#Vivian (Vivid) White | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thenightcallsme · 1 year

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The Arcana: Julian's Route | Chapter 2

!! THIS STORY IS A DETAILED RETELLING OF THE ARCANA, INCLUDING PAID SCENES IN BOTH PROLOGUE AND JULIAN ROUTE. ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT THE MC ARE PROPERTY OF THE ARCANA FRANCHISE !!

A/N: This is a reupload from my AO3 cause I want to branch out. Enjoy!!

Summary: In a small shop in Vesuvia lives Vivian Caelum, a student of the magical arts who works as a shopkeeper for her tutor, Asra Alnazar. Her name is not known in the streets as her master's is, nor does she have full control over her magic yet. But one night, there's a knock at her door; Vivian is needed at the palace to help Countess Nadia upon her personal wishes. Soon, what she thinks is a small task is something she would never have expected her magic to be used for: Vivian must find Count Lucio's murderer. Will she be able to track down the infamous murderer and finally put the Countess's years of restlessness to ease? Or will the killer captivate her in ways she can't explain? Is she even running after the right man? Something deeper than she thought is happening within her beloved city, and she's about to understand the vastness of the magical realms.

Pairing: Julian Devorak x Fem!Magician Reader

This Chapter Contains: N/A

Word Count: 4,515

find the rest of the chapters in my masterlist here :)

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The sky is a dark swirl of clouds above my head, colours of dawn purples. Stars are peaking through the last rays of sunlight that are falling beyond the horizon. There is only a flat expanse of shifting, golden sand that dances in the low light as if it's a rolling sea. Cleaving through it is a path of smooth black stone. My feet are bare and aching on the strange path.

Beside me stands a beast of pure white fur. I stare at it for a moment in wonder, unable to find any features but black eyes peeking through the thick fur. And sitting atop it...

Asra looks back at me, wearing the same clothes I last saw him in, scarf pulled tight.

"Do you understand that I dare not tell you? If I did, you'd have to promise me never to seek this path. ...I'm not even as much a hypocrite as that, Vivian," he says in his soft, yet deep voice.

My eyes go from my master to the black road. I'm sure I'd never take this dark, savage path. And yet the smooth stone is so soothing and cool, so fascinating. I know I shouldn't find it so. I strain to see where it leads, but the path keeps changing.

"Soon there will be crossroads," Asra says.

This catches my attention. "'Crossroads'? Could you at least tell me where they lead?"

"You know I can't." He shakes his head at the pleading and anger in my eyes. "Rest now."

"You can't push me away!" I cry.

No. No no no.

Everything is slipping from my grasp, the scene swaying and dying. All that remains true is Asra's face, vivid and sympathetic. I try to keep my balance, but it's getting too hard to stand.

"I would never."

I try to scowl, but I'm so tired. "Then explain why you won't tell me where you go, what I should expect."

"Viv, I—"

Everything has gone dark, and my heart caves in. Why does something as small as a secret make me feel so neglected? I've never had a real friendship to base communication off, but I at least know he should be open with me. And this dream Asra...what I said is the closest I've ever been to telling the real him how I feel.

I wonder if I ever will.

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Sunlight and bird song float from my window and push the curtains on a careful breeze. The raging golden sun peaks behind the shingle roof of the apartment across the street. Shit

I spring off the bed and rush to the closet, throwing the doors open. I desperately rummage through my belongings to find something expensive-looking. Finery and priceless jewellery are two things I've never owned and never expect to, but that's never stopped me from trying to look appealing.

The best I can do is a long white skirt that hugs my waist, paring it with a plain green scarf. That I secure at my waist with a belt to make a makeshift top. It creates a low neckline, making room for my layered necklaces. Many small crystals and silver hoops adorn my ears, and I slide homemade rings onto my fingers. Everything is silver, all the gems earthy tones and inexpensive. The sandals I do up are not so appealing, but thankfully the skirt hides them.

The state of my hair makes me stop and cringe. The Countess would have seen in in a similar state last night. I hastily grab a brush and smooth it out, pulling my hair into loose braids that nearly reaches my waist Once my lips are painted a glossy red and my lashes are darkened, I grab my things and close the door behind me.

Everything still feels so surreal. I am a student of the magical arts, with no name in the world yet, my future—until now—only promising my job as a shopkeep. I read cards, sure, and I have some unreliable magic that flows and burrows beneath my skin despite coming from a very mundane family. Yet, today I will be stepping foot in the Vesuvian Palace to see Countess Nadia upon her wishes.

I shake my head. Keep doubting on it, I tell myself and it will all turn out a dream.

After last night's intrusion, I'm sure to turn the first lock, then the second, then the third. I try the door, letting out a breath of relief as it holds firm. But... I still press my hand to the worn wood and whisper a cross-me-not spell to be sure. The wood lights up beneath my touch as Asra's delicate carvings are awakened.

The shop will be well. All will be well.

The morning mist is heavy and thick, yet to be scattered by the heat of the day. It blankets the street in an ethereal milky glow as the early morning sun pierces it. I take a moment to take in the tranquil scene, only to feel the hairs on my neck raise in alarm.

Flashbacks from last night hit me hard and my magic reacts instantly. Careful not to be too wary, I turn slowly.

At first, I don't realise I'm looking at a human. Their form is certainly human, though monstrous in size. They wear only loose-fitted pants and a ragged cloak, a brown fur belt tied around their waist. It's no doubt a man, from the impressively muscled chest to his body shape. Scars are etched into his tanned skin, clean and jagged, shallow and deep, worn and silver with some new and purplish.

His face is hard to make out, though I can tell he's definitely watching me. ...Maybe waiting for me to approach? It's inevitable, as I need to go down the street he stands in the middle of. And while I could take another route I'm in no mood to feel intimidated.

So I walk towards the towering stranger and say, "Hey, you're in my way."

Stormy green eyes meet mine, unblinking. I can see frowning lips, a sharp jaw covered in stubble, a carefully curved nose. Unkept black hair falls over the only eye I can see. I can hear the rattle of metal on metal beneath his robes as he shifts, but doesn't move.

Fed up and ignorant of the chills racing down my spine, I go to step around him—

Only to freeze as a firm, large hand lands on my shoulder.

"He will return, uninvited," a voice of thunder rumbles from under his robes.

If I had not already gone still by the heavy hand on me, I would have now. He will return. This massive mountain of a man isn't talking of Asra. But how the hell does he—

"He will offer you an escape when you need it most. Turn it away, or you will fall into his hands. Just like the rest of us."

An escape to decline. Something that could end me up like the rest of us. But who is us? And why am I being dragged into this?

The weight from my shoulder is gone, but I'm still frozen, mind turning like the wheel of a waterwork. There is shuffling behind me, the sound of cloth and chains dragging against the stone streets. And then silence.

Exhaling deeply, I continue down the street and toward the narrow, mossy steps that will take me to the marketplace. Wood groans beneath my feet as I step carefully onto the walkway stretching across a canal.

The marketplace is set along one of the rivers that run from the coastline of the city, splitting it into six districts: the South End, the Temple District, the Flooded District, the Centre City, and the Heart District where the wealthy and well-respected reside. Seven districts, if you include Ash Beach. Thankfully, my shop and the marketplace are both located in the Centre City—the district that connects to the Heart, which the countess resides.

Branching from either side of the calm river are planks of wood connecting the shops. The riversides are bustling with life. People of all colours and genders and professions mull over what hand-crafted necklace they should buy for their loved ones. Food is sold in bulk, and people's mouths water over fresh cinnamon buns. The marketplace is always my favourite spot to be in the morning, the smells and colourful sights waking my senses.

"Vivian! Have you eaten yet!?"

I know that voice. I see the warm smile of the local baker from behind his orange-coloured stall. He's wearing flowing white pants and a tunic the colour of honey. His skin is practically glowing this morning.

"You always seem to know when I need some of your delicious meals, Finnick," I call back with a grin.

"Well, in that case," I can practically see the glint in his dark eyes from across the river, "I have your favourite pumpkin loaf in the oven. It won't be long now."

I sniff the air on impulse, my stomach twisting in hunger. Then again, I should be careful about the time. But I haven't eaten yet, and who's going to scold me if I'm a few minutes behind me?

I cross the wooden walkway. "Damn you and your pumpkin bread."

Finnick's sun-kissed face brightens even more. He leads me into the booth where we're welcomed by the rush of spice-scented air. My mouth waters, my stomach growling a second demand to hurry up.

Finnick's small traveling cafe has a good reputation around Vesuvia, his glutinous treats a sort-out delicacy. Thankfully, I always seem to catch him in the early hours, with room for me to sit and enough food in stock to take a few home. He passes me a steaming tin of tea. When in my hands, he braces his hands on his hips.

"And where is Asra?" he asks. "Sleeping in?"

I take a sip as I consider how to answer—though it's always the same reason. I sigh. "Off journeying somewhere. Again," I add with distaste.

"Ahh, and where to this time?" I shrug, taking another sip. Finnick raises a brow. "He didn't say? You're telling me the rascal is keeping secrets from his prized pupil?"

Finnick's words are in jest, but they prod something within the compels me to answer. The thought of Asra sharing everything with me is laughable. Yes, we have lots of physical things to share, but deep down, it's those thoughts and feelings that mean more.

Where are you going?

...Out.

When will you be back?

Sooner or later.

The idea of what he was hiding from me used to drive me crazy. And sometimes it still does. But...these are things I have to live with. A small price to pay for how much he has saved and changed my life, I guess.

"It's always like that," I say.

"You two are so complicated." He shakes his head and laughs. "So, he's off on another secret journey. And where are you off to today, may I ask?"

I consider holding my tongue, but I grin around the tin. "I'm going to the palace to see the countess."

Finnick's eyes widen a fraction. He whistles a low, long note. "So it's true. There have been whispers all morning, you know. Word is she was wandering about like a lost lamb 'til she found your door."

He leaves his statement open. Burning with curiosity, he waits for me to fill him in on the details. I laugh and take a sip of the minty beverage, keeping silent eye contact. He rolls his eyes and playfully sticks out his tongue.

"So how's that bread coming along?" I say instead.

With a shake of his head and an unintelligible mutter, he trudges to the little wood burning stove to check. He reaches in with a flat-faced spatula and drags out a small golden loaf of bread. The sweet, mouth-watering smell of the bread fills the room in seconds.

"Here you go," he says, passing it over, "all wrapped and ready for the road."

I reach for the coin pouch buried in my satchel, but his hand is placed over mine. When I look up with question, Finnick shakes his head at me with a smile.

"But you—"

"A little free treat for my favourite customer doesn't hurt. But next time bring Asra. And the snake." He winks.

Overcome with gratitude, I grab him in a tight hug. His skin smells of sugar and freshly made bread. "Ask that husband of yours if he could meet with me later this week for a new carpet, please? I'm afraid I...spilled a great deal of stuff on it that I can't get out."

It's not like I can't pay, but financial stability is a worry of mine. Finnick knows and always seems to give me free items, passing them off as a treat. But truly, it's a gift, no matter how cheap it is. I'll be sure to pay full for the new carpet.

"Of course, Vivian. Now don't keep the countess waiting."

With one final squeeze, I whisper a goodbye and ten more thank you's. Never will they be enough, though.

