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drudeger · 9 months

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Beyblade Burst Quadstrike Review

(spoiler warning for the entire show)

ok so let's talk quadstrike.

I think we can all acknowledge the low expectations we had for a hasbro produced season of the anime, and while the season definitely delivered on those expectations in some aspects, it also managed to surprise me with its quality in others.

Animation

let's start with the animation. the quality of the animation ranged from abysmal to passable for a large majority of the season, with the only really good animation being reused from previous seasons. that being said, in a couple of episodes, including the first and last, it was actually pretty good. overall, I'd say the quality was most comparable to that of the sixth season with only some episodes ever managing to surpass or dip below that.

Voice Acting

the voice work was great overall. the returning cast from quaddrive maintained a level of voice acting quality on par with that season, which is to say, pretty damn good and it’s a similar story for the returning cast from before quaddrive. you might expect the part of the cast returning from a 2+ year hiatus from their previous roles to need to readjust and settle back into performing their characters, but honestly most of them seemed perfectly comfortable jumping back into it with the only exceptions being xander and kit. both character voices definitely feel just slightly rusty, but considering the massive ~4 year real life time gap, you really can’t blame them and honestly they do a great job getting mostly settled back into their roles pretty quickly.

when it comes to the casting decisions made for quadstrike specifically, kieran regan was a great choice to portray a more grown-up and mature ken and he absolutely nailed the role. keru and besu’s voices were also just right, sounding like characters that are voiced by ken but are still distinct-sounding from him, and the quality of all three performances speaks to kieran’s skill.

anjali kunapaneni was practically perfect as pri, giving her a full voice that matches her character but doesn’t overdo it with shoutiness despite pri’s boisterous personality, balancing it out to accentuate the more cool outward appearance she tries to impress upon other bladers. they really bring a level of depth and nuance to their performance that gives pri a very real and unique voice and it was easily the best voice performance in the season.

darren delfin’s performance as pax is definitely a close second and his ability to portray character depth shows through a lot here with the subtle differences in tone when pax is being disingenuous (e.g. when he pretends to be happy about pri making friends) and when he genuinely wants to show appreciation and admiration (e.g. when he talks about his admiration for red eye.) honestly, I’d be lying if I said I’d caught any of this on first watch. it’s just not the sort of depth I believed I had any reason to look out for. the only reason I say it was the second best performance and not the first is because the accent feels awkward and it doesn’t sound quite right, an unfortunately important skill gap when you’re asked to voice a character with a foreign accent.

Plot

the plot itself was. ok. plot points were arranged in a sensible enough order and it almost never managed to feel too forced. except for the part where pax just calls aiga up on his phone and THAT'S how they decided to have pax challenge aiga? and absolutely nobody questions how pax got his number?? I literally laughed out loud when that happened like bro what??? 😭😭 also that one part in the finale where we get a somewhat dramatic shot with some random fucking kid and get absolutely zero explanation????? aside from these (admittedly incredibly weird) oddities, the plot was ultimately unengaging but passable. there really just isn't a lot to say about it due to its overall lack of substance.

Story

but if you asked me to describe what quadstrike is actually about — its story — I'd tell you it's a story about a bunch of kids running around with highly marketable toys. which sounds comically cynical but, despite its best efforts, quadstrike struggles to be much more than that. although that isn’t to say I wasn’t pleasantly surprised by the unexpected amount of depth in some aspects of the writing.

Themes

the season has two themes, one of which is executed decently but neither being given the time or care needed to feel nearly as impactful as they could have.

Identity

the most prominent and complete of the themes is that of identity, which is explored through the season's secondary (arguably primary) protagonist, pri forsythe/quadra. the season introduces the foundations for this theme when quadra loses to drum in the abyssal tournament after taking off her mask. pax tells pri to keep her mask on in battle because it will increase her elemental power and make her strong and pri begins questioning if he's right. it was also revealed in a flashback that pax made the mask and when pri wears it, pax says she assumes an entirely different persona and becomes quadra. this poses to pri as well as the audience three questions: does pax know what’s best and should pri therefore listen to his instructions, allowing him to control what decisions she makes? are pri and qudra the same or different? if “becoming quadra” makes her stronger, should she be ok with being her when she battles?

the first question takes a backseat for a bit while the second and third questions are explored, although we see it reiterated as pri continues to battle without the mask.

we are introduced to one position for the last two questions when, during a flashback, pax says that pri becomes a different blader entirely when she assumes the identity of quadra during battle. the other position is introduced when pri asserts that it shouldn’t matter if she doesn't wear the mask because it’s still her battling regardless. the second position is built upon when ken’s mom explains to pri that keru and besu are a part of ken’s identity and pri restates the question later that night, asking herself if she’s pri or quadra. after she loses to ken, he gives her some advice — that quadra is her too. then, after her first loss to xander where she doesn’t wear the mask, pri finds a letter to her from ken that says "it doesn’t matter if the mask makes you stronger. you’re you with or without it, it doesn’t define you,” explicitly stating the answer to both questions. with all of this in mind, pri decides she’ll wear the mask for her rematch with xander and from now on will wear it in battle at her own discretion. so at this point in the story, the last two questions have been answered.

having pri’s decision be one that retains her agency is the strongest choice they could have made, but having ken spell out the answer for her, especially not even an episode after he gives her his advice, just feels bad, and it ends up feeling unearned since she’s given such little time to actually struggle with the question and deliberate on his advice or develop as a character before coming to the conclusion she does.

(tw: this section contains discussions of emotional manipulation and generally toxic behavior from a caretaker)

but that’s only two of three questions and now that the last two questions have been answered, we finally get to see the first question being explored — does pax know what’s best and should pri therefore listen to his instructions, allowing him to control what decisions she makes? during the battle camp, we learn that pax was forced to quit blading due to an injury and it was his dream to become a legend like valt. this, combined with previously revealed information as well as pax’s constant use of phrases like “our goal” and “our dream,” makes it clear that pri partially accepts the role of quadra for pax and this sets up another part to the first question: is it really ok that pri/quadra center her identity around a dream that isn’t completely her own? while she does have her own reasoning for wanting to battle, she wants to help pax in his goal to create the ultimate elemental bey which was the entire point of him making and having her use pandora, the mask and the quadra persona in the first place. it’s a driving force behind the question, as we see pri struggling between her want to do things her way and her want to make her brother happy and we constantly see them both grappling with the idea that if pax is happy, pri should be happy too because they're convinced that this is what they both want.

as the story continues, pax begins pushing even harder for pri to do things the way he wants. near the start of the battle camp, quadra uses lightning pandora when pax wants her to use tidal pandora. pax asks why and intuits it’s because of her loss to xander. he says that it doesn’t matter if she loses, everything is going according to “their” plan, and pri lashes out from her frustration that he won’t explain what the plan actually is and he snaps, yelling at her that she doesn’t need to understand everything going on and tells her to just do as he says and she hesitates for a moment before agreeing.

later, pax tries to get wakiya to withdraw pri from the tag-team tournament because he doesn’t like the possibility of bell influencing her. jiji gets pax to allow pri to continue participating in the tournament by showing how happy pri and bell are to be battling and says there’s no doubt the two will help make each other stronger. and while pax gives in, knowing he’d only come off as unreasonable had he protested further, it’s clear pax isn’t happy he wasn’t able to maintain full control of the conversation and therefore make the decision for pri. this scene is meant to show how pax thinks he knows what's best for pri and wants to convince not only pri but the people around her of that too.

later, during the tag-team tournament, pax convinces bell to try and win the next match all by himself and he loses the match for both himself and quadra. pri, having deduced that pax said something to provoke bell, confronts pax and he says pandora should be battling on its own and the tournament is a waste of time. this upsets pri greatly and she runs from him. this scene is meant to establish pri beginning to realize pax might not have her best interests in mind.

then, aiga shows up to hell’s gate and challenges pri and bell to a 2-on-1 battle, and if they win he’ll battle them both individually. before she makes a decision, she calls pax and he says she doesn’t have to accept any team battles she’s challenged to, but she retorts that aiga will battle her individually anyway if she and bell can win. pax, not-so-kindly, tells pri to do what she wants before hanging up. this is actually a common tactic of highly controlling and manipulative people where they basically say “you don’t need me, so do whatever and see what happens when I’m not there to tell you what to do,” usually under the guise of wanting what’s best for the victim so when something does go wrong, the victim feels obligated to go back to them. she battles aiga with bell and without her mask and they end up losing. everything pax has done so far has been to convince pri to give up her individuality for the sake of achieving “their” goal, and quadra losing this battle is exactly what pax wanted to happen so she’d feel obligated to listen to him.

after the first couple of rounds in the champion challenge tournament and the first individual battle is announced as kit vs quadra, pax confronts pri and tells her she must win against aiga and that everything will work out if she just listens to him and she once again agrees. during the match, wakiya and valt explain to aiga pax’s situation and valt posits that pri took up pandora and the identity of quadra to carry on pax’s dream of becoming a legend. aiga restates the thematic question, asking if that’s what quadra wants and explains that he couldn’t ever see himself blading for the sake of someone else’s dream. after quadra loses, pax confronts her and tells her pandora should have won and that the reason they lost was because quadra chose a flawed strategy. aiga goes out of his way to defy pax and tells quadra her strategy was perfect. he declares pax has no say in the matter because it wasn’t his battle to begin with, which of course offends pax. then later, quadra loses to valt, frustrating pax even further and cementing pax’s growing belief that pri does not have what it takes to achieve his goals as long as she has any say in what she does.

later, valt gets a call from shu about the ruins in england and valt plans to leave to see what’s going on. pri talks to pax, saying she knows he’s leaving for england too. she asserts that it has nothing to do with them or their plan but pax responds saying that he’ll be the one to decide that, a clear declaration to pri that he’s the one who knows what’s right. he goes on to tell her that there isn’t any reason pandora should lose to belial and that if she loses, the only explanation is that she’s the problem. pax then admits he doesn’t believe in pri and challenges her to prove to him that he should. while at the ruins, pax declares that “his” pandora is the only bey capable of reaching the highest level of elemental power and pri hopes he meant to say that pandora was both of theirs, again giving pri more reason to doubt pax. aiga approaches pri and tells her she’s her own person and she should do things the way she wants to and reassures her that pandora is her’s as well.

the next day, it’s announced that quadra and bell will battle to determine who will face kit in the finals. pax tells pri to use twister break against bell but pri says bell knows twister break because of how much they used it in the tag-team tournament. pax says it’s the perfect chance to master twister break so she can beat aiga and valt and that bell shouldn’t be of any concern. he reminds her that it’s “their” dream to create the ultimate bey and then reassures her that pandora is both of theirs. for the first two rounds of the battle, she listens to pax but ends up hesitating before the third round, causing pax to insult her and say that if it were him battling, he would have won. this causes quadra to break from pax's plan and battle her own way and while she ends up losing, she finds herself happy in spite of the outcome. at the end of the episode, pax confronts pri demanding she tell him why she broke from his plan when she would have won if she hadn’t. she finally asserts to pax that, even if he would have won, it doesn’t matter because she isn’t him, she is herself — pri and quadra. pax demands pri give back pandora, but before he can take it, bell stops him. pri then proclaims that she’s been the one making pandora stronger, not him, so pandora belongs to her.

(end trigger warning)

and so that’s a wrap on the first question and subsequently pri’s arc as a whole. this particular exploration of the theme was good. it wasn’t nearly as deep as it could have been and the last two questions should have been far more substantial parts of pri’s arc as they have just as much bearing on the outcome of the first question as all of the things in the story that seem more directly related to it. as stated before, it’s frustrating that the last two questions get answered so quickly and require so little struggle or introspection for pri to find the right conclusion for herself, but the conclusions she comes to are those that would be rewarding and feel great if they’d actually allowed pri to earn them. the third question was obviously the most prominent with a very decent build up, though there could have been far more emphasis placed on pri’s struggle with it. we know how much she cares for pax and wants to make him happy and we know she knows to do that she needs to do what he wants, but we also know how much pride she takes in being able to do things her own way and seeing her grappling with the two conflicting motivations is engaging and impactful, but we just don’t get enough of it.

with all this being said, we aren’t quite done with the theme of identity as it is also explored a bit with pax, which makes sense considering he’s as important as he is to pri’s arc dealing with the theme to begin with.

(tw: this section contains brief mentions of emotional manipulation and generally toxic behavior from a caretaker as well as mentions of an ableist trope)

the exploration of the theme of identity through pax is shown with how he projects his identity onto pri. after it’s revealed his injury barred him from blading any longer, we see in flashbacks how devastating it is to him as it was his dream to become a legendary blader like valt and shu and pri sees this too. it’s shown to us how close they are, and that beyblade has helped them bond and so the previously presented information that pax made pandora, the mask and the quadra identity for pri and the constant use of phrases like “our dream” makes it clear that pax has to some degree imparted parts of his identity onto pri so she can carry out his dream and she accepts it because she cares for him. as the story continues, it becomes even more clear how he takes advantage of this part of pri, constantly guilt-tripping her into listening to him by reminding her that this is “their” dream until it culminates in her snapping and asserting her own identity to his face. pax is a character who goes through a devastating loss, becoming disabled which forces him to give up on something massively important to him, something entwined with his sense of self and identity. losing something like that would make anybody feel completely lost, and with pax the grief results in him pushing that part of himself onto pri so he can live vicariously through her. the logical conclusion would then be to have part of his arc be about him finding a new sense of identity, one that doesn’t require pri to subjugate herself to him, but they don’t give him that at all. in the end, pax doesn’t need to do any sort of introspection or search for a new sense of identity because he is simply cured of his disability and he doesn’t have to face any consequences for how he treated pri.

(end trigger warning)

Grief

and that brings us to the second theme of quadstrike — grief. this theme is primarily explored through the main antagonist, pax forsythe, although pri has some part of it as well.

as stated before, it’s revealed pax goes through a devastating loss after his injury forces him give up on blading and his dreams and the loss causes him an immense amount of grief. throughout the season, we’re shown through flashbacks how he feels lost without this part of himself and then it’s revealed he finds out about elemental power. he is in denial that his dream is over and he sees elemental power as a means to give pri the power needed to carry on his dream and he becomes obsessed with it and achieving those goals vicariously through her. it also explains his admiration for shu while he was red eye, a time in shu’s life where he had obsessed over power so he could achieve the dreams he had been unable to previously.

later on, after he decides he has no need for pri any longer, he creates a new bey, some sort of mechanical brace for his injured arm, and a mask. the mask actually conceals the vision on his right side, making it so he can’t see his injured arm and during the lodestar battle tournament, shu explains to pri that when pax sees his injured arm, it causes him emotional pain, compounding how much his grief has affected him and showing the extent of his denial.

(tw: this paragraph contains a brief mention of an ableist trope)

and with all of this in mind, you’d think pax’s arc should have been about him learning to accept his disability and the things it prevents him from doing, beginning a long journey of healing, but that isn’t what happens (and, to be clear, that journey of healing wouldn’t have had to have happened during the show. sometimes the end to an arc marks the beginning of another that’s implied to happen after the end of the show, and arcs that end like this can be incredibly powerful). again, he doesn’t have to accept his loss and grief, he is simply cured of his disability. aside from the gross implications of this that I will get into later, it’s just such an awful way to end an arc. no introspection, no emotional compromise, no real consequences for his actions. he’s just handed a conclusion and the conclusion is everything he wants it to be so they can force in a “beyblade is fun, buy our products please” message instead. and it doesn’t end there.

