#especially about that snail. ‘life is not fair’ so true | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thesims4blogger · 3 years

Photo

OFFICIAL BLOG: Harold Tours The Countryside in Cottage Living

The Sims team has released an official blog for The Sims 4 Cottage Living

I’m in Henford-on-Bagley!

Sul Sul… Is this how it goes? No matter. Hey there, it’s me, Harold the Llama, and before you go about wondering how a llama like myself managed to prepare a blog, I’ll have you know these nails have been trimmed to perfection to reveal the capable keyboard connoisseur that I am. But my motor skills are not what this is about! It’s about my charming home of Henford-on-Bagley.

Sim legends of old say that Henford-on-Bagley was created from the perfect mingling of earth and water… but I’m pretty sure some Sims loved the nearby Cordelia Falls and that the River Bagley runs through it in all of its glory. Hmmm, majestic.

Anywho, in order to get to know more about this charming village, we will have to visit all of its neighbourhoods. Our first stop is Finchwick, where the action happens!… Sort of… in a manner of speaking. Finchwick prides itself as a historically bustling and tight-knit community.

Finchwick is the home of the weekly – yes, weekly – fair in which locals put their skills to the test in creating the most sophisticated and delicious creations, such as pies, as well as show off their most prized animals *cough cough* myself included *cough cough* and oversized crops – trust me, the bigger the better – to be judged, as it is tradition, by the Mayor no less! Winning or just participation will get you a reward, but to be honest, it is all for bragging rights and what is better than bragging rights anyway, am I right?

This neighbourhood hosts the historic square which is also home to the busy marketplace – perfect if you love window shopping – and the village pub – ‘The Gnome’s Arms.’ The marketplace is where you’ll find Goldbloom’s Grocery Shop, home of the best produce! But don’t take it from me, try some yourself! I recommend their aubergines… that’s an eggplant for the non-locals.

Another iconic spot is the Crumplebottom’s Garden Shop, owned by Agatha Crumplebottom, and run by Agatha and Agnes! This shop will serve all of your gardening needs, as well as some extra things… not quite for gardening, but for enjoying nonetheless such as conserves and jams… mmm, jams. Now I want some crumpets and jam, the superior option to buttered crumpets – fight your chickens about it, not me. I should ask my keeper to make some… but who am I kidding, I can only eat feed for llamas (well, sometimes a treat) *sigh* A llama can dream after all. Just don’t tell Agatha if you make some, or she’ll send her gnomes to take them for sure as they are her favourites.

But, back to The Gnome! If you’re feeling quite curious or in need of a little drama for your llama, you can enter The Gnome’s Arms for a chance to listen in on the village’s gossip, history, and what is happening around it. Owned by the Scotts, Simon and Sara, this pub has been a dream come true, despite Simon running randomly into chickens – or me for that matter – along the way. This is where everyone knows everything about everyone, so take advantage of that as you visit! And their food is amazing, make sure to try their Bangers and Mash or their Beef Wellington; I hear it is fantastic. Enjoy the convivial mood by having a Henford Heart-to-Heart with or offering a Finchwick Favor to Sara, who should be minding the bar, for good measure. Sara can give you advice if you seek it, or maybe share some ghost stories if you want to know them.

If you’re in a helpful mood, you may also help Sims with village errands and learn more about their backgrounds, interests, and what they do around town! Or just for the good rewards, if that’s your bag.

Trotting along, we find Old New Henford. A fun piece of trivia for you all: it was originally named ‘Little Henford.’ However after some consideration, it was proposed that ‘New Henford’ would be better suited… more posh if you will. Unfortunately, there was a mishap with the national mapmakers and the town apparently ceased to exist for two whole weeks! Ha! Imagine that? Well, after that of course the town needed a new name and Old New Henford was picked, and here we are.

This part of the village is known for their lush estates, rolling hills, and their small – but beautiful – community garden. This neighbourhood used to be one giant property owned by the Watson family, who sold plots of it over the years. They still own a sizable estate perched at the top of the Olde Mill Hill – you can’t miss it.

You will find that this part of town is perfect to have a lot with a garden and space for livestock and oversized crops! You can always take notes as you stroll around the area and see how the townsfolk are doing with their gardens and plots.

Old New Henford is the perfect place for those that love animals like yours truly. In this neighbourhood you can find rabbits hopping about, wild birds you can sing to, and cheeky little foxen that you can befriend… but beware of their mischievous nature! They will want to surprise you and *mumbles* you’ll want to be sure your chickens are accounted for *mumbles.* This part of the town is also great for those who love to fish. Who knows, maybe someone finally will catch that wolf eel I keep hearing about.

You can even say that it is an idyllic place for a new start. Just ask Cecilia, one of our newest residents who moved in recently from the big city looking for a new life after having her heart broken. Now she shares her life with us living in a fab, refurbished barn. She loves keeping her garden, and her chickens! She is a lovely neighbour. I hope one day she finds true love. Unfortunately for Michael Bell, the local Creature Keeper, he is not her chosen one, but at least Cecilia has a long term commitment to all critters that visit for now.

Like Cecilia, if you welcome Wild Animals for visits, some can become your friends for life and even bring you gifts.

From the rolling hills of Old New Henford, we arrive at The Bramblewood.

The Bramblewood is the natural beauty of Henford-on-Bagley.These woods have a storybook-like aura that delights anyone who visits. It has long provided a picturesque place for many wild birds, rabbits, and foxen to call home, so you may find yourself among friends here including our friend Michael, our Creature Keeper, who roams the woods on most days caring for animals and plants.

It is truly a wonderful place, where you can forage Chocoberries and mushrooms, including nightcaps – some say that you can only find them at night… aptly named! The Bramblewood can be full of surprises, especially if you encounter the Isle of Volpe, named after Lord Volpe, founder of Finchwick. The Isle of Volpe is one of the most iconic hallmarks of Henford-on-Bagley, not only because of the history reflected on its ruins, but also because it is the most romantic spot in town. Generations of Sims remember their first kiss in the Isle of Volpe *love sigh*, so if you are coming with your sweetheart, you should spend some time there to experience its splendor. Just be careful not to disturb the Creature Keeper’s home. He is a gentle but private Sim.

But if romance is not something you fancy, head out for a bit of adventure and visit the Isle of Volpe Park. Run through the path that leads you to Sophie the Snail, who is always happy to take a picture. If it is calm and serenity you seek, be sure to spend some time visiting Cordelia Falls. In the end, wherever you spend your time in this part of town, it is said that the Bramblewood can change your life forever, and so far there have been no truer words to live by.

And so you see, my friend, whether you decide to come for a visit or move here to my humble countryside town, there is always something happening, something to do, something to dream about, but most importantly, know that we welcome you with open … erhm… feet!

We hope to see you soon!

Cheers!

#news #ts4 #sims 4 #the sims 4 #sims 4 cottage living #expansion pack

42 notes · View notes

violetvettel · 3 years

Note

https://footyleclerc.tumblr.com/post/665471259105165312/as-someone-whos-still-trying-to-unlearn-all-the

hey dimi, you're Indian right? the op here says there's a lot of racism in India and Indian society, is this true??? like why isn't it talked about more.. that's terrible. and I'm sorry if you've had to deal with anything like this... just wanna educate myself a bit more, thanks

Hi nonz. Thank you for reaching out to me!!

Ooof. An extremely sensitive issue. I'm not too great at explaining things, so I found a feature for you which talks about the various layers of racism in India. I would urge you or anyone who wants to learn more about this, to read these articles.

Now, I have a dark skin, I'm actually a tone or two darker than Lewis. I've been bullied in school and called names for my skin colour. For being fat, and ugly! I can stand up for myself now, but I couldn't back then, and I hate that because a lot of my mental health issues stem from that.

India celebrates fair skin. I like to blame colonialism for that. Before the Brits and the Afghans, there was no discrimination based on skin colour (not that I know of) However, Indian Caste system (casteism) existed before and got worse because of the collapse of the Mughal era in India and the onset of British invasion. They came and told us that we're inferior because we're not white :/ and all the other shit that comes with colonialism ://

Coming back to the present day, there is no doubt that India is a racist country. But this brown skin racism is different than what black people face especially in America and Europe. If I just speak about light skinned indians v the dark skinned indians, this discrimination does not result in situations like in America (For example, being treated as a criminal just for being dark skinned). As a brown girl, I get told that I'm ugly, and that no one would want to marry me (big yikes i know) but i don't have to fear for my life because of my dark skin... (again, this doesn't include casteism) Now, I don't mean to sound insensitive, and I apologise if it comes across like that, but I'm just trying to explain how it's different here.

I might be treated lesser than in other "white" countries for being brown. I want to ask @theizzyryder to pitch in on this topic because she once told me about the discrimination she has faced as a brown girl in Europe.

Indians are making progress at recognising this deep rooted problem of racism and doing better BUT AT A SNAILS PACE. probably even slower. I try to do what I can. But yeah, we have a long long long long way to go.

#i hope that made some sense my friend #i would really urge you to go through the articles I linked if you're interested to learn more about it :)#racism #racism in india #anonymous #answered

15 notes · View notes

chibinekochan · 4 years

Text

Morning Sunrise ft. Beel and Belphie

A fic about the brothers and you get a free day in a spa hotel. On paper, it sounds great but not everything is going as planned.

Will the twins still get to enjoy their birthday even when it seems that everything is ruined?

Read on to find out.

I hear a knock on my door. I open it to find Levi. "Hey Levi, can I help you with anything?"

"Well, I have a huge problem." He looks very distraught.

Then he starts to rummage through his pocket and pulls some tickets out. "I won these tickets in a raffle. Sadly they are completely useless to me. They are for a day and night in a spa, for three people. Well, you can probably see the issue. First of all, I don't even have that many friends and it's in a region without wifi. Then there is a concert that weekend that I simply can't miss." Levi dumps all this information on me.

"I would have gone with you. You have Solomon and Henry. I mean any of your brothers would come too." I feel bad for Levi.

"That is so kind of you." His eyes sparkle. "You are a true friend!" Levi smiles gleefully at me.

"Sadly that concert is still more important to me. So I want to give these to you." Levi is holding the tickets for me.

"That is very nice of you. I will pay you back with some anime merchandise from the human world." I graciously take the tickets from Levi.

"That is super fair. There is a ton of stuff that I need." Levi agrees and leaves me alone.

I check the date it's on the night before the twins’ birthday. This is the perfect opportunity for a little early birthday celebration.

I already have gifts for them so this is only a bonus. Well, if they are up for it.

I head to their room right away.

I knock and hear someone say. "Come in."

I'm sure it's Beel.

I open the door. Belphie looks at me with a sleepy expression while Beel smiles at me.

"Hey you two, I have a question about your birthday." I get straight to the point.

"Sure, ask whatever you want." Beel sounds very enthusiastic.

"Yeah, as long as it's not too tiresome." Belphie is still half asleep.

"Levi gave me tickets for a day and night in a spa for three people. It's on the day before your birthday and I thought it would be great if we could go." With a big smile, I show them the tickets.

"That kind of sounds like a pain. I mean we have to travel to get to the place." Belphie sounds not really in the mood for it.

"They got this great spa massage that is said to give you the best sleep ever and they also got an enormous buffet." Luckily enough I know just the right thing to motivate him, and I also throw something out there that will make Beel happy too.

"Oh, that sounds great! I mean I wanted to go anyway since you can see the stars very well up there at night." Beel seems to drool for a moment.

"Haha that's so you Beel, but it sounds pretty nice now that I think about it. We can celebrate our birthday morning in peace. It will be great." Belphie changes his tune rather quickly.

"Great, I will get Lucifer's permission for us. I'm so excited!" I beam with happiness. A spa day to relax just sounds perfect.

"Yeah, it will be fun. I'll make sure to thank Levi later." Beel is in a great mood.

Even Belphie seems affected by it. "We just get him something anime-themed. That will make him happy."

With that, everything is settled.

Getting permission wasn't super easy but we did it in the end.

I only pack the bare minimum. It's a trip that will take a few hours after all. While the hotel is free the trip itself isn't so we travel cheaply. With a train and a bus.

The journey is pretty pleasant, even when I nod off on the train. We had to start very early to get to the hotel in time.

I lean on Beel's shoulder and Belphie takes two seats all by himself across from us. It's pretty comfortable.

At breakfast time we have to stop Beel from buying the entire food cart but other than that it's a fun time.

We eat at the train station before riding our bus into the mountains.

I sit next to Belphie on the bus ride. He is sleeping on my shoulder this time.

Beel and I talk about different topics. I have some plans at the spa for sure.

The bus is a bit late but there's no issue.

Once we arrive at our final stop I stretch my body. I'm all tense after the long ride.

Belphie studies the map on the side of the road and groans loudly. "This looks like a real hike."

I look at the map, the hotel is on the top of the mountain and we have to walk. Probably gonna take us an hour or two. Luckily I'm prepared. "We knew this Belphie. Just think of the nice spa treatment as your victory price." I try my best to motivate him.

"Yeah, and the nice food!" Beel doesn't lack motivation at least.

Belphie sighs and shrugs. "I will do my best. In the worst case, one of you has to carry me."

"Good luck with that, Belphie." I laugh at that.

"I'm sure you can do it." Beel gives him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"I guess I have no choice." He shakes his head and groans. Then he starts walking.

Beel shrugs at me and we both laugh a little.

"Are you coming? You snails!" Belphie turns around and teases us playfully.

"I'll show you a snail!" I reply equally playful and speed up until I catch up with him.

In the end, we all walk together along the path.

It's more exhausting than I expected but the idea of a spa day is more than enough motivation for me.

Belphie, on the other hand, looks like he suffers.

"Are you alright?" Beel has a worried tone.

"I'm fine." Belphie doesn't sound convincing.

"I can carry you." Beel is worried.

"I can still walk." Belphie wants to push on just a little bit longer.

"Don't push yourself. Oh, look, that sign there means we are about halfway there." I point ahead to a fork in the road.

Beel looks at the sign. "Yeah, maybe we can take a short break then."

We've made good progress and are pretty much on time. "Sounds good to me. Let me check the map, I think there is a nice spot just a little bit ahead."I get the map from my side pocket.

"You don't need to do that just for me." Belphie doesn't want to be a bother to us.

"I'm getting hungry so I need a break." Beel is mostly concerned about what is best for everyone.

"In the guide, it said from the rest spot just a little bit ahead we have a great view of the hotel. I would like to see that." I chime in support of Beel and to give us all a well-deserved rest.

"I guess I have no choice. Let's take a break." Belphie shrugs with a smile. He knows very well that he needs a break but is too proud to admit that.

We find the spot just a little bit ahead of the path.

It's a very nice spot with a great view not just of the hotel but also the surrounding nature.

I look in awe of the beautiful landscape.

Beel enjoys the snacks we have packed and Belphie has decided to take a quick nap.

It's a very peaceful scene. It makes me smile to see them both so relaxed.

Then I feel a slight chill in the air. I notice some dark clouds on the horizon.

"That looks pretty bad." Almost as to confirm my bad feeling, Beel speaks up.

"Yes, we need to move asap. Have you eaten enough?" I worry about his huge appetite.

"I can eat while we walk. What about you, Belphie?" Beel tries to wake Belphie up.

He groans. "What is going on?"

"It looks like there is a storm coming," I say in an alert tone.

"Huh, I see, just give me a moment." Belphie gets slowly up. He seems pretty sluggish.

Another gust of wind hits me, something wet touching my skin. “We need to hurry, it's already starting to rain.”

"You are right." Beel looks with a worried expression towards the ever darker sky.

Belphie gets hit by some droplets of water and groans. "We should hurry." He seems to be fully awake now.

I can only agree and so we hurry back to the path upwards of the mountain.

The rain now really starting to hit us all and soon it's down pouring.

It hits so hard the road is hard to see.

I have never been so wet my entire life.

We hurry our steps more, especially when thunder roars through the sky.

It's coming down now.

We had been prepared but certainly not enough.

Then I see that Beel has come to a halt, just a little bit in front of me.

Our path is blocked by a fallen tree.

Belphie groans. "What are we supposed to do now? The path down is very far."

"Climbing it would be too dangerous too." The tree is huge and looks very slippery.

"It looks like there are rocks and mud on the other side too so removing it would only cause us harm." Beel has already scouted the situation.

"We have to take shelter from the rain. I saw a hut on the map, there should be a path right by marker 113." I have to speak loudly due to the rain and the wind picking up now too.

"Let's see if we are at 114 so it should be behind us," Beel confirms the marker.

"At least that's some good news. Let's get moving." Belphie seems very annoyed. I can't blame him.

Beel and I can only agree.

By now I'm entirely soaked.

Still, there is no resting now. We silently walk back to the waymarker.

Then suddenly something pushes me out of the way and something big crushes right next to me.

Then I realize that a tree just fell inches away from me. I look surprised at the tree and then at Beel. Who has shoved me away.

"Are you okay?" His face twists in pain and yet Beel is only worried about me.

"Y-yeah but what about you?" I can see that he got hit. His cheek is bleeding and his shirt is torn right at the shoulder. The tree must've hit him there.

