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kissypoets · 4 years

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Liability (Reprise)

In which Harry panics about getting mobbed while out for dinner with you and tries to make up for his mistake.

a/n: hihihi omg... this is my first time posting my work on here [ or anywhere, actually ] so please be kind. this was inspired by the song liability (reprise) by lorde!!! was listening to it and this idea just came to me and I really loved how it turned out and really wanted to share. I hope you enjoy :] !!

Word Count: 6, 543

Harry unbuttons his sheer dress shirt, blowing out a puff of air as his chest and stomach relaxes due to being released from the tight space. He folds the sleeves up to his forearms, inked skin being exposed to the cool air in his quiet bedroom, the dimmed iridescent light making his tattoos vivid and clearer than ever before on his tan skin. All the jogging Harry has done at the beach has certainly paid off. His skin was glowing in golden hue, highlighted parts burnt and sunkissed to perfection, leaving a darkened red tone that made him even more captivating. This has always managed to strengthen Harry’s external confidence, finding extra comfort in his tattoos becoming more visible knowing that they covered a part of him he couldn’t imagine exposing bare and blank.

Silence surrounds him as he tears his eyes away from his arm, sitting down on the edge of his bed and letting out another large exhale.

It hasn’t been a great night for him and the fact that he has to come home in a massive space that was filled with nothing but eerie silence certainly makes it worse. He was hoping to stay out all night with you but the moment people got a hold of his whereabouts, he knew better than to sit still and wait for the chaos to slap him in the face. Instead, he rushed both of you outside the restaurant and worry has taken over him completely to the point where taking you home seemed like the best idea to keep you away from the hysteria. You had hoped he was thinking of a more secluded place to bring you to, but when he said you should go, you swallowed the thickening lump in your throat and just nodded your head, trying your best to be understanding of the situation.

He felt beyond stupid thinking about it now. Enraged, dismay and dejected doesn’t even cover the feeling in his gut. Harry was disappointed in himself more than anything, feeling like he’d let you down just within months of being together.

Settling his elbows on his knees and leaning forward, his fingers rubbed his temples due to the pain that was starting to flourish in his dome. He could have done so many things in order to prolong the night and make an effort in your guys' relationship, yet he let the intense fret win him over, causing panic in his brain and feeling like he had no choice but to take you home.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he mutters under his breath as he clasps his hands and pressed it hard against his forehead, “you could have taken her here and cooked a lovely dinner, you dimwit.”

Harry also knew he could’ve been the one to keep you safe tonight. If he was going to cause mayhem in your life, the least he could do was bring you some sort of consolation and protect you from all of it.

He feels so beyond disappointed in himself that the ache in his head has started to squeeze his cranium, agonizing pain rushing through every vein in his body. He was so tired of this continuously happening to everyone important in his life. Even though he loves what he does and feels such vigorous happiness and triumph from it, he still looks at it as a miniscule disadvantage for all his friends, family and partner. If Harry kept tabs on how many times the media and a large crowd has hurt the most important people in his life, then he’ll have an endless stack of it collecting dust in a separate room in his large residence.

Harry takes a few more deep breaths until his shaking ceases, doing what he was instructed by his therapist when needing to calm his anxiety and getting rid of the trepidation forming in the pit of his stomach and on the deep end of his throat. He swallows thickly and straightens his back, inhaling and exhaling one last time.

Calling you to explain himself and checking in on how you were doing was the right thing to do right now. He reaches in his pockets, pulling out his phone and instantly putting you on dial. He has your number memorized and favorited in his contacts, the bold font of his nickname for you listed first on the section.

The phone rang once, twice, then four more times before it went straight to voicemail. It didn’t even vex him, he just stayed on the line and listened to your sweet voice echo through his ear drums, savoring every syllable that left your mouth. You sounded like how it felt to touch velvet, or the feeling of bliss that rushes through him whenever he finishes a song. You felt good, you sounded good.

A wave of calmness hits his body, the frustration and disappointment in him halting for a second as he focuses on your saccharine voice, “hey! So sorry for not being able to pick up your call. Chances are I’m sleeping or completely engulfed by a book. I promise to get back to you as soon as possible. Hope you’re well, bye!’

When the line cuts off, Harry looks at his phone screen, enthralled by the brief message. He wasted no time dialing your number again, standing up to pace around the room when worry creeps back in his abdomen. Hands settled on his hip, he bites his lip as he waits in vehement anticipation for you to greet him through the phone. But after several rings, it leads to your voicemail again and he’s left even more concerned.

“Fuck,” he tilts his head back and closes his eyes, shoving one of his hand inside his pants to bring some comfort in his physique, “one more call.”

The airconditioning in the room roared loudly, coming to life and blowing soft, cool air from the ceiling. Harry’s forgotten that he still had his dress shirt on, opened wide on the center and exposing his abdominal muscles and the large butterfly inked on the center of it looking glorious and fresh. The ventilation blew air right on his skin and he can feel the hair rising due to the coldness, not helping the nervousness that was already swallowing the entirety of his stomach.

He continued pacing as the line rings, his breathing in sync with each pause. He wasn’t entirely sure anymore if you’d pick up at all, but when the ringing stopped and there were seconds of silence, he looked at his screen and noticed the time stamp going.

He stopped in the middle of his bedroom and pressed the phone back to his ears, certain you’ve picked up. The knot on his stomach tightened and his chest started beating rapidly, palms sweating inside the pockets of his slacks. He wanted you to pick up but after already failing to hear from you twice, he wasn’t expecting it on the third call.

“Baby?” Harry calls. There was some groaning.

“No idea who the fuck this is, but some of us are trying to sleep, mate,” a deep voice rings through his drums, tiredness and sleepiness evident. Harry’s stomach drops as he stares at the wall in front of him. A male?

Harry’s head starts racing and he swallows a thick ball of swelling anxiety in his throat. He can feel his breathing becoming uneven. He checks the screen of his phone again, making sure that he called the right person. After seeing your nickname still typed out neatly and boldly on the front, he feels a quarter of relief. He shouldn’t think the absolute worst because it could be anyone. Harry has earned multiple different titles under the category of being overly jealous and he admits that it turns him into an arrogant son of a bitch, but he just really couldn’t help it. He wants to be the only one.

“Hellooooo?” the voice on the other end startles him out of his thoughts and he focuses back on the call. The man sighs when Harry doesn't answer. “Look, you’ve called three times on her phone while she was passed out on the couch. She’s in the shower now and I’ll let her know that a--hang on--” he looks at his screen, “that a Harry rang, cool?”

Whoever answered your phone didn’t even bother to wait for Harry to agree, he just hung up and did as he said.

The grip on Harry’s phone tightened without control, his eyes starting to water due to the intense stare he gave his wall. Shower? Why were you so tired beforehand? Who was that? Why, why, why… Multiple questions raced through his brain and he rushed to sit at the end of his bed. You’re too good and you’d never do anything to hurt him like this, he knows that. Or does he? His jealousy is getting the best of him and he senses it. He does his breathing exercises again as he waits patiently to hear from you this time.

The airconditioning starts to die down, the noise it was making starting to decrease and heat starts to radiate throughout Harry’s body. He wasted no time ripping his dress shirt off, fully exposing his toned thorax, muscles flexing due to his nervous breathing and brood.

You’ve mentioned Effy to him multiple times before, considering the amount of interesting stories you’ve told him about your drunken nights together and spontaneous trips; stories he’s certainly loved hearing and continues to anticipate whenever you’re together. He knew that she was your only roommate, that she’s enthralled by women and that you haven’t mentioned any guy friends yet. He even remembers correctly that you’re the only child, your family living across the globe and that the closest thing you have to a relative here in Los Angeles is Effy, no brother and no cousins.

Harry tries not to continue overthinking but he’s really shit in that department. It’s one of the many traits that he despises the most in himself, knowing that his past relationships had gone wrong because of it and he refuses to let that happen again.

Thank god his thoughts were cut off when his phone starts to ring and vibrate on his hand, the same nickname you’ve become accustomed to shining brightly on his phone screen. He stands up from his bed and quickly answers, “hello? Hi. I’m--”

“Harry,” you sigh in relief at the sound of his voice. He doesn’t know that you’ve been expecting a call for over two hours now since he dropped you home, “hi, baby. Are you okay? Finn said--”

“Finn. Is he-- who is he, exactly?” You notice a tint of vulnerability in his voice.

Harry looks down at his feet that were covered in baby pink socks, a hand on his hip while he waits for you to answer. He hopes he didn’t sound pathetic asking that. He felt ridiculous enough as it is and absolutely stupid for not asking about your wellbeing first. He was about to retract and take it back but you’ve managed to chuckle through the phone before answering and Harry bites his lip.

“Effy’s brother. He’s got a research trip down in San Diego so he’s here for a visit. Sorry for however he acted over the phone. I promise he’s a great guy,” you say, “how are you? I so badly wanted to call but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk especially because of what happened at Perch.”

You were always so honest and straightforward with your thoughts. Harry loves that so much about you. Somehow, it boosts his confidence even more whenever he’s around you and he’s never afraid to speak his mind and act however he wants. What he lacks in being able to communicate properly with his partners you make up for in the relationship and he was more than grateful.

“I’m fine. I’m,” Harry pauses for a second before exhaling and changing his words, “I’m not fine actually. I miss you and I’m so terribly sorry for dismissing you. It wasn’t your fault, I swear, I’m just an arse.”

He continues before you can disagree, “I got nervous. That was the first time that’s ever happened while I was with you and I didn’t want it to change anything between us. I didn’t want you to feel differently. I want you now. I mean… I want you to come over now. I want to cook dinner for you and make up for what happened.”

Harry’s heart starts to beat even faster against his chest as he admits his feelings in accurate words. He’s aware how late it is already and you probably have classes tomorrow but he’s hoping you’ll agree anyway so he can fix a wasted and ravaged night. He also thinks he can persuade you into wanting to stay, the need to hold and kiss you intensifying the more he thinks about it. He wants to show you just how sorry he is. He wants you to forgive him and let him show you just how important you are to him. He wants to make you his favorite homemade meal and demonstrate his outrageous skills in bed, which you have been pining for and missing so much.

You were about to answer but he cuts you off once more. You smile slightly as you listen to him speak, “fuck. How are you? How are you feeling? Sorry.”

“Deep breaths, please? You sound really nervous and you have no reason to be, it’s just me,” you have no idea how nervous you make him and how much he worries about you, but he refrains from saying it out loud, not wanting to speak over you again. “I’m bummed about what happened because I really wanted to have a lovely dinner with you but I also understand. I understand and I feel better now that I’m hearing your voice. You have nothing to apologize for, Harry.”

“I do,” he mutters and toys with his belt, eyes still on the floor, “if it weren’t for me, no crowd would have showed up and we would still be sitting on that rooftop with a nice glass of extremely expensive wine. They’ll have no choice but to kick us out.”

You giggle and the sound makes Harry’s anxiety melt away. The tension in his muscles starts to soften and his heart starts to slow down, instantly feeling healed.

Harry looks up and his lips finally curl on its sides, dimples popping out on both of his cheeks and he feels more than relieved. He had no doubts about you understanding the unfortunate circumstance but he was one to always need validation and he feels undeniably reassured by your simple words, and even just the sound of your laugh.

At times, strange happenings like that would commence an argument with his exes. Looking back at it now, it was very odd to him considering he had no control over it. Plus he trusts his fans enough and knows that they wouldn’t do anything to put him and his loved ones in danger. Though mobs happen, he’s aware that they will never cross a line that damages his respect for them.

But you discepher and accept it, without him having to beg you to or explain to you. Another reason why he’s so enamored by you. You just know.

“Yeah, that would have been lovely. But we can always go another time. I saw you today and it was enough for me,” you replied. Harry’s cheeks tightens as he smiles wider, dimples deepening and crinklers appearing beside his eyes. He feels himself flush because of your words and he crunches his nose to calm himself.

“We can try again tonight,” he brings his suggestion back into the conversation, “so, will you come? I can pick you up, I don’t mind.”

You frown. “I’d love to but, it’s almost eleven, classes tomorrow and Effy--”

“Please, darling?” Harry begs, sitting down on his bed again. He hears you inhale upon hearing the sudden word of endearment and he grins. He knows how much you love it when he calls you random pet names, but mostly the sweetest ones that will have you turning into goo.

“God, you’re good,” you admit and tilt your head back, laughing quietly. Harry’s grin grows, “fine. But I can drive myself.”

“No,” he butts in. “I can pick you up. It’s just a twenty minute drive.”

It was a tactic. Harry figured that if you didn’t have your vehicle with you then you will be more likely to stay. But he knows that he’ll cave in on driving you back anyway if you really wanted to go home for the night.

“Harry,”

“Honey,” he throws in another nickname. You inhale. He smiles.

“Fine,” you say in defeat.

Harry’s heart almost leaps out of his chest in triumph and excitement; the fact that he’s seeing you again tonight lit up something in him. He’s grateful that you can’t see the idiotic smile he’s sporting right now, otherwise his body will flush in humiliation and you’ll tease him about it all night. Little does he know, you’ve got the same look on your beautiful face, also thankful that he couldn’t see you. You’re both a mirrorball to each other’s life, lighting one another up in a way that you’ve both always craved.

“See you then, baby,” he says.

___

Due to the lack of traffic, Harry was able to make it in your apartment complex in just under 15 minutes. Mulholland Drive was packed as usual but it still didn’t prevent him from arriving too late. Dressed in black joggers and a black hoodie, curls tied up in a black scrunchie and pushed back in a red bandana, he looked absolutely cozy and at ease.

The brief conversation between the two of you over the phone has brought him slight serenity. He’s still hoping to somehow bring it up tonight and apologize once more knowing what he said through the phone wouldn’t be enough. And he also wants to put his compelling abilities in bed to good use as a way to show you how sorry he was, if you’ll let him.

He adjusts the cool air that left his car’s ventilation, making sure it wasn’t too warm nor too cold once you get in the car. He stares at the open space of your building, waiting for you to come down through the stairs while exhilaration rushes through every vein in his body.

Harry feels absolutely nonsensical because of how much he misses you despite seeing you hours ago. A minute, hour, day or weeks even, will never be enough time and he’s fully aware of that. But thinking about everything he wants to do with you just brings back the same intolerable thoughts; getting mobbed, harassed and surrounded by hundreds of people even if you’re just having dinner in a public restaurant together. He suddenly starts to feel unsettled, desperately needing you to show up within his sight already so he can forget about everything and just focus on you and taking care of you, which is what he has started to love doing most.

Just in time, before Harry’s thoughts can get darker and deeper, he catches you walking carefully down the stairs looking irresistible as always. Your hair was in a low bun, bits of hair falling loose around your face while you sported a lovely white frock dress and matching fluffy slippers.

His whole face lights up in jubilation, mouth almost hurting due to how big his smile was and the wild elation in him sharpens. Harry chuckles as soon as you get in the car, more than delighted to see you. Your scent engulfs him in a wild wave, the air conditioning circulating it throughout his car and he didn’t mind it one bit. He hopes that it would stay in there forever, surrounding him to bring a sense of tranquility.

“Hi, sweet girl,” he greets you, wasting no time and leaning forward to catch your soft lips with his. He feels you take a deep breath and you can feel his smile against you, his hands coming up to stroke your cheeks. Your shock is evident when you laugh quietly while his lips continue to tackle yours, cupping his jaw as you kiss him back and Harry slowly melts due to the feeling. His body slumps from where he sat, savoring your taste and marking you with his.

You pull back, pecking him lightly once more before greeting him back, “hi, handsome.”

His body heats up as he leans back in his seat and starts driving, “cool enough in here for you?”

“Yeah, thanks,” you answer, putting your seatbelt on. “How was the drive?”

“It was fine, no traffic so we’ll be home in no time,” he says, catching a quick glance at you while you fixate your eyes on the road, “you look beautiful, by the way. Love the dress.”

Your breathing changed for a second upon hearing the word home, but you chose to ignore it. Instead, you smile lovingly at him, your hands reaching out to lightly massage the back of his head. He hums at the soothing feeling.

“Thank you, baby,” you reply, a tint of blush creeping up your cheeks. “I missed you.”

Harry feels his body heat up at your confession. He has no idea why you have this much of an effect on him but he loves it. He feels utterly loved and happy, which is something he hasn’t felt in awhile and always wanted to have. Instead of saying it back, he teases you, “sod off, you just saw me hours ago. Clingy much?”

You look over at him in slight surprise, not missing the humor behind his words. He glances at you sideways, lips tilted up in a smirk and his eyebrow lifted jokingly. You pull your hand away and cross your arms over your chest, “you know what, yes, absolutely. I can’t get enough of you.”

Harry didn’t expect you to say that so when you notice his face getting flushed and serious, you couldn’t help but giggle. His whole body went rigid for a couple of seconds, eyes still focused on the road. Instead of answering, his hand reaches towards your thigh, giving it a soft squeeze to show his appreciation. His thumb brushes against your skin a couple of times and he feels it get bumpy, hairs rising because of how good it was making you feel. Harry grins to himself, perceiving the effect he had on you and completely enjoying it.

You put your hands on top of his, feeling the warm veins against your palm and you look out the window, watching the bright lights pass by.

Harry loves going on drives with you as much as you do with him. He hates it that his radio was old and wouldn’t work, but he also refuses to get it fixed. He finds comfort in the silence within the confined space and also enjoys the way the noise outside surrounds him. He loves it even more when you’re on the passenger seat experiencing the therapeutic moment with him. Knowing that he can be with you in comfortable silence gave him a lot of hope in your relationship.

Minutes pass by and only a couple of miles are left until you reach his beautiful Malibu home. Harry remembers the elephant in the room, his chest tightening upon the thoughts of what brought you two in this situation in the first place. Should he address it now or wait until you both get to his house? There’s never really a right time and he knows that. He wasn’t even sure if it was something you want to talk about or if you wanted to ignore the whole thing and instead continue on to have a peaceful time together.

But, you were just patiently waiting for him to address it. You knew that if you brought it up, it’ll make him uncomfortable and he’ll start blaming himself. It was an admission in his part that you certainly want to avoid. The thought of him feeling like he puts you in a dangerous environment squeezes your heart so disturbingly that you can feel it all the way up your brain. You’ll get upset and he might assume the worst; when really, you just want him to understand that you know he can’t control it and that despite everything, you adore him and will never leave, unless, for unbeknown reasons and god forbid, he wants you to.

“Almost there, love,” he cuts his own thoughts off, including yours, clueless about how in sync they were. You look over at him the same time he took a quick glance at you. He looks back at the road and whispers something about how pretty you are but it was so quiet you could barely hear it.

Instead of acknowledging it, you put your hand back where it was on his hair and softly massage his scalp. You feel him lean back a tad, clearly finding peace in your touch. You bit your lip to keep yourself from saying those three words you didn’t know he wanted to say too, both of you too scared to admit and profess it out loud.

_____

“Is there anything I should be doing?” you ask Harry from where you sat in his kitchen, a glass of extremely expensive red wine in your hand. He wanted to open a bottle of Ichiro’s Malt, hoping that it’ll make up for the ones you both could’ve had at Perch.

He twists his body slightly to look at you, answering in the sweetest tone, “nope. Sit there and look pretty, that’s all. I’m making this for you.”

Harry looks absolutely handsome, striking and sexy from where he stood, chopping a bunch of vegetables like it was his professionalism. He’s changed to a plain black shirt, the material hugging his toned body perfectly and emphasizing the muscles on his arm, back and stomach. He even had a dish towel thrown over his shoulder, adding to the whole look. You sipped your wine as you continued to stare, noticing the way his body is flexing as he moves and his tattoos moving along on his skin. You sighed, feeling so lucky.

You decided to walk over to him to catch a glimpse of what he was doing. Harry has certainly mastered the art of cooking; having been able to experience life in Italy, he had acquired the new skill flawlessly. It’s something he’s always wanted to be better at, considering the only thing he knew how to make was his grandfather’s special sandwich recipe and god only knows how tired people are of eating it.

Harry feels your presence beside him as you lean back against the smooth counter, sipping your wine. He looks over at you as he cuts the food, holding an admirable smile on his face. He loves having you here. He loves being this close to you, knowing that you’re within his sight and he was able to be unapologetically affectionate without the judgemental eyes and words of the public.

He speaks when you look back at him with a shine in your eyes, “how’s the wine?”

“Hm, tastes like money,” you say jokingly. He laughs at your answer and you smiled so wide at the sight of his head slightly thrown back, white and perfectly aligned teeth showing with his nose scrunched up.

“I have no doubt about that,” he says, looking back down at the cutting board.

The bottle costs roughly around twenty thousand dollars, more if you count it in pounds. But he chooses not to say it. Instead he asks about your day, as he usually would every single time he sees you or talks to you over the phone, “how was your day? Any progress in your thesis?”

Your ears perk up at the question about your dissertation. Harry has always been interested in it and you fail to understand the fascination. You’ve asked why before and he always admits that it was something that matters to him too, but you feel like that isn’t a good enough reason to be rapted in a boring essay by a grad student.

He tremendously admires the fact that you’ve continued your studies to get a masters in English. He envies it and he wishes he had taken your footsteps. But Harry is so beyond proud of you and just the thought of you becoming a famous novelist like you’ve always wanted makes him feel over the moon. You deserve nothing but good things and he can’t wait until you finish uni and finally build your self publishing pursuit.

“A lot of progress which I’m so relieved about. Remember when we read Course of Love together? I annotated it in the process and a lot of the quotes really came in handy for my essay,” you tell him, “I’ve reached probably eighty-nine pages and we only needed to write a hundred, but I’m aiming for one-fifty, max.”

“Always pushing yourself to work harder than you need to,” Harry says with a soft smile on his face. He starts to mix his ingredients together in the pan on the stove and you watch him work his magic cautiously, “but that’s really good, love. I’m proud of you. I know you’re gonna kick ass and everyone else's thesis will suck.”

