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#the king >>>>> literally everything else ive listened to this week
i am Obsessed with the vibes of rosendale’s new album. i WILL be leeching them for goddess touched because they are nearly identical in tone
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giorno-plays-piano · 3 years
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Vicious
Part IX
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Pairing: Steve x reader, Bucky x reader, Thor x reader, Loki x reader, Peter x reader
Warnings: yandere, obsession, stalking, possessiveness, theft, all characters are adults.
Words: 1574.
Summary: Transferring to Stark Academy that has only allowed to take in female students last semester, you realize you are just one of three young women among hundreds of students. Your things are constantly being stolen, and soon you begin fearing for your safety.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V |  Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII
________
You didn't know what else to say, feeling ashamed. Who cared about your family circumstances? Definitely not Steve Rogers, a man you met just a couple of weeks ago and who knew nothing about you. Why did you say something like that in the first place?
You didn't wanna look at his face and see him feeling guilty because he didn't know how to comfort you. You didn't need to be comforted. You didn't need anything at all. It was just a simple cold, right?
Despite that, you suddenly started talking from beneath your blankets, "I have a younger brother. When he was born, we found out he was having severe asthma. His childhood was terrible, he had constantly been sick, I remember him being in and out the hospital all the time. Of course, because of his condition, my parents spent most of the time with him. He was just a little sick kid."
You hated yourself for talking, for showing something to Steve he shouldn't have known because he wasn't your friend, but you couldn't force yourself to stop.
"On the other hand, I am lucky to have good health. I didn't really got very sick, so, well, I didn't need help like my brother. So, I'm used to taking of myself. I'm a big girl, I don't need my mom to dance around me just because I have a cold."
Of course, you didn’t. You were perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, and even of Steve didn't show up, you'd be alright by yourself. You'd just take your acetaminophen, and then everything would be ok.
You kept silent, staring at the inside of the blanket and wishing Steve would just disappear, leaving you to your misery. You didn’t see his face, and you were glad you didn't. What he must think about you? That you were craving for his attention like a spoiled kid? Shit, it was so embarrassing. You were an adult, for goodness sake!
"I don't know about you, but when I had a flu sachet, it would make me fall asleep really quick. And when I was feeling sleepy, I would start thinking about the things I loved most because I hoped I would see them in a dream." Instead of feeling ever more ashamed, you listened to Steve's soft voice and thought you were lucky it was him being here with you now. "It actually worked, and I have been having my best dreams when I was asleep, sick. What are the things you love most?"
Surprised, you looked up at him and saw the most gentle expression on a face of a guy you had ever met. Why did he look at you like that? Why was there no pity on his face? Why was it making you cry like you were a ten year old kid? Before he could see anything, you hid beneath the blanket again and kept silent for a couple of moments to calm down.
"I love lemon pies my grandma used to make me, and her garden. She had tomatoes and cabbage and strawberries that smelled like summer. I loved watering them nearly every day because I thought I was a little forest witch who lived in her pretty cottage in the woods."
You didn't know why you were telling him this, but Steve has a strange effect on you. Or was it cold? You had no idea, but it didn’t really matter. All you were thinking about was the way fresh tomatoes smell when you'd leaned down to water them, and the sound of bees flying above strawberry's flowers. Your grandma was taking care of her cabbage - a very capricious guest in her garden - and you could hear her working, cursing grandpa for making the patches too wide in that funny voice of hers. Then she'd stood up, wiped the sweat with the back of her hand, and called you to come back to the cottage because if was time for dinner. You'd run to wash your hands in a barrel of water near the big apple tree when grandma didn't see, and soon you were sitting with her, eating her famous cabbage soup and then having a piece of a lemon pie because you worked so well today.
You could almost feel the taste on the tip of your tongue.
By the time you woke up, Steve was long gone: it was the middle of the night, and instead of him you saw a thermos with a still warm chicken soup on a chair, waiting for you. He sent you a message that you could call him at any time of the day - or night - and that he wanted you to have a bit more sleep to get better. After you had a few more sips of his soup, you fell asleep again, feeling warm and fuzzy.
_______
The weekend went fast. It was the first time in several years you spent so much time in bed. Steve kept appearing at your door from time to time with a new bags of food despite you telling him you had your own, but he always insisted you should it something fresh and warm. Surprisingly, he wasn't the only one at your door: Thor suddenly showed up with his whole team, bringing you notes for the upcoming exams they collected altogether, apparently. Loki sent you a message if you needed anything, and Peter left contacted you on Instagram, leaving you links to games you could play so you wouldn't feel bored. Even Bucky gave you a call, asking if he could come and give you a few packs of Neo Citran for your cold, but you kindly refused: Steve literally brought you a yearly supply of this.
It was strange. Of course, when you were in high school, your friends grew worried about you when you had been sick, but there was nothing else to it. Wasn't it always like this? Nobody came to see you. Nobody brought you soup or gave you meds or anything. Despite feeling embarrassed, you realized you actually liked it when somebody was close to you like that. It was comforting seeing Steve popping up and not having to worry about how pretty you looked: he laughed when he saw you getting all shy because you were in your pyjamas. He said he definitely didn't expect you laying on your bed in an evening gown.
Before you realized it, you were already getting better. It was just a cold, really. Soon your throat was no longer sore, and while you were still sneezing, your temperature dropped down to normal, so on Monday you were ready to come back to school as planned. Funny enough, you no longer cared if you passed your exams, having 100%. You didn’t talk about it with Steve, but Peter was laughing like crazy about that when you told him.
Funny. They no longer looked so scary to you. They were just a couple of boys, weren't they? Regardless all those scary rumors and stuff, they were just guys. Maybe they were weird and stupid and a little bit scary because you didn't know them, they were still alright. Thor said it to you, didn't he?
Monday was Bucky's day, so, once you were done dressing, he nocked at your door: you were feeling a bit shy, watching him in that leather jacket and torn jeans he kept wearing the whole year around, apparently. Barnes looked like a teenage girl's dream. He smelled like cigarettes - although he said he was trying to quit - and pinewood. Just like Thor, he liked to skip classes he didn't enjoy much, but he was smart enough to pass the exams. Funny enough, he had a motorcycle.
Again, you wondered how come girls weren't coming from a city on a bus just to go see him.
"Are you sure you’re feeling better?" He asked you softly. "You can stay home today."
"No, no, I'm perfectly alright, thank you! How are you?" Smiling, you closed the door and hid the key in your bag.
"I'm good, thank you."
He didn't speak much, but as you walked in silence, you thought it was comforting - not talking at all and feeling good about it. While Bucky looked like a scary biker, in fact, his calm and friendly demeanor only helped you relax around him. Besides, it was funny how students seemed to give him way whenever they saw him, and you thought if Steve was the King, then Bucky was the Knight.
Before you went into the your classroom, he suddenly stopped you, "Listen, I wanted to say I have your stuff."
You blinked, "What stuff?"
You didn't give him any of your stuff. Actually, after Steve gathered you all in the student council room, you only met Bucky this morning for the first time.
"The stuff those freaks took. Your... your clothes, I mean." He muttered under his breath, and you gaped at him.
Your underwear. He found your bra and panties those guys took from your room.
"Wait... how?" Staring at Bucky who, apparently, was feeling a bit embarrassed talking about it, you thought how on Earth he got those things.
There was only one way he could, right?
"Bucky, was it you who beat those guys?"
It took him a couple of seconds to turn his face to you and then sigh, "Yes, it was me."
_________
Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki  @helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin @inlovewiththefictionalcharacters @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @navegandoaciegas @rosalynshields @brattycherub @sllooney @angrythingstarlight @lookiamtrying @buckysbunny @stargazingfangirl18 @dillybuggg @literate-lamb @cosicas-cuquis @sarge-barnes-sir @buckybarnesplumwhore @jaysayey @megzdoodle @gotnofucks @lux-ravenwolf @ximebebx @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123 @sourpatchspinster @biiskuitx @stupendouslovegardener @iheartsebandchris @lovelydarkdaydream @soleil-dor @illyrianprincess @vampirestrawberries @goodgodimaweirdperson @frontmanash @freya-heya @yandematic @mariatietacapitu @d3monslust @maybesandohnos @ibeatuptwinks @mangobangi @nectav @whatever-happened-to-the-ducks @teabutnerdy ​ @srrymydood @crazylittlereader2474
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darealsaltysam · 4 years
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I WATCHED THE ELECTION RESULTS STREAM (once more, wilbur’s pov) AND OH GOD THIS IS PAIN
1. HOLY SHIT SCHLATT’S LAUGH NEVER FAILS TO DISSAPOINT 
2. god the banishment.... wilbur and tommy running into the woods through the night... niki being the only one to speak up against schlatt... tubbo being pulled into it all... GOD ITS SO GOOD WHY IS IT SO GOOD
3. techno’s tweet sounds like something that would be posted together with a promotional poster for a movie where a beloved character comes back, absolutely brilliant mr. blade
4. GOD THE WHOLE WALL SECTION. WILBUR SINGING, TALKING ABOUT HIS SON, NIKI SEEING HIM FROM THE DISTANCE AND HIM WALKING AWAY, GOD IT WAS ALL SO PERFECT ???????????
5. wilbur has trust issues aimed specifically at americans (and eret) because of everything that happened now, this poor boy cant even trust the blade 
6. “I’m gonna make schlatt pay for this”
7.  THEM PLANNING TO TAKE OFF THE UNIFORMS IS SO SAD BUT ITS ALSO SO IMPORTANT TO EVERYTHING GOD IM SCREAMING (also “i can’t go back to my old skin wilbur, it has schlatt’s suit and it HURTS”)
8. TECHNOBLADE IS GONNA TRAIN THE BOYS !!!!!!!!!!
9. wilbur trusting tommy with his diamond armor just shows how far theyve come... and... “i trust you, youre the best right hand man i could have ever asked for”, AAAAAAAAAAA
10. technoblade cant roleplay and hes just there with his monotone voice... i mean go off king, we stan a man whos done with all this shit and just wants to stab some people. and this quote of them talking about their past on the earthsmp specifically shows it;
tommy, all emotional: good talking to you again big man
techno:
techno: 
techno: didn’t we just talk yesterday?
11. EVERYONE’S REACTION TO TECHNO LOGGING ON IS GOLD, LIKE NIKI THERE IN CHAT GETTING ALL EXCITED KNOWING THERE’S A CHANCE FOR L’MANBURG I LOVE HER-
12. wilbur breaking down over the destruction of l’manburg while schlatt wanders below, with tommy pulling techno away and telling him to give wilbur space- god why is all of this so CINEMATIC? ITS JUST MINECRAFT-
13. SCHLATT SAYING HE’LL CHANGE THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY AND NIKI TELLING HIM HE CANT DO IT AND SCREAMING AND HIM TELLING HER TO SHUT UP IS AN ACTUAL MOVIE SCENE THIS IS A MOVIE THIS ISNT MINECRAFT ANYMORE THIS IS-
14. “you’re going to pay for this” - why did niki sound so menacing when she said that what the fuck?????????? i didnt know this pure little sunshine could do that????????????
15. manburg??? MANBURG????? 
MANBURG??????
16. “TECHNOBLADE STOP LOOKING AT THE FUCKING DOG”
17. just...
Wilbur: Tubbo, can you be my Hercules Mulligan?
Tubbo: I can get the information and then smuggle it! :D
Tubbo: I got that reference! :DDDD
18. the first time wilbur said something mean/aggressive to tommy in this stream was when he mentioned talking to schlatt.... like im sorry if that doesnt tell you everything you need to know about the relationships of these three i dont know what will
19. TECHNO POTATO FARM BOTTOM TEXT
20. quackity broke nihachu out of prison?????? are they on the same side???? could it be quackity realized that being by schlatt’s side is a bit more than he bargained for?????? the intrigue....
21. “this is what i listened to with jschlatt on what should have been his only night on this server” okay tommy COMING ON A LITTLE STONG THERE-
22. another gold quote...
Techno: If I see an opportunity to assassinate the president, do I take it?
Tommy: Yes!
Wilbur: No! Absolutely not!
Tommy: Right, of course not!
23. TYLER “NINJA” BLEVINS???? THE TYLER “NINJA” BLEVINS???? ON DA DREAMSMP IN A WEEK?????? 
24. wilbur calling the country manburg and immediately throwing up is about what i expected from this “peace talk” 
25. wilbur i know you have trust issues now but if you don’t risk techno on your side you will literally die there is no other outcome to this honey please let yourself be helped jfc
26. the gang desperately trying to come up with a name while low-key getting sad over loosing l’manburg and techno just in the background going “if that’s our name im switching sides” and “my standards are low but not that low” has energy i cant quite place but i love it
27. pogtopia it is i guess????
28. tommy and wilbur getting straight up dreamsmp war ptsd when they found the bunker they hid in is some, once more, movie-tier stuff. i mean, what else to do when the heroes are already down than to beat them down further?
29. “go potato boy go!!!” 
30. god this whole stream was.... such a ride... holy shit... and this is only the START of this new arc??????? BOY I AM HYPED. like, MORE HYPED THAN IVE EVER BEEN FOR ANY SMP BEFORE
on another note... the new guy, huh? that must have been a wild ride for your first day on the smp.... hope you stick around, hbomb
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johannesviii · 3 years
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This is a long post about Shaman King I started to write ages ago and I don’t have a good title for it
Let me tell you about Shaman King for a few minutes, okay. Because the new anime adaptation is coming in like 3 months and I’m still not ready for it. Also I started to write this post 5 years ago just because I re-read the whole thing at the time and it’s been in my drafts since then. Oops
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But yeah Shaman King was the very first fandom I got into when I first had a real internet access, around 2003-2004. I was around fifteen. The manga was still going. And in retrospect, it was full of problems. Among other things:
Not enough female characters & questionable choices for most of the ones who actually have a part to play in the plot
A black character drawn with big lips (see above), and I REALLY HOPE this is gonna get fixed in the new anime ; I mean even the author stopped drawing him like that a few years ago when he did the “remix tracks” extra chapters so come on please
An imaginary native american tribe who, while pretty cool, is still imagined by a Japanese dude in 1999 soooo yeah there’s some rough corners here and there (edit: got some anon hate about that but I'm sorry, "ancient aliens" tropes always make me uncomfortable)
An art quality which gets worse and worse over time due to deadline pressures and an increasingly exhausted author
Was stopped before it could reach its natural conclusion (the author drew an actual ending years later and tbh it’s great so I’m putting this very low on the list)
So yeah. Manga from 1999. Problematic. Aged badly. It happens.
BUT.
In retrospect, most of it is such a kick in the metaphorical butt of shonen manga as a whole I can’t believe it was competing against Naruto and One Piece at some point?? Like
It’s a shonen so it plays the "dramatic and sudden power jump” game, but it uses it to reach a surprising conclusion (in the “new” ending I mean)
Most of the characters are “shamans” which means they can see ghosts and spirits, and they use them to fight, to work, or to help other people. This is a manga in which you’re gonna see a Russian shaman channeling a Vodyanoy spirit into a drum to create a torrential flood. You don’t see that in every manga
It’s stated right away that no shaman can be truely, irredeemably bad, because only good-natured people can see ghosts and spirits.
So, no matter how bad a villain may be, they must have had a good nature once even if they look like a complete bastard at the moment.
How far is the author willing to go with that concept? Pretty far
Even without talking about the main villain and how the story ends because, duh, spoilers... Like
My favorite character, who gets a full redemption arc later, cuts someone open in his first chapter
He’s one of the good guys 10 volumes later
Speaking of which the amount of gore in this manga has to be seen to be believed, Jump would never let this happen nowadays
If you’re wondering why this is in the “positive” (......?) list it’s because I was 14/15 and all kids that age crave blood and angst
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The main character, Yoh, pictured above, is very laid-back, and I mean very. He listens to the in-world equivalent of Bob Marley and constantly wears big headphones. Also he wears sandals, and sometimes there’s a weed leaf drawn on his t-shirt
His parents arranged a mariage between him and a girl shaman even though they’re still teenagers, so this would have potential for High Drama - but surprisingly enough it turns out they like each other and after that he just goes around saying “this is my future wife” and she’s like “hello if you touch him I’m going to end you”
It sounds weird and it......... is, tbh, but it’s also refreshing among all the “ugh, girls, yuck” tropes that nearly all shonen mangas used to have at the time
Yoh’s main goal in life is to live with minimal effort
When his grandfather tells him he must train to participate in a shaman tournament which happens every 500 years, because the winner gets a wish granted by the Great Spirit, he decides his wish will be to make everybody’s life easy so that nobody will ever be forced to work or do shit they don’t want to do to survive anymore
Yoh Asakura is a Millenial icon don’t @ me
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Speaking of which
Almost everyone in this series is broke as f█ck
Yoh owns a big house but that’s only because the price was ridiculously low since it’s the most haunted place in Tokyo and nobody else wants to live there. The house is constantly full of other characters (including enemies) who have literally nowhere else to go
The only important character who isn’t broke has money because his family is super rich but he hates all of them because they’re all bastards so it’s super awkward
Another character bought a really cool motorbike but he’s going to be in debt for the next 40 years
Also he’s a hobo
And also bi
What I’m trying to say is: relatable
Also the tournament is held by an imaginary Native American tribe. They’re also broke. All of them. The two judges who are in charge of the main characters live in a cramped appartment and often try to sell souvenirs in the street to pay the rent
I know that’s hashtag problematic but I still love them I can’t help it
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Just like in most shonen mangas the hero seems to amass a big collection of Friends but since everyone is a weirdo in a way or another and comes from all over the world it looks even funnier
At some point during the tournament, the main characters have to form small groups of three in order to participate to the next part. Yoh’s team is one of the strongest teams among the ones we’ve met at this point, and is composed of 1) Yoh, a laid-back sleepy kid wearing toilet sandals 2) the aforementioned bi hobo who’s sad because his current crush is in a rival team, and 3) a thirty-something tatooed guy with no legs and an IV drip and who looks like he hasn’t slept since 1997
Oh and they all wear adds for a bath house
Because remember: everyone’s f█cking broke
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Spoilers for the mid-point of the manga but I need to talk about it because it encapsulates everything I used to love in it
You’ve been warned
So
At some point the main character, Yoh, is asked to choose between staying in the tournament or resurrect his rival
This is framed as some kind of very heavy, very huge dilemma. Like oh no what will he do. Will he give up his dreams and hopes. Will You Push The Button(tm)
So the choice is presented to him
In a very dramatic way
And he immediately goes “there’s a way to save him?? YES PLEASE”
He doesn’t hesitate a single second and drops the tournament in a heartbeat to save the guy
This scene greatly contributed to make me a better person I’m not even joking at all
I love Yoh
So anyway I don’t have a proper conclusion for this
Shaman King is very flawed and its flaws need to be acknowledged to fully appreciate all the good things in it, and the “old” fandom from more than 15 years ago was a very good formative experience for me because the forum I was on (which was nuked from the face of the internet by a hacker “looking for training grounds” (his words not mine, he posted it on our frontpage a full week before he did it) in 2005, rip) was full of people who were really into criticising every little aspect of the manga but still loved it dearly
And I think that’s a healthy way to enjoy things and I think we should bring this back
Anyway
Shaman King extremely flawed but full of good things
I still can’t believe it’s back
Johannes out
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goose-books · 3 years
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goose-books productions: a 2020 review
view the image in higher quality here! (open the image in a new tab to zoom in.) thank you to my dearest @yvesdot for the template
transcripts and month-by-month details under the cut! for reference, you can find my projects here :-) overall, new and old followers, thank you for another good year over here! [holds your hand] [holds your hand] [holds your hand] [holds your h
january
i spent late 2019-early 2020 working on 2019’s nano project, quark, aka the speculative fiction thing about new york city and prophets and dissections of the chosen one trope and gay people. quark is my second-oldest project (five years!), but it’s also probably the most ambitious, so it’s been... difficult to wrangle into place, and i didn’t end up finishing a first draft. oh, well.
enjoy a snippet that is devastatingly emblematic of everything about quark. the tone. the homoerotic tension. the ensemble cast all talking over each other. the fact that caelum has spent pretty much this entire scene crying. fun autopsy report meeting.
