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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years ago

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CSI:Rogers and Barnes- The Serious Serial Cereal Killer

Episode 2- A Sequins Of Unfortunate Events

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Episode Summary: Contains some sequins and a dumbass Steve as we flash back to THAT night (which is why most of it is in italics) and we see the real reason Katie’s a little pissed at him! Fasten your belts, this is a long one but we think it’s worth it. Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (in an elevator and then in a bedroom) NSFW and no under 18s. A bit of angst and feelings and…yeah, stooped with two os. LONG episode but necessary cos, well, when is smut not needed???

Episode Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark (yeah she likes his ass in this episode but only because it’s mostly a flashback…and we challenge anyone not to want to shake him hard at the end!)

Song for Episode: Slow Hands by Niall Horan

A/N: This entire series contains dark humour (CSI + Brooklyn 99=CSI Steeb) Avengers and Stark Spangled Banner Easter Eggs and jokes. You don’t need to have read the SSB series to understand or enjoy this, but we’ve used the Universe to spin this off from so somethings might puzzle a few of you if you ain’t, but feel free to ask.

Also, our knowledge of American Policing and Brooklyn is limited, so bear with us if we slip up, but at the end of the day this is a fiction so we’ll claim any mistakes as creative license!!

Oh and I just wanna give some BIG recognition for my lovely co-writer…she’s written most of this Episode. (I just provided the smut and some editing coz I’m a ho!) And it’s beautiful and clever and she deserves some praise especially as English isn’t her first language!!

As always we live for re-blogs and comments

CSI Rogers and Barnes Master List

“Hey Cap…” Thor nodded to Steve as he approached the bar where most of his team were stood, chatting.

“Hi fellas…can I get any of you a drink?”

They all nodded and thanked him, stating their orders. Steve turned to pay and at that point he heard Thor give a low whistle

“Holy shit…” he mumbled at the same time Clint also cursed.

“Damned…she looks good!”

“Oh for fucks sake come on guys…” Tony let out a sigh “That’s my little sister! Epically not cool.” Steve took a breath and turned to glance at Katie, his eyes widening. He couldn’t argue with Clint or Thor, she looked good. Better than good actually, stunning even. She was dressed in a tight, long sleeved green sequinned dress that was pretty damned short now he studied it. Not that he was complaining, particularly when she turned to speak to someone and he got a glimpse of how it curved over her shapely ass perfectly, leaving her toned legs on display, which looked even longer thanks to the patent black high-heel courts she was wearing. She continued her path into the room, her two-toned (“It’s called balayage, Stevie, you idiot!”) honey and dark brown hair cascaded over her shoulders in wave after wave of shiny, brunette locks which bounced as she walked, and he could see all the way from where he was that her eyes were lidded with some kind of gold sparkle and her lips were a dark, blood red.

Fuck! It was enough to make his pants feel tight. Really tight in fact. Steve thought she was pretty anyway, he’d be blind not to notice, and he’d seen her dolled up on so many occasions but tonight…well, tonight was something else.

She stopped, smiling and grinned, giving Romanoff a hug and the two women headed over to a table to the right.

“You’re catching flies…” Sam’s voice whispered in Steve’s ear. Steve turned instantly to look at him.

“No, that’s…I wasn’t…”

“You don’t have to pretend to me, man.” Sam grinned, taking the beer that Steve passed him as he dished the drinks out. “Pretty obvious you got feelings for the girl that go beyond friendship.”

Steve sighed and looked at Sam, preparing some kind of denial but he didn’t get the chance.

“You know she feels the same way, right?” Sam asked, “I can tell by the way she eye fucks you every time you’re in the same room.” “Sam.” Steve nearly choked on his bottle “Stop.”

“I’m just saying…” Sam grinned, “Tis the season for giving after all, if you get my drift…”

“Jesus…” Steve mumbled as Sam winked, turning to talk to Tony.

Steve fell into a conversation with Bruce, Clint and Thor about their plans for the holidays. Clint and his family were heading over to Minnesota to his in-laws, Thor was going to his Girlfriends seeing as this was the first Christmas his brother would spend behind bars, something that Steve could tell the man was a little bit upset about.

“You gotta admit.” Bruce looked at Thor, “Your brother…man, he’s not all there. His brain is a bag of cats.” “He’s still my brother.”

“Man, he killed 18 people in 2 days.” Clint looked at him.

“He’s adopted.” Thor shrugged.

“Did you forget the rest of your clothes or…” Steve heard Tony’ quip and turned round to see Katie stood in front of her brother. “I can see what you had for breakfast young lady.”

“Piss off Tony.” she shot back, and he quirked an eyebrow, looking at Sam.

“Rude.” he mumbled.

“I think you look great.” Sam said, “Doesn’t she Steve?”

Steve shot Sam a filthy look before he turned to his best friend, smiling “Stunning, as always.” “Smooth Rogers.” she grinned at him, making a deal of looking him up and down “Looking pretty fly yourself!”

He glanced down at the light blue button down he was wearing underneath a tweed blazer, coupled with dark Diesel Jeans and brown brogue boots before looking at her, grinning cheekily “Well my best friend is also my self-appointed stylist and she knows her stuff, what can I say?”

“You can thank her by buying her a drink.” Katie winked back and Steve laughed, turning to order her a martini. “Gin…” “Not vodka, yeah I know…” he finished for her as she bumped her hip against his. She curled and arm round his waist and he found his dropping round her shoulder, giving her a friendly squeeze before they released one another.

As always happens at parties, everyone started to drift off to speak to people they knew and take the time to catch up. Katie and Steve remained at the bar and the party was in full swing by the time Katie finished her drink and Steve drained his second beer. She ordered them another round as Steve took a quick look around. The hip, rooftop bar they were in, The Westlight, was located in the William Vale, a 5 star hotel in the heart of the City, and it was crammed with people celebrating. This year the local authorities of New York had decided to indulge Brooklyn security forces and had decided to throw an over the top Christmas party for both 99th and 101st units of NYPD and the Brooklyn section of New York's Fire Department and had hired the entire bar. Katie had joked about getting a room in the hotel simply so she could pretend she was a right high-roller for a night and a day but had soon balked at the fact they were over $300. Mind you, Steve had to give it to them. The views the place offered of the New York Sky Line was something else.

It almost made up for the obscene prices at the bar. Almost.

With a thanks he took the beer that was slid his way and they resumed their conversation, talk between the pair of them easy as always, and they launched into a discussion about Steve’s new car which he had collected earlier that day.

“So you drove?” Katie looked at him and he shrugged “Dude, it’s the Christmas party…” “Yeah and I can leave it here if I decide to.” Steve shrugged “It’ll be safe enough with the valet...” “Why didn’t you just get a cab?” “Hey, look, I’ve been waiting 12 weeks for that baby.” he said, looking at her “I wanted to drive it.” “You know, your obsession with cars is kinda a little bit sad” she grinned.

“I could say the same thing about you and shoes.” “Hey, at least my obsession fits in a wardrobe…”

“Yeah, they also fit in my hand when I end up carrying them, and you, home from a night out when you can’t walk in them anymore…” he looked at her.

She narrowed her eyes playfully and was about to quip something back when they were interrupted.

"Having fun Kiddo?" Tony asked and Katie turned to her brother as he made a gesture to her with his hand "Just roll with me." he mouthed.

Katie smiled and raised an eyebrow at him. "What's up with you, Tone?" she asked amused, sharing a side glance with Steve who was now also smiling at Tony's awkward face.

"Shhh, trying to get rid of..." he was about to explain but was interrupted by an overexcited Peter Parker.

"Whooooa, this party is pretty awesome Mr. Stark! Don't you think?" he piped. "I mean, this is... Look at all those people, they are... there are hundreds of them, and the place is just..." he continued babbling while grabbing Tony by his arm and looking all around him.

"Yeah, you're very articulate, aren't you?" Tony deadpanned.

Katie giggled softly "Glad you're having fun Peter."

Peter, who hadn't noticed that Tony stood beside Katie and Steve by the bar, turned to her and couldn't help but check her out in awe "Oh my God! Katie, I mean, Miss Stark, you look hot!"

Katie started laughing like crazy after Peter's remark and Steve shook his head at him with a grin.

“Ok Underoos, time to shut up that squealing mouth of yours before I stick a coaster down your throat." Tony said glaring at him, picking up a bar mat from the surface and waving it threateningly in Peter’s direction.

Peter, who was now blushing fiercely, tried to come up with an apology "Oh, I'm sorry Miss Stark, you're not hot…”

Katie was looking at Peter with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression on her face, she had a soft spot for the boy. Tony was now getting annoyed and rolled his eyes "Oh, come on...."

"Sorry, that's not what I meant, I mean yeah you look hot,... Oh, God... I mean, you look great tonight Miss Stark...." he stuttered and turned to Steve who now gave him a wide smile.

"Peter." he greeted the kid.

"Cap…Captain" he greeted back a mixture of shyness at his boss and embarrassment for the ongoing conversation he was trying to get back on the right track much to Tony's dismay.

“Just Steve outside the station Peter…” Steve smiled at him.

It was then that Sam approached the group, bottle of beer in his hand and moving his head to the beat of the music which was blasting from the speakers all over the club.

"Is he misbehaving?" he asked Tony, Katie and Steve with a fake serious face."Are you misbehaving, kid?" he turned to Peter now patting him on the back. "You know you get cranky when you don't get your juice box."

"Yeah, kid's on a sugar rush." Tony quipped.

"Ok, let's get you some hot cocoa short stack." Sam offered.

"I'm not a kid Mr Wilson, you know I'm 21..." Peter started rambling again as Sam took him by his arm and both disappeared among the sea of people.

"If you excuse me, gentlemen, I'm going to greet some people" Katie said to Tony and Steve as she also started to make her way towards a group of people who were perched on a table by the large windows which looked out over the City.

Steve waved her goodbye "See you, later". And turned to Tony who was now ordering his third tumbler of Scotch and one for Bruce who joined them moments later. Steve found himself trying to pay attention to what the two men were telling him, but although he was nodding and humming in agreement with Tony's bragging and Bruce’s slightly more modest chat, he didn't have a clue to what either man was saying.

He couldn't keep his eyes off Katie. He had tried but failed spectacularly. He was continuously gazing in her direction where she was now talking to her former friends from the 99th. Peralta, Diaz, Boyle and Jeffers welcomed her immediately, Jeffers standing up to give her a huge hug before he she slid onto the bench seat next to him, joining in the conversation. A few moments later, Boone from the NYFD sauntered over and the table greeted him and he made to sit down and join them, which was quite funny to Steve as he knew from Katie’s tales that Peralta and him had a long history of confrontations.

But what wasn’t funny to Steve was the next man that joined them. Steve hadn't seen him before so he presumed the guy was from the Fire Department, which seemed to be confirmed when he reached over, shaking Boone’s hand before Boone proceeded to gesture around the table. Mystery man then shook everyone’s hand in turn, but when it came to Katie he saw the man’s entire body language change and he kissed the back of her hand before gesturing to the seat next to her. She nodded, smiling and moved up slightly to allow him to sit down.

Steve watched as they struck up a conversation and the sight of the tall, well-built, really quite handsome man leaning over to say something into her ear was enough to send Steve to a place he had never been before, certainly not when it came to his best friend. Was it protectiveness, annoyance at the memory of shitweasel Ward? Was it concern about her safety, after all she didn’t know the guy did she? Was it exasperation at the guy's bold mannerisms as his arm curled round the back of the bench she was sat on, his entire body angled towards her? Was it uneasiness due to the fact that she actually seemed to be pretty comfortable around the guy and looked like she was enjoying the attention? Was it....?

Oh God, it was, wasn't it? It suddenly struck him like lightning.

"Are you Ok, Cap?" he heard Tony ask him. "You're staring blankly at us and clenching you jaw. I mean, I know the gadgets Brucey and I have put together are pretty awesome, but still..."

Steve swallowed thickly before he composed himself. "Excuse me Tony, Bruce…need to find the restroom."

With that he started walking away from the men, heading to the door that led to the outside roof terrace, not looking back. He pushed the door open, the cold December air hitting him like a sledge hammer, but he hardly noticed. He was too busy trying to make sense of the million and one thoughts which were careering through his brain, but no matter how much he tried to tell himself otherwise, it was no use. He knew exactly what that feeling that had swept over him when he’d watched Katie was.

He was jealous.

If he was being perfectly honest, it wasn’t the fact that he was jealous that had him so distressed, it was the realization that all those feelings he had been harbouring for Katie over the last ten years had hit him right between the eyes when he least expected them.

Steve leaned his arms on the railing of the balcony and ducked his head between them, letting out a oft groan. His mind was wandering back and forth in time, searching a rational explanation for what he was feeling. But what can be explained rationally when it comes to feelings? He closed his eyes and sighed. Feelings developed slowly, didn't they? They didn't just hit you all at once in a bar in Brooklyn just because a pretty girl made one hell of an entrance in a tight sequined number.

He straightened himself and gazed into the beautifully lit skyline of the city, his analytical mind working at full speed, roaming through all those years he had known Katie. Ten years. Ten years they had been friends, best friends even. So close that everyone laughed at the fact that they seemed just like a married couple.

And now that he came to think of it there were those small things that would likely have given him away in the eyes of others all through that time. How he hated Ward for starters, he had never trusted him. How he would look away whenever he kissed her or even hugged her. Katie had teased him about PDAs making him uncomfortable but it wasn’t that. It was because those particular ones did.

He had never been uncomfortable around Katie, in fact he had quite liked all those funny little feelings he got when she laughed or teased him, flirted with him slightly in the way she always did. He smiled remembering how he had flushed whenever she behaved like that with him, it was a warming feeling that had made his cheeks red every now and then that he had simply put down to awkwardness or embarrassment. But it was nothing of the sort, it was just him having feelings for Katie, and those feelings had been there for some time now.

Almost ten years in fact. So, when he thought about it, it had been a pretty slow burn after all.

"Fuck" he whispered at the realization Sam had hit the nail on the head.

What now? How did he act on those feelings? That is if he should act on them in the first place. What was that Sam had said? Did she have feelings for him too? Did he want to know? Too many questions and the only thing he knew for sure was that he wasn't gonna get an answer to any of them out there. He decided to get himself together, go back inside and play it cool. As cool as he could manage that is, considering that the scrawny Brooklyn kid he once was usually liked to make an appearance in situations like this.

He could do this…he could do this… get it together Rogers.

He pushed himself back from the railing and turned round

"Let's see how it goes" he whispered to himself before opening the door that led back to the bar.

He needed a drink was the first thing he thought while he made his way through the people, greeting some colleagues and acquaintances alongside. Yup, some Dutch courage…even if he still had no idea to what purpose.

He found Bruce, Thor and James Rhodes, or Rhodey as they called him, Head of Relations with the Press, by the bar. When he reached the three men, he ordered another beer from the barman gesturing with his hand.

"Gentlemen." Steve greeted them. "Enjoying yourselves?"

"Yeah, some more than others." Rhodey pointed with his head to Thor who had now his left arm and head slumped on the bar counter.

Bruce, who was looking at a certain redhead dancing the night away in the middle of the dance floor with Wanda, Rosa, Gina and Amy from the 99, turned to see what Rhodey was talking about and asked "Is he sleeping?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead." Rhodey deadpanned.

And with that Thor snored and woke himself up, stumbling on the stool he was half seated. Steve scoffed and swept his eyes around the club searching for Katie only to find her still seated chatting with the fancy fireman. He turned around to face the counter and grab his beer in an attempt to calm himself and steady his hands. He saw Thor's now empty glass there, in an almost reflex action he took one of the ice cubes that still hadn't melt and put it in his mouth, munching it instantly, the crunch satisfying.

Bruce looked at him at the sound of his teeth and jaws grinding ice and with a raised eyebrow asked "What's with you and ice?"

"Childhood trauma." he said sharply.

"Yeah, I get it. I still have issues with green veggies." Bruce said shyly. "They still make me angry."

"You seem quite a calm guy" Steve said now smiling at Bruce.

"No, that's my secret Cap, I'm always angry." Bruce retorted.

They suddenly heard a loud thud and looked down finding Thor, who had slipped from the stool, sprawled on the floor.

"Now, he's dead." Rhodey said laughing while Steve, Bruce and Sam, who had come to the rescue, helped the big man up.

"I'm good. I'm good." Thor said and started dancing to the music and singing loudly, and out of tune, to the song that was playing while giving a thumbs up to the DJ in the cabin.

"What's that awful noise?" Tony who had now joined the small group asked.

"Blondie here, murdering song after song." Rodney replied.

"Thor! Thor!" Tony called. "Thor, for fuck sake, will you please stop squealing? You think you're a full tilt diva but your voice is hitting on my head like a hammer!"

Thor stopped singing but continued moving his arms and head and stomping his feet to the rhythm of the music. Steve laughed softly at the clumsy ways of such a big man and when he looked up he smiled at the vision of Clint approaching them the team ladies in tow.

"Heads up, everybody" Clint yelled impersonating some kind of MC, "Let's have a toast for the 101st."

"Sure thing" Tony said gesturing to the barman and ordering a drink for everybody to toast.

Steve tensed up when he felt Katie by his side, her arm brushing against the fabric of his shirt.

"Having fun, Cap?" she asked with a playful smile.

"Not as much as you." he replied face-palming himself internally at his own reply.

He saw Katie look at him with a frown and her mouth wide open. She was about to ask him something, probably what had come over him, but she couldn't as at that very moment Tony came back with a tray full of champagne flutes for everyone.

"Ok, raise your glasses everyone and let's hear it for the Brooklyn 101" Clint yelled.

"For the Brooklyn 101" everybody yell back clinking glasses and sipping from them.

They all turned at the loud sound of a glass breaking and saw Thor grinning as he looked at the shards on the floor, before he glanced up and with a huge bellow shouted "Another!"

The staff of the club, however, weren't that willing to laugh at Thor's shenanigans as they came to gather the broken glass to avoid someone being badly cut. Clint, Sam and Rhodey took Thor outside to breath some fresh air. Natasha dragged Wanda and Bruce back to the dance floor. And Tony went to the restroom or as he put it, to take a leak.

Now that they were alone Katie pulled on Steve's hand and headed for a more secluded table at the far end of the club. He let her tug him along and settled onto the bench besides her.

"Ok, what was that about?" she shot at him.

"What was what?" Steve asked trying to avoid giving her a straight answer, allowing him a moment to think about how he was going to play his cards. Was he going to play them? His mind was in turmoil. He felt a bit dizzy, he had had too many beers, he knew. Luckily, that nutrition programme he took part in during college had gifted him some sort of increased metabolism which prevented him from getting overly drunk, well, Thor scale of drunk anyway, that was unless he hit the hard stuff.

"You know what I mean Steve, don't play dumb with me." Katie was raising her voice now.

"I only said you seemed to be enjoying the company." Steve shrugged trying to appear relaxed.

"Of course I was! It's been a while since I'd been able to catch up with the boys." she said. "I was having a great time watching Peralta and Boone roast each other." She laughed. "See what I did there." She winked.

Steve merely raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh! Wait.." Katie smiled amused. "You're talking about.... Yes, you are, aren't you?"

Steve didn't answer, he continued looking at her, not sure if he wanted to know more about the mystery fancy fireman.

"He's a friend Steve, well sort of, we hadn't actually met before tonight." Katie said softly like she was talking to an angry child.

Steve frowned, not understanding how one can be friends with someone and have never actually met.

"His brother in law is friends with Tony, freak scientists stuff..." Katie explained now. "You must have heard about him, Reed.... Reed Richards?"

Steve stared blankly at her, trying to match a face with that name in his mind.

“He developed a lot of the forensics awareness training new officers do.” she said.

“Ah, yeah…vaguely…” Steve nodded, the image of a tall, dark haired man crossed his mind.

"Johnny is a fireman, he works under Boone’s chain." Katie continued while stirring her drink with the straw. "He seems nice, we've only been chatting..." she suddenly stopped and looked up at Steve. "Hang on! Why am I explaining myself to you anyway?" she asked squinting her eyes at Steve.

Steve hesitated for a few seconds and was about to provide her with a feasible answer that would soothe her when he felt someone slap him on his back.

"Hey, Cap" Tony squealed and turned to face his sister.

"Been talking to Fury, kiddo. The Pirate says you're considering DC after all." he said looking at Katie trying to keep his legs steady and leaning on her shoulder. "Warn a brother next time, will you? You made me look like a fool." he slurred and turned to the dance floor trying to focus his sight.

"Hey, Bruce, good moves..." he said now leaving the friends sat there, walking off to join his team mates on the dancefloor, moving his arms suggestively over his head.

"What was that?" Steve snapped. "About DC? You've made your mind up?"

"I'd be stupid not to go. But hey, nothing's set up in stone. I'm just considering it" she answered trying to lighten up the mood.

"I didn't think you'd be serious about the role." Steve demeanour was getting bleaker.

"Why?" Katie asked frowning at him. "Of course, I'm serious, Steve. You told me there's no Sergeant vacancy in the unit, not as a Detective and I don't wanna go back to uniform."

"I know. It's just I didn't think they would actually offer it to you." he said now trying to sound as convincing as possible.

He wasn't prepared to let her go. To let her leave him. Not now. What if? What if history repeats? Peggy left him for the chance of pursuing higher ranks at the force. She had broken him and now he wasn't sure if he would be able to cope with Katie leaving him as well. He had known Katie way more years than he had known Peggy after all.

"You didn’t think they’d offer it to me? Why’s that, Steve?" Katie was getting visibly annoyed now. "Because I'm not good enough?"

"No! That's not what I meant!" Steve couldn't help but yell back.

"That’s the second time you spoken to me out of turn tonight" she said, her nostrils flaring. "I'm done."

Katie stood up and pushed between him and the table, grabbing her purse and stalking over the room heading for the door.

Steve fumbled a bit and watched her go away. "Shit" he yelled behind gritted teeth. Slamming his beer back onto the table he jumped up and started to walk towards the door, needing to catch her before it was too late.

On his way across the dance floor, well a straight line is always the fastest way to your target, he heard Tony say "Uh-oh, Kiddo rant scale currently at 7..." while Natasha turned to Clint and deadpanned "They need to bone and get it out of their system."

Just what he needed to hear now. Damned his better than normal hearing. Steve emerged into the entrance hall of the bar floor but there was no trace of Katie. He looked up and saw the light of the elevator signalling it was going down. With no time to spare he opened the door that lead to the stairs and rushed down two steps at a time.

