#tomorrow is for making covers for that and the wicked script

[soupandsorcery]

there are few things as fun as cutting a big ass stack of paper in my paper guillotine

[witchesoz]

Oz the Great and Powerful: Script vs Movie (2)

V) Escaping the Emerald City

We find back Oscar now in the Emerald City dungeons, guarded by two creatures, a Whimsie on one side and a Gnome on the other. The two taunt the Wizard and try to scare him by pointing out that tomorrow’s torture session (because this is what Evanora meant by “interrogation”) will be quite horrible, especially since the Queen is an expert at it. The Whimsie and Gnome also make it clear that they will gladly enjoy eating the Wizar’s flesh once she is done with him – the Whimsie preferring a “slow roast” while the Gnome prefers having the Wizard “flayed alive”. Oscar, in return, insults the Gnome’s beard, only to have the Gnome reply proudly that this beard is the source of his potency and strength – and the Whimsie mock him, because he precise that if you hit a Gnome in the beard you’ll defeat them quite easily, only for the Gnome to bitterly answer back that if you take off the mask of a Whimsie’s head they’ll flee in shame of their real appearance – and so, their bickering actually makes Oscar learn of how to defeat both of their species as a whole. The two guards then leave him alone – but Oscar uses his talents as an escape artist/contortionist to actually escape the chains that bind him to the wall of the dungeons, he then lures the guard back into the dungeon by using his ventriloquism to make it sound like people are here to rescue him – and once they’re inside he knocks them out using the knowledge he gained earlier. And as he is about to leave, he is suddenly greeted face to face with… Kala, Theodora’s winged monkey.

Because meanwhile, in her room, Theodora was looking thoughtfully at the music box of Oscar, and playing again and again its music (it is Mozart by the way). The music ends up touching “whatever is left in her Witch heart” as the script says (another quite ominous line), and she decides to write a small note to the Wizard, that she tasked Kala to deliver alongside with a key – the key to the dungeons. She wanted him to escape! But Kala arrives right as the Wizard managed to escape all by himself, having stolen the keys from the guards. And then… Surprise! Kala can talk like a human! Before all he did was just mimicking his messages or using his facial expressions to express his feelings (he notably frowned several time during his scenes, at both what Theodora said and what Oscar himself said) – but now he makes full sentences, and he tells the Wizard “We need to go to Glinda now, to help you! Quick! And Glinda is the Witch of the South! And by the way, she isn’t a Wicked Witch – she is a Good Witch, but the sisters are the Wicked Witches. Let’s go!

After they leave the Emerald City, Evanora summons the guards that were knocked out. They pretend that the Wizard simply vanished into thin air, turning into cold smoke before disappearing – but the note Kala was supposed to carry to the Wizard was left behind, dropped in the moment of panic, and Evanora gained knowledge of it. After quickly sentencing to death the two guards who failed at their duty, she summons Theodora and reveals to the audience the content of the note: “I’m sorry, I never should have brought you here – don’t worry, I will help you.” Evanora is deeply disappointed by her sister’s treachery, and despite Theodora’s insistence than maybe the Wizard will NOT go join the Witch of the South, Evanora deeply believes he will join her against them – and to add a final insult, she says that Glinda’s charms are much greater than Theodora’s.

Meanwhile, Evanora sends her entire army of “savages” (the way the script keeps reusing these words for the species serving Evanora is making me a bit uncomfortable) after the Wizard, with the job to catch him alive BEFORE he can reach the Witch of the South. But as they run, suddenly something arrives from the South – the Impenetrable Mist, a thick spectral fog moving across the land, sent by Glinda to cover everything in an ocean of clouds. The Impenetrable Mist confuses the “savage army”, who is promptly lost – when the mist goes away, the Wizard is gone, and the generals of the army agree that it must have been him who conjured up this spell. After all, he did come from the clouds, didn’t he? But meanwhile Kala and the Wizard actually follow a glowing orb inside the mist, who guides them towards the right direction.

We get here another good look at how a scene was originally intended, versus how the scene ends up. Remember from the movie, the scene of Oscar meeting for the first time the winged monkey servant, who swears a life-debt to him? Well this scene exists in the original script… but completely reversed. Oscar asks for the monkey’s name, which is revealed to be Kala ; he then insists on shaking the hand (well, paw) of the monkey, which surprises the creature as no one did that before ; and finally it is OSCAR who says he is in debt to Kala for saving his life, not the reverse. We have again a very significant change, showing how different the script’s original intentions were compared to what the movie ended up as. As the two chat, we also learn more things. We learn that Kala is the only winged monkey that can talk, a magical gift from Glinda, and that he secretly served her as a spy – Theodora herself didn’t know Kala could speak or had any contact with Glinda. Kala also brings the big revelation. Theodora and Evanora are wicked witch-sisters, both of them – though the difference is that Evanora is completely and fully wicked, while Theodora is “not all the way wicked yet”.

This is the big difference between the movie, where Theodora is a naïve good witch fooled by her very own sister (and in fact, fooled by everyone, so REALLY naïve), and the script, who has the very interesting (and almost genius I would say) idea of having Theodora be a wicked witch… but one who still actually has some good and decency inside her. Suddenly, the lines of Evanora earlier make sense: “You still have feelings”… Evanora is purely wicked because she implies she got rid of her human feelings, but Theodora still kept them, and so this makes her actually “less” wicked than her sister. Consider this: in the movie, we have just a naïve, sheltered, shy girl’s dreamy romance that, once broken, leads her to become, out of jealousy and sadness, the most wicked creature in all of Oz… Something really “try-to-be-edgy” and “moody” and “cheap Elphaba”. But in the original script, the idea was that Oscar/the Wizard, out of his generosity and kindness, had managed to strike the last part of humanity in a wicked witch’s heart, and rekindle the flame of love and compassion in a sorceress on the side of the villain. We are already in something much more complex and interesting! In fact, the final movie overall feels like a big over-simplification of everything the script tried to build up. Theodora story is one good example: “What? A wicked witch that still has some humanity left, and so helps the hero, but then plunges back into full wickedness? No, that’s too complicated, let’s just make her all good, and then all bad”

Anyway, once all of this explanation is done, the Mist Maidens arrive, beautiful ghostly female apparitions made of fog, with “flowing hair and robes, and arms of white”, here to guide the duo towards Glinda. This is a nice nod to the books, yes… but it is an unnecessary one. It is one of the slight flaws of this script – while the efforts to make Oz books references are well appreciated, especially since they touch some of the most obscure part of the literary lore, they tend to be… a bit too much. You have a lot of unnecessary references that kind of bloat up the movie and might confuse someone not familiar with the book. Like the Mist Maidens: they just appear in one scene, disappear completely with no mention, and their role is redundant, since it is specified there is already a glowing orb in the mist guiding the duo… and the orb will play a more important part than the Mist Maidens, so they are utterly and completely unnecessary.

We cut to a scene between Evanora, who toys with the Diamond Dagger, and Theodora. Evanora insists that she was right, and that the Wizard is now on his way to Glinda’s to ally himself with her. And so Evanora puts to Theodora a choice: Choose me, or her. Theodora is quite shocked at the idea that she could choose Glinda over her own sister – but Evanora reveals that she knows Theodora too well, and she knows that a part of Theodora actually still wants to be “like Glinda”. To be beautiful and beloved, not hated and feared like Evanora. Despite this knowledge, Evanora actually doesn’t resent her sister, but rather slowly works on corrupting her (the script references several times the fact that Evanora’s words are like drops of poisons). She just gently strokes Theodora’s hair, and tells her that being a good witch isn’t who she is, or who she is meant to be ; she adds that she needs her for help, and that being “halfway” isn’t enough ; she insists: “Join me so we can defeat them all, and rule for the next thousand years… And all it will cost you is your heart.”

And meanwhile, rumors spread across the Emerald City – the citizens chatting and gossiping to each other about what the “Wonderful Wizard” did, with tales ranging from him being able to walk through the walls, to him turning into an eight-foot giant to escape…

VI) Meeting Glinda

The Wizard and Kala finally arrive at the Quadling Country, which is protected by a shimmering wall extending from east to west, making everything behind it look “hazy, like a mirage”, a force-field. The glowing orb guiding them actually opens a portal through the wall, which closes right after they went through. And at this point, Kala leaves on his own to warn Glinda of their arrival, leaving the Wizard to walk on his own to the castle of Glinda. And…

… we reach here one of the bad parts of the script. Not because it is bad-bad. But just because it mixes bad pacing with the flow I quoted above, of the over-abundance of book references. Oscar walks on his own through the Quadling Country, seeing the many strange sights in it – Ripple Land, the Dainty China Country, the Hammerheads… This is a trip typical of a Baum book, with ton of Oz book content… But it isn’t really necessary, and kind of bloats the plot, and grinds its pace to a halt. It could be easily cut or reshaped. Let’s look at it step, by step, shall we? The Ripple Land part is definitively not necessary, since it is just a visual trick evoking Baum’s original description of a land in constant ripples, with hills becoming valleys and valleys becoming hills – a nice visual to see, but not much needed here. I mean, we have entered the point of crisis of the story, there is an urgency, we are not here to take a stroll down the wonderful land anymore.

Then we have a scene at the Dainty China Country and… I have to say, the scene in the script is actually very weak, where the scene of the Dainty China Country in the movie is very good. In the script, Oscar surprises a little china girl who breaks one of her legs – but she treats it as if it was nothing, claiming her mother has some glue to repair her, and she just says that he doesn’t look much like a Wizard before running away. While it adds to the whole wonder of the Land of Oz… It is nothing and can easily be cut. Especially since this movie doesn’t have the secondary character of the Little China Girl, and no parallel to the wheelchair girl in the real word (who herself doesn’t exist in this early script). But in the movie, having the Dainty China Country scene be a tragic one, showing the devastation of the Wicked Witch, and the whole thing with the Wizard rescuing a broken girl, literally… It was a powerful scene, that worked really well, and helped Oscar recognize that he had a huge responsibility in the events unfolding. More than that, this scene in the movie helped show some of the darkness of Oz, and added some seriousness to the whole business… In fact, I think it is something that the original script seems to miss a bit, some bit of dark seriousness in it. But again, if they went for an “early Pirate of the Caribbean vibe”, it works really well. As for the meeting of the Hammerheads, it is just them starting to beat up Oz with their heads, and playing volleyball with him, before putting him down when learning that he is the Wizard. Some kind of cartoonish violence that, again, doesn’t feel really right nor useful. The only useful info is that we learn how the Hammerheads got their arms stolen by the Wicked Witch of the East – aka Evanora, and even then this is just… really confusing. Why are they referring to her as the Wicked Witch of the East? Evanora is currently the illegitimate Queen of Oz – she doesn’t rule specifically from the East. And even if she did came from there originally, it is very confusing since later Theodora will be referred to as the “Wicked Witch of the West”, so it possibly can’t be based on their places of origin since they are said to be sisters… I think they just dropped the names there to make sure the audience knew which character was which – but it doesn’t make any sense. I much prefer the movie not giving us the actual title but letting us guess, from the sisters leaving into different directions, who they will become.

Anyway, let’s leave this tedious travel behind and finally arrive at Glinda’s palace. White, radiant and glorious, seemingly made of “living crystal”, with a courtyard like the Gardens of Babylon. Oscar is quite surprised to find the castle empty, no servants or guards in there, to what Kala replies that Glinda, since she is a witch, needs “no one”. An interesting detail implying that if the wicked witches keep servants in their palace it is by choice, not by necessity. We also get this fascinating exchange: Oscar says “Independent-minded, is she? I like that in a woman”, only for Kala to answer “She is not a woman: she is a witch”. It is actually a leitmotif that returns later, how witches are not actually women, and drives the sense of otherworldliness of their characters that had already been established by Theodora (who pointed out for example how witches do not need to eat). Glinda finally appears, in a magic bubble like in the MGM movie, and to describe her, whoever wrote the script actually quotes Joseph Campbell “The paragon of all paragons of beauty, the reply to all desire, the incarnation of the promise of perfection”. The one who wrote this script clearly had big ideas. The only other info we have is that Glinda has the bearing of a “pirate queen” (again, reinforces my Pirate of the Caribbean vibe). Now, Glinda informs Oscar that Kala has some doubts about him being a Wizard – and Oscar manages to get out of this by claiming that while he can’t shake mountains or turn water into wine, he deals in illusions. And to Glinda, it just seems that he is a shoddy and not very powerful wizard (though a wizard still) – but as she says, she’ll still take him because he is the only wizard they got, plus if he managed to escape Evanora it means he is resourceful enough.

Glinda then has Oscar greet the “Good People of the South”, that gathered to celebrate him and form an army to fight off the Wicked Witches at the Wizard’s command. It is similar in principle to the scene of Oscar meeting Glinda’s forces in the final movie, and yet very different. In scope at first – we are here talking of thousands of people gathering by Glinda’s palace. And in content, as instead of the movie’s usage of “recognizable” faces like the Munchkins and whatnot, the script originally did reuse the actual inhabitants of the South of Oz. The Cuttenclip soldiers, the Hammerheads, Dainty China soldiers and farmers, the Fuddles, and the inhabitants of Utensia… Leading to a truly fantastical assembly of weird creatures and entities. In front of this huge gathering, Oscar tries to back out – he explains he can’t be a warlord, because it requires someone with “brains, heart and courage” (wink towards the original story). Glinda explains that, while she is the most powerful of the three sorceresses in Oz, it is dangerous for her to face alone two Wicked Witches at once, as they could actually destroy her – and if Glinda dies, than all “hopes and dreams will die in Oz for a thousand years”. (It is quite interesting how the Wicked Witches plan to rule for a thousand years, and Glinda’s death would mean the rule of wickedness for just a thousand year, I wonder what’s the deal with this specific time limit, maybe it is the span of a life-cycle among Witches?). Oscar asks Glinda what she will do if he refuses to help, and Glinda flat out tells him she’ll banish him from Quadling Country and leave him into the hand of the Wicked Sisters. Oscar answers “And they say you’re the Good Witch!” to which Glinda explains “A Good Witch is still a Witch, and a Witch wants what she wants – and I want these people to be free”. This last point is actually what strikes a chord inside Oscar’s heart, because as he confesses to Glinda, in his own homeland “nothing is free”.

So he ultimately agrees to go check this army with Glinda, see what they can come up with… But he is very disappointed upon seeing the result. The Cuttenclip soldiers are just soldiers made of paper, and so easily destroyed ; the Dainty China soldiers also break off too easily ; the Fuddles are actually living puzzles, who fall into pieces if they feel too strong emotions such as surprise or terror. The Hammerheads are the only ones who seem to be efficient in a war, since Oscar himself felt their punch, and as he starts saying that the inhabitants of Utensia – which are living kitchen utensils, with eyes, arms and legs – could be useful into killing people… Glinda drops the bomb on him. The inhabitants of Utensia cannot kill anyone, because they are enchanted and “anything enchanted cannot kill”. Even more: no one born in Oz can kill, except the Witches and Wizards. Oscar is baffled and asks what about the servants of the Wicked Witches, the Gnomes, Whimsies and the like – and Glinda explains that they can kill because they are actually not from Oz. [Self note: while this is an excellent conundrum to place in front of the Wizard, and a nice nod to the literary canon, Glinda just dropping the fact the Wicked Witches servant are Oz-born leaves some questions open – such as where do they come from, or how the Wicked Witches got them? The script doesn’t answer this.] As Glinda says, it is precisely because the Good People of Oz cannot kill that they need a Wizard…

… and this leads Oscar to realize something. Glinda can’t actually just cast him away if he refuses – because she said it, they need him, they need a wizard and he is the only one they got. So he ultimately forces Glinda into a bargain: he wants a guarantee to get into this whole war business, some sort of price or reward. And what he asks? He first asks for the treasury Evanora promised him, to become rich, and then he asks to be allowed to leave the Land of Oz. In his own words, he is actually fed up with this country where monkeys fly, and witches want to kill him, and where everyone looks up to him as if he got the answer to everything – so he wants to leave all that, and he reiterates his original dream for a “colorful, lively, beautiful land” but this time he twists it so that what he wants is rather “where the rich people go”, “rooms of soft carpets, beds of eiderdown, champagne out of cut crystal” and he wants that, when people see him in his gilded carriage, people say “that’s somebody”. This is a fascinating twist because in the script we saw him earlier fully enjoying and loving the wonderland that is Oz like a child, as it perfectly fitted his original dream… and yet, now that he is faced with both danger and responsibility, he freaks out, rejects all of this, and sets his goal on much baser, more materialistic dream, and now only thinks of luxury and comfort. We actually get to see here the “true nature” of the Wizard popping out, as his optimism and childish wonder wears out, uncovering something deeper that motivates him – ambition and greed for example. And yet… yet, we are left wondering if this truly that, because while Glinda coldly agrees to these terms, she adds “Wouldn’t it be funny if you turn out to be the man they [the people of Oz] imagine you to be…” and “The man you’ve always dreamed of being”. A line that strikes a nerve in the Wizard’s mind, and Glinda perfectly knows it – implying she actually is quite of a psychological master that could see under the Wizard’s blasé attitude, and guess the actual initial kindness and desire to help people that we glimpsed earlier (such as with Oscar’s attitude towards Theodora).

VII) Preparing for battle

We cut back to the “Theodora crying scene” from the movie, but as with everything else, it is very different from the finished product. Most notably, in the script, Theodora doesn’t cry on her own. She is clearly sad and pained upon learning that the Wizard has reached Glinda’s land and joined with her – but she doesn’t cry for it. Remember, in the script she is this calm and majestic figure. What makes her cry… is Evanora herself. She uses a subtle form of verbal abuse against her sister to force her to cry, reminding her how she was used, played by, fooled by the Wizard; how Glinda will be the Wizard’s queen and not her ; how the Wizard will only return to the Emerald City to cut Theodora’s head off… It is all part of Evanora’s plan to break Theodora into falling deeper into wickedness. But we don’t cut into the “Theodora’s transformation” scene right now… In fact, this scene won’t happen before a LONG time. Meanwhile, as all I describe below happen, from time to time we get brief scenes of Evanora and Theodora watching over the events and Evanora informing her sister of the Wizard’s actions, to further break her down. While it is interesting because it shows that Theodora still fights off her sister’s influence and takes her time to carefully consider fully joining her, these scenes are also utterly pointless and don’t serve anything, so they can easily be cut with no problem.

On the night of meeting with Glinda’s army, and after studying the maps of Oz, a sleepy Oscar starts telling Glinda about the “Wizard of Menlo Park, Edison” – he gives Glinda the whole speech he gave the Dainty China Girl in the movie, and falls asleep as he finishes it… and it is as he wakes up that he has his genius idea on how to defeat the Wicked Witches with just a fake Wizard and an army that can’t kill. I will leave here his actual over-excited description of his great project, because I quite like it:

Oz bursts in, all excited, waving his sketches in the air. OZ I’ve got it! I know how we can beat them! What I have in mind is an historic extravaganza of Olympian proportions! Using good old American Know-How and Ingenuity, smoke and mirrors, Son et Lumiere, I intend to create an illusion of such magnificent magnificence that it will boggle the mind and bedazzle the senses! It will, in other words, send the Sisters and their Savage Army into such paroxysms of Awe and Wonder that they will flee the Emerald City like rats from a burning barn! (then, much quieter) And the one tiny little potential hiccup is... I have no technical expertise whatsoever and, therefore, no way of turning these renderings into reality.

To this last part, Glinda kindly redirects him to the Elves of Oz, who actually work at “Smith & Tinkers” (another nod to the books). The Elves of Smith & Tinkers are said to look a lot like “Santa’s helpers”, and from there on we get the kind of same training/preparation montage we have from the movie, with the Elves building all the contraptions Oscar will need, and the various tribes, clans and inhabitants of the South preparing for battle, training, putting on battle colors, etc… During all of that, Glinda notices that Oscar seems to be deeply enjoying it. Oscar answers back that he is actually terrified, because it is the first time so many people rely on him… and, very interestingly, Oscar shows that he still cares about Theodora because he wonders what will happen to her if they reach Emerald City – he even entertains the idea that she could join them to fight against Evanora. But Glinda considers her doomed – she recognized that there was some good left in them, but not much, since she spent too much time fighting both her sister’s influence and the wickedness inside herself. Oscar later also reveals who his father was and why he is like that. Again, I’ll leave the actual words here:

OZ He was a preacher, who went from dusty town to dusty town selling dreams of a better life and a better world -- but this world and this life beat him down to next to nothing, and even as a child I promised myself that was not gonna happen to me. I might’ve come from the dirt but I always believed my future was in the stars. (looks over at her) And I believe that future is now -- I can feel it -- my whole life’s been leading up to this.

GLINDA I believe that too. I believe this is your Destiny. (beat) And I believe in you, Wizard.