Marble stares at the notebook in Shade’s hands. Or maybe he’s staring at Shade’s hands. Dawn feels a little voyeuristic, so she does what she does and says a dumb and unrelated thing: “Augustus, I think this pizza-on-the-floor thing is hurting my ass.”
Augustus flutters his hands. “Sometimes nonconformity is painful.”
“At least we’re originals,” Caelum mumbles into his sleeve.
“Exactly,” Augustus says.
“True originality doesn’t exist,” Marble says.
“Oh,” Shade deadpans, “it’s going to be a fun autopsy report meeting.”
It isn’t.
february
in january i stressed myself out trying to make the plot of quark work. so in february, i decided to take some time and write something Entirely For Fun. like, entirely for fun, no rules. and. my god. how do i explain the project i started calling “third eye for the bad guy.”
it was an unholy mashup of many of my past hyperfixations, including the gone series, a tale of two cities, warrior cats, and the left hand of darkness. one of the characters was a canon scalie and one was a canon fictionkinnie. it centered around a polycule of wannabe-evil-overlord high schoolers. i only wrote like three chapters but i was lost in the sauce for all of february and then i just… like… wiped it from my mind and moved on? somehow??? one character was a werewolf and that literally wasn’t relevant at ALL
I.
Someone was going to die on these steps.
This had been Ivy Lee Palomo’s thought last year during the all-school photo, and it rose in her mind again now. The one hundred marble stairs leading up to the great double doors of Saint Constantine Academy were the school’s pride and glory, steep as the mountain, sharp as the blade under Ivy Lee’s skirt. With the cutting wind and snow glazing the stone more often than not, with the freshmen wild and wired on their first day of their first year, it was really only a matter of time before someone slipped and cracked their fucking head open.
It wasn’t going to be her. Not when she had Doc Martens and reflexes like an electric coil. Still. Ivy Lee didn’t want to watch someone die. She didn’t get along with dead people.
march
in march, i got back to the project i’d started in 2019 - AMT, my podcast! it’s a shakespeare retelling set in a modern high school; this excerpt is funnier and also more unnerving in context. (double, double, toil and trouble...)
INDRAJIT: What the hell are you doing?
[PAUSE.]
DEE (like she’s lying): Making pasta.
[ALL THREE OF THEM LAUGH.]
NONA: That’s right.
MORA: We have the keys to Mab’s office.
DEE: We’re using her stove.
NONA: To make pasta.
DEE: Do you want some?
[A TENSE PAUSE.]
INDRAJIT: No.
april
and darkling rears its head! all of my other projects have existed for at least a year; darkling (specfic king lear retelling) is... special. it was conceived in april, when i started hyperfixating on king lear, and i still managed to write an absolutely ridiculous amount of content for it. it was like the power of hyperfixation let me speedrun the entire process. which. okay.
iv: control
They say Cressida Stayer was nine years old when she turned her hair to gold. They laid her down in bed blonde, and the next morning, the waves cascading down her shoulders were solid metal, glinting harshly in the sunlight, weighing her down, creating that odd head-cocked expression she still wears now. Nine years old. Two or three years before most people develop enough magic skills to dye a single curl. Much less transfigure their hair into precious metal.
People also say Leovald Stayer’s immediate reaction was to hack it off her head and melt it down for cash. But generally they say that part a lot quieter.
may
in may i wrote AMT episode 15, by which i mean that in may there was a day when i sat in my room with the door shut for literally five straight hours listening to the same three songs on loop as i wrote the climax of one of the plotlines of AMT. so. that sure was… a day.
ISAAC: Do you want… do you want someone to drive you home? Hawk, you’re worrying me -
HAWK (almost cutting him off): Don’t. Don’t say that. I’m here to help. With your… thing.
ISAAC (quietly): I… don’t know if you should be here to see this.
HAWK (a little louder, more audibly upset): Well - what else am I going to do? Go home and - and have my dads talk at me and - and not be able to answer them? Because I can’t? I can’t. I don’t know what to say.
[PAUSE.]
ISAAC (V.O.): I wonder if this is what he feels like, on the outside, looking in at me. Watching someone else hurting. Helpless and afraid.
He still fits perfectly in my arms. I rest my chin on top of his head and pull him close to me, like I can stop him from shaking, like I can stop anything from happening the way I know it’s going to. I bury my face in his hair. He smells so familiar. He’s so warm.
God, Hawk. I love you so much. You shouldn’t be here to see this. Something bad’s gonna happen. And you’re not the kind of person who belongs in a tragedy.
june
okay, honestly, i should talk about “night shift” here, because in june i wrote a whole short story in one night (and then foamed over it for a week), but i am still in the process of submitting it places! so i am terrified to put even a sentence of it online. instead: the other thing i did this month was to finish AMT! (sixteen episodes and somewhere around 175k, iirc, but don’t quote me.) these lines are the opener to the final episode!
RAHMA (V.O.): The combined series of sophomore year disasters stretched through November. It’s June now. It’s taken me… a long time to get this all put together. I was going to make a vlog about it, initially - well, calling it a vlog sounds frivolous. I was going to make a video recounting the whole deal. All of it. From when I kissed Avery Fairchilde to the very last night. I scripted dozens of drafts; I put together dozens of bullet-pointed lists of what to cover… and it was never enough. Because Avery and I weren’t the only ones involved. Even if I was only focused on the two of us, it wasn’t just the two of us.
So… I gathered up everyone else. The whole town of Ellisburg is still talking about the week the town went crazy, but it wasn’t just a week. There was a lot leading up to it. And I think if anyone’s going to talk about it, it should be us. The people who lived it. So here we are. The most ambitious Rahma Ashiq production of all time - at least so far.
july
every july i pause whatever else i’m doing to celebrate the birthday of aurum & argentate, twins from my oldest and dearest WIP The Mortal Realm. july fifteenth! mark your calendars. they’re princes, though argentate would really rather not be; you can read the full birthday piece here.
“Do you… plan to get dressed?” A bit of the usual humor crept back into Aurum’s voice. “Although if you want to speak to the kingdom in your underthings, by all means, you have my full support.”
Argentate scrubbed at his face. He wasn’t dressed, no, but the usual malaise hung over his shoulders like a cloak. Guilt. Nerves. The sick sense that he hadn’t done something he was supposed to. The numb knowledge that it was too late to change a thing.
“I meant to,” he said. “Get dressed, I mean.” The rest went unsaid: I have just been sitting here. On the floor. Thinking about how I should get dressed.
“Ah,” Aurum said, extending his hand. “The traditional route. We’ll save the nude speeches for the future, then.”
Argentate took his hand, stumbling a little as Aurum pulled him to his feet. He steadied himself on the closest wall, taking a few deep breaths. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. His hands found their way to the cross, again and again.
august
this summer, i wrote an entire draft of Valentine Van Velt is Dead, AKA “holden caulfield goes to exposure therapy,” AKA the weird little personal side project i keep tucked into my coat. interesting features include second-person narration from a narrator who doesn’t like the main character all that much. so reading it is kind of like the book wants to kill you? with an added dash of general melancholy.
You used to live here. That’s the thing that’s got you feeling so off.
You didn’t recognize your old house. I mean, you kind of did. You remembered that the road was on a hill. That hill felt like a goddamn forty-five degree angle when you were a kid. But if you didn’t have the address written down you wouldn’t have known it at all. It would have been just another little suburban house in rows of perfect little towns that make your skin crawl.
So now you’re in this diner looking out a gross smudgy window trying to block out the elevator music pumping through the speakers in the ceiling or whatever. I don’t know how speakers work. You’re trying to tune that shit out. The waitress comes over and catches you by surprise so you just point at some coffee thing on the menu so she’ll go away. For the record: you don’t drink coffee.
There’s a public library across the street. A little square building. You probably used to go there. The lady comes over and thunks your coffee on the table and gives you a kind of look, like she wants to know what in the goddamn hell you think you’re doing here and not at school. You sip your coffee and look out the window until she leaves you alone again. And then you spit it back into the cup because, for the record: you don’t drink coffee.
september
i spent september and october prepping for nano, so i was mostly working on darkling...
It’s late spring; still, at this time of night, on a rooftop, there’s a chill. The wind plays with the end of Ruby’s coat, with her hair. She hands the bottle off to Jasper, stares up at the fogged-over sky, wishes she were lying in Dany’s arms in Dany’s bed instead of here. Wishes, even, that Dany were the one on the roof with her. At least then they’d be cold together. At least then she wouldn’t have to imagine what Dany would say; she could just listen, and watch Dany’s flashing smile and her flinty eyes.
(She cuddles. This is another thing Dany does that Dany probably shouldn’t do, based on everything about Dany; it’s not like rattlesnakes cuddle. But Dany likes to nuzzle into Ruby’s side and rest her head on Ruby’s collarbones and toss an arm over Ruby’s chest, and hold her down like she’s worried she’ll float off somewhere. She’ll card her fingers through Ruby’s hair and hum. Even though they could get caught, even though she’s probably got better places to be - Dany cuddles.)
Ruby imagines it, momentarily, both of them on the roof together, sprawled like horrifyingly beautiful gargoyles, sharp teeth flashing, blood running hot. Up here - it’d be like they ruled the world.
But whatever. Jasper’s fun. He’s hot. He’s got a sharp tongue in a lot more ways than one. And she likes when he lets the mask down. She likes seeing the soft bits underneath. She wants to sink her teeth and nails into them so hard she draws blood. Masks don’t bleed. Ruby would know; that’s why she is what she is.
october
...though i was also in creative writing class in school, and thus ended up writing a bunch of poems of varying quality (my teacher had a real thing for poetry) and also one darklingverse short story where rory and cressida hold hands! which you can find here.
Lorelai Rory Flowers is afraid of thunder.
This is a bit of an embarrassing thing to admit, as they’re seventeen (“at least seventeen,” they like to tell people, “maybe two hundred, who’s to say?”) and generally wise beyond their years, or whatever it is that adults say about kids with too much psychological baggage. Being afraid of thunder is not a very wise-beyond-one’s-years trait. And yet the state of affairs remains: loud noises make Rory want to melt into the earth. Back when they still went to school, even the fire alarm sent them scuttling under their desk to hide.
Right now, in the elevator, all they can do is shrink into their sweater.
They haven’t let go of Cressida’s hand yet.
november
and then november of course was nano which was an adventure all the way through. (opening tumblr on the fifth day of nano to find out about d*stiel... was something.)
“Apologize to me. Or get out of my house.”
Gracen’s voice is very, very low. For a moment she thinks he hasn’t heard her at all. Then he spins, eyes blazing. “What did you say?”
Gracen watches her own chest heave. She pushes herself up off the desk, stands with the effort of pushing a mountain off of her back. Leovald is six-foot-four. Gracen is six-foot-two. In her heels, in the heels she must wear to be a professional woman, to be a lady - they are the same height.
Gracen wipes her nose. When she lowers her arm, there’s a streak of blood across the back of her hand. Fire shivers in her chest; her heart rings in her ears; her voice could cut steel.
“I said,” she says, low, slow, volume building, “apologize to me. Or get. Out. Of. My. House.”
december
and finally, the poem i posted this year! it’s called the beast sonnet, and you can find it in its own post over here (with commentary! how sexy.)
i kill the beast and drop down to my knees, my blade stained dark with blood of stygian hue, and for a moment these scarred hands shake free, and hold a world unfurled for me anew. but once-mourned victims, victors, vices find; fear winged me; now its absence strips me bare. my sword now dulls, my legs, my voice, my mind; the beast, pried from my throat, leaves no skill there. and still i hear it laugh, O DEVOTEE— O CHILD DEAR, NO GLORY WITHOUT ME.
i was quite productive this year; i have to think it was because i was avoiding things... the peak of my productivity happened over the summer and in november, AKA, college app hell. (almost done with the last applications! pray for me.)
a general breakdown of what occupied me this year:
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(no, i don’t know why the “various other things” category ended up so large... i blame all the one-off projects i wrote a single page for, and also whatever the fuck happened in february. yes, i do know why it looks hideous; it’s because each of my WIPs has a theme color
thank you once again for spending some time at goose-books dot gov this year! what to expect for next year: well, i very much hope i can produce AMT... also hoping to get darkling ready for beta readers, so keep your eyes out!
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shooks-stupid-stuff · 3 years
Text
and now, it is time for me to look way too far into a video game ost title
note: this post’s formatting is gonna be all over the place lol, bare with me-
ok so disclaimers
1. this will contain spoilers and
2. my only experience with actual music analysis is a class i’ve been taking for 3 weeks so take any comments about the song itself with a grain of salt. 
ok we good? cool lets get into it.
one theme i’ve always adored from fire emblem echoes: shadows of valentia (which i will just refer to as sov from this point onwards for my sanity) is the actual battle theme for the fallen berkut fight.  like, not the map theme (the one that plays when you’re moving your characters and shit, though that one also slaps and i will might bring it up later?) but the theme that plays when you initiate combat with him.  it’s called “The Scions’ Dance in Purgatory”, and i’ll link it here incase you want to go listen to it yourself.  honestly for a while i’ve just wanted to over analyze some of the ost from sov, and since i’ve been hyperfixating on berkut lately figured i’d do this one first. so let’s get into it.
Part I.  Dancing
dancing is something that is shown to be strongly related to berkut on several occasions.  heck, the first time we see him he’s dancing with rinea, and throughout sov the times when we see berkut at what is probably his happiest is when he’s dancing (with the other time of note being the memory prism that shows him and rinea meeting for the first time).  that however, is not the case when it comes to the fight this theme is played during.  i guess you could argue that berkut, in his maddness, is happy he finally has the strength to... well, kill, alm once and for all, but,
he doesn’t. he looses.  at this point he only knows rage and a deluded sense of power.  if he feels happy at any time during this whole thing, it would probably be after his defeat. because he gets to see rinea again. 
however, i like to look at it for a completely different angle, as realistically fighting in itself is a dance, is it not?  both combat and dance require agility, strength and control, and looking at it this way gives a song title a whole other meaning.  it’s one final dance, and the first to falter will lose their life.  and i believe that the song reflects that: it’s a bit chaotic, reflecting berkut’s descent into maddness, but still sounds like a song you could dance to. it honestly feels like a natural progression of berkut’s other themes, Prince of Darkness and Pride and Arrogance, the latter of which is actually both the song berkut and rinea are dancing to in the aforementioned cutscene and berkut’s normal battle theme.  
i.... feel like i have more to say but idk what so i’m just gonna move on-
Part II. The Scions
now, this part of the title is quite obviously referring to alm and berkut, as they are the two heirs of the rigelian throne.  but, this is still really significant, as the fact that alm is the true heir is really what pushed berkut over the edge.  it’s honestly just sadly ironic that the latin (i think) lyrics in berkut’s first two themes both have lines referring to him as ‘the legitimate successor/king’ which like, oof man that feels bad.  but, i’m not writing a berkut character study (yet), so i’ll just leave it at that for now. im not sure what else i can really say on this without going off on a tangent so...
Part III. Purgatory
how many people are gonna get angry that i did these out of order
purgatory really could mean several things.  in this context, i think it’s less of a place and more of a mindset/headspace.  for berkut, this is purgatory.  he feels all alone, everything he thought he knew and built his life and goals on was a lie, and he gave up the one thing he had left.  his pride.  as soon as berkut gave in to duma’s madness, he was in purgatory.  a special hell, all created in his own mind due to his inability to handle the truth. the song itself (in my opinion) mirrors berkut in this state: the chaotic piano at the beginning his descent, the intense opera singing drilling in his madness, and the song itself feeling a bit erratic but still full of malice.  and yet, it all comes together to make a beautiful piece.  but, for berkut, this is purgatory.
