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zhoufeis · 3 years

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Yay! The newbie (me) has finished 10 korean dramas

....... and here are my ratings.

Let’s rate from worst to best:

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10) Romance is a Bonus Book. Rating: 2,1 / 5 stars - skip it.

- I kept seeing this show on my dash and since my first kdrama watch was W Two Worlds with the wonderful Lee Jong-suk, I decided to give it a chance.

- But hell, no one warned me how bad it actually is. I’m not talking about the acting (the cast is actually quite solid), but I’m referring to... the plot (or lack thereof), the love story (let’s rather call it one-sided obsession) and the wasted potential. Let’s start with the set-up. A company producing books, a single mother who needs a job, her childhood best friend who works for the company. Yeah, it’s not precisely complex or inventive, but it’s something to work with. Create nice dynamics at the working place, have some yearning between the two leads, give them heartwarming moments and a confession of how they’ve always been in love with each other. There’s just one problem: she really never, ever had any romantic feelings for her childhood best friend. She keeps calling him a brother and insists on him being her closest friend (which seems a stretch since she lied to him for a year about her separation from her husband and kept sort of creeping up into his house to eat and shower there without letting him know). Anyway, I could oversee this (even though I hate the trope of childhood best friends becoming lovers in adult life just because one is a man and the other a woman) if AT LEAST we actually get to see her falling for him slowly within the show. But we just.... don’t. He confesses his love to her - as she is actually starting to see someone else, and let me tell you, she actually seemed to be into the second lead -, then promises her not to push his feelings onto her... but that’s exactly what he does (I guess I don’t need to mention I ended up not being his biggest fan), and she ends up falling for him for unknown reasons. Eh. Okay. I started rooting for the second leads halfway into the show. Hae-rin & Eun-ho as well as Seo-joo & Dan-i appeared to me as the much more shippable pairings. I might have actually cried for Hae-rin & Eun-ho at some point of the show, but well... Moving on to... everything else. I enjoyed some scenes in the company, but not enough that I could tell you any right now because there wasn’t anything very memorable. The show basically thrives in some random scenes usually involving one of the two leads rather than in scenes with the two of them. That random author’s suicide has stuck with me as well as the letters that song hae-rin has wrote to our male lead over the years. The talk about fears between eun-ho and that author has stuck with me too, but other than that... there’s just nothing really happening. I was patiently waiting for a plot to come but nothing ever came. It just feels like a bunch of really uninteresting subplots put into one show. I don’t wanna judge it too harshly, but one of the other modern day dramas I will discuss further down this list also simply works with a bunch of subplots coming together - and it’s wonderfully executed (it’s ‘Run On’, for those of you who are wondering!)

SUMMARY

- Favorite character:

- Positive: nice friendship between women (dan-i & hae-rin); delivery of lee jong-suk, jeong eu-gene & park gyu-young; one strong scene involving a life lesson every few eps

- Negative: no main plot, dull subplots... nothing happens, very cheesy at some points, the protagonizing couple is quite problematic and unshippable, their chemistry is not strong enough to oversee that; i really don’t know why people like this show.

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9) Radio Romance. Rating: 3,2 / 5 stars - it’s cute.

- Radio Romance is the show on this list that drives me into conflict with myself. Because some things about this show are very strong; others (many) very, very weak. I guess the main problem is that the show’s set-up mostly shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but it deals with some heavy topics that need to be taken seriously. And unlike quality japanese animes or some quality chinese drama that usually achieve to make you realize what can be taken as a joke and what can not, Radio Romance is sort of incapable of keeping that balance. You gotta figure it for yourself.

- While offering a quite enjoyable cast and some quite different personalities within the show, there is no one particularly standing out. As you will see as we go further down on this list, this is not my only Kim So-hyun drama, it was also not my first, and I can promise you that it won’t be my last. I simply adore this actress, she’s enjoyable to watch. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of her, which is why I checked out the show in the first place. Compared to her other characters though, Song Geu-rim is kind and nice and all, but not too memorable. She’s portraying a nice girl next door here with a dream to become a good radio script writer. And if not even her character stands out, as expected, none of the others will either. As for the plot... We don’t really have one, I suppose. If you count the plot making the radio show, I suppose then episode 3 or 4 is the last with actual development. I was hoping for more conflicts and plot twists involving Soo-ho’s backstory - and we got them, but very, very, very late on the show. Basically, getting through the first 7 eps felt very easy to me, due to the change of locations and relationship growth, and getting through the last 3 as well. Although the last was such a cheesy ending, you have no idea. The middle part suffered from a lack of plot and character development as well as it suffered from a focus on the love triangle - which I totally could have lived without. Like, istg, what was the POINT of this love triangle? Soo-ho and Geu-rim had to deal with enough things already, bringing in yet another obstacle through the tercero and putting the focus onto this love triangle was just soooo cliché. And don’t even get me started on how they also went with the problematic love triangle tropes rather than to at least make it somewhat adorable or funny. It was also boring. I kept pausing the episodes there and didn’t keep watching for days. It was only at the end of episode 13 that things finally got interesting again when we finally got to learn more about Soo-ho’s backstory. From then on, I was able to end the show within 2 days. So, no, the backstory was not the thing that drives me into conflict though. What drives me into conflict is how such a quite flat story was able to portray a very good, very realistic case of depression and PTSD. Like wow. This must have been one of the few shows, in which we have a canonically diagnosed character who does not fall into stereotypes and in which his depression isn’t used as a mere plot device to get the ship together and cure him by that. His depression is underlying at all times, sometimes more, sometimes less. He is told to get treatment (”no treatment, no medication.”), he has moments in which his depression mentally and physically restrains him from acting. It’s a very layered, realistic depiction and I adored every single bit of it. Meanwhile, the character isn’t defined by his depression nevertheless - there’s more to Soo-ho then just the depression, and after all, he was an outstanding character (to correct what I said before because I was lying xD). So... for all the lack of plot and development and predictable storytelling, the depiction of depression and the peacefulness of the protagonizing couple save that show.

SUMMARY

- Favorite character:

- Negative: unnecessary love triangles with unnecessary clichés; barely any plot; sheer boredom in the middle of the show; takes itself and its tropes way too seriously.

- Positive: complex character who is suffering from depression and PTSD; layered, realistic depiction of depression; adorable couple that transmits peacefulness.

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8) Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung. Rating: 3,5 / 5 stars - nice, but it is no must-watch.

- I feel genuinely bad for putting this right after Radio Romance and Romance is a Bonus Book, because Rookie Historian was, simply put, muuuuuuuuch better. I got invested in the characters and their backstories. The story is quite more complex in retrospect than it seemed at first, but the show’s issue is that this is rather less apparent in more than the first quarter of the show. I really don’t even recall what happened in those first few episodes because it is rather unimportant for the rest of the show, with minor exceptions. The story truly starts picking up around episode 9 and has a strong run until around episode 15. The last quarter of the show then is wayyyyy too fast-moving, too many things happening and we barely spend time on things I then wished to spend more time on. Unfortunately, despite having a good set-up and a quite fine cast, I don’t think I’ll remember anything in particular about this show in a year. It’s a nice watch, even though I sometimes really had to motivate myself to keep watching in the first eps, but it hasn’t lingered in my memory after I finished it.

SUMMARY

- Favorite character:

- Positive: rather lots of plot; positive female relationships; feminism; shin se-kyung; leading couple as well as the second leading couple, even though romance is not at the core of the show; nice messages about morality and truth.

- Negative: the first few eps are really.... slow-moving. To the point that I’d recommend putting the first 8 eps into 2-3 eps and giving more space in the end. Especially the last 4 eps of the show are way too fast-moving. Furthermore, there’s some plotholes. My biggest issue though is the glorification of europe's christianity during the 18th and 19th century. I was not expecting that in a korean drama but it seemed utterly wrong in my eyes, specifically because the show used it to promote that chrisitianity promotes equality of all races and genders. Not to be a bitch, but europe’s christian beliefs have never stopped europeans from discriminating women and non-white people, not then and not now.

- My general impression of the show is quite positive, but I’m not sure I’d willingly watch it again since knowing all the plot twists and storylines actually is enough to be watched once with that show. An experience that I haven’t made with the other kdramas that are higher ranked on this list.

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7) A Love So Beautiful. Rating: 3,5 / 5 stars - if you really don’t want to think at all and just watch a light, easy to follow show, that is your pick. However, NOT recommended for first-time kdrama watchers - it gives you a totally wrong impression of what kdramas are actually capable of achieving.

- I’d like to point out that this show has surprised me in a good way - but there’s things that need to be pointed out here, so let me make three paragraphs: the first will talk about my impression of the first 16 eps; the second will talk about the last 8 eps; and the last will talk about how this show was cute, but could have been incredible, but didn’t use its potential correctly.

- Episodes 1-16: Look, the thing about those eps is very easy to point out: it’s not quality and it is never pretending to be (unlike romance is a bonus book, which pretends to be some smart, adult quality show but is just trash). Those eps cannot be taken totally serious. You have to go in there knowing exactly what is awaiting you. I started it because when I saw the trailer, I immediately realized all the tropes that Extraordinary You (higher ranked, you will see later) was making fun of. What you see is exactly what you get: Clichéd characters, clichéd love story, average acting, average directing, simple dialogue, clichéd love triangle, predictable developments - a simple romcom put into a tv show format. It’s cliché over cliché over cliché put into a het high school love story. And you know what? After weeks of studying for and writing my uni exams, it was exactly what I needed. The show is so over the top with its clichés that it’s genuinely funny. The lightheartedness and the non-existing complexity just add to that. Basically, you could argue that it’s all so bad with its clichés, which is why it becomes hilarious. Unlike other kdramas, it has a straightforward plot: a girl is in love with a boy and wants to be with him. It’s as easy as that. The show clearly loves featuring every trope you could associate with het love stories, but honestly, it’s so light and breezy and such a fast watch (due to the fact that each ep is between 20-25 minutes), you will finish those first 16 episodes before you know you even started it (I made it in less than 2 days). I want to repeat here though, it’s not for someone who starts with kdramas and hasn’t watched other kdramas. It cannot be taken seriously - and you only cannot take it seriously when you have seen things like Extraordinary You or W or, I guess, a bunch of high school kdramas. But I’m telling you, this is the only Kdrama on this list that you can watch in the most stressful time of your life and it will make you feel better. It won’t make you cry, it will make you laugh, and the moment it is out of your sight, you will forget about it - at least, that’s the case about the first 16 eps. And then we get to...

- Episodes 17-24: guys, what have I gotten myself into? As these people finished high school and their problems actually also got more adult, I started to grow genuinely attached, specifically to the ship. When she got sick and he didn’t even know although he’s a DOCTOR? When she was sexually harassed and didn’t know how to talk to him about it because their relationship was filled with other problems? When he left for 3 years and later told her that he had hoped she’d follow him because she always has... and then she didn’t? When he said that everyone is under the impression that she is more dependent on him but that he is actually the one who cannot imagine a life without her? IT ALL HURT BADLY. Because 1) so many years passed in such a short amount of time on the show and it felt like someone was ripping my heart out. I got genuinely reminded of that stupid US movie “One Day” - and y’all know how that movie ended. And because 2) there was a very realistic notion in the adult relationship portrayed. Not only did it point out how differently relationships/friendships can develop once you outgrow your teenage years and start navigating your life by yourself, but the problems, the misunderstandings, the different perceptions of time, the different perceptions of how friendships and relationships are developing - I honestly could relate to it a lot, looking at it from a 24yo perspective because it is something I have been experiencing as well since I finished high school. You feel more lonely and tend to perceive some time as passing by quickly, other times, it feels like everything is going so slow. These last 8 eps completely differ from my perception that I had in the first 16 eps of the show, as the tone is much more serious and the things depicted realistic and relatable. I also sobbed a lot. I didn’t sob at all, ever, in the first 16 eps, but the last 8 were me crying a lot and feeling my heart hurt as the years passed by and these two just spent them apart.

- So, what do I criticize about this show? The show’s pacing. I genuinely loved the change of feeling between high school and adult life, between ridiculousness and seriousness, and I know the show wants to celebrate youth at the end of the day. But I honestly believe this show could have worked so much better if u cut the high school episodes down to 8 episodes and rather spend a few more eps exploring their young adult lives. It would have worked so much better because their young adult selves were genuinely relatable, as well as their problems. The growth within the characters, realizing that the way they acted as teenagers were often self-centred or that they didn’t think that much about the consequences or how other people felt was nicely done. The show had potential. The dialogues were bearable, the camera work had hints of something great. In other words, I believe that with more carefulness to directing and dialogue, the show could have genuinely been a quality romance drama. The potential was there, but it wasn’t used the way it should have been. In the last 8 eps, you simply get a whiff on what this show could have actually been. Because the realistic character and relationship writing was right there - and if it had been put together with awesome directing and better pacing, everything could have been incredible.

SUMMARY

Favorite character:

Negative: the show’s pacing; the waste of potential to be an actual quality romance.

Positive: the un-seriousness of the first 16 eps, which were just so clichéd that it all was hilarious, compared to the seriousness of problems and development depicted in the past 8 eps.

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6) Run On. Rating: 4,2 / 5 stars - recommend

- I’m gonna be honest here and tell you something about me you might have guessed by now: Modern-day shows with no sci-fi nor fantasy elements are not particularly my thing. I usually sort of hate-watch them. Romance is a Bonus Book, A Love So Beautiful and Radio Romance are all of such shows and while I was even capable watching two of them without ending up hating them, they’re far from being my fave. Objectively, they’re okay-ish shows, nothing to be considered quality tv according to my cultural studies though. Subjectively, they just suffer even more from the fact that I’m very keen on being critical of such shows. But what happens when I find a non-fantasy, non-scifi modern-day show that is actually... good? Run On is the answer. Run On has memorable characters, their funny, unique characteristics, and simple conflicts put into nice subplots that often talk real-life problems such as bullying or self-neglegance. At the end of the day, this show is a love poem. It’s a love poem to self-love, self-respect, to friendship, to character growth, to family bonds, to achieving your goals, to making new goals, to kindness, and to life itself. That’s really what it is. You will find yourself in, at least, one of the characters. You will see them struggle, fight, grow, become better, and at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you are capable of living with yourself. I personally got attached to all of the stories and I adored how nothing was ever done over the top. Everything was subtle, multiple subplots working together... to form stories of life. It’s more than just a simple “feelgood” show and less than a devastating tragedy, it truly shows you life and puts it into an aesthetic form, that never neglects its reality. Which leads me to something I should point out here: it’s creatively done. From the fact that Seon-gyeom is waiting for Mi-joo at the end of the track to the drawings of Young-hwa that have Dan-ah in them to Dan-ah realizing that people experience the same things differently due to the fact that experience itself is different to everyone to Mi-joo imagining movie plots with the people she surrounds herself with to Seon-gyeom starting to live with Young-hwa in a small flat rather than to live lonely in a big, fancy hotel room - the things the characters go through in this show are not only talked about, but they’re often expressed through art, in all its forms. And these characters, these dynamics, the art, the conflicts are all subtly but carefully put together into subplots that form the show and very nice messages. The most important take-away I had from this show is that the way we treat us and the people around us is the highest form of art. And the show is a love poem to that.

SUMMARY

- Favorite character:

- Positive: the cast (especically the core four), the characters (especially the core four); the wonderful messages about respect, kindness and self-love; the subplots working together, reflecting how life is also not just some simple chronological order of things but rather multiple experiences that we remember and that shape us; life is constant growth.

- Negative: i think the only thing i truly have to criticize is that you never really know what the plot even is. While I do enjoy how the subplots all work together, I would have wished for deeper inspections of some plots. And while it is easy just for some headcanons to come to mind, I still think the show could have incorporated more. Considering the treatment of art forms and how it takes a prominent role within the story (due to Young-hwa and Mi-joo, respectively), I also would have liked to have some cultural nods and references - and interpretations. I think the show used about 85% of its potential - and the potential was great, which is why the rating is still very good.

