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nothingbutfangirlsmut · 4 years

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The Trials of Emi

Pairing: A little Minho. A sprinkle of Frypan. Gally x Emi(OC)

Summary: Emi, her twin brother Thomas, and a small group of gladers had been rescued and taken to a safe haven. Or so it seemed. It doesn't take long for Thomas to realize something is wrong. What happens next is a true trial for all of them but Emi's trials began the moment she was ripped away from a dying Gally. Watching someone you love die right before your eyes truly takes a toll.

Finally meeting the right arm could have been the end but betrayal leads to even more chaos and loss. A new mission to rescue those taken from them leads them to a city. The last city. After Emi finally comes to terms with everything that's happened something unfolds that changes everything again. She will have to not only deal with helping her brother take down WCKD and save their friend but also deal with all the new problems in her head and her heart.

Rating: As of right now it’s at most PG13. Some strong language that’s about it but it could change.

(This is the 2nd part/book to my other story "The Maze trials: A Gally Fanfiction". This will cover the events of the scorch trails and the death cure.)

Chapter Five

The bright sun of the glade felt good on my skin. I didn't realize how much I missed this feeling. I was standing alone in the middle of the glade just looking around. The door of the homestead opened revealing a smiling Gally. He ran over to me quickly. He picked me up in his arms squeezing me against him.

"I miss you," I whispered.

He let go of me and stepped back. His hands grabbed each side of my face. He smiled at me.

"It's okay to miss me but don't stop living Emi. I want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted. Whatever it takes." He spoke softly as his thumbs rubbed my cheeks.

"How am I suppose to be happy again?" I asked him.

He chuckled softly.

"You'll have to figure that out my dear. Remember I will always love you." He kissed my forehead.

He started to walk away back to the homestead. He stopped about halfway then turned back to me.

"And Emi, don't stop talking to them. Don't drown yourself like that. They need you and you need them." He waved then disappeared.

"Hey! Hey! Get outta here!" Thomas shouted waking up the group.

I woke up practically laying on top of Minho. One of his arms was draped around me. I was using his chest as a pillow. I looked up seeing him now awake too.

"Good morning" he said with a smile.

I scoffed and pushed myself away from him. Pain shot through me reminding me of my open wound. I looked down to check it seeing even more blood. Some of it had gotten onto Minho while we slept. I watched Thomas slowly stand up. He turned in a circle taking in our surroundings.

"Are they gone?" Newt asked.

"Yea, we're safe for now. We should get moving. Let's pack it up." Thomas said bending down to get his bag.

Minho tried getting my attention but I was already on my feet walking towards Newt. I can't believe he let that happen. He knows how mad I am at him.

"Aris, Fry, Winston come on get up," Thomas said.

Winston groaned in pain. He looked like he was panting. Fry bent down and gave his hand to the boy to help him up. We started climbing out of whatever we had found ourselves in. At the top of the broken building I saw the most incredible yet terrifying thing. An entire city that looked like it had been blown to pieces. It looked old like it was abandoned a very long time ago. We began our trek through the open path between all the mountain-sized buildings.

"What the hell happened to this place?" Fry asked after a while of walking.

"I don't know. It looks like no one has been here for a long time." Newt answered looking up at the buildings.

"I hope the whole world s'not like this," Aris added.

"Woah, hang on stop," Thomas ordered suddenly from the back of the group.

We all stopped immediately turning to look at him. He seemed to be concentrating or listening to something.

"You hear that?" He asked looking up to all of us.

We all stood motionless trying to hear what he was hearing. Just as I started to think he was going mad I heard it.

"Everybody get down! Hide! Hide!" Thomas shouted.

We all ran diving under a large piece of concrete. It was big enough for each of us to crouch under without being seen. The sound grew louder and louder until it was directly over us. As the three aircrafts passed there was no doubt in my mind that they were WCKD.

"Their never gonna stop looking for us are they?" Minho asked.

Once they were gone we climbed back out. Thomas led on to a large hill of rubble. He started climbing.

"Everyone good?" He asked once we were about halfway up.

I heard coughing behind me. I turned to see Winston not looking so good. He took a deep breath then continued on. I tried to stay close just to keep an eye on him. We climbed over another sand dune. At the top we could see for what looked like miles. In the far distance, I saw the mountains.

"Mountains, that's gotta be it. That's where we're going." Thomas said.

"That's a long way off," Newt stated simply.

Beside me Winston seemed to be having trouble again. He pulled his bag off himself while breathing heavily. Before I knew what happened he took one step then fell face-first into the sand.

"Winston!" Thomas and I shouted in unison.

All of us dropped to our knees around him. He looked bad. Pale and sweaty. It definitely looked like he could be running a fever. I grabbed the boy's face turning him over. His breathing was ragged and sharp. A few of the boys called his name trying to get him to open his eyes or say something.

"What do we do?" Teresa asked looking around at us.

Without a word I stood grabbing Fry to help me. We quickly gathered material and roped together a way to carry Winston with us. It was slightly harder for me to do this with the use of one hand. My other arm hadn't stopped burning since I had woken up. Once it was made and we laid Winston on it Fry and Minho took the first turn pulling him.

We kept walking. On and on threw the sand. Some of the old ruins were breathtaking. It seemed to get harder to carry Winston with each step we took. It got worse when the wind picked up choking and blinding us with sand. We found shelter to wait it out and take a breath.

At that shelter Thomas and Teresa stood on top of one of the dunes talking. I noticed Newt constantly glancing towards them. I wish I could say something to help him out. I could tell Thomas didn't look at Teresa the same way he did Newt. There was affection in his eyes every time he looked or spoke of Newt. When it came to Teresa he was more curious. She was the connection to his lost memories. He needed her to remember what he had forgotten.

A loud shot rang out making me jump and grab the closest person to me which, my luck, it was Minho. Winston had woke up and immediately grabbed the gun. He was now in seriously bad shape.

"I'm not gonna make it," Winston said quietly.

We all just looked at him. What could we say? We all knew how bad he looked. We all had the same thought he just spoke but he was apart of our family. We had to try to get him to safety.

"Please, don't let me turn into one of those things." He begged reaching for the gun Fry was holding.

Newt silently took the gun from Fry then gave it to Winston. I would have done the same if I wasn't frozen in shock.

"Thank you. Now, get out of here." Winston said softly.

We packed our things leaving Winston behind with the gun like he wanted. We made it to the other side of the sand dune when the shot rang out. I jumped letting my tears spill over down my cheeks. Another one of us gone. Another glader. We kept moving knowing we had to. There was nothing else we could do.

That night when we made shelter I sat between Minho and Teresa by the fire. My tears were still falling in a steady stream. Minho had been cutting up a piece of wood for a while but decided to put it down. He scooted a little closer to me. He silently wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his chest. At this point I didn't care about him touching me or being close to me. I just wanted to cry. I needed my moment to mourn another friend.

The next day we moved on. Always moving. It seemed like the more we walked the farther the mountains got. Our water started running out but we kept going. We were too far to turn back now. We had no actual shelter when night came so we all made our peace with the hard ground and eventually fell asleep.

—

#nothingbutfangirlsmut #fanfiction #gally #gally imagine #gally smut #gally x reader #the maze runner #the maze trials #tmr gally #original character

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baywindowproductions · 4 years

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🌈 Signs I Liked Girls Growing Up 🌈

So, I've thought a lot over the years about different things that happened while I was growing up that probably should've tipped me off to the fact that I'm a wlw; so I thought I would compile all the ones I can remember in a list and share them with you all!

Enjoy!

🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈

1) I was just as obsessed with my eldest brother’s female friends as I was with his male ones as a child/preteen

2) I was subscribed to American Girl Magazine from the time that I was 10-14; when I was 11, I received the July/August JUMBO Summer Fun Issue in the mail and immediately became obsessed with Sarah Shier (the oldest of the Shier Quints featured in this article) and her beautiful smile. I was convinced at the time that it was just because I was a pattern-seeker, because I thought she looked like this other girl I’d met several months before (and yes, that was one of the reasons); but now, whenever I look back on it, I know for a fact that it was incredibly gay.

Evidence #1: I attempted to write a letter to the quintuplets through American Girl Magazine, which mentioned how obsessed I was with her and how fascinated I was by the resemblance; it never got sent to them

Evidence #2: I was so obsessed with this girl that I would spend months upon months, days upon days and hours upon hours staring at her picture in the magazine

Evidence #3: Evidence #2 got so bad that I eventually had to burn the thing in a fire pit when I was 12; there was a ceremony held for such a purpose, and I sobbed after dropping it in

Evidence #4: Later (in the same year as Evidence #3), I wrote several songs about her and the other girl I thought she looked like - the lyrics of which made no sense whatsoever; the only titles I remember are It’s a Likeness and Replicas (on the bright side, though, this eventually helped me to start writing lyrics that people actually liked; in fact, I’ve written a total of twenty-six songs since then!)

