#the I Hate White Authors saga continues
Text
Second Sight -- Part Eighteen
Fandom: Marvel Avengers AU/MCU AU
Pairing: Loki Odinson X fem!Reader
Characters: Loki Odinson
Author: @amandaoftherosemire
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 5,718
Format: Series WIP
Warnings: Language, gambling
Summary: Loki takes you on a long overdue honeymoon on a pleasure planet. You can’t take your eyes off the spectacle while Loki can’t take his eyes off you. Neither of you notice the eyes on you both.
A/N: Since I started this fic years ago, I am going to be rebuilding my taglist with this chapter. If anyone would like to be tagged in future updates, or if you’re tagged in this and want to continue to be, please drop me an ask or a message to let me know. If you don’t want to be tagged, don’t do anything. I’m trying to get a gauge of who, if anyone, is still reading this. I haven’t got any feedback in a while, and the notes on this would offend me if I allowed myself to be offended by numbers, and I’m not sure updating this fic is the best use of my time if no one is reading it.
To be fair, I get it. I’m not even mad. 😉 Loki is doing fun stuff in the series and people are reading those fics, not novel length fics from the Infinity Saga. I don’t intend this to be a guilt trip as much as an attempt to gather information. I have multiple projects in progress (thank you, ADHD), including some original fiction, and as much as I hate to leave a fic unfinished, I also recognize the possibility I’m in the middle of a sunk cost fallacy. Know when to fold ‘em, and all that. Thanks!
<<Part Seventeen here
Second Sight Part Eighteen
Once through the doors and under a short entryway, the room opened into a spectacle that made the lights of the Vegas Strip look understated by comparison. The walls curved away from you to both your left and right, the room an enormous circle made up of multiple tiers. At your feet, a sea of creamy gold-veined stone under a high, high domed ceiling. You stood stunned for a moment, overwhelmed by the size and splendor of everything around you.
You kept your hand tight around Loki’s arm as he escorted you to the middle of the room, the stone stepping gently into a sunken center beneath the soaring ceiling. The top of the dome was three stories above you, where a bright golden light served as the main source of illumination. The golden globe was one of two hung in the sky of an elaborate sea scape mural covering the zenith of the dome.
The other globe was the tumultuous center of a whirling display. Upon closer inspection, the objects that swarmed in streaming patterns in and out of the center of the second sun were some sort of fluttering creature, akin to a butterfly. They fluttered around a core of flapping wings, soaring in swooping streams and waves. However they were incentivized to do so, they followed tight patterns, coalescing into tight clumps before exploding outward like a living pyrotechnic display. Their vibrant colors sent rainbow light scattering and shimmering over the people below.
From that globe came a light snowstorm of some feathery white substance. Though they spun and floated in the air, once they landed on a surface, the tiny flakes disappeared like cotton candy in water. The shimmering light and the light white flurry created a dreamy atmosphere that lifted you up and made you feel euphoric. You looked down at the flakes seeming to seep into your skin.
"A mild intoxicant, my love," Loki said when he saw you examining the little fluffy flecks. He spoke in your ear to be heard over the roar of the crowd and the clangs and bells and beeps and shouts from the tables around you. "As long as you remember that luck is ephemeral, you should be fine."
You grinned at him, taking the warning as it was meant and deliberately tamping down the oddly lucky feeling surging inside you that urged you to take whatever chance looked the most lucrative. To distract yourself, you went back to studying your surroundings, stunned by the pageantry. Loki had shown you opulent when he'd first dragged you into his personal dimensional pocket, but this was lavish walking the edge of gaudy.
Standing in the center of the room, on the burnished old gold carpet so rich and soft it seemed like velvet clover beneath your boots, you examined the enormous pillars of creamy stone that matched the floor. Too big around to fit your arms, they were adorned with more of the fluttering creatures. These glowed golden, their shimmering wings sending the light scattering and making the air itself seem to sparkle.
You were surrounded on all sides by people of all shapes, sizes, colors, limbs, etc. As you took in the spectacular, you tried to come to grips with your boggled mind. A veritable army of beautifully built, violet-skinned, black-haired beauties wearing short black shorts and matching crop tops with tank sleeves wove in and out amongst the tables. As much muscle was on display as possible and each person had plenty of muscle to display. The matching uniforms went with the trays of glasses full of brightly colored liquids, some fizzing, some sparking, some smoking. A frothy pink something with bright green leaves as a garnish caught your eye and sent one of those lucky rushes through you. Once you'd gotten your bearings, you were going to find out what it was and whether it would kill you. The white flakes urged you to go for it.
Looking up, all around you the walls were hung with silk in vibrant jewel tones, contrasting with the old gold of the floors and walls. Each floor above you had its own balcony, like a dress circle in a theatre, but wider and full of more games and people. The entryway you'd come out from under had been the second floor, open to the rest of the room so that each floor could see the dome and its colorful explosions. You wondered what differentiated each floor, though it seemed the main difference was the first floor was much louder than the others.
In every direction you could see boisterous crowds surrounding tables of dice, or spinning wheels and flashing lights, or in one section, a pit of what appeared to be fighting insects, the scantily clad croupier taking bets on which bestingered, hissing monster would kill the other. You deliberately turned away from that part of the casino.
Loki noticed the rejection on your face. "Are you not interested in wagering, my love?" He asked the question in silky tones, hoping that whatever had displeased you could be ignored long enough for him to dazzle you with the delights he'd already planned.
You wrinkled your nose and smiled at him, your back firmly to the hissing insects. You’d concluded that it was best not to see how that particular game ended. Your lips twisted wryly, but the spectacle drew your eyes in a thousand directions at once. "I didn't expect to come down on the side of the terror scorpions." You spoke the words with a wry twist to your lips and your voice, as surprised as anyone to find it to be true. "And I never gamble on games when I don’t know the rules."
Loki glanced at the fighting pits behind you, then laughed along with you. "Never?" He asked it with a skeptical eyebrow raised as he turned to offer you his arm. When you took it with an indulgent eye roll, he led you away from the bugs and toward a table surrounded by a crowd of cheering patrons.
"You are the very rare exception."
Loki lifted your hand from where it rested on his arm and kissed the back lavishly, enjoying you, appreciating your dedication to the evening, no matter the size of the stingers that tried to get in the way. The pits hadn't been here the last time he had, or he might have taken you to a different casino, considering your sensibilities. He didn't understand it, but you had a moral difficulty with blood sports that he would not have forced you to ignore for his sake if he could have helped it. You overlooked so much on his behalf, he hated to add even one more.
"Exactly as I prefer it," he tossed back as he drew you over to a large round fountain, elaborate in both the sprays of water that flashed and sparkled in the golden light, but also in the carving of the statues that sat atop the center plinth. Your eyes widened at the sculpture, both the subject matter and the detail. Like a Bernini, the creatures were so finely carved that the stone flesh seemed to give underneath gripping fingers in an erotic tangle of limbs.
"I know, dear," you retorted absently, your eyes wide as you watched the lavender water froth and sparkle as golden bubbles popped and fizzed beneath the provocative sculpture. The beauty here was unreasonable, so much so that there were moments you felt dazed by it. Your eyes swept the room, taking in the living light show, the crowded tables, the array of people, and your heart sped until it was pounding and pounding. This wasn't a new experience, a unique kind of panic attack that you experienced at Loki's side. You never knew if your heart was racing in fear or excitement, but his wicked smile always drew you on regardless.
He'd turned that wicked smile on you when he purred, his voice a temptation, "Come, throw some dice." He'd seen your eyes widening and your lips parting and knew the things he'd shared with you had overcome your stunning control. Nothing made him happier than watching your breath speed in response to the wonders he gave to you. "Since it’s a special occasion."
You smiled at him, grateful to have him to focus on. You concentrated on that mischievous grin and took slow, deep breaths. Knowing you were hand in hand with someone like Loki helped you stay calm when the universe was almost too much. Not only was he dangerous under all circumstances, but you also knew how highly he valued you, how careful he really was with you. Aside from the kind of danger that goes hand in hand with adventure, you knew you were safer at his side on an unfamiliar planet than you were when walking alone in an unfamiliar neighborhood in New York.
"Something tells me I shouldn’t give into that line of reasoning," you smirked at him, sliding your arm around his waist and pulling yourself in to burrow into his throat, "or everything will become a ‘special occasion’."
Loki laughed, wrapping his arms around your shoulders to squeeze you, exuberant affection bursting out of him like light. You smiled into his face, the sight of his happiness making your throat ache in joy. You loved making him happy like this, especially as so much melancholy had hung on him since you'd met. Grief had dogged his steps for a long time; seeing him look so glad and free made you feel like your heart was full and overflowing.
"Let me tempt you, darling." His joyous face beamed into yours as he enticed you. "Let me prove I can still persuade you to give in to your vices." His head dipped to yours and he nuzzled your mouth, his teeth scraping your bottom lip and making you moan a little, low in your throat. The sound shot straight to his groin, his body impatient for the last item on the evening's schedule. He fought his lust for you, but his hand slid down your spine to your tailbone, pressing you closer to his body the whole way down. "You know how it thrills me," he whispered against your mouth before taking your mouth in a deep, passionate kiss.
"I do, yes." You whispered the words back as soon as your lips were free again. Loki was in a surprising mood, one you were only vaguely familiar with. He seemed reckless, but young and wild at the same time. You wondered if he realized how stifling he found impersonating his father, if he knew how much happier he was when he was out in the universe, causing trouble. You gave in, happy to allow him to corrupt you, if only because it pleased him so much.
"If it will truly make you happy to talk me into gambling with your money, I will try." You looked around, and decided on a table with rolling dice, hoping the rules would be at least somewhat similar to any dice games from Earth. Loki gave you a wicked and wholly satisfied smile as he offered you several of the gold wafers that appeared to be the currency here. Taking his hand, you walked towards the table with the most exuberant cheering. "What are we doing here?" You directed the question at Loki as you watched the creature at the end of the table take three dice into a hook and toss them down to the other end of the table. "It kinda looks like craps, except are those eight-sided dice?"
Loki was watching you, not the table. He loved that he could see you trying to figure out the game, though the rules were opaque and the symbols incomprehensible to you. You watched the gameplay, seeking the pattern that would tell you enough about how the game was played for you to participate. "Two are eight-sided," he replied, the joy of having you with him in his world making his heart ache, "the third is twelve." You looked at him when you heard the exhilaration in his tone, a soft smile lifting the corner of your mouth, tempting him. "Why do you ask?"
You could see only happiness and excitement sparkling in his smile, so you shrugged and turned your gaze back to the gaming table in front of you. "I'm figuring the odds." Your eyes narrowed as you answered absently. Because your attention was entirely on the table, you gasped in surprise when Loki pulled you close to wrap his arms around you from behind, burying his face in the curve of your throat. He took your skin gently between his teeth and bit down, goaded past endurance by the look of concentration on your face.
"And you don't know how it excites me," he murmured against your skin, his lips soothing the slight prickle of pain his teeth had left behind. Truthfully, he hadn't known how you would excite him, how having you slip into his world like you belonged there would have him already quivering for you. Only his determination to drive you both to the brink of madness before he gave in prevented him from finding somewhere private to slake this thirst.
Though he couldn't see the smile on your face, the sultry expression came through loud and clear in both the way you pressed back against him, your ass brushing the erection straining at leather behind you, and in your amused voice. "I have an idea," you murmured as you snuggled back into his embrace, tilting your head to give him easier access to your throat.
"Excite me more," he growled before taking advantage of that access to close his teeth around the cord of muscle where your neck met your shoulder. Between his arms tight around you and your own motion to press firmly against his body, the iron bar of his cock snugged against you and taunted you with the reminder of his ever-present desire for you.
Loki's appreciation for the oddest things about you was a source of never-ending delight, something that made you feel exceptional. He loved things about you that you'd always assumed to be normal, or even mediocre, and you could not think of yourself as ordinary when he disagreed, and he so clearly was none of those things.
You watched as a large humanoid placed a stack of gold wafers on one of the pictographs on the table before taking the three dice in his giant hand. "As far as I can tell," you replied as the man tossed the dice down to the other end of the table, snarling when none of the upright pictures on the dice matched those under his wager, "they're trying to match certain combinations, based on their likelihoods." Your voice was shaking slightly, giving away both your laughter at Loki’s playful mood and your arousal at his touch.
"Delectable." Loki's breath was coming faster as he started placing light, brushing kisses over your shoulder, up your neck, smiling against your skin. He breathed into your ear as he fought his own cravings, trying to keep his hands somewhat under control. As you were wearing your ring, the people flowing around you didn't even notice Loki wrapped around his dark bride. He knew they wouldn't notice if he brought you to a climax in the middle of the casino floor. That knowledge was a constant temptation, one he'd never imagined when he'd been making the rings, but thanks to his love for violating rules and boundaries, had turned out to be an unexpected advantage.
"Loki…" Your voice was a warning as his arms had loosened so that he could run his hands over the sides of your body, up from your hips to directly beneath your breasts, pausing there an edgy moment before running back down. The firmness of his hands against you, like he was holding himself in careful check, sent a thrill running through you. His strength combined with his wildness sometimes made your heart race in something closer to anxiety than desire, but the tinge of fear only heightened the experience. A wild part of you loved him because he was dangerous, not in spite of it.
Loki swore, quietly and viciously, as his hands stilled on your hips, his grip tight enough to almost be painful, but carefully restrained. You could feel how he wanted you in the way he held you, but you also felt him deliberately rein himself in. His voice calm, but with an undercurrent of threat that made you shudder in desire, he removed his mouth from your skin and returned to the subject at hand. “That is the most basic of the wagering, yes."
You took a deep breath, aware that Loki was in a more dangerous mood than normal. He taunted and tempted you into madness on a regular day. How much higher would you soar at his suggestion? What depths would you plumb with his encouragement? In this mood, what outrageous deeds would you commit at his side, at his provocation? What wouldn't you risk when he was the prize?
You'd already done far more shocking things with Loki than gambling on dice. You could only be grateful that the evening's entertainments had started with something relatively ordinary. “And how much you win is based on how much and when you bet. But more important is when.”
Loki felt like he couldn't bear to not be touching you, and so he hadn't removed his hands from your hips. At your words, his hands tightened again as he leashed himself against the rising desire. There were moments it frightened him, what he'd done for you, what he would do. You had so much power over him, it could be terrifying. You'd inspired him to such heights, brought him to such lows, it was insufferable how much more he'd become in your hands. The only way he could bear it was that you were equally under his spell. You never used that power over him for anything but pleasure.
He may have been caught, trapped in the endless pools of fey eyes, but you were caught in his gravity, tidal locked with those compelling eyes on him and only him. He was content, or as content as he was capable.
Loki couldn't help himself; he leaned forward and closed his teeth around the nape of your neck. He was finally playing on the edges of the galaxy with you. Dazzling you, thrilling you, overwhelming you, was the priority. "You catch on fast, love," he murmured against your skin, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses to the back of your shoulders as his hands slowly climbed back up your sides. When you pressed back against him and rubbed yourself against him, he growled, "I could eat you alive."
Your face spread in a smile you hadn't had before you met Loki, something wicked and potent. Knowing that something about this trip had him even more unruly than usual, and that unruliness was expressing itself in lust, gave you a feeling of immense power. You grabbed one of the hands about to slide up to cup your breasts and stepped forward, out of Loki's arms.
"Then I'll start there," you said with a cheeky glance back at Loki, whose pale skin was flushed with desire, eyes glittering and smile wide with sexy menace. You felt cold once your body was no longer in contact with his, but you used your hand in his to pull him with you toward the gaming table. You'd been together long enough that you could see that he was planning to make you pay for teasing him. You'd been teasing him long enough that you’d known that when you’d started.
Well used to this part now, thanks to your sojourns on Earth, you tapped on the arm of one of the beings surrounding the table. The man was seven feet if he was an inch, and covered head to toe in what looked like very uncomfortable gray metal armor, giant pauldrons completing the space marine vibe. When you touched him and murmured, "Excuse me," he jumped a foot in the air and shrieked like a little girl.
Too used to this response to your sudden appearance, you smiled blandly at the giant gaping down at you and asked politely, "May I squeeze in here?"
You didn't know it, but Loki had tweaked the spell in your rings to make your appearance more potent and thus more intimidating. Though he didn't want you to draw undue attention, he still wanted the universe at large to know at a glance how significant you were, even if they couldn't put their finger on why.
You leaned forward and waved to get the attention of the croupier so that he would notice your bet as well. His eyes widened, but he was far better than the giant at your side at hiding his astonishment, years of customer service callousing his ability to feel surprise. After a beat, he shouted, "Got a new player!"
This time you glanced around in surprise when, with a glance from the croupier, the man next to you offered you the dice. You took the dice and looked up in dismay when the croupier then shouted, "Place your bet!"
"I've actually never played before," you said to the shockingly gentle looking man, for all his size and armor. He grinned, revealing a full set of shining silver teeth.
"You'll want to pick a Trieklah,” he replied, pointing at the trios of pictographs matching those on the dice. The giant had a surprisingly warm baritone; if he could carry a tune, he'd have made a fortune on Earth giving Hozier a run for his money. "That's the biggest payout, but the hardest to hit."
"One for each die?" You noticed everyone else around the table betting in threes and wanted to make sure that you needed to do the same. The silver-toothed giant smiled and nodded in encouragement. You played with the stack of wafers in your hands, clicking them together like thin dominoes. You quickly decided on a trio, but as you leaned forward, your necklace swung forward, and a glint of colored light reflected off the center opal. That shimmer directed your eye to a set of three that somehow reminded you of Loki. On impulse, you changed direction and placed your bet on the other rectangle. "Let's see if luck is on my side today."
The giant looked at you, his surprisingly light blue eyes in dark skin piercing. Loki's illusion was complete, and Odof the Merc hadn't survived all these years by being naïve. In addition to Loki’s spells, there was an aura about you that you couldn't hide, an aura that had become more and more apparent the more time you spent with Loki and in the wider universe. Even Loki's illusions couldn't hide what you'd become. "You got lucky eyes," he concluded and added his own bet to yours.