“Oh, without a doubt,” you nod teasingly. You’re actually really nervous about it and he knows that. But you’ve mentioned before that talking about it doesn’t really help calm you so Harry doesn’t take the conversation further than that, “what about you? How was your day? Wrote anything new?”

Harry shakes his head and looks over at you as he starts to shake the pan to mix whatever was on it, “you haven’t even told me how your day was, babe.”

“Crap, sorry,” you have a habit of completely disregarding certain parts of a conversation. He found it adorable most of the time but when it came to arguments or discussions between the two of you about serious topics, it vexed him to no end. He remembers you missing the whole point of your conversations sometimes and he loathed it then, “one of my professors ditched today so I only had one class. Took a lot of naps after lunch which was nice then-- then whatever happened at Perch. My day was alright.”

You try to soften a part of your answer with the last statement but it was very clear Harry didn’t miss it. He looks over at you for a quick second and you sipped your wine to avoid eye contact.

You didn’t mean anything by it. It happened today and he was asking about today so you decided to slip it in there in honor of your promises to always be honest, free-spoken and up front with one another. It didn’t necessarily ruin your day, it was just simply dejecting and unlike anything you’ve had to deal with before. But you’re with him now and he’s cooking you something that already smelled absolutely delicious so you were willing to look past it. But Harry couldn’t and you knew that.

He lowers the heat on the stove to keep the food sizzling but not to the point where it’ll burn. He wipes his hands with the towel on his shoulder before approaching you with an unreadable expression on his face. You lean back further against the counter as his hand guides your arms to wrap around his neck, putting his hands on your waist and squeezing affectionately. He stares deep into your eyes and you wondered how he was so good with that; how it didn’t make him look nervous despite being the shyest person that you know.

Softly, he speaks, “I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry about that. I’m a dick.”

Mirth creeps into your eyes at his last word and your lips unintentionally curls on its side. He has no idea why you started smiling but he did too. He feels you interlock your fingers against his skin as you answer him, “the way you say dick is really amusing. But you aren’t and you have nothing to apologize for. You have no control over it.”

You’re so humorous and he loves it so much. He loves you. “I am a dick and I will apologize because even if I can’t control it, I’m still the reason why it happens. The way I acted afterwards was very irrational too. Just admit it, I’m a dick.”

“If I agree, will you stop apologizing and calling yourself that?”

“Yes,”

“Fine, you’re a dick,”

“I know and I’m sorry,” he smiles at you.

You squint your eyes as his whole face beams, your hands squeezing his face and squishing his skin, “cheeky.”

He laughs and pulls you closer to him, “come here, baby.”

Your noses touch as he leans down to get closer to your face, his lips barely touching yours. Whenever he inhales, your engrossing scent engulfs his nostrils and it brings him great comfort. Your hands cup his jaw, thumb caressing his cheeks as he opens his mouth once more, “I mean it. I regret taking you home and acting the way I did. I should’ve apologized right there and then. I should’ve taken you here and found a way to make the night better but I’m trying to make up for it now. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me in a really fucking long time and I don’t want things to change because you finally got a glimpse into another part of my life. I won’t let anything happen to you, please know that, but it will get worse. Mobs happen and it’s horrifying at times.”

It’s something that really worries Harry and you see it take over his whole figure. His face shows vivid perturb and his body has become slightly tensed from his words. It’s true; it will get worse and when you witness it, you will be horrified. It’s something Harry has always had to worry about before making the decision to fully commit to someone. It’s affected his past relationships abdominably and he doesn’t want the same thing happening between the two of you. Like he said, you’re far too important to him and for something as riotous as this to come in between that will be heart shattering and utterly painful. This was his life, it will always be like this and if you can’t accept nor understand that, then who will? He only wants you.

You have no idea what to say, eyes boring straight into his pale irises, clear brood written all over it. Your thumb continues to massage his skin which slightly soothes Harry’s tensed muscles and he’s worried about what will come out of your mouth. He leans back a little to read your face but your mind is so empty that the only thing you can utter really was, “I love you and I’m here for as long as you want me to, okay?”

Your words made Harry lean back further out of reflex, a sharp intake of air filling his lungs upon hearing your revelation. The sudden realization of what you just blurted out forced your eyes shut, hands covering your face in slight embarrassment. You weren’t ashamed that you said it, you were just scared whether or not he felt the same way. You hear Harry laugh and you peak out of your fingers, making him laugh harder. You take your hands off to playfully scold him, your skin saturated with redness, “oh god! Will you stop? I love you and I’m not scared to say it. Nothing’s funny about that.”

Harry chuckles some more, making his way forward to you again and takes your hand in his. He wraps it back around his neck, leaning down to take a good look at you.

His heart is beating so fast in his chest and he was so happy that he didn’t even care if you could hear it. He’s been wanting to say the same three words to you every single time he’s with you; even when he’s just admiring you while you read a book or watching a movie, or when the two of you are simply hanging out and talking. He catches the obvious adoration in your bearing and always notices the twinkle in your eyes when you look at him. He hopes he’s been showing it as well because there’s no better feeling than loving you and he wants you to know that.

You shy away from his stare and he titters. He tilts your chin up, teeth on full display on his face while his cheeks deepen into dimples, “you love me?”

“Yes,” your noses touch and you sigh. “I’ve said it like twice already and you, zero times.” You poke his chest in a light hearted manner.

“Actually, you just couldn’t take the hint before,” he teases you. “I thought it was very clear that I love you.”

You bite your lip to keep your smile from widening and you close your eyes momentarily before locking eyes with him again. He scrunches his nose to keep himself from becoming too joyful because of the exchange between the two of you. You tease him back, “you’re just doing a shit job at showing it, that’s all.”

Harry gasps at your comeback and wraps both of his arms around you without hesitancy, squeezing you as tight as he can and lifting you gently off of the floor. You laugh so loud that his ears perked up at the sound, making his heart beat rapidly and somehow faster than it has ever done before.

He loves you. And you love him back. There wasn’t any doubt about it between the two of you, it was just a matter of finding the right moment to admit it at last to each other. And what better moment is there than this one in the kitchen, where the food on the stove is at its edge of burning without the two of you even noticing.

Harry puts you back down on the floor and both of you catch your breath. You took the lead this time and grabbed his face, smashing your lips against his. He didn’t even flinch. Instead, he grasps the back of your neck with one hand and the other softly cupping your jaw. He smiles against you and you feel it, butterflies forming in your stomach as you tangle your fingers in his soft curls. He kisses you so deep, hard, full of love and savors your taste like there was no tomorrow. You feel his hand start to crawl up to grip bits of your hair but before you can let it get further than that, you pull back and you both inhale so loud it erupted an echoing chuckle.

“Food’s gonna burn, babe,” you tell him, breathing hard.

“I’m so in love with you,” he simply says back.

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szchaql · 4 years

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Total Opposite (part 8)

Paul Lahote x Swan reader

Masterlist

Hi!! I'm back with Chapter 8! Sorry took so long hehehe hope you enjoy❤

(Y/n) could never imagine that her boyfriend and friends try to kill Bella. They, out of people, the one who know about her close relationship with Bella, try to kill her sister.

She's been thinking to call Bella. But she's scared of what will happened next. So she decided to just call Seth and ask him about Bella.

"Well... she's not good.. but she'll be fine.. the Cullen always be there for her." He said over the phone. (Y/n) sigh. "What happened, (y/n)? I heard from Leah that something happened with you and Paul."

"Uhh.. it's actually the same problem like Jake.. you know.. regarding my sister..."

"Ohhhh.. i'm sorry.."

"Why say sorry? You didn't do anything wrong.. me and Paul just didn't agree on a same thing... it's okay.." (y/n) say softly to her best friend on the phone.

Seth sigh heavily. "He didn't hurt you right? He didn't phase in front of you right?" He frantically ask as (y/n) chuckle.

"No. He just shaking. There're the others to prevent it. It's okay, you don't have to worry. By the way, I hope i can see Bella. But i don't feel safe and comfortable around them.. the cullen." (Y/n) confess how much she miss her older sister. It's been a month, she think, that she hasn't meet Bella.

"Don't force yourself.. and there are me, Jake ans Leah to protect you. And besides, they won't hurt you. They are vegetarian, remember.." Seth always knows a way to comfort the young Swan and (y/n) glad that they are best friend.

"Well.. maybe after all of this is over. Me and Paul have to reconcile too. Seeing Bella with my condition, doesn't sound great at all."

Then she heard the voice of Jake calling Seth name from a far.

"Yeah, that's right. Well, i have patrol. Will talk to you again. Okay?"

"Yeah, text me okay? And tell Jake and Leah that i say hi." Seth hum and hang up.

(Y/n) feels a lot better after a talk with Seth. But the knot on her heart still there. She still feel hurt after the fight with Paul and the pack. She want to talk to him and reconcile. But she's scared. And she don't want to give up just like that. She want to teach Paul a lesson. He hurt her, he has to try to accept her decision. He know very well about her and Bella and how close them two.

She lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, deep in thought when her dad open the door.

"I'll go to the town. Want to come? You haven't go out since your fight with Paul." He said with a tone full of worry.

"No, thanks Dad.. maybe later." (Y/n) give him a small smile. Charlie nod his head, knowing that his daughter still need some time to collect her mind and heart.

"Call me if you need someting, okay? I will be home before 6." Then he close the door and go out.

As much as she love to be home alone, with the situation of supernatural things make her feel uneasy. She can's ask Seth or Leah. Heck, she can't even ask Emily. In this situation, she hate how her house is close to the forest. She decided to sit up and look out to the window, hoping that one of the boys have patrol around her house.

When she look out, she caught a glimpse of the wolf. But she can't tell which one since it's so dark. Part of her hope that it's Paul, but part of her hope it's someone else. But when the wolf walk closer to her house, she knows that it's Paul. His silver fur shine from the moonlight, making it more beautiful. His deep brown eyes meet her one, making her shiver.

Paul lay down closer to the house, watching her in full alert. Seeing how her boyfriend is watching her, make (y/n) feel safer. But the memories of how he and the pack want to kill her sister make her hurriedly close the curtain. She still can't look at him.

She decided to just doing her homework before she go to sleep.

Paul keeps watching the house for days non stop. Sometimes Embry watch the house at afternoon. But Paul always keeps watch at night until dawn.

Today is the day where (y/n) finally can enjoy her day. She is sitting on the sofa, eating snacks while watching a movie. Charlie is at work, as always.

In the middle of her movie, the sound of someone in the front door make (y/n) turn her head in alert. She stand up and walk toward the window to look outside. There are Embry and Quil, standing in front of the door. She sigh, knowing very well what they want. So she walk back to sit on the sofa and enjoy the movie, doesn't care about the 2 wolves outside the house.

They knock, but (y/n) doesn't even give them a mind. She keeps continue watch the movie, until Embry speak up.

"Hey. We know you are in there. Please let us in! There's something we want to talk about!"

(Y/n) keeps silent.

"Come on, (y/n)! Please!" This time it's Quil who yell.

(Y/n) groan before she yell back. "What! I don't care anymore! Now leave!" Her mood crush down. She didn't want to watch the great movie she watched anymore. She just want to be alone.

"Please! This is about Paul! He need you!" Embry yelled while banging the door mercisely. But (y/n) being a stubborn woman doesn't even give them a mind. She walk up to her own room, locking the window and closing the curtain.

But even then, the boys has another idea. They barged into the house, breaking the door. Hearing the sound of door being broken make (y/n) readi to smack them with a bat on her hand.

"OW!!" Embry yelled in pain as (y/n) smack his head with a bat, strongly. Quil couldn't believe his eyes as he retreat slowly.

"Get out! Now! Before i call my Dad for breaking the house!" She yelled angrily, ready to smack him again.

Embry hold his hands up, trying to calm the girl. "Please, (y/n). Just this one. He really need you." He said in desperate.

(Y/n) snort. "Need me? Need me?! After what he had done?! Unbelievable! Do you think i will easily get back to him?! Or to all of you?! You try to kill Bella!" She didn't know why she cried. Tears just pours out from her eyes.

"He regret it deeply, (y/n).. he's been sick since you left. And he won't eat anything. We are worried about him..." Quil speak slowly, trying not to get into her nerves.

"Still no. Now get out. I won't be back to him until you all, the pack decided not to kill Bella. That's it. If you still manage to try to kill her, it's over. It'll be done with all of you, including Paul." (Y/n) shoved the boys out of her room, even her house, with a bat still in her hand. Of course Embry and Quil still not give up to persuade her to meet Paul and reconcile. But it's no use as (y/n) bang the door in front of their face and lock it.

Regret? So now he regret it? He didn't even think about the consequence when he try to kil Bella.

Feeling tired of the situation, she decided to call her mom and spend some times with her, until everything is over.

"What happened?" Rene ask with worried tone over the phone.

"Will tell you later... I.. I just want to be back with you and spend time with you, mom... i really need this.. please?" (Y/n) voice is shaking, ready to cry in no time. She's so tired. She just want to live a normal life for a while.

Rene sigh, knowing very well about her youngest daughter. "Okay. Tell Charlie okay? I'll be waiting for you at home. Be carefull, dear one."

After speaking to her mom, (y/n) call her Dad about it. He agreed immediately. "Go. Rene will help you. Okay?"

(Y/n) hurriedly purchase the earliest plane and get her things. She just pack her clothes and bring some book. She also call Seth about it. "Do you need me to take you to the airport?" He ask as he help me pack my things.

"No.. it's okay, Seth. Dad will take me. Sorry for bothering over this. I just... i just want to live a normal life for a while.. this is too much for me.. i don't feel safe.." (y/n) said as she take out some of her clothes and put it in her suitcase. Seth helping her with the books.

"I'll inform Bella about this. Do you want to tell Paul and the pack?"

"No. Don't. Just tell Jake and Leah. And of course Bella. And i don't know if i'll be back after all this over...." Seth frown.

"You will be leaving for good? What about Paul?? Didn't it hurt you two?" (Y/n) sit down on her bed, Seth following to sit beside his best friend.

"It hurt of course. But what he did really hurt me. I know it's excessive. But.. Bella... she means so much for me. I can't let her die... it's okay even if she get turn into vampire. But at least she's alive and i can see her. And the most painful thing is that they didn't even hesitate to kill her..." (y/n) sigh heavily.

Seth nod, looking at her. "If you miss me so much, call me. I'll go to see you. Okay?" (Y/n) smile listening to it. Seth is always a cheerfull guy. He always try to make me feel better despite the circumtance.

"Thankyou.. for always being there for me..."

"Do you need anything?" Charlie ask (y/n) as they arrive at the airport.

"No. I'm fine.. thankyou, Dad..."

Charlie smile softly and hug her. "It's okay, dear.. as long as you are happy. Tell your mom i said hi. Get a full rest and enjoy it as long as you need. It's okay if you con't come back, I still can come see you."

After the hug, (y/n) get ready to go boarding. They hug for the last time and she receiving a goodbye kiss from Charlie before she leave. Sitting on the plane, she sigh. She knows sooner or later the boys will know. And of course Paul will do everything in his power to reach her and get her. She decided not to think further of it and just enjoy her quality normal life with her mom.

On the other side, Sam's pack has been restless. Bella's due date is almost there. Sam can't even rest his mind for a single bit. He think about Paul and (y/n) condition, and the Bella thing. He knows that when they decided to keep trying to kill her, (y/n) will never back and even forgive them. This will be bad for Paul. But he just can't let that baby do something horrible affer they are born. They almost kill Bella on the way.

The night comes.

Bella is in labor. Paul is watching the Cullen, despite his protest. As soon as Jake is running out of the house, crying, he know that Bella is dead. So he retreat and head back to inform Sam.

Billy try to stop Sam from doing what he want to do. Aa soon as they know that Bella didn'f make it, Sam immediately decided to fight the Cullen to kill the baby. It's getting out of hands.

Sam's packs are fighting the Cullen and Seth and Leah, when Jacob running in between them to stop. He even shift to talk with Sam.

Suprisingly, Jacob imprinted on Bella's daughter, Renesmee. Sam can't do anything about it. He can't kill her. That's against the law. So he and his pack retreat. But before they get to fully leave, Jacob inform that they didn't regret what they did. Because (y/n) surely won't come back.

"What do you mean?" Paul asked as he heard Sam's thought.

"She's back to Phoenix, living with her mom. Once she heard that you still tried to kill Bella, she won't forgive all of you and she won't come back. That's what she told us before she left. You knew about the consequence, Sam. But you still did it. You knew that the baby wasn't a harm to anyone, but you still tried to killed it. And now, see what have you done. To Paul, to (y/n), to us. I don't mind about us, but think about how hurt (y/n) will be when she knows. Just prepared yourselves then." Jacob said to Sam in warning tone, before he with Leah and Seth leave them.

Sam couldn't believe his ears. (Y/n) leave?

"What?!" Paul yelled in shock after he heard that his imprint leave. "Sam! Tell me!"

"Let's get back first and change." He and rest of his pack retreat. Paul forcefully follow him.

Once they back to Emily's and shift, Paul immediately ask Sam. "What do you mean that (y/n) leave?!"

"Jacob told me that (y/n) leave to meet is mom in Phoenix. She leave a week ago. Seth said that she want to have short normal life with her mom, that she's tired of all of this. She didn't feel safe at all. And there's a chance that she won't be back here anymore. And knowing that we tried to killed Bella... make things worse between us and (y/n)..." Paul couldn't believe at what Sam had said.

She leave just like that? She didn't feel safe? Why? Why did she just give up like that?

"I.. i have to see her! I have to ask her! I.. she can't leave!" Paul yelled angryly and feel hurt, then he leave. He have to see her no matter what. He feel so guilty for hurting her to this extent. He didn't imagine that (y/n) dare to leave him.

Jared and Embry go with Paul, for mental support. "Make sure he or she didn't do anything stupid. Make sure you two help them.." Sam said as they all in the airport, waiting.

"Of course. Don't worry Sam. We will do our best." Jared said.

When they heard that they need to get ready to board the plane, Paul without second thought leave first. Jared and Embry follow him after. Sam just hope that Paul and (y/n) can reconcile faster and make the best decision. He hope that (y/n) will back to Paul.

Taglist : @calling-dips-on-j-hope @tbhprobablydontcare @ivettt

#paul lahote x reader #paul lahote imagine #paul lahote #twilight imagine #wolfpack #sam uley #jacob black #jared cameron #seth clearwater #leah clearwater #embry call #quil ateara #twilight

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deepspaceclawstation · 3 years

Text

I watched Discovery S4 Episode 2 that came out today and I have to say, they are really stepping up the game here. I don't know if there have been any behind-the-scenes changes in the writers' room but whatever it is, it's working great!

(Discovery S4 spoilers, please skip to avoid. Blacklist tags are "#ST Discovery spoilers" and "#ST Discovery S4")

This season on a whole has better dialogue and the plot narrative flows really naturally. I like that they seem to have paid special attention to character beats - their actions and motivations, and even their reactions are a lot more natural now. I also like that they have further established distinct emotional maturity levels and technical skill sets for each character, yet there is no disbelief involved in seeing this diverse cast come together to solve problems. This has been my complaint with Discovery since day 1, that the plot and character actions seem convoluted, so I'm very happy with the vast improvement.

I like the way they represented Federation and allied authority figures! We see Admiral Vance's family after the Ep 1 Archer Dock scene, which was a nice touch. President Rillak is an interesting character (and my wife) who is at odds with Michael without (yet) being presented as outright wrong or 'evil' and I'm really excited to see her dynamic with Michael grow and how her storyline plays out. Really like that President T'Rina of Nivar was present at the anomaly threat analysis meeting, it solidifies Nivar as a strong ally to the Federation (I'm keeping an eye out on the Rillak/T'Rina tag on ao3, I have a strong feeling about it).

When did Saru get so wise? He's really stepping into that Space Dad role and I love it! Tilly's facing some existential crises but I'm sure she'll get through. Adira and Gray are adorable as always and have some fun stuff going on. First Trek on-screen mention of transitioning Let's Go!!!! Book suffered a tragic loss and ngl I had tears in my eyes in the Ep 2 private comm link between him and Michael. I don't like Stamets much but they toned down his gruffness a bit so he's tolerable now. I don't know who had the galaxy brain idea to pair him with Book but their scenes together were unexpectedly touching and the attempted parallels between them make so much sense.

And now to the star of the show - Michael! I have always been pretty indifferent towards Michael Burnham, mainly because I could never get a sense what the show wanted to do with her. Was she a criminal, a child stuck between two cultures, someone struggling with parental expectations, or just someone trying to deal with loss the best way she can? Of course, all these identities need not be mutually exclusive but somehow Discovery never managed to bring them together in a cohesive manner. Until this season, that is. S4 Michael is more emotionally mature than her earlier counterparts, while still having that mischievous spark in her eyes. She's responsible, she's self-aware, and she now has Character FlawsTM. I don't know what exactly it is that has shifted, but I can finally get behind Captain Burnham.

There were also some nice easter eggs like Hugh referencing Picard (I'm not tagging for Picard spoilers so won't go into detail), and the reveal of Archer Space Dock with Archer's theme playing in that scene. I am pleased that Discovery has finally learned how to poke fun at itself as is evident in Stamet's airlock joke, and Saru acknowledging the convenience of Bryce's unexpected sky-surfing (?) hobby. Some may feel that Stamets letting go of his resentment so soon was a cop-out but I am satisfied with the way it was handled, it had just that touch of awkwardness involved that made it plausible.

That said, I was scared for a bit when I started Ep 1 because tbh the butterfly people planet scenes were excruciating to watch. I was not a huge fan of the humour and the whole trade exchange didn't seem well thought out in-universe ans it really took me out of the scene. It seemed like they were trying to imitate the beginning of Into the Darkness and it just didn't work for me. Thankfully, it lasted only till the 'cold open' (pre-theme song) and I've not encountered a single awkward scene since then, a far cry from the embarrassing maudlin sentimentality of S2.

