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writerwrites · 3 years

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Yuánfèn | 03

Ch. 3: Saudade: “The feeling of longing for an absent something or someone that you love but might never return.”

Summary: When you’ve lost everything and try to run away from your problems, you keep finding a way back to the one person who completely understands. Can you make another person happy with a broken heart?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader Chapter Word Count: 4.2k Chapter Warnings: Slow burn, grief, fluff, domestic fluff is strong in this chapter... ALL THE FLUFF

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You hadn’t been sleeping, not really. Between bouts of crying over the piles of pictures and old love letters from the war, you were at a loss for words. A part of you was so mad at yourself for never getting to know your grandparents, not really, not on a level that truly meant something. You loved them and by the prideful placement of your graduation pictures on the coffee table by your grandmother’s reading nook there was no doubt they had loved you too or at least been proud of your accomplishments. You were no one to the world. No one thought about the person that patched up heroes and now the one person left with whom you may have been their world was also gone. You could only describe the feeling as being left adrift.

Adrift, what an odd, dark place to be. You mused in silence as you thought about life, time, and death. None of it seemed black and white to you. No one was wholly good or bad and even the flawed souls had people that cared about them at some point, conflicting as that may have been. You’d turn that thought over in your head, night after night, wine in one hand and pictures or letters in the other. It made you wonder how long it would be until you’d find a soul to remember you when you were gone, the act of having to replant yourself one that felt more like a chore than your tired body seemed to have energy for. The only person that seemingly connected to your entire existence now was a hundred-and-something year old patient that was adored by every person that knew even a fraction of his story. Every night, with that reminder in mind, you’d polish off your glass and curl up into a ball on the couch and wait for a couple hours of reprieve from the horrors of your solitary reality.

At odd hours, you and Steve would check in with each other. For the most part the pair of you had stuck to texting, you with your proof that you were eating and Steve with some balm that the team was still in one piece without you. To your surprise, he managed at least one short FaceTime every few days. This was a new and pleasant escape from your solitude that happened to include little introductions to food he’d never had and meaningless promises that you’d cook more in your tiny kitchen and bring him your leftovers to try. Maybe it was the way his face lit up when you managed to peak your head up from your bundle of hoodie and blankets, but it really felt like he understood and never judged you for how miserable you looked or for those moments where you’d simply fall silent mid-sentence. In fact, he never commented on your appearance at all. Two weeks and it felt like you learned more about him than you had in all the years as a doctor at Stark Industries.

You missed your job, kept telling him as much but Tony insisted you stay and get what you had to get done over with to prevent you from having to make multiple trips away. Stark may have claimed one thing, but your conversations with Steve made you suspicious of what he was getting into and how he was coping with Wanda’s vision. As if you were on some sort of mental health retreat. Steve wouldn’t say anything particular about it, but you noticed that his jaw went tight before commenting that there were no medical emergencies waiting for you and he’d tell you if there were. It was one of the least reassuring statements the soldier had ever given you and he seemed to notice the way your expression fell, getting off the phone awkwardly with an excuse that he remembered he had somewhere he needed to be.

Something told you that it would be the last time he would FaceTime you on your trip to Mallorca. Rather than let yourself get upset by that or hyper analyze the giddy feeling that settled in the pit of your stomach every time your phone lit up with his name, you busied yourself with all the things you should’ve been working on in the first place. It was the most productive day you’d had since getting there, but you managed to forget to both eat or slow down and rest. With little interest in laying down on the couch, still incapable of sleeping in your grandmother’s room, you decided to shower and head out to find something to eat at one of the dozens of little shops. The noise in your head was already wondering what Steve would say when you sent a picture of whatever you were eating and he realized you’d actually left the house for more than groceries or a meeting with the lawyer.

The late April air was warm and dry, a light breeze blew in the sweet scent of the Valencia red roses and lemon scented geraniums that lined the large balcony. As you towel dried your hair with a yawn, half tempted to collapse onto the couch as your stomach groaned with hunger, the doorbell chimed through the house. You looked down at the maxi dress you’d put on, a little wrinkled from being in the small suitcase, as your heart raced. You hadn’t been expecting anyone and no one had swung by to check on your grandmother, but you figured it was only a matter of time. This is fine, I’m glad she wasn’t alone, you chanted whispered over and over as you went to the door and pulled it open.

Steve rocked on his heels, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a small box wrapped in parchment paper and tied with a simple blue silk ribbon. He could hear footsteps inside and his gaze moved over the place. It wasn’t like any place he’d ever been before, more like something from a postcard, and he found himself eager to explore the streets he could hear voices coming from. Then he heard the rapid pulse and little pep talk on the other side of the door, causing the corners of his lips to turn up in a small smile. In possibly the worst attempt at a Spanish accent you’d ever heard, he managed a bashful, “Buenas tardes.”

With a gentle nudge to his shoulder, mostly to make sure you weren’t hallucinating, you managed to pick up your jaw and ask, “Tony finally send you out here to drag me back?”

“Nah, team had a lead and I want them to practice a little recon without me. I’m not too far from them and, I think, my friend needs me a little more than they need me.” He swallowed down his nerves and you tried not to stare at his Adam’s apple or the fresh stubble along his jaw. Instead you looked at the box in his hand. “Sam said this might help with the pictures and things.”

Slowly backing up you nodded for him to come in, watching him duck through the doorway that he easily filled, as you took the gift from his hand. Moving the blanket and pillow from the couch so you both could fit, you carefully opened what was a portable image scanner that would plug right into your computer. You hadn’t realized you were holding your breath, though he’d been watching you the whole time despite wanting to look around the place and he put a hand on your back, thumb rubbing across your spine as you let out a shaky breath. “It’s perfect.”

Nice things, little things, every little opportunity of letting yourself feel even a fraction of emotions seemed to make you fall apart. Steve noticed and took the gift from your hands, setting it gently on the coffee table next to your discarded laptop. “I didn’t get a breakfast or a lunch picture from you. Why don’t we go grab something to eat?”

For some reason you felt the immediate need to protest, but his hands were gently pulling you up from the couch and leading you back to the door. The sun stung your eyes when the door opened and there wasn’t a super soldier to block out the light, making you pull back into the house. Steve didn’t let go of your hand, waiting and trying to encourage you by brushing his thumb across your knuckles. “Okay.” You reassured yourself more than him, taking each step slowly as you let yourself be anchored by the man walking with casual purpose as if he knew where he was going. “Are we wandering or did you really memorize a map when you Googled the place?”

Steve smiled at you, a real smile that reached his eyes and you did your best to not cringe at how much your body naturally reacting with your own smile wracked you with guilt or how obvious it was that he knew by his fingers lacing through yours as he held on just a little tighter. Even when you turned down a little street you hadn’t explored and he pulled out a chair for you at a quaint little bistro you were still smiling. “So, I know what tapas are and with some googling this is supposed to be one of the best places for them.”

Time and again, something normal slipping from this man’s mouth couldn’t help but make you stare at him in awe. “Well, do you like spicy food? Tapas are great and patatas bravas are spicy. You can’t go wrong with the classic tortilla de patata though.” A waitress passed you both a menu and you ordered a café con leche and Steve politely nodded to have the same. “You know you just asked for espresso with milk, right?”

His face went a little pink as he admitted, “I thought café was coffee?” Attempting to hold in your laughter, the small sound that did escape you was muffled by the sound of melodic guitar pouring through the open doors and windows of the restaurant. “If I would’ve known that you were all alone in a postcard I would’ve asked Sam to check on Benton sooner.”

“Benton?” Your head tilted to the side as the waitress set your espressos between you and you processed, while asking her for a coffee with cream and sugar on the side.

“I told you that I’d end up naming your fish if you didn’t. Thomas Hart Benton is an American painter… pretty famous, but probably not an everyday kind of name if you aren’t really into the Regionalist art movement.” Steve waited until the waitress walked away before trying the espresso, his nose scrunching like a kid trying a sip of beer and finding out it tasted nothing like juice.

“You are full of surprises, aren’t you?” Hiding your smile behind your own espresso, you stole another glance at him, catching his bright blue eyes on you for just a moment before pulling away to the colorful scenery. “You’re lucky you showed up when you did. I was torn between a nap and finding something to eat.”

“Is the espresso so you don’t fall asleep on the table?”

Burying your face in your hands you tried to hide your embarrassment. “It’s not that I’m not ecstatic to see you or that you’re not amazing company.”

Your hands muffled your words and Steve reached over and pulled them down. “It’s fine. I understand. You can get your nap in after you eat something.”

To your surprise, he kept reaching out for your hand between bites and light conversation. By the time you were done eating the waitress was hovering, now seemingly aware of who he was. Despite the looks and flirting on her end, he kept his attention on you, insisted on paying, and walked you back to the house. A part of you thought you’d wake up from the dream when you walked through the door but he followed you, only letting your hand go to close the door. “There’s a lot of books to read. I’ll probably only sleep for like an hour.”

“Sleep as long as you need to, Darling. I can sit out here and read or if you’d like me to help scan things onto your computer, I could do that too.” Steve’s smile fell as you buried your face in your hands and started to cry. “Hey, I don’t have to touch a thing. Whatever you need.”

His arms wrapped around you when his attempts to gently pull your hands from your face failed. Just as he’d done before, one hand caressed your back and the other stroked your hair until you settled into the hug. “I’m sorry, you’re just being nice and I’m exhausted.” Craning your neck to look up at him, you caught the glimmer of tears in his own eyes. You didn’t have to wonder who he missed, knowing that probably every person he’d cared about was gone or moved on in the time he was frozen. “I’ve been sleeping on the couch.”

Steve took in a breath, trying to steady himself as he looked over at the couch, remembering the pillow and blanket you’d moved for you two to sit earlier. “This whole time? Is there not a bed?”

Swallowing you hid your face, “There’s a bed, but it smells like her.”

“C’mon.” Steve cautiously pulled you out of the hug, “Show me where it is. I’ll be your pillow and you can get some proper sleep.”

You were in shock; confused, physically and emotionally exhausted, and then he was taking your hand and pulling you toward his best guess at the direction of the bedroom. After opening the door to the bathroom and office, Steve pushed open the door to the bedroom. Reluctantly and barely over a whisper, you muttered a quiet, “Okay.”

He stepped out of his boots and climbed onto the bed, taking up nearly the whole thing, before he reached out for you. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” Nodding you climbed in next to him and he pulled you right into his chest. His thumb and palms wiped the damp from your cheeks before brushing your hair from your face. Steve waited, holding your face, gently brushing your jaw as you settled in at his side, your head far away from anything that could shock your senses with nostalgia and grief. “Comfy?”

It didn’t seem to matter that you had to hike your dress up to your knees or that ‘comfy’ meant your legs were tangled up in his. The blankets being under the pair of you didn’t seem to matter either, when you were warm against his abnormally warm chest that, despite being solid muscle, still felt more comfortable than the pillow you’d been resting your head on every night. Steve’s long broad frame dwarfed you, giving you the sense of safety you hadn’t felt since before you’d lost your family. His fingertips drew an invisible map across your bare arms and you hummed a nearly inaudible ‘mmhm’ as your eyes fluttered closed. There were a million things you wanted to tell him, but as he took you in his arms and seemingly unleashed the jar of butterflies in your stomach, you almost instantly fell asleep to the sound of his steady pulse under your ear while he engulfed you in the scent of clean laundry and bar soap.

Steve stayed by your side, as promised, and despite the time difference and the Quinjet negating typical travel time from the States to Europe, he found himself comfortable and exhausted. Maybe it was seeing how broken you were to be sitting in a space of memories, displaced by the absence of everything you held dear, something he knew too well; but he found himself incapable of slipping out of the bed or even moving to reposition you so that he could give you some blankets. Until this moment he’d chalked up all of his thoughts of you to Natasha’s pestering to ask someone, anyone, on a date. As his blue eyes closed, he replayed your smile in the sunlight at the table, the breeze blowing the scent of your shampoo and espresso at him. God, he thought as he drifted to sleep, he should’ve asked you to dance.

When you woke up, disoriented by the darkness and a soft blue-white glow over your head, you found Steve staring at his phone, free hand absentmindedly stroking your hair. Your arm was wrapped tightly around his and the sudden realization that you were clinging to him for dear life made you relax. He looked down at you surprised. “I really thought you’d sleep through the night. Are you hungry again? It’s only eight.”

