#i would not mind that ending for louis if it was shown as a BAD THING | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heyidkyay · 9 months

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I guess I’ll take this pain, instead of your name |

Part Twenty-Eight - End

A/n: Ah finally 28 is here!! I'm sorry for the silence, had a lot going on recently, but this is the final part of the series! I can't believe it tbh, though I wouldn't mind writing a few extra scenes in the future just because I love these two a whole lot. But we'll seeee!

Just a warning, this is very similar to the flashback chapters on 24 and the scenes are as the years pass starting from before the time G and Birdie got together, it's ALL from G's POV which was so fucking difficult to write but hopefully I pulled it off. Either way, I hope you enjoy it and thank you to all the love everyone's shown this series, it means so much.

Summary: In life, things changed. The boys you'd once grown up with were men now, and famous ones at that. The type that toured the world and had millions of adoring fans.

The five of you shared a shit ton of history. But you also shared a lot of mixed emotions for one of them in particular, a certain drummer.

Masterlist

It was beaming. First proper hot day they’d had in months. Though in truth, it could’ve just as easily been years seeing as though every weather station was currently claiming a ‘hellish heatwave’ to have taken over the entire country.

It was bittersweet.

George was sat outside on the decking, just by the pool in Matty’s back garden with the rest of the band, Ross in a pair of boxers perched on the waters edge with Adam sporting a pair of bright yellow swim trunks right beside him. The two of them had been doing laps but had seemingly tired themselves out under the hot sun and were now kicking up a lazy wave in the shallow end.

“Oi.”

George glanced away from the duo to find a beer being shoved his way, he took the crisp bottle with a soundless nod just as Matty settled into the lounge chair next to him.

“You not getting in then?” The older boy asked him and George curled his lip just as he wrinkled his nose.

“Maybe. Too fucking hot to be arsed though.” He answered, sticky with sweat but enjoying the warmth the summer weather had to gift him.

Matty laughed under his breath and kicked his leg up to cross it over his knee. “Mum ordered food, if you’re hungry. Lou wanted pizza, so.”

George smiled in retort. He’d skipped breakfast that morning, knowing his presence would only lead to more problems now that his mum was home again, and had been hoping to grab something on the way over but hadn’t had the chance.

“Speak of the devil.” Matty chuckled after and George followed his gaze over to find his younger brother, Louis, scuttling out of the patio’s sliding glass door, water gun in hand and a leggy teenage girl just behind him.

“Get back here, Lou! You’re so dead!” The girl shouted, hair dripping wet and shirt dampened from where she’d obviously been the subject to one of Louis’s antics, but her words were counteracted by the dazzling grin she wore and the bright sheen she had to her eyes.

The younger boy she was chasing cackled loudly in return, face alive as he zoomed past George and Matty on the loungers in an attempt to escape her. But she was hot on his heels.

“Run, mate!” Matty called out unhelpfully, snorting when his little brother tried to make a song and dance out of it when he chose to go around the garden table a few times.

George chuckled quietly, watching the duo from where he was perched, though he could hardly keep his eyes off of the girl, focused on her expression, the way she moved so effortlessly. Matty seemed to notice it too.

“You’ve got it bad, man.”

George startled a tad at his voice but shook his head anyway as he waved Matty’s accusation off, not bothering to argue against it seeing as though his eyes were still trained on one thing.

Besides, it weren’t as though he hadn’t heard it all before, the lads loved to tease him for his apparent staring, the longing looks he threw her, but how could he help it? She was this blazing ball of fire, too fucking hot to reach out and touch, but enticing all the same.

God, he was such a fucking sap.

Matty was still laughing, either at him or the way his younger brother’s face had suddenly fallen in quick realisation, perhaps both, but George could hardly bring himself to care. It’s not like she ever noticed his attention anyway, barely even spared him a hello, let alone a second glance.

“Just talk to her, man. She won’t bite.” Matty told him, as though it was really that simple. But before George could think of a reply, a loud scream echoed out across the garden and he looked up just in time to spot the pair go catapulting into the pool, the girl’s arms wrapped around the younger boy’s shoulders as their bodies cut through the water. “Fucking hell.”

The pair of them were laughing when they reemerged, Louis spluttering whilst the girl just shook the hair out of her face, smile still frozen in place. George’s breath got caught in the back of his throat and his mind went a little fuzzy at the sight of it, witnessing how carefree and gorgeous she always seemed to appear, but especially then.

“You cheat! You can’t do that!” Louis laughed in argument, splashing about a bit. “It ain’t fair.”

The girl merely grinned in retort and reached out to mess the boy’s sodden hair up further, “Sure I can, Lou. An eye for an eye and all that! You wet me with your gun and I tossed you in the pool. Sounds fair enough to me.”

“She’s got you there, mate.” George heard Ross add from the side of the pool, and could hear the mirth that lined his mate’s voice. “Take it like a champ.”

“You get to say that, you’re already soaked!”

“Tell him, Lou!” Matty hollered with that mischievous smile he often favoured.

