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night-unfurls-its-splendour · 10 months

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Susan Kay's 'Phantom' Read: Part V (Erik, 1856-1881)

Before we start I feel that I need to talk about a perspective shift that I've had. More than half-way through the book now with the completion of this episode I've come to a realization.

Phantom is not what I thought it was. This epiphany has been slowly dawning but here we are.

My impression of Phantom, based on how I have seen it talked about in the Phandom (and certainly how the reviews on the back of the book present it) was that it was Leroux's story but with the blanks filled in and a few small liberties taken.

I had this impression because I was told that for quite a few years, Phantom was basically considered Canon and also because I have often seen Kayrik (or Kerik) and Lerik (or Leroux's Erik) conflated in discussions.

But as I'm reading I have finally realised that I don't think this is ever what Kay intended.

Don't get me wrong I hate most of the decisions she's made, but this book is a complete re-working of the source material with many elements of the book, some from the musical and some original folded in. For Erik's history she mainly follows the life-history detailed by Leroux, but in terms of Erik as a character, he more closely resembles Musical!Erik than anything (except that Kayrik's deformity affects his entire face, not just half). When we arrive at the Opera, she again adheres to Leroux's history. But once we catch up to the canon events, this time line is swiftly abandoned.

Nadir and Erik bump into each other and resume their friendship.

A few weeks later, Erik finds Joseph Buquet's body in his torture chamber.

A few weeks after that Erik hears the news of the Opera's change in management, and hears Christine sing for the first time.

In the source material, Buquet's body is discovered on the same night as Christine's initial triumph (so three months AFTER Erik began to teach her), the same night that the old managers, Debienne and Poligny, have their farewell celebrations and hand over management to Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin. Leroux describes Raoul rushing across the stage, "On which Christine Daae has just triumphed, and under which Joseph Buquet had just died." [This excluded from the original translation.

Why Kay chose to alter the progression of events I don't know, but that combined with a final nail in this coffin for me to realise that I had been approaching this book from entirely the wrong perspective. That final nail is the fact that Christine Daaé, in this book, is dark- haired and not blonde.

Kay does what most Phan-author's do: she cherrypicks her preferred elements from both book and musical (Erik general erudite comportment, his mis-matched eyes, Christine's dark hair) and combines them with her own headcanons to create an AU fic that, because of the reclusive nature of Fanfiction at the time and the fact that this work was published and widely circulated, became, for many fans not interested filling in the blanks themselves, erroneously synonymous with actual canon for a goodly number of years, despite its open contradictions to the source material.

Does that mean I like it any better? Haha fuck no. My irritation with Kay's choices persists. It's just that my ire for this book's influence is more accurately directed at the Phandom at large for making it something of a Golden Calf.

And like the Biblical Golden Calf I am here to pound it into dust and make everyone drink it.

So at this point I was going to complain that Kay never made mention of Erik being Christened "the trap-door lover" in Persia. There's even a CHAPTER of Leroux's novel called "The Masterstroke of the Trap-Door Lover". And this didn't come up even ONCE in Nadir's narrative. In fact the Persian and Leroux's narrator both talk about how Erik "rigged the palaces". Which is to say he made alterations to existing buildings and "turned the most honest construction in the world into a demonic house where one could not speak a word without being watched, or betrayed by an echo. How many family quarrels, how many bloody tragedies had the monster left in his wake with his trap doors?"

In Kay's narrative, Erik doesn't alter any existing palaces, he only constructs the Trick Box inspired palace described in Leroux's epilogue and his love of trap doors? Apparently it just isn't a thing.

Moving on

So of course we have to come back around to his mother. That was inevitable and I do actually appreciate it because we know Erik's furniture in the lair was his mother's.

The part where he views his mother's body is... eighhhhhh.

Erik describes the ravages of time in Madeleine's face and also the ravages of death. He talks about the irony that there's actually some resemblance between them now. And we get... this

And as I looked at her, I suddenly understood her revulsion at last--because now I shared it!

I felt no anger or grief as I looked down upon her . . . nothing except a disgust which enabled me to forgive any act of cruelty that she had ever shown me.

[...]

I did not kiss her, now that I had the opportunity.

I knew that she would not have wished it.

And I no longer felt any desire to do so.

I'm deeply confused as to what Kay is trying to convey here. Is Erik really saying that he doesn't want to kiss his mother because death has made her ugly? He goes on a lot about how death is gross and ugly and like... you just found out that your mom never re-married after you left. Never left the house she raised you in.

The misogyny REALLY steps up to the foreground here as well. He says of his mother's friend, Marie Perrault (the only person in this entire book with any rights imho)

This nervous, anxious, well-meaning lady had taught me to respect all members of the weaker sex.

Which, simply by calling them the "weaker sex"... you clearly don't? And after proclaiming is respect for ALL MEMBERS of the weaker sex, in the NEXT sentence he puts in a caveat about how he's never harmed an innocent woman, and also says something about the Khanom that really made me very, very queasy, and also reinforced my squicky suspicions about why Kay chose to make the cruel and capricious female figure in Persia an older woman (a domineering mother) rather than Leroux's "Little Sultana".

Very annoyed how Kay has graduated Erik's voice from "Automatic Aphrodisiac" to "Literally indistinguishable from Jedi Mind Tricks".

Erik regails us with how, using only his voice he is able to "reduce certain men to a trance-like state of obedience" (once exhibited on Nadir and his son Reza). When he meets Nadir again in Paris we are treated to this observation:

"Do you understand, Nadir? Keep away!"

His hand slid him it carriage door and he stood back with a trance-like obedience. He made no effort to prevent the brougham moving away, but although I knew my secret was safe for tonight, I felt no sense of complacency.

Once before he had broken free of my control, torn down the swaddling cocoon of sound with which I had bound him. Unlike Jules [Erik's lackey], he was not a natural subject; his will was too strong, his sense of identity and purpose too well developed.

Whenever he chose to fight my voice, I knew I would be unable to hold him.

That's a Jedi Mind trick. I'm sorry it is.

This section is actually quite enjoyable where the building of the opera house is concerned, but it takes a downturn, both in terms of the story and just the quality of the writing.

There are two instances of redundancy.

His death excited little excitement.

"My old interest in divination had never left me, and from time to time I still consulted the tarot cards in desultory fashion. It had been a long while since they had revealed anything significant, but now of late, each time I picked a card at random I seemed to turn up Death...

And this latter example leads me to something that really made me want to throw the book.

Since Nadir's narrative I have looked askance at something that has come up repeatedly: Susan Kay goes to GREAT LENGTHS to ensure that the readers know that Nadir I 100% straight. NO HOMO HERE, DEAR READER. ABSOLUTELY NOT. She shoehorns in a dead wife that Nadir never got over losing, and went into unnecessary detail about how when Nadir feels "the itch of manhood" (🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮) he avails himself of a prostitute or an odalisque. It comes up SEVERAL times. And when Nadir pops back up in Paris she makes sure to tell us that he has a mistress that he sees regularly. All of this to bring us to THIS infuriating line:

And so even as I walked with Nadir, talked with him, rejoiced in the warmth of communicating directly once more with a human soul, there was a part of me that looked at him with suspicion and wondered what part fate had assigned him in this new, unrehearsed opera.

Not the Lover, that was for certain. I'd seen enough girls leaving his apartments in Persia to be reassured that all of his instincts were purely heterosexual."

I'm not generally into gay readings of PotO. I don't ship Erik with either Raoul or with The Persian. But I will say that if there is an argument to be made for anyone in this book being anything less than 100% heterosexual, it's The Persian. Leroux makes no mention of him having a wife or anything of the sort. Tie that in with the determined responsibility and complex bond he seems to hold with Erik and a case can be made for our dear Daroga feeling something rather more than just sympathy for Erik. (I don't personally subscribe to this, but the case can certainly be made--I'm more of a DaRaoul girl tbh. I think that's an untapped gold mine).

But not here. Kay bends so far backwards as to have Erik say outright "Nadir is defo straight", while (even more bafflingly) implying that, perhaps, Erik is not. WHY, SUSAN. WHY?

Christine’s introduction is the single most "reads like Fanfiction (derogatory)" thing I've read in this book so far, but I find it very interesting how, when Christine sings for the first time Erik says that she "possesses a near perfect instrument". He says her technique is faultless, and that there's no weakness in either register. My first problem is that Leroux's Erik only ever calls Carlotta's voice an "instrument", because that's all it is to Carlotta. My second is that, according to Christine, her lower register was muffled and her upper register was shrill and her middle register wanted clarity. Maybe that's just Christine being too critical of herself, but I doubt that she had "flawless technique" when Erik began teaching her. Incredible latent talent for sure, but I do believe that she needed help with technique as well as motivation to reignite her passion.

Lastly we have Erik's description of when he first sings to Christine. His narrative regarding his motivation is actually very similar to my own:

She wanted an Angel of Music--an angel who would make her believe in herself at last.

[...] There was no reason in the world why I could not be the Angel of Music to Christine. I couldn't hope to be a man to her, I couldn't ever be a real, breathing, living man waking at her side and reaching out for her. . . .

But I could be her angel.

Is his motive here altruistic? No. But the sentiment is sweet enough. The notion of inspiring Christine's self-confidence is present.

Pity then that he takes a sharp left turn in the very next paragraph and utterly compromises any positivity in his intent.

I could not steal her body--but I could steal her voice and weld it irretrievably with mine; I could take it, and mold it, and make it mine forever...

Softly at first, infinitely softly I began to sing an old, heathen, Romany song. The Hollowed bricks carried the haunting melody relentlessly to her, permitted my voice to envelop her gently like a poisonous mist, seeping inexorably into her mind and staining her soul with darkness.

Well, well.

Once more unto the breach I go...

Masterpost

#phantom of the opera #poto #commentary on 'phantom'#susan kay phantom #phantom susan kay

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taleasnewastime · 2 years

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Dating advice | Part ten

Summary: It’s been months – ok, it’s been years – since you last went on a date. And you’re sick of it. Sick of seeing couples kissing and holding hands in the street. Sick of your friends settling down. Sick of everyone buying houses and having families. You’re going to do something about it. You’re going to snap up a man, you’re going to tie someone down, you’re going to finally commit, you’re going to – you’re going to need a bit of advice.

