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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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Gabriel Agreste: Interesting Villain, Horrible Character (400 Follower Special)

I'm honestly surprised more people didn't want me to talk about Gabriel, especially with how often I rag on how horrible of a person he is. But, three character analysis posts later, and we're going to talk about why the main villain of Miraculous Ladybug is a real letdown.

Gabriel Needs to give the Whining a Rest

The interesting thing is one of the few things I actually liked in Season 3 was Hawkmoth. His plans actually made sense (for the most part), and by playing the long game, he managed to turn Chloe against Ladybug and deprived her of several key allies. Granted, Season 4 immediately undid the latter, but I was still impressed by his strategy.

Generally, one of the better aspects of Gabriel as a character was just how over the top he was as Hawkmoth. Keith Silverstein is clearly giving it his all with his performance, and he is just so enjoyable to watch as a cartoonish supervillain.

And therein lies the first major problem with Gabriel as a character. While he is fun to watch as a simple supervillain, the show tries to give him more depth and unintentionally makes him worse.

In Season 2, when it was revealed that Gabriel was Hawkmoth, many fans speculated on what he needed the Miraculous for, until the Queen Bee Trilogy showed it was to save his possibly dead wife, Emilie. The idea of that is so the show can give more depth to its main villain, and I think it's an interesting idea in concept. After all, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

The problem is just how radically different Gabriel is normally compared to how he is as Hawkmoth. He always goes on about how he's “doing this for Emilie”, but it's hard to really sympathize with him when you consider he constantly gives evil monologues and evil laughs, really getting into the supervillain role. And let's not forget all of the “I'm going to wear Ladybug's skin as a suit” faces he loves to make.

Clearly this man is the picture of mental stability.

Gabriel's motivation for being Hawkmoth when compared to what he actually does as Hawkmoth is shady enough, but the thing is that the writers clearly want the audience to at least feel a little bad for him. They want to make the audience sympathize with him despite the way he acts with or without the mask. Without Miraculous Ladybug, he is routinely putting innocent lives in danger and never once shows regret for his actions. All he talks about is how “he's doing this for Emilie”, or that “he'll get their Miraculous soon”. There's no real reason to feel bad for him other than “because the script says so”.

Let's compare Gabriel to Malcolm Merlyn from Arrow. His big plan in the first season of the show is to create a machine that will cause an earthquake to destroy a crime-infested portion of Starling City, claiming to be trying to help everyone, but it's clear he is only doing it out of revenge for his wife getting killed by a criminal from that part of the city. In addition, throughout that season and future seasons, he always makes sure his plans lead to him benefiting in some way, showing he isn't just some noble man trying to achieve his goals with a less than noble method.

If we got some moments that showed that what Gabriel was doing was selfish, it would make him a more complex villain. But we don't get anything like that. What do we get instead? Well...

I Could Really Care Less About Emilie Agreste

We have known Gabriel's motivation has been to save his wife for a little over two years at this point, but at the same time, it's hard to believe that motivation because of how underdeveloped Emilie is as a character.

There have been a total of two lines in the entirety of the show that explain what happened to Emilie, and they're both vague as hell. One of them was from “Feast” that implied Emilie used the broken Peacock Miraculous.

Adrien: My mom used to have dizzy spells… just like Nathalie.

And the other that outright tells the audience what's happening to her in a clip show that most people will skip.

Nathalie: As I've watched Emilie falling deeper into an endless sleep, my sadness for her has deepened, too

That is literally all we get for an explanation, and nothing else. We have no idea of what she's like as a person or what her relationship with her family was like other than Gabriel and Adrien saying they miss her. Other than the way the narrative says she's important to Gabriel and Adrien, we don't really have a reason to care about her as a character. There have also been some lines that imply she went along with Gabriel's questionable parenting techniques, like how he was apparently only homeschooled as a kid (Origins) and never had a birthday party growing up (The Bubbler), so how do we even know if she's a good person? In fact, why not set up this question as a mystery to make the audience wonder if Gabriel has another reason to bring Emilie back?

It ultimately turns Emilie into a plot device and not a character that Gabriel and Adrien only bring up to make the audience feel bad for them, and meant to justify Gabriel's actions by saying that he's “doing this for his family”.

But hey, if he's doing this all for his family, surely Gabriel's redeeming traits come from his relationship with Adrien, right? Right?

As a Parent, Gabriel is Far From the Best

I've talked about this briefly before, but parenting in Miraculous Ladybug is written in such a black and white way, even by the standards of this show. Parents are portrayed in one of two ways. They're either amazing people who love and support their children unconditionally, or they're awful people who treat their own children like trash. And much like a lot of things in this show, there are times where the latter is treated like the former.

There are so many times where the narrative insists on making you see Gabriel as a troubled, but wellmeaning person who tries his best to be a good parent to Adrien, but it is far from the truth.

I'm not going to beat around the bush. Gabriel is a terrible parent. Like, he is awful at being a parent in so many ways, even before you find out he's Hawkmoth. In his first appearance, “The Bubbler”, he delegates getting Adrien a birthday present to Nathalie, his assistant. He literally can't be bothered to take time out of his schedule to get his own son a present for his birthday. And as the show goes on, he becomes more controlling and forbids Adrien from going out with his friends in other episodes (Captain Hardrock, Silencer). While this could be used to show Gabriel getting worse, it's never acknowledged in-universe, with Adrien continually defending his father essentially keeping him on house arrest.

“But IOTA!” You might say. “Gabriel has made efforts to bond with his son in some episodes.” While that might be true, most of those come right after his Akumas have almost gotten Adrien killed. He only hugged Adrien and made an attempt to learn more about him after Simon Says invaded their home, he only decided to watch that movie Emilie was in with Adrien after Gorizilla nearly dropped him off a building, and he only hugged Adrien again in public after he was turned into a gold statue by Style Queen.

In fact, let's talk about how Gabriel acts in the Queen Bee Trilogy. He actually decides to quit being Hawkmoth, but it's not because he realizes all the damage he's caused. Instead, he gave up because his “magnum opus”, a stronger than usual Akuma that only got the advantage on Ladybug ironically because of dumb luck, failed. Sure, he says he can't keep putting his son in danger, but he rarely ever acknowledges that he does so in the first place. When Riposte wanted to fight Adrien, Hawkmoth did nothing to stop her other than giving her a stern warning earlier on and nothing else. Where was this attitude earlier?

Hell, even then, he immediately goes back to being Hawkmoth as soon as he sees an opportunity, not even a day after his “mAgNuM oPuS” blew up in his face (because I guess Scarletmoth was just Plan B). If he made such a big deal about caring for his son, why didn't he try harder to spend time with him? Has he ever had doubts about what he's doing before? If Chloe didn't show up as Queen Bee, was he going to follow through on his promise and try to be a better father to Adrien instead of trying to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous?

And yeah, the whole irony is that Gabriel is doing this for his family when he is unknowingly fighting his own son, which could lead to some interesting drama if done right. The idea of how Gabriel would react to his son being Cat Noir could really lead to some internal struggles for him to go through. But then we got “Cat Blanc”, which shows just how terrible of a character Gabriel is.

In an alternate timeline where he found out his son was Cat Noir, what does Gabriel do? Does he try to steal Adrien's Miraculous while he's sleeping? Does he reconsider his actions or realize he was endangering Adrien's life?

NOPE! He just decides to akumatize him all while emotionally tormenting him, before causing the end of the world.

This is honestly one of the most appalling things I've ever seen in any TV show, because it's basically an abusive father ordering his son to listen to him all while referencing his (kind of) dead mother to back up his point. And rather than use this to show how despicable Gabriel is, the episode decides to blame Marinette for this happening. Yes, according to the show, her present to Adrien caused several events to happen which caused Cat Blanc, but this logic makes no sense. It's like blaming the JFK assassination on the man who sold a gun to Lee Harvey Oswald, instead of, you know, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Not only was this episode yet another excuse to blame Marinette for something that wasn't her fault, it leads into the biggest problem I have with Gabriel as a character.

Sympathize with Gabriel? Surely, You Jest

After everything I've gone over regarding Gabriel as a character, after all the awful things I've talked about, are you really surprised that I don't feel bad for him at all?

Gabriel is just an awful character and a despicable human being, but the show just keeps wanting me to feel bad for him. It's just so hard to when you consider everything he's done has made him anything but sympathetic. I'm just saying, it's kind of hard to feel bad for someone who tries to start World War III with the only justification being “i'M dOiNg It FoR mY fAmIlY”, especially when he treats his family like crap.

The writers go out of their way to show how horrible Gabriel is as Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth, but they think because they throw in a few moments where he looks conflicted, we'll immediately feel bad for him. What makes so many people interested in seeing Chloe become a better person is that they can tell she's the victim of a troubled upbringing, and know that because she's only a teenager, she still has room to grow as a person, represented by having more honest moments of vulnerability. Gabriel is a grown man who once caused the apocalypse because of how terrible of a parent he is, and has even fewer sympathetic moments than Chloe does. Which one of these two is supposedly irredeemable? The answer may surprise you.

But the frustrating thing is that this kind of villain could have worked. Instead of making him this mustache-twirling psychopath, show how much Gabriel regrets what he has to do, but keeps pushing onward despite all the lives he's risking if it means that he can save his wife. Instead of making Gabriel like Lex Luthor, make him like Mr. Freeze, who is basic a better written version of him.

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But as it stands, there's a good reason why Gabriel gets little to no respect as a character in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom, as a villain, or as a father.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #hawk moth #shadowmoth #shadow moth #emilie agreste #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #cat blanc #chat blanc #nathalie sancoeur #mayura #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

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A genuine question, but do you have any theories as to why when Marinette is crushing on Adrien she's awkward, stuttering, and almost always anxious (I mean as soon as she started crushing on Adrien that's what happened), while with Luka she's pretty much her regular self?

Because she isn’t actually in love with Adrien; she has a celebrity crush on him.

Love isn’t about stammering or getting weak in the knees at the sight of the person. Love is about being able to be oneself around someone and feeling comfortable around them. That’s why Marinette is “normal” around Luka but “weird” around Adrien.

Many of Adrien's other fangirls act similarly around him to Marinette, with the only difference being that they pursue Adrien directly whereas Marinette is too nervous to approach out of fear.

And to touch on that specifically; with Adrien, Marinette is afraid of being rejected because she’s not good enough. She’ll go on and on about how much of a “disaster” she is, which tends to be associated with her crush on Adrien or her screwing up around him. Her “crush” on Adrien is damaging to her self-esteem.

Marinette in “Gamer”: Um, no no no, I... No, you're so good. I mean, I'm the one who's not good. I mean... I'm lucky, that's all.

Her crush should be making her feel good about herself; it should make her feel loved and respected, which is how Luka makes her feel.

Luka in “Frozer”: Personally, I think a girl like you deserves to feel more like this. (plays a happy tune) And whoever made you feel this way is nothing but a--(plays a bad tune)

Marinette: (giggles) Thanks, Luka.

He made her feel so confident in herself that she almost immediately felt okay asking him to come with her to the ice rink. Heck, in that same episode, Marinette says this about her crush on Adrien:

Marinette: Whenever I talk to him as a friend, I hardly stammer at all. That's a sign right there. Right?

Notice how the show never tries to add a “but...” to that or explain it away; the girls’ argument doesn’t even try to refute it outside of Alya claiming Sunk Cost Fallacy as if that’s a legitimate reason to not give up (it’s not).

For more proof, look at how Marinette talks to/about Adrien:

Marinette in “Copycat” at Adrien’s answering machine: Hey, hot stuff--

Marinette in “Animan”: Oh, [Adrien]'s such a—

Alya: Smartie, hottie, suavísimo, yummy-tastic spellbinder?

Marinette: All of the above.

Mylène in “Reflekdoll”: Are you okay, Marinette?

Marinette: Yeah, he's too hot— I mean! I'm overheating in here, aren't you?

Look how so many of those are about appearance. It’s about Adrien being attractive. The moment Marinette falls for Adrien in “Origins” is in the atmospheric moment of the umbrella scene where he’s saying nothing and just staring into her eyes while the lighting makes him look all “pretty” (because I’m sorry, her falling for him based on what he says/does makes next to no sense). The reason she has so many pictures of him isn’t even about obsession: it’s about thinking he’s the hottest thing since the sun.

“Captain Hardrock” didn’t do that with Luka. Yes, Marinette initially stammered at Luka because oh no, he’s cute! but then had calmed down after Luka opened up to her and showed her a piece of himself.

Marinette in “Captain Hardrock”: What? Luka? No way! You're being ridiculous! Pff! Sure he's cool and nice and everything... but there's only one statue that drives this compass crazy!

Cool and nice. See that? It’s not, “he’s cute,” or anything shallow like that. Cool and nice are direct compliments that reflect Luka’s personality.

And what about the webisodes; the things that should be able to contain as much detail as possible so there’s no room for error or slip-ups?

Marinette in “Marinette and Adrien”: [Adrien]'s so amazing that I completely freak out every time I talk to him! I mean, seriously…he's super smart, he plays the piano, he's a great fencer, he speaks Chinese, and he's so cute too!

“Smart” is the closest thing to anything personality-based (but is also something forced onto him by Gabriel because he has to get good grades); anything else is just something he does or - again - how attractive he is.

Marinette: Adrien is a model for his father, Gabriel Agreste, the best fashion designer in Paris, and probably the world. But he never brags about it, because he's perfect!

One would think we’d be getting somewhere with “he’s humble,” but then Marinette slaps on “perfect;” you know, that line that “Lies” seemed to reject from Kagami as if it’s like how dare you think that the boy we constantly portray as perfect isn’t actually perfect?

Marinette then goes on to say that Adrien’s “major flaw” is that he gets along with Chloe, but where did that lead in the show? Adrien scolding her and making her feel bad about herself for being happy that her bully is gone, because Marinette can’t feel like she’s more right than him because he’s “perfect.” He just makes her feel inadequate.

And the “perfect” line isn’t restricted to webisodes:

Marinette in “Reflekdoll”: Huh? Uh, sure! You're perfect— I mean, it's perfect!

Aspik in “Desperada”: I hope I don't disappoint you, Ladybug.

Ladybug: I know you won't. You're perfect--uh, perfectly capable of defeating Desperada!

And she’s fawned before over how amazing Adrien’s life is, even without the webisodes. Literally the episode that last aired (”Lies”) had Marinette sighing over Adrien and talking nothing more about him than how amazing his life is; nothing about his personality.

It’s not about Adrien; it’s about her being starstruck by his attractiveness and how much of a celebrity he is with all these things he was forced to be taught (meaning they’re not a part of his character that he wanted; he was forced to do them in one way or anything) and how incredible being him/his girlfriend must be. Even when she calls him “nice,” one has to recognize that Adrien has to put up a polite image. Look at the difference between Adrien and Chat Noir, the latter of whom has a mask of anonymity to work with? Adrien the nice guy suddenly becomes Chat Noir the “Nice Guy.”

Now, for comparison, let’s go back to the webisodes and see what Marinette has to say about Luka:

Marinette in “Luka as seen by Marinette”: You know, Luka is my friend Juleka's brother and one of the most talented people I know.

We start off with the “talent” thing again, but Luka’s talent for music is something he chose; it’s a part of him that he’s passionate about. That’s a huge difference.

Let’s continue.

Marinette: He also proved himself a great hero when Ladybug gave him the Snake Miraculous.

Marinette: But the thing I find most impressive about him is the way he can always tell how people are feeling.

Marinette: I may not be as intuitive as he is--

Heroic. Empathetic. Intuitive.

Those are character traits. They are integral pieces to Luka’s personality, and they bring Marinette comfort. She’s normal around Luka because their romance is normal: two people who love each other and just make each other happy.

In an age where media makes romance all about characters turning to mush or losing themselves around the person they love, Lukanette ends up feeling real specifically because it doesn’t do that.

Lukanette is as it should be: Marinette and Luka are friends first, crushes second. Their first priority is the relationship aspect that’s devoid of romance, which is why Marinette honestly considers her feelings for Luka in “Frozer” instead of blindly jumping in whereas Luka respects Marinette’s agency and simply assures her that he’ll be there for her no matter what.

