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#I’m still in love with him a decade later lol
the-daily-dreamer · 1 year
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can u explain why u dislike lucerys so much?
because atleast from my pov he was a 7year old child who thought his brother was going to die and retaliated against someone older and stronger than him with a weapon he didn’t even bring
also the bullying he was following his older brother and only companion as well as his much older uncle, an authority figure.
yes he should have apologised, but when should he have? when he was being treated by the maesters for his broken nose? when aemonds mother said to have his eye cut out? when he returned half a decade later and his uncle’s hatred was already there AND his own dislike likely pushed by his family?
lucerys definitely should’ve made amends but there are a lot of factors in it so i don’t rlly see the dislike? idk i just wanna have it explained, no hate just curious (:
Just going to preemptively say that I understand this isn’t hate, so anon, please know that if I have any sort of aggravated tone in this answer it’s not against you. I’m just very passionate about this topic lol
Also this is a crazy long post. Sorry y’all.
“…he was a 7 year old child who thought his brother was going to die and retaliated against someone older and stronger than him with a weapon he didn’t even bring”
When it comes to the fight, I’m mad at all four children who ganged up on an innocent kid and started beating him mercilessly. People love to focus on the fact that Aemond might have done something with that rock, but they completely erase the context, which is that he was tackled to the ground and being punched by four people.
The real context is that Aemond was on defense in that fight. He didn’t seek anyone out. He didn’t start the argument. He didn’t throw the first blow. All Aemond did was fight back to protect himself and grabbed a makeshift weapon to ensure he doesn’t get beaten by four people at once. He was in survival mode and doing anything to keep himself protected.
When it comes down to Lucerys in that fight. He had no business running in and joining in the group beating of another child. It wasn’t his fight. I understand he’s a child, but most kids understand that beating up someone is a bad thing to do. Even at 7. I knew not to punch people at 7, and I can guarantee most others did too. Age can excuse a lot of things but mercilessly beating someone who is on the ground being beaten by three others? I don’t think so.
But let’s look at why Luc cuts his eye out. From your perspective it’s to “save his brother’s life”. But is that really the case? Let’s really take a look. During the fight, Aemond pushes all four kids off him while he is being beaten on the ground. Once gaining the upper hand, he grabs Luc and holds a rock over his head, and…talks. He threatens to kill them and calls them bastards, but he doesn’t actually do anything. In fact, when Luc says his “father” is alive and Aemond realizes Luc doesn’t know he’s a Strong, he lowers the rock. At that point Aemond is no longer a threat. His weapon is down, and he’s speaking relatively calmly. It’s only after Aemond calls Jace “Lord Strong” that the knife is drawn. The knife isn’t drawn for self-defense or to save Luc. It’s pulled for the fact that Aemond called the boys bastards.
From there Jace keeps attacking him with a knife. Aemond gets the better of him in the fight once again, and Jace is on the ground. Here’s where the “saving his life” comes in. Aemond stands over Jace with the rock in his hand raised high and….does nothing. Again. I counted, and Aemond stands there still for about 10 seconds doing absolutely nothing. He breathes deeply. He looks at Baela and Rhaena who look back in fear. But he does nothing. In those ten seconds Luc scrambles to grab the knife, exchanges a look with Jace, and then Jace throws sand in Aemond’s eyes and Luc leaps at him and slashes his eye out.
Now, personally, watching that scene I really didn’t get the feeling Aemond would do anything. Every time he gets the upper hand and will supposedly kill one of the kids with a rock, he stops. He lingers. He doesn’t deliver the blow. By the time Luc gets the knife Aemond has been still and not hit Jace at all for quite a bit of time. He waits long enough for Luc to get the knife and for both boys to silently agree on a tactic to hurt him.
This also begs the question. If Jace had enough time and space to grab sand in his fist and throw it at Aemond to temporarily blind him and get away, why the fuck didn’t he do that before?! We see that Aemond yells and is disoriented by the sand in his eyes. Jace could’ve easily thrown it and kicked aemond and gotten away and they could’ve ended the fight by running away. But instead he waited until his brother had a knife and they could stab him. These boys weren’t doing this in self-defense. It was a coordinated attack with the intention to stab Aemond with a knife. They wanted to stab him. We saw that with Jace pulling it out first.
That whole fight is not Jace and Luc fighting to survive. It’s Aemond fighting to survive. It’s not Luc jumping to save his brother. It’s Jace wanting to stab someone for calling him a bastard (he is), and both boys working together to hurt him. I genuinely believe that the long pauses Aemond took are proof enough that he had no intention of hurting actually killing them. I think it was more of an act of intimidation to show they should leave him alone. So I hold all four kids responsible for what happened to Aemond, but most especially Jace and Luc because while the girls stopped beating Aemond and left after he pushed them off. Jace and Luc kept going because they got angry at the title they were rightfully called, and teamed up to deal a blow that resulted in permanent damage and blinding one eye.
“also the bullying he was following his older brother and only companion as well as his much older uncle, an authority figure”
As I said earlier. I understand seven year olds are dumb as heck, and they don’t always know what is an is not ok. However. Just as I would think most seven year olds know beating someone is bad, most seven year olds know bullying is bad. Hurting people’s feelings isn’t ok. At seven, I knew bullying wasn’t ok. All the boys knew what they were doing was insulting and mean. That’s why they did it. They wanted to be hurtful to Aemond. Yes, Luc was following Aegon and Jace, but that doesn’t absolve the fact that he fully knew what they were doing was mean and found it funny like the others.
yes he should have apologised, but when should he have? when he was being treated by the maesters for his broken nose? when aemonds mother said to have his eye cut out? when he returned half a decade later and his uncle’s hatred was already there AND his own dislike likely pushed by his family?
We can agree he should have apologized, anon. But you seem to be under the impression of how Luc simply couldn’t apologize because of everyone else or the circumstances. You seem to be incorrectly putting the blame on Alicent and Aemond for why he didn’t apologize. Even thought Aemond is the victim.
But let’s see, when should Luc have apologized? “When he was being treated by the maesters for his broken nose”? Sure! Aemond had to answer interrogations by his father and calmed his mother down while having his eye socket sewed shut. I’m sure Luc could’ve apologized then. A broken nose is not nearly as awful and having an eye gouged out, and he seemed pretty ok at that point so yeah. He could’ve spoken up and said he was sorry.
“When Aemond’s mother said to have his eye cut out”? I’m sorry but this reeks of Alicent anti. There was plenty of time before and after Alicent had a literal mental breakdown for Luc to apologize. Why even blame or bring up Alicent? She has nothing to do with this. Luc’s responsibility to apologize is not dependent on anyone else. Least of all the woman in the room who is the only person who cares that Aemond is hurt.
“when he returned half a decade later and his uncle’s hatred was already there AND his own dislike likely pushed by his family”? Absolutely. I assume you’re talking about the dinner scene, and yes, Luc absolutely could have and should have apologized. Yes, Aemond’s anger was pretty much set because it had been a decade of no apology for literally being maimed. But a late apology is better than no apology. During that dinner, Alicent and Rhaenyra, two people who had two decades worth of resentment between them, were heartfelt and kind to one another. Luc could’ve easily toasted to Aemond. He could’ve lifted his glass and said “To my uncle. Long ago I did horrible things to him, and I’ve carried the burden of resentment and guilt all these years. I am truly sorry for the pain I’ve caused, and I hope that my heartfelt apology can be a new beginning for us” or something else sappy like that. Team black may or may not have solidified resentment in Luc against Aemond (about what I wouldn’t know because Aemond didn’t actually do anything wrong). But that doesn’t take away from the fact he should’ve apologized.
You seem to be pushing the idea that because Luc grew resentment because of his family against Aemond, he couldn’t apologize. But he very much could. He just didn’t want to. Because he didn’t care. He didn’t think he was wrong and didn’t feel he had to apologize.
The simple truth of the matter is that Luc didn’t apologize because he doesn’t feel remorse. It’s not because he was too injured to apologize at first. Or because Alicent was mean for five minutes. Or because his family solidified resentment. He didn’t apologize because he isn’t sorry. And that is best exemplified by the dinner scene. Like I said earlier he could’ve apologized. But instead, what did Luc do? He saw a pig and began to laugh at the cruel prank and bullying he did against Aemond. He still relished in the mean things he did as a child. There’s no remorse there, only smugness and sick enjoyment in his past cruelties. That is why I hate Lucerys so much. The burden of responsibility to apologize was on Luc, and there is no excuse for him not apologizing. He just wasn’t sorry, and that’s not on anyone but Luc for being…just not a good person.
TLDR: Luc has had a long pattern of being cruel and mean and never felt an ounce of guilt. You are right that there’s many factors, anon. But they don’t take away from the basic facts. Luc intentionally hurt Aemond’s feelings and found joy in it, Luc intentionally maimed Aemond with Jace (instead of opting for a less violent conclusion), and Luc never apologized and never felt remorse for his cruelty instead opting to continue to take pleasure in his negative acts.
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if you have time i would love to see what you do with prompt number #5 “i can’t believe i married you” with geraskier please!! i feel like geralt would say this when jaskier is being silly and ridiculous but also jaskier would use it when geralt gives him only one good morning kiss instead of two lol. but only if you have time!!!! 💖✨💖✨
Jaskier is still half-asleep as he shuffles to the fridge, his eyes bleary and unfocused after a late night of composing. Hoping for a few slices of last night’s leftover pizza, he opens the fridge, only to let out a little shriek of surprise when he finds a pair of bulbous eyes staring back at him.
“Geralt!” he yelps. “What the fresh fuck is in our fridge?”
His witcher appears in the doorway, already dressed and ready for the day. “A drowner head.”
“Right, good,” Jaskier says. “Let me rephrase. Why the fuck is it in our fridge?”
“It didn’t fit in the freezer.”
“Geralt!”
Geralt’s lips twitch. “Its brains are useful for potions. I’m going to harvest them later.”
“Not in our kitchen, you’re not.”
“Would you prefer the bedroom?”
“Geralt, I swear to Melitele, if you get drowner brains on the duvet—” Seeing the grin on Geralt’s face, Jaskier breaks off, scowling. “I cannot believe I married you.”
“Hm. Jask, we’re not married.”
Ah, right. They’ve been together so long, Jaskier forgets that sometimes. Their friends and family are always complaining that they act like an old married couple anyway. “And if you keep putting drowner heads in the fridge, we won’t be!”
Geralt comes to press a kiss to Jaskier’s forehead. “Go take a shower and I’ll make coffee and deal with the drowner.”
“You’ll make the coffee before you touch drowner brains, right? Avoid cross-contamination?”
“Drowner brains are good for you. Protein.”
Jaskier huffs and turns on his heel to leave the kitchen. “I want a divorce.”
“Again, not married.”
Jaskier starts up the stairs, calling over his shoulder, “Then we should get married just so I can divorce you.”
“Okay.”
“Okay!” Jaskier makes it to the top of the stairs, then pauses, registering what they just said, and turns around. “Geralt?”
From downstairs, there’s the rumble of Geralt’s answering hum. “Hm?”
“Did we just get engaged?”
“I think that’s traditionally what comes before marriage and divorce.”
Jaskier hurries back down the stairs so fast that he nearly trips over his own two feet. He finds Geralt standing right where he left him in front of the fridge. “Do you really want to get married?”
Geralt looks at him like he’s started singing in gnomish. “Sure.”
“Sure?” Jaskier lets out an exasperated laugh. “Geralt, my love, this is one of those things where I’m going to need an unequivocal yes or no from you.”
Geralt leans against the front of the fridge, frowning slightly. “I never thought you wanted to get married.”
“What?” Jaskier is bewildered. “When did I say that?”
“Back when you were dating Vespula.”
“Geralt, I was twenty-two when I dated Vespula! That was nearly a decade ago! Of course I didn’t want to get married.” Jaskier throws his arms around Geralt’s neck. “I never thought you wanted to get married. All that witchers walk alone bullshit.”
Geralt’s lips twitch. “I think that ship has sailed by now, Jask. I think it sailed about five minutes after we met.”
“Well yes, probably,” Jaskier says. “So, Geralt, will you marry me?”
“Seems like a lot of trouble to go through just so you can divorce me over drowner brains.”
“Darling, you should know by now that it’s going to take more than drowner brains to get rid of me. I told you when we first moved in together and I’ll tell you now, you’re stuck with me.”
“Romantic.”
“You know you love it.”
Geralt’s eyes crinkle as he smiles, pressing a kiss to the tip of Jaskier’s nose. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The few times Jaskier has pictured proposing to Geralt, he’s imagined grand gestures: singing a love song in front of a crowded stadium of fans, holding a sign as he jumped out a plane, a moonlight boat ride and a four-string quartet. But standing with Geralt in the kitchen, still in his boxers with a drowner’s head in their fridge, somehow feels more right than any of those fantasies.
They just hold each other for a moment before Jaskier pulls away. “Want to go get breakfast to celebrate?”
Geralt’s eyes are soft with fondness as he watches him. “Did you propose just for an excuse to go get pancakes and mimosas?”
“Like I need an excuse to get pancakes and mimosas.” Jaskier is smiling stupidly. “Let me go get showered. I can be ready in twenty minutes.”
“See you in an hour.” 
“Har.” Jaskier turns and hurries up the steps. In the bathroom, he draws back the shower curtain, slapping a hand over his mouth to stifle his shriek at what he finds inside. “Geralt!”
“What?” Geralt calls from downstairs.
“What the fuck is in our shower?”
“Oh,” Geralt says. “That’s the rest of the drowner.”
“Excellent. Just so you know, I’ve changed my mind about that divorce!”
***
Tag list: @kueble @mollymawkwrites @feral-jaskier @geraltrogerericduhautebellegarde @dawnofbards @thisislisa @tsukiwolf42 @mosaicscale @rockysstupidity @fontegagrilledcheese @kuripon @help-i-need-a-cool-username @julek @flowercrown-bard @eveljerome
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sagesolsticewrites · 2 years
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“i can’t keep kissing strangers, pretending they’re you.” | Austin!Elvis x fem!reader
12 years ago, Elvis chose his career over you. What happens when he shows up at your door asking for a second chance?
a/n: this is entirely based on a dialogue prompt I saw from @twelvegods: “I can’t keep kissing strangers, pretending they’re you.” apparently it was a really good prompt because it inspired all 8,735 words of this lol. I I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it <3 Thank you all again so so so much for 500 followers!!
Word count: 8.7k
Warnings: a couple swear words, lots of angst in the first half, Y/N has trust issues oops, I think that's it? As always, please let me know if I missed anything!
Please like/rb if you enjoyed! 🤍
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“I’m gonna marry you someday.”
That’s what Elvis Presley had said to you when he was just 20 years old and his career was starting to take off, thanks in large part (as Elvis said) to the Colonel. And you, being the young girl in love that you were, believed him.
What a fool you were.
You managed to stay together for another year before the Colonel, his claws digging into Elvis’s heart and soul to bleed all the green he could out of him, managed to convince him that appearing single would be what was best for his career— he had to let all those screaming girls believe they had a chance with him, after all.
“Baby please,” Elvis pleaded, “this is for my career. I promise it won’t be for long. We’ll get back together, you’ll see.”
You shook your head, “No, Elvis. I’m not gonna sit around waiting for you like some damsel in distress. If you want me, keep me. But otherwise…”
You paused, waiting for him to say something. Begging, pleading, praying he would say something, that you had managed to change his mind.
When he said nothing, you exploded.
You had screamed and cried, and he had screamed and cried, and you had taken your things that had made their way into his room in Graceland and stormed out of his life for good, only pausing to give him one final sincere “I love you” before you walked out the door.
The last image you had of him (that wasn’t on a tv screen or poster) was of him standing in the foyer in Graceland, tears streaming down his face, refusing to chase after you.
You hoped that time would eventually heal your wounded heart, but apparently whoever said time heals all wounds was a fucking idiot because it was now just over a decade later and you were still as in love with Elvis Presley as you had been when you were one of the only girls in the world who knew his name.
He, evidently, didn’t feel the same.
That much was clear, at least, based on the way he was still overly flirtatious with his audience in his shows, not to mention the rumors about relationships with his movie co-stars. In his shows, before he went off to Germany, he had taken to stepping down into the audience and kissing practically every woman in the room. That alone cleared any remaining doubts from your mind that he still thought about you in any capacity, despite that little voice in the back of your head that still held out some futile, desperate hope.
You’re about to curl up on the couch with some tea and your copy of Anne of Green Gables — exactly what you need on a rainy day like today — when someone knocks on your door.
“You expecting anyone, Y/N?” your friend Annie calls from the hall. You had been living with her for about 5 years down in Louisiana, after the memories in Memphis had become too much, and you loved it.
