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theevangelion · 2 years

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Soulmates: Chapter VI

(Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The park left Kara wondering what the first possibly had to offer that the second most-charming didn’t. She was unsure if it was a date, whether it could even be a date, because Lena had been married. She had never heard of someone having more than one soulmate and really…

Kara wasn’t interested in waiting out the inevitable by wasting Lena’s time.

It was why she was on the dating site. The only dating site. It was less about connecting with strangers and more about matching soulmates, through data algorithms, who simply couldn’t hold out long enough for life to do what life does best—bring them together when the universe felt ready for another happily ever after.

It was computer science that Kara couldn’t quite wrap her brain around. But the statistics were good, the data reliable, and that was why she personally paid for her membership.

It had been a process of intensive questionnaires, psychological profiling, and even if a person didn’t have the full name from their birthmark, there was still a very good chance of hurrying things along. That was how it had been sold to Kara by her friends at least, the small few who had found their soulmates, and they all swore by it.

Sure, maybe it wasn’t as romantic as brushing shoulders at the state fair, seeing their own names cursive and scrawled upon the flesh of another, just like grandma and grandpa once did, but the website had its merits too.

You could enter letters as they became distinguishable, which the system then analysed and ruled out other profiles without those letters, increasing the visibility of other profiles who entered some variation of letters that could be a possible match to your name too.

Kara had zero profiles, zero matches, and she felt that was a good thing.

It meant that she only needed that one dinging notification on her phone to know she had found the love of her life.

“Can I ask a personal question?”

“It’s our third time hanging out and all we’ve done the previous two times is talk personal questions and prying assumptions about one another’s life, it would be weird if you didn’t ask a personal question.” Lena plonked down on the bench, licking her gelato. “I got pistachio, but I assumed you would prefer rum and raisin.”

“That’s an awfully bold assumption.” Kara smirked and felt funny. “Nobody likes rum and raisin.”

“You do.”

“Do not, it’s only my second favourite flavour.”

“Vanilla being the first?” Lena cocked a knowing look. “It’s under there. Two scoops. You were spoiled.”

“How could you possibly…” Kara went bright eyed, confused, and she swallowed hard. “How—I don’t.” She shook her head.

Was Lena her soulmate?

“Oh.” Lena jolted and seemed to realise the weirdness. “Kara, I apologise. Your Instagram. There was a photograph of vanilla bean ice cream, with a scoop of rum and raisin on the side, I think you put something about them being the greatest combination. I don’t know. I just…I remembered?” She shrugged and seemed embarrassed.

“Oh. Oh!” Kara laughed and felt stupid. “Of course, sure, yes. Jesus. I should tone down my Instagram…”

“Don’t.” Lena brushed it off. “Your Instagram is fun. I like seeing when you’re in the forbidden glass elevator, it lets me know Catherine is out of the city on business. Anyway, you were going to ask a personal question?”

“I should warn you that it’s really personal.”

“Sure, we’ve done that before, yes.” Lena nodded and licked her ice cream.

“Is there like, dating websites, you know for…” The question made Lena stop licking, and she pulled back straight with an awkward expression at the question put to her. “I’m so sorry. Please, forget I asked, that was so rude of me.”

“No, I’m just trying to figure how to answer your question because I think your question proposes something that…” Lena came undone as though she didn’t know how to explain herself. “Are you asking me if there are dating websites for people who, for whatever reason, are not with their soulmate?” She asked softly.

“Yeah.” Kara nodded. “I figure there must be. I know this might sound silly, but I haven’t met someone as young or, you know, as beautiful as you, who has gone through this kind of thing? It’s not like my grandpa was thinking about dating after grandma passed. They got to have a lifetime together.”

“I got a lifetime too, just a little shorter than most I guess.” Lena pushed a little smile. “I don’t have a birthmark so I can’t be sure Sam was my soulmate.”

“What?” Kara’s eyes went wide.

“Oh, yep! There’s a few of us.” Lena grinned as though she loved being the person to reveal this oddity to someone who never considered the possibility before. “Some lost a limb before their birthmark came through, there's people with skin conditions, then there's a few like me.” Lena nodded. “My parents took me to the doctor as a baby—they were so concerned—but it turns out a handful of people, every once in a while, are born without fate scorched on their flesh like an Orwellian horror story.”

“I don’t know whether that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” Kara pulled back and didn’t know such a thing even existed.

“I hated it as a kid. I felt like some kind of freak. But these days? There’s something pleasantly less…kill myself about the possibility of there being love again.” Lena did the acerbic, pointed, absolutely not-funny thing that was funny enough to make Kara laugh despite not wanting to.

“Is that something you want?” Kara smiled. “Love again?”

“Perhaps, one day. Once—” Lena faintly circled and gestured at her heart as though dust were still settling. Her eyes were sap green, half-lidded, sad, and yet hopeful for better days, and Kara saw that despite never feeling quite that good at picking people apart. “It gets better every day, or just more refined maybe. Missing her for a moment, feeling sad, then picking life up again and finishing whatever I had been doing. So, Kara Danvers, when the cows come home, perhaps it would not be all that terrible to share a toothbrush holder with someone again. I'm not sure about marriage, but you'll tell me if you see any charming young widows in funeral processions going up to City Crematorium who would look much prettier in white?” Her eyes brightened with amusement.

“Shut up.” Kara licked her ice cream, then elbowed the snarker sat beside her on the bench. “You're repugnant.”

“Big word. You should get in on the action with mine and James' rolling game of Words With Friends.”

“If it isn't a little presumptive or rude to ask—”

“Oh, it will be.” Lena had no doubts. “But that isn't to say I mind, I'm very much enjoying this game of ours, so go right ahead.”

“If you didn't have Sam's name then how...” She had been given clear permission and yet Kara felt it could all still come tumbling down. What business was it of hers? She couldn't stop herself. Lena was too interesting, human, and lovely to enjoy a midday ice cream with, so Kara grew brave. “Was Sam like you?”

She chickened out at the last minute.

She wanted to ask their story, their history, how Lena could possibly know the marriage had bones in the absence of a soulmate marking.

Maybe if there was another ice cream date, Kara figured.

“Sam’s birthmark cleared with my name somewhere between friendship and... more than friendship. So, it would be quite strange if we weren't soulmates. That would be strange, right? If there's another Lena out there somewhere meandering through life unaware my Sam ever existed. Maybe she thinks she’s waiting for a Samuel instead of a Samantha?” Kara didn't think it was likely, but she nodded and watched Lena furrow in thought. “Can you imagine how annoying it must be to have a common name as your birthmark? You just spend forty years calling every John, in every phone book, in every town, like a misfortunately abundant lifetime of John?”

“Okay, now you’re making me nervous! What if my birthmark says Jane?” Kara exasperated.

“You like girls?” Lena twisted in surprise at that.

“I figure so.” Kara shrugged. “I feel like my soulmate is a girl. Do you just like girls or…”

“Just women, sure, but again, I hold out hope one of the other markless folk might find me some years from now and prove pleasant enough for a life idled through slowly with decidedly less car crashes than my last marriage, and so if that sensible Sunday driver is a man? He may very well be a man worth spending my life with...”

“That one wasn’t funny.” Kara pushed Lena’s arm, both of them giggling in spurts of guilty laughter. “You are a sick woman, who needs therapy, and also another ice cream. Shit, I’m so sorry I knocked that out of your hand...” Kara reached for napkins to clean her up.

“No, stop, you’re fine.” Lena sighed. “It was a pretty dark joke.”

“You must have really loved her.” Kara observed and felt some sorrow.

Lena stopped at that with an indiscernible expression. “You think?”

“You’re a good person, Lena. Good people only make jokes like that when absolutely certain everyone is in on the laugh. So, I figure, you must have really loved her, and she must have really loved your gross sense of humour.” Kara scoffed and licked her ice cream. “You like vanilla?” She offered some over. “Don’t make me feel bad for knocking your ice cream—you have to eat some if you like vanilla.”

Lena paused with a little shine to her eyes, a little wobble to her lips, and despite seeing it for what it was, Kara didn’t point any of it out.

“I like vanilla,” she murmured quietly and took a taste. “Thanks, Kara.”

#soulmates au #soulmate #soulmates #soulmate marks #soulmate au #supercorp soulmates #supercorp #supergirl #supergirl story #supergirl fanfic #supercorp femslash #supercorp ff #supercorp fanfic #kara x lena #lena x kara #cat grant #catherine grant

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stxvercgersslut · 4 years

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Apologise

Description: Jake’s been ignoring Y/n for weeks and only spending time with his friends over his own girlfriend. But after while she had finally had enough. One day she decides to confront him.

A/n: I just had to write this😂 after rewatching the film a few days ago how could I resist? It just needed to be written 😂 (I also made it modern time btw just so it was easier to write for 😂) yeah I know that this is extremely angsty but I promise that there’s a whole lot a fluff at the end so the angsty part is definitely worth it 🥺💞 Jake is one of my ultimate loves that definitely needs some more loving then he got 🥺I didn’t plan on making this a fucking novel but here we are 😂

A/n: and okay yeah this is once again another submission for @stargazingfangirl18 and @navybrat817 writing challenge how could I not? 😂

Prompts: 2. “Can you just not right now?”and 14. “Did I...fall asleep on you??”

Warnings: Mentions of smut (nothing too descriptive), argument, being ignored, language, mentions of parents dying, mentions of weight loss, just a whole lot of angst, mentions of being poor and small bit of fluff at the end.

Temporary tag list: @jtargaryen18 & @et-lesailes

For weeks Jake has been neglecting you. Much rathering to play football with Reggie Ray and Austin then even hang out with you, his girlfriend of literally almost 1 year. How the hell did that even make sense? You were his girlfriend! Surely you were more important then some football game right? Well wrong! Apparently football was his only love. You’d always come in second to all of that.

Over the course of those insanely long 8 weeks that he’d been pushing you aside you had managed to keep your calm, just ignoring it. Thinking maybe he’d just been having a tough time studying for finals and training for football season. But as time continued to pass, still no texts, calls or even a FaceTime, you began to fear that your once loving relationship with Jake was steadily coming to a almighty close. Something that really did scare the life out of you. You loved Jake with all your heart and to lose him over the fact that he’d rather play football with his friends then hangout with you would send your heart into meltdown. No way could you let this happen to the both of you.

The pair of you were pretty much inseparable during the early stages of your relationship, always opting to spend time over at his house in the warmth then be at home where not even your heater worked. Obviously his sister still trying to fuck him was a huge problem for you, usually making you uncomfortable whenever you were ther but Jake had assured you that nothing was going on between them. Besides, he was just as uncomfortable (if more so) as you were with the immeture and disgusting way Catherin was acting around her BROTHER!

You came from a much poorer family then Jake did. But, surprisingly to you, Jake hadn’t actually seemed to care that you didn’t have any money. In fact he actually much preferred it sometimes since he had gotten to spoil you rotten with peculiar gifts and meals at fancy restaurants that almost 100% of the time just weren’t your style. Yeah he was a asshole sometimes but that didn’t mean that you didn’t love him. Most days you even struggled to pay your rent in your lonely one bedroom apartment that you’d moved into once your parents had past away last year. But no matter how many times Jake had attempted to lend you some of his inheritance in order to help pay rent, you never wanted to take it. Too afraid you’d have to pay it back somehow. There was even a time where Jake had offered for you to move in with him, not that his parents would have agreed with that, yet he didn’t seem to care. Food was hard to come by when you were at home, so whenever Jake had been able to, He’d make sure that you ate or at least tried to eat since he knew that you struggled a lost due to the fact that before you’d started dating him it was hard to get food. You mattered way more to him at the beginning. But right now it didn’t seem like he really seemed to care even a little. No more being at his house for warmth, no daily check ups, no food payed for and no offers to help pay for rent. It was like he’d retracted back to his old self. This wasn’t the Jake you had fallen in love him. He’d changed.

But nonetheless, the tenderness between the pair of you was irreplaceable. So of course you couldn’t just let this come between what the two of you had. But this was going to be a tough one to crack! Especially since you literally hadn’t talked to Jake for 8 WHOLE WEEKS!!! That’s right two months with barely any contact apart from when you were sitting at lunch listening to him blabber on about football or some damn movie he’s watching with his mates. Come on y/n think! It can’t be that hard to figure something out can it?

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There it was again! That unnecessary tension rearing it’s ugly head once again at your usual table in the cafeteria. Jake, being the popular dick he was right now, had made himself comfortable next to you. Slowly taking one quick glance at you before once again completely ignoring you without a second thought. 8 weeks of this bullshit! It was a Miracle that you hadn’t murdered him already for neglecting you the way that he had been doing for 2 whole fucking months! So of course it was understandable that you snapped. Just listening to his smug laugh as he laughed and joked with Austin about the new hot chic was enough to set your entire body on fire.

With a stern look on your face you finally began to talk. Worth a shot right? “So I was won—“ you began as you attempted begin a normal conversation with you boyfriend, not really giving two shits about the fact that you were interrupting his dirty minded talk with Austin since you didn’t really care for the blonde. But before you could even get 10 words out Jake had already stopped you “y/n I’m in the middle of talking with my friend.” He cockily spoke with a shit eating grub appearing on his face for a millisecond before he turned back to his mates in hopes of continuing his ‘innocent’ conversation. Oh but that was not at all what happened. “Oh my bad! Didn’t realise that me literally about to invite you over for sex was me interrupting you. Silly me. I’m only your girlfriend!” You bit back, your glare completely fixed on Jake, not even caring that Austin, Reggie Ray and Malik all now has their mouths wide open in shock like they were having a fly collecting contest. You were half expecting Jake to nervously laugh it off and practically beg for you to forgive him, resulting in a quickie in the janitors closest. But that wasn’t what happened at all. In fact no amount of overthinking could prepare you for Jakes next choice of words.

“Can you just not right now?” The raven haired boy pressed with a insanely serious look on his face now. All thoughts that he might have just been joking had left your head completely. Hearing those words coming from Jakes mouth were like daggers pressing into your head and twisting Infinitely. Not only had it been a shock to you but it had also been a shock to everyone on the table. Jake Wyler, the most popular jock, refusing sex? Most importantly refusing you? What the hell was wrong with him? Oh you intended to find out. But for now you just stood up, shooting one more hurt glare towards your boyfriend before turning on your feet and leaving your spot at the table. Instead seating yourself on a table further away from them so that you didn’t risk another hurtful comment. Now this really was getting out of control.

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Currently, for some unknown reason, YOU were sitting on the large length couch at some unknown douchbags house as you sipped from your red cup. Eyes scanning the room eagerly in an attempt to spot your dick head of a boyfriend. Even if you hadn’t Necessarily been accomanied by Jake to the party you knew for sure that he was a party animal. So why on earth would he miss this? Especially since the place was filled with doubly intoxicated high school students who most certainly were underage drinking. But then again so were you.

However, as you say there waiting for your raven haired beauty of a boyfriend to walk through those doors and unintentionally avoid you once again, you continued to run over your incredibly thought out plan in your head. Knowing with every bone in your body that this plan was most certainly going to get his attention, if not make him throw you over his shoulder, take you back to his place and fuck you until you can’t walk for at least a week. Yeah maybe you were secretly hoping for that second one.

6 drinks in Jake finally arrived at the party, accompanied by Reggie Ray and that stupid smug looking blonde ashole who you had conveniently forgotten the name of at this point. Only this time your raven haired boyfriend actually acknowledged that you were even there by letting his eyes scan over your perfectly curvy body. Which tonight was barely even covered by that incredibly revealing outfit that consisted of: a risky white vest like short with a very thin material that let your light pink bra peak out underneath the fabric, paired with a nude coloured leather skirt that barely covered your ass and some beautiful black boots to accompany the rest of your outfit. Of course this particular get up just so happened to be the only sexy outfit that you owned due to the fact that Jake had bought this for your birthday when you had only just started dating. You could definitely still remember him insisting that you wore this exact outfit to any party he took you to. So why waste it? After all it was just hanging up in your closet.

Even from 5 feet away from him you could still hear the cogs working away in his brain as your outfit caught his attention instantly. And in a matter of moments he was already sauntering over to you. Step one: Grab his attention complete. Oh but he wasn’t going to win that easy. No way was that going to happen! You hadn’t just come to this party wearing such a risky choice of clothing that was so out of your comfort zone to just let him win so easily.

“Hey baby, you wanna dance?” Jake asked with a slight smirk on his face, almost as if he was pretending like all of that god awful neglect hadn’t happened. Which you weren’t going to forget about. But this was operation get Jake jealous after all so you really did have to forget about what he’d been doing, at least for a few hours so that you could continue on with your plan.

Step two: dance with another hot jock who wasn’t Jake. After careful consideration you finally picked your target. Austin. Why? Because you knew for a fact that you dancing with Jakes asshole teenage playboy of a best friend was definitely going to make him jealous. “Sure” you teased, pausing for just the perfect amount of time for Jake to walk closer to you and almost grab your hand before you continued on “just not with you” there it was! Almost a millisecond after the last syllable had left your mouth! That gorgeous face of Jakes contorting into a look of pure jealousy just from those four simple words. “Not with me huh? If I’m not mistake I’m your boyfriend, so why won’t you dance with me?” Jake questioned whilst he still continued to attempt to grab at your waist, failing miserably every single time since you dodged him.

Those words in themselves were enough to light the fire in the pit of your stomach. Reminding you exactly why you had come up with this devious plan in the first place. Jake needed to learn a lesson and he needed to learn it now! Or else you’d most likely end up breaking up with him. “Because I don’t want to dance with my neglectful boyfriend.” You spat back before sauntering over to where Austin was standing, grabbing onto his hand and with no word of warning pulling him onto the makeshift dance floor.

Fiftheen minuets had dragged on by as Jakes eyes remained glued to your figure. Red hot anger coursing through him every time he watched your ass grind up against his friends crotch. Was this pay back for him treating you like your were worthless for 2 months? Because if it was then this was some carefully planned out payback that was not going to be working out in your favour later. “What the fuck!” Jake seethed. The sight of you now grinding against Austin’s very noticeable buldge was the fine straw! Causing him to leap out of his chair, rush over to the dance floor, throw you over his shoulder and walked out of the room with you kicking and screaming for him to put you down. Finally putting an end to your hideous plan all together. This most certainly hadn’t been how you had expected this to go but boy oh boy were you excited to see what happened next.

It wasn’t until Jake practically threw you onto a king sized bed and began yelling at you that you realised that this wasn’t going to end in sex. Or at least for the time being it wasn’t “Austin?? Of all fucking people you could have grinded up against you chose that bastard? What the fuck y/n?!” Jake spoke, anger clear in his tone as he fists clenched together in the dark room. “Do you really think that was the greatest of ideas huh? Embarrassing me infront of almost everyone? You really are a fucking bitch sometimes!” Oh how he wished he could turn back time and retract those words. Jake regretted those words as soon as they had left his mouth.

But unfortunately it was too late, he’d already hit a nerve inside of you that had been so desperate to appear this entire time! “You’re really asking me what the fuck all of that was about? Seriously Jake you don’t know? You don’t know that you’ve been ignoring me for the past 2 months for no fucking reason and doing god knows what?” Oh you were beyond finished at this point. “Embarrassing you? I embarrassed you? Really? That’s rich coming from the man who embarrassed me infront of our entire high school in the cafetière by practically telling me to shut up infront of everyone when I was actually going to invite you over for sex? You don’t need to know why I did what I did. But I deserve a ducking explanation as to why you’ve been neglecting me for two months and ignoring me any chance that you get! I’m the one that should be asking what the fuck! Have you fallen out of love with me Jake? Are you cheating on me? What is it? Why are you ignoring me whenever I try to talk to you? I’m your girlfriend don’t you think I deserve a explanation?” And with that the tears began to fall from your eyes. Oh no you’d released a damn. This definitely wasn’t going away anytime soon. Shit. Every single word that has been said was unfortunately true. Now all that was left to do was wait for Jakes reaction.

Every single one of your words were like tiny daggers sticking into his chest. But every tear that fell from your eyes was poison strong enough to kill him. How had he let this go on for so long? How had he not seen how disgusting he was being around you? How had he not realised he’d stopped treating you like his girlfriend and more like a slut? He really had destroyed the only perfect girl in his life and what for? Some stupid football game and some boring study sessions with his private tutor that his parents had provided? This wasn’t right! None of this was right. Oh god how could he fix this?