When he reached the ground floor he was panting as he burst through the door into the lobby of the hotel and stopped in his tracks as he spotted Katie putting on her coat by the reception desk. Thank God, her stop at the cloakroom had provided him with a few precious minutes.

He walked to the reception trying to make up his mind on what to say. When he caught up with her, he heard her ask for a cab to the receptionist.

"Cancel that." he said to the receptionist.

"Don't you dare." she looked at the receptionist.

"Cancel it!" he said again, his voice this time stern.

“Grrr!” with an angry growl she turned and glared at him "Fuck off, Steve." she snarled and started to walk to the main door "You're an asshole." she said before stepping out and slamming the door, not caring if she nearly clipped Steve's face.

Steve followed her and grabbed her arm. "Come here." he said taking her away from the brightly lit area by the main entrance to the hotel to a more intimate spot a bit further along that was slightly dimmer.

Katie flinched slightly at the strength of his grip and Steve noticed and let her loose. "I'm sorry." he said raising his palms. "I'm sorry, doll" he said again. "Just talk to me, right?"

"Why don't you support me? I thought of all the people you'd be the most thrilled about me having this opportunity, Steve." she said wrapping her coat around her chest, a hurt look in her eyes.

"Of course, I support you." Steve said quietly. "You're an amazing Detective. It's not that..." he hesitated, not knowing how to carry on.

"Then, what is it? Explain it to me because you've been acting weird all night" she said her green eyes pleading him.

He was well damned fucked. Point of no return.

"When I told you about that opportunity last month, you were all for it so I applied, so what changed?" she continued trying to make her point seeing as he wasn't saying anything.

Steve closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again.

"You" he simply said.

"Me? I've changed?" Katie asked not understanding what he was trying to say.

"No. Not you..." he paused before continuing. "God, this is messy..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "The way I see you." he finally said looking directly into those beautiful green eyes. “That’s changed.”

"Oh" Katie managed to mutter. She was suddenly silent, searching into his blue eyes. After a moment, which seemed an eternity to Steve, she stepped forward and whispered.

"Say it."

"Say what?" Steve asked still looking into her eyes.

"Use your words, Stevie. Tell me what you mean." she softly encouraged him.

Oh God, that damned pet name…

"Can I ask you a question?" he said, licking his lips nervously.

"You just did, but I'll give you another go." she smiled.

He rolled his eyes but smiled back at her before saying "Sam told me before... that you have..." he paused.

"That I have what?" she asked.

"That you have feelings for me." he finished.

"Oh" she simply said, her eyes wide. Her cheeks flushed and she bit her lower lip. "Did he? Are those gonna be his last words?" she said with a shy smile not losing contact with his eyes.

"Is it true?" he asked, a tinge of hope in his words, bolstered by the fact she hadn’t denied it. "Do you feel it too? I mean, when we're hanging around, when we spend time together? Because it feels more to me, like we’re more than just friends…"

"I feel it when you're not around, Stevie." she said gently, cutting him off. Her eyes still locked onto his.

Steve breath hitched at her admission, a shy smile spread across his face.

"Steve, I..." she started to say but fell into silence, her face was now really flushed and so was her neck, in the way it always did when she was feeling slightly awkward or embarrassed or excited.

"Use your words, doll." he said softly, smiling at her. His attempt to ease the tension worked and she giggled and looked down, tucking her hair behind both her ears before she glanced back up at him, desire now sparkling in her eyes.

"Steve, I've liked you since the day we met. I think you're the most amazing person in the world. You're gorgeous inside and out..." she breathed deeply before continuing "After everything, well you make me feel safe like.... like I'm home…I just never thought in a million years that a guy like you would ever look at me like that.”

Now it was Steve who fell deadly silent. He pondered Katie's words for a moment and gave her a shy side smile. “You have no idea how beautiful you are do you?”

She gave a soft chuckle, shaking her head as she looked down muttering the word “Charmer.” as he reached out and gently tipped her head up so she was looking at him. His eyes bounced across both of hers for a second or so before he gently tilted her face up, angling her head. The distance between them closed…until she was knocked sideways, stumbling a little. He caught her and turned to glare at the culprit.

“Heyyyy!” Boyle smiled, swinging his arms out to the side “Didn’t see you there…” “He’s drunk…” Peralta apologised, “And so am I…we’re gonna get food…” Katie nodded at them both and with the hand that was curled around her waist, Steve gently squeezed her hip.

“NINE NINE!” Peralta yelled, punching the air as he left, Boyle whooping and repeating the chant as he tripped slightly before they rounded the corner. As they disappeared from sight Steve bent over and softly spoke into her ear.

“Shall I take you home, Doll?”

“Thought you were never gonna ask…” she said, not looking at him. He squeezed her hip again and together they strode back towards the valet, reaching into his wallet for the ticket, neither of them saying a word.

As soon as she was in the car she kicked off her shoes and let out a groan. “My feet are killing me…” she said, placing her feet up in front of her. She looked around the inside of the car, not actually having been inside it yet seeing as he had only picked it up that afternoon and gave a hum of appreciation.

“It’s nice…not as sexy as your mustang but I like it.” she said.

“Sweetheart, I haven’t had that mustang in years” he chuckled.

“Yeah I know.” she sighed “I liked that car, I still can’t believe you got rid of it.”

“Thought it was time I grew up a little…” he shrugged, looking at her.

“You’ll be driving around in a Prius soon, like Brian off Family Guy…” “Piss off…” he laughed as she let out a chuckle, flexing her dainty painted toes as they rest on the leather of the dash.

“Where did you this one from again?”

“It was imported from Germany, now get your feet off the dash.” She looked at him, a coy smirk on her face and moved her long legs one by one, placing her feet in the foot well. How the fuck she made such a simple movement as much of a turn on as she did, he had no idea. Had she always been such a teasing minx?

The rest of the car drive was spent in a comfortable silence. Well, as comfortable as it can be with a semi-lob on. His fingers were impatiently tapping on the arm rest between them and Katie reached out and pulled his hand onto her lap, gently running her finger tips over his knuckles as his palm lay against the bare, warm skin of her thigh. His jeans began to feel even tighter and it was all he could do to stop his hand wandering further up her skirt as he drove. Every so often she’d shoot him a knowing look, her eyes sparkling, and he’d simply grin back, or try and ignore her, keeping his eyes on the road.

Thankfully her place was nearer than his so he found a spare space outside her block and climbed out, opening the passenger side for her.

“Thanks.” she said, her voice quiet but oh so loaded and fuck, it made his trouser predicament even worse. He walked behind her, up the few steps into her building where she unlocked the door and dropped her keys into her pocket. His arm once more around her waist, they waited impatiently for the elevator.

No sooner had the elevator doors shut than Steve's final tendril of self-control snapped and he spun, pushing Katie back by her shoulders. She let out a soft squeak of surprise as his hand slid up to the back of her head, fingers winding into her hair, holding her face steady. There was a split second where she gazed up at him, her eyes bright with a lust he had never seen before, and then she bit her bottom lip and he was done for. Their lips met and God it was everything he had imagined it to be, and more. His lips massaged against hers, softly at first but then he felt her hands sliding up round his neck as she pulled him to her harder, and Steve couldn't help the soft groan that left his mouth. He felt her lips curve into a smirk and he took the chance, tongue sweeping across her bottom lip. Obligingly she gave him what he wanted, and depend the kiss even more, her mouth opening to grant him access. She tasted slightly sweet, the remnants of her last drink invaded his senses as his tongue fought hers for dominance and holy fucking shit he didn’t ever think he'd ever been kissed like this before in his life.

Pressing into her more he moved his hands to gently grab at her hips, hands dropping to her ass where he hauled her up, pressing her back into the elevator wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he pushed up against her, hands gently creeping up the hem of her dress, fingers softly caressing the outside of her thighs and his lips moved from hers to the pulse point of her neck and she gave a soft, sultry sigh. Steve knew he was an absolute gonner and he couldn’t help but react to her noises and movements by pushing against her and the noise she made as his denim clad crotch rubbed up against the fabric of her underwear was fucking sinful. His cock twitched and somewhere in his brain his logical mind desperately fought for a shard of restraint because they were still in fucking elevator after all... But it was her that stopped, quite suddenly too. Steve felt her tap him lightly on his shoulder and he moved from where he had been softly nipping at her neck to look at her, questioningly, wondering if she was having second thoughts. She bit her lip and nodded behind him which made him turn, and he saw the elevator door had opened and a small, blonde woman was looking at the pair of them, eyebrow raised, mouth dropped in slightly shock. "Shit." Steve mumbled as Katie gave a very un-ladylike snort as he set her on her feet. He bent down to retrieve her purse for her as she straightened out her dress. She took the purse in one hand and reached for his with her other, lacing her fingers between his. As they passed she nodded to the woman and said her name, but all too late Steve realised he hadn't heard it as his brain was still trying to catch up. Not wanting to be rude he nodded to the woman "Neighbour..." "Have a good evening..." she replied, not even bothering to hide the smirk from her face. "Did you seriously just say neighbour?" Katie snorted as she crossed the hall towards her door. "Well I don't know her name..." he said as she turned to face him.

"What?" She blinked, shaking her head. "Sharon! I literally said it like 3 seconds ago!" "And you think I was listening?" He said, arching an eyebrow as he placed both hands on the door, palms flat at either side of her head, caging her with his strong arms. His face was inches from hers again and she grinned "You gonna give me a chance to find my keys or just kick my door in?" With an arch of his eyebrow his left hand slid into the right pocket of her coat, and he pulled them out, hanging them in front of her face. Not taking her eyes off his she reached out to take them, before turning around to slip the key in the lock. Steve gently swept her hair off her neck and trailed hot kisses up towards her ear. With a sigh she rolled her head to the side as his mouth grazed a path to her jaw line before he placed a soft kiss at the side of her mouth.

“Open the door sweetheart” he said, his voice low and she jerked back into action, turning the key. Steve leaned over, pushing the door open and she stepped inside, Steve following. The door opened into the hallway which was dimly lit by a lamp on the table to the side of the door. Katie tossed her keys onto it, along with her purse as Steve clicked the door shut, leaning back on it as he watched her turn to him, eyes heavy as she looked up at him. There was a moment’s pause before he stepped forwards, hands creeping up to cradle her face as he gently pressed his lips to hers, the kiss a stark contrast to the urgent ones they’d shared moments before. Soft, sensual, his large hands caressing the side of her cheeks and neck as she leaned up into him eagerly. The kiss broke and he ran his nose against hers, pulling back slightly.

“You sure?” he said, his voice a whisper, needing to know she still wanted to go through with this, cross that final line. Without a word she turned, tugging on his hand, leading him to the right down the hall towards her room. As the reached the doorway he pulled her back towards him, spinning her round making her giggle as she fell into his chest, his arms wrapping around her as he bent to kiss her again, the pair of them blindly stumbling into the room, which is when Steve felt a searing pain in his shin as it collided pain fully with the wooden doorframe.

“Mother fucker…” he cursed, releasing Katie as he bent to rub at his shin, hopping on one leg into the room as Katie laughed whilst a plethora of curses that would make a sailor blush tumbled from his lips.

“Awww want me to kiss it better?” she teased as she undid her coat and tossed it over the back of the chair that sat in front of her vanity unit.

“Oh, you’re gonna kiss summink…” he snarked back as he kicked the door to the room shut, smirking at the look on her face as she arched an eyebrow.

“Very presumptuous of you Captain.” she teased.

“Think we’re a bit past the presuming stage don’t you?” he said, closing the distance between them again, on arm snaking round her waist as he pulled her back to him. Her hands ran up his chest to the lapels on his jacket as she pushed it back off his shoulders and Steve moved his arms allowing it to fall to the floor. Next she was working at his shirt, tugging the bottom of it out of his jeans as his mouth claimed hers again, hungrily. He felt the soft brush of her fingers as she worked the buttons undone, pushing it open and her warm hands slid over the planes of his stomach, travelling slightly downward towards the buckle of his jeans.

“ah ah…” he said, breaking the kiss and grabbing at her hands. “Your turn…”

“But I’m only wearing one thing…” she pouted, looking up at him. “You’re like…”

“You have an argument for everything…” he said, his hands sliding up the back of her dress, feeling for the zip.

“Do not.” she shot back and he sighed in exasperation.

“Argumentative brat, as always…look, does this thing even have a zip?”

She laughed, “No…”

He reached down to grab the hem, her breath catching slightly as his fingers brushed against her thighs but he didn’t argue as she held her arms up to allow him to pull the dress over her head. Steve gently reached out to brush her tousled, long waves back off her face before he glanced down, swallowing at the sight of her stood before him in heels and a matching black lace lingerie set.

“Fuck…” he mumbled, his hands reaching down to her hips, pulling her back flush to his body, kissing her again. This time when her hands fell to his belt buckle and undid it he didn’t object. He kicked off his boots as she worked his jeans open, her fingers grazing the skin just below his waist band and he bucked at her touch.

“So sensitive for such a big, tough guy…” she teased into his kiss and he gave a chuckle.

“You know I’m a big softie really…” he said

“Nothing soft about this…” she remarked, her hand reaching into her boxers and grasping his painfully hard cock, causing him to buck violently in response.

“Jesus Doll, give a guy some warning…” he stuttered out between his grit teeth.

“Where’s the fun in that?” she shot back.

Unable to take it anymore he moved, stepping out of his jeans and backed her to the bed, hands reaching round to unhook the clasp of her bra. As it fell away he gave another moan at her now bare chest in front to him, perfect pink skin on display.

“God you’re beautiful.” he said, eyes locking onto hers.

“Bet you say that to all the girls…” she teased back.

He snorted “They’re not exactly lining up sweetheart.” “More fool them…” she said, leaning up to kiss him again, her hands snaking round his neck. They both fell back onto the bed with a soft thud, and he moved her gently so she was led under him. She pulled away pushing on his shoulders and looked up at him as she propped herself up on her elbows.

“Socks.” “What?” he frowned.

“Take them off.”

“Katie, I-” “Steven, I’m not having sex with a guy who leaves his socks on.” Katie said, shaking her head “That’s just fucking weird.”

“You’re killing me doll, you know that?” he groaned. He sat up, shaking his head and pulled the offending garments off before he crawled back over the top of her. “Ok now?” “Yeah…” she nodded, grinning.

With a roll of his eyes he dropped his lips back to hers and kissed her again, hands gently tangling in her hair as he held her face still, lips moving from her lips to her jaw line to that spot on the neck he had noticed she’d appreciated him lavishing affection on before. She gave a soft moan, and her hips bucked upwards slightly, drawing a soft growl from his throat at the feeling as she pushed against him. His mouth moved downwards, lips and tongue circling the swell of her breast before he gently took a nipple into his mouth, listening to her soft keens as he teased her, his other hand sliding down over the curve of her hip, fingers brushing the skin just above her panty line. Without a word he slipped his fingers down, over her mound and she groaned again, arching her back.

“Fuck…” she mumbled, “Steve…”

He didn’t waste any time. His deft fingers began to play, coaxing more and more wetness from her as he went. He glanced up to see her head was thrown back against her pillow, eyes shut in utter bliss as she bit her lip.

“Look at me…” he said softly, moving so that his face was hovering over hers again, fingers still working. She opened those emeralds he felt he could drown in and her pupils were blown with desire. His fingers picked up their pace and he slid one, then two inside her, curling against her spot over and over again. He watched as her jaw slackened as her back arched and she let out a low keen.

“Stevie…” she panted “I..” her words trailed into a low gasp which turned into a groan as her back arched, her eyes fluttered shut and she convulsed underneath him, and he felt her tighten around him. Eventually she relaxed and her breathing evened out slightly and she looked up at him, a soft smile on her face before her hand slid up into his hair, bringing his face down so she could kiss him again.

Then it was a fast scramble to get both of them out of the last remaining, thin barriers of clothing before Steve nestled into the v of her legs, mouth nipping at her collar bone.

“Need you…” she purred into his hear and fuck, did he need her too.

“Need a…” he said, pulling back, fully intending to retrieve that little foil packet he always kept in his wallet, not that it ever saw the light of day mind, but she stopped him and shook her head.

“I’m ok, covered…that’s if…” “Yeah, I’m good…” he nodded, settling back over her. Her hand reached down between them, and she gently guided him towards where she wanted and as he looked up at her, a bit too quickly, his forehead collided with hers.

“Ow!” she spluttered out a giggle and he gave a groan. How was it that she’d managed to reduce him right back to that dumbass little kid from Brooklyn.

“Sorry…” he muttered, but she simply laughed again and pressed her lips to his.

“Don’t keep me waiting…” she said softly.

And Steve, never one for refusing to help a lady out, was happy to oblige. He worked into her with a steady, gently movement which made him shudder, dropping to his elbows over her as she gave a soft moan.

“Ok?” “Yeah…I’m good…” she said as he began to move, his thrusts slow and gently at first, hips rocking against hers. His lips met hers again in a sloppy kiss as she raked her hands down his back, nails digging into the skin, the bite of pain was like a hot wire to his groin and he gave a groan, picking up the pace slightly, her body moving with him with each thrust, skin sliding against skin, the soft sounds of sex and groans and whimpers filled the air and half the time Steve couldn’t tell whether it was her or him.

“More…” she begged softly, and he hooked his hand under her knee, wrapping her leg up round his waist allowing him to drive deeper and she gave a loud mewl underneath him as her nails dug into his shoulders as he moved faster, reading the signs she was giving him, his hips snapping back and forth with a needy desire, the carnal want he had for this woman consumed him and he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Come on baby…” he said, his breath ragged on her ear as he gently sucked at that spot again, feeling her writhing underneath him. “I got you, let go…”

His breath caught slightly as she tipped her head to press her lips to his, the kiss heated and he swallowed the loud groan she made before her head fell back her hands gripping to his back as if her life depended on it.

“Stevie…I’m…gonna…” she managed to stutter before her mouth once more slackened and her sultry lament made Steve shudder as her body spasmed underneath him, her leg twitching as he gripped it tight round his waist. Her tight heat gripped him, tightening again and again and he felt the burning deep in the pit of his stomach, the surge of his own orgasm felt like it was rising from his very toes as he drove into her once more.

“Fuck, Doll…” he mumbled, before a guttural rumble erupted from his throat as his hips stuttered slightly before he made another few shallow thrusts until he collapsed forward, burying his head in her neck as the afterglow consumed him.

He had no idea how long passed before he managed to muster enough about himself to raise his head. She still had her eyes closed but there was a satisfied smile playing on her lips, one he couldn’t help but mirror. As he watched her face, the tip of his nose gently resting against hers, her eyelids flickered open and he smiled down at her, gently pressing their foreheads together.

“Ok?”

“Yeah…” her voice was raspy and she swallowed “That was more than ok…” He chuckled as he met her lips in a soft kiss, before he gently rolled off her, laying on his back and reaching down for the duvet which was tangled around their legs. After a short wrestle with it and a bit more giggling they both settled down, Katie’s head on his chest as he lay on his back, his hand softly carding through her hair…

Steve blinked, the sun creeping into his hotel room through the crack in the blinds was warm on his face as he roused into consciousness. Despite knowing he’d simply been lost in a memory he glanced to the side and found the bed cold and empty…just like she had done the morning after that night.

He rolled onto his back, blinking up at the ceiling. Two more rounds they’d gone after that. Once when she’d risen to get a drink, bringing back half a small bottle of water which he’d gratefully drained before she’d taken the empty off him, tossed it to the floor and then kissed him with all the ferocity of a woman in need, a need he’d been happy to once again satisfy. And then again when he’d nipped to the bathroom and climbed back in besides her, pulling her into him, her face gently pressing to his chest. She’d nuzzled her nose up along his sternum to his neck, then across his jawline where her teeth gently skated at his beard. He’d been rock solid again in seconds and as she’d pushed him onto his back, gently straddling him and lowering himself down he remembered thinking it would never get better than it was right then and there…

Steve gave a groan as his head pushed back onto the pale blue pillows of his hotel bed. He was rock solid now as well, the memories consuming him totally. It had been the best night of his life, and then he’d gone and ruined it all…

It was still dark when he woke, Katie’s soft body pressed into his chest, arms wrapped around her from behind, nose buried into her soft hair. Blinking he recovered his senses, shifting slightly as he felt her move a little. She settled almost immediately and he swallowed thickly.

Oh shit, what had he done?

He’d never thought confessing his feelings would get this far! No, actually, he hadn’t thought at all. He should have just ignored it like he had been doing for 10 fucking years. He was her boss…this was bad, really bad. Whilst there were no rules, per-se about relationships between colleagues, hell half the force was married to one another if you thought about it, but getting involved with someone in your command chain was a big no-no.

The more he lay there, the worse it got. If they carried on seeing one another, someone was going to have to move out of the department, and he knew that realistically would be her as it was easier to move a detective than a captain.

And then when you threw the DC opportunity she’d been offered into the mix…if she went, what then? It would end just like it had with Peggy. She’d find someone else, someone there…

No, this was Katie…she was different. He’d talk to her, yeah, that was it. They’d always been honest with one another, so as soon as she woke up he’d talk to her, explain that he did care about her, did want to be with her but they needed to think about how they worked it and … fuck, who was he kidding? This was a mess, a huge mess.

He had to go, had to get out. This was too much to process.

Gently he untangled himself from around her and ran his hands over his face, before he moved as quietly as he could around the bedroom, gathering his discarded clothes. He dressed quickly and efficiently before, with one last glance over his shoulder at her as she lay in the bed still sound asleep, he left.

Steve felt like crying. He should have stayed, should have talked, told her his concerns. Bucky was right, they probably could have worked things out, even with her going to DC. Katie wasn’t Peggy after all. But no, instead he’d done the one thing he swore he would never do, hurt her. He’d left her before she woke, and then ghosted her for days, been cruel and effectively made her think that he’d only been after one thing.

And now, the damage was done. He’d lost his best friend and he only had himself to blame. With a loud, angry curse he swung his legs off the bed was making his way to the shower when there was a knock on his door. He padded over the carpet, glanced through the spy hole and seeing who it was, turned and hurriedly grabbed the pair of sweats that were tossed over the chair in the corner. Pulling them on he swung the door open and Bucky sauntered into the room behind him, paper bag in his hand.

“Morning.” he said, as Steve turned to face him. The Captain still looked half asleep, even if he was, erm, standing to attention, so to speak.