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5) Bring it on, ghost! Rating: 4,2 / 5 stars - recommend, especially good for people who want to have a focus on romance coupled with a supernatural plot and who want a happy ending

- While the story is pretty easy to follow, often seems to be predictable and familiar, the show still promotes nice messages about forgiveness and regret. The strong side of the show isn’t particularly that though - this show is entirely saved by the two leading actors. Kim So-hyun and Teacyeon portray two incredibly lovable characters you will see yourself drawn to. They furthermore have a chemistry that you just have to love and their bickering is just the best part of all. This is mixed with some tragic moments - in present time as well as in the past - and what you get is a romantic show with a bit of comedy, with a bit of tragedy, but with a very happy ending. If you exchanged the actors with two less skilled actors or two people who simply don’t have a lot of chemistry, this show simply wouldn’t work. Their performances are the shining light of this drama, mixed with some funny side characters that you get to enjoy as well. The reason why it ends up higher on the list than Run On - despite Run On probably having generally the better dialogue writing as well as better camera work and even more beautiful messages - is due to the sole work of the two leads who simply carry this show on their back and the fact that despite having some more or less necessary subplots, there is a main plot here that will take a faster, darker turn in the second half of the show. And I personally just enjoy having a main plot to hold onto as well as I always enjoy a bit of fantasy more than modern day real live shows. On top of that, add some devastating backstory and top-notch character development for Park Bong-pal, and a badass, slightly violent, sassy characterization of Kim Hyun-ji. This show will simply leave you with a huge smile on your face, despite being made for people who enjoy tragedy as well.

SUMMARY

- Favorite characters:

- Negative: subplots sometimes take the focus, a familiar story, stereotypical portrayal of ghosts (yes, ahre, i said it), no real plot twists (which can be a good thing, too, since the show rather simply unfolds each part of the story over the course of its run)

- Positive: the two leading actors, their incredibly shippable couple, a happy ending. If I was going to recommend a light-hearted, happy kdrama that has some tragic parts but ends happily and isn’t that hard to follow, I’ll recommend you this one.

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4) The Tale of Nok-du. Rating: 4,6 / 5 stars - strongly recommend.

- If you ever are in search for an unproblematic dummy as protagonist, watch this show. He’s a dummy you just have to love. You laugh about him, you laugh with him, you cry for him. He’s a puppy, you cry with him. And the best thing is, this puppy falls in love with a girl who can be quite rude and annoyed, but he always makes her smile and genuinely is attentive to her. The most frustrating thing about both of them is that each of them keeps a secret they cannot tell each other because they refuse to hurt each other - and this almost leads to tragedy. Better even, they’re portrayed by two very skillful actors. You’ll love them in the blink of an eye. And then there’s the cute second lead, portrayed by Kang Tae-oh. Yes, cute. Until he really isn’t. I’ve never seen an actor being able to turn around a character to 180° in no time. Some talent that is. And now let’s just say - the plot is nice. It is not the most complex one, but it is interesting to follow and you are always eager to find out new information to collect and put the pieces together. If you are searching for a show that is simply entertaining and nice to watch and featrures a great cast and nice characters and ranges from comedy to tragedy, this is your pick.

SUMMARY

- Favorite characters:

- Negative: the narrative change in the middle of the show that shifted the focus away from women to men (even though it made sense within the story, it was still a very sudden and harsh change, especially if you consider that these women were mostly slaughtered to death)

- Positive: CAST (specifically the three mains are just beyond amazing); an innocent, pure, absolutely adorable protagonizing couple that will steal your heart; feminism; male protagonist being a feminist who ends up working with badass women for his entire lifetime; directing; narration practices - this show is the one that draws the line between the ones i discussed above and the really great ones because it is the first on the list to be capable of telling a story by constantly keeping your nerves up while also not overstimulating the viewer with too much information at once. Only the other 3 shows which will follow now were able to do the same - and it’s what makes people watch or quit, and that’s why it’s so important: constant plot development, no unnecessary side plots, and handing your audience enough information to make them keep watching but not enough to guess the entire plot yet. The Tale of Nok-du was able to do exactly that and I honestly enjoyed the ride.

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3) W - Two Worlds. Rating: 4,8 / 5 stars - strongly recommend, must watch.

- I’d like to point out first that my top 3 are interchangeable. I sometimes tend to change my mind which one of the three I adore the most, and W is definitely in those top 3. Firstly, I’d like to let you know that W was my first Kdrama watch. And it blew me away. I was in awe with Lee Jong-suk, with Han Hyo-joo, with the narration of this drama, with the plot, with the direction, with the leading couple, the cast, THE DIALOGUE. Everything about this drama was excellently executed. The slow-moving narration in episode 1, the extra long scene of Chul holding the writer at gunpoint, the writer ‘becoming’ the killer (which he has always been anyway), the philosophy behind it, the creativity. I was blown away by literally everything about this drama and I believe it to be one of the strongest dramas ever made. Furthermore, what I also really adored, is that you don’t need to necessarily be into the couple in order to enjoy this show anyway because the plot takes the spotlight - but since the couple is always involved in the main plot, you get to enjoy plot, dialogue and couple at once. An interesting thing that I want to note here is that a few weeks after finishing the show, I stumbled upon reddits criticizing Lee Tae-hwan for his acting in general. I don’t know if he just perfectly suited the role of Chul’s bodyguard in W, but I highkey enjoyed watching him in this drama.

SUMMARY

- Favorite characters:

- Negative: I would have adored if Yeon-joo took a more prominent role in the resolution of the story (last 2 episodes) since the ‘hero arc’ went all to Chul there. And another negative aspect is that the show lives from very strong dialogues throughout all episodes, all incredible, all amazing and then - the very last scene. The last words spoken on the show, as a voice-over of Chul and Yeon-joo, are rather dull compared to the rest of the show.

- Positive: narration device, leaving out information to fill us in later and blowing our minds away (PEOPLE, I THOUGHT CHUL DIED), complex main characters, complex plot, no unnecessary subplots, no unnecessary romantic drama, no unnecessary cheesiness, DIALOGUE, direction, the cast in general*.

*I tried Memories of the Alhambra, as I found out that the same people who also made W were in charge of that drama, and I have to admit that I was intensely let down, specifically by the casting. Hyun Bin was alright-ish (not very memorable though), but Park Shin-hye was unbearable for me after episode 3. I stopped watching. If the plot was as interesting as the one of W though, I would have kept watching. But seeing as nothing really happened in those first 3 eps other than the lead killing his old best friend and playing video games that appear to turn into reality, I felt like I was wasting my time.

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2) Extraordinary You. Rating: 5 / 5 stars - strongly recommend for hopeless romantics, people who suffer from second lead syndrome and people who like getting into philosophical debates.

- Extraordinary You was the second kdrama I ever watched. And. And. And. And I almost gave it up after episode one. It seemed somewhat ridiculous to me, way too fast-moving. I would regret my entire life if I had given it up right there and then. Because PEOPLE, IT IS SO GOOD. Not only does it feature a very healthy main couple, it leaves you emotionally devastated because there’s a backstory that you only get to know in the second half of the show but which influences your entire perception of the first half - and jeez, by the time I reached half of the show, I was yelling and screaming and crying my eyes out. You ever want to see a love so deep that it transcends consciousness and universes? A love so deep that time and space become mere nothings? That’s what you get in this show. And one of the best parts is that the ‘’’’’actual’’’’’ lead (in the ancient story within the show, not the story of the show) aka Baek Kyung* does NOT get the girl. But that doesn’t mean you won’t fricking suffer with him. Jeez, I bawled my eyes out for him, too. But Haru/Dan-oh, guys, they’re.... everything. Oh and all of that is nicely mixed up in a strong, complex plot that leaves nothing unexplained. Not everything is explained through words - the show is high on symbolism rather than dialogue - but everything makes sense. And the ending, oh that stupid ending. As beautiful as heartbreaking. Since the plot is put into a philosophical perspective throughout the show, the show also raises questions about existence and being. Yes, I yelled when Heidegger was mentioned. So not only do you get to see a beautiful, heartbreaking love story; adorable, complex characters; time-and-space-transcending friendships, you also get to laugh, cry and think about your own existence and your own place in this world. This show is a delight.

SUMMARY

- Favorite character:

- Negative: you will cry and cry and cry and then laugh and then cry and cry and cry. It’s really not fun. Emotionally devastating. No, but for real... I wished we had a more complex depiction of the female characters that aren’t Dan-oh (specifically Ju-da, Sae-mi and Su-hyang), and a bit less focus on the guys therefore (I love them all but I thought the girls could have gotten some screen time of theirs while I would have accepted Jinmichae, Do-hwa and Nam-ju to get a bit less)

- Positive: Honestly? EVerything. Directing, casting, characterization, narration, love story, friendships, everything.

- *Let me say something about Baek Kyung, portrayed by Lee Jae-wook. That character could have simply been an asshole. The set-up was there, the writer of the comic also made him that way. But Lee Jae-wook has portrayed this character with so much depth that it is impossible not to feel bad for him. His entire life stages (hahahaha, I’m so funny) are a tragic mess. The fact that he eventually realizes that who he is and who the writer made him are eventually indeed two different people after all - but that they both share being in love with Eun Dan-oh - is as important as it is devastating. Cause it makes you realize that he can finally move his life more freely with that knowledge - become a better person outside of the stages (only if given the chance by the writer though) - while also never finding a happy ending. Firstly, because happy endings don’t exist in their world anyway because endings - if happy or sad - are always endings to these characters’ existences and because it is glaringly obvious his happy ending would include having Dan-oh by his side also outside of the stages. That is denied to him and will always be denied to him. And as a viewer, you understand that and you want nothing else, but the fact that he doesn’t even appear in the new story, not getting a chance at a new life this time, just adds a tragic notion onto all of this that no one asked for. I’d like to thank Lee Jae-wook here for such an incredible portrayal. I started Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol because of him and, unfortunately, had stop watching after 2 episodes because Go A-ra is simply... a terrible actress. I can’t put it any other way. I’m looking forward to other dramas with him and the rest of the cast though. Extraordinary You definitely had a huge advantage already by having a quite young, but incredibly talented mass of actors and actresses.

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*drumroll*

1) Hotel del Luna. Rating: 5 / 5 stars - strongly recommend, must watch.

- It wasn’t thaaaat surprising to me that I would love this show. It was rather.... obvious that this would happen because a fantasy show set in modern day with the involvement of other time eras and a badass, broken, strong female lead is simply my taste. What I did not expect was this to become my favorite tv show of all time. I don’t even know where to start. I guess Jang Man-wol is a good starting point. Because I live for such characters. Characters like hers are precisely of my taste (I had similar people to her before - Ámbar Smith from Argentina’s Soy Luna or Melody Paz from Argentina’s Casi Ángeles - and also after her - Seo Dan-ah from Korea’s Run On), but Jang Man-wol takes the no.1 spot in all tv characters ever. She’s so layered, so complex, so well-written. She’s not predictable, but she’s also not ever surprising. She comes across as one of the most relatable tv characters you could ever see because she isn’t just one thing. She’s very contrary, she can be soft and loving or harsh and ruthless, sometimes all at the same time. She can be forgiving, she can be arrogant, self-hating, self-loving, lazy, passionate, she is quite literally everything. And while in the show’s set-up she is punished for hundreds of years when other, much more problematic people were allowed to leave this world sooner than her, the narrative wants you to feel sorry for her. You see her flaws, you see she’s anything but perfect but it won’t make you conclude that her punishment was ever deserved. The more you get into this show, the more you will ache. Because you know that there is only one possible ending to the show - for her to finally find peace. And that... that can only be achieved if she finally is allowed to leave this world. And it hurts and pains because, obviously, there is a love story. A love story that goes back to when she was a child 1,300 years ago. A love story that reunites her with the guy who saved her these 1,300 years ago and who now finds her again, someone who makes her care about her life again. As deeper as you go into the show, the more you will cry, the more you will suffer. And you will feel conflicted. You will want her to get her revenge while you will want to protect her. You will want her to finally be able to leave this world, but you won’t want her to leave Chan-sung. You will want her to actually care about her own fate while you will also want her to make the mistakes that worsen everything. It is a beautiful character put into a story that mixes fantasy, comedy, tragedy, soulmates, life, death, revenge, a stunning cinematography and strong dialogues into one. And what you get is the probably best show ever made.

SUMMARY

- Favorite character:

- Negative: There is really only one minor thing I’d criticize. While all the chars are rather complex and all subplots and character arcs work within the main plot frame and round up the entire story perfectly, there is one subplot I personally got a bit tired of because it is definitely the most unconnected one to the main plot - this concerns the romance arc of yu-na and hyun-joong. I wasn’t hating it, but I just didn’t need it for this story.

- Positive: This show has everything. I told you above already all the things I like. On top of that, I’d like to add that it has a beautiful found family story arc, promotes wonderful messages, has gotten itself the most excellent leading actress with IU who just beautifully portrays Jang Man-wol in all her depth. The show leaves you with your heart aching while there will be a smile on your face. Emotional devastation is just how this show works.

_______________

- Kdrama I'm currently watching: The Crowned Clown

- Kdramas I plan on watching soon: My Country - The New Age (watched 2 eps so far) | Signal (watched 1 ep so far) | Mr. Queen | Tale of the Nine Tailed | Moon Lovers

- Kdramas I abandoned because I didn’t get into them / disliked them: My First First Love | Goblin | Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol | Memories of the Alhambra

- If you have any suggestions for me based on my likes and dislikes, send them to me. I’m open to everything :)

#w two worlds #w two worlds apart #hotel del luna #extraordinary you #a love so beautiful #radio romance #romance is a bonus book #rookie historian goo hae ryung #the tale of nokdu #bring it on ghost #let's fight ghost #hey ghost let's fight #run on #mischa for ts #kdrama ratings

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spectrumed · 3 years

Text

8. book

I decided to start writing a book. A novel, it’s going to be fiction. It’s a big project. I dread big projects. I don’t feel as if I am ever able to complete them. It’s going to be left unfinished, why do I even bother? So many projects that I’ve started and never finished. I get an idea, then I can’t make myself do the actual work to make it a reality. Why do I think I can write a book when I can barely read books without becoming distracted and doing something else instead? I give up too easily. But, then again, do I really have it in me to produce something that is good? That people would want to read? Insecurity creeps in, telling me that I will fail. I fear failure. Of course I do, who doesn’t? Whenever people say that their greatest fear is failure, all I wonder is who out there is not afraid of failure? Is there someone out there with so much confidence that they absolutely do not in any way fear failure? Even narcissists technically fear failure, it is what leads them to such ridiculous overcompensation, putting on the facade of bravado to mask their actual dire sense of insecurity. Do not fall for the scams, no person is truly without self-doubt. (Well, I guess maybe psychopaths, but there’s a whole lot of things amiss with them.)

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve entertained myself by coming up with stories, fictional universes that I would populate with characters of my own invention. When I was a kid, what I really wanted was to become a comic book writer and artist. Well, in between other gigs I imagined would suit me, including at one point wanting to be a “singing farmer,” as I put it. Still, I’ve always returned to fiction and storytelling. There’s something about creating a world that lets you so fully distract yourself from all the stressful daily hullabaloo that goes on around you. Escapism, it’s fun, it’s therapeutic, I think. There’s a reason why humans have been telling each other stories for millennia, since even before we lived in houses. Back when we were all huddled around the fire, wearing our best comfortable animal furs, sharing tales of the hunt. Your uncle who once took part in killing a mammoth, the impressive beast nearly gorging him with its big tusks. How clever he was when he noticed that the mammoth had one leg weaker than the others, and used that to his advantage. How the entire hunting party banded together to bring the behemoth down, getting all that meat to feed their families with for months! Stories make you feel good. Like as if you have something to celebrate, even when you might be starving due to the more recent hunts not having gone as well. Damn that saber-tooth tiger that killed your uncle…

Storytelling is linked to acting. Both with acting and with storytelling you have to commit. Whatever you are doing, whatever role you are performing, you have to sell it. You may be on stage talking about that time you went scuba diving with your future wife, and how you encountered an oyster with the most magnificent pearl inside, and how you made a ring for the pearl and used it when you proposed to her. You have to sell it. You have to get the audience laughing, gasping, crying, going “aww,” feeling as if they were there with you that day. Of course, they don’t know it is all just lies. You made it up. It’s all fiction. But you committed, so they won’t ever know. Storytelling is a gift to others, people will appreciate you if you tell good stories, but you’re also kinda deviant. Even if it’s technically based on a true story, you’ve certainly added your embellishments. You’re a trickster, a devious individual. No wonder actors have historically been seen as dubious folks. They come into town, romances all the young women and men, telling them big tales of their lives on the road, and they can’t possibly know if you are telling the truth or not. You may just be lying. You probably are lying. Let’s be honest, you’ve probably not told a single true thing in your life.