Pairing: Yoongi x reader

Genre: fluff; angst; smut

Word count: 3.1k

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, reader gets angry, swearing, low self-esteem, angst, awkwardness.

Authors Note: … It’s a big turning point …

Previous | Next | Series masterlist

“And then she leaned over and said that’s never happened before.”

Erik lets out a massive belly laugh, his eyes closing, his head flopping back. You can see his whole chest rising and falling through his shirt.

You don’t find it as funny, but you still force out a small laugh. The sound so low over Erik’s laugh and the background noise in the bar that he probably doesn’t even hear it. By the time he’s looking at you again you’re sipping your drink, he doesn’t seem to read the fact you didn’t find the story funny, or at least doesn’t care.

“How’s the drink? Better than your last?”

His smile is large, kind, makes him look incredibly handsome and yet even while it’s all directed at you, it does nothing to you. Not flutter in your chest, no heating of your face, no desire to shy away from him. Still, you smile back, look down at the half gone pink drink in front of you. It’s your second drink, a French martini.

“It’s my favourite drink, and they haven’t disappointed.”

“Your favourite, huh? I’ll have to make a note.”

You give him another small smile. There’s a beat of silence, not awkward, but you realise he’s leaving it open for you to say something.

“Oh, what’s yours?”

“Probably whiskey.”

Of course. “Ever been to a distillery?”

“No, can’t say I have. Would love to though.”

“Yeah, I’d recommend. Some of the good ones are expensive but you walk out feeling tipsy after all the samples. Plus, you get great discount on bottles at the end.”

His lip curls at the edge as if impressed. “Well, maybe an idea for another date?”

“Yeah,” you say lightly.

Why doesn’t the idea excite you? If this was before you would have been jumping in your seat at the prospect. But now, somethings changed. Maybe the fact he ghosted you and is now acting like nothing’s wrong, like that never happened. But you also know it’s something else, because when he mentioned alcohol all you could think of was the pub and when he said it would be a good date, that you should go together, all you could think about was how much Yoongi would love it. About how much you would love to go with Yoongi.

Yoongi. He's getting in your head. He’s ruining your date.

“Anyway,” you try to steer conversation onto something safer. “I was listening to a podcast about this Wagatha Christie case on the way here. Are you following it?”

“Oh my god. Who’s not?”

You smile, genuine this time. The way his eyes brighten at the thought of two footballers wives suing each other is a sight to see.

“They were saying Rebekah’s agent lost her phone at sea so they couldn’t search it for evidence. I mean how convenient it that?” You carry on, glad to be on a topic you can both get behind.

“It’s ridiculous. The amount they’re spending on legal fees just because of a tweet.”

“Footballers get paid too much.”

“I always wanted to be a footballer growing up.”

You laugh and Eriks smile brightens at the sound. “Come on. Every boy wants to grow up to be a footballer.”

“Yeah, well, like you said it’s the money and fame. For literally kicking a ball around.”

“Yeah, can’t argue with that logic.”

You finally relax back into your seat, take another sip of your drink before smiling at him.

“Come on then,” you say. “Millions of pounds a week, what would you do with it all?”

“Firstly, take you somewhere better than this shit hole.”

You laugh, roll your eyes. “Real smooth.”

He takes a sip of his drink, his eyes dark as he looks at you. Still nothing stirs inside you. The conversation is easy, you like him enough, he’s hot, maybe you just need a little more time.

The conversation carries on for a couple more drinks before you head home. There’s a couple of awkward pauses at times, but nothing major. It feels the same as the first time you met up with him. Fun and you had a laugh, a nice date.

You both head the same way when you get outside, end up chatting and walking. You don’t think too hard about it, end up subconsciously walking towards your house and Erik just follows along. But as soon as you indicate your place and pause by the door you can’t stop thinking about it. Is it weird he didn’t ask to walk you home, just did?

You stand in silence for a bit, Erik trying not to show that he’s fidgeting on the spot, you trying not to overthink this too much. When you don’t open the door or say anything he speaks up.

“So,” he pauses, looks from you to your door.

“It was a nice night. Thanks for asking me out again. And for the drinks.”

“You know,” his voice has dropped, he leans in a centimetre and your eyes naturally fall to his lips. “It doesn’t have to end here.”

“Oh,” you quickly look back to his eyes then over his shoulder, you don’t want to give him the wrong impression.

Your thoughts immediately go to Yoongi, the fact you never invited him back to yours after your date even though you wanted to, the fact that he warned you not to invite men back inside. And then you catch yourself before you can keep thinking down that trail. It’s not the first time you’ve thought of him tonight, and it annoys you that even when on a date with another man, another very attractive man, you still can’t stop thinking about Yoongi.

Your fingers twitch at your side, your jaw working as you grit your teeth.

“It’s alright,” Erik obviously gets the wrong impression, and when you look back at him, he’s already starting to draw away. “If you’re busy we can do it another time.”

He’s giving you an out, you know. He’s misread your annoyance for nerves and has taken it upon himself to retract the invite. Even though he’s got the wrong reason, you gratefully leap on the excuse.

“Sorry, I’m just tired.”

He smiles, nods, and you don’t miss the way his eyes flick to your lips. More annoyance flares within you, a perfectly hot man, clearly wanting to kiss you and yet you’re pushing him away.

“I’ll text you,” he says.

You don’t even make a joke about how that’s what he said last time and yet it took him weeks to do just that. Just wave him off, mind slowly whirling with anger, building up and up into a storm.

It’s ever since you went on that date with Yoongi, he was supposed to be doing it to help you and yet he’s seemed to make you more undatable. He’s constantly on your mind, even when you’re with someone else you can’t stop thinking of him, comparing your date to his. And then that piece of advice, don’t invite any men back to your place, why did he have to plant that in your mind? Why did you have to follow it?

You become more and more irrational until you decide that the only thing to do is go and have it out with him. As if he’s personally sabotaged your date. As if by going and shouting at him will make anything better.

You don’t care. Reason doesn’t come into it. You need to let this anger out at something.

You storm into the pub, are a little annoyed that the door has one of the jams on it which means you can’t slam it shut. But never mind, because as soon as you spot Yoongi your gaze becomes like a tunnel.

He spots you when you’re halfway too him and despite the fact that you must have a face like thunder, he still smiles. You try not to let the way his eyes brighten at seeing you stop your anger. But it’s tough. That cute round face, those dark eyes, his cheeks lifting as his lips curl up. The pure delight in his face at seeing you. And then the realisation that you don’t look happy, that you are in fact storming towards him. His smiles dips and something flashes in his eyes.

“Hey, everything –”

“Your advice is shit,” you cut him off.

“Ok,” he elongates the word, clearly confused.

“Did you say it because you knew it would get in my head? Is that why you did all of this? Am I joke to you?”

“I’m not –”

“It’s that, isn’t it? You saw me that first day and thought you could have some fun.”

“I don’t know what you’re –”

“It wasn’t pity at all was it? Have you been mocking me this entire time?”

“Y/N.”

“Having a good laugh behind my back?”

“Y/N,” he repeats your name, his voice level, his face flat. But you’re on a roll, are deaf to what he’s trying to say. You don’t even fully know what you’re saying, are so worked up that you’re just spouting whatever words come out of your mouth, half of it rubbish, most of it you don’t believe.

“I mean, I don’t know why I listened to you in the first place. I’m a grown woman, I should be able to make my own decisions not just listen to yours. I just can’t believe –”

You finally pause when Yoongi takes a step away from you. You look at his retreating figure about to shout after him before he speaks.

“Priya, you alright to cover me for a bit?”

Your eyes glance to Priya and your heart drops, you’ve never seen the look on her face. Sadness and then such anger when she looks at you. You look back at Yoongi and watch as he continues to walk away. When you speak again your words come out softer and less sure.

“Hey, where are you going?”

He pauses, back still to you and then twists. His features are dark, his mouth a tight line. He doesn’t look happy.

“Believe it or not, I’m not about to stand around in my own pub and be shouted at,” he turns back away from you. “Now, you can either come with me or get out.”

You glance back to Priya who gives you the barest hint that she thinks you should follow him, even then she rolls her eyes at the idiot you are.

As Yoongi slips through the door to the back you make your decision and slip behind the bar. Half jog to follow him, eyes doing a quick glance of the room realising that though it’s not busy, everyone has just watched what’s unfolded.

Ducking your head in shame you head into the back. Think you hear Priya mutter something about how you should be treating him how he deserves and not abusing him. Your shame only deepens. Part of you wants to run away, but you continue to follow; you’re not about to run away from this colossal mess you’ve created.

You’ve never been back here before. A hall with doors leading off, you’re sure one’s to the cellar he took a picture of for you and as you head down the hall you see that the one that’s been left a jar has stairs. You catch Yoongi at the top just before he disappears behind another door at the top.

His flat is not what you expected. You expected dark and moody colours, little to no decorations. But what you find is a bright space, a large comfy sofa facing a large TV. Walls of bookshelves, littered with photo frames and well-read books. There’s a small kitchen at the back of the room, partitioned off by a breakfast island. The space is homely, lived in while also being incredibly clean, not a thing out of place, and not a spot of dust.

And then there’s Yoongi. Stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, face broody as he watches you take in his home.

Even if it wasn’t for the shock of coming up here and seeing all of this, the fight would have already seeped out of you. The short walk here and the looks of disapproval from everyone doing enough to make you realise what a mistake you’ve made.

It’s not Yoongi you’re annoyed at, it’s yourself. And yet you were so caught up in yourself that you came here and took it all out on him.

You are well and truly messing this up.

“I’m sorry,” you start. “I – that – downstairs.”

You take a breath. Yoongi lets you have the time to stop and start again.

