#actually i loved pooh bear growing up

[wraenata]

🐻

BOO BITCH :]

Me? No! I'm scared of you all!

[pedrospatch]

safe and sound

Jackson! Joel Miller x Female Reader

summary: Your daughter has a nightmare—her daddy makes it all better.

warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI. slight canon age deviations (Joel is 56, Ellie is 17) READER’S AGE IS NOT SPECIFIED. she’s a child bearing adult woman so do with that information what you will. established relationship, reader and Joel have a toddler (her age is not specified in fic but she’s 3 ish years old), reader has NO PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION and neither does their child except she has Joel’s eyes and his dark curls, no mentions of her skintone. Joel and Ellie are fine bc he deserves it, Joel’s an overprotective girl dad, reader is the chill parent. implications of a toddler being told about clickers, bad dreams, almost smut, Joel and reader get cockblocked, SOFT Joel who comforts his babygirl, mention of Sarah towards the end. very minimal editing.

word count: 2.3k

a/n: listen, i love me some daddy joel but tonight i needed a bit of actual daddy joel. this was whipped up last minute bc i haven’t had the best weekend and needed some comfort. also i didn’t have the mental capacity or energy to come up with a moodboard, so gif it is.

Joel looks down at the old, worn book in his hand.

Winnie the Pooh.

He never would have imagined it. This.

Reading a bedtime story to a toddler. His toddler.

He’s in his fifties—he shouldn’t have a toddler.

He shouldn’t have a teenager, either.

Yet, he has both.

The toddler has his blood, the teenager doesn’t.

But that doesn’t matter to him.

Joel still considers her to be his own kid.

Only, she’s not a kid anymore, not really.

She’s seventeen now. She doesn’t need him much anymore, not the way that his toddler needs him.

“Ellie’s not coming home tonight,” you’d said from where you stood at the stove, stirring in chunks of potato and chopped carrots into the pot of stew in front of you. “There’s a birthday party down at the bar. She’s going with Dina and Jesse.” You can feel the look of disapproval on his face and add, “I said she could go, Joel. She asked me permission.”

“She didn’t ask me,” he’d gruffed. He looked down at the little girl sitting in his lap, scribbling away on an old state map. He had given it to her along with the pack of crayons he’d found during patrol when his group stumbled across a schoolhouse. Though crumbling on the outside, the inside had remained untouched throughout the last two decades—little coats hanging over the back of little chairs, papers scattered all over little desks, little lunch boxes still stored in their cubbies at the back of the room. He instructed the group to search for anything useful, anything that Jackson’s teachers could use for the children in their classrooms. Joel knew that taking without trading was against the rules, but that did nothing to stop him from secretly slipping the box of crayons into his jacket pocket when no one had been looking.

His daughter’s squeals of delight when he’d gifted them to her had been well worth the theft.

“Because she knew you’d say no to her.”

“I would have. Kid’s got no business going to a bar at her age. She’s fuckin’ seventeen years ol—”

The little girl had gasped and stopped coloring.

“Daddy said a bad word.”

You’d turned around and glared at him. “He did.”

She looked up at him with her wide, brown eyes.

Those she’d gotten from him. His dark curls too.

Everything else?

Her smile, her nose, her softness?

That was all you.

“M’sorry, babygirl,” he apologized, sheepishly.

“S’okay, daddy.”

And back to coloring she went.

“Joel, let’s face it. Ellie’s growing up. She’s turning eighteen in a few months and truth is, she has one foot out the door.” Crossing your arms, you leaned back against the counter. “She was telling me how she wants to turn the garage into her own space.”

“There a reason she ain’t talkin’ to me ‘bout this?”

You’d smiled wistfully at him.

“Because she knows this is hard for you, Joel.”

It is hard. Because even though she isn’t his, she’s his and he’s afraid to lose her somehow.

Joel manages to snap himself out of his thoughts.

Rosemary’s now fast asleep, her well loved stuffed bunny rabbit wrapped in her arms. She’s a handful for him during bedtime—she has too much energy and most nights, you have to step in and help him. But tonight, after her bath, he had warmed a glass of milk for her to drink and it seemed to have done the trick because within minutes of him reading to her, her eyes fluttered closed.

Joel sets the book down and leans over to brush a kiss onto her cheek, quietly whispering goodnight. “Sweet dreams, babygirl.”

He switches off the lamp on the bedside table and steps out of his child’s bedroom, being careful not to wake her as he closes the door behind him.

“I still can’t believe she fell asleep within minutes,” you say, staring at him in utter disbelief. “How?”

“Gave her a glass of warm milk before I tucked her into bed,” Joel explains, tugging on a pair of faded black sweatpants. He peels off his shirt and tosses it onto the floor before climbing into bed. “Worked like a fuckin’ charm. She’s out like a damn light.”

You set your book down and raise an eyebrow.

“Joel, I brushed her teeth before her bath.”

“I brushed them again after she drank it, darlin’.”

He outstretches his arm, beckoning for you.

Grinning, you scoot closer to him, draping an arm over his bare chest. “It’s only nine,” you tell him. “I have no idea what we’re going to do with all of this free time we have. Rosemary’s asleep, Ellie’s gone for the night.” You slowly drag your hand down his chest and over his stomach, a finger skimming the waistband of his sweatpants. You hear the way his breath catches in his throat and tease, “I guess we can actually get some good sleep for once, huh?”

Groaning, Joel rolls over and pins you down to the bed as he positions himself on top of you, his eyes glazed over with lust. “We can sleep,” he murmurs as his mouth hovers over yours. He reaches for the buttons of his flannel you’re wearing and begins to single-handedly pop them open only to find you’re not wearing anything underneath. He groans once more. “Or I can make you feel good. S’your choice, baby.”

You gasp as he nips at your chin and starts trailing his lips lower, peppering kisses down the length of your body. Heat blossoms in your lower belly as he settles himself between your thighs. Hooking both arms around them, he nibbles at the soft spot that is right below your navel, the spot you hate, but he adores. Having a child had changed your body and while you two seldom had time to yourselves to do anything of this nature, when you did find time, he never failed to make you feel like you were still just as beautiful to him, if not a thousand times more.

“Fuck,” you whimper. “Please, Joel.”

“Please what, sweetheart? What do you want?”

His voice is low, husky.

Your hands reach down and tangle in his curls.

“Your mouth, Joel. Please. I need your—”

The sound of a teeny knock at the door makes you both freeze on the spot.

“You heard that, right?” you ask him breathlessly.

There’s a second teeny knock.

It’s then followed by an even teenier voice.

“Mommy? Daddy?”

“Fuck,” Joel hisses, scrambling off the bed. “What the hell is she doin’ out of bed?” Picking his t-shirt up from the floor, he quickly throws it on, ignoring that he’d put it on inside out. Watching you as you fumble to button his flannel, he calls, “Just give us one second babygirl, alright? We’ll be right there.”

“I’m decent,” you tell him, getting the last button.

Nodding, Joel opens the bedroom door. His knees protest when he squats down, lowering himself so that he can meet Rosemary’s tearful gaze.

“S’matter, Rosie Posie?” he asks her in a soft voice that he reserves for his girls. “What happened?”

She sniffles. “I—I had a bad dream, daddy.”

You sit on the side of bed and wait patiently.

Joel has it handled. He always has it handled.

He never stopped knowing how to be a father.

“You had a bad dream?” he repeats, frowning.

Rosemary nods, clutching her rabbit to her chest.

A single tear slips down the side of her little face.

Joel reaches out, gingerly wiping it with his finger.

“M’sorry it scared you, babygirl. Tell you what, just for tonight, how about you sleep with me and your mama in our bed? That sound good?” With a small labored grunt, he scoops her into his arms. She is getting heavier and you often tell him it’s not good for his back—he can’t care less. He’ll keep picking her up until the moment his little girl decides she’s a big girl and doesn’t want him to pick her up. Joel carries her over to the bed and sits her on your lap and reminds her, “But this is just for tonight, Rosie Posie. Tomorrow night you’re back in your own big girl bed, alright?”

“Okay,” she nods again and leans against you, tiny shoulders slumping.

“Rosie? What was your dream about?” you ask her gently, wrapping your arms around her. She hardly ever has nightmares—she’s too young to know the world outside the commune’s walls, smart but still too little to understand why she cannot go outside the gates. “What did you dream about, honey?”

She hesitates, then answers, “Monsters.”

“Monsters?” Perplexed, you glance at Joel.

He seems to be just as confused as you are.

“Who did you hear that word from, babygirl?”

“Robbie.”

Your neighbor’s unruly, troublemaker son.

Joel’s jaw clenches slightly. “Thought I told you he ain’t allowed to be around her. The kid is nine, ain’t got no business bein’ around Rosemary. Little brat ain’t nothin’ but a bad influence. He’s always up to no good.” He shakes his head at you. “Said I didn’t want that boy anywhere near our daughter.”

“The kids were out playing in the snow today,” you remember. “He must have been there too. It’s kind of hard to tell who is who when they’re all bundled up and flinging snowballs at each other, Joel.” You shoot him an apologetic look. “Rosie was having a blast playing with everybody—I’m sorry. I suppose I should’ve paid more attention to who was around her.”

He bites back a sigh. He knows it’s not your fault.

Rosie’s too good of a girl, too pure and innocent to know that not everybody is her friend.

“Rosie, what did Robbie say to you?”

Again, the child hesitates.

“He said—he said monsters live outside. They bite people and turn them into monsters too. He said it happened to his daddy.” Rosemary’s eyes flit from you to Joel. “He said it would happen to you, too.”

Your eyes widen in shock. “He said that to you?”

Hands curling into fists, Joel reminds himself now isn’t the time to let his anger take over. “S’not true at all, babygirl.” He reaches over and slides her out of your lap and onto his. Like you, he wants to lie—tell her those monsters she was told about are not real, that they don’t exist. But they do exist and as much as he wishes he could keep her from finding out about all that lies beyond Jackson’s walls, Joel knows that one day, she will. “Listen to me. M’real sorry to hear ‘bout Robbie’s daddy, baby. But I can promise you, that ain’t gonna happen to me.”

She points a chubby finger at you.

“What about mommy?”

“Ain’t gonna happen to her either.”

Rosemary drops her hand, fear clear in her tone as she asks the both of you, “What about me?”

“Of course not,” you say, smoothing back her dark curls. “You’re safe here, honey. As safe as can be.”

Joel nods. “Your mama’s right, darlin’. You’re safe,” he reassured her. “You’re safe and sound.”

“I am?”

He gives her body a warm, gentle squeeze. “Mhm. Always will be. Y’know how I know that, babygirl?”

“How?”

“‘Cause. As long as daddy’s around, he will always protect you,” he promises her. “He’ll never, ever let anythin’ bad happen to you, Rosie. I swear it.” Joel kisses the top of her head, his gaze meeting yours. He murmurs his oath quietly, “On my life.”

Flashing him a small, grateful smile, you reach out and touch his forearm and he places his hand over your own.

“And mommy too?” Rosemary questions him.

“And mommy too.”

“And Ellie?”

“And Ellie,” he nods, firmly. “M’always gonna keep my girls safe. S’long as I’m around, you’re all safe.”

Rosie tiredly snuggles into his chest, yawning.

“What about you, daddy?”

“Huh?”

You squeeze his arm. “Think she’s asking you who is supposed to keep you safe, Joel.”

The little girl nods sleepily. “Yeah. Who?”

“Well.” Joel’s throat bobs nervously. He knows the moment he says what he’s about to say, there’s no going back. Not that he never planned to tell Rosie about her sister, but he’d always imagined doing it when she was older and understood death. “I—uh, I have an angel in the clouds who looks out for me. She watches over me, keeps me safe and sound.”

Rosemary’s curiosity is all that is keeping her from completely passing out in his arms.

“Really? You have an angel?”

Your heart squeezes tightly in your chest. “Joel—”

He lightly shakes his head.

“S’fine sweetheart. I don’t mind tellin’ her.”

Rosie’s fighting to stay awake just a little longer.

“Daddy? What’s your angel’s name?”

Joel answers in the steadiest voice he can muster.

“Her name was—her name is Sarah.”

