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missbrunettebarbie · 3 years

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The Wallflower series ranked

I've read the entire Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas -all 4 main works plus the two secondary ones- and decided to rank it.

1. Devil in Winter (book 3) - The first book I've read, mainly because the premise of a girl running from an abusive family and proposing marriage to a the villain of the previous book, who kidnapped and tried to marry her friend was extremely intriguing. And somehow, the book delivered! Evie and Sebastian's relationship was the sweetest one in the series -even if I side-eye Evie a bit for the scene where she makes Sebastian "lose" the bet- and I actually can see what they love in each other. Their character arcs were also well-done and I enjoyed the plot. Not to mention Sebastian insisting "it was not a love match" ten seconds after taking a bullet for Evie was hilarious. I also really enjoyed Daisy's brief scene with Cam and Evie's interactions with the other wallflowers.

2. Again the Magic (book 0)- I didn't expect to like this book so much, especially since all the Wallflowers are absent and their friendship is one of the main reasons I enjoy this series. And while one could argue book 2 or even book 1 had a better plot, there is just something....magical about this one. While at times I wanted to slap both Mckenna and Aline for their stuborness, I understood where both of them were coming from. Usually a man wanting to seduce a woman and make her his mistress when he could easily marry her is a huge no-no for me, but since Mckenna wanted it as a form of revenge -and a fitting one considering what Aline lead hin to believe- it didn'r bother me as much. I also appreciate that I've finally encountered a scarred female lead in the historical romance genre. I also really enjoyed the secondary couple, Gideon/Livia, and the way these two broken people came to fall for each other. (Also their first meeting -Gideon seeing her dancing alone in the garden in an old dress and assuming she was a servant playing at being Cinderella- was A++ as far as first meetings go)

3. Scandal in Spring (book 3) - While the premise of the book wasn't the most interesting- Daisy's father wants her to marry his business partner and surrogate son who had also been in love with her for years- I came to really like this book. While I don't entirely understand why Daisy always disliked Matthew so much (my guess is that she was simply following Lilian's lead, who hated Matthew because he had her father's aporoval when none of his children ever pleased him) or why Matthew loved her for years (I guess love is irrational but I still would have liked to know what exactly he appreciated at her) when they did get together, I found them really cute. They complemented each other well and they might be the least problematic couple in the series. Finding out Matthew's backstory also made me love him twice as much as before. Not to mention, I loved all the scenes the other wallflowers had.

4. It happened one autumn (book 2) -I really, really wanted to like Westcliff/Lilian, but him sleeping with her while she was drunk and almost engaged to his childhood friend (even if it wasn't a love match) made it hard to buy into Westcliff's reputation as a 'real gentleman'. I think my main problem with the guy was that the author clearly loooves him, whereas I actually dated a Westcliff wannabee once (although one who was less self-aware and had an inferiority complex LMAO) and coupled with the fact that I related to Lilian....I couldn't root for the couple. Buuut, it is a very well-written book, Lilian is a great heroine (my second favourite in the series), the wallflowers were great as usual and Sebastian's introduction and the forshadowing for the next book made book 2 very enjoyable. Even Westcliff/Lilian had its moments, especially in the begining, and it is in no way a badly written relationship, however it was not for me and as a result dragged the whole book down.

5. Secrets of a summer night (book 1) - A good begining for the series. I enjoyed the class comentary, the way the wallflowers friendship began when they decided to help each other find husbands and Annabelle's character arc. Simon/Annabelle could have also been a good ship...but it wasn't. I didn't understand Simon's obssession with her nor why she finally gave in and accepted his advances. Not to mention this was another "man wants woman as his mistress when it would be easier to simply marry her" and unlike Mckenna, Simon has no good reason to do this. The one great point in Simon's favor is that when he decided to marry Annabelle, he did so despite beliebing she had been another man's mistress.

6. A Wallflower Christmas (book 4.5) - LK should have simply written an epilogue novella about the wallflowers and their husbands instead of creating a love story she didn't really care about. Hannah and Rafe were simply there and I couldn't have cared less about their love story. The most interesting part of the book was seeing all the girls married and together for Christmas and having some of my headcanons turn canon (Matthew keeping the name Swift, Evie's firstborn being a girl).

#wallflowers #wallflowers series #lisa kleypas #historical romance #my thoughts #books #book review

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majolishious · 4 years

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How would the brothers react if while they were watching a horror movie MC gets scared and suddenly hugs their arm or wraps her arms around them? :3 Some nice fluff >w

This was fun, I really hope you enjoy this!!!

【Lucifer】

He’s not the biggest fan of horror movies, they’re not very realistic in his eyes, and he finds they bore him senseless. The only enjoyment to be found by it is if he’s watching it with one of brothers who might react more to the movie. His pride would never allow him to admit it, but he secretly enjoys when one of his brothers cling to him while watching the movie. You on the other hand, he feels a touch concerned. Horror movies in the Devildom are much more terrifying than up in the human world, and he certainly can’t have you being awake all night because of them. He’s reluctant even after you reassure him, but he puts one on nonetheless. You don’t get too far into the movie before scooting closer to him, somehow feeling that his presence alone will help protect you. After a frightening scene, you cling to Lucifer almost on instinct, hurrying your face in his arm as you softly whimper. That’s when he decides to turn the movie off, but you’re welcome to cling to him for just a little longer while he soothes you.

【Mammon】

Was 100% the one who suggested watching a horror movie, only to prove that he was a strong and brave demon. He keeps a brave face, but inches closer to you until he’s nearly sat on your lap. This is fine by you, as the movie was pretty terrifying, and you get to snuggle up to Mammon; a win for both of you really. The movie was getting more and more intense, and after a loud and terrifying scene, you wrapped your arms tightly around the cowering demon, burying yourself in his chest as an attempt to shutout the movie. He quickly reached for the remote to switch off the TV, before wrapping himself tightly around you, whispering some comforting words, “D-don’t worry, The Great Mammon will protect ya! N-nothing from a damn movie will hurt ya,” he almost sounds like he’s trying to encourage himself too.

【Leviathan】

He was pretty excited to watch the movie with you. It was a horror sure, but it featured a Sucre Frenzy cameo which he was most excited for. He kept his eyes glued to the screen, not even flinching at the scary parts, while you were cowering behind him, and scooting ever so slightly closer to him for protection. The movie was getting more and more intense, but what set you off was Levi’s excitement when Sucre Frenzy finally made their cameo; which had both of you screaming for different reasons while you wrapped your arms around Levi from behind, and buried your face in his back. He had to pause the movie as he couldn’t really focus on it after that, “Y-you’re such a normie to be scared of this movie,” he muttered, feeling somewhat glad you were behind him and couldn’t see the blush that spread across his face.

【Satan】

While dramas are more his jam, he lives for a good horror novel or movie, and when one of his favourite horror novels got a movie adaptation, he was excited to view it with you. There were a lot of inaccuracies that he whispered to himself, but for the most part, it seemed like a good movie, with very light horror - or so you thought. Much like Satan, the movie went from 0-100 in no time flat, going from what was only suspenseful and atmospheric to full blown terror. Satan didn’t seem too surprised. He read the book, and knew it was coming, but you had not been warned, and with each new scare, you found yourself becoming more and more terrified, eventually leading to you grabbing a hold of Satan’s arm, and trying to shut the movie out, “(Y/N)? Are you alright?”, he asked, his voice laced with concern. You couldn’t give him a verbal response instead shaking your head while cuddling closer to him. The movie went off pretty quickly, and Satan allowed you to stay close to him while he read some more lighthearted books to you.

【Asmodeus】

He’s not too big on horror himself, but this was the night you and Asmo spent together watching cheesy romance movies, while relaxing with some face masks and sharing some gossip you’d heard throughout the week. While it was rare either of you payed much attention to the movie with the chatter, you both found that the movie absorbed your attention, despite both of you shaking like a leaf. Surprisingly, it was you who caved in first, and clung to Asmo’s chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around you in response, and switched the TV over to something more Asmo-friendly; a show with lots of cute and soft things seemed to calm him down enough to get him to help calm you down.

【Beelzebub】

You always have a movie and munch night with Beel. This week, it was his turn to pick the movie while you sorted out the snacks - despite knowing that Beel would be bringing his own too. The movie Beel picked didn’t seem to be anything special of out of the ordinary. The cover was as bland and basic as you could get, but the giant cheeseburger on the front was probably what swayed Beel to pick it. The movie was pretty disappointing, especially since there was no cheeseburgers, and Beel was slowly making the connection that the disc he put it, didn’t match the case, “I guess Mammon mustn’t have put the discs in the right cases, he always does that,” Beel said bluntly while he continued to munch his snacks. You on the other hand couldn’t take the horror anymore, and wrapped your arms around Beel, who elected to turn the movie the off, and allow you eat some of his snacks while gently rubbing small circles on your back.

【Belphegor】

The boy loves horror, but he’s not so much into the newer movies. He can’t stand the cheap jump-scares. He wants to feel the fear through the characters and atmosphere, not through a loud noise and something popping up. Despite being unfazed and somewhat bored by the movie the two of you were watching, you found yourself taking cover behind one of the pillows on the bed. It didn’t help that Belphie had been watching you the whole time, and was able to predict a jump-scare that would make an opportunity for him to give you a bit more of a scare by putting his hands on your shoulders. It didn’t go over too well, considering you nearly started crying. Belphie felt pretty awful about frightening you like that, but despite being what scared you, you also found comfort in him as you wrapped your arms around him, clinging to him for dear life.

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panvani · 3 years

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Ciel route thoughts:

Definitely much more engaging and enjoyable than Arcueid’s route in a number of dimension. Unlike Arcueid’s route, which spends vast amounts of time constantly repeating itself to explain lore I don’t care about to begin with, Ciel’s route is entirely character/plot/theme focused. The “book” Shiki “reads” throughout the route is actually a pretty interesting way of establishing themes Tsukihime intends to discuss in regards to death, and unlike Arcueid’s route, which treats death as pretty much a non-issue, Ciel’s route does actually try to get into it.

The character writing was, as I said, much more interesting. I actually enjoyed the conflict between Ciel and Arcueid, and the increased awareness of who Roa is as a person. I guess you could say I’m... glad to know... there was a reason Shiki acted... like that... in Arcueid’s route, and I felt Ciel’s route actually got the same concept across in a far less gratuitous and obnoxious manner. Seeing a darker side of Arcueid actually makes her way more interesting, and I think Ciel had more of a leg to stand on in terms of independent character writing than Arcueid.

That being said, by far the most aggravating part of this route was the romance and Ciel herself. The story barely allows you to talk to her, to the point that when you’re forced to do your little relationship checks, I was clicking the Ciel options actively against my own beliefs. As I said before, I don’t feel all that strongly about Arcueid, but at least she felt like... someone for whom I had an actual reason to feel attachment. Has Shiki never had a female classmate before, or something? Why’s he this preoccupied with Ciel at all? She’s not particularly nice to us- at least, not in a way that would make her more worthy of our affections than Arcueid. Ciel’s route is continually hijacked by Arcueid, to the point Shiki repeatedly emotionally betrays Ciel for Arcueid, which just aggravates the problems already present in their romance. It was just frustrating.

Then, with regards to Ciel herself, I understand I’ve been a bit conflicting. While I do believe Ciel had more going on with her as a single character than Arcueid did, I was far more put off by Ciel’s arc than Arcueid’s arc. The similarities Ciel bears to other characters I really like just made me dislike her more, because it highlighted all the reasons why her writing felt hollow. There’s no challenge to empathizing with the protagonist’s love interest- it’s what you’re supposed to do by default. Even when Ciel is trying to kill Shiki, it’s obvious she’s not going to actually permanently hurt him, because she’s an eroge love interest and they hadn’t had sex yet. In the end, Ciel’s route failed to make me care for her when the narrative was constructed to make me care for her, while also failing to make me dislike her when the narrative was constructed to make me dislike her. Absolutely 0 personal connection with Ciel was necessary to understand her at the end of her route. The way she just dumped her heart out to Shiki was actively annoying. Why would someone who’d been suicidal that long just confess to some guy she... didn’t even really know that well? After spending that long lying to Shiki, why does she suddenly want him to know everything? What had Shiki done to earn that aside from like, agreeing that murder is probably bad?

I would’ve found vastly more enjoyment from this story if it had been told in any other way. Instead, it was mostly a frustration. There were plenty of aspects I did think were interesting, and I do think those to an extent made up for the annoying aspects, but it’s really... bizarre how little effort was put into make this dating sim love interest an actual person you can date.

#logxx #tkhm lb

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talkingbl · 3 years

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The Good and Bad of Make It Right (MIR)

SPOILER WARNING. TW: rape, dubious consent, minors

I wasn't going to do this one for a number of reasons but honestly, my thoughts are so overwhelming that the review just wrote itself so...enjoy I guess

The Good:

FrameBook. If you've watched MIR, you had to know this would be king. Ohm is so incredibly gifted that even 15 year-old him had us all thinking Frame had genuine feelings for Book. Their intimacy just seems so natural at moments that it covers up some of the more amateurish aspects of Ohm's acting. But aside from the incredible chemistry Ohm is able to manufacture as Frame and the vulnerability Toey exuded as Book, it was the unconventional progression of their relationship from competitors (at least in matters of the heart) to lovers that made them so iconic.

