#and a series of lines i wrote back in august | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

crowleysgirl56 · 11 months ago

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Updated with edits!

Timeline of the last 12 months 15 months of the Good Omens fandom.

July 2023 - Good Omens season 2 drops. Fans watch on the presumption this season is based on the sequel idea Terry and NG spoke of in the 90’s and 2006. Reactions are mixed but mostly positive. We’re happy with fluff. Initial thoughts: “I don’t see how this story could have been fleshed out into an entire novel, but I guess it was only ever just initial ideas, so I suppose that works.”

July 2023 - THE KISS.

Fandom reaction: NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

August 2023 - NG responds to fandom

NG: “Season 2 isn’t actually based on the idea Terry and I spoke about.”

Fandom: “What?”

NG: “Season 2 is just a bridging story to get us to season 3. That will be the story that Terry and I discussed.”

Fandom: “What!?”

NG: “Season 3 hasn’t been greenlit by Prime yet so we might not get it.”

Fandom: “WHAT?!”

NG: “Also I wrote the kiss that way by giving the fandom what you want without actually giving you what you want. So like, stop asking me for things or I won’t write them.”

Fandom: “AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!”

August to November 2023 - The fandom, now lost and depressed, mope through the halls of Tumblr and Reddit, desperately clinging to any piece of information dropped by NG, sharing fan art, creating headcanons and theories, and writing the angstiest of angst fanfiction ever written. Some weep in a corner mumbling about the South Downs. Most just trudge through their daily lives, listless and despondent.

December 2023 - Prime greenlights Good Omens Season 3.

Fandom: YES! OMG HOORAY! WAHOO! Dancing in the streets. Fanfiction turns to fluff and smut. NG is active and happy, answering many questions without actually answering them. Gives us the hilarious gift of Dottie and Sadie.

January 2024 - speculation of when season 3 filming will begin commences. Realisation that it could be quite a while starts to sink in. Actors and writers strike has caused delay to the scripts being written. David and Michael have taken on theatre work which will delay their filming schedules. Douglas McKinnon announces he’s stepping away as director. Fandom has slight freak out, but NG reassures everyone it’s nothing to worry about, and linked to the recent strikes.

Early to mid 2024 - “The invisible and unbreakable line that joins Crowley and Aziraphale”.

Fandom: AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We inevitably become even more feral. Much fanart is made.

March 2024 - David hosts the BAFTAs and Michael helps him during the opening. David is then nominated for TV BAFTA for Good Omens.

Fandom: OMG YYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!! Much dancing and celebration is had once again. We are so in love.

May 2024 - filming schedule for GO season 3 is announced. It will commence January 2025. The fandom reacts.

Fandom: “That’s still so long away!” “Michael and David will have their hair dyed white and red for the awards season!” “Going by the previous production schedule this means season 3 won’t reach our screen until 2026! No!” “Cannot wait for this to start filming we are going to be so feral!” More fanfiction, more fanart.

June 2024 - David hosts Pub in the Park. Michael joins him.

Fandom: THEY ARE SO CUTE! HOW CAN THEY BE THIS CUTE, WE DON’T DESERVE THEM.

Early July 2024 - horrible allegations are laid against NG and the fandom comes to a terrible crashing halt. Much debate and discussion is had back and forth: “Believe the victims”. “Separate the art from the artist”. “Drop the fandom entirely”. “Step back for a moment”. There is a lot of arguing, but there is also still a lot of love. NG has fled all social media.

Late July 2024 - until it’s January, and the show actually starts filming, Good Omens season 3 has now become Schrödinger’s Series. It both now exists and doesn’t exist. Prime at any moment may pull the production due to the backlash against NG. The fandom now re-examines McKinnon’s departure speculating if he left for other reasons. We once again despondently trudge the halls of tumblr and Reddit feeling the same feeling of this time last year.

This section of the post was made in late July was this was original posted: And that pretty much brings us up to date. Anything could happen in the next six months, which is why I feel we’re all worried. It’s why I’m worried. So instead, keep sharing the art, keep writing the fanfiction, keep speculating with theories and headcanons. Let’s be here for each other. Because we created this fandom for each other. It doesn’t belong to NG anymore. Let’s do this for Terry. Personally, I can’t wait to come back to this timeline and add January 2025 - filming begins.

28 July 2024 - Michael Sheen, the absolute angel that he is posts a picture of his tartan socks clad feet alongside the caption “To our world”. Such a beautiful, beautiful man!

10 September 2024 - Amazon Prime announces production for season 3 is paused. Everyone loses their shit. There is much lamentations.

Unsubstantiated posts start circulating that the show is cancelled. People who have a friend whose cousin’s gardener’s former roommate claim they are involved with the production and therefore they KNOW the show is cancelled. More lamentations.

Amazon stays silent for EIGHT. FUCKING. WEEKS.

The fandom walk around in a god damn haze again akin to what August to December 2023 felt like. Will we be left with the final 15 forever?

Mid October 2024 - for about 3 days straight the fandom receives information that is akin to a rollercoaster of emotion. Head graphics designer Mickey tweets out a now deleted post that everyone is going back to Scotland. Then Peter Anderson Studio tweet out a now deleted post referencing the South Downs cottage. Then random casting company updates their subscription website advertising Good Omens: The Finale a TV movie. Entertainment website releases an article referencing this. The fandom LOSE. THEIR. SHIT. AGAIN. We honestly can’t take much more of this.

25 October 2024 - Amazon finally announces the news we’ve been half expecting half dreading with positive and negative ramifications. Neil Gaiman is gone. GOOD! Season 3 will still happen. GOOD! But now it’s just a 90 minutes finale. WAIT, WHAT, NO! But it could have been worse. It was a hairs breath away from being completely cancelled. GOD BLESS RHIANNA PRATCHETT AND ROB WILKINS.

It’s been a wild ride everyone. I’ve already posted earlier this morning (25 October 2024) my thoughts about the whole situation so go read that there. But for now? Gaiman is gone, and we get our ending.

For now here’s to seeing our boys with their red and white hair again.

#good omens #good omens fandom #Crowley #Aziraphale #david tennant #michael sheen #crowley and aziraphale #crowley x arizaphale #ineffable husbands #good omens season 3

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sweeterthanficstion · 5 months ago

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— coast2coast (pt. one) || l.s.k

pairing: life guard!leon kennedy x surfer!fem!reader

tags: surfing au! set in malibu, 1998, i wrote this with re2 leon in mind but re4 leon works too, featuring claire (and chris in later parts!), UNEDITED!! so far only fluff (unheard of...) i'll add as i go!

oh actually, my shitty attempt at knowing anything about surfing despite learning everything through youtube, google and malibu rising by taylor jenkins reid (what started this whole thing). i am NAWT a pro --- so if any of you guys actually know a thing or two abt surfing hit me up!!! i'd love to learn more!

summary: Summer is a fickle thing, sticky-sweet and fleeting, gone before you're ready. You've learnt to love it while it lasts. For you, every summer has been the same—surf, sand, salt-water tides and the hot Malibu breeze. But this summer brings a new sort of challenge, a spotlight your not so sure you're ready for, as well as a boy with golden hair, eyes as blue as the waves, and a way of making your heart rattle between your ribs like it’s desperate to break free.

word count: 2.6k

a/n: AHH HI! i'm so excited to post this one!! it's currently summer here in australia and i've been down at the beach nearly every weekend, so it was only inevitable that my fixation on surfer!leon came back full force. i have this big story all set up in my head, but i was too excited to wait to finish writing it so i'm posting it in parts!! ++ oh also i had no idea corral beach was an actual place in malibu so my version is fictionalised. just. take everything in this fic with a grain of salt i have no idea what im doing lol

i also thought it'd be really fun idea since i'm so busy nowadays, that if you guys are interested at all, you can send in little ideas for blurbs for surfer!leon, and i'd love to write them! i'll figure out ways to fit them into the story, just as little extras, but obviously no promises on writing all of them!! i'll likely just pick the ones i think fit best into the plot. i just think that'd be AWESOME!! <3

playlist⭑masterlist⭑AO3 ⭑ series masterlist⭑next part (coming soon)

California is exactly how you’d left it. Exactly how you remember it. Nothing has changed between the sand beneath your toes and the palm trees lining the scorching hot tar roads, their shadows stretching long and thin like sleepy cats in the afternoon sun. The salt-kissed air wraps around you, sticky and warm, a gentle reminder that time moves slower here. Or maybe it doesn’t move at all.

That’s the thing about California. A time capsule—sun, sand and sky.

June, July, August, Summer melts in your mouth like a sticky popsicle, one into the next, so quick you forget what it tastes like before it’s even passed.

No matter where you are in the world, what waves you're chasing, whether it be in Oceania, the Pacific, the Atlantic, summer melts, fickle and eager.

You’ve learnt to love it while it lasts.

“Another fish and chips!” One of the waitress staff calls from the front—Bunny’s Seafood Diner has been around for as long as you can remember, a weathered little gem perched off the coast of Corral Beach, Malibu. A quick and convenient right turn off the PCH, it’s a lighthouse for road-tripping families and sunburned surfers chasing their next ride.

You flip the fryer around your wrist with a practised flourish, “On it!” You call back, before you dip the metal back in the bubbling oil, the familiar sizzle of golden fries accompanying the bustle of the late afternoon rush. The kitchen smells of salt and grease and the faint tang of fresh-caught fish, a scent so familiar it clings to your skin like a second layer.

Claire breezes past with lazy grace, bumping her hip against yours. “Heading to the surf after?” she asks, her grin as wide as the beach outside, like her mouth was made for holding sweet oranges on hot summer days. She’s balancing a seafood basket in one hand and a plate of fries in the other, weaving through the bustle with the ease of someone who’s done it a thousand times before.

“How’s the forecast looking?” You ask back instead, tossing the crispy fries into a basket lined with deli paper.

“High tide in twenty,” Claire winks over her shoulder at you, side-stepping a counter corner like it’s second nature. “It’s gonna be perfect.”

You can’t deny that does sound perfect. After a shift as long as the one you’ve worked today, a surf might be all you need to feel alive again. You look back up at the foggy old clock on the wall—ten minutes left, five if you can sweet-talk your manager. You end up counting the minutes in your head, that familiar itch to feel the sand under your feet and the sun on your skin insatiable.

By the time the clock hits four, you’re halfway out the door, ready to trade the smell of fried seafood for the briny tang of the ocean instead. Claire is hot on your heels, boards tucked under both your arms as she chases you across the tar road that burns under your bare feet, down the splintering boardwalk, and onto the powdered-sugar sands of Corral Beach.

The sun has already dipped far past it’s zenith, and the world feels washed in gold. Golden rays stretch out across shimmering waters, painting streaks of honey over the horizon, the heat settling into a balmy hum that sticks to your skin in a way you can only love.

You follow the shaded path of sycamore trees until the beach opens up to surfer’s paradise—a long stretch of sand, waves that swell and crash, aching to be carved into by hungry surfers. The path curves past a weathered wooden bulletin board, been there as long as you can remember, and you think it might be older than Bunny’s, if that’s even possible.

“Wait!” Claire stops in her tracks, and you are helpless but to comply. Your eyes stay glued longingly to the beach while Claire’s squint at the array of flyers pinned up—some faded, some fresh. There’s a yoga class, a missing dog poster, and the usual surf report stapled to the corner, its ink smudged from damp fingers. But her eyes zero in on something bright and bold and new.

“Here we go.” She plucks a flyer off the board, turning it toward you like she’s struck gold. The words Corral Beach Annual Surf Comp are printed in big, blocky letters, accompanied by a grainy photo of a surfer carving into a wave.

“Oh, no,” you groan, already shaking your head.

“Oh, yes,” Claire says, a grin spreading across her face.

Claire’s been singing the same song since you were fifteen and cutting through waves better than most kids your age here on Corral Beach. That you should be out there winning trophies and medals and 10k cheques instead of cleaning out the back of the greasy old fryer’s in Bunny’s.

“C’mon, you have to do it!” She bugs on, waving the flyer around like some magic wand.

You laugh, ducking under her arm as she tries to push it into your face. “Claire, come on.”

“I’m serious!” she insists, jogging to catch up with you as you head toward the water. “You’re out here every day. You’ve got the moves, the skill—everything they’re looking for.”

It’s not like you haven’t thought about it. You’ve been surfing since before you could walk. You’d grown up right here on Corral Beach, knew these waves better than yourself. You’d watched your parents chase waves like it was their religion—Bali, Costa Rica, Australia, it was their entire life. Something they loved that was inevitable for you to love too.

“I’m just not the competition type,” you shrug, gaze drifting out to the waves curling in the distance. It’s not that you don’t want to—well, okay, maybe it is. The idea of standing out there, under the scrutiny of judges, crowds, and strangers, feels about as foreign as the first time you stepped onto a board. Surfing, to you, is about as religious as it is to your parents. An outlet, an art form, the ocean calms your restless soul when you need it most. Putting a score to something like that just doesn’t feel right.

“You’re one of the best surfers out here.” Claire presses, she does it so effortlessly. Poking and prodding, always enough but never so much as to push you over the edge. “Half the people in those comps are just there for a shot at a new wetsuit.”

You meet Claire’s gaze, hesitate, the memory of your dad paddling out at dawn or your mom teaching you how to duck dive flickering in your mind. “It’s not about that. My parents taught me how to surf before they taught me how to say mom and dad. They’d enter comps now and then, but it was never about winning. It was about the waves, the adventure.”

“And you don’t think that’s in you too?” Claire asks, raising an eyebrow as she shields her eyes against the sun.

“Maybe it is,” you say finally. “But that’s their story, not mine.”

Claire’s gaze softens for all of a second before she snorts, shoving your shoulder with her own. “You’re so full of it. You’ve got more talent in your pinky than most people out there. Just think about it, okay? It could be fun.”

You do nothing of the sort.

The second your feet are in the water, you forget all about the comp, all about your job and any other worries on your mind. Salt water seems to have that sort of effect on you. Wasting no time, both you and Claire paddle past the surf, straddling your boards in the ocean, watching as the other surfers before you take off one by one with each new wave that rolls in.

It doesn't take long before the first wave in a gorgeous set comes in, Claire’s all but primed for it. She takes off, gets into position, and pops up on her board, carving into it like it’s breathing. You follow suit as the next one comes in, and just like that, you fall into the rhythm of the ocean.

