#to get into whatever comic charles is would need me to sit and think about it for like six years. like some freaky scholar gettin a masters | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

raindownforme · 3 years ago

Text

“I love you” in Comic Sans

Charlie Slimecicle x reader [they/them used] (CW: slightly sexist undertones)

“CHARLIE.” Their voice echoed through the trees as they ran. y/n hurriedly weaved through the thick woods towards where they hoped their friend would be. “CHARLIE. CHARLIE I NEED HELP.”

“Jesus Christ with what?” Hearing Charlie’s voice in the distance washed a wave of relief over them as they neared a familiar cliff face. y/n made their way though the secret entrance all the way to the top where the small dug-in home was. Charlie was standing near the wall of glass overlooking the woods.

“Charlie, I have a problem.”

“Oh shit okay.”

y/n stared at him for a moment, not sure how to address the issue without being incredibly blunt. “I need a husband.”

“I- wh- uh- what?” He sputtered as if he was wrapping himself around the subject. He didn’t quite look at them.

“Schlatt trapped me in a contract months ago and he literally phrased my only way out as my permanent death or being in ‘control’ of some other man. Which he also stated meant a husband.”

“Right. And you need to be married to get away from Schlatt?”

“I knew you’d get it!”

Charlie watched as y/n went to rummage through their assorted clothes and armor pieces. “y/n, where are you gonna get someone who would do that; Who would marry you that quickly and also do it just to defy Schlatt?”

Their voice was slightly muffled as they continued searching for something. “What, are you saying I’m not marriage material?”

Charlie felt his cheeks grow warm as he stammered again. “NO! I mean you are, it’s just Schlatt, but you’re still mariable! Marriage-able? You’re worth it!” The words seemed to put from him like a waterfall, but y/n payed no mind.

“Here! I found it.” y/n pulled out a long flowey cape from deep within a chest. Whatever material it was drifted and flowed as if a breeze was carrying it, and the soft blues and greens danced in sunlight. “It’s a marriage cape! Some old traditional thing my parents did, but you wear it over armor or something. Suppose I can’t get married without this. Even if it’s fake married.”

Charlie watched as they swung it over their shoulders. It was the perfect length, landing just slightly above the ground. They swirled the cloak around their feet, laughing at the way it felt, and Charlie stared: entranced by what he was seeing. y/n looked so happy as they danced in the sunlight, Charlie almost thought he’d never seen anything as beautiful, if he hadn’t already seen them every day before this one.

y/n placed a hand on his shoulder and lightly shook him. “Charlie, are you listening?”

“YEah. Yeah no i am.”

“Right. So I need your help finding someone that could marry me. I suppose I could ask Cooper or Joko...”

Charlie felt a hot anger bubble deep inside him. “No! Not them.” He felt himself blush again. Was he jealous? No. He couldn’t be. Right?

“Okay, maybe someone with more power then? I mean Sparklez is royalty to him. Also I feel like Techno has some sort of stature here-”

“No! Not them either.”

“Well why not then?”

Charlie sat silent for a minute, unsure of what to say. “Me. Marry me.”

y/n began blushing and stared at the ground as they fussed with the edges of their cloak. “Why? That’s a lot of risk for you with Schlatt. I know you guys are friends.”

“But we’re more of friends. Yeah me and Schlatt have known each other for a while, but it’s you.”

“It’s me?” y/n felt an awkward smile creep onto their face. “And what does that mean?”

Charlie froze for a minute as the two stared at each other. He could see how much their face had flushed, but he wasn’t sure if it was the sunlight or something else. “I’m, more, friends with you than I will ever be with Schlatt. And that’s because you’re different. I feel different about you.”

They stared at each other, until y/n started laughing. “God this must be the most awkward we’ve ever been!”

Charlie smiled a chuckled a bit. “Yeah. I mean if we get married, I can always tell you-“ Charlie rushed over to the kitchen table, then came back holding a basket of fruit. “How I love you berry much.”

y/n kept laughing. “Oh god I don’t know if I can’t stand our fake marriage.”

Charlie’s smile grew wider. “y/n, I’d love to call you my significant otter!” y/n doubled over, holding their stomach as they laughed, and Charlie kept going, laughing his way through his own jokes. “This might sound cheesy, but you’d make a really grate partner!”

“Charlie-!”

“No no no one more. Come here.” They both lowered to the floor, sitting close to each other as Charlie took y/n’s hand in his. “We’ll make a nice pear. Meow and for ever.”

y/n erupted into laughter, leaning slightly on Charlie. They both kept laughing for a while, laughing even harder every time they made eye contact. They stayed laying on the floor for what felt like hours.

y/n turned their head to look at Charlie. “Hey, do you think you’ll be okay?”

He turned back to look at them, confusion riddled all over his face. “Why?”

“Because it’s Schlatt.” y/n turned to look back up at the ceiling. “It’s a big risk for you. I’m not going to ask you to put yourself on the line like that.”

“It’ll be okay. I mean yeah he’s scary but in the end it’s just him versus me and you. We’ll be okay.”

“Okay. But you better not tell me you regret this tomorrow.”

Charlie chuckled and looked back at the ceiling too. “There’s no way I’ll regret this.”

———

“I REGRET THIS.”

Charlie and y/n sprinted out of Schlatt’s office to the elevators. Just moments earlier, they had stood in front of Schlatt, hands laced together, telling him they were to be married.

“And why is this? Do you hate me that much y/n?” Schlatt’s voice had felt laced with venom.

“I love Charlie.” y/n squeezed his hand tighter and Charlie swallowed whatever fear he had been struggling to hide. “This has nothing to do with you, but with legality in mind I had to tell you.”

“Well then,” Schlatt stood from his seat and gestured to Connor, who was only a few feet away from him, to do the same. “I can’t say you didn’t follow my rules. But until I see a certificate you’re still mine.”

“Schlatt,” Charlie took a step back, trying to pull y/n with him. “What are you doing?”

“Connor.” He turned towards his lap dog, who pulled a bright blue diamond sword from the hilt on his left hip. “Get the guy. But y/n is mine.”

And now, y/n and Charlie were stuck in the ever slow elevator and they knew Connor was racing down the stairs to kill Charlie.

y/n looked at him, eyes wide with fear. “Charlie I’m so sorry. I should never have gotten you into this I am so, so sorry.”

“It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay it’s a little messy right now but we’ll be okay.” Charlie stared at the doors, dreading the moment they opened. They were only two floors from the bottom. “You have any weapons?”

“No. They took my axe at the check in. You?”

“I have one enderpearl and some buttons.”

“Why do you always have buttons.”

“Pun material.”

They sighed, a slight smile betraying any annoyance they tried to give off. “Okay. Then when we get out you enderpearl out of here and maybe I’ll see you later.”

y/n’s grip loosened, but Charlie grabbed on tighter, now staring at them, with the pearl in his other hand. “I’m not leaving you. Maybe the pearl can take the both of us.”

The elevator dinged and y/n took a deep breath. “Whatever happens, happens.”

As the doors opened, Charlie felt time slow. Connor was a few feet away racing towards the two of them. Charlie and y/n, still holding hands, raced towards the front doors. Charlie launched the enderpearl through the open front doors, and he felt himself launch with it.

Charlie blinked for a second, then seemed to wake up in a shallow lake with his clothes entirely soaked. He rummaged around for a second in the mud, looking for his glasses, but someone tapped him on the shoulder instead.

“I found them.” He could see a blurry y/n holding his glasses, and he had never been more relieved to see anyone than in that moment.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt right?”

“I mean, might be a little bruised, and I think I broke my wrist. But other wise good.” y/n looked down at him, smiling. “I’m glad we’re okay. Now come on, Schlatt’s gonna hunt us down until we get that certificate.”

Charlie gladly took their good hand in his and stood up. “How do we even get one?”

“Well I guess we need an officiant or or something. You think Traves would do it?”

“I think Ted is closer. He’s just east of here right?”

“Sure. But where’s east?”

“Uhhhh, opposite of the sun?”

“Oh. Right.”

The two trudged on, making it to Ted’s house hours after the sun had set. As they approached the door of the dark abode, Charlie felt himself looking over his shoulder more and more. y/n noticed, and paused before knocking on the door.

“Charlie, Ted wouldn’t betray you. It’s Ted.”

“Even then he can’t make us married right now. We’d have to stay a night here and then get married.”

“Why?”

“Because you need the cape. You said you can’t do the fake wedding without the cape.”

y/n stared at him, wonder washing over them. They didn’t seem to realize Charlie would care about something as minuscule as that.

In their state of bewilderment, Charlie had gone to knock roughly on Ted’s door. The odd couple heard a few muffled noises from inside; mostly someone falling and a groaning sound, and the clattering of some sort of metal.

“What????” The door swung open and y/n staggered backwards, but Charlie caught them with an arm around the waist. Ted squinted at the two of them. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, his hair stood straight up, and his shirt was both backwards and inside out. “Oh. Charles.”

“Yeah. Hey, Ted.”

Ted waved lazily, then looked over at y/n. He seemed to think for a moment, then turned back to Charlie and gestured towards them. “Who’s this?”

“Oh. Right. Uh well this is y/n-“

“We’ve met before Ted.” y/n waved at him and he turned to squint at them again. “It was like a month or two ago. I was one of Schlatt’s lackeys.”

“Oh. Wait then why are you here?”

“Well,” Charlie interjected. “We’re getting married.”

Ted didn’t react. He blinked a few times, staring at Charlie, then shut his door.

Charlie sighed and pounded on the door. “Ted, come on man we need help. Ted-“

The door flew opened and Ted stood with a smile on his face, his shirt the right way, and his round glasses resting on his nose. “You’re getting married??”

“Yeah, we are, and I can explain in the morning but right now we need somewhere away from Schlatt-“

“Get in here Charles!” Ted pulled Charlie into a hug and led him through the door. He looked back at y/n and furrowed his brow. “Hey your hand okay? It’s kinda purple.”

“Oh.” They looked down at the limp joint. “Just broken I think. Do you have anything I could wrap it with?”

“Yeah of course. I should have a potion or something that could help, too.” Ted led y/n over to a set of chests near a brew stand and began looking through the lot of things. He pulled out a red potion and some off-white bandages. “Here. Drink this and it should be better by the morning. And these will hold it in place just to make sure.”

Charlie took the bandages from Ted as y/n downed the drink. Charlie began to gently wrap y/n’s wrist, holding it as if it were glass and he could damage it more than it already was. y/n smiled at him, then looked back up to Ted.

“Thank you. For all of this.”

“Of course, Charles is one of my best friends.” He looked towards Charlie, then back towards y/n. “Why’d you guys come to me anyways?”

“Well, we need an officiator, and Charlie thought of you. I mean, if you wouldn’t mind that is.”

Ted’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the idea. “Oh my god! Of course!” He picked up Charlie from behind and flung him around like a rag doll in a hug. “Oh my god I’m so excited! Who are we inviting? When? Can I wear the milk suit? Do you have a suit charlie? Oh my god we’ll get you a suit. And what about y/n? A suit? A dress?”

y/n laughed. “There’s a cape back at my house that I was gonna wear.”

Ted frowned. “How are you going to get it then?”

“I’ll work it out.” Charlie was almost too quiet but y/n still heard him. They turned to him and smiled so wide their cheeks hurt.

“And how’s that Charlie?”

“Oh I’ll just push around a few buttons.” He pulled the buttons out of his pocket from earlier and y/n erupted into laughter. Charlie blushed a bit at the reaction, but fell into laughter too. Ted stared at the pair, a thought working through his mind.

“Alright you two. Time for bed.”

“Oh come on no need to sound like my dad.”

“y/n, it’s four in the morning. Come on you’re getting married tomorrow. You guys can take the living room.” Ted led the two of them to a set of gray couches that faced each other. He grabbed a few blankets from some shelves nearby and handed it to the two of them. “Sorry it’s all I’ve got.”

y/n shrugged and went to sit on one of the couches. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you both in the morning?” The boys nodded and Ted went back to his room. Charlie turned off the light and went to lay on the other couch, covering himself with a fluffy blue blanket.

“I’m kind of excited for this. Who do you think we should invite?”

“Oh everyone.” y/n stretched as they yawned. “Anyone and everyone. Especially my bestie Traves.”

“Hey! I thought I was your bestie!”

“Eh.”

“I’m literally marrying you.”

y/n laughed. “Charlie of course you’re my bestie. I’ll let Traves have second place.”

“And what about me?” Ted’s booming voice echoed through the house and the other two laughed.

“Don’t worry Ted you’re MY bestie.”

“Shut the fuck up Charles.”

y/n turned to look towards the ceiling, but Charlie still stared at them. “Goodnight, Charlie.”

“Goodnight y/n.”

———

y/n sat straight up on the couch. Sunlight danced around every inch of the room, but when they looked to the left of them, Charlie wasn’t there.

“Charlie?” They yelled out into the unfamiliar house. They threw the blanket - that they only remember Charlie falling asleep with - off onto the floor and stood up. “Charlie where are you?”

They ran towards a doorway and ran straight into someone wearing stark white. They backed up, trying to be anything but dizzy, just to see it was Ted.

“Hey look who’s up!”

“Where’s Charlie?”

“He went on an errand, said he’d be right back.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Maybe half an hour?”

y/n paused for a moment, eyes wide, then turned and tried to run to the door, but Ted grabbed their arm and pulled them back in. y/n wrestled against his grasp. “Let me go Ted! Schlatt’s looking for him he’s gonna kill Charlie!”

“He went by nether, Schlatt can’t catch him there. He will be back momentarily. And before he gets back you should eat something before you pass out!”

They knew Ted was right. They relaxed in Ted’s grip and followed him to the kitchen. Ted gestured to a wide array of boxes. “I have every single cereal. Please take some.”

y/n had been fully engaged in a bowl of Frosted Flakes when they heard the door open. Mouth full, they met eyes with Ted, then dashed for the door.

“Charlie?” They choked slightly on their food as they ran, but they couldn’t help feel disappointed when it was Traves instead.

“y/n!!!” Traves ran to hug them. “Charlie came over and told me you were getting married!!! I’m so excited!!! Oh and hi Ted!” Traves let go of them a little to wave at Ted.

“Hi Traves. Come inside why don’t you.”

“Oh.” Traves looked back towards the door he had left open. “I’ll get it!”

y/n sighed as Traves released them. “Traves, when did you last see Charlie?”

“Not super long ago?”

y/n nodded and went back to their cereal. Traves looked over at Ted with confusion and Ted sighed. “We haven’t seen him for almost an hour now. I think y/n’s really worried about him. They think Schlatt’s going to try and kill him.”

“Oh. Wow.” They stood in silence for a minute, not sure of what to do. “He’s going to come back. He was so excited to marry them. It’s nice they love each other like that.”

“I thought it was leverage.” The boys stared at each other with confusion. “y/n said it was a political thing with Schlatt. That’s why he’s trying to kill Charles.”

“Oh. It makes sense they’d pick him. They’ve been in love with Charlie for forever.” Traves went to sit on one of the gray couches in the open front room.

Ted sighed and took a seat near Traves. “Thank god for that because he’s been pining over them all night and it’s going to make me vomit.”

Everyone sat in silence - save for the scraping of y/n’s spoon against the bowl - for a while. By the time there was any new noise, the sun had moved just barely farther across the room.

But that new noise was more exciting than anything else.

Of course the three of them all knew what a nether portal sounded like, so they all knew what it sounded like when someone went in and out, and when someone fell out holding something that made a loud bang. Ted and Traves ran towards the stairs leading towards Ted’s basement, as did y/n. At the bottom of those stairs, past a set of oak wood doors, lay Charlie at the foot of Ted’s nether portal. He was flat on his back, staring at the ceiling, with armor pieces around him and a cloth bag on his chest.

“Charlie!” Traves smiled wide and glanced at y/n standing behind him.

“Where’s y/n?”

“Right here!”

“Wait don’t look!” Charlie slapped a hand over his eyes and Traves forcefully turned y/n around. “It’s bad luck! I can’t see you! You can’t see me!”

“Charlie, it’s been hours.” They tried to act annoyed, but they still smiled at the boy’s antics.

“Oh! I brought your cape! And your fancy stuff. I figured you’d want to get married in that. The capes in the bag, and so’s my suit. And there’s some of your armor on the floor. Just in case.”

y/n giggled. “Any armor for you?”

“Uh. I have a sword this time! And my shield and helmet. I didn’t think much more of it was my wedding style. Oh I invited a couple more people!”

“Okay, but Charlie where are we even doing this?”

“Oh. I mean there’s a church in town.”

“The purple church?”

“Yeah! I mean we should make it kind of official. I know it’s not the prettiest but you can save that for your real wedding.”

y/n felt something in their chest drop. “Yeah. Real wedding. But are you sure there?”

“Schlatt’s gonna want authentic.”

y/n nodded, then remembered Charlie couldn’t see them. “Right. Well I guess we better get ready then.”

“Yeah! Meet me there in two hours, okay?”

“Yeah! I’ll see you then.” y/n allowed Traves to grab the cloth bag from Charlie and then steer them upstairs.

Ted sighed and Charlie took the hand off his eyes. “Charles, this is ridiculous.”

“What is?” The lanky boy picked himself up off the ground.

“This! You spend the whole day pining after them and then cut them straight off of it. And then do it all over again! The first thing y/n asked me this morning is where you were. What had happened to you. If Schlatt has gotten you. And then you go around inviting people to your wedding, gathering clothes for the two of you, and then remind them it’s all fake. That’s just mean Charlie.”

“Hey, before I offered to marry them, they were gonna marry Cooper!”

“And why didn’t they?”

Because-“ he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Because I was jealous.”

“I knew it! You’re not as much of a trickster as you think Charlie. You’re not showing them anything-“

“Well I just don’t want them to marry anyone other than me.”

“Then fucking say that Charlie!”

He sighed, taking a moment before he could say something he didn’t want to. “Ted, it will be fine. If they want to get un-married to marry someone else later, then I will deal with that.

Ted rolled his eyes. “Fine. But I’m officiating this, I should get a little say.”

“You’re already wearing the milk suit, I think you had enough say.” Charlie started walking towards the stairs. “I’m sorry I got angry. But my feelings don’t really matter right now.”

Charlie walked upstairs and went to sit in the living room. After waiting for a moment, Traves came out from a hallway, holding the cloth bag from earlier.

“Here you go.” He handed Charlie the bag. Charlie reached inside and pulled out his only suit; a navy blue three piece suit with a pear-green traditional tie.

Charlie smiled, looking at the cloth in his hands. “Thanks Traves.”

“No worries! I’ll see you later.” Traves walked down a short hallway and knocked on a dark oak door.

“Come in.” y/n’s voice came from inside the room. Traves opened the door and saw them sitting on a chair facing a full length mirror. They were wearing black slacks, black shoes, and a long-sleeved black shirt that fit them quite well. It was a stark change from their usual jeans and a colored shirt, but it looked nice to Traves. He looked a bit to the left to see the cape Charlie had brought draped over another chair.

“Hey, why don’t you have that on yet?” y/n turned to look at him with slightly red eyes and he frowned, lightly shutting the door behind himself. “y/n, what’s wrong?”

“Charlie is such a good person.” They almost choked on their own words. “He offered to marry me because he knows that I had to get away from Schlatt and he went out of his way to go to my house and get the cape that he knew I wanted to be married in and these stupid clothes that are really nice. And it is gonna hurt so much when he wants to marry someone else.”

Traves went and sat next to them, wiping gently at a tear. “Why would he want to marry anyone else?”

“Oh come on.” They gave a half hearted laugh. “Do you really think Charlie loves me the way I love him?”

“I mean you were the one to say that he went out to do all of this for you.” y/n smiled and looked down at their lap. Traves frowned and took one of their hands in his. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I am.” y/n pulled Traves into an awkward side hug from their seated position. “You’re the best Traves.”

Traves smiled into the hug, before gasping and letting go. “I need to get dressed! I can’t wear a hoodie to your wedding! I’ll be right back.” He ran towards the door, but turned back quick. “You better be wearing that by the time I’m here.”

y/n laughed as Traves ran out of the house. They stood and slowly walked over to where the cape laid. Gently, y/n picked it up and swung it over their shoulders. They ran their hand across the silver ornate clasp and down the soft flowing sides. They flipped up the the loose hood and let it rest just over their hairline. They forced a small smile and stared into the mirror. “I will be okay.”

There was a knock at the door and y/n jumped. “Hey it’s Ted.”

“Oh. What’s up?”

“Uh, me and Charles are going to make sure everything’s set up at the church, so we’ll see you down the aisle in an hour?”

“Yeah! Oh and Traves-“

“Don’t worry I saw him leave. I know he’ll be back in time to get you there.”

“Good. I need someone to walk me down that stupid aisle.”

Ted laughed. “We’ll see you soon then.” He went back down the hallway to where Charlie was standing waiting. Ted could tell he was anxious; he was tapping his foot and rolling his sword in his hand. His shield rested upright against a wall. When he heard Ted coming he looked up with a nervous smile.

“Are they good? They okay?”

“Yep. I told them we’re going and they know how to get there.”

Charlie nodded slowly, then looked back up at Ted. “And Traves? They’ll need him-“

“He’ll be back sooner than you were.”

Charlie nodded and picked up his shield. The two boys walked down the stairs and into the large portal. A familiar warbling feeling washed over them as they stepped into the hell-hole of a dimension. They continued down the path Ted had constructed until they reached the main hub of portals. There were a few odd people running around or some standing in conversation. There was a group standing by the spawn portal, who turned and walked over to Ted and Charlie.

“Hey guys!” Condifiction walked up to the two, followed by Grizzly, Jawsh, Macro, and Cooper. They each wore some sort of appropriate dress. Condi looked around at their small group. “Where’s y/n?”

“They’re back at Ted’s right now. They’re gonna meet us there with Traves in a little bit.”

“Oh cool. Small ceremony then?”

Charlie nodded. “The smaller the better.”

“I mean you did invite all of us.” Macro interjected.

“Actually, I don’t remember inviting Jawsh.”

“You didn’t invite me. I was just there.”

The group stared at Jawsh for a moment, but Ted interrupted the silence first. “We should get going. We still have somethings we need.”

“Oh maybe we can help.” Cooper started digging through his pockets. “What do you guys need?”

Ted began listing off his fingers. “A book, something to write with, and some flowers. y/n doesn’t have a bouquet.”

“Does y/n want a bouquet?”

“They didn’t say they didn’t. And with the circumstances I figure it could be safe.”

Cooper looked at Ted with confusion. “Circumstances-?”

“Later. But I think we can get some books from cooper’s store and the flowers-“

“They like the blue cornflowers. There are some behind the tree.” Cooper seemed slightly surprised to see Charlie speak. “And we’re doing this because it’s the only way she gets out of Schlatt’s custody.”

Everyone seemed to pause for a moment before Ted spoke again. “Everyone ready?”

Charlie nodded, rolling his sword in his hand again, and stepped into the portal. Everyone followed behind him.

Back at Ted’s house, y/n was pacing the hallway. “You should have been here a while ago!”

“I know! I told you I got distracted and my dogs-“

“Traves, we need to go.”

“Just a minute!” His voice was muffled coming through the door. y/n groaned and leaned against the door. The wedding was supposed to be in twenty minutes, and Traves was somehow the one still getting ready.

“I don’t even care if you have your tie on right we just need to leave!” y/n looked at the clock on the far wall and went back to knocking on the door. “Traves!”

The door swung open. “Okay!” Let’s go!”

y/n grabbed on right to Traves’s hand and the two ran towards the downstairs portal. They made it through the purple wall, through the tunnel, and all the way to the other portal. A little dizzy from the portal, they ran out of the massive tree onto the paths. They stopped, slightly out of breath, and looked around.

“y/n?”

“Yeah Traves?”

“Why isn’t there anyone around?”

He was right. The streets were completely empty. Of course all the automatic lights and water features were on and you could hear a far away spider, but there was really no one.

“I guess we keep going? Right?” y/n turned towards Traves, who was still staring out at the town. It wasn’t desolate or abandoned, it was just empty. And it didn’t make sense.

Traves didn’t respond, but the two kept walking towards the church. The sun had started to set by the time they were there, and there were hushed voices coming from the few people standing in front of the church. As they got even closer, y/n felt panic run through their blood. Through the tinted windows they could see Charlie waiting for them, but in the way were Schlatt and Connor arguing with Cooper.

“I know for a fact you weren’t invited.”

“Oh please they’ll want me here. Speak fo the devil, Y/N.” Schlatt shouted out at them. They gripped on to Traves as they approached y/n’s former employer. “Thought I’d make a customary appearance.”

“Customary?” y/n glanced over at Cooper, who gave a slight shrug.

“Yeah you know, last man that was I charge of you gets to give you away to the next.” He threw an arm over their shoulder and pulled them tight against his body. He was somewhat taller than them, and he smelled slightly of alcohol and an obnoxious cologne. y/n glanced between Traves and Cooper, waiting for anyone to do something. “Let’s get this wedding started!”

y/n watched as Cooper escorted Connor through the doors. Traves gave y/n a worried look before following them inside. They took a deep breath and closed their eyes.

“Cooper said there wasn’t any music so I’d assume it’s when ever you want.”

“Why are you here, Schlatt.”

He slid his arm into the crook of her elbow, holding it so tight they thought he was going to tear it out of the socket. “Because you’re not bullshitting me out of this contract.”

Par t 2 here!

#charlie slimecicle x reader #charlie slimecicle #slimecicle x reader #slimecicle #traves #jschlatt #ted nivison #dsmp x reader

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aphrodite-would-be-proud · 4 years ago

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I dont know if your accepting requests right now, but I love your kiddo headcannons. Could you do the Kiddo's reacting to Reiner asking you to marry him? I just really want to know who's going to get excited for the wedding, if any of the kids are going to be upset...your headcannons are just the best!!

Hey! Yes my requests are open, it's written in my bio tho i get it might be confusing. Imma make sure to also write it on the navigation post.

And by the name of persephone this the cutest most wholesome kiddo scenario! How did i not think of that? Just what realm of heaven are you living on Anon? Whatever it is thank you for blessing us with this thought💛

You're with Reiner, he wants to propose but his cousins overhear him.

{ Reiner x reader | tw:marriage tw:proposing tw:parental-neglect tw:heavy-angst | cartoony?, fluff, angst with comfort | modern }

{ The Lanterns, circa 1910 by Charles Courtney Curran 1861-1942 }

"And no opening the door to anyone no matter how sorry you feel for them, okay?" Colt said while adjusting the tie around his neck, making sure it's even as he takes one final look at himself in the mirror before putting on his coat.

"Okay" Falco replied, watching as his brother was getting frustrated with the too many buttons on his coat. "Do you need help?"

Nodding his head, Colt let Falco do his buttons while he reached for the cup of coffee he left on the table, quickly finishing it all. "And make sure to get to bed on time, no staying up reading comic books, you have school tomorrow."

"Don't worry I won't" Falco looked in concern at the empty coffee cup, "isn't this your third one today? I don't think you should be drinking this much..."

