#(i just think that it should really lean into the rome thing and completely ape interesting parts of roman history)

[navree]

Why there is such obsession with old Valeryia in this fandom and thinking everything related to that empire is superior to anything else ?

I mean, I can sorta get it, it sounds cool. This ancient and vast empire of untold riches with their powerful city is cool, this decadent empire running on blood magic and curses and sordid deeds and deals in the dark is cool, a pseudo-democratic society that's filled with rich people vying for control and power and doing whatever's necessary to get it is cool, a society built around the fact that these people not only have fire magic but also literal fucking dragons they can ride around on and have a special connection to is cool, a society of amazingly and inhumanly beautiful people with otherworldly features is cool.

There's a lot about Valyria that can be fascinating, that it's this great shining monument of gold and marble built on the back of one of the most heinous evils, slavery, a society of beautiful and powerful people who are as corrupt and greedy as anyone else can be, soaring dragons and also blood magic and practices of sordid taboos like enchantments and incest, it's got all the building blocks of something incredibly fascinating to work with. And when you factor in the Doom, this huge cataclysm whose effects are still felt by the time the story takes place, this huge annihilation that wiped out nearly everything we could ever know about this world, this thing that reshaped the world as we know it (not only just in Essos, but in literally beginning the dying of magic in the world that's only been recently rekindled with the birth of Dany's dragons), it just gets even more interesting. It's also worth that two of the societies that Valyria is based on are the histories of Ancient Rome and the myth of Atlantis, both which continue to fascinate us well into the modern day right now. There is, genuinely, a lot that can be done about Valyria, and on its own merits it does make sense to me that people are interested in it.

There's also the fact that we are exposed to Valyria and Valyrian culture primarily through the Targaryens. And listen, guys, the Targaryens are incredibly popular. Dany is quite possibly the most popular character George has ever created, and she's certainly the most iconic to come out of both ASOIAF and GOT, and this has extended to her dynasty, gotten people invested in where she came from while we wait for more information about her. There's a reason why the precipitous drop in popularity that GOT saw in its last season, culminating in its complete oblivion, came as general audiences saw how badly they were planning to execute their planned arc with Dany; there's a reason why the most detailed supplementary reading we've gotten has been a history of the first half of Targaryen rule; there's a reason why the only spinoff that's currently happening (and rekindling a completely dead public interest in GOT and a waning general interest in ASOIAF) is a Targaryen spinoff. Targaryens are popular, which means that their stories are popular, and therefore the culture and society that they came from and continued to be influenced by are popular. Valyria being interesting to the fans not just for what it was in and of itself, but also just due to the popularity of Dany and Targs in general, that also makes sense.

But why people consider it inherently superior to all other cultures? That I'm not really sure. I find Valyria interesting as shit, but do I consider it superior? Nah, none of these cultures are greater than any of the others, there's good things and drawbacks to regular southron Westerosi culture, Northern culture, Dornish/Rhoynish culture, and especially Valyrian culture, that's kinda the point. GRRM built a real world, and societies in that world have good things and bad things about them and none are inherently better than the other unless you're really into, like, social Darwinism or some shit. The problem is fandom culture, and how it's evolved. Now it's not enough to just like something, now you gotta like something because liking it is the objectively moral and correct thing to do. It's the inverse of this view we're seeing that you have to prove your dislike of something, be it a ship or character or overall piece of entertainment, based on its varying "problematic" aspects, rather than just admitting that they don't like something. Now, they've gotta like something, like Valyria, because it's The Best, rather than just admitting that sometimes we like things cuz we like things, and it has no bearing on the kind of person we are outside of that fandom.

And if fandoms at large could kinda stop doing that, that'd be so so so great.

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Chapter 2-Sugo!

Hi babes! Enjoy-to my loves, thanks for the love! @dirtystyles and @bleedinglove4h long live tripod writing! There’s a light at the end of the hallway!