(end trigger warning)

with pri, we're shown how she sees pax grieving for this loss and how it affects their relationship. they’re no longer able to bond through beyblade the way they were able to before and pax can no longer find happiness and meaning through beyblade in the way he wants, which of course hurts pri. she cares for him and so she does what she genuinely believes will help him heal, taking up the identity of quadra and his goal to create the ultimate elemental bey and become a legendary blader for him. through her, we get to see the way grief impacts the people around the grieving person as well.

we know she eventually breaks away from his control, or at least that’s how it starts out. of course after what happens between pri and pax, pri would be going through grief herself. she denies to herself that pax just doesn’t care about her now that she’s asserted her own identity and this could have been taken in several interesting directions, but they simply go for the worst option imaginable. they have her continue to orbit around pax, every decision she makes from this point forward being for him, completely undermining her original arc and practically abandoning this second one. there is no introspection or closure and the only compromise is them compromising her entire character arc.

quadstrike starts out so strong with this theme so I have genuinely no idea how they ended up fucking it up so unbelievably badly. and the mishandling of themes isn’t the only reason quadstrike’s story feels like it lacks much substance.

Characters

quadstrike’s use of its characters for its story manages to be impressively refreshing at times, disappointingly safe and boring at others, and infuriatingly incompetent at its worst.

first, let’s talk about the secondary characters. this part of the cast doesn't really have anything all too interesting going on, which is understandable. they’re there for the purpose of serving the plot and the main characters’ narratives and they fulfill those roles perfectly competently. that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have been more interesting, but what we got wasn’t bad. a lot of the issues of shallow character-writing with most of the returning characters are things that are rooted in characterization from past seasons, and at this point you can’t really change that without either dedicating way too much time to characters that just aren’t meant to be all that important in this season or completely retconning parts of those prior seasons. if this season had been 51 episodes, maybe we could have gotten some of the former as well as more time to flesh out other parts of the plot and story, but that just wasn’t ever going to be in the cards for quadstrike.

Bell

now let’s get into the protagonists. between bell and pri, bell is very clearly the weaker character and it’s not a close competition. while pri’s arc is written to develop a theme as well as to explore her as a character, bell isn’t given an arc at all. well, ok, he gets an “arc” where the conclusion is just for him to upgrade his beyblade again so hasbro has more product to sell and it’s frustrating because they get so close to doing something actually interesting with his character.

throughout the season, bell loses. a lot. yes, he wins a lot too and a large portion of them are not deserved, but he actually does lose more than he wins. in episode 12 in particular, he’s provoked by pax to try and win the tag team battle with pri against hikaru and hyuga by himself. being an egotistical 10 year old, he falls for it and ends up losing the match for himself and quadra. while this moment is mostly used to further pri and pax’s story, bell is shown to be massively affected by this loss, at least at first. but of course, he couldn’t care less after the next episode begins. then, after bell loses the title match against aiga, he’s shown once again to feel incredibly upset and frustrated with the loss, but he simply gets over it immediately when he decides the solution is to evolve belial. and before any of this, bell loses to several other opponents as well, but only ever seems to be shaken by it a minimal amount if at all.

the reason I bring any of this up is because I think it’s such a wasted opportunity. bell loses so much and if they’d leaned harder into bell’s frustration with losing so many battles (and honestly if they’d had him lose more, like his final battle against ken and/or his second solo battle with hyuga) then they could’ve had an actual arc for him. like, have him get super upset and angry with himself that he keeps losing and maybe have him push too hard and end up breaking belial. that’d even give them an excuse to have him evolve belial. yes it would be a very similar arc to aiga in cho-z but at least it’d be SOMETHING. obviously this is only a single idea for the direction they could’ve taken and I have absolutely zero doubt any of you in the audience could come up with something more interesting than what ended up happening in the show.

that aside, bell was mostly just his usual over-confident and obnoxious 10-year old self committing acts of sillay mischief (which to many of you might be a negative but I love him and I like it when he’s obnoxious so this was a win for me<3).

Pri

on the other hand, pri was a very strong character for the vast majority of the show and was easily the highlight of the entire season. when it comes to her characterization, I found her to be very enjoyable. she’s kind and incredibly passionate and boisterous and playful but she tries to put on a cooler outward appearance in front of other bladers which she often fails at because of her hot-headed and stubborn nature. she’s caring but prideful which often ends up causing conflict between her and pax since she cares about making her brother happy by doing what he wants but she can’t help but disobey at times because she takes pride in doing things her way. her cocky demeanor in the beginning is par for the course with burst characters, but it becoming more and more a mask (haha, get it) for her decreasing self-confidence as the story went on was a level of depth I hadn’t expected to see in a new burst character at this point in the series. because of all of this, her dynamics with other characters, especially bell, are so much fun and it was an absolute joy to see her relationships with the rest of the cast and it was always fun to see her getting silly with it.

unlike bell, she was written with an arc in mind and the arc in question was pretty good for the majority of the show’s runtime. as stated previously, it wasn’t nearly as deep as it could have been but by burst standards, it was a massive breath of fresh air. seeing pri make decisions that retained her agency felt good and the moment when she stood up to pax and asserted her own identity was great.

so yeah, it sucks how they then managed to drop the ball as hard as they did right at the finish line. having pri be in denial about pax’s behavior towards her is fine, but they never give her the moment of realization she deserves. she never leaves him despite what he’s done and every decision she makes after standing up to him continues to be for him, which is such a monumental moon-jump backwards from the incredibly strong writing they’d done for her before. her identity once again becomes centered around pax and it is infuriating to watch play out, like literally what was the point of her asserting her own identity if this was what was going to happen afterwards. it’s like they just decided to completely drop everything interesting about her after her moment in the spotlight (a very familiar problem they seem to have with every strong girl character in this series hmmmmmmmm 🤔.)

Pax

(tw: this section contains discussion of an ableist trope)

and pax. oh boy what to say about pax. well, first and foremost his arc started out as another one of the best in the season. which isn’t really saying that much when there’s only two other arcs and one of those arcs concludes with the character just making more beyblade products, but still. but then they managed to blow it so fucking hard at the end that it easily became the worst of the three.

the setup for his arc centering around his grief and lost sense of identity was good, and the build-up throughout the season was even better. his motivations were understandable, but it became increasingly clear just how unhealthy his obsession with holding onto his dream was, not just for himself, but for pri especially. you want him to accept his disability and what it prevents him from doing so he can finally heal and find something else to live for and you really want him to see that what he’s doing is wrong and for him to apologize to pri. so why does none of this happen and instead he just has his disability cured.

ok, let me make something super clear here. this is a disgustingly and infuriatingly ableist conclusion to a disabled character's arc. pax’s entire arc centers around how he has to give up on his dream because of his disability, a common reality for disabled people in real life. it is an absolutely devastating thing to go through, but something disabled people stress is the importance of coming to terms with their disability so they can find some semblance of peace and continue living their lives to the best of their ability. there is no cure for disability in real life and every attempt to do so has resulted in failure at best and outright eugenics and genocide at worst, and so disabled people have made it clear that the “cured disability” narrative commonly seen in fantasy and sci-fi settings is a harmful trope. in some stories, it’s used as a “reward” for the hero, while in others it’s used as a copout so the creators don’t have to deal with having a disabled character or so the previously disabled character can have a happy ending. curing their disability is used as a conclusion to an arc because able-bodied writers cannot for the life of them imagine a character living a happy life with a disability and that’s very much what it’s used for here. from the beginning, I was hoping so so much that they weren’t going to do this, and I’d gotten my hopes up because of their surprisingly deep and empathetic handling of pri and pax’s characters for most of the season, but they went for the easy option resulting in an insulting and vile conclusion to an otherwise great arc.

(end trigger warning)

pax is, however, a great antagonist. as obvious as it may be to the audience, in the story it starts out pretty ambiguous what exactly his role is meant to be in the season, but as the season goes on, his mask begins to slip and his sinister personality becomes more apparent. this is actually a somewhat common trope with antagonists in the burst series, but pax stands out due to the fact that he isn’t even a blader until the last few episodes in the season. most of his time is spent as a coach to pri, using manipulation as his main weapon rather than a beyblade. again, not necessarily completely unique to him but it feels more present and impactful in this season due to his deep history and close ties to one of the main protagonists.

let me elaborate a bit: with drum and gwyn, the slow reveal of gwyn’s manipulation doesn’t feel as significant because, throughout the season, drum isn’t only naive to gwyn’s ulterior motives, but to literally every stranger he meets. we know he isn’t going to see it until it’s too late and we know at the end he’s going to win gwyn over with the power of friendship and beyblades. additionally, he has no previous relationship with gwyn either, so there's no reason to be invested or feel impacted when it happens.

with pri and pax, however, we see that they have a close familial relationship. pri’s trust in pax isn’t just her being naive by nature, it’s because she cares for him and has little reason to do otherwise. yes, she disobeys him early on, but it’s not out of a sense of distrust for him, but because of her own pride. and it’s not that pax just straight up doesn’t care about pri at all, he has thoroughly convinced himself that what he wants is what pri wants too. so as the story unfolds and pax’s selfish, controlling, and manipulative behavior comes through, it has a far more obvious impact on pri and therefore the audience too, and it creates a stronger reason to be invested in the developing story around their relationship.

and speaking of that story, it is easily one of the most interesting aspects of the entire season. pax’s descent and the slowburn reveal that he’s only interested in his own goals and happiness once pri has made it clear she doesn’t want exactly what pax does is paced so well and feels genuinely devastating. which makes it even more frustrating when they fuck it up right at the end. again. one part of this has to do with what I discussed about pri’s arc before. the fact they never give her a moment of realization means the break in their relationship is completely one-sided, which makes any realization pax has about what he’s done/is doing way less impactful. and then the fact he doesn’t even really have that realization, but instead realizes that “beyblade is fun,” a conclusion to an arc that pax never has, is just. what. and then on top of that, the fact he realizes this because of bell instead of pri??? there’s no real closure between them, everything is just fixed all of a sudden at the end. it just feels awful and it makes it clear that the only reason they never had pri leave pax was so they could minimize pri’s writing at the end and have bell fix everything and it is, once again, rage-inducing to watch.

and all of this — quadstrike’s unwillingness to dig deeper into its themes, its baffling mishandling of said themes and its characters, and insistence on derailing every interesting part of its story for a “beyblade is fun, please buy our products” message at the end (a message they could have easily ended with without throwing out every character arc and theme they’d established) — is why quadstrike struggles to be anything more than an advertisement. it’s a story about kids running around playing with highly marketable toys that seems to desperately want to be about a pair of siblings grappling with grief and their own identities after having experienced loss, but can’t be that because the toys need to get advertised.

Conclusion

so yeah. I enjoyed it. ok I know after how harsh I’ve been, you might be a bit confused. let me be clear: I don’t “like” quadstrike. in fact, I fucking hate it. I hate its unwillingness to defy its status as “just a children’s toy anime,” I hate what it represents as a symbol of the compromise and degradation of story-telling as an artform and art as a form of story-telling for the sake of corporate marketing, I hate how it comes so. SO close. to being something more than what it was expected to be just to fall short right at the end. I hate it!

but I also can’t help but love it. I love this series. I love the characters and their stories. I love the ridiculous and stupid shit that happens to and because of them. I love their relationships and dynamics with each other. it’s all so much fun and they all mean a lot to me, which is why I’m so hard on the burst series whenever it fucks it up. because I see so much potential in what’s here and seeing it be wasted constantly, over and over again, hurts. I know beyblade is a kid’s show and none of this is to say that it can't just be dumb fun, but the problem is when it clearly wants to do something more but ends up compromising out of fear, and I can recognize the parts of it that don’t treat its audience like idiots whose sole purpose is to be marketed to and I just wish it would wholeheartedly embrace that part of itself. I want kids to see stories about trauma, identity, grief, communication, etc. because these are real world things that kids are dealing with and are going to deal with for the rest of their lives and they deserve quality stories and art that teach them about these human things and about being human just as much as anyone else. so that's why I ask: why can’t it be that. when it constantly comes so close, why can't it just hit the mark once and be something more than a marketing trick. just once, why can't it be a piece of art instead of a piece of advertising.

with all that said, if I ever decide to do a rewatch of the burst series, you can be sure I'll only be watching quadstrike through episode 19 and then making up the rest in my head, and if you're wanting to watch the season too I'd suggest you do the same.

#beyblade burst #beyblade burst quadstrike #long post #goodeger #spam

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mooflettes · 5 months

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Tbh, I think that Pecharunt used to be mischievous but never causing any real trouble. But after being banished, he became a lot more malicious and revenge driven. I’d say he needed the masks so that he can absorb them and be able to see where Terapogas is. Despite all this, he keeps his mischievous side as a facade, as a coping mechanism to forget about the physical and mental pain he has to constantly endure. Almost like a mask if you think about it.

I’d say that Pecharunt renamed itself to ‘Dokutaro’ or ‘Dokuwāro’ to sound more menacing.

Now, I really hope Pecharunt becomes the main antagonist on its own in this fic since most antagonists tend to be evil teams who sometimes controlled legendary Pokémon, in my opinion, it’s gotten a bit stale. So it’ll be interesting to see a Pokémon acting as an antagonist on its own and acting malicious (Pecharunt actually wants to KILL Millie).

So whatever Project Venus is, I can see Pecharunt sabotaging it and using it to its own benefits.

Now, for some headcanon powers, I think that he can release souls that he absorbed to have some kind of hive-mind. To make up his lack of combat skills, he’s a master at manipulating others and a master at psychological warfare. As he was able to manipulate Kieran to do what it wants but leave Kieran in the dust.

He would also kill his victims by manipulating them to kill themselves, since to him, it’s easier to absorb souls this way.

And, by psychological warfare, he does that again and again even at the end of the fic as before he unfused and everyone was celebrating, he used the last of his power to blast at Carmine as he knew that Kieran would save her. And that does happen. Carmine would be overwhelmed with guilt from that incident onwards. Since Kieran is now trapped in the timeline where the future paradox Pokémon live. Which is why I said this ending has a hollow victory, the protagonists won, but at what cost?

Kieran would break out of Pecharunt’s control later on by the protags, only to suffer later on again.

Since if I were to put in Pecharunt’s words when asked by the protagonists:

“The world has betrayed me, so why should I play fair?!”

(He can speak but choosing to Poké speak instead)

SORRY FOR RAMBLING ON AGAIN. I have some ideas but I think I gone a bit overboard. But again, you choose to use any of these ideas if you want!

WTF THIS ANSWER GOES HARD!!! I DONT THINK YOU REALIZE IT BUT YOURE A BIT ON THE NOSE WITH WHAT I BELIEVE ABOUT PECHARUNT WOULD IN PROJECT VENUS! Ofc, I wanna keep the twists and turns surprises, so I can't rlly go in-depth with how right you might be or WHO "Project Venus" is.