Part IV: Conclusions
i’m going to be honest, i’m not completely sure that this post came out how i had initially planned.  i’ve probably accidentally left things out, or just have been incoherent at points.  not to mention that i wanted to look at the lyrics too, but go figure this is the only one of berkut’s themes i can’t find a translation for so screw me i guess.  but anyways, i absolutely adore this theme, and how both in title and in composition is perfectly portrays the battle between alm and berkut.  i... feel like i should add more here, but at this point i literally have forgotten everything i wanted to say so
song good
sov good
please play it
thank you for coming to my ted talk
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off-in-the-moors · 3 years
Text
TRC rewrite: Never to be finished scene
Part 3 of my K analyses is slowly eating me out, not in the “Oh, I can’t deal with this~“ but more writing block. While looking through material, I found this scene to the rewrite stuff I was doing. Like “You’ll be fine“, this was a removed scene I was writing for fun. It’s noting big but it plays with character dynamics.
Context: It’s somewhat beginning of TDT and the gang (minus Blue) is trying to figure-out something about the Cabeswater problem, until someone is mentioned.
Ronan loved the idea of summer vacations. To stay all night and watch the stars, to races until the engine over heats, to live, to burn, to finally be. Not school to bug him, no Declan to nag him. Just him and his dreams.
But the last thing he wanted, was to stay late into the night and think about the Cabeswater problem.
They sat around their crooked table, covered in the chaotic mess of Gansey's research and plans. Crinkled maps and strings tied and knotted into a web of secrets yet to uncover, crumbling books and tapes holding up their whole world. Gansey's world. Everything was connected and yet, nothing was.
Lighted only by the few small lamps they had moved from their rooms, the only non-artificial glow in the Manufacturing, they seem almost ancient but real. Too real for Ronan’s taste.
Above the scratched wooden surface, Gansey in his old-man's pajamas, tried to draw on the map of Henrietta a straight line for the fourth time. One and erase, two and erase. His fingers banged on the table between each try, just to do something productive.
Ronan's eyes followed the previous attempts, now faint on pale colors from erasing, trying to understand Gansey's thinking. He slouched down in his chair, burying his head and arms inside his oversized sleep-hoodie. He looked up at Gansey, tired and barely standing from lack of sleep.
One more attempt. A smile spread on his friend's face.
- Here. - he finally said, he's voice almost a whisper.
They could talk louder but didn't. Any louder and Gansey's splitting headache would return.
- If my calculations are right- - They probably aren't. - Ronan cut in, leaning back in his chair. He felt Chainsaw moving in his hood. - The main line goes through here. - he continued like he didn't hear anything. - So we need more. - More what? - Power.
Ronan rolled his eyes.
- It has power. - he grunted. -  It flows like it should. - But the forest is in half. Literal half. Not enough to be whole. - And how you want to get more from already awaken line? - By fixing it. Fixing the flow. - How?
Gansey blinked. He looked around for something and finally found Adam walking through the room with a mug.
- Adam? - Call Blue. - he walked pass them. - Adam.
He stopped and sighed.
He put down his mug on a cupboard, their drinking station, and when back to them.
It was Saturday night, the eve of Adam Parrish's freedom day. Still in his dirty jumpsuit, half-open and tied around his waist, and his wash-out red shirt, there was the rare relaxation in his posture. Tomorrow, he'll sit in his room and finish one of his borrowed books, or disappear in the morning and return for dinner.
But it was still today.
He pulled himself a chair and sat down. Crossing his arms on his chest, he tilted his head back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
No one made any sound, only the distend clock made its quiet ticks.
His body was motionless, frozen in place, with only his chest rising and falling.
Ronan could feel the unease in the air, he moved his eyes from Adam to Gansey.
Dick watched Adam carefully, rolling pencil in his hands, he was as worried as Ronan. Neither of them liked the idea of Adam and Cabeswater being connected in anyway. They didn't know what the forest was and how Glendower fit into it, but it was the only chance they had to find him.
Ronan glanced back at Adam, feeling anxiety building up inside him, slowly over flowing. He breath in, weeks old dust and used books, blooming mint plants and dried coffee stains. All familiar, all safe. But under it, leaking into the room, was something making his heartbeat dangerously pick up. The smell of fresh moss, evergreens and oaks, mushrooms hidden under mulch. The living and the decaying.
He felt Chainsaw climbed up and cuddling into his neck. He gently stroked her beak, shushing her and himself.
Suddenly, Adam's face twisted. Violently straight up in his sit, he opened his eyes and covered his left ear.
- Okay, okay. - he massaged his deaf ear. - That's enough. Thank you. Thank you. I'll tell them. Thank you, now hush.
Chainsaw cawed, moving even closer to Ronan's neck. He covered her with his hand. "Shh" he told her.
- Adam? - Gansey asked, reaching out to him. Adam raised his hand. He stood up, he's legs were shaking, and went to the cupboard. - It's the flow problem mostly, not enough energy to fully manifest. - he turned on the electric kettle. - Correcting it should partly do the trick. - But how to fix it? - We already know this, Parrish. - Ronan rolled his eyes. - Thanks for being late to the party. - I'm only repeating what it, wants to say, I think. - he stressed, massaging his ear again. - Christ, - he muttered. - Nine years of normal life, and now it's full of sleeping welsh men, magic lines and "Dude, my friend is a ghost!". No offence, Noah. - he said to the air.
Noah wasn't there, or he wasn't visible, or he was wondering around Henrietta. It was never sure with him, the only certain thing was: He was here.
- And - Adam continued. He pour some coffee and sugar in the mug. - I'm now a secretary of a talking forest. - Only nine? - Ronan grinned. - You know, - he scratched his cheek, sounding like he didn’t wanted to answer him. - I once believed in Easter Bunny. - Of all things, - he chuckled. - Easter Bunny? - Don't. - he pointed a spoon at him. - Don't tell me you dreamed the Easter Bunny. - Jeez, Parrish, I don't waste my sleep on kid stuff. - Yes, Easter Bunny, - Gansey bugged in. - But did you caught how to fix the line? - Gansey, - Adam said in a tone only a parent would. - Maybe I'll get you on the line with Mr. Waters to talk it over some tea and try to decipher a hive of voices and rustling, I barely understand, yourself? - So, no? - No clue.
The kettle clicked.
Adam pour it into his mug and stir. Without thinking, he stuck his two fingers into a pot of one of the mint plants.
He sighed.
- Gansey, did you water the mints like I asked you?
He paused. Hovering over the maps, he thought for a long bit, just to answer:
- When was it?
Adam shook his head and grabbed a bottle of water.
- Dicky, - Ronan pretended to be offended. - Not even Richard Mentha Gansey IV? How can you treat your son like that? - Ronan. - At least, Sargent Pepper is getting better. - announced Adam. He rubbed a leaf between his finger. - No more sugar for you. - he whispered to it. - So, - Ronan turned to Gansey. - Back to square one? - No, no, we're not. - he protested, grabbing his journal and flipping pages rapidly. - There are still leads we didn't check, like if the type of shells mean anything or the lake- - For fucks sake, Dick, - he grunted. - We have time- - No, we don't. In few days, I'm off to my parent with Adam and you with Blue have your problems. Tomorrow we- - You, Dick, you. - he corrected him. - I'm going to church and to a family dinner. Blue has her family time. Adam- - I'm busy. - Adam admitted. - Adam has "me time". Maybe ask Noah but I'm doubting he wants to spend his time with you in a library. Chill, Glendower is not going anywhere.
Gansey looked him in the eyes, something inside him crashed and couldn't recover. Ronan knew, Glendower was his life work, to find him, to see the magic and mystery. Ever since they knew each other, he never cared about the wish, he wanted to know, why he survived.
He sat down and laid his head on his arms, sighing. Tired and defeated. His King was crumbling before his eyes.
Maybe... he could just dream him a new one?
- There is something else. - Adam interrupted them. - But I don't understand it. - What? - Gansey asked, looking up and grinning like a idiot. - Cabeswater was repeating something. - he continued. - But I don’t... It sounded something like... Ag draenáil? - Ag what? - Draining. - said Ronan. They both looked at him. - It's Irish. - And "se" or "ef". - HE. - Ronan and Gansey shot at once. - So, somebody is draining the power.
Adam and Gansey looked at Ronan. Chainsaw cawed, backing up in the hood.
- I don't know. - he moved his head to the sides. - Maybe. Who knows? It would make some sense, I'm sure it isn't coming from nowhere, but even if, I haven't dream anything in few days. - Ronan. - Adam's voice was flat but yet demanding. - I swear. - Lynch. - The last thing I dreamed was a made up Blink-182 album for Noah. - You never listen to them. - Gansey reminded him. - How did it turn out? - Well, it was a weird mash-up of Twenty One Pilots and Maroon 5. - Dear Lord. - he groan. - It wasn't that bad. - That's all? - Adam pushed. - Mostly yes.
He didn't want to talk about the nightmares, nor the car keys, or the dead bugs and papers. Patches of asphalt between moss and the feeling of burning. Of wanting to burn...
- So, it's not you. Mostly.
Gansey slapped his hands on the table. He and Adam flinched.
- He. - he pointed at a box, standing next to the front door.
Ronan swallowed. The box was full of fake IDs, leather bracelets and campaign badges announcing "They can't lick our Dick" and "We like Dick". Perfect forgeries. They weren't for him, well not in that sense, it was a warning for Gansey. Or rather a reminder, that he only understood a fraction of him and dreaming.
- Kavinsky? - Ronan asked like he didn't know. - And who else? He surely knows his stupid parties are effecting my- our quest. - he corrected himself. - He's doing everything to spite me. - He likes your reactions. - he tried not to smile. - He is a... - he bite his tongue. - Arrogant, doofus, thinking he's the King of Henrietta, like life is just a music video. The next thing I know, he'll be selling his stupid drugs to the police officers- - Gansey, - Adam scolded him flatly. Not even turning to face them, he continued. - Stop talking about Joseph, like he's the devil incarnated. The worst he does, is his parties. All he talks about is cars and races, races and cars, cocktails and surprisingly, classical literature. - he paused. - But anyways, he's not interested in Glendower, I would even argue, he doesn't even know who Owain Glyndŵr is.
Both Ronan and Gansey stayed silent, as their friend drank his coffee.
- You know Kavinsky? - Ronan shot. Something wasn't right. - Know him?
Adam turned to them, slowly sipping his drink. He looked tired, it wasn't something new but Ronan could swear there was something else in his gaze.
- Yes. - You're joking, - Gansey chuckled but smile quickly disappeared. - Right? - How? - Ronan couldn't comprehend it. - Didn't saw you and him be buddy-buddy at school- - Nor you. - Adam rolled his eyes. - Or you're not saying something, Parrish. - Ronan. - Gansey warned him.
Their eyes meet, blue and grey. The boiling water and the rain-clouds. Ronan didn't know why he was getting angry, there was nothing to get angry about. He felt Chainsaw pulling on his collar, trying to distracted him.
- If you’re so... curious, he always comes to the garage at the end of my shift. - he was calm. - His Mitsubishi beat up or missing some parts. Or just wanting to talk. - he shrugged, tacking a sip. - Quite an asshole. I get why you like him. - I don't! - Ronan. - Gansey whimpered, covering his head with his hands. - Please, don't yell. - Anyways, - Adam continued, unbothered. - He's fine. What, Lynch? Surprised, I know people?
He couldn't articulate his thought, they were racing each other.
A blur.
- Not him. Anyone, but him. He's dangerous and fucking reckless, Parrish, what if he gets you in trouble at school? You can already wave your scholarship bye-bye. Or shit, with police? You'll be weight-off all your jobs, have to sell Noah's Mustang to pay off everything and than get kick out of Aglionby. You can't be friends with him!
Adam flinched a bit but remained calm. He raised an eyebrow, glaring at him.
- What a hypocrite. - he slammed the mug down. Gansey groaned even louder. - Listen, Lynch. Let me decide, who I'm friends with. I know, what I'm doing, I know the risk. - But- - But what? - he cut in. - Pissed that Joseph isn't just yours little secret?
Ronan didn't response. Squeezing the table's edge, his knuckles when pale, he could barely sit in place. Chainsaw buried herself into his neck, cawing softly she was doing her best to keep him calm.
He hated that Adam's face didn't change, they could as well be talking about the weather with his melancholic expression. Understand, understand, he didn't understand a thing.
- You won't answer me? - Adam asked, tilting his head. - Fine. - he shrugged, crossing his arms. - As you wish. Don't worry, I won't replace you. - Oh, I don't fucking care! - he exploited, storming out of his sit. He stopped in front of Adam. - It isn't about me! I don't want him near you!
Adam flinched at his outburst. Angered flashed on his face.
- Is that so? - his voice was shaky, but he kept going. - Or do you don't want me near him? - Either way is fine! - Why does it matter? - Because your life matters!
Silence.
They all looked at each other, the unspoken words hanging between them.
Adam opened his mouth but quickly closed it, his eyes glossy. He sighed.
- You also matter.
They all jumped.
Noah appeared on the counter next to Adam, his face serious.
- And he. - he added, looking straight at Ronan. - Don't ever say otherwise.
Before Ronan could say anything, Adam grabbed his mug and ran to his room, slamming the door behind him.
Silence.
Ronan cursed Niall in his mind. He and Gansey traded helpless stares. Gansey rapidly stood up and announced:
- I'm gonna talk with him. - Gansey. - Noah wanted to say more, but Gansey cut in, already halfway up the stairs. - I'm gonna talk with him. - Fine, but after that, go to sleep. - seeing Gansey wanting to say something, he added. - You had only four hours. - again. - I counted, with naps.
He just nodded and tripped over last steps.
When they heard him entering Adam's room, Noah turned to Ronan.
- Ronan, - he started. - What?!
He shook his head, slipping down with a strangely fluent motion. Ronan often forgot he was a ghost and even more that he was older than them. Now, it was almost like the time caught up to him, he looked and moved more mature, reminding him of his brother. He grabbed his arm, cold fingers biting him even through the sleeve, and sat him in a chair. He moved one for himself and sat in front of him.
- I know what's going on. - he said. - You know shit. - Really? - he snickered. - Ronan, I'm always here, I see and hear everything. I'm trying, trying not to be nosy, to let you guys live your lives as you wish. But, you hormonal dumb-asses. Just wow. Between Gansey's embracing handling of his crush on Blue and your "friendship" with Kavinsky...
Chainsaw picked up and flew through him. Cawing, she made few circles around the room, before she returned to Ronan, sitting on his lap. She puffed up her feathers.
- Tawsheh. - she cawed. - Olk.
"Taibhse olc" Ronan corrected her in his mind.
- Níl taibhse olc. - he scolded her. - Dona. Tá Noah cara.
She made a sad caw. Ronan patted her but still angry, at her and himself.
Noah looked faded, a mist in the air. Broken bones and blooded sweater and messy hair. His expression didn’t exist, like he didn’t exist.
Ronan scolded himself for thinking that. Noah was here. Czerny was real.
He went back to normal. Same kind and tired face.
- Adam's right. - he said. - About what? - But you're also right. - he finished. - Both of you just can't see the other side. Don't you think, him and Adam can be friends without, - he moved his hands close to his head and made "boom" motion.
He didn't answered, patting Chainsaw's back, he knew it wasn't all.
- I don't want Kavinsky to harm him. - he finally said. - Do you believe he can? - No, - he felt offended. - Adam wouldn't fucking let him.
Noah nodded.
- But still, what's the problem?
He didn't say anything.
- Because you like Kavinsky. - it sounded like a question but wasn't. - Because Joe understands. - he stood up, putting Chainsaw on the chair. He started wandering around the room, with the little raven hopping after him. - He gets the dreaming. He gets how I feel. He knows me.
Kavinsky knew him.
Not Niall, but Ronan.
- Didn't you think he might "get" Adam?
He didn't.
- Like what?
He knew the answer.
He looked back at Noah, he wasn't in the chair.
- Go talk with him.
He was on the stairs, faded and smudged.
- Noah? - I... just need time. - he sounded like echo. - Don't worry.
A shadow of a smile appeared on his blurry face.
***
- ... but it sucks, because it's gone and even museums started hunting them for display. Museums, Adam! Museums!
They were sitting on a bed. Gansey was leaning on Adam, head resting on the boy's shoulder, eyes fighting to stay open. Adam wrapped his arm around his sleepy friend, nodding to every word he said, his own eyes puffy and reddish. Ronan looked at them, feeling something he didn't in long time. He felt at home.
- What's he mumbling about? - he asked, leaning on the door-frame. - The Great Auk. - Adam answered, not looking at him. - They're gone, Ronan. - Gansey yawned. - Gone, the great bird of Scottish islands, of Kilda and Elday. No, - he murmured to himself. - Elday is Iceland's. - he frowned his eyebrows trying to remember something, suddenly he announced: - Pen gwyn. - Falcóg mhór. - Ronan nodded. - "He made no cry. I strangled him.", a cruel end. - Ronan. - Adam scolded him. - This is what one of them said. - he shrugged. - Cruel fate with no future. Gansey, go to sleep. I wanted to talk with Adam.
Gansey rubber his eyes.
- Sure, sure. But first, I said, Great Auk is the original penguin and- - You're going with me to church tomorrow. - he interrupted him. - After dinner, we gonna check whatever you want.
He looked at him, like he just show him a new thing from his dream.
- I'm not... - Matthew likes you. - No connection. - he insisted. - And Declan...
- He doesn’t own the church. You’ll just pretend you for a hour or so.
- I did. - Noah said, his voice hanging behind him. - My mother hated when I did.
Ronan turned his head and saw him in the same state. He moved through him and grabbed Gansey’s hand.
- Come on, - he made him stand up. - They need to talk.
- I never was...
- Gansey, - he pulled him in to the hall. - Tell me more about the gwin.
Ronan closed the door and looked at Adam. Heat rising inside him.
- I'm still standing what I said. - That makes two of us. - he didn’t look at him.
And that’s it.
If someone interested, just ask.
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kindofspecificstore · 4 years
Note
Caite, I know you said in the tags on that Much Ado post that your opinion on which Shakespeare characters the SC characters would be isn’t “necessary information” but I disagree please tell me.
Emma, please hold my chamomile tea. *shakes out hands, cracks knuckles.