#((This is heckin' long but screw 'read more's. This is important.))#category: salt #relationship: love square #relationship: Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain Cheng #other: ask and answer #((You know things are serious when I pull out the transcripts.))#other: ml spoilers

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mrsnazariowrites · 3 years

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Till Worlds Collide (II)

The Edge of the World: Chapter 17

Perfect Match AU - Damien x MC

A/N: This part was very satisfying for me to write 😈. Supporting lyrics are from Within Temptation's song- Dangerous.

Rating: M, Word Count: ~ 1850

Warning: Fight sequences

Summary: Everyone has a score to settle...

For more content/to catch up, see my Masterlist! And if you'd like to be tagged, let me know.

The reaper is close, see the smoke

A matter of time, can’t deny

I won’t try to run, run, run

This destiny’s mine...

The air was thick with tension. Rowan - the Match had switched back to his previous calm almost as quickly as he'd shown anger. Maya stepped aside to give Dexter some room, her heart racing as she looked between them. She'd hoped this sudden personality change was just a software glitch and that the real one was not this demented. Though with past history in mind, she couldn't rule that out.

Dexter, on the other hand, seemed to be taking it all in stride. "So now you know."

"Yes, I heard about your little rebellion." 'Rowan' sighed, his tone almost genuinely sad. "Imagine my disappointment when someone with so much promise betrays his own."

"Don't have to," Dexter replied, smirking. "Saw it on camera."

Rowan's eyes narrowed. "Very funny. But you're making a mistake." His lips twisted into a scowl as he walked towards him. "Today you've come to blows with me." He gestured emphatically to himself. "The man who created you, who gave you gifts that most people can only dream to have!"

That audacious claim made Dexter's jaw drop. "What gifts?!" He snapped. "A face, body and memories that were never mine . . ." His voice shook with every accusation he hurled. "All for a temporary existence! You created me to hurt people."

The way Rowan had prefaced this was infuriating, and not just because of the obvious. All this time, Cecile had been going on about how Eros would take care of him; how much she and Rowan wanted to see him succeed, how their work would make the world a better place.

Unlike Harley, Dexter had always sensed that the whole thing was bullshit. Perhaps Damien's investigative traits had been 'gifts' in a way - but they'd discouraged that, instead preferring to pick and choose how he should use them - who he should be.

And it wasn't fair.

"This 'life' you gave me is a joke!" He yelled passionately. "And so are you!"

Maya swallowed hard, her chest aching with the outrage she felt for him. "Dexter . . ." She didn't know what to say.

Rowan's eyes darkened at those words, but as he glanced between Dexter and Maya, his expression changed from anger to intrigue. "Fascinating." He muttered to no one in particular. "Miss Park learned of its deception, yet instead of being disgusted, she empathized with it." There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he absorbed this.

"He's not an 'it'!" Maya was incredulous. "And you're actually happy about this now?"

"Cecile reported this as a malfunction," he replied, still scrutinizing Dexter. "But while I'm disappointed that it was so easily manipulated, I think this test was successful after all."

"Oh that’s rich coming from you!" Dexter said indignantly. "Tell me, ‘Father’, How soon were you planning on dismantling me once the other copy was in the picture. You really expect me to believe you intended to have three Damiens running around here?"

"Not with the way I believed you were progressing." Rowan shook his head, chuckling. "No, I would never resort to anything so wasteful. Every bit of data I could collect is valuable. No matter where it’s stored.

Dexter scoffed. "So that’s all I am to you. A walking flash drive."

He just smiled, unperturbed by the snarky retort. "No doubt are some serious errors in your software, Dexter. But we'll fix that soon enough."

"Fuck that," Dexter spat. "You're not getting anywhere near my 'software' again." Then he fired his weapon. Rowan dodged the blast, grabbing several large pallets next to him and hurling it back. Dexter stumbled from the hit, but held his own as Rowan charged at him, blocking his punch and then kicking him square in the side.

Maya was wringing her hands, racking her brain on what to do next. Everyone else was still engaging Cecile and her guards and she didn't know how well they were holding up. And Damien was still fighting Harley.

"Go help the others, Maya! I got this!"

Not needing to be told twice, she turned in the other direction and saw Damien pinned against the wall while his opponent watched smugly. Cursing under her breath, Maya rushed to the area and caught sight of several crates, some broken and some upturned. The metal contents peeked out from the corner of one of them and she grabbed a few, brandishing them like clubs.

---------------

THWACK! Damien felt his back hit the wall again and his vision blurred in and out from the impact. To say every inch of him ached was an understatement. He knew that adrenaline was all that was keeping him going now. But no matter what, he wasn't about to let this bastard get the better of him again.

"Had enough, Nazario? Maybe I should get Maya to come save you again?"

Damien felt his blood boil, knowing exactly what he'd just implied. Gritting his teeth, he mustered his strength and slammed his head forward, momentarily knocking Harley back - a move he instantly regretted as his head seared with pain. Damn it! I always forget how strong these guys are. Still, that gave him a second to recover and return to a defensive posture, albeit swaying slightly. He blinked rapidly, forcing himself to focus.

"Look at you. You can barely stand." Harley sneered. "New York's finest indeed."

CLANG!

Something hit the back of his head, causing him to stumble forward. Startled, he felt at the area and looked down at the semi-thin metal rod that had landed on the ground.

Maya was standing nearby holding another rod. "Get away from him, asshole." She seethed. That smirk of his was back and knowing that he was getting ready to taunt her again, she lashed out. Harley caught her wrist, ready to counter her, but was thrown off with a kick to the back from Damien.

Maya took advantage of the distraction and swung the rod over Harley's head, then moved over to Damien to hand him her other weapon. His hand found hers and grasped it firmly as they advanced on their opponent, eyes blazing with determination.

"Damn, Maya. That was fast." Harley was rubbing his head where he’d been hit, chuckling. "Missed me that much?"

"You have no idea."

Then they charged at him together, Damien going first. He aimed his rod at Harley's head while Maya struck from the side. Despite their fatigue, they were rushing him with much more force than before, invigorated by each other's presence. They alternated with their attacks in a fluid display of teamwork, making it harder for Harley to dodge them - each time he'd avoid a hit from Damien, he'd barely miss one from Maya.

Then at one point, Damien's rod was knocked out of his hand. Before he could react, a roundhouse kick came his way and he promptly crossed his arms above his head, blocking it. Maya began to run forward and Damien, realizing what she was likely planning, grabbed her wrists - almost swinging her forward - and she kicked Harley savagely in the chest.

The increased momentum from that move launched him far back into a pile of crates, breaking several of them. Harley's eyes turned glassy for a brief second and he blinked several times, trying to shake himself out of it. Then he reached for his taser.

Maya didn't know what it was, but the fact that they'd done some damage wasn’t satisfying enough. Seeing Harley lying there strangely reminded her of every scenario where she'd been the one on the ground and at his mercy; the sick pleasure he’d derived from toying with her and Damien. That combined with the absolute train wreck that had been the last 36 hours was now catching up to her and just like that, the righteous anger that she'd put into the fight was boiling over into a cold fury.

When the taser fired, Maya dodged the blast. Then she lunged forward with a wild yell, tackling Harley back into the boxes. She found another rod nearby and struck him across the face. "That was for Hayden. And everyone you’ve messed with!" She yelled. Before he recovered, she began swinging indiscriminately. Whether she was hitting his face, his chest, nothing mattered. "And this is for Damien, you miserable son of a-" she was cut off with a vicious backhand, knocking her down. Next thing she knew Harley was leaning over her, fingers wrapped around her throat.

"Hey!" Damien immediately grabbed the limp taser coils and launched himself onto the pair, winding the wires tightly around the Match's neck and yanking him back. "You don't touch her ever again!"

Maya scurried out from underneath and crawled over to where Damien’s taser lay nearby.

Harley was clawing at the wires desperately, but to no avail as they were squeezed even tighter. "What's the matter, Harley? Isn’t this your favorite part? When you make someone suffer?" Damien snarled, grunting with effort to keep him in place. "Do you know how much she's cried because of you?!"

Maintaining his grip, he slammed Harley's head against the ground, then pulled him back. "Oh who am I kidding, of course you do." He bent the Match’s head forward, pivoted, then rammed his knee into Harley’s gut, punctuating each word with every kick. "It's all uploaded into your fucking motherboard, isn't it?!" Each grunt of pain from Harley further fueled his rage and Damien shoved him roughly into a stack of pallets, watching them topple onto him.

Then he turned to find Maya aiming the taser. Seeing his cue, he dragged Harley back to his feet, forcing him to face her.

"Lights out, Harley.” She said coldly, then pulled the trigger. The wires hit his chest with a blinding explosion and he jerked violently, spasming for a few moments until he finally went still.

Several moments passed in stunned silence as they held their breaths, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But Harley didn’t move. Residual electricity crackled around him - enough proof for them.

Maya's breathing grew shaky, various emotions threatening to break through. Damien went to her and pried the taser from her trembling hands. "Hey. Hey, it’s okay." He placed his hand on her cheek, turning her face away from Harley and towards him. "You did it."

She smiled, her lips quivering. "We did it." And then she pulled him to her, kissing him deeply as he held her tightly. There weren't enough words to describe how good it felt to have this moment; savor this win that they'd earned together and its poetic justice.

But it would have to wait, as the real fight wasn’t over yet. Their friends still needed them. Damien broke off the kiss first, almost as quickly as it'd started. "We'll pick this up later, okay?" He said, still grinning. "We gotta keep moving."

"You're right. One down, two to-"

BOOM! An explosion nearby. And then another one that could be heard further away.

"What the-" Damien looked around rapidly, searching the source, but Maya pointed him in the direction, her expression shocked.

"Come on!"

The countdown has begun,

The walls are falling down,

My life is on the line,

But freedom is mine...

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@darley1101 @lizeboredom @sfb123 @queenbirbs @bebepac @choicesfanaf @kat-tia801 @park-nazario @kingliam2019 @missameliep @allthatglitters2020 @moonlightgem7 @otherworldlypresents @xantheaugustine @rainbowsinthestorm @lizeboredom @flowerpowell @jessiembruno @puppy-rollins @kimmiedoo5 @mrswalkerwritesagain @princess-geek @maxattack-powell @burnsoslow @gardeningourmet @dcbbw @rookiemartin @choicesficwriterscreations

#perfect match #damien x mc #damien nazario #pm dames #rowan west #pm harley #perfect match au

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crazy-loca-blog · 3 years

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Meet My MC: Dr. Casey Valentine

A/N: The original base template belongs to @jamespotterthefirst. I added some extra items to it.

~~*~~*~~

Casey's Bio

Book: Open Heart

Full Name: Casey Marie Valentine

Face Claim: Emilia Clarke

Nicknames: Ethan used to call her "Rookie" during her intern year, but then it evolved to just Casey and now she doesn't actually have a nickname.

Birthday: December 4

Sexual orientation: She considers herself straight, but she believes in sexual fluidity

Love Interest(s): Ethan Ramsey (husband)

Kids: None (yet)

Hair: Brown, usually long hair. Sometimes she'll take risks and you may see her hair shorter and/or lighter, but she is a proud brunette.

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'7"

Hometown: Abingdon, Virginia

Education: Internal medicine / Duke University

Occupation: Head of the Diagnostics Team at Edenbrook Hospital

Family: Maggie and Tom Valentine (parents, dead), Marie Smith (grandmother, dead), Oliver Valentine (twin brother, alive)

Personal motto: "If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain"

Background: Casey and her brother Oliver were born and raised in a small town. They lived a happy and very normal childhood, until Maggie and Tom, their parents, died in a car accident when the twins were 7 years old. After the accident, the Valentine's siblings were raised by their grandma Marie, who passed away about a month before Casey began her residency at Edenbrook.

Personality traits: She is a very private person, but she's also passionate about her patients and about the things and the people that matter to her. She is a team player (especially when it comes to work, she loves recognizing her peers work, from doctors to nurses, paramedics and even security) and she is a fighter. She also considers herself a nerd and she's proud of it.

On the relationship with her brother: Both Oliver and Casey have always felt it's them against the world. They're not only siblings and the only family they both have left, but they're also best friends. They've always faced life together and they fully support each other on everything they do, so even though being apart while Casey was doing her residency in Boston was not an ideal situation, they both knew it was necessary for her to develop her full potential as a doctor. Oliver couldn't be more proud of his sister.

On her love life: Her experience when it comes to relationships is not the best. No matter how she acts regarding the relationship, she always ended up being hurt. By the time she was accepted at Edenbrook, she had been single for two years and she had completely given up on love. When she met Ethan, one of the things that surprised her the most was how they shared the same vision on marriage and kids (of course, she has her own troubled past), and when she began developing feelings for him (she fought her feelings for Ethan just as much as he did!), she began to wonder if she had actually been in love before meeting him.

On her parents accident: Casey's parents were on their way to pick Casey and Oliver from grandma Marie's house when some driver (who was apparently drunk) crashed their car after running a red light. The responsible managed to escape, and there were no witnesses, so there was no one to call the 911 until a few minutes later. This meant that the EMT and first responders arrived when it was already too late to save them. The fact that they died because they didn't receive medical care on time kind of stuck with little Casey, who promised herself that she would become a doctor to do anything to prevent people from dying for not receiving the care they needed when they needed it.

~~*~~*~~

12 Random Facts on Casey

Casey and Oliver don’t have nicknames because grandma Marie HATED them. She always said they had names for a reason, and that they had to respect their parents’ wishes.

Casey was always a good student because she genuinely loved learning new things and her sense of curiosity demanded her to keep learning. The good grades were just an added bonus.

She wasn't popular in high school, but she wasn't at the bottom of the popularity list either. She was a low profile student, but she loved participating in different extracurricular activities, so that led her to meet a lot of people.

Bryce has never understood why he loses every time that he challenges Casey to a basketball match. What he doesn’t know is that Casey actually played basketball since she was a kid and until she graduated from high school.

She isn't a big fan of parties. She likes attending one once in a while, but she is definitely happier when staying at home or at a bar or a restaurant with a group of friends sharing some good conversation. She also hates getting drunk because it makes her feel she's not in control of herself, so she most definitely stops after the second or the third drink (as soon as she begins to feel tipsy).

She knows how to drive, but she hates it, so she avoids it like the plague. She'll always prefer using the subway.

She has always felt she had to grow up too fast after her parents' accident, so even though she was always surrounded by love, she feels she never lived her childhood to the fullest after her parents died.

When she was 16, she had one of her ovaries removed due to cysts. In order to protect her only ovary left, she has to permanently be on the pill. This also means that the chances for her to get pregnant are pretty much a Russian roulette. She must plan her pregnancies and she may have no issues getting pregnant, but there is also a real chance that she may have fertility issues or an ectopic pregnancy. So Casey pretty much forced herself to forget about the idea of becoming a mom.

When talking about her love life, Oliver and Casey have always had this discussion on whether she had two, “two and a half” or three relationships before meeting Ethan. She did have two serious relationships, but the third one... debatable.

She claims she didn't google Ethan during her university years because she didn't care about him, but only about his book. Then, when she was admitted to Edenbroook, she refused to google him to see his picture, claiming that "she wanted the knowledge to do all the talking".

Grandma Marie was the person who gave Casey her copy of Ethan Ramsey's book. Casey used to borrow the book from the library for her own investigations for the advanced biology class in her senior year in high school, but she always complained that she couldn't make notes in the book. So grandma Marie decided to give her the book as a Christmas present to give her one final push to convince her to go to medical school. A few days before Marie died, Casey gave her the news that she had been accepted at Edenbrook to work with Ethan.

She decided not to change her last name after marrying Ethan. It was important for her to keep it because it’s one of the few things she has left of her parents, so it has some great sentimental value. When she told Ethan about it, he just said “I’d hate for you to change your last name just for some stupid, old-fashioned and sexist tradition, especially when you’ve made yourself a name on medicine with your maiden name”.

#meet my mc #open heart #casey valentine

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biscuitfam · 4 years

Text

Kiss Me

REQUEST: hello you lovely human! may i request a twelfth doctor x reader in which she's upset about something and the doctor cuddles her even though he hates cuddles? with lots of soft words and kisses akfkskdjdj?? only if that's okay!! - @love-athxna

Hope you enoy athena, you ray of sunsine!

Summary: Touches and kisses have always been traits of the Doctor, until now. Sometimes it’s hers to tell what he’s feeling — especially when it comes to your love for him. His girlfriend.