“Good dream was it?” Bucky said, nodding to Steve’s crotch and the Captain glanced down and gave a low groan. He’d hoped that the sweatpants he had pulled on would hide that particular predicament. Clearly not

“Did you want something?” “Wasn’t sure what time we agreed to leave.” Bucky said, offering Steve the paper back. “And I was on my way past back to my room so thought I’d check in…”

“You know breakfast is included in the room rate.” Steve said, declining the offer with a shake of his head “No need to go fruit foraging.” “I like plums what can I say.” Bucky shrugged.

“And to answer your question we’ll leave in half an hour, so if you don’t mind I need to shower and sort myself out…” “You can say that again…” Bucky sniggered, nodding again towards Steve’s trousers. Steve rolled his eyes and headed towards the bathroom. “Oh, Steve…”

The Captain stopped and turned to face his friend.

“Just so you know, water is not a good lubricant. Now shower gel on the other hand is, as long as it ain’t that mint tingly shit.”

Steve blinked, and shook his head “What the fuck, man? “Hey I’m just stating facts” Bucky said. “I got that stuff on my balls once…not good. Felt like someone had dunked them in chilli powder. Was burning for hours.”

Steve groaned and looked at the ceiling, shaking his head as he turned and walked through the door leading to the bathroom, slamming it behind him.

“Backed up…” Bucky snorted, as he left the room, grinning to himself as he ate his plum.

@the-omni-princess @momobaby227 @geekofmanythings16 @angelofhell-666 @thewackywriter @marvelfansworld @cobalt-gear @asgardlover75 @jennmurawski13 @jtargaryen18 @saiyanprincessswanie @navispalace @patzammit @joannaliceevans-fanficblog @djeniiscorner @ayamenimthiriel @coldmuffinbanditshoe @disneylovingal @madzmilllz @sgtjaamesbaarnes @sweater-daddiesdumbdork @southerngracela @goldenfightergir @kellymat @official-and-unstable-satan

#csi rogers and barnes #steve rogers #bucky barnes #tony stark #clint barton #natasha romanoff #thor odinson #bruce banner #james rhodes #peter parker #sam wilson #avengers fanfiction #avengers #mcu #mcu fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel #smut #yup

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years ago

Text

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 14

• Funny how the TRH team so desperately needed to spend close to half the book on mindless nonsense with Drake's family...and just a single chapter on the MC's entire first trimester. Via a 6 minute long time jump. Truly funny.

• So now that we're back in Cordonia, the pregnancy is underway, and we're finally getting into the meat of past intrigue, most of the fandom has this for a reaction:

It's a legitimate reaction, the story is moving forward...but the denim-clad, whiskey-guzzling problem that is the root of this whole mess - and the reason why the Walker Ranch portion took so long the way no other place in the series ever has...that problem still exists. It exists in a large, insidious way, and even while we're rejoicing the return to intrigue we might not always notice how even that is rife with issues. But more on that later.

• If you want avoid seeing these posts on your dash, these are the tags to blacklist: #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs, and #long post.

• Screenshots:

Hana: @aestheticsayeed (photoshoot) and the Abhirio YouTube channel.

Maxwell: @itsbrindleybinch and the rash rec YouTube channel

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan

Liam: @callmetippytumbles (photoshoot), the SavageLordBarlow YouTube channel, and me.

• Title: The Announcement

Alternative Title: Let's Cram One of The Most Important Part Of The Book Into A 6 Minute Montage!

Alternative to Alternative Title: What We Really Wanted to Title This Book - The Royal Yeehaw.

• I'm hoping that with each chapter where you're shown a scan or something that's considered a milestone in pregnancy, I can come out with a corresponding tiny story of my own! Let's see if that works out.

• So...I had my first actual ultrasound at 7 weeks (first time we heard a heartbeat) but the real fun one was the 12 week scan! By then you can see hands and legs (the ultrasound pic the writers chose for this chapter was...eh), and the kids can definitely feel them (not see - yet)...and they're going to use those limbs like nobody's business starting from then 😂

My 12 week scan took around 45 minutes to happen coz Baby V was jumping and kicking all over the place (not that I could actually feel any of it yet lol), and the poor doc wasn't getting clear enough images of her as a result 😅 When we finally saw her she was in all her energy-fueled glory, kicking up a storm (she's a cat-loving kindergartner now and she still kicks exactly like that 😅😅)

My mum had come down to visit and for some good ol' TLC, so she accompanied me inside the room. To date she insists she saw V wave at her 😁

• Back to the story - Madeleine has booked a press conference without our approval (still sucks at her job, I see) and we're left hoping to make lemonade out of those lemons she's thrown our way.

• We can choose to either be excited about announcing it, or worrying about putting the news out too early in case something happens in the first trimester. With the last option, the answers vary depending on who you married and therefore what your title is. If you are Queen, Liam reminds you that a public and accelerated timetable is a part of the price of royal life (still not a good enough excuse for Madeleine to fix this press-con without our approval). If you are Duchess, either Maxwell (or Hana in Maxwell's playthrough) tell us it's too early to start worrying. Bottomline is the MC is persuaded to view this as a good opportunity to celebrate.

• We are give three options for venue, suggested by Liam, Drake and Hana respectively - Hana suggests the royal ballroom since it's where the most important announcements are done, Drake suggests the less-stuffy palace grounds and Liam (of course, since that garden was his mother's pet project!) suggests the gardens. You then get to choose how you want to make an entrance:

(The screenshots are from the following:

1st row - @itsbrindleybinch Maxwell playthrough

2nd row - Mine

3rd row - The SavageLordBarlow YouTube channel, Liam playthrough. Their Liam is called "Dennis")

• Madeleine balks at the idea of a royal event turning into a rock concert, as if one of the most iconic images of Buckingham Palace in the 21st century wasn't Brian May of Queen rocking it out on his homemade guitar on the rooftop.

• Arrangements done, now it's time for THE DRESS. We have a wine-red chiffon ensemble with pearls on the neckline and a jeweled belt. It's called "Apple of My Eye", because presumably no one does apple analogies to symbolize fertility quite like Cordonia does.

• In addition to being Duchess, if you are Queen, you have the additional option of choosing a tiara. We were last able to do this during the ball in the TRR Book 3 finale, before we were honoured with the Champion of the Realm title. This is something you can only access if you are Queen.

• We reach the venue we have chosen, with the entrance we have chosen, and we can either choose to announce formally, or yell it from the top of our lungs. Nobody cares coz they're too happy there's an apple pie baking in that oven 😅

• Among the press we see the usual people: Ana, Donnie, Samir aaaaaand Brad from PM/Smoothie Star Thad from Platinum. He expects pregnant women to have baby bumps from the moment of conception.

• What's he going to be called this time? Chad? 😂

• For a dude who is mostly a spy-journo, he's doing a terribly poor job of hiding it. He doesn't do his research on pregnancy timelines, immediately jumps up to ask a question when the topic turns to that of the alliances with Auvernal and Monterisso, and gets caught pretty easily. He's probably also the dude who was upto something on our honeymoon, taking pictures of us and gathering information on our whereabouts. Whichever country got him on board for this, really needs to rethink their hiring process.

• Donnie has the one brain cell existing among the press and uses it to ask us why we're announcing so early. You can either choose to claim that you wanted the Cordonian people to know asap, or be honest if you didn't want this to happen (to which Madeleine gives you an "apologetic shrug"). The third option has the MC claiming she wants to shed a light on, and be honest about, the entire experience of pregnancy, even if it does result in a miscarriage - which Samir notes as being a noble endeavor.

• With regards to the alliances, we don't give a clear answer yet, but we do hint at what we're looking for when we finally take that call (strength, understanding, advantage for Cordonia). The LI also gets to briefly highlight their sentiments at this point, and show different reactions - Liam has tears in his eyes, Drake can't stop grinning, Hana squeezes her wife's hand and Maxwell screams WE'RE HAVING A BABYYY.

• Additionally, if you're married to an LI other than Liam, the press asks him what will happen if he decides to have children somewhere down the line. He maintains that the MC's child will have the first right to the throne, even over his future children - effectively writing his own bloodline out of that throne if he isn't married yet. Which...well, we knew this was coming. We knew they weren't going to change this. It's disappointing, but not surprising, that they chose this route.

• Once the press meet is over, we get felicitations from different guests, mostly from the Council:

- Duke Landon of Portavira: Compliments the couple by calling them 'glowing' and wishes them well. Penelope plans to design something for the child, and Kiara promises to talk her out of placing too many dog motifs.

- Duke Godfrey of Karlington/Krona: Gives the couple a formal paying-of-respects, and hopes for more dignified attire for the heir (shut up Godfrey Not Gao, I had to waltz in a MINI-DRESS at your goddamn home 🤬).

- Queen Mother Regina: This varies between the Liam playthrough and other playthroughs, obviously, because in the Liam one she is his stepmother and obviously there is that closeness. In all the others, she is warm and friendly, congratulates the happy couple, insists they call her Regina rather than "Your Majesty" (there is a brief moment where married!Maxwell is confused about whether to call her "Your Majesty" or "Your Grace") and assures them that she will always be ready to provide for the "kingdom's heir". Liam's interactions require a more personal touch, so he hugs Regina before the MC can opt to, and she calls their child her grandchild as well. Liam and Regina moments are rare to come by, so I'm happy whenever I get to see them. I also haven't seen her since the book has begun, so I'm chuffed that she's there (pls don't make her knowingly part of the plot pls pls).

- Lord Barthelemy of Ramsford: Has to make everything about him wherever he goes! His felicitations to us lasts all of ten seconds while his attention towards Donnie and Samir takes up all of his time. He manages to score an interview with both of them. The most interesting part isn't that, though. It's the comment he makes about Regina as she leaves: "she always was a generous one..." - now what's THAT supposed to mean?

• Hakim is neither on the Council, nor is he shown here. I'd like to believe Kiara's family have distanced themselves from the group because the MC doesn't deserve the honour of their presence, but we know it's more likely coz the writers would much rather write Kiara and her family out of the story. Which is a pity because they're the most amazing family Cordonia has.

• Madeleine now comes forward, suggesting to us to follow the tradition of getting a royal announcement of their pregnancy done. This is done in a fashion similar to our Engagement Photoshoot, but with our own choice of clothes and less variations overall.

- Our attire is pretty much anything we'd like to pick out from the closet, as long as it's been already paid for. The LIs on the other hand have three different options for their outfits:

Liam gets his outfit from the TRR3 finale, his Costume Gala outfit and his official outfit. Oddly his outfits have titles like the MC's does.

Hana gets her Costume Gala flower dress, her plain black dress and her usual pink one.

Maxwell gets his Costume Gala squid outfit, his black suit and his usual Gucci shirt.

Drake gets his Costume Gala blue brocade, his official grey suit and his usual denim.

- What I can't understand is why her muted black dress is always touted as the formal garb for Hana, when they could easily allow her to wear that gorgeous black traditional outfit of hers. That could have been an option for this shoot. But no, they decided to arbitrarily code that one and block access to it if you didn't pay, even though Lorelai had apologized to Hana and therefore her outfit should have been coming back to her!

- I've said it before and I'll say it again: the decision to pay wall that entire outfit, considering it was taken away from her in an act of abuse and intimidation - and it should have been by all accounts returned to her when Lorelai apologized whether we paid for that scene or not - is sickening. Shame on you PB.

- Once we are ready with our outfits, we meet Ana in the throne room, and she's busy preparing an announcement sign to place in front of the couple. We take a couple minutes to admire the sign, then proceed to posing for Ana. If you took the engagement photoshoot in Book 2 or 3, it's referenced at the beginning. Each couple's scene here is unique:

(Screenshots: Hana's from the Abhirio YouTube channel, Maxwell's from the rash rec YouTube channel, Drake's from @thefirstcourtesan and Liam's from mine).

Liam

Ana begins by suggesting the couple take their places in their thrones, looking at each other. Though the photo is great - glamourous and dignified - Liam and the MC aren't quite feeling the shot. The MC isn't fond of the idea of sitting so far away from Liam, and Liam agrees, telling Ana that he finds the pose too stiff - and that above being King and Queen of the country they are also a couple deeply in love, and their child is not simply an heir but a sign of their love for each other. So the ensuing picture is warm and filled with joy.

Once Ana leaves, Liam tells the MC about how his own parents did exactly such a photoshoot when they were expecting him, and how much more he understands them - now that he is going to be a father.

Hana

There is a warmth and a sweetness to the first shot itself - a simple one that has them simply looking into each other's eyes - that Ana tells them she knows their child will be brought up in a loving home.

For the second shot, Hana asks the MC whether she'd rather have a shot alone, and offers to move out. Possibly because the MC - married to Hana or not - constantly makes everything revolve around her and constantly pushes Hana and her issues to the background like they're not important. I'm sure Hana got that impression from you somewhere, MC.

The MC, however, is surprised by this and insists she be part of the picture. She can choose to either say that this baby belongs to both of them or that without her it wouldn't be a good picture. The MC who is married to her insists she understand her value in their relationship (yeah it took you three and a half books to realize that LMAO), and that Hana belongs with her. She should never think of herself as belonging to the sidelines again, ever (maybe you should work harder on convincing her, MC, because everything you've done until now was mostly all about you and very little about Hana).

The dialogue after Ana leaves is sweet and romantic, with the MC telling Hana her hair smells of roses and Hana and the MC clinking imaginary champagne glasses, before Hana stops her in mock-surprise and promises a real (non-alcoholic) drink back in Valtoria.

Maxwell

Ana finishes the sign and gets ready for the shoot. Maxwell holds a formal pose on his knees that places more attention on the MC, adopting a severe, sombre expression. This surprises Ana, but the MC clearly knows what's up and wants him to relax. To help him, the MC distracts him (pretend you're Bertrand/imagine me naked) and that mental exercise energizes him enough so he can do this shoot in a more relaxed manner.

Once Ana packs up, Maxwell and the MC stay behind to talk, chatting about the excitement level in the kingdom and (optionally) how that excitement can't match their own (Maxwell speaks of constantly having adrenaline at this point). They jokingly speculate on the unsolicited advice they will get, and Maxwell cracks a joke about how as Bertrand's brother he was brought up on a diet of unsolicited advice. Relaxed and happy, the couple return home.

Drake

The couple see the sign Ana made, and like it because it's dignified but not too much. To which Ana responds that she didn't want to presume too much about their tastes. The shoot begins with the MC trying to think of all the pregnancy announcements she has ever seen (including one where a man yells into a breast pump like it's a telephone) and worries and becomes nervous over how to do this - and Drake calms her down by telling her a simple pose would do the trick, and most of all, to "focus on us". This calms the MC down, and she nails the simple pose alongside Drake.

The ensuing conversation between the two expands on what Drake said, where they refer to themselves as a good balance between dignified and "regular". There's a clear indication of how far they have come from that first photoshoot in this scene.

Aaaaaand...CLICK!

(Screenshots: @callmetippytumbles for Liam, @aestheticsayeed for Hana, the rash rec YouTube channel for Maxwell and @thefirstcourtesan for Drake)

• This scene is good in two routes, and not so great in two.

• The MC and her spouse go back to Valtoria, where the MC takes rest and the LI takes care of her. She can give in to her cravings (huge turkey leg, cheetah cakes, omelettes or fancy unpronounceable food), but a few weeks later she experiences a lot of nausea, to the point where she might (optionally) tell the LI that it's the worst thing they've ever done (completely normal, I assure you. A pregnant woman's hormones are unpredictable af). Both corgis (if you've bought them) help her and do their fair share of doting on her, and the LI in their own way tries to help.

• Based on who you haven't married, you get various scenes of your friends helping out:

- Liam: offers all kinds of help but the suggestion that stands out is a chicken soup recipe that belonged to his mother.

- Hana: makes a playlist of all kinds of music tracks to get mother and baby through the first trimester, including the TRH Lullaby tune which is now canonically Hana's composition. She's chosen artists from all over the world, and recorded a few of her own tracks in cases where she isn't satisfied. She also has a second trimester playlist coming up!

- Maxwell: aka the man who wrote a story about the MC but put HIS face in the cover, offers to let the MC vicariously live through him by giving her a voucher (the Maxwell Vicarious Vivacity Simulator 3000) that ensures that whenever she craves to do or have something not allowed for her, Maxwell does it on her behalf. The LI jokes about how that's a lot of power to give a person.

- Drake: Asks after the MC's welfare, and is given a choice of two things to do - either he can bring her ice-cream, or tell her the story of how the boys created their barbershop quartet so many years ago. He's perhaps the only LI who is given options for pampering the MC as a friend.

- Madeleine: The only person outside of our LIs (and later Olivia) who has an extra scene prior to the MC's ultrasound scan, is Madeleine. She gives the MC a Cordonian Ruby, explaining that it helps with nausea and that Liam's mother would swear by it. She looks concerned...and her words to the MC about making sure she takes care of herself, almost sound a bit of a warning.

Given what we find out later on in the chapter, both this sequence and the sequence where Bartie Sr comments on Regina have been placed there for a reason. Madeleine definitely knows something and there's a possibility she will have a flashback scene of her own.

If you bought the red pandas in Book 3, they will be clamouring around Madeleine for the apples as well.

• I have to laugh at how completely written out of the larger story Kiara and her family are. Even Penelope who is a non-entity and who only had something of value to give to the story when she was being a lying backstabbing snake, somehow manages to have a father in the Council and a promise of a future storyline. After all that the TRR team put Kiara through, I wouldn't even say Kiara deserves a better story. No, what I'd say is she (and Hana, definitely Hana) deserve better writers.

• I mean, you can call it a coincidence anymore, the fact that the women that the story gives the most material and most attention to, are the white women.

• This thread of sequences comes full-circle with a scene where the MC and LI sit by the lake, and where they're both shown finally coming to terms with the MC's nausea and using the tart apples as a way to make things better for the MC. There's a sweet scene in there where the LI kisses both mother and baby.

• We're finally ready to meet Dr Ramirez, and to get an ultrasound done. Olivia and her new...chauffeur, Roy, will be serving as security detail for this occasion. Wonder when we'll find out what Roy is helping her with.

• She gives you a dagger...which we might maybe end up threatening to use the next chapter? I'm guessing Olivia already has an inkling of something going down at the doctor's, since she indicates that we will know when we'll need to use it.

• Depending on whether or not you revealed the pregnancy to her last chapter, her dialogue changes. She makes a mention of it if you have. She's genuinely happy about the pregnancy, and wanted to wish the MC in person.

• Both Liam and Olivia wait outside while the MC and LI have their time with Dr Ramirez, if you're married to one of the other LIs.

• Dr Ramirez mentions that "the first few months have been treating you well"...which indicates that the MC is at least 12 weeks along (10 according to the calculations of certain countries, that count from conception onwards. Dr Ramirez also confirms this during the scan), since that's when you do the nuchal translucency scan. It usually takes place at the end of your first trimester. Which means we've effectively covered the MC's entire first three months in the span of 1/4th of a chapter, actually (considering the entire montage is approx just over 6 minutes).

• Dr Ramirez then lets slip a little factoid about Liam's mother, which baffles the couple because Liam himself never had any knowledge of this. She speaks of Eleanor's fondness for apple tea during her pregnancy and how much trouble she had with her nausea.

• Cordonian Rubies and apple tea have both been mentioned on the TRH loading page.

• If Liam isn't your LI, you call him and Olivia back to the room and ask him about this new development, and he confirms that Dr Ramirez was never mentioned in the official records, as well as the fact that she had a relatively easy pregnancy with Liam (if your LI is Liam, though, Olivia returns to the room on her own, stating that the doctor mentioned something about tea to one of the interns). But the conversation takes Olivia back to a very vague memory, and of course she needs us to go back and make sense of it. Which leads us to our first Olivia flashback!

- I have a feeling Olivia's childhood gown might be the groundwork for maybe a Theodosia outfit in TRM? Just a small guess. IDK.

- Olivia gives us a timeline for this particular incident - it was a few months after they left the Walker Ranch. As we recall, Eleanor was showing some early signs of not feeling too well, and had arguments with Constantine at the time. So if Eleanor was already pregnant by that time, she was clearly close to finishing/past her first trimester by this point.

- The setting of the scene is a mock-battle between Olivia (who plays a knight) and Drake (who plays a dragon, and they use TCaTF Dom's dragon sprite to establish how Olivia imagines him in this game). Some Dom-Drake parallels going on there.

- No matter what you choose, Olivia wins. She can either destroy the ice blast or deflect it with a fan, defeat + kill the dragon or feed him meat so he will forever be beholden to her. Either way, the options work out for her.

- At this point, possibly because nothing has really happened to Drake yet, Olivia and Drake share a pretty decent rapport. They're not thick as thieves or anything (and Olivia confirms that they were "barely" friends and turned to each other as playmates only when Liam wasn't around, if you choose to ask), but they tolerated each other enough to have fun playing while Liam is away.

- During this time, conveniently, Liam is having "lessons". Nice job writing Liam out of his own story yet again, PB (I'll explain this later). The scene is clearly centered on Olivia, with some focus on Drake via the mystery of Jackson's talk with Eleanor.

- Liam is with his mother, worried about how sick she is and wanting her company since he gets so little of it these days. And it is likely not too long before he loses her forever. My heart breaks in advance for the little guy.

Loads to unpack here!

* The first time I read this scene, it gave me serious Adriana-Leon vibes. It still does. Adriana has that scene where she wants to be open about her affair with Leon, and Leon declines. There's a familiarity between the two - notice how they address each other on a first name basis even though she is a queen and this was likely a time when titles and station were even more important. There is a familiarity in the way he insists on her time while Constantine is away, and despite the fact that Liam hasn't been able to spend much time with her.

* True, that familiarity is something that could also exist between close friends, the "sneaking around" could be Jackson trying to keep his BFF's secret from the king of the country. But you can't deny the Adriana-Leon parallels there.

* There is a possibility that someone else could be the father. One possibility that comes to mind for me is Bastien, mostly because his fondness for Eleanor and disdain for Regina don't exactly add up if he wasn't King Guard until Jackson died, and clearly didn't seem to have much of a relationship with the royal family otherwise that we know of. But it could work with his storyline: he gets Eleanor pregnant, she dies shortly after, Jackson takes the fall for keeping her secret and his family doesn't get the compensation they deserve, Bastien helps the children and maintains a close relationship with Drake partly because he feels responsible for Jackson's death, and he atones by following every order of Constantine's, including one that harms the foreign commoner woman that Liam was about to choose.

