening everyone! Hope you all had a brilliant weekend, I unfortunately have been working all through the weekend and it looks to be another busy week ahead for me! This is the episode I've been eager to be blogging about, it's the one that the majority of us all were waiting for, I feel like I'm so late to the party and I apologise that this is late!

But oh my goodness, what an absolutely fantastic episode!!!!!! THAT ENDING!!!! WOW, WOW, WOW! I will come to that a little later on, but boy, what a jam packed episode it was, I love how everything and everyone has/had some form of scenario of who could be Ian's attacker!

The first thing I kind I noticed when the episode started was the birds eye view of the Square, and how it call came down to seeing the man at the centre of the stage, Ian, walking down the Square. We know this is going to be a gripping episode as we know there are a lot of people who are going to be out for their revenge! Ian has hurt so many people in recent weeks/days, it was only a matter of time before someone was pushed over the edge and felt their need to get their own back on him.

Before we come to the juicy part, there are 2 or 3 main things I want to mention first about this episode, one being that Ian got arrested for mortgage fraud. Before he is even arrested though, Ben approaches him regarding his knowledge about his brother reporting him to the police, he is absolutely seething with his brother, almost to the point where he wants to go for him. Callum fights to keep Ben off his brother, Ian remains silent but keeps his distance from Ben, that is until the police turn up. Ben instantly assumes that they have come for him and puts his hands out ready to be handcuffed, however when they asked for Ian Beale, Ben steps to one side and is almost thrilled to see the police arrest his brother for something he's completely unaware of. I guess the most thrilling part of this, is that Ian is seen getting arrested by the majority of the community, some look happy, some look surprised, some just don't have a clue what's going on! But the one main person who's thrilled to see Ian getting arrested, is Tina - as she was the one who reported him in the first place!

The second thing I want to talk about is how such a fantastic actress Tanya Franks is! I absolutely love her, she nearly brought me to tears in this episode. Devastatingly, Stuart informs his wife, by giving her a document silently, that Keegan and Tiffany have changed their minds in regards to being her surrogate. She, at first, refuses to believe it and informs her husband to force the young couple to sign the document. But later on in the Square, Rainie sees the young couple walking away down the street, she runs towards them and begs them to change their mind. Even falling to her knees, in floods of tears, begging Tiffany to change her mind, she promises to be the best Mum she can be. You can see she's absolutely heartbroken to have such a treasured thing be taken away from her, it's as if her unborn baby has simply been snatched right out of her hands. To be honest, as Rainie is pleading on her knees and trying to reassure them that she'd do her best to be a good Mum, I'm sure neither of them doubt her for a second - she would make a good Mum, regardless of her past - being a Mum is all she's ever wanted, and she would live for her child! Tiffany kneels to Rainie's level, even though she is completely and utterly heartbroken, Tiffany deeply apologies for changing her mind and explains the reason has nothing to do with Stuart or Rainie, but the simple fact is that she's just not ready. At such a young age, it's hard for her to commit to such a huge agreement, she physically, emotionally and mentally can't do it. It's a devastating, heart wrenching blow for poor Rainie as she sobs and watches Tiffany and Keegan walk away. Tanya Franks was absolutely incredible in this scene, I almost felt I was going to cry myself, I feel for Rainie, I really do and I just hope, as Stuart says, they will find another way to have a child - even if they ask someone else to be their surrogate. Later on, as the heartbroken couple sit on Arthur's bench in the gardens, they see Ian walking towards them, Rainie can't help herself and blames Ian for talking to Whitney, as - to her realisation - she has convinced Tiffany not to go ahead and help them have a baby, it's then that Ian makes an awful insult to the couple and basically - in not so many words, say that they don't deserve a baby! Honestly, how cruel can someone get?!

The third thing I want to focus on is the Lucy Beale charity money, we all know that Ian stole the money from his deceased daughter's charity fund and transferred it into Max's account. However, to begin with Max was completely unaware where Ian got the money from, as far as he was concerned, Ian had simply paid an instalment of the money he owes him, it was later on that Ian revealed to him, after Linda won the Lucy Beale Award, where the money had come from - informing him that he'd simply framed him. In this episode, Max is in a blind panic as he visits Linda and informs her about the winning cheque. She is completely stunned to hear what Ian has done, but after he caught them kissing, it doesn't surprise her - she knew he would be up to something and make them know that they wouldn't get away with it. The interesting thing is, when Linda is told about the money, she takes it upon herself to inform the Beale brothers, simply stating that she can't cash in the cheque as the money has been stolen, from their own Dad and transferred into Max's account. I do feel sorry for Bobby at this point, Peter doesn't seem at all surprised as he knows that all their Dad cares about is money, but when Bobby checks the laptop, he devastatingly notices that all the money that had been raised has simply gone. As Linda leaves the young lads to it, she warns them that they need to stop their Dad from doing something he may regret. Once they're left alone, Bobby is seen counting on his fingers again and counting how many times he taps the laptop down, whilst he's doing this, Peter is informing him how he and Lucy grew up with their Dad making terrible decisions and watching him care about other things than them, but Bobby was too young to see and went to prison at such a young age, for a complete accident. He points out that Bobby was too young to understand, even mentioning that Ian doesn't care about how much he's tried to better himself since being released from prison and especially how the day in hand was meant to be one for their sister, but Ian managed to make it all about him. As Peter continues, Bobby can't seem to take anymore and smashes the laptop in a rage, to which Peter is finally happy to see his brother taking his anger out on their Father, it's then he says that Lucy shouldn't be the one who's dead, but Ian instead!

Later on Tina informs her brother that she was the one who got Ian nicked by the police, she informs him excitedly that they be able to get the pub back. However, this is where Mick turns nasty once again to another one of his family members. He turns around and starts to insult his sister, telling her that getting the Queen Vic back in their name, is not going to help what is going on inside his head. This is where I begin to feel sorry for Tina, she's been trying so hard to cheer her brother up after seeing him so low over the past few weeks, of course she was only trying to be nice in getting the pub back for him. However, Mick insults her, telling her she's pathetic, how not only she, but no else understands what's going on inside his head and how getting the Vic back is not going to help, not even close. Tina is teary as her brother tells her leave, as she does - I've come to notice that she is the final person, in Mick's close family circle, that he has finally pushed away. First it was his Mum, Shirley, then his wife, Linda and now his sister, Tina. I do think that now Mick is going to find himself with no one, and he'll end up turning to Katy - which may be the most terrible idea! As Tina returns to the Square, she stares as the Queen Vic pub through tears, Ian watches her and approaches her from behind. It seems that he's discovered that she was the one who reported him to the police after Kathy drunkenly revealed the truth to her. Through angry, gritted teeth Tina informs Ian that the Vic doesn't belong to him and should belong to someone who deserves it, like Mick! But Ian laughs at her response and ironically says that they can have the Vic back - over his dead body! It's then she runs after him and informs him that everyone on the Square absolutely despises him and one day there is going to be a queue of people waiting to dance on his grave, and she will be the first in line! Ian doesn't seemed phased by her outburst, he simply shrugs and says he doesn't hate her, just feels sorry for her - suddenly Tina is enraged and barges into his house and shuts the door with an almighty BANG!

Then silence, blackness! It's night time - the camera draws in onto the Queen Vic, out of the dark shadows we see the silhouette of Ian, lying face-down on the Queen Vic floor, a visible wound to his head, and then - the montage begins! All of sudden we're seeing different characters with different scenarios, leaving the Vic, hiding in the darkness, covered in blood - all of whom have a motive of wanting Ian dead. This piece of film and editing was absolutely incredible! This is definitely EastEnders at it's absolute best!!! A classic WhoDunIt? Let's take a look at the suspects EastEnders have lined up:-

Who Attacked Ian?!

Tina Carter

Rainie Highway

Ben Mitchell

Stuart Highway

Peter Beale

Suki Panesar

Bobby Beale

Max Branning

I don't know about you guys, but I am completely and utterly excited to see this story continue, it's going to be so gripping to see how each one of these character's story play out in the next few episodes. I have a feeling that maybe over the next few episodes, or maybe even within the next few weeks - we'll see each and every one of those character's mentioned above, their story of that night in question! I for one, am so excited to see how each one unfolds! But could there be more suspects that we're unaware of? Could it actually be someone who's not in this list? What do you guys think?! Were you on the edge of your seat as much as I was?! Please feel free to leave me any comments or opinions, I'd love to hear your thoughts, on this episode especially! I'll always reply! Thanks a lot everyone! I'll be back very soon! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #ianbeale #bobbybeale #peterbeale #tinacarter #mickcarter #lindacarter #maxbranning #rainiecross #rainie highway #stuarthighway #benmitchell #callumhighway #ballum #suki panesar #keeganbaker #tiffanybutcher #kathybeale

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holdvns · 4 years

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hi friends ! i’m farah nd im coming at u live frm the pst timezone to bring u a new muse of mine. so excuse me as i ramble abt holden under the cut. like this post and i will come bother u for plots?? that or u can im me on here or on my discord (farah#1263), whatever works rlly! anyways, super stoked to be here and to get to write with u all!!!!