Wave after wave, you don’t stop until the sun is cotton candy pink, purple, gold. Most of the other surfers have dispersed by now, and Claire’s traded shredding the bigger waves for wading through the calm waters with her back pressed against the flat of her board.

You, on the other hand, feel like fate is decidedly on your side. You watch as another set rolls in, the first crashing just out of reach. It peels exactly as you’d hoped, slowly to the right, so when the next one rolls in right after, you paddle with it, catch the feeling of the tide underneath you, and like it's simply second nature, get to your feet.

This is where you feel most alive. There is not a second to spare for the other noise in your head, not about the past nor the future nor anything in between other than right here and now. Nothing but the instinctual insistence of how much longer can you stay on? How much longer can you keep your balance? Lean left, right, forward. Better, longer, more, more, more.

And when you’ve finally completed your balancing act, you dance up to the nose, hovering there on the tip of your board, arms out to steady yourself like sails catching wind, and then you close your eyes and let the crash of the wave topple you off.

It’s only once you’ve resurfaced, board nowhere to be seen, that you realise you didn’t feel the familiar tug of the leash around your ankle. By the time you drag yourself to shore, breath heavy and hair clinging to your face, you see it—the measly cord trailing behind you, frayed and snapped clean.

You huff a sigh, not surprised. It had been old crap for a while now. So had the board, but it carried enough summers in its scars to mean something. A history you weren’t quite ready to part with.

Claire’s already gathering her things by the time you meet her on the sand, shaking out her towel and tossing it into her worn tote bag.

“What happened to your board?” she asks, her tone casual, but her raised brow suggests she’s caught the fraying leash.

You lift your ankle and let the cord dangle, the sad state of it all the explanation she needs.

She winces, offering you a sympathetic smile. “Ouch. Guess it’s finally time for a new one?”

It’s only when you’re halfway up the beach that you spot it again. Your board? Your board!

It’s leaning lazily against the base of a lifeguard tower, looking as though it had simply wandered off and decided to wait for you all this while. Relief blooms in your chest, and you call to Claire that you’ll catch up.

It’s only when you’re closer that you notice him.

He’s standing by the lifeguard tower, a red rescue can slung casually over his shoulder. Blonde hair catches the light, tousled and damp like he’s been in the water himself. His broad shoulders are framed by the white-and-red uniform shirt that looks a little too crisp for someone who spends their day in the sun.

You can tell he’s new. There’s a hesitation in the way he stands, like he’s trying to look comfortable in a place he hasn’t quite claimed yet. But there’s something magnetic about him, the way he surveys the beach with quiet curiosity, like he’s soaking in every detail.

And you don’t mean to stare, but you’re caught in the moment, the way he looks like he belongs there despite it all, carved from the same sun and salt as the beach itself.

You’re still staring when his eyes meet yours.

They’re blue, impossibly so, the kind of blue that reminds you of the water when it’s so clear you can see straight to the bottom, the kind of blue you could fall into and forget how to breathe. His mouth quirks into a smile—easy, natural, like he’s been doing it all his life.

For a heartbeat, the world shifts, tilts ever so slightly, like the two of you are caught in some half-remembered dream. Something stirs in your chest, familiar yet unnameable, like déjà vu soaked in sunlight. You freeze, caught like a fish on a line, just before his eyes crinkle at the corners, and he lifts a hand in a casual wave.

“Hey,” he calls out, his voice carries over the sound of the waves, warm and low, and you think there’s a hint of the coast in it—just not this one.

You blink, salt-sticky and sun-drunk, realizing belatedly that you’re still rooted to the spot. “Hey,” you manage, shifting your weight on your feet.

He doesn’t move, but his attention is all yours now, quiet and steady, as though nothing else on the beach exists, like you’re the most interesting thing he’s ever laid eyes on.

“Nice ride out there,” he says, nodding toward the water, his voice dipped in easy admiration. “That last wave—you made it look easy.”

A laugh bubbles out of you, unplanned but genuine, a flush to your cheeks at the notion of being watched and noticed. You hope he mistakes it for sunburn. “Easy? You sure you weren’t watching someone else?”

“Nope,” he says, the smile widening just a fraction. “Definitely you. The board gave it away.” He says, nodding towards the board that’s still propped against the lifeguard tower like a loyal dog.

“Ah,” you say, realising. “So it was you.”

He shrugs, sweet and boyish in his sincerity. “Figured it deserved better than drifting out to sea.”

You glance down at your battered shortboard, the paint long faded from years of sun and surf. The edges are chipped, and the wax is uneven, but it feels like a part of you. “Thanks,” you say, meaning it. “Guess I owe you one.”

And before you can really think it through, the words escape you all at once. “You surf?”

“Not like that,” he hums, tilting his head toward the waves. Not like you. “Still trying to figure out how to make it look as easy.”

“That’s how it starts,” you say, a grin pulling at your lips despite yourself. “You’ll get there.”

He shrugs, a bit sheepish. “We’ll see. I’m mostly here for this,” he hefts the rescue can with a crooked smile. “Started lifeguard training last week. Figured I’d better get to know the locals.”

“Locals, huh?” You arch a brow, a subtle quirk to your lips. “And I’m one of those?”

“Definitely,” he grins, his voice sure now, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve got that look.”

“What look?”

“Like this is where you belong.”

The words hang in the air, sweet and sticky like the heat of the day. For a moment, you don’t know what to say.

“Well,” you manage, recovering with a nod toward the tower. “Welcome to Corral Beach. Try not to let it chew you up and spit you out.”

He laughs then, and it’s warm, golden—like sunlight filtering through the trees. “I’ll do my best.”

He steps back, making space for you to collect your board, though his gaze lingers, like he’s reluctant to go but knows he should.

“See you around?” he asks, the question carrying a hopeful edge.

“Maybe,” you say, the word feeling light and easy as you turn toward the parking lot.

You don’t look back, but you feel his eyes linger, and it leaves a quiet sort of thrill in your chest, like the first rush of catching a wave.

likes n reblogs r very much appreciated <3

#spilled ink ₊˚⊹♡#IM SORRY IF THE ENDING FEELS UNFINISHED #AS I SAID I GOT SUPER EXCITED TO POST #updates will be slow as usual so im sorry about that!! that's why im hoping blurbs will be enough to fill the space in between if anybody #is interested of course #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #resident evil fanfiction #leon kennedy fanfic #leon kennedy x you #leon kennedy x y/n #leon kennedy fanfiction #sweeterthanficstion #coast2coast #surfer!leon

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venjras · 11 months ago

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FAMILY FRIEND - GOJO SATORU.

just a simple prompt because i was bored and had this idea in my head way too much lately. was thinking about making it a series, what do y’all think? ( wrote it in a rush, so excuse my grammar )

it's been a lifetime since you've started hearing about gojo, the family friend of endless qualities. but punctually there was never a chance to actually meet him, like a curse that brought both to diametrically different places whenever there was an opportunity for a possible clash. you heard about it at family dinners, during the update phone calls with your brother, there were even his t-shirts in the laundry basket every time you came home for spring breaks.

and it was about damn time, today was the day.

right now you were floating on the crystal clear surface of the pool water, enjoying the warm contrast that the sun's rays of that day of mid-august brought. with your eyes closed, you almost felt like you were levitating and as if everything around you was just the result of your imagination, so heavenly. the head inevitably went back to the night before, to the club where you were with your friends to celebrate the graduation. you had lost them after an hour from the arrival, they probably were with some guy and with the certainty that for that evening you weren’t going to see them again.

in fact, you found yourself alone, sitting at the bar counter turning the ice of your cocktail around with the deafening music that rumbled in your ears. a little puff came out of your lips, you didn't even realise the bulky presence next to you, imposing and massive, that would have no problem towering over your little frame. at some point you see the bartender replace your drink with a new one, gesture that makes you frown and finally get the first glance of that white haired boy and crystalline look that had long been resting on your face.

“i thought you'd use some company.” his deep voice resounded in your whole body, almost overcoming the loud speakers. your gaze slowly slid along his figure, muscular torso and perfectly fitted by a white shirt, unbuttoned and specially tighter to show the well-defined lines of his biceps, same for the jeans that left very little to no imagination. final touch given by that breathtaking face, well-marked jaw. he seemed almost sculpted by the gods and you were sure he knew. a wave of heat invaded the lower part of your body. you saw his lips hunch into a smile and that's where you realised you didn't answer him yet.

what happened in the next hour was too fast to even realise it, the last thing you knew was that you were locked between the wall and his body. his mouth was devouring yours, tongues looking for each other in a desperate dance, drinking you up completely. fingers pulling hard on his locks, legs wrapped around his waist, panties pulled to the side.

his cum already dripping down your shivering legs, what was his name again?

your nipples got hard and an annoying heat took possession of your lower belly at the mere memory, forced to go with your head under water. you had to recover, you didn't have time for these things. in less than an hour the family friend would arrive and finding you all frustrated was not the best idea. at the time you were only wearing a white bikini, you had just a couple of minutes to change into something more appropriate since, as much as that was your favourite piece, it was definitely too revealing.

and the heat too insistent, annoying, to the point that little by little it could have given you to the head. you came out of the water and pulled yourself up from the edge, too late to realise that two pairs of eyes were already looking at you. in particular one of them. “hey sis, have you met gojo yet?”

fuck, that's what his name was.

part two.

©️ venjras.

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apollosprettyarsecheek · 4 months ago

Note

Hi I really liked the fic you wrote about Apollo. Could you maybe do a part two. Thank youu!!

Afterglow

coupling - PJO!Apollo x Fem!Poseidon!Reader

a/n - Hi, ty for requesting!! Beta read (by a dyslexic)

1 2

The sun had started setting later than usual, too late for a mid-august sunset. But the perfect time for you to watch the sunset, once you had finally made it back to your apartment at eight-ish.

The sun was nearly gone now, marking the end of the day in deep blues joining vibrant oranges and purples. Percy’s flower from Calyspo was starting to faintly glow in the growing moonlight, its silver petals softly blowing in the breeze. And even though it was just another sunset, it felt like the last chapter of the last book in a series.

That feeling had your stomach churning with nostalgia, which was weird, because you’d spent the past four years wanting this all to be over. But you didn’t feel happy to finally be ridden the burden on your back, you felt alone, ironically enough because you’d chosen earlier not to go back to Camp with everyone else, wanting to just rot in bed for the rest of summer break.

You were starting to realise that, really, you were just a side character - you aren’t the one who had to deal with that prophecy, you aren’t the one who’s been betrayed by someone like a brother to you, you haven’t even been betrayed in all these years. Luke was never your friend, or Silena, or Chris, or any of the people who’d joined Kronos. But maybe that more had to do with your lack of friends.

A test of my patience

There’s things that we’ll never know

You sunshine, you temptress

My hand’s at risk, I fold

The familiar lyrics caught your attention, the faint humming coming from your phone distracting you. Years ago, the first time you had ever met Apollo, you’d heard him humming the same lyrics in his sun chariot. And as soon as you had come back to camp for the rest of the summer, you’d played Fine Line, one of the songs on Harry Styles’ latest album at the time, on repeat for the rest of the summer, analysing each lyric and assigning each one to different interactions you’d had with Apollo on that quest.

You’d tucked the lower part of your face into your hoodie, and inhaled a breath of whatever drug it was laced with, having forgotten all about the scent attached to it. This time, when you inhaled, you could feel your cheeks heat, wanting to believe that this actually meant something - that you actually meant something to Apollo.

Ever since the summer you’d met Apollo, you hadn’t let yourself dream about him, about what could be with him, because you were sure any person he gave a sliver of attention to felt like this. Sure all of the Apollo camper’s mothers and fathers felt like this. His flirting was probably just to annoy your father, anyways.

A split second of silence before the next song pulled you out of your head, and you stood, stepping back into your bedroom. All you wanted now was to just curl up in your bed and watch a show until you fell asleep. Even though you didn’t want today to end, for this chapter too, you realised that it is already over, and it had been ever since you’d came home.

Slipping into your unmade bed, you noticed your legs brush against something solid. Looking down, your eyes locked on a thin, pearlescent coloured box with a silky, baby blue ribbon, wrapped into a bow decorating it. That definitely wasn’t there when you first came home.

Curious and slightly suspicious, you sat up on your knees, and undid the bow and ribbon. Cautiously, you opened the box, and found a letter addressed to you placed atop of gorgeous, powder blue silk with some sort of embroidery.

Picking up the letter, you turned it around, and found a wax seal, with an imprint of a laurel wreath on it. Surprisingly easily, you managed to open it, and pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, your eyes were drawn to the golden designs on the edges of the paper, but there was text in the middle,

My Sunshine,

Four days from now, 8pm, the Empire State building lobby, in this dress. I’ll be waiting for you.

It was laughable how much that letter sounded like Apollo, so cocky he didn’t even sign his name off - or maybe he just figured he was the only one interested in you. Either way, you still felt your stomach fill with butterflies and your cheeks heat, which was completely embarrassing and a new low for you.

Deciding to just move on from that, you tucked the letter away, and delicately laid what you figured is a chiton out, savouring the feel of the buttery soft silk. Your jaw nearly dropped when you saw the chiton - as you’d guessed - laid out fully.

It’s that powder blue colour all throughout, and now you got a better view of the shimmering, silver embroidery. Soft waves decorated the edges of the torso, looking like they were moving, and faded down gently, becoming denser, before being cut off by a pearl cinch. The waves continued down, but they faded around where your hip bone would be, showing off the thin layer of tulle, that shimmers like sun on water, and fades down into a light hyacinth colour that makes the dress’ colour look like the start of a sunrise.

Those butterflies from earlier felt weak, now, because suddenly your mind was racing with dizzying thoughts because the chiton was so… thoughtful. In the back of your head, you knew gods probably didn’t need to put any thought into something like this, could just make it appear. But for once in your life, that didn’t matter, and you just let yourself gush over the dress and invitation.

The chiton wasn’t something your father or brother would like, it wasn’t warm and teal, it was stormy and pale blue, but that’s what really mattered - like Apollo didn’t just clump you in with Poseidon, like he actually saw you as your own person. You didn’t think gods were actually capable of seeing demigods as anything other than an extension of their parent, but maybe Apollo was different.