Loki, meanwhile, was standing back, watching you charm a dangerous mercenary with ease, a wide smile on his face. There was something deeply gratifying about the way you moved through the galaxy, with the same smooth ease with which you moved through your own world. He felt validated in his view of your extraordinary gifts, enjoyed seeing the way you gently dominated everything around you.
You cocked your arm back and sent the dice tumbling across the walled table. Luck was with you and the dice rolled onto what looked like purple baize on the three sides you'd picked. With a shocked cheer, you turned and hugged your new friend in the kind of exuberance that comes from an unexpected win.
The sheer, unmitigated pleasure on the giant's face when your arms closed swiftly and awkwardly around his bulky armor made Loki smile in an unfamiliar way. The feeling was sheer, uncomplicated delight, and he wondered that he should so enjoy watching another man go to mush over you. Something about the fierce warrior looking soft and bashful as you grinned and thanked him made Loki happy, though he didn't really understand why.
You collected your winnings, turning your head to laugh back at Loki in delight as you stuffed wafers into your pockets. He grinned wildly back at you, and if the croupier hadn't snagged your attention, you'd have been stunned to see the love he had for you naked on his face.
You turned back and threw three gold wafers on another set of three. Since you'd won last time, you evidently were supposed to retain the dice and roll again, like craps, so you cocked your arm back and sent the dice flying again. This time, however, only one of the dice matched any of the symbols that you'd picked on the board. Two of your wafers were collected by the croupier, but the third was handed back to you to pick another set. This time, the giant explained, you had to pick one that had the symbol that already matched yours, but you would bet again and reroll the remaining two dice.
You grabbed two more wafers and placed your bet on another set that appealed to you, but none of the rectangles of symbols grabbed you as the first wager had. You weren't feeling it, and apparently that showed on your face. The friendly giant set his bet on a different trio with an apologetic look. "No offense, girlie, but I don't think you got it this time."
You rolled again, then cursed when neither of your dice matched your bet. The croupier gave back an eight-sided die and you sent it tumbling, though you could only break even now. As you tossed the last die, you grinned wryly at your new friend and replied, "No offense taken, boyo. I did not have it."
Odof had never had a little thing like you sass him like this. His armor told the world who he was and what he did for a living. Most people gave him a wide berth, but here you were, seemingly harmless, but with the confidence of a goddess. He threw his head back and laughed out loud, certain you had hidden talents.
Boyo, he thought, tickled pink both by the familiarity and the sparkling smile you'd sent him as you'd said it. "I like you!" He shouted the words, then stopped the croupier when he started to pass the dice to the person to your left. "Let her roll again. The luck's back on her." He winked at you, and you grinned back, delighted with your social success in the wider universe. "Bet again, I'll wager with you."
The lady to your left was a shocking gold, with an oddly superior aura, but she handed the dice to you with a smile. Absently toying with your necklace, another flash of light drew your eye to a rectangle that held script-like symbols. They reminded you of the sigils that surrounded the portal from your linen closet to Loki's pocket dimension. You put nine wafers down in a stack and grinned recklessly at the giant.
The giant gave another boisterous roaring laugh, then threw down a matching stack of gold. As you looked back, you caught Loki's eye and winked, grinning cheekily. Loki thought you breathtaking, playing on the edge of chance and making friends with dangerous mercenaries. He saw more clearly than ever why he'd never been able to permanently walk away from you. He'd found his match in you, his mate, and it was the greatest treasure he'd ever found. Staying with you had become his highest priority. His revenge against his father and the petty usurpation of the throne had become his raison d'etre when his mother died. At some point since he'd met you, holding fast to you had overcome that focus, that need.
He could bear to have all the glories of Asgard torn away, as long as he was still at your side when it was over.
You turned back to the table, unaware of the fireworks of emotion that were going off inside of Loki, to match the bursting explosions of color above his head. You took a deep breath, shook your fist and cocked your arm, sending the dice tumbling over the table.
The table erupted into cheers, delighted and surprised to find that you'd done it again, you'd pulled off another Trieklah. Loki came over, a bag in his hand that he'd seemed to pull from nothing. Once you'd piled your winnings into the bag, a considerable amount after two rare hits of luck, you thanked the lady who'd given you the dice. She was delighted, as she'd hit on a side bet and won a decent amount herself.
Turning to the giant, you patted his arm and smiled warmly up into his oddly sweet face. "Thank you for your help!"
He smiled back and patted your hand on his arm, his hand a bear paw in comparison to yours. "My pleasure, little lady."
You enjoyed being called little, and lady, and your smile took on a sweetness you hadn't intended, but the giant found utterly beguiling. If you hadn't had an Asgardian escort at your side, he might have suggested you hang around, let him get to know you better. His face fell, however, at your next words. "Break a leg, friend."
His expression surprised you. Someone who looked like him seemed to be the sort who would enjoy a more violent idiom. You smiled reassuringly and explained, "That's how we wish someone good fortune on my world."
The giant's face relaxed, and he smiled again, thinking this was proof that you were more dangerous than you appeared. "You must live on a brutal world."
With one more squeeze to his forearm, you laughed up at him. Loki had taken your hand when you'd turned to him to walk away from the table and was leading you away as you tossed back. "You have no idea."
Loki drew you away from the table, grinning at your good luck and the warm happiness that animated you. Bubbling over with excitement, you smugly handed back the stake he'd fronted you. He tried to refuse, but you insisted, then taunted him that you didn't even need him now, because you could buy your own drinks.
The two of you explored the rest of the building, but you refused to play any of the other games, certain your luck had run out and uninterested in giving any of your money back to the casino now that you had it in your possession. Loki thought you were adorable, if a bit perverse, but he remained indulgent, especially when you told him you wanted to remember the night as nothing but fun and triumph.
Once he'd shown you the indulgence of greed, the two of you left the casino and wandered freely through the streets. Loki knew where he was going, however, and pulled you through a door in a side street into a small serving room. The two of you sat at one of the few tables beside the long bar and proceeded to eat the best food you'd ever tasted in your life. You couldn't explain why it was so much better than anything you'd had before, but you didn't question it. The why was unimportant when you were plowing through a pastry the likes of which you'd never had before. Perfectly flaky, the filling was creamy and fruity and smooth, and you’d swear your taste buds were in overdrive. By the time you were done, you were in love with Witter, the lovely purple man who'd made and personally served you the dessert that you were crazy about.
Loki pulled you away from the laughing Witter, telling him to ignore you, that you couldn't marry him because you were already married, dammit. Once you were in the alley, he pulled you into a dark alcove to kiss you, to remind you that he could give you so much more than pastry, no matter how delicious. His body shielding yours, he'd taken advantage of your skirt to bring you to a quick but shuddering climax with his fingers. His eyes burned as he watched you put yourself back together and he sucked your flavor from his fingertips. Knowing he had so much more planned for you, instead of easing the clenching in your core, the orgasm had only whetted your appetite for more.
Loki led you on into the night, you'd assumed to a room where he could unleash the sexual tension that had been building all evening. When he pulled you into what looked like a dive bar, you looked around in surprise and confusion. Accompanying Loki had taught you it was best to go along with him, as he usually had a reason for what he did, even if his reason was overemotional or hyperbolic. With a cocky smile, you shrugged and asked what the frothy pink thing was called and whether anything in it would kill you before swaggering up to the bar to get the tentacled bartender's attention.
Loki wanted you like air, was driving himself mad by waiting to have you alone. You'd blossomed in his life, at his side, as he'd known you would. Still, he’d never known how you’d shine, or how he’d feel about it.
As you'd walked away from the gaming table, however, Odof the Merc had turned back to the game, but for some reason he was seeing flashes of light that he wasn't used to. Like midges on the edges of his vision, the little flashes would draw his eye to particular Trieklahs. When he followed the flashes, his luck seemed better than when he didn't, so he kept following them. When he decided to quit, an hour later, he was up over five thousand credits and was ready to spend it on sex and sauce. Odof was thinking and appreciating that you must have thrown him some luck, whether you intended to or not and he was not certain either way, as he stumbled into the casino's biggest bar, looking for some companionship.
Four guards, each his size and armed, prepared to deal with him if he wanted to make trouble, surrounded him before he made it to the bar. Odof sighed. Luck never stuck around for long.
Part Nineteen here>>
Taglist (open):
@hellzzzbelle @targaryenvampireslayer @cheekygeek05 @bibliophile1773 @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @miraclesoflove @nerdy-bookworm-1998 @destiel-is--endgame @irritated-bisexual @peaceinourtime82 @badassbaker @walkingtravesty97 @fashionworld12 @readermia @fukyouthink @felicityofbakerstreet @lumar014ad @thedistractedagglomeration
#loki odinson x reader#loki x reader#loki odinson x you#loki x you#loki odinson fanfiction#loki odinson fanfic#marvel fanfiction#marvel fanfic#mcu fanfiction#mcu fanfic#canon adjacent#series wip#pantswrites
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
So often, it seems that a celebrity controversy could be entirely preventable if the celebrity in question simply chose not to speak. But perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that a man with more than 300 books to his name isn’t one to hold back. In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, James Patterson decided that the world needed to hear his thoughts on racism and Woody Allen’s memoir. According to Patterson, whose extensive works have prompted severallibraries to joke that he has “written everything,” older white men now face “another form of racism” when they try to make it as writers in the entertainment industry. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes,” Patterson said. “It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.” The prolific co-writer also took issue with his own publisher, Hachette Book Group, noting that he “hated” the decision to dropWoody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, back in 2020. The move came after Hachette employees walked out because of the long-standing sexual-abuse allegations against Allen. “He has the right to tell his own story,” Patterson said, adding, “I’m almost always on the side of free speech.” (Allen’s memoir later found a new home with Arcade Publishing.) Meanwhile, Patterson’s comments come as he is promoting his own memoir, James Patterson: The Stories of My Life, because of course they do. After all, before he was a writer, Patterson had a successful career in… you guessed it, advertising.
James Patterson has apparently seen what being marginalized is like, and it isn't for him. Or for the aging, white male writers he seems to be worried about.
Reflecting on his illustrious career following the release of his autobiography, the bestselling author expressed concern for white men, whom he thinks are now having difficulty finding work in the entertainment and publishing industries.
Patterson classified their struggle as "just another form of racism" in an interview published in the Sunday Times in the U.K. Not surprisingly, he's getting a lot of heat for saying so.
The quote came as the "Stories of My Life" author, whose writing success came in tandem with his thrillers about Black detective Alex Cross, was trying to express disappointment over film adaptations of his novels, saying that he'd for once like to "stand up and cheer for one of my books on the silver screen."
Big-screen adaptations of his more than 300 books include the Morgan Freeman-starring films "Kiss the Girls" (1997) and "Along Came a Spider" (2001). (Next up is an adaptation of "Run, Rose, Run," which he co-wrote with music legend Dolly Parton.)
“I just wanted to create a character who happened to be Black,” the 75-year-old said. “I would not have tried to write a serious saga about a Black family. It’s different in a detective story because plot is so important.”
“I get it,” he continued. “How could we run through that period, especially in Hollywood, where there was all this talent and nobody got hired?”
From there, the writer of the Sunday Times piece said that Patterson is now worried about white men struggling to find work in film, theater, TV and publishing and thinks the problem is "just another form of racism."
"What’s that all about?” he mused. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”
Critics were quick to judge "The President Is Missing" co-author's remarks, taking to the replies of Patterson's most recent tweet to share their thoughts.
"So sorry to hear about the discrimination you and your $700 million face on a daily basis. We really should do more to help rich white multi millionaires get their voices heard. Can't imagine the struggles. Hang in there sir," one user wrote.
"I hope you really did not say this," added another.
"Great to see you overcome the stigma of being a white dude and get the gig to... *checks notes* write your autobiography. How many other writers were you up against?" said one tweet.
"You already know.... I'm not throwing away or burning my money (books [of] his I own) but I'm [definitely] removing them from my library And will never purchase them again. This man literally had 2 well known people of color play his main Character Alex cross then says this b.s. done," wrote another user.
Representatives for Patterson did not immediately respond Monday to The Times' request for comment.
Elsewhere in the interview, Patterson also said he disapproves of actors and public figures weighing in on topics they've gleaned off the internet, but said that he's "almost always on the side of free speech.”
He said that he "hated" that Little, Brown in 2020 pulled embattled director Woody Allen's memoir after the publishing company's staff staged a walkout.
"He has the right to tell his own story," Patterson argued.
3 notes
·
View notes
Note
asdfghjkl different Anon but I knew, I KNEW, you were talking about Cruel Prince. I made it 1/2 of the way through and was just done. Like how are we supposed to get a convincing romance from that kind of behavior??? I hate ittttt. Anyway, just wanted to rant to someone who felt the same way
god i knoW im one of those stubborn idiots who’s really bad at abandoning books even tho i know they’re going to end badly and so. i read the entire fucking book even though i was fully aware it was going to be hideous as soon as locke started sliming all over her. and then there was cardans fucking piece of paper with her name all over it ohhhh my god and then when hes like i know youve literally got me tied up right now but i think now is CONVENIENTLY the time to tell u i almost drowned u and put dirt in ur food and tried to get u to kiss my boot when u were drugged up and generally bullied u for years because i think ur really cute and im a tortured white boy whos bad with his emotions!!!!! call me xxxxx and then she goes and kisses him!!!!!!!! listen jude i know hes got dark hair and nice cheekbones but please have some god damn self respect!!!!!!!!!! GOD please make it stop
#the i hate white authors saga continues#skfskjd tbt when i had a sideblog literally dedicated to dragging every ya book known to man..#anonymous#answered
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Voyage So Far: Water Seven
east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)
i’ve mentioned several times before that the davy back fight is one of my least favorite arcs, mostly because i found it very dragging and tedious when i was reading it, but there are a couple things i really like in it, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, most of them have to do with zoro. i really like his moment here with chopper, and it also showcases his ability to act as more of an authority figure to the crew, which is something that makes a substantial return after enies lobby with the matter of usopp’s return.
zoro and sanji’s match in the davy back fight is far and away my favorite part of the entire arc. it’s just really fun.
like i said, this arc isn’t a favorite of mine, but i do definitely understand why it’s important to the saga and greater story in a couple different ways. one of them is that it’s just an easy, lighthearted detour that both gives the audience a chance to breathe and the strawhats a chance to showcase just how much they love each other and work well together- which turns into a fucking sledgehammer to the skull in the next arc when that unity is directly threatened. and the other reason this arc is important...
...is because of aokiji.
aokiji’s introductory scene is a brutal showcase of absolute power, and a very clear reminder that the strawhats are still very much little fish in a very, very big pond. all of the strawhats are impacted by this to some degree- it’s how badly they get curb-stomped here that leads luffy to come up with his gears as a way of closing the huge power gap he’s just learned about.
most important, though, are robin and usopp. for robin, this is a stark reminder of the fact that the government will never stop hunting her down; for usopp, who’s less obvious, it’s the seeds of the full-blown inferiority crisis that will later explode with the news about merry. both of their arcs throughout water 7 and enies lobby, essentially the twin emotional backbones of the saga, start right here.
i really like that the other strawhats all fell asleep waiting for robin and luffy to wake up. it calls back to them doing the same when nami was sick before drum, and also it’s just so fucking sweet.
water seven is my favorite island, full stop. if i was going to live anywhere in one piece’s world, i’d want to live on water seven. it’s just so creatively designed and visually great, with the canals and the tiered city and the massive fountain in the middle. the supporting cast are still one of my favorites, and the culture feels very real and authentic. i just love water seven a lot.
i just said it but it bears repeating- the water seven supporting cast is really good. iceburg, the galley-la shipwrights, franky and his family, kokoro and chimney are all really memorable, and most of them are really likable, too- and cp9, with all their eccentricities, fit in perfectly. water seven’s cast is very interconnected, as well, and their relationships all feel very believable.
all of which, of course, only makes the later treachery hurt all the more.
the atmosphere of water seven is really, really well done. the bad starts slow, with the news that merry is unfixable, and then continues into an accelerating downwards spiral of hopelessness: usopp and luffy’s fight and usopp leaving the crew, robin’s seeming betrayal, the assassination attempt on iceburg, the city and galley-la turning on them as a result, and the agua laguna- it just gets worse and worse and worse.
and then, after they’ve been stomped down about as far as they can go and come out alive anyways, they pick themselves back up again and go to save their friend, because that’s what the strawhat pirates do.
i just really like getting to see these four going feral on the franky family, it’s one of my favorite scenes in this whole arc. in general, i tend to love the moments where luffy specifically gets properly angry, and we get a lot of them in this arc.
even though the fight between luffy and usopp is genuinely very tense and fast-paced and would probably be exciting if it were any other two characters fighting, it never really feels anything other than melancholy. i think that’s a testament to just how good oda is at setting the mood of the scene. it’s made very clear, especially through the reactions of the other characters- merry ‘crying’ is fucking heartbreaking- that this is nothing less than a tragedy.