“Sarah,” she mumbles, her eyes closing. “S’pretty. Your angel has a really pretty name.”

“The prettiest name,” you agree, softly.

Rosie yawns again. “Daddy?”

“What is it, babygirl?”

“Will you tell me stories about Sarah? Please?”

Joel chuckles, rubbing her back. “I sure will. I have plenty of them to tell, Rosie Posie. But not tonight. I’ll save them for tomorrow ni—”

You cut him off. “Joel?”

“Yeah?”

“She’s out cold.”

He glances down and sure enough, she’s asleep.

Moments later, the three of you are in bed. Rosie’s in the middle, curled up against Joel’s chest—your chest is pressed against her back but you’re being careful not to sandwich her in too tight in between your bodies.

In a beam of silvery moonlight shining through the bedroom window, you meet Joel’s gaze.

“Thank you,” you whisper.

He chuckles. “For what? Doin’ my job and soothin’ our daughter after a bad dream?”

You smile at him.

“For being so good to her. To me and Ellie.” Lifting a hand, you reach over and cup the side of his face in your palm. “You’re so good to all three of us and I can’t even imagine what we’d do without you.”

Joel turns his face, brushing a kiss into your hand.

“I mean it,” he says, quietly. “S’long as I’m around, you girls will always be safe and sound.”

credit divider @saradika-graphics

[darkspellmaster]

Wish is just a normal Disney film just like all the rest.

Wish is actually a damn good movie, there I said it!

I'm going to start by saying this much, it's very odd to me that so many people are now screaming for a love story from Disney, when not even five or ten years ago there was shouting from the roof tops about Disney doing TOO MUCH romance. For the longest time it was "I wish Disney wouldn't do pairings" "Ugh another romance, can't the princess not." Etc. Now everyone wants one, even though Romance isn't really as big a Disney trope as people think.

Actually let's go through the animated catalogue and see how frequently the love story is centered as the main conflict and asperation to the character. In this case it's the key thing, not a 'Oh they happen to like each other in the end' situation, it's THE thing, the point of the movie is their romance. Then let's see how many have it as the secondary aspect, and let's see how many have it as not important at all. (And we're talking romantic love, not family love)

Romance (Total number: 15)

Snow White, Lady and the Tramp, The Aristocats, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Secondary Characters hook up so this is a weird one), Doug's First Movie, Tarzan, Lizzie McGuire the Movie, Enchanted, The Princess and the Frog (Only from Naveen's POV), Tangled (could be seen as secondary too)

Secondary (Total Number: 25)

Fantasia, Bambi, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free , Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella Sleeping Beauty

One Hundred and One Dalmatians , Robin Hood, The Rescuers , The Fox and the Hound , Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Rescuers Down under

The Nightmare before Christmas, The Lion King ,Hercules ,Mulan ,Fantasia 2000 , Dinosaur, Atlantis the Lost Empire , Meet the Robinsons , Frankenweenie ,Frozen, , Strange World

Not in it at all (Total Number: 42 -including Wish)

Pinocchio, The Reluctant Dragon, Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, Victory through Air power, Three Caballeros, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan

Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective

Oliver and Company, Ducktales the Treasure of the lost lamp, A Goofy Movie, James and the Giant Peach, The Tigger Movie

The Emperor's new Groove, Recess School's out, Return to Neverland, Lilo and Stich, Treasure Planet, The Jungle Book 2

Piglet's big Movie, Brother Bear, Teacher's Pet, Home on the Range, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Chicken Little, The Wild

Bolt, Winnie the Pooh, Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, Wreck it Ralph 2, Frozen 2, Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Wish

These are just the animated not live action, and not live action with animation movies. All in all it's more common to see a Disney film with NO romance in it at all then a romantic one.

So why is it that people keep saying, but we're missing the romance, it's because of the fact that most of the time the Parks and other media pair the characters together. Take Peter pan, in the movie, the boy is utterly oblivious to Wendy's affections, to the point of pissing her off enough that she leaves the party that the tribe is hosting. In the parks, and other media (the plays, other movies) the romance is in your face, because people want them to be a couple, but in the movie itself you never see it.

Star, based on the making of book, was supposed to be a younger version of Asha's grandfather, which fits the theming of the movie. However, from what I understand, one of the reasons why they went against is was because it was hitting to close to Genie in the shape shifting. On top of that, the character of Star, seems heavily inspired by the art work of William Joyce, who created Night Light.

This is him and Katherine (Future Mother Goose) who is basically Star in a lot of ways. He lights the night to keep the nightmares away. These two eventually grow up (He remembers He's jack frost) and they end up as a couple.

It would be apping off of that story, and sadly people didn't give the William Joyce movie Meet the Robinsons a chance (don't sleep on that folks please! It is a good story.)

Also straight up give more love to the Guardian's of Childhood, you'll be happy while you read it.

I'm not saying don't ship it, what I am saying is that please don't go saying this was planned when it really wasn't. That was supposed to be her grandfather there.

And I'm not against the art work, I find it very cute and sweet and lover the designs. But I do think that the whole, "WE WERE ROBBED!" thing isn't being at all fair to the creative team behind this story, as again, *points up* they were following the tradition of a story that doesn't have a love interest, which is the vast majority of the stories that they tell.

Wish perfectly falls in line also with Disney's normal length of animated movies.

Wish was 1 hours and 35 minutes

The movie that came out before it clocked in at

Strange World = 1 hours and 42 minutes

Moana = 1 hours and 47 minutes

Frozen = 1 hours and 42 minutes

This Hour long movie thing started really with Atlantis the Lost Empire = 1 hours and 36 minutes

While Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch all clock in around =1 hour and 30 at most, some are even less than that. Wish's run time is equal to that of Atlantis, or Aladdin, or Treasure planet. So I'm a bit perplexed on the "It's too short" thing. Maybe growing up just before and during the days of Little Mermaid and Aladdin made me like the shorter tales.

Which is another point. With a shorter movie, you never get complete backstory. It's a fairy tale! I mean, look at Little Mermaid. Seriously can you Name any of her sisters from the opening song.

Like seriously, I don't really know a lot of people who can tell me anything about Aquatica, for example. Unless you actually read the books or watched the TV show. And before then we had nothing. Nothing on her mom, nothing on her sisters.

Then there's the town Belle comes from, what do we know about it? Not much, not even who governs the damn thing. Howe about Aladdin before the TV series and King of thieves cleared up everything. We didn't know who his parents were, nor Jasmine's mom. Hell we still don't know anything about Cinderella's father from the animated movie.

Point being, a lot of information, much like Wish, got cut for time. In Snow white we were supposed to be given a longer back story for her father and mother, that was cut due to it being to long, it's in the golden book though. Prince Florian (Yes that is his name) was supposed to have Prince Phillips escape, but it was deemed to hard to animate at the time.

Also there was one that was dancing on the clouds, with STARS, around them that looks very much like you know, our Star.

So basically, he's a nod to what could have been for Snow White all those years ago. Cut for time.

Aladdin had a whole cut song because they chopped his mother out as she was supposed to play a part in the movie and help her son with the Genie.

Zena is her name and she was cut to streamline the film.

Maid Marian in the original Robin Hood was supposed to protect him after his plunge into the water, and protect him from King John while he's threatening her. King Richard appears in the end and scares him into stopping but she's willing to take a dagger to the chest to protect Robin.

This is when Richard meets Robin with Marian telling him all about what happened.

All Disney movies change. Isabel in Encanto was supposed to have a nerdy boyfriend that the family disapproved of.

Hell, Frozen was at one point going to be the Bad guy wins the guy, the hero (Gerta) that we followed all the way to the end rooting for her, was supposed to be a gold digger, and Kai was supposed to say "Nah, I'm gonna stick with the Snow Queen" because she's sad and your a bitch. (Thanks Eisner, I hate it!)

So yeah, there's probably A whole lot of cut content that was supposed to go in, but to streamline it to 95 minutes, you have to cut! At least it's not what happened to the Black Cauldron. No I will never forgive Katzenburg for that travesty!

Disney always used Popular Music over Broadway

Honestly this is the one complaint that I hear that kills me the most about this movie, that the studio went with a pop music team. As if this is not a common thing for Disney movies!

Fun fact, the team behind most of the musical scores up until the 1960s were all composers and musicians that wrote songs for the radio. Or song writers that did radio music. If I listed every single one we'd be here for ages.

The Sherman brothers actually wrote pop tunes for the Teen sweetheart Annette Funicello and several other well known singers and actors of movies.

The first major Broadway group was Ashman and Menken, Followed by Miranda, and the Lopez's. Most, if not all of the biggest Disney songs were written by pop songwriters, whos goal it was to get that song played on the radio.

Hell The Lion King, Tarzan, The Emperors New Groove, and Treasure planet to name a few were all done by Pop musicians. I didn't hear complaining about it back then! What's the difference now? Because the team is not Elton freaking John, or Sting?

All of Oliver and Company was pop songs. Several movies didn't have songs, or only had one.

If we're going to celebrate a studio that helped bring an artform out of it's infancy and show that you could do a full movie of animated pictures where you get emotions out of it, we need to celebrate all aspects, and that includes things we may not realize are kind of unique.

When Hercules and Hunchback came out, people complained about them not being "Traditional" Disney. It was Gospel, it was too dark, or in the case of Tarzan, why are we following a boy, or Treasure planet, "Yuck a space story". Now people adore these movies. People who grew up with them want to celebrate them, and sometimes they don't realize that they were once derided as hard or harder than Wish is being right now.

I just wish that people would give these movies a chance rather than not let the creatives tell their story. We had a whole damn section of 2D animation in Strange World! No one talked about it! No one went "More of this please". Give me these stories, let me enjoy a original fairy tale, because if we keep rehashing things, there's going to be little to celebrate when the next 10 or 20 years rolls around.

Sorry for the kinda rant. This has just been on my nerves for a while.

[marthawrites]

Get To Know The Writer tag game!

Tagged by @aspen-carter and @babygirlyofthevale thank you both!!

Age: dirty 30s baby!

Pen name(s): my long time gamer tag is "marthaftw", and I adopted the nicknames "Dia" and "Syn" for two characters I used to play/roleplay - but I haven't gamed or played/wrote those characters in a very long time so that's basically irrelevant.

College/university degrees: College drop out babyyyy 🤪

Favorite books growing up: The Harry Potter series.

First "grown up" book you remember reading: The Lord of the Rings trilogy first, then The Hobbit. My grandpa's books. A forever special memory 💖

Favorite novel(s): The Shining by Stephen King. Outlander book series. Also, the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Favorite published writers: Neil Gaiman. I've never read anything bad from this man. He's a true gem.

Favorite book(s) of poetry: Edgar Allan Poe counts, right?

Favorite children's book(s): Honestly I love the Little Bear books/show, as well as Curious George and Winnie the Pooh 🥰

Favorite movie/show adaptions: HANDS MFING DOWN The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Like, nothing will ever top it in my mind. It's perfection.

What do you listen to while you write?: I'm gonna out myself as a fucking freak with this one, but: about half the time I don't listen to anything. I enjoy silence and it doesn't happen very often around here. The other half of the time it's typically instrumental music, ambience music, or the Skyrim soundtrack. Occasionally I'll turn one of my random playlists/stations on and roll with whatever it gives me.

What do you drink while you write?: I'm a big water drinker, so normally just ice water. Or coffee! Sometimes soda.

Favorite piece you've ever written: Oh. Uhm. Hm... WELL. Literally all my writing is self indulgent so I'm gonna be a dweeb and say: go look at my masterlist. It's all there ♥

Favorite fanfiction you've read recently: There's so many insanely talented writers here I struggle to pick a favorite favorite. Please go check out my #other peoples writing tag because I share lots of goodies there!

(no pressure) Tagging: @st-eve-barnes @targaryenbrainrot @its-actually-minicika @ruby-dragon @humanpurposes @lost-and-founds @xfancyuu @exitpursuedbyavulcan and anyone else who wants to do it!

[ginger-grimm]

🐱 + Harriet Ross, please??

@dancingsunflowers-ocs ✨💛✨

Yes, thank you so much @dancingwith-sunflowers!