Sitting back on your bed, perched on the edge, you noticed something about the pearls - they weren’t just regular pearls, they’re your favourite - baby pink akoya pearls. There were two full rows of them, more than you’d ever seen at once, and you weren’t even sure how Apollo figured out your favourite because hadn’t ever even said it out loud.

Deciding not risk letting the chiton get damaged, you carefully folded it back up, and put it back in the box with the note. Placing the lid of the box back on, you weren’t sure where to keep it, but decided to tuck it beneath your bed. You didn’t want it to get damaged, of course, but you also didn’t really want for anyone to find it.

Flopping back onto your bed with a stupid smile, you decided to kick off your jeans, having already unbuttoned them, and slip off the long sleeve shirt you had beneath Apollo’s hoodie, some you’d conveniently forgotten until you’d slipped it off from under the hoodie, with that annoying sports bra you’d been wearing for the past couple days.

Wrapping yourself up in your duvet, you grabbed the iPad on your nightstand to watch a show, but suddenly there was a knock on the door.

“It’s me, Sweetie,” your Mom’s voice called from the other side of your flimsy door, opening it once you’d given her a quick Yeah?

Once she’d closed the door behind her, she perched herself on the edge of your bed, looking down at you with her usual loving eyes.

“Is it bad to say I’m glad you decided to stay?” your mom admitted softly, her voice sounding raspier than usual - like she’d been crying earlier. The thought made your stomach churn, knowing she’d been out of her mind with anxiety today.

“Why would that be bad?” you asked right back, your head still resting on your pillow.

“Because you should be out with your friends, Honey, celebrating. Not stuck at home in your bed,” murmured your mom, sounding guilty like she thought it was her fault you’re not with ‘your friends’. She tucked some loose bits of hair behind your ear gently.

“I chose not to go back to Camp, Mom. Myself. And, honestly, the last thing I want to do is celebrate,” you mumbled, trying to assure your mom you didn’t just stay back for her - which you didn’t. “The last thing I want is to be surrounded by everyone there right now.”

“If you say so,” she replied gently, with a smile that didn’t quite reach her saddened eyes. Her hand dropped down to your shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m making chicken noodle soup - the one you love. How about I bring you a bowl when it’s finished?”

You shrugged noncommittally in response, which seems to be what your mom was expecting, but she didn’t let it show for long. She stood up, getting the unsaid hint that you didn’t really want to talk right now, and headed to your door.

“I love you, Sweetie,” your mom murmured, after hesitating for a moment, and then left your bedroom, shutting the door behind her with a soft click.

credits to v6que for the lovely dividers

#pjo #pjo x reader #percy jackon and the olympians #apollo x reader #pjo apollo x reader #pjo apollo #apollo #pjo hoo toa #pjo fanfiction #percy jackson

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heybaetae · 6 months ago

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hi friends! 👋🏻

i am here with my little 2024 gif wrapped after being tagged by @jkvjimin, @cordiallyfuturedwight, @yooboobies, @taehyunghobi, @jinstronaut, and @btsjk-biased. i didn't expect so many tags, so i appreciate you all for including me and wanting to see me recollect some of the work i shared this year. i'll do so under the cut and leave comments wherever i see fit.

i've seen a couple different ways people have done this, so i'll do a variation of both. i'll list my favorite vs. most popular set per each month + some honorable mentions that i liked or were particularly proud of. feel free to go show any of the mentioned posts some love just as i plan to do with everyone else's some time after i post this!

JANUARY

my favorite - vmin holding hands ↳ because i'm Me and they are insufferable

most popular - vmin in the car

honorable mentions - jikook clowning in the barracks

my recap stops there as i have nothing to show for november and december (with the exception of the yeontan tribute set and what i'll be posting for tae's birthday) as i stopped giffing at the end of october.

you can take a look back at everything else i made in my archive here :)

i don't know what the new year will hold for me as far as posting content goes, but thank you very much to those who never stopped supporting my work this year and the last four years since i started this blog. i've had a lot of feelings this year about my place as a gifmaker here and i've struggled a bit reckoning with the low engagement despite how much i know my work is loved by those who matter and never fail to let me know. i am working on reminding myself of this and i offer the same sentiment to anyone else experiencing the same feelings. you all deserve 100x more than what you get back.

for now though, my queue is gonna continue posting for me for a while. if i can get myself out of this funk by the time bts comes back, then i hope to provide whatever i can when the time feels right.

i think nearly everyone has been tagged to do this by now, but i’ll tag (unless you’ve already done it, just lmk or ignore me) @jung-koook, @kimtaegis, @btsiu, @namchyoon, @kookjinnies, @rjshope and whoever else wants to do this, please do and forward it to me or put it in my tracked tag so i can reblog it!

i love you all. happy new year 💜

#tag game #cc tag game #don't mind how bad that header gif is

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badgalsasuke · 4 months ago

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Kishimoto at the Boruto: Naruto The Movie Premiere Preview (July 29th, 2015)

SOURCE

Image says "Executive producer: Masashi Kishimoto"

Livedoor news "BORUTO" is complete! Masashi Kishimoto: "This time, Sasuke is really at his best," he confidently stated.

The premiere of the latest film "BORUTO: NARUTO THE MOVIE" (released August 7th), based on the anime "NARUTO" by Masashi Kishimoto, was held in Tokyo on the 28th, with Kishimoto and the main cast members taking to the stage. During the stage greeting, a glimpse into Kishimoto's private life, which has not been talked about much until now, was given, and the "shadow protagonist" of the film was revealed.

This new animated film is based on the smash hit comic "NARUTO", which has sold over 200 million copies worldwide. Kishimoto himself oversaw the production, including the original story, screenplay, and character visuals. It is positioned as the culmination of the "NARUTO New Era Opening Project" that began with the previous film "THE LAST -NARUTO THE MOVIE-" released last December.

The seven guests who appeared on stage that day were the original author Kishimoto, Sanpei Yuuko who plays the main character Uzumaki Boruto, Kikuchi Kokoro who plays Uchiha Sarada who said it was her first time to greet people on stage, Takeuchi Junko who plays Uzumaki Naruto, the main character of the series who becomes the Seventh Hokage, Sugiyama Noriaki who plays Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto's rival and friend, Ono Kensho who plays Nara Shikadai, and Namikawa Daisuke who plays Momoshiki, the mysterious man who attacks the Hidden Leaf Village and is a key character in this work. The host was TV Tokyo announcer Aiuchi Yuka, who is also a big fan of "NARUTO", and rushed in bringing her own forehead protector.

"This time it was tough", Kishimoto said, looking back on the film's production. "I thought I'd finally be able to take a break after the serialization ended, but I couldn't take a break at all… I worked harder and put more effort into this movie than I did into the serialization," he said, revealing his excitement about the film. He continued, "When I saw the preview, I thought it was perfect. I'm sure everyone will enjoy it," exuding confidence, and shared highlights, "I wrote it with the intention of packing in 15 years of Naruto, so I tried to include as many of Naruto's standard lines as possible. I think there will be some parts where fans can make quips about."

Next, when Aiuchi revealed that the stage greeting was to be held on the birthday of Kishimoto's son, some of the cast members expressed concern, asking, "Is it okay for you to be here?" A shaken Kishimoto responded saying, "Well, um…", but confessed, "If you watch the movie, you'll understand, but there is a scene that exactly matches this situation, and I am exposing my own private life in the movie".

Sanpei, who played the lead role of Boruto in this film, said, "As a fan of the series, when I heard the news that there was going to be a movie with Boruto as the main character, I was excited. But when I found out that I would be appearing in it, that expectation was directed towards me. When I thought about that, I was so nervous I couldn't sleep for several days." It seems she was under a lot of pressure from appearing in the film. Even before the stage greeting, she exchanged emails with Kikuchi, who played Sarada, saying, "I'm nervous," and Kikuchi replying, "Me too."

Additionally, Sugiyama, who plays Sasuke, commented, "The relationship and distance between Sasuke and Naruto have changed, and the expressions and nuances during their conversations have also evolved. I hope you enjoy that aspect as well." Kishimoto then spoke enthusiastically, "Sasuke really is at his best this time," and added, "I thought this was more of a Sasuke movie than a Boruto movie. So when I was making the movie, I told Sugiyama, 'I entrust Sasuke to you, I'm counting on you!*'" - a comment that raises expectations for Sasuke's leading role.

Towards the end of the show, members of the four-piece rock band KANA-BOON, who wrote the theme song for the movie, appeared. Regarding the band, Kishimoto said, "When I heard KANA-BOON's song 'Silhouette' in the TV anime version, I got goosebumps like I hadn't felt since ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION. When I listened to the full song again, tears came to my eyes… I thought, 'This song is about me. How can they know me so well?' I decided it had to be KANA-BOON who made the theme song so we made them a fervent request to do it."

KANA-BOON performed the film's theme song, "Diver," on stage. In the background, the "BORUTO Special Video: The Inherited Path," which looked back on famous scenes from "NARUTO," was played along with comments of "love for NARUTO and BORUTO" from all over the world, and the venue was filled with emotion. When asked for his impressions after the performance, Kishimoto expressed his deepest feelings, saying, "It was cool. I almost cried again."

The cast members voiced their opinions, saying, "It makes you want to see the next movie. It's that kind of movie," and announcer Aiuchi asked about his next movie, "Sensei, what do you think?", but Kishimoto pleaded, "That’s not gonna be possible. Please let me take a break…" It was clear that he was giving his all to this movie.

*Kishimoto told Sugiyama サスケ頼みます! (Sasuke tanomimasu!). 頼みます is an expression where you're requesting someone, almost begging, to take care of something or someone like "please, take good care of your grandmother" and you're relying on them to do so.

#kishimoto interview #naruto archive #He was so freaking happy #you wouldn't think he's missing his son's birthday

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lucky-clover-gazette · 10 months ago

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kings rising highlights & annotations

chapter 12

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

It was as if some protective membrane had been torn away and everything that he had not let himself feel was exposed behind the rupture.

this is a beautifully written sentence

He had nothing left to hold it back, only this raw, terrible feeling, of being denied family.

it’s interesting how he takes this as being denied family. it’s less of a literal denial, and more of him reckoning with the reality he’s been avoiding for the entire series: his father and kastor were/are incredibly flawed people, and in kastor’s case actively committed/attempted familicide. it’s less the denial of family itself and more the denial of the family he thought he had, and the ideal of family being loyal and dependable. that same disillusionment must have happened to laurent when auguste died and the regent started mistreating him.

In his life, he had known only one parent. His father had been to him a set of ideals, a man he looked up to, and strove to please, a standard against whom he measured himself. Since his father’s death, he had not allowed himself to think or feel anything but determination that he would return, that he would see his home again, and restore himself to the throne.

okay i think i kinda hinted at some mild criticism of king’s rising in my last set of annotations, and a some people agreed in that it seems like she had an editor and was writing to be traditionally published. i think i see that here. i don’t think captive prince or prince’s gambit pacat would have spelled this out here, as clearly as she does. it’s well-written, but also something we could easily understand between the lines. it almost feels less effective this way, although that’s partially because i’m so used to a certain style and approach from the author.

Now he felt as if he stood in front of his father, felt his father’s hand in his hair, as he never would again. He had wanted his father to be proud of him; and had failed him, in the end.

yeah, i’m sorry, but this feels really out of place. both in terms of the writing and the fact that it’s included at all. feels like some editor was like “you need to spell it out for the casual readers who are just interested in the porn if you want the scene to be effective.” the turns of phrase are a little trite and the entire thing just seems so… obvious? maybe i’m being too harsh, but i am curious what others think.

Laurent said, ‘No. I’m not here to—’ He said, ‘I’m just here.’

this is a lovely line. laurent knows damen thinks his presence is a call to action, but wants him to know he’s safe and can just exist. a little bit of a reversal between them.

Laurent, he realised, had guarded his solitude for him. And his people, fearing the fierce, strange foreign prince, had done as Laurent ordered, and stayed out. He was stupidly, profoundly grateful for that.

again with the reversal—similar to what happened after aimeric/nicaise

Before he could, he felt Laurent’s fingers on the back of his neck, a shock of touch that caught him in a tumult of confusion as it drew him forward, simply. It was, from Laurent, slightly awkward; sweet; rare; stiff with obvious inexperience. If he had been offered this as an adult, he couldn’t remember it.

<3 i still think we’re getting a lot spelled out for us, but it’s so lovely here that i don’t mind.

‘Now you are taking advantage of my kind-hearted instincts,’ Laurent said, a murmur into his ear.

He let his lips form a half-smile. ‘You aren’t going to offer me one of your gaudy Veretian handkerchiefs?’ ‘You could use the clothing you’re wearing. It’s about the same size.’ ‘Your poor Veretian sensibilities. All those wrists and ankles.’ ‘And arms and thighs and every other part.’ ‘My father’s dead.’

YEP THIS IS GREAT. love how it takes this swift u-turn away from their usual banter. we know these characters and how they usually speak, so this is effective on its own

The words had a finality to them.

... so we don’t need this! we GET that finality from the way they heavily contrast with the light banter and stop it abruptly with "my father's dead."

His father was buried in Akielos beneath the columned halls of the silent, where the pain and confusion of his last days would never trouble him again.

this might be giving us a little hint of damen almost wanting to be dead himself? in the sense that it would be peaceful, to not have to deal with this bullshit. he hasn't grown up having these kinds of feelings acknowledged so he's unprepared to cope with them now.

‘You thought he was a warmonger. An aggressive, war-hungry king, who invaded your country on the flimsiest of pretexts, hungry for land and the glory of Akielos.’ ‘No,’ said Laurent. ‘We don’t have to do this now.’

laurent doesn’t disagree. the “no” is for “i’m not letting you do this yourself emotionally.” and laurent would know all about torturing himself with harsh realities about dead people during intimate and vulnerable moments, so that’s really saying something

‘A barbarian,’ said Damen, ‘with barbaric ambitions, fit only to rule by the sword. You hated him.’ ‘I hated you,’ said Laurent. ‘I hated you so badly I thought I’d choke on it. If my uncle hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed you. And then you saved my life, and every time I needed you, you were there, and I hated you for that, too.’ ‘I killed your brother.’

this feels a little bit like a summary, but i’ll allow it since they’re having an honest conversation while knowing each other fully for like the first time. do you think this is the chapter that was edited/pitched to publishers first? i don’t know exactly how publishing works, but it does feel just kind of weird

‘What are you doing here?’ Damen said.

i like how we get some insecurity from damen here. we don’t see it often, like this. he is surprised that laurent wants him, even while he is being vulnerable. i’d say it’s a toxic masculinity thing, but in the context of this world it’s more of a toxic royalty thing

Laurent said, ‘I know what it’s like to lose family.’