What the fuck!" She knew her voice went shrill, but, other than her best friend's baby, she hadn't been puked on since college. The baby puke was a nearly pleasant experience. Kind of smelled sweet. When she mentioned this in a manner suggesting she was gross, her friend nodded and said- "it's cuz she's breast fed." Like that was common knowledge.

Harry's puke smelled, not sweet. It was a lot closer to that time in college. The smell. Not the circumstances.

In college, she was also drunk, and it was on her arm while she was doing that thing women did in bathrooms and making best friends. When she had tried to gather up the stranger-friend's hair, the sick had got onto her arm. But her arms were washable and waterproof.

Her new trainers, that she had treated herself to after she endured that long interview with Vanity Fair, were not waterproof and she doubted they were washable. She'd have to try. She really liked them, and they were a splurge, she'd spent her 30's living off her income and not daddy's money. These were money from an interview her publicist had insisted on that she knew she would loathe. Ada didn't have bad blood with the Tally chap. But she didn't like the tone he took, just a little condescending, with his other female subjects. He was a mansplainer. Plus, he ghosted her friend Isabelle after a hookup years ago. But Ada held grudges. Over her friends, she held grudges.

She might hold a grudge over her Gucci shoes.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Her star was mumbling and on the floor with a towel he'd produced like a magician. And he had made it up to her mid calves. Splash. Great. This was weird. Luckily she had a suitcase. It was... her head swiveled around. Right by her.

"It's alright. I have clothes in my bag. I can go change." She reached down and touched his shoulder to get his attention. He seemed single minded in his cleaning mission, until she touched him. When he looked up, all Ada could think about was the smooth lakebed she'd learned to fly planes over. It had been a latent passion since. The weightlessness of flight. She hadn't been back to that smooth stretch of land since. Except in her dreams.

She had no idea why his face evoked that.

Ada realized they were still locked in the stare off. She blinked and it ended.

Harry's litany continued. "I'm so sorry about your shoes. They look new. I really like them. I might get them for myself. Maybe we can go, while they are setting up at the shrine today. I think there is one nearby, a couple actually. I would love to replace them. God, I'm so sorry. They just kept toasting last night, and I thought I'd be ok, my stomach, it's been a long time since I felt this bad in the morning... but I'd heard you were going to make it today, and you can't call off sick when your movie is starting and your new director will be there. And well, I was excited to meet you- if I'm honest. I have a lot of questions."

Ada needed to stop this, she wasn't flying, she was late, felt jet lag coming on and she was covered in puke. His puke, and he was still talking. She interrupted him. "It's fine. I can buy my own shoes." Though not Gucci this time. "Stand up. We have work to do. I'm gonna go change."

When Ada walked away, summarily dismissing Harry, and with a tone that didn't seem to be really forgiving, he was left holding the bag. The bag was actually a towel, and the towel was covered in puke. That did not go any of the ways he had prepared for it in his mind.

He knew that he was more than excited to meet her. He had spent last night, before karaoke and all the alcohol, brushing up on all things Ada Scott. He had committed a lot of it to memory when he had fallen in love with Wildflower. But he wanted to be her fan. He was hopeful she would not be one of his fans. That fear still simmered on the back of his brain. Well, his whole brain felt simmered.

What was that? Her face, god, she had a hell of a face. He'd gotten flustered. Well, more flustered. When she touched his shoulder and he'd felt that zap he hadn't felt but twice. Zander and, god, he couldn't compare her to Taylor. Fuck.

That time it was partly because he was star struck.

Was he star struck? Had he done too good a job last week when he'd fallen in to his YouTube hole and made himself an actual fanatic.

His fans made more sense when he thought about that word.

No, he was excited, impressed by her, like he was with Chris, before they went out on the boats.

But, god, he wished he had puked on his first day of Dunkirk now, like Fionn, maybe then he would not have done that on her.

On Ada.