(TOBY WALLACE, CIS MALE) - Have you seen HOLDEN DONAHUE? HOLDEN is in HIS JUNIOR year. The PHILOSOPHY MAJOR is 21 years old & is a TAURUS. People say HE is QUICK-WITTED, DARING, IRREVERENT and DETACHED. Rumors say they’re a member of CALLOWAY SOCIETY. I heard from the gossip blog that HIS FATHER PAID OFF THE SCHOOL TO CHANGE HIS GRADES AFTER HE FAILED FOUR CLASSES LAST SEMESTER FROM NEVER SHOWING UP. (FARAH. 22. PST. SHE/HER.)

pinterest board / tag

holden grew up between upstate new york and manhattan in an extremely wealthy family. from the outside, his family had the appearance of perfection, but underneath that facade lay years of shocking and hidden family secrets that one way or another got out into society, even if his family tried to put them down as merely rumors.

his father is a highly respected but also deeply feared business man/media magnate known for his cutthroat attitude in his business dealings and personal relationships. he had an extremely difficult childhood, having been orphaned at a young age and passed from relative to relative around europe, many of whom were not very kind to him. still, he was incredibly intelligent and wanted to make something of himself, having this belief in the american dream and wanting to move there if he ever got the chance. after attending college on a scholarship, he was able to use his connections and move to new york, where he founded his own start-up that eventually led to him building his own personal fortune.

his mother was very much a hustler. she grew up poor in new york and at an early age, learned how to use her good looks to manipulate men for the finer things in life. she had a short stint as a model before she met holden’s father, charming him enough to call it quits with his first wife. underneath her obvious beauty, however, was a fiery temper and substance abuse problem. the thing about her was that she really wasn’t made to be a wife and mother. holden’s father thought he could turn her into this perfect socialite/housewife (marrying her and then proceeding to have his older brother, cal, and holden in a very short span of time), but the task proved impossible. she was always only looking out for herself and didn’t enjoy being tied down, certainly not with kids to take care of despite the nannies his father provided. they fought constantly, and their home life was extremely unstable. it was a normal occurrence for holden to see his mother being dragged off to an institution by his father’s security guards or for his mother to use him and his brother as bait to get his father to give her money for drugs, to leave him, or sometimes just to try and get back with him.

eventually, she finally did leave, having told holden and his brother the three of them were moving to los angeles, but leaving without them and dying of a drug overdose shortly after. holden was about six at the time and thinks he has successfully hidden this entire episode from his memory, but it’s definitely something that affects him whether he likes it or not.

although his family claims this was merely just a rumor, it was often said that there was some foul play behind her death and that his father had some involvement, not wanting her to ever leave him and move on with her life. while holden deep down may admit that this could be the case, it’s never something he would really say.

at this point, his father rarely talks about his mother and when he has, he has poisoned her memory so much, holden feels like he never really had one. when he was younger, he’d often make up stories about her in his head, which were far different than who she actually was. it helped at the time, but after a while it was easier to just forget her altogether.

while his father cares deeply for his children and has provided them a life of ease and luxury, he’s certainly not innocent in all of this mess. he’s extremely manipulative and often psychologically traumatizing to them as well. he often finds his children to be lazy and ungrateful and resents the way they’ve been raised (even though it was his own doing), while he suffered from poverty and abuse in his own childhood. he often pits the two of them against each other, always trying to see who’s the stronger, smartest, who will do whatever it takes to be the best, especially because there’s always talk about who’s going to be the one to be the one who’s going to take over when he retires. it is usually said to be his older brother, because it’s no secret that he’s his father’s favorite.

because of this, holden and his brother never really got along. or so it seems. they did when they were younger, but their hatred runs so deep that the even thought of that feels like a distant reality. they’re only two years apart, but they couldn’t be more different. while his brother is a complete perfectionist and will do just about anything to please his father, holden gave up on that idea along time ago. it didn’t matter what he did, he never seemed to be able to measure up against his brother. maybe it was because he was younger, maybe it was because he was more sensitive and seemed to feel things at a deeper level, maybe it was because he wasn’t as competitive, or maybe there was no explanation why his father simply liked cal better. holden’s never seemed to figure out. he’s always felt like the screwup of the family, so eventually that’s what he became.

he started drinking and using drugs at an early age, basically trying anything to mask his pain and trauma. while his brother excelled academically and in sports in high school, holden never applied himself. he fell in with the wrong crowd and gave up his spot on the football team to run around the streets of new york and engage in all kinds of debauchery. it was common for him to disappear for days on end, spending his father’s money and racking up drug and gambling debts. obviously his father wasn’t happy about this and would constantly remind him of that, but he didn’t exactly do anything to stop him either. if this was a cry for help or attention, it didn’t exactly have the desired effect and only left holden feeling empty.

he started dating this older hippie girl who was in college while he was a senior in high school who influenced him to want to detach from his family and money and the crowd he was running in. he kind of... took it to the extreme and started talking like timothee chalamet in lady bird lmao, even though he reeked of privilege. honestly, it was just another way to annoy his father and brother, which was always his goal at the time. they ended up breaking up because he cheated on her, but he kept some of her ideas and mindset afterwards.

after high school, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do. so he ran off to europe for a year and didn’t talk to anyone from home. just traveled around by himself with little money and getting into all kinds of trouble. he probably would’ve stayed longer, but one morning he came across an american newspaper while he was in greece reporting on how his father had suffered a heart attack. he rushed back to the states and luckily his father has survived, but in that moment of weakness he manipulated him into attending college. his father pulled some strings and got him into yates, and while it isn’t exactly his idea of fun, he’s taking it day by day and looking it as another way to push back actually having to enter the real world.

~ personality wise ~

acts like he hates his family, new york, and everything that comes attached with money and privilege, but completely reaps the benefits of all these things when he can. claims everything having to do with high society is vapid and that he wants more out of life.

a bit of a compulsive liar. will make up fake identities and pretend to be other people or tell people he doesn’t know some sob story about growing up poor. rlly just gets off on stuff like that and doesn’t tell the truth. like ever.

doesn’t always like people knowing how rich he is or who his father is. for those that do know, he doesn’t like to talk much about his family. probably won’t ever say a word about his mother.

has no real ambitions in life or any sort-of life plan. has switched his major at least 10 times and never goes to his classes.

very much a hedonist. likes to party and hates being alone. hooks up with too many people and finds it very difficult to be in any sort of real relationship. he’s just not reliable or faithful enough.

also goes through phases where feels like he doesn’t connect with people? or that he hates everyone?

always attracts chaos of some kind. black eyes from a fight over kissing someone’s girlfriend or owing his drug dealer money.

lives life day by day. doesn’t plan for the future. usually always drunk or high.

kind of... morally ambiguous. with the way he was raised, he doesn’t see life as black or white. it’s sort of grey. usually doesn’t do the right thing, usually doesn’t feel bad about it... but there is a heart there somewhere. he just doesn’t usually care enough to use it.

rlly tries to avoid feelings as much as possible. he’s actually quite a sensitive person, but after being constantly told that makes him weak by his father and having a robot of a brother he’s always felt ashamed by that. so he uses his vices to try and not feel things.

wanted plots

hook ups, fwbs, exes, someone he cheated on, friends, enemies, someone he owes money to, someone who knew him grew up and knows his family, someone he actually rlly cares about (romantic or platonic)...i’ll add more to this when i think of more things!

#yatesintro #death tw #addiction tw #drugs tw

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sprnklersplashes · 4 years

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the perfect partner (one-shot)

captain cygnet+captain swan

Very few people believe Killian can actually cook. He’s Captain Hook after all, terror of the high seas, the most cut throat pirate to ever hoist a sail, et cetra, et cetra. No one thinks that he would be able to whip up a mean casserole or being the best cottage pie to the potlucks at Granny’s. But life is full of surprises, especially in Storybrooke, a place where Snow White is a bandit turned schoolteacher, Little Red Riding Hood is a werewolf and the wife of Dorothy Gale, and oh yes, Captain Hook is an excellent chef.

And tonight he’s turning to Italian, stirring the rice once more before turning down the heat on it. He always cooks it from scratch, never store bought. Zeus only knows how many chemicals are in those things. On the rare occasions she cooks, Emma simply raises an eyebrow at him, reminding him that not everyone has the time to go out and buy ten ingredients or the patience to make something from scratch. Much as he loves Emma, he has to disagree with her. Especially since Henry introduced him to cooking blogs on the Internet, he’s found it simpler than ever.

He chops up a few more mushrooms than necessary before throwing them into the pot, fully aware that this is likely the first time his wife or his daughter have eaten a vegetable today and he’s determined to make the most of it. Hope has inherited many wonderful things from her mother, bravery, kindness, a sharp sense of humour, but she’s also inherited her mother’s eating habits and despite her swearing up and down she had a healthy lunch, he’s not entirely convinced. At fifteen, she's past her ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ phase and the supply of chocolate bars in the cupboard is getting smaller each morning.

“Dad?” When he looks up, the girl herself is standing in the doorway, a small smile on her face that doesn’t hide her anxiety. He drops the spoon, barely remembering to turn the heat down more before turning to her. Since having Hope, he’s discovered an instinct that’s completely new to him after 300 years. A change in the way she walks or a crack in her voice has him standing to attention with all the discipline of his Navy days. It also doesn’t help Hope’s case that she tends to wear her emotions on her sleeve.

“Anything wrong, love?” he asks.

“No… well… I don’t know,” she replies, beginning to pick at her nails. “I need a favour.”

“What is it?”

“Well….” Her voice grows higher as she steps into the kitchen, her eyes looking anywhere but him as she bites her lip. “You know how I’m going to the dance with Melody, right?”