"I'm good. Let's be careful." Beel acts like he is fine. I'm still worried. As soon as we hit shelter I will treat his wounds.

We carefully move as fast as we can. The ground is slippery.

"Beel stop pretending to be fine, you are limping." Belphie looks angrily at Beel. I look at him and notice that Belphie is right.

The guilt is ripping my heart out. "Beel come lean on me. It will only get worse if you don't." I can't stand seeing him like this.

"No, I'm too heavy for you." He bluntly refuses.

"I'm too wet and tired for this Beel just lean on us both." Belphie doesn't take no for an answer.

Beel sighs but doesn't refuse our help. "Fine."

"We should be there soon. Just hold on for a little bit longer." With that, I carefully take Beels injured side and Belphie takes his other side.

Belphie takes the brunt of Beel's weight.

I know he is much stronger than me but he still struggles.

This slows us down even more but nobody complains at all. We all might get wet but we just focus on getting to safety.

"There I can see the shelter." I can see a small hut in between the trees.

"Thank the demon lord." Belphie seems to be very relieved.

"Just a little more and we can all rest," I say this mostly to Beel.

Once we finally hit the small, but cozy and sturdy hut we are all very happy.

Beel sinks to the ground, checking his leg. "It's not broken at least so with some bandages and rest I'll be as good as new by tomorrow morning.

"That's good to hear. We got some wood so I'll make a fire." Belphie lights up the fireplace.

"I will treat your injuries. Take your shirt off. It needs to dry anyway." I don't care much about being wet right now and get my first aid kit from my bag.

"You should change into something dry first. If you stay like this we will have far bigger issues than my injuries." Beel looks at me with a stern voice.

"He is right." Belphie is already half-naked. I turn around blushing. "Belphie, gee warn me when you do this."

"There is no need to be shy. You should take a closer look while you can." At least Belphie hasn't lost his humor yet.

I throw a towel at him. "No thank you, and you both better not peek while I change." I huff, slightly embarrassed.

"It's not like you have anything we haven't seen yet." Belphie uses this chance to tease me.

"Just be polite, Belphie. I'll make sure he doesn't look, don't worry." Beel encourages me greatly with his words.

"Whatever. I will go and call the hotel for help and I won't look." Belphie shrugs.

I turn around and undress my wet clothes. Luckily, we planned to stay the night.

I'm glad to be out of my wet clothes and quickly dress something dry. I dry my hair and then turn back to Beel, to finally treat his wounds.

He didn't even bother to wear a shirt yet, which makes it just a little bit harder for me.

A bit embarrassed I treat his foot first. "It's a bit swollen. I will put some cream on it and a bandage. You should just take it easy for today unless it swells more we are fine." I give Beel a quick summary of my thoughts.

"Yeah, that is what I'm thinking too. I'll be fine by morning." He wholeheartedly agrees.

I hope he is right and carefully start to apply the cream. Beel slightly winces from the pain. I feel very bad for him. "Just a little more." I wrap the bandage around his foot, ankle, and a bit up his leg. "There we go."

Beel moves his food a bit. "Much better, thank you so much." He smiles gratefully at me.

"No problem, now I will clean your other wounds." I get the disinfectant and bandaids out.

Beel looks with great discomfort to the disinfectant. He doesn't like how it stings.

"I know you hate it but you know it has to be done. If you keep still I will treat you with your favorite chocolate bar." I'm being a bit playful, trying to cheer him up more than anything else.

"I will be good then!" Beel is instantly motivated by the prospect of chocolate. It's so cute that it makes me chuckle.

"Have you my favorite too?" At that moment Belphie comes back.

"Sure, I love those too after all. I actually got a value pack with all our favorites." I had planned to surprise them both on the trip back, but due to our current circumstances now is a better time.

"Oh, nice. Can I get them out of the bag? All this running made me kinda hungry." Belphie seems pretty chipper again.

"Sure, but what did the hotel say?" I'm pretty curious about that. I start to carefully disinfect Beel’s arm while I wait for Belphies answer.

"They can't get to us with this storm raging but they are sure it will be gone by tomorrow. They were very sorry about the whole situation. It sounds like they will greatly extend our stay." This explains Belphie's great mood.

"Won't the others be disappointed if we aren't back by tomorrow evening?" Beel seems conflicted.

"They will survive, plus we might just do it another time anyway. The hotel will likely give us some vouchers or something." Belphie doesn't sound concerned at all.

"Lucifer won't let us miss a couple of days of school anyways." I put a few bandaids on Beels shoulder and then start to disinfect his cheek.

None of the injuries are deep, this gives me great relief.

Belphie sighs. "Too bad really. How are your injuries?"

"I'm fine." Just then Beel winces from the disinfectant.

"Hold still." I can't work well with him moving around.

"Sorry." Beel mumbles.

Belphie has pulled out the bag of sweets. "Talk about a big stash of goods. You put Beel to shame." Belphie gives me a light chuckle.

"Not really, about 90 percent of my backpack was stuffed with food." Beel is eyeing the sweets.

"At least we won't starve." Belphie shakes his head.

"At least he didn't bring an extra pillow." I put a bandaid on Beels cheek. "There all done."

"Hey, I need that extra pillow and tonight you will be grateful that I also packed a blanket." Belphie buffs slightly.

"Ahh, thank the demon lord. Now I can eat!" Beel is just glad he doesn't have to sit still anymore.

He gives me and Belphie a fair share of treats before starting to shove chocolate into his mouth.

Belphie eats his portion with much enjoyment.

I suddenly start to shiver. "Now that I think about it. How are we going to sleep here tonight?" I haven't packed a blanket.

"I suppose we all share my pillow and blanket. It will be tight but we will be warm that way." Belphie shrugs like it's no big deal at all.

"Kinda like a sleepover in one bed." Beel doesn't look fazed at all either.

They both are probably used to this, meanwhile, I'm not.

"Are you saying that we should all cuddle up under one blanket?" It's pretty embarrassing to me, I blush.

"Yeah, unless you want to catch a cold." Belphie smirks at me.

"There is no way I will let that happen." Beel seems to agree with Belphie.

"Will we even all fit under that blanket?" I can't imagine that.

"Let me show you." Belphie pulls his backpack towards him and produces his pillow and a huge blanket.

My eyes widen and I gasp from the surprise. "How did you fit that in there?!"

"Magic, of course." Belphie is very amused.

Of course, it was magic. Pretty stupid question of me.

Belphie spreads the blanket out and I can see that it will fit all of us without issues.

Beel wraps the blanket around himself, with a bit of help from Belphie.

There is definitely plenty of space for me and Belphie left.

"As much as I'd love for you to be in the middle, we have to use Beel as our heater." Belphie seems slightly frustrated by this.

"It's kinda mean to refer to Beel as a heater but I'm fine with this." There aren't many other choices anyway. "More importantly, are you fine laying in the middle with your shoulder being injured?" I'm still very worried about him.

"It's fine he isn't wrong and it doesn't hurt that much anyway. I'm more worried that me and Belphie somehow squish you when we sleep." Beel is as usual mostly concerned about anyone but himself.

"Yeah, that would be terrible, as unlikely as that might be." Belphie seems troubled by the thought too.

"Alright, but if you have pain you have to promise to tell us." I look with a stern face at Beel.

Beel nods. "I will."

"Alright then, I'm tired so I will get comfortable now." Belphie yawns very loudly, it's a surprise he even lasted this long. He then proceeds to sit right next to Beel and without a second thought he snuggles up to him.

Beel doesn't even bat an eye. I'm used to Belphie doing the same thing to me so it's not that odd.

I again start to shiver.

"Come here, you need to warm up." Beel is very worried about my health. It would be very bad if I catch a cold. "You are right." I carefully move next to Beel, making sure I don't hit his shoulder.

He wraps the blanket around me. It's very warm, helped by Beels natural heat.

"You can move closer." Beel encourages me with a soft voice.

There is very little space between us even now. I still take his offer and scoot closer. My side is now touching him. I'm very aware of our closeness.

Beel puts his arm around me, erasing any distance between us.

I feel embarrassed but it's very comfortable so I settle down pretty quickly.

"Does it hurt?" I want to make sure that Beel is also comfortable.

"Hm? No, not at all." Beel seems almost surprised by my question. Has he forgotten about his injury already?

"Hey, can you hand me some of the snacks?" Belphie sounds like he is already half asleep.

"Hold on." A bit reluctant to leave my comfortable spot and reach out to grab the package of sweets.

"Thanks." Belphie eats one of his favorites with a gleeful smile. Then he grabs another one. "Here Beel for you." He can tell that Beel is still hungry.

"Very nice of you." Beel eats it with glee.

I take a turn and feed Beel next, while also grabbing one for myself.

Belphie and I repeat this a couple of times.

Then Belphie yawns again, very loudly.

I admit that I'm feeling pretty sleepy myself. The warmth of the blanket and the stress of the day finally seem to catch up with me. I yawn almost in unison with Belphie.

"We should all rest for a while." Beel makes a very good point.

"I agree." Belphie seems to be already half asleep.

"Sleep well." I get more comfortable at Beels side.

Soon I hear Belphie softly snoring. I, on the other hand, just can't find any rest. I try to focus on the sound of the Storm. My thoughts keep on coming back to feeling guilty. I know it's not really my fault but I'm still sad about possibly ruining their birthday.

I sigh quietly.

"Is something wrong?" Beel speaks in a hushed tone.

"I just can't relax." I feel bad for bothering Beel.

"Sorry, it's not very comfortable." He seems to think this is somehow his fault.

"No, that's not it. I just feel bad about today." I admit while whispering.

"But this is still pretty nice. I mean we are all safe and together." Beel speaks softly.

"Isn't this a bad way to start your birthday?" I just wanted them to have a nice day but now we are all stuck in a small hut.

"I can only speak for myself, but I'm with the people that I love the most and I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday."I can hear Beels smile in his voice. This comforts me greatly.

"He is right." Belphie chimes in, sounding more asleep than awake.

"Thank you both." I smile and relax a bit.

As long as they are happy I'm happy.

I can feel Beel squeeze me just a bit closer towards him.

After a while, the sound of both boys soft breathing and the sound of the rain on the roof lull me to sleep.

At some point, I wake up and realize it's the next morning.

I'm still curled up in the blanket. Now on the floor and sharing Belphies pillow. I feel a bit drowsy when I get up. Belphie is still asleep.

I can't see Beel anywhere. I sit up and look around.

My movements wake Belphie up. "Hm? Is it morning already?" He still seems to be more asleep than awake.

"Happy birthday Belphie." I smile at his sleepy face.

"Thanks, do I get a birthday kiss?" He smiles at me in a teasing manner.

"Maybe later." I can only shake my head at this comment. "I will go look for Beel." Slowly I get up.

I hear Belphie moving around. "Hold on, I'm coming."

Belphie gets up, sluggishly.

I grab my now dry coat and wait for Belphie at the door.

We head outside and I see Beel checking on the surrounding area.

"Good morning Beel." I get his attention.

"Good morning." He smiles.

"Happy birthday." I congratulate him with a big smile.

"Thank you." He smiles back at me and then notices Belphie behind me, "Happy birthday Belphie."

"Happy birthday Beel. How is the road looking?" Belphie stretches.

"It looks pretty fine. We should get help soon enough. Let's have some breakfast while we wait." Beel seems to be hungry again.

"Sure." Suddenly I notice the sun bursting through the clouds, flooding everything in the beautiful morning light. I look at it in awe. "Wow, this is so beautiful."

"It's hard to believe that it was so miserable here yesterday." Belphie looks at the sky with a smile.

"It's very pretty. I'm glad we came here." Beel has a very gentle expression.

"Let's eat out here and enjoy the sun." I think this is the best idea.

"Sounds perfect." Belphie agrees right away.

"Good that I haven't eaten all I brought yet." Beel smiles and heads back into the hut.

"Can you bring the picnic blanket from my bag?" Belphie seems to have blankets for all occasions in his bag.

Beel nods and soon comes back with a blanket and food. There's plenty for everyone.

We all get comfortable and start our breakfast.

"I think this might be the best birthday we've had in quite a while." Belphie smiles at me.

"I agree," Beel says in the middle of chewing his food.

I smile at both of them. "Next year we will make it even better."

With that, we all smile and look over the surprisingly great view.

#obeymetwins2021 #obey me #obey me shall we date #omswd #obey me fanfiction #obey me beel #obey me!#obey me belphie #obey me twins

48 notes · View notes

une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir · 4 years

Text

random thoughts while i’m re-reading sansa ii and sansa iii.

but i haven’t yet written down properly for the project sansa thing

Sansa II

Sansa rode to the Hand's tourney with Septa Mordane and Jeyne Poole, in a litter with curtains of yellow silk so fine she could see right through them. They turned the whole world gold.

Sansa II is about Sansa’s naive outlook in life. In here, she literally sees the world through gold tinted lenses.

The splendor of it all took Sansa's breath away; the shining armor, the great chargers caparisoned in silver and gold, the shouts of the crowd, the banners snapping in the wind . . . and the knights themselves, the knights most of all.

"It is better than the songs," she whispered when they found the places that her father had promised her, among the high lords and ladies.

The knights, most of all. This chapter should give us Sansa’s true knight, amongst all the false knights.It may even not be a knight, a she begins with this chapter quite idealistic but ends it knowing true knights are cruel (Gregor Clegane), and who wins the Tourney of the Hand is Sandor Clegane, who’s not a knight.

They watched the heroes of a hundred songs ride forth, each more fabulous than the last.

Most likely, metaphoric for all of Sansa’s “true knight” candidates, or knights she finds through her journey. The Tourney of the Hand features in narrative order:

The seven knights of the Kingsguard took the field, all but Jaime Lannister in scaled armor the color of milk, their cloaks as white as freshfallen snow. > Sansa’s tenure in King’s Landing. These knights follow Joffrey’s orders in abusing Sansa.

Ser Jaime wore the white cloak as well, but beneath it he was shining gold from head to foot, with a lion's-head helm and a golden sword. > Jaime Lannister stands apart from the other kingsguard, as he ignores Cersei’s orders to find Sansa and instructs Brienne to find her, giving her a lion’s head golden sword. He’s actually portrayed as a fool in this chapter, could be Dontos Hollard.

Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain That Rides, thundered past them like an avalanche. > Petyr Baelish is narrativelly connected to giants.

Sansa remembered Lord Yohn Royce, who had guested at Winterfell two years before. > Sansa’s tenure at the Vale.

Septa Mordane pointed out Lord Jason Mallister, in indigo chased with silver, the wings of an eagle on his helm. > A winged knight, still at the Vale.

The girls giggled over the warrior priest Thoros of Myr, with his flapping red robes and shaven head, until the septa told them that he had once scaled the walls of Pyke with a flaming sword in hand. > A priest of R’hllor and the wall, along with a flaming sword in hand. We can think of Jon at the Wall, but we can also think of Brienne and Thoros of Myr proper as well considering the end of ADWD.

END PARAGRAPH. Chronologically, this fits the narrative. It may suggest these knights are the ones that shape Sansa’s journey. I’m not convinced of this because of how many other knights are mentioned after this.

The most terrifying moment of the day came during Ser Gregor's second joust, when his lance rode up and struck a young knight from the Vale under the gorget with such force that it drove through his throat, killing him instantly. (...) His cloak was blue, the color of the sky on a clear summer's day, trimmed with a border of crescent moons, but as his blood seeped into it, the cloth darkened and the moons turned red, one by one. (...) It would be different if it had been Jory or Ser Rodrik or Father, she told herself. The young knight in the blue cloak was nothing to her, some stranger from the Vale of Arryn whose name she had forgotten as soon as she heard it.

As many have theorised, this may foreshadow Harry Hardying’s death. Indeed this guy dresses exactly like him, pretentiously with the Arryn coat-of-arms. Interestingly, Sansa says that she’d care if he meant something to her. Around the time Harry is likely to die, Jon is dead at the Wall. Sansa won’t care about Harry, but she’ll care about Jon.

Ser Loras (...) was the youngest rider on the field, yet he had unhorsed three knights of the Kingsguard that morning in his first three jousts. Sansa had never seen anyone so beautiful. His plate was intricately fashioned and enameled as a bouquet of a thousand different flowers, and his snow-white stallion was draped in a blanket of red and white roses. After each victory, Ser Loras would remove his helm and ride slowly round the fence, and finally pluck a single white rose from the blanket and toss it to some fair maiden in the crowd.

The ideal knight, dressed in blue, with the rose thematic. Interestingly, he fights against a Royce and wins. There have been many essays about Loras paralleling Jon here.

However, Brienne also dresses in blue, she wears a blue armour, and whose childhood features a bad memory about a Ser Ronnet offering her roses but was actually mocking her behind her backs. Jon is also thematically linked with blue and roses through his mother, who loved blue winter roses.

It is my conviction Sansa’s true knight is Brienne, not Jon.