“Nope,” You call back, wondering who on earth would be knocking on doors in this weather. “If it’s one of those door-to-door salesmen, slam it in his face again.” You suggest with a laugh.
“Will do,” comes her reply, and you can hear the smile in her voice.
You turn you attention back to your book as the door opens, and nearly spill your tea all over yourself as you hear a sultry drawl you hadn’t heard in person in over a decade.
“Hi Annie… is Y/N here?”
There’s a moment of silence where you’re sure Annie is as stunned as you are, then:
“Maybe,” she replies curtly, “What do ya want?”
Annie knew the whole story of you and Elvis, and she had sworn that she’d never let you get hurt like that ever again.
“Please, Annie, I just wanna talk to her.”
“And why should I let you? You’ve got a lotta nerve comin’ here after what you did—“
You’re not sure what prompts you to set your book and mug down and sigh “Annie, just let him in,” but you’re just as surprised as Annie is that you did.
She reluctantly steps aside to let him in, eyeing him warily the entire time.
Your eyes drink him in; this is the first time you’re seeing him in person in over 12 years, and your mind automatically catalogs the differences since you last saw him. He’s tanned, with a few more freckles, a result of the California sun, no doubt, and tinted glasses hide his eyes. His burgundy suit is soaked, and his hair, which was no doubt carefully styled before, now flops onto his forehead, dripping into his eyes.
He takes off his sunglasses, revealing tired blue eyes. From the way his eyes track along your body, he was drinking you in the same way you had done him.
There’s a beat of silence, then his eyes finally meet yours.
“Hi,” he says softly.
You maintain a straight face, unwilling to be taken in so easily.
“What do you want?” you ask, your voice cold. You want nothing more than to rush into his arms, but you remind yourself: he chose his career over you, and never looked back.
“I fired the Colonel,” he blurts, after several moments of trying to figure out what to say.
“About time,” you snort, dropping your serious demeanor for a split second, “but what does that have to do with me?”
“I made a mistake, Y/N. A lotta mistakes, really, but letting you go was the biggest one I ever made in my life. I missed you so, so much, and I—“
You cut him off, “Elvis, cut the shit. You made it very clear you moved on from me.”
“Y/N, I never stopped thinkin’ about you, I promise.”
“Sure, and was that before or after you kissed every girl in the audience at the end of every damn show?”
“Y/N, I—“ he starts, frustrated, then takes a deep breath. He starts again, calmer, softer, “I know how that looks. But I… I can’t keep kissing strangers, pretending they’re you.” He looks earnestly into your eyes.
You feel your cracked heart melt just a little at his words, and yet…
“I don’t…” you sigh, “I don’t believe you. You put your career before me over a decade ago, and I tried to move on, but I couldn’t when I was seeing your face and hearing your voice everywhere, and it hurt like hell. And now you walk back in here, tell me you just made a mistake, and… what? Expect me to take you back just like that?”
“Please, Y/N,” he says, an echo of his plea back when he broke your heart for the first time, “I know I messed up bad, but… it’s you. It’s always been you, with those girls in the audience, even with Ann-Margret… I was always thinkin’ about you. And I’m willin’ to do whatever I have to to fix this. Anything. I mean it.”
And you can see the conviction in his eyes, like he’s that little boy again who believed he was Captain Marvel Jr. and could fly his family out of poverty to the Rock of Eternity. You know in your bones that he’d buy you the moon if it meant he could love you again.
But you’d made the mistake of believing his promises before.
“Elvis, I don’t know if I can trust you. How do I know you won’t drop me when your next manager thinks that’d be ‘what’s best for your career’?”
He winces as you throw the Colonel’s words from all those years ago back in his face. “I know I ruined any kind of trust you had in me that day, and I can’t tell you enough how goddamn sorry I am, Y/N. But I’m not askin’ for you to forgive me right now, I just want a chance to try and fix this. That’s all, I swear.”
He waits as you process his words, practically holding his breath as you think of how to reply.
“I’ll think about it,” you say softly.
He nods. “That’s all I’m askin’ for, sw— Y/N,” he fumbles to avoid using the old pet name for you.
“I think you should go now,” you say, your voice cold again to hide how the almost-pet name brought a storm of feelings rushing back..
“Right, um..” he fumbles around in his pocket, producing a scrap of paper with a phone number scrawled on it, “Gimme a call, if you want? I’ve gotta head back to Memphis in a couple days, that’ll probably be the easiest way to reach me if you, uh, decide anything.”
“Okay,” you nod, glancing at it quickly before stuffing it in your pocket. The number was for Graceland’s house phone; a number you’d never forgotten for a second, not that you’d be telling Elvis that.
“Well, um… bye Y/N, Annie,” he nods as he moves past your roommate towards the door. He pauses, hesitating for a moment before turning back to you. “You look good, Y/N,” he says softly before heading back out into the downpour.
The “you, too” you whisper in reply is lost in the sound of rain hitting the pavement outside.
The enormity of everything that had just transpired suddenly hits you and you fall back onto the couch, tears welling up in your eyes.
Annie rushes over, concerned. You look up as she fusses over you.
“Was that… did that actually just happen?”
Annie nods, “Yeah, it did, honey. I can scarcely believe it myself.”
“Did I do the right thing?” You wring your hands, suddenly second-guessing every decision you made during the interaction with Elvis.
“I know I’ve always said that I’d punch him in his smug face if he ever showed up here after what he did to you,” Annie says, “But I see the way you look at him when he shows up on the TV, and that ain’t the look of someone who’s just angry at an ex. You’re still in love with him, honey, I know it, and I feel like a fresh start is what both of you need. I don’t mean to overstep,” she drawls, “But if I can give you some advice: just start over as friends. Don’t jump back into a relationship right away. Try to make it organic. A clean slate.”
“A clean slate,” you echo, processing her words.
You mull over what to do for a few days, worst and best-case scenarios swirling around your brain, and eventually dial Graceland. Your foot taps anxiously as you lean against the wall by the phone, listening to it ring.
“Hullo?” A raspy voice comes over the receiver.
“Hi, Elvis,” you say, trying your best to sound casual, “It’s, uh, it’s Y/N.”
“Oh, hey,” he stammers, sounding less like the confident King of Rock and Roll superstar and more like the shy little kid you’d grown up with, “Uh, how are you?”
“I’m alright.” You reply, “Look, I did some thinking about what you said and, well… I’ve got a couple questions before I decide anything.”
“Sure, yeah, what is it?”
“Well, first of all… why now?”
“Huh?”
You sigh, “It’s been over 10 years, Elvis. What made you come back now? What made you fire the Colonel after all this time?”
“Well, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t very happy with the movies the Colonel was signing me up for. And then he planned this whole silly special for NBC…” he sighs, “I’ve been lost ever since I lost Mama— before that, even, when I lost—“ he cuts himself off with an awkward cough, “uh, anyway; he wasn’t helping. And I finally realized that he didn’t really care what I wanted to do. It was all about profit for him,” he says quietly. He goes on to explain hiring Binder and Bones to help with the special, to “find himself” again, and the realization he’d had that he hadn’t truly felt like himself since he’d left you.
“Hm,” is your only response at first, trying to shove down the warmth growing in your chest. “Well, um… thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome. I want you to know, Y/N… you can trust me. I know I ruined that back then, but I’d really like a chance to try and rebuild it with you if I can.”
“I think I’d like that, too.” You say after a moment of silence. “Look, Elvis, I… I don’t think it would be a good idea, if we’re gonna do this, to pick up right where we left off. We need a… a clean slate. So what if we started over as friends?” You fidget with the phone cord as you await his reply.
There are several moments of silence, and you're wondering if something happened with the call before his raspy drawl comes over the phone once more.
“I’d love to be your friend again, Y/N.”
A wave of relief floods your body, and you smile. You think for a moment before speaking again, saying hesitantly, “I’m coming up to visit for Mama’s birthday next weekend, and… maybe we could see each other then? That would be a ‘friend’ thing to do, right?”
“Yeah, I’d… I’d really like that.”
“Great, well,” you worry your bottom lip between your teeth, “I’ll just give you a call when I’m back home and we can figure everything out then?”
“Whatever works for you is fine with me,” he assures you, “I’m lookin’ forward to it.”
“Me, too,” you say softly, allowing a tiny bit of the warmth you felt earlier to creep back. “I’ll see you next weekend, then.”
“See you then,” he says and with a click, the phone is back to humming a dial tone.
You’re buzzing with anticipation for the next week, not only excited to see your family but also to see Elvis.
“Y/N!” Your mother rushes out as you pull into the driveway of your family’s Memphis home, “My baby’s home!”
“Happy birthday, Mama,” you smile as she rushes up to give you a hug, squeezing you tight.
“Thank you, darlin’. Come inside, honey, come in!” she insists, grabbing your suitcase from you despite your protests.
“Honey!” she calls to your father as she leads you into your childhood home, “Look who’s finally decided to come for a visit!”
“Mama, I was just here for Easter,” you remind her as you head to the living room to greet your father. “Hi Daddy,” you smile as he pulls you in for a hug.
“Good to see you, sweetheart,” he says, “Louisiana treatin’ you well?”
You nod, “Mhm. Everyone’s real nice, and Annie’s always lookin’ out for me.”
You fill your parents in on life in Louisiana, and in return they (your mother, mostly) regale you with all the Memphis gossip you’ve missed. Apparently the young couple next door had a baby recently, another young couple in town just got married, and oh yes, Elvis came back fr—
“Mary Ann, you know I don’t like talkin’ about that boy!” your father exclaims, cutting your mother off.
“Well, I don’t know what you want me to do, Walter,” your mother retorts, “It’s not as if we can pretend he doesn’t exist, not when he’s such a big part of this town…”
As you listen to your parents bicker, you decide that now might as well be as good a time as any to bring up your new friendship.
“Actually, Mama,” you interrupt their bickering, “I’m gonna try and meet up with Elvis while I’m in town this weekend…”
Your father’s expression flickers between confusion and anger at your words, while your mother’s morphs into one of delight.
“Oh honey, that’s wonderful!” She exclaims, “Though I admit, I thought you’d’ve at least called to tell us you got back together—“
“Mama!” You cut her off, heat flooding your face, “We’re not back together, I promise,” you add with a glance over to your father. “He showed up at our place last week, we had a talk, and we’re gonna try to be friends again.”
“Well I’m glad to see the two of you are startin’ over, honey,” your mother says with a smile
“I still don’t trust that boy,” your father grumbles. “Just… be careful, alright?”
You nod, “Of course, you know I always am, Daddy.”
”When were you two planning on meeting up?” your mother asks.
You shrug, “We haven’t figured out the details yet. I was gonna call him today to sort everything out.”
”Well you should invite him over for dinner while you’re in town.” your mother suggests, with just a hint of a mischievous sparkle in her eye, ignoring your father’s clear alarm at the suggestion.
You groan. “Mama, no, he really doesn’t need to come for dinner—“
”Y/N L/N, inviting a friend over for dinner is a polite thing to do,” your mother scolds, “and in this house we are always…?”
“Polite and respectful,” you mumble, repeating the words that had been drilled into you in childhood.
She nods, satisfied. ”It’s settled then. You two will have your little meetup and then he can come over for dinner that night, or the next if it suits him.”
”Yes, Mama,” you say, resigned. “I’ll go call him now.”
You make your way over to the kitchen, dialing the number you’ve had memorized for over 12 years.
“Hello?” The same raspy voice comes over the receiver.
”Hey, it’s um, it’s me. Y/N.”
”Oh, hey. Um, how are ya?”
”I’m alright. I’m back in town now, and Mama’s bein’… well, Mama, so you can imagine.” you say with a soft laugh.
”Oh, I can imagine,” he agrees, and you can hear the smile in his voice. “How was the drive up?”
The two of you make small talk for a bit, slowly easing back into being a part of each other’s lives, and eventually you remember the reason you called. “Oh, yeah, by the way; I was calling to see if there was a day or time that worked for you as far as meeting up this weekend?”
”Oh, yeah.” You can hear some rustling on his end, and you assume he’s checking his schedule. “I’m actually free this afternoon around 1 if that works? Or tomorrow?”
You weren’t prepared to see him quite so soon, but you suppose now is better than putting it off until tomorrow. “This afternoon is perfect. You still like that diner on Beale Street, right?”
He hums an affirmative, and you smile, “Great, I’ll meet you there at 1, then.”
”I’ll see you then,” and the line clicks back to a dial tone.
You head back to the living room, entering to see your parents doing a wonderfully poor job of pretending as though they weren’t listening to your conversation. You roll your eyes.
”I assume you already heard, but Elvis and I are meeting for lunch at 1, just as friends, Mama,” you say pointedly, noting the beam on your mother’s face. “I’ll ask him about dinner then.”
Your father harrumphs, but mainly keeps silent, a firm frown on his face.
”That’s wonderful, honey,” your mother beams, “You’ve gotta get goin’ pretty soon then, huh?”
“Huh?” You glance over at the clock on the mantle and sure enough, it’s already 15 past noon and you still haven’t changed out of the outfit you wore for the 6-hour drive up to Memphis. You grab your suitcase and race to make yourself presentable, managing to change into a dress that seems nice enough for a lunch outing (but not too fancy), fix your windswept hair, and reapply your makeup in a cool 30 minutes before racing out the door.
Before you can make it out to the porch, though, your father stops you, calling your name as you’re about to step out the door. You turn, “Yes, Daddy?”
He has a solemn look on his face. “Just… be careful, darlin’. You know me, I hold grudges like no one else, and I admit I still haven’t forgiven him for what he did to you all those years ago. If you let him in, and he hurts you again somehow I… I don’t know what I’d do.”
You step back into the room and envelop him in a hug. “Thank you for looking out for me, Daddy. I’ll be careful, I promise. I’m not the same girl I was when I met him.” You add with a sad smile.
He squeezes your hand comfortingly, “I know you’ll be smart. If he does anything, you come right to me and I’ll sort him out, alright?” You nod and, satisfied, he kindly shoos you out the door with a soft “Go on, have fun.”
You pull up to the diner to find that Elvis is already there, if the deep purple Cadillac parked nearby is any indication.
He waves from a booth near the back as you enter, his bodyguards seated at a table nearby. You slide into the seat across from him, pushing down the butterflies that threaten to stir. It might’ve been a bad idea to choose the place you went on your first date, you realize belatedly, but too late now.
“How are you?” he asks with a casual smile.
“Pretty good,” you reply, “My parents have been updating me on all the Memphis gossip I’ve missed since I was away, very exciting stuff,” you say sarcastically. “Mama says hi, by the way.”
“Tell her I say hi back,” he grins.
“Will do. Uh, how are you?” You say, trying to fall back into the rhythm of talking to him.
“I’m alright. There’s this big thing I’m gonna be workin’ on soon, I’m pretty excited for it.”
“Oh, big thing?” You ask, your interest piqued.
“It’s a…” he pauses, looking around, “no one really knows about it yet, so you gotta promise not to tell anyone, alright?”
You nod, and he continues, leaning in to whisper, “You remember that special I told you about, the one that Steve and Bones are helpin’ me with? It’s gonna be a TV special for NBC. A Christmas show, kinda.”
“Kinda?”
“Well, it’ll have a couple of Christmas songs, but I really want it to be about finding myself again. Gettin’ back to the real Elvis.”
“Sounds exciting,” you reply, a genuine smile coming across your face at how excited he seems.
A starstruck waitress comes to take your order, and the conversation continues.
“So,” Elvis says, “how are you doin’ in Louisiana?”
“I actually really like it there,” you reply, smiling. “Annie’s great, obviously, and I found a job at a bookstore that I really love, things are goin’ pretty well. I do have the occasional grumpy customer, but that’s just how it is.” You finish with a shrug.
“Grumpy customer? Sounds like you’ve got some stories to tell,” he says, sounding genuinely interested, and you can’t help but launch into the story of a man who was sure that Stranger in a Strange Land was in the nonfiction section no matter how many times you tried to lead him over to science fiction.
You finally fall back into a rhythm of friendly conversation, trading stories for over an hour before you finally bring up what your mother had asked.
“Oh by the way,” you say, sipping your milkshake, “Mama wanted me to invite you to dinner tomorrow night.”
Elvis nearly chokes on the fry he’s just taken a bite of. “Sorry, what?”
“I told my parents that we were meeting up and she was adamant that I at the very least invite you to come over for dinner tomorrow— you know how she is about politeness—“ you explain, “but I promise, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I completely understand, I’d be more than happy to make up an excuse for you.”
“And refuse an invitation from Mrs. L/N? It’s like you want her to kill me,” he jokes. “I’d be more than happy to come,” he says, in a more sincere tone. “Besides, friends come over for dinner right?”