“Yes.” How could he forget? The entire Charming-Swan clan had been waiting with held breath to see when Hope would finally pluck up the courage to ask the little mermaid out. Emma was close to asking Melody out for Hope, since it had worked in getting her brother and Gideon together, but Snow had held her back, insisting Hope needs to find her path herself. Unfortunately, their daughter isn’t as gifted with charm as her grandfather is, nor does she have the blunt bravery of her mother. Hope spent weeks in wide-eyed friendship with her, the date of the dance looming closer with no sign of her asking, her nerves getting the better of her at every turn. Eventually, Robin intervened before anyone else could, and Melody agreed with the kind of perky enthusiasm her mother is well-known for.

All in all, it was an exhausting affair.

“Well… the thing is…” Her cheeks turn pink and then crimson and she folds her arms, tapping her foot against the kitchen floor. “Idon’tknowhowtodance.”

It takes Killian a while to work out what she said, but when he does, he’s a little taken aback by it. He’s sure he danced with her when she was young, and he always assumed it was in her blood, just like courage and compassion and magic. He thought it came with the Princess package.

“You can’t?” he repeats gently, sensing Hope’s embarrassment from her tight shoulders.

“Nope,” she sighs, shaking her head. There’s a scowl on her face and either anger or shame sparking in her green eyes, a look he’s seen more than once on Emma. She rakes a hand though her hair, attempting a weak shrug. “I mean it’s just… You know, dance class never really worked out for me. And I never really liked it anyway. And they didn’t like me.” Killian nods, curling his hand into a fist. Snow had insisted Hope take ballet and ballroom classes as a child, even though it became clear she wasn’t cut out for them. The poor girl still struggled with balance and rhythm and when every other girl in the class turned left, she went right. She lasted a few years before the two of them decided to put her out of her misery and take her out of the classes. He had never seen Hope so happy as when Emma asked her that. And while they couldn’t get an official diagnosis of dyspraxia, no one was surprised when it was suggested.

“They didn’t not like you Hope,” he reminds her now.

“I know, they just didn’t like my body and it’s lack of coordination,” she replies, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. “I mean this is kind of your fault when you think about it.”

“How exactly?”

“You made me,” she replies, breaking out into her trademarked sarcastic grin, covering up any insecurity. She gestures to herself as if to prove her point. “This dyspraxic mess is entirely your fault.”

“50%,” he responds, laughing along with her. “You’re only half me. But… you still want to dance with her?”

“Well, yeah.” She bites the inside of her cheek, her face turning the same kind of pale pink it normally does when she thinks about Melody. “I want her to have a good time. And don’t-” She adds just as he opens his mouth. “Don’t tell me that we’ll have a good time no matter what. It’s a dance. I want to dance with her.” She looks at the ground, now biting her lip and resuming picking her nails, faster and deeper this time. “So… can you teach me?”

“Oh, Hope,” he says. As if she’d ever need to ask. “Use your little talking device to pick a song. Then I’ll show you how to dance, Cygnet.”

And when she smiles at him, dimples and sparkling eyes and laughter, it makes the 300 year wait for her worth it.

She flicks through her phone and turns on a song about Christmas lights, guitar strings and lovers and sets it on the counter, the music filling their kitchen.

“Good girl. Now you take my hand. Now, normally the man leads but in this case-”

“Such heterosexual nonsense” she sighs dramatically, tossing her head back at the tragedy. She pulls her long, black hair into a ponytail and takes his hand.

“Indeed,” he laughs. Thankfully, he’s found ways around that after more than a few dances with men in his past. “What I was going to say was that since you did the asking, you’d be the one to lead. So you be you, and I’ll be Melody.”

“Oh, Dad,” she scoffs, her eyebrows shooting upwards. “That is really gross. On about every conceivable level, that is gross.”

“Just for tonight, little love,” he reminds her. “Now, that means your hand goes on her back…” He directs her hand as such. “And her hand will be on your waist.” He does so as well, bending down to meet her height. Hope is gifted in many things, but height was not one of them. In fact, he’s fairly certain Melody is a head taller than her. That should be interesting. Normally Hope would be laughing at him, but now her brow is furrowed and her jaw set as she concentrates. It’s a little surprising; he of course knows how bad Hope’s crush on Melody was, but he never thought it would be more than a schoolgirl fling. Yet with how seriously she’s taking this, it might just be. “Now you find the rhythm, Cygnet, and you guide me.”

“Find the rhythm?” she echoes sceptically. “I don’t think the rhythm likes me very much.”

“Trust your gut, Hope,” he tells her firmly. “No matter what else, you’re a pirate. You’ll find it.” Hope closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and begins moving, taking them in a slightly jerky and awkward dance around the kitchen.

“Sorry,” she winces. “That was your foot.”

“It’s okay love, keep going,” he says, watching her count the steps in her head. “Hope you know you will also have to look at her at some point, right?”

“I have to do what now?” she asks. But she lifts her eyes to his, identical to her mother’s and grandmother’s, and filled with uncertainty. While she still stumbles and missteps, she’s better than she was before; her movements more smooth and even though there’s a lack of confidence, she counts out loud less. She even manages to spin him out and under her arm, even if she has to stand on her toes. “Is this good?”

“This is great,” he tells her. “You’re getting the hang of this.”

“I hope so,” she says, her smile falling.

“Hope?” he asks, hair pricking up on the back of his neck.

“I’m fine,” she says, even if her face says otherwise. “Just… this is kind of our first date. I want it to go well.”

“And it will,” he says firmly. “One thing I’ve learned, Cygnet, is that it’s not the night you spend, it’s the people you spend it with.” Hope smiles, softer now. It’s times like this he allows himself to think he’s doing good here. “I’ve spent some lovely nights with the most dreadfully boring people, and some chaotic and wild ones with the most amazing person imaginable.”

“That better mean me,” a voice comes from the doorway. While it does make them both jump, he’s put at ease in the next second. Emma leans against the door, exactly the same way Hope did, a smirk on her face and her hair wet from the rain outside. “Otherwise we may have some problems on our hands.”

“Who else would I mean, love?” he asks. She strolls into the kitchen, shaking her head in amusement.

“Don’t let me interrupt,” Emma says, gesturing to the two of them. “That was cute, what you two were doing.”

"Dance lessons," he explains. She nods, stepping back with amusement on her face, particularly when she looks at Hope.

“Actually,” Hope begins, a gleam in her eyes. “I have a better idea.” She lets go of Killian and runs to Emma instead, pulling her onto their makeshift dancefloor. When she pulls Emma towards him, it’s obvious to anyone what she’s planning. “You two do it.”

“Not that I’m complaining,” Emma says, her voice soft and laced with laughter. “But what is this accomplishing, kid?”

“I learn better by watching,” she explains, sitting up on the counter and holding her phone. Normally he’d scold her for sitting on the counter, but with her smile and the pleasant air about their kitchen, it feels a shame to break it. Killian shares a look with Emma, both aware that her reasoning is flimsy at best, but neither one of them has it in them to say no.

“What do you say?” Emma asks, grinning and holding out her hand. “You want to show the amateur how it’s done?”

“Nothing I’d love more,” he tells her, pulling her close and listening to her laughing. He twirls her around the kitchen, slightly aware of Hope capturing the moment on her phone, Emma’s blonde hair flying and her laughter getting harder as he dips her. Emma’s not a perfect dancer by any means, but she is the perfect partner. Less elegant and poised, more rough and reckless, but beautiful and brilliant all the same. He’s equally as charmed by her now as he was in Midas’ castle.

And if Hope captivates her date in the same way, which she will, then she has nothing her worry about at all.

#ouat ff #captain cygnet #killian jones #hope swan jones #captain swan #emma swan #ouat #i came up with this idea 2 years ago and finally wrote it bc i didn't want to study *dances*

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basketballandtextbooks · 4 years

Note

So Kevin's a firefighter [or mechanic], what about his siblings? (Kenneth is usually viewed as a therapist [or has a job related to sex or drugs...] I don't tend to see many career hcs for Karen, it's usually "she goes to college cause Ken pays", but never specifies what she's studying. A few see her as some type of social worker.)

I’ve always been torn on which to hc Karen as.

I’ve seen her written as a fashion designer, which was cute, but the entire basis as for why was basically ‘well she’s a girl, girls like fashion’ (and if you’re familiar with my blog, you’re probably already going to know that won’t fly with me)

Social worker is a valid idea, a lot of children from troubled homes seek work to help those who are also from troubled homes. That said, I don’t see her pursuing it because I think she’d probably have an overtly negative opinion of it due to her experiences in The Poor Kid.

One hc that I liked was reporter Karen, because it was cute that she’d write articles about ‘Mysterion’ and she had a rivalry with Dougie within that hc but it’s an hc based entirely on her relationships to men rather than her own intrinsic interests.

We know she’s rebellious, as we saw in TFBW dlc. We know she’s generally sweet. We know that she loves her brothers more than anyone else at the moment. We also know that she was probably adopted, in foster care, or is only half related to her brothers (because of her sudden appearance at the age of six).

None of those traits lean to any particular profession. I could say ‘hot topic clerk’ because of her vamp phase, but really her rebellion was all about her seeking validation and love.

So I would want to hc her with a career that gave her validation. Perhaps a teacher or childcare worker, while it’s hard job, teachers are widely in a position of control and power and they are able to receive validation from their students and coworkers. That could be said about most careers, to be honest, but I could see her flourishing in that environment. Her harsher ‘rebellious’ side limited only to disciplining children and her softer kind side utlized to foster their intellectual growth.

I’ve also seen her as an artist before and I think that would be an interesting direction to take her character.

Although I could see her seeking out solid stable work above all else. She doesn’t care what she’s doing, what she cares about is that she has a stable income so that her brothers don’t have to take care of her. So maybe she might seek out work as an office worker.

Really, I’m just torn because there’s a lot of directions to take her character.

