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drwcn · 5 years ago

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I really do think mianmian and lwj deserve to be like, close friends. from their meeting in the show it doesn’t seem like they ever saw each other after jinlintai and i have no idea when they would’ve gotten the chance, but just afterwards, you know?

yes, I think they definitely deserve to be friends! One of things I always found troubling about these novel based xianxia dramas is the lack of sustainable friendship beyond the main romance line. I guess in order to create angst and emotional investment for the audiences, a lot of times, friendship get sidelined or destroyed when characters die or betray each other. As well, most non-romance relationships that we see lasting to the end of the story are family relations and sometimes servitude (aka a lackey that hangs on until the end). Real friendships where both parties are roughly on equal footing and station rarely last in these epic adventure dramas. You couldn’t even say Wen Ning is Wei Wuxian’s friend of equal station, not when Wen Ning doesn’t call Wei Wuxian by his name, just “young master”. Perhaps this is to isolate the main character, who knows. Even so, friendship between men is portrayed more frequently than friendship between women, or men and women.

So with your prompt, it inspired me to write a little something Luo Qingyang centric, ft our Hanguang-jun and juniors.

~~~

Lanling Jin’s entourage stood by the gates of Cloud Recesses, patiently waiting for their admission. What seemed like a life time ago, Luo Qingyang had been on these same steps with Jin Zixuan. She’d been a girl then, barely bloomed, barely grown. Life had been simple, and she had thought she knew what the future would hold.

So much had come to pass, yet these grand arches, white granite stone pulsing with spiritual aura, never seemed to age.

She glanced down at her Jin Clan robes, the pale yellow and white, embroidered with peonies and a strip of blue accentuating the lapel edge. She never thought she’d wear these colours again. Her mother had been a Jin, first cousin of Jin Guangshan. Once upon time, she’d been proud to be one of them, to be part of a powerful and wealthy clan. Then the war came and went, like the debriding of a wound upon their world that revealed the flesh underneath had caseated to the bone. She’d been so disillusioned, so aggrieved by her elders and disappointed by her peers.

Even Zixuan.

He had been a good man, her cousin. But he wasn’t strong of heart nor clever of mind. She was sorry to know he had died, but she wasn’t surprised. If he could not see the game his father had been playing, then there had never been any hope for him.

Luo Qingyang glanced towards the youth in front of her just slightly to the right. From the view of his back, she could almost picture his father, standing there with Suihua in his clutch, a proud son of the house of Jin. Time seemed to fluctuate, the eighteen years between then and now barely a drop in the ocean. If she breathed deeply enough and closed her eyes, she could almost be Mianmian again, could almost see Zixuan again.

This was the first time Jin Ling had come to Cloud Recesses without his jiujiu. The boy was rightfully nervous, but this push towards independence was necessary. Sooner or later, baby bird had to learn how to fly. Like his father, Jin Rulan had a kind nature, even if he was awful at expressing his feelings. He was young, but the burden on his shoulders were heavy. For the mess that was the Jin Clan post Jin Guangyao's demise to fall into Jin Ling's lap was the best and worst case scenario. If he hadn’t risen to occasion, the subsidiary sects - vultures circling a carcass- would’ve torn Lanling apart.

Perhaps that was why Luo Qingyang had agreed to return to her mother clan.

Wei Wuxian had arrived at her doorsteps one day some months after the incident at Guanyin Temple. Even on the outskirts of Yiling where she had lived, she had received news of what had happened. Wei Wuxian explained he’d been travelling, but between his subtle hints and unsubtle nudges, she had understood his intentions.

Jin Ling had no one to help him man the helm. Jiang Cheng could only do so much without the other sects accusing him of overreaching into businesses beyond Yunmeng’s jurisdiction. Jin Ling was Jinlintai’s heir, not Lotus Pier’s, a fact that most people had slowly forgotten over the last decade. Childless, Jiang Cheng’s seat would one day go to his prime disciple, but not to his nephew.

“Lan Zhan had written a decree for you, in case you encounter trouble going back. It’s a lot to ask for, I know. You’ve got such a lovely home here. But...you are needed, Mianmian, if you could forgive them.”

Forgive them? Luo Qingyang sighed. What’s there to forgive? She had left of her own volition, married well, and had a wonderful family. Her husband grumbled a bit about moving to the big city, but in the end he followed her back to her clan, just like he did to her night hunts. Her husband had been a merchant once, and she had no doubt he would thrive in Lanling. So far, she had not been proven wrong.

“I am Jin Rulan’s biao’gu*. He is as much your nephew as he is mine. Tell His Excellency that I will return to Jinlintai shortly. He can be assured Sect Leader Jin will not be alone.”

Lan Sizhui, Gusu Lan’s Head Disciple greeted them at the gates with a deep bow. Like his de-facto cousin, Sizhui had grown taller and more mature.

“Welcome, Jin-zongzhu, Luo-zhangshi*, and honored guests. Cloud Recesses thank you for your patience. Please, come with me.”

He gave Jin Ling a private smile, and the latter perked up immediately. “Lan-gongzi, you’re too kind. It’s been some time since we last spoke. I trust His Excellency is of good health and spirit?”

“Hanguang-jun is very well, thank you Jin-zongzhu.” In a lower tone, Sizhui commented. “I would’ve visited Lotus Pier with Wei-qianbei last harvest, but I was sent to Qinghe for sect business.”

Boys playing at being men.

Luo Qingyang hid a smile, slowing down her steps to give the youngsters some privacy from the party that followed them.

Such innocence. How lovely it was. The boys she’d known were forced to grow up amidst fire and chaos, and did so in such brutal, unimaginable ways. So many had died, and those who had lived would never get to experience their ‘what-could’ve-been’s.

After, when the official businesses were settled and the disciples were dismissed, Luo Qingyang and Lan Wangji sat together in a quiet pavilion. Sizhui and A-Ling were some distances away down the lang, standing a reasonable distance apart and conversing politely. Though, it was more than obvious that they were itching to shed their gentlemanly exterior and scurry off to whatever shenanigans boys their age got up to when their guardians weren't looking.

Lou Qingyang observed the man sitting across from her and found some irony in the fact that they were strangely similar. Though talented in cultivation, Lan Wangji was not the type she would’ve imagined being Chief Cultivator, and certainly she herself could’ve never imagined that one day she would be chief of staff of Lanling Jin.

Life dealt them both a funny set of cards and all they could do was keep playing.

“I know Wei Ying had delivered my message, but I want to thank you properly in person, Luo-zhangshi, for agreeing to come back. Those early days after Jin Guangyao’s death was...precariously to say the least. The situation at Jinlintai is much better now thanks to your efforts.”

“Hanguang-jun, we’ve known each other for a long time. Your husband has a scar on his chest from saving me from a Wen branding iron, and my daughter has received lucky money from the both of you. I think you can call me Miamian, if you’re comfortable with that.” She smiled, taking a sip of her tea. The scent of jasmine was calming after such a long, arduous morning.

Lan Wangji nodded, turning to his own cup. “We used to be classmates, now we are colleagues. Perhaps you are right. Formality in private is unnecessary.”

“As for coming back, it is my duty. Jin Ling is bright and kind. With the right guidance, Lanling Jin Sect will recover. I knew him, Jin Guangyao. He was... nice to me, most of the time anyways. Whether that niceness had any truth behind it, I don’t know, but even then he’d been so unreadable. I only wish I’d seen through it all sooner. So you see, there is no need for thanks, Wangji-xiong. We Jins have done enough wrong against your family. Pray, how is Zewu-jun?”

“Brother is still in seclusion, but he is no danger to himself. He is better now. Time heals all wounds. Though...”

Though knowing Lan Xichen, knowing what Lans were like when faced with tragic love, Lan Wangji wasn’t sure what his brother’s future would hold.

Luo Qingyang nodded, understanding. Suddenly, their tranquility was interrupted by a disciple rounding the corner, footsteps heavy and voice decidedly too loud.

“Sizhui, did you meet up with Young Mis -”

Lan Jingyi’s holler aborted immediately when he saw who was sitting in the pavilion. “Erm... Hanguang-jun, Luo-zhangshi...” Smiling sheepishly, he bowed.

“Sizhui.” Lan Wangji gave his son a pointed look, which the youth instantly understood.

“Ah, Jin-zongzhu. Perhaps you would like for Jingyi and myself to you show around? Cloud Recesses’ scenery is really one of a kind this time of year.”

“Yes, yes!" Jin Ling leaped to his feet from where he was sitting on the bench. He paused, casting a cautious glance towards his aunt, before clearing his throat and continuing in his most ‘adult’ voice. “Yes, I would like that. Lan-gongzi, Jingyi-xiong, if you wouldn't mind leading the way.”

Luo Qingyang and Lan Wangji focused their attention back to their tea cups, both turning a blind eye to the way Sizhui and Rulan all but ran to join up with Lan Jingyi.

They were out of sight in a heartbeat.

“Do you know who they remind me of?” Luo Qingyang tilted her head as a sense of deja-vu washed over her.

“Mn?”

“Wei-gongzi, Nie-zongzhu, and Jiang-zongzhu, during our guest disciple days.”

Our long summer.

“Mn.”

“Remember when they got drunk on Emperor’s Smile? They really were audacious even then.” Luo Qingyang reminisced with a fond chuckle.

“Yes. Uncle was furious.” The corner of Lan Wangji’s lips tilted upwards.

Was that amusement she detected?!

Mianman blinked, suddenly realizing, “Oh but you were amongst them too, if I recall correctly.” She gave him a sly smile. “The girls said you were discovered in a drunken coma in Wei-gongzi’s room the next morning. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

Oh the scandal! “How did they rope you into it?”

“I was willing,” confessed the venerated Hanguang-jun without so much as a blush. The shameless scoundrel!

Luo Qingyang laughed, the sound ringing like a clear bell that cut through Cloud Recesses’ tranquility.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore; he’s your husband now. For the record, we all saw it coming.”

Lan Wangji raised a quizzical brow. “Oh? I did not think it was obvious.”

“Well, not to the male disciples perhaps, but the female disciples, we all knew.” Luo Qingyang took a deep breath and sighed. “Sometimes I miss those days. Simpler times.”

“Mn.”

“My daughter has started cultivation lessons with the other children at Jinlintai. Someday she may visit here as guest disciple, as I once was. I hope her future will be a better one.”

She met his gaze steadily, and the understanding in between had no need for further words.

Lan Wangji smiled.

“That is my wish as well.”

biao’gu 表姑 = a type of aunt, a distant female cousin of one’s parent that’s in the same generation as them.

zhang’shi 长史= an antiquated government position that’s akin to Secretary General.

#cql #the untamed #luo qingyang #lan wangji #corie replies #i love ouyang zizhen #he's just not in this one #don't worry they're all friends #cql ficlet #corie fics

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phoebehalliwell · 4 years ago

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so, amnesia trope....which charmed one would you do it with & how would you do it (if you want, i just like this trope)

hmmm that’s a really good question idk why but my gut really says to go with phoebe. she was first to the craft and the one that really pushed prue & piper to move forward in their destiny, so to have that all be wiped would be interesting to say the least. furthermore, with her psychic powers, i feel like that leaves a lot of room for “echos” like feelings of deja vu or the sense that you should be remembering something but you can’t remember what you’re remembering.

i feel like i would put this line after season 4 / beginning of season 5 in an au where cole doesn’t come back but phoebe is still haunted by his memory. i think her emotional stress and ptsd from that relationship would then cause a block in her powers bc as well all know your powers are tied to your emotions so phoebe might start looking into a way to fix that. personally, i feel like it’s never a good move to have the character move forward with these actions to the extent that they end up damaging themselves bc while i think it is a complex journey it very often comes across as unrelatable and leads to people holding grudges against said character bc it looks like they placed their own well being over the well being of their family and those they swore to protect. so what i would do is have phoebe go through multiple processes trying to cure herself: crystals, meditation, essential oils, talk therapy, etc. but she still has this block. shit really becomes an issue when a power of three spell almost doesn’t work. piper, phoebe, paige, & leo all have to sit down and discuss what’s happening bc phoebe’s troubles seem to only be getting worse and it’s now directly impacting the power of three. they need to find something fast bc it’s getting dangerous and phoebe starts crying bc she’s doing everything she can and she doesn’t know how to move forward so everyones looking at leo like okay whitelighter this has to have happened to some witch before phoebe what do we do and leo’s like well idk there’s one thing we could do but it’s incredibly dangerous and we should really only use it as a last resort and piper’s like well i think we’ve hit that last resort stage and leo’s like it’s a spirit journey and again it’s really dangerous and i’m not sure this rewards outweigh the risk and phoebe’s like leo my problems are more than just my problems now they’re stopping us from saving innocents whatever it is i’ll do it i have to do it. so leo’s like okay alright i guess were doing this

so they hole up phoebe in her room and phoebe calls elise saying she's going on a vacation for her mental health (which elise fully supports) bc they asked leo how much time this’ll take and leo has genuinely no idea bc it’s not a common practice and it really depends on phoebe so piper whips up the potion and paige lines phoebe’s room with protection spells and they offer all their love & support and phoebe goes under

the next couple episodes are split between piper & paige fighting their real world battles and phoebe’s adventures through the spirit world. piper & paige get more and more anxious bc phoebe’s been under for like three weeks and piper & paige are talking to leo like is it supposed to take this long can we pull her out what if she never wakes up and leos like i wish i had the answer to these questions but i deadass do not i don’t know what’s going on in there i don’t know how she’s doing meanwhile i feel like phoebe’s walking through memories changing her actions go through ripple effects walking through alternate universe maybe in an alternate universe she never met cole and prue’s still alive in an alternate universe she had telekinesis in an alternate universe she stay evil and killed her sisters and she keeps living out different scenarios and seeing different sides of herself and she’s exhausted and scared and

she wakes up in the middle of the night bolts upright in her bed lightly coated in sweat. she trods outside her her room and is just like confused so she goes down the hallway and knocks on the door and paige opens it like you’re awake!!! and pulls her into a big hug and phoebe starts squirming and yelling (but not judo flipping paige or anything like the pre amnesia phoebe would be able to) and she’s like who the fuck are you what are you doing in piper’s room!!!!! and the yelling alerts piper and leo and come running out of their room like you’re awake!! and phoebe immediate rushes to piper’s side like What Is Going On Who Are These People Where’s Prue? and piper’s like prue??? and phoebe’s like Yes Our Sister Prue Where Is She and piper’s like phoebe... whats the last thing you remember? and phoebe’s like New York... i came back and she looks at piper with like absolute sorrow in her eyes and is like grams... and piper’s lookin at piper and leo like holy fuckin shit the last thing she remembers is the pilot episode and she’s like phoebe sweetie i need you to sit down and just give me a second and phoebe’s like completely shell shocked so she does and piper’s like the last thing she remembers is coming back from new york; she doesn’t know who you are she doesn’t know who you are, she doesn’t know prue’s dead, i don’t even think she knows she’s a witch and paige is like okay what do we do and piper’s like i don’t know and they’re looking at leo like ?? and leo’s like i don’t know either i mean we have to tell her and by we i do mean piper as she’s the only one phoebe recognizes and piper’s like oh yeah sure hi sweetie you don’t remember this but you’re a witch your sister’s dead i’m married paige over there is our half sister mom had an affair while i’m at it dad’s back in our lives oh and also a couple months ago you were queen of hell! is there anything i’m missing?? and leo’s like just,, talk to her slowly,, treat it very gentle and piper’s like yeah Not My Forte but she goes to phoebe and holds her hands like i don’t know how to tell you this but your last memory is from 1998 and phoebe’s like ,,,, what year is it now? and piper’s like 2002 and phoebe’s lower lip starts trembling and she’s like how did this happen and piper’s like i promise i’ll explain everything but right now i think it’s best that you get some rest. i’ll see you in the morning and she kisses phoebe on the forehead and sends her back to bed and piper paige & leo all head up to the attic to try to draft up some game plan on how to get their phoebe back

so over the next couple of weeks they like try to really gently bring phoebe up to speed the first thing they really have to get out of the way is Phoebe You’re A Witch which is a shock y’know magic being real but phoebe rolls with it about as well as she did in the pilot. the next is prue’s gone, which phoebe has sorta pieced together but was still Not Ready to hear. i think this whole era would also be a really great opportunity to build up paige & phoebe’s relationship bc the show really dropped the ball on that one. i think they would both really lean on each other and grow bc a young phoebe was very much like a young paige and phoebe’s still quasi young phoebe but like paige is like this is advice you gave me a phoebe’s like me?? giving out advice??? and paige is like yeah believe it or not you’re actually an advice columnist i also think phoebe would spend a lot of times flipping through photo albums and reading her old columns and trying to understand who she was / is. i also think she would push piper to open her restaurant after seeing p3 bc she’s be like piper this is amazing but this isn’t your dream. you always wanted to be a chef. and piper admittedly had almost forgotten that she had put that dream on hold but phoebe bringing it back up would really stoke that fire again and make her want to open up her own restaurant.

i think phoebe’s first major relapse would be when she was flipping through the book and found her entry on cole’s human form which has pictures of her and this man and it’s all written in her handwriting and she gets this horrible know it her stomach and then a premonition containing the highlights reel of her and cole’s relationship and she breaks down. and piper paige & leo all find her an absolute mess and she’s like were you going to tell me??? were you going to tell me everything i did????? and she goes through this horrible era of feeling responsible for prue’s death and all the evil cole did and piper and paige really have to help pull her out of that at this point i think we also bring in coop who really helps her start to heal her heart and i think the whole journey to get Back To Phoebe wouldn’t be an easy one but the drama driven by this could very easily take up the space occupied by piper & leo’s relationship drama which i personally have never been too keen on. i think this could be the driving plot of s5 and then s6 could be piper’s pregnancy & wyatt s7 could be be chris and the future plotline which i think phoebe would be a lot more attune to as that could have been one of the realities she lived through on her spirit journey and then s8 would be the final season idk i wouldn’t want to use zankou or the avatars or billie & christy but y’know something good and have it stick the landing like it did in the og

#💌#charmed #phoebe halliwell #margaretsminiessays #can i just say love the phrasing of the ask like the implication i could have just said No I Don't Want and had that be the whole answer #lmao could you imagine

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janiedean · 5 years ago

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Do you think book!Bran will get the same ending he does in the show? I mean, if he does, it will obviously be better written (I was like "Does Edmure know about the Three-Eyed Raven? Is Yara going 'the hell did you smoke' at the 'he couldn't walk so he learned to fly' part? Is nobody going to go 'ok but shouldn't we look for someone older and better known through Westeros, with experience in both politics and military stuff' at Tyrion?" through the whole scene), but do you think that's that?

(I had another anon that went like:

i can't believe there are still bran is evil theories. im pretty sure that bran ending up on the throne is likely bc it doesn't make sense in the show. d&d don't know anything about bran, but they do know this is george's ending

so I’m answering both XD)

the short answer is yes, but obviously it’s not gonna be written the same way as in this dumbass show for a whole lot of reasons.

now: actually, bran on the throne makes in hindsight a whole lot of sense...... if you take into account also what tropes he’s there to deconstruct. (I’m gonna cp some older meta of mine on the topic that I did ages ago but it still holds up lol.)

as in, when it comes to bran GENERALLY:

bran is the first pov chapter in these books. the first. should hint that he’s important;

bran has 90% of the magic-related storyline. I mean, if you don’t count the dragons/r’hollor + mel and the AA prophecy, there’s less magic in asoiaf than in regular fantasy for obvious reasons, but what there is of is all in bran’s storyline. all. of. it;

as it is right now, he’s arguably a powerhouse. possibly the most powerful powerhouse in westeros. he can probably warg dragons. he can time travel. if the show didn’t fuck it up, he can change things in the past while time traveling even if he shouldn’t;

the entire storyline is headed north/behind the wall and bran is the one main character who’s behind the wall rn. and bran is at a point where he basically is in direct connection with the north at least and when I say direct I mean literally. the guy can warg into anything. maybe he can’t walk but man he’s basically a hundred luke skywalkers put into one person;

he’s also tied to all the northern mythology - the trees, the children of the forest and the likes. him, his storyline, everything. and the north is arguably where this story started and will most probably end and he is the character more symbolizing that mythology, not anyone else.