(as an answer to “what are you doing here?”) i get what this is trying to say, i think. laurent is looking past his anger at damen for auguste and offering him empathy, even though damen caused the tragedy that allows laurent to be empathetic in this case. it still feels… slightly off, though. maybe it’s even the fact that damen asked in the first place. maybe it’s the fact that laurent answered verbally. so much between them has been unspoken thus far, and i don’t see why that needs to change, even though they’re in a more supportive relationship. that can be implicit, too. and that unspoken understanding makes it even more intimate and distinctly Them.

‘Is there no way forward for us?’ said Damen. It just came out. Beside him, he could feel Laurent holding himself very still. ‘You mean, will I come back to your bed for the little time we have left?’ ‘I mean that we hold the centre. We hold everything from Acquitart to Sicyon. Can we not call it a kingdom and rule it together? Am I such a poorer prospect than a Patran princess, or a daughter of the Empire?’

he mentions unification so casually, which is both rewarding to the reader who has been screaming it for chapters but also kind of… annoying? i don’t know, so much of this feels in service of the imminent sex scene. kind of rushed or dumbed down. so much tension has been meticulously built, and they’ve had sex under far less resolved conditions. here it’s almost like there’s a checklist of Things Damen and Laurent Have to Agree On/Share About Themselves Emotionally Before They Can Satisfyingly Fuck For The First Time As Themselves. but like, these bitches are messy. always have been, always will be. and they’ve always BEEN themselves. to just try to quickly resolve and drop the mess feels inconsistent, and makes the execution of the sex less unique and ironically more shallow, maybe

When he made himself look at Laurent, Laurent’s eyes on him were very dark, his voice quiet. ‘How can you trust me, after what your own brother did to you?’ ‘Because he was false,’ said Damen, ‘and you are true. I have never known a truer man.’ He said, into the stillness, ‘I think if I gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly.’

contrast to what he’s learned about his family—kastor and his father, because the negative things he said about his father as if laurent believes them are also things damen has come to believe.

it’s a sweet line. and kind of insane, given everything laurent has done. but i think it works, because we know damen has been like this about laurent from the start. and we also know its difficult for laurent to believe or accept that anyone would want to trust him with their heart. i wish we could have had this interaction be spoken, but with FAR less of the previous conversation here. start the scene with laurent entering, have them comfort each other physically but unable to speak. or speak around the subject, instead of hitting the nail on the head. then give them this extremely direct moment, and it would be a lot more effective.

listen i’m not saying i’m better or smarter or anything, it is ultimately a matter of taste and i’ve been taking a break from the books. but i have done a VERY CLOSE READING of this series so far, so i feel at least somewhat capable of analyzing it in this way. if that makes sense.

Laurent turned his head, denying Damen his face.

this doesn’t feel like a pacat line. the construction of it does, but i feel like she’d say something far less direct and far more poetic than “denying his face”

Damen could see his breathing. After a moment he said in a low voice, ‘When you make love to me like that, I can’t think.’ ‘Don’t think,’ said Damen. Damen saw the flickering change, the tension, as the words provoked an internal battle. Damen said, ‘Don’t think.’ ‘Don’t,’ said Laurent, ‘toy with me. I—have not the means to—defend against this.’ ‘I don’t toy with you.’ ‘I—’ ‘Don’t think,’ said Damen. ‘Kiss me,’ said Laurent. And then flushed, a rich colour. Don’t think, Damen had said, but Laurent couldn’t do that. Even to sit there after what he had said, he was fighting a battle in his head. The words hung awkwardly, a blurt, but Laurent didn’t take them back, he just waited, his body singing with tension. Instead of leaning in, Damen took Laurent’s hand, brought it towards himself, and kissed his palm, once.

yeah.

He had learned in the course of their one night together to tell when Laurent was taken unawares—taken aback. It wasn’t easy to anticipate, the gaps in Laurent’s experience not mapping to anything that he understood. He felt it now, Laurent’s eyes very dark, uncertain of what he should do. ‘I meant—’ ‘Don’t let you think?’ Laurent didn’t answer.

this is. such an interesting way to bring in previous themes of consent and submission. bc this is by all means consensual, but laurent is almost asking damen to just take what he wants, because his anxiety is so bad that he doesn’t really WANT to be asked what he wants or made to initiate. it's submission willingly given because laurent trusts damen, both in terms of seeing and understanding his weakness here and in taking care of his pleasure. laurent asking outright to not have to be strong in this situation, and trusting damen to treat him well while his guard is down. trusting him with his heart, just as damen has sworn to trust laurent with his.

Laurent’s wariness was not, at this moment, the high walls of the defended citadel. It was that of a man with a portion of his guard down, who was desperately unused to it.

After a moment: ‘At Ravenel, I—it had been a long time since I had—with anyone. I was nervous.’ ‘I know,’ said Damen. ‘There has,’ said Laurent. He stopped. ‘There has only been one other person.’ Softly, ‘I’m a little more experienced than that.’ ‘Yes, that is immediately apparent.’ ‘Is it?’ A little pleased. ‘Yes.’

THIS is lamen dialogue. so much unsaid, and it’s perfect, because we know what it’s all implying.

‘Laurent, I’d never hurt you.’ He heard Laurent’s strange, disbelieving breath, and he realised what he had said. ‘I know,’ said Damen, ‘that I did hurt you.’ Laurent’s motionlessness was careful, even his breathing was careful. He didn’t turn back to look at Damen. ‘I hurt you, Laurent.’ ‘That’s enough, stop,’ said Laurent. ‘It wasn’t right. You were just a boy. You didn’t deserve what happened to you.’ ‘I said that’s enough.’ ‘Is it so hard to hear?’

big moment for damen, realizing he did something to hurt laurent and admitting it. this has been building for a while with his guilt about his father and slavery and everything else akielos stands for. damen has always lied to himself, a lot. he almost treats this scene like a confession.

on the laurent side of things: this is damen admitting he was wrong, but still wanting to be better. i think that confuses laurent, to think that anyone would ever want to treat him well when they’re strong enough to hurt him. also, this is just generally intense for laurent, but he's still here despite his discomfort because he cares about damen.

this entire scene really is just an insane amount of honesty and vulnerability from them both. it's quick to overwhelm laurent, while damen seems to be getting kind of addicted to it and wanting more. which he gets, in more ways than one.

He thought of Auguste, thought how no boy deserved to lose his brother.

interesting line for a guy who ends up almost being murdered by his stepbrother and gets saved by his divorce husband, whose brother he killed, killing his stepbrother

He didn’t understand the forces that moved in Laurent, but some instinct pushed him to say it. ‘My first time, there was a lot of rolling around. I was eager and had no idea what to do. It’s not like Vere, we don’t watch people doing it in public.’ He said, ‘I still get too caught up near the end. I know I forget myself.’

awww :) he’s trying to make him feel less awkward. this is such a setting-transcendent moment. anyone would say something like this, whether in this weird horny semi historical fictional society or any other romance setting. "you're new to this, but so was i. and i still have my flaws."

A silence. It went on too long. He didn’t disturb it, watching the tense line of Laurent’s body.

love the patience here

‘When you kissed me,’ said Laurent, pushing the words out, ‘I liked it. When you took me in your mouth, it was the first time that I had . . . done that.’ He said, ‘I liked it when you—’

he’s so brave for saying this. i’m not being sarcastic. go laurent

Laurent’s reaction to kissing had always been complex: tense; vulnerable; hot. The tension was the greatest part of it, as though this single act was too much for him, too extreme. And yet, he had asked for it. Kiss me.

as always, the way laurent is not a normal romantic interest but still deeply loved and respected narratively makes me feel so happy. gives me hope etc

Don’t think, he’d said, because it was easier than saying, Take me for who I am. He couldn’t bear that suddenly. He wanted it without pretences, without excuses, his fingers curling hard into Laurent’s hair.

love this evolution. damen desperately wants laurent to be here and thinking, and knowing him, and still letting himself want this. again, with the almost addiction to honesty between them. he's getting swept up in it.

‘It’s me,’ said Damen. ‘It’s me, here with you. Say my name.’ ‘Damianos.’ He felt the sundering in Laurent at that, the name an admission, a statement of truth that came out of him, Laurent open to him with nothing to hide behind. He could hear it in Laurent’s voice. Prince-killer.

He wanted it, felt a surge of purely selfish desire as he thought of it, that Laurent knew it was him. That Laurent wanted this with him.

we know. this could have been left out.

It was subsumed, as it had to be, into the act of kissing. His body felt heavy, one form of penetration substituted for another, the tremors in Laurent not that of a single barrier crumbling, but shudders as though one after another were being brought down, each place unexplored, each place deeper than the last. Prince-killer.

so is this kind of meant to conjure the image of damen taking auguste down, right? breaking down defenses, penetration, etc. prince killer as in murderer, but he’s also killing laurent as in like. “lady-killer ;)”

He felt acutely aware that he was half on his back, naked, with Laurent fully clothed, astride, still wearing his polished boots and the high-necked, tightly laced collar of his jacket. It was a sudden, vulnerable fantasy that Laurent might simply get up and wander off, strolling the rooms, or sit in the chair opposite to sip wine with his legs crossed, while Damen was left exposed on the bed.

yeah damen, you WOULD be into that

Laurent didn’t do that. Laurent lifted his hands to his own neck. His eyes on Damen’s, slowly, he took up one of the tight-laced ties at his throat, and drew on it.

the EYE CONTACT!!!

In the dim light, Auguste was between them, sharp as a knife. The scar on his shoulder was the last thing Auguste had done before Damen had killed him. The kiss was like a wound, as if to do it Laurent was impaling himself on that knife. There was an edge of desperation to it, Laurent kissing like he needed it, his fingers clutching, his body unsteady.

it really feels like this should be cut at “wound.” maybe continue with a much more brief “laurent impaled himself.” we can MAKE the connection that it’s like he’s stabbing himself on this figurative thing, but doing it anyway because he wants it. it doesn’t need to be written out, it’s already on the page between the lines! it is SO bizarre to me that pacat's style has changed in this way in seemingly just this one chapter. maybe it's because i stepped away for a while, but honestly i can't see how i couldn't NOT have a sort of sixth sense for recognizing these weird moments given the amount of detail i've put into my analysis and reading. again, your thoughts are definitely appreciated.

He kissed back knowing it hurt him, hurt them both. There was a desperation in both of them, an aching need that could not be filled, and he could feel it in Laurent, the same unconscious striving.

another example of “we don’t need the second the sentence because the first already says it!!” i seriously suspect that this scene was written way more raw at first but an editor was like “you have to make it a lot more clear they both want it/they’re chill with each other over and over again so it’s not too vague”

another alternate explanation could be the chapter's overarching theme of abundant honestly, like almost an overwhelming amount of it, but i still don't think that explains the change in like, craft. there's a difference between characters changing their behavior through development or to make a thematic point, and the narrative itself shifting in how it tells the story. and while damen is kind of going from the extreme of lying to himself about everything to craving this truth, it's still strange to read, and feels like a very intense departure from their previous scenes together.

In a burst of explicit fantasy, he wished Laurent were a pet, or a slave, wished him a body that was not going to require extensive, coaxing preparation before it could be penetrated.

“you like it simple” flashbacks

i think both laurent and damen have moments of wanting this, but ultimately care far more for the more complicated and real parts of their relationship and selves. that was a lot of my chapter 7 analysis re-write. part of what i love about this pairing is that it's really not that much about the sex for them, which is highly ironic given gestures vaguely to the story and world. true intimacy between them has been in their conversations, their little sidequests together and the way they've connected intellectually and emotionally despite literally every odd being against that happening. it's in the way they are equals, and choose to devote themselves mutually, whether it's through despising or adoring each other. anyone can fuck; and especially in this series, almost everyone does. whatever damen and laurent do is wayyy more insane and complicated and interesting and real than that.

He wanted to be inside. He wanted to feel Laurent’s surrender shudder and give way, become total. He wanted no denying that Laurent had let him in, who he had let in. It’s me. His body primed, as though only in one act could this be driven home.

(heads up, i talk pretty explicitly about sexual assault and rape in the following paragraphs)

see, i don’t get how THAT is the ultimate sign of laurent "letting damen in." because anyone could fuck anyone if they’re powerful enough, right? that’s the whole tragedy of laurent, he sees himself as weak because this has been done to him before without his consent. i guess the surrender is in admitting he wants it, which does make sense with how everything has been set up. laurent has been assaulted and harassed and objectified by countless people, but damen is the only one he’s even given enthusiastic consent, so yeah i guess it is the ultimate sign of uhhhh accomplishment, for damen? for lack of a better word. but that still just feels OFF to me. the emotions and the logic of it.

i understand that there is a raw sort of honesty to sex; a body's natural response, fairly disconnected from morality or reason. damen has experienced that for laurent from the very start, and it's gotten him into trouble before. but despite that, he isn't a character who experiences shame about having those feelings, like, ever. the man had sex slaves, after all. he is horny despite the horrors, that's his thing.

i guess where i struggle is in, myself, thinking that the kind of primal sexual honesty here is real or meaningful in the same way the aforementioned emotional and intellectual intimacy are. like, there's something here that just bothers me. maybe it's the way damen is so swept up in the "honesty" of laurent letting himself be fucked, as a totally good and amazing and real thing. i get how damen might feel that way, but it's like, did the regent not also feel those same kinds of feelings, and act on them? if laurent had any kind of bodily response to his own assault, was that bodily honesty his emotional or intellectual truth? is it any different from the bodily honesty damen is appreciating here? this line of thinking is a common way that people convince others that they wanted or deserved their assault. i know damen is like deeply unqualified to understand that, and i know that laurent does want it and damen cares for him deeply, but i guess i almost feel protective of laurent in this moment, with the way damen is thinking during this scene.

all of the terrible people in this series who do so many things without consent, to degrade and disempower others or simply because they think they're entitled to it, are acting on the same primal urges as damen in this scene. what makes damen different from them, the entire reason laurent trusts damen enough to LET him do this, is the fact that damen respects laurent beyond those primal urges, and sees him as a person and not an object. raw sexual desire, by contrast, is just... simple.

i get a little lost here as a reader because, like laurent, i need to intellectualize everything always. i do not like it simple, often to my own detriment, admittedly. it’s hard for me to amend the idea of this like unmitigated desire for sexual honesty/vulnerability with damen genuinely respecting laurent, even though i know he does and that’s literally the entire point, that the two things can coexist and this is romantic and powerful because somehow they do. i can suspend my disbelief while reading this in fiction, but it’s harder to rationalize or understand based on my own experiences, and my knowledge of the real world. trusting another person with vulnerability is horrifying and the series knows it, but is trying to offer a strong rebuttal in the way damen and laurent love each other.

maybe it's just that in this scene, i'm not totally sold. or something.