"You worry too much Falco, just take care of yourself okay?" Colt rubbed his brother's hair, before patting his head. "I'll text you to check on how you're doing so make sure to charge your phone."

And just like that, Colt wrapped a scarf around his neck, grabbed his keys, and left through the door. Leaving Falco standing there at the entrance, alone in the house.

Looking around the quiet room, Falco picked up the empty cup before washing it in the sink. Just as he was putting it away, the door bell rang.

'Did he forget something?' He thought, wondering if it's his the keys again. But looking at the table, he could see nothing was there.

Wait...Colt did take his keys before leaving, why would he be ringing the doorbell.

The ringing got more frequent, followed by aggressive knocking. Falco took a step back into the kitchen, thinking if he could dash upstairs to get his phone in time.

But he didn't want to trouble his brother...Think Falco think! What would captain america do in this scenario? But Reiner always told him he should think for himself...

And so he grabbed a knife, slowly inching towards the door but then he heard it, that fimilar sound.

"Falco? You in there? It's freezing open the door!"

"Gabi?!" Dropping the knife, Falco rushed to the door. Quickly unlocking it as a very cold looking Gabi stepped inside.

"What took you so long? I can't feel my fingers!" Rubbing her hands together to attempt to warm them up, Gabi glared at Falco.

"Sorry I thought you were a-" he looked away at the knife "uh..anyway let me get you a blanket" before he could rush up the stairs, Gabi pulled him back.

"No there's no time! We have to leave now." Holding his hand, Gabi dragged a very confused Falco out the door and they began making their way to the next destination.

Soon enough, the pair found themselves standing outside Udo's house, directly under his window.

"You still haven't told me why we're here." Falco watched as Gabi was looking for something on the ground, he stiffened when she smiled after picking up a small rock.

"I will tell you once Udo and Zofia are here, it's very important." She handed him the rock. "Now let's focus on getting Udo here, make sure to aim for his window because his mom is a really light sleeper."

"Wait if that's the case then why didn't we go to Zofia's house first? She lives right opposite of mine!" Falco whisper-shouted.

"Because! Neither of us can deal with a sleeping Zofia and you know that, only Udo knows how to wake her up." Gabi explained, crossing her arms while getting impatient. "So hurry up and throw the rock!"

Flaco looked at Udo's window, then at the rock. He looked at Gabi one last time before closing his eyes and throwing it, it made a sound as it hit the window....nothing happened

"Why am I the one throwing the rocks?" He looked anxiously at Udo's dark window, moving his weight from one leg to the other.

"I'm stronger. If i throw it, I'll break the window." Gabi was looking for another rock, having found one slightly bigger than the last. "Here try this one"

Having reunited again, the four of them were walking down the street to Reiner's house late at night. Gabi leading the group, Falco following her reluctantly, Udo keeping a still sleepy Zofia from walking into a wall while in her pajamas.

"This better be good Gabi, otherwise you can forget about copying my math homework for a month." The thought of just turning around and going back home to bed was still in the back of Zofia's mind.

Having almost reached Reiner's house, the four of them could see multiple cars parked outside of it, some of them they recognise.

"See! I told you all it'd be worth it. They're having a secret party without us! I heard Reiner talking about it on the phone with Zeke this morning when I was pretending to be asleep so I don't have to walk home." Gabi said as they sneaked to the side of the house.

"That's mister Zeke's car, miss Annie's and...even Porco's too.." Udo said as they climbed the house fence.

"They invited Porco but not us?" With that information, Zofia was fully awake.

"That's exactly what I've been telling you guys about! Here look!" Standing on her toes, Gabi looked through the window, between the curtains. Three heads joining her soon.

Looking inside, they could see the living room they were so fimilar with, looking really different. For once it wasn't a mess of pillows and candy wrappers! It was actually clean with various candles adding to the atmosphere.

Zeke and Pieck could be seen siting next to each other on the couch, drinking some wine while Colt is in the arm chair next to them with Porco pushing a drink in his hands.

Annie and Bertolt are leaning against the wall, she's holding a plate of donuts while he's talking about something.

Finally, you and Reiner are sitting on the couch opposite to Zeke and Pieck. His hand is around your shoulder and he keeps taking glances behind him at bertolt, while Zeke stares at him from the front.

If you focus, you can hear the muffled sound of music playing in the background.

The four kids watched as Reiner whispered something in your ear, before you noded, got up and headed towards the kitchen. The second you left, all of them crowded at the couch next to Reiner, Talking in hushed tones.

"What...are they doing?" Udo watched as Reiner took out a small red box from his pocket, hands shaking while the people around him leaned in to see what's inside as he opened it.

Quiet gasps and awws followed after as the ring inside came into view, glittering in the dark by the candlelight. Although that only seemed to fluster Reiner even more.

The four of them looked at each other with wide eyes, then back at the ring as Reiner reached out to hold it delicately in his hand for a few seconds as if he's offering it up to the air in front of him, the room got quiet, everyone holding their breaths.

"Oh " Falco said, "i...think i know what's going on." Both Udo and Zofia noded.

"What?" Gabi knitted her eyebrows, tilting her head, "what's going on?"

Before any of them could answer, Zofia told them to keep quiet when she noticed you walking back in the room, the ring back in the box inside Reiner's pocket.

Everyone was now standing, smiles on their faces, even Annie showing one of her rare ones. You were holding a new plate of donuts when you noticed them, with Reiner in the middle, nervous eyes staring right at yours.

Stepping towards you, Annie took the plate before going back to her spot. A few chuckles from Zeke, Bertolt and Pieck followed while Reiner shock his head.

Still outside, the kids saw Reiner start talking about something. Whatever it is, it must have been emotional because everyone in the room was listening with anticipation.

"I can't hear anything" unlocking the window, Gabi opened it just slighly. The muffled sound of music becoming clear as Reiner was finishing his speech.

"And you'd make me the happiest man in the world" he got on one knee, hand taking something out of his pocket. "If we could spend the rest of our lives together and I'll cherish every single moment you're by my side."

He opened the red box, holding the ring in front of you, eyes pleading. "Will you please marry me?"

The second you said yes, Reiner pulled you in the tightest most loving hug in your life, muttering "thank you"s under his breath. You could taste saltiness of his tears when he kissed your lips, still not letting go.

"He's crying" Udo said, feeling his own glasses getting a bit blurred.

"They're kissing." Falco's face was as red as a tomato, covering his blushing face with his hand but looking through his fingers.

"Annie finished all the donuts" was Zofia's comment with a pout.

Gabi's hold on the window got tighter, her lips quivering. "We have to stop them. They can't get married!" And like that, she slammed the window open before climbing inside.

"Gabi! Wait!" Falco tried grabbing her sleeve but was too slow, so he climbed after her into the room.

As expected from two children suddenly breaking in the room through the window, everyone's eyes were on them with surprised expressions.

Looking straight at Reiner, Gabi pulled you away from him before snatching the ring box from his hand. "NO! no one is marrying anyone" with all her might, she threw the box to Falco before telling him to run away.

Having been dragged into the middle of this, Falco looked at Colt's concerned expression, Reiner's confused face and Pieck's amused one. Stepping near Colt, he was about to give him the ring when he saw Gabi's face, making his stop midway.

"Run Falco! Just go!" She yelled, tears streaming down her face, legs shaking. "They can't leave us! Not like our parents did..."

Falco felt his chest tightening, recalling how empty the house feels with just him and Colt being away for work most of the time. How cold it is, unlike the warmth he feels whenever they stay over at your house.

He began tearing up too, holding the box so tightly to his chest.

It was Reiner who made the first move, while everyone was stunned looking at the two crying children. Pulling the both of them to his chest as they sobbed, he wrapped his arm safely around them. He looked at you and you followed in his steps.

After some time and explaining, Colt was comforting Falco while on the couch with Pieck doing the same on his other side. You had Zofia on your lap while she ate some Donuts you stashed away from Annie. Gabi was still clutching to Reiner with Udo on his other side doing the same.

Gabi would take a bite out of a donut, cry a bit then take another bite. Sometimes glancing at the red box on the table.

With time, reassuring words and Zeke making the kids laugh, things slowly got better. Reiner and you completely reassured them that you're never leaving, you love them more than anything in this world. That getting marriage is going to get you even more closer together than anything.

Hearing those words calmed Gabi down, each of them made you make a pinky promise to not replace them ever, same thing to Reiner.

That's when Bertolt brought up the fact you still haven't worn the ring, and it might make them feel better if they were the one to place it on your hand. And that seemed to grab their attention as they began arguing between themselves which one of them should do the honour.

{ The Lanterns, circa 1910 by Charles Courtney Curran 1861-1942 }

Headcanons

Strap in because boi are we in for a ride. These kids went through a lot even in a modern non-war world

They all have an altered negative view on marriage, especially Gabi and Falco.

Both of Falco's parents are deceased, he lives alone with Colt who's trying his hardest to work and take care of both of them, of course Zeke and Pieck help a lot too and try to be his stand in parents.

He knows about love and how good it is, he just thinks marriage would mean you and Reiner might also go away.

Gabi's parents are alive and well, they're just rarely in her life. She's an alone child with no siblings, so far Reiner has been her only relative that she counts as family.

Her parents often leave her at her aunt's house whenever they go on a trip away, or as she started getting older, alone in the house. It gave her a lot of freedom but also a misguided and neglectful life.

Reiner has been trying to fill both roles of her parents for her, and when you came along it was like a dream coming true, she suddenly has someone who truly cares for her being and loves her unconditionally.

So when she heard you were getting married, something in her snapped and fears about you both leaving her too just like her parents clouded her mind.

Udo and Zofia both have their moms only, they bond over it. In Udo's case it was after his father passed away in an accident that his mother became really overprotective and Borderline overbearing.

She's worried about everything, he feels like it's his fault somehow and can't help but copy her anxiety and paranoia.

When he heard about you getting married, he felt a sting of pain and guilt, like he's getting in the way and it never was his real family to begin with.

Zofia's mom is another case, her dad left them when she was younger without a word. Her mother lost trust in anyone after that and was emotionally unavailable.

She saw how hurt her mother was over her dad, she wanted to be strong for her mom and never have to depend on anyone.

So when she heard you were getting married, a sense of dread filled her at realising one of you will hurt the other somehow and she will have to be strong on her own again.

The four of them looked up to you both, were loved and cherished by you both like they've longed for so long.

They fear losing you, they fear losing the warmth, love and care you showed them.

So take it slow with them please, they've been hurt a lot. They don't mean to be ungrateful or rude they're just kids who are terrfied.

Be paitent and slowly introduce them to marriage in a new light, let them grief over their own parents in a healthy way while comforting them. Make them feel included in the planning and wedding and everything and I promise you they'll be fighting for the flower girl spot at the wedding if you just take it slow and gentle.

Yes even Falco and Udo want to be the flower girl.

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wishful-soda · 2 years ago

Note

Okay as you saw in my previous ask I absolutely ADORED this chapter and was screaming crying throwing up the entire time reading it so thats established but I am back for my full entire review of the chapter in detail because I NEEEEEEED to point out my fave details ok thanks (AS ALWAYS SPOILERS HERE)

“And I only cannot stand him when Max is around, that dynamic seems to make him think he needs to be completely unbearable.” I HADNT THOUGHT ABOUT THIS and I wonder if its more significant than just playing a part or not… hmmmm

“If you had told him a single detail about your life, maybe this could have been avoided.” Charles didnt HOLD BACK yes icon

“BUT NOT CHOP HIS DICK OFF. INTERESTING.” Max you are so close to getting it my dude please use your analytical skills I BEG

Actually max this entire night is what I just said. Dude, use sequential thinking and GET THERE BRO

YES AN APOLOGY KIND OF HAS BEEN ON HER MIND ALL ALONG MAX YOU GET IT. The fact he hits on her exact dilemma without knowing like she has wanted an apology for everything that she thinks he has done all along and now she is getting it… what is holding her back from being in love….

Drunkenly droning on about Daniel’s nose….. veryyyyyy relatable

GIRLIE WISHING YOUR PARENT COULD HAVE MET SOMEONE IS NOT A VERY PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP THOUGHT (also this was so emo and beautiful and I just want to say it felt so authentic)

Okay I need to take a second to sing your praises for the scene after Daniel walks in and max realises she called him…. This whole scene was written to perfectly make us as readers feel the increasing tension pressure and panic esp on the part of Charles and Daniel as they realise she doesnt really have a filter… as they get more panicked the more I was SCREAMING it was so perfect!!!!

Ok so the “I think im falling in love with him its so bad” was in one of the WIP games and I didnt think it could affect me more than it did then but in context I LOST MY SHIT

'You smiled at him like he was the only person in the room” FUCKKK shes so loud I cry; also max use your FREAKING brain I cant even with this man

“Did you ever stop to think that there must be a reason she called me instead of you?” OOOOOOF settle down Daniel, also yes he did think about it hes literally faking mate and you know this hes just the most jealous chaos monster as I like to say and I LOVE IT

“Because she. Fucking. Asked. Me. To.” His every action is centered on her I really cant take it UGHGHHGHHG

The way Charles and Daniel try so hard to prevent her from admitting something and snap out of their fight was somehow hot idk I was drooling tho. Panicking and drooling at the same time

“You had called Daniel because whatever you had wanted to ask him, you couldn’t do it without liquid courage. You weren’t lying, that was why you called him” Sure max…. Thats the only reason

“She told me she’s falling in love with Charles.” BUT DID SHE THO MAX??/? THINK REALLY HARD ABOUT THAT DID SHE SAY THAT???? Poor Daniel and also this justifies his jealousy in his brain and its only gonna get worseeeeeee I hope this gets cleared up soon bc I literally screamed NOOOO ITS SO BAD out loud when I read this part for the first time

At least max is starting to get curious and want to figure out what is happening bc I cant with him

The fact Daniel still went to take care of her after all that and was determined to be there for her its just so dreamy. Also I know you are considering the bonus chapter with more info but I also want to know the process and convo of Daniel going to her place and how exactly it went down with her and Charles there?????? And yes her trying to seduce him would be COMICAL I would love to read it

“It was very considerate” and him smiling sent me to the MOON and I dont know why but it KILLED ME

HE WAS JUST SITTING WAITING FOR HER TO CALL???? again I say…. All his actions centre around her its too much

HIM APOLOGISING ON HIS KNEES I DIED his fear of going back to enemies is so potent and it makes my heart clench

“Listen, I’m fucking proud of you.” And this whole speech… dont we all just need a Daniel Ricciardo to tell us hes proud of us????

FINALLY THE THIGH RIDINGGGGGGGG it lived up to the hype so well mate I loved it THANK YOU

I HAVE SAID IT ONCE AND I WILL SAY IT AGAIN. He pays attention to her and remembers every thing she has ever said to him over years and im supposed to believe he hated her? Nah he never did and its so powerful I cant

(Theres my girl….. peace out)

“This isnt what you want to hear” BROKE ME he is so insecure and worried about maintaining their friendship I CRY

THEYRE FRIENDS but WHAT IS SHE GOING TO SAY>???? Im DYINGGGG

ANYWAYS as you can see by the EXCESSIVE amount of notes here I clearly ADORED this chapter and am DYING to read more thank you so much for another masterpiece <3 <3 <3

IM SORRY THIS IS SO LONG I JUST HAVE A LOT OF EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS CHAP

Hi my love!! Sorry about the delay in responding, work got busy and I slacked on responding to my asks, please forgive me 😭

I mean, we can't deny that Daniel becomes totally unbearable and obnoxious while Charles is around. I feel like he has this undeniable urge to let people know who reader is REALLY with and Charles and Reader are like wtf is wrong with you, we WANT people to think Charles and I are together.

Listen Charles is getting FED UP with their nonsense. He's like don't cry to me girly pop

I feel like Max knows on a subconscious level, but he can't like actually know and put it together because he's like no that's not possible because she's dating Charles so he's like dismissing his suspicions.

Honestly even Max is fed up at this point 😂 he may not get the whole picture but he knows enough to know they both want to be AT LEAST friends but they can't stop being idiots.

My husband has made fun of me lots for my love of Daniel's nose and I refuse to back down from my stance that it is perfect and beautiful NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS

Omg thank you, I'm so glad it felt authentic because that was like the part of the chapter that made me the most emotional when writing it. Like I feel like it wasn't super deep like "I want my mom to meet him so she could know my future husband and father of my children" it was just as simple as "She would have liked him."

THANK YOU!! That scene took the longest to write honestly because I wanted them to fight and Max to be like omg stop and also omg what's happening, but I didn't necessarily want everything revealed to Max right now so I felt like I was really toeing the line between saying too much and saying enough to have grounds to fight 😂 SO THANK YOU BBY

It hits different in context doesn't it 😭

Let's cut Max some slack here, the boy is so confused, he's being told and shown one thing and then there's something entirely different on the DL and he's like ??? Also this may sound heartbreaking, but I think Max truly believes she would never lie to him about something like this and if she was with Daniel, she'd just tell him.

WE LOVE JEALOUS CHAOS MONSTER DANIEL.

Right? 😭 He couldn't NOT show up because he'd look bad or something, nonono it was all about if she needed him, he was going to be there goddamnit.

Okay idk how it's hot either, I don't really understand what happened there, but you're so right, it's 🥵

okay right, Max is making things SO MUCH WORSE and the oblivious doofus has no hint of an idea of the repercussions of his actions. Dude just thinks he's helping Daniel come to grips and move on and thinks he's helping protect reader from Daniel interfering with her relationship.

Max is finally fed up with being left out ok and he's about to figure some shit out

Right, like the importance of taking care of her and making sure she was ok trumped everything else and he was not about to just be like 'fine charles take over'. No way, she wanted him to take care of her and that's WHAT HE WAS GOING TO FUCKIN DO GODDAMNIT

and yes, I'm like 99% sure that the bonus chapter is going to happen because I agree, we need to see her making a fool of herself and Daniel being patient and Charles being like jesus fucking christ

ok right, she was drunk and boy is still thinking about her being considerate towards him. He thinks she just told Max she's falling in love with someone else and he STILL can't help but be mesmerized by her I stg

PICTURE HIM SITTING ON HIS COUCH JUST SICK OVER WHAT HE SAID AND SICK OVER THE FACT THAT SHE WON'T LET HIM APOLOGIZE

ok the 'proud of you' speech may or may not have stemmed from my own issues so I am sorry that was so self-indulgent ��

I needed the perfect moment for the thigh riding ok, y'all have been begging for it but I'm like ITS NOT TIME YET TRUST ME 😂

Nope, never really hated her. And she's also realizing this, he never really hated her so cue the guilt over the fact that she DID really hate him

praise kink in full swing and I cannot apologize and it will definitely happen again in the future.

THEY'RE FINALLY GETTING TO WHERE HE WANTS TO BE AND HE KNOWS HOW DEEPLY SHE HATED HIM SO HE'S LIKE OMG ANYTHING I DO COULD PUT US BACK THERE and goes full panic or jealous chaos monster/ or defensive/ or idiotic

NEVER apologize for your notes, no matter how long because I honestly LIVE for them (even if it takes me a long time to respond I'm so sorry omg). They honestly make me so happy and I love hearing your thoughts and emotions throughout. I seriously look forward to it so much that it's what motivates me to finish my chapters like 89% of the time.

THANK YOU FOR BEING A RIDE OR DIE AND ALWAYS BEING HERE TO READ MY SHIT WITH SO MUCH ENTHUSIAM. I would say more but it makes me emotional so I'll just yell about how much I love you

ILYSM !!!!!! 🥰😭💖😘😘😘

#sotd #sotd spoilers

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yeenybeanies · 3 years ago

Text

Slaying Monsters

i started this three months ago, and decided it was time to finish it. i’ve been wanting to write a piece with dev & some other gang members for a while now i didn’t proofread it yet don’t @ me

red dead redemption | charles smith & devin clarke ( oc )

3,728 words

language, blood, & animal death warnings

thanks for reading!! reblogs > likes!! patreon | ko-fi

Unattended bags are always tempting to a borrower. It’s partly survival and partly curiosity that draws the little beings to bags and boxes and other such vessels that contain stuff. Ideally, that stuff would be useful.

Such is Devin’s idea upon approaching a lone saddlebag. They’ve been watching it for a while now. It has remained unbothered and undisturbed atop a tree stump for over an hour. Surely there’s bound to be something good inside, what with the many members of the Van Der Linde gang constantly coming and going. And surely, whatever those contents may be, small amounts won’t be missed.

The coast is clear. The camp is preoccupied in tending to the daily duties; no one is paying the bag any mind. Devin makes a break for it, keeping low as they run through the grass, to the stump. They pause at the base and give the camp a quick look, pleased to see that no one has taken notice of their presence. For just a moment, they allow themself a prideful smirk, then they refocus on the task at hand: climb the stump and get in the bag. The former is hardly a challenge; deep cracks in the bark provide handholds enough that the borrower doesn’t need their hook or climbing equipment to scale it. Despite the strap and buckle keeping the bag shut, Devin is small enough to slip through a gap and reach the interior.

The space is dark and cramped, but some light filters in through the gap they’d entered. The first thing Devin notices is the smell of leather and sweat, and fabric beneath their feet. Clothing. It’s best not to take anything from these; missing scraps from a shirt or a pair of pants would definitely be noticed. Deeper down, past the clothes, another smell becomes more prominent: something earthy and floral. That could be useful. Devin crawls through the mounds of fabric, navigating the musty space, until their hand brushes something soft. A bit more pawing around reveals it to be an umbel of little flowers. Intrigued, they grasp the stem and pull the plant into the light for better inspection.

“ What the hell…. ” White flowers, jagged leaves…. Devin scrunches their nose, confused. Is their plant identification knowledge failing them? Or is the owner of this bag an idiot?

Pondering is short-lived. Footsteps approach from the outside––a human. Devin’s heart speeds up. They drop the plant and dive for cover within the clothes just as the bag is lifted. It sways in the air with the human’s long strides, most disorienting. When the swaying stops, the borrower remains hidden, knowing full-well that they are not safe yet. There’s an exchange of words overhead, a brief moment of stillness, and then the world starts tumbling. Devin clutches hard onto the clothing concealing them. Much to their chagrin, this particular jostling is painfully familiar. They’re on a horse.

Somehow, being in a saddlebag is worse than being stuck under a hat.

Fuck.

Suppressing the sickening feeling in their stomach and the myriad of emotions swarming their brain, Devin fights against the horrible shaking and pushes their way out of the fabric folds. Climbing is significantly harder, but they still press on, going so far as to use their knife and hook for more purchase on the tough leather. Slowly but surely, they manage to reach the opening they’d initially climbed through and peek out. The wind whips and frays their hair and makes it difficult to see much of anything. They catch glimpses of the ground speeding below at breakneck speed, and at the horse’s white-and-grey spotted pelt.

Most surprisingly, and to some relief, though, is the rider. The long, black hair and the big, sawed-off shotgun identify the man: “Charles!”

Alas, their voice is unheard over the wind. Devin growls, frustrated, and retreats back into the relative safety of the saddlebag. There’s no use trying to get his attention right now. They’re just going to have to endure the bouncing and the shaking until he slows down. They can only pray that it’s soon.

———

Only an hour or so elapsed by the time the galloping slowed, though, to Devin, it felt like a lifetime. Despite their queasiness (courtesy of the bumpy ride), the borrower pushes free of the mountains of fabric and scrambles up the leathery interior, to the opening. They pause at the rim and focus on swallowing the bile in their throat, then, once it’s clear, level the back of the human’s head with a hard stare.

They breathe in until their chest burns, and let out the loudest yell they can muster: “CHARLES!”

The man jumps in his saddle and whips his head around, one hand to the shotgun on his hip. His eyes scan the horizon behind him, well over Devin’s head.

“Down here. Hey!” They wave an arm, trying to ignore how foolish they feel. Even after months of being around Arthur, it still goes against everything they know as a borrower to flag down a human.

Were the situation different—were Devin not currently fighting some ferocious nausea—they might find it comical how Charles’s expression changes. First he’s struck with recognition, eyes still on the horizon, and then the color in his face pales with realization and horror. Slowly, as if he were making every effort to delay the inevitable find, his gaze lowers to the gap under the saddle bag flap and the little borrower peeking out.

“Devin?” It still takes him a moment to process their presence, and then he’s all but falling out of the saddle (much to his horse’s displeasure). After he’s got his feet on the ground and his balance under control, the man unbuckles the saddlebag lid and flips it open. The color is rapidly returning to his face in a heated flush. “M-Miss Clarke, I didn’t know you were—why are you in my bag?” His hand nears them, but Devin waves it off.

“Don’t. I might puke. It’s a marvel that I haven’t already.” They try to suppress a shudder. “I didn’t know this was your bag. I just saw it sitting back at the camp, untouched for some time. Thought I could get something useful.”

Charles grimaces sympathetically and lets his hand come to rest on his horse’s flank. He isn’t thrilled to hear that someone was rummaging through his belongings for things to scavenge, but such behavior is to be expected from a borrower, he figures. It does make him feel a little better to know that Devin hadn’t been targeting him specifically.

“I should take you back to camp. Arthur would kill me if something happened to you.” Never mind the berating Charles would give himself. He might not know Devin as well as Arthur does, but their charm is infectious. They are well on their way to having another human wrapped around their teeny tiny finger.

“I’d like that. Eventually. But I don’t think I can take much more galloping right now. Riding in Arthur’s hat was better than riding in here.” The borrower leans over the leather with a quiet groan. The nausea is subsiding, albeit slowly. They do stiffen just a little when Charles lightly rubs a knuckle to their back, but the gentle pressure draws another, more content groan from their tiny lungs.

“I'm alright,” they say after a minute. They glance up at Charles, offering him a weak but grateful smile, and then look to their surroundings. It’s not anywhere they recognize, but that’s not surprising. “So where are we going? ”

“Well, I was going out foraging,” the man says. “Now that you’re here, though…” He trails off, uncertain.

“Oh! Speaking of foraging–––” the borrower vanishes back into the bag, leaving Charles perplexed. Once they emerge again, they hold up a sprig of white flowers. “What the hell are you doing with this?”

Charles squints at the plant, then raises his brow in realization. “You know what that is?”

The surprise in his voice is a little insulting. Devin scrunches their nose. “Don’t patronize me, Mr. Smith. I’ve lived in the wild most of my life. I know what water hemlock is.”

He holds his hands up and offers an apologetic shrug. “That’s actually what I was going to forage for. I found some while I was out with Javier the other day, but I didn’t have time to collect more.”

“Okay.” Devin inspects the flowers, twirling the stem between their hands. “Still doesn’t explain what you’re going to do with it. Are you planning to poison someone? Is it that Micah guy?”

That earns them a snort. If only. “No. I use it on my knives and arrowheads. That and oleander sage. Gives them an extra kick.”

Devin frowns, just a smidge disappointed. “I suppose that’s a good alternative use. I used to do the same with my knife when I could find hemlock.” They drop the sprig and watch it fall to the ground far below. “It’d be so easy to poison Micah though…” They say so only half-jokingly.

“Don’t I know it.” Charles shares the sentiment, but he shakes his head. Much as he’d like to see that snake gone, it’s not his place to do anything about his presence. Yet.