But I do believe that Pecharunt could absorb souls and release them, or like the toxic chain, chain those souls to itself (Think of how Shinigami gets Yuma to follow her around in Rain Code)

But it is also parasitic, in which it infects itself onto a main host and then that host has most of its power, which it can inflict onto others via zombification, resurrection, etc!

I cant say who or what gets possessed in Project Venus other than the obvious, but I'll say that the idea will actualky be used in canon, soon.

About Carmine...she is HEAVILY GUILTY for how she treated her brother, and in the fic I plan for Carmine and other characters to have tender moments, as pokémon doesn't fully get to delve into the nitty-gritty of family issues like I want them to (ie. Grief, jealousy, tension, etc.) And we already see such an example with Millie and her mother

I wanna cover as many bases as I can without making Millie seem like a "woe is meee" type character. While she is our protag and she has her moments I want to allow her, and many others, to at least gave clarity

ALSO PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZE! YOUR RAMBLES ARE MUCH APPRECIATED AND IT'S MOTIVATING ME TO WRITE AGAIN! I SHOULD REALLY GET TO WORK ON THE NEXT CHAPTER SOON TBH LOL BUT UT DOES MEAN BUNCHES YOU SHOW GREAT INTEREST!!!

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adamwatchesmovies · 10 months

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Each viewing of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World reveals new depths to its narrative and humour, making its failure at the box office an even bigger shame. Well, better late than never. Go in for the memorable characters, arresting visual style, humour, and creative story. Come back to catch all the gags you missed. See it a third time to see what this movie is REALLY about.

22-year-old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a slacker musician dating 17-year-old high schooler Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). He's with her because he knows it’ll go nowhere. It's only a matter of time before he dumps her, which will be easy. Enter Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Promptly ditching Knives for the Amazon delivery girl of his dreams, Scott learns he must defeat her seven evil exes before they can date.

If the plot sounds crazy, it is. Director Edgar Wright (who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Bacall, based off the comic series by Bryan Lee O’Malley) injects special effects in nearly every scene. References and Easter eggs to video games are everywhere in the form of health meters, bonus points, sound cues, non-sequiturs, and more. You can have a great time with a notepad playing “spot the reference” but it’ll be tough. There are so many and the deluge of gags is one hell of a distraction. It’s an outlandish tale with many characters and to ensure you never forget who’s who, we have a hugely talented cast bringing these quirky people to life. Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay and very seductive roommate, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman and more as Ramona’s evil exes, Anna Kendrick as Scott’s disapproving younger sister, Aubrey Plaza, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Johnny Simmons and Mark Webber as Scott’s friends/bandmates... Every time one of them appears on-screen again, you perk up. What hilarious new line are they going to deliver? It never fails. You always laugh out loud.

This is sort of a “battle of the bands” movie, meaning you get all sorts of musical talents adding extra oomph to the dazzling visuals. The score & soundtrack is another character, another reason to re-watch the film so you can properly see (well, hear) how every note perfectly compliments the characters’ actions and the point we’re at in the story.

While you’re dazzled by the audio and visual, you might overlook one of the most important aspects of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: its theme. Those references to bands and video games? They’re just gravy. The fact is, this movie has a great message. It’s not actually about battling a bunch of crazy enemies in order to get a prize lady. All that’s a metaphor. What this movie is actually about is a slacker, a person you’re not really supposed to like. Scott is lazy and he’s stringing Knives along. Even when it’s obvious he wants to move on to the new hot thing, he takes way too long to admit it. When he does get with “the girl of his dreams”, he takes forever to get over the fact that she has a past, that Ramona broke some hearts and was selfish in her past relationships despite Scott having done the same thing to Knives. The battles he fights are actually against himself. To win Ramona, what he must actually do is learn humility and self-respect. This is what pushes Scott Pilgrim vs. the World from being “merely” good to being great. If you really look at it, you’ll learn something.

I might change my mind about this the next time I view it but right now, the only flaw I’ll bring up is the running time. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World a fast-paced, highly economical movie, which makes seven evil exes A LOT of enemies. The combat actually winds up slowing the film down and I can think of a couple of bad guys who could’ve been removed without losing much. Otherwise, it’s an instant favorite. You’ll want to come back to it over and over thanks to its unmistakable style, the ample creative choices made throughout, the humor and the characters. (On Blu-ray, July 24, 2020)

#scott pilgrim vs. the world #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #edgar wright #michael bacall #bryan lee o'malley #michael cera #mary elizabeth winstead #kieran culkin #chris evans #anna kendrick #alison pill #brandon routh #jason scwartzman #2010 movies #2010 films

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cheemken · 4 months

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Whenever I check the Drayton tag, it always makes me smile to see new asks on this blog. Truly fueling my thirst for Drayton stuff that's angsty or wholesome like to each their own but a lot of Drayton stuff I've seen often paint him being a bully / antagonistic to Kieran. Seeing many anons share their hcs has been so nice!

I wanna share some BB E4 hcs!

- Crispin likes to experiment with his cooking! Drayton is often his testing buddy before giving the improved versions to Lacey and Amarys. Drayton complains playfully about Crispin playing favourites

- Amarys manages the club budget so she usually checks the requests made to utilise it. She often rejects Drayton's suggestions of holding 'wild parties' under the guise of team building / bonding'.

- Lacey and Drayton have crossed paths with one another when they were kids. Clay and Drayden have brought them to party events before. For as much as Lacey gets on Drayton's case about how he dodges the administrative side of the club, she trusts him with the battling side.

- Despite his slacker status, Drayton is actually really good at handling new members who are super shy / nervous. His laid back attitude and chattiness helps ease these members, and he's also open to answering battle related questions. It still surprises his friends when he just rambles about different training methods for Dragon-types, sounding rather animated for once

Anon I'm fucking crying these are so dope cbxmbcnd ough BB E4 friendship is so really your honour it's so so real and so canon and they're really close and they remind me of the og Unova kids in my hcs hcmdbd

But also of fucking course Drayton would throw parties and say they're for team building exercises lmfaooo Amarys has to really check their budget lest someone falls for Drayton's "team building exercises" again hahaha

Also Drayton and Lacey childhood friends🥹🥹

Your honour imagine cbxnxn that'd be so cute but also since they're childhood friends they're also kinda like siblings lmfao, ofc Drayton's gonna annoy Lacey too, Iris isn't the only one who's fun to annoy. But also, not only do guys run away when Lacey mentions Clay is her dad, but imagine if Drayton is also part of the reason they run away hahah

Like they know Drayton is so chill and laid back, but they also know how protective he is of his friends, plus they're not gonna fucking challenge a champion level trainer that's actually trained by a legit champion, his Archaludon can probs sweep their teams. But it'd also be funny if Lacey is so so unaware of Drayton like, looking threatening from behind her, giving off the vibes that he will let his Archaludon attack at any guy or girl who wants to be w Lacey lmfao

But also him being like that to all his friends, like if he doesn't like someone, they would know, cause his smile is a bit too forced when talking to them

Also isn't it canon that Crispin kinda has a crush on Lacey?? Fucking imagine that convo w Drayton lmfaooo

Just "Lacey's really cute, should I ask her out??"

"if you value your life, no."

"huh? Why? Is it because of her dad?"

Your honour pls he's just a lil bit oblivious bcmxbd hahaha

Also y'know Crispin low-key gives off enby vibes, idk, it's the way he looks, idt he'd care much abt how people perceive him, all he cares abt is his friends, pkmn, and cooking

Speaking of cooking imagine if he's like, Gordon Ramsay kinda guy when he gets pissed off when someone ruins a dish tho lmfaooo imagine him yelling out cussed bc someone used the wrong technique or ingredient for a dish or even just dissed smth he made

I picture Amarys not being able to cook that well, everything she makes always gets burnt, Crispin once invited her over to teach her how to cook starting w basics but for some godforsaken reason she still managed to burn grilled cheese

"how..?? How in the Distortion World did you fuck that up??"

"that's the first time I've heard you say that word. Is it truly that bad?"

"Amarys, look at me in the eyes and take a bite outta that sandwich. Is it edible to you? Do you think it's edible? Do you think it's something people would willingly eat?"

He made her redo it ten more times till she got it right hahaha

But yeah omf these are so dope anon chxmnd

#feel free to send more stuff abt them! id love to hear it hahah #also shared a few of my own lil hcs here too hahah #but yeah im so glad you like the drayton stuff here on my blog ^^#all thanks to the other anons too hahaha #its always fun to see other peoples hcs and thoughts abt these characters hahah #unova kids #pokemon hcs #an ask and an answer #anon

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castleshadows · 3 years

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Honeydew

Poppy and Casteel attend a banquet with several important members of court, and Casteel decides to be innapropriate at the worst time.

Written May 24, 2021

The banquet hall was filled with people from all across Atlantia, coming to celebrate the Queen’s coronation, a year after it actually happened. The War of Two Queens, as all had taken to calling it, had been brutal and had lasted what felt like forever despite the real fighting ending after a little less than three months. Apparently when you had the gods on your side, war ended much more quickly.

Poppy swept through the hall, her deep green and golden embellished gown making a delightful swishing noise as she walked. Her subjects stopped and bowed as she passed, and she nodded, still a little uncomfortable with the whole bowing thing, but too hungry to take the time to encourage all of them to stand.

Kieran walked a foot or two behind her, surveying the large room as if on guard duty. Her real guards were a couple steps behind her Royal Advisor, looking at every newcomer as if they were a potential threat. Poppy glanced at Delano, who was eyeing a blonde-haired man as if he were holding a knife to her throat. She rolled her eyes, but didn’t attempt to stop him. She’d already tried several times and it never worked.

The room had gone considerably quieter, and though her guests still murmured occasionally to one another, all eyes were on her. Poppy was rather proud of herself that she managed not to squirm under their gaze.

She eventually made it to the head table at the back of the hall, which raised on a platform, a couple feet in the air. Casteel and several other noblemen were all waiting to take their seats. Apparently, it was custom in Atlantia for the most powerful ruler to enter the room last, and no one was allowed to take their seats or start dining until the ruler announced the start of the feast. Several days ago, she’d tried to convince her husband to enter with her, finding it ridiculous that the Royal Advisor was supposed to walk by her side, but not the King. Casteel, of course, had ardently refused, saying that it was her big entrance, and she should own it or whatever. She’d agreed, only because she knew she would get nowhere no matter how much she protested, but that didn’t mean it made any sense.

Her footsteps echoed throughout the room, and Poppy inwardly cringed at how loud they sounded in the silence. She took the steps as quickly as she could without tripping in the heels she had been given to wear. She’d practiced walking up these steps in the raised shoes too many times to trip now.

When she reached her seat, Casteel pulled it backwards, the loud scrape of the wooden legs across the floor practically deafening. Her husband, sensing her anxiety, took her hand in his callused one, and gave her a supportive smile. Poppy smiled back, but even though she couldn’t see it, she could feel how strained the expression was. Cas responded with a quick kiss to her temple, and then dropped her hand stepping back towards his seat.

Poppy cleared her throat and raised her voice, “Let the feast begin.”

Immediately, much of the stress drained out of her. Having to speak to such a large crowd had always been one of her biggest anxieties, and having that part over and done with left a feeling of euphoric relief.

Casteel grasped her hand again, and Poppy realized that she was still standing. She sat down so quickly that she almost missed the chair altogether. She blushed and pulled the seat closer to the table, settling into the surprisingly comfortable cushion.

Conversation resumed again, and servants poured out from all sides of the room to uncover dishes and offer other treats that weren’t set out onto the table. Poppy reached for a plate of ham but was beaten to it by Kieran who speared the two pieces she had been going for on his fork.

“Really, Kieran?”

Kieran looked up from the piece of ham that was halfway to his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

Poppy just shook her head, returning to her plate which had apparently already been heaped with different meats, fruits, and other assorted foods that she liked. And cheese. Lots of cheese.

“Is that enough?” Casteel asked, his plate still empty. He was probably waiting to serve himself until she was satisfied.

“How much do you think I eat?” Poppy replied, scooping some potatoes onto her fork, “Yes, Hawke, this is more than enough.”

The chocolate and berries taste swelled as it did every time Poppy called him that. And so did the smoky taste of arousal. But, that was ever-present around her, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.

He chuckled and started to serve himself, but saved the best pieces for someone else. Probably her. It was unlikely he’d bother saving anything for Kieran.

“Your Majesty?”

Poppy turned her head, quickly swallowing the chunk of cheese she’d stuffed in her mouth, and searched for the source of the voice. Her eyes landed on a rather stout man with Atlantian eyes and graying brown hair. Lord Donahue if she remembered correctly. She really hoped she did. There had been no embarrassments so far this evening, and she would’ve liked to keep it that way.

“Yes, Lord Donahue?” If she had gotten his name wrong, he didn’t correct her. “Your Majesty, I was wondering if now would be a good time to discuss the building of healing centers throughout smaller towns?”

“Yes of course,” Poppy set down her fork and turned her attention to the Atlantian, “What is it you would like to discuss.”

It was easy to get lost in the conversation, as it was something that was quite important to Poppy. She had been the one to come up with this particular project after learning that several smaller communities in Atlantia didn’t have access to the medical care that those who lived in Evaemon or any of the much bigger cities did. It was something that would be needed across the kingdom, especially after the war, with all the soldiers who had come home injured and in need of constant care. She had become rather passionate about the cause, and did most of the work herself, though she was forced to bring in Casteel or Kieran occasionally to help run numbers. Math was not one of her strong suits. Mostly though, they were a supportive presence, answering any question she had and helping with anything she needed them to.

Lord Donahue’s questions, thankfully, were ones she had answered a million times before. Repetitive, yes, but a lot easier than answering the difficult logistics questions several of the Treasurers often had.

Poppy ended up mostly tuning out of the conversation, and paying more attention to what was around her than the answers she was reciting from memory. Kieran was already through his fourth piece of ham, and was reaching for another one, but was slapped away by Casteel. Her husband was barley half-way through his plate, paying more attention to her conversation with Lord Donahue than she was.

Just then, a servant walked by carrying a bowl of assorted fruits passed by their seats. She stopped near Poppy, offering the fruit to her. Poppy absently-mindedly waved her away, and the woman continued onto Casteel.

“Would you like anything, Your Majesty,” she asked him.

Poppy was vaguely aware of nodding at something the Lord said, and lifting her glass to her mouth to take a sip of the wine.

“Some of that honeydew would be perfect, thank you.”

Poppy choked on her drink, sending her into a small coughing fit. Some of her drink splattered across her cleavage, and she grabbed a napkin to mop it up.

“Your Majesty, are you alright?” Lord Donahue looked very concerned and attempted to shove an armful of napkins towards her. She waved him away, coughing once more and then clearing her throat.

“I’m fine, thank you.” He still looked concerned, but backed off.

Poppy glanced at Casteel out of the corner of her eye and the bastard was smirking. She shot him a glare that he either didn’t see or ignored (probably the latter) and turned her attention back to Donahue.

“What were you saying, my lord?”