And finally, everyone is ready. Glinda rides on a pure white steed, Oz rather mounts a “Horse of a Different Color” whose coat keeps changing in a true kaleidoscope of hues, and together they face their trained and prepared army, before Oz delivers one final discourse:

OZ My friends! Back where I come from we have a saying: Ad astra per aspera -- it’s the motto of the Great State of Kansas and in Wizard[1]speak it means: “To the stars, through difficulties.” We also say: E Pluribus Unum: “Out of many, one.” And that is us today: One people -- one army -- and, together, we shall reach the stars! Are you with me! (the Army roars back a resounding YES!) Are you with me! A louder YES! -- then, to Glinda, under his breath -- This is your last chance to talk me out of this. Glinda just smiles -- then shouts out to the troops: TO OZ AND THE EMERALD CITY!

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Love On-Set (Pt. 08 of 10)

Pairing: Dacre Montgomery X Reader

Word count: 2.8 K

Summary: You knew acting on Stranger Things season 3 would be a challenge, and you also knew, from the start, you'd have to work closely with Dacre Montgomery. But is wasn't a big deal for you, since this is your job and you're determined to act professionally. You had it all figured out, or so you thought, until the moment you were out face to face with Dacre. Then, this job became a lot harder than it was supposed to be, since you can't seem to focus whenever you're around Dacre. And you'll have to be around him a lot until the end of production.

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{Dacre Montgomery Masterlist}

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

×

Sleep Talking

Giggling, you and Dacre run to the elevator, trying to catch your breaths. “Do you think they'll notice?” You ask as the doors close.

“That we're an hour and a half late?” Dacre asks, sarcastically. “I think they will. Her floor?”

“Nine.” As you speak, you press the button. “Room... 905, I guess. If I'm wrong we'll be in a very embarrassing situation.” With a smile on your lips, you step closer to Dacre, tiptoeing to place a kiss on his lips. His arms holds you close and yours find their way around his neck. “What happened at the end of the movie, by the way?”

“I have no idea. I was too busy making out with this girl, you know.” He smirks, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, really?” You were just about to kiss him again when the usual beep announces you reached the ninth floor. “Work now, kissing later. C'mon.” Taking his hand, you rush to find room 905, knocking softly just in case this is the wrong one.

But your breathe out relieved when Joe opens the door. “Look who finally decided to show up.”

“Good night, Joe.” Ignoring his comment, you walk inside, not letting go of Dacre's hand. Everyone is in position, but they're all turned at you now. “Hey, everyone.”

“Sorry. We're a little late.” Dacre says, guiding you to the middle of the living room, only letting go of your hand when he has to get to his position, next to Max and Dustin.

“Late? You're like���”

“An hour and a half late, yeah.” Cutting Gaten off, you nod. “We lost track of time.”

“That's so sweet,” Millie says, and that's when you notice she was recording this small conversation with her phone.

“Alright, can we resume this? Now that the two lovebirds are here we can get into the action scenes.” Joe claps his hands together, and they start reorganizing the scenario.

The scene they decided to go over is one where Millie will be thrown away, hitting you and making you fall with her, sliding for a couple of feet. So that's what you're into now. You get the sofa pillows and lay it on the floor to break your fall, and the plan is to find the right way to fall without making a mess. When the safety measures are taken, Millie positions herself across the living room.

“Ready?”

“Ready.” You nod, and on the next second Mille starts running, letting herself fall right before you, and she successfully kicks both your feet from under you, dragging you down with her. If it wasn't for the pillows, you both would hit the ground hard. Despite losing your breath, you laugh out loud as you stumble back to your feet. “This scene is going to be so hard to shoot.”

“My butt hurts,” Millie complains in between laughs. “I think I'll try landing on my side.”

“I'll try to hold your waist. So your weight will pull me easily.”

“Alright. Let's go!”

The action is repeated again and again, and you're having way too much fun being dragged down. You managed to hit the floor a few times when Millie pulled some pillow out of their place, but despite some pains here and there, you're fine. Soon after, you follow up with some general markings. Who stands where and who's supposed to run where, and all the interactions you'll have. It's a lot to cover, and you're a little tired, but you fight off sleep, keeping up with their pace.

But when they decide to focus on a particular scene among the kids only, you let yourself fall on the couch, and Dacre comes to sit beside you, an arm around your shoulders.

“Sleepy?” He whispers in your ear, and you snuggle closer to him, your head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, it's late.” Mumbling, you take a deep breath. Sleeping has been a little weird after you shared the bed with Dacre. You keep reminiscing that feeling, and it makes you feel terribly lonely. Cold, even. Sometimes you wonder if he ever feels the same. But you're way too shy to ask him that. “At least we only have to go to set tomorrow evening.”

“And that's why they're planning on doing that all night long.”

“What?” Bursting out, you turn to look at Dacre. “You're kidding me.”

“I swear I'm not.” He giggles at your eye roll. ”Well, it looks like they'll be doing that for a while...” Dacre gestures at the kids, and when you look, they're arguing about something, Noah and Millie with their scripts in hand, pointing at some line. “There's a sofa on the balcony we can use.”

“Please. If I get half an hour of sleep I'll be more than happy.” As soon as you're done speaking, he moves to stand up and you follow him.

“We'll get some fresh air,” Dacre says as he excuses himself, holding your hand as you make your way to the balcony. He slides the door open and gestures for you to walk out first and that's what you do. Dacre is a gentleman, Millie wasn't wrong about that, and the small details always warm up your heart.

You're happy to find that the small couch on the left corner will be shielded from their eyes by the wall. Dacre gently pulls you down when he takes a seat, and you let yourself fall with a deep breath, immediately snuggling closer, your forehead on his neck. “God, I didn't know I was this tired.” You mutter, pulling your legs up and laying them above his. Dacre's hand comes to your thigh, rubbing them softly.

“It's past midnight, I'm exhausted too.”

“Uhm... Let's sleep then.” Your voice is heavy with sleep, and your eyes are already shut.

You both fall into a gentle silence, as you fall into that funny state in between asleep and awake, where you're still somehow a little aware of your surroundings. And that means you know Dacre is holding you, making you smile. It's such an indescribable feeling. The butterflies don't seem to be sleeping at all, they still fly around your stomach, tickling your skin. It's amazing, better than being on LA, lying on the warm sand and watching the waves crashing. It's sweet and secure because you finally found someone who's not scared of what's inside, of confused, unnamed feelings. And you want him, this close, all the damn time.

“It's so weird to sleep without you.” The words leave your mouth, well, you think so at least, as you feel a warm hand rubbing the small of your back. “I feel so cold.”

“Do you want me to sleep with you?” A voice, so familiar and pleasant, speaks on your ear.

“Yeah.” You're quick to answer, the slow and steady movement of Dacre's chest rocking you to sleep.

“Hey!!” A shout makes you bolt awake, sitting up straight with your heart racing as your eyes find Millie, standing by the slide glass door. “Awn, I should've brought my phone. You look so cute.” Her voice softens as you clear your throat and stand up to your feet, still a little dizzy from sleep.

“Sometimes I wonder if your plan is to give me a heart attack.” You mutter, running a hand through your hair. “But let's go now, what's the scene we'll be doing now?”

“None. We're calling it a night.” Shrugging her shoulders, she gestures at the living room. “Almost everyone left already.”

“Oh, that's great!” You breathe out as Dacre stands up as well, taking your hand in his. “As you can see I'm super tired so I'll just head to bed.”

“Alright, but tomorrow at ten be back here,” Millie says as the three of you walk back inside. “I want you to perform the kissing scene.” There's a smirk on her voice, despite her back being turned at you as she makes her way to the door.

“Why?”

“Well, we gotta go over the scenes to make it right, haven't we?” Turning on her heels, she gives you a wicked smile.

“Well...” Mimicking her voice you smirk right back at her. “We have been kissing a lot so we kinda know how to do it, right, Dacre?”

At the mention of his name, he hugs you from behind, arms around your waist. “Absolutely.”

Millie rolls her eyes dramatically. She loves to tease, but she wasn't expecting you to snap back. “Alright, you two. Have a good night.”

“Good night.” Once you reach the hall, you take different directions since the elevator on the East side will leave her a lot closer to her room.

You and Dacre keep a slow pace, and you cover your mouth when a yawn comes. “I'll set my alarm to 9:45 tomorrow. I'll wake up, shower, and head back here.” Running a hand through your hair, you step in when the doors finally open. You both move at the same time to press the button, and Dacre gives you a look when you press 19. “What?”

“I was thinking that maybe we could...” His voice fades as he looks down at his feet.

“Tell me.” Stepping closer, you wrap your arms around his neck. “What were you thinking about?”

“Maybe we could sleep together. Like in the trailer.”

Oh. So he was thinking about that too... Right? Blushing a little, it's your time to avoid his gaze, shifting your weight from one leg to another. “Uhm, I... I would like that, but I'm so tired I don't think I'll be able to chat as we did in the trailer.” That's a stupid thing to say, you know it, but Dacre has this way to make you feel nervous, and you're not the smartest person on Earth when you're nervous. “But... Why this proposition now?”

“You kinda talk on your sleep and–”

“No, I don't.” Cutting him off, you step back, hands on your hips. “I absolutely do not and I forbid you to listen if I ever do, Mr. Montgemery.”

“Been a while since you called me that.” In a quick motion, he ends the small distance between you two, his arms pulling you close and his lips chasing yours. And despite the beep announcing that the doors are opening, you surrender to the kiss, lips moving together, as you both stumble out of the elevator.

“Alright, alright.” You exclaim when your hip hits one of the sideboards scattered around the halls. “Lead the way, Mr. Montgomery because I'm just about to faint of exhaustion.”

And so he does, never letting go of your hand. You can't help but feel a little nervous about this whole thing, almost to the point of finding an excuse and heading to your room. But you try to keep it cool, walking in, eyes immediately falling on the amazing view Dacre has from his balcony. “I'm still envious about the view you have here. It's the best. The only reason why I won't rant about it is because I'm tired.” Ignoring his giggle as he closes the door shut, you start making the way to his bedroom. “But just so you know, the first thing I'll do when I wake up is complain about why my room isn't facing this way. So brace yourself.”

“I would switch rooms with you, if only you ask.” Dacre reaches you when you get to the door, an arm hugging your waist. “Or just...” His voice fades as you both step inside. Turning on your heels, still in his embrace, you try to push tiredness back and understand whatever he means.

“Just what?” You watch as he closes the door silently. Dacre can be shy sometimes, mostly when he doesn't know if you will be comfortable with something, and when it happens, you always make sure to show him you want to know what it is. Even though this is not an official relationship yet, it does feel like it, and you're trying your best not to ruin it. To be honest and make everything work out.

“Maybe you could stay here.” The words finally come out, and you bite your lip as a little battle starts inside your heart. You do want to be around him as much as you can, but maybe it's too soon. Maybe this level of intimacy could break you apart before you even start. “I mean, there is only a couple of weeks left. Only the Battle of Starcourt scenes so... I just thought it could be nice.”

The fact is that you're always either here with him, or he's in your room. You only separate when it's time to sleep, so maybe this makes sense... And if it backfires, it means it was never supposed to be. Your mother told you to be brave, and don't let the anxiety and the habit of overthinking keep you from being around someone you love. “I agree...” Nodding, you look down. “I would be nice. But only–” Walking backward towards the bed, you point out at him. “–if we binge-watch The Office tomorrow.”

“Wasn't the plan to wake up fifteen minutes before ten and rush back to Natalia's?”

“Oh.” It completely slipped your mind. “Then we'll binge watch it whenever we can. Deal?”

“Deal.”

• • •

The Battle of Starcourt is way more complicated than you thought. The fact that you spent a lot of time with the guys preparing for it doesn't help much. James makes several changes and several takes, and more and more days pass by. You've been sleeping on the trailers since it's a lot easier to come and go from the set.

Today, you're super tired, drinking on another RedBull can, hoping it'll keep you awake for a while longer. It's almost three in the morning, and there's no sign of an ending in the next hours at least. Resting your back against the wall, you watch Noah and Gaten play thumb war, as you wait for the director to call you into the scene again.

“How many did you had already?” Millie asks, gesturing at your can.

“Third.”

“Fifth.” Says Joe, raising his can from his place, seated on the floor some feet away. “But this thing isn't working. Still feel like I'll fall asleep any moment now.”

“If anyone falls asleep, I'll be following shortly after,” Natalia says and you giggle.

“He's changing the lightning. Again.” Dacre mutters as he stands beside you. The mall is colored in pinkish, purple, and some blue lights. It makes everything beautiful, and you took too many pictures already, alone, with Dacre, and with the rest of the crew. But the bad thing is that the low lights aren't helping with your sleep at all. “He's obsessed with the lightning.” Dacre's voice is heavy too, and you can tell he's as tired as you are.

“When we get back to the hotel I'll–”

“Alright, everyone. Let's go!” James calls and you set in motion, drinking what's left in your can before placing it down on a table and following the others.

You take your place among the kids, under a fake wall that fell, kneeled down, you wait for the sign for the scene to start. Dacre is across the area, waiting for his cue too.

“Let's try to get this done in this shot, guys!” As he speaks, the smoke starts building up, and a lot of lights go on as some others go off. “Alright. And action!”

Millie starts running, coming from one the halls, straight across the open area, jumping on the fountain, and then at the ground again. Behind her, some explosions happen, right on the marks where the Mind Flayer will step on. Millie basically throws herself on the floor, a few feet away from where you are with the kids, sliding until the half safety the fallen wall provides. You see as Finn holds her, making sure to keep the act, with a scared, anxious expression on your face.

“Steve! Now!” Gaten yells, and you watch as Joe comes into the scene, followed by a bigger explosion, so louder than expected that everyone, you included, is startled.

Something goes flying into the air, and you're fairly aware of something coming your way, but when you squint your eyes to try and see better, you notice it's too close now, and before you can raise your arms to protect yourself, you're hit by something in the face, a loud noise filling your ears as the pain spreads through your skull. You feel the metal thing flying past you, and some the guys yell too.

With a hand covering your right cheek, you hear as James ends the scene, but it's hard to bring sense to anybody's words right now, not when your hand is getting wet by what could only be blood. You try stumbling to your feet, ignoring the commotion around you, but when the whole place spins around, you fall back to the floor, closing your eyes shut.

×

@baker151910 @shinydixon @dreamin-of-dacre @hanoi15 @lickmymelaninn @foccus @multific @uncookspaget @kellysimagines @peakascum @thisbreakableheaven

[horselover107]

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wte7ELVJmBCfOsVrY5xxZ?si=bujXAyXySNe6mXlhreeTGw&dl_branch=1

A Undead Owen Playlist featuring (among other things) the best of 2000s era 2Edgy4You Rock and Pop Punk. Bingo Card and Song Explanations/Relevant Lyrics Under the Cut

Warnings for Major Character Death, Themes of Death and Dying, and Themes of Depression throughout the song list/themes of playlist

Dead Man Walking by the Script

Oh, I hear the angels talking, talking, talking

Now I'm a dead man walking, walking, walking

Already broken, already gone

Already know you're moving on

I'm a breathing, talking

Dead man, walking

Rotting by Greenday

I'm rotting inside

My flesh turns to dust

Whisper, are you dying in my ear?

Kiss me one last time

Wipe off my sweat

Whisper, are you dying in my ear?

You’re Dead by Norma Tangena

You'll never get a second chance

Plan all your moves in advance

Stay dead, stay dead, stay dead

Stay dead and outta this world

Dead! by My Chemical Romance

Have you heard the news that you're dead?

Death Dance by Palaye Royale

No I can't take it

All of these memories

I can't fake it

I'm trying to fight it, but I am dying

Mr. Doctor Man by Palaye Royale

This is mostly here for the title

Mr. Doctor Man questions his hands

Lost his mind but he's clinically fine

I’m Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance

Literally just the lyric “I’m Not Okay” over and over again

But I'm okay, I'm okay!

I'm okay now, "I'm okay now," but you really need to

Listen to me, because I'm telling you the truth!

I mean this, I'm okay! "Trust me..."

I'm not okay

I'm not okay, well, I'm not okay, I'm not o-fucking-kay!

I'm not okay

Screaming Underwater by The Rival Kings

This is a reference to Owen’s screaming in the Bay scene

Sometimes I get so tired of swimming

I just want to drown

Screaming Underwater

You Never Make a Sound

Zombie (English Ver.) by Day6

I feel like I became a zombie

Not alive, but I'm still walkin'

When the sunrise is upon me

I'll be waiting for the day to pass by

Oh why?

I became a zombie

And there's nothing that can cure me

So tomorrow I know I'll be

Just the same, you'll see me

Wishing to stop and close my eyes

Deadman Walking by Jeremy Camp

I was a dead man walking

Until You loved this dead man walking back to life

Walking Dead by Papa Roach

Can anything bring us back to life

Will anything make us right

Can anything bring us back to life

Or will it make us right

'Cause I’m finding that we’re falling apart

More than it breaks my heart

We are the walking dead

Swallow the lies we’re fed

I’ll cover your eyes

I’ll cover your eyes

I’ll cover the truth and you’ll realize

We’re hanging by a thread

We are the walking dead

Love the Void by Palaye Royale

This is here as a reference to Owen fighting the literal embodiment of death in a hospital

I'm finding God in hospitals

Wild things in wicked walls

Wake up you'll be just fine

No, not this time

No, I won't say goodnight

On the Roof by Emily’s Army

This is reference to Owen being on the rooftop.

I said I wanna sit on the roof with you.

And I wanna, but the road is taking me soon.

I wanna sit on the roof with you,

I wanna, and I'll make the best of it too because I wont give up.

I jumped the cliff with a deep breath in,

I still can't breathe and I've still been falling.

Dancing With the Dead by Romanticide

I know it feels so strange

No blood is pumping through your veins

Nothing left alive within you

The dead have filled this venue

We're dancing with the dead

We just don't know it yet

Dancing With You by Live

This is in reference to Owen dancing with Tosh at the wedding

I wanna dance with you

i see a world where people live and die with grace

the karmic ocean dried up and leave no trace

I wanna dance with you

i see a sky full of the stars that change our minds

and lead us back to a world we would not face

Exit Wounds by The Script

Guess what this one is referencing

My hands are cold

My body's numb

I'm still in shock

What have you done

My head is pounding

My vision's blurred

Your mouth is moving

I don't hear a word

And it hurts so bad

That I search my skin

For the entry point

When love went in

And ricocheted

And bounced around

And left a hole when you walked out yeah

I'm falling through the doors of the emergency room

Can anybody help me with these exit wounds

I don't know how much more love, this heart can lose

And I'm dying, dying from these exit wounds

Fills the Came Back Wrong Square on my Bingo Card

[cbspams]

District 1: Luxury

Gold trimmed canopies and silver silk sheets. Hyunjin’s hand glosses over them, face blank even in the face of such a grand view. Turning his head slightly, he can see the champagne gummies sitting in their crystalline jar, the glint of the light harsh from the clean cut angles. He pauses at the edge of the bed where dark, solid wood rises from the floor. Carved delicately, covered in a laquer that’s sure to last much longer than Hyunjin will. No matter though. Tonight, this is his bed.

The reaping is tomorrow. He will wear his best, a clean button up shirt embroidered with jewels and black slacks so crisp they might even crunch if someone clenches them. Dress shoes polished to the point where he can see his own blank reflection in them. All of these things were prepared in advance, along with the gold earring that will dangle from his left ear.

Tomorrow they will call a name, any name, and if it’s not his, he will raise his hand and deliver a lazy smile as he says the four crucial words that will deliver glory to his family. Supposedly. He doesn’t really know them, hasn’t know them for years. He tries vaguely to recall his parents, perhaps a sibling, but nothing comes to mind. Because in One, there is no such thing as family. There is only poisoned lined hairpins and blood drenched cuff links. There is only One. Only glory for One.

For the glory of One, and for being chosen, he’s given this right: to one night where he can lay in a room that is the peak of luxury. It’s more than even the average Capitol citizen will experience. The walls shimmer gently in the low light, something precious embedded into them. Through the ultra-clear windows, he can see the expanse of the city of gold. In the distance he can recognize the huge training grounds he spent the better part of seventeen years in. It’s almost unassuming, which just makes it stand out more in a city built to catch the eye. He touches the glass, smears the oil of his skin on the pristine surface. A petty thing to do, but still it gives him a small sense of satisfaction.

When he turns off the light, lays himself in bed, and closes his eyes, everything still shines. It is a never ending holographic stream, glory woven with lies.

——————

The day of the reaping follows the expected script. Hyunjin stands tall, his eyes fixed on a point beyond the sun. In One, everyone dresses in golds and silvers, in gems bigger than a hand. But only two have earrings on. Only two have their hair styled perfectly, their faces decorated with the finest makeup. Hyunjin is one of them. The other chosen tribute across the aisle winks a perfectly shadowed eye at him.

Onstage, under the sun, is the announcer. She stands with easy grace, an easy smile. She’s not soft spoken, not at all. There’s no solemn nature to her words, not like there is in the other districts. She’s joking along, giggling even, because this is One. Before her stands two glass bowls, filled to the brim with names. With a flourish, she plunges her hand into the first bowl. It’s so full that paper scraps go flying, fluttering to the ground like feathers plucked from a fat dove. Her smile grows wider as she makes a show of unfolding the paper, keeping everyone in suspense. The cameras will narrow in on her and they’ll hang onto her lips for the name that comes out. It doesn’t matter. As soon as she says it, before it even really comes out, Hyunjin raises his hand.