:(
i think it’s kind of interesting we aren’t shown franky’s face until about halfway into water seven. prior to this, we’re given pretty much only reasons to hate him, with his theft of the strawhats’ money and the franky family beating usopp to shit. but just after this point is when we start getting our first humanizing and sympathetic moments for him, starting when he gets worried and a little frantic when he hears about the attempt on iceburg’s life.
i just really, really like the way some of these water seven action sequences are depicted. they feel very tense and desperate, which matches the general mood of this part of the arc perfectly.
this panel of usopp working on merry always reminds me of the shots of the klabautermann doing the same during skypiea. i’m not sure if it’s even intentional, honestly, but it’s an extra little bit of heartbreak either way.
one piece has a lot of amazing spreads, but this might be one of my favorites for sheer impact. cp9, watching as the city they’ve lived and worked in for years burns down in a fire they set, satisfied by a job well done. it’s almost all in black and white with very little grey, which creates some fantastic contrast, and their pitch-black silhouettes against the nighttime inferno are just striking.
this entire scene between usopp and franky, as usopp works on the merry and franky gives him advice and tries to make him see its hopeless and they kind of awkwardly, accidentally bond, is probably my favorite in the whole of water seven. it was also the scene that singlehandedly made me love franky as a character.
they have a really good, really enjoyable dynamic, and at the same time the conflict between them is real and understandable, and brought about because they’re both trying to do the right thing.
tom’s workers are one of my favorite little groups of characters in the whole of one piece’s story, and they deserve more appreciation. they’re family!! a little family of broken pieces who worked together to build something really, really amazing. and they still care about each other in the present, even though they got shattered apart so badly and none of them ever really recovered.
this is a tremendously under-appreciated chopper moment. not only did he carry two full-grown men out of a fire, he even managed to get zoro’s sword and iceburg’s hamster. extremely cool of him.
this is also the exact moment the strawhats’ collective luck begins to turn: chopper saves the day, and nami learns that robin did what she did to protect them, and sanji gets aboard the sea train, and from there it’s a no-brakes train from their very lowest low straight to the triumph at enies lobby.
i love all the shenanigans sanji gets up to with the sea train, i think the whole sequence is absolutely one of his shining moments. it’s always a delight to see sanji get up to Sneaky Bastard Bullshit, and the whole thing is just so fun, which is a dearly needed breath of fresh air after how relentless this arc has been until this point.
robin’s little smile when thinking of luffy and when she joined the strawhats... :( i’ve noticed it’s a recurring trend for strawhats who try to leave the crew to flash back to when they joined as they do. usopp has it earlier this same arc just before leaving, and sanji does it in whole cake island in the sanji vs. luffy chapter.
i really like how much everyone comes together at the end of water seven leading into enies lobby. after how fractured and fraught things have been throughout the arc, both within and without the strawhat crew, it’s great to see them not only all united again for a common goal, but with a huge group of allies at their backs.
these three are SUCH a hilarious team, and i would love to see them work together again like this sometime. they’re literally just clowning on the marines all the way up the train, it’s fantastic.
factually i understand sanji’s aversion to fighting with his hands and his fighting style is very unique and cool and also meaningful to him because he learned from zeff, and also if i remember right it’s implied he learned how to swordfight from the vinsmokes which makes it very reasonable he would want absolutely nothing to do with that skillset
but speaking purely in terms of stupid idiot lizard brain i think sanji should fight with knives more
this is another of my absolute favorite spreads, and i think what makes it for me is the casual confidence- luffy tells zoro to cut the train, and zoro does, both of them with no doubts at all about zoro’s ability to do so. it really goes to show how far they’ve come from back in east blue when zoro couldn’t even cut luffy out of a metal cage.
there’s something very impactful about the fact that of all the strawhats, robin gets this speech from usopp. usopp, who’s had the worst falling-out with luffy in the series to date, is the one who tells robin: you haven’t left the crew yet, you can’t leave the crew yet, luffy is coming to get you. believe in him.
franky’s “existing is not a crime” line is one of the most memorable and iconic lines from this entire saga, and for good reason. it sums up one of the main themes of not just this arc but also the series as a whole- the very same idea will come up again for ace during marineford, and in law’s backstory as well. it’s never a crime to just exist, and people should not never be persecuted for their blood or heritage. one piece doesn’t fuck around with its theming, it really doesn’t.
to be continued next time, with enies lobby!
191 notes
·
View notes
Text
Eddie's interview from Style Magazine
By Valentina Ravizza
Photo: Boo George
Styling by Fabio Immediato.
Translate by me from Italian to English
HE WOULD HAVE had to spend the holiday in Italy,” I have a real obsession for your country “,Eddie Redmayne responds from a gray London,” more suited to my pale complexion”, and tells for the first time (and I try to collect my own thoughts) of his next character, the American activist Tom Hayden, protagonist of the protests against the Vietnam war in 1968 and 77e trial of the Chicago 7, the new film by Aaron Sorkin, arriving on Netflix from October 16. "Democracy is something extraordinarily beautiful and complex, nothing comes easily, we must defend our freedoms if we don't want them to be taken away from us."
It can be risky for an actor to take a public position, Aren't you afraid to undermine your popularity?
“The truth is, I'm not afraid to take sides, we all should. I feel a social responsibility as a human being: today more than ever we should ask politicians certain questions. I'm not one who particularly likes to take risks unless it's for something I deeply believe in.”
For exemple?
To play Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything I met several people affected by ALS and doctors who helped me to learn more about the disease, and now I am among the supporters of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. During the lockdown in Britain was made a list of vulnerable people and I found it shocking that patients with motor neuron disease were not part of it, so I spoke to several politicians and went to help them. As an actor my voice has more chances to be heard and I can bring more light on this topics, I have to do it.
Also politicians as in the case of The Trial of Chicago 7?
This film tells how we got rights by changing wrong laws and remember that progress could have gone in one direction rather than another.
Is there any similarity between the protests of the 1960s and those of movements such as Black Lives Matter ?
There are moments in history when people ask for society to really represent them and that's exactly what happened then and what many people are doing in these months. The demonstrations mentioned in the movie were against the Vietnam war, but also supported the claims of the civil rights and feminist movements, the one against which they are protesting today has it’s roots in systemic racism, so the similarities are many.And there are also several other parallels between the two political situations: at the 1968 Democratic convention there was a former vice president, Hubert H. Humphrey, right-hand man of Lyndon Johnson, who ran for the White House, as today former Vice President Joe Biden is in running, and there was a Republican candidate for president who was betting for “law and order” , then it was Richard Nixon, now the same campaign is being carried out by Donald Trump.
Today there is social media, what would have happened if Tom Hayden and the others from Chicago had it?
Hard to say, myself I don't use them . While they represent a great tool of democracy that gives everyone a voice from the shore to power, they also contribute to exacerbate and amplify the falsehoods and prejudices of those who listen only to what they want to hear, in a sort of echo chamber, and they can be used to manipulate things in a very pervasive way.
Is it more difficult to play a figure you esteem like Hayden or one you despise?
I try not to judge, to dissociate my sense of reality to recreate hers. I do as much research as possible, accumulating a lot of information and then throwing everything away and play only what's in the script, hoping that all the prep work has been absorbed somehow into my body, And knowing that that movie will never be. a documentary: I am creating a painting, not a photograph. For this I must accept that I will never be able to be exactly that person, that in something I will necessarily fail.
And when the character is a pure author’s Fantasy product?
It’s like when you were told at school to make a free written essay: I hated it, I said “please, give me a lead!”, In these cases I try first of all to understand what the boundaries are, to find some elements of truth: for example, in the saga of the Fantastic Beasts to become the "Magizoologist" Newt Scamander I started by observing the work of zoologists.
How is it divided between entertainment and committed movies?
In my choices I have always let myself be guided by instinct: I read a script that my body reacts, I get excited, I laugh, I am touched to the point of seeing myself in the role of that and than understand that I really have to do it.
Did the same happen with Tom Hayden?
They first told me about it three years ago while I was on vacation in Morocco, when told me it was Sorkin who wanted me it was like a dream come true. I read the script and it not only ran , but it had a kind of syncopated rhythm I immediately loved it. Then when I got better informed about the project, I found out that it had been written years ago and I couldn't believe he hadn't seen the light yet.
In fact, the first draft is from 2007.
We wondered if this movie had an audience, if it was current enough.Instead with what’s going it has become more and more pressing
So much so that in order to release it this year, given the health emergency Paramount Pictures has decided to sell the film to Netflix (56 millions of dollars) to be distributed directly via streaming.
There could be no better way than Netflix to reach as many people as possible. And I say this as a passionate cinemas’ lover . Unfortunately in the last 20 years I have witnessed a general loss of attention span: there is always a new story to know, we are constantly being pulled in different directions, and instead find ourselves in a cinema hall being forced to sit there for two hours and half even when our attention tries to escape, it’s a kind of pleasant claustrophobia.
And theater, is it still part of your life?
I know that more years go by without me returning to the stage more what I’ll say l’ll sound insincere, but yes, my career started from there, I spent 5 o 6 years working in London theaters. I knew almost nothing about cinema until that world began to open its doors to me, I had to learn a lot on the set. I’ve been looking for a theatrical project, but so far what has been proposed to me are works by the greatest authors, and instead I’d like do something new, fresh. Maybe I found it, but I still can't say anything.
Have you ever thought of letting yourself be taken one day by another passion besides acting?
My other great love is art, but if I ever have to work on it, I imagine myself more as a curator than as a co-worker. But I honestly think that being an actor is extraordinary: whatever part you encounter on your path continues to grow:although sure it’s a wild life and it's a drug.
Are you a workaholic?
In the beginning I was because I had no alternative: I was constantly auditioning and once I got a part immediately got to work, Until in this unfair world of acting there came a moment when I was suddenly successful and overnight I finally had the opportunity to choose. Many people are looking forward to retirement, I hope I’m offered roles even when I’m 80 years old.
At that age maybe you will also be behind the camera?
I'm a bit of a control freak,so yes, I could potentially one day go directing, even just out of curiosity But only if I had to find the right project, something in which I feel safe,
#eddie redmayne#interviewed#best actor#style magazine#boo george#photographer#valentina ravizza#interview#the trial of the chicago 7#tom hayden#activist#civil rights#the theory of everything#newton scamander#the danish girl#fantastic beasts and where to find them#newt scamander#obe#talent#les miserables#oscar winner#stephen hawking#netflix movie#aaron sorkin#script#director
55 notes
·
View notes
Text
best books with morally ambiguous narrators!
all y’all’s problematic faves and villains! :) also included are third person narrators but in books with morally ambiguous leads/themes
Sci-fi
Scythe by Neal Shusterman: in a future free from pain, disease, and war, people can live forever. ‘scythes’ are given the power to decide who lives and who dies to preserve the balance. sad and kinda gives of hunger games vibes, if you like that.
Neuromancer by William Gibson: basically invented the cyberpunk genre. strange and removed protagonists. (a team of computer hackers have to face off against an evil AI). you kind of dislike everyone and suddenly you’re crying over them. one of those trippy sci-fi classics.
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut: very beautiful and very very sad (same author as slaughterhouse five). the richest man in america has to face a martian invasion. more about free will and bad people doing good things than a plot that makes any kind of sense.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick: set in an alternate universe where the germans and japanese won world war two. not really like the tv show at all- it’s not an action story, and there’s not really the hope to somehow fix the world that drives a lot of dystopia stories. instead its about how people survive and connect to one another in a hopeless society.
The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow: a supercomputer convinces the leaders of the world to keep the peace for hundreds of years by taking their children hostage and obliterating any city that disobeys. what happens to the hostage protagonists when war seems inevitable? lots of morally fraught decisions and characters slowly losing their identity. (plus a fun lesbian romance)
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: a brilliant mathematician and a dedicated marine fight to keep the ultra secret in world war two. fifty years later, a tech company discovers what remains of their story. one of the most memorable sequences in the book is a japanese soldier slowly becoming disillusioned with his nation and horrified by the war even as he continues to fight.
Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick: another one of those sci-fi classics that’s not at all like the movie. there is a bounty hunter for robots, though, as well as a weird religion that probably is referencing catholicism and a decaying society with a shortage of pets. kind of a trip.
Wilder Girls by Rory Power: girls trapped in a boarding school on an isolated island must face a creeping rot that affects the animals and plants on the island as well as their own bodies. the protagonists will do anything to survive and keep each other safe. very tense (and bonus lesbian romance whoo)
The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin: three women are gifted with the ability to control the earth’s energy in a world where those who can do so are forced into hiding or slavery. some veryyyy dark choices here but lots of strong female characters.
Historical Fiction
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: two victorian lesbians fall in love as they plot to betray each other in horrific ways. lots of plot twists, plucky thieves, gothic settings, and a great romance.
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiwicz: a powerful roman soldier in the time of Nero plots to kidnap a young woman after he falls in love with her, only to learn more about the mysterious christian religion she follows. very melodramatic but some terrific prose.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: a blind girl in France and a brilliant German boy recruited by the military struggle through the chaos of the second world war. ends with a bang (iykyk.) very sad, reads like poetry.
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang: graphic novel reveals the story of a young boy fighting in the boxer rebellion in early twentieth century china. the sequel, saints, is also excellent. beautifully and sympathetically shows the protagonist’s descent into evil- the reader really understands each step along the way.
Fantasy
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: three triplets separated at birth, each with their own magical powers, have to fight to the death to gain the throne. lots of fun honestly
Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: everyone in these books is highly problematic but you love them all anyway. a ragtag game of criminals plan a heist on a magical fortress. some terrific tragic back stories, repressed feelings, and revenge schemes.
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King: idk how to describe these frankly but if you can put up with King’s appalling writing of female characters they’re pretty interesting. fantasy epic about saving the world/universe, sort of. cowboys and prophecies and overlapping dimensions and drug addicts galore.
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud: lots of fun! a twelve year old decides to summon a demon for his cute lil revenge scheme. sarcastic demon narrator. lighthearted until s*** gets real suddenly.
Elegy and Swansong by Vale Aida: fantasy epic with machiavellian lesbians and enemies to lovers to enemies to ??? to lovers. charming and exciting and lovely characters.
The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen: an orphan boy must compete with a few others for the chance to impersonate a dead prince. really dark but very tense and exciting and good twists.
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: fantasy epic. heroes overthrow an evil empire and then struggle as the revolution dissolves into warring factions. interesting world building and three dimensional characters, even if they only have a small part.
Circe by Madeline Miller: the story behind the witch who turns men into pigs in the odyssey. madeline miller really said, i just used my classics degree to write a beautiful gay love story and now im going to write a powerful feminist retelling because i can. queen. an amazing and satisfying book that kills me a lil bit because of the two lines referencing the song of achilles.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer: the tragic backstory for the queen of hearts in alice in wonderland. a little predictable but very fun with a compelling protagonist
A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George RR Martin: ok I know we all hate GRRM and rightfully so but admittedly these books do have some great characters and great scenes. they deserve better than GRRM though. also he will probably never finish the books anyway....
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket: not really fantasy but not really anything else either. plucky, intelligent, and kind children fight off evil plots for thirteen books until suddenly you realize the world is not nearly as black and white as you thought.
Classics
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: gothic romance!! a new wife is curious about the mysterious death of her predecessor in a creepy old house in the British countryside...good twists and lovely prose.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles: not really morally ambiguous but one awful decision suddenly has awful consequences and certain people are haunted by guilt forever.... really really really beautiful and really really really sad. boys in a boarding school grow up together under the shadow of world war two.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: while imperial russia slowly decays a beautiful young woman begins a destructive affair. a long book. very russian. the ending is incredibly tense and well written.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding: I think you know the plot to this one. the prose is better than you remember and the last scene is always exciting.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: one by one, the guests on an island are slowly picked off. one of Christie’s darkest mysteries- no happy ending here! very tense and great twists.
Contemporary
The Secret History by Donna Tartt: inspired the whole dark academia aesthetic. college students get a little too into ancient greece and it does not end very well. lovely prose but I found the characters unlikable.
Honorable Mentions
The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherford: has literally a billion protagonists, but some of them are morally ambiguous ig? follows a few families stories’ from the 400s ad to irish independence in the 20s. beautifully captures the weight and movement of irish history.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: how morally ambiguous can you be if you’re, like, eleven? a lot if you’re a criminal genius who wants to kidnap a fairy for your evil-ish plan apparently!
Redemption by Leon Uris: literally my favorite novel ever. the sequel to Trinity but can stand alone. various irish families struggle through the horrors of world war one. the hero isn’t really morally ambiguous, but the main theme of the novel is extremely bad people suddenly questioning their choices and eventually redeeming themselves. sweeping themes of love, screwed up families, redemption, and patriotism.
The Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett: heroes redeem themselves/try to get rich/try to save their country in early renaissance Europe. if I actually knew what happened in these books I'm sure it would be morally ambiguous but its too confusing for me. in each book you spend at least a third convinced the protagonist is evil, though. lots of exciting sword fights, tragic romances, plot twists, and kicking english butt.
Bonus: Protagonist is less morally ambiguous and more very screwed up and sad all the time
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: you know this one bc its quoted in all those quote compilations. basically the story of how one horrible event traumatizes a young man and how he develops a connection to a painting. really really really good.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: hard to describe but strange... not an action novel or a dystopia really but sort of along those lines. very hopeless.
72 notes
·
View notes
Note
Your essay "Daenerys Targaryen is the Great Other" is inspiring and it highlights what I personally find disturbing about the way GRRM writes her. I love your remark on white fantasy too and I wonder if you can expand on this? I believe it's exactly why Dany is both loved and hated by the fandom.
Thank you so much for appreciating this essay. I noticed it received some tractions these past few weeks as well, which I do want to acknowledge once my schedule becomes less hectic (it’s funding season!).
For your specific question, It’s more instructive to quote Saidiya Hartman’s 1997 book Scenes of Subjection:
“In the fantasy of being beaten, Rankin must substitute himself and his wife and children for the black captive in order that this pain be perceived and experienced. So, in fact, Rankin becomes a proxy and the other’s pain is acknowledged to the degree that it can be imagined, yet by virtue of this substitution the object of identification threatens to disappear. In order to convince the reader of the horrors of slavery, Rankin must volunteer himself and his family for abasement. Put differently, the effort to counteract the commonplace callousness to black suffering requires that the white body be positioned in the place of the black body in order to make this suffering visible and intelligible. yet if this violence can become palpable and indignation can be fully aroused only through the masochistic fantasy, then it becomes clear that empathy is double-edged, for in making the other’s suffering one’s own, this suffering is occluded by the other’s obliteration.”