“Baby....I—“ the Raven haired boy began, swallowing thickly as he took large steps towards you. Once again scooping you into his arms. But this time once you were in his arms he laid back down with you. Ignoring your weak struggles to get out of his grin before you finally calmed down and relaxed into his touch. Still sniffling due to all of the tears that had been falling from your eyes.

For the rest of the party Jake made it his mission to give you bet might of your life. Ignoring his friends and instead focusing all of his attention onto you without a doubt trying to make it up to you. Of course every so often he’d whisper a apology in your ear or kiss you deeply in an attempt to mend his guilty conscience once and for all. But nothing seemed to help at all.

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By the time you woke up at exactly 12:04pm the next day, you’d found yourself wrapped up in Jakes arms as he began placing gentle kisses against the back of your neck and shoulder. Something he’d been doing for the last several minutes. “Morning beautiful” he mumbled upon noticing you were awake. “Hmmmm...morning Jake..” you hummed back blissfully as you turned round in his arms. Happily staring him in his beautoful baby blue eyes before kissing him deeply just enjoying the moment.

After a very tired Make out session your eyes seemed to widen in horror as you looked down at your almost completely nude body, a little confused as to why you weren’t completely naked or even wearing Jakes shirt. That just didn’t seem right. “Did....I fall asleep on you?” The words in itself causing you to cringe. But you never did receive a actual answer. Instead you were answered with a loud laugh before your boyfriends lips were back on yours. Instantly getting on top of you to finish what you had started the night before.

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konglindorm · 3 years

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Riquet with the Tuft, Perrault’s Version

So first off, a quick overview of French fairy tales. There were a whole bunch of really cool ladies writing really cool stories. The Salon Writers. And one guy, who wrote a few cool stories but occasionally just straight up ripped off their stories. So, of course, a couple hundred years later everyone knows the dude, and all the ladies and all their cool stories have been pretty much forgotten. (Except Beauty and the Beast. Go Beauty and the Beast.)

The reason for that little overview is that today we're going to talk about one of those stories the dude ripped off. It's called Riquet with the Tuft, and there are two wildly different versions. The first is by the lady, Catherine Bernard, and the second is by the dude, Charles Perrault.

Honestly, I prefer Perrault's version. But, like, I sort of feel bad about it? They have the same title, but they're basically completely different stories. And I read his first. And it's not that I actually like it, really, so much as that I feel it has potential? Which honestly is the case with a lot of my favorite fairy tales.

Anyway. We're gonna start with Perrault's version. And depending on how long that takes we might have a part two for Bernard's.

A prince is born. His name is Riquet, and they call him Riquet with the Tuft because he has one little tuft of hair. He's super ugly, but his fairy godmother says that he's going to be super smart, and gives him the ability to grant an equal amount of smartness to one other person in his life.

A princess is born in another kingdom. She's super pretty, but her fairy godmother says she's going to be super dumb. She gets the ability to make one other person in her life as hot as she is.

A second princess is born - the first princess' younger sister. And she also grows up smart and ugly, but not as smart or as ugly as Riquet. Don't know what the fairy godmother gave her. This story's not really about her.

Riquet does pretty well for himself, except for one thing. He's so ugly, no one wants to marry him.

Our first princess, on the other hand - she's struggling. She's so stupid that it doesn't even matter how pretty she is. Her younger sister is much better liked despite being really ugly, because at least she has a brain. Our princess is too stupid not to drop fine china on the floor. She's too stupid not to spill a glass of water all down her front. She's too stupid to remember her suitors' names. She's too stupid to maintain a simple conversation about the weather. It's...not great. She's just smart enough to be aware that she's astoundingly stupid.

Eventually she ands Riquet meet. Riquet has seen her portrait and fallen madly in love with her, which, like, shouldn't he maybe be smart enough not to randomly fall head over heels for total strangers just because they're hot?

Whatever. They meet. Princess is sad because no one likes her because she's stupid. Riquet offers her his fairy gift - offers to make her as smart as him. In exchange they'll get married, in one year.

So princess goes home, newly intelligent. Her poor little sister suffers for this; she isn't the hot one or the smart one now, and no one pays her any attention. Our girl's new smarts have changed her so much that she barely remembers her life before. She has dozens of suitors, one of whom she's particularly fond of, and seriously considering marrying. She's not totally sure, though, so she goes out into the woods to think about it. The same woods where she first met Riquet, a year ago now, which by this point she's almost totally forgotten about.

Riquet's excited that she's gotten there right on time for their wedding. At which point she has to tell him that she hasn't; she forgot all about that and it's just a coincidence that she's here today. And she's not sure about marrying him after all, because she was still stupid when she agreed to that - so stupid she didn't even realize how ugly he was. And surely he's smart enough to realize that he's far too ugly to marry, right?

(I'm totally not loving how her new brains for some reason made her shallow? Like, how is it smart to be judging people by their appearances? She and Riquet have both done it now.)

Riquet asks if she has any concerns other than his physical appearance, and she says no, she thinks he's a great guy overall. So he reminds her of her ability to share beauty, she makes him hot, and they live happily ever after.

The part of the story that's always really stood out to me, despite the fact that it doesn't really fit in with the overall tone, is the little section right after they get married, where Perrault basically says that maybe she didn't actually make him hot, maybe it was just her love for him that made him seem hot to her. Which is a really sweet thought. It just doesn't make a ton of sense with the general shallowness displayed earlier in the story.

Since this is Perrault, we end the story with a moral. Two morals, in this case. First: What we love is always fair. Second: Love comes from unseen things, not just brains and beauty. These are actually both better than his usual morals, but, like, I'm still annoyed by the existence of the morals at all. Just seems, I don't know, self righteous or something. And again, not really consistent with the bulk of the story.

This is pretty long, so I think we'll wait until next time to go over the second version; see you then!

#folklore #fairy tales #Perrault #riquet of the tuft

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myhockeyworld87 · 4 years

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Not So Dangerous Liaison - Sidney Crosby - Part 1

Word Count: 3,296

POV: Starts with Reader and switchs to Crosby

Warning: Language

Notes: Ok so I’ve wanted to do a Crosby series for awhile and this idea has been stuck in my head. I’m not sure how long this series will be, kind of just seeing where it will go. Hopefully you’ll all stick around and see where this goes.

READER POV

It was September of 2015, that was the first time Sidney Crosby met the woman who would change his life; only he didn’t know that then. He first saw you at Marc-Andre’s house, when you were standing there talking to Flower’s wife, Veronique. He didn’t know that a chance encounter at the same salon had led to you and Vero becoming best friends. What he did know was that you had to be one of the most beautiful women he ever saw.

You were wearing a pair of white shorts with a navy peplum off the shoulder top. To Sidney, you looked gorgeous, cute and casual; not really trying too hard knowing you were at a party with a room of NHL players. He could already see all the young single guys on the team sniffing around you. He couldn’t really blame them, considering where his thoughts had drifted the moment, he laid eyes on you. Wanting to know more about you, he made the decision to introduce himself. “Great party Vero, thanks for having everyone here before the season gets underway.”

“Yeah sure, it really wasn’t anything. Marc-Andre and I were glad to do it.” Sid shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for his friend to make an introduction to you. Veronique finally took pity on him after a minute or two. “So Sid, this is my friend (Y/N). (Y/N) this is Sidney Crosby.”

You held out your hand to him, and he took. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sidney…or Sid…I mean everyone calls me Sid…so if you want…” You hadn’t really intended to say his name, and it seemed like he just realized that as a small blush crept up his cheeks.

“Well, Sid it is, then.” And then you added, just to put him at ease. “Everyone calls me (Y/NickN), so feel free.”

That comment seemed to put him a little bit more at ease. “So how do you and V know each other?” You proceeded to tell him how you and Vero met at the salon and bonded over the same Starbucks order. When she found out you were in marketing, she asked to pick your brain for her children’s clothing line, she was starting with Catherine Letang. The three of you became fast friends, going to brunches and dinners; so it was natural when they invited you to this pre-season get together. The conversation with Sidney was so natural neither one of you noticed that Veronique had left the two of you alone. Sid talked a lot about hockey, but you really weren’t surprised, as the face of the NHL and one of Pittsburgh’s premier athletes; you expected as much. What you were surprised about was when he switched the topic of conversation to history. It was as if he knew you were a history buff.

You found yourself talking about your last trip to Europe, where you tried to take in as many historical sites as you could, and Sid chimed in with some of his favorite places. It wasn’t until both of you had an empty glass that you realized you’d passed the last couple of hours just chatting essentially about nothing with Sidney Crosby.

“So, can I get you another drink?” He asked staring at your empty wine glass.

“Yes, please.” He took the glass and headed inside the house.

Catherine was the first one to sneak over to your side. “Looks like you and Sid are hitting it off.”

“Oh stop. We’re just talking is all.” Grant it, it was probably one of the best conversations you’d had with a guy in a long time. “I mean…well, he’s Sidney Crosby and I’m just…well, I’m just me.”

“Oh my god (Y/N), you have no idea how absolutely great you are, and Sid would be lucky to be with you.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. It’s literally one conversation.”

“Fine, but don’t mind me if I give it a little nudge in the right direction.” Catherine raised her eyebrows as Sid came back with the wine.

“So where were we, was it Rome, Paris or London?” You smiled at his cute little joke, as the two of you continued talking. By the end of the night, you felt like you were floating on cloud nine. He walked you to your car, but never really made a move; which was both sweet and confusing at the same time.

By the time you made it home, you convinced yourself that the whole night really didn’t exist. This was only confirmed when you didn’t hear from him the following week, not that you really expected him to call, but it set the tone for next time you saw him. Which ended up being after the first home game of the season when everyone went out to celebrate the win. You’d ended up at the game with Veronique and Catherine, so it was only natural when you went out to the bar with them afterward.

Sid was casual and maintained a safe distance around you. It felt kind of weird after the great evening you’d had before, but if that’s the way he wanted to play it, so be it; you were not one to go chasing after someone that didn’t want you. So, you spent most of the evening talking and laughing with Beau. And so went most of the season. You’d basically become an honorary wag, just without being a wife or a girlfriend of a player. You were at most home games and ended up going to several events that involved the team. Each time, Sid was polite, but things never went back to the way they were the first night that you met.

As the season went on, you got a behind the scenes look at what it was like to either be married to or dating a player and if you were being honest; you were glad things with Sidney hadn’t progressed. It was stressful and you saw what a toll the long road trips and constant on the go schedule took on relationships. It wasn’t until later in the season though, that you truly saw how difficult being a significant other could be. Marc-Andre had gone down, after taking a puck the helmet. Everyone in the arena could tell something wasn’t right, and as you saw him get help skating off the ice Vero grabbed your hand for support. There was no news, no one went running down to the tunnel to see what was going on and no one called to say what had happened. You literally just sat there telling your friend that things would be fine. It wasn’t until after the game was over that you found out he had suffered a concussion and was being taken to the hospital for further evaluation. Since it was his second of the season, the Pens were taking every precaution possible with their star goalie. The question in your brain though, was why someone hadn’t told his wife that.

A week later when you, Vero and Catherine were having dinner you questioned them about it. The answer coming back that it’s just the way things work. “Well, I think that’s stupid. They should have a person that keeps in contact with you guys and lets you know what’s going on. I mean what happens if it’s at practice do you get a call then?”

“Not usually, unless it’s from one of the other guys.”

“See that’s just messed up. There should be someone, I don’t know like a…what’s the word I’m looking for?” They both exchanged a confused look with one another as if they had no idea what you meant. “A liaison, that’s it.” To which they stared at you as if you grew three heads. “I don’t mean it like that, like a go-between. Someone that helps with communication and such.”

“I totally agree, but it seems like no one has any time to do that,” Vero told you. “They’re too busy playing the game and working on the injured player to think about us who are sitting there worried sick out of our mind.”

“So, they should create a position. I mean I’ve seen a couple places where the organization is falling short on things and you guys seem to be stepping in.”

“What do you mean?” Catherine asked.

“Well like when the WBS players get called up there’s nowhere for them to go, but a hotel, unless they end up staying with one of you guys. If you had a liaison there, that person could facilitate a place for them to stay and stuff. I mean other than just getting them here. They could do the same for any players that get traded as well.”

You seemed to have both Vero and Catherine sold on this idea. Though for some reason you didn’t think you were selling anything, this was just more like a little rant because you’d seen how upset Vero had been when her husband got hurt. The three of you hashed out all kinds of details about it the entire night. What you didn’t expect was the phone call you received, several days later, from Mario Lemieux’s office asking you to come in. You assumed it was about the position you’d mentioned to Vero and Catherine, but also expected them to be there. However, it was quite evident they weren’t when you finally went to talk to the legendary NHLer.

You’d been introduced to him before at parties, but never truly sat down and had a conversation with the man, and even though you’d met some famous people in your life; you were still a bit intimated meeting Mario. “Have a seat (Y/N), I assume you have an idea why I called you in?”

“Well, I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I would say it has to do with the lack of a position in your organization that I talked about with Veronique and Catherine.”

“Yes, they both called me, as well as their husbands and were quite excited about the prospect of us implementing this into the team. Honestly, I can’t believe we hadn’t thought about it before.” You never expected Mario to say something like that. “When I spoke to my wife about it, she agreed that it would’ve been something that eased her mind when I was playing, especially later in my career. So tell me a bit more about it?”

You then proceeded to highlight some of the situations the girls and you had discussed previously. “It might not be a full-time position, more something that could be distributed out to a couple different people who are already on staff.” You added that part because truly you didn’t know, this was really uncharted waters for you.

“I disagree. I can see this being a very full-time for someone. I would expect them to be at every practice, every game, both home and away, just the way our training staff is. Plus, there would be all the outside interaction as well, like contacting people we’ve just traded and getting them settled; not to mention transitioning the WBS players as you said.” When you looked at it that way, you supposed that the job would definitely be over forty hours a week for whoever took it over. “It’s why I want you to take the position.”

“I’m sorry, what?” You’d heard what he said but you really hadn’t comprehended it.

“This is your idea and a hell of a one at that. You seem to have the vision of it, and I can’t see anyone better to run it.” To say you were flabbergasted was an understatement. Never did you anticipate that this was where your conversation with Mario would go. “Obviously, there will be kinks that need to be worked out, and who better to iron them, then you.” You simply nodded your head, still digesting the whole idea. “You already have a great rapport with the team and their significant others, so there’s already a trust level there. Which is something I feel the job would need.” You had to agree about that factor, though you hadn't thought about it until he brought it up. “I’m not saying this a lifetime position, but it’s definitely something I want to try for at least the next year or more. So, what do you say are you in?”

Were you? Part of you was dying to take the job, it would be something so completely different than what you were doing now, but then your current job paid you pretty well so you weren’t ready to give that lifestyle up for the unknown. Mario must have seen your hesitance. “Look, I’m going to make it worth your while.” He scribbled down a figure, sliding the piece of paper over to you. You couldn’t hide your reaction when you saw the amount scratched out on the paper. It was definitely more than you were making now, but there was still that unknown factor of where you would be in a year.

Weighing the options out in your mind, you decided that this was a once in a lifetime chance. You held your hand out to Mario, saying, “It looks like you’ve got yourself a new staff member, Mr. Lemieux.”

“Welcome aboard (Y/N) and from now on it’s Mario.” Later, after you went over the details of when you would start, which you both decided would be after you left your current job; you walked out of the office looking forward to what new adventures lay ahead, for you had an idea it was going to be very interesting.

SID’S POV

After that first night that you’d met (Y/N), you literally couldn’t get her out of your head. She was the last thing you thought about that night and the first thing that came to your mind when you woke up. Maybe it was how incredible she looked last night or the way she carried on a conversation with such passion, but you couldn’t seem to get her out of your brain. It was the reason you were late for practice, as you found yourself lying in bed just a little bit longer daydreaming of when you would talk to her again.

All through drills, you couldn’t get her off your mind. Wondering when you should call her; was today too soon? What you didn’t notice was that you’d missed half your shots, made extremely sloppy passes during the powerplay drill and practically had a puck hit you in the head as you were thinking of all these things. Geno, finally skated up to you, tapping your helmet with his stick. “Earth to Sid. Where you at today?”

“Sorry, Geno. Guess my mind really isn’t in the game today.”

“Well, you better get it together. Season is starting soon.” Geno was right, if (Y/N) could occupy your thoughts after one conversation, what would happen after one date, and if you were worse after one date, what would happen if you were actually in a relationship. It was that thought that convinced you not to call her. There would be time for relationships when hockey was over. So, (Y/N) might be the perfect woman for you, but if it was meant to be she would still be there when your career ended.

Still, it was hard to see her out at the team get-togethers. She’d practically became a member of the group. Of course, you tried to be nice, but you could tell that when you didn’t call her after that first night; she’d taken the hint and kept her distance. Still, it was hard to watch her laugh at something Jake or Schultzy would say. Harder yet to see her touch Beau’s arm in an intimate way.

It may have been killing you inside each time you saw her, but you knew it was better for your career this way. If there was any silver lining to this, it was at least you didn’t have to see her all the time. There were times when she came to the games, dressed all cute in jeans and a sweater, and you wanted nothing more than to take her home with you those nights, but (Y/N) wasn’t the kind of woman you took home for the night and then forgot about. She was too much of a distraction, so you tamped down your lust for her and focused solely on hockey. That was until you walked into the film room and she was standing there with Mario. Seeing her at parties and the bar was expected, but having her invade your work-life caught you off guard. There wasn’t a chance to ask her what she was doing here, as players filtered in and she remained in conversation with Mario.

Once, everyone was settled Coach Sullivan turned things over to the owner. “I know you all know (Y/N), so I’ll save the long introduction, but I’m sure you’re wondering why she’s here.” It was the question foremost in your mind. “I’ve hired her on as the team’s new Personal Players Assistant. I know you’re probably wondering exactly what this position entails, so I’m going to let (Y/N) fill you in on that.”

“Hi guys, I know most of you never thought you’d be seeing me here that’s for sure, and on the other hand, a couple of you may already know about this. This position was brought about because of the lack of communication between the team, players and their significant others when there is an injury. I’m basically going to start off being a liaison or go-between for you guys, along with a bunch of other things, like…” You sat there listening as (Y/N) talked about her new job with the team, though you wouldn’t lie it was hard to pay attention when she looked so damn beautiful. As she spoke, you couldn’t help but watch the way her lips moved and couldn’t help imagining how they would feel on your skin. You closed your eyes in hopes that would make your mind stop wandering, only it served to have other images pop into your head. Thoughts of those lips wrapped around your cock, as she knelt before you looking up from between your lashes, permeated into your brain. Your eyes flew open and it was then that you realized you’d missed half of what she said.

“So on that note, I have these papers here for you guys to fill out and get back to me.” She handed them over to Rusty, and he took one and started passing the rest. “Hopefully, this crazy idea will end up being advantageous for everyone and you won’t get too sick of looking at my mug at every practice and game.” Wait did she just say she was going to be at every practice…and game? Shit, you should’ve been paying attention instead of daydreaming about this woman. “If you guys have any questions, my contact information is on the paper, and my office is just down the hall. I’m looking forward to working with all of you.”

“Thanks (Y/N). I’ll make sure these get back to you.” Coach Sullivan said and then she and Mario slipped out of the room. You stared at the paper in your hand, seeing nothing but (Y/N)’s face staring back at you. How were you going to make it through every day seeing her face, her body? The better question was how were you going to concentrate on hockey with (Y/N) around you? There was only one answer, and that was you were going to have to avoid her at all costs.

#Not So Dangerous Liaison Series #Sidney Crosby #sidney crosby imagine #Sidney Crosby Imagines #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #nhl fanfic #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #hockey fanfiction #Pittsburgh Penguin Imagine #Pittsburgh Penguins fanfic

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dreamcatcherfication · 4 years

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Welcome to the Murder House - Lights Up on Hampton High

Fuck it. I wasn’t going to post anything today, mush less this, but I thought I’d surprise you all. The only person who really knows about this is @theatergirl06 who read half of the first chapter way back during our ask war (it’s been over a month since then, I think!). I have the whole plot written out already, but I realized I would never finish this unless I started posting and pushed myself to work on it.

