#had to repost this great breakdown

[c-m-stuff]

Safe Again

Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

-Description: You and Spencer are married. You two have a beautiful son, but suddenly he is involved in a school shooting.

-Warnings: Angst, having a child, school shooting (no one gets hurt, except the shooter)

-Word count: 1318

-Note: (Repost from Wattpad!) It's horrible this happens often, and I'm so sorry for the ones who have experienced this. I hope, everyone is okay and safe. Also, let's say this is around season 7 referring to the kids age. Much love <3

Masterlist

Y/N POV:

'Admit it, pretty girl. I won the game.' Derek stated, while we all were sitting in the conference room.

'Yeah, only because you cheated!' I said back, with a chuckle on my face.

'No, I didn't!'

'Yes, you did.' my husband confirmed, while the others nodded.

Just as Derek wanted to argue back, Aaron came in with a rush. We all got quiet, looking at his concerned state. It made us also worried.

'We need to leave, now.' he spoke in a serious voice, meaning it.

'Hotch, what's wrong?' Emily asked, as we all looked up at him, confused.

'There is a school shooting.' he started, as we all got up immediately, but he stopped us.

'In the school of our kids.' he finished, all our eyes wide, full of fear and concern.

Our son, Henry and Jack, went all to the same school. However, they weren't the same age. Jack is a little bit older, while Henry and (Y/S/N) are almost the same age. But, they were best friends, which is great.

We took as quick as we could our stuff, running towards the black SUV's. I sat next to Spencer, holding his hand tightly. I looked him in the eyes, with concern and fear. Spencer looked at me the same way.

_________________________

Finally, we all made it into the school, already wearing our bulletproof vests. Just as we stepped out of the SUV's, we heard the loud sound of shooting. My heart went faster and faster, worse scenarios taking my thoughts over. A single tear, escaping my eye.

'HOTCH!' suddenly Derek yelled, as just on time, he shot.

The unsub, collapsed on the ground, while crying it our from the pain. He tried to shoot at us, the first thing when we arrived, but luckily Derek didn't let him. Derek ran over to him, making sure his weapon was out of sight, and cuffing the shooter.

There was standing an officer, who probably made the call, waiting for us. We all walked, with high speed, towards him.

'Is there another shooter?' Aaron tried to ask him as normal as possible, but we could hear his shaking voice.

'That was the only one. We all heard shots a few times, but I don't know if anyone got hit.'

'Alright, Reid, Prentiss, Morgan and I, are bringing the kids in safety downstairs. JJ, Rossi and (Y/L/N), you do that upstairs.' Aaron ordered, as we all nodded, before entering.

Just like he had said, me, JJ and David, went upstairs. We first called all the children with us, saying they were safe, and that they needed to go outside. As we had all the kids, and the classrooms were empty, David offered to bring them, together with the teachers, outside. JJ and I, thanked him, and went to look for our own children, as they weren't with the rest of the kids.

We both went different directions, calling out their names, looking in every classroom. My heard raced as crazy, as I tried not to breakdown, from fear and concern.

I went inside a classroom, seeing nobody.

'(Y/S/N), Henry, Jack!' I called out, as suddenly I heard footsteps running towards me.

'Mommy! Auntie (Y/N)! Aunt (Y/N)!' the three familiar voices, making me sign out a breath of relief.

To be clear, I wasn't technically their aunt, which I don't mind. But, I've spent a lot of time with them, and they started to call me also "auntie (Y/N)" or "aunt (Y/N)", making me really happy.

I squatted down, while spreading my arms open, as the three boys ran into my arms. I hugged them tight, and pressed a kiss on each of their heads.

'Omg, there you are. We all were so worried. Are you guys okay? Are you in any pain?' I asked them, slightly releasing them from the hug.

'We don't have pain, mommy.' my son said, as they nodded their heads in agreement.

Their eyes were still filled with fear, and I could see, that they have cried.

'Everything is okay now. We have the bad guy, he can't come anymore. You are all safe.' I assured them, as they calmed down.

'Let's find your mommy, Henry, and you daddy, Jack. They are really worried about you.'

'Do you want to hold my hands?' I asked them, as they immediately took them.

I stood up, (Y/S/N) holding my left hand, while Henry was holding my right. Jack, holding Henry's hand.

I walked out of the classroom, as I just saw JJ across the hallway, leaving a classroom, only to quickly go to another. She was with her back towards us, causing me to call her.

'JJ!' she turned around, as a weight fell off her shoulders.

'MOMMY!' Henry yelled, as he let go of my hand, running in the arms of the blonde.

'Henry, I was so worried. Are you alright? Oh, come here.' she lifted him up, hugging him.

She thanked me, with appreciation on her face. I smiled, happy the two had reunited. In the meanwhile, I was holding Jack's hand with my right, as we walked closer to them.

'DADDY!' Jack yelled, as he also let go of my hand, running towards his father, who just took the stairs.

Aaron immediately lifted him up, hugging him also closely.

'There you are. Is everything okey? You're safe now, buddy.' he reassured his son, also whispering a "thank you", as I replied with a smile.

'Hotch, have you seen Spence?'

'Yeah, he's looking worriedly downstairs.'

'Thanks.'

I squatted down again, meeting our beautiful son.

'Let's go find daddy.' I said to him, as I lifted him up. I pressed a kiss on his head, still so relieved he is okay. Relieved that everyone is okay.

I went downstairs with him, as I saw, Derek, David and Emily, just leaving a classroom, still looking for the missing kids.

'Oh, you have him.' Emily breathed out a sigh of relief, they all did.

'Yeah, Henry and Jack are also fine.' I answered, as they relaxed more.

'That's good. No one got hurt, by the way.' Emily spoke out, putting a smile on my face.

'That's great. Do you guys know where Spencer is?'

'He's looking here somewhere.' Derek answered, as I thanked them, before leaving to find Spencer.

'Sweetheart, do you want to call your daddy, please?' I asked our son, as he nodded.

'DADDY!' he yelled, as Spencer rushed out of a classroom. Once he saw us, he ran towards us.

'Gosh, are you both okay? Are you hurt, buddy?' he said, worriedly, as I handed our son to him.

(Y/S/N), shook his head, while his dad hugged him tight.

'I found him with Henry and Jack, they're all fine. No one got hurt.' I assured him, as I planted a kiss on his cheek. He did the same with me, before my phone began to rang.

Seeing who was calling, I answered my phone, and putted it on speaker.

'Finally, someone picks up. Please, please, tell me the children are alright.' I heard Penelope, concern raising her voice.

'Everyone is fine, Penny. No one got hurt, and we found (Y/S/N), Henry and Jack.'

'Thank goodness, you all need to bring the kids to here, I need to cuddle them.' she joked, but deep down, she meant it.

'Will do, Penny.' and, with that, everyone went back to the BAU, with the kids.

_________________________

[eggos030]

Tipsin' | KTH

Suggested Play . . . Doin' Time by Lana Del Rey

Summary ➧ WHO would of thought that your now ex Fiance got up and left you in the middle of Paris? with no shelter or no regret and the self loathing mother of his. It was meant to be a trip for the both of you to finally bath in each others love.

but what do you know? nothing but a man wondering the streets of Paris wanting to get away from his famous life style knows what.

❝ Pairing ❞ IDOL!Kim Taehyung x Fem!Reader

⌫ Genre ⌦ ONESHOT, Fluff, Angst, plus maybe something suggestive?? Strangers to lovers

↲ Warning's ↳ TAEHYUNG IN PARIS CAUSE I SAID SO, Swearing, cheating cause your husband is a dick, the reader just throws her life out the window after it tho, taehyung is so sweetest,

➜ A/N ꒱ I AM SO SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS TOOK. I never intended for this to take so long and some of you have been waiting for this and there for I sincerely apologize but yippy! its out now after who knows how long. If I ever tried to write again please probably expect the same behavior where I will take 6 months to upload a short one-shot, but it out and I will hopefully learn my lesson and try to be more time-crunch-worthy. I hope you all enjoyed this and have a great day/afternoon/night!

Please tell me if your wish to repost it but do not claim as your own!

You regret the whole thing.

Why did you put some much effort in if it was only to end out like this?

Why did you trust them? Why did you trust him if his mother came to spoil the trip with the excuse of ‘it will just be some good old family time’ when your fiance agreed to make this a trip for just the two of you?

They left you simply because you weren’t just the right for his wrench of his mother.

You were waiting at Cathedrale Notre-Dama de Paris and the way they decided to cut ties was simply to just wave off a text.

Oh dear, I’m so very sorry. I know it wasn’t for the best to end it this way but I simply can’t hold it in, I don’t love you.

I never have.

Why would I continue if I grew out of it?

The hotel reservation is cancelled and your belongings are waiting for you outside.

what a lame gimmick.

How were you meant to process this? you were surrounded by a crowd if you started crying it would cause a scene.

What did you even do to deserve this?

Now, what did you do to deserve this??

while having a quiet breakdown and struggling to find your way back to the 30-minute walk hotel, only searching for what you have in your purse in case someone thought it was free luggage, you lost the track of time.

The sun was painfully setting quick as the street lights turned on causing panic to settle in. You have nowhere to stay because hell knows if the same expensive hotel would let you stay for a night under $30 within your card. You settle on the rock wall on a bridge watching the sun merge into the ground, you weigh your options to find a bar and drink away your sorrows in hopes of finding a kind that would let stay within their abode for a day or two.

And a kind soul you did find.

Within your sappy sorrows and bubbling panic festering inside you, you never took aware of your surroundings as a telling figure approaches you.

" ma’am? Are you okay? " a deep yet so soft and gentle voice woke you up from your daydreaming. Your head slowly turns to the left to find a gorgeous man.

He wore a simple white button-up and some simple brown dress suit pants. simple yet outstandingly attractive, he was truly something to gaze upon which you got distracted by immediately.

He gets more worried when you haven't responded so he asked again.

" oh " was all you could muster " Oh! Me! "

He agreed with a distressed nod but a small smile crackled on his face, god he's, even more, prettier with a smile.

" I'm sorry, it's just I noticed you were crying? "

You were crying?

You quickly wipe your check to feel the tears, realizing you had cried you were quick to reassure him.

" oh, I'm okay I swear it's just been a really tough day " you stuttered through your sentence for a moment but begin to realize your situation again, He saw the swift change of emotions within your expression.

" oh no, I'm so sorry " why is he so nice?

" It's okay! you don't need to apologize, it was probably better than what others might do" ew, that was the fattest lie you've ever said, and hate it.

He grew curious about the case. " I know this might sound very weird since well we only meet within like 5 minutes but do you maybe wanna tell me about it? "

His voice was soft and gentle again while his eyes lock onto yours, he looked at you with such care as you would shatter within a touch, unlike your now ex-fiance.

" over a drink? " you suggested with a weary tone like you were stepping on eggshells.

He softly grins.

" I don't see why not "

Literally, 6 hours ago your fiance broke up with you and left you in Paris all by yourself with no remorse, you wandered around Paris, and then found the most handsome yet caring man that could ever exist.

either god knew you needed a reset on your man choices or he just chose you to be the lucky one today cause here you are in an old people's bar with a man you never thought you could ever come across.

it didn't take you very long to chug down a couple of drinks to block out your bugging problems but there was a habit on this behalf of drinking.

you get very chatty.

You two got chatting away and learned his name was Kim Taehyung, you thought Kim was a very suitable last name next to your's but you weren't sure if he could handle you any longer, but he didn't seem to mind when he told you his side of his problems. It turns out that Taehyung is a big Korean pop star with tons of fans running after him and his friends, there are only small times when he can take a break from it for a while which in this case is the trip he's currently on.