when it comes to bran thematically.... guys. bran is the deconstructed fisher king. as in: the fisher king is a character from arthurian mythology who is absolutely fundamental in the entire scheme - also arthurian mythology is one of the basis people built modern fantasy on - and which has been rehashed and reinterpreted for a shitload of times since the middle ages. c/p-ing quickly from wiki because you don’t need to go in-depth to do 2+2 on this:

In Arthurian legend the Fisher King, or the Wounded King, is the last in a long line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin and incapable of moving on his own. In the Fisher King legends, he becomes impotent and unable to perform his task himself, and he also becomes unable to father or support a next generation to carry on after his death. His kingdom suffers as he does, his impotence affecting the fertility of the land and reducing it to a barren wasteland. All he is able to do is fish in the river near his castle, Corbenic, and wait for someone who might be able to heal him.

+Many works have two wounded “Grail Kings” who live in the same castle, a father and son (or grandfather and grandson). The more seriously wounded father stays in the castle, sustained by the Grail alone, while the more active son can meet with guests and go fishing.+The Fisher King appears first in Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval (late 12th-century), but the character’s roots may lie in Celtic mythology. He may be derived more or less directly from the figure of Bran the Blessed (!!!!!!) in the Mabinogion. In the Second Branch, Bran has a cauldron that can resurrect the dead (albeit imperfectly; those thus revived cannot speak) which he gives to the king of Ireland as a wedding gift for him and Bran’s sister Branwen. +The Lancelot-Grail cycle includes a more elaborate history for the Fisher King. Many in his line are wounded for their failings, and the only two that survive to Arthur’s day are the Wounded King, called Pellam or Pellehan, and the Fisher King, Pelles.

now, what I said last year in that meta was:

then there’s the entire part where galahad (or whoever else in his stead but it’s galahad most times) heals the fisher king and saves the land which turns fertile again, but whatever, point is: asoiaf is a deconstruction of tropes, right, well sorry but I’m eating my own hat if bran isn’t a fisher king deconstruction where the wound actually makes him powerful rather than weak and where he definitely won’t need anyone to *heal* him, while at the same time he is tied with the (his) land directly and he embodies it and most of the magic storyline. and the fisher king is one of the main tropes/legends in western literature/arthurian mythology, if you have that kind of character in your book then you are not planning for them to be a second-rate player.

now, admittedly back then I was envisioning a finale when bran was either king in the north or in some similar position and not as endgame king but if we take the show finale for granted because as the other anon said it made no sense for d&d but it was george’s ending and they had to make it happen without understanding it.... well. actually:

if bran - ie deconstructed fisher king who becomes powerful because of his wound and doesn’t have to be healed by a knight to make the land fertile again because that wound gives him power - becomes actual eventual king it’s the full circle of that trope’s deconstruction because his wound means the eventual salvation of the entire continent, which works perfectly to bookmark how that specific scenario is turned on its head;

the problem is that d&d can’t write bran for shit and turned him into the heartless robot/3ER who might or might not have schemed the entire thing and didn’t make him do shit for three seasons because they can’t handle the magic storyline and then at the ending mAGICALLY we have king bran first of his name, but in a coherent version done by grrm and not by them where bran has his eye-opening experience beyond the wall, doesn’t magically lose his personality when he becomes the 3ER, keeps his sweetness and empathy after risking to lose them (which was his adwd storyline), helps greatly during the long night thanks to the fact that he’s a powerhouse and is eventually recognized as a savior of the realm in its own merit, then......... it’s actually very much coherent with grrm’s themes to have him become king, but not because he knew all along and played mysterious until now and whatever the fuck else, but because it’s the coronation of his entire storyline which starts with sweet young boy who just wants to be a hedge knight and then ends up saving the entire continent making the best use of what he has after that’s taken from him while using his connection to the magic roots of the story/to his land/to his family for the good of the entire realm, and that was a damn good story - sadly it’s not what d&d chose to tell except at the end;

edmure and yara were badly written but that entire scene was badly written and well-acted sadly, like no one objected because no one will object in the book storyline, given that ^^^^ happens, in the show they just basically tried to find a way to make it halfway plausible but it looks dumb because it’s badly written and it’s copypasting an endgame for a story that d&d have not adapted, but basically you had to buy that bran was it. it made no sense but like... what made sense, this episode’s salvation was the acting and that since the endgame was half grrm’s it wasn’t as shitty as 8x05 but like within itself it was incoherent af;

that said I think that bran being king + the small council being more or less what it was in the show (because LIKE HELL that’s brienne’s endgame like brienne is def. not going into any kingsguard in the books unless george smoked weed when he was writing acok/asos/affc) as in made of all discriminated categories in westeros or discriminated people in westeros after the throne’s destruction is absolutely a thing grrm would do, because basically we’ve gone from badly suited kings with a small council that’s basically the westeros equivalent of old white republican men to a realm where the king can’t walk (but can fly! ;) ) and the rest of the small council is a) a disabled man who’s been abused to hell and back all his life (REGARDLESS OF TYRION’S FAULTS let’s just look at the strict facts here), b) a former commoner who has been a lord for years but couldn’t read when the series began (davos), c) another former commoner (bronn) [note that both davos and bronn are former *criminals*/come from a really poor background, not from the wealthy side of the commoners], d) a woman who is also a knight ie something that pretty much disregards the entire status quo from before (brienne), e) sam who let’s all remember is a noble but was sent to the wall by his father because his skills were in his brain and not with swords/fighting/whatnot and who also was abused to hell and back when he was young - like, both the only nobles in it that were born nobles were disadvantaged and felt that on their own skin so they aren’t out of touch with the rest of the continent (sam was at the WALL where the only nobles go there for lack of options but it’s basically a glorified prison X°DDD). like, that is an ending I can absolutely see grrm going for because it’s basically the revenge of our forgotten-from-s1-and-dnd cripples, bastards and broken things that start the show the way they do and end it on top of things. that is absolutely a thing I can see grrm doing (with some changes bc again I really doubt the books small council would include bronn and brienne). the problem is that d&d wrote it like crap.

but bran becoming king and that being the general idea? I absolutely can see it same as while I was on team jon gets the throne and hates it before if this is how it goes... well, since I’ve been saying that if he wanted to be happy he should have just gone back beyond the wall if that is his actual endgame I have no issues with it. hell, it’s way better than the one I had envisioned for him for that matter.

that said bran being evil is a theory that makes no sense, it’s just that d&d can’t write him and they managed to make him look like an ass if we assume he knew everything from before. but like. it’s them being unable to write that story, not the story in itself being invalid or making no sense, because with the book elements we have.... it makes a hell of a lot of sense.

they just had to write it and they didn’t.

#bran stark #game of thrones spoilers #got negativity #janie writes meta #sorry my hand slipped #haljathefangirlcat #ask post

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memoriesofthefuckingbullshit · 5 years ago

Photo

Look at those fucking timestamps.

#omega_timeline August 4th, 10:09 PM EST, partway into xFrisk event

After xFrisk’s initial encounter, which is what was stressing everyone out in the above #vents, Mania decided to pull this nonsense out of his ass in response to Vitals trying to alert him to the fact he’s hurting people.

It’s a long, stressful read, under the cut.

Trigger warning: gaslighting, emotional abuse, child mental abuse

Important:

Event Masters are not the ones at fault here. They’re just doing as they’re told to play out the story Mania calls for, and probably do not even realize the impact their actions have on people since they’re told it’s all just for pretend. When they are aware, they’re under threat by Mania to keep quiet.

If you can’t stomach the full log, please do at least read the closing notes.

There’s more, but the rest can be summarized as more audience panic and gaslighting from Mania to make the players believe they caused the situation that he came up with on the fly to “teach those kids a lesson.”

Back in private Event Master Chat:

what fucking lesson.

what fucking lesson!?

most of these are literal children you are making a conscious choice to hurt on the basis you think they genuinely care too much for something you and others have created?!

later in #vent channel:

what fucking lesson?

what fucking lesson were they supposed to learn that could only be taught through The Sadistic Choice, and forcing them to feel responsible for it in a role play scenario?

#omega_timeline toward the end of the xfrisk event chaos:

You’re telling us we’re “not taking this seriously” enough, minutes after scoffing at how “fucking everyone is upset about a fucking discord event”?

It doesn’t matter what you claim your intent was. It doesn’t matter if it was for some twisted “greater good.” Multiple adults expressed similar feelings of distress and yet you still demand these kids “grow up”!?

You were 100% aware your actions would hurt them and you laughed at their despair as you chose to hurt them.

You sadistic fuck.

...

I did not hesitate to call Mania out on his BS at the time, even before I had the context of the Event Masters private chat. I gave him benefit of the doubt, so I spoke from a neutral, practical perspective, instead of being confrontational about ethics.

* If the image is too blurry I have transcribed the following messages for easier reading, below the image.:

back in #vent:

Excel Lynt said:

tbh these recent events are leaving a bad taste in my mouth, particularly tonight's. I was trying to do the Adventure Mode thing that we've struggled to hold consistently and getting pings about my favorite characters on a countdown to die was extremely distracting.

Numerous people have already stated that recent events have been pretty intense for them. Generally if people are interested in these events period they have an emotional investment. The mechanics of this aren't compelling enough to participate for the gameplay alone. It's a social investment. If people don't care enough they don't participate. Period. People caring is why they're here.

so doing things like this, intentionally jerking their emotions around in super intense situations, things they're supposed to be personally invested in, and then being told if it's upsetting to them to leave, that's literally telling a significant portion of the players to fuck off. Even if it's not like, giving them panic attacks or w/e, shit being too serious stops being fun and people lose interest due to their friends losing interest. People are still reeling from Ink's almost-demise and his HP is low enough it's still a critical situation.

Emotional fatigue has already set in for a fair number of people. so threatening to kill off a character like that??? just to tell people to take this shit more seriously?? wtf.

We're also being told simultaneously that it's all characters talking, don't take it seriously, while the characters are telling us to take things more seriously. If we're supposed to not really be affected by what the characters say, we shouldn't take their warnings seriously after all, since it's only a game, and characters talking. Right?

Which is it?

If there needs to be a change in people's behavior during events and people need to take it more "seriously" there should be an out-of-game announcement/discussion about it so people know to take it more seriously instead of blowing off the characters, or winding themselves up so much they can't handle participating anymore.

And look at this fucking reply:

HAHAHAHA bitch you WHAT.

Maniaknight said:

First and foremost you need to understand that the way people are taking fictional events is completely not the fault of the event masters.

This is a story arc we're following, and it was completely in-character. Nothing is stopping someone from taking a break or stepping away. One thing people need to understand, and quick is the difference between in-character and out-of-character.

You do not take things said in-character into real-life; if you do then you need to step back. These are fictional characters, being written into a fictional story that are being projected to 600 or more people at a time and giving fictional warnings. Those warnings were in-character and had nothing to do with real life. Don't get it confused.

The pressure is real, as it's meant to be, but it's not our fault if someone is unable to handle it; everyone handles things differently and we aren't altering the story to tip-toe around that, I'm sorry. I feel that it can be pressuring, but again, take a step out and away from the event if you're feeling pressured.

In regards to the roleplay event being run during AM, yeah, that is my fault and none of the other EM's, I had forgotten about AM since it's something that hasn't been consistent until last week, so I apologize for that.

And I may add, if at any time one wants out of the event they're more than welcome to DM me to have their role removed. Nothing is forcing them into this nor do I want them to feel forced.

... huh, sounds familiar.

Fallout vents in response to xFrisk

Main Post

Outside Sources:

Wikipedia - Gaslighting

Lovebombing, Gaslighting, Benching, and Ghosting

Abuse Through Online Roleplay

Gaslighting Definition, Techniques, and Signs of Being Gaslighted

Emotional Abuse in Non-Romantic Relationships

Signs an Abuser is Twisting Your Reality

Trauma: Big “T” and little “t”

#xfrisk #xfrisk debacle #gaslighting #intent to harm

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ohscorbus · 5 years ago

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Saturday 25th May, 2019

Cast four, round two! It was good to be able to go into the theatre today without all the overwhelming nerves and excitement and pressure to remember every little detail. This was just about me going in and enjoying it. The cast had already won me over and now I wanted to get a better feel of these interpretations. So this isn’t one of my usual recaps! It’s just a couple of summaries about some of the characters I haven’t spoken much about yet, and a few moments from the show that particularly stood out to me. Some of them old, some of them new. All of them extra interesting to me today!

HARRY AND GINNY

It’s amazing how new energy on stage will suddenly make you sit up and take notice of. Jamie Ballard is so incredibly talented and while I’ve never once forgotten that, he sure as hell reminded me this week.

I really want to talk about him and Susie in act one scene seventeen in particular. They have a silent conversation across the table as Draco and Hermione are busy talking and while I couldn’t make out what Ginny was mouthing, Harry’s worried ‘what?’, then desperate ‘don’t’, and then distressed ‘please’, was hard to miss. He’s so obviously pained by what happened with Albus and knows how his words have most likely caused his disappearance. No matter how he tries to throw out alternative scenarios, he knows. But the fact that his wife is about to confirm this nightmare and expose it to the others crushes him.

Once you start to notice their subtle communications you begin to see them throughout the show. Little nods and smiles and cheeky looks that’s so Jamie B’s Harry. Yet the one that stands out the most wasn’t a conversation, but a moment of uncertainty for Harry. It was after the second Ministry meeting as the staircases are being pulled off the stage. Ginny is below him on the staircase and is faced away from him when Harry goes to reach out for her but stops. His hand hesitated there in the air before she begins to walk down the stairs and realising he’s missed the moment, he pulled his hand back. It spoke volumes about the strain this whole thing had put on their relationship. To have Harry unsure how to comfort Ginny, unsure if she’d even want him to, was heartbreaking. That disconnect in a relationship we see and assume is solid really makes you stop and think.

JAMES SIRIUS POTTER

I’m getting so much from Ryan’s James that I actually found myself seeking him out on stage over watching Albus at times. We get so little from the character in the story so anything the actor playing him can bring to the table is greatly appreciated!

My main takeaway from Ryan’s James is his maturity. In fandom, James is always written as quite loud and carefree. Even in Cursed Child he’s described by Harry as someone who ‘everything comes easy to’. But with Ryan you get so much more than that from him. His James is a lot quieter than you’d be expecting, but his subtle actions are still loud and clear. He’s constantly watching Albus and giving him these long, thoughtful looks. Like he’s trying to figure him out while assessing the situation and wondering how best to handle it. But, not through lack of trying, he fails Albus each time. For example, after the wand dance and Albus declares he ‘didn’t chose to be his son’, all the other students are laughing at him and making comments. James immediately stops and looks around before focusing on Albus. He gave him the most concerned look. Yet he waited until Albus had already started to leave (along with most of the students) before he finally stepped forward and told him to leave. (I think the exact phrase was ‘go home, Albus’ or ‘go on, Albus’?) It was too little too late but still showed us his protective, older brother side. It’s also interesting that he focuses on Albus each time and not those around him. We’re led to believe James is popular so you’d expect him to have some influence and control of the masses. Yet he never attempts to stop them from teasing Albus. Instead he always focuses on trying to sort Albus out. Like he hasn’t quite realised yet that the problem isn’t Albus, but those who are bullying him. But that’s just James not knowing what to do more than him not caring. I like that Ryan has brought some uncertainty to him. That he isn’t this perfect boy who has everything.

You also get a little insight into his relationships with the rest of his family too. There’s a sweet and very complex high five thing he does with Lily after she’s sorted. There’s no way that didn’t take hours to perfect and I love the idea of them sitting at home and making it up and practising it. Plus the fact he doesn’t hesitate to do it in front of the whole school tells us he isn’t embarrassed by his family or of being someone who publicly gets on well with them. Then there are the mirrored looks of concern at Rose and their syncronised steps forward towards Albus after he’s sorted. Rose may be the same age as Albus but Rayxia’s Rose comes across as quite mature so it doesn’t surprise me that this Rose and James have that connection. He also seems close to Ron too. Ron secretly slips him a bag of sweets on the platform and Ron is also quick to stop James from laughing at Albus when he expresses his worries about being sorted into Slytherin. All these little background moments build him up into being someone who loves and cares for his family immensely.

We get all this depth from him but we don’t lose the cheekiest we’ve come to love about him either. He still sings as he says goodbye to his dad, he still playfully hits Albus on the platform, he still teases him about the Thestrals, and he even feigns absolute disbelief and outrage on the train when the trolley witch goes straight past his carriage so he misses out on the sweets. It all makes for a very real interpretation of a boy who’s full of love for his family. A boy who on the surface has everything figured out, but inside is just as unsure as any other fifteen year old.

ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER

I spoke about Dom’s Albus a lot in my previous recaps but to quickly revisit, I love how he’s physically small but very loud with his body. He speaks expressively with his hands and is constantly throwing his arms up and out to make points. But then he’ll also stiffen his shoulders and curl in on himself, gently swaying sidewards from one foot to another, as he nervously plays with his hands (a little like Scorpius, which beautifully reflects on how much time they’ve spent around each other over the years). He even goes as far as hunching over as he awkwardly sits, always placing one foot on top of the other when he’s not entirely comfortable with the situation or conversation. It’s fascinating to see how big and small he can make himself so quickly as it’s a great reflection of his mood and how fast that changes. I also need to mention his smile because this Albus does not hold back. Those big toothy grins are pure and childlike. I’m glad. Because while Albus is going through his own personal hell, he still finds happiness and he grabs onto it with both hands. He takes small victories and he’s proud of himself when he wants to be. Having that reflected without a shadow of a doubt on his face is wonderful.

DELPHI

I already wrote about her at length here, but to summarise: she’s something to really get excited about.

HERMIONE GRANGER

I’m still struggling to connect with Michelle’s Hermione if I’m honest. I think the fact her interpretation seems to be heavily influenced by what I personally consider Hermione’s worst traits, isn’t really helping me. She’s very much a know-it-all and is quite dismissive as a result of that at times. I want more warmth from her which I know she has in her because I see it with Ginny. Those two have small background interactions in part one that I really love. She comes across as friendly and familiar, it’s quite different from the Minister for Magic side of her. But again, I think the fact that Hermione has never been one of my favourites means I’m always going to struggle with her in Cursed Child so I realise this is most likely down to me rather than Michelle’s choices. I definitely just need to see her more so I can figure her out and I’m looking forward to it!

SCORPIUS MALFOY

It’s funny how you can watch someone for an entire year to then suddenly it’s like you’re seeing them for the first time. But the change in energy really has brought something out in him. Maybe it’s the combination of still having his ‘dad’ while getting a new ‘best friend’? Whatever it is, I hope he keeps it up (his finally unrestrained anger in particular) because he kept pulling my focus these past few days and as an Albus fan, that usually takes a lot! I think the fact he’s already bonding with Dom will help them both too. The real life friendship between the Albus and Scorpius actors always shows on stage. Which you know, can be a good thing or a bad thing. But with these two? Definitely a good thing.

I also need to shout out to Gordon Millar who was our very first cover! It’s always entertaining to see who the fandom gravitate to and it appears he’s already one of the clear winners which is totally understandable. He really made me hate St. Oswald’s even more than I already do and I mean that in the best kind of way. He just played the role of the bully carer far too well. It made the fact he was such a sweetheart at stage door that much better. Here’s to hoping we get to see his Scorpius...!

#I'm sad I'm not seeing the show for another month now but I'm also really excited to see where they've all taken their characters by then #harry potter and the cursed child #TCCleanne #mypost #text long #long post

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sanrionharbor-blog · 6 years ago

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For Everybody Still Worried About the Leaks

Clues from the Cast Interviews, GRRM Hints, and My Own Gut Feelings

Disclaimer: Hey, nobody knows nothing, but life’s too short to stress about things we can’t control, and stories are supposed to be maps to help us learn more about ourselves and about life in general–not hair-pulling inducements. So I’m going to enjoy all the speculating that I can regarding the GOT season finale, and want to share some thoughts on why I think certain “leaks” are most likely bunk.

I’m mostly focusing on the pervasive “Does Tyrion die by trial?” leak, and everything that links to that, including any betrayals or major deaths.

Tyrion’s Ending and The Ending, In General

First, let’s quote Peter Dinklage himself:

I had all these ideas in my head and a version of one of them is how it ends up [for Tyrion]. David and Dan have a brilliant version of what I had. If I use any adjectives it will give it away. But I love how it ended up. And how it ends up for everybody. They had a beautiful gentle touch with some, and a hard touch with others.

But that’s just on Tyrion’s ending. Before I get into what that quote tells us, let me quote what other people have said about the Overall Ending of Game of Thrones:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau:

I’ve never read anyone who got the whole thing. And when I read it the first time, I was blown away.