#ya'll didn't realize i love karen sm that i put way too much thought into her #i just want to think of the perfect job for her #also engineer karen would be cute #what about architect #or maybe a lawyer #Anonymous

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anoiini · 5 years

Text

Classified (Part 3)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Stark!Reader

Summary: When an important mission is given to her, Y/N has to reconnect with her past by helping a man she never thought she would meet

A/N:Yaaay i’m back. Soooo, i’m pretty proud of how it turned out and i can’t wait to write the next chapter. Hope it will come sooner this time aha but i finished school so i will have more time to write. Tell me what you thought about it! Please! Bisous! (You can find the rest of the fic and the masterlist with the #classified on my blog)

Words Count: 7.4k (buckle up guys it’s a long ride)

Warning: not so much at the beggining it’s kind of soft most of the time. But a bit of angst at the end. A little bit of swearing. I’m talking about a dress, i had a pic linked but i forgot links in posts don’t make them appear in the research so yeah sorry for that, imagine it just like you want, i don’t discribe it so imagine your own dream dress. I’m french so there’re probably a lot of grammar mistakes sorry!

(my gif!)

A couple of days had passed since Y/N and Steve had meet. During their first meeting she had explained how it was going to be, why she was here, and the best way to help him.

“We’ll go slowly at the beginning, you know step by step” she had said to him.

He had asked a few questions, just some random ones that were going through his mind at the moment. Steve felt surprisingly really comfortable around her, he felt like he knew her for so long, even though he had only met her.

It was still a strange situation for Y/N, she was still waiting for someone to tell her it was a joke, a bad one, or at least a dream. That the man in front of her was the product of her imagination, she was having a breakdown and was imagining everything. All that was more believable than a man coming back alive from the ice 70 years later.

Y/N was mindlessly playing with the necklace around her neck, a simple gold chain with a little sun as pendant.

“Are you okay?” Steve’s voice snapped her off of her daze.

“Yes, yes sorry, got a bit lost in my thoughts” she smiled softly at him.

They had agreed to meet only when and if after reflection he still wanted her help. It had surprised y/n to hear from him only two days after that. They had decided to meet at a small café Y/N was used to.

On their way there, Steve was talking about all the things that had changed and some that had stayed the same in the borough. Every place or streets reminded him of some anecdotes. Alleyways where he was bitten up, shops where he used to go with his Ma like he said. Him and his best friend James Buchanan Barnes, Bucky, were always part of his stories. She had listen to him all the way, a smile on her face. He had apologized multiple times saying that he was talking too much, she would always brush him off, saying that it was okay, she was here to listen.

A few moments of silence would follow before he’d start again after seeing something reminding him of another story. Y/N felt like a kid again, it was just like another chapter to her bedtime tails.

“What were you saying?” she asked the former soldier sitting in front of her taking a sip of her coffee.

“I went out yesterday”

The young woman looked at him over her cup and put it down on the table, living her hands on it to keep them warm. She was about to speak when he extended his hands, stopping her before she could say anything

“I know, I should not go out alone, without anyone knowing, but I thought I would just, you know, try to see the world by myself, if I could do it alone.” He stopped talking for a moment, all his attention on his cup in front of him

“And?” Y/N pushed him a little to continue after a few seconds of silence.

“I realized I still had a million questions that needed answers, and I would be an idiot to refuse some help” he finally looked up to her, a hesitating smile on his face.

The woman gave him one of the warmest smile he’s ever seen, he still couldn’t place what was up with her, why it seemed so easy to be around her.

“And that’s exactly why I’m here” she said beaming “Shoot any question you have in mind, I’ll try my best to answer them”

It was such a strange situation for Y/N, she didn’t even recognize herself, all smiley and happy.Not that she wasn’t usually happy or smiley, it just felt too much for her, but she couldn’t help it, she lost every sign of common sense when she was around Steve, all she wanted to do was talking to him for hours, asking him so many questions about his life, if the stories she heard as a child was true, how her grandfather was when he was young.

Telling him who she was, telling him everything.

But she couldn’t just tell him all of that right now, it was too early for the poor man to know all that. She couldn’t just come and say “Hi, you know actually I am your old friend’s granddaughter and you first love kind of raised me when my father, Howard’s son, couldn’t get his shits together and do that when my grandparents died. Any questions?” Really not the smoothest way to tell all that. So the best way to hide all this for now was to smile and act happy, and answer all his questions and avoiding as much as possible any questions related to her life.

The morning passed quickly with Steve asking her multiple questions about what he saw, the evolution of technology, the cars and phones. Y/n tried every time, to explain everything as much as simply as possible.

“Oh, and I wanted to ask you if you knew what it was” he said looking for something in his pocket.

He took out a piece of paper and unfolded it on the table.

“I was sitting at a coffee in Manhattan, and there was this huge tower, really modern I’d say, and the waitress talked about iron, I don’t remember the name she said”

“Iron Man” Y/n cut him off. She was watching the paper on the table, a beautiful drawing of the city buildings and in the middle the Stark Tower.

“Is it related to Howard?” Y/N’s head jerked up at the name, they would talk about those subjects way sooner than she had expected.

She looked back at the drawing, deciding what she could say, was he ready to know the truth? Was she ready to tell it?

“Yes” she finally said “I mean, yes and no. His son, Tony Stark, built the tower, he owns Howard’s company now”

“Howard had a son?” Steve asked surprised

Y/N chuckled, she had heard her grandfather’s adventures with the ladies back in the days, and how her grandmother, Maria, changed the man.

A silence fell between the two, Steve had a sad expression on his face.

“Is Howard- ?” he didn’t have to finish his question, Y/N already knew what he wanted to ask.

“I’m sorry” Y/N simply answered.

She waited for him to talk again, not wanting to startle him.

“What happened?” he asked after a moment

Y/N took a huge inspiration before answering his question. She never talked about that, she always tried to avoid the subject. Well it was quite easy to avoid it since one of the only person knowing the truth was her father and he was avoiding the subject just as much as her, if not even more.

“Him and his wife, they had a car accident many years ago” she paused, letting him processing the information “Their son took back the company after that… Howard founded SHIELD you know, along with Peggy Carter”

It was Steve’s turn to react to the name. It felt like yesterday for him the last time he saw her, spoke to her when he thought he would never be with her ever again, he thought he had said his last goodbyes to her. For him it felt like yesterday, but for her, many years had passed, god knows what happened to her, Steve was not part of her life anymore.

“I could ask for her information you know, so you could contact her”

She was still alive. Steve had feared to ask that question. But he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t come back to her after all those years.

“Does she know about me?”

“I don’t think so, we’ve been waiting for you to make the decision”

Actually, it was Y/N who was supposed to tell Peggy about the situation. Fury had brought the subject on their first meeting, the night he came to her apartment, and she had told him she’d be the one to tell her. She didn’t want anyone else but her to tell that news, it was not something easy, no one knew how she would respond to the news in her condition. Peggy had been in a good phase recently, with no episodes of memory loss for a long time, and everyone who would come to see her had to be real careful about what they said not to trigger her in any way.

Y/N still didn’t even know how she would tell the news, and she was dreading the moment it’d happen.

“I’ll think about it” Steve finally said.

Y/N gave him a sympathetic smile, knowing too well what was going on into his mind.

“It’s a really beautiful drawing” Y/N said nodding to the piece of paper between them, taking a sip of her drink, changing the subject.

“Thanks” Steve smiled “I tried my best to make that ugly thing look nice”

Y/n chocked on her drink, was he really calling the Stark Tower ugly?

The Stark Tower was Tony and Pepper’s new crazy project. They had started to build it after the events of the last Stark Expo, and of course after fixing everything. The city wasn’t so happy with Tony, and the tower was his way to make everything a bit better, him and Pepper wanted it to be an example for the future. It was about to become the first building of New York functioning with only clean energy, and hopefully not the last.

Y/N was most of the time at her father’s, helping him or just trying to be there to reconnect with him after everything that had happened, so naturally she had helped with the tower, not too much, just with some design ideas or when Tony needed her brain for some new fancy technology to add to the building, it was fun, she’d actually loved every minute of it. Being able to share those moments together had been really beneficial for their father-daughter relationship.

So hearing Steve calling the tower ugly was not something she expected.

-------

Y/N had finally decided to pay a visit to Peggy, Aunt Peggy like she used to call her as a child. She’d come to D.C. where the former agent was living in a retirement home. She had thought a long time how she would break the news to her, but nothing felt right.

She stepped into the hall and made her way to the desk. She knew well the nurse in charge of welcoming the visitors that day, her name was Lucy, and she had taken good care of Peggy for a few years now.

The nurse gazed off of her computer, and she smiled at the woman making her way to her.

“Y/N! It’s been a while” she said standing up and giving her a hug.

“I know, I’m sorry, you know with work and everything” she started rambling to find a good excuse, even though she knew she could have taken some time to come and visit

“It’s okay” Lucy brushed her off, squeezing her arm affectionately

“How is she?”

“She is pretty okay, no episodes recently, Mary came to visit last month and everything went well”

The young Stark seemed surprised to know that Peggy’s daughter had come to visit without telling her, they’d usually meet every time she travelled from London. But after the recent events, she surely thought the Starks needed some calm.

She made her way to Peggy’s room after talking for a few more moments with Lucy. When she entered the room the former SHIELD agent was sitting on a chair, facing the window. She looked so calm, the morning lights making her grey hair slightly glow. She was not the great agent that she was decades ago, but she still had that fierce in her eyes, also a certain tenderness she only kept for the people she deeply cared for.