" Pairs was and always is calming to me. I come here often because the place holds a lot of meaning to many people whether it would be for love or the aesthetic of the city maybe even the history but for me personally? I only come here for the art, it's pretty and wonderful to look at like you could make art here yourself which I do by taking pictures from time to time. "

He spoke with clear passion in his eyes like a dog just got a treat or you gave an iPad to a 9-year-old for the first time, it was something you adored to watch while spending such a small time with him.

You managed somehow to complement some input to his passion.

" wow," he looked at you confused by the sudden input.

" I mean like it would make sense knowing that you like have such a busy lifestyle with this whole idol career. " you back yourself up but he hums realizing what you meant.

" ah, well it's not that bad really " he tries to reassure you but you give him a blank stare causing him to giggle" really it's not! sure some threats and weird people but aside from that we have very loving fans who are very supportive who loves us to bits and so we repay them back with the same love " you smile softly at his kindness for random kids start to show again.

" I think that is very kind of you " He looks at you searching threw your eyes for a lie only to find true honesty with a smile " I mean you've never really met all of them and yet you try so hard to give back the love they give you in your dark times just like what you do for them right? "

He nods with a grin " yeah " he pauses before saying it again.

you gaze upon the old people around you as the jazz band starts to play a cover of fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra, you smile as some of them get up to dance.

" you know, I really like Frank Sinatra "

you look at him realizing the distance between the two of you, you lean on your left arm as Taehyung leans closer to you on his right arm, he looks back at you waiting " yeah? " you question speaking softly like the whole world could listen to you.

" yeah. " His smile slowly forms into a grin " He makes me want to dance "

" Really? " you giggle as you also start to grin, damn that cocktail is getting to you quickly.

" yeah, I'm serious " He starts to giggle and grin but it slowly dies down, he mutters something while breaking eye contact to get up and move to the dance floor making you confused.

" what are you doing? " you quickly question not having a clue what he's doing until he starts to move his feet to the beat and his arms swing to the bass.

"I'm dancing " He states waving his arms out proudly.

" you dance like a dork " you laugh as he covers his heart pouting like a sad puppy.

you watch him dance his heart away before getting up to join him. He quickly turns around at the feel of arms wrapping around his to find you swinging and swaying to the beat as well, He smiles as he brings you closer wrapping an arm around your waist and slipping his hand into yours.

" Is this alright? " He leans down to your ear and softly asks, his low rasp sends shivers down your spine as you nod softly before placing your head onto his shoulder.

" Is this okay? " you ask with a whisper " fine with me, sweetheart" he responds with a small comforting smile as you close your eyes and bathe in his warmth welcoming the flush forming on your cheeks as your heart beats faster.

You both slowly rock to the beat letting the world slip from your grasp and hold each other like it could end any moment, you're enveloped by his rich expensive cologne by who knows what fancy brand but you would never want to let it go, his soft yet calluses decorated his fingertips but his big hands held your waist perfectly when from time to time he would gently move his hand tracing your spine and moving back down past your waist just to your tail bone before moving to its original spot.

This man cradles you so gently that could make you melt in seconds but it makes you think that your ex-fiance never held you like, questions start pouring through as you doubt if there were signs earlier in your relationship that you missed.

Taehyung glances down at you finding you dazed and spaced out " is something on your mind? " You look back up at him and find him with a worried expression.

" oh it's fine " you spoke softly smiling as the wave of emotions collided with each other, the alcohol swaying deep inside but it was evident to everyone you thought especially to him.

He paused for a moment searching through your eyes before speaking " I know we haven't spent much time together but it wouldn't hurt to tell a stranger what's on your mind? "

He wasn't wrong, I always thought that it might be therapeutic to just realize everything to someone who wouldn't remember about it an hour later.

"Well, my reason for being here originally was to spend some time with my fiance and his mother because he proposed not long ago " Taehyung's warm and happy expression dropped from the words.

" oh, but if you were here with them then where are they? they must be worried about you " He started to draw away from me but I quickly grabbed onto his shoulders pulling him back in and provoking him to look perplexed.

" He left me. "

Taehyung stands in shock. Why would someone leave someone so captivating, gracious, thoughtful, and witty as you? un-answered questions racing through he gazed down at you.

"Why? " was all that came out of him. He stood stunned by the words that left you as confusion formed a frown on his face " why would anyone even . . . " he was truly baffled.

"It's okay though, with trial comes error right? " you smile back at him, his gaze slowly falls to pity as you let the words fall out " I'll just call a family member, or " you slowly start to stutter, struggling to find the next pair of words until you feel a soft grasp of his hands holding yours leading you off the dance floor.

As the two of you sit down he holds you close whispering sweet gentle comforts in your ear as you calm down by the warmth he radiates and the gentle caresses of his thumb while he has your hand.

"Look, this might not be the best-suited place for you to tell me how terrible your so-called husband is but I have a beautiful view of the Eiffel tower from my hotel suite if you want to complain about your problems there. "

You slowly look up to meet his caring gaze and with a nod, you were whisked away from your savior of the night.

TAGLIST: @midnight-the-shadow-wolf , @osakis-gf , @itsme-mel

[santacoppelia]

Good Omens master post and WARNING

I was happily participating in the fandom when I started noticing some things I will not condone:

Real person shipping and/or expressing hate for real life partners of famous people will gain you a permanent block/unfollow (So you ship actor A and B? And you hate their life partners? Go, die salty, they chose each other and their relationship is not for your enjoyment and none of your business). I do not condone and will not tolerate this behavior.

I reblog so many things, that I needed this sort of index to find the things I've written about the show that I want to find later.

I started with a long meta about how the overarching theme for Good Omens is the concept of "free will"

Then, I expanded on the @irispurpurea meta with my own "moral development chart" analysis...

I had a small emotional breakdown with some concept art...

And said something about how their lifespan and ours are not to be considered the same (4 years is nothing!)

And, somewhat on the same direction, how their communication problems are (and not) derived from being queer-coded.

I went on analyzing the "Crowley swag" from a body mechanics and acting perspective, and a little bit about David doing "mask work" when putting the sunglasses on...

Not really a meta, but some thoughts about a video of Michael Sheen talking about the strength required to be good, in relation to Aziraphale.

And my absolutely ridiculous headcanon about Aziraphale being actually proficient as a magician.

Obviously, the Metatron Meta

A short list of things we know about Maggie... That one day will be a headcanon.

And a short list of things I loved about the season, in Spanish, because it is my native language and I wanted to do it quickly.

Wouldn't it be fun if they had to share a body? (just a small musing)

A meta about angels and angelic nature (and why I feel Muriel will be important in s3)

The notes on serpents' eyesight that reinforce my headcanon of Crowley having bad eyesight (and, of course, it matches soooo well with poor David's experience with the special contacts and the sunglasses 😎)

A mini note about Aziraphale cornering himself

The gifs of my Reverse! Omens headcanon: David Tennant's angelic side, and Michael Sheen being a charismatic demon

The happy finding of rereading the book: there was a mention of a Shopkeeper's Association Dance!!! (oh, how I loved this inside joke)

This is not mine, but I looked everywhere for the screenshot of Neil searching the name for the coffee shop, and here it is. It was "Grounds for Divorce", so...

The tentative playlist, started by @temperance-sunlight, to let Crowley cry in style, like a señora. (Now with a Spotify version)

A little appreciation post to Michael Sheen's acting voice choices.

THE LONGEST META: an analysis of The Final Fifteen, through the optics of this season starting and ending with The Ineffables arguing.

a crack meta about the working conditions on Hell AND Heaven.

Un fic chiquito, en español, sobre las causas de la caída de Crowley. Este fue un regalo para una amiga, que me dio el detonador para escribirlo. The translation to English.

a meta about one of the great new characters from season 2: Shax!!!

Adding some ideas in a repost about Aziraphale having a protagonist-looking arch.

A long, rambly answer to a very lovely ask about free will and Aziraphale.

I wouldn't naturally associate the narrative analysis model with this masterpost, but i teased it and decided to write it in this post, after sensing a "shift in attitudes" towards Aziraphale when the filming of the kiss was discussed during Ineffable Con... So here it is.

I finally started publishing my "bahamut of a fic"! Under the Fold, an AU where A.Z. Fell + A.J. Crowley are human journalists involved in a web of scandals. It starts following the canon (somehow, considering that there is no Heaven and no Hell and the Armageddon is just an exposé) but it will diverge and be angsty but with an eventual happy ending.

Related to the fic, this meta: Ineffable detectives

This essay which is not about Good Omens, but takes David Tennant as a starting point to talk about fandom, aging and social constructs around getting older, fandom and culture.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Hello, Anon, this is your Oldie Chinese Diaspora Anon™️. I have to confess, I have some really heavy, mixed feelings after reading your post. It’ll take some time for your OCDA to sort them out; I am very sure that your mileage will vary far and wide from mine. But… if you’ll lend me your ears for just a little bit, I would really appreciate it.

For starters: No. Rîng Döll is -not- owned by Tencent. You may have come to that misunderstanding when you take a look at the latest MDZS IP-doll ad (https://www.ringdoll.com/products/yilinglaozu ) However, if you look at the new dolls that were also based on the same writer, Heaven Official’s Blessing, you do not see the same sponsors (https://www.ringdoll.com/products/xie-lian-2 ). This is because Tencent now owns the MDZS IP, who is an official collaborator of RD. That’s why other IPs that do not belong to Tencent do not carry their logo. Take a totally different IP doll, for example: https://www.ringdoll.com/products/zhao-linger, you will see the IP holder of this franchise Softstar (a Taiwanese game company) and CMGE (the Chinese company that took it over). No Tencent.

RD is a subsidiary of the holding company created by its owner, Mr. Hu4ng Sh4n. The company is called “YuZhu0 Culture” and was incorporated in 2012 (you can actually see the logo for the company in the same poster that mentioned Tencent). YZC holds Ring Doll (BJD) as well as another subsidiary, Ring Toys (figures, other collectibles) and also act as the holding company for Hu4ng’s fashion designs brand. You can find the company website here: https://h5.yoohso.com/?ym=Home and a more detailed breakdown of its composition and holdings here https://pitchhub.36kr.com/project/1678426749858822 (in Chinese, but online translators work.)

As such, your sentiment and your concern for Hu4ng, the owner of YZC, may be a little misplaced. His vision of “spreading Chinese culture” and the firm belief of “MiC’ was something that he had attached himself to over the years. I mentioned his mishaps in the past (see here: https://the-bjd-community-confess.tumblr.com/post/676741591427416064/post-on-why-ringd0ll-is-problematic-the-company and here: https://the-bjd-community-confess.tumblr.com/post/678836763019624448/ring-follow-up-i-was-the-anon-who-posted ) but he seemed to have come far and away from it. His own personal blogs and Weibo reflect his growing nationalism, which he seems to do unprompted. Most recently, he reposted something from the State-sponsored People’s Daily regarding 1931/09/18 with his own comment “We need to make ourselves strong” (https://weibo.com/1727191592/NjQD6ivRh ) In a recent interview with him (when he was invited as a Taobao flagship store owner, he once again touted the importance of digging into Chinese culture for the “ultimate win” (full article here: https://m.cyzone.cn/article/708080.html ) In fact, RD have also started to sue people who continue to make the connection that their old Hayato doll meant they were “Shaming China” (which is a lese majesty in the eyes of Chinese netizens. (https://weibo.com/1727191592/Nhysl8lcL )

This is a man who – pardon the language – drank the Kool-aid. He wanted people to know that he stands firmly on the side of China. In the last linked Weibo post, he even said “the subpoena from the courts is not the same as a ransom note from a gang; the courts will not harm your personal safety.” Well… let’s just put it this way: even I don’t believe him.