George R.R. Martin:

So many readers were reading the books with so much attention that they were throwing up some theories, and while some of those theories were amusing bulls*** and creative, some of the theories are right…At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I’d planted in the books and came to the right solution.

What the above quotes tell me is:

No one has guessed the ending completely–but parts of the ending? Yeah, they’ve been guessed. Which just goes to show how much this show and its themes have resonated not only with GRRM, but with his audience. Because,as a writer, I can tell you that no storyteller tells a story alone. There’s something guiding us and we can’t put a finger on it but it’s often the source of our best ideas. And it’s the same ineffable something that stirs all of us when we’re creating, sharing, and participating in stories. It’s the reason you see the same patterns in stories over and over. In short, the fact that part of the ending CAN be guessed is NOT a bad thing. It’s natural. Some postmodern storytelling theories have taught us that tricks and surprises are where it’s at–but a story isn’t true unless it can surprise us and, in retrospect, give us the only answer that makes any sense. You can see a pithier version of this kind of storytelling in Ye Olde Riddle–for example, the Sphinx in Oedipus Rex could tell us the answer to her riddle is orange, and that would throw us for a loop, but it would tell us nothing and mean nothing and add nothing to the story and thus would be forgotten. Surprise doesn’t count unless it has a ripple effect. So, about-face turns and OOC arcs may shock and subvert, but they’ll ultimately end up as dross and not as gold. (But hey, more on my thoughts on what can and can be accepted as canon in the last blurb below!).

Now, has anybody assumed that Tyrion would betray Daenerys and end up dead simply for 1) loyalty to the Lannisters, 2) suddenly losing faith in humanity?, or 3) suddenly wanting to usurp power himself? No. This is not a popular theory by a longshot. Tyrion dying? Sure. Somebody betraying Daenerys? Sure. Tyrion as a ruler? Sure. But this very specific, shoehorned version of the story is simply too contrived to have been picked up by fans organically.

The leaks so far have painted nothing but harsh endings for ALL the characters. Don’t tell me those leaks are pro-Stark. Those leaks point out backstabbing, loneliness, and emotional stagnation–forget what characters live, think about what these leaks have said about these characters. Not only does this not jive with the “bittersweet” aspect of the ending, it doesn’t jive with Dinklage’s assertion that, while some characters will go down harshly (R.I.P. Missandei especially–at least Edd and Jorah and Beric got heroic deaths and funerals), others will be treated gently. A heartbroken Brienne? A cold, lonely, manipulative Sansa? A suddenly hopeless, headless Tyrion? I don’t think so. (I also don’t think that means that Brienne and Jaime will necessarily ride into the sunset–but I do think we’ll have Jaime’s feelings for her confirmed, along with the completion of his redemption arc. I also don’t think that means Tyrion definitely won’t die–but I don’t think he’ll be character assassination, either. And I also don’t think that Sansa WILL end up in a canon relationship–but, logically, they can’t leave all the Stark’s COMPLETELY UNABLE TO LOVE, and um, somebody has to be willing to have legitimate heirs to the Stark House. Ok, just to continue this aside, but it seems theoretically impossible to me that the Stark House, which is all about the continuation of the Starks and the independence of the North, would not be given any canon marriages/alliances at the end of their arc. Arya’s already rejected marriage, Bran drove Meera away, and Sansa’s always wanted a happy marriage, even if she’s got very understandable trust issues right now. Anyhow–).

Peter Dinklage was able to guess how his character arc ended. What are the odds that Betraying Somebody He Cares About Without Good Reason (Daenerys–I could see him betraying her reluctantly, but not easily)/Being Betrayed By Somebody He Cares About (Sansa)/Dying Guilty After All The False Trials His Character Has Been THrough were in the mix? I don’t think so. Dinklage has gone on record multiple times to say how much he admires Tyrion and thinks he’s a good person. He’s also gone on record stating that Sansa and Tyrion’s relationship is full of true affection. Even if Tyrion dies and/or he and Sansa don’t end up as a couple, betrayal just seems so far out of the scope of what these characters’ storylines have been building to. And again, I can’t see that being even one version of one of Dinklage’s headcanons. What I think is most likely? A) Hand to the Ruler, B) Part of a new council that replaces or supplements the King/Queen, C) the King himself, or D) a heroic death.

How Long They’ve Planned the Ending:

They had talks with GRRM in 2014

They’ve been planning the ending for five years

They’ve known it was Arya who would take out the NK for three years

So some decisions weren’t set in stone, even by GRRM (such as who would take out the NK…an interesting thing not to know, actually, but that just points out how inflated the importance of the Others/White Walkers was–do I still think it will be handled better by GRRM, yes, but that’s another story), and even if D&D’s execution feels more like “here’s an outline of what’s happening” rather than “here’s the organic progression of that storyline,” I can only imagine that if core pieces were given by GRRM AND they’re not completely winging it, then there will be a certain amount of narrative cohesion once this comes full-circle.

Let’s not forget, we still have a third WTFudge moment that was came straight from GRRM himself, with the other two shockers being Hodor’s origin and Shireen Baratheon’s death. Could this third twist be Dany going completely mad? Maybe, though it doesn’t fall into the same category of completely-unexpected-but-honestly-possible, like Shireen and Hodor. Only because the foreshadowing for Dany’s madness was heavy-handed in the last few seasons (taking away the ‘unexpected’ bit), and is now quite uneven here in Season 8.

I think the third twist will likely be a specific action (a la Shireen’s death) or another origin story-type twist (a la Hodor). Some people have speculated that “Tyrion’s Trial” would make for that final twist, but here’s why I don’t think so:

The Nature of the Leaks

It’s very interesting to me that this leak, supposedly this Huge Most Important Leak, was one of the very first ones released. Like, months ago. While the rest of the leaks, the ones that have actually been accurate, are usually only released at the max a few days before each episode airs.

It’s also interesting to me that HBO has not done more to shut down this particular leak.

And, I would not put it past HBO to have actually filmed one entire fake-out scene. Most of the Dragon Pit/South scenes were filmed after the first three episodes, so they probably knew that they had the time and money to just throw fans for another loop. Sound tinfoily? Perhaps, but the idea that this big twist–and a twist that so far doesn’t make much sense given what we’ve seen in what is now ⅔’s of the season–was such an easy leak just makes me suspect.

Another possibility? Tyrion IS on trial, but is pardoned. Or Tyrion thinks he’s on trial, but it turns out to be somebody else’s funeral (a la that Littlefinger Fake Out 2.0.). I’m not saying any of this makes for the best handling of his character or for a particularly compelling scenario, but considering we haven’t seen it, I can’t say for certain.

GOT’s Recent “Plot Twist” Pattern

D&D have switched to information-withholding tactics in the last few seasons. Just look at Sansa and Arya’s arc and the Littlefinger Fake Out. Were these well-written? Not entirely–but they don’t make for the worst entertainment either. Yeah, we had better quality storytelling in the first four seasons, but soap opera can still be fun.

And how long have they been teasing Dark!Sansa without actually delivering? And let’s not forget–show-Sansa’s arc is still, broadly, based on book-Sansa’s arc. Book-Sansa remains far more in tune to the archetype of the Lady/Maiden, while show-Sansa is slightly blended with Jeyne Poole’s arc (and, unfortunately, a dash of Pop Feminism). But the fact remains that whatever meeting D&D had with GRRM back in 2014 contained information based on the broad trajectory of Sansa’s arc as GRRM has been writing it. (I’m writing a character arc meta on Sansa that’ll be out…soonish).

And let’s just say I don’t see Dark!Sansa hinted very well in the books at all. Sansa learning to pull strings like Littlefinger and Cersei and Margaery? Heck yes. But Sansa will do it Sansa’s way.

So, given that D&D usually try to shock us by hinting at a character’s worst possible tendency AND by withholding information AND by trying to get us to see one scenario while giving us another (another example being Jon Snow vs. Night King actually being Arya vs Night King), I can very well see them turning Sansa into a reluctant last-minute ally of Daenerys, Tyrion being pulled out of hot water at the last minute, Jaime’s running to Cersei being about taking out Cersei not making out with Cersei (yeah sorry/not sorry about that one), and heck, maybe Dany won’t go mad–she’ll just realize she doesn’t want the Iron Throne anymore, or the Iron Throne shouldn’t exist, or she dies tragically but not as a monster. Time will tell.

Who We Haven’t Seen So Far That Can Introduce New Complications

1. Edmure Tully

Tobis Mennzies (Edmure Tully) has been confirmed to return this season. Could it just be a cameo? Maybe. But I wouldn’t put it past Sansa, Arya, and Bran to be planning a back-up plan to help out Jon (and thus Dany). Arya is probably planning on killing Cersei, Sansa can rally what’s left of the Tully’s, and Bran will hopefully do something Three-Eyed Ravenish (or regain some of Bran’s humanity–which would be a twist worth waiting for).

2. Khal Drogo

Motherhood is an important theme in Dany’s life. I think ultimately, book and show wise, it’s what’s truly important to her. She just doesn’t realize it. In this way, Dany is a very interesting parallel with Cersei. Both of these women are tempted to replace their intimate losses with power. They believe power will protect them and their own. And that mentality can slowly shift into the classic Mother Bear conundrum: Us vs. Them.

Now, Khal Drogo not only represents a happy time in Dany’s life where she was both powerful and protected, but where she was a mother. After her losses, she gained her dragons. She truly loves her dragons as children, but they are also a liability to everyone but Dany. Interestingly, Dany’s human child with Khal Drogo was a liability to everyone but the Khalasar. The priestess from season 1 knew this, and so she prevented it. It doesn’t make the loss any less of a tragedy, however.

Will we see the same thing play out here in the final act of Game of Thrones? I’m not sure, but Khal Drogo’s presence will be heavily symbolic. Either Dany will meet him in the afterlife or reject death another time–but perhaps she’ll realize that her true desires were always for belonging and motherhood (just not at the expense of her own free will).

And, as an aside–I’ve really come to see Dany in a different light this season. I’ve always been anti-Daenerys as Ruler, but Daenerys as a character is truly fascinating. So what I see implied in her final arc is truly heartbreaking (and I hope it’s handled better overall than it was, in snapshot, here in 8x04). [Dany’s also my dad’s favorite character, haha, and I respect my dad’s opinion almost more than anyone else’s, so she gets props for that too lol].

3. Robin Arryn

I have a feeling this will be a cameo, but honestly the worst-case scenario for me would be Sansa being engaged to him lol. It would certainly be a Margaery Tyrell move on her part (knowing she won’t have to marry him for some time and he’ll be easy to influence), but the Knights of the Vale are already dedicated to her and I’m a Sanrion shipper so you know where I stand on any other Sansa ship. ;-)

Regardless, the Vale could become an important wrinkle in the plot, and I’m all for us not having a complete Doomsday scenario.

And In The Worst Case Scenario

The worst case scenario is that the leaks are legit. Bran as an emotionless king? The Starks are forever alone? Tyrion’s character assassination? Bleh.

But I’ve already hinted at my philosophy on canon storytelling.

Look, most fanon is crap–but so is most fiction. There are millions of stories out there, but it’s hard to find (and tell) one that resonates across all borders of sex, ethnicity, age, and epoch. You know what CAN exist in both fanon and canon–and what actually matters as canon in the end? The stories that are true.

If characters don’t act true to themselves, if deep-in-the-bones themes suddenly drop off, if crucial scenes that are present in every single successful outline are missing (don’t go postmodern on me–just read The Story Grid), then that story is incomplete. And it’s a lie.

Madeleine L’Engle once said “All truth is God’s truth.” She was trying to make the point that fantasy, and fiction in general, is important because it tells the truth. It’s not about the facts (dragons aren’t real! This is just a TV show! Etc.). It’s about the truth (dragons can be beaten! There is wonder in the world! We are united by our mythologies!).

So no, fanon can be a lot more than making heterosexual characters gay or inserting fluff without dealing with the consequences of character actions or erasing parts of canon. Fanon can be more true than canon when the author is on the tail of the actual Story.

Steven Pressfield does a much better job of explaining this in The War of Art. Madeleine L’Engle does a much better of explaining this in Walking on Water. Shawn Coyne does a much better job of explaining this in The Story Grid.

So don’t just take my word for it.

For me, then, I’m excited to see how the show plays out. And I’m fine if certain things that I only WANT don’t happen–but if the story doesn’t have what NEEDS to happen, then I’ll sadly and reluctantly reject it, and wait for GRRM’s books to come out, or simply contribute to the ASOIAF lore as best as I can. Hopefully not as wish fulfillment, but simply to respect the core of the story itself.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

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pendragonfics · 7 years ago

Text

Lost Time: Part One | Part Two

Paring: Conner Kent/Reader

Tags: female reader, Poor Reader, high school, Conner Kent has feelings, angst, fluff.

Summary: You're just a poor kid, living out of her parent's caravan in Happy Harbour. Little do you know when a new kid, Conner, arrives at school, your life will never be the same again.

Word Count: 2,531

Current Date: 2018-04-15

Nobody really liked High School. It was, for everyone, an awkward phase in which you were trying to get through unscathed, and you weren’t very good at that. While everyone else was working on being a great cheerleader, a nerdy enough geek, a good jock, or a skilled student. But after school, you didn’t want to burn out in a caravan to be forever forgotten in Happy Harbour, no. You wanted to be an artist, and, while there were the cliques of all sorts, you didn’t fit into the categories.

Thus, you, ________, were a freak.

It was okay, back in freshmen year. But now as a junior, the end in reach, you felt like all the eyes in the school were always on you and your binder full of doodles. It wasn’t helpful, either, that you had a habit of being a little flustered around the popular crowd; it wasn’t your fault you were shy. It made for many pranks, and no matter what you did, they never lessened off.

You were staying in after school, waiting for the photography club to meet on the school athletic field. They usually started at four thirty, but for some reason, the cheer squad were on the track. Sitting in the bleachers, drawing pad in hand, you worked a little sketch of the people you saw. While you usually drew faces in profile, it was a little harder to the side, and so removed. You tried to get a good sketch of Wendy Harris, but it just wasn’t working for you. After a few tries, you took your eraser to the page.

But that’s when you hear a thwomp! and suddenly the boy who had been accompanying the recruit to the Bumblebees has fallen from the bottom step to the bleachers, and face first to the ground. He’s wearing a black tee, jeans, and army boots, and with a face full of dirt and messed-up hair, you pause, breath held.

You sit there, frozen where you’ve sat upon the bleachers, watching as the cheerleaders laugh at him, calling him names. It’s then when something in your chest tightens, and your breath comes out slowly, lips ajar. Oh no, you think, he’s cute.

Later, when the cheer team have cleared the area, and the photography club gather around with their gear that you catch up with a fellow stranger to the common ground of friends and the game of popularity. Marvin White. But when you mention the guy to him, he shrugs, pulling the strap of his camera around his neck.

“Uh, I don’t know, ________,” he says, taking the lens cap off, “He and his friend Megan started today. They’re in our year.”

From your backpack, you took out your little flip phone, and opened the camera function. “Cool, White. Does he have a name, or just Megan…?” you ask.

He shrugs. “I don’t know, Cameron? Conner? Why do you care, ________?”

“I don’t know, Marvin.” you shake your head, and before you go off to meet with the club leader, you turn to him, and whisper, “Just don’t tell anyone, okay? Or I’ll do something drastic.”

“Who knew freak wallflowers could be so scary?” Marvin grins, going to ruffle your hair. At the last minute, you shift away, and instead, he laces an arm around your shoulder as if you’re old friends. “Okay, ________,” he promises, “your secret’s safe with me.”

---

While you don’t mind history class, Mr. Carr doesn’t like it when people draw in the margins of his pop quiz papers. Which makes it your least-liked class of all. Too many times have you argued with him about it, too many times have you gotten detention for it, and too many times have your fellow classmates snickered behind your back about it. So today, instead of doodling to your imagination’s content upon the page, you take a biro to your skin.

“Ahem, ________,” Mr. Carr intones, narrowing his eyes at you. “If you were paying attention, you’d know that you’re paired with Mr. Kent for the group assignment.” He looks between you, and Conner, who sits three rows behind you, and groans. “Now, as everyone else had done, Miss ________, move beside your partner.”

There are giggles from classmates, and quietly with a roaring heat across your face and neck, you pack up your things into your arms and lug in three rows behind to Conner. He gives you a small nod, and wordlessly, passes a sheet of paper with the word assignment brief written in a computerised font.

“I’m ________,” you tell him quietly.

The whispers increase, as does the shade of embarrassment upon your face. In daydreams, you had thought of any other scenario than this to introducing yourself. Where you’d appear to be a cool kid. Maybe slightly popular. Edgy? No, that wasn’t you. You were just…you. ________ ________, the kid whose parents on welfare couldn’t afford to buy you shoes in fourth grade, ________, who had outdated textbooks and reused everything.

He gives you a small smile. “I’m Conner.” He says, and looking past you, glares at a bully, “Are they bothering you?”

You shake your head, not wanting to cause a scene. “Please, let’s just – uh, focus on the assignment.” You read over the typeface, and say, “It says it’s for out of classroom time. Maybe we could meet at your place –,”

Conner shakes his head. “Can’t. My – uh, family don’t like friends over.”

You nod understandingly. “Yeah, same. Maybe we could meet at the library?” you suggest, and add quickly, “Are you free Saturday, after the football game?”

“Sure,” He says, making a note of it, just as the bell rings. “See you Saturday, ________.”

But, you did not see him Saturday. The other days of the week dragged on and on, your classes a hellish nightmare to get through, and yet, when Saturday arrived, and you waited for two hours after the football game out the front of the public library until the librarians came out and told you it was time to leave, you couldn’t help yourself. Deflated, in both expectation and pride, you made the walk home from the library to the caravan park, knowing what rumours would be made by Monday.

You kicked a rock as you walked, hands in your pockets, head low. You’d thought Conner Kent was different than the other kids. That he was an outcast, like you.

You were wrong.

---

Come Monday, you barely find the energy to pull yourself out of bed, but you do. It might be halfway through the first term, sure, but if there was one thing about you, it was that you weren’t a quitter. And so, you hitched a ride into town with your neighbour, Bob, and strode into the gates of the school like you had nothing to lose. You walked into homeroom, and then into first period history, and kept your eyes ahead when he entered the room.

“________,” he says, walking by your desk. Your eyes are to your page, where your pen, instead of drawing the doodle of the day, is taking notes from your textbook. “Hey, ________, I’m sorry about what happened. I had a family thing come up.”

“A family thing?” you glance to Conner, unsure. “So, you weren’t doing it to make fun of me?” you ask, having to get it out in the air.

He shakes his head. “We had a…reunion. In Metropolis. They’re big into last minute stuff, and I didn’t have your phone number to text –,”

You nod. “I get it.”

Conner frowns. “You’re not mad, are you? I get it, if you are.”

You hesitate, taking a breath, and then, instead of using the words you had intended with that breath, you breathe out. “I –,”

“Mr. Kent, Miss ________,” Mr. Carr enunciates your names as if you’re in trouble. You can just hear him tearing off a detention slip already, and you sit further in your chair. But instead, he says, “…talking about the group assignment?”

Conner nods, arms crossed. “Yes sir,” he declares.

Mr. Carr smiles, turning to the blackboard with a thin stick of chalk. “Don’t chat too long, class is about to start.” He glances over his shoulder to you, and adds, “It’s good to see you’re participating, ________,” he says, kindly. “If you keep this up, you’re on track for a B!”

Before he leaves to his desk, Conner passes you a folded note.

In block letters, you read, LET ME MAKE IT UP TO YOU. CAFETERIA, LUNCH. MY TABLE.

When lunch rolls around, you’re hesitant; last time there was an invitation to sit with people, it ended with your food through your hair, your sketchbook stolen, and humiliation. But tray in hand, you see Conner at the back of the room, sitting with a girl with red hair. She looks a bit like the reruns of your Mom’s favourite show, Hello, Megan! – in fact, come to think of it, she’s the new cheerleader. Before you can turn away and walk to your usual lunchtime haunt, they see you, and wave.

“Hey, ________,” Conner calls out.

Megan waves. “Oh, you’re ________? Conner’s told me so much about you!” She grins, waving you over to sit opposite her. “I’m Megan Morse.” She introduces. You frown, thinking back to when Marvin said they were friends. She’s literally the American dream girl, and here you are, wearing dorky second-hand clothes. “I better catch up with Wendy, we’ve got cheer practice this afternoon.” She gives you both a wide smile, and ruffles Conner’s hair. “Don’t wait up, I’ll get Uncle John to get me.”