I am bad at the hustle. No, I can talk quite well, and I can keep people’s attention for a long while. But I can’t be a huckster. Going out there, putting myself on the line hoping people will swallow my bullshit. I can’t really avoid speaking from my heart when I do speak. Or when I write, as I happen to be doing now. This blog has so far been thoroughly candid in places, in such a way I may come across like I’m at a confessional. Not that I have much evil to confess, but I can’t help but be transparent. I can’t flip into different kinds of personalities, each with its own schemes and plots, being some master manipulator, someone who you can never figure out what they're truly up to, or what they truly want. No, what I am is clearly written on my face. I’ve got one self, and it is the one before you. He’s hairy, and tall, and a bit of a dork. I am happy to talk to you, to engage with you, but I won’t be anyone but myself. I am me. I hope that’ll do.

Of course you are familiar with all those pick-up artists that plagues the internet. Or well, not just the internet. Go into any old-fashioned bookstore (where they store books on paper, not in digital code,) and you are bound to find some sleazy book written by a sleazy guy about how to sleazily seduce women. Those books don’t want you acting like me. According to them, seduction is all about manipulation. To figure out the very right thing to say to get women to fawn all over you. They don’t want you to be sincere, telling the truth as you see it. Nah, you gotta keep that stuff bottled up, deep down inside your soul, because most likely, your true self is ugly. It’s interesting how you can get little details from these pick-up artists depending on the sort of things they say, the tips they provide. The fact that all of them seem to harbour this festering misogyny is no big surprise, but every so often, you get these little glimpses of these people’s true worldview, one where power is everything, true love is a fallacy, and happiness is a lie manufactured by Hollywood to make us all into docile consumers. No wonder the “red-pill” so often leads to people taking the “black-pill.” First hucksters will lure you in, telling you that they’ve got the secret as to how to be a success, then when they’ve got you isolated, they reveal to you how truly misanthropic and bleak their actual beliefs are.

I am fascinated with cults, for much of the same reason why I am fascinated with storytelling. What is a cult leader if not just a great storyteller? They’re something like the modern day shaman, capable of spellbinding people with their weird idiosyncratic way of speaking. High-functioning people with autism are often said to have an idiosyncratic way of speaking. No, I am not suggesting that cult leaders are all somewhere on the spectrum, though it wouldn’t surprise me if some famous cult leaders did turn out to have been on the spectrum. However, for an autistic person to become a cult leader, I think they would have to be a true believer, and not some fraud just looking to scam others. Ultimately, no autistic person would want to surround themselves with people unless they truly do believe it is essential, to like, save mankind from damnation or something. It’s the difference between sincerity and insincerity. It is difficult for autistic people to be insincere, as insincerity requires a lot of social skills that autistic people struggle with. Having to juggle all these balls in the air, making sure you keep the big lie going, that you remember to change your behaviour depending on who you are speaking to in order to keep them from figuring out that you’re a bullshitter. Hollow people are great at being insincere. People like L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the highly profitable cult that is Scientology, was at his core a hollow individual. He had no problems twisting the minds of the people around him, because he never felt a need to be sincere. If an autistic person were to become a cult leader, I can guarantee you that it wouldn’t be a profitable cult. Nah, autistic people aren’t in it for the money, we’re all about keeping it real.

Being a sincere person, surely I should be able to write a novel and make it feel earnest. Like it was delivered with passion, because I wouldn’t be able to write anything that wasn’t true to myself. Well, I do hope so. Having something I’ve made be referred to as genuine is something I see as a great compliment. I’m a student of art history, I’ve made some “serious” art before, I know how terrible art can be when it is not delivered with good faith. Sure, some art is cynical, or ironic, but even then, it tends to come from a real place. Good artists, even when they’re fully armed with the dada mindset, must believe in what they are doing. Whether they are doing it for a laugh or not, that’s irrelevant. Even if all you wish is to be silly and make something that is comical, you have to believe in what you are creating. Or else people won’t bother engaging with it. Why look at a painting by someone who is just interested in making money? Insincere artists do exist, and they can end up becoming quite successful, but ultimately, history won’t be kind to them. Damien Hirst comes to mind, heard he's into NFTs now.

Sure, I don’t like insincere people. Does that make me a bigot? Like, it’s not as if they can help themselves. It’s just who they are, spineless maggots with no soul. It doesn’t mean we have to hate them. No, no, no... I am just generalising. Don’t go thinking there’s just two kinds of people in the world, the sincere and the insincere. It’s not a binary. Most people are both, just like with introverts and extroverts, humans are complex. But there are definitely those that decide to feed into their insincere side, realising that it is often the key to success. Through insincerity, you learn to let go of self-doubt, you stop worrying so much about what others think of you, because you are never truly yourself. If they hate you, then so what? They don’t actually hate you, they just hate a role that you are playing. So what if you seduced that woman, made her feel as if you were the perfect match, then you ghosted her and completely forgot about her? It’s her fault for falling for your tricks. You were clearly just playing the game, being a super-seducer, she should have known better. By embracing insincerity, it’s like gaining a superpower. No longer do you have to care about the impact you have on others, no longer do you have to worry about what it means to be a social human being making choices that affect the others around you. Because you’re not the person they think you are. Actually, you’re not quite sure you’re the person you think you are… Who are you?

I’ve got the plot all laid out in my head for the novel. It’s going to be based in the fantasy world that I’ve been working on for the last few years. I’ve been working on this world for almost half a decade now, come to think of it. Why do I keep feeling as if I am never able to keep to a project, when I’ve clearly been working on a massive project all this time? Sure, it’s all just in my head, but it’s not as if most people have the kind of patience to keep going back to a single big project, even if it is just in their head. Not once, while thinking about my fantasy world have I been distracted and started thinking about cute puppies, instead. And you know how difficult that is. Maybe I am too hard on myself. Maybe I will finish this book, and maybe people will want to read it. Maybe it will even get a minimal number of angry reviews, like, I may get a book published without some folks trying to harass me into committing suicide for daring to think I can write. Some people may even be enthusiastic, blowing up my ego with great praise. Maybe someone will come along and tell me that they want to buy the rights to make my book into a movie or a television series. Maybe I will get rich? Maybe I will get famous! Woo! Success here I come!

Well, no, here I go being insincere. That’s not what it’s about. I should be writing this book because I want to write it. Because I want to prove to myself that I am able to write it. Sure, it’s not as if there’s not a little brain goblin inside my mind whispering sweet nothings about how one day I might turn out a real respected author. One with real fans that gets to do big book tours talking about how brilliant I am, how brilliant my work is, and how brilliant things are going for me. I am not going to pretend I don’t have the same aspirations for success that others have. Inside of me you will find the same greedy piglet of an ego hungry for more adoration and more validation that you will find in any person. Humans don’t know when to quit, we always want more. But I am at least safe knowing that I will never debase myself, descending to the same depths as those inhabited by soulless grifters who go through life abusing the trust of others in order to get by. I’m sincere, in the end. I always turn out sincere, in the end. I am a good boy.

And I am also really sexy. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before on this blog, but I am really, REALLY, sexy. Like, you wouldn’t believe it. Oh, I am so hot. And if you follow and subscribe and hit that bell, I will teach you how you can be just as sexy as I am! And buy my book! And my merch! And my new single! And of course, my new cryptocurrency, by the name of “autism-coin.” It’s going to be a real success on 4chan, let me tell ya!

#neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autism spectrum disorder #autism #aspergers #mental health

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abluescarfonwaston · 4 years

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You mentioned once that Dandelion knows Geralt pretty well and canonically managed to read him pretty well in at least one scene (the one before Geralt says Dandelion is uncomplicated.) Could you elaborate on that? I havent read the books yet and Ive got a point to prove to one of my friends

There are two sections where this is a big thing (in the short stories). The first one is in Posada (POSADA- VALLEY OF FLOWERS. THEY JUST MET) after Geralt agrees to look into the devil problem. Even though he just turned down a bunch of ‘jobs’ because the monsters don’t exist. And Devils don’t exist either.

“Knowing you a little as I do, I take it you haven’t abased yourself so as to get us bed, board and lodging, have you?”

“Indeed.” Geralt grimaced. “It does look as if you know me a little, singer.”

The other section is- well its kinda the entirety of A Little Sacrifice but the section I was talking about was this. I’m going to paraphrase cause it’s seriously two pages long. [oh wait i only paraphrase the first 3 paragraphs. I swear these boys but this is literally the scene your asking about so i don’t feel terrible about putting it all in.] There is SO MUCH DIALOGUE WHEN BOTH GERALT AND DANDELION ARE CHATTERBOXES. Thank the other iterations for saving my poor hands by making Geralt quiet. Note: They’re in bed together during this sequence.

“Hey Geralt. Essi is like a little sister to me. Don’t be a dick to her cause she likes you. Admit it, you like her too?”

“Even if I did like her I wouldn’t talk about it! Or write songs about it. Thanks for your words cause maybe you did save me from a stupid mistake. So drop it! GOODNIGHT.” [direct quotes after this point]

Dandelion lay motionless for a moment, saying nothing, but Geralt knew him too well.

“I know,’ The poet said at last. ‘Now I know everything.’

‘You know fuck all Dandelion’

‘Do you know what your problem is, Geralt? You think you’re different. You flaunt your otherness, what you consider abnormal. You aggressively impose that abnormality on others, not understanding that for people who think clear-headedly you’re the most normal man under the sun, and they all wish that everybody was so normal. What of it that you have quicker reflexes than most and vertical pupils in sunlight? That you can see in the dark like a cat? That you know a few spells? Big deal. I, my dear once knew an innkeeper who could fart for ten minutes without stopping, playing the tune to the psalm Greet us, greet us, O, Morning star. Heedless of his - lets face it - unusual talent, that innkeeper was the most normal among the normal...

“What does this have to do with Essi Daven? Could you explain?”

“Of course. You wrongfully thought, Geralt, that Little Eye was interested in you out of morbid, downright perverted curiosity, that she looks at you as though you were a queer fish, a two-headed calf or a salamander in a menagerie. And you immediately became annoyed, gave her a rude, undeserved reprimand at the first opportunity, struck back at a blow she hadn’t dealt. I witnessed it, after all. I didn’t witness the further course of events, of course, but i noticed your flight from the room and saw her glowing cheeks when you returned. Yes, Geralt. I’m alerting you to a mistake, and you have already made it. You wanted to take revenge on her for - in your opinion - her morbid curiosity. You decided to exploit that curiosity.”

“You’re talking rubbish.”

“You tried,” The bard continued, unmoved, ‘to learn if it was possible to bed her in the hay, if she was curious to find out what it’s like to make love with a misfit, with a witcher. Fortunately, Essi turned out to be smarter than you and generously took pity on your stupidity, having understood it’s cause. I concluded this from the fact you did not return from the jetty with a fat lip.”

“Have you finished?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Goodnight then.”

“I know why you’re furious and gnashing your teeth.”

“No doubt. You know everything.”

“I know who warped you like that, who left you unable to understand a normal woman. Oh, but that Yennefer of yours was a troublemaker; I’m damned if I know what you see in her.”

“Drop it, Dandelion.”

“Do you really not prefer normal girls like Essi? What do sorceresses have that Essi doesn’t? Age, Perhaps? Little Eye may not be the youngest, but she’s as old as she looks. And do you know what Yennefer once confessed to me after a few stiff drinks? Ha, ha... she told me that the first time she did it with a man it was exactly a year after the invention of the two-furrow plough.”

“you’re lying. Yennefer Loathes you like the plague and would never confide in you.”

“Alright. I was lying. I confess.”

“You don’t have to. I know you.”

“You only think you know me. Don’t forget: I’m complicated by nature.”

“Dandelion,” The Witcher sighed, now genuinely tired. “You’re a cynic, a lecher, a womaniser and a liar. And there is nothing, believe me, nothing complicated about that. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Geralt.”

It’s worth noting that everything Dandelion says in this section appears to be accurate to what we witness happen between Essi and Geralt although his motivations for acting that way (like a jerk) aren’t stated. I mean. A huge part of Dandelion’s character is explaining Geralt’s motivations to the audience. I mean it happens again when the doppler turns into Dandelion during The Eternal Flame. The doppler as Dandelion Explains why Geralt won’t hurt him. After having been Geralt.

“You’re right, Geralt.” [the doppler said transforming out of Geralt’s form] “I took over your thoughts. Only briefly, but it was sufficient. Do you know what I’m going to do now?”

[Transforms into Dandelion]

... “I’ll go on my way... I’m going. And you, Geralt will not even try too stop me. Because I, Geralt, knew your thoughts for a moment. Including the ones you don’t want to admit to, the ones you even hide from yourself. Because to stop me you’d have to kill me. And the thought of killing me in cold blood fills you with disgust. Doesn’t it?”

Like A. this scene is very gay but more importantly B. the Doppler understands Geralt's thoughts (because he was him) and then turns into Dandelion to explain them. Because its safer. Geralt’s self loathing is so bad he did get a little murdery about seeing his own face looking back at him. Because Geralt wouldn’t hurt Dandelion. But also because Dandelion understands what’s going on in Geralt’s head and has explained Geralt’s motivations to him before. (Although this story happens before A Little Sacrifice. I think. TIMELINES) And Because Dandelion is his main teether to what’s right and Good. To his own moral compass. (Despite being a thief and a spy and a liar and a cynic and a cheater.)

I mean Geralt asks him what to do during the Dragon hunt because everyone is telling him Kill the Dragon. Kill the Dragon. Yennefer literally gets all teary eyed asking him to do it for Her even. And for a moment Geralt wavers and isn’t sure. So he asks Dandelion.

“And what’s your opinion about all this, Dandelion? What do you think?”

“What does it matter what I think? I’m a poet, Geralt. Does my opinion matter at all?”

“Yes it does”

“Well I’ll tell you then. When I see a reptile, Geralt, a viper, let’s say or some other serpent, it gives me the creeps, the vileness disgusts and terrifies me. But that dragon...”

“Yeah?”

“It... It’s pretty, Geralt.”

“Thank you Dandelion.”

“What for?”

Also (not to circle back to something that’s literally a page ago but) his comment on Yennefer,

“I know who warped you like that, who left you unable to understand a normal woman. Oh, but that Yennefer of yours was a troublemaker; I’m damned if I know what you see in her.”

and how she made him feel not human also seemed very accurate from their section together in A Shard Of Ice. (which Dandelion was not present for in the books but seems to have gathered well enough) So the fact that Dandelion knows Geralt Really fucking well is. Well its Canon.

#hope this helps you win your argument #god fucking damnit #long post #writing #reading the witcher #why do yall keep doing this to me #the witcher #Also oh fuck. Geralt is So hard on himself and his appearance during the eternal fire #which is just after A Shard Of Ice #where Yennefer cheats on Geralt. Abuses him.#No wonder he's so mean to himself #and wavers in his convictions #look if the way the Dragon mountains ends means we don't get Shard of Ice then I'm happy #I don't want the 'geralt gets abused for 6 months' by Yennefer plot. It fucking sucks #I might not be huge on their netflix relationship but its the fucking healthiest one they've got!#look i just want good things for all of them i'm sorry

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spookysweet-heart · 3 years

Text

Christmas Story Submission: The Perfect Pair and the Wearable Chair

Note: I'm not good at writing fluff, I'm normally a comedy or horror writer, but I tried my best. I'm sorry about the length! I'd insert a "read more" line if I could! Anyways, tried to make this gender neutral! Enjoy!

***

It was the morning of Christmas Eve, and it was quiet...Okay, no it wasn’t.