WC: 1.1k roughly

Warnings: Slight smut??? PG stuff, like heavy make out, but that’s pretty much it.

A/N: God I love writing request fics, like for real, it gives me a lot of inspo. Before I came a fanfic writer I had all these ideas for fics that I wanted to see, but was afraid to ask. I love doing this for others. I do try my hardest to keep the chracters from becoming too OOC though. Please if anyone has a request don’t feel shy, it makes me so happy to see my inbox with you guy’s ideas. PLEASE SEND IN YOUR IDEAS! I”D BE HAPPY TO WRITE THEM!

Also, I may start up my Supernatural blog soon! Check it out at @jackzpizza

Kiss me out of the bearded barley

Nightly, beside the green, green grass

Swing, swing, swing the spinning step

You'll wear those shoes and I will wear that dress

Sometimes, you wondered where the love had gone. You wondered why he stopped touching you, why the kisses drained away, and went into the abyss of nothingness. While the Doctor claimed he hadn’t changed and that this body is still adjusting, quite frankly it seemed like he wasn’t the same man after all.

He felt like a distant stranger.

Close and familiar, but also new and frightening. You never knew what would set him off, and today it was a hug. Today was a rough day as it was the morning you admitted you still had feelings for him, and it did not go as planned. He got rather upset. How could you not love him anymore? He’s the same man to you as he always has been. Just slightly different.

“ You’re just a child. You’re not thinking straight.”

However, telling The Doctor that your feelings are hurt wouldn’t be the best. Putting it lightly, this Doctor wasn’t the most empathetic or understanding of others feelings as his previous faces.

Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight

Lead me out on the moonlit floor

Lift your open hand

Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance

Silvermoon's sparkling

So kiss me

The tears rolled thickly down your cheeks as you stumbled away from the console room, down the winding corridors, and to the depths of the old girl trying to get as further away from him as possible. Lately, it wasn’t unlike of him to be upset. Or, in other words, irritated. His words were getting harsher. His tones were less love-filled and more defensive. In the distance, you heard his heavy footsteps following behind you.

Possibly it was the old girl who essentially made him chase after you, of course, only after you slammed the door of the TARDIS in his face causing her to let out a huffed groan. She wanted the two of you to make up for the damages done to your relationship. Somewhere along the line of him regenerating now had caused a major dent of imperfection. The difficulty of the situation is pinpointing exactly when everything went up into flames.

When had he fallen out of love with you?

Kiss me down by the broken treehouse

Swing me, upon its hanging tire

Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat

We'll take the trail marked on your father's map

You cried yourself to sleep that night. Tear trails dried to your cheeks and lips crusted dry. Sometimes crying it out is the best solution to a problem, for one, it helps relieve stress. You glanced to the clock perched on your bedside table reading the time back at home. Four in the morning and you’re lying awake dreading facing your boyfriend. Was he still your boyfriend? At this point, you weren't sure if he was anything besides a traveling partner. Before he died and changed into the man you strived to show affection to he was never like this. He would feel beyond guilty. Terribly guilty, possibly to the point of self-loathing.

The first thing you noticed after waking up was the fact you were tucked snuggly into bed underneath the sheets, despite not falling asleep underneath them. Gently you pushed the sheets away and stepped onto the ice-cold floor with bare feet. You made your way to the door and went outside to the isolate halls. In the distance a soft tinkering sounded bringing a sweet comfort of the memories of before. Your fingers shaked lightly as your wrapped the thin, white cotton t-shirt tighter around your body. Nervous habits had always been a downfall of yours, like biting your nails or splitting the ends of your hair. However, never around him, until now.

Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight

Lead me out on the moonlit floor

Lift your open hand

Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance

Silvermoon's sparkling

So kiss me

The closer you got to the main room of the TARDIS the lights began to dim, and little tea light candles scattered about the hall lit leading a trail. On the stairs and the upper landing portion flower petals of your favorite flower coated the floor. Your heart sped up at the sight and a bright pink blush passed your cheeks. This was extremely out of character for him. Romance tended to be more of his younger selves attitudes. You descended the stairs and stood before the man who scribbled away on the chalkboard seemingly ignoring your presence. He set the chalk down then turned to face you.

“ Humans, they’re so difficult. Needy, demanding, and so sentimental,” He began but stopped when he saw the look in your eyes, then let out a softened sigh as he gently picked up your hands drew you into his chest for a tight, warm hug. With much hestinancy you revipocated the hug and snuggled closer, breathing in the very familiar scent the doctor held despite changing. Cedar wood and rain. Chocolate and coffee. Old books and linen. He smelt of home.

He dipped his head down to face you, bright blue eyes now locked onto yours. “ I know I haven’t been there like I should be. This me isn’t the most romantic man. I’ve become more practical, looking at the bigger picture. I did some research on romance in your century, your decade. I picked your favorite flowers and candles..” He looked around, waving a wrinkled hand at the surroundings while the other rested upon your hip.

“ I just wanted to show you that I do truly love you, and I promise I’ll try harder. Just know I’m bound to slip up at times and say things I don’t mean-” He was rambling at this point, talking more to avoid looking at you. Maybe some things don’t change after all. You cut him off with a firm kiss, fingers bolting up to frame his his cheeks and rounded jaw. At first you expected him to pull away. However, he drew you closer and kept you tight against him with the buttons of his coat digging into your stomach.

Kiss me beneath the milky twilight

Lead me out on the moonlit floor

Lift your open hand

Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance

Silvermoon's sparkling

So kiss me

“ I love you, Y/N. I never stopped. I just..I just don’t know how to express it as well as before.” He admitted shamefully with eyes filled with guilt. He dipped his head back down once more for another heated kiss as his hands scrambled to slip off his coat. The tips began to sneak up beneath the hem of your shirt. A small smirk played at the corners of his salmon-colored lips, “ I do admit I had some help from Clara. Smart one, she is.”

“ Of course you did, now bring me to bed.” You laughed gently and took him by the hand leading him down the hall. The two of you went to your shared bedroom hand in hand for a night of love, and much-needed comfort.

Maybe it was worth the wait and the pain inflicted upon your heart, but in the end he was your Doctor and always will be.

So kiss me

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imnotgoinganywhereok · 3 years

Photo

Yeah, I’m back on my Sims 4 bullshit! („ಡωಡ„) After an entire month I started to miss my Sim children. So, I decided to visit them once again and have some memorable screenshots, especially since I only started sharing my Sims experience from 5th and 6th generation. I’d be grateful if you checked it out one day, I think it can be somewhat investing! And there will be more content to come...

Recently I noted down in my little notebook all basic information and cool trivia about each of my Sim children, and I decided to share some of it here. There is a limit of only 10 pictures in one post, and I was afraid the post would be long but, to be fair, this is my blog and I’m doing what I want now! And, I will merely touch upon what is already established up to Delphini (gen 7). Again, there will be more in the future. Apologies in advance (ง ื▿ ื)ว

Generation one: Valentina Owl. I created her back in December 2019 when I got Discover University for Christmas! She’s a “human” Sim and I created her through a story option in CAS, and immediately started having a blast. I was not a huge fan of such USAmericanised concept of university but the game was fun. She was the only one who lived up to be an elder (and then die) because back then I thought I’m gonna have a game where my Sims age and stuff. That quickly didn’t work out for me because I missed her already and decided that I’m gonna fill my entire save with just Owl family. Valentina studied Communications and worked as a policewoman at the same time. A lonely workaholic with only her lavish garden, she finally settled for a relationship with Lilith Vatore. As I noticed in this post, there was no marriage so my entire bloodline comes from a bastard. Lovely! She died from receiving a flower arragement with Death Flower scent. Now she’s on the Gallery.

Generation two: Herbert Owl. He was the one who directly killed Valentina. He mastered Gardening like Valentina, and then Flower Arranging - unfortunate for her. Because of Lilith, he was a vampire - and to be fair, the consequences are haunting me to this day! So, a few trivia, maybe. He is super smart, lives in Glimmerbrook like the next two generations, and has a small garden in his house where he grows crops for husband’s, Morgyn Ember’s, potions. He prefers black and purple clothes, both in his human and vampire form. He wrote only one book in his life, translating to The Real Story of Valentina Owl - whether it’s to cover the murder or not remains a mystery. He makes flower arrangements to this day. Ah, he’s also immune to Sun thanks to one of his vampire perks! That sort of helped him take a better care of his son whom he loves very much.

Generation three: Harry Owl. There is not that much I can say about him. A perfectionist like his father (Herbert), he’s blond and wears both masculine and feminine clothes like his other father (Morgyn), but this is where the comparisons end. See, in my mind he wasn’t a good person, despite having a Compassionate trait. He cared for his grandmother’s (Valentina’s) garden only because of his father’s (Herbert’s) feelings; later he shun away gardening. As a teenager, he often used to drink plasma without permission even if he wasn’t thirsty. Of course, he was also a really bad father, often berating his son for not being “good enough” or not paying attention to him at all. All Harry cared about were his paintings that he was creating in his private office. He married Miverva Charm, started living with her family, and still decided to only socialise with her. No one really knows what made him choose her.

Generation four: Nereus Owl. Born a vampire, he cured himself out of vampirism as soon as he could and later became a spellcaster. All he ever did in life was seemed like a rebellion against his father - clothes, flacking off during studies, loving gardening and shuning away painting. Well, it seemed to his father that Nereus is doing this to spite him. Despite this borderline abuse (because how abusive can Sims really be?), Nereus claims his childhood was relatively happy. Of course, he has no clue where his Erratic trait came from! Or why he grew to be a Perfectionist as well. All he knows is that having over 11 different plants in his garden is what makes him happy and that he doesn’t care if his father approves of him anymore! You could see him for the first time here. What is more, as he grew older, he found that he loves playing the violin and his wife, L. Faba, supports him in any way she can. His natural hair colour is red; thanks, grey-haired Minerva - that one bit me in the ass for next three generations.

Generation five: Elijah Tane Owl. Vegetarian like his father, he was the first one to attend Foxbury instead of Britechester. His father Nereus claimed it should be Elijah’s choice what he wants to do in life, giving Elijah freedom Nereus never really had. Elijah studied Computer Science but was a man of many talents. He was a fan of Handiness, Cooking (especially grilling), and Fitness. He often played (and sang) serenades on a keyboard for his wife, Alessandra Robles, almost maxing out his Piano skill. What made him date Alessandra was a shared Vegetarian trait. His favourite colour accent in clothing is green. He grew six strawberry plants because he wished to have a daughter (yeah, only in Sims 4 lol). There are more info about him in my previous posts as it was this generation when I started publishing my game progress, starting with this one (although my main focus was on Salem).

Generation six: Salem Owl (previously Lavender Owl). There is tons and tons of posts about her, her wife Luna Villareal (both are adults, calm down FBI), and their five daughers: Amaryllis, Wisteria, Delphini (remember this one), Hemlock, and Poppy. All you need to know about her is that she is a hard-working mother who climbed her way to the top and even higher to secure the future of her daughers. She hoped for three children and played with On the Dark Ley-Line lot trait to perhaps have some vampire offspring. Instead, she had twins (Ama and Wis) first, and then triplets (Del, Hem, and Poppy) later! She taught her daughers instruments/skills like Piano, Pipe Organ, and Violin. Once she realised Wis and Hem were vampires, she started growing three Plasma fruit trees, with time maxing out her Gardening skill. She’s on very bad terms with her grandma, L. Faba, but tries to keep in touch with her grandpa, Nereus. She has a bad reputation because of her Insensitive trait and a handful of enemies. She’s sorry for what happened between Lilith and Valentina in the past but the Vatore twins don’t mind. She’s ginger, workaholic, has spiky ears, and a lot of freckles. She’s still very good friends with Vladislaus.

Generation seven (A): Amaryllis Owl. She’s colour-coded (pink) and her clothes and room reflect that. She wrote at least 10 books, has spiky ears after her mother (Salem), and is the older daugher in the house. Eventually, she married Candy Behr. Ama’s twin sister is Wisteria and they share the same eyeliner type. Despite having a twin, her skin tone is lighter than Wis’ but the same as Hem and Poppy’s. She inherited a feminine walk from her mother (Luna). Doesn’t know much about Vampire Lore despite having vampire sisters. She loved doing everything with her twin sister. Amaryllis used to be a naturally-born/spawned hybrid of a vampire and a spellcaster but settled for the latter.

Generation seven (B): Wisteria Owl. She’s colour-coded (purple) and her room reflects that. As a vampire, she aims for a gothic look, often wearing hats and gloves to hide from the sun (with time, she turned into a heliphobe). She’s an actress and a B-Lister. She has a pet frog in her room. To reach her room, one has to walk through Ama’s room first - and they’re both okay with that. Wis is the only one to have the same skin tone as her mother (Salem) and the same nose as her other mother (Luna). Her vampiric form changes her eye colour to glowing purple. She loved goign to karaoke bars with her older twin sister Ama, which led Wis to maxing out Singing skill. As a fully fledged vampire, she decided to reach out to Herbert - they’re good friends.

Generation seven (C): Delphini Owl. Same as Amaryllis - naturally-born/spawned hybrid of a vampire and a spellcaster but settled for the latter. She’s colour-coded (dark blue) and her clothes and room reflect that. She always knew she’s going to leave the house and eventually create more Owls. She pursued the rich life and moved out to Del Sol Valley, eventually becoming a Global Superstar. She used to work in a Musician Branch but quit after time - blame the Freegan trait. She has three cats and lives with her daugher Morgan, and her [Morgan’s] husband Kaito Kaneko, and their adopted son Leven Owl (all of which I’ll talk about another time). She received a lot of awards (meeting with fans, Perfect Llama to name the few) and is very happy that her daugher lives with her. She used to romance with Flower Bunny, and then Octavia Moon - althought the initial plan was to go after Octavia’s husband, Thorne. Del often drinks but since there’s no alcoholism in Sims 4, let’s pretent she likes to stay hydrated! She owes half of her success (or namely, money for and expensive house) to her mother Salem. Loves to sunbathe!

Generation seven (D): Hemlock Owl. She’s colour-coded (white) and her clothes and room reflect that. She’s a make-up enthusiast and a little spoiled by the rich life. Also, she’s very Squeamish and Noncommittal. Despite being a vampire, she’s not interested in improving Vampire Lore skill at all. In her vampire form, her eyes change to glowing white. Her face as as many freckles as her mother’s (Salem). She’s the middle child in the triplets business and her best friend is Poppy. She used to wear glasses as a child... What more can I say? She’s living the dream!

Generation seven (E): Poppy Owl. She’s colour-coded (red) and her clothes and room (and a neon light) reflect that. The youngest daughter in the house. Wild and a Bro, she’s the perfect candidate to hang out with. She’s the only child to be born a human - which most likely makes Luna very happy. She’s a robots enthusiast - not Robotics skill but only figurines of robots. She’s a Geek so what else should we expect? She has her own TV and a stereo in her room (as well as a bubble machine). Poppy often wears her PJs around the house because they’re the comfiest. Despite being a Bro, she doesn’t really have friends beside her family. She’s the one to walk the family dog, Milk.

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bemused-writer · 4 years

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VNC Chapter 45 Analysis

This chapter had a little bit of everything and I love it. So much. There are also numerous implications throughout and they've all given me some food for thought. The first thing I want to go over is Jeanne, Dominique, and romance. These two are approaching things very differently, which Dominique herself is all-too-aware of. It took Luca pointing out that Jeanne was talking about Vanitas as if she loved him, but once she had the realization for herself, she decided to pursue it wholeheartedly. Not so for Dominique, who has literally known her entire life who she loves and has never said anything. Jeanne is, in fact, very forward now that she knows she loves Vanitas. In fact, her sentiment about love is kind of similar to the description Vanitas gave to Noé.

That's back when Vanitas was pretending to be in love, but judging by how he was acting last chapter, I'd say he now has the "symptoms" for real. Jeanne is a lot more honest; she uses the same description, but only when she genuinely means it. It's also notable that she and Vanitas are handling things very differently (unsurprisingly). Vanitas is utterly horrified and spent the entire day panicking and sulking. Jeanne is excited and planning how to make things go her way. Speaking of making things go her way....