I never thought I'd be praising Discovery this much, but it seems it has kept up with the time-honoured Trek tradition of falling into stride after S3. I just hope they don't stretch out the season-long arc too much or they risk losing steam halfway through the season like in S2, which started similarly strong plot-wise. Very excited to learn more about the anomaly and the emotional and political ramifications of the Kweijan tragedy.

#*I* lost steam halfway through writing this #Not a review just some thoughts for future me to look at the end of S4 #Discovery S4 I'm trusting you don't let me down #I've got faith of the heart #DSC #ST Discovery spoilers #ST Discovery S4 #Star Trek #Long post #Mine

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lu-undy · 3 years

Text

Happy birthday, Solitude But Two!

Here is a bonus Chapter!

"You guys will be alright, yeah?"

"Of course, Micky, it's not the first time you leave the kitties with us."

"But it's gonna be more than an evenin' this time. Also, before I forget, I put one of Lu's shirts in the bag, they need it to sleep, don't forget it or they'll harass you until you give it to them."

Perle was gladly following Caroline around while Soot lay on Mike's lap, purring as the old man gently massaged the black cat.

"Bah, we raised you and we used to have cats as well as dogs."

"Your Mum's right." Mike answered from the sofa. "We'll be fine. You go and have fun with Lucien. Did you tell him by the way?"

"Nah, not yet. I'm keepin' it a surprise for him. Speaking of, I really gotta go or we’ll be late. He’s waitin’ to have lunch with me before I take him."

"You arranged everythin'?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, almost. Right, you guys take care, alright?"

"We will, Micky, you go and have your fun with your Lu'." Caroline answered as Mundy opened the front door.

"Meow!" Perle came trotting to her father and Soot jumped out of Mike's lap to join her.

"Oh, sure, baby, c'mere you guys…" Mundy squatted down and dealt headbutts and scratches left and right to both the felines. "You behave with Grandma and Grandpa, yeah?"

"Meow."

"Good babies." He left a kiss on their heads and pushed himself back to stand up. "See ya!"

"See you in a few weeks, Micky!"

A few moments later, the Aussie was on his motorcycle, racing through the streets and in his own mind. He had been preparing this for a while now.

It had been one year.

One year since he had put a ring on Lucien's finger and vice versa. Well, it would be one year exactly in a few days and this was what it was all about, celebrating the first anniversary of Lucien and him being… well… husbands?

Of course, their legal status remained single but in their hearts and their heads, they were very much taken and faithful to each other. Mundy never did attract a lot of attention from ladies and gents, but Lucien…

Every time the couple was having dinner outside, or enjoying a party with the few friends they had made, one person would walk to Lucien and hit on him. The first time it happened, it was a woman but Mundy nonetheless felt the itch to show her the rings, Lucien's and his. As he came close to his lover, he heard Lucien chuckle at the poor woman's attempt to pull her into her bed. He remembered it with a smile now…

“Oh, here you are, Mundy.”

“Hey, Lu.”

The woman had raised her eyes to the Aussie.

“This your friend?” She asked.

“More than that…” Lucien put a hand on Mundy’s chest and leaned on him. “Please meet my everything, Mundy. Mundy, this is the charming Amanda.”

“Hey there.” Mundy had stuck to being cold but polite, a defensive hand went to grab his Lucien and pull him to himself, almost defensively.

“What d’you mean, ‘your everything’?” She chuckled with a raised eyebrow, confused and slightly mocking.

“I mean this.” Lucien answered and pulled Mudy’s neck down for the Aussie to be at his lips height. He pushed a loving kiss on his lips and released him. Mund opened his eyes again, his mind still on the kiss even though Lucien’s lips had parted from his.

Amanda’s jaw hung low and wide.

“He is my husband, look!” Lucien went on, uphased. “This is the ring. It has only been a few months, mind you, time flies, but we love each other as if we were half our ages… Oh? Amanda?”

The woman had spun on her heels and left, leaving Lucien to chuckle and turn back to Mundy.

“So, mon loup, are you enjoying your evening?”

[My wolf]

“Uh… Y-yeah… Wasn’t she hittin’ on you?” Mundy nodded in the direction of the woman.

“She was, very much.” Lucien answered. “But for some reason she left now. I cannot think why… Women shall remain a mystery!”

“Maybe that’s cause you snogged me like there’s no tomorrow in front of her?” Mundy answered.

“Oh, that? Maybe.” Lucien answered and leaned against Mundy’s shoulder again. He stared at the woman refilling her glass with whatever strong alcohol she could find before he raised his light blue eyes to his lover.

They exchanged a smile.

“You’re a devil, you know that?” Mundy said.

“Maybe, but I am having great fun.”

“Why did you do that to her? You could have just said that you were already with someone.”

“And miss this laughter we shared? For nothing in the world. This ring that she chose to ignore,” Lucien raised his hand to Mundy. “It means that I vowed to make you happy. You did laugh, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did. “

“Then I am upholding my vows. Très bien.”

[Very well]

“You’re mean, Lu’. Look at her now…”

“I am not mean. If anything, she was.”

“What?!” Mundys eyebrows jumped in surprise.

“I am wearing my engagement ring and she still chooses to approach me. She knew she was taking a risk and she liked the thrill of it. Well, let this be a lesson for her: not all the risks are worth taking, Madame Amanda.”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Mundy agreed.

And Mundy reached his destination, which pulled him out of his daydream. He parked the motorcycle safely and entered his house.

“Mon loup, c’est toi?”

[My wolf, is that you?]

“Oui, mon amour.”

[Yes, my love.]

Lucien rose from his armchair and met his love at the front door.

"Your accent when you speak French is delicious…" He said before pushing himself to the tip of his toes and kissing Mundy.

"I'm makin' progress, aren't I?" Mundy laced his arms around Lucien's waist.

"Oui, but please, never lose your accent."

"If it goes like it does with you, I'll still have my accent in a hundred years."

"Are you saying I am old?" Lucien frowned in an exaggeratedly sad way.

"I'm not the one spendin' my time sayin' 'You'll see when you get to my age', eh!"

"Pfff…"

They chuckled together.

"You ready?" Mundy asked.

"Where are you taking me for lunch?"

"Where d'you think?"

"Hm…" The couple exited the house and Mundy locked the door as Lucien thought out loud. "Maybe the new Lebanese place that opened in town? I am told it is exquisite and very reasonable in price."

"Since when d'you care about the price of things?" Mundy smiled. "Oh, no, no, Lu', we're not goin' with the bike. I called a taxi."

"Oh? This means that you intend to get drunk, so maybe the Irish pub? But isn't it early to get drunk?"

"Never too early to be with you, baby." Mundy raised his arm for the taxi to stop while Lucien's blush took a moment to fade.

They both embarked in the taxi.

"Where to, Sir?" The driver asked.

"Where I told you on the phone, please." Mundy answered.

"Alright." The driver let his foot press on the gas pedal and off they all went.

"Tu me caches des secrets?"

[You are holding secrets from me?]

"Oui." Mundy answered.

"Dis-moi où tu m'emmènes." Lucien asked.

[Tell me where you are taking me.]

Mundy shook his head and took a glance in the inside rear view mirror. The driver was busy. Good. The Aussie slid his hand to take his lover’s.

“C’est une surprise, doll.” He answered with his accent.

[It’s a surprise.]

“D’accord.” Lucien smiled and nodded.

[Very well.]

And the ride took them away from where the usual restaurants the couple frequented used to go. Lucien straightened his back and looked through the window. He started frowning when he saw the control tower of the airport, the same one he had landed in, a few years ago now. And it got him thinking. What if he could go back and see the Lucien that disembarked on the plane that day. Would the slightly younger Lucien believe him if he had told him what he would become? What would he even tell him?

Tu rencontreras l’homme de ta vie et ta vie basculera. Tu ne demanderas plus comment ni pourquoi. Tu vivras l’instant, tout simplement, comme quand tu avais vingt ans. Tu vivras et aimeras, comme quand tu avais vingt ans. Tu seras heureux comme jamais tu ne l’as été.

[You will meet the man of your life and your life will flip upside down. You will not wonder how or why anymore. You will live the instant, simply, as you did when you were twenty. You will live and you will love, as you did when you were twenty. You will be happy as you never were before.]

Would the younger Lucien believe him or would he laugh at him, scornful and disdainful, before he would realise that perhaps, the older him was senile, old, and out of his mind?

Pff, in the end, Lucien did not even care. He smiled at that version of himself. The bitter, cynical and lonely old man. He was now even older, but so much happier…!

"Lu'?"

Mundy's voice broke the Frenchman's train of thought.

"Oui?"

"Je t'aime."

[I love you.]

Mundy said those words with such honesty in his eyes that Lucien's cheeks turned pink on their own.

"Moi aussi."

[Me too.]

He smiled back at him and clenched his fingers a bit harder between Mundy's.

"Alright, we're gettin' there, Sir. Which door should I drop you at?" The driver asked.

"Departures, please." Mundy answered, his eyes sealed on Lucien's and the Frenchman's eyebrows jumped.

"Departures?" He repeated.

"Yeah."

"Are we… travelling?"

"Yeah."

"But Mundy, we haven't taken any luggage with us?"

"Don't be silly." Mundy gently chuckled as the driver parked.

Both men exited the car and Mundy winked at Lucien.

"C'mon, Lu', keep up! We don't wanna miss the flight…!"

"W-wait!" Lucien caught up with his lover.

The airport was as busy as an anthill. People coming, going, running, pushing carts, holding their hats on their heads as they ran.

"Mundy, were you serious?"

"Course I am! We're goin', c'mon!" Mundy glanced up at a screen and quickly spun on his heels to change direction. Lucien followed, sometimes even trotting after his lover.

"But where are we going?"

"Told you, and in French at that, it's a surprise."

"You cannot keep the surprise going forever, I will soon know." Lucien answered.

"Yeah, but meanwhile, I'm likin' this whole 'Lu' doesn't know what's happenin'' business." Mundy smirked and looked down at Lucien, which he knew the Frenchman had a weakness for.

"I shall find out myself!"

"Alright, good luck, Sherlock." Mundy winked and Lucien smiled.

They walked through halls and corridors.

"Uh, uh, uh! Gimme what you took from my pocket back!" Mundy stopped walking and turned to Lucien

"How could you possibly know?!" Lucien stopped. "I made every effort for you not to feel it!"

"You stole somethin' from my back pocket." Mundy said and opened his palm flat. "Give it back…"

"How did you know?" Lucien frowned.

Mundy sighed with a smile. He took the step that separated him from his lover and bent slightly such that his lips were next to the Frenchman's ear.

"I felt you touched my butt, and I liked it."

"Ah…" Lucien lowered his head and raised the plane tickets that he had taken from Mundy's back pocket.

"Thank you, now stop bein' a spook and follow me."

They went on following sign after sign and looking at all the screens they met.

"Here, that's the search thingy. I hope you don't have your blade with you." Mundy said as they queued.

"What do you take me for?"

Both men started undoing their belts. Mundy removed his glasses and his hat. When the Aussie finished, he walked through the metal detector and soon after, his lover followed him.

BEEP!

"Ah, oui, I must explain myself." Lucien calmly said and Mundy observed the scene. "This is my passport. If you run a check on me, you will understand."

The security employee took the passport and disappeared for a while. He came back and his colleague stopped him.

"Hey, don't let him go, he had a knife in his belongings!"

"No, we have to let him go." The man handed Lucien his passport back. "With the knife and all. Have a good day, Sir, and sorry for the inconvenience."

"No problem, you are but doing your job, Monsieur." Lucien took his belongings back and left the area. "Mundy? Are you coming? I do not know which gate we should head to."

Mundy had been standing there, his belt half put on, half still dangling down. His jaw had dropped as he watched.

"Uh, y-yeah."

"Mundy." Lucien stopped him.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you should finish putting your belt first?" Lucien tilted his head on the side and Mundy looked down at his waist.

"Ah, uh, yeah…"

A few moments later, both of them were standing in front of a screen.

"Well, this is the moment where you'll see where I'm takin' you, doll."

"Oui, it is. So? Which gate shall we go to?"

"Forty-five."

Lucien's eyes scanned the screen.

"Oh… Mundy, but… Why Paris?"

"Because I love you, and I wanna see what it's like over there."

"I…"

"C'mon, let's go."

When they sat on the metallic, back-breaking bench at the gate, they chose a corner where they could be alone and in peace.

"Mundy, why go to Paris, honestly?" Lucien looked up at his lover.

"Told you. I wanna see what your life was like when you were there. I mean… I know you told me you're not from there. But still… Besides, you've been livin' with me in Oz for a while, you've seen me and my life, I wanna see yours."

"I have indeed seen the Bushman in his natural habitat." Both exchanged a chuckle.

"Look, if you don't want it, we can go back home. I don't wanna force you, baby." Mundy cast his eye around and dropped his hat on his thigh. He then slid his hand and pulled Lucien's underneath it. The Frenchman felt Mundy's thumb brush against the back of his hand.

"So, what d'you say?" Mundy asked.

"I say we go and I will show you the city where I grew up." Lucien answered.

"You sure?"

"We are about to board, Mundy, it is rather late to turn and go back home, non?"

"No, not at all. If you feel awkward or anythin', we can go back home. I wanted to make it a surprise for you but the point's not for you to feel weird about it."

"Non, Mundy, you are right. I should show you." Lucien clenched his grip on Mundy's hand.

"You sure? I mean, are you happy to do it?"

"Delighted."

And Mundy took a second to stare in his lover’s eyes. Was he lying just to please him? To not make him feel awkward? The Aussie slightly squinted. He looked through the crystal clear irises to see the soul beyond them. Were Lucien’s lips deceiving the Aussie? Bah, it wouldn’t be the first time but… When was the last time that Lucien had lied?

Hm.

Oh! Yeah, Mundy remembered it, it was…

At the lake, almost exactly one year before, the wig. Lucien had worn a wig because he thought his lover could only look at him with the eyes of love when he made himself more feminine. It was obviously wrong and Mundy had tossed the long-haired lie away. That was Lucie’s last one.

Mundy blinked and his eyebrow relaxed. Lucien was not lying. He was looking up at the Aussie with eyes that screamed his limitless love for him.

“Alright then, doll. Glad you’re happy to show me around.”

“Of course.” Lucien answered. “I am surprised by this trip but welcome it warmly. I think we should probably have done that before but I suppose we did not stop to think about it.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Got any ideas on what we should see?”

“Apart from the classics like the Tour Eiffel, the Arc de triomphe, and other tourist attractions? Hm, I shall think about it.”

“Can I ask you to show me some stuff in particular?”

“But of course. What do you have in mind?”

“Where you lived, where you worked, places you liked to eat at, that kind of thing.”

"I will."

They exchanged a conniving smile and the call to board the plane interrupted them.

"Ready, baby?"

"Oui."

"Right, let's go and queue."

A few minutes later, both found their seats in the plane and Mundy looked through the window. The sky was blue despite the relative cold of winter. Well, once in Paris, it will be summer… The plane took off and when the couple was higher in the sky than the clouds themselves, Lucien looked up at Mundy on his left.

“I am surprised.”

“You’d better. Been hidin’ evidence of everything.”

“How did you do it?”

“Gave the tickets and everything to my Mum.” Mundy smiled. “I even tried to not think about it. I never know with you; could turn out that you can read my thoughts or somethin’.”

Lucien chuckled.

“I could indeed.” He confirmed with a lingering smirk on his lips. “However, I choose not to.”

“Why?”

“The Lucien of the previous life used to read minds because he needed it.”

“And now it’s just a hobby?” Mundy chuckled.

“Almost.” Lucien answered. “Non, I value my relationship too much with you to not give you the same privacy that you give me. It is a question of respect. However, it is cute to see you try to read me to see if I lie sometimes.”

“Ah, uh, well…” Mundy scratched the back of his head. “Sorry... I don’t want you to think that I don’t trust you…”

“Not at all. It gives me the impression that you really want to know what is going on in my head, which I appreciate.”

“Really?”

“Oui, I like this side of you, the side that wants to read all my fears in my eyes before I am fully aware of them.”

Mundy blushed.

“Yeah, well… Sorry, can’t help it.”

“It is a gift and a blessing, thank you for being so.”

“You’re welcome, baby. But uh, Lu’?”

“Oui?”

“Why did you say you were surprised?”

“Ah…” Lucien chuckled before he even gave the answer. “I did not take you for the business class ticket kind of a man.”

“I was gonna go for the economy thing, but then Mum said that in business we’d get a booth and we wouldn’t be bothered by people givin’ us looks. So I can do this…” Mundy reached for Lucien’s hand and took it. “And no one’ll look weird at us.”

“Cutely thoughtful of you, mon loup.”

“You can thank my Mum for that.”

Both chuckled and Lucien leaned his head on Mundy's shoulder.

“I will, but in the meantime, thank you, mon amour.”

Minutes passed that turned into hours and the sky naturally darkened. After the dinner they were handed in, the couple closed their eyes.

“Mornin’, luv’.”

“Bonjour, mon amour.”

[Good morning, my love.]

Both yawned, woken up by the bright morning sun above the clouds.

“Slept well?”

“I think my neck will hate me for a few hours only. What about you?”

“My legs…”

“How long do we have left until we land?”

“Uh…” Mundy checked his watch. “A few hours…?”

“Mundy.”

“Some number of hours…?”

“Mon loup.”

“Alright, ok, we got three hours left.”

“That isn’t that bad, actually.” Lucien answered, surprised.

“Yup. Oh, Lu’, I just thought about something.”

“Oui?”

“Uhm… Y’know how I told you I wanted to visit your workplace?”

“Oui, I remember.”

“How’re you gonna do it? I mean you're supposed to be dead for the Ministry back there, aren’t you?”

“Indeed, I am. You will have to call me by my second name when we get there so as not to raise suspicions.”

“But you still look like yourself. People will recognise you, won’t they?”

“Non, they will not. I was once a spy: entering places I shouldn't be while being someone I am not was my occupation for decades and not a trade easily forgotten.” Lucien raised his eyes to Mundy. “Do not worry, I will show you the Ministry.” He smiled tenderly.

“Alright, I trust you. But if you think we can’t make it or somethin’, there’s no shame in sayin’ it.”

“Non, absolutely not, you are right. But this will be easy.”

A few hours and a nap later, the pilot announced the imminent landing. Mundy looked at the city below the plane. He could see a river flowing, zigzagging through the capital.

“C’est la Seine.”

[It is the Seine.]

“Oh…”

“Ca, c’est l’île Saint-Louis… Et ça ? tu peux me dire ce que c’est ?”

[This is the Saint-Louis Island… And this? Can you tell me what it is?]

Lucien pointed and Mundy squinted to see better.

“It’s… Oh! C’est la Tour Eiffel, non?”

[It’s the Eiffel Tower, isn’t it?]

Mundy answered in French and Lucien looked at him as he always did, yet each time, the Aussie couldn’t help but fall slightly deeper for his lover.

“Oui, c’est la tour Eiffel.”

[Yes, it is the Eiffel Tower.]

Lucien confirmed.

“It’s the real thing? It’s tiny…”

Lucien’s smile vanished.

“I beg your pardon?”

“It’s tiny! I thought it was supposed to be very tall!”

“Well, you will climb it using the stairs and I swear to God your thighs will make you regret these words!” Lucien answered and Lundy burst into laughter.

“I’m jokin’, you sensitive, patriotic old baby…”

“Hm, joking now, aren’t you…? I will still make you climb to the top of it on the stairs.”

“How many steps is it to the top, d’you know?”

“One thousand six hundred and sixty-five. It takes between half an hour and forty-five minutes to climb it to the second floor which is not even the top.”

“You're pulling that out of your arse, aren’t you?”

“You shall see….!” Lucien leaned back on his seat with a smug smile on his lips.

“Hm… Hold on, we aren’t gettin’ closer to the ground, the Eiffel Tower’s still tiny…”

“It is because it is forbidden to fly over Paris.”

“Are you serious?”

“Oui, I am, it has been so since the Second World War, if I remember correctly.”

“Woah… You guys know no Germans are gonna come and bully you again, don’t you?”

“We know. But we would rather keep our sky blue and free of planes.” Lucien answered.

“Fair enough. Makes it more calm I guess."

When the plane landed and both made it through, Mundy held Lucien back in front of the airport's closed doors.

"Hold on, before we step into actual Paris…"

"Oui?"

"I love you, Lu'."

Lucien smiled.

"I love you too."

"Alright, now, we can go."

They took a step more and the doors slid open. The first rays on the Parisian summer sun hit their skin warmly and the lightest of breezes grazed their cheeks before rolling up to the sky.

“Here we are then, eh? Paris.” Mundy said looking around him.

“We are outside of the city itself but I guess you booked a hotel inside?” Lucien asked.

“Actually, I didn’t.”

“Oh?” Lucien raised surprised eyebrows.

“I was kind of counting on you to know where to go…?” Mundy admitted with a half ashamed smile.

“Oh, of course. I have recommendations.”

“You choose then, Lu’. I looked up the hotels and stuff but there were too many of them and I didn’t know which one to pick.”

“It is fine, let us call a taxi, I know where we should go.” Lucien smiled.

“Thanks, Lu’.”

“My pleasure.”

After half an hour inside a taxi, both stepped out in front of a hotel and Lucien waited for the car to disappear behind him.

“Welcome to the Ritz.” Lucien said and Mundy looked up to take the large three-floor building in. The architecture was nothing like he had seen so far. At the end of a flight of stairs hidden by a red carpet, the doors stood wide and tall between spiral-trimmed slim plants and equally fancy dressed porters. A French flag was flying above the double door that put a slight proud smile on Lucien’s lips. The walls were all made out of light beige stone and on each floor, rectangular windows were neatly and equally spaced. On the first floor were slim balconies adorned with a golden plated logo of the hotel. As Mundy’s eyes followed the column of clean stones, jumping from one window to the one above, he noticed that high up, the roof was covered in dark slate with windows surrounded by smoothly moulded, light beige stone.

“Gosh…”

“Come on, we both need a shower at least.” Lucien smiled at how absorbed Mundy was by the looks of the building.