If they're a light or heavy sleeper: They're a light sleeper, actually. They're usually up early to work out and get ready for soccer practice.

What they would do if they won the lottery right now: I think they'd pretty much give half the money to their mom and put the rest into a savings account.

If they have a special item that they couldn't bear to lose: They have their Winnie the Pooh stuffie which they got from their grandmother. They take it on every roadtrip and every out of state game.

One negative personality trait of theirs: They can be kind of aggressive with the things they want.

Their favorite 70s song: Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles

The color(s) associated with their zodiac: White (Cancer)

Their favorite comedy movie: Pitch Perfect

About one person they've lost: Not lost in a sense of death, but abandonment. Harriet loved their father a lot growing up, until he decided to leave the family upon Hattie revealing their true identity. It still hurts sometimes, but Harriet has given up hope of ever seeing or talking to their father again.

A quote I associate with them: "Tell me why I can't and that's why I will."

If they're a lover or a fighter: Fighter 100%. Do not get on their bad side ever, you will live to regret it.

[seyoonlgc]

TRAINEE MISSION 014 - VLOG SOLO - DAY 7

"Hello hello, it's your Seyoonie and I am having the time of my life!" He gave the camera a big over the head heart and grinned. "I am happy to see you, let's spend some time together and chat about the cruise so far."

Let's see, where should he even start?

"Oh, I got this Winnie the Pooh headband from Shanghai Disneyland. If you know me, then you know I like bears." His grandmother had them stitched onto a lot of his clothing items ever since childhood, both because he liked it and to distinguish his stuff from his brothers'. Now he was an adult and occasionally felt embarrassed by the fact she still did that, but it came from a place of love and he couldn't really say no, right?

"I still can't believe we just got to go to Disneyland. When they first told me about this cruise, I was shocked because isn't this like, a free trip? Sure, there are workshops, but a lot of these don't even feel like work because they are so amusing. For example, we had a voice acting one that I would definitely like to do more of because it was so much fun." The food's also been really good so far. Seyoon spent a large portion of his days just thinking about what they would be having next. "I've been playing laser tag to exercise. For extra fun, I came up with this whole background story." That was solely for his own entertainment and nobody else's. In fact, he might have weirded out a few fellow trainees when he zoomed past them yelling you aliens will never catch me alive!

"So everybody on my team were humans, okay, and we were like, the final survivors on earth. The other team were the aliens invading us and this is our last stand type of thing." Seyoon called himself Captain Abie and was dramatically sliding down from ledges on his back, shooting backwards while shouting random things in English about freedom. That was actually rather American of him, even though he was born on the other side of the border.

"I am actually really good at laser tag, and since I run so fast people have trouble getting me. However..." And this was truly tragic. "My gun had some sort of issue near the end and didn't work. I was like oh nooo, wait a second, let me figure out what's going on first! But the other person didn't wait at all! He started chasing after me and shooting at me even though I was like STOOOOOOP-" To be fair the other trainee could have 100% not heard him since it was loud in there. "Guess I shouldn't have expected honor from the aliens," Seyoon sighed mournfully. "You would have listened to me, I am sure. You wouldn't be able to shoot me after I said please, right?" He scooted closer to the camera, placed his hands on either sides of his cheeks and gave them a squish, trying to summon his imploring look.

"I really liked the jpop class too." Moving onto another topic. "Even though I don't speak Japanese, I listened to a lot of songs growing up. Music is something you don't need to understand in order to enjoy, I think. It was also just nice spending time with the other trainees." What else, what else. "Oh, I learned the importance of bringing sea sick medicine! I don't have the problem but I brought some for my brother, and ended up giving some to the other trainees too. I am sure the staff has lots, but it's nice to be prepared." He was a little proud of himself for thinking ahead.

"Tomorrow we are going to the Tree Grove and I am really looking forward to it. Guess I should rest early. Let's talk again soon!"

[saintsir4n]

3. Eyes wide shut

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF PEDOPHILIA

WINNIE slammed her locker shut and turned to the little rugrat that hadn't stopped following her around since she arrived on campus. Since she had just a few minutes before the third period started she thought she could give him the time of day.

"What do you want, young Sheldon?" She dared to ask, clutching her books.

"Can't I talk to a mentor of this great establishment?" Milo Sparks, everyone.

He might've been small due to his preadolescent age but he was deadly, he knew things and knowledge was power and coming from such a slimy bloodline, who would've expected any less?

"I only focus on one poor and hopeless child at a time," Winnie spoke, sighing as she towered over him.

"Does Zoya know you made it up?" He retorted, holding his coat close to his chest and staring up at her dark brown eyes.

Winnie's sharp stare didn't bother him like she hoped. He was a weasel, a cute one but a weasel nonetheless. He actually preferred it when she didn't wear shades, even if she wasn't easy to read if levelled the playing field.

"Does she know that you hacked into her phone?" She replied, quietly yet the fierce tone had his eyes narrowing.

He stepped closer aware of the students who passed through the halls on their first break of the day.

His brows furrowed. "Only on your request."

"Yes and I found a few things from that so thank you," she rushed out, wanting to be rid of his presence. "Is that why you're here?"

"You owe me," Milo declared and she knew it was the truth.

"I sent you a grand when you did the job."

"Money isn't the currency I want," and you know that, "Secrets are my preferred form of payment."

"Name the person," Winnie demanded, growing more impatient, despite having respect for his craft.

He pondered for a moment, glancing around, "Ginny."

Her face hardened, "No."

"Worth a try. Zoya?"

Winnie didn't have any loyalty to the girl, especially since it had been a week since she last heard from her. Their relationship ever since the heiress prevented Zoya's exile had been rather estranged, like any normal relationship Winnie's opinion.

"You could hack her phone if you want the dirt," Winnie thought aloud.

"No, I want her to ask me for help," to require my services so then I can gain another favor. That went without saying.

A brief look of pride flickered through her eyes which had Milo smirking.

"When?" Winnie gave in, tapping her heel against the floor.

"Soon."

"Deal now scram, talking to short people cramps my neck," Winnie didn't leave any room for objection.

Luckily Milo already took a step back, "Always a pleasure."

With him now on his way, Winnie grabbed her phone, apprehensive of any gossipgirl updates. She always received the most whenever she was on school grounds which had her wondering, was the anonymous blogger truly a student or another? Back when she was in 8th grade she started up many fake pages all dedicated to Julian's worst outfits. She was protected due to the best software for parents provided so kids like Milo Sparks couldn't even attempt to hack her servers without an arrest warrant.

A dark smile tickled at her lips because of the memory.

"Pooh bear ready for religious studies and classics?"

She glanced up to see a familiar scruffy uniform, belonging to none other than Max Wolfe.

Winnie knew there was no point trying to correct his god-awful nickname for her. It started back in kindergarten and stuck, despite the threats she made against his name, the tweets and hashtags that hit her fans hating on him with every post. He was unfazed which pissed her off more.

"Of course, learning the most infamous ways to control the masses has always been my favourite," she stated, flashing him a fake smile as they started walking towards their class.

He chuckled, "Your mind is terrifying."

"Just like your body count."

"Is that shade or slut shaming?"

"Both."

He feigned appreciation, "The love you give me is endless."

"Keep telling yourself that," she grumbled, checking the time. "Judging by your attire Ginny received a mediocre fuck."

"Why? Jealous?"

"She's hot but not my type," she rebutted.

He smirked, "And who is? One of the many unanswered questions on this Earth, what gets the gorgeous Winifred Dubois dripping like the Hudson River?"

"Easy. People who look like me," and Winnie wasn't lying.

The pair walked past Audrey and Aki, the former's blue eyes shot daggers at the girl, whilst her boyfriend's face scrunched up in confusion before they turned away.

Max mumbled, "Well that's a lot to unpack."

"You do that. Don't pay attention in class. Fail," she snickered, allowing him to push open the door for her, revealing a few students who had already gotten there early.

"Who said I'll fail?" Max questioned, fully amused as they took their seats at the front of the class.

"Let me guess Wolfe, you'd get on your hands and knees for a grade?" Winnie set her textbook and notebook on her desk whilst he did nothing but take off his empty bag and settle it on the back of his chair.

"No different from your parents getting out their chequebooks is it?" Max's smug smile was so slappable but she conceded just this once and hummed.

"Touché."

Their teacher along with the rest of the class all filed into the room just as the bell rang, irritating the young heiress, who shifted in her seat. Her nails tapped the desk growing louder until their teacher, Mr Caparros started doing what he was paid to do. Max turned to her and smacked her hands, only gaining a sharp glare in retaliation, which made him laugh into his own.

"Everyone take their seats," Mr Caparros calmly said and with reluctance the rest of the students did.

The class went on as normal, with him retailing insightful facts and quotes without using the PowerPoint for help. Max didn't even take out a pen, no his gaze, one that might be described as heated, stayed on the man, trailing up and down his form.

The heiress next to him, occasionally took pictures of her notebook for her Instagram story and one of her 'private' Snapchat stories which contained over 200 people.

Winnie then noticed the lust-filled sparkle in Max's eyes, that wasn't surprising, but what came as a revolting shock was that their teacher was trying to suppress his whenever he looked their— no — Max's way. Turned out she was wrong, she wouldn't be learning about the cult following of millions of people, no, this was a different kind of lesson.

How to stop a predator.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(@gossipgirl tweeted)

This just in: Manhattan's elite learning the world's oldest lesson. Those who go digging for the truth might not like what they find.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"I'm at dumbo hall and guess who I've seen tongue fucking some random by the bar?" Ginny spoke excitedly through the phone.

"Gin I don't care," Winnie put her on speakerphone and picked up a nail file after putting down her laptop.

She was situated on the balcony attached to her room, a blanket bunched around her waist as she surveyed the horizon.

"Monet."

Winnie stilled and exhaled a jarring breath. We're not a couple so why do I feel so pissed off?

"And do you have the name of who she was mouth fucking?" She spat, picking up her phone to stalk Monet's socials.

Ginny giggled, "Oh so now you care? Interesting."

"Who was it?" the heiress' fingers practically punched her screen.

"Some random, didn't you hear me?" Ginny paused, growing curious, "I thought you hated Monet? Or is she the one that's tickling your bean?"

"No," Winnie snapped.

"Sure. You can tell me if you were."

Winnie took a moment to reply, and instead of coming clean, she deflected, "Moving on. Your used condom of a man is how do I put it — getting played like a fiddle by a teacher."

Ginny choked on her cocktail, "What?!"

"There's speculation."

"Is this you? Are you the one speculating?"

"Maybe. But am I ever wrong?" Winnie scoped Luna's finsta to see Monet making out with some... random.

How disgusting. Winnie kept telling herself that she wasn't mad. Wasn't jealous. But was that the case?

"Yes."

"When?" Winnie snorted when she didn't hear a response. "You're trying to come up with something aren't you?"

"Maybe, but I doubt a teacher would do something like that." the alcohol was certainly talking. Ginny wasn't exactly surprised by the turn of events, considering she was hit on by a teacher a couple of years back and the man in question was hastily fired and fled the country.

Winnie knew she was choosing to forget, "You know they have, so when this comes out and I'm right you're gonna be thanking me."

Ginny sighed, "Poor Max."

Winnie scoffed, "Poor me, I had to see them eye fucking during class."

"If you're right —"

"—I am —"

"Only expose it when I know he's okay please."

"I'll think about it."

She heard Ginny sigh from the other side, "Fine."

Winnie hung up and angrily pressed on another contact.

Winnie

Kissing commoners all

because of a disagreement.

From: M

It wasn't a disagreement.

It was a violation of my guidance.

Winnie

Fine. Stick to your unremarkable

taste in women. No more fuel

from me.

From: M

I'm not biting the bait.

Winnie

You won't be biting anything

for a while.

She got up off the chair, walked in and then out of her room and out onto the hallway, feening for a snack but as she approached the top of the stairs she glanced over the balcony hearing muffled voices along with the faint sound of barking no. More meetings at this time? It was almost 11 pm.

She saw her mother emerge from her office, her father and another man in tow.

A man she recognised.

"Good to see you again Margaux, Luc," his gravelly voice spoke.

"William," her father patted his shoulder.