Um, what even, Jeanne? XD The symbolism here is pretty clear: Jeanne is on the prowl and Vanitas is her prey. I've also seen an alternate translation that implies she's more worried about drinking all of his blood? Either way, it's pretty aggressive and it fits in more with Jeanne's "real" personality, so to speak. That straightforward, exuberant child that just goes for what she wants. It sounds like Jeanne's mother was also pretty aggressive, judging by the advice she gave her on how to win over men. Honestly, I feel like this explains so much about Jeanne.... "She got my father by pushing and pushing and pushing until she'd made him hers." It's a little concerning. 8D Maybe the reason she has, um, bad definitions of consent and all that is because of who she's been learning from? Understandably, Dominique is horrified by all of this (and so is Luca). She thinks courtship should be infinitely more traditional than what Jeanne and Vanitas have concocted.

Every single objection Dominique has is completely overruled. Vanitas doesn't want someone who will fall for him? Jeanne will just get really good at acting! Vanitas has been awful to her? He's also saved her! Their courtship is too aggressive? Her mom said it was fine! But Dominique has other things on her mind, such as why anyone would fall for Vanitas instead of Noé and just a ton of personal insecurity regarding herself and her relationship with Noé.

I think Dominique's crush is making itself known... But she thinks about all of Jeanne's good traits, such as her smile and confidence, which all leads to one dreary conclusion: she's the wrong woman for Noé.

This image in particular suggests that Dominique thinks Noé must be interested in Jeanne for her all of that, but also because she's sexually aggressive. She's thinking of her sister, who was basically criticizing her for being a prude. She's basically seeing all of Jeanne's good points as her own personal failings. Now, I find this interesting for a lot of reasons. Originally, I had thought Dominique assumed Noé was interested in Vanitas because, frankly, that makes the most sense to me. But this has made it clear she thinks Noé is interested in Jeanne. And that... actually doesn't make sense? She says "I can see why she'd be on his mind." But we, the readers, know exactly what has been on Noé's mind and Jeanne has not been a feature whatsoever. He has been thinking about Vanitas almost nonstop. He's even talked to Dominique about Vanitas quite a bit. The only memories Dominique has of Noé thinking about Jeanne is when he looked backwards at the Bal Masqué (he could have been looking at Dominique or everybody) and that one time they all had lunch together. But, as far as we know, Noé has never mentioned Jeanne to her. He has mentioned Vanitas. That's why she knows Vanitas doesn't want to be involved with anyone who could love him. And I think this is a blind spot for Dominique. She doesn't understand why Jeanne likes Vanitas. The thought of Noé liking Vanitas is probably so repugnant and insane to her she can't even fathom it. Also, while I know Dominique is wishing she were more like Jeanne, the way she compliments her still kind of sounds like she's interested in her, even if she hasn't realized it. "I didn't know she could smile like that." "It made me think I had to protect her, and yet..." "You can't take your eyes off her." I don't know. There are a lot of romance possibilities in this series. XD I do have to admit that, on a personal note, Noé/Jeanne as a canon pairing would take me by surprise simply because it's so underdeveloped compared to the other possibilities we've looked at? It's definitely not impossible, but I feel like we'd need to start building it up pretty soon to make this feel like a proper ship. Noé/Dominique would make a lot more sense; they have the history, the buildup, the one-sided pining... Food for thought. Anyway. By the end of the conversation, Dominique is obsessively thinking of Noé and how she is nothing like Jeanne and therefore will never have Noé as she dreams. Luca gives her a surprised look and then we cut to Noé himself.

This is incredibly suspicious. 8D But before I get into my guesses on all of that, I'll take a look at Noé and Vanitas's conversation. Noé has a look of exasperation when we cut to him, and I honestly can't blame him. It's nighttime. Vanitas has literally been panicking the entire day. I would be a little exasperated, too. He tries to reason with him by pointing out he'll catch a cold. No results. He brings up a potential curse bearer. No results once more. Things are bad. So, Noé does what he's best at: he tells the complete and utter truth of what's on his mind and gives Vanitas his own personal analysis of events, including his thoughts on Vanitas himself. Astolfo is the first person he's ever met that genuinely hates vampires. It's also the first time we've ever heard Noé say he hates someone. That's kind of incredible to me. But then, even more interesting, Noé follows up with the difference between Vanitas and Astolfo. Noé is someone who can connect the dots and he's immediately realized that Vanitas and Astolfo have eerily similar backgrounds.

Noé: ...and it could have been you I fought in Gévaudan. The butterfly motif brings to mind another image with butterflies:

I've analyzed this picture before, but now I'm thinking those red butterflies might represent all the paths Vanitas could have taken, but the one he did take took him to Noé. Furthermore, Vanitas's path is now Noé's. But probably the most important bit is right at the end. Noé: That day, on La Baleine, I'm glad the man I met called himself a vampire specialist, not a chasseur. And it's followed by:

Noé knows what he's saying sounds awfully fond, knows Vanitas is not in a great headspace for that kind of thing, so he follows up by saying he still doesn't like Vanitas. But he still looks incredibly fond as he says it, so I think it's safe to say he's just trying to spare Vanitas at this point. The expression on Vanitas's face is something like surprise and/or awe. He certainly wasn't expecting Noé to start praising him. But even with that, he still finishes with a compliment. Noé: I'm glad you're the person you are now. I know it's really arbitrary, but I wanted to make sure I told you.

He tells him at a distance because he knows Vanitas likes his personal space. He claims not to like Vanitas because he knows he has difficulty with affection. He knew Vanitas wasn't going to come inside for his health, so he brought a blanket with him. Noé has gotten extremely good at reading Vanitas and it shows in throughout this entire exchange. Vanitas's reaction is cut off, but to me it seems like he's having a hard time believing what he's hearing.

Is he angry because Noé has essentially revealed he overheard his conversation with Roland? Is he sad because, as far as he's concerned, he's being changed by his feelings for Jeanne and literally being rewritten by his mark? Or is it fear because it's pretty apparent Noé does like him and cares about him? Perhaps we'll get a better look at that later this arc. As things stand, Dominique is having a terrible go of things. She was on the rooftop, presumably listening in on Vanitas and Noé's conversation, and almost certainly sent there by Misha, who is disappointed she has once again failed to bring Noé to him. Dominique also has blood on her face. She has attacked someone and is losing awareness of what she's doing.

That sounds like a curse bearer to me. And what was it Noé mentioned earlier? That there was evidence of a curse bearer in Paris. So, my main prediction for this arc is that Dominique is a curse bearer, the very curse bearer causing trouble in Paris. Charlatan took advantage of her unrequited feelings for Noé. Misha is either a vampire or is working for Charlatan and is manipulating her into doing these things. He's now using her as bait to lure out Noé. Of course, the main question is why Noé and not Vanitas? Misha is, supposedly, Vanitas's little brother. Perhaps jealousy? Also, how did Dominique leave things off with Luca and Jeanne? Who did she attack? Did she attack Luca and Jeanne? I suppose I'm going to have to wait to find out.... But, as for Luca, he has a brother for a curse bearer. I wouldn't be surprised if he recognizes the symptoms in Dominique. So, those are my main thoughts. But I would like to talk a little bit about translation here. Some forewarning: my Japanese is not the best, so if a native speaker or someone who is further along in their studies has any corrections, please feel free to do so. The first one is related to Misha. He calls Dominique "Mademoiselle Dominique" and Noé "Monsieur Noé" in the English version. This is ... kind of just wrong. In Japanese it's "Oneechan" and "Noé-oniichan." So, big sister and big brother. It has a far cutesier vibe in Japanese, but the English translation makes it seem like Misha is a refined villain while in Japanese he seems more like there's a disconnect between his speech and behavior. The other thing is when Noé says "Of course, I still don't like you or anything." In Japanese it's kind of more... like a question? Alluding to there being another possibility than what he's saying? "Mochiron, ore wa ima de mo anta no koto o suki ja arimasen ga?" It sounds more like "Of course, even now I still don't like you, but?" Also, I think it's important to remember that when Vanitas says he "loves" Jeanne or that no one could "fall" for him and when Jeanne says she "loves" Vanitas or when Noé says he doesn't "like" Vanitas, every single one of them is using the same word, "suki." This is something that's kind of hard to do in English, but while Noé is no doubt thinking of that first time he told Vanitas he "doesn't like him" in the above panel, he's directly thinking of Vanitas when he said "As if anyone could fall for a person like me." Basically, you could translate it as Noé saying "I still don't like you" or "I still haven't fallen for you" because in Japanese it's the same word. *shrug* Nobody is saying "daisuki," though, which would be the really powerful confession. 8D And that's all I got for now! I might try to smooth out some of this later; I had so many thoughts... Let me know if you guys have any theories or thoughts (or Japanese corrections...) ^^

#vanitas no carte #vnc spoilers #vnc meta #Bemused's post

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nad-zeta · 4 years

Note

Hey ! I would like to request a headcanon please !! ✨💕💕 how would Nobunaga, Shingen, Masamune (and if you want kenshin) react when they know that MC is worried about whether she will be able to marry or even be in a relationship with them because she is a foreigner and perhaps his people want someone of the same nationality (since in Sengoku period people in japan were even more traditional and try to preserve the lineage) thank you !! 💖❤️💕✨

Heheh thanx so much for this request, dear! Sidenote i was too lazy to do research cause ive been playing Mitsuhide’s route lol, so if some pieces seem off thats probs why! I hope you enjoy it! In my mind these boys would marry MC regardless of what the people think and would basically tell anyone who has a problem with you to go to hell. But thats just my opinion anyway! ^0^ Much like this whole HC is lol. Hope ya enjoy it <3

HC: Nobunaga, Shingen, Masamune and Kenshin react to Marrying Foreign MC

Nobunaga

The two of you had been friends for a loooooong time now, and both of you were harboring feelings for the other

One day you finally built up the courage to confess, it was during your game of go

“Hey Nobunaga if I win this game of go, I’m going to claim and conquer your heart.”

He looked up and smirked at you “Alright then fireball but if I win then you are to be my girlfriend”

You had never taken the game so seriously in your life before, you put your all into winning that game

And believe it or not you WON, you had to rub your eyes as you stared at the board in disbelief

You were so happy you ran outside and shouted at the top of your lungs “I have defeated Nobunaga and he is now mine”. Mind you whispered that last part

The start to your relationship was tough, the Oda clan members were not happy about their lord taking a foreigner as a lover

They would especially send disapproving glances your way during banquets, lucky the warlords loved you to bits and 100% supported your relationship

One day in particular, some daimyos daughter was throwing so much shade at you for being a foreigner. Saying that you don’t belong here and that she should be with Nobu instead of you blah blah blah.

And if things couldn’t get any worse most of the Oda clan members were in attendance backing the prissy high lady

Nobunaga lost his shit at that moment; he had fought so long and hard to be head of the clan. He had killed his own brother for crying out loud, and even his own mother wanted to kill him.

He was not going to let anyone tell him what he can or can’t do, especially not from the people who wouldn’t hesitate to backstab him at the first opening to rise in station and come into power

He stood up and in his most commanding voice proclaimed that you were the love of his life and that you were the only woman he would ever love. This whole speech ended off with him walking up to you and asking your hand in marriage

The Clan members and some allies of his were not happy, that is when Mitsuhide stated that he should let the people of Azuchi decide who is to be the next woman worthy of being their queen and standing beside their beloved ruler Nobunaga.

Nobunaga was a bit reluctant but agreed to it either way.

Needless to say, Mitsuhide always had his ears on the ground, and he knew the towns and farm people absolutely adored you. And after gathering the people in the courtyard, the dispute was settled and the true queen of Azuchi, was chosen.

Nobunaga couldn’t be happier, he was practically jumping for joy

You couldn’t help but cry from happiness at the warm welcoming and approval you receive from the townspeople of Azuchi. Never again was your position questioned among the rest of the clan members.

Shingen

This playboy would spend each night in the arms of a new woman

That is until he fell in love with you

His people thought it was just a simple fling like all the woman that had come before you

But soon the realized Shingen was starting to get serious about you

They really tried to hate you for being a foreigner, cause they wanted to preserve the lineage

But they couldn’t bring it over themselves, especially considering Yuki also loved you so much

Yuki had told everyone what you had done for them and for Shingen.

It was thanks to you that their beloved leader was healed of his illness

And it was thanks to you that they were able to go back to their homeland peacefully

Plus, you were such a warm, friendly person and everyone that spoke to you couldn’t help but love you

Sit down Yuki this isn’t witchcraft it’s just your charming personality

If anything, they had more of a problem with you being an Oda princess rather than a foreigner

But like I said regardless they all saw you as an angel or a goddess, pure and radiant, and definitely someone who would have their best interests at heart.

TBH his clan members were all too happy the Tiger was thinking about setting down cause these guys have been pestering him for an heir and Shingen ain’t getting any younger

You worked hard to earn their respect and trust

When Shingen publicly asked you to marry him in front of all his people you were a little stressed that someone would have a problem with you. Shingen could see the reluctance in your eyes, so he looked around and said:

“Who here has a problem or concern with me marrying my dearest Goddess over here”. Absolute silence fell. You couldn’t help but smile and accept his proposal.

That night you realized just how loved you were by his people as every second person had hugged a welcomed you to the family.

Masamune

You and Masamune had been together for a while now, and the boy was starting to get serious

He really loved you and couldn’t picture anyone else who could stand by his side and rule the date clan with him quite like you

He made the two of you a yummo dinner and proposed. You loved this one eye dragon so much, so you instantly accepted

That night before you fell asleep you tuned around in Masamune’s arms to stare up at him

Your mind was being overactive with what-if scenarios, you really loved Masamune, but you knew his clan and people would not be pleased by the news of him marrying a foreigner

Not just that but you had seen him receive many marriage requests over the years, and there was one in particular that his clan was pushing him to accept

Masamune could see all the questions swirling in your eyes, he simply bent down and kissed your nose, forehead and then pulled you closer to him

He told you that he didn’t care what anyone else thought and that the two of you would take it one day at a time

Needless to say, Masamune’s people loved you, you had visited Masamune’s home many times and spent lots of time getting to know everyone. You were one of those genuinely friendly people who cared about people

It’s one of the traits that attracted Masamune to you, you didn’t care if someone was rich or poor you treated them equality

No no, the problem came with the higher-ups, they didn’t trust you, and they didn’t deem you worthy. After all, what did you know about history or tradition, you were just some random foreigner.

When Masamune announced that you were his fiancé; they just said No, like they completely rejected the whole idea. Not only that, but they brought some other random princess out and told him that she would be better suited for him.

Luckily Masamune is a stubborn man, so he just ignored their “suggestions.” But like I said, the clan members and a few smaller date clan allies were not having it.

You went back home alone to Azuchi after the meeting with the date clan, leaving Masamune there to deal with them. You were honestly so upset, what was supposed to be a happy announcement turned into the worst day of your life.

Little did they know you and Nobunaga were very good friends, like you would pop into his room for tea at random times friend. The cry on his shoulder about the backlash of Masamune announcing his intention to marry you, kind of friends.

And it just so happened that Nobunaga was one of their biggest allies along with Ieyasu, and let be real attending all the banquets got you in good with both of their clan members and if anything they were trying to convince you to marry those two idiots instead of Masamune. So, to say you were backed by two other powerful clans would be an understatement.

Nobunaga listened as you cried about everything that had been said, then he gave you a big wide smile and said: “Come fireball, let’s go scare the shit out of them to make you feel better.”

You Nobunaga and Ieyasu rode to Masamune’s home the next day, they burst into the council room doors, and saw that Masamune was still arguing with everyone over your marriage.

All heads were turned to Nobunaga as he stood by the door with Ieyasu and swiftly proclaimed that you were not just some foreigner but a princess of the Oda forces and if they have a problem with Masamune wanting to wed his sister then he would end the alliance right there and invade.

Ieyasu nodded in agreement

Hehe you definitely had a smug look on your face, both Ieyasu and Nobunaga had claimed you as their dearest sister, not just that but Nobunaga had pulled out a letter from Kenshin and Shingen in which both also gave you their backing.

Kenshin’s letter obviously being very threatening and saying he would have no probs with allying with Nobunaga and going to war with them for refusing you lol.

Looks like you have some friends in powerful places

Lol those clan boys never questioned you or threatened you again. If anything, they blessed your marriage and stayed faaaaar away from you. They definitely didn’t want to get on your bad side

Kenshin

Kenshin had found his Goddess, of war, his soulmate, the and only woman who would ever hold his heart and soul

It was well known that you were the only woman that Kenshin looked at, the feared woman-hating Kenshin disliked all women but one.