Casteel let the conversation continue uninterrupted for another minute at most before he picked up a piece of honeydew between two fingers and brought it to his mouth. Locking eyes with her, he slowly bit into it, the juice dribbling down his chin and fingers. He chewed slowly, almost… sensually, and ate the rest of it. Then he took his fingers, and one by one swirled his tongue across the digits, licking up every drop of the liquid.

He smiled then, showing just a hint of fang, and that damned heat in her stomach curled and twisted. She squirmed a bit and he smirked. The bastard knew exactly what he was doing.

“Your Majesty?” Lord Donahue said somewhere in the background. Poppy wasn’t able to focus on anything other than her husband bringing another piece of the green fruit up to his full lips and taking a bite, his golden gaze still connected with hers.

Casteel brought his thumb across his chin, wiping up the remaining juice and stuck it in his mouth, sucking the last bit of the flavor off of his skin.

“Delicious,” he said, and that one word made the flesh between her legs throb that much harder.

She brought her glass up to her mouth, the cup shaking in her unsteady hand, and took a long sip.

“But you’re better.”

Water spewed across the table, and the coughing fit resumed.

Several servants in the vicinity rushed to clean up the mess, shoving napkins at her at a concerning rate. This whole debacle was all but ignored by Poppy who didn’t look away from her grinning husband.

“Casteel!”

“What,” he said, speaking a piece of potato with his fork and inspecting it, “I was just commenting on how the flavor of the honeydew wasn’t nearly as lush and sweet as the flavor of your—”

Poppy snapped into action before he could say anything truly embarrassing, and slapped a hand over his mouth. This got the attention of Kieran, who up until that point, had been studiously ignoring everything that was going on to his left and continuing to eat large amounts of ham.

He looked up from his plate, rolled his eyes at the scene before him, and proceeded to usher away all the servants and make sure all eyes were averted from the King and Queen before turning to Poppy with a world-weary look.

“Poppy I swear to the gods if you and Casteel don’t let me have my dinner in peace, I don’t care that you are Meyyah Liessa, I will drag you out of this hall by the hair if I have to.”

Poppy subconsciously, gripped her hair as if she was trying to protect it, and then blushed removing her hand from Casteel’s mouth.

“Sorry,” she muttered, clearing her throat and dabbing at her now wet plate.

“Thank you,” Kieran replied dryly, shoving more ham in his mouth. Good gods, how much ham did he plan to eat.

“Your Majesty?” Lord Doanhue said nervously, looking from Poppy to Casteel and then back again, “Would there be a better time for us to talk?”

“No, not at all,” she replied, shooting Casteel a warning glance, “Now is fine.”

Her husband did not heed the warning whatsoever, taking the last remaining piece of honeydew, and in front of everyone, giving it a long, sensual lick. Poppy’s eyes went wide, and she could vaguely hear Kieran sighing behind her.

She turned back to the Lord one last time, “On second thought, why do we postpone this discussion until a later date.”

The Atlantian, nodded frantically and then dashed off, taking his plate with him.

#poppy x casteel #poppy balfour #casteel da'neer #kieran contou #fbaa #akofaf #tcogb #tcogb spoilers #jennifer l armentrout #a kingdom of flesh and fire #the crown of gilded bones #jla #honeydew

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bonnienapierfilm · 2 years

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STAIRWELL SHOOT PT.3 [the end of the shoot trilogy]

Lighting and Location and what not was all similar to shoot 1, so I won't go into much of that that again.

MONSTERS AND MARC [easily confused for one another]

Marc, our actor playing Brian who had contacted us through our Facebook post didn't show up to our shoot >:O Which was so very stressful and aggravating! So Alex stepped in again like he had for our shoot 1, but he did a wonderful job.

The missing Marc will create a lot of post production difficulties. For our scientist shoot we had his file up on the screen as well as printed on paper. However we have Mr Ben McMorran [@benmcm18] offering his masking knowledge, so we should be able to work around it!

We had Miguel come to the shoot again so he could film his scenes with Brian. Which is once again frustrating as we could have filmed this on shoot 1 when Alex was playing Brian anyway! This time Tom did the prosthetics at his flat so Miguel could stay warm whilst he did it, then drove him along when he was ready, which gave us plenty of prep time.

Monster caught on camera, 2021.

We have a scene where Brian wets himself. Some part of me is actually quite glad we didn't have to film this with a random man from Facebook. Our master plan for this was to simply stick a water bottle down the jumpsuit, and have Alex squeeze it on cue, I never thought something so stupid would make us laugh the way we did, but alas, it was so so so very funny. We barely made it past action before losing it, I almost actually did wet myself from laughing.

Tumblr won't let me have more than 2 videos >:( But I really wanted this in the post, so I posted in on Vimeo.

vimeo

SOUND

Sadly, Alex couldn't do as much sound recording as he would have liked to. But we had the wonderful James Fox's [@jamesfoxfilm] help, as he worked at Ocean Terminal and came to help us out in the cold stairwell after a long shift at the cinema.

As we had plenty prep time whilst Miguel was being Monstafied, Alex had time do some some foley work. He got the slapping of the monsters feet on the concrete, something he has been excited about since we started the project. We also got footsteps, room tone and other bits n bobs.

Sound man doing sound things, 2021.

Also, the handrail made a very very cool noise if you bang on it with your fists, not sure how we figured this out, possibly during our breakdown over a missing Marc, but I'm glad we did. Alex was thinking to use this as a score for the film, which would be so cool so I hope the recording he got of it was good.

I have heard the start of Alex's sound work, and oh my does the monster noise sound terrifying. I'm sure he will go into more depth on his blog, but he has layered lots of crying sounds from different animals/people and it sounds incredibly unsettling.

Zoe you will be impressed I promise!

CAMERA

I took turns with Cal on camera. Like I said previously I learnt a lot from him during our shoots, Cal the Cool Cameraman as I shall call him henceforth.

I enjoyed working behind the camera, framing is something that challenges me and I want to get better at. For a specific low angle shot, I had to lie on the stairs with a scarily heavy camera in my hands, with about 5 floors below us just waiting for me to drop it. So Cal was there too to ensure that did not happen.

[My position and the shot we were aiming for.]

SHOOT RELFECTION

Despite all the problems thrown in our faces during the shoot, I think we dealt with everything pretty well :) We worked well, and had a good balance of listening to each others ideas and expressing dislike for the said ideas, however most additions past the planning stage were all good ones [I'd say].

Tom's starting the rough cut for Wednesday, and we have so much footage, like maybe too much, but at least it's not too little, that would be worse. Myself and Tom have signed up for the colour grading workshop with Kieran, so we can work on this together... editor and cinematographer!

Overall, very excited for the final cut of our film, and very very excited to see everyone else's! I feel there is such a range of ideas from the groups in this module, and the crit is going to be such fun :)

@alexcaldownapier @jen290302 @tomcalvinfilm @cwhite26 - good job team x

also this is my 50th post 🥳 someone buy me a cake.

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joshslater · 3 years

Text

Grimsby pt. 7

Similar stories and bonus material on my Patreon.

I was speechless and touched. I was too exhausted to figure out what this meant though. Did he expect something from me now? Before I could gather myself Jace picked up his bag and started walking towards the exit.

- We should of a pint.

I wasn’t audibly breathing heavily any longer, but I could feel I was still pretty wound up. Flush, sweaty, and definitely thirsty after this shock introduction to the gentlemen’s art of self-defense. I felt a pint was too far away and I needed to drink right now, so I stood up and started to walk towards the drinking faucet. “You’ll regret it,” Jace remarked, barely looking my way. He was half right. The water tasted of metal pipes, but it felt good to splash my face with cold water and cool it down. There were empty holders of a mirror pane mounted on the well. At some point the mirror must have cracked and never been replaced. I wondered how I looked after such a beating. I cupped my hands and brought water up to dump in my hair, and was quickly reminded of how little of it I had left. I could feel trickles down my shaved sides and neck. The sound of the door closing made me realize Jace wasn’t waiting, so I rushed out of the locker room, out through the main doors, and caught up with him slowly walking back the way we came.

It didn’t take long until he deviated from the path we followed to the club. I had no idea where we were, or really where he was taking me, but it was obviously a route as well optimized as the path we took going here. Mostly road, but a few shortcuts through people’s back yards. It looked kind of familiar, but I’ve only walked around these blocks very tired, hangover, drunk and/or high. Now I could add beaten up and exhausted to that list. As we rounded a corner I saw a painted sign hanging out from the building, stating “Fawn’s Head”. I'd seen that pub at some point earlier in the week, but never been near it.

For some reason it looked deserted on the empty street, not that you could really tell about a pub with its door closed. Looks were deceiving, sure enough, because there were quite a few people scattered around inside the pub. It was decidedly not a high-brow clientele. Everywhere I looked I saw track tops, worker's high-viz clothes, and quite a few paint-spattered sweatshirts. I recognized some people from yesterday evening, though not by name. A few people glanced our way, garnering no interest.

I followed Jace over to the barman and witnessed a play in gestures. The barman gave Jace a nod. Jace gave him a nod. Then he nodded sideways towards me. Then the barman poured two lager, and placed them in front of us. Jace was clearly a regular, though I wasn’t even sure he was 18 yet. Without a word we grabbed our beers and started to empty the glass. It was the best-tasting beer I’ve had all week. Not because of the beer, but because this was the end of a hard day at the end of a hard week. Whatever part of my body didn’t hurt after hauling ice and fish, Jace had made tender, either directly by knocking me out, or with the bag punching exercises. But this was the end of...

- HEY!

Jace had turned towards the room and shouted at the top of his lungs. It instantly became dead silent.

- Is Chayse innit!

Everyone shifted their eyes onto me. What the hell was Jace doing?

- Fuck with him, fuck with me!

There was a second of tense silence in the room. I didn’t dare breathe.

- On me. Cheers!

The room erupted in loud cheers, followed by an explosion of chatter. Some guy in blue carpenter trousers and a blue sweatshirt, both splattered with hundreds of tiny white dots of paint, jumped up from his seat and grabbed the first of the new beers. As he was turning to get back to his table, he stopped as if he realized he should pay for the beer somehow, and slapped my sore shoulder.

- Connor’s the name. Why don’t you lad join our table for a wee bit?

Before I could even agree to that, he started shoving me in the direction towards the table. I pulled an extra chair and sat down with his crew of builders. Conner, Kieran, Tommy, and Callum. To my surprise their work stories about bad shoes, early mornings, lunch places, all felt relevant to me, and I had a few insights that fit into the conversation. Once I’ve emptied my beer I excused myself for a smoke, but Callum got up and told me to follow him. We walked out on the back and there was a large smokers patio with two groups in either end talking. Callum brought me to one of the groups and the others there greeted me and introduced themselves.

It turned out that none of them actually knew Jace, but they had seen him around. They themselves didn’t know each other that well either. They usually sat with their pals and then just came together outside for a smoke. As they started to move back inside, a tall, hard-looking guy from the other group walked across the patio.

- Hey come here!

He was shaved bald, wore shiny, black Puma clothes with red zippers and details, and a pair of black Dr. Martens. He clearly worked out, but even if he hadn’t his height alone was intimidating. It didn’t sound like a request either. Callum got the hint and quickly stubbed out his fag.

- See you around. - Yeah.

While he returned inside the pub the shaved guy motioned with his shiny head towards the other two who silently smoked at the other end. They looked every bit as tough as this guy. A bit older but just as muscled, one with buzzed heads and tracksuits, the other with a mohawk, adidas top, and dark blue adidas joggers. As I started to walk towards them, the shaved guy walked behind me, like he was herding me. Dammit, I’m also shaved, although not completely. I must stop thinking of myself as looking so different than them. Anyone who stumbled out into the patio would assume we four were a group. As I stopped he pushed me in the back to force me uncomfortably close to the other two. The older of the two, standing just in my face, made a deep drag, and blew a cloud of smoke in my face. I’m sure it was intended as disrespectful and intimidating, but it took all my self-discipline to not inhale it, even though I had just finished a smoke myself. He gave me a nod and spoke.

- Jace new runner innit. - I don’t know wh... - Shut the fuck.

I could feel the color draining from my face. Apparently there was a reason why they all left me alone outside with these guys. He continued.

- I don’t give a fuck what you do, but stay out of our business. If you see any of us you do as you’re told. Got it? - Yes. - Good. Now lick my balls. - What? - You heard me mate.

A wave of fatigue washed over me. I had been shaved and punched and drugged and so much more. Everything was unreal. This was not me, this was not my life. It’s just that with a pint in my hand and nice people around I slipped and forgot. Like an emotionally drained whore on her tenth fuck for the day I silently went down on my knees in front of his crotch. He patted my head on the exposed skin.

- This is what we like, lads, innit.

And then he tilted my head back up and looked me in the eyes.

- Remember your place next time we tell you to do something.

Then he let go and looked up at the others.

- Let's go for another, lads.

He dropped his smoldering fag on the ground in front of me as they left, and I hated that my first instinct was to pick it up and put it in my mouth. Who were they? What did they mean by Jace's runner? They had already left the patio by the time I got up and looked around. A group of patrons just walked into the patio and nodded in my direction. I nodded back and headed back into the pub, past them. I needed to find Jace and ask him what the guys meant. It wasn't hard to find him inside the pub, despite it filling up in the moments he had been out. He was standing next to a table close to the entrance, towering over the guy standing next to him. He probably towered over most people. The guy next to him was passionately talking to him. Jace saw me, and reached out like for a handshake.

- Oi Chayse, be a minute.

I grabbed his hand and felt something small in my hand. Jace winked at me.

- First one's free bruv.

He handed me a half-emptied pint glass and turned back to the guy. I stepped away and looked into my hand. A small, white pill. I felt both neglected and thankful at the same time. Of course he should finish whatever this is, but I felt we needed to talk right now. I took a large swig out of the glass and realized as I swallowed that I had already put the pill in my mouth. I was just running on autopilot after everything that had happened during this week.

Something was moving in my peripheral, and I turned to see a few guys at a table waving at me. I went to join them to kill time. I felt like I was losing grip of reality again, because the man who waved me to the table came back from the bar with a fresh lager and sat it down in front of me, while one of the other guys at the table was talking about their day of road maintenance. I was jolted back into the present, looking up at the man, Rob was it? He was smiling at me kindly. I thanked him and took a sip of the beer, and a shiver of pleasure went through me. It was even better tasting than the one I had earlier. The guy who was talking was detailing all the problems with one of the stores next to the road where they had laid stones during the day. He was about my age, but more tanned and crow's feet by the eyes after having been outdoor so much. No, this was Rob. His pitch-black hair was gelled up, and his face was framed on the other side by a black T-shirt with a big, yellow "Powell Construction" logo. I realized I had stopped listening to him and was lost in his grey-blue eyes, when he asked me something.

- Sorry mate, I have to piss.

At the moment I said it I realized it was actually true, and somewhat wobbly got up and headed towards the gents. They nodded and smiled. Jace wasn't standing where I had last seen him, I noted on the way to the gents, nor did I see him anywhere else. I wasn't sure I could trust my senses fully. What had he given me? Molly? It must have been part of it, as everything and everyone was lovely. I double-checked the sign on the door and entered the gents. Two sinks, two urinals, and a door to a proper toilet. As I walked by the mirrors over the sinks I turned my head, almost like a reflex, but stopped in my tracks.