The girl waded in the water and threw a smirk at Matty, but her eyes lingered on George too for just a second. “You lot getting in or am I gonna have to drag you over too?”

Matty laughed and went to make a stand, but just as he did, he turned his back on the rest of them and shot a sly remark at George, who was still trying to get over the acknowledgment he’d just been given. “Bet you’d love that though, Georgie. Fucking flustered at the very thought, ain’t you?”

George scowled, though he could only watch on as Matty waltzed away, chuckles still bright. He huffed instead and dragged a pitiful hand across his face in hopes to get ahold of himself. But Matty was right, he could feel the warmth of the blush down the length of his back and felt like such a tit for always reacting to the tiniest of interactions she had to offer him.

“Come on, G! Getting old here!”

He swallowed heavily at the sound of her voice, but didn’t dare look up just yet. G. It was a first, that was for sure. Hadn’t really stuck around anywhere long enough to make many friends, let alone have a nickname surface. He only hoped it’d stick, especially if she was the one calling out for him.

“I’m coming!” He said after a quick breath and only then chanced a glance, surprised to find her wild eyes still set on him. She flashed him a pleased grin and- “Shit.” He murmured to himself, almost stilling in place at the realisation that hit him. He was so fucking gone, wasn’t he?

—

London was different to Wilmslow, George had decided. Busier. You could hear the noise of the city at night sneak in through the front bedroom window, and feel the shake of the trains that ran across the back of the lane all through the house. It was nice though, these differences. The City. The noise. Mostly because the quiet never had sat well with him.

“Oi, those carrots won’t cut themselves, you know.”

George found himself smiling at the sound of Dee’s voice and pulled his gaze away from the open back door to see her grinning back at him. She was currently cooking up a storm, spices scattered everywhere and water bubbling from a metal pot sat up on the hob, but she’d wanted to make her famous shepherd’s pie for her favourite niece during their stay, and somehow he’d gotten roped into helping.

Not that he’d ever say no, he’d grown fond of the two women that had welcomed him in with open arms far too quickly- but that was without mentioning the lighthearted threats that had been given if he dared even step a toe out of line with her. Or at least, he hoped they were lighthearted.

“Daydreamin’?”

He hummed in return and went back to his kitchen duties, skinning the orange vegetables and then dicing. “Something like that.”

Dee mimicked the sound with a faint titter of her own and he watched closely as she glanced back out the door and into the garden, seeing the scene he’d been so absorbed in.

Nana (“Can’t be callin’ me by nothing else, my darlin’, family’s family and you’re it now.” Is what she’d claimed from the very start, not drawing any attention to the hitched breath George had given in turn) was perched in a deck chair, one of those fabric ones with the silver metal legs and striped cloth backing, a shovel in one hand and a pot in the other. Cyril, who seemed content to laze about in the hazy summer heat, was sprawled out on the grass right beside her, drool dripping from his open jaw and eyes closed. Nana kept patting his belly every few minutes but he didn’t care to move from his slumber.

Birdie was right there with them as well, only she was knee deep in the flowerbeds, soil painting the skin up to her elbows and blackening the overalls she’d adorned earlier. The pink spade she’d picked out was lost somewhere to the left of her and she was squinting in the afternoon sun, attention drifting back and forth between the flowers they were planting and the seventy-three year old giving out orders. They appeared to be speaking about something or other now though, Birdie trying hard to keep her mouth from lifting into an embarrassed sort of smile whilst Nana merely chuckled away.

“How’s she really been?” Dee quizzed him, plopping the carrots he’d cut into another pot before tossing the steaming potatoes that had just been boiled. The question was oddly quiet for her, enough for George to notice at least, seeing as though the woman had been nothing but a rocket since the minute they’d met.

He wondered if she knew, albeit vaguely. But then shook the thought away, if either of these women knew anything that had been going on back home there’d surely be hell to pay. That he understood. Still, it wasn’t his secret to tell and Birdie had been adamant about it, even after hearing his incentives.

“She’s been alright, keeping busy in truth. Got exams soon.”

The red-haired woman hummed again, staring off into space for a moment before those piercing eyes of hers were drilled into his. He fought not to outwardly react.

“Doesn’t seem alright, what with her walking in all battered and bruised. Looks more smurf-like than human to me.”

George swallowed, stuck on what to say, and it wasn’t like he had something to preoccupy himself with now that the carrots were gone. He sighed softly. “She’s… alright- strong, really. Just a lot going on at school, you know? And her mum’s been busy.”

Dee’s tongue prodded the inside of her cheek at that but turned back to fork the mince she was frying. “Never did like her much. But especially after the funeral.” She revealed and looked almost as though she was gritting her teeth to get the words out. “Din’t come to the reception. Just left little Dove here with us and got on the first train home. Could understand, somewhat. Woman had lost a husband, hadn’t she? But then, I’d lost my brother. Mum, a son, and that little girl out there, well, she’d lost her dad. Her mum didn’t want much responsibility for her afterwards, hardly saw the arse-end of her in the long months after. A visit once in a blue moon and a phone call each Thursday. Honestly believed the kid would stay living here with us, until she swanned back in and swept her back up north.”

