#can we have dvds back too pleaseee

[damienthepious]

from chapter 5, "Damien does not move, except for the slow rise and fall of his chest" to "but we probably should avoid talking too much in the doorway, still, yeah? We don't wanna disturb his recovery." pleaseee for the fanfic commentary

[Pick a short passage from any fanfic I’ve written (OR SPECIFICALLY Need Your Teeth Etc) and send it to me, and I’ll give you the equivalent of a DVD commentary on that snippet!]

this commentary is the first chronologically fic-wise so SO i will start with this one! 💖💘💖

[Damien does not move, except for the slow rise and fall of his chest, and Arum realizes after an embarrassingly long period of time that he is simply staring,]

Arum doesn't have the freedom to just... look at Damien, under their usual circumstances. it's kind of stunning, for Arum, despite the fact that it also triggers a low background whine of panic to see the knight injured fully out of commission. Damien is... beautiful, and delicate, and for once, Arum isn't under direct pressure to like... tackle him with knives or something. He can just look. Which is why-

[and Amaryllis makes precisely zero move to interrupt, or to stop him. Not until he catches himself, finally glancing towards her again, away from Sir Damien's motionless form.]

Rilla just lets him take exactly as long as he needs!!! Rilla knows how Damien feels, and she's very quickly confirming her leading theory about how ARUM feels. She wants to give... whatever this is, she wants to give it room to breathe. She wants to give it room to stretch in this obviously new scenario. So she waits and takes her cues from the monster.

["See?" she murmurs, carefully quiet.]

she's building trust, as gently as she can. and she's trying to be very direct and very open and very herself, here. She wants something good to come out of all of this, and she knows that'll only happen with some openness and honesty. Rilla assumes (not incorrectly) that the issues between Arum and Damien currently could be solved with a bit of work through just. Talking.

["He cracked a rib, and he got clawed on the cheek and on his abdomen - that's where the stitches are - and there's some other minor contusions here and there. But he's alright, he's stable, he's bandaged and resting.]

As far as this particular fic is concerned, it really doesn't matter much how Damien got hurt, but it mattered a little the exact configuration of the injury.

A bit of bruising and a scratch on the face is important, because there needs to be a reminder that Arum can see later when Damien is back in the armor. The stitches and the broken rib give a good time frame (thank you, webmd/mayoclinic) for recovery, and it puts Damien properly out of action. We've seen him try to work through some absolute BULLSHIT (your leg was shattered dude), so i needed something Rilla could really fucking sternly enforce.

Also, it allowed for a little bit of a connection- i fairly frequently write Arum experiencing his emotions in his chest when they aren't in his frill or his hands. He feels a lot of yearning in his ribs and his lungs, when i write him. i think his ribcage clenches in this or the next chapter, in fact! so, putting Damien's real, physical pain in his chest meant that Arum's yearning got kind of a... an echo, or a focus

[Which, I don't know about you, but I think that's preferable to him dragging himself out to meet you and hurting himself worse."]

Rilla isn't subtly manipulative, that's not her style, but she's not above actively prodding to see if Arum will give the answer that she thinks he will.

["No, I-" Arum pauses, glances towards Damien again and feels his ribcage clench.] ah. fuck. right. there it is. ["No. This is... absurd little fool. Clearly he is in no condition to... no. This is preferable. Of course it is."]

Arum is so absolutely deep in the fuck. He looks at Damien hurt and he can imagine, with terrifying ease, Damien hurt even worse, and he cannot fucking stand it. Damien safe and treated and cared for and, again, safe, is so so so much better. He would rather Damien be here. He is... that idea is going to give him a realization, later, and not the one i wish he would have. goddamn idiot lizard.

[She nods with a half-smile, and then she starts to walk back towards the door. She pauses, however, when Arum flinches at the motion, his eyes flicking to Damien again and then to her.]

Arum isn't used to normal conversations enough to take a neutral cue that they're going to leave the room now. Also, he wants very badly to stay right there with Damien. Also he's not super used to non-Damien humans moving towards him unless they're like, attacking, so. Stiff and awkward lizard lord. 😔

[She pauses, her eyes scanning his face in a way that makes him feel decidedly nervous, and then the half-smile returns to her features.]

Rilla is working Arum out with delightful speed and ease. He's SO bad at hiding his feelings, especially right at this precise moment, when he barely understands them and they are EXTREMELY KEYED UP due to, again, Damien being in traction. She spotted that he's hesitant to leave Damien's side, but- again, she's Practical. She knows that they shouldn't hang out in here while Damien should be resting, and... well...

she's seen the way Arum looks at Damien, now.

Rilla is fairly confident that she can convince the monster to stick around until Damien wakes up, and... well... she's been hearing Damien talk about Arum with increasing fondness for a while now, and she really, really wants the chance to spend some time with him herself.