Now that the nausea has passed (for the most part), the borrower pulls themself from the bag and climbs up the saddle, making their way up to the seat. “I’m okay now,” they say. “We’ve already come this far. We might as well go get that hemlock. I can use it too.”

Charles looks a little uncertain, but when he opens his mouth to protest, Devin levels him with a hard stare that makes him think twice. He clears his throat. “Why don’t you ride up here with me?” he offers. “It’d probably be a bit smoother.”

Smoother would certainly be welcomed. Devin nods and climbs onto the man’s hand when it’s brought down to their level. His skin is warm and rough, similar to Arthur’s hands. Unlike Arthur, though, he carries them with greater caution. Devin pats his thumb.

“Relax. I’m not made of paper.”

“Er… right.”

They can’t fault him for his caution. Charles has significantly less experience handling Devin than does Arthur. If anything, it’s comforting to know that he is actively trying to keep them comfortable.

He grabs the saddlehorn with his free hand and hauls himself up. First he brings them to his lap, and then, after thinking, lifts them higher to his shoulder, where they climb off. Devin sits just outside of his beaded necklace and takes a handful of his hair.

“Is this going to bother you?”

“No, it’s fine. Use what you need. Let me know if you start to slip.”

Once he’s sure Devin is secure––as secure as they can be on his shoulder––he spurs his horse gently in the ribs. They set off at a slow canter, something a bit less bumpy than the gallop before. Charles is correct: it’s more comfortable riding on his shoulder than it was in the bag, if only a little bit. Devin resigns themself to the reality that they will likely never enjoy travel on horseback, but this is at least tolerable.

Charles is silent for the most part, which doesn’t bother Devin. They find themself occupied looking at the scenery. From their usual vantage point on the ground, they don’t much get to appreciate views of mountains and trees and vast prairies. Even on the off occasion that they hitch a ride on Arthur’s person, they often take to hiding in his scarf, thus dashing any chances of catching the view.

Despite the ride’s discomfort, Devin finds themself enjoying this. They are grateful, though, when Charles tugs the reins and brings the horse to a gradual stop. He spares them a glance when they sigh.

“You doing okay?”

“Just peachy.” Devin gives the shoulder beneath them a pat. He dismounts rather awkwardly, trying not to jostle them too much.

It strikes Devin that they have not just one, but two humans invested in their safety and comfort. It leaves them with mixed feelings fluttering about in their chest.

Best not to dwell on it right now.

Walking is a little choppy at first, what with Charles figuring out how best to adjust his gait with Devin on his shoulder, but, once he figures out a good rhythm, it smooths out. He steps carefully, eyes scanning the ground for the plants he seeks. Devin watches too, though they’re less focused on the hemlock and more interested in… well, everything else. Hemlock is but one plant in a new area full of things to explore.

“Hey. Let me down.” Devin gives the man’s hair a light tug, drawing his attention back to them. Though he can’t fully look at them from where they sit, he still furrows his brow in an uncertain expression meant for them. Devin rolls their eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m a big boy, Charles; I walk around on my own every day.”

“I’m sure, but–––”

“Either you let me down or I’m jumping.” That seems to work. Charles acquiesces with a reluctant sigh and gingerly helps the borrower down to the ground. He remains crouched after they hop off of his hand, still looking unsure. Devin waves up at him. “Go on. Keep doing what you were doing. I’m fine.”

“Yell if you get into trouble,” he says, voice stern. Devin chooses not to take offense.

“Sure thing.” They part with a final wave and dart off into the grass, out of the human’s view. Still he hesitates, but he does eventually get up and carry on with his task. Devin breathes out an exasperated breath.

Having the care and concern of two humans is endearing, yes, but it can also be annoying. Devin might need to have a stern talk with the both of them if they keep this overprotective behavior up. They aren’t a child.

Charles does not feel good about just leaving Devin on the ground, but it wouldn’t have been right of him to hold them like some helpless creature. They’ve reminded him twice now that this is the life they live; he makes a mental note to try and be more respectful of that. After all, he reasons that he wouldn’t much appreciate it if someone else tried to keep him from doing the things he does every day. He isn’t palm-sized, but he imagines Devin still doesn’t care to be doted over. So he bites back his unease. He came out here for water hemlock. That’s what he’s going to find. Devin will be okay.

Following the nearby creek, Charles begins his search. He tests the soil beneath him with his foot, feeling its spring, its moisture, then starts scanning. Familiar white flowers speckle the banks. A faint smile creeps onto his lips. There’s plenty here for him to make use of.

–– –– ––

Devin pushes through the tall foliage, looking high and low for anything that might be useful. They find medicinal herbs, and spices for seasoning. Mentally they commend Charles; he sure knows where to look when it comes to valuable natural resources. Some of these plants are a rare find back at Horseshoe Outlook. They pick and take as much as they can carry, stuffing their bag full.

All is going fine. It’s going great, even. They’re making their way back down to the ground, munching on a sweet, juicy raspberry. The red fruit soaks their hands, their face, and their clothes, making them appear as though they’d just mauled something. It makes them snicker, thinking how Charles will react to see them like this. Their good humor dies suddenly, though. Devin feels a chill rush down their spine. They pause, alert, head on a swivel.

In an instant, everything seems to slow down. Devin drops to the ground as a pink, gaping mouth sails just a hair’s breadth over their head. It snaps shut, long fangs closing around air, and the scaly head of a rattlesnake retreats back to its coils, gearing up for another strike. Berry forgotten, Devin pulls their knife and their hook out. They stare the snake down just as it does them. It’s big––not just to them, but by rattlesnake standards. It’s a big fucking snake. The borrower’s heart races in their chest, but they don’t run, nor do they back down.

–– –– ––

Charles takes several clippings of water hemlock and carefully stows them in his satchel. He doesn’t take everything that he sees, not wanting to clear the area of the deadly plant, but he’s pleased with his haul so far. Already he has enough to coat his knives twice over, so he thinks that he could probably give Arthur and Javier some as well, so as not to waste it. He takes a few more stalks, then stands and stretches his back, arms held out to the side.

“That’s enough,” he mumbles to himself. He turns back to where he’d left Devin and scans the ground. Their tiny footprints are just barely visible in the dirt, and disappear into the grass.

“Miss Clarke?” he calls, taking a knee near the footprints. They don’t answer. “I think I’m just about done here, so I’m ready to go when you––woah––!” The man jumps back as a rattlesnake head pushes through the grasses. Layers of alarm spike in his brain: it’s a big-ass snake; Devin isn’t here; it has blood on its face; Did it eat Devin––?

“Just ‘Devin,’ Charles,” says the tiny voice. Charles flinches again. He swears he heard that voice coming from the snake. Did it eat them? He stares on in confusion, pondering whether or not he needs to cut the damn thing open, when its head flops to the side. Hauling it along is the little borrower.

“Oh my god. Are you––did the snake–––?” He stammers over his words, which surprises Devin. Arthur stammers here and there, but Charles is always so clear and calm when he speaks. They glance down at themself, noting the red stain and slick coating their hands, their head, their clothes…

“Ah! It’s okay! This isn’t––” they drop the snake and wave their hands, trying to placate the man, “I’m okay! This is all snake blood! And raspberry juice.”

Charles still looks horrified, glancing between the borrower and the rattlesnake. He does note that the blood seems to be coming from a deep wound on its head, right between its vacant eyes.

“You… killed it?” He gathers himself on his knees and leans forward, gingerly prodding the lifeless body.

“It tried to kill me first,” they say, sounding almost indignant. “Kinda lucky, though. I haven’t taken down a rattlesnake in a while. I can use it’s fangs and its venom.”

Charles lifts the carcass from the ground, testing its weight in his hands. His eyebrows shoot up at its heft. When he stands with its head at eye-level, its rattle-tipped tail still touches the ground.

It’s a big fucking snake.

“You… killed this monster?” He can’t hide the disbelief––or perhaps it’s awe––in his eyes as he looks back down to Devin.

They huff back up at him, trying not to take offense. “Yeah. I did,” they say, arms crossed over their chest. Charles waves his free hand.

“I don’t––I don’t mean to doubt you Miss––er, Devin. Sorry, I’m just… impressed.” Impressed would be an understatement.

Devin rolls their eyes. They adjust their bag and their knife, then trudge on towards Charles. Before they can ask him to, he stoops down and lowers a hand for them to climb onto. Once he has them at his level, Charles can see their annoyance clear as day.

“I tell you––both you and Arthur, you need to understand that I’m not helpless. I’ve lived my whole life out here. Half of it’s been alone. So spare me your patronizing looks and comments.” There’s venom in their eyes, in their words, as present as that in the venom in the snake’s fangs.

Charles has no hand free to hold up, but he does dip his head apologetically. “You’re right. I admit, I underestimated you. And I’m sorry for it. I’ve never met anyone like you before, and it’s a learning process.”

Devin’s features soften a little. They sigh and run a hand through their blood-slicked hair. It’s gross, but it’s not the first time they’ve been covered in blood. It won’t be the last time either.

“I like you, Charles. A lot. It’s a learning process for me too.” They offer him a half smile, though it does look a bit daunting with their red visage. “I think I’m ready to go home now.”

The man grimaces. “Think you want to… wash off first? Arthur is going to have a fit if he sees you like this.”

Devin looks down to themself, returning the grimace. “...yeah, probably. What I can, at least.” The blood wasn’t going to come out of their clothes without any soap, but they could wash their skin and hair off. Maybe they could hide their outerwear from Arthur, too. They had their underclothing on that wouldn’t show bloodstains.

Rattlesnake draped around his neck, Charles carries the borrower down to the creek and crouches at the bank. He brings his hands down for them to hop off and clean themself off. When they start stripping their outerwear, he turns his head to give them some privacy, and waits for them to draw his attention again when they’re done. Damp, but cleaner, and left in their long underclothes, Devin climbs back into Charles’ hands and scurries up to his shoulder, right next to the snake carcass.

“You good?” He asks.

“Yeah, I’m good,” they say. They give his shoulder a pat.

Charles stands, still a bit awkward with his passenger, but less so than before. “Pearson is gonna love this snake,” he says, tongue in cheek.

Devin bristles and glares daggers at the man. “This snake is my prize. That man is getting none of it. You can have some of it if you want, since you’re carrying it home, but I’m not sharing it with anyone else.” There’s that venom again.

Charles snorts. He pulls himself into his saddle and spurs his horse, gently pushing her to start trotting. “Right. Of course. My apologies, Devin.”

#g/t #g/t fiction #g/t writing #rdr #g/t rdr #charles smith #devin clarke #hyena ocs #i'm not in love with this but i'm tired of looking at it #& i wanted to finish it so i can feel less bad about starting something new #hyena writes

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graaid · 4 years ago

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After nearly 36 years of cold hard denial, Arthur Morgan realizes he likes men. Don't get him wrong, he likes women too, but he's been crushing over Charles since his arrival, and he wants to tell him that he likes him more as just a fellow gang member. But that requires a lot of mental effort.

(Entire fic (don’t worry it’s a oneshot) under the cut, but if you’d like to leave a comment/kudos on AO3 I’d really appreciate it!!)

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky over Clemens Point when the members of the Van Der Linde gang woke up. Lenny and Kieran were, of course, the first ones up and active, ready to prove themselves to the rest of the gang.

The smoke hadn’t even begun rising from the main campfire when Arthur got out of bed. Out of everyone in the gang, he was somehow the most and least punctual; he may show up to a robbery late, but he’ll always wake up at 6:30 am every day, even if he had gone to bed at 3 am that night. Thankfully, this early rising habit gave him the time to get his chores and other tasks done so he could have a little relaxation time later.

“G’morning Arthur, have a good night?” Charles called from his tent as he stretched and started to weave a feather into his long black hair.

“Ughhhh, as good as it’ll ever be,” Arthur groaned, hiding just the tiniest of blushes. Arthur knew he shouldn’t be so gruff with the other members of the gang, but being the no-nonsense uncle of the family had more or less become his thing over the past few years, especially with all the younger folk joining. He had been trying to cut down on the cynicism lately, but sometimes the jokes just write themselves. He figured he should probably leave the joke making to Sean, or at least the assholishness to someone like Micah.

Even though he would usually go straight to chopping wood or transporting bags of grain to Pearson’s wagon, Arthur leaned back on his bed and looked out over the camp. Strauss was nose-first in some ledger book, probably wondering where he could find his next victim to send Arthur after. Javier was tuning his guitar, no doubt readying it for another late night sing-a-long session at the campfire that evening. John was avoiding Abigail like the plague, but Arthur didn’t really blame him; it had always bothered him whenever the two of them yelled at each other. Obviously all couples fight sometimes, but the bickering had gone on so long Arthur wished he could just snap his fingers and have them become a happy couple again, if they had ever been one in the first place.

Arthur’s eyes wandered over to the tiny dock with it’s equally tiny canoe. Hosea had thought it a good idea to purchase the canoe for the camp a week or so ago, and the sight of Sean trying to stand in it and falling over comically into the lake made the purchase definitely worthwhile. It had also allowed the gang to get access to better fishing spots, which made Pearson’s stew almost edible.

That’s what I’ll do , Arthur thought, I’ll go fishing. A fish fry tonight sounds pretty good.

Getting dressed took no time at all, and walking down to the dock, making sure to give Micah an obligatory death stare was even easier. Arthur noticed John sitting on the edge of the dock, staring off into the distance, probably thinking of running off again. Probably.

“Hey John, wanna come fishin’ with me?” Arthur asked, untying the boat’s rope from the dock.

“Arthur, you know I can’t swim, right? If that little dinghy tips even a little we’re both goin’ in.”

“Then don’t tip the boat, dumbass.”

“Oh c’mon, you and I both know that’s not gonna happen.”

“Well if it does,” Arthur continued, stepping into the boat, “Your big brother Arthur will be there to drag your ass to shore.”

John rolled his eyes, sighed dramatically and stepped in the boat, shakily sitting down on one of the planks. “Fine, but if we tip… I’m allowed to look at your journal.”

“If we tip there won’t be much of a journal to look through,” Arthur chuckled, patting his back pants pocket.

Arthur, sitting in the back, pushed off from the dock and started rowing out towards one of the small islands not too far from Clemen’s Point. He’d been affectionately calling it “Bird Island”, on account of all the ducks and ravens that populated it. It was a good spot to think on any other day, but not when bringing John along.

“So Arthur, you did remember to bring bait, right?” John asked, trying not to turn around in the boat too fast, since he really honestly did not know how to swim.

“Nah, bait’s for rich folk, we’re using lures,” Arthur remarked, “Plus, it’s easier to see the shiny, pretty lures than some dumb worm.”

“You sound like a crow, Arthur.”

“Oh shut up,” Arthur replied with a hidden smirk, splashing some water with his paddle in John’s direction.

“Hey no fair, I can’t get you back there!”

“Then jump in the water and get me yourself, coward.”

Arthur didn’t need to see John’s face to know his friend was giving him the dirtiest glare. Thankfully before any revenge could be plotted, they pulled up to Bird Island.

“Alright, here we are, pick a spot and get comfy, we’re gonna be here a while.”

John grumbled in agreement and pulled a downed log to the beach so he could sit on it.

The two of them cast their lines into the water and began the waiting game, slowly reeling their lures back to the beach in hopes of catching some perch or trout.

As Arthur had imagined, John had somehow scared away all the fish. He didn’t know how, but he assumed it was something about his aura, or whatever Hosea called it, that just made it impossible to catch anything.

By the time it was noon, the two of them had only caught about 3 fish in total. Arthur didn’t especially mind though, he enjoyed days when he wasn’t robbing banks and killing innocent folk. He enjoyed his personal self-care days more, but he knew he should take what he can get.

Even from far away on this tiny island, Arthur could see some of the other gang members back on Clemens Point. He could easily make out Sean’s bright red hair as he chased after who must’ve been Mary-Beth around Pearson’s wagon, no doubt on another mission to woo her. Scanning over the edge of camp, he also spotted Charles chopping wood. Normally this wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary, but Arthur couldn’t take his eyes off of the fact that Charles happened to be chopping wood shirtless. Which he normally never does. Arthur suddenly wished he hadn’t asked John to come fishing. He couldn’t make out anything specific, but he had seen Charles shirtless once and the guy was built like a brick wall. He’d seen him knock a man out in one punch before, and the witnessing of it both scared him and made him feel just a little constricted by his pants.

Arthur must’ve been lost in thought longer than he imagined, because before he knew it, John was kicking sand at him, yelling that he had a fish on his line.

Arthur quickly diverted his attention back to his line, reeling it in and trying not to glance back over at Charles. Eventually he pulled in a 5 pound trout, so at least that came of something.

“Hey Arthur?”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve never been married, right?”

Arthur laughed, “God no, John. This life ain’t really one that allows for much marrying and settling down.”

“But you’ve had… relationships before, right?”

Arthur reeled back his line and sat down next to John on the log. “Is there something you want to talk to me about, Marston?”

John scooted over a bit to give Arthur more room on the log and reeled his line back in as well.

“I… I don’t know Arthur,” John started, “It’s just that, like, I know Abigail and I have been fighting pretty much since we met, it’s just… I thought we would’ve figured it out by now, even just for the sake of Jack, but it just seems to be getting worse every damn day!”

Arthur grimaced. Relationship trouble was never his strong point, but he’d at least try for the sake of his friend.

“Well, you have tried talkin’ it out, right?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah of course,” John continued, “It just never seems to be the right time to talk. We’re just always doing something else, and when we do have free time to talk it just… never feels right, or we just don’t agree.”

“Oh c’mon, you must agree on something.”

“Yeah, that I’m a miserable no-good deadbeat dad.” John chuckled, resting his head in one of his hands.

Arthur sighed and looked out over the water. He knew John didn’t really mean that, even if Abigail’s point had some validity. It’s hard having a relationship in a life like this, you never know if the person you love is going to return that night. It must weigh pretty heavily on Abigail every time John goes out, not knowing whether to tell their son now or later that his daddy might not ever come back.

“Y’know John, I think I have the opposite problem from you,” Arthur observed, “You’ve got someone who cares too much about you, while I’ve got someone who I’m not even sure cares about me.”

John picked his head up from his hands. “You do? You mean that Mary girl?”

Arthur chuckled and looked back at camp where he spotted Charles, unsurprisingly hard at work, “No, this one’s a little different.”

“Is it one of the girls in camp? You know I’d support you but you are a bit… old compared to them.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Close, but no.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Arthur could tell John was really thinking hard.

“Jesus, Marston, I know I’m dumb but you’re really pushing the bar. It’s Charles, okay? Don’t think too much harder, you’ll break somethin’.”

There was another beat of silence.

“Charles, like the one working with us?” John hesitantly asked.

Arthur’s silence told John all he needed to know.

“Huh,” John began, “I uh… never thought you, y’know, swung that way.”

“Me either,” Arthur admitted, taking a drink from his water flask, “But it took me nearly 36 years to figure it out, so don’t go telling me it’s fake or nothing. I did like all those girls I dated, but I just never really clicked with them, I suppose.”

John chuckled. “Well I guess it makes sense you’re the way you are. You probably rubbed off on me, certainly explains the eyes I’ve been making at Javier lately.”

Arthur almost choked on his water. “Say that again cowboy, you’ve been WHAT at Javier?”

John picked up a stick and began drawing in the sand with it. “Eh, it’s nothing really, Arthur, nothing really at all, it's just that… sometimes when Abigail and I fight I just want to run away with someone new, y’know?”

“Oh no you don’t,” Arthur smirked, wrapping his arm around John’s shoulder, “I ain’t gonna let you run out on us again, you’d find me cold in the ground first!”

John beamed back one of his rare sunshine-y smiles. “Aww, I guess big old tough Arthur Morgan actually does have a heart inside afterall!”

“Don’t push your luck, kid,” Arthur replied, standing up to cast his line out again, “You ever gonna tell Javier how you feel?”

“You gonna ever tell Charles how you feel?”

“You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that?”

“Hey, maybe Charles can give you a little pain in the ass, if you know what I m-”

“Marston you shut your trap before I drown you myself!” Arthur half-jokingly reprimanded, kicking some sand at his adopted brother.

A bit of time passed. Arthur happened to catch 4 more perch, and John devoted the rest of their time on the island to picking some herbs and flowers, knowing that his skills as a fisherman were almost completely useless.

By the time the sun was going down, John returned with a bundle of burdock root and purple flowers.

“Hey uh, Arthur?”

“Hm?”

“Are you ever uh, gonna actually tell Charles or anyone else at camp how you feel?”

Arthur sighed and packed up his fishing pole. “Probably not. It took most of my effort just now to tell you because I knew I could trust you, so you’d imagine what it’d be like to tell someone like Micah, let alone Dutch and Hosea.”

“Aren’t Hosea and Dutch together?” John asked, packing his herbs and flowers into the boat.

“Haha, very funny Marston, they’re just good friends, they’ve been that way for a long time. I would’ve thought you would know that.”

“Well that’s certainly strange, I never knew “good friends” kissed each other on the mouth.”

Arthur stopped what he was doing. “Dutch and Hosea? They’re a… a thing? I thought Dutch and Molly… Hold on a second…”

John wholeheartedly laughed. “Jesus, Arthur, I thought I was slow to get things but I think you just broke the world record for ‘slowest time a man’s taken to figure out his adopted fathers are homosexuals’. All those smart reflexes went to your Deadeye skills instead, huh?”

“Alright now I’m going to drown you in your sleep instead.”

“I’d like to see you try,” John beamed, hopping into the boat, almost tipping it over, “Plus, if you kill me now, who’s gonna help you kick Micah’s ass when you come out to everyone?”

Arthur turned his head away so John couldn’t see his smile. “Let’s just get back to camp first and give these fish to Pearson. I’m almost terrified to see what he does with them.”

Arthur and John rowed back to Clemen’s Point with minimal water damage to their clothing, at least on accident. John, apparently moved by Arthur’s mini-therapy session, made a beeline to Abigail and gave her the bouquet of purple flowers he had picked. Arthur could see her blush all the way from the dock.

“Had fun on your fishing trip, Arthur? I’m surprised you convinced John to come out with you on the water.” Hosea, sitting under a tree, book in hand, called out to Arthur as he made his way to Pearson’s wagon.

“Yeahhhh it was alright; John and I got to talkin’ about some stuff, and we caught some pretty good fish, so expect them in the stew a few weeks from now.”

Hosea grimaced, scrunching his nose. “Can’t wait for Pearson to overcook them too. Oh well, at least we’ll have something to eat.”

Arthur cracked a smile and sat down next to his adopted father under the tree.

“Hey Hosea?”

“Hm?”

“Are you and Dutch, y’know…?” Arthur asked, making a lot of vaguely suggestive motions with his hands, none of which Hosea could gather meant anything literally, but he understood what Arthur was getting at.

“Heh, well I was sure it was going to come out at some point,” Hosea said, closing his book and resting it on his lap, “Yes, Arthur, the two men who have raised you since you were 13 are indeed romantically involved with each other.”

Arthur leaned back on the tree. “Huh, I guess it makes sense. I just… I just wanted to make sure Marston wasn’t lying ta’ me again, y’know?”

Hosea chuckled, brushing his gray hair back into its place. “Oh don’t you worry Arthur, John doesn’t need to lie; and I don’t mean any disrespect, but I’m surprised it took you this long to catch on.”

“Eh, well, I’ve got my mind on other things, I guess.”

“Oh? Do you need to talk about something?”

“Not really,” Arthur began, “I mean… it’s just that…”

Hosea placed a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “It’s okay son, take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”

Arthur felt a tear well up in his eye. Between his two adopted fathers, Hosea had always been the one that Arthur knew he could come to with his non-outlaw related problems. Maybe it was his calm, almost flamboyant mannerisms, but it made Arthur, and he was sure plenty of the other members of the gang too, feel like you could trust him like a father.

“I… I’ve been thinkin’. About… things…”

“What kind of things?”

“Well, love things, I guess. ‘Cause I mean… I’m getting up in years, and I look at people like John with Abigail and Jack, and you and Dutch, and I just keep wonderin’ when I’m gonna meet someone, y’know?”

“Ah, those kinds of problems,” Hosea mused, scratching his chin, “I remember being your age and thinking the same things. Even when I was with Bessie I was thinking those same things. It’s hard to know when you’ve found ‘The One’, Arthur. I loved Bessie, I really did, and I thought she was my One for a long time, but there’s something about Dutch that I just clicked with all those years ago that I could never get enough of. So now I’m here, with the rest of ya’ trying to make sure you all don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

Arthur nodded his head and started drawing in the dirt with a twig.

“But that’s enough about my sordid old past,” Hosea continued, “Is there something that’s happened that made you think about all this?”

“Well yeah, I told you, I’m getting up there in age and-”

“No, I heard that Arthur, I mean is there someone you’ve met that’s made you feel this way?”

There was a brief moment of silence. “Yes.” Arthur muttered.

“Do I know them?”

“Mhm.”

“It isn’t John, is it? I know you two are pretty close, but I’m not sure how… close.”

“What? God no, Hosea, it’s not like that,” Arthur proclaimed, looking around to make sure no one was listening in, “It’s… Charles. Charles, like the one we work with, the one over there.”

Arthur pointed over to where Charles and some of the rest of the gang were hanging around the main campfire. It had become dusk by now, and the gentle orange light from the fire made Charles’s dark skin look like it was glowing.

“Hm I see,” noted Hosea, “Have you told him how you feel?”

Arthur snickered, “Y’know, John asked me the same question earlier. I didn’t even know you and Dutch were together, so no, I haven’t.”

“Well whenever you want to, I’ll be behind you.”

“Thanks… dad.”

“Oh come now Arthur, you don’t have to get all mushy on me, just be confident and speak from the heart and you’ll have no trouble at all.”

Arthur sighed. “Thanks. I’ll… I’ll try to remember that.”

The rest of the evening passed normally. Pearson served everyone stew for the Nth time in a row and Uncle roused everyone’s spirits with another vaguely sexual song as they sat around the firepit. Charles was too invested in his dinner to see Arthur shooting glances at him. Arthur knew he didn’t have to tell Charles how he felt, but the constant burying of his emotions was beginning to drive him insane.

Arthur began thinking about ways he could confess his feelings. He could always ask Charles to go hunting with him, but it’d probably be a bit awkward to profess your undying love next to the corpse of a recently deceased deer, so Arthur scrapped that one. He could always just invite him to his tent and tell him there, but then Strauss, who’s tent was right next to his, would definitely hear them.

By the time Arthur came to a conclusion, everyone had settled down and were now just enjoying each other’s company around the fire. Even old Uncle, who was usually the first to a song, was silently leaning back on the grass, already half-finished with his second bottle of whiskey. Nearly everyone was there, and the thought of coming out to that many people at once frightened him, but Arthur knew he just needed to get it over and done with, then everything would be better, right?

Arthur set his mostly empty bowl down on the grass, stood up, and cleared his voice.

“Uh, everyone, I have a, uh, announcement to make.”

“You’re pregnant?” Joked Sean from the other side of the fire, causing a few giggles to be heard.