A silence settled in the breath Dee took then and George’s emotions warred within. He choked them back and swallowed them down to brew.

“Fought hard to keep her, din’t think the woman was capable of lookin’ after herself, let alone a kid. But,” Dee shrugged then, helplessly. “She’s her mum, ain’t she? Not much we could do about it. Lost touch a bit after that, she wanted distance, said we reminded her too much of him. Claimed our Dove couldn’t stomach the reminder either. So we listened. For her sake if nothing else. Killed my mum though.”

George swallowed thickly. “Can imagine. I don’t know how I’d act if I ever lost her.”

Dee seemed to pause at that, then turned to regard him slowly and with a very sweet smile, one George had never been gifted by an adult in his lifetime. It threw him.

“You’re a good sort, Georgie. Look after her well, don’t you?” Her noiseless chuckle surprised him but then she just shook her head, obviously not expecting an actual answer. He watched on as she inhaled slowly only to then throw the tea towel she’d been clinging onto over her shoulder, wiping the underneaths of her eyes. He didn't know what to say or how to make things better. “Start mashing those spuds for me, would ya doll? Just gonna nip to the loo.”

George could only nod, surprised by the whole event but especially upon seeing Dee suddenly so choked up. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it though, seeing as though Birdie came swanning into the kitchen just after her Aunt had disappeared.

The girl was smiling happily, happier than he’d seen her in a long while, ever even. It made him stop short, if only to take her in. The freckles on her cheeks that the sun had warmed and strengthened. The cheeky smile that dimpled the right corner of her mouth. The wrinkle in her nose that stood out amongst the gentle burn that dotted its bridge…

The twinkle in her eyes as she zeroed in on him.

“Where’s Aunt Dee?” The girl asked, picking up a pea-pod from off the counter and biting into it. George’s face wrinkled in amused anguish.

“Toilet.” He answered her, falling into one of the empty bar stools stood behind. “Finally decided to come help, have you then?”

She stepped closer and smirked up at him. “Nope.” The next bite she took made a massive crunching sound, her grin widened.

George rolled his eyes, before taking the chance to get another good look at her. If it weren’t for the fact that Nana was looming just beyond the door, he’d have kissed her.

The woman was a dainty thing, yes, but fucking terrifying too. And seeing as they’d yet to announce anything between them, let alone anyone else, he didn’t want to rock the boat too hard this early on. A few kisses were just a few kisses, right?

“What’s got you in a mard?” Birdie chuckled, reaching out a dirtied finger to poke at his cheek. He dipped away slightly from the offending hand but didn’t put up much of a fight, reckoned she could be covered in mouldy milk and he’d still want to snog her senseless.

“Nothing, just thinking.” He told her honestly.

She hummed and leaned in closer, pea-pod now gone and her hands tucked into the pockets of her overalls. She was trying to be intimidating, playful. He liked seeing her so alive.

“Try not to hurt yourself there.”

George chuckled, heart beating quicker now. “Always so mean.”

“Hm, maybe. But you like me for it.” She shot back confidently.

I do.

“Keep on wishing, B.”

She snorted, and it would’ve been an ugly sound on anyone else, but this was her. His Birdie.

“Oh, I will.” She half-sung, eyes really shimmering now beneath the long lashes they so often hid themselves behind.

George couldn’t find it in himself to look away, lost on her.

Then a hand was touching his and he felt something press into the palm of his. Her soil covered fingernails danced over the inside of his wrist for a single second just as she leant in to press her soft lips to his cheek.

A peck, a smile, and then she was gone it seemed.

George stared off after her, watched the way her hair fell loosely and how the light only seemed to carve a path for her through the dimly lit hallway. She disappeared round the bend and he took a breath before glancing down into his hand.

His mouth dried up at the sight of the old metal lighter which now sat there. And carved ever so carefully into the metal casing at the very bottom was a simple ‘B+G’.

—

“Move over.” Someone grunted somewhere to the right and George struggled against the urge to elbow his way into a more comfortable position. “Tossers.”

He huffed a bit at that but shuffled further left anyway, creating some more room for the giant twat sat on the other end of the backseat in hopes that it’d shut him up. Louis and Birdie were right there between them, Lou half on top of B, and B half on top of him.

Ross seemed to have gotten the better end of the stick in reality, even if his oversized limbs had been crammed into the back with them. Matty and Adam were more than alright though, happy as Larry sat in the front, fiddling with the radio.

“Will you lot shut up? Might miss it.” Matty snipped, batting away Hann’s hand when he tried to turn up the dial.

“Fuck off, Matty.” Ross shot right back, still sodding squirming. “How the fuck did you even manage to bag the front seat anyway? You’re about the size of my left toe.”

Louis snorted loudly at that, whilst Matty sent Ross a scathing look full of sarky laughter. “It’s my fucking car, that’s why, dickhead.”

Just as Ross drew in another breath to retaliate, Birdie swooped in to save the day, holding out an arm across Louis to signal for Ross to pack it in. “You’re both being annoying, just shut up and stop swearing, yeah? Otherwise we’ll never hear the sodding radio and Denise will have all our heads.”