“Of course,” you say, trying to reassure yourself as much as him, “and Mama’s very excited to see you, so be prepared for that.”
“I always am,” he replies with a smile.
You arrange for him to come over at 7 the next night, and the rest of lunch goes smoothly until the check arrives, which starts off a round of bickering between the two of you about who should pay.
“Please let me get this, I want this to be a start to making it up to you,” Elvis argues.
“I appreciate it but I’m perfectly capable of paying for lunch, thank you very much,” you retort, and this goes on for several minutes before the two of you eventually agree to split the check.
“It was good to see you, Y/N,” Elvis says as you exit the diner, his bodyguards dutifully on alert as they follow you out.
“You, too.” You say. “I…” I didn’t realize just how much I missed you, is what you want to say, but instead, you go with “I had a good time.”
His face lights up as if those 5 little words were all he needed to brighten his day. He steps towards the Cadillac, throwing a friendly wave to you as he calls “See you tomorrow!”
You wave back, and you don’t realize how happy you are until your cheeks start to ache from smiling on the drive home.
The next day, your mother is practically frantic, bustling around the house making sure everything is perfect for when Elvis gets here.
“Mama, it’s not like it’s the first time he’s ever been here! And we’re just friends, please try to remember that.”
“Alright, alright, I know, honey. I just think it’s nice that you two are spending time together again, that’s—“
The doorbell rings, and your mother jumps into action, plucking microscopic bits of lint from your dress before hurrying to the door and opening it with a polite smile.
Elvis stands on your porch, bearing a polite smile and a bouquet of lilacs. “Hello, Mrs. L/N.”
“Hello, Elvis!” Your mother beams, “It’s wonderful to see you again. And you brought Y/N flowers, how sweet!” She looks pointedly at you.
Elvis lets out a nervous laugh as he steps into the house, “Actually, Mrs. L/N, these are for you. A birthday gift.” He holds out the bouquet to her with a shy smile, looking remarkably like the shy boy he had been back in ‘51 when you first became friends.
“That’s very kind of you, thank you dear. Wasn’t that kind of him, Walter?”
“Very kind,” your father grumbles in a tone that makes it seem as though Elvis had brought a pile of mud as a gift. He nods a greeting, “Hello, Elvis. California’s treatin’ you well, I hear.”
“Uh, yes, sir, it is. Thank you.” he replies.
When your father doesn’t respond, Elvis turns his attention to you. “Hi, Y/N.”
“Hi,” you reply, resisting the urge to fuss with your dress.
The awkward silence that follows is broken as your mother ushers everyone to the dining room, arranged so she and your father are at the heads of the table while you and Elvis are sitting across from one another.
The meal begins, and the conversation that follows is strained but polite, with your mother eagerly asking questions about life in California and Hollywood and Elvis answering modestly then turning the conversation back to your family, remaining the picture of a Southern gentleman. The conversation remains polite apart from your father’s not-so-subtle grumbling about Elvis running off the California, and just when you think it can’t get any worse, he decides to bring up the rumors of Elvis’s womanizing.
“So, Elvis,” your father says casually, though his eyes remain calculating, “what’s all this I hear about you and… what’s that actress’s name, Ann-Margret? Or have you moved on to someone new by now?”
You feel your face flush, and you’re sure the mortification shows on your face as you hiss for your father to stop, please.
“Oh well sir, that’s really all just the tabloids tryin’ to get their stuff to sell, there’s no truth to that at all, I promise. Ann-Margret is a good friend of mine now, though.” Elvis answers politely, unfazed as your mother quietly scolds your father.
“Walter, quit it, you’re scarin’ the boy!”
“Well good, he should be scared after what he did to my little girl!”
“Dad!” you exclaim, mortified, “We talked about this! We’re friends now, you promised you’d be polite!”
“No, it’s alright, Y/N,” Elvis assures you, briefly breaking eye contact with your father to glance over at you, “He’s just lookin’ out for you like any father would, and I respect you for that, sir.”
Your father grunts a reply, and the conversation picks up again, still polite but even more strained than before.
Elvis remains as polite as ever, even offering to take care of the dishes — “Oh I can get those plates for ya, don’t you worry Mrs. L/N” — and despite your determination for a clean slate, your mind betrays you, reminding you of how shy and overly polite he was the first few times he was over for dinner, especially after the two of you first got together. Sure, he’s gotten a little more confident, which you’ll admit is kind of attractive, but— NO.
You firmly cut off that train of thought, no matter how badly that little voice in the back of your head (the one that practically melted at the sight of him at your door with a bouquet, reminiscent of your first date) wants to keep on track. Just friends, clean slate, you remind yourself.
After the dishes are done, your mother prepares coffee for everyone and the four of you head to the living room. At one point, Elvis gets up to get a refill, and your father follows him.
Your father approaches Elvis once it’s clear that neither you nor your mother will be getting up, and corners him.
“Now Elvis, I’m gonna try to be polite, because my daughter’s told me you two are tryin’ to be friends and I respect her wishes, but I don’t trust you after what you did to her. And if I get even a hint that you’re playin’ with her feelings, well… I’m afraid that won’t end well for ya, son.”
Elvis nods quickly, “Sir I promise you, I have no intentions of playing with your daughter’s feelings. She’s very dear to me, and I swear I’d do anything to make sure she’s happy.” He says, conviction clear in his eyes.
Your father eyes Elvis for several long moments and, apparently satisfied, returns to the living room with more coffee for you and your mother.
Elvis takes a breath to compose himself — he’s forgotten how scary your father could be when he wanted to — and exits the kitchen, re-entering as you’re laughing at some comment your mother made.
You turn as he enters with a wide smile on your face, and he’s suddenly slammed back to a time where you looked at him like that every time he entered a room— when you looked at him as though he’d hung the moon and stars just for you.
Fighting the urge to rush over and kiss you senseless — that’s not something a friend would do, he reminds himself — he moves to sit in the armchair across from you, turning his attention to whatever neighbor your mother is gossiping about tonight.
The night eventually winds to a close and Elvis thanks your parents profusely for “a wonderful meal and even better company.”
Your mother waves off the compliment modestly, “Oh it was nothin’ darling. We’ll be glad to have you back anytime. Y/N, why don’t you walk our guest out while we take care of these last few things?” she says, gesturing to the coffee mugs still sitting out.
Elvis gives one last wave to your parents, wishing them well, before stepping out to the porch with you.
“Well, my parents loved you,” you tease as the two of you make your way to the pink Cadillac looking more than slightly out of place in your modest gravel driveway.
He lets out a shy laugh, “They haven’t changed a bit, that’s for sure. Your daddy’s still as protective as ever.” His tone softens as he continues, “It was nice seein’ them again. ‘Specially your mama. She’s always been better to me than I deserve.”
Acting on impulse, you lean over and squeeze his hand as you remember his own mama isn’t waiting for him at home anymore. “You’re welcome over anytime. I mean it.”
“Thank you,” he replies in a near whisper. Your hand stays clasped with his, the warmth of him tempting you closer, and his gaze drifts slowly down to your lips before the two of you snap back to yourselves and create a respectable two feet of distance between you.
“Uh, anyway,” you attempt to continue the conversation, refusing to acknowledge that moment of… whatever that was, “Are you gonna be here for a while longer?”
He shakes his head, “I’m actually gonna be leaving for California again tomorrow.” he says almost apologetically, adding with a nod to the house, “But I’ll still be able to call ya for a bit, right?”
A frown crosses your face as you remember: “I’m actually headin’ back to Louisiana tomorrow. But,” you brighten, “I can give you my number for down there if you want?”
“I’d love that,” Elvis smiles.
You rummage around in your pockets for anything you can scribble on, producing some long-forgotten shopping list and a small pen. You scrawl your phone number down and hand it to him, determinedly not noticing the sparks you feel as your fingers brush.
“I’ll call ya every night,” he says as he stuffs it in his pocket, “I’ll need ya to keep me updated on all the Louisiana gossip, hm?”
A sad smile crosses your face at the memory of the last time he’d made a promise like that. Despite all your talk of a clean slate, you can’t help but remind him, “Let’s not make promises you can’t keep, Elvis.”
You give him one last wave, wish him goodnight, and walk back inside, his pleas of “What? No, Y/N, this ain’t gonna be like that!” falling on deaf ears.
You put on a brave face for your parents the next day, joking about what a coincidence it was that both you and Elvis happened to be leaving town on the same day, but behind closed doors, you’re unable to block the memories of the last time he had promised he’d call you every night: when he went along with the Colonel on Hank Snow’s tour.
1955
“I’ll be back in time for prom, darlin’, I promise,” Elvis reassures you over the phone. “I’ll bring you a corsage, we’ll have a great time.”
“Okay,” you reply, “I’m sorry, I know I must sound silly, but I’m just really lookin’ forward to going with you.”
“That’s not silly,” he assures you with a soft laugh, “I’m lookin’ forward to it, t—“ he cuts off, and you can barely make out what sounds like a knock on the door on his end of the line. “That’ll be Scotty again, no doubt.” he groans good-naturedly. There’s some shuffling as he makes his way over, yanking the door open with a “Scotty, how many times do I have to tell ya—“
“Elvis?” you say, concerned at how he cuts off mid-sentence, “Is everything alright?”
There’s a moment of silence, after which he stammers out a response.
“I, uh… I gotta go, I’ll call ya back, darlin’, alright?”
He doesn’t bother to wait for an answer before hanging up, but in the split second before it goes to a dial tone you can just make out a woman’s sultry voice over the receiver.
1968 - Present Day
He had still called after that, but not as frequently; certainly not every day like he promised. And while you forgave what happened on tour, you had never quite forgotten what him being away for a stretch of time could mean.
Still. Clean slate. Maybe this time could be different, you reasoned, though you were barely convincing yourself at this point.
You head back to Louisiana, promising your parents you’ll visit again soon and that you’ll give them a call as soon as you get home. You stumble through the door of your little house, exhausted after the 6-hour drive. Annie rushes over to hug you.
“Hey honey! Good to have ya home,” she grins, taking your suitcase from you, “I’ve got lunch for ya, you go sit down. I’ll put this in your room. And then I wanna hear all about how that li’l meetup went,” she adds with a wink, gently shoving you towards the kitchen while she heads down the hall.
You smile as you enter the kitchen to see a little card with the words “Welcome Home” in Annie’s signature scrawl next to a plate on the counter. You take a bite of the sandwich waiting for you — grilled cheese, Annie’s specialty — and finally allow yourself to relax. At that moment, Annie slides in with a mischievous grin, plopping herself down on the stool next to you.
“So…” she leads, a sparkle in her eye. “How was it?”
“It was good,” you reply, purposefully misinterpreting her question, “We took Mama out for dinner and I made her a cake—”
Annie cuts you off with a playful swat to your arm, “Not that! Elvis,” she says, dragging out the ‘s’ longer than necessary.
You roll your eyes, “Fine! It was… fine. We met up for lunch at this old diner we used to go to, we talked… Mama had me invite him over for dinner, and he brought flowers for her” you say pointedly, noticing the gleam in her eyes. “It went well, all things considered. Daddy did have some things to say, he still hasn’t quite forgiven him for what he did, but Elvis was a real gentleman the whole time. He actually went back to California today, filming somethin’ for TV, but he said he wants to keep in touch.”
“That’s great, honey!” Annie squeals, “I’m glad y’all are doin’ well.”
You give a weak smile in return. “Yeah, he said he’s gonna call every day, but…”
“Oh…” Annie’s eyes soften in understanding, recalling what you had told her about your relationship before. “Y/N, I know it might be scary, but what if it’s different this time? What if he actually keeps his promise? He’s said he wants to work on trust with you again, right? This is the perfect opportunity for him to prove to you that he’s worth trusting. And if he doesn’t,” she adds in a lighter tone, “I’ll fly out to California and sock him right in his pretty face myself.”
“I know you will,” you laugh, “but you’re right, I’ll—“
You’re cut off as the phone rings, and you lock eyes with Annie. It can’t be him already, can it? No, it’s probably your parents calling to make sure you made it home safely, you reason as you move to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Y/N,” the heavy drawl surprises you, and you nearly miss what Elvis says next, “I’m glad I caught you, I was callin’ a bit ago and got quite a tellin’ off from Annie sayin’ that you weren’t there yet.”
At that you turn to glare at Annie, who only gives you a smug, mischievous smirk in return.
“Yeah, I just got in maybe twenty minutes ago,” you reply, the shock slowly fading into a kind of warmth as his voice washes over you.
“How was the drive?”
“Long,” you say with a laugh, “I’m glad to be home now. How’s California?”
“‘S alright,” he replies, “I just got back from finalizing some stuff with Steve for filming tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah,” you recall your conversation from a few days ago, “The Christmas special, right? Or,” you correct yourself, “the not-entirely-Christmas special.”
“Exactly,” he laughs, “I’m actually pretty excited about it.”
“That’s good,” you smile, “I hope everything goes well.”
“Thank you, Y/N,” he says sincerely. “But anyway, enough about me. How are you?”
“Well, Annie had one of her famous grilled cheeses waiting for me when I got here so I’d say we’re off to a pretty good start. Tomorrow’s an inventory day at work, though, not nearly as exciting as filming a special for NBC.”
He sucks in a breath in sympathy, “I remember you never liked those days. Good luck with that,” he says, “and I’ll tell ya what: I’ll make sure to tell you all about the boring parts of filming so ya don’t get too jealous, how ‘bout that?” he teases
“Sounds perfect,” you laugh.
You don’t even notice the time flying by as the conversation continues, the two of you talking about everything and nothing, and you fall into a rhythm of talking for hours every night. Slowly, the nagging fear you feel that today’s the day he won’t call starts to fade, and you look forward to your nightly chats where you fill him in on any interesting customers and he tells you about the goofs he made that day during filming.
“I’m not kiddin’, I legitimately forgot the words!” he laughs.
Your only reply is to laugh even harder at the image of him surrounded by cameras forgetting the words to Heartbreak Hotel.
“Alright, come on, it ain’t that funny,” he says in a mock-hurt tone.
“Oh, I promise it is,” you say, wiping a tear from the corner of your eye, “I might need you to send me a copy or whatever of these goofs, I haven’t laughed this hard in ages.”
“I’ll see if I can arrange that for ya…” he replies, his voice trailing off as he seemingly turns away from the receiver for some reason.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just someone at the door,” he assures you, “Gimme one second.”
There’s some shuffling as he makes his way to the door, and your surprise at the thought of him carrying the phone with him across the room turns into a sinking feeling in your stomach as you hear the squeak of a door open and the muffled sounds of a woman’s voice. Your heart sinks as the memory of that day on his tour starts to play again in your mind, a cacophony of not again, I knew this would happen, I shouldn’t have trusted him filling your ears.
“-N? Y/N, you there?” You slowly blink back to reality as Elvis calls your name over the receiver, “Everything alright?”
“Y-yeah,” you reply hesitantly as he dives into an explanation about some crazy fan sneaking past security to his room. He pauses, picking up on the uncertainty in your voice.
“Y/N… you can talk to me, you know that, right? What’s wrong?” he says softly, and he sounds so genuine you want to cry.
“It’s… it’s silly…” you reply, embarrassed at the thought of telling him that that memory from all this years ago still haunts you.
“You don’t have to tell me, but I’d really like to know if I can help,” he replies patiently.
You sigh, and launch into an explanation of that night back in ‘55. “You just hung up on me, and the last thing I heard was some woman’s voice, and I didn’t realize how much that hurt me until I started worrying about who you were with whenever you were gone for a long time.” You explain softly, nervously fiddling with the phone cord.
“So just now, when you heard that girl at my door…” he sighs, realization dawning on him, “that brought all that back, didn’t it? I’m sorry, Y/N.” He says, and the sincerity of his words does bring tears to your eyes this time.
“I’m alright, I promise,” you reassure him, “surprised you turned her down,” you tease, wanting to move on.
“I don’t do that kinda thing anymore,” he laughs, picking up on your attempt to move to another topic, “besides, why would I stop to talk to some stranger who thinks they know everything about me when I could talk to you?”
Your heart flutters at the compliment, and you hope he can’t tell how much you’re blushing over the phone, “Aw, you’re sweet.”
There’s a moment of silence; not an awkward one, but comfortable, like the two of you don’t need to talk to enjoy each other’s company, even if it’s just on the phone. The moment is cut short, however, as Elvis speaks up again.
“I was thinkin’— and you’re free to say no, of course— well, Steve’s organizing this screening of the special before it airs. Right now it’s just Steve, Bones, Dad, Jerry, and me, but I’d like you to be there, too. Maybe get an opinion from someone who’s not family or paid to be nice to me.” He jokes.