“Haha very funny Sean,” Arthur continued, rubbing his hands together, “But this is important. It’s, uh, something that I’ve been thinkin’ on for some time now, and I felt like I needed to get it off my chest.”

“Arthur, my boy,” came Dutch’s voice from behind as he sat down on the log next to his adopted son, “You aren’t leaving, are you?”

“No! No, god no, it’s not anything like that. I just… I just… I don’t know how to say it.”

“Well then just say it as simply as you can then,” Lenny piped up from next to Sean, “That usually works best for me.”

There was a short pause.

Arthur took a deep breath. “I…well… I like… men.”

The pause after Arthur spoke might’ve only been a few seconds, but to Arthur it felt like years. His eyes kept bouncing around to the other gang members, trying to read their expressions before they spoke. His eyes eventually fell on Charles, who’s expression hadn’t changed since Arthur’s announcement, although it might’ve been his imagination, but he could swear there was the faintest twinkle in his eyes.

After what felt like an eternity, the silence was broken.

“Same.” Came Bill’s hoarse but quiet voice as he took another swig of his drink. There seemed to be a collective sigh from the group.

“Jesus Arthur, I thought you was going to tell us that you were dyin’ or somethang.” Said Sean.

Arthur chuckled timidly. “Nah, you’re gonna have to wait plenty more years before you see me go down.”

“Well that’s good, son,” Came Dutch’s warm voice again, “I’m glad you got that off your chest.”

Arthur chuckled again, this time with a bit more confidence. “I mean,” he continued, “I like women too, I just wanted to say this ‘cause I didn’t want y’all to make a big fuss if you ever see me bein’ sweet on another man, y’know?”

There were lighthearted chuckles around the fire. It was pretty obvious that this whole situation was really awkward for everyone involved, but Arthur could tell that they were all at least trying to be supportive, so he sat back down and took a few more deep breaths.

Some time passed and most of the people around the fire had left to go to bed. Arthur had been feeling a lot more relaxed, now that his big secret was out, but at the same time he knew that once Micah heard about it there’d be a whole new line of harassment coming Arthur’s way. Arthur hoped that maybe, just maybe, if Micah was being an asshole to him about this issue now, that Dutch may finally come to his senses and kick the bastard out of the gang. But getting Dutch to go back on his word was like trying to tell a bird not to fly, so Arthur didn’t get his hopes up too much.

Soon enough it was nearly 2 am, and everyone figured that they may as well go to bed. As Arthur was settling down, he heard Dutch’s voice half-whisper from his tent.

“So uh, Arthur, about what you announced at the fire tonight…”

“Yeah, Dutch?”

“You mentioned bein’ sweet on a man. You found someone?”

Arthur felt his cheeks heat up fast and consciously moved his head so Dutch couldn’t see.

“No. I was just, uh, sayin’... like in the future, y’know?”

Arthur heard Dutch chuckle to himself. “Y’know Arthur, considering all the time you spend with Hosea I would’ve thought you’d be better at lying. I won’t press it though; take your time, I certainly took mine.”

Arthur heard Dutch’s tent close and breathed a sigh of relief. Coming out to everyone about his attraction to men was already a lot, coming out about which specific man he liked was just a little too much for one evening.

That night Arthur dreamed that he was looking down on three houses facing each other in a wide, open field of grass and lavender. Off to the side of the houses was a field of plants and other herbs and a small wooden chicken coop. There was a big lake not too far away with a dock and a large fishing boat. It reminded him of the area near Big Valley. Sitting on the porch of one of the houses was Dutch and Hosea in twin rocking chairs, Dutch just basking in the sun and Hosea nose deep in some book. Even from Arthur’s far away point of view, he could see a glass of something cold in Dutch’s hand. It was nice to see his fathers relaxing as opposed to what they usually have to deal with.

Sitting on the porch of the second house was John and Abigail. Abigail seemed to be showing John how to sew, who must’ve been doing a spectacularly bad job beforehand. Jack was there too; he was chasing some big golden dog around the field, throwing a big stick for the pet to catch and bring back. All three of them were smiling and laughing at some unheard joke. Arthur felt happy for them, and he wished he could be like them. Maybe someday.

Arthur looked to the porch of the third house and saw no one there. He came closer, and to his surprise, there was a tiny carving of a deer standing at the top of the steps. Next to it was a same sized carving of a wolf. Arthur felt a strange pull to the carving of the deer and he reached down to pick it up. As he did so, he saw a hand out of the corner of his eye pick up the wolf carving. As he stood back up with the deer in his hands, he saw that it was Charles who had picked up the wooden wolf. The two men were standing mere inches apart, eyes locked on each other. Arthur so desperately wanted to kiss Charles, even if this one was just a figment of an overactive and horny imagination. But instead of a kiss, Charles took Arthur’s free hand, led him up the steps of the house to the porch, and sat him down on a large wooden chair next to his own. Neither Charles nor Arthur spoke a word to each other, but the feeling of Charles’s large, warm hand on Arthur’s own as they sat and looked out over the lake together as the cool air wafted past them made Arthur feel an emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time: contentedness. The feeling was so comforting he even forgot that this was all a dreamed-up fantasy. Arthur wished he could skip having to tell Charles that he liked him and just go straight ahead to this perfect moment. But Arthur knew that he’d just have to get it over with, like with his coming out. But thankfully now, with the thought of (just) about everyone behind him, he knew he could do it.

#red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption #rdr2 #rdr1 #charthur #vandermatthews #arthur morgan #arthur rdr2 #charles smith #lgbt #graaidart #but writing this time #writing #hosea matthews #Dutch Van Der Linde #fanfiction #fanfic #trans #transgender

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somethinwickedthiswayrides · 5 years ago

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May I get some romantic Kieran fluff please and thank you? I'm having kinda an off day (emotionally) I need fluffy stuffs ❤️❤️❤️

Of course love!

I’m…honestly actually rather proud of this! :D

So I hope you like it, I hope it’s what you needed, and I hope you feel better soon. :)

On a slightly more…comical note?

HAVE A DUFFY! :D

Kieran can hardly believe that he’s fallen in love in the Van Der Linde camp.

He caught himself thinking of her often, daydreaming even.

He loved everything about her;

Her beautiful hair, that reminded him of rich soil after a heavy rain.

Her soft and sweet smile that would just brighten his day.

Her eyes that would rival the vast skies with how blue they were.

Her kind and loving nature as she sneaked the horses all kinds of treats.

Her laugh would send shivers up and down his spine.

He loved every little thing about her, and often dreams of just picking her up and riding out of here, away from it all.

He’d dream about having a little homestead or maybe even a farm and maybe raising a child with her.

But other times he felt like he would never to able to catch your eye.

The musically talented Javier, the strong provider Charles, the handsome and loyal Arthur, the inspiring leader Dutch, the bombastic comedian Sean, the sweet and kind Lenny.

How on earth could he compare to them?

About the only one he thought he might’ve stood a chance against was Micah Bell.

And even he had the balls to waltz up and start flirting with you. As cringe worthy as it was.

But he knew, hE KnEW, that if he didn’t put his heart out there, how would he ever know what the result would be?

With that in mind, he clutched a small bouquet of wildflowers to his chest, took a breath to steel whatever courage he had, and set out to find you.

When he did, he saw that you seemed a bit upset, distant even.

He quickly rethought what he was going to say to you.

He gently caught your attention with a soft hello, before swallowing the lump in his throat and handed you the flowers.

“I-I just wanted to tell you, tha-that I think you are the most amazing person I’ve ever met, a-and I wanted to thank you for being here for me when I needed it.”

The soft smile and graced your features was all he wanted to see.

But, he could still tell that something was bothering you.

“A-are you alright? You seem a bit…upset?”

If you didn’t want to tell him, he wouldn’t pry, even though he hated to see how upset you were.

If you did tell him, he’d sit and listen to it all, no matter how serious or silly the problem may be.

No matter if you told him or not, he was wracking his brain for any idea that might make you feel just a bit better.

It seemed like fate was on his side when he heard Dutch fire up his gramophone to play a soft song.

“Da-Dance with me!”

The surprised look on your face didn’t deter him and with a newfound boldness he reached his hand out for yours.

“Dance with me, and lets pretend the world doesn’t exist, even if it’s just for a moment.”

He was overjoyed when you reached up to take his hand.

The dance was a bit clumsy, but he was trying his best.

When you two finally got into the rhythm of the song, with a face burning hot, he plucked up the last bits of his courage to ask you a question.

“I-if I told you that, I was in love with you, what would you say?”

The look on your face was surprised than that quickly melted into confusion, it worried him a bit.

“Why me?”

He was taken aback, why wouldn’t he love you?

“Because… Because where everyone else only saw an O'Driscoll, or a traitor to his gang, or just some weak little stable hand, you saw me, well, you saw me for me. I don’t have the words to tell you how much that meant to me. Hell before I even realized that I was falling, you had already made off with my heart, and, if you want, I’d like to give you the rest of me as well.”

He was putting everything on the line, and he was praying that if you were going to let him down, that you’d let him down easy.

“We-well, I guess I’d say that, I love you too, Kieran.”

It honestly took him a moment, but when he processed what you had just said, he was on cloud nine, his grin threatened to split his face he was so happy.

He pulled you in for a tight hug as the two of you laughed.

After a moment he pulled back a bit to look right into those blue eyes he loved so much.

“Ca-can I kiss you?”

With a soft smile you said yes.

And he swears that as soon as his lips touched yours, that he had finally found his home, and he thought that if you were feeling even a fraction of the pure joy and love that he felt, than everything would be alright.

#Somethinwickedthiswayrides #madnessismylover #Kieran Duffy #kieran duffy x reader #tailor made reader #love #romance #I seriously googled romantic prompts #and I think I put about five or six different ones in here #I hope it's just what the doctor ordered #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption #rdr2

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floral-on-main · 5 years ago

Text

I Would Dye For You

Summary: Lydia needs to re-dye her hair. She gets some help from the resident Ghost with the Most. It goes surprisingly well, all things considered. A sequel to Back To My Roots (No ship!)

Also on ao3. Words: 2279

Getting the hair dye was easy enough. No petty theft or step-mother begging needed. All it took was to ask her dad to pick it up on a grocery run. Then 3 to 5 business days later, Lydia had her box of black dye in hand. She couldn't help but think back to Beej's off hand comment about dyeing his own hair. She had no idea why a demon with color changing hair would want to dye it, but it couldn't hurt to indulge him.

Yes it could. Lydia knew it could, but this seemed relatively harmless.

So on her next mother-daughter bonding activity with Delia the two went to the mall. Of course Delia had to check out the recently opened shop of Spiritual Wellness. And of course Lydia had to go into the store that was blaring metal music and lined with walls with even more metal. She passed by another row of piercings before coming across a lone stand of hair products.

On the shelf was brushes shaped like skulls, neon colored hair clips, animal eared headbands, and a sizable selection of hair dyes. The majority were various shades of black, but a couple stood out with obnoxious packaging and color. Green, red, blue, purple, all colors she had already seen on BJ. She doubt there would be much of an impact if his hair didn't look any different. It was then she noticed a single box of pink dye stowed in the back behind the red.

Before she could second guess her actions, she purchased the bubblegum pink dye. Delia was near the entrance of the store perusing the crystal jewelry on display. From the look on her face, it seemed she didn't appreciate how almost none of the jewelry had actual stones and was just colored plastic. For once Lydia had to agree with her.

The ride home was quiet, almost pleasant. Lydia and Delia still didn't agree on most subjects, but they were growing closer. A family disaster would do that to people. Lydia now near that Delia wasn't naive or air-headed, just sickeningly optimistic.

As she raced inside Delia wished her the best of luck. It seemed Delia always had to get the last word in when parting. Lydia threw the door open to her room to find it thankfully empty. She knew Beetlejuice would show up eventually, but she didn't want his help right now. She placed the box of pink dye on her bed before grabbing the black dye from her wardrobe. Before leaving, she made sure to leave a note besides the dye that read 'For you. DO NOT EAT'.

Gloves on and brush in hand, Lydia was ready to rid herself of her loathsome roots. The only thing stopping her was the sound of moping on the other side of the bathroom door. Looks like Beej found her note. She took a deep, calming breath before kicking open the door. The sound of a surprised yelp soothed something primal inside her. Serves him right.

Lydia and Beej glared at each other in various states of ridiculousness. One knocked on his ass in a grungy suit, the other in a black stained floral robe and cheap plastic gloves.

“Give me ten minutes and then I'll do yours.”

Beej gave her a thumbs up. With that, she shut the door and made quick work of covering her roots. Beetlejuice leaned against the wall beside the door. He knew he was being a nuisance and he reveled in it. But he honestly did want her to finish up so he could get his hair done. God-slash-Satan, he really hoped the dye stuck in his hair. His suit could stain and he didn't want to look like he took a dip in Pepto Bismol. Never again.

The door opened just a sliver. Lydia's eye could be seen from the crack. Beej gave her big ol' puppy dog eyes, complete with dog tags and being housebroken. “Come in. Keep still or I <i> will</i> tell Delia that you're the reason her crystals have been going missing recently.”

“I told you that in confidence! But I understand where you're coming from.” With a snap of his fingers Beetlejuice was hogtied on the floor.

“Why are you like this?” She rolled her eyes while placing the box's contents on the counter. She donned the crappy gloves and mixed the dye with practiced skill. Beej hovered over her shoulder to see what she was doing, now free of his conjured bonds.

“Sit down, BJ. This is gonna take a while.” With a theatrical groan Beetlejuice sat on the edge of the bathtub.

Despite his normal jittery behavior, Beej managed to stay relatively skill as Lydia brushed in the heavily pigmented color. He even stayed quiet until Lydia was done. “Now we just have to wait,” she checked the box, “thirty minutes”.

That broke the flood gates and the two fell into their usual conversation topics. The main highlight being the chaos in the Deetz-Maitland household.

“I don't see why Chuck got so bent outta shape about Ginger visiting. Her dancing could use some work, but as far as spiders go, she's harmless.”

All Lydia could do was nod in agreement.

“She has nothing on that giant motherfucker Donna found in the closet.”

“Weren't you the one that put it in there?”

“Yeah, but that isn't the point, Lyds.”

Lydia washed her hair in the sink while continuing their conversation. “Bertha got braces recently.”

“What did she break? I didn't take her as the cool type.”

“Braces on her teeth, asshole. Also, breaking bones isn't cool. It's painful.”

“I've broken tons of bones in the name of a good time. You breathers got plenty of bones, doesn't matter if you break a couple.”

“Just because bones heal and carpets can be replaced doesn't mean we should go crazy stupid.” A brief moment passed. “We need to wait until we're alone, at least.”

The timer on Lydia's phone went off. She grabbed the shower head and brandished it it like a knife. “Now lean back so I can wash that excess out of your hair.”

His eyes narrowed. “Over my undead body.”

Just as he made a move to get up, his face was doused in lukewarm water. In that instant Beetlejuice resigned himself to, he shuddered, getting clean. Or his hair getting clean at least. Only two people could get him to willingly bathe and they were both dead.

After seven minutes, Beej was released to shake out his hair. Lydia was honestly surprised that no one came up to check on the sound of a cat being drowned. Looks like everyone had gotten somewhat desensitized to their shenanigans.

The time on her phone said dinner would be ready soon. Might as well head down now and get the questions out of the way. She met Beej at the end of the hall. How the fuck did he manage to get his hair dry already? Whatever, it's probably demon magic.

The dye seemed to be holding in pretty well. There wasn't a single splotch of pink on his hands or his suit. Could all dead people dye their hair? Was a demon thing, a demon that was alive for thirty seconds thing, or just a Beetlejuice thing?

The two descended the stairs in silence, after a quick shove match.

Delia was the first to notice the pair. She set the salad bowl alongside the plate of what looked like green spaghetti. She quickly took a seat with the rest of the adults, mentally preparing herself for whatever would come next. At the same time, Lydia and Beetlejuice prepared themselves for what the family had to say.

The most surprised actually seemed to be Delia. If she thought Lydia was going to use pink dye on herself Delia was delusional. Charles did a double take, but aside from that he didn't act out of the ordinary. It seemed he had already gotten used to the unusual happenings of his family. Lydia and Beetlejuice would have to set something on fire next week to keep him on his toes.

The Maitlands had absolutely no reaction. No gasps of surprise. No lecture about dyeing a violent demon's hair. Not even words of enthusiastic encouragement. The two ghosts just sat at the table and made polite conversation.

Beetlejuice took his now customary seat across from the Maitlands. The three dead members acted just like they normally did. That was somehow the most strange and abnormal thing Lydia had witnessed all day.

The food was tasty, even the pesto pasta. Of course Beej made a comment about its resemblance to moldy worms. Dinner as usual.

The semi-awkward, semi-peaceful silence was surprisingly broken by Charles. “Your hair looks exceptionally vibrant tonight, Mr. Juice.”

For some reason, Adam and Barbra broke into a fit of poorly concealed giggles. Lydia shot a confused look at Beej. He shrugged, but clearly knew something.

She pushed the salad around her plate, acting as nonchalant as possible. “I helped him dye it earlier.”

That got a reaction out of the Maitlands. They both looked confused and then looked at Beetlejuice. Hopefully their couple's telepathy wasn't rubbing off on him. It was weird enough how they always seemed to know what the other was thinking.

“I figured Beej wouldn't want a color he couldn't replicate naturally, so I picked up some bubblegum pink. It was obnoxious enough to fit his personality.” While everyone looked at Lydia, Beetlejuice stuck his tongue out at her.

The Maitlands got a twinkle in their eyes. Now a more common sight since Beetlejuice started hanging around. Adam said, “Pink is a good color on you, cuddlebug.” After that, Barbra either winked or had a muscle spasm in her eye.

For awhile she had figured her ghost-parents had a thing for Beej (she knew he certainly had a thing for them), but this was the final nail in the coffin. She wanted to gag. It felt wrong, but also right, which made it feel even more wrong.

Lydia was pulled from her thoughts by Barbra making a comment. “So it was just dye. And here we thought you were just happy to see us.”

It was with dawning horror that Lydia realized the Maitlands saw a different side of Beetlejuice than anyone else in the family. A more romantic and caring side. The comical sight of the nastiest dead guy she knew with pink hair wasn't worth it anymore. She would never get back her childhood innocence.

After that dinner passed in a blurry haze. Before she knew it, Lydia was back in her room actually looking forward to doing homework. It was mind numbing work, but it was the perfect thing to take her mind off the romantic relationships of her family members.

Things were changing. Like the rug had been pulled out from under her. What if Beetlejuice wouldn't want to hang out with her anymore? What if the Maitlands stopped helping her with homework? Lydia knew it was irrational. Her family loved her and always would. But deep down a dark feeling grew somewhere behind her diaphragm. It was a sick feeling. One that told her she would be unneeded, unwanted. That her family would move on and forget about her.

As if on cue Beetlejuice appeared in her room, hair still as pink as when she first dyed it. He was smiling an impossibly wide toothy smile. Something was behind his back.

“Ta Da!” He held out a box wrapped in pinstriped paper. A slime green bow completed the look. “Happy six month friend anniversary!”

Lydia took the small box from his open hands. A whole different type of tears threatened to spill. She hastily ripped off the paper and ribbon to reveal a matte black box underneath. She felt a single tear roll down her cheek as she removed the lid.

Inside, nestled among red satin, was a switchblade. She picked it up. The engraving on the handle's side immediately caught her attention. In curvy sliver writing it said, 'BFFFFs Forever'. She felt something warm bloom in her chest. Time to deflect with sarcasm. “ You do know you just gave me an implement to stab you with, dumbass.”

“Well, I was hoping you would stab other people. Y'know, for when I can't be there to protect you, ya little gremlin.” He reached out to ruffle her hair, a nasty habit picked up from Adam, but she managed to quickly move away.

With a pout Beetlejuice pulled his hand back. “Glad you liked the gift, scarecrow.” He tugged at his collar as if to stall for time. “And thanks for dyeing my hair. It really means a lot to me.” After that almost heartfelt confession he switched gears to cover up his vulnerability.

He patted down the lapels of his suit, slicked back his pink hair, and placed a hand over where his heart would be. “Now if you excuse me, A-Dog and B-Town wanted to speak to me about something. If you hear groaning and chains rattling just ignore it.” And with the toss of a smoke bomb, Beetlejuice was gone.

If Beej mentioned anything about his sex life she was definitely going to make use of that switchblade. Good thing his brain to mouth filter recently got an upgrade called Maitlands 2.0.

It seemed like some things never changed. Damn being alive was hard, but it didn't seem like being dead would be that different. Lydia just had to stick around and see.

#beetlejuice muscial #fic #lydia deetz #sibling bonding #btj #beetlejuice

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years ago

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Skam France season 3, episode 4 reaction

Manon really does come across as Lucas’ deeply invested mom, like if she started leaving educational pamphlets around the flat titled IT’S OKAY TO BE GAY I would not be surprised.

Episode 4

Clip 1 - What the hell, Mika

Manon is telling the flat about her time in London. Lucas seems a bit miffed judging by the look he’s giving her, to be honest. Annoyed that she interrupted his moment with Eliott? Or just perceptive that she’s leaving out pertinent details of her story and things weren’t so great for her? With Noora, she was openly talking about how things had gone wrong with her and William; Manon is hiding whatever happened with Charles and putting on a happy face.

But Mika and Lisa are overjoyed to have her back. The three of them together again, they’ll be so happy! Uh, what a great thing to say in front of your other roommate? Mika, Manon, and Linn are the Three Musketeers and Lucas is like a bug they graciously decided not to squash.

Manon thinks this is a temporary arrangement until Charles returns. Lucas asks when Charles is coming back, Manon says he’s finishing up a project and it’ll be like a week or two. Uh-huh. Probably not the case, but on the surface, she makes it sound very reasonable, things are A-OK in Marlesland.

Mika says Manon can have Lucas’ room. The fuck? Lucas is like similarly surprised and Mika yells at him letting Manon sleep on the sofa, that’s why Lucas isn’t hooking up with girls if that’s how he treats them. Again, the fuck?

Manon says she’s OK sleeping on the couch and Mika hushes her and goes on about how bad she looks as a way to guilt trip Lucas. I’m sure Manon appreciates hearing that she looks like shit. Lucas says something completely sensible, that Mika should give Manon his room then, and Mika is like WHOA SLOW DOWN. It’s only logical that Manon should get her room back, right? Lucas is like, but she left it to me and it’s not even the same flat. Mika is all, this is a family and you’re like a cousin. Lisa adds, a distant cousin. Dude, fuck off, both of you.

Mika and Lisa decide Manon should get Lucas’ room and Manon sits there. Lucas gets up in a huff. The hell did I just watch?

This scene was messy as hell and people were not happy about it!

Previously I had thought it was amusing that Mika and Lisa gave Lucas a hard time, because I assumed it was coming from a place of love. You know, how Eskild made fun of Isak for his room stinking and him being a cranky teenage boy. Maybe Lisa doesn’t care about Lucas as much, and she’s been shown as a very crabby character, much more than Linn, so I don’t expect her to be all warm and fuzzy. But Mika? He sheltered Lucas in S2. We don’t know if it was under the exact same circumstances, but Lucas was crashing at their place, and Mika had to know something was up, because why else would a teenage boy not be living at home? Why would he prefer to sleep in the cellar of someone who’s practically a stranger? And I’m not sure the writer was intending to make this scene come off as harsh as it does. But this scene made me reevaluate my take on Mika and his relationship with Lucas and the whole flat-share dynamic.

I was trying to compare the Isak-Eskild dynamic to the Mika-Lucas dynamic up to this point, through episode 4. Because we might be influenced knowing the Pride clip and other important moments are coming, whereas prior to Pride it’s possible we might have felt less warmth about Isak and Eskild’s relationship. After all, the meatiest stuff about their relationship is still to come - even the backstory about Eskild picking him up in a bar is mentioned first in episode 5. But nah, I feel like Eskild’s whole demeanor is just more nurturing and fond even when he’s teasing Isak even though he and Mika have fairly similar scenes so far in these seasons. When Noora came back, Eskild said that it had been chaotic in the flat, and that Isak was a good kid but lazy. But still ... a good kid! And when Isak pointed out that he was sitting right there, Eskild said there was no need to get jealous, he liked him, too. So, some gentle roasting of Isak, but mingled with affection. Whereas Mika didn’t have anything positive to say about Lucas in this clip, voted to kick him out of his room, and made a clear distinction between the other three and Lucas, with Lucas being the outsider they care less about.

Whatever they intended, it felt really mean. That’s Lucas’ room, not Manon’s. She never even lived in this apartment! It has never been her room! Were they going for some comic relief by having Mika and Lisa decide Lucas is the one to get kicked out of his room, like ha ha, they make him sleep on the couch? I would be a lot less annoyed by that if Mika at least were affectionate about Lucas. I don’t know, joking or making a comment like, “I love you, buddy, but you gotta take one for the team” (or something similar)? It’s the combination of him getting kicked out of his room and them dismissing him as not in the “family” that makes it feel nastier than intended. Because we know Lucas’ backstory. He’s a teenage boy with a father who left and a mother with serious mental health issues, who left home to go sleep in a basement of a near-stranger. He feels abandoned enough as it is. And Mika knows at least part of this history! It feels really fucking insensitive to kick Lucas out of his own room when Lucas is clearly upset about it. For them to call Lucas a “distant cousin” is the worst part, especially when they’re showering Manon with love.

I can absolutely see why perhaps this dynamic was intentional, to highlight Lucas’ detachment and show his distance from everyone. But this doesn’t seem like Lucas’ problem. If we look at Isak, he was distancing himself largely due to his own internal struggles - like he couldn’t tell the truth to his friends, he thought his mom was a lost cause. His personality was very withdrawn and what he presented was fake. Because we followed Isak’s character development, we got to see him learn to reach out to others and be more authentic, and that came with having better relationships. This situation doesn’t seem like Lucas’ fault, though, it seems like the roommates’. So I’m not sure it really works for me, narratively. Maybe the point is that Lucas isn’t being cozy or friendly enough with them? I don’t know if we’ve seen enough of that to make this distinction.

I was kinda wary about Mika at times last season, and was worried that they were going more for comedy with him to the extent of toning down Eskild’s more serious moments, his kindness and nurturing. I came around on him because he was there for Manon after the assault, but now I’m wondering how they’ll handle stuff like the Pride clip. I feel like it won’t seem earned. How Lucas is supposed to open up to someone who sees him as a distant relative rather than a member of the family? Isak was able to open up to Eskild because Eskild treated him with care. I hope they address that distance Lucas feels and have Mika explain that he does think Lucas is great and is glad he’s staying there or whatever.

Adding to this: Mika’s constant needling of Lucas being heterosexual and liking girls is starting to seem even weirder in light of this clip. Like I thought maybe it was him trying to cover for Lucas and act like he didn’t know his big secret. It was a kindness, because surely Mika knows or suspects that Lucas is gay - otherwise how did he find Lucas and hide him last season if it wasn’t a gay bar? We know Emma and Manon told him the gossip? But he seems so callous here that I’m wondering what his motivation is with all the hetero jokes. At a certain point it seems like he’s rubbing it in Lucas’ face, even if it’s not the intent. And that’s another reason why he might seem worse toward Lucas than Eskild was to Isak, because Eskild absolutely did not make hetero jokes about Isak like this, in a way that started to feel aggressive.