When I emerge from the stall, the morning traffic has become heavy. I'm careful to join the flow with caution of the customers. Up ahead is a narrow stone stairwell, where the masses and their animals cluster and walk through. And as my heels make contact with the first step, something catches my eye; A fortune-tellers booth tucked away in a shady corner. Silver moons adorn the tapestries draped over the entrance, shrouding it in secrecy. The sight teases a smile out of me as I note it and a few street dancers around it. How nostalgic...

As I'm lost in my past, a patron emerges from the booth, caught up in conversation. I give a wide berth for her to pass. I hear the woman's voice, sweet and soft and heavily accented. She must not be from around here. From the rolls on her r's and the thickness of her voice, she must be from Nevivion. It's not often you find Nevivion tourists in Vesuvia. The southern continent is nearly a month's travel away. Maybe a week shorter if you dared take the journey across the sea.

"Before I forget, what are my lucky numbers today?" The fortune-teller murmurs to her and she nods. "Three, six, seven, nine. Got it."

I pass them and walk ahead towards the castle, noting how the sun is already starting towards the horizon. The one thing that could improve the city could be more transport; horse carts, canoes in the river, anything. Sometimes it takes too damn long to make my way across the city.

The shrieking caw of a large black raven perched on a stall catches my attention. Its beady black eyes meet mine, cocking its head to the side like a curious dog. Suddenly, its attention isn't on me anymore as it caws again, loud and alerting as it peers over my shoulder. I have half the mind to follow its gaze...

...and my heart stops dead.

Moving casually through the crowd is a tall figure with pale skin and wild auburn hair, whistling to himself. I don't need a double-take to let the familiarity hit me like a brick to the head. His clothes are the same—a large black coat with red lining, the navy pants and button-up shirt, leather boots—but there is no sign of the bird-like mask.

Doctor Julian.

Even from this distance and the rolling sea of people, I don't see a bandage on the side of his face. There is no healer in this part of the city who could heal something as deep as that cut so fast. I sure as hell am not about to ask him, though, and thankfully he hasn't spotted me.

Without a second thought, I duck into the crowd. My mind races as I run in the opposite direction. Why of all places would he be in a marketplace, particularly one of the busiest in Center City, without that mask? And in broad daylight? If he's here now, could he have stayed nearby the whole time? I shiver at my next thought. Is he following me?

Confident that I can stay on my feet, I dare to steal a glance backward to see if he's spotted me. No, he hasn't. He's still distracted by all the—

Above the bustling noises of the crowd, the huge raven caws again, louder than before as it swoops in front of me. I skid to a halt and barely miss its beating wings as it circles me and caws again before perching itself on another stall.

Julian's attention shifts at the loud call as if he recognises it, his eyes searching the crowd with a frown, and this time, I can’t avoid it. We lock eyes and at first, there is only surprise in his look as he goes still. Though, it soon vanishes, replaced by another look that seems to purr 'hello again'.

He's definitely seen me now.

But I've spent years of my life in these streets, spent time earning money off these streets. Run-ins with the wrong people are common, no less for street performers, and of course, we always learned how to slip away. Every nook, every alleyway, every twist and turn in this city is my best friend.

I leave the main path and weave through the booths faster than before, zig-zagging in my own familiar way like a ghost in the wind. I pass that fortune teller's booth again and prepare to turn that sharp corner to the weather-beaten stairs that cleave between two towering buildings. It's barely wide enough to fit two people. Knowing that nobody uses them and that there should be a pottery stall keeping it half hidden, I make a beeline straight for it. I turn that corner without slowing; a mistake. I should have slowed, should have thought twice. Instantly, I collide with an unsuspecting woman.

The impact throws me back, teetering on the edge of a step, the shoes I'm wearing catching in a crevice. At the last second, I throw my hands out, pushing a gust of wind to the ground to regain my balance. The other woman isn't so lucky. The basket she was skilfully balancing on her hip slips from her grasp and hits the ground, sending a dozen pomegranates rolling through the crowd.

"Oh my, I'm sorry!" I gush, a flush of embarrassment on my checks. "I'm sorry, I was in a hurry."

The woman doesn't seem to hear me, though, as she mutters, "Oh, perfect. As if I wasn't already running late."

I drop down to a crouch beside the woman and grab the three closest to me. I snatch a stray one from the cobble street before a donkey's hove comes straight down on it. When I pour the cluster of saved fruits into her basket, her eyes finally fall on me. There's a flicker of annoyance in her eyes—rightfully so—but she still offers me a warm smile on her soft rosebud mouth.

The woman is possibly a little younger than me, with smooth, rosy-pale skin covered in freckles like splattered pain. Her steel-blue eyes are round and sparkling with happiness. Bangs of curling auburn hair frame her heart-shaped face, falling from her loose bun. She doesn't wear expensive materials, just a short, white dress lined with a gold pattern that falls off her shoulders and bunches at her elbows. Cinching in her curved waist is a shawl the colours of a sunset.

There is something so strangely familiar about her, yet I've never seen her in my life. I mean, I did see her exiting the fortune stall.

"Ooh, thank you!" she says with delight. "How sweet of you to help me."

I offer her a hand. "Of course. I did run into you. It was the least I could do."

Her smile brightens as she places her hand in mine, hers’ small and calloused against mine, worn by work. I begin to doubt that she is just a tourist. A cleaner for a wealthy house, maybe? A seamstress?

She finds her feet and reaches into the basket, pulling out a pomegranate and rubbing it against her shawl. "I probably shouldn't do this, but take it. As a thank you."

With a smile, I take it. "Thank you, um..."

"Portia," she finishes. "And you?"

"Vivian."

She adjusts the basket on her hip. "Well, Vivian, take care now. I'll see you arou—"

Suddenly, the woman cuts herself off her eyes narrowing for a moment as she studies me, lost in thought like she recognises me. Then, as if someone had shouted my name, her eyes widen.

"Wait, wait, wait!" she blurts. "I think I know who you are."

I frown. "I...don't think I can say the same?"

How could she possibly—

"You're Vivian Caelum," she breathes in astonishment, "the magician. Countess Nadia said we were expecting you."

My eyes widen for a second as her words echo in my head. She does know me, but...we? Portia must work for the countess—which explains me wondering if she was a house worker, the basket of pomegranates for the countess herself. Her reverence for the fruit is no secret. Even Portia’s name rings a bell, possibly from being whispered of around the market.

What surprises me most, though is the sound of my name. I never told the countess my last name. Hell, she never even spoke my fist. All I knew was that she was sure I was Asra. Was she not seeking him after all? But who would have recommended…

"I'm milady's head servant, if that explains anything," she adds.

"I guess you do know me, then," I say with a grin. "In fact, I was just making my way to the palace."

"Well, then, how lucky are we to have met! Come on, I'll show you to the palace."

Please don't go back to the main road, please don't turn around, I pray silently. As if answering my prayers, Portia continues back up the stairs. I follow beside her, breathing a sigh of relief. Though I still wonder if the doctor is wandering the crowd looking for me.

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The colours of Portia's shawl soon match the sky's display as the sun reaches the end of its ascent. The number of stairs are far greater than I remember, but then again I never have a reason to take this stairway nowadays. By the time we reach the flat expanse of cobble street towards the palace, my calves and lungs are begging for rest. But Portia's pace is too strong for me to slow down enough to even ask. Little beads of sweat gather on my brow and between the hollow of my breasts.

The silence is heavy yet comfortable; it has been for a while now. Finally, Portia speaks.

"I'm glad milady found you when she did," Portia says solemnly. "The countess could use good help. And you look like the good kind."

I purse my lips. "She told me little to none, but she seemed like she needed a special sort of help that doesn't just include what I am used to." I sigh. "I just hope I can help."

"As do I."

Portia suddenly slows to stop and my mind finally has a moment to register where we are. And when I look up...

Standing assertive and tall before us is a towering gate of twisted, glistening iron, the arrow-headed tips beautiful and deadly. Beyond that, I can see the palace closer than ever before. Tower upon tower shoot from the ground to try touch the rising moon with their golden roofs. The worn yet sparking marble walls are regal and blinding even in the dying light. I stare at it in awe, the knowledge that I am about to stand inside it almost feeling like a faraway dream.

On either side of the gates are guards clad in shining silver armour, armed to the teeth. Their eyes all fall on me without even moving their heads, and if I didn't note that small movement, I would have wondered if they were statues. Their gazes pass over me and towards Portia as they move aside, lowering their weapons.

"Ludovico, Bludmila, this is Vivian," Portia says by way of greeting. "She'll be staying with us as our guest."

They only nod.

Portia turns to me, waving her hand to the right guard. "Vivian, this is Bludmila." I don't see much of the woman other than olive skin and a peak of unnaturally coloured red hair framing her dark brown eyes. Portia points to the left where I find a strikingly similar face to Blubmila's, but of the opposite gender. "And this is Ludovico."

They nod once more and together, push open the heavy iron gates, giving us a clear path right to the palace.

"After you, Vivian," Portia says.

I comply without really thinking, my feet moving and my eyes wide as I look at the castle as if captured in a trance. Portia leads me across a long, arched bridge is made of white stone that crosses the moat. I look over the edge and into the water as we cross it. A long, sleek eel of sorts glides swiftly through the current, veins glowing like fire beneath transparent skin. I try to look closer, but Portia grabs my arm, pulling me away from the edge.

"Hey—" but I don't get to finish.

Portia gives me a look of warning. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. We've had a few...incidents with those things down there."

"What are they?" I breathe. I've never seen such things, let alone heard of them, so why would they infest the waters in the palace grounds?

She shrugs. "No one has the faintest idea. Recently they just showed up with no warning. Not to mention they have a nasty, fatal bite."

"Sounds like somebody put them there.”

"It has been a theory—but I don't want to think about it." She recomposes herself, replacing her look of worry with a smile. "Now let's not keep milady waiting."

I incline my head in agreement, but my gut feeling begins to sit wrong. As we approach the intricate doors, anxieties start to rise like bubbles in boiling water. Is this wise? What am I even to expect? I know I've said this enough already, but why me? What do I have to offer the countess? Too soon have we come to a stop before the towering set of doors.

"Here we are," Portia says. She swings her fist against the copper plating, sounding three echoing strikes in a practised pattern. As the last echoes fade down an unseen hallway and within the castle walls, there is a click. Then another. Then another. With a low groan, the heavy doors swing inwards.

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#The Arcana #Julian Devorak #Asra Alnazar #Nadia Satrinava #lucio morgasson #portia devorak #julian devorak x mc #julian devorak x apprentice #The Arcana Julian Route

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viviane-yvonnete · 2 years

Text

just the two of us

holding our hands together

bringing vivid colors

in this black and white world.

just the two of us

smiling in the sun

sharing memories

and making new ones.

just the two of us

watching the stars

singing to the moon

and promising forever...

just the two of us

swimming in the sea

dancing with the waves

and being embraced by its care.

just the two of us

loving each other

walking together

and holding our hands

for an eternity...

~ Viviane Yvonnete, Just the two of us

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ask-sutekinaoaldonza · 4 years

Note

Who's Doctor White?

Al: It seems like your waking up Mouse Dear. Do you feel better?

#Dr. White #Vivian (Vivid) White #Aldonza #Sutekina O. Aldonza #Miss Sutekina #Ms. Sutekina #Mouse #ask-sutekinaoaldonza #//HOHO! ANOTHER OC FORESHADOWING!#//WOOP WOOP!#Op Oc #One Piece Ask Blog #original character

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christinebloodwrittings · 3 years

Text

Briefly Instant (Part three)

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Summary: Life is complicated, always moving and working in ways we can't comprehend. Between the bubbles and the heartache, an unfortunate encounter left a half-broken heart and a strong connection which separated this soulmates for a long time. Two sides of the story, two hearts that longed for each other painfully. One brief instant was enough to know.