Granted, the last few Christmases and Christmas Eves were anything but quiet thanks in part, but actually in full, to your goofball of a boyfriend. One would think that a banshee-siren-like monster like Mare would be more threatening and more serious...like an actual mare. However, if you told that to Mare, he’d accuse you of stereotyping spirits, which only further confused people on why he would call himself Mare when he wasn’t even actually a mare. He still wouldn’t tell you what exactly he was though.

That’s besides the point, the actual point was that Mare was a goofball. Now sure he could be threatening and scary at times when it was necessary; afterall, you still had no idea what happened to the guy that broke into your apartment and stole all your holiday cookies and chocolate. Still, there were times when you legitimately wondered how someone like Mare was capable of being a threat when sometimes he couldn’t even sit in a chair properly. As a result, you were used to something weird happening every year during the holidays.

Moving along though, you were awoken this Christmas Eve morning to the sound of a crash followed by a series of noises that sounded like a plate or something shattering on the floow. Your eyes shot open and you let out a low groan as your mind started to fully awaken. Truth be told, you had been half awake since Mare got up half an hour ago. You thought he had gotten up to go to the bathroom or something and figured he would return shortly and you could cuddle with him a bit longer before waking up. When he didn’t return after five minutes, you heard him go downstairs, so you thought he was gonna make coffee. You figured you could maybe get another half hour of sleep before Mare would try waking you up with his usual method of kissing and tickling you.

The sound of a crash was definitely not something you wanted to wake up to, but it was definitely something that you did wake up to more than any normal person really should. Begrudgingly and with a pout painted on your lips, you rolled out of bed, half literally and half metaphorically. Slipping into your unicorn slippers, a Christmas present that was gifted to you by one of Mare’s brothers last year, you slowly but surely made your way downstairs.

Once in the kitchen, you saw Mare on the ground wiping up the hot chocolate that he had spilled on the floor. Clearing your throat to get his attention, he turned to you and gave a sheepish smile.

“Uh, I tripped.” he said.

Raising an eyebrow, you shook your head. He was lying.

“Tripped, or fell?” you asked pointing to what he was wearing.

And what was he wearing you may ask?

“Uh, okay, maybe I did fall, but-”

“Are you seriously still wearing that stupid wearable chair?” you asked cutting him off.

You made a mental note to somehow get back at Anti for giving your boyfriend such a weird and dumb invention. Ever since he had gotten it, Mare would use it as often as he could. One time he even tried tying his victim to it...it didn’t work out.

“It’s not stupid! It’s-” Mare tried to argue.

“It’s the chair of the future, I know I know!” you said finishing his sentence that you had heard probably a hundred times.

Rolling your eyes, you grabbed another few paper towels before you got on the floor with Mare who stopped to watch.

“You really need to be careful with that thing, you might hurt yourself.” you said softly as you finished wiping up the mess.

“Uh...Actually,” Mare gave a small, shy smile, “I kinda bumped my head when I fell.” he said through a light chuckle as he shifted positions to sit on the floor.

“Why am I not surprised?” you said failing to stop the smile that was forming on your lips.

“Can you kiss it better?” Mare asked looking up at you with puppy dog eyes.

You rolled your eyes before scooting over to him. Getting yourself on your knees, you placed your hands on his shoulders and looked at the spot on his head that he was pointing at. Leaning it to kiss that spot, you found yourself being pulled towards Mare’s lips instead because only he would pull something like that. He wrapped an arm around you as you kinda just melted into the kiss.

Pulling away, you looked at Mare’s eyes which seemed to be full of hearts.

“You’re a dork.” you said as you rolled your eyes lightly.

“Yeah, but I’m your dork!” Mare corrected with a huge smile now painting itself on his face.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.” you murmured softly as you started to get up.

Mare grabbed your hand in protest and attempted to pull you back down to him for another kiss.

“Wait, one more kiss!” he argued.

You pouted and placed a finger on his lips, “No more kisses till after I brush my teeth!” you said laughing.

It was Mare’s turn to pout as he watched you get up. Offering him your hand, you helped him back onto his feet before you went back upstairs to the bathroom. After brushing your teeth and fixing your bedhead, you threw on a flannel as a sweater and headed back to the kitchen where Mare was placing hot chocolate and cookies on the table.

“Did you get those from the bakery?” you asked through a yawn.

“Yup! Went over there this morning and got the last batch!” Mare replied happily.

A few Christmases ago, Mare had actually almost burned the kitchen down trying to make you your favorite Christmas cookies. You appreciated the gesture, you really did, but you really didn’t enjoy having to fight a fire on Christmas. Luckily for you, you were able to save the kitchen, but you couldn’t save the cookies...or the oven. After that, Mare was never allowed to bake again, and if he wanted to get you cookies, he opted to go to the little family owned bakery that was a short walk away.

“They’re your favorite!” Mare exclaimed as he motioned you to the table.

“Really? Yessss!” you squealed as you hurried over.

Before you could take a cookie from the plate, Mare stopped you.

“Waaaaiitttt!” he whined as he grabbed your hand.

“Whaaaaat?” you asked mimicking his tone turning to him slightly annoyed.

Letting go of your hand, he wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you close to him with a wide grin on his face.

“Mistletoe!” he declared as his other hand held a piece of mistletoe above both your heads.

“Really?” you asked with a quizzical look.

“Yes! Now kiss me!” he insisted as he leaned in towards you.

You giggled before kissing him back. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you pulled him closer as you again sank into the kiss as it deepened. When you pulled away, those hearts from before were back in Mare’s eyes.

“Yay!” he sang happily.

You just smirked at him before you sat down and started to eat cookies. Mare, with the wearable chair because he still had that thing on for some reason, sat across from you, watching you happily.

Catching his look of adoration, you raised an eyebrow at him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” you asked trying, and failing, to hide the blush was creeping up on your cheeks.

“I love you!” he answered cheerily.

Letting out a small laugh, you looked at him and smiled, “I love you too.” you responded softly.

Taking a sip of your hot chocolate, you mused and took in the sound of the soft Christmas music that was playing from the TV.

“You know, I’m really surprised you haven’t set anything on fire. It’s almost like a Christmas miracle!” you half joked.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Mare objected through a chuckle.

“Well…” you hummed, “I mean, our first Christmas together, you somehow set the tree on fire-”

“That wasn’t my fault! The guy who sold me the lights didn’t tell me that they were super old!”

“Then the next Christmas you somehow almost set the porch on fire with a flamethrower.”

“I was trying to melt the ice so you wouldn’t have to worry about slipping on it!”

“And let’s not forget about the kitchen fire last year.”

“I just wanted to make you cookies!”

You giggled, and then paused. Mare really a knack for somehow setting things on fire.

“Okay, well I did those things because I wanted to do something nice for you!” Mare said with a sad look.

“I know, and I love you because of it.” you reassured him as you took his hand in yours, “but if you set something on fire this year, I’m gonna lose my mind.” you added with a serious tone.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that! I promise nothing crazy will happen this year!” Mare said confidently.

You smirked, “You literally fell from the roof five times while putting lights up.” you called out.

“Yeah, but I didn’t set anything on fire!” Mare argued, “Plus, I’m determined to make this the perfect Christmas for you!” he added as his face beamed of hope and cheer.

You just nodded and took a sip of hot chocolate. Mare was being way too cheery today, it was kinda weirding you out. Peeking at your boyfriend again, you realized how well he was sitting at the table really well with that wearable chair.

“You know, you’re really getting the hang of that chair aren’t you?” you pointed out as you got up to put your cup away.

“Sure am!” Mare said proudly.

“I still wish you would just sit on a regular chair though.” you said with your back to him.

“But why? Regular chairs are boring! Besides, this chair is perfect for getting into position.”

“Into what position? Into a falling position?” you joked as you put the cup in the sink.

As if on queue, you heard your boyfriend slip and fall to the ground, most likely due to the chair’s legs giving up when he shifted positions.

“Mare!” you screamed in surprise as you quickly turned around to help him up.

You paused when you saw Mare on the floor. The way he fell made it so he landed on one knee.

“Mare?” you asked quietly.

He looked up with a sly smile.

“What are you-” you began to ask cautiously.

“Like I said, this chair is perfect for getting into position.” Mare said as he got out a small box from his pocket.

Opening the box, you saw a diamond ring that sparkled brightly.

“Oh my god…” you said quietly.

“I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I want to spend every Christmas and every day with you. I know I’ve messed up more than a few times, and I want to make it up to you if you’ll have me. Will you-”

“Yes! Oh my god, yes!” you cut him as you dove into his arms and hugged him so tightly that you swear his bones would’ve cracked if he was human.

You were almost crying as Mare put the ring on your finger; you were so overwhelmed, the diamond was huge.

“Do you like it?” Mare asked.

“I love it!” you said as you stared at the ring in complete and utter wonder.

How Mare was able to afford such a big ring was beyond you. It looked like something from a jewelry catalogue. In fact, you could’ve sworn that saw this exact ring on a celebrity news story from a few days ago-

You paused with realization.

“Mare.”

“Yes?”

“Did you kill someone for this ring?”

Mare looked like a kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Uh…” Mare immediately grabbed your shoulders and turned you around to face the living room, “Hey look carolers! GUYS THAT’S YOUR QUEUE!” he shouted.

The door to your apartment swung open and Mare’s brothers and some of the Iplier and Septic egos bursted into the room in Santa hats and reindeer headbands singing carols. However, they didn’t seem to agree what carol they were singing since almost everyone was singing a different one. You sank into confusion as you started to accept the reality of the situation; the reality being that you were engaged with a gorgeous million dollar ring on your finger that Mare got from probably killing someone.

Then one of the ego carolers had their light up santa hat combust into flames.

“HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN???” Mare shouted in dismay as he ran to get a fire extinguisher.

Fin

#spookys holiday contest #1000brightstars #nwtb merch contest #contest entry #natemare #natewantstobattle egos #youtuber egos #youtuber ego #submission

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fixxofvixx · 4 years

Text

BLOODRIGHT - JAEHWAN AU - CHAPTER 2

Hello dearies~ so I'm at home with a case of strep throat and feeling icky. I decided to go ahead and release the second chapter of jaehwan's story since the initial reaction was pretty good.

I hope you enjoy this chapter~ I'm working on all of the others so it just depends on which story the muse picks for me to finish. I hope everyone is having a good New Year so far.

Please let me know what you think~!

🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️

You followed Jaehwan back to the foyer where your parents were pacing. They had their usual 'annoyed at everything' expressions on their faces until they noticed that Jaehwan was coming back. You kept back as far away as you could, hoping to avoid the eventual awkward goodbye. You also hoped that your parents didn't see your new attire. You were always instructed to wear longer sleeves by your mother because you needed to "act like a lady and a lady doesn't reveal her skin". Although, you knew the real reason for her words.

"Your Highness! I hope everything is okay! We heard something crash. We didn't want to start eating without you. After all, you have graciously taken our precious daughter in and we hope to keep a cordial relationship." Your mother looked from Jaehwan to you and you saw her gaze run over your new dress. Her eyes widened a bit but she composed herself quickly.

"Oh, you won't be eating." Jaehwan's voice had turned dark, you. noticed. It was quite different from the soft tones he'd used to talk with you.

"But, your Highness..."

"I had wanted to speak with y/n alone but the clothes she was wearing caused her to become overheated and she collasped. I had my servants bring some water and a different dress that was not so warm."

"Oh, you poor thing! I remember telling you not to wear that dress. But you had insisted! I do hope you have apologized to the Prince." Your mother over dramatically clasped her hands together and wore a look of concern. It was a look you had seen many times when she would talk to the townspeople and then gossip behind their backs when they were gone. Still, you knew the repercussions of ignoring her words.

"Y-Yes, I--"

"That is unnecessary. However, when I returned to the room I saw something rather concerning." Jaehwan turned to you and motioned for you to stand next to him. You took a deep breath to mask the fear as you moved forward. You didn't want to anger him or your parents by refusing. Once you reached him, he took your elbow and raised your arm gently. His fingers were barely there but you could feel the heavy weight of what was happening.

"I wonder if you could explain these?"

Your parents faltered a bit but then your father spoke. "Ah, yes, we should have mentioned something about that. I'm afraid our daughter is a bit rough around the edges. She tends to get into some tussles with a stable boy that we recently took in. They are always fighting. I apologize if she has been complaining to you." Your father pinned you with a stare that had you instinctively moving closer to Jaehwan.

"Yes, that's right! That boy is a bit of a problem. I assure you that we will see that he is taken care of."

You gasped suddenly, wanting to argue in defense of the boy but you stopped when you saw your mother's narrowed eyes pointed at you.

"You must think I'm a simpleton." Jaehwan spoke through gritted teeth and your parents looked at him in surprise. His body was stone still and his eyes looked as if they could spit fire.

"Of course not, Your Highness! What on Earth would give you that idea?"

"You forget that I am not human." Jaehwan released your arm and walked slowly towards your parents. His voice was calculated and menacing. You even stood in fear although his words were directed at your parents. "I am a vampire. Do you think I am not able to hear the blood that is rushing through your veins right now? Do you think I can't hear your heartbeat? Because, I can. I hear it loud and clear everytime you tell me a lie. I can hear that little pause of blood pumping through your heart. That small tell tale sign that you think it would be a good idea to tell me something that isn't the truth. I would like to inform you that bringing harm to a donor of the royal family is punishable by death."

Both of your parents gasped and then looked at you. They started towards you but Jaehwan stepped in front of them. He towered over them. He even towered over your father who you always saw as larger than life, especially when he was angry.

"Don't. She's not yours anymore, she's mine. Your existence is no longer required." Your eyes snapped up to Jaehwan when you realized that he used the word 'existence' instead of 'presence'. Your parents backed away a few steps, their faces pale and sweaty. It was a strange sight for you. "Leave before I decide to make you both into my next meal."

"Y-Yes, as you wish, Your Highness." Your father bowed and began pulling on his wife's arm to leave. Your mother, however, was a bit more stubborn.

"If I may, Your Majesty, inquire as to the matter of the compensation."

"Compensation? You mean the compensation that you received when y/n turned thirteen? That compensation? The one that you were supposed to use for y/n but instead it was sent to someone else?" You saw a look of disbelief creep over your mother's face. A look that told you she had been found out. So, Jaehwan was telling the truth. That money WAS supposed to be for you. Instead, you had received a pair of used shoes and more training. "So, yes, I will compensate you."

You mother smiled and clasped her hands around your father's in anticipation. Her joy was short-lived.

"I will compensate you with your life instead of putting you in my dungeon to be tortured endlessly until the end of your days. How would that be?"

"Yes, yes, perfectly acceptable, Your Highness." Your father bowed over and over as he dragged his wife out the door.

You took a deep breath as soon as the door closed. Everything was deathly quiet and you kept your eyes on the floor. You could barely believe everything that had happened in such a short time.

You didn't hear Jaehwan's approach but suddenly his feet were in front of you. His finger hooked under your chin and raised your head. His crimson eyes no longer held any anger and you internally sighed in relief.

"Don't lower your head in this house. You live here.....you sure as hell don't work here. You have just as much power as me in this household. You cower to no one, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"No......Jaehwan. Same power, remember? You can call me Jaehwan." When you nodded, he continued. "They're not coming back. You can live as you please here. No training. Just be yourself, alright?"

"Yes, s--.....J-Jaehwan."

"Very good."

You started to speak but stopped. How on Earth did you reverse 21 years of being trained not to speak your mind?

"Go on, I can see that you have questions."

"Can....you really hear heartbeats? You could really tell they were lying?"

"Yes, vampires have exquisite hearing. I can hear yours loud and clear. But, I didn't even have to listen to their heartbeats to know that they were lying. It was written on their faces. But that's not the only concern you have, is it? Something else is on your mind."

"I'm worried about the stable boy. My parents hate him and I would shield him from them but now I....."

You jumped when Jaehwan called for someone named Min. In an instant, the footman, who had greeted you at the door, appeared. He bowed slightly and raised his curious red eyes up to the prince.

"Go to Y/N's old house and bring the stable boy here."

"Yes, sir." Another blur and the man was gone. You looked at Jaehwan, silently questioning him.

"We have stables here and we could use another hand."

You smiled as your spirits lifted instantly. Eventually, you remembered your manners and bowed.