Right now I’m just wondering what they’re doing with Mika and the Mika-Lucas dynamic, if they’re going to minimize it or if they’ll replace it with another relationship (like put in Manon or Alex instead) or if they’ll try to strengthen that relationship in the rest of the season.

Clip 2 - Manon’s about to bake Lucas a rainbow cake

In his room Lucas texts Eliott about how last night was nice and if he wants to do anything that afternoon. I like that he takes a moment before he sends it. Eliott replies that yeah, yesterday was nice, which makes Lucas smile. Awww. Something going well for him after getting evicted from his room. But Eliott says he’s busy and they’ll see each other Monday, which is a downer.

However, I want to point out that Even told Isak in the OG equivalent that he had plans with Sonja, after telling Isak in the kitchen that he couldn’t break up with her (attempts to kiss him nonetheless). The scene with Noora and the roommates focused on her talking about how if Wiliam loves her, he’ll choose her, which was a clear parallel to Isak hoping Even will choose him over Sonja, only for Even to choose Sonja (that afternoon, anyway). Which sucked for Isak. By contrast, Eliott did not tell Lucas that he couldn’t break up with Lucille, and in fact said their relationship was ending and that he would like to be in a relationship with someone, “not necessarily a girl.” You know. As subtle as a hurricane. So there is much, much less room for Lucas to doubt that there are any obstacles with Eliott other than the technicality of dumping Lucille (and breaking things off with Chloé). That continues here, because Eliott just says he’s busy. Not with Lucille, just busy, which could mean anything. He might have to go visit his grandparents, he might have promised to go furniture shopping with his mom, he might have plans with another friend to go to fucking Disneyland. It’s a bummer for Lucas but not necessarily a reason for him to doubt that Eliott is really interested. So that tension isn’t as prevalent.

Manon comes in, Lucas resumes packing up his shit. To her credit, Manon says not to bother, she can sleep on the couch. But Lucas says Mika will kill him. Manon is like, it’ll be a few weeks, maybe a month. Oh fuck that. Why doesn’t Manon go stay with any of her other friends? Can’t she crash with Emma? Is she that concerned about putting up a front that everything is fine with her and Charles? Or that much in denial?

Also, did she just go from saying “It’ll be a week or two” to “It’ll be a month at most” within the space of a few hours? Because lol.

For a more optimistic take, especially since at the end of the clip Manon seems grateful and Lucas accepts that, it might be that Lucas feels he owes Manon since she offered her room to him at the end of S2. Which I would totally understand! But I wish it hadn’t come with Mika and Lisa being jerks about it.

Manon asks about that guy last night. Who is he? Totally casual. Lucas says he’s a friend. Who is this friend? Is he new. Totally casual. Manon comes across like a mom wanting to make sure her kid is socializing in kindergarten. Lucas wants to know why she’s asking all these questions. No reason! Totally casual. Lucas, not thrilled with this line of conversation, says if she wants her room back he has to move stuff out of there, so Manon leaves.

Manon clearly suspects that Lucas is gay, which we already knew, and that he and Eliott have a thing, and is trying to nudge him out of the closet, I guess. I do think she really means well and that she’s not asking for that spicy gossip. She probably wants him to know she’s OK with him being gay and trying to show him support when she knows life has been rough for him. It’s just that she needs to take a step back and let this thing unfold on Lucas’ terms. Lucas is obviously not ready to open the closet door. Both she and Mika are making this more stressful on him, I think: Manon is trying to probe him for information on Eliott and his dating life and that makes him defensive, and Mika keeps dropping comments about Lucas being straight which probably frustrates him, as a constant reminder that he’s not.

Clip 3 - Protect Daphne at all costs

Emma ambushes Lucas at his locker. Manon didn’t tell Emma (her BFF) she was returning and Emma is surprised at that, so I think she’s trying to keep her Charles drama to herself. I wonder if there’s a particular reason that she’s not opening up about it, considering that Noora told her friends all about her epic romance with William not being what she thought is was. Does it have more to do with the court case, if they go through with that S4 content? Not wanting anyone to ask questions?

Daphne interrupts them, saying she thinks they got caught (re: the party). The headmaster caught her cleaning up in the morning and the furniture was still pushed to the side, so she said it was because they’re repainting the mural, but the guard still saw students there Friday night and they’re trying to figure out who it was. Emma is like, oh, the guard caught you Friday, that’s why I came back and no one was there. She and Alex were busy fucking in a classroom, lmao.

Some random girls say the party was great to Daphne as they walk by, so oh no, they won’t be able to keep it a secret! Oh my God, did you JUST realize this now. Are you kidding me. Congrats. Teenagers.

Is this going to come back later in the season at all? Because if not, this is gonna feel like a dangling plot thread. Daphne could’ve been like, whew, I think we got away with it, but her anxiety over it and the randos talking about it make it seem like it’s unfinished business. I’m not sure how any of that would fit in with the OG S3 story, so it would have to be a new addition to the plot, if any characters do get caught.

Daphne says at least the common room is popular now, and Eliott offered to repaint the mural. Emma asks who’s Eliott and Lucas looks at her as if scandalized. How can Emma not know the Eliott? I mean, let’s be real, that guy is hard to miss. Lucas offers to help with the mural because, you know, Eliott.

Basile appears down the hall. STAY BACK, DEMON.

Daphne thinks Lucas’ interest in the common room is because he wants to replace her as the head of the project. LMAO, I love that her mind goes there.

Basile waves at Daphne and she gives him the finger. LOVE YOU MY QUEEN. He completely deserves it after he tried to plaster his pelvis against her at the party after she explicitly said she was uninterested in him, you know, that wacky bit of sexual harassment, comedy gold, har har.

Basile says the more Daphne turns him down, the more he likes her. GOD FUCK OFFFFFFF

I might seem over the top with my hatred of him, but I don’t care. Are we really gonna do this shitty dynamic? In 2019? As if this isn’t the most basic textbook representation of male entitlement to women’s attention and rape culture? No means no. Daphne said no. Basile thinks her rejection is enticement rather than respecting it for what it is.

Again, maybe they’re going somewhere with this! Maybe Basile’s ass will get roasted and flambéed over his attitude toward women in a way that finally gets through to him. Maybe he will have character development. We’ve seen plenty of sexist behavior from the boys, but with Basile it crossed a line into physical harassment. The fact that they’ve made one of the protagonist’s friends someone who does not respect a girl’s boundaries really doesn’t sit right with me. It’s like I’m not actually sure they do get how bad Basile’s behavior is, because it’s framed in a way that gives off comic relief vibes. It’s funny because Basile’s a loser and Daphne thinks he’s a loser!

I hope he and Daphne do not happen. Hell no. Just get a Fleshlight, dude, and leave girls alone.

Basile is throwing a party on Saturday and he says his hot cousin will be there, who he has a shot with, Arthur is like WTF, Basile says cousins are OK, and I don’t care if this is meant to be a joke, I’m fucking tired, man. I’m not even gonna feel bad when Lucas ditches him.

Clip 4 - Lucas and Imane on religion

Alexia is telling Imane that Romain got super turned on by seeing Clara at the party and learning Alex is bi, and now he wants a threesome. OK, so he kinda sucks, too, for making his girlfriend’s sexuality about what his penis wants? Considering Basile, Mika, and Romain, I guess they had to throw in some shitty male characters to compensate for Eliott’s greatness.

Meanwhile Lucas is texting with Eliott about the mural. They set up a meeting on Wednesday, which makes Lucas happy. He also gets a text from his mom about seeing the devil leaning on him and to be careful. Creepy shit and not at all what a teenage boy flirting with another guy needs to hear right now. “The devil” being close to him - is the devil homosexuality? Not that his mom would know that, but I’m sure Lucas is taking those words to heart.

After Alex leaves, Lucas asks Imane how she can listen to talk about bisexuality and threesomes, isn’t it against her religion? I’m glad they kept in the text from his mom to demonstrate that it’s what prompted him to ask Imane about religion. A religious character seemingly at ease with bisexuality must seem important to him since he probably fears it’s the opposite of how his mom will be (well, in his case homosexuality).

Imane says yes, bisexuality is against her religion, but it doesn’t prevent her from being friends with someone. Lucas thinks that is hypocritical. Well, although I think Imane probably doesn’t think it’s wrong herself - if she’s like Sana she disagrees with that part of her religion - I don’t care for the “hate the sin, love the sinner” attitude. I don’t think I could be friends with someone who disapproved of such an intrinsic part of me. That’s probably not what they meant, but it gives me those vibes.

Imane says Lucas is friends with Basile, does he approve of the way he speaks about girls and hits on them? Lucas is like … no. Errr, you seem to be pretty chill with it almost all the time, dude. Imane says it’s the same. And look, I get what she’s trying to say, we don’t have to agree with everything about our friends, but holy fuck @ comparing bisexuality to sexual harassment, as if those are equivalent things to tolerate in people.

Lucas is clearly not sold. Imane asks whether he has a problem with Islam. Lucas says he doesn’t have a problem with Islam, Islam has a problem with people. Like, for example, gay people. The dialogue becomes similar to that between Isak and Sana. Lucas says he believes in science, Imane says well according to the theory of evolution, homosexuals are useless for reproduction. Then she brings up conversion therapy, saying that people used machines to shock gay people into supposedly not being gay anymore, and those were created by science, so is his religion any more merciful than his?

There’s something a little off about this scene, in the way that Skam France sometimes is when they copy dialogue from OG. What’s off is that in Skam, Isak started off his rant by challenging religion from an intellectual level - he asked Sana why she was religious because she was smart and the world was progressing, implying that religion is outdated and well, for suckers. That it was illogical for Sana to be religious. That’s why she countered him on an intellectual level as well, pointing out that the science he believed in also was illogical in some ways. He specifically mentioned the theory of evolution as something he believed, which is why Sana uses that example. But Lucas is not attacking Imane’s religion from an intellectual perspective - he’s attacking it from a moral perspective. He’s say Islam has problems with people. He didn’t say anything about religion being illogical and antiquated and Imane being too smart for it, he’s implying that he thinks Islam hurts people. So when she starts talking about homosexuality being incompatible with evolution, it’s actually just a weird tangent she goes on, lmao? That has nothing to do with ... evolution having problems with people, or whatever, I can’t even describe it because it doesn’t make sense. Isak mentioned evolution but he started his argument from the perspective that science was right, before Sana even said anything. Lucas didn’t even bring up science until Imane asked, so comparing religion and science from a logical perspective comes out of nowhere. It’s just there because it was dialogue in the original show.

What does fit the scene better is her bringing up how scientists gave electric shocks to gay people to make them disgusted by gay sex, because that does address the issue from a moral perspective. Lucas says Islam has a problem with gay people, Imane points out that science has also lead to torture and suffering of gay people. It’s not a nice argument but I can at least see how it fits into the discussion by pointing out her Islam isn’t the only thing that condemns gay people, and she’s not wrong that science has also been used to enforce homophobia. They should’ve just cut out the bit about evolution because it doesn’t fit what they were talking about.

Clip 5 - If only this was the single Chloé clip this week

After class, Chloé’s waiting for Lucas, looking happy and cute. She asks Lucas if he wants to do something Wednesday after school and he says he has plans. She suggests a date on Friday, he says he has something with the guys, he can’t just leave them behind. Chloé’s annoyed and wants to know if they’re together or not. She says to call her when he’s interested and walks away. Lmao, so she pulled an Isak in 3.07, when he was frustrated with Even running hot and cold and texting him all “call me when you’ve broken up with your girlfriend.” Except Lucas probably ain’t gonna run to her doorstep.

I think this scene is better in context of the full episode, because when I first saw it, I was like ... what’s the point of this clip except to do an extra round of will-they-won’t-they with Chloé to make him look even worse, like Lucas has multiple chances to end this thing with her and he just strings her along. But in context of the full episode, what Chloé says works with what Eliott does with the mural meeting; he bails on Lucas, and his absence makes Lucas doubt Eliott’s interest. Lucas can’t tell whether he and Eliott have a thing or not, like Chloé can’t tell when Lucas says he’s too busy to hang out with her. Typically when you like someone, you make time to spend with them. The parallel is more obvious when you watch the whole episode and this clip leads directly into Lucas waiting alone for Eliott in the common room. Lucas is doing to Chloé what Eliott is doing to Lucas.

But damn, don’t you wish Lucas just let this flirtation with Chloé die here? She gave you the opportunity, dude! She gave you space!

Clip 6 - Lucas tries his hardest to show Manon he’s not gay

Lucas is waiting for Eliott, who’s not showing. He’s sent him a bunch of texts asking where he is. When someone finally does enter, it’s the girls including Manon. They show her the room. They ask her what she thinks and she’s like “...it’s special!” in the same way that Lucas said Eliott’s dubstep was good. LMAO all these kids keep talking about the common room like it’s a crack den, JFC.

But the girls are cute dancing about renovating the crack den. I laughed at Emma trying to get some life out of Lucas with that lowest of fives.

Lmao, it also kinda makes me laugh that Lucas is like, “I’m waiting for Eliott, he’s the artist,” and Manon is like “Who’s Eliott?” I mean ... he’s the artist, Manon.

I know her question was really “IS THAT THE GUY LUCAS IS SECRETLY DATING?” But damn, if Eliott had shown up, Manon would recognize him from Friday. If her questions to Lucas are awkward, imagine if she directed them at Eliott, too.

Alex says it sucks that Eliott’s in a relationship. Daphne reminds her she’s also in a relationship. Well, better Eliott than the “Bisexual means you want a threesome, right?” guy. Daphne then realizes all of them are in relationships besides her. Imane’s like, excuse me? Daphne clarifies she means all the ones who can be in relationships, Imane stops her from saying something dumb. This exchange is a nice setup for season 4, with the girls not seeing Imane as someone who has crushes or can have relationships like the rest of them.

Lucas leaves, bitter that Eliott ditched. And maybe not overjoyed with the talk of relationships, including how it’s too bad Eliott has a girlfriend. Manon “subtly” follows Lucas out of the room. The girls are reluctant to let her leave them again, it’s cute. (Hey, I’ve got an idea ... if they don’t want to let Manon out of their sight, maybe let her crash at one of your houses?)

She asks if Eliott was the guy from the other night and Lucas wants her to drop it. Fair enough! Though he’s not making it seem less gay but snapping at her not to talk about it. Then Lucas sees Chloé coming and kisses her in front of Manon. He introduces Chloé to Manon as his girl and confirms that date she wanted on Friday. Manon’s like … all right, then.

Lucas, you had your shot, and you blew it. You fucked up, buddy. All just to keep Manon off your back. Word of advice: uncomfortably turning your head while your supposed girlfriend kisses you and emitting a look of “help me” is not going to convince Manon of your interest in this girl.

Again, Manon means well, but she should not be so in his face about his boyfriend. She’s straight, she doesn’t know the coming-out journey personally, she has to let him do so at his own pace. Like she immediately went after him and asked him about Eliott in the school hallway. So no privacy and he was put on the spot (also, she asked when he was in a bad mood because Eliott didn’t show up, although she couldn’t have known that much). She’s like a helicopter parent. Her intentions are certainly not bad, they’re just backing Lucas into the closet further because he feels on guard and defensive when she questions him. It’s not her fault that Lucas chose to kiss Chloé in this scene, that’s his choice, but she was a big reason.

I wasn’t feeling great when this clip dropped, so I missed some of the drama over it, but about the lack of Eliott - I don’t think it was inherently bad that he wasn’t in this scene, I think the biggest problem was that they inexplicably dumped three clips on Monday, which was a very strange decision, pacing-wise. There’s no reason that the Imane clip needed to be on Monday rather than Tuesday, for instance. And in all three of those Monday clips, working on the mural with Eliott was discussed, it was something hyped up, Lucas had plans Wednesday and surely something big would happen. So it definitely felt underwhelming when Wednesday rolled around and this clip wasn’t what we expected. In a way, I do see how it makes you feel what Lucas must be feeling. It’s disappointment. Plus from Lucas’ POV, Eliott has not given him a reason to doubt his interest in him, so this comes as a surprise to Lucas. He’s totally in the dark as to why Eliott didn’t show up. But I also can see the criticisms of the clip, because IMO, there is something a little redundant and unnecessary about what’s happening: there’s an added week of Chloé drama (whereas in OG there was no real drama during the week with Isak and Emma - he was disappointed but she was just cheerfully planning their Halloween costumes) which already happened, Lucas already did the disinterest -> upset Chloé -> Lucas OTT apology/affection -> happy Chloé rodeo last week. Is it going to lead to harsher consequences and retaliation from Chloé later? If not, we didn’t exactly need it.

There’s also the fact that the girl squad is just so much more prevalent in this season than OG S3, and while I’m not opposed to them having a larger role (and I know that was required in S3 by the network), I also think that many of the scenes with them don’t add a ton to the story? Or maybe a scene with them adds something (like the bisexuality conversation last week) but there also just seems to be repeat material that we don’t need - for example, this deal with showing off the room to Manon, the girls having the same discussion about how the mural sucks, all of this really covers the same territory we’ve seen in previous episodes. We know the mural apparently sucks, everyone hates that mural, we don’t need to hear Manon’s opinion, too. We know the common room is apparently hell on earth, we don’t need to go over it again. It wouldn’t be the worst thing except we know Skam France has time restrictions, so every moment should count. And I feel like it’s taking away time from Lucas’ POV, distracting from his emotional state. Lucas is like ... materially involved in this common room project, but his emotional investment in it comes from Eliott, and that’s where these scenes should be focused.

Clip 7 - Lucas’ endless series of bad choices

I had to laugh after the grumbling from the previous day’s clip when people were complaining about no Eliott and too much Chloé, when the first thing we see in this clip is Chloé.

Chloé waits for Lucas after class and gives him a kiss. He looks less than enthused and says she doesn’t have to wait for him. Lmao, this dude is not worth it, Chloé. I know you’re going to suck in your own way soon, but Lucas seems like the most un-fun boyfriend ever in your presence, and he changes personalities more than he changes his underwear, probably. It’s as if he’s sharing his brain with an alien and they trade custody of the body. And the alien is the one who acts nice and wants to kiss and tell you he’s falling for you, Lucas the human could not be more checked out of your budding romance.

AND THEN THERE’S ELIOTT, the people rejoiced

Eliott comes up and asks to speak to Lucas. Lucas’ alien takes over and puts his tentacle arm around Chloé and says sure. Oh my God, Lucas. You dummy. He could not be any more inelegant about chucking Eliott out of the boyfriend zone. Lmao, it’s a little childish but I mean, it sure works because Eliott notices the pointed gesture and does not seem thrilled. Maxence does some solid eye acting in this clip, glancing between Lucas and Chloé.

Eliott says sorry for bailing on Lucas yesterday, he wanted to come but had a problem. It’s presumably something mental-health related, not that Lucas would know at this stage. I don’t think we’ve had any hints about his mental illness yet? Just that he's new to the school, which could be for any number of reasons. He invites Lucas over tomorrow to make up for it, and it sounds like a date, but of course Lucas fucked this up by not talking to Eliott alone. Because Chloé is there, she brings up the date she and Lucas had planned, but suggests they turn it into a double date with Eliott and Lucille. So that’s how that happens. Interesting because in OG, it’s never confirmed but I got the distinct impression that Even planned the pre-drink with Isak, but it was Sonja who invited herself and Emma, turning it into a double date. It seems likely because she probably asked Even about his Halloween plans that weekend, and he couldn’t avoid telling her about the thing on Friday. Or she just found out. That was reinforced by Even’s “party-planner” texts where he seems to be barely concealing his irritation that she’s taken control of the situation just like she takes control of other parts of his life. In retrospect it fits with what we learned about Sonja’s personality. Here it’s Chloé who innocently suggests the double date, like I really do not think she suspected anything weird at all between Lucas and Elliot.

I know people were laughing at Chloé not noticing that Eliott was asking Lucas on a date, but I can’t blame her for not making that assumption, no matter how Lucas and Eliott are looking at each other, when Lucas is trying his goddamn best to keep her thinking he likes her. He just slung an arm around her, that’s an affectionate gesture initiated by him. And this dude gave her a whole speech about how he was falling for her, he passionately kissed her yesterday out of nowhere and introduced her as his girl. He’s leading her on far more than Isak did with Emma.

Also, we can’t tell exactly when that arm around Chloé’s shoulder came down, but it was sometime between Eliott talking about his problem yesterday and Chloé suggesting the double date, so I think Lucas slipped it off her shoulder when he realized Eliott was asking him out.

Predictably, Lucas and Eliott are all muted while Chloé is excited. Chloé kisses Lucas but he looks after Eliott. Dude, you dug this hole yourself.

Clip 8 - Double date

Friday night, the four of them at Eliott’s. Chloé talks to Lucille about binge watching a show and taking time for herself, encouraging Lucille to do the same. Lucas and Eliott are not having a good time, though I think that could be emphasized more in the visuals. We do get Lucille glancing at Eliott drinking and seeming not OK with that.

After Chloé asks whether Eliott and Lucille are the same age, Lucille says Eliott failed his bac last ear, which was RUDE. Why are you volunteering that information to random people? Especially when you know the painful circumstances of why he failed? Like ... he’s in the room with you, and you’re casually throwing it out there without thinking whether it might embarrass him or drudge up bad memories. Or, even worse, she’s pissed that he’s drinking too much and is mentioning it passive-aggressively. Eliott does not seem happy with her doing that, either. (Again, some good reactions from Maxence.)

Chloé: “By a lot?” ALSO RUDE. She at least doesn’t know his background. Eliott says he never went. It’s awkward. He wants to talk about something else. The angry tension between Eliott and Lucille in this scene is even bigger than the sexual tension between Eliott and Lucas.

Adding to that, Lucille tells him he’s drank enough, Eliott says she’s talked enough. Well ... accurate. She says she said it for his own good, Eliott’s snaps at her thinking she needs him, and throws back a retort about him failing his bac but still knowing how to count. She storms off. Maybe I’m the asshole, IDK, but I’m actually on his side here. Not that I condone rude comments from either of them, but she was pretty thoughtless bringing up the bac and I totally understand why he would throw it back at her. But it also makes their relationship seem even more dysfunctional than Even and Sonja’s.

Eliott apologizes to Lucas for having to see that, it’s just that this night isn’t going the way Elliot wanted. Lucas asks how he wanted it to go, Eliott says it’d be just the two of them. Lucas agrees. arghhhhhhblarghhhhhhhh.

Here’s the thing: this exact same sentiment was present in OG Skam, except Skam didn’t need to spell it out for us in dialogue. Like … we got it. We got it from Even’s miserable facial expressions and the fact that he just sat there drinking. We got it from Isak and Even constantly shooting glances at each other while Emma and Sonja carried out on a conversation without them. We got it from the fact that Even asks Isak to leave with him, ditching his girlfriend as they’re both dressed up for a Halloween party in a couple’s costume. We got it from the music as we transition from the pre-drink to the bike ride, Even’s expression of misery transformed into radiant joy, both boys grinning as the lyrics tell us I wanted to be with you alone. It is abundantly clear that the night wasn’t going like how Even and Isak wanted, and they didn’t need to have the characters sit down and tell us that. Show, don’t tell. (Or, I mean ... the Tears for Fears lyrics flat-out tell you, but only after the characters’ mindset was established previously, so that the song just feels right after all that buildup, like a release of tension.)

The feeling at the start of this clip should be enough to communicate to us that Eliott is upset and he had something else in mind. I didn’t get that feeling. Maxence does fine acting but the directing itself could be much sharper to highlight the emotional atmosphere of the scene. If you watch the OG clip, at the beginning, every single shot has either Isak, Even, or both in the frame. When it’s all four of them, Isak and Even are shooting looks at each other while Emma and Sonja talk. Isak is a lot shyer about it and looks away; Even just brazenly stares at Isak, drunk and not giving a fuck. There are lots of closeups of the two of them, especially showing Isak sitting there looking awkward. The conversation between Emma and Sonja is actually background noise in much of the scene to the closeups of the boys, because that’s what it is to them - not something they’re a part of. By contrast, I felt like the way this was filmed, it made the conversation between Chloé and Lucille more of a focus, to the point where Lucas’ reactions were not. Eliott has focus, but Lucas? I didn’t feel like I was in his head. And there are some good things added in this clip, too, such as Lucille’s discomfort with Eliott made more plain, but if the clip was really effective at establishing what the characters were feeling - we don’t need Eliott and Lucas to tell it to us. We’d just feel it.

I really do like much what they’re doing this season. But stuff like this makes the writing weaker, not stronger. It’s like they didn’t trust us to understand exactly what was going through the characters’ minds, based on the acting and directing. No one needed this exchange in OG because it was perfectly clear what was Isak and Even were thinking.

Clip 9 - Polaris

Lucas and Eliott run down the street, and Eliott breaks into ... a forest/park area? Whatever it is, he’s breaking in, and Lucas is following, in the tradition of all Evens and Isaks.

I like the way they shot this opening part, of them walking through the woods in the dark, talking with just their little lights to guide the way. No forced music, just the quiet sounds of the night. I think you can hear thunder or an approaching storm in the background, to build up to the end of the clip. Lucas’ phone runs out of battery and Eliott says he will guide him. Totally not symbolic at all, Eliott with his light helping Lucas through the dark.

Their chemistry is also good, they’re smiling and happy to be with each other but there’s still some tension despite how blatantly upfront they’ve been about their feelings so far, and the conversation gets a little weightier when Eliott says that Lucas is the first person he’s taken here, not even Lucille has been here. It’s still very direct, but there’s something more like the Skam feeling that I enjoy here. Maybe it’s the pacing as they walk, it doesn’t feel rushed, or that this part of the scene focuses on the quiet, the natural atmosphere. It feels more organic than some Skam France scenes have felt in the past.

Eliott shows Lucas their destination and the music kicks in, because Eliott has brought Lucas into his movie. Of course it’s the tunnel out of Polaris. It’s actually very good placement for the music since again, we’re exiting the “real” world, sort of, and entering the movie, similar to how music was used in the pool clip for Evak. I love that Lucas seems stunned because he realizes the significance of where Eliott has taken him. Those butterflies in his stomach must be flapping their wings like crazy, because he knows how the movie ends.

Also, obviously Eliott is shining that light, keeping that imagery present as he leads Lucas. He’s the one spot of light in this darkness.

They run into the tunnel (looks like Eliott grabs his hand) and Eliott shows off the place. It’s his home, which makes sense for a raccoon, tbh. Eliott wants to know if Lucas likes it or if he’s afraid. Lucas says he’s not, but Eliott circles around him, teasing him and asking if he isn’t a little afraid, shining his light on Lucas’ face. Then the light goes out and Lucas is in the dark, and Lucas does seem to get a tiny bit afraid, if only because Eliott disappears. Eliott turns on the light and cackles, a little farther from Lucas.