“I’d love to,” you reply, “I’ll have to see if I can get off work, but if I can I’ll absolutely be there. And don’t worry, I’ll be brutally honest about the whole thing,” you add teasingly.
“I’m countin’ on it.” He laughs, “I’ll call once Steve has the day arranged and hopefully you can make it.”
The date Steve apparently figures out is November 19, two weeks before the special is actually set to air. Elvis relays to you that he’s arranged to do the screening at Graceland, and luckily you manage to convince your boss to give you both that day and the following day off for the long drive. Your parents are delighted to see you, of course, and you just barely miss the knowing smile on your mother’s face as you gush about how well your friendship with Elvis is going. Your father has warmed up to him the slightest bit, it seems, since your visit back in June, if the fact that he doesn’t scowl at every mention of Elvis’s name is any indication.
You take a deep breath as you pull up to Graceland. You force down the surfacing memories from the last time you were here, when Elvis officially put his career before you. Clean. Slate. you forcefully remind yourself as you step up to the front door.
The door swings open barely half a second after you ring the doorbell, and you find Elvis standing there, a nervous smile on his face.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
There’s a moment where the two of you simply stare at each other before he blinks, as if coming back to his senses, and steps aside to let you in. “Come on in, lemme introduce you to everybody,” he says, leading you to a room with not one, not two, but three TVs mounted into the wall, as one of his household staff comes to take your coat. 4 spaces on the immense couch taking up most of the space in the room are taken, one by his father and three others by people you don’t recognize. “This is Jerry, my manager,” Elvis says, gesturing to a man in a brown suit who looked to be in his late-20s with shaggy blondish hair, “and Steve and Bones, the masterminds behind this whole thing,” he introduces the two men sitting beside Jerry with a smile, one with neat brown hair and an ascot tied around his neck, the other with dark curly hair and round glasses. The three men give you various waves and smiles.
“And of course you know my dad,” Elvis finishes, gesturing to where he’s sitting next to Bones.
“Of course, hi Mr. Presley,” you say with a smile, coming over to shake his hand.
“Good to see you again, Y/N, how’ve ya been?” he asks as you take a seat next to him.
You’re hyperaware of Elvis sitting next to you as you make small talk with everyone, carefully leaning so that there’s a bit of distance between the two of you. As the screening begins, your attention is torn between the performance onscreen and real-life Elvis making jokes in your ear about “this is actually the take right after that goof I told you about—“ Your senses are full of him: the scent of his cologne, his arm brushing against yours, the feeling of his breath on your neck as he whispers to you, and it takes more and more of your energy to actually focus on the TVs in front of you.
About half an hour into the special, you excuse yourself and wander out to the hall, needing a break from the proximity. You don’t realize Elvis followed you out until his hand gently wraps around your wrist, making you jump.
“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were alright” he explains, releasing you.
“I’m fine,” you assure him, “just… needed a break.”
“It was that bad?” he jokes, “Damn, I’ll have to let Steve know.”
You shake your head, “No, no, it’s not that, it’s…” You hesitate, unsure if you should say what the real reason is. Your friendship is going so well, you’re not sure how he’ll react if you admit that your feelings for him were back in full force, that in truth they never really left.
“What is it?” he asks, concern in his eyes.
You take a deep breath, deciding it’s now or never.
“I’m in love with you. I never really stopped being in love with you, if I’m being honest. But being with you these past few months, being your friend again… I’ve loved it. I’ve loved talking with you on the phone for hours about everything and nothing, seeing you talk with my parents like nothing’s changed, and I… I wanna try again. For real this time.” You bite your lip, nervously gauging his reaction.
“You— you mean that?” Elvis asks softly, eyes wide.
“Yes,” you reply, “I mean it.”
“Y/N, I’d… I’d love that. I promise,” he says sincerely, “I’ll do it right this time. I’ll be the man you deserve.” He steps closer, his lips now just a breath away from yours. “Can I—“ his eyes flick from looking into yours down to your lips, “I really wanna kiss you right now.” he breathes.
You nod your consent, and he swoops down to capture your lips with his, one hand cupping your cheek while the other grips your waist, pulling you close. Your arms wind around his neck up into his hair, mussing the carefully styled locks as you savor the feeling of his lips velvet-soft against yours. He walks you backward until you’re pressed against the wall, his lips never leaving yours as his body presses against you. Eventually the need for air gets the better of you, and he reluctantly pulls away, keeping his forehead and nose pressed to yours as if he can’t bear to be any farther away. His blue eyes lock with yours as you catch your breath.
“I missed you so much,” he breathes, lips brushing against yours, and the amount of love clear in those 5 little words brings tears to your eyes.
“I missed you, too,” you reply softly, a smile spreading across your face.
The two of you stay like that for a while, pressed against the wall of the hallway, before Elvis mumbles “As much as I’d love to just stay here with you forever, we should probably get back before they notice we’re gone.”
“Oh, right,” you laugh sheepishly as you remember the reason you were there in the first place.
The two of you slip back into the TV room, your absence seemingly having gone unnoticed, and assume the spaces you had occupied before you left, with one small difference: your hand is intertwined with his throughout the rest of the screening.
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goldrushenthusiast · 7 months
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The Hunger Games characters have some unique names based on many cultures we've lived in today.
What's your favourite character names from THG world? What's their names meaning?
Bonus questions :
If you're a fanfic writer writing about characters who lives in Panem, what's their name gonna be?
If you're a reader, what's a name you read in a THG fanfic that stuck with you?
Thank you, @curiousnonny
Got to be Sejanus. By far who his name is based off of and who is is just…perfect.
Copied straight from the Wikipedia page, the very first paragraph;
“Lucius Aelius Sejanus (c. 20 BC – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (/sɪˈdʒeɪnəs/),[1] was a Roman soldier, friend, and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian Guard (the Roman imperial bodyguard), of which he was commander from AD 14 until his execution for treason in AD 31.”
Like ok come on now Suzanne at least make me have something more to interpret!!
What’s interesting about him though is the fact that he is district born, and as we see in Katniss, Gale, Primrose, Madge, Mayfair, Carine (Katniss’ mom), Rue, Delly, and any non career district, district kids typically have fairly normal names or names related to their districts (Reaper the farming name from D11, Coral & Mizzen, sea & ship names from d4). While their names still have something to do with their character, they make more sense with district kids and are less obvious (will explain later).
However, with Sejanus, he was born in district two. His parents were from district two. Strabo even can be related to Strabo’s character but that’s for later.
Sure, it can be argued that district two is a career district, but Katniss & Coriolanus’ accounts together hint that this process took decades to be sure of and to really benefit from. District two would be a bit better off after the first revolution, but not much.
I just find it funny it’s so clear with Sejanus what he was always meant to be.
Strabo’s name is a bit more a stretch, but Strabo was an Ancient Greek geographer. He was mostly known for being, and I quote;
“historian whose Geography is the only extant work covering the whole range of peoples and countries known to both Greeks and Romans during the reign of Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE)”
He specialized in geography. District two is full of mountains (that Ma loves), and he literally moved his whole family. As I said, a bit of a stretch, but still there’s SOMETHING there.
Even the family’s last name, Plinth, means a heavy base supporting a statue or vase. Every part of Sejanus’ name includes some type of support, and it’s so apparent with just one google search. I love it, and we know so much about his character so it’s easier to make these inferences than it will be with the Ring Twins or Remus Dolittle, yet I will. This answer might have to be two parts lol.
Now onto other characters that we know just a bit better: Tigris, Persephone, Iphigenia, Vipsania, Arachne, and saving last for last, Coriolanus.
Firstly; Tigris! Tigris was the easternmost river out of two that defined Mesopotamia, one of (or maybe the) the earliest civilizations/cultures, dating back to 14,000 BC as the time period when people originally started settling. Because I’m not here to give a history lesson I’m not gonna explain the importance of a river to a civilization, but I went through 6th grade geography and suffice to say she was important as hell.
Tigris was believed to have been created by the God Enki, the Sumerian god of knowledge, crafts, and creation among other things. Tigris is continually proven to be resourceful, creative, and gives very much DIY girlie vibes, which sound a lot like Enki.
As I said before, the Mesopotamian region was one of the first civilizations. Many have theorized that mankind as we know it wouldn’t exist without Mesopotamia, and what would Mesopotamia not exist without? Tigris.
Tigris provided opportunities for the Mesopotamian region (Coriolanus) to grow, get stronger, become innovative, and provided for them. If that doesn’t scream Tigris I don’t know what does.
Now, Persephone! My favorite capital names are the ones from Greek mythology (I am a Percy Jackson fan page) or ancient mythology, because it’s less work to find connecting factors. Honestly I had no clue who Sejanus was, I just googled his name, and my mom is a Shakespeare fan which is how I know Coriolanus.
Anywho, for y’all who are normal, Persephone was the daughter of the farming/harvest goddess who was kidnapped by the death god. All versions of this myth agree on that. Some say that it was part of a deal with Zeus that Hades (the death god) knew about, but Demeter (farming/harvest goddess) didn’t. Of course these are definitely a very simple and quick way to describe Hades & Demeter, but it gets my point across.
The funny thing is, we don’t know much about Persephone in canon. I don’t know if Suzanne did this on purpose like she clearly did with Sejanus, but I find it interesting that whenever Persephone Price is brought up, so is cannibalism.
See, Nero Price, Persephone dad and Coriolanus was the main example that Coriolanus used to show how bad things were during the war. Coriolanus and Tigris saw him one snowy evening sawing off the leg of a maid with a large knife, wrapping it in the skirt from her waist, and going on his way. It makes Coriolanus question if he could ever be seen as edible, which is kinda funny to me lowkey, but the whole scene is on page 31-32.
Persephone. She is literally torn between the harvest (farmers food & stuff) and the underworld, the realm of the dead. Part of her myth is she stays there for 3 months and in the realm of the living for the other 9 because she ATE 3,pomegranate seeds. She ate something she wasn’t supposed to. Let me also mention, in different versions of the myth she wanted to leave or didn’t. When Festus and Persephone are getting close, Coriolanus questions if Persephone ever knew what was on her plate.
Now Iphigenia!! If y’all didn’t remember Persephone, I doubt yall will remember Iphigenia, as I only did combing the list of names Coriolanus had for interesting ones and finding her. She’s a very minor character- we don’t know much about her hobbies or likes and dislikes or her personality. But I’ll get to TBOSAS Iphigenia in a second.
I’m sure of y’all at least know the Trojan war. If anyone studied it specifically, you probably know Agamemnon. Here’s the paragraph explaining the story from Wikipedia;
“In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting and killing one of Artemis' sacred stags. She retaliates by preventing the Greek troops from reaching Troy unless Agamemnon kills his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, at Aulis as a human sacrifice. In some versions, Iphigenia dies at Aulis, and in others, Artemis rescues her.”
You’re probably wondering, “wow, what could such a minor character have to do with that tale?”
When I say we get very little from her, I mean it. I don’t mean we get very little from her in the same way as I do when talking about Festus, or any other classmates. We know she doesn’t know if district 5 girl’s (her tribute’s) name is Sol or Sal (it’s Sol).
There’s one piece of information on her that stands out though. I’m going to paraphrase Coriolanus on page 252 when I say this- “her father oversaw food stuff in Panem, but she always looked almost malnourished. Clemensia had once said it was the only revenge she could take on her father but didn’t give any other details,”
boy oh boy. Because of this one, small little paragraph, Iphigenia has always interested me. When Clemensia doesn’t give any other details, she means it. NO details appear afterwards and Iphigenia is maybe mentioned once ever again. Trust me, I know. Every time I reread TBOSAS I look for different things, which is part of the reason I reread it sm.
We never know why Iphigenia takes revenge. We never know anything about her relationship with her father. There are so many possibilities (abuse, Iphigenia the rebel, etc), and considering her namesake’s issues with her father it’s just crazy the amount of detail Suzanne put into such a minor character.
Next, Vipsania- there’s actually not much I can say about her, I just thought it was a funny coincidence this is what came up when I googled her;
“Vipsania Agrippina (/ˌæɡrəˈpaɪnə, -ˈpiː-/; 36 BC – 20 AD) was the first wife of the Emperor Tiberius.”
Two things- first, recognize what emperor she married? Yep! Tiberius- aka the emperor Sejanus was a friend and confident of. I think Suzanne might’ve gone down a Tiberius rabbit hole, because her last is familiar as well- Professor Agrippina. She was the gym teacher, and Sejanus’ mentor. This little circle of names and relations is just funny to me is all, although there’s not much on VA in history or much to say about Vipsania.
Arachne!!! Gosh I love her. Well, I love how plain the connection is between her character in TBOSAS and her character in mythology. Really she’s pretty disrespectful and a jerk in both lol.
In Greek mythology, Arachne is a woman-turned spider, the first spider. Arachne believed she could win a weaving competition against Athena, goddess of crafts, because of how beautiful her work was and how much everyone complimented her.
Athena, hearing this hubris, disguised herself as an old woman and told Arachne not to boast like that. Arachne then challenged Athena, and told the old woman the only reason Athena hadn’t gone against her herself was she was too scared.
Of course Athena then revealed herself, and they battled. Athena’s weaver thing showed the Greek gods doing good stuff, Arachne’s showed the gods in their most unfavorable aspects. Due to this disrespect, and in some versions because it was better (tho I personally don’t believe that), Athena turned Arachne into a spider so she could weave forever.
The pride?? The taunting until it becomes serious?? The permanent change?? The rage that prompted the act?? Arachne as Arachne is the most perfect name on here, because who else would she be?? Another great one of Suzanne’s names. Genius.
Before we get to the last name, Coriolanus himself, let me point out I have no district people on here. Let this show just how interesting Strabo & Sejanus’ names are.
Finally!! The last one!! Coriolanus.
Coriolanus is actually quite disappointing compared to Sejanus or Arachne, but there’s still something here so I’m going to paste the Wikipedia on Coriolanus, the man Shakespeare based his play after & what happened in the play.
“Coriolanus is the name given to a Roman general after his military feats against the Volscians at Corioli. Following his success he seeks to be consul, but his disdain for the plebeians and the mutual hostility of the tribunes lead to his banishment from Rome. In exile, he presents himself to the Volscians, then leads them against Rome. After he relents and agrees to a peace with Rome, he is killed by his previous Volscian allies”
Now, unlike many of these other characters, Coriolanus’ relationship to his namesake mirrors his relationship to another character (Lucy Gray) more than his personality.
Coriolanus wants to be with Lucy Gray, but eventually due to his hatred of the districts and love of the capital, he ends up turning against her. He starts out wanting to help her, yet his own disgust only ends up hurting him.
Coriolanus is eventually killed by his former allies, what he’s created. That’s what happens in the original hunger games series. When Coin does the faked bomb drop, everyone he worked so hard to make love him turn against him quickly. He revolutionized the capital and they turned against him.
He almost changed his own feelings about district people and it ended up almost taking his life and career.
Help I forgot there was another part to the question 😭. Anywho if I was gonna write some, I’d probably just use random names or if I had a really good and accurate name (or totally opposite name) from mythology or a poem or something I’d use that and make it correspond to the character.
This is embarrassing, but a lot of the names from crimson rivers, a hunger games/marauders au stuck with me! Nothing specific, but anything that wasn’t a marauders character always made me go “huh! I like that!”
In conclusion though, Suzanne is a genius. As I said, I might have to reblog this later with more names if I ever think of any. This is probably my most researched answer, due to all the mythology and Wikipedia searches I had to do, so sorry that it took longer! Usually I just remember things and explain them lol.
Thank you for the question @curiousnonny, and as always, feel free to debate in the comments/reblogs but please don’t argue. I always enjoy answering and dissecting questions, so anyone feel free to ask!
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Before you complain about the picture: I asked people to send in better pictures of Grif and Simmons and NOBODY DID
Submission message for Janis: Mean Girls  - Janis + Person who submitted Janis here. Yes, I meant the movie. The whole time it is implied she's a lesbian only for her to end up with a dude lol
Submission message for Grif and Simmons: Hi! I’m submitting Grif and Simmons from Red vs. Blue. I think they’re the worst personally because I’ve spent a third of my life being queerbaited by someone’s fucking halo ocs.
Additional propaganda: Meanwhile Janis from Mean Girls IS queerbaiting:
    She’s presented as a lesbian throughout the film
    She gets very emotionally attached to girls and tries to sabotage them after they ‘betray’ her and become more interested in boys/popularity (Regina in the past, Cady during the film)
    Proudly declares herself a “big lesbo” to half the school during her trust-fall scene
    Wears a suit to Prom and kisses her gay best friend Damien, they both show complete disgust afterwards
    But in the LITERAL LAST SCENE OF THE FILM, she’s shown dating a guy and kissing him.