Evidence #5: My mom suggested for me to change the meaning of the first of my good songs into a love song. Something tells me that this was because it sounded a whole lot like one already.

• I am so sorry, Sarah

3) As a kid/preteen, I read the Full House Michelle and Full House Stephanie chapter books; one of these books was called Full House Stephanie: The Dude of My Dreams. At one point in the book, Stephanie and her crush finally kiss for the first time, and she describes his lips as “soft.” Let’s just say, when I finally had my first kiss with a former male crush, I was rather disappointed.

4) When I was 13 – during a sleepover I had at my house with one of my former best friends – we were watching a movie in my room; to paint you a picture, the bed was on one corner of the room, while the TV was on the opposite corner – and I was sitting on the side closest to the wall, so I couldn’t see over my best friend's shoulder that well to watch the movie. So, I decided it would be a great idea to come up behind her and spoon her like it was nothing. Except it wasn’t nothing, 'cause I remember thinking to myself things like, “is this weird?” “am I doing this right?” “is my ear crushing hers?” …..Clearly, that was NOT a purely platonic gesture.

5) When I was 14 (in early 2010), I became borderline obsessed with Lady Gaga, Kesha and Tegan & Sara. 'Nuff said.

6) When I was 14 – during another sleepover with the aforementioned former best friend – I found myself staring at her a little too intently while she was talking and got the urge to lean in and kiss her on the lips – and I didn’t follow through with it, because 1) I’d never questioned my sexuality before, and 2) she’s a Christian, and I assumed (keeping in mind that this was back in 2010) that all Christians were homophobic

7) Around that same time, during my older brother’s family night event for his Youth and Government class at the YMCA, I met an actual lesbian named Rose (who I didn’t know was a lesbian at the time) and found myself strangely intrigued by her – aka, I kept staring at her a lot that night; I never actually talked to her, though, because I’ve always been very reserved

Evidence #1: Later that year (in October 2010), I saw her again when my younger brother and I started attending YAG ourselves; it didn’t take long for me to start crushing on her – this time actually registering it as a crush because I figured out that she was gay. I was very clueless at the time, though, because I worded this revelation to her as me “switching over” to lesbianism – and I eventually told her I thought it was a phase for me; she didn’t take too well to that assertion, and I was heartbroken for months.

8) In August 2010, I was in bed reading a book called The Alpha Bet, which was basically about a freshman in college joining a sorority. Hence the title, the whole plot of this book revolved around each member completing different tasks of their choice that began with certain letters of the alphabet in order to earn their place in the sorority. In one scene, the protagonist (whose name escapes me at the moment) came across another member – a lesbian who, at that particular moment, was witnessing her ex with another girl; so, said lesbian decided to take the protagonist aside (i.e hide behind a bush) to suggest using her K task to make her ex jealous. I can’t remember if it worked or not (it probably did), but I do remember setting the book down for a bit afterwards to imagine myself in the position of the protagonist making out with this girl. Directly after that, though, I shut down those thoughts by telling myself to go back to “thinking straight.”

9) Two days after the situation with Rose ended in disaster, I told my group of female school friends (the aforementioned former BFF being one of them) about it. And then I mentioned, after being asked if I’d kissed Rose (which I didn’t), that there was a different girl that I’d wanted to kiss at one point. Everyone got curious, and it took me a while to tell them any more than that – but eventually, I turned to my best friend, reminded her about the sleepover I mentioned above, and told her that she was the other girl. She was immediately creeped out and told me later that day to never mention it again – a promise that I was way too scared not to keep.

Evidence #1: I managed to keep my mouth shut about it for a good while – but then (over a year later), not only did I mention it again (in the subtlest way I could possibly manage at the time – which wasn’t very subtle at all), but I also became weirdly obsessed with her as a result of having a really emotional dream that I thought was telling me I’d neglected her. Reality? I hadn’t neglected her; in fact, quite the opposite. I was in love with her, and she had known it since the urge-to-kiss reveal just a year before – which is why she consciously started backing away from the friendship without telling me, which I interpreted as me neglecting her.

Evidence #2: I also got super jealous of the girl she started getting really close to that school year - which wasn't an entirely new experience for me, since I had gotten jealous of other friends of hers in the past; but this jealousy was a lot more intense.

Feel free to reblog this with any signs you were a wlw/mlm before you figured it out, so we can all have a good laugh about what dumbasses we were 😂😂😂

Also, I might make a part two of this if I remember more signs in the future - so if you'd like to see that post, let me know! ☺️

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footballerindreams · 4 years

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Seungmin's Wedding

My 1 am syndrome attacks me again and the only way to make it disappear is to let out what's on my mind. I would like to dedicate this fic to two amazing people: @straykidsftw and @maaaaaatryoshka0325 who inspired me to write about stray kids even if I am a multi-fan. Hope you and the rest of the people who will read this will like it.

Weddings should be an exciting moment, if not nervewracking, for everyone who is getting married. But for Kim Seungmin it is otherwise.

Yes, he wanted to get married. But later on in his life. Not at the very young adult Korean age of 20.

You see, Seungmin is still happily enjoying his life. An idol who performs on stage, a host of a show and most of all, in a relationship with his girlfriend, Y/N.

It took a lot of patience for Seungmin to get where he is. The trials he had to go through in the survival show and then the urge to confess to Y/N when the dating ban on Stray Kids was imposed.

He and Y/N met at JYP. He was a trainee, she was on the production staff of MNet and was older than him. It all started when Seungmin left something in the room where they shoot for an episode and Y/N was the one who found it. Since then the two became close, then mutually close. Even Seungmin's co-trainees (now members) could notice it and they teased him, yet supported him.

"Come on Minnie. Why don't you confess to her? It's pretty obvious she like you too." Hyunjin asked.

"It's not yet the right time." Seungmin replied.

Minho suddenly put his arm around Seungmin's shoulders and smirked at him.

"Of course it's not yet the right time. We have a dating ban. Unless you are planning to throw this idol dream of yours away, which will make me happy too." Minho added and went away immediately.

"Aish, that Minho. You know I really want to give him a punch in the face. He always try to start an argument with you!" Hyunjin complained, pulling his sleeves up his arms and ready a fist.

"Not worth it Hyunjin. Not worth it."

Time went by and then JYP lifted Stray Kids' dating ban after a year of their debut. Even if Seungmin prepared so much in a long time, all the courage he mustered went to putty when he confessed to the girl he likes.

"Y/N noona. We are friends for a long time. B-but...I've been keeping a secret from you. I...l-l-l-like...you, noona. P-please go out with me." Seungmin confessed, presenting a bouquet of flowers in his shaking arms and standing in his shaky legs.

But everything paid off when he heard the words he's aching to hear for a long time.

"Yes. I will Seungmin. I like you too."

Everything about Seungmin's career and love life is going well until it was put to the test.

He was hosting We K-Pop when he got a glimpse of his girlfriend looking at him in the sidelines. He secretely smiled at her but he noticed Y/N was looking at him with a sad smile. He made a mental note to meet her after his show.

...which he did. They met in a private stall of a nearby coffee shop in KBS Building. Instead of a light atmosphere, they were surrounded with a heavy one.

"Seungmin, I'm pregnant."

Seungmin paled. He told his girlfriend to give him time to think, stood up and went to his car that took him back to the SKZ dorm.

They were just dating for almost a year. Got intimate twice and all of a sudden he's going to be a father?

In the background playing was his favorite band's song "Congratulations". That Day6 song was supposed to have a different implication but for some reason every word of the song bombarded him giving him much more regret and guilt of the things he did.

He reached his dorm with a heavy feeling and prayed that no one will notice, but unfortunately, his leader did.

Chan is always concerned with his members. That concern amplified when Woojin decided to leave Stray Kids to find peace for himself. Chan almost blamed himself for what happened, but with his hyung's assurance that it was no one's fault, and that even outside the showbiz life, he will still support and contact Stray Kids, Chan was convinced to become a better leader for his group and to look after the members, especially Hyunjin, Seungmin, Felix and I.N who recently have more responsibilities of hosting and acting in their schedules.

Chan never delayed on approaching Seungmin when he sees the younger one feeling down and tensed. After preparing a drink and giving Seungmin space to calm down, they talked.