It had been so long they didn’t see each other, Y/N was fearing Peggy could had forgotten about her.

She took a chair that was in a corner of the room and made her way to sit in front of the older woman, who, when she saw Y/N, gave her the sweetest smile.

“Hi love, it’s been too long” came the British accent.

Y/N returned the smile, relieved she was still in her mind.

They talked for a couple of hours about their lives, Peggy asked a few questions about Tony, who’d not came to see her for so long she was about to take it personally, she said. But she could feel something was bothering Y/N, she squeezed her hand.

“Is everything alright love?”

Y/n locked her gaze with her, it was time, she had to tell her.

“I have some important news to tell you” she stopped and took a big inspiration.

“He is alive”

The older woman’s eyes started to widen in shock. She knew what those words meant. She had waited all her life to hear them. She starred at the window once again, a look of sadness and melancholia on her face.

Y/N took her hand again, stroking the back of it gently.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked softly.

“Tell me” she simply said in response, still not looking the young woman in front of her.

Y/N explained to her everything she knew, how he was found in the ice, the serum keeping him alive, and young. How Fury had assigned her to help him. How he was dealing with everything.

“I still didn’t tell him who I was, that I knew you. I just thought it would be too much to take. I just need to find the right moment” she sighed.

Peggy finally looked a Y/n “Did he ask about me?”

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll want to see you soon” she said in a hopeful tone.

“I’m sure she needs time” she simply said

She then slowly pushed herself out of her chair and made her way to her bed. Y/n helped her getting into bed and stopped when Peggy took her hand, tapping the back of it.

“Take care of him love, alright?” she said with a soft smile

Y/N simply kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand in return. On her way to the door she noticed a frame on the bedside table, a black and white photo of a young skinny soldier.

-------

A few weeks had passed, and Y/N and Steve were still meeting regularly, either for a coffee, visiting the city, museums or just simple nights catching up on movies from the last seven decades.

Steve felt more and more comfortable around Y/N and considered her a friend, she was the only person he trusted in this new world. On the other hand, Y/N went deeper and deeper into lies and felt guiltier every day. She also had started to take a liking to the man and she knew he trusted her. Many times she had wanted to tell him the truth “my real name is Stark”, “Howard is my grandfather”. But every time she would chicken out and promise herself to tell it another time.It has been a month already, and it felt too late now to tell him.

In a corner of her mind, she told herself she was not supposed to be friend with him, he would never be a part of her life, so lying about that, just like she always did with everyone, was not supposed to bother her, it was part of the mission. But just like she had said to him, he was not just a mission, he was more than that. He deserved the truth. In a way she was a part of his past, and he deserved to know it.

It was late in the afternoon when Y/N and Steve were both sitting on his couch, him drawing, and her reading some newspaper, searching for something to do the next day. A comfortable silence had settled between them, the only sounds coming from the scratch of his pencil on paper and some light jazz music in the background.

They would found themselves doing that often, just enjoying each other’s company. It had started one day where Y/N had met Steve at his apartment to find him totally demoralized. It would happen sometimes, you can’t expect for someone to be always fine in that situation, even for a super soldier. At the beginning he would ask her to meet another day, but not that time. He had just simply asked her to stay. They had stayed for a moment in silence, and had ended up watching a movie, still not exchanging any words. She had not wanted to push him to anything, he knew she was here for him, if he didn’t want to talk, she wasn’t going to do it first. He had been just glad she was here, it was at that moment he had realized he could count on her for anything.

“Did you get to see the Wizard of Oz when it came out?” Y/N’s voice rose from the silence

“Yeah, I brought my ma with me, I had saved some money so I could offer that to her.” He answered not looking up from his drawing.

“Would you like to see it again?” she sat herself closer to him, putting the magazine over his sketchbook “There’s a screening here in Brooklyn in two days. I’ll offer you the ticket this time” she said a wide smile on her face.

She stood up from the couch, tearing the little piece of paper with the info of the evening and went to the kitchen to put it on the fridge. She heard Steve’s voice from the living room “You really want to see that movie? Isn’t it a bit too old?”

Y/N turned around quickly to face him at his question, she hurried back to the couch, wide eyes on her face.

“Are you kidding me?” she chuckled “It’s one of the best movies ever made. Trust me it didn’t get old even one bit. Still as spectacular as it was in ’39 I’m sure” she paused for a moment, a hopeful look on her face “So would you come?”

“It appears I really don’t have a choice” he said pointing to the paper on the fridge, a smirk growing on his face.

Y/n clapped in her hands and cheered excitedly. Steve laughed at her enthusiasm.

“It’s the first time I’ll be able to see it in a theatre. I’d never stop watching it as a kid, t’was my grandma’s favorite”

It was the first time she would share a childhood memory without Steve asking any questions, he just looked at her, waiting for her to keep going.

She was fidgeting with the hem of her top, lost in her thoughts

“She would play and sing the songs for me on the piano” tears were forming in her eyes, she took a shaky breath “Anyway, I would love to see it again” she said clearing her throat and clapping her hands on her thighs wanting to change the subject.

“What happened?”

Y/N snapped her head to him at his question. She looked at him for a moment, considering what to tell him. It would be a good moment to tell everything.

“She had an accident when I was four” She said looking at her laps, remembering the events.

“I’m sorry.” Steve simply said.

Before he even thought about it, Steve put his hand on hers and squeezed it softly to comfort her, the gesture surprised both of them. He quickly removed his hand and cleared his throat getting up from the couch, he made his way to the kitchen asking Y/N if she wanted something.

She took her phone on the coffee table and saw she had a text from Fury, asking her to come to his office.

“I’m sorry I need to go” she got up and faced him, waving the phone “Duty calls”

She made her way to the door, taking her jacket and bag on the way, he followed behind wanting to open the door for her but she beat him to it and stepped out of the apartment. She surprised him when she turned suddenly to him.

“So see you in two days for the movie?”

Steve was leaning on the door frame, his hands inside his jeans pockets, a smirk appeared on his face and he nodded yes at her question.

Her smile grew wider.

“Okay, it’s a date then”

She waved at him before turning and making her way to the stairs. Steve stared at her leaving until she was out of sight.

She arrived at the shield headquarter as fast as she could. She knew exactly why Fury had called her, he wanted a report of what was happening with Steve, how quick he was catching up so he could work for them.

She had successfully avoided him for the last weeks, not wanting any pressure from his side. It was going so well with Steve, she didn’t want anyone to tell her what to do or how to do it. Even though the director had given her total control, she knew he couldn’t help but wanting to know every step of the process.

She knocked on his office door and entered when he told her to.

“Fury, you wanted to see me” she spoke first, making her way to stand in front of his desk.

“I just wanted to check on my favorite agent” he said ironically signaling her to sit on a chair

“Oh really how thoughtful of you” she answered back just as ironically “What do you want to know?”

“How is it going with Rogers?”

“Pretty well”

“How long is it gonna take?” he asked again

Y/N scoffed “Do you really think it’s that simple? It’s not working that way Nick. He’ll be ready when he’ll decide he is ready. What do you wanna do with him anyway?”

“I don’t have to discuss any of that with you Agent Collins” he said calmly.

“I’m afraid you do Director Fury.”

The man sighed, leaning back into his chair

“You don’t seem to understand how important and useful Captain Rogers could be for SHIELD.”

Y/n chuckled dryly at his answer

“Trust me I really do. But what you don’t seem to understand, is that, this guy needs some rest. You can’t ask him to go back in the field right know, he needs time. Don’t force him, please.”

Fury took his time to think about what Y/n had said, looking at her pensively

“You like him don’t you?”

“Are you seriously asking me that right now?” she said to him, a deadpan look on her face “You asked me to help him and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Did you tell him?” his question made Y/N freeze “You seem to get along well, and he seems to trust you. Would be a shame to break that.”

Y/N scoffed getting up from her chair

“That’s what you wanna do? Threatening me with that?” she chuckled dryly “You need my help with him. What I’m telling to him is not of your business and I would advise you to let me deal with it, if you still want to use him for your stupid program.”

She made her way to the exit but stopped in her track at his voice.

“He needs to move on from his past and you too Y/N. You need to tell him.”

She opened the door but turn to him before leaving the room.

“I appreciate your concern Nick. But like I said, none of your business.”

With those final words she left Fury’s office.

Two days had passed since her last visit at Steve’s and her meeting with Fury. That night she couldn’t find sleep. She had turned all night, repeating over and over again Nick’s words in her mind. He was right, she had to tell him, but she was the one who had to make the decision, no one had to do it for her.

She had to meet Steve in the evening for the movie, but before that, she had to meet her dad that had called her, asking her to come for an emergency at the tower. She didn’t know why, even if she had asked multiple time to her father to explain, he just repeated her she needed to come as quick as she could.

So she did. She arrived in the center of Manhattan and enter the brand new building with her family name on it.

She entered the elevator, a British voice greeting her immediately.

“Hello, Miss Stark, your father is expecting you on the top floor”

“Do you know what he wants?”

“I am afraid not, sorry”

The elevator doors finally opened, it took a moment for Y/N to adjust her eyes to the bright light coming from the giant windows. The last floor of the facility gave a view of the entire city, and seeing it made Y/n feeling proud of her father’s project.

“Well you took your time” she heard Tony’s voice from behind her.

She turned to see him, a smug look on his face, she went to embrace him and pointed a finger at him warningly

“I hope you didn’t make me come all the way here for a stupid thing because I swear I will-“ she was cut off mid-sentence by Pepper giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi sweetheart, it’s so good to see you, I’m glad you could make it, Tony didn’t tell me you had accepted for tonight!” she said hugging Y/N.