The couple decided to take a few days of rest and let the jet-lag fade away slowly. They had their clothes bought and delivered to them at the hotel and enjoyed their meals either in their suite or in the restaurant downstairs.

“What did you say the room we’re in was called?”

Lucien chuckled.

“It is not a room, but a suite, mon amour, and it is called the Coco Chanel suite.”

“Funny name…”

“It is the name of a prestigious designer. She designed the room herself.”

“She was French?”

“Oui, she was.”

“Ah, guess it makes sense… How much is it per night?”

“A price that pales next to that of your company.” Lucien poetically answered.

“Thanks, Lu, but I meant in Francs?”

“About a hundred…”

“Oh that’s quite cheap for a suite.”

“... Thousand Francs per night.”

“WHAT?!” Mundy almost spat his coffee out.

Lucien burst out laughing, catching his breath in the short little snorts that Mundy fell in love with.

The next couple of days were spent visiting all the tourist-heavy places: the Eiffel Tower, the cathedral of Notre-Dame, the Palace of Versailles… Mundy saw more paintings and sculptures in those few days than he did in his entire life.

“Stop.”

Lucien’s voice was firm, too firm and cold to be addressing Mundy. The Aussie turned and saw Lucien with his hand on a young man's wrist.

“Hold on, that’s my wallet in your hand…!” Mundy snatched it back from the stranger's hand.

“La prochaine fois que tu pick-pocket quelqu’un, choisis mieux ta cible et ne regarde pas autant que ça à droite et à gauche, on te voit venir à des kilomètres.”

[Next time you pickpocket someone, choose your target more carefully and don’t look so much left and right, you are telegraphing all your moves.]

The young man opened wide eyes and as soon as Lucien released his wrist, he darted off.

“Attends.”

He stopped and turned to Lucien, a few metres away from him.

“Tiens. Et tu n’es pas mauvais, tu devrais en faire quelque chose.”

[Here. And you are not bad, you should do something out of it.]

Lucien handed him a note. The young man took it and left.

“You gave him money?” Mundy asked.

“Oui.” Lucien resumed his walk and Mundy followed him.

“Why?”

“Because stealing is rarely a hobby. If one does it, it is out of necessity. Throwing this young man in a cell will not help him at all. On the other hand, helping him such should.”

Mundy fell silent for a moment.

“Besides,” Lucien started speaking again. “I was once this young man, only I never got caught.”

The next day, the couple woke up normally. Good, the jet-lag had finally passed.

“Mundy?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to visit the ministry today?”

The half woken up Australian opened wide eyes in a flash.

“Sure. Uhm, how are we gonna do this?”

“I have an idea. But I need to call Maurice first. You go and take a shower, I will telephone him and will let you know.”

“Alright.”

A couple of hours later, both men stood in front of an elegant building in the heart of the fifth district of Paris, or as Mundy liked to call it ‘the fancy one”.

“Shall we?” Lucien asked.

“I’d follow you but ho ‘re we gonna go through these soldiers?”

Two military looking people were guarding the entry and checking everyones credentials.

“As easy as just follow me.” Lucien answered with a smile before he took the flight of stairs up and met with the soldiers.

“Bonjour, Messieurs. Nous venons de la part de Maurice de Ronzières, en Australie.”

[Good morning gentlemen. We come on behalf of Maurice de Ronzières, in Australia.]

“Je dois vérifier.”

[I must check.]

“Faites donc.”

[Pray do.]

Both men waited at the door and when the guard came back to them, he let them in.

“Gosh, Lu’ - I mean, Louis… We’re in…”

“Oui, welcome to a place that they redecorated and I barely recognise…” Lucien shook his head disappointedly as he held his hips.

“That means we can’t visit it cause you don’t know where stuff is anymore?”

“Non, non.”

“Then why d’you look uh… not happy with it?”

“Because they redecorated and made it is ugly!” Lucien raised his arms in the air before letting them drop again. “Had I been still alive, I would have given the Minister of Defense a piece of my mind…!”

“Hold on…!” Mundy caught up with his lover and walked through the corridors.

They abruptly stopped walking in front of a small door hidden under the stairs, on which Lucien gave a few knocks.

“Qui est-ce?” A muffled, old man’s voice asked.

[Who is it?]

“C’est moi.” Lucien answered and the door opened.

[It’s me.]

“Grand Dieu, Maurice a dit vrai…!”

[Good Lord, Maurice spoke the truth…!]

A short, skinny, old man emerged from what Mundy understood was the broom closet. He had lost most of his hair on his head and wore round, thick glasses.

“Comment allez vous, Georges?” Lucien opened his arms and the old man took a step forward and hugged him.

[How are you, Georges?]

"Ça doit faire une éternité! Les cheveux gris vous changent, Louis, mais je vous reconnais bien.”

[It must have been an eternity since last time. Grey hair makes you look so different, Louis, but I still recognise you.]

“Parlez-vous un peu d’anglais?”

[Do you happen to speak a bit of English?]

“Oh, j’ai les rudiments, à force d’entendre tout ce qui se passe…!”

[Oh, I learnt the basics on the fly here, as I’m forced to hear bits here and there…!]

“Then,” Lucien naturally switched to English. “Please meet my husband, Mundy.”

Mundy blushed beyond his ears. It was so uncommon for Lucien to introduce him as his husband straight away.

“And Mundy, please meet Georges, the ultimate spy.”

“Nice to meet you.” Mundy extended his hand and the old man shook it with a smile.

“Does he understand French?” Georges asked, his accent so thick that next to him, Lucien sounded like a native…!

“Bits, oui, I have been teaching him.” Lucien answered.

“Then, mes félicitations, mon garçon!”

[Congratulations, my boy!]

“Oh, uh, thanks… But how are you the ultimate spy?” Mundy asked.

“We can chat as we walk, boys, come on, follow me!” The old man pulled a trolley of rags, dusters and all kinds of cleaning products out of the closet before he started pushing it. Lucien and Mundy followed him.

“Georges here is responsible for the cleanliness of everything you see. He also happens to have the keys to every room in this building apart from a very select few of them. And all of that makes Georges the best guide to this place." Lucien explained as the trio walked through the corridor.

The old man pushed his trolley through the corridors, making sure to take all the stair cases that nobody usually takes.

"And I forgot to say," Lucien added through Georges' explanation of the rooms and corridors. "This man here is invisible to everyone meaning that if we stick to him, we become invisible too."

"And so you don't break your cover… Ah, I get it…" Mundy nodded to himself.

"Georges, could you take us to the portrait room, please?"

"Yes, I can. They didn't move it cause they say history can't be changed." The old man answered, the keys jiggling from his belt loop.

"Ah, perfect."

Georges took a second to unlock the door and push it open.

"You have ten minutes, fifteen tops, before my colleague comes here to dust everything off. I'll try and buy you some time but he's young and finds I talk too much so he usually just leaves me alone to do his job. Counting on you, boys, be careful with the time!"

"We will be. Merci infiniment, Georges."

[Thank you infinitely, Georges.]

"Avec plaisir."

[My pleasure.]

Both men entered and Lucien shut the large, wooden double doors after them.

“Wow, what’s this place? Who’re these people?” Mundy said as he found himself in a room surrounded by painted or printed portraits. The oldest were black and white engravings while the most recent ones were coloured.

“This is the portrait room. It contains the photograph, painting or engraving of every man who made a decisive contribution to the establishment or security of this country.” Lucien explained. “Please, do have a look.”

Mundy started walking in what felt more like an art gallery than a room. He admired the faces, sometimes commenting on the military attire or the old style moustaches and beards. Lucien tried his best to recall the bits of history he knew about those important figures of the country, mentioning a few anecdotes when his memory allowed him to.

“Golden frames for everyone, eh? That’s fancy as all hell…” Mundy said.

“Indeed it is.” Lucien answered. “I am told that nowadays, when young spies finish their training, they are brought here and come out of this room with the hope that one day, their face will be on thiese walls.”

“Yeah, I can get the enthusiasm.” Mundy said. “Oh, Lu’... Hold on… Is that…?” Munddy squinted in front of a photograph and took a step forward. His eyes zigzagged on that of the man with light eyes and coal black hair. “Bloody hell, isn’t that you?!”

Lucien chuckled.

“Guilty as charged.” The Frenchman said.

“How old were you on this? You look half the age of the others!”

“I started my career early and abruptly. Some would say I even started without knowing it myself. But to answer your question, I was in my early twenties in this picture.”

“Bloody hell… You look like an angel back then already.”

Lucien smiled.

“Merci.”

“What did you do to get your face up there?”

“I helped in the Résistance to free France from the Germans. I started as a courier boy, delivering messages until I grew up and understood that my, ahem, ease to approach women could be an asset for the country. Countless Nazi were caught through their wives and their mysterious lover.”

“You…?”

“Mh-hm, me. I broke a lot of German hearts back then, even before France’s liberation.” Lucien chuckled.

“Wow… Id love to take a picture of it.”

“We could take it back, if you want.”

“What?! You wanna steal it?!”

“It is my face and I am dead. I can claim it back.” Lucien shrugged.

“Hm.” Mundy fell deep in thought. “You know what?”

“Mh?”

“Leave it there.”

“You have changed your mind?”

“Yeah, leave it there for folks to look up at you and remember you. You changed my life, yeah, but you also changed an entire country before that. Let them have a souvenir.”

Lucien smiled.

“Very well, mon loup.”

The next day, the couple woke up with the first rays of light, wrapped in the satin sheet of the Coco Chanel suite at the Ritz.

“Lu’?”

“Oui?”

“Uhm, there’s somewhere I wanna take you today.”

“Oh?” Lucien’s surprise was obvious. Mundy wanted to take him somewhere? Where? Why? And above all, how? The Aussie had spent the past week or so following his lover blindly and complaining that he did not know how Lucien could know where he was going. “Sure, when do you want to go?”

“This evenin’, if that’s fine with you too. We can go have dinner somewhere and then we’ll go?”

“Perfect for me, Mundy.”

And for the entire day, Lucien kept on thinking about it. Where would Mundy take him…? Until of course it was time to go. He followed his tall lover through the streets. The Aussie stopped only a few times to check his map and make sure they were heading in the right direction.

“Alright, should be after this street.”

They stopped when they reached beautiful dark blue, wrought-iron gates.

“A park? You wanted to take me to a park?”

“I uh… I don't think it’s any odd park.” Mundy answered and Lucien frowned. They both entered and wandered inside, following the yellow narrow roads.

“Why did you want to bring me here, Mundy?”

“I think you guessed why.” Mundy answered. “You know we’re not in any park.”

“Indeed, I do, so why here?”

“Because it’s part of you and it’s important.” Mundy answered before he stopped walking. “Now, you gotta guide me.”

Lucien took a deep breath and let it all out in a long sigh.

“Très bien.” He started walking and it took a few minutes of silence before they reached their destination, under a tree.

“Is it here?” Mundy asked.

“Oui, it should be.”

“Gimme your blade.”

Lucien took it from his inner pocket and passed it to Mundy who went down to sit on his knees and started digging. The Frenchman waited, his arms wrapped around himself. He felt slightly cold even though the day had been scorching hot and he evening was still warm.

“Here we go...!” Mundy unearthed a small tin box. “Let’s go back to the hotel.” He stood up and dusted his knees off before both him and Lucien headed back.

When they were in their suite and alone, Mundy headed for the bathroom. He cleaned the box of all the soil on it and brought it back to the living-room on a towel. Lucien had been sitting on the sofa, his stare blank.

“You alright?”

“Oui,” He shook his head as if to land back into reality. “I was just lost in thought.”

“C’mon, ask me.” Mundy said and Lucien sighed.

“Why did you do this?”

“Because you told me that everythin’ that was you before was in a box, that you had buried it in a park in Paris as the rain was pouring down in the middle of the night. You told me that it has all sorts of things like pictures of you, maybe even of your family and everythin’.”

Mundy took a deep breath and took Lucien’s hand in his.

“It’s been one year of you and me bein’ a solid thing and it’s been even longer of us just spendin’ all our time together, and even longer of me lovin’ you to bits.” Lucien blushed at the last part and smiled shyly. “And today, it’s been exactly one year of us being a thing. I put a ring on your finger and you put one on mine one year ago exactly. I just… I don’t wanna make you feel bad at all, I love you, I just wanna see your life from before and beyond that, I want you to be at peace with what you were before.”

“Hm.”

“I don’t care what you were, I just want you to accept whatever's in that box as a part of you. It doesn’t need to be buried down in the ground, it shouldn’t be there. It should be with us, with our pictures and memories.”

Lucien had sat silently through his lover’s speech.

“You understand, baby doll?”

Lucien raised his eyes to his lover.

“You are right, Mundy.” He took the box and put it on his lap before gently opening it. “This is the only photo album I have ever bought in my life, before we got ours. The oldest pictures are of my parents, then me as a baby and a young boy. The next picture is when I was officially made a spy, after the end of the Second World War, during which I served in the Résistance.”

He flipped the pages and pointed for Mundy to follow.

“Wow, you were already gorgeous back then.”

“Thank you.”

The Aussie wrapped an arm around his lover to pull him close and Lucien leaned on him.

“Mundy?”

“Yeah?”

“How did you know which hpark it was?” Lucien asked. “I don’t think I mentioned the name of it.”

“I asked Maurice for the park where we could spend some quality time that would mean something for you.”

“Ah, I see.” Lucien turned the page. “This is the few pictures of Marie and Jérémy that I have.”

“She was real pretty.”

“Oui, she was.” Lucien smiled at the pictures.

“And Jeremy kind of looked like you a bit, I mean, his hair’s lighter than yours but…”

“He was born blond like the sun.” Lucien said. “His hair darkened as he grew up and was dirty blond before he passed.”

“Oh, I see.”

“This is us, all together.”

“Look at you bein’ a dad… You look so comfy handlin’ the baby. I’m always scared when I’m handed a kid. Always scared to drop them or hurt them or somethin.”

Lucien smiled with nostalgia.

“You should not. They are indeed very fragile but you are very strong.” He turned his head and pushed his lips on Mundy’s.

“Thanks, luv’.”

“Thank you.” Lucien put the photo album aside.

“There’s more stuff in the box?”

“Oui. Here, this was my first ever blade.”

“Oh, you kept it?”

“Oui, as a souvenir. When I was in the Résistance, I never thought that doing what I was doing would turn me into a spy, get me a job and a life that is reasonably put together. I just did it because I could and I was told I had a gift for it.”

“And you went on to become the best spook ever.” Mundy said, recalling the portrait at the Ministry.

“Something like that.” Lucien smiled. “Here, this is all black and old, but it used to be silver and shining bright.” He handed a thin, yet very old string of metal to Mundy.

“It’s a bracelet?”

“It bears my name on it. It is a common gift that young children are offered here. I kept mine because it reminded me of my mother, whom I loved beyond everything else. Oh and this is a very old and worn out thing now, but I used to wear it to cover my mouth and nose, for people to not recognise me when I worked to liberate France.”

“It’s a black bandana?”

“It used to be Burgundy red.”

“We could give a polish to your bracelet and a good wash to your bandana. I’m not good with clothes but I’m sure there’s ways to bring it back to life.”

“I think so, oui. Ah, there it is… Although it is broken, this used to be the bracelet that I offered to Marie, when we first started to meet each other regularly.”

“It’s a pearl bracelet?”

“Oui, I have always liked pearls on women, I think it might be because my mother used to have a pearl necklace that she treasured more than anything else. It was a gift from my father. I remember as a child, I one day found it as I was prying into whatever I could lay my hands on in the house and she told me off for touching it.”

“Oh, wow…”

“Wow indeed.”

Mundy took a second to look at the way Lucien was looking at his belongings from another life. His eyes were almost dreamy and his gaze, very soft, filled with nostalgia and bittersweetness. And soon, the smile widened and it was not an awkward listing of antics but objects that threw the Frenchman’s mind back when pictures were only black and white, when uniforms were compulsory at school, when with a Franc, you could buy a mountain…

“Oh, I am enjoying this actually, Mundy.” Lucien raised his eyes to his lover. “Thank you so much, mon chéri.”

[My darling.]

“You're welcome. See? It’s better to acknowledge everythin’ and even if it's bad things or mistakes that you can only blame yourself for, so be it. The only way to repent I guess, is to not make those mistakes again.”

“You speak truth and wisdom. May God keep you by my side for as long as we want.”

“Amen, baby.”

“Thank you for… Well… Half-forcing me to do this. I realise that I should have done it long ago.”

“How d’you feel?” Mundy asked.

“Better, lighter in a way.” Lucien wiped a silent tear.

“Hey, you sure you good?”

“Oui, it is not tears of sadness. It is… The intensity of all this. Finding myself in the Ritz again, but this time, not on duty, not for business, just for our enjoyment, the breakfasts, lunches and dinners here now taste so much more flavourful, I never realised that their food was exquisite. I knew it but I never felt it as much as I have in these past few days. And the outings with you, seeing the sights, guiding you through Paris, telling you her story. It is better than a dream come true.”

Mundy smiled compassionately.

“Lu’?”

“Oui.”

“Happy first anniversary.”

“Oh…” The Frenchman dived head first into his lover’s chest and let the tears run down his face.

“It’s ok, Lu’, I’m here.”

“This is why you wanted to take me to Paris?” Lucien pulled himself out of his lover's embrace.

“Yeah, for our anniversary.”

“Je t’aime, Mundy.”

[I love you, Mundy.]

Lucien took his handkerchief out and wiped his face.

“Je t’aime aussi, mon Lucien.”

[I love you too, my Lucien.]

#tf2 sniper #tf2 spy #sniperspy #SBT

15 notes · View notes

epicofevil · 3 years

Text

Character Popularity Poll

Epic of Evil page 40-62

After the conclusion of the “Daughter of Evil” novels and the announcement of this fanbook, we opened up a character popularity poll! It was held on Twitter between June 16th and June 30th, and we received a ton of votes. Here we’ll tell you the order, as well as share some of the red hot comments they got!

1st place with 89 votes

Allen Avadonia (Prince Alexiel)

(Kagamine Len)

Profile

Age: 14 at death (485-500)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia

Race: Orthodox Lucifenian

Religion: Levin, Levia sect

Relatives: Father; Arth I (deceased), Mother; Anne (deceased), Sister; Riliane, Adoptive Father; Leonhart (deceased), Adoptive Sister; Germaine

He’s a servant who works in the Lucifenian royal palace, but in truth he is Riliane’s twin brother, Prince Alexiel. During the revolution he is executed in Riliane’s stead.

-Due to an event that occurred when he was young, Allen as a prince was publicly declared dead. He works as a servant surrounded by his friends.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 02 Kagamine Len of “Kagamine Rin/Len” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

“The Servant of Evil” is the reason I got sucked into AkunoP-sama’s music in the first place.

Allen-kun is the best!

I was really moved by Allen’s kindness at prioritizing Riliane over himself. I think there are probably some people who don’t think he’s kind because he betrayed so many people, but I think “doing it all for the person you want to protect” is itself a different sort of kindness.

Obviously it’s Allen. His words and deeds made me cry my eyes out.

I love how brave he is, and that he was willing to do anything for Riliane’s sake.

He really struck me with how he protected Riliane to the end. I was also about the same age as Allen when I first bought the book, so I was kinda taken in by him being such a naïve young man.

He’s really cool looking!!!

His level of kindness that he devoted himself to his sole blood relative Riliane and ultimately took her place is really amazing…!

He was alright with becoming evil if it was for Riliane’s sake. He did all that for his sister; for Riliane he used his sword to kill people, he can ride a horse, he protected his sister—he’s just really cool!!

What an amazing loyalty he has…Allen supports his sister and the rest!! He’s so awesome, I wanna be like him!!

Artist’s Comments

AkunoP: I rather expected him to be the most popular.

Ichika: Wow, he really was well received.

AkunoP: Unfortunately, he died in the first book, so I wasn’t really able to delve into his character much from the third book onward.

--Rin probably had also moved on from Allen at that point.

AkunoP: I figured things might get pretty dark if I had too many developments that reflected back on the past. I also thought it might not fit with the feel of the third book onwards. However, there’s no way that Rin forgot about Allen, ever. She’s just hesitant to let it show on the outside. And it wouldn’t be all that good for her to show it to anyone, given her position. She’d get found out, lol

--That’s for sure (haha). How about you, Ichika-san?

Ichika: I think he’s sort of like, the most wholehearted character of the main cast. Like coming to help even after he’d already died.

AkunoP: In a certain way, in the latter half he turns into more of a super character than Elluka, lol

2nd place with 35 votes

Clarith

(Yowane Haku)

Profile

Age: 21--26 (born 479)

Nationality: Elphegort--Kingdom of Lucifenia

Race: Netsuma

Religion: Levin Held sect

Relatives: Father (died when she was young), Mother (died in 499)

She was discriminated against by Elphe people for being a descendant of the Netsuma clan with white hair and red eyes. She had a negative personality, but that changed when she met Michaela.

--Though she was quite negative, she was able to become a bit more positive through her relationships with Michaela and Rin.

*This character was based on “Yowane Haku”, a derivative of the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 Hatsune Miku published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

It’s partially because I really like Haku ane-san, but there’s also her earnest devotion to Michaela, her strength for forgiving Riliane despite having every reason to hate her…I’m not Michaela, but you’re the most wonderful person, for me! Especially how cheerful you were after the revolution in “Praefacio of Blue”, Clarith-san!

I want her to be happy

I like seeing her working so hard.

She feels like the only true “everyman”. So I feel like she’s also the character who “grew” the most. Her meeting with Rin at the monastery on the shore was so sad, I was really touched. I think that Riliane was able to reform as Rin because she had Clarith there for her.

Clarith is so precious, being so negative but also caring for her friends!

I wanna try the brioche that Clarith makes!!

I like everything about her!

I admire her for being so strong.

She’s so dedicated and adorable///

Artist’s Comments

AkunoP: I think she’s the character who grew up the most through the whole series.

Ichika: She grew the most as a person.