I looked horrible. It wasn't the brutal hair, or the eyebrows, or the piercings, or the clothes. I looked like a criminal mug shot. My face was subtly swollen and bruised from the pummeling I've gotten from Jace an hour or two ago. There wasn't any specific thing I could point out. Just that I looked off. I didn't look like me anymore. Fascinated, almost mesmerized by my own ugliness I touched and poked my face. Nothing hurt. Not specifically anyway. I'm sure it would look better tomorrow, but it was unnerving still.

As I reached the urinal I realized I had a stiffy. I hoped the black adidas joggers had hidden it from Rob and whatever his name was, but I couldn't be sure. Well, this wasn't the place to do anything about it, so I simply aimed forward and let go, pissing straight into the wall of the urinal. Despite me swaying more than I would have liked or expected, the only thing I got on me was a fine mist of back splatter. I was clearly more intoxicated or high or whatever than I thought, so I don't know how long I stood with my dick out and forehead against the wall, just waiting for the dripping to stop. I was kind of hoping to also get soft, but had to settle for a semi.

I was pulling my joggers up when someone entered. I didn't take any notice of him until someone shouted "Hey" in my ear, and pushed me into the room with the toilet. He shoved me down on the lid facing him, and locked the door. It was one of the goons from the outside patio, the one with the mohawk, adidas top and joggers. He had a week-old beard and looked a bit tired as well. I knew I should be intimidated by him, but somehow I just felt like I wanted to hug him. I had this unexplainable urge to touch him. He glanced at the ceiling, looking for a smoke detector, then picked a cigarette and a lighter from a pocket. While looking down on me he slowly put the cigarette to his mouth and lit it, inhaled deeply, and exhaled the smoke on me. To his confusion this time I inhaled deeply as well. Not only did I want to embrace him. I wanted to french kiss him and suck the smoke out of his lungs. What the fuck was wrong with me?

He regained his composure. He was also clearly a bit drunker than before.

- I want to be fucking clear with you. When we tell you what to do, you do it. - Sound, mate.

This wasn't going how either of us had expected. My eyes kept darting between his face and the chain he had around his neck. Somehow it looked so pretty, glittering in the fluorescent tube light. Everything looked pretty. He struggled with what to do next.

- Lick it. Lick the groin.

I looked down. The loose, dark blue adidas joggers didn't reveal much, but a little bump indicated where his dick was. For some reason, I don't know why, I did as he said, leaned forward, and let my tongue run up and down the fabric. It didn't taste like much. I moved forward and licked with a bit more pressure. I could hear him inhale from the cigarette again.

- Ok, alright. I need to piss.

He grabbed me and stood me up with one arm, and unlocked the door with the other.

- Share the fag? - What?

It took him a second to realize I asked for his cigarette. His intimidation ploy had not gone the way he wanted, though I was at the same time both zen and wondering what the fuck was going on. He handed me the cigarette. I stepped out and he closed the door behind me. I finished the cigarette and threw it in the urinal.

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vanderlindemangofarm · 4 years

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The Van der Linde Gang - Jobs in a Modern AU

I’ve been really inspired to write about this lately and I’d love to hear your takes! These are the occupations that I think each gang member would have in a modern AU. Some were more challenging than others, but hopefully you guys can see where I’m coming from with each!

Arthur: Film location scout. His natural eye for photography and framing makes Arthur the perfect member of a pre-production team. His no-bullshit approach to everything means he keeps to deadlines, although he’s known to go wandering off into the wilderness for unknown amounts of time. He enjoys the lone working side of his job and finding exactly the right spots that would make the film come to life. He doesn’t always like the films once they’re finished (in fact he’s often bought cinema tickets and walked out half way through, grumbling that it wasn’t worth the popcorn) but he can’t deny the excited buzz he gets every time he gets hired. In his early years as an assistant he met Bertie Mason, a nervous but talented photography intern. Despite an ill-advised hookup after a week joined at the hip they have remained close friends and still go out on shoots together.

John: landscape gardener. John? Flowers? Yes, alright, I found it hard to believe too. But look, it’s not about the flowers, even if he does get misty-eyed at the sight of a sunflower in the early morning light. It’s about the challenge, the outdoors, and solving problems. After all the renovations he did to his house and garden (some more successful than others) John found how much satisfaction he got from digging and reshaping and planting. Don’t get me wrong, he’s often without a shirt, even in the colder months, much to the delight of some and the horror of others. He always makes friends with the household pets and is wonderful with the kids, always dropping his task to throw a frisbee around for a bit or cheekily accept an ice cold glass of lemonade from their mothers. Whenever he drives past one of his projects he feels himself glowing with pride - “I did that!”.

Dutch: philosophy lecturer. As always, late with Starbucks. Will he actually grade your essay? Will it mysteriously disappear? Keeps you on your toes, doesn’t it? Sitting precariously on the very edge of his desk, leather jacket hanging off his shoulders and losing his balance every 15 minutes, Dr Van der Linde is nothing short of a wonder. For the love of all that is holy, do not get him started on Kant. Kant has no place here. You want to talk about your precious Kant? Get your butt down to Dr O’Driscoll’s class, he has plenty to say about Kant. Perhaps a little too fond of Socrates. Plato who? Completely illegible handwriting and definitely sleeping with several members of the faculty. But somehow his students always walk away with excellent grades. At the end of each term Dutch takes everyone out to a local bar for drinks, insists on buying tequila which no one really fancies at 11am. Claims to ride a motorcycle called The Count which no one has actually seen. Impossible to hate, and he writes everyone great references for their summer internships.

Hosea: social worker. In a crisis, there’s no one better to knock on your door. Hosea has seen it all and he’ll see it all again, but that doesn’t stop him from treating every single case he gets with the upmost respect and care. His no-nonsense approach to his work means he gets things done, but he never sacrifices his compassion. He mostly works with teenagers and has a way of being able to connect to each individual without coming across as patronising. He’s been in the field for over two decades and is an invaluable mentor for any newcomers, always willing to share a word or two of advice or be a shoulder to cry on.

Javier: guitar teacher and music therapist. During his worst years, Javier’s guitar was his lifeline. And he wants to help others find their lifeline, too. He works on a freelance basis, mainly going into mental health hospitals, schools and prisons. He runs workshops focusing on guitar playing, but brings other instruments (mainly percussion) to try too. He’s a gentle teacher, always with a joke in his back pocket for when you need it most. He has nicknames for everyone and remembers everything they’ve ever told him. He’s patient and never lets anyone feel bad for making a mistake. Javier also runs an after-school guitar club at the local middle school alongside playing his own music at gigs whenever he can. No, he doesn’t reply to DMs no matter how thirsty they are.

Sadie: self-defense instructor. After surviving an attack several years ago, Sadie used her ferocity to get her qualification in self-defense to teach other women how to fight back should they need to. Her husband Jake helps out in her classes, happily allowing himself to be thrown around and slammed onto the mat as many times as required. Her students are terrified of her in the best and nicest way. Sadie also volunteers at a women’s refuge, providing emergency care and taking phone calls.

Charles: environmental campaign manager. Charles has always been drawn to charities and started doing voluntary work for Greenpeace when he was at university, securing an internship with them in Canada which led to a full time job. Whilst Charles mainly hosts meetings and organises events, he also works closely with elementary schools and runs workshops with outdoor activities, crafts and music. Last week they made bird feeders! It was awesome. He’s also a keen activist and regularly meets up with Javier to go to protests and community events, most recently for BLM.

Micah: motorcycle mechanic. Micah is massively invested in motorcycle culture and treats his beloved bike better than his own mother, if he still spoke to her. Although he pretends not to care, fixing bikes is his greatest passion and almost looks...happy when he’s doing it? Maybe? He likes knowing more than the people who stop by his shop and makes sure they know it. Occasionally he leaves his number on a scrap of paper inside women’s handbags when they’re not looking but for some reason none of them call. Like it or not, he’s incredibly skilled and will have your motorcycle singing a tune if that’s what you want. Euphemism? Of course not.

Abigail: nurse. She was so shy when she realised she wanted to pursue nursing - would people laugh at her? Was she too impatient, too nagging, too shrill? Her dyslexia always put her off going into further education and she was always discouraged by her parents. But with lots of encouragement from Hosea (who helped her to fill out her applications and other forms) and her friends, Abigail went to university in her 30′s to get her degree. She graduated top of her class and now works full time in her local hospital, based mostly in the emergency room. From drunken brawlers to tearful children and grumpy old men with lumbago, Abigail has learnt to keep her cool and to have faith in her own ability.

Molly: holistic therapist and masseuse. It took years to get that bastard of a philosopher out of her head (and out of her bed - damn those happy hour drinks “for old times’ sake”), but she’s finally free. Molly radiates a kindness that few took to the time to see, and she wanted to take strength from her past struggles to help others who may need someone to listen, just as she did. Molly took a bunch of online courses in various holistic therapies, including aromatherapy and massage, as this was something she had always been interested in. She runs a tiny clinic on a quiet street, the rooms filled with sunshine and the scent of geraniums. She also has a quite popular ASMR YouTube channel, Emerald Eyes ASMR, which she shyly admits just reached 500k subscribers. Her most popular video, ‘Irish Girl Helps You Fall Asleep (soft spoken, tapping, mouth sounds)’ just reached over a million hits.

Kieran: veterinarian specialising in equine care. Much like Abigail, Kieran didn’t like the idea of going back into education. He’d had a rough time of it as a teenager, dropping out of high school early and working a string of menial jobs for the next decade. They paid his rent, but he still felt poor. His favourite job, however, was working at a stable. The horses made him feel calm and he found that he could read them better than most people. He went to the library and read as much as he could about them. From there, he got himself an apprenticeship which paved the way for him to earn his degree in veterinary science. He smiled so hard in his graduation photo his eyes disappeared into his cheeks. He travels all over the local countryside, visiting farms and ranches to care for the horses. His confidence picked up after the first few blunders, and little by little he’s saving up to buy his own ranch one day.

Lenny: political science student. You know that kid who always looks amazing, even in 9am lectures? Yeah, that’s not Lenny, but he’s sat just behind. See him? Yep, the one rubbing sleep from his eyes as he pushes through the effects of another all-nighter. It’s not due to procrastination, but from perfectionism. He spends hour agonising over references, appendixes and even titles. One time he was so tired he signed his work “Ynnel”. He’s completely in love with his course and relishes every class he takes. Oh, he’s taking Dutch’s ‘History of Western Philosophy’ module by the way. Sitting in the front row, middle seat, directly in front of Dutch, his eyes glinting wickedly. Poor Dutch. Lenny has a counterpoint for absolutely everything and can barely stifle his laughter as Dutch gets more and more flustered. He’s been dating Jenny Kirk, an English Lit student, for the past few months and it’s going well. So well in fact, that he might stop hiding his Doctor Who merchandise every time she comes to his dorm room.

Tilly: business student. Tilly started university at the same time as Lenny and they still always go to the library together, rolling their eyes at each other over their morning peppermint lattes. Tilly is at the forefront of any and all on-campus activism. Think of Sam from Dear White People - that’s our Tilly. She wears her Ravenclaw scarf all autumn and winter long and posts scathing Instagram stories about the cafeteria food. But she’s powerfully kind and very ambitious, taking on a part time job tutoring kids with dyslexia in their reading and writing.

Susan: midwife. Think having a baby is scary? Try crossing Nurse Grimshaw. She’s here now, and that baby is coming out of you one way or another. She’ll hold your hand through thick and thin but if you dare say “I can’t do it” one more time she’ll unleash hell. Susan will make sure everyone has a job to do. Partner just standing there like a lemon? Not on her watch. She’s harsh but kind to her trainees and will always offer a cup of coffee and a shoulder to cry on, but there’s a time and place for slacking and it’s not on her labour ward.

Trelawny: talent agent. Our Josiah is cunning, infuriatingly charismatic and with an eye for the best of the best - what else could he do so effortlessly? He’ll wrangle you a 10 second role as a latrine cleaner in a non-profit film and he’ll still make you feel like the next DiCaprio. You’re a diamond, don’t you know? Of course you could nab Elphaba, we’ll worry about the singing later. How do you feel about cat food commercials? No no, it’s not pornography, it really is cat food this time - he double checked. On top of this, he knows everyone in the business. No, really. He can’t move 3 feet down Broadway without someone booming his name. The tone of said boom depends, of course, but who hasn’t been caught with his bottom out in that director’s wife’s en-suite?

Sean: outdoor activity centre instructor. You mean you can actually get paid to swim in lakes, ride ziplines through the forest and eat roasted marshmallows?! Sean couldn’t believe his ears. But it was true, and he’s living his best life. He may be on his penultimate warning for unruly behaviour, but he knows he could never really get fired. How could they? Everyone loves him. And to his credit, he’s a fantastic instructor, especially with kids. Everything from canoeing to caving, wild swimming to climbing, Sean has mastered it all and he always makes it fun. No one is allowed to feel left out or silly for not being able to do something. Sean has a way of making everyone feel included, even if you can only make it up the first few rungs of the ladder. Hey, that’s still off the ground! He once knew this feller Bill who cried because a moth flew into his face. You’re doing fine.

Mary-Beth: librarian and YA author. Sweet Mary-Beth, how could she be anywhere else but surrounded by books? She adores her job at her small, local library and is always looking for ways to make it even better. She often gets tangled up in the stories she reads whilst organising shelves, but it’s quiet enough most days that she’s rarely caught. She loves helping people find their books or recommending her favourites. She also runs the toddler storytime groups and a writing club for older kids. Of course, she’s also writing her own books. The first of her ‘Valentine Mysteries’ books made a modest profit and she’s excited to write more about the adventures of Leslie Dupont.

Karen: actress. Realising that she had a knack for accents and even after an especially successful high school lead role as Roxy Hart, Karen didn’t really acknowledge her would-be passion for acting for a long time. But she used her talents to get herself and her friends into X-rated films, dive bars and successfully pull off dozens of prank calls. It wasn’t until one of her friends was going to an open-call audition for a short film and wanted someone to go with her that Karen had her epithany. She was cast on the spot, much to the dismay of her friend. Since then, she’s been in a handful of arthouse films, a commercial here and there, and recently enjoyed a short run as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at a small theatre downtown. Does she want fame and fortune? Honestly, she hasn’t really thought about it. Right now, she’s just enjoying the ride. And the phone numbers left for her at front of house from many admirers.

Strauss: financial loan adviser. Oh boy, perhaps you saw this one coming. Then again, maybe not. Old Leopold isn’t quite the two-pronged-tongued eldritch horror people often mistake him for. In fact, he actually advises people against loan sharks. He had his fair share of debts y’see and he genuinely doesn’t want anyone else to go through the same thing. He’s not exactly sweet and cuddly, but he might let you have a free pen if you call by his office. I mean, technically they’re not free but...never mind, just take it.