* Buuuut. The fact that Bastien has pretty much disappeared and is hardly even mentioned, makes this even less of a possibility, because buildup is important.

* In Jackson's case I guess the thing that doesn't entirely add up is how close Jackson and Bianca are spoken of as being. We never actually see them as a couple, but Drake gives us plenty of stories about them and their love for each other - to the point where Drake tells his dad he wants to find a girl to love as much as his father loves his mother...and Jackson unironically agrees. It's a small detail, but I think it's something that may indicate Jackson is a red herring as well.

* In conclusion, I don't know 😂

* "It's likely just hyperemesis gravidarum" 🤦🏽‍♀🤦🏽‍♀. Just? Juuuuust? That's...a serious condition. It's not just extreme vomitting or morning sickness (though that is awful too) - oftentimes it means you can't even hold fluid down, it means dehydration, it means a loss of electrolytes and even nutrient deficiency...to the point where you might even need to be hospitalized (Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, had this condition with all three of her pregnancies and was hospitalized in 2012 when she was pregnant with Prince George). I'm guessing Jackson doesn't know what the fuck those words even mean if that's his reaction!

* What should Eleanor and Jackson be prepared for?

* What are these two fearing besides Constantine discovering about this child?

* Do they know Godfrey and Bartie Sr have something or the other planned? I mean if Madeleine knew about the pregnancy there is clearly a chance she heard it from one of them. Were those two guys their main concern, and why they went alone to talk? Eleanor doesn't seem to have much trust in the Great Houses the way Constantine does, and seeing Bertrand's flashback scenes she'd be right to worry.

* How long after this did Eleanor die? Because yes there is a possibility that her second child may exist, but that depends on when the plot to poison her succeeded. And if she was far along enough to carry the child to term, or even give birth prematurely, how is it that not even the children in the palace had a clue? (the adults I can see as covering this up but it's possible to have SOME hint from the kids!). So I'm having a tough time with the idea that she managed to give birth before dying, or even that she managed to survive - unless someone was out there acting like Monte Cristo and giving her something that appeared to have the same symptoms as poison but was actually some lifesaving elixir idek. This team is capable of anything. They've retconned a zillion things so far so I wouldn't put it past them to completely retcon this as well.

- The kids have a chance of being caught by Jackson, if Olivia doesn't manage to find a good hiding place and hides behind Drake instead. But if you do succeed in hiding, we get to see Eleanor promise to spend more time with him, which Liam accepts with the grace he is usually known for.

@thefirstcourtesan has spoken before about the Nevrakis family's views on openly showing your pain in public, citing Diavolos' dialogues, but it also reminds me of that scene where we can defend Olivia against Lucretia, stating to her that having allies and friends to fall back on is not weakness, but common sense. The fact that little Olivia views crying as the worst thing that she could be doing, and the shock the adult Olivia shows at the MC's matter-of-fact statement on the value of support - as if such a thing had never even occurred to her - says plenty about the impact of those initial five years being the Nevrakis heir.

* What amazes me just as much, is how quickly Liam understands what is going on in Olivia's head, and how quickly he makes the situation safe for her before Drake can say anything. He's young, but perceptive enough to know not only that Olivia doesn't want to be seen crying, but also what she'd be most comfortable using as a cover for her tears. Those wounds are still fresh for Olivia at this point, making it even harder for her to stand back and rationalize - which is why it's a relief when Liam offers her an out.

* I honestly fail to understand people who claim he never cared for Olivia. It was clear from the get-go how much he valued her, he's vouched for her when very few would, he's shown concern for her multiple times - and I find it so weird that he's perceived as not concerned for her only because he doesn't return her feelings, whereas Drake can suspect a traumatized woman and never feel any remorse after she tells them the truth, and somehow that's okay (oh...I forgot. This is the Almighty St Drake we're talking about. Of course he can get away with anything).

• Is it just me or are the only scenes where the children are given extra focus and care...are the ones belonging to Drake and Olivia? The first scene, though advertised as Liam's, was really more of a group childhood scene - it was less about Liam himself and more about introducing the childhood gang. Maxwell's scene basically wrote him out so Bertrand could take centerstage! In contrast, Olivia's gives us important facts about Liam's family but focuses heavily on her grief and loss after her parents' death, and Drake's is not only intensely personal to him but also is the only childhood scene so far with variations if he is married to the MC. I shudder to think of what they will give to Hana in the name of a childhood scene, if she ever manages to get one that is.

• I honestly hope Jackson isn't the father of this child - even though there are enough hints to suggest it as a possibility (or to establish that he is a red herring). If that does transpire...then the story that should be about Liam, his mother, his family, will revolve even more around Drake. It will be about his angst. His feelings of betrayal and sadness at what his father did. His heartbreak at his hero having feet of clay.

How do I know this? Well, look at the sheer volume of things Drake has told us about Jackson over the course of these four books. Especially in playthroughs where he is getting married, you get stories upon stories upon stories about the man, one after the other. I had to wait till TRH to get even half that much information about Liam's own mother!!!

Enough. I've already seen this man eat up space that should have gone to Liam for his story, and make it all about himself (the assassination attempt, for example). At least let this one thing be just Liam's to grieve, not Drake's to take over and to make it all about him and his feelings. I've already seen him do this for every LI - the truth of Hana's return had to come from him, we spent most of Shanghai cajoling him into fixing his relationship with Maxwell instead of learning more about Hana, the entire Beaumont story was swallowed whole just to accommodate more story for his sister.

Of course, if Bastien is a possibility, the same problem would still arise because the writers were somehow desparate to make him close to Drake, than to Liam who would have been one of his wards to do security for.

• Olivia, Liam, the MC (+ LI in other playthroughs) discuss what the discussion between Eleanor and Jackson could mean. If the MC doesn't figure out that Eleanor was pregnant, Liam does - having read up on Hyperemesis Gravidarum (at least in my playthrough).

• Olivia's choice of words about Constantine is interesting - "Constantine never caught whoever killed Queen Eleanor"...which, well, most of us have an idea that Constantine might have done some covering up with regards to Eleanor's pregnancy and death - but does Olivia suspect this too? The wording makes me feel like she has some idea.

• Anyway, it's time for our scan! Dr Ramirez speaks of this as the 10 week mark (over here in India it's referred to as the 12 week mark - so we wouldn't say 1 week when we find out, we'd say 4). I was initially surprised the MC didn't opt for the 7-8 week scan, but I've been told in some places it's common to start with the nuchal translucency scan (which is this one).

• It's a lovely scene overall in terms of how the LIs react to the experience - each option (both to the initial image of the child on the screen, and to the photograph later) comes with varied dialogue depending on the LI. They're all happy, emotional, and in some cases (like Maxwell's) it's sinking in that there's an actual baby coming out from all of this.

• Around this time, the foetus also has hands and legs and you can see them kicking around like nobody's business coz "o wow, what's this" is probably what they're experiencing at this point 😅

• The dude from the press conference tries really hard to pretend he is an intern and not a dude we met in a press conference - but his acting skills are about as good as his knowledge of pregnancy in general.

• I have a feeling that if we don't catch him next chapter, Liam and Olivia will, and we may get some answers at least on the score of all the paparazzi related suspicious stuff that's been happening - therefore leading us to a hint about one of the places we are "allying" with?

• I also have a feeling that both places - Auvernal and Monterisso - will be established as suspicious eventually, for varying reasons. Right now we're getting signs via Olivia that the Auvernese are planning something big, but I doubt Monterisso is going to be left behind in all this. Perhaps the journalist might offer some hints/leave behind some clues as to where he was from...and it might warrant a visit to that place just to investigate? I'd see Monterisso as more likely, if that is the case. Because I do believe the team will have us visit this place just once at least. I may be wrong, but let's see.

• General Thoughts:

- Sigh. We knew this would happen, wouldn't we. The team would spend nine whole chapters on largely irrelevant shit that could have been cut out and pared down to maybe 4 chapters max (but 2 chapters would have been perfect. After all, Hana's Shanghai segment was only two chapters, and we spent one of them trying to make Drake behave less like an angry toddler. It's only fair that Drake gets as little space, yknow), but now we're at the point where we're rushing through the first trimester alone.

- The announcement shoot scene was nice...but again extremely uneven across playthroughs. Both Liam and Drake's scenes were written largely as callbacks to their engagement shoots. In Liam's engagement shoot there was a pressure to represent both decorum and warmth - but in this shoot they explain to Ana that they clearly lean more to the side of warmth, and want to show that side of themselves. In Drake's engagement shoot, Drake is the one who is nervous and trying to fit in, with the MC helping him loosen up and be his natural self, while in the baby shoot he fulfils that role for her by stating to her that they could be having fancy trimmings but simple in their way of delivering the news. Do Maxwell and Hana get this kind of effort in their scenes? No. Not at all.

- Maxwell's engagement photoshoot scene was about the couple getting used to their relationship, and remembering what made their love blossom (pun fully intended). By the logic of the other two scenes, this one should have explored in some way how they've grown as a couple, but it doesn't. They didn't even bother to put half the effort into this scene that they did in the other two.

- Hana's engagement shoot initially explored her fears of turning into her parents, that she is not taking the MC's opinion into account. The MC gets to reassure her then. Unfortunately, they dropped that arc completely after that scene. So I can get an idea of why this particular scene is different, but I hate that they chose to drop such a compelling story for Hana and I would have honestly loved to see a parallel to that.

- The fact that the MC could tell Hana that she should never be in the sidelines is kinda sweet, granted, but actions speak louder than words, and most of the MC's actions re: Hana so far have been the exact opposite of what she's saying there.

- The team should have at least nailed this one scene for everyone, if not anything else - since this had the biggest variations. Yet they couldn't be bothered to do a good job of all of them?? Only two???

- Come to think of it, if the plot actually culminates in the presence of this extra child, there is one scene in Book 3 that could hint at it. The film that Liam takes the MC to watch at Castelserraillian, revolves around a couple named Lionel and Ramona (geddit?? Liam and Riley!) and their romance amidst a plot from a half-brother to usurp the throne (the name given in the movie is Percival, which coincidentally is Maxwell's middle name).

- The intrigue is nice, it does its job of raising more questions while offering a few answers, but I find it ironic that even in a plot that's about Liam's family, Liam himself seems unimportant and his feelings unexplored. You'd think that with an experience like that, where we've just heard about his mother not being able to spend a lot of time with him (perhaps months before her death)...you'd think that would elicit more of a reaction than "okay cool let's investigate". I know for a fact that if it were Drake there would be a whole extra set dialogues unlocked in the romantic route. I know that, because that's exactly what happened at Walker Ranch. Again, no other character who had a childhood flashback scene so far, got any opportunities to weigh in on how they felt after the narration was done.

- Other people's feelings and experiences taking precedence over Liam's own, in scenes/events that should be about him, is nothing new. In Book 2, we get to know about an assassination attempt on Liam...but that story revolves around Drake's pain and Drake's sacrifice. We never get to know how Liam felt about this, ever. In Book 3, when we should have been learning more about his mother, she's mentioned only a handful times instead. Again in Book 3, Liam sees his own father die, but his feelings are largely brushed aside to make space for more Drake hypocrisy (like his behaviour towards Kiara in Lythikos) and Drake observations (like the chat about Liam's hurt feelings in his playthrough, which only Drake is allowed to talk about).

- And this is the root of the current problem really. That they need to involve and include Drake and his family in everything that they can possibly involve him in (I mean, the only childhood scene he is out of, is the Beaumont Brothers one, and even then the brother that gets all the focus is the one that is marrying Drake's sister). That they probably might write the story in such a way that it's skewed in Drake's favour, will explore Drake's issues the most, before they even bother to explore anyone else's. Even now that we're out of the Walker Ranch storyline, the writing still shows a possibility that Drake's feelings (whether Jackson is the father of Eleanor's second child or not) may be explored more - just by virtue of there being way more material about Jackson than there ever was on Eleanor. Both Liam and Drake look up to Eleanor and Jackson respectively, but just by what I've read so far I already have an idea whose truth may hit harder.

- I still can't get over the fact that the writers have coded Hana's traditional black outfit in the way that they have...so that now, even if you did buy it, it's nowhere to be seen. The plain black dress is pretty but I can't stand to even look at it now.

- Perhaps the reason why Lorelai is being depicted negatively in this series, is not really her treatment of Hana (that should have been reason enough IMO) - since this very team has proved already that they don't exactly care that Hana was abused in that home and had her forgive the likes of Lorelai and Xinghai instead. There's a possibility that they're pushing for a more negative portrayal because she has some involvement or other in all this, and that is how they may create a Hana flashback scene as well. Though I'm not convinced they will place even half the effort on such a scene as they have on Olivia's scene this week.

- If that is the way the story is going, perhaps the larger theme of family then will involve the LIs seeing the family members they so respected, with actual feet of clay that will be hard for them to handle emotionally. Besides intrigue, it will also be a lesson to those very LIs to not repeat the mistakes their families made.

- I find the scene post press conference interesting, since there are tiny hints there that I feel we shouldn't be ignoring. The convenient placement of Godfrey, Regina and Bartie Sr, Bartie Sr's side-comment on Regina who is after all from the Krona duchy and who is related to Godfrey by marriage, Madeleine's offering of apples and her cryptic message to the MC to take care of herself...all of that adds up to something.

- Too bad only white people are allowed to take centerstage in this story.

• Anyway, that's for now from me. Until Saturday, guys!

#long post #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #the royal heir #king liam #hana lee #anti drake walker #maxwell beaumont #olivia nevrakis #trr madeleine

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crimsondomingo · 6 years ago

Text

Day 17: Coffee Shop/Flower Shop/Bookstore

For my July AU a Day Challenge

(I added the bookstore part)

Len finished the last sentence of the chapter to riveted expressions from the children watching, a few with worried, tearful faces at the fate of the main character—and with sympathy for the villain—just as Len had hoped.

He closed the little paperback with a flourish.

“And if you’d like to find out what happens next, you’ll have to convince your parents the merits of supporting your local businesses.”

Several kids groaned and whined, while most of the parents laughed. The Vampire Who Came For Christmas was hardly a title to break the bank, and he’d distracted these fine folk’s children for half an hour with a reading from near the middle of the book, where he felt they were most likely to get invested. The parents couldn’t be too upset with him for getting their kids interested in reading.

It also helped that he was dressed in a snazzy medieval outfit with plastic fangs to set the scene.

“Lenny,” Lisa stood with hands on hips after the children had started to disperse. “It isn’t Christmas or Halloween. Why that book? Just an excuse to play dress up?”

“Please, Lisa, I choose Children’s Corner based on more important timing. A little girl purchased the book recently and could not stop regaling me with how much she loved it.”

“Plus, the dress-up.”

“Well I do look good in black.” Len winked.

Rogues Corner was a shop passed down to Len from his mother with local authors and hard to find books, a little section for gifts and flowers, and a café in the back where people could grab coffee and a snack—a little bit of everything in a compact package. Len loved it, and he loved running it with his sister and best friend.

Mick handled the flowers and gifts. Lisa handled the books, though Len always read for Children’s Corner on Saturdays. And Len manned the coffee shop. They had a few additional workers to share the load, but for the most part, the place was theirs.

“Don’t look now, Lenny, but your favorite customer just walked in.” Lisa nodded over his shoulder.

Silly, unfair flutters churned in Len’s stomach before he turned around to see the young man who’d been coming in regularly for the past few months. Sometimes for a book, sometimes a gift, always for coffee and a treat, taking time to chat with Len each time. Lisa kept telling him to ask the guy out, but Len was unsure.

He was too old for the young Mr. Allen—“Call me Barry.” Oh but he was beautiful and adorable and so easy to talk to. Len just couldn’t be sure if Barry felt anything for him.

In that next moment as Lisa chuckled at his expense and headed off, he suddenly knew the answer.

Barry wasn’t interested—because he was in love with the girl he’d brought with him today.

She was a knockout. Dark skin, vibrant smile, flawless and petite figure. The way Barry looked at her was with such obvious adoration, Len stood no chance. No wonder their banter and what Lisa had insisted was flirting never went anywhere. Barry already had someone in his life.

They were headed for the flowers and gifts section, so Len bee-lined for the café. He shooed his extra cashier, Axel, to help Lisa with book sales, and hid behind the counter, wiping it down and serving the people who lined up for muffins and lattes.

He completely forgot he was still in costume from Children’s Corner until Barry and the knockout appeared out of nowhere.

“Did I see The Vampire Who Came For Christmas on display for Children’s Corner? I loved that book as a kid!” Barry exclaimed, without a single comment about Len looking like Lestat with shorn hair.

Knockout raised an eyebrow though. “You really get into your work, huh?”

“It’s for the kids!” Barry defended, then smiled at Len with a warmth that made Len’s knees week. “And the fun, right? You make fangs look cool again, Len.”

“There was a point they weren’t cool?” Then Len realized what he’d said and he, Barry, and Knockout all said at once, “Twilight.”

“Still a long road to recover from that,” Barry snickered. “Oh this is Iris. Iris, this is Len, one of the owners. He makes the best chocolate coconut mocha you have ever had.”

“You just made my order easier.” Iris smiled.

“Make it two?” Barry looked at Len hopefully. “And a cinnamon scone for me, please.”

“Coming right up.”

It was when Iris paid, waving Barry’s wallet away, that Len noticed the glittering ring on her finger.

“When’s the happy day?” Len asked, feeling his stomach sink deeper as he accepted her cash and readied her change.

“Next weekend. I’m losing my mind, so Barry is trying to keep me distracted. Best Man of Honor ever,” she said, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’m going to check out the gift section again. There might be something over there perfect for a bridal party gift, so you, sir, cannot come with me for a while.”

“Wouldn’t dream of peeking,” Barry gave a little salute.

Off she went with her mocha, while Barry sat at the café counter to enjoy his. He didn’t immediately look down at his scone though, but watched Iris walk away with longing.

It was worse than Len thought. He should leave things alone, he really should, but he found himself asking anyway, “So tell me, Barry…she know you’re in love with her?”

Barry startled, nearly choking on his first sip of coffee. “I… It’s that obvious? But yeah, she knows. I told her before they got engaged, but…”

“She chose the other guy.”

“We don’t want it to make things weird. She’s my oldest friend. My best friend, and she always will be.”

“Doesn’t change that you’re hung up on her.”

“Like a jerk.” Barry picked at his scone, only taking a small bite, which wasn’t like him at all. He was a hearty eater for such a slim guy. “Her fiancé, Eddie, is the best too. Like, even I love him. It’s not a case of her choosing the wrong guy, I’m just out of luck.”

Len felt for him, intimately familiar with unrequited love. “Well…” He tried to think of something comforting to say.

“Mr. Len?”

Len peered over the counter beside Barry where one of the regulars from Children’s Corner was clutching a book and some cash. He went around to crouch in front of her. “Yes, Eleanor?”

“I only got three dollars and fifty cents, but the vampire book is six. Can I bring you the rest later?”

Eleanor’s parents insisted she earn and pay for her own books, trying to teach her patience and restraint, though they gave her fifty cents here and there for easy things to give her a sense of accomplishment too. Len could see them in the distance, watching her closely.

“You most certainly can,” he said, since he appreciated a negotiator. “We’ll write an IOU.”

“A what?”

Len pulled a pen and paper from his pocket, turning to write on the empty stool beside Barry so Eleanor could see. “I,” he wrote and pointed at her, “O,” he tapped the money in her hands, “U,” he pointed at himself. “And we’ll write the amount left on your tab so we both remember. What is six minus three-fifty?”

“Um…two-fifty!”

“Good girl.” He wrote that down on the paper along with Eleanor’s name, and handed it to her. “You go give all that to Miss Lisa and say I said it was alright.”

“Thank you, Mr. Len!” Eleanor bounced on her feet before dashing away. Her parents shot him a sly look but he simply shrugged.

Then he noticed Barry smirking at him, right there above him where Len was still crouching.

He quickly stood. “What?”

“Nothing. You’re just amazing. You’re really good with kids, you know.”

“Easy to be good with them when you can give them back to their parents.”

Barry chuckled and started eating his scone with more gusto.

“Wedding, huh?” Lisa appeared just as Len got back behind the counter. She must have grilled Iris.

“Shouldn’t you be up front?” Len glared at her.

“Axel’s got it, and I took the IOU, you big softy.” She looked back to Barry for an answer.

“Oh, yeah, next weekend.”

“Do you have a date?”

“No?” Barry said more like a question.

“Going stag to bag a bridesmaid?”

“No!”

“Groomsman?”

“Lisa,” Len snapped. She did not need to ask that—or hover so close to Barry.

“Not these groomsmen,” Barry said with a glance away that said he might be interested in some groomsmen—in men as well as women, which should not have made Len feel so hopeful. “They’re all friends of mine.”

“Then you should take Lenny.”

“What?” Len’s attention whirled back to his sister.

“You get a plus one, don’t you?” Lisa grinned at Barry mischievously. “Lenny loves weddings.”

Len hated weddings.

“At least then you’d have someone to dance with and not feel awkward during the reception.”

“I couldn’t ask that.” Barry turned to face Len with that typical nice ‘no thanks’ expression. Or at least Len thought that’s what he was seeing until a swirl of hope entered Barry’s face. “Unless you…really wanted to go? Would you?”

Len resented and loved his sister so much in that moment because it didn’t seem like Barry was only being polite. “If you’re really asking…I could be available.”

“Really? Coz I think I am asking. I would love to not have to go through next weekend alone, especially if you were the one with me.” Barry seemed to realize how he’d said that and promptly blushed.

Lisa looked so damn smug, but maybe she wasn’t wrong about Barry.

“Great,” Len said. “It’s a date.”

#coldflash #au a day challenge #coffee shop au #among others #crimson's writing #damn it #I am going to have so many stories to write someday

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ardentlythieving · 6 years ago

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HEWWO EVERYBODY IT’S END OF YEAR RECAP TIME WITH ME: UR PAL ARDO

First of all if ur reading this, merry christmas if u celebrate it and happy holidays if u don’t!!! Y’all are amazing people and I hope this time of year is a good one for you, and if it’s not I hope you find the time to do smth nice for urself!!

Dam this year has been crazy tho. I mean if ur dash is anything like mine you’ve prob seen all those posts talking about how long this year has felt re: the sheer amount of stuff happening. But on a more individual level there’s some stuff I wanna say I guess so in no particular order here is my Thoughts™ coz there’s been some good, some bad, and some weird this year.