I am SO glad you asked. Mkay here goes...
Moira: Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra) LISTEN, we all know Moira played Lady M during Shakespeare at Sea week, been there, done that. Not only is this woman a beautiful, elegant ruler with a flair for the dramatic, she has A WHOLE ACT to herself after Antony dies which NEVER happens. It’s the spotlight she deserves to bathe in. Plus, death by snakes? What a great way to go.
Johny: Prospero (The Tempest) He had all his wealth taken from him by some one he trusted deeply and now has to make a life for himself on some weird magical island? Then has watch his child get married and gets hit with all the feels???
David: Hamlet I’m sorry but who else in Shakespeare’s canon is this dramatic and full of consternation. BUT ALSO 
David and Patrick are Antonio and Sebastian from literally every play because they will find their way to each other in any universe. 
Alexis: I’m torn here. Early Alexis would make an excellent Bianca (Taming of the Shrew) (pretty, gets what she wants), but I’ve really been seeing her as a Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) lately for some reason idk why it’s like i’ve been spending a lot of time with that play lately given that she’s well loved and respected, feels a lot but tries to hide it, and is incredibly bright
Stevie: Jacques (As You Like It) because her presence is subtle but you know she’s hanging on to every word and has something smart (if a little gloomy) to say. (okay but how hot would she be as a Cesario or Ganymede tho)
Patrick: I would accept Orlando (As You Like It), or even King Henry V (Henry V). OH WAIT. Orlando is Patrick around Pregnancy Test/Open Mic (he tacks love letters addressed to a girl he’s just met onto fucking TREES). But have you heard King Henry proclaim his love to Princess Katherine??? That sits right next to Patrick’s proposal and wedding vows.
Ted: Lysander (Midsummer Night’s Dream) madly in love and loyal to a fault.
Roland: Falstaff (Henry IV Parts 1&2, Merry Wives of Windsor) This, to me is obvious and non negotiable. (But I would also accept Sir Toby Belch or Bottom)
Jocelyn: Peter Quince (Midsummer Night’s Dream) she’d just trying to keep everything together but sometimes it feels like no one is listening!
Ronnie: Maria (Twelfth Night) because she does what she wants and will not be taking any bullshit today.
Ray: for how happy Ray is all the time, he’d be a great Malvolio (Twelfth Night) BUT would also make an excellent Touchstone (As You Like It) what with how many words he can get out in one breath
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for your attention. I’m so sorry for disrupting everyone’s dash with these ramblings. But I wanted to post this publicly to open it up to other people’s thoughts! I’ve been spending a lot of time with Much Ado lately, so it’s nice to actually write these this all down.
TL;DR My career trajectory is in Shakespeare Studies so I have a lot of thoughts and feelings. 
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thewritingstar · 4 years
Text
Enchanted For A Moment: Reds
Pairing: Blossom x Brick (Reds) 
Fandom: PPG 
Rating: Teen and up..slight cussing
Royal Au
Im literally dying for this au and i dedicate this to all the lovely people in our discord and im in love with our fandom. 
I know I know ive been on a ppg high lately but im riding this one out for a long time. Also I did little to no research, idk the time period but its old so have at it. I hope that you enjoy!
Chapter One: Golden Doors and Spider Silk 
She hated this castle, this stupid kingdom and all above, her. Princess Morbucks. The girl was so spoiled that her father, the king, named his daughter Princess as if she wasn’t going to be addressed like that otherwise. She didn’t know why she kept coming back to teach her these lessons. French, English, History, she didn’t bother to learn or practice in the slightest.
“Princess, not many women know how to read and write. Imagine how extraordinary that would be to be such a diverse leader.” She had told her, but at last, she never listened.
The only thing that could interest her was gowns and gems and of course the many suitors who came begging for her hand in marriage. Pathetic. She never believed that a love like that could be real. Affection starved from greed and looks was not something she wanted, nor should anyone. Maybe that's why this life of luxury disgusted her. Yes living in a giant palace with the fluffiest pillows and the freshest fruit sounded lovely, beats her small bedroom that she shares with her sisters, but was it worth it? Okay maybe she would become a royal for the library, maybe.
Her thoughts came back to her as Princess slammed the book shut. If she bends that book I swear. “I am done for today.” She huffed.
“We started ten minutes ago.” Blossom sighed and smoothed the headache that was starting to form. “Let's do history, today is about the different types of clothes and fabrics. Maybe you’ll enjoy this.”
“Why would I?”
“Because if you see something you like, you can have it custom made, plus i'll tell you where the most expensive silk is.” Got her.
Princess stared at her. Even though she was older than her by a year, she seemed to resemble more of her students she taught at the schoolhouse. Aka she was a brat.
“Fine but make it quick, the newest batch of suitors is coming today and I want to see my options.”
Blossom rolled her eyes. Princess was turning 20. She should have been married off at 18 but after complaining about wanting to have a little more freedom, dear old king daddy gave in. She always got what she wanted, those poor men.
“Okay well. Let's make a deal. I’ll leave you these two book, don’t make that face they are mostly pictures, and I’ll leave you for today. However when I come back tomorrow, you better be able to tell me five different fabrics and where they are from and we won’t have class for the rest of the week that way you can focus on the ball that's been held on Friday?”
The smile that grew on Princess' face was wicked. “Deal!” She stood and took the books. “I’m just happy I won’t have to see that hideous outfit for the rest of the week.” She pointed at Blossom's gown.
It was a light brown skirt with  leather belt and a white blouse, Blossom thought it was rather lovely considering her little sister Bubbles had made it.
“Alright then.” She rolled her eyes, gosh she hated her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Princess was already out of the door before she could blink, but she didn’t care. She turned and placed the rest of the scrolls and books on the proper shelves of the private library. The king, who had never spared a single expense in his life, made sure that practically every title written was stuffed inside the room. And he gave Blossom personal access to any of the books since she was one of the few who could read and bothered to do so as well.
She skimmed the shelf, her fingers tracing over the many velvet blinds. So many stories to be read. She grabbed three different ones before slipping them into her satchel. She blew out the candles and pushed in the chairs before leaving the grand room.
The king had offered her a key to her own private quarters but she would rather stay with her father and sisters than let Princess yell at her at any hour she decided. Yes, much rather.
-- Princess could hardly contain herself as she stood next to her father in the courtyard. Before them,a dozen or so carriages were pulling up, each one containing a handsome suitor. Some are princes, others are men from rich families. Either way, they were all lining up to see the Princess and hopefully marry her.
“I don't know why we are here.” Boomer complained.
“Why the fuck do you care?” Butch asked. “You’re the youngest, you are off the hook.” He laughed.
Boomer laughed. The carriage stopped as it was in line to enter the gate. Boomer grabbed the handle and opened it up, ignoring the protests from his brothers. “Sorry boys but I’m going to ditch the collar and go see the local girls.” He winked and strolled off.
Butch propped his feet up on the empty space. “So big bro.” he slapped the back of his brother. “You think you’re gonna be the hot piece of ass to win the princesses heart?” He laughed. Brick rolled his eyes as the carriage rolled forward.
“She is rich.” he mumbled. “I mean I'm probably the best candidate.” Arrogant.
The carriage stopped once more and Brick looked to his brother who was impatiently tapping his leg. “You can go too. It's probably best that you don’t embarrass us and the entire kingdom.”
“Thanks bro.” Butch wiped a fake tear from his eyes. “My lady said she was docking at these ports so im gonna go try and get some by sundown-”
“Goodbye Butch.” And he was shoved out of the carriage.
Brick could finally take in the piece and quiet. They had only been traveling for three days and it was a miracle he hadn’t killed his brothers yet. Sometimes he hated this lifestyle. He was no prince but he and his brothers were adopted by an extremely rich guy who wanted to make a name for himself and create three prodigies. In the end he created a walking disaster who breaks everything and wolf whistles at anything with long legs and the other one is like a puppy constantly running around and yapping constantly. For Brick he is just an arrogant asshole who actually does what she's told, if there's something in it for him.
Which is why he was on his way to try and get married. He didn’t want to be because frankly, no woman ever met his standards. They could be beautiful and nice and chatty but there was something missing a certain depth. But with a princess at stake, he was hoping for a lady who was well off and smart.
--- He was wrong. She was nothing like he thought. Sure she was pretty but she was mean to her staff, which he understood cause he could be a pain in the ass. But her voice, that high pitched squeaking, he was sick of her already. The moment he stepped out of the claustrophobic nightmare of a ride, she was in his face already fanning over him.
Those bright yellow dresses clashed with her hair and the light beaming off of her crown almost took out his eyes. She had said about forty different things to him but he was done. He wanted to grab his brothers, turn around and escape this hell hole.
After a short conversation and her rushing to the next dopey guy, he was shown to his quarters, of course Princess, who names their child Princess? Was their tour guide.
“And this is the library. It's plain and boring but if you ever need a quiet space or to watch me brush up on my French, you are more than welcome to go there.” Her arm was looped between two men and Brick was happy he was at the back of the pack, what was there, twelve, ten boys? He was really doubting his chances but at this point, he didn’t care.
They began to pass those doors and as the last one there, they opened. The group ahead had turned the corner but he was taken down by that massive door. He fell with a thud and was about to scold the living daylights out of whoever dared to do that.
“What the hell is your-” he looked up. Pink. Vibrant pink like the sunsets and soft like a rose. He gulped as he lost his voice completely.
“Oh I am so sorry!” the woman said as she helped him up. “Usually no one was in these halls but perhaps I should be more careful.” She began to ramble.
All that hostile rage had dissipated as he watched her lips move. She was much different from Princess. Her hair was ginger like hers but it was softer and had more copper tones. She was taller than her too and matched his height better. Her voice, it was like butter and she spoke in such a way that he couldn't describe.
He looked down to see books laying there and picked them up, handing them to her. Why would she have books? Especially these titles, even from the looks of them they were difficult to read, even for him.
“Do you read?’ he asked. Of course she didn’t.
“Oh yes. I am actually Princess’s teacher.” She said but didn’t seem thrilled.
He was in awe. She was already something more than that damn spoiled brat. She didn’t wear anything special like the maids did. In fact they were more like commoner's clothes than anything.
“You don’t look like you belong here.” He blurted out and she scoffed.
“I beg your pardon.” She crossed her arms. She was used to Princess insulting her any chance she got but it would be a cold day in hell before she would allow someone else to do so. “Do you not think I could possibly be the royal teacher?” He felt her words like a threat.
“No it’s just, this is a high piece of literature.”
“It’s a simple book really.”
Oh. So she could read. Read well.
“Well yes but-”
“But nothing.” her words were like ice as she grabbed the books from his hands. Blossom looked at his badge. “I am so sorry I didn’t realize that you were a man of importance.” She sounded bitter. “I shouldn’t keep you. I wouldn't want the princess knowing that a peasant interrupted time with her boy toy.”
She turned and stomped off. Even as the pout sprouted onto her face she looked, dare he say stunning? The sophistication and elegance rivaled that of Princess and even though she had just destroyed his ego for a good few moments, he never felt more alive and thrilled. A woman standing up to his level when everyone was beneath him? Never heard of before but this new piece that has entered his game, he was loving every second of it.
He turned on his heel and found his way back to the group. He wasn’t here for the crown anymore.
-- Sometimes she wondered what would happen if she just left. Run away from this village and go see the world. Of course that's what her sister did. Kinda. She was a captain of one of the kingdom's ships, basically her job was to travel and trade with other places, she liked to call herself a pirate. Blossom gave up trying to change her mind.
She could join her sister but she hated ships anyways. Plus Buttercup had gotten hitched last year to some random guy she met at a port stop, Blossom had met him once before and thought she was crazy for marrying someone. But after a delightful five minute conversation, she decided that he was best for her. If anyone could handle her rebellious lifestyle and the seven seas, then he must be good.
She was thankful that today would be her last day with Princess, well until the next week, but she could catch up on reading and maybe take her students to the docks or the forest for a lesson. Her mind was wandering to far off places and before she knew it, she was entering the library.
She furrowed her brow as she noticed the chairs arranged facing her table. She dismissed whatever thought that was and began to set up Princess’s test as promised. She had pictures, drawn by Bubbles of course, and she placed them on the table.
“This should be easy.” And soon the doors opened. Blossoms eyes widened as the Princess walked in with that snobbish strut as a group of men followed behind. “Oh no.” Blossom whispered to herself. She agreed to test Princess, not the entire population of suitors.
“And this woman right here is my teacher. She's a poor peasant girl so ignore her scrap of clothing.” The room erupted in laughter as Princess’s annoying voice trailed through her ears. Princess was already testing her patience, who makes fun of someone with less money? An awful person that's who.
Blossom bit her tongue as Princess took her seat. The rows of men were now staring at them, whispering. She let her eyes rake over the small crowd when her eyes landed on a familiar pair. The man she hit with the door. She completely forgot that he was here for marriage purposes. Blossom shook her head and slammed a book shut, capturing everyone's attention.
If Princess wanted to be a bigger brat than usual, fine, she could play that game.
“Alright your majesty, are you ready for your test.” Blossom turned towards the group of men. “You see I believe it is important that a leader understands even the simplest things about other countries, especially the ones that could be potential partners. So this fine lad is incredibly bright so her test is simple. I laid our pictures of fabrics from many different places, some even from your own kingdoms. I have no doubt that she can match all twenty five.” She turned on her heel towards the princess who looked angry, good.
“You said five!” Her tone laced with fire.
Blossom was one good actress. She paused and took a step back, masking her voice. “Yes five for a warm up but you my soon queen, you must be able to name all of them right? I did teach you them after all.” She smirked. “But if you can't, that's okay, why don’t we do your five and the rest of these fine gentlemen can finish, after all, a leader should know these things.” If they wanted to be rude, then a challenge they must complete.
“Princess go ahead and match five and then will have the rest join.” She looked at the men. Scared looks were on their faces except for one, door man. He seemed relaxed and had a poker face on.
Princess huffed and walked up to the table. She recognized a few of the easy ones and placed them. Blossom watched as her hands shook and she looked up at her as she placed one down. Blossom saw she was moving to the wrong one and decided to play nice.
“Emerald kingdom is the same as the jewel.” She whispered and the princess moved the name towards the green one. She took a step back and smiled proudly.
“See easy peasy.” And she returned to her seat.
Blossom clasped her hands together. “Alright then, if any of you would like to try go for it, but if not, then you may be excused.”
None of the men stood and Blossom's polite smile fell. “Very well-” She watched as the door man, she should learn his name, stood and walked over.
“Quite a shame you could only name five your highness.” He said towards the princess who was now staring at him with a gaping mouth. Blossom raised her brows as she could not believe he would disrespect her like that. He quickly took the names and placed them in record time before their matching pictures.
He turned to see Blossom watching him. Her eyes held this twinkled that he couldn’t quite place and he made sure to switch two of the names last minute.
“Care to check my work Miss…”
“Blossom.” She finished and walked over to him. She stood next to him and looked over the table. She could feel his stare but unlike the others, she didn’t feel small or meak. She smiled softly as she picked up two of them.
“Very impressive but Camilla has velvet and Widows Valley has ivory silk.” Her eyes met his. She almost let out a gasp as she stared at a breathtaking deep red. She had never seen such enchanting eyes before.
“Silk like a spider. Forgive me for my mistake.” He took her hand and placed a delicate kiss to the top of her hand. She felt the flames rush to her cheeks and heard a gasp come from Princes mouth.
Her eyes shot open and she took her hand away fast and returned to her teacherly poise. “Yes well that is alright but very good. Princess you should learn something and apply yourself more, I'm not going to tell you again but a promise is a promise so i will be seeing you next week for your next lesson.” She quickly walked to the other table and grabbed her bag and shoved everything in it.
She knew the princess was going to throw a fit. How could he treat her like that? In front of Princess nonetheless. She was thankful to hear the sound of feet exiting. Someone had come up behind her and whispered in her ear.
“You’ll be lucky if you make next week you meddling whore.” Princess sneered and Blossom turned around to yell at her but the group of men were waiting by the door just watching to see the peasant girl slip up.
“I have no interest in your games Princess, maybe if you tried harder, you wouldn’t have to rely on your crown or body.” She could play dirty and the princess turned with a scoff.
“No man would ever love a woman like you, even if you can read, you are no prize.” She stomped off and let Blossom with a clenched jaw and matching fists.
The door slammed shut and now she was alone. “Stupid bitch.” She sneered. She rarely used foul language but in times like theses, she allowed it.
“She sure is.” Blossom dropped her book and her head snapped left.
Brick was still standing here as if he never moved but she swore she saw him leave. “I-I would never-” He held his hand up.
“I see the way she treats you Miss Blossom, it's okay to curse out the villain. And my apologies for causing such a scene.” He said bluntly.
“Somehow I don’t believe you.” She narrowed her eyes. “You seem like you know what you’re doing, no matter the consequences.”
He bit back a laugh and moved closer to her. “Oh I am. I have no interest with that spoiled girl. Not one maiden has ever impressed me enough to care.”
“How insightful.”
“That is until you.” he smirked and she felt her cheeks flush for the hundred times. He was showing his arrogant side. The one many girls fawned over because they mistook it for a form of lust but it rubbed Blossom the wrong way.
“Me correcting your simple mistake is not very impressive.”
“Who said I made the mistake? I know very well that Widows Peak is silk, that is my home base after all.” he stepped closer until he leaned on the desk with his arm. He peered down at her, almost like a challenge but she stood strong.
“Well unfortunately, I’ve never met a man who could qualify my own standards.”
“Never?” he leaned closer but she refused to give up. Their noses would touch if he came closer.
“Never.” She stated and they were now in a showdown. Red to pink. Pink to red. Never had the other met a more worthy opponent.
“Well Miss Blossom, I think that I should prove you wrong with a date.”
“No thank you.” He blinked. Wait what?
“Excuse me? Do you know-”
“No I don’t and I simply do not care.” She snapped.