A little context! This is my high school/murder mystery AU that’s been in my google drive for a while now (no, it’s not based on WATT - not majorly, at least). PSA: I’m using American style high schools because I’m not British and I don’t want to mess something simple up. I’m cruel, and let’s just say there are going to be many, many plot twists. Also Parrlyn is in there. But enough rambling - it’s time I welcome you... Welcome to the Murder House, please enjoy your stay.

Writing Masterpost

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas. If you want to be tagged in my works, just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you!

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts | Original Prompts

Trigger Warnings: Talk of death, the typical amount of swearing/insults you’d expect from high schoolers, brief slut shaming/sexual harassment, high school bullying, mentions of parental abuse

Anne Boleyn was the most popular girl in school, and it was obvious to anyone just why. She was the prettiest girl around with the most desirable figure. She had a sharp wit, ready to cut anyone who got too close for comfort, yet at the same time drew everyone in. Everyone at Hampton High bowed down at the feet of Anne Boleyn, worshipping her very existence. Any newcomer to the school would immediately be enlightened on her legendary rise to fame.

The only thing Anne Boleyn was more infamous for than her rise to power was her fierce protectiveness over her cousin, Katherine Howard. Katherine was only a sophomore but she had quickly climbed the ranks at Hampton due to Anne keeping her close at all times. It was rare to see the cousins separated outside of their classes.

Kitty Howard was an innocent lamb compared to the predator that Anne was among the student body. Anne sheltered her from any boy wishing her harm and attacked anyone who even looked at Kitty wrong. Unaware to Anne, this backfired on Kit, keeping her from making any friends of her own other than the seniors Anne deemed acceptable to be around Kitty.

This included Anna von Cleves and Cathy Parr, two of Anne’s classmates whom she had the most faith in. Anna was vulgar and unafraid to fight someone bold enough to challenge her, a butch senior with a history of disciplnary trouble. Anne had known Anna since elementary school when their teachers thought it would be fun to pair the two together due to their names. On the other hand, Cathy was quiet and supportive, but also a talented writer with distinct opinions and uncontrollable stubbornness. She had transferred to Hampton in junior year and Anne had taken her under her wing, hurling her up the social standings. The four of them were the golden quartet of Hampton High and no one dared mess with them.

Not when they were together at least.

Henry Tudor was a popular, brutish jock with as many brain cells as inches on his dick. In his time at Hampton, he had dated six girls, including all of the four aforementioned girls. His first girlfriend, Catherine de Aragon, had dated him for the entirety of freshman year and half of sophomore year. It was in their second year when Catherine found out that Henry had been cheating on her with Anne Boleyn, some popular queen at school. Catherine tried to confront Anne but was instead humiliated and kicked down the social ladder. Anne was boosted to the most popular girl after getting together with Henry.

But karma always came back, and Anne found out her idiotic boyfriend was cheating on her as well. Jane Seymour, the sweet student council member had been seeing Henry before he broke up with Anne. She refused to back off Henry, leading to Henry breaking up with Anne so the two of them could be together. But Anne wouldn’t let herself be pushed out of the light like Catherine, so she fired back at Henry, stepping on him to secure her spot at the top of the social ladder.

After a pregnancy scare, Jane broke up with Henry, too frightened to stay with someone like him. So Henry moved on and tried online dating, meeting HotAC and taking a liking to her. Too bad that when he tried to hook up with her, he found out that she was one of Anne Boleyn’s friends. Too embarrassed to admit that he was scared of getting on Anne’s bad side again, Henry accused Anna von Cleves of being an ugly horse and turned half the student body against Anna and the others.

Thus began the ongoing feud between Henry Tudor and his jocks with Anne Boleyn and her Golden Quartet.

Henry’s final girlfriend was Cathy Parr, if only briefly. When she first got to Hampton, Henry latched onto her and essentially peer pressured her into dating him. Barely a month into the two of them being together, Anne pushed her way into the relationship and saved Cathy from an unsavory high school experience with Henry.

The bad blood between Anne and Catherine and Jane kept the three from interacting, but Anne was fiercely protective of all the other previous girlfriends of Henry Tudor. Senior year, finally the drama with Henry had cooled down and the school seemed to be at a standstill, waiting for the next bombshell to drop. No one dared to talk about Henry’s fifth girlfriend to Anne’s face for fear of what she would do at the mention of his actions...

Like any other day, Anne was sitting at the quartet’s lunch table while Anna was on top of the table itself. Anna had one hand leaning against the table as well as one foot up while the other dangled off the edge. “It said some pretty nasty stuff, are you sure you want to know?” Anna asked hesitantly, her eyes on Anne’s clenched fists.

“Yes, I want to know what they’re saying about my cousin,” Anne gritted out through her teeth.

Nervously scratching her nose, Anna relented. “It was on her locker, thank God she didn’t notice. There was some cheap photo from a porno with the words ‘Slutty Kitty’ written under it.”

“Those dickwads!” Anne slammed her hands against the table.

Rushing to calm Anne down, Anna assured her, “Hey, Cathy and I cleaned it off before Kit could see it.” It was a miracle she managed to calm Anne down, even if only by a little bit. The popular girl was known for having a temper, and it had been a long time goal of Anna’s to balance her out.

What neither of the girls noticed was Kitty herself approaching the table, her backpack pulled tight around her body. She had overheard the conversation, but put on a perky attitude to make it seem like she was oblivious. Anne didn’t like when Kitty was sad, so she tried to avoid being sad around Anne. No need to worry her cousin about something stupid like high school bullying. “Hi Anna, Hi Annie!”

The two girls turned to face Kit and smiled. “Hey Kit,” Anna said, sliding off the table to sit on the bench across from Anne.

“How’s my favorite cousin?” Anne asked, scooting to the side so there was room for Kitty.

Shrugging, Kitty put her backpack on the floor. “I’m fine. Science was boring, as usual. But in history we started talking about the French Revolution, and I told my partner about the time you built a guillotine -”

Gasping in playful shock, Anne covered her cousin’s mouth. “I thought I told you never to talk about that incident!” Anna leaned forward dramatically, even though she had already heard the story multiple times.

“You tried to chop my head off for treason!”

“It was out of love -”

“How do you chop someone’s head off out of love?”

Before the conversation could escalate, Cathy entered the cafeteria and made her way over to the table, catching the trio’s attention. “Hey Cathyyyy,” Anne said, batting her eyelashes at the other girl.

Ignoring Anne, Cathy sat down on the other side of the table with Anna. “Are you still working on that article for the newspaper?” Anna asked before taking a bite of her rice and chicken (yes, she was the stereotypical black girl. She knew and was proud of it).

Nodding in confirmation, Cathy sighed and banged her head on the table. A moment later she lifted her head again and gave the others a tired smile. “Yeah, and it’s kicking my ass. I was just interviewing Jane Seymour and Catherine de Aragon about -”

“Woah woah woah, you were talking to Jane Seymour and Catherine de Aragon?” Anne gaped at Cathy.

“Well yeah, it’s for -”

“Why would you talk to them?” Anne exploded. “They’re massive bitches and you know our history. They’re the reason behind all the rumors at school and you entertained their bullshit?”

Giving Anne an incredulous glare, Cathy shot back, “Okay first, I was only talking to them because they’re both in charge of the student community service branch of council and I needed their interviews for the paper. And two, even if I did want to talk to them, who are you to tell me who I can and can’t be friends with? You’re popular Anne, but you’re not our dictator.” All the girls were open mouthed at Cathy’s tirade, but the girl in question only sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry Anne, but let me make my own decisions.”

Swallowing thickly, Anne nodded. “Right, I’m sorry Cathy. Just… the three of us don’t have a good history.”

Laughing lightly, Cathy made eye contact with Anne. “Yeah, I know.”

“More like the whole school knows,” Anna mumbled, giving Anne a fake smile when her head shot to the side to glare at her friend. But when Kitty giggled, Anne let Anna off the hook and laughed with her cousin.

“Hey Anna, you’re still good to walk Kit home, right?”

Shooting Kitty a cheeky grin, Anna confirmed with Anne. “Yeah, I’ll make sure no wild kidnappers jump out to catch her while you’re not there.” They all joked about it, but everyone knew how protective Anne was over her cousin.

“And Cathy, you and I are still -”

“Still going to infiltrate the cafeteria in order to prove there is malpractice going on, yes.”

Rolling her eyes, Anne complained, “Come on, you make it sound so boring. We’re going to break into the school and cause chaos in the cafeteria.”

“That sounds like fun!” Kit agreed, bumping shoulders with Anne.

Resting her chin on her hand, Cathy exhaled loudly. “It is not fun, it’s important. If we can prove the food isn’t up to health standards, then we can finally take some steps towards proper changes around here,” the writer explained.

“Wait, does that mean they’ll get rid of the pizza?” Anna asked.

“NOT THE PIZZA!” Anne cried, far louder than she should have. Kitty shushed her when some of the nearby tables looked over. Protectively, Anne hunched over the last slice of pizza still on her plate. It was far from healthy but Anne was addicted to the grease.

The only ones at the table who didn’t have lunch were Cathy and Kit. Cathy tended to sleep or work during lunch, so she trained her body to run only on two meals and a plethora of snacks throughout the day. And although Kit wouldn’t admit it, her father never gave her any lunch money or provided her with lunch foods. If she asked, he would give her lunch but then refuse to serve her dinner, so Kitty learned to stop asking. “Look Anne, if you want to break into the cafeteria with me, you’re going to have to forfeit your pizza rights.”

In an almost comical moment, Anne actually contemplated whether to choose pizza or breaking and entering, but eventually she gave in. “Alright, I’m sorry pizza, my second love!” And then Anne devoured the slice.

The other three girls rolled their eyes. Whenever Anne made a comment about “my second love” it was almost always followed up with something like - “As much as I love you pizza, you never stood a chance against Cathy Parr, the apple of my eye.”

For as long as the quartet had been friends, Anne had been flirting with Cathy. None of them questioned it anymore, and even Cathy had become accustomed to the constant shows of affection. Both girls were obviously attracted to each other, but Cathy made it very clear she didn’t want to date anybody anytime soon. So instead, Anne kept serenading her with proclamations of love.

Later that day, Anna and Kit were talking home together, comfortably chatting with each other. “She built the guillotine to threaten Mary, but Mary scares Anne way too much - even though she’ll never admit it - for her to actually attempt it.” Anna nodded along to the story, even though this was probably the fourth time Kit was telling it. “So when I told Anne that the guillotine idea was stupid - which it was! - she accused me of treason.”

“How dare she,” Anna spoke in mock horror, playing along with Kitty.

“Right! Ugh,” Kit groaned, “so of course George was on board with it because he’s always on board with Anne’s shi-”

Anna shushed Kit aggressively before she could curse. “I may not be your cousin but I don’t want my head chopped off if she gets wind I let you curse.”

Kit frowned but then continued her story. “So they got the guillotine which looked so scary, because I was only ten, and carried me to it execution style. George held me down and everything while Anne tied a blindfold around my eyes. By now I’m freaking out because no one’s stopping them - I didn’t actually think they were gonna kill me,” Kit scoffed in the self assured voice of someone who was most definitely lying. “And whoosh! The blade comes down and I don’t scream, and the two of them are laughing at me!” Kit pouted and stomped her foot in frustration. “The blade was fake, it was only styrofoam.”

Lightly punching Kit’s shoulder, Anna commented, “Must’ve been traumatising.”

“It was embarrassing,” Kit groaned.

“Well it’s your fault for hanging out with them.”

Perking up at those words, Kit ran ahead and spun around so she was walking backwards and facing Anna. “On the topic of hanging out with people…”

Quirking up an eyebrow, Anna invited, “Yes?”

“Do you think Anne would be mad if I hung out with other people?”

Furrowing her eyebrows, Anna shrugged. “I don’t know, Anne’s pretty unpredictable. But it’s like Cathy says, she can’t control who you hang out with.”

“So…” Kit waited for confirmation. “Does that mean it’s okay to be friends with other people?”

“Of course Kit, you can be friends with whoever you want,” Anna told the sophomore. The two of them had known each other practically their whole lives, Anna remembering Kit from when she was a toddler. It gave her a lot of teasing material, but usually she left that to Anne. If Kit wanted to branch out and meet new people, Anna would support her without hesitation.

Unbeknownst to Anna, Kit already had an idea of who she wanted to befriend. In her mind, it made perfect sense. Together, the six of them all shared the misfortune of dating Henry, so why shouldn’t they be friends? Or at least acquaintances. She had never told Anne, but Kit found her rivalry with Jane and Catherine stupid. They had so much they could relate to, why let past bad blood govern their relationships?

Anna waved Kit goodbye when they reached her door. “I’ll see you tomorrow Kit,” Anne called, watching to make sure Kitty got inside safely.

“Bye Anna!” she replied, unlocking the door and moving inside. Once the door was closed, Kit let her backpack slide off her back as a smirk grew on her face. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Anne kept turning around in her seat to watch the cafeteria doors, completely ignoring her lunch. Whatever Cathy and Anna were talking about faded into white noise as she peered through waves of students passing through the doors. She couldn’t focus on anything, frantically searching for any sign of her cousin. “You alright Anne?” Anna asked, breaking her conversation with Cathy.

Removing her gaze from the crowds, Anne faced her confused friends. “Have either of you seen Kitty today?”

“I saw her during passing period,” Cathy commented, twirling a pen in her hand.

“Right,” Anne mumbled, shooting another glance at the door. “She’s late for lunch.”

“Maybe a teacher’s holding her up,” Anna offered,

Still, Anne was unconvinced. “You think something’s wrong?”

“No,” Cathy waved her hand. “Kit can take care of herself, Anne.”

“But what if -”

“But what if nothing,” Cathy cut her off. “She’s not eating lunch with us for one day. It’s not a big deal. You’ll see her after school Anne, and everything will be fine.”

Sighing, Anne shook her head, glancing at the empty seat next to her. “Everything will be fine,” she told herself.

As for Kit, she was on a mission. Jane Seymour and Catherine de Aragon tended to stay away from others, not interacting all that much with the student body. They were both reserved, so Kit didn’t expect to be able to confront them easily. It was pure dumb luck she ended up where she did.

While leaving her classroom for lunch, Kit had been swarmed by a bunch of juniors who knocked her over without apologizing. All her books went sprawling across the floor, stepped on by her inconsiderate peers. Scrambling around, Kit tried to pick up her papers before they could be ripped or further damaged.

A hand came into view, holding her history textbook. Looking up, Kit was stunned into silence at the kind face of Jane Seymour. “You dropped this,” she prompted, holding out the book.

Hesitantly taking it, Kit murmured, “Thank you.”

Her eyes sweeping across the floor, Jane offered an apologetic glance at the mess of papers. “Do you need some help with this?”

“Uh,” Kit blanked. “That would be great!” she accepted a little too enthusiastically. Jane only chuckled and bent down to help grab the papers.

It occurred to Kit for a moment that Jane might not know who she is. But when Jane handed her the last of the papers and said, “There you go Katherine,” that thought went flying out the window. Biting her lip, Kit awkwardly shifted on her feet. She could leave right now and go have lunch with her friends or… Jane seemed to catch on to what Kit was waiting for. “Would you like to eat lunch with me?” she asked.

Without a second of hesitation, Kit nodded her head. “Yes, I’d like that.”

“Well okay then,” Jane grinned, leading Kit away from the cafeteria. “Catherine and I - Catherine de Aragon,” she clarified as if Kit didn’t already know, “we sit outside. It’s peaceful and not many people come to bother us.”

“Sounds nice,” Kit replied, her voice still soft. Jane noticed but decided not to comment on it. She wasn’t one to judge people.

When the two of them made it out of the building, Jane was flagged over by Catherine de Aragon who was sitting on a blanket under a tree. It seemed like she had set up for a picnic, even though they were still on school grounds in the middle of a school day. “You brought a guest today?” Catherine raised her eyebrows at Jane, her lips tugging upwards.

“Sure did,” Jane replied, plopping down next to her. “You can sit down wherever you like Katherine.”

Awkwardly shuffling to the opposite side of the blanket, Kit sat down and hugged her backpack to her chest. She didn’t have any lunch, as per usual, so she used her backpack as a barrier between her and the other two girls. Suddenly, she cursed herself for wanting to make new friends. Where had this social anxiety been before she got here?

Catherine and Jane seemed to notice her awkwardness (who wouldn’t?), so they attempted to get rid of it. “So Katherine…” the other Catherine started. “Why’d you want to have lunch with us today?”

Mumbling lightly, Kit felt a small blush of embarrassment rise to her cheeks. “What?” Jane prodded, unable to hear Kit’s answer.

“I wanted to make new friends,” she told them, burying her head in her arms.

The two seniors shared a glance before turning their attention back to Kit. “Of course you can be our friend,” Jane assured her.

“Really?” Kit peeked her head up.

“Sure, why not,” Catherine answered. “You seem nice enough, and there’s no reason for us not to be friends.”

Frowning, Kit picked at her fingernails. “But Anne.”

Visibly, Jane flinched and Catherine’s face morphed into a snarl. “You’re not her,” Jane spoke calmly, putting a hand on Catherine’s arm. “If you want to be our friend, we’re not going to let that come between us.”

For a moment, Kit almost ran away. This is what she wanted, but now that it was being presented to her, she was terrified. She had never had friends that weren’t also Annie’s. She didn’t know how to start her new friendships other than with, “Okay.”

Catherine and Jane shared a glance. “Okay.”

“Well this is going to be awfully confusing for me,” Jane laughed, “Two C/Katherines!”

“Oh!” Kit perked up, “You can call me Kat. Or Kit. Or Kitty. Any of them work.” Then to herself, “Wow, I have a lot of nicknames.”

Chuckling, Catherine stuck out her hand. “Kat’ll do. Well Kat Howard, I’m your new friend Catherine.”

“And I’m your new friend Jane. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

At the end of the day, Kit almost screamed in surprise when Anne practically rugby tackled her to the ground. “Where were you!” Anne demanded, hugging Kit tightly. “I was so worried.”

“I’m fine Annie,” Kit assured her cousin.

“Then where were you?” Anna stood beside Anne, watching the scene unfurl. Anne was huffing, her face red, a cross between relief, fear, and anger. The Boleyn girl cared so much about her cousin, but sometimes she became overbearing.

Hugging Anne back, Kit explained, “With my new friends.”

“You have new friends!” Anne brightened, pulled Kit closer. “That’s amazing! Do I know them?”

Letting out an awkward laugh, Kit prepared for the worst. “Jane Seymour and Catherine de Aragon,” she admitted.

Freezing, Anne slowly pulled away from Kit. “What?” she asked, her face as hard as stone.

“Jane Seymour and Catherine de -”

“I heard what you said!” Anne screeched. “You of all people, Kit!” Turning around and stomping a few feet away, Anne screamed into her hands. She spun back around to face Kit and marched up to her. “Those girls aren’t worthwhile friends. They don’t actually care about your wellbeing -”

“How do you know that!” Kit fired back in frustration. “You’re blinded by this stupid fued that’s been going on for years. They were nice to me and we didn’t even have to talk about Henry or any of that.”

Clenching her fists, Anne tried to stay calm. “I don’t trust them Kit. I don’t feel comfortable letting you hang around them.”

“Good thing it’s not your choice then,” Kit stood up for herself. Anna continued watching to the side, frantically texting Cathy for backup. She wasn’t getting any response.

Yelling through her teeth, Anne pulled at her hair. “Kitty, my dearest cousin,” she spoke in a sweet voice. “You know I love you.”

“Don’t you dare and try and guilt me.”

There was a moment where Anne almost continued, but her conscience kicked in. She knew Kit’s history with guilt tripping, and that was a line she would never cross. Before either of them could make another comment, Cathy came bursting out the school doors, sprinting towards them faster than she had ever run in her life. Anna looked up from her phone which she had been repeatedly texting Cathy on. “Cathy? What’s wrong?” Anna called.

Gasping for air as she slid to a stop in front of them, Cathy’s face was ghostly white. “Christina Denmark is missing. The police think she’s been murdered.”