‘Do it, I told you, I don’t care—’

there is a little part of me that’s like “uh is this what a person who really wants to be doing this would say??” but also i know damn well that i'm projecting so go off king i guess????

maybe i would have been more satisfied by this scene if damen did not fuck laurent here and now. i don't know. this analysis is poor, unobjective, confused and hypocritical. but i'm not struggling with it in a fun or enriching way, like with chapter 7, it just makes me feel kinda bad. so i'm pushing through.

He was inside Laurent. It felt raw and unprotected. He had never felt more like himself: Laurent had let him inside, knowing who he was.

yes. WE KNOW.

Damen’s grip, still oiled, was wrapped around the hottest, most honest part of Laurent.

“most honest part” yeah that pretty much sums up what makes me weird about this scene. the way damen DELIGHTS in the primal honesty of it all, beneath laurent’s carefully constructed defenses. i guess just, its been so nice reading damen being so respectful of laurent’s hesitations and boundaries, and therefore falling for his personality and intellect and genuinely growing to understand and respect him without the promise of submission or sex, so the framing of this being damen finally getting what he REALLY wanted from laurent the whole time is… kind of rough to read. like oh, this is REALLY intimacy. this is the height of it. but it's not. like, at all.

damen is not me, and i get that. but in previous times where damen has done shit i've felt weird about, i've never felt like the narrative has been poking at me to approve of it or feel positive catharsis. but this entire scene is so heavily written to be this great moment of celebration and positive catharsis, for protagonist and reader alike. but what are we even celebrating here? we're celebrating the honesty between damen and laurent about their identities, and the fact that they support each other anyway. given how much baggage they both have about sex, i almost feel like it would be a more effective scene if they DIDN'T fuck. like, laurent just hugging damen was beautiful. that kind of simple comfort, not inherently sexual, was unusual to damen. and therefore impactful. but noooo, the sex is supposed to be the pinnacle, and we made the way for it with some weirdly written overly explanatory dialogue shoved at the start of the scene. to be fair, damen does literally say, 'I still get too caught up near the end. I know I forget myself.’ which is kind of what I've just described happening.

i just don't think i am where the book wants me to be, with how i react to that. it's an odd feeling. i feel like everyone is going to read this and be like "wow she has issues, she's insane, you're supposed to like that he forgets himself and is consumed by his desires." but oh well. i usually don't enjoy the romance genre for a reason.

this series really does challenge my own ability to let simple desire coexist with the proven need to be highly intentional and thoughtful in caring about/interacting with others. it’s hard for me to believe those two things can be in harmony—that you can be honest and vulnerable, and not either be hurting someone, getting hurt by someone, enabling someone else’s self-harm, or hurting yourself.

i suppose some of the catharsis of this scene is that laurent and damen are doing this together, KNOWING they have hurt each other. that they will always have that between them, yet also knowing and trusting that they can and will treat each other well.

it’s just hard for me to see that as anything other than fantasy. it's not honest, it's not real, in the way i've come to understand those concepts both in my personal ethos and the ethos of the series. so this entire scene built around honesty as a theme just kind of falls flat. it’s tragic, really, that damen is so happy about this apparent truth between them when he is unaware of the very blatant and relevant reality of laurent’s history with sexual assault. it’s a powerful scene, but not for the reasons damen thinks it’s powerful. maybe pacat meant for that to be the case, maybe she didn’t, maybe editing made it weird. who knows.

but it is, as i’ve said in previous chapter analysis posts, a nice fantasy. i'm glad if it hits for other readers, and i respect that cs pacat put it here for a reason. maybe someday i'll re-read it and react differently.

#capri #sam reads capri #captive prince #kings rising #this one is rough #there's a reason it took so long #sorry :/

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sahisan · 2 years ago

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hurt/comfort with wanderer where his lover used to be a harbinger alongside him but came with him and was the only one who didn’t forget him when he became wanderer. she, however was very close with childe and columbina, and often misses them. she has bad days where she goes into depressive states from being away from them, and wanderer is there for her.

★ summary: wanderer x ex-harbinger!gn!reader. he comforts you after you've had another dream about your past days as harbinger.

☆ cw: sfw. fluff. hurt/comfort. cuddling. wanderer is bad at comforting (kinda). wanderer is called 'kuni'. reader's gender not specifies despite that the req has 'she/her' pronouns. mention of arlecchino x columbina (i couldn't help myself (not when i like the fatui and harbingers sm)). reader's rank at the harbingers not mentioned. 897 words.

☾ a/n: okay so. um. let me start with an apology first okay. dear anon who sent me this im extremely like EXTREMELY sorry bc this request had been sent to me ON AUGUST 7 and im like. IM SO SORRY TRULY༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ also this is inspired by wanderer's teapot lines so hehe. anyways wanderer fluff yay (i wrote this while listening to onibi series).

despite being in another room, writing some very important and very useful essay about research on inazuma's economy after the repeal of the sakoku decree, wanderer hears clear sounds of crying and sobbing.

your crying and sobbing.

and since it's already past 3am, and you should be fast asleep, he immediately senses that something is clearly wrong. sighing at the papers on the desk in front of him, he stands up, exiting the room.

he enters the bedroom only to find you curled up under the blanket on the bed, incoherently sobbing and babbling about something with a weak voice, trembling under the sheets, with occasional gasps for air and more muffled, but still loud sniffles.

wanderer frowns empathetically at the sight.

he knows what caused this state - another dream or even a nightmare of yours about your past harbinger days, about the happy days at both your and his duty, about other harbingers... he knows all of it, since he's witnessed all of this with you by his side, being equals with you still.

"[name]." he calls out, sitting down on the edge of the bed right next to your curled form.

as he gets a response of a sob echoing through the room, wanderer sighs softly again.

and you can't bring yourself to answer. not when the memories flood your mind like a waterfall - there's a waterfall of tears on your cheeks, too.

"[name], get out of there." he asks you again, hand placed on the blanket on your shoulder, providing you with as much reassurance as he can give you at the moment.

he bites back a frown as you reveal your tear soaked face, letting the blanket move to the side as you move to lay on your back, staring at the ceiling in the dark. wanderer clearly doesn't like what he's seeing.

remembering that he can, at least, comfort you in some way, he gets under the covering without any further words, draping a hand over your waist to bring your sobbing body closer and closer to him until your face is nestled flush against his chest. his other hand keeps you near by having his fingers softly going through locks of your hair on the back of your head.

you cling onto him like he's your life vest, your savior and an angel that's here purely to rescue you and help you out of your misery. wanderer almost chokes out a "hey!" as you get impossibly close, hands around him to basically melt into him - it even feels there's no air between the two of you. not like he minds it, of course.

he hears you muffling another small cry into his chest, before you exhale shakily through your mouth, sniffling quietly.

"did you dream of them again?"

"...yes."

"who was it this time?"

"columbina and- and childe." you reply, interrupted by a small hiccup as you speak. he could laugh at that but he can't bring himself to do it now, looking at your current state. he knows it's tough for you - it's always been since you both parted ways with the fatui.

"i- i miss them, kuni." you whisper shakily, and your voice sounds so weak as if you're going to break into tears again - and that's precisely what you do, clinging onto him, unsteady hands grabbing onto his clothing.

wanderer sighs deeply. "i know." he knows, he knows, he does. how couldn't he when almost every evening you start babbling about those petty banquets hosted by the harbingers to let out all the stress from the past month, literally about everything you - and he - could remember.

"do you- do you remember that banquet?" you ask quietly, sniffling a few more times, before wanderer goes silent for a moment to think.

oh.

"oh, that banquet?" he confirms thoughtfully, hearing a small, quiet chuckle from you.

"yes, that one."

"that one where signora purposefully got childe so drunk that he started flirting with columbina and almost got beaten up by arlecchino?" he laughs too after you do, realizing you're slowly but surely getting better now. "how could i forget that one?"

"oh, kuni, i know you could never.." you smile up at him, eyelashes glistening with small tears on them.

"yeah, she beat his ass just as the bastard deserved." wanderer says, his thumb coming to wipe the trails of tears on your reddened cheeks. "i almost admire her for that."

"almost?"

"almost."

that is when he earns a loud, long laughing season from you, back to seeing you smiling from ear to ear and crying now because of how hard you're laughing.

if the puppet had a heart it would be shattered into pieces by now, after witnessing all your reactions and emotions. wanderer unintentionally, subconsciously, starts laughing with you.

"sometimes i think you hate everyone in this world." you speak up after you've both calmed down a tad bit.

"why only think? i do hate everyone." he retorts with a raised eyebrow. "everyone except for you." he adds quietly, nuzzling comfortably into the crown of your head, breathing in the scent of your hair.

"what was that, kuni?" you try to look up, but his hand keeps you at place. ah, there i is - your favorite flustered wanderer is back, just as you like it.

"nothing, go to sleep." he mutters, tugging you into the blanket silently.

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thgfanfictionlibrary · 2 months ago

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General Rated Fics Masterlist (38)

Parts 1-25 / Part 26 / Part 27 / Part 28 / Part 29 / Part 30 / Part 31 / Part 32 / Part 33 / Part 34 / Part 35 / Part 36 / Part 37 /

Created: August 28th, 2024

Last Checked: —-

Practically Family-sweetlovegone (ao3) Summary: "Her dark curls swing from side to side as she skips ahead of us down the lane, right hand clutching tight the picture her father helped her draw this morning. The boy sits on my hip, his arms around my neck, clinging to me tight." Part of a series of Post-Epilogue One Shots. Katniss takes her children to a friends for the day. Seeded dandelion ;)-Hdishebrna (ao3) Summary: Pregnant Katniss fluff- from Haymitch’s perspective Seven Days-ThirtySomething (ao3) Summary: An Everlark fic: Peeta and Katniss work on the plant book when she is placed on bed rest after she is injured trying to get over the recently electrified District 12 fence. Canon, set during Catching Fire. Six months-Hdishebrna (ao3) Summary: Peeta was kept in the Capitol for the entire war and he now has access to the help he needs. He’s kept locked away underground until he’s ready for public display. This short little story will hopefully take you in the journey of his recovery. Spring's in the air-tethered_feathers (ao3) Summary: Never having been in love, this is going to be a real trick. I think of my parents, the way my father never failed to bring her gifts from the woods. A little something I wrote inspired by this line. Katniss brings Peeta gifts from the woods everyday. ..... His warm hands slid down her arms before gently turning her around so that her back faced him. Slowly, he brought his hands up to her hair, bunching half her hair into a ponytail and tying the flimsy lace into a bow. She turned around, beaming in his arms, peering into those blue eyes. "Wow, birdie, look at yourself." Strange Bedfellows-thesunpersists (ao3) Summary: Peeta's mind is a blur as he tries to make sense of his life in District 13 and keep his distance from the Mockingjay. Johanna decides to pay him a late night visit and set him straight. The Drought Wars-ThirtySomething (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark meet at a convention for a very special fandom. The Epilogue from Peeta's POV-thismustbeagoodidea (ao3) Summary: If you read the first two fics in this series and wished Peeta and Katniss had a more satisfying conclusion, this is for you! One day, long after the end of the war, Peeta wakes on a chilly Sunday morning and bakes bread with his daughter. Bad dreams still haunt in the background, but the day is quiet. Tomorrow will be quiet, too. This is just the starter something great-Hdishebrna (ao3) Summary: Thom finds something in the rubble to gift to Peeta via Katniss. She has no clue what it is or why he’s so happy about it. Enter; Owen. This is where we start again-tryalittlejoytomorrow (ao3) Summary: She thinks of Annie and Finnick in Thirteen, how jealous she'd been of them for being so sure of each other and their love, and now she feels it too.

#general #everlark #everlark fanfiction #thg #thg fanfiction #masterlist #general masterlist

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hope-ur-ok · 7 months ago

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hello i was the anon who was talking about ts songs relating to pjo. here are some of the songs off the top of my head:

the moment i heard the title "labyrinth" i thought to myself "i can make this about annabeth chase" and i did because it fit perfectly. i have a whole post about how well it lines up with her emotions during those summers between battle of the labyrinth and the last olympian and id explain more but at this point its just like second nature to me

the prophecy and annabeth chase. shes literally begging in the last two books to not have the prophecy come true and the entire original series she just wants someone to stay someone who wants her company

not ts but on the topic of pjo and music, the lightning thief musical got it perfectly. shout out to take the weight which isnt on either musical playlist even though it was part of the musical briefly

i think in my annotations of the last olympian i wrote under a rachel line "august energy"

long live. i had the time of my life fighting dragons with you. the entire bridge just describes all of pjo imo

classic generally romantic ones that can apply to percabeth: you are in love, it's nice to have a friend, call it what you want

this ones probably the most dubious on this list but when i first listened to last kiss i'd sometimes imagine it as annabeth's thoughts after percy goes missing. doesnt line up perfectly but i think the vibe is there

thats all hope you enjoyed my brainrot over this series. i love annabeth chase if that is not clear. also i love seeing your posts bc i've been obsessed with pjo for years and i love watching someone fall into that obsession. yeah she was the only thing he remembered after having his memory erased !!!!!!!!! i love them so much !!!!!!!

I love this!!! Annabeth is so great so I totally get the love and dedication to her within this, I actually had a little bit of a crush on her when I first read through the books as a tween. It's so fun to reread the first 5, and finally actually finish the lost hero (I only read about half of it originally), and I'm so excited to read all the other books. I kinda feel like I'm rediscovering the kid I was back then by resuming her obsession with these characters.