Blossom went back to her bag. “Like I told Princess, I have no interest in any of these men. Especially not ones who would stand by and let another belittle another. No thank you, i am quite happy on my own but there are a bunch of other fine maidens who would probably love your company.” She passed him and he grabbed her arm and spun her around, dipping her. The bright red ribbon holding her hair into a fine bun had unraveled and now fell to a long ponytail. 
A small scream let her lips as she was now being held by her waist over the ground. “What are you.” Her eyes darkened.
“Brick. Call me Brick, none of that sir or lord crap either.” He brought her closer smoothly. His smile was large and his eyes narrowed as her cheeks puffed out and she looked a little angry. “You did hit me with a door and I don’t think the royal pain in the ass would appreciate it if she knew. So Miss Blossom, would you accompany me to the ball on Friday?”
No. no. no. no. Princess would kill her. Absolutely murder her with a strand of pearls. She could lose her job, her livelihood. The rumors she could spread. She would destroy her reputation for sure. Her mind was screaming telling her to push him away and tell him to go bother another lady.
“Fine but I demand to be wooed.” she spat and he smiled and returned her to the upright position. She felt flustered and in shock but also introduced. No one had ever dipped her or held her so gently.
“Oh you shall be wooed M’lady.” He winked and turned away to walk out the door.
She let out the breath she was holding when he was finally gone and pulled out her fan. “He is the...worst.” But she didn’t fully believe it. ---- Wednesday found herself in the school yard with her students. She was ecstatic to now have a bunch of little girls added to this year's class. After convincing many mothers that their daughters' futures could be brighter with some knowledge, they happily agreed. She was thankful that her own father taught her the basics and she tried to teach Bubbles and Buttercup how to read and write but you could only keep them interested before a pretty dress or a sailboat distracted them.
“Bye bye Miss Blossom!” Her students waved as they left the yard to return home. She loved and adored her students. Their bright minds and curious thoughts, she could never get sick of them and they were much better students than Princess ever was.
“Miss Blossom there is a fancy man in the classroom.” Robin's small hand clung to her dress.
“Fancy man?” She whispered to herself before sending Robin off towards her mother. She entered the room to find Brick leaning against her desk.
“May i help you?” She asked with her arms crossed. “I do believe Friday is the meeting time.”
He shrugged and handed her an arrangement of flowers. Her mouth fell open as she gazed at them. They were wrapped with a ribbon of fine quality, and was probably worth more than her own outfit.
“I am well aware of that but I never said i wouldn’t see you before.” he glanced at the flowers then back at her. “Have you never received flowers before.” he asked like it was a dumb question.
“Oh no.” She took them carefully and placed them in the vase that held a few flowers her students had picked, and they were dying.
“I'm genuinely surprised that men aren’t knocking on the door for your hand.”
He saw her eyes dull. “Not too many men are keen on a lady being smarter and taller than them.” She shrugged and for some reason that made him mad. She was a beautiful woman no doubt, her beauty could be that of a princess but she didn’t have that royal aura about her. No she was better but didn’t know it.
“A man threatened by a lady is no man at all. If he can not see that then he deserves nothing.”
She took in his words. Maybe this was his way of apologizing without out damaging his pride, she would probably do the same thing but she wouldn’t let him off so easily.
She hummed. “So Brick just the flowers or are you going to actually impress me?” She matched his cocky attitude and it has been a long time, or the first since he had ever felt frazzled by a woman. He was used to catching him off guard but even by her everything nice charm and sophisticated posture, he was certain that she would be the death of him.
Even though he had just met her, he was certain they were made for each other. Butch would kill him if he every said that out loud though. He smiled before taking her hand. “Then prepared to be impressed.”
--
I hope you enjoy and part 2 shall be up tomorrow 
34 notes · View notes
onepunchmiss · 5 years
Text
OPM s2e12 Live Blog
“The Wiping of the Disciple’s Butt”
The season finale. I’m nauseous. Lets begin. 
As always, I’m watching from the perspective of someone who has read the manga and webcomic. 
Right where we left off. Again I love the music. I’m just like, really calm right now actually. hhhhhhhhhhhokay. OOF oh god all the crunching sound effects oh no, this is already so weird watching Garou get his ass handed to him since he’s pretty much curb stomped every other hero in battle thus far, or at the VERY LEAST avoided taking so many hits. This. is so uncomfortable to watch. WOAH ????? THESE SHOTS WERE ONLY THERE FOR A SPLIT SECOND BUT??? HOLY SHIT???
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GAROU’S HAIR OH MY GOD 
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Oh god oh god Bang is relentless this hurts please stop guys GUYS PLZ  HAS NO ONE REALISED THAT NOT ONE HERO HAS DIED CMON PLZ IT HURTS calm down stop trying to kill him plsplspls OH
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THIS 
IS WHY
WE STAN GAROU
HE SAYS FUCK DEATH HOW ABOUT I JUST GET STRONGER INSTEAD QUE EPIC THEME MUSIC
oh god damnit him legit running on all fours right there just looks goofy tho F “preposterous style” Bang you aint lying asdfghjkl really though OH MY GOD EVERYONE IS DRAWN SO BEAUTIFULLY THIS IS SO BLESSED 
WAIT 
NO OPENING THEME???????????????????? WHAT?????????????????????? WHY????????????????????????? ONE, I WANTED TO SEE THE CHIBI OF THE WEEK AND 2 
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I WASNT PREPARED FOR MY FAVORITE DOPEY BIRD MAN THE FUCK PHOENIXMAN PLS NO ILY I know people hate him a lot but I just really dig how he feels like a fleshed out character compared to most other monsters, like he’s legit lookit him being all smart and stuff plz I just,,,,,,,,,,,, want to hug dumb fluffy birb ;-;
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Woah again I’m being blown away by the animation??? Garou getting smacked around is really fluid and this just looks really cool in general?????
FUCK I CANT DO FLASHBACKS MAN JUST HEARING THE KID VOICE MAKED MY STOMACH LURCH OH NO 
OH NO I SCREAM OH NO I CANT OH NO GIMME 5 MINUTES PLEASE I CANNOT BBY NO I FORGOT ADULT GAROU IS IN THE FLASHBACK WATCHING THIS TIME PLS NO 
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LIKE???????? I got kinda a comedic vibe watching him comment on it in the manga but the slow music and shit is just FUKKIN ME UP RIGHT NOW I HATE IT THANKS IT HURTS
oh god his face he has the seething thousand mile stare of quiet rage and its burning a hole STRAIGHT THROUGH MY ENTIRE BEING “But me I was the loner kid. Always gloomy and without friends” STOP. YOU STOP THAT RIGHT THIS INSTANT. IM CRYING AT U RIGHT NOW STOP
NO DONT HOLD HIM LET HIM GO S T O P OR SO HELP ME i can’t watch this what the fuck “I was always the loser” SHIT this legitimately hurts me “I dont want to be the monster anymore” GArou hey did you hear that part?? hEY GAROU DID YOU HEAR YOURSELF THERE??? 
WHAT DID I SAY WHAT THE F DID I JUST SAY STOP HOLDING HIM STOP STOPPIT  THE HELL MAN What if……….. I just go BACK IN TIME AND ADOPT BB GAROU CAN I DO THAT IS THIS POSSIBLE IS THIS ALLOWED ? ?? ?
oh my god it keeps getting worse. I mean. I already knew garou was being disproportionately reprimanded for what he supposedly did, but watching this scene just fucking kicked me in the teeth. As if my stomach wasn’t already in knots. The fuck . why does this hurt so much more watching than reading the frustration in seeping into me ffffff.
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This looks really cool but, i can barely focus on that because im pretty much being exsanguinated on the floor over here by this whole sequence look at him crying. do it for me cause I sure as hell can’t 
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“I want to strike a blow for the little guy”
Fukkin GETTEM GO GETTEM 
HOLY SHIT HIS VA IS GOING T F OFF 
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH LOOKIT HIM ILY SO MUCH SAVE THE DAY BIRB SAVE 
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ASDFGHJKL THIS IS SO INTENSE EVERYONE IS SO INTENSE I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS BUT HOLY SHIT FUCK IM SCREAMING GAROU IS SCREAMING BANG AND BOMB SCREAMING GENOS AND EVEN PHOENIXMAN EVEN THE MUSIC IS SCREAM WE ALL JUST SC R E M
OH MY GOD AND THE LITTLE HEAD NOT GENOS AND BANG GIVE EACHOTHER SAVING THE HEROES OH MY GOD OH FUCK AND THE WAY THEY ANIMATE BANG JUMPING AROUND IS DOPE AS HELL AND ALSO HOLY SHIT ELDER CENTIPEDE I MISSED THE UNSETTLING SMOOTH CG LIKE ANIMATION FOR THE CENTIPEDES EVERY CELL IN MY BODY IS JUST SCREAMING RN I AM OVERLOAD HELP 
Garou flailing in the air in Phoenixman’s grip is … really adorable oh my god. “It’s your fault for not finishing them” ooooooo that shut him up didn’t it oof. Also nice cameo by Tatsumaki there 
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ASDFGHJKL THE MUSIC AGAIN I LOVE IT I LOVE THEM LOOK AT THEM OH MY GOD 
THIS IS SO BAD ASS
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS SO BADASS
Genos’s eye static, The brother’s fists swirling, THE FUKKIN CARAPACE SHATTERING 
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THIS FIGHT IS SO WILD MY COMPUTER CANT EVEN TAKE IT. ITS GLITCHING AND FREEZING UP HOLY SHIT
oh god ok the face coming out of the face was pure nightmare fuel alright then
WAIT
I FORGOT GENOS IS A SELF SACRIFICING DUMBASS. NO IM NOT READY GENOS YOU DOOF LISTEN TO KUSENO LISTEN TO HIM 
oh no 
oh no
im crying oh no
this animation is beautiful first of all and the music like im just here this is where I’m at and I’m crying oh no 
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He’s an angel. A literal angel. Look at that and tell me he doesn’t look like a fucking angel in the sky with the rays of light casting shadows around him. 
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Genos you are too good and pure for this world but that DOESNT MEAN TRY TO GET YOURSELF KILLED 
Shit they really made it look like he was gonna self destruct there for a second which MADE HIS LAST STAND EVEN MORE INTENSE OH MY GOD SWEETHEART Y’all ever get into a show because you keep seeing one character that catches your interest, and you keep seeing them pop up on your dash or wherever until you finally decide ‘well fuckit, this is the asshole that’s gonna get me to finally watch the show’, cause you’re already invested in them anyway? Genos did that for me with OPM. If this fool didn’t exist Who knows how long it would’ve taken me to get to watching OPM, if ever. And shit like this is why I STILL love him. I usually move on to new faves 90% of the time but nope. Genos earned his spot and is keeping it. Look at this insane shit. My heart. Uhg
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Enough gushing asdfghjkl ok but Genos, you just went INTO THE DAMNED THING’s STOMACH,,,,, and you’re SURPRISED that there’s STOMACH ACID?? But real talk. What the EVERLONG FUCK is that thing’s insides made out of? How did it NOT DIE. the FuCK
asdfghjkl Phoenixman’s chuckle???? I love 
Oh Bang no, this is wrenching my heart like I know that he doesn’t actually use his power but its built up so intensely like,,, would he be ok if he did??? and actually more concerningly since it even WAS brought up that he has some hidden true strength, will we EVER get to see that??? Oh Shit well when they word it as “All the power left to me in this life” then yeah, that seems pretty life or death ish???? THE FUCK 
Oh thank god comedic relief is here I feel like i’m about to have a heart attack my chest is so tight hhhhhh ok breathe WAIT THIS ISNT COMEDIC THIS IS BADASS AS HELL JEEZUS witht he flashbacks to the Saitama encounter and THIS LOOK
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The Anime is really fucking with the audience huh??? Making it look like KIngs about to throw hands like???????????? OH SHIT AND THIS MUSIC IS DOPE AS HELL TOO IM JUST laughing I have so much excessive energy right now???
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHZAHAHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASDFGHJKLJHGFDSWERTGYHUIUJHGFDFGHJKJHGFRE THE FUKKIN SONG THEY BROUGHT IT BACK THE ULTIMATE SONG I GOT THREE NOTES IN JUST THREE NOTES AND I KNOW IM SCREAMING I GOTTA GO RUN BRB 
IM STILL SCREAMING FADFJSAGFJDSLKAHVFSKLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OUR MAIN MAN THERE HE IS THERE HE IS IM GONNA THROW UP 
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
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OH MY FUCK THATS WHAT THE OPENING SEQUENCE EXPLOSION WAS FROM OH GOD OH FUCK BEAUTIFUL THIS IS BEAUTIFUL OH FUCK OH GOD 
The REPRISE oh no oh NO OH NO OH NO NO ITS NOT OVER im not ready its not I cant no no no i dont want to press play cause if I press play it will end soon no no no Oh my god and at the end there isnt gonna be a title card for the next episode because THERE IS NO NEXT EPISODE no non o nonononon on on on ono no no no 
NO 
HEY IVE BEEN RIPPED OFF. WHERES THE FACE WITH HIS HAIR BLOWN BACK??? ASDFJKL fine I cant even be mad everything else was tooo  ofdbghjfshkggfhsjgbfhjka
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KING WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT REACTION ASDFGHJKL W H A T 
WAIT THEY ARE DOING THE OPENING THEME AT THE END NO I CANT HANDLE SEEING EVERYOONE NOW OF ALL TIMES GOD DAMNIT WHY ok yknow what. I knew it would be king. I dont know how but i did 
Wha
wh
fkin cliffhanger no please no 
I.. I’m kind of at a loss for words. I’m. That’s it, huh? It’s really over. It doesn’t FEEL over. There’s so much unfinished business. Well, the only way to really neatly wrap everything up as neatly as S1 did would have been to get ALL THE WAY through the Garou arc, which obviously wasn’t going to happen, but this is not a great spot to leave off if we’re going to endure another few years hiatus. My hope is that, with biweekley manga updates, we should wrap up the Monster Association/Garou stuff (assuming it doesn’t diverge from the web comic too much) some time next year, and I’m HOPING that s3 is already being planned accordingly along side manga publications. So MAYBE it will at least be announced around that time 2020. That’s my wishful thinking at least. I don’t think I can survive 3 years. anyway
You could really tell JC Staff poured their hearts and souls into these last 2 episodes. Absolutely gorgeous, paced well, so completely satisfying and making every second of s2 worth while. For me, at least. I’ve already seen people still complaining and I’m just sorry they didn’t have as much fun as I did. 
Seriously, thank each and every one of you guys. This has been a wild ride, I’ve barely had this blog a few weeks before season 2 started airing (and honestly just got into opm maybe a month before that?), so I owe a lot of the success on the blog to the anime I bet. This was the first series I’ve never tried live bogging, and I honestly can’t believe that they were as popular as they were? Especially since I never have any idea what I’m doing but yall listen to me ramble anyway?? Yall are crazy thank you so so so much. Now my tuesdays are gonna feel really empty… next week is gonna be weird as hell. Though I’m gonna get mad nostalgic good vibes rewatching this season in the future in no small part from sharing my experience with everyone who's stuck around. I can’t say see yall next week this time, but, see you next season whenever it may be for sure.
147 notes · View notes
morganisboringg · 4 years
Text
Omegle friendship story ;-;
Stranger: m
You: hiya
You: f
Stranger: bonjour
You: hola
Stranger: im 18 bitchh
You: im 14 hoeee
Stranger: shidddd
Stranger: 😂😂
You: yeah im a childdd
Stranger: lmao
Stranger: yeah
Stranger: but im not a creepy guy so ur good 👌🏼
Stranger: hahaha
You: yeah ie had a 20 year old try to keep talking with me
You: and a 17 yr old ask if i have a nice ass XD ive delt with creepy guys XD
Stranger: hahaha dudes are horny
Stranger: used to be like that too but i realized its wrong
Stranger: so yeah just vibing rn
Stranger: 😤😤😤
You: yeah they are, i be vibin too im watching sky high B)
Stranger: lol
Stranger: im watching rick&morty
Stranger: im the ultimate virgin
You: lmaoooooo , i mean u have to also like game theory and film theory for that but ur close XD
Stranger: never heard of that
Stranger: 😂
You: theyre nerdy yt channels, they make theorys on games and films and shows and stuff
You: they have a bunch on rick and morty
Stranger: oh
Stranger: i watch some of those
Stranger: 😤😂
Stranger: im an ‘adult’ child
You: yeah i do too, i literally have their merch
Stranger: hahahaha
You: oh i hope to be an adult child bc gRosS adults
Stranger: yeah i dont wanna be an adult
You: me either, adults get stares when they only dress in hot topic clothes why would i want that
Stranger: hahahah yeah
Stranger: thats the reason i dont have a gf
Stranger: bc im too childish
You: well then u just havent found the right childish girl
Stranger: that is a fact
You: might i reccomend the single rider lines at like amusement parks XD
Stranger: hahaha why
You: ive seen plenty of dudes shoot there shot there bc the girls are by themselves then they get to ride a rollercoaster together
Stranger: hahah yeah thats fun
Stranger: maybe i wikk
Stranger: :)
You: yeah XD then if it works out a cute date at an amusement park!
Stranger: hahah yeah
Stranger: do u have a amusement park obsession
Stranger: lmaoo
You: uh- thats uniMPORTANTTT
Stranger: hahahhah
You: theres food and adreniline whats not to love!