And that would be you

If anything when Kenshin announced that he was going to marry you people were more surprised than anything else

Everyone honestly loved you, mostly they loved that fact that you were the only one who calmed Kenshin the hell down

His clan was overjoyed that he had finally found a life partner

They were honestly just starting to accept the fact that Kenshin would have no heirs

One night while cuddling with Kenshin, you voiced your concerns about not being accepted by his people because you were a foreigner

Kenshin legit looked you in the eyes and said if anyone dares oppose your marriage to him, or utter one bad thing about you he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them

Like he was pulled away from someone he loved in the past, but now it was different, now he had power. He would kill anyone that dare stood in his way! He will not lose the love of his life to anyone

Kenshin nuzzled into your neck and reassured you and then proceeded to pepper you with kisses, he loved you so much

And as if overhearing the whole conversation all of a sudden, the whole bunny army came into the room and joined in on the cuddles

Kenshin couldn’t help but laugh at the silly creatures “And love, you forget you command a whole vicious army of your own. I am sure the bunnies would not hesitate to stand up to anyone who tries to hurt their goddess”. As if agreeing with Kenshin the bunnies started nuzzling the two of you.

All your worries and anxiety were short-lived as when Kenshin made the official announcement, everyone was overjoyed. No one really cared that you were a foreigner, plus no one felt like having their head detached from their shoulders

And if that wasn’t enough, at the banquet celebrating your engagement, the bunnies all attended in celebration with the people, some of the bun buns would sit on your lap staring down anyone who might have worn the slightest frown towards you. These bunnies would not hesitate to attack anyone who made would make you sad just like their master.

Hehehe this is probs not my best work but here it is anyways! <3

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cienie-isengardu · 4 years

Text

The development of Law’s relationship with Zoro - Part 5: Zou, The Kindred Spirits (Traveling together)

<<Part I: Before Meeting>> <<Part II: Sabaody Archipelago, The First Meeting>> <<Part III: Punk Hazard, The Alliance (A)>> <<Part III: Punk Hazard, The Alliance (B)>> <<Part IV: Dressrosa, The Breaking Point (The Plan Failed)__ (Saving Law)__(Protecting Law)__ (Birdcage, Pica and Doflamingo)__ (Aftermath)>> <<Part V: Zou, The Kindred Spirits (Traveling Together)__(Searching for Nakama)__ (Reunion)__ (Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance)__(The Last Moments before War)>>

Dressrosa was the breaking point in the relationship between Zoro and Law. The previously visible distance (and maybe, distrust too) now is gone, and those two - despite Law’s unhappy face - drank together during the victory party. Through the voyage to Zou and later, during the arc, both men were more often seen around each other, usually in quite close range. Starting with chapter 802, when dangerous hail was failing on Bartolomeo’s ship. As it turned out, Bartolomeo and his crew did not have a navigator (to give proper orders to steersman, to sail avoiding danger) and all their “wisdom” came from talking over Den Den Mushi with grandma… who in during such crisis was telling them how to remove sticked to floor gum. As crazy Straw Hats are when it comes to challenging the world, they aren’t that insane to sail unprepared on the deadly sea of the New World. Even Luffy panicked, crying for Nami to save them. Zoro and Law on the other hand, seemed more irritated by Bartolomeo’s crew incompetence. Zoro guessed they will have to handle the situation themselves (did he say that to Law in specific, or general, to people around him?) while Law wondered if these guys were for real.

Law and Zoro already had their weapons ready for action, while were standing side by side. Their reaction to the crisis was visually similar, contrasting with panicked Luffy & Usopp and the laughing Robin.

Zoro showed his pragmatic side, by telling Bartolomeo to use his devil fruit power to put an indestructible barrier to protect the ship and everyone on it. Only to hear that he couldn’t do that because of grandma's superstition. With that, Roronoa’s patience for idiocy ran out and he too wondered how that crew survived for so long.

Zoro and Law were on the same page: Bartolomeo and his men were absurd.

The journey was full of dangers.

Judging by the splash of blood on the monster's head that resembles the effect of flying slash, Zoro (or maybe Law) in fact needed to take care of the situation by themselves. According to the narrator box, the journey took a week. Which means Zoro and Law were forced to deal with other people’s idiocy for a long time. Maybe that was another factor to bond over, because both don’t like to put up with the morons (at least, unless it wasn’t their own crews).

On the journey, Law showed his… playful is not the right word, more like deadpan trolling (a trait he will show from on more often). Like calling Usopp the “god”, using the title given to him by Doffy during the Battle of Dressrosa and later used by Marines on his bounty poster. Only to shut down Usopp’s happiness by reminding him in an emotionless way that now all Admirals will look out for him. What of course terrified the sniper.

Trafalgar did not pay to that any mind, explaining Luffy they must be already close to Zou. None Straw Hats (beside Usopp?) seemed to be bothered by Law’s dark sense of humor, so either they were already used to this or simply didn’t care. Though I suspect if Law picked at Chopper, Robin and Zoro reaction could be much different.

Both Zoro and Law had their own way to deal with Bartolomeo and his men. Zoro usually got irritated and told them to shut up, once they were fanboying over something too much. Like seeing Thousand Sunny (chapter 803):

Law, who wasn’t part of Straw Hats thus was treated less nicely, simply changed his request from “give something to us” to “give it to Straw Hats” which worked just fine (chapter 802).

Pirate alliance reached Zou and learned no one was on Thousand Sunny moored next to it. Usopp wanted to stay on the ship while others would search for missing crew members, but Zoro wouldn’t let him. Law was standing close to Usopp and Roronoa, instead of isolating himself like he used to do previously.

↪ Clearly, all Straw Hats, the two samurais and Law had their backpacks fully packed, ready for the next journey. Law provided as much information as he could, but he has never been on Zou himself. Since the group was heading into the unknown, it makes sense they took everything that could be useful during the trip, including spare (warm?) clothes, I guess. But since Law was a guest on Thousand Sunny and we didn’t see him taking much with himself from Punk Hazard (unless it was stored on the ship before the party, but then would Zoro be so surprised by Law joining them?) nor during escaping Dressrosa, I assume Straw Hats equipped him appropriately for the journey. On one hand, there was Kinemon who could easily provide Law clothes thanks to his devil fruit. On another, no one could know what awaited them on Zou and the group could be easily separated and once clothes made by Kinemon were taken down, they disappeared for good, so couldn’t be re-used. Which is why I wonder, if Straw Hats borrowed Law some of their own clothes. Since Zoro and Sanji were the closest to Law’s build, Law could get something from their wardrobe, just in case.

↪ Thinking more about it, what about the one week trip to Zou? The alliance ran away from Dressrosa in hurry taking no baggage with them.Of course, former colosseum fighters turned into Straw Hat Grand Fleet had time to organize everything needed on journey for their heroes and once again, Kinemon’s useful powers were at hand. But Bartolomeo made it clear, he didn’t care at all about Law, so did anyone think to bring spare clothes for him? And if yes, was that something acceptable for Law to wear?

↪ Visually interesting detail, how Zoro and Law have alternating colors. As in, Zoro’s black pants and backpack to Law’s white and white shirt to his black. This will be soon even more noticeable once they get on Zou.

To climb on a gigantic elephant's leg, with his devil fruit powers Kanjuro animated the (poorly drawn) dragon. Manga panel did not show in a clear way who and where was standing (chapter 803) yet judging by what looks like the silhouette of swords, Law and Zoro were standing far away from others but not that far from each other.

Later, Zoro’s position changed, which most likely means some time passed before Kanjuro finished his drawing. Law’s position wasn’t shown, it is hard to tell where he actually went.

The anime (episode 752) put Law much closer to Zoro (and later both around Franky) for the whole waiting to samurai finish his art:

Once the dragon was alive, the alliance rode on it to the Zou’s top, sitting in the following order: Luffy - Zoro - Usopp - Robin - Law - Franky - Kinemon - Kanjuro:

Of course, Luffy had to be the first - Zoro most likely sat after his captain to make sure the idiot will not do something stupid, like… failing asleep. Law sat in the middle between Robin and Franky. In all fairness, he and Zoro had similar posture - the crossed arms.

↪ There is in fact an actual divergence between frames, because at one Law was actually shown between Usopp (who most likely sat close to Zoro in hopes the swordsman will protect him and keep from failing) and Robin. And who knows, maybe Law intended to sit closer to the other Supernovas but Usopp & Robin claimed the seat before him?

During the climb, the samurais explained a bit their situation, mentioning their missing friend who actually happened to be ninja. All Straw Hat boys and Law immediately showed their delight (in case of Law, nerdy side that will show up from time to time from on):

Even though the word “ninja” sparked their interest, the faces of Zoro and Law showed similar expression - a frown. Visually, the Straw Hat & Heart pirates looked funny, with so contrasting mimicries. Open jaw (Luffy) - Frown (Zoro) - Open jaw (Usopp) - Frown (Law).

Out of nowhere, some animal (Mink) fell down and accidentally threw the samurais off the dragon (chapter 804). Thankfully, somehow the men did not die. All Straw Hats were happy to hear that. Law’s face was hard to read anything, but he too looked down after fallen comrades. Because samurais were friends in need of saving, Zoro ordered the dragon to start climbing down, clearly with rescue in the mind. Law didn’t protest.

Despite pain (tiresomess?), the dragon wanted to finish his mission. Seeing how the creature suffered already and with the reassurance from the samurai that they were fine, Straw Hats decided to head ahead.

After a long journey, the alliance finally got to the top. Luffy and Usopp were delighted, Franky cried, Robin and Zoro smiled. Sadly, Law’s face was not presented, but most likely his reaction, the same as Roronoa and Nico was of a “quiet” kind.

Then, the Straw Hats joy died, once the painted dragon - after so much suffering - changed back into picture. The moment was very heartbreaking for everyone… except for Zoro and Law.

That scene once again showed how similar they were to each other. As in: emotionally unaffected and harsh in their judgment. The dragon was in their opinion “just a crappy drawing” and “joke”. Even Usopp’s angry screaming how heartless they were didn’t change their opinion.

Also, nice thing to note: the minimal (or even a lack of) personal space between those two, despite not walking together a moment ago.

While everyone was crying after the brave dragon, Zoro and Law went ahead. To Usopp’s angry rebuke, the Pirate Hunter said:

“We’re in a strange, unfamiliar land. Don’t turn back. Always concentrate on what’s ahead of you.”

With what Law apparently agreed, because none of them stopped for a moment from examining the new place. They shared their observations about gate and watchtower - how dangerously unguarded the place was. What is a nice contrast to Dressrosa, where Law did not add any of his input to the Roronoa’s conclusions about Pica.

Usopp(?) even called them out “all business, no heart”, which highlights how clinically they approached the situation. No emotions, just coolness.

In contrast, Luffy climbed at the watchtower and was totally excited about the whole place. To the point of simply jumping ahead, without worrying about his friends. Usopp (who accompanied Luffy) notified Zoro about the captain's disappearance.

Zoro didn’t show worry nor surprise about their captain’s antics - instead asked if Usopp could see Sanji. Robin wondered shouldn’t they wait for the missing samurai, to which Zoro decided they would go ahead.

Now, without Luffy around, Zoro became the leader of Straw Hats. No one questioned his judgment of the situation. Nor nakama, nor Law.

Next part: Searching for Nakama

#one piece #The development of Law’s relationship with Zoro #roronoa zoro #trafalgar law #zou arc #my analyze #an introverted Law hanging out with fellow introvert Zoro with so many noisy extroverted people around #a summary #nico robin #usopp #monkey d. luffy #franky #law & straw hats #straw hats pirates #law & zoro #zoro & law

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simtrospective · 4 years

Photo

~Makeover time! [4/?]

A series 🙄 in which I take three sims from the first round of TS4 sims I ever made–created before I had every CC slider and skin detail in existence and prior to the (relative) refinement of my sim sculpting abilities–and fix ‘em up only by tweaking, pulling, and pushing; no preset-swapping here! Changes to skintones, skin details, hairstyles, and makeup are allowed where doing so would further bring the sims’ appearances more in line with my original intentions.

"[4/?]” because maybe there will be more some day :P

So I feel like I have to say that I’m not doing these makeovers to make my sims better looking, just in case you’re side-eyeing these.

This is the last round for now, three more brothers: Rocky (whose original version was in my recent 50s lookbook); Ace; and Jimmy.

Why does Jimmy not look at all like his brothers? Well, in their save, that very question was one of the ~continued issues~ in his parents’ tumultuous marriage.

Why does Jimmy now--and hear me out--why does the new Jimmy look vaguely like a young Tom Hanks? ikr!?

(I’ve played a full save with these three dummies so the writing beyond the cut is A. LOT. There are more pics there, too.)

Rocky is a favorite of mine but like so many of my early faves, his face... As you know, I am an incurable default skin swapper-outer and because of that he never looks consistent + he always looks a little unformed, a little cartoonish, on top of having a very unmanipulated, MM-style face to begin with. I think his makeover settles him somewhat so for right now I’ll take it. I can see myself returning him to his original form down the line, however, because it’s the one I know + he looks a bit too mature in his new version.

The day I made him, the first thing he did as soon as the lot loaded was fire up his gaming console and the second thing he did was rage quit the game he was playing; I was hooked. I wish him the best in my new save but I think he’s gonna have another hard road on account of being the uncontrolled emotions king! Shirking off work and then getting fired and then having the audacity to claim unfair treatment king! King of coming on too strong to women out of his league! King of letting his immaturity and meddlesome parents keep his romantic entanglements from progressing past a single night. King of having his mother barge into his bedroom while he and a lady friend are in bed and then king 👏 of 👏 fighting 👏 with 👏 his 👏 mother 👏 in 👏 front 👏 of 👏 half 👏 dressed 👏 said 👏 lady 👏 friend!

Why those clapping hands look like feature-less hen heads... I just--

* * *

In the pictures on the left, Ace doesn’t look that bad!, so you’re going to have to trust me that he’s just really... um... reallllllllllllly unattractive in-game. Generally I don’t care about that (#allsimsarevalid) but the issue for him was his proportions and if I’m the one crafting those proportions, like, there’s some missteps I cannot abide. I said in this very post that I didn’t start these makeovers to make a bunch of supermodels but I felt like I owed Ace something more so yes, it was a goal of mine to make him kinda cute. I feel that I retained his Ace-ness while making him a total qt 3.14. Look at those dimples. Look at those lashes! Lil lamb. Weird little angel statue. Little garden cherub.

Ace's life... man, idk. Struck out with the ladies. Never found his passions. In denial, even as a young adult, about the extent of his parents’ fractured marriage. He took to programming and worked on it autonomously but never achieved greatness because he ended up with some custom trait that caused him to want to sleep, like, twenty-one hours of the day? and that kind of put a wrench in things, never mind that he came from a family that thought computer stuff was for nerds lololololol

All that was bad enough but Ace’s lowest point came when the mother of his children (yes, he found love!) seduced his dad and abandoned the kids to start a new family. But that’s a story for another time. Now, all that happening with his original face? Pathetic and maybe deserved. All that happening with his new face? Um, it wouldn’t and it won’t! Dimples, lashes, lamb.

(Additional fun fact: the mother of Ace’s children was Bridgette, from this post.)

* * *

When I created Jimmy he was a teenager. Here, he is a young adult. Like his brothers, he was a hot mess, but a cool version. He was the neighborhood heartthrob even looking like a baby-faced adult gangster who disguised himself as a newsboy. He’s forty-four but he acts sixty-four and he looks nine! Extra, extra, he says sardonically before pulling a tommy gun from his satchel of newspapers and riddling the facade of your hideaway with a couple-a rounds, see?

My original plan for Jimmy was to not necessarily be “good-looking” but to have all the qualities of someone who the neighborhood/town accepts is good-looking. Oh, that hair! Oh, cheekbones and freckles! Oh, those light eyes. And on and on. 🙄 The first Jimmy could get by as a teen, but his appearance didn’t translate to any older life stage; through elder-hood, he continued to look like a small doll, a child star past his prime. Embarrassing! Now he’s better. When he doesn’t come back after being the sim version of drafted to fight in the sim version of the Vietnam War during the sim version of the year 1969 it’ll be all the more tragic because, you see, it’s just so much worse when someone pretty dies!