It was painfully domestic and you hated yourself for not wanting to get out of bed. It felt too much like borrowed time and you nodded, hiding your face in his side as you tried not to think about the reality outside of these four walls where you both would eventually leave back to your respective jobs. The certainty that things would go back to how they were the moment you were back in Stark Tower felt like a new pain you weren’t ready to confront. “I can make-”

“We are both hungry.” He’d interrupted you with a sleep-laced haze to his quiet voice. “We’ll cook together.”

Propping yourself up on your elbow, you gave him a studied look. “Full of surprises.” Reluctantly climbing out of bed, you stretched, feeling his eyes on you as the dress fell down your thighs back to your feet. Steve slipped into the bathroom and you heard him immediately turn the water on. Trying not to think too much into it, you put on some music and started pulling out the fresh feta, garlic, basil, and tomatoes you’d picked out at the store.

When he was done, Steve leaned against the wall of the hallway, listening to you singing along to the song, the corner of his mouth turned up as he tried to not interrupt what looked like a little moment of happiness. He could hear Sam’s laugh when he walked into your apartment to pick up the key and see where everything was. It was a laugh he’d given Bucky when he tried to play off asking the prettiest girl in school was a bet and not because he really liked her; the laugh of a friend that knew the truth but was willing to let you feign ignorance a little longer.

When you turned around, you nearly dropped the pot of water and at least half of it splashed onto you. Steve waved his hands in an apology. “I can boil water. I’ll clean this up.” His hand brushed over the soft curves of your hips as he apologized and shooed you out of the kitchen.

The person that looked back at you in the bathroom mirror wasn’t the one you’d seen every day since your arrival- or even in the last three years. You looked rested, despite your hair being a bit of a mess, and the small smile that no longer made your face ache wouldn’t seem to subside. The voice in your head tried to scold you back to reality telling you that this was the most loyal and old fashioned man on earth and that if you hadn’t sent him your location and seemed like a mess for weeks he wouldn’t have shown up. Swapping one dress for another, trying to make your hair sit right, and putting on some tinted chapstick and mascara, you came out looking like a new person and found the kitchen deserted. “Steve?”

For a moment you felt like an idiot, thinking you may have literally dreamt up his presence out of boredom and loneliness. Then he stuck his head in through the balcony door, already talking. “It’s too nice to eat inside.” You watched him visibly pick up his mouth. “You look… I feel underdressed.” You wrapped your hands around yourself about to apologize and offer to change before he said, “No, no. You look beautiful. I’m just… I’ve never really seen you not in scrubs, y’know.” He scratched at his blonde hair and nodded to the balcony.

When you stepped out you found the pasta plated, wine poured, and silverware set neatly on napkins. He’d even picked a few of the roses and placed them in a small glass of water. “How long was I in there?”

With a shrug, Steve pulled the chair out for you and when you sat down and looked up at him, waiting for an answer that he didn’t give, you watched him hesitate before going to sit opposite you. Your tongue ran across your lips, more out of the butterflies wishing you had kissed him than the smell of the food making your mouth water. “So, what do Spaniards say instead of ‘bon appétit’?”

“I think, qué aproveche, but I grew up saying buen provecho.” Steve picked up his glass and you did the same. “Salud!” You cheersed, tapping your glass against his. At first you kept quiet, the pair of you digging in with hums of satisfaction, but as your leg started to bounce under the table you found the question you didn’t want to know the answer to pour past your lips, “Are you just waiting for the team to send the extraction message?”

Steve’s fork hung from his mouth a little and he swallowed. “Yes and no? I have the Quinjet, so I’ll have to get them when they’re ready, but it could be days or longer. It could mean that I need to grab the shield and get to work.” The reality of the danger the team was in with the Maximoff twins working for HYDRA wasn’t lost on him, but two things currently felt more important. First, he needed to find Bucky and do whatever he could to save him. Second, he couldn’t leave you to cope with your grief alone. He’d seen so many people lose someone they loved and though he’d initially told himself that this was his way of doing the same thing Tony had done to help a co-worker through an unbearable situation, Steve was slowly settling into the reality that he looked forward to any time of day you gave him. “But I wanted to be here for you and I know the team can handle following a few leads without me. However long you need me and the rest of the world doesn’t, you’ve got me.”

You bit your lip, eyebrows drawing together, still telling yourself this was Steve doing a favor for a friend and to not read into what he was saying. It hurt, but you felt yourself trying to put up a wall to stop yourself from seeing the kindness of someone you happened to find attractive as more than just kindness. For a moment, you stopped to sip the wine, take a few more bites, and calm down your nerves. Just as he’d done at the bistro, he reached his hand across the table, waiting for you to take it. “I still think that I need you.” Whatever this was, you knew he had given you the first manageable day since you went adrift with fresh grief.

He watched you take his hand, studying your small fingers and how they wrapped around three of his, clinging to him like you had in your sleep. “I still think you need me, too.” But he held it in, trying to focus on you and not confess that he thought maybe, for the first time since he woke up from the ice, he felt like someone really saw him.

The conversation was lighter from there and the two of you decided to walk the cobbled streets to where he’d left the Quinjet so that he could get his bag and gear. As you walked back, hand in hand, you slowed down as a young musician plucked out a beautiful and intricate song on his Spanish guitar. “Can we just… just for a moment. My grandparents would’ve never walked away from this.”

Setting his shield, conveniently hidden in a leather case, and his duffel bag next to the musician, Steve came back to you and held out his hand. “I have no idea how to dance to this, but I’d love to learn if you’ll give me a chance.”

It took every ounce of self-control to not bypass his hands and place yours on either side of his neck so that you could pull his mouth down to yours. A soft, nervous laugh passed your lips, “Full of surprises.” A boyish smile spread across his lips as he did his best to learn and three songs later, the two of you settled into the easy slow dancing that disregarded everything else around you, including time and the small crowd that had joined what, to all others, appeared to be two young lovers lost in their own world.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I’m still shooting for posting a new chapter every Sunday. I would love feedback from you. Do you think they’ll put up a wall before admitting they have feelings? Is someone going to crack first? What’s going to happen when they’re back at the little villa or Stark Tower? I’d love to know where you think this is going.

I mentioned this last time, but while I do keep Reader vague, I’m a Latina. If you know the history of Venezuela, then you also know its political climate in the last 30+ years has led to a mass diaspora, which is why Reader (who like me was raised in the U.S. with family abroad) has some different phrases than typical Spaniards for things. I hope that my Latinx readers don’t mind and that my non-Latinx readers will stick around.

Divider by the amazing @firefly-graphics

I will be reblogging with tags, send an ask if you’d like to be added either to the series or to my overall tag list.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #captain america x reader #captain america x you #fic: steve rogers #writer: writerwrites

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elizabethvaughns · 3 years

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so i've been mulling over this for quite a bit now, so i might as well articulate my thoughts and get them out onto this blog. so i was just thinking: subjectively or objectively, which one is better? the if/then dc preview or the broadway production? long post (1750+ words), so i'm putting a read more break <3

now, objectively at the very least, i know i have to say it's the broadway production. why wouldn't it be? it's a lot more polished, it's...the final draft, of sorts, of the production. we all know the final draft is usually better than the rough draft. but here's the thing. when it comes to an artwork that has several different versions, one tends to gravitate toward the version they saw first and have a certain bias against all the other versions. if you saw the bway version first or the dc version first, you probably like that one more. now i'm not saying this bias is conscious by any means. absolutely not. however, when one falls in love with some media, in my case at least, they take it in over and over and over again. and then they get so used to that one thing that all other versions seem weird. i can pinpoint two non-if/then instances in my life where such a thing happened.

in the summer of 2018, i watched the RENT movie on netflix. now i was fully intending to listen to the obc soundtrack before watching the movie, but i never really got to it. anyways, that movie was like love at first...watch to me. oh man, i loved it so, so much. so i downloaded the soundtrack on my phone and, you guessed it, listened to it over and over and over and over again. one fine day, (about a few weeks after, actually) i realized i never actually had listened to the obc soundtrack. so i did. and it sounded...odd to say the very least. i mean, some of the voices were different, sometimes the lines were changed, all in all, a confusing experience. to say the least, if you asked me back then which version i preferred, i would've readily said the movie version. but now, three years in retrospect, i'm not so sure. the obc version is a lot more...complete, i like the vocals more, and i'm now salty that "christmas bells" as a song was cut. evidently, i like the obc version more(but i still love the movie version hell it's still one of my comfort movies).

in the fall of 2019, i listened to falsettos. i actually listened to both the obc and the 2016 revival cast recordings. i guess that lessened the bias a bit because i was exposed to both versions at about the same time. on the fateful date of 2 october 2019, i watched the falsettos revival proshot. that's when i truly fell in love with this musical. but, even so, my initial exposure was to both recordings so even though i had a slight bias toward the 2016 version, i still loved both of them.

now, back to if/then. i actually find it difficult to pinpoint where exactly my exposure to if/then started. was it the very first time i heard about it in 2018 when i read a very meta RENT fanfic on ff.net where elizabeth made an appearance and i thought "what the fuck"(pun very much intended)"is if/then" (psst if you find the fic could you please drop the link in the replies meta fic isn't really my shit but i want to reread it for nostalgia's sake)? or was it the very first time i listened to the obc recording in 2020? or was it the boot of a broadway production that i first saw on 13 march 2021? whichever one i pick, they all lead to the same conclusion: i naturally gravitated(and sometimes still do) toward the broadway production because it was the first version of if/then that i was exposed to.

now sometime in early april 2021 over my spring break, i watched a recording of the dc production. i knew beforehand that this production is a preview, after which some changes had been made, resulting in the broadway show. since those changes were obviously made to better the production, it would be a logical conclusion that the very presence of those changes entailed a...worse production (not considering the fact that the interpretation and the very liking of art is entirely subjective). one could say i entered the watching experience with an unconscious bias, of sorts.

from the very first note, i was caught off-guard. i didn't know they changed this much. when i watched the bway production, i was just enjoying it for all it was worth. but when i was watching the dc preview, i was comparing it constantly to its broadway counterpart. oh, david's shirt colour is different here. oh, anne's wearing a pantsuit instead of a dress(cute). oh, time for hey kid! oh wait no they put "the moment explodes" right here. also, i was just humming along to the songs, just mouthing along the lyrics(because i have them all memorized), and every now and then and getting thrown way off-track when the tune remained the same but the lyrics changed. most notably, in "walking by a wedding" and "you learn to live without". all in all, i had what one could consider negative opinions about the dc production because of that bias.

but then i watched it second time. a third time. a fourth, fifth, sixth time. and over that time, i fell more and more in love with that production. as i've said before, the interpretation of art is wholly subjective–what one may consider a shortcoming of a particular piece, another may consider a strength. let me take the placement of "the moment explodes", for example. in the dc production, it's before "some other me". therefore, the line "every friend i ever knew or thought i did" doesn't hit as hard because we don't know her situation with lucas yet. even so, "some other me" hits twice as hard because lucas is an even bigger asshole now. in comparison, however, "the moment explodes" is after "some other me" in bway as you all know. so the aforementioned line holds a much greater significance when compared to its dc counterpart. however, one could also consider that line (in the dc production) as a sort of foreshadowing for the reveal in "some other me" of the new normal of beth and lucas's friendship (or the lack thereof).

obviously, some changes were most definitely welcome, "this day" to be more specific. of course, there was that little reprising of "what if?" near the end of "this day" in the dc production which i really loved, but all in all, the mood of "this day" was much more fun and enthusiastic in bway as opposed to dc, which in my opinion is an excellent way to start an act. in contrast, some changes were...not as welcome. i don't know about you, but personally, i really enjoyed two cut scenes from "the story of jane"("no more wasted time" dc version). first, the scene where kate brings her kindergarteners to beth. it was fun to see higgs squirm. second, the scene where elena and beth's interaction parallels beth and stephen's in "map of new york". narrative-wise, i think that it is an incredibly important scene as we get to see two sort of boss-employee relationships mirrored to each other, only beth does it well as a boss (if that makes any sense). we see beth as passionate but still sort of hesitant in mony but she grows to be more self-assured by nmwt, and i think the aforementioned scene only cements that notion as beth takes on the role of mentor for elena. also, "the story of jane" was a really fun song and, as much as i love "no more wasted time", i wish it still contained elements of "story of jane". and while i did enjoy the reshuffling of "the moment explodes" such that it became clear when beth and lucas made up in the bway production, they were ultimately still...not talking during "you learn to live without. as a result, we miss that one scene from the dc production where lucas and kate attend beth's awards ceremony and shoo stephen. and need i talk about the lucas/david duet verse("you get that we're connected, / i feel like you get me") in "ain't no man manhattan"? honestly, i feel like dc anmm was, all in all, better than bway anmm–especially that one verse where lucas sings to this other dude about how everyone is connected(no, not the one to stephen, the one after that. the one that ends with "[something something] / who you helped get elected").

also the situations with stephen and with kate/anne in both timelines were relatively clearer in the dc production. even so, the actual distinguishing of the timelines was better in the bway production.

in conclusion, the relative merit of each production(broadway vs. dc) is really up to the interpretation of each viewer. scenes that may seem weak to one may be considered narratively important to another. both productions have their own merits and flaws.

to me, both productions are equally good. my previous assertion/assumption that the final draft is always better than the first is not necessarily true. some things that you think were actually pretty good get lost in the editing process. some other things that should've been cut (ahem ahem, kate's referrals to lucas with "she", ahem ahem, liz's "i don't believe in independents like i don't believe in bisexuals. pick a side" line) get left in there. art is subjective. the editing process is subjective. in the end, though, the only thing that matters is that you enjoy what you're watching and find personal fulfillment in it. and i do! for both of these productions. for both of the productions, i'm smiling all the way up to "here i go". i'm slightly saddened during "you don't need to love me". i'm empowered by "the story of jane"/"no more wasted time". i'm grinning in liz-verse all the way up to "i hate you". i feel like sobbing during "some other me". my throat clogs up when "i hate you" starts. i'm actually sobbing by the time "you learn to live without" ends.