((I also haven’t seen the musical yet, so I can’t comment there))
Vote Janis, she’s the only right answer.
this ain't enough information about Grif and Simmons; these two are literally the intro character for the entire series. The first conversation they had became a running joke and repeating theme to the point that, years later, it was used in a dramatic moment so Grif could identify Simmons while fight an evil look-alike. When one of them got injured, the other donated various body parts, including skin and organs, and then became a cyborg, thus having the metaphor of "becoming part of each other" and "you have my heart". They still bicker constantly and and trade insults. They've been glued at the hip for more than a decade. The one time they were split up, it was treated like a devastating divorce, with one of them using the line "I quit you". They then both proceeded to have mutual pining and emotional withdrawl from being apart because they're just THAT codependent. They've been forced to share living space, and immediately devolved into having old-married-couple situations. During a planet-wide sex party, they fooled around in a closet, everybody knows this happened, but they refuse to fully acknowledge it. The VA for Grif even plainly stated that "Grif is in love with Simmons". Simmons once mentioned that he and Grif carved their initials into a tree. When we see the "inner worlds" of their minds, Grif's is almost empty except for a tiny Simmons that runs around to annoy him, and Simmons imagines a Grif that has to do whatever he says, but STILL insults him because Grif can't stop being Grif.They had a talk show together and even called themselves their ship-name "Grimmons". They've been having one long conversation for 2 decades. They're slow-burning like a tire fire. They're married, but they'll never properly get together. IT'S BEEN 2 DECADES
Let's not forget Tucker's actually-in-the-show commentary when he's spying on them over the radio of "I've only been listening to them for five minutes but I can tell they're really in love. Why can't they see it?”
It's literally been two decades.
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tezzbot · 8 days
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Okay.. so... fairly long post under the cut with the sort of background to my Sonic Underground AU!! If anyone's interested fjdgv I have thought about it a Lot lol
So basically, The background is that Eggman has definitely been up to shit since before Sonic was born lol and one of his sort of things when he I guess started out in villainy ? was he started trying to claim land and take over so that he could build his cities and theme parks and factories and what have you and rule over everything. So, after claiming some untouched land he started attacking “Mobian'' settlements, (not sure whether to stick with Mobian or what but the word gets my point across so I’m using it now sfgdh) and I guess started working his way up until he found Christmas Island, which is the small Kingdom Aleena ruled over at the time. This caused the Kingdom to fight back and started a war with Robotnik. However. Obviously the warzone was no place to be raising the Very recently born heirs to the throne (the three who would grow up to be Sonia Sonic and Manic, they might’ve had different names back then lol) and so Aleena with a Very heavy heart sent the three Far away, they had them sent to a dinky little orphanage in a fairly distant zone, intending to pick them back up when the war was over.
Unfortunately, Very early on in the triplet’s stay at the orphanage, when they were still practically babies, an unfortunate cot placement led to Manic being kidnapped sometime in the dead of night (don’t ask why they did it I just think it’s funny love and light). He was taken to a nearby city, and somehow managed to endear himself to Ferral, the leader of one of the larger sort of crime rings active there. This is where he learned to get by and live and thrive, little crime family they love each other and rag on each other so much smile smile smile.
Sonic stayed in the orphanage a lot longer than Manic, but doesn’t really remember his time there all that much. As soon as Sonic figured out how to, he ran. Ran as fast and as far as he was able. Ran until he had no idea how to get back. But he'd not a guilt on his conscience. He was free, for the first time felt truly free. He learned how to survive on his own and met a little two tailed fox cub and his life played out pretty much exactly the same as it does in the main line continuity :)
Sonia is the only one of the three who has any memory of staying in the orphanage and was the only one to leave there by regular means dgfhfg. At about five years old, she was one of a few girls from across the continent to be chosen to attend and live at an all girls school where they would grow into proper ladies™, being taught etiquette and manners and so on. She managed a fairly cushy lifestyle here but was never truly happy there. She obviously has her besties like Mindy, but it always felt far too restrictive and (figuratively) cold. So while she does do well there, she is slightly prone to getting in trouble and feels kind of belittled and invisible among her peers at times
So in the triplet’s maybe 3rd year? The war on Christmas Island ended and the Mobians were unfortunately forced to go into hiding. Aleena made it out and went into her own hiding in the form of laying low in a residential area in a nearby city, and attempted to blend in there for a few years before making the trip to finally reunite with her children. Unfortunately by the time she gets there, all three are gone :( Even though the orphanage may know where Sonia is, she feels as though she has failed all three as their mother and wouldn't be able to face any of them (despite the fact they're like. 6 year olds lol), and so retreats back to her city home.
Until, over a decade later, Aleena sees the world renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog that she hears so much about, (maybe he’s just saved that part of the city from a badnik attack or something like that) and there is just… something about him that is so uncannily like her Bernie… His heroism and humility right down to his mannerisms, the being blue also adds to the effect. And… Aleena is not one to get her hopes up, but the chance of this being one of her missing children after all these years…
Then I’m thinking maybe, she is wearing the equivalent of the three medallions and, maybe as she gets closer to Sonic one of them has some sort of magical reaction ? or something I’m not actually sure. But something DOES confirm to Aleena that This is one of her kids oh my god!! And he’s just like his (other) mother… Aleena gets overwhelmed and ends up not talking to him. Sonic maybe notices someone in a long flowy jacket running away from the crowd, but gets distracted by the many other thankful citizens around him to really take note of it lol
This is when Aleena writes her letter to Sonic. She looks him up, tries very hard to find out where he lives. Ultimately coming up with nothing she’s like IS MY BOY HOMELESS?? But then what comes up eventually is a plethora of small garages and laboratories under the name Dr. Miles Prower and is like Oh! An apprentice maybe :) lol and so she rolls the dice and chooses one of those locations at random and hopes her message gets to him soon.
This is just the leadup to what would be the "main plot" of the AU and I do have more for it!! So if this like. Text based way of explaining my ideas is alright I can share more from the google doc if ppl are interested!! And maybe I'll doodle some stuff for it here n there who know (seems likely tho lol)
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synthhorror · 1 year
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I am here to knock on your door and peer inside for any Sister Diana and Bellamy info, because this is my fave AU now. I am very greedy and wish to know more (also Secondo being a girl dad, MY HEART)
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Not only is Papa Emeritus Secondo a girl dad, but Bellamy also has two very evil satanic cardinals for uncles that watch very R-rated horror movies with her when they babysit. Don't worry, Copia always fast-forwards through the really bad parts, despite Terzo saying "she already knows about that stuff". Bellamy loves horror movies (and spending time with them), but C still got her that rat plushy for when she spends the night- which she named Lumaconi.
Lol so this response got super plot-driven, which is why it took ages to finish, I’m so sorry about that! This is going to focus mostly on how Secondo met Sister Diana when he was a Cardinal under Primo’s papacy, the ‘ghuleh’ that haunts the mortuary, and baby Bellamy. I really wish I could have rendered these, but I just didn't have the time unfortunately 😞
TW: This gets spicy. There are mentions of sex and suggestive imagery, but nothing explicit. Also TONS of angst. Mentions of death and blood. 
Thank you so much for your ask. Your support means the world to me! Enjoy 🖤
Diana was taken in as an orphan by the church as a young teen. Despite her unknown family history, she quickly grew accustomed to her new home at the ministry. She met Eliza when she began training to take her official vows. Their relationship started out as mentor and mentee but grew into a friendship once Diana had taken her final vows. Despite there being a bit of an age gap, they quickly became very close. Diana would often pull some of Eliza’s darkness out of her, encouraging her to “have some fun”, while Eliza was more the voice of reason. After Primo and Eliza married, you better believe Diana’s teasing was relentless, and even more so when Eliza was made Prime Mover. Though this came to bite Diana in the ass when she started eyeing Primo’s first younger brother, much to Eliza’s delight.
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Primo seemed to ascend from a Cardinal to Papa in the blink of an eye, taking Eliza as his Prime Mover and promoting Secondo to a Cardinal. Secondo was of course no less lively decades ago than he is now. His reputation among the siblings of sin and even to a few outside followers/ connections with the church was nothing short of promicuous. While he continued to appreciate the pleasures of the flesh and substance, Secondo was perhaps lesser known to be quite active within the dark arts. His nose was either in a grimoire or a porn mag, no in between. 
Diana had taken her place overseeing the mortuary of the church, having a fascination with the dead and the dark powers that collect the soul as they are taken to Hell. When Secondo happened to find himself drifting towards the art of necromancy, the mortuary was the first place he looked for “research materials”. The first night Secondo met her, Sister Diana had been sewing a newly dead sibling back together after she had embalmed them and performed the ceremonial ritual to send off their soul. This hauntingly gorgeous sister, clad in a white, bat-like Cornette, with a cold gaze that would often unsettle other siblings of sin, lifted her eyes to him, and allowed the corners of her full lips to curl in a small, but controlled smile. There was no shyness or intimidation on her face by the sight of Cardinal Emeritus II, like so many siblings often had. She moved like a ghost around her table, silent, floating like a flower petal. You could say it was Asmodeus himself who brought them together, consuming them with the delightful sin of lust. 
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Diana was charmed by his demanding presence and intense stare, and her odd serenity and striking beauty enamored Secondo. It was suppose to just be a one time thing. One night turned into two, and then a month later Secondo was having her sit on his lap while sipped on scotch, her hands resting on his chest as music served as pleasant background noise for them to enjoy eachother’s bodies tol. Then they were driving with the top down through the night lit streets of LA, and he got to see her hair whip around her face, free from her habit, as they went club to club; drinking, laughing, fucking. Next thing he knew Secondo awoke one morning to a spare toothbrush in his bathroom and spare clothing having found a permanent residence in his quarters. What shocked him more so was that he didn’t seem to mind.
At first, Secondo assumed these many shared nights were what caused him to find himself coming back to her time and time again. It was only natural, to bond with someone, it had been a year at this point after all. But what he would never admit to himself, was that the long, deep conversations he would find himself sharing with her within the private walls of his quarters, late at night, made him feel connected to someone else in a way he’d never been before. No, seeing the same lust within her for both carnal explorations and for knowlege of the dark arts that he shared himself was not at all attractive to him. Waking up to her presence in his bed, wearing his shirt, sharing his warmth vulnerably, showing her trust in him despite being reserved and isolate to nearly everyone else, did not melt his heart in the slightest. 
Sister Diana challenged him as an equal intellectually. Secondo knew of Diana’s unwavering nature, her own ambitions and independence, yet she allowed him to hold her. To lead her in a dance. To keep his hand on the small of her back as they walked. She willingly submitted her body to him, as he did to her too, behdind closed doors. 
He loved the way she would look at his younger brother Cardinal Emeritus III, not with carnal desire like some of the other siblings, but she would rather toy with him and match his own advances in a playful manner. Not once did Sister Diana look at anyone else like she looked at him, and only he would ever know that.
All that being said, Secondo has never, and may never be exclusive to anyone, as monogamy was never something he was drawn to in his life. Thankfully Diana felt the same way about her own sexuality. They silently understood this between eachother, despite never actually having a real conversation about it. Still, they would sit in the library for hours as they studied together. She would come up to the quarters of the high clergymen and massage his shoulders as he finished paper work. He would come down to the morgue to bring her coffee and food when she would be working nights. There was no denying their love for eachother.
Their meetings fell into a comfortable routine. So you can image how it confused Secondo when Sister Diana wasn’t in the mortuary at the time she usually was every other day. How it started to make his brow crease when he couldn’t find her anywhere else in the church. The Cardinal found her in the very last place he chose to look for her in. Perhaps if he had gone to her room first, things would have been different. Perhaps he wouldn’d have found her lifeless body, mutilated and pale, blood already beginning to dry upon her skin and the carpet as she layed on her bedroom floor. 
I briefly mention this scene in one of my one shots, “Child of Her Grave”, but of course I’m slightly changing how it goes already lol. But anyway, the family was in shambles to say the least.
Secondo had come to Primo in a daze. He didn’t know how long he stayed by her body, completely shell-shocked at the sight until he decided to knock on his brother’s door at 2 in the morning. The unlit halls of the church disguised her blood that now stained his cheek and clothing. He simply told Primo that Sister Diana had been killed, unable to utter anything more. 
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Her death occured on the same day that an incredibly important ritual needed to be performed. It had only been hours after Secondo told Papa Primo that he was now faced with having to tell his Prime Mover that her best friend had been murdured over night. 
The combination of seeing his brother struggling to process finding his lover’s body, and holding Eliza against him as sobs racked her body, was the most torturous thing Primo had ever experienced. But they were left with no time to process their grief.
The higher clergy, along with Sister Imperator, were adamant with Papa Primo that the ritual not be delayed simply because of one sibling’s funeral. But when Papa didn’t come when he was summoned for the ritual, several Bishops stormed his quarters in anger and frustration at the delay of the incredibly time-sensitive ceremony that still needed hours of prep work before dawn. Primo was considered one of the more patient Papas that was very difficult to truly anger, yet he didn’t feel an ounce of remorse as he killed one of the Bishops for daring to raise his voice while Eliza was shaking violently against his chest.
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Her burial ceremony was quiet. Secondo sat by her grave afterward and refused to move. It broke Primo’s heart that he wasn’t able to attend with Eliza and his brother. He got there as soon as he could, heading straight to his cardinal. He had been aware of his relationship with Sister Diana, it had been obvious to Papa that the year they spent together has made his brother close to her, even if Secondo himself refused to admit it. He could only imagine his pain. Someone was standing over his brother- who he barely registered, thinking it was their father Nihil deciding to be present. Primo was not prepared to see the wrath of Satan in his brother’s eyes. He should have known then that Second Emeritus was planning something in his silent anguish, but Primo found a brief sense of relief knowing the Old One was with him when he couldn’t be.
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The ritual had required Carinal Emeritus III and Cardinal Copia to be in attendance of course. The roles of the two satanic princes of the church had been flipped. Terzo was the one now wringing his hands and stuttering over his words. Both of them wanted to be with Secondo, but Copia sent him off before they left the offices of the higher clergymen. It was important that at least one of them was there.
Terzo felt his heart hammer in his chest as his legs carried him across the cemetery.Even when they were boys, Terzo had never seen Secondo cry. His brother was always so stoic. Secondo took everything in stride and grace, and demanded nothing but authority in every situation. But when he reached his destination, Terzo stared at a man that was just as lifeless as the bodies six feet under them. 
He was almost afraid to touch him. He didn’t want to upset his brother further, but Terzo couldn’t bring himself to leave either. The younger brother’s throat tightened and he stood rigid- but soon eased himself beside his superior dark Eminence, sitting on the painfully cold metal bench that faced her grave.
He held his breath for Secondo to snap and tell him to fuck off, he almost wanted him to, just to have a sign of normalcy from his brother. When that never came, he slipped his arms around him, and just press himself as close as he could, remaining silent. When there was still no reaction from Secondo, he laced his hand in his and squeezed.
 “Ti voglio bene...”
Terzo hated how his voice shook and cracked when he whispered it against Secondo’s shoulder. He needed to get a fucking grip- 
Weakly, Secondo finally squeezed Terzo’s hand back. Oh- Lucifer, he can’t cry. That’s all it took for Terzo to press his face against his brother’s shoulder and hug him tightly. 
Thunder raged in the distance when Terzo’s blinding white eye spotted one of Nihil’s ghouls walking over to Imperator at the top of the stairs to the church's entrance. The sight of dried blood on black fabric made violet lightning split the sky- before an explosive peal broke the silence.
To this day they still don’t know exactly which ghoul murdered her.
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As soon as the moon had cast a blinding glow upon the cemetery did Seconod’s mourning cease. He has been mentally preparing to recite the words of the many grimoires he’d read with Sister Diana, realizing that the dark arts had brought them together for a specific purpose, in this moment, he would raise her from the earth. It needed to be done before the decay of her internal organs began. It was the most demanding casting Secondo had done at that point in his practice. But by the time the moon was at its peak in the sky, Diana rose from her grave, her skin sickly, bones snapping back into place and mending her body where it had been broken. Standing in a horrific sight from the hole she clawed herself out of. Her hand’s blacked and clawed, raw from scratching out of her own casket. Yet she smiled at him like the day he met her.
Now you can really imagine the family’s reaction, seeing the dead sister walking through the halls the following day of her funeral. Sister Imperator seemed especially stunned, for whatever reason. I’ll have to draw some of these reactions later lol.