AkunoP: I wanted a character who could see the revolution and the events around it from the perspective of the average person. That was how I came up with Clarith. Actually, she’s a character I came up with even earlier than Elluka, around the same time as the early four. So I’ve gotten pretty attached to her.

Ichika: It feels really good to see her progression from a passive personality to someone who takes action for herself. Also, her catchphrase of “I’m sorry for being alive” is way too easy to use. I found myself blurting it out once while I was working.

AkunoP: That was originally inspired by Daizai. So that might be a bit dangerous as a catchphrase, lol

Ichika: I make sure I only say it when I’m alone in my room, so it’s alright, haha.

3rd place with 32 votes

Riliane Lucifen d’Autriche (Rin)

(Kagamine Rin)

Profile

Age: 14--19 (Born 485)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia

Race: Orthodox Lucifenian

Religion: Levin Levia Sect--Held sect

Relatives: Father; Arth I (deceased), Mother; Anne (deceased), Brother; Alexiel (Allen) (deceased)

The princess of Lucifenia. For her outrageous policies she is reviled as the “Daughter of Evil”. After the revolution she lives at a monastery, hiding her true identity.

--Having survived the revolution, she started a new life in a monastery as “Rin”.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 02 Kagamine Rin of “Kagamine Rin/Len” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

I really love that scene where she accepts whatever Clarith is going to do to her after Clarith learned the truth, because it shows how much Riliane has grown up over the story.

I want her to live and be strong.

In this story with so many feelings intersecting, she is such a cool and strong fantasy girl who fought without being swept away!

I earnestly love her. Just lots of love. From the heart.

She really is kind! And she has a sense of responsibility! And she’s so so cute!! And she was so cute as a small child too, I love her to bits! She did get possessed by a demon and all, but she’s really a good kid!!

I want her to be happy…

I think she’s a character that I’ve come to like as I’ve read through the “of Evil” series. I want to support Riliane with all my might, surpassing so much grief to grow up like that. I mean, what I’m trying to say is that Riliane is really cute.

She’s the yellow flower of evil in full bloom!

Artist’s Comments

AkunoP: I was really unsure of her role in this. I think the people who listened to the original song were largely split into two points of view. That she was just bad from the core, or that it was the fault of outside influences... In the end, she wound up how she is now.

Ichika: I think Riliane’s another character whose personality and general air changed completely between the former and latter halves of the story. There is the change in environment from princess to nun, but I think myself that Allen is the biggest influence.

--Riliane is one of the characters who grew up in a big way.

4th place with 29 votes

Elluka Clockworker

(Megurine Luka)

Profile

Age: Secret♥

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia--Stateless

Race: Leviantan

Religion: Levin Levia Sect

Relatives: NO DATE

A sorceress with a mysterious air about her, and one of the Three Heroes of Lucifenia. Under request of the great land god Held, she is on a journey to search for the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”.

--Are her farsighted values, unwavering strength, and the humanity that she sometimes displays the secret key to her popularity?

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 03 “Megurine Luka” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

She’s so strong and smart, and a beauty on top of that! She might seem irreverent but she pulls through when it counts, and always winds up helping people. I also think it’s adorable how bad she is at being straightforward with what she wants to say. She’s surrounded by so much mystery and I’m just caught up in it! I like her and I can’t help but be curious about her!!

She’s strong, she’s so strong, so strong. And that scene where she fought with Abyss was so cool!

She’s mysterious, and when all is said and done she’ll help you out, so I really like her.

Whether she’s making any S-like scowls or looking like a beauty, I love it all!

She’s got this feeling that she’ll pull through when push comes to shove, which makes her really cool.

I’m really enchanted with how, as irreverent as she is, she gets on task and focused in situations where she needs to toughen up and get focused.

She’s a really amazing woman, with a lot of depth. I kinda like how playful she is.

I love how Elluka’s so suspicious.

She acts happy go lucky, but her past that you can glean from the Leviantan Catastrophe and Recollective Music Box is way too sad.

I love heeeer!

That mysterious feel she’s got really kills me! Though I guess I like how free-spirited she is, lol. I really wanna learn more about Elluka’s circumstances!

Artist’s Comments

--She finally showed up on the cover this time!!

Ichika: Seriously…!

AkunoP: That’s just ‘cause she’s a character that never showed up in the original song. You could say it was inevitable in a sense that she couldn’t come out before this point, lol, but I think the inverse of that is that it’s because she didn’t show up before that she’s been so easy to work with. She’s such a mature character that through the whole series she’s had a sort of feel to her that she’s always got some leeway.

Ichika: Elluka’s been such a steady character this whole series. She’s been alive for such a long span of time that she’s gotta be very well-put together mentally. I like characters like that, so I had a lot of fun drawing her.

--There are a lot of opinions up there that they like how she always comes around to helping people, aren’t there.

AkunoP: Well, she is a bit on in years…Er, nevermind.

Ichika: She does seem very helpful.

AkunoP: She’s got a lot of things on the inside that I haven’t written about yet, probably owing to being a character with a lot of leeway, but in her case I do think that she’ll have a lot of opportunities to show up elsewhere, so…That’s in production, lol

--We’ll wait for the Deadly Sins Series with baited breath! Looking forward to it!

5th place with 26 votes

Kyle Marlon

(KAITO)

Profile

Age: 26(claims to be 22)--31 (born 474)

Nationality: Marlon

Race: Marlon

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Father; Previous king of Marlon (deceased), Mother; Empress Dowager Prim, Sister; Ney (different fathers), half-brother; Arkatoir (different mothers), countless other siblings of different mothers (all dead)

The young ruler of Marlon. He’s very vexed at being a puppet of his mother, Empress Dowager Prim. He has a very straight-laced personality with a strong sense of justice.

--Though his status is as a king, he often stands on the front lines and goes out in disguise.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “KAITO” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

His bravery when it comes to Michaela is just too cute!

That he was able to overcome the temptations of a demon a second time, despite knowing a demon’s power and having been reliant on them before, and went out to fight with his own power was just so awesome…!

He may be a troublemaker(?) who inadvertently glosses over his age, but Kyle-niisama really pulled through when it came down to it, and I love him for it!

I feel like he’s the character that gets messed with the most, but I really like him a lot (haha).

My vote goes to the young king who experienced love and hatred, came vast to face with his weakness, and in the end majorly grew up.

He’s so pitiful it’s adorable~ And I think he’s a relatively tasty character!!

I wanna shout it out! I frikkin’ love him!

No matter how he’s wavered, no matter how he’s tempted by demons, in the end he stood on his own two feet. I just love him for that!!

I really like his personality. His conversations with Germaine were really funny!

Artist’s Comments

AkunoP: I’ll say this now that it’s all over, but in the end I did end up liking this character. Only, I didn’t actually want to write him as being that cool.

Ichika: He participated in the revolution, he fell in love, he transformed into a demon…Now that I think on it, he’s a busy guy.

AkunoP: I feel like he’s the character that single-handedly undertakes the idea of “human weakness”. I mean, I don’t think he’s that cool if you look at just his actions, lol.

--The comments calling him “precious” and “incompetent” really stood out.

AkunoP: That’s cause he’s not a hero at all.

Ichika: Looking at him overall I guess he is pretty incompetent...lol

--There was also a comment calling him the “hunky sad king”(haha).

Ichika: lololol

AkunoP: I think that’s perfect lol

--You can’t even get him to follow-up(haha)

6th place with 25 votes

Gumillia

(Megpoid)

Profile

Age: 1028--1033 (appears 16--24 on the outside)

Nationality: Elphegort--Kingdom of Lucifenia--Stateless

Race: spirit--Elphe

Religion: Levin Levia sect (publicly)

Relatives: Held (lord), Michaela (same race)

A sorceress who was a spirit incarnated into a human. She searches for the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” alongside Elluka as her apprentice. She has a very level and calm personality, but she also has a side that’s very caring about her friends.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Megpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

Fan Comments

I really love the way she talks. And I don’t think I’m the only one who got excited at her wearing glasses in Praeludium. Her and Elluka make a really good duo. I’m really looking forward to seeing their actions in the Pere Noel period in the novels to come. I’m guessing she’s the one who made that handgun.

She’s so cool and awesome! Her glasses really suit her!

She’s very blunt but I really like how that contrasts with how caring she is for her friends.

Her clumsy broken speech is just so incredibly cute!! And she’s so strong!!

I’m just…really interested in Elluka and Gumillia’s journey after this!

The fact that she put on glasses…And I’m very intrigued as to this “important person” that she decided to stay human for!

I wish she could have stayed with Michaela forever.

Obviously it’s Gumillia!

7th place with 19 votes

Germaine Avadonia

(MEIKO)

Profile

Age: 20--25 (Born: 480)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia (erased)

Race: Beelzenian

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Adoptive Father; Leonhart (deceased), Adoptive Brother; Allen (deceased)

The adoptive daughter of one of the Three Heroes of Lucifenia, Leonhart, as well as Allen’s adoptive older sister. She is the “red-armored swordswoman” who garners acclaim as the leader of the Resistance.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “MEIKO” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

She’s really stylish. I admire her.

I think it’s so cool that she’s such a gallant woman. I wanted to become someone like her too!!

Those words she said when she came face to face with Rin in the last novel and realized it was Riliane just left me speechless. I really like Germaine’s weak and strong points.

I really love her big-sisterly disposition and compassion. I want her to be happy (。・ω・。)

A woman swordswoman is so cool! She’s so amazing! I feel like she’s the hottest person in all of Daughter of Evil lol. Her line “Just what in the world is evil” in Yellow is my favorite line in all four novels. I want to read how she wound up in Beelzenia after the Revolution.

That line she says during the work about how fast her wounds heal unexpectedly won me over all at once.♪

8th place with 17 votes

Ney Marlon(Phatipe)

(Akita Neru)

Profile

Age: 18--23 (age at death) (482--505)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia—Marlon

Race: Marlon

Religion: Levin Behemo sect

Relatives: Mother; Empress Dowager Prim, Older Brother; Kyle, Several other siblings of a different mother, Adoptive mother; Mariam

Mariam’s adoptive daughter, who takes up a position as head of Marlon’s Special Maneuvers Task Force. From a very young age she was raised by IR as the subject of magical experimentation.

*This character was based on “Akita Neru”, a derivative of the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 Hatsune Miku published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

Through the work I thought she was a villain the whole time, but after reading Praefacio of Blue I realized that she was actually just a very sad girl. I wish she could have been happy.

The sad end of her life, continuing to be led around by the nose by Prim and a demon, was just tearjerking.

I love her rampaging in the duel scene in Praefacio.

I would be in utter bliss if Ney stabbed me.

I won’t forgive the people who used Ney like that. She’s just too sad. Even though really she was a good kid…

Her crazed expressions, her outfit, I just love everything about her.

She did a lot of horrible things, but Ney was also a victim of the vessels of deadly sin…Also, I absolutely loved Ney wearing Lady Conchita’s dress!

Her crazy face is the best!!!

9th place with 11 votes

Gast Venom

(Camui Gackpo)

Profile

Age: 39 at death (461—500)

Nationality: Stateless

Race: Asmodean

Religion: NO DATE

Relatives: Little sister; Sarah (deceased)

A skilled swordsman who bears the moniker, “Demon of Asmodean”. He is searching for one of the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”, the “Venom Sword”.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Gackpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

Fan Comments

I’m really intrigued by his past. I want to learn more about him, and at the same time I’m hoping we get more info on his excessive sister complex.

You really gotta hurry up with his past mysteries surrounding his sister, Sarah…!! I really like samurai, so I adored the scene where he was fighting with a Japanese sword.

I think he’s really pretty lol. And I liked his how he let Allen hire him because he sympathized with him. During the work I wanted to learn more about the past they alluded to.

It’s too bad he’s only in one book. I wanted to see him do more.

I’m really curious about his sister!

He didn’t show up much but he was really cool!

10th place with 10 votes

Gallerian Marlon

(KAITO)

Profile

Nationality: USE

Race: Marlon

Relatives: Wife, daughter

Kyle Marlon’s descendant. He’s the head judge of the Dark Star Courthouse of the international alliance of USE, founded between the four countries of Marlon, Levianta, Elphegort, and Lucifenia in the year 898. He treasured his daughter, but she passes away in an incident.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “KAITO” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

I love the greedy juuudge!! Also the fact that he has a kid. I bet he’s a good cook too. I’m really looking forward to the novel for greed in the new series.

He’s so cool! He’s such a kind father, worrying over his daughter! If you want help, show me the money!!!

I really love the corrupt, miserly judge! The fact that he’s a father who’s caring for his daughter that we learned at the end of Praefacio…Makes me wonder if he’s actually a good guy.

I like Gallerian-san.

First of all, I’m just crazy about the middle-aged, fatherly Galle-sama. I can’t help but be enraptured with him as he persists in pushing his own will even until the very end! I hope he can achieve his utopia!

11th place with 9 votes (tied)

Yukina Freezis

(Kaai Yuki)

Profile

Age: 9—14 (Born: 491)

Nationality: Marlon

Race: Marlon

Religion: Levin Held sect

Relatives: Father; Keel, Mother; Mikina, Little Brother; Shaw, Younger Sister; Aile

The eldest daughter of the Freezis household. She is an exceedingly popular novelist who made her debut as an author at nine years old. She has created a great many popular works, and her name lives on in posterity.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Vocaloid student “Kaai Yuki” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

Fan Comments

I like how she’s just brimming with curiosity. And that scene where she reunited with Clarith was great.

I love how strong-willed she is!!!

Actually, I was always watching over Yukina’s adventures with my heart racing, like I was her big sis or mother lol

She’s so cute!! I was so excited when I saw that Gallerian-san was reading the books that Yukina-chan wrote in the distant future!!

She’s really grown up… I really wanna read that “Crow” fairytale that got brought up in Praeludium.

11th place with 9 votes (tied)

Chartette Langley

(Kasane Teto)

Profile

Age: 26-31 (Born: 474)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia (erased)

Race: NO DATA

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Father, mother

The head of the Langley unit in the Beelzenian Empire. She is the bearer of extraordinary strength, wielding an enormous sword. She was originally a maid that served in the Lucifenian palace.

*This character is based on “Kasane Teto”.

Fan Comments

She has a very lively and simple personality. I think she’d be a fun person to hang out with.

She’s a power fighter who wields a longsword, and I really like her straightforwardness.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I read all four books just because I wanted to read about her gallant figure in it.

She’s one of the few characters in Daughter of Evil to live for the moment rather than being stuck in the past, and it’s really incredible how she’s more about taking action than dwelling on things!

I really love this dummy. Her appearance is adorable but it’s too bad she isn’t at all in how she talks lol

13th place with 8 votes

Michaela

(Hatsune Miku)

Profile

Age: 1028—1033 (as a human she dies at 16)

Nationality: Elphegort

Race: Elphe

Religion: Levin Held sect (publicly)

Relatives: Held (lord), Gumillia (same race)

She was originally a spirit, but she became known as a “diva” when she was reborn into a human. After ending her life as a person, she continued to watch over the world as Held’s successor.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 “Hatsune Miku” published by Crypton Future Media.

Fan Comments

I want it so she can be happy with Clarith (>_<)

I was really moved by her kindness *

She was so precious, and she was so kind helping out Clarith

I really like her duet with Clarith. I was a little surprised at her being yuri (?)in Wiegenlied, but I think their feelings towards each other, mutually surpassing a friendship, are awesome. I hope she does her best as the new Held god.

I knew she was going to die. I knew it, but, but…I really wish she could have been happy.

14th place with 7 votes

Riliane (Lily) Mouchet

(Lily)

Profile

Age: 25 (Born: 480)

Nationality: Marlon (formerly Kingdom of Lucifenia)

Race: Lucifenian

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Father; Gaston (deceased)

The original commander of Retasan fortress, with a strong-minded personality. She hates the name Riliane, and so goes by “Lily”.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Lily” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

Fan Comments

Gosh I love her ♪(　´０´)ノ

I love her strong-willed personality. The whole time I was reading the book I thought, she’s so cool.

I really love that awesome atmosphere she’s got!

I’m sure I’m not the only one that went all, “It’s Lily!!”. I just love this handsome tomboy general, she’s so awesome. I think it’s her remarks that made it so that Germaine was able to move on ahead. I also love her partnership with Yukina-chan. They’ve got such a great height difference, lol

15th place with 6 votes (tied)

Keel Freezis

(Hiyama Kiyoteru)

Profile

Age: 27--32 (Born: 473)

Nationality: Marlon

Race: Marlon

Religion: Levin Held sect

Relatives: Wife; Mikina, Children; Yukina (eldest daughter) Shaw (eldest son) Aile (youngest daughter)

A merchant who serves as the head of the merchant trade association. He’s also friends with Marlon’s king Kyle. He’s a doting father, and so when it comes to his children he’s relentless.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Vocaloid teacher “Hiyama Kiyoteru” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

Fan Comments

Love his being a sappy parent and his affection for Yukina. And I’m also intrigued by his conversations with Kyle.

That doting father is just the best!!

The disconnect between his harsh, bad-friend tone towards Kyle and his unending devotion to his daughter is so lovable.

That doting father Keel is adorable lol That scene where he gets furious at Kyle for hugging Yukina was just the best lolol

Him being a loving father is amusing, but his face as a merchant and his friendship (mean friendship?) with King Kyle is also just right on point.

15th place with 6 votes (tied)

Ayn

(--)

Profile

Nationality: Elphegort

Race: Elphe

Relatives: Father (deceased), Mother (deceased)

Notes: A boy from Yatski village. Had an unrequited love for Clarith. After Clarith and Michaela fled to Aceid, he enlisted in the Elphegort military. During the Green Hunting he ran to the forest to help save Michaela and Clarith after they were cornered, but he was murdered by the Lucifenian army chasing after them.

Fan Comments

‘Cause he helped guide Clarith and Michaela until the end. But it was so sad that he couldn’t tell Clarith how he felt about her. I hadn’t been expecting him to write that scene with Yukina and the rest praying before his grave in the third book, so I was really happy for that.

Because even though it was Clarith he really wanted to protect, he protected Michaela, and was so kind.

I wish he could have been happy with Clarith!

He was the hottest guy in the whole work. I wish he could have done more.

17th place with 5 votes

Leonhart Avadonia

(LEON)

Profile

Age: 38 at death(462—500)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia

Race: NO DATE

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Adoptive children; Germaine, Allen (deceased)

Allen and Germaine’s adoptive father. He’s one of the Three Heroes, and works as the head of the guard for the Lucifenian royalty. Like Germaine, he likes to drink.

*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID “LEON” published by ZERO-G.

Fan Comments

I cried when he died.

His interminably direct personality is so cool.

Those kids have him as a dad, or else this dad has them for kids. They’re a family, even if they’re not related by blood.

I love the older guys ha ha I love him so much, I was so disappointed at how quickly he died in Cloture.

18th place with 3 votes

Anne Lucifen d’Autriche

(SWEET ANN)

Profile

Age: Died at 42 (457—499)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia

Race: NO DATE

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Husband; Arth I, Daughter; Riliane, Son; Alexiel

The former queen of the Kingdom of Lucifenia who possessed both strictness and grace, and also Riliane and Allen’s birth mother. She was friends with Empress Dowager Prim of Marlon.

*This character was independently made based on the VOCALOID 2 “SWEET ANN” published by PowerFX.

Fan Comments

She didn’t get much screentime, lolol but I think she’s great with her dependability and grace.

I would have liked to see a record of her child-rearing work when Riliane and Alexiel were still little ankle biters. Maybe she was an unexpectedly scary mom (and conversely maybe King Arth spoiled them).

I think she was a fantastic queen. I tear up when I think about how the twins’ fates would have changed if she’d still been alive…Also, I’d be really happy if we could see her again in something set in the past.

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

Mariam Phatipe

(MIRIAM)

Profile

Age: Died at 32 (468—500)

Nationality: Kingdom of Lucifenia

Race: Asmodeanian

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Adoptive child; Ney

A very skilled secret agent, and one of the Three Heroes. Also a former associate of Gast’s. Her duel with Chartette during the revolution was talked about as the “Battle of the Heavenly Yard”.

*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID “MIRIAM” published by ZERO-G.

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

Aile Freezis

(Tsukuyomi Ai)

Profile

Age: 10 (Born: 495)

Nationality: Marlon

Religion: Levin Held sect

Relatives: Father; Keel, Mother; Mikina, Big Sister; Yukina, Big Brother; Shaw

The second daughter of the Freezis family. She takes after her mother in appearance and personality, and so has inherited her mature standing. She’s had a weak constitution ever since she was young, and for a time Mikina would be constantly tending to her.

*This character was based on the VOICEROID character “Tsukuyomi Ai” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

Prim Marlon

(PRIMA)

Profile

Age: 48 at death (457—505)

Nationality: Marlon

Race: Lucifenian

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Relatives: Husband; Previous King Marlon (deceased), Son; Kyle, Daughter; Ney (deceased), Younger brother; Presi (deceased)

The Empress Dowager of Marlon, and Kyle and Ney’s birth mother. She’s a Lucifenian noble, born from the Rogzé family.

*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID02 “PRIMA” published by ZERO-G.

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

Arkatoir Marlon

(?)

Profile

Nationality: Marlon

Religion: Levin Levia sect

Race: Marlon

Relatives: Father; Previous King Marlon, Mother, Half-brother: Kyle, countless other half-siblings (all dead)

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

Banica Conchita

(MEIKO)

Profile

Age: 29 at death (296—325)

Nationality: Beelzenian Empire

Race: Beelzenian

Relatives: Father; Muzuri, Mother

The figure who serves as the model for the fairytale “Vampiress Vanika”. She earned great distinction improving on Beelzenia’s food culture.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “MEIKO” published by Crypton Future Media.

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

(--)

Profile

Age: NO DATE

Nationality: NO DATE

Race: Jakokuan

Religion: NO DATE

Relatives: NO DATE

19th place with 2 votes (tied)

The Demon of Gluttony

(MEIKO)

Profile

Race: Demon of Deadly Sin (takes on the appearance of Banica)

Vessel: Glass of Conchita

The demon that dwells in the “Vessel of Deadly Sin, Glass of Conchita”. She is trying to become the “Master of the Graveyard”.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “MEIKO” published by Crypton Future Media.