William Van Der Bilt? What was he doing here? Winnie wondered. She'd have to do her monthly spying on her parents a week early. 

She heard Margaux softly laugh, "Nice to see you. Tell Nathaniel that his work is inspirational. It's been years since he was first appointed."

Winnie rolled her eyes at her parent's asslicking.

"Young Winifred might follow in his footsteps. The first female mayor of the city," William replied.

Luc disagreed, "She's been too busy learning from us, the inner workings of our legacy."

"That's true I suppose."

"Similar with your boy."

William nodded, "Billy?" He chuckled, "I should hope so. But he only focuses on lacrosse nowadays."

"Kids eh?" They all chuckled at Luc's response. "Have a lovely night."

"We'll speak soon at the next luncheon," William insisted, bidding them both farewell as he was escorted off the estate, leaving Winnie taking a step back.

What the fuck was that about?

___

"You told gossipgirl that my family sells placebos?" Monet whisper-yelled to the Dubois heiress in the main library.

Winnie put back a book, "That could've been anyone. Allegations like that could be taken to court. It's defamation of character."

"Your character is highly problematic so that won't be a problem," Monet's lips taunted Winnie, they were as frustrating as they were enticing.

"You're being mean," Winnie remarked, shrugging at the scoff she received,  "You know I like it when you're like that but as of now, you're public property."

Monet was more than offended, she was hurt by the insinuation, "Watch it. Just because I kissed another girl doesn't mean you can slut shame me like we're on some CW show."

"No, it just means you don't belong to me."

"I never belonged to you."

Winnie silently cursed, recognising the look in her eyes, making her almost feel bad.

So she said, "Then I guess you loved to trip and fall between my legs whenever you felt like it."

"We're not a couple, might I remind you. You said it yourself. You can't pretend to like me enough to keep me on your hook. I'm not at your beck and call, and you can't stand that," Monet snapped, stepping closer and unintentionally inhaling her signature scent.

"I can't stand a lot of things, dating a follower of one of them, so I guess you're right just this once. I'm glad we're not a couple."

Winnie took Monet's astonishment as her sign to strut away, keeping her composure as she surveyed the aisles, then grumbled when she caught Luna and Zoya at the entrance table.

From what it seemed, tips were being exchanged, why else would Luna's botox needle be out?

"Traitor."

Zoya and Luna jumped back when the Dubois teen materialised in front of them.

The freshman gulped at the look in her eyes, "She was giving me tips on —"

"I don't care," Winnie shut it down, then nodded at her classmate, "Luna."

Luna smoldered, "Winifred."

"I guess that Zugly hashtag has got you desperate," Winnie observed, eyes zeroing in on the Zoya.

Luna was disgusted by the insult, "Excuse you, I'm not the second choice."

"Yet," Winnie countered, her stare hardened as she manoeuvred around the table, "Try to have fun with the woke parade."

Zoya and Luna watched her walk out of view.

"Doesn't she intimidate you?" the freshmen squeaked.

"No comment, although you should aspire to be as intimidating as that, without the casual bigotry that gets you cancelled quicker than Rachel Zegler who can't catch a fucking break."

___

"Make it quick, I'm off to trick a blonde," Winnie impatiently rocked on her heels as she stood by Ginny's locker.

The Wellington blonde scoffed, "And I thought I was your fave."

"Nothing personal Gin."

And Ginny knew her smile was farthest from genuine so she said, "I'm here to tell you that dirt you got from Pygmy Sparks is explosive. Zoya's popularity is rising despite the backlash. You should use it soon, or when she becomes a problem."

"She's already a problem, but she's not ours," Winnie stated, leaning against the lockers and looking out of the busy courtyard.

"So? Use it for destructive. The catalyst to another battle."

A grin threatened to break out on Winnie's face, "Do you hate the preteen?"

"Not hate. Just find her inclusivity nauseating," Ginny argued, applying some gloss.

"Careful, anyone hears you saying that and you'll be judged faster than you did when you went to the Maldives during COVID and wore a diamond mask," Winnie replied, stifling a laugh.

Sometimes she found that coming from wealth and privilege wasn't all that it was cracked up to be and that some people AKA her closest confidant lacked brains.

Only some but still, it was hilarious.

"It was a mask," Ginny huffed out, shutting her locker to face her friend.

"Once that really stops the virus spreading right?" Winnie drawled, "Just listen. I'll release that tape of her whenever I want to. Just keep an eye on your lover boy. I know the teachers at this school are weird. But predatory? That's something else entirely and that needs to be shut down."

The blonde folded her arms, "Who knew you cared for Max."

Winnie grimaced, "I care for chaos, only when I cause and simultaneously thrive off of it."

"There's that sociopathic nature, and here I thought you were getting character development."

Winnie rolled her eyes at the girls teasing, "I've been tested and I'm fine."

"Don't lie to yourself," Ginny called out, smirking as her friend strutted away, "know yourself or whatever Drake said."

"Shut up!"

Winnie's struts grew louder as she neared her namesake library. Gossip Girl was quite quiet today and she needed noise, so she messaged the account and made sure they stayed tuned for a tip.

She turned up her nose when she had to push open the door, usually, she would have someone else do that for her, but she was on a time crunch and tennis practice was in 20 minutes.

Her lips quirked up in a sly grin upon seeing a mop of blonde hair.

Aurdrey's bangs were the next thing that came into view and the book she was reading was next.

Winnie's strides stopped when she stood on the opposite side of the table the blonde sat at.

The heiress cleared her throat but was ignored.

So she said, "Oh come on, we all know you're not reading anything, put the book down and speak to me like a big girl."

"Your condescending tone is aggravating and I tend to avoid people like you," The Hope teen snided, annoyed by her presence.

Winnie gasped, slapping her hand against her chest gaining the attention of those around them.

"People like me... you mean black people!" the blonde scowled at her words, "For shame Hope. And I thought we were in progressive times. I just wanted to say hi, but it's clear you only can stomach being around the lighter bunch... take care and do better."

She excited the library, grinning down at the recording on her phone and faintly hearing the commotion behind her. She pressed send and it was only a matter of time before a gossip girl blast would appear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(@gossipgirl just tweeted)

Despite Miss Hope mixing her roots in the various palettes our latest source tells me that maybe she isn't as inclusive as we all thought. Turns out having money isn't the only that can win you St. Audrey's approval. You must have...let's say... a certain glow to your skin.

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She slapped a hand over her mouth, laughing at the tweet. Fuck trigonometry, she was gonna have a field day with all the retweets and hashtags.

Her laughter unfortunately beckoned Julian over. The Calloway girl stormed out of her class and was scouring the school for the girl in question.

"Dubois!"

She snapped her head to the side when she heard her name as did a crowd of students in their free period.

"Oh shit, I thought you were Caesar," Winnie mocked, putting her phone into her pocket and mischievously beaming at the other influencer.

"Cut the shit, Dubois," Julian snapped, holding her phone showcasing that Audrey was a trending topic on Twitter. "Are you done? Fucking with my friends?" her questions earned more laughter, "What's so funny?"

"The way you phrased that question, but if you are demanding an answer, You really don't know the half of it," Winnie replied shaking her head.

Their bickering had people pulling out their phones to record.

Julian reeled back, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing, have fun with your travel-sized Paris Hilton," Winnie taunted, backing away.

"Audrey is not a racist!" 

"And neither is the Confederate army!"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(@gossipgirl tweeted)

Spotted: Julian Calloway being dragged away by Manhattan's richest heiress. It's clear to me that JC hasn't learnt that it ain't over to the cunning lady sings and Winifred looks like she's warming up her vocals.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Tonight was the Van Der Bilt's charity luncheon; a small get-together, policitans were going to be the majority, which made Winnie question why the hell her family were attending. Sure the Dubois' and the Van Der Bilts were friendly, they had to be, oil was a political debate as it is a socio-economic one.

So that's why Winnie stood in the foyer, dressed in a nice black Versace number, and hair curled to the side like she was a 50s movie star. Her fans were gonna eat it up. Her father was already in their car outside, but she was currently being reprimanded by her mother for having a certain guest around. 

"Yes Mother, don't worry, I won't embarrass you in front of the Van Der Bilts."

"Then get her out of here," Margaux angrily whispered, adjusting her pearls and tugging on her wrap.

Winnie was amazed by her mother's silk press, it effortlessly swayed with every word.

"I need 10 minutes and that's it," she tried, almost flinching back at the rage in Margaux's eyes.

"Fine, then meet us outside. And you get 5 minutes, nothing more or I'll tell Caesar to drag you out."

"How maternal," Winnie grumbled, turning around and walking into the sitting area, where she found Monet playing with Abaddon.

She signalled for a maid to take him away so Monet's attention was solely on her.

Monet's face lit up at her attire as she stood from the chair and made her way in front of the heiress, smirking and looking up and down.

"How tempting," she looks glamorous, she thought, reaching out to tuck a thick strand before her ear.

Winnie shuddered at her touch, making goosebumps kiss her skin.

A warm feeling skimmed against her chest, "Obviously."

Monet playfully rolled her eyes, "How long do we have?"

"We've got 5 minutes. Why are you here Miss De Haan, to get me to change Hope's narrative?" Winnie mocked, then sucked in a deep breath when Monet's fingers traced her collarbone.

"I don't care about that. It was hilarious. But stop sending tips into gossip girl, it's not on the theme for you," Monet's voice was more alluring than any dress she could wear.

"Because you know me so well," Winnie mocked, wanting to move away but she couldn't.

In fact, she wanted to bring Monet along to the Luncheon but she knew how many bridges that could burn.

"I'd like to think so," Monet murmured, pressing a kiss to her neck, then jawline and ever so close to her lips.

Winnie rasped, "Sex doesn't mean you know me."

"But it does tell me how sensitive you can be or how to make you cry," the whimper that escaped the Dubois heiress's lips nearly made her drop to her knees. "Look, I'll let go of the placebo slander," Monet batted her lashes, "If you tell me what you and Milo Sparks were discussing yesterday."

And like a bucket of cold water, Monet's suggestion dragged Winnie kicking and screaming from their fantasy.

"No."

Monet huffed, "Ah, my least favourite word from you."

"I would apologise but I don't want to. Go and ask your new lover for that info," Winnie's amusement had faded away.

"Would you get over that shit? Don't tell me your jealous... still?"

"I wasn't jealous."

Monet rose a brow, "Possessiveness isn't a symptom of jealousy?"

"No. I'm not telling you anything. You'll go and tell your leader."

"For the last time, I am not a follower. I'm her P.R. representative," Monet fiercely stated, "all these insults will just make me stay away."

Winnie deeply sighed, turning away, "Fine. I'm sorry."

Monet was stunned, never had she received a genuine apology from the Dubois heiress. She needed to savour the moment.

"It's fine. I guess I only like slander when we're between the sheets."

"I know," Winnie suppressed the urge to smile. It was hard, especially around Monet, but it had to be done.

"But what you need to know, is all the theatrics between you and Julian won't last long before she's back on top." Monet said, rolling back her shoulders, "I'm not warning you. It comes from a place of..."

Winnie stared with furrowed brows, "What?"

"It's a caution," Monet rushed out before it could be questioned. "Be kinder."

Winnie's shoulders uncharacteristically slumped, "So don't be myself. My followers would see through that, they're almost as savage as me. And you know the boardroom of Velocity Inc. believes my social media has attracted more revenue for them."

"Really?" Monet realised how sceptical she sounded until she saw her pained expression. 

"Look who needs to be kind now," Winnie sneered, growing frustrated with the doubt she received.

She checked the numbers and sales were up by 4%, it was partially because of her following, and she didn't gain any praise from her parents. And so she hoped, rather stupidly that she would get it from Monet and boy was she wrong.

"It's advice," Monet attempted to reach out to her but was rejected with haste.

"No, you just don't want me to be a bigger threat than I already am."

"You know that everything Julian does impacts me. Impacts others," Monet explained, narrowing her eyes.

"So you want to mould me. into your idea of who you think I should be. This isn't what we do," Winnie gritted.

"Haven't you heard of change, development or evolution?"

Winnie scoffed, "I'm not Julian. I'm not a project, I'm a person."

"Could've fooled me."