“Mum says a lot worse.” Louis intoned then, which had them all snickering and Matty high-fiving his little brother whilst looking proud. George hit his head against the window when Birdie ducked slightly to avoid being hit, she winced at the sound it made.

“Sorry, babe.” She whispered and leant in closer to rub the top of his head gently with a soft laugh. No one else was appeared go be paying much attention to them though, all the focus honed in on the radio.

At first, both him and Hann had argued against getting in the car- could’ve just as easily gathered around the stereo in the kitchen for this- but Matt, Birdie and Ross had been dead set on hearing it in the car.

“It’s got to be in the car! We can’t not hear it in the car!” Matty had argued, and not just for the sake of it, only to have then been cut off by B and her rapid agreement, “Exactly! It’s a car song! People only ever listen to the radio when they’re drivin’!” Her accent was always stronger the more determined she got. “So we’re listening to it in the car whether you lot wanna or not, I don’t care if your balls get squished or your elbows don’t fit. We are.”

And that had been it. Enough said.

“You’re alright.” George chuckled under his breath, taking her hand in his and pulling them both down into his lap. She seemed content enough to cuddle further into his side at that and he couldn’t even bring himself to mind, thumbing her knuckles whilst he rested his chin atop her head.

“Oh shit, here it is! It’s coming on!”

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuuccck.”

“Shut the fuck up!!”

“Think I’m gonna shit myself.”

Birdie and Louis laughed at their many reactions and George could only cling on a little tighter to the hand that was keeping him grounded. Never had he felt so fucking sick with nerves.

“Shut up you lot, it’s on! It’s on!”

The car fell dead silent at Birdie’s interruption and they all seemed to lean forward in their seats simultaneously, as though it would give them a better chance at listening in.

“Yeah, and here’s a new one for you.” Huw Stephens’s voice rang out and George could barely believe that they were actually this close, “Just in, and from their recent EP titled Facedown, we’ve got the up and coming sound of The 1975 for you lovely ladies and gentlemen! Buzzing with this one boys, reckon the rest of you will be too. So here it is, this is BBC Radio 1 and up next is The City.”

The whole lot of them broke out into hollers and cheers when the intro played, the entire car bouncing on its wearing tires as they all started to prat about in their excitement. Ross close to shaking Hann’s chair out of its hinges, Louis jumping between the two front seats to turn the dial up even louder, Matty drumming loudly against the dash, Adam kicking his feet, and B, his beautiful B, screaming her heart out for them all as she laughed and clapped and started to sing as loudly as she possibly could alongside Matty’s voice that’d started playing through the speakers.

And all George could think was, fuck.

—

“You’ve gotta run faster!”

“I fucking am!”

“You’re not!” She laughed, the Californian sun warming every inch of her even as it begun to set, “Faster, G!”

“Please, none of that! Hear enough of it back in the bunks, thanks!” Came Matty’s witty quip, earning a few knowing laughs. George turned around to flip him off for it but Birdie appeared to have beaten him to it.

“Jealous much, Matthew?”

“Of G? ‘Course, darling!” Matty quipped as he moved across the sand to drape himself across her back, spliff caught between his fingers. “Should’ve jumped you way back when I had the chance.”

Birdie snorted and elbowed him lightly but didn’t force him away, “Meant of me, you twat. Figured if I hadn’t gotten there first, you might’ve tried your luck with G, Matt.”

“Oh how I wish!” Matty dramatised, sighing loudly as he casted a set of seductive eyes in George’s direction, “Always been gone on you though, our George. I never stood a chance.”

“Yeah, so piss off of her.” George told the curly haired idiot with a small smirk as he made his way back over, a bright orange kite still wrapped around his hand.

Matty took it as his chance to play the joker though and all but dived for him the second he got close enough, planting a sloppy kiss to the side of his face. George couldn’t help the unmanly sound that escaped him at the gesture and could only laugh along with the rest of them when he shoved the clingy lad off.

“Got me good, you prick.” He chuckled, swiping at his wet cheek.

“And that’s only the start of it, mate.” Matty winked, then made his way back over to where the rest of the band had sprawled about on the sand. “Just imagine it, G! I’d even let you top, you know. A proper giver me.”

Ross cackled at the face Georgemade and Hann rolled his eyes with a smile that couldn’t be helped when Matty dropped himself down beside him, though he took the offered joint with no fuss.

“Can just picture the utter chaos it’d cause.” Ross choked out, sighing happily as he kicked his legs out before him, grinning at the very thought.

“I’m alright, thanks.” George felt the need to mention as he wrapped an arm around Birdie’s waist, smiling when the girl melted into him, then let up on the string of the kite when her fingers asked for it.

It’d been her idea of course, the kites. Got three of them whilst they’d been stuck in sound check one morning and brought them back to the venue alongside a shit ton of food. They’d only remembered them a couple days later when everyone had decided to spend a free night out on the beach, just them drinking and enjoying what little time they had when not performing.

“Ah, well you’re the one who’ll be missing out, man!” Matty replied with a lazy smirk and George could only laugh, swaying slightly now as he rested his chin atop the girl’s sun-warmed hair.