First, I think this puts Dany (as Martin’s character and interlocutor) in a dangerous position because she also functions as the ‘white figure’ placed in the position of the ‘black’ body to make “enslaved suffering” legible to the readers. Arguing that this slavery Martin elaborates on in his saga is more about Roman slavery and thus has nothing to do with Transatlantic Slave Trade and what continues to haunt the “American consciousness,” the US history, and existence is bullshit. This is Martin communicating the “common humanity” by situating someone who is like him in the position of the enslaved. This is Martin’s fantasy, as like Rankin’s fantasy of being a slave in order to put into a level of intelligibility this particular suffering for the audience (who is like him) to understand. Martin, in this level, is thus guilty of what Hartman elaborated on in the above passage.
What complicates this is that, Martin’s fantasy is Dany’s reality. She has not situated herself as the other in order to understand the suffering of those who are othered. She is the other. She is not the white translator, but the translated figure wanting to “un”-translate herself. She is not just Martin’s interlocutor, but somehow has “transgressed” the author’s intention. Rather than intention, then, it is perhaps more accurate to argue that Martin is setting an intervention, before Dany’s storyline fully unravels outside his fantastical framework. I argue that making her march to Jon’s battle is such an intervention, in order to align Dany’s reality back to his fantasy. But by situating Dany alongside his protagonists, by making her aligned with them, he is also obliterating the “other Dany,” erasing the “identifier” of who exactly suffered. By erasing the other, Martin is allowed again to communicate that rather than just a specific group of people, the entire humanity suffered (and where the magical Other has to be created in order to re address the displaced “who is to blame?”). This is how Dany will be reduced back into a mere white translator.
The hate on Dany is predicated on the fact that she is still being read merely as an optic of Martin’s fantasy, even when Dany’ storyline has long since transgressed the original intension of her character. To quote my favorite person who is my best friend, “there’s an insurrectional rhythm in her storyline that is being suppressed.” In this case, being suppressed not by the characters in the saga, but by Martin himself.
55 notes
·
View notes
Text
Fairy Tail: The Bravestar Saga Ch. 1
Author's Note 1: Fairy Tail: The Bravestar Saga is a non-profit fanfiction series.
Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail Series II are all owned by A-1 Pictures, Satelight, Bridge Madman Entertainment, Funimation TXN, Kodansha, and Hiro Mashima.
Any original characters and concepts are owned by Navek or xpegasus.
Please support the official release.
In a land far, far, away lies the Kingdom of Fiore. A small and peaceful nation of about 17,000,000 and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life.
For some, however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the Wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore.
But there is a certain guild in a certain town that sores high above the rest. One from which countless legends have been born. A guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future.
Its name is Fairy Tail. And this is the story of one such legend.
Navek and xpegasus present
A Fairy Tail Story
Fairy Tail: The Bravestar Saga
Chapter 1: A New Legend Begins!
Hargeon…
The sound of seagulls cawing and the waves crashing against the beach sang through the air as early morning rolled over the port town of Hargeon. The daily 9 AM train had arrived in town, and the sounds of feet reverberated through the station as passengers got off and boarded the train. Among the passengers getting off was an interesting group of young adults consisting of two men, a woman, and a cat.
The cat had blue & white fur, a green backpack, and black eyes. But the most interesting thing about this cat was its very long tail and the fact that it stood upright on two legs.
The scrawnier of the two men had scruffy brown hair, green eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a black t-shirt, a pair of brown goggles with green lenses around his neck, blue jeans, a silver bracelet with two green gems on his left wrist, green and white sneakers, and a pair of black gloves. However, the right glove left his thumb and pinky exposed, while the left glove only covered his thumb and pointer finger.
The lone woman outdid her male companions in both height and muscle mass. She had long orange hair tied in a ponytail, purple eyes, tan skin, a sleeveless red shirt, red fingerless gloves, white bandages covering her forearms, purple leggings, and black boots.
Rounding off the group was the second male who was wearing a long-sleeve red jacket, a white scale patterned scarf, an orange-trimmed black kilt over his baggy white pants, black sandals, and a green backpack. He had black eyes, spiky pink hair, and was currently writhing in pain on the station floor.
"Oh, thank the founders! It's over!" the pink-haired man said.
The woman sighed and helped the queasy man onto his feet. He leaned on her shoulders.
"Thanks, Alyssa."
"No problema," she said with a smile. "But now…"
"Oh, crap," the pink-haired man said as he saw the blue cat handing the brunette a bottle of nasty-looking green liquid.
"Come on, Natsu," the brunette said. "You gotta drink it."
"But it's so gross!" Natsu cried as he tried to walk away, only for Alyssa to put him into a shoulder hold. "Hey, wait!"
"Sorry, hun. But Zeke's right," she replied with an apologetic smile. The brunette uncorked the bottle, only to sigh as Natsu shut his mouth tight.
"Happy."
"Aye, sir!" the cat replied with a salute before pulling a feather out of his backpack. Happy approached Natsu's feet and began to tickle his toes. Natsu tried his best not to laugh, but it was a fight he quickly lost. The instant Natsu opened his mouth, Zeke shoved the bottle down his throat.
"Just drink already," Zeke shouted in annoyance, the crowd taking in the strange sight as mothers told their children not to look at them. After Natsu finally swallowed the green liquid…
"Oh, man! I feel like a new man!" Natsu excitedly exclaimed with his arms raised, Alyssa giggling while Zeke rolled his eyes.
"Honestly, man. You don't need to be such a baby about taking your medicine," Zeke said as he tossed Happy the empty bottle.
"Well, that's Natsu for ya," Happy replied as he put the bottle back in his backpack.
"Easy for you guys to say! You don't have to drink that crap!" Natsu shouted back before turning around to face the city. "Alright, enough stalling. Time to go look for Igneel!"
"Got it!" Alyssa said as she ran after him.
"Aye, sir!" Happy said.
"Hey, wait for me!" Zeke exclaimed as he and Happy chased after their friends.
In another part of town, a blonde girl grumbled as she stomped through the streets. She had an hourglass figure, blonde hair tied in a side ponytail with a blue bow, brown eyes, pink heart-shaped earrings, a blue & white shirt, a black wristband on her right wrist, a blue skirt, and black boots. On her right hip was a key ring that held gold and silver keys, and on the other side was a black whip with a brown handle.
'I can't believe that old geezer only dropped the price down by a couple of thousand Jewels,' the blonde thought to herself. 'Nice to know what my sex appeal is really worth.' However, her attention was drawn in when she saw a large crowd gathering in the town square. 'Huh. I wonder what that's about.'
Back with the strange quartet, they had begun their search.
"IGNEEL!" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs, scaring away some birds as he looked around. Near him, Happy came back up from a sewer entrance.
"Well, he's not down there," the blue cat reported. Nearby, Alyssa lifted a dumpster over her head like a feather, spooking the raccoon that was sleeping under it.
"Nope," she replied before looking up. "You see anything, Zeke?!"
The brunette was on top of a roof and hanging on to a weather vane, his goggles over his eyes. "Nope. Everything looks fine!" Zeke leaped off the roof before ricocheting off the alleyway walls and onto the street. "You'd think it'd be easy to spot someone like Igneel."
"I hate to say it, but maybe that clue we got was a dud," Alyssa said. Natsu frowned as he began to think the same. But suddenly, the quartet heard some women screaming excitedly.
"It's Salamander!"
"He's so hot!"
"I hear his fire magic is insane!"
"You guys think that might be him?" Zeke asked.
"Let's go find out!" Natsu shouted as the four ran towards the commotion.
In the middle of Hargeon's town square, a large group of women had gathered together and were swooning over the man in the center of the crowd. He was a slim man in his early thirties with sharp and angular features, a blue undercut, and a heavily stylized "X" tattoo above this right eyebrow. His outfit consisted of a white button-up shirt, a dark purple cape with high collar and sun symbols on either side, dark red pants, and several rings on his hands.
Among the crowd of swooning women was the blonde girl from earlier, looking at the man with astonished eyes and a blush on her cheeks.
'What the hell's going on?' she thought as her heart began to race, and her cheeks warmed with a blush. The feeling only intensified when the man winked at her. 'Could…this be…'
"Scusi! Coming through!" Alyssa said as she and others cut through the crowd. Natsu began to shout as they reached the center.
"Igneel! Igneel! It's me, Natsu!"
Everyone's attention was turned to the sudden arrival of the odd-looking strangers. When the blonde saw the four, all of the strange feelings in her chest suddenly vanished, and she realized what had happened.
"Who the hell are you?" Natsu asked.
"Who am I? Why, I am the great and mighty fire Wizard known as Salamander," the man smugly stated. "Surely, you must've heard of me."
"Can't say that we have," Zeke said, only to notice all the girls were now glaring at the four with murderous intent, which was then followed by them shouting some very colorful words at them.
"Now, now, my lovelies. No need to be rude," Salamander said. He pulled out four pieces of paper with his name on them. "Would you four care for my autograph? That way, you get something to brag about to your friends."
"Why the hell would we-" Natsu began to say.
"Thank you! We'll just take those and be on our way," Zeke said with a nervous grin, feeling the glares of the angry women boring into him. He quickly grabbed the autographed papers and pushed his friends away from the crowd. "Toodle-loo."
As the four left, Salamander told the ladies they were all invited to a party on his yacht later that night before taking off on a stream of fire.
"Guess that wasn't him," Happy commented.
"So is it me, or did that guy seem like a real creep?" Alyssa asked.
"That's because he is a creep." The four turned and saw a blonde girl approaching them with a thankful smile.
"Hi, my name's Lucy."
A little while later, the group was eating at a local restaurant. Lucy offered to treat the four to a meal…and was immediately regretting that decision. While Zeke and Happy's meal only consisted of a grilled chicken salad and a fish respectively, Natsu and Alyssa wasted no time ordering everything on the menu.
"It's nice that you offered to cover lunch…" Zeke began to say as his friends dug into their meals with gusto. "…but I probably should've warned you how much these two can pack it in."
"No, it's fine. I owe you guys one anyway." Lucy sighed out as pieces of food began to fly everywhere. 'There goes all the extra money I saved.'
"Anyway, we should probably introduce ourselves," the brunette said. "I'm Ezekiel, but my friends call me Zeke. The big lady is Alyssa, the spike head is Natsu, and the cat's name is Happy."
"Okay…but why can he talk?" Lucy asked.
"Because I'm a cat," Happy replied before going back to munching on his fish. Lucy looked at Zeke for a better answer, but the brunette just shrugged.
"Not that I'm complaining, but how exactly do you owe us one?" Natsu asked through a full mouth.
"Well, that Salamander guy was using some sort of Charm Magic. That's why all those women were falling over him," Lucy explained. "I got caught up in it too, but when you guys came barreling through, I was able to snap back to reality."
"Really. I thought Charm Magic was illegal," Zeke said as he began to contemplate something. As he did, Lucy realized something.
"That reminds me. Alyssa, you were right next to that creep. Why weren't you affected by his charm spell?" Lucy asked the orange-haired woman. The taller woman swallowed her food before answering.
"Well, it's quite simple, Lucy," Alyssa said before wrapped her arm around Natsu's shoulder, bringing his head to her shoulder and smiling. "It's because I've already been charmed by the sweetest man in all of Fiore."
"Aw, shucks," Natsu said with a blush and a smile. "No need to go that far, babe."
'Oh.' Lucy thought to herself, realizing that the pinkette and amazonian woman were an item. And Alyssa placing a hand under his chin and making him look in her eyes confirmed it.
"But, you deserve every bit of praise, amore mio."
"Ooh, I love it when you talk all fancy," Natsu said as he wrapped his arms around Alyssa's waist. Lucy could swear that the air around them began to sparkle as they looked into each other's eyes.
"Oh, Natsu," Alyssa said dreamily.
"Oh, Alyssa," he replied.
"Oh, Natsu."
"Oh, Alyssa."
Zeke and Happy sweatdropped as the couple repeated each other's names like a mantra. "They're at it again," the cat stated.
"Nice going, Lucy."
The blonde girl laughed in embarrassment. "By the way, you guys said you were looking for someone named Igneel, right?"
The question broke Natsu and Alyssa out of their couple's trance, as Alyssa answered. "That's right. Igneel is Natsu's dad. We heard a rumor that a Salamander was in Hargeon, so we decided to stop by and look around."
"Too bad that guy was a total dud," Happy said with a sigh.
"No kidding. He looked nothing like a dragon." Natsu stated. "I bet he can't even breathe fire."
"So, your dad looks like a dragon?" Lucy asked, trying to imagine how someone could resemble a dragon.
"No, he doesn't look like a dragon. He is a dragon," Natsu answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Lucy was stunned when she heard this. As fantastical as their world was, dragons were considered to be creatures of myth and legends. But there was also something else that she freaked her out.
"Why the hell would a dragon show up in the middle of a fishing town?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock. Natsu and Happy suddenly got a widened eyed look as the realization hit them like a sack of bricks.
"Ya, I didn't want to say anything…" Zeke spoke up with an awkward look. "...but I was thinking that Hargeon looked way too intact for supposedly being visited by a dragon."
"I was actually thinking the same thing," Alyssa said sheepishly. "Sorry, sweetie."
After paying the check, Lucy got up and left. However, as she turned back, she saw Natsu and Happy prostrating themselves on the floor while Zeke and Alyssa bowed.
"Thank you for the meal!" The four said.
"Stop it! You're embarrassing me!"
"Well, we need some way to repay you," Alyssa said. Natsu's face lit up as he got an idea.
"Here ya go!" Natsu said as he handed Lucy one of the autographs Salamander gave them.
"No, thanks," Lucy replied with a flat look.
And then…
"Wow, looks like Fairy Tail's at it again," Lucy said with a chuckle as read the newest issue of Sorcerer Weekly. After parting with the four weirdos, the blonde girl decided to relax at the local park and read one of her favorite magazines. "This time, they wrecked a bell tower."
Indeed, a news article detailed a team of Fairy Tail mages called Bravestar and their fight against a group of bandits in a small countryside town. However, the battle resulted in massive collateral damage, including the town's iconic bell tower.
"I wonder why I can't find a picture of those guys," Lucy said to herself. "Then again, if I caused that much damage, I'd probably high-tail it before anyone took a photo."
She flipped the page, showing the weekly centerfold featuring the Fairy Tail mage Mirajane. "And Mirajane's as gorgeous as ever." The blonde commented as she began to think out loud. "I wonder what I'd need to get into a magic guild like that. Is there a trial? Or I do gotta submit a job application or something?"
The blonde then rolled up and magazine and stood with a determined look on her face. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. 'Cause I'm gonna join Fairy Tail no matter what!"
"Ah, so you're looking to get into my guild, eh?" Lucy turned and, to her shock, saw Salamander walking out of the bushes.
"Salamander?!" Lucy exclaimed as she sprung from the bench. "What are you doing here? Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop on a lady?!"
'You were the one talking to yourself,' the blue-haired man thought with a sweatdrop.
"And don't think you can charm me again! That kind of magic doesn't work when the target knows about it," Lucy proclaimed. Salamander's eyes widened with surprise.
"You figured out I was using Charm Magic? Very impressive," he said with a sly smile. "We could use those kinds of deduction skills at Fairy Tail."
"Fairy Tail?" Lucy parroted, suddenly remembering what Salamander said before. "No way! You're that Salamander?"
"The one and only," he said. Lucy's eyes sparkled with awe before she collected herself.
"Oh, yeah. So what?" Lucy crossed her arms and tried to act nonchalant.
"So don't want to join my guild?" Salamander asked with a cocky smirk.
"Well, I wouldn't say that," Lucy answered with a pout.
"Then how about a proposition?" Salamander said with a charming smile. "You come to my yacht party tonight and mingle a bit, and I'll put in a good word for you with the guild master. What do ya say?" He extended his hand.
And any amount of disgust or mistrust Lucy had vanished and instantly shook Salamander's hand with such force he nearly toppled over. "I'd love to come to your party tonight!" Lucy squealed in delight
Salamander chuckled at her enthusiasm. 'Well, that was easy.'
"You really think you can get me into Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked, finally releasing Salamander's hand.
"You have my word," Salamander said. With a snap of his fingers, a stream of magenta fire appeared beneath him and lifted him off the ground. "Just don't say anything about the charm spell, 'cause I'm planning on having some fun tonight."
"You got it, Mr. Salamander!" Lucy said with a salute.
"Excellent! See you at the party, darling! Flame Magic: Red Carpet!" With that, he took off into the sky on his transport of magenta fire. And it was only after he left that Lucy realized that he had pseudo-charmed her.
'Oh well. I just got to party with that sleazebag for one night, and I'm golden,' Lucy thought to herself. "Fairy Tail, here I come!"
And then...
"Looks like this trip was a total bust," Zeke said. Night had fallen on Hargeon. After their lunch, the eccentric quartet had decided to look around the rest of the fishing town, just in case there was any chance at all Igneel had been here. Unfortunately, they had no such luck and were now stuck in town for the night since their train wouldn't arrive until the next morning. The group was standing on a walkway that overlooked the city and ocean, giving them a fantastic view.
"Hey, isn't that the yacht where Salamander's hosting his party?" Happy asked, pointing to the distant boat that had left the harbor. Just thinking about being on a boat made Natsu nauseous until Alyssa rubbed his head.
"What? You've never heard of Salamander?" The group overheard a girl in a pink shirt say.
"No, not ringing any bells," her friend in a black shirt said. "Is he a big deal or something?"
"The biggest!" the girl in pink said. "He's a super-powerful and famous Fire Wizard from the Fairy Tail guild, not to mention handsome. I wish I could've gone to his party."
The four friends' eyes widened at the mention of "Fairy Tail." They turned their gaze towards the glistening yacht floating in the bay and narrowed their eyes.
"Fairy Tail, huh?" Alyssa said.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Zeke commented while Natsu glared.
Meanwhile, on the yacht, Lucy and Salamander were sitting in his private cabin while the rest of the ladies partied on the deck below. The blonde had changed into an elegant red dress to make a better impression.
"I've got to admit, you've got great taste," Lucy said as she ran her hands over the furniture. "Midian leather and Bellumi oak are hard to come by in Fiore."