Thankfully not much changed after that, as Diana kept to herself mostly, her returned presence was not immediately noticed by the rest of the church. The siblings would of course rumor that a ghost haunted the mortuary, with exposed bone and rotting flesh. None of this was true of course. Secondo only noticed she was colder to the touch now, and smelled more like the earth, but her beauty and mind were in tact. He knew why Lucifer brought them together that day with necromancy, and he was now more driven than ever to master the evil forces. 
Nonetheless, Cardinal Secondo and Sister Diana were very happy to be reunited. Bellamy was born just a little over a year after her mother’s resurrection, as physical proof of that rejoined love. 
Currently, in the timeline of this au, Bellamy is now seven years old and Second is now Papa Emeritus II. There will be more content to come with her, I know this response is getting stupidly long lol. For now, I’ll end it with this goof ass doodle of Bellamy’s dedication ceremony to Lucifer and Lilith, actually led by Papa Nihil, who shockingly volunteered to dedicate his granddaughter to the Lords of Hell at the altar. 
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Primo better get a comfortable ass seat in hell for the shit he puts up with.
That’s all for now 💐🖤
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justapigeonn · 8 months
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sorry sorry i'm on a full on dotc ramble rn cause i'm properly reading the arc for the first time but i wanna know why this value was later overturned. it'll probably 'explain' later on in the arc but tall shadow correctly points out that your loved ones are most important and should never be cast aside for 'the greater good of the group', yet the modern clans have such a toxic opposing mindset
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clear sky is very obviously painted in the wrong here so why is it his rhetoric that gets adopted and carried on through generations of cats?? “if you are not useful to the group, you are nothing to us”..... the rhetoric that tore so many cats apart and ruined lives. again the books will probably make up some lame excuse later on but i’m completely stumped here
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also ofc i’m aware that the cruel ableism influencing clear sky’s decision here has been MOSTLY phased out (briarlight, cinderpelt, longtail and brightheart for example are still loved and accepted within their clan, though the 4 of them still struggles with issues of self worth and for a period of time, only feeling as though they are valued if they’re ‘useful’ to the clan, which is incredibly sad and often influenced by their clanmates’ behaviour, even if it’s sometimes unintentional), but this also extends to cats who have been forced to choose between their clans of the cat(s) they love - always frowned upon and shunned if they choose the latter. it’s the same thing i discussed in an earlier post regarding bluestar; how she’s forced to give up and forget every cat she’s loved and lost ‘to save her clan’ because according to goosefeather “her loss is small compared to the fate of her clan”. how this value is framed as an obvious catch by mapleshade as she manipulates crookedstar as he’s forced to watch everyone he loved die around him as he wails to take back his promise.
there are so many mixed messages regarding this value cause despite the agony it caused it was carried on through the clans for decades and is only *just* partially starting to get phased out with the code changes in asc. still baffles me tho. sorry might have gone a bit off tangent there but i had to get my thoughts out lol
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saevus-brutalis · 3 months
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last art this year
was supposed to be for pride month but— ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝓊𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒.
some lore surrounding these two that is too long overdue but 🤷‍♂️
not as detailed and rambly as i’d like it to be, but i’m really burned out and i’m trying to get back to it🧍‍♂️
nevermind it’s pretty rambly lol
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
all the way back in 2038 Vincent and Ray, after dating for around two years, agreed to leave California together on august 21st — Ragan’s birthday; it was supposed to be his birthday gift of sorts, a start of a new chapter, new life;
buuut Vince, being a little shit teenager, got cold feet (in Ray’s eyes, Vince always justified that as being rational) and ditched him last minute, not showing up in their agreed spot, making Ragan leave on his own after hours of waiting.
this caused Ray to despite his own birthdate, it always reminding him of the heartbreak and betrayal. 🧍‍♂️
Vincent has felt guilty ever since, but firmly believed it was the right choice. he was never fit to live a nomadic lifestyle at such a young age.
four decades later their paths cross again and a long healing journey ensues.
so now this date is pretty bittersweet to both of them 🧍‍♂️ but it gets better overtime
basically right person, wrong time
although i think if they did ran away together then, it wouldn’t have ended good at all 🤷‍♂️ with Vince still being pretty immature emotionally, still struggling with some inner personal things (family stuff, internalized homophobia, etc.) and not familiar with the nomadic culture and ways of living. they’d probably get in bad fights more and more as the time would go on, and eventually split. Vince would’ve decided to go back to Night City probably (if he ever would make it back) and they’d never end up back together has they met in the future.
their separation allowed them to grow and mature on their own, in their own familiar environments, experience different things, and after they met again, after all those years, they put their feelings and mutual attraction to the test
and it turned out they still want each other even with all the imperfections 🧍‍♂️(i’m not crying you are) they could lie all they want but their brain chemistry couldn’t. Vincent never loved someone they way he loved Ragan, and Ray never quite felt the same way with anyone else like he felt with Vince. there was always something missing, something not quite right. and while they could tell each other they’re looking for something too far out of their reach, that they’re looking for a too perfect partner, in reality they always just wanted each other 🧍‍♂️
they still have a lot to work on together in their relationship, but now that they’re too old for teenage fights and too tired for heartbreaks, they make compromises and their fights make their bond and their understanding of one another stronger 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️
like we acknowledge that Vince did a shitty thing by ghosting Ray, going no contact and being a puss, too scared to man up, and tell him face to face ‘hey i can’t go, this type of thing ain’t for me’. he didn’t want to acknowledge that, saying that out loud, or even in his mind, would make that real and that scared him. he was definitely a teen who’d rather avoid doing something he wasn’t comfortable with to not experience the uncomfortable feelings altogether. the avoidant type we all know and love 🧍‍♂️
and yet Ray still chose to love him 🧍‍♂️ he’s definitely like ‘this man’s trash but he’s *my* trash’. Vince gets better eventually after Ray finally gets through his thick ass skull.
but also i’m not gonna sit here and say Ragan fixed Vince coz that wasn’t the case 🤷‍♂️ this is not a ‘i’m gonna fix him’ type of situation. Ragan wasn’t and isn’t perfect either, his perspective was kinda askew as well; can’t quite describe it as i haven’t psychoanalyzed him as much as Vincent but they’re both flawed, make mistakes left and right and learn from that (sooner or later) like human beings 🧍‍♂️
but in the end they’re just old men in love
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letsasoiaftogether · 1 year
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Tywin x 2nd Wife!Reader...
IMAGINE being the wife to the Lord of Casterly Rock for the past decade and, despite all your efforts, you haven’t managed to get pregnant/give him an heir. You soon find out that this is because Tywin has been secretly giving you contraceptives - too afraid of losing you as he lost Joanna
Word Count: 3,174
Warning: None??? (slight-ooc Tywin?)
A/N: As I said recently, the fandom needs more Tywin Lannister one shots! SOOO here ya go!!!!!!!!!!! Also, I love me some “secretly soft Tywin” lol I hope you all enjoy it!
(GIF ISNT MINE)
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It was universally acknowledged that the Lord of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, had no intentions of remarrying after the death of Lady Joanna in childbirth. For eight years this was an accepted truth.
Lord Tywin had three children, two who were sons; he didn’t need anymore.
Of course, no one considered what the lion would do if his heir was taken away, likely to never return. No one stopped to think about how Tywin would never show defeat to anyone – especially his childhood friend, Aerys Targaryen.
Ser Jaime Lannister, oldest son and heir to Tywin, became a member of the Mad King’s Kingsguard – a title held for life – in the year 281 after conquest. This was an intentional slight to the then Hand of the King meant to amuse the King and enrage the Hand.
Unfortunately for the realm, the Lord of Casterly Rock who had held the position of hand for nineteen years only reacted publicly to the slight by resigning as Hand (an act that, potentially, caused the events of Robert’s Baratheon to happen instead some other, less deadly course of events). Any other reaction of the lion’s showed a man unbothered by the appointment of his eldest son to the esteemed royal guard.
A further act of the Lord’s indifference was him remarrying a month later to Lady Y/n of House H/N.
You.
You were the last person anyone expected to become Lady of the Rock (beautiful and smart, yes, but mouthy), but over a decade of ruling the Westerlands at Tywin’s side had silenced any complaints on your capabilities to manage a household.
The only problem some still had with you was the fact you hadn’t provided your husband with a new heir to replace Jaime and steal the title of heir from Tyrion.
It wasn’t from lack of trying. No matter how rocky things were in the early days of your marriage, compatibility in the bedroom had never been an issue.
And every Maester that ever examined you swore to you that you were healthy enough to conceive, and yet you had never been with child.
The gods seemed to just…not find you worthy enough to be a mother.
The irony of the entire situation was that Tywin – who should have wanted more children to add to his dynasty and give him an heir he felt was worthy of the name Lannister and the title of Warden of the West, Lord of Casterly Rock – didn’t seem to care if he had a child with you.
“I have three children already. I have no need for anymore.” Tywin had said those words for years. In the beginning, you thought he meant he didn’t want any children from you. Because you weren’t Lady Joanna. As the years went on, and the fondness between you and your husband grew, it became obvious that Tywin simply didn’t desire anymore children to make a fuss about you remaining barren – he had children and then grandchildren. His dynasty was set (which, again, was funny with how often they disappointed him).
He was content in not having a child with you. “I enjoy having you to myself, wife.”
Tywin didn’t seem to realize how deeply it hurt you to not have a child of your own, and it grew increasingly difficult to hide that from him.
Or, he just didn’t care.
Eventually, people stopped mentioning your lack of childbearing directly to you. Instead, it simply added to the whispers about House Lannister to the Westerosi gossip circles.
Life went on.
You continued to do all you could to fall pregnant, and unknown to you, Tywin continued to do all he could to prevent that from happening.
*
“I’m sorry, My Lady.”
You couldn’t meet his gaze, too afraid that you would snap and say something cruel to him. It wasn’t the Maester’s fault that you weren’t with child. It wasn’t his fault you hadn’t given your husband an heir in the ten years you had been married.
“…it could just be too early to tell…”
Tears prickled in your eyes as you fled the room.
No.
It wasn’t too early to tell. You knew you hadn’t conceived a child. Deep down you knew the truth but still you continued with those check-ups every three moons.
You felt obsessed with the idea of having a child, and every time you were told you had failed, the need to get pregnant only grew worse.
It hadn’t always bothered you. Honestly, you appreciated being just a wife. The fact you had Tywin to yourself fulfilled some selfish void inside of you. Who wouldn’t want the ear to (one of) the most powerful men in Westeros? To have his favor and know you were placed above anyone else in matter of importance in his eye…how could you want to bring to life another human who would take his time from you?
And then your sixth wedding anniversary came about.
It was a year after your stepdaughter (and Queen), Cersei, had given birth to her oldest child, Joffrey. Tywin and you had traveled to King’s Landing to visit the Queen, Jaime, and the newly one year-old baby Prince.
Things were fine.
And then Cersei made a toast at dinner about being a wife and a mother, and how “to those who are blessed enough to become mothers,” it was easy to tell which role was more fulfilling in her eyes. And everyone knew it had been a silent jab at you for not being a mother after so many years.
You took her words with a cool smile.
But you had thought about her words every day since then – silently reminding yourself how you were useless to your husband and his House.
Even if Tywin continued to scoff, roll his eyes, and insist otherwise any time you brought it up.
You did your best to hold in your tears of frustration and self-hatred as you fled down the stairs from the Maester’s chambers, clutching your hands to your chest as if that act alone would hold back your hysterics until you were safely back in your own apartments.
Smiling and nodding toward the Lannister cousins, guards, and servants you passed, you barely allowed yourself to breathe even. Every act felt like you would burst into tears at any moment. Something you couldn’t let happen.
The Lady of Casterly Rock, the Lady Wife to Lord Tywin Lannister, would not show brokenness in front of anyone.
You were a lioness. You had spent ten years sharpening your claws. You would not allow your own short comings to pull that all down.
I am a lioness. I am not weak. I will not show any weakness. I…
“Wife,” his cool drawl stopped your stops, your breath rushing out all at once
You had rounded a corner, the stairs to the tower where you and your husband had your private chambers just at the end of the hall, and Tywin was there. Brow raised, wife slipping off his tongue as he stared down at you with his usual look of stoicism written across his handsome face.
“Tywin,” You swallowed down the lump that had begun to form in your throat, your heart hammering away as you tucked your hands behind your back trying to hide how badly they were shaking. Your tongue flickered out, running along your suddenly dry lips as you forced yourself to hold the green of his eyes.
“How is Maester Creylen this morning?” Tywin questioned as he led you over to a stone bench, placed under a window that overlooked the sea below.
Someone else may have been surprised that your husband knew where you had been just now, but it was Tywin. Not only was he acutely aware of (nearly) every goings on in his castle – especially if it involved his Lady Wife – but the check-ups had gone on for four years now, there was no way he wouldn’t have found out about them by now.
Sitting down, you waited for him to seat himself next to you before responding to his inquiry, “Maester Creylen is well, husband. I promise that I was not cruel to him in any way.” You forced a smile, watching your hands as you picked at the skirts of your dress.
He hummed and placed a hand over yours, stopping your movements in silent annoyance. The lion didn’t like your anxious movements; you knew it made him worry that something was wrong, even if he would never outright ask about it. His hand was large, strong, warm, and rough.
Often his touch made you feel safe, but in that moment…in that moment it angered you. Or, perhaps the anger you had for yourself just chose him to lash out at.
“How could I be angry at him?” you grumbled, pulling your hand from his and getting to your feet, too upset to sit any longer (even if you had only sat for half a minute or two). “He isn’t the cause of my shortcomings. My inability to give you a child, even a daughter.”
“Y/n,” Tywin didn’t stand, he sat there just watching you with a look of boredom – of course he would be bored. This wasn’t anything new. How often had he heard you complain about being childless? How often in the last decade had he avoided your company so he didn’t have to listen to you whine?
“No Tywin!” you cried out, your voice echoing as you turned away from him, tears spilling down your cheeks as you looked anywhere but at him. “I…is this my fault? Am I being punished by the gods for not wanting children for so long? Am I being punished for being so difficult when I was a child and making it to where I was so much older than my peers were when I finally married you? Is this my punishment for…for…. something I have done unknowingly?”
Is this your divine punishment, Tywin, for what you’ve done? For the way you’ve always treated Tyrion or for the murders of Rhaegar Targaryen’s children?
You had always done your best to not blame your husband. He had three children; how could he be to blame for you not falling pregnant? But, sometimes, in the cover of night, you found yourself lying awake in bed wondering if it was your fault at all. If you were being punished for your own crimes? Or if you were being punished for the crime of association?
You didn’t hear Tywin stand or approach you, but he was there suddenly grabbing your shoulders and pressing his chest to your back. His hands moved to grab your hands, holding them in front of you as he placed a few kisses to the side of your neck.
“You’re being ridiculous.” Your husband murmured against your skin, his grip tightening as you wiggled – trying to get free. “Enough,” the quick, growled out word only made you angrier.
“Let me go, Tywin.” You demanded, trying to move forward, out of his hold.
You didn’t want to be held by him. You couldn’t stand his touch.
There were too many emotions in your chest – guilt and selfishness and confusion and pain. You wanted to be alone, to cry and scream and break something. You didn’t want him to comfort you. You didn’t want him to tell you everything was fine and that you were overreacting (again).
The lion huffed, truly annoyed now, and in a flash had your back against the wall – held there by his body as his hands pressed into the stone on either side of your head. “Enough, Y/n.” his words were sharp, like how a lion’s jaw would snap shut around the neck of their prey. “There is nothing wrong with you. If you are barren, it does not matter. I do not want nor need another child presently.”
“My Lord,” you began to say with a huff, hoping that using his title and not his given name he would listen to you.
“You have not had a child because I have not allowed it.”
Wh-what?
He had spoken it after shouting your name, silencing you as your body flinched in surprise. Tywin had never yelled at you like that. He only ever shouted when he was pushed too far.
Had you pushed him too far? Had he cared more about the topic of you having his child than you had realized?
There was no time to think as the meaning of his words, softer spoken than your name moments before, began to set in.
I have not allowed it…
He…did not allow it?
Sighing, Tywin stepped away from you and said, “We had no need for a child of our own. I have heirs. Jaime will take over as Lord of Casterly Rock when I am dead. If not him, then one of Cersei’s younger sons. There was never any need for you to give me heirs. That is not why we married.”
“No,” you laughed, coldly “I was only meant to be a plaything for you to show about to try and make the world believe you weren’t bothered by the slights at the hand of the Mad King. I remember, My Lord. My father made me very aware of that in the days leading up to our wedding.” And then Tywin had made the mistake of letting his base urges override his judgement. He fucked you, consummated the marriage, and after that there was no point in attempting to annual the union once the House of the Dragon was defeated and Robert was crowned King.