“Reckon I’ve already got my hands quite full here, mate.”

“And what’s that meant to mean?” Birdie immediately questioned with a raised brow as she turned in his grip to better face him, “‘Cause I’m pretty sure it’s the other way round, mate.”

“Oh yeah?” George humoured her, he hadn’t even meant anything by it, loved her more than he did the air itself in fact, but it was always fun rilling her up a bit. “How so?”

“Well, you’re proper clingy for one.”

George hissed through his teeth as though wounded, whilst the others oohed.

“Got you there.” Hann snickered and the others appeared to agree. Was he really that bad?

“And two, you don’t think through half the shit you say sometimes.”

George raised a brow at that.

“Yeah, don’t fucking act like it ain’t true!” She argued with the tiny beginnings of a smile, “The amount of times I’ve had to talk you out of a corner. The lot of yous in fact.”

“Oi, this is rinse G hour, not us!” Matty frowned and threw a thumbs down at them. “TOMATO. TOMATO.”

With a snort, Birdie spun back towards the curly haired freak, “Did you just shout tomato?”

“Yeah,” Matty shrugged, nicking back the joint off Adam that had dwindled down to all but a nub, “Had none to throw, did I?”

Birdie looked towards the sky. “God save me.”

And just like that, the whole band started belting out a Sex Pistols classic in unison.

“God save the queen! She’s not a human being! And there’s no future! And England’s dreamin’!”

“Fucking idiots.” She sighed, but the attention soon diverged when a rowdy crowd started making themselves known a little further down the beach.

They all shared a look, knowing it’d be best to head back to the bus before they were soon spotted and mobbed, all groaning unhappily as they forced themselves up onto their feet. George started on the clear up, seeing as though he was already standing, Birdie following just behind him whilst the other boys gathered up the beer and whatever else they’d procured.

Starting the trek back to the bus, stationed just past the marina, George allowed the others to walk on ahead a bit and fell into step with B, wrapping an arm around her shoulders whilst they slowly followed behind.

“You know, you looked proper fit running up and down that beach.”

He chuckled at the sudden remark and let her wind an arm around his waist to better allow her body to mould into his. “Yeah, kite an’ all?”

He felt, more than heard her laugh, before she hummed. The vibration of it rippled across the skin just beneath her head. “Defo. Though you could’ve done without all these extra layers.” She replied, then tugged at the hem of his tee to further drill home her point.

“It’s autumn, B, fucking chilly too. You really expect me to go full Baywatch on the beach just to appease you, ey?”

“‘Course.” She answered and he could tell she was smirking by the wave in her tone. “You look good, should show it off more often.”

He didn’t have much of a reply to offer that. Though it wasn’t because she’d caught him off guard, per say, it was just that he still wasn’t used to the way she so openly complimented him, on everything he did, to each and every way he looked. He’d never had that before. But she gave it to him freely, without cost, without expectation.

“Stop flirting with me.” Is what he decided on when he couldn’t find it in himself to dampen the grin he was now sporting. She peered up at him, wearing a sly smile of her own.

“Why, does it get you all flustered?” She teased, obviously pleased with herself as she poked his ribs. He pinched her hip softly in retaliation and laughed when she wrinkled her nose up at him.

“No, I’m just resisting the urge to bend you over on this beach.”

But hey, just because her comments had him flushing like a teenage boy, didn’t mean that he couldn’t give it back twice as bad. Plus, he loved seeing her melt, the way her cheeks would tint that pretty pink colour and how she’d start to chew on her bottom lip simply to keep from smiling.

“You’ll pay for that when we’re back on the bus.”

“Promise?” He snarked back with another chuckle, tugging her in closer.

She hummed once more, fingers playing with the hand that fell from her shoulder now. “Have to keep it down though, don’t need Matty interrupting.”

George’s lip curled, “Nah, on second thought, I’ll just wait for a venue loo stall.”

He laughed happily when she elbowed his side. “Charming.”

—

It was mayhem. Proper, honest to God mayhem. And he’d no idea how things had gotten so out of hand, who half the people traipsing through his living room even were, but he was fucking happy if nothing else. Over the moon, even.

“Geee!”

George glanced to his left just in time to spot a drunken Matty stumbling his way on over, the man clung to his shoulders the first chance he got and grinned up at him. He reeked of beer and wine.

“So fucking pleased for you, mate. Did I mention that already? Just, proper buzzing for you.” The drunkard rambled, eyes squinted from the extremity of his smile.

George chuckled and wrapped an arm around the shorter lad, happy to accommodate his need for comfort as well as keep him upright. Matty was touchy on a good day, but when you’d got a good few drinks in him he was like a sloth to a tree branch.

“You did mention it, mate.” George replied and withheld his amusement when Matty frowned, “But I appreciate it. Really.”

The frown then etched itself into a smile at that, all fond and goofy as Matty wiggled even closer into his embrace, “Good. Fucking deserve it. You and her both, yeah?”