Bill: plumber. It was purely accidental that Bill bashed his way into his career. No, really. His sink was blocked and after an hour of poking and prodding the pipes he started hitting the poor thing with a spanner out of pure frustration, cursing all the way. To his shock, it worked, and he suddenly had running water again. What shocked him more is that he realised he wanted to know how. So, he bought a book. And he read the book. And one thing led to another, and now he’s the proud owner of Williamson Plumbing Inc. The money is very good, but for Bill that’s not it. You have to understand that for him, it’s the act itself of fixing something that brings Bill immense satisfaction. And Bill isn’t used to knowing more about something - anything - than those around him. For the first time perhaps in his life, he can sit down, solve a problem, and know that he’s done a good job.

Swanson: AA group leader. After getting completely sober almost a decade ago and staying that way, Orville wanted to give something back to the people who had helped him out so greatly. Becoming a volunteer to help those who were trapped where he was seemed like the only path, and it felt so right. Orville is there in meetings, making coffee, handing out donuts and training new volunteers. If anyone wants to talk about their faith he’s all ears, but he never pushes it as a cure-all in any situation. Orville’s sobriety has also meant that he’s learnt to make the most phenomenal mocktails.

Pearson: grocery shop manager and cooking teacher. Simon has his small grocery shop on the edge of town which has a wide range of regular customers. But he wanted to do more, so he set up a small class to teach fellow veterans how to cook. His wife helps out, and they grow the ingredients together in their garden and down at the allotment. It’s just an therapeutic for him as it is for his students, as he’s only just realising how much he wants to talk about his time in the navy.

Uncle: unknown. For the longest time, everyone thought Uncle worked at one of the worst dive bars in town, as whenever they stumbled in for a nightcap he was there, behind the bar, happy as a pig in shit. Turns out that he just started going there one night and no one could get him to leave. And so every evening he’ll appear like a phantom, sit himself in the half-broken chair behind the bar (clearly labelled “not for customer use”), order the cheapest beer on the menu and sit there until midnight. No one can understand how he gets the means to live as he ragingly denies receiving any government handouts despite his lumbago. Claims to be a veteran but hasn’t fought in any wars anyone has heard of.

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morganaseren · 3 years

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WIP Meme (Warden Inquisitor Niamh/Warden Bethany)

Tagged by: @illusivesoul Many thanks!

Tagging: @this-is-something-idk-what, @noeldressari, @jellydishes, @w-h-4-t As usual, I suck at telling who has or hasn’t been tagged yet.

So this WIP is from prompt #3 I made off this list. It doesn’t tie into the other Warden Niamh/Warden Bethany AU I’ve already written; this is something wholly separate. No knowledge of it is needed to read this.

Granted, this is a much rougher draft than what I’d normally post here, but given I’m already more than a month behind on updating OtSttCA, I thought you guys would appreciate the treat. :)

Things you might want to know:

As with any AU where Niamh is a Warden, she’s the one who undertakes the Dark Ritual with Morrigan in order to spare anyone from being sacrificed once the Archdemon is slain. Through magic, Kieran is born as a result of their union. While both women carry a great deal of respect for one another, they aren’t and were never in a romantic relationship although there’s gonna be a whole separate AU for that once I get around to writing it.

Niamh is the Warden-Constable for Ferelden while her sister Saoirse is the Warden-Commander and Hero of Ferelden. Saoirse and Leliana are married sometime after the end of the Blight.

As a result of going on the Deep Roads expedition with her sister, Bethany contracts the taint and has to undergo the Joining in order to save her life. She is transferred to the Fereldan branch of the Grey Wardens by Stroud not long afterward.

Niamh and Bethany are in an established relationship by the time the events of Inquisition begins.

While Niamh would normally be off searching for the cure by then, I'm just going to headcanon that she and Morrigan weren’t able to find a suitable lead in their research until much later—enough that they start hearing about the mass disappearances of Wardens across Ferelden and Orlais.

Out of concern, Niamh and Saoirse convince the remainder of their comrades (except for Bethany obviously) to head toward Weisshaupt for help, but Niamh senses that's enough wrong about the situation that she also tells them to journey there in secret. Vigil’s Keep is pretty much closed down at this point until they can figure out what’s going on.

Niamh and Bethany head out toward the Hinterlands to follow up on reports of some Warden sightings in the area. It's when they're stopped in the Crossroads area (where you meet Mother Giselle) that Niamh has Bethany to ask the villagers for any leads while she heads up to the Temple of Sacred Ashes to follow up on a tip there. The usual stuff happens, and she ends up waking up in Haven's dungeons, where she gets interrogated by Cassandra.

Honestly, this follows pretty closely to how OtSttCA unfolds as far as the major decisions being made within it goes. However, because she wasn’t in self-exile for a decade, Niamh’s a lot more laidback and confident in her ability to lead, especially with Bethany by her side.

Along that same vein, Bethany is also more self-assured in her abilities as a mage now that she no longer has to fear hiding from Templars. As such, she’s much quicker to speak about what’s on her mind rather than bottle them up as she used to in the past. She confronts Cassandra like an absolute badass several times during the beginning of the story in defense of her lover, which you can check out below the cut with the rest of the content. ;)

Like in her canon world state, Niamh isn't treated well when she’s imprisoned. The guards merely know that she's a mage, so they're operating under the assumption that she caused the explosion at the Conclave. It doesn't help that Niamh's been essentially undercover to search for the missing Wardens, so she's not wearing her usual uniform to signify her status. Cassandra does her whole intimidating interrogation as per usual when Bethany—in all her Warden regalia—bursts in with Leliana.

---

"She leaves with me," she leveled at the Seeker coldly before turning to Leliana with a deep frown. “Why did you not put a stop to this?”

“I arrived here at the same time as you. I didn’t know she was here until she was already imprisoned.”

Niamh couldn't help but chuckle under her breath, utter relief filling her. “I think you may invited utter ruination upon your heads with those two."

Cassandra frowned. "What? Why?"

“What do you mean why?” she parroted with a roll of her eyes, unimpressed with what she had seen of the woman and her colleagues thus far. "Leliana’s my sister-in-law, and the Warden next to her is my fiancée, whom—might I add—you've actually succeeded in making angry.” The corners of her lips turned up into a languid smile. “Not an easy feat, and not a fate I would normally wish upon anyone.”

“Hush,” Bethany muttered as she brushed past Cassandra—all but shoving her aside with a pointed shoulder—as she knelt at Niamh’s side to begin healing the wounds she’d received from her captors. All the soldiers began backing away uneasily, especially as Leliana walked alongside her. “I’m already upset that you sent me down to the Crossroads while you went up to the Conclave alone.”

“It was the easiest way of scoping out the area," Niamh defended even as she sheepishly shrank back beneath her lover’s glare. "If the individuals we were searching for were still down in the village, you would have seen them, and if they were up at the Temple…Well, I suppose that’s a moot point now, given what our new acquaintances have just revealed to me.”

“Do you remember seeing anything at all?” Leliana asked then in concern.

“I can’t recall much of anything before the explosion.” Niamh admitted with a frown. “I thought I remembered someone screaming, but then there’s just... nothing.”

“And...” Leliana gestured toward her hand. “That mark?”

She shrugged as much as she was able to, especially given her heavy shackles. “It certainly wasn’t there when I went to the Temple.”

“What is going on here?” Cassandra demanded then, perhaps confused as to why their supposed prisoner had proven so much more forthcoming with Leliana than anyone else thus far.

“You’ve met my wife before, yes? This is her younger sister Niamh Cousland. She is also the Constable of the Grey here in Ferelden, Cassandra,” Leliana stated gravely. “While the Wardens may not regularly involve themselves in politics, Niamh’s high enough up their chain of command that this country’s branch would fight to the death to get her back, and that’s not even involving what Saoirse herself will do once she finds out her sister's been hurt.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily. “Not to mention the Teyrn of Highever…”

---

After the demons upon the frozen lake had been defeated, Niamh felt the brush of a warm hand in the crook of her elbow gently pulling her back before all she could see was Bethany’s back as her lover marched right up toward Cassandra, heedless of the obvious height difference between them.

"Point your sword at her again, Seeker! Kindly test my patience right now, and see what happens!"

Niamh was mildly amused when Cassandra actually appeared to be a bit startled and had to move back a step so as to not accidentally stab the woman. The Seeker’s dark brows furrowed in confusion. "Are... Are you threatening me?"

"Only because you’ve threatened her repeatedly!” Bethany scowled. “Niamh's very life is in danger so long as that portal in the sky exists; she has no reason to put yours in harm's way. She’s made it more than abundantly clear she’s willing to cooperate even after the mistreatment she received from you and your colleagues." Amber eyes narrowed, and despite their bright depths, there was little mistaking the ice within them. "I haven’t, however, and I’ve no reason to if you’re going to blatantly ignore your own words to the contrary simply because she’s a mage."

Cassandra sheepishly sheathed her weapon. "I’m—"

"If you ever think of drawing a sword on her again, your friendship with Leliana or no, I swear it will be the last time you ever draw breath," Bethany spat, tilting her chin up defiantly. "I’ve lost enough. I will not lose her too." She turned then to hold out her hand for Niamh, allowing the first bit of tenderness to enter her expression as she called out to her. "My love..."

Niamh chuckled quietly even as she weaved her fingers through Bethany’s. “Still so quick to defend me?”

Her lover smiled. “Always.”

Afterward, Cassandra was left to follow behind the two women, who proceeded to lead the rest of the way up the mountain.

"I did tell you not to make her angry," Niamh quipped to Cassandra later upon reaching the first outpost, grinning when she earned a soft sound of disgruntlement.

---

Nothing had really prepared Bethany for the sight that greeted them upon reaching the Temple of Sacred Ashes.

There were so many bodies scattered across the immense crater, expressions twisted in permanent states of terror as they tried to guard themselves against a danger beyond all earthly imagining. Horrified with such evidence of the Breach’s power, it was then that she realized that if Niamh hadn’t somehow received the Mark, she likely would have—

"Bethany?"

She jerked in place, turning to see her lover’s concerned eyes watching her.

"It's nothing,” she mustered up with a weak smile. “I'm right behind you."

Bethany saw, however, that Niamh couldn’t be convinced, as was evident in the tender way the other woman had taken hold of her hand. Niamh said nothing else, as was always her way. She never pressed her to offer anything more than she was ready for. She sighed.

"I should have been there with you," Bethany murmured at last, looking at the strange mark still glowing upon her lover’s palm. It was nothing that even with all her healing magic can hope to fix, but Niamh merely shook her head.

"No.” She brought Bethany’s hand up to her lips to press a kiss reverently across her knuckles. “Were you there with me, I fear you would have died with everyone else," she admitted solemnly. "My heart would not have survived such devastation."

---

Bethany was beside herself with worry when Niamh fell unconscious upon the first, unsuccessful attempt to seal the Breach. Niamh was brought back to Haven to recover, but Bethany refused to leave her side despite Leliana's attempts to get her to take care of herself as well.

"Bethany—"

"You know as well as I do that your colleagues would have killed her down in the dungeons if we hadn’t arrived when we did," Bethany said flatly from where she sat by Niamh’s bedside. "Everyone in the village knows she’s a mage now, and I don’t need to remind you of how well-liked we are on a regular basis..."

"I’ll have my agents watching her. What nearly happened outside the chantry will never happen again."

Bethany bristled instantly at the memory.

---

She’d still been inside the building to relay some information regarding Saoirse to Leliana when they heard the first outraged cries beyond the doors. As the uproar grew louder in volume—all demanding the death of the one who had supposedly killed the Divine—Bethany had rushed outside immediately just in time to see civilians and more than a few soldiers attempting to stone Niamh.

Infuriated by the blatant injustice, Bethany reached over her shoulder for her staff and immediately slammed its point into the ground. At the moment of impact, a wave of force magic traveled violently across the ground, taking the mob entirely off their feet. She had been mindful to curve the energy away from Niamh—and inadvertently Cassandra, who had sidled up to aid the other mage, just as she unleashed her magic—so her lover had remained unharmed and even grateful for her arrival if her relieved smile was any indication.

Still, Bethany steeled her features to utter impassivity as she coolly strode through the crowd. Those within it seemed to be in various states of bewilderment as they tried to regain their bearings, but she took note of the many widened eyes that recognized the blues and silvers of her Warden regalia.

“You will show Ferelden’s Constable of the Grey the proper respect she is due,” Bethany said lowly as she placed herself alongside her lover, her gaze searching for any signs of rebellion to her words. “Anyone who would dare accost her in spite of her title will sorely live to regret it...”

---

"Can you really make such promises?" Bethany asked dryly.

"I can certainly try. Niamh’s family. Saoirse would never forgive me if something happened to her, especially if she knew there was anything I could have done to prevent it." She sighed. "Nor would I be able to forgive myself for that matter. Niamh’s a kind woman, and much like you—and any mage—she’s so undeserving of the treatment she often receives from others.”

---

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE mages; thus, it should come as no surprise that I always go to get the mages at Redcliffe as allies.

It should also go without saying that Bethany also would have gone with Niamh to deal with Alexius and the Venatori. Per the events of In Hushed Whispers, it's canon that the companions who went with you there become prisoners in the twisted, future version of Redcliffe.

While Warden mages are more susceptible to Corypheus' influence, I headcanon that Bethany was so furious with the loss of Niamh to Alexius that she fought against the mind control even to the point of torture like Leliana. When Niamh sees her in the future, Bethany's so pained, broken, and exhausted but so very thankful to see her lover again.

There's hope again—no matter how small—and Bethany's determined to help her set the world right again.

What little happiness they have at their reunion obviously doesn't last long, especially with Alexius’ death. With the Elder One beckoning at their door, Bethany goes off with the other companions to stall the demons and Venatori outside to give Dorian time to cast his spell.

I’ve always headcanoned that mages have auras unique to the type of magic they specialize in and that they’d be able to subtly influence the world around them based on their emotions. You see evidence of that a lot in OtSttCA, especially in those moments where Niamh’s angry or upset.

In any case, per my headcanon, mages would be able to sense one another although the distance at which they could detect such magic would be dependent on the senser’s overall power or their relationship with the other mage. As close as both women are, Niamh absolutely feels the moment Bethany dies... :(

---

She felt the absence of Bethany’s magic like a dagger to the heart.

It had been there, burning as bright as the sun, and then it had stuttered—dark clouds eclipsing its light—until it simply settled inside her like a dead weight. Left bereft of that familiar, constant presence that had been her very reason for breathing for so long, it was as if water had pooled into her lungs, threatening to drown her. The sensation immediately brought her to her knees, leaving her gasping for breath.

"No..." Niamh whispered out brokenly, anguish and horror overtaking her even as Leliana tried in vain to urge her back up to her feet again. She couldn't hear the other woman's concern past the shattering of her own heart. In its place was simply an aching emptiness that slowly began to consume her whole...

---

Let’s just say that Niamh’s not happy with Alexius when she and Dorian manage to return to the present...

---

The fighting between the Inquisition and rebel mages against Alexius and his Venatori was brought to an abrupt halt by the presence of the Fade rift that appeared overhead. The force with which it easily tore space and reality asunder was enough to take everyone within the audience chamber off their feet, especially as stifling heat and wind spilled from the portal along with two figures.

“Give her back..."