Lukmo's character arc. As the series progresses, Lukmo becomes increasingly more sympathetic and is shown to be a loyal, loving friend. By the end of Season/Series 1, you're starting to get all the good parts of him and less of his obnoxious teen-boy "humor."

The first few episodes of TeeFuse. Tee is one of the better characters in this series and much of the charm of the series comes down to Boom's charismatic disposition, Tee's genuine and unquestioning interest in Fuse, and the way Fuse struggles with his feelings for Tee. Because MIR was made in a time before Thai BL tropes were really a thing, Fuse's struggles with accepting his feelings for Tee seem novel and are explored in a much more raw and almost childish way. This inner struggle is different from, for example, that of Pick in Puppy Honey because instead of becoming homophobic, Fuse's mulling over and ultimate acceptance is largely portrayed as more of general indecision and curiosity on his part. Specifically, indecisiveness about whether to break up with his girlfriend. Of course the internalized homophobia is part of why he doesn't accept his feelings for Tee, but not only does he not constantly vocalize it (and no, being in denial about being gay isn't *necessarily always* synonymous with homophobia), but his rejection of Tee also comes largely as a consequence of his already having been in a relationship with Jean.

Most of the actors are the same age as their characters. This roots the world the story takes place in and, by (most likely unintentional) extension, serves as an escape from all of the toxic standards set by shows that cast ripped 28 year-olds to play high school seniors.

The communication between all the couples at one point or another is some of the best in BL. With the notable exception of late series TeeFuse, all the couples have moments of brilliance where communication errors in a typical Romance show would completely ruin the relationships between couples. In MIR, the process of solving communication-related problems is either given realistic development or doesn't need development in the first place due to characters immediately solving any issues that could stem from miscommunication.

Yok as a concept. The fact that he is a main character and is more on the femme side (and has a best friend who is also quite femme) feels like a revolutionary step forward in Thai BL (until you realize it never really happens again 🙃).

The Bad:

FrameBook. This relationship literally should not exist. Its beginning is worse than even TharnType. And it's not really that you can't have characters experience trauma like rape in stories at all, it's just that you shouldn't then downplay it dramatically and then make the rapist a sympathetic character...

Lukmo. I fucking hated this guy at the beginning lmao. He's homophobic, colorist, gross, annoying, and just an all-around asshole. He had 0 redeemable qualities until he saw TeeFuse kiss

TeeFuse. Ch- I just- So Tee rapes a drunken Fuse and its effects are played for laughs, and then they spend the better part of the season not actually being together with Fuse just being completely indecisive about what he wants and Tee just?? doing whatever the hell with discount Saint Suppapong for a couple of eps to, I guess, move on from Fuse? I don't know girl the whole thing was just weird to me.

Most of the actors are the same age as their characters. So let's just address the elephant in the room that all of these kids behaved like adults at some point in the story...ESPECIALLY Frame, Tee and Fuse. This is quite controversial because while it's not out of the ordinary for teen shows to showcase its characters grappling with the complexities of sexual relationships, it is if the actors playing those characters are themselves teenagers. Peak would've been no older than 16 when he began filming for MIR, Ohm no older than 15, and Boom 14-15. And they were not just hinting at sex scenes but actually showcasing foreplay in their scenes.. I understand that it is normal/natural and am not necessarily saying teens can't portray teen issues, I'm just saying that some of it can be seen as a bit much given these guys' ages. Not to mention the fact that the entire approach to sex was very unrealistic. Like, the idea that Book and Fuse would basically be in severe pain for days after having sex just shows a lack of basic knowledge on how average human bodies work and the safe/enjoyable ways to engage in penetrative sex. But beyond the general unsafeness of the sex are some of the ideas that the show portrays as normal in teen relationships that are completely unrealistic--though I find that the most egregious levels of unrealism come in Make It Right 2.

The toilet humor reached new levels of gross with this one.

The casual colorism is just all over the place and is, in fact, one of the main character's primary motivations for befriending another main character (thinking of Rodtang and Fuse here). In fact, I stopped watching MIR 3 times mere minutes into the first episode after Fuse talks about his sister's line of whitening serums. The incessant worship of white skin (and consequent down-putting of dark skin) from multiple characters at several points throughout the show is not only extremely problematic but actually annoying.

The concept of "to get over a girl date a guy" is not even actually the joke it seems to be in this series and is, in fact, played as a legitimate coping strategy. The main problem I have with this is that none of the guys who use this strategy are ever actually interested in men before they try this out. They are painted as straight boys who can magically turn gay at the drop of a hat and, seeing as how it is never refuted, this is dangerous messaging.

I have like a thousand very complicated thoughts on this show but this is a good gist I think. So....yeah.

#thai bl boys love make it right the series #ohmtoey framebook #boompeak teefuse #ohm pawat toey sittiwat #boom krittapak peak peemapol

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fefeman · 4 years

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BNA review

Okay, so here are my thought on BNA by studio Trigger.

my grading: 10 = excelent, 9-8 = very good, 7-6 = good, 5 = average, 4-3 = mediocre and underwhelming, 2-1 = bad, 0 = I feel personally insulted (as in: Gate).

Plot: 6/10. The plot isn’t exactly bad in itself, but it certainly feel quite shortened. The show was meant to be 24 episodes but was reduced to 12. This mean the end start moving very quickly, and some developments seem to come out of thin air. The plot itself is pretty standard Trigger story, with plot twist and conspiracy going around.

Themes: 5/10. Themes have always been a huge issue for Trigger. Either they downplay it to get a cool action scene, or they try to have one character (or group of character) represent too many things, not all of them compatibles. This was an issue with the Burnish in Promare, and this is somewhat of an issue here. By the end of the series, the Beast peoples are allegory of two things that, while not exclusive, cannot be talked about in the same way, and thus the message is weakened. However, if you take those two themes individually, they aren’t handled that terribly. The second (that is revealed toward the end) in particular is something anime and comics books rarely get right. The first, while somewhat invalidated by the end plot-wist, still manage to pass. Those two theme could have worked rather well if they had been separate seasons of the same show. So I’ll advise not to expect great profound thinking from this show, but it isn’t malicious and doesn’t carry a harmful message.

Characters: 8.5/10. I loved the characters of this show. The protagonists were interesting without being overly complex, and bounced rather well on each others, without being dependent of each other to be interesting. The secondary cast is also interesting as well, and don’t feel like cardboard background for the protagonists. While the antagonists are VERY obvious, they are consistent enough about it to be entertaining.

Animation & Art: 9.5/10. The series is VERY pretty. This is Trigger forte, and once again they delivered there. Be it the character design, the many transformations present in the show, the fight scenes, and the more casual interactions.

music: 6/10. Don’t get me wrong, the OP and ED are excellent. But the music is rather forgettable most of the time. I can only remember the antagonist theme.

My opinion: 8/10. Yes, this is higher than what the average of the previous notes would be. I’m a sucker for Trigger animation style and chara design, and the interactions between some of the characters were a critical hit for me.

It’s a good show, not a masterpiece but still enjoyable, and I’ll recommend it if you like furry (duh), cool actions sequences, ambiguous character situation, rekindling friendships and shitting on eugenicist.

Some others +: - I really liked that there was no romance involved, the show focusing mostly on friendship. Not that you aren’t allowed to ship certain characters, but I tend to prefer when romance is in the hand of the fans. - Pedophile being called creepy and getting his ass handed to him is always good. - I loved how two friends were in the middle of a “friendship breakup”, but still constantly tried to ensure the safety of the other and clearly cared about them. - Most handsome bird of all time. - Also, handsome wolf. - The way the main character move was a treat, especially toward the end. - “Eugenicist are idiots and evil” is a great message, fight me. - Trigger doesn’t go to space

Some others -: - The weasel/mink doesn’t have enough screentime. - While I love them, a certain character still got away relatively too lightly for some of their mistakes. - While it’s said the beast peoples have their own culture, apart from their religion, their society look too similar to humans IMO. - There is the wolf equivalent of a Cats (2019) character and its never gonna leave my memory now. - Trigger doesn’t go to space

#BNA #Brand New Animal #Studio Trigger #review #BNA review #anime review

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neverlearnedtoread · 4 years

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The Kiss Quotient

⭐⭐⭐: ‘oh- oh and they’re fucking now, ok. well, neat. good for them, really’

Oh?? 👌😉😏

#ownvoices neurodivergent rep - main character is on the autism spectrum, as well as a side character who becomes the protagonist of the next book (sort of a spin-off, as far as i can tell from the blurb)

diversity!! vietnamese-swedish love interest, and there are quite a few scenes with his family in it

lots of discussion about consent - it’s up to personal preference whether you think it was absolutely, verbally, 100% crystal clear the whole time, but it was a pretty big deal throughout

the girl is smarter than the guy and richer than the guy, and he’s into it *jake peralta voice* noice, smort

No.. ❌🤢🤮

weird miscommunication stuff where they didn’t talk, even though at other times, they did!! they went from ‘open communication during sex is super important’ to ‘i’ll bottle up all my feelings, and one day, i’ll die’

the male love interest is somewhat...inconsistent. parts of his personality are exaggerated or downplayed as the plot required - instead of how he would react in a given situation because he’s a layered character

the end tied up too neatly a little too fast - they pingponged back from the ‘don’t talk to me you ruined my life’ stage to the ‘im in love with you now and forever’ stage in like, one scene, and didn’t resolve a lot of the underlying issues between them that the author set up

slightly insta-lovey and some jealousy scenes - not many, but enough for me to notice

Summary: Stella Lane, a talented econometrician (big data. much smart), is a firm believer that the only way to get better at something you suck at is to put in the practice, and if you’re really struggling, to consult a professional for pointers. She decides to apply this thinking to the part of her life she feels the least confident with - romantic relationships, and sex. Hiring an escort named Michael is the first step to finally finding someone worth sharing her life with. (Like, idk, the guy she hired as an escort? Seems like the easiest solution overall.)

Concept: 💭💭💭💭

I like romance, but I think it’s one of the most difficult genres for me to rate highly - *Goldilocks voice* everything has to be just right! The characters have to catch my interest immediately, their meet-cute has to be adorable, I’ve gotta love them opening up to each other, I can’t feel like the drama that breaks them apart at the end of act 2 is contrived, and the ending has to wrap up in a nice bow - while still feeling fresh and well-earned! When I find a romance premise I like, it’s more than half the battle won - especially when the sex is promoted as cute and sweet; I like it when characters can laugh during sexy times. Makes it less performative and more heartfelt.

Some spoilers under the cut!

Execution: 💥💥💥

Like I said - romance is a hard target to hit for me. That doesn’t mean it was bad - I loved the beginning of this book, I just felt that the subsequent ‘break-up and make-up’ parts were rushed after the well-simmered set-up. And sex scenes didn’t quite vibe with me, it’s was very abrupt and ‘oh- oh, ok! we’re being horny now, got it’, especially the ‘caught up in the moment’ ones where two characters look!! at each other!! after an emotionally charged moment!!! and then they’re macking on each other like it’s the end of the world. ('ok i mean i guess we’ll wait to pick that plot-relevant thread up again later’, i say, as the characters’ clothes come off and the bedroom comes into view, ‘its cool im patient yall have fun’)

Fave Moment: I liked Stella’s POV a lot, especially when she’s finding out more about Michael - one scene that stood out to me was when she saw him at his mother’s tailor shop. It was clearly super embarrassing for Michael, but Stella was genuinely like !!! new fact!!! boy hot!!! and it was cute. The classic ‘oh. oh.’ part every romance needs.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤

I had a lot of fun with this - it was a light fluffy read, and super cute, especially at the beginning when they’re going on ‘dates’, but the ending lost me a bit in the sudden gearshift from 0-1000% conflict and misunderstood feelings. The conflict wasn’t all that bad - but the getting back together was surprisingly simple, and kind of a letdown after all the ‘im just not good enough for you, you’ll find someone better’ song-and-dance. I did like the way people accommodated (or didn’t) for Stella. The author made it clear that characters could easily figure out a way not to be an asshole, as long as they were willing to find a solution.

Fave Character: I loved Stella as a protagonist. She got a little inconsistent near the end - the part where she seriously contemplates resigning from the job that’s been a source of stability and genuine interest to her a lot longer than Michael was dicey, but thankfully she talked herself back from that rash decision on her own. Ultimately she was a protagonist you wanted to shower with compliments (not hug, because she doesn’t like that) and root for wholeheartedly. You deserve mindblowing sex and tooth-rotting fluffy dates, Stella. Go get your man.

#the kiss quotient #helen hoang #book review #bookblr #booklover #reading #books

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emma-nation · 5 years

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Within You - Bloodbound AU- Chapter 1

Summary: One year after defeating Gaius, the gang has finally found peace… Until a tragic incident awakens the ultimate and most dangerous threat they ever faced.

Genre: Angst/Adventure/Romance

Rating: T - Warning for violence and language

Notes:

- Sequel to the fics For You, In The Daylight and Without You. You can read all of them here.

- Sorry to everyone who liked my plot about The First Vampire. I wrote it before Book 2 release and now I really felt like changing it, as I want to explore some characters and elements from the original BB universe in this fic.