Which brings me to the last thing that made your OCDA stop and ponder. Anon mentioned that fear can be a great motivator – and heaven knows, there’s a lot to be afraid of. Some (one?) of the Anons here have mentioned more than once that I should set up shop somewhere and post outside of the relative anonymity of this blog. First of all: thank you very much for your approval; I am really flattered. But I also know that I speak of a lot of unflattering things about China. I am fully aware of what happens to people who – for one reason or another, in one degree or another – speak ill of the CCP, even if they are foreign nationals living outside of Asia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_police_overseas_service_stations as an example of their reach). So, the person who is actually afraid is yours truly. I am -that- sucker the OP Anon thinks Hu4ng was, being literally cowed to not speak up publicly out of fear. Until I can find a way to leave the old country out of BJD discussion (which is, well, impossible) or find a way to stay safe and at least (relatively) anonymous, I am afraid the only place you’ll find me is here, hiding here on this blog. I very sincerely apologise.

~Anonymous

[frozensunflowersandlilies]

Arendelle Castle Rooms: The final part | Analysis

Eee! It's the final part. Finally all the rooms from the franchise so far all collected together to make sense of where everything is in the Castle. They're arranged by direction.

Before you dive in, if you already haven't checked out the individual breakdowns for each of these rooms. Here's the last breakdown.

Front:

Top left: Chapel (ref: Coronation in 'Frozen')

Below that: Gallery (ref: "For the first time in forever' in 'Frozen')

Below that: Library (ref: "For the first time in forever" in 'Frozen')

Below that: Spiral stairs tower (ref: "Love is an open door" in 'Frozen')

Below that: Corridor between the spiral stairs (ref: "Making today a perfect day" in 'Frozen Fever')

Bottom left: The (Second) Great Hall (ref: "Ring in the season" in 'Olaf's Frozen Adventure')

Below that: Spiral stairs (ref: "Making today a perfect day" in 'Frozen Fever')

Top right: Anna's bedroom (ref: concept art)

Below that: Iduna and Agnarr's bedroom/ balcony (ref: "Some things never change" in 'Frozen 2')

Bottom right: Castle dungeon (ref: Elsa's capture in 'Frozen')

Bottom centre: Courtyard/ Main castle entry (ref: 'Frozen Fever')

Front closeup:

Top left: Unknown room's balcony (ref: "For the first time in forever" in 'Frozen')

Top right: Swing (ref: "Making today a perfect day" in 'Frozen Fever')

Bottom: Iduna and Agnarr's bedroom/ balcony (ref: "Some things never change" in 'Frozen 2')

Inside front:

Top left: Chapel (ref: Coronation in 'Frozen')

Top right: Right side castle entry (ref: Elsa leaving Arendelle in 'Frozen')

Bottom: Barn (ref: Kristoff making stew in 'Olaf's Frozen Adventure')

Bottom right: Garden (ref: "For the first time in forever" in 'Frozen')

Above that: Inside entrance to the garden (ref: "Making today a perfect day" in 'Frozen Fever')

Right side:

Top: Meeting room (ref: After the flashback in 'Frozen 2')

Bottom: Right side castle entry (ref: Elsa leaving Arendelle in 'Frozen')

Left side:

Bottom: Castle lighthouse ("Love is an open door" in 'Frozen')

Back:

Top left: 3 back main triangular windows (After "Love is an open door" in 'Frozen')

Top right: unknown room's balcony (ref: "Making today a perfect day" in 'Frozen Fever')

Bottom: Elsa's bedroom (ref: Concept art)

And there it is! Where I think these rooms are in the castle. If I missed any out or made an error somewhere please let me know 🥺

I can't wait to update this when Frozen 3 comes out. Now I see some people getting impatient but it was only just announced and with the writers strike going on it might be delayed a little. But I hope the new director solves the issue the previous films had of Elsa leaving Anna. The sisters deserve to be together 🥹 But that's for another post! I'm just so excited for F3 because either way it's Frozen and I love it so much!

So much to talk about - I can't wait to tell you all in other posts!

Thank you for all the love you guys have given me with the likes, reposts and comments 🥹💕🫶🏼

Much appreciated! Stay cool! 😎❄️

[cowboydisaster]

So… hi yall. Wanted to do a little post to check in and explain myself. The past 24 hours I have received many anons/messages asking if I deleted my posts and ao3. Short answer… yes. Yesterday I had what can only be described as an absolute mental breakdown. I hit my breaking point and I hit it hard. So amidst a full on hyperventilating panic attack I clicked a few buttons and poof- it was all gone. I'm sorry for not responding about this until now, but I wanted to wait until I was in a better state of mind to answer your questions and make some decisions. So I will explain some more and then do a Q&A from my inbox. 

I struggle a lot with mental health as is, I have frequent ups and downs, and writing and being a part of this fandom seemed to help a lot. I genuinely loved writing and finding you all. I've made some great friends and shared some great stories. But I found myself getting too immersed in my blog and in rdr2. It was unhealthy, and the more I leaned into it the worse I started to do in other aspects of my life. It started to stress me out. And although I loved writing and posting and interacting, I started recognizing more and more that my obsession was absolutely unhealthy. 

(I also want to add that I am strictly talking about my own experiences here. This was unhealthy for me. But I'm not suggesting that it's bad for everyone)

So yesterday happened to be the unfortunate day that the straw broke the camel's back… I snapped and it's gone. But don't worry, i'm not just abandoning everything, here's some answers to FAQs from my inbox today: 

Q: Did you delete ao3? Will we be able to read your fics again?? 

A: Yes, I deleted my ao3, including all of my fics. But they are saved in my Google drive. So I'm in the process of making a new ao3 account, reposting the fics you guys want and then orphaning the account. This way you guys will still have access to all my fics, but I won't be tasked with keeping up with the account. If there is a fic of mine that you would like me to upload to the new ao3 (or multiple) just submit it into my inbox and I will add it. Any fics that are not submitted into my inbox won't be posted to the ao3. You can remain anonymous if you like. A list of my fics and their summaries is provided at the bottom of this post.

Q: Are you okay? 

A: Genuinely? No. I've been trying not to lie about my feelings as of late, which is damn hard for me. I don't like talking about these things, but bottling it up sure as shit hasn't helped either. I'm not okay, but that's normal, and it's okay to not be okay. I'll be alright, I always am. Just gotta get things straightened out. 

Q: what about tfiye??

A: Oh my sweet series. This one has been weighing on my heart. I have it planned out really far and I don't think I have the heart to abandon it. As of right now, I will keep writing it and posting it to the new ao3 (once the acc has been approved and activated by ao3). I won't be posting every week like I was, but I plan on being pretty consistent with it. 

Conclusion: submit the fics you want to keep into my inbox, watch this account in about a week i'll post a link to the ao3. Again, I'm so sorry about this, loves. This information is subject to change, everything is fluid and constantly changing but for now this is the plan. Lastly, I beg you to be kind. I'm struggling and made a decision in a moment where I wasn't capable of reasoning with myself. I do not regret what i did, but I wasn't in a good frame of mind

 So please be kind, and remember i'm human too. Love you all.

Signing off- Bea

List of fics: just the more recent ones, and not including my series which is mentioned above

[  ] Aesthete: arthur x fem!reader (Arthur has a lack of inspiration and you offer yourself as a blank canvas, [nsfw])

[  ] Sleepless nights: Dutch x fem reader (Dutch helps you warm up in Colter + jealous Arthur snippet at the end [nsfw])

[  ] Princess: Dutch x fem reader (Dutch gives you the princess treatment after a rough day, modern au [nsfw])

[  ] On watch: Arthur x fem reader (Arthur is on watch and you attempt to distract him from his shift [nsfw])

[  ] Hush: arthur x fem reader (Arthur tries to keep you quiet [nsfw])

[  ] Crimson: Arthur x fem reader (Arthur helps you when your time of the month strikes at an unfortunate hour)

*if there are fics not mentioned here that you want to see, go ahead and submit them too, the name or a description of what happened in the fic will do just fine*

[skelingtonsderek]

AO3 Tag Game

I was tagged by Cici. Thanks CICI!! @magically-with-magic

How many works do you have on ao3? 93

What’s your total ao3 word count? 1,084,555

What fandoms do you write for? Currently and mostly Justified. Here is the breakdown Justified (47) Teen Wolf (TV) (29) Original Work (4) Sherlock (TV) (3) Grimm (TV) (3) James Bond (Craig Movies) (2) Torchwood (1) Doctor Who (1) Fullmetal Alchemist (1) The Walking Dead (TV) (1)

Top five fics by kudos? What Did You Expect With A Mouth Like That? - Teen Wolf - Stiles/Everyone - Kudos: 1,944 When You Are No Longer Usefull - Teen Wolf - Chris Argent/Stiles Stilinski; Chris Argent/Original Male Character(s); Allison Argent/Scott McCallAllison Argent & Stiles Stilinski - Kudos: 780 The Hard Part - Teen Wolf - Chris Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Kudos: 635 We Have Worn Out The Meaning Of Our Clothes - Teen Wolf - Chris Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Kudos: 590 Every Nickname Has A Reason - Teen Wolf - Chris Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Kudos: 479 But I’m not gonna count it cause it’s part of the Apparel Series that We Have Worn Out The Meaning Og Our Clothes is the first of. The Killing Type - Teen Wolf - Chris Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Kudos: 464

Do you respond to comments? Yes. Every time if I can help it. Maybe not immediately but as soon as I can.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Could Use Some - Justified - Boyd Crowder/Raylan Givens - character death Most of the time I write, if not happy, then hopeful endings. I’ve got a tons where someone or multiple people die but this is the only one where it’s misery from start to finish.

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? The one I personally feel the happiest/most hopeful at the end of? Same as the one I receive the most thank you notes for having written when people finish it. TT_TT TW fans are soooo sweet (to me) (personally) (as long as I don’t write Sterek breakup fic again) Rinse Cycle The one the characters themselves are the happiest at the end of? Happy Campers. Sorry folks I don’t make the rules. Just cause they’re insane serial killers doesn’t mean they aren’t really happy to be where they’re at.

Do you get hate on fics? The closest I’ve gotten was Sterek shippers being upset that Sterek wasn’t endgame even though I TAGGED IT THOROUGHLY that it was not Sterek endgame and warned repeatedly that it wouldn’t be nice to Sterek.

Do you write smut? Haha. Yeah.

Craziest crossover? I’ve not technically written any crossovers

Have you ever had a fic stolen? There was an issue a really long time ago of some website reposting my stuff without permission and claiming it as original work but I’ve never seen someone in any fandom take my stuff. Don’t really get why they would. You’re not exactly going to rise to meteoric fame with it. I was, for a while, making it a hobby of dropping fic of people’s favorite pairing into their inbox anonomously as a gift that I explicitly said they could claim as their own if they wanted but that was a separate thing.

Have you ever had a fic translated? I’ve had people ask if they could but I’ve not seen if they did.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not in-fandom but I have done collaborative short stories with friends and such before. Or popcorn stories. Writing with friends is fun and great actually.