His green eyes narrowed, and you knew if you were anyone else he would have sent you away with an insult and a warning instead of trying to continue the conversation. “You were a companion, Y/n.”
“A bed warmer.” You corrected, unsure of why you were picking a fight with him about this instead of asking him further about what he had meant about allowing you to fall pregnant.
He scoffed and shook his head, his jaw clenching as he bit back his anger. He was used to your mouthiness and your opinions, of course, but he had only truly enjoyed those things when they were directed at others who weren’t him. “Perhaps you should retire and spend the day resting. We’ll continue this later.”
Tywin turned to leave, a lonely chill settling immediately in your gut at the dismissal.
“Tywin please,” you grabbed his hand as tightly as you could, “Please what…what did you mean by you haven’t allowed me to fall with child? What did you do?”
Had he poisoned you with something that made you barren? Had he instructed Maester Creylen to perform some sort of procedure on you during one of the check ups that made it impossible for you to conceive?
“You are my wife. Mine. I wasn’t going to share you if I didn’t have to.”
“But…I’ve wanted a child for years, Tywin. Why…a baby wouldn’t have taken me from you…”
He laughed and wouldn’t meet your gaze, “Unless you died.” The too was silent but so loud.
I wouldn’t allow it…if I didn’t have to…didn’t have…you die…too
You were crying all over again as you pressed your face into his chest, your hands gripping tightly at the red fabric of his vest. You cried and cried…
In ten years, in all the times you had bothered your Lord Husband about having a child and complained and worried about how you hadn’t fallen pregnant, never once had you stopped to think about Tywin. You hadn’t thought to think about the risks of childbirth, of how you could die and Tywin would have to live through that a second time.
You knew that he already relived Lady Joanna’s death in the back of his head every day. How could you be so selfish to not realize your constant nagging was (most likely) half the reason for Tywin’s constant living nightmare?
“I…couldn’t stand the thought of losing you like I lost her. I didn’t have to risk it. So I refused to.” Tywin whispered to you after pulling you into his arms, holding you tightly and allowing you to cry softly into him.
It was unlike him to be so open with you, but this was the Rock. Anyone there who may have happened upon the two of you would have had the respect enough to look away and pretend the two of you weren’t there.
He had Creylen slip them into your breakfast every morning. It wasn’t moon tea, just a sort of contraceptive that workers in brothels were known to use. At first, Tywin ordered it because he didn’t want you to have a Lannister child – he wasn’t trustful enough of you to allow such a thing, but then the second year of your marriage came about and a fondness for you grew in his chest…
“...and I knew that I would not allow the gods to take you away as well.” Tywin was explaining some time later as the two of you sat in the sitting area of your apartments. You were seated on your husband’s lap, grateful for his gentle touch as he brushed his hands up and down your back,
“Oh darling,” leaning forward, you pressed your lips to his – gently and sweetly, humming as he returned your affection. “The gods may try if they wish, but I will not go so easily.” You laughed, playfully, and brushed a hand over his head, “Who would keep you out of trouble if I abandoned you?”
He laughed, short and quiet, but a laugh, nevertheless.
You fell silent after that, your face pressed into his neck.
Others would have yelled at him, refused to talk to him until he apologized or promised to make it all up to you. But you couldn’t find yourself to do that. Not when you understood why he had done it. Even if his methods were wrong and hurtful. Unlike most of his actions toward others, Tywin hadn’t done this to be cruel. He had simply…been trying to save his own heart.
How could you fault him for that?
“I do want a child of my own, My Lord.” You had to tell him. It wasn’t something you were going to easily forget about just because he had shared his concerns about the matter. “I know the risks, and I swear to you that I am strong enough to overcome them. But I deserve to be a mother, my love, even if it’s only to one child.”
You weren’t too old to give birth. Really, having heard the horror stories of women both older and younger than you, it was safer for someone your age to have a child than it was a woman-child or someone a decade older.
Tywin was silent for a long few minutes before nodding, stiffly, “I will think on it.”
It wasn’t a yes, but it was the closest you had gotten in ten years and for now, it was enough.
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aheathen-conceivably · 2 months
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Hi! I’m a huge fan of your work (Josephine, in particular, has my heart! Gio, I tolerate… sorry 🫣), so, firstly, thank you for sharing your lovely creative mind with us.
Second, I hope it’s okay to ask a question! There’s a specific story idea that’s been rattling around in my head for ages now, but try as I might, I can’t seem to make it into anything concrete. I have a few things down (mostly snatches of dialogue, basic facts like character names, and start/end points - i.e. “z and a start as enemies but eventually fall in love”) but I’m struggling to connect point a with point b and actually make it, yknow, a story. Do you have any sage advice/pro tips/divinely-inspired guidance for making a handful of loose ends into something real and fit for Tumblr consumption? Lol.
Thank you in advance!
Hello, there! First and foremost let me apologize for some particular writer out there (ahem, it is me) who may have just gotten herself out of a real bad slump by making Gio a main character 😂
I am SORRY y’all I wasn’t supposed to like him this much I was a Jo girlie forever but now, well, the heart wants what the heart wants. Make no mistake Jo still has my heart but…can’t a girl have both? Y’all out here taking sides already oh my goodness I can’t wait to see y’all for the rest of this decade 😜
Now WHEW! Let me also say I appreciate your kindness about the story. I wish I had more advice for you, but I’m afraid I fell into this without much creative or really any writing background at all, so I’m not sure I’m the source for sage advice. Other than going on my resource page for other tricks that might be helpful, what I will tell you is to write every damn thing down. Like I mean it, one line of dialogue, one idea, one thought. I have stuff everywhere, under to do lists, in massive documents, in scribbles on the back of bills. Eventually I do try and organize it (and this would probably be the time to tell you to maybe not put it in random places where it’s hard to find later 😅), but I’m often shocked at what a small little tidbit later turns into.
As far as connecting those tidbits (which bravo for having them, that’s already more than I did for some parts of the story!), I honestly just feel like the more you write and inhabit the mindset of your little world, the more it comes to you when you aren’t thinking about it. Thanks to my boy Gio (please see above oops) I have been writing nonstop. Chopping onions, folding clothes, driving, just trying to live my life and a scene is playing out in my head. Now mind you, this comes after over a month without a single thought of the story, so it is a process that waxes and wanes.
I would also say not to get frustrated with yourself too early, as again, I think the process of getting into your story is a snowball effect. My early decades had much less going on, and that’s very much for a reason. The process moves with you. That means that I don’t really think there’s a benchmark for “fit for Tumblr consumption.” Doing it is practicing it, and the community is very welcoming to changing style and voice as your work goes on.
Just write my Nonny friend, write whenever your brain tells you to and don’t be afraid to share. And then fall in love with Gio with me 😙
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I watched TBOSAS today (Sunday) and I’m sadly not very well (bad cold or flu), but I wanted to try and make a little post to appreciate the film/give my thoughts.
I saw the first three Hunger Games movies on opening weekend during my teens - the only one I didn’t watch at the cinema was Mockingjay Part 2, because it coincided with my GCSE mocks and some other stuff I had going on. I saw the first one twice at the cinema, once on opening weekend with one friend and then a second time with my then-best friend a few weeks later; I saw CF and MJP1 with my younger sister on opening weekend because it’s one of the few series we both love and so it’s one of the few things we can both enjoy together. My point is that I’m a huge THG fan, have been since I read the first book in late 2011 when I was 13 - I even still have my Mockingjay pin that I bought in March 2012 from Waterstones that I still wear!
Anyway, I read TBOSAS during lockdown, my sister bought the book and let me read it after she did, so this has been one of my most anticipated movies of the year!
!Spoilers below!
I was ill when I watched it and I’m even iller now but I’ll try to remember as much as I can
I LOVED IT
I’m glad they made Coriolanus Snow hot because I felt so conflicted watching him and that’s EXACTLY what was needed for the character, he’s got this beautiful exterior but he is POISON inside
Rachel Zegler was AMAZING by the way, I’m not her biggest fan by any means but I say fuck the haters
Hunter Schafer as Tigris was AMAZING casting, she really needs to shine away from Euphoria because damn she was so good in this film
Just in general casting ATE in this movie; Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman etc
Tigris was spot on: “I wouldn’t sing a note for you” and pointing out that Coryo needed to get Lucy Gray’s trust in order to help her win
Arachne Crane deserved death, idc 🤷‍♀️
NO ARACHNE FUNERAL LIKE THE BOOK?!?
The fact that the tributes were just dumped in a zoo and put on display like animals?!? Compared to six and a half decades later where the tributes are glammed up and treated like royalty, even allowed to train before entering the arena??? I love how starkly different it is
I won’t lie, Lucky Flickerman stole the film whenever he was in the scene 😭😅 absolute scene stealer?!?
Lucky trying to cancel his dinner reservations on night 1 of the games because “this is taking longer than I expected” 💀
Also telling one of the mentors not to puke on the floor after their tribute was killed?!?! Iconic really
“Those drones really are not very good” - PLEASE 😭
You can definitely tell Lucky is an ancestor of Caesar lol
The bow and arrow when Coryo enters the arena?!?! 👀🏹
Coryo killing Bobbin was BRUTAL. He could have stopped after the first hit, that was self defence - but he carried on and kept hitting him. It was definitely a huge moment
I obviously knew Wovey wasn’t going to survive, but god DAMN it 😭 DID THEY HAVE TO MAKE HER SO SWEET AND LIKEABLE?!? She just wanted to go home, and those were her last words before she was killed by the snakes 😭
Coryo really cheated just so Lucy Gray could survive, and it still has me questioning whether he cares for her or if it is just to do with the Plinth prize? 🤔
“What are the Hunger Games for, Mister Snow?” And all I can think about was him explaining in the original HG movie why there’s a Victor, why they don’t just kill 24 kids at random:
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THE SNAKE SCENE IN THE ARENA WHERE LUCY GRAY SINGS?!? ASDFGHJKL THIS IS CINEMA
The Games felt so much more primal and sad, like you could tell all of them were just trying to survive, even Coral who seemed to target Lucy Gray ruthlessly but then before her death made the comment that it can’t have all been for nothing…
The fact that Gaul didn’t want to call an end to the games even though Lucy Gray was the final survivor, and it was only when the other mentors were chanting to let her out, to call it, that she finally did it…
I nearly lost my shit during the first hanging scene because I suddenly remembered that THIS was what the Hanging Tree song was based on; “they strung up a man they say who murdered three” “dead man called out for his love to flee” etc. And that is EXACTLY what happened, right to a tee: the man protesting his innocence, calling for his love to go…
Listen I may be REALLY off, but the meadow where Coryo and Lucy Gray met up again… is it the same meadow from the final scene in Mockingjay P2 with Everlark and their kids?!?
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It probably isn’t but it reminded me of it idk
THE KATNISS PLANT - FORESHADOWING 😭 “it’s not ready yet” “things change fast” ASDFGHJKL
SEJANUS PLINTH YOU HAVE ALWAYS DESERVED BETTER 😭 knew it was coming but I was so sad
The scene where they hang Sejanus was so chilling, because the birds (i think they were Jabberjays and not Mockingjays but I could be wrong?) repeated his blood curdling calls for help as he was hung, like I was so haunted by it afterwards
No wonder Coriolanus Snow hates the fucking birds, Jesus Christ
THE CABIN AND WOODS SCENES?!?
The absolute tonal shift when he finds the guns, when Lucy Gray remarks that she’s the only loose end as if it’s a taunt, a challenge etc.
Coriolanus running through the woods, screaming “AFTER EVERYTHING I HAVE DONE FOR YOU?!?” - it just SCREAMS toxic relationship quite frankly, like whether you believe there was any genuine love at all or not, it just screams how toxic the relationship was between them. It was doomed from the start frankly
I was so concerned that the film would make it clear whether or not he killed Lucy Gray, but thankfully they left it ambiguous just like the book. Did one of his bullets hit her? Did she fly free?
It’s so interesting that Lucy Gray and her games were completely and utterly wiped, there was no trace of them - but her songs, her art, survived even after she disappeared. Songs like the Meadow song and the Hanging Tree survived and were passed on through District 12, becoming part of their culture - Snow couldn’t destroy that, no matter how hard he might have tried
Someone on Twitter made this comment and I agree:
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Also YES, I noticed that Tigris called him “Coryo” until their last scene together, and then it was “Coriolanus” 😭 and also the fact that she warned him not to turn into his father, his father had hate in his eyes… and then at the end, she sadly tells him “you look like your father, Coriolanus” 😭
The small little hints of the man Coriolanus Snow is in the original series though??? The roses, the Katniss plant Easter egg, etc. And then there’s the fact we see glimpses of what later became his preferred method of killing his enemies - poison. He put poison in the compact and gave it to Lucy Gray, and then he poisoned Casca Highbottom… it’s just so fascinating to think of who this young 18 year old becomes later on, the way he changed over the course of the next 64 years and how those changes came directly from what happened in this story.
Ending the film with Donald Sutherland’s delivery of “It’s the things we love the most that destroy us” from the original movies?!?! FUCK YEAH I WAS THIS CLOSE TO SCREAMING
Honestly it’s got to be VERY hard to play a younger version of a Donald Sutherland character, but especially this one because that man KILLED the part in the films, but I think Tom Blyth did a really good job and I could definitely see hints of the older Snow being included in his performance, like I could genuinely believe it was the same character?
The fact that 64 years later a dark haired girl from District 12 wearing a mockingjay pin and singing songs once sung by a girl he thought dead absolutely fucked his life up?!? We love to see it. It’s like Lucy Gray gave him a middle finger lol
I’ll be honest, as soon as we left the cinema I said to my sister “the only thing is now I want to watch the original four Hunger Games movies” 😭
That’s all I can think of right now because I’m very feverish, I’ve got work in the morning and it was also a long film so there was a LOT going on, but I absolutely LOVED IT. The Hunger Games has truly been the only franchise that has a prequel that has been nearly universally loved and accepted by the fans, Suzanne Collins is truly amazing.
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virginiaisforvampires · 5 months
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Having enjoyed the Vampire Chronicles for over many decades, I honestly wish the new readers or viewers of the 1994 movie and the series knew more about Anne Rice and why she made the choices she did, and thankfully Rolin Jones seems to be in tune with. She wrote, as you well know, the character of Louis as somewhat of an alter ego. At the time she wrote IWTV she was coming to terms with her grief and how she saw herself as weak—a weakness that by the time she concluded her first book she began to hate that weakness in herself and became stronger. Lestat , however, “haunted” her and she began to see him everywhere and think as he did. Here was a strong, independent character with whom the “new” Anne could identify—a person of adventure, wit etc.
I am so hoping fans read about Anne because it’s all there in her work and how she too came to embrace Louis and not dismiss his humanity or as some see it weakness.
She also didn’t understand why her readers didn’t love Armand—a very complex character, for whom I feel sorry. Yes, he’s bad—lol—he’s a vampire and it may come from my background in the behavioral sciences, but I find him fascinating—his trauma—his “enduring”—all those elements that made him who he is. So hoping Rolin Jones (and I haven’t been disappointed yet) fleshes that out. I suppose I just want my favorite vampires understood😀
*vigorously nodding* Exactly this!
That first book is very much about grief and death. I didn’t fully get that until this past summer when I lost someone very near and dear to me, and I’m still reeling from that loss months later. The Vampire Lestat has always been the book for me, but IWTV has now become something of the book for me too. I relate to it in a way that I couldn’t before, and it’s also endeared me even further with both Louis and Lestat. Those feelings and those emotions within the text become visceral. You feel as if it’s yourself in those pages, and Anne was a master at that. She could paint the picture, make you feel the ugly horror of it all, and that’s somewhat rare imo. Truly, I’ve read a lot of books. None of them have given me the emotions or the gut-punches that Anne’s books have given me. None of them changed my world and left a permanent imprint on my heart until the Chronicles and Louis and Lestat.
And like you said, that first book was her dealing with her daughter’s death. I know now what she was feeling. There’s a bevy of conflicting, chaotic thoughts and energies that you’re trying to process, while also trying to cope with the gaping, inflamed wound in your heart. You’re also helpless, weighted down in sorrow, and looking for purchase to any anchor of light you can find in an overwhelming darkness. She captured that through Louis. She captured the range of jagged emotions that encapsulate crippling depression. And then, she overcame through Lestat. Lestat was who she wished she could be. His light, his exuberance, his capacity for enduring. Yet at the same time, he’s equally as compelling as Louis. He suffered unimaginable trauma and grief. But as he says later in TOTBT, at the end of the day, grief is a waste of time, because it changes nothing. You can’t undo the past. So you move into action, growing, and you become stronger. Like Lestat, you refuse to wallow in your sadness. You refuse to let the hurt overtake you. So you expand to fully carry it. Time doesn’t heal anything. It simply broadens a person until they can bear the trauma without it pulling them down into the depths. Louis and Lestat are two halves of the same whole. They were Anne and Stan and Stan and Anne.