Stranger: i love them too
Stranger: i once forced my cousin to ride the same coaster 12 times in a row
You: ive ridden king da ka the tallest rollercoaster in the world XD
Stranger: he puked after
You: lmaoooo sounds like smth id do
Stranger: hahaha
You: but then id just say again and go again XD
Stranger: hahahah same
Stranger: adter he threw up i went alone
Stranger: lmao
Stranger: dude i need some advice
You: sure
Stranger: my friends sister (shes 15) has a crush on me
Stranger: what do i do
You: oh shit uh- tell her shes too young
You: or like take her on a cute date but say its a friends date
You: thats a nice way to friend zone sm1
Stranger: yeah true
Stranger: its kinda weird
Stranger: my friend says he doesnt mind
Stranger: 😂
Stranger: but still wekrd
Stranger: weird
You: well thats uh getting to chris hansen levels so gotta shoot her down lmao
Stranger: yeah hahaha
You: but like yk when like a little sisters older siblings s/o would take them on a "date" to show them how to be treated u could do that- idk
Stranger: yeah idkk
Stranger: we shall see
You: we shall broski, just uh dont do anything that chris hansen would ask u to sit down with him over XD
Stranger: hahahah
Stranger: i have no idea who that is
Stranger: oh i looked it up
You: yeah XD
Stranger: lmao
Stranger: yeah like it is weird but not the age difference
Stranger: 3 years is not a lot
You: oh abt the friends sibling thing? XD
Stranger: ya
You: ik 3 years isnt alot in like the grand scheme of stuff but NOW 3 years is the difference between 6th graders and freshman and thats really weird
Stranger: yeah true true
You: and abt them being a friends sibling, um dont pull a kissing booth and be all dating behind everyones back- that movie was weird in general smh
Stranger: hahah
Stranger: yeah i wont
Stranger: his mom told me i would be a good son in law
You: LMAO too soon??
Stranger: 😂
Stranger: yeah right ilnow
You: 1) u arent even dating and 2) u think its weird
You: that would creep me tf out
Stranger: yeah but i dont really care
Stranger: i take it as a compliment
Stranger: it means im nice
You: yeah, im just a generally akward perso so XD
Stranger: hahahaha
You: but like uh if u dont wanna date a friends sibling dont, in most movies thats like number one best friend code no dating sibkings
Stranger: yeah i dont really care if my friend doesnt mins
Stranger: but i dont like her
Stranger: i like someone else
Stranger: and she doesnt like me back
Stranger: 🙃🙂
You: oh cool, aw that suckss u seem really chill and have a good personality so idk whats not to like thats prob my pansexual talking tho XD
Stranger: hahha
Stranger: ur attracted to pans?
Stranger: thanks lmao yeah idk
You: no i came out of the pantry smh
Stranger: 🤯🤯🤯🤯
You: common misconseption XD
Stranger: yeah shes my girl best friend
Stranger: so thats why she doesnt like me
Stranger: but maybe some daaaaaayv
You: oooo thats a hard place to get out of the f r i e n d z o n e
Stranger: ivee been tryyiiiiiiiing
Stranger: to make u love meeee
Stranger: but everything i try
You: *blasts u belong with me by taylor swift on a boombox* now go stand outside her window
Stranger: just takes you further from me
You: XD
Stranger: ghost town by kanye west is such a good song
You: oh i dont think ive listened to it lmao too much emo music and musicals
Stranger: you like kid cudi
You: who..? ugh i feel stupid not knowing stuff
Stranger: ur too young
Stranger: hes a legend
Stranger: makes good music u should listen to him
Stranger: kind of drug/depresion related
You: oh okay, that sounds like smth id listen too XD
Stranger: listen to love. by him on youtube or soundcloud
Stranger: it isnt on spotify
You: oh okay, i use amazon music like a loser XD
Stranger: oh
Stranger: yeah its only on yt or soundcloud lmao
Stranger: hahah doesnt matter right
You: yeah lmao
You: u wanna be friends? its ok to say no cause im 14 XD
You: im morgan btw whats ur name?
Stranger: hahaha aw thats a nice thing to ask
Stranger: but i just came on here to twlk to random people :( sorry
You: im not good at the whole "making friends" thing so idk what to do but ask lmao
Stranger: my name is julian
You: oh okay
Stranger: im sure u will make friends some day
You: OMG ofc its julian- i meet guys with m names or julius/julians never anything else
Stranger: hahaha what do y mean
You: i mean in the past week ive met a mike, mikey, and a mick then ive met like 4 julius' and 2 julians
Stranger: ahhaha wow
Stranger: thats funny
You: i swear idk what is up but smth is
You: my fbi agent is on smth ig
Stranger: hahahhahaha
Stranger: tryna set u up
You: yeah they want either an m&m or m j XD just m&ms or michael jackson IDFK XD
Stranger: haahahah
Stranger: so when did u find out u were pan sexual
You: uh when i was 11 i thinkk
Stranger: wow
Stranger: when i was 11 i was eating boogers out of my nose
You: yeah i knew i wasnt straight since like pre school girls are just too cute lmao
You: lmao thanks for sharing
Stranger: that is a facr
Stranger: women are cute
You: yeah they are XD
Stranger: hahaha
You: ummm idk what to talk abt now lol
Stranger: yeah me too lol
You: uh do u like heathers? like the movie or the musical
Stranger: never heard of it
You: REALLY??
You: my friends saying to skip u smh but i wouldnt dare
Stranger: what do u mean hahah
You: heathers is like a cult classic 80s movie like breakfast club or 16 candles or the outsiders
Stranger: ohh ok hahah
Stranger: i dont watch a lit of old movies
You: u know what those are right? especially the outsiders?
Stranger: only fiction
Stranger: never heard of them
You: U HAVENT???
You: OMG I SWEARR IF I KNEW U IRL ID LIKE FORCE U TO WATCH IT ITS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD MMMMMMm
Stranger: whats sliced bread
Stranger: 😂😂😂😂
Stranger: i swear i dont watch movies
You: like a loaf of bread XD its an expression
Stranger: oh lolllll
You: but like look up dallas winston MMMMM I LOVE THAT MAN
Stranger: hahah ok
Stranger: this was a fun talk dude hahah
Stranger: i ahve to go eat rn
You: okay byee nice talk too bad we cant be friends i wish u luck <3
Stranger: were kind of stranger friends
Stranger: so count me as a friend
Stranger: :S
You: okay too bad after this we'll never talk again
You: S?
Stranger: idk lmao
Stranger: yeah but thats life
Stranger: byeee 😘
You: yeah it is byeeee
Stranger has disconnected.
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writings-of-dumpy · 4 years
Text
A Cinderella Story - IV
Tags: @mindingmyownbusiness​
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“Mom, dad—I found her!” Stiles proclaimed triumphantly after the rest of the guests left the ballroom.
“Who, son?” Noah asked.
“The girl I told you about! Her name is Ella, and she’s the most amazing and wonderful girl I’ve ever met, and I met a TON of girls tonight,” Stiles said with a dreamy smile.
“We’d love to meet her, darling. Where is she?” Melissa responded to her elated son with a smile.
“Well, um… She left,” Stiles told them.
“She must have been tired. We’ll visit her tomorrow. Where does she live?” Noah asked.
Stiles chewed his lip. “I don’t know…”
Melissa raised a brow, “Well… how do we find her, then..?”
“We can send Scott to fetch her! Put up a declaration and invite her back to the palace,” Noah suggested. Stiles thought about Ella’s situation regarding her stepmother and quickly thought of a way to protect her.
“Well, any number of women could be named Ella. I do, however, have her shoe,” Stiles said with a sly grin and produced the diamond slipper.
Melissa and Noah looked at Stiles with worried expressions, and traded glances between the slipper and Stiles’ face.
“It fell off her foot on the way out, I didn’t steal it! She left in such a rush that I doubt she even realizes it’s gone. We can go to the village with it!” Stiles suggested.
“Anyone could claim it to be theirs. You do wish to marry this girl, correct? I mean that was the whole point,” Noah said.
Stiles’ cheeks heated up and he nodded slowly, “I think I would like to marry her.”
Melissa smiled widely and opened her arms to embrace Stiles.
“Then we will do everything to find her. I think the best way to do that is try this slipper on every maiden in the kingdom, and whoever the shoe fits, bring them in!” Noah said triumphantly. “Scott, you and Daniel will scour the kingdom and bring each maiden whose shoe fits to the palace at once!”
“Dad it’s like two in the morning. Can we start later?” Stiles protested.
“At dawn, then. Make an announcement that the steward will visit each residence and try the shoe on every woman!” Noah proclaimed.
“Okay, dear. Let’s go to bed,” Melissa said in a calming voice. Stiles shook his head and headed off to his own chambers for a brief rest. He couldn’t stop thinking about Ella and how he shouldn’t have let her go so easily. He could have chased after her, but he was so terrified of her finding out who he really was that he let her leave. He didn’t know how he’d explain it to her, but he was hoping that she felt the same about him and would understand.
~
The following morning, Ella was quietly getting breakfast for her stepsisters ready when she heard her stepmother barge back into the house from her morning stroll.
“Malia! Allison! Wake up! Wake up right now!” Winifred commanded. Ella quickly threw their meals on a tray and rushed into their rooms to deliver the food. Winifred was frantically shaking Malia.
“Wake up! You girls need to be presentable in less than an hour!” Winifred hollered. Malia groaned and got out of bed, only to follow her mother into Allison’s room and cozy up next to her sister in her bed.
Ella followed to commotion and began to set out gowns for the girls to wear that day.
“Allison, Malia! Listen to me and listen well. Last night, the prince declared that girl to be his bride, but he doesn’t know who she is!” Winifred said with a laugh. “The steward has been traveling the village all morning in search of her. Apparently, she left one of her shoes last night and that is the only clue to find her, and whoever fits the shoe is to marry the prince in a week! One of you girls MUST fit that slipper!”
Ella nearly dropped the pair of shoes that belonged to Allison when she heard that. Ella’s heart was beating loudly and she watched as her stepsisters scrambled out of bed.
“But the slipper could fit any number of girls, mother!” Malia said.
“Sounds like his problem, not ours!” Allison said. Ella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. If she had doubts before, they were dashed now—she was certain that she had been with Prince Miecsyslaw last night… but why would he introduce himself as Stiles..?
Ella didn’t have time to ponder his reasons. She was pushed to help her stepsisters make themselves as presentable as possible.
After a short while, Ella was free to make herself look as presentable as possible. After all, she was to be reunited with her slipper again and then hopefully reunited with Stiles. She cleaned her dress of residual dust and dirt in front of the mirror in the foyer and fixed her hair a bit.
“You weren’t at the ball last night, so this doesn’t concern you. Go wait in your room, we’ll fetch you before we head to the palace,” Winifred instructed coldly from beside Ella. Ella looked at her stepmother, who she thought may be suspicious.
Ella had no reasonable argument to her stepmother without revealing that she had snuck out of the house last night and had, in fact, been at the ball. After a beat, Ella went back to her room. She heard the door shut and lock behind her. Ella sat on her bed in defeat. She thought about how wonderful it would be to see Stiles again, and how lovelier it would be to marry him. Winifred’s dark and cruel words invaded her mind about how she would never be good enough for anyone and that she should be grateful that she was allowing Ella to stay.
“Ella? Why aren’t you out there? That’s YOUR shoe!” Snow said from beside her.
“Winifred locked me in here. She said I wasn’t at the ball last night, so it didn’t concern me…” Ella explained.
“That no good, dirty, rotten witch!” Snow yelled as loud as her small form could let her.
Ella sighed and shook her head. “It’s no use… I should have known better than to think I’d have a chance to be with a prince anyway. I mean look at me—I’m nothing but a servant.”
“I knew it was you last night! The whole town was talking about a beautiful girl with the prince and I thought, ‘gotta be Ella!’” Cindy said.
Ella smiled. “Thank you all. It’s just not meant to be, I’m afraid.”
“So that’s it? You’re just giving up?!” Jasmine challenged.
“What else can I do? I can’t leave, the door’s locked. And even if I did, what if I’m wrong and it’s not my slipper? Then they’ll know I was at the ball even though they thought I wasn’t. I’m stuck…” Ella said with tears in her eyes. She listened carefully at the door to the conversation being had in the foyer after she heard a knock at the main door.
“Good day, madam. By order of the king and queen, every maid is to be fitted for this slipper,” Ella heard the steward say.
“Well, by all means. I do believe one of my daughters lost a shoe last night, wasn’t that you, Malia?” Winifred asked in a sickeningly sweet voice that made Ella’s blood boil. Never once had she been so angry with her stepmother.
“Oh, um… maybe?” Malia said.
“Well, have a seat, my dear…” the steward said. After a moment of silence, Ella was confused.
“The shoe won’t go on her foot!” Ariel said after peeking through the small crack in the door.
“What?” Ella asked.
“It literally won’t go anywhere near her foot! I think the slippers are enchanted!” Ariel chirped with glee.
Ella smiled to herself and knew that Lydia had given her yet another gift.
“It’s been happening all morning. It could be some form of magic. Next, please?” Ella heard the steward say. Ella heard the same silence and Ariel confirmed the same was happening to Allison.
“And there are no other women in the house, madam?” the steward asked.
“No, it’s just me and my daughters,” Winifred lied.
“Oh, that rat!” Belle sneered.
“But mom, there’s—” Malia began, but Winifred spoke.
“Hush!”
After a small beat, the steward spoke, “If there is another in the house, it is against the crown to conceal her.”
“We have a stepsister. She’s in her room, I’ll get her,” Allison said.
“Quick, grab the other shoe, Ella!” Cindy said.
Ella sprung up from her place at the door and quickly dug through her things. She pulled out the slipper and stuffed it carefully in her pocket to conceal it and sat on her bed. Her heart was pounding and she heard her door open. In her doorway stood Allison with a small smile.
“Um, the steward wants to try the shoe on you,” she said.
Ella stood up and gave Allison a grateful smile. She walked out to the foyer and smiled politely at the steward who she recognized from the ball. He helped her sit in the foyer chair with a smile and knelt down to help the slipper onto her foot.
Suddenly, the slipper was flung from the Steward���s hands and cast out the window.
“Mother!” Malia scoffed in shock.
The steward looked a combination of shocked, crestfallen, and angry. Ella thought she saw his eyes flash red for a moment he looked so upset.
“How dare you defy the crown?!” he bellowed at Winifred and commanded a guard to seize her.
“Wait! It’s okay, I have the other one,” Ella spoke up and pulled the diamond slipper from her pocket. The room turned to her with mouths hung agape.
“It seems you do, my dear. Tell me, is your name Ella?” the steward asked her. Ella nodded and smiled.
“Yes. I’m Ella,” she told him.
He smiled and offered his arm to her. “I do believe you have someone waiting for you.”
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Text
/mu/core album review | Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
/mu/core album review #1
this week on /mu/core album review, we look at:
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
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Ah yes, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The album that’s mostly known as either, “that one weird album from the 90s,” or, “/mu/ basic bitch meme music.” If you’re anywhere past a casual music fan, you have most-likely heard some songs off this project, if not the whole thing, doubly so if you’re into 90s culture, Indie, or any sort of Art-Rock or Folk movements. As I type this, the most popular YouTube rip of the album has about 4.3 million views, a playlist separating each track stands at 500,000 views, and the title track has a remarkable 40,733,956 plays on Spotify. Holy shit, to put that into perspective: AV Club writes that, “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea was originally slated to sell about 7,000 copies,” that’s roughly 5,819 times the predicted sales numbers of the album on just that song. This also means that this song has been listened to for approximately 131,163,338 minutes, a total of around 131,163,299 more minutes than the actual album length. Humanity has spent a collective 249 years listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Oh, and that’s just the title track.
If I couldn’t spell it out so clearly there, this album is fucking outrageously popular.
Even if you haven’t heard any material off the LP, this album is memed pretty heavily in the music corners of the internet. I don’t think I can find a single music meme page or forum that hasn’t jumped upon the ITAOTS or NMH bandwagon.
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At this current point in time, ITAOTS has became a permanent resident in the zeitgeist of internet music culture. NMH, and by extension, it’s creator, Jeff Mangum have been elevated to a cult of personality status. The band and this project are accompanied by a never-ending choir: 15-25 year old sad white boys who cry while sing-screeching about semen and Anne Frank and poorly play open chords on their detuned Ibanez acoustics.
It’s oddly beautiful.
The album is so deceptively simple, so creatively cryptic and has all the elements of a slog faux-folk fest filled with whining that would bore me to so many tears that they could rival the sad boy indie kids who lose their e-girls to their more socially active explore-page bait counterparts. To a person not familiar with it, ITAOTS could look like an over hyped, masturbatory depression tape. It looks boring. It looks like it should be boring.
If it should be boring, then why have I only listened to it and absolutely nothing else for the last two days?
This isn’t a joke, I revisited the album of course to refresh myself before sitting down and writing this review. I kept listening, over the course of a school day, in-between production and songwriting sets, while playing games, and as I write this, I just finished my eighth spin of the record. Before those last two days, I had only listened to the album probably twice. 
I remember listening to it back in seventh grade and not particularly disliking it. I was really into Yes and a lot of other Prog and Psych bands, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with the almost yuppie voice that Jeff had used on the record compared to vocal beasts like Freddie Mercury, Bowie, and Jon Anderson. Later on, I listened in freshman year, and I appreciated it much more, and had a few songs come up in my shuffle play, but thought nothing much of it.
Now, war had changed.
part 1: i’m the fucking carrot king
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As I plopped down in my computer chair, my window crackled and banged like a distant firecracker with the smack of heavy rains on a Summer afternoon. I placed my headphones firmly atop my ears, closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair. I heard the opening chords of The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 and tried not just to hear the instrumentation, but also pay attention to the lyrical content of Mr. Mangum.
When you were young, you were the king of carrot flowers And how you built a tower tumbling through the trees In holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet
Okay, so what the fuck is actually happening here?
Upon my listens, I inferred that Jeff is speaking to another party here, most likely a female love interest, in what seemingly starts in a nostalgic tone. This sounds almost like a picturesque, coming-of-age, Americana film. Maybe one starring Molly Ringwald and River Phoenix, with a surprise cameo from someone famous back then like Jack Nicholson. Maybe John Candy, with a John Hughes script. Everything would have those faded out, classic colors, a hearkened back era. Quickly, by halfway through the first act, the tone shifts. A darker mood, a stark, grim reminder that life wasn’t always sunny and shinning in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder And dad would throw the garbage all across the floor As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for
The Mang informs us of a horrific family life, specifically about what seems to be his dad’s, stepmom’s, and stepsister’s interpersonal relationships. The lines are obvious and straightforward, the life of our protagonist was rife with unhealthy familial and sexual relationships, and a sense of love and sweetness was not found there. Keep that in mind when thinking about later songs such as Oh Comely.