To the other maidens he had given white roses, but the one he plucked for her was red. "Sweet lady," he said, "no victory is half so beautiful as you." (...) She inhaled the sweet fragrance of the rose and sat clutching it long after Ser Loras had ridden off. When Sansa finally looked up, a man was standing over her, staring. (...) "You must be one of her daughters," he said to her. He had grey-green eyes that did not smile when his mouth did. "You have the Tully look." "I'm Sansa Stark," she said, ill at ease. (...) "Your mother was my queen of beauty once," the man said quietly. His breath smelled of mint. "You have her hair." His fingers brushed against her cheek as he stroked one auburn lock. Quite abruptly he turned and walked away. By then, the moon was well up and the crowd was tired, so the king decreed that the last three matches would be fought the next morning, before the melee.

If we take this all in a chronological order, we have all the knights listed, then Loras Tyrell (Brienne, who started looking for Sansa in ACOK / ASOS), then we have Littlefinger seeing someone else in Sansa but she’s sure of whom she is (Petyr taking Sansa to the Vale, as Alyane Stone), the night comes (winter).

Sansa and Septa Mordane were given places of high honor, to the left of the raised dais where the king himself sat beside his queen. (...) She could not hate Joffrey tonight. He was too beautiful to hate. He wore a deep blue doublet studded with a double row of golden lion's heads(...). Sansa looked at him and trembled, afraid that he might ignore her or, worse, turn hateful again and send her weeping from the table.

A raised dias over everyone else (Wall), Joffrey in blue (Jon as a “Stark”), Sansa is afraid he’ll turn hateful and send her away. This is actually legitimate fear, as Sansa would go to the Wall, yet still afraid Jon would send her away. Jon actually thinks doing this to Arya somewhere in ADWD, the Wall is no place for a woman. It’s also in chronological order with the previous paragraph’s interpretation.

Instead, Joffrey’s perfectly civil, but we must remember he’s Jon’s anti-parallel so whatever’s written about the former reflects in the latter either as a parallel or an anti-parallel and that’s kind of though to figure out.

He raised his hand to summon a servant with a flagon of iced summerwine, and poured her a cup. (...) The servants kept the cups filled all night, yet afterward Sansa could not recall ever tasting the wine. She needed no wine. She was drunk on the magic of the night, giddy with glamour, swept away by beauties she had dreamt of all her life and never dared hope to know. (...) And Joffrey was the soul of courtesy. (....) A thick soup of barley and venison. Salads of sweetgrass and spinach and plums, sprinkled with crushed nuts. Snails in honey and garlic. Sansa had never eaten snails before; Joffrey showed her how to get the snail out of the shell, and fed her the first sweet morsel himself. Then came trout fresh from the river, baked in clay; her prince helped her crack open the hard casing to expose the flaky white flesh within. And when the meat course was brought out, he served her himself, slicing a queen's portion from the joint, smiling as he laid it on her plate. She could see from the way he moved that his right arm was still troubling him, yet he uttered not a word of complaint. Later came sweetbreads and pigeon pie and baked apples fragrant with cinnamon and lemon cakes frosted in sugar, but by then Sansa was so stuffed that she could not manage more than two little lemon cakes, as much as she loved them. She was wondering whether she might attempt a third when the king began to shout.

This is similar narrative to Sansa I, especially becomes it features the “return of the trout” and the queen imagery. I proposed in my post on Sansa I that its subtext was about Sansa becoming queen and that Joffrey was a stand-in for Jon, and that their day together foreshadowed the northern campaign. I also mentioned Joffrey’s behaviour could be seen under two different ways, either parallel or anti-parallel, especially when Joffrey is a little shit.

Entrées: no fucking idea, but apparently it involves Jon offering a “snail in honey” to Sansa. I’m... I don’t know.

Fish Course: To remember from Sansa I: “ It was a day for adventures. They explored the caves by the riverbank, and tracked a shadowcat to its lair, and when they grew hungry, Joffrey found a holdfast by its smoke and told them to fetch food and wine for their prince and his lady. They dined on trout fresh from the river, and Sansa drank more wine than she had ever drunk before. "My father only lets us have one cup, and only at feasts," she confessed to her prince.”

I proposed it was interesting because it included conquering the riverlands (exploring the caves by the riverbank would be checking out riverlords for their cause, tracking a shadowcat to its lair would be chasing the lannisters back west, and dining on trout meant taking Riverrun). This time, “her prince helped her crack open the hard casing to expose the flaky white flesh within.” can be seen as foreshadowing a siege of Riverrun that goes well

Meat Course: To remember from Sansa I, Joffrey is humilliated and consequently never forgivies Sansa, so she’d never be a successfull queen married to her (if he was planning on that at all, since he jumped so easily to Margaery). I proposed that Jon as Joffrey’s anti-parallel would be humilliated in battle but he’d move past it (this is basically what happened in the Battle of Winterfell, he got humilliated and he saved her arse, and even expected him to be angry with her but he went all targ sibling on her forehead instead).

In here, we see what I proposed for Jon to go past it reflected, as Joffrey serves Sansa the queen’s portion, smiling as if all is forgiven despite the source of humilliation being present as “She could see from the way he moved that his right arm was still troubling him, yet he uttered not a word of complaint.” Nice guy Snow, thank you very much.

Dessert: No idea, but a few infamous ones are featured. The pigeon pie present in the purple wedding, cinnamon apples in one of Bran’s banquets (the one he’s given the king’s portion as well), and lemoncakes (three of them), magic number.

Sansa started as Joffrey laid his hand on her arm. "It grows late," the prince said. He had a queer look on his face, as if he were not seeing her at all. "Do you need an escort back to the castle?"

The nice atmosphere is broken because Robert is a dick and fights with Cersei. Joffrey then decides to be a dick as well. This also featured in Sansa I, a boy and a girl fighting, then Joffrey makes a dick of himself.

"You do not tell me what to do, woman," he screamed at Queen Cersei. "I am king here, do you understand? I rule here, and if I say that I will fight tomorrow, I will fight!"

Hopefully, that’s a metaphor for Aegon telling Daniella to go fuck herself, he’s the king of westeros and she does not tell him what to do. I did those dragon posts where Rhaegal (representative of Jon) seems to take take offence of Viserion (Aegon) getting trolled repeatedly.

Sansa could feel the Hound watching her. "Did you think Joff was going to take you himself?" He laughed. He had a laugh like the snarling of dogs in a pit. "Small chance of that." He pulled her unresisting to her feet. "Come, you're not the only one needs sleep. I've drunk too much, and I may need to kill my brother tomorrow." He laughed again.

Joffrey didn’t take Sansa back to Winterfell, but Jon did.

Sansa III

This chapter is completely “useless” at first glance, except for Sansa and Arya’s second squabble, which is when Ned has the ephiphany that Joffrey isn’t Robert’s kid. Other than that, it features a recap of the chapter before, two Sansa and Arya squabbles, and Ned’s "favoritism” (not really, just guilt over his sister) over Arya. So what is this chapter’s for outside of that? The subtext of course.

"Father, I only just now remembered, I can't go away, I'm to marry Prince Joffrey." She tried to smile bravely for him. "I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies." "Sweet one," her father said gently, "listen to me. When you're old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who's worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me." (...)

"Stop that weeping, child," Septa Mordane said sternly. "I am certain your lord father knows what is best for you."

Urgh. lmao.

Ned promises Sansa a high-lord, who’s brave, gentle and strong, that he is no aemon the dragonknight. The latter is the “easier” one, because Jon will remembers much later that he used to say he was Aemon the dragonknight in childplay. Just one out of all that, doesn’t seem promising, eh?

After this, there’s Sansa and Arya cluing in Ned over Joffrey being a bastard aprading as the heir to the Iron Throne, which is the anta-parallel to Jon. As I said in Sansa I post, this could be foreshadowed in the sisters squabbling over Rhaegar’s rubies. It comes in chronologically order, the motifs of the fight at the Trident are similar to what’s used all over GOT, etc etc. So Jon is here again (he was present in that segment in Sansa I as one of Rhaegar’s ruby), for some reason.

Going back to the beginning of this chapter... the conversation is kind of odd, it goes all over the place. They talk of what happens in there, then Sansa randomly remembers a dream for no reason, and wanders in her mind over this and that. It’s kind of schizophrenic writing... unless it’s kind of awkward because it’s meant to say something else in the subtext... So...

“He wouldn't send Ser Loras," Sansa told Jeyne Poole that night as they shared a cold supper by lamplight. (...) Her father's decision still bewildered her. When the Knight of Flowers had spoken up, she'd been sure she was about to see one of Old Nan's stories come to life. (...) And then Father had refused him! It had upset her more than she could tell. She had said as much to Septa Mordane as they descended the stairs from the gallery, but the septa had only told her it was not her place to question her lord father's decisions.

There have been plenty of essays comparing Jon to Loras Tyrell. This is especially important in Sansa II / Sansa III because Loras is wearing blue (odd choice, as his house colours are green) and roses, thematically connected to Jon’s mother. Ned thinks the kid is too young to be a hero, which is an interesting paralell to him refusing Jon to go to the Wall at first because he was also too young. We can also look at Ned taking Jon as his bsatard son, as taking away the chance to be the song hero. He went from a prince of roses (urgh) to a bastard.

That was when Lord Baelish had said, "Oh, I don't know, Septa. Some of her lord father's decisions could do with a bit of questioning. (...)" (...) He had touched her cheek, his thumb lightly tracing the line of a cheekbone. "Life is not a song, sweetling. You may learn that one day to your sorrow."

Ned’s decision of taking Jon as his bastard will be questioned of course and the truth will come out. Life’s not a song and Lyanna made Ned promise to protect Jon, because Robert would have killed him if he had found out. But Jon has a song, the song of ice and fire. Shut up Littlefinger.

"Ser Ilyn's the King's Justice, not Ser Loras," Jcyne said. "Lord Eddard should have sent him." Sansa shuddered. Every time she looked at Ser Ilyn Payne, she shivered. He made her feel as though something dead were slithering over her naked skin. "Ser Ilyn's almost like a second monster. I'm glad Father didn't pick him." "Lord Beric is as much a hero as Ser Loras. He's ever so brave and gallant." "I suppose," Sansa said doubtfully. Beric Dondarrion was handsome enough, but he was awfully old, almost twenty-two; the Knight of Flowers would have been much better. Of course, Jeyne had been in love with Lord Beric ever since she had first glimpsed him in the lists. Sansa thought she was being silly; Jeyne was only a steward's daughter, after all, and no matter how much she mooned after him, Lord Beric would never look at someone so far beneath him, even if she hadn't been half his age.

(...) "I saw your sister this afternoon," Jeyne blurted out, as if she'd been reading Sansa's thoughts. "She was walking through the stables on her hands. Why would she do a thing like that?"

Instead, Ned chose Beric Dondarrion. There have been plenty of essays that compared Ilyn Payne to Ramsay Bolton (dead eyes and taking over the Stark legacy, etc), and Beric Dondarrion to Jon Snow (dresses in house targ clothes and was ressurrected by a priest of r’hllor, etc). The fact that Ilyn Payne is brought up by Jeyne Poole of all people and after an intermission with the white hart dream, she also mentions Arya, therefore it could be a heartbreaking nod to fake!Arya plotline.

As we also know, Ramsay and Jon have been locked into a bizarre war of wills up north, precisely over fake!Arya. Likewise Beric dying in the middle of his “mission” for the Starks and then ressurrected by a priest of R’hllor, Jon also died while he was going to retake Winterfell and save fake”Arya and its likely he’ll be ressudrected by a priest of R’hllor. In the show, Sansa took over fake!Arya storyline.

It’s interesting to note Beric is awfully old at “twenty-two”, because that’s Jon’s age give it or take it at ADWD if the timeskip between ASOS and AFFC / ADWD have happened (he’s seventeen or so then). It’s worth noting that Beric is said to be “brave”.

“I had a dream that Joffrey would be the one to take the white hart," she said. It had been more of a wish, actually, but it sounded better to call it a dream. Everyone knew that dreams were prophetic. (...) "He shot it with a golden arrow and brought it back for me." In the songs, the knights never killed magical beasts, they just went up to them and touched them and did them no harm, but she knew Joffrey liked hunting, especially the killing part. Only animals, though.

This one is interesting, because it’s sandwiched between the Ilyn Payne and Arya Stark, which could be a mention to the northern tug of war between Ramsay and Jon mentioned above. As we know though, Jon is one that would fit Sansa’s dream, because not only he protected the direwolves who are magical beasts, he took the white direwolf for himself. “Only touch them and not harm them”, dare I say... gentle? Not only that, the anti-parallel btween Joffrey and Jon is fuelled further since Jon took Lady (and later, he’ll be brigning the white wolf Ghost) back to Sansa while Joffrey took her away.

"There was a black brother," Sansa said, "begging men for the Wall, only he was kind of old and smelly." She hadn't liked that at all. She had always imagined the Night's Watch to be men like Uncle Benjen. In the songs, they were called the black knights of the Wall. But this man had been crookbacked and hideous, and he looked as though he might have lice. If this was what the Night's Watch was truly like, she felt sorry for her bastard half brother, Jon.

Yoren of the Night’s Watch and it’s self-explanatory, since Jon as a member of the Night’s Watch is even mentioned in this segment. It’s also worth noting that Sansa fantasises the Night’s Watch to be men like Benjen Stark, the black knights of the Wall... dare I say... strong?

It’s also worth noting Sansa’s disilusion with the Night’s Watch comes after a segment that may foreshadow Ramsay and Jon “fighting” over fake!Arya, then Jon being murdered and ressurrected. Which fits eprfectly with Jon’s own disillusion with the Night’s Watch that he felt in the beginning of AGOT but also in the show when he got ressurrected. Not a happy panda.

“And later these two brothers came before him, freeriders from the Dornish Marches, and pledged their swords to the service of the king. Father accepted their oaths . . . “

The Dornish Marches are slightly north of where Jon was born, at the Tower of Joy. Bascially, the next town towards the north is located at the Dornish Marches. In the show, Jon basically pledged his sword to Sansa (Ned’s narrative heir) as well, there’s even a close-in on his sword before they re-meet at Castle Black. Strangely, Sansa IV features Sansa believing Ned’s plans to take her back to Winterfell and the promised match is a hedge knight which is a freerider without a knighthood.

So, in summary, Sansa reports on three men “auditing” Ned. Loras Tyrell, the true hero, which Ned refused and could correspond to Jon as Lyanna Stark’s son due to the narrative uses of blue and roses and refusal. Beric Dondarrion, Ned’s chosen hero, and could correspond to Jon and Ramsay’s tug-of-war with Arya. Finally, Yoren, and could correspond to Jon defecting the Night’s Watch for being disillusioned after being killed by them, something that was rpesent in the show’s foreshadowing all the way back in season 3. Not only is the story presented chronological, after Beric being “brave”, Sansa randomly recalls the white hart dream (”gentle”) and Jon as a black kngith of the wall (”strong”).

So, Jon could actually be lurking in the subtext of that bizarre conversation between Sansa and Jeyne Poole.

The kitchen yielded no lemon cakes, but they did find half of a cold strawberry pie, and that was almost as good. They ate it on the tower steps, giggling and gossiping and sharing secrets, and Sansa went to bed that night feeling almost as wicked as Arya.

The dessert again.

The next morning she woke before first light and crept sleepily to her window to watch Lord Beric form up his men.

The men preparing to war. Still goes on well chronologically with the conversation before. It had stopped at Jon quitting the Night’s Watch and pledging to Sansa.

"Liar," Arya said. Her hand clenched the blood orange so hard that red juice oozed between her fingers. "Go ahead, call me all the names you want," Sansa said airily. "You won't dare when I'm married to Joffrey. You'll have to bow to me and call me Your Grace." She shrieked as Arya flung the orange across the table. It caught her in the middle of the forehead with a wet squish and plopped down into her lap. "You have juice on your face, Your Grace," Arya said.

So from the subtext from Sansa I and Sansa II, I’m convinced Sansa will become queen MUCH sooner than in the show. This squabble over here is interesting, because Arya calls her “your grace” as if she was already queen. So in the subtext that may correlate to that.

This of course, comes with a very strong imagery of wedding consummation. Sansa is wearing a white dress, that gets stained by blood orange juice (red in colour) at the lap (crotch area). Are they related?

The blood orange had left a blotchy red stain on the silk. "I hate her!" she screamed. She balled up the dress and flung it into the cold hearth, on top of the ashes of last night's fire. When she saw that the stain had bled through onto her underskirt, she began to sob despite herself. She ripped off the rest of her clothes wildly, threw herself into bed, and cried herself back to sleep.

In addition, this white dress has red blood, but it also has black fire when it’s thrown into the ashes of the hearth. The words of House Targaryen are fire and blood, the colours are red and black.They’re all there, in this white dress. So it's a Targaryen (virgin, ehem) wedding dress... for Sansa. There are only two male left for that to happen and only one of them has been lurking in the background.

And after this, comes Ned’s covnersation about Sansa’s true match. So Jon’s all over the subtext, of a chapter with wedding consummation imagery and Ned Stark’s promise of the “true one”. Why, if not to marry his arse to Sansa? I do not know.

