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toomanyfeelings5 · 7 years

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happy, part 5

drama! intrigue! sexual tension!

the fic continues. here’s a post i made that links to the other parts.

9. the door closes. there’s a long, embarrassed silence.

then, finally, after a brief cough:

“sorry about that.”

rosamund doesn’t look up from her laptop. she has a fashion design exam tomorrow morning. “no problem.”

chelsea doesn’t take the hint. she keeps talking. rosamund hears her shift from foot to foot. “no really, that wasn’t cool. i should’ve, um, texted you or something--”

rosamund shakes her head, sits straighter at her desk, skims the title of an article she has to review. “just let me know next time. it’s alright.”

chelsea almost says something, mutters under her breath, and then she asks, “are you sure?”

textile design in the industrial age: a comprehensive summary. that’s the article she has to review. she leans closer to the laptop--the text is tiny.

she tries to read, but she can’t focus, not really. chelsea doesn’t answer her texts promptly. chelsea hadn’t bothered to tell her that she had someone coming over. chelsea hadn’t bothered to answer when rosamund had texted her to ask if she could use the room to study. chelsea hadn’t even bothered to lock the door when her and some girl decided to make out on her bed and--and--

the other thing is that chelsea’s half of the room is decked out in punk aesthetic--band posters, embroidered patches, a guitar rosamund hasn’t ever seen her play--it’s a disaster. an absolute disaster.

rosamund squeezes her eyes shut. she doesn’t want to think about opening the door, about seeing her roommate half-dressed in an entirely new context, about any of it. she opens her eyes. it was just a lack of communication. that’s all. she’s just tired from schoolwork. chill. she needs to chill.

rosamund says, “it’s fine.”

chelsea probably runs a hand through her dark hair--it’s probably a mess, all tangled and loose--but rosamund doesn’t know for sure, because rosamund stares at her laptop. rosamund does not look at her. eventually, chelsea apologizes one more time, gets the hint, and leaves to get dinner with friends.

rosamund gets an A on her exam. she grips the paper tight in her hands, and it still doesn’t feel like a victory.

10. it’s been a month since dorming with chelsea beatrice, and thankfully, there has only been one other time in which chelsea forgot to text her about having "a friend” over.

chelsea doesn’t have hook-ups over often--she doesn’t seem to hook up with a lot of people anyway. mostly she skypes with her grandma and her mom and her younger sisters, hikes on the weekends, and has her artsy-music-STEM friends over occasionally, and ok, rosamund has to admit it: chelsea isn’t an awful roommate. not ideal--the sex pistols, really?-- but not awful.

there’s one friday night in early october when they both finish all of their work around the same time--this is a bit of a minor miracle, since chelsea double-majors in physics and political science, and rosamund double-majors in business and fashion--and chelsea suggests that they watch the princess bride to celebrate.

“you said it’s one of your favorites, right?”

“yeah,” rosamund smiles, pleased that chelsea remembered. “yeah, it is.”

“cool, it’s one of mine too. let’s watch it.”

it’s all well and good, sitting on rosamund’s bed, watching the princess bride on chelsea’s bigger laptop, until chelsea points to the screen when the dread pirate rogers makes his first appearance and says, “you know, i think that this movie would be a lot better if wesley was a girl.”

rosamund frowns. “i....suppose that would be nice--”

“i mean--” chelsea pauses the movie, waves her hand. “i mean like, wesley is a super hot guy, don’t get me wrong.”

rosamund nods, because of course, of course he’s a super hot guy.

chelsea continues. “so like, wesley was one of my biggest crushes when i was little, but i also totally loved buttercup. and my point is that the princess bride should have had wesley be a girl. it’d have the whole True Love theme be so...revolutionary, and...” her voice quiets. she picks at the sleeve of the weathered leather jacket she wears all the time. “i think i really needed that kind of stuff, when i was a kid.”

rosamund hums. “yeah.” she shifts slightly. she doesn’t know what to say, has never known what to say when things like this come up. “can we keep watching?”

“yeah, let’s do it,” chelsea enthuses too quickly.

rosamund wants to enjoy watching it, and in some ways she does: she likes laughing with chelsea at all of the funny parts, she likes telling chelsea her favorite moments.

the problem is that she gets distracted whenever wesley and buttercup hold hands or kiss or say, “as you wish,” because rosamund keeps picturing wesley as a girl, and she she shouldn’t want to, and it’s distracting.

the movie ends, rosamund almost flinching when wesley and buttercup kiss for the last time, and chelsea leans back against a few makeshift pillows after she’s put her laptop away. “man, that’s a classic. fezzik and inigo are totally married.”

“totally.” rosamund lets loose a laugh, a bit higher than her normal one, but at least she knows exactly how to talk about this. “my brother fred says the same thing! his friend max always says that wesley and inigo should’ve ended up together.”