With a harsh sallow, George felt that tightness he’d been feeling in his chest as of late rise. “Thanks, mate.” He croaked out and then coughed to clear his throat.

Deserve. It was a difficult thing for him to come to terms with, deeming what he did and didn’t deserve. A struggle he’d been dealing with his whole life, and which had only tripled in recent years. The flat was something he’d earned, something both he and Birdie had talked about since they’d both been teenagers. An escape. But they’d already gone and done that, hadn’t they? Left Wilmslow behind, left everyone who didn’t matter behind. Did it make them better than? Safer now? George’s mind was always at war with his head, but as of late, as the band only grew, and as life continued on, it only seemed to get louder.

“Fuckin’ sickkk too!”

Matty’s drunken nonsense pulled him back from his scattered thoughts then and George smiled down at his mate. The flat was sick, they’d spent weeks searching for the right one, him and B, travelled all over London looking, and then they’d found this one. It wasn’t huge, nothing too fancy or grand, but it was home. And neither one of them had ever had much of that.

“Ross, tell him! Tell him it’s sick!” Matty shouted again, having just spotted Ross making his way through the crowd. The giant looked well on his way to pissed too, but seemed to be holding on quite well. George reckoned it was simply down to his height.

“It’s sick!” Ross easily repeated, grinning and letting Matty grab onto him too before the idiot saw someone else he knew and started walking away, calling out promises to find them again soon. Ross leaned in to him then and murmured, “What’s sick?”

George breathed a chuckle through his nose and just shook his head, Ross knew better than to prod any further.

“Flat is looking good by the way, mate. Dunno who half of these fuckers are though.” The bassist commented, glancing out around the room.

George could only agree, “Fuck if I do. Pretty sure Grimmy invited a couple dozen of his mates with him.”

Ross started nodding rapidly at that, raising his beer as he did. “Yeah, spotted that Harry Styles in your loo.”

“In my loo?”

“In your loo.”

“The fuck were you doing in my bathroom with Harry Styles, Ross?” George questioned his mate, bewildered now, but even with the state of him, George knew that Ross could make friends with just about anyone. Send the man into a den full of hungry hyenas and he’d walk out with a pal for life.

Ross simply shrugged, “He was coming out, I was going in, he liked my hair.”

George lifted his eyebrows and pursed his lips, as though that made any sense, “Oh right, yeah.”

Ross hummed then perked up again, “Here she is. The lady of the hour!”

Following the direction of the man’s gaze, George grinned and felt the rest of the room dampen down to a droning droll around him as Birdie walked on over, bottle of wine in tucked under her arm.

“Wahey! Would you look at that!” Ross greeted her cheerfully, roping the girl into a warm hug, “You’ve finally come to see me!”

“I saw you-“ She paused and hiccuped with a half-arsed glare, “-ages ago, you big knobhead.”

“Oof.” Ross sounded, clasping a hand over his hurt heart, “Alright, sorry! Just missed you is all, only had like five minutes with you by the door.”

Birdie pouted then, and George knew she was truly sloshed by the real tears he saw well in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Ro! I haven’t had the chance. There’s all these people here annoying me.” She waved her hand around aimlessly above her head, squinting as she did, before she then huffed. She turned towards George then, all but stepping on his toes to get in his space, not that he minded, “Did you know One Direction are here? In my flat?”

“Our flat.” George corrected with a tiny grin whilst she necked another few gulps of wine.

“What I said, ain’t it?” Birdie retorted, glancing about the room again. “Can you believe Zayn fucking Malik tried to give me a joint too? And I said-“ She hiccuped again then and George reached out to steady her slight;y, “-I told him, right, I said but you’re just a baby! And he laughed at me, G. Laughed! I almost told him that that one song of theirs was shit, but I didn’t. Felt bad for even thinking it. You know?”

Ross was snickering away to the left of them, obviously pleased with the state of their best mate, whilst George attempted to cajole the wine bottle from out under her arm.

“He’s the fit one, ain’t he?”

“They’re all bloody fit, Ross!” Birdie argued with the idiot whilst George sighed, wondering where on Earth he’d found the pair of them, “Got to be ‘cause all them girls love ‘em. Like you lot, I ‘spose.”

That startled quite the laugh out of Ross and he swayed nearer, “You ‘spose? I’m fucking hurt here, are you saying we’re not fit, B?”

She rolled her eyes as though she was annoyed with him for not understanding what she’d meant and groaned, “No, you are fit. Just not as fit as them, yeah?”

George snorted but had finally managed to snag the bottle loose, she frowned and went to take it back, though he seemed to be able to distract her with his next question, “Not fit enough am I, Birdie? Why d’ya not ask one of them to move in with you then?”

The crease between her brow deepened at his ask and her hands came up to wrap themselves around his neck, “‘Cause they’re babies! I’ve just said this, G. Aren’t you listenin’?”

“Think they’re only a couple years younger.” Ross countered but he put his hands up in surrender when Birdie retorted with, “Exactly. Babies, Ross! Tiny little goblin children.”

“Right, yeah. ‘Course.”

George sighed again, “Think it’s time for you to get to bed, B.”