“My heads all over the place, and that’s not an excuse. But, I went on a date today and I couldn’t even invite the guy inside my house. He obviously wanted to come in and I said no.”

“And that’s my fault?”

“You told me not to invite anyone back to mine.”

He rolls his eyes, this apology isn’t going very well. His arms remain crossed over his chest, his stance defensive, but he seems to relax a little, as if amused by what you’re saying. It only irks you more.

“It’s not like I forced you. I didn’t stand guard outside your house stopping rouge men from coming in.”

“No,” you huff. “You didn’t”

“So you’re pissed I recommended you do something, and because you did what I suggested?”

You work your jaw, unable to meet his eyes, especially now he has a wider, more obvious, smile on his face.

“You’re right,” you say feeling completely deflated. “I shouldn’t have come.”

Still, you don’t move and Yoongi doesn’t confirm that he agrees with what you’ve said, that he too thinks you should go. You both just stay standing facing each other.

“I’m sorry,” you repeat.

“It was pretty shitty.”

“More really shitty,” you correct him.

“In my own pub too,” he continues to dig, the smile still on his face despite his words.

“I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

You do. It was him, in your mind, which is why you took it out on him. And staring at him now, you feel like you’re cracking at the seams. All this built-up emotion starting to spill out at the seams.

“Maybe I should leave,” your voice comes out hoarser now, the smile dipping on Yoongi’s face. “I mean, I’ve been a complete bitch, treated you like shit – I can’t just stand here, in your flat and pretend it’s ok.”

“Hey,” Yoongi takes a step towards you, his arms dropping to his side. “You’ve apologised.”

“And yet it doesn’t feel like that’s enough.”

“I accept it.”

You pause. He sounds genuine, looks genuine. Yet you still feel so guilty.

You shake your head, eyes flick to the sofa and while you’ve said twice now that you’re going to leave, you slowly move towards it and take a seat. Your head goes into your hands, so you feel rather than see Yoongi come to sit next to you, the cushions dipping down with the extra weight.

“You’re too nice to me.”

“Maybe I’m just nice,” you can still hear the joke in his voice even though it comes out quieter, softer.

You shake your head again, still unable to look up from your hands. You flinch when a hand comes to your back, the contact so delicate you weren’t expecting it. To your relief Yoongi only draws away for a beat before placing his hand on your back just as delicately. When you don’t flinch a second time, he must decide it’s ok to keep it there.

“What’s this really about?” He asks, his hand rubbing soothingly on your back.

How is he always able to read what’s really going on? It’s like a blessing and a curse. You feel embarrassed by the reason, feel like you’ve really built it up and if you tell him the truth it’s going to make it that much more ridiculous. But you’ve never imagined Yoongi laughing when you think about telling him your feelings. He may not return them, but he wouldn’t shoot you down for your own.

You take a breath, sit up straighter so your head is no longer resting in your hands. Your heart is beating a mile a minute and with Yoongi’s hand still on your back you’re surprised he hasn’t expressed his concerns.

In the second or two it takes you to sit straight, you mentally prepare to look at Yoongi. Still the concern etched on his features doesn’t make anything better. You remind yourself of what you thought earlier; don’t run away from this problem.

“It’s not that serious,” you try to lighten the mood even though your smile is forced, and your words feel heavy. “I haven’t killed anyone or anything.”

Yoongi doesn’t crack a smile, just stares you down with those soul eating, yet still soft, eyes.

You feel sweaty, feel like you want to bolt out of this situation, feel like you would literally rather be swimming with sharks then say what you’re about to say. But you try not to overthink it, try not to think of the what ifs and buts. If you truly care about this man, if you truly have feelings for him, then you need to say something.

“I like you,” your voice husky and weak.

You clear your throat, eyes drift and snap back to Yoongi as if unsure where to look, too scared to look at him but feel like you need to say this directly at him. When you speak again it’s clearer and more convincing.

“I don’t mean in the same way I like Priya or Jimin. I mean, I like talking to you, I liked our date together, I like your smile and your hair and I don’t know, I like you. And you don’t have to say you feel the same way, I know the date wasn’t really a date, but I can’t get you out of my head and it’s driving me insane – which you clearly saw tonight.” You pause, take a breath, and then say, “I really like you, Yoongi.”

#yoongi fanfic #yoongi fic #yoongi x reader #yoongi x y/n #suga fanfic #suga x reader #suga x y/n #yoongi fluff #yoongi angst #yoongi series

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capcavan · 6 months

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Riko ship meta I could not spam the other day bc tumblr had stroke!

Riko/Renee Rinee

Renee would be first and only ever woman Riko is interested in, their relationship starts slow held back by Riko's inability to feel at ease in fox tower and distrust towards himself

Everyone labels the relationships as Renee taking in a pet project to fix while Riko is hungry for any sort of attention, only Kevin and Andrew see that it's beginning of something serious (if Riko will allow it to be) , because Andrew knows Renee and Kevin knows Riko

Renee can not cook meanwhile Riko's arm is broken and so he gets to teach her how to not fuck up pan cakes

Renee enjoys sparring with Riko, due to her past experience she does not feel comfortable with stronger men, knowing Rikos fighting style and knowing well that she could with with him in a fight calms down her anxieties, Riko is excellent boxer but when it comes to real fighting he has no chance against her.

in future when she's more comfortable and trusting of him she will teach him to better defend himself

She sees him as doberman with cropped tail and ears, going through life not understanding he had been mutilated.

Riko is not prepared for Renee to finish collage much sooner than he would the separation is extremely hard on him

Girl and boy, Riko is stay at home boywife, Renee plays exy for few seasons before retiring to enjoy home life. (i have way too many different head cannons about Riko's parenting and his issues with parenting sent asks])

Riko/Kevin

they are soulmates they are always together no matter of au or story progression they always love each other in some way

Kevin dislikes seeing Riko move on and work on getting better, he is scared that there will be no place for Kevin beside new "fixed" Riko

Kevin is scared of future, and tends to romanticize their time at the nest finding comfort in time where he was the centre of Rikos universe

Riko is the one to drag Kevin to start therapy - they have group sessions

Riko gets king chess piece tattooed on ring finger , Kevin gets a cown

Size kink 100%, Riko does not realise Kevin likes how much shorter Riko is

Riko/Jean

very unhealthy but stabilizing with time reltionship

Riko seeks punishment for bad things he committed , and Jean is comfortable to provide them

Jean takes dominant role between the two Riko willingly gives everything away to him, he's too scared to be left alone

Jean knows broken bones hurt, but the tender pain of emotional distress is unmatched , he will make Riko taste both

Jean does not feel any pity for Riko, Riko does not want any pity

but after some times passes hurting is not as relieving any more and its time to care

Riko/Jeremy

Jeremy is one of not many people Riko is actually afraid (of course he is drawn to him)

Jeremy is son of politician and in the know about Moriyamas activities

Jeremy likes teasing Riko about his poor social status [being just moriyama family commodity rather than actual part of the power]

Riko entertains him mainly hoping the relationship might be useful for him in future

Riko/Nathaniel

Nathaniel is little sadist he got it after his daddy, he loves using Riko as his canvas for cuts and scarification, most days he spends time modifying Rikos skin or tending to old cuts

Riko can't deny things to Nathaniel

Riko/Nicky

Nicky is very active and always looking for partners whatever or not on the list or with Erik's approval

Riko enjoys teasing him

They really are not together, it's just a lot of teasing and Nicky wanting to get laid and everyone around making it into meme

Riko/Jack -Jack wants to be to Riko what Riko was to Kevin in nest

Riko/Andrew

andrew is one of people who are very honest towards riko [openly tell him to fuck off] riko takes comfort in someone who is not trying to be nice/pity full towards him, he needs people to hold him accountable for things he done

riko learn to play the game by andrews rules not even interacting with andrew but seeing the way andrew interact with everyone, any time someone makes mistake riko sees? he uses it as occasion to never make this mistake himself

andrew is not amused, not mad either, there is some pleasure in knowing that someone is tailoring their personality to match all of his needs

andrew is the only person able to handle riko physically and set hard boundaries with him

after all the training he put into this dog he refuses to let anyone else have it

Wymack/Riko

daddy issues

kevins daddy

authority and praise

I'm insane about them

Aaron/Riko

aaron is cute smart and pretty and likes being told so, he also looks extremely good next to renee so that's perfect ot3

Size kink now Riko understands why Kevin thought him being short is hot

Riko/Ravens

Ravens love riko and idolize him

they see riko as one of them , left behind abandoned good only for one thing- exy

the difference is unlike them riko does not realise this

thanks to that he can do something they can not - dream

and they love being close to that dream

Riko/Seth

seth befriends riko to piss off other foxes

seth dates riko to piss of kevin day

seth has many siblings his big brother sense are tingling and riko loves the attention

they are fucking assholes idiots and troublemakers

weed and alcohol

Riko/Allison

that is planned for badger in fox den I have no clue yet how this will work but I have warm feelings

#riko moriyama #aftg #all for the game #renee walker #kevin day

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missezri · 1 year

Text

Small Defence of Kristina in Young Royals - Season 2 The Redemption Arc

For part one please see it here.

Also, these are all my own thoughts and interpretations. Season 3 could prove me all wrong.

Season 2 is a bit of a redemption arc for Queen Kristina, who while still is no Sarah Nelson or likely to win any LGBTQ+ Mother of the Year awards, is far from the villain that she was in Season 1.

The first time we see Kristina in Season 2, she is pleading to speak to Wilhelm. For someone controlling and calling the shot weeks ago, Kristina is rather submissive here. She isn’t coming into his space. When Wilhelm closes the door, she only talks through it and doesn’t make any attempt to open it. Wilhelm doesn’t lock the door, you see what looks like a key in the door, she can very easily open it and talk but she doesn’t.

When Wilhelm finally does call her, Kristina first looks shocked and surprised. After all, this is Wilhelm reaching out when he’s been continuing to ignore her calls and texts. This quickly gets shattered when Wilhelm actually talks. But I am going to pause here for a moment because, we see a new important character here, Jan-Olof Munck. He is the one that is going to become the villain and the representation of The Crown. In this role, only Kristina held Season 1, in Season 2 however, we will see her step back from that role. But, we will come back to him.