Winnie's face dropped and that's when Monet knew she made a mistake.

"See yourself out. I have a luncheon to get to. Big plans for my future and such."

"Winnie. Win," Monet called out but the girl was already out of view.

The Dubois heiress stormed towards her family's car, Caesar pulled open the door for her as she heard Monet leave the house seconds later.

Winnie slid in next to her mother. Luc was on the phone, opposite them as they began to drive away.

Margaux noted her daughter's aggrieved expression, "All that girl is cause you pain. Now look at you, frowning, since when did you frown?" Winnie remained quiet. "Winifred, I've allowed you to dither with those below us for far too long. Only very few families that derive old money that I recognise and the biotech empire isn't one of them."

"Then maybe you should," Winnie uttered.

"What was that?" Margaux hissed, satisfied when silence was all she heard. "This social media bullshit supposedly makes you happy, so I allow it. The board members believe it works for us. You it run on your own because I allow it. If you mess up I'll hand over all your socials to a media representative and let them handle it."

"You can't do that. My followers know me."

"The only person who knows you is me," Margaux hissed.

Luc continued chatting away on the phone, not getting involved in their squabble, even when a single tear trickled down their daughter's face.

"No one is entitled to know your true self, make sure you keep it that way. You are a Dubois, heiress of a fortune that billions would yearn for. I did not raise you –"

"-- You didn't raise me." You watched me.

Winnie's eyes flashed with panic when her mother's lips curled into a snarl.

"If I knew you were going to be ungrateful, I would've opted for a son, but you're here now. So listen. Leave your personal life at the door, your father is devising something big and you will not ruin this for us." Margaux awaited a response. "Winifred!"

Winnie flinched, "I won't ruin this for you."

"Good," Margaux plastered on an unnerving smile and turned away.

Winnie locked eyes with her father who she could see was no longer on the phone, yet continued holding it to his ear.

So she quietly scoffed and looked out the window, wiping another tear away and wishing she was in the comfort of her own room, but no, she was walking into the lion's den, which begged the question, would she have to sit back and take it...

Or bite first?

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a/n:

you've noticed by now how winnie's relationship to all the main characters differs. you could argue that she's only nice to max because of the "relationship" he has with ginny or because he's naturally charismatic and even winnie gets along with him just due to being classmates. her and audrey are another story. she dislikes her because audrey is julian's bestie. that's it. and the same reason extends to aki. however with aki, considering his father is as influential as someone like logan roy and is on friendly terms with her family, she doesn't do much to stir the plot. however, she does think very aki as a dull person. (his character was so dry in my opinion).

two legacies this chapter, milo and william and a brief mention of nate. i was debating whether i should include nate or not but he's too nice for winnie. i did name-drop an oc of mine that you won't see for a while (billy).

monet and winnie's relationship is odd as is it is turbulant. monet knows what to do to get ahead and julian is the biggest way in (according to the season 1 plot). she knows winnie is the biggest threat as is zoya but she's close to winnie and hopes to subdue her power and influence for her personal benefit. i hope that it's clear.

which interaction was your favourite? i'm partial to mummy issues so I'll go for margaux and winnie.

[esonetwork]

Sherrilyn Kenyon loves Dragon Con just as much as you do

New Post has been published on http://esonetwork.com/sherrilyn-kenyon-loves-dragon-con-just-as-much-as-you-do/

Sherrilyn Kenyon loves Dragon Con just as much as you do

by Jen “Lil’ Bit” Schleusner

I had the pleasure of chatting a bit with Sherrilyn Kenyon while at this year’s Dragon Con. A beloved staple guest, she also began attending con as many of us do – as an attendee and then later, a track volunteer.

Q: I was wondering if you could speak to how you feel about how there’s just such this great big love for you here at Dragon Con and the stories that you tell.

A: Oh, because I grew here in Georgia, near the airport, and I attended Dragon Con many, many times. Because I grew up here, I never thought, I mean – I was what, I think I was number one on the New York Times – but they’re like, you should apply to be a guest. I was like, oh yeah, cuz I volunteered and I’ve done all kinds of stuff with Dragon Con until then. So I’m like, yeah, that’d be nice to have that badge. I think it shocked them, even though I grew up down in Riverdale with Titan Comics and I used to go in there all the time as a 14, 15 year old kid. And yeah, it, it’s been amazing to watch it grow and to be on this side of the table was so weird.

Q: You said you used to volunteer – what departments did you volunteer in?

A: Oh with Nancy Knight, I’ve known her since the 80s, so when she started doing writer’s track, when Storm Constantine was doing the horror track – whatever they needed, I’d be happy to do.

Q: I know you obviously enjoy horror and vampires, Greek mythology, all that. What were some of your favorite stories, either from the past or favorite movies, favorite properties? 

A: Oh god, There’s so many…

Q: Or do you have any new favorites? 

A:Oh, my new, okay. My shameful thing, Cocaine Bear. Oh my God, I’ve not laughed so hard in a movie. I wish my mother was still alive because she would so love Cocaine Bear. Oh, the Pope’s Exorcist was actually pretty good.

Q: I just watched that a few months ago. I was surprised how good it was.

A: Yeah, I was not expecting it. So yeah, that was a really good one too. And I just found a new one that was recommended to me on a panel that I’ve got to see – Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Yeah, cuz I made a joke: “I want to write a really slasher Winnie the Pooh book” and they said “oh, it’s been done.” I’m like, what? Okay, well I won’t do it, but I’ll go watch it. 

Q: Remember the very first time you were on the New York Best with your book? That feeling that you had then, do you still get that one over your books?

A: Oh yeah. When they first come out it’s like, “oh, my book!” – Yeah, no, that has not, thankfully, ever gone away. But interestingly enough, I was coming from here going home. I lived in Tennessee when I hit the New York Times and I got the call from my editor and we were at a gas station, and so we got out of the car and we were dancing around. Everybody’s looking at us! I still do my ugly spooky dance. And my son’s funny because like “I can’t believe you’re still like, look, it’s a real book!”

Q: What do you think about the technology side of the writing now?

A: I love it and I hate it like everything else. Interestingly enough, I was the first New York published author to do an ebook back in the nineties, and I remember having discussions with my publisher where he’s like“eBooks will never, it’s not going to be a thing”. And I worked IT at the time – I’m telling you buddy, watch out. They’re going to take us over now two years later he’s like, “God, they’re like 80% of sales.” Remember the discussion we had.

Q: I’ve read a lot of books – whether they’re written by men or women where they’ll describe a sex scene. But usually I’m just like, this doesn’t seem realistic or this doesn’t speak to me and I just want to gloss over those scenes. I don’t find it believable. But the way that you write intimate scenes to me, the details – It makes sense for those characters and it’s believable and I don’t want to skip over those scenes. 

A: Well, and to me, not all of them have scenes in them. So it really depends on the book. It depends on the couple. And yeah, like you said, it’s not like part A goes into part B. To me, it needs to come from the characters and each one has their own rhythm that they do. It just depends. 

Q: It’s honest. They’re honest scenes and it’s really easy to tell when it’s not written, honestly.

A: Well, everything when I’m writing is from the character, so if it doesn’t feel natural for the character, it’s on the cutting room floor. I want y’all to love the characters – I don’t even care if my name’s on the book. Just love the Characters..

Q: Archeron, Julian, Grace, Simi, love them all. So well-written that you can see each character that you’ve written. 

A: The funny thing is, I really don’t describe the characters that much. One to me was the biggest compliment I got was, “your characters are ethnically invisible.” I’m like, but I do that because I want whoever’s reading the book 

Q: To be identified.

A: Yeah, you put what you want. And if it’s important, like Ash’s eyes, I will explain that. But the rest of it, I may say it once, if you pick it up good and if you don’t – because I would rather the reader be able to insert, what to me, it’s such a great relationship with readers because their imagination, it’s the greatest tool. And so I give ’em just enough to let them fill in a lot of the details.

Q: Well, and there’s so many times where if somebody puts too many details, then you’re just like, okay, yep, there’s okay 20 pages telling me what the forest looks like or what somebody’s outfit looks like and now I’m no longer invested. 

A: A good example of that’s Bride or Brida, but everybody calls her Bride, so I do too. She’s a heavy character. I have a lot of characters who are heavy women, like Elena, Sunshine, Grace – is not small, but they don’t harp on it. Someone like me, I’m like, oh my God, I’m so big -I slipped on a copperhead and I shocked it. I know the Copperhead went back and said, “lemme tell you, I was minding my own business. I was comfortable in this house. A big old woman came and stepped on my head.” 

Q: With the character Asher, was that based on somebody you knew personally from the past?

A: No, I mean the characters, there are pieces of me in every character because that would be completely disingenuous to say, “no, they’re not.” We write what we know. But no, I really tend not to do that. The only character that really resembles somebody is Bubba, an homage to my older brother who passed. But yeah, normally the characters are just the characters.

Q: Do you like writing about the holiday season?

A: I do and I want to do more. We’ve got “Hebrew For the Holidays” coming out, which is some of my old stories being republished. Ironically, I was talking to my editor today about doing a Nick Christmas book, so we’re hoping to do that. And I want to do a semi Christmas with Simi. 

Q: I could see her just bouncing around and harassing Santa. 

A: So Much fun , handing out barbecue and oven mitts to everybody. 

Q: Going by and lighting Christmas trees on fire.

A: There you go, “I was trying to help it”

Find out more information about Sherrilyn and her career at: https://www.sherrilynkenyon.com

[myarlert]

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 _____

+ assorted characters

ARMIN ARLERT, EREN YEAGER, JEAN KIRSCHTEIN, LEVI ACKERMAN, SATORU GOJO, YUJI ITADORI

— cw; pet names, use of ‘daddy’, some kisses, mentions of smut. more fluff than anything, just brief mentions of it ^

kinda turned into ‘what they like to be called/how they react’

minors do not interact

𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓

— call him ‘pretty boy’ once and he will ascend. absolutely loves when you’re cuddling and you are running your fingers through his hair, muttering things to him. maybe about how your day went and what you did today, then mumbling, ‘how was my pretty boys day?’ absolutely will get all smiley and nervous. he gets butterflies at this one in specific. calling him pretty boy will sometimes have him feeling very special, very good about himself. absolutely gets all blushy if you scattered kisses all over his face and complimenting him like that.

pretty boy, handsome, babe,

𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐑

— 10/10 will get very cocky and it will stroke his ego so hard if you called him ‘my prince’. fucking loves it, it makes him feel like you’re his princess, NO his queen and he needs to give you the world. no but really, he loves being called this. that or that one time you approached him in the kitchen and said, ‘hey casanova!’ he thought it was so random but so cute because he really is your full-time lover. his eyes would grow dark with lust with some of the things you’d call him, like jokingly calling him daddy but he actually gets into it and actually wants to do something about it. he would wanna act up if you were laying back on the couch while you had friends over and you straight up went, ‘hey daddy can you go get me some water?’ HE WOULD LOSE IT, ya know, dragging you off to your room where he had a clamped over your mouth while he finger fucked the life outta you.

my prince, casanova, handsome, good lookin’

𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐊𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐈𝐍

— omg it happens when you’re sitting on the couch together and cuddled up under a blanket. he’s paying attention to the movie but you’re focused on him, brushing your hand on the side of his face, feeling his soft facial hair. he didn’t even realize right when you said it but when you whispered, ‘you’re so perfect’ it made his heart flutter. he kinda does a double take, looking at you, then back at the tv.. then back to you with wide eyes. ‘what did you just say?’ he says in a hushed voice. ‘i said you’re so perfect jean.’ like aaaa he really is and the way he would shower you with little kisses after that ugh he’s so sweet

handsome, perfect, sweetheart, baby

𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈 𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍

— DAMN IT CALL THIS MAN POTATO CAKES, i’m joking but it would be funny, he’d definitely look at you like 😐 AND THATS FUNNY TO ME okay no but really, call this man handsome, darling, anything of that nature and it would make him smile. he really isn’t one for crazy nicknames but he does definitely have a soft spot for ‘sweetheart’ and things like it. being called it or calling you that. or calling him daddy just to see his cheeks flush and eyes roll with annoyance but secretly he fucking loved it and wants to have you cryin, repeating that name while you’re bouncing on his cock. :p

sweetheart, darling, handsome, amore

𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐔 𝐆𝐎𝐉𝐎

— anything that will make him chuckle/giggle is the way to go. pumpkin loaf, ocean eyes, my little sea star. you can get so weird and creative with the things you call him but it’s really just for the shits n giggles with gojo. you could get really weird and all him something like pooh bear naaaa bc he would think that is so cute and he would hug you so tight 😭 he definitely gets all smiley, and he definitely treasures each name you come up with, absolutely making a little list of them.

anything silly; like the things listed above :’)

𝐘𝐔𝐉𝐈 𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐈

— probably into the basic ‘babe’ and ‘baby’ maybe spice it up and throw a little bit of ‘pumpkin’ in there. now even with the most basic of the basic pet names itadori will still get nervous when he hears you call him ‘babe’ but he loves hearing you say it. maybe when you two are out for a walk he will try to grab your hand but you’d pull it away as a joke so he lets out a long ‘baaabbbbbbeeeeee’ as a response, getting you to grip his hand quicker than ever.

basic things; babe, baby, bebe, pumpkin, sweetheart

tagging @paradisdementor @okhotel

[honeyhenry]

Tiny

it had been the scariest moment of your life, easily

the culmination of henry’s birthday had led to a very welcome pregnancy, with you being coddled and adored by your husband as you grew your sweet unborn child

your unborn baby boy - as you’d found out only a couple of months ago - had been growing really well, on track to be a healthy 7-8lbs (3.5kg)

the doctors had noted the babe’s size, but after the first time Henry walked through the door at the 12 week scan, they realised what they were dealing with

it actually all started to make sense

but the scariest part, was that your sweet boy, due for the end of February had began his mission into the world 6 weeks early, during the first week of the coldest January on record

luckily you had both Henry and Kal at home to rush to your aid while you’d thought you were experiencing braxton hicks contractions

but it wasn't that. it was the real deal

you’re already in active labour when you get to the hospital

you’d held your husband’s hand and wept, not only in pain but with the fear of being “too early, he’s too early Hen”

all he could do was wipe your tears and reassure you that everything was going to be okay. even if he couldnt be certain himself

Baby boy Cavill comes in at 4lbs 4oz (2kg) and is whisked away after you spend just a brief moment with him

he gets some checks, all under Henry’s watchful eye as you make him promise to stay with your son, whose tiny lungs help him to scream and cry out at the suddenly bright, cold world

you’re both alright, but they want to keep you and your son in for a couple of days to make sure he’s stable

Henry has had to call a few people, only the important ones, to let them know the news, doing so quickly so that he doesn’t have to be away from you or his baby boy for long

everyone had said that your baby would be chunky, given your husband’s size, but when you see them in the little hospital crib, they’re so little

it hurts your heart to see how small and fragile he is, but both you and Henry know that he is in the safest place he can be

he’s given a little red knitted hat to wear so that the nurses and doctors know he’s one of the little preemie babies on the ward, and thus needs some extra care and attention

you lean over him in his little box crib, gazing at him all the while, lifting him out to hold and feed when allowed

as soon as you’re given the green light, he is in your arms for hours, settling down and just existing peacefully and contently

Henry is just SO big, particularly when leaning his body over the crib, using the tip of his finger to hold his little man’s hand

he likes to have small conversations with him

“Already repping our rugby team with that hat, son”

Henry’s held him as much as he can already, sitting in the big chair by the bed you lay and rest in, having some skin to skin cuddles

you get a lot of visits from the nurses when he does that

you’ll doze off and wake up to Henry chatting away to the little boy on his chest, a fistful of chest hair in his grasp

“you are lucky you’re cute and brand new because this is quite sore for daddy”

his son is the size of his hand, and between his large palms he’s fragile and little and just the apple of his eye

all his nieces and nephews have been upwards of 7 pounds

so now Baby Boy feels even smaller in his massive arms.

His forearm is bigger than his baby - he can’t believe the little miracle that is his boy

his strong little man

all the clothes you'd brought in the hospital bag swamp him so you need to take a couple offered from the hospital and a pack from the hospital gift shop until you can get more preemie clothes

yes, even newborn size is too big and it makes your heart ache

Henry picks up some Winnie the Pooh items from the shop, and a little stuffed Pooh Bear for his baby boy

after three days you get the all clear to take him home. He’s fine, just tinier than you and Henry - and your families - had anticipated

you walk out happily, still a little in pain but choosing instead to revel in the delight that your sweet boy is okay

Henry has the hospital bag and the car seat with baby in tow

He is minute compared to the large clunky car seat. Somehow he looks ten times smaller and even more precious, holding his own little hands with a soft pout on his lips

he looks just like Henry when he sleeps

you watch Henry click the car seat in expertly, knowing he’s practiced in the garage many times already. He’d always wanted to make sure his sweet boy is safe

Henry drives home ten miles below the speed limit

“it feels like we’re stealing a child from the hospital” “well this one came out of me so i think it’s okay”

the car finally rolls into the drive and stops carefully outside the grand house, and you squeeze Henry’s hand

Baby is sleeping soundly, having not even moved through the duration of the car journey despite you feeling every stone and pothole the car drove over, worried for his safety

Henry carries him into the house in the carseat, resting it gently on the floor in the hallway of your home

for now, it’s just you three, as Kal will arrive later with a very excited family member who you’re grateful to for taking Kal while you’d left in such a rush a few days ago

Henry pulls you in close for a hug, resting his head on yours and wrapping his whole being around you

the past few days have been possibly the scariest in his entire life

but they’ve also been the happiest, up there with your wedding, and the time you took him to his favourite restaurant that was a 3 hour drive away, on his only cheat day that month

after a quiet moment in each others’ embrace, silently feeling each and every emotion together, flooding with relief as you rest on each other for support and love, your son is unpacked from the car seat

he’s like a soft tiny starfish and you coo at his sweet, sleepy face

you carry him because Henry feels like a “clumsy giant” holding his boy, especially when not in the comfort of a large chair where he can remain stable

you hold him and look at his little foot tag from the hospital

“and here we thought we had an extra few weeks for his name...he needs one soon though, he can’t be Baby Boy Cavill forever”

“can’t he?” you hear Henry’s deep voice from over your shoulder and you catch a glimpse at him looking ever so adoringly at your son, as you tear your eyes from the sweet newborn for only just a moment

it’s then that you confirm that your boys definitely have the same face 

Baby boy has his daddy’s eyes and chin and you are in love

“you know he will grow up one day. We can’t keep him this size forever. i wish we could though, he smells so good”

to which Henry chuckles and smells the baby’s head, in complete agreement

later on, baby boy lays on his father’s chest. Henry holds them delicately in place, as though they were made of glass

he can nod his head and smell that wonderful baby smell, and know that this little mass of human perfection is completely healthy, and all his

and should he hear a little squeak, as he adjusts his son to stay comfortable for another hour, his immediate reaction is a soft “oh son, it’s okay. Daddy’s here” 

with you curled up beside him, falling asleep with ease after such a strenuous labour and prolonged stay at the hospital, Henry realises he will always get to feel this lucky with his little family by his side

he just doesn't know what on earth he’s done to deserve it

and Kal will be such a wonderful big brother, he can already tell. Him and baby are going to be best friends

Baby takes milk like a champ, they’ll be happy and healthy and plump in no time, especially thanks to Henry’s pep talks during feeds or the baby massage sessions he insists on implementing with his large, gentle soothing hands

a few days later, it is decided that Baby boy Cavill is called Will - you’re adamant on Will not William - but he’s often called Junior by Henry, and always Baby Boy to his loving mama

[mercurygray]

So, I Hear You Liked: 1917

More World War One Films

I was very excited about 1917 when it first came out because it almost perfectly coincided with the 100th anniversary of the First World War, a conflict that I love to read about, write about, and watch movies about. This period is my JAM, and there's such a lot of good content for when you're done with Sam Mendes's film.

Obviously there are a lot of movies and TV shows out there - this is just a selection that I enjoyed, and wish more people knew about.

Note: Everyone enjoys a show or movie for different reasons. These shows are on this list because of the time period they depict, not because of the quality of their writing, the accuracy of their history or the political nature of their content. Where I’m able to, I’ve mentioned if a book is available if you’d like to read more.

I'd like to start the list with a movie that isn't a fiction piece at all - Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old (2019) is a beautifully produced film that allows the soldiers and archival images themselves, lovingly retimed and tinted into living color, to tell their own story. It is a must watch for anyone interested in the period.

Wings (1927), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), A Farewell to Arms (1932, 1957), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Sergeant York (1941), and Paths of Glory (1957) are all classics with a couple of Oscars between them, and it's sort of fun to watch how the war gets changed and interpreted as the years pass. (The Dawn Patrol, for instance, might as just as easily be about the RAF in World War 2.)

All Quiet is based on a famous memoir, and A Farewell to Arms on a Hemingway novel; both have several adaptations and they're all a little different. Speaking of iconic novels, Doctor Zhivago (1965) based on the Pasternak novel of the same title, examines life of its protagonist between 1905 and the start of the second World War.

I think one thing historians agree on is that the start of World War One is worth discussing - and that there's a lot of backstory. Fall of Eagles (1974), a 13 part BBC miniseries, details the relationships between the great houses of Europe, starting in the 1860s; it's long but good, and I think might be on YouTube. The Last Czars (2019) takes a dramatized look at the Romanovs and how their reactions to the war lead to their eventual demise.

As far as the war itself, Sarajevo (2014) and 37 Days (2014) both discuss the outbreak of hostilities and the slow roll into actual battle.

The Passing Bells (2014) follows the whole war through the eyes of two soldiers, one German and one British, beginning in peacetime.

Joyeux Noel ( 2005) is a cute story - it takes place early in the war during the Christmas Peace and approaches the event from a multinational perspective.

War Horse (2011) is, of course, a name you'll recognize. Based on the breakout West End play, which is itself based on a YA novel by Michael Morpurgo, the story follows a horse who's requisitioned for cavalry service and the young man who owns him. Private Peaceful (2012) is also based on a Morpurgo novel, but I didn't think it was quite as good as War Horse.

The Wipers Times (2013) is one of my all-time favorites; it's about a short lived trench paper written and produced by soldiers near Ypres, often called Wipers by the average foot soldier. The miniseries, like the paper, is laugh out loud funny in a dark humor way.

My Boy Jack (2007) is another miniseries based on a play, this one about Rudyard Kipling and his son, Jack, who served in the Irish Guards and died at Loos. Kipling later wrote a poem about the death of his son, and helped select the phrase that appears on all commonwealth gravestones of the First World War.

Gallipoli (1981) is stunning in a way only a Peter Weir movie can be; this is a classic and a must-see.

Gallipoli is a big story that's been told and retold a lot. I still haven't seen Deadline Gallipoli (2015) an Australian miniseries about the men who wrote about the battle for the folks back home and were subject to censorship about how bad things really were. For a slightly different perspective, the Turkish director Yesim Sezgin made Çanakkale 1915 in 2012, detailing the Turkish side of the battle. Although most of The Water Diviner (2014) takes place after the war is over, it also covers parts of Gallipoli and while it didn't get great reviews, I enjoy it enough to own it on DVD.

I don't know why all of my favorite WWI films tend to be Australian; Beneath Hill 60 (2010) is another one of my favorites, talking about the 1st Australian Tunneling Company at the Ypres Salient. The War Below (2021) promises to tell a similar story about the Pioneer companies at Messines, responsible for building the huge network of mines there.

Passchendaele (2008) is a Canadian production about the battle of the same name. I'd forgotten I've seen this film, which might not say very much for the story.

Journey's End (2017) is an adaptation of an RC Sheriff play that takes place towards the end of the war in a dugout amongst British officers.

No look at the Great War is complete without a nod to developing military technologies, and this is the war that pioneers the aviation battle for us. I really wish Flyboys (2006) was better than it is, but The Red Baron (2008) makes up for it from the German perspective.