This is some really great cinematography. Actually, it might be my favorite cinematography in all of Skam France. I’ve been hard on the show because IMO it has some big flaws, but this is just a very good and striking scene. It’s playful, it’s got some tension. We know they’re going to kiss, but they’re building up to it, Eliott’s toying with Lucas (and the viewers). Eliott’s constant movement gives a sense of uneasiness - I wouldn’t go so far as to say creepy, although I can certainly get why others would feel that way, especially when Eliott’s face is lit from below by his flashlight - that’s a really common lighting tactic for horror movies or for villains, because it makes them look more grotesque. I don’t know if we’re supposed to think Eliott is menacing, but maybe there’s a sense of danger here? For Lucas, being alone with a boy he likes, knowing that more could happen between them, and with Eliott’s movement, the element of uncertainty. It feels restless, like something’s brimming inside him, and the distance between them keeps changing: sometimes Eliott is breathing down Lucas’ neck, other times he’s not close enough to touch. Then there’s the light, also moving with Eliott. It feels very visceral.

They laugh and Lucas strides forward toward Eliott, saying he’s not afraid. The symbolism is pretty obvious, Lucas in the dark heading for the light represented by Eliott, Lucas taking turns being bathed in Eliott’s light. Also, the music cuts out whenever Eliott turns off the light, and comes back when he turns the light on, so it’s like the “movie” disappears when Eliott does, because this is his vision.

Eliott turns off the flashlight again, and when he reappears, he’s standing right in front of Lucas. This time Lucas doesn’t just laugh it off, because, you know, Eliott is REALLY close. Close enough to touch. And Eliott is moving in with a little smirk for the kiss. Both of them are lit up, existing in the same world as the movie characters. Lucas has his mouth open for that hot Eliott smooch when Eliott turns off the light (again cutting off the music) and disappears again. What a fucking tease.

It starts pouring rain all of a sudden, just in time for Lucas to be alone in the dark tunnel. Fun scenario! Not creepy at all! But there’s Eliott standing outside the tunnel, getting drenched, looking at Lucas. No light. Lucas walks toward him but he’s still under cover and staying dry, he stops before stepping into the rain. Eliott asks if Lucas is afraid of rain, too. (I really like this scene but is it just me or did they mix some metaphors here ... like it goes from the divide between light and dark to the divide between rain and shelter. It still works in the sense that one character is stepping into the other’s world, though.)

I like Lucas’ reaction to the question, you can see him making a choice in his mind. He holds out his hands - is Eliott thinking to himself, “Wow, he totally saw my movie at this point?” I mean I think he’s probably focusing on being about to kiss Lucas, but this is straight out of the storyboard, so in the aftermath when they’re just lounging in bed or whatever I’d expect him to be like “...were you stalking me online?” Anyway, Eliott laces his fingers with Lucas’, and Lucas starts to smile before launching himself at Eliott. They kiss passionately in the rain.

Going to get out a slight criticism before I mention the positives: I had expressed concern when we saw the storyboards that the kiss was going to play out exactly the same way, and well, I was right. And I think the scene itself is very good! But in a way I do prefer that we didn’t see the storyboards before the kiss, or at least that they didn’t match so closely. I mean, Eliott is even wearing the exact same outfit as the cartoon version of himself. Because actually, this symbolism works completely fine on its one, without walking us through every moment of it? IDK, I think personally if we were watching this scene without the Polaris storyboards, everything would have still come across in terms of symbolism and imagery. There’s light and then there’s dark, there’s Lucas stepping out of the safety of the dry tunnel into the rain with Eliott. We could have worked it out ourselves, much as we did with the 21:21/rebirth imagery. It comes back to maybe not trusting the viewers as much, like with Eliott telling Lucas that he wanted the double date to be just the two of them. Going into the symbolism of this scene is like ... it’s barely even subtext, it’s text, to the point where I feel silly even talking about it. (It’s true that the Evak first kiss also directly mimics the R+J kiss, but I think that still leaves more to the viewers to connect the dots. Polaris itself was so highlighted and explained within the story, whereas with the pool kiss, obviously people were expecting the R+J reference once they got to the pool, but the setup is more subtle. Isak is watching R+J and we briefly see the pool kiss scene, but it’s not like … the primary point of what he’s watching, it’s just one moment that’s on screen for a second, along with several other clips, with the main focus Isak’s reactions as he watches. This is more like if Isak watched R+J but we saw him watching the entire pool scene and only that.)

THAT BEING SAID: this is still a beautiful scene. The music is really good, actually, it falls into that dreamy-creepy vibe so it’s adding some tension in the tunnel, but it’s also romantic enough for a first kiss. The build-up was very strong and even though these two have been very blatant with each other about being into each other, still created some tension as to exactly when the kiss would happen. I was fully expecting the Polaris recreation but there was also a point where I thought they would kiss in the tunnel (and they almost did).

Again, Lucas’ reactions were very good. He showed the right combination of emotions leading up to the kiss. Also - and this is really important - this kiss scene was not rushed. That’s my big problem with a lot of Skam France clips, that they fly through them without taking the time to let the emotions develop or resonate (and I know there are time restrictions) but this one had good pacing. It let the moment build and allowed us to step into Lucas’ head, I could see him going from nervous and hesitant to taking those small steps to step into Eliott’s world and kiss him, to the urgency of the kiss itself.

The kiss itself is enthusiastic, to say the least, lol. I’m weak for Lucas tilting his head back and Eliott holding his face as they kiss. But the best part is actually their happiness. I love how they smile at each other and how Eliott turns his face to the sky in joy at the end, right before the hug. The hug!!! Great, tender moment. I felt the relief and jubilation from the characters.

Additionally, I said this before when we first heard about Polaris, but big props to Skam France for doing their own version of the first kiss and putting their own imagery and symbolism into it.

Social Media/General Comments

Lucas had an IG story of him packing up his stuff after he got kicked out of his room, so you know, that’s a wonderful thing for a kid who had to leave home to have to do again.

Daphne wised up (too late) and told everyone to delete their social media about the party. Were any pics actually deleted on the characters’ IGs? It looks like it, but Basile still has one of the boys in their costumes at the party, with the caption thanking Daphne. LMAO GOD what if this dumbass gets Daphne in trouble, I don’t think it will happen but it would not surprise me.

Lucas sucks up to Daphne by being like, I deleted the pics! Keep me updated about re-painting the mural! He emphasizes that he’s most interested in repainting the mural. Subtle! Although Daphne doesn’t seem to notice his desperation because she’s too concerned about Lucas trying to usurp her as head of the common room. She says she needs to check with Eliott and he plays it cool. Lol, I can’t wait for them to paint that mural and it being even uglier than the first one because Lucas kept fucking it up by drooling at Eliott instead of concentrating.

Imane posts a Maya Angelou quote after her talk with Lucas. “I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.” Hint hint, biology partners who might want to judge her for her religion.

Then there was the whole shitshow with the boy squad ranking girls on IG. OK … I’m not going to cancel them, but it IS fucking gross. I would be more tempted to cancel them if it were not called out by the girls directly afterwards, or if it weren’t intended to be something gross, like just a funny Boys Will Be Boys thing.

Especially since most of these guys (except Basile) are saying Daphne isn’t even in the top 20. FUCK OFF, WITH YOUR BAD TASTE, LOSERS.

But really, the fuck is wrong with them? The thing is that they’re not just ranking girls vaguely, alluding to them (like “the hot blonde” or whatever) which would still be gross. They’re naming these girls! We know who most of them are! And the girls they are naming are their friends, or at least people they’re friendly with? So disgusting. Why would you post this? I said I wasn’t going to cancel them but it’s actually hard to come back from this because it’s so pointedly cruel. Like Yann saying Manon is annoying because she cries too much, and the boys ranking Alexia outrageously low. I’m sure Manon loved that and it didn’t make things awkward in the flat. I mean I kinda feel less bad for Lucas having to crash on the couch, lmao, I hope Manon slept soundly in Lucas’ bed that night.

The girls retaliated by posting their own IGs and lol, don’t even tell me they’re just as bad, because they responded to a very personal sort of bullying (I mean, that’s what it was, bullying) and called out the boys’ bad behavior. They said Eliott was number 1, which is not wrong.

Gotta say, the boy squad is pretty bad. I know they’ll turn around in the second half of the season, but there’s just little endearing about them so far. Basile is a complete disaster, we know nothing about Arthur, and Yann has not been served well this season. Two of Jonas’ key scenes - calling out Isak’s comment about the dance instructor and asking him about the neon pre-drink after Even helped Isak get his locker open - have been removed or diluted. The calling out was pretty weak and spread among the whole squad, and we didn’t get the second scene at all. There was a great scene at the beginning of episode 3 with Yann and Lucas, and a great follow-up text message, but overall I get less of a sense that Yann is noticing Lucas’ strange behavior or that he’s concerned for it.

I know that they were required to keep the girl squad around in this season, and I get it, and I can’t say that I don’t drastically prefer them to the boys at this point. I like them a hundred times better. But I also wonder if characters like Yann and maybe Arthur would get more development if the girl squad didn’t have so many scenes. I hate to say that, but a character like Yann is supposed to be Lucas’ BFF, and yet I feel that friendship is getting overshadowed by so many things. I know more about the common room and Basile’s dick than that relationship this season.

Also? Moving on to episode 5, why the utter fuck would the girls even bother going to Basile’s party after the boys pulled this stunt? It’s not even a week later, and the boys trashed several members of the girl squad by name. Did they really think yeah, these are the assholes we want to party with? Not to mention Basile also creeps out Daphne.

Emma looks bored as hell watching Raptor Alex watch basketball. Perhaps a sign that relationship is not going to work on a level other than physical.

Eliott and Lucas get in some jabs at their girlfriends when Eliott texts that Lucille’s super down for the double date and Lucas responds with a cheesy picture of two smiling straight couples at a bowling alley. Lmao, I would kill to see that happen in a remake? An Isak and Even who get roped into bowling with the girls and then ditch them at the bowling alley. They don’t even take off their bowling shoes so they’re running awkwardly and end up getting banned from the bowling alley.

A fandom sleuth figured out that “Polaris” encrypted through the Caesar code, as hinted by the enter_polaris IG, is Eliott’s real Instagram (”srodulv), well done! On that IG Eliott has the following pictures (among others):

Eliott and Lucille as a cartoon raccoon and cat - his first furry romance

a drawing of a chocolate bar with “chelou” (weird) on the wrapper, posted after his first talk with Lucas

piano keys with the word “surprenant” (surprising), posted after Lucas played piano for him

my favorite, a picture of Oreo, the raccoon who was the inspiration for Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, who passed away recently - RIP Oreo, respect to Eliott for honoring his raccoon brethren

a brain in a jar that says “lost & found” from perhaps when he had a bad mental health day

a man underwater (sick Skam reference, bro) (but also, probably another mental health reference)

his raccoon fursona trapped in darkness - he was really struggling this week

a Betty Boop cartoon that seems to imply Lucille is a witch at his back?? and he’s not looking forward to the double date. also features a “mystery cave”

That miserable looking IG pic of the double date and Lucas’ reaction to Chloé’s kiss … sums up the level of enthusiasm he had, I guess!

Chloé texts Lucas after he and Eliott run off and says Eliott has a big problem, poor Lucille. There was some talk about whether Lucille told Chloé about Eliott’s mental illness and that’s what she meant, but personally I just took it as Chloé thinking Eliott was a jerk after telling Lucille to stop telling him what to do and making her stomp off to the bathroom, and then ditching her. And “poor Lucille” was just in reaction to thinking Lucille had to put up with her boyfriend being a jerk, not anything mental illness related. (Tbh if Lucille did tell Chloé … she’s a huge asshole for revealing that sensitive information about Eliott to someone who’s almost a stranger, although I suppose it’s in line with her casually dropping he failed his bac?)

I think Lucas and Eliott have good chemistry, but something about the directing is not as conducive to the chemistry as it could be. It’s not bad - like I said, they’re good together - just that with better directing it would make even more of an impact. Might have to do with timing and rushing scenes, or just allowing them to react more to each other.

I’m wondering if they’re doing this Manon plot and kicking Lucas out of his room so he can go live with Eliott at the end of the season. Which… I think is kinda dumb, tbh, because I’m 90% certain they’re going to start Season 4 like right after S3 ends, not more than a week or two later. At least with Isak and Even there were several months of them dating before they moved in together, and Even had lots of time to bounce back from his depressive episode. I guess Lucas doesn’t have much of a “family” in the flat with Mika and Lisa, which is depressing, but I mean, if you think Isak and Even moved in together too quickly? Lucas and Eliott will have barely any time really being together before they take that step, and it will be right after a very tumultuous period for them.

Also, you can’t tell me that Isak moved out because he felt like he didn’t belong there anymore, or that Eskild and Linn wanted Noora there more than Isak and made it known to him. Like of course this is just headcanon, but I feel pretty sure that it was Isak’s (or Isak and Even’s) decision to move out since the flat was so crowded. I also think that Eskild would have kept his stray godkitten under his roof as long as possible if that was what Isak wanted, and they would’ve just dealt with it being crowded. I mean, he was asking William to move in at the end of S4, and we know Eskild doesn’t even like William much, lmao. He definitely likes Isak more than William, I think he’d be fine with him staying. With Lucas moving out, it’d feel more depressing, like maybe he just didn’t feel welcome in the flat. I guess it’d be positive for Lucas to be making a new home with Eliott, but still, it feels unnecessary. (I also think the Manon plot is also unnecessary, probably, but we’ll see where they go with it.)

I’m not French so please feel free to let me know if there are any translation or cultural issues that I missed.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions #skam france reactions

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slateroofpress · 5 years ago

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When talk is smooth as butter but war is in the heart

Susan Glass is our monthly blogger with interviews of fellow poets, literary journeys, and all things poetical.

Jendi Reiter is an award winning trans-masculine author whose books include the novel Two Natures (Saddle Road Press), the poetry collection Bullies In Love (Little Red Tree Publishing), and two poetry chapbooks: Barbie At 50 and Swallow. Their honors include a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant for poetry and short fiction, and prizes from the Iowa Review, Literal Latte, and Bayou Magazine. They are editor and Vice President of Winning Writers, an online resource site for creative writers. They are also the local winner of Slate Roof Press 2019 Glass Prize Broadside contest.

SG: I'd like to begin by asking you about the winning poem that you submitted to our Broadside contest, "Psalm 55.21.” I am struck by the direct voice, unflinching in its address to the creator, "Lord"— not so much reverent as declarative. And of course, all God's gifts herein contradict each other: the goose clothed with bed-feathers, a softness ultimately used against the goose. And the softness of this image bumps against the hard "neck of a snake," and "yellow snake's eye and bite." The cow's weight that blocks the wind is also "the weight of a mother who falls asleep on her child" — I think here of suffocation. Creation's gifts, it seems, are anything but straightforward. There's a texture in these images of brutal beauty and beautiful brutality. Is that how the images strike you? And how did you arrive at these images, and at the poem's voice that will not take any crap from the creator?

JR: At the time that I wrote this poem, I had been doing The Daily Office, which is a morning prayer in the Episcopal Prayer Book. The rhythm and imagery of various phrases from the psalms I was reading and praying stuck in my head. The voice of the psalm came naturally to me, as a "no bullshit" voice, not afraid to complain about things. Many of the psalms in which complaining happens are about intimate betrayal. The part of Psalm 55 that launched this poem was verse 12: “If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it. If a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship in the house of God as we walked about among the worshipers.”

At the time of this poem's writing I was feeling betrayed because I had been very closely involved in Christianity and church stuff, while at the same time realizing I was more and more queer. This did not sit well with the Christian folks with whom I was associating. They had been so supportive of me during other traumatic events. And so I wondered how it was possible that these people with whom I'd shared profound spiritual experiences could also refuse to see me when the spirit was leading me to discover certain things about myself.

You'll notice that I changed the gender of the characters in this poem to female. That's because at the time, I identified as a woman, and these were female-to-female friendships. I was trying to articulate the ways in which female betrayal and female intimacy can be more subtle, more insidious, than betrayals between men. The original psalmist says, “His talk is as smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart." But I changed the pronouns to reflect the experiences I was having with my Christian women friends.

SG: You write long and short fiction as well as poetry. Do you work concurrently in these genres? Or do you find that you are composing in one while resting from the other?

JR: When I first started writing, I needed lots of concurrent projects because I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket, and I felt I should be trying everything. Then I found, for instance, that in getting to know a character for a novel I was writing, lots of shorter pieces would emerge. Now I sometimes get so caught up in writing a novel, I need a break and want to write something I can finish in an hour or a day or a few days, rather than in 7 years. That's when some of my poems come. A lot of the poems that I've written over the past decade have been for the "30 Poems In November" challenge, an annual fundraiser for the Center for New Americans (www.cnam.org). That's a way of writing many poems, from which I winnow the good ones. Pull 7 good poems from 30 you've written, and you have the beginnings of a chapbook. So my processes for writing long and short pieces do talk to each other. Everything that's going on in my head at a given time gets into whatever genre I'm writing, so they do cross-pollinate. Some of the poems in my chapbook Swallow started as voices that were part of a character in my novel. That's one way in which hybrid texts happen.

SG. Whose poetry and fiction do you enjoy reading?

JR. Right now I'm reading Ariana Rive's A Sand Book. I've enjoyed reading her work since her first book, The Cow, came out in 2006. I think her writing is edgy and brave. I read lots of gay romance and gay literature. For fiction I like dark fantasy and dark horror. I'm also reading lots of graphic novels because Peter, my protagonist in the book on which I'm currently working, is a comic book writer. I like the British author K J Charles. She writes witty, Victorian, paranormal gay romances that have a lot to say about society and social justice.

SG. Can you describe your work space?

JR. I have to have complete silence when I work so I can hear the voices in my head. I can't listen to music when I write, but I do listen to music in preparation for writing. When I'm working out or walking down streets, I'll pick a play list that I feel would say something to the character or persona that I'm working on. My office is the top half of a converted barn behind my house. I do have my computer in my office, but I usually write in a notebook in pencil while sitting on my couch. On my ceiling is a painting of a giant orchid covered in glitter and hot pink feathers. Around me are many unread and partially read books in bookcases, 150+ Barbie dolls, several doll houses, and lots of artwork. It's a very girly office for someone who is now trans-masculine, but I love it. It's flamboyant and suits my personality.

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avengeher · 7 years ago

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Brave Little One. (Rogers/Reader)

Summary: You couldn’t imagine believing in anyone more than you believed in Steve Rogers. You had followed him into the battle of New York; and you had followed him further into bringing down Hydra-Shield; furthermore, you had fought Ultron and won, and you knew whatever it was- he’d do the same for you. Along the way, you had fallen madly in love with him, and he with you. So when the accords were laid in front of you in black and white, videos of what you’d all done in defense of the people, you knew the decision would be an easy one. Til he looked up at you with bright blue eyes, defiance swimming in them and your heart broke.

Or, the one where Captain America refuses to sign the accords and the ink of your signature was practically already drying on the page.

Pairing: Steve/Reader (female pronouns)

A/N: Hi there, so this is going to be my attempt at a multi part story and I kind of liked the idea of lovers torn (the reader and Steve are already in a relationship from the start). The first few parts will be the whirlwind that was the first part of cap3, up til they get arrested and then from there you will start to get backstory on Steve and her, how she was found and joined the avengers, plus angst and swearing because I am apparently part sailor lol but thanks for reading and hope you enjoy lovelies

Disclaimer; i own nothing but the reader’s basic personality and Marvel if y'all want that, you can have it lol

“You have to take responsibility for your actions.” Ross had demanded, showing the havoc the lot of you had wreaked all over the world. “While some see you as heroes, a great many see you as vigilantes.”

You had felt smaller than an ant as he stared you down, eyes beaming directly into yours when he pulled up a video of what you’d done in Sokovia. You had the ability to manipulate the elements, and the gust of wind you’d used to take out a hoard of Iron Legion bots also leveled a whole - empty - block. You had sunk in your chair, eyes darting to Steve’s as he reached out to take your hand with a sorry gaze.

“That’s enough.” Steve had commanded, the clip of Wanda accidentally sending Rumlow through an office building playing behind him. “Cut it off, you made your point Ross.” Then the accords had been introduced, landing in front of you on the table with a resounding bang.

‘Approved by 117 countries’ is all you could hear. 117. 117 countries saw you all as a liability, as borderline a problem. 117 countries wanted you to take responsibility for what you’d done. Where did that leave all of you then? You didn’t want to be owned by government officials, with agendas and problems that didn’t fit your job description. That’s why you signed up for the Avengers in the first place, so you wouldn’t be some lab rat. Steve’s hand tightened in yours, your eyes meeting his as he gave you and encouraging smile before glancing over at Tony.

“The UN meets in Vienna three says from now, talk it over.”

You had read through the gist of the accords, double and triple checking for loopholes or any kind of mistreatment of you all as humans and so far you couldn’t find any. Sam and Rhodey had been getting into it all afternoon, something about medals and criminals but you weren't really paying attention as you switched between watching Steve read the accords and Tony sitting despondently - he seemed utterly concentrated.

“I have an equation.” Vision started, earning groans from Sam but you were willing to hear the android man out. And you were glad you did because he made far too much sense. Strength had always bred challenge, Steve’s immediate defensiveness sitting heavily on your chest. You had never felt so disconnected from him then in that moment. You couldn’t figure out what he was thinking, didn’t know what that stone cold expression on his face meant but you knew Steve, knew he’d make the right choice and you’d probably follow right along with it.

“Tony, you’re being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal.” Natasha pointed out what you’d all already noticed. Tony shifted and it was like a cold breeze through the room.

“It’s because he’s already made up his mind.” Steve’s jaw tightened, hand crumpling the papers a bit as Tony stood. Your eyes went wide, mind catching up to your eyes and relaying the message of understanding. That wasn’t despondent posture you’d noticed. It wasn’t concentration, it was acceptance and the relaxation in his choice.

“Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?” Tony deflected. He tapped his phone against the wireless photo display, letting a photo of a young boy none of you recognized pop up on the screen. “Oh, that's Charles Spencer by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul... before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.” You looked away from the photo with tears stuck in your throat. You had been the one to level most of Sokovia. “He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass. There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.”

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up.” What was Steve doing? Did he just not hear what Stark said? Responsibility needed to be taken for what you’d all done.

“Who said we're giving up?”

“We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames.” You were this close to arguing him when Rhodey cut you off.

“I’m sorry. Steve. That... That is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA.”

“No, but it's run by people with agendas and agendas change.”

“That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing.”

“Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.” Why was Steve fighting this so much? He had a good point but was he fighting being under supervision or afraid of another Hydra-Shield situation?

“If we don’t so this now,” You finally broke in, “Do you think it’ll be done to us?” Tony nodded. They’d force your hand.

“You're saying they'll come for me, and you.” She placed her hand on your arm, accepting your pained smile with one of her own. She’d been your best friend through all this - minus Steve, of course. But she understood you in a way no one else could.

“We would protect you, both of you.” Vision explained. But they couldn’t dedicate their lives to protecting yours when there was a whole world out there.

You had never felt so confused in your life with both sides of the coin having equally valid opinions. You had to take responsibility, that was the agreed upon consensus but how? By letting others help decide so it was less likely for there to be so much collateral or was it truly just shifting blame around so it didn’t rest on all of you? Or was it arrogant like Rhodey said to think you could make decisions that involved innocent lives when aliens and sentient AI robots were involved?

“Perhaps Tony’s right.” All of your heads went on a swivel to Natasha. What? “If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer but if we take it off, then nothing.” The way Sam’s neck elongated, hands folding over his chest as he leaned closer would have been comical in any other situation but you could feel an impending fight and for once, looking in Steve’s eyes didn’t calm you in the slightest because you still couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“I’m sorry, aren’t you the woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam exclaimed. “Then released all the Shield files?”

“I’m just reading the terrain.” She explained, rolling her eyes when Tony held up his hand. He was grinning like the cheshire cat.

“Focus up. I’m sorry. Did I mishear you or did you agree with me?”

“I want to take it back now.”

“No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed - I win.” Steve’s phone chiming interrupted the small moment of comedy, the look on his face telling you that no one would be winning today.

“i have to go.” You stood with him, following him as he practically flew down the stairs. He stopped halfway, only to turn and drag you into his arms as tears welled in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Peggy.” he didn’t have to say more. You simply let the moment be, forgetting about the accords and how you didn’t know where you stood let alone where he would. You just held the man you loved, while he cried for the woman he never truly got to.

Sharon Carter was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes to match. She held herself with a poise you’d seen in old photos of Peggy, but more than that, she held herself with a confidence you wished you could possess. So much confidence that when she started to speak, for the first time that day, you truly listened.

“Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD... but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy. She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related. I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move... it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in they eye and say " No, you move.””

It was in that one minute long speech, that one paragraph of profound thinking and intense truth that you made your decision. You don’t know if it was the fact that Peggy Carter, the woman who stood up stronger then she fell, said it or if it was because you’d known all along and just needed a little shove in the right direction. Whatever it was, you finally felt settled for the first time since seeing the accords.

Then you looked over at Steve and it was like someone took your heart in their hands, crushing it with all their might. It was such a strong feeling, such deep emotion that you felt yourself tear up because bright blue was already looking back at you. The resilience in his eyes, the downright stubbornness of a man who was about to be the cause of an absolute shit show, made you question your own resolve enough that you don’t think he realized the truth yet. Not like you had, because you knew it’d break his heart.

He wasn’t going to sign those papers, but you had to.

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scarybasementmedia · 5 years ago

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I am huge fan of Childs Play, ever since I was younger and I saw the movie I found him hilarious yet scary. As I am sure many of us in our generation did. To us Chucky was a icon, a doll that came to live to kill and threaten, destroy possess and maim. All of it was great, following its release in 1988 I am sure many people felt the same as me. Horrified yet they loved it, which I do believe is how horror is supposed to make you feel. The original Childs Play starred Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Brad Dourif and Alex Vincent. Everyone felt bad for poor little Andy Barclay and we somehow eerily enough LOVED Brad Dourif as Chucky. I questioned my sanity as to why I loved him that role so many times. I couldn’t ever come up with a answer it was always just BECAUSE HES AWESOME! And that laugh….oh that laugh!!! So that being said I am not going to do a review but rather a slight comparison on the good and bad of both the original and the remakes and the newest rendition. Its going to be a long ride so sit back and enjoy and maybe we can be “friends to the end”.

Childs Play- 1988

Starring Brad Dourif as Chucky, Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon and Alex Vincent

In 1988 Childs Play was released and honestly I must say to this day it holds up. The original is a classic, filled with classic kills. Brad Dourif does a marvelous job as the voice of Charles Lee Ray, the former murderer trapped in a dolls body by some strange voodoo spell. Next we meet Karen Barclay single mom to a child named Andy who is celebrating his birthday. Through a string of strange events she ends up with the Good Guy Doll and gives it to her son.