For this conversation however, I feel this is the moment that Kristina finally realises the extend of Wilhelm’s anxiety and (possibly mixed in too) grief over Erik’s passing. She is hearing up close and personal a full panic attack, and her reaction makes me wonder if this is the first time it has happened, if she noticed before. I would reckon she hasn’t, especially with her own disappointment and grief in Season 1. With Jan-Olof now in frame, Kristina can step more into the role of mother than Queen. Although, sometimes it takes Wilhelm asking before the Queen drops completely.

So, the next day we have Kristina taking action because clearly some intervention is needed for Wilhelm. I can see from Kristina’s perspective how removing him from school at first seems like something Wilhelm may go along with. Just months ago he was sending messages begging to come home. And I am sure there are other motives too like training Wilhelm up to take the throne, but for me, this conversation is one of the most important moments of the series.

While Wilhelm says she only wants him to leave to not see Simon because of the scandal and that she forced him to lie. While I do agree that yes, Wille likely felt very much forced to say what he did at the time, I also can see the logic behind Kristina’s words here. No one should be forced to come out. Kristina would have done a lot better voicing this before the video, but she’s probably had her own reflections. As seen by the news coverage, it is a big deal for a member of a royal family to potentially be gay/queer (the media would likely just jump to gay).

I am sure there is a part of Kristina that was hoping this would be some phase, but she is realising I think that her son’s relationship was a lot more. She is also saying this not in private. She is on a plane of other people, who while are likely loyal to the Crown, are hearing her make her own stance. Kristina is stating that she is supporting her son.

And yes, she does bring up the “When you are 18′” discussion, which again I don’t think there is necessarily done with ill intention. Wilhelm’s behaviour hasn’t been very mature as of late (refusing to speak to his mother for weeks, calling up and making demands). Clearly, Wilhelm needs some time to mature and work through things before he makes any rash decisions. I can understand this from Kristina’s point of view as she knows whatever he decides, it is going to play on the world stage and he will need to be ready for that. Getting Wilhelm into therapy is key to that. (And well done Boris by the end of the season).

When Kristina meets with August to let him know about the Royal Court’s plan to make him Wilhelm’s “backup” if he is not able to handle the pressure, she lets August know right off the bat this was not her idea. We the viewer gets to see that Kristina too is trapped in some ways by the machine of the Royal Court and the Crown. While Kristina protected August at the end of the last season when he leaked the video, it becomes more clear that she only did so to protect her son (and yes, by extension the Crown).

If Kristina didn’t have her own title, I don’t think she would have a problem with Wille being queer, and this conversation cements it. It isn’t Kristina who asks if August is straight, it is the Royal Court who asks. Kristina makes it very clear that this backup plan is only if Wilhelm cannot do it, but until then she is going to support her son. As while August attempts to charm her, she never shows any sort of support in this conversation.

This line I find interesting when Kristina is explaining how August has been put forward has his replacement, not only for the speech but perhaps as King. And Kristina is very clear, this is not her desire or plan, it is the Royal Court. She’s been forced into this. Erik’s death has meant that there is only one person after her to succeed or Sweden will have to rework its government, which is a bit dramatic the country would survive, but again legacy is something Kristina is concerned about.

Why I want to point out this line though, is Kristina seems to be voicing what has been Wilhelm’s problem with the monarchy thus far, it is a punishment. You cannot freely act but have to constantly think what wider impact your actions may have. Choices are few and far between in Kristina’s position.

Kristina didn’t make the decision about Simon’s song, Jan-Olof did. She didn’t put forward August to replace her only son, the Royal Court did. She didn’t want Wilhelm to come out before it was his choice or he was ready.

She is just in damage control dealing with it all.

So, in the end, I don’t think Kristina is the villain of Young Royals. She is a character with many different slides and flaws. She is far from a perfect mother, but she is also trapped in the same system that Wilhelm is too. We know Ludvig was not her first love either, she had to sacrifice that for the Crown.

The real question is going to be what she does in Season 3 with the news out. Wilhelm could have easily thrown Kristina under the bus by stating her part in why he initially denied the video. But again, she isn’t the villain, the Crown is.

That is my defense of her. I liked her a lot more in Season 2 and I better found I could understand her. But these are just my thoughts, feel free to agree or disagree.

#young royals #queen kristina #young royals analysis #prince wilhelm #young royals s2

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zu-is-here · 10 months

Note

Hey zuu

Oh hii Gayfish! (*'▽'*)

UPD:

Oh no reason to worry about it! (ówò) Your family comes first so there's nothing wrong in delaying <3

My bad I'm empty-handed either but happy birthday to the twins! (〃ω〃) Your latest reblogs with them are such a nostalgia ☆

How are you doing today? *^* Heheh yours is sooo cute too! Pink rulesss (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)♪

Take your time╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Bruh!! It was such a mistake to use mascara cause I cried all my tears out in the end ;w; Did you like it?

OH yay!! (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

[spoilers for Barbie]

Ah I can feel you! (ówò)

Perhaps I didn't take it so politically cause Ken's attempts were more ridiculous than depressing to me, although there's a deep message here.

I guess this is not so much about patriarchy or matriarchy, but about the right to be whoever you want without being obligated to anyone?

That's what made me cry in the final, when Barbie asked her creator to be a human and not an idea and felt what it's like to be one ;w;

Oh!! (°▽°) I suppose it's really individual cause I didn't cry at all when I watched Everything Everywhere All at once, and while everyone was talking about how Great this movie is (it is! *^*), I was like "?? Well that was 60% crazy, 30% fun and 10% sophistic :'D"

Looks like it's controversial indeed ("ó3ó) What do you think would be a better ending? *^*

Pff true, she acted so good xp I also enjoyed Alan, he looks so confused the whole movie XD

Speaking of the other movie— did you watch Oppenheimer? *^*

Sadly no cause we can't watch it in cinema now :') But if they'll make it legal, I'll definitely go the second time all pink! \(//∇//)\

Oh these men ε-(´∀｀; ) Alternative? :0

Awww true! (〃ω〃) That's some real things <3

> Also no I haven't seen the other movie, but my friend has, and she really enjoyed it! So has jan!

This is not as exciting as Barbie is heh, but I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films, and he nailed it again <3 (The adult scenes were superfluous though, but a man can have at least one in his career right? x)

[text ahead cause of the images limit xp]

> Alternative? You know like goth, punk things like that

Ah I see! (ﾟ∀ﾟ) Looks like it's not common for them in our modern world x)

> Other then the movie zu, how have you been? What you been up to?

Working on the next part of Trapped! (☆ω☆) Hopefully I can finish it before opening commissions, that's when the real work starts xp

Do you have other news to share? *^*

> Good luck with commisons zu!!

Nothing new, just been listening to phantom still, I wonder if there were any songs left out of the movie that you might not have heard

Thank youuu Gayfish! <3

So addictive (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)♪ Oh I wonder too *^*

> Recently I've been super into Notes and Notes twisted every way. As well as Why have you brought us here? Have you heard any of these before?

Woah— I don't remember listening to the first one! (°▽°) And I like how leitmotif repeats in the second one ☆ The voices are ssso good... *^*

> Oh! Did you just go off and listen to them now?? I love them to!! The way the voices mesh in the argument, and how christens name being repeated 3 times is a common motive.

Yesss! ♪ The musical must be better in terms of listening to them, cause in the movie, watching them steals almost all the attention :'D

> And the tunes of "His eyes will find me there, those eyes that burn"

Is the same as "hunt down this murderer, he must be found" in the finally

OH right!! (*⁰▿⁰*)

> It's also sad, how much the songs are starting to reflect christens trauma. She's so frightened, and his fear is growing ever strong, its twisting her perception of it all. All up until the point kf no return, and then the phantom singing all I ask of you.

The moment she realises that he knew about her and her lover the whole time. And she hears his true motive has truly been her the whole time, and she stands up and rips off his mask

Trueee, that was so intense in the movie as well ;w; Thought that's where the viewer knows that Erik saw them and knew about them, but the music shows it another way *^*

> I still haven't seen the movie, but the musical is spectacular visually as well.

I wonder if you'd enjoy the 25th anniversary recordings, it's very well shot.

The only thing that turned me off from the movie si that the phantom was cast for his appearance, not his voice, when it really should have been the other way around for a character who's a musical genius.

Awww I would! *0*

I've heard that many actors tried to get this role (Antonio Banderas as well?) and they took vocal lessons for this cause singing songs on their own was a prerequisite ☆

> Did you know that the longest running Broadway phantom played the role for 7 years? Almost every night for 7 years! The way they hop from one song to the next, his poor voice.

He got the biggest round of Applause at the end of the show

FOR real?? \(//∇//)\ That's crazy yet respectable!!

> One thing that was pointed out to me, which kinda kills alittle bit of the tension, js when Eric is over hearing All I ask of you, he's hiding behind the horses bottom, in the statue XD idk if makes me.laugh.

In the book he's ontop of a very high up statue, and it's a wonder he even heard them.

You know I've actually been to that oprea house

PFF well he's hiding after all xd You've been there?? (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

> Also I'm sorry if you are getting tired kf talking, idk if you are busy with trapped and would rather take a break?

Oh I really enjoy talking to you about them! *w* We can both take a break though, no rush anyway <3

> Well if you do wanna watch it, you can rent it on you tube. It's my favourite versionnnn.

Of course if you get the chance to actually watch it ! Do!

I'm going to be keeping an eye on it, waiting for it to return, Andrew said that it should come back, so if it ever comes back to London, I will tell you just in case it co-alines with a time you could visit!

I know I want to see it againnn.

Awww that would be amazing, thanks! \(//∇//)\

> Ok! We can take a break heh, sorryy

But I'll see if I can find a picture of the oprea house and send it over!