One of the reasons I like reading about the First World War is that everyone is having a revolution. Technology is growing by leaps and bounds, women are fighting for the right to vote, and a lot of colonial possessions are coming into their own, including (but not limited to) Ireland. Rebellion (2016) was a multi-season miniseries that went into the Easter Rising, as well as the role the war played there. Michael Collins (1996) spends more time with the Anglo-Irish war in the 1920s but is still worth watching (or wincing through Julia Roberts' bad accent, you decide.) The Wind that Shakes the Barley covers the same conflict and is excellent.

The centennial of the war meant that in addition to talking about the war, people were also interested in talking about the Armenian Genocide. The Promise (2016) and The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017) came out around the same time and two different looks at the situation in Armenia.

This is a war of poets and writers, of whom we have already mentioned a few. Hedd Wynn ( 1992) which is almost entirely in Welsh, and tells the story of Ellis Evans, a Welsh language poet who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele. I think Ioan Gruffudd has read some of his poetry online somewhere, it's very pretty. A Bear Named Winnie (2004) follows the life of the bear who'd become the inspiration for Winnie the Pooh. Tolkien (2019) expands a little on the author's early life and his service during the war. Benediction (2021) will tell the story of Siegfried Sassoon and his time at Craiglockhart Hospital. Craiglockhart is also represented in Regeneration (1997) based on a novel by Pat Barker.

Anzac Girls (2014) is probably my favorite mini-series in the history of EVER; it follows the lives of a group of Australian and New Zealand nurses from hospital duty in Egypt to the lines of the Western Front. I love this series not only because it portrays women (ALWAYS a plus) but gives a sense of the scope of the many theatres of the war that most movies don't. It's based on a book by Peter Rees, which is similarly excellent.

On a similar note, The Crimson Field (2014) explores the lives of members of a Voluntary Aid Detachment, or VADs, lady volunteers without formal nursing training who were sent to help with menial work in hospitals. It only ran for a season but had a lot of potential. Testament of Youth (2014) is based on the celebrated memoirs of Vera Brittain, who served as a VAD for part of the war and lead her to become a dedicated pacifist.

Also, while we're on the subject of women, though these aren't war movies specifically, I feel like the additional color to the early 20th century female experience offered by Suffragette (2015) and Iron-Jawed Angels (2004) is worth the time.

As a general rule, Americans don't talk about World War One, and we sure don't make movies about it, either. The Lost Battalion (2001) tells the story of Major Charles Whittlesey and the 9 companies of the 77th Infantry division who were trapped behind enemy lines during the battle of the Meuse Argonne.

I should add that this list is curtailed a little bit by what's available for broadcast or stream on American television, so it's missing a lot of dramas in other languages. The Road to Calvary (2017) was a Russian drama based on the novels of Alexei Tolstoy. Kurt Seyit ve Şura (2014) is based on a novel and follows a love story between a Crimean officer (a Muslim) and the Russian woman he loves. The show is primarily in Turkish, and Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, who plays the lead, is *very* attractive.

Finally, although it might seem silly to mention them, Upstairs Downstairs (1971-1975 ) Downton Abbey (2010-2015) and Peaky Blinders (2013-present) are worth a mention and a watch. All of them are large ensemble TV shows that take place over a much longer period than just the Great War, but the characters in each are shaped tremendously by the war.

[simptasia]

my winnie the pooh video i had as a kid (like, the disney original old ones) was followed by like an hour long documentary on the subject of winnie the pooh and i watched the whole thing, which is amazing because i was like 3 years old

[simplyclary]

Winnie The Pooh: Childhood Characters In Reality

Do you remember these iconic characters from your childhood? Did you have plushies of at least 3 of these characters? Did you feel a sense of nostalgia when these characters re-appeared in a live action movie? If your answers to all these questions are yes, well good to know as I have the same experience as you. If your answer is the opposite, well, then let me introduce them to you.

These characters in the picture above are the characters from the fictional world of the Hundred-Acre Wood. They are known as Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Rabbit. As simple as these characters may look like, they give me a sense of nostalgia as I spent most of my childhood days with them, and even now, being 21 years old, I still feel like a child everytime I see them. I felt like I really knew their characters, but surprisingly, there are still a lot of things that I don't know about them. It surprised me when I read a post that stated that each character represented a specific mental disorders. Below, I will tell you what mental disorder each character and my personal representations of them.

Winnie The Pooh- Winnie the Pooh or simply Pooh is a cute yellow bear who always wears a red shirt that almost looks like a crop top. His yellow color comes from his favorite food which is honey. Now, while Pooh can be the cutest bear one has ever laid eyes on, he represents the "Impulsive Eating Disorder". This is his representation as he is always seen to eat nothing but honey, which he is seen to have an obsession for. My interpretation, on the other hand, is a bit different because I think that Pooh represents the innocence of a child. Seen as to give some "wisdom" to his friends sometimes, Pooh is a character that while still having a lot to learn in life just like an innocent child, he can be seen to persevere to learn about these things.

Piglet- Piglet, by the name, is a small pig that represents the "General Anxiety Disorder". This is his representation because he is seen to be scared during situations and always fears to leap into action, even when it's not that scary. In my mind, Piglet represents the shyness of a child, especially an introverted one. Fearing to what the future holds, one tends to be shy and introverted when to uncertain situations. I see much of myself in Piglet, as I am a shy and introverted girl growing up so I really relate to him as a young girl and sometimes, even now.

Tigger- Tigger, as stated, is a tiger who has a tail with a spring that he uses to bounce around the place. As energetic as he is, he represents the "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". Tigger is the perfect representation for this disorder as he can never be seen sitting still and always wants to do other things. My thoughts on Tigger is that he represents energy and excitement of someone, especially when an exciting day is nearing. While Tigger's energy seems to be like someone who just downed 10 cups of Starbucks coffee, it can also be noted that with this energy, he is happy and filled with serotonin that could lift up anybody's day, which makes him one of the happiest characters of childhood.

Eeyore- Eeyore is a blue donkey who can be considered as the exact opposite of Tigger. While Tigger is one of the happiest characters, Eeyore is one of the saddest characters, which makes him the perfect representation for "Depressive Disorder". Eeyore is a character with such a negative and bleak view in life and he can never be seen to be positive and happy. My representation for him is the sadness of people. While this may be similar to his actual representation, it means differently. My representation simply means that while one can be sad and negative at times, it will not last forever.

Kanga- Kanga is a character who is the mother of little joey Roo. While her motherly traits can make her seem like the best mother in the world, she apparently represents the "Social Anxiety Disorder". This can be categorized because of her overprotectiveness for her youngling and never letting Roo make decisions on his own. My representation for her is the love and care that mothers possess towards their children. As a "mom friend" in my friend group, I could relate to her as I always care for the well-beings of my friends. I can also be protective at times, just like a mom.

Roo- Roo, the young joey of Kanga, is a character who represents the "Autism Spectrum Disorder". He is categorized under this representation because he lacks awareness to danger and can be seen to always be comfortably sitting in his mom's pouch. In my own opinion, he represents the excitement and youthfulness spirit of children. Of course, being a youngling himself, he is seen to always be excited about something. One is not a child forever, so enjoy youth while it lasts because the adult life is harder than it looks.

Rabbit- Rabbit, in all honesty, is not really my cup of tea. He is seen to be this strict character who is therefore, the perfect representation for "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" or OCD. He is always seen to want everything in order and nothing is messed up. In my own opinion, he simply represents the want of people to be organized and clean. Especially during times of outbreaks, people want nothing dirty and messy as it can attract germs and viruses. While Rabbit is not everyone's favorite character, he can also be a perfect representation of strict parents and teachers who want everything in place for the benefit of others.

And of course, let us not forget the only human character in the story, Christopher Robin. Christopher represents the disorder of "Schizophrenia". He represents this because he basically sees himself in a place that is not real. In my own interpretation, he represents the imagination of a child. Children in their youth desires to go places, both fictional and real, and they will do everything to achieve that goal or to at least make that experience real. Children playing pretend and dressing up is a big indication of their imagination coming into play.

There we go, here are the actual representations and my own personal representations. It is important to note that at times, our favorite characters may represent ourselves, our values and our characteristics. In a way, these characters are not only representations, but also reflections. Fiction indeed reflects reality.

Experience the nostalgia once again by watching Disney's Christopher Robin starring Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Mark Gatiss and of course, your favorite characters from the fictional place of Hundred-Acre Wood.

[briarrosescurse]

a side of xiangvinh w my happy meal blease

pre-relationship (2), general (2, 4, 8), love (8, 9) domestic (1, 9)

BEWBEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEH 🕺🕺

I'M LATE BUT HELLO MY WIFE... I GLADLY BRING YOU DA XIANGVINH FOOD !! 🤤

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

2. What was their first impression of each other?

first impressions, huh... well, for vinh i imagine that she hadn't much... initial interest in interacting with xiang or even associating herself with him. his reputation isn't a particularly unknown or clean one. but xiang on the other hand instantly thought oh how charming vinh is - even if he was met with weird stares. an absolutely enigmatic beauty, keeping to herself - he just had to know more.

'that sounds awfully poetic' ahah. don't tell him that.

in other words though; vinh, someone actively refusing to engage with him, made him all the more curious.

GENERAL

2. Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?

i like to think that because of vinh's reluctance, xiang had to do some convincing to get her to go on a date with him - or he just 'tricked' her by barging into her room and interrupting her usual work for 'something more urgent' (read: he was bored and craved her attention)

it wasn't particularly romantic, if anything it was more casual hanging out, but of course, xiang's flirting and playful touches increased a little - letting her know his intentions.

like a true charmer, he lets the date end on the note of 'let's do this again - you clearly had a lot of fun with me, pretty lady'

4. Were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

well, it's very safe to say that they weren't each other's first 'anything' - with vinh's long lived existence and with xiang's... adventurous side.

hooowever, even though xiang himself won't admit it; his relationship with vinh is his first proper and actually serious relationship - a big step for him! the 'relationships' he had before were extremely casual and free from any rules or strings. so in all technicalities, he hadn't been in a 'traditional' relationship before. 🙈

8. Who gets jealous easier?

oh xiang. 100%. once it gets more serious, xiang starts to notice the possible threats that could crack his already fragile relationship to vinh - so he can't help but grow easily jealous. he only feels really jealous when someone is making full on advances on her. he won't grow jealous over really little and petty things(*), because he does trust vinh enough to be earnest. even if she is a little (big) pushover.

LOVE

8. What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?

:) HAHHEHEUEH U KNOW WHATS COMING

line without a hook by ricky montgomery of course 💕

a man in love with a woman, recognizing the beauty she bears, wishing to be with her, he and his self-image are in his way. he is his own hurdle to be able to love her.

imagine you found your special lady, but you know you just are not enough for her - you aren't enough to be able to love her the way she deserves to be loved.

now apply that to xiangvinh 😳

xiang truly is in love with vinh - but he just is 'some boy', a 'line without a hook', unable to give her, the lady of his heart, the love she truly deserves.

9. What kind of nicknames do they call each other?

vinh calls xiang by his name - xiang, obviously - but xiang brings out a whole storage of stupid yet strangely endearing nicknames. his favorite one and all-time classic is "pretty lady", really simple but it's surprisingly enough unique to vinh only. other than that though, he sometimes calls her vinhnie pooh (he got that from draco) or stick-on-legs.

however, the closer they grew, the more xiang started to use her actual name. that first time he actually called her by her name was... quite something. (xiang brain shattered for good)

DOMESTIC

1. If they get married, who proposes?

xiang ! but um. he is xiang, so the journey to that proposal has been a rather tedious one. he went around a lot and asked for their friends opinions, his own family for advice (xiang's older brother thought he was joking until vinh showed him the ring) and he even asked for vinh's family's approval. but um. you imagine that this went rather rough. after their long history of problems, it's no wonder that especially vinh's sisters and mamaphrodite had quite some trouble to believe in anything he said.

and god, the proposal itself - xiang tried to avoid a big gesture, for once, since he had no idea how to even go about it without disturbing vinh, but it ended up rather awkward and with lots of questions ("wait, so please clarify this for me; you are proposing to me?" / "vinh, please, don't make me say it, oh my god")

9. Who’s the better cook?

vinh for sure. xiang in the kitchen is not to be trusted, because he will be irresponsible and accidentally use too much spice or let the good chicken burn up until it looks indistinguishable next to coal.

that being said though! he does try to occasionally cook for his wife as well and even though the dishes are either a hit or miss, vinh seems happy enough by the gesture alone to try them. (her poor tummy...)