God, his shoulder had tingled, like his lip before a cold sore and started downing lysine, so he'd looked up, and there she was. All full lipped and big eyed. And her skin. God her skin was the color of the way his mom liked her tea. A splash of milk. And as unrippled as the surface while she waited to drink it. His mum always said, "that's how I cultivate patience. No unnecessary blowing, it will be ready for me when I'm ready for it." And she'd talk and listen then take a sip, while the surface of her tea remained perfect and placid.

He did not feel placid. He felt a cousin of the feeling, looking at her. It felt like when he'd get home and if it was early enough he would take the walk across the fields he'd done all the life on the way to the square. Calm, with familiar smells, and warm.

God, he felt really warm. And then he'd realized he'd puked all over this woman making him tingle and have little mental forays to his happy places.

"Fuck!" Harry muttered. And then he saw the AP. "Have you seen Jeffrey?"

It took him a while to find Jeffrey. And it took longer for Jeff to calm him down.

"I ruined her shoes, nice ones, and every chance I had at impressing her!" Both of his hands were in his hair in his little trailer, tiny by comparison to his old one. They were all pretty small. Japanized, double the convenience, half the space.

His manager was leaning against a counter with his arms crossed and a wry look on his face.

"This is a crisis, Jeffrey! Help me!"

At that, Jeff let loose the sound his smile had forecast and belly laughed. "Man, you are knotted up! Did she not fall for the Styles' charm man?"

"What charm? I puked, a lot, on her Gucci shoes, and then I tried to clean her and talked faster than I ever have on my life. And she walked away, didn't really accept my apology. How am I ever gonna impress her now?"

"Act good." Jeff suggested blandly. He had faith in Harry's ability, even to come back and charm the hell outta Ada after, well, that. Jeff bit his lip.

"Stop laughing at me." Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm just mad I missed the show. You must have been freaking out!"

"I'm still freaking out- what do we do? How do I impress her now?" His long fingers were all splayed helplessly in Jeff's direction.

Jeff's brow furrowed. The answer seemed fairly obvious. Harry could come back from this, it sucked, but it wasn't like he ran over her dog. He would just do well on set, make amends, and all would be well. Harry being a drama queen, which he wasn't, usually. Unless, oh, this was funny.

"I have an idea. In the meantime - act good."

But Harry couldn't. They were starting with one of the prince by day scenes. All perfection and manners and exacting rules. It should have been so easy, he wasn't even sure if it be could called acting for him. He had so many days where he had to go to some amazing place and rather than explore it and let his wonderment take the wheel, he was being filmed and dissected. Like Henry, his character. Harry understood this character. It should have been a breeze.

Additionally, Harry and his costar has built a rapport already, last night - they'd sang 'I Got You Babe' - Harry even let him be Cher, and it had been such a good time, that they'd done 'You're The One That I Want' from Grease. He'd got to be Olivia Newton John, complete with shoulder shimmies and see-saw dancing.

Those shots were probably when the world had gotten wobbly.

In any case, he'd follow Yuki anywhere, just the way Henry would follow Akio. It should be easy to have the unspoken dialogue this scene called for.

They were at the Meiji shrine and, in the movie, Henry was having to take a very controlled tour, but there was a wedding party waiting and he mostly wanted to hurry over to where they were waving at him to appear in their pictures. But he wasn't allowed to. He also wasn't allowed to take selfies with anyone, ever. His mother's rule that was his grandma's rule. Not even of himself with the Harajuku girls passing by outside. Henry was supposed to look at his longingly.

Harry wanted to do all those things too. And he called his own shots. He'd done several of them when they were setting up the scene. He had taken a picture with an incandescent bride who shouted "Hari! Hari!" To get his attention.

It was her day, he couldn't deny her. And the Harajuku girls, there were groups of them. He asked one about her coat. That was what he wanted to do after they cut, shop. Luckily the night time rebel scene was set for tonight, with Akio taking Henry all through the wildest shops and filling up a phones worth of crazy selfies. Even a few polaroids. Akio gave Henry his dreams.

The location would also let Harry have his fun.

So Harry would get to do some of those things, while waiting for his scenes. Making movies was a lot of waiting.