I volunteer as tribute. Everyone knew it was coming and yet… The applause, the cheers are uproarious. People clap him on the back, someone begins the crowd chant of his name. He’s smiling, confident, cocky even, eyes curved in delight. He blows a kiss to the camera and a hundred girls scream. Once the fanfare has been calmed, the announcer repeats the process with the other name. The same thing happens, another person raises their hand and volunteers. Amidst this second round of cheering, Hyunjin and the other tribute are shuffled away. To say good bye to their families according to the official timetable. Hyunjin takes this time to peer at himself in the mirror, to check his lip gloss.

Then they’re shuffled onto the train. Traditionally there is only one mentor, but Careers get sneaky privileges. Officially, their mentor is Lee Taemin, one of the prettiest people to ever have won the games. Looks and sweet charm won him many sponsors, but his particular skill with traps won him the Games. Hyunjin recalls a particularly nasty concoction he made that sent a tribute shrieking, eyes melting out of their head. Taemin’s voice is dipped in sweet poison too, melodious.

He takes one look at Hyunjin and his smile widens. His eyes say you, you will be my champion. Hyunjin would feel bad for his fellow tribute but behind Taemin is another mentor, a pretty woman with eyes as sharp as a blade. Taeyeon, who will monitor and watch One B. Everyone shares a couple formalities, Taemin speaks most of the time. But after those are over, Taemin pulls Hyunjin to the side and Taeyeon does the same with One B.

“Pretty boy huh?” Taemin laughs. “The crowds are going to eat you up. Hell, I might not even need to do anything on my half.” Hyunjin quirks a smirk back. But Taemin sombers up after a moment. “Because you’re a classic, everyone will love you. But that just means you need to stand out. I’ve read your file, I know the angle we’re working. But is there anything you can use to put yourself above everyone else?”

Hyunjin knew this question was coming. A pretty face is only half the battle. The other half is personality, skill, wit. Some kind of sympathy point. Something memorable. He nods. A soft whispered conversation later, Taemin is ecstatic. “That’s perfect,” he whispers. Hyunjin’s a bit more at ease with the approval. He knew it was good but it’s better when his mentor says it’s good. It just feels different, to have three backing of one of the most vicious people on the planet.

One is so close to the Capitol that it takes them less than half a day to make it. Like One, the Capitol shimmers in an unearthly way, dripping with diamonds and glitter and emeralds, rubies, amethysts, anything and everything that shines. Hyunjin has seen every shade of the rainbow as hair colors and eye shades and even as skin tones. The four of them emerge from the train to flashing cameras and Hyunjin has that sweetly arrogant smile again, waving and blowing kisses to people who shriek and even a few who cry. It all drops again once they’re inside the tower that will be their new home for the next week. Taemin claps him on the shoulder, bares his teeth in a too bright grin. There’s no rest for the wicked here. “Let’s get started.”

——————

Profile

Name: Hwang Hyunjin

Age: 17

District: 1

Specialty: Small projectiles and poison

[terrifictomholland]

Hiya we so need more haz content!! I’m a musical theatre student so could you have one where he sees a show and smut happens in her dressing room? This has been my fantasy for months aha, love you and your writing xo

I aim to please! I hope you enjoy this because I thoroughly enjoyed writing this! 

NSFW UNDER THE CUT!

Theatre was your life, you loved it more than anything. You loved being up on stage acting to your heart’s content each night in front of filled auditoriums. You loved the constant state of buzz behind the stage when you came off. People all over the place, running around shouting orders. 

You loved the organized chaos, it made you feel right at home.

You had just finished the final dress rehearsal for the show that was opening tomorrow night now. In your hurry back to the dressing room, you were so occupied with making sure you had your script in hand that when you opened the door to the dressing room, the last thing you expected to see or hear was Harrison.

Harrison, who was a fellow actor in your theatre group, and quite possibly the hottest guy you’d ever seen in your life.  

Harrison and you had a bit of a history, a rather recent one at that. It had always been a very playful friendship between the two of you, and his charisma and charm made him a lethal combination with your flirty personality. In other words, you two were currently in the midst of a very dangerous dance of will we, won’t we type thing as far as hooking up went. 

There had been a party a while back that your mutual friends had thrown. Long story short, alcohol had been consumed, a lot of it. 

Somehow, unsurprisingly, Harrison and you had ended up drunkenly making out in a dark corner of the kitchen. His body pressed up against you in all the right places, fingers touching you all over setting your skin on fire with his touch. 

The only reason why it hadn’t gone further that night was because your mutual friend, Tom, had found you and started yelling in a language you weren’t sure was even English. Something about chickens. 

“Good job tonight.” You jumped a foot in the air as one hand flew up to cover your mouth, heart rate going through the roof in fear. Just as you dropped the script you held in your other hand, seeing the way it fell down around you like snow. 

His reaction was immediate, lips twitching and before you knew it he was doubled over in laughter, slapping his knees and face turning red from the way he was laughing at you. 

“Oh fuck you, how did you even get in here?” you whined, dropping to the floor to collect the script, throwing it all together haphazardly in a stack. 

“I walked.” He smirked.  

You could hear him straighten up as you collected the last few papers, the ones that landed around his feet, tucking everything under your arm. 

“Well don’t you look gorgeous on your knees.” Your eyes widened and a tiny gasp followed by a soft whine escaped your mouth as you stared up at him with wide eyes and a slackened jaw. 

Out of all things, for him to say this was the last thing you’d expected. Not completely unexpected, you just never thought he’d say it here. In a cramped dressing room with your fellow co-stars only a few feet away. You could still hear them bustling around outside. 

“H-hm?”

His words had an immediate effect on you. Your nipples hardened through your bra and wetness instantly gathered in your panties. He was only fuelling your fire by running a hand through your hair gently, staring you down as you were unable to move under his gaze.

“You heard me, princess.” Your eyes shut and a moan fell from your lips when he called you princess. 

Your mouth opened but absolutely nothing came out. You were rendered speechless and that wasn’t something that happened very often. You had a remark for everything always ready, but to have Harrison insinuate that you’d look good on your knees and wrecked taking his cock? Yeah, no, you were done for and so horny in an instant. It was like a switch had been flipped somewhere inside you.

“Let me suck your cock and you can see just how gorgeous I am choking on it,” you teased back. His jaw clenched and his eyes turned a darker shade, staring you down. 

The tension in the room turned into something far more heavy and thick enough to cut with a knife, as you stared into each other’s eyes. You knew that after this, there’d be no going back to how things were before. Not after whatever was about to happen. 

This moment had so much riding on it, you both felt it in the air circulating between you both. The air in the room crackling with need and want and sexual tension. All cards were out on the table now. The second you saw his lips pull up into a smirk, you went for it. 

Greedy and nimble fingers working on his jeans popping the button and unzipping them, and in the next second you licked your lips at the way they pooled at his feet.

You dragged your eyes back up to the obvious bulge in his boxers now, cock straining against the material, and you ran your fingers up from his knee to his inner thigh, feeling his muscles flex on your way.

“I’m gonna love sucking your cock,” you whispered, moving your hand over him, palming him through his boxers and hearing the way he hissed at the contact. 

“Yeah, you are, princess.” He groaned and you moaned softly, feeling his hand tangle in your hair yanking it a little. You moved in closer to his cock, nuzzling your face against it, feeling the wet patch on his boxers where the head was, and you teasingly licked him through them, staring up at him with a wicked gleam in your eyes. 

“Don’t start something you won’t be able to finish,” he warned and the threat went straight to your soaking wet pussy, making it throb in anticipation.

“You’ll finish alright, want you to cum down my throat. Make me choke on your cum, baby,” you moaned, running your nails along the waistband of his boxers and he sucked in a breath as you tugged them down. At long last, revealing his rock hard and leaking cock. 

“You gonna let me fuck your throat, princess?” A whimper fell from your lips seeing the size of him and how badly you wanted him to utterly destroy you. 

“Please.” 

You watched as he took hold of his cock in his hand, fisting it a few times before he guided it to your mouth, slapping it against your mouth a few times and your mouth dropped open on instinct.

“That’s it, princess, so eager to suck my cock. What a pretty little cockslut.”

A helpless moan tumbled out of your lips at his words. You never broke eye-contact with him as you relaxed your mouth and took him as far as you could. Slowly pulling off him and spitting on his cock to help along, to make the slide easier.

“Oh fuck,” he grunted when the tip hit the back of your throat and you stilled around him, holding the back of his thighs and massaging them gently to stay still there. All you could do at this point was moan around him, feeling your pussy clench down around nothing. 

You pulled off of him, placing kisses along his length, moaning around him and moving down, sucking and licking his balls as you started jerking his cock. The animalistic noises that fell from his lips were breathtaking and made you focus more on your actions.

“I- oh fuck, Y/N,” he moaned loudly as you swiped your thumb against the slit. You were getting dizzy with the feeling of being able to turn him on like this and the way he was so receptive and vocal to what you were doing was a huge turn-on for you. 

“Mmh, wanna cum for me baby? I want you to cum down my throat, or all over my face. If you want. Whatever you want. Just mark me up, Haz,” you breathed, taking the tip back into your mouth, letting your tongue swirl around it, lavishing it with attention.

“Gonna mark you up so good, princess,” he grunted and you just moaned around him, watching him come undone. 

His forehead was matted with sweat, strands of his hair stuck to it haphazardly, his lip bitten raw and his eyes, fuck, his eyes were black from lust and desire. His cheeks were looking so flushed and his breathing coming out in short puffs and gasps as you sucked harder, wanting him to cum.

“That’s it baby, cum for me,” you moaned, jerking him off while teasing the head and you heard him let out the sexiest moan known to mankind. You pulled off just in time to feel his hot cum paint your face and you stuck your tongue out, feeling ropes of cum land on it. Letting out high pitched whines and moans at the way he was marking you up. 

He was still shaking and trembling as you let his cock go with a pop and you pressed a few soft kisses on the head before tucking him back in his boxers. You got up from your position on the floor, looking up at him with a reserved and shy smile, finding him staring at you in nothing short of awe.

Wordlessly, he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you against him, his lips crashing down onto yours. It took you by surprise, so much so that you nearly took a step back. Your arms weaved around the back of his neck, keeping you in place, and you played with the little hairs on the back of his neck as you two kissed.

“Fuck, that was amazing,” he moaned, walking to the tiny recliner in the far end of the room, bringing you with him to straddle his hips.

“Thank you,” you breathed, his tongue swiping across your lips. You easily parted them, feeling your pussy clench once more. 

“Wanna repay you, princess,” he muttered, cupping you through your tights. You broke the kiss as a moan left your lips.

“A-ah - fuck, yeah baby, please.” You nodded rapidly, grinding your hips against his hand, wanting more than he was giving you right now. 

“You want my fingers, princess?” You nodded desperately staring at him as he slipped a hand inside your tights and panties, coming into direct contact with your pussy. You let your head fall back as waves of pleasure ran through you. His fingers rubbed your dripping pussy, spreading your folds and easily sinking a finger into you. 

You gripped his shoulders whining as he started pumping it in and out of you steadily.

“Oh my god.”

Your voice was shaky and the coil in your stomach started tightening as he sped up, gaining confidence. Not long after, another finger joined, slowly but surely stretching you open. His ministrations were enough to leave you an incoherent mess. All you could do was grind against his hand and whine as he crooked his fingers and found your g-spot.

“O-oh fuck! Fuck fuck fuck,” you cried out as your toes curled and your eyes rolled back, hips jerking back and forth, looking for friction. You soon were riding his fingers harder and panting in short huffs, but it was so good. It felt so fucking right.

“So fucking gorgeous, princess,” he encouraged, making you whimper as you clenched down on his fingers. 

He groaned in response. “You gonna cum for me now? Hm?”

His thumb found your clit, rubbing it in tight, quick circles and you cried out, feeling your thighs shaking so much and your tummy clenching, trying to hold off your orgasm in a desperate attempt to make this last. 

“Soak my fingers, princess, c’mon, wanna see you squirt and make a fucking mess.” He smirked and you sobbed, tipping over the edge as you came. The coil snapping in your tummy as your high washed over you. He fucked you through it, not stopping until you were clawing at his hand, begging him to stop because you felt so overstimulated and so sensitive. 

You collapsed against his steady frame, watching him make a show of licking his fingers clean off your juices before he pressed gentle kisses all over your face.

“You look so fucking hot when you cum,” He praised and you grabbed his face, cupping his cheeks to give him a filthy kiss.

“That was, hands-down, the best orgasm of my life,” you chuckled breathlessly, and as you said that, his whole demeanor changed into something far cockier and more smug. 

“Bet I could make you cum so many times, you wouldn’t be able to get out of bed afterwards.” You hid your face in his neck, feeling your face burning, but fuck if you didn’t want that.

“Haz,” you whined and he let out a small laugh, rubbing your back. 

“One day, princess,” he said, kissing the corner of your mouth. “Just you wait.”

You knew he’d make good on that promise and quite frankly? 

You really couldn’t fucking wait.

special shoutout to @worldoftom for looking this over for me <3 and to @angelic-holland who’s been my hype woman all day hahah <3

taglist - @exitsali96ivette - @localfangirlx - @siriuslyslyslytherin - @shaharloni1 - @averyfosterthoughts - @unicorn-princess-1999 - @softbaby-tom - @alwaysbenhardysgirl - @hazmyheart - @awesomelupe - @parkeraul @howdyho-holland @thirsttrapholland @farfromhaz - @peterparkoure - @fallingforfics - @1believe-in-your-self1 - @captainbuckyy @maryjanee23 @clara-licht @osterfield-holland-andcompany @soft-haz 

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: Random Meetings (Keanu x F!Reader)

Summary:  you meet Keanu at an after-party.

Author’s note: for @lovelypapug who also requested #4 from the drabble challenge. I really hope you like it! I tried something different for this one, writing from Keanu’s pov. Hope I didn’t go too off character. Also, I might have cheated a little with the line. Sorry.

Pairing: Keanu x f!reader

Wordcount: 637

Warnings: none

It wasn’t that Keanu hated after parties, it was just that he already had a long month and that made being social a little harder on him. Too much noise, too many people wanting to say hi and pitch projects and he had to smile and turn it down as gently as he could.

But he had been mostly successful that night and even though it was still early, for Hollywood standards anyway, he thought it would be ok to sneak out without being too much of a party pooper.

That was when Keanu saw her, sitting in a corner obviously hiding from everyone else, drink on a low table in front of her, while she typed on her phone in a startlingly fast pace.

For the last two years, she had been rising through Hollywood like a shooting star, all great thrillers seemed to have her name associated lately, either as a writer or as a director. Keanu had watched the last one she directed and had been on the edge of his seat, impressed with her skills.

Keanu had even received one of her scripts last year. Apparently, she wanted him specifically for a lead, but there was a schedule conflict with John Wick, so he had to turn it down. But this could be his chance to meet her.  

He deliberated for a moment because she looked like she was in her own world, attention elsewhere and he didn’t want to interrupt. Keanu knew how rare those moments were when you worked in Hollywood.

But after another second, he decided to just say a quick hi and introduce him. He would make sure not to take too much of her time.

Keanu moved towards her, drying his hands sweaty on his jeans. It had been a while since he had last felt this nervous meeting someone.

“Hm, hi. Y/N?” he said feeling a little silly because of course, it was her.

She looked up almost distractedly and her eyes went wide, mouth falling open in shock.

“Is this a hallucination?” she blurted. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m too sober for that.”

Keanu shook his head and covered his mouth as he chuckled, relaxing a little.

“Shit! This is real. It’s actually you,” She said with a surprised gasp. “Hi.”

“What is real, anyway?” he replied with a shrug and a small smile.

“Was that a Matrix joke?”

Her grin was beautiful. It made the corner of her eyes crinkle and something in his stomach fluttered as he ducked his head and chuckled. Why was he so nervous about this?

“I just wanted to say hi and that I really liked your latest movie,” he said hoping he wasn’t sounding too much like a fanboy. “I liked how you weaved in that criticism over the industry obvious gender bias.”

Her grin shifted to a surprised and pleased smile.

“Almost no one got that,” she commented. “Thank you.”

Keanu smiled back and for a moment they just stayed there, watching each other.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and, uh, Company Films is always looking for new directors and writers to work with so...” Keanu reached for a napkin on the table and scribbled down his number. “Give me a call if you want to talk over some coffee or something.”

He handed her the paper and after one last stilled nod, Keanu moved away, already chiding himself for being so awkward. He was only a few feet away when his phone started ringing and he answered without a second glance.

“How about tomorrow?” her voice startled him to turn around and she had her own phone pressed to her ear and a soft smile on her lips. “I don’t have any new projects, but I like coffee.”

“Sure,” he replied, smiling back. “It’s a date.”

xxx

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 43

Spoilers, obv.

Issue 44 comes out tomorrow at the time of writing. As I’m on the west coast of the USA, it will be just after midnight GMT by the time they’re online. So abstractly, this is the first time ever which we come out when the next issue is out. Abstractly. I’d say the day counts as where I am, and doesn’t Comixology come out a little later? We’ll see.

It’s also been so long that I almost wrote notes for issue 44. This is a weird goodbye, this period.

Anyway – Issue 43, wherein we finish explaining all the big stuff we’re going to explain.

I mean, there’s more in issue 44 and 45, but it’s all details, with the denouncement really being based around the characters’ response to this issue. They know the truth. Now what are they going to do about it?

That was the main note I gave in the script to the team – if there’s any really big questions you are confused about, now is the time to say, as this is the best clarification it’ll get. As such, we worked on it a lot to nail what we wanted to say – and what we didn’t. Sometimes this meant actually simplifying a little to avoid repeating huge amounts of stuff and leaving people even more confused. More often it involves sliding in a little nod to something someone would be thinking about.

It’s an interesting issue, I think. It’s where we show a lot of our hand.

It also involved a lot of crunching.

Jamie/Matt Cover

Cassandra finally gets her head cover. Normally a cover relates to a key beat, which isn’t true here – except in the widest possible sense that it’s where Cassandra gets to say I Told You So to everyone, including herself.

Jason Latour Cover One of the fun things about commissioning these covers is getting to see a creator’s process close up. Jason’s process on this was amazingly never-ending – he was always tweaking, and trying things and moving in a different direction. Where he ended was stunning – very him, and very WicDiv too. I remember us and the Jasons semi-jokingly about swapping books for an issue – they do WicDiv for an issue and we do Southern Bastards. This cover absolutely makes me wonder how amazing that hypothetical issue would have looked.

(Our story would have been about a Taylor-Swift-esque-singer/songwriter-before-she-got-big in the town. And probably murder, as it’s Southern Bastards, right?)

IFC

That “Life goes on” still creeps me out.

1-2

Opening vignette that lets us establish what Minerva’s plan is now, as well as re-establish Beth and her crew, and actually let us define their current position, and even give their codenames, which have existed in the Bible document since issue 1, I believe.

(Oddly, calling people “Boss” is one of my verbal ticks. It seemed fun to give it to Beth here.)

As such, Minerva immediately HiveMinding them when they’ve just stated their agency is plain harsh. Jamie’s large panel on page 2 sells it incredibly well – the statues, Minerva walking away from us – it’s all so casual.

It’s also the running theme of the issue – what Mini has been doing all these years. This is just a particularly direct example of it.

Three panels on second page to try and stress the seriousness of what this is (Space = Meaning, remember). Of course, as the issue shows, this isn’t the real part of the issue – but you have to at least believe this is a real gambit. And it is – I mean, it’d be awful if Mini pulled it off. But in people’s guts they’d realise this isn’t how WicDiv goes, right?

Minor glorious Matt Wilson note – the crackle of green in panel 3 is wonderful. Give that guy another Eisner. He deserves a hat trick.

3

Show time in the showbiz and the “time to show you everything” sense.

4

Establishing the stakes and situation for the heroes. There’s a draft of the issue I wrote which is a couple more pages long, which would have pulled this out a little more. In the end, we decided it worked better shorter – I’ll tell you why when I get there, and we could use the space elsewhere.

Key thing is showing some response to Cam’s actions at the end of last issue – it’s important to know that they haven’t just walked away, right?

In the first panel, the “identify who is speaking” is a tricky one. The “say the character’s name” is a little brutal move, and I avoid it. We’re not that book. Dio is easy – and Lucifer, bless her, is immediately identifiable by her idiom. Her line also reminds people of what she’s like, which sets up the last page.

Laura’s captions here again, doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

It says so much about this issue that the last two panels are only a half page total. These are big rock and roll images, presented in a tiny space. Jamie’s composition makes it land really well, selling the drama.

Page 5

It says even more that we did all this in a page.

Tara’s move in the original version was basically a page, but looking at it structurally it actually left it even more underwhelmed – a fight kicked off, and then heroes were losing, and then Tara does this cool thing, and they’re winning, before immediately the hive mind kicks in and they’re losing again. This does not sell the joy of Giant Woman.