And Chan knew and he did not know what to do.

Seungmin cried, leaning on his leader's chest while Chan hugs to comfort him.

"We'll get through this Seungminnie. We'll find a way to save both of your reputations. But we need to tell the other members and the company as well. Also you have to talk to her."

The next morning Seungmin, together with Chan, surprise visit his upset girlfriend in the set where wmshe was assigned. Asking to forgive him of what he did the other night and that they will work their problem out, together.

The next days were stressful enough for Seungmin and Y/N. Stray Kids and JYP knew of the situation and had promised to keep everything a secret within the company. JYP also decided not to terminate Seungmin's contract after much consideration.

But the hardest part was telling their family. Seungmin's parents were a bit disappointed to their son, while on the other hand, Seungmin receives a slap of anger from Y/N's dad.

"You have no right to leave my daughter! You marry her! And nothing else!" The father blurted yelling.

---

"Anything wrong?" Felix asked as he enters Seungmin's hotel room. Looking dapper in his suit. Being the best man, it was his responsibility to look after the groom.

"I'm scared." Seungmin replied, gulping.

Felix went closer to Seungmin and help him fix his suit.

"I know Minnie. But let me ask you a question; do you love Y/N noona?"

Seungmin looked at his friend's eyes with fear and conviction, "Yes. I love her."

Felix pats Seungmin's shoulder on assurance. "Then I know you'll be okay. You'll be a great husband and father. Now, let's get out of here so that Y/N noona will be your wife now."

And for the first time in a while, Seungmin smiled comfortably.

---

"And you may now kiss the bride."

Everybody in the hall clapped their hands as Seungmin and Y/N shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

Their wedding was a simple one; held in a exclusive function hall in a five-star hotel in Seoul. Free from the likes of Dispatch and Koreaboo. The Stray Kids members, except Felix were his groomsmen. Woojin was there too and one of their godparents was JYP. Their family members and closest colleagues and friends were also there to celebrate with them.

In the end, it was an exciting day for Seungmin. For he knows that everything will be fine since he has his family and Stray Kids to help him along the way.

#kim seungmin #kim seungmin fanfic #stray kids #stray kids fanfic

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bowieemeddow · 4 years

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TRINITY. (Queen Fanfiction)

Part 1 // Runaway.

Summary: Margaret McCullugh comes to the realisation that her life is a total mess. After an argument she realises she’s had enough; she grabs her bags and runs away.

Note:Hi guys this is the first chapter of my new fanfiction. I’m not the best writer and this is my first time so please go easy on me; there will be grammar and spelling mistakes throughout this chapter. Feedback will be greatly appreciated 🙂

Warnings; Swearing, sexual assault, bad writing, slight Scottish slang (I’m from Scotland and I write the way I talk sorry 😉✌🏻)

Enjoy.

Thursday // May 1970

"I've never wanted to punch him in the face more in my life than at this point of time." I thought to myself as I glared at him across the dining table. Even from what felt like a mile away; I could still see that smug look on his Greg's face.

"Margret! Are you even listening to me?" I tore my focus from my bastard of a step father to my bastard of a mother. "You'll be meeting Thomas next thursday remember. To talk about arrangements."

Ah Thomas Russel. Son to a millionaire family; him being a successful doctor in the making at 22 and is apparently a distant relative of some foreign royal family (to be fair I wasn't listening to the shit leaving my mothers mouth)

The cherry on top of it all; I've never actually met the boy and I'm his fiancé.

"Poor Thomas." Gina; my younger sister mumbled under her breath while eating her dinner.

"Mind your own business you little shit!" I spat kicking her harshly under the table. Believe me I know this makes me look bad but I promise you I'm not a bad sister; I was actually excited when I found out I had another sibling on the way. I loved her even when she was a newborn. It was when she started talking; she turned into a sneaky little bully and mummy's favourite.

"That's enough don't you dare kick your sister again!" She snapped at me.

I cringed at my mothers comment; more because of the way she said it. Trying to act as posh as possible; trying to mask the natural Glaswegian accent she's had her whole life; the same thick apparently "rough" accent I also have yet Gina never developed it as bad as me, my dad had the rough accent and I was a daddy’s girl... before he left us.

"Why do I have to marry him. I didn't him pick him, hell I haven't even met him! Marrying me off to becoming nothing but a trophy wife? Fully dependable on my husband with a big empty house full of loads of children. Nothing to do except cooking and cleaning-"

"Can we please change the topic?! I don't feel like sending you upstairs again." My mum sighed

"Oh mother!" Gina exclaimed making me jump; her bloody voice goes right through me.

"This dinner is absolutely amazing!" I chuckled to myself quietly, Gina is so far up mums arse it's embarrassing.

"Thank you darling I made it myself."

Yeah right did she make this shit, she doesn't even know how to use the stove, it was the cook that made it. All of it is vegan since "meat is the reason why your acne is so bad and you've starting to lose that figure Margaret, you simply don't take proper care of yourself."

“Oh god I forgot! I was meant to take you bra shopping today.” Mum informed Gina

“But she’s only 13 mum. I never got my first bra till I was 15?” I argued, Gina got everything she wanted without having to even lift a finger.

“You should go with them Margaret. You wear too small a bra better go up a size sweets." He smirked away as he took a drink of his wine that's likely more expensive than everything I own.

At that point I was so pissed off I grabbed the closest thing to me which was a potato from my plate funnily enough and threw it at his head. If I wasn’t so pissed off I think would’ve found it difficult to keep a straight face.

Friday// May 1970

While sitting in period 7 English I thought back to last night.

After successfully hitting Greg's big head with a potato for his inappropriate comment about his step daughter's breasts; Mum took his side and got sent upstairs without eating anything for the rest of the night; not like I wanted to eat any of that shit anyway.

"God he's so cute!" The girl next to me squealed to her friends who were both in front of her; their chairs turned from their tables to form a circle that I was sadly apart of. I wasn friends with the three girls; Tracey, Yasmine and Gemma were the popular girls, the best housewives in the making.

I looked down at the newspaper which Tracey had in her hands, it was crumpled up due to her "fan girl" moment taking over her senses.

"The Gregory Special." The newspaper was called;

Only rich wankers read it.

"Thomas Russel is ready to settle down but who's the lucky girl?"

It said with a picture of the boy himself below it . Wasn't his best picture; he was probably flirting with some random girl in while the photo was being taken.

"So who is the bitch huh?" Gemma spat as Tracey read away at the newspaper trying to figure it out.

"YOU! Mrs Reynolds wants to see you in her office.” My English teacher shouted pointing at me it made the three girls jump back to their original spots as if they were actually listening to the lesson.

Shit what have I done now; I usually lose track at this point.

While putting my things in my bag I looked over at the three girls to see them scanning back through the newspaper frantically to find out who the "lucky woman" was.

I accidentally let out a chuckle of sympathy which caught their attention.

“I’m sorry, is there something you want to say?” Jemma snapped.

"Yeah I do actually since you three can't read for shit. Page 24." I sassed back and waited a moment.

"Margaret McCullugh? Who the bloody hell is that?!" I rolled my eyes at the stupidness.

"Margaret McCullugh. Now." My teacher shouted across the classroom which I nodded to standing up and grabbing my bag and coat with a grin on my face.

The three girls had their mouths wide open once they put two and two together; it was me.

"Bye girls." I whispered chuckling while leaving the classroom.

...

"Please tell me you are joking Miss McCullugh?" Mrs Reynolds pleaded with me

"What's wrong with what I want to do once I leave here?" I argued back.

"Your mother is a politician; she could bloody well be the prime minister in a several years time. How is she gonna get there with her child wanting to do.... textile design?" She gagged at the though of me becoming something that wasn't a doctor or lawyer.

"Why does it fucking matter anyway I can't even do what I want. My mums already set up my whole life." I argued back slouching in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest.

Fuck being ladylike.

"Ah your talking about your engagement with Thomas Russel. Your mother wants you to just be okay, she's worked hard for where she is right now and it was a risky thing she done to get there. She doesn't want you taking any risks when you go onto be a politician or a lawyer-"

"Or a textile design artist." I corrected for her not giving in to her manipulation.

"Margaret I know you okay. Through these past 6 years that you've been in this school you've been very strong willed and feministic attitude to social issues and topics."

"Damn right-"

"But I'm sorry to burst your bubble but this is a patriarchal society we are living in. Woman will not change society. Ever."

I was beyond pissed at this moment of time. I shot up off my seat and slammed down both my hands on her desk in order to shut her up.