#return of the trout #this is important because i care about the riverlands #jonsa heavy

42 notes · View notes

maximelebled · 4 years

Text

2019 & 2020

Hello everyone! So yeah, this yearly blog post is about three... four months late... it covers two years now.

I did have a lot of things written last year, last time, but the more things have changed, the more I’ve realized that a lot of things I talked about on here... were because I lacked enough of a social life to want to open up on here.

In a less awkwardly-phrased way, what I’m saying is, I was coping.

Not an easy thing to admit to in public by any means, but I reckon it’s the truth. Over the past two years, I’ve made more of an effort to build better & healthier friendships, dial back my social media usage a bit (number 1 coping strategy), not tie all my friendships to games I play, especially Dota (number 2 coping strategy), so that I could be more emotionally healthy overall.

Pictured: me looking a whole lot like @dril on the outside, although not so much on the inside. (Photo by my lovely partner.)

To some degree, I believe it’s important to be able to talk about yourself a bit more openly in a way that is generally not encouraged nor made easy on other social networks (looking at you, Twitter). I know that 2010-me would be scared to approach 2020-me; and it’s my hope that what I am writing here would not help him with that, but also help him become less of an insecure dweeb faster. 😉

Not that recent accomplishments have stopped me from being any less professionally anxious. Sometimes the impostor syndrome just morphs into... something else.

Anyway, what I’m getting at is, the first reason it took me until this year to finish last year’s post is because, with my shift in perspective, and these realizations about myself, I do want to keep a lot more things private... or rather, it’s that I don’t feel the need to share them anymore? And that made figuring out what to write a fair bit harder.

The other reason I didn’t write sooner is because, in 2018, I wrote my "year in review” post right before I became able to talk about my then-latest cool thing (my work on Valve’s 2018 True Sight documentary). So I then knew I’d have to bring it up in the 2019 post. But then, I was asked to work on the 2019 True Sight documentary, and I know it was going to air in late January 2020, so I was like, “okay, well, whatever, it, I’ll just write this yearly recap after that, so I don’t miss the coach this time”. So I just ended up delaying it again until I was like... “okay, whatever, I’ll just do both 2019 and 2020 in a single post.”

I think I can say I’ve had the privilege of a pretty good 2019, all things considered. And also of a decent 2020, given the circumstances. Overall, 2019 was a year of professional fulfillment; here’s a photo taken of me while I was managing the augmented reality system at The International 2019! (The $35 million dollar Dota 2 tournament that was held, this that year, in Shanghai.)

If I’d shown this to myself 10 years ago it would’ve blown my mind, so I guess things aren’t all that bad...!

I’ve brought up two health topics in these posts before: weight & sleep.

As for the first, the situation is still stable. If it is improving, it is doing so at a snail’s pace. But quite frankly, I haven’t put in enough effort into it overall. Even though I know my diet is way better than it was five or six years ago, I’ve only just really caught up with the “how it should have been the entire time” stage. It is a milestone... but not necessarily an impressive one. Learning to cook better things for myself has been very rewarding and fulfilling, though. It’s definitely what I’d recommend if you need to find a place to start.

As for sleep, throughout 2019, I continued living 25-hour days for the most part. There were a few weeks during which I slowed down the process, but it continued on going. Then, in late December of 2019, motivated by the knowledge that sleep is such a foundational pillar of your health, I figured I really needed to take things seriously, and I managed to go on a three month streak of mostly-stable sleep! (See the data above.)

Part of what helped was willingly stopping to use my desktop computer once it got too late in the day, avoiding Dota at the end of the day as much as possible, and anything exciting for that matter... and, as much as that sounds like the worst possible stereotype, trying to “listen to my body” and recognizing when I was letting stress and anxiety build up inside me, and taking a break or trying to relax.

Also, a pill of melatonin before going to bed; but even though it’s allegedly not a problem to take melatonin, I figured I should try to rely on it as little as possible.

Unfortunately, that “good sleep” streak was abruptly stopped by a flu-like illness... it might have been Covid-19. The symptoms somewhat matched up, but I was lucky: they were very mild. I fully recovered in just over a week. I coughed a bit, but not that much. If it really was that disease, then I got very lucky.

(Pictured: another photo by my lovely SO, somewhere in Auvergne.)

My sleep continued to drift back to its 25-hour rhythm, and I only started resuming these efforts towards the fall... mostly because living during the night felt like a better option with the summer heat (no AC here). I thought about doing that the other way (getting up at 3am instead of going to bed at 7am), and while it’d make more sense temperature-wise, that would have kept me awake when there were practically no people online, and I was trying to have a better social life then, even if had to be purely online due to the coronavirus, so... yeah.

I’ve been working from home since 2012! I also lived alone for a number of years since then. For the most part, it hasn’t been a great thing for my mental health. Having had a taste of what being in an office was like thanks to a couple weeks in the Valve offices, I had the goal of beginning to apply at a few places here and there in March/April. Then the pandemic hit, so those plans are dead in the water. I wanted 2020 to be the year in which I’d finally stop being fully remote, but those plans are now dead in the water.

Now, at the end of the year, I don’t really know if I want to apply at any places. There’s a small handful of studios whose work really resonates with me, creatively speaking, and whose working conditions seem to be alright, at least from what I hear... but, and I swear I’m saying this in the least braggy way possible... there’s very little that beats having been able to work on what I want, when I want, and how much I want.

This kind of freelance status can be pretty terrifying sometimes, but I’ve managed (with some luck, of course) to reach a safe balance, a point at which I’ve effectively got this luxury of being able to only really work on what I want, and never truly overwork myself (at least by the standards of most of the gaming industry). It’s a big privilege and I feel like it’d take a lot to give it up.

Besides the things I mentioned before, one thing I did that drastically improved my mental health was being introduced to a new lovely group of friends by my partner! I started playing Dungeons & Dragons with them, every weekend or so! And in the spirit of a rising tide lifting all boats, I managed to also give back to our lovely DM, by being a sort of “AM” (audio manager)... It’s been great having something to look forward to every week.

Something to look forward to... I’ve heard about the concept of “temporal anchors”. I had heard about how the reason our adult years suddenly pass by in a blur is because we now have more “time” that’s already in our brains, but now I’m more convinced that it’s because we’re going from a very school routine such as the one schools impose upon us, to, well... practically nothing.

I thought most of my years since 2011 have been a blur, but none have whooshed by like 2020 has, and I reckon part of that is because I’ve (obviously) gone out far far less, and most importantly there wasn’t The Big Summer Event That The International Is, the biggest yearly “temporal anchor” at my disposal. The anticipation and release of those energies made summer feel a fair bit longer... and this year, summer was very much a blur for me. In and out like the wind.

I guess besides that, I haven’t really had that much trouble with being locked down. I had years of training for that, after all. Doesn’t feel like I can complain. 😛

(Pictured: trip to Chicago in January of 2019... right when the polar vortex hit!)

Work was good in 2019, and sparser in 2020. Working with Valve again after the 2018 True Sight was a very exciting opportunity. At the time, in February of 2019, I was out with my partner on little holiday trips around my region, and, after night fell, on the way back, we decided to stop in a wide open field, on a tiny countryside path, away from the cities, to try and do some star-gazing, without light pollution getting in the way.

And it’s there and then that I received their message, while looking at the stars with my SO! The timing and location turned that into a very vivid memory...

I then got to spend a couple weeks in their offices in late April / early May. I was able to bring my partner along with me to Washington State, and we did some sightseeing on the weekends.

(Pictured: part of a weekend trip in Washington. This was a dried up lakebed.)

After that, I worked on the Void Spirit trailer in the lead to The International. In August, those couple weeks in Shanghai were intense. Having peeked behind the curtain and seen everything that goes into production really does give me a much deeper appreciation for all the work that goes unseen.

Then after that, in late 2019, there was my work on the yearly True Sight documentary, for the second time. In 2018, I’d been tasked with making just two animated sequences, and I was very nervous since that was my first time working directly with Valve; my work then was fairly “sober”, for lack of a better term.

(Pictured: view from my hotel room in Shanghai.)

For the 2019 edition, I had double the amount of sequences on my plate, and they were very trusting of me, which was very reassuring. I got to be more technically ambitious, I let my style shine through (you know... if it’s got all these gratuitous light beams, etc.), and it was real fun to work on.

At the premiere in Berlin, I was sitting in the middle of the room (in fact, you could spot me in the pre-show broadcast behind SirActionSlacks; unfortunately I had forgotten to bring textures for my shirt). Being in that spot when my shots started playing, and hearing people laughing and cheering at them... that’s an unforgettable memory. The last time I had experienced something like that was having my first Dota short film played at KeyArena in 2015, the laughter of the crowd echoing all around me... I was shaking in my seat. Just remembering it gets my heart pumping, man. It’s a really unique feeling.

So I’m pretty happy with how that work came out. I came out of it having learned quite a few new tricks too, born out of necessity from my technical ambitions. Stuff I intend to put to use again. I’m really glad that the team I worked with at Valve was so kind and great to work with. After the premiere, I received a few more compliments from them... and I did reply, “careful! You might give me enough confidence to apply!”, to which one of them replied, “you totally should, man.” But I still haven’t because I’m a massive idiot, haha. Well, I still haven’t because I don’t think I’m well-rounded enough yet. And also because, like I alluded to before, I think I’m in a pretty good situation as it is.

It’s not the first encouragements I had received from them, too; there had been a couple people from the Dota team who, at the end of my two week stay in the offices, while I was on my way out, told me I should try applying. But again, I didn’t apply because I’m a massive idiot.

(Pictured: view from the Valve offices.)

To be 200% frank, even though there’s been quite a few people who’ve followed my work throughout the years, comments on Reddit and YouTube, etc. who’ve all said things along the lines of “why aren’t you working for them ?”, well... it’s not something I ever really pursued. I know it’s a lot of people’s dream job, but I never saw it that way. I feel like, if it ever happened to me... sure, that could be cool! But I don’t know if it’s something I really want, or even that I should want?

And if you add “being unsure” to what I consider to be a lack of experience in certain things, well... I really don’t think I’d be a good candidate (yet?), and having seen how busy these people are on the inside, the last thing I want to do is waste their time with a bad application. That would be the most basic form of courtesy I can show to them.

Besides, Covid-19 makes applying to just about any job very hard, if not outright impossible right now. And for a while longer, I suspect.

(Pictured: the Tuilière & Sanadoire rocks.)

I’m still unhappy about the amount of “actual animation” I get to do overall since I like to work on just about every step of the process in my videos, but well. It’s getting better. One thing I am happy with though, is “solving problems”. And new challenges. Seeking the answers to them, and making myself be able to see those problems, alongside entire projects, from a more “holistic” way, that is to say, not missing the forest for the trees.

It’s hard to explain, and even just the use of the term “holistic” sounds like some kind of pompous cop-out... but looking back on how I handled projects 5 years ago vs. now, I see the differences in how I think about problems a lot. And to some extent I do have my time on Valve contracts to thank a LOT in helping me progress there.

Anyway, I’m currently working on a project that I’m very interested & creativefuly fulfilled by. But it has nothing to do with animation nor Dota, for a change! There are definitely at least two other Dota short films I want to make, though. We’ll see how that goes.

Happy new year & take care y’all.

#year in review

4 notes · View notes

writteninsunshine · 4 years

Text

Keep To The Beat - Roche/Cloud Strife - SFW

Title: Keep To The Beat Author: Donnie Fandom: Final Fantasy VII Remake Setting: Seventh Heaven Pairing: Roche/Cloud Strife Characters: Roche, Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, Barret Wallace, Marlene Wallace, Zack Fair Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort Rating: T Chapters: 1/1 Word Count: 946 Type of Work: One-Shot Status: Complete Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Past Zack Fair/Cloud Strife, Fluff, PTSD, Anxiety Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. Summary: Roche reminds Cloud of someone important, especially when he wants him to relax. AN: Soooo, I got the Deluxe Edition on the day it came out in the mail, and got to chapter four. Some stuff came up so I didn’t get further and that’s okay, I’ll take it at my own pace. But I got to Roche and I love him so much??? He needs to date and love his boyfriend Cloud and they will be happy together. ; u; I hope you guys enjoy this little experiment!

Final Fantasy VII Fic Masterlist Keep To The Beat ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “It’s not that hard, Sunshine,” Roche smirked, taking Cloud’s hips in his hands and guiding them in a much too slow (in his opinion) teetering rocking motion. “You can do it, I know you can.”

Cloud wasn’t so sure, but he let the other SOLDIER move him, even if he had to keep tensing and hesitating to keep the beat to something he could manage. Roche was all about speed, but Cloud had never moved his hips like this before, and if he was going to stay on his feet, he had to go at a snail’s pace. Then again, anything under one-forty was probably a snail’s pace to a man that lived for the accelerator. “You’ve got this, Sunshine, I got you.” Roche purred into his ear, bodies so close now that Cloud could feel his every breath as his chest rose and fell. “You’re awfully comfortable.” Cloud was nowhere near as okay with this as Roche was, but his boundaries were slowly shrinking the more he grew to trust the man glued to his muscular back. “Who wouldn’t be when they’re with the one person that makes them feel alive?” Roche’s voice was quiet, gentle in his ear as he pressed a soft kiss to it, his thumbs stroking over Cloud’s clothed hips. Sure, his armor was in the way, but Cloud still felt the tenderness behind the action. “I guess…” Cloud muttered voice lost in the tune pounding from the Jukebox. If only Tifa was here, she’d probably get Roche to turn the music down. Instead, he was tense and waiting for Barret to barrel in and yell and wave until it was turned down to a more Marlene-appropriate level. Still, it didn’t seem to be enough of a blip on his radar to interrupt the two SOLDIERs as they swayed together to the beat. After a moment, Roche leaned in, pressing a kiss to Cloud’s shoulder, then his neck, leaving a shudder in his wake. Patting his hip, he slipped around the blond, swaggering to the jukebox to punch in a different song. Scrolling down the list, a grin suddenly blossomed on his lips and he turned to look Cloud in the eye as he pressed ‘play’ on Hip Hop de Chocobo. “That’s the stuff.” Roche bounded in place a couple of times, only moving his hands up to push some hair out of his face as he took in the faster pace of the new beat. “This one’s a real banger.” “If you say so,” Cloud responded, standing stiffly near the bar. His head had slipped down, those shocking eyes half-lidded and focused on the suddenly interesting scuff he’d discovered on the wood. “‘I guess’,” Roche started, swaying loosely as he made his way back to the other man, “‘If you say so’,” He added, pressing their foreheads together as his hands sought their way back to Cloud’s hips, “I know you can think for yourself, Sunshine. You don’t have to guess and agree all the time.” His voice was a veritable purr as he leaned in for a gentle kiss, nuzzling their noses together seconds afterward. “I want to see the real Cloud, the one that nobody else gets to see.” Once more, they were moving, and Cloud gave a heavy sigh, trying to convince the tense line of his shoulders to soothe into something more relaxed. It wasn’t something that he was particularly good at, relaxing, but he had to admit that despite everything, Roche felt safe to him. Out of everything in his life that had ever felt remotely safe, he found himself feeling the best in the arms of a man that had wanted nothing more than to fight him. Maybe there was more to first impressions than he liked to think. Zack would have told him that was true. In the long run, Roche acted a bit like Zack. Excitable, always up for a tussle, easy to get along with as far as Cloud and his hang-ups were concerned. Maybe that was something that drew him to the other man. Roche was a human puppy, and evidently he was very good at falling for those. “There we go, Sunshine.” Roche finally muttered against his neck, his ear resting on Cloud’s shoulder, “Finally starting to loosen up. That’s what I like to see.” Right now, his voice didn’t sound quite so brash as it usually did, quiet and calm as he guided Cloud with his hands and his body. It felt good, being lead for once instead of being the leader, and Cloud fell into the rhythm easier than he thought that he would. Sure, their movements were disjointed when the music was taken into account, a slow dance for a fast song, but the overwhelming feeling of care to each and every movement was doing wonders for Cloud’s constant anxiety. He didn’t really know how long they swayed there, wrapped up in a bubble full to bursting. When the front doors finally crashed open and Marlene lead Barret inside, Cloud leaped from Roche’s arms like he’d been burned, eyes wide and face aimed at the floor. Barret gave him a stern, narrowed-eyed expression for a second before a grin broke out on his face and he clapped a hand on his shoulder with a boisterous laugh. “You keep doin’ you, Spiky, don’t stop on our account. Tifa’ll be here soon, though, Marlene’s ready for lunch.” “Oh, uh… Okay.” Cloud responded numbly, voice deadened again until he felt a familiar hand link their fingers together. Glancing over at Roche, who was already tugging him to a table, he offered a small, elusive smile. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ AN: Okay, so, this was kind of an experimental piece? I don’t know everything to know about Roche, yet, I’m only in chapter four, but I needed to pass some time before my husband got up and I could play more. Plus, I’ve had this idea in my head all night and it wanted to be written. I hope you guys enjoyed it!