...you get the gist of it. all in all, both of these productions are phenomenal and i'm grateful for their existence and to have been able to watch them in the year of our lord 2021.

i love this show so much i swear.

i talk a bit more comparing broadway and dc here.

my other ramblings essays:

if/then appreciation

"what if?" vs. "what if?(reprise)"

character analysis of lucas

#if/then #broadway vs dc production comparison

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aetherspoon · 3 years

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There are a couple of things that brought me to my love of geography, history, the various cultures of the world, and the differences between how people grew up. The gameshow of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is the first of those two things.

Given the premiere date, I think I must have accidentally started catching the show right in the beginning of season 1; I remember watching it when I went to the neighbor next door to my grandparents’ house, and that would have been late 1991. It didn’t take long before my father got me a (pirated) version of the PC game. I was given a legit version of the deluxe game a year or so later.

It was the only thing that made me wish I was still living in New York City (where it was filmed), as it seems young-kid-aetherspoon was extremely good at understanding things like geography. Turns out, young-kid-aetherspoon (along with young-adult aetherspoon and current-day-aetherspoon, for that matter) hyper-focused in geography and history, with this being the first real exposure I had to the former. I loved it SO MUCH and always wished I had been on that show.

After watching the video, all of those memories came flooding back. I even started singing along with the songs that I had long since forgotten! I’m glad to see that there was no behind-the-scenes drama going on, or reasons why my favs were troubling, or anything other than “they messed up once and let the kid back on the next season”.

The second one of those things that brought me to my love of geography, for reference, was December of 1991 when my class put on a school pageant demonstrating the various winter holidays and traditions all throughout the world. We each were given countries of our respective ancestries - being of Irish and Native American* ancestry, I was to cover Ireland and the British Isles. Most of my classmates ended up covering locales in Central and South America, with some covering various other regions in the world that needed additional coverage by my primarily-latinx-or-black class. In addition, I gave the opening lines of Christmas and other Winter Holiday traditions in the pageant, being given a little booklet to say my lines out of instead of memorizing. Turns out, I memorized them anyway based on physical placement (young-adult-aetherspoon used this in theater later), so I memorized a few pages of lines and information and continued on.

My teacher, however, was worried for one student (I want to say her name was Janna?) who had come into class a bit late. She was born in Finland and didn’t know anyone in the class, so my teacher asked me if I was willing to do another country as well, joining Janna on stage during that section. I knew where Finland was on a map (because of watching Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, of course), along with the other countries of Scandinavia, so we covered all of them. I went down to the library to do research (which I’m pretty sure was useless, but the thought counts) on things, and performed in that pageant.

Holding a candle, experiencing my first bit of pyrophobia in my life, but I performed!

Anyway, I thought I’d throw in a happy memory today for you all, from eight year old me. Yay. * DNA testing later on says this is false, but this was the family belief at the time.

#where in the world is carmen sandiego #my childhood #edutainment #geography

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pasteltofus · 5 years

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1 Year of Learning Korean

One of the most popular questions I’ve gotten since coming back from Korea is: Are you fluent in Korean now??*

*Spoilers: I am not. 🙃

Looking back, I probably would have become more conversational if I had just done a 3-month intensive program. Although, compared to just learning by myself in the Bay Area, being in Korea definitely gave me more opportunities and motivation. I was placed in the high intermediate class for orientation (switched to low intermediate), but I would say that I’m now truly at an intermediate level. I think my Korean’s more or less the same as my Japanese (which has regressed a lot, and I only took 3 semesters in college) but with very shaky foundations.

Anyways, here’s a brief timeline of what I did this grant year. Let’s go~

[Initiate lock n’ load montage]

July

Korean Intensive Program (8-12pm, 1-2pm M-F)

Because of how the program was structured, I didn’t feel like I learned very much. This is partly why my foundation is so full of holes...we skipped around here and there.

August

Korean Intensive Program

September

Korean was put on pause due to troubles adjusting to homestay

October

Occasionally did a few chapters of Billy Go’s Korean Made Simple at school

Studied some Korean vocab

November

???

December

I don’t think I studied Korean at all

January

Got a wakeup call when I spent 5 minutes trying to read the back of a sign at a smoothie shop and realized how slow I was at reading

February

Vocab grind (1000 Essential Korean Words), plan was to finish by the end of March. Two weeks of intense vocabulary cramming on Quizlet (did nothing in the end lol don’t try that)

Bought the Real Life Conversations Intermediate book

Studied Korean in Kpop lyrics

Started a side coding project to help my touch typing (K-pop lyric typing game)

March

Memorized dialogues from Real Life Conversations book with Lauren

Improved reading skills slightly by listening and following along with the audio recordings that come with the book

Read through the dialogues with the Korean literature teacher in my gyomushil

Continued to learn song lyrics

Wrote sentences with each new vocabulary word, got my co-teacher and the Korean literature teacher to check them (<-this was probably the most helpful game changer...it helped a lot with my spelling too)

Continued working on the K-pop typing game

April

Stopped learning new vocab at around Chapter 11 of Essential Words, focused on retaining old vocab through Anki flash cards

Finished the Go! Billy Korean Made Simple book that I bought ages ago (tbh it was too easy for me at this point but I was just too lazy)

Finally sat down and “learned” Korean verb conjugations (I’d just been going by gut instinct before…tbh I still kind of do 😅)

Kind of dropped the typing game after finishing the MVP 😅but I’m gonna try to finish it up now that I’m back

May

Started to panic about leaving Korea in 2.5 months but still sucking at Korean

Signed up for private lessons once a week for 90 minutes (My tutor asked me to give her a shout out. Her name is 서영심 ([email protected]). If you’re in the Cheongju/Ochang area, she comes to you! She’s very professional and you’ll get your money’s worth.)

Started at the intermediate book that focused on grammar

Learned ~5 grammar points every week

Started writing and reading a lot more and actually seeing how words are spelled. The first time I saw 여기--a super common word (yogi) that means here--written out I thought it was so strange...not that I had thought it was 요기 (also pronounced yogi) but I just didn’t have a visual of it in my head, I guess.

June

Depressed about lack of improvement

Continued with private lessons but felt like I wasn’t really retaining the grammar dump from each week

At the very least, Korean homework kept me on track and made me practice even when I didn’t want to

Started Anki again since I hadn’t actively studied vocab since April.

An old K.Will song that I hadn’t listened to for a long time came up and I realized I could suddenly understand the lyrics. That was pretty cool and one of my small win moments.

July

Feeling pretty hopeless with Korean

However, hung out with more Korean friends that only spoke Korean and felt like I was actually able to contribute to the conversation. (3 hours of Korean Listening ...🙃)

Was able to understand 70% of the conversation at my gyomushil’s final farewell lunch for me. I contributed to the gossip!

Went home and immediately lost 50% of my Korean skills upon touching U.S. soil.

So basically, after my burst of inspiration in February, my confidence and motivation in Korean just kept plummeting. Even now as I write up this post I feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. But I do want to highlight the progress that I’ve made since orientation.

Korean Reading

We were all supposed to be able to read Hangul before we came to Korea. Being able to recognize the alphabet is different from being able to read and also different from knowing the pronunciation rules and where to pause in your reading. During my first semester, my eyes would automatically glaze over whenever I saw Korean text. When the second semester started, I tried to force myself to read everything I came across - storefronts, street signs, advertisements on buses, etc. Even if I didn’t know what it meant, I would force myself to read it. Right now, I can navigate a Korean shopping website and read a menu semi-comfortably. I’m still waiting for the day when I’ll see English sounding hangul and be able to read it as fast as English. Although, I will say it’s really nice to be able to read the Korean titles in Kpop videos on Youtube, especially when I come across really old songs (like Super Junior’s No Other 너 같은 사람 또 없어) and realize I now know what it means.

Also, a new world that has opened up to me is...노래방!! Karaoke is such an adrenaline rush. I’d compare it to sight-reading or DDR/rhythm games where you know something is coming up and the satisfaction you get when you get it right with the beat of the music is 👌. It’s so gratifying to be able to sing along...거기 너 I FANCY YOU 아무나 원하지 않아 HEY! I love you (LOVE YA)!!

Korean Writing

Back during orientation, I couldn’t spell anything on my own. I knew words every koreaboo knew like 어떻게 and 괜찮아 but I couldn’t write it because I didn’t know how spelling worked. It’s no wonder my spelling didn’t improve since a) I didn’t write and b) I didn’t even read. Even now I still make a lot of spelling mistakes, but I pay attention to words when I see them. It’s still a very slow process, but now I can picture the hangul in my head when I think of the word.

Typing: I started orientation with around 15 wpm, then by the end of orientation I got to around 30 wpm. Currently, I’m at 60 wpm when I start cold and after I get warmed up I can go up to 80wpm. Being able to touch type is so useful, especially when I’m typing up long sentences from my textbook and I don’t have to look up.

Korean Listening

Dare I say...my Korean listening is my strongest point??? I remember when I took French listening tests in high school, I would always lament with everyone else that they spoke too fast for me to understand. But interestingly, for both Japanese and Korean, I never had that problem. If it only contains words and grammar I know, I can understand it perfectly fine even if it’s fast. I intuitively understand most Korean verb endings and exclamations so it’s not hard to know which way the conversation is flowing or when to interject with “세상에,” “맞아 맞아,” or “말도 안돼.” I used to think my poor lack of vocabulary was the number 1 thing blocking me from understanding, but then I learned more grammar and realized the things I didn’t know. I do feel like parts of the fog are being lifted...sometimes...

Korean Speaking:

I still feel pretty embarrassed when I speak Korean because there are some sounds that I can’t pronounce. Compared to orientation, I have a few more stock phrases tucked and ready to go, but I still feel unable to express myself. Every conversation will start out fine, but they’ll all stagnate to the same topics and sentences after a while.

Complications with other languages

I talked about how knowing some Japanese and Chinese was both an advantage and a disadvantage during my beginning stages, but this is true even now.

Ever since I started getting more comfortable with typing and spelling Korean, I’ve started seeing the actual Hangul in my head when I think/hear Korean. I’ve also started to associate the locations of the Hangul characters with their locations on the Korean keyboard.

One day, I was trying to text back my mom with “那是什么?” (Na Shi Shen Me/What’s that?) but was confused because those characters weren’t showing up. Then I realized I was typing “sk” instead of “na.” Some of you guys might get it....because “s” is where ㄴ(n) is and k is where ㅏ(a) is on the Korean keyboard. Clearly, my brain can’t handle it. It’s interesting because both the Japanese and Chinese keyboard uses the same alphabet placements as English.