“What? No!” The girl squawked and stumbled in his hold as she reeled backwards, “I’m fine, completeeeely fine! So fine, in fact, that I bet I could do a backflip. Right here. Right now.”

“You can’t do a backflip even when sober, sweetheart.”

“I can too.” She pouted, retracting her arms from around his neck even though he’d yet to relinquish his hold on her. He laughed at her adamancy on the subject though and determined that he’d have to remind her once she’d sobered up.

“Sure, B.” He soothed, carding a gentle hand through her messy hair and tucking a loose strand behind her ear.

“You’re really pretty though, G. Like so pretty I feel the need to bark or something. Like a dog would at a squirrel.”

Ross actually lost his footing upon hearing that and spat what little dregs of drink that remained in his mouth out onto their brand new floor. “Bark??” He questioned her, and even though George was just as baffled as he was, he had the fucking common sense not to quiz a drunken twat. No matter how lovely they were.

“Was that a bit much?” Birdie asked him, smiling dopily now as she started to deflate, leaning more heavily into George’s side. Ross made a face and George cut his eyes at the lad. But the girl didn’t seem to notice nor care and simply carried on, “Do you reckon Cillian Murphy would let me marry him? He was well fit in that movie, weren’t he? That one with all them dreams and Tom Hardy… Fuck, I’d fuck Tom hardy. Wouldn’t you, G?”

George pressed his lips together to keep himself from outwardly reacting, doubting that she’d be all that susceptible to being laughed at, then said, “Yeah Birdie, be mad not to.”

He’d expected Ross to find amusement in her words too but only found the man to be nodding along solemnly, George tightened his mouth to hold back an ugly snort.

“I know!” Birdie went on, and George was practically holding her up now, even as she hiccuped again. “Oh, but he’s not as fit as you, G. Especially when you start doing that thing with your-”

A hand was all too quick to muffle her admission then, and from the dying light in Ross’s eyes George was beyond thankful that he hadn’t given the prick the opportunity to lord something so incriminating over their heads for the rest of their sorry lives.

“Alright, lovely, time for bed, yeah?”

“Oi, she weren’t done, were you, B? What were you gonna say just then, sweetheart?” Ross tried and barely even reacted to the swift kick George gave his leg whilst Birdie pried his hand away from her mouth.

“I don’t remember. But if I do, I’ll call for you! Yeah?”

Ross nodded in quick succession and George took the chance to start leading his girlfriend away from the rest of the party.

He sighed in utter relief once they reached the last door at the very end of the hallway and shuffled them on through. Their bedroom was halfway through the unpacking stage at the moment, just the bed and a dresser had been put together, so he had to be extremely careful when trying to manoeuvre their way past the many boxes that littered the floor.

“Alright there, love?” George questioned after he’d gone and propped the girl down on the edge of the mattress, already making the effort to start peeling off her socks as well as the dress she’d picked out earlier that evening. She looked stunning in it, even now with her hair in disarray and a small stain marring the collar.

She hummed softly in response.

“Tired?” He asked.

“Tired.”

“Thought so,” George chuckled quietly, pulling back the covers so that she could climb in, “Had fun though, yeah?”

“So much.” She answered him, rubbing her eyes sleepily which only removed the mascara she’d popped on whilst getting ready and darkened the underneaths of them. “You?”

“You were there, weren’t you? So ‘course I did.”

“Sap.” She laughed, reaching out to run a hand through his unruly hair. “Love you.”

He smiled and released an airy breath, “Love you. Too much, I reckon.”

She grinned up at him and shuffled further under the duvet, George decided to grab a makeup wipe and help clear up her face, knowing she’d be all stroppy come morning when her skin was horrible and the pillowcases were stained.

“Stay still, you weirdo.” He scolded with a light chuckle when she started to wiggle about beneath his careful hand, “I’m just tryna get this eye shit off for you.”

“Oh.” She whispered, sleep lining every inch of her voice, eyes still wound shut as she hunched her shoulders up towards her ears. “Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry, love.”

“But you’re so lovely to me, G. Always.” She sighed, smiling softly.

“What you deserve, ain’t it?” He replied in the same hushed tone, and there was that word again.

“Hm. I’m glad I have you. And our home too.”

George could only smile as he popped the stained wipe into the little bin nearby.

“Me too, Birdie.” He admitted, sliding in beside the girl to wrap her up in his arms. He could hardly care less about the party still going on outside. He’d locked the door on their way in and Hann had yet to leave, so he was sure that things would soon sort themselves out. Besides, Ross knew where they’d wandered off to if anyone asked so there was nothing more to worry about.

Nothing at all.

—

He could hardly take it.

It was quiet. Eerily so. But his head was too fucking loud. Way too fucking loud.

He’d been spiralling as of late. He knew it. Could read the signs as easily as he could the morning paper, but it’d been a long while since the last. Before he’d left home even.

But he was. Spiralling.

He was free-falling. Had lost his footing somewhere on the curb outside and had yet to land, yet to catch his breath.

But everything was good.

Apart from the not eating. The not sleeping.

Everything had been good.