#Final Fantasy VII Remake #Final Fantasy VII Remake Fanfic #Final Fantasy VII Remake Fanfiction #Final Fantasy VII Remake Roche #Roche #Cloud Strife #RoCloud

12 notes · View notes

losingmyjustice · 4 years

Text

@nurotoxin sent;

scraTCH THAT [ everything ( minus appeal ) ] + glados

Thoughts & Feelings

Send [ word ] + a character name for my muse to talk about that character.

"Unfortunate that I ended up running into her." beat. "Or rather, that she ended up approaching me. Because, clearly, the first thing you think of when seeing a stranger sitting alone trying to get some peace and quiet is how great of a test subject they'd be. Absolutely normal."

"Also, I'm quite annoyed by how persistent she is — clearly there are more cooperative people she can irritate with her tests, yet she still sees it necessary to bother me despite how I've opposed to it since the get-go."

"Frankly, I don't get it, how she can loathe me to bits yet still be the one initiating an interaction. Sounds rather self-sabotaging, if you ask me. I'd think both of us would profit from it if we'd avoid each other."

Send [ oops ] + a character name for my muse to blurt something about that character.

"If you think about it," he spoke, while not thinking much about it, let alone how offensive it might be. "to claim she's taller than me is ridiculous."

"Her, er, vessel had been assigned by the Stars upon her arrival, right? It's not ... bound with her, so to say. Meaning, should one put her into a tinier vessel similar to the ones you find in Craft-Punk, then she'd have a new, much smaller height than she initially did, while still being the same person. Therefore, her vessel being taller could be compared to someone wearing high heels, no? It's not her, physically, being taller." he’s just salty.

"— Should she argue about this, then just put her in a 2ft tall vessel and see if she still believes it's fair to judge height per the vessel she's in. I bet she'd hate that."

Send [ think ] + a character name to know my muse’s thoughts on that character.

You squint as she took her leave. Despite having her back turned, you're rather certain she's aware of the stare piercing her, though really it'd only be all the better if she is.

All she had said is for you to wait with no further explanation. Likely bringing something, you reckon. You did scoff that you'd leave immediately just to spite her, but both of you know that it won't come to such — it's difficult to find a quiet spot as is with all these celebrations, and you genuinely don't have the energy to bother today. So here you are, grumbling; What the hell is her problem?

If you'd only go by the 'tests' she offers, you'd think of her as a joke. You still do, but — aside from amusement, what's there for her to accomplish? Granted, she does gain some info here and there about Spirale, but apart from that? If that's it, she sure picked quite the horribly inconvenient way to approach the matter. Someone who'd seek actual results wouldn't do that. What's worse; that isn't it. If it'd be just a puzzle enthusiastic scientist wanna-be would be one thing, but only a glance on her attitude and you'd argue her to be worse than the imbecile Dimitri, for obvious reasons. So why? Is she studying people and their way of thinking solely to understand them? That'd barely make sense, considering how she gives no damn about humans to be this interested. Hell, you'd not be surprised if she'd replace her test subjects with these stupid turrets if she could, considering how she reacted when you tossed it the other day. So, what is it then? You can't fathom a potential goal she might be seeking that isn't ridiculously outlandish.

... Maybe she doesn't have a goal, you think. Perhaps she truly is driven by the concept of 'doing science' alone, like she had been programmed to do — and that's all she does, despite the fact that she isn't even where the task was given to her. Gathering information just for the sake of gathering information, with no slight interest on who it aids, or who it expenses. A pointless routine, pretty much. "Despicable," you find yourself muttering, seeing her return again from a distance. You can't imagine anyone living content and happy without having an aim they're striving for in life.

You'd know.

Send [ heart ] + a character name to know my muse’s true feelings for that character.

As much as I'd love to say he's holding a front or whatever, unfortunately, beneath the disrespect is just the same thing but bass-boosted. True, he did act on prejudices at first, but his assumptions had been more than confirmed to him by now, so really he'd call it horseshit if you were to speak to him about how he's got to be open-minded and etc.

However!! While he does have more respects for a snail than for GLaDOS, it might come to a surprise to you when I say he finds her much more tolerable than Dimitri! So hey, at least she got that going for her! Even if he'd never admit that. There are several reasons that go into this — for instance, the fact that she isn't love-struck & her actions (cough, life) not entirely centered around such do make talking to her less annoying. You could claim that she's love-stuck by science, I guess, but she doesnt whine about it. GLaDOS is also far less gullible, much more observant; while it was fortunate for Clive that Dimitri wasn't alike to her in that aspect, conversing with a fool that has only one thing in mind is hardly interesting, and at some point forward even the thrill of deceiving them was gone, more alike to a ludicrously boring routine. It hurts me to insult Allen like this but, yeah — speaking to someone who's less naive is, ultimately, less tedious.

Also uh, this is sad to say but, yknow, Clive keeping up an act around Dimitri at all times was draining — smiling while wanting to strangle someone is!! not a fun thing. Neither is acting like you're a fan of a work that had your parents killed. But, with GLaDOS, he doesn't have to pretend shit. To put it bluntly, it's a relief he can be the asshole he wants to be without repressing it. And, relief makes stuff more tolerable! For him.

There's definitely the comfort of 'im having a bad day and im about to make that everyones problem' that he was unable to do all these years but, hey, you didn't hear that from me.

Regarding testing, they're not always horribly annoying to him unlike he'd claim — especially the ones you could (almost) compare to puzzles; they do catch his interest, and there's always the satisfaction you get when you got it right. However, he'll always be awfully reluctant to do the tests despite how intriguing they might be, and should he end up doing it anyway — never express that delight. Maybe a smirk might slip, but should she point that out he'd make sure in one way or another for her to take that back, or reason said smirk to be something insulting against her — yknow, the usual. Clive wants to be as inconvenient as possible as a 'test subject', and, is doing a good job at that. While yeah, the tests can low-key be temporarily nice, you won't find him miss these should she finally leave him alone. There are a lot of things he's missing, but GLaDOS and her Tests will never be on the list, really.

Send [ body ] + a character name to know my muse’s body language around that character.

So, uh. we both know he's emotionally unstable, right. Talking about his Body Language when he's acting like that is,, difficult, since it depends highly on his mood swings and I'm not about to count them all,, we'll be here forever if I do that. All I can say is that he's surely tense & sensitive whilst it.

However!! I'll ramble a bit about his usual demeanour w/ GLaDOS when things are "fine", whatever that means when talking about Clive

If he's just 'kinda there', as in low-spirited yet still well enough to talk shit (which is the 'usual' in their interactions IG) you can absolutely expect him to intentionally sit 'wrong' yet comfortably — just, y'know, to express disdain even further. Usually, it'd mean he's rather comfortable around you, but in this case, it's frankly just a lack of care of what GLaDOS thinks of him. She already knows he's got issues smh why bother giving a good impression,, Guard isn't really up either, slacking far too much to be so — just this state of "meh." where he very well can complain about the situation at hand without leaving despite it. Uhh, what else — ah and he got his hat off, likely just cast aside somewhere. shrugs

If Clive is ACTUALLY spacing out, be it to the extent where he trails off and loses his line of thoughts like all 30 seconds, or even as far to where he doesn't respond at all — if he's standing, sitting, henceforth, one thing for sure his posture would be slumped, although seeing how it's usually a thing that happens gradually, he'd stop sitting so improper (aside from the slumped posture, of course) so there's that, at least. Guard is obviously thrown out of the roof in such things. Whilst sitting there's also this habit where he'd tip with his fingers on the palm of the other hand (imagine like playing on a piano) or instead have a fist resting in it (as if you're counting for rock paper scissors) while he's spacing out— I can imagine GLaDOS would have already picked up on that to tell when he's getting lost in thought again.

Obviously, he got better days than that, where he'd care to keep up the manners you'd expect from him — but rest assured if he has the energy to act normal, he'll also have the energy to leave should GLaDOS show up. So, the next best thing is where he's irked, which. Well, that's not all too fun either, but. He'd sit upright, arms crossed, perchance even legs crossed, rather tense, you get the idea—much less cooperative too, but what else is new.

#it’s friday and the house is burning [memes]#nothing left to say [ask reply]#nurotoxin #// hands u an essay

2 notes · View notes

quinnybee-writes · 5 years

Text

Title: The Silence Is So Loud

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Rating: G

Word Count: 1826

Summary:

Shouta didn’t want people to be soft and wary and kind to him; he didn’t want to be coddled and kept warm and dry. He wanted to storm and stalk and bulldoze his way through the rain until he looked as bad on the outside as he felt on the inside. He wanted to shove it into everyone’s performative, platitude-spewing faces and make them see that things were stupid and bad and would be that way forever because of him, no matter how much they patted him on the head and told him things would turn around eventually.

Picking up the pieces is always harder than it looks, but it gets easier if you have another set of hands.

**BNHA: Vigilantes Spoilers**

On AO3

Hizashi kept trying to share his umbrella as they walked home from school, half-jogging to stay in step with Shouta even as he tried to sidle out from under it. Shouta walked directly through some deep puddles to shake him but Hizashi kept pace with him, grimacing as his shoes flooded and the rainwater wicked up his pant legs to the knee. Shouta gritted his teeth in a flash of white-hot annoyance. He stalked away from Hizashi on the last few seconds of a crossing signal, stranding him and his stupid umbrella on the other side of the street. Even that only gained him a few moments alone in the downpour. Practically right on his heels he heard Hizashi shouting apologies to drivers as he scurried through traffic to catch up; a moment later the umbrella had returned. Shouta took a sharp left down a side street, shoving past Hizashi as he did. Hizashi took a moment to recover but soon enough he was back at Shouta’s side.

Shouta felt the last brittle strands on his patience snap like an overtuned piano wire in his chest. If there was one person he’d counted on to understand where he was right now, it was Hizashi. Shouta didn’t want people to be soft and wary and kind to him; he didn’t want to be coddled and kept warm and dry. He wanted to storm and stalk and bulldoze his way through the rain until he looked as bad on the outside as he felt on the inside. He wanted to shove it into everyone’s performative, platitude-spewing faces and make them see that things were stupid and bad and would be that way forever because of him, no matter how much they patted him on the head and told him things would turn around eventually. He wheeled on Hizashi, hands balled into fists. Before Hizashi could react, Shouta snatched the umbrella from him, closed it, and shoved it hard into his chest. Hizashi stared at him, mouth hanging open in shock, but Shouta was already blazing past him back towards the main street.

“I lost him too you know!” The sudden whipcrack of Hizashi’s voice made Shouta stop short. He turned to see Hizashi still standing where he’d left him, head down and hands shaking as he gripped his umbrella in white-knuckle fists.

“I decided I was okay with always being your second choice a long time ago, because at least then I was still a choice,” Hizashi went on. His voice was choked and raw in a way Shouta had never heard from him before. “But now you’re too busy being an asshole to even notice I exist!” Hizashi stormed over as he spoke, his voice climbing to a furious bark. “You just mope around with your head up your ass, leaving me behind like you don’t even care!” He punctuated his words by shoving Shouta in the chest again and again, sending him stumbling back a step each time. Shouta smirked bitterly. It sounded like Hizashi was finally realizing the trash he’d spent so long trying to elevate was just holding him back. Good for him. He turned away, ready to leave Hizashi to follow the thought through to the inevitable conclusion of Shouta’s worthlessness. Hizashi grabbed him hard by the jacket lapels, shaking him sharply and screaming, “Look at me!”

Shouta was so startled by the jolt that he did. At first he just felt confused by what he saw. Hizashi’s face was flushed and blotchy, the dark hollowness of his eyes made all the more obvious by the tears streaming down his face. Hizashi was genuinely, blazingly angry; worse still, he was crying. None of this made any sense. Hizashi didn’t get mad; he got salty and caustic and hilariously petty but he never seemed to have it in him to get mad. Likewise he might squeeze out a few tears for a cute baby animal video or when something especially sappy happened in a Disney movie, but never in choked, breathless sobs like this. Shouta stared, frozen, while his numb brain scrambled for a reaction.

The fight seemed to go out of Hizashi as their eyes finally met. He slumped forward onto Shouta’s neck, fists still gripping his jacket so hard Shouta could feel every knuckle straining. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t do this by myself. Please. I need you, Shouta, please…”

This was wrong. No one needed him, he was the reason everything fell apart. No one should think the person who broke them this badly would be the one to fix things again. Shouta didn’t think he could fix anything now. Even so, some part of him wanted to try if it meant Hizashi wouldn’t hurt like this anymore. Slowly Shouta lifted his arms and wrapped them around Hizashi’s shoulders. Hizashi’s arms snapped tight around his ribs, fingers digging into his back so hard it was almost painful. Shouta shut his eyes tight, squeezing Hizashi just as hard as he took what felt like his first full breath in weeks.

They went to Hizashi’s apartment because it was closer and the rain was coming down harder than ever. Hizashi’s mother didn’t ask why the two of them showed by raw-eyed and soaked to the skin. Instead she just ushered them both into warm baths and dry clothes in an affectionately exasperated tone that brooked no argument. Shouta went first, drifting in the hot water until the prickling feeling on his skin stopped. Everything that had been moving double-time seemed to have boomeranged around to a snail’s pace instead. Being angry had at least felt like he’d been doing something, even if it had mostly just been burning his life down and salting the earth behind him. Now his warpath had been brought to a screeching halt and the sludgy inertia of sadness was biting at his heels.

When he emerged Hizashi’s mother descended on him almost immediately with still more practical comforts. She tucked a large knitted blanket around his shoulders before wrapping him in a hug almost as bone-crushing as her son’s and kissing the top of his head. It felt pleasantly suffocating as she squeezed him so tightly he felt his back pop; what felt even better was the way she just pushed a mug of very strong tea with too much milk and honey into his hands and sat him down on the couch without any of the thousand iterations of commiserating with his pain he’d grown so rabidly sick of. She repeated the ritual with Hizashi when he came out of the bathroom, telling them she would be working on emails in her room if they needed her before leaving them alone.

Hizashi dumped himself awkwardly onto the other end of the couch from Shouta. The distance between them felt immeasurable and alien. Shouta glanced at Hizashi out of the corner of his eye. The other boy was staring down into his tea without seeing it, wet hair sticking to his forehead and the back of his neck. He looked as lost and broken and small as Shouta felt now. A sharp squirm of guilt dug its way into the pit of Shouta’s stomach and begged him to just leave before he made things worse. He took a deep breath and stood his ground against himself.

“I’m sorry, Hizashi,” Shouta said quietly. He saw Hizashi flinch in his peripheral vision, hands flexing around his mug.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Hizashi replied with a forced chuckle that sounded more like he was trying not to throw up. “I know you’re going through...stuff. I, uh. Got kind of vicious back there. Sorry.”

“You were right, though,” Shouta said. “I’ve been too caught up in myself to pay attention to anyone else. That’s not fair. I’m sorry.” He frowned, trying to think of a good way to phrase the rest. “What you said before, about always being my second choice,” he began.

“We don’t have to get into that,” Hizashi jumped in quickly. “I-I was just mad, saying shit.” He bit his lip, shaking his head. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It obviously is,” Shouta said, a little more sharply than he’d really meant it. This seemed so patently Hizashi, playing off his feelings to keep things from getting too serious. Shouta wondered how long this had been boiling below the surface. “Even if it isn’t,” he said, starting again, “maybe it should be?” Hizashi looked over at him, surprised. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I always thought it was all three of us in it together. Equally. I’m sorry I made you feel like that wasn’t true.” Shouta sighed, shaking his head. “I didn’t realize how messed up things were already. Too far up my own ass I guess.”

To his surprise Hizashi snorted out a weak laugh at that. He breached the unspoken divide between them, scooting over to lean just a little bit too much into Shouta’s personal space. It was normal for him, but normal felt like a miracle right now. “Don’t beat yourself up too much,” Hizashi said, elbowing him gently in the side. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t spend half your life stuck in your own head.”

Shouta rolled his eyes but deep down he felt comforted by the backhanded compliment. “Can I tell you something stupid?” he asked.

“Always.”

“Honestly, I. I always kind of thought I was the one who didn’t fit,” Shouta admitted quietly. “I’m just okay at school, and I’m not good with people or with my Quirk yet like you and--like the two of you are,” he said. He corrected himself before he said the name out loud; just the thought of it still felt like swallowing broken glass. He shook his head. “How the hell did we manage to have two black sheep in a group of three people?” he wondered dryly.

Hizashi barked out a sharp but genuine laugh. “And somehow it’s us oddballs who are left,” he agreed. “Figure that one out.” He gave a theatrical broad shrug, then slumped back down onto the couch. The moment of levity seemed to hang in brittle shards around them. It felt wrong to be joking around, but it felt worse being sad. Shouta leaned into Hizashi’s side, resting his head on Hizashi’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” he admitted in a shaky whisper.

“Me neither,” Hizashi murmured. “Guess we have to figure it out on our own.”

Shouta felt a warm trepidation at the word “we”. “Are you sure you still want to saddle yourself with me?” he asked.

Hizashi snorted, his mouth quirking into a ghost of his usual broad grin.“Uh, duh. You’re never getting rid of me now.”