It was funny how spot on the movie set ups were. He supposed that was the point. The way the original was both a celebration of Rome and set the agenda for tourists years after, this one should too. He hoped.

If he could get his shit together.

"Cut! Again!" Ada yelled. And called an assistant over. He heard her ask for the biggest matcha she could find. Her energy must be flagging. He'd have to tell her about astaxanthin. That always helped him with focus and energy when he was jet lagged. He walked over to mention it.

"Ad-" he started

"Harry, do you need a break?"

They'd really just started, he felt fine. The puking had actually helped. He was a little ashamed to say.

He was still really embarrassed. And he was a bit distracted.

"Um, no. I, I think I'm ok I feel, like, better?" He tried to smile, and Ada's face remained blank. "Why, um, does it seem like I need one, I mean a break?"

Ada sighed. Then looked at him square in the face. It stole his breath. Who did her eyebrows? They were very symmetrical. If she did them herself, that said a lot about her.

"Harry? Are you listening to me?" This was the second time he had just zoned out on her while she was talking to him. Earlier when she was talking to him about how to set up the scene and she'd asked his motivation. She'd been really happy with where his head was at. But when she started talking about blocking and eye lines, admittedly, the boring stuff, she'd totally lost his attention. He maintained eye contact, but floated away. Lots of eye contact. His were a really brilliant green. She had always envied colored eyes. Hers were really dark brown. Not like his. But this time he wasn't looking at her eyes.

This time he was looking at her, forehead maybe? "I need you to be a little more present in the scene. Like if you are trying to show how Henry is going through the motions, ok- let's talk about that. But earlier you were saying you saw him as a professional and you thought that he would look engaged, but be looking around, missed chances. I'm getting blank detachment from you instead."

"I'm sorry, what?" He shook his head. He almost asked her about her eyebrows. He looked down and she had on converse now. He was really more of a vans guy. "During next set up do you want to go over to Gucci and get new shoes?"

Ada must have lost the plot. "Harry, we aren't going to get to any other set ups, and I'm seriously concerned about the night shoot schedule. I need you engaged. Have you decided to go another way, like Henry looking checked out?"

"What?" The way he dropped the t in that word was kind of cute, but that needed to be a note- he better not do that as Henry, RP and all that.

"I'm asking you about the character. I'm not getting the vision you had talked to me about, I'm kinda getting you distracted and hungover. Which you may very well be- but I need you to 'act' like you aren't." Her face was a question she figured that she could make it a statement.

"I am?" He shook his head and his curls spun out of place. Great now they needed a touch up, but before she could say a thing, Ayae, Harry stylist was on her way over. Well his people were on it. Jeff especially. Is that why he had such a good rep? Because he had good people. His rep was why she had agreed. Part of why. And that she had heard he was charming. Maybe people equated clueless with charming.

She did not.

She nodded. But figured the sandwich method was in need. It had worked great with Layla, h newborn actress on Wildfire. It was effective. Ada always wished her dad knew it. She'd throw him a bone. "I loved where your head was at earlier! Can we get back there."

"Yeah, Yeah, Sorry Ada. I'm a little......" he searched for the word "off, today, from last night, and the extremely wrong foot I got off on, well, I puked on this morning." He grinned his best- let the dimples pop- hoped they were a secret weapon for real.

"Yeah." Ada found herself smiling along with him. She would go along with him, if she could get some of that on film. She was feeling like they were all in trouble if she couldn't get him to do it more. She put her hand on his shoulder and he preened. Ok- he liked affirmation and praise. She could work with that.

And then he went back on and nailed it one take. More of that and she wouldn't feel quite so much like she had gambled her whole career on junk bonds.

The camera loved him. The crew seemed to too. This would be ok. She hoped.

During the break, while everybody was lounging in catering except those who were needed to get ready for the shopping scene set up. "Hey Ada." She liked Jeff's voice, that it sounded like her hometown and was lighter than you'd expect with his name and money. He was lighter than you'd expect.