(Wow, not me spoiling a plot point I’ll never work through from a story I’ll never write/share!)

Original Jimmy was a real dog and a cheater to his sweet little girlfriend and a jerk to his brothers and thanks to me not checking off the proper settings when I first started using MCCC, he--again, as a teenager 💆‍♀️--entered into an on-and-off affair with Paola (from this post) and they had two kids that her cuck husband pretty much raised while Jimmy kept flitting around town sowing his seed all the while having the gall to force his sweet little girlfriend to end her (surprise but wanted) pregnancy and then dumping her for her troubles. Guess those promise rings meant nothing. If any sim deserves a smirk it’s him so I gave him one.

For the record, Rocky and Ace and Jimmy did in fact all have the same parents because I set it up that way in CAS. To think their mom and dad fought about this when there were so many other things they didn’t like about one another...

#sims 4 #ts4 #makeover time #(mine)#sims 4 makeovers #ts4 makeovers

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wrestledwiththegods · 4 years

Note

I see you do yandere requests and 💦 so what do you imagine the darker papas and Copia are like?

Okay. So. Without going too deep into it, in the time between me writing my original rules, and getting this ask- I had a long and meaningful conversation with a friend about yandere and how a lot of its hallmark traits resemble stereotypes of certain mental illnesses. How this has been harmful to those groups, the stigma, etc. Please know this is not me talking down about your ask or saying you cannot enjoy that content, but I've decided to not write that specific thing for my hcs.

That being said, I am still MORE than happy to write villainous or "darker" hcs that dont involve that specific "obsessive" yandere feel. If that makes sense.

Sorry I hope you still enjoy this!

Also note: most of these have multiple outcomes depending upon certain factors. Ill be tagging anything villain or "darker" as darkau so people can blacklist!

Papa Nihil is a mad king type of villain. It's his world, baby, and maximum hedonism is the goal. He may be older but that does not at all stop him from seeking pleasure even at the risk to his own health. Fucks everything that moves. Holds parties to an extravagant degree. Definitely the kind of bad guy to monologue about past exploits and deeds with the turn of his hand like they weren't horrible things to do. We all (read: other people who aren't him) have to make sacrifices for the church. When he first sees you, you seem like a fun new toy, so to speak. "Cute" is the first word to come to mind.

Likely he first tries to buy your affections. A wolfish smile on his face as he asks if you want a taste of the good life. You two could have some fun. Yet even if you say yes, he soon finds its not enough. Why? He asks himself with a frown. He tries harder, takes more of your time if you let him. You get pulled away from work to have meals with him. He actually asks personal questions about *you* that normally he wouldn't give a shit about in a plaything. But you're not just one of those silly siblings of sin he plays around with.

He hasn't felt this way in a very long time. Its the most serious he's felt in a long time. He still wants to fuck around and basically be his worst self, mind you. But he wants you to be at the top with him. You two can burn brightly together, taking in the best of what his awful actions have bought you. This is if you say yes. If you say no… he smiles. No hard feelings! You'll never be forced to do anything you don't want. It's like he turned off his personality at the drop of a hat. You'll still get gifts after that. Feel his eyes on you around the church. The parties get louder, his screwing around more apparent when you walk in a room. Still, you'll feel his focus on you and nothing else. Almost like he's anticipating for you to change your mind. He'll be waiting.

Papa I - Papa I has always been assumed to be the least threatening of the Emeritus family. He likes to garden, kept to himself after getting off stage. Much of his real "work" is private, you see. Whether it's preparing a poor lost lamb for a ritual after they had betrayed the church for some personal gain. Or slowly and intricately cutting into their skin sigils for the Morningstar. Hes even been known as the best if you need a torturer (although thankfully it is rarer in these days).

You probably take his notice when you express interest in one of his many poisonous plants- lily of the valley. Only if ingested, he tells you. But if you think those are beautiful, he has a lot more he can show you- his private collection.

Its shortly after that you find your duties reassigned to his office. Its out of nowhere, but definitely a step up. The way he phrases it to you is that he needs more help with the garden as one of his previous assistants needed a change of pace. And from what he's heard of you plus your interest, you seem perfect for the job! Really, he just craves to be beside you. Listen to you chatter as you both work the soil, see the sweat roll down your neck on hot days-

The difference between Papa I and everyone else on the list here is that he probably won't make a grand move or gesture. He pines. Hopes that you'll see his feelings and his darkness and love all of it. But deep down he knows how unlikely that is. That one day he'll show you the beauty of ritual hands on. See the blood glisten oh-so-beautifully on your skin. He still sighs happily thinking on it.

If you never express feelings for him, he basically devotes himself to making your life better, in his perspective. Changes your work schedule so its timed well for you to get a good night's rest. Looks out for things you might *need.* If there is anything you want to learn, he's more than happy to show you himself or help you get the resources you need. When it might get bad is when someone expresses interest in you, or you to someone. Ah… well. They're just not good enough for you. Not in his mind. He'll tell you rumors he's heard. Talk to them directly to get them to back off. He has an entire checklist in his mind that they have to meet. Pretty much no one will.

If someone does (its possible but unlikely), however, he feels his heart break. He still pines. And longs. But he lets you go to that person. After all, no matter what horrible things hes done, he wants you to be happy. His heartache is worth that.

Papa II- Papa II as a villain is actually a lot closer to the steteotypes and rumors about him normally- ruthless, cold, and seemingly doesn't care about others. He has this anger deep in his core that is never fully expressed. Truly, he is a sadist in that he usually enjoys the pain of others at his hands. Likes helping out on those rare occasions torture is a thing with Papa I in the lower underground sections of the church. Always seems like hes looking for someone to punish, and usually in a very unpleasant way. Yes, this has extended to death if he deems the "crime" severe enough. The sadism extends into the bedroom for harsh "games"- however he's not a monster when it comes to sexual partners. Still gives them aftercare, even if its a tad on the unfeeling side and more out of obligation.

It probably wasn't just one thing that put you in his sights. He noticed you one day probably doing something kind and kept running into you. He likes picturing your heart racing when you see him, like prey in the face of danger. Over time he starts developing a fondess that he can't quite deny. It's strange. Its been so long since he's genuinely felt this way about anyone, he doesn't know how to react at first. So he pulls out some stops. You get letters, at first, delivered by a ghoul. Later they come with expensive gifts he thinks you'll look good in or enjoy. You should wear it. It pleases him so much to see wear something he got you. Its sort of a subtle claim in his mind. He does expect replies delivered to a certain ghoul or place. Eventually the ghoul comes and there isn't a letter. You're being summoned.

He asks you straightforward to be his prime mover. He's honest in his intentions that he wants you exclusive only to him. He would give you the same if you asked. In fact, he would give you almost anything if you asked. At first this might all seem business but you might notice the slight flush in his cheeks, the unusual hesitation in his voice- little tells. Also the fact he's never asked anyone to be his prime mover, as far as you know. If you say yes, you find he's more gentle when its just the two of you. He has this warm smile in bed you'll catch. He kisses your forehead softly and its this aching tenderness. When others are around, no one would ever know.

If you say no, you are dismissed and he thanks you for your time. Its as if you don't exist to him after that. He just… walks past you like a ghost. Won't acknowledge you if you were to say anything, though I certainly wouldn't. Basically the walls he let down for a brief moment are back up and reinforced. It hurts to see you around, but hes stronger than that. There are things to do in the church. He'll take out these feelings on someone else.

Papa III- As a villain, Papa III is a siren. He's beautiful, says all the right things and pulls lost souls down to the depths with him. On a quick glance, he just seems like someone very devout to the principles of the church and/or hedonistic party guy. His favorite thing to do is lure new people to the church, have them do horrible things and then offer shelter from the other world who will no longer accept them. All with a cute wink or a few silver laced words. This applies to his relationships. He moves fast and likes whoever is interesting at the time- platonic, romantic, alliances. If he decides you're not fun anymore, you get a kick to the curb if the former. The latter usually just ends up to some horrible fate. He thrives on people wanting him so badly they would do anything.

Which is why you as a concept is frustrating. Likely he's already picked you up as someone to have around as a casual fuck or in his "entourage", so to speak. He doesn't fuck around when he wants someone. But you've lasted so long, held his interest. There's a shitty little mercurial part of him that keeps denying what should be obvious. Some days he thinks he'll get rid of you in the morning. Other days he thinks how he can't live without you. He probably has his epiphany when someone else suggests it might be time for you to go. His reaction is filled with anger and aggression. The person seemingly disappeared the next day.

Suddenly he'll be a lot more affectionate. Act like you're his partner in how he conducts himself instead of a follower. All his other sex partners are dumped but not replaced. He asks you be exclusive and practically fucks you to oblivion when you agree. He took after his father in the wolfish smile department. That's what you get from him if you start questioning any of this. Why wouldn't he? You're his favorite. He loves you. The truth of the matter is, even if you didn't love him back, as long as you don't betray him- it stays like this. He adores you and wants you at his side.

If you had answered no to any of it in the first place, he would have gone on without a thought. Oh well!

Papa Copia- Copia is pulling all the strings. He has been for quite a long time. That's why he's papa now, no? Everything and everyone is bent to his will, at least for now until they need another reminder. He's had others killed or just plain framed to get them out of his way. But through it all, the shy and incredibly awkward mannerisms he exaggerated to put peoples guards down, were the most real around you. In gatherings in the church he'd find himself staring, quiet and calculating. He'd slip into fancies about what it would be like to have you romantically. Something about you makes him feel… like an ordinary man. The vulnerability made his heart race and dangle over an imaginary precipice.

Once the new Papacy is official, he comes to you, privately. No, you're not in trouble, he smiles and gives a nervous laugh. He has a proposal. He wants you to be his prime mover. His jewel above all others. If you accept, you'll be treated like royalty in the church. Hanging on his arm at events where no one would dare to touch you or speak ill of you. Sometimes when you're alone he just likes to hold you. Out of all the terrible, rotten things on this earth, you're actually his. Once he realizes he can trust you, he tends to have more vulnerable moments. Things he's probably never told anyone. No matter how stained his hands, he will make sure you are never hurt.

However, you're free to tell him no- He'll be shocked, perhaps try to charm his way. If you still say no, he leaves to think on it. As much as it pains him, if he cannot have you, he would rather not see you at all. He's not going to kill you or hurt you though, no- you might think so for a moment when you're pulled into his office with Imperator behind him. Instead he tells you with some regret that you are to be transferred to another church. He'll miss you, as will the members of the main church of course. But you're needed elsewhere. That's it. As if it was just routine. The next week you leave and he watches you from a window, something in his chest aching. You are his soft spot. And he can't risk having that exposed if he can't have you.

#darkau #ghost hcs #papa nihil #papa i #papa ii #papa iii #papa copia #copia #sooooo i misread until i got done with half of them and added a romantic element WHOOPS #ghost hc #ghost 18+

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sgmwesters · 3 years

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╰ ❛ 💉 — › françois arnaud. cis man. he/him. . ╯ have you met CHRISTIAN FIELDS yet ? this thirty six year old gemini has been living in the Seattle area for two months. He makes a living as a plastic surgery attending, which is best suited for their bold, charismatic, skeptical, and arrogant personality. church by aly & aj is one of their favorite songs, and they’re written by em, 25, gmt, she/her, no triggers

B A S I C I N F O R M A T I O N

FULL NAME: Christian Matthew Fields.

NICKNAME(S): Stee.

AGE: Thirty Six (36).

DATE OF BIRTH: 01 June 1984, Gemini.

HOMETOWN: Boston, Massachusettes.

CURRENT LOCATION: Seattle, Washington.

ETHNICITY: Caucasian.

NATIONALITY: American.

GENDER: Cis Male.

PRONOUNS: He/him.

ORIENTATION: Vibing.

RELIGION: Atheist.

POLITICAL AFFILIATION: None, no interest in politics.

OCCUPATION: Plastic Surgery Attending.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: Medium-ish house.

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English.

ACCENT: Boston.

P H Y S I C A L A P P E A R A N C E

FACE CLAIM: François Arnaud.

HAIR COLOR: Brown.

EYE COLOR: Grey.

HEIGHT: 6 ft 2.

WEIGHT: 162 lbs.

BUILD: Muscular.

TATTOOS: Cliched lion on his chest.

PIERCINGS: None.

CLOTHING STYLE: He doesn’t have a style, it’s probably flannel.

USUAL EXPRESSION: Likely a scowl but he doesn’t mean it.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: None he’s a generic white boy.

H E A L T H

PHYSICAL AILMENTS: none.

NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS: depression.

ALLERGIES: none.

SLEEPING HABITS: what is sleep?

EATING HABITS: bread.

EXERCISE HABITS: he runs after a 2 year old isn’t that enough.

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: look, it’s been a rough ride.

SOCIABILITY: somewhat sociable but won’t say no to watching tv alone.

BODY TEMPERATURE: average.

ADDICTIONS: none.

DRUG USE: none.

ALCOHOL USE: frequently, but careful with it.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

POSITIVE TRAITS: bold, charismatic.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: skeptical, arrogant.

FEARS: leaving annabelle without parents.

F A V O U R I T E S

WEATHER: just prefers being inside.

COLOUR: he doesn’t have a favorite, he’s not seven.

MUSIC: rock and roll.

MOVIES: the lion king.

SPORT: rugby because he thinks it makes him look edgy or smart but he doesn’t actually know the rules.

BEVERAGE: smoothies.

FOOD: garlic bread.

ANIMAL: ducks.

H E A D C A N O N S

Christian Fields was born as the oldest to a younger sister, LUCY FIELDS, in Massachusetts to a fairly wealthy family. The family didn’t want for much, they had the means to obtain what they needed and were comfortable in their lifestyle thanks to their parents jobs (a lawyer and a real estate agent).

Christian was thirteen when their mother fell pregnant again, and having spent far too much time bickering with Lucy growing up, he wasn’t thrilled to learn about the new member of the family at first. It was only as time went on, he became more comfortable with the ideea, growing into the big older brother he knew that he could be. The family became closer than they had been.

When his mother went into labour, Christian had enough of an understanding to know that whatever was going on, wasn’t exactly good. If things were normal, there wouldn’t have been a mad rush to the hospital, there wouldn’t have been as much panic as there had been. All he could do was try and keep calm, try and keep Lucy calm, and wait for any news that might come.

Good news didn’t come at all though, with APH and fetal hypoxia resulting in the loss of not only their baby sister (Hazel, as she was henceforth known), and their mother.

Things got harder from there on out, with their father withdrawing from them completely when he wasn’t completely berating them for the choices that they were making in their lives. Christian put his head down in school, not only to keep on his father’s good side but to be that role model for his sister that his father was no longer stepping up to being.

Christian went on to attend Princeton University, flitting between medicine and law as his father had tried to talk him into a number of times. Despite that however, he had always felt more drawn to medicine, and went on to study at University of Maryland.

It was while studying at the University of Maryland that Christian met BROOKE WALKER, who was also studying medicine. To say that he fell for her charm would be an understatement, and the two continued their romance throughout their time at med school. It was only when it came to being matched to different hospitals, Brooke’s being Seattle and Christian’s being New York, that ultimately pulled the two apart and their relationship ended.

Christian had a natural flare for plastics almost as soon as he started his residency, and it became a no-brainer for him. He worked hard, he proved himself, and he secured not only a fellowship at Tulane - which is where he met Angelica.

Angelica was a neuro fellow at Tulane for the same period that Christian was, and they clicked from the moment that they met. Everyone could see it a mile off, as if it might have been written in the stars, meant to be. They were careful though, knowing that the promise of getting attendings positions in the same place were slim to none.

But it came through, and the pair headed back to the same hospital where Christian had done his residency in New York to kickstart their careers as attendings. It was picture perfect, a fairytale to say the least.

Christian struck up a good working relationship with LUCAS WILLIAMS, with Christian taking a special interest in the reconstruction surgeries of Lucas’s patients, it only became natural that their strong working relationship grew into a friendship that extended beyond the confines of the hospital walls.

When Angelica fell pregnant in 2018, Christian was excited. It hadn’t been their plans as such, but nonetheless he was more than excited to take on the challenge to be a father. He shared the news quickly with his sister, there was nobody else he wanted to know before her.