"Thank you so much." You squeaked when Jaehwan's hands grasped your shoulders and pulled you back upright. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were set in a line. Given all of that, he didn't look angry. His eyes still held their softness.

"I thought I told you not to do that."

"But...."

"No buts, don't lower your head. Do I need to invent some sort of contraption that keeps you from bending?"

"N-No....." You bit your lip to keep from smiling. Jaehwan's relaxed demeanor made it easy to smile but you weren't sure if you should yet.

"Good, now, are you hungry? I'm sure you must be. We'll get you something to eat and then we can talk some more. You probably have a lot of questions."

"Alright." You turned to follow Jaehwan but then noticed your bags still sitting by the front door. "Oh, I almost forgot."

You went to your bag and pulled out the box that contained the contract. You stood again and handed it to Jaehwan.

"Ah, yes, of course. Did you already read over this?" He looked very surprised and you nodded.

"Right after you sent it to our house. A messenger came last week and gave it to my mother. She said I should go ahead and sign it. I hope I did it correctly. I only had the short instructions that the messenger had brought." You held your hands together nervously, hoping you had done everything correctly. It was getting easier to speak to him but you were still nervous.

"Y/N.....I sent this to you but just to look over and read. This contract.....it's supposed to be signed after we meet. After I....." He looked really upset and you started to panic.

"I'm really sorry!! My mother said the messenger left strict instructions that we do this before we come. She said I wouldn't be allowed to stay if I didn't sign. I really am sorry." Tears threatened your eyes again and you kicked yourself for ruining yet another thing on your first day here. At this rate, you'd be back in your old bed by sundown.

"It's not you, y/n. You had no idea. My messenger was Min and he wouldn't have said that. I suspect that it was your mother's decision. I was supposed to give you the choice."

"Choice?"

"Yes, you have the right to refuse to be my donor. It's not mandatory. The choice lies solely with you. I'm not......I don't have the power to reverse it. I'm so sorry."

"That's okay," you tried to smile, "I was always told I had no choice so I came to terms with it a long time ago. I don't really have any other options anyway. You.....You are a good person, I think. So, it's okay."

"Now, I really regret letting your parents leave."

"D-Do you really have a dungeon?"

"No....but I would make one just for them."

#vixx #vixx fic #jaehwan fic #jaehwan au #vixx au #vampire jaehwan #vixx vampire

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askarchmagearen · 4 years

Note

4 5 8 14 25 37 42 for sir aren :3

Savos is kneeling in front of his garden, shears in hand. Next to him lies a pile of freshly cut canis root. He stands up and brushes the dirt off his hands. "Sir?" His cheeks turn slightly red. "How quaint. Please such formalities are not necessary; just call me Savos. If it's not urgent I would like to finish this first. If you like we can chat a little in the meantime."

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

"Looking back now, I'd say my parents did everything right, even though then I thought they were overly strict. I guess I had that impression because I got in a lot of trouble for playing pranks on the neighbours." He smiles at the memory. "Had they been as strict as I thought back then, well, I probably would have spent my entire childhood grounded."

5. Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?

"I wouldn't say my parents were overprotective, but they did worry about me - especially when I said I wanted to join the college. I can't fault them, really. If I had to mend scorched robes at least once a week, I'd worry as well."

8. How does your character feel about religion?

"Like many dunmer, I grew up believing in the reclamations, or good daedra as some may call them: Azura, Mephala and Boethiah.Many dunmer also revere their ancestors, but my grandparents' ashes lie in a tomb near Blacklight, so we did our own thing and had a little shrine at home. I still believe - I'd be foolish not to - but I don't actively worship; I prayed in my darkest hours, but it seems nobody listened." He takes a deep breath.

"I often go down to the shore and leave an offering there. For my parents and all the others who lost their lives during the Great Collapse. My prayers may not have been answered, but maybe the three - or any other deity - are willing to show some sympathy for the souls of the dead. Sadly, some of the locals have come to view this as an admission of guilt."

14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected?

"I don't think the college ever had any official clubs; if it did, it must have been before my time. However, there were still loosely organized activity groups. For example, my friend Girduin founded what he called "The Winterhold Writers Association" - an overly fancy name for a gaggle of students writing short stories, but I digress. Anyway, while I wasn't technically part of the association, I always got invited when the actual members presented their stories," he strokes his beard. "Hmm, other than that there was another friend, Takes-In-Light, who organized a board game evening every Tirdas - some of those games even were her own invention." He smiles sadly. "Those evenings were always fun."

For a moment he is silent and stares at the ground. When he turns back to his guest, his sadness seems to have vanished.

"Oh, if you meant any involvement with responsibility, I don't think any sane teacher would have trusted me with that."

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

"Hobbies, right. Well, you caught me right in the middle of one. My precious garden is my biggest hobby of them all. There is nothing that relaxes me more than taking care of my plants and seeing them thrive fills me with joy. They are also extremely useful." He beckons the visitor to come closer. "See, these White Caps make a wonderful "Restore Magicka” potion if you mix them with powdered Creep Cluster and the essence of those Nightshades helps against cramps*. Just be careful with the dosage. And these," he points at the Canis Root lying on the floor. "Make for a remarkably aromatic tea."

He walks behind the wall separating his bed from the rest of his quarters. When he returns he is holding a leather journal and a wooden box.

"I'm currently reading this journal recounting the author's travels across Tamriel. Judging by the way it is written they might have been part of a khajiiti trade caravan, but I cannot say for certain. Regardless, the stories it contains are both informative and entertaining and I'm enjoying it a lot."

He puts the journal aside and focuses on the box. After a bit of fidgeting, the lid opens revealing a wooden board painted with a crude map of Tamriel and a bunch of tiny colourful wooden figurines.

"This is a strategy game Takes-In-Light invented when we were students. I often play with Sergius, although we often end up butting heads while doing so." He chuckles. "Despite my years of experience, I win far less than I would like to admit."

37. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

If I had a septim for every time I've been criticised for "living with my head in the clouds", I'd have enough money to fix the bridge. I admit, I talk about the past a lot, but then again, life in Winterhold is fairly uneventful - a good thing in these troubled times.

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Savos eyes the visitor and purses his lips. He seems conflicted, as if he wanted to say something but swallowed the words the last second.

"I hope to mend relations with the locals. It's been 80 years since the Great Collapse; it is time to finally put hostilities to rest along with the dead and build towards a better future for Winterhold," he sighs and crosses his arms. "I just wish the rest of Winterhold would see it the same way. I'm willing to make concessions, but due to the current political situation negotiations have reached a stalemate"

He finishes his gardening and puts the shears away.

"Chatting with you was refreshing. Now, what was it you actually wanted?”

((Whew, that took longer than I expected. Thank you so much for bombarding me with all those questions, I had a lot of fun answering them.

*Don’t ingest deadly nightshade; that use above is archaic and it’s called deadly nightshade for a reason.))

#nosy students and curious visitors #savos aren #elder scrolls #Skyrim

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maysurprisedyou · 5 years

Text

Aziraphale's Light (Good Omens)

(Just some angst and a protective Crowley *salutes*)

As a principality, Aziraphale wasn't in charge of much. And before God's creation of the earth, there really wasn't much to be in charge of.

This meant two things.

Firstly, that Aziraphale, while enjoying being in God's Grace, did not have many connections with other angels. Try as he might, he found he much rather enjoyed sticking by himself, his imagination blooming stories in his mind. (Books had not been invented yet, after all.)

And secondly, Aziraphale had a lot of time to watch. He rather enjoyed this. Nothing could quite beat the sight of thousands of joyful angels bustling about. However, when he could, he stole glances at one particular angel that shone more than any other in his eyes.

For one thing, he quite literally did shine, most angels with a higher ranking did, but the object of Aziraphale's infatuation seemed to him a blinding light - beautiful to gaze upon, but causing one's chest to tighten with unidentified emotions.

It wasn't as if he sought the other angel out, he certainly did not want to come across as sketchy. (Could angels even be sketchy?) But that didn't stop Aziraphale from instead seeking out... convenient reasons for the two of them to be in the same vicinity.

He was there for the revealing of the star cluster the angel had helped build. He was there for all of the angel's fascinating talks on his hopes for the earth soon-to-be. He was there for the angel's small get togethers where he simply played music with the other angels. (He had begun working on a new instrument. The harp, he'd decided, lacked excitement.)

These were never planned events, of course, and yet Aziraphale never missed a one. He told himself that the feelings inside of him were purely admiration, nothing more. After all, what else could it be?

But then, it happened. Something was off. Hoards of angels who were previously filled with joy and exaltation began to second guess, asking questions. Questions Aziraphale had always held but had never given voice to. Questions that tipped the balance of trust, hostility breaking out between those who asked and those who tried to silence.

And, oh, Aziraphale knew he should choose a side, he knew that, but to choose a side seemed too... permanent. It terrified him.

His heart ached to see that even that brilliant light he had been chasing was trying to make peace, not quite fitting on either side, but unwilling to see his comrades split in this way. Aziraphale took comfort in this, feeling a little less alone. But because his light had spoken out, he was grouped in with the questioners and his side was chosen for him. So Aziraphale stayed quiet, a decision he would regret for the rest of his life.

As a final test, every angel was told to line up and state where their loyalties lied. The whole ordeal put Aziraphale into a great state of panic, causing him to slip away to his usual hideaway, knowing fully well they had a list and that he would be called upon at some point.

Aziraphale exhaled quietly, sitting down softly next to a tree.

"You too, eh?" A voice sounded next to Aziraphale, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Oh- oh dear," Aziraphale said frantically. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize someone else was-" He stopped short. The face he saw in front of him caused his heart to hammer loudly inside of his chest. His shine was duller than normal, but Aziraphale wouldn't mistake him for the world.

"Nah, 's alright," the angel said. "I could use some company right about now."

Aziraphale shifted nervously. "What about the uh-" He didn't finish, but he sensed he had been understood.

"The sorting," the angel replied, smiling a bit sadly. "Seems hardly worth it, at this point. Because of my big mouth, I doubt they'd even believe me if I said I was loyal to this place. I don't even know if I truly am. I have so many questions. Maybe if I just got some answers, I'd know where I stood."

"Some things," Aziraphale commented quietly, "aren't for us to know."

"You really believe that?" he asked with a slight smile, the question itself sounding truly genuine. "You're a better angel than I am, I suppose."

"Oh, heavens no, my dear, I didn't mean-" Aziraphale's voice caught in his throat. He had just called the angel he admired most "my dear," and he felt a very sudden urge to flee. But the angel's gaze stilled him.

"You're a very quaint fellow, aren't you?"

Aziraphale let out the air he'd been holding in his lungs. "Well, yes... Yes, I suppose I am." They both chuckled together lightly.

"You know, I..." Aziraphale began quietly. "I've had so many questions, too... I just wish I was brave enough to ask them... like you."

"I don't know if I would call what I've done brave," the angel confessed. "Perhaps I'm simply too curious. I don't regret asking them. At least now I know it's near impossible to find anyone who will compromise. It just feels like I'm caught in the-"

"Middle?" Aziraphale asked, his voice taking an almost desperate tone.

"Yes..." he replied with a sad sparkle in his golden eyes that caused a lump to form in Aziraphale's throat.

The two sat and talked for what felt like ages. (The concept of time was not something they really thought about.) Aziraphale found a kindred spirit in the angel he had so admired for as long as he could remember. He felt as though he could tell him anything and be understood completely. It was something he had never experienced before.

"Aziraphale," a stern voice called suddenly, breaking the two out of their trance. They looked up to see one of the archangels who was emitting a light so bright that it hurt Aziraphale's eyes, so unlike the soft and inviting brightness of his new, dare he say it, friend.

"Are you perhaps with him?" the archangel asked, his tone causing Aziraphale to curl his wings in on himself. But not in fear, it was a new feeling to him, anger.

"He's not," the angel next to him declared defensively. "Ahh," his voice took on a new sound, one entirely different from the soft and kind one he'd used with Aziraphale. "I tried to convert him to our side, but he just wouldn't budge. Real loyal, that one. Lucky to have him."

The chill that creeped down Aziraphale's spine was threatening and unlike anything he'd felt before. Was that whole talk-

But the angel turned to him with a sad and protective smile. You're a good angel, the expression seemed to say. Don't get stuck with a crowd that doesn't deserve you.

And Aziraphale understood, and the chill he'd felt was replaced with a sinking feeling, and oh, how he wished his blasted tongue would speak, advocate for the only angel, he'd felt, appreciated and understood what he said, no matter how stupid or blasphemous it sounded.

But he found himself frozen by an unknown force, desperately pleading with his eyes for the angel to reconsider, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. He had already decided, and there was little else Aziraphale felt he could do.

"Get away from him!" The archangel's wings flared angrily at his beautiful light, causing Aziraphale's heart to reach its breaking point.

"'Course, 'course," his angel said, his mouth turned up in a frighteningly mischievous grin. "Should be heading back now, huh?"

"Come with me, questioner," the archangel ignored him, gesturing to the small cove's exit threateningly.

"Right, peace be with you and all that, I'm coming."

The archangel let out a slight growl before turning on his heels, giving one last look at both of them before exiting.

"Suppose I'd rather be off then," the angel said quietly. Aziraphale felt his throat constrict. It was unfair, this angel hadn't done anything wrong, why did he have to pay for what others had done? He felt tears threaten to leave his eyes before a gentle hand came to brush them away. "None of that, I don't deserve the tears of someone as pure as you."

"Maybe you don't need to deserve them," Aziraphale replied almost in a whisper, those words being all he could manage to say.

The angel chuckled. "Well, guess I ought to say thank you, then, huh?" He placed his hand on Aziraphale's head before getting up to leave, sparing one last glance behind him. "Oh, and Angel?" Aziraphale looked up through bleary eyes. "I'll shine as bright as I can, so look out for me, huh?"

And with that, he was gone, leaving Aziraphale in the silence that he was used to but that felt horribly empty now.

The angel hadn't been lying, for not long after that, the roar of fighting had ended and Aziraphale watched as a multitude of former angels fell from the heights of heaven. And in their midst, a light stronger than any Aziraphale had ever seen blazed like a comet, a beautiful incomparable explosion of an archangel's last defiance, going out in style even when he was losing so much in the process.

Aziraphale brought his hands up to his face, choking out a sob as he willed one last blessing to reach what had been his only solace in this suddenly unmerciful and empty palace. The brightness that he'd once found beautiful was now too much, making his head hurt, and all he wished to do was see those soft golden eyes once more.

I'll find the middle ground, he thought firmly. I'll find you there again, my dear.

______________________

"Angel," Crowley called out, concern lacing his voice.

Aziraphale looked up sleepily. "Yes, my dear?"

"Are you okay? You were staring at my eyes for ages. Are you crying?"

"Mmm," Aziraphale acknowledged softly. "Just slipped into a memory I suppose. You really are a softie, aren't you?"

Crowley scoffed at that, sitting back in his chair, but Aziraphale thought he saw a brightness in the demon's golden eyes that brought a gentle smile to his face.

"How about dinner?" Aziraphale offered, sitting up to look at Crowley properly in his slouched position.

"Your treat?"

A laugh escaped the angel's mouth. "Very well. Oh, and Crowley?"

Crowley looked across the coffee table as he stood up. "Yes, Angel?"

"Thanks for meeting me in the middle."

#good omens #crowley good omens #aziraphale #pre-fall #i'm a wuss and avoided giving crowley an angel name #.... probably rapha-#oneshot #i listened to stray italian greyhound almost the entire time #enjoy i guess #protective crowley #fluffy end #angst #maywrites #ineffable husbands

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vincent-frankenstein · 6 years

Text

The Light and the Dark

Chapter Four: Hope

Story Summary: For seven years, Virgil has known nothing but the Doctor and his lab and his horrible tests. For seven years, Virgil has known nothing but the shadows, ever-creeping, and the darkness, all-consuming. But then one day a man carrying fire in his hands and in the brave tilt of his smile breaks down his door and offers him freedom, and everything changes forever.

Pairings: Moxiety and Logince

Taglist: @aliferous-ly @walrus-flail @fandoms-n-ship @aikogumi @podcastsandcoffee

Chapter One/ Chapter Two/ Chapter Three/ Read on AO3

((sorry about how long this took,,, hope you enjoy!)))