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

Tag List:

@radcowboyalmondtree @boleynhowards @annabanana2401 @babeebobo @dont-lose-your-queerhead @everything-insanity @mindless-pidgeon @i-wanna-dance-and-sing-six @thenicestnonbinary @its-totes-gods-will @thatbolxyngirl @thenameisnoone @sixqueendom @frogs-in-clogs @timetoriseabove

#six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fic #six fanfiction #six fanfic #sixfic #murder myster au #high school au #parrlyn #welcome to the murder house #the trigger warnings make it sound worse than it is #i mean it's not all sunshine and rainbows #but it's not super dark either #this has been sitting in my drive for so long #but its time i finally posted it #please don't let this flop #because i have such good plans for it #this is a serious murder mystery #and i have a lot planned for it

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period-dramallama · 3 years

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So I watched some of Reign season 4....

no offense if you like the show, you do you, but rant below cut. Also, spoilers!

I know what you’re expecting, you expect me to complain about the prom dresses.

Here’s my take: the prom dresses are not the actual problem.

The problem is the mix of aesthetics. If all the costumes and sets, for reasons of budget, were modern day, I could adjust to it, in the same way I adjust to say, Ian McKellen’s Richard III where everything was 1930s. You could even be creative with it by picking a thematically relevant aesthetic- like the 1930s fascist aesthetics in McKellen’s Richard III. But the sets often look very sixteenth century and they look great, but there’s whiplash because then there’s prom dresses, and china tea cups and TEA and then Mary is living in a sixteenth century castle while Elizabeth is living in a cheap knock off of Versailles. Yes, shows like Game of Thrones mixed styles from different eras and cultures but they (mostly) could blend them effectively. And they had a massive budget.

Like there’s a dinner scene in Reign and they’re fuckign drinking from goblets while eating off china, that’s the level of confusion we’re at. My brain is flip flopping between time periods because of the confused aesthetics and I feel like I’m about to have an aneurysm, it’s like the time period equivalent to an optical illusion.

The vocabulary of the script is really basic?? like it’s so simple it sticks out like a sore thumb. “Protestant” is probably the most complex word in the show. Like 7 year olds could probably follow this show easily. Some of the lines are hilarious out of context. Also pronunciation is really off, they pronounce Orleans or-leanz rather than orleh-on but then other times they pronounce names Frenchily PLEASE BE CONSISTENT

The political intrigue is better than in The Spanish Princess, the characters are less stupid than in TSP but the acting is much better in TSP.

HENRY IS SUCH A LIL SHIT I LOVE HIM even tho he’s australian. I think the actor is having a ball playing him. I like that his cross-dressing doesn’t make him less badass. I’ve seen some people praise Mary’s acting...to me it’s like she’s in a school play. Sorry Rachel Skarstan, I’m sure you’re nice and doing the best with what you’ve been given but my GOD you’re far and away the worst Elizabeth I that I have ever seen. (In terms of character, not morality).

She is so WHINY and she seems boy-crazed as well. I get why shows focus on Elizabeth’s love life but STILL it weakens the show because I’m not getting the sense that Elizabeth is a formidable opponent of Mary. I never thought a day would come when I’d watch Elizabeth I in a show and FAST FORWARD her scenes.

Catherine de Medici I love, I think her character is inspired because she’s so watchable and i know i’m biased because I love female antiheroes but her actress is the best and her struggles are far and away the most compelling, yeah she’s shady AF but you want to see how she gets out of a sticky situation, how’s she going to play everyone off against each other, and her situation has serious stakes because her baby boys are this close to cain and abelling each other. I like that she’s so interesting and not just another generic Evil Queen. She and John Knox are far and away the smartest characters.

#reign #cw reign #reign cw #period drama

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janeyseymour · 4 years

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Escape- pt 21

pt 1. pt 2. pt 3. pt 4. pt 5. pt 6. pt 7. pt 8. pt 9. pt 10. pt 11. pt 12. pt 13. pt 14. pt 15. pt 16. pt 17. pt 18. pt 19. pt 20.

Jane Seymour has stayed with Henry long enough. Cue Catherine of Aragon and the rest of the girls to save her (Aramour)

Catherine and John have a chat.

“Beale!” The head of the police department barked. “We have a lead on Tudor!”

“He’s heading to where Seymour is?”

“Someone was spotted that looks like him. He’s not quite near her, but if he knows where she is, he’s heading there for sure. You need to warn Seymour and Aragon.”

“Sir, we can’t. She’s nine months pregnant. If we bring that stress to her, it won’t be good for her or the baby. We have to find him before he finds her.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” The boss raised an eyebrow at his number one officer.

“We have to figure it out. She can’t be under that much stress. I’ll drive out there myself and protect her if I have to. That poor girl has been through more than enough to last her a lifetime.”

“Seems like you have quite the attachment to this case Mr. ‘I-hate-everyone-and-everything.’”

“She just really deserves what she has now, okay?”

“Fine. Go.”

“Thank you sir.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Thomas caught a glimpse of Henry at a rest stop.

“Thomas?”

“You’re not going to get to her before I do.” A look of horror flashed onto Henry’s face before going blank again. The two tried to remain quiet.

“What the fuck are you yelling that for? Are you trying to get us both arrested?”

“I’m not in any trouble. It’s just you they’re out for,” Thomas stated simply. “You’re not getting to her.”

“Yes I will,” Henry gritted his teeth. “Even if-”

“Even if what?” Thomas seethed.

“Even if I have to kill you myself. She was my girl first, and she’s still mine.” Henry left.

“So,” Catherine sighed when the couple walked through the door to the house.

“So?” Jane mimicked.

“I think we shouldn’t tell anyone about the engagement yet. I mean, I love that you’re my fiancee, but-”

“You’re already losing interest in me, aren’t you?” Jane’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Are you stupid? No, I’m not losing interest in you.”

“You know pregnancy brain doesn’t just disappear after the baby escapes the vagina right?”

“Escapes?” The older woman stifled a laugh.

“Yes. I may have been brought back in good health, but my body still has some healing to do,” she said pointedly. “Now, why don’t you want to tell people about our engagement? We already told the girls. Really, the only people we have left are to tell our parents.”

“We couldn’t really avoid telling the girls. But I think we should just let it be for a little. It’ll upstage Eddie.”

“I was wearing my ring when they all came to the hospital,” she argued.

“And no one noticed because they were busy looking at this handsome little boy of ours,” Catherine cooed at the baby in her fiancee’s arms.

“But,” Jane racked her brain for another reason to tell her family. “I like wearing my ring.”

“Jane.”

“You’re right, but I just want to proudly show it off that I’m finally going to be married to the woman I was destined to.”

“In time, you will honey.”

“He’s the first love of my life.”

“I think I’m okay with taking second to him.” The pair watched their child sleep for a few minutes when Catherine’s phone began to ring.

“Take it. I have to feed and put Eddie down anyway. I think I’m going to try and sleep after.”

“Okay. I’ll be in after.” Catherine began to walk away before turning sharply. “Hey.”

“What’s up?”

“I am so in love with you, and I hope you know I will never lose interest in you.”

“I love you too,” Jane smiled as she went to walk up the stairs.

“Do you need any help?” Kat was waiting for her in the hallway.

“I’m just going to feed Eddie and put him down for a nap, but if you want, I would enjoy the company.”

“Okay Mom.” Jane’s heart fluttered when Kat used the term so loosely. She couldn’t wait until Edward would speak those same words.

“Cath here,” she grinned into the phone.

“It’s John. You have a second?”

“Yeah. Janey’s feeding the baby.”

“And she’s in good health still?” The father was quite worried about his daughter.

“From what I can see. The angels or whoever she met kept their promise, and aside from her body changing after giving birth, she seems to be just fine.”

“Good. I’m glad. I wasn’t ready to lose my sweet girl.”

“Neither was I. I’ve been thanking the heavens for keeping her with us.”

“Me too.” The two sat in silence for a few moments before John spoke again. “Did the two of you get engaged and not tell anyone about it?”

“I knew you knew.”

“Of course I knew. I’ve been waiting for a ring on her finger since she told me that she had run away with you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, you know,” Catherine laughed. “Between the whole ‘having a child’ thing and then the whole ‘I’m pretty sure the love of my life is going to die and leave me with her newborn son’ thing happening, I didn’t think announcing our engagement at the time was quite right.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. But uhm, don’t say anything. We’re trying to keep it quiet for a little bit, at least while Eddie is so new to us all.”

“But Marge and I have some money riding on this and-”

“Wait. You’re telling me that you have a bet going based on your daughter’s love life?”

“Uh,” John stammered. “No?”

“You two really are something.”

“It’s a really good bet though,” the older man practically whined. “I won, and I want my-”

“Please.”

“Fine. But uh, how did you ask her?”

“I asked her not even an hour after Eddie was born. We were talking to a nurse about the name, and they said they would just refer to him as baby boy Seymour. Janey insisted he take my name because I’m going to adopt him anyway, and I just kind of blurted it out. I didn’t mean for it to happen like that though. I just kinda of-”

“She said yes. You’re lucky.”

“Oh I know John. I’m the luckiest woman alive.”

“No, you really are lucky. It must’ve taken me three tries before Marge said yes. Liz’s husband asked her five times, if I can remember correctly. You lucked out on the first try.”

“Well, you know I tried once, but it never got that far.”

“Yes, but she doesn’t have to know about that.”

“She find out about it eventually I’m sure. She always does. And she’ll laugh about it too. I really do love her.”

“I know you do.”

“Ask me why.”

“Why?”

“Just ask.”

“Okay, why do you love my daughter?” John inquired. “You know, I already blessed the marriage. I trust you.”

“I know, but I just need to say this.”

“Okay, on with it Cath.”

“I don’t even really know where to begin. She’s gorgeous, and beautiful, and simply stunning. The way her hair falls when she runs her fingers through her hair drives me insane, and when she has bedhead, I think it’s the most beautiful I’ve ever seen her. I’m never going to tire of waking up next to her. I crack up when she gives me the eyebrow. It’s so cute. Her eyes give away everything. It shows me all I’ll ever need to know about her. They light up when she’s excited, they sparkle when she talks about something she loves.”

“They always did. That’s how I knew she loved you.”

“I-” Catherine didn’t know how to respond, so she continued. “When she scrunches up her nose, I can’t help but stare. When she’s confused or mad, I just can’t help. She’s so endearing. And her smile, oh my gosh. It kills me.”

“That’s how I feel about Margaret’s.”

“I’ve never seen a smile so bright, and so genuine, and so full of hope. I really hope Eddie gets her smile. She’s just so passionate. I’ve never seen a woman so passionate about everything. When she’s happy, she just glows. She has this way about making everyone else feel so much lighter and fuller. You’d have to ask Kat about that. She’s hilarious. God, I’ve never met someone with such a twisted sense of humor, but it’s hilarious. She literally laughed when we were all shocked that she was alive and said, ‘Man, I really had you guys scared’. Like, who even thinks to say that when they just defied the laws of life?”

“She gets that from me.”

“And I love the way that she twiddles her thumbs when she’s nervous. I always know when I can try to help her relax. I love when she talks a mile a minute. She gets so animated, and I have to stop myself from kissing her to get her to take a breath. When she gets mad at me, she puts her hands on her hips and pouts, and I just melt. I can’t stay mad at her for much longer when I see her like that. And her puns? They’re, as she would say, ‘punny’. The rest of the girls in the house just groan, but she loves them so much that I can’t help but laugh. I love when she acts like I’m physically right next to her when we’re actually on the phone and she nods to say yes. I love that she has so many different laughs. I love when she laughs so hard so snorts, and then she continues to laugh and no noise comes out. I love the way that she loves me with her whole heart, or at least I would hope. I love the way that she’s already a mother to Kat and Eddie, and she’s the best mom. It’s just the most amazing thing. She just- god John. I love her so much. I can’t even get into details.”

“Those weren’t details?” John spoke after listening to the entire ten minute rant Catherine had presented him with.

“No. She’s just so incredible. Every little thing she does makes me fall more and more in love with her, and I know if she heard this, she’d tell me I just made up this image of her in my head, but I swear I didn’t. She has this whole universe inside of her. It’s a wonder that she holds in all of her 5’7” body, even though she tells everyone she’s 5’6” because ‘Cath, 5’7” is tall.’ I wish she saw herself the way I see her, but if I have to spend every day telling her why I love her, I’ll do it.”

“Cath, she’s very-”

“You know what though?”

“What?”

“You didn’t ask me why I’m in love with her.”

“Didn’t I?”

“You asked why I love her. There’s a difference.”

“Well, why are you in love with her?”

“I couldn’t tell you exactly why. There’s not just one thing; it’s everything. Words can’t even begin to describe how deeply in love I am with your daughter. I couldn’t- I went over ten years watching the girl I was in love with fall in love with someone else. I watched her get let down time and time again. I thought every New Years, I was going to tell her. I remember the night I found her, all broken and bruised. She was still beautiful. Sick, right? I was there for her through it all and-”

Jane walked in and interrupted, “-And beautiful things really do come from terrible nights. Just like that one song says. Daddy, I need to steal my girlfriend now.”

“Fiancee,” Catherine laughed. “He knows.”

“Of course he does. Dad, I need to steal her. I love you. Bye now!” She hung up the phone. “Eddie’s down for now. Kat is upstairs watching him. He’ll be up soon though because we fell asleep while eating. For now though, you are so incredibly sexy. I heard all of that. All of it, and god, I am so in love with you.” She kissed Catherine deeply and moved down her body.

“Shit Jane. We can’t-”

“We need to stop. I know.”

“Catalina laughed, “Just know that the second you’re cleared...”

“You’re the worst.” The blonde smacked her fiancee lightly.

“How am I the worst? You just came in here and tried to seduce me in the kitchen!”

“Shut up. So, how does Dad know, and is he going to spill to Mom?”

“He told me he’s been looking for a ring since you broke it off with Henry. He saw when they were visiting. And no, I made him swear not to, but you might want to ask him about his bet.”

“A bet?”

“That’s definitely his story to tell. Anyway, do you want to wait to get married or?”

“Lina, you saw how long my last engagement was. Honestly, if we went to the courthouse today I would marry you.”

“You better not have a courthouse wedding!” Anne shouted from the basement.

“Well, I guess we can’t do that,” Jane laughed.

“Guess not. What about August?”

“Like, two months from now August or next year?”

“Two months from now? We can just have family over.”

“I think I’d like that.”

“Who’s going to be whose bridesmaid?” Anne ran up the stairs.

“Hey Marge?”

“What? What happened? I wasn’t trying to- I wasn’t doing anything!” Margaret desperately tried to cover up the fact that she was trying to listen in on her husband’s phone call.

“You're an insane woman. Just call Janey for me and ask her why she loves Cath.”

“Don’t you-”

“I asked Cath, and I learned that woman loves our daughter more than I ever thought was possible.”

“For-”

“Then I asked her why she was in love with her.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“That’s what I thought, but boy was I wrong. I was so, so wrong. That woman is the best for our sweet angel.” John’s eyes sparkled the same way Jane’s did.

“Okay. I’ll ask her tomorrow. Tonight, I made something special for dinner. Come on.”

#six the musical #six musical #six fanfiction #six the musical fanfiction #six fanfic #six musical fanfic #six the musical fanfic #aramour

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mimymomo · 5 years

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Unremarkable, you? Never. ~ Angst Parr part 1

Oh look it’s me starting something new even though I haven’t finished the OTHER project I started...oops? But anyways here’s my angsty Parr fic that yes...has parrlyn in it. I have no self control.

It started off innocent enough.

“Can we get a picture with you all?” a teenage girl with blonde hair asked excitedly, her brunette friend shyly hiding behind her. A simple question that should’ve had a simple resolution.

“Sure thing, hun! Just let me nab the rest of the girls real quick and we’ll be all set,” Anne laughed, wiping a stray bead of sweat away from her forehead. She was beaming in the bright artificial lights. It had been a lively show that night, the Queens feeling the energy surging from the audience after every song. Jokes landing harder than usual resulting in an uproarious frenzy. Now they were ending the night by taking pictures and signing autographs for fans.

“Cathy!”

Catherine, finishing up signing another fans programme, turned back at the mention of her name to see the rest of the queens gathered around two teenage girls. Anne waved her hand wildly in the air, “Catherine Parr, hurry and come get in the picture!”

Catherine shook her head and smiled at her friends antics before walking over to the group. As walked closer, she could see the smiles on the two girls faces slowly change into frowns as they whispered to each other.

“Uhh well, we,” the brunette spoke up.

“We actually just wanted a picture with you five, without her...” the blonde completed.

Catherine froze in place. Not being wanted for a group picture? That had never happened before.

“You want a picture with us...but, without Catherine?” Katherine asked stunned.

“Yeah, that’s not-” Anne began but Catherine quickly cut her off.

“That’s fine, here,” Catherine said promptly reaching out to take the girl’s mobile phone,“I’ll take the picture.”

“Are you sure Catherine?” Aragon questioned with a sharp frown, not happy that one of them was being excluded.

Catherine waved her concern off with a flick of her wrist, “everything’s fine.” She displayed the best fake smile she could muster, “now, you all smile for me ‘kay?”

...

Catherine never really minded being the queen mostly in the background.

She kept her distance from the queen's most of the time, valuing her private free time whenever she could receive any. She stood to the sides for the majority of the show and let the other queens fight and squabble, only taking center stage when needed at the very end. She’d make her part, resolving the conflict and deliver the primary message of self-importance almost every night, eight times a week. That was enough for her.

So why was this one incident bothering her so much?

Catherine kept replaying that night over and over in her brain, the scene now firmly cemented into her subconscious. She tried not to let it get to her, or at least not visibly show that it was getting to her as the days passed. But here she was, days later, still wondering why she wasn’t wanted for a stupid photo. ‘Was I just not good enough?’

“-atherine. Catherine. CATHERINE!”

Cathy jumped at the sound of her name. Six pairs of eyes were glued to her, each mixed with different emotions ranging from amusement to dismay. “Yeah?”

“Jeez, we’ve been hollering your name for five minutes now! You’ve just been staring out the window,” Anne smirked, but Catherine could see the concern behind the look.

“Oh, sorry!” ‘Come on Catherine, get your head straight.’

“We’re at the studio love,” Jane cooed with a sympathetic smile. The queens along with the band and one of their alternates Grace were performing on a talk show that morning as a way to promote the show. ‘Great publicity’ their producers said when they pitched the idea.

“Can you believe I’m going to be on television? Me,” Anne squealed as they hopped out of the car and made their way into the studio venue.

“It’s a good thing that the rest of us are here or they’d immediately switch channels,” Aragon muttered under her breath. They walked into the tall, pristine building and where guided down some long halls until they reached the sound stage.

“Long night?” Grace asked sweetly.

“Yeah,” Catherine sighed, giving the taller woman a tired smile, “you could say that.”

“Ah, ladies welcome to the show!” An older gentleman cheered, arms high in the air with enthusiasm. His hair was dark and slicked back and he wore a black blazer over a white button up and dark slacks. His smile wide and cocky. “I’m the producer. Let me run through where you all will be placed.”

He guided the girls into the spots center stage, Jane and Catherine in the front, followed closely by Anne, Katherine and Anna. Cathy and Grace took up the back. He then began to position the girls in their places, “okay, Aragon here, then Boleyn, next, Seymour, Cleves, Howard...perfect!”

The producer turned towards Cathy and Grace, “and you two must be the understudies.”

“Oh, no actually I’m-” Catherine spoke up but was quickly silenced by the producer.

“Oh wait a second...of course, there’s six of you queens aren’t there? I always forget the last one. What was I thinking!” he said dramatically placing his hand on his forehead. “My mistake.”

The producer turned to Cathy, “dressing rooms for the band and company are back down the hall, but you’re welcome to watch.” He grabbed Grace’s hand and started pulling her over in the direction of the group leaving a mortified Catherine in her place, “now come on love.”

“But wait I’m not-”

“She’s not Catherine Parr,” Anne crossley spoke up from her position, marching over to Cathy who was still standing awkwardly in her spot, her face noticeably more disheartening and out of it than even before. She placed her arm around Cathy’s shoulder. “This is Catherine Parr here.”

The producer released Grace’s hand and walked back to Cathy and Anne. “My apologies Ms. Parr. I guess you just don’t manage to stand out as much compared to your fellow queens.”

Silence. The air in the room grew thick and the temperature dipped tens of degrees. Anne narrowed her eyes in an icy glare at the mans blunt comment. “What?” she asked in faux disbelief.

Aragon and Cleves and the rest of the girls made their way to the group of three. “I just meant that, well,” the man backed up, now somewhat understanding the predicament he had gotten into. “Surviving isn’t as memorable as well, being beheaded or dying after childbirth or being divorced over arbitrary reasons. That’s all.”