#the turtle gets asks

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atiny-for-life · 1 year ago

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Creative Spotlight #6: Song Mingi

Masterlist

Intro: With so many new Atinys coming in, I figured now would be a good time to shed some light on all the boys' creative solo projects over the years, big and small.

Fashion

As a fashion lover, Mingi also received his own show back in 2020, Minkiway, for which he wrote his own little theme song and rejoiced in getting to be the MC for something:

youtube

The episode ended with Hongjoong dropping by as a special guest to deliver a gift for Mingi.

The show returned in 2022 with Episode 3 and a new intro (go watch it and spam the comments if you'd like for the show to make a comeback!):

youtube

Collab

On August 7th, 2024, Mirani featured Mingi on a song titled Hit Me Up which they performed together live in the released music video. If you're one of the people who've been longing to hear more of Mingi's singing voice, you're gonna love this:

youtube

Music Production/Original Songs

Like Hongjoong, Mingi's also a producer and the first time we get to see him in the studio by himself is during his first 1-Day-Vlog:

youtube

On August 9th 2023, Mingi (for the first time outside of Ateez) got to really show off his wide range as an artist in an original song titled Untitled, featuring not just his rap but also his vocals, though he's not just credited for his voice but also his part in the composition and for the full lyrics:

youtube

The video is shot in retro style 4 by 3 footage and features a rainy street which eventually transitions from video only to a light audible drizzle at the end of the song.

youtube

On August 9th, 2024, Mingi's first LP Fix On/Off was announced and release, consisting of a short Preview which shows Mingi painting. Further information was then provided by Mingi himself in his birthday Inside out clip:

youtube

And finally, the actual purchase link was shared through Ateez's Social Media platforms:

[FIX OFF] Desire Project

On February 5th 2024, Mingi released his first [FIX OFF] Desire Project, titled Tunnel with him being credited for the lyrics and participation in the composition and arrangement:

youtube

It's the full emo concept with an alter ego and everything - we got the tattoos, the nail polish, the gloomy atmosphere. I love it.

Against a stunning instrumental (I love the drums), we get to hear him sing and rap, including some precisely dropped f-bombs as he laments a lost love and talks about deeply unhealthy coping mechanisms (alcoholism) to escape the memories and fill the void inside himself.

Project #2 of the series was released roughly a year and a month later on March 14th, 2025 under the title Autobahn:

youtube

Featuring the voice of 'Touched' vocalist's Yunmin, the music video open's on a low techno beat playing over the footage of a car speeding through a tunnel (the one from the previous projects perhaps?) before the title card flashes and the song kicks off.

Illuminated by a bright red light, we see Mingi collared and in chains as he tells us the storm's gone and nothing's holding him back anymore. With those few lines the theme of the song is set and his voice shifts, growing soft and pretty as he tells us: "Time to shift the gear".

It's a powerhouse of a song with lyrics full of defiance, calling for a shift in mindset, for letting go of all fears and starting a full on riot if that's what's needed to grow and heal. The song title is worked in as a metaphor for charging ahead at full speed, no more letting others or your circumstances slow you down.

Around the middle of the song, Yunmin comes in with her stunning vocals and, like Mingi, she shifts from soft to powerful as the lyrics escalate, showing off her range until Mingi comes in to join her and they both harmonize, successfully blessing our ears.

Throughout the video, we see Mingi celebrate with his friends once he's freed himself from his burden, his chains, his fears, and proceeds to drive around in his car. That is, until the very end when he joins Yunmin in her location (it looks like an empty warehouse or parking garage) where they both circle each other for a moment before they focus back on their performance.

And as we reach the end of the song, like any solid collab between a rapper and singer should, this banger ends on a killer high note from Yunmin before Mingi brings back his soft call to action: "Time to shift the gear". Let go. Let yourself be free and enjoy life.

On March 16th, two days after the song and MV's release, the behind the scenes video was released, featuring Mingi both in the recording studio and on set:

youtube

In it, we get to see Yunmin and Mingi's first meeting on set and the recording of their shared scenes (during which Yunmin is absolutely sweet and adorable):

After she wraps and gets to leave, Mingi shares the story with us of how he went to a rock festival where Touched performed and was really moved by their music. This is why he was hoping to feature with them in the future and why he thought to reach out to Yunmin with this opportunity. And luckily, she was on board!

During his solo shoot later on, Mingi goes fishing for compliments with the crew, only to get absolutely flustered when he actually receives some (which is how we get to find out that Mingi created the instrumental for the song!):

Bonus #1: bbyongMING's descent into a life of crime (allegedly)

Bonus #2: Hongjoong's little surprise (and Mingi's adorable reaction to it)

Bonus #3: A message from Mingi's best friend (who's clearly far more important than the long-time human friend's he introduced to us first)

Bonus: Mingi's Side Quests

#mingi #song mingi #ateez #Youtube

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maccreadysbaby · 7 months ago

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Project: Killcode

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

maccreadysbaby is back to torture one of her children because its the only thing she's good at

part thirty-seven

❝ AS GOOD AS DEAD ❞

MONDAY — AUGUST 6 — 9:10AM

“-AYNE. Wake the hell up,”

Bentley blinked his bleary eyes open, groaning lightly as the world around him swam back into focus. The first thing he recognized was the wood-lined ceiling of a Redwood Academy hallway staring down at him, an extravagant light fixture hanging just above his head. The second was the burning pain that was searing around each of his wrists like rope burn, and that his throat felt like someone had skinned the inside with sandpaper.

And the third thing he recognized… was Tyler Abbott’s worried face hovering above his head, looking down at him like he’d been stabbed.

Bentley did a double take, blinking a few times and glancing around the hallway in an attempt to gather his bearings. The blood that Tyler had bled was still all over the floor a few yards away, but there was a little bit pooling under each of his own wrists, too, where the vines had rubbed them raw. His backpack was lying next to him. He’d hoped that the lack of oxygen was making him hallucinate, but apparently not, because he looked back over at the person beside him and Tyler Abbott was still there.

And he looked like he’d been…

Crying?

“What the hell did you do to me?” He asked, a hint of something like fear in his voice, fiddling anxiously with his hands. “You didn’t tell me you were a freaking telepath.”

Bentley blinked a few times, trying to comprehend the words that were flying at him way too soon after he’d woken up. Tyler called him a telepath — wasn’t that what Vera was, where she could read other people’s minds? Talk to them there?

He pushed himself upright and opened his mouth to tell Tyler he wasn’t one of those, but the only thing that came out was a weird rasp, and a burning pain flared all the way up and down his esophagus like someone had set it on fire. He winced in response and brought a hand up to rest on his neck. He thought about signing to him, but when it dawned on him that Tyler Abbott definitely didn’t know ASL, he just didn’t do anything.

Tyler suddenly flinched and looked over his shoulder like something was there, but the hallway was empty. “Look, I’m sorry, please, please make it stop.”

Bentley couldn’t do anything but furrow his brows at him. He briefly sighed I’m not doing anything anyways, on the off chance Tyler actually did know sign.

“I don’t know sign language- oh my God!” He suddenly threw a hand out to the side like he was trying to hit something that wasn’t really there, his eyes watering up again, and Bentley flinched at the sudden outburst. “Okay. You got me good, now please stop.”

Bentley reached for his backpack, wincing when even turning his head hurt his throat, unzipping it quickly and fishing a random piece of paper and pen out of it. He quickly scribbled I’m not a telepath, I’m not doing anything across the sheet and shoved it in Tyler’s direction.

He took one glance at the paper and then looked up at Bentley, looking incredibly confused and afraid. “You’re… not? But there-there’s a girl, she told me to leave you alone, she… keeps talking to me-“

Bentley blinked a few times. Then he snatched the paper back and wrote across it: Vera?

Tyler shook his head before Bentley had even written the whole thing. “No. She… her mouth… it’s all screwed up…”

Her mouth.

As far as Bentley knew, Vera could only read minds and speak in them. The only telepath Bentley knew of that could make people hallucinate, and had a screwed up mouth was…

The Secret Keeper.

Bentley breathed in and wrote another name across the page, sliding it back to him.

Charlie?

“I don’t know her name!” He replied, and Bentley felt sort of conflicted when Tyler started crying. Part of him sort of liked it, thought he deserved it, and part of him felt… bad. “She told me to let you go, so just go!”

Bentley said nothing, but slowly pushed himself off the floor, his previous lightheadedness making black dots bounce around in his vision for a second before it cleared again. If he left, would she leave Tyler alone?

Bentley took one last look at Tyler (Who was just sitting on the floor crying), pulled his blazer sleeves over his bleeding wrists and gathered this things, then left the building.

If it really was her… why was she defending him?

Luckily, Bentley didn’t have to speak to anyone as he traversed the campus toward his art classroom. Not that he could’ve, anyway, with his throat and how utterly confused he was.

The Secret Keeper had literally tried to kill him several times, and now she was telling his bully to leave him alone? The supervillain who’d murdered countless people, who had a personal vendetta against Bentley and loved to see him tortured and terrified and injured and defenseless?

What kind of sense did that make?

None, Bentley concluded. It made no sense at all.

He got a text from Koa on his way to class — asking if he was okay. He said yes. It was only a few minutes before class was supposed to start, which meant Bentley hadn’t actually been knocked out for that long. Maybe a minute or two at most.

When he finally made it to the art classroom, skillfully avoiding everybody in the halls, he stopped just outside the door and texted Summer.

Can you come in the hall? I need you. And then a second later: Don’t tell Koa.

Bentley watched her typing bubble pop up for a few seconds, then go away again.

Then the classroom door opened and she stepped out without a word, closing it behind her. Her brown eyes quickly scanned the hallway and landed on him, moving across his frame methodically like she was checking for injuries, brushing her dirty blonde hair over her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

Bentley opened his mouth to talk, but again, all that came out was a rasp, and terrible pain radiated throughout his throat.

Summer, upon seeing his obvious discomfort, reached forward and touched his arm, getting this calculative look on her face.

Right. All she had to do was touch him to see what was wrong.

“What happened?” She asked, bringing her hands up to rest on either side of his neck. That same cold tingly feeling blossomed under them that he felt the first time she’d healed him — after Tyler punched him. The fiery pain immediately started to flee at her touch.

“It doesn’t matter,” He replied, swallowing thickly now that it didn’t feel like he was drinking boiling water.

“Koa told me Tyler wanted to talk to you,” She continued, flicking an accusatory glance up at him. Bentley didn’t look at her.

She didn’t press any more, just reached down and grabbed one of his arms, pushing his sleeve up so she could see the damage. “Your sleeves are all bloody.”

“That’s fine,” He muttered. Summer didn’t reply, but she closed her hands around his wrist, and once the cold feeling had come and gone, it was good as new. She did the same to the other without saying anything else.

“There you go. Good as new,” She smiled faintly. Bentley didn’t say anything, so her smile slowly faded. “You know you can tell me anything, if you need to talk... I don’t gossip.”

Bentley shrugged, glancing up at her, then back down at his shoes. “Just Tyler being Tyler. It isn’t a big deal.”

Summer didn’t say anything for a minute, just sort of looked at him. “You’ve been getting quieter and more distanced as school has gone on. Are you… okay, Bentley?”

Bentley said nothing. He was so not okay that he wasn’t even sure he could talk about it without having some kind of emotional breakdown. School and making sure he passed all his classes and remembered all his homework was stressful enough to make him wanna cry on a bad day. That, plus the fact he had Tyler on his case, who was okay with literally torturing him, made school pretty much a full seven or eight or however many hours of overwhelming and unbridled anxiety.

Then, he added the Secret Keeper on top of that, who would probably try to murder him at the earliest convenience, and everything she brought along: nightmares, visions, voices, and the constant need to look over his shoulder or count his fingers. Plus the fact that his roommates were dealing with it, too…

And that he was feeling more homesick and lonely than ever… but he couldn’t talk to them. Couldn’t tell them what was going on or get their advice, their comfort. It was like there was a door between him and his family, and it was completely locked with no key in sight. Was he partly to blame? Sure. He was the one who decided to keep secrets and lie… but when it came to the super serious stuff, he’d tried to tell them, and…

And like a cherry on top of the cake, the one person at school that he was closest to, that was his family, his brother, didn’t want to talk to him.

Not to mention all the little things, like that he knew Georgia was cheating, or that Rockie had depression medicine, or that Chloe was being manipulated and controlled by her own mother… all the things that shouldn’t stress him out because it wasn’t his business but did anyways.

So, was Bentley okay? Absolutely not.

But what did he say?

“Mhm,”

That was about all he could muster without bursting into tears like the pathetic little baby he was, so that’s what he left it at. Summer didn’t look very convinced, but she didn’t push him anymore, either.

“Okay,” Was what she settled on, her brown eyes bouncing across his face, taking in what seemed to be every inch of his expression like Nico used to. Bentley still wasn’t sure why he did that. “I just want you to be alright, is all.”

Bentley nodded. “I’m alright, Summer.”

Finally, she nodded. “Okay. You can head into class first. I’ll go to the bathroom or something so it isn’t obvious we were together.”

“Okay,” Bentley replied. “And… thanks. Again. Third time.”

“No problem,” She smiled faintly. “All you have to do is say the word and I’m on my way.”

Bentley smiled lightly as she continued down the hallway, toward the bathrooms.

As soon as he was out of her line of sight, he sighed deeply, rubbing at his eyes and shaking his head in an attempt to clear it.

He’d said it himself: he was alright.

So he shoved everything down into the depths of wherever he shoved feelings into, and walked into class, and was alright.

—

And so he was alright for the rest of the day.

He made it through his classes without a hitch — the only person who knew about him getting hurt was Summer, and none of his roommates really suspected a thing. He kept his bloody sleeves hidden until after classes were over, when he changed out of his uniform and into clothes to practice with Koa and Varian in. He made sure to shove his bloody blazer and shirt into the very bottom of the laundry so no one would find them.

“You missed again, Var! If I was the coach, I’d be giving you a lap!” Koa called, jogging off the soccer field to grab the ball that had just missed the goal by mere inches. It was sort of cloudy out, which was kind of nice because it kept some of the heat off of the three of them.

Bentley was doing a really good job acting alright, if he did say so himself. Nobody had asked him if he was alright besides Summer all day long… which was good in his books.