"Fucking watch me then!”

...

Saturday // May // 1970

"Hey chickadee." Tana smiled as she came into one of the private rooms of the pub, she lifted my feet and plopped herself next to me in the booth then put my feet back down to they were resting on her lap.

"Hi." I said stretching slightly as I shut my notebook over immediately and set it down on the table.

Tana was probably one of my only friends at this point of time; the moment she turned 19 she was allowed to decorate her parents bar; to which she called me up and asked to borrow my creative mind for help. Before it was just an old looking bar where young ones likes to hang out; now it was a modern neon, rock music bar.

"Glam Rock" it was called and it was placed in a more poverty ridden area of Glasgow. If my mum found out I was here I'd get murdered.

Every Saturday night people from everywhere would come here and celebrate a new "generation" as they called it.

"This new rock generation is gonna grow everywhere. Where men dress like women and women dress like men. Completely and utterly flamboyant!" I remember Tana saying to me when I first came across this bar; it was a Saturday morning and she was getting ready for a party. I was here because I was trying to find the record shop since they sell limited editions for half off.

"We just need someone to spread Glam Rock to every corner of the world."

"HELLO EARTH TO MARGARET!" She shouted snapping her fingers in front of me.

"Huh?" I said snapping back to reality.

"I said were you writing something?" She said pointing to my notebook, I didn't answer yet again because I was too busy admiring what she was wearing.

"For fuck sake! Have you took something?" She laughed trying to get my attention again.

"Sorry, sorry just had a long day. Thinking about what kind of punishment I'll get this time once I make my way home." I chuckled

"Anyways what did you say again?"

"Writing songs... oh and you've also got your camera."

"When am I not writing songs or taking photos Tana?" I said sitting up to grab my vodka and lemonade and down it.

"That's very true. So, let's see what photos you took." She said as she pulled off her slip on heels so she could fold them in a basket.

I put down the two photos I took on the table.

"Have you got a pen." I asked her as she admired the photos.

"Umm.. yeah I think somewhere in they drawers." She said turning her head to the left to show me where it was.

"This bar does look fucking amazing, you have to admit it."

"It's because I decorated it Tana. I hate to toot my own horn here but I'm fucking brilliant at decorating." I laughed as I took one of the photos and wrote the location and date behind it; then done the same with the other.

"You're good at everything you do it does my head in." Tana complained with a groan as she ran her fingers through her black long curly hair.

"I'm not."

"You are. You can paint, you create these amazing clothes, you can play the piano like no one else. You're an amazing singer..." my smile dropped as I grabbed both the photos from Tana's grip and stuck them in my bra for safekeeping before sticking the the pen back in the drawer; the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, or more like you could here me slamming the drawer shut.

"Maggie-"

"I'm not a singer." I said interrupting her.

"Correction, your mum says your not a singer. But frankly love, you're the best singer I've ever heard. You should join a band."

"That'll never happen."

....

Sunday // May 1970

Walking up the driveway of my massive house barefoot with my heels in my hand, my make up and hair a mess I knew I was in for it.

I accidentally fell asleep at Tana's last night and now it's 8am in the morning.

I walked in the house and shut the door behind me.

"MARGARET BEATRIX MCCULLUGH!" I heard my mum screech as the sound of her heels became louder and louder.

"God don't say my middle name." I cringed with my face scrunched up; a massive migraine was starting to take its toll on me.

"Where were you?" She shrieked once again; I'm starting to see stars with how bad my freaking headache is. It's way to bright in this house.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep at Tana's I should've called you it's my mistake I won't let it happen again."

One thing to know about me; when I'm in the wrong I apologise.

One thing to know about my mum; she throws my apology right back in my face and calls me immature.

"TANAS!" She started to trail behind me as I clumsily made my way up the stairs to my bedroom door. Once I reached the door I got an overwhelming feeling that I was about to vomit so I stopped for a moment to calm myself down.

I leaned my forehead against the cool marble that the whole house was made from to cool myself down.

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU! NO GOING TO ROCK GLAM, NO DRINKING, NO KISSING RANDOM GIRLS OR BOYS."

She caught a glimpse at my notebook; purple velvet and green floral exterior. She knew exactly what it was and snatched it from my hand.

"Hey!-"

"AND NO MAKING SONGS. NO SINGING SONGS I TOLD YOU NOT TO SING OR WRITE THEY DIRTY LYRICS."

I snatched the book from her and held it right to my chest. This book was my lyrics, my ideas, my thoughts, feeling. My whole life.

"ITS CALLED ROCK MUM! Get with the times, it's the Beatles that are popular now, not fucking hymns." I snapped as I walked into my room. Before I got the chance to shut the door over she was already invading my space.

"I don't give a shit what it's called. Stop it okay! That part of your life is over. It's time to grow up and face reality. You are engaged-"

"I'm not marrying him you can fuck right off." I looked at her through my full length mirror as she walked up to me. Her expensive heels clicking against my flooring as she walked closer to me.

"You're an ungrateful human being you know that. I found you a man; a millionaire who can take care of you for life you won't have to work a day in your life-"

"Yeah that's what I'll do, I'll go right ahead and marry a man I don't marry so that I'll birth all his kids and be his perfect dumb trophy wife for life. You worked hard to get where you are, why can't I work hard in something I wane you do. I don't need a man to do that." I said smothered in sarcasm making my mother roll her eyes.

"You and your bloody pride. Here's the real world Margaret; a woman's purpose main purpose in life is to get married and as the bible preached, have children. You'll never be anything different." She spat.

"You're going to the Russel's household on Thursday morning for you to plan the wedding with your fiancé with a big bloody smile on your face you hear me?"

I chuckled softly as I walked up so our faces our almost touching; her Chanel No.5 tickling my nose.

"I'd love to see you try." I spat in her face. I suddenly gasped as her hand connected with my cheek forcing my face to the side as my cheek started to warm up almost instantly.

"I hate you, you're not my daughter you know! I should've aborted you when I had the chance you know that! If it killed me oh well, as long AS YOU WHERE NEVER BORN." She screamed in my face, she turned to leave my room to meet Greg leaning against the door frame.

"Are you okay Darling?" Greg asked my mum; his voice all sweet and soft making my scoff and roll my eyes.

She ignored him and left in anger.

"Would you get the fuck out of my room?!" I asked, his head snapped from watching my mum as she made her way down the landing and down the stairs to me.

"Seems you need to be put in your place a bit huh?" He asked as he walked up to me, so close to my face I could feel his breath hit my skin.

"I don't see the bad thing about being a trophy wife Sweets? You'd be a damn good one anyway."He chuckled as he looked at me up and down licking his lips. His hands were resting on my arse ready to give it a spank. A sudden spur of anger and confidence caused me to push him back.

"Touch me again and I swear I'll rip your tongue out."

"You don't have the guts." He simply said before leaving the room.

He's right I didn't have the guts, I didn't have the guts to go to the police and ruins my mother's career that she worked so hard for when it got out to the media that her husband is a child molester.

So Ive kept my mouth shut for years.

I feel hot years fill my eyes, I take a long deep breath in an attempt to calm myself down while looking up at the ceiling to try and stop the crying; I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

That's when I found myself packing a suitcase, grabbing my passport, some money I had. A couple of outfits to keep me going two or three weeks.

I grabbed my notebook, my Polaroid camera and my box full of Polaroid's and squashed it all into one massive suitcase.

I had to leave the rest so I could move quickly.

___

An hour later my family left to go out for lunch without me. I sat at the window and watched them leave.

I watched them get smaller smaller until eventually I couldn't seem them at all.

I would never see them again.

I grabbed my suitcase, grabbed the keys to my mums car and fucked off out of there with the intention of never returning again.

_____

I just had to put Harry Styles in there somewhere.

Sorry not sorry 🤪😩

#ben hardy #joe mazzello imagine #queen blurb #queen headcannon #queen imagines #queen fanfiction #roger taylor imagine #roger taylor #brian may #john deacon #bohemian rhapsody #borhap fanfic

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fucktgisshitok-blog · 5 years

Text

Obsessive Tendencies

A/N: The next chapter in the collab with @tephi101. She actually helped write the scene with Ivar because I didn't want to hijack her plot line. She wrote Ivar's parts. Catch up on chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Warnings: Cussing, verbal abuse, sibling rivalry, morbidity, hint of abuse

Chapter 9

Hvitserk's POV:

I sat in the kitchen at the table surrounded by my brothers and father. Of course, being the sarcastic ass he was, Sigurd suggested we all wear party hats. I looked like a doofus. I heard Ivar's car pull up and I immediately beelined for the door to hide behind it.