The ice turns to fire as things heat up between the Queens and the ignorant staff member. Catherine’s face was blank as she stared at the floor. She swears she can hear the other queens but their words just sound like ringing static, background noise to the blaring thoughts pounding and repeating in her head. ‘You just don’t manage to stand out as much compared to your fellow queens. Surviving isn’t as memorable. Don’t stand out. Isn’t memorable.’

Anne is trying her hardest not to hurl heinous insults at this producer when she feels Catherine remove her arm from her shoulder.

“Actually, I believe Grace should fill in for me this performance. Not feeling so hot.”

“Cathy?” Anne questions, shocked.

“It’s fine, Grace you can handle this right?” Grace hesitantly nodded her head and Parr gave her a smile that shined nowhere near as bright as usual. “Alright then.”

Anne reached out and gripped Catherine’s forearms, her fingers digging in her skin slightly. “Catherine, is this what you want. Are you okay with this?”

Catherine nodded her head, eyes refusing to meet Anne’s, “just got a bit of a headache that’s all.” Catherine gathers some courage and locked eyes with Anne, “better to be on the safe side right?”

“If that’s what you want then okay, right Anne?” Jane comments picking up on the tension between the two.

Anne stares into Catherine’s eyes for a second longer before turning away and bringing down her hands. “Yeah,’ she laments still bewildered and not entirely convinced by Catherine’s words.

“There seem to be a problem here?” another producer for the show asked, stumbling into the unsuspecting war zone.

“Everything’s fine,” Catherine responds. She pulled away from Anne and backtracked a few steps back. “You lot do your best okay?”

The Queens along with Grace gave half hearted affirmations except for Anne, who was oddly silent. The second producer redirected their attention to begin soundcheck and Catherine walks out the double doors, the instrumentals sounding distant and disjointed the further she walked.

The performance goes off without a hitch. Catherine watched her girls and Grace sing and dance their hearts out from the flat screen mounted high on the wall in the studios green room. Each movement was perfectly in step and no note was out of pitch. In a way , seeing them all perform fine without her, Catherine felt worse than before. ‘They don’t need you. They have Grace and Courtney and Vicki. You’re not special.’

Catherine hastily shook her head, as if the harder she shook the faster the idea would fly out her head. But throughout the day it was always there, like a parasitic leech sucking out every positive thought in her brain.

Tag: @a-slightly-cracked-egg

#six the musical #catherine parr #parrlyn #anne boleyn #anna of cleves #catherine of aragon #katherine howard #jane seymour

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hu-meow · 5 years

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Gentleman Jack 1x02

Episdode 2! Episode. Whatever. It's like the opposite of episode 1, with loooots of Ann(e)s scenes! So, let's get into it, shall we? I mostly skip [over] the side stories, by the way lol...

1) Can I just say how fucking adorkable Miss Ann Walker is when Anne Lister shows up? (don't forget the little nod of the silent 'thank you james') She's nervous, excited, hides a damn newspaper behind the cushion! (which Anne finds later and I just find it hilarious). And then when Ann can barely say "give birth" like it's something dirty and horrible...TOO PRECIOUS. The only thing I love more than Nervous Ann is Hot Mess Ann (but that's not until later. heh.) And, there were two lip licks in the first ten minutes! (07:42 and 08:28)

2) Anne is pretty passionate about science and anatomy when she's explaining it all to Ann, who's literally just soaking it all in, but what got me thinking, is when Anne talks about the brain. She says it's her favorite, how complex it is and all. So I wonder, does Anne find Ann's mental health conditions well, not exactly a challenge, but you know. I suppose intriguing? Obviously she cares about her and wants Ann to get better, but I can't help but think, on some level, Anne was quite curious about Ann's mind in all aspects, and wanted to be there first hand for it all. I'm probably not explaining this very well, as I've went over it time and time again in my head, but hopefully ya'll get the gist of what I'm trying to say about it. And it's nothing negative, to be clear. So, likewise, I think Ann really opened up with Anne, and nearly immediately. As I said in the last post, Ann barely spoke in episode 1, but in this episode, she almost doesn't stop. I love it, and the chemistry between the two women (Suranne and Sophie) is phenomenal. Don't think we could have asked for better.

3) "What do you think Henry?" "Are you a man?" "I'm a lady woman." LOL fuckin kids man. Innocent and pure, and say it how it is. I don't have kids, but I do have nieces and nephews, and they just always crack me up. And they hear EVERYTHING. Henry wasn't talking, at all, and yet when Anne talks to him, he literally repeats everything Thomas Sowden had told him about the little wooden solider. It's a small scene, but I love it, as Anne doesn't interact with kids much throughout the season, but when shes does, she's usually pretty sweet with them. (Though she had just saw the other little guy and his father mistook the "is this yours" for the boy instead of the cart LOL) Also, can we see Anne sword fight in season 2?? For. Reasons??

4) "It is an old farm." (cow moos) LMAO that was just brilliant. Fuckin Marian. She even does a 4th wall break, she has a couple. Though hers are always "ffs, Anne." LOL But that "shed" Anne wants built, that is the same one she takes Ann to next episode, is it not? How da faq that get built so fast?? I mean, granted, it's probably been, maybe two months? Maybe?? So I don't know. The show is very loose with the timeline, well time flow? Random thought.

5) HOLY. FUCK. THE FUCKING. PAPER. FUCKING. KNIFE. Okay, it's not that exciting at first glance, but okay. Imma try to work this out without getting too crazy. SO. First couple times I watched this, I thought for sure, Anne totally broke it on accident. She is in her feels, Ann is about to take off (without her permission, da faq, right?) And Anne has a very strict, exact way she's courting Ann. Anne fidgets with her hands when she's upset (all encompassing word here), so it fell to reason the paper knife was just a product of all that. @/iredreamer had an ask that pretty much covered all that and I very much agreed; accident. HOWEVER. I just recently read another ask by @/thought-i-to-myself and she said hell no, totally a calculated incident. I thought, no, no way. All about the feels. And then I just watched the scene. I STAND CORRECTED. COMPLETELY CALCULATED. But, I don't think Anne meant to actually cut herself. But wow. Anne has game that is now a lost art. Okay, well, probably a bit Sally too, but you know. Damn. It was so good. Anne knows just how to say the right thing, or not enough or push just enough. It's truly amazing how fucking cool this chick is. And Ann eats it up like she's been starved her whole life. (which, I mean, is pretty accurate?) The scene leaves and then comes back, and that's when Anne really kicks it up a notch with the "have you ever kissed anyone" and damn. Poor Ann. She's in so deep and she doesn't even know it. And I think she was already there but again, didn't know it. She is totally "a little bit in love" with Ann, but can't understand the feelings. Well, les-b-honest, she's a LOT in love with Anne LOL. And then, good ol Anne, back peddles on the situation so it gives Ann time to process. And as Ann is looking out the window, smiling like a fucking adorkable fool, holding the bloody handkerchief, I s2g, it almost feels like Ann had a plan to pull Anne into her. Maybe it's just me, but either way, Ann is smug and satisfied asf. (there's a lip lick in one of those scenes, too)

6) Catherine Rawson and her "people" LOL Ann is so determined to know who these "people" are and she gets so damn defensive! (also, another lip lick, of course, because she's thinking about Anne). You stick up for bae, Ann!

7) LOL Anne giving the run down of the upper coal bed! I hate math but that was fantastic. Christopher Rawson is such a little bitch, making his brother Jeramiah do all the dirty work. And he doesn't even want to! But he can't go against his brother. Again, such a little bitch. But I do love his little dog lol Willy? Wally? I can't remember.

8) Blue dress! Again, I think it's the same one. I swear Ann only wears like, the same three dresses in the span of two years. But that's okay. She looks fantastic. I'm not complaining. And okay. so then Anne gives Ann the little gold gondola. It's so tender, and Ann is literally looking at Anne's lips like, the ENTIRE time. Bitch. Be. Thirsty. But, more of that later. She has so many feels and she doesn't even understand them. I can't love her enough, I swear. AND THEN. She lays those wonderful words of wisdom on Anne, and I shit you not, Anne looked like he was about to POUNCE. I honestly don't think Anne was expecting Ann to be nearly as interesting as she turns out to be. Which is why I think Anne falls so hard for Ann. Not just a pretty face, after all. ;)

9) Thomas, Anne's footman, lmao that boy. I swear every time he's called, he's having to fix his attire and he's nearly falling into the doorway. Bless that mess of a boy. He tries, but he's a long ways from becoming Thank-you-James.

10) I love the hat Anne wears to Vere's wedding. Same one she wears when she meets the Queen of Denmark? Unsure. Anyone know? Also, it got me thinking, I'm sure most people in this time, especially the wealthy, had their clothes made for him, yes? Anne's definitely would have had to have been custom made, right? And who dressed her before Eugenie? Wait, Elizabeth, right? But what about Ann? You only ever see Thank-you-James and the carriage driver (Name??) but does she not have a servant to help her dress? She's just unimportant? Hm. More random things I've (over) thought of.

11) Why no Lake District scenes??? That's more into episode 3, but still.. WHY?? Ugh why couldn't this season have 10 episodes instead of only 8. Boo.

RIGHT THEN. Thanks again for sticking around this overly long post of my ramblings. Okay wow this was stupid long. I truly apologize and I'll try to keep it shorter next time.

Counts:

*Anne's 4th wall breaks (ep): 5

**Total: 8

*Ann's lip licks (ep): 5

(07:42; 08:28; 30:36; 40:50; 49:35)

**Total: 6

(Bonus: 3 lip bitings from Ann...hnng)

#gentleman jack #anne lister #ann walker #1x02 #suranne jones #sophie rundle #scene breakdown

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blessuswithblogs · 5 years

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Katsura Hashino is a Big Fat Creep and Other Observations

(for the record all uses of the word “queer” in this post are meant in the academic sense as shorthand for a wide umbrella group of gender and sexual minorities and not as a slur i hope that is evident from my past history and status as Big Gay Bitch Who Loves Girls but let it never be said i don’t cover my ass)

A few weeks ago, Catherine: Full Body Edition or whatever gross subtitle it got was released. Catherine has had a very checkered history as one of those games that is just kind of slimy, though it has endured with a cult following and a surprisingly successful competitive community by way of the game's multiplayer mode where you compete to see who can climb The Dream Sex Tower the best. Honestly, I don't know that much about Catherine because it is difficult to think of a game that repulses me more on a visceral level, but I want to do my due diligence and not talk out my ass. One of Catherine's initial claims to fame was that it was by Atlus Japan, specifically the same people who made the much beloved Persona games. This is evident in the game's art, music, overall style of delivery, and being basically hate speech.

The original Catherine was a greasy, misogynistic mess with some really vile politics about trans people in particular. Deadnaming your own fictional character in the credits is some next level petty malice. Full Body returns with, stupendously, a double down on this ideology that is actually kind of comical in how convoluted it gets in trying to decry the Degenerate Queer Lifestyle. The game adds a scene with Rin, who is apparently a gay crossdresser from space(???????), getting slapped away and running away crying from their love interest after he learns The Terrible Truth. In another game, with a different writing team, this could have been a teachable moment about the destructive consequences of taking too narrow a view of human sexuality and gender expression, but as it stands it's just another tiresome example of Trans Panic with a sheepish admonishment from the other characters that gosh maybe slapping their hand away was a mean thing to do.

So we're already firing on all cylinders here, but the best is yet to come. The bulk of the outcry comes from the addition of a weird "true ending" cutscene where Catherine, who is also from space, goes back in time to make everybody's life better. Or something. This is already pretty stupid on the face of it because its Fucking Time Travel Out of Nowhere, but the scene then depicts a pre-transition Erica, the game's trans character who got deadnamed in the credits the last time. There has been a lot of exceptionally tedious discussion about exactly when this scene takes place in the game's chronology and what it means for Erica, and some brain geniuses have tied their thinkmeats into pretzel shapes to prove definitively that all this means is that she delayed her transition in this Better Timeline, that might not actually be better, because Catherine is weird and selfish, maybe. And. Fine. Sure. Okay. Let's accept that for now. Given the game's previous track record, and continuing insistence on using Erica's pretransition name in the credits even in the rerelease, it is meanspirited at best to show her before her transition at all (many real life trans people would be utterly mortified for such a thing to happen to them) and overall just in poor taste and pretty lousy writing at that because it's so unclear what any of this actually means. Since the game has not yet received an official english localization, the context of this scene is to begin with muddled by amateur translators on the internet all with slightly conflicting interpretations of the scene. It's a fucking mess, by and large.

So I would disagree that this is a fake controversy manufactured by those damnable essjaydubyas. Even with the most charitable interpretation possible, it's still just really sketchy and gross. Erica's english voice actress, who seems to be very fond of the character, has been vocal about her dissatisfaction with the new scenes on twitter and has recently come out to say that the localization team is going to try and take some steps to make things less blatantly hateful. Between this and Jennifer Hale's recent tweet about it being time to grab our pitchforks in response to Activision-Blizzard's mass layoffs, I'm starting to think that voice actresses are pretty cool. I mean honestly I always thought that but we're getting off topic. One of the top competitive Catherine players, who was by all accounts really hyped for the release of Full Body, just straight up said on twitter that he was quitting the game because he couldn't support something like that in good conscience. I don't know if he's remained consistent on this position since, but it was a bold statement, to say the least.

Now, whenever an incident like this happens, the inevitable string of More-Progressive-Than-Thou white boys who watched an anime once and thought the bouncing titties were a little much appears to start pontificating about the cause of such untoward elements in media. And it's basically all just a bunch of Orientalist bullshit. Every time. For whatever reason, people still really love to be racist towards Japanese people because it's still sort of socially acceptable when couched in the language of "oh japan!!! ecks dee" and so the neverending procession of softboi neckbeards declared with confidence that Atlus's continual inclusion of Actual Hate Speech towards LGBTQ+ people was the result of the inscrutable Japanese Mind and its Mysterious, Antiquated Culture. Many mentions of the philosophy of Wa, wherein the nail that stands out gets pounded down, and lots of very lovely psuedointellectual claptrap. Evidently, people just seem to think that queer people don't live in Japan, or that they don't fight just as hard as we do for equal rights and protections under the law. They do live there, and they do fight as hard as we do. Obviously. You fucking imbeciles.

In their quest to clearly illustrate their moral and intellectual superiority to the backward, collectivist Asiatic Peoples, these highly reasonable and enlightened manboys forsook a very important logical principle: Occam's Razor. Sure, you could blame jApAnEsE cUlTuRe for Atlus's impropieties and just conveniently ignore all of the fantastic queer media it has produced in recent years like My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, Horou Muskou, Nier Automata, etc. Or you could go for the simpler and more logically consistent option: Katsura Hashino is a big fat creep. Who is Hashino, you ask? He is the director of every Persona game since 3, as well as Catherine, and all of these games' gross shit and self-contradictory themes of self-acceptance and rebellion against an unust society (unless you're gay, ew) can probably be traced to him and his gaggle of accomplices. In addition to the fact that Atlus games not by Hashino's team tend to just. not have these problems to nearly as large a degree or even at all, Hashino himself has gone on record saying some really kind of hilariously backwards shit. Most infamously, when asked why in Persona 3 literally all of your social links with girls ended up with Hot Makeout Sessions regardless of like. Previously Committed to Relationships. Hashino simply said he couldn't imagine friendships between boys and girls. So that's where his brain is at. Since subsequent games in the series graciously allowed the player the option to not be a Huge Cheating Bastard, one can assume either his moral development has progressed past early puberty or somebody on the team convinced him this wasn't actually a normal thing to think. Given the man's output, I would say it's probably the latter.

It is because of this man's decisions and behavior that so many people are simply unwilling to give Full Body the benefit of the doubt. The game's director is, quite simply, a well known louse, and not in the endearing, Roger Smith way. Once again, it requires far fewer leaps in logic to assume that Hashino is just being a bigoted creep again than to go through some fuckin galaxy brain Kingdom Hearts-esque dot-connecting to justify it as just a LITTLE BIT bigoted not REALLY SUPER bigoted, or simply blaming the whole ordeal on some strange ineffable property of the Japanese Character. He's a gremlin! An overgrown manchild with a warped view of human interaction and society put in charge of games about exploring those concepts for.... reasons. My bet is that his dad knew somebody and then Persona 3 was successful enough for the rest of Atlus to just go "alright fine let him do it while we do mainline games". Unfortunately, Persona became so popular that the mainline games sort of switched places and became side-projects, at least in the eyes of the Western consumer base (which let's be real is the only perspective that any of these Serious Online Commentators even pretend to care about).

So I would once again caution everyone against just assuming that Japan is some sort of quaint anachronistic country of weird gameshows and backwards social mores. This is both a gross oversimplification of an entire culture and the struggles of their own subgroups and minorities and simply a grand display of lacking self-awareness. Like have you fucking seen the guys in the White House? The preposterous media that gets routinely greenlit on prime time TV, theaters, and digitally? Don't make me laugh. The West has no claim to any sort of progressive superiority to anybody else. The white cishet bubble of comfortable middle class affluence might distort what you see of the rest of the world, but believe me: we got problems too. Big ones. Even the presupposed bastions of Demsoc Virtue like Sweden have an awful track record of discrimination and eugenics. But Dazzlyn that's different, you cry! All of these groups and forces don't represent the entirety of Western culture! Yes. Exactly. Oppression is not culturally bound like cuisine or art. It is a nasty, universal thing that worms its way into everything, and it will use any excuse it can find to murder and exploit. It's against Christian values! It represents a genetic defect that must be purged! It's ostentatious and immature! The list goes on. And every time you giggle and go "oh those silly japanese" you're just being another expression of the same vile ideas.

I'm going to relate some of my own personal experiences, because as a noted Big Gay Bitch Who Loves Girls, I feel like maybe I have some authority on the matter? Just a little? Enough that if I make a well reasoned argument it can't be dismissed out of hand? Let's hope. So, what's the gayest game I've ever played? Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn. Look yeah I know I'm talking about it again but come back this is important. Final Fantasy is a series that has had a lot of LGBTQ+ undertones pretty much since forever, and while they have largely been in keeping with the times in terms of tact and representation (the Crossdressing Cloud debacle is a deeply bizarre, uncomfortable sequence in a lot of ways but there's also some genuine Good Gay Shit in 7 like Cloud's surprisingly cute and genuine date with Barret. I think. It's... it's been a while.), by God, it was at least there, and 13 had honest to god Lesbians, Harold in Fang and Vanille. I don't want to say it has pedigree, but the series has dabbled. XIV continues on the tradition with a vibrant world that's actually got a lot of characters and NPCs that are just incidentally there and kind of gay. The adventurer couple that befriended the Tonberries in Wanderer's Palace, a vendor that appeared in the Rising cosplaying as Minfilia at her wife's behest, a miqote lady bathing in the oasis that lets on she wouldn't mind having cute girls stare at her instead of grabby boys, every horny Elezen in Ishgard, Samson and Guydelot (shoutouts to Lulumi Lumi), and probably more that I've missed. More than that, though, is that because FFXIV is an MMO, it is by necessity a social space, and in my experience it has been one that has gone out of its way to be inclusive to everybody, from the GMs handling reports of abusive behavior right up to the top decision makers who made same sex player marriages a thing just immediately on its implementation and letting boys wear the gold saucer bunny costume too (albeit after quite a bit of pleading). The game's got a huge queer community of which I am kind of part of sort of. It's one of the reasons I keep coming back to it. Hell, they've recently partnered with a pride group in Australia to have an FFXIV float in a parade. I usually turn my nose up at such things as meaningless corporate grandstanding, but it does seem to be more meaningful than two boy pastas getting married or rainbow colored oreos because like. Cheesy as it sounds, it's more than just a brand to a lot of people, it's a place, sometimes the only place, they can go to feel safe and accepted in a community. Having official, vocal support from the dev team means genuinely a lot, I think.