So, this year has been a kind of wild one for me in terms of things changing. The big one being that I started university and kinda lost contact with most of my pals from high school. All goods tho, coz I met some amazing new people thru tabletop gaming who idk if I’m at the friends point with yet, but I defo wanna try and get there coz they’re cool as heck. It’s true what people say that starting university is a big change coz DAM things have been wild and hopefully are gonna keep being wild next year espc coz one of my online friends is moving down to start at my university and I’m super excited to meet her in person!! Speaking of meeting people in person I finally got to hang out with @chipmunkwithwings at her place and that was one of the highlights of my year for sure! She’s a super cool person and that week was just utterly brilliant.

Anyways while we’re on the topic of friends this year sure has been exciting for that as well. I’ve made some amazing new ones, gotten closer with some older ones, had some drift apart and thru it all I’ve learnt something important. Namely that, there’s nothing wrong with the friends I had before, but I’ve felt so much better and it’s just been so much healthier for me now I’ve also started pursuing and focusing on friendships with people around my age. It sounds weird to say, but despite having a good collection of close friends there was a part of me that was lonely, and that part has kinda stopped being so much now not all my friends are 10ish years older than me.

That’s one thing I’ve discovered, but this year has been a big one for discovery for me. I tried a bunch of different papers and found out that I hate international relations and love philosophy. I’ve started learning Swedish!! And probably the biggest and most important discovery: thanks to my friends telling me “dude you really need to do this” I’ve gotten on anti-depressants!!! Which have really been helping me so much. That’s probably.... my biggest regret is that I didn’t get on them a few years ago. Still, I’m on them now and my head is just working so much better. Also, and I’ve talked about this in an earlier post so if you wanna kno deets you can go read it, I properly I guess remembered? stopped repressing? how a friend abused me a few years ago and started working thru the issues I have because of that.

At this point I’m gonna put things under a cut coz this is where shit is gonna get long.

Some letters, to the people I’ve known this year. I know a LOT of people so I’m prob gonna not mention anyone so if I don’t mention you: I love y’all. Ur so so fucking brilliant all of u and I’m honored to know you and to have had this chance to be in contact with y’all. I’m deeply sorry for any way I might have wronged you over this year, and if any of you wronged ME I forgive you entirely. If any of you haven’t really talked to me, but want to; or if we’ve drifted outta contact and you wanna pick things back up or ANYTHING at all feel free to msg me anytime. My discord is ardentlyThieving#4893 and this is an open invitation to anyone reading this coz there’s a ton of cool ppl on here who I haven’t talked to as much as I’d like. Anyways onto the individual stuff.

To the afternoon gang. You guys all mean so so fucking much to me, more than probably anyone else. Ur my best support network, my greatest pals. Being friends with you all is a fucking delight. I know I’m not always active in our server, but trust me that it’s nothing on you. I’ve enjoyed every moment hanging out with you guys. Or well, most of them at least :P. We have the wildest conversations and trust me, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know some of you guys have had a hard time this year and I’m so sorry that you guys are going thru that shit coz y’all deserve so much better. It’s my deepest hope that next year is a good one for all of you and if there’s every anything I can do you guys know where to find me. I love you so so so so so much and I hope these last few days of 2018 are as good for you as they can possibly be.

To the people of Eff’s servers. You guys are super duper cool. Being salty with y’all is so much fun and also so deeply annoying that people keep pulling this shit that we gotta be salty about. I love the fact that we can go from shitty meme posting (usually my fault) to having in depth n thoughtful conversations about just about anything (hopefully usually not my fault). Y’all are amazing people and it feels like you’ve all found urselves a bit more this year, which I’m so happy for you about.

To Sakshi. That’s right, u get an individual one. Ur like, my hero. Srsly dude the fact that ur so fucking patient with the utter dumbasses msging you and that u started this whole deep conversation that ur not backing down from? I’m so proud of you, I admire you so much, and you have my utmost support. Hmu if you ever need me to drag someone for you. Also i’m sorry to out you as a gamer to the fine people of tumblr dot com (actually I’m not that sorry) but it’s been so much fun playing swtor with you. And salt watching things with you. I love how fun our friendship is and also how we can have proper deep conversations like 10/10 A+ content.

To Hammi. Dude you are awesomesauce. My fave lesbian pal. I love memeing with you and gaming with you and chatting with you. Here’s to another great year broski!

To Clare. We’ve only just met at the very end of this year and I’m so glad we did. Ur super cool and funny and I love ur art n posts.

To my swtor guild. Another group of wonderful people who I’ve only just met. i’m so fucking excited to get to know all of you better coz y’all have such great swtor opinions and are so much fun to play with. Sorry about what I did to the Gizka flagship bridge lmao.

To Sofa. DUDE HI! becoming friends with you this year has been one of the highlights. Thank you for all the support you’ve given me and for all the fun times we’ve had. I adore playing video games with you and I fucking love ur swtor ocs. You’ve been there for me so much, and I hope I’ve been there for you as well. Thank you for everything.

To Marie. Yet another person I met later on this year and haven’t had the chance to get so close with. Defo my bad there I need to msg you more often. Thanks for being there for me, even though I was kind of a shitty friend to you at one point. I didn’t deserve ur patience but you gave it to me anyway and I’m so fuckin grateful for that. I hope to make that up to you in the coming year. <3

To Jason. We were tight at the start of the year and kinda drifted apart which I regret. Msg me anytime dude and if you ever reinstall swtor you should totally hmu coz playing it with you was a ton of fun!!

To Traya. I know we’ve only talked on and off this year, but I’m so excited for you to be at my university and to hang out in person!! Hang in there dude, coz there’s so many cool people for you to meet and take it from me that university really is so much better than college.

Ok this is where the happy positivity ends!! Again I love y’all so much and I hope that next year is better for all of you then this one was!!! Thanks for being pals with me, I appreciate it so much even when I’m not great at showing it.

Coz there’s one more letter I gotta write coz after however many years I want closure. This is where it ends.

To Teri. Wow. I never thought I’d be saying ur name again. Well typing, but w/e. That first year we were friends was so fucking good and I’m glad we had that, coz you were a pretty cool person. I dunno why you decided to change all that and start hurting me and I’m probably never gonna understand but you know what? That’s ok. I don’t need to. You hurt me, I got out. I’m not sure, but I think you were being hurt by people as well and I hope you got out like I did. No matter how badly you treated me you still don’t deserve to be abused urself. Nobody deserves that. I don’t know if I forgive you, and I don’t know if I ever will, but I hope things are better for you now. I’m sorry for the times I wronged you while we were friends. This isn’t me saying I deserved to be abused by you, because I sure as hell didn’t, but well. Two wrongs don’t make a right and ur abuse doesn’t magically erase the times I wasn’t the greatest friend. I thought ignoring the things you did to me would make things better, but instead I let it all fester inside me and change my behaviour without realizing that’s what happened. So this is me letting go of it all. Coz you don’t get to fuckin take anything else away from me. I’m better now than I was then despite everything you did to me. This is me, making a conscious choice to heal and move on and grow. It’s not gonna be easy, but imma do it and it’s gonna be so fucking wonderful. This is Arden signing out because you don’t GET to have any control over my life anymore. Never ever again.

#ardently original #happy long ass christmas post lads

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the-everlasting-dream · 6 years ago

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Q&A with Ana De Luca - Drake x MC

Summary: MC Elizabeth and Drake sit down for a post-honeymoon interview with Trend Magazine’s Ana De Luca for a light hearted Q&A session.

A/N: I really wanted to contribute to @boneandfur ‘s TRR4Ever week but was too busy to commit to a full on fic/one shot so this was what came to my tired brain instead. Its probably totally crap but I kinda wanted it to be natural while throwing in a few of my own HC’s in there coz why not? Also im kinda proud of this aesthetic like its the first time i’ve made one of these

Permanent Tag list: @chantelle-x0x @choicessa @mariamatsuo @pbchoicesobsessed

For this month’s issue I, Ana De Luca, sat down with the Duke Drake and Duchess Elizabeth Walker of Atlantea for an exclusive look into married life for the recently wedded couple by asking them a series of questions sent in by our readers from what is appropriately dubbed the ’Newlywed Game' as opposed to the usual interview format.

[Ana De Luca] Hello Your Graces. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you had a pleasant vacation.

[Elizabeth] Thank you so much for having us today Ms De Luca. We most certainly did. South America was beautiful wasn’t it darling?

[Drake] Yes.

[E] You’ll have to forgive my husband -she blushes slightly as she says this, looking at him - He’s not used to being interviewed.

[A] No apologies necessary Your Grace. I trust you were informed of the structure we will be employing today.

[E] Yes we were and it sounds super fun, this Newlywed game. You’ll be asking us separate questions about each other, am I correct?

[A] Yes. Shall we begin?

[D] Yep lets do it. And you can drop the whole duke-duchess thing. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that title.

[A] The first question is for you Drake. Where and when did you and the duchess share your first kiss?

[D] Wow straight to the point aren’t you? Ow! Elizabeth elbows him slightly in the ribs Umm our kiss actually took place at the Beaumont mansion a few months after we met.

[A] Would I be right in assuming that was during the social season?

[D] Umm… Yes, yeah thats right.

[A] Splendid. Now to Elizabeth. What was your first impression of your spouse?

[E] My first impression hmm? She stifles a laugh as her husband eyes her expectantly. It wasn’t too different to everyone else’s. He was dark and broody. Extremely sarcastic and snarky, almost like he didn’t like me at first. But that quickly changed after I wore down his walls.

[D] She basically annoyed me into loving her.

[E] Is that a complaint I hear?

[D] Complain? Me? Never.

[A] Drake what adjective would you use describe Elizabeth on your wedding day?

[D] Just one?

[A] That's correct.

[D] Man there are so many…. One won’t be able to cover it... but I guess I’ll have to go with... radiant. She was practically glowing when she walked up the aisle and I felt like the luckiest man on the planet.

[A] Wonderful. The readers will love this. Now Elizabeth do you get along with Drake’s family members?

[E] His mum is an angel. We only met after we got engaged but she is such a warm lovely person and we bonded immediately being Americans. I adore Savannah too. She and I have gotten so much closer over the engagement period and I’ve come to count on her as a second second sister. Her and her mother have the best stories from Drake’s childhood.

[A] Can I persuade you into sharing any?

The duchess glances at her husband who glares at her in warning.

[E] I really value my life so I’m gonna have to decline on that one.

[A] In that case, Drake what item of clothing does Elizabeth look best in?

[D] Oh man… This is a hard one because she looks stunning in pretty much everything.

[A] But if you had to pick one?

[D] I can’t there are too many to choose from…

[A] Ok let me rephrase the question.. Is there an outfit of Elizabeth’s besides her wedding dress that completely blew you away the first time you saw her wear it?

[D] Hmm when you phrase it like that… She’d worn tons of amazing ballgowns in the past but the green dress she wore the first night we met in New York will always be one of my favourites… He sighs contentedly, smiling shyly at the duchess. Does that count?

[A] It most certainly does. Elizabeth what is his most irritating habit in the bedroom?

[D] Now thats not an invasion of privacy at all… His tone is sarcastic but he glances at his wife expectantly as she thinks.

[E] Most irritating habit hm? Its not necessarily irritating but I think he should be more confident in his abilities because he is a fantastic lover.

Her words make the duke blush slightly as they share a loving gaze.

[A] How would you describe her first thing in the morning?

[D] Hah that's an easy one. She’s like a sleepy little puppy who doesn’t want to get out of bed. Especially in winter I’ll have to pull her out of the layers of blankets she’s wrapped herself in and if I don’t actually make sure she’s standing up with her eyes open, there’s a high chance she’ll just go right back to bed again.

[E] What can I say? I love my sleep. They share a short laugh.

[A] That is just adorable. Elizabeth, now I’m sure Drake considers himself a very manly man so tell me how does he like his steak cooked?

[E] Easy. Medium rare. Usually he’d be happy to eat anything but he’s extremely particular about his steaks, he’ll send them right back if they’re not satisficatory.

[D] That was one time! And it was so rare it was practically walking off the plate.

[E] One time too many. You should have known that when you married me I’d never let you get away with such diva-like behaviour.

[A] Expanding on that now, who is the best cook?

[D] Elizabeth for sure. I don’t know how she does it but she can make an incredible dish from just what we have in the fridge that's somehow way better than some of the food at these courtly functions.

[E] Aww babe you’re too kind.

[D] I’m just being honest. He smiles, squeezing her hand.

[A] So if you’ve got all the cooking covered Elizabeth, what is one thing that Drake does for you that he hates to do but does it anyways because he loves you?

[E] I rely on him mostly to do all the repairs and handyman stuff around the house because I have no idea what I’m doing if it were up to me. I don’t think he hates it though. He once installed an entire shoe rack for me just because I mentioned I was needed more space to store them.

[A] That's kind of a coincidence because my next question is how many pair of shoes does Elizabeth own?

[D] I honestly have no idea. But I’ll install as many shoe racks as needed because she has way too many to count.

[A] Elizabeth who would you cast to play Drake in a movie?

The duchess’ face shifts into a wide grin.

[E] Actually we were just talking about this recently. I’d been scrolling through my Instagram and some people seem to think that Drake looks like Daniel DiTomasso from Witches of East End. Just with slightly shorter hair but I am starting to agree with them. Don’t you think?

She pulls up a picture of the actor on her phone before handing it to me.

[A] He does bear a striking resemblance now that I look at it.

[D] I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t even have blue eyes!

[A] Alright then speaking of appearances, does Elizabeth have any pet peeves about hers?

[D] She is very very VERY particular about her hair. She sometimes plans her entire week around her hair washing schedule.

[E] Hey don’t scoff at me! Not all of us can rock the messy bedhead look. It takes a lot of work to look this good.

[A] And my final question to both of you now… As it is leading up to Valentines day, when did you realise that your spouse could possibly be the one?

[E] You first.

[D] Well I guess I’m going first then. We’d had lots of moments before this, like the time all of us snuck out for cronuts or when we were stargazing but the first time I actually saw her in a different light was on my birthday a couple of years ago. She got us all to sneak out of the palace to go to a Western themed bar and we spent the rest of the night drinking, line dancing and bull riding with all our friends.

[E] That soon?! I thought you still hated me back then? You barely even let me hug you.

[D] I never hated you. I just kept you at arms length because I thought you’d never see me that way.

[E] And look how far we’ve come since then. I think for me was a little earlier than that. Time-wise everything kinda blurs together but that moment for me was the time we were in Olivia's wine cellar in Lythikos when I finally learned that there was more to you than just cynical comments and liking whiskey. After that I just couldn’t look at you the same way again, knowing that there was a soft marshmallow heart under that burnt exterior.

He gives her a soft smile before clearing his throat awkwardly.

[D] Is this interview over yet? I would like to leave with some semblance of dignity left before my wife decides to give away all my secrets.

[A] I’m sure you’ll be relieved when I say yes it is. Duke and Duchess I thank you once again for your time today. You are a beautiful couple and I wish you all the best in the future.

[D] Thank you.

[E] Thank you very much for having us Ms De Luca.

[A] The pleasure was all mine.

#trr appreciation week #trr4ever #drake walker #drake x mc #drake x elizabeth #ana de luca #the royal romance #trr3 #choices #playchoices #choices fandom #choices fanfiction #1600 words of nothing #i just needed a break from all the angst that revelation was giving me #i need to chill out #my brain is too tired #and this is the sub par content it creates lol

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survivor-tierradelfuego · 4 years ago

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Ep. 13: “I just want to bury my head in a mountain of blankets and sleep.” - Sarah

Najwah

Well, that was shit. I feel as though I really tried to get Amy to vote with us but Pedro wanted to get her out so everyone just decided to write her name down too. Also, she basically used my name as a decoy too. And I used Maddison as a decoy too so she could flush Olivia's idol. It worked. I had my superidol at the ready too. I feel like this game is just going to get more insane from here on out. We are so little people in the game. So close and yet I'm content with just being here. In the final seven. This feels good. I'm glad Pedro is with us and I wish we had gotten him on board a while back. We haven't told anyone else about our idol and superidol yet. I wonder if Amy really gave Pedro the fake idol lmao that would be hilarious. Anyway. I'm just going to carry on playing I guess. Amy had crazy big plans and I loved them but I felt like her allegiance to Maddison ruined our common goal. I wish she'd just been on board with us voting Maddison like she wanted to when we voted Grae out. That's when it all started. That's when we were causing waves in the game without anyone even knowing. Sigh. I wish things could have been different.

Olivia A

So it looks like Maddison and I got Pedro to agree to work with us!! This is very very exciting. We can get Aimee to flip easily (even though she does keep going back on that promise) and have a majority. Assuming it goes as planned, Maddison and I will then have our pick of who to go to the final 3 with (Aimee or Pedro). I have felt 100% solid with Maddison from day 1 and we have made every single decision together. I don’t wanna be at the final 3 with anyone but her.

Aimee

All Maddison had to do was play her idol on Amy and Cody would of went home. Maddison was scared that Old Hanuha was lying to me again and that those 3 were voting Maddison and Pedro and I would be left out and vote Amy. I wanted to put Cody’s down but I knew it would of been rocks, four versus four vote.

Dang I wish I would of known about the idol sooner so I could of had Old Hanuha put the votes on Maddison and get Cody out that way. It would’ve been such a huge game move for me and Maddison that would have looked super great for the jury, and if Cody left this game would be wide open again. Also it would’ve been believable that Pedro ratted the vote out to Maddison instead of me so I could’ve hid behind that too and old Hanuha never would’ve known I told Maddison the vote. But I get it and Maddison was nervous it was her. We still have an opportunity to flip this on the next vote too. It just requires Pedro and the personal connection I have with him to flip with me. He will have to put personal things aside with Maddison and Olivia if he wants to be more than fourth or fifth in this game. He knows the best he can get here is fifth with them....he even told me this straight up. I wish I didn’t have to flip because I love these people but I know that Cody Najwah and Sarah are a final 3. And I’ve been wronged so many times before that it would be a nice little treat for Ben and everyone else hahahaha. Actually Sarah flipping would be great for her own game too but I’m not sure if she is really going to do that or just is waiting for the right moment to maybe flip with me and Pedro as well. It’s interesting with Sarah because it’s almost like we are both staring at each other waiting for the other to say we wanna flip. Wonder if we are thinking the same thing and maybe planning the same moves. Wouldn’t surprise me, Casanova 👑 has a really similar game to mine, even if it’s portrayed differently.

Aimee

Also, after listening to that podcast. WHOS THE TOP PISCES NOW, ZACK! https://64.media.tumblr.com/ce6ed38bc4ad9c69ee92e5e764c19e5e/tumblr_njj8unqiGl1sqbiv1o5_400.gifv

Sarah

From three days ago but I just got it to upload.... https://youtu.be/w5g35793Bkc

Sarah

From last night... https://youtu.be/IBPzYsGfIRU Najwah I had a brain fart at the end of that game and I said something so ridiculous. I just want to bury my head in a mountain of blankets and sleep. 💀💀 What a fun game though I enjoyed it! But... Embarrassed for life.

Aimee

https://rainbowkarolina.tumblr.com/post/616209748381122560/ I wore my jacket looking fancy for this immunity challenge. Too bad my mood was shit. Oh well. Congrats Cody!! 🥳🥳🥳 https://64.media.tumblr.com/b1324cd7cf8c621547f61c8cb20d5fda/eaeee04a03e6c254-72/s540x810/eaf80576f97d63015f9a99cffb28fe7b46e888cb.gifv

Najwah

No ones ever going to see that video again so let's write a better confession. Here's the thing, I am playing for fun at this point. After hearing and having time to listen to Zack's podcast, I realised how intense I was initially too. How I'd do anything to win. Whether it was stay up until 6am, avoid my job, accidentally stay without food, stay in bed, not call my parents for weeks, blindsiding James just to get to merge. I no longer feel stressed and angry. One thing I liked about Zack's podcast segment was that I have a whole new perspective on a lot of things right now. I'm here, in the fucking top 7. Never thought that would ever happen. I have made friends and gained so much from this. At some point in this game you get to a crossroads and you have to decide who you are. Are you a vicious blindsiding, backstabbing bitch or do you want to see your people WIN more than anything. Tonight Cody won immunity. He fucking deserved it. I'm so happy he can go spend time with his nieces and nephews and not worry about being a target. Me? Oh I'm burning to use my damn superidol so that I can at least try to win ONE immunity.

Everyone in the game right now has won individual immunity except Pedro and I. Which is funny bc I always thought of Pedro as a challenge beast. I miss Amy. I don't like not seeing her in this game. I've been thinking about how we left things all day. Why did she want me to vote her? Why did she trick me about the vote or was that just her protecting me? Either way, we played the same game at each other as our last play. The double decoy. I don't know if I mentioned this yesterday, but Amy wanted to vote Olivia out so that we could form a 4 person alliance with Pedro and Maddison. I've never spoken to Maddison ever. And Pedro is a loose cannon. I don't see how that would have ever worked. And she said our first play would be to get the strong players out: Cody, Sarah.. Like? In my opinion Maddison is the strongest player in the game. If Maddison were at the end, I wouldn't hesitate voting her in a heart beat. I didn't get how she wanted. To hide behind Maddison forever and not take control of her own game. I didn't get that she wanted Maddison out but whenever it came down to it, she would hesitate to get her out? She's told me every one of Maddison and Olivias advantages and idols etc. She's spilled so much tea while I've never told her anything negative about the people I'm working with because I didn't want them out? Ugh. I guess some day I'll ask her. If this were a real game of survivor perhaps I'd take Sarah or Aimee out, like I'd flip on them for a million bucks maybe coz they're strong players but as long as this is an online game ima be cheering everyone on bc this game is long and tough and we have been through things together, ya know?

Olivia A

Just talked to Aimee about flipping to work with Maddison, Pedro, and me. She said she’s in for now but still wants to talk to og hanuha people and see their plan for this tribal. She still said that she realizes if she doesn’t flip all of our games (including hers) are done. So even thought she hasn’t given full agreement, I think we’re all solid on this. We are planning to vote Sarah out. I think this will completely turn the game around. I don’t wanna think too far ahead but I’m starting to see my trajectory to FTC pretty clearly. Don’t wanna speak too soon though so if I get voted out don’t hold this against me lol.