It's alright! (ówò) I'll be looking forward to it *^*

@help-im-a-gay-fish OH wow!! \(//∇//)\ This is a great photo, "catching a moment" <3

He did a really good work at trying to make it as real as possible though *w*

> Me ans Jan found a night tour of the opera housessss I think we might goooo

*GASP* That's awwwsome! (〃ω〃)☆

#updated #ask #zu is happy

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musicofthemask · 1 year

Text

Okay this was going to be a joke but it turned into character analysis… enjoy.

London Love Never Dies Phantom is so badass for showing up maskless to confront Raoul. He knew he was going to win the bet (let’s not forget he is the one who suggested it) and wanted the vicomte to be left, on some level, traumatised that Christine left him for a man with such a severe deformity because yes, the LND deformity is more shocking than the original one.

Raoul makes his case worse when he makes all of his arguments, comebacks, whatever you want to call them, about Erik’s physical appearance (“…foul as sin, hideous, horrible…”), which he seems to feel better about ten years after Christine confronted and moved something in him (“This haunted face holds no horror for me now, it’s in your soul that the true distortion lies.”) because, let’s be honest, Erik’s behaviour in this sequel shows a lot of maturity and control.

He isn’t angry anymore, he understands his wrongs and wants to right them. Maybe he understands why Christine didn’t stay (looking at you, Ramin’s nod in the 25th), and grew to accept it, worked on himself, and now believes he has earned a second chance. In his mind, he is the one that now deserves her, even more so with Gustave in the picture (in this case he might even feel it’s his duty as well, but for him it’s a delight).

The truth is that Erik has become the healthier choice for Christine by the time the events of the musical happen. He is a respected businessman, who has learned to love himself and dedicated ten years of his life to build his dreamland, where he helps others like him feel safe and accepted so they won’t have to go through the same as him, we see this in “Beauty Underneath”, something Christine taught him about, no doubt.

Not only that, but Phantasma is a charming attempt at helping others see what’s different with, not even compassion, but straight up wonder and amazement.

The Phantom is the ultimate example that some people just deserve a little bit of love (Final Lair kiss) to realise their worth and change for the better.

The MINUTE Christine kisses Erik he becomes a changed man. He lets her go with a man he was clearly jealous of, and he disappears from her life for both their own goods. Erik becomes incredibly selfless while also taking care of himself (GROWTH!).

It isn’t until he feels accomplished and happy on his own that he decides to contact Christine. Even after the rush of emotions inside him tempt him to return to his old ways when he sees her again, Erik gives her the freedom to leave him and is okay with just hearing her sing one last time. No wonder some of Christine’s final words to him are “…take the love that you deserve…” because he should never have had to earn it.

Erik deserved love the moment he was born, and every time he was denied it, he deserved it even more. Going back to the final lair, he is so angry when Raoul, a handsome aristocrat, who is also Christine’s fiancé, asks for compassion. What’s his answer? “The world showed no compassion to me!” Sometimes the actor is sarcastic and sometimes just plain mad which means Erik is either trying to cope or simply gave up on it. If anyone is long overdue compassion, it’s him, not Raoul.

Minutes later he learns love when Christine kisses him, and later on in a certain scene we never get to see (yep, it’s “Beneath a Moonless Sky”), and then a third time when they reflect on what happened that night. “I woke to swear my love…” and what’s the next line? That’s right, “and found you gone instead!” Erik left.

Christine was to be married, and he didn’t want to hurt that part of her life. He also felt ashamed of himself, but he never says it was because of his face, all he says it he was “ashamed of what he was” (someone an engaged woman cheated with? In THAT period in time), not only that but he was afraid to face her. He took the love she had given him and left before it could turn into hate (after all, it had happened in the past… “tears of hate”, anyone?). So yes, this is the first sign of Erik taking care of himself and a further demonstration of his selflessness that we first see in the Final Lair.

After all, what he does with that little bit of love is work on himself and become the man he believes Christine deserves even though she might never even get to see it. He knows she wants him to be okay and as long as she is too, then they both can be alright with being away from each other.

*cue LND overture, the new chapter in their story where Erik finds out Christine isn’t okay at all*

Once more, character development at its absolute finest!

So no, Raoul, you’re not hurting him in the least by calling him ugly. After all, he has found the beauty underneath as well as the love that he deserved (yes, Gustave, that’s you).

Erik discarding his mask for one of the most important scenes in the show is such a power move in his journey to acceptance. Unmatched.

#phantom of the opera #christine daae #erik destler #erik x christine #raoul de chagny #eristine #nadir khan #meg giry #loveneverdies #raoul x christine #lnd #poto

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aarcanevillains · 6 months

Text

The truth doesn’t hurt

Masterlist

Peter, after a realisation with his cousin, finally tells Erik the truth- and it’s a better reaction than he expected.

Warnings: none | cousin OC

Peter stared down at his cousin’s son, the six year old babbling about his newest obsession while Lili cooked the trio dinner. James, like Peter, was growing up without a father- and just like Peter it wasn’t really by choice and for some reason that stung more than usual today. His heart ached for his cousins because he realised something… Peter at current had the choice to change that.

Erik Lensherr is his father. Magneto is his dad.

According to Liliana at least James’ father isn’t a major terrorist so points to her he guesses.

He blinks down at the kid who is now staring blankly at the TV, a long day at school finally catching up to him again it seems.

“Pietro, James. Dinner!” Lili called, that soft polish accent loud and clear as she did (the proud Eisenhardt accent Peter’s uncle- his mums brother and Lili’s dad- would say)

“Coming Mama.” James called back.

Peter zipped the two into the kitchen, James giggling like a madman as he did, settling them in for dinner.

“Thanks for watching him today Pete.” Lili said for what was probably the tenth time since she came home from work. “But… are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay why wouldn’t I be okay I’m perfectly fine.” He said at what many would say was a fast tempo (which he would then say it was Andante at most thank you).

“Because you haven’t said a word since James started talking about dinosaurs and you love those giant lizards Kyzun.”

“Ah.”

“Pete quiet today.” James interrupted, food being shovelled into his face at an alarming rate- where Lili definitely didn’t shoot him a scathing glare at that. Peter only shoots one back that says *after James goes to bed*.

And so he waits till then to ask for her opinion on his troubles.

“Just been thinking.” He admits and waits for the usual teasing jab they would share but she’s quiet, listening. “I have the chance to tell Erik he’s my father and I haven’t taken it yet.”

“Why is that?” Liliana asks with a frown.

“I don’t know… I’m scared?” He shrugs. “Either he’ll think I want to replace Nina or he’ll hate me because I’m.. well I’m not the best son in the world so…”

“I’ll rip him to shreds if he thinks that. Peter there isn’t anything wrong with you for one and for another you know it’s the right thing to tell him.” Lili pats his arm. “You said family is important to him yeah?”

Peter nods slowly.

“Then let him know he isn’t alone.”

“I know I should… but what if Erik is already gone when I get back to the mansion?”

“Then you make the bald man find him and you tell Erik everything. You make sure he doesn’t leave until you tell him.”

Peter stands, pushing down those nerves threatening to stop him for the thousandth time.

“I’ll tell him tonight.”

“Give me a call tomorrow about it yeah?”

“Yeah.”

His palms were so fucking sweaty.

Like really fucking sweaty. Worse than Alex trying to drill Scott on the plasma beams and accidentally burning a few (a lot of) really expensive antiques and then Charles going on a rager about how fucking stupid this idea to train inside the house, away from the bunker, was while Kurt stared into your soul for ruining a perfectly good book case… no his brain was not trying to plan an escape route.

His knuckles hit the door before he knew it, three sharp knocks surprising even himself as he heard the door unlock and creak open.

“Peter.” Erik said as way of greeting.

“Hey Erik.” Peter said in kind. “Uh…”

“Do you need something?”

“No-yes… yes I need some help.” His shoulders dropped. “It’s really important and uh.. can I come in?”

Erik frowned in contemplation before moving to the side. Peter was never this… scared to look someone in the eye and Erik was half ready to call out for Charles should the boy do or say something worrying or dare he say stupid.

“How can I be of help?” Erik asked after some long seconds of silence. He was notably irritated which only made Peter more nervous, he felt sick even.

“I was babysitting my cousin’s kid and I got to thinking… he’s gonna grow up like me.” He started, easing into the plan he had haphazardly thrown together.

Erik’s irritated stare softened a little. Peter was sharing personal information, according to Charles Peter didn’t like to share that sort of thing unless it was something… fun.

“Like you?” The metalokinetic prodded.

“Without a father figure.” Peter gulped. “And like me it’s not really on purpose. Neither of our dads even know we exist but Lili… she wants James’ dad to know- she just doesn’t know how to find him and she fucking tried.”

“I do hope she can find him then. I imagine anyone would want to know if they had a child. I certainly would… family is important no matter the circumstances.” Erik sat on his bed, patting it down for Peter to join him.

“You would want to know?” The speedster said quietly. Erik only nodded. “I found my dad.”

Erik’s brows rose, a smile tugging at his lips.

“That’s excellent, no? Have you told him?”

“I haven’t, I’m just… I’m scared.”

And though Erik still wandered why Peter came to him, thought he could be of any help he placed a hand on the twenty-six year old’s shoulder and squeezed. “Why?”

“He’s a… powerful mutant… Because he lost his new family not that long ago. Because he scares a lot of people.”

“Does he scare you?”

“Not anymore.” Erik nodded again. “What would… how would you react if I came up to you and said hey… I’m your son and I’m twenty-six but you’re my dad!”

Erik frowned, not expecting that kind of question.

“Well I would not be disappointed. Perhaps miffed I did not know sooner and angry that I hadn’t been there for you because and know this Peter I would have raised you.”

Peter’s brown eyes widened, something shining by the corner of one that Erik suspected was a tear and his heart well… it aches for the man.

“Do I know your father?” Peter seemed to freeze at that before tentatively nodding. “Practice what you want to say, with me I mean.”

Why was Erik doing this for him? Peter was so confused and yet relieved all at once before snorting out a laugh. He nodded and turned to face him.