This works better, not least for sheer audaciousness. I used to have a thing about tableau based storytelling – the idea that you can create a large image which people can explore and juxtapose it with a few captions to create a larger conceptual space. This is very much that.

“People treating people like meat” reminds me for the second time when re-reading this issue of the line from Pratchett: “Sin is treating people like things.” The first time was the puppets bit. I’d agree with Pratchett, clearly.

In the original draft of the script I had a line “You want more? Go re-read Rising Action” which is a bit too cute, so I lost it. It’s not really the sort of thing WicDiv does, anyway.

Yes, Giant Woman is a Steven Universe nod. Putting aside that image of Giant Tara kicking ass which has been in my head forever, there’s so much to love in the image – to pick a small part, how about the Norns blasting in triplicate? We rarely see them act like this.

You can also trace via the colouring which of Beth’s crew have duplicated which God’s powers.

Page 6

There’s been a lot about people copying people’s powers in WicDiv, and trying to find out what someone can and can’t do, and then using it against them. This switches it up. The thing about being creative instead of a straight plagiarist that creative people make up new shit. That’s kind of the point of them.

Once more, Matt showing the dance of the colouring between the Woden green (haunting the series like a ghost now) and the joy of Dio is (er) a joy.

Page 7

Another Matt moment – we step out of the club, and we drop to greys, before building the energy up.

I’m not quite sure how long Robin has wanted to punch Beth for. Or how long I planned to do it, even. I can imagine Robin thinking of this a lot though – she’s the one who takes a long time to snap.

There’s a dual structure here too – there’s two main compare-and-contrast bands in WicDiv. Beth’s and Cass’…

Page 8

And this is a very different kind of band break up.

The problem here is different – I want to give much more space. First draft it seemed that they got talked into it really easily. But it’s all the space we had so what to do? Once more, captions. Silent panel with captions can be timeless, and gives room for our minds to populate it. It’s been so long I can no longer remember if the fact the two almost-silent characters are shouting, but we’re not allowed to hear, because it’s private seems relevant.

Page 9-10

Hard cut made easier with the caption. Captions are great. Trust captions.

The shot of Mini at the edge, just looking back with space either side is great. Just the isolation of it.

The “try to sing” on the page turn seems a meaningful reveal. Can she?

No she can’t. This is another very old beat in the founding documents – it’s hinted at on page 9. Mini says that she gave it up – and she said the same in issue 9. I’m not sure I believe her. When planning it I realised that some people would take it as a comment on Work for hire – don’t get stuck keeping a story alive forever, as it will eventually atrophy your talent. It wasn’t planned, but I’d be fine with it as a reading. When Chrissy read it, she took it as “Don’t get stuck in art management.” which works too. Readings are fun.

Anyway – a performance. That the big thing in the issue is a performance rather than a fight is very much WicDiv turning towards its core concept as we head towards the final straight. Of course we’d do this.

Yeah, Matt and Jamie, killing it on the final panel of the second page – the Persephone-esque tentacles made something else, because she is something else now. The numinous expression of Minerva. Amazing.

Page 11

The borders in this sequence harking back to the Persephone performance in issue 18.

I may actually try to tweak this sequence in the trade and have a different execution of “When I was 14” and all the rest, to work a little more like a LOC CAP rather than a speech. We couldn’t make it work given the time before deadline. That’s the odd thing about our extended issues – just because it’s taking longer doesn’t mean we have more time to do tasks, right? Some things are only possible when the whole thing is together. It works, I think, but part of me wants to push it harder.

Anyway – these two. I loved writing them though. I said it back in the other flashbacks, but how the two of them dance is a delight. Hell, doing them across a lifetime is a delight.

Okay – I’m going to give you a name for Ananke’s sister. It’s the one I used in my notes. It’s no more her name than “Ananke” is really Ananke’s.

It’s Demeter. Ask me about it another time.

Page 12

The “god” in panel 2 is a Proto Norn.

This primal gathering brings to mind issue 9 as well.

Demeter’s expression in the penultimate panel? Love it.

Page 13

The captions are Laura’s style, but changed colouring. That Laura is helping Minerva performs means it comes across in her voice, was our thinking.

Captions are once more useful though – trying to get something that is evocative, but also clear was the battle.

(The Colours here!)

She-in-Thirds is a name-behind-the-name. The Maiden/Mother/Child archetype – the one which Ananke subverted in a few pages time.

Page 14

I find myself thinking whether the return to a close-to-eight panel for much of this is meaningful. This is kind of Bronze Age Phonogram.

Reading this I wish I had capitalised The Rebel – it’s another archetype. Proto-Lucifer. I’ll tweak for the trade.

I forget when the metaphor for a song for the “godhood” in WicDiv came to me, but it feels like the right one. It’s how songs often feel to me.

Page 15

If you go back to issue 34, you’ll see some of the details of this plan are different to the plan that Ananke has put into play there. In fact, the deal that she strikes in issue 34 is akin to what she wants here. It’s mainly for clarity – the reader needs to be reminded of what’s actually going on, as they won’t necessarily remember the details from way back then. I figure this is the plan she wanted to do, then found something else when Demeter wasn’t into it, before swooping around to something closer.

Page 16

“After all my friends were dead” gives a little flex in the timeline.

I do like Ananke’s hat.

“The Great River” being the Nile, and the pantheon we saw back in issue 36.

In terms of lists of things in this issue I was looking forward to write, the first meeting between Ananke and Minerva was certainly one of them. I tried to get something of the oddness here. Jamie and Matt manage to get the mood of issue 34 again too – I really do like this bronze-age western vibe. There’s a project I keep on thinking about doing, and it has some of that too it. Hmm.

Yes, page width panel of character delivering a line remains a key WicDiv tool. There’s so much I love here – the touch from Ananke, whose PoV we’re in. Minerva speaking to herself, speaking to us, etc.

That the knife is just sentimental is a minor beat I’m very fond of.

Page 17

Once more, Captions, as Laura makes sure we all Get It.

One of the debates in WicDiv fandom has always been whether the gods are picked by Ananke (i.e. Anyone could be a god) or whether they’re actually people with a gifts. Of course, the answer is that it’s both.

The thing I least like about WicDiv’s mythology is that the 12 people are people with this gift, for obvious “Ugh Chosen Ones” reasons. There’s some things that mitigate that a little, I hope, and not least that it’s clearly transferable to wherever you are in life. The core of it is “if you find yourself with a gift, be careful with it and use it responsibly.” It’s a book about the power, privilege, dangers and seductions of being an artist and all that. It’s only when writing that sentence do I realise how tired I am. This has been a busy week. Excuse me if the writing is looser than usual.

Anyway, I’m probably over-worrying. If X-men is fine, we probably are too.

So – end of the page is a download of some of the explanations of stuff folk will inevitably be going “Wait – what?”

And then Tara steps up.

When you’re writing a large group scene, with limited space, there’s choices you make of who speaks and who doesn’t. Who’s going to have the strongest counter-argument to something? Who’s going to have the biggest reaction? Them. They’re the one who carries the scene.

Which is Tara. Perhaps you could make an argument for Baal, but Baal is reeling through all these issues – plus if you choose one or the other, you tie-breaker would be who hasn’t had spotlight.

Page 18-21

And the counter is equally inevitably Cassandra (who is also in the process of beating herself up). Being Cass, she puts it harshly. Clearly, this is going to get a response from Tara.. and Cass opens up herself and makes herself vulnerable. Which is a hell of a thing for her, right?

I’ll stop this – I’m just walking through the emotional flow, but I love these two women here.

Which segues into the last formalist style thing of the issue. Once again, we have a space = meaning problem. This is clearly the most important sequence of the issue, but we have so few pages. We turn to one of the core WicDiv moves of black panels in a six panel grid, and loading them up with text. Suddenly we have a sense of ritual, a lot of dialogue produced in a stylistic way and most of all a whole extra page (hence an extra page of weight).

It’s also a complete showcase for Matt. The last godly panel of them is them at their most Godly, this final little iconic burst. A confession, and it’s gone.

I cried when I got the colours for this. I forget which one it was – there’s just some wonderful Jamie expressions in there as well.

Choosing the confessions was definitely tricky. We have space, but too much is too much. Some of them I kept simple, and others needed a little space to explain. The ordering was also one of those processes where you feel out the character, and think how they’d speak. Dio would clearly jump in, then Inanna, then Mimir trying to just piece it together, and all leading to Baal.

I did try and write a Baal caption, but any words were just too small.

And then, of course…

Page 22

You’ve probably seen me talking about year 4 as Solving The Equation. Yes, we knew lots of the key things, but there’s lots of elements of the execution were worked, and rethought and discovered. I may be able to talk a little more about this in the last issue’s notes.

This was a big one. I was chewing over the synopsis and thinking… a battle against Ananke/Minerva is a little underwhelming after everything, right? At this point in the story, Minerva is a busted flush. In reality, Laura (and Demeter) won the intellectual battle against Minerva in Mothering Invention. She’s already beat her. It nagged at me. There was something else.

Then there was the other thing – I knew that Lucifer was going to get her body back, but I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d do when she had it.

The two came together: of course, the final confrontation isn’t between Laura and Minerva. It’s with Lucifer, the person who brought Laura into the world, the person who brought us all into the world. The girl who wanted to be on stage, no matter the cost. That’s the final battle.

And best of all, I had no idea what would happen.

Well – not quite, but suddenly a whole lot of things was up in the air.

Page 23

Song reference, obv. Always connected to something in my head in my early career. If I do writer notes for the playlist, I may actually tell you.

Oh – some people wondered whether all the skulls meant everyone was dead. No – it’s just there’s no god in the slot. I’m not that kind of shithead.

Anyway – issue is out tomorrow. Or maybe today, depending on where you are. It ends the story, with 45 being an epilogue with a somewhat different tone. Clearly, it’s a huge issue, so be a little careful with your tweeting. The last cover is especially a big spoiler.

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Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

[nastybuckybarnes]

A Broken Fairytale  -  Two

Pairing: Prince!Bucky x Reader AU

Summary: Sold by your mother, you work as a servant for the King and Queen of Acadia. The Prince, much to his initial dismay, takes a liking to you. When a wicked woman intervenes, your life is nothing more than a prison sentence. With a war on the horizon and a betrothal to a missing Princess that he can’t escape, Bucky is forced to be the Prince -and King- that his father wants. A pawn in a bigger game than the two of you realize.

Warnings: Slow Burn, We meet Bucky, Some light foreshadowing????

Word Count: 4.2K

A/n: So I’m having a hard time doing this whole ‘life’ thing. Idk. Anyway, I hope you guys don’t let this flop.

SORRY IF I MISSED TAGS & SOME TAGS AREN’T WORKING!

MASTERLIST Series Masterist

~*~

“You look tired,” Wanda says as the two of you walk through the servants’ passages. “I had a... difficult time falling asleep,” you admit after a moment.

She nods, “I figured as much.” You walk in silence for a minute or two before you clear your throat.

“Mary is very kind.” Wanda hums her agreement. “She is. One of the kindest, especially considering both her sons fought in the last war. Neither one came back.” You frown and look down, not knowing what to say.

“Today we’ll clean the throne room, ballroom, library, and dining Hall. The prince will return in a few days and the Palace will need to be especially clean for his arrival.” You follow her up a narrow flight of stairs, your eyebrows raising as you enter the largest, most luxurious bedroom you’ve ever seen in your life.

The bed is covered in red silks and soft-looking furs.

“This is Prince James’ room,” Wanda whispers while pushing the hidden door open more. “It gets cleaned once a day. Usually by me, but now by both of us.” She grabs a bucket of filled with cleaning supplies and hands it to you, grabbing her own bucket and entering the room before you.

“We’ll scrub the floors, dust the entire room, do any laundry, and -once they’ve been used- clean the bedding. But we only clean the bedding once a week. I’ll start in the bathroom and you can start out here.” She heads into an attached room, leaving you in the extravagant bedroom.

You sigh and drop to your knees, starting the familiar task of cleaning the floor.

~

It hardly takes any time to clean the Prince’s room, and then Wanda is pulling you to the throne room.

“You’ll sweep, I’ll mop?” She asks. You shrug, taking the broom from her and starting to sweep the huge room.

You quietly start humming to yourself, the gentle tune offering you comfort in this new and slightly scary place.

Wanda pauses her dusting to listen, a small smile spreading on her face. You continue humming as you sweep, relaxing a bit more with every passing minute. Your fingers find the silver locket around your neck and you sigh.

“I’ve never heard that tune before,” Wanda says suddenly. You look over at her and clear your throat nervously. “I, Uh... It’s just something I’d always hear in my dreams and earliest memories. It’s been... one of the only constants in my life. It’s given me... hope, I guess.” She nods and looks around for a moment.

“Do you remember how to get to the kitchen?” She asks. You nod your head yes. “Good. You can go there and take a break if you’d like.” You hesitate for a moment then grab the mop.

“Oh, (Y/n) you really don’t have to do that. I can handle it, don’t worry.” You ignore her and start mopping the marble floor your mind wandering as you do the ever familiar chore.

~

“How was your first official day?” May asks while brushing her hair that night.

“It was alright, thank you.” She nods, braiding her hair and getting ready for bed. “I couldn't help but notice your necklace. It looks like real silver Have you ever thought of trading or selling it?” Your hand instinctively comes to the hollow of your throat where the locket lies.

“It’s... the one thing step-mother could never take from me. It makes me feel safe. I think it’s from my birth parents. There’s some writing on the back, but I’m not sure what language it is.” You carefully take the necklace off and move to May’s bed, showing her the back of it.

She touches it with the pad of her index finger then pulls back quickly. “It’s very hot,” she says.

You furrow your brows and shake your head, feeling the cool metal against your skin. “Maybe that's why your step-mother could never take it from you. I hear in other kingdoms they have nymphs and enchantresses who place spells on objects. Perhaps that happened to the necklace. Perhaps it’s only yours to touch.”

You ponder this for a moment then shake your head. “How would I have gotten here if I, and my necklace, are from a neighbouring kingdom?” May puts her glasses on, treating your question rhetorically as she analyzes the writing on the back of your locket.

“My education has never been the greatest, but it looks to be...  a script I’ve seen in the old letters from the kingdom of Corona. I believe it’s Aramaic.”

You look at the markings with a frown. “Corona’s over two days north on horseback. I can’t be from there. There’s no way a baby could’ve survived that journey.” May looks at the locket again then up at you.

“We will be given a full day off the same day we are paid. Visit Thor, the blacksmith. He can tell you where that locket is from. If he doesn't know, go to the bookshop. Mr. Banner will know what language it is and he may be able to tell you what it says.”

You thank her softly then move to the window, climbing up into the opening and sitting on the stone with your legs hanging out. You look down and feel your stomach drop as you realize just how high up you are. “The sunsets are most beautiful from here,” Wanda whispers while climbing up beside you.

“I’ve only ever seen a sunset while tending to the animals. It’s nice to see it without smelling faces.” Wanda giggles, her gaze sweeping over the kingdom. The houses are lit up by candles as families start getting ready to go to bed.

“How long have you worked here?” You ask quietly, fiddling with your locket. “I’ve worked here for six years. I’m turning eighteen this winter.” You do the math quickly then raise your eyebrows. “Why did you start working so young?”

She chuckles and looks over at you. “You’ve been working a lot longer than I have, you just haven’t been getting paid for it. But I started working so young because my parents died and my brother and I needed money to survive. My brother also stays here. He’s a knight,” she says proudly.

You smile at how happy she is with her brother’s achievements.

“It makes it easier to have us both living at the Palace too so we waveless to pay for.” You nod along with her and watch as the sun sets. “I hear rumour that the prince returns tomorrow. The king plans to have a feast.”You look over at her, watching as the wind blows through her long brown hair. “Where has the Prince been?” You ask.

“Corona. Talking business with the King. You see, Prince James is betrothed to the princess of Corona as soon as it was found out that the king and queen had a girl. The baby hardly had a name before she was taken. No one has heard from her since. Many pretend to be her, but the Queen knows that none of them are her daughter.”

You subconsciously squeeze the locket. “So what type of business did the Prince have in Corona?” Wanda exhales deeply while pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “Corona has very little to offer Acadia. Prince James is inquiring, seeing if there’s anything... any way to unite the two kingdoms,” she explains, her voice lowering as she hears May snoring lightly. “And... if there’s nothing and no way to unite the two kingdoms?” She sighs and kicks her feet, “there might be a war.” You process this as Wanda climbs back into the room to get ready for bed.

“Tomorrow we’ll get your clothes from Mary. Until then, sleep. Do not worry about any potential conflicts. The Princes and the King are very good people, and they’ll do their best to resolve it in a peaceful way. Now, I’m going to bed. Goodnight, (Y/n).” You climb into the room and smile at her. “Goodnight Wanda.” She gets in her bed while you bring your blankets onto the floor again, falling asleep faster than you did the night before.

~*~

“Don’t you look beautiful! This one fits you like a glove! Amazing!” You admire the dress in the mirror.

It’s far more beautiful than any of your old dresses. “Oh! I Mustn’t keep you here any longer! The Prince returns today and there is much to be done in preparation.” Wanda smiles as you hug Mary, then leads you through the servants' passages again.

“We must clean the dining hall and throne room especially well for the arrival of the Princes. The Queen also needs my assistance for a short while so I will not be able to help as much today.” You walk to the door leading to the dining hall. “Wanda, you forget that I’ve been cleaning since I was able to talk. I’ll be alright.” She sighs and watches as you start sweeping the floor. “Alright. I’ll be back as soon as possible to help you.” You wave her off and continue sweeping.

Little do you know, the King is watching you from his study, a quizzical look on his face.

~

“What is it, brother?” Sara asks, coming up behind her brother and watching the girl sweep.

“She moves with regal grace and elegance, don’t you think?” He asks. Sara nods, sighing deeply. “If she wasn’t of poor blood she could make a good lady-in-waiting. Or even a possible wife for one of our sons.” George nods and glances at his sister. “We know not of what her blood is. Or if she’s even from our kingdom. She’s an orphan, found on the streets and raised in the Griffon Manor.”

Sara clicks her tongue sadly. “That wicked woman must’ve treated her horribly. I’m afraid to imagine all the awful things the poor girl has had to endure. And I do not know why you allow such a vile woman to continue living in your kingdom.”

George sighs and walks to his desk, having had this conversation before. “They provide good livestock.”

Sara shakes her head at her brother and watches you as you start mopping the floor.

~

You’re so focused on cleaning the dining hall that you don’t notice Wanda until you walk into her.

“Oh my! I’m so sorry Wanda!” She giggles and shakes her head, grabbing the cloth from you. “You’ve finished nearly all the things we’re supposed to do! How?” You shrug and look around the clean room. “It’s all the same: Sweep, scrub, polish, repeat. I’ve been doing it for years.” She nods and grabs your hand, pulling you into the servants' passages and through the Palace.

“Wanda! Where on Earth are we going?” She continues pulling you until you’re back in the room you share with her and May.

“They’re back,” She whispers while rushing to the window. You stare at her for another moment the follow her to the window, looking out curiously. Sure enough, a large group of men on horses are coming through the Palace gates, kicking up a storm of dust.

“My brother’s back! Come on! We must go to the stables and greet him!’ You grab her arm as she gets up. “Are we... allowed to?” You ask nervously, to which she laughs. “Of course! A few of us have family members who are a part of the royal guard. Now come on!”

She drags you through the dim corridors again, exiting through a large door and pulling you down a short gravel path towards the stables.

Peter perks up and walks over to you, a smile on his face.

“Hi (Y/n)! How’ve you been?” He asks Kindly. You smile at him, “I’ve been well, thank you. Do you need any help?” He looks around, eyeing the approaching horses, the back to you. “You’re not exactly dressed for this kinda work. Thank you though.” You bow your head lightly then straighten back up, your fingers touching the locket around your neck as you watch Wanda basically vibrate with excitement.

“She’s always so excited when her brother gets back. They spend all of their free time playing pranks on some of the knights. Well, when she’s not pining over ‘The Vision’,” Peter chuckles. You cock your head to the side in confusion. “We call him that because he’s got basically no flaws. One of the best knights King George has ever had.” You raise your eyebrows and watch as the horses come to a stop a few meters away from you.

“Well, gotta go. Duty calls.” You giggle was Peter fake salutes you then jogs over to where the knights are dismounting their horses.

“Wanda!” A man calls, tossing his helmet aside and running to the brunette. She hugs him tightly, giggling as he lifts her off of her feet. “You’re back!” She exclaims, smiling when he sets her back on her feet. Her eyes flash to you and she gets impossibly happier.

“Oh! I’d like you to meet my friend (Y/n).” She motions to where you stand and her brother turns to you.

“(Y/n). A beautiful name for a beautiful lady.” You find yourself giggling as he kisses your hand, not noticing all the eyes on you.

“Who’s that?” Steve asks while getting off of his horse.