- Slightly NSFW alert/Minor Nightbound crossover

Tag List: @supersphynxsworld, @lightning-fury, @spacecarrousel, @tigerbryn11, @gavryllo, @annabellewerecorgi, @whoinvitedalx, @sheyah, @imnotdonewiththeelementalists, @scaryqueenbee, @bigmemesplz, @la-guerra-69, @kamilahsayeed-owns-me, @morvengarde, @tephy24, @iam-the-fuckin-queen, @voltos9, @scorpistraub, @leavemeandmyshipsalone, @jen825, @andreear17, @justejuste727, @aureliaxj, @graceschoices, @sleeping-with-her06, @galaxyside-0, @msuhailey, @zoe6111, @noodledragon22, @tigerbryn11, @shanuuh, @ilovetaylor13m, @honorablebicycle, @ilovekamilahsayeed, @allaboutchoices, @fal-carrington, @scarlet-letter-a0114

Lysimachus

The previous night had been intense. A failed attempt to perform a ritual to bring back a loved one resulted in someone summoning some sort of demon instead. It took three hunters to contain the threat. Even being a vampire, Lysimachus still felt sore and bruised from the battle.

"What time is it?" He rubbed his eyes and checked his phone screen. 9:36 AM. And about ten unread messages from his sister. Kamilah was extremely upset because he hadn't picked up her calls.

"Same old Kamilah," even almost two years after their reunion, her habit of acting so overprotective of him would never die. He needed to let her know, every single day, he was alive and well. "Oh shit."

The last message wasn't another complaint, but a summoning from Adrian. A Council meeting was scheduled for that night. Being one of the six Clan leaders, he was forced to attend. The subject was said to be highly important and related to his personal interests.

He wondered what could it be this time. Since defeating Gaius, they had been living normally. Some groups tried to follow his lead and start a rebellion in New York, but they were easily contained by Kamilah, Adrian and the others. Their biggest issue they had was his sister's disastrous honeymoon. She and Amy chose a private island in Greece as destination, where they had a nasty encounter with the Order Of Dawn, a secret society formed by some of the most elite and efficient killers in the world. Their sole mission was the eradication of their kind.

If there was an organization Lysimachus hated to his guts, that was the Order. Not only because they rejected him in the past, when he was still a vampire hunter, but because they acted fanatical and biased about their views. It was very pleasant to see their headquarters being burned to the ground, but what they discovered deep down the compound changed everything they knew so far... the tree that originated their bloodline. The Tree Of Eternal Life.

The secret files they found in the Order Of Dawn's computer told an entire different story about their origins. They were all wrong, including Jameson. The First Vampire, supposedly helped by a goddess, drank blood from the tree. Which granted her all the power she possessed.

There was an attachment on Adrian's email. Lysimachus opened it and started reading. He had been studying the tree's blood. And from the results, that story was being proved to be real.

After a quick showering, he went to the same usual diner for coffee and breakfast. The owner, Hazel, was a very sympathetic Fae, giving every meal a personal touch of her magic.

"Morning," Lysimachus greeted, "the usual, bacon and eggs, and... Espresso, extra strong please. I'm gonna need it today."

He glanced at the very end of the diner, at the most secluded booth, near the old jukebox. Lysimachus could barely see her short figure with magenta hair hidden behind the daily newspaper.

"And a blueberry French toast for the lady, please."

Lysimachus sat down right in front of her, who barely noticed his presence until she dropped the newspaper she was reading.

"Hello to you too," he joked, facing her closely.

"Oh, hey," Katherine removed her sunglasses, revealing the results of a poor night of sleep and complete exhaustion. "I came here for some coffee. I don't think I can make through the day without it."

"Same."

"All I can hope is no one will be doing anything stupid tonight. I don't think I can't handle."

Lysimachus let out a small laugh. They had been working together for one year now, hunting supernatural threats and protecting magical artifacts. There was some romance in between, but nothing serious or official. Katherine wasn't the kind who created too many attachments. Neither was him.

"Don't tell me," yet, he felt bad for leaving her behind. Her company was enjoyable. "I'm suppose to go to New York tonight. Council meeting."

Katherine stared at him in silence for a moment before rolling her eyes.

"Why do you even agree to be part of that vampire elitist crap? Isn't it exactly what you always hated and wanted to abolish?"

"I... uh..."

He didn't exactly have an answer. After The Baron's death, he was immediately chosen to have his seat. He rarely spent time in New York though, he mostly traveled through America and other parts of the world, seeking for vampires in dangerous situations, in need of a Brand or protection.

"It's for a greater good," he lied. The position was kinda imposed to him.

"Sure," Katherine let out an ironic chuckle. "Whatever you tell yourself."

Through his cell phone, Lysimachus scheduled the first flight back home. While he couldn't wait to hear his twin sister's complaints about his constant absence, there was one person he wished to avoid at any cost... Priya Lacroix.

"I'll be back next week," he assured Katherine. "But if there's any emergency..."

"You know I can handle it own my own," she interrupted. "But as for you, watch out for threats with brown hair, sharp fangs and red eyes. She was spotted at Alicia's former club several times in the last few months. Don’t even try to tell me she wasn’t stalking you."

Before he could answer, she stood up and walked away, leaving him wondering if that could be an act of jealousy or only her usual bad mood in the morning.

----------

Kamilah

"Anything else you need, Mrs. Sayeed?"

"Could you gift-wrap this for me, please?"

Kamilah sighed in relief as she accommodated herself on the comfortable seat of her private jet. She thanked the universe, and the humankind, for the existence of airport shops. She was so busy during her business trip to Paris she didn't have time to pick her wife a proper gift for their one year wedding anniversary. If there was one thing she considered extremely necessary was to spoil Amy. Though the girl refused to admit, she loved being spoiled.

Yet, she couldn't grant her the one gift she wanted the most, being Turned. They only had one conversation about this and Kamilah gave her a definite answer. When she reached her thirties, age when she was Turned herself, they'd finally discuss this again. Amy obviously wasn't thrilled about it.

Kamilah opened her laptop, attempting to chat with her brother, but he wasn't online. He was never online, or even answered phone calls, after he started this new lifestyle. Adrian messaged all the Clan leaders requesting a meeting to discuss important information, and she'd be truly angry if her twin brother wasn't there.

During the flight, she took some time to read the papers Serafine Dupont delivered her before her departure. She only met Amy once, during their honeymoon in Greece and an incident with the Order Of Dawn. Being a psychic vampire, it was enough for her to take some conclusions about her wife.

Bloodkeeper, Kamilah read. The parallel line that descended from the Tree Of Eternal Life. Passed to one woman, born in every generation and triggered by the contact with vampires. They had the ability to access every memory, from every vampire that ever walked on Earth.

That was the most coherent answer of why her visions were increasing. Being married to a vampire, Amy couldn't be any closer to that world. Somehow Kamilah felt relieved. After all, the prophecy previously made by Wright's cult in London was mostly wrong. What made Amy special, was her bloodline. She was no Chosen One to bring the First Vampire back to life. That was nothing but a myth created by old civilizations and passed along to their descendants. Only one of the many legends regarding their main ancestor.

She closed her eyes, trying to get some rest before her arrival, but Serafine's last words were still repeating inside her mind.

"There's more about Amy than it shows. I could sense something within her... a darkness."

Hours later, she was finally back in New York. It had passed 7 PM and her penthouse was dark and silent. She sighed, placing her bags near the front door. Amy should still be working at Ahmanet Financial. She was about to make her way to the master suite when someone jumped on her back.

"Surprise!" She recognized her wife's cheerful voice. "Please don't go to the dinning room, I'm not done yet."

"Amy..." Kamilah said, still stunned by the surprise. "I couldn't sense your presence and you're not even a vampire. How on earth do you manage to do that?"

"Practice I guess? By being married to a vampire?"

"I suppose you're right. Anyways, what were you up to in the dinning room?"

"Wait a sec," Amy disappeared through the corridor for a few minutes. "Stay right here."

Kamilah waited patiently, examining her surroundings and being surprised the penthouse was very organized, even in her absence.

"We're making some progress," she thought.

"You can come now."

The female vampire followed her wife, finding a candlelight dinner waiting for her. A huge smile appeared on her face. After she teased Amy a little bit about her cooking skills, they exchanged a few quick kisses and sat down to eat. Kamilah picked one special bottle of wine from her collection. She glanced at her wife, putting on some music on the stereo. Amy had the most beautiful and pure smile on her face. Serafine could only be wrong. There was no darkness inside her. Only light.

"So," at the table Amy's expression changed a little, "how much did you speak to her?"

"Who?" Kamilah took a sip of her wine. She already knew the answer.

"You know who I'm talking about."

After some alcohol in Greece, Serafine let slip some juicy details about their quick affair in the past, what caused Amy to become extremely jealous of her.

"Only enough," Kamilah assured her. "Small talk, work and... about you."

"What about me?" Amy raised her voice, clearly annoyed.

"Your visions. They're increasing, Amy. I needed answers."

"And what did the expert told you?"

"You're a Bloodkeeper."

----------

Amy

Bloodkeeper. A rare kind of human that possessed the ability of accessing every vampire's memories. Amy shook her head in denial.

"One more label to the list," she thought. "Damsel in distress, The Chosen One, Bloodkeeper..."

She entered the bathtub, that was in just in the perfect temperature. Everything was perfect in her life right now. The penthouse she lived with Kamilah, her high-ranked job at Ahmanet Financial, the business classes she was taking, their marriage... yet, she couldn't help feeling there was something missing. Since her death experience, she was constantly feeling empty, incomplete. Something she couldn't explain.

"I know what it is," her mother told, when she shared these feelings, obviously omitting all the supernatural and eerie part. "Motherhood. Your biological clock is ticking."

"Mom, I'm only twenty-four. And no, we're not even considering this possibility yet."

Deep down, she knew what would fill that hole. She knew exactly what she needed. She wanted to be Turned. Amy intended to keep all the promises she made in her vows, except for one: 'til death do us part. They could skip that part. It could be easily replaced by: 'til Turning makes us eternal.

When she left the bathroom, Kamilah was getting dressed for the Council meeting. She picked something formal, yet more casual, instead of her usual suits. Even after being together for two years, Amy was always impressed by how stunning she looked. Her wife would look great in anything she wore, even in the costume Lily designed her for their last Halloween party.

"I forgot..." She sighed, recomposing herself. "I printed the reports from the last few days, I left them on the office's desk."

"I don't need to see them," Kamilah shrugged. "I trust you, you run that company so well as I do."

"You're gonna make me believe it someday."

"It's true. Your communication skills have gotten us profitable deals, attracted new clients and everybody loves the improvements you suggested. Trust me, you're doing absolutely great."

Amy sat down by her side in bed and laced her fingers with hers. She felt a little remorseful for arguing with Kamilah as soon as she came home. She had all the right in the world to be concerned. Living for over two millennia, she had done things she deeply regretted, and having Amy to watch them, like a movie, should be truly upsetting.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just... sick of all of this. All these names and speculations about me. Can't I just be... Amy? Amy, the regular mortal?"

"You're far from regular. You're the most remarkable person I've ever met," Kamilah tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Whatever you are, Amy Sayeed, I love you."

"I love you too."

Amy wrapped her arms around her wife's waist, kissing all the way up from her neck until her soft lips. She kissed them passionately for minutes. While their tongues moved together, Kamilah’s hands moved down to the knot on her bathrobe, untying it and exposing her naked body.

“I missed you,” her nails softly raked Amy’s stomach, “so much.”

“And so did I,” Amy whispered in her ear. “But you were always on my imagination, you know?”

Her last sentence sparkled Kamilah’s attention, who raised a curious eyebrow.

“Oh really? Have you been having fun without me?”

“Quite a bit, if you ask me.”

That was one of Amy's favorite manners to provoke her wife when she was away on her business trips. Or she'd ask her opinion on which underwear she should wear that night, followed by pictures. It had the power of causing some interesting effects when the female vampire got home.

Kamilah's hand traveled down her body and stopped in the middle of her legs, touching her most sensitive spot only to tease her.

"After this Council meeting," she spoke in her usual demanding tone, "you better be prepared."

———-

Kamilah

Adrian requested to see Kamilah in particular, one hour before the meeting started. He wanted her to be the first one to see his findings in person. She and Amy arrived at Raines Corporation at 11 PM, Lily was already there, preparing the slide-shows. While the girls got distracted, speaking about their video games and favorite TV shows, Kamilah followed Adrian to the laboratory.

"Is it..." her eyes went wide as she observed the ancient, marble sarcophagus in the middle of a highly secured room.

"Yes," Adrian told. "I retrieved it from that underground temple in London. But..."

"But?"

"It's not the First Vampire in there."

"What?! What about Amy's visions when she was in that death state? She saw her. She spoke to her."

"Indeed, she spoke to her trapped spirit, but, this? This is unreal, Kamilah. The First Vampire's body is stored somewhere else."

That wasn't the only one of his findings. Since the discovery of the Tree Of Eternal Life, Adrian obtained many samples of its blood for studying purposes. The blood that started both of their lines, Vampires and Bloodkeepers. The blood that was rumored to be the ultimate source of power.

"The results are absolutely impressive," he explained. "For example, besides finding out this body is not the First's, I concluded that what truly killed Gaius was Amy's blood, not that stake. The Bloodkeeper blood in contact with his heart, had the ability of destroying an ancient vampire."

"So?"

"Unlike ours, her blood has no impurities."

He drove her to another section of the laboratory, where the samples of the blood were being studied for different purposes. One of them, was Adrian's most proud creation, a serum that could cure Ferals and prevent new vampires from developing that condition.