Another time: I was watching a Talk To Me in Korean video where Hyunwoo talked about how 하다 is a very versatile verb. I immediately thought about how the Japanese equivalent is 수루 and even mentally mapped it out on the Korean keyboard...before realizing this is WRONG, WRONG, it’s する not 수루 LOUISE WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING. (They are both pronounced suru)

What’s next?

Now that I’m back in the States, it’s going to take even more determination and self-discipline to keep up with my Korean. But I really don’t want everything I’ve worked towards to just wash down the drain. I’ll aim to finish my intermediate grammar textbook and grind anki flashcards. Hopefully, I can find a language partner or a study group. We’ll see!

#language learning #studying Korean #korean #fulbright korea #sorry for the long post #but yes i am back in california #also which one of you messaged isabel about my blog #thanks for reading whoever you are!!#also shout out to my buddy #i actually have one more post to make on my school festival #and then i'll wrap up this blog #learning korean

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blankdblank · 6 years

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Ridikulus Pt 16

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 - Pt 6 - Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10 - Pt 11 - Pt 12 - Pt 13 - Pt 14 - Pt 15 -

Tags –

@himoverflowers, @theincaprincess, @aspiringtranslator, @sweeticedtea, @ggbbhehe4455, @thegreyberet, @patanghill17, @jesgisborne, @curvestrology, @alishlieb, @jogregor, @armitageadoration, @fizzyxcustard, @here2have-fun, @lilith15000, @marvels-ghost, @catthefearless, @imjusthereforthereads, @abiwim, @jotink78, @c-s-stars, @evyiione, @sweetlytenacious25, @tigereyesf,, @menewyn

Ginny in a floor length long sleeve forest green dress with a fake gem coated belt around her hips matching the stones around the high neck, “Jaqi? Could you-.” Her words paused as she spotted Legolas in the room flashing her a weak smile.

He pointed to the closet door, “In the closet.”

Ginny nodded leading Luna, in a high necked sleeveless pink silk gown, and Hermione in a thickly embroidered blue gown you could only assume was made for her by the Dwarves. With her arms out she asked the Prince, “Is my dress ok?”

Legolas nodded, “It is very lovely, I am certain Haldir will admire it and compliment it.” His eyes shifted to Luna as she spun then stopped to face him again, “As is yours. It is quite similar to the styles our Ladies prefer for our celebrations, stylish and comfortable for dancing.”

Hermione sighed eyeing her dress again, “Princess Dis designed mine.”

Legolas nodded, “It is a flattering color and shape while fitting for your rank.”

With grins the three of them walked to the bathroom and walked inside through to the closet as Ginny continued, “Do you mind lending me your green heels? Haldir insists I wear flats ‘for my comfort’, but I insist on not making him slouch the entire evening so I can reach his hands and shoulders properly.”

You giggled and nodded your head to the wall of shoes, “All yours.” You smiled at Hermione as she helped you finish securing the zipper up your side while Luna helped you secure the hidden support inside.

Luna grinned eyeing your dress choices and asked, “You didn’t want to wear your yellow one again?”

After a giggle you led them through to the bathroom to stand before the makeup bag you’d pulled out previously, “It is a wedding gown apparently.”

Hermione giggled as Ginny hunched in the doorway adding your heels saying, “Better not show the pictures of the Yule Ball then.”

You giggled again, “Exactly.” Shifting your eyes you watched her eyeing you affectionately, “I have to ask, what did you say to the Elves earlier? They gave me that I’ve seen you die look.”

Ginny moved to lean against the counter beside you watching as you finished your eye makeup through Luna pulling back the top half of your hair into a bow secured with a jeweled clip similar to hers. “They were wandering through Godric’s Hollow, started shifting the tokens through the memorial.”

You nodded and caught her glance into your makeup bag you made to hover in front of her making her smirk as she reached in sneaking out the deep maroon lipstick she turned to add eagerly making you giggle. “Oh, Dudley asked for a spot in the shop, I was wondering if you’d mind showing him the ropes? We could up your hours.”

She nodded and grinned at you, “Sounds good. Had a thought to try and take Haldir to the diner on my lunches possibly, or after my shifts, if I can convince him to.”

Hermione chose your eye shadow stating, “I’m certain he’d love to.”

Your eyes turned to Hermione, comfortably in her flats in the group of heeled women to eye her dress and gifted circlet saying, “One thing for certain, the Dwarves know their way with a needle.”

Hermione nodded, “Managed to whip it up in a couple days too.” Her eyes lowered for a moment, “Just a bit strange, going from staying at your place to talking with Dis about moving into the Palace.”

Ginny turned your head with her fingertips on your chin, helping to add the shade of lipstick she chose for you in a bright red saying, “Well when you do we have to help you decorate it.”

Hermione giggled, “No doubt that would make my apartment a bit too undwarfly for the Royal Family’s liking.”

You rolled your eyes when Ginny was done and turned your head to her saying as your hand landed on your hip, “Are you telling me Hermione Jean Granger can’t manage a simple Illusion enchantment?”

She rolled her eyes, “I would rather not start our relationship with Illusion enchantments. I can tolerate their couches.” She glanced at Ginny while Luna asked, “Real question is, has Ginny gotten a peak into Haldir’s apartment, or would he be moving in here?”

You giggled and joined the pair in looking at Ginny when she rolled her eyes brushing her hair behind her ear, “We’ve barely spoken five times. Nowhere near marriage. I thought he’d pass out just from the dancing the other night kept blushing when he walked me home. Wasn’t till he asked to escort me tonight I understood why.”

Through the closet into the room you led the trio and spotted Legolas’ grin eyeing the full look on you in his rise to his feet. “I cannot wait to see Ada’s face when he sees you, Naneth.”

You chuckled then glanced to Luna as she asked him, “Do you not have a date?”

Legolas shook his head, “Lord Elrond prefers me to escort Lady Arwen, she loves to dance and the Men from Gondor keep trying to win her affections.”

Ginny, “That’s good you have a date. Thought I might not this time around.” She drew in a pausing breath, “Are all Elves as shy as Haldir?”

Legolas, “Our courtships can take decades to solidify, we wait for our Ones. Haldir especially wishes to ensure you are comfortable as well as your family.”

Ginny drew in a breath then asked, “Is it strange, he told me I was his One, but I don’t know.” Her voice dropped lowly, “It sounds so terrible aloud.”

Hermione answered for him, “It took me months to feel the bond with Fili. More than just dating or a crush. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like, magnets and quicksand.”

You giggled as she replied, “Comforting.” She paused then added, “He is really sweet. Focused on what I need and want. A bit jumpy though when I’ve tried to take him up on his offer for archery lessons.”

Legolas, “Most likely he is wanting to arrange for a chaperone.”

Ginny, “Chaperone?”

Hermione, “Fili insisted on meeting my Parents before he would sit on watch with me alone.”

Ginny, “But he has met Dad, and Mum has talked to him too.”

Luna, “Well he does know about Harry, maybe he is trying not to rush things.”

Legolas nodded, “I did hear Haldir had referred to Lord Celeborn on how to proceed since you were wed before.”

Ginny’s brows furrowed, “I wasn’t-..”

Legolas, “Marriage has a wide number of qualifications in our world. Most times even if there is an implication of a union and one partner passes they are considered wed. I am certain he wishes to respect that union as well as your feelings for the end of it.”

Ginny sighed, “I don’t need another person worrying about how I take the end of my relationship.”

Legolas nodded then glanced to her hair saying, “Ada has a selection of circlets he wished to offer you and your relatives here.”

You grinned and said, “How thoughtful. Please lead the way, still helpless out there.”

Hermione, “Maybe Sirius and Remus could make you a map.”

You nodded, “Considering it. Definitely need one.” Legolas grinned guiding you through your enchanted doorway back to the Royal Wing where he walked to his Father’s apartment and walked right in missing your mumbling in Latin, “Could be naked but let’s go right in.”

Hermione giggled as Ginny leaned in to whisper to you, “So far from a problem.”

Around the first corner you heard the Elven bickering back and forth on the final agreed lineup before Legolas entered the room to catch the pair with their mouths still open, slowly they closed as the trio of your friends entered the room spotting the pair finishing the last of the buttons below their necks and wrists. A couple seconds they stood there curiously until you were spotted at the end of the line instantly making the pair of them swallow dryly, a reaction Ginny grinned at her capturing by calling your enchanted camera that was now determined to capture countless images through the night. The flash was enough to snap them from their memorizing stare while Legolas stated, “Ada, you wished to share your gifts.”

The King grinned and led your group through to the dining room where the full line of circlets were set out. Around the table you all walked peering at each as Hermione asked, “Is there any rank attached to each?”

Thranduil shook his head, “As relatives to Jaqi you may pick whichever you please.” He smirked at Hermione catching her eye adding, “Even you Miss Granger, should your beloved’s gift not sit comfortably. Our metals are lighter.”

She gave a challenging smirk back, “No thank you. I would prefer to remain how Princess Dis and Queen Niro dressed me.” She glanced at you, “Oh, they keep asking me how the potion is?”

Your eyes met hers as you raised a rose gold circlet and turned to Luna helping her add her choice, “The layer of fur is breaking to bright turquoise, so noon most likely. I will check it in the morning. Oh, please remind them, should they ask, not to bring the family. It won’t be pleasant.”

Hermione nodded, “I have tried, believe me. But ‘Dwarves can withstand a great deal of suffering’ is all I hear back. Even the polyjuice potion is excruciating at best, so if they all pass out from watching it it’s on them. At least Thorin is preparing, plans on getting plastered tonight and hopes it’ll tide him over.”

You giggled easing the circlet on Luna’s head then glanced at Thranduil for approval of your placement. With a flash of a grin he moved in and quickly corrected it a fraction of a turn while Glorfindel helped Ginny with hers. “Not likely, sober in an instant, and the hangover won’t help.”

Gingerly your hand was cradled by the King as K popped in saying, “My Mistress, a Haldir is here for Miss Ginny.”

Ginny nipped at her lip then eyed Dobby popping up beside K with his hand on poor frazzled Haldir’s leg. Instantly Ginny moved to help adjust his hair back again stirring a grin onto his lips as he lowly complimented her dress and circlet. Through the door you were led to the King’s closet where he led you to the island there and opened the first box and grinned at your open mouthed response to the full crown in bright shimmering white stones forming slanted leaves filled with purple sapphires around one upright in the center. Softly you whispered, “You cannot give me this.”

Widely his grin spread as he raised it whispering back, “Watch me.”

“Thranduil.” Your hair shifting to sea foam green instantly.

He settled it securely around the top of your head centering the upright leaf while stating, “You, are Queen now.” Taking full advantage of your shock he leaned in to kiss your lips and on his lean back upright again he added, “Perfect.”

Glorfindel behind you chuckled with his gift in hand he eased around your neck. Instantly the cold metal around the base of your neck with a giant diamond like shimmering white stone resting just above your cleavage. The entire band a cluster of leaf shaped diamonds holding the weight of the single large stone. Softly you mumbled, “You are trying to kill me.” In a turn you spotted the dazzling gift in the mirror before he’d claimed a kiss of his own after you thanked him. Before you could lean into it your head turned at the gasp from the doorway.

Ginny stood open mouthed, “Wow, we thought your circlet might be bigger, but that, is a crown.” She led the girls in, who circled you praising the items while Thranduil claimed your wrist to add a bracelet matching your necklace and kiss your knuckles after before passing your hand to the women when the door opened again and the trio of boys came rushing in.

Instantly they froze in the doorway looking you up and down while Taule paused after them with a gentle smile in her simple heavily beaded silver gown under the shimmering necklace Thranduil was pleased to have gained back from Thorin, to return to her for the occasion, with a crown matching yours in champagne diamonds around deep emeralds. A few rapid steps later the boys were at your sides as you crouched down drawing the men’s eyes to the color changing effect of your gown parting their lips.

The boys took in all the details of your gown and jewels while your hair shifted back to silvery blue again, then glanced up at Glorfindel stating, “Time to get you lot dressed.”

They nodded and headed for their room down the hall while the girls followed bringing Haldir with them. In his move to join them Thranduil froze at your arms circling his chest, with a grin Legolas slipped out to fetch his outer robe, hearing you mumble, “Thank you.” He peered down at you and you added, “I will try not to disappoint you.”