"Why, thank you, Miss Lucy. Being a Wizard of such renown comes with its perks," Salamander said as he approached his liquor cabinet. "I appreciate the finer things in life." He grabbed two glasses and an amber-colored bottle.
"A toast to your beauty," Salamander said as he poured her a glass of orange wine. "Be sure to savor every drop."
Lucy put on her best fake smile and forced herself to laugh. Without his charm magic, Salamander really came off as a creep trying way too hard to be suave. But as he poured the drink, Lucy noticed one of his rings emitting a small glow. With a squint of her eyes, the blonde saw that ring had an image of a crescent moon and a closed eye.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Lucy said. Salamander stopped pouring and looked at her in confusion. "You're trying to enchant my drink with a sleep charm."
"Hmph." Salamander gave a small smile and set down the bottle. "You continue to impress me, my dear."
"Look, I really do wanna join Fairy Tail. But I'm not gonna sleep with you to make that happen."
Lucy was about to get up…until she heard the click of a gun and felt cold metal pressed against the back of her head. With wide eyes, Lucy slowly turned and saw a woman with light brown hair, brown skin, and blue eyes pointing a gold flintlock pistol at her. Her outfit consisted of a pair of black cat-eye glasses, a bedazzled black vest over a full-sleeve white buttoned shirt, a black tie with matching dress pants and shoes, and gun holsters on each side of her belt, one of which was currently empty.
"Ah, Ripley. I didn't even notice you come in," Salamander said with a smirk.
"Well, you were blowing it, so I figured I'd give this little tart an incentive not to do anything stupid."
"W-wait, I saw you when I got on the ship," Lucy said with terror clear in her voice. "You were one of the girls at the party."
"Oh, please. Don't compare me to those floozies," the bespectacled woman said with a cruel smile. "Unlike them, I'm not so easily swayed by such simple magic."
"Simple? I spent a fortune on these rings," Salamander growled in annoyance just as someone else walked into the cabin.
"Yo, Salamander. All the new merchandise is knocked out." Lucy looked at the man, and the first word that came to her mind was "snake." From his slanted black eyes to his lanky body to his clothing of a tight black top, fingerless gloves, scale-like green pants, and black leggings underneath. "The boys are bringing them down to the lower- Huh, what's going on here?"
"It seems this girl is too smart for her own good, Kurohebi," Ripley explained. Lucy then felt shivers run down her spine as Kurohebi looked down her body and licked his black lips. He was even creepier than Salamander.
"Maybe so, but we can probably make a couple of thousand Jewels off of her," the snake-like man said with a low chuckle.
"Merchandise? Jewels?" Lucy asked fearfully. "What's going on?"
"Guess the cat's out of the bag," Salamander said as he stood up. "But don't worry, Lucy. We'll make sure not to harm that pretty little head of yours until we reach Bosco. After that, we'll make sure you're sold to the highest bidder."
"Y-you…" Lucy's eyes widened as his words sank in. "You're slave traders! But...I thought you were a Fairy Tail wizard!"
"Don't you get it? Our little playboy just said that to get you to come on board," Ripley replied bemusedly, Kurohebi chuckling along with her.
"So all the girls at the party…"
"You'd be amazed how much some depraved rich guys are willing to pay for pretty girls," Kurohebi explained. A hard scowl on her face, Lucy reached for her key ring, only for Salamander to grab it with his fire magic. He brought the six keys to his eye-level to examine them.
"These are Gate Keys. So you're a Celestial Wizard," Salamander said as he walked towards the nearby window. "Only the contracted wizard can use these. They're absolutely useless to me."
Before Lucy could protest, Salamander tossed her Spirit Keys out the window. She could only stare in horror and disbelief as everything she'd worked for vanished into the waters below. Lucy felt a myriad of emotions bubbling up inside; sorrow at the loss of her keys; fear at what would happen to her and the girls on the ship; but above all else, anger. Lucy was furious at Salamander and his accomplices. Magic was something precious and beautiful, and to have it be used for heinous, evil acts was unforgivable. With her eyes watering and her teeth grit, Lucy glared at the blue-haired man.
"You used magic to take advantage of others!" She yelled out. "You're the worst kind of wizard!"
The roof of the cabin exploded, surprising the four as someone landed on the floor. When the smoke cleared, they saw Alyssa glaring at the three slavers, her stance proud and defiant.
"Alyssa!" Lucy said with a smile.
"It's that bodybuilder chick from earlier!" Salamander proclaimed.
"What the hell is going on here?" Alyssa asked.
"None of your business, you dumb gorilla!" Ripley said as she aimed her gun at the orange-haired woman. Alyssa spoke a chant.
"Boost Magic: Boosted Kick!"
To everyone's shock, Alyssa's legs glowed with purple magical energy, a purple magic circle with a fist in the center appearing behind her. With amazing speed that betrayed her size, Alyssa leaped ahead and delivered a round-house kick to Ripley's torso, knocking her through the cabin wall.
"That was magic!" Kurohebi exclaimed as Lucy and Salamander looked on in shock. Alyssa turned and glared at Salamander.
"Salamander, right? I heard some girls saying that you're a Fairy Tail wizard," Alyssa said as she gripped the hem of her shirt.
"Y-ya. So what of it?" Salamander asked with a trembling voice. Alyssa pulled up her shirt to reveal a dark purple mark over her abdominals. One that vaguely resembled a dancing fairy.
"Because I'm from Fairy Tail! And I've never seen you before in my life!"
"That mark!" Salamander shouted.
"No way!" Lucy exclaimed. "Alyssa's a Fairy Tail wizard?! And you could do laundry on her abs!"
"Lucy? What are you doing here?" a voice said from above. Lucy looked up at the hole Alyssa had made and saw Happy…floating in the air with a pair of white wings on his back.
"This guy tricked me. He said he could get me into Fairy Tail if I came to his party," Lucy said before noticing the elephant in the room. "Wait? When did you get wings?"
"We'll explain that later," Alyssa said, taking a fighting stance. "Happy, get Lucy out of here. I'll deal with these bastardos."
"Aye, ma'am!" Happy exclaimed as he wrapped his tail around Lucy's waist. "Hold on!"
Lucy screamed in shock as the blue cat lifted her into the sky.
"You won't get away!" Salamander proclaimed as he snapped his fingers. "Flame Magic: Red Carpet!"
Alyssa attempted to jump at Salamander but she was stopped in her tracks by a stream of magenta fire.
"Uh, uh, uh, big gal." Alyssa turned and saw Kurohebi, flames surrounding his hands. "You gotta deal with me."
'He's got flame magic too?' Alyssa thought as Salamander took off in the air after Happy & Lucy. Meanwhile, Ripley had finally managed to pull herself out of the rubble.
"Ripley, get the rest of the guys!" Kurohebi shouted. "I can already tell that this ladies' gonna be a big problem."
"Right," Ripely said as she ran out of the cabin.
"Go ahead. Bring as many people as you like, cazzo!" Alyssa shouted, cracking her knuckles as her thick arms began to glow with the same purple magic as before. "I'll kick all your asses!"
On the shores of Hargeon, Natsu and Zeke stood atop the seawall. The brunette looked out onto the water with his goggles over his eyes. But these were no ordinary eyewear. By feeding a small degree of mana into them, Zeke was able to see over great distances.
"What's going on?" Natsu asked as he saw streams of fire flying through the sky.
"That Salamander guy is chasing Happy and…Lucy?" Zeke replied, watching as the blue-haired man unleashed blasts of flame magic at the two as Happy weaved and bobbed to dodge his attacks.
"This sucks! I should be out there!" Natsu groaned.
"We both know you'd get sick as soon as you stepped one foot on the boat," Zeke said, causing his friend to pout. "Besides."
Zeke fed mana into his bracelet, causing the gems in it to glow. In an instant, it transformed into a majestic silver longbow with green accents and shimmering bowstring. The green gems now sat directly above and below the arrow rest. "I could use the target practice."
A green magic circle with an arrow at its center appeared between the gems. Zeke placed his right hand in the circle and pulled back on the bowstring. As he did, an arrow made of solid green magical energy manifested within the bow, its arrowhead consisting of three points.
"Arch Shot: Tri-Seeker Arrow!" The arrow soared through the air like a rocket-propelled bird of prey.
Salamander grit his teeth and furrowed his brow as rode atop his Red Carpet, growing increasingly frustrated at his inability to hit Happy and Lucy.
'That cat's faster than he looks,' the flame wizard thought to himself. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw the glowing arrow heading towards and barely dodged it.
"Nice try," Zeke said with a smirk as the arrow suddenly split into three streams of emerald light that curved and chased after Salamander until they blasted him, causing the flame mage to fall on the deck of his yacht.
"What was that?" Lucy asked.
"That was Zeke's Arch Shot magic," Happy answered.
"He launched a spell from that far away," Lucy said in amazement.
"Um, Lucy?"
She looked up. "What is it?"
"My magic-" Happy began to say before his wings vanished. "-just ran out."
"YOU STUPID CAT!" Lucy screamed as the two fell into the ocean. But as they were submerged, Lucy saw something twinkling on the seafloor.
Back on the yacht, Salamander groaned as he got back up. He checked to make sure nothing was broken and gaped in horror when he saw the arrows had torn his cape to pieces. As he vowed vengeance for the destruction of his favorite cape, Salamander noticed that the fight between Alyssa and Kurohebi had moved to the deck.
"Prominence Typhoon!" Kurohebi shouted as he launched a column of fire at Alyssa.
"Boost Magic: Boosted Leap!" she chanted. Magic enveloped her legs as she leaped out of the way. With magic still running through her legs, Alyssa jumped towards her opponent as her right arm lit up like her legs. "Boost Magic: Enhanced Knuckle!"
Kurohebi barely had time to dodge as Alyssa attempted to punch him, her fist smashing through the deck floor. However, the snake-like man smirked as he swiped his fingers across her legs as magic circles spun in his eyes.
"Copy Magic: Epithet Scan." Alyssa felt a burst of magic enter her body and then leave. She back-handed Kurohebi, pushing him across the deck. However, the black-haired mage simply chuckled. "Alright, big girl. Let's how you handle your own magic. Boosted Kick!"
To Alyssa's surprise, purple magic surrounded Kurohebi's legs before he leaped and kicked her into a table.
'Copy Magic?! Merda!' Alyssa thought to herself as she got back up.
"Hey, Kuro!" The two mages turned and saw Ripley flanked by all slavers' goons, her golden guns in hands, and a large case strapped to her back. "If you don't want to die, then get out of the way!"
"You got it," he said before leaping out of the way. Alyssa quickly channeling her mana into her legs.
"Guns Magic: Rapid-Fire!"
"Boost Magic: Boosted Jump!"
Ripley unleashed a torrent of yellow mana bullets that Alyssa was forced to jump to avoid. The orange-haired woman quickly jumped behind the buffet table and tipped it to use as a makeshift barrier.
But before the slavers could get cocky, Salamander saw another arrow pass the ship before breaking into three streams of green light again. He scowled as he snapped his fingers. "Flame Magic: Red Curtain!"
A large wall of fire appeared on the deck, blocking the arrows. "Ripley, there's another Fairy Tail wizard attacking from long-range! Get rid of them!"
"Alright, but mind your tone," Ripley said before running towards a nearby ladder, leaving Alyssa to fight Salamander, Kurohebi, and their goons. The bespectacled wizard quickly reached the roof of the yacht and opened the case, revealing a golden sniper rifle with a long barrel and a scope. "Okay, Ronney. Time to go hunting."
Ripley laid down on her stomach and aimed her rifle towards the direction the arrows came. Like Zeke did with his magical goggles, Ripley fed mana into her scope, allowing her to see Natsu and Zeke on Hargeon's beach. With a grin, the Guns Wizard readied her next spell, a yellow magic circle with a bullet epithet appearing in front of the barrel.
"Guns Magic: Horizon Bullet!" With a pull of her trigger, a magical bullet shot through the air, barreling towards Zeke and Natsu. The pink-haired man's ears twitched when he heard the shot.
"Incoming!" Natsu shouted before tackling Zeke into the sand as bullet destroyed the part of the seawall they'd been standing on. "What the hell was that?!"
Zeke quickly sat up and zoomed in again with his goggles, seeing Ripley on the roof of the yacht. The two were forced to evade more Horizon Bullets that sent sand flying high in the sky when they hit the beach.
"Looks like one of Salamander's lackeys has long-range magic," Zeke stated before noticing that they had begun to attract the attention of Hargeon's citizens. "Natsu, try to get the rubberneckers away from the beach."
"Got it!" Natsu replied before running towards the townspeople. "You guys better high-tail it out of here! Things are about to get crazy magical!"
As Natsu tried to get the townsfolk away from the beach, Zeke stood defiantly, Ripley right in his sight. He conjured another arrow, this one with an arrowhead shaped like a stick of dynamite. "Alright, lady. You picked the wrong wizard to pick a firefight with. Arch Shot: Demolition Arrow!"
Ripley barely had time to roll away as Zeke's spell hit the roof, exploding upon impact. She quickly aimed and fired another Horizon Bullet that Zeke was forced to dodge. The two then proceeded to engage in a long-range battle, each of them launching spells from a great distance and dodging when they needed to. However, since Ripley and her allies were on a boat, they were slowly losing as Zeke's spells kept blasting more of the yacht apart.
As this was going on, Lucy and Happy emerged from the sea, the blonde having recovered her keys from the ocean floor. Lucy looked at the yacht with a determined smirk as she grabbed a golden key. "Here we go. Open, Gate of the Water Bearer - Aquarius!"
Lucy plunged the key into the water and a blue magic circle with a cross epithet appeared. With a burst of mana and water, a blue-haired mermaid with a dark blue tail appeared before Lucy and Happy, a blue and silver urn in her hands.
"That was awesome!" Happy cried out with joy.
"That's the power of a Celestial Wizard," Lucy explained. "I can summon spirits from the Celestial Realm to assist me in battle."
She turned and pointed at the yacht. "Listen up, Aquarius. I want you to use your magic to push that ship back into the port." However, the spirit glared at Lucy with piercing blue eyes and grit her teeth. "Hey," Lucy exclaimed. "Drop the attitude and help me!"
"Let's get something straight…" Aquarius said, her voice low and dangerous as water began to flow around her, and she narrowed her eyes at Lucy and Happy, sending shivers down their spines. "…the next time you so much as think about dropping my key, you're dead."
"U-understood," Lucy squeaked out while Happy let out a terrified whimper as Aquarius unleashed her spell and a torrent of ocean water was sucked into her urn.
"Poseidon's Wrath!" With a ferocious yell, Aquarius launched a tidal wave at the yacht…that also engulfed Lucy and Happy. Back on the yacht, Alyssa was in the midst of blocking Kurohebi's blows and Salamander's flame magic, only for the three wizards, Ripley, and the goons to notice the sudden shadow cast over the boat. They looked up and gaped at the massive tidal wave heading their way.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" the slavers all shouted.
"¡SANTO CIELO!" Alyssa yelled as the yacht was consumed by the wave.
Back on the shore, Zeke's eyes and mouth widened in shock at the approaching water. The green-eyed man quickly turned around and ran towards Natsu and the crowd. "EVERYONE, RUN FOR IT!"
Natsu and the townsfolk turned and balked at the sight of the rapidly approaching wave and attempted to high-tail away from the beach. As the wave was about to hit the shore, Zeke grabbed Natsu and created a green barrier around them just as the tidal wave consumed them and Hargeon's shore.
Luckily the seawall blocked the bulk of the water and what water made it past did barely any damage as Hargeon's buildings were built to withstand flooding. And as fast as it came, the water receded, revealing that Zeke had fallen on top of Natsu, the two men groaning in pain.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Natsu groaned out as Zeke got off him.
"No idea. Maybe one of Salamander's lackeys di-" As the brunette opened his eyes, he realized that his magic goggles had been shattered. "Damn it! I just bought these!"
"LET'S HIGH-TAIL IT, LADIES!" The two wizards looked and saw that Salamander's yacht had crashed into the shore, waking the girls and giving them the opportunity to escape
At the same time, Lucy and Happy washed up on the shore, the blonde coughing up seawater while the cat ended up buried head-first in the sand. Lucy then noticed Aquarius floating next to her.
"What's the big idea?! You think you could've tried not to sweep me up with the ship?!"
"Oh, that was an accident," Aquarius replied with a smile. "I didn't mean to get the ship."
"YOU WERE AIMING FOR ME?!" Lucy yelled as her spirit turned away.
"Don't call me for a while," the mermaid said with a haughty smirk. "I'm going on a week-long vacation with my boyfriend. And he's hot."
"You don't have to rub it in!" Lucy shouted as her spirit returned to the Celestial Realm. Suddenly, Lucy, Happy, Natsu, and Zeke's attention was brought to the yacht by Alyssa's yells as she was sent flying by Salamander's Flame Magic and crashed into the beach.
"Alyssa!" Natsu and Zeke shouted as they rushed towards her. They quickly helped her up and saw the slavers walking towards them, Salamander, Kurohebi, and Ripley all seething with rage.
"I've had enough of this!" Salamander shouted as he conjured up a magic circle in front of him. "I'll burn all you idiots to ash with a single spell! FLAME MAGIC: PROMINENCE TYPHOON!"
Natsu pushed Zeke and Alyssa out of harm's way and was completely consumed by a swirling pillar of fire.
"NATSU!" Lucy yelled while Kurohebi cackled.
"Aw, isn't that sweet? Pinkie sacrificed himself to save his buddies," Kurohebi said with a bemused smirk.
"Looks like Fairy Tail ain't all it's cracked up to be," Ripley taunted. But suddenly, Zeke and Alyssa began to chuckle, confusing everybody.
"Oh, please. As if Natsu could be killed by fire magic," Zeke said with a smirk of his own.
"How're the flames, tesoro mio?" Alyssa asked.
"Not gonna lie…" Natsu's voice came from within the inferno. "…it's pretty gross."