Warnings for this chapter: none.

Note: for the story to work I'm making Y/n Hispanic, don't worry I'll put the translation of the Spanish bits for the non-Spanish Speakers.

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

TH Taglist: @lucky-foxface @lokisprettygirl22 @criticaltrinket @vbecker10 @huntress-artemiss

Emma pulled out her keys to open the dark wooden door, but it wasn’t necessary the door was unlocked. She pushed it rather harshly and stepped inside rapidly, "THOMAS!" she shouted making you flinch, your hands reacted but you stop them midways, you weren’t covering your ears, not in front of her.

“THOMAS WILLIAM HIDDLESTON, YOU BETTER MAKE YOURSELF PRESENT RIGHT NOW!” her voice echoed far, you thought it even went down the cliff. “El señor Tom fue al pueblo, señorita” a woman wearing a blue uniform appeared from a door.

“What did she said?” Emma looked at you, “She said that Tom went to town, muchas gracias y perdón por el griterío, es su hermano, ya sabe cómo son*” (*Thank you very much and sorry for the yelling, it's her brother, you know how siblings are) she laughed and went back to what she was doing.

“I love that you’re Hispanic Y/n” Emma breathed, grabbed the handle of her suitcase and walked forward towards the sliding window. “Well, sometimes being born in a Spanish speaking country comes in handy, especially in Spain” you mocked while following her.

“Well, I’ll see what room that daft is using so we don’t go there, you can wander meanwhile, I won’t take long” she took off taking the stairs to the second floor, “Oh! and darling, the girls will come shortly, you know, Vivi and Nao, so I’m going to hurry so we get the champagne and Aperol inside the refrigerator to cool” she rushed up again, vivid and cheerful.

Vivian and Naomi, their presence didn't really make you go through the roof with delight, but it's not that you haven't had a good time with them, but they somehow bring out the worst in you.

In the end you did wander around the house, so far you loved the sand colors and Spanish style of architecture.

From the outside and ascending the staircase between concrete walls, you reached the main floor of the house. It has an integrated kitchen-dining room with expansions to the front and back of the lot and two bedrooms with a bathroom for that level. The one that leads to the second level of the house is developed in parallel with the first staircase. Through the hall that connects with the entire first level, you reached a small hall from which you can access a large terrace to the front and another to the back and also to the master bedroom with its integrated bathroom.

The terrace had a view of the sea, down to the beach and pool, not to mention the wooden drop and the area for loungers in front and on the sides of the pool.

You rested your arms on the fence that kept one from falling off the cliff, the beach looked so beautiful, white sand and turquoise waters, really a fantasy looking place, and the ocean...

The ocean.

The sound of water still roared in your ears, just like thunder or the throat of a very large beast. The salt burned your eyes and throat, there was no way out, the water dragged you further and further to the bottom, towards the open sea.

Your vision was distracted from the waves to focus on a man jogging in the sand, at first glance he was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else. What an unusual feeling, for some reason you felt the urge to get his attention, however Emma called you and you had to go back inside.

“Y/N!” the two girls came to hug you, “Nao, Vivi!” you squeezed both of them before letting go, “Oh, this house is beautiful!” Naomi is a very talented dancer, and Vivian an actress, both of them worked with Emma in some movie, that’s how they all met.

“Y/n you…did you lose weight?” and Vivian didn’t exactly had a filter, “Yeah, maybe a little” Well, it's not like skipping meals makes you fat, right?, “You look fantastic, though you could use a little sun” impertinently bold was also a good word, “Thanks, I think we all do, otherwise why are we here?” Emma saw your discomfort and took the two of them outside, “I’ll go to town, I want to get a few stuff”.

It was good that you managed to exchange pounds for euros at the airport, otherwise your money would not have been of much use.

The town was so beautiful, in the middle of the street there were trees and bushes with many flowers of different colors. It would have been a crime if you hadn't taken a photo.

Between being lost in the sights and the different handicraft, clothing, food and alcohol stores, you crashed into something, or rather someone.

“¡Pero bueno, mira hacia dónde vas!” (Hey, look where you're going!)

He pointed at the boxes while looking at you angrily, but then his eyes softened.

“Lo lamento, estaba distraída, te ayudo” (I'm sorry, I was distracted, let me help you)

You bent down to pick up some boxes, subject did the same trying to pick up some party favors from one of the boxes that fell open.

“No hay bronca, de verdad, yo puedo señorita” (Don't worry ma'am, I can do it)

You helped him anyway, he was an older man, you just weren't going to let him do it alone.

“No sea testarudo señor, aparte yo lo choqué” (Don't be stubborn sir, besides, I bumped you)

“Gracias” (Thank you)

Once you helped him deliver the boxes to the store across the street, you asked him where there might be a bakery or pastry shop nearby.

“Mira doblas a la derecha por esta calle y luego a la izquierda, ahí está la panadería de doña Ester” (Look, you turn right down this street and then left, there you will find Doña Ester's bakery)

You nodded eagerly and accepted the old man's directions.

“Derecha y luego a la izquierda, lo tengo, ¡gracias!” (Turn right and then left, got it, thank you so much!)

You repeated and went on your way without realizing who was following you.

“Compadre, you won’t believe who am I looking at right now” he said laughing.

“Guys I’m back!” your voice echoed, the voices of your friends came from the terrace, no wonder really, they were in bathing suits, wet and sun bathing.

“How did it go, your walk?” Emma sat on the lounge chair, coming from behind you with four glasses in one hand and a bottle of champagne rosé, “Thank goodness you arrived, we were waiting for you to drink” Nao cleared the table for you to put the bags

“Well, it went divine, the bakery has a lot of types of new flavors and smells, fantastic, also I brought stuff for the barbecue and snacks to accompany the drinks” you opened a bag a poured a bunch of chips into a bowl.

“Well girls, we are going to be here three weeks, well Nao and Vivi only two, but you and me, three weeks. And unfortunately, my brother is here, and I know you've seen him in movies and interviews, but I want you to be clear about one thing, not with my brother. And it's not because I don't want you as sisters-in-law, that would be splendid, but I really don't have the heart to lose friends because of my brother's ineptitude, so save yourselves, and me, of a huge, monumental, problem. Besides he’s a bit of an ass” Emma was a bout to keep talking when a tall muscular man came from behind her to grab gently her shoulders.

“My ears are burning, my beloved sister must be speaking highly of me” he smirked.

Never in your life have you seen such a sudden change in a woman's attitude. Nao fixed the padding of her swimsuit, Viv changed her position to look sexier, you gagged because of how the pair looked.

“You must be Thomas” he and Nao shook hands, she speaking almost seductively, causing Emma to bury her alive with her gaze. "Please call me Tom, pleasure to finally meet Emma's friends, miss" both of them were caught up with his image that almost mixed up their own names.

“I’m glad you’re not participation in that bullshit” Emma walked towards you seeing that you went to the table to refill your glass, “I’m not into the whole ‘famous actor’ thing, besides he seems to be enjoying their attention” you turn to see them laughing and giggling like two lovesick zombies at everything he smiled to.

“He always does this, and then I get delusional and he screw it up somehow. It’s not fair neither to them nor to me” you patted her back and pour more alcohol in her glass, “At least you have me on your corner” she leaned against your shoulder.

Emma took the bags, you were going behind her to help her store up what you bought but her brother crossed in front of you and stopped you. "Please don't think I forgot about you" his conquering smile vanished as soon as he looked at you closely, then a couple seconds later it was back. “Miss ...” again with his tone prompting a response, "Y/n, you are Thomas" he suddenly took your hand and he brought it to his lips, gently kissing your knuckles.

"What an exquisite name, it suits the carrier" you rolled your eyes taking your hand out of hers, “Thanks” you couldn’t be more awkward, “Please don’t listen to my sister’s speech, she just likes to have family and friendships far separate from one another” he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, his hips were so narrow.

“I don’t blame her. If my brother was pretty much like you, I would’ve done the same thing” he laughed, noticing your stand, “Totally understandable” ‘What does he think I meant?’ you asked yourself pensative and rather puzzled.

“How long are you staying?” his eyes were so blue, concentrate! “Three weeks, and you? I thought actors almost didn’t had a life” he smiled sheepishly, lightly biting his lower lip before answering.

“I have my agenda cleared out for now, so I can at least relax until they call me again”.

There was no panic, nor did you feel excited to be in front of him, you had Loki in front of you and you felt absolutely nothing. It was easy to actually talk to him, which made you feel confident and stable. The constant reminder of your relationship with Oscar was also a help not to fall into the hands of his good looks.

"I'm going to help Emma, if you'll excuse me" when you left he couldn't take his eyes off you, "You are as beautiful as that day at the bar" he murmured to himself, inaudible, as if he had thought about it and only the wind was witness of it.

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whattolearntoday · 3 years

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October 15th is...

Aesthetician Day - With specialized training and personalized attention, aestheticians bring out the most radiant skin in each of us. Their knowledge and skills often go unrecognized and yet they deliver superior services every day in spas and medical clinics across the country. Addressing the complex needs of their clientele, aestheticians rejuvenate and polish even the most sensitive skin.

Boss’s Day - Many leaders carry heavy loads. They oversee many employees and guide their careers, too. While their position holds them responsible for a department, business, or organization and leading it to success, their list of responsibilities is multifaceted.

Cheese Curd Day - Cheese Curds are unique, funky, snackable little pieces of yellow or white Wisconsin cheddar cheese. Many restaurants coat and deep-fry them to a golden brown. When you bite into one, first expect a warm buttery crunch on the outside. The next delicious taste will be an ooey-gooey burst of dairyland delicacy on the inside. What are they? Well, cheesemaking naturally creates cheese curds. Fresh ones squeak when you bite into them.

Chicken Cacciatore Day - Cacciatore means “hunter” in Italian, and it is hunters who first ate this dish. In fact, it is thought that the first Chicken Cacciatore was not made with chicken at all, but with rabbit or other wild game sometime during the Renaissance period, so between the 14th and 16th centuries. Chicken Cacciatore’s simple but delicious recipe was likely developed to satisfy the appetites of hunters who may have been on the track of a larger animal or herd of animals for several days, and who needed a tasty, filling stew that could easily be cooked outdoors to keep them going. The spices used, such as parsley and oregano, would have also been readily available to humble hunters.

Global Handwashing Day - You might not think that by merely washing your hands with soap, you could be saving a life. It seems like such a mundane thing to do. It’s something your parents or teachers have drilled into your head for years. “Remember to wash your hands.” That’s because washing your hands, with soap of course, is the best way to get rid of germs.

Grouch Day - It seems that a grouch may be happy (although they would never admit it) only when others are unhappy and grouchy. It is then that they feel most comfortable with having others share in their grumpy, cantankerous, surly world with them.

I Love Lucy Day - I Love Lucy, an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley made its debut on October 15, 1951. The program created a new television experience with the first filmed and scripted program performed before a live audience. The studio literally knocked a hole in a concrete wall creating room for theater seating inviting the once-banned fans to see the stars perform – for free

International Day Of Rural Women - Rural women make up one-quarter of the world’s population. One in three employed women around the world works in agriculture. Unfortunately, in many countries, rural women face many challenges. Besides living in poverty, they are excluded from leadership and decision-making. They also lack access to education, health care, and public services. In developing countries, women make up 43% of the rural workforce. In these countries, women work alongside men, make important decisions, and have more rights.