“oh my god,” chelsea grins, and she shifts slightly closer to rosamund: when had she moved away? why is she so much more relaxed now? “oh my god, wesley and inigo! i hadn’t thought of that.”

“yeah, fred and max argue about it a lot.”

“it’s worth arguing about!”

they chat about it some more, and they talk about the costuming in the movie, and the sword fight choreography, and eventually chelsea nudges rosaumund’s shoulder and asks, “hey, you’re taking dance classes, right?”

“yeah,” rosamund says, raising her eyebrows. “why do you ask?”

“oh, well, you know.” chelsea adjusts her thick-framed glasses. “do you need a partner still? you were saying something about it to your friend dana--?”

“oh right,” rosamund says, frowning slightly: since when did chelsea remember so much about her, or care? “yeah, i need a partner for next week. we’re practicing the waltz.”

“cool,” chelsea almost mumbles, and stares at her hands. “i just--i did a lot of ballroom dancing when i was younger, and i’m looking to get back into it i guess. i hope it’s not weird or anything, but--” she looks up at rosamund, plaintive, and asks, “but is it ok if i’m your partner? for next week?”

rosamund raises her eyebrows, feels her shoulders tense. she had been planning to ask robert or emmanuel or jason, guys from the dance class, or even luke from the student association, but chelsea...well, she’s apparently an experienced ballroom dancer. it might be useful.

“i suppose--yes, that would be nice of you.”

“awesome,” chelsea beams. “thank you so much, i’m so excited to get back into dance--i’m a little rusty but i shouldn’t be too awful--”

“not a problem, i have two left feet most of the time anyway--”

“so i could teach you,” chelsea laughs, and rosamund shakes her head: chelsea had never teased her before. are they friends now instead of semi-cordial roommates?

chelsea is expecting a response, so rosamund says quickly, “i’ve always wanted to learn to dance. i’m just not very good at it so far.”

“that’s alright,” chelsea shrugs easily. “you’ll pick up on it the more you do it.”

“yeah. practice makes perfect.”

“eh,” chelsea shrugs again. “perfect isn’t the goal anyway.”

rosamund’s not sure what to say to that, and then she feels inept about it, so she’s almost grateful when chelsea changes the subject and asks, “is it ok if i have a girl over next week? i’ll definitely text you in advance and we won’t be long, i--”

“alright.”

chelsea frowns. her voice cools. “you’re doing that thing again.”

rosamund’s jaw twitches. “what thing?”

“that thing where you freeze up whenever i mention being with a girl.” chelsea squints. her brown eyes harden. “you didn’t do that when i brought a guy over.”

rosamund opens her mouth, closes it. her face is heating up, she can feel it. her nails dig into her palms. “i’m not prejudiced, if that’s what you’re asking. i don’t care who you have relations with--”

“i’m not saying you’re a total biphobe,” chelsea interjects. “jeez, i’m not saying that at all. i’m just....look, i have to ask: do you have a problem with me being bisexual? do you have a problem with me being with a girl?”

“no, no of course not!” rosamund smiles slightly, because this is a ridiculous line of questioning. there’s a stab of guilt in her chest--she sees max at his first pride--but she elects to ignore it this time. why does everyone keep asking her this? why does everyone assume that she’s--that she’s--“i have no problem with you being bisexual, or being with girls or guys or otherwise or whoever you want to be with. my brother’s gay, and max is basically my second brother and he’s gay, and i’m--”

“ok,” chelsea raises her hands. “ok, i get it. sorry for asking, it’s--i’ve had shitty people say shitty things to me before, and i wanted to make sure, that’s all.” her tone remains light and casual, but rosamund feels the air still when chelsea continues. “when you, uh...when you walked in on georgia and i, you’d looked--”

“terrified?”

the word slips out of her mouth, stark and open in the air.

rosamund wishes very much that chelsea would move away so their shoulders are no longer touching. she needs her space. she needs to control herself.

“i was going to say horrified,” chelsea says slowly, frowning slightly. she does not move away. “which like, yeah, it was an awkward situation--sorry again--but like, anyway. glad this is all behind us now. rosamund vincy is the one true ally, everyone.”

irritation prickles up her spine. “guess i am.”

“there it is,” chelsea mutters. “there’s that tone again.” a long pause. rosamund takes a tiny breath. she hadn’t realized she’d been holding it for so long.

in a quiet voice, chelsea asks, “why did you say you were terrified?”

rosamund forces herself to uncurl her fists. “i was surprised, that’s all.”

chelsea stares.

rosamund changes the subject. chelsea is getting way too TMI. “i’ve never danced with another girl before.”

chelsea startles, face no longer closed off. “what?”

rosamund nods rapidly. “i mean, i’ve danced with groups of friends before, but never one-on-one.” she doesn’t know why she feels this urge to prove herself, why there is this angry, heated feeling building in her chest, but she lifts her head and stares at chelsea and tells her, “i guess you’ll have to teach me.”

chelsea makes some sort of spluttering, strangled noise, and rosamund smirks a little: finally, chelsea’s the one at a loss for words.

she doesn’t realize that she’s been leaning towards her until chelsea manages, “i guess i will,” breath hitting her face.

rosamund’s smirk grows wider. “good.”