The young woman looked at her father above Pepper’s shoulder with big eyes, what was she talking about? She didn’t remember accepting any invitation to anything. She freed herself from Pepper’s embrace pointing her finger once again to the man with an accusing glare.

“I swear the next time you call me for some emergency I won’t come”

Pepper put her hands on her hips and gave Tony a disapproving look.

“You didn’t tell her?”

Tony had went to make himself a drink, trying to avoid her deadly stare.

“I’m sorry but we don’t see each other a lot, and I had a lot of things in my head, with the tower and everything I just forgot to tell her you know, but” he raised his glass to Pepper to support his saying “I remembered this morning, and she is here right?”

“Tell me what?” Y/N brought back the attention to herself, wanting to understand what was happening.

Pepper turned back to her, after a last annoyed glare at Tony.

“We have a party tonight to present the tower. You know with what happened at the last expo, you father and the industries lost a lot of support, so we need to show them how good the tower can be for the city. That Stark Industries changed a lot, and your father too. That they can trust us.” She made her way to the young Stark and gave her a file showing her all the people invited for the party and a description of the event “And we need you there”

“I can’t tonight.” She cut Pepper off, not wanting her to go on and on about a party she wouldn’t even attend.

“What do you have? A date?” Tony asked her, almost as a joke

“NO!” Y/N was quick to answer “Well sort of, I mean” she took a deep breath before continuing “No, it’s not a date, date, but it’s important. I can’t miss it”

Dating had not been in Y/N’s vocabulary for a long time, after everything that had happened she had way more important things to think than dating. It’s not that she was not ready, it’s just that she didn’t have time for it. She was completely ready. Yeah, completely ready.

“Come on can’t you just call and reschedule?” Tony said “We need you here, I need you here. It’s your project just as much as it is mine and Pep’s” he gave her the sweetest smile, trying to convince her to come.

But she knew her dad too well.

“You want me there just because you don’t want to be alone around those people, don’t you?”

Tony faked a shocked face and gasped, a hand on his chest “I can’t believe you would think something like about your dear old father”

Y/N chuckled and went to plop on the sofa a hand over her face, thinking about what to do. But then something stroke her

“I don’t have anything to wear”

But Pepper had already anticipated

“I already took care of that, it’s in one of the room downstairs” she said not looking up from an ipad she had in her hands, probably taking care of something for the evening.

Y/n groaned loudly.

“Ugh fine but I need to be out at nine”

Tony shook his hands and let out a “yay” of victory

Leaving the party at nine would let her just enough time to go back to Brooklyn since the screening started at 9:30. But she couldn’t stay a minute more there or she would miss it.

------------

The evening came more quickly than Y/N hoped, she had stayed all day at the tower, helping Pepper with some last minute preparations.

If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was social gathering and galas where hypocrite people would gather in the same room, fighting silently to know who had more money, or whose house was bigger. She had successfully avoided them as a kid, being a secret child had surprisingly its perks, but now that she was older, Tony wanted her to be there more often. She would pass has Pepper’s assistant or his and she would follow them all night, trying her best to seem nice and socialize with people.

She knew why Tony wanted her there more and more. He had talked to her multiple times about saying who she really was, not hiding it anymore, that it was not useful anymore, she was his daughter and he wanted everyone to know. At some point she had been pretty okay with the idea, but after the big “I’m iron Man” moment and what followed, she just didn’t want everything to fall over her head, more than it already did. She just needed time.

The dress Pepper had chosen was the most beautiful thing she had seen. Pepper knew Y/N so well it sometimes scared her. Pepper had always been here for Y/N. She became Tony’s assistant when he took back the industries from Howard, and most of the time would play Y/N’s baby-sitter, becoming at some point just like a mother to her. And when Tony and she finally got together, Y/N couldn’t be happier, she had waited for that moment for so long, realizing way before the both of them they were meant to be together.

The party went by, and it became boring really quick, Y/N would just watch at the time every five minutes, not wanting to be late. Pepper had introduce her to a lot of people. Many old guys, twice as old as her had tried not so subtly to flirt with her, and many times she had the incredible envy to punch them in the face. But most of the time her dad would see the situation and would come to save her. They would stay in a corner, gossiping on the guest until Pepper would come scold them forcing them to go talk to people.

She had been caught with a group of men who couldn’t stop talking about topics they thought they knew better about, and it was impossible to run away from them, every time she would try to escape they would ask her another question, when she looked at the time and realized it was past 9:30. She just left the group, not bothering to apologize to them. She spotted her dad in the crowd talking to people she didn’t know, she run to him and went straight to kiss his cheek apologizing that she had to leave. She started running away again when she realized what she had just done. She turned around to see at least five people including her dad looking her with a shock expression on their face. She walked closer to them and bowed slightly her head, apologizing to ‘Mr. Stark’ of what she had just done before running away again.

------

When she arrived to Brooklyn it was past 10 o’clock and she just wished Steve would not be angry at her for standing him up, so she ran as quickly as her shoes would let her to the theatre not expecting for him to still be there.

She turned at the corner of the street and stopped on her tracks when she saw him, sitting on a bench, a worried look on his face. He was not wearing so much different clothes than usual, but you could feel he had made some efforts as he was wearing a simple white shirt. She smiled at his sight, he had waited for her all this time, and now she felt guiltier than ever.

She made her way to him, the sound of her heels quickly alerted him, he looked up to the direction of the noise and his eyes widen when he saw her, he got up from where he was standing. Y/N could swear she saw some red creeping at his cheek.

“I’m so sorry” she said first

But he waved her off saying it wasn’t a big deal

“No it is, I’m so sorry, I swear I wanted to come I just didn’t look at the time and – but really I wanted to see that movie with you”

She started rambling and Steve only chuckled and put his hand on her shoulder and looked her right in her Y/E/C eyes

“It’s okay, I swear, we’ll have other chances to go see a movie”

She looked at him for a little moment, lost in the blue of his eyes

“I’m sorry” she said her voice not above a whisper

“I know” he gave her a sympathetic smile and put his hands in his pocket, looking her up and down. “But I need to know why you were late because, I’m sure it’s the reason you that well dressed, and not because we were going to the movies” he chuckled again

“I had this gala my dad asked me to attend, it was impossible to refuse, trust me I tried, it was a nightmare, and I was supposed to leave early but I’ve been trapped by a group of know-it-all and I just forgot to check the time”

“Did you eat?”

When he asked her that question, she realized how hungry she was, and remember she had not eat since her breakfast

“No and I’m starving!”

They tried unsuccessfully to find a good place to eat, but everything was either close or completely booked.

Y/N got suddenly an idea and hopped this one would be a win.

“I actually know a place I was going a few years ago, I think it’s still open” She said looking at their outfits “We’re clearly too dressed up for the place but it will do”

Steve couldn’t hold back his smile, she seemed always so full of joy and energy, it was contagious.

They arrived at a small fast food, and made their way inside. Y/N was quick to speak to the owner, Steve understood by the way they talked that they knew each other. Steve only looked at her talk, a smile on his face.

They had already finished their meal for a long time when they were still sitting at the same table talking and talking about whatever was going through their mind.

“Can I ask you a question Y/N?”

“Sure, whatever you want” she smiled at him softly, waiting for his question

“Why are never talking about your family?”

It was the moment to tell him. He asked the exact question she needed to finally speak about her life, to tell him the truth.

She didn’t realized she was lost in her mind for so long when Steve spoke again

“But it’s fine, I don’t want to pressure you to anything. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me about it”

“No, sorry, it’s okay, I just” she sighed “I just don’t really talk about it at all, it’s not just with you, it’s always been like that actually”

She played with some crumbs on the table, trying to find what to say.

She was not ready.

“It’s just always been complicated. I’ve been abandoned by my mother, my father didn’t know I existed and he was so young, he wasn’t ready to have a child, so my grandparents took care of me, and well... When they died it was hard for my father” She took a big inspiration and exhaled a shaky breath “We were never really close when I grew up, and then I went to the army, so we didn’t see each other for a long time. But it’s been kind of better for a couple of years, I grew up and he got older, and we both got wiser so we understand each other better.”

She stayed silent, a look on her face Steve had never seen and couldn’t quite place. It surprised him when she finally look at him, the smile he knew already back on her features.

They slowly made their way back to Y/N’s apartment, Steve having insisted to walk her back, so she would not be alone. Even if she insisted too, she was capable of defending herself.

They stopped at Y/N’s building door, and looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to do.

Steve was completely lost, and had let her lead the way all night, even if it wasn’t a romantic date, it was the first time he would find himself dining with a woman and he realized he really didn’t know how to do it.

He was caught off-guard when she went to hug him. He didn’t dare to put his arms around her, but felt the courage to do it when she squeezed tighter and whisper a ‘thank you’ in his ears. Not another words were exchange, just a simple wave of hand as a goodnight when she entered her building. Steve stayed a moment in front of the closed door, processing what had just happened.

----

It had been three days since the failed Wizard of OZ and the confession dinner, and Y/N and Steve had not met since then. They had agreed to meet at Steve’s apartment in the afternoon

She was surprised to find his door slightly opened when she arrived, Steve would never let it open on purpose, something was obviously wrong. She carefully entered the flat, preparing herself to any kind of situation.

But nothing could have prepared her to what she saw. Nick Fury was sitting in the living room couch, she could only see Steve’s back from where she was standing. She caught Nick’s attention, she could have sworn she saw a smirk on his face, one only Y/N could catch as Steve seemed to look at the ground.