Once Megan’s gone to the cheerleader’s table, you take the assignment brief from your bag. “I was thinking of splitting the work sort of fifty-fifty…” you begin, pointing out your notes. “…that way we get more covered. Is that okay?”

He nods. “Sure.”

---

Five years pass like agony. But the real pain is that in your entire body – you can’t quite remember what made you come back to your hometown but laying in the rubble of what used to be the third floor of the old steel factory, you’re trying not to cry. Your leg trapped, fire breaking out somewhere nearby you know this is the end. You came from a home of nothing, and just like any other background character, would always go back to nothing. In the morning, the papers would report you along with the others who had been in the building’s hourly tour as numbers dead, and not names.

“There’s still more people in there!”

Your breathing quickens, blinking. There’s people looking for survivors? Of course, there are. You live in a world with Batman, and Green Arrow, and the rest of the Justice League. You go to shout, to alert the person looking for you to your location, but your throat is dry, and all that comes out is a squawk. You almost expect it to be someone from the fire department, but, when you feel a pressure releasing from your leg, it’s not a firefighter.

“Conner?” you say, bleary.

You get a look at the person scooping you into his arms; he has the same dark hair, the same face. Except, you notice, before your eyes grow heavy, he’s wearing an S on his chest like the Blue Boy-Scout of Metropolis.

“Hold on, ________,” your hero says, moving to escape the crumbling building.

“Superboy,” you whisper, trying to stay awake. “Thank y-you.” But it’s no use, and, it’s all dark.

When you come to, you’re not in your dingy hotel room, or in afterlife. It looks like a government facility, or something underground hollowed out to be a place habitable by humans. It’s a bedroom, you come to realise; you’re on a bed, wearing a black t-shirt that isn’t yours.

You blink.

“Hello…?” you call out.

It’s then you remember the accident. You’ve been spending your days interning for the Daily Planet newspaper, trying to chase stories to keep the rent paid and your electricity on. It’s not easy living on it, but when you pieced together a mystery that lead back home to Happy Harbour’s own old steel works factory, you thought you had the gold. Not a death wish. There had been a flash of light, and a laugh, and diving out of the way, you had narrowly escaped a bomb – just not the rubble.

“Hello?” you call out again. You go to move off the bed, but it’s then you realise your leg that had been trapped is discoloured with an array of bruises. “Ah,” you groan.

The door opens.

You thought it had been a dream, but no, it’s real – it’s Conner Kent, the boy you had a crush on in junior year of high school, and senior year too. He’s wearing the same shirt he wore when you saw him in the steel works building, and a soft frown.

“What are you doing up? You need rest.” He says.

You harrumph. “Still blunt as always, Conner.” You note, obeying his instruction. Not that you could do anything else. “So…have you always been a superhero?” you ask.

“Yes,” He nods sharply, and, taking a seat beside the bed, adds, “Can I get you anything?”

“Answers? Glass of water?” You shrug. “You were the only friend I really had, you know. They called me a freak.”

“They called me a freak too,” Conner ruminates, and gesturing to the side table, you see a mug of water. “But I am, I’m an experiment made from Superman’s DNA.” He gives you a wan smile, and says, “I haven’t seen you since graduation, what are you up to?”

“Not superhero stuff,” you reply.

He raises a brow.

“I’m a junior reporter for the Daily Planet,” you explain. “…but mostly a gopher. I thought if I chased the story, I’d get the attention I deserved in my workplace.”

Conner frowns, “It’s never that easy.” He blinks, “what about your art? You used to have a doodle pad, didn’t you?”

“No, I don’t really draw much these days. I’m a people-watcher.” You say, sipping your water. Your eyes widen, realising your notebook is nowhere to be seen. You run a hand into your hairline, defeated. “Oh no, my notebook!”

He shifts where he sits, pulling out a familiar faux leather-bound A5 notebook. “I checked out your notes, ________.” He turns the pages and shows you what he’s been looking at. You feel a blush take over your face – it’s a sketch of Superboy, from the first time you saw him on the TV nightly news. Conner flips more pages, more pictures of himself. “You’re really good, ________,” he says, voice small.

“Thank you, Conner,” you whisper.

A beat passes between the two of you, and he asks, “uh, could I take you out for lunch sometime? To make up for you being hurt.”

You giggle at the absurdity, “But – but you saved me!” you protest. “You don’t have to make up anything to me!”

He shrugs, “How about for lost time?” He says, getting out of his seat, to sit beside you on the bed.

“Sounds great, Superboy.”

#conner kent #conner kent/reader #conner kent x reader #superboy #superboy x reader #superboy/reader #kon-el #kon-el x reader #kon-el/reader #dc comics x reader #dc comics fanfic #young justice x reader #chaotic--lovely #pendragonfics #Female reader

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ayurileopardsdream · 6 years ago

Text

A Hand-held Curse. Chapter 4.

Description:

Author’s note: Warning, slight suicide mention. Smut, NSFW, Extreme NSFW.

Finally! The next chapter you’ve waited 6 months for! It’s finally here! I hope you all enjoy. ^^

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 part 1 - Chapter 2 part 2 - Chapter 3!

Rating: T

Words: 9,020

Au: none

Fandom / series: Ever After High

Characters / Pairing: Raven Queen x Apple White

Genre: romance, hurt & comfort, fluff, angst.

With the mess going on in the school, rumors of Raven going dark, and Apple’s wounded state that was almost healed over, everyone was “giving Raven space.”

It was like the school had scraped it’s knee. Something happened, it hurt for a bit, but it was slowly getting back to normal. That was until a giant black and purple screeching dragon dropped down in front of the school’s main entrance and began barreling through the hallways, until the familiar castleteria was in view, and thankfully everyone important to this chapter was there, and everyone else gasped at seeing the dragon. Ironically enough, Apple was the first to run up to the frightened and panicking Nevermore, who was shaking its tail and flapping its tail violently but made sure not to hit anything.

“Nevermore? Nevermore! What’s gotten into you? Where’s Raven?” Apple asked, reaching up to grab and pet the scared dragon’s nose, before it lifted one of its paws to release the item meant to be given to Apple. She took the spiky headband thing in her hands, looking it over before looking back at the dragon. “Nevermore? Why do you have this? Raven never leaves without it, she always wears this...” Suddenly realization dawned on her. Her eyes widened and tears struck her eyes. Something bad had happened to Raven. Taking the dragon’s head in her hands, she took a deep breath. “Where is Raven?” She asked, staring into Nevermore’s eyes, and just looking back while the dragon made a few whimpering noises and seemingly random other noises, Apple understood and took off. “I know where she is!”

After Apple had run off, Nevermore wiggled her massive body to Maddie, repeating the same scenario somewhat. Maddie had been watching and listening, so she already understood, and taking the bracelet in her own hands, she chased Apple out of the school. Apple was way too far ahead but Maddie knew where to go regardless. Some people followed behind while others stayed. Nevermore shrank to a much smaller size before taking off after everyone who was running. To the Enchanted Forest.

Apple’s POV (I’m not good at 1st person, it’s much easier to do 3rd person, so just try to read it all from Apple’s perspective)

She didn’t know exactly why she was running this way. She’d left her once beloved behind and pushed her as far away as she could, hurt her and broke her and ignored her and abandoned her, so why was she sprinting towards that one sacred place, the place they’d almost claimed for themselves?

She knew exactly why. She just didn’t want to admit it. Her heart was going faster than her speeding footsteps, a mile a minute as they say, but as soon as she found where Raven was, her heart stopped and she thought... she didn’t know what to think. Her heart dropped into her stomach and her blood ran cold, and as soon as she opened her mouth, birds flew away in fear and surprise of the loud noise like they did on tv, and everyone running into the Enchanted Forest froze with their own fear when they heard the voice shriek, again, with fear, but mostly heart-wrenching sadness. Then everyone’s hearts dropped down, as the beloved friend and princess called, screamed, screeched one name, and deathly silence came after.

“RAVEN!!!!!!!!!”

Apple couldn’t help but scream as loud as she could in horror at the scene laid out before her, tears streaming down her face as she took in the sight before her very own eyes.

Raven lying in the crook of the big tree where they’d almost made love, her eyes closed, her chest moving only slightly, and what made it so much more horrible and terrifying was that thing lying on the ground near Raven’s hand, all rotten and dirty and had one big bite out of it...

A big red poisoned apple.

Apple rushed to Raven’s side once her brain had studied and memorized the scene, and going around to sit on the left side of Raven so that Apple faced where she’d come from, the entrance to the forest, she sobbed uncontrollably while shaking Raven’s shoulders hard, begging and pleading her to wake up, wake up, please please please wake up. But no matter how hard she shook or how much she begged, there was just no waking the slumbering dark-haired princess. Raven was gone. And there was nothing Apple could do.

By the time everyone arrived at the scene, Apple had put herself upon Raven’s body, cuddling close to her while still shaking some tears out of her system. For some weird reason, Apple always had water-proof makeup. She always looked angelically gorgeous, even when she was a mess.

When everyone got their fill of gasps in, piling around at a far distance to give the princesses room, Maddie was the one to step forward first, and for the first time, Madeline Hatter dropped and cried in front of everyone.

No words were needed then. Everyone understood, but I’ll clarify just because.

What everyone saw was Raven lying in a big inward curved spot in the tree, perfect for sitting, cuddling, etc. She was asleep, maybe dead, and Apple White was holding her tightly in her arms, crying onto her clothing and chest, head right next to Raven’s, and while one hand rested on the ground near Apple’s back, the other, the right hand still limp on the ground, was fingertips away from the bitten apple. Everyone was silent and hung their heads in sorrow while their closest friends comforted the crying Mad Hatter-ess. The only one who said anything was none other than Headmaster Milton Grimm, who had been informed that there was an emergency life-threatening situation in the forest, and the entire school followed behind and added to the crowd. Apple White and Raven Queen had gotten quite an audience.

“What is going on around her-”

Milton instantly shut his mouth too, picking up on the scene before him. If he had a hat, he would have respectfully taken it off. And despite Apple’s more than indecent behavior towards Raven’s sleeping form, he said nothing or did nothing to try and move her or approach them. His own mind was being plagued by bad thoughts suddenly. He’d been so mean and harsh to Raven, forcing her to follow her destiny, constantly yelling at her and being so cruel and harsh, and now... she was just... gone? He felt a little guilty. No, make that extremely guilty. Nobody had ever done anything so crazy at this school before this. Before Raven Queen, everything was by the book. Then she showed up, and everything went haywire. First she wouldn’t follow her destiny, then she wanted to! Then she didn’t care at all, and now... technically, since nothing like this had ever happened before, Milton had to rule this as a suicide. The very first one at Ever After High.

“....Alright everyone. We’ve all seen the unfortunate events that have taken place, matters will be taken care of soon. Please go back to the school building and carry out your normal routine until news has been giving upon what is going on. Thank you.”

Awkwardly and slowly, everyone made their way back, and even Milton hesitated before heading back, requesting that the “main students” meet in his office later for discussion on what to do. Then once again, Apple White was left alone with Raven Queen’s body. She’d be left there, out of respect, and so she could have a moment with the deceased. Besides, poor Apple White was heartbroken and teary-eyed. Not even Milton would dare disturb her. Apple just held her and kissed her as much as she could before she had to stop.

Godmother, godmother! If only she had done things differently. Now the whole school knew of her True Heart’s True Love, and that they’d lost one of the craziest and best students and an all around good friend.

Raven Queen was gone. It was all Apple’s fault, and everybody knew it now.

The following Saturday, everyone gathered in the Enchanted Forest. Rows upon rows of gold and red chairs were placed, with one huge path in between. There was a tall black Gothic mirror in the front row, facing the same way all the chairs were. The same big purple tree that Apple had slept under was being used again, for the same painful reason, but this time, the air was thicker, sadder. And everyone was starting to file in. There were hundreds of people, students and adults included. Friends, family, parents, everyone. The big green pedestal stood in front, next to a shiny metal casket, dark and chrome purple, with beautiful bird feathers etched into the sides, and on the front, by the foot of the casket, one name stood alone, written beautifully and in a very fancy font, with absolutely no error, and a little message underneath as well.

Raven Queen. Daughter of the Evil Queen. A good-hearted soul in the dark.

Once everyone had taken their places, and people stood around as well, they started the service as everyone was quiet and dressed in dreary black. Man, if Raven were awake, she’d be laughing at everyone wearing her clothing style.

Apple and Milton stood at the front, heads hung, and Milton went first, giving his respectful speech. He tapped the mic, then cleared his throat. “It is a sad, sad day. To lose one of our own. Nobody expected her to take this path, least of all me. She was a good student, great grades, lots of potential. Although she wasn’t headed down the path I wished, she was still an amazing woman in her own way. It’s truly a tragedy , and she will never be forgotten. I deeply regret the way I treated her, I wish things could have been different, truly I do, but we can’t change what has happened. Raven Queen, you were a wild one. You will be missed greatly. Ahem. Um...” Milton Grimm, now at a loss for words, didn’t know what to say next, stepped down to offer Apple the stand. Nobody expected her to say what she said next. “Hello everyone. Well... you see... She did this because of me.”

Lots of gasping and confused “Huh?” callings, quite a reaction to such a phrase but she wasn’t even the least bit phased. She continued once everyone was quiet again. But her next phrase really didn’t help the reactions.

“Raven Queen and I were in love.”

Milton literally had to raise his big hands and ask that everyone please be quiet to let Apple White speak.

“Yes. That’s right. We were supposed to be enemies within the Story Book, destined to hate each other as adults, but... we were the best of friends right from the start, and we grew even closer. Raven and I wanted to come out to the world together, but thanks to me, we ended up apart.

Raven was always being hunted by Dexter Charming. Not in a dangerous way, he just had a big crush on her and wouldn’t leave her alone. She even went on a date with him one night to try and ease him off. Then one day, when we were together, Raven wanted a confidence spell to tell Dexter off once and for good. We went to Cupid, since this was love related. She accidentally locked our hands together instead. Although Raven finally did tell Dexter that the feelings weren’t mutual, for 24 hours, we were locked side by side, hand in hand. Yes, we had to sleep next to each other.” Apple closed her eyes with a huff as she felt judging adult eyes on herself. Who cares. Partners sleep with each other all the time. Really sleep. For real.

“Anyways, we were so happy that we were problem-free, we went to the Enchanted Forest to... elope,”

She had to pause yet again, gripping the podium stand with white knuckles at all the judgy gasping she was receiving. It’s okay Apple. Just keep going.

“We were just so happy, so in love. We wanted to become one with each other for real...” Apple whimpered, wiping her eyes as she felt tears come. “We were really, really in love... We just.. wanted to be together...” Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself to continue the explanation.

“We were so close... then Ashlynn Ella walked in on us, and our Hand-held curse was broken. We, well... I was so surprised about Ashlynn and the curse just suddenly broke that I stood up and pushed Raven into the tree we were leaning against and, I think I gave her a little concussion, Ashlynn helped me get her to the infirmary. Raven is not light.” A couple of laughs and giggles. Great.

“So then, I just... I thought it was a sign that we shouldn’t be together, that... that what we had was wrong. So then I just... left her while she was unconscious. She woke up and I wasn’t there and she didn’t understand!” Apple was starting to yell and get frantic and was starting to cry, but nobody stopped her.

“She didn’t understand! I just... abandoned her!” Apple sobbed, choking on air between breaths but she did not stop talking.

“She didn’t know why I was ignoring her! I spread rumours that she hurt me to keep her away but I was doing all the hurting. I did this! It’s all my fault! This wouldn’t have happened if I was just there for her! If I had been there instead of being a coward! I love Raven Queen with all of my heart! I do! And I would marry her right now if I could. I love Raven Queen. She went to the Enchanted Forest with Nevermore and poisoned herself... because I hurt her so badly.. She... killed herself... because of me...” Apple was absolutely sobbing over herself at this point and Maddie came up to help Apple off the stage, rubbing her back and giving her tissues. Nobody really had anything else to say. All had been perfectly said by the beloved Apple White.

Milton went up again after plenty of tears and deep breathing.

“If no one else would like to say some words, we will conclude this event. There will not be a wake as we have nowhere really to have it. Please pay your respects and then be safe returning home. Thank you everyone. Good day.” Milton then stepped down, and Apple and their friends went to see the peaceful Raven within her case, to say one final goodbye before the woodland pixies and fairies took care of Raven and guarded her as such.

Once the massive crowd passed on and left (bad choice of words) the case was opened so Apple could touch and hold Raven one last time. The group said their goodbyes, wanting to let Apple have some time alone with Raven. One last time for the star crossed couple to be by each other’s side one last time.

Everyone finally was gone, and it was finally and literally just the two of them left in the woods.

Apple whimpered once more as she felt tears trickle down her cheeks, and she carefully took Raven’s cold hand, putting it against Apple’s warm cheek, and she shivered but kissed the palm of Raven’s hand before whispering to her.

“I hurt you too many times, Raven... first, not respecting you and trying to make you the villain I thought I wanted you to be instead of treating you right, like a girl, a princess, and then I hurt you when your mother was trying to take over Ever After High, and it caused me to go into a cursed sleep... and now, I hurt you again, but this time, it’s you who fell to sleep... You’re supposed to be the dark one, and I’m the one constantly breaking your heart... I’m so sorry Raven... I’m so sorry...” She sniffled hard, exhaling deeply before continuing her little thing.

“I wish I knew how to fix all this... but I don’t.” Slowly pulling away, she rested Raven’s hand back on her stomach with her other hand, before leaning down so her breath tickled Raven’s nose.

“I love you Raven Queen. With all of my heart and soul. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I truly am. I will never love anyone as much as I love you.” With that, Apple moved herself over, and gently placed her lips upon Raven’s cheek, letting a tear fall, before she pulled away, dragging herself away from the body of her lover, and Apple White’s body faded into the distance of Ever After High. She’d come back to visit sometime, but right now, she needed time to grieve before her next visit. This was literally the saddest thing that has ever graced the halls.

“Until next time... I will never leave you. I will never leave you from here on out. I promise.” Apple whispered, and went back into the school.

“My heart is always with you.”

Dreamscape

This is Raven’s Dream World. All fiction, not real. Not really happening in the dream world. Raven is still asleep. Still asleep...

“C’mon Raven! Let’s go!” Apple giggled, blonde hair flowing in a warm sunny breeze almost in a slow-motion kind of way. Just like in a dream. Raven chased after her, a little faster but still in slow-mo, through a wonderful and beautiful field of flowers, laughter and whistling winds flying through the air.

Suddenly Raven caught Apple’s hip, spun her around and they both fell into the flowers, and Apple had never looked more beautiful. The sun and the flowers’ shade on her face, eyes never more full of love, and trust, and so much more love.

That purest look. Eyes half-lidded, an angel smile on her face. Completely submissive.

Raven lied over her in true awe, her heart racing and her eyes wide, admiring how amazing and gorgeous and well, beautiful Apple looked like that. Never a more amazing scene. Honestly breathtaking.

“...Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to kiss your wife?” Apple asked with a soft giggle, reaching up to stroke her partner’s cheek, before suddenly Raven gasped, her face beat red. What happened?

Apple’s kneecap had suddenly found its way to sit between Raven’s legs. Raven closed her eyes for a second and hummed, before she sat on Apple’s waist, took the hand on her cheek, kissed the palm, then the wrist, until she was just an inch away from Apple’s face.

“Since when are you my wife? I don’t remember a ceremony.” Raven whispered, pecking Apple’s lips with a soft laugh.

“As soon as we locked eyes as lovers, you were always going to be my wife.” Apple purred, pecking back.

“Is that so?” Raven replied, before she sat up again and began to undo her own dress, right before Apple’s eyes.

Apple swallowed, eyes getting a little wider, and she bucked her hips up while biting her lip. “R-Raven, don’t tease me like this..” She stammered, hands working on her own dress to undo it. Soon they both had chests seeing the light. Soon, shoulder and sleeve coverings dropped, only underwear remained for their tops. Again, Apple bucked her hips, more aggressively this time.

Raven groaned at their hips colliding, before a second voice, Apple’s voice, but different... rang in her head. Apple’s true voice. The voice from the real world. Apple’s voice of truth. Not of the one below her. But the one above, in the sky.

“Don’t believe what you see, my angel of the dark. This is not real. Only what you wish it. This is just a dream.”

A dream? It’s a dream? What could that all mean?

Before she knew it, the sun had gone dark. The flowers had suddenly wilted and died, and there was no girlfriend below her.