All time favorite ship? I’m a multishipper but I can tell you the ones that I think are really fun in a couple of fandoms I enjoy. Teen Wolf: Chris Argent/Stiles (as you can see from the above list of pop fic) Stiles Stilinski/Jackson Whitmore; Lydia Marten/Allison Argent ; Scott McCall/Allison Argent ; Scott McCall/Erica Reyes ; Erica Reyes/Vernon Boyd ; Scott McCall/Erica Reyes/Allison Argent ; Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall ; Lydia Marten/Stiles Stilinski ; Derek Hale/antidepressants Grimm: Monroe/Nick Burkhardt ; Nick/Monroe/Rosalee/Juliet/Hank/Adalind ; Nick Burkhardt/Adalind Shade ; Hank Griffin/Juliet Silverton ; Eve/Eve Justified: Boyd Crowder/Raylan Givens ; Raylan Givens/Tim Gutterson ; Frances Givens/Mags Bennett ; Dickie Bennett/Dewey Crowe ; Raylan Givens/Ava Crowder ; Raylan Givens/Ava Crowder/ Boyd Crowder

Leverage: Parker/Hardison/Elliot Star Trek: Spirk. Longer list than I intended… whoops.

What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Look. I came back and finished a fic after a six year hiatus where I wrote literally nothing at all. Maybe it’s not now. Maybe it’s not ten years from now. But so long as I have air in my lungs, I’ll come back eventually.

What are your writing strengths? I was gonna make a joke about “volume” but I think Willow might hunt me down if I said something disparaging here so I would say I pride myself on making the blocking and sequence of action easy to follow (unless the point is that you’re not supposed to be able to follow it). I like to make it so action can be traced and that if something is picked up, it’s put down, you know?

What are your writing weaknesses? I am literally incapable of picking just one description. If a run on sentence could be a person, it’s fucking me unkindly.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? Do your best. Try to be respectful. Everyone fucks up but that doesn’t mean trying should be off the table. Take feedback gracefully about it.

First fandom you wrote in? The Slayers, waaaay back when I was a little pre-teen. Sherlock (BBC) on AO3

Favorite fic you’ve written? I'm not sure I have any favorites. I will say that I am so unaccountably pleased by how One More Sweet Boy To Be Butchered By Men came out that I get stage fright when I go to work on the sequel.

Zero pressure, only if you want to tags: @willowmckinley @gaylanrivens @norgbelulah @im-not-thinking-confetti-cannons

[cosmixsoupmix]

A Deep Dive into Gorillaz's "Hallelujah Money" (repost)

I have already written this post on my main blog (@cosmixbun) but I am putting it on this one so I have it here too !! (originally written in 2022-2023)

For those who don’t know the song ‘Hallelujah Money’, it is a song released by the band, ‘Gorillaz’ on the ‘Humanz’ album on January 17, 2017. Or more known as the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration (keep this in mind, it’s very important.). The majority of the vocals were sung by Benjamin Clementine, the rest of course, was 2-D. The lyrics can be found here, if you want to read them. The music video can be found here. I suggest watching and reading both before really looking into this.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a big music person, I only find music video interest in the Gorillaz music videos. If I say something that you do not believe or have differing opinions, great. This is just what I bring to the table all these years later. There’s plenty more where I come from.

THE VIDEO:

I’m going to explain as best as I can with both parts so bear with me. Again, it would help to watch the video to see the background and the emotions in the video as portrayed by Benjamin. So, in the music video upon opening, we see the only person who will be the center of the whole music video, Benjamin. We see him in a shiny, gold building. This hallway, in the building, is a reference to the Trump Tower and Benjamin is portraying Trump, or at the least his ideals. The background images that are used in the music video are disturbing and can sometimes set an uneasy feeling. I’m not going to go super in depth on each image or video because there’s a lot but you can find the breakdown somewhere. In the music video we see flashes for symbols or things that symbolize power, such as the pyramid with the eye on the back of the US dollar bill (which is said to represent God or the illuminati, so pick one), a cowboy, and even a creepy clown video (not really a ‘power’ in a societal sense, but they affected how we lived for a while.) While the videos and pictures are shown in the back, the lyrics are being said. The majority of the time, the video and pictures have somewhat no connotation to the lyrics being sung. The end of the video ends with a clip of Spongebob screaming and crying, this was taken from the episode called ‘Karate Choppers’ from season one. The clip is right after Mr.Krabs, his boss, tells him that he’s fired. “You’re fired.” is one of Donald Trump’s signature quotes.

THE LYRICS:

Going into the lyrics I will also tie into the things that I had talked about in the music video. The lyrics in the beginning are more of acknowledging that the US is a growing country and that everyone is allowed here, except for `The scarecrows that come from the far east”. Benjamin then sings that to keep them away “Is by building walls, Walls like unicorns In full glory and galore” making a reference to the wall Trump had promised in his campaign that he was going to build. A lot of people in the states were looking forward to this and as it states, it was going to be a big project that would be looked at by many. Benjamin at this time in the music video is calm and collected and seems to be confident in what he is saying. He is also singing his thoughts about the American Dream, and how it is only for the starving, To me, this is saying that the people who don’t have it bad in this country don’t even have to think about the American Dream because they think they are already living it. Those who are struggling to get by everyday dream about the day where they won’t have to get up and wonder what their next meal is or even if they will see next week. Those people have their own dreams about the American Dream. He then thanks the people for trusting him, a reference to the fact that he is going to get inaugurated the next day. I’m going to skip 2-d’s parts for now and skip to the next time Benjamin starts to sing. The next verse that Benjamin sings is ‘Trump’ saying that even though this is how life is, we can’t do much about it, everyone in the world just wants power. We can’t be upset over something that is bound to repeat itself. He even says, “And the whole beasts of nations desire, Power”. In some way or another we want power. Trump definitely understood this and had taken it to a whole new level.

Now going into 2-d’s parts he sings both bridges in the song. In both parts that he sings he is singing directly to Benjamin. He’s asking these questions that we still ask today, “When the morning come, We are still human, How will we know? How will we dream? How will we love? How will we know ?” These questions are from the people and they are asking that if the world is so corrupt, how will we ever be able to love each other if all we can do is fight and argue. The first time 2-d comes to ask these questions, all Benjamin can do is listen. 2-d sits in Benjamin’s silhouette and Benjamin stays still. The second time he sings the same lyrics, Benjamin seems uneasy and  worried, scared, and fearful. Benjamin’s hands are shaking and the book he’s holding, he is weary about. The music becomes more, ‘anxiety filled’. Then not too long after 2-d is done, Benjamin goes back to normal. Symbolizing that in his campaign and unknowingly, the years to come, he was going to be questioned and under heavy watch because not only was he a public figure, but a lot of allegations and scandals came up about him. In the same moment, he starts to sing, “Hallelujah Money” and rub his hands together in a way that you would say money, with your thumb, pointer, and middle finger. This was then showing that even after all of that, he still had support and his fame, all the efforts did nothing to him. He wasn't phased by a single thing that came towards him.

MY THOUGHTS:

So what are my thoughts on this music video? Three words.

Absolutely.

Fucking.

Incredible.

This music video was not only amazingly made, but Benjamin did the entire music video in one take. But coming away from that, the message that this brings to the table about how the former president saw the American Dream? How he felt about power and wealth? I think it captured it perfectly. The imagery that was used in the back of the video is stunning. The way they used the analogies in this was so intricate, but it worked and fit so well. The way that they went into it and went, ‘Ya know what. Let’s give it to em’.’ My absolute favorite part of this was the lines used to describe the different sides of the American Dream. The way they also used the tree analogy in the beginning to describe the idea of western prosperity just really sold it for me.  The way this song was produced and how it sounds like a choir is singing with Benjamin to me is just the opinions of the people who agree with Trump and his ideals and them being like, ‘yeah, for the money.’ The kind of tone that song has is kind of 'rejoiceful' but having that hint of that ‘uneasiness’ that I had mentioned earlier. It just makes you think that it’s a normal Gorillaz song. The entire song is just powerful to me and after seeing it once again and hearing the song once again, and celebrating 4 years of the album...My appreciation only grows for it.

That’s pretty much it but I would like to close out with a quote from none other than Murdoc Niccals himself:

"In these dark times, we all need someone to look up to. That's why I'm giving you this new Gorillaz song, a lighting bolt of truth in a black night. You're welcome."

[starredforlife]

Jeez, do really so many people say they find you intimidating? Granted, I don't know you irl, and even here through Tumblr I'm just one person who follows you and that's it, but still, to me you always seemed nice? Enthusiastic. Goofy, even. I like your style, it IS masc and #cool, but like... I don't feel like that makes you intimidating. "Nomás sos canchera", to put it in Argentine terms.

Btw I'm just sending this due to your tags on that poll 'cause Ik you have mentioned that before andbI felt like the outsider who doesn't find you mean and intimidating, don't pay that much attention to me 😅

Idk it’s like conversations I’ve had with a couple people recently and it absolutely isn’t all based on appearance BUT that’s part of it that’s been told to me. Not suggested but cited. So!!

However I would say it’s more personality. Ofc on here I’m more fun n goofy bc it’s Star’s Mind Palace. I repost pictures and draw werewolf art and I’m vain and silly in the tags. It’s relatively earnest. When I meet people I’m not like, guarded in a mean dog way, but I put up a front. Most of how I talk comes out as a mask of metered and Sharp jackassery, with a confusing blend of genuine interest in people. I’ll talk to you like I need you to prove yourself to me. But also I want to make sure you feel included. This, I’m learning, terrifies people. Mostly I learned this when I was young bc I had to prove my intelligence constantly, so I emulated that intense scrutiny in conversation, I think, and I work in a v male dominated industry that absolutely hates the gentle approach to conversation (for the record, I do not hate it and respect it immensely. It’s also just not how I naturally work unless I’m in a more vulnerable setting).

It can be summed up by the fact that I shake girl’s hands when I meet them in gay bars. Apparently. That is not. The expected thing to do.

Idk I had a whole paragraph after this but it disappeared. I was saying smthn abt how I was. Working on it. Essentially. I Don’t Care how people perceive me bc I trust my perception first. I’ve always designated it as the other person’s problem if they dislike me. I’m learning how people perceive you matters for specific things. Especially friendships. This is very hard for me to grapple with bc I don’t like when others tell me what to do or how to be, At All.

It’s all in moderation ykwim. I’m not going to give up my confidence or my standards but I will work on trying to not make people feel like they’re cornered into a social pass or fail exam when they first meet me. I am intense and I can’t stand bullshit and sometimes I’m genuinely belittling or judgmental if I’ve decided I don’t like you off the bat (if you have failed the Vic Standards, which are always under deconstruction) and the latter is, in some parts, fun if the other person is a proven asshole. But it’s not really healthy. And I can’t start conversations with earnest intentions that way. So I have to grow. I have to let it matter a little bit.

Sorry, you got like. A Vic psychology breakdown. I’m also intimidating bc I’m great at lying, I speak very professionally, and I respect myself enough to make others feel like they have to do the same. I’m not scared easily and I like making arrogant men feel one step behind me. I maxed out on whatever deck makes you both charismatic and completely unapproachable. You’ll probably never meet me irl but I do think it’s v interesting how im perceived on here and so I appreciate the insight and the question!!

[shipcestuous]

The Banshees of Inisherin

(Reposting this from @shipcestuous-two because I accidentlally posted it there.)

It feels like it has been a long time since I could wholeheartedly recommend something non-canon. But I watched The Banshees of Inisherin recently, and it has a great brother/sister relationship, quite shippable, that place a central role in the story.

The movie takes place in 1923 on one of the smaller Irish islands called Inisherin. It's a small community, probably only a few hundred on the island at the most. The main character is Padraic, played by Colin Farrell. He lives with his sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon). Neither of them have ever married. Their ages aren't given, but Colin Farrell is in his mid-40s, so I assume the characters are supposed to be in their 30s or 40s as well. We learn that their parents died eight years earlier, and presumably this is the house they grew up in. They share a bedroom, sleeping on two twin beds. I don't know how that worked when there were four adults living in that house, so was there another bedroom, and if yes, why is no one sleeping in it? Hmmm?