When he walked through the door i shoved a party hat under his chin and on to his head and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Really? A fucking K? That's all your little bitch ass is going to give me? I should have asked mom to adopt you to another family and asked for a little brother who is grateful for my Godly existence.” I teased.

He laughed and tried to knock me off of him. “Get the fuck off of me Hvitty. I knew it would annoy you so I typed k. Also by the way I am the best brother that you have ever had. For one I put up with your bitch ass and two I am the only one that will play videogames with you.”

I shrugged busted a party popper in his face. “I've traded you in for a newer model. His name...is...Sigurd.”

“Don't bring me into your dumbshit.” Sigurd said, typing on his phone. I looked at Ivar and made a mocking face at him, making fun of Sigurd.

“Do not bring his stupid ass into our conversation. This is between you and me Hvitserk. You could never trade me in even if you wanted to. Not only are we brothers but we are best friends. We have the strongest bond ever. You will never break that” he protested.

I held my hands up in defeat and Ubbe jumped up. “Mom is here. Everyone act natural.”

“Yeah. All of her sons in one room and still breathing. That's totally natural.” I said, rolling my eyes. Ivar and I were literally the only two that got along the majority of the time. I sat down on a stool and popped a noise maker into my mouth. Dad killed the lights and when the door opened he quickly turned the lights back on. We all yelled the stereotypical ‘'SURPRISE” and she stood there shocked as I blew into the noise maker.

“My sons. My husband...how did you plan this without me knowing?” She asked.

“We didn't tell big mouth one and big mouth two about it until today.” Ubbe said motioning towards Ivar and myself. Dick.

“Wow Ubbe what a way to ruin the getting along thing we had going. This is why Hvitty and I are the closest. Anyway happy birthday mommy dearest. I hope you have had a good day because you deserve it. We love you and we will try not kill each other today only for your sake.” Ivar stated almost numbly.

I watched as my dad pulled a pot roast from the oven and my mouth watered. I had to admit, his cooking was way better than mother's bland food. I went to grab the carving knife and fork and my hand was swatted away. “The fuck?” I demanded at my younger brother.

“Mom gets the first piece.” Sigurd snapped.

I set my jaw. “It's not a fucking cake, Sigurd. It's dinner.”

“And it's mom's birthday. She gets…”

“Shut your ass up. You self entitled little piece of shit.” I snapped.

“Hvitserk.” My father demanded. I immediately sat down in my chair. If I learned one thing from my childhood and the belt around his waist, it's that you do NOT piss off Ragnar Lothbrok.

I bit my lip and looked down at my empty plate. “I fucking hate this family.” I muttered. I jumped when my father's fist hit the table. Ivar looked up and locked eyes with me.

I shook my head, subtly at him. I waited until everyone filled their plates before grabbing a small slice of meat and a couple potatoes. I went to take a bite and Sigurd knocked my fork onto the floor.

“Sigurd. Leave your brother alone.” Ragnar said, not looking up from his food. I reached down to grab my fork and he stomped on my hand. I shot up out of my chair, holding my hand. I stormed upstairs and slammed my bedroom door.

“Fucking dick!” I seethed. I opened up my closet door and grabbed Harlow's bloody blanket from it. I pressed it to my nose again and inhaled her scent, breathing out almost orgasmically.

I did not hear the door open at all or even notice that someone else was in the room with me until Ivar spoke.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Why are you sniffing a bloody blanket and seeming like you are getting off from it? That is totally not weird at all”, he says as he steps into the room.

I dropped the blanket and looked at Ivar. “Um...my...girlfriend started her period and I have a fetish?” I asked, making a face. Then I sighed. I couldn't lie to him. I stood up and heard the family laughing downstairs so I shut my door quietly. “I erm...well...kind of was but wasn't lying. I have a girlfriend. Of sorts. Remember the old hunting cabin? I reinforced it and now I have a girl in there...trapped...against her will…” I explained as quietly as I could, hoping he wouldn't judge me. “I love her.”

It is quiet for a moment before Ivar speaks. “That is not what I was expecting you to say but I can understand that. You want to know why? I also have fallen in love with a beautiful girl and have her trapped in that one cave with the vault door. It seems we really are connected and have a lot in common brother. What a coincidence or better yet maybe it is fated that this has happened”, he said with a smug look on his face.

I looked at him with a hateful glare. “What. The. Fuck. Ivar? I have felt guilty for keeping this from you and then you go and hit me with this shit? The fuck is wrong with you?” I demanded.

“Oh Hvitserk do not be such a drama queen. You think I have not felt the same guilt as you. I could not tell you because I thought you would look at me differently. Now look how the situation has done a full turn around. We now know that we both are psychopaths. Now we can tell each other everything and maybe help each other out. It will be fun”, he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

I smirked at him. “What do you have in mind little brother?”

Tag List: @tephi101 @jacksonroth @unic0rn-world @supernaturalvikingwhore @misskalonthelady @two-unbeatable-beaters @captstefanbrandt @lol-haha-joke @filthyshieldmaiden

#vikings #vikingsau #modern hvitserk #hvitserkau #hvitserk ragnarsson #one hell of a ride #angst #original characters #kidnapping

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wandering-dogs · 5 years

Note

Hi! I hope this is ok to ask, but why'd you pick a BC to be your service dog? Definitely not judging, because I've been really strongly considering it myself, but everyone tells me that BCs are generally too sensitive for public access!

Oh boy, I just managed to delete everything I wrote on this. =w=;Well. This is REALLY fucking long, so… Under the cut we go.TLDR; there were a lot of personal circumstances to think about between my disabilities, money, and timing, and it was moreso that a BC fit neatly into those than I necessarily wanted a BC from the beginning.

So! First off, I should mention, you’re absolutely correct. When I got Wander, this was a thing I was warned about. I specifically asked for a dog who rebounded off of scares quickly, and I got just that. He definitely recovers fast, but he is, absolutely, a sensitive dog. Moreso than I would have wanted.

But, there were a few things I had to think about that led me to getting a BC, even with the warning that they were sensitive.

1. I’ve seen a lot of successful border collie service dogs. Like, a surprising amount. This was one of the reasons I even started looking into them! That, combined with a few questions placed at a few different people, really made them seem like an option. Not necessarily, the ideal, but…

2. I don’t like the main service dog breeds. Or, rather, I hate living with them. I’ve owned labs and golden retrievers, and I really, truly, did not want to have to live with another. I think they’re great dogs! I think all my friends should have one! But I know myself, and I know that it would not be fair to me or my dog to get one of those two breeds. Even if they have a higher chance of success, what would that have mattered if I was constantly getting annoyed at things that are perfectly normal for those breeds? Poodles, which were another option, I just didn’t know enough about. There’s a lot of grooming that goes into them for one, which I have no experience in (though I’d love to learn) and I know nothing about their temperaments other than they are retriever-y dogs. Which is why I ended up vetoing them to be on the safe side.

3. An organization was likely out of the question. I don’t know enough about organizations and how they should run to tell a good one from a mediocre one, to start. Then there’s also that they normally choose breeds that I just simply don’t get along with. But the real kicker is that I really couldn’t locate one that would work with me. I’m autistic and have PTSD along with some other mental issues. Finding an organization that works with autistic adults? Near impossible. I, to this date, have not been able to locate one that looks decent. And PTSD ones are mostly geared towards veterans, which I am not. The other issue is time frame; I did not have a ton of waiting time.

4. So, I was majorly depressed at the time. Like, sleeping for days on end, not getting out of bed, angry, depressed. This was partially due to processing multiple layers of trauma! The main issue however was that I hit an autistic breakdown. Think of it as a mental break. I couldn’t read for several years after this happened, for example. I still, to this day, have some days where I cannot read more than a sentence at a time without losing the ability altogether. Typing up a paragraph? This whole thing that you’re currently reading? That was a pipe dream for me at the time. And for someone who spent their whole like from age 4 (yes, four) to 19 reading chapter book upon chapter book a day to cope? That was a devastating loss. I have still not been able to read as many books, but I’m improving! (for reference, I’m currently 23)

4.5. Animals are my life. At the time, we had lost our old rescue lab, and just gotten Simon, who had settled in beautifully. I’d intended to see if he would work out as a service dog, but was told no immediately (family dog, not YOUR dog), and wasn’t allowed to work with him. This meant his anxiety worsened because I couldn’t continue his socializing, and by the time they realised I really needed a service dog, it was too late for Simon to have a chance. (He’s also protective, so it wouldn’t have worked out anyways most likely) But, I was depressed, in bed, and had no purpose. Caring for a puppy would force me out of bed. I knew this, my mum knew this, and so it just kind of… It didn’t have a rush or timeline. I was willing to wait. But it definitely was something I couldn’t just sit around and wait years for either.