Latino AIDS Awareness Day - The NLAAD campaign works annually at building better opportunities for non-profit organizations and health departments to reach Latino/Hispanic communities. The campaign includes promoting HIV testing, providing HIV prevention information, and improving access to care.

Mammography Day - This day serves as a reminder to all women that the best defense is early detection. A mammogram can often detect a problem before there is any outward physical sign. A preventative mammogram is the last line of defense. Today’s mammograms offer more vivid detail of the breast tissue. Baseline mammograms are provided around the age of 35 unless family history indicates sooner. The baseline mammogram provides a comparison view for your physician should something develop later down the line. Women age 40 and over are recommended to receive yearly preventative mammograms.

Pregnancy And Infant Loss Awareness Day - Pregnancy loss and infant death may include but are not limited to miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, or the death of a newborn. Since 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss, many families know the grief of this kind of loss. It’s often not spoken about, and yet, those who mourn often need support and understanding. The experience is painful and sometimes overwhelming.

Shawarma Day - Bursting with a marinade of Mediterranean herbs and spices, shawarma chicken slowly cooks on a vertical rotisserie spit. The tender meat is then thinly sliced, grilled and added to a pita wrap with a variety of toppings. Customize this flavorful dish with fresh vegetables, cheese and a variety of herbs.

White Cane Safety Day - This day has been set aside to celebrate all of the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired, and the principal symbol of blindness and tool of independence, the white cane. While technological advancements continue to improve the lives of the blind and visually impaired, the white cane continues to be a basic necessity for leading an independent and productive life. The white cane extends a person’s senses allowing them to determine steps, unlevel pavement, and obstacles. But it also provides a level of safety as a signal to the seeing public.

World Students’ Day - From all corners of the globe, students are working hard to achieve their career goals and make a difference. Some students leave their families and travel far and wide to have a place in a university that will help them to have a better life and provide for their loved ones.

#aesthetician #boss #cheese curds #chicken cacciatore #handwashing #grouch #i love lucy #rural Women #aids #mammograms #child loss #shawarma #blindness #students

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kd-holloman · 3 years

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Oh, Hell D1 CH 15 - Nyssa

Hearing the voice again makes me feel like there’s a spider crawling up my back. I shiver and rub my arms to keep the goosebumps away. “Is that what you are?” I ask, the words barely a breath. I don’t want Christina to hear me talking to myself. “Are you a demon and you want me to free you?”

I am a prisoner. The response feels like a well-practiced evasion to the question.

I don’t like it.

She senses my discomfort. In the human life our souls were together, my name was Elizabeth. I was imprisoned for a crime I didn’t commit. Our souls were separated because I had been lied to and betrayed. Do you remember?

Even though I’m still sitting at my desk in the dim blue light of my laptop, I feel as though I’m straining against an invisible force. My body is in so much pain, the tang of fear is sharp and coppery on my tongue. My voice hurts from screaming, my vision is blurred with tears.

He lied to me, the voice reminds me, and they killed her. They killed you moments after you drew your first breath.

I see a being cloaked in blinding white light and swathed in golden rays. I feel the heat as his flaming sword hovers above my chest, right above the place where I can feel my heart fracturing into a million shards. It blisters my skin and makes my lungs feel like they’re ash. I feel every painful inch of the blade as it plunges into my chest.

I burn.

“Stop,” I snarl through clenched teeth. I shake my head, as if I can rid my mind of the vivid memory and the voice it belongs to. The memory and the pain that accompanies it vanishes instantly.

It’s not fair that I am imprisoned because of someone else’s greed.

No, it isn’t.

Tag List: @vivian-is-writing, @tiredlittleoldme, @pe-ersona, @hydrated-bag-of-bones, @gay-melon, @saint-l0nely, @wildler

(Ask to be added / removed)

#oh hell #nyssa dean #writerblr #writeblr #writing #writers of tumblr #writing urban fantasy #urban fantasy #supernatural fiction #lgbt fiction

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ryqoshay · 4 years

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TA Followup: RPG Night

Followup Post for Tri-Arame: RPG Night

Author’s Note Continued: I actually started writing this scene about halfway through writing Change Overnight, because I had I finally gotten around to reading Setsu and Ayu’s Bond stories in SIFAS. Then I got sidetracked a bit and have now finally made it back.

So, I suppose some of the promised character details are in order. This absolutely will get long, so it’s going to have to go under the cut.

First off, though I don’t bring up much detail in this scene, more may come into play if I write other scenes like this, this takes place in a world created by the DM with whom I’ve played the most over the years. All of the in-game characters, and many, many others came into being because what was supposed to be a two paragraph character bio for a character I was to play in one of their D&D games, turned into a two page story. Then twenty. Then two hundred... New characters. New towns. New spells. New artifacts. New classes. And much more.

And then I stopped. I honestly don’t even remember why, as it certainly was not for the lack of ideas or notes or outlines for new scenes or the like. But the characters and their many stories have been gathering digital dust on my drives ever since.

I still think about them often, though. Quotes in movies and anime and such regularly make me consider what character might say them and in what circumstance. My headcanons for NicoMaki were shaped in part by what I already had planned for RyqoYoza. The reverse applies as well, as I translated one of Ooshima Tomo’s works into something that would work for RyqoYoza.

And maybe writing this scene will inspire me to write more of my D&D story. Who knows. But enough of that, you’re probably here more to learn about the new characters than to read my ramblings. Well, I will apologize in advance, as I may end up rambling a bit about them. To more easily locate a given character, I will bold their name at the start of their entry.

Also, the mercenary guild, of which all of the characters below are members, is known as Ryqo’s Roughnecks. Yes, those Roughnecks, from Starship Troopers, because I loved that movie, that’s really the only reason. I already had Ricochet as a character, so Rico’s Roughnecks was a quick and easy choice for when I wanted to register a guild in City of Heroes.

Ryqoshay, real name Rebecca Bouteillevoix, is a young girl who took over a mercenary guild after her parents were killed. Her father was raising her to take over the guild after him anyway, but she ended up doing so a lot sooner than either would have liked.

Her original nickname growing up was Ricochet as she was always “bouncing off the walls” with her high energy and neigh eternal optimism. It was also a joke referencing a typically undesirable outcome for archery, which was a strong interest for her. Upon her parents’ death, she took the first letter of each of their names, Yuri and Quentin, and misspelled her existing nickname to create her mercenary call sign; she kept the pronunciation for those who might wonder.

She matured a bit with the weight of running a mercenary guild, but still maintains much of her high energy and enthusiasm of her younger years.

Were I ever to get around to commissioning a picture of her, I would likely describe her general appearance as manga-version Nico for her stature, hair color and hair style, but with Setsuna’s face and eye color. Her outfits generally consist of dark purple and white, as those are her favorite colors.

Yozakura, real name Hakume Yaiba, (given name first for the sake of consistency) was hired by Ryqo’s parents as a bodyguard. As part of the payment, she was to be trained by Yuri, Ryqo’s mother, in the ways of the assassin.

She is the type of girl who takes her duties extremely seriously, to the point that after Yuri was killed and obviously could no longer fulfill her end of the contract, she insisted on renegotiation so as to continue to protect Ryqo. There were probably other reasons affecting her judgement at the time, but she has loyally remained by Ryqo’s side for years.

As for appearance, though younger than Ryqo, she is taller; think Maki and Nico. She wears her blonde hair long and takes pride in braiding it intricately and securing it with an ornate pin given to her by Ryqo years ago. Her standard ninja outfit is grey with pink highlights as they are her favorite colors. For covert operations where stealth and deniability are crucial, she would dye her hair and use the Shiftweave function of her clothes to change her outfit. She would also wear something to change her natural blue eyes to something different.

Nullsilver Luna, real name only known to a precious few, is a young elven girl adopted by the Bouteillevoix family and has thus taken the role of Ryqo’s younger sister, despite being decades older than her.

After one to many of her experiments exploded, causing too much collateral damage and injury, Luna was exiled from her ancestrial home and ended up wandering the human kingdoms for years. Upon adoption into the Bouteillevoix family, Quentin, the leader of the Roughnecks at the time, hired her to be their artificer.

Her inventions still occasionally blow up, but the Roughnecks have proven far more tolerant of this than the elves in her homeland. The fact that she can better weaponize the effect nowadays may play into things.

As for her appearance, as mentioned in the scene, her hair occasionally changed color, because reasons. Same for her eyes. She’s been exposed to so many wild magics and artifice through out her life that things are no longer normal for her, or stable. The only consistent part of her wardrobe is an oversized white coat with multiple pockets that she has effectively turned into a bag of holding. She cares little for color or style and will thus wear whatever else is handy.

Also, her personality is not all that unlike Rina, so it was an easy fit to chose her to be played by Rina.

Recipere, often shortened to Rx, real name Rachel Ira Xaviera is a cleric who joined the Roughnecks in hopes that working with them might regain her favor with her deity.

Rx is the sole survivor of a border town caught between two warring kingdoms. When one of the generals of one said kingdom found soldiers from his enemy being treated alongside his own, he ordered the town razed. She went on to gather others disillusioned with the war and proceeded to go on Roaring Rampage of Revenge (trope!) against the general. In doing so, she may have gone a bit overboard and lost her connection with her deity.

After some wandering, she came across a wounded Ryqo and Yoza who had just escaped the massacre that took the lives of Yuri and Quentin, and healed them with magics to which she had thought she had lost access. For reasons not entirely known to her, joining the Roughnecks has reinstated her standing with her deity and allowed her to be a cleric once again.

Rx wears her blonde hair short and neat, under a bandana or some other head covering. As her deity is that of the sun, she leans towards using yellow, gold and white in her outfits.

Lady Sanguine, real name Vivian Sexton, is a woman who was raised in a village of barbarians despite not belonging to any of their bloodlines. She is the child of the unlikely pairing of a healer and a necromancer, the former of whom gave her up to the village to keep her hidden and safe from the latter.

The traumatic experience of having to kill her fiance to protect the village from his betrayal caused something to split in her mind. Specifically, her bloodlust gained its own personality and voice within her mind and gave itself the name Sanguine. Sanguine is also responsible for Vivian’s barbarian rage.

Vivian left the village after the death of her fiance by her own hands and wandered for a while before coming across the Roughnecks. She joins the guild and earns the call sign Lady Sanguine because Ryqo thought it fit her. However, once Sanguine became known, most in the guild started using Vivian’s given name to reduce confusion over who was in charge at a given time.

Vivian has blood red hair and vivid green eyes. (yes, yes, totally original, I know.) As of version 3.5e, she wore blood red armor, but if I ever get around to translating her into 5e, that may change since the class now seems to get a bonus for forgoing armor.

So yeah, that’s about as short an intro as I can give for these women. I could easily write pages for each, but I started this whole post a bit later than intended and I’m rapidly running out of time to sleep. Anyway, thank you to anyone who’s actually read this far. But I should probably write at least a tiny bit about players and character assignments.

Yuu playing Ryqo was an easy choice. They’re both high energy cheerful genki girls. They both have dark hair that they keep in twintails, though Ryqo doesn’t dye her tips green. And as Ryqo is the leader of the guild and Yuu is the idol club president, that was yet another match.

Ayumu got Yoza as they are both childhood friends with their respective counterparts, Yuu and Ryqo. They do have a few personality differences, e.g. Yoza would probably be a better match with Maki, but she’s not playing this game. But they’re both diligent and loyal, so I think things will work out.