26th place with 1 vote (tied)

Abyss IR

(?)

Profile

Age: NO DATE

Nationality: Marlon--Stateless

Race: NO DATE

Religion: NO DATE

Relatives: NO DATE

A sorceress secretly working in the shadow of history. She’s the one who taught Prim about the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”, and always carries around a red cat. What is her true identity--?

26th place with 1 vote (tied)

Shaw Freezis

(Tsukuyomi Shouta)

Profile

Age: 12 (Born: 493)

Nationality: Marlon

Race: Marlon

Religion: Levin Held sect

Relatives: Father; Keel, Mother; Mikina, Big Sister; Yukina, Little sister; Aile

The eldest son of the Freezis family, and Yukina’s younger brother. He’s cheeky, but he’s also a young boy who puts his family first. He’s studying know-how on modern commerce as Keel’s heir.

*This character was based on the VOICEROID character “Tsukuyomi Shouta” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

26th place with 1 vote (tied)

Mikina Freezis

(miki)

Profile

Age: 32 (Born: 473)

Nationality: Marlon

Race: Marlon

Religion: Levin Held sect

Relatives: Husband; Keel, Children; Yukina (eldest daughter), Shaw (eldest son), Aile (second daughter)

Keel’s wife, and mother of three. She has a very good eye for people, but when it comes to her children she turns into a bit of a worrywart.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID2 Artist Engine01 character “SF-A2 codename miki” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

26th place with 1 vote (tied)

Eve Moonlit

(Hatsune Miku)

Profile

Age: NO DATE (~014)

Nationality: Elphegort

Race: Elphe

Relatives: Husband, children (stillbirth), two adoptive children

The “Original Sinner” who was the impetus for the creation of the “Seven Deadly Sins” and the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 “Hatsune Miku” published by Crypton Future Media.

26th place with 1 vote (tied)

Sateriasis Venomania

(Camui Gackpo)

Profile

Age: NO DATE (~137)

Nationality: Beelzenian Empire

Race: Asmodean

Relatives: NO DATE

The duke of Asmodean in the Beelzenian Empire. He used a “Vessel of Deadly Sin” to cause the “Venomania Incident”.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Gackpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

26th place with 1 vote (tied)

Trauben fruit

(--)

Profile

Producing area: Entire Evillious region

Classification: Flowering vine

Traits: The fruit grows in bunches, and can be made into things like wine.

We counted 366 votes in all!

Thank you for all the poll responses!!

directory

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percyjacksonfan3 · 3 years

Text

The Last Olympian Thoughts

So because I have absolutely 0 self-control or restraint when it comes to this series and its characters, and for The Last Olympian in particular, I could not put TLO down. Because of this I figured I couldn’t do the usual photo reaction posts I have been so far, because the spam would just be ridiculous, so I am stealing the idea from @yourstrulytaaay to do a masterpost instead. (Adding a Read More cause this got ridiculously long)

Fun fact, TLO came out right after i finished reading the series for the first time so it's the first PJO book i bought and my only hard cover one for the og series. I checked the year and turns out it was published 2009, which means i was actually 9 when i read the series for the first time. I realize this is not really a fun fact but i thought i was older when I first read the series so it's blowing my mind a little ‘cause now I’m 21 and everything hits different and i still have so much love for this series and the characters Okay onto book thoughts: - i was right that this book is gonna destroy me, the first line alone made me so excited and nostalgic it's ridiculous - I love Rachel and Percy sm tbh. Her being a bit of peace and normalcy in his life without always reminding Percy of who and what he is is so good for him. Just a little escape

- of course by the end of the book that's not the case any more but by the end he's lived his prophecy so he doesn't need it as badly, plus he and Annabeth are solid again - Percy saying Annabeth has been hard to be around lately... Ouch my heart. Luke really is the last thing that keeps them from being together and Percy is so jealous and Annabeth so torn and in pain, i feel so bad for them both

- Beckendorf 🥺🥺 - the telkhine with the Lil Demon lunchbox!! I forgot about him. Percy: 'i left him alive, partly because his lunchbox was cool' is one of my absolute favourite lines tbh - Paul taking Percy crabbing and being imperative in helping Percy kill the giant crab 💖 Paul Blofis is important and deserves the world, okay? - aw Percy, you can't save every demigod bb

- 'i had to fight him eventually. Why not now?... What difference would a week make?' Oh Percy you have no idea - real talk tho, the fact Kronos possessed Luke's body would also mess me tf up. Percy keeps forgetting it's not Luke anymore and yeah, that would be so so hard and confusing af, like what another smart little mind game for Kronos to pull on top of everything else - the fact Percy fights Kronos before getting the Achilles Curse and actually doesn't die within seconds is... Astounding. He kicks him in the chest! And yeah Kronos is weaker and still adjusting to Luke's body, but Percy is having trouble fighting Luke cause they used to be friends - Percy breaks Kronos' time magic!! Like?! Boy is POWERFUL.

- OUCH - honestly Luke, Thalia and Annabeth's family breaking the way it did... Don't talk to me. Poor Annabeth, Luke betrayed them, Thalia joined the Hunters because of Luke's betrayal so she's pretty much AWOL all the time and then Luke dies. Like Rick wtf, my heart can't take it? -Percy and Tyson having each others backs when talking to Poseidon in the underwater palace is the brother-brother relationship we love to see - Percy trying to stick a sand dollar in the vending machines at school 🤦🏻‍♀🤦🏻‍♀ - the whole underwater interaction at Poseidon's palace? Perfection. Awkward family drama and all - Connor falling out of the tree when he sees Percy because he's so excited 😂😂

- 😭💖

- k, ik Clarisse isn't perfect but tbh if i was a child of Ares whose father was disrespected and hated by my fellow campers (ares deserves it but still) and that disrespect trickled down to how the other campers treated ME (which if Percy is reliable here, it obviously does) then i would also be irritated at being used for muscle and nothing else? And just expected to fight with the people who act as if they'd rather not have Ares kids around the rest of the time. Like Clarisse isn't totally wrong - Percy reading the prophecy, seeing he's meant to die and just being like 'i do not see it' and refusing to outright think about it makes me so sad for him - (but it taints every action after and he's super reckless afterwards bc of it- including finally breaking and accepting the Achilles Curse) - (also him taking this as the last straw and finally beginning to show Annabeth how he really feels, cause fuck it, he's dying anyway) - Give me more info about Rachel's backstory and family Rick!! - how did i forget Percy willingly eats chocolates that taste like cardboard because 'i didnt have anything against cardboard' like sir? Ik Silena didn't want them but still? - 'she'd always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful' STOP, MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT - Percy staring at Annabeth and forgetting what they're talking about cause hes so distracted 👌🏻

- hmm yeah... For some strange reason.... - i forgot how Percy totally bombs this convo bw them and now want to cry 😭 Annabeth is trying to talk about what's important and Percy, you sweet oblivious man, you're shooting her down without even realizing - love that they're both on the same wavelength tho. Percy two lines before, hmm it's cool to date ppl from other cabins, wonder why im thinking that around Annabeth, my best friend in the world, and then Annabeth a beat later, hmm, let me bring up Silena and Beckendorf and how it's important to be with the people you love when you have the chance, no way Percy will miss this huge hint right? - they're the best - k i honestly forgot Percy full on physically intimidates Leneus like that - luke telling his mom if he ran away the monsters wouldnt get her..i can just imagine luke crying when he says good bye before running away because he thinks it's his fault his mom is like that and he cant take care of and protect her anymore because it's too hard - uh oh now i have angsty pre-lightning thief luke fic inspo... Him, Thalia and Annabeth on the run... The ANGST - Rick holds absolutely nothing back in this book and i am in pain - HESTIA!! 💖💖🥰 - actual loml - i love that Rick titled this book after her and that he wrote such a great series about the importance of family (biological, found or otherwise) and home, and that he said actually Hestia is the most important bc shes the most humble and keeps the peace and knows when to fight and when to yield and you protect what you love, which is your home - i just... Adore Hestia - Grover! Missed you babes - Hades is so so horrible to Nico, always comparing him to Bianca :/ - but i do love Hades, Persephone and Demeter together they make me laugh - oh god the River Styx - Achilles 🥺 - Annabeth being Percy's lifeline is, and continues to be, A Lot™ - 'my name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth's hand.' LOL Why am i crying? - Like the fact there is no Percy without Annabeth, and that remembering her literally reminded him of who he is in his very soul... It's fine im fine - i won't even get into the parallels of her being his lifeline now and then later when Hera takes his memories but leaves the memory of Annabeth for Percy to fight to get back to (anyone who wants to yell about it with me... Feel free to message) - badass Percy is my fav Percy tbh - him defeating Hades?? Like? Hades is arguably the most powerful god, okay - i feel bad for Nico but if i was Percy I'd do the exact same, Nico, sorry man but this is a high stakes time crunch deal and Nico is literally the only hope of persuading Hades and distracted by his own internal stuff - flashbacks to Luke, Thalia and Annabeth hurt, ow - George and Martha are the best - damn i forgot Hermes full on nearly kills Percy here, yikes - Luke stop cockblocking Percabeth challenge

- i love!! Percy's love for New York!! So much!! - Percy leaving to live in New Rome in HoO is a lie and this is all the proof i need for why - the fact the entire last half of the book is the battle and aftermath... Such great buildup and pacing. All the tricks and twists and battles in this War of Manhattan? I would not take out a thing, Rick, you legend - of course then the final battle in hoo with the gods is what? Two pages? Ugh, don’t talk to me about my hatred for BoO and HoO - 'no detours you two' is still the cutest thing!!! - THE HUNTERS!! Thalia i missed you - good job Percy, you finally spent your sand dollar - Minotaur!! - 'dont i get a kiss for luck? Its kind of a tradition right?' Percy finds out he's gonna die and is out of fucks to give and honestly I support him - also Michael just standing beside these two while they're flirting like umm 👀 👀 while a monster army marches towards them, nbd - Annabeth taking Ethan's knife meant for Percy!!! Cause she just knows his weak spot without him even telling her! They literally invented love - Feral Percy is so scary omg, i love how well Rick incorporates the Achilles Curse in this novel, with the whole heightened weaknesses and stuff ans the parallels to Achilles arrogance being what killed him and Percy's loyalty, fierceness and protective instinct being his own heightened weakness - the fact that Percy is the one who inadvertantly kills Michael Yew tho, I'll never recover from that - the fact Hades offers Maria di Angelo a golden palace by the Styx like how Poseidon offers Sally a palace under the sea tho. Let's talk about that parallel - the entire talk with Prometheus is so so good - not me picturing young Luke hiding in the closet to get away from his mom when she has an 'episode' -i love callbacks in stories and all of the callbacks to the rest of the series in this book make me very happy (medusa, minotaur, the underworld, Rainbow!! My baby!!, Daedalus and more) - Percy summoning a wholeass hurricane against Hyperion - the Party Ponies! They're so chaotic, i love it - Dionysus! 😁 I can't help it, i love him - Percy absolutely losing it when he sees Sally and Paul asleep in the car 🥺 - Rachel telling Percy he's not the hero screws with him so much :( poor bb - although i really really love how Rick wrote this, it's so refreshing to not have one chosen one save the world, but a combination of people - the drakon, Silena and Clarisse make me cry - the Patrochilles references, im not okay - Annabeth giving up on Luke after hearing what he did to Silena and Percy telling her that doesn't make him happy 😭 that whole interaction makes my heart ache - Percy giving Hestia Pandora's pithos 🥺 - and Hades, Nico and the others coming for a final attack is so badass, i love it - listen im glad the og trio were the ones to confront Luke on Olympus but the fact Thalia got so close and then pinned by a statue of HERA makes me so sad. Ik her and Luke were finished and she coped by cutting him off completely and giving up all hope but i would pay money to know what they would have said to each other to say goodbye - Ethan 🥺 - Poseidon joining the fight against Typhon is so cool, such a great scene - 'PEANUT BUTTER!' - Annabeth you brilliant badass you - RIP Luke, you werent great but you werent the worst either - the gods just rolling up seconds too late, wondering wtf happened in Olympus and who the dead body is - the chapter where the Olympians meet and give out rewards is one of my absolute favourites (again i am incensed we didn't get anything like this in HoO) - will Percy turning down immortality ever not make me scream in glee? No? Alright then - Annabeth being relieved like Percy was relieved at the end of Titan's Curse tho - oh Hermes :/ - its so hard reading all this and knowing what comes in HoO... Like it's such a cathartic, earned and mostly happy and peaceful ending and then HoO comes along and undermines it all - aww Rick let Paul see Olympus somehow pls, he deserves it, he killed a dracanae - (i would also love to see it) - Percy being more upset Rachel took his pegasus than her going to Camp and possibly dying, lol, priorities dude - i honestly think that Rick had other ideas for the second Great Prophecy and how things would go down in BoO, cause the prophecy like... Barely applies to BoO, Doors of Death are in book four, and explabations of it is all so unclear when Rick is usually pretty good with that stuff - PERCABETH - lol Percy complaining about privacy when he and Annabeth are caught kissing literally in the middle of the very open and public dining pavilion, okay - BEST UNDERWATER KISS OF ALL TIME - that's it and im a glass case of emotion - very happy to say that this series remains my favourite of all time 💖

If anyone ever wants to come gush about anything Riordanverse related feel free, because as you can see I have a lot of thoughts about it all

#lau rereads pjo #the last olympian is my favourite book for a REASON #honestly every line is killer #so much subtext to read into #the dialogue #the relationships are dialed up to 11 #every character is so on point #the battle strategies too? are just so interesting?#I just adore it #Tay don't read any of this yet cause it's all spoilers #alright I'm gonna go write fic to express these feelings now #tlo #the last olympian #pjo #pjato #percy jackson

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heisen-shrine · 3 years

Text

So I thought of something fun yesterday while I was playing Magic with my best friend. I haven't played the game in a long time but the single match I played with him seriously sparked the idea:

What if the Lords of Resident Evil Village geeked out one night and played Magic the gathering? What would their decks be like? Why would they choose the colors they do and what sort of strategies would they use? Keep in mind this is all fan speculation and just done for fun. That being said, let's check this out!

Alcina

Colors: green, blue, and white

Pretty much to everyone's surprise she doesn't use vampires in her deck. However she has a shit load of low cost elves, just to hold you over until she can get her big stuff out. She uses green for the effects of trample, reach, and some lifelink. Enchantments are mostly for their power ups, add more mana, or to turn mana into temporary creatures.

Blue is the color of no, you're actually not gonna do that and Alcina exploits the ever loving fuck out of this. This woman has counters for days and will not hesitate to use them. She does it partly for trolling and partly to keep her opponent from attacking while she's getting her bigger monsters out on the field. She actually has a wall that if she blocks with it your creature is more or less frozen and you can't use it as long as it's on the field. As far as creatures go in blue she really likes drakes and Nagas.

As far as white, she has three uses for it: healing her points, making tokens, and power ups for her monsters. As far as monsters go in this regard, she loves flying creatures because unless you have reach or another flyer, you cant block them. This annoys ans frustrates the hell out of players.

Downside: snowballing effect. You'll see this a lot with the lords, actually with the exception of maybe one. If you can get her points down early in the game before she gets her bigger green monsters out, you should be all set. Flyers and reachers are are must have if you're gonna take her on, also don't be afraid to counter her counters to ensure victory. Good luck!

2. Donna

Colors: green and black

Donna is a little more humble of a player. Relatively new to the game, she likes her decks to be simple and effective. Of the lords she's probably the easiest to beat...but...if she let's Angie play, you better bend over and pray to whatever deity you believe in because this doll may thrash you into oblivion if you're not ready. We'll talk about her in a minute.

Black is the color of high risk and high reward. It's a color that surprised the others when she started using it, as she doesn't seem to be the ballsy type. As far effects go, she enjoys the abilities of death touch and lifelink. She'll also take any chance on trying to bring one of her precious creatures back from the dead. She is not afraid to sacrifice her own life points in order to do this, which may work in your favor.

As far green goes, she also likes elves but any creature with forest walk or swamp walk is also a good thing in her books. So if you're a fellow Green or black player, good luck with blocking. As far as enchantments go for green, power ups and square up cards for days. Donna will power up her beasts and make them fight one of your own just to reduce your numbers and will do so gladly.

Downside: it's not a necessarily powerful deck. While it can be hard to be block, her monsters tend to be on the weaker side of don't really hit hard...however...

*Angie

Colors: every. Single. One. Even colorless.

That's right: this doll is not afraid to use fucking eldrazis and will do so with the biggest smile on her face. She also collects slivers...for fun. Of course she does. Angie's deck is an absolute chaotic mess from the outside looking in. To her opponents it looks like a mess and sheer nonsense, but through sheer power of absolute will, Angie usually pulls through with a win and on top of that will take your best card for wasting her time. She has stolen cards from the other lords and will keep doing so because deep down she's a card hoarder and her switchboard is actually as big her deck. It's terrifying. She's able to change the color of most of her creatures to colorless and of course the creatures of her opponents. She also uses some artifact creatures just for flavor.

Downside: this is an absolute nightmare deck to go up against, however she's made one serious mistake: her mana. Angie has surprisingly low mana and will either mana screw or mana flood herself. As scary as it is, the deck is a snowballer and it will take a while to come to its full power.

3. Salvatore

Colors: blue, black, green

Is anyone really surprised that this dude is a blue player primarily? If you thought Alcina was a master troll when it comes to counters, oh hell no. Sal will happily give her a run for her money. Lots of counters, lots of freezing effects, and at least one card that gives him the ability to take two turns. He also likes the cards that allow him to see some cards in his deck and then allow him to shuffle if things aren't going favorably. As for creatures, he adores leviathans and krakens, but also loves the tough as nails merfolk.

Black, as we established before, is a high risk high reward color, but Sal primarily uses it for the creatures with death touch, lifelink, and flying thrown in for flavor. As for enchantments, expect a lot of life points lost and a lot of exiles/discarding. He will use these abilities without hesitation or remorse.

Green is the color of enormous and numerous and Sal lives up to that expectation. He has a few smaller animal creatures to hold his opponent off while he gets his bigger stuff out. Some of his creatures have lifelink and forest walk, and some others have reach. He powers up his creatures and floods his side of the field with token creatures. If you're not careful or fast working enough, you could be staring down a big army of beast tokens very quickly.

Downside: snowballing effect...by a long shot. This deck is big and it has big creatures in it. Sal tends to either mana screw or mana flood himself. In times like these, time is of the essence. If you have creatures with haste, you're actually at an advantage, good job. If you're gonna take a shot at Sal, make it count. Strike fast and strike hard before he gets the leviathans out.

4. Karl

Colors: all of them (used to be red primarily, then red blue and green)

I'm a little biased here admittedly because I love Karl and I want him to be great at something besides being a weapon for Miranda. That being said, he will not hesitate to wipe the floor with your ass if you come off as a snotty cock sucker. If you're new to the game he won't annihilate you as hard, but he'll still beat you. You just won't wind up in the negatives.

Karl took a look at Angie's deck and was like, well I'm gonna take this idea and tame it. And holy shit did it work.

Red is the color of aggression. It's a strike fast and strike hard color. It's the color of burn, and burn you shall indeed. All of his red creatures have haste, meaning he can hit you with them when they come out. While the other colors have summoning sickness, red for Karl absolutely does not. He doesn't have time for that mess. Enchantments will basically allow him to destroy your mana, steal it, or go after your points directly. He won't hesitate to do this. At all.

Blue is the no! Color. And damn does Karl say no a lot. He likes the sort of enchantments that allow him to see into his deck or his opponents hand so that way he knows what to do next. As far as creatures go, he exploits the ever loving fuck out of island walk, since almost everyone uses blue. This makes it very hard to block him. If you're a primary blue player good luck.

Green- green is for reachers and lifelink. It's also really good for getting mana out very quickly. He has a couple spiders with death touch and at least one huge basilisk. Enchantments are for getting more lands out, and strengthening his creatures.

White- White is the color of spam for Karl. He'll make an army of token creatures just to throw them at you until your deck no longer functions. He also has at least two flyers, and one really big wall for blocking. Enchantments are usually power ups, or healing his life points.

Black: black is mostly for death touch, and swamp walk. There's also some lifelink thrown in for flavor. He loves nightmare creatures, and even has some vampires to throw at lady super sized bitch (hey at least he's not above using them!). He's also the only lord to use a planeswalker: vraska, the scheming gorgon. And yes all the lords hate him for it.

Downside: mana. Getting mana on the field for him is actually pretty hard. If he starts with anything besides red, you may have a chance to take him down early. If you have any haste creatures or enchantments that offer haste, for God's sake use it. If you have any creatures with any of the mana walks, you're in luck, in that case he can't block you at all. It's a major weakness he didn't think of. Do not let his vraska get to ten or you're a dead man, quite literally.

So I hope you guys enjoyed that because I seriously thought that was fun. I may do one of these for Miranda or even for the Dimitrescu sisters if you really want me to. Have fun yall, and happy gaming!

#magic the gathering #resident evil 8 #the four lords #alcina dimitrescu #donna beneviento #salvatore moreau #karl heisenberg

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calliecat93 · 3 years

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Callie’s Disney Princess Retrospective: Beauty and the Beast

(Snow White) (Cinderella) (Sleeping Beauty) (The Little Mermaid)

The Little Mermaid was a huge success for Disney. It was such a big success that it began the Renaissance Era of Disney Animation and returned Disney to the top animation studio. While many people such as John Musker, Ron Clements, and Glen Keane can be credited for the film's success, the biggest player by far was lyricist Howard Ashman. He put his heart and soul into the film, and not just with song lyrics. He wanted the characters to connect to the audience. He wanted to play a part in the story. He wanted this film to be something special, and he succeeded. But he was also frustrated, could be argumentative when others didn't like his vision, and unknown to everyone, he was dying. After winning two Oscars for The Little Mermaid's music, Howard revealed to composer Alan Menken that he had AIDS, and he didn't have much longer to live.