Raven stood, with her dress redone, and saw a blood moon in the sky. Darkness, trees, logs scattered and stumps present. Raven felt tears roll down her cheeks, A giant somehow in-tact dragon skeleton on a hill in front of the massive moon. Suddenly she was watching Apple eat the poison apple all over again during Dragon Games, and then her sad mother was back, enslaving the fairytale world, just like that one time she saw in the wishing well...

Her worst fears coming to life, her face was clear but the tear streams still stained untouched skin. But before she knew it... her deepest, darkest fear... came to life, as the last image she saw before blackness.

It was as if she was time traveling. Viewing her entire life all over again. The hell she went through, being an “evil child.”

The day she first met her nemesis. The sweet, blonde-haired little girl in a white and red dress. Who loved to sing, and play with animals, and dance, and smile at Raven. Maybe 6 or 7 years old. Raven’s first girl crush.

Years later, surrounded by Apple White, and trying to suppress her long-lived crush.

She re-lived every moment in her life. Everything she could remember, everything she forgot, everything she wished she could forget.

Poor Raven relived all of the Ever After High events. All the times she wished she could kiss Apple, this whole story all over again.

But then, when she bit the apple, and everything went black. Just like that. Just Darkness.

Except, it didn’t.

Somehow, Raven’s sleeping consciousness allowed her to see her own sleepy funeral. All the friends and family and acquaintances and strangers sitting in plastic and metal chairs, all in front of a mic stand and a huge metal and glass casket, under the big purple and green tree in the Enchanted Woods. Raven’s ghostly form stood next to her sleeping body. She was so scared, watching all of this. Seeing what everyone said about her, seeing everyone so sad... it almost made her happy to see so many people there caring about her, Bad Raven. But hearing Apple’s words, and seeing her so upset and crying and screaming and how guilty she felt... Raven maybe have been a ghost at that point but it didn’t stop her from buckling over and sobbing into her hands. She felt so bad... at least she understood now. Apple still loved her... and she loved her so much she wanted to marry her. Apple White was so distraught over this... it made Raven so sad, yet so happy too... a war and a mess... it pained her to watch her own sleeping service.

Once the service was over, she saw Apple cry on Raven’s own cheek, kissing her, before leaving. The tear glowed on her face, rolling down to her neck before drying up on a flower beneath her. Wait... it glowed?

Raven blinked, as she was still a ghost of some kind, before racing after Apple to see what she was doing. The blonde princess went up to her room, their room, Raven’s things had been moved from Maddie’s place back to Apple’s room, and Apple was lying on her bed and Raven’s pushed together, like that one time...

Some time passed maybe a day or two of a blurry timeskip, and Apple got up from their beds, and started writing something down while being half asleep. Somehow she knew that classes were out again, and Apple working as soon as she woke up was definitely not a normal thing. Raven’s ghost came up behind her, peering over to see what it was, before she blushed hard and stumbled back before looking again.

What was on the paper? Well... you’ll have to wait and see to find out.

Haha just kidding.

“Wedding Vows?! And a Will to match right next to it...” Is that pushing it? Nah. It’s my story. Raven said in disbelief, in her weird ghost voice. Apple couldn’t hear her though. So she could talk all she wanted. And do whatever she pleased! But... maybe the vows should actually be a secret, since they were so precious and all... But then... something was tugging her. Pulling her back. She felt a stinging on her cheek, so she reached up and touched it. Raven winced in pain, before looking at her fingers. Nothing. Just a weird, burning feeling. Like a tear that didn’t belong to her, dripping onto her skin from above. She looked up, curiously. But there was nothing. Before she realized, she was yanked back a little bit, almost causing her to trip. Then again, then again, before she put all the pieces together. She was waking up somehow!

“Apple!” Raven cried, before darkness again. This darkness thing was becoming annoying.

First Darkness, Then Light. An all too familiar quote from who knows where.

(I’m gracing my dearest fans with the most NSFW thing I can come up with. Also the hardest thing ever because me being a useless lesbian , and I’ve never written smut before. Please scroll down until you find the next scene break, or also, enjoy yourself to the fullest~)

Suddenly she was in a sunny and comfortably warm field of orangy-yellow wheat. A sunset just turning the same color of the ground, gracing its beauty upon the world. Raven stared in disbelief at the beauty of the world, before suddenly there was a huge oak tree, long branches and mountain of leaves making a shady paradise, and there she was, the most beautiful thing of all. Apple White, standing under the tree, eyes half-lidded in that gorgeous and sexy loving way of hers. Her hand lifted, turned, and her finger beckoned the dark bird close. Without hesitation, Raven was pinning the smaller girl to the tree in a kabedon style, eyes showing the exact same look and more than enough amount of love. Then, as if the soft pink glowy magic from their hearts suddenly just poured out and exploded, which, ironically, it did, and the sun beamed a bright pink heart, right in the middle, magic sparkly dust floating in the air. True Love, from their True Hearts.

Raven kept her hand on the tree, the other hand curling around Apple’s waist, pulling her close, before the other arm joined, linking around, while Apple’s arms linked around Raven’s neck. Apple’s back gently and carefully met the tree bark, lips joined harmoniously, sliding against one another again and again as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Raven tightened her grip on Apple’s clothes, and her tongue slipped out, only to be surprised when touching Apple’s. They both pulled away after tasting each other’s mouth and tongue, with cheeks flushes, chests rising and falling heavily with each heaved breath. Apple was the first to say anything, taking the initiative, like the leader she was.

“I think we need to lose some clothes.”

Raven nodded breathlessly, and with a few zippers and button clicks, and clothes melted off, almost literally. They made their clothes into a comfortable makeshift blanket to lie on the ground near the tree still in the shade, Apple lying down and Raven hovering over her. Not literally. Raven stroked Apple’s soft cheek again, before lips met once more, more hungry, more tongue this time. Slipping to dominate Apple’s mouth, mapping her mouth completely, while Raven sucked on Apple’s tongue, making her hips shudder and her mouth let out a pleasurable hum. Then they parted, and Raven didn’t hesitate to start marking this beautiful piece of artwork. Her mouth found it’s way down to Apple’s neck, and Apple let out her very first moan when there was a dark purple spot now on her neck. Not lipstick. A lovebite. Oh yeah. A few more, poor Apple would have to wear a thick scarf, and then...

“Can... Can I um... Could I remove your bra?” Raven asked shyly, and was met with a soft peck on her lips.

“Of course. I’m yours, Raven. You can do whatever you want with me.”

Raven almost pounced, messily and hungrily removing that silky and frilly white cupped bra, discarding it onto the ground along with everything else. Raven was in her underwear too, but the focus was on her darling lover. The only thing she cared about. The only thing worth the focus.

Apple breathed hard when soft plum-colored lips found their first of many targets, a perked pink nipple, the left of two magnificent and round hefts. Her hands rubbed Raven’s shoulders, and she hummed in delight when she was carressed and groped and the other nipple was taken care of just as the first, and then, Raven’s eyes were almost predatory, mouth hovering over that sacred last bit of cloth, covering the most precious and private part of a woman. Raven dared to ask permission, in her softest and most loving voice, to taint her innocent angel, with only the most intimate acts of love.

“Apple? Um... can I continue?” Bad way to put it. She cleared her throat, straightened her back, and looked her girlfriend dead in the eye.

“Can I take your virginity?”

Raven opened her eyes, just like that. Fluttering with a groan, she reached up to wipe away the odd stinging feeling on her cheek and neck, before looking down at an uncomfortable buzz in her loins. Great. First wet dream and it’s when she’s in a casket. Apple White’s magical warm wet tears and very attractive body brought Raven Queen back to life and awakening just like that. And she hadn’t even gotten to the best damn part. But wait... her lips were warm...

Blinking her tired eyes, she barely noticed the faded silhouette of someone literally standing over her, she was still shaking off the fatigue of being asleep. She had to wake her body up after her mind.

Raven stretched her body until a comforting “Pop!” sounded from her shoulders, and then she stretched her legs till her muscles tensed, before raising her arms and attempting to throw the glass lid off of her casket before she realized she was throwing her arms at air. Oops. The princess of darkness arose from her slumber, yawning before her hand rose to her lips, still warm as if... they had just been in contact with something for a minute... Raven looked up to see the one person she wanted to see, and a soft gasp left her lips next.

“R... Raven...?” Apple White whispered in absolute and utter surprise. And also disbelief. Embarrassment too, by golly.

Apple couldn’t believe her own baby blue eyes. Raven... was alive...? Breathing and blinking, sitting up and... awake? Oh gosh... the magic worked! True Love’s kiss really worked!

She’d just finished writing some very important things in her room before needing a break. Hours had passed and she just couldn’t stay away from her beloved’s body and side, so she thought she could relax a little. She needed some air and some free space to think, and so travelling back to the Enchanted Forest, she wanted to try True Love’s kiss, despite all that had happened. And it worked... The magic kiss worked... and Raven... Raven still loved her.

They just stayed there for a moment, locking eyes with reserved breaths, before Raven slowly got to her feet, using the edges of the casket as a crutch, before her covered feet awkwardly folded upon the ground, and she kicked her heels off, sending them flying. She wanted to feel the grass under her bare feet. Being asleep in a magic trance like that for however long she was out, she missed feeling and touching things, and of course, she missed Apple. She would have stayed within her thoughts if the sound of a soft whimper hadn’t interrupted her, and of course some sniffling. Raven looked up from her bare feet to her opposer, at big blue teary eyes, a quivering bottom lip, and streams running down angelic cheeks, and dripping off her chin. Poor Apple White was crying!

“I never thought I’d be able to look into your eyes again..” Apple whispered, literally shaking as she stood in front of her ex partner, before realizing that Raven was incredibly weak, so she quickly opened arms to help, feeling awkward but also relieved when Raven gently pushed herself off of leaning against the casket, to fall literally into Apple’s oddly strong arms. Apple almost dragged Raven’s body over to the big tree so they had a new special place to rest, against the sprites’s magic purple and brown tree, next to Raven’s casket. A new indented curve, for their bodies to sit in together. A whole new place of love.

“Are you okay?” Apple asked softly, holding Raven’s body against her own, holding her hand once more while her other hand was around Raven’s waist to comfort her weak shaking form.

Raven nodded, taking a deep breath, blinking and rubbing her face with a free hand.

She didn’t know how long she was out, and she didn’t really show it, but she was beyond overjoyed that Apple has kissed her awake like that. Our girls were back together! What a wonderful reunion, don’t you think?

“I’ll be fine once I get more comfortable.” Raven said honestly, cuddling her head into Apple’s neck crook, and keeping their hands entwined, while she took a yawn and closed her eyes for a moment.

“Are you going back to sleep?” Apple asked softly, half teasing and half serious.

“No. I’m just resting. Relaxing. Waking up. Getting comfortable now that I’m back after...”

“Three days.”

“What?!”

That long?! Dang... what a strong curse she’d laid upon herself. Taking another deep breath, Raven figured she had to come clean about her odd dreamscape adventure. Nobody ever talked about those when sleep curses were involved, huh.

“Hey Raven? Did you... see anything while you were asleep? Because like... My mother had visions and dreams when she was asleep... I was just wondering if you saw anything..” Apple murmured, making Raven cuddle closer a little and blush.

Huh. How did she know.

“Yeah... I saw you.” She began bluntly, before she was suddenly interrupted.

Before Raven could continue, Apple’s hand was already on Raven’s jaw, having turned her head a bit, stroking the jawline as one did lovingly, lips skating across lips ever so gently as if afraid that one little bit of pressure would break the poor dark bird.

Turning her body so she now sat comfortably on Apple’s lap, their lips slowly began to get a little rougher in their kiss, hands gliding along arms and thighs as closed eyes fluttered with breaths hitched and soft whimpers coming from the lighter of the two. They would talk later. Definitely. But as of right now, all they needed was each other. Hugging and holding each other, they only stopped their heavy making out when they were almost gasping for air. Giving each other half-lidded stares full of True Love, breaths and racing hearts fueling their lust, it wasn’t long before arms and hands were on hips and shoulders, and lips locked in hot battle once more. Just like Raven’s dream, but better.

Tops thrown aside, lips still locking, Raven’s hands furiously trying to remove Apple\s dress/skirt. Apple’s lips and teeth found their way on Raven’s neck, causing Raven to moan loudly, her neck was always a weak spot. Especially when Apple did this... She bit. Apple bit her neck gently, sucking a little, until she was sure, and she checked, there was a beautifully dark spot, low enough to be covered with a collar or a scarf. Giving another on the same side, then a third on the other side, Apple’s own hands were fiddling with Raven’s skirt buttons, before Raven stopped her, needing to catch her breath for a minute.

“Apple, wait... I just woke up...” Raven huffed, nuzzling Apple’s neck again.She had to come clean about her dreams, they had to talk about everything that happened, before Raven could continue anything.

She held Apple’s sides, breathing hard through her nose, before she came clean about the first half of the dream. The second half was much too embarrassing. The darkness she went through, the evil scenes, even the romantic beginning in the field of flowers. She told Apple that she saw the funeral, she saw Apple with a Will, with marriage papers she thought she’d never use... All the stuff that was a little easier to talk to. The whole time, Apple listened carefully and with focus, before Raven suddenly stopped, and changed subjects.

“So um... I think we should talk about... us, too...” Great. The most awkward and horrible part...

“I’m really sorry, the way I acted and treated you.” Wait what? Apple was shocked by such words from Raven, especially since she was the one most at fault.

“I didn’t understand why you shut me out suddenly, and... I didn’t want to live in a world without you, or your love... So I...” Tears welled in Raven’s eyes as she lowered her head, before it was lifted again, and foggy eyes met clear ones. It was Apple’s turn to speak.

“Raven..” Her voice was soft, loving, sincere, gentle. “I should be apologizing to you. Which I am. I’m so so sorry for what I put you through... I shut you out after being shocked by Ashlyn walking in on us... I spread rumours about you to try and ease the pain... I pushed you so far, I practically made you... put yourself to sleep...” Apple was crying too. They both felt so guilty...

“I’m sorry I... put myself in a sleeping curse...”

“I’m sorry I hurt you so badly...”

They looked into each other’s eyes, coming to a apologetic conclusion. And without words, they forgave each other. They’d make up more, but as for right now... They wanted to be close. They could talk, they would make up completely later. They just... Raven wanted Apple. And Apple wanted Raven.

“We can apologize more later... talk about everything later... Raven... I... I want you...” Apple whispered, before slowly moving close again, and Raven nodded, kissing her cheek, then let their lips brush so delicately, and then they began to kiss. More lovingly, like they were the only people in the world. They were all that mattered to one another.

“I love you..” Apple huffed, resting her head against Raven’s shoulder, shaking with fear, with love, with lust, with all of her emotions at once. She took a long breath through her nose, and before she could even begin her next thought,

“I love you too Apple. I love you so much... I really don’t want to live without you. I... I know it’s sappy, but... I just have to get it out.”

Apple nodded, staring at her like a moth to a flame, cat to catnip. She would let Raven speak.

“We’ve been through a lot. You want me, and I want you. Apple White... Please...”

“Yes. You don’t have to say it, Raven. I understand.”

“But I want to...” She pouted, making Apple giggle.

“Apple White... I love you with all my heart, body and soul. All my being. Will you be my girlfriend, my partner, my other half?”

“I will. Raven Queen, I accept.”

And with that, their bodies melted into one.

Lips once more collided with each other, hands slid across the sides of bodies, eyes closed, breaths ragged through noses, hearts beating as one.

You’ve come this far. Time to give the people what they want.

Warning ahead for extreme sexual content, blood warning ( ✧≖ ͜ʖ≖) that’s about it? Yeah. Finally. My very first complete smut scene, and y’all finally get what you’ve been aching and itching for for about 6 months. Your patience is granted.

Enjoy~

The hot kissing continued. They were hungry, thirsty for one another. Lips mashing and tongues fighting for dominance. They quickly discarded their outfits, Apple was extremely aroused by how confident and aroused Raven was. Apple had been placed on a makeshift blanket once again, under a huge tree with a great sky above the forest. They were down to their underwear, Apple looking so beautiful and innocent... some dark park inside Raven, lovingly of course, wanted to ruin that. They looked like they were about to pass out however, from how their eyes were half-lidded, breathing ragged. Apple lied there ao angelically, hair still curled but a little messy underneath her, uncovered breasts heaving, her heart having nothing but true love for her girlfriend, as she waited patiently for Raven’s next move.

“What are you staring at?” Apple asked softly, raising a hand to brush her lover’s cheek, only for it to be caught, and her wrist kissed ever so softly, making Apple shiver and bite her lip.

“Only the most gorgeous woman in all the land.” Raven replied, trailing her tongue from Apple’s wrist to the tip of her pointer finger, making Apple squeak and attempt to cover her mouth in shame, which only made Raven laugh.

Apple was practically squirming, and when Raven’s eyes trailed down Apple’s magnificent form, her eyes sparkled at a jewel waiting to be toyed with. That and her nose twitched of course.

“Apple?” Raven asked softly, releasing the hand and slowly crawling over Apple’s body, till she hovered over her face. Apple in turn blushed her hardest, eyes wide with curiosity.

“Yes, Raven?”

“I want your virginity.” She said out flatly, expecting a “No way!” or some sort of “What?!”

But Apple hid her mouth and nose under her hands like a mask, her eyes flicking from side to side nervously as if making sure no one else was around, before in the softest voice, she said...

“okay...”

Raven nodded, not wasting any time. Giving Apple the kiss she desperately needed, giving another soft hickey upon her neck, then leaving wet kisses in a trail, down to just before the panty line. Apple wiped all the kisses away because they made her cold, but she was about to warm right up in a minute.

“I can take these off?” Raven asked softly, chuckling when Apple replied with,

“you don’t need to ask...”

Carefully, gently, she hooked her fingers under the elastic straps, making Apple shiver and whimper, and slowly sliding them down her legs, off her ankles, setting them aside, she admired the treasure of Apple White. Her entire body, laid out just for Raven Queen.

“You’re so beautiful...” Raven whispered breathlessly, thinking she might cry from such a gorgeous person, a beautiful thing. Beautiful things always make people cry!

Apple blushed hard and covered her face again, her elbows covering her nipples, but her legs very slowly opened up for longing of Raven’s touch.

Raven delivered, leaning down to place the gentlest of kisses upon Apple’s little button, making her jolt, and her legs open more.

“Raven!!” She said harshly, having never touched there or been touched there before. The dark princess giggled, giving her a mischievous look.

“Do I have to tie you down?” She teased, in which Apple shook her head furiously No.

Facing the prize again, Apple’s legs spread generously enough, Raven had never done this before, ever, so she was completely in the dark. Very cautiously, curiously, she trailed a finger right through Apple’s wet lips, across her button, and right into the soft and neatly trimmed patch of hair just above her lips, in which she curiously gave a little scratch with her finger, making the submissive princess groan. Then Raven travelled back down, to the odd thick skin that seperated the anus from the vagina. She would have kept leaving shiny little lines, if Apple hadn’t suddenly spoke up, in the hottest and cutest way. She begged.

“R-Raven... please, g-go... inside...”

Raven froze, looking literally shocked at Apple. She never knew Apple could beg, and it was the best damn thing in the whole damn world. Yep. I wrote it twice.

“Wh-what? W-wa-was that t-too much?” Apple stammered, feeling ashamed all of a sudden, before she moaned loudly at a single finger protruding her entrance.

Guess not.

Raven had only put the tip of her pointer finger inside, Apple was oozing and quivering at the same time. Giving her thigh a warm and loving kiss, Raven had to ask, to be safe.

“Have you ever um... touched yourself before?”

“N-no... my mother told me doing so was a sin, and only your partner should be the first to grace such a sacred body part.”

God Apple was so precious.

“After Marriage, right?” Raven teased, getting a glare from Apple before a huff. And her next phrase caught the bird completely off guard.

“You’re worth it to me...”

Raven could have died right there and she would be happy. Her heart practically leapt out of her chest and if this was like an 80s cartoon, it would have. So she gave her beloved princess what she wanted, pushed her whole pointer finger inside Apple’s vagina as far as it would go, listening to Apple’s breath hitching and gasping while also focusing her eyes on her digit and her mind on the inside. She felt her nail scratch at something, almost like a... a block? A wall, maybe? Then it clued in. Right. Of course. How stupid was she.

That was the wall of Apple’s virginity. Her purity. Her innocence.