Now, there is one quality about this game of which I am speaking that might strike you as noteworthy: it is Japanese. It's made by Japanese people, in Japan, under a Japanese company. A middle aged Japanese man goes up on stage in Gunbreaker cosplay to speak in Japanese about the upcoming expansion, while a meme obsessed gremlin translates for him. It's not perfect, there are problems, etcetera, why do I even need to qualify that in 2019, when everything sucks, god. But it's better than most things. I hope that it serves as an example to people that even in the supposedly regressive countries of the world, queer communities are still living, fighting, and sometimes even being heard, and that the only thing you're enriching by dismissing them wholesale as socially backwards is your own internet penis. And nobody fucking cares about that you simpleton. I expect 5.0 to be gayer than ever before because they're taming up with Yoko Taro to do a Nier themed raid and by the 12 Warrior of Light Dazzyn Reed is going to kiss 2B or an equivalent model right on the robot lips.

#catherine #persona #ffxiv #lgbtq #final fantasy #nier #japan

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team-science-mega-nerds · 5 years

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30 Miles East: Chapter Two

One night, instead of drinking, Alex gets the brilliant idea to cut her hair. She’s bored, and Kara’s busy saving the world as a journalist for a change, so she just kinda goes for it. Her brain short circuits into panic when she sees what she’s done, and she is a second away from drowning herself in booze when she gets the bright idea to actually be an active participant in her own life.

Vasquez arrives about an hour later with hair clippers. But she refuses to actually do anything about Alex’s hair until she gets some quality cuddle time with Xena, and at least five minutes to laugh at Alex’s attempt at living out her teenage angst. Despite being so annoying, Vasquez is really good at doing hair, and as she’s clipping away, she kind of chuckles to herself. “You’re gonna look so gay.” Alex rolls her eyes, but when she turns around she’s actually stunned.

Vasquez has given her an undercut, and trimmed the rest of her hair just enough to give it a nice flow at the top of her head. “You like it, right?” Alex loves it. She loves it so much that she volunteers to cat sit for Vasquez next weekend, while she goes to some Con in Metropolis.

Her confidence is boosted when she stops by L-Corp, and hears someone shout “Damn!” through a conference room. When she turns around Lena is racing after her with a grin. “Alex, you look amazing.” They head toward her office where Jess actually drops her mug when she sees Alex. “Jess...you’re a hot mess,” Lena says before rushing over to help her clean up.

“Didn’t mean to cause an uproar,” Alex jokes. Jess blushes, and Lena looks between them laughing. When things have settled, Alex finds herself sitting out on Lena’s balcony munching on her lunch across from Lena.

This is...weird, Alex thinks. Mostly because a year ago she would never think that she’d be spending any time with Lena, let alone going out of her way to do so. But they both love Kara, and that gave them an actual avenue to connect, and their brains pretty much did the rest. Alex likes the way Lena’s always up for a challenge. She enjoys the hint of defiance that always colors their conversations. It’s actually nice to have a friend who isn’t constantly hovering around the subject of Maggie as if Alex will break if her name gets mentioned.

Because Alex did break, and she is broken, but that doesn’t mean she won’t find a way to keep existing. “Why didn’t you tell anyone that you were getting a haircut? You know Kara’s going to be upset about not getting to do fun before and after pictures.”

“I just kinda did it. Vasquez helped me look presentable, at least.” Alex runs her fingers through her hair, still loving the way it feels.

“Well, it’s so you,” Lena adds. “So, enough about you. I have a new project I’m working on,” Lena starts. “It’s basically an attachment for your bike.”

“It’s Ducati specific?”

“It’s Alex specific.” Lena says jabbing at Alex’s hand. “Kara has been worried about you, so why not make you safer?”

“She’s always worried,” Alex reminds Lena who shrugs, and goes into the details of a really kick ass attachment. Alex is just about to ask how soon she can check out the prototype, when Sam sticks her head out of the balcony door.

“Lena, the Russians are on the line, and-.” Sam stops suddenly when she sees Alex. Her eyes going a little wide. “Oh, hey Alex, I didn’t know you were here.”

“Are they asking about the merger?” Lena questions.

“Yes, and they think you’re going over their heads on the public park.”

“It’s a park. Parks have green space, right Alex?” Alex isn’t sure if she’s actually supposed to answer Lena, so she just kind of nods. She checks her watch, and sees that she should be going anyway.

“I should get back to work,” Alex says, standing up, “Don’t forget about the prototype,” She reminds Lena. “Oh, and be nice to the Russians, if I have to stop a nuke I’m gonna be really pissed off.” Lena waves her off.

As Alex walks past Sam, she gives her a smile. Simple, noncommittal, but nice enough. “I made brownies,” Sam sort of whispers to Alex.

“Brownies?”

“For the meeting tonight. They’re double fudge if...you’re interested.” Sam glances over her shoulder at Lena who obviously can’t hear them, but is studying the interaction through the window anyway.

“Okay.” Alex thinks Sam has a funny way of trying to get her to show up, but she admires the try. She also admires Sam’s sleek black blazer, black pants, and fitted white button up. The heels are a nice touch, and they make Sam’s legs look kind of amazing. Sam waves as Alex leaves, and Alex debates hugging her before she goes. She doesn't.

Jess blushes again, when Alex says bye, and Alex feels a little more confident during the rest of her day at the DEO.

Alex does go to the AA meeting. She surprises herself when she speeds past her apartment, and keeps going until she’s back at that stupid little church. She gives Kara a call and tells her that Xena needs her aunt for a few hours, and the sudden gust of wind she hears over the phone, tells her that Kara is already on her way to Alex’s apartment.

Catherine hugs her when she sees her this time. She says long time no see , but it doesn’t make Alex feel ashamed, just welcome. Sam is setting up the food table as Alex steps further into the room. “You showed.”

“There was food involved.” Alex knows it’s a bit of a push, and Sam knows that too, but she cuts a giant brownie out for Alex and hands it to her anyway.

Alex does actually talk a little this time. Her hands kind of shake when she admits that she is an alcoholic, but she finds her rhythm talking about Kara, and how supportive she was during some of the tougher years. She realizes about halfway through that she isn’t even really talking about herself or alcohol, just that she feels like she doesn’t know how to be the person everyone needs her to be. That really seems to resonate with Sam, because Alex can see the tears welling up in her eyes.

Andre makes a really big deal about a barbecue that he’s hosting the following weekend. It’s open to everyone, and their families, but everyone needs to bring something to the party. Catherine literally shouts “no alcohol though”, and Alex and Sam laugh in unison while they try and find a way to split up the remaining brownies.

Alex has fun, and it makes her feel like actual garbage knowing that she’s going to go home, and have to lie to Kara. Sam must sense Alex’s uneasiness, so when they’re walking to the parking lot, “My kid’s at scout camp this weekend. Do you wanna go get ice cream or something?”

“You’re trying to give me a sugar overdose,” Alex says with a smile. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I know a place.”

“Fine, but I won’t be caught dead in a minivan until I have a kid of my own. You’re coming with me.” Alex reaches into the pack sitting on the back of her bike, and pulls out a helmet.

“You’re kidding.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at this.” It isn’t all that convincing considering Sam knows that Alex has driven the bike drunk, but she still reaches out, and takes the helmet anyway. They bundle the brownies, and put them into the bike storage, before they slide on. “You have to actually hold on.” Sam wraps her arms around Alex’s waist, and they head to a dainty little mom and pop ice cream parlor just a few miles away.

Sam gets a vanilla scoop, which Alex almost laughs at until Sam piles on chocolate chips, sprinkles, hot fudge, and strawberry sauce. Alex goes for the chocolate chip cookie dough, and puts on some marshmallows and extra chocolate chips. They find themselves sitting at a booth in the corner of the shop. “So do you want kids?”

“Huh?”

“You said that you wouldn’t be caught dead in a minivan until you had kids. Do you want them?” Sam repeats.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean...yes.” Alex looks down at her spoon. “My ex-fiance didn’t so hence the downward spiral.”

“Why didn’t he want kids?” That almost makes Alex laugh. “He”. She really was going to have to come out to every single person she ever met.

“ She had a rough childhood. Her parents kicked her out because she was gay, and I think...I think she just finally wanted a life for herself.” Alex sounded rehearsed, because she never quite understood Maggie’s reason fully. Sam was proof that a person could be successful and have a kid - apparently be an alcoholic too - all while having a pretty decent life. “I like taking care of people.” Alex eats another bite of ice cream. “Hilarious, I know.”

“It’s actually really...charming.” Sam says with a smile.

“So, what’s the deal with you being all secretive and shit?” Alex asks out of the blue. She knows it’s out of the blue because Sam looks totally baffled when the words leave her mouth. “You keep saying “my kid”. No names.”

“They train you well at the FBI, don’t they?”

“Yep.”

“Well, Ruby is very special to me. I just want to protect her.” Sam says it so directly, that Alex knows that’s all there is to it.

“Is there another parent in the picture?” That’s a sore subject, so Alex goes in to deflect for Sam. “Sorry, that was way too personal.”

“It’s okay. Ruby’s father really hasn’t been a part of my life for awhile now. He never really was,” Sam explains. “Fuck him.” Sam shakes her head at that thought. And Alex knows that feeling. Maybe not exactly, but when she’s not in a full on depression about Maggie, she’s angry at her. “Sorry.”

“Nah, you deserve to have some fire. It suits you.” Sam blushes, and Alex realizes that she really loves making women blush. She never really had the opportunity before, because Maggie was the one making her flustered. But now? New hair, new person, Alex thought.

“Your haircut suits you.”

“Oh yeah? You don’t really know me though.”

“What makes you think that Lena hasn’t told me absolutely everything about you?” Good point. “Not that she has, or actually would.” Better point . “She actually kept me very up to date on her life. I knew about everything and everyone except...you.”

“Funny, I could say the same about you.”

They go on like that for awhile. Sam holding things back, Alex doing the same, but it’s fun. Sam has a great laugh, so Alex lets some of her goofy side show just to hear it some more. They’ve breached casual by the time they’ve finished their ice cream, and on the way back to Alex’s bike, Sam seems to be kind of tiptoeing around something, and Alex starts to get impatient. She climbs onto the bike with Sam close behind her, but she doesn’t give Sam her helmet just yet. “You’ve gotten very quiet.”

“I’m thinking.”

“About…?”

“Your hair.” Sam lets out a breath against Alex’s neck, it sounds like a laugh. “Can I touch your hair?” It comes across playfully, but Alex briefly considers how bad it’ll be for her ego when she melts under Sam’s touch. Which of course she does as soon as Sam’s long fingers trail against her scalp. Luckily Sam is behind her, so she doesn’t notice how fucking embarrassingly touch starved Alex is. “It’s so soft.” Sam runs her fingers through the rest of her hair, as if she’s trying to find an imperfection, some tangled spots, but it’s smooth because Vasquez had insisted on her actually taking care of her hair at least.

“You sound surprised.”

“You put on a tough front, but you’re a softy. I can tell.”

When Alex goes home that night she convinces herself that she’ll actually try and go to another AA meeting that week. Assuming there isn’t a massive alien attack, she doesn’t fold under the pressure of lying to Kara, and game night doesn’t have her favorite whiskey.

For now, Alex can only manage small promises to herself. But it’s something.

Kara had been suspicious of Alex for a week now. Alex figured maybe a week and two days, but Kara usually didn’t sit on things for that long. (Besides not telling the entire world that she’s Supergirl, of course). But this was actually rather surprising. Alex found out that Kara had been asking a few questions behind her back, which didn’t mean much, except Vasquez seemed to think that Kara was worried about Alex’s romantic life.

Apparently, spending more than two days a week having a private life was way too much for Kara to comprehend, so Kara was certain that Alex was dating again. Not to mention the new haircut. All roads pointed to love, and Kara had been scavenging everyone in a desperate attempt at finding out the truth.

Everyone except Alex.

So Alex cornered Kara, and asked her if she wanted to spar, and Kara quickly jumped at the opportunity. When they got into the room, Alex turned on the Kryptonite inhibitors, and they both walked into the ring. Alex thought it was funny that Kara insisted on changing her clothes. Alex reminded her that training is to prepare for the field, and unless Supergirl was going to be running around wearing unicorn leggings and a tank top, Kara should actually keep on her uniform.

Kara ignored her, which Alex probably should’ve expected.

“We haven’t done this in awhile.” Kara says as they start circling each other. That makes Alex feel a little sad. She had been very wrapped up in Maggie, Kara had been wrapped up with Mon-el too, but still. They didn’t get to spend enough time with each other ever. It occurs to Alex as Kara is trying to sweep her legs out from under her, that Kara does actually look older. Saving the world has taken a toll on her, and so has loss. Instead of punching Kara right now, she just wants to hug her, and Kara notices the change in Alex’s demeanor. “What?”

“Nothing, keep going.” Kara’s gotten slower. You would think that after three years of training and fighting and learning, that she would’ve gotten faster or at least more precise. But Alex makes easy work of Kara, flipping her over her shoulders, and hovering over her. Kara was more free years ago. She didn’t have so much strain, all this pressure.

“I’ve noticed that lately your fights have been more rushed. You go for big knockout punches, and that’s it.” Alex helps Kara back up to her feet.

“Less risk that way.”

“Less risk for everyone else maybe, not for you.” Alex stares at Kara for a long moment before looking away. “You’re too afraid to make mistakes.”

“Are you saying I should fail more?”

“Yes, actually.” They start sparring again. Kara acts like she has something to prove, but her kicks are late, and Alex could be doing this with her eyes closed. “Clark’s a perfectionist. You never were, your emotions are what make you stronger.”

“Yes, sensei,” Kara says with a chuckle.

“You’re so weird.”

“Speaking of weird, Lena said that you and Sam were talking.” Kara tries to cover up the obvious prying by throwing an uppercut, but Alex blocks her, and kicks her in the side. “Okay, time out! Ow.” Kara holds her side, and Alex rests her hands on her hips, and laughs.

“Talking? As in saying two words as I was leaving Lena’s office?”

“Kinda. Maybe? She said it was more than two,” Kara looks at Alex pointedly. “She seems nice.”

“Sure.”

“And she’s really...tall?”

“Kara.”

“Yes.” Kara bites her nails, watching as Alex slumps back against the wall. “Sorry, I’m not trying to say anything more. I literally just think that you two could be friends. She’s new here, and Lena says that she’s kinda a museum buff, and you love museums. Plus she’s Lena’s friend, so she’s gotta be awesome, right? And it’s good to have friends, and Lena is sooo busy with work, so if she spends all her time hanging out with Sam, then I’ll like barely see her-”

“Wait, are you seriously trying to force me to be friends with some rando so you can hang out with Lena?” Of course, she was. Because this was Kara, and she had to always find the nicest way to get what she wanted.

“Kinda. I...wait, what did you think I was trying to do? Oh.” Kara frowned. “ Oh. Sorry, Alex, I don’t think Sam’s…”

“I’m heartbroken,” Alex deadpanned. “Why don’t you just, oh I don’t know, talk to Lena. Tell her that you miss hanging out.”

“I don’t want to bother her.”

“She’s your best friend. You can’t bother a best friend, or a sister.” Alex gives Kara a reassuring smile. “I’m here for you too. Whether you wanna spar or talk, don’t be afraid to ask.”

If Alex had actually known that Kara asking her to come over and “hang out” actually meant that they would be repainting her walls and fixing her window, then she would’ve definitely continued her X-Files marathon with Xena. And by they , Alex - of fucking course - means Kara, Lena, and Sam. Thankfully, Alex left Xena with Winn who was apparently building something special that was top secret, but he was very happy to have the company.

Kara threw a tank top at Alex’s face when she walked through the door, and told her to put it on. Lena and Kara were on window duty, which apparently consisted of them creating some kind of DIY stain glass effect, while Sam was taping down painter’s tape around the edges of the wall. This was the first time Alex had seen Sam dressed down, and her light grey joggers and black t-shirt made her look like some kind of dressed down gymnast, while Alex was sure that she looked like someone who was ready to fall asleep on a couch. Which was what she was planning on doing an hour ago.

Alex yanked off her shirt, and threw on the tank-top that Kara had given her. When she approached Sam, she had a sort of half smile emerging, and Alex thought it was really a good look for her. Alex peered down at the paint, and saw that Kara was going with a pastel yellow, and before Alex could say a thing, “It’s so the sun will reflect off it, and make the room really bright.”

“I figured.” Alex helped Sam climb onto a ladder, so that she could finish protecting the ceiling. It baffled her, how easily Kara could get people to do anything. Lena was obviously in love with Kara and Alex was forced to love her out of sisterly obligation, but what the hell was Sam’s excuse? Sam didn’t even know her, and here she was painting her walls. Didn’t she have a kid? Alex wondered what Ruby thought of all this.

“She’s really adventurous. She wants to try everything and right now it’s Girl Scouts. They are rushing to get their badges now because they want to outsell this other troop later in the year. Their leaders really discourage parents from being overbearing, which is something I’m actually trying to adhere to. I pick her up tomorrow morning at Three Rivers.” Sam starts pouring the paint into the paint tray, and grabbing a roller. She pushes another roller into Alex’s hands, “I’m not doing all this alone.”

“How did you know…?”

“People have always given me that look. They either think I’ve ruined my life by having a kid or that I’m ruining my kids life by having a life of my own.”

“I don’t think that.” Alex immediately regrets starting at the center of the wall because she knows that the corners are gonna be a pain in the ass later. “I admire the things you do. I’m sure Ruby does too.” Alex knows what it’s like to be judged, and she certainly won’t put Sam through that. “I don’t do free labor by the way, Kara.”

Kara gasps dramatically, and she and Lena say in unison we know . Kara assures Alex that there will be food, and lots of it in a few minutes. “Better be.”

“For two people who are so obsessed with food, you wouldn’t know it by looking at you.” Sam says making a point by nodding at Alex and Kara’s arms. “What regiment are you on? Steroids?”

“Boxing. And kickboxing. All kinds of boxing really.” Alex honestly hates having to listen to Kara lie because she’s so terrible at it.

“Is that how you hurt your arm?” Sam asks, looking at the fading scar on Alex’s forearm.

“Something like that.” Sam’s comfortable enough to just let it go. “What about you? I mean, I know Lena gets her exercise by metaphorically curb stomping men, but what do you do?” Lena lets out a “hey!” from across the room, but Alex ignores her.

“I do yoga with my daughter in the morning sometimes. I go on the occasional run too.” Sam shrugs a little, like she’s embarrassed to be put on the spot.

“Well, it seems to be working for you,” Alex says, and she can hear Lena shushing Kara so she can listen in. Alex likes the distance between them though, and she likes the way Sam pushes her hair back behind her ear. She is undoubtedly attracted to Sam, but she knew that the moment she saw her, now it’s just a matter of quelling that attraction for the sake of her own sanity.

For starters, Sam is really not interested in Alex. She knows this because Sam obviously thinks ( knows ) that Alex is a mess. She also knows this because Sam knows about all the baggage that’s weighing Alex down, and Alex could never imagine a reality where that would be attractive to anyone. Alex also suspects that Sam said something to Lena who then said something to Kara, and that was why Kara seemed rather certain about Sam’s sexuality.

Alex shouldn’t even be thinking about this. She supposed to be painting. “Thanks.” Alex finally hears Kara and Lena getting into their usual scream fests over whatever hot journalism topic is relevant this week, and they’re far enough away to not listen in. Alex chances a glance over at Sam, who glances back with a smile. “You’re staring.” Sam whispers.

“I’m thinking about Andre.”

“Ooooh, he’s like seventy. Kinky.” Alex nudges Sam’s side.

“I meant...the barbecue. I might go.” Alex looks over at Sam hopefully, “Now’s the time that you say that you might go too.”

“I am going. Ruby and I made these cheesy potatoes that will probably give everyone a heart attack.”

“You’re bringing your kid? I mean...she knows that you’re…”

“Yeah,” Sam seems very content with that fact. “I like being honest with her. I need to be.” Alex knows that Sam isn’t judging her, but with Kara and Lena in the room, Alex considers how easy it would be just to have some honesty for a change. “You should come, but you have to bring something, or Andre will do that thing with his face.” Alex has only been to six meetings and she knows exactly what Sam is talking about. “Do you know where his house is?”

“I still don’t really get this AA thing. I mean, shouldn’t we be not fraternizing.”

“What’s the point if you’re alone in the fight?” Sam says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “This is different, but I love it. Sometimes we have to be reminded that we’re people, don’t you think? It’s better than being alone ‘cause that’s pretty much what got me in trouble in the first place.” Sam eyeballs her work, before asking to switch angles with Alex. “Give me your number.”

“Okay. Why?”