However, Ashman wasn't going down before completing one more film. Though he had been writing music for Aladdin, he ultimately ended up as the lyricist of another film. A film that had been through many different iterations and was handed off to newbie directors. Little did anyone know just how impactful this film would be for Disney, and for the industry as a whole. Well, except for Ashman himself. The film that we are discussing today is the first animated film to ever, ever be nominated for Best Feature. That film is 1991''s Beauty and the Beast.

Overview

Belle is a beautiful young woman, but is seen as an oddity in her village due to her love of books and her utter disinterest in local heartthrob Gaston. When her father, an inventor named Maurice, leaves for a science fair, he ends up taking refuge in an old, abandoned castle. But the castle is actually enchanted and acts as the home to dozens of talking inanimate objects... and a fearsome beast. When Belle goes looking for her father, she offers to take his place as the Beast’s prisoner. But during her time in the castle, Belle discovers that this Beast may not be as much of a monster as he appears, and this may lead to both discovering true love...

Review

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I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this is by far one of Disney’s most beloved films. It got praise form both critics and movie-goers when it came out, and it’s only become more beloved in the nearly 20 years since. Belle is praised as a feminist's icon and the film for it’s themes of toxic masculinity, judging a book by it’s cover, and some of the darker aspects of society like those we blindly praise. I... like the film, but I never loved it to the extent as others. Not because it’s bad, that is a ridiculous notion. I just liked other films more and Belle just didn’t interest me as others like Cinderella or Mulan or Ariel. But seeing it again as an adult who has seen the darker aspects of society since I was a kid, it REALLY rings more deeply than it did back then.

One aspect that no one can argue about is the animation. The film is beautiful. It has some of Disney’s best animators at the time such as Glen Keene, Mark Henn, Andreas Deja, and so much more. There was so much life put into the film and it is a true visual spectacle.I meant hey managed to take inaminate objects, and bring them to life. Sure they have faces to help humanize them, but to make us believe that these are talking, moving objects that were once human is still a VERY difficult task. But they have so much personality like the suave, passionate candlesick Lumiere or the stuffy, orderly Cogsworth. The backgrounds andf settings are also great fromt he Sleepy Hollow-esque village to the gothic castle of The Beast, to the creedy woods that look even more terrifying when it snows. There’s so much color and lighting that is used so well, especially with the castle eminating so much mystery and intrigue compared tot he plain village that Belle is from.

But the setting we all remember most of all is the ballroom. While Disney has been using CGI some before, such as Big Ben in The Great Mouse Detective (yes,t hat WHOLE setting was computer graphics), this is probably the biggest use to date. The ballroom is a gorgeous golden color and looks so big and vast. It takes you’re breath away. There’s a reason why this is the most well-remembered part of the film. The animaiton for this film was very straining, especially due to conditios to accomodate Ashman that we’ll get to later. It was stressful, but they absoluteley put their all into it. When you watcht he ballroom sequence, added to the dance and Angela Lansbury’s lovely vocals, you forget that you’re even watching a movie. It feels like... well, love. It’s by far one of Disney’s best looking features.

As I said in the intro, the film ultimately fell into the laps of two relatively rookie animators; Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale. This was after several various attempts to adapt the film, with none successful. Wise and Trousdale’s biggest claim to fame at the time was doing animaiton for EPCOT’s now defunct Cranium Command attraction (look up Who Stole Buzzy, boy is THAT a story) and while they had worked on other features, they had never been in the director seats. To make it more difficult, due to Ashman’s health continuing to gradually decline, Katzenburg decided to move produciton over to New York to spare him from having to travel. Which is a VERY noble effort and it’s sweet that they were willing to do so to keep working with Ashman, but as you can imagine this was quite a strain on the production team and as before, they would sometimes clash with Ashman and his vision. Still, they along with Menken returning as composer and writer Linda Woolverton, they reworked the then-script into something that they were happy with.

The setting is very reminiscent of another Disney work, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. One of two segments from the Package Film Era feature The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. We all know the story of Ichabod and his infamous ride where he encountered the Headless Horseman. Here we have a similar quaint village where people seem rather simple-minded. Like in Sleepy Hollow where everyone took notice tot he rather strange looking Ichabod Crane, we see a similar notice of Belle who is an anomaly to them. Though unlike Ichabod, who had pretty much everyone under his thumb and is kind of a gold diging jerk, Belle is ostracized and is a FAR better person. Gaston bears a striking resemblance to Brom Bones in both looks and social status (tough Brom isn’t as bad in comparison or even compared to Ichabod, though still a Jerk Jock) and the Bimbettes bear a bit of similarity to Katrina. I wouldn’t be surprised if the crew used Sleepy Hollow as inspiration for setting and character design. Only thing missing is the Headless Horseman, which that would have been interesting XD

The film deals with several topics. There’s the standard ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ and ‘true love conquers all’ messages. Both of which are handled very well. But there are also some that IDT Disney had ever really tackled to this point. There’s encouraging women to make their own choices, which Disney HAS tackled but this one does it differently with Belle rejecting the standard good-looking man and falling for the monstrous looking one. In fact there is really a strong theme tearing down toxic masculinity and male entitlement. It says that no, men are not obligated to a woman and that women have the freedom to reject them no matter the societal pressure. Especially if they act as despicable as Gaston. With how much more aware we’ve become of how horrible some men in power can be and how they use that power on vulnerable women, this remains a relevant message to todays audience. It let’s women be empowered, confident, and enjoy things like reading as well as have the hope of finding those who will be accepting. These are all important things, and the film does an excellent job in showing it and what actual love should be like. The Beast especially starts as a jerk, but once he decides to become better and wants to be better for no ulterior reasons, he proves worthy of Belle’s love. That’s how love should be and how a person should change themselves. Again, very well done.

Despite his health and being downcast about not completing Aladdin, Ashman still put his all into the film. As I said, they outright shifted production to another state at a time when social media and things like Skype and Zoom were a distant dream. Still, Ashman along with Menken put their all into the soundtrack, and it paid off big time. This film, along with The Little Mermaid, really set up the precedent for Broadway-style animaed films and considering that they continue to be successful, I’d say that that says a lot. There are a lot of memorable songs int his fimlm, and there’s even some that didn’t make it in. One in particular, Human Again, actualy got animated and added back for the film’s IMAX release and various home media releases (sadly it’s not in the Disney+ version). The score is also very well done, especially at the end. Just listen to the music when the Beast finally turns human again. It added to the outright magical animation will leave you in awe as much as Belle was.

But what about the vocal tracks? Good question. Let’s go over them:

Belle/Belle Reprise: Our first song which as the name suggests, is about our leading lady. It does a lovely job establishing her character as a book-loving, intelligent young woman feeling that there was be more than this life ans village that she remains stuck in. It also establishes the village’s rather simple-mindedness and socital expectatons, finding Belle a beautiful but very strange girl because of her loving reading more than getting married. It also establishes Gaston’s smugness, entitlement, and holding the entire village’s admiration, The music is optimistic, but there’s a lot here that’s gonna take a dark turn a the film goes on. The reprise is short and more somber, but let’s Belle express her unwillignness to marry a man like Gaston, wanting to find love on her own terms. Little does she know what’s awating her right after.

Gaston: No one can have a song named after Gaston like Gaston! Yeah, this inspired plenty of meme’s, didn’t it? Even Disney itself has gotten in on the fun haha! But seriously, this is a fun villain song. I gotta give Gaston this, he’s a smug, horrible person but he shows that he can back up many of his boasts. I don’t doubt that he can eat dozens of eggs a day or is as strong as an ox. The song also further shows the town’s utter blind devotion to this brute, not being concerned about his entitlement to a girl who clearly isnt interest and more because of how handsome and grand he is. Isn’t society fun kids?! But then at the end, after Maurice is kicked out, it takes a darker turn as Gaston makes his plans to essentially blackmail Belle with her father’s safety... and right back to blind praise! I feel zero sympathy for any of the villagers in this film. But yeah, a song with a lot of dark implications, but still a very enjoyable villain song.

Be Our Guest: This is a true show-stopper, and I’m not just saying that. Lumiere wanted to create a show, and BOY did he succeed. The song is the most like a Broadway number in it’s composition and grand feeling. The fact that we have a huge number full fo singing, dancing, stuntwork, etc is being done by a bunch of dishes and pretty freakin’ impressive. Yet the animators gave it all so much life and Jerry Orback sings with so much passion and energy and it is just SO much fun to watch! Especially with poor Cogsworth at first trying to get everyone to calm down, but by the end he gets real into it... well until Lumiere knocks him to the side. The only negative is that for being a song about serving Belle dinner, aside form a bit of The Grey Stuff she didn’t even eat dinner. For shame! So 1 out fo 10 of food servive, but the show was worthy of two thumbs up!

Something More: This was the song that replaced Human Again. It’s a sweet song about Belle and Beast beginning to realize their feelings the more that they spend aroudn each other. Belle sees that Beast may not be very well-mannered or much of a looker, but he does have a good heart and the more they interact, the more it begins to show. Belle’s kindness, intellience, and willingness to look beyond the surface has Beast falling in love with her, yet his fear of being a monster is still holding him back. Still as we see the two do things like have dinner, play in the snow, or even Beast letting Belle read to him, the more we see that spark of love slowly grow, even if they haven’t fully grasped it. It helps advance the romance, and it’s just really sweet.

Beauty and the Beast: The song that won Menken and Ashman another Oscar. It’s not hard to see why either. The song is beautiful. It’s performed by Angela Lansbury, and her gentle vocals accompanies by the gentle orchestra is just lovely. The woman outright did the song in one take. One take. That is insane, yet it happened. And I can see why because the song is just beautiful. It adds to much to the already majestic ballroom scene, being about two unlikely individuals finding love and ultimately making the other a better person. It’s just a work of beauty. There’s also the pop version by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, which I also really love. It’s more commerical, but still very pretty especially with Celine’s gorgeous singing voice. Both versions are beautiful, and the first thing I think of when I think of this film... and no, not just beause of the name.

The Mob Song: This is exactly as you would expect with a song with that title. It’s dark, angry, and scary. Gaston rallies the troops to kill The Beast, convincing them that he is a danger to them all. They grab their torches, weapons, and there’s just this tense atmosphere throughout. This is the culminaiton of al the socital expectations and blind devotion to a person who doesn’t at all deserve it. It’s also a very accurate protrayal of the mob mentality, where you become a part of this hivemind following the rest of the crowd no matter how wrong it may be and despite your own senebilities. The only ones who don’t fall into it, Belle and Maurice, get tossed into a basement for their trouble. What makes this song sad though? In Disney+’s documentary Howard, produced by Don Hahn who also produced this film, it was explained how in the eyes of several of his colleagues, it seemed like Ashman was venting about the AIDS epidemic. That was a VERY dark time where the gay community was especially under fire, persecuted, hated, and so many other horrible things because the world chose to blame them for it. Ashman was a gay man. He had an ex partner die of AIDS, and had another partner at the time who talked about him in the documentary. Imagine being scapegoated just because of your sexuality, even though you never caused any harm, and society hated on you and others fell into he mob mentality, and they went as far as to either demand you to die or do the job themselves. All because you were different. Really adds a new perspecive to the song, doesn’t it? This can be applied to so many groups too, which makes the song even scarier, but also emphasize even more how dangerous the mob mentality is. Very effective song.

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Sadly, Howard wouldn’t live to see all of his numbers to completion. With his health declining rapidly, Menken and various others went back and forth between Burbank and New York in order to work with him. Ashman worked until he psycially couldn’t anymore. He was even giving notes to performers like Paige O’Hara despite barely being able to talk. He managed to complete his work, at least to my knowledge, before his passing on March 14th, 1991, just a few months before the film’s release. After a screentest, which proved very successful, Don Hahn and some other colleagues went to see Ashman in the hospital to say their goodbyes. Hahn told him of the reception, and jokingly asked who would ahve expected that the film would have turned out so great? Ashman’s response? “I did.” The work he managed to do for Aladdin would be included in the film, which we’ll discuss when we get to that one. The soundtrack won the Oscar which was awarded to Ashman (as well as Menken) posthumously and a dedication to him was including at the end of the film. It’s always sad to see such a talented individual leave us far too soon, but his work truly brought new life to Disney and is beloved even all these years later. That is a legacy that will never fade.

Now we get to characters, and we have quite a good number of them. We have of course the village that Belle is from. On the surface, they seem like pretty plain people, satisfied with their way of life. But this also causes them to at least not think highly of those who break from that way of life. The men work, the women care for the children. If men don’t work, they’re jerk slobs. They all especially fall into blind admiration for the strong, handsome Gaston who is hailed as a local hero. So much so that no one gives ANY of his terrible actions an ounce of consideraiton. Selling Maurcie tot he looney bin? Well he’s alreafy viewed as crazy, so ah well. Belle trying to tell them that The Beast isn’t a monster? While their first imprression of him is defeniteley a bad one, the fact that they listen to Gaston and not the woman who actually interacted with The Beast says a lot about how simple minded they all are. I hope they learned their lesson after all was said and done, but even if not Belle doesn’t have to pay them any mind anyways.

The only person who is accepting of Belle is her father, Maurice. He’s viewed as a crackpot, but Maurice is a good-hearted, smart, and perfectly sensible man. He’s a bit of a goof with how his inventions can go haywire, but otherwise is no diferent from any other person. But like his daughter, his interests have him judged instead of what he’s like as a person. It’s especially sad when he tries to get help to save Belle, and he is merely laughed at and thrown out because of his status. Maurice is a loving father, accepting of Belle and of her interests and choices. She isn’t interested in Gaston? Fine with him. People view her as odd? That’s utterly ridiculous. It’s really nice to have a parent who is supportive and involved int heir kids life, especally compared to Triton last time who may be caring, but is utterly against everything that matters to Ariel. In fact it’s the firs ttime we’ve had this since Snow White and Cinderlla’s parents are dead and their stepmothers are horrible, Aurora grew up away from her otherwise caring parents, and Ariel... it’s complicated. Maurice is a good guy and it is good that Belle has someone who accepts her unconditionaly. She loves him so much that she sacrificed her happiness for him twice to protect him, which really shows how strong their bond is.

That brings us to our villain, Gaston. He is a hunter who is muscular, handsome, and has physical skills that he can back up. However he is also entitled, egotistical, sefish, and just a horrible person. He wants to marry Belle only because of her beauty and instead of trying to get to know her or shifitng atteniton to any of the girls who would gladly grovel before him, he pursues her despite her not liking him. It’s especially bad when he goes to her house, sets up a huge engagement party, and gets into her personal space in his attempts to charm her. She not only rejects him, but promptly humiliates him. Yet instead of thinking that he had tried far too hard and jumped the gun, he blames Belle for daring to reject him. He reflects exactly how society can view someone like him. No one thinks about the woman, they only see a good-looking man get rejected despite us not knowing anything about ther perosn or their relaitonship. Especially if that man is essentially a celebrity, which makes people look past anyhing.

But none of these things are indicitive of an evil perosn. An arrogant jerk yes, but not evil. That all changes when, after Maurice tries to get help, Gaston comes up with a new plan. He decides to have Maurice admitted to an asylum for being crazy, and to use this to force Belle to marry him. This is what shifts Gaston from a jerk to a true villain. This is how far his entitlement and selfishness goes. He is willing to take Belle’s own elderly father and use him and his freedom as blackmail to force her to marry him. Even compared to the four villainesses before him who committed horrible acts such as attempted murder, mental/emotional abuse, and even attempting world domination, this is utterly despicable. Then there's him deciding to kill The Beast. Despite what he says, it's not because of the potential risk to the town, it's solely because he sees that Belle loves him and can't stand it. He outright calls her crazy AND locks her and Maurice up out of pure entitlement and selfishness. He doesn't give a damn about Belle or her though and well-being. Only about his own.

Gaston is entertaining, but very much evil. As I said above he bears a lot of similarity to Brom Bones from Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. A muscular jock-like figure often the most beautifiul girl in town. Only while Brom was a jerk, he was arguably less bad than Ichabod Crane depending how you looked at it. Gaston essentially has Brom's muscles an Ichabod's selfishness. He cares only for himself and his own pride. Admittedly he put up a decent fight against The Beast, but that's only because Beast wasn’t fighting back until he saw Belle. When he did, Gaston whimpered and begged like the pathetic man that he is. Then he stabbed him despite being spared out of pure spite. An act that cost him his life. Fun fact, originally he survived the fall and was truly killed via the wolves. They ended up saving that for Scar's death in The Lion King. But yeah, Gaston died in the undignifiedmanner that he deserved. A despicable but memorable villain who was perfect for this film.

Then we have the castle characters. You’d think that it would be difficult to give life to a bunch of furniture and appliances... and it probably was. But this movie makes it look easy. They do give most of them humanoid features, like eyes and a mouth, but not all of them and even then it would be so easy to make it look creepy. But the castle staff is just os much fun and beaming with personality. We’re gonna discuss the main four: Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip.

Lumiere is a candlestick, which matches his passionate characterization. He’s a showman. A romantic. A more daring, out-going character compared to his frequent frenemy Cogsworth. Cogsworth is a clock and I think he’s implied to be the Beast’s butler or some other kind of advisor. He’s stuffy, nervous, and the most lawful of the characters. Though he CAN get into the fun of things with a little provoking as demonstrated in Be Our Guest and the big battle during the climax. Hoenstly, Be Our Guest is a great number to demonstrate the two’s contrasitng perosnalities. Belle has been banned from eating and Cogsworth doens’t want to both break the Beast’s orders nor cause a bunch of noise that would anger him. Lumiere however? He’s dead set on getting Belle to fall for the Beast, so she should be treated as their guest, not a prisoner. Plus he and the other staff are tired after ten years of being stuck as they are and all alone, so cue the extravagant show number. Lumiere is having the time of his life while Cogsworth tries to convince everyone to stop... but by the end gets caught up in it and joins in ont he fun. Too bad that Lumiere knocks him off the center stage at the end haha. But yeah, their constant banter is amusing but they are clealry friends, especially in the fight where Cogsworth saves Lumiere. They’re both also performed wonderfully by their VA’s, Jerry Orbach and David Odgen Stiers, the latter of whom would appear in several more Disney films, including one for this series that we’ll get to fairly soon.

Mrs. Potts is a teapot and her son Chip is a tea cup. I guess that Chip ended up that way to match his mother, which her being a teapot matches her mothelry persona. She’s very kind and consoling towards Belle and seems the most understanding about The Beast and why he acts ike he does. Which since I think that she was essentially the house caretaker, makes sense since she’d have likely been the one looking out for him. Plus she herself is a mother, and since Beast has the emotion coping skills of a child, she’d know how to deal with it. Chip is the token child character, though not a bad one. He’s a nice kid with a huge curiosity. It’s really cute how hen allt he adults are seeing the bloomign romance between Belle and Beast, he’s uttelry confused like any kid would be haha! He takes a liking to Belle quickly, though more like he sees her as if she were an older sister than any kind fo crush or the like. He’s also smart, figuring out how to use Maurice’s inveniton to free Belle and Maurice quickly...and him wanitng to do it again got a good laugh out of me haha! Mrs. Potts is a nurturing mother and her with Chip is so sweet,e specially when they’re truly human again. Plus her advice of how things will turn out alright in the end is advice that I look back on sometimes. it’s really comforitng.

So... as I’ve mentioned in these reviews, a big issue is how underdeveloped that the prince has been. The first two were plot devices only. Phillip and Eric were better int hat they were active int he plot and Eric had some more perosnality and motivation than the other three did. But it just didn’t feel like the male elads were... quite at their full potential yet. They generally didn’t recieve any character development and were mainly there for the sake of being a lov einterest to the heroine. That all changed in this film with our hero, The Beast.

Beast is one of the most well-developed male leads in a Disney Princess film. A few like Aladdin, Naveen, and Eugene rival him for overall best (though tbf the former IS the lead of his movie so that may not count) but Beast helped make the princes more equal to their princess without overshadowing her. Beast is the co-protagonist to Belle and the character that recieves the bulk of the character development. The opening tells us all that we need to know: Beast was once Prince Adam, a spoiled brat. When he turned away an elderly begger, it turned out that she was an Enchantress and she cursed him into his monsturous form. Since he looks like a monster, he subsequently acts like a monster... or more accurately, like the child that he never truly grew out of emotionally. He’s angry, lashes out constantly, and roars at the top of his lungs when at his limit. Like how a child screams and throws a tantrum when things don’t go their way because they lack the social and emotional coping skills to handle their feelings properly. Becoming a beast left Beast isolated and ashamed to face reality, and thus he didn’t learnt he proper coping skills. He accepted that he would forever be a monster, and succumb to acting like one.

That is, until the day that Belle arrived. When she offers herself to free her father, it’s the opportunity that Beast never beleived that he would get. If he can win her love before the rose petals all fall, he’ll be human again. He’ll be free. While he begins still acitng agressive and even bordeirng on emotionally abusive, e isn’t heartless. When Belle is crying about not getting to say goodbye to her father, Beast seems to legit feel bad for hurting her. It doens’t change his behavior, but it’s still a small moment that shows some humanization. It’s important to add moments like this and his despair when using the mirror to hear Belle talk about him. She’s justified in disliking him at that point, but it’s his reactions that matter. It shows his insecurity, his fear, his utter despair that he’ll be cursed for the rest of eternity. He’s already succumbed to acting the part of a monster and is already struggling to act more polite. As amusing as the scene of him yelling at Belle through the door is, it demonstrates just how hard this is for him but if he can’t improve his behavior, then he has no chance. He knows it, and views it as hopeless. It helps humanize The Beast, showing that despite his appearance there IS a human soul in there somewhere. Someone who on some level does want to be better, but he doesn’t know how. If not for these moments, Beast would have been utterly unsympathetic, but they pulled it off.