His smile deepened in his lean in lowly stating, “You will never disappoint me.” Stretching just a bit higher your lips met his for a tender kiss before you joined the others at another soft gasp and squeak to follow.

Entering the door you spotted Hermione holding up a little robe identical to Glorfindel’s saying in latin, “They’re dressing the boys to match them.”

You giggled and joined the women on the bed beside Taule, who smiled resting her chin on your shoulder as you giggled and stated to Glorfindel at his glance over to you while aiding Estel into his dress robe, “This is priceless. What cute little ducklings.”

In the doorway again Legolas eased his own robe on and started to settle it around his torso while Thranduil helped him ease his hair out from under it, “We prefer swans or cygnets.”

You nodded through your giggled, “Of course you do.” Turning your head you caught Elurin and his serious expression pulling on his second boot. The path of your finger along the edge of his ear his head turned to face you with a curious expression, “What is going on in that head of yours?”

“I am remembering the rules.”

You nodded, “So you aren’t going to have any fun at all at the party?”

Elured, “Fun?”

You nodded, “Fun.”

Elurin, “There are rules.”

“You do realize you’re seven and that you have an entire lifetime to follow the rules?”

He blinked at you while Elured said, “Princes have to remain focused, always flawless.”

“Perhaps, but you are still children and clothes can be mended and washed.”

Elurin, “We would never damage our clothes.”

Reaching out you said, “If you say so. You have something on your face.” He moved closer only to be wrapped into your arms and giggle helplessly as you blew a raspberry on his cheek and ask between pecks on his cheeks, “Are you really going to be serious my entire birthday party?”

He shook his head through a giggled, “No.”

Meeting you wrapped your arm around Elured in his approach, peppered kisses on his cheeks as well and glanced between them, “You are seven, so you will play, and smile, and laugh. I don’t care how dirty you get or what the other Elves say, enjoy your youth while it lasts, there is so much time for being prim and stoic later, alright?” They nodded, “Past a few introductions to other nobles you are free to be children, alright?” They nodded again and you asked, “Is this all you’re wearing?”

Elurin, “We have wraps.”

You grinned, “Go get your wraps then.” You stole a grin up at the enamored Elf King then looked back to Estel and his sheepish gaze at you when Glorfindel finished buttoning his robe. A wag of your finger later he was in your arms on your lap leaning his head into the kiss you planted on his cheek. Meeting his eyes you said, “You are mine now, alright,” to which he nodded and leaned his forehead against your lips as you said, “And never doubt that I love you, and will always be here for you. No one is going to hurt you.”

You kissed his cheek again when he leaned his forehead against your chest saying softly, “I love you too Naneth.”

He drew back as you asked, “What boots are you wearing?”

He pointed across the room and you let him down and grinned at the other girls who smiled at the boys small clothes and shoes. On your feet you walked to Legolas, whose grin tripled in your approach and he melted into your tight hug and didn’t let go of you for a few moments as you softly said, “You might not need a Mother but if you need me, trust me, no one is harming you.”

He nodded and you kissed his cheek in his release deepening his grin before you turned at the Twins’ calling out, “Naneth!”

They turned and showed off their wraps and boots and soon split allowing Estel in the middle to do the same, “Very dashing.”

Thranduil chuckled and said, “Darling, I do believe we should go greet the Men to accept your gifts before the others start arriving.”

You nodded and offered your hands signaling the boys to approach, only for them to follow the King, making you struggle not to laugh at their steady pace behind the King when he grabbed his wrap off the chair in the hall and added it completing his look. A smile settled onto Taule’s face while Legolas wrapped her arm around his to guide her while the girls circled you with Haldir beside Ginny, trying to calmly enjoy her hand fixed in his after she had woven her fingers through it.

….

In Rohan earlier

Thengel, “What sort of horse does your Queen prefer? A racer, a dazzler, or would demeanor win out over beauty and speed?”

Thranduil, “Feathered hooves and speckled are the breed’s main attributes. I have never witnessed one myself, but if I could find one close enough I am certain she would adore it all the same.”

Thengel grinned peering at the King, “Speckled and feathered? Is she aware feathered breeds are known for their strength, not speed?”

Thranduil glanced at him, “I do not believe so, but either way she shares our Elven weightless qualities. That should ease a difference, though we will not be racing our steeds, merely easing her into caring for a steed, a work horse should aid that greatly.”

Thengel nodded, “Yes. It should.” He motioned his had guiding Thranduil over towards the smaller pasture with the taller stockier breeds. “You are in luck, our fences broke year before last breeding season, nearly doubled our herd for carriages, wagons and tilling. A few unique coats have appeared in our herds again from it.”

Instantly Thranduil’s eyes shifted from the dark brown and black horses shifting to allow the pair past on to the tan and grey horses before a trio caught his eye with the younger being nudged away from the larger of the three, “Those three, would one be available?”

Thengel grinned stating, “The elders are our plow pullers. Are not overly friendly in how the easterners treated them. Even to their Granddaughter. We just started socializing her with the bridle and back straps last month, should adjust fairly easily to a saddle.” He grinned as Halmar moved to guide her away from the herd into the stables to be washed and primped for being handed over later. “Now, those boys, we have some nice sturdy speckled ponies, should remain a decent size for them to handle even if they are Elven boys.” Thranduil glanced over catching his amused smirk, “Also speckled, though in white and brown.”

Thranduil turned his head watching the pen of ponies trotting around and eyed the trio he was referring to, “They should do nicely.”

Thengel nodded and patted him on the back, “I am glad. And should you ever find yourself in need of another steed, or if your Queen has trouble rearing her Mare or ever wishes to breed her let us know.”

Thranduil nodded then turned watching the trio also be taken to be bathed while over hearing the conversation of the Men in the stables.

Halmar sighed brushing the Mare’s mane free of any debris, “I just cannot manage it.”

Hamma his Brother gripped his shoulder gaining his attention, “You can do it, you just have not found the right woman.”

Halmar, “Each woman so far has struck me or left cursing me.”

Hamma’s brow twitched up in an idea, “You always treat the horses better than the women you converse with.”

Halmar, “Hamma, that-..”

Hamma raised his hand, “Hear me out. Simply try imagining the woman you are speaking to is a horse and see if it goes better. You just need to get past that first interaction and I am certain you will manage a courtship.”

Halmar sighed again, “I will try.”

…

In Greenwood back before the Party

Through the halls you folded your arm through Glorfindel’s after inching up to kiss his cheek again, leaning against his arm you missed his smile growing while you passed through the Elves bowing their heads to your group in their motions to finish the final tasks they held. In a small tea room overlooking the same gardens on the path to the stables you had stumbled into earlier with the group of golden haired Men straightened up with widening grins looking over you especially.

In the golden light of the setting sun you felt their eyes taking in the details of your hair, dress and jewels as King Thengel nodded his head and greeted you, “Your Majesty, it is a pleasure to see you again.” before you could reply he stated, “To welcome you into the start of another year and into the start of our friendship we brought you a gift.” His hand rose at his side motioning to the double doors, through which you spotted the tall broad mare being led into view making your lips part.

Quietly he led you to the doors that he opened for you while you said softly in a daze seeing the horse of your dreams, “If I knew you better I would hug you.”

He chuckled deeply at your side lowering his gaze to the glimpse of your heels revealing the reasoning for your growth spurt, “That is quite a response, I am pleased you find her suitable.” Nearing the mare you eyed her in her seven foot stance eyeing you carefully herself, “Normally this breed is used for pulling our wagons and plowing. Nice and powerful yet incredibly kind hearted when treated properly.”

Lowly you asked, “How big are your wagons? You’re what, six foot something, I suppose your herds must all be massive.”

He chuckled again, “You are welcome to visit our lands for a full tour and inspection of our herds whenever you wish Your Majesty.”

His eyes followed your hand rising to press to the ridge of her nose when she lowered her head at your clearly awed expression, gently you pet her face smoothing your hand over the side of her face brushing her mane out of her eyes whispering, “Aren’t you stunning.” Instantly sparking something in her eyes making her inch closer to you pressing against your hands.

While your other hand smoothed over the side of her lower jaw Thengel grinned, “There is another part of our gift.” You glanced at him with a raised brow catching his eyes noticing the scars on your face as the soft breeze shifted your bangs near your ear, his hand motioned again and three white ponies with brown spots and patches across them parting your lips as he stated through another chuckle, “For your Sons.”

A glance from you brought the trio out into the garden after a nudge from Glorfindel, with eager giggles the boys peered up at the ponies who nudged their chests with their snouts while you watched their gentle pets. In a curious step to the side you smoothed your fingers through her mane down her neck dangling over a foot while you eyed her back wondering how you were going to manage climbing on her back without help. The next group entering the room drew your attention as Thranduil greeted them, stepping back to her face you softly stated, “I’m going to take really good care of you.”

Her head bobbed and nudged against your cheek before she followed Halmar back to the stables with the ponies behind her as King Thengel stated, “In the morning we can help your attendants with measuring them for proper saddles for you. I am certain we can manage some longer stirrups to aid your climb up.”

With a weak chuckle you turned guiding the boys back to the room you walked back inside after thanking the King again spotting his widening smile. Inside you eyed the tall group of Men, each bowing their heads to you as introduced, Ecthellion II, Denethor, Boromir and Faramir. All their eyes scanned over you and the group of ladies behind you before Ecthellion stated with a grin, “Your Majesty, for all the uses of a steed it certainly will not keep you warm.” Behind him an attendant stepped forward with a box he opened revealing the deep grey fur lined robe.

Softly through your parted lips you thanked him then turned your eyes to Denethor in his intense gaze at Estel making him step behind your leg. Near a growl he stated, “Aragorn!”

His step closer to you ended as he watched you return a glare, “You will not touch my Son.”

Furrowing his brow he pointed to Estel behind your legs, “That is our Prince! He was taken by his Mother, he belongs in Gondor!”

Again as he stepped closer you repeated, “You will not touch him.” His steps halted as you added through shifting to mirror his appearance fully stepping closer to him in return parting the lips of the Men while Thranduil and Glorfindel withheld their reactions, “He is my Son and he is not leaving my custody. When he is old enough he will return to stay in Gondor.” Denethor’s lips parted then closed as you added inches from his face, “You step one toe out of line or plot steal him from me I will see to it your city will be nothing but ash when you return.” Wordlessly he stood watching you shift back with a challenging glimmer in your eyes through your smirk at him while turning your focus back to their gift.

Echtellion grinned stating, “It is comforting to find our Prince in such safe lands with a great set of rulers to learn from. I do apologize for my Son’s outburst, surely we would never wish to claim him from you after his Mother had left him to your care. Might we inquire as to where she has gone?”

Thranduil stated firmly as Estel inched out to your side peering up at the young Men behind Denethor, in his silent stewing thoughts, who smiled at him kindly. “Queen Gilrean sailed West unable to bear the loss of King Arathorn.” His eyes shifted to Denethor, “I assure you he will be taught to uphold his station.”

Denethor, “And who will teach him our culture?”

You raised a brow at him before Thranduil stated, “By all means, stay for a time, aid us in his lessons.”

He curtly nodded then rolled his eyes at the Elleth entering the room stating, “My King, the Dwarves have arrived.”

Tilting your head you locked eyes with Denethor stating, “Hermione is practically my Sister and happens to be marrying King Thorin’s Nephew Prince Fili, during your stay you will be seeing them often.” You turned guiding the boys through the door with your group behind you to meet Thorin in the Throne Room for their gifts as King Thengel patted Denethor’s back teasing him about your temper and how he’d already caught a glimpse of it. Reminding him to behave or Rohan just might take over their lands when you brought their kingdom to the ground if he threatened Estel again.

…

Through the Throne room the Princes joined the Children the Dwarves had brought with them to the main gardens with growing smiles at the company soon added on by the children the Elves from Rivendell had brought. Grins spread on the Durins’ faces as you entered, each complimenting your appearance before presenting their own gifts. The sheepish glance on Thorin’s face brought you to say, “I was going to check on your potion in the morning.”

Anxiously he asked, “It is nearly ready?”

You nodded, “If not tomorrow the day after.”

His smile grew while Bilbo’s hand fixed in his gripped it a bit tighter in a silent comforting squeeze as Thengel asked, “Potion?”

You locked eyes on him as Thorin turned to state, “Queen Jaqi has fashioned a potion to aid in turning me to a Dam.”