"HE'S STILL ALIVE?!" The trio of slavers cried out. What happened next utterly baffled everyone except Zeke, Alyssa, and Happy. A loud slurping sound was heard across the beach, the fire began to shrink. It shrank further until everyone could see that Natsu was actually eating the fire! Aside from his burnt coat, he was completely unharmed.
"Thanks for the meal, poser," Natsu said as he tore off the remains of his coat, revealing an open black and orange-trimmed vest, his muscular torso and arms, a black wristband on his left wrist, and a red Fairy Tail mark on his right shoulder. "Now, I've got a fire in my belly that's raging to get out!"
Natsu then smashed his fists together, conjuring up an orange circle with a dragon epithet in front of him. He then sucked in a massive amount of air. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
From his mouth, Natsu unleashed his own torrent of flames. Salamander evaded with his Red Carpet spell, and Kurohebi boosted his legs to get himself and Ripley rolled out of the way. The rest of the slavers panicked and ran as Natsu's spells destroyed the remains of their yacht.
"A Fairy Tail wizard with spiky pink hair, a scaly scarf, and unique fire magic," Kurohebi said as his eyes widened in realization. "Bora, this guy's the real Salamander!"
"Natsu's Salamander?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Don't use my real name, you idiot!" the man called Bora said as Natsu, Alyssa, and Zeke stood together, staring the other trio down.
"Bora Solak, or Bora the Prominence as he likes to call himself," Happy said, surprising Lucy. "I've heard of this guy; he used to be a member of the guild Titan Nose but got kicked out for bad behavior."
(Music Que - Fairy Tail Main Theme)
"We should probably introduce ourselves," Natsu stated as the air around him began to heat up. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon-Slayer!"
"My name's Alyssa Grunewald!" Alyssa said as she moved into a fighting stance. "And they call me the Boost Queen!"
"The name's Ezekiel Hudson, archer extraordinaire and proud heir of the heroic Hudson legacy," Zeke said as he tossed aside his broken goggles. He then pulled down his shirt collar, revealing a green Fairy Tail guild mark just below his left collar bone. "And you assholes are dealing with the greatest team Fairy Tail's ever had: Bravestar!"
'THEY'RE TEAM BRAVESTAR!' Lucy thought in absolute shock. These weirdos she'd bought lunch for were the infamous Team Bravestar she'd read so much about. While Fairy Tail wizards were known for being rowdy, she had read about a trio of wizards that went overboard during their fights, even by their guild's standards. Because of this, Bravestar was also known as Fairy Tail's Demolition Team.
"Pay attention! Because this is what real Fairy Tail wizards can do!" Natsu shouted, charging ahead, his fists engulfed in orange flames.
"S-Stay back!" Bora shouted. "Flame Magic: Red Shower!"
Bora unleashed a barrage of fireballs at team Bravestar. Natsu didn't even bother to dodge and ran straight towards Bora. Natsu leapt into the air with a burst of flame with a blazing right fist.
"Fire Dragon's Blazing Fist!" With a powerful swing, Natsu punched Bora with enough force to send him flying into a nearby building.
"Try eating this, Salamander!" Ripley shouted as she aimed her pistols at Natsu. "Guns Magic: Rapid-Fire!"
"Nice try!" Zeke shouted, this time conjuring up an arrow with an arrowhead shaped like a bundle of smaller arrows. "Arch Shot: Arrow Volley!"
Zeke the arrow and in a flash of light, it split into a volley of 100 small arrows that tore through Ripely's bullets.
"Damn you!" Kurohebi shouted, charging at Zeke with mana flowing around his legs. He suddenly felt intense burning pain shoot through them. He let out a pain yelled as he slowed to a crawl, allowing Alyssa to jump in and catch his hand.
"Looks like you copied my magic's weakness too!" Alyssa proclaimed as she channeled magic through her arms. "Boost Magic: Grand Toss!"
With a powerful swing, Alyssa tossed Kurohebi over the wrecked yacht.
"Their magic is nuts," Lucy said, completely in awe as the trio continued to fight.
"Aye," Happy said and began to explain. "Zeke uses hereditary magic that only his family has called Arch Shot Magic. It has properties of both Archery and Light Magic. Alyssa's magic is Boost Magic. It can supercharge the caster's physical abilities, but using too much can damage their insides, so they need to have a strong body to use it properly. And Natsu's Fire Dragon-Slayer Magic gives him all the abilities of a fire dragon. So he's not only immune to fire, but he can also replenish his mana by eating it."
Ripley scowled as she aimed Zeke and Alyssa, but Natsu charged at her, his arms now coated in fire.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" With a swing of his arms, Natsu unleashed twin torrents of fire at Ripley and blasted her into the water, knocking her unconscious. Bora emerged from the rubble of the building atop his red carpet with a wild and crazed look on his face.
"DAMN YOU ALL!" Bora screamed as a massive magic circle appeared beneath him. "BURN IN HELL!" A gargantuan crimson fireball in the shape of a skull formed above his head. "FORBIDDEN FLAME MAGIC: RED SK-"
"Arch Shot: Demolition Arrow!" Before Bora could finish his incantation, Zeke fired a magic arrow at Bora's fireball. The explosion was seen and heard all across Hargeon and beyond as Bora was blasted out of the air. As Bora fell to the ground, his eyes widened when he saw Alyssa charging at him, the magic around her arms glowing far brighter than before.
"Hey, stronzo!" Alyssa shouted. "This is what you get for impersonating my boyfriend! Boost Magic: Grand Combo-Punch!"
As soon as Bora came within arms' length, Alyssa unleashed a ferocious barrage of supercharged punches. And with a final solid right hook, the fake Salamander was sent flying into the town, crashing into a nearby water fountain. And with that, the battle between team Bravestar and the slavers reached its end.
(Music End)
"Alright! We won!" Natsu shouted as he and Zeke shared a fist bump. They ran up the seawall's stairs to join Alyssa.
"We rock!" Alyssa cheered as she and Zeke then did a double high-five, which she immediately regretted it as her arms began to hurt. "Owie."
"Oh, crap! Sorry, Alyssa," Zeke replied.
"It's okay. They're just a little sore," she said. But before the trio could continue their celebration, they heard something fall and break. Turning around, they saw that the fountain Alyssa had knocked Bora into had broken in half. They also finally noticed that while the buildings in Hargeon were mostly fine, most of the street had been upended by the tidal wave, and the buildings closest to the beach had been hit by some stray spells.
"You guys were amazing, but you really overdid it!" Lucy exclaimed as she and Happy approached the three.
"Well, I can't argue with that," Alyssa said, rubbing the back of her head with a nervous laugh. However, Natsu genuinely chuckled.
"Actually, this is pretty good by our standards," Natsu said.
"Aw, man!" Zeke exclaimed as he started pulling his hair. "Master Makarov's gonna have an ulcer when he hears about this."
"To be fair, Lucy and the fish lady did most of the damage," Happy said.
"Hey!" the blonde shouted.
"You caused that tidal wave?!" Zeke yelled. "And what fish lady are you talking about?!"
Before they could continue their conversation, Natsu's ears picked the sound of marching feet. He spun around and saw a large group of soldiers clad in orange & blue uniforms marching through the town."Oh shit! It's the Rune Knights!"
"The army's here?!" Lucy shouted.
"Run for it!" Zeke shouted as the five bolted away as fast as they could, Natsu grabbing Lucy by the arm.
"Why are you taking me?" Lucy asked as she was dragged off.
"You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?" Alyssa asked. Lucy's eyes widened in disbelief. Actual Fairy Tail wizards were inviting her to join their guild. As they ran, the blonde saw that the four guild wizards had sincere expressions on their faces, even as they ran for their lives.
"So, let's go!" Natsu said excitedly. Lucy smiled back at them, slipping her arm out of Natsu's and started willingly running away with the four.
"Alright!" Lucy cheered with an ear to ear smile as the five ran out of Hargeon. It had been a crazy day, but Lucy had a feeling that things would only get better from here.
And indeed, the five friends would back on this night and realize that it was this day in Hargeon when their legend truly began.
Elsewhere…
On top of a snow-covered mountain caught in a raging blizzard, a fierce battle had just reached its conclusion. A lone mage stood amongst the corpses of over a dozen ape-like creatures, out of breath and barely holding himself up with his broadsword. The man appeared to be in his early forties. He had black eyes, slicked-back dark blue hair, and his outfit consisted of an open white coat with blue inner-lining, rolled up brown pants held up by a white belt, an s-shaped necklace hanging around his neck, and a pair of dark brown loafers.
'Well, that about wraps things up,' the man thought to himself, standing up as his broadsword vanished in a dark blue light. 'Time to head home.'
Unfortunately, one of the ape creatures the man had been fighting was rather clever, playing dead amongst its brethren. With his foe's guard down, the beast howled and attacked, the raging winds drowning out the man's screams.
To be continued…
Author's Note 2: Back when I wrote the first chapter of A New Day five years ago, I had no idea how much that story would mean to me. Writing AND and its sequels helped me improve my writing skills more than I ever imagined. And it was through these Fairy Tail stories that I met my co-writer, editor, and one of my best friends, xpegasus.
But recently, as I reread A New Day while compiling that story and sequels together, I realized just how flawed it was. I barely broke away from the canon, limiting my creativity and original flare. I also didn't really know whether I wanted to stick with the original Fairy Tail magic system for awhile, winging it until me and XPegasus sorted out the details midway through Homecoming. And I realized that it can be hard to get people invested in the later parts of my story if the beginning is mediocre.
So, now with years of experience under my belt, my best friend at my side, and a firm idea for where I want my Fairy Tail story, I've decided to reboot the Fairy Mythos Series. Or as it's going to be known from now on, Fairy Tail: The Bravestar Saga!
I hope that everyone who's followed all of my Fairy Tail stories until now will join me and xpegasus as we venture once again into this magical world. And hopefully, we'll make a lot of new friends and fans along the way.
Next Chapter: The Brawl at Mt. Hakobe!
See you next time!
#Fairy Tail#Fairy Tail: The Bravestar Saga#fanfiction#Lucy Heartfilia#Natsu Dragneel#Happy#Alyssa Grunewald#Ezekiel 'Zeke' Hudson#Bora#Kurohebi#Ripely#Aquarius
2 notes
·
View notes
Note
Are there genres you don’t like to read but you’ll try anyway? Were you ever pleasantly surprised by any of these exceptions?
Young adult. Look, I seriously have nothing against young adult lit. I don’t think it’s like a sign of an intellectual downgrade in our society as many adults do and I don’t judge people who like it. But I am slightly tired of the sheer prevalence of it--the online book world is almost entirely young adult-oriented, for instance. It isn’t that I hate YA lit; I just would prefer to be reading about adult characters in adult situations (not, as I was saying about OTH, teen characters in adult situations). On this note, new adult as a genre sounded perfect, except that a lot of the plot summaries SOUND like fine, true to life scenarios and then it’s like KENDRA HAS TO AUCTION OFF HER VIRGINITY TO A BILLIONAIRE and yeah. My exceptions would be if there was more college-focused YA (those characters are more within the age range I want to read about) and I don’t mind reading queer YA or YA about social issues that don’t get covered much. I just prefer to read about older characters if given the choice. (Also the history of the genre ITSELF is really interesting. Reading Paperback Crush has given me many examples of the sorts of titles I would read, that were groundbreaking when published [and may still be now], and that cover topics uncommonly broached in YA.)
Thriller. Technically I should count mystery under this but it isn’t that I don’t like to read mystery. Thriller, though... let’s say, recently I started The Stranger by Harlan Coben, because I’m interested in watching the Netflix adaptation. He’s one of the favorite authors of an acquaintance and let’s just say, if this is the usual quality of his writing I truly don’t see why. It’s a genre I can enjoy, but it needs to be written well for me to be really into it. When I was younger I absolutely loved Kay Hooper’s Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series and those are a good example of what I like.
Science fiction. Again, I don’t hate science fiction. But when the science part is too overwhelming or too difficult for me to parse through I don’t like it. The big exception to this that I’m still surprised by: the Vorkosigan Saga. I had heard the name around for years because Carrie Vaughn is a big fan, but just knowing it was sci-fi I wasn’t super keen on it. However, Courtney Milan, on her episode of the Wicked Wallflowers podcast, talked about reading A Civil Campaign as it was initially posted online and how it was like a sci-fi Jane Austen novel, and I looked more into it and was stunned. So I read the book prior to that one, Komarr, which sets up the story ACC is continuing, and I fucking loved it. In the dedication Bujold thanks Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Georgette Heyer, and the reason the book was so appealing to me was because the sci-fi elements are there, but it’s a relationship story of the sort those women would write. Ekaterin is waking up to the reality of her relationship with a controlling partner with the help of Miles, who, by the way, is pretty excellent disability and chronic illness representation, to boot. I was kicking myself the whole time I read Komarr for always being turned away by the genre and not learning sooner it’s literally just Austen/Heyer in space. I haven’t yet had the time to read further in the series but I’m really looking forward to it.
Pulitzer Prize winners. Not something I’m against on principle; I want to read more of the ones for Drama. But when it comes to fiction I usually associate Pulitzer Prize winning fiction as really dry and capital-L literary and nothing relevant to my life (because it’s usually by old white men). Last year I read both The Goldfinch and Less and loved both. The Goldfinch isn’t for everyone. It is long, Theo isn’t all that sympathetic, and it took a lot of pushing through for me to get to the end. But when you spend that much time in a world you can really come to be interested in it, and I still find myself thinking about the characters and relationships. I’d even like to read it again. And Less is a book I want everyone to read. It is very much about an older gay man and it’s absolutely informed by his being gay, and older, but it also deals with so many nuances of privilege, aging and death, intergenerational relationships, and love, and I found it really moving in addition to just being plain funny.
5 notes
·
View notes
Note
What do you think of fairy tail 100 year quest?
Oh yay here comes streams of salt. Be prepared! Warning Im venting…..
So far I think the fairy Tail 100 year quest sucks and I feel obligated to keep up since I am hoping it gets better. I remember seeing somewhere on author note that the creator stated I hope that I am not making this predictable, well guess what it is very predictable and stupid. I hate it and that is I fact i hate that Gajeel is being side lined or back burner yet and the only one in the Fairy Tail guild to find out that this Touka bitch can’t be trusted. His character is being treated like shit and I don’t like the fact he hasn’t really done much or except spy on her in a detective clothes that fits his edolas version better. This is not my Gajeel, he wouldn’t hang around the guild regardless what is happening. He’s a warrior and should focus on getting stronger and fighting dragons not babysitting or being distracted by Levy who hasn’t really done anything except give him the cold shoulder. Yeah I get it she most likely pregnant, (Im only saying that because she like Gajeel did deal with Bloodman a year ago, and she inhaled those anti magic particles so I doubt there won’t be repercussions on her) If she pregnant what is the point for it? Unless the creator is thinking about making sixth generation dragon slayers with one being born from a dragon slayer. I mean why not we already have fifth generation dragon slayers that came out of nowhere. Acnologia would have sensed them, but I’m guessing due to that old fart dragon slayer he made sure that didn’t happen. Don’t really trust him either. For all we know Acnologia could of been sent to that continent by Irene when she used her Universe One in the original manga and started he destroying things and the dragon gods could be blamed for it. If they really are around how the fuck were they ever able to not be sensed by him or these dragon eaters? Also since when can dragon gods or dragons look human?
Im hoping one of those dragon gods is a Poison dragon and a Lightning dragon that may it will give us more ensight about dragon lacrimas. After all even August himself metioned dragon gods and that is where God Serena got his from them. But why 5 dragon gods why not 7? Besides Cobra/Erik and Laxus got their dragon lacrimas somewhere so why not explain that plot hole.
I find it very insulting to leave out the other dragon slayers out of this 100 year quest since it deals with dragons. Gajeel, Cobra, (poor guy hasn’t been shown yet and gets cheated every fucken time and its disgusting) Laxus, Sting, and Rogue also saved the world from Acnologia besides Natsu and Wendy. Yet now they are going to be useless since the pull out of the ass techingue the creator or whoever is writing this story gave Wendy the ability to enchant non dragon slayers with dragon slayer abilities. It might as be slapping the original seven in the face and say FUCK YOU YOUR NOT NEEDED ANYMORE! YOUR NOT SPECIAL! I am hoping the technique is temporary, but the worst part is some how Touka is able to steal the water god dragon abilites and use it on the entire Fairy Tail Guild. Just really stupid and she been nothing without his powers or stealing powers. You know who else can drain powers bitch. Its is Aria who element is Air and was from Phanom Lord so why not just make him useful.
Conclusion NOT ALL the fan base WANT Team Natsu to get everything as there are other characters that other fans like as well whether they are from the magic games, minor guilds, earlier sagas etc. Give them something to do and make them feel useful.
If anything the dragon slayers all need DRAGONIFICATION and I mean all of them if this dragon thing continues. It may be the only way to defeat these dragon gods and White mage or whoever gets in the way if they are the actual enemy. I don’t mind other mages helping the dragon slayers out, but they don’t need to be forced to the sidelines and not get stronger.. Atsuo Ueda and Hiro Mashima
#fairy tail 100 year quest#Gajeel Redfox#cobra/erik#natsu#laxus#sting#rogue#wendy#my thoughts#and how I feel#hiro mashima#atsuo ueda#fairy tail#acnologia
17 notes
·
View notes
Text
March Wrap-Up
I read books 17 books in March! I did post a few individual reviews and have tagged them here in case you’re interested.
Gemina by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed
The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.
Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.
When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.
But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.
I just have so much love for this series. When I finally get to Obsidio and finish it (still waiting for the paperback), I’ll write a whole series review!
Asteria: Into the Fray by Adrienne Enfinger - ⭐⭐
It's not every day that your suicide attempt is interrupted by a handsome archangel. But then, nothing remains ordinary for long on the day Asteria meets Micah for the first time.