Rina was an easy fit for Luna. They’re both tinkerers with their world’s respective tech. They’re both emotionally challenged, so to speak, though I hadn’t considered emotively challenged for Luna; now I am.

With need of a tankier character for the group, I recruited Vivian and originally assigned her to Ai as I believed her energetic personality could keep up with a rowdy barbarian. And of course the punny name played a role in the decision as well, as did the fact that I already had Rina as a player.

Shizuku needed to be brought in because not only is she an aspiring actress, she expressed interest in playing a TTRPG hosted by Setsuna in Setsu’s bond story. The team needed a healer, so so got Rx. I figured any mismatch in personalities could be made up for by Shizu’s acting ability.

Then Shizu’s anime episode dropped. The inner dialogue between black and white resonated with me and the stuff I’d written between Sanguine and Vivian. I realized I needed to reassign things.

Thus, Shizu is now playing a barbarian with a split personality and Ai is playing the healer. I’m using the excuse that Ai takes pleasure in helping clubs succeed by filling whatever role is necessary, so to help this game she is taking up the mantle of healer to help ensure the game’s success.

And there we have it, probably the longest set of Author’s Notes I’ve ever written... deities help me if I ever do something like this in one sitting again.

#Tri-Arame

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ihavethoughtsplural · 4 years

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Blood and Chocolate: An Adaptation in Name Only

Previously: Section 0 – Introduction, Section 1 – The Book

Section 2 – Adaptation Challenges

Preface: I’m writing this section in the aftermath of the Artemis Fowl movie.

(Yikes? Definitely yikes.)

Most of the professional reviews mention the lack of originality, the ineptitude, and the stink of franchise aspirations. However, if you take a look at the audience reviews, you’ll notice a trend: lots of fans of the book are absolutely livid about the adaptation changes.

To the fans of the books, I am so sorry, and I feel your pain because I’ve been there.

An adaptation with only superficial connections to the source material?

An adaptation that almost seems like a deliberate insult to the book?

An adaptation that legendarily misses the point of the original?

I know that rage because I’ve been through it. Blood and Chocolate fans know the pain that Artemis Fowl fans are currently experiencing.

But, why? Why have so many beloved books been butchered in the name of film adaptation? Let’s take a look at the process that took the 1997 Blood and Chocolate novel and turned it into the 2007 Blood and Chocolate movie.

Adaptation History: After its 1997 publication, Blood and Chocolate enjoyed some popularity and acclaim. Unlike later YA behemoths like Twilight, The Hunger Games and Divergent, Blood and Chocolate doesn’t seem to have made an appearance on the New York Times Bestseller’s List, so it’s difficult to quantify exactly how much popularity it enjoyed. Later that same year, MGM optioned the film rights, indicating that, at some point in the future, we could expect an adaptation. No news was heard on that front until 2004, when a screenplay appeared. The US Copyright Office records the document as, “Blood and chocolate; motion picture project & screenplay / Screenplay written by Christopher Landon, with revisions by Jon Harmon Feldman, Leslie Libman and Larry Williams, Christopher Landon and Jeff King, with current revisions by Ehren Kruger.” That’s one original script and six writers working on revisions – none of whom are the original author, Annette Curtis Klause. According to a 2006-ish interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith. Klause was completely out of the loop when it came to the production, stating, “…I’m afraid that if you aren’t Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, or Stephen King you don’t get much say in what the film companies do. The producers don’t even keep me up to date–I find my information on the Web.”

Book Challenges: Before we go any further, we need to acknowledge that any adaptation of Blood and Chocolate faced some necessary changes. The story, as written, was never going to pass from book to movie unscathed. Some of the major problems were:

o The Esme Question: Esme’s relationship with Gabriel would be one of the first things on the chopping block. It was a minor detail in the book, it didn’t really impact the overall plot, and it honestly shouldn’t have been included at all.

o The Age Differences: No studio targeting a mainstream US audience is going to tell a love story between a 16-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man. Filmmakers would need to adjust the age dynamics in the story, and they would probably choose to age the younger characters up. This would enable them to skirt the complicated legalities of hiring underage actors and avoid Dawson Casting significantly older actors to play teenagers.

o The Large Cast: The novel has a large number of named characters contributing to the plot in various ways. An adaptation that keeps all of these characters would need to spend time establishing who they are and making them distinct from the other characters. For reference, a list of the named characters includes: Vivian, Gabriel, Aiden, Astrid, Rafe, Esme, Rudy, Ivan, Lucien, Tomas, Bucky, Jean, Persia, Orlando, Finn, Gregory, Willem, Ulf, Quince, Kelly, Bingo, Jem, and Skull. Including these characters and setting them up in a way that is memorable for an audience would take a LOT of screentime. Cuts were necessary. Roles would have to be condensed and some characters would need to be excised entirely.

o The Rating: A strictly faithful adaptation of the novel would contain: Male and female nudity, explicit language, violence, gore, substance abuse, and sexual situations. This would likely have earned the film an “R” rating. For those unfamiliar with the MPAA ratings, an “R”, or “Restricted” rating restricts the audience of the film so that those under 17 are required to have an accompanying parent or adult guardian to be allowed to see the film in theaters. For a film based on a YA novel, an R rating would basically be the kiss of death – it would kill the film’s money making potential. Filmmakers would realistically have to edit the content of the source material to ensure a much more accessible – and profitable – PG-13 rating.

Film Challenges: In addition to the challenges inherited from the source material, translating the story from book to film creates a number of extra difficulties.

o The Budget: Blood and Chocolate didn’t spawn the enthusiastic fanbase that Harry Potter or Twilight did, meaning that there was less of a “guaranteed” audience for the film. The decade-long gap between publication and adaptation probably didn’t help matters, either. As a result, an adaptation would entail a certain amount of risk. Would the film have enough appeal to get non-fans into the theater? What if they spent millions and millions of dollars on a film that only book fans wanted to see? With no assurances of success, the adaptation’s budget would have to be restricted to what the producers considered an acceptable loss – what were they willing to lose if the film flopped?

o The Special Effects: In the novel, Klause goes into vivid detail while describing the bone-crunching, sinew-snapping transformations that take characters from human to wolf. An adaptation, as a werewolf movie, would be expected to follow genre conventions and include these transformations on screen. However, this rubs up against the first point as including such transformations often comes at great costs. They had two options: practical effects or computer-generated imagery (CGI). Rendering the transformations with practical effects would follow in the footsteps of genre classics like An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, but it could necessitate months of behind the scenes preparation and hours of painstaking makeup application.

(This? This won the first Oscar for Best Makeup ever .)

CGI would be cheaper, but less satisfying for traditional horror fans (an audience the filmmakers would probably want to appeal to).

(This was... less acclaimed.)

Studio Considerations: Let’s take a minute and talk about Lakeshore Entertainment.

o Underworld, released in September 2003 by production company Lakeshore Entertainment, was a thriller featuring supernatural creatures, a forbidden romance, secret societies, and a muted color palette. The story was ostensibly an original creation (although the role-playing game company White Wolf alleged otherwise). It grossed $95.7 million worldwide against a $22 million budget and spawned a franchise that is currently in its 6th installment.

o Underworld: Evolution, released in January 2006 by production company Lakeshore Entertainment, followed its predecessor and was a thriller featuring supernatural creatures, a forbidden romance, secret societies, and a muted color palette. It grossed $111 million worldwide against a $50 million budget.

o The Covenant, released in September 2006 by production company Lakeshore Entertainment, was a thriller featuring supernatural creatures, a forbidden romance, a secret society, and a muted color palette. The story was an original creation. It grossed $37.6 million worldwide against a $20 million budget.

o Blood and Chocolate, released in January 2007 by production company Lakeshore Entertainment, was a thriller featuring supernatural creatures, a forbidden romance, a secret society, and a muted color palette. The story was adapted from a popular YA novel. It grossed $6.3 million worldwide against a $15 million budget – an $8.7 million loss. Now, let’s be clear: Blood and Chocolate started filming before the numbers for its sister productions were in. I don’t think that the diminishing returns seen by Underworld: Evolution and The Covenant affected the budget for Blood and Chocolate – its smaller budget is likely attributable to the more restrained story. After all, Blood and Chocolate doesn’t feature a Mustang de-and re-materializing.

It is a comparatively low key movie.

So why did it fail? We’re going to get elbow-deep into that autopsy, but before we do, we need to take a look at the movie itself.

Next: Section 3 – The Adaptation

#blood and chocolate #annette curtis klause #werewolves #adaptations #katja von garnier #agnes bruckner #hugh dancy #olivier martinez #B&C-AAINO

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adelleandlaura4ever · 4 years

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The Touch

The trees have kept some lingering sun in their branches,

Veiled like a woman, evoking another time,

The twilight passes, weeping. My fingers climb,

Trembling, provocative, the line of your haunches.

My ingenious fingers wait when they have found

The petal flesh beneath the robe they part.

How curious, complex, the touch, this subtle art–

As the dream of fragrance, the miracle of sound.

I follow slowly the graceful contours of your hips,

The curves of your shoulders, your neck, your unappeased breasts.

In your white voluptuousness, my desire rests,

Swooning, refusing itself the kisses of your lips.

By Renee Vivian

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

My beautiful Girl,

Imagine our union.... beyond the fuzziness of dreams.

Our love-making so vivid, so lustily full of sunshine and happiness... beginning first with giggles and tickling ... smiles and soft kisses as we look deep into each other’s eyes.

Then the depth and breadth of my love and passion for you will pour over you like a warm blanket.

And calmness and focus will win over.

Our lips pressing.... our hearts pounding so hard they seem to burst from our breasts!

And why? So our hearts can touch and become one !

This is the power of our union as Soulmates!

Our dreams will someday become reality, of this I am certain.

I will love you forever and ever my Love

You are my everything Laura ❤️❤️❤️❤️

@dreamiingofher

@adelleandlaura4ever

#adelle&laura

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xxisxxisxxis · 5 years

Text

Gateway Drug | Part Four

Part One , Part Two , Part Three

Pairing: Douglas Booth!Nikki Sixx X OC

Word Count: 3.8k

Warnings: Language, sexual situations, mentions of drug use, brief allusions to abuse of power

Tag List: @fandomshit6000 @lilmou5ie @tamedhearts @divaanya @allieburakovsky @kingbouji3 @evrsncnewyork @6ixx6ixx @ratedrkohardychick91 @floregrohlssard @oldschoolimagineblog @thanks2pete @abaldboi @swoopygorl @liith-ium @justjodeye

**Let me know if you want to be tagged**

———————————————————————

The slow push and pull of absolute ecstasy drives me to near insanity, my eyes closed as my head tips back, a soft whimper brushing past my lips because the feeling is just so good that I can barely breathe.

A sweat-slick chest moves against a sweat-slick chest, my legs encircling his waist to get more of him, in a worn down bedroom that smells strongly of alcohol and cigarettes. A scent I’ve grown fond of the past several weeks, but I won’t admit that to anyone.

Another push in to me, another hit of my drug of choice, another whimper, another change of position.

His hand grasps at my hair, pulling it to one shoulder so his lips, tongue and teeth can explore where my neck and shoulder meet. My nails scratch at the back of his neck, a moan mixed with a gasp escapes my lips as he grabs at my waist and displays just as much control underneath me as he showed above me.