“I’m going to start thrusting my finger okay? You’re the boss. Tell me what to do.” Raven said, Apple nodded, and Raven began slowly moving her finger. In and out. Leaving Apple breathless. It took no time at all for Raven’s finger to be coated in fluids, and Apple had thrown her arm over her eyes, her mind focusing on that pleasure feeling. Nothing else.

“A-add another finger..” Apple ordered, wondering how it felt. Her curiosity was more than sated when the second, middle finger added to the first. Apple practically howled, the slow pace was driving her crazy, but she was still a virgin!

“Stop!!” She yelled, leaning up on her elbows, leaving Raven petrified, fearing she’d done something wrong. Her fingers stayed put, down to the very bottom edges of her digits.

“S-sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong.. this is my first time, I just... I have to get used to it.” She murmured, lying back down again. “You stretched me a little, it hurt.” Oh god. Raven hurt Apple?!

“You didn’t hurt me, I promise.” As if she knew what her dearest partner was thinking. “It just surprised me is all. New feeling.” That’s true.

They stayed like that for a minute. Raven’s fingers could feel Apple tensing and relaxing, stretching and trying to get used to this new feeling, the penetration a whole new field, and when it finally ceased, Apple was sure her walls were a little bigger from Raven’s hand, she took a deep breath.

“Keep going.”

Raven began pumping her fingers in Apple’s pussy again, very slowly, watching her chest heave as she tried to breathe normally through this odd mating ritual. She looked so uncomfortable. Why did sex always look so uncomfortable? This is the writer asking, not Raven.

“Harder,” Apple moaned, turning her head on the top of her dress, Raven replied without hesitation, thrusting her finger with a little moor oomf, causing Apple’s heavy breath to come out in puffs and moans, her back almost arching in virgin bliss.

“Apple, you know about the hymen, right?” Raven asked, relieved when the blonde nodded her head.

“It.. it’s um... the... the sk-skin... a b-blockage in the v-vag-gina th-that’s b-basically the fi-first time v-virgin wall. A-and you w-want t-to br-break it..” Poor Apple. Can barely form a sentence.

“I give you my permission.”

Just like that, Raven nodded and began to thrust a little harder. If there were anyone nearby, they’d definitely hear Apple’s moans and breathing.

“Break me,” she begged Raven, who’s fingertips were hitting the wall now. Each hard thrust drew her closer to victory, but also made Apple’s body tense up, hands gripping the clothing below and the grass. Fear and love. Nervousness, anxiousness, awaiting. And then... like a flash.

“Uunngh!!” Apple cried, gritting her teeth as tears flowed from her eyes, and blood flowed from her sacred place. Raven slowed her thrusting to a stop, wiped her hands on the grass and quickly lied over Apple’s body, holding the shaking crying girl in her arms, hugging her closely while also hovering above her, until very weakly, Apple rolled them over, so she was lying on Raven’s body, wanting to feel her, hold her, listen to her heartbeat.

“Are you okay, Apple?”

“Mhmm...” She murmured groggily, cuddling closer to her beloved girlfriend, wrapping her arms over Raven’s body. Raven kept her arms over Apple’s back, before Apple spoke up.

“When I... When you went to sleep, i kept all your stuff clean, I busied myself by dusting... the teachers let me miss class for as long as I needed, they wouldn’t even let me into the classrooms, said I needed time off to grieve..”

Raven chuckled. Apple was so cute, taking care of her stuff for her.

“Thank you.” Raven whispered, kissing her head.

In that moment, there was no one else but them. Them, their bodies, their hearts, their souls. They were so in love it was ridiculous.

“Hey Apple?”

“Yeah Raven?”

“Um... can I... Can I kiss you?” Raven whispered again, craning her neck to try looking down upon her angelic partner’s face.

“You don’t have to ask, silly. You can take as many as you like.”

“I don’t want to take anything from you. It’s better to ask permission.”

Apple’s heart swelled. Raven would never take advantage of her, steal from her; literally or figuratively, lie to her, hurt her... Apple had found her princess in shining high heels.

Looking up, leaning up a little bit, Apple smirked as she leaned up on Raven’s bigger chest. “I will give you one loving kiss, if you give me three wishes.”

Raven was taken aback, very surprised. “Apple, I’m a princess, not a genie.” She reminded her, very confused at the phrase.

Apple just shook her head, smiling from ear to ear.

“The first wish, is that you kiss me back.”

“The second wish, is that you clean me up, help me get dressed, carry me back to our shared bedroom, and live with me again,”

“and that you stay with me forever. Be my bride someday.”

Raven stared in silent shock. Gosh, their hearts were already overflowing with love for one another. And if Cupid were here, she’d probably go crazy from all the power! Raven understood now. What Apple meant by “wishes.” She would not hesitate to comply. She would grant all of those things, and more. Her goal in life now was to make Apple happy. Stay by her side, and make all her dreams come true.

“I do.”

And with that, Raven and Apple’s lips connected once again, sliding against once another, until Raven pulled away, satisfied. Then carefully sitting up, she leaned Apple against the tree, then used some flower petals from the flowers laid in her casket, to gently wipe away the mess. What a miraculous and fairytale way, hehe. Only princesses, delicate with one another and in love, would do something as dreamy as use flower petals, to wipe away blood and discharge. Apple shivered and covered herself up slightly. Still beautiful and feminine and innocent as always. Such an angel. Discarding the petals when she was sure she was done, carefully and gently dressing Apple and herself. Oh damn... Apple’s dress had a little blood stain on it. Oh well. “Everyone should be in class right now. So we can get by without you being seen.” Raven had been confirmed to be in “death sleep” by the entire fairytale world. Obviously Apple hadn’t tried kissing Raven in front of all those people, so... trying to find ways to wake her up wasn’t anyone’s top priority. With a nod, Raven lifted her princess into her arms. Princess style, bridal style. Get it? Princess carrying another princess in her arms. The way it should always be. Raven carried Apple towards the school, just like that.

They snuck throughout the school, Apple giggling as Raven snuck around, dodging people walking about, hiding behind corners, until finally they reached their room. Nothing had really changed, their beds still pushed together as one, her stuff where it was before, and... wait. Was that... Seriously?

“You have a picture of me on your vanity with a kiss print.” Raven pointed out, laughing a little as she set Apple down on the white, gold and red side of the makeshift master mattress, after closing and locking the door.

Apple just snickered, blushed and sat up after making a wall of pillows to comfortably sit up upon. “Of course. You’re supposed to keep pictures of your partners.”

Raven just smirked, shaking her head while coming over to cuddle into Apple’s side, almost purring when Apple wrapped an arm around Raven, petting her head with the other hand, and kissing her head too. They stayed like that for some time, before Apple suggested they shower. Good plan. There weren’t a lot of words needed. They both undressed, put their clothes into laundry bags, stepped into the shower together, and both just sighed. They kissed again, held each other under the water stream. They bathed each other, coating themselves and each other in warm and soapy bubbles. Then they rinsed, stepped out, and laughed as they dried each other off, rubbing each other with soft absorbent towels. Then they dressed in their regular dresses before cuddling on the bed again. Raven safely and happily in Apple’s arms.

“Hey Raven?”

“Yeah Apple?”

“Let’s come out tomorrow. As girlfriends. For real.”

“okay.”

#finally complete #finally the wait is over #eah #ever after high #fic #fanfic #my fic #ayurileopardswritings #rapple #poison apple #raven queen #apple white #raven queen x apple white #milton grimm #a hand-held curse #awesome

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pkmnwater · 6 years ago

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Thing 40a - Forgiveness

~I’ll take with me the Polaroids and the memories, but you know I’m going to leave behind the worst of us.~

[Written June 15, 2018; Posted July 1, 2018] [Part 1 of x] [Note: Contrary to my normal proceedings and conduct, I have not asked for express permission(s) as I normally do from associated parties to this, nor for the following associated writings. Partially because I believe it’d be compromising to, considering my overall plan for the next few posts, part because I believe that’d take away impact from my words, and part because of means. If anyone finds offense to my words, and particular segments are indeed about those complaints, I will make changes to my writing accordingly.]

So sometimes I hate how trivial and uncanny events in my life tend to be, but other times I can’t deny when it seems like I’m supposed to be reading it as some sort of message from the powers that be or something to that affect. This was one of those times. About a week ago, I had a strange inkling to message an old friend. I didn’t get around to while I had the pull to do it, but I definitely wanted to. Just eventually the words I wanted to say went away. However, as I thought about her, I was reminded of a sort of running joke between the two of us. ”Y’know, I’m still mad at you, have you figured out why??”

Recently, I’ve been playing a game that has minor buffs simply for being in a clan, but the higher the clan level, the better the perks. In this game, I only have and only intend to play semi-casually and only with my normal playgroup, but I do have another friend that plays in her own clan. I got the idea to combine the two that we have in order to actually activate the perks, but I didn’t want to abandon the one I was in. I absolutely adore the clan name, Yubikiri Genman, one of my touchstone phrases, while on the other hand, my friend’s clan was just a play on/running joke within her group, with the butt of it being an acquaintance whom I wasn’t particularly fond of, so obviously I wouldn’t want to be reminded of him every time I saw my name. When pressed as to why that was, the response I received from my friend and the rest of my playgroup was just to forgive the incident, as I’ve already forgotten.

I’ve finally been able to watch Girl Meets World again after a long time, as we finally got Disney Channel, where the show was shuffled onto there exclusively about three years ago. Incidentally, the first episode I caught since the previous incidents was S2E23: the Forgiveness Project. Huh. Y’see, to me, life is about experiences, new ones that broaden horizons, while repeat scenarios allow us to test our mantle if we’ve learned from our past. The world ends with you, after all. And integral to that, is learning.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, moreso than usual, at least in terms of being focused on one specific set of things. It’s been over three years since, I believe, but as of just now, I believe this particular arc has finally come to a close. The difference is that if it was something that mattered to me, I literally cannot forget what and how it happened.

There was once when my character was called into question, a core aspect of myself, a fundamental and archetypal description. It was said of me that I was unable and even inept when it came to social situations, that I could never get along with others and just “jump in” as it were. At the time, I knew myself that that probably wasn’t the case, but I had no empirical evidence to the contrary, and up until that far, I had no intentions on having otherwise. I kept to myself as often as possible, and liked that, a casual observer may think I was withdrawn, I could understand that. But for someone who was supposed to know me better than that, either there was something horribly wrong with me, or I wasn’t presenting my best self, a sin within itself. Of course, me being me, I shouldered those words, taking the blame onto myself, and the guilt of the thought. Someone had negative thoughts about me, I assumed there must’ve been valid reason, so I took responsibility and said I was at fault for putting that negativity there, or at least allowing it to happen. But another part of me, scorned yet galvanized by the thought, realized that my core personality was being questioned, especially on a matter and context I knew was fundamentally wrong. Inside, deep at the time, but at least somewhere inside, I knew the kind of person I was. Yet, I let the words get to me, and even still, I began to question myself. It wasn’t entirely bad, I suppose, I did use that inspiration to push myself into a few unique experiences that I otherwise wouldn’t have done, and I’m definitely better off for it. [The password to this account is even partially a trespass of that, strange how things turn out.] Despite spending a long time believing I had long since been over what happened and the fallout from the result, I guess the words had always stuck with me. Every so often, I do go back to that day when things were said. I believed for way too long that there must’ve been grains of truth in the words, and I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to certain people long past the point it’s due, while still shouldering everything on myself. I blamed myself for so much for so long, part because of guilt, part by nature. One of the reasons I’ve held onto it for so long was because of what I believed was the nature of forgiveness. The relief from wrong doing, the excuse from guilt. When I’m forgiven for something, typically I feel that, right?? I assumed that was more or less universally the case. [But that only applies when the person who’s done wrong holds themselves accountable for what happened; a separate line of thought I might explore in the future.] For me, I internalized not being forgiven as a reason to keep punishing myself for allowing things to go wrong. Never free from the guilt. I kept that for myself until such a time that I’d be worth forgiveness. Not from her, but from myself. Maya: I'm sorry. I failed. I know you wanted me to forgive him, but I didn't. I couldn't do it. You were wrong about this one, Mr. Matthews. Cory: I never expected that, Maya. That kind of forgiveness, it doesn't come so easy. But life is a long time, and I hope you get there someday. But that's never what I was looking for right now. Maya: What did you want from me? Cory: Maya, did you forgive yourself? Boy/Girl Meets World, nails it on the head every time I’ve needed it to for some direction to think about. It’s made me a better person.

[previous] [next] [If you're new, or want to start over, press here]

Not my best writing, and I’m horribly out of practice at that, as it’s been a very long while since I’ve been able to write for myself. But here’s just some thoughts I wanted to get out, and I haven’t figured out how to polish off. Excuse me.

#p:ng #things #thing4x #thing #girlmeetsworld #boymeetsworld #forgiveness #thing40 #thing40a

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kinetic-elaboration · 7 years ago

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April 12: Thoughts on 1x11 The Calm

Thoughts on 1x11 The Calm:

S1 Bellarke is the hottest Bellarke fight me.

My boy Jasper doesn’t even appear in this ep and he’s STILL being useful literally making gunpowder like fuck off.

Bellamy is all for just killing everyone and Clarke wants to find some other way. I dunno if I read this as her being influenced by Finn or more like...her mind always whirring, always thinking of better solutions. She’s never content with just the most obvious thing. That said, their positions are reversed a season later: Clarke is all for just blasting the top off Mount Weather and Bellamy wants a more nuanced plan because he sees the people on the inside.

Why wasn’t Murphy + Octavia ever a thing? Also Murphy is smart about cooking meat. Chef!Murphy (head)canon already forming.

“When you’re really pissed off, you always find a project. Something to keep your hands busy so you don’t punch someone in the face.” Finn is annoying but this is good Raven characterization intelligence. Also their conversation is so painfully awkward. She really does just tamp it all down, bottle up those emotions.

Literally nothing is hotter than Bellamy being a leader and giving orders and the delinquents being a competent little group defending and taking care of themselves.

And yet again, Clarke suggested hunting and Bellamy essentially had to sign off on it (not only did he challenge on her and make her explain herself, but tbh if Clarke had told people to pick up spears and go they would have been like yeah right princess)--but it was Bellamy who gave the actual orders, BELLAMY who appears as the leader in the delinquent pov.

I wish there were more young delinquents--really young not Jasper-and-Monty young. Like this loquacious kid who goes hunting with Finn and Clarke. Or even Charlotte, kids that age. ...Really I just wish there were more delinquents. :/

So Raven’s first instinct isn’t to fuck away the pain, it’s to run. Dumb but understandable. She insults Bellamy based on his Ark job (”Aren’t you a janitor?”) which also feeds into my other theory about Ark and class status.

I know I’ve written B/raven stuff and I do ship them in a low-key way, in a ‘they would be interesting together’ way...but I don’t ship them in a canon way, tbqh. In this Bellamy and Raven scene, I see them having a good rapport, but in a way I also see him working her, getting her back on track not just for her own good but for everyone’s good. He has a double agenda and both parts are important.

I wonder how much familiarity everyone on the Ark has with everyone else. That’s not totally clear... people seem to have passing familiarity with others, but not close familiarity. On the other hand, Wick seems pretty comfortable just talking to a Councilor like whatever nbd. On the other, other hand that could be Wick’s personality and/or the circumstances. Most of the ship is probably dead and the rest will die soon so why be formal!

The creepiness of the Ark in this ep should not be understated.I love this aesthetic.

I want to know what the best part of a boar is! Clarke, don’t interrupt. Rude.

Two main characters and a kid you’ve never seen before go hunting in the woods. Which one is going to get speared?

Say what you want about Wick but he and Kane made a good team and I will stand by this opinion too.

In describing their route, Finn said they crossed a road. What road?? When have there ever been roads anywhere in this show?

Kane found a dozen survivors, Jaha has, like, 3....and somehow in Camp Jaha/Arkadia there are like several hundred (?) people. From only two stations like how is that possible? Also didn’t Farm Station have a couple hundred? They must have sent down over a thousand people lol. Kane did not find very many.

Also that Earth Monitoring Station is where the space survivors are living now and it was fucking destroyed in a fire but I guess we’ve just conveniently forgotten about that, huh useless show writers who can’t figure out their own continuity?

Kane has this annoying habit of just being uselessly self-sacrificing all the time. He would be so much more effective if he didn’t do that. He has a lot of hubris, I think. The unforgivable sin: thinking yourself so debased as to be unforgivable. It’s also another way of elevating yourself, of thinking yourself so important that you have sinned more than any other, are worse than any other...it’s still all ‘me me me.’ I think Kane is like that. He’s always looking for ways to sacrifice himself or to be dangerously heroic. I wonder if that matters more to him than, like, actual other people. (Some of this analysis could apply to Jaha at certain parts of his story, though mostly imo in S1. In S2 he starts thinking a little differently.) (ETA it definitely applies to him in this ep, where he wanted to sacrifice himself [and Sinclair] and Kane’s like ‘I’m not a dumbass, we need you smart people to save everyone else, this isn’t a wholly altruistic rescue mission you know.”)

Anya’s idiotic guilt trip re: Tris: “You did this to her.” Yeah I know she’s like 12 and that makes Clarke feel bad because her people don’t use pre-adolescents as soldiers but she should take the attitude she took with L. later. You don’t want me to fuck you up? Don’t attack me first. Would Anya be shedding any tears over the dead, disgusting bodies of the children her chemical attack killed? I doubt it. And they weren’t even soldiers! I mean really the Grounder attacks on the delinquent camp are the equivalent of an attack on a village of civilians, especially initially.

So Monty finds some of the first evidence of Mount Weather (the exodus ship logs showing interference) and Raven’s like ‘neato...give me that for parts.’ He’s much more curious than she is. She’s more...practical? Single-minded? Not that Monty isn’t practical. I dunno. Unrelated but I had this sudden image of modern!Monty listening for signs of alien life, for some reason.

Monty wants to keep the radio because he still believes in the Ark and he wants to see his parents again. “My family is up there.” Makes me even more curious what his relationship with his family is like. (You’d think S3 would have answered that but...not really.) He’s one of the few people who seems to care about those left on the Ark. And he looks so sad when Raven unplugs it... A rare moment when he lives up to his fandom cinnamon roll image. And when Raven leaves he picks up the radio thingy and I wonder if he’s considering putting it back together.

Murphy has a fish.

I gotta love Raven’s confidence: I’m hot and I’ve identified a straight man, if I start undressing, he’ll sleep with me. If I were as hot as her, I’d probably be that confident too, but still.

Bellamy’s “I’m not that guy” speech is actually hilarious when parsed. It’s like the equivalent of “IF I were going to say X, it would sound like this, but since I can’t, I won’t.” Like “If you’re looking for someone to tell you [a list of things in detail], that’s not me.” But you just did dumbass. His ‘bad boy’ persona cracks so easy.

Right before Clarke unpacks the medical tools, there’s a shot of a random $50 bill on the ground. Mmmmm something tells me that our weak U.S. paper isn’t going to survive a century post-apocalypse lol. There’s also a piece of paper. What is that stuff doing there?

Oh never mind. It’s an old bank. There’s paper and cash all over and lots of little drawers. Makes sense, banks would have vaults, and bunkers did have money in them. Maybe they’re in the Treasury’s old bunker. I never noticed that before, but it’s actually quite clever. The set design on this show is A-PLUS.

I’m not into the enemies-to-lovers thing generally but Anya/Clarke should have been a thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.

What an incredibly unsatisfying sexual encounter.

Kane says ‘no more than 1,000 survivors’ and ‘at least 1,500 dead.’ There have to have been at least 1,000 though, because they send them down on 12 ships and assuming they spread themselves about equally (which isn’t necessarily true but would be the smartest thing), that would be about 83 people to a ship. And I’m fairly sure Farm Station had more than 83 people and I’m also semi-sure that Arkadia as of 3x01 had more than 166. I mean it’s really hard to tell, and I can’t remember what sort of casualty numbers they gave for the Mount Weather explosion, but these seem like very low numbers to me. I don’t know. Maybe it does make sense and I’m just missing or mis-remembering something.

Having said all that, they did find another cache of survivors after this dialogue (including Abby), which might explain the discrepancy. (ETA not really because they only find, like, 10.)

Kane’s trip through the vent is a nightmare scenario for me so I’m just gonna...not watch.

Lindsey Morgan is so kickass in this ep, like how she stutters a little bit on “family” when she’s talking to Monty.

I completely forgot about this but the Grounders literally try to steal Clarke away like wtf. First of all, I wouldn’t trust her even as far as I could throw her if I were them. And second...she’s the enemy? But “prove your worth and you’ll be welcome here” I guess. Maybe Anya’s into her. I guess it’s good to poach the best talent from the other side before you destroy them. Also love that Clarke pretends to consider it.