“That? That’s (Y/n), your highness,” Peter says, watching as you laugh with some of the knights. “Where is she from? Not our kingdom. I’m to know every face,” a different man says. Peter bows quickly then stands back up.

“She was adopted as an infant by Lady Griffon.” The second man groans at the wenches name. “Is she as stubborn and awful as her step-mother?” He asks, brows raising as he hears your melodic laugh. “Not at all, Prince James. (Y/n) is, pardon my language, nothing like her bitch of a step-mother.” Steve and Bucky burst out laughing at Peter’s word choice, getting the attention of everyone in the vicinity, including you.

“That’s Prince James. And Prince Steve is the blond one,” Wanda whispers as she catches you staring. You look back at her then to the Knighton your left. “I’m so sorry, Sir Wilson, what were you saying?” He smiles and shakes his head.

“Please, call me Sam. And I was just telling you about the time I saved ole’ speedy’s behind.” You look over at Pietro, giggling as he raises his hands in surrender.

“Yeah, and who then saved your ‘behind’? ‘Cause if I remember correctly, it was Bucky and I. You were crying like a little pansy.” You look over at the man, a shy smile creeping onto your face as you realize just how attractive he is. “I’m Steve. You must be (Y/n).” He takes your hand and kisses your knuckles gently. “What’s a fair maiden like you doing working as a Palace servant? Surely your beauty could be better used elsewhere.” You bite your bottom lip to stifle a nervous laugh.

“Alright, Steve. I think that’s enough sweet-talking. You’re not gonna be able to convince her to wash your draws.” Laughter bubbles out of you before you can stop it.

“I don’t believe we’ve ever met before,” the brunet says while stepping between you and his cousin.

He’s the most gorgeous man you’ve ever met in your life.

“I’m James. Prince of Acadia.” He bows and you find yourself smiling. “I’m (Y/n), your highness.” You curtsey and bow your head. “It is an absolute honour to meet you, (Y/n). And I welcome you to our Palace.” You look up at him through your lashes, heart thundering painfully hard in your chest as his ice blue eyes hold your gaze.

He takes your hand in his and, while still staring deeply into your eyes, presses a lingering kiss to your knuckles, his thumb rubbing over the spot as he lowers your hand.

“Th-thank you, your highness.” He winks at you and you smile, finally breaking eye contact and looking down bashfully. “I do hope you enjoy yourself here. And should you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” Steve interjects, smiling at you kindly.

“Thank you,” You whisper, watching as the Princes exchange a glance. “We should probably go. Aunt Sara and mother will be wondering where we are,” Bucky says, his eyes having a hard time leaving your face.

“Okay. I hope to see you again soon, (Y/n). It was a pleasure meeting you,” the blond says while tugging his cousin down a long brick pathway. You simply nod, words leaving you.

“Well, we’d better get back. There’s to be a celebration tonight for the Prince’s return,” Wanda says while walking towards the gravel path with you right behind her.

“Quite the flirt, isn't he?” Wanda inquires once the two of you are back in the Palace. You look down at your hands as butterflies fill your body. “Yes he is. Prince Steve as well. They are... very good with their words.” Wanda laughs softly while pulling you up the stairs towards the room you share.

“We get our payment tomorrow. It isn’t a lot but it’s something. Queen Winifred insisted we get a little something in addition to our regular pay every few weeks so we feel less like prisoners,” she explains as the two of you enter the room.

“We are to remain out of sight for the remainder of the evening. The Queen will give us our earnings in the morning and then we can go into the village. May’s husband Ben is the baker, you must stop there at some point tomorrow,” she gushes with a smile. You return the grin then glance out the window.

“I’ll try to make time for it. But first I would like to visit Thor. Then Mr. Banner. I’m very curious as to where my locket is truly from.” She looks at the piece of jewelry around your neck then nods. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It appears to be of great value, although I can’t know for sure.” You nod, thinking back to what May said.

“May believes it’s from Corona. She thinks the script is Aramaic.” Wanda nods, looking at it closely before reaching out and touching it. She pulls back quickly, hissing slightly and holding her hand to her chest. “Why is it so hot? Is it not burning you? You touch the locket and frown, shaking your head no.

“Strange. May said the same thing. She then spoke of nymphs and enchantresses from other kingdoms.” She smiles at how excited you are. “What will you do if you are from Corona? Go back?” You sigh then shrug.

“There’s no way I’d ever be able to afford a horse. And to travel on foot... that would be a long and treacherous journey. As a woman travelling alone through the forest... I doubt I’d reach Corona.” She nods her agreement, a frown on her delicate face.

“Perhaps my brother could take you. He knows that forest better than the Palace.” “Your brother knows which forest better than the Palace?” Pietro’s voice asks from the doorway.

You and Wanda turn to him, her with a huge smile on her face. “The forest between here and Corona. (Y/n) thinks that’s where her locket might be from.” You elbow her in the side and she squeaks.

“Please, you mustn't tell anyone. I only wish to know if that’s where I’m truly from.” He smiles softly at you. “I promise I won't tell anyone. But may I see the locket in question?” You step towards him, your fingers resting just below the locket.

He touches it for a moment then pulls away quickly, just as the others had. “Do you not find the heat unbearable?” You shake your head. “It isn’t hot to me. Everyone else who has touched it has said that it's been too hot to touch.”

He inspects it up close. “If it is indeed from Corona, there is a chance your locket could be enchanted. I’ve heard plenty a tale of jewelry being enchanted with spells permitting only the wearer to touch the item. Of course, it’s usually upper-class families. The enchantresses don’t just give spells like that for free.” You find yourself nodding along with his words.

“Tomorrow I plan on visiting Thor and Mr. Banner to see if they know where it’s from and what the writing says.” He nods and backs up a step, looking at his sister for a moment then back to you. “If you ever find yourself in Corona with strange items of trade, find an enchantress and ask her who had your locket warded.”

You furrow your brows for a moment while absorbing what he said. “’Strange items of trade’? Like what?” He taps his chin, seemingly deep in thought. “Little trinkets you'd think would be useless. Certain seeds and herbs.”

You sigh softly and walk to the window to admire the setting sun. “I doubt I’ll find myself in Corona. Especially when I have duties here. Besides, aren't the two kingdoms almost at war? It wouldn't be wise to go there,” you whisper to the twins, your eyes staying trained on the bright orange and pink sunset. “You never know. Now, I must be going. The Princes expect me at the feast. I’ll see you both tomorrow when we go into the village.” You nod, eyes closing briefly as you hear the male twin leave. “You’ll get to know some of the knights better when we go tomorrow. Clint and Sam, or Sir Barton and Sir Wilson, always join us with my brother when we go into the village. It’s quite nice, actually.” Wanda says after a few silent moments, eliciting a small smile from you. “I’m looking forward to it.”

~*~

“James! You’ve returned!” Winifred exclaims as her son walks into the dining Hall. “I missed you too, mother. It is good to be back,” James says while hugging his mother. “Sit, son. How did it go in Corona? What did the King have to say?” King George asks from the head of the table. The knights who joined the Prince on the excursion are seated around the table, plates piled high in front of them.

James takes a seat next to his cousin and takes a sip of wine. “I’m afraid I haven’t much news. The Princess is still missing and as her birthday nears, the kingdom grows dark.”

The Queen sighs and shakes her head. “I cannot even imagine the pain Queen Valerie is feeling. To lose a child only days after they were born,” she says softly, shaking her head again. “I understand that they’re mourning, but they must realize that they have business partners in need of items of trade!” The king exclaims.

“The Kingdom of Corona wilts. It is constantly cold and dreary. It was hard to get in and out with the storms raging above the forests. They do not have much to offer us,” Steve says solemnly.

“When Queen Valerie fell pregnant, King John swore an oath that if it were a girl, she would be married to my son by her twentieth birthday! Which was already a stretch, we should’ve had the girl married to James by now! To provide many healthy heirs to the throne!  We have already gone eighteen years without any knowledge of this Princess and we are nearing her nineteenth birthday!” James sighs at his father’s never-ending temper.

“If the Princess is not found by midnight on her twentieth birthday, they will have failed to withhold their end of the agreement and will force my hand.” Winifred sighs at her husband, much like her son did. “Must it always end in a fight?” She asks, exasperated.

“We’ve given them food and supplies in exchange for the unification of kingdoms with the marriage of their Princess. We cannot have it known that we as a kingdom let other kingdoms take from us! It isn’t going to happen! If they don’t produce a Princess then they’ll have a war to deal with!” With that, King George pushes away from the table and stomps to his study. It’s silent for a moment before the Queen stands.

“Him and his temper,” she whispers, following him to his study to further the conversation. The Knights finish their dinner in an awkward silence, James standing up and following Steve through the great hall.

“I spoke to my mother about the new servant girl,” he begins. “Your father bought her for one hundred shillings from Lady Griffon.” James groans at the name.

“I hope she isn't as horrible as that woman.”

“Bucky that’s a member of your kingdom. You’ve gotta use kinder words,” Steve chastises.

His cousin groans loudly like a child.”But I can’t stand that woman! She’s horrible! And so are her two daughters.”

Steve sighs and continues speaking, “Lady Griffon adopted (Y/n) as an infant. I can only imagine how badly she's been treated in that house.” Bucky glances at his cousin then nods.

”She’s beautiful. Don’t you think, Buck?” Bucky looks around, making sure they're alone, then turns back to Steve. “Very. But it won't do either of us any good.”

Steve furrows his brows and turns Bucky to face him again.

“I’m not the one who was undressing her with my eyes. It’s alright if you fancy her. I won’t tell anyone.” Bucky shrugs off his cousin's arm and storms down the hallway, refusing to believe that he fancies you after meeting you only once.

~*~

TAGS:

FOREVER:

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[grade11faithproject]

1. Short Story

                                                 Dear Annie

November 6, 2017

Dear Annie,

           I’m sorry I wasn’t able to visit you at the hospital today. School really has a way of keeping you busy at the worst times, I guess. The head office all of a sudden announced that they wanted some of the high school students to stay around till 6pm just to help with the decorations for the upcoming school play, surprisingly I was one of them. Yaay! (note the sarcasm) I honestly think they aren’t really thinking things through, they should’ve told us in advance, and should have at least lessened the homework for today. The worst thing about it is that we didn’t even do anything! Majority of us just sat there staring into nothing, while the student council, drama club, visual arts club, and the teachers discussed/argued (well the arguing went between the students of the clubs and the student council) about the appropriate designs and props for each scene. If you were there you probably would’ve gotten us out, but unfortunately for me I’m not as sneaky as you are. So I just stayed for 2 hours. It really was a waste of time, I wished they just planned this before-hand, before demanding that we stay in the auditorium to help with props and designs that haven’t even been planned yet! Ugh, seriously this is such a bad day. I was low-key regretting not listening to you when you taught me how to sneak out of school during after class practices, but of course knowing me I’m too scared to do things on my own. I guess this is a sickness of mine, relying on you too much.

           A funny thing happened on my walk home though. I passed the bakery where we always hung out in, and ordered some hot chocolate. The owner saw that I was alone, and asked where you were. I told her that you were sick and couldn’t make it to school. Then she gave me the hot chocolate, she handed me a bag of cookies and told me it was on the house, and for me to give to you as a ‘get well soon’ gift. The funny thing about it was that she referred to you as my “partner-in-crime” when in reality I’m kind off just your assistant. I don’t mind though, I don’t like doing too much work anyway. I guess I’ll just try to drop this letter off tomorrow when I come visit you, hopefully the head office won’t make us stay till 6pm again.

                                                                                                                                   -Mark

P.S.

I’m sorry, I ate the cookies.

 November 10, 2017

Dear Annie

           Remember what you told me 3 years ago? You told me it was around midnight and you went to down stairs to get a glass of water, but you were greeted with the sight of your mother crying. You said you dreaded the sight, that it was the most heart breaking thing you have ever seen. At first, I couldn’t really get why you felt so bad, I mean everyone cries, it’s only normal for your mom to cry too. I guess at the time I couldn’t really relate since I didn’t have a mother of my own, but when I visited you at the hospital today, I can finally say that I see what you mean. I told your mom that I wasn’t going to be able to visit you today since I thought the school was going to make us stay till 6pm again, but turns out they didn’t so I went to visit you while totally forgetting to tell your mom about it.

           When I got to your room and opened the door, I was greeted with the same sight you saw that night 3 years ago. Your mom was sitting on a chair beside your bed, holding your hand, crying while begging you to wake up. It really was heart breaking to see. It was heart breaking because the woman I saw nearly everyday, who was always so strong, always put on a smile, faced her problems head on, had been putting on a mask to cover her genuine sadness. I’m not an idiot to not realize that she’s obviously really sad about this, and it’s only normal that she’s crying, but this really was my first time seeing her cry. What was even more heart breaking was when she saw me enter, she let go of your hand, dried her tears and once again put on a smile. She even got up from her seat just to hug me. That’s when I started crying, for you and for your mom. If you were awake you probably would’ve teased me about how ugly I looked when I cried. I used to hate it whenever you did that, but now I would really give anything just for little moments like that.

                                                                                                                  -Mark  

 November 13, 2017

Dear Annie,

            So the school made the whole high school department stay after class again for an announcement. You could clearly hear the groans and complaints from all the other students, I honestly didn’t want to stay either, but I guessed it was just for an announcement, at least they weren’t making us stay till the sun finally set. So the drama club wanted to announce this year’s school play. To everyone’s surprise it was the Wizard of Oz. They also announced that they will post forms for those who want to audition for what characters they want, and that they would post the date for the auditions on the bulletin board as well. When we were finally dismissed, the drama club president approached me and told me to tell you about the play since she was really rooting for you to play as the Good Witch of the North, she even gave me the sample script for you to memorize. I nearly scoffed since that type of character doesn’t really seem to fit you. I’m thinking you would make a great Wicked Witch of the West. I wonder how you would look like with green skin. Hurry up and wake up already, I really wanna see you play.

                                                                                                                -Mark

November 27, 2017

Dear Annie,

           Your dad came to visit you today. Let’s just say the visit was quite a surprise to both your mom and I, and let’s just say your mom wasn’t really happy about your dad visiting you nearly 4 weeks after your accident. She asked what took him so long to get here, and he replied with the most revolting answer, “I was busy with work, I had hundreds of paper work to file”. Honestly if I only had the courage to talk back to you dad I would’ve, but unfortunately I don’t, and your mom already beat me to it. She told him, “This is so like you, you’re so selfish and all you care about it work. Your daughter is on a hospital bed fighting for her life, and all you can think about is all the paper work you have to file”. I really wanted to laugh at that time because it reminded me of that time  when we were in the 8th grade and it was your first time acting in a play, you were the main character too, you told your dad about it, but in the end he didn’t even sit on the seat that you reserved for him. Then when the play was over, I went backstage to come get you, but then I saw you crying and you told me that your dad was so selfish, that he knew how important this was to you, yet he couldn’t even make time for you and that all he could think about is work. Obviously both situations weren’t a laughing matter, I just found it funny how similar you are to your mom, and how you would probably say the same if you saw him, and if you were conscious. Although you most likely wouldn’t actually say that to your dad, I guess that what you and I have in common as well.

                                                                                                                                  -Mark

 December 3, 2017

Dear Annie,

           It’s has been officially a whole month since your accident. Rereading the first sentence makes it look like I’m so enthusiastic about it. Please wake up, I’m really lonely in school nowadays. Although I have Eric to hang out with, but it’s really not the same. I mean we are good friends, but he’s just not you. I’m not trying to have Eric as your replacement while you’re gone, it’s just that I can’t seem to find anyone who understands and relates to me like you do. I don’t know if this is a sign that I’m that much of a difficult human being, if that is the case then I’m sorry for giving you a hard time, or I really should’ve listened to you and actually socialized with other people. Ugh wake up already, it’s almost Christmas, and knowing how lazy you are, you probably haven’t even bought me anything and I also planned something for you, so you better wake up before Christmas. I’m kidding, but seriously though everyone misses you. I miss you.

                                                                                                                                    -Mark

 December 15, 2017

Dear Annie,

           So today was the auditions for the school play, and I approached the president of the drama club. I was about to tell her that you couldn’t make it to the auditions, but then she told me that she knows and that she wishes you a fast recovery, then left to go inside the auditorium. Dumbfounded wasn’t even close to how I was feeling after that. Although I don’t really know why I’m so surprised about the school knowing about what happened to you when it’s only normal for this kind of stuff to travel around. I don’t really know anyone, other than me, Eric, and some of the teachers, who knows about what happened to you. It’s not like Eric and I have any other friends in school to tell this to. So maybe the teachers were probably talking about it, and some of the students overheard. It’s just a theory. Why am I so upset about this? It’s not like I could’ve done anything from the news from spreading, nor was I the one who told anyone about it. Other than that happening, I lost my last remaining pencil, spilled my juice on my uniform, and lost my homework. Quite a nice day don’t you think so? Ugh it really is a Monday, but at least Christmas vacation starts on Wednesday this week.

                                                                                                                                  -Mark

December 25, 2017

Dear Annie,

           Merry Christmas weirdo! I spent the nearly whole day at your house, since I volunteered to help your mom cook dinner. After stopping by to visit you in the hospital, your mom, dad, and I went to the grocery that afternoon buy some stuff that was needed for dinner. When we got back to your house, I was expecting your dad to just be sitting by the dining area while doing some work, but to my surprise (and your mom’s too) he didn’t. Your dad asked if he could help prepare dinner and your mom gave him certain tasks to do and such. It really felt like we were a family preparing our own Christmas dinner, your mom started telling your dad about things he’s missed out on, and your dad would crack some jokes here and there, he asked how my aunt and I was doing. Then after cooking dinner, I was about to bid your parents goodbye, but they asked me to stay for dinner since no one was really home since Aunt Lucy went on vacation. I had a really great time, although I feel bad since you should’ve been the one who was there, not me, it feels like I’m stealing something of yours, like I’m stealing the opportunity for you to see your family happy and complete. I really wish you were there to witness it and be able to experience it, it was everything you told me you wanted. Well, I guess I don’t have a gift from you this year, nor can I continue on with the plans I made, I’m so disappointed. Just kidding, gifts aren’t really that important and my “plans” could always be moved on some other day. I really just want you to wake up. Merry Christmas, Annie.

                                                                                                                                -Mark

 January 1, 2018

Dear Annie,

           Happy New Year! Dude, now I see why you’re so annoyed with all these posts about, “It’s the New Year already, but why haven’t you changed yet?” I do agree these posts are really irritating, seriously what makes a person think that just because it’s a brand new year other people are automatically going to change? Just let theperson change when they’re ready. New Year celebrations are really overrated, it’s literally just another year, it’s just that that the calendar is different, and everyone is going to get a year older again. Same with birthdays too. I remember we would always be so excited about Christmas, our birthdays, New Year’s, but as we got older things changed, those celebrations aren’t as exciting as they used to be, oh well that’s growing up for you (as what my aunt would always say).

           Awhile ago your mom asked me why I kept writing you letters, I guess she was weirded out by me, I mean I have to admit it is a little though. None the less I told her that it was a way to keep you updated about what went one while you were asleep, like whenever you wouldn’t be able to make it to school, I would tell you what happened and the homework that needs to be done. Your mom was touched that I took the time out of my day to write you, I told her that it wasn’t a bother. I am your best friend after all.

                                                                                                                                 - Mark

P.S.

Speaking of homework, you have a lot to catch up on.

 January 12, 2018

Dear Annie,

               A miracle has come upon us! I finally found your hair tie that you’ve been looking for. Turns out it was in the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I’m not sure how that got there, but I’ll just leave it there. When you read this one make sure to remind me to give it back to you. Oh, and I also found your missing pen inside one of the drawers on my bedside table. We’ve been over each other’s houses for so many times, I wouldn’t be surprised my missing pencil was probably at your house.

             I miss having you over, I miss hanging out with you, I miss teasing you, I miss going out to that bakery we pass by after school, I miss talking to you, I miss hearing your laugh. God, I miss everything about you, Annie. Please just wake up so everything just goes back to normal. I really have something to tell you, but it’s something I just don’t feel comfortable writing on paper.

                                                                                                                                  -Mark        

 January 31, 2018

Dear Annie,

             I always knew the world was unfair, I just didn’t know it was this much of a cheat. It was unfair to everyone, to me, to your parents, to your other friends, and especially to you. Why does it have to be this way? This wasn’t meant to happen, none of this was meant to happen. Your accident, you falling into coma, none of that was supposed to happen, and now.. I can’t even bring it up, it just makes everything feel worse. I feel sick to my stomach, I feel like I’m having nightmare that just feels too realistic. Please tell me this it is a dream, please tell me when I wake up, you’ll be there sitting on the couch watching “Beauty and the Beast” for the hundredth time already. Please Annie, wake me up from this horrible nightmare. I can’t take this. I miss you so much, but I guess missing you it the only thing I can ever do. I can only miss hanging out with you, I can only miss talking to you, I can only miss seeing you.