Pedro A

trying to break the trio...have a bad feeling about this tribal ....working with maddison and olivia isnt the best....i hope they dont lie AGAIN....at this point..if i get out....they are next...so its kinda dumb to vote....BUT IF I LOSE....i will scream ALELUIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...cause damn im exhausted

Aimee

This song is dedicated to Cody and his immunity win!!!!!🙌💚🖤 https://youtu.be/weRHyjj34ZE Sharika - Whenever, Wherever Our humor knows no distance 😻🌵🌈💞 😅I’m trying my damnedest to get Maddison and I as far to the end of this game as possible. So sorry about the confessional about me wanting the idol to work to get you out. https://64.media.tumblr.com/562258ad5eb14f6498ceff24aa8392e7/984582d2a107588c-d2/s540x810/1b6cf1576e95c3672122cfb7887ffd5a644d87da.gifv So I hope no hard feelings! I love that we can laugh over pop divas, gay culture and just life in general. 😂 We are gonna tear up the city as soon as we can hang out in person. I hope Texas and Ohio is ready for this! Olivia A

Pedro being so paranoid about Aimee’s commitment is getting frustrating. Since we brought this plan to him we’ve told him she’s 100% in she’s been talking about flipping forever and he still gets so nervous. I understand the paranoia bc it’s a big move but I wish he would listen to what we’re telling him and trust our intuition. That doesn’t really matter though bc tonight we are voting Sarah and it’s going to work! :) Oh also Maddison and I keep saving up coins to buy things that end up being nothing it’s getting really frustrating but oh well!

Pedro A

Sarrah says she wants to vote maddison...and now aimee..is trying to get me to vote...with maddison and olivia who want to take out sarah.....(i already know about the plan, i made the plan lmao)......somehow i feel like im the one GOING HOME TONIGHT

Maddison

I’m putting trust in someone that I never wanted to have to trust. Pedro, here’s to you bud.

Aimee

https://kasugano.tumblr.com/post/154832341580 Well I figured I would try! I will do everything in my power to keep Maddison here on Skype survivor island. https://rainbowkarolina.tumblr.com/post/612534208936755200/ I just keep losing one close friend after another in this game. I’ve honestly become numb to it at this point. I just see that light at the end of the tunnel. 2 weeks just 2 more weeks. I don’t plan on going to jury. I’m just so excited to finally reconnect with my people at the end. I’ll keep fighting like I’ve been doing since day 1. I feel like Maddison being voted out just kicked me into overdrive. The adrenaline is here and I’m ready for what’s to come next. This lady is strong and a fighter. https://rainbowkarolina.tumblr.com/post/613061232697753600/

Cody A

https://youtu.be/S8iY2_ho8-Y

#episodes

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electriclladydoesthetwist · 4 years ago

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OKAY - I HAD TO - I HAD TO -

And I HAVE TO SAY THIS -

I HAVE TO VENT TO YOU BECAUSE YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL GET IT. And also because I need to.

OH MHY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDD

JAMES! DEAR LORD SHE’S AN ATTENTION SEEKING IDIOT

Oh those beautiful, poor kittens - she’s so selfish

WHAT THE HELL - WHAT - THE HELL

Come on this is so ridiculous

I haven’t posted here in ages and yeah - I haven’t called her out in forever because I haven’t been paying attention - but - uhh.

I hate people like this, I can’t believe she turned into one.

social media brings out the worst in pathological attention seeking no brain people behaviour.

It’s very creepy and weird.

And yes, I get that we all take pictures with babies and post them because it’s cute but also it’s a reason to be like ‘look I look amazing but I’m really only posting this because of the cute baby ‘ blah blah hehe - but I mean that’s relatively harmless - it’s only really harmful if the baby is your own and you’re just using it because that’s the only way you value it - but guess what - that’s the only way she values these beautiful babies. AAAAAAA it’s so revolting it makes me sick. And I can’t post a new photo because I don’t like not focusing on the present moment and my happy internal and external life - And also - facebook kind of makes me hate people because of stuff like this so it’s just better for my own happiness not to even look at it. Oh - but she always does this - and this time it involves innocent beings who should be treated equally - with genuine moral consideration -

she’s such a fucking moron - who just uses other people to try to make herself feel important instead of actually being a genuine human being.

Oh James - I just knew you’d get it - you’re the only one who really does

And also it felt really great to call her out on her bullshit - publically - with genuine real considerations - I’m happy

I used to do that - I used to use facebook and whenever she pulled crap or used me for attention seeking - I’d call her out immediately and it wwas brilliant. I love you .

I Just had to do it.

She;s not thinking about their wellbeing.

And they’re beautiful and I arleayd love them - but even if she doesn’t end up - if she does move that would be okay - I want to protect them - but evne if she doesn’t end up keeping htem - what can be done - if the go to ‘ the girls’ - they’d be fine but those parent’s would totally abuse and not treat them well - coz they’re horrible {god i LOV E having no human siblings ;p = truly) - - and she’s stealing their kitten hood. How could she. She had choices. She didn’t have to become like this.

Please promise me you’ll defy the poison - those extremely sexist and violent video games tell me you’ve been exposed to that way too young - and at all. Please - please respect and genuinely value females. Please. Because we are people in our own right. I know society - every single male has internalised misogyny - society grooms them, - you- to see only males - all texts are angled toward their own uplifting at the expense and subduing of women. Please don’t listen to it. Please consciously recognise it and reject it. Please don’t become an aggreesor toward us. Don’t just respect me because of who I am to you . Respect me because I am a human being in my own right. And I deserve respect. Because I am equal. More than.

Please be the real you. Promise me.

you also know why I’m indignantly pissed off too - you can guess it .

i’m so worried about those poor babies - she’s stealing their kitten hood for her own gain and then what. They won’t get the quality of life they deserve. THey deserve to be happy and healthy and well looked after and genuinely loved - for them. They deserve a back yard - space. Cats need soo much space. All those idiots who keep them indoors- that’s literally abutse - their mental wellbeing and physical wellbeing - you can’t replicate the stimulation of outside, with it’s smells and sounds and trees and grass and calm and fun. That’s their natural environment. For humans or animals. But animals - especially. That’s basic living being rights - I want to rescue them. I would if I could.

I’m so angry at her that she would even do this. It’s so morally repugnant.

SHE is so morally repugnant.

I jsut saw her fb post for my birthday - wow. Talk about use me for attention - and my childhood - the photos she chose. At least I used to pick nice photos of her - not the one photo where I look like I have the weirdest posture on earth because I’m detaching her earring from my hair mid photo -

and how much have I said that my childhood is private - and lovely - and I don’t want to be used for attention - or have it put anywhere on social media - Yes - I look like a little doll as a child - Sash literally said that about me when she saw some photos - ‘She looks like a little doll!’ were her exact words - so - you know hehe - and there are SO MANY gorgeous photos of me - - and of me and her - but she really did pick the least flattering one for the post. She - however, was not so good looking. but it’s really not done out of genuine good will

My childhood is my own. I don’t want anyone else to have access to it. It’s precious. Why doesn’t she ever respect the integrity of other people. perhaps because she doesn’t have any herself.. ;p.. she mustn’t understand the concept - at least for anyone else but herself . I’m sick of her using me for attention. And other people. Especially those kittens - I have to be their advocate now because no one else is going to do it. They are precious and so are their lives and they deserve happiness, health, safety and genuine, true love - and to be treated like a family. And space ! They’re kittens. Little balls of sweet innocent energy and free will. Because they are family. I want to protect them.

#Hey remember when she literally abused Sprockie a few months after her surgery and ransacked my own belongings when I was away #And she volunteered to look after Sprockie while I was away just so she could gain acccess #- They both did.#That was shit #and fucking pathologically cruel #Mr Happy #Sally

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gazzhowie · 5 years ago

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My Top 25 Movies of 2019.

It is indeed time… or at least, as is tradition, it is indeed now overdue for me to dust off the cobwebs from my Tumblr account and post my Top 25 movies of the year.

This time for 2019.

Years 2008 through to present are available in the archive. Frequent visitors know that I’ll throw out a few special mentions to all the films that I wish I could’ve included but couldn’t make them fit yet believe they deserve a shout out regardless and then I get stuck in to what I think are the 25 best films of the year.

As always, films listed are based on their UK release date whether that’s in the cinema or on DVD, VOD etc.

And no, despite several attempts, repeated proclamations on social media AND owning the bloody thing outright for the last 6 months, I still never got round to seeing Ash is The Purest White in time for my self-imposed deadline for this so if you’re here to see that lauded, I will dash your expectations now.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the ‘also-rans’ and ‘near-misses’ separated per genre that very nearly made the final list:

In terms of comedies, I very much enjoyed The Breaker Upperers, The Favourite, Always Be My Maybe, Mega Time Squad, Good Boys, Brittany Runs a Marathon and – as ultimately disappointing as it turned out to be in comparison to the original – yes, Zombieland: Double Tap.

Dramas I really liked this year were The 12th Man, The Old Man And The Gun, The Man Who Killed Hitler and then Bigfoot, White Boy Rick, Stan & Ollie, Deadwood: The Movie, The Sister Brothers, the first two thirds of Feedback, Hotel Mumbai, The Mule, Shadow, Thunder Road, The Clovehitch Killer, The Nightingale, Destroyer, Vice and, as uncomfortable as it made me, Ray and Liz.

Documentaries I rated highly in 2019 included Leaving Neverland, Free Solo, The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley, Divide & Conquer: Roger Ailes and The Amazing Jonathan Documentary.

In terms of horror movies, rather controversially I seem to stand alone in saying I rather liked both Velvet Buzzsaw and The Dead Don’t Die. I also thoroughly enjoyed One Cut of the Dead, Happy Death Day 2 U and In Fabric, the last of which VERY nearly made the final Top 25 cut.

Action movies I was a fan of this year were both Triple Frontier and Triple Threat, The Quake (or The Wave 2: The Quake as it is inexplicably retitled in some countries), We Die Young which features a wordless and stellar Van Damme performance, Furie and Stuber.

On the blockbuster ‘stage’, I fully embraced the absolute utter insanity (or stupidity?) of The Wandering Earth, really liked Shazam! As well as Spiderman: Far From Home and Terminator: Dark Fate. Somewhat controversially, I also had a lot of fun with Jumanji: The Next Level, 6 Underground and Joker (a straight-up masterpiece that last movie most certainly is not!).

Finally, in terms of animation that I liked in 2019 I’d pay mention to How To Train Your Dragon 3, The Lego Movie 2 and Toy Story 4 – the last two being very likeable but totally unnecessary. And of course, Klaus which was a lovely, moving, visual joy that me and my family will return to a lot over the years.

Now… onto that Top 25:

25. BOOKSMART

I really loved this first time I saw it earlier this year. I found it very funny and thought the performances were delightful by the two main leads. I had issues with the clusterfuck that is the film's third act but not enough that I didn't hold a place for it in my Top 10 of the year for pretty much the last four months or so. Then I revisited it again recently and I’ve still got a huge amount of affection for it and there is still a large amount of it that makes me laugh out loud - but that third act REALLY rubs me the wrong way.

Asides from the clunky plot developments that exist purely to give the film conflict and some sort of narrative 'propulsion' it doesn't necessarily need AND on top of the fact that Billie Lourd's entire thing is embarrassing and awful (are we allowed to kind of lean in together and whisper yet that she can't act very well?), what really smarts is for a film that is meant to be this 'progressive' and female-centred, it leans in on the laziest and most horrible of high school comedy tropes - the horny teacher who beds the student! And like cliche dictates it is always a female teacher and male student because even a film as allegedly "progressive" as this is self-aware enough to know that if the sexes were reversed they couldn't / wouldn't get away with it.

In an age of #MeToo and #TimesUp the idea that a female filmmaker would go with this iffy fuckin cliche in her debut movie and have no problem at all leaves a horrible taste over the back end of an otherwise pretty great little film... But yeah, definitely still check out BOOKSMART. Its progressive, millennial bullshit stance is complete piffle. But its comedic set-pieces are a lot of fun.

24. IT: CHAPTER TWO

I don’t understand anyone who's coming away from IT CHAPTER 2 complaining there's a lack of scares. There's not a lack of scares at all. The problem is there scattered across a running time that is not structured well enough to accentuate them. There were some moments where I very nearly jumped out of my seat and left because of their effectiveness - the pay-off to Bev returning home as teased in the trailer? Fuuuuuuck THAT!

I think it is fair to criticise its flabbiness though… How the hell its director can talk about his intentions for a four hour cut of this pushed up alongside a three hour cut of the first chapter as some sort of hope for the future feels insane - FOUR hours? This thing is ten minutes shy of three and it feels excessive!

The lack of discipline in the editing bay is quite possibly the reward that comes from delivering a $700.4 million return on a $35 million budget the first time round. That lack of discipline doesn't make for a film as focused as it needs to be... Once you realise an hour in that the story structure is one in which each character is split off to revisit their past and then each character is then going to be given a 'teachable moment', you realise that you've essentially got to watch the same plot point be repeated SIX times round each time. And from a narrative perspective that's both annoying and exhausting, frankly.

Hand on heart though, it's a minor quibble overall because what is there is effective as hell and very entertaining. Think of it cinematically as too big a portion of a great frickin meal... It's a hypocritical complaint also because ultimately there is so much joy in watching these actors go at playing these characters (Bill Hader is an absolute marvel in this and Jessica Chastain lives up to the 'dream casting' suggestion the minute Sophia Ellis turned up in the first one!)

It may well be overlong by a good thirty minutes but it is still an incredibly scary, funny ride... just with a denouement that, once again, shows how hard it is to deliver the climactic goods when Stephen King has given you such utter excrement to work with.

23. THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL

I watched this and flat-out loved it - yet another reminder that you can spin the dial and pick a genre, any genre, and the reality is that South Korea are delivering the best efforts in it nowadays. This is a big, broad, bombastic slice of action pulp that has its cake as a thriller/procedural and eats it as a blockbustery burst of car chases and violent dust-ups.

The remake rights for this are with Stallone and that's a scary prospect really coz if there's one thing problematic about that guy is that he's not ~great~ with playing "evenly" (the stories that came off the CREED II production are terrifying!).

22. AT THE HEART OF GOLD

I watched this with my wife and the both of us just kept shooting aghast and pained looks at one another the longer it went on.

Forensic documentary studies like this are a big interest to me but this was a gruelling yet kind of inspiring watch because it did the right thing in putting the victims front and centre from the get go and throughout.

Child abuse is an abhorrent thing. Doubly so on a scale like this. BUT when you're watching the revelations that it was so commonly known to be going on and covered up to the extent and at the level it was? That is just... there's just no words!

Fantastic little documentary though. If you think you know the full facts on this, you don't! And if the last 4 years are any indication, our generation have found our own Errol Morris coz Erin Lee Carr is responsible for 4 of the best documentaries in that time with this, I LOVE YOU NOW DIE, THOUGHT CRIMES and MOMMY DEAD & DEAREST.

21. ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT

I find that once in a while there's a true crime documentary so flat-out, jaw-droppingly fuckin... out there, that most of its enjoyment isn't in how utterly astounding it is but mostly the fun you have in telling people the details of it and watching them incredulously go "Fuck the fuck off! This didn't happen? Surely not!"

I saw this in early January when no one was talking a single word about it here in the UK and I spent roughly three months banging on and on about it to anyone and everyone and, sure enough, everyone looked at me like I was mad and kept saying "Fuck the fuck off! This isn’t a real thing, surely??” Then it landed on Netflix and… everyone went bonkers!

It is a tight 90 minute uncomfortable, grim, totally incredulous jaw-dropper detailing what are two of the STUPIDEST parents and the most horribly manipulative paedophile you could imagine. You've GOT to check this out because without this documentary no one would EVER believe the story of… ** SPOILERS here on out ** ... the most horribly manipulative paedophile you could imagine, who moves his family into the house next to a husband and wife with three daughters, befriends them, tricks the dad into giving him handjobs, seduces the mum into heavy-petting sessions - all with the intent of lowering their defences so he can get access to their youngest 11 year old daughter... who he abducts, manipulates by pretending to be an alien into believing there's an alien invasion that can only be prevented by her having his baby and sneaks across to Mexico once she's 12 so he can marry her. Then he gets arrested by the FBI, brought back to America, uses his previous intimate dalliances with BOTH parents to blackmail them into dropping the charges, re-seduces the mother into a long-term sexual relationship, reabducts the young daughter, hides her in a boarding school, poses as a CIA agent and...

... and... and... not one single element of this is UNTRUE! What the FUCK, right?!?

20. MIDSOMMAR

There's issues to be had with this in the sense that at two and a half hours it is needlessly self-indulgent and from a storytelling point of view it suffers like many from that flaw of walking in the wake of THE WICKER MAN's story beats without finding much in the way of variation.

However, it is exceptionally well directed and the building of tension and concern (despite knowing exactly where it will inevitably go) is impressive. It basks in its weirdness and then seemingly delights in getting weirder... You can say you've heard this story before but you won't have SEEN it told with imagery quite like this. The whole shebang wouldn't work half as effectively if not for the performances and they really are great here. Florence Pugh is quite exceptional. She joins Toni Collette in what will clearly be Ari Aster's roster of "Tremendous Performances That Deserve Awards But Won't Get Them".

By the film's end you come to realise the film is leaning into THE WICKER MEN comparisons purposefully - to show us what that movie would look like today, in Trump's America: Obnoxious Americans pissing up against and fucking around with longstanding tradition and history.

19. Us

Ignore all of the bullshit 33,000+ deep dive 'think pieces' spewed out across the internet about this and just judge it for what it is: a great horror thrill-ride with some terrific jump scares etc. but it's not without its flaws. For one, it's too strong a film to get landed with that big and lazy an info-dump conclusion... especially one that kind of clunks against what's gone before - but then, as much as we're clearly not meant to call Jordan Peele out on anything it seems, he IS a vastly superior director then he is a writer if this effort is anything to go by.

Was it really, really requiring of those penetrative essays though on what it "really" means or what Peele's hidden intent was? Could it not just be that the guy made a great horror film with all the very clear subtext of a Romero or Carpenter classic, and there's just nothing more to it than that? Because that's how I’m taking it. Because if I don't and I do actually have to wade through all this internet word clunge about how US is "really" about "the effects of classism and marginalisation" or how the antagonists are "effigies of situational classism", I'd write the film off as a failure of achieving its intent.

To dress it up as more than a relentless, scary cat-and-mouse shocker is like trying to put a monocle on a pig and call it a professor.

18. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR

I went into this as a British person completely unfamiliar with Fred Rogers or any of his past work / impact on America and came away completely reverential to the man and what he stood for and achieved across generations. So much so that this documentary completely changed my outlook on a lot of things. It certainly changed the approach I take in how I communicate with my own children now.

It’s a heartwarming, inspirational ode to a clearly great man and I urge everyone to watch it and allow Mr Rogers to give your jaded perspective on life a reinvigorating kick in the butt.

17. APOLLO 11

This really is magnificent. The 70mm archival footage makes the whole thing make it look like you're watching a big studio blockbuster... and not actual real never-before-seen footage from decades ago.

There's moments within this that are just astounding and intoxicating, making you become completely engulfed in something even though you are well versed in what the outcomes are.

16. LONG SHOT

This was the surprise delight of the year. It was very lovely, fun and funny with a great cast being just thoroughly delightful. Charlize Theron is very rarely utilised in comedy (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Season 3 was so long ago) which is a shame coz she's really gifted, as is proven here - the scene where she does hostage negotiation on molly is one of the funniest scenes of the year!

Seth Rogen makes the sort of stuff that is just game-set-match for my particular sensibilities (40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN to SUPERBAD to KNOCKED UP to PINEAPPLE EXPRESS to OBSERVE & REPORT is in itself an all-timer run that puts him up there with Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Albert Brooks) and this is a further reflection of that.

They should never have changed the title to something this generic. And it could comfortably lose 15 minutes here or there. But they're minor niggles for a romcom that we'll still be holding in high regard for years to come. And June Diane Raphael SHOULD get awards for the graft she puts in here. She won’t because films like this never get respect like that, but she totally should.

15. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM

I flat out loved this (though I still maintain that I don’t even think the star and the director themselves have referred to the film by its 'full name') and I would be more than happy to see an entry to this franchise every two years if they're of this calibre.

CHAPTER 2 had me worried because it looked like there was a limit to just how much 'throwing people down to the ground and shooting them in the head with CGI gunfire and blood added in on top' you could push into a film before it felt tiresome but this completely circumnavigates all worry around that by dialling up the 'quirk' factor which has always been this franchise's most bizarro and interesting element.

And the introduction of Halle Berry to 'the floor' led to a stand-out set-piece that was nothing short of astounding!

I WOULD however have preferred it if this film had adopted a bit of the ol' VH1 Pop-Up Video Show (remember THAT??) approach and just stuck a bubble up during the motorbike sequence that said "We stole this wholesale from THE VILLAINESS because we know it’s unlikely you saw that movie!")

14. READY OR NOT

I offer up the heartiest of recommendations for this - an absolutely first class horror comedy that finds a delightfully irreverent spin on the cat-and-mouse / slasher movie. It really is the ‘little movie that could’ of 2019 that offers up way, way, way more than its marketing and log-line suggest. It’s very funny and has some truly effective jump-scares and, best of all, it has a great ensemble cast doing great work. Double-bill it with KNIVES OUT and thank me later!

13. ARCTIC

This really worked as an effective, throw-you-into-the-mix survival thriller. Mads Mikkelsen is terrific and he really sells the hell out of it.

You don't know just how successfully it has burrowed under your skin and pulled you along on the ride until the final five minutes when you're screaming "NO!" at the screen.

12. AD ASTRA

I still can’t believe this flopped. I genuinely can’t. It's fair to say it doesn't quite stick its landing in making the end of the journey as narratively thrilling as what it took to get there but it doesn't matter - the journey itself is a sumptuous, thrilling and truly exquisite ride taking an easy "APOCALYPSE NOW in space" label and delivering something so, so much more.

For anyone who grew up with any "sins of the father" issues this will act as a ten ton weight dropped onto their chest.

... It also has space pirates and space monkeys!

11. MARRIAGE STORY

The plaudits are all well-earned and I’m saying this as someone who's connected with very little of Baumbach's work other than THE SQUID & THE WHALE.

It's a genuinely enthralling watch due to a fantastic group of actors being set loose to do tremendous work; Adam Driver is superb and Scarlett Johansson raises her game considerably to go toe-to-toe with him but Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda deliver a trio of masterclasses under one roof.