“Twenty-eight years ago you met my mother. Dated for a little under two years and after your break up and her move to America she found out she was pregnant with me and my twin sister… my mama is Polish you see so I actually have a traditional name- Pietro.” The slight crease in Erik’s brow told Peter that something had started to click. “She decided to americanise our names for school but anyway… her name was Ma..”

Peter gulped.

“Ma?” The former terrorist tried to joke, to make Peter feel better. “You’re doing well so far Peter, a strong start.”

“Her name was Magda Eisenhardt.“

Erik felt a twist in his chest, a lurch in his gut. He knew that name.

Peter’s mother is Polish… Peter’s real name is Pietro- a name he and his former partner had cooed over once they heard it. Magda… Magda Eisenhardt.

Peter’s silence seemed to be louder than any other sound, than when Banshee would scream or when any explosions echoed.

“But… Maximoff?”

“Mama remarried, we took his name and now I have a little sister.” Peter said quickly. “Her name is Anya but my twin is Wendy which is actually-”

“Wanda?” Erik pulled Peter in for a tight hug. “Like Magda’s mother’s name.”

“Yeah.” Peter relaxed into his father’s hold.

“Thank you for telling me. I wish… I wish you had told me sooner I would have-”

“Stayed?” Peter quipped.

“Yes. I would have tried to stay.”

“Don’t force yourself to stay.”

“I have a son… a daughter.” Erik pulled back, looking at Peter- Pietro… he looks like Magda, he looks like him. “I still have family.”

“Yeah. Yeah you do.”

After moments passed and both men had taken deep breaths Erik asked quietly.

“Your cousin? Is she Aleksey’s daughter or through your step father’s sibling?”

“Uncle Aleksey is still alive and kicking but yeah Liliana is his. He’s still a great brother for ma…”

“And she has a son?”

“James.” Peter smiles brightly. “A six year old with more energy than me some days.”

“I think.” Erik starts. “If you’d allow it I’d like to get to know you, your sister- my daughter- and your family if they would too.”

Peter smiles. He hadn’t expected the immediate warmth, the utter joy on his fathers face the fact that Erik didn’t think he was trying to replace Nina.

Lili was so going to make fun of them both for crying on each others shoulders.

Worth it!

#x men #x men fluff #Peter Maximoff tells Erik the truth #Magneto is Peter’s dad #erik lensherr #peter maximoff #pietro maximoff #Peter Maximoff fluff #Erik Lensherr fluff #x men oc #Liliana Eisenhardt

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hyperpsychomaniac · 5 months

Text

Okay so there needed to be Gerda and Alfur together properly in an episode but like…

An entire episode with them that just played like a cop drama/homicide investigation (but like not a murder this is a kids show but something like smuggling magical creatures or something serious).

Gerda and alfur running around investigating.

Chasing a mysterious figure down alleyways and he gets away from Alfur but then Gerda cuts him off and nabs him.

“Alfur it might work better if I’m the bad cop.”

Gerda getting in a fistfight with someone considerably larger than her.

Anders as the mysterious guy who’s just rolled into town and might have info. Him playing it up, leading them on and drawing the process out cause he likes the attention… until Gerda just starts scrawling him random tickets.

Going to the rat king for info. It becomes clear he’s a contact Gerda is very much aware of and has had dealings with before. But whom she doesn’t like dealing with unless necessary- it seems he may know a few of her secrets already. Alfur takes one for the team and tells him his secret instead.

Erik in there like the ex cop who ‘retired’ because he was shady. Gives Gerda bad advice about how to handle the case or something. Bonus if he hasn’t shaved and looking sullen over his drink but then it’s just coffee.

Polecats in it because he’s an actual criminal. He’s like “I’m called the polecat!” Alfur, taking notes: “Poolca-“ Gerda: “his name’s Alan.”

Intersecting with Hilda and co as they’ve realised something is going on as well, but of course, haven’t informed the authorities. Alfur like “guys why are you here I’m trying to make a good impression.”

Gerda and Alfur being way to excited about all the paperwork they have to do when they’re done.

#I’m sure they’d just play off each other real well #hilda #hilda netflix #hilda the series #erik ahlberg #gerda gustav #hilda the show #hilda alfur #hilda polecat #hilda season 3 #hilda spoilers

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sometimesraven · 3 months

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Find the Word Tag

Thanks to @jezifster for tagging me <3

Rules: search your WIPs and attach a snippet containing the word given to you. Give whoever you tag 5 new words to search their WIPs for.

Words I got: Chill, Lift, Wreck, Final

Words I'm giving you: Three, Available, Cross, Trace

WIP I pulled from is Bitter Truth!

Chill

As if to punctuate the point, his eyes flashed red and something flickered in the shadow he cast on the floor. Blade hadn't had much dealing with Luc – the Handler was mostly there as the Controller's personal guard, and thus spent little time around the Squad. He had no idea the extent of the cruelty the boy was capable of, but even this slight show of power sent a chill up his spine.

Lift

“That!” she exclaimed, eyeing him closely, “You keep doing that.”

Erik blinked. “Doing what?”

“Looking like someone's slapped you.” Lydia's brow furrowed, and Erik could see pieces falling together behind her eyes, “Every time I call you a bloke. Why d'you do that?”

Erik matched her frown. He'd barely realised he was doing it, let alone in the pattern she'd noted. It took him a second, but when his hands lifted again they were hesitant. “Because-.. I'm not. A bloke.”

Wreck

So apparently I haven't used the word wreck a single time in any of my projects that I can find. I even searched my AO3 for the word XD

Final

Good. Time to end this. Blade ignored the squeeze in his chest as he moved closer, poised to land one final strike on his squadmate. This was necessary. Sentimentality had no place in the Controller's world and Evie had betrayed them all – they were going to die one way or another. Better it be by his hand than when the Controller found out.

tagging: @smallvillecrows and anyone else who wants to do it!

#tag game #writing #mine #find the word tag #writers of tumblr #writeblr #indie author #authorblr #;truth #;bitter #;truthexcerpt

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semper-legens · 1 month

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25. Destined, by PC and Kristin Cast

Owned: No, library Page count: 325 My summary: Neferet's plans have ramped up. Killing Zoey's mother to make her perfect vessel, Aurox, wasn't enough. She wants to destroy Zoey and her friends, and she's going to need power to do it. The Darkness is calling...meanwhile, Zoey's friends face trouble amongst themselves. Rephaim is still settling in, and Erin and Shaunee have started to separate themselves. And Zoey is grieving her mother's death. Can they get it together long enough to find out what really happened? My rating: 1/5 My commentary:

Back at it again with the House of Night and hoo boy folks, this one's a doozy. I'm so close to the endgame now - only three more to go after this! And as soon as they come into the library, I swear, I'm speedrunning this shit. But this post is going to be the opposite of speedrunning. Turns out I have a lot to say about this continued train wreck, and I'm gonna spill a lot of digital ink in so doing! So without further ado, let's get down to it.

Right off the bat, we have a healthy dose of ableism! Yep, this book introduces Shaylin, who became blind as a child and is Marked by Erik. But she's Marked as a red vampire, and immediately regains her sight - and is gifted an aura-sensing True Sight. And of course, she goes on and on and on about how great it is that she's not blind anymore, and how bad being blind was, and it's just enough to make me cringe. Because all blind people need is to magically get their sight back! Not, like, better accommodations to help them live in a world that hasn't been built for them, or to be treated like actual adults or something. Nope. Magical sight, that's the best thing. It carries forward that unhealthy idea that vampires in this world are physically 'perfect' - before, we've seen the kids whose bodies reject the Change being portrayed as fat, greasy, and unfit. Now, it seems that disabled kids aren't allowed to be vampires while retaining their disability. Gross!

Nefert has a new boytoy, and his name is Aurox. Get it, because he's a werebull. Sort of - he was gifted by the white bull of Darkness, and he can turn into a bull involuntarily. But because Neferet botched the summoning, Aurox has a soul and stuff. Specifically, Heath's. Remember Heath? Zoey's human boyfriend, got necksnapped by Kalona? Yeah, the book treats it like it's a big mystery, but it's so obvious that it's Heath. Aurox knows things about Zoey he shouldn't, calls Zoey by Heath's pet name for her, has his mannerisms…it's one thing for a book for teenagers to be simpler than I, an adult, expect, it's another for it to be so obvious that a toddler could realise what's going on. And yet again, we've got another topless teen badboy who angsts about being evil and is gonna get a redemption arc. Christ alive, how many of those are there? Stark, Kalona, Rephaim, now Aurox…we get it, Casts, you got a kink. Can you please come up with another male character?

Speaking of male characters, in order to sew some chaos, Neferet's invited humans to come work at the House of Night, which means we're introduced to Lenobia's cowboy, Travis. He's a cowboy. Who works at the stables. And Lenobia, running minor character and horsemaster at the House of Night, is falling hard for him. What does this relationship do, plotwise, other than add a sexy cowboy to the cast? Even though I've criticised things like Stevie Rae and Rephaim or Zoey and…most male characters…I can at least acknowledge that they serve a function. Introducing or adding to the theme of redemption, giving those characters conflicts and secrets, furthering the plot somehow. But this? I guess it's giving us an insight into Lenobia, but so far all I've gathered is that she has a thing for cowboys and doesn't want to be romantically involved with anyone but oh no this guy's too sexy. It drags the book down and takes up valuable page time - not to mention that Travis himself has less depth than a Mills and Boon cowboy. He's just…charming and folksy and respectful to Lenobia and loves horses. Exactly the sexy cowboy archetype. Bleh. Lenobia seems like she might have been an interesting character, but the new context we learn about her is entirely about her love life, or lack thereof, and nothing to do with who she is as a person. It's lacklustre, is what I'm getting at here.