            There are so many things I wish I could’ve told you. I wish I told you how ridiculous you look when to do the chicken dance. I wish I told you how much you sucked at video games. I wish I told you that when you laugh you sound like you’re about to have an asthma attack. I wish I told you that your smile is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. I wish I told you that every time I saw you cry it would break my heart into a hundred pieces. I wish I told you that even if you sound like a seal, hearing you sing could make my entire day. I wish I told you that seeing you happy was the best thing in the world. I wish I told you how much I love you.

           Surprising, huh? Probably not. I’ve had a crush on you since we were in the 3rd grade. I thought it was just a feeling that would come and go, but it wasn’t. As the years passed, the crush I’ve had for you never went away like I’d hoped, but it did the complete opposite. For the past 9 years, I’ve only fallen deeper in love with you. I fell in love with the way you belted out all of your favourite songs, I fell in love with your weird personality, I fell in love with the sound of your laugh, the way you scrunch your nose in the slightest bit whenever you smile. I fell in love with you, Annie. I was supposed to tell you last Christmas, but I wasn’t able to because of what happened. I’m sorry, I know I told you that I didn’t want to write whatever I had to say in paper, but now this really is the only way to confess to you.

           This is going to be my last letter. I wrote these letters for you to read when you wake up, but there’s really no need for that anymore. I miss you. So I guess I should end this letter now.

Good bye, Annie. I love you to be moon and back.

                                                                                                                                   -Mark

P.S.

 Tell my parents I said “Hi”.

[rfsak2]

Cactus, a Love

I missed this… I hope you did too. Drop me a line and like and reblog!! Validate me! Also this is all written from Harry’s POV cause I never really did that much while writing the bulk of Cactus and we need it.

Cactus, a Love Summary: It wasn’t just Jamie who caught feelings. This kind of love takes two. The Styles Warnings: Fluff, some sexual thoughts and behavior. Intense flirting and some dirty talk. Teasing mentioning of daddy kink.

She was a stunner.

Small and delicate, with tiny hands and platinum blonde hair that fell in thick spirals past her shoulders. She pushed some of that hair off her face as she turned towards him, fingernails painted a brilliant coral and reached to set her cactus shaped mug on the table in front of her.

She stood, pausing to shake out her skirt and he caught sight of few words tattooed under her collarbone in an elegant script. His eyes drifted slightly lower and it took every bit of politeness and gentlemanly manners instilled by his mother to lift his eyes to her face and away from possible the prettiest cleavage he had ever seen.

Honestly.

Shit…. I am fucked.

She smiled, offering her hand to shake. Her free hand nervously smoothed at her pretty, white maxi dress, muscles gliding gently under the smooth tattooed skin of her forearm.

“Jamie Schwartz.”

His eyes jumped to Jeff Bhasker as his hand completely swallowed hers. Jeff grinned.

Ohh… That Jamie Schwartz.

“‘Arry Styles.” He grinned down at her admiring the blush that shaded the bridge of her nose. “Yeh look very pretty today, love.”

The blush deepened. “Uh.. thanks.”

They both sat and despite his best efforts, Harry found himself watching her every move instead of listening, eyes tracing her profile and dancing over any skin she been generous enough to leave bare.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he dug it out.

Like something you see, bro?

He glared at Jeff.

Maybe focus and stop ogling my guitarist!

He discretely flicked him off and focused on what Mitch was saying.

Shit.

**

This really wasn’t fair…

And what’s worse is he had no one to blame but himself.

Let’s go to the beach, I said… it’ll be fun, I thought.

She lifted her vest top over her head and he wanted to drown himself in the sea.

She was covered in brilliant color from the T-rex tattooed on her foot to her pretty, peach bathing suit to the sleeve that covered her left arm.

She leant over to peel her cutoff shorts down gorgeous, dimpled thighs and he tugged at his swim trunks, hoping the stiffy he was close to sporting wasn’t as obvious as it felt. He cast a look around, checking for pesky photogs who would love a picture of playboy Harry Styles and his problem.

When he turned back, she was stepping out of her shorts. She tried to shake some hair of her face and her sunglasses slipped off her nose and into the sand.

“Well… fuck.” She huffed and Mitch said something to her left, causing her to turn away from Harry.

She’s got a cute bu- Fuck!

She giggled and leant over at the waist to reclaim her sunglasses and Harry wanted to die.

Close to sporting, my fuckin’ arse… Harry groaned and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, thinking of anything and everything he could conceive to try and distract him.

When he opened them again, she had straightened and was starting to spread out her beach blanket. He watched, still thirsty as fuck if he was honest, and caught himself moving forward toward her as she lay back on her blanket.

“Help wit’ m’sunscreen, love?”

**

Harry was all but resigned to his fate at this point.

She was beautiful and had been built by some higher power to completely torment him.

It was fact at this point.

She reached behind her to undo her bra and the way she was turned half away from him, afforded him a glimpse of those lovely tits. He sighed and she turned toward him fully, blushing slightly when she caught him looking.

“Dirty boy.”

There it is.

He was glad he had already changed into a pair of soft sleep shorts. It did nothing to hide the evidence of his erection of course, but at least he didn’t have to contend with the compounding effect of knowing her eyes were bare on him.

She slipped his shirt over her head, pretty blue eyes hot on him and tugged it down over her denim shorts. Eyes still on him, damn her, she slowly unbuttoned and unzipped and then let the shorts fall to pool at her ankles.

“Ya okay, Pretty Boy?”

He swallowed thickly and nodded. “Fancy a cuddle, Monster?”

She smirked and moved to her side of the bed. He followed her down and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her back into his chest. When she chuckled and snuggled back against him, her ass naturally grinding ever so slightly against his hips (and rather obvious erection), he groaned and hid his face in her neck.

“Yer mean.”

She did it again. “I’m not mean. You chose this, you laid out the rules and decided to torture yourself by insisting on sharing a bed nearly every night. This is you, baby-boo.”

“I’m trying to leave your options open.” He huffed and shifted even closer to her. “And I like cuddling you. Sleep better.”

“I’m not complaining about the cuddling, I like cuddling with you too. You smell nice. And I appreciate that you’re trying to be sensitive about this. I just don’t get why you torture yourself.”

He shrugged, chin still on her shoulder. “I dunno… I want this with you, but I know what any connection with me can do to a girl. I’ve seen women harassed by my fans for simply being a friend of a friend who was invited to a dinner party. I don’t want to do that to you.”

“I get that.” She turned her head and kissed his cheek. “I do. And it says so much for your character and the way your mother raised you that you think about it like that. It does.” She smiled against his cheek. “But I also think you sell yourself short. You are worth it, I promise, and any chick doesn’t think so, isn’t worth you worrying yourself sick over, ya know?”

His heart stopped beating, he could swear. “You think I’m worth being chased down and cyber bullied?”

She turned in his arms and locked eyes with him. “I do, yeah.” She nodded and grasped his face. “I do. Even if we’re just friends. Even if we end up not keeping up with each other in the future and we only see each other at industry parties and we never talk. You are a fantastic human being and you are worth it. That’s why your friends who have been harassed stick around. Not because of money or their fifteen minutes, but because you are wonderful. You gotta believe it though, baby. Doesn’t matter how many times I tell you that if you don’t believe it.”

He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her. “I don’t want you to regret what happens here… between us. I don’t want you to get back to LA, have a bad run-in with the paparazzi and hate me because we fucked when you were vulnerable and I was technically your boss in a weird way and you felt pressured o-”

“I know. I understand. That’s fine. I can wait but you should know that I don’t feel pressured and I don’t feel like there’s a power imbalance or some weird mojo or something. I feel like we’re friends-”

“We are friends… more’n friends, really. I adore you.”

She smiled and Harry felt like the sun was coming out at midnight. She pressed a soft kiss to his nose and cuddled him closer. “I adore you too. I don’t want you angsting over where we stand or feeling like you’re taking advantage of me, ‘cause you’re not, okay? You’re not.”

He nodded and quieted, admiring her bone structure and the tan she had developed in the past month. The sun had added color to her skin but stripped it from her hair, lightening her eyebrows in a way that made her look ethereal and even more angelic than she had previously.

“Yeh’re so beautiful, darling.”

She shied away a bit, but her grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeh are, yeah?”

She smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

**

He stepped out of the SUV and straightened his silk button-up before handing Jamie out of the car, making sure she was steady in her sky-high sequined Louboutins before dropping her hand and wrapping an arm around her waist, hand landing squarely on her ass.

Normally he’d be keen to keep his hands in appropriate places but he frankly didn’t care tonight. She had been driving him crazy all day, wearing little more than his shirt and a pair of knickers for most of the day as she worked on new music for her band.

Or when she’d been getting ready for their night out, sitting at her vanity in a strapless bra (which did little to contain the loveliness of his girlfriend’s cleavage) and a frankly none-existent scrap of lace (“no panty lines, baby”) as she applied what little make-up she normally wore.

Or when she had turned her back to him, requesting help with the zip or allowed him to help buckle aforementioned sky-high Louboutins that arched her foot in the most delectable way-

“You seem tense, Baby.”

He grunted and swatted lightly at her bum before smoothing his thumb over the buttery, navy suede of her Alice + Olivia dress. “Behave yourself or we won’t make it long at this party.”

She grinned, deep crimson lips wicked. “Yes, Daddy.”

He paused and sighed, before pretending to turn them back towards that car.

“Haz!” She laughed.

“I’m serious, love. Behave.” He started back toward the door to the Viper Room.

She pouted up at him and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “You’re no fun.”

He stopped again and leaned down to speak directly in her ear, not caring in the slightest that this would be plastered all over every tabloid tomorrow- Let them see what she does to me, they’d never question this relationship again. “I have been patient all day, even though yeh know damn well that yeh were doin’ more teasin’ than workin’ today. Test me, love, and I’ll have yeh bent over in a bathroom stall before we can say hello t’anyone.”

Her breath caught in her throat and she swallowed. “Sounds like more fun than this party if ya ask me.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“But it’s so much fun.” She batted her eyelashes up at him. “Besides… you’re already being bad, why not have even more fun?” She ran her thumb over a wing of the butterfly on his stomach. “They’ve already got an eyeful, yeah? Already broke the internet most likely… It can’t hurt.”

He grinned, leaning forward to press his forehead to hers. “Yer beautiful an’ sexy an’ so very, very mine an’ I love yeh.”

“Right back atcha, stud.”

**

“I don’t know what to wear…” She shifted through her clothes, lip caught between her teeth. Pulling a dress off the rail, she turned toward him. “Is this elopement appropriate?”

He shook his head and came to stand behind her, joining in the search. “Too fancy, they’ll know something is up.”

She sighed and nodded. “Right.”

He grabbed a white chiffon tank dress from the rail and smiled. “This’ll do nicely.”

“Baby, I know we live in LA, but it’s March and it’s still pretty chilly.”

“Right.” He tugged at his lip. “You can wear leggings?”

“Not with chiffon.” She cast an aimless look around the closet.

He shrugged. “It’s not that chilly, wear hose and then you can put something on over it.”

“That’ll work.” She grabbed the hanger from him and marched back into the bedroom. Quickly she took off his ‘Styles’ shirt and laid it on the bed before digging a strapless bra and nude hose out of her underwear drawer.

When she was dressed, she considered herself in the mirror and pulled him over to her side. Satisfied that they ‘went’, she nodded and moved to put on makeup. “What am I wearing over this… jean jacket?”

He shook his head and grabbed his shirt from where she had abandoned it on the bed. “Wear this.”

She turned to him and sucked in a breath. “Ya think?”

He grinned. “It’s gonna be as true for you as it is for me soon, future wife.”

She blinked away tears and smiled. “Shit! We’re getting married.”

“Yeah we are.” He leaned over to kiss her and dropped the shirt in her lap. “Hurry up, Monster. Through waitin’ for ye t’wear me name. Let’s go.”

She took a deep breath and smiled brilliantly and Harry was floored by just how beautiful his future wife was.

As he hoped he would be when she was his wife and the mother of his children.

As he hoped he always would be.

**

“’ello, yuuchube…” Mickie grinned at the camera, dimples on full display. “That’s how my dad says it… anyways, I have a treat for you today!” The camera panned as he turned it, losing focus for a short moment and then focused in on Harry sitting on the couch, the sound of piano scales being played in the background.

“Mum is teaching Georgie how to play the piano and Dad has been staring at her- probably without blinking! -for like… an hour.”

Video-Harry had his chin propped up on his fist, a notebook of presumably lyrics left open and forgotten in his lap. The smile on his face was soft as he stared just off camera.

“Hey, Baby?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Will you come teach this scale? My hands are too small.”

He grinned and stood, strolling rather leisurely to the piano that came into focus as Mickie followed at a distance. “Of course, anything for my gorgeous wife and my stupendous son.”

Video-Jamie squinted up at Video-Harry as he reached the bench. “Are you buttering me up for a particular reason or just cause?”

“Just ‘cause I love yeh.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek and motioned for her to stand. He slipped onto the bench and patted his thigh, smiling up at Jamie. She settled in his lap with an indulgent smile, brushing hair off his forehead as Harry cuddled Georgie against his side with his other arm. “Okay, Georgie, this is how it goes.”

The camera turned back to Mickie who smiled. “Like… I know that I’m supposed to be grossed out or somethin’... but like that’s how they always are and I’m glad that my dad loves my mum like that.”

“Mickie… baby, what’re you doing?”

“Oops…” He grinned sheepishly and turned the camera back at his parents and younger brother, who had all turned away from the piano. “I’m filmin’, Mum!”

Jaime chuckled, confused. “Filmin’ what?”

The camera jostled, almost like a shrug, as he walked to his parents. “You and Dad…”

“Why?”

Video-Jamie held out a hand for his and Mickie’s hand appeared in frame. “Just… dunno… like the way you and Dad are. Wanted people to see it.”

Harry smiled like he knew where this was going. “How do yeh mean, son?”

“Ya know… like in love and crap. It’s nice.” There was a long pause. “Not everyone’s parents are like that, but I like that you are.”

Jamie turned away from the camera for second to wipe at her eyes.

“Mumma… didn’t mean to make ya cry.” The camera dropped a bit.

“It’s okay, baby. That’s very sweet.”

Georgie nodded. “I like it too.”

Harry grinned and cuddled him closer. “Yeah?”

“‘Cause Mumma’s the prettiest and why wouldn’t you love her, right, Daddy?”

“Exactly, m’boy. Yer mum is the prettiest woman I’ve ever met… and the kindest and the smartest-”

“And the best mum!”

Harry turned back to Mickie and gathered him into a family hug. “That’s right.”

Jamie wiped at her eyes again. “Y’all…”

A Relationship

[spxderman-s]

chemistry

requested: by anon

summary: While doing a screen test after auditioning to be Gwen Stacy in the upcoming Spider-Man film, you find out that you and the incredibly suave Tom Holland have more chemistry than you expected.

pairings: tom holland x reader 

word count: 2.1k

warnings:  some swearz, as usual lmfao 

a/n: okay @ the anon who sent this in, i know i tweaked it a teeny bit, i hope that’s okay!! xx

“This is [Y/N],” you answered cheerfully into your phone.

“Hey kid,” you recognized your agent’s voice. “Marvel wants you to come in and do a screen test for Gwen Stacy tomorrow.”

Your jaw dropped, and you managed to stutter out a few words. “I--they--did I get the part?”

“No, this means they’re thinking about giving you the part,” he corrected you, but that didn’t diminish your excitement. “They want you to run a few lines with Tom Holland, see how you do in front of the camera with him.”

“Do you think I’m ready for that?” you asked, nibbling at your thumb. “I mean, this is my first big break.”

“The only way you’ll find out is if you go,” he quipped, and you could hear the annoyance lacing his words. “You in or out?”

“In,” you replied firmly. “Definitely in.”

“Ma, stop fiddling with it, you’ll mess it up!” you chided your mother as she once again tried to adjust the platinum blonde wig you were wearing.

She raised her hands up in defense, and stepped away. “I’m just saying, it’s crooked.”

“If it’s crooked, costume and makeup will fix it.”

“Kid!” your agent called from across the studio, his hand gesturing for you to come to him. “C’mere.”

You took a deep breath and walked towards him, suddenly aware at how sweaty your palms were becoming. Why were you nervous? You had done this audition a thousand times already.

Coming to a stop beside your agent, he clapped a hand to your shoulder and grinned. “This is my rising star,” he spoke to the two men standing by him--both you recognized.

The older man stuck out his hand for you and began with, “I’m the director of the film, Jon--”

“--Watts,” you finished for him almost breathlessly. “I’m a huge fan.”

“Well,” Watts smiled warmly. “It’s always nice to be admired. This is, of course, Mr. Holland himself--”

“I think I’m capable of introducing myself, mate,” Tom joked, laughter in his voice. He stuck out his hand to you, and you prayed that he wouldn’t notice your sweaty palms. “Pleasure to meet you, love.”

“Likewise,” you murmured. “I’m [Y/N].”

“Alright,” Watts, rubbing his hands together. “It’s a quick scene, let’s get right to it. Did you read the bit of script I sent?”

You nodded, swallowing nervously. “All memorized.”

“I like you,” he declared with a grin. He gestured for you and Tom to move to the staged scene, a scene where Peter Parker shows Gwen he’s Spider-Man. It was supposed to be a very emotional scene, you had noted as you read the script over the last week.

The two of you found your marks, the sound coordinator and cameramen found their positions, and you heard Watts’ voice call out: “Action!”

“There’s something that I need to tell you,” Tom spoke, as Peter. The muscle in his jaw flickered as he turned away from you dramatically, the emotion breaking through his voice. “But….that means putting you at risk.”

You followed the script and moved forward two steps to your second mark, a hand going out to rest on his shoulder. “Peter--whatever it is,” you paused for striking effect, purposely making your voice crack, “you can tell me, I don’t care what happens.”

“You don’t get it!” Tom roared, turning to face you suddenly, right on time. The anger in his face was so raw, you were struck for a moment, nearly forgetting your next line.

“What don’t I get?” you carefully weaved your words, keeping them level and soft. “Peter, please….please tell me.” With each syllable, you inched closer to him, feeling the rage radiate off of him. The two of you were so close, so….

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Tom turned away from you again, the sharpness of his voice sending shivers down your spine, and you actually felt real sorrow. You didn’t want him angry, you didn’t want him turning away from you.

It wasn’t until you heard Watts’ voice ring out, “Cut!” that you noticed a tear had slipped from your eye and slid down your cheek. Shit! That wasn’t in the script!

“[Y/N]!” he shouted, and you wanted to cry again. You messed the whole take up with your “improvised” tears. “That was absolutely breathtaking!”

“I--what?” you furrowed your brow, fingers rising to wipe the tears away. “I did a good job?”

“Darling, you did incredible!” Tom remarked, impressed.

You exhaled a sigh of relief as your heart rate slowed down. “I was so afraid I botched the whole scene.”

Watts joined the two of you and placed a hand on your shoulder. “That was very impressive for your first run—we encourage improvisation, it makes the scene feel more natural. Just don’t stray too far from the script; it irritates the writers.”

You saw your mother standing with your agent behind the cameraman, both of them grinning and waving excitedly. “My mom certainly thinks I did a good job.”

“It’s very sweet that she’s here to support you,” Tom commented, still smiling at you.

“Now, [Y/N],” Watts said, his tone serious. He looked at you in your eyes. “I speak for everyone here when I say that you are the Gwen Stacy we’ve been looking for—you embody the character perfectly. Would you like the position?”

“Yes!”

Time had certainly passed quickly after you were officially cast as Gwen Stacy, and production was well underway. You had been filming for almost seven months now, slowly falling into a rhythm: wake up, go to work, go home, go to sleep. You were absolutely exhausted as you trudged up into your trailer early one morning, silently praying that Mary had gotten you a cup of coffee.

“Good morning!” your assistant’s cheerful voice rang out as you entered the tiny room, pulling the door closed and sliding into the chair in front of the mirror.

“Morning,” you yawned, rubbing your eyes. “I don’t even want to know what time it is.”

“It’s five forty-seven,” she answered, pushing a styrofoam cup towards you as she began scribbling things down on her clipboard. “Hair and makeup should be here soon, you should be starting takes in about an hour.”

“Sounds good,” you mindlessly agreed. “Thank you for the coffee.”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Mary smiled. “Are you ready for today’s scenes?”

You inwardly groaned. “God, I don’t know--how do actors do it?”

She sympathetically patted your shoulder. “You’re an actor, darling--how should you do it?”

“How does someone kiss somebody like Tom Holland?” you complained, covering your face with your hands. “He’s so--so perfect, I’m terrified of screwing this up.”

“You’ve kissed people before, haven’t you?” she asked, her face contorted in confusion. “Don’t tell me he’d be your first.”

“I’ve kissed people,” you growled, taking a sip of coffee. “But nobody like him.”

“Alright kids,” Watts called out over the set. “Let’s take it from the top--nice and fluid. Action!”

“Peter,” your voice wavered with emotion as you stepped to your mark, hands outstretched to Tom, who was hanging upside down in front of you by a wire. He was dressed in the Spiderman suit, the red a stark contrast against the blue. The movie was trying to pay homage to the original movie, with the upside-down kiss between Tobey MaGuire and Kirsten Dunst. “Peter, is that you?”