I feel cross-faded, my mind completely gone as I continue to take what he’s willing to give me in as big of a dose as I can get it.

With one last stroke in to me, he finishes what he started.

The both of us try to catch our breaths as he falls back, causing me to fall on top of him, and my head rests on his chest as his hand starts massaging my scalp.

“Tommy does not find out.” I tell him quietly, closing my eyes.

“Couldn’t agree more.” Nikki replies in a light tone and I smile.

I wake up from my dream in a frenzied sweat, glancing around my room. After a few deep breaths, I groan, and fall back on the bed, wanting to pull my hair out as I grab my pillow and scream into it as loud as I can.

———————————————————————

“You look like shit.” Mick tells me mercilessly and I choke on my Coke, the acidic liquid stinging my nose as it drips out of my nostrils, sending me in to a coughing frenzy which entertains Tommy and Vince.

It’s Saturday, so I decided to come spend it with Tommy at the apartment he’s recently moved in to, with Vince and Nikki, since I couldn’t spend time with him the other night after their first sold out show. My parents think I’m with Tansy again, though.

“Gee, thanks, Mick.” I rasp out as I start to get control of my coughing, leaning forward in my seat on the couch. “I didn’t sleep last night.” I tell them, my eyes watering as Tommy hits my back as if trying to dislodge something from my airway. I hit his hand away from me and he gawks as if I just told him to go to hell.

“Are you sure you’re not on your period this week?” Vince pipes, glancing up from his Playboy magazine to watch my reaction to his question. “I’ve noticed girls look like shit and act like it, too, during that time of the month.” He licks the tip of his finger to turn the page of the pornographic picture show before him.

“No tampons.” Tommy tells him, shaking his head as he takes a bite of Captain Crunch from his cereal bowl and Vince gets a confused look on his face.

“What the fuck do tampons have anything to do with when she’s bleeding or not?” He asks Tommy.

“Are you seriously having a conversation about my bleeding vagina?” I ask them, grossed out.

“They save the more conservative topics for when you’re around.” Mick mumbles, continuing to tune his guitar.

If this is their “conservative” talk, I’d hate to hear their more perverted topics.

“Her mom won’t let her wear tampons so I have to sneak them to her.” Tommy explains and Vince gives me a look.

“Why won’t your mom—“

“She thinks it’s sexually immoral to have a piece of cotton shoved up in there.” Tommy interrupts just as Nikki comes back in from outside.

“Can we please stop talking about my anatomy?” I ask them.

“Absolutely.” Vince surprisingly agrees.

“Thank you.” I sigh out, and the room gets quiet as Vince turns another page, making an impressed facial expression as he turns the magazine to get a better look at whatever he’s seeing.

“We sure as fucking hell can talk about Vicki Lasseter’s anatomy, though.” He grins and Tommy and Nikki rush to his side to see what he’s seeing, tilting their heads to match his, oohing and ahhing and I gag. “Hey, Viv, why don’t you try to get in to one of these?” Vince asks, waving the magazine.

“I’ll pose for Playboy when you do.” I tell him without thought.

“Oh, please, Saint Vivian would never lower her standards to match that of those worthless whores with lack of morals and spiritual compass.” Nikki mocks my voice and I look at him.

“You’d be surprised to find that I don’t think the same way my mother does, Devil-Spawn, and if you would stop writing me off all because I go to church and pray to a God you couldn’t believe in any less, you would discover I don’t think any less of the women who pose nude, I don’t think any less of troubled rockstars and I don’t think any less of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I share because if everyone kept their clothes on, only listened to mundane music and agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place.” I argue, giving him a smug smirk when he rolls his eyes and steps to the kitchen.

“You don’t look as shitty as I thought.” Mick tells me blankly.

“Awe, thank—”

“Just take the fuckin’ compliment and shush Virgin Mary.” He waves me off and I give him a closed mouth smile, flattered he complimented me...sort of.

“Hey, Tommy, do we have rubbing alcohol?” Nikki asks, about to light a cigarette.

“Under the bathroom sink, why?” Tommy answers and in a few seconds, Nikki’s in front of us, holding the bottle of rubbing alcohol in one hand and a box of matches in the other with his cigarette hanging from his lips.

“I have an idea.” He tells us and we look at him blankly. “We need more special effects for the shows, man.” He adds with a raised brows, as if that makes it a better idea.

Apparently I’m the only one with a brain because Vince and Tommy jump up with bright smiles.

“Dude, it’ll be fuckin’ awesome!” Tommy exclaims and Mick and I exchange looks.

Before I can say anything, Nikki’s offering the bottle of rubbing alcohol up to Vince and he starts dousing Nikki’s leather pants in the stuff before taking a match from the match book.

“Um, you’re doing that in here?” I ask them before Vince can start any fire.

“Sure, why not?” Vince shrugs and I take a few steps back, waiting for him to light his friend on fire.

———————————————————————

The crowd’s screaming gets louder and rattles my eardrums once Vince lights Nikki’s leather clad legs on fire during the middle of “Live Wire.”

I watch from behind stage, not feeling like dealing with the pushing and shoving of the crowd.

Once they’re done with yet another sold out show, they’re stumbling backstage, high off adrenaline and tipsy on Jack and I’m a few paces behind them as they head in to the dressing room.

I stop at the payphone, getting ready to call my parents and check in with them, when someone catches my attention from the corner of my eye.

Turning my head in that direction, I see a mass of curly, blonde hair that compliments blue eyes that seem a little lost as she looks around.

“Tansy?” I ask from where I am and she looks at me, her face brightening.

“Hey!” She rushes to me, careful not to trip in her bright red heels and I hang the phone up, deciding her appearing at a place like this is far more important.

Tansy Reilen, who would later become Tansy Rose, was the walking incarnation of perfection. Her natural hair color was so blonde it almost appeared white, her eyes captivated whoever she was looking at with their vivid bright-blue color and standing at 5’3” made her the perfect size to fit in your pocket and take her with you anywhere. She had a voice that could calm a Hurricane and enough strength in her to start one.

Her one and only flaw was that she was a people pleaser. Even if it meant pleasing the wrong kind of people. She would do whatever anyone wanted, not because she wanted to but because she hated telling people “no”, afraid of being a disappointment or making someone unhappy. Everyone took advantage of that when we were growing up, especially boys once we made it to high school, but the industry slowly violated everything of her’s there was left to violate after she got recruited for modeling at age 19. Her own “god fearing” mother, who became her manager, turned her out to whatever photo shoots paid the most, including nude and everything else in between.

By the mid 80s, Tansy made sure she was either too doped up or too wasted to care who photographed her naked and plastered her on a magazine...or who abused their power and got a lot more out of her than a photo session.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her, not trying to sound rude.

“Vince called me and wanted me to come.” She tells me, the excitement still hasn’t left her face and I raise my brows.

“Vince?” I ask, all of it starting to come together and she nods. “The same Vince that cheated on you multiple times freshman year?”

“It’s been, what, four years? Maybe he’s grown up a little.” She tried to reason with me and I clear my throat, knowing the Devil is a liar.

As if on cue, I hear the familiar sound of Vince’s current girlfriend’s voice, shouting angrily.

“Fuck you! Piece of shit! Motherfucker!” She screams, the echoing of her hitting Vince bounces off the walls as he keeps saying “babe” trying to reason with her for whatever he did wrong.

“My pants! Babe!” He pleads.

“Fuck you!” She yells back, marching up the hallway angrily, giving me a glance when she passes me, carrying the high-dollar pants she bought for Vince that he loves so much.

Tansy’s confused until Vince appears, naked as ever, hand cupping his privates.

“I fucking love those pants.” He complains weakly, giving me a pouting look.

“Your swimsuit parts are out.” I inform him and he cuts his eyes at me, before he sees Tansy over my shoulder.

Then the pouting stops and his inner peacock comes out.

“Hey, Tans,” he grins like an idiot and I put a hand on his bare chest to keep him from approaching us any further.

“Go put clothes on.” I order him, and he gives me a roll of his eyes before doing so, giving us a full show of his butt as he walks away. “You had sex with that.” I remind her and she exhales.

“Yeah, he hasn’t changed a bit has he?” She asks me, disappointed.

“He’s gotten worse.” I sigh out. “C’mon, let’s go see Tommy.” I grab her hand, pulling her in the direction Mick, Nikki and Tommy went after they got off stage.

Just as we turn a corner we see the three of them walking in our direction in their street clothes. Tommy sees me, opening his mouth to say something, but he stops when he sees Tansy and gets a smile on his face that’s at least a mile long.

“Tansy fucking Reilen!” He pipes out, eagerly accepting her hug, bending down a little so she could wrap her arms around his neck before he picked her up.

“Hey, Tommy!” She replies with just as much enthusiasm.

The three of us haven’t hung out together for almost a year due to Tommy and Tansy thinking they could have sex one time without it making anything weird. I guess this was their official “it doesn’t bother me anymore” because neither of them are acting too awkward.

He puts her down, introducing her to Nikki and Mick in time for Vince to rejoin us, fully clothed.

“We’re about to head down to the Rainbow.” Tommy tells us, looking at me. “If someone’s willing to stay out late.” He clears his throat, raising his brows at me and I look at Mick, Nikki and Vince, who wait for me to answer.

“Fine.” I finally relent after weeks of their pressure.

“Hallelujah. Thank fuckin’ God.” Vince states with a relieved sigh, throwing his arm around Tansy.

When we get to the Rainbow, Tansy pulls me in to the bathroom so she can touch up her makeup and when she’s done she glances at me and licks her lips.

“So...have you lost your virginity?” She asks me and I scoff.

“No.” I tell her honestly and she purses her lips.

“Oh.” She mumbles.

“Why?”

“It’s just...” She starts but closes her mouth again. “Nothing.”

“Tansy.” I say, starting to get a little frustrated. “What is it?”

“Nothing. I just thought you and that Nikki guy have messed around or something.” She admits and I feel my body freeze up, my heart racing as flashbacks from my dream a few nights ago cloud my mind.

“I—eww...why would you think that? We haven’t.” I shutdown her assumption and she holds her hands up in surrender.

“I’m sorry, I just thought you had.” She tells me truthfully.

“What makes you think we have?”

“There’s a tension.” She argues with a smirk.

“There is not a tension. There is so not a tension.” I almost laugh at how ridiculous she sounds. “We argue. All the time. He thinks I’m a self-righteous prude and I think he’s the spawn of Satan. If there’s a tension, it’s because we hate each other.”

“You don’t have to like someone to have sex with them.” She points out almost in a sad tone, and I know she speaks from experience. “I really like him for you, though. You get all riled up and firey when he’s around.”

“Oh, please.” I roll my eyes.

“I just met the guy and I can tell he has you acting different. You used to be so quiet and shy around people you don’t really know, now you’re jumping in to conversations just to piss him off and prove him wrong.”

“Because I don’t like him.” I shake my head. “And he doesn’t like me. That’s where the tension comes from. See? It’s full-circle.”

“Hate-sex is always an option.” She suggests with a shrug.

“Do not even start.” I point my finger at her.

“What? It gets rid of all the aggression and ill-feelings.” She explains.

“So does their shows. Did you know they encourage people to get their feelings out during a show so they go home chilled out and not so uptight?” I tell her the exact quote from Nikki and she gives me an unconvinced look. “And it works.”

“Yeah, until he gets off stage and then you get all hot and bothered.”

“I get hot because he’s Devil-Spawn and the heat from hell radiates off of him and I get bothered because he’s an arrogant idiot.”