Padraic and Siobhan banter a little (and bicker like a married couple about letting their miniature donkey Jenny, which Padraic loves like a dog, into the house) but mainly have a very supportive and loving relationship. Siobhan gets asked why she has never married before, but she doesn't answer. It seems like the most likely explanation is that she doesn't find anyone on Inisherin very appealing, because she later calls all of the men on the island dull. The question of why Padraic has never married is never discussed, but except for one scene when there is a crowd at the pub, she's the only young woman we ever see.

Padraic has a friend, Dominic, who asks him if he has ever seen Siobhan naked, and he says no, and is predictably annoyed by the conversation. Kind of interesting to include that, though to be fair I think it was mainly about Dominic's interest in Siobhan.

The main action of the movie is about the breakdown of Padraic's friendship with one of the other men on the island, Colm (Brendan Gleeson). Here's the trailer:

It was a really good movie – I sat down expecting to watch maybe 30 minutes of it and I finished it. Before I get into spoilers, I do want to add that there are no love interests at any point for either Padraic or Siobhan, nor a single mention of them ever having had one.

So, Padraic is introduced as a very content, happy-go-lucky guy, very kind, who says hell to everyone, but when Colm says he doesn't want to be friends with him anymore – suddenly, one day – it sends Padraic into a sort of tailspin. I kept thinking of it like a scab he couldn't stop picking at. Colm eventually tells Padraic that he doesn't want to be friends with him anymore because he's dull (in the sense of 'boring'). So Padraic turns to Siobhan for reassurance, and she's very sweet and keeps standing up for him. She tells Colm off at least twice. Just to be fair in my description here, Siobhan does think that Padraic is a little dull and not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think she completely accepts him and loves him as he is and it never would have occurred to her to wish for him to change.

In one of the best scenes for their relationship, Padraic and Colm get into an argument about whether it's better to be nice or to produce a lasting work of art (because Colm wants to spend the time he would have spent with Padraic writing music), and it's Colm's argument that no one remembers people from history for being nice, and Padraic has a great speech which concludes with him saying something really sweet about Siobhan. Dominic went to go fetch her once Padraic started drunkenly yelling at Colm, and she's standing behind him but he doesn't know she's there. And she is really touched by what he said.

Although Padraic is friendly with almost everyone on the island, his only meaningful connections seems to be with Colm, Siobhan, Dominic, and Jenny the Donkey. (And he's not very good friends with Dominic.) So after losing Colm, he's a little adrift, and it's easy to see why he would remain fixated on it rather than just hanging out with someone else.

Siobhan receives a job offer to be a librarian on the mainland. I assume she applied for it. Someone snooped on her letter and says that Padraic will be crucified if she leaves. So everyone knows how much he depends on her. Of course the timing is conveniently terrible, but it's a movie. At first it seems like she might stay, but I think she gets so exasperated with Padraic being unable to leave Colm alone that she accepts, tired of what the community is like on the island.

Padraic does not want her to go, but handles it pretty well for her sake. At first I was like, “Dang, this was great, but of course she had to go and move out and ruin things. Why didn't they even talk about him coming with her? Is she trying to get away from him?” But later she sends a letter in which she mentions that she has a bed for him, and she encourages him to come and live with her, pleads really. So that made it all right. Padraic misses her desperately but refuses to leave the island. We see him lying in his bed, staring at her empty one, pleading with her to come back. (He also mentions in his reply to her letter that he hopes she'll come home.)

In another act of fantastically terrible timing, Jenny the donkey dies as an indirect result of something that Colm did. I think it's safe to say that if Padraic had still had Siobhan, he would have handled this a lot better. But with Siobhan gone, this pretty much breaks him. So he warns Colm he's going to do it, and then sets fire to Colm's house. (He leaves this out of his letter to Siobhan.) Colm survives, but they don't make up. And to make matters even worse, Dominic also dies. (But not because of the fire.) So Padraic really is alone, he lost everyone.

Anyway, the movie clearly doesn't have a happy ending, but I do think there's hope for Padraic and Siobhan. And they're both single at the end of the movie, and they both want the other to come live with them. That's a pretty good place to be. Padraic has some soul-searching to do, obviously, but if he makes the right decision, he'll choose Siobhan.

I like to imagine that incest – consensual incest between a brother and sister who are in love – is so far from what they could possibly imagine that they've genuinely never really considered that, at least in secret, they could be together. And on the mainland, no one would know them. Plus, I mean, Colin Farrell is a VERY good-looking man. If they wanted the character to not be attractive then they should have cast an ordinary looking man. (And apparently it was written with him in mind for the role.) And Kerry Condon is very pretty too.

Anyway, there it is!

Oh, and apparently Kerry Condon and Colin Farrell were in something together before called Intermission:

[thevoidisvoid]

Dreamtale x FNAF Security Breach AU

(Animatronic Dream x Reader x Animatronic Nightmare)

Please don't repost, but reblogs are welcome!

You tugged your uniform as you strolled through the Pizzaria. You were supposed to make your rounds through each area, as per your instructions. But as you'd only been here for a little bit, you still found the animatronics that roamed the halls concerning.

Especially the one in the daycare center.

The giant doors opened with a creak as you entered the daycare center.

It was the only room in the entire building that consistently had power on. You were never told the real reason why, and something told you, you didn't want to know.

"Oh stars! Is it that time already?"

You turn, gazing up at the skeleton animatronic who'd crept up behind you. He was terrifyingly huge, long metal limbs, shaped to look like human bones. His face was grinning at you, and you could've sworn you'd seen a cyan light flash behind his golden eyelights.

"Hello."

You didn't like being in here.

You didn't like how…how realistic these animatronics were in comparison to the other ones that wandered the buildings. 

"Time just flies doesn't it?"

His voice was energetic and yet you could hear something dark creeping up into it. You didn't like that either.

"I suppose."

You didn't mean to sound so clipped, but being in this room really put you on edge. Making you feel like you…

Like you were being circled by a predator.

Trying to distract Dream you 'accidentally' knocked over one of the foam stacks.

"Oops! Sorry Dream!"

"Oh no! Don't worry, I'll clean it up!"

You only had a few minutes before he'd be back, trailing behind you. His heavy gaze all over your body.

As always there was nothing abnormal about the Daycare, unless you counted Dreams eccentric behavior as an animatronic.

"Almost done already?"

You flinched as Dream picked you up, something he did fairly often, but never failed to make you feel uncomfortable.

"The night is still early, you should stay a bit."

"I really shouldn't linger for long Dream."

You could've sworn his grin twitched, and he hummed thoughtfully.

"Oh it won't be, I would just love to play a game with you."

That wasn't ominous sounding.

Then again.

Working here had made you so paranoid even the most innocent request sounded dangerous.

"What kind of game?"

"Just a little game of hide and seek! I play it all the time with the children here!"

Probably as they try not to have a mental breakdowns.

"I guess a round or two wouldn't hurt…"

"Wonderful starlight!"

He spun you around.

"There's only two conditions though. Number one, I'll always be seeking, and you hiding."

That ominous feeling was back, but you forced it down.

"Number two, don't turn the lights off. Okay?" 

There it was again, that warning.

You almost wanted to turn the lights off, but any warning from an animatronic, even one as far out as Dream, should be taken seriously.

"Sounds good."

"Great!"

He dropped you, and covered his eyes with those boney mechanical fingers of his.

"One…"

Still feeling nervous, you begin quietly moving away from Dream. Creeping into the giant playhouse and stationing yourself at the top, by a giant slide. Offering you an easy way out.

"Ten- Here I come starlight."

He sounded so gleeful, and you felt all your nervousness creeping away as you watched him search for you down below.

Maybe you were wrong, he really didn't mean any harm to you.

You watch him dive into the ball pit, and sink to where no sane being would ever wish to tread. 

Several minutes pass, before you notice with mild surprise he's no long in the ball pit…

How did he escape your notice so easily?

Where'd he g-

"Found you Starlight~"

You give a muffled yelp as one of his hands wrap unexpectedly around your waist, dragging you backwards.

Never mind, he's creepy.

"That was fun!" 

He giggled, setting you down, and you clutched at your uniform trying to get your heart under control.

That had been unnecessarily terrifying.

And you most certainly did not want to play a second round.

"Ready for round two?"

"Well…"

"It'll be fun, I promise!"

"Okay…well…"

Maybe you could get him to count a little longer so you could sneak out?

"Could you count a little longer this time Dream? I barely had time to hide…maybe to thirty?"

He tilted his head at you, examining you, before grinning and nodding.

"Of course! Ready?"

No.

"Yeah."

He covered his eyes again, and you quickly slid down the slide, and began making your way to the main entrance.

"Three…four….five…"

Upon reaching it however you realized that it was locked. And your master key was missing.

"Eleven…twelve…thirteen."

When had it gone missing..?

The employee desk was on the other side, and you had a very very small chance of getting there unnoticed. 

But you had to try.

Not caring anymore about staying silent you broke into a run across the daycare.

And then you tripped, crashing into one of the foam pillar things sending them flying across the room.

"... Starlight are you okay?"

You scramble to your feet as you hear Dream climbing down the playhouse behind you.

"Wait Starlight! Don't go there!"

You hear him running after you, but you don't stop. Knowing that hesitation could get you killed.

"I said stop!"

You stumble into the employee area and search desperately for the spare master key, or a S.T.A.F.F Tool. 

Your hand accidentally bumps one of the computers and the lights suddenly flicker.

Then plunge you into darkness.

"Starlight no! Turn it back on! What have you done?! Turn it back on!"

It almost looked like Dream was seizing. He was standing on the counter in front of you, shaking. 

An unholy shriek of metal rang through the room, and he collapsed, falling off the table.

Your watch beeps, alerting you that the Daycare Center was having a power failure and you quickly pulled out your flashlight.

The room had gone eerily silent, and you struggled to hear anything over the sound of it.

Seconds passed as you held your breath, but nothing happened.

Feeling relieved you continued to search for the key.

"naughty, naughty girl."

Your heart stuttered to a stop at the low growl that came from behind the counter. Hands trembling you shone the light over in the direction where Dream had been previously.

"you tricked us."

A cyan light peered at you, long sharp clawed hands digging into the counter.

The animatronic no longer looked like Dream. But rather a corrupted version. And to your further horror, something was slowly sprouting out of his back.

Something like tentacles slowly creeped up, slinking towards you as you stumbled backward in fear. Dark black good dripped from the entire frame of his body, and his grin was even wider than Dreams had ever been.

If Dream was the normal animatronic, than this must be a Nightmare.

"naughty girls get punished."

You took another step backwards, not taking your eyes off of him. You needed to get out of here.

Now.

"don't try running little pet, you won't make it very far." 

He swiped a claw at you, but you dodged and took off running. Praying he couldn't see well in the dark.

You swung yourself around a corner, and hurtled yourself back into the playhouse. You felt him snatch at your shoulder, his claws grazing you as you ran crouched through the tunnels.

"the longer you run away, the worst the punishment will be~"

You couldn't see or hear him behind you anymore, but that didn't mean anything. You partially climbed into the slide again, ready to slide down. 

Your ears strained to hear anything in the deafening silence, but you could hear quiet movement, and the clack of machinery.

"there you are."

You shriek as something grasps your foot from inside the slide, attempting to drag you down the slide. You latched onto a pole and tried your best to pull yourself upwards.

It didn't work.

You were yanked down the slide, your whole body banging around the tunnel. You curled into a ball once you were free of it, cowering at the feet of the terrifying animatronic that plucked you from the ground.

"i warned you that insolent children get punished."

You whimper as you're dragged to a corner of the daycare. You do your best to deadweight yourself, but it was to no avail.