The turning point comes after Beast rescues Belle from the wolves. Remember, he’d already pretty much given up on winning Belle over and being human again and the confrontation on the third floor certainly didn’t help matters. He could have just let Belle to her own devices... but instead he went to save her. I sincerely do not believe it was because she was a prisoner or because he needed her. He had given up. He had succumbed. But he did it anyways, showing that he isn’t a bad person. It’s something that Belle sees and she gets him back to the castle to treat him. She called him out on his temper, but is sincerely grateful and Beast is stunned by this genuine act of kindness. She didn’t fear him. She wasn’t disgusted by him. She didn’t even leave him to die despite having pretty good reason to leave him and go. Belle still chose to save his life as he did her’s, showing Beast probably the first true act of love that he ever experienced in his life. We know nothing of his family and while I’m sure that staff members like Ms. Potts certainly cared for him, clearly they didn’t do much to quell his spoiled behavior. Belle was kind because she’s a kind person, and Beast finds that he wants to be kind to her in return.

From that point, we see Beast in a new light. He calms down significantly. He’s happier. He carries himself less like a wild animal and more like a person. He’s outright excited when he prepares the library to surprise Belle with. He’s still awkward as shown with his table manners and interacting with birds durign Something There, but he is trying. He’s trying for Belle. He activly enjoys her company. He sees how beautiful she is physically, but that’s not why he likes her. She’s kind, intelligent, independant, and she makes him feel in a way that he never has. He still feels that she can’t love him because of what he is, but the change that she has caused is so evident. He’s fallen in love and the ballroom scene only strengthens that with himt he happiest that he’s been all film. But the crowner that truly demonstrates htis? When Belle expresses missing her father, he lets her use the mirror. Not only does he seem legit concerned when they see Maurice freezing to death but when he sees Belle’s clear distress, he decides to let her go. He’s sad when he does so, knowing that she may very well never return. But Belle’s father needs her. he can’t force her to say and be miserable. He loves her so much that he decided to let her go. But it does mean that he gav up his final chance at being human after feeling more human than he had in ten years, and he is left in despair.

His despair is so strong that when Gaston and the mob arrives, he doesn’t even try to fight back. He just waits and is prepared to let whatever happens to him happen. Fortunately Belle coming back restores his will to live and he fights back. When Gaston grovels for his life, what does Beast do? He grants it, simply growling at him to leave. It is that moment hat shows how much of a better person that Beast is compared to Gaston. He was an angry man bordering on abusive, but he changed. He met someone who wasn’t willing to take his behavior, but was also willing to see the good that was in him. He changed for her, and it made him a kinder, more selfless person. The only thing that remains is his self-loathing, even saying that maybe him dying is for the best after Gaston has stabbed him. Fortunately Belle confesses her love, and it not only saves his life, but breaks the curse just in time. Beast is restored to Adam, having earned the right to having his humanity back. It was a lovely way to cap off his development, and allowed him to earn his happily ever after.

Beast was very much Belle’s equal. Even nowadays they’re both promoted and marketed pretty equally. One’s story would have been incomplete without the other. They gave each other what they each wanted and needed. I’ll go into specifics for Belle when I get to her below, but in the Beast’s case he needed someone kind, but also independent. Someone who wouldn’t tolerate his behavior and push him to change himself, but still kind-hearted enough to see that there is something there and be willing to help. Belle treated him in a way that no one else had. She was defiant, but also caring. She pushed him to rediscover his humanity. She got him to want to be kind. She got him to want to be a better person, and he not only treated her better but he was kinder to his staff as well. He finally grew up from the spoiled brat that he was before. He had found a reason to, and his love was so genuine that he let Belle go to be with her father again. It’s a beautiful story of growth and did enough to make Beast’s issues clear and not excusable, but sympathetic enough that we wanted him to be better and feel happy when he does so. He’s the best developed male lead in a Disney Princess film up to this point and helped pave the way for equally well done male leads. Ones not there just to fill out a plot beat and be the princesses’ reward, but to stand at her side as her equal.

Boy did THAT one get long. there’s other minor characters. Le Fou, The Bimbettes, the psyche ward keeper voiced by the late, great Tony Jay, various other castle characters, etc. all of them are entertaining, I just don’t have much to say about them. So then... we have one more to go.

Belle Analysis

https://youtu.be/M4ne1A1aNrI

Belle is one of the most praised and beloved Disney Princesses of all time. She is smart, playful, independent, and kind-hearted. I feel like she gets overly praised at times, mainly because some like to use her to bash her four predecessors since she didn’t have the goal of falling in love. I won’t repeat what I said about the four, you can read the reviews, but it’s a VERY unfair argument not just to them, but to Belle as well. She’s used as a tool to bash other female characters instead of being loved for herself. Then agains he also gets bashed for the Stolkholm Syndrome argument, which we’ll get to that aspect here soon. But for now, let’s just discuss Belle piece by piece and see where the path leads us.

Belle’s intro establishes everything right off the bat. So much so that the intro sing is literally titled Belle. She’s bookish and cheerful, but it’s clear from her interactions witht he villagers and their own gossip that she’s seen as weird. The only people who seem to like her as she is is the bookshop owner and her own father. The women are jealous of her beauty, the men only see her for her beauty, and both sides are confused at her lack of conformity. Belle lives in a town that clearly has very old-fashioned views regarding gender roles. The men work, the women get married and have babies. They all seem content with this... except for Belle. She enjoys books and adventure, musing about wanting more than the provincial life that she has. She strolls through the village with her nose stuck in a book, but has no trouble navigating at all depsite the distraction. Books provide her a source of adventure and thrill that her limited life does not. She breaks those old-fashioned norms and he village is uttelry baffled at to how she can be this way. But what truly makes her a bafflement to everyone? Her utter rejection of Gaston. While just about every other women swoons at his feet, Belle couldn’t be less impressed if she tried. She’s familiar with how he is and if she had’t recieved his advances before their first scene, she’s probably seen it enough times to know that she doesn’t like him. Him dismisisng her passion for books and insulting her father did him no favors.

On the surface, Belle does’t seem bothered by these things. But when home, she does express some hurt about ti to her father, the one perosn who loves her for her unconditionally. She knows that she doesn’t fit in. She knows that she’s not happy with her life. She wants someone to understand her besides her father. She wants more to life where she can be herself. She wants to find love on her own terms and not have to deal with the advances of men like Gaston. None of this stops her form being able to handle herself, as demonstrated when Gaston goes to her house to force a proposal. She handles kicking him out with utter grace and her “I don’t deserve you” line is icing on the cake. But none of that changes how she feels. If anything, it enforces it. The village is all on Gaston’s side and at that point, her father has left for the science fair. He won’t be there forever, hence why she wants to find someone who will love her for her. To control her own destiny. To those who feel forced into their gender roles or being forced into a relationship that they don’t want whether by an agressive person or by peer pressure, Belle’s struggle is very relatable. Her independant spirit is also admirable as while she is dismayed with where she’s at, she still is able to smile and live her life as she wants. She’ defiant. She makes do with what she has and is able to handle what’s thrown at her with pure wit and ingenuity. Gaston nor anyone else can bring her down... at least, not until her wish for adventure ends up unexpectedly granted.

Before we progress forward, let’s pause to discuss Belle’s VA, Paige O’Hara. When Beauty and the Beast was beginning casting, O’Hara was already a rising Broadway actress and Disney happened to be seeking Broadway talent specifically. After several call-backs, she finally earned the part. She’s credited Howard Ashman as a huge help in guiding her to finding her voice as Belle, and she performs the role beautifully. She captures Belle’s independence yet playfulness very well, as well as her defiance and heartbreak in certain scenes. And her singing? Beautiful. Maybe not on par with Jodi Benson, but you can tell why she was a rising Broadway star. Today, O’Hara works mainly as a painter with Belle very much being one of her main muses. Sadly due to how much her voice has aged, she rarely plays Belle herself anymore, the role nowadays being primarialy done by VA Julie Nathanson. While she also does a lovely job at the part, O’Hara will always be the first to bring the character to life. Fortunteley she still shows a lot of love for the role and has attended multiple events and even got to reprise Belle at least one more time during Ralph Breaks the Internet. She had reprised Belle multiple times between various DTV films, TV appearances, and other events. So even if she is limited nowadays, her large body of work will live on forever.

Back to the film, Belle discovers that her father is in danger and ends up at the castle. We all know what happens at this point. Belle offers to take her dad’s place, Beast agrees, and Maurice is kicked out before Belle can so much as say goodbye. She’s distraught at this, and who can blame her? In a matter of hours, her life as she knew it was ripped away from her. Now instead of her old provincial life, she’s a prisoner in an enchanted castle ruled by an angry beast. Even when given the nicer room, she doesn’t feel that much better. She’s never going to get to see her father again or even know if he’s safely back home. She has no reason to believe that a rescue is coming. Some may say that she should try and get out, but isn’t she allowed this? To be upset and at a loss of what to do? It’s not like she just cries the whole time, she calms down enough to refuse to go to dinner despite the others insisting that she does. Even when Beast yells at her to do so, she refuses. She may be a prisoner, but she’s not going to play the victim. She’s going to be as she normally is; however she wants to be.

Soon, Belle’s able to calm down enough that she decides to go explore the castle. She is ultimateley a curious, adventurous spirit. Regardless of the circumstances, she can’t help but want to learn more about this new, strange place and these new figures that she’s encountered. You can tellt hat she’s warming up reatly during Be Our Guest where despite not actually getitng to eat anything, she is just havng far too much fun to care. It gets her spirits back up and now she can’t resist exploring more. Even if it risks The Beast’s wrath, one her curiosity has peaked, she can’t resist it. It’s a great strength, but also probably her biggest flaw. Despite having been told not to and knowing by now how Beast will react, she slips away from Cogsworth and Lumiere to go explore the West Wing. This ends with her seeing the trashed area, finding the Enchanted Rose, and getting yelled at by an enraged Beast. That is the last push needed to make Belle decide to escape.

So now that we’re at this point, we have to talk about one of the big topics that comes up when discussing this film: Stockholm Syndrome. To put it simply, Stockholm Syndrome is when the victim becomes emotionally attached to their aggressor and doesn’t want to leave them and tries to justify their actions. So when the vicitm is rescued, they may react negativly or even aggressively towards the rescuers in favor of the agressor. it’s a psychological response. This is actually a case where I was able to go to a professional to ask about it,: my own mother. My mom is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and currently works as a therapist. I’m fairly sure that she’s never treated anyone with Stockholm, but it is something that she knows of. I did ask her about if the film did glorify Stockholm Syndrome as some accuse it of. The gist of what she told me is... well, there’s enough in-film that either side can use it to prove their case. After all she DOES develop positive feelings towards Beast while a prisoner, so one can take the context and use it as an example, and same for the side who don’t agree. Ultimately Belle is a ficitonal character. We can’t sit her down and give her a psychoanalysis because she’s not real, and most of us doing these analysis’ aren’t therapists, psyologists, or mental health experts anyways. I’ll leave some sources below if you’d like further reading on the topic, but doing research isn’t the same as being a professional trained to go over these kinds of things. My mom said at most, Beast can be viewed as emotionally abusive, though it is because of his own trauma and he did ultimately improve to be a better person.

I fully agree that yes, if someone wants to make the arguent that the film promotes Stockholm Syndrome, they can. It’s their opinion, this came out in a diferent time than now where we take things like emotional abuse in cinema far more seriously, and in the end it’s a piece of fiction and people are free to view it however they wish. But the same also applies to me and in my opinion, no. Belle does NOT suffer from Stockholm Syndrome nor does the film glorify it. Now I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. This is strictly my opinion going off my understanding of it. I may be wrong and if that’s the case, I apologize. But from what I know and understand, the case in the film is not a straight forward situation like the various case studies in the real world. Plus I think we see enough of Belle being defiant and not feeling positivly towards Beast to see that she certainly hasn’t developed any psychological attachment towards him to cope with her situation. We’ll be seeing her feelings towards him change, but I’ll explain why I don’t feel that it counts down below. But again, I’m not an expert. This is just my understanding of it.

So... why the long tangent there? Well we’re now at the wolf attack scene. The turning point in the relationship. Belle’s effort to escape ends with her cornered by a pack of vicious wolves. Fortunateley, The Beast rescues her and drives the wolves away... but he is inured in the process and passes out. As I said in Beast’s character breakdown, he didn’t have to do it at that point since he’d given up, but he did so anyways. It showed that he isn’t a bad person. Something that Belle also saw. The Beast had been aggressive and rude to her throughout, and she had every good reason to continue on her way now that the path was clear. But Belle didn’t. She got Beast onto her horse and took him back to the castle, the closest shelter, to treat his wounds. Is this because she feels compelled to do so after forming a psychological dependency or attachment to him? No. We see as she treats his wounds that she still isn’t going to tolerate his temper and rudeness towards her. She stands up for herself and talks back at him until he calms down. She very much retains her independence. So then... why did she save him? Because Belle is a good-hearted person who just saw this seemingly hateful beast save her life when he didn’t have to. She isn’t the kind of person to leave an injured person to die. She did it out of kindness and gratitude as we see when she genuinely thanks Beast for saving her life. She’s seen a new side to him now, and it’s made her reconsider her earlier stance. Thus Belle remains at the castle.

The characteristics of Stockholm Syndrome include positive feelings towards the captor and belief of goodness in the captor, no real effort in escaping, learned helplessness, and feelings of pity to the captor. You can read the list and learn more here, and the link will also be with the sources. So you’re probably looking at that and going ‘...uuuggghhhh’ at the movie right now. Which fair enough. However let’s also look at where we are now. This is the part of the film where Beast makes an honest effort to improve himself. He’s nicer, trying to be more polite, and treats Belle as a person. She’s really not a prisoner anymore at this point and while mybe theposisbility of being human again is motivating Beast, for the most part I think it’s because he genuinely grows to like Belle. As for Belle, I think that she likes the castle. It’s enchanted and full of intrigue and mystery, just like in her books. It’s the escape form that provincial life in the village that she’s been longing for. It’s a temptation that she just can’t resist. The staff all like her and treat her kindly and no one tries to force her to be something that she isn’t. Beast especially loves Belle’s love of books, even giving her the huge library to repay her earlier kindness. Belle is able to be who she is and be around those who are accepting of her. Even fi for the staff it’s for ulterior motives, IDT that they’re faking liking having her around and Beast certainly isn’t. This isn’t really a straight-forward captive or abuse situaiton that Stockholm Syndrome would apply to in my opinion, especially since Belle never once succumbs to the Beast’s terms. She only respects and acts friendly with him when he does so towards her, and they are both clearly benefiting positivly from it. We know that Beast has no malicious intenitons regarding Belle and it’s Lumiere and co. insisting on the relaitonship happening moreso, and that’s because they want their humanity back so it adds a bit of complexity. It’s just not a straight forward case where we can easily apply Stockholm Syndrome to and get an accurate reading, at least in my opinion. She certainly is FAR from helpless.

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So then let’s discuss Belle’s feelings for The Beast. We know how much Belle’s influence changed The Beast. But what about Belle? She really doens’t change during the movie, nor did she realy need to. She’s already confident about herself, likes herself, and she knows what she wants with her life. Sure her curiosity can get her into trouble, but otherwise she didn’t realy need a character arc like Beast did. What Belle needed was acceptance. To find someone who would like her for who she is and not see her as weird for it. Beast doesn’t at all view her that way. He enjoys being around her because she’s smart and independant and even gets her to read to him. It’s that kind of acceptance that Belle hasn’t recieved from anyone outside her father. The more that she sees Beast try to be better, the more that she sees how sweet and endeairng that he really is and she’s more than happy to help him. I think that seeing this kinder side bloom and that acceptance and even enjoyment of her is what makes Belle fall in love with him. It’s what helps make the ballroom scene so magical. Two people considered outsiders coming together and dancing the night way happily together. It’s beautiful, magical, and the perfect culminaiton in everything prior. They brought out the best in each other. Made each other happier in a way that no one else had ever done. They’re better now because of the other, and it’s just lovely to see.

But of course, we know what comes next. While happy with Beast and being at the castle, Belle still misses her father. When she sees him in the snow and horirbly sick, she’s distressed. Seing this, Beast allows he to go. Honestly I think that Belle could have left whenever she wanted at that point and Beast wouldn’thave fought it, but she was staying willingly at that point because she was happy. But her father needed her now. If she truly had Stockholm Syndorme, I don’t think that she would have done so. But she doesn’t really give it any kind of thought here. While sad to leave The Beast, she has alreayd mad eup her mind when told that she could go. She leaves to save her father, The Beast giving her the mirror and unbeknownst to her Chip tagging along. Belle fortunateley gets Maurice home safely... and just in time for Gaston to initiate his plan to have Maurice locked away. Belle is of course shocked and outraged and in a panic, uses the mirror to confirm The Beast’s existence. Despite her insistence that he isn’t a bad person, it’s too late. Gaston realizes that she’s in love with the ‘monster’ and we get the iconic line: “He’s no monster Gaston, you are.” Beast treated her like a person and improved himself from his more toxic behavior. Gaston treated her like the prey that he seeks during his hunts, refusing to let up until he’s won. Beast had even kept his word about letting Maurcie go and returned him to the village safely, and of course let Belle go to help him and even seemed to feel guilty for what he had done previously. Gaston though? He shows no guilt over trying to use Maurice to blackmail Belle. He continues his horrible behavior not only by forming the mob, but locking Belle and Maurice in their own cellar for simply speaking against it. Belle didn’t call Gaston a monster because she’s been conditioned or due to a coping reflex. It’s because Gaston is a genuinely despicable person while Beast grew to become a good person. She saw this and stood her ground as she always has, but this time at the point where she won’t tolerate it anymore. Which if it was your parent being shipped off to the insane asylum by some jerk just because they want to marry you, woudln’t you call them a monster in comparison?

So we reach the climax. Belle and Maurice arrive after Chip frees them with Belle rushing to get to Beast. She makes it and seeing her reignites Beast’s will to live... but he’s stabbed by Gaston. Belle saves Beast from falling over the roof, but there’s nothing that she can do to stop him from dying. She’s devestated, blaming herself for it. Beast’s final words to her are that at least he got to see Belle one last time, and if she hadn’t figured it out before, I think that this was when Belle realized that Beast loved her... and that she loved him. We knew that Beast certianly loved her but we needed it confirmed from Belle as the curse was still intact. As Beast lay motionless, Belle cries and at last confesses that yes, she does love him... just as the last rose petal falls. With that confession, the curse breaks and Beast is ressurected/becomes human again. Belle is shocked as she sees not The Beast standing before her, but Prince Adam. You can tell how confused she is. is this reallyt he same person that she loved? Adam confirms it and Belle looks into his eyes... and that’s all it takes for her to finally smile. yes, it is the same man that she had fallen in love with. They kiss,a nd the curse is truly broken. Everyone becomes human again,t he castle is restored to it’s original state, and Belle and Adam dance happily, free to live happily ever after.

Belle is a role model character. She’s there for girls to look up to, and I think that the amount of fans that she has proves that she succeeded. She encourages girls to be themselves. To be independant and not bend to social norms or pressure. To find love for themselves and not succumb tot he pressure of unwanted admirers or the pressure to marry them. Something that happens far too much in reality. She doesn’t change, but there was no reason for her to. As I said, Belle’s not one of my favorites. Not because I dislike her by any means. if anythign I like her much more now as an adult now that I have a stronger understanding of the film. I just have princesses that I like more, and that’s really it. I also don’t like how some insist that she’s the best Dsney Princess compared to her predecessors because as I hope I made clear in those reviews, the previous four pricnesses are NOT badly done. If anything, I think it’s more anti-femenist to use a woman to bash other women without just cause. Saying that belle is better because she didn’t fall in love witht he guy at first sight or didn’t sell her soul for a guy without caring to analyze those characters isn’t empowering, it’s saying that if you don’t act a certain way as a woman, you’re anti-feminist. Which is a terrible stance. No woman is the same and women shouldn’t be used against women in this kind of way. Regardless, that’s an issue with certain ‘critics’, not Belle herself. She’s a great character and someone that I can admire. Maybe not as much as others, but I can certainly see why she’s left such an impact on so many and not even just little girls. To many people of all kinds. Who could be upset about that?

Final Thoughts

Beauty and the Beast is a lovely film. Is it my favorite? No. I didn’t watch it all that much as a kid. As an adult I have a greater appreciation for it. It’s beautfully animated, it’s themes are well-protrayed and still relevant, the characters are memorable and fun, and it’s music is phenomenal. I can absoluteley see why this as the first animated film to ever be niminated for Best Picture. It’s a tragedy that it lost, but it still proved that animation very much had staying power as Walt proved all those years ago. And of course the film is the final testament of Howard Ashman. He may not have been part of the Disney Renaissance for long, but his contributions single-handedly changed the company and their films for the better. Even today this style of musical films is very much going strong even over 30 years since it began with The Little Mermaid. We lost Ashman far too soon, and who knows what amaizng things he could have one if he were still alive. We can never know the what ifs, but we can always appreciate what came during his lifetime. He, Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, Alan Menken, Don Hahn, various animators, and so many more did so much to bring this film to life, and it will forever stand as a true Disney Masterpiece.

The film was a giant success, and Disney wasn’t slowing down one bit. The very next year, another animated feature would come out. A film about a dashing street rat who found a magic lamp and unleashed a magical genie who would make all his dreams come true. But wait you may ask, isn’t this a Disney Princess retrospective? Yep. So why am I talking about a dashing hero? Well there is a princess in it, but she occupies a bit of a unique place in the line-up. She is the first and so far only Princess to not be the main charater in her film. But she still left a huge impact and i included in the main lineup so we are NOT leaving her out. So next time, come along as we enter a whole new world to discuss 1992’s Aladdin, and in particular Princess Jasmine.

Image Source: Animation Screencaps

Further Reading on Stockholm Syndrome: Healthline, Medical News Today, GoodTherapy, WebMD,

#callie reviews #disney princess reviews #beauty and the beast

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