Talking her down from the ledge, Micah reveals to Asteria that she is no ordinary young woman. She is the descendant of nephilim - part angel, part human - and her parents did not die in a car crash, they were killed by the fallen angel, Azazel, in the eternal battle of good versus evil.
Asteria finds herself thrust into the middle of that war and discovers that she is part of a prophecy that can finally bring about its end - if Azazel does not kill her first.
She soon joins forces with angels, good and bad, in an epic battle that could save mankind...
...or bring about its demise
Not great… it definitely read like a fanfiction of Supernatural and the quality of writing was… ehhhhhh it was weird like Enfinger was trying too hard.
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Moral allegory and spiritual autobiography, The Little Prince is the most translated book in the French language. With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behaviour through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures.
Full review soon to follow!
Little Pills by Melody Dodds - ⭐⭐⭐
Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Navarro never asked to be anyone's hero. If you're a hero, your sister isn't supposed to hate you. And you're definitely not supposed to get hooked on Gramma's painkillers. Even so, Charlotte's sister's friend Mia looks at her like she's some sort of hero. As Charlotte starts taking pills more and more, she has to question how it could hurt herself and others, even Mia. Is it a harmless habit or a dangerous addiction?
Review here! Publication – 2nd April 2019
You Do You by Sarah Knight - ⭐⭐⭐
Being yourself should be easy, yet too many of us struggle to live on other people's terms instead of our own. Rather than feeling large and in charge, we feel little and belittled.
Sound familiar? Bestselling "anti-guru" Sarah Knight has three simple words for you:
YOU DO YOU.
It's time to start putting your happiness first--and stop letting other people tell you what to do, how to do it, or why it can't be done. And don't panic! You can do it without losing friends and alienating people. Knight delivers her trademark no-bullsh*t advice about:
The Tyranny of "Just Because"
The social contract and how to amend it
Turning "flaws" into strengths--aka "mental redecorating"
Why it's not your job to be nice
Letting your freak flag fly
How to take risks, silence the doubters, and prove the haters wrong
Review
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The 50 contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras.
But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.
What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?
Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.
BWAHAHAHAHA THIS IS JUST MY TYPE OF HUMOUR!! Granted, my humour is a… specific brand so just beware going into this.
The Center of the Universe by Ria Voros - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Grace Carter's mother --- the celebrity news anchor GG Carter --- is everything Grace is not. GG is a star, with a flawless wardrobe and a following of thousands, while Grace --- an aspiring astrophysicist --- is into stars of another kind. She and her mother have always been in different orbits. Then one day GG is just ... gone. Cameras descend on their house, news shows speculate about what might have happened and Grace's family struggles to find a new rhythm as they wait for answers. While the authorities unravel the mystery behind GG's disappearance, Grace grows closer to her high school's golden boy, Mylo, who has faced a black hole of his own. She also uncovers some secrets from her mother's long-lost past. The more Grace learns, the more she wonders. Did she ever really know her mother? Was GG abducted ... or did she leave? And if she left, why?
Review here! Publication – April 2nd 2019
ReWired by S. R. Johannes - ⭐
Sixteen-year-old Ada Lovelace is never more alive and sure of herself than when she's hacking into a "secure" network as her alter ego, the Dark Angel. In the real world, Ada is broken, reeling from her best friend Simone's recent suicide. But online, the reclusive daughter of Senator Lovelace (champion of the new Online Privacy Bill) is a daring white hat hacker and the only female member of the Orwellians, an elite group responsible for a string of high-profile hacks against major corporations, with a mission to protect the little guy. Ada is swiftly proving she's a force to be reckoned with, when a fellow Orwellian betrays her to the FBI. To protect her father's career, Ada is sent to ReBoot, a technology rehab facility for teens...the same rehab Simone attended right before killing herself.
It's bad enough that the ReBoot facility is creepy in an Overlook-Hotel-meets-Winchester-Mansion way, but when Ada realizes Simone's suicide is just one in an increasingly suspicious string of "accidental" deaths and "suicides" occurring just after kids leave ReBoot, Ada knows she can't leave without figuring out what really happened to her best friend. The massive cyber conspiracy she uncovers will threaten everything she cares about--her dad's career, her new relationship with a wry, handsome, reformed hacker who gets under her skin, and most of all--the version of herself Ada likes best--the Dark Angel.
Uh yeah here’s my rant review. I just... yeah if you want to know what I thought just read the review I can’t be bothered to reiterate.
Zenith by Linday Cummings and Sasha Alsberg - ⭐⭐⭐
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.
But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past.
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.
Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their shipor just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.
You know what, not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, it wasn’t anything special and I’m not very attached to the characters, but hey there are only two books so who knows maybe I’ll just finish the series.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?
I knew I had a good feeling about this book. It’s eerie and I was stressing the fuck out the entire book about that dog’s wellbeing. 100% do recommend if you’re into brutal, creepy and dark books. Be forewarned, when I say dark, I mean DARK. Like zombie babies and children that are subsequently decapitated dark.
Losing Adam by Adrienne Clarke - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
What happens when the person you love most in the world suddenly becomes a stranger?
Adam and Jenny’s world is falling apart. Their dream of attending college together away from home quickly becomes a nightmare when Adam begins hearing the voice of the Snow Queen. Adam’s startling transformation from popular drama student into a withdrawn, suspicious stranger leaves Jenny frightened and confused. How can the person she loves most in the world suddenly become someone she doesn’t recognize? As Adam drifts farther and farther away into the Snow Queen’s mysterious world of ice and snow, Jenny believes she must fight to bring him back or risk losing him forever.
Holy fuck. This book probably has the most accurate representation of any mental illness I’ve seen in YA. Adam’s schizophrenia wasn’t watered down in the slightest and it wasn’t romanticized. I would have liked to read more of Adam’s perspective than Jenny’s since Adrienne Clarke writes mental illness so accurately. Does that make sense?
I liked that she gave us a look at how mental illness affects the individual in question, but also their loved ones. Although I would have preferred if we had focused more on Adam as for the reason above.
Whisper by Lynette Noni - ⭐⭐⭐
For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.
As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.
Review Here!
The Thirteenth Guardian by K.M. Lewis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Da Vinci’s secret pales. Michelangelo concealed an explosive truth in his famous Creation of Man fresco in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Everything we have been taught about Eve is wrong—she didn’t cause the fall of man. Instead, Eve carried a far more devastating secret for millennia; one that will change the world forever.
As the modern-day world suffers the cataclysmic effects of the “Plagues of Egypt”, Avery Fitzgerald, a statuesque Astrophysics major at Stanford, discovers that she is mysteriously bound to five strangers by an extremely rare condition that foremost medical experts cannot explain. Thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they race against time to stay alive as they are pursued by an age-old adversary and the world around them collapses into annihilation. Under sacred oath, The Guardians—a far more archaic and enigmatic secret society than the Freemasons, Templars, and the Priory—protect Avery as she embarks on a daring quest that only legends of old have been on before. Avery must come to terms with the shocking realization that the blood of an ancient queen flows through her veins and that the fate of the world now rests on her shoulders.
Release date – June 7th 2019
Review Here!
Angelfall by Susan Ee - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Yesssssss I like this. I find that many angel stories are overdone or hyper-religious, but this, this seems pretty promising.
Dead of Night by Carlyle Labuschagne – ⭐
In a dark and desolated After Earth, love still does exist, but the cost of bearing such a flaw is death.
World War III has left Earth in utter turmoil. People’s beliefs are said to be the cause of the worldwide destruction. After The Clearing new laws are set about - to show certitude in anything besides the law is weak and chargeable as mutiny. To be illogical and have faith in religion is illegal, to be limitless is dangerous. And Illness is seen as a defect – all flaws that are inexcusable.
But to love is the greatest betrayal of all man kind. It is a fault the world has long forgotten and punishable by death, a fatal risk Aecker and Opel are fully prepared to take - because in love there is freedom. But how far can they push back before it claims their lives and of those they care about?
This is the worst book I’ve read in my entire life.
Oh my god it was just so bad I don’t even know where to start. There is no plot, the characters are flat, every single scene was chaotic (I swear I got [metaphorical] whiplash), and it ends out of fucking nowhere. I thought I was missing part of my copy then ending was so sudden.
The world development was non-existent, and I was just confused all the way through.
I would write an individual review on this since I received it in exchange for an honest review, but honestly, this is all I have to say. I’m not even entirely sure as to what happened.
Unfortunately, 0 stars is not an option on Goodreads, so I had to stick with one even though I don’t think it deserves it.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.
But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.
And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.
In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?
Yessss another thriller. I love the internal conflict Jazz is dealing with and it’s expertly woven in with the plot. Would recommend, and will definitely be continuing on with the series!
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – ⭐⭐
Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.
You know… it’s a classic. I don’t really like classics. I feel like I need to read them you know? Oh well.
Everyone’s a Aliebn when ur a Aliebn Too by Jomny Sun - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here is the unforgettable story of Jomny, an alien sent to study Earth. Always feeling apart, even among his species, Jomny feels at home for the first time among the earthlings he meets. There is a bear tired of other creatures running in fear, an egg struggling to decide what to hatch into, a turtle hiding itself by learning camouflage, a puppy struggling to express its true feelings, and many more.
The characters are unique and inventive—bees think long and hard about what love means, birds try to eat the sun, nothingness questions its own existence, a ghost comes to terms with dying, and an introverted hedgehog slowly lets Jomny see its artistic insecurities. At the same time, Jomny’s curious presence allows these characters to open up to him in ways they were never able to before, revealing the power of somebody who is just there to listen.
Oh my god this was just so cute and filled with so many important messages than hit very close to home. New favourite for sure.
Number of books read: 17
Number of pages read: 5806
Average Pages per Book : 341.5
Average rating: 3.4
Favourite book of the month: Gemina by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I love love love the Illuminae files! Definitely my favourite sci-fi series to date.
Least favourite book of the month: Dead of Night by Carlyle Labuschange. It’s just so bad, you guys.
3 notes
·
View notes
Note
Why do you hate jk rowling?
she fucking sucks. most recently, this whole business where she had the opportunity to get rid of johnny depp and decided not to, and then her decision not to make dumbledore - the only “canon” lgbt representation in the entire seven book + a bunch of spinoffs, eight movie, one play, five spin-off movie franchise - openly gay in fantastic beasts, because obviously that would be much too progressive for her. obviously. credence being queer coded and then turning into a murderous monster because repression, what a wonderful message! also contributing to the predatory gay man stereotype through grindlewald! saying being a werewolf, a literal monster, is a metaphor for having hiv! newt scamander creating the werewolf registry, which makes it impossible for said hiv-coded werewolf to have a job, is now the protagonist of the new series, which means that everyone’s new sweet cinnamon roll is actually a dickbag. how white the fantastic beasts cast is when it’s set in 1920s new york. the fact that there are hundreds of characters within the harry potter universe and like, nine of them are canonically not white. the sexism with which she treats lavender and fleur and romilda vane, holding hermione and ginny up as being Not Like Other Girls and therefore the ones who deserve your respect. cursed child was queerbaity as fuck, they were so fucking close to having a romantic relationship but they had to keep it as straight as possible, right? can’t have black hermione and an lgbt relationship, that would just be too progressive. all that crap about ilvermorny is also just incredibly insulting
87 notes
·
View notes
Text
Twilight Book Free
Page 1
BOOK ONE: BELLA
Twilight Audiobook Free. Bella comes to be pale at the simple thought of blood, as well as obtains taken to the registered nurse’s workplace (Edward appears outdoors and also intercepts her from Mike, among the guys that has a crush on Bella). Read The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon (Twilight #2) online, free from your iPhone, iPad, android, Pc, Mobile. The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon is a Young Adult novel by Stephenie Meyer. Hachette Book Group USA 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Visit our Web site at www.lbteens com First Edition September 2006 The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
I'd had more than my fair share of near-death experiences; it wasn't something you ever really got used to.
Readers captivated by Twilight and New Moon will eagerly devour the paperback edition Eclipse, the third book in Stephenie Meyer's riveting vampire love saga. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger.
Read The Twilight Saga 5: Midnight Sun online, free from your Pc, Tablet, Mobile. The Twilight Saga 5: Midnight Sun (Twilight #1.5) is a Young Adult Novels by Stephenie Meyer.
It seemed oddly inevitable, though, facing death again. Like I really was marked for disaster. I'd escaped time and time again, but it kept coming back for me.
Still, this time was so different from the others.
You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers - the monsters, the enemies.
When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it?
If it was someone you truly loved?
1. ENGAGED
No one is staring at you,I promised myself. No one is staring at you. No one is staring at you.
But, because I couldn't lie convincingly even to myself, I had to check.
As I sat waiting for one of the three traffic lights in town to turn green, I peeked to the right - in her minivan, Mrs. Weber had turned her whole torso in my direction. Her eyes bored into mine, and I flinched back, wondering why she didn't drop her gaze or look ashamed. It was still considered rude to stare at people, wasn't it? Didn't that apply to me anymore?
Then I remembered that these windows were so darkly tinted that she probably had no idea if it was even me in here, let alone that I'd caught her looking. I tried to take some comfort in the fact that she wasn't really staring at me, just the car.
Mycar. Sigh.
I glanced to the left and groaned. Two pedestrians were frozen on the sidewalk, missing their chance to cross as they stared. Behind them, Mr. Marshall was gawking through the plate-glass window of his little souvenir shop. At least he didn't have his nose pressed up against the glass. Yet.
Twilight Book Free Read Online
The light turned green and, in my hurry to escape, I stomped on the gas pedal without thinking - the normal way I would have punched it to get my ancient Chevy truck moving.
Engine snarling like a hunting panther, the car jolted forward so fast that my body slammed into the black leather seat and my stomach flattened against my spine.
'Arg!' I gasped as I fumbled for the brake. Keeping my head, I merely tapped the pedal. The car lurched to an absolute standstill anyway.
I couldn't bear to look around at the reaction. If there had been any doubt as to who was driving this car before, it was gone now. With the toe of my shoe, I gently nudged the gas pedal down one half millimeter, and the car shot forward again.
I managed to reach my goal, the gas station. If I hadn't been running on vapors, I wouldn't have come into town at all. I was going without a lot of things these days, like Pop-Tarts and shoelaces, to avoid spending time in public.
Moving as if I were in a race, I got the hatch open, the cap off, the card scanned, and the nozzle in the tank within seconds. Of course, there was nothing I could do to make the numbers on the gauge pick up the pace. They ticked by sluggishly, almost as if they were doing it just to annoy me.
It wasn't bright out - a typical drizzly day in Forks, Washington - but I still felt like a spotlight was trained on me, drawing attention to the delicate ring on my left hand. At times like this, sensing the eyes on my back, it felt as if the ring were pulsing like a neon sign: Look at me, look at me.
It was stupid to be so self-conscious, and I knew that. Besides my dad and mom, did it really matter what people were saying about my engagement? About my new car? About my mysterious acceptance into an Ivy League college? About the shiny black credit card that felt red-hot in my back pocket right now?
'Yeah, who cares what they think,' I muttered under my breath.
'Urn, miss?' a man's voice called.
I turned, and then wished I hadn't.
Two men stood beside a fancy SUV with brand-new kayaks tied to the top. Neither of them was looking at me; they both were staring at the car.
Personally, I didn't get it. But then, I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy. This car was glossy black, sleek, and pretty, but it was still just a car to me.
'I'm sorry to bother you, but could you tell me what kind of car you're driving?' the tall one asked.
Read Twilight Series online, free
'Urn, a Mercedes, right?'
'Yes,' the man said politely while his shorter friend rolled his eyes at my answer. 'I know. But I was wondering, is that.. are you driving a Mercedes Guardian?' The man said the name with reverence. I had a feeling this guy would get along well with Edward Cullen, my.. my fiance (there really was no getting around that truth with the wedding just days away). 'They aren't supposed to be available in Europe yet,' the man went on, 'let alone here.'
While his eyes traced the contours of my car - it didn't look much different from any other Mercedes sedan to me, but what did I know? - I briefly contemplated my issues with words like fiance, wedding, husband, etc.
I just couldn't put it together in my head.
On the one hand, I had been raised to cringe at the very thought of poofy white dresses and bouquets. But more than that, I just couldn't reconcile a staid, respectable, dull concept like husband with my concept of Edward. It was like casting an archangel as an accountant; I couldn't visualize him in any commonplace role.
Like always, as soon as I started thinking about Edward I was caught up in a dizzy spin of fantasies. Workers planet coastergradelasopa. The stranger had to clear his throat to get my attention; he was still waiting for an answer about the car's make and model.
'I don't know,' I told him honestly.
'Do you mind if I take a picture with it?'
It took me a second to process that. 'Really? You want to take a picture with the car?'
Twilight Book Series online, free
*** Sound effects library filmora.
***P/S: Copyright -->Novel12__Com
Twilight Book Free
***
0 notes
Link
“A female Sherlock? Why not. I don’t care. Sherlockina… it’s coming soon.” The question had arisen because I had been asking Benedict Cumberbatch about his views on the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the first lady Doctor Who – the Timelord saga until recently overseen by Sherlock’s showrunner Steven Moffat. And for the record, Cumberbatch is all for Whittaker in the role. “It’s an alien so why can’t it be a woman?” he says. “I don’t speak as a fan as I just speak as someone who wants to see Jodie Whittaker’s performance as the Doctor. I think she’s an extraordinary actress and we’re lucky culturally to have got her to agree to do it, let alone any debate about whether it’s right or wrong. Just go for it… Let’s see what happens.”
But back to Sherlock, and underlying Cumberbatch’s relaxed attitude to the gender of the person playing the detective with the pipe and deerstalker, I believe I detect an actor who is perhaps subconsciously letting go of the role that made his name. “Maybe…. maybe”, is his not unexpected reply to the eternal question of whether there will be more of the globally popular updating of Arthur Conan Doyle. And while there almost will be further episodes at some point, there is also little doubt that the 41-year-old actor’s energies are flowing in a new direction. In short, he’s become a producer.