You were slammed against one of the support columns, a thick tendrils wrapping around you as the alternative personality of Dream glared down at you.

Nightmare.

You fought helplessly against him as he prodded at you, phalanges digging into you. As if exploring something unfamiliar.

"how to punish you, how to punish you…the normal time out won't be enough i'm afraid…"

He leaned in, whispering in your ear.

"i think you deserve to-"

"Emergency Power Restored."

The lights flicked onward and another unholy shriek burst out of the animatronic.

"TURN IT OFF, TURN IT BACK OFF, I WILL NOT- Oh starlight…"

You're dropped to the ground as the tentacles disintegrated in the now dim lighting. 

The familiar expression of Dream is gazing back at you, but his expression doesn't seem as cheery anymore.

"You tried to cheat."

He picked you up, ignoring your cry of terror. He held you with ease in one of his hands.

"You turned the lights off."

"No! I didn't mean to I swear Dream. I'm so sorry!"

You beg, the words falling uselessly as he gazed down at you. His golden eyelights beaming into you.

"Sorry Starlight… I don't believe you…"

The lights flicker above you, and you gasp as he digs into you.

"I think you'll prefer if I take care of you…rather than the abomination."

"Dream I'm sorry! I won't do it ever again! I'm swear to you."

He gazed at you, as if debating something, but he hadn't stopped squeezing you. And you could feel your ribs threatening to break under the intense pressure.

"You swe-"

"Emergency Power Failing. Please Reboot System."

[itztlislost]

i quit my retail job

hey y'all, it has been months since I've been active. the last time i reposted something, tumblr immediately terminated my account. I was able to get it back after emailing customer service, which they apologized that it even happen because they don't even know why it happened. weird, but whatever.

anyways, I was inactive because my mental health was my priority. I cut of friends, stopped doing the things I liked and much more just to maintain a baseline of 'ok', which wasn't great considering my only interaction was people at my job of a cashier at a grocery store.

I ended up quitting when the workplace took a turn for the worst, both coworkers and management becoming toxic and I only had one work friend who kept their head on straight. I'm not going to say we never did anything wrong and that it was everyone else being assholes, that isnt true and I don't believe it was anyone but managements fault.

I'm not really sure what caused for this shift to happen, I was too focused on my own problems at the time before i eventually noticed. basically, everyone was in a bad mood, constantly. we all had problems with everyone and each other, we all wanted things and refused to compromise without complaints. The holiday season ended, hours were cut along with all this and management decided to play favorites. white employees got to keep their hours while the rest of us didn't even get the bare minimum of 20 hours, even if we were apart of the union. I know the managers have favorites, we all do, but they suddenly didn't care about being fair.

I was already fighting a losing battle with hr, all the while I was working 10 hour shifts three days into being of my 300ml Effexor and suffering the worst of my withdrawals at the customer service desk. I finally had a breakdown and meltdown, so bad I woke the next morning unable to speak or open my eyes because of the hours long of me screaming and sobbing the night before. do to how bad I was suffering, I called out sick and included all this information which i did not have to and shouldnt have. I genuinely care about my co workers and managers, I didnt want them to think I was faking being sick and I wanted them to know I had stuck it out for as long as I could all things considered. Instead of understanding, I got a huff in reply a dry 'are you sure? fine, ok'.

after that call I proceeded to spend the rest of the day and my days off screaming and crying while I waited for my doctor to fix whatever mistake set this off. that being said, it made me realize how little my work place cared. I built so many friendships with everyone at work that I tricked myself into thinking that this location and management could be any different than corporate or any other chain. Next day, I put in my two weeks and went to stay with my fiance while I got back on my meds.

I'm doing better now and figuring out a better path since I refuse to go back to working retail. the customers were actually the best part of the job imo, good and bad interactions alike. so yeah this was mainly a vent and also just a reminder to myself every time I come back here to remember how horrible that experience was. but hey, let it be a cautionary tale too i guess. Take your meds, call and make sure they get refilled a week or two before you're out bc trust me you may think they'll refill it fast but don't risk it. also retail sucks major doo doo, quit on the spot once you see any red flags. you're disposable to them, make them disposable to you.

[downwiththeficness]

Shadow and Veil-Chapter Seven

Summary: Eva Moore’s life was a carefully constructed fiction.  Every day, she did exactly what her mother in law, her husband, and his  best friend expected of her. No mistakes. And, that was going pretty  well for Eva right up until a huge complication literally tried to run  her over. Now, she’s faced with trying to keep the pieces of her life  from falling apart while attempting (and failing) to keep her feelings  for her husband’s new business partner at bay.

A/N: This fic is a sister-fic to A Need So Great and A Need Unleashed.  You do not need to have read ANSG or ANU to read this fic, but there  are Easter eggs from those fics in Shadow and Veil for readers with keen  eyes.  This fic is explicit for canon-compliant blood, gore, violence,  and sex. As such, it is intended for an adult audience, only. A/B/O  dynamics come with their own warning. Anyone under the age of 18 should  not interact with this work. I do not consent to reposting this work to  other platforms. Reblog only to Tumblr.  

Word Count:~3700

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Eva did not want to go to this stupid charity event. She didn’t want to get dressed and do her hair. She didn’t want to put on makeup. She didn’t want to smile politely while Myra made backhanded compliments. And, she certainly didn’t want to watch her husband strut around on a stage while the wealthy women of their town vied for his attention. Just existing seemed to be too much effort as of late and this party was going to take her far beyond her limits.

Since the night she killed Dr. Martin, Eva worked hard to get through one hour at a time. She focused her energy on keeping up appearances when all she wanted was to be far, far away from the large house, the designer clothes, the watchful eyes of Alexei. He hadn’t said anything to her about it, but she could feel him observing her whenever they were in a room together.

There was no telling what he saw. Eva could barely keep herself together enough to sit through dinner. She spent a lot of time crying in her closet with the door firmly shut and her face buried in a pillow. When her tears dried up, Eva stood, collected herself, and went back to whatever she had been doing prior to the breakdown.

She might have made the decision that she was going to escape her life, but actually following through on that decision felt daunting, at best. The money she stowed away was waiting for her, but what to do once she collected it? Where would she go? How would she carve out a new life, a new identity, so that she couldn’t be found? There was no doubt that Josh would come looking for her.

No.

He’d send Alexei. And, when he found Eva, she would be the person tied up in Josh’s lab. There would be no one there with enough mercy to kill her early.  

Or.

Worse.

Josh would do what he occasionally promised to do if she stepped too far out of line. What he sometimes did when he left town for business. If that happened, Eva would be in a very different kind of hell. Even the thought of it had her rubbing away phantom pain around her wrist.

All of those worries had to be set aside when Eva pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the city’s largest event hall. Her hands on the wheel were tight enough that her knuckles protested. Eva kept taking long, deep breaths, hoping that it would be enough to get her to step out of the car. Each one failed. And failed. And failed. They failed until she thought she might hyperventilate.

Eva kept squeezing the wheel in her hands. Her jaw hurt from clenching so tight. She felt tears threaten to fall at the corner of her eyes.

“Stop it,” she demanded, aloud. “Stop it right now.”

Her body, thankfully, obeyed. The heart in her chest slowed and her eyes blinked away the tears. She began to breathe normally again.

“We’re going to get out of this. We just need to keep doing what they want until we can make our move.” Eva said to herself, “Now, get out of the car.”

She got out of the car.

Squaring her shoulders, Eva walked to the recreation center and stepped inside. It smelled faintly musty, a remnant from the basketball games played throughout the year. A table was sitting near the entrance with one of the event coordinators on standby to check the tickets.

Eva pulled the slim paper from her purse and presented it to a woman with curtain bangs and too much eyeliner. Her name tag read ‘Claire’.

“Mrs. Moore,” she breathed, “We’re so happy to have you here.”

Eva nodded, “I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.”

Pleased, Claire handed her a tri-fold brochure, “There’s all the information. If you have questions, feel free to ask.”

Eva thanked Claire and turned to enter the event room. There were streamers everywhere, crepe paper hanging from every available surface. In soft pinks and blues, it looked like a senior prom, not a county wide charity event for children—not that Eva had ever attended a prom. She’d been married almost four years by the time she would have been able to go, and Josh wasn’t about to accompany her to a dance at a school she hadn’t attended since she was fourteen.

Spotting a bar at the far end of the room, Eva bee lined for it. On the way, she was caught by Peggy.

“Eva! You look wonderful,” she gushed.

Eva smiled, “Thank you. You look lovely, too.”

Peggy was dressed in a long skirt dotted with pale lavender flowers. The neckline was ruffled lace to match the hem. Her hair had about three cans of hairspray holding it together, which possibly made her a fire hazard. And yet, taken together, Eva found her endearing.

“Thank you!” Peggy replied with a grin, “Don’t you just love the decorations?”

Eva struggled with how she should respond, settling on, “You certainly put a lot of effort into this.”

“We did,” she confirmed with a sharp nod, “though Myra had a lot of say in the matter. She’s very strong-headed.”

Eva allowed herself a genuine smile, “Yes, she is.”

With a conspiratorial look, Peggy murmured, “I would have gone a different way, but what Myra wants, she gets.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Eva said carefully, unsure if Peggy was trying to draw her into a bitching contest about her mother in law.

Peggy sighed, “She has excellent taste, for sure. And, she’s managed to get three large donations for our raffle, so I guess she gets to have a little say in how things look.”

Humming, Eva glanced at the bar longingly. She could really, really use a drink.

Peggy noted another woman across the floor and waved at her, “Excuse me, this is one of our whales for the night.”

Eva watched Peggy scurry off to schmooze with the woman in the hopes of getting a bigger donation. What was it like to have nothing but this little charity event to worry about? What was it like to only exist in the present instead of being stretched, paper thin, into the past and future. Eva envied Peggy, flammable hair and all.

Sliding onto a bar stool, Eva settled in for the long haul. She wouldn’t move from this spot if she could help it. This room might be the last place in the world she wanted to be, but at least there was booze. She could get through a hell of a lot if she had enough alcohol.

Even though her back was turned, Eva could hear when Myra walked into the room. The volume of the voices dimmed noticeably. In the lull, Myra’s soft southern accent enthusiastically greeted some of their guests. Her quiet compliments and feigned surprised at how ‘lovely’ everything looked rose above the din of conversation.

Eva didn’t turn around, her attention on a bar tender who looked barely old enough to be serving liquor. To be fair, she was barely old enough to be drinking it. He greeted her warmly and ask for her order. The options were limited to wine, cocktails, and beer. Eva asked for a glass of red and watched as her drink was poured with very little ceremony.

Eva took the glass that was offered to her and turned a bit on the stool so that she could watch the crowd. The room was filling up. People that she knew and some that she didn’t wandering around talking about the décor, the possible prizes to be won, the little finger foods that were being passed around by waiters in crisp white uniforms.

It was the picture of normalcy and Eva could not feel more estranged from it.

Just as the cake walk was beginning on the stage, Myra noticed her. Eva hid her grimace behind the rim of her glass as her mother in law walked her way. Myra was wearing a fashionable blouse and skirt set that shimmered faintly as she moved. Her path weaved through the crowd with a kind of confidence that made other people step out of her way.

Eva set her wine down and smiled at Myra, “It looks like the event is going well. I’ve heard good things about the decorations.”

“Of course you have,” Myra replied, smug. “I ordered them all the way from the capitol two months ago. When they arrived, they were in these horrid little boxes that took ages to open.” She sighed, “But, I suppose it was worth the effort.”

Nodding gently, Eva pretended to look around at the results of Myra’s efforts. Or, more accurately, the results of Myra’s supervision and the efforts of the people who she got to do the actual work.