"What about the the other samples?" Kamilah asked, her eyes running through the screens and laboratory machinery in front of her.

"One of them is to give us more time in the sunlight."

That was no problem for Kamilah. Her ring still worked perfectly, even after some time. And so did her brother's and... Priya's. Lacroix's new line of swimming suits and beach outfits was hit during the last summer.

"And these," Adrian's lips turned into a smile, "my two biggest dreams. Two projects in development."

"Don't tell me you're trying to become human again?" Kamilah rolled her eyes.

"It could be an alternative. Kamilah, some of us never wished or adapted to this life."

"Fair enough."

That wasn't the case for her. After 2065 years, she was pretty comfortable being a Vampire. With Amy, she was enjoying her life at fullest now.

"This one is my top secret project," Adrian showed her another sample. "It's uh... a project for us to be able to reproduce. I don't know what results it could bring and I have no one willing to test."

Kamilah quickly dismissed that subject. Being a mother was something she never considered before, not as mortal, even less as vampire. At the moment, Amy completely agreed with that decision. They still had a lot to experience together before taking such a big step in their relationship.

She returned to the main hall, where a surprise awaited for her. Her long missing twin brother had finally showed up.

"Well," Kamilah crossed her arms and frowned. "Hello, stranger."

Lysimachus didn't say anything, he only involved her in a bone-crushing hug and messed up her perfectly lined hair.

"I missed you too, sister."

"Well, your life must be active in New Orleans as you barely have time to call anymore."

"Sorry," he smiled. "I've been quite busy."

"When am I going to meet her?" Kamilah playfully elbowed him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Together, they followed to Adrian's conference room, where the meeting was about to start.

----------

Lysimachus

Since the night of Kamilah's wedding, Lysimachus had permanently cut ties with Priya. The only few times they met were during Council meetings or when she was visiting New Orleans by occasion. The fashion designer wasn't obviously interested in changing for better, or maintaining a healthy relationship. All she ever cared about was her fame, status and herself.

As usual, she made her late entrance in the conference room, eyes focused on her cell phone and pretending to not notice his presence.

Kamilah started with the formalities and, before passing the word to Adrian, she asked:

"We have some important information to be shared tonight, but before that, anyone has another subject that should be discussed in this meeting?"

"I do," for the first time Priya looked at him. "I'm starting a petition to impeach Council members that who are mostly absent from meetings and have a questionable conduct, such as hunting their own kind or sharing private information. Also, the Pact clearly states that every member should be a New York resident."

Lysimachus ignored her desperate attempt to insult him. He should be expecting that. Priya would attack him in every opportunity she had. Three of the projects he proposed to the Council were denied because of her.

"I meant..." Kamilah sighed, "another important subject."

"I'm getting married!" Lester announced, standing up from his chair. "We've met during my visit to a ranch in Texas. She's a cowgirl and horses aren't the only thing she's good at riding, you know..."

"What?" Lily and Jax asked at the same time, exchanging looks. "Ewww."

"I never thought I'd say that," Amy said, "but I miss The Baron. At least with him we had all these interesting murder and betrayal accusations, instead of... this!"

Kamilah only shook her head and gave Adrian a signal to proceed with his subject. While Lily set up the technological part, they still had to hear Lester bragging about his fiancée for some very long minutes.

"Congratulations," Lysimachus tried to make him stop before it became to graphic for everybody's sake.

"Yeah," Priya smirked sarcastically. "Maybe you're next, Hunter. I mean, after you sell out our heads to your girlfriend, she'll want to stick around."

It was becoming too much for him.

"I never shared a single bit of information we discuss in this room with my co-workers from New Orleans!"

"Can you all shut up?!" Kamilah angered. "Relationship counseling is in a different building. Two blocks away."

The presentation started. He knew what Adrian was about to share, being a former member of his company he had sent him all the research results he managed to obtain beforehand. Now, they were finally having access to real information about their origins and all the potential the blood from the Tree had, not only to create but to destroy.

"Any further comments?" Adrian inquired.

"I'm not a disgusting Feral, I can walk in the sunlight and I have no interest having children," Priya headed to the exit. "Can I leave now? My new collection isn't going to draw itself."

As she opened the door, another female figure was standing outside. Everyone turned their heads and stopped to watch. Katherine walked into the conference room, going straight to Adrian.

"Adrian Raines? I've obtained confidential information that, not only you're in the possession of the First Vampire's blood, but has been using it for research."

"That's correct."

"Being it considered one of the most powerful and ancient artifact, I've been hired to monitor it closely."

"Why don't you follow me to my office?"

As they both left, the whole room stared directly at Lysimachus, even his own sister. He had absolutely nothing to do with that, except... that he remembered connecting his cell phone to Katherine's computer one night to sync some files.

"Fuck!" He thought. He couldn't have acted so careless.

Priya stood by the door with a victorious grin on her face.

"I told you so," she said before leaving.

----------

Amy

When they finally made back home, a heavy rain started pouring outside. Kamilah was completely stressed, pacing around her home office. At first, she thought to be a scheme plotted by Priya against her brother, until he admitted his mistake. Yet, someone had indeed hired Katherine to have deep access to Adrian's research and they couldn't figure out who.

"I always knew my brother was making a mistake getting involved with those people," Kamilah vented to her. "Sooner or later, it was bound to happen."

"Do you think Priya is actually right?" Amy massaged her wife's tense shoulders. "That he must pick, between New Orleans or being a Council member?"

"The more I hate to admit it, yes. Lacroix is right this time, Amy. Even though my brother has done an amazing job as Clan leader, he can't keep a double life as Nighthunter. He may have put us all in danger, that was the most important information we had in ages."

"And what do we do now?"

They had been together long enough for Amy to decipher all Kamilah's looks. The one she had at the moment meant she was about to suggest something she wouldn't like.

"No..." Amy scowled. "Absolutely not."

"Amy," Kamilah closed her eyes, trying to stay patient. "Adrian agreed. Being a psychic vampire, Serafine can debrief her."

"Doesn't your brother knows how to debrief people? Why her?"

"He's not doing it. Lysimachus thinks it's too extreme and could put her in danger with her employee."

"Okay," Amy threw her hands in defeat, "it's for a good cause I guess. But she's staying away from you."

"Of course."

Suddenly, Kamilah had her pinned down to the bed, eyes red in desire.

"I love when you're jealous," her nail traced Amy's cheek. "I can sense the insecurity in your heart, the fear of losing me to someone else, the thought that you're too inexperienced..."

Kamilah was right. Amy had all of that in mind when it came to Serafine, Gaius or even her Italian girlfriend. The flashes that were now often popping-up in her mind of their moments together only made it worse.

"But truth is..." she whispered in her ear, "no one has made me ever feel this way before," Kamilah placed Amy's hand on her chest, where she could feel her heart beating fast.

"Really?"

Kamilah didn't answer, her eyes were determined to prove Amy her feelings. She drove Amy's hand to another spot, inside her underwear.

"Or this way. You have the power of driving me completely crazy."

"Okay," Amy smiled in satisfaction, feeling how much her wife wanted her. "I see your point now."

She wanted her too. She wanted her really badly. Their mouths had just found each other when a cell phone started buzzing.

"Ignore it," Kamilah ordered, against her mouth. "I don't want to hear anything else, other than you saying my name loud tonight."

It continued. And Amy tried to keep her focus on the tips of Kamilah's fangs brushing her neck. But the buzzing wouldn't stop, for some reason it seemed to grow louder. It was entering her ears causing discomfort. Penetrating her brain like if it was ringing inside it.

"I'm going to pick up," Amy told, pushing her away. "All this noise is giving me a headache."

"Huh?!" Kamilah furrowed her brows confused. "I can barely hear it, it's coming from your purse in the living room."

As Amy grabbed her phone, the number of missed calls scared her but no more than the text from her mother.

"Amy, what's wrong?"

She couldn't answer. She just stared at the screen paralyzed in horror.

"K-Kamilah... it’s my dad... h-he's in hospital. He had a heart attack!"

#bloodbound #kamilah sayeed #kamilah x mc #playchoices #choices stories you play #bloodbound fanfiction #within you

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hvnriks-archive · 4 years

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✦ — [ josephine langford. 22. she/her. peter pan ] WENDY DARLING was just spotted coming out from the LIBRARY, with ALESSIA CARA, SEVENTEEN; playing as a constant tune inside their head, it might as well be their song. easily noticed by their DELICATE BLUE RIBBONS, HAIR TUCKED BEHIND THE EAR, & WIDE DOE EYES. WENDY is not one to be forgotten.

✦ — what are you keeping from the original canon

i’m keeping a majority of the canon information that you get at the beginning of the movie - wendy comes from an upper middle class family from london, where she lives in a fairly respectable home in bloomsbury with her two younger brothers, her parents, and their family dog, nana. the family has a decent amount of wealth and privilege and as a result she grew up with pretty firm expectations of what a ‘ respectable lady ‘ looked like

also similar to the movie, she was pushed into a maternal role in raising her two younger brothers from a young age, and due to the fact their parents were constantly out at various work events and charity functions, she had a heavy hand in looking after them. i’d imagine they’d still be quite close, but from wendy’s side at least there’s always that barrier of feeling like a parent not just a friend or sibling

i think the main place her backstory would differ from the movie is in the lack of visit from peter pan and adventure to neverland - that was kind of the one thing that helped her cling to that love of stories and childhood whimsy and not wanting to grow up, and without that happening she much more quickly caved to the pressures from her father to grow up and abandon frivolous pursuits. this modern day wendy is a lot less inclined to dreaming and flights of fancy

✦ — personality

squeaky clean, bright eyed bushy tailed girl next door. in general just gives off the clean cut aura of the perfect all american girl ( or i guess in this case british girl? ) – sweet and innocent and golden. her parents raised her incredibly well, to the point they were almost forcefully overbearing, and that polite demeanor definitely shows

as the eldest and only daughter, her parents were very preoccupied with raising her to be mature and responsible and grown up, and to help take care of her younger siblings. she really took this to heart, and as a result can come across as a little ( a lot ) uptight. she’s lowkey way too formal even in everyday life and holds herself very prim, very proper. manners on point ( read: looks like she’s never had a day of fun in her entire life ). everything is about presenting herself as capable and respectable and perfect, and while she means well, she can come across as a little judgmental. she would probably rather jump off a cliff than break the rules or do anything remotely risky like … ever

to go with this, she’s also probably a little naïve. circumstance has left her pretty sheltered – the definition of book smart with 0 street smarts. experience outside her own very structured and suffocating upbringing has been fairly limited, and i don’t even think she recognizes how naïve she really is, she’s definitely the type that thinks she knows everything and yet could easily get fooled in 2 seconds flat. very mom who thinks they know best, sometimes condescending without intending or realizing

however, as much as her family has tried to squash and mold her into more practical and respectable pursuits, she does retain an almost lifelong love and appreciation for storytelling and the fantastical. beneath her more stern and buttoned up persona, there’s more whimsy and imagination than you would probably expect, it just needs to be teased out. i think that’s something she’s grappling with - her more innate dreaming side versus the mature expectations being thrust upon her

i just really want to play on scenes from the movie like when peter is trying to get her to come to neverland and she’s all “ but i need to pack! i need to leave a note! i need to do x y z !! ” or when the mermaids are teasing her and she gets all indignant and stuffy. or even when all the lost boys are jumping here there and everywhere and she just plops down in the middle, entirely unwilling to participate. just that tight laced inability to let go

+ mature, maternal, poised, eloquent, responsible, meticulous, organized, rule abiding, kind, imaginative

- uptight, perfectionist, sheltered, naïve, stubborn, judgmental, self critical, pretentious

✦ — your characters schooling

currently wendy’s major is education, which her parents strongly advocated for. she enjoys it to an extent - there is something to be said for sharing the things she enjoys with a new generation, and she’s quite good at it teaching, if she does say so herself ( all those years looking after her siblings paid off ) she could see herself being content with that. but her true passion is really creative writing and fantasy literature; the only reason she’s not pursuing it is that she’s been told time and time again by her parents that it’s not a useful or adult degree and that she needs to pursue something more practical and mature. she does still try to take as many literature electives as possible, though, despite this

she’s an okay student, fairly clever but not overwhelmingly naturally gifted, but she’s incredibly earnest and tries to make up for it through hard work and dedication

wendy’s also involved in a fair amount of extra circular activities - again, at the urging of her parents. a lady must be well rounded, after all. student council, tutoring, and orchestra are all things i can see her being involved in. she probably also pops her head into the book club when she get’s the chance, more for her own enjoyment than any perceived obligation. she is a BUSY lady

i can def see her being roomed in welbeck manor because her parents are afraid of the co ed dorms haha and are convinced it’s the more respectable option

✦ — two connections

( JOSEPHINE LANGFORD ) our WENDY DARLING is looking for JOHN DARLING to fulfill their YOUNGER BROTHER. They would be <22 and would most likely look like UTP. You DO NOT have to contact the player. @hvnriks. description: i would love for this to be a fairly close relationship, at least outwardly, but that carries maybe an underlying tension between them ? wendy loves her brother, of course she does, she literally helped raise him, but i think she may hold some jealousy or bitterness under the surface for the expectations that she was forced into as the oldest and the mother role she was expected to fill while he got off a little more scot-free