Virgil stumbled as the guards roughly shoved him back into his room, loudly slamming the door behind him. He hit the ground with a loud oof, his breath leaving him in a painful groan. His body felt dead, sore and bruised all over, and every inch of him throbbed with unbearable pain.

“You okay?”

Virgil groaned into the cold tile floor, his eyes squeezed shut to keep the lights from worsening his horrible headache. The voice cooed sympathetically, and a moment later a pair of gentle hands wrapped around him, pulling him up onto his bed with a pained grunt.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, his voice so hoarse that it was barely there. His roommate sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Virgil sadly through thick-framed glasses. His name was Patton, and he was the one good thing left in Virgil’s life.

Patton was the oldest of the children at the Doctor’s facility. He’d been there the longest, had endured the most tests, and yet he’d never lost the spark of kindness that he carried in his soul. He was also Virgil’s only friend. He was short, with a kind, round face and warm brown eyes.

Patton was like Virgil, in a way; he’d grown up normal, unaware his life would change forever when he turned nine. That, however, was where their similarities diverged. Patton had discovered his ability to heal those who had been hurt, and had been heralded as a miracle in the small town he’d grown up in.

But still, he’d ended up in the Doctor’s clutches, just like Virgil. The Doctor had kidnapped him to study his powers, just as he had kidnapped the rest of the poor children at Obscura Virtute.

“I wish I could help you, Verge,” Patton whispered guiltily, rubbing at the thick silver cuffs around his wrists. They were the Doctor’s special invention; they prevented them from using their powers no matter how hard they’d tried. Not that Virgil had tried — he was happy to be rid of the shadows. But he could tell Patton was hurting without his ability to help others, and he’d do anything — even face the shadows again — if it meant he could take that hurt away.

Two sharp taps on the door alerted them to the food being shoved through the slot. Patton got to his feet, wincing, and pulled the bags of flavorless chips from the door. Virgil strained to push himself into a sitting position, ignoring how his bones screamed at the effort.

“It’s okay, Pat,” he said, leaning heavily against the bed’s wire headboard. He let his breath leave him in a big, long woosh, trying to force himself to relax.

“No, it’s not,” Patton murmured, climbing onto Virgil’s bed and handing him a packet of chips. They sat side-by-side, their hands curled around each other as they munched silently. When they finished, Virgil slid until he was laying down, letting out an exhausted sigh, and Patton hummed an old, comforting tune as he got to his feet and started making his own bed.

“Night, Pat,” Virgil said, his voice a barely-there whisper.

Patton sighed. “Goodnight, kiddo.”

The room fell into silence, thick and deafening. Virgil closed his eyes, trying to ignore the glare of the harsh lights and the stirring of thoughts in his mind. He focused on his breathing — painful though it was to breathe — and started to relax. Finally, he was drifting off to sleep, where he could escape the pain of the day and get some rest —

Three loud knocks sounded sharply at the door.

Virgil jumped, biting his lip to keep from crying out in frustration, and shared a pained look with Patton as he climbed from his bed, his stomach curling with despair. What could the Doctor want with him now?

There was a moments pause, charged with tension, and then… boom! The door went flying off its hinges in a blast of brilliant scarlet flame, and Virgil just managed to jump out of the way before it slammed into the wall behind him and crashed down to the floor. He caught a glimpse of two guards slumping to the floor outside the room, their uniforms singeing black.

“Whoops! Sorry about that!” A new voice entered the room, one Virgil had never heard before. He clutched his chest in fear, his lungs filling with smoke. A silhouette of a person stepped into the room, cloaked with smoke, standing tall and proud. “I didn’t mean to cause that much destruction.”

As the smoke cleared, a person was revealed, standing atop the wreckage of the door. He grinned down at both of them, his head held regally high, his green eyes twinkling pridefully out from a face covered in soot. He held out his arms proudly as though he expected applause as he stepped towards them.

Virgil couldn’t breathe. Fear had sliced through his lungs. He managed to gather his voice and call out, “Patton?”

“I-I-I’m fine, kiddo,” Patton stuttered back, and a drop of relief joined the fear.

“Don’t be frightened,” the man said, his voice growing quieter. “I am here to rescue you!”

Patton and Virgil shared a wide-eyed look, and Virgil’s blood ran cold. He took a terrified step back, remembering all too well what happened the last time someone offered him help. The man noticed the terror flashing through Virgil’s eyes and took a step back, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to harm you. My name is Roman. I’m with an organization that’s working against that horrible Doctor!”

“Really?” Virgil managed to say, barely daring to hope. The man nodded.

“Yes, really.” Roman rolled his eyes, glancing out into the hallway. “I don’t believe that man has ever been to medical school.”

“So we — we get to — we can leave?” Patton looked close to tears. Virgil felt close to passing out. This couldn’t be true… right? Could freedom really be that close? God, he hoped so — but no, he couldn’t, the last time he’d hoped was what had started this whole mess.

“Yes! Here, come here.” Roman beckoned them forwards, snapping his fingers. A spark of flame appeared at the tip of his index finger, dancing merrily and casting warm light over his handsome face. Virgil watched it flicker with wide eyes, his heart thrumming fearfully in his chest.

Gently, Roman took Patton’s arms, holding the flame to the shining cuffs on his wrists. Virgil’s hands flew to his mouth as he started forward, a jolt of fear blasting through him, but barely a moment had passed before Roman snapped the mostly-melted cuffs off and dropped them to the floor.

Tears gathered in Patton’s eyes and slid down his face as he rubbed his wrist, flexing his fingers gingerly. He let out a shaky breath, his eyes wide as if he barely believed it. Slowly, carefully, he reached out towards Virgil, setting a hand gently on his bruised arm.

His touch was warmth — the touch of summer sun on those last dying days before autumn, the scent of his mother’s chocolate-chip cookies, the tingling feeling in your stomach after laughing very hard — and relief swept through Virgil like a wave. Patton’s eyes slipped shut as he concentrated, and Virgil’s bruises began to fade away. Roman watched with his eyebrows raised, looking proud of himself.

“Th-th-thank you, Roman,” Patton whispered hoarsely, his voice trembling. He wiped tears from his face, his smile brighter and happier than anything Virgil had ever seen.

“You’re quite welcome,” Roman said kindly. He reached out towards Virgil’s arm, the flame coming dangerously close to the cuffs, but Virgil pulled away with a sharp gasp, his eyes widening in fear.

“You — you can’t,” he choked out, holding his hand tightly to his chest. Roman’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Why not? You’ll want to be able to defend yourself while we escape, trust me. These monsters will stop at nothing to stop you from leaving.”

Virgil rubbed the cuff, his foot anxiously tapping against the floor. No, no, no no no, he didn’t want the shadows to come back! His breathing grew fast and panicked, and he tightened his hold around the cuff. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I-I’m dangerous.”

Roman frowned. “Calm down, I won’t force you,” he said quickly, looking concerned. “Don’t worry, once we get back home, you can learn to control your powers, alright? Then you won’t have to be scared any longer.”

Yeah, right. Virgil hadn’t known a moment without fear since he’d first discovered the horrible shadows. Still, he nodded, and Roman offered a warm smile.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked. Patton nodded vigorously, grinning through his tears, and Virgil… he took one last look around his room, his prison, and clenched his hands into tight fists, resolution in the hardness of his glare.

“Let’s get the hell out of here.”

#f i n a l l y tumblr lets me post it #my fanfiction #the light and the dark #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #sanders sides #this took so looooonnngggggggggggg #I'm going to go take a nap #take a nap for about #two hours #take a nap

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cosettepontmercys · 7 years

Note

if i may ask... what issues do you have with deh? i like having good arguments against shows i hate

i’d like to preface this by saying that i understand that different shows mean different things to people, and that while i have many issues with this show, i do understand and respect that this show could’ve helped someone a whole lot. and there are some songs and moments that make me feel things, that make me emotional, and i don’t mean to minimize that at all. but personally, i have a lot of issues with this show. my purpose of answering this isn’t to shame people who like the show; if there’s a show that helps you deal with whatever it is you’re going through, then i’m really happy for you. it just doesn’t do the same for me and that’s … a little disappointing.

response is under read more ; read at your own discretion !

one of the main issues i have with dear evan hansen is the fans ; and i know that this is out of the control of the show, but i think that a lot of what i experience of dear evan hansen is through the lens of the fandom? which is weird, considering that i had gotten into the show while it was in DC. a lot of them don’t respect boundaries, a lot of them get upset when certain people don’t stagedoor, etc. - a lot of them are creepy - which is the same as any fandom, but because of this, it makes the show a little off-putting to me.

i think the fandom acts like dear evan hansen is the holy grail of musical theatre, that it invented mental illness representation, when there are shows out there like next to normal, that actually center around ( more accurate ) mental illness representation.

as a person of colour with anxiety and depression, i really, really wish that we had more POC representation. i think that dear evan hansen (or any show, really) would have more depth with people of different identities - which i’ve touched on before. if evan wasn’t white, and if this was a real thing that had happened, i can guarantee that he would’ve suffered consequences - great ones. but once again, we can excuse white mediocrity because well, they’re white and … mentally ill and it’s okay for them to do things like this. something that really frustrates me is that he never actually has to own up to his mistakes? zoe literally forgives him, saying that the whole ordeal brought her family closer together over the past year because “everyone needed it for something”. jared literally tells evan that connor dying is the best thing to happen to him - what kind of person says that someone else killing themselves is the best thing that happened to them?

editing anything that might come off as “gay” out of the emails, and jared’s jokes in sincerely me really rub me the wrong way - simply because pasek is gay doesn’t excuse … all the homophobia and insensitive jokes in the show? it’d be like saying that simply because someone is a person of colour excuses any act of racism - which isn’t true. horizontal racism is a huge thing, y’all (and the anti-blackness in the asam community is real).

the center of the show isn’t mental illness; it’s about being connected with one another. "We knew from the beginning we wanted the show to be about connecting, because that’s sort of what we thought was at the heart of it, was an inability to connect and people using terrible circumstances as an opportunity to connect.” / “There was a kid who I didn’t really know very well, and a lot of people didn’t know well, who went to my high school and over a summer he passed away,” Pasek said. “And when everybody came back to school this kid, who sort of was to me more of an anonymous student and to a lot of people who didn’t know him well became this sensationalist figure. And everyone started claiming they were best friends with this kid who had passed away … I remember speaking with Justin in college about how interesting that experience was.” and it shows. mental illness isn’t something you can just use as a plot point, it’s something so unbelievably complex.

i genuinely don’t understand why people like evan; why he’s being marked as a hero for literally lying, manipulating his way into getting the girl that he wants, and the family that he wants. he’s self-interested, self-serving - we’re expected to sympathize with him because he’s insecure and he has anxiety and depression and honestly? HAVING A MENTAL ILLNESS DOESN’T EXCUSE THE SHIT YOU DO. like, if you’re a shitty person, you’re a shitty person. nothing excuses that. it’s also incredibly frustrating that a character like evan, someone that i was hoping to relate to so much, is someone that has so many faults and doesn’t face any consequences? if evan had lied without having a mental illness, would anyone be excusing those actions? i don’t think so.

dear evan hansen gives me tones of “this is all in your head”, that evan is getting better simply because people like him. mental illnesses don’t go away at the drop of a hat, simply because of a popularity boost. it might be able to make you feel better in the moment, but that’s a temporary bandaid. yes, he sees a psychiatrist, yes he writes letters, but so what? there’s a huge disconnect between what we see and where he goes. it just doesn’t make sense.

connor is a stereotypical portrayal of “emo depression”, but the one evan makes up is someone simpler - someone sensitive and troubled and not someone who gaslighted their sister. zoe had thought all along that her brother was a bully, that he harassed her, but it’s all okay because her brother really loved her all along, and he simply just didn’t know how to relate to her! so everything is just fine! right?

connor’s death is simply a way for evan to deal with his own issues. it’s a plot point, again.

alana is the only person of colour. and it’s easy to tell that she’s the intended villain of this story; an overachiever who wants attention just as badly as evan does - demonstrated by her posting the “suicide note” to lead people back to their kickstarter campaign. evan leaves alana to run the whole connor project, only helping out when asked. is this not an example of a white person once again letting people of colour doing all the work and then getting credit? we move all the blame to the person of colour, once again - even though what evan does is just as bad, if not worse.

i could go on for ages about the issues i have with this show, but i think i’ll just stop here and leave some articles that i resonate with and/or mention in this response:

Dear Evan Hansen: A Tasteless Exercise in Forgiving White Male Mediocrity

Dear Evan Hansen, You Are a Creep

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ creators Benj Pasek and Justin Paul say the musical almost had a different storyline

Dear Evan Hansen, I expected better from you…

Pop Psychology Onstage in “Dear Evan Hansen”

#anti deh #anti dear evan hansen #post: personal #vampyyre #post: wlr

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magiclaud · 7 years

Text

Inktober 7: The Sun

a/n: Really loose interpretation of the story of Icarus.

As soon as the small figurine was placed on the floor, the wooden creature delighted the children by starting to move. Cries of delightful surprise were heard, and everyone nearby stared dumbfounded at the toy while Arthur Kirkland couldn’t contain the urge to smirk. He lightly bowed at his king once his majesty diverged his awed sight from the plaything of his sons.

“This is incredible, Arthur. How did you do it?” Arthur was about to answer, but one of the infants was quicker.

“He used magic, like the Gods. Right, Arthur?” Arthur did nothing more than cup the child’s hair, inching closer to the prince.

“I’m afraid the Gods have nothing to do with something like this, your majesty,” Arthur looked at the horizon, almost daringly, while continuing to speak. “It is no more than thoughts. Arche, even,” no one quite understood what he was talking about, but then again the court’s sage was greater than any other that stepped on the lands.

Arthur returned to the island six days after his departure. When he arrived, dozens of people were grouped, patting his back and kissing his cheeks so he would tell them his secret.

“My secret, my friends, is that I do not fear the favour of the Gods, nor I wait for them to answer my prayers,” Arthur proclaimed while he drank wine with his mates and gestured the ship’s sails. “Today I could control the wind. And, in no time, you all will,” Arthur was feeling giddy. When his face looked up, he saw an impassive light staring back at him, and jokingly bowed to grandiloquence of the sun.

Arthur entered sweaty and so tired he felt his body was made of stone. He had a stoop, and his golden hair was acquiring grey lines. The room was dark, and he could only look upon when Pythia turned to him.

“What is it that you desire to know, grand sage?”

“I want to ask your god if the myths are true. I want to ask him if he’s eternal.”

“Of course he is,” said the High Priestess. Arthur snorted.

“Well then, does he not exist?”

“What?”

“If there’s an existence, it isn’t eternal. Everything moves. Everything changes. But Apollo does not. He lays there and is to be worshipped by citizens. He provokes wars, and he is to have every answer to the cosmos, although I’ve yet to travel somewhere where the polis worships the same Gods. Why is that, oh oracle? Why are we leaving for war for something non-existant?” Arthur wanted to leave, but Pythia held him by his arm.

“You will see the grace of the Gods and understand their beings are what matter the most,” Arthur smirked, shoved her off him, and walked out the temple.

“Be my guest,” he murmured, as the sun started rising on a new day.

As Arthur welcomed him, Herakles walked through his friend’s house. Curtains covered the outside world, and most of Arthur’s tools were organized in the corner of the room. If Herakles had to outline something about the house, he thought, that would be the myriad of candles that lit up the room, and he didn’t have trouble questioning the reason for it.

“I was praying for you, I was,” Arthur said, although they both knew the answer hid something else.

“You won’t fight by my side, will you? Are you afraid, Arthur? Is that it?”

“I’m not afraid,” Arthur turned to search for something. “But I refuse to spill blood for nothing. And I refuse to sell my inventions to help this massacre,” Herakles saw a ceramic plate on the floor and stepped onto it. The sound made Arthur stiffen.

“You’re so arrogant! You think you can stay here, stoic from everything that’s happening!” Herakles pulled the curtains. The rays of sunshine fell into the room.

Arthur covered his eyes.

“I told you there is another way,” he groaned. “You’ll see. There is another way.”