After the somber intro of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1, we reach my personal least favorite track on the album: The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 2 and 3.
Look, I know the meme. “I LOOOOOOOOOVE JESUUUS CHUHRIEEEIISSSSTT,” and all that shit. I’m not even worked up about that line in particular, I just dislike Pt. 3. It’s the weakest of the upbeat songs on the album, with the weird yodel-screech voice that Gumman performs with really takes me out of the experience, which sucks because the buildup and atmosphere of Pt. 2 felt pretty amazing. Luckily, Pt. 3 is fairly short, so we don’t have to worry about it too much.
part 2: earth angel’s thesis
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The title track for this album is one of the best songs on this album, no fucking contest. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Oh Comely, The Fool, and Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2 are top contenders when discussing this album. If you like the faster, fuzzier, upbeat songs you could probably substitute The Fool for Holland, 1945.
The title track has a familiar sounding chord progression and we can hear Gum from Jet Set Radio’s saccharine but yelp-y voice belt out from atop the mountains his undying love and admiration for... Anne Frank?
What a beautiful face I have found in this place That is circling all round the sun What a beautiful dream That could flash on the screen In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
In the first verse, Geoff mentions meeting or viewing a beautiful person on this fleeting rock circling round the Sun. He also matches this with the idea that it’s truly futile for him to chase after this beauty, as it is only a dream that could escape him when he awakes. El Jefé has actually mentioned that some of his surrealist lyrics are derived from dreams. Perhaps these lines could imply a more literal dream fading? I don’t exactly know, all I know is what I interpreted.
The instrumentation of this piece is nothing straying from NMH’s usual repertoire: Mandrake on Guitar and Vocals, Scott Spillane on the Horns, Robert Schneider on Bass and Production, Julian Koster playing... something. What is he playing? Wait, give me a second.
He’s playing the Singing Saw? I thought it was like, a Theremin. What the fuck is a Singing Saw?
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Oh.
Okay sure, you can play that, however the fuck you do that.
And finally we have Jeremy Barnes on Drums.
The personnel handle the music with a light, bouncy feeling, and the tone and timbre remind me of a faded, old, seaside town on the east coast. Another thing to mention is that the chord progression is G-Em-C-D; I-vi-IV-V. A funny thing I noticed is that this song shares a chord progression with tons of songs from the 50’s and early 60’s, which adds to the waning Americana feeling, but it more specifically shares that progression with Earth Angel by The Penguins. In the 80’s film, Back To The Future, Marvin Berry covers the song with his band for the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance where Marty’s dad and mom have to dance to ensure that the future stays intact. There’s no further real connection, but I thought that was kinda cool to mention.
After looking through the lyrics for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, I will admit, as a brainlet Two-Headed Boy Pt. 1 eluded me. Patrolling through Genius and some other reviews, I guess the consensus about this track was that it was about Anne Frank again? Manta Jeff’s cryptic lyricism continues to fool me. Besides the lyrics, this track mostly remains a piece of really good filler.
part 3: stop the military occupation of my brainwaves
The Fool is amazing, anyone who says it’s filler is wrong. I know I might anger some people by literally implying that Two-Headed Boy Pt. 1 was filler, but seriously The Fool just makes me a feel a way. My brain creates a scene reminiscent of a depressing diesel-punk Les Misérables. Even though Scotch Spillage’s fantastic piece for horns is beautifully imperfect, it lacks lyrical content and is short and length. So, let’s instead talk about Holland, 1945.
This awesome, uptempo, almost punk-like piece of fuzzy brass is groovy son. It’s probably the song you could show someone not familiar with this project and they’d be like, “Oh, is this Cake? Why is the lead singer singing so high now?”
Holland, 1945 is a song that you can just listen for the instrumentation. Holland, 1945 is a song that promotes peace and love. There’s so many great things I can say about Holland, 1945. How it’s theme is so perfectly fitting for today’s political climate, how it manages to blend these psychedelic and bluesy timbres with a fast and loud sound and how well it continued the semi-conceptual narrative of Joff’s admiration and love for... Anne Frank.
Okay, fuck it, I have to say it. It’s bothered me ever since I discovered it.
Why Anne Frank? Like, I know why Anne Frank, but I mean like, why, y’know? I’ll say I admire Anne Frank, she was trying her best to live a normal life in a terrifying time to be alive, but I never wanted to fuck her. xxJeffxx’s mentions of Anne kind of make me raise an eyebrow. Especially because the album’s not just about her either. When he gets sexual, it’s difficult to determine whether he is mentioning a third party or Anne, which would be pretty weird, as she was 15 when she died and Heff was 28 when he wrote this. Maybe this is just some patrician music shit that I’m too plebeian to understand, like heated toilet seats or drinking for fun rather than to drown the pain. Maybe I haven’t sat down and watched enough flowery-squarespace-sponsored-lofi-hip-hop-muzak-using-pretentious video essayists to understand it, but what do I know.
part 4: the proletariat cries
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To wrap on the second half of the album, this is the half that I cried in.
Communist Daughter is a good song, but with how short it is, it left me wanting more. This track is one of the few that actually features a soft-spoken Jeffen, and its open and dark but dreamy atmosphere left my jaw agape. The mountaintops weren’t the only thing stained.
Oh Comely, Oh Comely. Oh Comely is a song that deserves its own review. The lyrical chops of The Mangum Magnum are on full display as he belts somber, brutal verse after verse, with plenty of juxtaposition between sickening, sexual and vile situations alongside a description of a sweet, innocent young girl, just trying to survive with a guitar by her side. This beautiful, lovely girl gets taken advantage by someone, some people, perhaps even Yeff himself, only seen as an easy lay, a whore, like the ones her father visits often. He disgustingly describes semen in the garden, and her making miracles with her mouth, but I didn’t get a tone similar to so many songs about “sexual-empowerment.” The song is about self-deprecating depression leading to her being used, perhaps even abused. A situation all too real, too close to many of us. As I type this, I don’t know what to think. A woman should of course have individual sexual freedom, but this song doesn’t describe that. It describes trauma, emotional, psychological trauma. Meaningless sex, a rotten smell, staining the flower of a woman, all of this language that could be simply described as gross. This isn’t a happy song about fucking bitches. This song is about how a girl wanted to play music, pluck vines and was taken advantage of, reduced to her roots, and deflowered. Fuck. I wish I could save her. In some sort of time machine.
Two-Headed Boy could refer to a number of things. I have a head canon. This girl, Comely, is being used by the Two-Headed Boy for sexual favors. The Two-Headed Boy then “repays” her in friendship and music, playing their silly little songs. On the surface, Comely assumes the Two-Headed Boy trusts her and cares for her, but really all he wants is sex. Comely, living in a broken home and without a proper male figure in their life, is conned by the Two-Headed Boy, and just wants to live a normal life. Comely is trapped. She’s living in a place that is surrounded by the texture of scum and she knows it, she just can’t call upon the strength to leave. She’s trapped in a home, a ghetto, wanting to live a normal life, but she’s been placed here by the Two-Headed Boy, who knew her mother and father were broken, and she would be too. The Two-Headed Boy broke in, claimed to be her friend, and supports her, before defiling her. Comely was pretty, bright, and intelligent. She was just in a bad situation.
Comely was Anne Frank.
Not to say that they were literally one in the same, but I mean J. Mangum (private eye) is comparing two children, ripped from their lives by this awful world, and intertwining them, blurring the lines.
Who’s the Two-Headed Boy? As I said, it could be a number of people. Nazis, Peter van Pels, hell, even Jeff Manga himself could be the Two-Headed Boy. It doesn’t matter as long as we realize the relationship between oppressed and oppressor.
There is a glimmer of hope for Comely though. Read the closing words from Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2:
Two headed boy, she is all you could need She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires And retire to sheets safe and clean But don't hate her when she gets up to leave
Comely and the Two-Headed Boy split away from each other. Comely leaves the Two-Headed Boy, and the narrator says not to hate her when she leaves. On a deeper level, this could be an introspective Jeff Mangum relating on his past. I don’t really know.
outro
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
9/10
What did you think? Was I way off the mark, or do you agree? What should I have covered? What did you like, what did you dislike, I’m all ears. Leave a follow and a like if you liked it and I’ll see you on Wednesday.
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EPISODE TWO
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“I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my position in the game.” - dem
HOH: Josh C UPSIDE DOWN: Nick & Joshua NOMINEES: Emma & Nash POV: N/A FINAL NOMINEES: N/A EVICTED: Dem (Expelled)
EMMA
I been struggling in this game which is sad i want to have fun but yesterday made me feel like maybe having a meltdown and leaving 90 percent of servers was a good idea for me i really hope not i just really want to have fun and win for some reasons i always have trouble prejury in games trying to find my footing but at jury and late prejury i always know how to rise ASDFGH the people i really like rn are Jakey loml jev loml aria queen saira queen and also joshua is easy to talk too!!! nathan is also great
DEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSgjyUhGTng
NASH
i simply think men should stop winning hoh and trying to nom me. its week 2 go target someone else j*sh. jev and i are cool now though <3 love him
DEM
I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my position in the game. I think I'm not in anyone's bad graces so far, which is good. But I really need to win one of these next HoH's so secure my social relationships. My plan moving forward is to see win HoH's. I want to win the next to HoH's I'm eligible in back to back. I also want to try to secure my relationships with Gina, Jev, and Jake. Those are three people I want to be close with in this game. Also maybe Joshua? He's pretty cool and chill.
SAIRA
I'm still getting a sense of how the game works but I feel pretty good, there are some people that are much easier to talk to than others but everyone is still so nice! i feel good about josh c as hoh! we get along pretty well and I don't THINK im in any danger but you never know! imma be honest, I don't have an actual plan, i'm mostly playing this by ear, just talking to people, bullying beck when the chance arises, and being myself! 
JOSH C
HELLO GIRLIES!
well, we won HOH and that's really EXCITING. i probably didn't need to win this week but i figured that i'd get a win under my belt while nominating people would still be EASY. i can establish trust with some people and get a "i didn't nom you, please don't nom me" situation going on. i also feel like the two people i'm going to nominate would have NOMMED me anyways because we just haven't talked..
who those people are? nash & emma. (vl don't hate me for only nominating women i didn't want it to come to this either)
but i just.. both of them have really only put in any effort to talk to me now that i'm HOH and i don't really LOVE that tbh. i've already told a few people that's who i'm thinking so i kind of accidentally locked myself in on these noms because there isn't any sense in throwing out more names than i have to!!
i have an alliance with kiki, brianna, jacob, jake, and aria. (i think that's the people in it? i wanna say that's right. LKFMSDG love this game for me) and i feel pretty good in that because i like all of them enough and they're people that will watch out for ME and each other. but i know my social connections go beyond that so i'm feeling pretty good with my spot in the game? i have a solid relationship with almost everyone in the game and i think i should be able to play a cute lil utr game for a few weeks. i don't think that i'll get targeted first if my alliance gets outed and if so.. i have ENOUGH faith in my comp strength and relationships to save me against MOST of the cast.
people kind of want me to nominate DEM because apparently he starts drama with people and has been a bit inactive. he's talked with me more than other people so im not super keen on throwing him on the block RIGHT AWAY but i'm thinking he's a good replacement nom because if people think he's MIA then no one other than him will be upset with me. maybe a backdoor? could be spicy..
i don't really know what else to say here so.. i hope this is enough! love u guys <3
BRIANNA
https://youtu.be/mJw3qxsZ-Bg
JEV
Okay so I feel like pretty comfortable this week because me and Josh have gotten pretty close and bonded over our mutual love of Lucas HOWEVER he's just let me know he's gonna be nominating Nash and Emma which isn't GREAT since I'm in alliances with both of them and they're the only 2 alliances I have so I really wouldn't want to see either of them go home this week, this SUCKS ASS
JAKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2xRQqqax8
ARIA
how is it ONLY week 2 i feel so hecking exhausted fhsabfd, but that might also be the fact that is 2 am so,,,oop. Um okay recap time!!!! Recaps are so hard because theres minor details that i still want to note without seeming super annoying so heres a minor list of things im noticing 
-Dem wants to "start playing the game" I told this to Jake (wish i could bold names ugh)
-Gina & dem told me they were gunning hard for hoh- i told nathan/monty/nick/,,,,and someone else this
-emma feels unconnected from cast
-Jake doesnt like Gina
-Josh likes Me Jev Kiki (told joshua)
-emma knows alliances are starting to form
-joey can get pwr hungry and chaotic + good comp ability
-told gnia my thoughts on the sides being "connected v unconnected" and other tidbits of info
-GIna (potentially joshua) doesnt like nash
-Nathan/Nash ARE CLOSE!!!!! WEE FUCKING WOO!!!!
-Told Jake that Jacob has the power (and the bs excuse he told gina pretending he doesnt have it,,,sure jan)
-jake is GREAT at lowering his threat lvl im sick
-Jev-Josh-Nathan-Nash all bonded p well on vc potentially an alliance
-jake tried to get gina nominated
-Emma Nash noms
-Jake doesnt want emma to leave
So,,,thats what you missed on GLEE! Honestly glee sucks but yeah thats all my info i would weave everything together with cute transitions but im TIRED and lots of this information doesnt really connect well so,,,have a bullet list! 
okok nvm heres some general thoughts bc JUST a bullet point list is so boringgg im honestly not too sure what i want to do this week bc i think emma doesnt have a lot of people (although she has jake apparently,,,she might just be putting up a front of being unconnected ffs) so i would rather keep her around based on our relationship alone esp compared to nash whose been busy w/ irl things to reply i think (nash would prob do gr8 in old school bb,,,but new school is a whole other beast) HOWEVER!!! I need to protect gina who isn't the best conversationalist (sorry bb ily but its true <3) and keeping nash around ensures people have another "inact" target besides her but also nash is such a god connection for people like nathan and jacob and i would rather get her out sooner than later before we have another renee on our hands ...
Also i havent talked to the pasio peeps (omg if we ever make an alliance,,,that should be the name hehe) in a while and idk if theyre distancing themselves or if theyre just busy fndsjafd god im too paranoid for this game its awful. Also i think i mentioned the alliance with josh kiki bri jake jacob last time and it still isnt made and im PRAYINGGG it never gets made bc i have SUCH an awful feeling like SIX FUCKING PEOPLE??? S I X?? THAT IS GOING TO FAIL AND BLOW UP!!!! but i cant say no to an alliance so here i fucking am :/ also im trying to think of my longevity in this game and like,,, idk im nervous. I mean ive mentioned going to the end with multiple people but i have such a bad feeling im gonna go out 9/10 as a big move and i REFUSE to let that shit happen, not on my fucking watch no sir!! Not sure what to do about it yet but i feel like monty in particular doesnt trust me and i need his ass OUT! or maybe not if he comes around but like??? sir pls talk to me- i mean this phase of the game is early im setting up the pawns for later, but before later theres gonna be a couple explosions of my game which i'll have to deal with,,, or maybe not actually i mean in my first org i did a really well mastermind game with it- nvm it did explode on me once FDBSHFDS yeah so theres gonna be an explosion period but i think im getting good at dealing w/ the backlash from it and reintegrating myself..
oh also yeah im safe this week lol
anyway sorry for rambling so much LMAO have a trust ranking!
1.Gina (MY QUEEN!!!!!!!! i LOVE her!)
-BIG BIG FUCKING GAP-
2.Jake (listen,,,my thoughts go back and forth but he did tell me the noms so,,,have some rights)
3.Saira (we never talk game but i dont think she talks with anyone about game beyond maybe nick and also shes nice and im a sucker for nice girls)
4.Emma (if this isnt all just a front shes gonna make a great number for me,, might need to fact check some of her statements tho)
5.Joshua (honestly? i love him hes so funny and i think he has my back although he could be more act)
6.Nathan (literally havent talked in 3 days but also i have a soft spot for him <3)
-GAP-
sorry the Js are just kinda scary lmao JFNSDKF
7.Nick (!! we gotta an actual connection folks!! heck yeah!)
8.Josh c (im safe! but he D E F trusts others more than me such as Joshua and Jacob)
9.Jev (honestly a king but hes a little quiet although his reccs are the BOMB)
10.Jacob (i know youre being sneaky,,,idk what youre being sneaky with but im getting the vibes)
11.Dem (might be weird but i think he trusts me? at least a little bc he ranted about losing to me so O.0)
12.Brianna (youre adorable and deserve the world but everyone likes you,,,is this how people view me omg fhsabfhds)
13.Kiki (youre SO hecking sweet and actually u probs have a connections to nash but we havent talked ANY game yet)
14.Nash (p,,p-please talk to me uwu)
15.Joey (i dont trust you at ALL! Why? good question-)
was that mean? sorry in advance ilyall but also its 3 am brain empty no filter
NASH
i think jev and nathan might end up being good allies of mine (inb4 betrayal)! despite the mistake he made nomming me, talking to jev has been lovely so far he's getting me into loona LMFAO. and i just love nathan's energy & i feel like as the season goes on i can see him winning comps. i'm excited :3 hope josh c does not end my existence this week
JOEY
I feel FANTASTIC about Josh being HoH. I’m making sure that others are coming to me about gameplans, and I’m making sure I don’t come off as too pushy or aggressive in PMs. With most of the players, I’m trying to give them all the same energy and hype. It seems kinda weird to say this, but I’m not concerned about being nominated at this point. What I need to ensure is building my social relationships with people outside the “Crackhouse”, and yes that big ol friend group moved to Discord in 20 minutes like 6 months ago. 
This is the first major game I’ve ever played with Skinny Nick(yes, I’m absolutely confused as to what to call them, I’m so used to calling Nick “Eve” that its going to take time to adjust.) Speaking of Nick, my social relationship with him is actually surprisingly similar. In the past, I felt as though it would be as “on-sight” as Tom & Jerry, and it actually isn’t turning out that way, which is surprisingly refreshing. Every day, I’m making sure I send Nick something different to diversify my social game with them. Yesterday, I asked Nick about his preferred streaming services for music and TV, and I discovered we have the same music service(Apple Music).