["He might be out," she says slowly, "but we probably should avoid talking too much in the doorway, still, yeah? We don't wanna disturb his recovery."]

She also gathered, by now, that this poor guy barely knows what to do with himself. She's trying to avoid ambiguity, and she's trying to give him very clear direction, so that he has something to cling to in this obviously very unfamiliar situation.

She's also extrapolating on what she's seen in Arum so far, in the context of caring about Damien. She's giving him the opportunity to confirm that in a very, very small way. I can tell that you want to stay here with him, but leaving the room right now will be good for Damien. And Arum, of course,

[Arum looks to the knight again, stomach twisting, and then he nods stiffly and retreats from the doorway to allow the doctor to follow, relieved when she leaves the door opened just a crack behind them.]

Arum does the thing he doesn't want to do, because it's better for Damien. For reasons that are blindingly obvious to everyone except for Arum himself.

anyway this was a long one thank you so much for asking!!!! I hope this is. entertaining? fun? interesting??? 💘💕💘

[guns-n-zeppelin]

Never say die - Chapter 4

Pairing: Axl Rose x reader Words: 1743 Summary: Reader accidentally time travels back to 1985 where Axl, Duff, Slash, Steven and Izzy find her. Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 A/N: Eh, this is what it is lmao. Let me know what you think again! Enjoy

”What the fuck are you doing at my house?! My bed!” I screamed. ”The hell i know! You tell me!” Axl screamed back. ”I don't remember a thing after what happened when we put on our jackets and left the bar!” He breathed heavily, his chest going up and down. We had both got up from the bed and I was collecting my clothes, which were all over the floor. He was putting his leather pants back on as well which he wore last night. ”If neither of us doesn't remember anything, it probably didn't even happen,” i said confidently, but voice still trembling a bit. I didn't feel anything towards Axl, all of my feelings were completely platonic. I had never had a one night stand with a really good friend of mine. Axl smirked. ”Yeah, it probably didn't. I know you wouldn't forget the best sex you've ever had. My ladies scream my name so hard that they can't speak in a week,” he stated smirking and winked. I just rolled my eyes disgusted. ”Oh my god, you're horrible.” I put my hair on a pony tail and made the bed. ”Look, mister. You were never here. Nothing happened. You left the bar with some random chick and i with some random man, got it?” ”Sure thing, honey. But let me just say that –” ”Out of my house!” i yelled and threw a pillow towards him. --- The next week went normally, nothing new, same old. First few days had been more awkward than before between me and Axl but eventually we had forgotten the whole incident. We still didn't know what really happened so it made things a bit easier to be honest. Now i was at a café with Scarlet and Sam. I remembered having these same kind of gossip moments with Leo and Amelia every weekend at the local bar – which didn't even exist yet obviously. I liked it here, but it would have been much nicer to have them also here. Scarlet and Sam were really nice and cool but of course Amelia and Leo would always be my true best friends. I hadn't really seen Scarlet and Samantha in about a week since Scar went to visit her parents all the way to Oklahoma. Sam had been busy just with her work lately and she also had to take care of her two little siblings all the time. Sam and Scarlet were both older than me, Sam two years and Scarlet just one year. I hadn't told them about Axl and i wouldn't either. ”So how's Nick though?” Sam asked Scarlet. ”I heard from Ricky you guys had a huge argument about something couple of days back.” Scarlet took a sip of her coffee and rolled her eyes. ”Yeah well, he's just being so annoying, childish little dick,” Scarlet groaned. ”Like, yesterday i was going out with my friend Scott, we've been great friends since we were like five. And Nick was all like how we don't spend enough time together and that he blames that i am the problem in this relationship. Like dude, you're the one who goes out every night with guys and leave me at home. I spent the fucking Valentines day alone last February, nothing has still changed.” ”I don't get it why you're still with him. You could have so much more than that lazy assface,” i told her and took a sip of my hot chocolate, burning my tongue immediately. ”Yeah, i've been pondering about dumping him many times but it's what it is,” Scar said and shrugged. ”But what about your man thing side? You're the only single chick of us and i can't accept that. Even Sam has Emily with her.” ”Oh, didn't i tell you guys we're finally moving together?” Sam told excitedly. ”We're searching for a new house at the moment. The one where i live is too small for two people to be honest.” ”Oh my god that's great!” i exclaimed. ”I heard there's this one house in sale close to mine, it's really nice and has enough room.” ”Yeah, we've actually been thinking about it already a bit among others,” she nodded. ”But back to you. There's this one guy, he’s Ricky's friend actually, who's also single. And let me just say, he's hot. I would date him if i was straight.” Sam looked at Scarlet who agreed, they both nodded very eagerly. ”Look, i'm not good with relationships. Those make me quite anxious when i'm thinking about them to be honest. Last time i dated was four years ago and it did not end well,” i said chuckling and finished my drink.