Arthur’s arms felt heavy. His throat was burning, and his bones cracked as he flew over the polis. He couldn’t help to look down and witness hundreds of bodies lying on the roads. The smell could be sensed from where he was.

“You seem tired, buddy, don’t you want to rest?”

Arthur looked down again, then wondered if he was going berserk.

“I’m up here, sport. For someone so sophisticated, you aren’t much of a looker,” they said, chuckling at the undertone of the sentence. Soon enough, Arthur was able to find a body that accompanied the voice. A large shadow stood before him, so marvelous Arthur had to remind himself to keep moving his wings.

“A man that flies, huh? Was this your wish, little robin?” clouds started to cover Arthur’s route, and he began to feel helpless. However, as a hand reached for him, Arthur felt a blind determination to take it and let himself pull into the insides of the atmosphere. As they stood closer, Arthur distinguished their features. Golden skin, golden hair, and eyes as blue as the ocean. His tunic covered one of his shoulders, as well as most of his body, and he emanated a heat stronger than anything Arthur had studied before.

“You’re adorable,” the other smirked, pulling Arthur into his lap. Arthur was frightened at the change of pressure, and so he hugged the man’s neck. Arthur wanted to say something, but he was trembling so much he felt his voice would be too rushed.

“I-I’m— ”

“Oh, I know exactly who you are,” the man said. “You’re Arthur of the land of Kirk, but you were exiled to Crete when you were young, where you were treated like a citizen.”

“Yes, that’s right. May I — May I ask — ?”

“What, Arthur? My name? You will call me Alfred, that is it. It’s a fine name, don’t you think?” Arthur blinked, unable to comprehend the situation. Alfred stiffened.

“Say it.”

“It’s a nice name, Alfred.”

“Yes, it is. You must be grateful to call me that and not the twisted amalgam commoners call me. Most of them would kill to be in your place,” Alfred’s words were like a spell that kept Arthur still as hands circled his waist. Suddenly Arthur felt a sharp pain while an unpleasant odor disturbed him. Arthur squeaked but didn’t dare to step away. “There it is. I have to mark you before we go to my home.”

Arthur looked puzzled. “I-I don’t think that would be possible. I was in a middle of a journey and I— ” Alfred chuckled again. Soon, he started laughing so hard the clouds trembled.

“Oh, Arthur. You’re not as sharp as I took you for. I quite like it, though. Your ignorance makes me laugh.”

“What— ” Arthur couldn’t finish the sentence, as suddenly the clouds were dispersed and he saw the remaining feathers of his wings of fax, floating into the high tide. As Arthur focused on the waves, he couldn’t help to notice the blood staining such beautiful sight.

Arthur forgot how to breathe.

Alfred turned Arthur’s face to him and their noses touched. “What was it that you told me at Delphi, Artie? That I couldn’t exist? Well, then,” Alfred pampered his face with kisses, and Arthur felt his face burning. Arthur tried to scream but to no avail. When they parted, Alfred touched his cheek in what appeared to be a soothing gesture, though it became blind fear as Arthur felt his skin dissolving like the wax of his wings. “You don’t exist.”

Arthur’s head was spinning. He tried to find a reason, tried to find a logos for the scene before him, but couldn’t do it. And, as realisation dawned upon him, Arthur became desperate.

“Don’t worry; you have the whole arche to repent,” Alfred’s hands roamed over his body, burning the skin until it was as pink as a pig. “You dared me, after all. Now we will have a talk, and I won’t leave you alone until you give it to me.”

Arthur frowned. He didn’t understand. For once in a long time, he didn’t understand. And it made him shiver.

“Give you what?” he murmured, afraid to disturb the God. Alfred played with the locks of his hair, and Arthur felt them falling into the water while he smelt the dust.

“Your knowledge, your vision,” their mouths collided, but it was not long after Alfred let him go to talk again. “Your submission, your obedience. Your example,” suddenly, the tide was so high Arthur almost touched the water. Alfred laughed as Arthur stared at his own corpse creeping to the seashore. Arthur felt his eyes, his head, his genius melting. “And I’m going to do whatever it takes to ensure that. Did I make myself clear?” Arthur couldn’t answer, for his mouth and his face had melted completely and all he saw now were bones and burned meat. Soon he decided it didn’t matter anymore, so he indulged himself into falling in Alfred’s eyes.

Eventually, he nodded.

REFERENCES:

*Controlling the wind or building a mechanical toy were some of the inventions of Daedalus, Icarus’ father, who also invented the wings of wax.

*Arche: The first Greek philosophers identified the arche as the element that explained the universe as they knew —every philosopher had their own interpretation of what the arche meant for them.

*The Delphi oracle was said to be where Apollo would answer a visitor’s question. Well-known philosophers like Socrates went to the Delphi oracle to try to disperse their doubts.

*Arthur’s monologue about existence is based on the philosophical principles of Parmenides, a sophist philosopher.

*Myths were known to be the precedent of critical thinking, as that was the first form of explanation for the way the world worked. Soon enough, the pre-socratic philosophers started to incline to logos (logic) and rejected the myths.

*The genius was something Socrates referred to quite often as a deity who inspired him on his philosophical thoughts. Socrates’ enemies used this as some of the evidence to arrest him and sentence him to death, as it was illegal to worship other gods.

#aph #usuk #ukus #fanfiction #aph america #aph england #olympus #ancient gods au #icarus #myth #wings of wax #inktober #goretober #ancient philosophy #is my jam

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7deadlycinderellas · 6 years

Text

Little Witch Academia, ch3

Ao3 link

October comes.

Akko’s head really ought be filled with thoughts of bigotry, class and fear. Or maybe the story of chosen ones, prophecy and friendship that Amanda had told her. Or at least be preoccupied with her own seeming incompetence.

But let it never be said that Akko Kagari couldn’t carry on.

With October comes the lesson Akko and most of the other first years had been looking forward to most- flying lessons. Over the summer Akko had become so enamored with the idea of flying on a broomstick like a witch in the movies that in her trunk was tucked a number of drawings she had done of herself soaring over London, Paris, the Atlantic, and when the first lesson came, she was fidgety and ecstatic.

The sky is clear, though it is becoming colder day by day. The line of first years, all houses this time, stand on the field, wearing their cloaks, each to the left side of a broomstick. School issued of course, Amanda having repeatedly bristled at the rule that first years could not bring their own.

Akko is sandwiched between Lotte on her left and Amanda on her right.

Madam Hooch introduces herself. Akko remembers her from Diagon Alley, obviously, but on the pitch in her flying goggles, she appears to be in her element.

She gives them an introduction, that Akko, of course, can barely remember.

“And we’ll begin with the summoning. Extend your right hand, palm down, over the broom to your right, and say, with intent ‘UP’”.

Akko confidently sticks out her arm, and borderline yells, “UP!”.

The piece of wood and straw doesn’t move.

“UP!” she tries again.

Amanda’s broom had jumped swiftly into her hand. Lotte’s had glided up to hers smoothly.

“You’ve got to focus,” Hooch continues, not to anyone in particular, but Akko still feels her face burning. “Visualize the movement and the broom will follow.”

Akko takes a deep breath, closes her eyes briefly, and tries again.

“UP!”

And finally, the broom trailed it’s way up to Akko’s hand, handle first and bristles dragging. She hears a snicker from down the row. A glance gives her the suspicion that it was either Hannah or Barbara. Despite being in Slytherin and Ravenclaw respectively, they always seemed to be together, and somehow always where Akko was when she embarrassed herself.

Hooch instructs the class on how to mouth and fit their grip properly. Suddenly self conscious, Akko feels her palms sweat and calves tremble. Whatever, she WOULD do this.

“Now kick off firmly from the ground and rise a few feat in the air.”

Akko kicks a little softly because her legs are wobbly, but to her relief, feels herself begin to rise. Unfortunately, it’s only a few inches from the ground. She squeezes her eyes and her hands tight and tries to will herself to go higher. It seems to work a little.

“Ok, now lean forward slightly, and-” Hooch is cut off by Amanda taking off into the air above the ground with a whoosh, nearly blowing Akko off onto the ground.

“Amanda O’Neill, you come back here and quit showing off!”

Amanda waves. Then she does come back and join the class.

“And a fair warning that horseplay is not allowed here if you ever wish to fly during your time at Hogwarts! Now to land properly, lean forward slightly and return to the ground”.

And once again Akko’s overzealous attitude gets her into the thick of it. She leans too far forward and topples off her broom head over heels. She hits the ground with a hard thwack.

“Oww…” Akko manages to sit herself up and notices the others staring.

“Is it...supposed to do that?” She hears someone ask, pointing. Akko trains her eyes, and realizes that when she fell from it, her broom stayed aflight, and has taken off on it’s own.

She manages to mumble something and feels someone finally grabs her by the arm and pulls her up. It’s Lotte.

“Come on, let’s get you to the hospital wing. I think they’re going to be busy for a while”, she adds, gesturing to where Hooch is attempting to get the broom under control.

Akko groans as they re-enter the castle, as much from humiliation as from the pain in the back of her head.

“Is it like, for sure that I’m a witch? There’s no way this was all a mistake and they’ll just send me home one day?”

“Lots of people fall off brooms Akko,” Lotte assures her kindly. “

“It’s not just the broom. My potions explode, I can’t transfigure anything. The only way I got that feather to float in Charms was by blowing on it!”

Lotte stops to look at her.

“Akko, not everyone can be good at everything, especially not all at once. You know the first time I turned a strand of hair into a needle, I proceeded to stab myself in the thumb with it? You can’t just expect to enter school and suddenly be Merlin”.

Akko sighs.

“It’s just that I get a letter that says I get to go to magic school, and it’s like something out of a movie. Then I come here, and there’s all these great stories about defeating evil and overcoming prejudice and here I am just a dunce”.

“You should go to the library, find some of the books written in the last five years.”

“Why?”

“Because every great story starts somewhere. People aren’t just born heroes. Harry Potter didn’t have a reputation as a great story. Neville Longbottom was much like you, the so called “school dunce”. All those kids who fought and died here, were just that, kids.”

Lotte’s face looks vaguely ashen. Akko suddenly feels like she might have stepped out of line.

“...Do you remember anything from then?”

Lotte shrugs. “I was six that year. My parents shop sells and repairs magical tools. We stayed open the whole year, did our best not to step on any toes even though selling to Death Eaters killed my parents inside. I was never allowed out. Mum and Dad used ot let me help out all the time, now I had to stay in my room or in the basement.”

They’ve reached the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey makes an exasperated noise when she sees it’s Akko again.

“What was it this time, Miss Kagari?”

“Heheh, fell off my broomstick Madam.”

She continues tut-tutting about hwo Quidditch caused her more grief than anything else in the school while preparing the potion that makes Akko’s ears stop ringing and eases the burn from the scraps to the back of her head.

Then they leave to return to the Great Hall for dinner, Akko notices Lotte glancing at the newer portraits on the walls, the ones Akko had noticed their first night.

“These are all the students who died in the battle. They evacuated all the younger ones. That’s what I remember most clearly from that night. Seeing the crowds of kids escaping through the streets and the fire in the sky in the background.”

The way Lotte tells it, it DOES seem like such a good story, and so over the next coming weeks, Akko begins to take her advice.

The Hogwarts library is nice enough, even watched over by Madam Pince, who’s entire demeanor suggests that Akko’s very existence is an affront to her sensibilities. The books Lotte mentioned- and true, there are a LOT of them- are primarily on a half height shelf near the entrance. Before Halloween comes, she’s already finished both an overview of the Battle of Hogwarts and one muggle-born’s account of her year in hiding.

There’s never very many people but her in the library. Diana is, of course, a fixture, but seems content to not acknowledge Akko at all. And more than a few times, she’s encountered a blonde haired Slytherin named Annabel Creme. However, each time she’s been hunched over writing furiously and fully ignoring Akko’s existence.

Which was more than Akko could say for the rest of her classmates. She could handle the laughter when she actually did something wrong, but the whispers behind her back are the worst, especially if they involve calling her “Akko the idiot”. But she couldn’t really complain, she didn’t have the worst of it.

Akko was the blunt type. It was very true that Sucy creeped her out. She disliked being asked if she wanted to test her latest potion creations (though Slughorn had taken a shine to her inventiveness), and very much disliked the home made mushroom farm she kept under her bed in the dorms. But when she passed a group of second years and heard the words, “I’m glad I came last year. Hate to be in the same dorm as Akko the idiot and Sucy the creep”, her blood started to boil.

Though, she could admit that it didn’t seem to bother Sucy much. Not the rumors about where she really came from, or the tacks in her Herbology gloves, or her books “mysteriously” plunging to the floor during class.

The closest thing she’s seen get a reaction from her came the morning of Halloween.

Akko had been pulling on her socks when she heard Sucy cry out.

“What’s wrong?” she jumps and asks. Amanda’s still lying in bed, and even she turns on her side to see what’s going on.

Sucy’s holding up the box she keeps her mushroom farm in. It’s about the side of a dresser drawer, and and of yesterday when she shoved it under Akko’s nose during dinner, contained fungi of all sizes and colors.

Today it just contains a rust colored sludge where the plants had been before.

“I took it down to the greenhouse yesterday to ask Professor Sprout a question. Someone must have doused it with something when I wasn’t looking”.

“I’m sorry Sucy” Akko says. She’s being honest. As weird as Sucy is, she doesn’t deserve to have her stuff wrecked by her classmates.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll just have to transplant some of the other specimens I have hidden around the castle.”

That definitely sends a shiver down Akko’s spine.

Halloween goes about like a regular day. There’s class (Akko doesn’t manage anything, but nothing explodes), lunch, more classes, and then Akko decides to spend some time in the library. She’s just about finished up a borderline frightening account of the year under Voldemort’s rule when she notices Sucy enter the library holding a box.

“Hey-” she tries to get get Sucy’s attention, but she ignores her.

When she finishes up, any thoughts of Sucy are erased when she sees how the Great Hall has been transformed for the feast. Bats and pumpkins and all sorts of treats. Halloween had been Akko’s favorite holiday in the muggle world, and it looked like it was going to stay that way.

She’s sitting and munching on a licorice wand and watching the ghosts set up for their performance. She heard the Grey Lady say something in the hallway about harmonizing, so it seems like it will be music this year.

It’s when another ghost pulls out it’s musical saw, that Akko realizes Sucy isn’t at the table. She cranes her head to get a good look at the other tables, thinking maybe she didn’t want to sit with them. No sign of her.

She nudges Amanda, “Did you see Sucy come to the feast tonight.”

Amanda shakes her head. “I haven’t seen her since Transfiguration.”

“I wonder where she is.”

The words have scarcely left her mouth when Slughorn enters and whispers something to Headmistress McGonagall at the staff table. She stands.

“Students, please return to your common rooms immediately. There is an incident in the dungeons which require our attention.” She turns to the ghosts, “I apologize that we must preempt your performance.”

As the disappointed students begin to fill the hallway, Akko wracks her brain. When she spots Diana about to turn down the corridor towards the Ravenclaw common room, she reaches out and grabs her by the arm.

Diana jumps, then says with a rough edge to her voice,

“Is there something you need, Akko?”

“You were in the library after me, did you see Sucy leave?”

Diana looks surprised, and thoughtful.

“No, I can’t say I did...is she not here?”

Akko shakes her head, heart racing. It’s then that she realizes she can hear hear what almost sounds like a low roar coming fromo the entrances to the dungeons where the teachers are in a line to find out what’s going on.

“We have to get back to our common rooms.” Diana insists, pulling away.

“I’m going back. If she decided to skip the feast and is still in the library, she doesn’t know what’s going on. She could be in danger.”

And with that she turns away from Diana and trots back down the hallway towards the library. With every step, Akko feels her stomach sink lower in her gut. There’s something that tells her she might be in over her head.

#Little Witch Academia #fic #howarts crossover

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ivyskiss · 7 years

Text

Her Handsome Hero

Killian and Emma

I_O

Killian didn't want to a hero, he wanted to be her hero.

(I do not own these characters, just taking them out to play for a bit.)

Prompt included "The air thickened as he instinctively sensed something worse was coming." from @captainswanpromptsandrecs

________________________________________________________

A hero’s journey.