Neferet continues to be the big bad, evilly doing evil things because she's evil. She's escalated to human sacrifice and gives blood to the Darkness to drink whenever she needs something. As if she wasn't enough of a cackling supervillain already. My biggest problem with Neferet is that there's no depth to her. Why is she doing what she's doing? Sure, she wants power, she wants to rule the world and become a goddess, but why? I don't need a Disney-live-action-movie backstory for her, just something other than her hatred for Zoey and lust for power! Has this always been a facet of her from before Zoey? Was she striving towards this goal before Zoey? And, of course, for all that the Casts seem to think they're clever for making the evil bull the white one, we have the Darkness demanding blood in order to do Neferet's bidding. Not at all an overdone trope. And the way they take it from her is uncomfortably sexual - almost like the Casts haven't gotten over their whole 'slutshame the villainous female character' thing. Above all, though, Neferet falls into the biggest trap for her character archetype - she's not camp enough. If you want to have a cackling balls-to-the-wall Evil Bitch as a main villain, she needs to own it. Think Maleficent! Think Ursula! Neferet just isn't interesting enough or ridiculous enough, that's my problem.

Meanwhile, there's trouble in Zoey's inner circle. Erin and Shaunee, the Twins, have started to un-twin themselves, separating from each other to become their own people. This would be a perfectly fine plot point, but for three things. One, Erin and Shaunee aren't well-developed in general - literally, their only character trait is that they are Twins. This would be a good time to give them more character, except that this mostly unfolds with people standing around and telling Shaunee how much nicer she is now, rather than us being shown it really. Two, it seems to come right out of nowhere? There's no particular reason it happens. And three, none of the other characters seem to care about Erin after it happens. They're obviously setting up for Erin to become more of an antagonistic character later, but as soon as the split occurs, all Zoey and her friends seem to care about and check in on is Shaunee - nobody ever checks in on Erin or seems to give much of a shit about her as a person. Which is…really fucking weird? Like, if Zoey et al had checked in on Erin and been yelled at or something, that'd make sense. But it's like this girl wasn't their friend at all, so quickly is she dumped. And that's just lazy writing. It's a clear signal to the reader that Shaunee is the 'good one' and Erin is the 'bad one', despite it being a particularly cold and uncaring thing for the characters to do in-universe. There's no reason why Zoey can't be like 'hey are you okay' to Erin at least once. It'd give a chance to show how Erin is changing! But nope. Subtext is for cowards. Let's just spell it all out to the audience. Wouldn't want them to start thinking.

And yet, for all that seems to be going on here, that's actually a negative. Because it makes the book so unfocused. You can hardly concentrate on one plot thread, so much is being brought up and juggled and dropped. And a lot of it isn't resolved - sure, this is a series and there's three more books after this, but it just feels like the Casts are throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what will stick. It strikes me as a series that hasn't been tightly planned, that was loosely improvisational, and it really shows. New conflicts come out of nowhere and aren't properly foreshadowed in anyone's behaviour. New twists are set up that are predictable from the moment they are introduced. Characters are sort of fleshed out, but only in very limited ways. Characters stick to one-dimensional archetypes. There's a lot going on, but it's all as thin as paper. And it's just as bad as all the books that came before it.

Next up, time travelling meets a pirate tale.

#Destined #PC Cast #Kristin Cast #bookblr #book blog #1

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nostalgia-tblr · 9 months

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Thor: The Dark World

Hello I have now seen THOR (COLON) THE DARK WORLD. This film was not as bad as I was expecting it to be, though it also wasn't great so maybe I had just set my bar too low based on how nobody seems to like it that much. I watched this with a visiting friend who had not seen Thor 1 or The Avengers so I did her a Dramatic Presentation beforehand where I explained what had happened in those, except I couldn't really remember what happened in The Avengers so that recap was mostly "then something exploded, I think." So anyway she was a useful non-MCU-person barometer for this one.

Christopher Eccleston is in this yet also he is not, in that we kept forgetting his character existed. He didn't seem to be enjoying himself much either. Which reminds me, this film seemed a bit desaturated in an off-putting way, it was like if you were watching Thor 1 while feeling depressed and the depression had manifested visually instead of just as a metaphor. Because it was a Dark World.

The ending was very confusing, people were jumping in and out of invisible portals (maybe?) and the magic hammer was flying around for a bit like when a plane circles the airport while waiting for a spot to open to use the runway. Stuff was lining up in space except not because we'd have noticed by now if the realms of the gods were that close and it would indeed have a gravitationl effect though not the weirdo ones in this film.

The pacing in this film was pretty poor generally though we felt it did perk up a bit towards the end.

Friend's favourite characters were Erik Selvig and Loki, in that order because Erik is a bit mad in this film (I belatedly explained the mind stone stuff from Avengers 1, having forgotten about that until Erik was in his pants) and goes to Stonehenge (which may be magic or alien or who the fuck knows) to run about naked (and not even at a solstice!!) and then he was in one of those Creepy American Movie Psychiatric Hospitals (or possibly it was a police station in London???) with medication in plastic pill bottles like they don't really do in this country and as mentioned he was in his pants for no real reason and that's all very relatable. So hooray for Erik!

More tumblr-esque-ly, friend was like "i can see why people liked this Loki, he's popped in from a better film of his own to bitch about this one" and indeed things do get more interesting when we finally let him out of jail where he is sat being a goth because Angsty because Frigga got fridged. (It feels like there should be a great Frigga/fridged pun but neither of us could think of anything, which was very saddening. Though we did realise that Anthony Hopkins = Welsh Odin = Woden, which is the best we could do for a pun and fuck it it'll do after struggling for at least an entire minute with the fridged-Frigga thing.)

Natalie Portman was in this film.

They were in London for some reason, cannot remember why. Elves, probably. Oh wait was it so they were in the right country to have the Stonehenge bit? Stonehenge is pre-Celtic which means it's also pre-Norse but it was somehow relevant to the elves stuff, as was Snowdon, which isn't that just a mountain? But it was somehow put there by people in The Olden Days or... okay I admit we were lost by that point, but there are stone circles all over Britain, they were very fashionable for a while but nobody really knows why but if you start drawing lines between old rock things here you're bound to come up with proof that a layline runs though the Prime Minister's bathroom or some nonsense like that. I suppose Stonehenge is our Giza Pyramids in that films make up complete shite about it all the time, and so inspired by that popular tumblr post I have just checked where the nearest Pizza Hut is to Stonehenge and it's at "Solstice Park" about 3 kilometres away just off the A303, hope this information is helpful to someone.

Erm. Yeah it turns out I can remember less about this movie than I thought, so this review is lacking and no doubt as disappointing as the fact that you can't see Stonehenge from Pizza Hut :(

#journey into the mcu #mcu tag i guess #thor the dark world #also thor had a very unattractive poncho on in the middle of this film we didn't like the poncho #also once you've noticed that thor's armour has six nipple-guards on it you can never unsee that fact #i think he took his shirt off at some point but that's a given really isn't it?#thor movies

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wyattjohnston · 2 years

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First off hiii, it’s been a good bit. (Work this year has been busy which is good, not good for socializing) but I’m so proud of the avs, especially our boy EJ so I’d love ““this—” [points at their chest] “—this belongs to you. always.” Emotional on the ice celebration perhaps with reader or mc, whichever flows better! Hope you have a wonderful day! Go Avs Go!!!!

I hope you're well! I decided to write for my OC Gwen for this one! I also got the exact same request for this by an anon, so if that anon doesn't like OCs and wants to request something else, just let me know :)

There was so much blood pumping through Gwen’s ears that she couldn’t even hear the crowd no matter how loud they had to be. She couldn’t even remember how she got to the ice, Erik’s parents surely the only reason she didn’t tumble headfirst down the stairs.

Her attention was everywhere, never on one thing for very long, and with so much happening and so many people on the ice she struggled to even find Erik.

She found herself being pulled across the ice, her feet barely even leaving it to move, and the flood rushed back to her ears when she realised, she was being pulled toward Erik.

Gwen managed to stand back just long enough for him to hug his parents, the people who had been with him for the entire journey, but as soon as they pulled away, she threw herself at him. He was already so much taller than her and in skates and pads she was absolutely dwarfed. He put so much emotion into the hug that Gwen knew he was beyond overwhelmed. She tried to put just as much emotion into hugging him back.

Erik’s name was called repeatedly, and Gwen pulled back, “Go! You belong to the boys!”

He nodded but stayed long enough to say, “but this—” he held his hand over his heart, “—belongs to you. Always.”

#erik johnson fic #erik johnson imagine #nhl fic #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #hockey fic #homemade fic #only all the time fic #avs celly #fic: avs

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pensat-i-fet · 2 years

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A Manchester Affair (Rúben Dias): Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Chapter 15

Masterlist

Wattpad

The day after the match, Lucía was checking her emails when she realised she hadn't been on social media since leaving Old Trafford. She had tried to separate herself from all of it until it all blew up.

Logging onto Instagram she wasn’t really surprised to see all the notifications she had waiting for her. A bit late to private the account, then.

She didn't bother reading the comments or seeing who was following her now. But she did want to delete the DMs so she could spot the ones she got for work more easily. The problem with that plan was that she could see the beginning of each message. And those weren't friendly words she saw.

Despite trying her hardest not to do it, she ended up opening some of the messages and reading what was written there.

Ten minutes later, Lucía had learnt that she was potentially the worst person in the world. She was ugly, she was a whore and, of course, she only wanted Rúben for his money. No matter how unoriginal, it still hurt.

A knock on the door stopped her from reading more.

"Come in".

It was Erik who showed up. "Morning. Can we talk?"

"Sure", she said, still annoyed about the way he had treated Rúben.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. Please apologize to Rúben for me. I…I saw you hurting again and lost control".

"I get it. But you were really unfair to him".

"I know".

“Let’s hope your next meeting is a bit better”, she said, sighing.

"So", he started again. "Are you ok?"

"Peachy".

"You don't need to lie to me. I can tell you are not feeling ok".

Lucía didn't cry last night, not in front of Rúben. But now, it all came out.

"Hey hey hey", said Erik, walking to where she was sitting so she could hug her. He gave her some time to let her emotions out before he could try and console her with his words.

But out of the corner of his eye, he could see her computer screen.

"What is this?"