( JOSEPHINE LANGFORD ) our WENDY DARLING is looking for PETER PAN to fulfill their BAD INFLUENCE. They would be UTP and would most likely look like UTP. You DO NOT have to contact the player. @hvnriks. description: i just really love that dynamic of good girl responsible wendy trying her damn best to be a grown up and peter crashing in there and ruining it all. there’s definitely a part of her that wants to rebel and experience all the things she never got to so i can see her very easily being lead into bad decisions, no matter how much she may complain about peter’s so called immaturity. or even getting her heart broken if that’s a route we wanted to go

✦ — three head canons

definitely the proper little lady in more than just demeanor - wendy went to an all girls private school growing up, as well as was educated in a lot of the more formal arts, such as ballet and violin and even etiquette. her parents were very dedicated to raising her as a ‘well rounded and well adjusted young lady ’, for better or for worse. ( they’re also the ones that basically picked sherwood for her on the basis that it was a highly respected institution with a good reputation ) she’s also picked up a lot of the more homely skills, such as cooking and sewing and the like, as a result of looking after her brothers and filling in as an almost second parent

has 100% never dated or even really had a crush on anybody. absolutely naïve and misinformed about the perils of romance and going to get taken advantage of

dresses a little … stuffy. a little boring. for all that she’s actually quite adept at sewing, she tends towards the safe options. a lot of soft cardigans and peter pan collars ( ha ) and plaid skirts in soft colours. just another facet of her proper british lady persona that i don’t think she’s even crafting intentionally. just exactly how you would imagine a good private school girl to dress

#sherwood.intro #wendy is both baby #and simultaneously the most annoying person on this planet

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 4 years

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How To Date Your Dragon (Mystic Bayou Series Book 1) by Molly Harper -- Book Review

Alright, I know its been a while since I did one of these or really posted anything of substance actually. I’ve just been super busy, and when I’m not super busy I’m super stressed out and when I’m not either of those things, I’m just tired. So I’m really sorry about the lack of content lately. 2020 has been kicking my ass. First my work introduced a new inventory system that we had to learn how to use and we’re STILL trouble-shooting those issues. Then the pandemic happened, and as a result of that my company decreased everyone’s pay and hours by 20% to offshoot the financial hardship of the on-coming economic collapse on the company. So while I was forced to work less hours, I still had to get twice the work done for considerably less pay. And a lot of the time, I still ended up having to work overtime FOR FREE for my company just to get things done because while other parts of the company slowed down, my job did not. So as you can imagine, that was total bullshit. I was stressed about getting the work done, I was stressed about not making as much money to make ends meet. It was just non-stop, hair-pulling stress ALL. OF. THE. TIME. Now, thankfully, my pay and hours have been restored back to 100% and not a moment too soon, because I was running out of savings. Yup, the last two years I had been saving up to take an actual vacation somewhere...that’s not going to happen now, thank you COVID-19. But yeah, I’m still hanging on the coattails of living from paycheck to paycheck. And now we got a hurricane/tropical storm on the way so now I have to worry about that. But anyways, enough about me. Lets talk about this book I read.

So earlier this week, I was just browsing through Youtube trying to distract myself from the stresses of my life, and I come across The Dom’s book review of How To Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper. And when I listened to the first part of the review, Dom legitimately enjoyed this book...about romance...which doesn’t normally happen with him (50 Shades has really broken him in terms of romance) so I immediately turned the video off and I was like, “okay, I have to read this book now if he’s saying its a good book”. And after reading it, I must say that I agree with him. This was a good read. Strong world-building, strong characters, strong plot. It was enjoyable.

Now this is a shifter paranormal romance and at first I was skeptical about actually enjoying this book because the shifter genre has a tendency to not be my cup of tea. I probably have all the Inuyasha fanfiction I read as a young adult to blame for that, I got introduced to the toxic tropes early (I even wrote an Inuyasha fanfic on fanfiction.net back in the day...and I will never link it anywhere or ask anyone to read it because it’s awful). Anyways, I’ve found that the shifter romance genre typically employs tropes that I don’t really like seeing. Most notably the jealous possessive boyfriend trope. “You’re mine and I want to take a bite out of anyone who looks at you.” In small doses, this trope can be cute sometimes, but when its treated as a dominant personality trait in an already very alpha male type of character, it just really turns me off and is not what I’m looking for in my love interest. And unfortunately, this book does have a little bit of it but its something I found I could easily ignore based on the fact that the heroine actually has a back bone. And another aspect of the shifter genre that I typically don’t like is the whole dual personality of the shifter. I’m sure you all know what I mean. “I yearned for her and my wolf demanded I take her.” And I suppose this is meant to be a personification for their more animalistic desire but a lot of times it comes off so strong I’m worried about the shifter’s mental health or it comes off so strong its veering into uncomfortable bestiality intonations. And thankfully this book has none of either. At first I was worried that a certain scene was going to head into the aforementioned bestiality territory but the lovely Molly Harper turned into a joke instead which I appreciated.

In fact, another thing I want to commend this book on is that there are 0 consent issues which is always so so nice to read. Every sexual act that happens between the main characters is completely 100% consensual, not even dubious-consent, it was wonderful. I really don’t blame Dom for becoming disenfranchised with the romance genres after he’s read so many books that have some deep consent issues ingrained in it. And it was just so nice to come across an author that doesn’t feel like consent issues is what makes a sex scene sexy. No, she found other ways to make the scenes sexy and while it may not necessarily have been my thing, it was still interesting to read about. I won’t give too much away but there is a sex scene that happens on top of literal hoards of gold.

This book also has a wonderful platonic best friend relationship between the main character and her roommate. The main character’s roommate is described as being super pretty, super perfect at everything but the main character doesn’t have any jealousy or envy towards her. Instead, all she feels is adoration and respect and these two are just so supportive of each other. Its lovely to see female friendships depicted like this.

All in all, I found this book super enjoyable even if it does have a dumb name and I would like to read more of the Mystic Bayou series. Of course, I can’t right now because I’m broke but definitely next paycheck when I don’t have any bills to pay, this is something to look forward to.

#how to date your dragon #molly harper #mystic bayou

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aaternum-a · 5 years

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GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER.

can be used for rp & non-rp blogs to get to know a bit about the person behind the screen !

1. FIRST NAME ⇢ cherub

2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF ⇢ hmm, not sure if this is strange, but i’ve never traveled outside the east-coast .. so i dunno what jet lag and allat other stuff is like!

3. TOP 3 PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON ⇢ ummmm, eyes, smile, and uhhhhhhhhhhh--

4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF ⇢ this is gonna sound like the real struggle lmao but bear with me, i really love a spam and cheese sandwich. it’s saturated in sodium, i know, but growing up i had it a lot. issa real struggle meal, i know.

5. A FOOD YOU HATE ⇢ spaghetti squash. 0/10 would not recommend.

6. GUILTY PLEASURE ⇢ lol i like watching house hunters: renovation on hgtv, knowing most of it is fake and still being like ‘wow i want that’.

7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN ⇢ big t-shirts, sweatpants or pajama bottoms, nuffin’ special.

8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS ⇢ i’m married, so serious relationships. c:

9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ⇢ man, unless i had a guarantee that i’d still have my kids, nothing. i could say i wished i started school sooner, but at the same time, i don’t think i would have done as well as i’ve done now. so .. yeah, maybe study better in high school. that’s about it!

10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON ⇢ with my kids, yes. with other people, not really. at least not physically. i’ll spam you with verbal love tho!!!!

11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN ⇢ dragon ball super broly ... i’ve watched it more times than i care to admit. but i love it. i need more bardock and gine. pls.

12. FAVORITE BOOK ⇢ uhMMMMMM, i don’t know! it’s been a while since i’ve really sat down to read. probably over 5 years (aside from self-help books). and lol .. all i ready were .. young adult dystopian, romance novels. like the shit you’d find on the episode app sjkfnjkasnfka but the last one i remember really enjoying was eve by anna carey. think handmaidens tale? it was really enjoyable, idk. maybe i won’t think so now since that was a while ago!

13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE ⇢ i live with my in-laws and they have a lot of animals .. 20? (snakes, bearded dragons, dogs, cats, birds ...) we don’t need more.

14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL] ⇢ kanda/lenalee (d.gray man), kiba/hinata (naruto), sion/nezumi (no.6), superboy/miss martian(young justice) ( tbh i ship most things that aren’t canon so ye)

15. PIE OR CAKE ⇢ mmmm, i used to be cake, but now i think i’m a pie kinda gal.

16. FAVORITE SCENT ⇢ i love the scent of new books lmfao and laundromats.

17. CELEBRITY CRUSH ⇢ don’t have one!

18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO ⇢ japan! dream trip is to go to disneyland there and then do some exploring.

19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT ⇢ introvert!

20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY ⇢ i do. but i love horror movies and indulge in scary things, so :shrug emoji:

21. IPHONE OR ANDROID ⇢ iphone!

22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES ⇢ i play animal crossing, but i don’t have a switch so rip to me getting the new one.

23. DREAM JOB ⇢ CRNA! i’m working on my RN right now, but i hope to work on an ICU unit next year. c:

24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS ⇢ lmaoooo pay off my education, get a nice house, invest, and treat myself and my family.

25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE ⇢ oof uhh .. i’m all aboard the muzan hate train and malcom lvellie hate train. but i can’t think of any others at this very moment.

26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER ⇢ oof uh young justice i think! i still watch, but i don’t participate in the fandom anymore!

tagged by: @kyoanikis ( aaaa thank you!! ) tagging: @altaindustries, @craneguard, @bombolear, @kleinemeine, @vespyren @multismashed

#— dash games #idk who has or hasn't done it #but this was fun! c:#totally /not/ ignoring my stockpile of drafts ... totally ..

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coe-lilium · 7 years

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Would you be willing to rank the major Apocrypha characters (Masters and Servants) from best to worst? I'm curious as to how you would rank them

Gladly :D

Be warned that this will be 90% tastes and maybe 10% narrative/objective analysis. And sorry for taking so long to answer. Also, it got long ^^’

A concise, condensed ver before the cut

- 10+/10, tie between Mordred, Jeanne e Shirou

- 9.5/10: Semirams and Shishigou Kairi

- 8-7.5/10: Vlad, Achilles, Shakespeare, Caules

- 7: Chiron, Fran, Atalanta, Karna, Fiore, Darnic

- 6, I start not caring: Gordes

- “wasted” and “still bitter after 5 years”, no numbers: Avicebron and Siegfried

- 5-4, it’s complicated: Astolfo

- 4: Sieg (and it might go down to 0, I’m serious)

- 3 to 0: Jack, Reika, Celenike

Btw, I kept them vague, but spoilers/hints up to vol4 and 5

Rank “will fight the world for them, forever in Higashide’s debt, I wish one day for Nasu to write them himself because I trust the mushroom man to make me love them even more than I already do, 10+/10″:

Mordred: SHE. Higashide’s best accomplishment in winning me over no matter other flaws. Tie with Gilgamesh as my favorite Nasuverse character ever.

There isn’t a single thing I don’t love about her (bar that atrocious “dress” under the armor, delete that). The armored and casual character design. The backstory as abused and exploited child who tries to break free of her mother influence and plots but ends up following them anyway because of her other parent rejection and, ultimately, how Morgan life lasting damage could not be undone without support. Her snarky, bratty, selfish and ferocious personality she show to the outside world and the hidden insecurities, the good heart and the ability to reflect on her flaws. Her loyalty and her desperate need for parental love and recognition as her own person. Her fighting style that is a delight to read or watch, truly a beast. Her chemistry and relationship with Shishigou, all of it. How it start in that cemetery, how develops over the course of the story, how she manage to open, connect and trust him and ultimately find a real father in him.

If I have to find a “wish this was expanded on” is her written in but not recognised by canon issues with gender/presentation which wasn’t a real issue for me until I read metas here and I’m now quite confused especially on how to write her (him?) in the future, when I’ll hopefully get at it.

The only reason I don’t completely wish for her and her Master to have been made MCs is the love I have for the following two guys and this couple steal too much of a spotlight from other characters.

Still, while theirs is a story more focused on personal growth and healing then deciding the fate of a great number of people or the world, in the end Mordred and Kairi saved each other so it could’ve still meshed neatly with the overall salvation theme. Sadly it was not meant to be but I’m more than content for what we got.

Jeanne: She. Who gets only second place and no caps lock because, a surprisingly good portrayal none withstanding, she could’ve been even better had Higashide done a bit more research (in his favour, I don’t know what kind of books on her are translated in Japanese and if the processes transcripts are among them).

For example I’ll forever maintain that, while the whole “romance” thing has a historical base (funny that, uh?), it required a way better realisation and as it’s written in Apocrypha does her character a disservice. Laeticia too, who was a potentially interesting “device” and could’ve been our outsider perspective, got derailed into more nonsense romance and aww poor Sieg and oh man, who-gives-a-damn: not me.

Also, not enough of a sarcastic spitfire or military prowess (“just waved the flag”, now that’s a funny way to write “half of Charles’ court was impressed by how good she was with every damn weapon”) for my tastes but I guess historical Jeanne is just that irreplaceable or TM chose to emphasise her piety and “sainthood” over other traits in order to avoid an Arturia 2.0.

Not a single mention to her mentors either, in 5 volumes (which is bad, extremely bad, Higashide why) and too much of Gilles de Rais nonsense but unfortunately Type Moon is committed to roll with it. Dunois, La Hire and d’Alencon never, poor me.