Bethany blearily looked up when she heard Niamh’s familiar voice, and relief filled her when she saw that she was standing beneath the now sealed rift. Even with its disappearance, however, she realized all too soon that it had done nothing to quell the storm that had now taken residence within the room, sending banners and tapestries flying with whipping gusts of wind. At its center was her lover, who was standing so still amidst the chaos around her, regarding Alexius with such apathy in her expression.

“What?" the old magister uttered in confusion, shakily rising to his feet only to have his progress nearly undone as lightning struck the ground next to him with a deafening peal of thunder.

Bethany saw how his throat undulated as he swallowed in nervous regard of the mage slowly making her way toward him. His fingers trembled with the effort to form flames between them.

"...Who gave you the right?” Niamh asked, voice as low as the rumbling thunder, as she strode toward the dais.

The pressure within the room escalated once more as an aura of absolute fire surrounded her. Like vines, they rose from the floor up in spiraling patterns before enveloping her entirely with almost playful licks of flame. Nothing in Niamh’s expression indicated the display of power was in any way exhausting to maintain whereas Alexius was already weakened from his initial spell to destroy her along with his efforts to keep the Inquisition at bay.

But it was not a woman who sought to meet him.

It was death.

As if aware of the sudden danger he was in, Alexius threw forth several barrages of fire at Niamh, but her smooth, relentless advance couldn’t be stopped. She made no attempt to even bat away the bursts of magic. If anything, the flames just seemed to absorb themselves into her. Her aura flared higher, burning more brightly beneath each attack, and as Alexius tried to back away, he inadvertently tripped himself into the throne behind him. He flinched as another peal of thunder made itself known, and as he reflexively turned his gaze to the dark storm clouds coalescing above them, he didn't see Niamh Fade-stepping forward to close the distance between them until he was choking from the fingers around his neck. With her enhanced Warden strength, Niamh was able to lift the magister off his feet entirely, leaving him to dangle helplessly.

“Who gave you the damned right to take her from me?!” she demanded.

With her cry, the fires along the sconces and the hearth behind the throne went out entirely, gone with the sudden gale of wind. As such, the only light to be seen came from the flashes of lightning above them and the fiery aura surrounding her. In the sporadic moments the room illuminated itself, there was little mistaking the utter hatred in Niamh’s eyes.

She was going to kill Alexius.

It would have been well within her right, given the magister had attacked her first within their meeting, but Bethany’s eyes widened when she saw how the staff on Niamh’s back began to rattle violently. Against the sheer heat emanating from her body, the silverite wolf head adorning the top of the staff began to melt entirely onto the floor in thick dregs of liquid while the shaft bowed and arched until it creakily bent in the middle, angling itself with the sharpness of an arrow.

Oh, no... With dread, Bethany scrambled to her feet and darted over toward Niamh. Without her staff to act as a catalyst, if Niamh burnt too much of her magic away, she could cause irreparable damage to herself and those around her.

Upon reaching her lover’s side, she placed her hands on Niamh’s face, desperately trying to draw her attention from Alexius. For a moment, nothing could sway her from trying to squeeze the life out of the magister, and she winced when she felt Niamh’s magic already begin to fluctuate erratically against her own.

"No, no, no! Look at me!” She jerked her lover’s head toward her. “Look at me, Niamh! Please!"

And as Niamh did, she watched in confusion as the woman’s expression froze. The lips that had been pulled back in a sneer of bared teeth slowly went lax, forming an ‘o’ of awe and disbelief, as recognition began to dawn in her lover’s gaze. With it, Alexius gradually slid from her grasp to collapse at her feet with desperate gulps of air, but Bethany paid him little mind. With relief, she saw Niamh’s fiery aura dissipate along with the glow of her eyes until they returned to the pale grey she adored.

"That’s it. Come back to me,” she encouraged. “Just breathe." Bethany took one of her lover’s hands in hers, placing it over her own chest, allowing Niamh to feel her breathing. “Slow and steady. Just like that.”

As each breath fell into sync with her own, Niamh's expression gradually softened into something so reverent and sweet that it almost hurt to see—as if salvation had finally blessed her—but Bethany smiled when she saw the battle rage finally leave her.

“There we are."

Niamh used her other hand to gently cradle the side of Bethany's face. “You’re still here…” she breathed, utter relief in her voice.

“Yes.” Bethany frowned in concern at her reaction. “Always."

---

When they returned to Haven, where Niamh gave her official report to her War Council, Bethany was horrified to learn all that her lover had endured from Alexius’ spell.

Afterward, Niamh suggested they spend the evening in their cabin together rather than explore the trails out the village as per usual, and Bethany didn’t object. She understood her lover’s need to reassure herself that she was still there with her—that she wasn’t simply caught in a dream that she could never wake from.

“Is... Is this okay?” Niamh asked quietly, wanting permission to seek such comfort.

Niamh was always thoughtful in everything she did for her—in bed or otherwise—and while she never treated her like glass, Bethany could count on one hand the number of times she saw her magic unfettered like in Redcliffe. She had felt subtle traces of it occasionally with their intimacy although it was usually with purposeful design—heat, ice, and tickling traces of lightning—that were meant to tease.

But rarely was it ever so close to the surface like this—a conduit of power coiled so tightly within mortal form—waiting to burst beneath Niamh’s skin.

“It’s okay,” Bethany said, gently lacing the fingers of Niamh’s marked hand in hers.

The other woman had been reluctant to let her touch it although it hadn’t shown any notable effects toward anyone—or anything thus far—save for its ability to close rifts. Still, Niamh had been skittish all the same, fearing that it might harm her.

...Or perhaps she believed it was a damning mark of shame—of guilt—much like it had been when the people of Haven had attempted to stone her to death.

---

“There’s no denying that this mark is tied to the Breach. You saw the wreckage at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. You saw how many people died, and I still can’t even remember what happened before or after that moment beyond waking up in the dungeons. What if I did do something to cause that explosion?”

“If you had, it would not have been intentional,” Bethany insisted with a frown. “The mark is unlike anything we’ve ever seen, yes, but that you bear it all does not mean you were the one who created it.”

But Niamh couldn’t be swayed as she paced back and forth before the hearth of their cabin. “How can you be so certain?” she murmured.

“Because I’ve known you for years, Niamh. You would never purposely hurt anyone without provocation. Trust in me if you can’t yet trust in yourself.”

---

With permission given, Bethany found herself gently laid out against their bed as Niamh sought to touch and bring her pleasure all throughout the night.

Over the years, she’d become remarkably acclimated to Niamh’s magic that felt so much like a forest caught beneath a winter storm of ice and lightning. It was normally as calm as it was now—crisp as the first intake of breath beneath a cool dawn—but there were times where it could be provoked. The incident in the audience chamber was proof enough of that, where it had settled over them all like the tolling bells of judgment—an inevitability inviting the nascent danger of death.

Bethany had been beyond concerned when she had seen the first bits of viridian energy springing across her lover’s eyes then. There had been an almost disturbing beauty to them—a ring of vines gathering just at the outside perimeter of silvery irises—but that they had pulsed in time with the mark upon Niamh’s hand...

Bethany had feared for her, especially when it seemed to flare all the brighter with the fury that had overtaken her.

She was glad to see no evidence of that now as Niamh laid contentedly next to her. Even though Niamh was sated at last—the burning, restless energy within the other mage having finally simmered down to faint embers—she seemed reluctant to drift off into sleep. Winter-grey eyes continued to lazily rove across her face and form, as if cataloguing every detail less she forget later.

In response, Bethany reached out to tangle her fingers through the dark mane of tousled hair, letting her nails gently rake across her lover’s scalp. Pale eyes had widened imperceptibly at the sensation, but like always, they soon became half-lidded with the soothing nature of it. She heard the quiet hum of disgruntlement, as if protesting the notion of Bethany’s attempts to lull her to sleep against her silent vigil, but she merely shushed her.

“Shh… Rest, my love. I’ll still be here in the morning when you wake.”

---

And that’s basically it.

Again, since this is still in its rough draft phase, it’s not as polished as I’d like it to be, but I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, leave me a like, comment, or send some love to my inbox! Until next time, dear readers!

#Dragon Age: Inquisition #bethany hawke #female warden/bethany hawke #fanfic #My writing #OTP: In Search of Silver Linings #lee's au ideas #female cousland/bethany hawke

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penguintransporter · 3 years

Text

Winning the Game Called Love (Hector Bellerin ) Part III

Hello, lovely people of Tumblr. This is the third part, two more to go. Despite no one really reading this, I still post it, for my sake. I still hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. If you like it, please share your thoughts or at least reblog because maybe someone else will enjoy it. I haven’t gotten a simple kudo since I started posting it. Oh well..

Part I

Part II

____

Aida definitely wasn’t the shyest person out there, or the quietest – that’s for sure, but she seemed to turn into a tiniest mouse when she was in the company of someone she fancied, unless she had couple of shots of tequila, which she didn’t. Even if Héctor’s car was warm and comfortable, it still didn’t help her relax as they drove through the streets of London that seemed to be just a passing pictures of distorted lights and raindrops on the wind-shield.

She clasped her hands on her shoulder bag that rested on her lap.

“Where are we going?” she asked, shifting a little as she glanced at Héctor when they stopped at the red traffic light. She wasn’t sure she knew the area, but it certainly didn’t look as if they are going to some cafe or similar – they passed many of them on their way.

Héctor looked at her from the corner of his eye – corner of his lips lifting just for a slightest. “You don’t know it yet,” he started as he took a turn to right, and they entered a fancy residential area – houses lined up perfectly along the long lane, “but I make a killing cup of hot cocoa.”

It took her exactly thirty seconds to realise what his answer meant, and another few for Héctor to slow down in front of a house with a hidden garage driveway. Aida’s heart sped up as the doors the very same garage slowly opened and closed automatically once Héctor drove inside with ease.

I should have accepted a glass of two of that champagne that kept going around at the party.

Héctor killed off the engine – the soundless car becoming completely silent before he unbuckled his belt with ease and Aida wanted to say something; anything. She wanted to break the silence as they sat in the dark, illuminated by the tiny light above their heads.

“Is this your house?” she asked at last – her voice barely a whisper, and she groaned internally.

Of course it is his house, Aida. He didn’t bring you here to meet the Pope.

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear – letting the silence fill the car yet again. Waiting for his answer, she decided to nervously pick on the small tear on her sheers, well aware that she could break them any second.

“Yes,” Héctor finally answered, taking a moment to look at her with an amused expression. “You seem nervous.” he stated jokingly and Aida glanced back at him – her heart making a flip inside her ribcage. Was it so obvious? Despite not saying anything back, she knew that her silence answered his question. “I won’t do you any harm, if that’s what you’re nervous about?”

“I wasn’t implying—,” Aida started off awkwardly, finally making enough courage to look at him. “I am just surprised, I was thinking, maybe Costa’s or something.”

Héctor gave her a wink, getting out of his car, letting Aida’s rambles hang in the air awkwardly. “Come on, unicorn,” he spoke, straightening his back before looking down at her with a dorky smile, “as much as I love this baby, I rather go inside.”

Unicorn.

Aida bit down at her lip, releasing herself from the seatbelt as she tried to get out of the car as quickly as possible, but while she was scrambling her way out, Héctor was already walking around and entering the house through the large doors. She hastily placed her bag over her shoulder as she straightened her dress, and with a small intake of breath, Aida followed after him.

The moment she entered the house, she stopped for a moment – confusion overcoming her nervousness. Héctor was nowhere to be seen, and the only light illuminating the entryway was coming through the glass panels of the entrance doors.

Her stomach made a gymnast-worthy flip as she looked up and saw the glimmer of light upstairs.

“Héctor?!” she called out nervously, taking a step towards the stairs, almost tripping on the slippery floor. Her voice echoed ever so slightly, appearing to be louder than it actually was.

“Upstairs!” he called out. Aida felt a shiver spread down her back as she took a nervous step towards the stairs, but quickly backed off when Héctor spoke again. “Down the hallway is the sitting room. I’ll join you in a second.”

Embarrassed at her own thoughts, Aida shook her head as she blindly made her way through the short and dark corridor before stepping inside of an open and sparsely furnished sitting room with adjacent dining area. Aida opened her mouth in surprise, scanning the room. There was a big TV mounted on the white wall, even bigger sofa facing it and a mess of cables on the floor where it was connected to the gaming console. She looked towards the dining area, recognising the designer dining table and a slim laptop resting on top of it, in front of one of the equally expensive-looking chairs.

She couldn’t help but wonder if Héctor knew just how lucky he was.

“Mi casa es tu casa,” Héctor spoke suddenly from behind her, making her jump in the place – the sound of his voice in his native Spanish sending chills down her spine. His voice sounded husky; more mature. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he apologised after few seconds, stepping next her, “didn’t meant to scare you.”

Aida could feel the warmth radiating off of him, and her heartbeat accelerated.

Swaying on her feet lightly, she stole a glance at Héctor. “You have a lovely house,” she complimented.

“Thanks,” he answered smoothly as if he expected her to say that. “Shame you cannot see the garden because of the dark, but it’s one of the best things about this house,” he added. Maybe one day – Aida bit back a wishful sigh as Héctor stepped away from her. “Here,” he changed the subject nonchalantly, and Aida curiously peered at his hands, noticing that he was holding out a hoodie and pair of men’s socks. She gave him a quizzical look, and he gave her a toothy smile in return. “If you want to put something warmer on. This house is usually cold for non-Spanish people. Just ask Kieran,” Héctor smiled, “poor lad puts seven layers before coming over.”

***

After Héctor’s apologetic smile and “I am so sorry, but I only have oat milk left,” Aida finally got the chance to curl her hands around the mug of steaming hot cocoa that he fixed for her. Wearing in the old Arsenal merch over her dress – hoodie that has been washed more than few times and those woolly socks, Aida watched Héctor pour warm liquid in his own mug – look of pure concentration painted on his face.

“Not a word to the manager, okay? This is not the healthiest hot cocoa out there,” he told her as he placed the pot in the sink, turning around to look at her and Aida smiled in her mug, taking a sip.

“I have no intentions on creating drama on my last few days at work, don’t worry” she responded with a grin, licking the corner of her lip to pick up any leftovers that might have stuck on it.

Héctor finally sat down with his own mug, letting the silence fall upon them, but despite of the slight awkwardness, both of them were mentally present, smiling at each other as they sat opposite sides of the kitchen island. Aida let out a small breath, watching him as he looked towards the sitting room. She enjoyed the view more than she should – probably, but she couldn’t help but appreciate him. His hair wasn’t in a perfect bun anymore, but rather messily tucked behind his ears, and the crisp white shirt that used to be neatly tucked in at the party was now falling over his trousers – edges wrinkled and sleeves rolled up, showing his tattoos.

She really, really fancied him.

“Okay,” she started, “I need to ask you something.” She placed her mug on the marble counter-top in front of her and Héctor looked at her, nodding. Aida nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, suddenly tongue-tied as she pulled on the sleeves of his hoodie. “Sorry,” she breathed out nervously, “I just don’t know how to phrase the question.”

“I didn’t think that your friendliness was sincere. That’s all,” he answered her unspoken question as he shrugged once, setting the mug in front of him.