Sometimes, if he stood quietly on the Jolly and closed his eyes, Killian could sometimes hear his brother’s words echo back through the centuries.

A hero.

Killian learned to read by a book of poetry he had found on the ground after falling off of a cart. For years after, he had felt a tad bit guilty about that. It would have been far more noble to attempt to find the owner. However, he had been so young at the time, so he eventually let go of that guilt.

Looking back, he knows that snatching that book from the dirt had been one of the best things that he had ever done.

Many a dark nights alone on the Jolly he had read the tales in that book. He read of all sorts of things. But the tale he read over and over was the story of Iris and her Demitri. The tale of a beautiful lady and the dashing knight who rescued her. They fell in love, and even though they faced hardships, they always found one another.

He would never admit it then, but he was a romantic through and through.

He had met Milah when he had protected her from a creepy man. He had done that for many a fair maiden in his long life. Milah had later told his he was like a knight in armor to her that first night.

Emma had entered his life like a windstorm. It knocked him over how bloody brilliant and amazing she was.

Emma didn’t need a hero, she didn’t need a knight in shining armor to save her. Hell, she was a savior in her own right.

Killian loved and admired his strong woman. He loved that they were a team. She was perfect to him. But there was still a tiny part of him, a tiny piece that formed as a longing youth that desperately, silently, ached to be that knight in armor for his Swan.

Killian didn't want to a hero, he wanted to be her hero.

______________________________________________________________“Belle, why do you like that book so much?"

Belle looked up from her place at the stack of tombs she was going through, “I’m sorry?”

“Your book, the one you gave Gideon. Why does it mean so much to you?”

“Well, my mother read it to me, it’s really all I have left of her.”

“But it’s more than sentiment, you like the story right?

“Of course! It’s so romantic. You see, my favorite part is when she meets Gideon, but doesn’t realize just who he is until chapter three….”

She began prattling on about details but Killian didn’t hear it.

______________________________________________________________That evening, Killian was lost in thought, tidying up the kitchen while Emma went upstairs to take a quick shower. Suddenly, he heard a crash followed by a high scream.

“Hook! Hook, come quick!”

He sprinted up the stairs, finding Emma in the hallway pacing in a circle.

“Swan! What’s wrong?!”

“There’s a mouse in the bathroom!”

Killian’s eyebrows shot up on their own. “Pardon?”

“There is a mouse in the bathroom! Can you get it out!? Please! But don’t kill it! Just get rid of it!!”

Killian slipped into the bathroom and indeed there was a tiny mouse, as long as his thumb in the bathtub. It took about a minute to sweep the tiny creature into the trashcan. He walked it out and dumped it into the street.

He came back into the house and set the bin down.

“Crises averted, love. The beast is in exile as we speak.”

Emma sighed but still looked thoroughly horrified by the encounter.

“Ugh. Thank you so much. Mice creep me out.”

Killian smirked at, “Didn’t you slay a dragon once?”

“I’d take a dragon over a mouse. I HATE mice!”

______________________________________________________________

Killian’s eyes roamed down the notebook in his hand, brow furrowed in concentration. He slipped the pencil from it’s place behind his ear and circled a few figures. He then slid the notebook to Henry who sat next to him at the kitchen table.

“Here is the problem lad,” Hook said, pointing with the pencil. You forgot to multiply these two figures.”

Henry sighed, “Thanks Killian.”

Emma looked up, from her paperwork from the sheriff's station “You're a lifesaver, I never had a head for math.”

“You’d be surprised what they teach you in the Royal Navy.”

______________________________________________________________

“How about we got on a trip?” Emma asked Hook as he was taking off his waistcoat for bed.

He quirked an eyebrow? “A trip?”

“I need to go to Boston, where I lived before I moved here. There is this thing I am going to, it’s sortof a big deal.” She hesitated. “ Would you maybe want to come with me?” She bit her lip nervously.

Killian beamed, “I am delighted to accompany you on this quest, love.”

She sighed her relief. “Thank God, I owe you one.”

______________________________________________________________

“No!”

Killian started awake to his the sound of his love’s distress.

The room was black and Emma was thrashing in her sleep, whimpering.

“Killian! No, no please, no! Don’t leave me!”

“Emma, love, wake up!”

He shook her gently, and she started awake and gasped, her eyes wide with fear.

“It was just a dream.”

Emma was shaking, and her arms went around him.

She burrowed her face in his neck, Holding him tightly as her sobs began to overtake her.

“Shh, love it’s alright.”

“I lost you.”

“No, you haven’t. I’m right here." Killian's hand cupped the back of her head.

"You’ll never lose me.”

______________________________________________________________

Killian walked up the stairs with the plastic grocery bag from Doc hanging from his hook. He could hear noise from Emma’s laptop playing, so he quietly stepped inside.

Indeed, she was right where he had left her; lying wrapped around a pillow, with the computer in front of her. She looked up from where she lay, and winced as she sat up. He handed her the bag and sat down next to her on the bed.

“How are you feeling, darling?”

She made a face as she opened the package labeled Midol. “Not great.” She admitted quietly, sounding a bit embarrassed.

“The first day is always the worst.” Emma smiled softly at him. “Thank god you're here. I don’t think I could've gone to the store by myself.”

“I’m sure you would've managed. You always have before.”

She gave him a strange look at that, but said nothing as she swallowed down the pills.

“Anything else I can do?”

“Stay with me for a while?”

“As you wish.”

__________________________________________________________

Killian had sent Emma a text at noon saying that the weather was going to turn quite foul. He would be a poor excuse of a pirate if he couldn’t sense a storm from a mile away. Indeed, The air thickened as he instinctively sensed something worse was coming. She hadn’t replied, so she would be caught unaware.

So, he had tossed their dinner in an ingenious invention called the “slow-cooker” and gone to the store to gather groceries, in case they were holed up for a few days.

By the time Emma’s yellow car pulled up to their how, the sky was grey and the snow was falling steadily. He was throwing a few more logs in the fireplace when a shivering Emma entered their home.

He greeted her by pulling her in front of the fire and wrapping her in a blanket.

“Tonight’s dinner is soup. But get warm first.”

“Emma sighed, looking at him gratefully as she took the hot mug from his hand.

“What would I do without you?”

He kissed her head as he handed a cocoa with cinnamon. “You’ll never need to find out.”

_____________________________________________________________

He was lying on his side in their bed, when he felt slender arms snake around his waist, and Emma’s sweet scent surrounded him.

She was warm and pliant, having just emerged from a hot bath. He brought his arms to meet hers and he felt her forehead rest on back. She sighed as she snuggled into his warmth.

“You’re like my knight in shining armor, you know that?”

Killian’s heart swelled at he words, but he choked a bit.

“What? You are.”

“I’m hardly a knight, love.” Killian argued softly.

Emma’s embrace around his middle tightened “Killian Jones, when are you ever going to stop being so hard on yourself?”

He rolled over to face her.

“Hook, even if we don’t consider how many times you’ve died for me, or all things you have done to fight evil. It’s like everyday you are a better man. I mean, you take care of me. Like, really take care of me, every day. You bring me my lunch and help Henry with his homework…”

“A grilled cheese and some geometry is hardly an act of valor.”

“I never had anyone to do those little things for me before. You know that.”

She brought her hand up to stroke his face as she tried to find the words.

“You’re the one person in this world who has never, ever let me down.”

She smiled, “In any life, in any world, you’re not just a hero, you’re my hero.”

Killian felt a prick at the back of his throat. In that moment, Killian was that young man again, sitting up reading poetry by candlelight, and it was like a piece of him was healed.

A tiny part of him, the young Killian from centuries ago was finally, finally made whole.

“Aye, love.” He pulled her in close enough to brush his lips to her forehead.

“And you are mine.”

Notes:

A bit of hiatus fueled angst drabble. No beta.

#cs ff #cs #killian jones #emma swan #hook and emma #truelove #hiatus

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cleopatrarps · 6 years

Text

A Simple Way to Improve a Billion Lives: Eyeglasses

PANIPAT, India — Shivam Kumar’s failing eyesight was manageable at first. To better see the chalkboard, the 12-year-old moved to the front of the classroom, but in time, the indignities piled up.

Increasingly blurry vision forced him to give up flying kites and then cricket, after he was repeatedly whacked by balls he could no longer see. The constant squinting gave him headaches, and he came to dread walking home from school.

“Sometimes I don’t see a motorbike until it’s almost in my face,” he said.

As his grades flagged, so did his dreams of becoming a pilot. “You can’t fly a plane if you’re blind,” he noted glumly.

The fix for Shivam’s declining vision, it turns out, was remarkably simple.

He needed glasses.

More than a billion people around the world need eyeglasses but don’t have them, researchers say, an affliction long overlooked on lists of public health priorities. Some estimates put that figure closer to 2.5 billion people. They include thousands of nearsighted Nigerian truck drivers who strain to see pedestrians darting across the road and middle-aged coffee farmers in Bolivia whose inability to see objects up close makes it hard to spot ripe beans for harvest.

Then there the tens of millions of children like Shivam across the world whose families cannot afford an eye exam or the prescription eyeglasses that would help them excel in school.

“Many of these kids are classified as poor learners or just dumb and therefore don’t progress at school,” said Kovin Naidoo, global director of Our Children’s Vision, an organization that provides free or inexpensive eyeglasses across Africa. “That just adds another hurdle to countries struggling to break the cycle of poverty.”

In an era when millions of people still perish from preventable or treatable illness, many major donors devote their largess to combating killers like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. In 2015, only $37 million was spent on delivering eyeglasses to people in the developing world, less than one percent of resources devoted to global health issues, according to EYElliance, a nonprofit group trying to raise money and bring attention to the problem of uncorrected vision.

So far, the group’s own fund-raising has yielded only a few million dollars, according to its organizers. It has enlisted Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former Liberian president, Elaine L. Chao, the transportation secretary for the United States and Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, among others, in an attempt to catapult the issue onto global development wish lists. They contend that an investment in improving sight would pay off. The World Health Organization has estimated the problem costs the global economy more than $200 billion annually in lost productivity.

“Lack of access to eye care prevents billions of people around the world from achieving their potential, and is a major barrier to economic and human progress,” said Madeleine K. Albright, the former secretary of state who is also involved in the group.

Hubert Sagnieres, the chief executive of Essilor, a French eyeglass company and a partner in the fund-raising campaign, said he often confronts ambivalence when pitching the cause to big-name philanthropists.

In an interview, he recalled a recent conversation with Bill Gates, whose foundation has spent tens of billions of dollars battling infectious diseases in the developing world. He said he reminded Mr. Gates of his own childhood nearsightedness, noting that without glasses, he might have faltered in school and perhaps never gone on to start Microsoft. Mr. Gates, he said, politely demurred, saying he had other priorities. A spokeswoman for the Gates Foundation declined to comment.

The initiative’s backers point out that responding to the world’s vision crisis does not require the invention of new drugs or solving nettlesome issues like distributing refrigerated vaccines in countries with poor infrastructure. Factories in Thailand, China and the Philippines can manufacture so-called readers for less than 50 cents a pair; prescription glasses that correct nearsightedness can be produced for $1.50.

But money alone won’t easily solve systemic challenges faced by countries like Uganda, which has just 45 eye doctors for a nation of 41 million. In rural India, glasses are seen as a sign of infirmity, and in many places, a hindrance for young women seeking to get married. Until last year, Liberia did not have a single eye clinic.

“People in rural areas have never even seen a child wearing glasses,” said Ms. Sirleaf, who was president of Liberia from 2006 to this year. “Drivers don’t even know they have a deficiency. They just drive the best they can.”

On a recent afternoon, hundreds of children in powder-blue uniforms giddily jostled one another in the dusty courtyard of a high school in Panipat, two hours north of New Delhi. The students, all from poor families, were having their eyesight checked by VisionSpring, a nonprofit group started by Jordan Kassalow, a New York optometrist who helped set up EYElliance, that works with local governments to distribute subsidized eyeglasses in Asia and Africa.

For most, it was the first time anyone had checked their eyesight. The students were both excited and terrified. Roughly 12 percent were flagged as having weak vision and sent to an adjacent classroom where workers using refractor lenses conducted more tests.

Shivam, the boy who dreamed of being a pilot, walked away with a pair of purple-framed spectacles donated by Warby Parker, the American eyewear company, which also paid for the screenings.

“Everything is so clear,” Shivam exclaimed as he looked with wonder around the classroom.

Anshu Taneja, VisonSpring’s India director, said that providing that first pair of glasses is pivotal; people who have experienced the benefits of corrected vision will often buy a second pair if their prescription changes or they lose the glasses they have come to depend on.

Ratan Singh, 45, a sharecropper who recently got his first pair of reading glasses, said he could not imagine living without them now. Standing in a field of ripening wheat, he said his inability to see tiny pests on the stalks of his crop had led to decreasing yields. He sheepishly recalled the time he sprayed the wrong insecticide because he couldn’t read the label. “I was always asking other people to help me read but I was becoming a burden,” he said.

Last month, after he accidentally broke his glasses, Mr. Singh, who supports his wife and six daughters, did not hesitate to fork out the 60 rupees, roughly 90 cents, for a new pair.

Most adults over 50 need reading glasses — more than a billion people in the developing world, according to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness — though the vast majority simply accept their creeping disability.

That’s what happened to D. Periyanayakam, 56, a power company employee whose job requires him to read electrical meters. His failing eyesight also made it hard to drive or respond to text messages from customers and co-workers.

“I figured it was a only matter of time before they suspended me,” he said during a visit to a mobile eye clinic run by Aravind Eye Hospital, a nonprofit institution that screened his vision and told him he would soon need cataract surgery.

Mr. Periyanayakam returned to work that day with a $2 pair of glasses. He was among 400 people who showed up at a daylong clinic in a high school run by ophthalmologists, lens grinders and vision screeners.

Aravind dispenses 600,000 pairs of glasses each year in India and has expanded its efforts to Nepal, Bangladesh and countries in Africa through local partners.

The hospital trains its own vision screeners, most of them young women; a separate program trains primary schoolteachers to test their students’ sight using eye charts.

Then there is the matter of road safety. Surveys show that a worrisome number of drivers on the road in developing countries have uncorrected vision. Traffic fatality rates are far higher in low-income countries; in Africa, for example, the rate is nearly triple that of Europe, according to the W.H.O.

Experts say a significant number of India’s roughly 200,000 traffic deaths each year are tied to poor vision. In a country with a huge number of drivers, among them nine million truckers, the government agencies that administer licenses are ill-equipped to deal with the problem of declining vision, critics say.

Sightsavers, a British nonprofit that has been treating cataract-related blindness in India since the 1960s, has spent the past two years trying to get glasses to commercial drivers. It operates mobile eye-screening camps at truck stops and tollbooths in 16 cities. A driver who has his eyes examined at a clinic in north India can pick up his glasses 10 days later at a clinic in the far south.

“These men are always on the move and they are pressed for time, so we try to make it as easy as possible for them,” said Ameen, a Sightsaver employee who uses a single name.

On a recent morning, dozens of drivers, many wearing flip-flops and oil-stained trousers, lined up in front of an eye chart taped to the wall of a trucking company in the town of Chapraula. Asked why they had waited so long to have their vision checked, some shrugged. Others said they were too busy. A few cited fears they would be fired if an employer discovered that their vision was flawed.

About half the men, it turned out, needed glasses. They included Jagdish Prasad, 55, a father of nine with a deeply lined face who had never had his eyes tested.

“I haven’t had an accident in 35 years,” Mr. Prasad exclaimed — but then reluctantly admitted that he has lately been squinting to see whether a traffic light had changed.

Then he gestured to the cavalcade of honking vehicles behind him and told a story. Four days earlier, he said, a mentally ill man had been lying on the edge of the road, forcing drivers to swerve to avoid him. One of those vehicles, a truck not unlike his own, tried to avoid the man but ended up killing two students who were crossing the road on their way to school. The next day, the mentally ill man was also struck and killed, Mr. Prasad said.

He paused and then considered the piece of paper in his hand. It contained the prescription for his first pair of glasses. Mr. Prasad hesitated and then gently placed it in his pocket.

The post A Simple Way to Improve a Billion Lives: Eyeglasses appeared first on World The News.

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dragnews · 6 years