“So I can text you Andre’s address.” Alex immediately starts regretting the choice to give Sam her number, when she reconsiders the fact that she used to have a very bad habit of drunk dialing people. And it’s not like she was sober queen of the world, she just hadn’t had a drink in three days, and she was pretty certain that wouldn’t last because she knew that Maggie’s birthday was coming up, and they had this whole trip planned to go to Niagara Falls.

The food arrives, and Alex has to remind Kara - twice - that there are other people here who might actually want to eat too. Alex and Sam sit on the couch while Kara and Lena throw pillows on the floor, and half lay down. Halfway through another one of Lena’s work stories, Sam’s feet end up on Alex’s lap. She gives her a look that asks “is this okay?” and Alex nods because Sam is warm, and she looks comfortable, and she doesn’t want to make a big deal about anything.

Kara can’t resist the urge to make everyone uncomfortable so she ends up making a comment about how cute Sam and Alex look sitting there with paint all over themselves.

When they’re leaving Sam is the one that gives everyone hugs. She hangs on to Alex for a second longer just to say, “I’ll text you”, and of course Kara cocks her head to the side because she would be using her super hearing. Alex doesn’t have the energy to make up an excuse, so she just lets Kara make fun of her while they’re cleaning up the mess they made.

Driving home feels very freeing, but cold. Alex misses having someone to come home to. She misses warmth during the night. And as she’s falling asleep, Alex thinks about the barbecue, and Sam. She imagines that Sam will hug her, and she will be content, and Alex will finally be warm again.

Alex wakes up at four in the morning. She doesn’t mean to, but it gives her exactly seven hours to figure out what she’s going to bring to the barbecue. Alex isn’t used to bringing anything but booze to a party, so she wants this to actually be good. She doesn’t know how to bake, but she does know how to look on the internet, and pretend like she has some idea about what to do. She tries, and fails miserably.

It’s now six in the morning.

She could just grab something from the store, but for some reason she has some serious motivation this morning, and isn’t ready to give up. Alex calls Lena and isn’t surprised that she’s up, but is surprised that Lena offers to come over and help. Lena tells Alex that they’re going to make a pie, and as they set out the ingredients, Alex is certain that this is going to fail too. “I do know how to cook, in case you were wondering. I spent like half of my youth watching the Food Network .” And she’s right. Alex does all the easy stuff like cut apples and heat up the oven. Lena makes the crust, and a lattice top with practiced ease.

“Why are you making a pie?” Lena says it like the thought only occurred to her now, and Alex is comforted by the fact that Lena considers her such a good friend that she didn’t even question Alex’s motives before.

“If I told you then you’d have to lie to Kara.” Alex watches Lena’s face fall. “Exactly.”

“I can, you know. I just don’t like to.” Lena sticks the pie in the oven, and crosses her arms over her chest. “Are you in grave danger?”

“Grave danger that involves pie?”

“It’s been known to happen.”

“No.” Alex begins making a pot of coffee, while Lena sits on the counter. “And I will tell Kara eventually, so please don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

Lena will worry, and eventually being the cause of that will force Alex to admit what’s been going on. But for now, Alex is perfectly happy listening to music, and hearing Lena talk shit about how James buys all his shirts one size too small so that he’ll look as strong as Superman. They get a bit lost in talking about their relationship insecurities, and Alex has to hold back on her advice because she knows she’s bound to tell Lena that she and Kara are perfect for each other. When the pie is finally done, Alex says that she just needs to change her clothes really quick, but Lena is welcome to go through her stuff, and find an embarrassing picture of Kara or something.

When Alex reemerges from her room, Lena is flailing around on a stool, laughing, and trying not to shoot her coffee out of her nose. Alex walks over and sees that Lena has found a picture of Alex at prom. With a boy. In between giggles, Lena slides Alex’s phone towards her, and says that she got a text.

It’s from Sam, and Alex suspects that Lena already knows that.

[SAM]: Let me know when you get here, I have like 30 things to warn you about before you actually come inside

Alex is both disturbed and intrigued, but she mostly just wonders why Sam is there so damn early. Lena is chugging water, and complaining about how she laughed so hard that no oxygen got to her head for like five minutes. “A brain dead CEO, like we don’t have enough leaders like that as it is,” Alex mumbles. That throws Lena into another fit of laughter, which gives Alex enough time to respond to Sam.

[ALEX]: Why are you there early? I know Andre is basically our leader, but do we get extra sobriety coins if we show up early?

[SAM]: I hope so, otherwise I’m totally wasting my time.

[SAM]: I’ll see you soon? Drive safe.

Alex smiles a little at her phone, and Lena clears her throat loudly, before standing, taking a bow and heading for the door. “My secret pie making mission is done. I’ll see you tomorrow at game night?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll see you then.”

“It’s at my house.” Lena looks very proud saying it. Alex is happy she took her advice. “Don’t be late.” As Lena leaves, and Alex begins packing up the pie to take to a fucking AA barbecue, Alex thinks that this is as weird as her life has ever been.

And she really really likes it.

And if you enjoyed reading or re-reading, here’s my Kofi

#danvarias #agentreign #supergirl #alex danvers #sam arias #lena luthor

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i-may-have-a-point · 7 years

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Review of 14x04 “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”

Sorry for the delay in posting! Life. Amelia - I mentioned this last week, but I want to say again how surprised I am that Amelia’s brain tumor story moved so quickly. I guess her real story this year will be figuring out who she is without this tumor impacting her actions and decisions. Marlana Hope is a welcome addition to the writing team after seeing how she wrote this particular story in this episode. Dr. Koracick is arrogant but likable, Amelia’s reactions are realistic, and humor is interjected well for a story about such a tough topic. April being Amelia’s POA and explaining, “What? Was I supposed to say no?” added levity to a scene where Amelia said her good-byes to her loved ones. “In this moment, I love you people tremendously.” What a perfect line. The scene transitions to Amelia and her team standing in the superhero pose, and Dr. Koracick speaks for all of us when he whispers, “I love this,” over the stunning instrumental music. “With surgery, you worry that you won’t wake up. With brain surgery, you worry that you will wake up, but you won’t be there when you do.” That is a beautiful way to explain Amelia’s fear. Who is she without this tumor? Well, we are about to find out as we watch Dr. Koracick cut her tumor out while singing along to the Beach Boys. The contrast of the music with the seriousness of the scene could not have been better. Whoever chose the music for this episode should choose the music for the rest of the season. After surgery, Amelia being aware of what was happening but not being able to communicate was terrifying to watch but a nice nod to Derek’s death. I also thought Deluca was a nice addition to this story. He never quite found his place in seasons past, but so far, I like him in neuro with Amelia. The scene where he forced her to sit in the chair because she made him promise to do so was brilliant. Amelia screaming in her head while collapsed against his chest, weeping, was one of my favorite scenes of the night.

I think Caterina has done an amazing job with this story, but I have to mention my issues with the story as well. Using a brain tumor to rewrite Amelia’s personality is frustrating to me. I didn’t think her personality was THAT bad, and it’s unrealistic. My dad passed away from cancer a little over a month ago. It spread to his brain, and he had his brain tumor removed in April. His tumor may have been different from the one Amelia has, but brain tumors don’t just make people act a little odd. They are debilitating. They affect memory, speech, vision, and motor skills. They don’t just cause you to make poor life choices.. I know I have to look past reality to accept this story, and that’s fine because it’s a TV show, but a part of me wishes they hadn’t depicted brain tumors so inaccurately.

Bailey/Webber/Interns - Some of these scenes were funny, but I know we are all side-eyeing these new interns wondering how they are going to shake up Grey-Sloan Memorial. Part of me doesn’t want to know.

Megan/Nathan/Meredith - I have been so impressed with how this story has been written. I was not feeling Griggs last season, mainly because it was written so poorly. This season has been just the opposite. This story has been written so well that I want Nathan with both Megan and Meredith. Not in a sister wives type way. It’s just that they are all handling an unimaginable situation with maturity and class, and I want a happy ending for all of them. Megan is incredibly likable. She is understanding of Nathan moving on, she adopted an orphaned child and raised him in a war zone, and she has been through hell and back. She deserves happiness. Meredith has been understanding of Nathan’s history with Megan, she helped him bring Farouk to Megan, and she also has been through hell and back. She deserves happiness. I am genuinely interested to see how this story plays out. I still assume Meredith will get the man in the end because she is Meredith, but if they keep writing this story this well, I will stay invested for as long as they want. (Side note: I like the parallel between Meredith telling Megan that she kidnapped her own daughter and then Meredith helping Nathan, in a way, kidnap Farouk.)

Catherine/Webber/Jackson/Koracick - I laughed out loud when Koracick said he wanted to make sure Jackson wasn’t his and Jackson said, “Nope,” and walked away. I’m not entirely sure what the point of adding in the Koracick/Catherine connection was, but it was a funny little moment.

Jo/Alex - Either Jo is going to decide to put her name on the article despite her husband possibly finding her, or I think he will be at the Harper Avery awards. He feels like a shadow closing in on Jolex. We are all just waiting for him to step out of the darkness. But what a refreshing switch it is to see Alex be her rock as opposed to last season when she feared Paul alone. This is a more realistic portrayal of their relationship and who Alex is.

April/Arizona/Alex/Mer/Maggie scene - I like scenes like this. I always have. I think this particular scene is another way the writers are taking jabs at the terrible stories of last season. Alex says, “I just wish I had a tumor to blame my stupid crap on,” and they proceed to yell out stories from last season that we could have done without. As if wishing all of them could be explained away by tumors. “Deluca, I’m sorry I hit you. Tumor.” “Riggs. Tumor.” “Minnick!” It was a subtle jab at the ridiculous writing of season 13. Thanks Marlana.

Jackson/April/Maggie - After watching this week’s episode, I stand by what I said last week. Jackson and April are both going to have individual journeys (for the most part) this season, but they will find their way back to each other. I expect some of you to call me delusional or say I am wrong, but I only write what I see. The first time we see Jackson and Maggie interact, she comments on his suit only to quickly realize he was at a funeral. Again, I saw no flirting there. And after she awkwardly walked away, Jackson very noticeably adjusted Alex’s collar. I’m not sure how the writers/directors/show could send a more intentional message to the audience than that. Jackson and Alex don’t touch. That two second gesture was put in there in response to Maggie fixing Jackson’s collar. Because that is what colleagues/friends do. It doesn’t mean that Jackson wants to drag Alex to an on-call room, and it didn’t mean that for Maggie either. Yes, they are intentionally toying with the audience by throwing stuff like that in there, but so many people are taking the bait and crazy tweeting about it, so why wouldn’t they? That moment leads into Jackson’s talk with Meredith about the Harper Avery award, further supporting my thoughts from last week that Jackson will spend a good deal of the season figuring out what it means for him to be an Avery. He is visibly annoyed that he cannot be considered for an award since he is a great surgeon and deserves recognition.

It was nice to see more of Webbery’s home. How many of us have forgiven Catherine Avery all her sins after the way she seemed annoyed at Maggie’s very presence at their dinner? We feel that on a spiritual level, Catherine. When Jackson walked in, he said, “Oh. Hey,” the way I greet acquaintances. Again, nothing. He looked a little surprised to see her maybe, but that’s about it. And the couple of times he smiled at her in the episode did not scream romantic feeling to me. She is his step-sister and friend. He should smile at her. It would be weird if he didn’t. He smiled at Meredith the exact same way before stealing her chips. Awkward, boring scenes aside, I think the main point of these scenes was for the audience to know how much money Jackson inherited. The discussion centered around the money and what he should do with it. I suspect we will see something come of Jackson inheriting this money. This was brought up for a reason.

The scene that I think most people were so angered by was when Jackson said, “I appreciate you,” to Maggie. Guys. Come on. If that was supposed to be a “moment” it would be the most lackluster romantic scene in the history of Grey’s I appreciate you? I appreciate the guy with one tooth who held the door open for me this morning. I appreciate when my waitress refills my drink. I appreciate when someone lets me merge on the interstate. However, I have absolutely no romantic interest in any of these people. That was not a Grey’s line that starts a romance. Grey’s starts a romance by two people being drawn together in a bar, spending the night together, and then finding out he is her new boss. Or two people connecting over their mutual understanding of what it means to lose the love of your life. Or two people understanding that having demons in their past (drugs, ptsd) does mean you are unlovable. Or two people who were beaten and broken down and told they were nothing can rise out of their circumstances. Or best friends turning into soul mates who only need “me and you” to make it. Epic love stories on Grey’s don’t begin with “I appreciate you.”

Were they thinking about it? Yes. April planted the idea in their heads, and they had to at least consider what the other was thinking or feeling. But, once again, the writers called them family in this episode. Catherine called Maggie his sister. SISTER. Last week, Harper called April his wife. WIFE. The writers are feeding us crumbs, and that is damn annoying, but no matter how little we are getting, there is a big difference between being called the sister and the wife when it comes to Grey’s writing.

Seeing April in the chapel just feels right. And I love that Marlana covered all aspects of who April is - religious, a fiercely loving mother, funny, and someone who feels things deeply. April is such a complex, well-developed character. Hearing April pray “Please don’t make me have to unplug her,” was both funny and true to her character. She wants Amelia to survive, but she has the strength to do what she needs to if it comes down to it. We also saw that April is continuing to evaluate her life, what she wants, what makes her happy, and where she goes from here, just like last week. Arizona seemed to be talking April into dating or having “new grown-up fun,” but I think most of that was just Arizona speaking for her own experience. April may or may not date this season as part of her journey, but if she does, I don’t think it will be anytime soon. She is focused on herself right now, as she should be. Like she said, she doesn’t want a new normal. Right now, she is surviving and that is the best she can do. There was a quick line in the scene where they were all drinking coffee outside that caught my attention and may be insignificant, but I think it is another example of the introspection and reflection April is doing. Meredith commented on how Riggs packed his bags and left to which April responds, “Riggs panicked. People panic.” n that line, I heard April relating to Riggs because she packed her bags and left once, too. That’s just one more part of her past that must be on her mind lately. And the chapel scene. How is it that Sarah Drew can have a ten second scene where she says two words, and it is breathtaking? When April is unsure, hurting, or troubled, she turns to God. But here, she went for a different reason. April is thankful. And not just that Amelia survived. Despite all the hurt and heartache in her life, April is thankful. And that just makes me love her even more.

I know many of you are angry and even jumping ship, but my feet are still planted firmly on the deck at this point. Japril has a long journey, which is frustrating, but it’s only because they can have a story like this and remain one of the most popular couples on the show. They have had two scenes together in six months, yet Grey’s posts are full of fans talking about Japril on every form of social media. They are strong enough to get a story like this, and I hesitantly say, the writers this season are strong enough to make this into an amazing story.

#grey's anatomy #japril #jolex #griggs #omelia #14x04

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the-mind-of-ginger-blog · 7 years

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Okay, so I haven't written anything in a few days and the couple of last days I did write I didn't put on Tumblr so…Here they are!

I am distraught. That's not quite right, but I don't think jsdlkfjdslkdfhsdlkjagf;hsdjkfjsdjfhsdklfhsdjfhjsd is a word. Even that set of letters and a semi colon is correct. At this moment in time I feel broken. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it just kinda is. I cried last night. I have only cried within the last five years or so because of my fathers death. Otherwise, I don't cry. Why did I cry? I cried because I have been trying so hard to control myself. To keep my broken soul in check. I …I can barely think coherently no less type. I didn't go to work today. I would have done something really stupid if I had. I feel…it's not like I feel like hell. It's not even that I feel like death. If I didn't feel so terrible, I'd almost say I feel alive. But I am broken. My soul is broken and it has been broken for quite some time. I've tried to hide it. Tried to make myself forget about it, but my constant need to improve myself seeped in and shattered whatever semblance of control I had over it.

I don't know what to do now. I'd say maybe I should start over, but it's a bit late for that. My dad is dead. My mother is not exactly at her best. I try to feel something, anything, for the people and things around me, but I'm afraid I can't. It feels like my life has just been one giant lie. A lie I probably perpetuated, but a lie none the less. I see why I put mental block loops in my mind. It really was worse than anything right now.

I'm a fool. I had to start typing things out. I had to start trying to improve myself yet again. Why can't I just sit back and play video games, watch tv, and laugh at stupid things.

Talking about my empatheticness didn't help. I'm on the verge of tears at my own frustration in not being able to help or do anything.

Let me tell you a story. When I was around five years old, I created a world. It was a simple thing. There was myself, my girl, my guy, and two villains. We fought and we always won. Through the years, I started changing a few things. The specific villains left, but I added new people. People who mean more to me than anything else in existence. I created Catherine. She was the first and technically only woman for me. She was kind, strong, soft, beautiful, sassy, loving, and I could go on and on. She was everything I wanted out of a partner. From her morphed Samantha. I don’t remember why I wanted two woman. I'll toss it up to youthful longing. Technically, Samantha is a part of Catherine. Samantha took the sassy, charge ahead aspects of Catherine. Catherine became a bit more subdued. So I never really though of them as two different people. It sounds weird, I know, but it is what it is. The man who I first created was Simon. I hadn't ever named him until much later, but that name stuck. He was…how do I put this…I love him. I love him with a similar intensity that I love Catherine. The difference is that I am straight and never considered it sexual. I created more people over time. Patrick, who is something of an amoral doctor type, but who I loved just as deeply as Simon. Funny thing, Samantha is actually Patrick's sister. Next was Katelina. She is one of the most devious people you will never meet. She and Patrick get along wonderfully. Olivia would be next and she is a calm, cool, collected person. She also knows how to blow things up. She's fun that way. Last, but certainly not least: Fred. You might be thinking: "Fred? Why Fred?". Funny story: I remember giving him a more french sounding name, but I forgot it for some reason or another I went with Fred because I know that's not his real name. Fred's an assassin you see. Nobody get's to know his name.

So, instead of ever using my emotions in real life where people would scoff, hurt, and pretty much try to destroy me: I created my own world. I didn't live in this world like some people do. My emotions, my soul lived in this world. Over time, however, I needed to do more in the real world. The old world fell by the wayside. Now you might assume that when I say my soul is broken I mean that I have forgotten my world. Nothing could be farther from the truth. My soul feels broken because I always imagined the world around a certain age. That age, is now passed. You will probably think it pathetic that I'm like this, but I don't think you comprehend it. My world was/ is everything to me. My heart and soul belong to it. Every hope and dream I had belonged in it's confines. And now that time has passed, I have nothing. My world is a lie. A lie of my own making. Everything I ever wanted is a lie. I have been lying to myself for twenty some odd years. What could you possibly know about my suffering?

It's not like I'm entirely pathetic in this world. I'm one of the smartest people on this planet, I am damn good looking, I have not done nothing. But I haven't done what I want. Nothing has happened that I need. I suppose I will continue living, but it is a hollow life. I've tried my hardest not to believe it, but writing things out here just reinforces it. Nothing I do in this life will compare even in the slightest with my own world.

It's not like everything was perfect in my world. I experienced such loss, such love, such life that will never appear for me in this world. I don't think anything I say will convince anyone of this. You really would have to be me.

So now I am here. Typing out my greatest failure as a person. I'm trying to bring my soul together. All it is is a bunch of loose bits strung together in some fashion. I guess I know now why it's been hard to "feel" the way others seem to. I put most of my feelings in my world. Except anger. And some sadness.

I want to do more. I want to be greater, but everytime I think of it all I can see is my world. How nothing in this life is going to compare. I feel so stupid. I hate myself so much. Why did I have to be this way? I've always felt like something was wrong. I just didn't realize it was my own stupidity. I'm not entirely sure I can get past this. Even with all my self-confidence and self-esteem, it pales in comparison with what I believe I should be. What my life should be. I know I'm the best, but only in this world. I'm nowhere near what I could be and I hate that. It's like being able to see your future self, but knowing that you will never reach that self because of a choice you made long ago.

I would say I feel empty, but I think I'd be able to sleep if I felt empty. I'm not even sure I could call this depression. This doesn't feel like my normal depression. Hell, I even took my meds this morning and they sure as hell haven't helped much. Maybe I should try to sleep. Piece together what little I can of my soul and sleep. I'm scared to. I almost don't want to piece it back together. It would just be piecing a lie back together. What else am I supposed to do? I don't feel like dying and I don't feel like living. All I want is to escape into my world and never return. Hell, even if I could do that I don't think it would help. It would still be a lie and I hate lying. I hate lying to myself more than just about anything.