SunnyMarch TV was launched by Cumberbatch and associates in 2013, France’s Studiocanal buying a 20 per cent stake last year, and its first major project is about to be seen on BBC1. The Child in Time is an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 1987 novel centred on a grieving children’s author, Stephen Lewis, whose toddler daughter has been kidnapped from a supermarket two years earlier. However, it’s rather more lofty and metaphysical – as you’d expect from any Cumberbatch-McEwan axis – than the burgeoning canon of more visceral TV thrillers (The Missing and Thirteen on the BBC alone) about abducted youngsters. “Despite the depths it plumbs and the emotional trauma at the centre of it, it’s a story about salvation and hope and trying to build a future that accepts and encompasses the loss of that child”, says Cumberbatch with his characteristic flood of articulateness. “It’s almost an examination of childhood and time and what happens in trauma with time but also reflections and how the conscious and sub-conscious can slide… it got quite a lot going for it other than just that horrific, horrific central premise.”
McEwan is having something of a screen moment, what with the upcoming movie of his novella, On Chesil Beach, and now this – the first TV version of one of the author’s books. Cumberbatch appeared in Joe Wright’s 2007 film of McEwan’s Atonement, but this particular script landed on his producer’s desk. That he himself took the central role of Stephen Lewis was not simply because he wanted to play him but because starring in his own productions is helping get his company off the ground – “To bring attention to the material and get it funded”, as he puts it. Playing an ordinary person, albeit in extraordinary circumstances, the role is also something of a departure for Cumberbatch, a go-to actor for real-life geniuses (Alan Turing in The Imitation Game or Thomas Edison in the upcoming The Current War), arrogant fictional brainy types (Sherlock, Steven Strange), or troubled and/or ambivalent characters like Julian Assange or Hamlet. Cumberbatch would never claim to be an ‘everyman’.
“It’s a part that is a million miles away from a lot of the stuff that I’ve done… especially the more famous one on telly”, he says, [referring to Sherlock]. “It was a challenge. I was bringing a lot more of myself as I sound and as I move through the world. It felt quite naked at times, and there were moments when I thought ‘am I doing enough?’. “I wanted Stephen to be close to myself, so I brought a lot of my own wardrobe in because I wanted to feel it was me rather than someone else I was putting on every day. It’s not often you get into a role by getting out of a role.” On the afternoon we meet, Cumberbatch’s wardrobe consists of navy chinos and trainers, white t-shirt and open grey linen shirt – the same outfit, I can’t help but notice, that’s he’s wearing later when he’s snapped by paparazzi as (according to Mailonline) “he enjoyed a date night with wife Sophie Hunter”.
Cumberbatch and theatre director Hunter were married in 2015 after having known each other for 17 years. The couple have two sons, two-year-old Christopher, and Hal, who was born in March. Did parenthood make the role of grieving father in The Child in Time more difficult for the actor? “I don’t think you have to be a parent to understand”, he says. “It wasn’t a case of ‘Oh, great, I can get my teeth into something whereby I’ll be emotionally wrought because I’m a new dad for a second time’. It just happened that way.”
He didn’t take the part home with him then? “I try not to do that whatever I’m doing. Those are very separate spaces for me, and you have to take care of yourself. In a way, you’re literally kind of breaking down for a whole day but that’s what the drama demands; it makes you realise what the pain must be like for people who actually experience it. It’s unfathomable, so you don’t really want to bring that into your own domestic space.” Hunter is joining her husband as a producer on one of SunnyMarch’s new projects, a film adaptation of Megan Hunter’s eco-apocalyptic debut novel The End We Start From (“a stunning tale of motherhood”, according to Cumberbatch). Other movies on his production slate are an adaptation of Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time, Geoffrey Household’s 1939 adventure classic, Rogue Male, and Rio, which will co-star Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal, while TV dramas in pre-production include screen versions of Edward St Aubyn’s Melrose novels. For reasons given above, what connects the productions, apart from their origins in literature, is that they all star Cumberbatch. But what was it like for The Child in Time to also wear the producer’s hat?
“It’s different because you’re there at the inception of the idea and just thinking who would be right to direct it… I’ve never been at that stage of things before”, he says. “I really, really enjoyed it. But it’s not without its challenges, especially watching the work sooner than you should as an actor, in a very raw state to then give feedback about what you feel as a producer. That was tricky.” And watching and then critiquing himself? “It’s horrible and very peculiar – the way you look, the way you do things, it’s just horrible. It’s full of hate but there’s nothing better than the self-critic in your head for brutality. “It’s a first time, we’ll see how it works”, he continues. “Everyone had a great experience making it which is a testament to us doing something right as a production team.”
The cast of The Child in Time also includes Trainspotting-to-Boardwalk Empire actress Kelly Macdonald (playing Lewis’s estranged wife), Stephen Campbell Moore and Saskia Reeves. Stephen Butchard adapted it. “I’ve been a McEwan fan since I was old enough to kind of understand stuff… I would read the book almost the minute it came out”, says Cumberbatch. “Atonement was the first book [of his] I read and funnily ended up in a few years later. And The Cement Garden was first the first production I went to. There was a production of it being made when I studied it [at Manchester University] and I thought about auditioning for it and then I thought ‘I can’t do that… I’m not a good enough actor.” The Child in Time was one McEwan novel that evaded his omnivorous consumption, however. “I hadn’t read it”, says Cumberbatch. “And there will be expectations from those who know the novel even though it was released in the late 80s. We’ve re-contextualised it and set it in the present day [because] it’s partly a critique of the Thatcherite era.”
In the meantime, in another departure for the actor (“Unlike any character I’ve played before”, he promises) it was announced last week that Cumberbatch will be playing the father of gay bare-knuckle-fighter Mikey Walsh in the film Gypsy Boy. And with so much going on you might think that he wouldn’t have time to make another film in the all-star Avengers superhero series, let alone three. However two more of the multiplex blockbusters in the role of Steven Strange have been filmed, with another in pre-production. “I’m very late to the party but it’s just amazing to be part of it. Anything’s possible especially as I can go like that”, he says, clicking his fingers, “and appear anywhere”. He might equally have been describing his future prospects.
#great interview#benedict cumberbatch#interview#the child in time#sophie hunter#sunny march#executive producer#221bcumberb
89 notes
·
View notes
Text
zennistrad’s response.
Wow that’s a doozy lmao.
Now I should seriously wonder about a person who thinks accusations of racism are only “vaguely decent” and not, you know, serious things that need to be considered in the film/movie making industry. You can’t take someone who’s had an established character before, and clearly had no problem with authority (Poe is seen coordinating with Leia in TFA, and he’s a decent person in the canonical books) and completely change it to fit some lesson that ultimately isn’t even good because the “teacher” turns out to be wrong in the first place. What RJ did was take a Latinx character and turn them into a stereotype. He then had two white women physically and verbally berate him for the duration of the first half of the movie. He sidelined a black character and specifically added a female Asian character to break up the chances of Finnrey/Finnpoe. It’s bad writing. It’s racism. Star Wars is a massively influential franchise and anything they do in the movies can and will influence the general culture surrounding it. Racism in movies is a more serious, far-reaching deal than “oh yeah that’s the only half-way decent critique of the movie”.
Continuity is necessary to have a decent trilogy. Most people aren’t even sure of the timeline of TLJ and how it lines up with TFA because it appears have happened directly after, but then it wouldn’t make sense for the resistance to be on its last legs in a space chase with a new Death Weapon from the First Order. Continuity means Rey + Luke’s opening matching to what we saw in the end of TFA--instead, we get a bad opening with Luke throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder for a cheap laugh (which didn’t even happen in my theater), which completely clashes with what was literally supposed to happen for the first minute of Rey and Luke’s meeting. That’s not a nitpick--it’s bad writing. Bad writing makes a movie bad.
If the audience sits there confused and saying “what?” outloud, they’re not going to enjoy the movie to its fullest extent possible. Instead, every ounce/pound/ton of confusion and distaste for certain things just piles on and gets TLJ a 52% score on Rotten tomatoes lmao. I don’t even see how wanted the second movie in a trilogy to follow the basic rules that the first set down would be “nitpicky” because that’s literally the most standard, basic expectation for fans to have, and Rian Johnson couldn’t even do that.
Characterization is included in continuity. (A) Finn never actually joined the Resistance. It’s a continuity error to make it seem as if Finn now owes his life and body to the Resistance, and it’s shitty that suddenly Rose is the moral compass for something that doesn’t even apply to Finn. It’s bad writing. It’s also bad writing that his iconic character be sidelined for a plot that was more comic relief than actual substance. If Rian was trying to teach anything there, it was lost in how badly he wrote it.
(B) Rey and Poe already met in the novelization (that’s also where Poe’s established character is from). If Rian Johnson can’t be assed to follow some basic setups from extended sources of canon, the audience will not be assed to look past those and see the “deeper themes” of the movie. Now, instead, he’s re-introduced the Star Wars franchise to “tiers of canon”, which is what ruined the EU.
(C) And speaking of Rey--she has absolutely no real reason to trust Kylo so soon after everything that happened in TFA. It doesn’t make sense for someone who ran from, cried because of, and physically attacked Kylo Ren (who, I must add, tortured/harmed the other two protags) to suddenly say “I sense the good in him” after a few Skype calls. This doesn’t make sense to Rey’s character, for whom it’s always been established that Rey hates Kylo Ren, and he hates her. It wasn’t even clear what her plan was going to be for turning him. She showed up in a space coffin and then just followed Kylo or talked to Snoke for the entirety of that segment.
Consistency will not “bog down” the plot lmao. How difficult is it to keep these things in line? Rian Johnson (supposedly) went to film school; he’s a writer and he felt the need to ignore everything that already existed because his ego made him write The Last Jedi before TFA was even finished.
I’ll tell you now that I’m not one of those people that’s memorized all the nuances of Luke. Other people are able to explain it better than I can, but Luke is hardly self-absorbed and says/cries out numerous times “I need to help/save my friends!” People who have hard-ons for Luke and study his character to the same extent you do make the argument that Luke wouldn’t have had such a sharp turn from what’s been established of his character (it’s also weird/bad that, after not speaking for what’s canonically 15 years, the most Luke says to Leia is a line. Bad characterization).
As for the next paragraph; Rian Johnson himself said in an interview that it’s meant to be romantic/sexual tension. Rey’s “self importance” (which isn’t even accurate anyways lmao) wouldn’t have been present in this movie if Rian Johnson had actually followed anything in TFA. I’m not even going to get into why it’s really bad to have a violent, emotionally unstable man and the woman/girl (she’s 19) he’s been pursuing in any kind of romantic/sexual tension situation.
I don’t have really any comments on the Rey siblings theory. Although it would have made a better plot point to have them be related, because then it could be shown that Rey, raised by sand and abandoned, turned out good, and Kylo, who had loving parents, turned out evil. It would be a “why did we switch?” along with Finn’s clearly being raised by evil but turning out good. I’ll admit I was leaning more towards their being cousins of some kind. It seemed kind of dumb to market the sequel trilogy as a “continuation of the skywalker saga” only to let RJ do this.
Continuity problems arise again because Rey had stopped caring that she didn’t know who her parents were in TFA, but she’s made to be super emotional and sensitive about it in TLJ, and for whatever ungodly reason Kylo knows about them (and says she was sold despite her never having been owned in TFA, not to mention the fact that her parents clearly left her, not having died on Jakkuu).
And thanks for assuming that the only places I’ve seen reactions to/reviews of TLJ was from “isolated spaces”! That’s certainly a substantiated claim to make, what with you knowing exactly where I get all my critiques, opinions, and views of TLJ from (I mean it’s not like I could ever take polls or read any other material besides what’s on Tumblr and metacritic, right?).
Although I’d like to point out that it’s extremely arrogant (and racist lmao) to dismiss every claim by POC fans that TLJ has serious problems as “vaguely decent”. And assuming what I meant by characterization to begin with isn’t arrogant at all. And I’m not sure you can say “it’s far from subtle” wrt to the mirror in the lake cave because, clearly, a substantial amount of people missed it and it’s barely even a scene that’s spoken about besides “that weird cave”.
Just a heads up: if people are meant to like a movie, the movie has to be consistent, feel like a member of the trilogy family, and not spit in fans’ faces lmao.
Whether you see this or not, don’t respond. But others are welcome to hop on with points I may have missed.
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Region B Wishlist
Whenever I used to visit Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd (which was at least once a month, 2016 through 2017), I’d make a beeline for the staircase, up up and away to the movie department. Directly to my right at the top of the staircase, in a display rack stretching the entire length of the floor, sat a single column of movies known to me as the “non-Region A” section. I could rely on the movies lurking in this small section to turn my eyes green with envy: a gorgeous Region B Blu-ray of Possession, the Vanessa Redgrave vehicle Isadora, and several other movies that seemed like the stuff my dreams were made of. Unfortunately, at the time, I had yet to invest in a region-free Blu-ray player, so that section of movies taunted me on my monthly visits to Amoeba, as I’m sure they do to many movie fans that lack the proper technology to play them.
For those uninitiated into the world of movie collecting, different regions of the world have differently coded discs that only play in that region’s disc players. Back in DVD’s heyday, that consisted of Region 1, 2, and 3. Now, in the age of Blu-ray, those regions are alphabetical rather than numerical: A, B, and C. Region A discs play in the Americas and some countries in Southeast Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Region B discs play in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand. Region C discs play in any Asian countries not covered by Region A. Film copyright holders like region coding because they want to control when movies are available in specific countries. (I assume because they can make more money if they sell the American, European, and Asian distribution rights separately.)
Movie collectors, however, hate region coding. Which is why I finally splurged on my region-free Blu-ray player. I bought my first Region B discs online at Foreign Exchange Blu-ray Imports, a neat store in Culver City, California with reasonable prices and an online catalog. (You can check them out on Facebook here.) I picked up Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s adaptation of the opera Tales of Hoffmann from StudioCanal and the Vincent Price camp horror classic The Abominable Dr. Phibes from Arrow Video.
While I’m thrilled that I can now watch movies unavailable to the majority of casual viewers in the United States, I still hope and pray for Region A releases of the following five gems, both for simplicity’s sake and to better keep these films accessible to future appreciative audiences.
Martin, 1978, directed by George A. Romero
Martin is a disturbing little film shot in the Pittsburgh suburbs about a maybe-vampire teenage boy, who looks an awful lot like a Sprouse twin. (So maybe Cole and Dylan are the real vampires?) With black and white fantasy sequences, the gruesome reality of Martin’s vampiric conquests contrasts with his internal, romanticized version of events.
Arrow Video released a Region B DVD a few years ago, though it’s now out of print. Diabolik DVD had a Japanese Region A disc available for a time, though it sold out quickly. I hope that Martin’s copyright hell freezes over, because I would freak out for a Region A Blu-ray that I don’t have to scramble to pre-order online before it sells out. In the meantime, you can watch the movie on YouTube until legal means become available:
undefined
youtube
Napoleon, 1927, directed by Abel Gance
I probably could write several articles about the various silent films no longer available on disc in North America. (I’m still waiting for the latest restoration of Mauritz Stiller’s Saga of Gosta Berling to make its physical media debut, now that the Kino Lorber DVD is out of print.) I am planning to invest in the BFI’s Region B Blu-ray of Abel Gance’s Napoleon sooner rather than later, both because of its historical significance and the care that went into restoring it. Kevin Brownlow, film historian and author of such tomes as The Parade’s Gone By…, spent 20 years painstakingly piecing Napoleon back together and continues to discover and restore missing scenes to this day. Gance shot the final reels of Napoleon using innovative Polyvision technology, which means that the film requires three projectors to play three separate reels side-by-side for the ultimate in widescreen presentation.
undefined
youtube
Isadora, 1968, directed by Karel Reisz
I only watched the biopic Isadora thanks to a Korean copy available at my once-upon-a-time local video store in South Pasadena, Videotheque. (Visit them online here.) The sound was a bit shrill, but the image looked decent and I still enjoyed the stunning performance from a young Vanessa Redgrave as the groundbreaking dancer Isadora Duncan. The movie also features a cameo from early Hollywood star Bessie Love as Isadora’s mother.
undefined
youtube
Isadora would make a great double feature with the more recent film, The Dancer, giving a contrasting depiction of what it personally means to be an artist and a dancer: for Isadora, it’s a fancy-free attitude and imagination, for Loie Fuller, it was back-breaking work and determination. (Though Lily Rose Depp as Isadora is a disgrace, Soko slays as Loie Fuller.) I’m unaware of any plans to make Isadora widely available in North America, but you can find clips on YouTube to get a taste of what we’re missing out on.
undefined
youtube
The Devils, 1971, Ken Russell
I won’t go into much detail on this movie, because you can already read about my previous experience with The Devils here. The BFI sells a special edition DVD on their website and several streaming platforms offer it to stream intermittently, like the Criterion Channel and Shudder, but America has yet to see an official DVD or Blu-ray release of Ken Russell’s controversial tale of religious hysteria and hypocrisy.
Leather Boys, 1964, Sidney J. Furie
I saw Leather Boys at Cinefamily (before I found out it was a haven for abusers), followed by a Q&A with the director, who blessed our ears with wisdom like, “The sun is the enemy of art,” when encouraging aspiring filmmakers to shoot in cloudy locations. Leather Boys grapples with marriage and sexual identity issues in a gentle way while also making room for the audience to laugh at the naivety and passion of adolescence. I returned home that night eager to share the film with others. Unfortunately, I was not able to find it available anywhere on physical media. I’m not above watching a movie free online when I have no other options, but I’m both a movie lover and collector and can’t stand that I can’t add Leather Boys to my collection, to rewatch at my leisure and share with my friends and family. Luckily, someone uploaded it to YouTube and you can watch the whole film here:
undefined
youtube
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
tracorguru
Untitled
everlasting-adoration
Worship Tsukasa Tenma! ☆
virally-yours
Tomorrow Belongs to Me
catwmn
Untitled
daticijiwud
Untitled