5. Originally, I’d planned on getting a Berger Blanc Suisse. And in all honesty, I still plan on getting one! I still think they would be better suited to my needs, and I certainly prefer the look and size of them! But, I couldn’t find a good BBS breeder near me, and shipping/flying out was likely not an option either. Now that I know more of where to look, I have my eye on a few, but… That’s neither here nor there.

6. I was worried that the dog would wash out. I couldn’t be sure that I would be able to afford regular training, as I am paid based off of commissions, and knew my parents wouldn’t make it a priority (i was correct). This meant that there was a pretty decent chance that the dog would wash out, because I was the only one who’d be training him. I didn’t really have any local dog training friends, all I had was some practice on Simon and a plethora of videos and research. Which meant that the dog washing out had to be taken into account from the start. I’m not a person who would be able to rehome a dog I raised as my own, though I understand why and how others do. But I definitely needed some sort of backup plan. Border collies are good at sports, make decent pets in case the dog washed out into an ESA, and yet also were okay service dog prospects! Not ideal, but it was one of the closest I could find to an ideal dog. A little bit of sensitivity seemed like a decent trade off for a dog who I knew I could do a ton of things with, even if my plans well through.

7. I’d been looking into BC’s already, more as a backup plan if I couldn’t locate a BBS breeder that would/could work with me, when I got a recommendation towards a BC breeder. I went in, looked at her page, looked at her dogs, joined her pup group and poked around, and finally sent her a message, asking if she was going to have any future breedings that would supply a dog with the temperament I needed. She messaged back saying she had a puppy there already who fit, and we worked out a discount contract. I’d already had some money saved up between commissions and some donations, and my parents offered to cover the rest of the cost. After that, its history.

I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s… a lot of info anyways.

I want to be very clear though, now that I’m at the end.

I don’t regret getting Wander. I am not on good terms with his breeder anymore, after a lot of drama, but I do know a lot of people who own her dogs, and like them very well. I love Wander a lot, and he really was the perfect dog for me at the time. I don’t know if I’d change any of my choices if I had the chance; I can’t claim to know that.He’s not perfect. I’m not perfect. I call him a service dog in training still because I feel that he very much is. I can’t say for sure that I’d wash him out. He has flaws, and I am afraid that they’re worse than I think. But when given the opportunity to act out or be afraid? He doesn’t. He constantly surpasses my expectations.He does have a few issues caused by my dad when he was a puppy; Barking at strangers, for example, or people leaning over him, which makes him a bit nervous.He also is not a perfect dog because I’m not a perfect trainer. With the right experience, I think Wander would have already been a fully fledged service dog. But I don’t have that experience; I couldn’t give him that.

If you wanted reasons to go for a border collie as a service dog, there are plenty.They make great dogs if they wash out. They pay attention to you. They’re ready to go whenever you want or need to. They aren’t grooming heavy. They’re not as talkative as some other breeds (Wander for example is near silent). They’re gorgeous, multipurpose dogs.But there are just as many, if not more reasons to go with a golden, or a lab, or a poodle.So my advice, unsolicited as it might be, is to make sure that your reasons, however many there are, are weighed correctly. I had fewer reasons to go with a border collie, but they were more important reasons to me. They weighed more than the reasons I could have chosen another breed.

Next time, I doubt I’ll get a border collie. But for me, with the timing and other concerns I had? A border collie, especially Wander, was the perfect choice.

I’d also definitely rather have a trainer next time, but I’d also have rather had one this time too.

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lizzybeth1986 · 6 years

Text

Quick Thoughts on TRR Book 3 Chapter 11

• Again, fam, I'm not entirely sure I'll have this QT out in time but I hope I will. My surgery has been fixed for next Thursday, and I'd like to finish whatever I can before I leave for hospital. It's going to be hard, but fingers crossed I can get it done.

Here is Part 2 of Chapter 11's Quick Thoughts once you're through with this one!

• I'm noticing a narrative pattern here! Whenever something devastating is happening right in front of us (like the two attacks in the palace) they immediately pick up from where they left off in the previous chapter, bring that portion to its dramatic conclusion, and then play the opening theme (in this case, it's the sad version of the TRR title track). They used a similar narrative format in Chapter 1 of this book.

• This is also the third time the sad TRR track plays in the book. The only time it was played sans the narrative style of Chapter 1 and Chapter 10's openings, was in Chapter 6, after the orchard at Applewood was burned. All at points of time when all hope seems to be lost, before our lead characters get up, dust themselves off, and resolve to keep going despite everything and everyone against them.

• It was pretty clear that Constantine would sacrifice his life in this chapter, given the way he was talking at the end of the last one. It's the kind of symbolic send-off one tends to write for a character one knows will die sooner than he anticipates. Which is why even though I'm kinda pissed that Leo comes now when everything seems safe, I understand why having him there is so important. In the narrative, Leo is an important part of the closure that comes before Constantine's demise.

•

A few notes on Constantine's demise:

1. He's right about one thing: it definitely is a better end for him. He dies a hero. Cordonia never finds out that he was going to die anyway. No one gets to know what he did to the future Queen/newest Duchess either. I'm still going to be unhappy about this because it's a way better end than the man deserves.

2. I know I would find it disturbing if the man who arranged for me to be harmed in multiple ways in his own house was hailed a hero during his funeral, with only me and a handful of other people knowing he had done, and without the option of ever opening up about who was really behind it. I don't know about you, but my MC Esther would definitely feel conflicted about that.

3. Also..."everything I did, it was for you...whether or not it was right". Sorry Constantine, but that's a load of bullshit. After all this time, this man is still making excuses just before he dies. Liam answered this brilliantly in the last book - Constantine had a choice. He always had a choice. There were other, better ways of getting the MC out of the competition if that was his goal but no, his mind went straight to privacy violations and assault.

4. Also, while he pledged to help us under pressure from Liam, the fact remains that the brunt of his actions were borne by other people. The MC's name was dragged into the mud and SHE had to run around and make all the effort of setting it right. Liam was forced into a loveless match that would have culminated in a disastrous marriage had Tariq not cooperated, and he had to work on figuring out who was behind this not knowing his own family was involved. In all this, Constantine did all the work of making his own home as unsafe for his guest as it could possibly get, and very little of the work in restoring her reputation in the eyes of all of Cordonia. Did he apologize? Sure he did. But that doesn't change a damned thing. It doesn't change the fact that he sowed evil and left it for other people to reap.

5. I find his last line to Liam quite poignant though. "You are Cordonia". That's a very loaded statement, and a very accurate one. And I think if there is anything that can keep Liam strong and carry him forward, it's that. No one in this book is as immersed in the culture, history and spirit of Cordonia as Liam is - which is why he makes the best king for the nation. Because he knows it intimately and cares for it, he knows what this country needs so it can heal. Even if it takes a while for Liam to realize that himself.

6. So long, old man.

• Title: Cold Fire. Kinda fitting, considering our tour has now moved to Lythikos, but the 'heat' of the tensions within the court have turned up several notches. It could also refer to that sick, sick burn Drake delivered to Madeleine today though 😂😂😂

• Alternative titles:

Drink What Everyone Else Is Drinking. Good For Health.

Drake Doesn't Need A Sword to Slay Assholes. Nor Does Olivia, Apparently.

@callmetippytumbles suggested a shorter and better alternative title to that one, and it's: Drake Roasts And Gets Roasted.

• I was hoping we would spend at least a chapter in the Capitol and, yknow, actually help Liam work through his grief, but nope. Flash-forward it is.

• Bastien is in hospital now, with injuries sustained from escorting people out of the palace, so Mara (who apparently hasn't been sleeping since the attack) is the one doing the debriefing on his behalf.

• It's clear to Liam and our friends NOW that whoever has been conspiring against us was a part of the Unity Tour and working from the inside (bruh, I could have told you that long ago). I'm thinking now that if Neville is part of this plan, perhaps the duel was meant to serve as a distraction so arrangements could be made within the time that the entire court was out in the courtyard. Just a theory.

• This was also alluded to in Perfect Match, when one of Nadia's alternative identities is Steel, a guest in the 'royal's tour who is actually an assassin.