“Promise?” The question felt childish and Shouta immediately regretted letting it slip out. Hizashi took his hand, threading their fingers together and squeezing tight.

“Yeah. I promise.”

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #boku no hero academia: vigilantes #my hero academia: vigilantes #boku no hero academia: vigilantes spoilers #my hero academia: vigilantes spoilers #vigilantes spoilers #aizawa shouta #shouta aizawa #yamada hizashi #hizashi yamada #I don't even go here I just have a lot of feelings #and most of those feelings are ANGST #Quinny thinks she's a writer

19 notes · View notes

thesaltyoceanwaves · 5 years

Text

Bewitched Part 4 (FINALE)

Ao3

@lenoreofraven

Today’s Musical Number: Breathin by Ariana Grande

Bonus Number: True by Marina (formely Marina and the Diamonds) (this song isn’t an official number, but I would recommend it anyway.)

"You remind me of a time when things weren't so complicated. All I need is to see your face." - Breathin, Ariana Grande

The only time she pushes herself to the point of complete physical exhaustion is when she’s trying to get a scoop for the Ladyblog. And in the year or so she’s been running the blog, Alya has managed to score amazing scoops aplenty. Sure, she threw herself in physical peril from time to time, probably more than she should have. And if Nora were to ever know just how much, she would never let her leave the house. But she always took comfort in the fact that all of her hard work paid off and cultivated in a successful but factual blog about her city’s hero.

As if that wasn’t enough, Alya also managed to juggle her blog with an acceptably active social life. Her boyfriend was not only an incredibly talented DJ (in her incredibly bias view), but also the superhero Carapace. While she didn’t care for fashion or celebrity life, she did think it was pretty cool to be friendly with well-known model Adrien Agreste, son of a famous fashion designer. And then there was Marinette, her clumsy, overworked friend who was head over heels for Adrien. But despite her failings, Marinette always meant through and could always be relied on to come through in the end.

Life was laid out to be perfect for the budding journalist.

In the past couple of weeks, Alya completely blew it.

Somehow, during that time, Alya managed to get on Marinette’s bad side, leaving her cursed and almost all alone at the school.

The key word was almost. Anyone left in the building all shared the same red mark on the forehead as her. Everyone else had been familiarized and followed Marinette out to retrieve the miraculouses. In her state, she wanted to leave the building, find Ladybug and get her own miraculous to save her friend, but she had no idea where to even begin looking. The curse also made things more difficult, with the only relief she could take was knowing that it didn’t affect her thoughts. It was only when she spoke or attempted to make an important decision that it came into play.

So, that left her in the classroom, with only a couple of people to keep her company. Lila, still forced into telling the truth, and almost constantly choking over her words. Max, who caused electronics to explode any time he went near them, with Kim practically wailed at the sight of his 3DS short-circuiting. Speaking of whom, the athlete was cursed to move at the pace of a snail. Poor Rose was sobbing in the corner, about… well, who knew at this point. She would cry at the drop of a dime.

The other corners were preoccupied by Mylene and Ivan, in what had to be the saddest case of being cursed. They were no longer acting the lovey-dovey couple they were well-known for being. Any time they tried to talk to each other, they would fall into constant arguing, and had to be kept apart because of how much it upset Rose. To be fair, Alya had to bite back some of her own tears upon hearing them say how much they detested each other.

There were a few attempts she made at starting conversation, or doing something proactive. “The akuma must be in her phone. Or maybe a present she got from Adrien?” “This wouldn’t have happened if she just agreed to date Adrien.” “The reason for her akumatization must be jealousy.”

Not only did she get hard glares from almost everyone left in the class, but she could occasionally feel the curse mark burn and sting. After a while, she had to keep her theorizing to herself.

She began by going back in time to when Lila first returned back to school. Or maybe even before that, when she first came. When everyone was hyping her up as this cool rich girl that had all sorts of celebrities on speed dial, including Ladybug. Marinette had been the only one that didn’t seem to like her, but Alya knew that it was just her jealousy of Adrien that created that tension. Even after her akumatization and brief withdrawal from school though, Marinette didn’t let up on the girl. Just how jealous could she be?

Her forehead stung yet again, and she winced. It subsided a bit, but there was a still a warm glow as she meditated on the events of Hero’s Day. Replaying the scene in her head, she thought about Marinette’s insistent fact-checking of Lila’s stories. Alya didn’t think much of it at the time. She was rich and the daughter of a diplomat, why would she lie about those sort of things?

But then again, Chloe was rich and the daughter of the mayor, and Alya knew she lied from time to time. Just because Lila was nicer than Chloe, didn’t mean she was incapable of lying.

She bit her lip.

The curse mark emitted a gentle, warm glow, as if to indicate she was onto something. Lila lying and being allowed to get away with it… yeah, Marinette would be upset about that. She hates liars. But… is that enough to get her akumatized? Lila would have been lying for weeks at this point…

She refocused her attention to the way things panned out with Adrien. Surely, Marinette had to be upset because she waited too long after he confessed, and he ended up dating Lila, right?

The harsh warmth returned. She clutched her forehead.

But that’s impossible! If she doesn’t like Lila, and she loves Adrien… what could be the issue then?

Alya knew Marinette was utterly crushed when Adrien rejected her, especially since she hadn’t meant to confess her feelings; he only overheard her and Lila in a fierce conversation, and had to pull her aside to turn her down. So when he did come around (as Alya predicted), she was confused as to why Marinette would say no. And when she finally did get an explanation, Marinette was pretty vague about some of the details. She simply said, “There’s been a misunderstanding. Things aren’t so simple between us right now. I’m sorry, but I can’t really talk about it.”

She raised an eyebrow at this. “You’re just running away, aren’t you?”

Alya didn’t give up on it though. She didn’t want to employ the tactic, but she might have slipped an idea to Adrien about making her jealous. He was all too eager to go along with it, but not so eager to fake date Lila. Still, he did it to try and get Marinette to come back around. It might have worked too, if it wasn’t timed so close to when Marinette left for China with her family.

The mark began to sizzle and she cringed, pressing her palm against it.

Maybe Marinette wasn’t jealous of Lila, just upset with Adrien?

The sizzling ceased.

The stunt with Lila must have upset her because she knew what Adrien was doing. She told Alya she just wanted some space to figure things out for herself. And when Adrien didn’t listen, she didn’t take it too well.

Now that she thought about it, Alya was doing the same thing to her too, wasn’t she?

She clutched her head in her hands. I really messed up, didn’t I?

With sudden clarity, Alya raced out of the classroom and into the streets, in search of Marinette.

She’s not going to mess up this time.

Felix’s transformation is dramatically different in terms of style. Gone is his vest and white button up and slacks. His new outfit looks more leathery and...

He sort of looks like Chat Noir. He even looks at Marinette with the same love befitting of the cat hero, but she isn’t afraid to share the look back at him. There’s a fondness that she no longer holds for Adrien.

Luka wasn’t sure that he wanted to be there to see that, but if Adrien were to show up and see all of this, he would want to be far outside of the city. Or at least transformed, but he couldn’t risk letting Marinette know he had the snake kwami. He needed an escape, but how?

“So impatient,” Marinette clucks her tongue, lowering herself down in front of the newly familiarized Felix, stroking his chin, “You were next in line, Chaton. Were you jealous? There’s no reason to be. I have love for you, Luka and Kagami. I want you to know that you are so dear to me, and for your kind words, I will place my trust in you.”

Smiles were rare for Felix, and seeing one might have brought a smile to Luka’s face. Instead, watching him smile and lean his cheek into Marinette’s touch reminded him of a plucked guitar string - a piece missing from making a complete range of sound.

Her gentle gaze turns away from Felix and back toward Luka. “It seemed I missed last time, but I won’t be this time.”

Just as she fires up the pink energy in her hand, Queen Bee, Chat Noir and Ryukōun land in front of them, prepared for attack. Her face hardens at the sight of the cat hero.

“M’lady, I’m here to save the day and make things right,” Chat Noir declares, “This time, I’ll show you that I’m the purr-fect guy for you!”

The two girls look to each other and groan, and Luka can’t help but be sick. He’s heard bad lyrics in his life, but nothing will ever top that. Marinette is the only one to look slightly inconvenienced by the whole ordeal.

“I only need one thing from you Chat Noir,” she declares coolly, “And I think we all know by now what that is,” she turns to the familiarized Felix, “Chaton, do me a favor and retrieve that imposter cat’s ring.”

Before Luka can react or really take in the scene, he feels a string wrap around him and pull him away from the fray. Somewhere, behind a building, Ryukōun regards him with a heavy look.

“I’d take the opportunity to transform if I were you,” she points out, “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“I’d rather not fight but…” Sass pops out of his pocket and gives him a gentle nod. “Give me just a sec. I’ll join you in a bit.”

She returned to the battle, just in time to witness Queen Bee get knocked into Chat Noir. Unfortunately, Venom was activated and it grazes Chat, leaving him immobile. She tries to rush over and help out, but Felix cuts her off, taking off the ring and undoing Adrien’s transformation.

Marinette smirks, petting her familiar. “Very good, Chaton. This creep will no longer be bothering us.”

Chloe’s transformation is about to wear off, and Kagami realizes the urgency of needing to get her out of the area. She has no doubt that Hawkmoth would be interested in obtaining more miraculouses for the sake of whatever plans he has in mind. And with the cat miraculous now in Felix’s hand, things are going to get messier.

She curses herself for thinking such a thing at the sight of Alya Cesaire running up to the group, clearly out of breath. Interestingly, the curse mark on her forehead is faint now, turning into more of a light pink color.

This catches Marinette’s attention.

“It seems you’ve come to realize your mistake, Alya,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest, “And would you care to explain what that is?”

The Ladyblogger is bent over, her hands on her knees as she’s trying to regain breath. Looking up to regard her friend, Alya says, “I’m sorry… I should have listened to you. I just thought I was doing what was best for you. But I realize… it was just about my own ego and what I wanted. I should have been a better friend.”

The symbol changes shape and is now a clearly more defined pink. At the sight of this, Marinette smirks.

“Very good. You shall be spared.”

A pink beam is fired in Alya’s direction. Content with the transformation, the newly made familiar takes a stance next to Felix.

They’re almost down two miraculous users already, and Marinette has an army of who knows how many familiars by this point. And now, she’s glaring down Adrien with the most wicked glare of the entire day.

She zaps him with a red beam. “Adrien Agreste. You invaded my privacy, my space, and ruined my happiness. And so, you shall be cursed so that no matter how long you chase, no matter how close you get, you will never be able to get me. Every time you try, you’ll only manage to set yourself back.”

Before Adrien can object, he poofs into thin air. And to make matters worse, Chloe’s transformation is entirely undone, leaving her defenseless.

“Hey, what happened to Adrien?” Chloe demands.

“Nothing nefarious, I assure you,” Marinette sighs, looking rather bored with the exchange, “Despite what he’s done to me, I wouldn’t go that far. No, he’s somewhere in this city, far away enough from me. He won’t be hurting me again.”

Part of her feels unsympathetic toward the blonde. He pushed and pushed Marinette, and now he was finally getting what he deserved. She could understand Marinette’s motivations and actions in a way.

But the rational part of her knows that she can’t just leave Adrien all alone. Someone has to keep tabs on him, especially if he decides to do something rash.

“Get out of here,” Kagami says, catching Chloe with the yo-yo and spinning her off in another direction, “And go and find Adrien!”

The blonde huffs at the request, but wastes no time getting out of the area. That just leaves her with Marinette.

What is taking Luka so long? All he needs to do is transform and get out here!

All of the ire and spite that plagued her dissipates. She only regards Kagami with a chilling warmth. Kagami wraps her fingers around the yo-yo, prepared for anything Marinette has to throw at them.

“There’s no need for that,” Marinette insists, “I’m not going to hurt you. And with Adrien out of the way, our nightmares are quelled.”

“Are you nightmares really quelled, Marinette?” Kagami asks, “You might think that because you cursed him and anyone else that hurt you. But that hurt in your heart? Everything you went through? Can you just forget about that?”

“Why would you say something like that? None of that stuff matters now.”

“That’s not true,” someone interrupts.

The newly created snake hero leaps over to them, his lyre out and at the ready. There’s a moment of silence as he and Marinette pass a look. Kagami can’t decide if she’s relieved that he’s finally on the scene or more on edge thinking about what’s about to happen.

“What are you doing?” she asks, regarding him with a frown. “I hope you don’t plan on fighting me.”

“I know I can’t fight you,” he answers quietly, “But I do wish to help you. Just listen,” he says, strumming the strings of the lyre, “And tell me what you hear.”

She frowns, preparing to fire at him. A flash of purple over eyes seems to be persuading her to do it, but she hesitates.

“Please,” he asks quietly, “If it hurts too much, you can do whatever you want to me in retaliation.”

Kagami is about to ask him if he’s out of his mind, but when she glances over to him, she sees that his expression remains firm and serious. She didn’t think an akuma attack like this would get her to see such different sides of him.

Marinette must have been thinking the same thing, because she lowers her hand, and the color in her hands fades out.

“Fine,” Marinette huffs, “I suppose I can grant that request.”

Gently, his fingers graze against the strings of the harp. His eyes are closed and he’s deep in though, and yet he doesn’t look the least bit worried. Almost as if there’s mutual assurance that she’s not going to do anything to her.

Kagami can only watch as Luka plays the harp, and Marinette starts singing along. At first, she feels like a bit of an intruder, a third party that wasn’t meant to hear this song. But then she remembers Felix, whose expression starts to soften, and his body relax. Kagami can’t help but place a hand over her heart as she allows the music to soothe her senses.

When she looks up at the witch akuma, she can see that tears have started to dot her eyes, until she’s finally crying and her hands cover the rest of her face up.

“What have I done?” she sobs.

“It’s okay,” Luka insists, “We can fix this.”

Kagami dares to take a step closer to her. “Marinette, please, let us have the akuma.”

It takes her a moment to agree to it, as the flash of purple returns to argue against it, but Kagami thinks she hears a yes. Underneath the collar of the shirt, she unties a ribbon as she lowers herself to the ground. With a single tug, the akuma is out and about, and Kagami wastes no time cleansing it and casting the miraculous healing.

Marinette is still crying as her form falls. Nudging to a now free Felix to watch over her for a moment, Kagami and Luka make a quick escape in the chaos to allow their transformations to fall. She takes the earrings out before making her way back to Marinette, who is sobbing in Felix’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” she says in between breaths.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. Now, let’s get you home.”

---

She stares at the ceiling of her bedroom for hours.

After the akumatization wore off, Marinette’s memory of events was a bit fuzzy. She remembers Felix, Kagami and Luka comforting her. Then nothing. Then having her parents’ arms wrapped around her. And then somehow being in her bedroom, the lights dimmed,

She couldn’t sleep. She needed to, so badly. But sleep would not overtake her.

Turning herself over to look over the bottom part of the room, her fingers curl over the edges of her diary.

So many words and thoughts in her mind. But none of them will easily translate to the page. And so she sinks deeper into the angry, bitter thoughts that overtook her. She isn’t going to catch a single wink of sleep that night, even as she tries to will herself into deep slumber.

All she can think about is how school is going to suck tomorrow.

Her phone, which had been charging on the shelf above her bed, flashes with some new messages on screen.

Luka: Just wanted to check and see if you were alright. If you’re up for it, would you like to hang out tomorrow?

Kagami: I hope you’re doing a bit better. Remember, you can always talk to me if something is bothering you. It will get better, and there are plenty of other people willing to talk with you, if you wish.

Felix: Please take care of yourself. I’m here to help with whatever you need.

She lets out a deep breath. Alya might be more of a wild card in this scenario, but she at least had backup. Tomorrow was still going to suck.

But she wasn’t facing tomorrow, or Adrien, alone anymore.

---

END ACT 2.

#miraculous ladybug #ml salt #ml salt fic #nice guy adrien #nice guy adrien au #nice guy adrien the musical #adrien salt #akumanette #akumatized marinette #chameleon salt

63 notes · View notes

jdscanvas · 6 years

Text

The Best Part About My Favorite MLP: FiM Characters

I might have said this somewhere else before, but despite being a very casual fan of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I am particularly fond of four specific characters:

Twilight Sparkle-The show's protagonist

Shining Armor- Her brother

Cadence- Her sister-in-law

Flurry Heart- Her niece

Don't get me wrong, one of the show's greatest strengths is the effort placed into character development (not character progression, where a character goes through arcs, but where a character is fleshed out; to be fair the show has handled progression quite nicely too). There are loads of great characters to love in both this and many other shows (especially ever since The Simpsons popularized extended casts...to my knowledge anyways). Lately I've had a huge soft spot for Thorax, Pharynx, Ocellus, the Young Six, and hell Starlight's even grown on me despite her rushed redemption arc. Plus I’ll always love the royal sisters.

I already appreciate my four personal favorites because of their designs and personalities (although some could use a bit more fleshing out in that category).

However, what I think truly makes me love Twilight, Armor, Cadence, and Flurry Heart is their family dynamic.