“Speaking of effort,” Myra went on with the distinctive drawl of disapproval, “you could have put a bit more into your appearance today. This is an important event.”

Eva looked down at the plain black dress she was wearing. Sleeveless, with a hemline that brushed her knees, it paired nicely with the drop pearl earrings she was wearing and the patent leather pumps on her feet.

Feeling spiteful, she replied, “Josh picked it out.”

He did pick it out. Months ago. From a catalogue. Eva’s choice to wear it was more a matter of convenience than any sense of style. The dress she wanted to wear was still at the cleaners, forgotten in the midst of Eva’s moral crisis. But, Myra didn’t need to know that.

“Ah,” Myra breathed, tempering her disdain, “Well, you can’t fault him for that. Men rarely understand a dress code. You, however, I would expect more from.”

Eva felt a thin wire of steel slide through her spine one vertebrae at a time, “Absolutely. I suppose a little fashion faux pas is a sacrifice I’m willing to make for the happiness of my husband.”

Myra didn’t miss a beat, “Really, Eva, you would think by now that you would have learned that sometimes what makes our husbands happy is what we tell them makes them happy.”

Eva couldn’t think of any way to return that volley without outright arguing with Myra, so she simply said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yes,” Myra said as her eyes turned towards the crowd, “Well, I see that Mr. Olsen and his wife are here.”

And, with that, Myra walked away.

Eva rolled her eyes and went back to watching the cake walk. People sauntered in a slow circle while music played, cakes placed at strategic locations within the perimeter. She found her lips pulling to a smile when one or two of the participants slowed around the cakes they wanted, sighing in defeat as the music continued to play.

A few bars later, the sound system cut off and cheers of triumph mixed together with groans of disappointment. The winners got their prize and the kids got their donations.

Everyone was happy.

At the door, people continued to wander in. Some of them were holding raffle tickets, most were looking around in excitement. Eva realized that none of the people in the room were children. The whole event was supposed to be about funding treatment for sick kids and not a one of those kids was present.

Her confusion was cut off when Josh walked in, teeth flashing in a wide grin. He was wearing a blue plaid suit that stuck out among the more demure color palette around him. As he walked around, people stopped to talk with him and he met each and every one of them with a warm handshake.

She could feel her mouth turning down in a frown. He was so good at it: talking to people he didn’t know, complimenting the wives of the people he did. Making others like him so much that they didn’t see the monster beneath.

Sickened by the sight of him, Eva spun around and focused on her wine. It was nothing special—she had better at the house—but it would eventually dull the ache of disgust in her chest and that was enough for her. She finished one glass and was just starting in on the second when the lights dimmed.

Looking over her shoulder, Eva caught the emcee striding onto the stage, heard him announce that the bachelor’s auction would be starting soon. She almost scoffed, barely caught herself before she remembered that there were people in the room that might see her. A quick glance around told her that her disdain had gone unnoticed.

She should at least try to put on a show. Just in case.

Settling into a relaxed pose, Eva pretended to listen to the emcee as he explained the rules. She laughed at all the appropriate times and smiled at the cheeky little grin he gave when he talked about the ‘date’. If Eva were there by herself, if Josh and Myra were far away, she might be entertained by the way the contestants were all standing awkwardly in the back, by the way the ladies in the room were already sizing them up.

Eva blinked rapidly as a scent teased her nose. There were a lot of people in the room, a lot of perfumes and colognes that made it difficult to home in on one in particular. She would have dismissed it as a figment of her imagination if it didn’t get steadily stronger.

Tobacco and vetiver.

She hadn’t thought about him in days—too wrapped up in her own bullshit to remember that there was a big fucking problem that she hadn’t yet dealt with. And now every breath she drew was dripping in him.

Someone sat down at on the stool next to her and Eva’s eyes closed against the knowledge of who it was. She should get up and move closer to the stage. She should put in a bigger effort to support her husband.

Eva didn’t move.

Knowing that it was a bad idea, she turned away from the emcee and his jokes, ostensibly to order another glass of wine. To her left, a man sat with his forearms leaned on the bar. Tan skin led to wide palms that led to surprisingly fine-boned fingers.

The bartender set down Eva’s glass and addressed the newcomer, “What’ll you have?”

“A beer,” he intoned, “please.”

For fuck’s sake, Claire, are you letting everyone in? Eva thought, unkindly.

The hair on her arms stood up at the sound of his voice. Gone was the sardonic tone, the bluster. Eva glanced at him. He was wearing a simple button up shirt and slacks, looked nothing like the last time she’d seen him. Sitting beside her was once again the man on the sidewalk.

“What are you doing here?” Eva asked, too curious to keep her mouth shut.

He wasn’t looking at her when he replied, “Seems like the whole city is here. Why shouldn’t I be?”

“You don’t live here.”

“I do now.”

“For how long?” Her voice was terse, angry. “Your...business arrangement is taken care of.”

He laughed softly, “Not quite.”

The bartender placed a beer on the bar and rightly read the tension between them. He quickly busied himself with cleaning glasses that were already spotless.

Eva cut a look at him, “What does that mean?”

Whatever he might have said was cut off by the sound of applause as the bidding started. Eva ran a hand over her face as if to physically swipe away her frustration. She didn’t have the luxury of making a scene at the moment.

“Is this what Americans do for entertainment?”

Eva’s mouth opened, her answer stalling as she caught the amusement in his expression, “Um, no?”

He eyed the crowd, “They are enjoying themselves.”

She couldn’t say that he was wrong. People were laughing and jeering as the bids were made, money waving in well manicured hands. They looked like they were having all kinds of fun.

“Yeah, I guess they are.”

He looked at her carefully, “And, you’re sitting here.”

Eva met his glance, “I am.”

“Why?”

She drank from her glass, uncomfortable with the intensity of his stare. He let the silence hang while the next bachelor was called to the stage.

Then, “I see rings on the hands of most of those men. Their wives aren’t upset that they are being sold?”

Eva couldn’t help the way she laughed at his honest question, “Its just pretend. They pay to go on an outing with one of the men, but its not real.”

His eyes narrowed in confusion.

“The money helps with buying medicine for sick kids. All of that is just a game they play so they can have a little fun with the donation.”

There was a pause, followed by, “You’re not playing the game.”

Eva, who had been watching a middle aged woman holler at the emcee to make sure he saw her bid, whipped her head around and stared at him, “No. I’m not playing the game, Mr. Jimenez.”

He flinched.

Good.

Eva sipped her wine, wishing that she had feigned sick so that she wouldn’t be sitting on that stupid barstool next to a man whose smell was so at odds with his actions that she couldn’t make heads or tails of him.

“Why are you here?”

He hesitated a beat, “When you want to know what kind of people you’re dealing with, put them in a room full of money.”

Eva shot him a look, then quickly dropped her eyes to her half empty glass.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” Her voice was too high pitched to be innocent and she could feel an embarrassed heat creep up her neck.

“No,” he countered, “that wasn’t nothing.”

Eva shook her head, “It was just an inside thought.”

Oh, my God. Why did you say that? Eva chided herself. She hadn’t talked about inside thoughts since—anyway, she shouldn’t have said it.

“What is an inside thought?”

He had to ask. Of course he had to ask. It didn’t make sense for him not to ask.

Eva shook her head, looking anywhere but at the man beside her.

Leaning into her space, his voice dropped low, “Tell me, what is it?”

Against her will, Eva found herself saying, “Its a thought that should probably be kept inside—you know, inside.”

He lifted his brows, non-verbally asking for more.

She struggled to form the thought into something coherent, “Its not something you should say in polite company.”

Mouth lifting in half a smile, he joked, “I don’t know that I am polite company.”

There was a challenge in that statement that was reflected in his eyes. Eva let that challenge hold for as long as she could before she sighed and picked up her glass, “You don’t know who you’re dealing with until you’re in a room full of money and a gun. That was the thought. Happy?”

He surprised her by leaning back a little and saying, “Yes. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’re right.”

She frowned, “I’m what?”

The glass in his hand tipped back and he took a long pull, “You’re right. You don’t know who you’re dealing with until you have motive and a weapon.”

Eva rolled her eyes, “You sound like a cop.”

He rolled his eyes, “Don’t let my men hear you say that.”

“Secret’s safe with me.”

The emcee announced the next bachelor and Eva’s ear caught on Josh’s name. Accomplished businessman. Proud member of the Masons. Board certified medical doctor—careful ladies, he’s married! She smiled awkwardly as eyes turned towards her, blew Josh a good natured kiss just for show. He caught it mid-air and stowed it away in his breast pocket for safekeeping.

More pretending.

The attention of the crowd returned to the stage and Eva felt safe enough to turn back to her drink. She drained the glass and signaled the bartender for another.

“So you are playing the game.”

Eva leveled a baleful look at him, “Don’t pretend you’re not.”

“I at least admit it from time to time.”

“I’m not—,” she took a calming breath, “Surviving is not a game.”

Eva had no idea why she was admitting that to him. She had no idea why she was letting him draw her out. It had to be something about the way his scent called to her, the way it made her feel cosseted and safe. Yes. It was his scent. That’s all it was.

This is dangerous.

“No,” he whispered, “its not.”

Josh’s ending bid was two hundred dollars, an amount that he seemed proud to have garnered. Eva didn’t even bother to figure out who had won. She simply smiled and pretended that she was happy for him.

The next bachelor was called up. Mr. Dorset was one of the new pharmacists in the parish. Ardent hadn’t yet pulled him into the fold, but Eva knew it was only a matter of time. Josh would work his magic eventually.

Young, good looking, and shy. His shoulders rose up a little bit at the wolf whistle he earned from someone who might have been drinking a bit too much.

Beside her, Mr. Jimenez threw back the rest of his beer. He paid the bartender with a crisp one hundred dollar bill—no change.

Turning to Eva, he said, “I lied. You don’t know someone until you’re standing between someone the thing they can’t live without.”

What the fuck does that mean?

Eva watched him stride away, his broad shoulders maneuvering through the crowd easier than Myra’s confident stride. As he disappeared, she felt something inside her come unmoored. The whole conversation felt like it had never happened, like it had been a dream.

But, it was real.

It happened.

Sniffing, Eva blinked rapidly and folded her irrational panic up into a little envelope to be opened later. She turned to see that Mr. Dorset’s winning bid was five hundred dollars. He smiled and blushed and dipped his chin, waving his thanks to Peggy.

Behind him, Josh pushed his hands into his pockets. He was smiling, but his expression was carved in stone.

Eva felt her stomach drop. She paid the bartender and slid from her seat. Walking along the perimeter, Eva took her place next to her husband. She made small talk and little jokes to keep everyone from noticing how quiet her husband had become. When his hand encircled her wrist, squeezing tightly, she played pretend that it didn’t hurt.

[veiledlinks-vn]

The Guessing Games Announcement

Hiya, everybody! I hope you had a great spooky month and a happy Halloween! ^w^ First, I want to give a huge thank you for all the response I've gotten for the Veiled Links announcement post! To see everyone so excited makes me even more eager to see you guys play it once it's done! <3 Secondly, I've got a couple of messages of a more spoilery nature from users since the announcement was posted, and I've been jumping in my seat to spill the beans about everything and anything. But what's the fun in just giving away spoilers? XD And with that said... Thirdly: I've decided to have some fun by hosting a small series of Guessing Games (GGs)!

What does that mean, you might ask? Well, it means we're going to have a little fun in the VRAINS fandom to see who can guess which characters will appear in Veiled Links. :3 Here's the general breakdown of how this will work: 1.) The first three rounds for the GGs will be for the exclusive love interests (LIs) that I hinted at in the announcement post, and all the other rounds will be for the characters who will be featured in VL as supporting characters (SCs).