“Or you like him and don’t know why you do so you displace your frustration and confusion on to him.” She doesn’t give up. “I was honestly joking about the hate sex okay? I don’t want you to go jump in to bed with him if you don’t want to but you two were fighting like cats and dogs the whole time we were on our way here. I think you should try to let whatever kind of bravery he evokes in you come out in a way that’s not in the form of riled up anger or fiery hatred.” She recommends and I nod slowly. “Now, c’mon because I have a slutty blonde waiting.”

Once we get to the rounded booth the guys are at, we’re met with a man who walks up to the table just as soon as we slide in, that I’ve never seen in my life.

“Hey, Guys, I’m Tom Zutaut. I work for Elektra Records.” He holds his hand out for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you, bro.” Nikki tells him lazily, taking a sip of his beer at the same time Vince says “hey man.”

“I would love, uh, the opportunity to talk to you guys if you have a second.” He offers them.

Tommy does his infamous cigarette trick, one of them, at least, where he sticks the end of his cigarette under his curled lip.

“Wanna sit down?” Tommy asks him in a voice that’s not his own and Tom chuckles.

“That’s really cool.” He motions to Tommy’s cigarette.

“Sit. Do it.” Tommy says as his eyes flash to the empty space by Vince at the end.

“Thank you.” Tom accepts the invitation.

“Scoot over, dude.” Vince tells the guys, and Nikki scoots closet to Mick, I scoot closer to Nikki, Tommy scoots closer to me, Tansy scoots closer to Tommy and Vince scoots closer to Tansy, allowing room for Tom.

As he starts talking, I feel something shift under the table and just as I’m about to see what’s under it, Nikki stops my hand from lifting the table cloth, nodding to Tom.

“Just watch.” He whispers in my ear and I ignore the heat that spreads through me when his lips brush against my skin as glance at him, before looking at the man trying to sign them.

“Look, I’ve been seeing what you guys are doing in L.A. and I think, with my help, I think I could really do something for you—” He snaps up and stumbles back, his zipper pulled down and his face full of shock.

The guys all laugh, Nikki throwing his head back before doubling over at the reaction.

A blonde girl’s head peaks up from under the table, resting her elbows on the now empty seat Tom sat in.

“Oh, my God!” Tom let’s out, surprised to see the girl but he quickly gathers himself.

“No?” She asks him. “Not for you?” As the guys continue chuckling. Tansy and I just exchange speechless expressions.

“No, thanks.” He tells her flatly.

“You sure?” She asks.

“No, thank you.” He repeats and she smiles.

“Okay.” She says before pulling the table cloth down and disappearing under the table again.

“Anyway,” Tom sits back down and stammers on. “Let’s get back to, you know, what I was talking about. So, uh, what do you guys say? Do you want a record deal?”

“Uhh,” Nikki says it like he’s thinking, but he reaches across me, grabs a handful of Tommy’s hair at the back of his head, and knocks his forehead into the table a few good times, the members of the band laughing like fools when he stops and I shake my head a little.

“Is that a yes?” Tom asks them and Vince cuts in.

“I don’t know if we can trust a dude who turns down a free blowjob.” He states.

“Yeah,” Tommy echos, his eyes cut slightly at the man suspiciously.

“Yeah.” Mick even says from behind his sunglasses, smoking his own cigarette.

———————————————————————

“He said we could possibly score a five album deal, Viv, why aren’t you happy about this? I thought you wanted us to get signed?” Tommy asks me as I throw my keys across the living room, in to the kitchen, angrily, causing him to flinch.

“You just told me you were dropping out of school, Tommy! We are so close to graduating, can’t you just wait?!”

“No, I can’t! I can’t just wait because what I wanted is happening and I need to focus on the band right now more than ever!” He argues, motioning to Nikki and Vince as they stand with Tansy by the door, observing our disagreement.

“Your education should be your main focus, at least until you graduate! You are so close to being done, Tommy, why can’t you just—“

“Because I don’t give a fuck about school, Vivian! What I am passionate about doesn’t require a diploma, and I’m sorry if me dropping out makes you feel like I’m leaving you behind or whatever the fuck you feel, but I’m not sorry for wanting to focus on my main priority!”

“What I’m hearing is that I wasted hours of my time throughout school trying to tutor you and help you all for you to throw it away on the idea of being some hot-shot rockstar with girls and drugs and booze—”

“Oh, my God, you act like you would have had better things to do with that wasted time!” He throws his hands up and I roll my jaw. “And it’s not a fucking idea, it’s fucking reality and you’re only mad because you have no control over it!”

“I’m mad because we talked about this and everything we agreed on, everything we promised each other, is absolute void to you now that it’s actually happening!”

“Shit changes, Viv, people change! What I considered important junior year is completely different than what I consider important now.” He calms down, sighing.

“We agreed we would both graduate high school and I could either put off college or drop out if I needed to...” I trail off, trying hard not to cry in front of Tansy, Vince, and Nikki. “That was our plan to avoid this,” I motion to him. “From happening. To avoid you leaving me behind.” I give him back his own words and he gives out a shaky breath. “You considered me important junior year when you came up with that plan. When you promised me you wouldn’t go on to bigger things without me and forget me. And now...” I take a step back as he tries to step towards me.

“Viv, I didn’t mean it like that.” He tries to tell me.

“No, you’re right.” My whole body shakes with nerves and anger, I feel like a complete idiot. “Shit changes.” I curse for the first time in my life and even in this moment he’s shocked about it. “People change.” I continue. “Glad this is happening now, though, so I don’t waste any more time on a completely different page than you, Tommy.” I struggle to not let my voice crack, stepping to the kitchen to grab my keys.

“Viv—“ he tries to grab my arm as I head to the door but I snatch away from him.

“Fuck you.” I crack, my voice barely coming out as tears spill over my lashes.

Nikki and Vince step aside to let me leave, Tansy looks like she might follow me but decides against it and I slam the door shut.

#nikki sixx #vince neil #tommy lee #mötley crüe #douglas booth #daniel webber #machine gun kelly #mgk #colson baker #the dirt #the dirt movie

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senjuushi · 1 year

Text

Main Story: Main Story 1

Episode 5: The Mystery of Vivian

—that night, the victory party ended on a merry note. After lights-out, everyone had gone to sleep.

*scene starts in the dorm room, at night*

(Player Name) is awakened to the faint sound of a door opening.

If they heard it right— that sound came from Vivian’s room across the hall.

Master:

(Vivian...?)

(What is she doing this late at night?)

*scene changes to the hallway*

They knock, but there’s no answer. Upon opening the door, there’s no sign of Vivian inside. In addition, the UL85A2 is gone.

(Player Name) has a bad feeling about this. After quickly getting dressed, they grab the UL96A1 and head for the no-entry zone of the Eastern gate.

*scene changes to a large, castle-like gate*

Master:

Going past this gate is prohibited...

(FLASHBACK) Vivian: ...yes. I understand. ...yeah. Then, I’ll......the crystal.

(FLASHBACK) Vivian: I’ll do it... something like that. Yes, then... at the Eastern gate, ...leave it to me.

Master:

This is most likely where Vivian went.

Philcrevert Military Academy was made by appropriating the former facilities of the World Empire, which had previously reigned over the world with its overwhelming might.

Rumor has it that some of the ruins have been left untouched beyond this gate.

The gate is usually kept securely locked, so that students can’t enter the area past it on their own, and yet—

—(Player Name) tries giving it a light push, and it opens with a creaking sound. Someone... or rather, Vivian must have passed through here.

Master:

...I’ll go through it.

*scene changes to the forest*

While staying alert of their surroundings, (Player Name) enters the restricted area.

And at that very moment—

—BANG!!

*Vivian is shot*

Vivian: Uu...!

A single gunshot rings out, and a familiar figure— Vivian— collapses to the ground before (Player Name)’s eyes.

Master:

Vivian!

Vivian: (Player Name)...? Why are you here....? Ggh! *cough*...!

Vivian: Please, this box... give this box to Instructor Russell...!

Vivian: ...nnh...

As if it takes all of her strength, Vivian passes a small, wooden box into (Player Name)’s hand. Immediately after, she goes limp and doesn’t move again.

Master:

N-No...

—there’s no saving her. Somehow, you understand that.

Master:

This can’t...!

Vivian, why...!?

While they’re still in shock, footsteps draw closer. The dully glowing muzzle of a gun is pointed in their direction.

Gas-Masked Men: Kill... kill...!

Gas-Masked Men: AAAaaAAAa!

Master:

I have to run...!

I have to get this box to Instructor Russell!

(Player Name) takes off at a full-speed run. —get away, get away!

If they catch you, you’ll be killed—!

Hold on tightly to the box that Vivian entrusted to you. No matter what it takes, you must deliver it to Instructor Russell—

—perhaps because of your terror and confusion, you trip on nothing.

Due to the impact of the fall, the wooden box slips out of your grasp. As it hits the ground, the lid opens— and a small, red crystal tumbles out.

Gas-Masked Men: Kill... kill...!

Don’t let them take it. With that sudden instinct, your hand instantly snaps out to grasp the crystal, and then—

*a shattering sound is heard*

Master:

...nh!

*the screen goes red for a moment*

Intense pain bursts through the right hand that had grasped the crystal. The agony strikes the rest of your body, and a resentment-filled voice echoes in your mind.

You feel hot blood running down your right hand. When you look at it, you see a vivid red scar in the shape of a rose carved into your skin.

Gas-Masked Man: Ki..ll...!

The gun pointed at you will shoot to kill. As soon as that thought registers, your body moves on its own.

Master:

(I absolutely can’t die here...!)

Your body remembers its training— you know you must fight back. Your hand quickly reaches for the gun carried with you.

*the screen goes white*

—the moment you touch the UL96A1’s barrel, your beloved gun emits a dazzling light.

Master:

...nh!?

*Marks appears*

—a silver-haired man stands before you.

Marks: ......

Marks: Hey, you bastard. Don’t you dare point a gun at my Master.

Marks: I’m... my Master’s gun. The sniper rifle, the UL96A1.

Marks: ...I’ll neutralize every one of my Master’s enemies!

#Senjuushi #千銃士 #Marks #Translation

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aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

Being The Ricardos: Aaron Sorkin and J.K. Simmons On TV’s Greatest Couple

https://ift.tt/3el9sdP

Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons has very vivid memories of watching the classic TV sitcom I Love Lucy when he was a child.

“I can’t say I remember the first time I saw it,” he recalls. “But as I’ve said before, I’m the only cast member who was born when I Love Lucy was still on the air, the original series. I think I was born during Season 4 and absolutely grew up on it. It was on my parents’ crappy little black and white TV when I was a preschooler and in elementary school. And of course the show’s never been off the air. So I think everybody, even people who are my kids’ age, have been able to say that they grew up watching I Love Lucy because it’s always been there.”

Decades later, Simmons–who’s also in theaters this month in Spider-Man: No Way Home–is starring in Being the Ricardos, a new movie from writer-director Aaron Sorkin about the tumultuous lives and careers of I Love Lucy stars and producers, Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem). Simmons plays William Frawley, who co-starred on the show as the Ricardos’ landlord and neighbor, the cantankerous Fred Mertz (Nina Arianda plays Vivian Vance, who portrayed Fred’s wife Ethel).

There’s not a wealth of information about Frawley out there these days, as Simmons found out when he began to research the role.