Honestly....where to start?

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, pretty much some of the last of Lauren Faust's contributions to the show, are super important to Twilight. They're not just her brother and sister-in-law, they are her oldest friends.

Shining Armor was always there for Twilight, and they always did everything together in their youth. He always refers to her as Twily, he always looks out for her, and he's made explicitly clear that she will never stop being important to him. He made her his maid of honor at his wedding, set up an old game from their childhood to tell her when she was going to be an aunt, and was going to, essentially, have her CHRISTEN HIS CHILD.

Once Cadence came into the picture as her babysitter, Twilight had a sister figure. As many fans know, she did this corny dance with Twilight, and to this day they still do it. It's so important to them that Twilight was able to tell Cadence apart from an impostor because the real Cadence could recite it flawlessly. As Cadence herself said, she could never forget her.

And Twilight? She always makes it clear to both of them how much she loves them and being with them. Some of this stuff isn't explicitly stated but clear none-the-less, they trust each another entirely, hang out, go on vacation and have dinner together.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/b/ba/Twilight_hugging_Shining_Armor_and_Cadance_S5E19.png/revision/latest?cb=20151019151825

Even just this small moment from when they announced she would be an Aunt, where she became overjoyed, hugged both of them, and said that she loved them tells me all I need to know.

Armor is a great leader, a kind protective soul, and a complete dork, just like his sister (sure would be nice to see him display his true power more often). Cadence is warm, loving, affectionate, and laid back (she may not quite be as well developed as the others, but she’s been growing on me through the years.). Not to mention the magical, un-dying love shared between Shining Armor and Cadence (although again I’d love to see more of how they bounce of off each other because of the differences in their personalities). That speaks for itself.

Flurry has grown on me so much. She could have easily been as faultily handled as Poof from Fairly Odd Parents, just an overpowered baby with little to no charm.

But she isn't.

Despite being a baby, she has shown she's inherited a dorky side from the rest of her family, she sticks out her tongue when she's happy sometimes, she stacks other baby playmates for fun, and her freakin' plushie is a snail.

She's not some uber-powerful messiah, despite being born an alicorn; she's the family's baby. She gets upset sometimes, she stresses her parents and Aunt out, she gets into pudding and smears it all over the floor. And the other three (and the grandparents)? They have nothing but unconditional love for her. Not only are Shining and Cadence so well devoted to their daughter, but Twilight is so...in love with this baby you'd swear it was like Flurry was her own daughter. She spoils her and gives her just as much love as she does to the rest of her friends and family; it’s almost like she wants to pass down the love she’s been given by the two who cared for her. Flurry is the Sparkle family daughter, before she’s an alicorn princess golden child. She’s now a part of an unbreakable bond between Shining Armor, Twilight, and Cadence.

And yes, of course Hasbro wouldn’t dare portray them as anything other than a loving family, but just the way they’re all so firmly connected...it’s inspiring.

I don’t think it’s out of the picture for Cadence to see Twilight and Flurry both as her “babies”, and I also believe that Armor would blurt it out too on accident, but I digress. Her and Armor must surely love Twilight like she was their own daughter, I mean they took care of her throughout her life. By extension, I think Shining Armor would see them as his “girls”; they’re the three girls he loves the most in the whole world.

Now I know, three of these guys are technically secondary characters, and of course Twlight’s friends, all of them, mean the world to her, but remember:

Before her students at the School of Friendship,

Before her pupil Starlight,

Before her unbreakable bond with the other Mane Six,

Before Celestia,

Before even freaking Spike,

there was Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.

She claims she never cared about friendship before she meet the Mane Six, but the truth is that deep down, she already knew friendship before she began to study it. And that’s all thanks to the two ponies that, well there’s no other way to say it, grew up with her...hell you could even say raised her. She can always count on them, they can always count on her, and they’ll always be there for each other, whether in peril, or for the holidays.

Cadence has so clearly, unquestionably, been accepted as a member of the Sparkle family so long ago; it’s all thanks of the bond she formed with the Sparkle siblings. I think in a way they would pass that down to Flurry Heart, because now they have someone new to share this undying love with.

When it comes to the future of the show, I have a few thoughts on where they should go. Maybe Shining Armor starts feeling a bit gloomy that all his family except for him is made of alicorns, even his own daughter. He would never ever hold it against them but he can’t help but feel pushed to the sidelines; that he’s not really a Prince at all, and not because of his family but because of how the public sees him as just a useless figurehead, some idiot wingless pony playing dress-up. And maybe Twilight would try to give him a test like what she received, because she loves him and agrees that it’s unfair; he can’t share the skies with her, his wife, or even his own child. She knows he has what it takes, so how could he not be an alicorn already? Cadence would agree, wanting to be able to soar the skies with her loving daughter AND her husband---her best friend. Hell, maybe Shining Armor would pass whatever test he was given, either an intentional or unexpected one, and earn wings. Personally, however? I think they’d state it doesn’t matter, because they love him and they, including the Royal Sisters, see him as their equal and a true member of the royal family, with or without wings.

What would really top it off would be a scene of the four of them (well I don’t know maybe not Flurry since she’s a baby) fighting together in a scene.

Additional side note, I totally see Armor making a Hearts and Hooves Day surprise for all three of them, because surely he loves them all that much.

So in short,

I love these four. They’re so wholesome and fun to watch. What we’ve gotten from them so far is great, but I would love to see more. They’ve even inspired my own work. Just like the whole show in general, it doesn’t seem like much but then it goes above and beyond.

I sure hope I’ve justified my borderline monomania over fictional characters.

#shining armor #princess cadence #twilight sparkle #flurry heart #friendship is magic #ponies #appreciation #editorial #my little pony

6 notes · View notes

chyneashlytoo · 4 years

Photo

#GlowGurl: BEAUTY FAIR 2018 by CHALK.PH (and Haul?) [UPDATED 2020]

Posted: 3 September 2018 (Wordpress blog) Note: this is not beta-ed | Photo (top): Chalk.Ph facebook page, (bottom) Mine

~~~

This marks my very first beauty fair because to me, it’s only recently that I’ve gotten into makeup – fairly ‘recent’ at least two or two and a half years now. It was all the “mom pressure” my mom did with her constant banter of, “Ikaw lang ang kilala kong Fine Arts student na hindi marunong mag-makeup! (You are the only Fine Arts student that I know of who doesn’t know how to do makeup)” She always emphasizes the ‘Fine Arts student’ part whenever she would tell me off. To be honest, I think my mom regrets it at times because of the money part in the equation wherein I – more like my mom and I – spend buying products and tools to add to our collection.

~ Brief backstory ~

My forced interest in the makeup department started when I was in my 3rd Year in College and it started with my first mascara, I’d consider that late already since I studied in an all-girls high school and I kept seeing some of my classmates back then wearing the go-to cheek and lip tints and powder. One or maybe two of the factors that didn’t really peak my interest in makeup was because my mom kept telling me I was ‘too young’ to wear makeup (I was in high school) and that I have sensitive skin – sadly that part is true, these held everything back in at least trying new products. I couldn’t really do anything at that time since I was too scared to put what I considered “gunk” on my face. But that gradually changed throughout the years between my senior year in high school and my junior year in college.

Brief product review: The Calvin Klein mascara that was given to me enhanced my already long and curled lashes (Thank you, genes from the father’s side LOL) and it did the job quite well – from lasting a very long time and keeping my lashes volumized and curled all day long…but it wasn’t waterproof so that’s a bummer. But nonetheless, it was a good product that started off my interest.

From curling my lashes and wearing mascara, I went on to perfect the brow game for a good year and a half. And after ‘perfecting’ – still working on it – what people would consider ‘on-fleek’ or Instagram brows, I moved on to blending eyeshadows and after half a year moved on to doing full-face makeup. I watched and watched tutorials on YouTube and I would practice them on my face in front of my mirror as well as on someone else’s face.

~ End of the brief backstory ~

The Beauty Fair by Chalk.Ph was held in UP Town Center last August 18 and 19 (Saturday and Sunday), which gave me the chance to experience my first beauty fair. Our trip there was very short though and I didn’t get enough time to roam around and actually participate in their programs because I still had other things to attend to that day – we went there on Saturday and arrived at UPTC just before lunchtime and left just before 1 PM.

It kind of made me sad because I wanted to see all the beauty gurus and experts that Chalk.Ph had in store for the people who were coming – maybe even take a picture with them, if I’m not mistaken, Ms. Anne Clutz (better known as Mama Anne) was present and dropped by – and I wanted to participate in their talks that would eventually give me more advice, tips, and ideas on how to do my makeup, skincare, and etc. better.

Chalk.Ph also had a gimmick where the first 100 people who were coming would receive a goodie bag (the photo with the white eco bag), just present the receipts that you’ve bought from the brands/booths and/or products that were a part of their program. It was filled with food as well as other products like makeup, facial wash, hair products and even napkins/pantyliners.

Everyone was very nice and very welcoming that they were very engaging (good sales talk LOL) with their customers, I was tempted to even buy some eyeshadow palettes that I have been eyeing for a long time. But I only got to buy a few things because I still was saving money – I was a broke fresh grad looking for a job – to buy other makeup products that would be of a better deal since some came in bundles which are a steal than the ones I saw in the beauty fair booths.

~~~

PRODUCT REVIEW TIME!

1. ANNE CLUTZ BRUSHES A. Ultimate Beginner Brush Set [watch here] - PHP 500.00 B. Eye Essentials Set [watch here] - PHP 800.00

When doing a full face makeup without the right tools is quite hard, yes fingers can be used to blend but there are certain things that I prefer using a brush. So with it, I have been waiting and saving my money to buy the Anne Clutz Brushes – both the Ultimate Beginner Brush Set and the Eye Essentials set – which will ultimately be the very first complete brush collection I have on my vanity. These brush sets honestly surprised me because not only are they at a cheaper price than most sets out there, but there are of good quality!

I watched Ms. Anne introduce the brushes on her YouTube channel where she told all the details there is to know about the brushes, from the design to the type of bristles it has and all of that. But that didn’t solely cement my plan in buying those brushes. It was also her vlog videos where I got to witness her and her family, as well as the Anne Clutz Brushes team, do a quality control with each brush that is delivered to them from the manufacturer – seeing that convinced me that the brushes I plan on buying will be good.

And they are.

The brushes were not only aesthetically pleasing to me but the way they feel made it even better. The bristles of the brushes weren’t the type that would feel prickly on the skin, a pet peeve for me especially remembering the brushes the makeup artist used on my face when I got my graduation photo taken. It is not the type of brush na kinakaskas na yung mukha mo at kulang nalang mabalatan na, it was definitely soft!

The product pick up is also good and the blend-ability of the brushes are A+ that I wouldn’t need to go in for another dip or dab on my makeup products unless I needed to layer them on.

A little tip!

Have a container that is not as tall or taller than your shortest makeup brush because then you’ll have to dig through and ‘contaminate’ your other brushes, or you’ll be holding/getting your brush by the bristles which will dirty and ruin them faster.

A quick fix is to put pebbles/marbles, or in my case, old chubby stars I did back in high school for it to be more leveled higher than the lid if my brush holder. This will then let me hold them by the handle of the brush itself.

2. SUNKISSED ORGANIC CLAY BLUSH - PHP 200.00

*This shade is perf for the tisay-naarawan-lang look*

Since everyone’s raving about this ‘dupe’ for the Luna Clay blush, that has apparently been ‘faked’ (not sure if you knew about the hearsay of what happened but to make the story short, the online shop RMK ay naloko ng supplier with regards to the Luna Clay Blush so they had to hold and replace all products with this one instead.. that’s from what I read so far, but please still do your research because I haven’t been updated with what really did happen.).

I’m not sure what the brand is or if the brand name really is ‘Clay Blush’ but I have to mention that I was quite hesitant in trying this one because as I’ve mentioned in the backstory that my skin is considered sensitive. But I’m glad that despite the simple packaging, this product had the good sense of stating what the ingredients are in it.

Components:

Candellila Wax

VCO

Grapeseed oil

Iron Oxide

Shea Butter

That’s basically everything that is said on the back, like in plain text that’s just it – no design whatsoever, there are a lot of video reviews of this product on YouTube so go check that out too.

The product is like a deodorant stick but smaller, it’s small with an estimate of 3 1/4 inches from top to bottom of the product. But it packs a punch. By that, I mean it’s very VERY pigmented so I don’t just go swiping it across my cheeks because I wouldn’t look sun-kissed anymore – I would look like a tomato or someone who was having an allergic reaction from something because of how red my face turned out.

But if I were to directly put it on my face, I would do a dabbing motion that will be enough to put color on my cheeks na parang naarawan lang 😉 It smells like a scented candle, by the way, but it doesn’t really bother me as much.

Another tip!

If I accidentally put too much, I would not rub it off. I will lightly dust it with my pressed powder (that matches my skin color) which will not only settle the product on my face but will also mute down the intensity of the color.

UPDATED REVIEW (2020) I was not halfway the product when I started to notice little bumps on my skin, it basically clogged my pores (for your info, I am a combination oil and dry skin type). No matter how much I washed/exfoliated my face after using the product, I still ended up having those tiny bumps on my skin. I proven this because after taking a break from using it, my skin cleared but when I tried it again, they all returned the next day. Sadly, it was a no for me. But maybe it might work for others.

3. FACEMASKS A. Tomato Face Mask - PHP 25.00/ea B. Charcoal Face Mask - PHP 25.00/ea

Ever since I got interested in makeup, skincare suddenly became a priority in my life. And within my 3rd year in college, I was introduced to face masks! My first face mask was a Tony Moly Snail Face mask, a friend of mine told me to put it in the ref before putting it on my face so it felt much cooler. That also started my mom’s “addiction” to using face masks - she’ll keep asking me what were good face masks for certain problems a face would have like wrinkles, sagging, redness etc.

These Face Masks (Tomato and Charcoal) are also from the same booth/shop I bought the Sunkissed Clay blush. RMK is an online shop, they have a physical store in Pure Gold Libertad, where they have a lot of products that they sell and the reviews are really good. The face masks were more for my mom than me, each was worth 25 pesos so mom bought them immediately.

Tip!