October of 2018 Angelica and Christian welcomed a baby girl, Annabelle Hazel Fields, who became the centre of his universe very quickly. It was perfect, they had the jobs, they had the house, they had the little girl. Their lives were coming together, almost complete.

That was, up until the winter of 2020. Shortly after Annabelle’s second birthday, Angelica was involved in a car accident on her way to the hospital. It had been late at night, an urgent page for one of her patients that had her leaving their home and moving with haste to the hospital, only for a drunk driver to run a red light, and ultimately take Angelica’s life.

Christian was broken, but had to hold himself together for Annabelle. He knew they he wouldn’t be able to get through it alone - opting to call on the support network of his sister and uproot their lives to Seattle.

#tw infant loss #tw death #tw drink driving #━━ ✦ 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐃𝐒 ❮ biography ❯#traumaintro

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darthspideys · 4 years

Text

all that glitters // 2

chapter 2 // butterflies

Warnings: objectification of men? Is that a thing? Look I pretty much just boil these guys down to their bodies and baseline personality traits sorry if that offends you

a/n: I feel like this is as good as time as any to say that i've never watched an episode of the bachelor or the bachelorette in my life. All the info for this fic came from wikipedia and or a slideshow of bachelor dates so do with that what you will :) also I don’t describe race right off the bat here with your bachelors but they are not all white so don’t picture them that way, that’s not how we do things here :)

You expect them to swarm you like wasps. Judging by the warnings from the crew, and from the poor showing the night before you expected that the moment they saw you they would swallow you up in a circle and you’d have to bend down and crawl to escape. You spend the whole day being shuffled through more interviews, photoshoots, lectures, and everything in between, until it’s finally time to do an actual rose ceremony.

Well.. almost. Before you’re able to eliminate one or two people, you have to meet them first, which you guess makes sense. Today's event is going to be a cocktail party, where you're supposed to mingle and drink with all of the guys, smile for the cameras and then savagely eliminate two of them from the competition right off the bat. You’ve been told that you only have to eliminate too, but you figure the more you kick off the sooner this will be over, and you're sure that more than one of them will do something to annoy you.

Considering their time on this show is on the line, you thought that as soon as they even thought you were coming outside to join the party, they’d swarm you for their chance to make a good first impression. But as you exit the mansion, decked out in a golden dress that doesn’t even make it to your knees, with more gold embellishments and only straps to keep it place no one even seems to bat an eye. You’re a little more offended then you want to let on, not because you want their attention, at least you don’t think you do.

Truthfully, as much as you would never admit it, being the star of the show isn’t such a bad thing. After being on the backburner in your own family, and even out in the world for so long, having the whole thing be about you is something you’re beginning to like. Something about being in control, having their fate in your hands is exciting as much as you want to push that feeling down and make it go away.

You hear the sound of an unfamiliar voice, “And here she is.”

Suddenly, all eyes are on you. All ten guys stare at you and even though you're a ways away you can feel the heat of their stare, and see the anxiousness in their bodies. You wanted them to pay attention to you, and now you have all of it. And it’s not just theirs, the cameras all turn to you, and the sound, and the lights, it shows every inch of you for the world to see. Although you know it’s not live, you can almost see the people watching from their living rooms, your mother watching from her disgustingly gaudy living room, with the moose head mounted above the wall that’s probably watching you too.

It should scare you, it should make you want to run the other way and lock yourself in your room for the next six weeks where no one can see. You should be wilting under the intense light, drying out from the heat of it, but you don’t. You smile, and you revel in it.

Lights, camera, action.

Liam comes up to your first. Everyone sees that he’s staked his claim and disperses off for the moment, to nurse their drinks and or get some more camera time for themselves. If they can’t make you love them, the audience is the next best thing.

“I’m sorry about last night,” He says, still Canadian. He rubs the back of his neck self consciously, and you make note of the camera angled right over his shoulder. Your microphone itches against your upper chest. You sip your own drink, a soda because you're going to have to be sober for this, “I just wanted to see you face to face.”

“They didn’t show you my picture or anything before you got here?” You ask him, “You didn’t even think to know what you were getting into.”

“It’s not the same as seeing someone in person,” He says, and he says it with a kind of meaning you don’t expect. He’s not what you expected, starting with the apology and ending with the clear honesty he is giving you in this moment. “The photos don’t really show how beautiful you are.”

You playfully roll your eyes, “I’m sure you say that to all the girls.” Before he can argue you continue, “Apology accepted, consider the slate clean.”

You’re gone before he can say anything else. You’re not in the mood for hollow compliments, or the kind of flirting usually reserved for the first meeting at a bar or on some app. You move on to different tables and make small talk that you loathe but you smile, maybe because your face is permanently wound into that position.

Anthony is average. He talks a lot about what he does, and it’s good work but you’re getting a hint of something else that you don’t like. The way that he talks about himself is a little too egotistical for your liking.

Lars is a lumberjack. Literally, that’s what he does for a living and he looks it. Even his suit has a flannel tie, just so everyone is aware of exactly what the package is. You like it, even though you know your mother would never approve of something like that (a fact which makes you want him more).

Enzo is from Texas. He is very proud of it, and the southern accent is something that sets him apart. However, the amount that he talks about Texas and the amount that he talks about himself is concerning. He’s cute though, definitely sitting in the middle of your mental ranking.

Liam is, well he’s been previously established.

Chris is obviously here because of good old fashion nepotism. He’s the son of the host, and clearly here to fulfill something for his parents, which is relatable but doesn’t make him any higher than a seven out of ten.

Leo and Lucas as twins. It’s very interesting, and enough to put them above the top five just because of the curiosity of it all. They are almost the same, windswept brown hair and dark brown eyes except somehow Leo has freckles, which puts him about 0.6 higher than his brother.

Ryan is white bread, delicious but boring. He’ll stay for a while, hang on just for kicks but he’ll always be the dead weight, hanging around in the background but the show will be a nice bump for his national profile and let’s be hornets he’ll be in the running to be the bachelor.

Which brings you all the way down to numbers one and two on the current husband to be ranking (if that’s even what you're gonna end up calling it, because it’s too real to stick around for the whole competition). Tom is the handsome stranger from one magical three seconds on a bustling street in New York that you’re very much longing for as you shuffle through conversation with man after man and sip your drink. He is kind of short if you’re being honest, but that’s okay, with brown eyes and dark brown hair. He’s from Britain, which you can tell before he tells you he’s from South London, darling, and staring right at the camera over your shoulder. You don’t talk about your previous meeting, and you wonder if he even remembers. You don’t know whether to hope he does or doesn’t, but you do know that you remember every second of it.

Sanjiv is the golden boy. Young, Indian American, and a favorite to win last season on the Bachelorette. Only the woman went for the bad boy at the last second, and the jury is still out on whether it’ll work. The rumor was he would be the next Bachelor, but here he is standing and smiling at you in a way that makes heat rise to your cheeks and you don’t know what his game is. That makes you nervous, that scares you, that you don’t know what his game is. After the entire afternoon, dancing in circles going from table to table and smiling your face off, you feel like you know what everyone’s game is, but not his. It scares you a bit, that you don’t know what his aim is but it’s a kind of intoxicating uncertainty. He’s the mysterious man that always gets the girl because she desperately wants to figure him out, it's the challenge, it's the chase that why he’s number one.

“I’m sure you’re wondering where my loyalties lie,” He says.

“Something like that,” You tell him, “If this was anywhere near normal I’d be asking you if you were over your ex, or do exes count here?”

“I’d say she’s my ex,” He shrugs, “And I’ve moved on, as much as I can.” He looks at you with an expression you can’t quite interpret. “Promise you won’t pick someone else over me at the last minute?”

That makes you smile, and you hope that he’s joking. “I will make no such promises, but if the situation arises I will give twenty four hours notice.”

“At the very least will you not eliminate me first?” He’s teasing you and you can tell. “It would be a little embarrassing for my image.”

“Well anything for your image, I was going to but I guess I’ll just have to pick someone else now.”

His laugh is natural, and you get those same butterflies in your stomach as you did in high school when you tried to impress your crush and you joke just landed. The little churn that comes with the possibility that the answer to does he like me? Might be yes. For a moment you forget your on tv, you forget that you're the girl everyone wants, the one in the gold dress and you’re just you. You're just a girl, standing in front of a boy that you see something in, something that you can’t quite describe or touch but you feel it. That’s truly why he’s number one. That feeling doesn’t come around a lot for you, the butterflies, usually you're anxious because of a work deadline or a family dinner but this is something else entirely.

You don’t know what his game is. But your dying to find out.

Tag list:

@anikinskywalkr

@living-life-underoos

@poesflygirl

#fun fact this was not going to go this way when I first started it #but I like it now?#me? not introducing tom holland in a tom holland fanfic #yeah thats what's happened #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x oc #tom holland series #tom holland au #all that glitters series

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flutteringphalanges · 4 years

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Caught in a Riptide

Summary: After the infamous Count Dracula is discovered and taken into custody by the Jonathan Harker Foundation, former nun and now guardian to her young niece, Zoe, Agatha Van Helsing is tasked with keeping tabs on the vampire after a mishap leads to his release into modern day society. Can Agatha remain levelheaded, or will fate turn her onto a new path?

Pairing: Dracula/Agatha Van Helsing

Rated: M

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A/N: Hello Dracula fandom again! It's me, ya gal, who has way too many story ideas in her head. Anyway, I hope you guys will enjoy this one! This first chapter is very heavy on backstory so I promise future chapters won't be like that. I just wanted to set the scene. Alright, here we go! Feedback’s greatly loved and appreciated!-Jen

Chapter One

Theology. Quite an expansive, intriguing study that, like a tree, holds many branches. Biblical, Systemic, Practical, all subjects that have been delved into for centuries. Perhaps one of the more fascinating topics centers around Renaissance theology-more importantly, the possibility of a love bond between man and demon. Outwardly, the aspect of falling in love with something deemed evil is seemingly preposterous. But can a singular trait be forced upon another? At what point can romance, love, conquer these barriers? Is it possible to find humanity in such dark things? These questions must be kept in mind as two unlikely paths cross, testing these uncertain waters. A riptide.

Agatha set down a plate of eggs and bacon onto the table. It was early in the morning-a school day, and getting her niece ready and out the door in time to drop her off before heading into work was a task in itself.

For nearly three years, Zoe had remained under her care. It had been a tragic car accident that took the lives of her brother and sister-in-law, and seeing as they had no other family, Agatha left St. Mary's Convent to take in the seven year old. There were no regrets to be held. The woman dearly loved the child. But returning to society and seeking out a new job had been difficult. That was, until she found the Jonathan Harker Foundation. Or rather, they found her.

"Zoe," she called out, pouring a glass of orange juice. "Come on, we can't afford being late again today."

"I'm hurrying, Aunt Aggie," chirped a voice down the hall. "I was getting dressed!"

A small girl skidded into the kitchen, her mismatched socks causing her to nearly glide into the counter. Agatha grabbed her just in time, the drink in her hand dangerously close to sloshing onto the floor. Zoe peered up at her aunt with bright, blue eyes and a toothy grin. Her hair, the same shade of chestnut brown as her aunt's, still tousled from sleep.

"Were you planning to go into school today with your hair like that?" Zoe merely shrugged, sitting down happily to her breakfast. Agatha snorted softly, her mouth curving into a small smile. "Well, start eating and I'll grab a brush. "We don't want people to think you live in a zoo, yes?"

"I wanna live in a zoo," the child replied, biting into a piece of bacon. "I like animals!"

"Then perhaps we can get a dog one day," the woman chuckled, booping the girl on the nose. "Now finish your food so we can get on the road."

The Van Helsing surname held quite a history to it, the most notable member Abraham Van Helsing. The man was a well accomplished doctor, respected by all who knew him. However, Abraham's interests extended far past the average medical background. In particular, his study and expertise on vampirism. On the infamous Count Dracula of Transylvania.

The legend had been passed down from generation to generation. Tales recounted of the dangerous beast. Yet, as time wore on, the words had become a mere myth. Silly stories meant to scare a child into being good. Nevertheless, Agatha found them truly fascinating. Memorizing. And even the slightest idea that they were possibly true sparked a flame within her.

For those reasons alone, Agatha found herself taking the three vows of a nun and joining St. Mary's Convent. A thirst to learn more by combining her own knowledge and the teachings of Christianity. If her great, great grandfather was correct, then her efforts would not be in vain. That she wouldn't seem so air-headed as her brother had claimed from the beginning when she invested everything into proving Abraham's legacy.

It was only years later that she finally found the one thing that tied the loose ends. The Jonathan Harker Foundation. The very institution that was right under her nose. An organization that shared the same ideals to her cause. If only she had learned about the mysterious medical facility with an underground secret from the start, how different things might've been.

Agatha pulled up to the curb in front of the primary school watching as other children hopped out of their cars and headed towards the main entrance like a school of fish. In her rear view mirror, she caught sight of Zoe freeing herself from the confines of her seat belt, humming a nonsensical tune she'd just come up with.

"Do you have your backpack?" Her aunt inquired as the little girl swung it over her shoulders. "Lunch box?"

"Mhm," Zoe nodded, gripping the fabric handle of the floral decorated bag. "I made sure not to forget anything this time!"

"Good girl," Agatha smiled. She really didn't want to have to rush out of another meeting due to a call from the school that she'd forgotten to bring her food. "Kisses." Zoe gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Remember Mrs. Avery will be picking you up today."

"But I don't want to go to Mrs. Avery's," the girl whined. "She makes me watch The Price is Right and it's so boring!"

"Maybe she'll have cookies," the woman replied. "You like her cookies."

"I guess," Zoe answered, letting out a long, dramatic sigh. "You won't forget to pick me up?"

"I promise as soon as I get off, I will head straight over there," Agatha said with a smile. "Before dinner. I'll make something nice. Say...pizza?"

The young girl seemed to perk up a bit. "Okay!"

"Now run along, I'll see you later," she said as the child opened the car door. "I love you."

"Love you too!" Zoe called out as she exited the car. "Don't forget me!"

Forget. The more Agatha thought about it, the more it stung. Zoe had only just turned four when her parents died. She, of course, had still been in Budapest at the time, unaware until a few days later when someone finally contacted her. Apparently the girl had been in nursery school when the wreck happened. She'd watched all of the other children go home, confused as to where her mother and father were. Hours she spent there, waiting to be picked up. Believing that perhaps her they had forgotten her. Abandoned her. Zoe had been forced to learn about death early on. Something no child should ever have to face.

It had been rough, those first few months together. She and Zoe hadn't exactly been well acquainted, seeing as the former nun lived in Budapest while she called England home. Agatha didn't have a lot of experience with children and it showed in the beginning. Things were awkward. She didn't know popular shows, toys, activities, but she tried her damnedest. For Zoe. And with time and the compassion she held, the two eventually grew very close. After all, they were the only family each other had.

The parking lot outside of the institution was semi filled as Agatha, finding her usual shady spot, fished her identification badge out of her purse. She frowned at the photo on the key card, noting how ridiculous wide and unnatural her smile was. Why couldn't she ever get a decent picture right? Shaking her head, she exited the vehicle and headed inside.

"Good morning, Joe," Agatha smiled, nodding her head. "Ted."

The two lobby guards looked up from their hot drinks, their attention turning to the woman. Things had been slow, relatively speaking. Not much excitement had happened since Agatha became a part of the Foundation. Which, she supposed, in a way was good. But she craved true confirmation of Dracula's existence. A need to have real, physical evidence on top of everything she'd gathered from her own exploration.

The long stretch of hallway leading through the locked doors and into the belly of the building was rather bare. Except for a single portrait-that of Jonathan Harker. He had a kind face, soft expression that was welcoming. And yet, each time she came across it and gave it a hard stare, something didn't sit right. A strange, unsettling feeling that despite the friendliness of it was almost off putting.

"Agatha!"

Just as the former nun began to slide her card through the reader, a young man hurried up to her. Dr. Jack Seward. He, like her, had been hired around the same time by the Foundation. Fresh out of medical school, Jack was a brilliant man paired with a caring heart. She thought very fondly of him, almost as if he were a younger brother.

"Hello, Jack," she greeted. "I thought you were taking the day off today. Weren't you supposed to visit an old friend…" she paused. "Lucy was it?"

The man visibly flinched and Agatha was momentarily taken aback. Had she said something wrong? Before she could ask, or rather, apologize, another researcher came bursting through the set of doors. Very winded. Very excited. Meg.