“yeah?” chelsea’s voice is low. she is looking at her in a way she never has before, and rosamund--rosamund thinks of chelsea looking at georgia--she thinks that this is a similar kind of gaze, that maybe--

slowly, carefully, chelsea murmurs, “do you want me to teach you?”

she is so close. rosamund sees the mole on her neck, the collection of freckles near her right eye. rosamund swallows, her entire body warm and tense and waiting--her hand grips the lapel of chelsea’s jacket, and chelsea is so close, chelsea is going to kiss her--

rosamund jolts back, yanks her hand away.

chelsea, dazed, hoarse: “what--?”

there’s a loud buzzing in rosamund’s head. her hands are shaking. she’s trembling all over, god, what was she thinking, what was she thinking, what was she thinking--

“i have to go.”

rosamund doesn’t hear chelsea’s reply, doesn’t sleep in the dorm that night--she stays with dana, dana has space on her couch, dana has lots of beer she’s more than happy to share--and rosamund doesn’t look back.

“so why, exactly, do you plan to move into my spacious, bodacious single?” fred’s voice is too loud and too demanding and too annoyed for rosamund’s hangover right now, so she snaps, “my roommate and i had creative differences,” and that’s the end of it. rosamund texts chelsea goodbye, that it was nothing personal, that she’s dropping dance class because it’s too time-consuming, and she moves into fred’s that saturday morning.

that’s the end of it.

she ignores chelsea’s phone calls and texts. she ignores the static in her head, the ringing in her ears, how her lungs feel constricted, how it’s difficult to breathe sometimes--there are marks on her palms from her nails digging into them, from making them bleed--

she goes by rosy now. it’s shorter, it’s what fred calls her time. rosamund is too stuffy. rosamund is too proper. who’s going to marry someone named rosamund? rosy is easy, rosy is girlish, rosy is confident, rosy is fun.

eventually rosy hears about a video project fred is helping out with, about a handsome, brilliant pre-med student named thomas lydgate who, according to dana, has spent the past semester in london and who has recently returned to middlemarch. she thinks of her list--1. find the man of your dreams--and that’s the end of it. rosy beams into the camera lens for the fifth time in a row. it is.

#mmts #middlemarch: the series #fic #my fic #well idk if this is good or not i've barely edited this whoops #this sure is a whirlwind #rosamund vincy is A Disaster #is it too angsty? we just don't know #i feel for chelsea tbh: imagine thinking your roommate is Very Straight to your roommate talking about gay princess bride headcanons #to thinking maybe she isn't straight?? to thinking but what if she's biphobic. to thinking: WHAT THE FUCK I GUESS SHE'S NOT STRAIGHT THEN #ARE WE GOING TO MAKE OUT? to thinking: wow what a clusterfuck that was. who is she. who am i.#chelsea listens to against me! and violent femmes and the slits for a solid week afterwards #you'll see a bit more of her later!!!

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animeride-blog · 7 years

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Ballroom e Youkoso Episode 12 Review https://animeride.com/arspecial/review/6818/ballroom-e-youkoso-episode-12-review/ #BallroomDance, #Chicuru, #Chinatsu, #Fujita, #FujitaTatara, #GajuAndTatara, #Mako, #SengokuAndChizuru, #Tatara

New Post has been published on https://animeride.com/arspecial/review/6818/ballroom-e-youkoso-episode-12-review/

Ballroom e Youkoso Episode 12 Review

Oh yeah this is what I was excited for last week. Sengoku showing off his stuff and he did look Great ! So Ballroom e Youkoso episode 12 lets break this down.

BallroomThoughts

Alright so this was the “cool down” episode. With all the tension from the Tenpei cup finally gone we get to relax a bit and ease into the next arc of Ballroom. We find out Tatara finally learns how much he sucks when he and Shizuku watch the film from the Tenpei cup and he’s downright embarrassed and ashamed at his performance. We all knew how much he sucked but it’s nice to see him finally grasp how much he needs to improve. We also get to see good ol Gaju again being in the same school as Tatara so if you weren’t really ever a fan of him I’m gonna have some bad news for you. He’s going to be sticking around so I’d suggest opening up a bit to him. Since he’s more or less pretty damn friendly with Tatara after he got mad at him…….oh for what?….cause Mako started wearing a bra, and I’m not quite sure if he’s mad cause he doesn’t want to see his little sister grow up, is a strange pervert brother, or is just upset that it happened after Tatara paired up with her. I’m going to guess the latter in that he thinks Tatara did some unsavory things to her. I would also like to point out Tatara’s LOFTY goal now that he’s in high school.