When we use our face masks, we specifically use it AFTER our weekly Aztec Clay Mask session because it cools down our faces and settles the redness that came when using the clay mask.

~~~

That’s about it for my product reviews, but I’ll show you some of the freebies I got in the goodie bag that we got.

We got (LEFT TO RIGHT)

A hair lotion (I gave those to my sister) that oddly smells like a salon. It claims to define and hold curls longer. And my sister confirmed this to be a good product.

Sun gel & cleanser from Face Republic that I have yet to try

Liquid metallic lipsticks from Revlon that I gave to someone else because it wasn’t my type

Lipsticks from Skin Potion which has a sheer finish, they both have the same red shade.

A pantyliner/napkin that I will be giving to someone else

and lastly, a Facial exfoliating cleanser from CURE that I have yet to try out

And that’s basically it!

0 notes

growlikeamum · 4 years

Text

Lessons from seeds and soil – how growing my own has helped my mental health

For some time now I have been pondering the idea of writing a blog post about my passion. A passion that crept up on me slowly the last 5 years and then hit me smack in the in face last September. A year and a half after returning to work after having a baby.

Before having my daughter, Ruby, I had previously owned an allotment plot and attempted to grow my own veg, but it was a big plot and I seemed to spend more time pulling out weeds than growing prize-winning pumpkins. In fact, it was quite the joke in my family when at the occasional Sunday roast, I’d be beaming with delight over a lone parsnip on a plate that, despite its wonky state, absolutely deserved a standing ovation because it was grown by my fair hand and came from my plot.

And yet despite my enthusiasm, my life had started to fill with other priorities. I was commuting a long way to work, we had a busy social life. My trips to the allotment became less, and my harvests became non-existent. My attendance at the allotment committee meetings was verging on poor (Oh yes! I was a fully-fledged allotment committee member too!). One day after a particularly hectic week, my husband gently suggested that give it up. And so…I did. I reluctantly gave notice on my plot, resigned from my position on the committee, and threw myself into work and the rest of life as I knew it.

And then in November 2016 I fell pregnant with my daughter, Ruby. At the same time they were making redundancies at my work, and so I opted for voluntary and found myself with a bit of time in my hands a few months before she was born. And I found my way back to the allotments… wondering amongst the plots and gazing enviously at the neat rows of carrots and shiny red strawberries. I bumped into the Chair of the committee and she suggested that I take a small plot on the community allotment that would be more manageable. I practically bit her hand of there and then.

That was three years ago and since then I’ve been tending this little 2 by 2 metre plot with more gusto and enthusiasm than ever before. As well as growing way more vegetables, this tiny little patch of soil has been my absolute saviour.

It’s helped me to discover more about my values, what genuinely makes me happy and what’s important to me. I’ve found my Tribe of equally enthusiastic and friendly allotment folk – both fellow community allotment holders on our site, and GYO enthusiasts on Instagram (I set up an Instagram account @growlikeamum to save my friends and family from being bombarded with pictures of marrows and “cute baby cucumbers”!) It’s also hobby is that I can involve Ruby with – it gets us out the house and into fresh air. She’s learning about where her food comes from and has no issues with eating her greens. And she pretty free to run wild and explore the plot as she pleases… chatting to snails or pinching someone else’s strawberries!

And yet the biggest and most valuable benefit of growing my own only became apparent to me late last year. This was a particular difficult time for me. I was trying to juggle a new role, a long commute as well as attempting to be a fully present mum and wife. I felt stressed, overwhelmed, and was being pretty hard on myself. And on a day when it all felt a bit too much, I headed to my little plot, picked up a spade, and started digging. I literally felt myself physically and mentally unwind. It was on this day that it hit me that it really is true. Being outside, connecting with nature and all that comes with the growing your own 100% helps your mental health. It helps you to gain some much-needed perspective and it’s taught me some very important lessons in life.

And whilst the worlds of allotments and my corporate job in Leadership Development may seem poles apart (if you pardon the pun!) I keep finding myself drawing parallels. Especially in light of COVID-19 pandemic.

The lessons in mental health and mindfulness, this connectedness with nature that lock down has brought and the benefits this brings. The need for patience - as I have discovered the hard way that different seeds and plant varieties all adjust to light, temperature and their environment at very different rates. What works for some, doesn’t work for others in much the same way as people. The need for good measured judgement, and learning from our mistakes (do I plant now and risk a frost, do I hold off?) The need for kindness and compassion for those in our community, looking out for one another and genuinely showing we care. The care, consideration and gratitude for this planet and our environment that nearly every grower I’ve met has shown. And finally, the understanding and acceptance that sometimes you get things wrong, that things often aren’t perfect and that’s ok. There’s always next season.

So yes, there’s a lot our corporate leaders can learn from some seeds and some soil.

And as today marks the end of Mental Health Awareness week and it’s the beginning of National Children's Gardening Week – I am sharing this poem I wrote last week which sums up just how much I have personally benefited from pursuing my GYO passion and what lessons I’ll be passing on to Ruby. I hope you enjoy reading it … and then if you’re feeling inspired, go plant a seed 😉

Plant a seed, my darling

If ever you’re sad my darling, plant a seed

For that seed is a symbol of hope

From its small and humble beginning

It can turn in to a mighty Oak

If ever you’re lost my darling, plant a seed

For that seed gives you something to do

You nurture and water and tend it

Until you see its tiny head poking through

If life gets too fast my darling, plant a seed

For that seed slows you down in your tracks

Its lesson in patience is priceless

It calms you, and teaches you to relax

If ever you’re angry my darling, plant a seed

Leave those feelings down in the ground

You’ll see that forgiveness is better

And the perspective you seek can be found

And when you’re happy my darling, plant a seed

For your happiness grows with that plant

And when one turns to many, you’ll soon find

You have a garden that’s full of your heart

And for the next generation, my darling, plant a seed

Teach them all of the lessons you’ve learnt

Teach them love and compassion and kindness

And that beauty can spring from the dirt

And when you’re old, my darling, keep planting those seeds

Never give nature short shrift

Because a seedling, a flower or garden

These are this world’s greatest gifts.

#mentalhealthawarness #growyourown #growlikeamum #nationalchildrensgardeningweek

0 notes

upstartpoodle · 7 years

Text

A Walk in the Sun

Rating: G

Pairing: George x Elizabeth

Summary: In which George, Elizabeth and Valentine take a stroll in the grounds of Trenwith, and Elizabeth has some good news for her husband.

It was a fine spring day in the grounds of Trenwith and Elizabeth smiled broadly as she strolled through the meadows in the company of her husband and younger son. She had, to her surprise, managed to tear George away from his work for a while in order to enjoy the warm weather and bright sunshine--or rather, Valentine had. Upon seeing what a lovely day it was, the little boy had instantly wanted to go outside and play. Elizabeth had been happy to acquiesce, remembering the fun that she had had with her father in the gardens of Cusgarne as a child. Her boy, however, had wanted the company of his father as well as his mother, and had toddled off into his study in order to persuade him. George had protested initially, of course, but had soon caved in the face of Valentine's pleading eyes and disappointed pout.

"I suppose it is nothing which I cannot finish later" he had conceded as his son captured his hand in his own tiny one and started tugging him away towards the door.

That brought them to where they currently were. Valentine was still holding George's hand--hadn't let go since they had left the house, in fact--and was chattering to him happily, half words and half babble, though his vocabulary was growing a little more every day. George was listening attentively, a soft smile on his face as he helped him over some of the rougher terrain, the little boy's small legs not yet up to traversing it easily. Elizabeth smiled at the sight of them. They made quite the pair, she couldn't help but think as she regarded them.

She recalled taking Geoffrey Charles out for walks when he had been Valentine's age, sometimes accompanied by Francis. Her eldest had always stayed with her on such occasions, most accustomed to the company of his mother. Her younger son, while very attached to both his parents, tended to stray by his father's side when he had the opportunity. Though George doted on his son, the demands of the Bank and the running of Trenwith, Cardew and Cusgarne took up much of his time. As such, father and son did not always get to spend as much time together as perhaps either of them would have liked, and though young, it was already clear that Valentine was not one to waste an opportunity.

Her attention was suddenly caught by her son extracting himself from George's gentle grip and toddling off excitably ahead of him. George let him go, regarding him with a fond yet watchful eye. Elizabeth could not repress an affectionate smile of her own at the sight, coming up beside her husband and slipping her arm through his. George blinked slightly--she marvelled at how, even after all this time, he had still never quite come to expect her gestures of affection, as much as they clearly delighted him--before he turned to face her, smiling. His expression was soft, adoring, and she could not help but think it was a look that suited him far better than the empty smile he wore for the rest of Cornwall's gentry.

"I am glad you decided to join us," she said once she had his attention. "It would be a shame to waste such a lovely day, and I know it means the world to Valentine to have your company."

George smiled, ducking his head a little shyly in the way he did when he was particularly pleased but didn't quite know how to respond.

"And you?" he asked.

Elizabeth moved a little closer to him, squeezing his arm affectionately.

"I am always glad to have the company of my husband" she replied sincerely.

While this was true in itself, Elizabeth did in fact have an ulterior motive for having hoped for George's company that day. After a call from Dr Enys the day beforehand, which a concerned George had insisted on when she had awoken ill several days running, she had some rather wonderful news to share with him, and after everything that had happened with Ross and Agatha and Valentine, she wanted this moment to be just perfect.

They lapsed into silence for a while, strolling contentedly along behind Valentine, who was pioneering determinedly forward, stopping every once in a while to regard the odd object that had caught his fascination. They both watched him fondly, careful not to let him stray out of their line of sight.

"It seems our son is quite the young explorer" Elizabeth remarked with a laugh as Valentine trilled and clapped at a butterfly that was flitting over the grass ahead of him.

George gave a slight chuckle of agreement.

"It would appear so," he concurred. "I suppose there is much to entertain him out here, especially when the weather is fair."

Elizabeth nodded thoughtfully.

"Geoffrey Charles always enjoyed it at that age," she said, "though he was never quite so adventurous. I remember he nearly fell over with shock when he first saw a snail..."

"I am sure he would greatly appreciate you recounting that particular tale" returned George, his lips quirking in wry amusement.

Elizabeth laughed aloud. Geoffrey Charles was near thirteen years of age now, having settled well into life at Harrow, though she suspected from his letters home that, for all he was enjoying his time at school, he still missed his family. She could just imagine the look on her son's face if she were to repeat some of the stories of his childhood, especially within the hearing range of the new friends he had made at school.

"I suspect not," she conceded. "Adolescent boys rarely appreciated being reminded of the antics of their younger selves after all. I suppose we still have that to look forward to with Valentine."

George hummed in agreement, still watching Valentine carefully, ready to step in if the situation called for it. A brief silence fell between them again, and Elizabeth found herself pondering the best way to slip her news into the conversation. The comfortable quietness stretched on, yet despite the ease in both of their manners, Elizabeth still burnt to say something. Soon, she could no longer resist the urge.

"Sometimes I worry he gets lonely now that Geoffrey Charles is away," she admitted. "He has his nursemaids, I suppose, and us of course, but still..."

She trailed off.

"But it is no substitute for the company of a sibling" finished George with a sage nod, and Elizabeth knew that, like her, he was talking from experience. George did not often speak about his childhood--Elizabeth rather got the impression that he wasn't fond of remembering it--but when he did, she could tell that it had not exactly been one full of meaningful companionship. She herself had desperately wanted a brother or sister as a child, for all that she had had the love and company of her father and the kindness of her nursemaids. She hoped that Valentine would feel the same, and that he would take well to her news, though she suspected she had nothing to fear on that front.

"True," she replied, sensing an opportunity, "but perhaps he shall not have to wait so long for that..."

As she said this, her hand came to lay instinctively on her stomach. George, having spotted the gesture and immediately recognising the implications behind it, startled, his eyes widening and his lips parting in surprise.

"Elizabeth..." he murmured, his gaze coming to meet hers, something akin to reverence in his eyes and tone. Elizabeth beamed back at him, taking his hands in hers and squeezing them gently. She was reminded of when she had first been expecting Valentine, when they had stood in the very same grounds as she told him the news, still growing accustomed to their marriage and with the shadow of Ross looming in the back of her mind no matter how much she tried to dispel it. Now, years onwards, she was determined that nothing would cast a mark on this moment.

"Mama!"

The pair of them jolted slightly, turning to see Valentine tottering over to them, a cluster of bluebells clutched in his little fist. He came to a stop before them and held them out to her expectantly, a wide grin on his face. Elizabeth responded with a delighted smile of her own.

"For me?," she gasped. "Oh, thank you, darling!"

She took them from him gently and bent down to press a kiss into his hair. With a little giggle, he took off again, much to his parents' fond amusement.

"He shall be very glad to have a new sibling, I think" George remarked with a smile as they watched him go.

"And you?" Elizabeth asked, unable to resist echoing his own words from earlier, even though she already knew the answer.

"My dear Elizabeth," he said, taking her hand and bringing it gently to his lips. "I could not be happier."

The truth of the words rang clear, and in that moment, Elizabeth knew that neither could she. This happiness may have been hard-won, but they had earned every inch of it, and she would be damned if she allowed anyone, or anything to intrude on it ever again.

#mine #my fic #george warleggan #elizabeth warleggan #valentine warleggan #george x elizabeth #elizabeth x george #georgibeth #poldark

21 notes · View notes

solangeleon · 4 years

Text

Tension and Trust

The moon is hugely pregnant out there, radiant, like pregnant women so often are.

So radiant that I can’t sleep. It s not the chaotic state of disarray and trickling feeling of being entirely disempowered, but the moon, which reassuringly returns, lockdown or not, at fault for my persistent insomnia.

Walking up my little hidden woods at the rear of my even more unseen home I though of the rabbit on the moon. He s trapped out there, unlike us, forever.

I felt sorry for him. But then again, may be it is by choice and love of all things moon that he is there, by choice, not trapped, not lonely, he is the moon's baby in the womb and is floating upside down in eternal embryonic waters waiting to be born every night.

My cat is even more sticky and kissy than usual and April is getting a touch too warm for furry feline limpets. He wants to be ON TOP OF ME, be my scarf, adoringly asphyxiating.

While I write this he s giving me reproachful looks as if he knows i m criticizing him in type.

Cats know everything.

Dog face in the other hands seems truly sad over our apparent lack of social bottom smelling escapades. I m trying to engage with him more and give him more treats and tricks but he's bored.

Me? I have two good days, one bad, closely connected to sleep. Meditation, training, eating, baking, mapping the daily slow movement of snails. Did you know snails have between 15 to twenty thousand teeth in their mouths? I didn’t.The sluggish slowness of days. My Ariadne, as I call my course tutor trying to guide us through the marshes of our minds, told me to try to go ‘slow’ after the whole home threatening eviction plus loss of two jobs in one month and panicking pandemic plus actual world pandemic post Barcelona trip happened.

So- snails are slow.

Bach apparently loved them and wrote a fair section of his music based on snails and other garden creatures- he was a loving and enthusiastic gardener, apparently.

The task of finding a tangential on my collective equilibrium project for fair and just futures- in other words, an apprentice to Calder’s aspirational mobile- made me think of the movement of the piece.

Not only how to document the trajectory and motion- long exposure photograph or Muybrige like motion perhaps?

But also, how to annotate it. Like music or dance, all the parts move simultaneously but following different trajectories, fixed in a larger space.

The only specific requirement beside the objective of collaborative balance for my model is:

Space.

A central empty void is needed to hang a mobile. Tall and wide enough for the fragile structure to move, pivot, swivel and balance, fixed yet flexible, suspended.

Space.

The only requirement to survive the Covid 19 outbreak.

Space.

The new movement we are having to learn is giving way on narrow lanes. Listening and carefully watching, responding and also - trust.

You trust that they will move, they trust that you will, we all move apart.

I thought of fish schools moving away yet keeping the perfect distance and density.

So we dance and move like sardines all packed up, in new ways to ensure survival of the specie and non death.

I started thinking about traditional dance and mimicking the natural world, in direct analogies such as Black swans flying in V formations at perfectly synchronised ballet- Matthew bourne introduces an interesting and radical gender reverse in his production to perfectly stilted ballerinas walking in long stilt like doll legs. In unison.

But ballet is only for the exclusive few, a performance that one observes and experiences vicariously, like theatre often is too, cinema, television.

All these are clearly divided spaces- at least in traditional productions- where the audience is not participatory.

So what was dance and what is dance and what could this new Covid dance be like?

Before I delve into notation and movement language- another turn of the maze and one I came straight to first and I’ m now ignoring- from exponentials and mathematical notations to the figure of eight.

Dance was originally means of expression from when? Tribal dances? They still have a common beat and were performed perhaps in order to communicate with the gods, beating drums and feet and hearts in one song.

Collective rather than individual?

Must research and learn more.

But then, after looking into the figure of eight problem and waltz, and realising the huge amounts of people that used to meet up and dance TOGETHER, like one body- not only in the rich salons of Vienna for the debutantes parties, but in the streets, at parties, asking the belle for a dance- it dawned on me that dance was even at a popular level an activity which connected strangers but that asked them to move TOGETHER. To listen to one another, to lead, to follow, to feel, to trust. But also, to improvise.

And seeing that we don’t know what tomorrow’s world will look like, we should probably get used to improvising.

(Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake - I confess it did make me cry)

To dance in partnership or in groups you have to know the steps, and trust.

And try not to step on your partners toes, ideally.

Keep your balance. A mutual balance.

Improvisation work in contemporary dance is a good example.

But all ballroom dances require a dialogue of hands legs and hips- especially if you are Latin. Of all these, the hardest I found to learn was tango.

You have to connect and respond to the movements of the leading partner- generally male as tango could be seen as chauvinistic dance in that it is the men that lead.

In the other hand, I was grateful to respond. Women done always have to have the harder job- unless, you are in Brighton and your lesbian married couples are also dancing Tango, learning the lead.

The steps are difficult. Feeling them, responding in perfect timing and elegantly and with the ferociousness required, a true accomplishment of humane coordination of limbs, hearts and brains. Then hope for creativity, later, much later.

Just thinking about it exhausts me but it was a lot of fun once you could feel and not think and just swirl around a room full of people that never collided or tired.

My tango career fell short due to a my Achilles heel, an injury that has recently interrelated returned. How timely. May be I should not even think ‘dance’. My dancing days are far from over, but are carefully counted courtesy of having been a wild tree climbing horse riding down mountain rolling monkey that has thoroughly trashed one' s body. The only other tribe I know of that hurt themselves to the extent I have, are skateboarders.Now that s another interesting group of folk- skateboarders and the city. Mitha please don’t forget to return my book.

I am loosing my thread. It must be because it is two twenty two in the morning.

Two twenty three.

One two three for five six seven eight.

Sometimes it s one two three four.

In waltz, or a waltz in tango (also a possibility just to add to the complexity of the matter) one two three one two three dresses swiiiishing round and round the room.

The footage of people waltzing in the streets in London for the coronation of the Queen are mind blowing. It s an ocean in movement, hypnotized I watch it over and over again like a child.

When did we stop meeting in the square on Sundays to dance with our neighbours?

(Robert Capa- Women dancing in the streets of Moscow 1947. Sixty percent of men that left to battle didn’t make it back home)

When we go dancing these days- and even at my age I do and won’t miss an opportunity- we go to a club, a sweaty party where we throw ourselves around but dance in our minds and our bodies- mostly, alone.

With the exception of Latin vibes and then, it changes.

I m then back dancing with my sister- not in my mother's house dancing with my grandmother and all the family too for New Year’s Eve like we used to- but dancing with my blood, like we have since we were small.

I know she ll always catch me and throw me and that I can do the same without having to think. Practiced, life practice.

Trust of blood- yet when you know the dance and trust, you can dance the dance with anyone.Trust. They will catch you.

#dance #coviddance #balance #trust #movement #steps #collective #sustainabledesign #solangeleoniriarte #trajectory #united #improvise #creativity #futures

0 notes