"Oh, thank god," she panted. "You're finally here!"

"I didn't think I was running late," the former nun replied almost hesitantly, glancing over at Jack. "Did we have a meeting or…"

"No," Meg waved her hand, shaking her head. "No, we found something! Off of the mainland!" The researcher's smile was wide, a look of excitement that one does not usually see that early in the morning. "They sent out a team! They found it, Agatha!"

"Found what exactly?" She still wasn't quite following the other woman. "What did they find, Meg?"

"The Demeter! The wreckage! We bloody found it!"

For well over a century, The Harker Foundation had been searching for the vessel. It was believed, as a few survivors claimed, that Count Dracula had been one of the passengers onboard the ship set for England. But disaster struck, and mayhem with it, and the boat never made it to port. No one had known of its final location. Until now.

"What?!" Agatha asked in disbelief. "Are you-are they quite sure?!"

"It bloody says The Demeter on the side of it," Meg laughed. "I don't know what else it could be!"

She might as well have been a child on Christmas morning. Finally something. Evidence. A missing puzzle piece to it all. Someone was laughing and it took Agatha a moment to realize the noise was coming from her.

"What else have they found?! Any indication of Count Dracula? Are you currently in contact with them?" Agatha began to bombard the poor woman with questions. "Is Bloxham out there?"

"It's been over thirty minutes since they last radioed in," Meg responded. "Bloxham says they don't exactly know the extent of it. But they've begun to put markers down. The news is calling for a storm, so we might be forced to come in early and return tomorrow."

A storm. One hundred and twenty three years since The Demeter disaster and they were going to let a bloody storm step in their way of searching? The corners of Agatha's mouth twitched into a frown and suddenly she found herself wishing she was out there along with them. Her impatience was not allowing her to rationally consider the safety of it all. What exactly did the ship hold? And more importantly, where was Dracula?

"I want to be kept updated," she finally said, in the same firm voice she used to scold Zoe. "If anything happens, even the most minute detail, I want to be made aware."

Meg gave her a nod. "I'll keep you posted," she promised.

"Thank you," Agatha smiled, turning to Jack. "I suppose this is one for the books."

As the day wore on, the former nun's restlessness only grew as she anxiously awaited for any word from Bloxham and the rest of the crew. To distract herself, she tried to focus on her notes. It didn't help much, but at least it was something. Glancing at the clock, she was surprised to see it was nearly time for her to pick Zoe up. As much as she didn't want to go, she knew she must.

"Please keep me posted," Agatha said, gathering all of her things from off her desk. "I don't care if it's the middle of the night, wake me up."

"They'll be coming back in soon enough," Jack said, grabbing her key card before it fell to the floor. "I'm sure you won't miss anything."

"Nevertheless, I want to be in the loop," she replied, exhaling as she adjusted her belongings in her arms. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jack. Hopefully we'll have something."

Not in a million years would she have believed that her research on Count Dracula would've gone this far. Upon moving to England with Zoe, she wasn't quite sure what to expect until the day she received the life altering phone call. Evidently, it wasn't just Abraham Van Helsing who'd been hellbent on studying Count Dracula. Even more surprising was that he was at least aware of the construction of the institution and its purpose.

Bloxham had been the one to reach out to Agatha expressing her condolences. It was clear, though, that her intentions went further than mere well wishes. According to the head researcher, the Foundation had first contacted her brother, who immediately turned them down. He'd never believed in the existence of vampires and found the institution just as absurd as his sister. It was only when the former nun agreed to a position, that the Harker Foundation finally had a Van Helsing heir.

Agatha walked up to the front door of the tiny, blue house and wrapped three times. Almost immediately, it swung open and Zoe through her arms around her aunt's waist. She acted as if she hadn't seen the woman in years, much less a few hours. Old Mrs. Avery had just made it to the door by the time the little girl had grabbed her belongings.

"Aunt Aggie, I missed you," she exclaimed. "You didn't forget me!"

"I'd never forget you," Agatha smiled, patting the top of her head. "Were you good for Mrs. Avery?"

"She was very well behaved," the older woman smiled. "Why, we five episodes of The Price is Right together! I've never met someone who enjoyed it as much as I do."

"There were cookies," Zoe explained. "Can we go?"

"Tell Mrs. Avery thank you first," the former nun instructed, giving the other woman a smile. "Thank you, Jane."

"Of course. Anytime, Agatha," Mrs. Avery replied. "She's always a joy to have."

Zoe sang loudly, and off key to a pop song in the back seat as Agatha drove them home. At least she seemed to be in a pretty good mood. By the time she started dinner, the sun had already begun to set over the horizon.

"James Hopkins blew milk out of his nose today," her niece informed her as Agatha set a plate in front of her. "It was pretty cool. But then he got in trouble."

"Well I certainly hope you won't try doing the same," she exhaled, joining her at the table. "Did anything else happen today?"

"Hm…" Zoe pondered. "I painted in art!"

"Oh? What did you paint?"

"A toad," she answered, taking a bite out of her pizza. "I glued googly eyes to it."

Just as Agatha opened her mouth to reply, her cell phone rang. Excusing herself, she stood up and retrieved the device from where it sat on the counter. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw the name on the screen. Jack Seward.

"Jack?"

"Zoe," came the voice on the other line. "They found him. They found Count Dracula."

#Dracula #Dracula 2020 #Agatha Van Helsing #Dragatha #Dracula x Agatha #Caught in a Riptide

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buzzdixonwriter · 3 years

Text

ALPHAVILLE

Alphaville is a film you must watch.

Not “watch” in the conventional sense, where you passively sit and let sound and image wash over you, the type of slickly made / often entertaining mainstream factory pap that explains the plot points every fifteen minutes for anybody who went to the bathroom / checked their phone / nodded off in the interim.

“Watch” in the sense you must follow it close, actively paying attention to what unspools before you.

It is not a difficult film to follow, but you’ll be lost if you blink.

Alphaville the motion picture can be described several different ways.

One way -- the most common way, the easiest to reduce down to a simple logline -- is the producers of the Lemmy Caution movies (a European version of the Sam Spade / Philip Marlowe type of private eye character) threw caution to the wind and asked then La Nouvelle Vague wunderkind Jean-Luc Goddard to direct the next installment of the character’s adventures, resulting in a weird / off beat combination of film noir and sci-fi.

This would be like the Shaft franchise asking David Lynch to direct an entry.

Another way -- and in my view, far more accurate yet more difficult to explain -- is that Alphaville is a series of discussions on philosophy / theology / poetry covered with a dream-like patina of surreal tough guy antics.

Goddard, a film and pop culture maven since childhood, wisely mixes science fiction with stereotypical private eye tropes to bring these discussions to life.

The science fiction aspect is the first and foremost element, but the world of the private eye is needed to make Alphaville complete.

Science fiction enables Goddard to bring deep philosophical questions up to the surface by couching them in sci-fi terms that let them be treated as concrete concepts instead of abstract ideals.

Alphaville isn’t the first film to do that, not by a long shot, but the challenge in using sci-fi to discuss big ideas is that the spectacle of the genre may overpower the theme, the form triumphing over the content.

Metropolis, as superlative as it is, is a prime example of that.

Goddard’s stroke of genius lay in double filtering his message through the stereotypes and cliches of private eye fiction. Eddie Constantine’s Lemmy Caution is brutish and confrontational but uses that as a physical shield to protect a very human soul. This enables Goddard, through the character, to anchor the flighty intellectual aspects of the story in a grim and gritty reality that filmgoers could readily identify with.

Even at its most grim and gritty points, Alphaville continues to play with pop culture, tongue firmly in cheek in the manner in which it examines its questions, but like a prophetic parable carrying a far deeper and more profound meaning than apparent on first blush.

The plot is very pulpish, suitable for either Planet Stories or Black Mask Detective.

Caution, posing as a journalist for Figaro-Pravada but actually secret agent 003, arrives at Alphaville, the capital of a far distant planet (or galaxy; Goddard either not knowing or not caring about the difference and using the terms interchangeably throughout the film).

Alphaville appears identical to Paris of 1965, and indeed references in the dialog suggest the story is taking place in the very near future.

Ostensibly there to do a story on Alphaville, in reality he’s tracking down two men: Professor Vonbraun (Howard Vernon), an American scientist formerly known as Nosferatu who has gone to Alphaville and established himself as the de facto human face and hands of Alpha 60, the computer that runs the society; or failing that, locating Henri Dickson (Akim Tamiroff), a previous Earth secret agent sent after Vonbraun who apparently vanished.

Caution’s mission is to return Vonbraun / Nosferatu or kill him; his superiors are aware Vonbraun is guiding Alpha 60 to launch a massive war against the rest of the galaxy. (Why Alpha 60 thinks this war is a good idea comprises the true heart of the picture.)

Caution is met soon after his arrival by Natacha Vonbraun (Anna Karina), a computer programmer for Alpha 60 and the (apparently adopted) daughter of Professor Vonbraun. She unintentionally manages to arrange an encounter between Caution and Vonbraun, resulting in Caution being targeted for first interrogation then recruitment by Vonbraun and Alpha 60.

If you’ve never heard of Alphaville before this, you may be imagining this in grandiose Blade Runner style, but Goddard wanted his film grounded in reality so he shot using real locations, no special effects (other than the screen images turning negative in a few instances), and no elaborate props or costumes.

Alphaville literally is Paris of 1965, and the soulless laboratories and indoctrination centers and police stations are what was then mid-century modern architecture.

What makes Alphaville the society so alien is that Vonbraun through Alpha 60 turned the world into a completely logical / unemotional civilization. Goddard combines nods to Russian Communism, Orwell’s 1984, and French existentialism to shape the society of Alphaville, at first glance seemingly so like our world, but soon revealed in word and gesture to be radically different.

Gene Roddenberry got logical civilizations all wrong with the planet Vulcan. A logical civilization would not become a world of high minded aesthetics but rather of haunted, empty human souls using sensuality in lieu of spiritual values.

Despite its supposedly logical / non-individualistic nature, Alpha 60 acts to preserve itself. It relentlessly controls the population through language and censorship, hammering down any outbursts of individuality or spiritual leanings (spiritual here expanded to more than conventional religion).

This desire for self-preservation, fueled and guided by Vonbraun, manifests itself in its plans for galactic war aimed at subjugating all other planets so that they may never threaten Alpha 60 (the film leaves as a far question which came first, the egg of Alpha 60’s antagonistic plans, or the hen of the other planets sending agents like Caution to thwart them).

Goddard was no computers expert and he made Alphaville long before artificial intelligence research moved from the theoretical to the practical, but he nonetheless raises an interesting issue: Alpha 60’s oppressive nature is clearly hardwired into its cybernetics by Vonbraun, yet Alpha 60 displays enormous curiosity in the very human traits it strives to eliminate while Vonbraun feels so sure of himself as Alpha 60’s chief architect that he fails to realize his creation is truly thinking for itself, not following the guidance he programmed in.

Much of the philosophical inquiry in Alphaville centers on religion, but here Goddard doesn’t use “religion” in the conventional term of a set of dogmas and creeds too often followed blindly and slavishly by the uninquisitive and the superstitious, but in the difference between philosophy and theology.

Theology is best described as a sub-set of philosophy dedicated to things of the spirit (i.e., abstract, not necessarily supernatural). It reflects how we think and feel about unknowable and unprovable concepts.

Philosophy and ethics can be tested; we can see if the golden rule is a viable philosophy to follow, we can judge if one view of how the world works is more accurate than another.

As stated, the key difference is that philosophy never presumes to postulate a final answer, and when it offers an insight it never claims that insight represents absolute reality.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is philosophy because it reflects a view of reality never meant to be taken literally; far too often religious devotees insist their parables be taken literally and at face value, not any deeper, more meaningful one. Caution defeats Alpha 60 in the end by luring the computer into a trap of its own devising. Unable to grasp why humans value love and emotion and things of the spirit, it searches for meaning where it can find none because as advanced as it is, it cannot intuitively grasp their importance.

Alpha 60 realizes it is a little tin god, and in its futile attempt to elevate itself to the next level ends up destroying the very fabric of Alphaville’s social order.

Caution drives Natacha away from Alphaville to safety in the end, cautioning her like Lot’s wife not to look back. Natacha responds with a tentative expression of emotion: "Je vous aime" (and notice the use of the formal vous instead of the more intimate tu, she is starting to regain her humanity but a long road remains ahead of her).

In terms of execution, Alphaville is an extremely economical looking film (as well it should be since everything was shot on existing locations using the light weight cameras the French New Wave loved so dearly). The alienness comes across in the societal mannerisms, the elliptical dialog, and the odd juxtapositions found in the city.

Case in point: The phrase "I'm very well, thank you, you're welcome. Don’t mention it" is repeated frequently in the film.

At first it sounds like a typical social bromide, but as it is used again and again it takes on a more ominous, then sinister meaning.

It is not a polite thanks and dismissal but a warning, both to others and the speaker, not to entertain certain ideas.

Alpha 60 tries to control the citizens of Alphaville by controlling the language, banning certain words, changing the meanings of others. Characters refer to looking something up in the Bible more than once in the film, but only later is it revealed the Bible of Alphaville is a dictionary, and the salvation found within is the accepted language of the day.

The film maintains a dream-like quality throughout. Like most dreams, it certainly carries a strong, realistic feel yet at the same time is populated by surreal events and juxtapositions.

This dream-like quality plays well off the stereotypical private eye derring-do. Hard boiled shenanigans pop up almost randomly yet oddly not unexpectedly throughout the film viz Caution getting involved in a fist / gun fight with a hotel detective trying to spy on him as a “seductress third class” attempts to seduce him. It’s less than a minute of wild slam bang action and then it’s dismissed as if it never occurred, with Caution and the seductress continuing their cat and mouse game.

The film juxtaposes the opulent hotel lobby where Caution first checks in with the seedy rundown hotel lobby where he finds Dickson. The latter seems scarcely larger than Dickson’s seedy room, yet is crowded with its own staff (each engaged in some impossible to define task) and its own seductress third class waiting for clientele.

One of the most iconic scenes in Alphaville are the executions. Rebels against Alpha 60 (i.e., people who read =gasp!= poetry) walk out on a diving board over a swimming pool and are shot while making their last statement.

As they fall in the water a line of bathing beauties dive in, swim over, and drawing knives administer the coup de grace to the victim by repeatedly stabbing them underwater.

Which, incidentally, brings us to another point we need to acknowledge: How Goddard, Alphaville the film, and Alphaville the society treat women.

From our perspective almost 60 years later, we can look back at Alphaville and excuse its depiction of women by saying it was simply parodying the style of private eye movies of the era.

Which is true…but not enough.

Both French culture at that time and movies in general did not present what we’d consider an enlightened view of gender politics, and the females of Alphaville are all there for eye candy.

In some cases it works: The aforementioned synchronized bathing beauty executioners are so ludicrous as to be funny in a grim way, yet there are no other non-eye candy female characters to balance them out (there is a female cab driver, certainly unusual casting for a mid-1960s film, but she’s as gorgeous as all the other women).

And while one gets the idea behind each hotel employing professional seductresses (as an amenity in the world of Alphaville, as a commentary on the commodification of human relations in the film), today our reaction is more along the lines of “Is this really necessary?”

Far be it for me to tell Jean-Luc Goddard how to make movies, but it seems there could be half a dozen or more alternative ideas that would get the same point across without reducing women to this role.

Even Anna Karina’s Natacha gets subjugated to this mindset, serving mostly as a tour guide until the end of the film where she finally starts engaging more directly with the central conflict.

It’s not a comfortable look today, but we can live with it when viewed as a commentary on the style of the era. Compared with the Bond movies or almost any counter-culture film of the 1960s, it’s hardly the worst offender.

Here’s where I’m supposed to wrap things up and tell you to go watch the movie.

Okay, go watch the movie.

I’m not going to be hyperbolic and proclaim Alphaville a great movie because it’s a film set so far apart from the mainstream of cinema and the genres it mashed up that it’s not even an apples and oranges comparison but more like apples and the sound of autumn rain on the roof.

But seriously, you need to watch this movie.

#Alphaville #Jean-Luc Goddard #Lemmy Caution #science fiction #sci-fi #film noir #cinema #French New Wave #philosophy #theology #poetry #religion

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