“There was less out there about him, because he was a more private person in general,” says Simmons. “Really wasn’t much of a showbiz guy outside of going to work. Desi Arnaz really was, I think, his only close friend in the business. Other than that, he hung out with ballplayers, golfers, jockeys, and barflies. He didn’t write books, and he didn’t do a lot of talk shows and this and that. There were no kids or grandkids of his to speak to.”

While Simmons was able to glean information on Frawley from books by or about Desi Arnaz and Vivian Vance themselves, Sorkin had no such issues in obtaining information about Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who became perhaps the most famous on-screen couple in TV history, even as their marriage was sliding toward dissolution.

I Love Lucy has been cited as the most influential series ever to air on television, and certainly its impact on the structure, format and production style of sitcoms to this day is evident everywhere. But Lucy was groundbreaking in ways that even now seem incredible in the context of the era (the 1950s) in which the show appeared.

Ball, who started out as a model, began a film career in 1933 that kept her steadily working despite never elevating her to the level of a headlining star. She nevertheless became known for her comic skills and physical humor, with the former put to work in a CBS radio program called My Favorite Husband. When CBS expressed interest in taking Husband to television, Ball insisted that her real-life husband–Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, whom she eloped with in 1940 after a whirlwind courtship–play her spouse on-screen as well.

Best TV Comedies on Hulu Right Now

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The network of course was nervous about basing a show on a couple with “mixed backgrounds.” But this became the first of many creative and business battles that the headstrong and tough Ball, with Arnaz behind her, fought. And they paid off since I Love Lucy was a gigantic hit, with Ball as the dizzy, endlessly ambitious Lucy and Arnaz as her exasperated husband Ricky becoming pop culture icons familiar to millions to this day.

Sorkin says he first met with producer Todd Black about writing a movie about Ball and Arnaz “four or five years ago,” and it was at their first meeting that Sorkin discovered the little-known fact about Ball that became the hook for his script.

“I didn’t know that she had been accused of being a communist,” he recalls. “After that first meeting, I just wanted to find out if I was the only one who didn’t know that she was accused of being a communist. I asked around and it seemed like nobody knew, and that was kind of interesting. So we would meet maybe once a month, once every two months and at each of these meetings, he would give me more information about them that I found interesting.”

Sorkin says that what surprised him the most about Ball and Arnaz “even though it shouldn’t have” was “how different the two of them were from the iconic characters that they were playing.” He continues, “I discovered that there are many, many people who are intensely passionate about not Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, but Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, and think they’re the same people. When we’re asked to think of Lucille ball, we think of Lucy Ricardo, just like when we’re asked to think of Charlie Chaplin, we think of the Little Tramp, even though Charlie Chaplin didn’t look anything like the Little Tramp.”

It was the assistance of Lucie Arnaz, the real-life daughter of Ball and Desi Arnaz, who provided Sorkin with private home movies of the family’s life, which fully committed Sorkin to writing and eventually directing the project.

“In these home movies, they’re sitting around the pool and Lucy is barely recognizable because she’s a knockout, she’s a Rita Hayworth-level knockout,” he says. “In the 1950s, a woman couldn’t have any hint of sexiness on TV. But it wasn’t just the physicality. It was their personalities. I think what really hooked me in is that the two of them were so deeply in love with each other and yet couldn’t make it work, that there were these kind of hairline fractures built into both of their biographies and personalities that were going to prevent them from living happily ever after.”

Even with the wealth of material at his disposal, from the Arnaz family home movies to the books, to the extensive documentation of the show and its production, Sorkin says he wasn’t interested in writing a standard biopic: “I didn’t want a cradle to grave story where this happened and this happened, and this happened, and this happened–kind of a greatest hits album of Lucy and Desi.”

He continues, “I got it into my head that if I could tell a story that took place entirely during one production week of I Love Lucy, Monday table read to Friday audience taping, there might be something there. I had basically collected enough points of friction between Lucy and Desi, between Lucy and Vivian Vance, between all the characters that I felt like I had enough to write a good screenplay.”

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Which brings us around to the “Lucy was a communist” shocker again. Although Ball did register to vote as a member of the Communist Party in 1936, she claimed in sealed 1953 testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee–the sordid Congressional entity that rounded up names for the Hollywood blacklist–that she registered at the insistence of her grandfather, who was a socialist. While there are more details to the story, she was cleared. At least until the accusation was brought up during the filming of I Love Lucy’s third season.

“Other than a death in the family, you can’t imagine a bigger crisis for an actor, a writer, a director, anyone in the movie business in 1953,” says Sorkin. “Lucy came very close to being literally cancelled, and there were a lot of parallels to what we see today. The crime, if you will, that she committed 16 years earlier… was for a benign reason. She wanted to honor her grandpa, Fred, who had raised her since she was four. And she was going to literally get cancelled for it. So I liked that. I also think that reminding ourselves here in Hollywood about the blacklist from time to time is a good idea.”

While the main thrust of the narrative in Being the Ricardos is about how Ball and Arnaz are going to handle the blacklist threat and save their show, Sorkin says that the other aspects of the couple’s success with Lucy–the groundbreaking nature of the show–were what he wanted to emphasize as well.

“[It was] as groundbreaking as can be,” proclaims Sorkin about the show now. “And I think that anyone who has ever done a half-hour comedy has been walking in the footprints that Lucy and Desi laid. But Lucy also insisted that Desi play her husband simply because she thought it would save her marriage. It wasn’t about, ‘Hey, this is a great idea doing I Love Lucy.’ It was, ‘I can get Desi off the road with his orchestra. We’ll see each other.’ Lucy had a real yearning for domesticity and she took on very powerful forces like CBS and Philip Morris Tobacco. This was an interracial couple on TV, which was unheard of.”

Most importantly, concludes Sorkin, he hopes that viewers come away from watching Being the Ricardos with a better understanding of the incredibly talented actors and creators who made I Love Lucy the cultural landmark that it is today.

“Mostly, I want [audiences] to have had a good time for the two hours that we’ve asked for their attention in the theater,” he says. “But beyond that, I want them to know that Lucy and Desi, and Bill and Vivian, are considerably more complicated than the characters we know and love on TV. I think that’s a good thing. I think it celebrates who we are.”

Being the Ricardos is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

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The post Being The Ricardos: Aaron Sorkin and J.K. Simmons On TV’s Greatest Couple appeared first on Den of Geek.

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joyffree · 3 years

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Join us for the #BookTour with #Giveaway

Echoes of the Runes

Runes #1

by Christina Courtenay

Genre: Fantasy Romance

*** 2021 Romance Writers of America Vivian Award Finalist ***

Their love was forbidden. But echoed in eternity.

When Mia inherits her beloved grandmother's summer cottage, Birch Thorpe, in Sweden, she faces a dilemma. Her fiance Charles urges her to sell and buy a swanky London home, but Mia cannot let it go easily. The request to carry out an archaeological dig for more Viking artefacts like the gold ring Mia's grandmother also left her, offers her a reprieve from a decision - and from Charles.

Whilst Mia becomes absorbed in the dig's discoveries, she finds herself drawn to archaeologist Haakon Berger. Like her, he can sense the past inhabitants whose lives are becoming more vivid every day. Trying to resist the growing attraction between them, Mia and Haakon begin to piece together the story of a Welsh noblewoman, Ceri, and the mysterious Viking, known as the 'White Hawk', who stole her away from her people in 869 AD.

As the present begins to echo the past, and enemies threaten Birch Thorpe's inhabitants, they will all have to fight to protect what has become most precious to each of them...

#Fantasy #Romance #EchoesOfTheRunes #RWAVivian

@PiaCCourtenay

@christinacourtenayauthor #OnTour with @SilverDaggerBookTours | #SilverDaggerBookTours

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haleyfury · 5 years

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It’s not a Fangirl Fury December without the End of Year Book Survey! This survey was created by Jamie of the Perpetual Page Turner. The End of Year Book Survey is always the perfect way for me to look back on my bookish and bloggish year.

Number Of Books You Read: 121

I just wanted to note that this is the most amount of books that I’ve read in one year! My final count will come on January 1, as I of course plan on reading as many books as I can during winter break.

Number of Re-Reads: 5

Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary

Best Book You Read In 2019? Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett and Ninth Houseby Leigh Bardugo

Maybe I’ll narrow my final favorite answer to one book chosen by the time my favorite books of the year post comes out.

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hanh

Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

Good!: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Best series you started in 2019?The Off-Campus Series by Elle Kennedy

Best Sequel of 2019? Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowelll

Best Series Ender of 2019? The Goal (Off-Campus #4) by Elle Kennedy

Favorite new author you discovered in 2019?

Jenn Marie Thorne

Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Crier’s War by Nina Varela

Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?Catwoman:Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas

Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?

American Royals by Katharine McGee

Most memorable character of 2019?

Astrid from Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians #3) by Kevin Kwan

Most beautifully written book read in 2019?

A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti

Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2019?

All American Muslim Girl by Nadine Courtney Jolie

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2019 to finally read?

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2019?

Shortest: Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks – 209 pages

Longest: The Toll by Neal Shusterman – 627 pages

Book That Shocked You The Most

The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring

OTP OF THE YEAR:

Sweetie and Ashish from There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Darcy and Marisol from The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey

Favorite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Septeys

Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.:

Eleanor Olpihant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2019?

Tuck from The Goal by Elle Kennedy

Best 2019 debut you read? Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale

Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2019?

The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

Hidden Gem Of The Year? The Other’s Gold by Elizabeth Ames

Book That Crushed Your Soul? Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Most Unique Book You Read In 2019? Unpregnant by Jenni Hendricks and Ted Caplan

New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2019?

I’m actually going to with a podcast, which is Bad on Paper. I especially loved their episodes with Katharine McGee on American Royals and with Carly from Carly the Prepster.

Favorite post you wrote in 2019?

2019 FAVORITE READ: Serious Moonlight Review & Inspired Recipe

Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2019?

Best bookish event that you participated in?

Book Expo 2019

Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2019?

Jenn Bennett sharing my Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie recipe inspired by Serious Moonlight on Twitter.

Ahoy! @fangirl_fury has a CHOCOLATE CHIP PIE inspired by SERIOUS MOONLIGHT on her blog. 😲🥰😋 The book comes out next week, but you can make her recipe NOW! See it here: https://t.co/D3Aj3xHbiA pic.twitter.com/DoJRXCleTz

— Jenn Bennett (@Jenn_Benn) April 9, 2019

Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

Towards the end of 2019, I feel like I wasn’t dedicating as much time to blogging as I would have liked. A lot of this had to do with my busy fall semester, but even when I did have free time, I found myself just wanting to relax and not really in the mood to write. I was able to upkeep my weekly schedule of 3 posts per week, but I didn’t have as many ‘back-up’ posts or posts written in advance as I normally like. I know that it is important to give myself time to mentally relax, especially since I know that I do my best blogging work when I’m 100% in the mood for writing/blogging.

Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

NEW ADULT FAVORITE: Red, White and Royal Blue Review

Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Holiday Baking Recipe: Inspired by Christmas at the Cupcake Café

Best bookish discover?

I’m changing this one to my best blogging discover, which is Trello! Trello was recommended by Kelly of Another Book in the Wall. I try to do a lot of my blog post outlining and scheduling in a notebook, but it is by no means organized. Trello is such a great one-stop place for me to keep track of my ideas,available posts, published posts, and what I need to write.

Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

I completed my Goodreads challenge of 70 books, I got to all the books in my 2019 release 5 star predictions, and I made a lot of progress on some of the series on my TBR.