Not to long after, at all a string of murders happen leading them straight to Andy. How sad! No one believes him and the usual story unfolds, mom founds out the truth, the doll tries to murder her they take him out with a bang, literally. Brad Dourif is pretty much epic in the role of chucky and I was beyond upset when I heard that they are making a new one BUT Brad Dourif would not be reprising his role as Charles Lee Ray aka Chucky.

I mean come on! There is no Chucky without Brad Dourif. So needless to say initially I boycotted this film heavily. I was setting myself up for disappointment, etc. You know the usual shpeel about no one can replace Brad Dourif. Then news hit the dramatic air waves about the one who would voicing the new Chucky and I was instantly thrilled to my core. I thought, “maybe now this movie may have a chance with me”. To avoid spoilers I wont say till we get to the end of the article. I digress, all acting was amazing and the roles were acted to full potential and it was a great horror film although for someone like me it makes me laugh especially when he swears so often its worse than Negan from walking dead.

Childs Play 2-1990

So low and behold as hollywood does with popular movies or characters, they made a second one. Now, this one wasn’t bad either, this one again focuses on Andy who is now in foster care because his mom is institutionalized. Chucky proceeds to again destroy his life and pass his soul into this living boy at all costs. Ruining Andy’s chance at any happy childhood. Still claiming hes your friend to the end etc. Now this is when the movie to me started taking a little more comical turn. Some of the lines that spew out of chucky’s mouth are beyond hilarious and I always laugh a couple times throughout the show. Its worth the watch I think. Especially if you LOVE Dourif as Charles Lee Ray. I always wondered what he would do once he took over this child, destroy everything? Kill people? I want to know!

Childs Play 3

This movie came out in 1991 and now shows a more mature Andy going to military school, or a school for troubled youth I cant remember all that great. Either way, he is there and chucky comes back. How surprising, not really. Its a little more action packed with more kills from Chucky and for some reason I find them highly amusing.

This time Chucky finds a new victim. A young boy named Tyler, who chucky proceeds to manipulate to crap and transfer his soul into instead of Andy. Once again Andy and his girlfriend…friend. Decide to destroy that killer doll once and for all. We all took a huge sigh of relief knowing that Chucky is destroyed for good. Yeah, NO! Eight years later we were then introduced to honestly one of my favorite installments,

Bride of Chucky

Bride of Chucky is so full of dark humor that it is hard to take it as a scary film. Starring Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine and Brad Dourif as Chucky once again, it centers around Tiffany. Bride of Chucky also stars, Katherine Heigle and some other well known actors and actresses. Basically Heigle is in love with a bad boy and her uncle doesn’t want her too be with so they take the two dolls thanks to a scheme set up by Tiffany and high tail it out of the town leaving a wake of murders behind them and getting blamed.

Tiffany we find out is Chucky’s murder obsessed, kick ass girlfriend/ fiance. Which doesn’t last long. Through another unfortunate event completed by a toaster in a bathtub Chucky sends her soul into the doll of a good guy female doll adorned in a wedding dress and veil. Tiffany wakes up pretty damn peeved at him and literally cuffs him in the face screaming and throwing a fit because I mean hey she turned into a doll!

kinopoisk.ru

The rest ensues quite hilariously with over the top lines about knives going out of style and how Chucky looks like Martha Stuart. It also shows the twisted relationship between Chucky and Tiffany. It was enjoyable and downright dark and funny. Not the best but not the worst…in the series. Up until this point they are enjoyable and have some direct appeal for some odd reason right? I thought so too. Then this happened…

Seed of Chucky-

Seed of chucky came out and it was one of those moments where after I viewed it I simply said “I cant even….” So it turns out the kid that Tiffany popped out at the end of the Bride of Chucky ends up getting found by some cop who then makes a puppet show out of the kid…puppet …whatever it is. He ends up being named Glen/ Glenda because of his …no gender issue by being a doll. So yeah a literal gender confused puppet basically. So its never clear if he is a boy or girl. Im just going by boy because in the end that is what he ends up choosing.

Eventually he escapes desperate to find chucky and tiffany. Meanwhile two recreation dolls used in a movie of chucky and Tiffany end up with the souls of chucky and Tiffany again because their son uses voodoo to bring them back…again. So now their main focus is to get Jennifer Tilly knocked up so that they can all pass their souls into Jennifer, her chauffeur and… ummm they want to impregnate her with chuckys baby …by a voodoo pregnancy. Basically a turkey baster….and you get the idea. So that succeeds and she has twins…. in the end one twin has glen and the other one i think is just normal. But Jennifer Tilly has Tiffanys soul and is just a murderous b****. Beats her maid to death and yeah…. thats that. Its just so full of ridiculousness that I actually enjoyed it.

So next we will take a look into the Chucky ….sequels that are more modern. The ones that came after. They aren’t bad movies they tried to fix a movie series that went from serious to comedic and even though the storylines were dark people didn’t approve of the new Childs Play movies. Such as Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky, that tried to make sense of a whole bunch of plot holes that just added way more questions than filled them in. The coolest part about the films was that Nica Peirce is played by Brad Dourifs daughter Fiona Dourif. And of course he reprises the Chucky role which was the best part. Chucky had a new updated look which…honestly didn’t do much. They just should have used the sewn up doll. The storylines are kind of simple but for these two films you just need to watch, they aren’t terrible at all. They are amusing and Chucky is creepy but for some reason they just didn’t seem to hold up as well as the others did. Oh and a surprise by the one and only Alex Vincent. That was a huge yay from me.

My favorite out of the two would probably be Cult of Chucky. It kind of brings it all together in the end and without ending it shows a somewhat conclusion to the utter chaos that these movie franchise seemed to raise. So they aren’t bad movies they just aren’t the best of all of them and still leaves major plot holes.

Childs Play-2019

Lets talk about Chucky himself, although I do admit he looks slightly….strange and different I do have to say that for what the movie is about it does work. I wanted Brad Dourif to be Chucky so bad but when I heard that it is going to be Mark Hamill my hopes sky rocketed. Mark Hamill is amazing in everything he is and never fails to make a impression on whoever plays. So Chucky himself was saved for now. At least there was that much. Mark Hamill was a definite great choice for the voice seeing as how Dourif wasn’t a option.

So now storyline? What was the storyline going to be? Voodoo and mysticism, dead serial killer possessing a doll. I was praying they would stick to the script of the original. Then i saw the preview and all I said was nope nope nope STUPID! So I sat myself down and decide to power through it and I came out pleasantly surprised. The Storyline itself is plausible in the world we live in. Less fake and more believable, technology becoming almost sentient and wanting to make you happy at all costs because that is what it is supposed to do. Its a recipe for disaster and I mean remember Furby’s? So there is no denying that this could be plausible for us in the future right? The acting from the young boy playing Andy was so well done, honestly the only complaint I have is Aubrey Plaza. Shes not a bad actress she just wasn’t right for the part I think.

As for kill count, I wasn’t keeping track I didn’t care because honestly the new unique ways of death were so awesome. I mean…come on you have to admit the saw part is quite ….. painful looking. I wont give away to much of the storyline because I know some still are waiting for the release. I was surprised by it and I was surprised that I did thoroughly enjoy it. It didn’t drag on and on, it jumped right in from the beginning with a huge WTF! A doll with a computer chip that has the limits erased so there is basically nothing he can and can’t do. So his mission to keep Andy happy means killing his cat and mutilating his mothers boyfriend (that one I didn’t blame him for). And honestly in some parts I felt sorry for Chucky. Weirdly…. Childs Play 2019 was win, because it wasn’t ridiculous trying to feed off old scripts that are way to overdone to the point where plot holes arent just holes they are now canals. This was something completely new and more reasonable and plausible because its something I could see happening. I think it is worth the watch and I will be watching it again when it comes to DVD.

Did you enjoy the Childs Play movies? Which ones are your favorites? Have you seen the new one ? Let us know! Like Share and spread the love of all things dark and horrific.

A Friend to the End- Childs Play vs Childs Play I am huge fan of Childs Play, ever since I was younger and I saw the movie I found him hilarious yet scary.

#Brad Dourif #Bride of Chucky #Child’s Play #Childs Play 2 #Childs Play 3 #horror #Jennifer Tilly #movie #Movies #Reviews #Seed of Chucky

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snake-house · 8 years ago

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Nightcrawler X Male!Reader - beauty.

warnings: none he/him pronouns used for reader reader around 17 i don't put [male name] mainly because my name is gender neutral, so i just put [name] **I guess some spoilers from Apocalypse maybe? like what happens after the climax or whatever? ___

"Good morning Jean, I'm glad you were available, this is [Full Name], he is a new student here and I would like you to show him around. Is that alright with you?" Professor Xavier asked. Jean smiled at him and nodded, turning to you, "I'm Jean Grey, it's nice too meet you, and welcome to the school." You instantly liked her, the aura she had put you a little at ease, since you were a bundle of nerves. "Uh, likewise, and as he stated, I'm [Name]." You shook her outstretched hand with your own smile. "And Jean, [Name] will be Kurt's roommate, so if you'll introduce them for me." Charles added. "Of course, you ready to go then?" You nodded, "Alright, follow me." She led you from the professor's office, pointing out different rooms as you passed by, but didn't actually show show you anything. You just assumed she was trying to find this 'Kurt' character. There were more students here than you originally assumed when you mom said she was shipping you off to some place that were, 'qualified to deal with you'. You really commended her for her word usage, and she said you weren't a burden. Gotta love mom. "Hey Kurt!" Jean called out in the small sea of students. Your eyes instantly were brought to navy hair, then the person turned around, you guessed he was Kurt. And then he smiled and waved at Jean, and you were done for. "Kurt, I would like to introduce you to a new student here, Kurt, this is [Name]." Jean introduced you two. The boy nodded, "It's nice to meet you [Name]." He said, the German accent was a surprise, but sounded nice. Everything about him you liked. His hair, his skin, his smile, even his voice was attractive. You would say this was love at first sight for you, but you weren't romantic like that. You were instantly taken by him. "You're beautiful..." There was no time to stop those words from escaping your mouth. Now you really understood why people called you impulsive. That must have really been some introduction for your first day at this new school. Nice going, now you were a freak in a school of freaks. Your face exploded in a fiery blush as you instantly recoiled and started fidgeting out of embarrassment. You looked at the floor and glanced up at Kurt and then at your guide, Jean. There was a smirk on the red-heads face before she cleared her throat. "Right, I'm glad you guys got to know each other because you two are now roommates per professor's request." She announced. You hid your face behind your hand, of course you would be bunking with him, since you already made a fool of yourself in front of him, now you were eventually be confronted about your words. "Great..." You mused in an flustered tone, "Great, um," You tightened your grip on your bag, "I guess the first destination in our room then?" You questioned. The girl nodded and motioned for the two of you to follow her. Kurt already knew where she was headed since he's been at the institute for a few months now, but you made sure not to get too distracted and follow the red-head and blue man. Kurt looked at you out of the corner of his eyes, it was easy to see you were embarrassed. He was flattered though, because it was cute. Your impulsive words and your immediate embarrassment was cute, plus the fact the look on your face looking up at him definitely was sincere adoration. It was Kurt who opened the door to the dorm room, holding it open for both you and Jean. "I hope you don't mind I took the bed on the right." Kurt said as you stepped up to the empty bed to place your bag. You smiled and shook your head, "It's alright, I don't mind." You looked over to his side of the room, looking at the German posters and other things he had up. It was cool, and it was nice to see he seemed like a tidy person. "Alright, ready to see the rest of the school?" Jean spoke up after a few moments. "I'll show you around then you can come back and get moved in, sound good?" You nodded, "And Kurt, it would probably be best of you tagged along, because I have a class in an hour and I don't want him to get lost on his way back to your room." Kurt also nodded, and you three set out. You were shown every nook and cranny of the huge mansion. The land and gardens around the mansion had to be your favorite part. Everything was just so green and you loved it. You and Kurt were now walking back to your room so you could get unpacked and settled in. There was an awkward silence between the two of you, but was broken by Kurt. "So, [Name], how'd you find the school?" It seemed like an innocent question, but it was just the first thing that came to his mind. You smiled to yourself at the question, "Uh, my mom found it some how, because she said she couldn't take care of me properly or something along those lines." "Oh, well, I hope your time here is great then." You laughed at his response and nodded, "Thanks, that means a lot." You approached the door and opened it, walking in with Kurt following in behind you and pushing it closed. "The night stand next to your bed is empty for you and half of the closet is free for you to use too." Kurt remarked, taking a seat on his own bed. You thanked him with a nod and started taking out your clothes and other personal items from your modest travel bag. You were content with the silence that settled over the two of you as you put your things away. When you were done with your clothes and shoved the bag under your bed, there was a knock at the door. Kurt shot up to go answer it, you following behind in curiosity. Another guy who was slightly taller than Kurt and a pair of glasses resting on his nose stood there. For the first time in your life you felt self-conscious about your height. Kurt was already half a head taller than you, and now there is someone taller than him in your presence. "Hey Kurt," He said with a grin, turning to you, "And you must be [Name] right? Charles said you left this in his office." The guy took a step towards you and held out a potted plant. It was a [type of plant], your favorite. "OH!" You beamed and eagerly took the plant from him, "Thank you so much! I was wondering where I put him down, I was afraid I lost him. Thank you, uh..." You trailed off a bit. "It's Hank, sorry for not introducing myself. Anyways, I have to be somewhere." He said hurriedly. "Thank you again Hank." "See you later." Kurt chimed in as the other left. Kurt could tell you were ecstatic to have your plant back as you bounced to your nightstand, where you set the plant and cracked open the blinds hanging from the window. It was cute. "So, is this plant important to you?" He inquired examining the pot. A fake offensive scoff was heard from you, "Of course he is, Kurt this is Jacque, and Jacque this is Kurt." Anyone else would have felt foolish for introducing someone to their plant. But you weren't exactly normal so. "It's nice to meet you Jacque." Kurt said with a huge grin on his face. It was weird, but a good kind of weird. You gave him a smile and placed your hands on your hips, practically oozing happiness, "You are the first one to actually say hi to him, so thanks. He says hi too." Now Kurt gave you an odd look, you explained before he had a chance to question you, "My mom always called me the plant whisperer since I was little because I somehow always knew what they were thinking. If the plants were upset or happy with their conditions." Sat down on your bed, which led Kurt to sit down next to you, "And then when I was 12, we found out I was a mutant because I accidentally almost suffocated a boy in my class with vines when he was bulling another classmate. The professor calls it 'agrokinesis', so I can manipulate plants." You explained. (think poison ivy from dc comics) Kurt nodded along to your words, "Wow, uh, can I see?" He didn't know why he asked, but he just was curious. You giggled a little, "Sure, but I can only do something small because the reason I am here because when I try to do anything huge with my powers... It doesn't end well." "I understand, It's alright." Kurt gave you a reassuring smile and hesitantly placed a hand on your back. You blushed at the contact but went to work. You concentrated your mind on Jacque, Kurt's eyes looked at the plant as well. Slowly a few wild flowers grew from the soil beside the plant, they bloomed facing towards the two of you, making you smile in relief. "That's amazing!" Kurt beamed, making you suddenly shy at his praise. You gently picked the flowers and held them out to the boy beside you, "Thank you, um these are for you." Again, the impulsive words came from your mouth, "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful person." Queue another blush. 'Why can't I keep my mouth shut?' You thought in embarrassment. Not only were you blushing to your ears and down your neck, but you could tell so was Kurt. "Uh, Th-Thanks." Kurt stuttered out and took the flowers from you and stood up, "I'll go get a vase for these." The words were rushed as he stood up hastily and exited the room. You groaned after the door was shut behind him and fell back on your bed. Just what a wonderful first day by embarrassing yourself in front of the guy who you would be spending a lot of time with from this day forward. Plus he was cute, and you think you like him but wow, you were going to need a lot of help. Plus there was the whole issue that being gay wasn't something super popular too, since it was only like ten years since homosexuality was taken off the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. -- As days and weeks at the institute soon turned into months, it got easier for you. You and Kurt fell into a steady rhythm of living in the same mutual place. He usually woke up before and made an effort to wake you up. You would get up about five minutes after he shook you awake. It was also kind of relieving having a few of the same classes with the blue boy, but quickly made friends with some other mutants. You did average in your classes, a bit envious of Kurt'x excellent scores, but were happy nonetheless. When the professor started training you to control your powers, it was relaxing. He was very patient with you when you struggles and hid half the school in suffocating fauna, but helped you calm down from having a break down to get the plants to back off. Also after more training and self discipline, eventually Charles agreed to let you help with the landscaping of the place. It had been almost nine months since your arrival, and you've never felt at home like you have being here. And even though you were technically graduated from high school, and now 18 years old, you still had much more to learn. "Hey [Name]," It was almost midnight when Kurt spoke up. It was obvious to him you were having a hard time sleeping, which prompted him to still be awake as well, "What's on your mind?" You turned to lay on your side and face Kurt, arm curled under your pillow, "Nothing much, just thinking about everything you know?" There was a certain uneasiness in your words that did not fly past Kurt at all. "Are you sure? We are friends after all, if you need to talk, I'll listen." You smiled at his words, he was always so nice and caring towards you, it really made your heart flutter with each beat. He was facing you, his yellow-gold eyes practically glowing in the darkness of your room, "Thank you..." You trailed off, there was something on your mind. Well, it's been on your mind rather recently all the time, and you wanted to talk to him about it, but didn't know how to bring it up. You turned onto your back to stare at the ceiling, maybe if you weren't looking at him in the fear you would see judgement in his eyes, maybe you could do it. "There is something I've been thinking about." "Really? Well then I'm here." Kurt answered immediately. You smiled to yourself, "Well, it's a weird and touchy topic, but I guess it's now or never." You took in a breath before coming out with it, "Um, how do you feel about, uh, gay people?" There it was. Kurt sat up slightly at your question, confused by it. What did that have to do with anything? "What do you mean?" "Like, do you hate gay people? A lot of people hate gay people, so I was just wondering if you did." You tried to keep your voice even. The boy nodded to your words, not reading between the lines of what you were implying. "Oh, well I don't hate gay people, I've always been very religious, but I've never hated anyone for their beliefs or what gender they are attracted too." You smiled at his answer, he sounded so genuine it gave you a little more confidence, "That's good, it's really good because I'm gay." As soon as the words left your mouth, you instantly regretted it. "Anyways," You spoke up again, not letting him respond, "Good night." And you rolled over on your side to face away from him. Kurt Stared at you, confused on why you dismissed your confession so suddenly. It must have been hard to share that with someone, no matter how close you both got in the past months. He wasn't going to let you off so easily this time. "I'm glad you told me, because it means I've earned some of your trust, and that means a lot to me." Kurt said, "So, good night [Name]." You were burning up at his comment. 'Of course he would say something sweet and genuine like that.' -- Not much changed after you admitted you were gay to your current crush. Kurt still treated you the same, which you were so thankful for, but it also in the same sense bothered you. Why was he still treating you the same as before? Maybe he wasn't interested in you as you hoped and to him you just strengthen your friendship. You were dying inside. "I brought you some lemonade because you look tired." The said person called from behind you. You were on the grounds of the mansion turned school. Jean and Eric were repairing the school, and you were taking care of the landscaping. There was heavy damage to some trees and the ground was ripped up, you could hear how desperate the poor plants were. "Thank you!" You beamed and took the glass and quickly downed half of it. "So how's the rest of the clean up going?" Kurt was helping with putting the classrooms together. "Pretty well. Eric and Jean are finished, so it's just putting everything back into place." He answered, "How about you?" "Good too, I just have a few more flower boxes to place around the place, so I'm practically done as well." You took another sip, "If you're free, want to help me?" You asked, noticing that Kurt didn't make any notion that he was going to leave anytime soon. He perked up and nodded, you were right, "Sure! I don't like waiting around doing nothing." You smiled at the comment. "Awesome, so just grab that flower box and follow me then." You pointed to the box and picked up one as well, "We'll come back for the other two." You led the taller male around to the front of the mansion and instructed him to place the box by the entrance to the school. "I can go get the others for you," Kurt said, but before waiting for your answer, he disappeared in blue smoke. You smiled to yourself, he still amazed you with his teleportation. He soon appeared with one flower box, setting it down, and then disappearing again to get the last one. He was actually making your job faster. You looked at the entrance from different angles, still unsure of how exactly you wanted to put the boxes. Kurt stood back and watch you work, smiling a bit. He'd never admit it, when you told him he was beautiful, it was you he thought was the beautiful one. "Can you help me with this? I cannot make up an official decision." You said in defeat. Kurt walked over to stand by your side, "Sure, what exactly do you need help with?" You gestured to the flower boxes vaguely, "I don't know what order they should go in. Should they stay on one side of the door? Or should they go back by the gates?" Kurt looked at the places you mentioned and contemplated, "I mean, they are so pretty so I want to make sure the most people appreciate their beauty." You added. The male beside you smiled, he liked your reasoning behind your indecisiveness. "If that's the reason behind it, I would put them by the front door. So you can't enter or leave the school without seeing them." He looked at you with a smile, his heart swelling with an unfamiliar feeling when you beamed at him. "You are exactly right, thank you." You said and went to work in arranging the flowers precisely at the entrance. Kurt cleared his throat, "Um, you're welcome." He waited for you to be finished and you both headed inside to clean up. "You can shower first." Kurt offered when you entered your shared room. Just about everyones personal items were destroyed in the explosion. You were especially devastated that Jacque was apart of that unfortunate event. "Are you sure? I don't mind waiting." You questioned. He nodded, "Yes I'm sure, I have to go ask the Professor about something anyways, so go ahead." You eyed the blue mutant for a moment. He was fidgeting more that usual so it raised some suspicion in your eyes. But you let it slide, it could just be that he was still on edge from the attack. "Ok, thanks then." You grabbed a towel and flashed him a smile before leaving the room. Kurt let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding when you left the room. He teleported himself to outside Charles's office, where he knew the professor would be, and knocked. There was a 'come in' only after a moment and Kurt let himself in. "Hello professor." Kurt greeted him. "Hello Kurt, I have what you asked for. I still don't know why you needed me to get this?" He questioned. A shy smile took over Kurt's face, instantly Charles understood the meaning behind it at least, "I don't know where you could get it, that's all. And I wanted it to be a surprise." He explained to the older man. Charles nodded with a knowing look that didn't get past Kurt, it made him heat up, "Well then, I hope it all ends well." "Thank you." Kurt said before excusing himself and leaving the office. He wanted to be back in the room before you got out of the shower, but knew you took quick showers. So once outside the office with the door shut behind him, he teleported him into your shared room. Kurt sighed in relief seeing you were still in the shower. But not for long. He just had to wait a few minutes before you walked through the doorway towel-drying your hair. You knew something was up with Kurt, first the fidgeting when you left and now he was holding something behind his back, "Hey Kurt, what's up?" He asked with a raised brow. "I know that nothing can replace Jacque, but I hoped this would cheer you up." Kurt replied and pulled out a potted [plant type from before]. When he held the plant out towards you, you wanted to cry. You dropped the towel and placed a hand over your mouth. It was just too sweet, sweeter than anything anyone has ever done for you. "Kurt... I don't know what to say, this is so nice of you." You reached out and took the plant from his hands and gave him a large smile, "Thank you, I-Thank you, really." You laughed a little and placed the plant down on your bed before wrapping your arms around the blue mutant. "Thank you, I can't tell you that enough. I'm so happy right now I could kiss you." You said when you let go of him. And instantly regretted the words from forming. A blush overtook your features, "I-I mean, I'm just happy it just slipped out-" "Ok." "-it slipped out really, wait what?" Did you hear him correctly. It was Kurt's turn to blush. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, shrugging shyly, "Well, uh, I wouldn't be against kissing you.." You gaped at him, too shocked to be embarrassed by his words, were you dreaming? "Really? Do you mean that?" You both were still standing toe-to-toe to each other, but neither one of you made a move to take a step back. "Yes." You hesitantly placed your hands on his shoulders, you were really going to do this. You knew your feelings have only been getting stronger for Kurt as the days added up, but you could have never guessed that they might have been mutual. You had to pull the taller male down, since you were not going to chance standing on your tippy toes and fall. Your eyes slid closed and you kissed him. He instantly recuperated the kiss. Kurt took his hands out of his pockets to cup your cheeks and deepen the kiss. He tilted your head to the side and pressed harder against you, your arms wrapped around his neck in return. The kiss was a whole lot lips and gross sounds, but it as gross in the best kind of ways. You were the one who pulled away first, a smile breaking on your face without any intention of going away soon. "I've wanted to do that for a long time." You admitted, keeping your arms around him. Kurt laughed a little, "That makes me feel really good." "I still will never be able to repay you, the plant... That's just too thoughtful." "How about you let me take you on a date? That would be enough payment for me. Because you may think I'm the beautiful one, but it's always been you." Kurt replied smoothly. You laughed and pressed your forehead against his chest, you didn't know whether to feel flattered or embarrassed at his compliment, "Did that kiss make you more confident or something? I miss my bumbling mutant." "I guess something like that, is that ok with you?" "Of course it is." You agreed, "But, do you mean that?" "I would never lie to you." You looked up and the two of you shared a smile. This was it, this was the feeling that Kurt at first didn't understand. It was love.

#x men #x men apocalypse #nightcrawler #kurt wagner #nightcrawler x reader #x reader #reader #x reader insert #reader insert #reposted from deviantart #male reader #male reader insert

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blu-b · 7 years ago

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Cornish funny farm, a review (Poldark S3 E8)

I usually don’t do this kind of comment / summary, but after today’s episode let me chime in with a few things….

Behind a cut, for reasons.

Ross & Elizabeth 3.0: Oh finally, those two get to talk in private, and like adults. Yay! Now everything will be rectified…right? Right?

Ooooh far from it! They talk and talk and…. never come to the actual point?? Elizabeth hints at Valentine’s parentage, Ross asks if he’s his, Elizabeth says she doesn’t know - cue a brief hysterical fit where Ross accuses her of not wanting to tell (to what point and purpose should she?? Also Ross, mate, if you have any basic knowledge of how reproduction works, you’d know that this is not an exact science, at least not in your times), Elizabeth once again defending herself for something that is not her fault, Ross wanting to know what exactly George suspects…and the conversation starts all over again. Hello?? Get to the fucking POINT, people!

OK Ross basically apologizing for what he did was VERY relieving, as was seeing that they still have some sort of fondness for each other, albeit a sad one; but what was that bullshit about “never injure the woman I loved” - remember you kicked in her door and broke into her bedroom? Also, I’m not a fan of his borderline aggression when he says “You WON’T tell!”…too many bad memories of that one night™ .

And then, the weirdest and wildest thing ever: So the only way to save her marriage to George is by “giving him another child” and make it look like it’s premature as well. “When there’s some confusion about the date…” Yes Ross, really, are you happy to help out again?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, DEBBIE H.?? What’s this bumfuckery?? Why is Ross suggesting such a thing to her?? I can’t believe it…I was literally yelling at the TV like: “Ross…..Roooooss…..no, you didn’t..ROSSSSS ROOOOSSS NOO ROSS!!” What in fuck’s name did I just witness???? This can’t be serious. I’m still speechless.