Thengel raised a brow while Ecthellion asked, “You are abandoning your throne?”

Dain answered for Thorin, “Our kin would never abandon him in his path to having bairns of his own.”

Thengel grinned at you stating, “Impressive feat discovering such a potion.” He turned his eyes back to Thorin, “Whenever you find the change successful we would be grateful to show our respects to your future heirs.”

Thorin grinned and nodded before turning to you saying, “We do hope your celebration is enjoyable for you, and please do not feel rushed to planning on my shift if it disturbs your night.”

You smiled at him replying, “Trust me, it won’t.”

Another set of nods later they moved to join the Men in one of the sitting rooms for an early drink as you slipped out with the girls and boys to sneak a glimpse of the massive ballroom stretching into a string of outer garden ballrooms all lit up and decorated with crystals and various decorations making you gasp. A few steps inside you giggled when Glorfindel hugged you from behind and stole a kiss on your cheek asking, “Is it up to your standards?”

Letting out a weak chuckle you said, “It is incredible, I’ve never had anything like this for a party before.”

Around you the Weasley Twins popped up turning in awed circles then folded around you in a tight hug making you giggle returning them before turning to see Thranduil enter the doorway with a smile stating, “Your guests are arriving.” You joined him to the main hall as the Witches and Wizards arrived, each handing over gifts set aside in a sitting room before mingling with the Elves and Dwarves filling the ballrooms as music softly started playing for the first of the dances.

Lingering back on the side Thengel and his Men watched your guests mingling with the others awed at the vast difference of people you had under your watch after they had realized just how young you all appeared to be. An upwards glance later Thranduil grinned at your peck on his cheek, a far from usual public sight for Elves in the Men’s minds before they caught the following peck for Glorfindel on your turn for the pair to guide you inside the celebration.

Pt 17

#Thranduil x Reader OC #Glorfindel x Reader OC #Hobbit #lotr #hp crossover

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guild-guardian · 6 years

Text

Spoiler Free review of “All or Nothing”

After a cut because long post, many words, skritt math.

The Story (No details)

Overall it's probably one of the best executed episodes worth of story that they’ve released in the last couple of Seasons.

The Final Battle is more akin to the kind of scale you see in the Zorah Magdaros battle in Monster Hunter World than you’d expect to find in GW2, and that was a huge improvement compared to previous Elder Dragon battles. Having an active role in the battle, along with the NPCs not just “swinging their sword Oh look they swung it again” at trash mobs, and actually being useful- firing siege weapons, fighting mobs, picking you up if you get downed

So many call backs to minor named NPCs- some personal early personal story, and others from pact/priory/vigil etc It lead to a feeling of being surrounded by familiar faces as you lead the charge. The short piece after the battle was also a well designed experience- the lack of UI and the “damage” lines that you felt when Balthazar killed you in PoF, further push the “oh fuck we’re pretty badly wounded”, along with the forced walk/limp and fall to our knees when we try to hop down along the uneven floor. The main character’s animation here was excellent and slow pace allowed Anet to sculpt a tightly designed experience that is as shocking as it is memorable. I won’t forget that last visual.

Brandon Bales and Debi Derryberry probably did the best voice work in this episode (imo- I haven't played it through on a non-sylvari male). It was extremely immersive and I totally bought what was happening as they expressed it. I appreciated that the Zephyrites’ song/choir got further development, and how its relevant to the story just made it a really nice touch overall.

I did think it felt very short- only 3 instances. It may be that they pushed the pacing to emphasise the commander rushing headlong and gambling dangerously on the first ideas that come to them, and they do love a cliffhanger at the end. It ends on a flat note though, you can’t even interact with story NPCs after you finish it- nothing in the shiverpeaks map changes, no dialogue no “I’m just checking in” updates, nothing. Final Note: WHERE ARE KASMEER AND MARJORY

The Map

Huge! Ruins! Subterranean structures! Exploring! Absolutely nailed the Guild Wars 1 Shiverpeak atmosphere.but uh...not much to do past that.

The Thunderhead Keep meta is fun- I love defense events that allow us to set traps, build barricades and ballistae. The Boss is TOO BRIGHT. It is impossible to see even with effects turned down and post processing off. Anet needs to reassess their priorities with visual telegraphing because right now you can’t see a thing, never mind reacting to the thing.

Minor Quibble. UH WHERE DID THAT CLIFF AND PIT COME FROM? I’m pretty sure that the mountains just...continued north of the keep in GW1, and a little further north you’d come to the Mursaat teleporter to Hell’s Precipice.

The dredge meta is...hard to get people to defend the 2nd and 3rd drills- I’ve yet to be successful on this one.

The delay between meta active times feels a bit long, and perhaps its just the layout of this one, but there isn’t much notification if North or south meta is happening/how long until X etc.

I don’t like that Map Completion can’t be soloed- Both metas are required. Unless you find a friendly mesmer or buy the Light of Deldrimor from the TP.

Past the Metas, I’ve seen maybe 5 or 6 events tops on this huge environment. That is pretty woeful. I get that this was probably a high budget episode with two cutscenes, unique character animations and PvE environments built to scale with the GW1 counterparts (why did dwarves build so big anyway?), but the overall quiet map is a bit of a let down- considering the variety of content available in Jahai.

I adore the skritt/priory interactions, and an above ground village of Dredge being shown in in a positive light. Even if literally every member of the survivors has had to kill their friends and family with their own hands.

The Mastery

Heavily Situational and will take some getting used to. It doesn’t have that immediate “Good Feel” as mounting your griffon midair or while gliding. Being “animation locked” for most of the launch prevents you from gliding or re-mounting, so you just plummet for the most part and lose out on any air you might have hoped to gain from using it.

At least we can be thankful it wasn’t required to complete the story or meta.

The Fractal

Dreams: Crushed Hopes: Sundered Orr: Ignored. Instead of picking an interesting pirate/corsair character that could use a bit of story development, they go with the boisterous ghost from the Lion’s Arch Jumping Puzzle.

This fractal is short (at T1- it’ll likely have more complexity as you go up) and very sparse on story. The music is good, and the environment is good. Dessa continues to be the shining star of most fractals with her responses to the situations she gets to observe. Probably won't be the new Challenge mode fractal that people were hoping for, but the fight mechanics are fun and different.

I’d appreciate it if Anet could relinquish their choke grip they’ve had on talk like a pirate day 2012 that seems to permeate all of their pirate related content- it always feels kind of like even the characters themselves don’t take themselves seriously. There's just something pretty wack with them. (and I’m not talking about all the landlocked core game pirates just living in lakes barely big enough for their bases) That’s Enough.

The Legendary

Probably one of the nicest they’ve done in a while. Initially I was put off by it- the official preview of it in the reveal trailer didn’t really show it off very well- not the steps, aura or on-draw effect. However on this video from someone who got it before release, they point out a few things about it that really sell it for me.

I love the scorch mark on draw, with the dubstep twangs the most. A little disappointed that Range LB 5 is unaffected- it could have been very pretty (ie spirit bow active visuals). It's a very refined weapon that will certainly suit a lot more characters than Kudzu, and I’ll probably make it after I finish Ipos. In like a year.

The Music

Knocks itself out of the park in a home run touchdown or however sports works. The choral piece for Aurene is very beautiful, and I especially appreciate the tarir motif used towards to the end of the track. Re-used GW1 themes in the map give a very nostalgic feel, and the fractal has a unique Shanty theme, along with what was used for this year’s Festival of the Four winds.

OVERALL SCORE 7.5/10

The story is moving and immersive, the encounters well designed and well executed, however sparse event placement on the map kinda gets :/ from me.

Fractals continuing a trend of “we can do anything in the history of tyria- but lets focus on the boring parts” is also disappointing.

PS. The .5 comes from the Skritt writing and voice acting. So pure and wholesome.

#Guild Wars 2 #GW2 #Living World Season 4 #No spoiler review #my two coppers

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more-than-a-princess · 2 years

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@cantillat asked: ❝ don’t even think about it. ❞ from Van

“don’t” starters

"Well, that's the thing, Mr. Van Helsing," Sonia spoke carefully, if not with a bit of a devious tone. By now, the early evening sun had not been hidden by the night sky as expected: instead, it was cloaked by clouds. Big, grey, looming clouds which were seemingly up to no good. Though their potential to cause harm paled in comparison to the street that sprawled before them. "I've already put thought into it. Quite a lot of rationality, you see."

She hadn't won, not yet, but the princess felt she was well on her way. Truly, the day couldn't have been more exciting until this new turn of events had transpired, and in some way she had Delly to thank.It had taken her all of three months to do two things: one, to consult the various maps the Marquis Renfield kept in his stately London townhouse. The English capital dwarfed Novoselic's several times over and the streets were, like most European towns, laid out with absolutely zero sense of sensibility. She'd needed to memorize the various names of the streets and their placements, alongside the advertisements of various shops printed in the papers both delivered to Renfield's doorstep and the sorts she paid Delly two pennies each per paper or weekly magazine he could procure for her. Princesses weren't meant to purchase their own papers, much less publications that printed anything less than genteel: the Marquis' sister, Agatha, was more than happy to lend her her copy of The Lady. But anything, particularly anything that printed something sensational, was firmly disallowed in the house.

That was where Delly had come in. Beyond his now growing collection of pennies, the young vampire king had made the first of hopefully many deals with the Kingdom of Novoselic. Or at least, its princess: Sonia happily forfeited part of her dessert nightly for him to scoop on his plate when the Marquis and his butler weren't looking in exchange for the boy to stand guard outside of the Renfield library. Inside, without the scrutinizing gaze of the staff (who would tell her ladies' maid, who would tell her parents...), she could peruse the various sensational, spooky, and often salacious titles that, before her visit, King Alexandre of Novoselic had written to his friend, the Marquis Renfield, to hide from his heir to the throne. His daughter's fascination with all things morbid, dramatic, and to a degree romantic, gave her all means of inappropriate conversation topics for the upper echelons of London society and he would not have her sent back, having disgraced herself by speaking too candidly about her bizarre hobbies. It had given her enough time not only to acquire the banned novels she sought, but a more practical list of shops in London. The ones not meant for well-born ladies.

The exact sort she'd hoped to find.

Unfortunately, relations between the vampire clan and Novoselic hadn't been as strong as she initially thought: mainly, Delly enjoyed a good tease whenever he could. That early afternoon, after everyone was tucked away for a midday's rest, she'd donned a simple cotton dress, unadorned hat, worn leather gloves and a coat that looked suspiciously well-loved and had been so close to darting out the side door on her own when Delly, his speed unfathomable unless one was accustomed to vampires, taunted her that she was sneaking out and that, for his silence, he deserved her dessert for a fortnight. Sonia's stomach had clenched at the thought of no chocolate for so long, enough to protest the diminutive royal, her tone loud enough that it had gotten the attention of Delly's (and hers, she supposed) personal guard. Which had made Delly formulate a new plan: Van Helsing would accompany her and give the little vampire some solitude, as long as he promised not to leave the confines of the house. And with a glint in his eye, it hadn't taken Sonia long to realize that this would be at his amusement. The errand would now be a painful experience for them both...but if it spared her daily source of sugar...

She'd had no choice but to allow the man to accompany her. All the way to a dodgy part of Steel London, full of shops containing all sorts of curiosities...pertaining to the occult. And she took a leisurely time to explore them all before settling on an array of texts, packaged herbs from far-flung areas of the world, polished crystals, and even a short, ritual blade inscribed in Latin that glinted in the light and encouraged her to stare in awe when she'd unsheathed it. And she insisted on carrying her bags to boot: it wasn't like she could have them sent to the Renfield residence: the maid who answered the servants' door likely would've fainted when she learned of the parcel's contents.

She hadn't intended to test his patience any longer, her memory recalling the various streets and where they intersected until the first raindrop had hit the bridge of her nose. Pausing, Sonia realized they had two options: one would take nearly thirty minutes and through an mostly-open park, which would ensure that by the time they returned home they'd be soaked to the bone. The other...well...Sonia chuckled, naively amused, as she faced the street before them: dimly lit, it too was part of Steel London that no respectable lady ventured to. It housed all sorts of palaces of iniquity: gambling halls, shabby taverns where bartenders and maids could be paid to turn the other cheek, and brothels. It was, quite simply, a place where men ventured and women, especially unmarried ones, were supposed to be entirely ignorant of its existence.