That said, Fate!Jeanne is really a good interpretation, firmly rooted in history and I love, love her.

Her faith and lack of hate are spot-on and are treated with respect instead of mocked.

She’s allowed to have a no-nonsense and even ruthless soldier like attitude, a protective streak (which always remind me of that promise she made to a young noblewoman to keep her husband safe and bring him back to her, or how she took care of her young squire. Both survived her) and loth of empathy at the same time.

She’s down to earth but can also be immature and have flaws and be tempted.

This post is already long as it is, so here’s some more reasons I love Apo Jeanne:

Novel Jeanne musing 1

Jeanne meta from the manga 1

Jeanne meta from the manga 2

My eternal greatest disappointment will forever be the lack of a satisfying confrontation with Shirou. You write someone able to shake Jeanne d’Arc convictions, make her doubt her conduct and moral standing when the threat of torture and the Rouen process weren’t able do so... and you don’t follow on it? Unforgivable.

Shirou: This guy. This absolute mess of a human being. I need more and no, GO, “evil alternative self” isn’t what I mean (but yeah, gimme him too). After discovering him in Apocrypha I started digging my university library to hunt down his IRL self story and there is no higher accomplishment for a Fateverse character for me. Fascinating person and fascinating take by TM, double so since I discovered dude’s still being vilified in contemporary Jp stories/entertainment and man do that enrage me.

It’s like someone mixed up a character I love (Kirei), one I loathe (Kiritsugu), shaked it and the result it’s the best possible one I could ask for.

I like the character design (both), the historical and post 3HGW backstory and how it shaped him into a Jeanne opposite (for excellent reasons), the most “Kotomine” traits like the snark and trollish attitude and how they cover all the suffering, despair and hate boiling under the constant smirk. How Higashide avoided the “turned evil” interpretation that’s prevalent in jp entertainment and made him a good person and a hero, if a misguided one and also the trapping of a “void/hollow inside” personality and instead gave him those fragments where you see he’s still a 17yo kid.

He’s not just interesting, he’s funny to read, even with all the angst going on.

The interactions with Shakespeare are great and... his relationship with Semiramis. Man, that’s excellent, excellent stuff. Can’t gush enough about how much I love them together

My only great complaint -for now, until I see a certain late discovery with my own eyes- is that all the narrative build up and comparisons between him and Jeanne (done in-universe and acknowledged within the text mind you, I’m not headcanoning here) went wasted.

How can you write two characters who mirror each other so perfectly, put them as “head” of their factions, in the same role both... and not deliver with a confrontation? The only thing that tried to do so was -ironically- the anime in ep #13, as their confrontation in the novels wasn’t as personal and as good as the anime.

Rank “good, excellent civilisation, never get tired of them”, 9.5/10

Shishigou: best father ever, 100% should legally adopt Mordred. He was/is extremely enjoyable to read about, snarky, smart, his fucked-up magus backstory had long lasting effects but managed not to destroy him, on the outside your tough, broody mercenary making hard decision but actually a good, moral person with a caring nature and, again, a great father.

As already said, his and Mordred narrative is less tied to the different views of salvation theme and more to the “people making their wishes come true” and they’re bit of outliers for the whole duration of the story but I wouldn’t change a thing (except one T_T).

His relationship with Mordred is one of the absolute highlights of Apocrypha for me, in every medium.

Semiramis: shallow reason first: charming, scheming, hot asshole-ish royalty in league with a Kotomine troll, what more could’ve I asked for? That she was an interesting char in her own right, which is what I got.

More in-depth, she’s another character I never have enough of. Begrudging sole responsible adult of red team, I couldn’t help but grin every time she had to deal with AKA team or single members, not to speak of her scenes with Shakespeare, which are both amusing and very good for characterisation.

She may not have that much of screen time compared to other faves but earned her place by making what she had memorable.

Her backstory is simple: abandoned child learns to exploit her society view on women to rise to the top and get everything she wants and fuck everything else. Which not only neatly establish how and why she became what she is but also why this broken kid, which is a sort of her exact opposite, fascinate her so much.

Speaking about our broken resident Kotomine, her chemistry with Shirou is simply great, all of their scenes are a joy to read. They have fun plotting together, they (she, dude’s either too young to notice or just let it go) casually flirts, have a functioning, mostly open relationship from the get-go that works no matter how messed up they really are and get each other’s back until the very end. Most of the more lighthearted stuff is in vol 1-2, then things gets more interesting.

See, as much as she seems to be (and like to present herself as such to enemies) the perfectly devoted Servant and is aiding Shirou… she’s also truly villainous, cold and ruthless as hell and is also very conflicted and switch back and forth on what she wants, not much as out of the War as instead from her Master in particular (don’t think bad… okay, do) for the whole series. Vol3 and 4 are a godsend for her character and you dunno how I wish we had more than a bare bone summary for vol 5 because god damn some things in that summary.

With the many, many stay night or Zero parallels and homages in Apocrypha, she come off as a sort of reverse Zero Gilgamesh and Gilles in being, respectively, the devilish member of the Kotomine - Servant pair and the “personal involvement/interest in the saint figure, sometimes verging on the creep-ish, predatory behaviour" one (Gilles was 100% full on creepy mode, Semiramis keeps her thoughts for herself and is just tempted. I strongly appreciate), “reverse” for being conflicted, but in the end being a better person than both dudes above and respecting and knowing her partner enough to let go of her worst desires/frustrations. There’s some really good stuff in these two’s relationship, let me tell you.

If Mordred-Shishigou take the cake for best platonic relationship in Apo, Semiramis and Shirou single handy destroy every competition for the romantic one.

Rank “You. I like you”, 8-7.5/10

Vlad: here’s someone I’m pretty content with how he’s written (I wouldn’t change a thing), but really wish had had more space just because I enjoyed him a lot. Higashide nailed him and I wanted more of a historical Vlad III who is a hero, a good ruler caring for his country and a ruthless warrior and executioner and none of this aspects negate the others. Plus, it was refreshing to see a Vlad III being so clearly separated from the “vampire” twist that his wish for the Grail was to erase book and legacy from existence.

Achilles: a simil Alexander, I dislike the IRL/myth dude but can’t stay mad with their Fate incarnations. I like his personality, his quirks, his relationships with Chiron and Atalanta. Loved the mocking duel (and the anime committee will hear me scream from the other side of the world if I get robbed of it yeah, I wrote this part before ep17. Fuck you A1).

I don’t even think he needed more screen time, he’s really fine with what’s shown. Not every character need to be a main one and Achilles manage to be a good secondary one, with enough development and characterisation.

Shakespeare: here’s an enjoyable dude I like to hate. Amusing character, his interactions with Semiramis and Shirou are a joy to read or watch, but, fuck this guy. May Moriarty and Saber Gilles have their way with you in Chaldea.

Caules: one of those rare beasts known as “perfectly functioning siblings” of the Nasuverese. Respect his Servant and tries to do her right till the end. A good dude.

Rank “could’ve shined more in a longer and more focused series, but okay” aka those who served their purpose, 7/10

Chiron Atalanta Karna Fran Fiore Darnic

Not really anything to say about each one here. They’re fine as they are.

Could’ve used more Darnic, the 3HGW is a fascinating subject no matter who the Einzbern decide to summon and his actions shaped the whole world of Apo. Personally I’d have cut the Jack business and expanded him as a character/treat, maybe to shed light into CT politics and magus society fuckery (because if there’s something the Yggdmillennia as a whole and each one of them in particular show is how the magi society is an aberration that twist and corrupt everything it touch). But in the end I know it was either Ygg vs CT as promised or Rulers against each other and I’ll gladly take the latter. A longer series could’ve had space for both, who knows.

Rank “nice arc. There are more interesting people but I’ve come to appreciate you”

Gordes: Probably the human character who experience more growth in the series.

Rank “wasted” and “decent what little is there, perhaps, but still bitter after five years”

Avicebron: also know as the poor thing similar to the antagonist in background and wish that could’ve worked with the themes while also being a personal foil to the protagonist in being a golem/artificial life creator and user but the writer couldn’t/wouldn’t bother with him for some reason and he only got to be the “Gilles de Rais summon Chtlulu and heroes have to team up to bring him down” of Apocrypha, with no other purpose than being a Zero “homage”.

To add insult to injury, the Adam threat does literally jack shit on a narrative point because “Servant goes stray and threaten the world, Servants form both factions have to team up to defeat him” already happened, 2 episodes before for the anime, end of vol2 vs beginning of vol3 for the novel version. And Mordred and Shishigou making an alliance with the surviving Black members was already going to be a thing after the Gardens mess. Shame, shame and shame.

Siegfried: tainbocuailnge here has written some good meta about him lately and, yeah, perhaps all of that was intended, and I can kinda appreciate it. The point is that I couldn’t give a single crap over the OC when for him to come into being means sacrificing freaking Siegfried. I may not have read as much or being already attached to the literature/epic character like other cases but… no, just no. Siegfried deserved way better than what he got in Type Moon.

Add more personal bitterness because with such numbers I thought it was finally time for the Heroes to shine and for the Masters to be sidelined and instead we got super special super powered MC. To hell with it.

If anything, Siegfried may be the only character the anime did more good than damage. He’s still there and sometimes get to act as a mentor instead of being a useful power up and then fucking off for the remaining 4 volumes.

Rank “I tried to like you, I wish I could like you, but I cannot stand you no matter what”, 5-4

Astolfo: I’ve tried to like him but to no avail (rest assured, though, that I’ll deck anyone who’ll try use that t*ap or “girl” bullshit).

It has to be that unholy combination of extremely airhead personality and mannerism, all the screen time he gets that could’ve gone to my favourites, that idiotic attempt at a “love triangle” (for the love of God, Higashide) and a voice acting that, I swear, even if I already didn’t like him from the novel the anime would’ve been the nail in the coffin. All these combined make him grates on my nerves like few other Fate characters. Perhaps part of my distaste comes from being unable to shake the feeling that the author himself don’t respect him.

I realise it’s quite… unfair, because on the page he has everything I usually like: he’s brave, he’s kind, he has morals and will maintain them in front of everything, he stand up to assholes, he save and inspire people, you can overpower him as much as you like and he still won’t care and will still fight you.

Astolfo is a good, decently written character and I really wish the franchise would just stop using him as a joke and stop being so gross to him in order to cater to even more gross “fans”.

If I were to put tastes/guts feelings aside, I could praise him for pages. I simply can’t bring myself closing the gaps from appreciating the undeniable qualities to actually like the character.

Rank: fluctuating between “your concept should’ve been handled by a more experienced narrator” and “goddamn, does your very existence piss me off”, pending more on the second as we go on, less than 4

Sieg: on the page kid’s got a good arc. An homunculus, a magus’s tool, trash to be used and disposed off, gains consciousness and, shaped by what he witness and the actions and sacrifices of heroic figures, rise to free his kin from their slavers and then find himself fighting to “save the world”. How he attained freedom and have come to interpret it and his experiences put him in the path of the antagonist and the two and their “ideologies” makes for an interesting double face of the coin, forced salvation vs free offer and answer to actual prayers. Sounds pretty great.

Unfortunately, Higashide aimed too high for his skills or didn’t learn well from Nasu and Shirou Emiya, or both.

Otakus mad because he “got the waifu” aside, Sieg do come across as too damn lucky and overpowered and there is a limit on how much the in-universe reason “damn, the Counter Force had to work hard to give him a chance to stop a Heroic Spirit with hundreds time his experience” can go before the readers start getting annoyed at Heroes dropping dead or getting sidelined just to push him forward.

I’m not a fan of these buzzwords, but the impression he’s a fan fiction OC that force the original and more interesting cast to revolve around/sacrifice for him or hijack their plots is damn strong. Scrap it, it’s not an impression, it’s exactly what happen. In at least 4 or 5 cases.

There were also too many times he bore me to death so not really what you want from your protagonist.

Another thing, more grave than personal preferences: his wish/fight firstly go nowhere, then get resolved too quickly without a fuss and then, once his goal has been effortlessly achieved, he proceeds to tag along and stole duels and confrontations from other characters, on which he had no stakes nor reason to be. What kind of writing is this?! He get the contract with Astolfo, walks in the castle and the Yggd agree on releasing the homunculi. And that’s it. Wow?

Also here’s my 100% personal reason for not having an ounce of interest in Sieg, godly writing skills or not: for once, just once, we could’ve got our first Fate solo female protagonist. An all-around badass but, at the same time, not an Arturia nor Shiki nor Arc nor Aoko clone. Who just happened to be my favourite historical figure ever.

Could’ve kept the same theme of opposing concepts of salvation, brought the Ruler vs Ruler/Saint vs Saint thing in the spotlight, with all their nice baggage of similar lives resulting in opposite views by different regrets and traumas, faith or lack (that instead got all swept under the rug, and man if the self awareness of vol4 isn’t something to behold) and after five years I still feel personally robbed of all of this, especially when it became clear Apocrypha was yet another “male protagonist with the world revolving around him while the female heroine gets to be his support/sidekick. Oh, and as already said, he get the confrontation with whom the narrative builds as her rival”. Because of course he does.

You don’t sideline Jeanne frigging d’Arc and expect me to forgive you for it.