He, Koa, and Varian were spread out in a triangle across the soccer field, and had been shooting goals and running drills for the better part of two hours. Bentley was already a whole lot better than he’d started out -- soccer tryouts were in just a few weeks, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to do it or not, but he was definitely getting there if so. Koa had been explaining the game to him piece by piece, position by position, over the last few weeks; to the point where he could watch a soccer game and know what was going on -- a far cry from where he had been when he arrived at the academy.

The fact that he was actually doing good, and that he had to think about soccer and nothing else in order to succeed at practicing, made it one of his favorite parts of the day. It was one of the only times he didn’t have something eating away at his psyche.

Koa kicked the ball back into the field, toward Bentley’s feet, so he quickly caught it and passed it to Varian, who passed it back to Koa, who shot it in the goal.

“Nice!” Was what Koa called over his shoulder as he went to get the ball. He fished it out of the goal and shouted: “Var!” Before he kicked it in his direction, and-

Varian didn’t even move, and the ball flew right past him.

Bentley creased his brow and squinted across the field at him. Varian was so full of energy and quick on his feet that he usually never missed passes or shots — when it came to soccer, he had the pinpoint accuracy of a professional archer. And Bentley would be lying if he said the sudden deterioration of his ability to catch or shoot anything in the last ten minutes wasn’t freaking him out just a little bit.

Koa let out an exasperated sigh, tossing his hands out to the side. “What’s going on, dude? Are you going low?”

Varian didn’t say anything. Bentley squinted and took a few steps closer, trying to pinpoint the expression on his face from across the field, but then he turned away from them for some reason.

Koa started to walk over there, so Bentley did, too — but they hardly made it three steps before Varian started closing in on himself at an alarming rate, doubling all the way over until he had to crouch and brace one arm on the ground, looking like he might pass flat out.

Koa and Bentley both broke into a sprint immediately. All the worst things that might’ve been going on (THE SECRET KEEPER) flashed through Bentley’s mind and spurred him onward, across the field in a flash.

If it really was her, what could he do to help him? Oh God, it was totally her. What else would it be? She got bored of torturing Bentley and Bellamy and Rockie so now she had to move on to someone new just to get a kick out of their terror and-

On their arrival, Koa immediately grabbed Varian by the shoulders to keep him upright, with a quick: “Hey, what’s wrong?” He dug the little machine out from under Varian’s sleeve, and Bentley decided that had to be what it was, but the screen had the number one-hundred-nineteen on it and he knew that number was considered…

“Your blood sugar is good,” Koa continued, kneeling down on the left side of Varian, trying to catch his eyes. “Tell me what’s going on, Var.”

Bentley moved so he was on the other side of him, crouching down to his height. Varian’s eyes were shut tightly, his face screwed up in very obvious pain. He was breathing deep through his mouth, looking pale and shaky and not okay — like one wrong move would knock him straight out. He hadn’t been like that ten minutes ago. He’d been fine.

Bentley brushed his hair off of his forehead and rested his hand there, cringing deeply at the sheer amount of heat that came off of his skin. “He’s burning up.”

Koa shook his head, reaching forward feeling the temperature for himself. “What’s going on, V? Are you lightheaded?”

Varian shook his head no. His whole body seemed to tense and go rigid for some reason, and his arms gave out beneath him and he fell into Bentley’s side, knocking him back on the ground, too.

Bentley managed (through his panic, which was ramping up at a very steady pace.) to grab Varian and keep him off the grass by situating his upper body in his lap. He coiled up, wrapping his arms around himself and tucking his knees in so tight he probably couldn’t curl up more if he wanted to.

“It hurts,” He gritted out, a certain thickness in his voice that Bentley recognized as biting back pain induced tears.

Koa was quick to start checking things, hands bouncing to various places across Varian’s trembling frame. “Where?”

“Everywhere,”

Bentley would be lying if he said he wasn’t starting to panic a little. Didn’t Chloe say something about pain and burning in your muscles being a main symptom of the sickness? That had to be what this was, didn’t it? Or was something else wrong with him? Or was it her?

Koa exhaled heavily. “I’m calling Valor.”

Bentley glanced up at him, a questioning look crossing his face. “Valor? Shouldn’t he go to the nurse?”

“He can’t,” Koa replied, rising and jogging toward their bags across the field, where their phones were. “He gets scared. Last time he went to the nurse he almost killed her.”

Bentley looked back down at Varian when he made a choked sound. He thought he was gonna throw up, because Chloe said she and her roommates couldn’t stop throwing up, but fortunately for Bentley and his lap, he wasn’t.

Unfortunately, the sound was him starting to cry.

He… hadn’t seen Varian cry since he moved in.

Bentley reached down and did just about the only thing he was prepared to do when someone started crying — he raked a hand through his hair. How in the world had this come on so quickly? Varian had been fine not fifteen minutes ago, before he started missing shots and stuff, but now he couldn’t even get off the ground.

Koa came jogging back over looking down at his phone, kneeling again by Varian’s side and rubbing his back attentively. “Valor’s coming, buddy. He’s bringing Summer.”

(The seven of them were giving her a full time job, weren’t they?)

“Ya dumayu, chto umirayu,” (I think I’m dying.) Varian forced out, between deep sobs that worked to do nothing more than break Bentley’s heart. He wished he knew what he was saying — it always freaked him out when one of them started talking in their first language. When Asten did it, he was either terribly upset, or in horrible pain.

Bentley had a guess as to which one Varian was.

Koa shared a worried glance with him, their eyes lingering on one another for a few moments, asking the same question: How did he go from acting just a little off to sobbing in pain in just a ten minute window?

Their full attention remained on Varian until the beating of loud wings pierced the air.

If Bentley wasn’t so freaked out, he might’ve had more of a reaction to seeing Valor flying through the air with his giant platinum wings. It looked like something out of a storybook -- his wings looked ten times bigger in the air and ten times brighter with the sun shining on them, even through the overcast clouds, and he had Summer in his arms like some kind of princess or something.

He landed next to the three of them without as much as a thud, his grey eyes bouncing from Koa, to Bentley, to Varian. He sat Summer down on the ground, and she wasted no time hitting her knees next to them and grabbing onto Varian’s shoulder.

The five of them fell eerily silent as she stared off into the distance, shaking her head lightly. “It’s nothing internal or injury based. I think he’s sick. I… can’t fix that.”

“It’s the shit that's going around. Jaden said his whole dorm’s got it, and this is how it started,” Valor piped up, running a hand over his hair and pointing at Summer. “You should go. And wash your hands.”

She stood up and shrugged, sending a quick glance over to Bentley, their eyes lingering on one another for a moment. “If your dorm’s got it, mine’s going down for the count, too.”

Valor sighed deeply. “Just humor me, alright?”

“Okay,” She sighed, glancing at them all one last time before she started making her way off the field. “I hope you don’t all catch it.”

“Don’t we all,” Koa muttered.

Bentley stayed quiet as Valor crouched down and rested a hand on top of Varian’s head for a minute -- not checking his temperature or anything, but just… as a form of comfort, it seemed. Then he brushed his hair back. “Hey, V. It’s Valor. I’m going to pick you up now, okay?”

Varian didn’t say anything, but he peeled one of his eyes open just enough to get a good look at Valor, then closed them again.

Valor took that as an agreement and picked him up off of the ground like he weighed about as much as a balloon. “Meet you guys back at the dorm. Feeling alright?” He questioned, glancing back and forth between Bentley and Koa.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Koa replied, glancing over at Bentley.

“Me, too,”

Valor sighed deeply. “From what I’ve heard, now that he’s got it, our whole dorm is as good as dead for the next two weeks.”

Bentley cringed.

Currently, he wasn’t sure he had the willpower to survive being that sick.

Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad…

tag list that never works lmao

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @gayboss-too-close-to-the-sun

@xiaonothere

@skylathescholarly @flyrobinflyy

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darkeralmond · 2 years ago

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New to Anaheim

Trevor Zegras x Reader

synopsis: you’ve been living in Anaheim for a month since you’ve transferred to chapman university for your junior year of college. while working at your coffee shop job, your friend talks about the ducks the entire shift. that’s when a familiar man walks in…

warnings: fluff, coffee shop au!

word count: 1.2k

a/n: this is based off a fanfic i was going to write but got too bored of it! lmk if you would like this to be a series of some sorts

masterlist | request info

i. ii.

“I still can’t believe the Ducks won against the Kings with that overtime shot!” your friend exclaimed while preparing a customer’s iced vanilla latte.

You had been listening to them rave about the hockey game from last night for the past 10 minutes. You watched part of the game with them on the couch, but eventually headed off to bed when things got boring during the 2nd period.

You nodded your head while leaning against the counter. “I know,” you said sarcastically. “You haven’t shut up about it all day.”

They let out a small chuckle, “Sorry. I’m just really hyped about it.” They placed the drink on the counter and yelled out, “Angelina!”

You smiled while heading back to the register. In an hour from now you would be able to clock out of work, and the time couldn’t go any slower. You looked back at your friend and asked, “Could you make me a medium hot chocolate? Add extra marshmallows.”

“Gotcha!” they answered before preparing your drink. The bell above the door rang as the door opened. You looked ahead and saw a 6 foot male walk into the establishment. You glanced down at his Ducks shirt assuming he must’ve been a fan as well.

“Hi, welcome in,” you announced. He stepped up to the front and smiled a bit. He wasn’t bad looking, he had dusty blonde hair, blue eyes, and nice teeth. “What would you like today?”

He looked up at the menu and hummed. “Uh, my friend recommended this place and I’ve never been in a coffee shop before. What would you recommend?” He looked back down at you. You felt the corners of your mouth tug into a smile while staring at him. He had such a pretty contagious smile.

“I mean since it’s October people really like the pumpkin spice latte, but I really like the hot chocolate with extra marshmallows,” you answered.

He nodded, “Then that’s what I’ll get. Large, please?” You rang him up and he paid for his drink.

“Your name?” You grabbed the cup and a sharpie, glancing up at him.

“Trevor,” he answered. You wrote down his name, thinking it sounded a bit familiar, but you brushed it off as just a common name.

No one was behind him in line which meant you could talk to him for a bit. “Heard that the Ducks won last night,” you said as you leaned against the counter.

He smiled softly, “Yeah… I actually scored the winning point.” He said it so casually. You frowned and furrowed your eyebrows. You analyzed his face, now trying to figure out which player he was. Before you could say anything, he interrupted you, “You don’t watch hockey do you?”

You shrugged. “I only watch a little. I did watch a bit of the game last night, but I stopped watching halfway through the 2nd period.”

He nodded his head at your answer. while chuckling. He then quickly steered the conversation in another direction, not wanting to seem self centered. “How long have you lived here in Anaheim…?” His sentence trailed on while he waited for you to say your name.

“Y/N and I haven’t been here long,” you answered. You twirled your hair around your finger while maintaining eye contact with him. “I just transferred to Chapman from SDSU in August.”

“Oh, what year are you?” he asked, leaning forward attentively.

“Junior,” you said with a warm smile. It was common that guys ask you questions about yourself. You were always the one trying to keep conversation with them desperately, but Trevor was different. “Let me get your drink ready.” You stepped away from the register and made your way to the station where you made drinks.

You noticed your friend had made their way to the back for some reason, maybe it was to get more banana nut bread. You prepared his hot chocolate while he patiently waited on his phone. He was so pretty, you couldn’t believe you were serving him. You admired the tattoos on his right arm, his muscular arm. You were drooling over him.

The hot chocolate was ready to go so you added extra chocolate drizzle. Once you added the marshmallows and whipped cream, you made your way over to the counter to drop off his drink. “Trevor!” you called out to him.

His head perked up as his face lit up. He grabbed the cup and took a sip, a look of satisfaction dawned on his face. “That’s amazing,” he said as his lips curved into a smile.

“We know how to make a mean hot chocolate,” you giggled as you folded your arms over your chest. He took another sip before placing the cup down and wiped the liquid off his mouth with the back of his hand.

He cleared his throat before speaking again. “To add onto what you were saying earlier,” he started. “Since you’re kind of new to the city and all, I thought that I could maybe show you around sometime, you’re 21 right?”

“Yeah,” you answered.

He pumped his fist causing you to giggle. “I could take you bar hopping one time after your shift if you’re cool with that.”

Your cheeks dusted a rosy tint when he asked this. He was asking you out? You giggled, “Maybe. Are you gonna come in one day and wait til I get off?” You were obviously joking, even though it seemed like kind of a cute yet creepy idea.

“Oh!” he chuckled. “Uh, do you have a pen I can borrow?”

Not thinking anything of it, you went over to the register and grabbed a sharpie out of the cup. You made your way back over and handed it to him.

He grabbed a napkin from the napkin case and passed it to you. “Write your number down,” he said while smiling. “I’ll text you.”

Your heart flipped at his charming smilg. Oh my God, you were giving him your number. He asked for YOUR number. “Yeah, of course.”

You wrote down your number on the napkin and passed it back to him. He grabbed it and stared at it for a minute. “Alright,” he said while nodding. “I’ll text you later.” He folded up the napkin and put it in his pocket. He grabbed $10 out of his wallet and placed it in the tip jar, “Thank you for your services, Y/N.”

He then left the coffee shop with his hot chocolate. You watched as he did so, shocked and flustered by everything that just happened.

Your friend then came up behind you with your hot chocolate. “Dude, what the hell?” They sounded confused, happy, and shocked. “Did you just talk to Trevor Zegras?!”

You turned back and grabbed your hot chocolate out of their hand. “Yeah, he just asked for my number.” Your cheeks were red and the tip of your ears were flushed.

“What?!” They bursted out. “Trevor Zegras asked for your number?!”

“Yeah,” you giggled. “Because he wants to take me out bar hopping.”

They gasped even louder. “Holy shit! Trevor Zegras wants to go out with you?!” You took a sip of your hot chocolate while smiling. “Please tell me you’ll start watching hockey now!”

You nodded your head. “Yes! Yes I will!” You really wanted to watch Trevor play so you could have something to talk about with him.