The kill marks are to symbolize kills in combat so, really, Clarke’s 3x01 crack abut not having room on her back for all the deaths she’d caused misses the point...as far as I can remember she’s never actually killed in combat. Killing in self-defense, in group self-defense, or as part of an overall military-type mission isn’t the same as in combat, especially as she mostly acts as a general-type person, giving orders rather than doing deeds. Even pulling the lever, with Bellamy, is an awfully sanitized way of killing.

Going after this guy, getting him talking, taking out his knee and then slashing his throat, is one of Clarke’s best moments. HIGHLY UNDERRATED. Really second only to her escape from Mount Weather in early S2. Also props to Eliza Taylor, I appreciate how her expression afterward is half ‘oh shit I killed a man, this is terrible’ and half like steely resolve and determination.

Can Monty not tell the cardinal directions? (Your other West, Monty.)

A rare moment where Octavia and Raven seem like friends. Actually this is a good Octavia episode. She’s only in 3 scenes, which might explain why...

Also underrated is the tense but quick blnk-and-you’d-miss-it horror movie moment of Monty being taken by the Mountain Men. “What’s that creepy signal?.... Omigod... “ And he was never seen or heard from again.

So...why did the Mountain Men take him? Shits and giggles? To see if they could experiment on him? They seemed to have decided pretty quickly that the Sky People were like them, guests rather than blood resources. I wonder what the thought process was.

The end of this episode was aces. Great set up for the finale. I miss when this show was good.

#the year 2018 #2018: the 100 s1 #2018: fandom thoughts

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bulletandsophia · 7 years ago

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This is it. It really seems like Jonsa is not the endgame. I'm so heartbroken. :(

Aww, don’t be like that anon, we really can’t say yet until the last episode of the season airs. I still have my hopes up. And I am saying this not only for the benefit of our beloved ship, but for the sake of the entire show.

I know the past few episodes has been so difficult to watch as a Jonsa shipper but we’ve always known that J/D has to happen. Both of their fates have been so intertwined with the Iron Throne and the White Walkers that there are no two characters destined to unite the political and the magical plots of the show aside from them both.

What I find so appalling at the moment is how it was so poorly written and structured (at least in the show) that I got nothing from it except for the obvious convenience their union and teaming-up would bring. The picture J/D paints is a beautiful one. Two strong, attractive characters getting together to fight the villains (both the WW and Cersei) and save the world. It feels and looks so fantastical and epic–which is great as a viewer because this promises us with more action and with even a possibly positive ending in sight.

But that convenience too remains to be my issue with this ship (and why I believe that it will not end well) simply because it is such a short cut. It also feels like a distraction too. Because as most viewers have celebrated the “canonization” of this ship, most has also forgotten about its possible repercussions–and just because they’re so beautiful to see. I am not saying that J/D does not have the substance, but what I am saying is that this “union”, as in right now as we see them in episode 6 (and the promised boatbang in episode seven), is not the end of their story. Or everyone’s for that matter.

People seem to forget too that Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. What do you think D would feel about that when she, clear as day, still wants and insists that she will wear the crown? Will she give that up for love? Then what about the North? What about Jon and his crisis once the truth about his parentage is revealed? Will he rule the kingdoms with D? What about the Starks, the Starks who are probably the heart of this show?

You see what I mean? There are still so many questions needed to be answered in line with the J/D ship that while they are seemingly picture-perfect now, it does not mean that they will be forever. And if, and I wholeheartedly wish that showrunners won’t go this route, that all the issues will be resolved simply because J/D love each other and it’s them against the world, then that’s just poor, poor writing, isn’t it? Oberyn didn’t get his head crushed for it. Ned didn’t get beheaded for this. Heck, we’d never have the privilege to see (and hate) cunning characters like Littlefinger only for some quick, and quite frankly, cheesy resolution. For all the genius GoT has showcased all these years, the last two seasons are not the best time for them to falter.

And that’s so selfish of J/D too, isn’t it? If they disregard everything else but go with a love will conquer all campaign? I think there is a reason too why they united for season seven instead of season eight where there’s probably bigger chances of a happy ending. For me, it means there’s still so much room for the other plots (FINALLY) to come into fruition.

Let’s not even get started in talking about the character motivations of J and D. D is seemingly the more transparent between the two of them and there is no denying her attraction for Jon. The catalysts for her internal conflict then would be: saving the realm, conquering the Iron Throne, her love for Jon, and Jon himself through his parentage.

In Jon’s case, which up until now is the more intriguing simply because he is an undeniably good person, what is he willing to risk to do the right thing? I am not even saying “honorable” thing because doing the right thing is not necessarily an honorably act, i.e. betraying his Northern family might not be an honorable thing, but in order to survive the long night, it’s the right (and possibly necessary, as what the undercover Jon theory suggests) thing to do.

So, would he forget his home the same we shall forget that once upon a time, he wishes to “go south and get warm” not until Sansa arrived and placed purpose in his life again? That he was “tired of fighting” but then fought still because Sansa will do it herself if she has to? What then would he feel knowing that he is not a Stark and that ultimately, with his claim as Rhaegar’s heir, he is the only one getting in between D and her throne (in a narrative that the WW and Cersei both perish)?

Should we also forget that the only thing Jon wants is to be a Stark?

Another thing to remember, Jon did not go to Dragonstone to fall in love with D. He went there to save the North, as what he has insisted and reiterated to Beric just this previous episode (”I serve the North”). This “attraction” with D is more than anything, an accident–to his and D’s surprise. But to us, the viewers, it’s not. It’s purposeful. At this point, we are Melisandre–placing “ice and fire” together.

Anyway, anon, simply put, with J/D, we are seeing what we are already expecting to see. That in itself, again, is another self-serving, superficial notion about this ship because it makes us forget the other reasons.

What other reasons?

This one.

And even this one.

These are not even all of it, anon. Some are not even Jonsa romantic but you see, there is another side of Jon we should never forget–hence, I believe this is his song, this is his story, and that he is ice AND fire.

This part of him is his very grounded and very human facet that is now overlooked simply because of (literally) bigger enemies and bigger enchantments. I mean, who does not like the theatrics?

Most viewers disregard Jonsa simply because this is not what they are expecting to see. Perhaps it is just such a bitter, bitter pill to swallow because conventionally, they are not the “power-couple”. That there’s not much grandeur into this union. It’s so quiet, it’s so domestic. Now, this might be an issue of audience insight and views more than the writing but yes, it can be a reason, and yes, I believe the limited view of the reader or the audience MUST never hinder a text to stretch its narrative–a narrative in this case, that is filled with Jonsa subtleties–simply because it’s not the mainstream consensus. So let’s not even get started with that poor, poor issue on incest (I will defend BOTH ships forever on that matter).

But anyway, if Jonsa then is a red herring, as some argument goes, then simply, what a waste of writing, screen time, and most importantly, potentially great, great conflict and storytelling moving forward–not only to challenge the predictability of J/D, but for the characters’ personal and internal struggles as well since this scenario ultimately and instantly juxtaposes them to the conflicts of the past that we don’t want them to repeat (i.e. Jamie/Cersei, Rhaegar/Lyanna) and the kind of future we’d like them to embody (i.e Ned/Cat)–just like the promised chaos in the Winds of Winter vs. the promised calm of the Dream of Spring (A Time for Wolves). It is not even far-fetched at this point to talk about the future considering that in the show, succession is already becoming a plot point.

But nevertheless, my point is, the inclusion and recognition of Jonsa in the narrative is the level of complexity GoT is known for–and not even just for the shock and awe (which any zombie dragon can already fulfill). This conflict gives the story another layer for us to peel and understand no matter how uncomfortable and unpopular and bittersweet, or perhaps, even weirdly satisfying.

Anyway, the way they scatter hints and subtleties all over the seasons always bite us back in the end. So, if Jonsa does not sail (in which, I believe, it is already actually sailing), it’s not then our loss, anon.

It’s Dan Weiss and David Benioff’s loss. (I still am hopeful for GRRM).

#jonsa #jon x sansa #jon and sansa #asks

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my-one-love-is-music · 8 years ago

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Too Obvious

Summary: In hindsight, Levi realized that the two of them really weren't doing anything to hid their relationship from their fans on Tumblr. They'd just fallen into a rhythm and everything else seemed to fall into place with it.

Time for another installation of the fic verse!!! It's been so long since I worked with the universe I set up, but better late than never, right?

Hope you enjoy some more from our hopeless nerds.

Also on AO3!

It had quickly become routine, interacting with Eren after the two of them had really gotten serious with each other after they started dating. Levi hadn’t thought much about the increase in skype conversations that they’d had or the fact that they weren’t afraid to tag each other in posts at all or have somewhat public conversations, despite the fact that none of Levi’s fans knew what he looked like or much about his personal life beyond the small snippets that he would give if he was running late on an update or someone sent him an ask wanting to know how he was doing.

Eren’s fanart output had also increased now that he was on break and had more time to draw, which he was never afraid to indulge in with Levi’s fics either. Most of their fans followed both of them so it didn’t take long before questions began to arise about the two of them. People wondered when they’d become such good friends and how long they’d known each other and if they interacted in real life. None of these questions had been asked directly to either of them so Levi saw no need to answer and he assumed that Eren just failed to see the conversations that were happening on Tumblr since he tended to get so absorbed in his projects and other things.

That is, until someone reblogged one of Eren’s pieces of art from him and added quite a compromising comment in the tags.

#this is so cute #I love the fic this is for too #kaydensweet15 #ISwearTheseTwoAreDating

The last one had made him stop in his tracks and he had to read it over a couple of times before he was sure of what he was seeing. Interested to get Eren’s opinion on the whole thing, he sent him the post through messenger.

Humanity’s Strongest: Look at the tags on this post. What do you think?

While he waited for a response, he clicked on the blog and started skimming through their posts to see if they made any other mention of him and Eren, curious as to how far these theories and claims had spread among the people on the site. There were times when he was still surprised by how diverse and widespread his readership was and the fact that this had grown so much wasn’t something that he’d been expecting. He wasn’t surprised to find multiple conversations between the blogger and the person who they’d mentioned in the tags. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything discussed that was explicit and it was mostly the two of them bouncing ‘what if’ situations off each other and referencing several posts made by Eren and Levi wherein they interacted with each other.

Levi honestly hadn’t even noticed the growing attention placed on the two of them, either. They both remained pretty tight-lipped about their lives outside of the internet so he wasn’t worried about something weird happening if he did happen to know someone who followed him in real life. That line of thinking always made him feel a bit strange. He could easily pass one of his readers on the street and never know it and they wouldn’t either.

His messenger notification brought him back to the conversation at hand and he closed out of the blog he was looking at to check Eren’s response.

Jaegermeister: Huh. I never considered that our interactions on Tumblr could somehow be suggestive of our actual relationship.

HS: What do you think we should do? Should we address this or just leave it alone?

JM: I don’t think we need to address it until someone brings it to our attention directly. From there, I don’t really mind if they know that we’re dating. It’s not like they know who we are off the internet so it shouldn’t bother me unless they start asking really inappropriate questions about our relationship which, considering the type of people who follow us and the stuff they read, is a possibility.

Levi sat back and thought over Eren’s words. He hadn’t expected him to have that much to say about it and he honestly agreed with him.

HS: I agree. For now it’s probably fine that we just keep doing what we’ve been doing.

JM: Nice. You still free to skype later?

HS: Yeah.

JM: I’ll see you then. I’d love to keep chatting, but I need to get back to working on my new drawing.

HS: It’s scary how much the two of us are workaholics, isn’t it?

JM: Yeah, a bit. But what we do makes us happy so I’m not about to complain. Plus, your work is amazing and I definitely wouldn’t be at the level I’m at now without your writing as inspiration.

Levi felt himself flush and become embarrassed over the praise. He was glad that Eren wasn’t there in person to see his reaction. Eren always threw out his praise out easily, like he thought it wouldn’t make Levi freeze and obsess over the words or wouldn’t mean as much to him as it really did.

HS: Well I need to get back to work.

He hurriedly clicked back to the open Word document that he was working in and got back to his chapter, trying, and failing, to push Eren’s words from his mind. A pretty important part of his story was coming up and he wanted to make sure that he dealt with it just right. He’d been waiting to get to this moment for a long time and he wasn’t about to let anything distract him from getting it perfect, even if he had to rewrite it and rework it a hundred times over and delay his posting.

A few days passed and Levi had pretty much forgotten about the conversation that he’d had with Eren and the rumors that were floating around among their fans. He hadn’t noticed any more comments in the tags of posts or any other posts that were written specifically about their relationship and hadn’t received any messages or asks detailing the aspects of his relationship with his boyfriend. His new chapter and his boyfriend were both keeping him pretty occupied so there wasn’t much space left in his brain for other thoughts and he was forced to prioritize more than usual and pushing aside unimportant concerns didn’t bother him anyway.

He’d been so focused on his writing that he almost missed the sound of a new message notification on Tumblr. When he looked at the message he was starting to wonder why he kept the website open in the first place when he was trying to work. Probably because he was addicted to it, as shitty as it could be sometimes it did get him to his current status as a fanfic writer so he couldn’t really complain.

JM: So…

He groaned. This was going to be one of those times when it took forever for Eren to message him because he was trying to figure his thoughts out as he was typing. He’d have to give up on working on his new chapter since he was sure that every time he got back into the groove of writing, he’d just get another message. He wished there was a way to change the tone of the notification to make it sound more ominous. He felt like he’d need it with all the directions this conversation might go.

JM: I know that we just talked about this and came to an agreement on how we would deal with it.

Levi’s brow furrowed. They’d talked about a lot of things over the past few days. One of which were his plans to visit him later in the summer. Was he rethinking that? Or was this something totally different? This was why he hated not talking over the phone or face to face when Eren was trying to get his thoughts in order.

JM: But I finally got the ask.

JM: About us, I mean.

Levi’s brain immediately returned to the conversation that they’d had about this and how they began to realize that their fans were becoming suspicious and typed out a quick reply.

HS: Oh. What does it say?

JM: Nothing bad. Just some anon sent “Not to be rude and it’s totally fine if you don’t want to answer, but are you by any chance dating Humanity’s Strongest?”

HS: That’s it? Really?

JM: Yeah, it’s not bad at all. So before I answer it, I just wanted to check one more time that you’re okay with me telling them that we are in fact dating.

HS: Sorry, but I have no recollection of the two of us dating. You must be making this up.

JM: LEVI!!!

JM: What do you mean?

JM: LEEEEEVIIIIIII!!!!!

JM: Don’t be mean!!!

Levi smirked and quickly typed out a response to stop Eren’s barrage of messages. He always enjoyed teasing him.

HS: Yes, it’s fine. You can tell them that we’re dating.

JM: Good because I already did.

HS: You already…

HS: Then what did you bother asking me for?

JM: Calm down. I just did it a second ago when you were being mean. It was out of spite.

Levi rolled his eyes.

HS: Sorry. Eren who? What boyfriend? I’m sorry, but I have no idea who you are and am going to block you.

JM: Levi!!!

JM: LEVIIII!!!!

He ignored him and went back to editing his newest chapter. He was pretty happy with how things were turning out with it and couldn’t have imagined a better scenario for his characters to work with. It was a satisfying chapter to write and he couldn’t wait for the reactions and comments to hear what everyone else thought about it.

Until his skype started ringing. His head fell down to the coffee table that he was seated at with a groan and he reluctantly accepted the call.

“Yes?” he asked.

“You’re mean,” Eren said, petulantly.

“Is that all you needed?” Levi asked, turning his head to get a glimpse of Eren’s pouting face.

He blinked at him. “Well, not really. I just wanted to see how you were doing and thought we could hang out on skype for a while.”

Levi rubbed the back of his neck. “If you really want to. I was just in the middle of editing my new chapter so I don’t know how much talking I’ll be doing for a while.”

“Oh yeah. This is the big one, right? The chapter that you’ve been looking forward to?”

“Yeah,” Levi said, leaning back against the couch and pulling his knees to his chest to rest his chin on them.

“Think you could read me a little preview?”

“Just because you’re my boyfriend doesn’t mean that you get special treatment over the rest of my readers. You get to see it when everyone else gets to see it.”

Eren laughed at that. “Fine, fine. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. I’ll just have to wait until you’re here and then I can sneak glances of your writing as you work and I pretend to work on my drawings.”

“Keep thinking that and I won’t be working on my fics at all while I’m there.”

Eren rolled his eyes. “I’ll be good, I promise. And it really won’t bother me if you don’t do any work while you’re here. I just care that you actually show up and we can spend some much needed time together.”

“Because we don’t already spend so much time together? If we’re not messaging each other then we’re texting, and if we’re not texting, then we’re on skype with each other either working or watching a movie. Don’t even get me started on all of the interactions and cross-posting we do of each other on Tumblr. It’s really no wonder that everyone was starting to put the pieces together that we were dating. In hindsight, we really were that obvious.”

“Fine, some in-person time together. Geez, stop analyzing every little thing that I say,” Eren complained.

“Can’t. It’s too much fun. Plus it’s the writer in me and I love when you get all flustered,” Levi said, pulling up his web browser that already had Tumblr open. He refreshed his feed and scrolled through the posts that came up, finally landing on the ask that Eren had answered about their relationship.

Anonymous asked: Hi, I don’t mean to be rude or anything and it’s fine if you don’t want to answer this since it’s sort of personal, but are you by any chance dating the fic writer Humanity’s Strongest? You two just seem pretty close and I was curious.

Hey anon! In fact, I am actually dating HS. We’ve been together for a couple of months now since he asked me out. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised that everyone who follows the two of us has noticed since we haven’t exactly been subtle, but the time we’ve spent together so far has been absolutely amazing and even though we’ve only been together a short while, I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him anymore. Turns out drawing fanart does actually get you places with your favs, haha. : D

Levi propped his chin in his hand and read over the words several times, turning them over in his head. He didn’t know that Eren had felt so strongly about the two of them, but he was glad that he wasn’t the only one. This relationship, as crazy as the circumstances were that brought it into existence, was more than he could ever ask for.

“Levi? Levi?!” Eren exclaimed.

He started at the sound of his name and moved back to his skype window where Eren was watching him intently.

“Everything okay? You were kind of zoned out there.”

“Fine,” he said and went back to Tumblr as Eren continued to talk. He quickly liked Eren’s post before moving on.

“Okay…well you should see some of these responses to my…” his voice trailed off and Levi intently tried to ignore his quickening heartbeat. “Hey, Levi?”

“Yeah?” he asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible even as his insides twisted and turned and somersaulted over themselves for his attention.

“I really like you.” And damn it all if the fondness in Eren’s voice didn’t just make his insides feel like they were simultaneously melting and constricting.

“I’d hope so,” Levi said, trying and failing to sound snarky and lighten up the situation. It was crazy how much he liked Eren. “We are dating after all.” It’d only been a few short months, but each moment they’d been together had felt like it held the power of lifetimes. All the months that they’d anonymously interacted on AO3 and Tumblr between art and fic had really been leading them to this moment.

They’d subtly and slowly gotten to know each other so much further in advance that when the time came where they began to interact more directly, it would’ve been surprising if they hadn’t fallen for each other. Hell, they were probably halfway there when Eren sent him that first message on Tumblr. Levi had found solace in their skype conversations and texting and had been caught staring on more than one occasion when he was so distracted by watching Eren. He could never stop himself from staring at the cute little creases that formed on his forehead when he was concentrating intensely on some new piece of artwork and trying to get the style and details just right and worked to commit them to memory or wonder how he would go about describing them if Eren was one of his characters.

Then there were the times when he’d caught Eren watching him if he paused in his work and had flushed and asked him what was wrong and Eren had just shook his head fondly and told him how cute he was when he was working intently or insisted that he got this little smile on his face when he was on a particularly exciting part of a fic or chapter update. Levi always did his best to brush off Eren’s comments, but he couldn’t deny the pleasure that twisted in his gut that Eren liked him that much or thought so kindly of him. The fact that he was never afraid to be endearingly honest even if his words were of the nature that Levi would never be able to dream up in a million years despite his experience creating and playing out romantic situations and confessions in his fics.