“Ah, Y/N, we were just talking about you.” He said standing up from the couch.

Steve followed his action, his back still turned to Y/N.

“I’ll leave you two together, I’m sure you have a lot to talk about” Nick said shaking the former soldier’s hand.

On his way to the door he looked at Y/n a proud look on his face.

“If you have any questions Captain Rogers please don’t hesitate to call me, I’ll be glad to help you”

With that he was gone.

Y/N only heard the door closing behind her.

The flat was left silent, she didn’t dare to speak or to move.

That asshole had told him everything.

“Why haven’t you said anything?” his voice was serious and slow, he was clenching his hands into fists, his knuckles turning white.

Y/N was terrified, she knew she had messed up, she knew she should have said something sooner.

She was just scared to face her past, to talk about memories, stories she had work so hard to forget. She was more hiding the truth to herself than to him.

That’s what she always did, lying about her, about her past. It’s always been easier so she wouldn’t have to face the demons from her past.

All her life it was like that, she never had the chance to be fully herself, she always had to wear a mask, but now that the mask had fallen, she was lost, she didn’t know what to do. She felt powerless, not in control of her own life.

People accessing to her past, to her secrets was the only thing she could fully control. She couldn’t even control her own thoughts. And now someone had taken that away from her.

“Steve” she finally succeeded to say something “Please let me-“she stopped talking when he finally turned to face her.

His eyes were full of anger. Y/N had never seen him like that, and she hated the fact she was the reason of it.

She had been working on his recovery for so long know, it had ruined everything.

“Go on tell me. Why did you lie? I’m listening.” He said through gritted teeth.

She didn’t know what to say. She knew nothing she could say right now would fix anything, the only thing she thought would be good to say in that moment was sorry.

“I’m sure you are yeah” he sat on the couch with a long sigh, his head on his hands.

Y/N was still standing at the entry, she decided to approach him, she just wanted to make him feel better, she was about to put her hand on his shoulder when his voice broke the heavy silence of the room

“Please leave”

She stood there, her hand hanging in the air, so close to him. But she knew better but to argue with him.

She made her way to the door, she had to say something, she couldn’t leave like that.

“I’m sorry,”

Steve scoffed and let his hands fall on his lap, he still wasn’t watching her, it was the wall in front of him that got his intention.

If he looked at her again he would completely loose it. He was furious. She was the only person he trusted after so long. He thought they had something special but he should have known better. She maybe had some good explanation, but he didn’t have the strength to hear them at the moment. HE just needed time alone.

“I wish I could have done things differently. I wish I had told you sooner, really.”

She made her way to the stairs, wanting to quickly leave the building in a desperate need for fresh air, her heart was beating so fast she thought her chest would explode.

“Well, went better than I thought” she stopped at Nick’s voice.

She felt the rage invading all her body, she turned to face him, he had the same satisfied smirk on his face he had upstairs in Steve’s apartment.

“Are you fucking serious? Don’t do that. Don’t play it all cool like that.” She scoffed “Why did you do that? What do you have to win in this situation? Do you even realize what you just did? Are you fucking stupid?” she had started yelling without even controlling it

“I’m gonna ask you to watch your tone Agent Collins”

“No.” she pointed a finger at him “No you can’t ask anything from me. What you did there…”

She stopped and turned away from him trying to contain her tears. She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm

“You didn’t have any rights to do what you did up there. It is my life, my choice. I just needed time. What satisfaction can you get to do that? You just jeopardized the whole mission. If you wanted him to trust you and help you after that, good luck, you’ll need some”

With those last words she left Fury on the pavement and hurried home.

What was she going to do?

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#classified #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x stark!reader #steve rogers fic #steve rogers imagine #stark!reader #stark!daughter #marvel imagine #avengers imagine #stark!reader fic #stark!reader imagine #avengers x reader #avengers fic

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mst3kproject · 5 years

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1107: The Land that Time Forgot

Watching the opening credits of this actually made me do a double-take – the name Colin Farrell appeared on the screen and I was like, wait, what the fuck? Wouldn’t he have been like two years old? Well, I looked it up and learned that I was wrong: The Land that Time Forgot was made in 1975, and the Colin Farrell I was thinking of wasn’t even born until a year later. At least that woke me up.

It’s World War I, and a passenger ship is torpedoed by a German submarine. The only survivors are a few sailors, Doug McClure, and a Dr. Lisa Clayton who serves as the movie’s designated pretty girl. The nearest thing to rescue in sight is the submarine itself when it surfaces a few hours later – so they climb aboard, storm the hatch, and take over the ship. At first it seems that all they have to do now is head for home, but they soon learn that the Germans have sabotaged the compass. They’ve come ashore instead at the mysterious lost continent of Caprona. Naturally this is a land of cavemen and dinosaurs, and in order to escape the British and the Germans must put aside their differences and work together. Only then will they be able to get back to the real world and resume shooting at each other.

While At the Earth’s Core comes across as a movie nobody gave a much of a shit about, there are places where The Land that Time Forgot is surprisingly artful and well-made. In particular the first half-hour has several very nice moments in it, especially in the way it uses sound. After the opening credits, the music totally vanishes for a third of the film. The only background sounds are the lapping of waves and the creaking of the submarine, which makes gunshots and explosions all the more jarring when they happen. It also makes this part of the movie seem very grounded and real, which contrasts with the more fantastical stuff that happens in Caprona. The first sight of the Capronan cliffs is accompanied by the return of the soundtrack, which ushers us out of this more real world and into the fantasy beyond.

I feel like if Amicus had just set out to make a suspense movie about WWI submarines, a sort of early-20th-century Balance of Terror, they could have done a pretty fair job. Several scenes, such as when the characters are all sitting in the dinghy waiting for the sub to surface, or when they’re diving to escape the British ship firing on them and aren’t sure if the hull will hold, are very effective indeed. The interior of the sub is an appropriately creepy and claustrophobic place, and details like the slight swinging of the lamp in the captain’s office remind us that we’re at sea. The miniature sub surfacing, with water pouring off it, looks lovely. The giant squid that passes by them un-noticed in the dark is my favourite ‘creature’ moment.

Unfortunately, there’s also stuff that sucks. What ought to be the ‘action’ sequences are just a bunch of guys in very similar jackets and sweaters punching each other in the fog, and you can’t tell who’s who or which side is winning. The conversation between the captain and Dr. Clayton attempts to make the point that when your country’s at war it’s impossible to ‘stay out of it’ no matter how much of a pacifist you, personally, may be, but it’s too heavy-handed to work properly… though I do like how the two of them are able to bond over a shared interest in biology. I have no idea what happened in the tunnel that damaged the submarine, because the exterior shots are just blackness with a few rocks.

Then we hit the dinosaurs. These are honestly fairly impressive for the time the film was made. We don’t get a good first impression, as the first ones we get a good look at are three completely stiff pterodactyls circling like they’re hanging from a baby’s mobile. The rest are puppets, stop motion, and animatronics, and the people who decided which technique to use for which shot had a good grasp of what each is best at. The greenscreen work is sometimes crummy but there are some lovely matte paintings, and for the most part the effects here are good enough to tell the story without being distracting. There’s even some attempt to portray the dinosaurs as animals with behaviours, rather than monsters that exist only to menace the humans.

So I actually have quite a bit of praise for this movie. That’s not what my blog is about, though. This blog is about movies that suck, so let’s look at the bad parts of The Land that Time Forgot.

Well, there’s the standard stuff. The day-for-night is bright enough that it was obviously shot in the daytime while still being dark enough that you can’t tell what’s going on. The human inhabitants of Caprona are stupid cartoon Neanderthals with dark makeup on their faces but not their arms and legs, who become whiter and whiter as they move up the evolutionary scale. The motion of the dinosaurs may be pretty good but the design of them is ugly and lumpy, with far too many teeth even on the herbivores. This is partly because we didn’t know nearly as much about dinosaurs in the seventies, but the movie’s fat carnosaurs with their lizard-like heads would have been ugly and inaccurate in the thirties. Compare them, for example, to Charles R. Knight’s Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops from freaking 1927.

Many ‘lost world’ scenarios will simply present us with t-rex fighting a saber-toothed tiger and expect us not to question it. The Land that Time Forgot gives us an reason of sorts for its mixing of geological eras, but not one that makes any sense. From Om’s conviction that he will become a ‘Stolu’ and Dr. Clayton’s explanation of what’s going on in the giant coconut hot tub, we gather that each individual organism on Caprona evolves from a single cell to a complex being, following the entire history of its species’ evolution. This appears to have been inspired by the fact that embryos ‘evolve’ as they develop, going through phases in which they have things like gills before losing them. The phenomenon, called 'recapitulation', was considered one of the original pieces of evidence for evolution and I guess I can accept how they use it here. The problem is that the movie refuses to state it clearly, which gives the impression that the writers were kind of embarrassed by the idea.

The biggest problem with two-thirds of The Land that Time Forgot is that once the characters reach Caprona, the story more or less comes to a screeching halt. The parts set on the submarine were quite tightly-focused. Now we are technically still seeing the same story, as they try to find fuel in order to get them back to civilization, but we also stop for long sequences of people climbing hills and dinosaurs wandering around in the dark, or pointless arguments between the British and German sailors. In a dinosaur movie we obviously need a little bit of people standing around going oooooh and aaaaah, but they go about it all wrong here.