”Four years? You're shitting us, right?” Scarlet asked, raising her eyebrows as high as she could. ”Pleaseee, Amy, he really is a great guy! He is insanely crazy about music like you. You guys actually have a lot in common,” she continued, already almost begging. I looked at them both for a while before answering anything.

”Fine. One date and that's it.” Scarlet started clapping her hands excitedly. ”Yay! So Friday night, make sure to put on the best dress you can find.” Oh god. First of all, I don’t like dresses. --- I went to the boys' apartment, i promised to meet them there. Actually already fifteen minutes ago, i lost my sense of time in some point when i was hanging out with the girls. I was basically running down the street towards their house right now since it had started raining already a while ago. A lot. And of course i didn't have my umbrella with me so i was soaking wet. I'm glad i didn't wear mascara today, otherwise i would look exactly like a sad panda. I arrived to the boys' place and opened the door (they had given me my own key so i didn't have to knock), seeing already from the door what a mess this place was. Not surprised. Izzy came from the living room to see who came in. ”Dude where the fuck have you been? We already thought you weren't coming,” Izzy stated but then saw that my clothes and hair were less dry than before. ”Oh my god, how did you not have an umbrella in that weather? Do you wanna become sick or something?” I was taking my shoes and jacket off when Izzy disappeared to get a towel and dry clothes from the bedroom. I had left some of my clothes accidentally here couple of times so now i could put my own clothes on. I thanked him and went to change my clothes to the bathroom. When i had changed i went to the living room where Slash, Axl, Duff and Izzy were already sitting either on the mattress on the floor or on the couch. We were going to watch a movie together. ”Where's Steven?” i asked. ”Oh, he's making popcorns in the kitchen,” Axl said and tapped the spot next to him on the couch where i could sit. So i went there and sat between Axl and Duff. Slash and Steven would make themselves comfortable on the mattress with blankets and pillows. ”So how's all of you been?” i asked and opened a beer can. Slash just snorted, amused. I looked at him curiously but he just laughed. ”What?” ”Duff still can't get rid off the girl he met a week ago in the bar,” Slash answered, smirking. Duff uncomfortably moved on his seat a bit after Slash told that. ”Oh my god, you mean the ”hot twin” you went to flirt with?” i giggled, imitating what he called her that night. Duff rolled his eyes and sighed. ”Yeah well, i've tried but she just won’t. Fucking. Leave,” Duff said irritated. ”I've tried everything but nothing works, she's too clingy and i sure do not want to have anything to do with her anymore!” ”Why don't you just say that you don't want to be with her?” i asked chuckling. ”I said i've tried everything i can.” Izzy laughed in the corner, taking a sip from his beer bottle. ”I knew the left one was the better one.” ”Oh shut up,” Duff ordered, really irritated already. ”So, what are we watching tonight?” i asked, changing the subject. Duff took a video tape's cover from the table, showing it to me, eager to talk about anything alse than the chick he went home with. ”The Shining. It's a classic. Wait, shit, we can watch something else too if you've seen it,” Duff answered quickly. ”No, i haven't seen it yet. I've been meant to but i've just forgotten,” i chuckled and all of the guys just looked at me shocked expressions on their faces. ”What?! You haven't seen The Shining yet?!” Steven said all of sudden behind me, holding two popcorn bowls, making me jump a bit. ”Dude what the fuck, you've got, what, 37 fucking years time to watch it but you haven't?!” I opened my mouth to say something but Axl was faster than me. ”Okay but even i have seen it already two times.” ”Then why are we watching it again if you guys have already seen it?” ”Because Izzy's on the same boat as you but we're not so disappointed on him anymore, we're disappointed on you,” Duff said, pointing at me with his finger. I just shrugged and soon the movie started. It was still a bit weird to watch films from the video tapes since most of my life i had used dvd's. Except when i was only a kiddo of course. The movie was alright. I liked it but not my favorite. I wasn't that fan of horror movies but it wasn't because i'd be scared of them or anything. I just preferred more other kinds of movies. But in some point i accidentally fell asleep on the couch, under a warm blanket and my head leaning on Axl's shoulder which i didn’t even fully realize but the gesture made Axl smile. Axl had put his arm around my shoulder, holding me close to keep me warm which i didn’t mind. I was really comfortable at the moment. I didn't know how much i had missed of the film but didn't see the ending atleast. I was in so deep sleep that i didn't wake up when Axl took me on his arms and carried me to the bedroom to sleep on his bed. Apparently he would choose the couch tonight. ”Night, honey,” he said quietly, smiling and thus he closed the door.