(If there's ANY justice whatsoever in awards season Alda will split everything Best Supporting Actor related with Joe Pesci… He won’t, because there is no justice when it comes to the vast majority of awards season but that is not to say he doesn’t deserve it!)

This is a delicately crafted piece - where your favoured side in a fight you feel you really shouldn't be privy to, is expertly switched around - that comes from a very obvious place of truth.

10. STAND-OFF AT SPARROW CREEK

I really, really liked this. I can see it's a film I'll go back to quite a few times over the years and see if I can spot the 'turn' because, first time round if I’m honest, I very much did not see the reveal coming.

It's a great little film. The performances are terrific (James Badge Dale is the best actor of our generation, frankly) and Henry Dunham has delivered a hell of an interesting film - all long shots into dark corners of a big dank space, scenes shot with natural torchlight and headlight beams. It's never not interesting to look at.

It's essentially RESERVOIR DOGS re-spun so the diamonds are replaced with missing fire arms and the back alley warehouse in LA is replaced with a militia compound in backwoods America.

9. KNIVES OUT

I found this to be a tremendous amount of fun; the somewhat obvious result that is birthed from a great writer/director putting a terrific script in front of an exceptional cast, designing a fabulous set for them to let loose inside of and then stepping out of their way for quality to reign.

There's a barely tolerable Edgar Wright version of this where the filmmaking is of course "the star", the editing is distracting and the music is purposefully kitschy.

This very much isn't that.

It's decidedly UNshowy and by being so comfortable in its own skin, emulating a classic style of storytelling not so much told anymore, it really stands out as an excellent piece of original cinema.

8. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME

I urge you all to completely buy the hype: DOLEMITE IS MY NAME is every bit as fantastic as everyone is saying and Eddie Murphy is like awards-worthy great in it.

You don't have to have seen DOLEMITE to have fun with this but having done so certainly accentuates it.

It's very funny, surprisingly moving and is a genuinely great ode to the importance of following your passions and not letting anyone stifle your creative aspirations... Hell, if this thing existed 25 years ago I myself would be as prolific as Lee fuckin Childs by now.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph gives THE best supporting actress performance of the year. From straight-up out of nowhere.

Genuinely can't wait to watch this a few more times down the road.

7. AVENGERS: ENDGAME

I think there's two ways of looking at AVENGERS: ENDGAME - as a film in its own right with an atypical start, middle, end, etc. AND as a piece of cinematic event-level entertainment.

In the case of the former, it is pretty damn great though not entirely without its flaws:

Give the narrative set up and logical lay out a single seconds thought and this entire thing crumbles to the ground. On top of that, it takes a while to bed down and get going and its tonal scattershot approach across the first forty-odd minutes is a little jarring. Quite literally you're coming out of that first hour with your head-spinning from laughing and then getting whipped into sombre, dour moments... slapped with narrative leaps and 'we're putting the team back together' beats.

Then the 'points of purpose' settle in and quite frankly we're off to the fucking races, man. Captain Marvel is a repeated, annoying goddamn useless 'deus ex machina' and the entire use of Paltrow/'Rescue' is just irritating. BUT everything 45+ minutes is so, so, so, so flipping ACE that shit like that can't even destabilise it.

There's critics out there deriding this as 'Fan Service: The Movie' and, you know what, damn fucking straight it is and there's nothing wrong with that.

(Although it could be argued that a clunky 'let's put all the women together in one shot' moment that lands with a thud is 'fan service' taken too far and not pitched within proceedings well enough for it to be anything other than cloying.)

The entire middle hour of these three hours is a play within a play; only the play its playing in just happens to be TWENTY-TWO OTHER MOVIES!

They could have phoned this in haaaaaard by this point and it is so, so, so commendable that they didn't. Hell, a lot of the films problems lie in the fact that they tried as hard as they did to really do doing something you wouldn't be expecting with this!

As an 'event', there will never be anything like this again in my lifetime, I don’t think. I knew this walking out of it. There'll be more JUSTICE LEAGUE type failed rip-offs. Marvel themselves will try and replicate it with the law of diminishing returns playing into effect. But there will NEVER be something so accomplished from something so long-form on such a grand stage as this again as far as I’m concerned.

6. CRAWL

I’ve went back for multiple viewings of this and absolutely LOVED it even more each time.

It's a lean, bullet-fast, brutal B-movie creature feature that does not fuck around: There is a complete lack of JAWS like foreboding, skulking around... This is straight-up, in your face, nasty, fast carnage. Anyone going in expecting a knowing, winking PIRANHA 3D / SNAKES ON A PLANE type deal is in for a hard slap.

It's pitch perfect entertainment in the sense that it grabs you and then just keeps turning the screws ("Oh, she's battling an alligator in a flooded crawlspace!" "Aww, man! It's a full on storm and there's TWO alligators now!" "Holy Fuckballs - There's MANY alligators and a hurricane now??").

The last 25 minutes alone are an all-out, relentless assault upon your ability to breathe steadily.

This is the best B-movie of 2019!

5. DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE

My wife and I are big fans of S. Craig Zahler's BONE TOMAHAWK and BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (two of the best films of the last decade) even though it's becoming more and more apparent he's quite far from our own political stance.

This, Zahler's latest effort, drops the latent suggestion and presents its right-wing, racist immoral world view with no restraint or apology. And regardless of your political stance, if you're there for the story and the filmmaking craftsmanship you'll find this to be tremendous stuff.

It's like a cut-price, gutter level version of Michael Mann's HEAT; a tale of cop and criminal convergence, told at a thoroughly unhurried and unconcerned pace... Only Zahler would think to interrupt his narrative to propose a short story within the story (about a mother returning from maternity leave) that's only there so that he can hurt you with it.

Mel Gibson's presence here laid up against the subject matter is the very definition of provocative and contentious but there's no getting around the fact that he is as tremendous an actor as he is an awful, awful human being. And by all counts he's REALLY very awful.

Gibson is every shade of ace in this and he's ably supported by Vaughn, who's rightly leaning away from the comedic persona he's broken too badly.

This is a languid, unapologetically nasty film but it's also an excellent one. It's so not for everyone but if you've liked BONE TOMAHAWK and BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 then this is a must. In fact, it's both easily Zahler's best film and one of the best films of the year.

4. MISSING LINK

I think this really is an absolute jewel and I can't understand why more folk aren't screaming about it. It's very funny and visually wondrousness (that boat-in-the-storm INCEPTION homage action sequence is fabulous). The magnitude of talent that would have gone into making this via stop motion... knowing that it takes one week to complete one to two minutes of useable footage!

The creases in the texture of each characters clothing as they move too? WOW! I’ve always adored Laika's output but this was the first for me where the sheer care and attention to detail really shone!

For one, it's easily one of the funniest movies of the year. For another, it looks totally gorgeous. And best of all, it gives kids their very own GUNGA DIN / RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK cinematic adventure type experience.

3. FORD VS. FERRARI (aka LE MANS ’66)

I’m so glad in the same very year where ‘Film Twitter’ nearly blew itself up over the ‘Marvel / Tentpole Cinema / Scorsese / No original studio films anymore’ debate, I got to experience something as majestic and very nearly perfect as FORD VS FERRARI (aka LE MANS '66).

It's got such a tremendous old fashioned style to it that I hope they do what they did with LOGAN and give us a black and white edition and we have 60s era style movie credits to open and close it. It's that kind of movie.

Yet at the same time it manages to display all the high end technical filmmaking majesty backed up by wall-to-wall terrific performances (only Josh Lucas lets the side down with his inability to deliver anything above unsubtle, cartoonish panto villainy).

It's a gorgeous, kinetic, enthralling and by the end a surprisingly tender and moving piece of cinema. I completely adored it.

2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN… HOLLYWOOD

I fell in love hard with Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD straight-out-the-gate and fell harder with repeated viewings. It's a beautifully shambolic, meandering 'day in the life' sort of deal that plays out as a dry, knowing comedy with a sideline in impending, escalating dread... before becoming, well, something else entirely that's so shocking and out of left field that it feels so courageous because of how swiftly it will divide a viewer.

What's so monumentally lush about it is that it is made by a cinematic craftsman who is essentially writing a love letter to everything he adores/adored about a very specific time in a very specific place within the industry that made him. It is framed, lit and shot with aplomb but on top of that every single thing inside of the frame is chockfull of things that are background noise to somebody and yet incredibly meaningful, funny and knowing to true TV and cinema fans.

If there's any complaint to be made about this movie it's that Tarantino's continued insistence on shoe-horning Zoe Bell into his films is absolutely hurting his product: The woman can't act, can't judge the tone of a scene, is flat-out incapable of putting in a performance consistent with what is going on around with other actors and she is routinely a very hard, very annoying distraction that draws you straight out of the film.

You could argue that it is a listless movie because, in the conventional sense people expect of a narrative, does anything truly happen in the atypical Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3 type of way. But I'd counter-argue that all the enjoyment is in just spending time watching these characters move around and interact with one another.

Knowing the history of Sharon Tate and what happened to her at the hands of The Manson Family fills the entire proceedings with a sense of nausea-inducing nervousness about what we're going to see and to what degree. It's like a pressure valve sat in the background, slowly filling and expanding and just waiting to explode. That it eventually does but in the manner it does, is... well it's audacious... and yet questionable... and still entertaining as hell.

1. THE IRISHMAN

Without a hint of exaggeration, at least once a day every day since I first saw this film I’ve found myself thinking back to both DeNiro's "phone call" scene of which no words would convey its brilliance and Pacino's final scene and the sound he makes in it. The former is genuinely just one of the most haunting, astoundingly natural pieces of acting you'll see from a truly great actor you'd kind of forgot was capable of going to places like this.

This really is a straight-out-the-gate, instant, flawless, completely majestic work of art. It is a master craftsman signing off on a genre he revolutionised in much the same way Clint Eastwood closed down his connection to the western with UNFORGIVEN.

It is three and a half hours long and it doesn't feel remotely close to that... and that's saying something considering most of the film's real awesomeness lies in scenes that are allowed to breathe and just sit or in points being driven home through the repetition in the mundanity of these characters' lives. Because that's the other thing that's really terrific about it - it's not a re-tread of GOODFELLAS or CASINO; there's nothing remotely glamorous about this 'life' - Scorsese presents it as this 'working class stiff' gig where being the right-hand man to some of the most powerful crime figures and industry heads of the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc is really not all that higher up past being a truck driver in the same era.

The much-talked about de-ageing stuff on the actors is a little jarring at first (the first scene of DeNiro in his late 20s or something makes you squelch in your seat a little and think "Fuck, this is going to be bad isn't it?") but it settles in and gets much better as the timelines between character and actor shorten - the work on Pacino in particular is first rate.

The performances are across the board superb - DeNiro and Pacino in particular are so bloody brilliant here that it wakes you up to how fallow and shit they've been for so long. But really, this is Pesci's movie. He gives what is the performance of the year by turning in a really human, considered turn... and in the process circumnavigating the expectations that comes from having this particular actor in this particular genre with this particular director.

Not enough reviews talk about how extremely fuckin funny the movie is - and it is very laugh out loud funny with some of the lines and interactions (Pacino and Stephen Graham together are hilarious!) - and no words accurately describe how truly sad and surprisingly moving it is in the final stretch.

... I don't believe a single word of the source material it’s based on but it's resolutely not important to have to buy into the ('fake'?) memoir in order to appreciate the film adaptation as this massive, majestic piece of cinematic myth making - one that I genuinely can't wait to see again many times over the years!

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themaraudersmapforpranks · 8 years ago

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Can you write a story where sirius has a huge crush on James's twin sister bit couldn't say because she is James sister. But latter both of them find out and the hilarity that happens coz even she likes Sirius( can I have ben barnes for sirius 😉)

*A/N: An AU where James has a twin sister named Elizabeth. Part One.

Sirius sat up a little straighter in his seat abandoning the work he had placed in front of him in favor of looking at the small group of girls who just walked into the Common Room.

Realizing they hadn’t seen him yet, he leaned back casually in his seat, placing his arm over the back of the spot next to him.

Remus looked up confused, “What’re you - ?”

Sirius shushed him before calling out, “You ladies look like you’re in need of something to do tonight. Might I lend a few suggestions?”

One of the girls nodded eagerly while the other two scoffed and rolled their eyes.

“No thank you,” one spoke, flipping back her long black hair, “We’ll be fine on our own.”

“Yeah, but think about how much fun we could have, Lizzie!” Sirius exclaimed.

The girl narrowed her eyes, “Don’t call me Lizzie. And mine and your definition of fun are very different.”

Sirius smirked, turning to look at Remus who merely gave him a knowing look.

Sirius gulped slightly turning back away from Remus, not wanting his secret to let slip.

Just a few weeks previously, Remus had discovered that Sirius had a not-so-big-just-a-little-tiny-small-really-not-worth-even-mentioning crush on the other girl. He’d been trying to convince Sirius that he should ask her out on a date, but he refused.

First off, he’s was completely convinced that she didn’t like him and that his advances would be shot down immediately.

While Sirius was confident in his looks and ability to swoop girls off their feet, he was not willing to rush head first into a situation that he suspected would have a poor outcome.

The second problem, of course, was James.

Speaking of which, the door leading to the boy’s dorm behind them opened and James himself came backing out of the room, looking intently at a piece of parchment in his hands, “Hey, Remus, I was wondering if you could take a look at - “

He looked up, realizing that there was a whole group of people there and stopped talking immediately.

He put his arms behind his back, hiding the paper and smiled charmingly, “Hello ladies. Having a nice evening?”

“What’s behind your back?” Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Just a bit of homework I was working on,” James answered immediately, “You girls have any plans tonight? I’m available, if you’re looking for something to do, Evans.”

Lily scoffed, turning to Elizabeth, “Your brother is persistent; I’ll give him that.”

“Among other things,” she teased, ignoring James grunt of protest, “Unfortunately for him, I got both the brains and the good looks. It’s the fortune of being the older sibling.”

“Yeah, well I’m more talented than you are,” James answered petulantly, “And you’re only 4 minutes older than I am.”

“And that makes all the difference,” Liz insisted.

“And on that note,” Lily said, looking back at their friend, “I think I’m going to head upstairs now. Coming Mary?”

“Yeah,” Mary answered with a sigh, waving good-bye to the three boys, “See you later.”

They all waved back as Liz called out, “I’ll catch up with you girls in a bit.”

As soon as they were out of sight, James growled, “Oh, come on! What was that? I thought you were supposed to be on my side! Aren’t you supposed to be talking me up or something?”

“Someone’s gotta deflate that big head of yours,” she replied seriously, “When you stop acting like a dunderhead, I’ll help you get a date with Lily. But, until then, you’re own your own.”

James grumbled, plopping down onto the maroon couch indignantly.

“So, what’s the paper you were hiding, really?” She asked curiously, leaning forward to look at it.

“What’s up with you going to Hogsmeade with Stephens on Saturday?” Sirius asked, snatching the paper up and holding it to his chest before she could take a look at it, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

It didn’t matter what his feelings were towards Liz. She was James sister, so she was off limits.

Her eyes narrowed, “That’s none of your business.”

“Funny,” Sirius replied mockingly, “I was about to say the same to you about this.”

The both glared at each other for a moment before James interjected, “Hang on. Stephens? You mean Anthony Stephens? That tweed from Ravenclaw?”

“So what if it is?” Liz asked, folding her arms to turn to James.

“You’re kidding, right?” James snorted, “The kid’s a total tool. You really had to pick him to go on a date with?”

Liz opened her mouth to retaliate, but James continued before she could, “And what’s up with going this Saturday? You couldn’t have waited until after we played them in a couple of weeks? I don’t need my seeker distracted because some guy spouted a lame pick-up line at her and she melted to the floor.”

Liz’s mouth dropped, “How dare you? I’m not some bumbling bimbo that falls at every guy’s feet, thank you very much. And how do you know I’m not the one distracting him?”

James rolled his eyes, “Same way I know that you went with the girls to buy a new outfit for your date. I know you sis, whether you like it or not. And you are falling into his trap, hook-line-and-sinker.”

Furious, Liz held up her hand, showing off a rude gesture to her brother before turning around and storming off, pausing only for a moment to flick the side of Sirius’ head as she passed by him.

“She is so infuriating,” Sirius grumbled, rubbing the spot where she flicked him, his eyes not leaving her figure until she was completely out of view.

“I thought you liked Stephens,” Remus turned to James, confused.

“Oh, I do,” James assured him, “He’s actually a pretty neat bloke. Doesn’t mean I want his grubby paws on my sister though. Besides,” James stood up and stretched his arms high into the air, “Now Liz is pissed off enough that she’ll break records to catch the snitch next game.”

“The dynamic between your sister and you astounds me,” Remus admitted, sitting back in his thought and humming curiously, “I wonder, would you ever find anyone you thought was worthy enough to date your sister.”

Sirius’ head swiveled so quickly to look at Remus it was a wonder it stayed on his neck at all.

Remus ignored him as he waited for James to answer.

“I dunno,” James said thoughtfully, “My first instinct is to say that no one would be worthy, but I know that can’t be true. There are some pretty great guys out there that’d be lucky to have Liz in their life.”

James hummed, thinking more about it before his shoulders stiffened and he looked down at Remus suspicious, “Why? You interested?”

Sirius’ eyes widened as Remus opened his mouth to answer, “I –”

“Cause that would be awesome,” James interrupted, “You and Liz would be great together. You both like books and you’re one of my best mates, so I know you’d treat her right. Plus, then we’d be brothers for real!”

Remus sent a look at Sirius who looked torn in between being completely panicked and astounded and shook his head, “No, I’m not interested in asking Elizabeth out on a date.”

“Why not?” James asked, folding his arms, his demeanor changing completely, “She not good enough for you?”

“You are a very difficult person to get along with,” Remus answered, rolling his eyes, “Your sister is a lovely person. I just don’t think we’re quite as compatible as you may hope. I was simply asking out of curiosity’s sake.”

James hummed, nodding his head, “Well, I guess there’s your answer. If it was a really stellar guy and a close friend of mine, I don’t think I’d have any problems with it.”

Remus nodded, his head slowly moving over to look at Sirius who was staring pensively into the fire.

Feeling emboldened, Sirius opened his mouth and asked, “What if – ” he cleared his throat and continued, refusing to look up, “What if I asked her out?”

There was a long enough moment of silence that Sirius finally looked up, hesitantly to see James face.

James merely looked confused.

“You…want to ask Liz out on a…date?”

Sirius nodded nervously, waiting for an answer.

James huffed out a small laugh, turning to look at Remus who raised his eyebrows expectantly. Realizing that this wasn’t a joke, James eyes narrowed as he turned back to look at Sirius.

“You’re dead to me.”

Sirius groaned, letting his head fall back to the back of the couch while Remus snorted.

“You two are the most dramatic people on the planet. James, why on earth wouldn’t you want Sirius dating your sister?”

“Because he’s my friend,” James whined, “it’s part of the bro code.”

“We’re going to ignore the hypocrisy of that statement, as I am also your friend and you just told me that I was more than welcome to pursue your sister, but no matter. Just because he wants to kiss Liz, doesn’t mean he stops being your friend. And Sirius, why do you want to date Liz?”

Sirius mumbled an answer.

“Speak up, dear, no one can hear you.”

Sirius shot him a dirty look, before answering more clearly, “She’s just really cool, okay? She’s funny and snarky and I like hearing her comebacks whenever I try to flirt and she’s really smart and tough and can handle herself and I – “

Sirius looked up, realizing both James and Remus were watching him with their mouths slightly open, “– I don’t know. I only like her a little. It’s cool. I don’t ever have to talk to her again.”

Remus turned to James, “I’m gonna take a look at this for you. When you both come up into the room, I want this resolved.”

Remus picked up the parchment James had brought him earlier and went upstairs to their dorms. James and Sirius both shuffled in their places awkwardly before James huffed a defeated sigh and plopped down into the spot next to his best friend.

“You know, you’re a really great guy too,” James admitted, playing with the fabric at the end of his shirt, “And Liz would be lucky to have a guy like you around.”

“Yeah?” Sirius answered insecurely, “You don’t think Remus would be better?”

“Nah,” James admitted, “Only reason why I could confidently say all that is cause I know that they’d never work out. I don’t think Liz would even say yes to a date with Remus. She thinks he’s a cool guy – but totally not her type.”

“What is her type?” Sirius asked.

“You,” James answered bluntly, “Tall, dark, handsome, mysterious, slight bad-boy edge, but really just a good guy deep down. She’d probably say yes if you asked.”

“I wouldn’t want it to get in the way of our friendship.”

James waved his hand as though he were waving the concerns away, “Nah, at this point, I don’t think that anything could get in between us.”

Sirius smiled, realizing that this was as close to James’ blessing as he was ever going to get.

“Thanks.”

James nodded, coughing awkwardly before patting Sirius’ shoulder, “Alright, let’s go back and see what Remus had to say about the map.”

Read Part Two Here.

#gayatri #prompt #the marauders #the marauders map for pranks #original work #part one #Sirius Black #James Potter #Remus Lupin #elizabeth potter #original character #alternate universe #james has a twin sister

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prettydumbheart · 8 years ago

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BEST FAMILY REUNION EVER!