Rank “why are you even here, why are we wasting anything on you”

Jack and Reika: ye god, why. The concept behind this Jack the Ripper? I find Fake ver superior but I’m on board. Then, first, that fucking character design. Sorry BL, reddit, MAL and whatever: putting a child in a thong is a revolting choice of character design and no, there’s no “well, she learned from prostitutes” that count. I appreciate at least the connection made with Atalanta. But the execution. Their “plot” drag and drag on and goes nowhere (hilariously so in the anime. What was the point of Jack killing some random homunculi and disappearing for the whole arc, again?). Their only narrative purpose is doing ???? for roughly three volumes, *do that* to Atalanta and shaking Sieg’s worldview. At least they grant Jeanne some badass solo scenes and to us more insight on her character. Still the equivalent of a anime-only filler, and a bad one.

Pity, really, because a child Jack who 1. is a child and act as one and 2. get heavily influenced by her/their Master and thus could either become a better person or be exploited wasn’t that bad of a twist for a famous figure but the pair was never allowed to be more than “Apo pair of rogue murderers”.

Celenike: just… begone. I cheered when she died in the novel, cheered loudly when she died in the anime and will cheer even more loudly when she will die in the manga.

#Anonymous #answer #fate apocrypha #fate apocrypha spoilers #fate meta #almost 4k words #fate series

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 5 years

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I never read the Shadow Hunter books, and I all I knew from the series was from the movie, wich I saw and didn't like, and because of that pretty much forgot everything about the story. When I reluctantly started the series,out of pure curiosity and because it has supernatural elements,what I liked the most was the relationship between Alec and Jace.I noticed Alec's feelings from the first few episodes, and was actually hoping that they would end up together.When I figured out they wouldn't, ...

2/3 ...I was actually dissapointed, and honestly surprisedthat Alec would end up with Magnus, not only because I'm pretty sure there wasno Malec content in the movie (my only previous source), but also because I sawlittle to no chemistry between the actors from the series. I think Jalec wouldhave been much better (at least cting wise), and honestly, since they changedso much from the books, couldn't they have made that move? I know why theydidn't (business wise), but still, I think it would...

3/3 ...have been more interesting to watch. Itcould have been like an AU from the books (and from what I learned about thestory of the books, the show is pretty much an AU already). What do you thinkwould have been like if Jalec happened on the show? How do you think it wouldhave impacted other characters arcs (Clary's story would probably change a lotin my opinion, same as Magnus)? (Final)

I enjoy the books. I wouldn’t say they’re fantastic and whenI first read them a decade ago, I was completely in love with the series. 10years later, I can see the flaws the books have but for the most part, thoseflaws are really just a product of the time the books were written in and Istill enjoy the books for what they are. The YA genre was a different world tenyears ago.

The movie isn’t the greatest. But I don’t think it’sabsolutely terrible but I do think you have to have knowledge of the books inorder to properly enjoy it. For me, the movie started off good but the longerit went on, it just kept on losing traction. But I could find enjoyment in itbecause I knew what the movie was trying to set up for (because I’d read thebooks). In reality, the first book, City of Bones, is just a really bad book totry to adapt into a movie because so much of it is world-building and the maincharacter just running around trying to understand the world. So much of thatbook is set-up for later books and the movie tried to do the same thing butultimately it just turned into this really boring thing because reading aboutworld-building and having to watch world-building are two completely differentthings and the movie didn’t quite pull it off. Honestly, I’m not too terriblysurprised that the movie flopped. I wish they had continued with making themovies because I guarantee the next book, City of Ashes, would probably haveworked better. The movie didn’t have a whole lot of Malec content but I can confirmthat Malec is one of the main ships in the books. In the movie, it was onlyvery subtly hinted at mostly because it’s an adaptation of the first book whichadmittedly also doesn’t have a whole lot of Malec content. They kind of existmore in the background. Malec, gradually over time, gets more of a focus in thebooks and that’s more of a reflection on what the author was able to get awaywith when publishing under the YA genre over the years. As I said before, theYA genre was a very different beast ten years ago.

And it’s never really bothered me that the show made changesfrom the books, the show just had bad writing and there was definitely achemistry problem with the main ships. And it’s super weird that with all ofthe changes they made from the books, keeping the top 3 ships (Clace, Malec, Sizzy)is what they decided they absolutely couldn’t change? None of thoserelationships worked for me because the actors in those pairings had 0chemistry with each other (and the show was a little heavy-handed in telling uswho we needed to ship). In season one, I could forgive a lack of chemistry. Alot of these actors had never worked with each other before, they’re stillgetting to know each other, I can excuse that. But over the course of the nextcouple of seasons, you can tell that the actors are more familiar with eachother but they’re still lacking that relationship chemistry on-screen andunfortunately that happens sometimes. If you don’t have chemistry with someone,then you don’t have chemistry with someone. No amount of time you spend withthat person is going to make that chemistry suddenly appear. It’s why I’vementioned before that it’s glaringly obvious that no chemistry tests were donewith this cast prior to production beginning. If there were, the showrunnerswould probably have caught on and maybe made some adjustments to who they choseto cast.

But there was a showrunner change in season 2 and ideallyyou would think that as writers invested in the show they’re currently writingfor, they’d say, “you know what, we initially had this plan for Malec beingthis epic romance but they’re just not working on screen, maybe we shoulddiverge a little from the original plan.” But they didn’t. They just kept onchugging away at this couple who has no chemistry with each other and whereas Iwas willing to ignore it for a time, I eventually got to the point that Icouldn’t. It’s not like writers have never changed a relationship focus due tochemistry. That’s why Olicity became a thing in Arrow. Because the showrunnersfound that Stephen and Emily had chemistry they wanted to write a romance for.

I really wish Shadowhunters had decided to diverge from theTop 3 ships and just go off based on the chemistry they saw between theiractors on-screen. Every Jalec scene, despite me not always agreeing with thewriting decisions leading up to it, are just a joy to watch. When you watch aJalec scene, you want to look away because you feel like you’re intruding on aprivate moment. And I love when ships make me do that. I never really shippedJalec on the show because I knew they would never be a thing since the showseemed weirdly committed to keeping the top three relationships intact for somereason. But if I were the writers, I definitely would have shifted from Malecto Jalec. There are of course people who absolutely love the Malec chemistryand they’re free to do so but I’m not one of them. When Matt and Harry are in ascene together, they’re acting just becomes extremely wooden and theircharacters become pale imitations of what they once were. Everything is so forcedwhen they’re in a scene together. Harry and Matt try to make up for it byacting with their eyes and making “heart-eyes” at each other but for me, it’snot enough to overcompensate for their awkward body language around each other.And apart from them having chemistry that just doesn’t work for me, I just didn’tlike their relationship. I don’t understand whar it is about each other thatMalec likes. I have no idea why they’re choosing to stay together, they can’tsurvive a single conflict without their relationship crumbling to pieces.

But thinking about in an alternate universe if Jalec reallywas a thing is interesting, though. If you’ve been following me for a while,you know I love to think about “what if” situations. It obviously would changea lot with practically all of the characters because so much of this show isrelationship based. Like I’ve mentioned before, Shadowhunters is a trash showand only exists to give its audience shipping fodder. And I will say just as ageneral note here that this is completely different from what would happen inthe books. There’s actually a rule in the books that states you can’t fall inlove with your parabatai (bad things will happen and I’ll leave it at that).But just in show context because the show never went into the rules aboutparabatai, I like to imagine that before the show started, Alec and Jace werein this kind of “friends with benefits” type of relationship. It was purelysexual in nature, a way for them to relax after a hard day of hunting and theyjust needed a release. At least, it was like that for Jace. However, Aleccouldn’t quite shake it off. He couldn’t quite just write their relationshipoff as “just sex” and so he decided to end things with Jace because he couldn’tstand the idea of Jace not seeing him as anything more than a means ofrelieving stress. And here is when the show begins. Clary comes into the mixand obviously, if we’re shooting for a Jalec endgame there’s a lot of changesthat have to be made with Clary as she and Jace in both the books and show arethe characters the story centers on. I don’t really want to say that Jace getsinvolved with Clary only to figure out at the eleventh hour that Alec really ishis one true love, that feels a little too juvenile and easy for me, preference-wise,I hate stories that go in that direction, I hate “one true love” nonsense. Atfirst I caught myself thinking, okay, who is Clary’s endgame relationship goingto be if it’s not Jace? And then I realized, does she really need one? I mean,she just found out who she thought she was her entire life is not who sheactually is. When you’re going through something like that, should you reallybe involving yourself in a committed relationship? But I’m not opposed to herending up with someone like Simon or hey, maybe even Lydia (what ever happenedto Lydia by the way? Of all the dumb and pointless original characters the showcame up with, she was my favorite. We never found out if she ever got a happyending. Perhaps ending up with Clary could be her happy ending). We could stillhave a Malec relationship on the show but ultimately, they decide to end thingsas they feel like they can’t overcome the obstacles in their relationship, theystill care about each other deeply but sometimes in relationships, caring abouteach other isn’t enough to make it work. Alec is heartbroken that he had to endthings and he and Jace have a drunken night where they fall into bed again andinto their same old bad habits. But Alec makes it clear to Jace he’s notinterested in continuing what they used to have and because his relationshipwith Magnus made him more communicative in talking out his feelings, he comesclean to Jace about how he really feels about Jace. Jace doesn’t know how torespond so that drama gets milked for maybe half a season and let’s saysomething happens to Alec or Jace is separated from Alec for too long and Jacerealizes how much he does love Alec and the reason he couldn’t say it before isbecause he was afraid to be truly loved by someone. They confess and that’s theirendgame. As for Magnus, there was this original character named Raj that theshow just wrote off as xenophobic and an overall scumbag but when he was firstintroduced, I thought he was in the closet and was secretly crushing on Alec.

So for the purposes of this new narrative, let’s say he’s secretly crushing onMagnus and after some time of them being kind of aggressive towards one another,they realize they’re interested and a relationship blooms from that.But that’s the current mental picture of a “whatif” Jalec endgame that’s in my head right now. This would need way more time tothink on but as a story base, it’s not too bad. And actually, now I’m superinto the new Top 3 Ships being Jace/Alec, Magnus/Raj, Clary/Lydia.

#jalec

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daniellethamasa · 5 years

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Hey all, Dani here.

Welcome back to another very early post for me. Same as with last month, this post is going live while I’m deep asleep, but I want to make sure that all of the participants in Calendar Girls can link to my post as soon as possible, so why not have this post go up at midnight my time? I’m so glad to be involved with Calendar Girls; I feel like my relationships in the online book community have been grown and strengthened by this blog event, and that my blog has developed far more than I imagined because of it as well.

Anyway, it is the first Monday of the Month and that means it is once again time for a Calendar Girls post.

Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event that was started by Flavia and Melanie, but is now being hosted by Katie and Adrienne. They are all wonderful ladies, and you should check out their lovely blogs. Okay, so Katie and Adrienne needed to take a brief hiatus for a few months, so for right now Flavia and myself are temporarily hosting Calendar Girls until our fearless leaders are ready to step back in.

Honestly Calendar Girls is a group effort and I feel like we have become a pretty good group of friends, so it makes sense that we can share in the responsibilities and pick up any slack should it happen. I’m happy to do my part to help keep this tradition going. So if you link back to Flavia and me, we can keep track of all the book picks and posts each month. Thanks, everyone!

First, more about the Calendar Girls. It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers, and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl.

Just like the song, each month has a different theme. Each blogger picks their favorite book from the theme, and on the first Monday of the month reveals their pick in a Calendar Girls post. Make sure to post back to the hostess’s post, and both Katie and Adrienne will make a master list for the month. The master lists allow everyone to see the other Calendar Girls’ picks and to pop on over to their blogs. Thus, we all get to chat about books and even make some new friends!

Oh, and you don’t have to identify as female to join the Calendar Girls. We welcome readers of all types. So if this sounds like fun for you, join us in all of the fun bookish conversations.

Finally, the February theme is…

Meet Cute

Favorite Romantic Comedy

So several years ago I joined an online book club–called Vaginal Fantasy Book Club–and started reading a lot more romance, but most of it was genre romance. It’s not that I didn’t like to read romance, but for the most part I preferred stories where romance wasn’t the main focus of the story. When it comes to romance stories I tend to enjoy watching rom-coms instead of reading them. But I’ve been doing a little better over recent years.

So, some of the books on my contender list may not technically be listed as romantic comedies, but they are mostly focused on romance and there were at least a few moments that made me laugh.

All right, here are my contenders for favorite romantic comedies.

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I think it’s a pretty nice blend of both Young Adult and Adult romances, and okay, yes, clearly Christina Lauren takes up quite a bit of space on this list. What can I say? I find their stories to be very enjoyable with plenty of fun moments. And I think I have reviews for most of these, so I’ll link to those just in case.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey, Frankly in Love by David Yoon, Roomies by Christina Lauren, Again, But Better by Christine Riccio, The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, Geekerella by Ashley Poston, My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren.

These books utilize a lot of different set-ups that make for funny encounters and memorable stories. Fake relationships are definitely prominent in several of these books. A few of the characters are adorably awkward, and that awkwardness is amusing and endearing, so those situations definitely make me chuckle.

Okay, are you ready for my pick for this month?

…

What’s super great about this one is if you like the idea of meet cutes this book is chock full of them…or rather it’s filled with failed meet cutes, but that just makes it more amusing.