"Nothing", she said, trying to close the tab when she realized what he was talking about.

"Were you reading comments about you right now? Seriously? You are a lot smarter than that".

"Maybe I'm not".

"These people", he said, pointing to the computer. "They don't know you. Their opinions don't matter".

"I know. I won't let them affect me again. I just had a moment of weakness, I guess. It’s been too many things happening in too little time”.

“I understand. But it’s easy to let outside opinions hurt us and I don’t want that for you. You didn’t see me reading comments about me after Brentford, did you?”, he jokes, trying to make her laugh.

“I read them for you, coach. They even said you were losing because of how awful your suits are”, she laughed, joking back.

“Well, what do they know about style?”

Before leaving, he turned back to talk to Lucía again.

“We are all here for you. Don’t forget it, Lu”, he reassured her.

“I know”.

And they were there for her, but they also tiptoed around her the next couple of days. It was a funny feeling. On the one hand, she had the people who knew and loved her being afraid of doing or saying anything that could hurt her. And then on the other were the people who didn’t know her but had no problems telling her all the things they knew would hurt her. The only one who was in the middle was Rúben. Probably because he was the only one who could truly understand how she felt. His privacy had been invaded as much as hers had been. But he seemed to be taking it well. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened to him.

The press easily found out who Lucía was and all of a sudden her entire life was being printed on tabloids. How ridiculous. Even her friends were getting DMs from people asking them about her.

And everyone had an opinion about everything, but it was her friendship with Pep a lot of people decided to focus on. So many theories about how that was linked with Lucía’s relationship with Rúben. Well, it wasn’t really that hard to get, was it?

It was exhausting to read so many ignorant comments.

She knew she shouldn’t, but she kept on looking at the comments made about her. It was like an addiction. You knew it was bad for you, but you couldn’t stop. The tabloids’ comments made the messages she got on Instagram seem PG.

But the worst thing about this is that no one knew she was reading them. They could see her being affected but they just assumed it was because of the articles. They didn’t imagine she was doing this to herself. And a part of her wanted them to find out just so they could talk some sense into her and get her to stop.

The media team were trying to stop the publication of more articles, but they were doing so well that the tabloids didn’t care about what United or City had to say about it. They kept on printing stupid article after stupid article.

Two weeks after the derby, Lucía was taking a shower after work when Rúben let himself inside her apartment. She knew he was coming and that he had a key, but she didn’t expect him there so early. If she had, she would have at least dried her face from all the crying she did in the shower. It was becoming a tradition for her to do that.

“What happened? Are you ok?”, he said, running to hold her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m…”.

But she was not fine. And if there was someone that deserved to know, it was her boyfriend. He would understand.

“I can’t deal with this anymore”, she said, crying again and holding onto him.

“With what?”

“The articles, the comments, the messages, …it’s too much”, she finally admitted. And it felt good to get that out of her chest.

“Have you been reading them?”

“Yes, I can’t seem to stop”.

“You have to. This is so stupid. You’re hurting yourself on purpose”, he said, shocking Lucía with how harsh his words were.

She immediately separated from him.

“You think I’m having fun?”

“It’s as simple as stopping. I haven’t read anything so it’s not affecting me”.

“You have to be kidding me”, she half laughed. “Even if you did it wouldn’t affect you as much. All the insults are coming my way, Rúben”.

“Who cares about that?”

“I care!! I haven’t spent 10 years building this career to now be reduced to a gold-digging whore!”, she yelled, annoyed at his lack of understanding.

“But you aren’t any of those things”.

“It doesn’t make a difference”.

Lucía sat on her bed, tired of being tired. Sad and drained of energy.

“This is why I knew dating a footballer was a bad idea”, she said, not thinking about her words.

“Dating me is a bad idea? Well, thanks for letting me know. It feels great to hear”.

She could hear the anger in Rúben’s words.

“You know what I mean, Rúben. Dating you comes with a lot of good things. So many I can’t even count them, but it also includes things like this. These moments when I just don’t know how to cope with them. I didn’t choose to become a public person. I’m supposed to stay behind the scenes, not to be the one people talk about”.

He remained silent. And she somehow found the strength to say the words she didn’t want to say but felt she needed to say anyways.

“Maybe we should take a break or something…”.

“No”.

“Excuse me?”, she said, looking at him. His face was as serious as she’d ever seen it.

“I said no. We’re not taking a break. We are not breaking up over this. Can’t you see that’s what these people want?”

Lucía just looked at him, trying to process his words.

“They want to break us. They want you to feel so bad that you do this. So bad that you stay away from me so they stop writing articles about you. But they won’t. They’ll write even more. And they want me to believe all those things they say about you but I don’t give a shit because I know the real you and they don’t”.

Even though Lucía tried to talk, only sobs came out of her mouth. It was then that Rúben sat down next to her and hugged her.

“If I need to be strong for the both of us for a little while, I will be. If I need to take your phone from you so you don’t read anything else, I will do it. But you’re not breaking up with me over this. Please, just let me help you”.

“I’m sorry”, she whispered.

“Don’t be. You’re being attacked left and right. It’s normal to feel this way. But you can’t just keep it to yourself. There are so many people in your life willing to help”.

“I know. And I’ll stop reading the articles and the comments. I swear”.

“Oh, I’ll make sure you do. And I’ll tell Diogo and Scott to make sure you don’t do it at work”.

“Scott? Are you texting daily now or something?”

“Yes, we are”.

That made Lucía move back to look at him. He was actually serious.

“What?”

“He’s worried about you and so am I. So we’ve been talking, trying to see how we could help you”.

“I like that you’re friends”, she said, smiling between the tears. “At least something good came out of this”.

“Other good things can come out of this. We can come out stronger. But you have to want it, and you have to work with me for it”.

And that’s exactly what they did.

"What are you doing?", asked Scott when he saw her sitting down by herself in the canteen.

"Reading an article".

"What?", he said, taking her phone from her. Lucía only laughed at that.

"About a new treatment for an ankle injury".

"Well, you can't blame me for caring", he said, giving her the phone back.

"I'll tell your bestie you're great at your job, don't worry".

"He's not my bestie", said Scott, rolling his eyes.

"You text him more than you text me these days. I'm a bit jealous", she teased him.

"Whatever".

"I'm joking, Scott. It means a lot to me that you two get on well. Much better than pushing each other on the pitch".

"Well, let me remind you it was your boyfriend who pushed me. I did nothing".

"It must have been a first", said Lucía, laughing at his friend's face.

“You ok, though?”, he asked.

“Yes, I’m ok”, she smiled.

#ruben dias #ruben dias imagine #ruben dias x reader #ruben dias fluff #ruben dias fanfic #ruben dias fanfiction #footballer imagine #footballer x reader #footballer fluff #footballer fanfiction

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somewherebetweenrage · 2 years

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plotted MoM/dark starter for @mxndwitch based off this thread

The end of his search is tantalisingly within reach, so close he can almost feel the ghost of a whisper against his skin. Worn boots are suspended, feet braced against the lift from his mutation as he balances himself in the air, pleased at least that he can close the last distance quickly. Anger sits deep within him, bone-deep and deeper still, born from months of relentless searching, scattered snatches of sleep, intently following a scarce breadcrumb-trail, driven by a desperation it would be inconceivable to ignore.

It had taken him longer than it should have to realise that something was wrong, and by the time he had started asking questions he was so far behind that more than one person was brave enough to imply he wouldn’t be able to find his daughter. Except they didn’t know that tracking people used to be his single, pinpoint focus, and in a decade of doing nothing else, he’d become quite skilled. Add to that, of course, the fact that Wanda is his only living family, more than half the reason for his every inhale and every exhale, the person he would die to protect without a second thought; there was never any doubt that he would find her. He may be physically worn down, body objecting when he sleeps against a tree trunk or levitates for days on end, but he pushes on regardless.

The journey offers ample opportunity to berate himself for this new failure; he should have persuaded her to stay, or offered to accompany her, but instead she was left to face her grief alone, isolated, lost. And it’s with that knowledge that his anger turns outwards, fury at how the people his daughter considered friends (or at the very least, colleagues) could overlook her in the way they did, abandoning her to reclaim her life in solitude, without an ounce of recognition, care, or kindness. Erik knows better than most how badly that can end. What Wanda did was wrong, scarring the people of that small town in the worst kind of way, and he shies away from the knowledge of what his reaction would have been, had it been anyone but her. Sense of justice and responsibility wars with love and understanding inside of him; Wanda is responsible for what happened, but so are those that abandoned her to her fate - the weight does not rest on her shoulders alone. More than that, her actions are completely understandable, and Erik knows that his previous actions were hardly any better. His mind struggles to reconcile these two opposing truths and, eventually, he falls back on the familiar: intense rage, directed at anyone who might choose to wrong him and his.

Boots touch down in front of the small cabin, worry etched across his face as he drinks in the sight of his daughter, alive but weary. There’s a disconcerting oddness to the magnetic fields in the area, hair on the back of his neck lifting a little as the feeling brushes against his skin, but he dismisses the sensation in favour of focusing on Wanda. His heart aches for her. Momentarily lost for words, he struggles to know what to say. I’m sorry, I should have been there, I’ve missed you, I’ve failed you, I’m so glad you’re safe, I love you, you’re all I have left, how dare anyone try to lay a finger on you. It’s too much, and it’s not enough, and he’s so afraid that if he opens his mouth he’ll make another mistake; his body thrums with the desire to step closer, enfold her in his arms, protect her from the world.

“I’m sorry I took so long to get here,” are the words that eventually push past his lips. There will be time enough to talk through the heartache, to share in the shattered grief of lost lovers and lost children (and grandchildren never met), but that time is not now. Now, he takes steady strides towards her and carefully, muscles tense with the restrained but desperate need to pull her close, and mind wary of her fragility, wraps his arms around her.

#multiverse of madness spoilers #mom spoilers #i really enjoyed rewriting my previous post to make it just a bit more angry xD #and im super excited to se where we go with this #death mention tw #grief tw #mxndwitch #au #queue: we are the future

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