It was true that they were probably far too obvious and hadn’t even realized the little things that they would do or say to each other online that could give away their relationship. But when it felt almost as though the feelings they had were burning and all-consuming, trying to get out and make themselves known to the world, being a little too obvious didn’t seem so bad. It was almost scary how natural it seemed to want to give everything you had to the person you cared so deeply for. Sometimes Levi wondered if this is what love felt like, but he didn’t think he was quite ready to use that word.

“Yeah,” Eren said, in that too-fond voice of his that made Levi want to stop and close his eyes and just exist and revel in it. “Yeah, we are.”

#ereri #snk #fic verse #molim writes #snkartists network #eren jaeger #levi ackerman #fic: too obvious

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jillmckenzie1 · 5 years ago

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Drop the Beat

A common belief is that movie critics love to trash movies. It’s thought that we critical types, after emerging from coffins buried in consecrated ground, stalk film festivals and multiplexes looking for weaker prey. We fire up our laptops to crush innocent filmmakers, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of their producers. I mean, that’s what we do, right?

Not so much. See, every movie is an opportunity. The very best part of a film for me is the moment after the previews have finished and there’s a half-second or so where the screen is black. That moment is all about potential, and what follows could be a modern classic, a beloved cult film, or even a sturdy old Good Movie.

Also, it bears repeating that making a movie is hard. To do that, you’ll need a strong screenplay, a creative director, resilient producers, smart acting and a reasonable budget. You’ll need to have lateral thinking to overcome unexpected problems and a studio that’s not actively trying to undermine your best efforts. Oh, and you’ll also need a perceptive editor to take the weeks of footage and assemble it into something comprehensible.

Sometimes, after all the sweat and all the fighting, it simply doesn’t work out. The best-case scenario if your film flops is that, years later, it will be rediscovered and appreciated. More often than not, it’s forgotten. That brings me to The Rhythm Section. I wanted to like it, and I wanted to sing its praises. But as a famous English dude once said, you can’t always get what you want.

Right out of the gate there are problems. The film begins with a young woman, armed with a silenced pistol, creeping up behind a man in a chair. Who is she? Where is she? Why is she trying to commit cranial destruction upon the skull of this poor schlub? The image fades to black and is replaced by the superimposed words, “Eight months earlier.”*

The woman with the gun is Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively). She’s not in the healthiest headspace right now. You can’t blame her as her entire family was on a plane that exploded. The resulting trauma caused her to become a drug addict and prostitute in London**, and she lives her life in a chemical-induced daze. Things seem hopeless until she makes contact with Proctor (Raza Jeffrey).

He’s a freelance journalist, and he explains to Stephanie that her family died due to a terrorist bombing. The walls in his apartment plastered with news articles and photos don’t exactly lend him journalistic credibility, but whatever. That information motivates her to track down the people responsible and Make The Bastards Pay. However, it’s not like she possesses a certain set of skills to make that happen.

The good news is, Proctor’s source can help. He’s only known as B (Jude Law), and he’s a former MI-6 operative living in the remote Scottish Highlands. So, Stephanie treks way up to Loch MacWherethehellarewe and asks/demands that B train her. Having nothing else to do, he agrees. But will her training be enough?

Spoiler alert: yes, it will.

Look, the snide recap of the plot is written out of sorrow rather than malice. I wanted The Rhythm Section to be a good film, and I had a feeling it might be. When you have a film produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, whom you might know from producing the James Bond films, you have certain expectations. Those expectations become solidified when we see a trailer featuring globetrotting action and Blake Lively getting gritty.

I’m not sure the central problem is director Reed Morano. She’s a solid filmmaker, and you’ve seen her work in episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale and the independent film I Think We’re Alone Now. The majority of the film has pacing that lags, then jerks forward, and sequences that seem to be aping The Bourne Identity. We’re also hit over and over with needle drops of the most thuddingly obvious pop music. It tries to set the mood, but it’s like you’re being elbowed and told, “Huh? Huh? You get it?” But there are two moments that work nicely. The first is an anxiety-inducing car chase through Tangier where the camera resolutely stays in the car, either focusing on Lively’s reactions or what can be seen out the windows. The second is an intentionally sloppy fistfight where Lively is just hurling herself at Law over and over in a barren kitchen. Both of those moments are shot with energy and creativity, and they show that Morano is a director of considerable skill.

Instead, I think the problem is with the screenplay, written by Mark Burnell. He’s based it upon his novel of the same name, and while he would be the logical choice to adapt it, his screenplay feels airless and sloppy. While we see Stephanie down and out, we never learn who she is at her core. Why did she decide not to join her family on the flight? Why does she blame herself? Why does she become a drug-addicted prostitute, which is a very…well, let’s call it extreme reaction to trauma? By not knowing who she was before the tragedy, we can’t contrast that with who she becomes. Additionally, character relationships never seem to develop organically. Jude Law’s enigmatic B seems to agree to train Stephanie awfully quickly. Why? What’s in it for him? What does he want?

You know what I love about this film, though? I love that Blake Lively is willing to do essentially anything. We’ve seen her play an extremely unlucky surfer in The Shallows and a conniving crook in A Simple Favor, and she’s been pushing herself to try darker and more physical roles. She’s good at it, and as Stephanie, she’s not playing the Black Widow, where she’s able to demolish a roomful of luckless goons. Instead, she’s usually pretty lousy at her job, and she’s able to succeed (and not die) mostly due to determination and dumb luck. Lively plays her as an exposed nerve, and she’s able to show us the vulnerability lacking in the script. The mighty Sterling K. Brown shows up as a slippery information broker, which is always a treat. I enjoyed Jude Law’s B, and occasionally we see small flashes of humor from him, which is sorely missed in the rest of the film.

The odds are good that The Rhythm Section is going to flop. Movies that are released during a Super Bowl weekend frequently do. Let’s end this review on a positive note, though. Blake Lively continues to prove that she’s a strong and smart action lead, and Reed Morano has the chops to make a movie that positively whips ass. This movie ain’t it, but if Morano and Lively opted to work together again, I’d be very into it.

*Yep! We’ve got another movie starting with the protagonist in a sticky situation, then a long-ass flashback shows us how they got there. At least we’re not seeing the done to death opening scene in comedies where the protagonist is in a ridiculous situation, and a voiceover says, “That’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got here.”

**At least she’s in London, a delightful and interesting city. What if she was in Kansas City? Too much tragedy, perhaps?

from Blog https://ondenver.com/drop-the-beat/

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years ago

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Batman Returns – World’s Greatest Thumb-Twiddler (Lost!)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Who’s the dark knight detective that’s a hit with all the chicks? Batman! Your darned right. Welcome back to Batman Returns! Last week, I completed the first day by discovering (and stealing) an innocuous awards ceremony tape from the mayor’s office. We spent the day exploring and dealing with thugs from a circus gang, but did not spy either Penguin or Catwoman. Thus far, the game feels a bit thin with empty areas and not a lot that to explore thanks to the verbless interface. That said, the graphics are quite good and I’m enjoying bits of Danny Elfman in the soundtrack– his Batman theme is one of the musical highpoints of my childhood and adds so much to this game.

And yet, you might sense that something is off. As Alex Romanov noted in the comments to my last post, I made a critical mistake that I did not discover until the end of this session. Things didn’t go well for the Caped Crusader. Rather than whitewash it, I will narrate what happened and you can see for yourself how I spent the next four hours of play time. I am not sure whether I was completely doomed after the first day’s mistake or if there was some way that I could have recovered, but either way this is a “Lost!” post. I will try again from the start next week.

I thought he looked like the guy from Twins.

Day 2

Batman began his second day like the first one: sitting at his bat-desk and listening to the nightly news. The top story of the night is that Oswald Cobblepot, a deformed man with a penguin-like appearance, saved the mayor’s son from a kidnap attempt by the circus gang. We know (because we’re not idiots) that the Penguin orchestrated the whole scenario, but the gullible population swallows it and sees him as a hero. Perhaps Batman’s vigilante activities have primed them to accept another bird-themed hero..

I wish we had been present for this scene instead of being told about it on the news. In the movie, the circus gang attacks the mayor and his family at a tree lighting ceremony and escape through a manhole, only to have the Penguin emerge from the same (in his rubber duckie boat!) and return the child to his father. Neither Bruce Wayne nor his alter-ego are present for this scene in the film either, but we lose a lot by having it summarized by a talking head. Still, I cannot fault the game for trying to tell this story strictly from Batman’s point of view, especially as they are highlighting the detective aspect of his character.

The bat-computer is updated immediately with Penguin as a “person to watch”.

Racing to the batmobile, I find no new locations have opened up. I check Gotham Plaza, downtown, and the mayor’s office over again, but other than a few sporadic battles with the circus gang, I observe nothing new. I even search everything twice just to be sure. As far as I can tell, other than the news report at the beginning of the night, the second day has no additional content.

In the film, Penguin’s arrival on the scene is followed by a brief quest to find out his real identity. Penguin is taken to the hall of records where he searches for evidence of his name and his lost family. We later learn that Penguin used his time with the records to assemble lists of the Gotham elite’s firstborn children to abduct. The game skips this part and reveals his name immediately. Unless it comes up later, this is a lost opportunity because Batman spying on Penguin could have been a neat adventure game sequence.

Having found absolutely nothing to do, I retire for the evening and prepare for day three. I hope I am not coming off as down on the game already, but slowly mousing over rooms get boring after a while.

Day 3

Unlike the previous two, the third night does not even have a news update. There are general news stories about the decline of education standards and the increase in crime, but nothing pertinent to our case. I head to the batmobile for another evening of searching around. As before, there are no new areas to explore on our map.

I discover a clue in the mayor’s office: a stack of “party pictures” left on his desk. I scan them using my bat-scanner and return to the batcave. I do not know if there is a penalty if I had taken them instead of scanning them, but I’d rather not risk it. We cannot look at the pictures directly. Instead, we insert them into the evidence computer for processing. It reveals that they are photos from that mayor’s son’s first birthday party. There is also an option to extrapolate further, but the computer does not have enough evidence for additional conclusions. This is twice that Batman has gone to the mayor’s office and stolen something completely innocuous. We have yet to discover an actual clue.

World’s Greatest Stalker

I return to the streets to see if anything changed. Unsurprisingly, nothing did despite searching every room again. No matter how nice the graphics are, there are only so many times you can watch the same animations before you go a little nuts. The manual claims that you can fast-forward by clicking the right mouse immediately after selecting an action with you left, but I never got this to work.

There are only nine days in the game and we’ve spent three of them doing nothing. When does the plot start?

Now, I suppose.

Day 4

The fourth day starts with a news alert! The citizens of the city are sick and tired of gangs of circus performers roaming the city. They want a mayoral recall election and they want it now. Not coincidentally, Oswald Cobblepot is now the leading opposition candidate thanks to the city seeing him as the hero that they need. We know from the movie that this is all being orchestrated by Max Shreck as part of his plot to get a sympathetic mayor in office so that he can siphon electricity from the city, but the game doesn’t make that connection yet. The movie also shows Penguin eating raw fish and assaulting his supporters, but Mr. Shreck’s excellent stage-management of Cobblepot’s reputation somehow causes these incidents to be forgotten. The news even has the gall to complain that “Batman has disappeared” during these attacks; how many times have I run around the city beating up clowns in the last four days?

I explore the city again and find the standard array of empty rooms and meaningless combats. This time, I spy a feather on the mayor’s desk and pocket it. When I take that back to the evidence computer, I have my first real clue of the game! The computer identifies the feather as being from an Emperor Penguin, possibly one of penguins from an exhibit at the Old Zoo. The computer further believes that the feather is intended as a threat or a calling card, to tell the mayor that the Penguin is after him. Could the pictures from the previous night be a similar threat? What if they were taken by Penguin’s gang to show the mayor how closely he and his family are being watched?

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo… how about you, you, you…

The best thing about this evidence is that I have a new location on the Batmobile’s map: the Old Zoo, in the southwest corner. I discover it deserted but ready for exploration. I’m not sure either from the game or the movie whether the zoo is still in operation or whether the remaining animals, including a large flock of penguins, were just left to starve on their own. I don’t think that Penguin could hide inside of an active zoo, but I also find it hard to believe that they would have left all of the animals behind in a closed one. Maybe I should blame Tum Burton for loving the idea of an abandoned zoo without considering the logistics of it.

A cave for polar bears?

The penguin exhibit!

The zoo is not a huge place and we can’t explore it very deeply. All we have is an overhead view where Batman is perched on a tree, plus views of the outside of “Arctic World” and a cave. We cannot go into “Arctic World”, although we can at least zoom in to the entrance of the cave. That’s where we discover our second piece of evidence of the night: an old circus poster. I scan that and return to the batcave.

The poster is for a circus that disbanded five years ago. The computer further deduces that the circus performers are the same ones that are terrorizing the city. That suggests that the thugs are connected to the zoo and, by extension, the Penguin! Holy moley! The movie makes this explicit much earlier, but I like the way the game is telling this story exclusively from Batman’s perspective.

Before concluding my most successful night yet, I take one more spin around all of the locations to see if I find anything new. I do not, but at least I feel better that the plot is starting up.

How did you get my Skype?

Day 5

I am more than halfway through the game! I considered ending the post here, but there isn’t quite enough content yet. The plot thickens immediately as the Penguin sends Batman a video message directly to the batcave. He wants Batman to know that he has a tape of evidence against the mayor that he will release soon. Once the people discover how corrupt their leader is, they will surely pick Penguin as his replacement. He claims that he is telling us this because he wants to “play fair”, but there is likely another reason. In the film, he’s trying to draw Batman out so that he can be discredited. I’m not sure if the game has the narrative ability to present that well.

Now that I consider it, the craziest part of the game is that you could possibly go from a petition to a recall election in less than a week. Just printing ballots and arranging polling stations would take more than that. Real world gears turn much more slowly, plus Penguin could be just as easily recalled if he won the election. In the film, the timeframe is less explicit but still condensed, starting from the tree-lighting and ending sometime before Christmas; four weeks at most.

Jinkies! Another clue!

I run through my well-practiced tour of every room in the city and find two new clues in the mayor’s office: a photo on a side-table and remodeling plans on his desk. I take them back to the batcave for further consideration.

Who is Byron Orton?

Thanks to our evidence computer, we learn that the photo is of the mayor and Byron Orton. “Who is Bryron Orton?” you might ask? The biographical computer reveals that he is the publisher of the Gotham Gazette and a tabloid called The Tell All. It appears that the mayor is courting him in an effort to improve his standing among the press and to get some positive coverage before the snap election. Mr. Orton appears to be an original creation for this game with no comic book or movie tie-ins, nor does he appear in any of the drafts of the script that I have located. I think– but I am not sure– that Byron’s image is actually Don Landon, a video editor on Batman Returns and a long-time engineer for Park Place Productions. This guess is based on a grainy photo in the manual for NHL Hockey (1992) for the Sega Genesis, so I apologize if I have made a mistake. This is as good a time as any to tell you that Batman’s citizen database has been gradually updated as the game progresses. Catwoman appears for the first time now, for example, plus Penguin’s entry has been updated to talk about the extortion threat. I don’t check them all every day to see what else might be different.

The plans are of a defense-oriented remodel of someplace, but neither we nor the mayor seems to be sure of where. The mayor’s notes suggest that he believes Max Shreck is up to something, but he doesn’t know what. The computer helpfully tells us that a ventilation duct is the weak point in the design, a detail that I am positive will come in handy later.

Dark Knights of the Round Table?

More importantly, discovering the plans opens up Shreck’s office on the map! It’s just across from Gotham Plaza; we can enter it through one of the rooftop screens that I had already found, but not until we knew that the location was important. That gives me a bit of hope that some of these empty rooms will be less empty before the end of the game.

Searching the room carefully, I discover a hidden compartment beneath the globe on the right hand side. I have to use the lockpick, but inside is a memo which I scan for further analysis. While in his office, I get attacked by more circus people, although I am not certain whether that is a programming flaw or further indication that Shreck and Penguin are in cahoots. Back in the batcave, we learn that Shreck’s was hunting to Penguin to use his men to inflame the crime wave. Doing so will undercut the mayor’s reputation, ensuring Penguin’s eventual win. Good thing this sort of thing never happens in real life!

Catwoman attacks!

Heading back out to the city, I am attacked by Catwoman outside of Shreck’s department store. She has no difficulty with any of the weapons that I have on hand, but she eventually leaves. Did she win? Did I win? I have no idea. My computer crashed immediately afterwards and I lost all “Day 5” progress, but she did not appear when I replayed the sequence. My guess is that she is a random encounter, but I’m not sure how to defeat her if I can’t find her.

Who is Dennis Barvel?

While digging around in the computer, I notice an alert that wasn’t there before: Dennis Barvel is listed as a “Person to Watch” and plans to strike at the jewelry store, one of the downtown locations, tonight. The database tells me that he is also known as “Dominic Best”, an armed robbery specialist that likes to target banks and jewelry stores. He just got out of a four-year prison sentence and is looking to strike again. He appears to be a game-exclusive and not in either comics or the film. I head to the location and wait all night (by pushing the “next hour” button), but he never shows up. We know that the original game was to feature some non-movie content, but that the studio nixed that idea much to Bill Kunkel’s consternation. Were Barvel and Orton plot threads that were excised but not removed completely? Is it coincidence that they both show up on day five, or would I have found more if I had searched the database every night? Alternatively, am I just doing something wrong and missed an important cutscene? I have no idea.

Thanks for reminding me!

Day 6

I start the next day without having solved the mystery of Penguin’s extortion tape. He’s even kind enough to video-call me again to remind me that I need to track him down. Thanks, Penguin! He reveals that his real motivation is to expose me, making himself the hero and Batman the freak. The nightly news reveals that there is renewed violence in Gotham Plaza, obviously part of the plot that Shreck and Penguin cooked up the previous day. While not connected to the main plot, I notice that Barvel is no longer listed in the computer. I missed whatever was supposed to happen with him, if anything.

At Gotham Plaza, I enter the fight of my gaming life. Batman has to face enemy after enemy. Eventually, even the Penguin shows up. He blocks everything I throw at him with an umbrella, although I do get him to talk to me after a well-timed bolo hits him. (Or maybe the timing is a coincidence; I am not sure.)

The Penguin is surprisingly effective with his trick umbrella for both attack and defense.

The “conversation” is a brief cutscene: Batman accuses Penguin of coming downtown to admire his villainous handiwork, but Penguin replies that as a mayoral candidate he’s only touring the scene of a major riot. Being down here tonight, fighting me, is apparently good for his image!

Smacking around some bats. You know.

Eventually, Penguin flees the scene– I am uncertain whether I won or lost the fight. He is immediately replaced by Catwoman. I don’t know if this is the fight that I was supposed to have with her on the previous day or related to the riot. If I land a couple of hits on her, we get a brief dialog scene from the movie where Catwoman acts indignant that Batman would hit a woman, before laying it on him with both barrels. She’s probably making some point here about early 90s feminism, but I’m too busy being beaten up by a woman wearing a latex catsuit to understand.

And it’s not okay to hit cats either.

This whole marathon feels like a final boss. Even after Catwoman leaves, I am hounded by circus performer after circus performer. Eventually, I have to run away because I am out of weapons and taking too much damage. When I return after a recharge, I fight only one or two more battles in the plaza. Nothing special happens after I do and I search the rest of the city to find absolutely nothing. I search everything multiple times because I know that I have to find the clues that will lead me to Penguin’s videotape. Still, I come up short.

Reluctantly, I flip over to day seven and the game ends immediately. Penguin’s tape is released, showing the mayor embezzling funds from the city. This scandal ends the mayor’s political career and rockets Penguin (and Max Shreck) into a position of power in the city. The election is done. Batman is disgraced. Game over.

Yeah, I know. He reminded me twice!

But recall elections here are pretty quick and easy to arrange.

You have failed this city. Green Arrow could have solved this case.

Do I have to play again?

There is a small part of me that wants to stop here with a “Lost!” post. I think we’ve seen much of what the game has to offer in terms of interactions and combat. I cannot bring myself to give up just yet, so my plan is to replay from scratch and see if I can find things that I missed. If I make it through a second time with nothing to show for it, expect a “Request for Assistance” but I have a fishy feeling that I know what I did wrong.

Even absent a “Request for Assistance”, advice is appreciated on the Penguin and Catwoman combats. I don’t have a strategy for those except putting the game on “Fierce” and setting my DOS emulator to fast-forward because the fights take ages and get nowhere. Is there an object or a combination of objects that I should be using to win those fights?

Time played: 4 hr 10 min Total time: 6 hr 00 min

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/batman-returns-worlds-greatest-thumb-twiddler-lost/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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