I’ve played one game with Monty before, but it was a disaster. We were in pairs, and it felt like we were on different planets. I did tell him to not worry about personal feelings when it comes to this game, because I compared the relationship of BB Netflix and the Crackhouse to the separation of church and state. I made that comparison because the two entities of church and state should never cross, but when they do it becomes disastrous, and I feel as though that same principle applies to this game.
Overall, I feel good, Emma may be going up on the block, but it shouldn’t affect me that much. We’re in the early stage, I want to make sure I’m good with everyone.
ARIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFeox7LM1-E
JAKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLkZ-BIIjTU
HOUSE MEETING
https://youtu.be/BZMorvWvyKY
HOST WEEKLY CAST ASSESSMENT WEEK 1 & 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc-iMpkfrdw&list=PLFEwPPy8j010XXwntq80VSU0qLNTNpSIN&index=3&t=0s
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Suggestion O’Clock
As February ends and March begins, here’s a reflection of some things I’ve been listening to and watching. Everybody needs suggestions, take them as you need.
Music: I am a firm believer in Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlists which automatically update themselves based on your listening patterns and what not. The BEST place to go for some handpicked tunes. However, here are a few I’ve come to love the past month.
• The Neighbourhood’s Hard To Imagine EP: Unlike the last three works they’ve put out, Hard To Imagine is something all it’s own. Very far from I Love You and Wiped Out!, HTI is full of songs that definitely reach outside of the usual boundaries they’d set for themselves. Though I am not a fan of the EP in its entirety, there are a few songs that make it worthwhile. ‘Void’ being in the top spot with that one lyric, “Wonder how I got by this week, only touched you once.” Just feels so smooth. Following in no definite order are Scary Love, Nervous (which dropped 5 days ago), You Get Me So High, and Roll Call. Honorable mention to 24/7 and Sadderdaze- both catchy, but in a way that will get old really fast. If there’s such a thing as dishonorable mention, Dust takes that. I could have gone the whole album without that.
• Sufjan Stevens- Visions of Gideon: Top Spot for WEEKS in the category of “Songs That Will Ruin My Day”. This is one of the most gutwrenching songs for me. So pretty, so smooth, so full of feeling. Sufjan is an artist that has definitely made more waves since the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack’s Oscar nomination he got for “Mystery of Love.” I hate to say that the Academy was wrong, but picking that over Visions of Gideon was nothing but wrong. Seriously, listen to this and tell me you didn’t cry.
• Viola Beach- Call You Up: The song I want to montage videos of myself dancing on a beach at sunset with a bottle of wine to. Definitely that annoying indie sounding voice, but it works for this. Lyrics you’d find in the diary of young people in some summer love. “I’ll call you up in the middle of the night in hopes that you want to hear from me. I just wanna know if you’re feeling alright.” It’s just so CATCHY you just gotta sway your head and hips and close your eyes when you sing it. Has a beachy feel. One of those in the middle sort of songs. Not a breakup song, not a love song. Takes a seat on the harshly drawn middle line. Just give it a listen, I can’t stop playing it in my car because it’s impossible to not sing along to.
• Manchester Orchestra- Colly Strings. I don’t know what they are, but I know this song makes me perform power house vocals in the shower. Definitely something the singer wrote to be specific to himself, but still vague enough to feel like it relates. Simple, heavily lyric focused, not technically impressive at all. Just really plain, but I love it. Listen to this on drives home. “CONFESSEDLY, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IVE LOVED YOU AND GOD, I MEAN IT. GOD, I MEAN IT. I HOPE THAT I MEAN IT. CAUSE LIKE DIANE YOUNG, IDOLS GET THE BEST OF ME. WELL, DONT STOP CALLING- YOURE THE REASON I LOVE LOSING SLEEP.” a... slammer. A true indie king. Strange that I’ve never liked Manchester Orchestra’s other songs.
• The Last Shadow Puppets- Miracle Aligner: IN CASE YOU ARENT AWARE, Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys is the front man of this band. Basically, its Arctic Monkeys music under a different band name. TLSP had Sweet Dreams, Tennessee which I learned about a summer or so ago and loved. How I never found Miracle Aligner baffles me. It’s got that same AM vibe that most of Alex Turner’s work does. Feels a bit like a background song for a 60’s feel good family show. This one’s upbeat for his fashion, but I dig it. Alex Turner is the man I’ve always wanted to meet. I cannot believe he is real. I’ve been convinced he’s sincerely an enigma.
• From the Dining Table- Harry Styles: OKAY, I know it‘s overdue. I didn’t give much listen to Harry’s album because it mimics so many British rock classics so closely that I just.. I didn’t want to. And I’m the biggest one direction stan alive. Sometimes, I cringe at the lyrics. Aside from that, it’s a song I’d fall asleep to and that’s why I like it. It’s something I would sing to put someone to sleep. After a minute and a half we can stop the song because the third verse/bridge/ whatever is so close to resembling Over the Rainbow in my head. Just throw it on your playlist if you’ve not already. I’m sure almost everyone has.
• Jamie T- Magnolia Melancholia: I AM SO MANY THINGS AFTER THIS SONG. First off, Jamie T has been around for a few years, and I’ve always liked some of his stuff. Don’t You Find, and Zombie were two that I definitely was like, huh, this is new. He’s one of those British singers that really actually sounds British. Most of it’s a little more spoken than sung. Anyway, outside of this- magnolia melancholia is very different compared to his other music. Almost similar to Dont You Find, but it’s the only thing close. The song is sincerely just so impactful to me because of the lyrics, but I think it’s a good song overall to have. Like I said, different. “Nice to meet ya, boy, I know your mama knows. I fell in love with her seven thousand summer ago. I was a runner, boy,” just something I think he stripped from my diary and made his own. Definitely really excited to have seen his name come back on my screen and feel something so personal and nostalgic. Really think he’s an underrated artist.
Films: Of course, it’s March when I’m writing this, so the Oscars have come and gone. However, Oscar nominees or not- these are the films I’ve seen, loved, and suggest.
• The Shape of Water- Winner of Best Picture, The Shape of Water is obviously something you look at and say, “Hm, I should probably see that.” TSOW is insanely creative, but there should be nothing less expected from its director. Following a black woman, gay man, and a mute woman’s romance with an amphibian man- it’s definitely up there in terms of diversity. In short, the feel of the film and its tenderness paired with intrinsic visual detail is stimulating in a multitude of ways. You leave the theater feeling something.
• Black Panther- I would literally pay the first person who reads this and hasn’t seen Black Panther $20. I’m pretty sure it’s like... the top grossing movie ever at this point. If you don’t care for superhero movies, just go for the complete bad-assery. And Michael B Jordan. Who I don’t think is a great actor, but I do find him almost as gorgeous as Lupita.
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Another Oscar nominee. Frances McDormand who plays the lead took home best actress while supporting actor went to her co star Sam Rockwell. Really, in all honesty, the thing that I think about when I explain the film is the character arc they gave San Rockwell’s character. Watching this man grow and change throughout the film was impressive both in the acting and the writing.
• Hostiles- ROSAMUND PIKE BEING A BADASS COLONIAL WOMAN!! CHRISTIAN BALE HAVING A GOOD HEART!!! SWEET ENDINGS!!!
• Atonement- Look, I’m just asking you to go on Netflix and add this to your Watch List for an afternoon when you’re laying in bed and want to cry. James McAvoy and Natalie Portman, a heart wrenching love story during war time, but still far more than that.
• The Warriors- We Love A Good 70/80’s film, and this is what that was. Based around gangs and a journey back home, this is full of companionship, unity, wit, and lots and lots of leather vests. (prime)
• Wonderstruck- Ultimately a feel good film that is unlike any other. Complex story line, wonderful depiction, just creative and free. Feels so sweet to see something so pure.
• Captain Fantastic- okay, everything I’ve deemed “creative” is subpar when it comes to Captain Fantastic. Surrounding the theme of family, mental illness, and exclusion- the film depicts a family living off grid with their dad after losing their mother to depression, the following days are full of humorous and heartfelt feats as they attempt to attend their mothers funeral despite the grandfathers wishes. The complete disconnect between the modern world and the world this family lives in puts them at no sort of disadvantage, and the theme of unity and pride of where you come from shines through.
• Blade Runner 2049- Rewatched it. Felt so happy to have my eyes glued to a screen. Genuinely equivalent to being induced into a coma because you’re not leaving your seat. And if you haven’t seen the original Blade Runner- do yourself and Harrison Ford a favor.
• Honorable Mention to Lady Bird, CMBYN, Dunkirk, Phantom Thread, and The Florida Project all of which will be included in an “Oscars in Review” post I have queued for next week
As far as music and movies go, that is a slight look into some of the things February and March have brought thus far. For every time Lauren needs a suggestion, I feel as though it’s necessary to compile a list for whoever else may need it.
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jhem211 · 7 years
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ignore everybody else (we’re alone now) (iv/vi)
Summary: Cat Grant is just looking for a little release. (AO3)
It’s not that she runs.
Cat Grant doesn’t run.
To be specific, it was a sprint. She can admit that because she doesn’t lie to herself. Not for long anyway.
She went straight from The Peninsula to the tarmac, and now she’s being accosted by the disgusting Houston humidity before the sun has even blinked itself fully awake.
The drive to Josh’s house is both shorter and longer than she needs it to be. The neighborhood he lives in is adorable. The streets are wide and tree lined, and if Cat squints hard enough she can picture BBQs, children playing, and fireworks on the Fourth of July.
It’s nauseatingly perfect. She can already see why Carter loves it here so much.
By the time she knocks on Josh’s front door, the sun is out, the heat seems to have doubled, and Cat has no idea what she’s going to say.
When the door opens, Josh is as he’s always been. Shaggy and blonde with earnest eyes that always get him what he wants, especially when he’s not trying. It’s how she ended up saying yes to everything from their first date to the engagement ring he dropped down the subway grates of the dirty New York City sidewalk he decided to propose on.
“I owe our son one hundred bucks,” he says.
“And why is that?” Cat asks, eyebrow raised and smirk in place out of habit more than anything else.
“He said you wouldn’t make it a week before you showed up. I gave you two.”
And it’s not that Cat’s smile slips, exactly; it’s just that Josh knows her better than anyone, which is why his smile becomes a bit lopsided to match her mood, “A little Irish in your coffee, then?”
Cat places her hand on his chest right where his heart beats, gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and walks inside.
“Carter’s still asleep, second door on the right. I’ll get the coffee started,” Josh says from behind her.
Cat barely looks at the house as she makes her way to Carter’s room. She’s sure it’s wonderful and charming, but she can’t get to her son fast enough.
Or she gets there too fast because before she knows it, she’s standing outside his door, hand on the knob, and slightly afraid to take another step.
She doesn’t know why. Carter will be happy to see her. She’s sure of it. And seeing him is always the best part of any of her days.
But she hesitates.
He’s going to ask what she’s doing here, and she doesn’t know what she’s going to say. So she hesitates. Only for a moment, though, because her desire to see him is greater than any fear she could ever harbor.
When she pushes the door open, the first thing she notices is the galaxy painted on the ceiling. It’s spray painted with inky blacks and blues, silvery whites, and bursts of orange and gold peeking out from distant places. Next, the mountain of books he’s managed to accumulate in a week that is too numerous to fit in the small bookcase against the wall, and a telescope that looks top of the line even to Cat’s untrained eye.
Carter is asleep on his stomach, covers kicked to the foot of the bed, hand dangling over the side, nearly brushing the floor.
She sighs. Carter is still Carter, her little boy even if he’s half a country away and nearly a teenager.
Cat is fully aware that the tears prickling her eyes are an overreaction.
Quietly, she sits down on the bed and gently brushes the hair from his eyes. He decided to grow it out before school ended and his bangs are nearly out of control. She checks his ends and wonders if she can convince him to get a trim while she’s in town.
“Did you come all the way here to play with my hair, mom,” Carter says, eyes still shut, and voice sleepy with warmth.
“Perhaps,” Cat’s smile is as bright as the sun she was cursing not that long ago.
“Cool.” And just like that, he’s back asleep.
Cat can’t help but chuckle. He definitely gets his love of sleep from Josh. She pulls the covers over him, runs her hands through his hair one more time, adds a kiss to his forehead for good measure, and leaves him to his dreams.
By the time she finds her way to the kitchen, there are two mugs steaming with delicious smelling coffee, and two slices of strawberry cheesecake sitting on the kitchen table.
“Are you serious?” Cat asks. “The sun’s barely up.”
“You know I don’t joke about cheesecake, love.”
Josh has been on a lifelong quest to find the best cheesecake on Earth. There’s a complicated ranking system and notebooks full of data. It’s utterly ridiculous. And how she ended up spending her thirtieth birthday in a stranger’s backyard in some swampy Louisiana town because Josh heard they sold ‘the best cheesecake in the south’ right from their back porch. As far as she knows, it still holds the number one spot.
“Have you ranked this one yet?” Cat asks as she takes a seat.
“Not yet.” He takes that as a cue to grab his notebook, pen, and camera.
Sometimes Cat can’t believe she had such a great love affair with such an enormous dork. Most times Cat believes she won’t fall in love again until she meets another one.
Cat takes a sip of her coffee. It’s Irish, just like he promised. By the time Josh is ready to actually eat the cheesecake, Cat is a quarter of the way through her coffee.
“First category is creaminess,” Josh says with all seriousness.
Cat takes a bite. It literally melts in her mouth and is absolutely divine.
They make it through three more categories: sweetness, fruit, and balance before Josh gets to the point.
“So why are you here, love?”
He’s called her that since the first time he told her he loved her and just never stopped. There’s no heat or desire attached to it now. Just the warmth of friendship bonded by trying really hard to make something work, failing admirably, and creating the most important thing in either of their lives in the process.
“I met someone,” Cat says. Josh’s smile is immediate and warm. “And I met with a campaign advisor because I’m considering a run for president since they let anyone do it now. “
Cat pauses and downs the rest of her coffee in one gulp. Josh grabs the bottle of Jameson from the cabinet and Cat notices his limp for the first time as he walks back and pours her a bit more.
“How was your near-death experience?” Cat asks.
“No white light, so I was kinda disappointed. Don’t change the subject,” he says. “Who’s this someone?”
“She’s an escort,” Cat says, after a heavy sigh and a bracing sip. “The person I met. Her name is Kara, she’s exceptional at orgasm denial, and when she finally let me come, I wished I knew everything about her.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Pursuing a relationship with an escort while running for political office is the height of the wrong kind of audacity.”
“I don’t have data to support this, but I’m pretty sure most of the men who have ever held office would disagree,” Josh says.
He has a point, but Cat Grant has never held herself to the standards of men.
“I can’t,” she says.
“Why not?”
Because becoming president will be the most difficult task of her life. Because the last time she felt this way was when she stared herself down in her bathroom mirror and set a course for building CatCo that only she believed in. Because proving people wrong is one of her favorite pastimes. Because she truly believes that when these next four years come crashing to an end, this country will need someone like her to right the ship.
She can’t jeopardize that for a date.
“You’d be an amazing president, Cat,” Josh says as if reading her mind.
“I know.”
“And this Kara would be the luckiest person in the world if you gave her shot.”
“I know that too,” Cat smirks.
Josh chuckles then alternately stares out the window and eats the rest of his cheesecake.
Cat stares at his profile, wondering if this is really why she came here. To hear the truth from one of the few people who’s not afraid to give it to her.
When he finally looks at her again, all that’s left of his cheesecake is crumbs and all that’s left in Cat’s mug is a sip or two. “You always want to have it all, Cat.”
“The last time I tried to have it all—“
“You got Carter,” Josh says. “Pretty worth the effort, I think.”
“Yes, but I didn’t get Adam.”
She remembers the night she told him about Adam. It was three months into her pregnancy, and she’d been picking terrible fights with him for two of them. Josh had finally had enough and begged her to tell him who she was really mad at.
I’m going to fail at this again.
The words ripped from her throat against her will.
She told him everything.
He listened.
Wiped the tears from her face.
And told her the truth.
You had one job. Give your son the best chance at the best possible life. That’s what you did, love. But if you keep carrying this guilt, the only thing you’re going to do now is pass it on to our kid.
He was right. He usually is. Cat maintains it’s one of his most annoying qualities.
“I don’t want to fail at this,” Cat says. “The stakes are too high.”
“Pressure is a privilege, Cat. You know that better than anyone.”
“Did you just quote Billie Jean King to me?”
“Yup,” Josh says unapologetically. “Listen. Life has taught you a lot over the years. If you really wanted to, you could put all that learning to use and figure out a way to make it work.”
“Seems like a lot of effort just to get to know someone.”
“When was the last time you met someone you actually wanted to get to know?”
It’s well known that Cat keeps her inner circle excruciatingly small. It’s a lesson she learned in the months after her father died when all the people who loved and admired him in life stood by while his wife and daughter lost everything except the clothes on their backs.
It’s the reason she told Kara to get out.
She remembers in explicit detail what she wanted to do after Kara made her come with a single kiss, the single question she wanted to ask…
Who are you?
The depth of Cat’s desire to know, rumbling upward from the pit of her stomach and ready to devour every detail this woman had to offer, was the clearest signal Cat’s ever received that once she knew, things would never be the same.
So she kicked her out and sprinted to Houston.
“At the very least, you won’t be cheating on your wife,” Josh continues, “so you’ll be better at it than any man who has ever tried it before.”
The loud laugh that explodes out of Cat and rattles against the kitchen walls is an unexpected release of pressure.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Carter asks as he walks into the kitchen.
It takes Cat a moment to catch her breath. “Yes. I’m fine, sweetheart,” she says as the last of her chuckles peter out.
Carter looks between his mom and dad before shrugging like the pre-teen he is. “Do you want to go see the USS Texas with us?”
Cat has no idea what that is. “Absolutely,” she says.
“Awesome. First, we have to try the cheesecake french toast at this new restaurant we discovered. Then battleships.” Carter says and Cat doesn’t know what she’s going to do about Kara, but she does know battleships and french toast are the next best thing to figuring it out.
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