My Christmas vacation was so fun. I experienced lots of new things. So here’s the story. At first, I thought that our family reunion will be boring, I even mentioned it to my blog that I’m not going to talk to anyone and just finish the novel that I haven’t done reading. My first day in Batangas was not fun because I locked myself inside our room. I feel shy to talk to anyone. I just greet them “Hi” then lay on the bed and read (well not totally read, I just pretend that I’m reading to avoid any conversation.) But you know, when boredom strikes that day, I can’t stand to just stay quiet, I went outside the room and watch movies with my cousins. At first, it’s awkward but I’m used to awkwardness so I just let it eat me and start a conversation with my two cousins. On the second day, I remembered I was asking my mom to go home, I have no plans that day like, I’m totally ready to do nothing. But then, when I was about to read novel upstairs, my tita asked if I’m busy or I’m about to do something but I said no. Then, she asked me to go out shopping with Fiona (My cousin from Australia) and help her to buy some clothes because she lost her baggage at the airport and thank God she also asked Patricia(My cousin who’s 1 year younger than me.) to join us. Then in the car they started to tell us that we have to be careful, etc. and the three of us discovered that we all love shopping and applying make up, so our feels kinda lit up. So Tita Meanne and tito Jay ( fiona’s parents) Tita Amy(Patricia’s mom) and my mom went to the mall to buy some foods for the party and they decided to leave us alone for us to get to know more about each other. So of course, I’m the most talkative one and speaking English doesn’t bother me so I’m the one who started the conversation and make some corny jokes until we feel comfortable with each other. We decided to buy a couple shirt (of course it’s black) and a highlighter coz we have to look lit in the New year’s eve party. Then we went to the arcade and play basketball. Our parents called us and buy us something to eat then we decided not to go home with them and just commute coz Fiona said she wanted to experience it. During our New Year’s Eve party, we wear our couple shirt, apply some make up, take pictures and watch movies while eating. It was fun! On the day we were about to go home, I feel sad because I don’t feel like going home then Fiona came upstairs and said that we’re going to the beach but I was so sad because I find it hard to tell her that I can’t come with them because I have to go home, but then thanks to my lovely parents, they let us join. We rode on a picked-up truck going to the beach. When we arrived we run as fast as we can, the three of us hold each other and run towards the water. I kinda felt scared coz there might be a jellyfish on the water or a sea urchin so I walked slowly but they held my hand and we swam and play together and we even forgot to put sunblock that’s why I had a sunburn. Going home, we decided to stood up on the truck, feel the air messed with our hair and let people watched us. It was so fun! I felt alive, I felt free, I felt me, I felt that nothing is impossible. Then, when we got home, I took a bath and packed my bag coz we’re going home in Laguna since I had lots of paperwork too finish that time. It’s sad to leave but at the same time I was happy. I feel so motivated on the things I want coz It feels like I can get it and I really will. After a day my mom went back there coz my lola has a chemo and they have to took care of her. One night my mom called me and told me that Fiona gave me a black necklace that is similar to her and Patricia which I find so sweet. We have our couple chokers. I really miss them till now, I know it will take years to see them again but I’m gonna make sure that the moment we see each other again, I already accomplish my dreams and I’m the one who’ll buy them something special. I’m so grateful for that wonderful experience and I thank God for it because it’s unexpectedly beautiful, fun and special!

#bestcousins #blessing #blessed #familyreunion #Christmas #newyear #2017

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years ago

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Quick Thoughts on The Royal Fast-Track Pregnancy, Book 1 Chapter 15

• A friend of mine just called me Cassandra recently coz when I predict things, not a lot of people take what I say seriously, and by the time they find out I'm right it's too late.

• I have just one thing to say there:

• If you don't want to see these posts on your dash, here are the tags to block: #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs, #long post.

• Title: Apple in the Oven

Alternative Title: ...Will Be Burned to A Crisp From The Speed At Which You're Trying to Bake It!

• Screenshots:

Hana: The Abhirio YouTube channel and the Universal Studio 77 YouTube channel.

Maxwell: @itsbrindleybinch and the rash rec YouTube channel

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan and the HIMEME YouTube channel.

• I liked parts of this chapter - the MC definitely seems to show a bit of the concern and caring towards her certain LIs that has been missing for a while now. I liked that she could try to talk to Liam about how he's feeling as his wife + friend, and that as Hana's wife she could encourage Hana to take a step back and bask in the attention for once. But I'm wary too. Like, is this just a small carrot they're dangling in front of us, before returning to the status quo and continuing to perpetuate the same problems in their writing?? It certainly wouldn't be the first time I've seen tiny glimpses of progress before the team took 50 steps backwards in their storytelling for some of these characters.

• How the heck did Edenbrook get a branch in Cordonia? 🤭

• Also...it's plausible that Brad/Thad/Chad may have reached there and settled in before we made it to the hospital...but still, Olivia didn't notice anything suspicious? Nothing at all? Why is it that the moment competent individuals (like Mara) become security detail, they become as stupid as the people they're protecting?

• So within our own playthroughs we have 3 people to choose from: our LIs, ourselves, or Olivia:

I like how this incorporates all their ways of thinking into how they fight.

Liam has the ability to fight a man but also the wisdom to know when delegating will make things more effective.

Hana's is reminiscient of her fight at the boutique (if she was part of your bridal party), where she had the forethought and flexibility to use anything that was at hand as a weapon (and here, she uses a potted plant).

Maxwell is someone who enjoys sliding down the stairs via the bannister (his last scene in Book 1 features him and the MC do this together), and he uses that to gain leverage over his opponent.

Drake opts for speed and aggression, since raw power is what he is most known for.

Olivia is a master of fighting skill and agility, which is obvious from her tackling of the man.

Of course...the "opponent" is really a dudebro reporter who was easy to catch so I doubt any of them saw him as that big of a challenge 🤣

• The MC then gets to choose how to tackle him - two of the options involve coming down heavily on him for invading their privacy, and one offers to provide him a picture that's taken with the consent of the MC and LI.

• Why do none of them even bother to grill this guy over where he came from? Who sent him? Who he was reporting to? Why is NO ONE asking these questions oh gosh why are you all so stupid.

• DIAMOND SCENE TIME. In some ways it could be a throwback to Liam giving you a massage in Book 1 Chapter 16 at Beaumont estate, but like all LI scenes, it plays out differently depending on who you're married to.

Liam: The MC is surprised that Liam managed to secretly set this (the arrangements for the massage) up, and Liam confesses to taking a course from a professional masseuse (wasn't he already very skilled in massage? I recall the MC saying so in TRR Book 1 Chapter 16. I mean it's likely he wanted to sharpen his skills etc but why no acknowledgement from the MCs who did the scene back at Beaumont House?). You get to choose between letting him focus on your upper body or lower body, and you can either flirt with or help Liam to set up.

The variations for the sex scene involve the MC telling him what she wants in terms of speed and tempo (slow, or "right now"), as well as positioning (under her, or on top of her). The couple then relax and speak of how moments like these will be few and far between once the child is born, and how they will make time for their children and each other regardless. If you're a Henney fan, you'll love this scene coz at some point the MC calls Liam "Mr Perfect".

Cmon PB tell me that wasn't done on purpose! 🤣🤣🤣

Hana: There's plenty of Hana's thoroughness in action here. The skill is something Hana has already learned and picked up from before, and it's something she is excellent at (for instance, there is a point where she tells the MC that she almost put her course instructor to sleep with her rendition of a Swedish massage). Hana's version of the scene is detailed in terms of the oils she uses and the names of the massage therapies she employs.

We get a choice between two oils - elderberry and rose, or sage and sandalwood - and two massage therapies: Swedish and Shiatsu. The first therapy is meant to soothe and relax, the second is meant to invigorate and awaken. The MC can either respond by talking about how much she needed this, or jokingly offer to be "Hana's personal genie".

The MC also gets to set the pace for sex - either hard and fast or slow and tender - and the scene shortly after involves the women engaging in playful banter about how there will be less time for private moments like these after they have children, but how it will all be worth it for the joy those very children bring.

(Also the one time I went to France I saw the sun set at 9 PM or something to my utter surprise 😲)

Maxwell: The tone of this - including the MC's as well as Maxwell's dialogues - sound a lot like the fun couple they're expected to be, and have a different vibe. I liked this scene particularly because the MC gets to show her mood swings here, and Maxwell has a story similar as Liam's about taking a course on massage ("with a complimentary chakra kit"). Additionally he also provides his own recorded music.

The MC gets to choose how they'll do foreplay ("my mouth on you" or "your mouth on me"), and how they'll have sex (behind or under). Once that is done, they speak about their wishes and dreams for the child. Maxwell mentions needing to lock the door so the kids won't hear them during moments like these, and contemplating on their growing years (he mentions "preschool" then jumps straight to "first car"). They do, however, agree to relax and take each moment as it comes. Which is a theme with Maxwell even in the buildup of the scene where he talks about living in the here and now.

Drake: More attempts to make Drake more flexible and open, and less "manly man" stuff. He gives the MC the opportunity to choose who should "order around" even though he isn't used to it (at least they acknowledged that). He doesn't say a lot about his massaging skill - and he shouldn't considering the writers already write enough about it in their Chapter 13 scene where he talks about his dad playing masseuse for his mother.

The MC gets to decide whether Drake can watch or touch, and positions (on top, or under). Afterwards, Drake gets to talk about how far they have come as a couple - how the MC didn't imagine how her life in NY led her to this charmed one, and how Drake could hardly imagine until she chose him that he was the one she wanted. While all the others speak about the changes that having children will bring into their lives, Drake gets to also talk about how unbelievably good their present life is.

• The next few weeks pass in a blur. Another couple of days pass in a blur. A whole six months is reduced to a montage wowwww. Amazing. What was the premise of this book again?? Family, right? And surprisingly, we spent AGES on only one LI's family, so much so that the rest of us have to be satisfied with just 5 chapters of the theme for our own LIs!

• Your free dress is basically a peach monstrosity (sorry guys I can't stand the colour peach 😅😅), and the diamond option is a floral blue short dress, which is fitting considering our next diamond option involves an actual flower garden. It would go with the theme.

• Our second trimester montage includes the following:

- Maxwell googling pregnancy-friendly yoga poses and learning them so he can practice them with us. For solidarity awww (which could be either as a friend, or as the father. Both are adorable). He teaches us the downward dog pose (we call it adho mukha svanasana I think. It's supposed to have many benefits, though I hear that earlier, pregnant people used to be advised against doing this asana during late term).

- Drake making something that was supposed to be a rocking horse but that looks either like a footstool or abstract art, further reiterating that if he has so few skills maybe he shouldn't be yapping about how nobles swan around doing nothing of importance.

- Liam doing the rounds of our estate with us, and proposing the lakeside be converted into a garden with a gazebo...kiiinda similar to Applewood's? The narrative promises that paying for this background art will unlock scenes not only in this book but in other books in the series as well.

- Hana suggesting names for our kid - either Oswald, Valentina or as our namesake. Valentina is the popular option, obviously, because Hana then gets to give us a callback to TCaTF where she can speak of the "great warrior" who was close to Cordonia's greatest warrior queen. This comes MUCH later in the scheme of these scenes, and if you're a Hana fan who doesn't romance Hana...it'll definitely feel like you spent a huge chunk of the chapter not even catching a glimpse of her.

- In addition, you get two scenes exclusively with our LIs - one where we're dancing with our partners and experience the baby's kick together for the first time (it's cute because the sprite wiggle and shake a couple times from surprise and joy in this scene 🤭), and this adorable af dream section:

Now this scene takes place while the MC worries over the number of kicks in two hours that her character should be doing, and the LI is in the middle of a dream when she wakes them up. It's followed by the LIs calming her down and attempting to communicate with the child before they eventually kick. The dreams are cute, but I couldn't help but notice how all of them are in some way connected to themes of family (and perhaps responsibility? IDK this is just a wild guess):

* King Liam and the Baklava Arm: Liam's dream involves him and Leo (they remember Liam's brother exists! Hallelujah!) eating baklava, before Liam turns into this sweet and gets eaten by his older brother. Which I take to mean that sometimes, it really does feel like the responsibilities Leo - and why just Leo! I would include Liam's father in this as well - has left behind for him may swallow Liam whole. After all, Liam is in many ways, spending his time as king constantly fixing his family's messes.

* Hana Lee and the Tea Party: Hana's dream focuses on enjoying a tea party with the MC and her future child, to the point where she is reluctant to shake herself out of the dream. As a child Hana was deprived of this experience - forever keeping a place for her mother that her mother never bothered to fill - that she now views the same thing as an opportunity to NOT be that person towards her own child. In a lot of ways she may view this as "I will not make the mistakes my mother made, and make my child suffer believing I don't care for them". Why is why, when the MC wakes her up she shows such a reluctance to leave. In a lot of ways her view of parenting rn is largely coloured by her desire to be the exact opposite of her mother.

* Maxwell Beaumont and The Shrimp Buffet: Maxwell's recurring dream involves him being in a shrimp buffet, being fed shrimp till he wants no more. This is a little tougher to decipher, but I'm guessing that since their house sigil is nautical and shrimps are a delicacy of the waters, the shrimp buffet mayyyybe represents his House and family, and the responsibilities and complications that will eventually pile up from them. Remember, he enjoys his father's respect and regard now, but perhaps there may come a time where being a Beaumont will feel like being in a carousel that refuses to stop.

* Drake Walker and the Giant Marshmallow: Drake's dream involves being smushed by a giant marshmallow that he seems to be fighting. Now most of us usually associate the marshmallow with Drake only, but in a lot of ways the treat has its roots in his memories of his father. In fact, that's the earliest actual memory we get of Jackson. So the dream could either mean he fears he may not live up to Jackson's example, or foreshadowing that Jackson's secret may blindside and engulf him.

• One thing I really don't get about the TRR/H team re: Hana is...why do they sometimes spend chapters and chapters repeating the same things like a broken tape recorder? In the early chapters she wound up making constant mentions of embroidery, even when it wasn't needed. When it was pointed out that they forgot she was skilled at horseriding then they kept beating that reference to death. Now it's tea parties. Hana is a layered character, PB! Start treating her like one!!

• It's nice that the MC has that rare moment of checking in on Liam and asking him how he's taking the news that his mother was pregnant when she died. That doesn't happen much in the books - she can ask a ten-second question about how Liam is holding up after his father died but somehow never tries to check up on how he's down again, even when she's his wife. It would be nice to see more of that...but I don't have any hope left of that happening.

• Hallelujah! The members of the Council speak about something other than balls and parties!! There's a brief mention about "transportation reforms" which gets knocked over by the press in favour of more pregnancy speculations. Which is on par for pregnant celebs - in that once you're pregnant, everything else seems frustratingly unimportant in comparison in the eyes of other people. You begin to feel less like a person and more like a vessel (and if you don't have the right support, those feelings will keep gnawing at you even after childbirth).

• I wanted to hear more about those transportation reforms! Dammit PB!!

• The MC and LI eventually celebrate the point where her morning sickness is out of the way in a short scene.

• Man I miss seeing the palace. It felt almost like the team had forgotten that some of our MCs might actually live there.

• Callback to Book 1! We get a scene where the friends are having dinner, but the MC now has a craving for cronuts so they go to the same bakery they visited when she was still new to Cordonia.

- Jumping out the window was Liam's thing in Book 1 (and he almost fell on the rose bushes), but this time it's the MC who is doing it

- Maxwell speaks about how fun rule breaking is, leading to an interesting observation from Hana (the last time they went to a cronut shop she sidestepped this question and merely commented on how much more fun it was that their destination was "something delicious"). This time around, Hana actually focuses on the "rule breaking part", where she speaks about what it feels like to break a rule for her:

I've mentioned in my QT for Chapter 9 how Hana often speaks of her parents "as if they are still there, still controlling her choices, as if she cannot remove herself from her fears concerning them even if they're physically away from her. In her head, she still has a lot of difficult getting out of the obedience mindset (particularly towards her parents) built in her.

I can connect to this personally. As a teenager and a young adult, I wasn't allowed to go out too often, and the few times I did go out to meet friends I was given deadlines that left me with very little time to actually have much fun. (yknow, like 6 pm, or 7.30 if I was lucky...even if I'd gone out at 4 or 5). My college days were mostly spent in convent-run hostels with strict curfews (like 6 pm), and you had to repeatedly hit at a locked gate if you were even a minute late.

Now I'm married, to a man who understands if I run late...and even now I think in terms of timing and curfews. I still get a tiny chill down my spine when it's 10 pm and I'm not home yet - for no other reason than "I'm late". It's just the way my brain's been wired from years of that routine and it will probably take a lot of unlearning to grow out of it.

Hana's guilt about rule-breaking is kind of like that. She knows it's unreasonable, she knows theoretically that she is safe from harm, she knows logically that she's free to do what she wants, but her brain has been wired to certain routines that will take her maybe years to grow out of.

...and this fandom acts as if she's just a weak, passive, one-dimensional character who is nothing next to the Almighty Olivia Nevrakis. LMAO.

- A lot of the callbacks are in the shop scene, such as the way Maxwell shouts for the cronuts as soon as they enter, the way Maxwell finishes his cronut before the other LIs finish their countdowns, and the compliments they deliver for the treat hold a few similarities too.

- There is also a tiny callback when Maxwell recalls Liam and Drake "stealing a boat" - something Liam talked to us about at the Regatta.

- If there is anything different, it's the messages the LIs now deliver to the child:

The friendly version includes all their plans for this child they have already begun to love and consider as their family, and involves what is important to all of them. Hana simply lets the child know there is an amazing support system that will shower them with love, Maxwell playfully asks the child about what flavour of cronuts they would prefer, Drake promises them fishing and trekking trips just like the ones he had as a child, and Liam assures them that even though their future lies in the throne, they are not entirely bound by it (why couldn't the writers have made the heir an "heir presumptive" then? Rather than make this a permanent arrangement! Oh, I know. Coz the MC has to be the front and center of everything).

• Slight variations if the LI is married to you:

Le Moi:

• It's now time for our baby shower, which means we're now in our third trimester. So much for a book about having a child 🙄

• One of my favourite variations in this chapter happens around here. If she is your friend, Hana is organizing the baby shower along with the other women in court, and the MC tells her she should enjoy it with her and she doesn't need to fuss so much, and Hana responds that the MC is her best friend so it's important for her to be involved.

Fortunately, in Hana's playthrough, the MC ensures (and insists, actually) Hana enjoys the function alongside her, rather than playing second-fiddle:

It's a lovely scene. It's all I could want. The MC shows that she cares about Hana, follows up on the "I won't let you play second fiddle when you're my wife" promise from last chapter, and generally includes rather than excludes Hana. It's heartwarming and shows some effort from the side of the writers.

But...at this point it's been FOUR BOOKS. Four books of seeing the MC simply use Hana when convenient and discard her when convenient. Four books of seeing the MC not bother to even ask Hana how she is when she is affected by terrible things, while showering attention and advice on people like Olivia and Penelope and Madeleine. Just a book ago, the MC marrying her was treating Hana like a bridesmaid on what should have been a memorable wedding day for Hana.

It's great that this mistake is not repeated now, but this is one tiny spark in a long, long line of lackadaisical writing. It shouldn't take you four fucking books to come to the conclusion that, hey, maybe we're treating our lone female LI like garbage and we should do better.

So...yeah, I love this scene. But I have no idea whether PB will continue doing better in terms of their treatment of Hana, or whether this and the previous scene are just brief flashes in a pan. I probably never will trust them on this, but honestly the team has only themselves to blame for that 🤷🏽‍♀

• I'm tempted to say "too little too late", but (foolishly) I'm still holding on to a sliver of hope.

• Hallelujah! The writers also remember that Kiara exists outside of being Penelope's bestie! And she comes to us and the LI, delivering the news that Auvernese and Monterisso royalty have decided to come to the baby shower to find out who Cordonia will make an alliance with. Jesus Christ. Stop.

• In my playthrough, Kiara interacts with Liam and Esther (but more to Esther than Liam - and I saw similar interactions on the plane trip back to Cordonia) which felt...different because up until now the narrative never allowed the two to even speak to each other (she's the only suitor in Book 1 who never gets to even talk to Liam, and in Book 3, they went as far as to replace her with Hakim in the armoury scene at Lythikos). To me it simply goes to show how deep the rot goes with regards to Kiara's treatment in this series (as well as the fact that they make Kiara interact just as normally with Drake in his playthrough, yknow, that asshole who treated her like shit last series. Oh what I wouldn't give for Kiara to rake that man through the coals for his treatment of her, if only just once).

• We're also told that our in-laws will be in attendance, which means we will have different playthroughs featuring different characters visiting or gaining additional dialogue. Regina and Leo for Liam's playthrough, Leona, Bianca and BertVannah for Drake's, Barthelemy and BertVannah for Maxwell's, and Xinghai and Lorelai for Hana. I think Hana's family is the only one so far who have NOT made an appearance...and will for the first since Book 3 this week. They'd better treat her well this time around!

• I'm wondering - with the arrival of the other royals - whether another flashback scene will be shown. Or perhaps it will be reserved for Chapter 17 since we'll be traveling to Lythikos.

• I wonder if one of the gifts will include something for the nursery. I think it might.

• Another visit to Lythikos. This has to be the third time I'm seeing this place. It was the only duchy besides Beaumont Estate we were allowed to see in Book 1 and one of the major turning points in the plot in Book 3. We haven't seen any duchy (besides our own) as extensively as we have seen this one, and I know it will involve more opportunities for Olivia to gobble up space.

• Like at this point why the hell am I being regarded as an honorary Beaumont when the only time I bothered to visit Ramsford was in Book 1, and I have never, ever visited Hana's Cordonian side of the family even once - not even aware of anything besides their sigil being flowers and her great-grandmother teaching her a Cordonian tradition featuring three coins in a fountain (and don't even get me started on Shanghai!!!)

• In an ideal version of this story, where the writers made a damn effort on all the LIs...I'd be really happy about the writing for Olivia. I'd be fine with it. But now I'm sick and tired. Sick and tired of her concerns, her issues, her pain getting more attention than Hana's ever has, or ever will. Sick and tired of how often I see both the writing and people in the fandom (yes Olivia stans who downplay Hana just to make your fave look good, I'm looking at you) act like Hana's story has zero value, every time the narrative gives Olivia attention. At this point the narrative is giving a secondary character the space and attention that they should have been giving the female LI. And not because Hana's story is not equally compelling - but because the writers didn't want to put in the effort. Why the hell do I have to wait four goddamn books to see even a tenth of this much effort put into Hana, huh?

I'm fed up at this point. I like Olivia but can't even enjoy her scenes nowadays without thinking of how much the same amount of space could have benefited Hana, or wondering how and when the fandom will use this opportunity to shit on Hana just because she's not their preferred female LI or BFF.

• Chapter 16 has always been the kind of chapter where the nobility have an excuse to go wild and party a lot (except in Book 2, where Chapter 16 was set aside for Liam's proposal and the MC finally choosing her endgame). In Book 1 it was the Beaumont Bash. In Book 3, it was the MC's bachelorette in Vegas. Now in Book 4, it's the baby shower (maybe less wild...but still partylike). It's kind of a pattern at this point.

• Liam's suggestion of a flower garden + gazebo at Valtoria brought me back to that Book 1 Chapter 4 scene, where he spoke about the palace gardens and hedge maze being his mother's vision. But it also reminds me of that gazebo with cherry blossoms, and that flower conservatory, in Applewood.

There is a statue of a woman with a crown on her head and a specter in her hands, at the back of the garden, and I wonder who that is supposed to represent.

• That's it for this week! Until Chapter 16, guys! (gosh how did I survive 15 chapters worth of meta with this).

#long post #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #the royal heir #king liam #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #drake walker

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