And traversing said street would cut their time home in half. Considering that no vehicles ventured to that part of town unless one of the owners of the fine establishments sent word for one, it would be impossible to find a car or carriage to hire. "We could go through the park, likely be rained on, and I could possibly catch a cold that would, potentially, leave me bedridden for days and provide plenty of worry to the Marquis or..."

She smirked. Princess Sonia of Novoselic lived by several mottoes, one of them being: always be open to trying new adventures, particularly if you're certain of your own safety and that of others.

"Or we take this lively, cobblestone street the way home and return, likely dry!" She concluded the obvious with a decisive nod, as if she'd already made the decision. "Besides, how much danger could we get into just by walking? I'm not wearing anything particularly fine and..." She paused with a swallow, before loosening her usual pin-straight posture. "They won' suspect a thing wi' this accent." She'd slipped, perhaps a bit too easily, into the casual Hackney tone many of the residents on that side of town took. The giveaways would've been her bare hands, had they been exposed: no working woman had hands so smooth and supple, and her teeth. The gleamed white due to her ability to afford plenty of tooth powder and the luxury of time to use it. She'd have to not smile quite as large as usual.

"Shall we then?" She asked, picking up the hem of her cotton dress just enough to avoid the potential puddles along the way.

#more-than-a-princess answered #cantillat #Non-Despair AU: Code: Realize verse #(don't starters)#(I had the idea of combining Sonia's dedication to her hobbies with a situation that would both annoy and mortify Van)#(If he isn't completely fed up with her yet...this is his chance!)#(No really let them bond over either a dangerous or silly situation)

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nealdanderson · 6 years

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I actually really liked Samus Returns. What were your issues with it? Also, there's always AM2R to fall back on. It's on the Internet forever, whether Nintendo likes it or not

I’m glad you liked it!I have a lot of issues with it, so prepare for a lengthy answer, haha. And just a disclaimer to everyone- I played through the entire game and beat it 100%, so no one can say I didn’t give it a fair shot. Since it is a remake, it can’t be judged as entirely separate from the original, so here goes. Spoilers ahead.1. It largely misses the point of the original. Metroid 2 for the GB is far from a perfect or even great game, but it is an ambitious sequel as far as tone goes. M2 is easily the most ‘horror’ feeling entry in the franchise, and it directly correlates to how to the game treats your objective and how the map is laid out. Metroid 2 doesn’t feel like a heroic quest- you’re playing a character committing mass genocide of a species incapable of intergalactic travel and as she travels increasingly downward through the planet, the more desolate, lifeless and lonely it gets. Upon killing the Queen and finding the Baby Metroid, it is a somber moment and retroactively, the most unique ending in the franchise(no thrilling escape sequence, no enemies…etc.). Samus Returns abandons most of these unique aspects and paints your quest in a generically heroic light, the darker atmosphere is completely done away with, and the ending is totally botched. These tonal problems may only be a problem to a few people, and may come across as nitpicks to many, but I think it’s worth mentioning. 2. The map and item placement doesn’t make for an enjoyable experience. The original Metroid/Zero Mission, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion have maps that are designed in a clustered fashion, meaning that traversing from one major area to another and backtracking to get previously unobtainable items feels organic and convenient. Metroid 2 on the other hand has a directly linear path descending through SR388. Due to this linearity, the designers didn’t implement the backtracking for items that the series would go on to be known for. I know this is a criticism Metroid 2 often receives, but this approach makes sense given the game’s map design. Samus Returns instead tries to encourage more backtracking, but due to the map not being designed for it, it always feels tedious to go back and find these items(usually normal missile packs that are extremely useless so late in the game). The teleporters only further illustrate the lack of organic interconnectivity the map has and feel like a lazy solution(this is something AM2R handles much much better). Basically, Samus Returns tries to make the original Metroid 2′s map do something it was not designed to accommodate.

3. The enemies and bosses are extremely repetitive, boring and/or tedious to fight. This is definitely a valid complaint and massive oversight on Nintendo’s part–Samus Returns’ enemy variety straight up sucks, which is made more pathetic due to the fact that its 25 year old gameboy predecessor and even the NES original have way more. The parry mechanic is cool to start out with, but after a while, it really becomes the only way to dispatch of enemies, and it is used the exact same way every single time- wait for tell, parry, kill enemy in one hit. The Metroids, well, let me say that they’ve always been the weakest aspect of Metroid 2- they’re boring, silly looking and really only serve to be an irritation. Samus Returns gives them a much needed visual facelift, but doubles down on how much of a chore they are to fight. Meeting a new Metroid form for the first time was pretty neat, but after fighting your 20th gamma, each fight taking longer than it should, it isn’t any fun. Each encounter is basically a tedious game of waiting for the Metroid to be parried, but if you miss that parry window, it makes the fight drag on way too long. And then to ‘mix up’ the experience a bit, the designers decided to have Gammas run away like cowards mid fight, only for you to play a very irritating game of hide and seek with the damn thing. The few bosses Samus Returns has aren’t that memorable or enjoyable, the robot in particular spends most of the time in a state that can’t be hit(like the Metroids), reducing the fight to being 90% running away and dodging. Ultimately, these boss fights and Metroid encounters don’t feel challenging and feel more like a test of patience. 4. The graphics are rather subpar or inconsistent and the overall aesthetic feels rather uninspired. Some rooms look really cool, while others are just ugly. Samus’ Redesign looks too edgy, haha. I love Super Metroid, it’s my favorite game ever made, but lately, most Metroid games just try to recycle moments, areas and music from it, and it really annoys me. Metroid 2 has a very unique soundtrack, but inevitably, they replace its tunes with more upbeat or heroic remixes, and and its worst, replace tunes with Super Metroid themes.

5. Ridley. Why.

—-

So yeah, I’m not saying I don’t like Samus Returns just to be a contrarian, I genuinely found the entire game to be a rather tedious and unenjoyable experience. I will commend the few things it does well- actually implementing different abilities in boss fights(like the spider ball), implemtning new uses for old abilities(spider ball+power bomb), the DS being a perfect fit for Metroid with its map and inventory screens, and the overall engine having a very solid and fluid feel.AM2R handled everything better, and the few things it misses the point of regarding the original Metroid 2, it still handles much better than Samus Returns. Just because AM2R exists and will continue to do so doesn’t make Samus Returns exempt from critique. Even if I thought that Samus Returns’ announcement was badly timed after Nintendo’s DMCA on AM2R(which was completely unnecessary, learn the difference between trademark and copyright), I was still excited that Nintendo, after 13 years, was finally making another 2D Metroid game. I’m more just disappointed that the company who created this genre, a genre that may be more popular than ever, generally refuse to capitalize on it, and when they do, it’s a sub standard effort. I may be harsh to Nintendo, but they’ve objectively treated this franchise like crap over the past decade, and I have a very hard time trusting them anymore. To those telling me to ‘lol, calm down dude’, like, I’m perfectly calm, I was never planning on ever buying a switch anyway, but Nintendo should seize on the opportunity to mend fences with the gaming community outside of their devoted fanbase(I’m a Metroid fan, but I’ve never been what you’d call a Nintendo fan). Since I’ve never been a Nintendo fan, E3 is really the only gaming event I’m fully aware of, and I felt it was a wasted opportunity for them to even merely mention that Prime 4(which isn’t even it’s final title, lol) was still being worked on. I highly recommend watching The Gamer’s Toolkit and Gamingbrit’s videos on Samus Returns, they illustrate the gripes I had with the game in ways more eloquent than I could.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How Cruella Got That Crazy Expensive Soundtrack

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Just like his previous movie, I, Tonya, director Craig Gillespie’s new interpretation of Cruella and the 101 Dalmatians mythos treats its soundtrack almost like a character—a Greek chorus of sorts. The origin story of the designer villainess who first was introduced to the world in the classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians is peppered with a non-stop river of classic pop, rock, and punk anthems from the 1960s and ‘70s, quite fitting for the chaotic backdrop of London’s fast-changing fashion and music scene of that era.

Gillespie says that the way the soundtrack was used in I, Tonya was an element that Sean Bailey, Disney president of production, wanted to deploy in similar fashion for Cruella.

“When Sean pitched it to me, he talked about the tracks from I, Tonya and how they wanted to really embrace music with this,” Gillespie explains. “So I warned them up front that there was going to be a huge bill for this. We had 48 songs in I, Tonya. We had basically 50 songs in this.”

That’s the thing though. When you hear a song like the Rolling Stones’ “She’s A Rainbow” playing in the background during an early montage where Cruella (Emma Stone) and her cohorts executing heists, or the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” as the backdrop for her first day on the job at the high-end Liberty department store, it costs money. Lots of it. The bigger the act, and the more popular and recognizable the song, then the more the fee goes up.

That’s why, according to Gillespie, the way to get your money’s worth is all in the preparation and placement of the music.

“I learned a lot when I was doing I, Tonya,” he says. “It’s all in the prep. You really have to design the movie to support it. The camera and the way the camera moves in the scenes, it has to be designed around the music. So that’s all mapped out in advance. We know where there are going to be songs in the film. It’s like, ‘Okay, this is going to transition to a song here. We will have about 30, 40 seconds,’ and so forth.”

Gillespie reveals that as he ramps up to the actual shooting of the movie, he begins collecting songs that he can play on set to create the mood he wants—whether or not he eventually gets to use them or not.

“By the time we get to the set, I have hundreds of songs on my phone,” he says. “Songs that probably a music supervisor would never give me because it’s the Stones and the Doors and Queen, and they always try and stay away from those because of the price tags. But I just picked stuff with no parameters that I just felt could really support what was happening in the scenes.”

In one case, when Cruella’s nemesis/mentor Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) first arrives at Liberty in all her cruel glory, Gillespie went with his instincts. “When she steps out of the car, the Baroness, for the first time, and you see everybody racing around and panicking, it’s such a [display of] power as she walks in,” he recalls. “So I just threw the Doors on it on the day. I wasn’t thinking of the Doors at all for the Baroness. We had all these ’50s and ’60s songs in mind. But it just was so foreboding and just felt like so ominous and just relentless, like there was no stopping her. That never changed.”

Indeed, the song in question, “Five to One,” (from the Doors’ 1968 album, Waiting for the Sun) is still the backdrop for the Baroness’s memorable entrance.

In the end, even with songs like Deep Purple’s version of “Hush” (used when Stone reveals her Cruella persona for the first time at the Baroness’ black and white ball) and the aforementioned tunes from the Stones, the Zombies and the Doors—not to mention a couple dozen more—did the bean counters at the Mouse House blink or waver when they saw the receipts?

“There were some conversations,” Gillespie admits. “But they’re amazingly supportive and it was more just trying to trim and cut where we could. But pretty much nearly everything that we presented ended up in the movie.”

Cruella is out now in theaters and via Premium Access on Disney+.

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brianna-lei · 7 years

Text

Butterfly Soup Asks #17

The squad playing Overwatch, yaoi hands, and more! man I still have a lot left in my inbox after this...

I’ve spent an obscene amount of time playing Overwatch so I have many thoughts on this Neither Diya nor Noelle have ever played a first person shooter before, but Noelle studies many strategy guides and videos to prepare beforehand.

Following her research, Noelle chooses Symmetra after memorizing the optimal turret and teleporter/shield matrix placements for each map. Symmetra is a good hero for inexperienced players because she doesn’t require aiming skills, but secretly, Noelle likes her because she is focused and serious. She’s scandalized by her default outfit, but can’t afford to get the Vishkar/Architect skins

Diya sees the dog helmet on Pharah’s Anubis skin and instantly unlocks it, automatically setting her as a Pharah main. Diya is the type to happily choose Pokemon based on cuteness instead of practicality, so this is typical Diya

Min ONLY plays these 4 attack heroes, in this order of preference:

Reaper (cool and edgy)

Genji (sword is a long knife. only chosen if the above is taken)

McCree (cool. only chosen if the above is taken)

Soldier 76 (a soldier, cool. only chosen if the above is taken)

She’s mechanically very skilled, but in her 100+ hours in game she’s never even ONCE selected a tank, defense, or support hero, not even in skirmish or training, not even when she’s the last one to choose and there’s no healer. Literally 0 minutes on her career stats.

Akarsha is an ironic Torb main and also a useless Sombra. During their first game together:

Akarsha, selecting Sombra: (affectionately) it's me

Noelle: How is that one you?