[randomfandomasks]

My Personality and Nicknames for the different Shepards.

First, Female and Male Shepard have slightly different personalities.

But both Female and Male Shepard are open-minded. They respect and accept the other races, genders, sexualities etc. They are always protecting the other races. Not only that, but they care about their Squadmates a lot, for them, they are more than just Squqadmates to them, they are their friends.  All versions of Shepard are terrible at dancing.

Male Shep is more of a softy who takes his job seriously. He is a natural leader no matter if he is a paragon or a renegade. As a renegade he is more intimidating than in paragon. He is a jerk, but in a more badass way. As a Paragon he is a great friend and a great listener. I do headcanon male Shep to be an introvert rather than an extrovert. He is more emotional than logical even though he tries not to be. Male Shep is always a gentleman. Also, a male shep is definitely a bisexual in a closet.  Male shep is a bottom (change my mind!).

Female Shep is tougher than male Shep. She doesn’t really see herself as a leader but as equal to her comrades. She is just a soldier like all of them.  Female Shepard is an extrovert who shows pride in being a terrible dancer. As a No matter if she is a paragon or a renegade  she can be really bitchy sometimes (especially if you piss her off). As a renegade she has a rather short temper. She is actually a tomboy, so she is not a fan of dresses or any formal clothes at all. Shep thinks their uncomfortable  and not safe at all. She is less emotional than male shep. Sometimes she seems even more colder than him. Female Shep identifies herself a pansexual and demisexual (and moronsexual). She is a top.

Spacer War Hero Shepard is a true hero. They are more polite and friendly than the other versions of Shepard. They had a great childhood and their parents taught them well. This version of Shepard is also the biggest nerd who is always happy to learn new things. They are the ones that ask a lot of question about the other races, their culture, their history. If you need an advice it doesn’t matter if its about dating stuff, work stuff, family stuff anything. They happy to help but be warned that their advices are not always the best ones. Growing up in a healthy environment made them quite naive. They are optimistic and often bad at reading other people intention. Oh, and they get really mad if you disrespect anyone. 

Nickname for male  Spacer War Hero Shepard: Loco (name given by James Vega)

Nickname for female Spacer War Hero Shepard: Lola (also a name given by James)

Spacer sole survivor Shepard: like all of them sole survivor Shepards this one deals with nightmares and overwhelming guild for what happened to their Squad. But from all the other sole survivors this Shepard is definitely the most energetic one. This Shepard distracts themselves often with other things mainly weapons and training. They...are not much of a talker but a great listener. Always trying to help others with their problems. Always listens to others when something is troubling them. Also, very polite and friendly but not everyone. 

Nickname for male Spacer Sole Survivor Shepard: sparks

Nickname for female Spacer Sole Survivor Shepard: glitter

Spacer ruthless Shepard: cares about their reputation and image the most. The biggest goal is to make their parents proud. They more collected and don’t lose their temper very often. For them the mission has the higher priority. They convert their emotions into strength in battle. This Shepard is a strategist and knows exactly what the enemy is going to next. Also pretty protective, another way they let their anger out is when they are standing up for their friends. Very arrogant and picky with fashion (male shep is pickier than fem shep). Only Shepard that doesn’t drink.

Nickname for male Spacer Ruthless Shepard: fashion czar

Nickname for female Spacer Ruthless Shepard: Lady fashion 

Earthborn War Hero Shepard: from rags to riches or rather from Nobody to Hero. This Shepard is a cocky bastard who loves being sarcastic. Despite that this Shepard has tattoos and piercings. They also hear to metal/rock/punk music and wear a lot of dark clothes, and make up. But their clothing style is more elegant than the others. They hated being in the gang and regret it. But after surviving the street they deserve to wear what they want and look how they want. They don’t care what anyone says about them. Earhtborn War Hero Shepard is a great soldier, they worked hard to get where they are now, and they didn’t become a soldier to please others. They chose this path so that they can be someone they always needed a hero! A strong protector who would stand up for people who cannot stand for themselves! This Shepard is not afraid to risk their lives for others. Most cheerful, loves to party and a great listener.

Nickname for male Earthborn War Hero Shepard: anime protagonist. Black

Nickname for female Earhtborn War Hero Shepard: punk girl woman

Earthborn Sole Survivor Shepard: Very caring. Puts others before themselves. Low self-esteem.  Quiet and distant, especially after they lost their whole Squad. Takes every failed mission, every dead comrade, every dead civilian very hard. Struggles to be a leader. Loves all if their friends with all of their heart. Doesn’t want to hurt others but doesn’t have the choice. Always hesitates to pull the trigger. Only joined the Gang because they were naive and thought they were their friends. Has nightmares about the gang, the life on the street, about their dead unit. But is still very friendly...just not very talkative and doesn’t trust easily.

Nickname for male Earthborn Sole Survivor Shepard: John (because this is the de-fault Shepard and because I don’t know any nicknames...open for suggestions though)

Nickname for female Earhtborn Sole Survivor Shepard: Jane (same reason as John)

Earthborn Ruthless Shepard: A badass. This is the only way to describe this Shepard in one word a total badass. Is very loyal to his friends and always supports them no matter what path they choose. A jerk probably the biggest Jerk in the galaxy. Even though they are pretty cold and grumpy in reality they are filled with guild. Do you think they wanted to sacrifice 3/4th of his unit? Do you think they enjoy having other soldiers looking at them in fear? Do you think they like having nightmares every single night? Of course, they don’t! But they didn’t had a choice. They had to sacrifice their unit to accomplish their mission. To make the world a saver place to live. They care...a lot. But people only see the rough side. They don’t see an orphan who was forced to live on the street. An orphan that was forced to join a gang and commit crime to survive. An Orphan that was addicted to drugs and alcohol. This Orphan changed themselves and worked harder than anyone else to be where they are now. They just don’t see this part of the “ruthless” Shepard. They just see a jerk who sacrificed almost their enitre unit.

Nickname for male Earthborn Ruthless Shepard: Boss/red

Nickname for female Earthborn Ruthless Shepard: Queen/ red devil

Colonist War Hero Shepard: because they are usually very Stoic and serious they come off as rude and intimidating. But once you take the time to know them, they are actually a huge teddy bear. A dork who loves puns and dad jokes. Probably the most fun Shepard to be around. This Shepard just lights up the room with their big, shiny grin. Also, very blunt and honest but very sweat. Sometimes people wonder how is it possible, that this dork became a soldier in the first place? That’s until they see them in a battle. They are pretty fast and great with their sniper. A headshot after a headshot. It’s kinda terrifying to see someone shoot someone in the head with a big, happy grin. Just don’t make them angry, okay? They basically turn into a mix between an angry bull and joker (DC).

Nickname for male Colonist War Hero Shepard: Pooh Bear

Nickname for female Colonist War Hero Shepard: Mother Bear

Colonist Ruthless Shepard: has difficulty showing and expressing emotions. Deal with Depression and Trauma from losing all of their friends and family. Nightmares  a lot of nightmares. They are angry...angry at the world. Needs a long time to trust anybody. Sometimes snaps at people but doesn’t really mean it. They're bottling up their emotions and in the end they explode and say or do things they might regret. Blames everyone for not helping and saving their family. Works really hard to be the best soldier. Wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice everything and everyone even themselves. If a soldier is not ready to give up their lives saving others...then why did they become soldiers in the first place?!

Nickname for male Colonist Ruthless Shepard: edgy shep

Nickname for female Colonist Ruthless Shepard: no mercy shep

Colonist Sole Survivor Shepard: oh, boy. What can I say? This Shepard is the most broken Shepard. Also, nightmares every night. Deals with anxiety every time when they take on the leader position. Hate to me a commander.  When you first meet them they look very empty inside. But they are just in a lot of pain. Very sweat, loving and protective. They are ready to jump right into a lava lake if needed. Enjoys rain and looking at the stars. Drinks a lot of coffee because they cannot sleep. They just need a hug. Prefers to go on solo missions instead of Team Missions. But with a lot of time and trust they may even open up to others.

Nickname for male Colonist Sole Survivor Shepard: black coffee

Nickname for female Colonist Sole Survivor Shepard: Rose petal

[unusual-ly]

Here's another question: If you could match each character in CATS with a particular Disney song, which one would you pick and why?

I have been thinking about this since I saw this ask yesterday morning it’s been almost two full days

I actually went through a couple lists of Disney songs just to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything and I’ve chosen songs for almost every character. I might come back later and add the ones I missed if I think of them

I paired some characters together because they work best that way, and a few have more than one because I just couldn’t pick

Alonzo - ???

Bombalurina – Perfect Isn’t Easy (Oliver & Co.) - Bomba knows she’s attractive and loves to flaunt it

Bustopher Jones – Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast) - it’s a super extravagant musical number essentially just about a fancy meal, very Bustopher

Cassandra - ???

Coricopat and Tantomile - ???

Demeter – Let It Go (Frozen) - Demeter’s had a hard past with Macavity and, by my headcanon, being separated from her mother but she’s now able to leave that behind her (for the most part) and find somewhere she’s happier and more comfortable

Electra and Etcetera – Good Company (Oliver & Co.) - I struggled to pick a song for these two but this is just a really cute song about being best friends~ ^^

Griddlebone – Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians) - the perfect song for a classic femme fatale~

Grizabella – I’m Still Here (Treasure Planet) - this works for how alone she feels and how much she wants to be understood and accepted / One Of Us (Lion King 2) - how the Jellicles view her

Growltiger – Shiver My Timbers (Muppets’ Treasure Island) - a pirate song, that’s it, really. I almost chose Professional Pirate as well, but I think he needs something more sinister

Gus – Days In The Sun (Beauty and the Beast 2017) - reminiscing about the past and wanting what you’ve lost back

Jellylorum – ???

Jemima – God Help The Outcasts (Hunchback of Notre Dame) - she’s very selfless and empathetic and wants to help Grizabella, an outcast

Jennyanydots – The Work Song (Cinderella) - it’s mice singing about sewing, what more do you want from me? /  Mother’s Intuition (Piglet’s Big Movie) - she’s very motherly / Scales and Arpeggios (Aristocats) - cats learning to play music and sing. Yea, Jenny specifically teaches mice but I feel she would teach the kittens too

Macavity – Be Prepared (Lion King) - he just has a similar vibe to Scar in my mind / The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind (Great Mouse Detective) - the title alone is enough of an explanation

Mistofelees/Quaxo – Friend Like Me (Aladdin) - I spent ages trying to find a song that sounded more like his personality, and I don’t think this quite fits that, but it’s all about amazing magical powers

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer – One Jump Ahead (Aladdin) - creative thievery / Streets Of Gold (Oliver & Co.) - stylish thievery

Munkustrap – Where You Are (Moana) - he loves his family/tribe and his home and is a good leader, but he also doesn’t like the thought of that being disrupted. He’d sing this to Jemima 

Old Deuteronomy – He Lives In You (Lion King 2) - old and spiritual and fatherly idk 

Plato – Kiss The Girl (Little Mermaid) - PLATORIA. Bonus because Victoria is mute

Pouncival and Tumblebrutus – Shoulder To Shoulder (Pooh’s Heffalump Movie) - struggled the same as Electra and Etcetera but I love the energy in this song~

Rum Tum Tugger – Thomas O’Malley Cat (Aristocats) - confident cat who does what he wants and goes where he wants and flirts with whoever he wants

Rumpus Cat/George – Zero To Hero (Hercules) - so I see Rumpus Cat as a character played by George in Munk’s play - George is kind of the odd one out who doesn’t really know what he’s doing but he’s trying his best, then he gets the lead role in the play! 

Skimbleshanks - I don’t have an individual one for him but paired with Jennyanydots, Jolly Holiday from Mary Poppins is really sweet for them~

Victoria – When Will My Life Begin? (Tangled) - her whole story is about growing up and becoming her own person cat! She wants to experience life! See the world! / On My Way (Brother Bear) - same idea of wanting to explore the world and meet other cats