Also, Ross, your many “all in good friendship” kisses to Elizabeth’s face are cute, but did you check if she really wants that? No? Ah, I’m smelling a pattern here.

And, what’s all that guesswork about who told George of their night together?

R: Have you never hinted to him….? E: How could I?? But maybe you said something to him….? R: Asjsalmnkbjamff!!! E: Oh, but who could have told him? Hmmmmm. Who else was in the house….. ………… ……….. ……….. Both, looking ominously out to the graveyard: ………………..could it be? Agatha….?

I mean, how stupid is that? Agatha basically told Elizabeth on her dying bed (stool) that she had spilled the beans to George, so…..dafuq?

I liked what they did with Ross “confessing” his feelings to Demelza, it explains a lot about his later actions and why he’s trying to hard to stick to his promise. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t say it in the end - of course he should, but for his character development it’s not important whether he says it out loud or just in his head; the main thing is that he has reached that conclusion and is coming to terms with his own feelings that were so unclear to him not too long ago. I really like season 3 Ross so far with the exception of the above examples, so yeah…there’s still hope.

Insert obligatory timeline glitch: “And for the first time in years, we talked. ” - Ross meaning Elizabeth. Ummm. Years? Valentine is like what, 2 years old? And there was that incident with the horses at the cliffs, he spoke to Elizabeth there, albeit briefly, but he did speak to her. “For the first time in years” makes it sound like they haven’t talked for a decade. Meanwhile, Jeremy Poldark has aged one day.

So, back to the talk. So the plan is to seduce poor George every day so that no one can tell exactly when a possible new baby was conceived? Very clever. Good luck with that.

Speaking of George….and ok yeah I’m biased here, but still….my poor precious darling boy! :’( The small victory of the election is tarnished by his family affairs. He so wants to believe little Valentine is his, but he just can’t get over old Agatha’s cruel words. Played to perfection by Jack, the internal struggles of a man who doesn’t know if he’s being lied to by the woman he loves, or has just been led on by an old woman’s spite. I liked to see that his nervous little habits increase, and it’s also quite telling in this context that it’s George who first loses his nerve in the dispute with Ross, not the other way round as usual (note to self: I do love when George results to cursing, shouting, or a threatening purr ^^). And that image of him sitting alone in his carriage almost broke my heart :-(

What was stupid though was that they put the confrontation in after Ross spoke to Elizabeth. He knows that George is suspicious of her and of Valentine’s parentage, and still he says something stupid like “…and so is her son!” - meaning Geoffrey Charles, of course, but it’s just such a cheap and obvious way of creating suspense. George very obviously and understandably thinks Ross is - in anger - referring to Valentine, and how can he not think that? Ross of course doesn’t say it with that intention, but it’s just stupid because he usually either says “Francis’ son” (because that’s what makes GC a Poldark in the first place), or simply “Geoffrey Charles”, not “Elizabeth’s son”. It would have made A LOT more sense to put this BEFORE the conversation with Elizabeth, so that Ross actually realizes that he has said something incredibly stupid to George and put Elizabeth under even more suspicion. The way it is, it’s just another cheap “Poldark vs. Warleggan” moment.

Then, Demelza. I almost felt sorry for her when yet another man tells her “You’re not perfect, but I’m not looking for perfection anyway…” - like seriously? Is Hugh actually getting her with the same superficial crap that Ross told her? Ugh. Don’t get me wrong, Hugh is cute and I like him, but I’m not sure I like / understand the way his attraction to her is portrayed. It’s all a bit too obvious and too much and…well, yeah. I don’t really care enough to delve deeper into it.

Morwenna’s storyline is finally getting a bit interesting, after endless hours of her looking at Drake like a moon calf and swooning over some flowers and standing at the window looking longingly out to…whatever. Worse that what they did to Elizabeth in s2, imho. She still doesn’t do much but sit there and suffer, but this time I’ve actually shed a tear for her because I’m finally beginning to feel a bit more for this character than just “ugh…!”.

Also, I get that Osborne is a horrible man that we shouldn’t come to like, but I’ve got to admit that he does have some comical moments, and especially perfect timing, so kudos to Christian Brassington for this portrayal.

Also, I kind of like Rowella. I wasn’t too into any of the “young generation” and I still don’t care a damn for Sam Carne and his what’s-her-face, and neither for Drake for that matter, but the way Rowella plays the fat vicar’s vices is kind of entertaining (and makes one wonder why her sister never thought of similar tricks, but she was possibly too busy looking out the window…).

Final conclusion: Almost every marriage in Cornwall is beyond botched.

One ray of light though, Dwight. Dwight is always right. Hahaha, I loved how he stuck it to fat Ossie ^^ But in general, he and Caroline don’t get nearly enough screen time in this season.

Elizabeth was again reduced to little else but holding Valentine and looking ominous, but I did love how in two scenes she got to actually decide something for herself, and how she takes on responsibility, not only of Morwenna, but in general. She seems more like the lady of the house now and issues commands, and she’s not afraid to use the differences in their rank to put Osborne into his place. Well done, lovely lady! *applauds* Also, I like how her feelings for George seem to have developed into something more than convenience.

Finally though, Ross and Demelza. Oh my. What a clusterfuck of bullshit. It all boils down to:

“My heart will always and forever belong to you…but, actually, trying out another man for a day would be kinda cool, and once I did that I’ll happily return to you and go on as if nothing happened, also btw you cheated on me so you are morally obliged to grant me this favour."

Wow. Kudos to Ross for his self-control and his patience with her. I’m not getting into the discussion whether cheating out of revenge is okay or not, and neither into any other for that matter, and while I admit that Ross has some horrible flaws and did abysmal things in the past, he’s trying so hard this season, especially with Demelza. That he makes a few remarks the like of “Not every man in Cornwall is in love with you” doesn’t really come as a surprise after the Fucky McMustache episode, but all in all and given that it’s Ross we’re speaking of, he’s basically snuggly as a kitten. Whereas my understanding for Demelza shrinks with every episode since season 2 tbh. OK so he doesn’t write her poems, so what? He doesn’t care what dress colour she wears, so what? She could be stuck in a FAR worse marriage with a far worse man (think Osborne), and also some of her antics are really rather pointless and just feel like random bitching because she doesn’t get what she wants (a large part of which seems to be the “ploughing” of a certain “field” if I’m reading this correctly; at least that seems to be what the script is hinting at).

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that they’re working through a difficult time in their marriage, and both of them are not easy persons, but - citing the books - all of this is about eventually understanding that there’s more to love and marriage than what convention teaches us and that in order to understand a partner and truly love them, you need to let go of them sometimes. And there would have been so many more ways to bring that across in film, instead of having Demelza be randomly angry with Ross and paying him back by cheating with the next best man who babbles romantic nonsense at her.

This was one of the more powerful episodes in s3, and still the overall feeling I’m left with is one of being sorry for all the persons who’d deserve more happiness than what they’re currently getting: Elizabeth & George, Morwenna & Drake, and Ross….

Oohooo and edit: No Ross, Elizabeth is actually not "the only person" who can do something about this spiderweb of lies you're both entangled in (especially not by telling another lie!). YOU could walk up to George and tell him face to face that Elizabeth is innocent, that you slept with his fiancée against her will and that you're sorry for what you did, and if Valentine should turn out to come after you, that you'll help support the child (even though George and Elizabeth surely don't need the money). That would come very close to a suicide mission, but it would be honest for once and you'd not be using Elizabeth to cover up your own mistakes.

#poldark spoilers #spoilers #poldark season 3 #not tagging this with poldark or character names because i don't wanna be sucked into fandom bullshit #my review #basically a rant #this is me just blurting out my first impressions #I need to see this again in order to appreciate it

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houseofvans · 8 years ago

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Sketchy Behavior | Hellen Jo

Never afraid to speak and/or draw her mind, Los Angeles based artist and illustrator, Hellen Jo and her characters can be described as rough, vulgar, tough, jaded, powerful, bratty and bad-ass - AKA her own brand of femininity. Known for her comic Jin & Jam, and her work as an illustrator and storyboard artist for shows such as Steven Universe and Regular Show, Hellen’s rebellious, and sometimes grotesque artwork and illustrations are redefining Asian American women and women of color in comics. In fact, that’s why Hellen Jo was a must-interviewee for our latest Sketchy Behavior where we talk to her about her love of comics and zines, her antiheroines, and redefining what Asian American women identity is or can be; and what her ultimate dream project realized would be.

Tell folks a little about yourself. So is it Helllen with three “l”’s? Mainly because your IG handle and website has a whole lot of extra “l”’s?

Haha my actual name is Hellen with two L’s. All my emails and urls contain a different number of L’s to confuse everyone. My grandfather took my American name from the Catholic saint, but he spelled it wrong, and now I share the same name as the mythological progenitor of the Greek people. But I like it better than my Korean name, which literally means, “graceful water lily” HAHAHA. I am an illustrator-slash-painter-slash-I-don’t-know-what living and working in Los Angeles.

Let’s talk about your early childhood / background. I read you’re from San Jose, CA and both your folks were professors, which is really cool!! How did you end up making art instead of teaching a room full of students about Hotel Management or Medieval History? Just curious where you got your “creative bug” and what early comics, arts, and/or influences led you down the road to becoming an artist?

I grew up in South San Jose, and yes, both of my parents are professors, of finance and of applied linguistics. A lot of my extended family are professors too, so I grew up parroting their desire for academia, but really, I started drawing when I was a wee babe, and I’ve always wanted to be a cartoonist. When I was really young, my parents drew for fun, really rarely; my dad could draw the shit out of fish and dogs, and my mom painted these really beautiful watercolor still lifes. I was fascinated, and I’d spend all my time drawing on stacks and stacks of dot matrix paper by myself. My parents also had a few art books around the house, and I remember staring so hard at a book of Modigliani nudes that my eyes burned holes through the pages.

What was the first comics you came across?

The first comics I ever got were translated mangas that were given to me by relatives when we’d visit Korea. I remember getting Candy Candy, a flowery glittery shojo manga for girls, and I was mesmerized by all the sparkly romance and starry huge eyes. I was also enthralled by Ranma ½, a gender bending teen manga that was equal parts cute art, cuss words, and shit too sexy for a kid my age. However, I was mostly thrilled that I could understand the stories with really minimal Korean reading skills, thus cementing a forever love of comics. In junior high and high school, I read a mix of newspaper strips and some limited manga, and I was enthralled with MTV cartoons “Daria” and “Aeon Flux”, but I wasn’t exposed to zines or graphic novels until I moved to Berkeley for college.

Did you have a first comic shop you haunted? What did you fill your comic art hunger with?

Being a super sheltered teen with not-great social skills, I was lonely my first semester, so I would lurk at Cody’s Books and Comic Relief every single day after classes. I read the entirety of Xaime Hernandez’s Love & Rockets volume, The Death of Speedy one afternoon at Cody’s, and it literally made me high; I was so hooked. I amassed some massive credit card debt buying and reading as many amazing comics as I could those first (and only) couple years of school: all of Los Bros Hernandez’s Love & Rockets, Dan Clowes’ Eightball, Julie Doucet’s Dirty Plotte comics, Peter Bagge’s Hate series, Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, Charles Burns’ Black Hole, Taiyo Matsumoto’s Black and White, Junji Ito’s Tomie and Uzumaki volumes… I could not believe the scope and breadth of the alternative comics genre, and the stories were so insanely good; they literally mesmerized me. I was so obsessed; I even skulked around the tiny comics section at UC Berkeley’s Moffitt Library in search of books I hadn’t read, and amid the fifty volumes of Doonesbury strips, some sick university librarian had included an early English translation of the Suehiro Maruo collection, Ultra Gash Inferno. That book blew my tiny mind about a hundred times; it’s totally fucked up erotic-grotesque horror porn, but the art is unbelievably beautiful. I read that entire thing sitting on the floor in the aisle, feverishly praying to God to forgive my sins after I finished the book, because I was way too ashamed to check it out of the library.

How about zines? I imagine a comic devouring ….

I devoured zines at a nearly equally fervent pace, including those by Aaron Cometbus, Al Burian (Burn Collector), Doris, John Pham, Jason Shiga, Lark Pien, Mimi Thi Nguyen, etc. I had never seen a zine before in my life, and suddenly, I was living in a town full of zinesters. I was drowning in inspiration. I tried to copy the art and writing of everything I read, and I spent a lot of my time making band flyers, trying to pass off zines as suitable replacements for term papers (this worked just once), and making monthly auto-bio comics for a few student publications. Eventually, I dropped out of school, then dropped out of school again, and I made my first published comic, Jin & Jam; then it all became real.

What was your early works like? and how did these become fodder for your self-published stuff later? What about your own experiences did you feel needed to be expressed in your own comics and artwork?

As a kid I was mostly copying sparkly girl manga and Sailor Moon stickers, and I don’t think I’ve really strayed all that far from that. My first few zines were cutesy autobiographical comics about crushes and falling asleep at the library; incredibly dull stuff. I made a super fun split comic/ep with this band I loved, The Clarendon Hills, but after that point, I was tired of drawing cute, goofy shit.

I had also really been obsessed with Korean ghost horror movies in high school, and I wanted to make comics that reflected more of that kind of coming-of-age violence and rage, so I made a couple standalone horror comics, Paralysis and Blister. These were longer than anything I’d ever done (forty to fifty pages each), and I felt like I was finally figuring out how to write interesting stories. I eventually dropped out of school and made Jin & Jam, based a bit on growing up in San Jose and on other kids I had grown up with.

At the time, there were still relatively few Asian American women in comics, and I was tired of whatever hyper-cute, yellow-fever, Japanified shit we were being pigeon-holed into, so I reacted by writing and drawing vulgar girls who started fights and didn’t give a fuck. I went to art school for a few semesters, got better at drawing people, and went on to draw nothing but mean bad girl ne'erdowells. I’d never been a very strong or defiant personality outwardly, but I’ve always been a pretty big fuckin bitch on the inside, and I just wanted to draw how I feel, in the most sincere way possible. And naturally, over the years, as I continued to develop this attitude in my art, I was able to express it better in person as well. Self-actualization through making comics!

For folks who don’t read comics, can you explain why they are SO AMAZING and moving to you! What about the format, art and overall genre makes them so great and not just your typical “funnies.”

I truly believe that comics are the greatest narrative format and art medium of all time! They are completely full of potential; you can draw and write whatever the hell you can think of, there are no real rules, and you as author and artist can create a deep and intimate experience for your reader. You can bare your vulnerabilities or yell at the world or create a visual masterpiece or inform people, visually and narratively. I don’t even believe that good art makes good comics; writing is king, and the art should really serve to further the story. Some of the worst comics I’ve ever seen had the most amazing art, and some of the greatest comics I’ve loved have the plainest, most naive, even ugly visuals, but those authors were able to finesse a symbiotic relationship between the text and the images to tell a compelling story. People are already so drawn to images, so it makes sense to me that they can enhance a reader’s literary experience so much.

I read that Taiyo Matsumoto is one of your all time inspirations. Most folks probably don’t know much about this master of comics, heck my knowledge is limited, so what makes his work speak to you so much? Perhaps it’ll encourage folks to venture into a new world of art exploration through visual comics.

Taiyo Matsumoto is the all time master of coming-of-age comics. I worship at his altar, for real. He is a Japanese artist, so technically his work is manga, but his masterful storytelling and singular visuals are so different from most manga, beyond categorization. He writes quiet, powerful stories about boys, girls, and teens who live in uncaring worlds surrounded by unfeeling adults, but they rise to these challenges and thrive in spite of themselves. The characters feel deeply, and the reader can’t help but ache and rage and celebrate just as fully. The drawings are beautiful and sensitive, with rough, loose artwork consisting of scratchy lines and cinematically composed shots.

What were some of your first memories with his work?

I remember buying the first two Pulp volumes of Black and White (also published as Tekkonkinkreet) at Comic Relief, reading them both at home that day, and then, covered in tears, literally *running* back that evening to buy the last volume before the store closed. I probably cried a dozen times while reading it; it’s a story about two orphan boys who protect each other in a neo-Vegas-like city of vice, but the characters were so brutal and brilliant and poignant. I had never read anything like that before, and it literally made me sick that, at the time, none of his other works were available in English. Eventually, I figured out that he was more widely published in Korea, so on every family trip, I’d run away from my folks for a day and buy as many of his books as I could carry back to the US. I made my way, slowly, through the Korean translations of Hana-otoko, Ping Pong (another incredible favorite!), and Zero. A beautiful collection of short stories, Blue Spring, was published in English, and then VIZ began translating the series No. 5, but they abruptly stopped mid-series due to low book sales. I was so starved for his work that at that point, I’d ebay his art books and comics only available in Japanese and just stare at them. Eventually, Black and White was made into the anime film, Tekkonkinkreet, and Ping Pong was made into an anime mini-series, and his rise in popularity ensured a wider English availability of his work. His current series, Sunny, is being translated and published here, and every volume breaks my heart a million times.

I’m sorry, this just turned into a gushy, gross fan fest, but Matsumoto’s books really changed my entire perspective on how comics can be written and paced, how characters can be developed fully, and how important comics really are to me. I love them so much!!!!!

You’ve worked in so many cool fields such as a storyboard artist and designer, and on various cartoons, such as Steven Universe. For folks who are interested in those fields, what can you tell folks about that? I’m sure like most artists, you’d rather be spending those long hours working on your own personal art, so how do you balance them? How did you move from a comic artist to working as a storyboarding artist?

I stopped working in animation about a year and a half ago, but the transition from indie comics to storyboarding was rough one, for me. I got into storyboarding at a time when a lot of kids’ animation networks were starting to hire outside the pool of animation school graduates and reach into the scummy ponds of comics. In my case, the creator of Regular Show, JG Quintel, had bought some of my comics at San Diego Comic-Con from my publisher, and he offered me a storyboard revisionist test.

Some cartoonists, like my partner Calvin Wong, were able to transition wonderfully; cartoonists and board artists are both visual storytellers, and once they’d learn the ropes, many of them thrived and succeeded. I can’t say the same for myself; I have major time management issues, I draw and write incredibly slowly, and going from working completely alone to pitching and revising stories with directors and showrunners was just a real shock to my system. For most of my time at Cartoon Network and FOX ADHD, I wasn’t able to do much personal work, but I crammed it in where I could.

Storyboarding also requires a lot of late nights and crazy work hours, to meet pitch deadlines and to rewrite and redraw large portions of your board. I just couldn’t deal. I lost a lot of weight, more of my hair fell out, and the extreme stress of the job put my undiagnosed diabetes into overdrive (stress makes your liver pump out sugar like crazy, look it up, people!) I realized that this industry was not meant for lard lads like me, and when the opportunity came to stop, I did. I could never figure out the balance between my job and my personal work, and I finally chose the latter. Now I’m trying to figure out the balance between making personal work and surviving, but I’ve yet to crack that nut either!

From your art I get a sense of rebellion and angst, how did this morph into an outlet through comics, cartoons, and illustration? Some aspects of your work that are so cool is the fact that your characters are female and women of color and in a completely new way. Asian characters definitely get stereotype in art and comics, so when did you consciously start to create these awesome antiheroines and redefine what Asian/Asian American women/girl identity is or can be?

A lot of the seething rage bubbling behind my eyes has been simmering there since childhood, and a very large portion of that anger comes directly from all the racism and sexism I’ve experienced as a child and adult. I’ve been treated patronizingly by boys and men who expect an Asian girl to be frail, demure, receptive, and soft-spoken. I’ve experienced yellow fever from dudes who are clearly more interested in my slanted eyes and sideways cunt than in whatever it is I have to say. Even in comics and illustration, people constantly tell me I must be influenced by Japanese woodblock print (pray tell, where in the holy fuck does that come from???), or they’ll look at a painting I’ve done of a girl bleeding from her mouth and dismiss my work as “cute”. I despise this complete lack of respect, for me and for Asian American women in general, and I’ve made it my life mission to depict my girls as I would prefer to be seen: fucking angry, violent, mean, dirty and gross, unapproachable, tough, jaded, ugly, powerful, and completely apathetic to you and your shit. Any rebellion and angst in my work comes directly from my own anger, and in my opinion, it makes that shit way better. Girls and women of color get so little respect in real life, so why not “be the change I want to see” in my drawings?

I think I was always aware of this lack of respect, and the “othering” of Asian American women, but once I got to college and learned to put a name to the racism and xenophobia and sexism and fetishism that we experience, my heart burst into angry flames, and it exploded into all of my art. I’ve never been able to hold that back, and I’m not interested in doing so, ever.

Talk about your process and mediums and process. Are you a night owl or an early bird artist? Do you have stacks of in-progress works or are you a one and down drawing person? Do you jot down notes or are you a sketch book person.

I am a paper and pencil artist all the way; I do work digitally sometimes, to make gifs or to storyboard, but I hate drawing and coloring on the computer. I’m terrible at it! I draw everything in pencil first, erasing a hundred thousand times along the way toward a good drawing. For my paintings, I’ll then ink with brush pen and paint with watercolor, all on coldpress Arches. For comics, I ink with whatever, brush pen or fountain pen, or leave the pencil, usually on bristol board. I’ve also been keeping sketchbooks more recently (never really maintained the habit before), where I like to doodle fountain pen and color with Copic markers. In sketchbooks, I’ll slap post-its on mistakes, a trick I learned from paper storyboarding on Regular Show.

I am a total night owl and a hermit; I have to be really isolated to get anything done, but at the same time, being so alone makes me crave social interaction in quick, fiery bursts. I’ll go on social rampages for a week at a time, and then jump back into my hidey hole and stay hidden for months, avoiding everyone. It’s not a very productive or healthy way to be, but it’s how I’ve always been.

I have great difficulty trying to juggle multiple tasks; I tend to devote all my mental energy and focus into whatever I’m working on at the time, so I need to complete each piece before I can do anything else. It’s an incredibly inefficient, time-wasting way of making art, but it’s also the only way I can produce drawings that I am satisfied with.

If we were to bust into your workspace or studio, what would we find? and what would you not want us to find?

You’d find an unshowered me, drawing in my underwear, which coincidentally is also what I do not want you to find!

You’d also find a room half made into workspace (more below), and half taken over by boxes of t-shirts and sweatshirts (I do all my own mailorder fulfillment, like an idiot!) I also like to surround myself with junk I find inspiring, so the walls are covered in prints and originals by some of my favorite artists, a bookshelf along the back wall is filled with about a third of my favorite comics and books and zines, and every available non-work surface (including desk, wall shelves, and bulletin boards) are covered in vintage toys, dice, tchotchkes, bottles, lighters and folding knives, weird dolls and figurines, a variety of fake cigarettes (I have a collection…)

Work-space wise, I have two long desks placed along a wall; the left desk has my computer and Cintiq, as well as my ancient laptop. Underneath and to the side of this desk are my large-format Epson scanner, fancy-ass Epson giclee printer, and a Brother double-sided laser printer. The right desk has a cutting mat, an adjustable drawing surface, and a hundred million pens and half my supplies/crafts hoard. I have a giant guillotine paper cutter for zines underneath this desk. I’ve got two closets filled with button making supplies, additional supplies/crafts hoard, and all kinds of watercolor paper, bristol paper, and mailing envelopes are crammed into every shelf, alcove, gap. This room has five lamps because I need my eyes to burn when I’m working. Also, everything is covered in stickers because I am obsessed with stickers.

What is something you’d like to see happen more often if at all in the contemporary art world? How’s the LA art scene holding up? Whaddya think?

As an artist who adores comics, I have a deep affection for low-brow mediums getting high-art and high-literary respect. Not that a comic needs to be shown in a gallery to be a valid art form, but I am so excited that comics that used to be considered fringe or underground are gaining traction as important works of art and literature. I wish this upward trajectory would continue forever, until everyone understands the love I feel for comics, but who knows what the future holds: the New York Times just recently stopped publishing their Graphic Novel Best Seller lists, and I think it’s a damn shame.

The LA art scene is really interesting to me, because it embraces both hi and lo brow work so readily; fancy pants galleries that make catalogues and sell to art dealers have openings right alongside pop-art stores that sell zines and comics, and I enjoy having access to both. I will say that I think LA galleries are a bit oversaturated with art shows devoted to television and pop culture fan art; yeah, I get that you loooooooove that crazy 70s cult classic sci-fi series and you want to draw Mulder and Scully and Boba Fett in sexual repose for the rest of your life, but I’m more excited about seeing new and original work from everyone. I know you have something to say, and I want to see it.

Mostly, I’d obviously love to see more women of color making art and making comics; we’ve come a long way since I started making zines in 2002, and there are some incredible WOC cartoonists making amazing work right now, but we need more more MORE!

What would be your ultimate dream project? What is something you haven’t tried and would love to give it a go at? Dream collaborations?

My ultimate dream project is the Great American Graphic Novel, but I am so shit at finishing anything that I have not been able to even approach this terrifying prospect. But I figure I have until the day of my death to make something, so … one step at a time?

As far as something I’ve never tried, I’ve been recently interested in site-specific installation; I’ve always been a drawer for print, confined to the desk, and I’m in awe of cartoonists and illustrators who have transitioned to other forms of visual media, whether it be video, sculpture, performance, whatever. I know my personality tends toward repeating the same motions forever and ever, and I hope I can break out of that and make something really different and challenging for myself. I also secretly want to make music but I am the shittiest guitarist ever so maybe it’s better for the world that I don’t!

The dreamiest collaboration I can think of is to illustrate a skate deck for any sick-ass teen girl or woman skater. Seriously, if any board companies wanna make this happen, EMAIL ME

Give us your top 5 of your current favorite comic artists as well as your top 5 artists in general.

Top 5 Current Favorite Comic Artists:

1. Jonny Negron 2. Jillian Tamaki 3. Michael DeForge 4. Ines Estrada 5. Anna Haifisch

Top 5 Artists of All Time

1. Taiyo Matsumoto 2. Xaime Hernandez 3. David Shrigley 4. Julie Doucet 5. Daniel Clowes

What are your favorite style of VANS? And how would you describe your own personal style?

My favorite VANS are the all-black Authentic Lo Pros, although I have a soft spot for my first pair of Cara Beth Burnsides in high school (they were so ugly and I never skated, but I loved them).

My personal style can be described as aging colorblind tomboy who dresses herself in the dark; my favorite outfit is a black hoodie with black denim shorts and black socks and black sneakers.

What do you have planned for this 2017? New shows? New published works?

I’ve got two group shows with some of my favorite artists in the works; I’m so excited but I can’t share any details yet. I’ve also been writing a new comic, but don’t believe it til ya see it!

Best bit of advice and worse advice in regards to art?

Best Advice: Never be satisfied; always challenge yourself to make your art better than everything you’ve done previously.

Worst Advice: Make comics as a stepping stone towards getting a job in animation. When people do this, you can smell the stink of insincerity a mile away. Fuck you, comics are a beautiful medium, and every shitty asshole who does this, I hate your guts!

Follow Hellen Jo

Website: http://helllllen.org Shop: http://helllllen.bigcartel.com Instagram: @helllllenjjjjjo

Images courtesy of the artist

#vans #vans art #hellen jo #comic #cartoonist #indie #zine #sketchy thursdays #interview

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