Well…I think I'll try to sleep. It's the only thing I can do. Maybe I can do…something with it…I don't know…Maybe god will actually help this time…probably not…

Sleep didn't really help. I don't know what to do. If I could love, if I could feel what I want to feel then maybe…I don't know how to explain it.

I sound so pathetic. It's making cringe to even write this. Asldkfjasl;kdfj. That's jfaslkdjf. Alsjalkdfjksahdkghskdghjsdhgoiejroihwritjrjghfdxlkfhfsldjgjh sfdlkg shokfdsjlagh hjoadfskkvgzfdshjvsadlfzgsjhljk. That's how I feel about it. Heh, ain't life a bitch. I should probably eat something. I only had a couple of mandarin oranges this morning and it's already afternoon. Of course, that means I might have to speak words or talk to another human. I don't know if I can handle that right now. I should get food.

Alrighty then. I've eaten, I've spoken to another human being, and I'm feeling marginally better. I came to the realization that I'm probably suffering from brain rearrangement syndrome (not a real thing). My brain is rearranging itself for some unknown reason and I'm only along for the ride. Oh god I feel terrible. That doesn't really express what I feel, but that's the best I've got right now. I think that I might play some games to try to distract myself. Or, worse yet, listen to music and read fanfics. That is a terrible idea, but I am gravitating towards it.

I think I'm slowly getting a little better. I think I'm still going to ask off work for the next week or so. My body, soul, and heart need it. I wanted to feel things? Well here you go! Good luck! Someone should kick me…

Okay. I'm feeling even…better? I'm not sure how to put it. I've realized I haven't posted any of these to Tumblr. I might do that bits at a time. I need a girlfriend. I also need a wife, but I suppose girlfriend should be first. The problem though, is that I am extremely picky and all the girls I have been interested in I find out later they are really not my type. I need someone on my level. When I consider myself top 1% or top .1% of people on this planet, my options are limited. Especially where I am situated. I live in an international city, but I wouldn't say that the people who live here are my type. Not really. Every time I've lowered my parameters, nothing good happens. I really should be extremely hard on myself and whoever I want to pick. They will need to like me of course, but I think that shouldn't be a problem.

It's funny, though. I'm (stupidly) reading these fanfics (though I am trying really, really hard to stop) and I've forgotten how much smut might be in them. Also the teenage love angst that I never really dealt with because I never met anyone I really liked when I was a teenager. Of course, the angst is through the memories of people in there twenties so more likely than not the angst is more 18-25 love angst than 14-17.

I desperately want to flirt with someone. I don't mean flirt without expecting. I mean flirt knowing they are turned on by it and also want you. Oh god…I think I should stop writing. My mind (I'm not calling this anxiety dammit!) is going crazy again. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Thank god I'm going to sleep soonish. I need my brain to work again. This isn't working. I need god to grant me some powers or something and direct me to a place I will find all that I need. It's not like I'm not trying! It's that it's really damn hard…

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mystorymylifemywords · 7 years

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The Coon, The Mammy, & The Brute: Stereotypes In Black Cinema

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines stereotype as a “standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.” Within the world of film, African-Americans have been depicted in a stereotypical light since the very first motion picture. These stereotypes, although not as obvious today, still exist. Names such as Mammy, Coon, and Brute, among others, are the stereotypical categories which African-Americans in film have been placed. Collectively, the human characteristics of African-Americans in film have been that of lower life forms that thrive on sex, muscle, and stupidity.

The questions being examined are why, after years of African-Americans attempting to gain equality, do these stereotypes still exist in modern film? What are the roots of these stereotypes? Finally, what can be done to change the perception of African-Americans in film?

This essay will dive into the history of the people and films where these stereotypes originated. Films such as Birth of a Nation, Training Day, Gone with the Wind, The Emperor Jones, Monster’s Ball, Imitation of Life, Jerry Maguire, and Bamboozled, among others, give a clear display of the aforementioned stereotypes and how they have evolved over the past 100 plus years. The actors who portrayed these characters are almost as important as the affected films. Actors such as Lincoln Perry, Willie Best, Mantan Moreland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Denzel Washington, Hattie McDaniel, Halle Berry, Queen Latifah, and Paul Robson, to name a few, depicted these stereotypical roles, which led people to believe these stereotypes were and are art imitating life.

Dr. David Pilgrim of Ferris State University describes the stereotype of a “coon” as a “lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon.” The “coon” originated out of slavery. Many slave owners believe the African-Americans working for them were lower life forms and could not do the requested work because they did not have the brain capacity to stay in constant thought or concentration. From their actions, slaves were seen as lazy, dumb-witted, and scared. All of these characteristics make up what we now know as the “coon”. Many African-Americans would agree that the “coon” is the most demeaning of all African-American stereotypes in film.

The truth during that time, slaves did not want to do the work because they did not feel as though they were being treated fairly. Laziness came from working 20 hours a day, 6 days a week. Their fright came from not knowing when the Overseer would beat them for not doing the job the way the Overseer saw fit; they never felt as though their work would be seen as good enough. Their slow or dumb-witted nature came from attempting to speak a language that was not their native tongue. At the time, it was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write; their education on the language and culture was slowed to shackled crawl.

Donald Bogle, a cinema historian, with a major focus on African-Americans in cinema, wrote about his disgust with the portrayal of the “coon” stereotype in his book, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, stating:

Before its death, the “coon” developed into the most blatantly degrading of all black stereotypes. The pure coons emerged as no-account niggers, those unreliable, crazy, lazy, subhuman creatures good for nothing more than eating watermelons, stealing chickens, shooting crap, or butchering the English language.

The most notable for his portrayal of the “coon” stereotype was Lincoln Perry, known to most as Stepin Fetchit. Perry’s played the same “coon” in all of his films. Despite becoming the first African-American to headline a movie and one of the first African-Americans to earn over $1 million, Perry was seen as someone who brought down his race. His characters were always abused verbally and physically. Perry’s most notable films were alongside Will Rogers. In these films, Perry would play more of an animal than human; following Rogers around like a dog while shucking and jiving at the drop of a hat. Bogle said of Perry:

His appearance, too, added to the caricature. He was tall and skinny and always had his head shaved completely bald. He invariably wore clothes that were too large for him and that looked as if they had been passed down from his white master. His grin was always very wide, his teeth very white, his eyes very widened, his feet very large, his walk very slow, his dialect very broken.

Daniel Leab, from his book, From Sambo to Superspade: The Black Experience in Motion Pictures, added:

Fetchit became identified in the popular imagination as a dialect-speaking, slump-shouldered, slack-jawed character who walked, talked, and apparently thought in slow motion. The Fetchit character overcame this lethargy only when he thought that a ghost or some nameless terror might be present; and then he moved very quickly indeed.

From Perry’s legacy spawned other actors who wanted to follow in his footsteps like Willie “Sleep N’ Eat” Best and Mantan Moreland. Both of these men were ridiculed in Spike Lee’s film, Bamboozled. Best and Moreland-like characters were played by actors Tommy Davidson and Savion Glover. The film is a portrait of what is wrong with race within American, both in the early 1900’s to today. Glover and Davidson played two homeless men who used their “educated feet” and “slick-smooth talk” to get into television. Their dancing, singing, and denigrating speech led to the murder of Glover’s character after he was kidnapped and forced to tap dance for his life as gunshots were fired at his feet.

Today’s depiction of the “coon” is less blatant, but still offensive. Cuba Gooding Jr.’s portrayal of football player, Rod Tidwell, in the movie Jerry Maguire has been the closest image of the stereotype since the 1960’s. Gooding’s dancing, singing, creation of words, and consistent wide smile, showing those “pearly whites,” is reminiscent of Lincoln Perry and Mantan Moreland. His Oscar acceptance dance and celebration did not help his cause. Since that day, Gooding has been typecast as a “coon” in American society.

The term “mammy” was orated to the world in the 1927 film The Jazz Singing starring Al Jolson. In the final scene of the movie, Jolson sings the song “My Mammy,” while in blackface, which entered the term into the world’s vernacular. “Mammy” is described as a happy (always smiling), hard-working, overweight, caregiver for white slave masters’ children. Marilyn Yarbrough, co-author of Cassandra and the "Sistahs": The Peculiar Treatment of African American Women in the Myth of Women as Liars, describes the stereotype as:

Mammy is first and foremost asexual, and accordingly, in this society she had to be fat. Most portrayals of Mammy depict her as an "obese African American woman, of dark complexion, with extremely large breasts and buttocks…." By doing this, male slave-owners could disavow their sexual interests in African American women. By characterizing Mammy as an asexual, maternal and deeply religious woman whose main task was caring for the master's children and running his household, the slave-owner found in her the perfect slave. She was a loyal, faithful, but still untrustworthy member of the family who always knew her place.

While Wikipedia describes “mammy” as “dark skin, with a heavyset frame and large bust, and overall matronly appearance, complete with an apron around her waist and a kerchief on her head. She is overweight and dressed in gaudy clothing, as well as genial, churchgoing, and spiritual to the point of delusion.” These two representations, which are very similar, are the general representation of the stereotype. However, historian Catherine Clinton says, in The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South, those depictions of “mammy” may not be an accurate:

Records do acknowledge the presence of female slaves who served as the "right hand" of plantation mistresses. Yet documents from the planter class during the first fifty years following the American Revolution reveal only a handful of such examples. Not until after Emancipation did black women run white households or occupy in any significant number the special positions ascribed to them in folklore and fiction. The Mammy was created by white Southerners to redeem the relationship between black women and white men within slave society in response to the antislavery attack from the North during the ante-bellum period. In the primary records from before the Civil War, hard evidence for its existence simply does not appear.

With all of that said, the “mammy” character in film is represented by the stereotypical description given by Yarbrough and Wikipedia. In the classic film, Gone with the Wind, the “mammy” was played by Academy Award winning actress, Hattie McDaniel. McDaniel’s character was not known for her beauty or intelligence, but rather for rearing children, cooking, cleaning, and being accessible to her master; a classic representation of the stereotype and the likely reason why McDaniel won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, she knew her role and played her role to the supreme pleasure of the overseeing voters. In an unrelated sign of the times side note, McDaniel was not permitted to attend the award ceremony due to the color of her skin.

Soon after the release of Gone with the Wind came Imitation of Life. Louise Beavers “mammy” character epitomized the stereotype. Beavers’ character loves and cares for her white family’s children so much, she forgets to tend to her own daughter’s needs. Along with doing whatever her family tells her to do, Beavers signs away the rights to her famous pancake mix, making the white family rich while she lives the life of a pauper in the basement of the family’s home.

One would think, after 60+ years, the “mammy” character would have disappeared from all of cinema. It was the believed the Black Power and Women’s Rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s would killed how African-Americans and women are portrayed. However, 1995 saw the release of Billy Madison starring Adam Sandler and “mammy’s” return to feature film.

Theresa Merritt played “mammy” or “Juanita” the overweight, jolly, unattractive maid to Sandler’s character’s family. From her big laugh to her over-the-top singing to her willingness to do whatever needed to please the family, beyond the duties of a maid, the “mammy” was back in play, but audiences did not notice it. Washington Post film critic, Rita Kempley stated Merritt’s role was “shamelessly patterned on Miss Scarlett's Mammy” from Gone with the Wind. Why would this character be placed in a mid-90’s movie? The racial insensitivity was striking, yet went mostly unspoken.

A movie that did spark some controversy was 2003’s Bringing Down the House starring Queen Latifah and Steve Martin. In this film, Latifah plays an ex-convict who blackmails Martin and hides out in his home. While she is there, Latifiah acts like a 21st Century “mammy.” She cooks, cleans, and raises the children while using her hip hop style and slang. Latifah’s “new age mammy” wears bright, tight clothing, and hair-weave, however, when she first meets Martin, she is dressed like the stereotypical “mammy” caricature. Yes, her character is a far cry from Hattie McDaniel, but as the times change, so do styles, but apparently not African-American stereotypes in film.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines the term “brute” as a “characteristic of an animal in quality, action, or instinct.” In early film, “brute” was used to define African-American male actors who showed animal-like force, rage, and sexual hunger. Dr. Pilgrim describes a “brute” as “an innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially White women.”

In the time of slavery, males were not given a name or alias that indicated strength because it would elicit unwelcomed fear amongst slave owners. Instead, after the slaves were emancipated, the white man openly called African-Americans “brutes” and claimed, because of the rage they held inside during slavery; anger and lustful hunger would be unleashed upon white women and white people across the country.

Writer Thomas Nelson Page is the man created for colloquially coining the term “brute.” In his book, Red Rock, a black politician is charged with raping a white woman, showing his thirst for the purer race, and his lust of sex and empowerment over a weaker sex. The character was later lynched for committing the crime.

The worst thing a black man could do in the early 1900’s was rape a white woman, or be accused of raping a white woman. Most accusations led to the man being lynched or beaten for violating the purity of the white female. In film, this became prevalent in D. W. Griffiths’ Birth of a Nation. The film is most commonly known for its cinematography and usage of cutaways and wide-angle moving shots, but it is also known for its famous, or infamous, “Rape Scene.” The “Rape Scene” contains no sex or even physical touching between the “black” man and the white woman.

The scene begins with the “black” man looking at the white woman from behind a tree as she puts clothes on the line to dry. The white woman doesn’t notice him, at first. When she sees him, she screams, and runs away into the mountainous, rocky desert landscape while the “black” man lasciviously gives chase. The white woman runs until she comes to a cliff. The “black” man shows excitement because he has her where he wants her. As he comes closer, the white woman inches closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. When he gets too close, about 15 feet, the woman turns and jumps off the cliff to her death. The “black” man flees while the white settlers attend to the fallen woman.

I use the word “black” in parenthesis because the character in the movie was “black,” but the actor playing the role of the “black” man was white. Most of the actors who played “black” characters were white men wearing blackface make-up. No African-American was allowed to touch or come near any white woman during the filming of the movie. Long Island University Professor Melvin Sylvester said, “This one film also lead to outspoken outrage by many African-Americans, including the NAACP organization. To no avail, the NAACP tried to have the film banned or parts of the film censored or deleted. Most of the black roles were done by Whites in blackface, with only selected scenes for African-Americans in this film.”

Birth of a Nation shows the ideology of the time. In the “Rape Scene,” the pure fear and terror of the “brute” coming near the white woman was enough for her to take her own life. She did not know if the man wanted to talk, she would rather die than be seen conversing with the “brute.”

The most famous “brute” was Paul Robeson. Robeson was a tall, strong fellow with a very deep voice. Although he had degrees from both Rutgers and Columbia Law School, one would never know that from watching his movies. In almost every movie, Robeson was either singing in his deep baritone voice, beating someone up, or looking for sex. His role in The Emperor Jones (1924) is his most famous and where his “brute” character has received the most ridiculed.

In The Emperor Jones, Robeson plays “Brutus Jones,” a man who is on the run after he kills a man, flees to a West Indian island, and crowns himself emperor. The character’s name, “Brutus Jones” is an early indication of what type of stereotype is being portrayed in this film. Like all “brutes,” the character kills, attacks, and lusts over women. In the end, the “brute” is killed after a white trader convinces the emperor’s subjects to rebel. To show that the subjects did not believe Robeson’s character was human, they believed they could only kill him with a silver bullet. The movie also contained other African-American stereotypes, such as, the “coon,” the “tom,” and the “pickaninny.”

Although the film was a success and was revived several times, it was another step backward for African-Americans. What is more puzzling, why did Paul Robeson take so many roles as the “brute”? Robeson was known for his stance against racism. He even quit his job as a lawyer because the white secretary would not take dictation from an African-American. To this day, despite his success as an athlete and lawyer, people do not know why Robeson did not stand-up against the majority, as he did with Senator McCarthy, and refuse to act in films where African-Americans were made to look less than human.

The “brute” character has changed since the early 1900’s when Birth of a Nation and The Emperor Jones were released. The “brute” is now seen as a pure criminal, whose rage and sexual appetite are fixed on African-American women, along with other minorities. In the 2001 movie, Training Day, Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a dirty, rogue street cop. This was the re-birth of the “brute” in the 21st Century.

Washington’s character was intense, angry, animalistic, sexually hungry, and stupid. His character was the opposite of Ethan Hawke’s, clean good cop character. The movie made it seem like black was evil and white was good, much like the feeling taken away after watching Birth of a Nation. A racial divide had been made, and one of the world’s best actors, Washington, was caught in the crosshairs. Moreover, the director of the movie, Antoine Fuqua, an African-American, helped further propagate the stereotype portrayed by Washington.

The second problem with the movie came months later, when Washington won the Academy Award for his starring role. Much like when Hattie McDaniel won for Best Supporting Actress in her role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, it appeared to the African-American community that Washington was being credited for playing the role he was supposed to play in the eyes of the White-American community, the “brute.” In his prior movies, Malcolm X (1992) and The Hurricane (1999), Washington played smart, articulate men with dreams of power and peace. Arguably, Washington’s role as “Malcolm X” was his best, but the 62-year old actor does not believe race played a role in his Oscar losses or his win, “I don't put too much into that. The year I was up for Malcolm X, Al Pacino won for Scent of a Woman (1992). He had been nominated eight times. If he had lost, what would he have blamed it on? I've been nominated four times and I won once, so who would Pacino blame had he lost?" These comments came after Rev. Jesse Jackson accused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of institutional racism. After looking at Washington’s body of work and his competition in 1992 and 1999, I would have to agree with Rev. Jackson. A black actor must follow the path and portray the characters whom the white audience can relate. Historically, strong, intelligent black men aren’t given a chance in this country due to the fear of the majority that the minority will work together, rise up, and overcome the oppression that has faced them since the birth of the nation. On the silver screen, the majority wants the minority to imitate the life they perceive to be correct way for races and cultures to cohabitate.

After all of this, the question must be asked, what can be done to change the perception of African-Americans in film? How can they change the stereotypes? In order for a change to occur, people must be educated on the real lives African-Americans lead. Not all African-Americans sing and dance. Not all African-American males are strong and undersexed. Not all African-American females are subservient and submissive. African-Americans are just like any other person that walks this planet, we aren’t all alike. Some are educated at places like Harvard, Oxford and Princeton. Some are scientists and doctors. Some are teachers and principals. And yes, some like to sing, dance, and cook, but each person is different in their own right and no one should pigeon hole an entire race by categorizing them as a specific type of person. This study goes outside the scope of film; art imitates life; the viewing public sees what life has presented them on the silver screen. These movies, for the most part, are not presented as fantasy; they are presented as a representation of what is happening in the real world.

African-American actors and actresses are also to blame for the continuing to play the stereotypical roles offered in today’s motion pictures. These actors have the choice to take a stand and not take roles that will demean and disgrace an entire race. The actors and actresses are just as responsible as the screen writer, producer, executive producer, and director. The actor and actress are the mouth piece of the motion pictures’ hierarchy. If an actor or actress refuses to take a role because it makes fun of or can be seen as making light of a specific race in terms of stereotypical characteristics, it will only cause the production houses to become more creative and work harder to remove the stereotypes.

A prime example of actresses taking charge and turning down demeaning roles; the 2001 film Monster’s Ball starring Halle Berry, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role, was originally turned down by Angela Bassett and many other African-American actresses because they felt the film did not portray the African-American female in the best light. Bassett told Newsweek, “I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film. I couldn't do that because it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality.” In a July 7, 2002 article, USA Today Op-Ed writer, DeWayne Wickham said, “The movie is a leering, fanciful look at interracial sex from a white perspective. Its highlight is the union between a grunting, groaning, lust-filled beautiful black woman and an unsuspecting white guy on whom she throws herself.” Wickham goes on to say, “In the eyes of too many Hollywood filmmakers, white people make sensuous love while black folks have crude sex.” Art imitates life; Hollywood holds the paintbrush and owns the easel.

Movies leave indelible impression on everyone, especially young minds; hip hop artist Jay-Z stated on his album American Gangster, “Scarface the movie did more than Scarface the rapper to me; that is more to blame for everything that has happened to me.” Those words ring true when you see African-Americans taking roles where their characters degrade and disparage the people they are supposed to represent.

This piece was originally published in 2008 and re-purposed in 2017

#sterotypes #cinema #film #african american #black history month

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