Tom said nothing, as was scripted. You moved to your second mark, just inches away from his masked face hanging in perfect parallel to yours. Your hands lifted and you curled your fingers beneath the edge of his mask, tugging the material slowly to expose his mouth. Your heart lept into your throat as you studied his parted lips, feeling his warm breath on your skin. Splaying your hands over his cheeks, you closed your eyes and very gently placed your screen kiss upon those lips.

And for a moment, there was nothing. The set was silent as you continued the kiss, keeping your eyes closed. There was no emotion, nothing pulling you towards or away from anything. Until….

You felt Tom’s tongue prod your own lips open with such gentleness that your knees nearly collapsed on the stage. Your fingers gripped his cheeks a little more firmly as you returned that kiss--a kiss that was casting fireworks with a blindingly bright light behind your eyes, leaving an alluringly soft afterglow resting on your cheeks as you pulled away.

“Cut!” you heard Watts shout.

You took a giant step back from Tom, feeling the heat creep into your face as the wire he was hooked to gave him some slack to swing right-side-up. He pulled the mask off entirely, a wicked grin on his handsome features. The wire slowly let him down, and he unhooked himself.

“That was some kiss,” he whispered to you. 

“Alright, Tom--go get out of the suit and see makeup,” Watts ordered as he walked up to the two of you. “[Y/N], I can’t begin to tell you how amazing you’re doing. Seriously, you’re killing it.”

“You have no idea how much that means,” you smiled sheepishly. “That last take was all good?”

“Better than we imagined,” he assured you. “The chemistry between Peter and Gwen feels very real.”

“You can go ahead and go home for the weekend,” you said to Mary, who was buried underneath a mountain of paperwork. “Jon said that we all deserve a break.”

“You’ll be alright by yourself?” she asked, picking up her purse.

“Yeah, I’m gonna call an Uber soon.”

“Alright, sweet pea. Have a good weekend,” she waved goodbye, and disappeared out of the trailer.

That left you sitting at the tiny kitchen table alone, flipping through a magazine. The little speaker resting on the counter softly played a slow, alternative tune as you picked up your phone to order a ride home. But before you could open the app, the door to your trailer opened again.

“What did you forget?” you playfully called out, thinking it was Mary coming back for something.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever been in here to forget something,” a familiar voice replied. Tom’s head appeared as he entered up the little steps, grinning at you. His eyes danced over the interior of the trailer quickly, and he pulled the door shut. “It’s cute.”

“Thanks,” you managed to say, as the butterflies in your chest exploded. “Uh--what are you doing in here?”

He took a seat beside you, casually leaning back. “I figured we should hang out.”

“Why?”

“We’re co-stars,” he teased. “Did it ever occur to you that we might benefit from spending some time together?”

“True,” you replied, closing the magazine. “What--what do you want to do?”

“We could go over lines,” he suggested.

He seems nervous, you thought to yourself. Was he having trouble memorizing them? “Sure--are you having problems?”

“Kinda,” he fiddled with the corner of the table. “I think we need to go over today’s take.”

You frowned at him. “But we already wrapped--what was wrong with it?”

“There was nothing wrong with it at all,” he said, confusing you even more. “In fact, it was the best scene I had ever done with someone.”

“Then why--,” you started, but before you could finish your sentence, Tom was kissing you--and then you understood. 

He was tentative at first, gauging your reaction. As soon as you relaxed against him, his tongue searched for yours in a passionate frenzy. Tom’s hands found themselves at your waist, his lips feeling utterly soft against your own, your fingers entwining in his curls. He pulled you closer towards him so you were straddling his lap, his hands gripping and squeezing you--sending bolt of electricity and excitement up and down your spine.

In a collective gasp for breath, your lips broke apart from his and you both panted in unison. He rested his forehead against yours, his hands still on your waist.

“Do you do this with all of your co-stars?” you murmured, moving to place kisses along his sharp jawline and down his neck.

Tom suppressed a groan that excited you in ways you never imagined. “Not until now,” he growled, feeling his fingernails dig into your skin. “You’re driving me up the wall, darling.”

You smiled against his neck, and softly nipped his ear--earning another moan from him. “Good--you don’t have plans tonight, do you?”

“Now I do,” he spoke, his words low and guttural in his throat as he picked you up effortlessly, moving over to the couch where the two of you fell together in a web of passion, lust, and infatuation.

tagging: @tronnoristheotp @nedthegay @i-saved-me @theweirdowithablogo @skymoonandstardust @timemngmtoptimisationproblems @thumper-darling @holywinchesterness @grabyourpolaroidandmyhand @ketterdame @tonight-couldbeforgettable @dimplesandcutesmiles @terrashrone @leorai-lemony-lewa @yoinkpeter @spider-boo-5 @elizzabeth21 @multi-parker @rvrdxle @gaiasambuci @bisexualmomfriend @1022bridgetp @erule @tommysdarlin @penguinlover-7 @dangerousluv1 @stephie-senpai @emmaamalie @fairydustparker 

[jaylos]

i hated descendants 2 and here's why

a collection of reasons why i am utterly disappointed in this sequel.

warnings: there will be swearing and negative commentary about these ships: Mal/Ben, Evie/Doug, Carlos/Jane. (so basically all the canon pairings lmao)

buckle up this is gonna be long and salty. (also spoilers, duh) (and i take artistic liberty in the capitalization of words and i like to be dramatic)

also check out other rant posts i made bc they kinda tie in with all of this (reading not required in order to understand it tho): magic ban Rise of the Isle of the Lost my thoughts during my first time watching it Bal

1. Characters

Ok i need to go back to d1 for a second: they already did a bad job on introducing the characters to us there. For exapmle: Carlos and technology. He does that thing where he locates the museum or when he turns off the alarm, but without the first book (the isle of the lost) the fact that he is supposedly a tech genius would've flown over everyone's heads. And this is the problem: the movie(s) rely on spin-off media (the books, wicked world) to explain the characters to us. A movie shouldn't have to do that in the first place, but what makes it worse is that the books and the webseries are inconsistent like no tomorrow and also contradict each other on several occasions. Now that wouldn't be so bad if the movies were enough to solidify the characters, but they're not. They also try to patch up plot holes in the books so they don't have to deal with it in the movies. But someone who hasn't read them might wonder how the pirate crew got their ship, and they're offered no explanation in the movie whatsoever. (i'm pretty sure this could've been avoided with a few tweaks to the script tho??)

What I think happened here is that they simply had too many characters and so basically all of them fell flat because they didn't have time to explore them properly. And what did they do in d2? they dragged that problem with them, introduced more characters who's arcs they could half-ass and got rid of what little personality the original characters had.

We don't actually know shit about them. What are their hobbies? What are their interpersonal dynamics like? What are their struggles in Auradon after a life of abuse and neglect? (i'm convinced that that last one can absolutely be dealt with in a child-friendly manner, but instead they brushed it off almost completely. I say almost because we got a few tidbits here and there but those were about as deep as a puddle on a sidewalk)

1.a. Jay

Why is he depicted as a main character when he has less lines & relevance to the plot than Jane?  Even the gotdam dog had some purpose. wouldn't change a thing if Jay wasn't there at all.

l i s ten i love Jay for the character that i made him out to be in my head and through some of the things the fandom has contributed but in canon he is redundant as all fuck.

Also i'm not gonna go into the outfits in this rant bc that's too subjective and is not what contributed to d2 being a bad movie but let's just say i found most of his looks kind of.. off-putting. why they didn't take advantage of Booboo Stewart's beauty is a mystery to me. Especially since his looks are supposed to be Jay's strong suit.

2.b. Chad

He was a completely different character. Not only did his personality shift from deceitful to moronic but his morals changed?? like in d1 he didn't actually play by the rules - he let other people do his homework, and he didn't tell on Evie because he found her cheating wrong but because he wanted payback.

And in d2 he suddenly cares about rules word for word because the writers and the (young) audience already hate him so he can be sexist too i guess. Instead of making him a meaningful threedimensional character that offers a different perspective as the child of a disney hero he was turned into the comic relief and the overdone trope of the jock that lost his status and is now laughed at. Groundbreaking. you hate him i get it i g e t i t. (also stay tuned for the sexism part i'm not done with that)

1.c. Carlos

to get super subjective again: i absolutely hate the direction they went in with his character. why not make him even more nerdy now that he has the freedom to do so? the only thing that referenced his tech stuff was that he supposedly improved their 3D printer. wow. his new hairstyle, the golden headphones etc. were things that don't fit into the impression i got from the first movie and/or the books at all. they didn't even show him tinkering with some device or whatever? how tf am i supposed to believe that he's a techie???

Also in Rise of the Isle of the Lost he is anti-magic for some goshdang reason, but in d2 he asks Mal to help him with magic, which is one of those inconsistencies i was talking about.

1.d. Evie

here's what i would have done with her instead: make 4 Hearts less relevant (do show her sewing and talking about commissions) and let her care for the remaining isle kids from the very beginning. her introduction in d2 could've been her talking about wanting to bring them over, but having difficutly to make it happen (maybe the royal council pushes back or whatever).

instead she spends 6(?) months doing jackshit about the isle kids and only remembers it like halfway through the movie.

1.e. Ben

he just pisses me off. not only is he dismissive and ignorant of Mal's struggles and blames her for when she fails to be perfect, but he is also incompetent as a king, at least when it comes to the Isle. Why the fuck did it take him so long to bring more isle kids over? and why does he need to hear it from Evie first? it was his idea in the first place but then he completely forgets about it for some reason even though he is literally dating a vk. "i guess i've just been busy" with what? being a fuckboy? (also sidenote: there it is again with the "tell don't show" that i've already talked about in the rant about Rise linked above. it's one of the biggest problems i have with the storytelling across all installations in this franchise. Ben is not shown being busy one single time. We're just supposed to believe it because they said so.)

(another sidenote: why the fuck does he have those beast traits, by which i mean all that redundant roaring like i get they want to reference beauty and the beast but do the writers realize that his father was cursed he does not actually have those furry genes)

1.f. Jane

? per s onalit y ?¿?? literally who is she

There's not much to say about the others (some i will cover later when i talk about relationships). Do you know that thing when a character's potential is wasted? In descendants this happens with every last one of them. They're like those cakes that are just for show: they look amazing and tasty but when you take a bite it's cardboard.

2. Plot

pretty basic for the most part, but i personally found the suspense curve really weird. it has two climaxes (? what is plural): 1. the sword fight and 2. at the cotillion. Also i hated that it took place over the course of like 2 days, but that might just be my personal taste. There are some plot holes of varying degrees of annoying. For one, Maleficent probably starved to death in that box because Mal and the writers forgot about her. And her moped is gone, it left, like i should have as well, good-fucking-bye.

Then there's the fact that Mal didn't go back with them because she learned some kind of lesson or grew as a peson or whatever but because she didn't have a choice and they never talked about her initial struggles except "my hair and dress are purple again so it's fine". i mean yeah she said her piece about not fitting in or whatever but we don't actually see it working out after all that trouble?How did the dynamic in their relationship change? who knows.

Then there's the fact that Uma is somewhere in the ocean, she's a giant monster and 100% capable of using magic but no one gives a shit??? at this point i'm willing to bet that in the next isle book it will be explained what happened to her so it doesn't have to be dealt with in descendants 3 and i will scream.

By the way i didn't understand what it was that Ben said that convinced her to retreat, his speech was so lame.

Also the octopus/dragon "fight" was ridiculous. they didn't do shit? Uma was just wiggling around and Mal was floating, which looked stupid because she made flying/gliding motions but stayed in the same spot.

And one thing that really annoyed me is how they only made 5 smoke bombs and then also needed exactly 5. b better prepared u idiots. that whole thing was so weird anyway bc the point was to avoid a fight but it didn't work. maybe it would've worked if they had made more than 5 who knows. and the plan to make them in the first place came completely out of the blue. (-plan? -smoke bombs -k)

Also why did Uma expect the wand to work under the barrier? The only explanation I can think of is that it's because the wand was what created the barrier (although the whole thing about the Isle is that magic Does Not Work and we should have been given an explanation as to why the wand is an exception) but 1. How would Uma know that and 2. If it had been the real wand they could've used it to knock the pirates out or whatever and Uma should've expected that. This whole trade-off thing was sketchy and holey as fuck.

You know what was one of the best things about d1? The parents. I mean this was probably a budget issue but the parents were arguably one of, if not the, most entertaining aspects. and boy could it have been interesting to see the confontation between them and their kids...

The isle was really weird and underwhelming btw. i saw people say it was great bc we got to see more of the isle but did we really? it was just a bunch of disjointed locations and we still have no idea how anything is located in relation to one another, how big it is, or how and how many people actually live there. And why did no one there give a shit that the rotten four were back? most of all Mal, whom the people hated the most for betraying them and becoming a princess. Also why did Mal not go back to her old home instead of this building that was a.. warehouse? their gang hangout?? that came out of nowhere??? correct me if i'm wrong but do they say something along the lines of  "we used to hang out here" even once? why was there a bed in there

And hey remember tourney? It's not even like roar was necessary so that they'd have swords? Also it could have been mentioned like "now that tourney season's over we're focusing on roar" but no?? Let's just forget about it like the writers did.

3. Music

not really much to say, except that they used way too much autotune but i guess overall it's an improvement compared to the first movie but it's whatever. the only thing that confused me about what's my name was that in the movie (as opposed to the music video on youtube etc) there was this weird echo that made it sound like it was playing in another tab with a slight lag??

and another thing that stuck out to me was it's going down: the rap parts were already hella uncomfortable to watch but when ben started singing i just about died of secondhand embarrassment it's so bad lmao.

4. The Thing With Lonnie

Don't get me wrong, i love that she got a bigger part and that she's a good swordfighter and whatnot.

BUT:

First of all, why is it even a thing that the roar rule book has gendered language like that? i mean aren't there countless women in auradon who have proven over and over again that they're just as capable as man? why does Lonnie need to prove anything. especially since her mother is mulan of all people???

listen, the exploitation of gendered language has brought forth some great moments (eg: lotr "i am no man") but it's getting old. Girls and women have proven countless times that they can do "anything a boy can". how many times more does it have to happen until we can take the next step?

And it wasn't even handled well in d2. Sure, Lonnie's captain now, but do we really have to wait until d3 (or god forbid the next book in the isle series where the movie can lean back and let the book do all the storytelling work) for something to actually change in a system that is still misogynistic for whatever goddamn reason??

for this sideplot not to fail miserably like it did, what should have happened is that Lonnie changes the rules so that anyone can join the team, because as we were left it was still "captain and 8 men". we did not see the actual change happening and this was a half-assed attempt at this tired old "girl power" shit.

in this kind of storyline we only ever see the first step, we never see the actual progress that follows. it's always just "huh, i guess girls aren't useless after all" it's 2017 get with the program and move the fuck on.

OR just drop this overdone trope and have a team consisting of different genders from the very beginning.

It's time to tell girls that they don't need to prove themselves in order to be respected.

5. Relationships jesus christ here we go

okay okay there is a number of things that get my blood b o i l i n g and one of them is lazy fictional heterosexual romances and boy oh boy is this movie a fucking gold mine in that regard.

5.a. let's take a look at janelos first (don't worry i will talk shit about bal and devie individually as well): it's boring, shallow, if it was a spice it would be flour. look, if you ship it, by all means be my fucking guest. i even encourage you to write fanfiction or do something to make something out of this bland ass mess of a supposed romantic relationship.

it's a perfect example of what is wrong with this kind of fictional romance. first of all i will disregard the books bc 1. the movies shouldn't need the books for that, yadda yadda and 2. they don't do much to save it anyway. so. it's the easy route, the tried and true formular, and that's the problem. he was a boy, she was a girl, and that's enough to make their interest in each other believable, right? the answer is no. it's lazily written and i am tired™. why, how, when did they fall in love? are they even friends? what do they have in common? what activities do they enjoy together? those are all things we don't know, this relationship comes out of nowhere. how did they go from not even so much as look at each other in the first movie to being head over heels for each other? and not to mention, was it worth sacrificing their personalities for? you guessed it the answer is no yet again. Neither Carlos nor Jane receive any character development whatsoever. None. They could have done so much with them (if you hear a strange sound it's me weeping).

And it is replaceable. Change their names and it won't make the slightest bit of difference, because this relationship does not have one single distinguishable trait (in fact it has no traits period) compared to the 87632947 others out there. it is so. generic. and frankly i don't understand how people can settle for it. i mean i get how people can just watch the movie and not care bc why would they, but how does someone look at this and go "yes, this is a well-written romance" ????? ? ? up your standards people.

and now some predictions that came (somewhat) true from that Heterosexual Romantic Subplot Bullshit Bingo i wanted to make for d2 but never finished:

- by the end their relationship won’t have developed like at all, but they dance together to show us that they’ve come sUcH a LoNg waY

- one wants to ask the other out/they both want to ask each other out, but they’re too shy and also the plot keeps interrupting them.

- it will take away screentime they could have used to give them actual character development.

- jane won't receive an arc besides being and obligatory love interest.

- carlos tries talking to her but he stammers and it’s supposed to be cute.

5.b. Devie

Like i get that Doug is jealous bc of his own insecurities but what is hip with the kids in the year of our lord 2k17 is mutual trust and communication. To think that Evie would cheat on him is such an insult tbh?? And why did Evie not tell him where she was going in the first place? i mean granted i could think of a few reasons why she wouldn't but we don't even see her give a shit bc Doug is irrelevant in her quest to go and sing a duet with the person she'd rather be dating. She probably just forgot about Doug like I, the viewer, did the second he left the screen.

Also it's just the same bs again. We don't know shit about their relationship. What is it like? What do they enjoy doing together? What is their dynamic? Doug could literally be a pair of Pradas and it wouldn't make a difference.

But for real tho can we go back on how he accuses her of cheating?? like wow dude that's so gross  pls don't present that to young viewers as cute because i assure you it is not.

5.c. Bal (h e r e w e g o)

Ben is such a bad boyfriend omg. I mean i get that he couldn't possibly understand what Mal is going through, but he isn't even trying. She changes everything about herself and he doesn't get suspicious in the least. And apparently they don't talk about anything that matters because 1. Mal can't be honest with him (she dragged all that shit around with her for ~6 months!!!) and 2. he would know more about the isle (but he has no clue).

out of all the relationships in this movie this is the one they should've put some effort into. i mean they succeeded in making Ben look like a dick but that wasn't their intention so i just ended up feeling sorry for Mal for being stuck with him bc it's ~true love~ .

Mal to Ben: "you've always known who we were" he didn't tho?? just bc he gave her a purple dress in that stained glass picture? he could've just told her that instead of letting her suffer for months bc she thought he'd leave her if she was more like herself. and that's the resolution, Mal shouldn't have been worried oh how silly of her! i guess everything is fine after all!

but you know actually their love for each other is totally believable bc they had an emotional and heart-wrenching duet together - oh wait.

A big reason why Sofia Carson and Dove Cameron got a duet is probably because they're professional singers and Mitchell Hope apparently can't get out a single correct note without 10 layers of autotune but when the story is about true love saving the day shouldn't that aspect get a little more attention? i mean don't get me wrong i like that the duet between mal and evie is there at all (but hey @disney make it gay you cowards) bc the friendships between the characters and especially the vk's don't get nearly as much attention as they should.

not to go on a tangent about how hand-holding and forehead-touching can totally be platonic but put next to Ben and Mal who Do Not Do That it makes their romantic relationship even less exciting. like, i don't know why i should care about it.

also while typing this i realized that it's not really that different from other movies and i thought hey, maybe i'm being too hard on it, but then i remembered that 99% of all canon heterosexual romantic relationships are bland and boring and i need writers to try harder (or try at all) because i am bored to death by the same shit over and over again.

i know i'm wasting way too much energy on this but i was already too invested in descendants so might as well go all the way amirite. i just had to get it all off my chest. if you need me to elaborate on anything feel free to message me.

and the first movie wasn't all that good btw, it is trashy in a way that was enjoyable, but the second one is just trash.

so yeah all in all that script was just straight up a pile of garbage consisting of washed-out tropes and no amount of bright colors or catchy songs can save it.

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine: The Funnies

 Spoilers, obv.

 I suspect this will lean a little shorter than usual, partially because it’s more an editorial, sitting back position than any other issue of WicDiv and partially as DIE is out tomorrow, and there’s a lot of plates I’m keeping spinning.

 But let’s see, eh?

 Last year, when we did the Christmas Special, doing a comedy special was the other option. We decided to keep that in the can, simply because I was trying to visualise what on earth it would be like. Would I ask people to write stuff? Would I write it all? Could I somehow get The Wicked + the Canine to fill the whole issue? We went for Jamie’s idea (which required less conceptual engineering, so was easy, despite being more actual writing work) and saved this for the end.

 Which is nice. End of school party, right?