Then there’s the ending, which quite literally destroys everything we’ve seen so far. The characters are on the verge of saving the damsel in distress, escaping the island, and celebrating the power of international cooperation, and then at the last minute the volcano erupts and it all goes to hell. A volcano erupting at the end of a movie that is not about a volcano erupting will always be a deus ex machina, because there’s nothing characters can do to cause or prevent it – it’s never anything but a coincidence. The need to escape prompts the Germans to turn on the British and try to leave without Dr. Clayton and Doug McClure, and their karmic punishment is to be cooked to death by volcanic gases in their own submarine. Clayton and McClure are left behind on the shore while everything around them catches fire. This doesn’t feel like a conclusion to the story we’ve just seen. It feels more like somebody just really hates happy endings, and ripped one out from under us at the last moment.

There are a few things in this movie that could have counted as thematic material if anyone had cared, but nothing is ever done with any of them. Om is a ‘bolu’, a lower order of cavemen, and he never seems to notice Dr. Clayton, nor do the slightly higher ‘stolu’. It is the ‘golu’, the most human-like of them all, who attempt to kidnap and rape her. I doubt this was an attempt to say anything about human nature. It seems to have been done that way just because it wasn’t yet time for Dr. Clayton to be in peril until the climax of the film.

Likewise, Jonah and the bots comment on the fact that this is a movie about Europeans coming to a new country, shooting the inhabitants, and generally making a mess as they search for petroleum. Within the story this is not a colonial urge, as the characters have no plans to settle, but a matter of life and death, and again it seems like nobody thought very deeply about it. It was just a thing that needed to happen to make the plot work.

Enough went right in this movie that the things which went wrong really do become a terrible shame. A great deal of effort seems to have gone into just about everything, but a few poor writing choices mean that the result is not very good, yet not bad enough to be enjoyed on that level either. If I were contemplating this as a potential Episode that Never Was, I honestly think I would have decided against it. It just doesn’t have the kind of personality I associate with a good MST3K movie.

#mst3k #reviews #the land that time forgot #tw: rape #70s #curiously caucasian cavepeople

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alwaysbewoke · 5 years

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"You know, he's only mean to you because he likes you!"

Cast your mind back to the playground. Aaron and the other boys are playing tag, and he won't let you join in. The louder he insists, the harder you try to insert yourself, the situation escalating until Aaron sticks his leg out and you go flying. If he was trying especially hard to embody a cliche, he might even pull your pigtails. So far, so normal. Kids are cruel and weird. As a kid yourself, you're doing a pretty weird/normal job of processing the exclusionary nastiness ... until you hear from Mom that sometimes being treated badly is actually a good thing. "You know, he only does that because he likes you!" she says, spinning the meanness as a compliment.

Even worse, you're at that age when you can detect that "He likes you" means something different here, even if you're not quite sure what. There's an implicit idea -- perhaps in part because you don't understand -- that it's a special condition of feeling. As such, it entitles its "feeler" to a whole different criteria for good and bad behavior.

Mom is trying to prepare you for something she knows you won't understand, that soon boys are going to start acting strangely, that you're about to spend the rest of your life misinterpreting each others' motives. But "He's mean because he likes you" is such a tragic and bizarre introduction to the idea. It's like having your driving instructor begin the first lesson with "Remember, sometimes pedestrians scream because they're happy!"

Even if it seems harmless on the playground, wait until high school, the workplace, cohabiting relationships, and marriage, hoo boy. He's calling every three minutes because he loves me. He hits me because I drive him to it, his passion overflowing as violence. Even if it's true that the boy on the playground acts badly because he has a crush and this is his weird preteen way of processing it, that doesn't need any reinforcing.

"Why don't you have the party here? I'll pick up some snacks!"

You're somewhere between 13 and 18 and you are going to have A Party. It's been weeks in the planning stages. Someone's big sister has been coerced into doing the booze run. Someone's parents have been stupid enough to OK a get-together and leave their house at your collective mercy. The stars have aligned, the fates are in your favor, and this is the most excited you've probably ever been. A whole evening of unsupervised, uncomfortable, elated nonsense!

The prospect has practically had your teeth chattering. What do you wear? He'll be there. Which song will be playing when your sparkly hair clips convince him to kiss you instead of Charlotte? What is the right ratio of soda to vodka?

Of course, hearing your mom's cheerful "Why don't you have the party here?" is nothing compared to the obviously life-ruining "You're going to that party over my dead body" or even "Be home by 11." But therein lies its stealthy power. You could justify a teenage tantrum over your attendance being vetoed altogether, or even a curfew, but how to rebuff the thinly veiled bid to oversee proceedings disguised as an innocent offer to host? You are suddenly playing a subtle, deadly game.

How to articulate that any amount of meddling would crash the imaginary ecosystem of this social event, where everyone likes your shoes and laughs at your jokes? Or that you're both too old andtoo young for the kind of party where snacks play even a supporting role? How to refuse categorically without letting on that homey safety is kryptonite to a Successful Evening? You wriggle quickly and smilingly away. "Oh, Lila's parents will be home. They've already taken care of everything." Now you can only pray that she doesn't call to verify this.

"I'll leave you lovebirds to it!"

This one is said when a young girl is about to be left alone with a young boy, regardless of relationship or circumstances. Maybe he's the weird son of Mom's friend from work. No! Don't leave us to it! He breathes through his mouth!

At that age, it seems incredible that she can't pick up on how much you don't want this to happen. The intensity with which adolescent feelings are felt (I've never hated anyone as much as I hated my math teacher) would lead you to believe that they can be felt by anyone in their orbit. A teenager in love is one thing, and should be as legible as Times New Roman to anyone paying attention. A teenager seething with disgust, though, is strong as a poltergeist. How can she not know?

So while you can't believe that your mother would think you're enjoying the way her boyfriend's nephew is eyeballing your braces, she's only thinking of you when she suggests the two of you take a joint trip to the corner shop. You walk as far away from him as the pavement will permit. You shudder when the heavy breathing intensifies after bumping into each other, fumbling by the till. This will happen again and again. "Oh, here's the offspring of my roommate from college. When's the wedding, amirite?" How to break it to her that you're more interested in his sister?

"You know you can always talk to me about your sex life! I remember when your father and I first got together ..."

This invitation to spill your beans probably crops up before you even have any to spill. Sure, there's a whiff of something. Maybe she's caught you gazing at a classmate at school pickup. Maybe you tell too many stories about Amy's brother when you come back from her house. "Amy's brother doesn't listen to that band." "Amy's brother said he liked my jeans." "Amy's brother, Amy's brother, Amy's brother Amy's- brother, Amy's brother."

Anyway, someone told your mother that it's important to be open about these things. She wouldn't want you to develop a complex, would she? What better way to ease your discomfort than "I remember when your father and I first got together." WELL I REMEMBER WHEN I DIDN'T HAVE TO PICTURE MY PARENTS HAVING SEX.

"You can always talk to me about your sex life" just serves to highlight your lack of one, which is especially bruising when sex is all you think about -- tinging the corners of your heavy-breathing dreams, chronically manifest in your peripheral vision, but just out of reach. Knowing too much about it will recontextualize innocent fantasy into something scary and dirty. Hey, you've seen people making out in films. That lingerie ad. Then there was that video clip Paul sent round the class. You got through 12 seconds before switching it off like a scary movie.

Of course, these scraps and gaps have generated so many questions that it's hard to know where to start. And your mother would be more than happy to explain "why people make those noises" and that no, you don't "stand on your head to stop getting pregnant." But you will refuse these invaluable pointers. The final nail in your pre-adolescent coffin would be to hear that your parents were at it more than you are (not hard, but still unfair). Sex isn't sex yet, but what it is belongs to people your age -- fumbling, yearning, et al.

You'll get over this, but it's a hard pill to swallow that is offered A) when it is most crucially needed and B) when you couldn't be less receptive to it. Give it ten years, and you'll be calling her after every bad date.

"Are you sure you're happy? By the time I was your age ..."

You're cleaning up together -- look how responsible you are! -- after a family dinner. Back in the home you grew up in, and moved out of, just for the evening, or maybe the weekend. Either way, this is you as a proto-adult: feckless as ever, but somehow funding a life beyond the cocoon. Conversations like this are sprung when handwork is available. You don't have to look at each other, there's a time limit imposed by the activity, and silences can be filled with industrious scrubbing, etc. Variations include "How's the novel coming along?" and "Why don't you call Childhood-Friend-With-Whom-Your-Relationship-Ruptured-Very-Painfully-Somewhere-Along-The-Way?"

"Are you happy?" is the killer, though. Amidst a lifetime (or at least an adolescence) of cringing every time your poor mother tries to join in or make your life easier, this is the splinter beneath a thin nail built from half-truths and self-trickery. The end of that WMD of sentences is some version of "by the time I was your age, I had you and your sister," "I'd met your father," or "I'd already started working at [place she'll be working at until retirement]."

She asks because she worries about you, but that just means that managing her worries is another thing you've failed at. Answering in a way that will ease her fears isn't easy when the truth is you're not single out of some concerted effort to make peace with yourself before launching into a relationship, or renting because you "like the flexibility." That you are, in reality, lonely and poor.

On the one hand, maybe Mom doesn't know what a digital marketing account manager is. On the other hand, maybe that is not a job anyone sensible wants in any sincere way. Maybe she just doesn't recognize how, even though your boyfriend is always hungover at family lunch and doesn't pick up when you call on a long weekend, he's actually really artistic and authentically himself. Maybe your latest diet looks like an eating disorder, your latest phase a personal crisis -- and then again, maybe it is. God, Mom, you've sent me down a spiral! "I'm doing fine!" you'll say. And some day, you'll probably get that same answer from your own kid.

ladies, thoughts?

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