"Hey Jeff. You liking Tokyo?" She loved it here, felt like her eyes were in cultural candyland the first trip and every one after.

" Yeah, I always like it here. Not like Harry likes it. I thought he was gonna have a coronary when this script was rumored. He wanted it so bad." He laughed. "I was almost afraid that he wouldn't get it optioned, and then I was afraid he would."

"Do you always try to give him what he wants?" She thought this was a strange thing for a manager to say. It was usually making your clients do something good for their career they didn't want to, or making them think they wanted to in the first place.

"Well," Jeff scratched the back of his neck. "I think I kinda do, but what he wants is usually a pretty amazing thing, ya know." he cocked his head to the side, "that's actually why I wanted to say hi, to thank you, for signing on. Harry was dead set on you. He loved Wildflower. Like I could recite it from how often he watched it. When my dad offered to call your dad, when we hadn't called back, I was embarrassed to say ok, but I had to get this done."

"Oh, yeah dad tracked me down, but no thanks needed, it's not a favor. I hadn't had time to really consider. Luckily I'd already read it over, or I might have said no. Since he seemed keen to impress Irving. But, I think it's an opportunity, and well, really, all I want is Harry to earn it. To do something unexpected and do it well. So, let's hope the boy has the goods."

"He does, Ada. Promise - he's such a hard worker.

Ada hoped Jeff wasn't victim to Harry's charm, or whatever people seemed to think he had.

He had better have it, more than once a day. Dammit, this was gonna be a long shoot. Her forehead was creased thinking of it.

When 1 am hit, and the scene was not done, she knew he was a hard worker, but she doubted the goods.

"Harry?" She was dead on her feet, they should have been home 3 hours ago.

She should have let the ap look, she was terrified to see the daily's. She hated to start behind.

"Yeah." His voice wasn't sharp, but defeated, like Waterloo in his words.

"Can you tell me what's up, man? Are you uncomfortable with the hand holding or the flirting?" He looked very confused.

"With-" he gestured to Yuki. "No."

"The fans outside?" That has also been an issue. The crowd kept growing.

"A little, but that's gonna keep happening." He said it matter of fact, with apology in it, like mary poppin's sugar spoon. "I just, I feel so foggy and distracted. And then I feel guilty keeping everybody here all day, and then it just gets worse." He sighed.

She could work with that. At least it was because he cared too much, not that he didn't give a fuck. "Do you like holding hands?" She stuck her hand out.

His dog like head tilt was cute. "Yeah -I like most affection." He took her hand and she watched the tension go out of him. Ok - he was a dog person. Not just praise, more touch.

"It's ok," she squeezed. "Harry. Nobody minds doing their jobs, but they want to go home. Let's give that to them. Henry has to hold Akio's hand, because he just has to and hopes they don't get caught, but also hopes they do. Can you relate?"

He squeezed her hand and nodded. Looked more sure and less like his head was in the descending fog. "And he likes this place, loves it and is interested. Feel the same?"

"Yeah, this is my favorite shop here I've been in." He gestured around to the eclectic mix of handicrafts, and anime and wild clothes. "I wish I had time to dig through."

"Ok, then you barely have to act!" Ada smiled like she had slept in the last two days.

"Well, I hope I have to act a bit. Or we are all in trouble. I don't want everyday to be like today." He shrugged and pursed his lips to the side.

Neither did she. God she hoped he got better. Pulling teeth everyday was not her favorite, or she would have been a dentist.

He nailed the next take. They were only there another hour.

The Gucci shoes that had been delivered to her room made her smile to herself.

As did the dailies. Most of the takes were horrible. But when he hit it, it was a home run.

"Harry Styles- the Babe Ruth of acting." She laughed to herself.

Harry was smiling to himself the next morning, looking forward to the day, to Ada's face and making her smile again, the way she had on the way off set. Maybe she'd hold his hand if needed.

His smile fell when he popped back to change into his fancy get up after hair and makeup.

The Gucci bag, tied shut on top, was on the stairs, unopened.