So yeah, I do hope the show incorporates all the nuances and depths within these characters. The context and backstory matter, to a massive degree with this source material.
And to your point about Rolin being in touch with what Anne wanted, he’s definitely done his homework. He’s already incorporating aspects into the show from Anne’s early drafts of the movie scripts, and he’s also mentioned having all her FB posts curated together and taking those into consideration too.
From what they’ve given us thus far, I feel we’re in good hands! ❤️🙌🏽
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heyitssashag · 3 months
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I got to see my Oma! The kid and I had a whirlwind/ overnight trip that included the over-stuffed ferries and a shit-ton of driving but we made it there and I got to give her a hug!
My Oma (grandma) is 94 years old and she makes me think about what the “secret of longevity” is. She has a list of health issues as someone might have in their 90’s, but she’s still pretty independent living on her own. She is mostly blind in one eye (but she managed to knit 15 pairs of slippers for the family this Christmas), pretty deaf (even with hearing aides), she has thyroid issues and is diabetic. She also has COPD and congestive heart failure. All of which she’s had for well over a decade. She had a spinal fusion in her lower back when she was 80 but went out riding her bike 3 weeks later. She only stopped riding her bike when she hit about 90 years old.
My Dad has to drive her around for doctor’s appointments, groceries and maybe to the bank once in a while. She also has a home support worker that sits on the couch while she takes a shower just in case she falls. (My Oma won’t let them come in and help her shower. lol.) She’s a clean-freak so she spends her days cleaning, baking, knitting or going for walks. When the weather is better, she spends most of her time in her flower garden. She loves flowers. She never had any interest dating after my Opa passed away 29 years ago. So she’s been on her own a long time but she’s always had a cat to keep her company. My Oma never drank but she did smoke for 50 years! She quit about 20 years ago. She also very rarely ever went out to restaurants. She much preferred eating at home.
I started reading Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity which is full of information (albeit slightly dry in parts and therefore, haven’t finished it) but I was interested what keeps humans going for longer. From what I can tell, scientists are still not totally clear on this because there’s lots of healthy, happy people that live short lives and miserable, unhealthy people that live long lives. lol. So a lot of it is just luck. I do believe, however, that taking care of your body can and will help with quality of life.
Anyway, it was a really nice visit and I’m so happy we were able to spend some time together. I try to call her on the phone very 1-2 weeks buts it’s just not the same.
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I also got to visit my 2 half sisters, Dad and Step-Mom, too. We had some good conversations. We stayed up late to chat. I’ve been slightly sleep deprived but it was worth it. I haven’t been overly close with that side of the family for some time (besides my Oma). There are lots of reasons why but I can’t hold on to it anymore. My Dad will be 70 in a week. He’s always come off as being on the apathetic side and negligent in the way that he just disappears when the going gets tough… or flippant when hard stuff happens. I’ve been hurt and let-down many times by him. I was bitter towards his wife too but it’s hard for her to do anything when my Dad did nothing to rectify the issue.
I decided when I went out there that I was going to once-and-for-all forgive my Father. For myself. I know a lot of his attitude is due to his Father and his Father’s Father. It’s generational. Generational trauma can take a very long time to heal. I know my Oma wasn’t perfect either. She was a child during WW2 and that clearly affected her. Then moving to a new country away from all of her family. Add the fact she was married to an alcoholic for over 40 years probably didn’t help. It must have been very isolating for her.
Anyway, every family has baggage. How we learn to “travel” with that baggage is important. Hopefully, we all learn from it. Discovering new tools to cope while making us more compassionate to others. (I realize, sadly, for a part of the population, it can go the other way but let’s not focus on that.)
Below are some photos we took together. It was a pleasant day and I had fun.
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So overall, it was a really nice visit. Next time, I may fly down there, though. lol.
It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m trying to figure out what to do for the very last day of 2023! The kid and I have some ideas. I don’t want to go too far. I also don’t plan to stay up much later than midnight. lol. I’ve been working on a goals workbook that I use every year. I’ve almost completed it. On average, I complete about 25% of my “hundred things I want to do” list. Which isn’t bad considering a lot of what I write down is pretty lofty. It’s a fun book to work through to think about big (and little) goals and how to accomplish them. I don’t really use every chapter (but I fill it out anyways). I keep magnetic book marks in the places where I’ll regularly visit like the monthly check-ins. (I’ll post here how it goes, too.)
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Wishing everyone a happy, safe New Years!
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Vanessa Hudgens :
So I wanted to make this post because looking on all the platforms I use to follow Austin Butler himself and/or other fan pages, I can see a lot of you are bothered by Vanessa saying that Austin helped her find her now husband.
I like to start off that I like Vanessa , anyone who follows me on IG will know that. I think him and Vanessa made a lovely couple. He genuinely seemed very happy with her. You can tell they really were down bad for one another. I say this because I don’t want to come across as some fake hypocrite. Posting pictures of him when he was with Vanessa and then turning around to make this post.
However , over the last few years that they have since broken up, she obviously has been throwing shade. Commenting on post making fun of his voice, saying things in interviews, and some of the memes she post to her stories on IG.
I don’t like when she does that. I think it’s annoying and quite rude. I find crazy to that she does this to this very day , even after being married to her supposed “soul mate”.
Vanessa to me comes across as a hurt woman. I don’t condone her throwing shade the way she does , however I feel if she did find her special someone , why keep bringing up your ex? A lot of fans seems to think she is trying to keep her name in headlines. And while I do agree to some extent , I think it goes deeper than someone looking for attention.
Vanessa was with Austin for a decade. They went through a lot together. Her dad passing, his Mom passing. She was in his sister’s wedding, which says A LOT. Not only was she close to Austin , she clearly was tight with his family as well. We seen how happy she was when he got the part of Elvis. I remember her seeing when she was speaking with Ryan Seacrest and how stoked she was telling him the story about how she told him he should play Elvis.Austin has told that story more than once too. Vanessa even had promo photos on her IG for when he finally got the role that she still has up on her profile all these years later.
I honestly feel bad for her in a way. Yeah as Austin’s fan I don’t like her shading him, but I don’t necessarily think she is a bad person based off that alone . To have a relationship as long as they had just end. Not sure exactly what happened with the break up, but from the outside looking in it seems to have ended abruptly.
That has to hurt…like. Especially seeing another girl be attached to his arm during his Elvis press . Someone who in my opinion don’t deserve to be reaping anything beneficial from that. I’m sure she thought that those were moments that they would share. And not because it would get her some level of clout but because that was her man. Vanessa to me seemed like one of those “my man , my man, my man” kind of women when she was with Austin. She saw a future with him I believe . Especially after hearing how on a podcast she stated how when she first met Cole she asked if marriage and kids were important to him. And i remember watching that and the look on her face seemed sad. Like she was reminiscing on something. Like maybe perhaps that’s what she wanted with someone else but didn’t get . To me I think she saw herself marrying Austin one day and having his children, the whole white picket fence shit. Hollywoood edition lol!
The fact that she keeps bringing him up is very telling . You a whole married woman and still throwing shade at your ex. Us a women , I feel like when we really find our someone after kissing a few frogs we could careless about wtf our ex got going on. Not calling Austin a frog , just speaking in general.
As fans I feel like we gotta be like 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️. I know it’s annoying , but sis is still clearly stuck on him. Which to me says alot about how he was a boyfriend. I’m sure they had their ups and downs but it probably was a good relationship overall. Because who gonna be out in these streets missing someone who was a complete headache and toxic as hell? Especially if they feel like they finally found the person who they feel like was heaven sent….
Austin has been nothing but kind during this too. He can easily throw shade back , but he stays humble and minds his business. Which Vanessa needs to do too smh. Vanessa needs to go heal whatever broke her when her and Austin ended. She has a husband now , marriage is forever.
I’ll end this with I hope as a woman myself she finds peace within herself . I obviously am not for her ass saying the stuff she did , but I don’t dislike her. We have all at one point of time thrown shade an ex. Said some snarky shit. It happens . It’s one thing for some troll to throw shade to Austin, but an ex he was with for years on end….Like I said in the beginning, her acting that way goes deeper than someone looking for attention. Vanessa might have not done anything super duper huge since HSM but she’s still pretty well known. She doesn’t need to throw shade to stay relevant .
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kingsofeverything · 1 year
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Thank you to anyone out there who’s read anything I’ve written, left kudos, commented, or messaged me to chat about anything I’ve written. I appreciate you so much 💛
🟨Remember Me Before You ~294k .E. Desperate to find a new place to live after he comes home to find his boyfriend cheating, Harry moves into a loft with three strangers. A New Girl AU.
🟪Spring Fever ~4K .E. Harry’s finally out of the first trimester. He and Louis celebrate.
🟦As You Wish ~25K .E. Harry wished Louis free, and life hasn’t been the same since. Written for @onedirectionbigbang
🟥Southern Comfort ~5K .E. Girl!Direction. At a lavish engagement party thrown by her fiancé’s family, Louis meets what seems like a millions aunts and uncles and cousins, but only one stands out: Harry Styles, a gorgeous brunette in a red dress who makes Louis blush like she might catch fire. Written for @wankersday​.
🟩Uh oh, it’s Magic (when I’m with you) ~7K .E. Everyone Dreams eventually, and everyone’s Dream is different, but all Dreams have one thing in common: They send the Dreamer on a Quest to find their Magic. It’s been months since Louis started his Quest to live as a hermit in a cave in the middle of the woods and he’s not about to let some new guy disturb his hermitage. Written for @1dastroficfest​
⬜️Just Pretend ~90k .E. Louis Tomlinson is a divorced dad who doesn’t date. What free time he has, he likes to spend with his teenage daughter, and if he wants to take someone home, he does it when she’s spending the weekend with her mom. Then he meets Harry Styles, another divorced dad with a teenage daughter, who convinces him it’s a good idea to pretend they’re dating to keep their kids happy. Written for @1dsilverfoxfest​
🟧honey, honey 100 words .NR. a villanelle style poem and drabble inspired by the song “Daylight” and written for @harryshouseficfest​
🟨Late Night Talking ~50k .E. Louis Tomlinson has a new album coming out and a second world tour on the horizon. Promo season gets underway with a stop at Late Night Talking, the late night show hosted by Harry Styles, and Harry Styles just happens to be the man who blew a chance to date Louis a decade ago. Written for the @1dreversebang based on the prompt and gorgeous gifs by @deludedandlostcause
🟦Midnight ~10k .E. “Alphas are for fucking and pheromones,” Louis said during their first conversation, when he was moving into the building and Harry offered to help haul boxes up the stairs. “I’m perfectly capable of carrying my own groceries.” Louis relented when his Omega friend Zayn intervened and asked if he was also capable of moving his couch by himself. All Harry’d wanted to do was be a good neighbor. Now, here he is, half a year later, balls deep and four months into a no strings attached, sex only situation with the Omega of his dreams. He’s still not sure how it happened.
The rest of my Annual* Writing Self-Evaluation is under the cut:
It's been a weird year for me w/r/t fic writing! I wrote my longest fic so far by very much a lot. It was a labor of love and for most of the 8ish months I was writing it, I was feeling very down about my skills and writing in general, but I was having fun with turning New Girl into a larry fic, so I carried on, and I came out the other side ok I guess?
I modded our yearly @wankersday fest and the @harryshouseficfest despite promising myself I'd only do wankfest, and the stress of it solidified that decision lol. No more modding for me (except wankfest).
I wrote 9 fics this year, the lowest number of fics per year since my first year writing, and I posted my first ever fic in October and still wrote 5 fics that year. 6 of my 9 fics this year were for fests. That's more pressure than I usually like to put on myself, but I survived, and here's what my year looked like:
Number of stories posted this year: 9
Word count posted this year: 490,127
Stories with the most:
Kudos: Remember Me Before You (713)
Comment threads: RMBY (656)
Bookmarks: RMBY (605)
Work you are most proud of (and why):
Remember Me Before You my New Girl AU, more than twice as long as the next longest thing I've written, it's really just a love letter to the show. Posting it as a WIP while I finished the last bit was daunting because it's the first time I've done a WIP that wasn't complete before I started posting, but it was so fun! The comments fueled me and I loved chatting with you guys as it was going. Some of you were already New Girl fans, some hadn't seen the show, some starting watching it because of my fic??? it was an experience!
Work you are least proud of (and why):
Uh oh, it’s Magic (when I’m with you) for the @1dastroficfest. It was tough to get started and I think I tried like 4 different ideas for that prompt (The Hermit tarot card), but then Megan @homosociallyyours was like 'what if you took it very literally' and thankfully that worked! This was the first time I've ever been legitimately worried about meeting a deadline.
A favorite excerpt of your writing:
I'm never any good at picking snippets. I usually ask Nic @louandhazaf to assist, but this is part of a snippet I posted earlier this year, so... this is from Just Pretend, my older, divorced larry meet and decide to fake a relationship for their kids fic for @1dsilverfoxfest
According to his mom, he started flirting at two days old, and he’s only gotten better over the last forty-five years. Harry's had about that long to earn a doctorate in dimples. He wields them as he moves closer, pressing his chest against Louis’ palm and lifting his left hand to cradle Louis’ jaw. Cool despite the heat they’ve borrowed from his body, the touch of Harry's rings sends a shiver down Louis’ spine. His heart beats harder as he leans in. 
Louis’s never been a fan of tequila, but the sweet, peppery liquor is hardly perceptible under the taste of lime on Harry's tongue and the swirling, spicy scent of his sweat, deodorant and cologne. Three in the morning is only marginally cooler than midday and after working all night, Louis is damp with sweat and beer and he smells like it. Thankfully, Harry doesn’t seem to mind. He cups the side of Louis’ neck, fingertips toying with the ends of Louis’ silver hair, tickling and sending a thrill through him as he inches closer.
Grabbing hold of Harry's hips, Louis shifts his stance, stepping one foot between Harry's and sliding a hand around to splay across his lower back under the blousy hem of his half-buttoned shirt. Tilting his head, their noses bump, and Harry pulls back, wet lips parted, panting. Louis hardly has time to breathe before Harry guides him into another kiss, holding him so tightly that his forearm presses between Louis’ shoulder blades while his hand cups Louis’ neck. 
Hunching over Louis, his other hand tight on his hip, Harry bends him backwards—dipping him as if they were dancing—and Louis gasps into Harry's mouth. Hungrily, Harry sucks kisses over Louis’ jaw, down his neck to the hollow of his throat, dragging plush lips over the rough two-day beard Louis hasn’t bothered to shave before setting Louis back on his feet. 
Share or describe a favorite review you received:
i can't pick one. i'm terrible at picking favorites! but i will say that every person who read rmby as a wip and commented as they went, you guys are the real mvps of my 2022 fic experience.
A time when writing was really, really hard:
all year. no joke. and i know it seems stupid to say because i've posted almost half a million words this year, but i struggled to enjoy writing for much of this year. deadlines really fuck with my head, so i'm hoping to avoid those next year
A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:
my entire fic for @wankersday in may. it's my first ever time writing girl!direction so i was very nervous and the whole thing surprised me while i was writing it and it continues to surprise me whenever i remember it exists
How did you grow as a writer this year:
idk man. i wrote a kid fic! and i wrote girl!direction. so that's 2 never before things in 2022
How do you hope to grow next year:
tbh i hope to grow in my ability to experience fomo and live with it. i hope to continue to strengthen my ability to say no lol. i'm only planning on writing for wankfest this year, so who knows what'll happen
Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):
nic @louandhazaf is always in this spot. she's my #1, my best friend, the other half of my brain, and the only reason i write
Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:
doesn't it always? though tbh nothing specific i can think of at the moment
Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:
just write. and listen to @roseanddaggerpodcast :D
Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:
i am going back to school in january, so fic writing is being bumped way down the list of my priorities for 2023. like i said above, i only plan to write for @wankersday in may, but tbh idk if i'll be able to. Other than that, I’m looking forward to recording @roseanddaggerpodcast
Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read. ;)
well, i drafted this post weeks ago lol and since then i've been tagged by @larryyouknow @jacaranda-bloom @louistomlionson @allwaswell16 @haztobegood @louandhazaf @chai-hat-tea @larrysballetslippers and i'll also tag
@londonfoginacup @bananaheathen @disgruntledkittenface @fallinglikethis @sadaveniren @jaerie @lululawrence @absoloutenonsense @alwaysxlarrie @uhoh-but-yeah-alright @cyantific @littleroverlouis @onlythebravest and if i tagged you in an answer above, consider yourself tagged here as well
*All answers should be about works published in 2022
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