My review for this book will be coming soon, but I read it last month and while some of it was immensely predictable, overall it was simply outstanding. Getting to watch our lady protagonist as she utilizes as many movie meet cutes as she can as a way to try and prove to a screenwriter that these stories are real and worthwhile. I don’t want to talk too much about this book right now, because as I said my review is not yet up, but I’ll go ahead and drop the summary and just go ahead and say that I definitely recommend this book. It is fun and cute, and ultimately is a feel-good romantic story that honors all the rom-coms that came before it.

In this charming, feel-good debut novel, a cynical assistant at a screenwriting agency must reenact the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedy movies in order to help her #1 client get his scriptwriting mojo back–but can a real-life meet-cute be in store for someone who doesn’t believe in happily ever after?

After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she’s been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency’s biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy.

The catch? Ezra is suffering from writer’s block–and he’ll only put pen to paper if singleton Evie can prove to him that you can fall in love like they do in the movies. With the future of the agency in jeopardy, Evie embarks on a mission to meet a man the way Sally met Harry or Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts.

But in the course of testing out the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies IRL, not only will Evie encounter one humiliating situation after another, but she’ll have to confront the romantic past that soured her on love. In a novel as hilarious as it is heartwarming, debut author Rachel Winters proves that sometimes real life is better than the movies–and that the best kind of meet-cutes happen when you least expect them.

Calendar Girls Picks

Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile –

Dani (that’s me) @ MousaiBooks – Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

More added soon.

Calendar Girls: February 2020 Hey all, Dani here. Welcome back to another very early post for me. Same as with last month, this post is going live while I'm deep asleep, but I want to make sure that all of the participants in Calendar Girls can link to my post as soon as possible, so why not have this post go up at midnight my time?

#Books!#Calendar Girls #Discussion #Reading

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thataspdfeel · 7 years

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I'm curious, what are you most attracted to in your partners? Is it similar traits in all of them or different ones like their sense of humour etc.? Sorry if this is a weird question but you've said before you like when people ask about them so I thought I would.

i was so excited to get this and then forgot to answer it :/ im an idiot

also gonna put this under a cut cause this is gonna be hella long cause im a fucking romantic dork

god though i could wax poetic. they’re all so lovely. like they have traits in common but also are unique. they all have brown eyes but theyre unique. like my husband has these eyes that remind me of warm chocolate. like a chocolate fountain kind of warm chocolate. dark and smooth but reflect the light. my wife’s have tinges of gold in the irises like flecks of gold leaf. and theres a dark ring around the pupil and one around the edge of the iris. theyre fucking magical

my boyfriend’s eyes are almost black and very deep. darker than the night sky and full of warmth and mischief. but its like theyre never ending, like he can see the innermost parts of whoever he’s looking at, like your soul is written on your forehead

lmao i love eyes can you tell

they all have these goddamned sinful eyelashes and my boyfriend’s are the longest. theyre as dark as his eyes and when he’s embarrassed, he gets all shy and they brush against his cheekbones like how dare you sir. how dare you be beautiful even when youre embarrassed. i look like a fucking tomato. rude

my husband’s look gold at the tips with the way the light catches them. like yknow how fake eyelashes have purple or red at the tips? like that except gold. like what??? the fuck??? rude

they all have very soft hair though my boyfriend’s is the longest. i cant wait to get with him irl again cause i wanna braid it. he’s got a bony face and it frames it so well. it’s so dark brown its almost black and it’s fun to see him try to sweep it out of his face cause he refuses to tie it up

my husband has these wild curls. we were looking up how to take care of them and that’s how we found out hes ethnically jewish. (which makes sense considering he’s german) they get so thick and heavy and they’re so soft and lovely to nap in. which i do on a semi regular basis. its so soft and lovely and i love when he grows it out. he just doesn’t look right with shorter hair. and he has this beard that grows funny, makes him look like jedidiah if yknow what i mean. he has such a baby face without it and he loves beard scritches it’s so cute how happy he gets

bluh im bouncing all over the place i just??? love them?????? so??????????? much???????????????? there’s so much to talk about!!!

so i guess i’ll just try and make a list of the things i love about them

husband:

cheerful, bubbly, very sunny personality. the human incarnation of a very excited dog (which can be A Lot sometimes)

extremely kind. would give you the shirt off his back. often laments that he stopped carrying cash years ago every time he sees somebody who could use some despite the fact that we’re always broke

a proper southern gentleman??? like im fat so im used to people not holding doors open for me fucking ever and being really goddamned rude in general. he ALWAYS holds doors open for me, opens the car door for me both to get in and out of the car, and gets pouty if i try and carry my own bag. it’s so sweet??? ive literally never had that before and even after three and a half years, it’s still so charming

he will do literally anything the fuck i ask. he’ll say no and im like oh ok and he’ll tease like “finally! i said no! and got away with it!” just to make me giggle and then does it anyway

on this note, he also always cooks as much as absolutely possible. even though his spine gives him problems, he does his best to keep me off my leg

he’s always so concerned about my well being. like if there’s not a disability cart at the front of a store, he makes me sit down while he goes and chases one down. if im stiffer than usual due to a cold front, he’ll remind me to take pain meds every four hours

he’s trying to learn japanese because he knows i dont have anybody to practice with here in the states. just for me and not any other reason

adores animals. even if he finds a dog annoying, he’ll still fawn over it and give it as many pets as it wants and won't ever snap at it even if anybody else would. he’s got these large hands and he’s kind of clumsy but this goes away around animals. he’s just so careful and gentle like i never ever worry

drags me out of my introverted cave because he knows social interaction is also good

has introduced me to some of my favorite books and video games because he’s verious conscious about what somebody likes and works to be like “hey, i think youd like this” and is almost always correct??? amazing

has 0 sense of style but doesnt mind somebody who knows better keeping him from absolute disaster

dude is a damned good cook. ive gained like at least a solid 25 pounds since he moved in and started cooking regularly

SPEAKING OF COOKING, we met on the tail end of my anorexia when i was doing my best to recover and still slipping up. he never made me feel bad about it but always encouraged me to eat. he eats SO much (think shaggy rogers) that i always felt comfortable eating in front of him. he always reminds me to eat and asks if ive eaten that day. honestly, i wouldnt be at this level of recovery if it hadnt been for him

is amazing at caling me down holy fuck

wife:

met her first, of the three of them, ironically so ive known her the longest but been with her the shortest. we dated a few months in hs but there was a chick she wanted to date like right there (and i was in japan) so i was like oh go for it. well, they broke up and we got back together and it’s been lovely ever since

she has this snorting laugh that’s adorable to listen to and it makes me feel more comfortable laughing (because i think i sound like a damn goose)

SHE HAS SO MANY GODDAMNED FRECKLES ON HER CUTE LITTLE FACE THEY’RE ADORABLE AND AMAZING AND VERY FUN TO KISS BECAUSE SHE SQUIRMS

she has a goddamned button nose for chrissakes

and these really wide hips too like i felt bad about my hips years ago cause theyre p wide but shes adorable and has wide hips too. she kinda made me love them (even though hers are better)

she’s genderfluid so i get to be gay all across the gender spectrum (im agender) and she’s so beautiful and handsome and v amazing

we were both homestuck fans at the height of it (like we still are) but her cosplays are just really well done??? shes so talented

OH MY GOD SHE MAKES THIE CHICKEN SOUP WITH HOMEMADE NOODLES I WOULD SLAP AN OLD LADY FOR

i dont know about the rest of her cooking (sadly) due to limited time around each other but i cant fucking wait tbh. her cookies kill me tho i love them

an amazing fashion sense. im a dumpster compared to her

an amazing writer and artist and i die every time she sends me something like my soul fucking ascends

she loved me BEFORE meds which i think is amazing. like what a lovely human being yknow? im a dick without meds and she loved me anyway and i love that about her

she speaks german and she makes it sound beautiful and i cry

her singing voice is so angelic and it kills me when she sings because everybody should hear this lovely person sing

she is hyper empathetic and it makes her so lovely and kind and wonderful. she completely understands how i feel about things and why even when no one else does and is very good at de-escalating me when im upset

we’ve just known each other for something like 7 years now? like i dated her post my abusive ex and she lit up my whole world with happiness at being treated well. then her ex was abusive and just... we get each other? in a way where her husband and my other two partners dont. its a pain the others dont understand so we go to each other during these times of pain in a way we cant with other people. it’s a very special connection

she’s a goddamned goof and i love it

my boyfriend:

motherfucker is so skinny which is the opposite of me and for some reason it works?? idk like it worries me but it’s also unique. love it

we dated almost my whole senior year of hs but he broke up with me because he thought he didnt have the same depth of emotion as i did for him and didnt want to “hold me back” from somebody better. like??? can you imagine?????? how fucking kind

recently started dating again like it took him fourish years for him to realize SHIT I MADE A MISTAKE so he’s a little slow but he’s so very thoughtful

he’s a goof in a different way than the other two. dad jokes. never ending fucking dad jokes. and goddamned puns. he never stops. dont tell him i love them because then he’ll never let me tease him again (i pretend like its The Worst)

so. fucking. dramatic. always flips his hair in the sassiest way possible. its super gay (he’s bi)

he doesnt do a whole lot of romance or saying WHY he feels certain ways. he feels like it cheapens the emotion. but, on the rare occassion he doesnt let this bother him, his poetry he sends me about how he feels makes me fucking cry. it’s so beautiful. i love it

he works watering at a plant nursery and complains about how the bees always use him as a landing strip. it’s adorable

he’s so resourceful?? this is best seen when playing minecraft cause he makes some damn cool structures in some really nice places. i love playing it with him just to see what he builds and how (especially since im a boring, lets make this house a square kinda ho)

he’s so camera shy??? no selfies no skype at all. he’s so bashful and it’s super cute i love it

got me into DnD like yes thank you for this enjoyable nerdery

the sole reason i passed math in hs. like not only is he smart but hes also really good at explaining things to people? definitely a talent for teaching people things

he was my best friend for the longest time like all three of them are my best friend but he was the only one who was my best friend FIRST and then romance blossomed

like im demiromantic so i need a strong connection to fall in love like it was a solid few months of dating my husband before i began to love him. i knew my wife for awhile and got close so same general story. but my boyfriend and i were more friends to lovers and i love that about him

his dad is half italian so he talks with his hands and it’s so overdramatic that he hits people with them on a semi regular basis just gesturing. he once accidentally knocked my glasses all the way across a room cause i had walked behind him and he made a sweeping gesture. hilarious

one time, i had food poisoning and the pain was so bad, i had to crawl under his kitchen table until my mother came to take me to the base clinic. he sat with my head in his lap and brushed my hair out of my face and cooed gently at me to try and soothe me. it was so sweet and ive never forgotten about it

motherfucker, with the help of my sister, dragged me into homestuck

he’s so damn shy about affection that holdling his hand in public makes him blush. it’s even worse if i steal a kiss. fucking adorable

things all three have in common that i love:

good in bed. it sounds silly but this is important to me because while i dont necessarily need sex to form a close relationship to fall in love, it definitely helps

idk how this happened, i really dont, but somehow everything i like lines up nicely with everything they like??? and if im not into something, they can find it with each other and vise versa. lmao wtf how did this happen to line up idk

kind, generous, sweet, and helpful although all three show these qualities in different ways despite having them in common

love me??? like honestly it sounds so silly that id love that they love me but im such a flawed, terrible human being that it leaves me in deep awe that not only does one person love me but three??? how??? amazing people to find something in me to love and to keep on loving despite all my problems. beautiful

creative, smart, and inventive each in their own right. they fucking astound me and take my breath away

beautiful cuddlers (not being sarcastic, promise)

husband is a goddamned heater but boyfriend is a living block of ice. then wife is one of those who’s in between but she steals your heat and then hours later gives it back which is the worse option of the three. like it starts out all nice but then you end up surprised hours later because youre fucking dying of heatstroke

so we have two heatstroke, drowning in sweat options and then losing your limbs. it makes trying to set the thermostat a fucking nightmare

they all love to read and honestly? i couldnt be with anyone who doesnt like a good book

can hold lively, in depth discussions about things

hubby tends to lean more towards “would it be immoral to fuck a succubus” type morality questions and superhero dissection type things

wife is all over the place and can carry on a conversation about goddamned teapots if she so chose. no idea how she does it

boyfriend likes to entertain more morbid thoughts and psychology but also likes to analyze things. like homestuck. we still fucking dissect homestuck

very intelligent. blows my dumb ass out of the water. beautiful

like gaming various amounts and various kinds of games. hubs likes any and all. boyfriend likes dnd, monster hunter, minecraft etc kinds of things, not really one for cards or board games. wife prefers to craft but will occasionally engage in board games or cards, less so in video games but tends to stick to pokemon. it’s nice

they’re all very physically beautiful though in different ways. hubby is barrel chested and german with very strong arms and big hands, a bright and sunny smile. wife is small and round with tiny, artist hands and a sweet, pixie face. boyfriend is thin, long, and gaunt with pale skin and dark hair (kind of like damien from dream daddy tbh)

i could go on but ive been making this post for like well over two hours now and i figured maybe i should stop. it’s long as hell and idk if anybody else would have read this whole thing but basically i fucking adore my partners??? so much??? and there are so many things about them to love???

i just love them so much and could go on and on for hours about why i love each of them and how lovely they are and how they make me feel

ksdjrfgh im so sorry this is so long theres just so much to talk about //sweats

#mod vann #long post #text heavy #like this is obscenely long lmao #im so sorry #Anonymous #anon #vannswers

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