•

This is perhaps the closest we get to Liam confessing how much all this has been affecting him, and sadly enough, he doesn't have enough time to really work through his grief. The suggestion to continue to Lythikos and get their answers there comes from Liam, and he speaks of it as something Constantine would have wanted. It isn't entirely healthy, but I think this is the way Liam has been brought up and it's hard for him to give himself time to be vulnerable, to give himself the space to grieve properly. Because now more than ever he has an entire country depending on him, and the royal family is known for projecting displays of strength and stoicism even if they don't feel it. It's not a good way of working through one's issues, but it's probably the only way Liam knows to deal with his trauma. I feel like in a lot of ways he's reliving especially the assassination attempt that happened earlier, but worse because someone he loved actually died this time. I'd definitely see some signs of PTSD at work here, even if it's suppressed. Particularly given that he speaks of feeling empty.

•

Waitaminute...are you telling me that Esther, the future Queen of Cordonia, is going to attend a Ball, her fiancé's father's funeral, a meeting, and an entire trip to Lythikos in this fever dream of a costume???

Fine. Fine, Esther, I give up. Fanta bottle inspired Stephanie Seymour gown it is 🙄

• What Madeleine says about the effect the MC has (particularly if the MC chooses all the right options during the tour) on people is very very similar to the last thing Constantine said before he died:

I'm guessing in a lot of ways this is seen as the MC's personal victory. Constantine and Madeleine were the two people who believed least that the MC had anything of value to give if she became Queen or a person of power in Cordonian politics. It was a long hard road to achieving this level of confidence even in her naysayers, so in a lot of ways the MC now truly is a unifying factor. Which makes me wonder what they say if you do a gag-run instead where the MC fails miserably during the tour. I know @boneandfur is doing such a playthrough as of now, but I don't know exactly if Madeleine and Constantine's words to her change in such an eventuality.

•

OMG. The design team is KILLING IT with the OOTD this week! It's gorgeous, and it tells us plenty about the Lythikos duchy and the Nevrakis House! For those of you who haven't read my House Sigils essay, I theorized that red was one of the house tinctures (colours), and that the sigil was either a sword or a spider. The flaming sword is attached to the gown (possibly as a brooch pin). @i-dream-so-i-write and I discussed this, and it was she who pointed out that Diavolos signature weapon was the flaming sword, as can be seen from the above picture. I'm not sure which metallic colour would form the second colour/tincture, but evidence seems to be learning more towards silver (there is a little gold on the brooch-sword, so it could be either). Tldr: I love this gown. It has that grace and effortless style that I've come to associate with Nevrakis fashion.

• Olivia is wearing the gown she wore for her Coronation. Come to think of it, the Scarlet Duchess moniker that Olivia got would refer to way more than her fashion. Given that it's one of her house colours and she was proud to be a Nevrakis especially at the time, Scarlet Duchess would mean so much to her. So much.

• So we're seated in the front and served fresh, piping hot food. SWEET! XD This time we get to order stuff. Maxwell gets fondue, Hana gets glazed salmon and Drake has ordered for ribs.

• Olivia: I had to request a few changes for your more...rustic palette.

Drake: Are you expecting a thanks? Because you're not getting one.

You're in for the meal of your life, Walker 😂

•

If you've never liked Olivia at all before? This scene in reason enough 😂😂😂

• Lucretia drops by to make more heavy hints about marriage prospects for Olivia (including relief that her niece wasn't scarred from rubble. How...caring).

• Olivia and Liam then perform the opening dance (like they did during the social season) and Liam takes this opportunity to find out what she knows. He gets little, beyond her worries about having to marry someone Lucretia will pick for her. Hana points out that perhaps "one has to wonder who Lucretia wants Olivia to marry". Good question.

• But before that, Kiara comes up to the MC to tell her she will be withdrawing from court after the Winter Festival ends. Kiara's argument is sound - she had already extended her public support and seems to be attending the wedding. But now is a dangerous time to be a part of the court, and Kiara's doing what she can to stay safe. Remember, she was the only noblewoman in court injured during the attack at Homecoming Ball, a fact that was given hardly a minute of consideration before the MC "convinced" her to join them again.

• Hana mentions that perhaps they can speak to her before she returns. I hope this means we will FINALLY address what happened to Kiara and look into possible - very valid - concerns about her safety. This is something we SHOULD have been talking about when we meet her at Castelserraillian, but no. PB decided to create a whole new character instead just so Kiara wouldn't get the attention she deserved as a character.

• Then again, she is seen as a suspect in a way none of the other court ladies (besides Olivia, and she's only viewed as such because of her family history) are. Sigh. The MC gets the option to speculate that she "knows something" and Drake gets to answer that "we must suspect everyone". DRAKE. Who ALSO got wounded at the same Ball that she was wounded in. Ugh. I mean I shouldn't be surprised considering he gets angry about people not supporting Liam barely hours after he got shot, but he's friends with the King. Kiara is not, and if she gets wounded again wouldn't it be their fault for not addressing the concerns she and her family had in the first place? Apparently Penelope's and Madeleine's concerns should be given ample consideration, but Kiara? Kiara who?? Oh right, Penelope's love interest's sister 😠 While we're at it, let's just make her suspicious for no reason!

• CONGRATULATIONS MAXWELL STANS on getting your first character development scene! There isn't a lot of overt character development but the scene does show us how observant and resourceful Maxwell is, pointing out the hole in the armoury wall that will allow us to overhear people's conversations and give us a better idea of who we should suspect. It does this while still establishing him as goofy, fun-living and always ready to live life king-size.

• Maxwell and the MC engage in what is known in European folklore as an apple-shot (Apfelschuss in German. The most popular folk tale involving this feat of archery is that of William Tell, a Swiss folk hero, who was ordered to shoot an apple from the top of his son's head by a cruel nobleman named Albrecht Gessler. Thankfully, he succeeded).

• Oooh now comes my favourite part: the weapons!

• This is an amazing Easter Egg in two ways if you're a TCaTF fan. One is that it reminds me SO MUCH of when Val gets to be the narrator, which is ALWAYS fun! Case in point are the names she gives the Iron Empire soldiers at Ennan: Pointy, Mr Fancy, Birdface, Grumpy and That Other Guy. Here, the MC gives names to all the weapons.

• So if you're someone who has played TCaTF and forgotten the weapons, no problem! I'm here to list out what these weapons are actually called, where they originated from and how Kenna (if the reader pays) gets them!

• The Weirdly Fancy Dagger is the Black Asps Dagger (which I think might be venom-tipped, like Adder's Fang) which Raydan gets from a Black Asp agent when he is imprisoned under Azura's orders. I see this weapon as being associated most with Abanthus/Lythikos in this list of weapons, because it comes from Adder's team of Lykos spies and assassins, and eventually (if Kenna chooses so) Adder can get to rule over this kingdom either alone or alongside Princess Zenobia (or not at all).

The Dragon Face Hammer! is actually the famous Wave Hammer, made by Kailani Keawe of Ebrimel - a fierce warrior and a skilled craftswoman - from Heart Oak Wood sneaked in from Thorngate. Heart Oak has all the appearance of wood with all the strength of metal, and makes for an amazing secret weapon.

The Ram Head Thing is Crown Guardian Leon Stirling's signature weapon - The Ram's Head Mace. This is a weapon clearly associated with Stormholt as Queen Adriana bequeathed it to him. Leon gets to pass it down to Kenna upon his death, if she so chooses. This mace is strong enough to crush armour, and Leon won the tournament at Ducitora with it before Azura killed him.

The Skull...Flail? is Val Greaves' signature weapon, The Deadman's Flail, which is powerful enough to crush armour. Kenna can use this weapon in her fight against Severin Cale, Leader of the Mercenaries. Val herself uses it often in battle.

The polo mallet is just...there.

• Ooh finally! It's time to investigative.

1. Madeleine approaching a man the MC has rejected in favour of her current fiancé. If you're marrying Liam, this man is Drake and he gets to roast Madeleine like she's never been roasted before ("Liam does get what he wants. That means he also gets to throw away what he doesn't want"). If you're marrying Drake, Hana or Maxwell, she is talking to Liam, addressing the king-sized elephant in the room. Liam doesn't pull any extra punches - he just looks extra annoyed and tells her he's "had other matters to attend to". It may seem like a weak defense in comparison to Drake's explosive comeback, but to be fair the man is going through some crazy shit here, and I don't think anyone in that state can actually expand enough thought to form a rebuttal at all. I doubt he'd have either the inclination or energy to actually respond with more than "I've had other matters to attend to". It's particularly awkward if your LI is Maxwell because he is standing right next to you hearing all this, but that hardly reflects in his dialogue. Basically, I view this sequence as telling us more about Madeleine than about the men: she may have changed a tiny bit, but she's still just a huge shit-stirrer.