In spawn, Noelle can see Akarsha as Sombra with the Battletag “RedFart”

Sombra: (smugly) Hack the PLANET.

Sombra: (annoyingly) Miss me?

Noelle: .......... (the game hasn’t even begun yet and she’s already seething)

Diya manages to get a triple kill with concussion blast through sheer luck before accidentally killing herself with her own rocket. Min constantly spams “I need healing!” in impossible to heal locations, or when she's already being healed but doesn't notice. Whenever she dies she goes “res me”. Akarsha is nowhere to be found. In the kill feed, Diya has managed to accidentally kill herself again with Rocket Barrage. Noelle switches to Mercy and Min blames her for “not healing fast enough”. Eventually, infuriated, Noelle just screams into the voice chat “FINE! DIE ALONE, YOU FOOLS!!!!” and lets her teammates at critical health perish at her feet

the match ends in defeat but Diya got POTG for her triple kill

Noelle: Akarsha, what were you doing this last match?

Akarsha: Turned invisible

Noelle: YOU'RE NOT ACCOMPLISHING ANYTHING WHILE INVISIBLE

Akarsha: There should be a card for “time spent invisible”

Only Min and Akarsha consider themselves gamers. Diya and Noelle will play Mario Kart at other people’s houses but don’t regularly play games Akarsha: besides DS games like Ace Attorney, she’s particularly addicted to MapleStory

Min: plays more console+pc games, likes CoD and Team Fortress 2

Sakura, Yuki, and Akarsha have all watched magical girl shows at some point. Akarsha’s favorite one is Madoka Magica.

Akarsha likes a lot of Ace Attorney characters and her favorite is Phoenix, she finds him relatable. However, if you ask her, she will answer “Spark Bruschel” (below)

She dreads it starting from the night before the presentation and have trouble falling asleep from anxiety. As the time to present approaches she’ll get more and more nervous and sweaty to the point that she won't have an appetite and her stomach hurts

As she's presenting, if she has note cards or a powerpoint to read off of, she stares at that the whole time and reads at lightning speed. Diya has to write down what she's going to say word for word, she can't just put chunks and phrases on note cards because she wont be able to construct a coherent sentence. her life flashes before her eyes whenever she stutters or messes up a sentence

If she doesn't have anything to read off of, she stares at inanimate objects instead of the audience, completely blanks out, and sometimes when she can't recover from that she panics and tries to end the presentation prematurely by suddenly going back to her desk. just bad all around

Noelle has good posture, the others are all pretty eh and slouch sometimes. In particular, Diya slouches a lot when she’s with Noelle because Noelle was taller than her in elementary school and Diya still isn’t used to the fact that she outgrew her.

It’s similar to how Min’s brain actually can’t fully process that she’s way shorter than Diya. When confronted directly with the fact Min will acknowledge it, but it hasn’t really sunk in, at all. Diya was only a little bit taller when they were kids, so in her gut that’s how it’ll always be. I experience this with my childhood friends too LOL I still instinctively feel like I’m taller than my friend who’s now like 5′8″ (I’m 5′2″)

THIS IS INCREDIBLY SPECIFIC ASJKDHFA

I feel like Diya and Hayden have long-ish hands because they’re big, but not yaoi hands level i dont know what to say

--Tumblr wouldn’t save my post after this, so I copied it into Word and pasted them back in. It worked, but now some of the asks ARE THE WRONG SHADE OF BLUE.....

(For those who don’t know, the song lyrics say “Her name is Noelle”) Yes, and this also reminded me that whenever Christmas songs say “Noel”, Akarsha annoyingly points it out like “it’s you Noelle”

It came from leftover dinner from the night before, which Noelle’s mom cooked

I have, I also love seeing all the different ways everyone writes the characters! Thank you fanfic writers!! ;u;

Hayden: 5′11″

Jun: 5′8″

adding this to the FAQ, thanks!

It’s not mentioned why she has a bandaid as a teenager. I have something specific in mind but it may come up in the sequel so I won’t say anything else about it

Here’s their birthdays from oldest to youngest:

Noelle: January 18

Akarsha: April 20

Min: July 4

Diya: November 26 I haven’t come up with the birthdays of other characters yet (except Jun, whose birthday is the same as Min’s haha)

Yes, stay tuned :>

Yup, that pose was reffed off of Trucy’s surprised sprite! I love how over-the-top it looks

OMG...I hate miscommunication as a cause of conflict in stories so don’t worry, there’ll never be a choice with disastrous consequences like that in any of my games!

I’m really glad to hear this, I sometimes wonder “should I have made them older?” but this is ultimately why I made them the age they are! I think a lot of people in their 20s instinctively feel 14 is too young because they’ve forgotten what they themselves were like at 14. I kept journals so I have evidence haha

You’re welcome, I’m really glad she was relatable!! Noelle has a Chinese name and goes to Saturday Chinese school, but I haven’t decided on what it is :( Maybe someday...

I REALLY want to sell Butterfly Soup merch like charms/prints/diya’s hoodie but bc I’m busy I haven’t had a chance to set it up yet >_> It’s my goal to accomplish this by the end of the year

It’s currently only available for the computer, sorry! There’s nothing questionable in this for 14 year olds -- there’s profanity, but there isn’t any explicit sexual content or nudity in it!

I’m glad that detail resonated with you!! I’m also self conscious of my hair (opposite problem, it’s EXTREMELY coarse) so I added it ^^;

A few were drawn from scratch, but most of them are at least partially drawn over photos I took

You can download it here, it’s a creative commons free song!

Yep this was fixed! I was so appalled this wasn’t caught before the game was released haha

Aw thank you!!

You’re welcome!!! The game hasn’t even been out for 2 months yet, I can’t believe people love it enough to replay it already ;u;

#my post #briANSWER #ask #homosushi #Butterfly Soup #overwatch

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writerssdraws · 4 years

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GUESSING GAME:

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Ps. This is part 2

He stares at his reflection in the mirror which was circled with small flickering lights, he was dressed as an olden day gentleman. He had a black suit on with golden

accents as well as a golden tie and cane to top it off. The look personally didn't suit him, but it had to be done. After all he was the main character, along with the female main lead. He shows his teeth in the form of a smile, practicing it for the audience, but it comes out flat and fake. Fidgeting his fingers unconsciously, his nerves start eating him up like a piece of oversweet cake.

"Admiring yourself, Leo? To think you can't get more narcissistic," a girl with jet black hair and dark brown eyes step into the room with her head held high in pride. Her confidence oozes of her like overflowing water in a dam and Leo can't help but feel jealousy towards her unnerving state. He lets out an exaggerated huff, not wanting to deal with her teasing personality before the show starts.

"Oh shush Natalie, you can't say much, you're so full of yourself it's humorous."

"I disagree, lover boy. You see, on the weekends I help elders cross the street and save kitties from trees," she places one hand on her hip as she says it and waves her hand in unorganized swirls.

"One; what does that have to do with your self-love being far from normal and two; only on weekends?"

"Don't judge! My schedule is significantly packed... unlike someone's."

Giving her a glare through the mirror, he starts packing up all his small equipment and placing it into different bags. She returns his glare with a cocky smirk, a playful glint in her eyes.

"So my partner in crime, what do you say we go on a little adventure? We haven't had a good adventure in such a long time," her cocky smirk turns into one of mischievous as the words leave her plump lips. Leo shakes his head in disbelieve, only Natalie would be adventures enough to pull a prank on the most important night of high school.

"Wait, don't tell me..." She widens her eyes and mouth in an attempt to look shocked, "...you're going soft on me?"

There's a long silence that follows before he lets out a humorous laugh. "Natalie, I swear, if this blows up in my face or ruins the night..." Leo's lips form a thin line as his eyebrows questionably raise, showing her that she should not forget the consequences of her actions. If she misbehaves and gets caught, she will be punished and will regret her decisions. How will she be punished depends on the deed that was done...

In a small town like West Armsride that was situated in such a closed off environment, they often lost communication with the rest of the world. No planes, buses or even roads that took them anywhere near cities that were located on maps and no modern electronics to even know wat customs they were missing out on. It was questioning and suspicions to think about the fact that leaving the town was nearly impossible, not that that elders would ever let anyone leave, even if it was possible.

It might seem silly, but the concert is the biggest event in the town due to their odd beliefs. They were obligated to honor the people before them in the form of a concert, dressing up as olden day characters and preform scenes that shaped their little messed up town. The fact that they were honoring the dead wasn't unusual, but the scenes themselves were. Disturbing were they...

All the students would come with centuries-old suits and dresses that were well taken care of and preform like the life of a beloved was at risk. It's quite a site to see. The school would be decorated the same every year. Antiques, jewels, flowers and stunning materials draping from the ceiling, created a masterpiece from history. A well-rehearsed tune would be played by the town's art department and exotic dancers would occupy the stage till the actors steal the spotlight. Waiters and waitresses would serve small amounts of food, mounted on silver platters and carried around the whole night long. The town's residents would also be glammed up for the special night, but no matter what, the students always out shined the rest.

"What do you have in mind?" A flower blooms on her face, searing through the mountains of doubts. She lets out a squeal of joy before grabbing Leo's shirt and dragging him out the room. Yelping in surprise at the sudden movement, Leo goes along with the irregular enthusiasm and long strides of the girl. He doesn't even want to know wat sinful antics was brewing in her head and wat tortures adventures where going to land them a spot

The halls that they walked trough were deserted, no living being in sight, but the loud cheers and squeals informed them of the presence of others. The lights of the halls shone brightly on the ornaments that unapologetically and dirt-free sat upon wooden tables that were pressed against the off-white walls. The beautifully carved wooden desks had about a six meter distance between each other and jumped from the left to the right side in no particular order. Some had vases mounted on top and others had candles with golden candleholders that would swirl and shape different types of patters and animals. Some held plastic fruits inside wooden bowls, jewels that certainly cost a fortune inside glass cases, different cases with colourful advertisement pasted on and paintings that stopped you in your tracks just to memorize the outstanding perfection of brushstrokes. But of course, Leo couldn't stop for one moment to appreciate the pristine and well-thought-out placement of objects on the tables, which seemed to fly by.

As multiple sharp turns are took, Leo lost track of where they exactly were located and where they were heading. "Natalie..." She doesn't answer, instead she increases her speed with a focused expression not leaving her face.

"Natalie..." She ignores Leo again and takes a right turn into an even narrower hall. The further they walked, the darker it got and although it didn't rattle Natalie, it sure rattled Leo like the anxious awaiting of bad news. The amount of tables decorated decreased drastically, now there were none and to Leo it wasn't a good sign at all.

"Weird..."

At the end of the slim hallway stood a broken-down door, the wood was a close to decaying and several large holes could be seen. A thick horizontal wooden plank covered the midsection of the door, acting as a barricade. Leo looked at the overprotected door in wary curiosity and then back at Natalie, she was as cool as a cucumber which eased his worries in the slightest of bits.

Stopping in front of the door with Leo not far behind, Natalie bends down just enough to peek through the nearest hole with inquisitiveness. "Um, Natalie..." He pokes her back with the tip of his finger, waiting for a response. A struggling grunt rolls of her slippery tongue as she straightens her back and says, "Can't see a bloody thing. Well, nothing to do now but simply open the door." I give her a strange look before taping the solid wood. "Hello, how are you going to barge through this thing?" Leo's question was answered as Natalie effortlessly picks up the wooden barrier off the rusted metal hooks and placed it on the floor.

"That could work."

The door is gradually opened by Natalie, a gust of dust falls over them as the door starts to move. They unconsciously dust themselves off before peeking inside with interest. In front of them stood a dark room with no source of light, you could faintly see the outline of a few pillars and loose planks.

"Natalie... Where are we?"

Natalie huffs in annoyance, "It's obviously the place where THE GIRL was hidden... Ya know, the story"

Leo's eyebrows lift, "The false story?"

"For your information, there is quite a lot of facts that confirm the truth of the story. Just because you don't think it's true, doesn't mean it is."

"How inspirational."

Natalie's face twist in one of anger before she turns around stiffly and stomps into the broken-down room. Leo could practically see the steam coming out of her ears. With a amused laugh, he follows her inside the room...

Inside a room that might just end their lives because of curiosity.

After all, curiosity murdered the cats.

#guessing game #stroytelling #Part 2 #writing #Spotify

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