2.) Each round will be held on a specific date of my choosing.

3.) A hint on a character's identity will be provided, and the first user who can correctly guess their identity is the winner! The winner will receive an exclusive screenshot from VL of said character as a prize via their DMs (no reposting/sharing).

Once the round is over, I'll reveal the character's identity for everyone else in a general post. I will publish a separate post that lists the rules in more detail and the date for the first round.

That's it for now, guys. Hope you'll look forward to it! ^w^

[sandybrett]

The Slings & Arrows timeline

[Reposted from my previous blog, which I'm going to deactivate soon.]

I’ve attempted to compile as much information as possible about the timeline of Slings & Arrows as a resource for myself and other fic writers. By “resource” I do not mean “definitive guide,” because, as I suspected going in, it does not hold together very well. There’s one obvious inconsistency—Richard has supposedly been at the festival for eight years, but doesn’t know Geoffrey. There’s a sense I get, which I’ve seen at least one other person agree with but I don’t know if anyone else does, that based on the way everyone talks about the famous Hamlet and how much Oliver and Ellen have aged since then, it must have been more than seven years ago.

Under a cut for length and spoilers.

S1E1 • The Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated in the first round of the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs, so the 2003 season at New Burbage has to have opened in mid-April. (Apparently the guy sitting behind the Minister of Culture during the show is a Philadelphia Fliers fan.) • Kate saw Geoffrey’s Hamlet when she was 12, which would put her at 19 now. • Oliver has directed the Dream 10 times. Ellen has played Titania 6 times. Stratford does the Dream roughly every five years. • Basil says “Here’s to another 25 years with the festival.” He doesn’t explicitly say Ellen’s already been with the festival for 25 years, but that seems to be the implication. If we assume she has a college degree, she must be at least 48, meaning she would have played Ophelia at 41. If we assume she arrived as a teenager, like Kate, she’s more like 44 and played Ophelia at 37. Either way, it would mean she had already been with the festival 18 years by the time of Geoffrey’s breakdown. • This is the festival’s 44th season, meaning the festival was founded in 1959. • Oliver saw Burton’s Hamlet in ’64, and it sounds like he was an adult. That would put him at least in his early 60s. • Oliver seems to claim that his sleeping with Ellen was responsible for Geoffrey’s great performance. Obviously this is a stretch, and Oliver later admits it wasn’t true. But I doubt he would be even making that claim if he had slept with Ellen between the second and third shows, as many fans have assumed. It sounds like they slept together before the show opened. • Ellen angrily whispers “Tell him!” to Oliver, confirming that they’ve already slept together by opening night. But Geoffrey doesn’t know. So Oliver is claiming that by sleeping with Ellen and not telling Geoffrey about it, he somehow made a major difference in Geoffrey’s performance. • Past!Ellen still seems to be of typical childbearing age—probably closer to 37 than 41. Although given that Geoffrey is extremely drunk and probably already not in the best mental health, he might be overestimating how easy it would be for Ellen to get pregnant.

S1E2 • Anna knows Geoffrey, but Richard doesn’t, even though Richard has supposedly been with the festival for eight years. • One of the speakers at the funeral met Oliver at the Manitoba Theatre Center in 1978. • Geoffrey says “There was a kind of electricity in this place I have not experienced anywhere else,” which I’m guessing means his professional theatre experience is not limited to New Burbage and Theatre Sans Argent.

S1E3 • Geoffrey’s other roles at New Burbage included Romeo, Mark Antony, and Prince Hal. It’s not specified whether he played Antony in Julius Caesar or Antony and Cleopatra. • Darren directed Titus Andronicus in ’97, one year after Geoffrey’s breakdown. Geoffrey seems to have seen it, implying he was out of the hospital by then. • Geoffrey stormed the stage in the middle of a college performance. Admittedly, it’s implied to have been an insensitive one, but still, this suggests to me that he already had some mental health issues. • Geoffrey and Ellen played “all the great love scenes” together—probably an exaggeration, but there was definitely more than just R+J and Hamlet.

S1E6

    •    The actor playing Laertes was named Brian, and seems to have been someone both Ellen and Geoffrey knew well. Is it the same Brian we meet in Season 2? He looks way too young. There could easily be two different Brians—after all, there are two different Barbaras. You’d think if there were multiple Brians Geoffrey might distinguish among them, but then again, Ellen probably remembers which Brian played her brother.

    •    This is kind of a tangent, but does anyone else get the sense our heroes have more of a history with Basil than we’re being told about?

    •    At this point Claudius is not being played by Brian Cabot, but by a guy named Alan.

    •    The end credits distinguish the past and present actors by listing Jack’s castmates as “Horatio” and Geoffrey’s as “Horatio (1996)”, confirming that the show does take place in 2003.

S2E1 • Kate receives and accepts a marriage proposal from a well-established actor, which makes me doubt that she’s really supposed to be 19 or 20. • When Ellen asks whether Geoffrey really hasn’t slept with anyone in 8 years, Geoffrey says “You have to remember I was in an asylum.” I think this implies he was hospitalized for a fairly long time.

S2E2 • Veronica Tennant is a real person; I don’t think she’s supposed to be related to Geoffrey. • Geoffrey says he’s known Ellen for ten years. Does that include the seven-year gap? If so, they only knew each other for two years pre-Hamlet; if not, it’s more like nine years. Two is highly unlikely given the number of times they’re implied to have acted together, but possible given the structure of the New Burbage season (see S2E6). Nine seems a little too long but is plausible, although presumably they weren’t dating for that entire time. • Henry refers to New Burbage as “home”, implying he spent a substantial chunk of his early career there. It’s not clear how much he overlapped with Geoffrey and Ellen.

S2E3 • Henry and Brian played Hal and Falstaff opposite each other. It was probably since the disastrous Hamlet if Brian is indeed the same Brian who played Laertes. Henry has also played Hamlet, and Macbeth three times.

S2E5 • Oliver directed Geoffrey in R+J twice, and the first one was 20 years ago—12 years before Hamlet. He was upstaging Mercutio during the Queen Mab speech, so he was either Romeo or Benvolio. • Ellen played Paulina in The Winter’s Tale at some point.

S2E6 • Darren and Geoffrey were in college together in 1980. If they were freshmen, that would mean Geoffrey was about 34 at the time of his breakdown and 41 when he returned to the festival. • Sarah says that Romeo and Juliet is going to run for twelve weeks. This implies that New Burbage productions don’t run for the entire season the way Stratford productions do, which would also explain why, in Season 1, Hamlet starts later in the season than the Dream despite being the flagship production. If we assume that this season, like the previous season, opens in mid-April, Romeo and Juliet would only run until mid-July. Then, if the next set of plays opens immediately afterward and runs for twelve weeks, the season ends in mid-October.

S3E2 • Ellen says “We’re not in the Young Company anymore” implying that she and Geoffrey were both in the New Burbage Young Company. • Ellen was in Three Sisters with Charles at the National Arts Center—she played Masha, Barbara played Olga, and I’m guessing from their relative ages that Charles played Chebutykin. This seems to be the only time they’ve worked together, so presumably he hasn’t worked at New Burbage much during Ellen and Geoffrey’s adult lives, unless Ellen and Charles just happened to never be cast in the same play. • Geoffrey and Charles, however, have obviously worked together quite a bit, but we never learn where or when. • Barbara has been cast as Ellen’s older sister twice, so I’m guessing either they’re very close in age or Barbara’s a bit older. Barbara is getting hot flashes earlier than expected, which would imply that Ellen is not yet getting hot flashes.

S3E3 • Oliver directed Geoffrey in seven plays at New Burbage. This does not eliminate the possibility that he could have directed Geoffrey in more plays elsewhere, or that Geoffrey was in other plays at New Burbage with other directors.

S3E5 • Ellen says that she and Barbara were “roommates on tour,” implying that’s how they met. I don’t know whether this was for Three Sisters or something else. Judging from the fact that Geoffrey already knows Barbara, this seems to have been before Ellen and Geoffrey got together. Ellen was apparently “crazy about” a guy named Mike Greenfield, whom she found having sex with a girl named Mary in the green room. • When Barbara says she and Ellen are “bitter and menopausal,” Ellen starts to say “I’m not—” and then breaks off. She’s admitted to being “bitter” in the past, and “I’m not menopausal!” would be the funnier response, so this is further evidence that Ellen is not yet menopausal. • Barbara says that Ellen’s been at New Burbage “her whole life,” although clearly there’s been at least one short break.

S3E6 • Frank says he’s been with New Burbage “ever since it was a tent,” even though, according to S1E3, he wasn’t there for Geoffrey’s breakdown.

Other notes • In 2003, Paul Gross and Mark McKinney both turned 44, Martha Burns turned 46, Stephen Ouimette turned 49,  Don McKellar turned 40, Susan Coyne turned 45, and Rachel McAdams and Luke Kirby both turned 25. (Of course, Rachel McAdams played a high school student in Mean Girls that same year.) Paul Gross would have been 41 when he played Hamlet at Stratford. Martha Burns played Ophelia at some point before that, but I wasn’t able to find any indication of when. • It’s never explained what differentiates the apprentices from the Young Company, except that the Young Company get large roles instead of playing “maids and fairies.” If we accept that Kate really is supposed to be 19 when we meet her, perhaps apprenticeships are for college students on vacations or actors starting their careers directly out of high school, whereas the Young Company is for people who’ve just finished their acting degrees. However, that seems not to have been how it was for the Stratford Young Company, on which the New Burbage one is presumably modeled: Susan Coyne was in several Young Company productions when she was nearly thirty and had already performed in a regular production at Stratford.

Additions, theories, input from people who know more about theatre than I do all welcome!

[aztrareia]

Repose;

This is definitely a journal entry. But hear me out a bit. I'll try my best to rack my brains to make it into some form of logical train of thought.

RM's solo works are usually so full of metaphors and wordplay that I end up just taking words and phrases off of it. Which is what I'll actually do because it relates to what I said about my own two eyes becoming harsh critics. feelsbadman.jpg

When your own heart underestimates you probably called out to me stronger than I wanted it to. It physically hurt (not really).

It's not that I wanted to please anyone with things I do (even though I sort of do, that would be great if it did??). But I get kinda sensitive that I have to stop when my own voice tells me something is off. It's happened twice today, and even more in the past days with different other wips. So maybe that was why I had that momentary idea of maybe just sticking to traditional art in the past days.

Maybe I'm escaping, because traditional art has been that sorta fake it til you make it thing that it somehow looks great in the end. Made a funny little happy mistake? No problem, it's part of the art now. It actually adds a charm to the thing. With digital I see every damn pixel that's off. Every little dot that's a bit too jagged and misplaced and I want to keep fixing them but at the same time—it looks just fine? And that's what hurts. Is it a skill issue? What more am I expecting myself to do.

I might have lost that authoritarian maternal nagging voice, but it seems to have been replaced with my own. I don't know how to fix it but to give myself a rest.

I think I felt bad attaching these sort of feelings to things I'm truly enjoying working on. But at the end of the day I can't escape the fact I may have tried to bring my own heart down today. And that's not cool. I happen to like injecting a part of my soul (not literally) into my artworks. It's like they have an essence of their own. And I think that's also been most of the oc and non-oc art I've done. Every single one has been a whirlwind of emotions and I don't know if they show but it's also OK if they do not.

I'll repost those works soon with complete breakdown to their content.

I think that's all I wanted to say.

I haven't listened to the rest of 「Indigo」, so instead I offer Suneohair's 「Kyouhansha」. Idk why. It sounded nice.