Possibly, this might be set up for the apology that will ensue if we save Madeleine's backstabbing ass next chapter. It'll be something along the lines of "oh forgive me, I was so wrong, what I did was so wrong, I'll never do that again" etc etc yadda yadda getouttamyfaceyoufakeassbitch.

Also, I believe that the part of the reason Drake delivered that zinger to Madeleine was because he was still stinging from Olivia's burn at dinner 😂

2. While there are very few differences between the first and last conversations, the second conversation changes drastically depending on who your LI is.

a. If your LI is Liam, Hakim comes up to Liam, gives him his condolences for Constantine's death, and then comments positively on Esther and the upcoming wedding, which leads to a discussion between the MC and Maxwell about wedding preparations. I think this is mostly because Kiara never really interacts with Liam, so they got Hakim to do the honors. Over here though, Hakim and Liam's conversation about the wedding forms only a tiny portion of the conversation, as opposed to the entire thing.

b. If your LI is Hana, Kiara and Hana have a lovely, lighthearted conversation about the latter's upcoming wedding. Kiara expresses great happiness at Hana getting married to the MC, and Hana confesses to being so nervous she constantly dreams about it. I love the way Hana and Kiara's friendship is written here: how open Hana is with Kiara and how encouraging and supportive Kiara is towards Hana. I think it's so beautiful to see 😭

c. If your LI is Maxwell? It's Hana and Kiara again, this time speculating what the MC's wedding to Maxwell will be like. Kiara confesses that she plans to skip a cousin's reception on the same day by pretending to be ill, just so she can attend their reception instead. Together they discuss what surprises the Beaumonts might spring during the reception - from dance-offs to ball pits to hot air balloons filled with kittens. Here too, it's a lovely moment - two of the smartest court members having fun talking about weddings.

d. If your LI is Drake, Kiara talks to him instead. First about the offerings at the dessert buffet, then about the wedding. Kiara is overly chirpy and happy and excited about the wedding, and Drake tenses up when she turns the topic towards the wedding preparations, because those are "complicated". Of course, if you do the LI scene with him at the ice palace, you will find out that he doesn't like talking about it because he would rather keep things simple and focus on his bride, and the nobility is all about perfection and elaborate preparations. Very possibly the Kiara-Drake conversation was written this way as a lead-up to his conversation with the MC at the snow palace. (and perhaps also to dissuade people who would like to ship Drake and Kiara, especially given the backlash Kiara got from fans just for having a crush on the man).

The main focus of this conversation of course is to give out the message that the MC's upcoming wedding is something that still excites people, and that even people afraid of staying in court don't want to miss it.

3. The third conversation between Olivia and Lucretia is given the suspicious sounding music from ES, and begins with Lucretia trying to find out more about the MC. Olivia doesn't tell her much beyond what everyone else knows, and Lucretia leaves her with this cryptic statement:

I feel we're going to have a Big Reveal about what actually happened to the Nevrakises and whether they really were traitors or not.

• With that we finish our little stint at investigation, and in comes our next chance to spend diamonds on our respective LIs!

• I love how Liam's outdoor kink has been referenced two chapters in a row now 😂

•

(Screenshots: @kennaxval for Hana, @mariamatsuo for Drake and the Vika Avey YouTube channel for Maxwell).

Again, like the previous scene, the LIs have their own individual stamp over their ice palace scene. The beauty of it is not just that they all seem different in the way they make love to the MC, but that their reactions to the ice palace itself vary from LI to LI.

Liam gives us a legend. He tells us about the prevalent pre-wedding tradition in Lythikos, where an engaged couple would have their village build them an ice palace the following winter. Kind of like a seasonal barn-raising, which also involves a community coming together to build something for the couple. It says plenty about Lythikos and its people (I won't elaborate because at some point I'm going to be writing essays again). But it also confirms for us how immersed in Cordonian culture Liam is, and how much his Queen will learn when she is with him.

Hana gives us a fairytale. She tells us a story her mother used to read to her at night, about a frozen kingdom, an ice palace and a princess with a frozen heart, which thawed the moment she found true love. The fairytale Hana tells us bears similarities to Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", and more to the film it inspired, Frozen. But snow maidens are a staple of certain European cultures (particularly Norwegian and Slavic legend), so it could be a mix of many stories. It's fitting that Hana relates the ice palace to a story, connected as she is to literature and folklore and romance. In a lot of ways, hidden beneath the fable of the ice princess is Hana's own story.

Drake gives us a memory. As a follow-through to the conversation between him and Kiara in Maxwell's armoury scene if the reader bought it (unbeknownst to him, because he doesn't know the MC was overhearing them) he gets to be more open about not being very interested in planning weddings. His ideal would have been to take his bride to his mother's ranch in Texas for a wedding very reminiscent of his parents' union, and were Cordonia not in this condition that's exactly what he would have done. It's very like Drake, whose most powerful emotional associations are connected to his once-happy childhood and his memories of his parents, particularly his father.

Maxwell gives us an gift, made with his own hands. When he brings the MC to the ice palace, he suggests creating ice sculptures, and both make one of each other. It's a sweet, funny and affectionate scene, with both of them exchanging cute banter about Maxwell's "secret affair" with "Ice MC" and his tongue getting stuck in ice while pretending to kiss her 😂 It's very Maxwell. He's very hands-on, likes to do fun things, likes to entertain. And that's exactly the vibe I'm getting here.

The love scenes are tender and sweet and hot, and I think each of these scenes is worth the diamonds you'll spend. The scenes are tailored perfectly to fit the personalities of each LI. This is exactly what I hoped to see with scenes like the bathtub scene at the beginning of the book, and the spa scene. If they continue with this kind of quality content going forward, then I'm really really glad they took that hiatus.

• Okay we're back to the ballroom now. With Madeleine super drunk on...um...some pineapple drink.

• Madeleine is the only person to have the pineapple drink, and she seems to have an affinity for pineapple's since Maxwell offered her that Pineapple Paradise Punch in Fydelia. Everyone else is drinking Lythikos Nog.

• Madeleine collapses in the middle of Olivia's speech!

• The security detail uses "Code Locusta" to refer to poisons. Which is fitting, because Locusta was a very notorious maker of poisons during the time of Claudius and Nero (around AD 54 was when she contributed to the assassination of Emperor Claudius, and his son Brittanicus a year later). She was not only someone who was an expert on poisons and hired for that purpose, but also someone who used her skills to bring down royalty at the behest of their enemies. This could be a bit of a stretch, but I think this ties in symbolically with the plot of the movie scene in Liam's playthrough, where the enemy of the throne is someone who also can claim to be a royal. Especially considering poisons have been used to kill Liam's mother, and now to kill a supporter of the Crown and the MC, and a member of a very powerful Cordonian noble house. And yet...the other noble house - the Nevrakis family of Lythikos - stays untouched.

• The last time I recall "Locusta" being used in literature was in Alexandre Dumas' (père) The Count of Monte Cristo. A chapter of this book, in which a woman attempts to poison her stepdaughter so the family fortune could be passed on to her son, was titled Locusta as well.

• Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, folks. Or should I say, in the Kingdom of. Cordonia?

• Can I just say I love the parallels between Lythikos in Book 1 and now? We learned a little about Olivia's past in passing from Liam here, and now it will hit us in full force in the form of Lucretia. Constantine didn't seem to be in Lythikos, and returned to tell Liam that he was going to die soon, and now we visit the same estate after he has given his life to save his son.

Olivia gave us the worst place and the worst treatment then, and the best now. We convinced Kiara to support us in this very ballroom, and perhaps we might have to do so now too. It was here that Madeleine proudly claimed she was neither unrefined or insecure...but now she doesn't care about propriety.

I recall it was here for the first time that Maxwell stans were given the chance to express affection towards him, and it's here that they now get his first character development scene in Book 3. Most of all...it was here that the initial 3 LIs started to open up to us, in different ways, (if we paid) and now we return...an engaged couple - shedding all our layers and keeping each other warm in the cold (again, if we pay). I have many fond memories of Lythikos, and this chapter definitely brought me back there xD

• Tumblr isn't allowing me to write further for this post, so I will be writing my theories and who I believe is involved in the next post.

#the royal romance #long post #liam x mc #king liam #drake x mc #drake walker #hana x mc #hana lee #maxwell x mc #maxwell beaumont #olivia nevrakis #lady kiara #countess madeleine #trr quick thoughts #quick thoughts

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