“No?” Aida curiously looked at him – confused. He didn’t seem like he wanted to elaborate on what he just said, and Aida lifted her mug before setting it down again – curiosity filling her brain. “I am confused now,” she honestly replied, “If you thought that I was faking my friendliness the entire time, why make such an effort with hot cocoa?”

Héctor shrugged again but didn’t say anything for a while and Aida could feel the anticipation build inside of her.

“I just felt like it,” he finally answered as he leaned on his elbows, inching closer to her and Aida felt slight blush creep up on her cheeks, “and anyway, if I can recall, it was you who asked for it. I was just being nice.” Still blushing, Aida gasped jokingly, raising both of her eyebrows at him, ready to take on the banter he was starting, but he beat her to it. “You can keep it if you want?”

He was still close to her, and she knew that he could see the redness on her cheeks which made her want to look away, but a sudden burst of confidence mixed with a strange adrenaline made her stomach do a one-eighty.

“What? The mug of hot cocoa?”

Héctor rolled his eyes at her response, leaning back in his chair. “Hilarious,” he mused.

“Why, thank you?” she grinned, feeling her cheeks cooling down. “Thanks on the offer, but I don’t want your girlfriend to get mad at you. I bet she’s got an Excel sheet, keeping a tab on all of your clothes.”

Aida are you flirting? Maybe you should stop because you are not doing yourself a favour.

Héctor grinned, running his fingers along his moustache before placing both of his hands behind his head, and Aida wasn’t sure if she wanted to stare at his full lips or his physique. “You can just ask if I have a girlfriend, y’know?”

Aida almost chocked on her sip of cocoa and her heart went into an overdrive.

“Wh...what—” she stuttered, “what makes you think that I am interested in knowing that?” she corrected herself clumsily – the very same blush painting her cheeks red.

“You tell me,” Héctor winked, and Aida looked down at her cup, wanting to disappear inside of the murky beverage.

***

“So, what are your plans now?” Héctor asked as he gazed at Aida with something resembling a concern in his eyes.

Aida shrugged. “I did intern at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy for a bit, here in London, but I took a break from uni last year. It was disgracefully expensive,” she finished, looking down at her bare nails, “I might go back, we’ll see.”

After all the silly banter and the disastrous try at flirting from Aida’s side, their conversation steered towards more serious matters. Héctor told her about his move to the UK when he was still very young, his environmental work and she opened up about her struggles with uni and life in London, and how she was afraid to disappoint her parents who didn’t know she took a break from her education as she tried to collect money to continue it.

“Would have never guessed you are into it.” Héctor said, watching her with a keen interest as she shyly smiled. She wasn’t used on people showing actual interest in what she really wanted to do with her life. “You must know sing language then?”

Aida nodded proudly – her excitement mixing with confidence. “Of course. I can teach you some if you want?”

Héctor nodded excitedly, brushing a stray of hair that fell over his eyes back in place. Aida stopped for a second, taking a sharp intake of breath – he was ridiculously good-looking. “Can you teach me how to say, my name is Héctor—“he grinned mischievously at her, getting his face closer to her, “but you can call me papi?”

It took her few seconds to realise what he had said before she burst out laughing, shaking her head. Aida was about to tell him to sod off because his joke was stupid when his phone light up next to him with a new message and Aida couldn’t help but lock her eyes with the time on his screen – a sudden wave of panic washing over her.

“Shit, it’s already so late?!” she half-asked, half-cried out.

“You mean early?” Héctor grinned, dismissing the text with a flick of his tattooed finger.

Aida rubbed both of her hands across her face in frustration. “I need to get back to the training centre to pick up my car.” She slid off the chair as she spoke, pulling the hoodie over her head at the same time. Aida stopped when the hoodie was halfway off, looking at Héctor who was still calmly seated, watching her with his head tilted to one side. “They already locked the gates, no?”

He nodded calmly. “It’s almost three in the morning, and even if that party was a banger, which it wasn’t, it’s a charity dinner. Two thirds of the attendees are already fast asleep.”

Aida grumbled her response, folding the hoodie before placing it on the counter-top. She proceeded to take off the socks – not welcoming the cold that seeped through her barely clad feet as they touched the floor.

“I think I’ll get an Uber.”

“I could give you a lift home,” Héctor offered, watching her with an amused glint in his eyes as he slid off the chair, “but first I need to ask my girlfriend if I can do that. Excel and that shit.”

Aida wanted to roll her eyes at him, but instead she bit her smile back as she made her way through the dining area and into the sitting room where she left her bag upon arrival. It rested on the big sofa cushion, next to Héctor’s suit jacket, wallet and car keys.

As she was picking up her bag, a different kind of panic entered her body when she realised that she wasn’t sure if she had her flat keys with her. She has never been very organised person and more than often she would put her belongings in random places – change in her pocket instead of wallet, underwear in her drawers with socks and house keys on the seat of the car instead of her bag. Scrambling to open the bag, she unzipped the small pocket at the back of her bag and huffed out a sigh of relief, seeing the key resting inside.

“At least I have my fla—,” Aida started, turning around to face Héctor, but stopped quickly – thoughts and words vanishing from her brain. “Shit,” she whispered.

Héctor stood in front of her, closer then ever before.

Not counting that time when they slammed into each other in the corridor at work.

He was so close that if either one of them made a slight move forward, their bodies would be touching. She was losing her composure and in order to avoid doing something stupid, she looked down, trying to quiet her heart that was beating so loud that she could hear it in her ears.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of her looking at their shoes, she seized enough of courage to meet his eye, only to find him grinning at her as if he just proved that the earth was in fact round. Her cheeks turned a very deep red, making him smile wider, and Aida wanted to crawl under a rock and hide there for the rest of her life.

Why was he so close?

Mortified, she sucked in a deep breath as Héctor started closing in on the distance between them. Aida opened and closer her mouth, unsure what to do, but he just moved around her – brushing gently against her arm as he leaned over the sofa’s backrest.

“My car keys,” he whispered when he was close to her ear, and Aida swallowed the invisible knot in her throat.

“Car keys, yes...” she trailed off – her voice cracking slightly.

Héctor took a step back, sliding his wallet in the back pocket of his trousers, giving her an amused but pleased look.

“Let’s go, unicorn,” he said in his normal voice before turning around and making his way towards the doors.

Part IV

#footballers #football fanfiction #footballer fanfiction #football imagine #football oneshot #soccer imagines #soccer fanfiction #hector bellerin story #hector bellerin fanfiction #hector bellerin imagine #hector bellerin fic #arsenal fc fan fiction

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midnight-queery · 3 years

Text

small world

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28476486/chapters/69885582#workskin

Lena still wasn’t entirely sure how she’d managed it, but even though she was the CEO of L-Corp she still got to spend most of her time in the labs, especially the ones for R&D. She even knew most the scientists who worked with her, at least in a casual, work-acquaintances type of way. She knew that Johnson had three grown kids, two in college and one on her third year of the so-called ‘gap year’; she knew Blanchard’s daughter was dating a girl named Regina who Blanchard and her husband did not in any way approve of (from what she’d heard, Lena quite liked her though); she knew Lucas had a crush on French and vice versa though neither apparently knew it; she knew one scientist was seriously considering changing their name to ‘Leg’ since some cats were named ‘Whiskers’ and why the hell not; and she knew that Danvers had lunch with her sister every day. But now they were seven minutes into lunch and Danvers was still there, fiddling with her work.

“Dr. Danvers, shouldn’t you be going to meet your sister for lunch?” Lena asked, trying to sound casual. She didn’t want anyone to know that she usually stayed in the lab for lunch, ignoring food in favor of working on her designs.

Danvers continued to fiddle with the device on her desk another moment before putting it down and looking at Lena, tilting her head and giving her a considering look. “If you’re going to call me ‘Dr. Danvers’ I’m going back to calling you ‘Dr. Luthor’.”

Lena bit her lip to hide her smile, shaking her head slightly. “Alright then, Alex, shouldn’t you be off to see your sister?”

Alex planted her hands on her worktable and shrugged her shoulders, giving Lena a wry grin. “Eh, I’ll go in a few minutes. Kara’s always running late so I may as well get some work done instead of just standing around waiting.”

“How can someone always run late?” Lena asked, arching her brow. It was nearly ten minutes past at this point; surely Kara was here by now.

“My sister is very… distractable,” Alex said cryptically. When Lena’s brow only climbed higher she elaborated, rolling her eyes. “If it’s not a pretty flower it’s a cute dog, or a cat stuck in a tree. God, last week she ran into some kid walking like seven dogs and by the time she got here lunch was over.”

“Ah, so that’s what happened Wednesday?” Lena asked slyly. When Alex’s eyes widened in surprise, Lena smirked. “I couldn’t help but notice you very aggressively eating a protein bar after snapping at one of the interns.”

“I- well, yeah.” Alex stopped propping herself up on the table and crossed her arms, looking sheepish. “I was, as Kara would call it, hangry.”

Lena snorted at the word mashup, but before she could comment on it Alex’s phone rang.

“Hey, Kar, you here?” Alex asked as she hurriedly began tidying up her workspace one-handed, other hand holding the phone to her ear. Then she froze and groaned. “What do you mean you got lost? We’ve lived here for six years, Kara!” Alex used her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. “I wish I could say I didn’t believe you, but that does sound like something you would do. Put her on the phone, please.” Alex shot Lena a long-suffering look before startling so badly she nearly dropped her phone. “Sam?”

Lena really wished she could hear the other side of the conversation. She wondered if it would be rude to go grab the device she’d made for listening in on phone calls (for law enforcement, not spying on her employees, but this could totally count as a test run).

“Yeah, Kara is my sister.” Alex sighed. “Okay, if you have time how about we all just meet at Noonan’s for lunch? I still have forty-five minutes of my break left. Okay, cool. See you guys soon.” Alex hung up and stared at her phone for a solid minute, her face inscrutable.

“Everything alright?” Lena asked curiously.

Alex looked at her, startled, as if she’d forgotten she was there. “I, uh, yeah. My sister just… stalked my girlfriend… cuz she had her dog strapped into a carrier on her back? I… I never thought this was how they’d meet.”

Lena blinked at her several times, not really knowing what to say to that. “Well, since it sounded like you’ll be meeting them at Noonan’s I suppose you can get it all sorted out there.”

“Right, yeah, Noonan’s.” Alex shook her head and slipped her phone into her pocket before shucking off her lab coat and heading for the door. She paused on her way out and turned around, brow furrowed and a frown on her face. “Wait a minute. You’re always the last in the lab before we leave for lunch, and the first back. And we only have like forty minutes of lunch left.”

“So?” Lena asked, averting her eyes and reaching down to play with some loose wires on her worktable. Alex’s eyes narrowed. Lena needed to work on her nonchalant voice, apparently.

“Lena Kieran Luthor, please tell me you don’t skip lunch every day just to stay in the lab.” Alex put her hands on her hips and stared her (suddenly-fidgety) boss down.

“I’m not sure how that’s your business,” Lena tried, not looking up at Alex. She didn’t know how the woman even knew her middle name, but she didn’t like it one bit.

“That’s it, you’re coming to Noonan’s too.”

“That’s not-” Alex was suddenly beside her, pulling the wires out of her hands and giving her what Lena figured was her big sister look. Much to her annoyance it was very effective.

Noonan’s was only a few blocks away, so despite Lena offering to have her driver take them she ended up walking the short distance with Alex and wishing she’d worn shorter heels. Thankfully no one recognized her during the walk, though that might have had something to do with Alex’s stormy expression making everyone coming their way give them a wide berth.

She followed Alex into the small diner and after looking around for a moment Alex made a beeline for a booth in the back, where Lena saw two women sitting. With her back to her was a blonde with her hair back in a ponytail, and seated across from her, a fluffy white dog in her lap, was Lena’s friend Sam. Small world.

By the time Lena reached the booth Alex had already slid in next to Sam, leaving Lena to take the empty seat next to who she assumed was Kara.

“Lena, this is my girlfriend Sam,” Alex introduced, gesturing to the brunette whose eyes were wide with surprise at seeing her workaholic friend out and about, “and my sister Kara, the stalker.” Alex gestured to the blonde and Lena turned to face her, Kara turning at the same time.

“Woah,” Kara whispered, bright blue eyes wide behind her thick glasses. Her jaw literally dropped. “You’re so pretty! And even though I don’t know anything about you if Alex invited you to lunch she must like you so you’re probably really nice too! Are you single? Wait no I should ask if you like women first… Oh Rao you probably know I followed Sam and got lost cuz of her cute dog and Alex just introduced me as a stalker you’re never gonna want to date me now!” The adorable blonde grimaced and hid her face in her hands, muttering something in a language Lena (surprisingly) didn’t recognize.

“Kara this is my boss, she’s not going to date you,” Alex groused. “And do you really not recognize-”

“Actually,” Lena interrupted smoothly, eyes still on Kara, “I get off work at seven tonight, if you’d like to go for dinner?”

Alex made a choking sound and looked at Lena with wide, incredulous eyes, but Lena barely noticed, gaze intent on Kara as she let her hands fall away and gave Lena a hopeful look.

“Really?!”

“Really.”

“Even though I accidentally stalked someone?” Kara asked nervously.

“Hope is an adorable dog, darling. I can’t exactly blame you for following her.” Lena bumped her shoulder against Kara’s and barely managed to stop herself from reaching out and grabbing the woman’s arm after because from the brief moment of contact she was pretty sure Kara was ripped under her soft pink cardigan. Actually, no, she hadn’t managed to stop herself because she was now very obviously groping Kara’s arm, and damn. “Besides, you’re not so bad yourself,” Lena purred. Kara’s adorable blush and quiet spluttering drove any questions about just how she was so fit from Lena’s mind.

“Wait a minute,” Alex blurted, squinting at Lena and trying to ignore how her boss was ogling her little sister. “How did you know Sam’s dog’s name was Hope?”

“Same way I know Lena’s weakness for pretty blondes,” Sam piped up, giving her friend a toothy grin before turning to her girlfriend and shrugging. “We went to boarding school together. I didn’t realize my girlfriend worked for my bff though. Weird.”

“Not as weird as my sister becoming my girlfriend’s accidental stalker before you guys had even met,” Alex grumbled.

“Well I think it all worked out for the best,” Sam said, smiling happily. “Maybe dating Kara will help Lena get over her hopeless crush on Supergirl.”

“Sam!” Lena gave her so-called bff a betrayed look, only dimly aware of Alex suddenly looking constipated and Kara… crumpling the metal knife she’d been fiddling with into a ball. What the- oh. Oh. Guess her crush wasn’t so hopeless after all considering she’d already scored a date with the heroine. Smirking, Lena slipped the twisted ball of metal from a shell-shocked Kara’s hand into her purse before Sam (who was much too busy laughing at her) or the incoming waitress noticed it, Alex giving her a wide-eyed look. Lena just winked and gave the waitress her order.

#supercorp shorts #supercorp fic #supercorp #two in as many days this is the peak of my productivity #based on a pic i linked in the ao3 notes #the dog really is cute #lena luthor #kara danvers #supergirl #alex danvers #sam arias #agentreign makes an appearance #queer up people

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