#trevor zegras #trevor zegras x y/n #trevor zegras x reader #anahiem ducks #hockey x reader

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checkoutmybookshelf · 2 years ago

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You Have My Attention: Anne of Green Gables First Lines

The icon of Canadian girlhood needs no introduction, as Anne of Green Gables is a global phenomenon at this point. What those of you who read the first book at like age ten and then didn't bother exploring further might not know, however, is that LM Montgomery wrote a whole Anne series. So how did she catch a reader's attention? Let's find out!

"Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof."

-- Anne of Green Gables

"A tall, slim girl, 'half-past sixteen,' with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends called auburn, had sat down on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Prince Edward Island farmhouse one ripe afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil."

-- Anne of Avonlea

"'Harvest is ended and summer is gone,' quoted Anne Shirley, gazing across the shorn fields dreamily."

-- Anne of the Island

"(Letter from Anne Shirley, B.A., Principal of Summerside High School, to Gilbert Blythe, medical student at Redmond College, Kingsport.)

Windy Poplars,

Spook's Lane,

S'side, P. E. I.,

Monday, September 12th.

DEAREST:

Isn't that an address!"

-- Anne of the Windy Poplars

"'Thanks be, I’m done with geometry, learning or teaching it,' said Anne Shirley, a trifle vindictively, as she thumped a somewhat battered volume of Euclid into a big chest of books, banged the lid in triumph, and sat down upon it, looking at Diana Wright across the Green Gables garret, with gray eyes that were like a morning sky."

-- Anne's House of Dreams

"'How white the moonlight is tonight!' said Anne Blythe to herself, as she went up the walk of the Wright garden to Diana Wright's front door, where little cherry-blossom petals were coming down on the salty, breeze-stirred air."

-- Anne of Ingleside

"It was a clear, apple-green evening in May, and Four Winds Harbour was mirroring back the clouds of the golden west between its softly dark shores. The sea moaned eerily on the sand-bar, sorrowful even in spring, but a sly, jovial wind came piping down the red harbour road along which Miss Cornelia’s comfortable, matronly figure was making its way towards the village of Glen St. Mary."

-- Rainbow Valley

"It was a warm, golden-cloudy, lovable afternoon. In the big living-room at Ingleside Susan Baker sat down with a certain grim satisfaction hovering about her like an aura; it was four o'clock and Susan, who had been working incessantly since six that morning, felt that she had fairly earned an hour of repose and gossip."

-- Rilla of Ingleside

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positivexcellence · 1 year ago

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Walker Boss, Jared Padalecki on Series Finale’s Surprise Cameo, Cordell and Geri’s [Spoiler], More Season 5 Plans

Walker wrapped up its four-season run on Wednesday with the introduction of a surprising but familiar face as Cordell’s new neighbor: James Van Der Beek!

The Dawson’s Creek vet appeared in the show’s final seconds, dressed in all white, with a smile on his face and a gift of soaps for the Walkers. But don’t let his jovial demeanor fool you: Van Der Beek’s character was set to stir up drama on the Davidson property next door as… a cult leader, showrunner Anna Fricke reveals in the following Q&A.

Talking about the casting, star/executive producer Jared Padalecki tells TVLine that Van Der Beek is “a personal friend.”

“He lives here in Austin, and he and his family are friends of me and my family, and so, it was kind of a phone call. I was like, ‘Hey, dude, you want to come do this?'” Padalecki recalls. When he then mentioned Fricke’s name — the showrunner got her start on Dawson’s Creek — Van Der Beek was on board.

“He came over, and just drove from his house and brought one of his daughters, and did it,” Padalecki shares. “We were really excited to explore that storyline.”

Elsewhere in the series finale: Cordell took a leave of absence from the Rangers to spend time with Geri and his kids, and as he readied to hit the road with them, he pocketed a ring box! Despite thinking she botched her interview, Cassie beat out Trey for the lieutenant position. Meanwhile, Liam and Ben decided to move in together, then Liam got a phone call from the governor, asking for his help, after which a black SUV picked him up.

On the kid front, August graduated high school, and Geri made Sadie and Stella a business proposal. Finally, Bonham and Abeline came to an understanding about the event business — she just wants to oversee things, and he suggested they use the boat for events — then the couple took a ride on the water.

“The season was not written, but needless to say, that [James Van Der Beek] cliffhanger was going to pay off as an enormous part, probably the main driving force, of Season 5,” Padalecki says. “Cordell taking a backseat with his Ranger duties and maybe being purposefully naïve to what’s going on next door… There were so many ways we could go, and it was going to be a damn good season of television, but it’s going to have to live in our imaginations.” (Get more of Padalecki’s thoughts on the show’s end and his TV future.)

Below, showrunner Anna Fricke details Van Der Beek’s role and what else was planned for a fifth season, including Cordell and Geri’s potential engagement and Liam’s mysterious new job.

TVLINE | Looking back on the episode, is there anything that you would’ve done differently or changed? Or are you pretty satisfied with the way it ended? Well, it’s probably a two-part answer. We did not know the fate of the show when we wrote the finale. I wrote the finale with Blythe Ann Johnson. We did know, as always, things are uncertain, and so we tried to, as always, write a cliffhanger, write some twists, leave some threads for an upcoming season. We were given the chance, a little bit into either the prep or the filming of the finale, to change anything, just in case, and we did not yet know the fate of the show. So it was sort of like a gamble, and I wrestled with that decision for many days, and talked to the writers, and talked to the producers and to Jared [Padalecki] about what we should do, if anything, and basically, ultimately, we didn’t want to insert a last-minute scene that would sum everything up. It’s 42 minutes of television. We didn’t want to summarize a whole series in one scene, or a few changed lines, or anything like that. So we, ultimately, decided to leave it as it was, which was a tough decision, but I still feel like it’s a good finale. It’s satisfying in many ways. It does not tell the full tale. This show was supposed to go on for 10 years, in my brain, and so, it doesn’t sum up everything, but I didn’t want to rush it, if that makes sense.

TVLINE | You still get a sense of where these characters are going to end up, even though we don’t actually see it. One thing we did get The CW to agree to, which I’m super grateful for, [is] we do have an extended finale by a few minutes, which is a huge deal in terms of scenes, because there were scenes that we had cut that we put back in, which was huge. So we do have that closure, and everyone is in a good place. When I was discussing the finale with our producer/director, Steve Robin, who I adore, we were talking about like, “It’s a good finale, but is it the-lights-off-at-Cheers?” which is, for a certain age group, like the ultimate finale. [Laughs] And it’s not the-lights-off-at-Cheers because I wasn’t prepared for the end. Had I known I had been writing for the end, I would’ve taken the whole fifth season and really written to the end. But I don’t feel like the characters have been robbed.

TVLINE | You set up some really fun cliffhangers for a potential Season 5, especially with the reveal of James Van Der Beek as the Walkers’ new neighbor. How did that come together? That whole process was so exciting. We always wanted to leave some threads for Season 5. We were going to do the cult next door. So he was supposed to be a cult leader. Ever since James Van Der Beek moved to Austin, we’ve been like, “How do we get him into the show? What can we do?” and this just seemed like the perfect thing, and we finally got him for this part. A small-known fact is that we had actually approached him to be Clint West [in] Season 1, which Austin Nichols, ultimately played, and Austin was so excellent in that role. I would not have it any other way. But James had been on that list for a possible villain. We were sort of circling him, like, “Is this possible? Can we get James?” and Jared and James are friends, and Dawson’s Creek was, of course, my first job in this industry. So it was a very beautiful full-circle thing.

TVLINE | Of all the cliffhangers in this episode, that one was the most like, “Oh, darn, I wish I could’ve seen this play out.” I’m not going to lie, part of me wanted to leave people mad. [Laughs] Part of me wanted to have like a big, splashy ending, so then people would be like, “How could you end this?!” No, it was going to be a lot of fun, and to me, personally, I think there was something profound in James Van Der Beek with Jared on this show, sort of like a great throwback to the original WB, and the commentary on the evolution of this network, which I was maybe reading too much into, but I enjoyed it. [Laughs]

TVLINE | What would the dynamic have been like between James’ character and Cordell? Had you thought that far ahead yet? Oh, gosh. I talked to James, and it was so last-minute. He’s a saint. I think it was truly like the day before we were shooting. It was really, really insanely last-minute, so thank God he lives there. He loved the idea of the cult leader, and I think, actually, half those clothes are his own clothes. [Laughs] He was super into it and super into the dynamic he would bring, and he was really into the idea of playing a fun character, an interesting character, a bad character. He was going to be kind of quirky bad, but amusing. He was going to be a really whimsical, amusing character. We were not going to do blood cult, bad, bad, bad cult. We were going to do like kooky cult.

TVLINE | There was a moment, earlier this season, where I thought Luna might be The Jackal, but then I was like, “No, they wouldn’t do that to Cassie.” But then you killed him, which is, I think, even worse. I know, it’s so funny. So many people thought he was The Jackal, which I love. The crew gets the scripts when all the department heads get the script, so they didn’t know, and so there were crew speculations, all season long, about who The Jackal was, and Luna was up there. Some people thought it was Sadie, which was a good one, too. [Laughs] It was devastating to kill him, but it had to be done for drama. I have a joke about all of our best guest stars, like Matt Barr, Austin Nichols, Justin Cortez Johnson, we just kill them all. But it doesn’t mean anything on our show. You can come back as a ghost. It’s fine.

TVLINE | You did give Cassie a bit of a hopeful note there at the end, when she got the promotion, and it leads to this interesting dynamic of she’s now Cordell’s superior. What were you excited to explore with that, if the show had continued? I was really excited to explore exactly that, her being his superior, but it wasn’t going to be a desk job with her. She was going to still be on the streets. But I was excited to see the dynamic of her having to discipline or corral or whatever Walker and Trey, and sort of be in charge of them a bit, and make calls with Captain James. We’ve never seen him have a number two. So that would’ve been really fun. And just seeing her have that dynamic of taking control of a job that Cordell, himself, never wanted, and just seeing her take charge would’ve been really fun.

TVLINE | Geri and Cordell went through their struggles this season, but they ended the finale in a much healthier place. Is it safe to say they were definitely going to get engaged? You know, it’s funny. We had a joke in the writers’ room about the end of the series, and truly, I thought it was going to go 10 years. Walker says to Emily in a flashback, I think, in Season 1, Episode 6, I think he says, “Going to marry Geri and work at the Side Step,” if Emily ever dies. And so that was sort of the end goal, but even when I was given the chance to alter the finale in any way, I didn’t want to get there. It was too fast for a proposal. So I didn’t want to do that right away. The engagement ring box was a very last-minute add. It was truly on the day of filming that scene. We went to the props department and said, “Hey, do you have a box? Can we put it in his pocket?” We shot it as an insert so that we could cut it out if we needed to. We didn’t want to be married to it, literally. I didn’t want marriage to be the end-all, be-all for her. I wanted more for her. So I didn’t want to rush to an engagement for that reason, and it just seemed too fast. I think, ultimately, yes, they end up together. If we’d had a fifth season, we would’ve made a story point out of the engagement, as in, like, he didn’t ask, or he did and it went south, or something happened. We wouldn’t have done that off-screen, for what it’s worth.

TVLINE | When she calls out to him, he says in this meaningful way, “I’m ready,” and it’s obvious he’s talking on another subtextual level. But it sounds like Geri’s not ready, she’s not in the same place. For sure. I was always, like, “Geri’s not ready.” I was always very interested in the character of Geri, of she wants more, and she wants something else. So even if he was ready to propose, I don’t know that she was ready to say yes. That was going to be a whole other thing.

TVLINE | How might have this time away from work have changed Cordell with the leave of absence? That’s interesting. Part of me wonders, in a fifth season, if he ever goes back. Because I never thought, in my mind, that he went to the grave a ranger. I think, at a certain point, he stopped it, because to me, his struggle has always been the work/life balance between family and work, and where is he going to end up? I think that, ultimately, hopefully, he gets more invested in his kids and steps away from that, and from the get-go, he wasn’t gunning to be captain, lieutenant, anything like that. He’s not trying to climb that ladder. So what is it for him? And I don’t know. I think he would’ve gone back for a season to be partnered with Trey on the streets, just doing the daily grind as a ranger. But I don’t know if he would’ve gone too much further beyond that. I think he would’ve maybe gone on to something else.

TVLINE | What can you say about what the governor wanted Liam’s help with? The governor’s daughter was kidnapped. Liam has a very particular set of skills, and the governor wanted Liam’s help. We were going to get Liam back into the halls of the political offices and dealing with that stuff. So it was going to be fun, Liam-doing-high-stakes-government stuff.

TVLINE | One of the other things that you hinted at but was kind of left dangling was the business proposal that Geri made to Sadie and Stella. Any details you can share about that? It was going to be the Side Step expanding and just keeping it in the family, and also, just keeping Saylor [Bell] on the show, because we love Saylor, we love working with her. We could only have so many series regulars, but we really loved working with Saylor. So it was sort of dangling a carrot of if there’s another Side Step, do we open this up? Do we have another storyline with the expanded Side Step? And what that opening is like, and what pursuing Sadie’s music is like at the same time. We just wanted to keep her in the mix.

TVLINE | Have you changed your mind, at all, about Cassie and Trey? [Fricke previously told TVLine there were no romantic feelings between the characters.] [Laughs hysterically] No. I never want them to be together. [Laughs] That’s so funny, Vlada, that you would ask that. Oh, my God, I’m like crying laughing. That was an ongoing argument in the writers’ room.

TVLINE | I remember you mentioning that. So I wondered if maybe somebody had swayed you by the end of the season. No, I did not want them to be together. Here’s the thing: In my mind, if we had gone 10 seasons, in the finale, maybe they would’ve gotten together, yes. Certainly not in this timeline. Ultimately, sure, but no. If we had been on 10 years, and she had gone on to the FBI, and blah, blah, blah, and they revisited each other, sure. But not when they were working in the same office. No, no, no. In Season 5, he was going to have an old Army friend, a female friend, calling. He was getting mysterious phone calls. He was going to have an old Army friend calling him for help that was going to cause some complications for him. So that was going to happen there.

TVLINE | Were there any other Season 5 storylines that you were excited about? I’m sure we had a ton. The cult was going to be fun. August was going to fall in love with — That was our in: August is going to fall in love with the girl next door, get dragged into the cult, have to be extracted. That was going to be fun. The governor stuff, leading to a proposal at the end of Season 5 with Walker and Geri… It would’ve been great.

#walker #jared padalecki #anna fricke

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