Jamie/Matt’s Cover: Jamie and I have a piece of performance twitter, where I make puns and he pretends to hate them. Okay, that’s not true at all. He hates them, as is only right, as they are designed to be hated. When we have Skype calls, and Chrissy and I sit beside each other, when I drop a pun, Chrissy makes a face which… well, Jamie’s wants to grab it as a gif. It’s quite the thing.

 Anyway – a variety of responses to puns. The pun is, I suspect, the best one I’ve dropped on twitter. One day I’ll write an essay on What I Do With Puns. But not today. It didn’t get a ludicrous number of retweets when I dropped it (and deleted my whole stream, as I do sporadically – don’t worry, I store everything before I do). It had an afterlife though being reblogged on tumblr (I think last time it was about 130k interactions), used in big websites’ pun round-ups, put on T-shirts and straight up stolen and tweeted by other people.

 So let’s stick it on a cover, and show the variety of responses to it. Of course, Baph would like it.

 I really like what Matt did with the colours here as well.

 Margaux Saltel’s cover: Margaux is great. I got to know her distantly when C was editing superfreaks, and actually got a chance to hang properly at this year’s thought bubble. She’s got a real playfulness to her art, which this fascinating design sense. Adorable big dog staring at the reader was the first thing I thought of when planning this issue, really.

IFC

Intro page to explain what’s going on, with pop-comic design by Sergio, headlines courtesy of C. If you haven’t read it, give it a scan, because I big up all our collaborators.

How did we decide how to ask? Far too many options. Our comic friends are very funny. We tended to ask people as it occurred to us, see how many pages they wanted to do, and then work out how many pages we had left

The Wicked + the Canine

I lured Erica into this by basically promising her to draw six pages of as many dogs as she liked. Write for your artist.

The pun was basically to amuse Chrissy, and grew into a story. I thought it could be longer (and it could have) but realised it’s best to cut it short – the backbone of Ananke as trainer, and the dogs as untrainable pups, is basically the core of it. Plus the big kick in seeing everyone done in dog form.

I threw some ideas into the mix of how the dogs could be differentiated (For example, Sakhmet as a cat and Woden as clearly-not-a-puppy in a cone of shame) but really left it to Erica to draw whatever dogs she liked. I actually suggested they all be Labradors, but Erica wanted to stretch and play, and it’s all wonderful.  The worry is in terms of race-coding the dogs, which is something we avoided.

I think my favourite is Baphopup.

The white-background and “get in the sack” is a wonderful bit of cartooning. How the lack of background stresses it all.

That it was basically done to make C laugh means that it’s part of a history of my dog based comics, which also includes the Christmas issue of Journey Into Mystery, where Loki has to give away seven hell-hounds. I think Thori is the character I co-created for the Marvel Universe who has had the longest life in terms of being used by other people. Adorable sweary murderous puppies can’t go wrong.

I’m pleased that people seemed to like it. That it’s a six page story where the joke is “Evil old lady doesn’t throw trusting pups in the river” is not exactly family comedy special material. I suspect if you’ve stuck along with WicDiv this far, you know what we’re like.

This is also a story which implicitly spoils the book, in terms of Ananke being a shameless manipulator of the pups. A lot of the stories are similar, which means this is a comic designed for relief of those who came along for all the issues.

The Wicker + the Divine Lizz Lunney is one of my favourite British cartoonists, and whole fierce scowl has petrified me for the decade or so I’ve known her. Lunney hadn’t read much of WicDiv before, so we lobbed her the PDFs, and found something fun to mock in terms of how ludicrously call-back-y we are.

Go support her stuff. She’s great.

The Lost God

Chip’s just a phenomenon, and his rising career across the last decade has been basically the most delightful surprise in the period. Immediately I have to swallow the urge to do the usual “Because he’s rubbish” chip-baiting joke, which says a lot. Chip is so much fun. That he’s both one of Marvel’s biggest, most interesting writers now and half of one of the most popular and definitive indie comics of the period is something else. Like, he’d be a legend if only for his internet jokes. That’s a footnote now. Amazing.

Anyway – we meet the first Kieron and Jamie version. Chip’s one is delightful – the over-tortured pun is on the money, but the real joy is Jamie McKelvie’s Hellboy-esque hyper-developed single arm. Every time I look at that, I laugh. Plus the accent. Marvelous.

“Wossat?! Time paste this nob, innit?” is just poetry.

Gentle Annie Vs The World

Talking about poetry…

Chrissy is WicDiv’s editor and also a poet, and has done some indie comics before – as well as co-editing the anthology Over The Line, which is an introduction to Poetry Comics. This isn’t that. This is her just channelling her loathing of Gentle Annie’s obfuscatory nonsense, and I love it so.

Clayton and Dee step in on the art duties. It was Clayton’s idea to drop in the Scott Pilgrim parody Annie at the top, which is very cute, and implicitly shows the modes he can work on. The realism of each scene, and the sense of place is great. Also, the Banshees poster in the doctor’s office is hilarious.

Making A Difference

This is fun. Romesh is a proper famous comedian, and digs WicDiv, so thought it’d be fun to write for the medium. As his script was coming together, I thought of Julia Madrigal’s Giant Days issue, and realised it’d fit well. She had to do it on her trip to Japan, which involved some hilarious jetlag.

Dee’s doing some powerhouse things here with the purple-white lighting too. That’s hyper-strong.

“Fresh Prince of Baal Air” is a hell of a line, in passing, and I think this may have the prize for the darkest punchline of the whole issue.

5 Things Everyone Who’s Lived With Sakhmet Will Understand

I loved Hamish’ Pantheon, which is a playful but entirely accurate retelling of Egyptian myth. Hamish also won this year’s Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, so clearly should be doing something else rather than being talked into playing around with us lot. Thankfully, he didn’t.

I think my favourite moment is Persephone’s glance up as Sakhmet walks across the keyboard.

18 Go Made In Wiltshire

Kitty and Larisa have done a bunch of stuff, but I have to put a special plug for where I first met them – TAYLOR SWIFT GIRL DETECTIVE: SECRETS OF THE STARBUCK LOVERS. It’s illustrated prose, and utterly delightful, so was honoured to have them along.

This is all an accurate and extensive skewering of what we’re doing, with a not-perfect Scooby Doo mash-up. I did try to talk them out of including all the characters, as that’s so much work, but they could not be stopped. This meant that working out speaking orders was the main formal issue to worry about.

Now, there’s lots of mockery of me in this issue, but reducing Laura down to “Everyone is so hot! Let’s make out with them!” was absolutely the I Feel Called Out Right Now moment. She’s more than that, right? Right?

While the “WicDiv is a scooby do plot” complete with “Evil old man reveal” is lots of fun, the bit which makes me laugh every time I flick through is the “I would have got away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling ki—” “Oh, fuck off.” Oh, Lucifer, Never change.

Enquiring Minds Want To Know: What’s Your Guilty Pleasure Song

Cover-artist Margaux joined by the irrepressible Kate Leth. I’m really into how the two play together – Kate wanted to cut things tight, and the “Short moment” illustrated with Margaux’s warmth is fascinating. Like, have the two other Norns ever looked more delighted and engaged than they are at the end of page six?

In terms of Kieron and Jamie baiting, Grumpy Jamie in full Captain Marvel Gear and me trying to write an essay in any given space is fun and mean (which is how we like it). And I’ve just realised that writing more about this script would only be underlining Kate’s point, so I better stop.

Secret Origin

I wrote it, and offered it to Jamie. Really, the point of the specials is to create a space in the schedule so Jamie can get ahead, but he couldn’t resist this one. It’s cathartic closure, at the least.

Choosing the puns was tricky – I realised it had to be a chain, so chose this one which amused Katie West, which was tweeted when visiting them in Edinburgh. So I was in range of punching.

As always, this is Jamie expression masterclass, and a little self-mocking of my tendency to go full clockwork in my story universes is fun. I hope so anyway.

28 pages of comics, which is quite the thing. I don’t suspect we’ll be making much (if any) money from this issue after paying everyone, but that’s fine. It’s a party, innit?

Oh, it was nearly 2000 words. It’s never short, is it? It’s never short.

WicDIv 40 is out tomorrow (December 5th), which starts our final arc, “Okay.” Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.

[chicgeekgirl89]

VHS

When Roberta Deeks comes to dinner, she brings along something Deeks had hoped would never, EVER see the light of day again. Something he ESPECIALLY does not want his girlfriend to see.

“How do you like the pot roast Kensi?” Roberta Deeks asked from where she sat at the head of the dinner table.

“It’s delicious. Thank you so much. You really didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Kensi told her, taking another bite of the equally tasty mashed potatoes the older woman had prepared.

“Well I know neither one of you can cook so I just feel like I need to fatten you up when I’m in town.”

“I can cook!” Deeks protested.

“Mmhmm, we know honey,” Kensi patted his knee under the table dismissively as she took another bite.

“Well then I guess it’s a good thing you don’t come by more often or Kensi would—“ Deeks winced as the hand on his knee tightened. “Ow! I was going to say you might try to cook and then we’d both die of food poisoning!”

“Right, I’m sure that’s exactly what you were going to say.” Kensi rolled her eyes and pointedly added another serving of pot roast to her plate.

“So how’s the move going Mom?” Deeks asked.

“Oh you know, as well as moving ever does.” Roberta told them. “That reminds me, I brought a box of your things. Trying to de-clutter as I downsize.”

Deeks set his fork down, blood suddenly pumping loudly in his ears. “I don’t remember leaving anything at your house.”

“It’s a bunch of old things sweetie.”

“What exactly Mama?” He tried to keep his voice even. Any display of alarm would tip Kensi off and he absolutely did NOT want that.

“I don’t know Martin, it’s just some clothes and trophies and some old VHS tapes.”

“Oh, okay.” He nodded. “Can you excuse me for a minute? Just going to run to the little boys’ room.”

As soon as he reached the hallway he took a hard left, grabbing his mother’s keys from the bowl by the front door. He reached the car and spotted a large, cardboard box in the back seat. Opening the door he took it out and sighed in relief,  until he turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin. “Oh god!”

Kensi stood in front of him, arms crossed. “What’s in the box Deeks?”

“What? Nothing.” He tried to sidestep her but she was too quick.

“Well it must be something important because you’re clutching it like it’s our firstborn child.”

Deeks felt himself start to sweat. She wasn’t going to give this up without a fight. “I just didn’t think my mom should be lifting heavy things like this. She’s not as spry as she used to be.”

“She’s not an invalid Deeks. And if it’s nothing, why won’t you let me see it?” She held out her hands, eyebrows raised.

He reluctantly handed her box, which she immediately began to rifle through. Dread crept into the pit of his stomach as she held up a VHS tape. “What’s on the tape?”

“Nothing.” He’d said it too quickly and he knew it. She was onto him.

“Deeks…”

He reached for it, but she pulled away, holding it just out of his reach. “Kensi, just hand me the tape.”

“Why? What’s on it?”

“Nothing that would interest you.”

“Then why do you want it so badly?”

“I don’t. I don’t want it. I just—“ he lunged for it but she sidestepped him again. “Damn it Fern, give me the tape!”

“Martin? Kensi? Are you ready for dessert?” Roberta wandered toward them and Deeks wanted to melt into the asphalt. “What are you two doing out here?”

“I was just helping Deeks bring these things into the house,” Kensi said sweetly.

Deeks glared at his partner-turned-girlfriend and her two-faced ways.

Roberta reached for the VHS. “Oh, yes. Martin, which year was this? Hello, Dolly? Or Grease?”

The single shred of dignity he’d had left died at the look of triumph in Kensi’s eyes. There was such glee on her face that there was no way he would ever, EVER, live this down.

“I uh, I don’t know Mama. It probably doesn’t even work anymore. Let’s just go back in for dessert. You made pie, right?”

“Wait Roberta, are you saying this is a tape of a musical?” Kensi asked. “One that Deeks was in?”

  “Of course! Didn’t he tell you he did some performances in high school?”

“No, actually, he’s never mentioned it.”

“With good reason,” Deeks muttered to himself.

“Well his junior year he was only in the background.”

“It’s called the ensemble,” he interrupted.

“But when he was a senior he was Danny Zuko! He was just so cute with all his hair, swinging his hips around—“

“Mama!”

“Martin, you should be proud of your accomplishments.” Roberta frowned as she looked at the tape. “The label has faded. I wonder which one this is?”

 “Well, why don’t we go inside and find out?” Kensi asked, a wicked grin on her face.

“I think the VCR is broken,” Deeks said loudly.

“It’s not,” Kensi chirped, plucking the tape from his mother’s hand.

“Oh perfect. We’ll have dessert in the living room.”

Roberta turned to go back inside and Deeks caught Kensi’s hand. “Babe, if you love me, you will not do this.”

“Oh honey,” she put a hand on his cheek. “I love you so much. But this is going to be the best night of my life and there’s no way I’m putting the brakes on it.”

She kissed him soundly on the mouth and followed his mom into the house, leaving him no choice but to do the same.

By the time he reached the living room the women were already settled onto either end of the couch, dessert in hand. “Sit right here, Martin. I got a piece of pie for you.” His mom patted the empty cushion in the middle of the sofa until Deeks reluctantly settled in. He looked at his girlfriend. “There’s really nothing--?”

“It’s happening Gene Kelly, just accept it,” she told him.

“Okay, here we go.” Roberta pushed the play button.

“Please be Grease. Please be Grease,” Kensi breathed, here eyes glued to the screen.

Shaky camera work revealed a stage with a single, bright spotlight shining on a set of faded green curtains. The conductor lifted his hands and a slightly out of tune orchestra began playing strains of what was unmistakably “Greased Lightning.”

“Yes!” Kensi pumped a fist in the air, nearly upending Deeks’ pie all over the sofa.

“What I would give for a murdered Naval officer right now,” Deeks grumbled, tucking his elbows in so she wouldn’t bump into him again.

“Martin!”

“Sorry Mama.”

“Hey Zuko!” a portly young man with a heavy Long Island accent yelled.

And onto the stage stepped an 18-year-old Marty Deeks, running a comb through his slicked back blonde curls, sunglasses and an over-large leather jacket in place. As he made it to center stage he whipped off the glasses and let out a theatrical, “Hey guys!”

“Oh my god,” Kensi sighed. “It’s so much better than I imagined. Are you going to sing? When does the dancing happen?”

“Martin has such a lovely voice,” Roberta said, squeezing her son’s hand.

“You know I think Monty needs to go out.” Deeks tried to rise but Kensi stopped him.

“It’s rude to leave in the middle of a performance.”

“That’s the one thing about theatre you remember? Seriously?”

“I’m never getting over it,” Kensi told him as she pulled back the covers on their bed several hours later. “The shimmy. The back-flip off the table. That thing with your hips where you almost took out the girl in the yellow poodle skirt. Babe, I never knew you had those moves.”

“You know, all is fair in love and war. First thing tomorrow morning I’m headed to your mom’s house. She’s gotta have some embarrassing, middle school Kensi with frizzy hair and braces pictures around somewhere,” he grumbled.

“I never had braces.”

 “Of course you didn’t.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so embarrassed! It was a great performance. I’m sure no one even noticed that giant crack your voice made when you started the last song.”

“All right, that’s it. I’m sleeping with Monty.”

“No!” she grabbed his arm, pulling him back down onto the bed. “I’m sorry. You were amazing.”

“Damn right I was amazing. I was the best Danny Zuko any high school’s ever seen.”

“John Travolta’s got nothing on you,” she agreed.

He grudgingly allowed her to pull him closer. “You know I improvised that back flip off the table. That wasn’t in the script.”

“No! Really?” Her eyes shone with pretend surprise and amusement.

He frowned at her and tried to wrench his arm out of her grasp. “You’re mean. You know that?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she giggled as she held on tightly. “I’ll make it up to you.”

 “You promise?”

“Yes. I will call my mother and have her send over pictures from the time I got a perm.”

“Well, as thrilling as that sounds, I actually had another idea…”

“Oh really?”

“I still have that leather jacket. Is that something you’d be interested in putting on?”

She grinned. “Tell me about it stud.”

[desertdevils]

ADEL IDREIS & VICTOR BIRD

I know you want me to say it, it’s in the script, you want me to say Lie down on the bed, you’re all I ever wanted and worth dying for too but I think I’d rather keep the bullet this time.

i. inside your room we shut the window, and we turned on a fan, and we lay there together in the darkness. i can keep a secret if you can. ii. anywhere you go, i’ll follow you down. any place but those i know by heart. iii. hold on, clip these wings -- things get out of hand. all right, it’s over, it’s done. no one will understand. iv. we’re strange allies with warring hearts. what a wild-eyed beast you’ll be. the space between the wicked lies we tell, and hope to keep us safe from the pain. v. in a manner of speaking, i just want to say that i could never forget the way you told me everything by saying nothing. vi. i’ll keep hoping you are the same as me, and i’ll send you letters and come to your house for tea. we are who we are, and what do the others know? vii. i thought i could let you go in grace. i’ve gotta think again. because right now i would be bought and sold to see your face somewhere.

viii. ‘twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. how precious did that grace appear, the hour i first believed. ix. oh, how i meant to tease him. oh, how i meant no harm. touching his back with my hand i kiss him. i see the wasp on the length of my arm. x. look at that, would you look at that? we’re throwing off sparks. what’ll i do when i don’t have you to hold onto in the dark? xi. is it too much to ask in a lifetime for just one shot at happiness? or do you just have to laugh at the right lines? xii. wonder if you'll understand, it's just the touch of your hand behind a closed door. xiii. one of these days, and it won’t be long, he’ll know more about me than he should. xiv. as the world comes to an end, i’ll be here to hold your hand, ‘cause you’re my king and i’m your lionheart. xv. there’s something between us that nobody else needs to see.

VICTOR BIRD & AUGUST LEIGH

You never mean it anyway, not really, and it only makes me that much more ashamed. There’s only one thing I want, don’t make me say it, just get me bandages, I’m bleeding, I’m not just making conversation.

i. you’ve got to show me, both knees, skin and bone. clothe me, throw me, move me ‘til i can sell you lies. you can’t get enough. ii. we both can’t fight it. it’s us that made this mess. why can’t you understand? oh, i won’t sleep tonight. iii. there was this boy who tore my heart in two, i had to lay him eight feet underground. all i need is someone to save me, ‘cause i am goin’ down. iv. you don’t understand, you should never know how easy you are to need. don’t let me in with no intention to keep me. v. would you pin me to a wall? would you beg or would you crawl? stick a needle in your hungry eyes for me? vi. and come here, i’ll let you in. we can’t pretend that i’m just like him. and come now, please lead me on. i just need something to keep me from givin’ up the gun. vii. i am coming home to you with my own blood in my mouth, and i am coming home to you if it’s the last thing that i do.

viii. i could make you want me, make you need me, make you mine. i could make it holy, make it special, make it right. ix. when my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold dark earth. no grave will hold my body down, i’ll crawl home to him. x. no matter where they take me, death i will survive. and i will never be forgotten with you by my side. xi. you’ve got your ball, you’ve got your chain tied to me tight, tie me up again. who’s got their claws in you, my friend? into your heart i’ll beat again. xii. i made it through town somehow, but who’s gonna save me now? xiii. in a world of steel-eyed death and men who are fighting to be warm, ‘come in,’ he said, ‘i’ll give you shelter from the storm.’ xiv. he’ll cut your heart like diamonds, end of story. you bet you’re gonna lose it to that hellbound crimson glory. xv. now i look around me, and it seems you’ve found me, and it’s just too bright.

MILTON DUNNE & VICTOR BIRD

If you love me, you don’t love me in a way I understand. Do you know how it ends? Do you feel lucky? Do you want to go home now? There’s a bottle of whiskey in the trunk of the Chevy.

i. i don’t want the world to see me, ‘cause i don’t think that they’d understand. when everything’s made to be broken, i just want you to know who i am. ii. open your door, i’ll be your tenant. ain’t got much baggage to lay at your feet. but sweet kisses i’ve got to spare. i’ll be there, and i’ll cover you. iii. i don’t know who i am, i’ve become someone new. nothing i just did is anything i would do. iv. you’ve got a fast car. is it fast enough so we can fly away? we’ve got to make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way. v. it’s you and me in the summertime. we’ll be hand in hand down in the park. vi. i’ve got books to write, i’ve got things to do. i go out my door and bump into you, and the jig is up, and my vow is through. vii. wanna pack your bags, something small. take what you need and we’ll disappear. without a trace we’ll be gone, gone. the moon and the stars can follow the car.

viii. so long as you come home at the end of the day, that would be enough. we don’t need a legacy. we don’t need money. ix. there are loose ends by the score. what did i come down here for? you, you. x. where you are is where i belong. i do know, where you go is where i wanna be. where are you going, where do you go? xi. you sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways. xii. we’ve tried hungry and we’ve tried full, but nothing seems enough. so tonight the boys are gonna go for more, more, more. xiii. said hello to the rising breeze, made a note of the setting sun. we fell asleep in our three-day clothes, one tilted head on the other. xiv. we’re finally waking up to what real love can do. down a lost highway, under the twilight moon. xv. tomorrow we’ll be free, my love. we’ll never be afraid. and we were dancing. the world was dancing, dancing.