He’s definitely got more balls than I would telling his entire class that he likes ballroom dancing since it’s such a niche thing and people may find it odd. I certainly wouldn’t end up telling the class if it was me. But hey, that shows his determination towards his goal and love for Ballroom dancing.

HAHA HOWEVER those little things wasn’t why I was excited for this episode: that happened in the latter half. When Sengoku finally gets to show his stuff to both Tatara and us the audience by actually dancing in a competition. And boy does he look good. I can dig whatever outfit or hairstyle he uses cause he can really pull off anything. We see him and his partner dance to the quickstep where he decides to show off in front of Tatara a bit. The dancing itself looks pretty good since they gave us a good amount of actual movement this week. So when I say pretty good I mean it looks like some of the best consecutive dancing we’ve seen without interruptions or panning shots. Also worth pointing out that I believe this is the first time we hear the song for the quickstep all the way through without interruptions and I really liked it. It seems that the production team aren’t big fans of letting us hear most of the music the characters dance to, but they don’t have much of a problem letting us hear the Waltz or Quickstep even if they are for a short time. I find it odd.

Things start to get interesting once Sengoku steps on for the Waltz. We see him do some basic moves before deciding that it’s the preliminaries so they should mess around some. It’s hard to describe what he does but I’ll try my best. He ends up noticeably lengthening his strides before he ends up dancing where his back is strangely twisted and his head is tilted back more than normal. In most other cases this would cause dancers to break their hold but for Sengoku it’s apart of his unique style of dancing. Tatara thinks back to when Sengoku said the Waltz should be like a smooth moving current in the water and I love the effect the art and animation take at that moment.

Sengoku’s dancing distorts like ripples in the water making his, and his partner’s, figures look distorted and underwater. The music changes to sound like it’s cutting in and out, and honestly it made it seem like kind of creepy music which adds to the distortion. Of course Tatara can see it’s like they are moving in water but he himself feels like he’s seasick because of the massive difference in skill between Sengoku and himself that he’s finally seeing. He’s a bit overwhelmed by the fact that he’s seeing his teacher dance for the first time AND he’s just finding out that Sengoku is Japan’s only world level dancer……….oh did I not mention that? Yeah my Man Zoro is Japan’s ONLY world level dancer so he is obviously no schmuck.

He feels like he’ll never get to Sengoku’s level but of course we all know that’s probably not true. Time to give Sengoku’s partner a name. Her name is Chizuru and man do I love her. I always have in the manga and thankfully in this episode she still keeps her spitfire attitude by literally beating the shit out of her partner because he changed the flow of their dance without letting her know. Chizuru and Sengoku are easily one of my favorite pairs because they are such a power couple and I hope Ballroom keeps the little extra details that the manga has which shows how close their relationship really is. She switches between being a hothead with Sengoku to being such a mom around Tatara with a snap of the fingers and it’s adorable really. Though I have to say I think she looks better with her hair down than all dolled up, but that’s just me personally.

Lastly we get formally introduced to Chinatsu the real heroine of this series. I can see people not being real big fans of Chinatsu because she’s quite the tsundere. She hears Tatara tell the class that he likes ballroom dancing and she tells him that she thinks it’s lame straight to his face, but later during Sengoku’s competition at the end of the episode we see that she was actually there to watch, so she’s a hypocrite and a closet dancer. But I’m excited because she’s the one who will make Tatara a truly better dancer in the long run so I hope people do like her because I certainly do.

Overall I really did enjoy this episode. It was really well paced, had good character introductions, and it was a good episode to let us breathe easier after the last arc. Seeing Sengoku’s dancing animated was fantastic and I got some good quality Sengoku screenshots from it. Chizuru is a spitz of a personality that adds a good color to the cast that we already have and Chinatsu adds to that as well. Oh, we also do get a new opening and ending this week. I know people were salty about he opening’s spoilers but really what can you do? If you didn’t guess that Chinatsu was going to be Tatara’s dance partner from the moment she was on screen I think you need to learn the old “only character in the room with colored hair” rule in the anime world. I was a big fan of the ending myself.

But it seems that next week we’ll see Tatara actually being the partner follower and Chinatsu be the leader in their practicing together so that surely will be interesting to see.

So what’s your thoughts for this episode ? Do let us know in Comments ! Have a nice day !

#Ballroom dance #Chicuru #Chinatsu #Fujita #Fujita Tatara #Gaju and Tatara #Mako #Sengoku and Chizuru #Tatara

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