He was good. Things were good. Things were fine.

Fine. Fine. Fine.

Why was he spiralling again?

He wanted to scream. Throw his fist through a wall and leave it at that. Could feel the agitation he constantly felt cloud him like a cloak.

His foot started tapping away then, and his fingers soon followed. He itched for a drink, something to ease it all, so he stood from where he’d been holed up by his desk all day and stormed through the flat into the living room.

There was a bar cart of sorts set up there, between the sofa and the tele. A wheeled antique cabinet Birdie had seen on one of their evening escapades and reckoned it would serve well when hosting the alcoholics they called friends.

George paused by it for a split second before he flipped the doors open, rattling the bottles inside as another round of thoughts plagued his mind. Friends. Did he have any that weren’t hers?

He grunted and dragged one of the newer JD bottles out, the glass clinking against every other in his fidgety haste. He kicked it closed behind him and wandered his way out onto the small balcony, one of the many things that had sold them on the place all those years ago, and unscrewed the lid.

It was late evening now. Seven, eight-ish or so, at least that’s what he reckoned. The streetlights were lit on the narrow street below and it was just beginning to spit, he raised the bottle up towards the Heavens, toasting the weather’s sardonic humour, before he necked a few gulps.

He hated it. Hated everything as of late. The way he looked. How things sounded. When people would smile at him. Joke. Talk.

He felt trapped. Knotted up with baggage, his head the stone weighing him down. He felt scared. Terrified, even. And he couldn’t for the life of him make sense of any of it.

He sounded like a fucking prick. He knew that. But he didn’t much care, because what was the point in caring anyway? When they’d yet to even start on the next album they’d promised. Yet to even write another song. It was too much. All he ever felt was pressure. Coming at him from all sides. When he was in the studio. When he was at home.

No one could leave him the fuck alone.

“George?”

A voice called out distantly, he was quick to down another shot of the murky liquid and squeeze his eyes tightly shut to simply give himself a second of reprieve, before he stepped back through the balcony doors and into the warmth of the flat.

He grunted in reply after he’d tucked the bottle up onto a high shelf and switched on the tele, if only to make it seem like he hadn’t been stewing in his own head since he last seen her that morning.

“There you are, picked up takeaway on my way home. Figured you might not have eaten yet.” Birdie greeted as she waltzed through the living room, pecking his cheek before heading on over to the kitchen. He watched through the transom window as she placed a white carrier bag onto the counter then make a grab for the plates in one of the higher cabinets, coat already having been shucked off in the hallway and slippers on her feet. “You get much done today then?” She asked him, “Spoke with Matty on my lunch break, he’ll be in London again next week.”

George could only hum, eyes focused intently on the tele screen but not taking any of it in.

“You even watching that? Sound ain’t even turned on, you dafty.” She laughed from the other side of the wall. He heard her riffle through the drawers for something or other, but didn’t reply. “G, babe. You alright?”

“Fine.”

Fine. Fine. Fine.

He had to force himself to breath.

“Fine? Don’t sound it, love. What’s up?” She questioned further, having stopped what she was doing to wander back in.

He gritted his teeth. She only ever prodded. Poking and poking. More and more. Incessant. Never knew when to give the fuck up.

“I’m fine. Just said that, didn’t I?”

She paused, surprised by the bite behind his words. He swallowed heavily, the bitter twang of whiskey still stained his tongue, his teeth.

“Don’t have to be like that, G. Was just asking.” Was what she replied with after a long and silent minute had passed.

George could only scoff, throwing the tv remote he still clung to somewhere onto he sofa behind him. “Yeah, well don’t. I’ve said I’m fine. So leave it, will you?”

She made this face, the same one she always did when she was hurt, but not anything teary or sad, just angered. “This what I’ve got to look forward to each time I come home, then? You and these foul fucking moods you work yourself into. What, all ‘cause tours stopped and the album’s not coming along the way you hoped? Well, boo-fucking-hoo, George. That’s life. Not everything’s perfect. And you don’t get to sit there and take it all out on me, day in and day-fucking-out.”

“Just fuck off, Birdie. I don’t need your shit on top of everything else.” George snipped back and wasn’t fully prepared for the way she shot towards him, snatching up the tele remote to switch the whole thing off just so he’d look at her.

“Don’t call me that when you’re being the prick. I haven’t done a thing wrong, only asked after you.”

George rolled his eyes, already tired of it all. “Leave it out.”

He then huffed and went to grab the set of silver keys that had been left on the console.

She threw her hands up in the air, shoulders hunching. “What the fuck, G? Where’re you going now? You can’t just leave like this.”

“The fuck I can’t.” He snorted unkindly, shaking his head as he shoved the keys into his pocket and made his way back through the house to get to his studio.

“George.” He heard her call after him, but not too far behind. “At least tell me where you’re going so I know you’ll be safe. You’ve been drinking again so you can’t fucking drive. Call a cab or something, head to Hann’s.”

His fists were at his temple then, drilling themselves a hole there, if only to subside some of the torment he felt his mind swimming in. She was at the door a second later, looking lost and hurt, sad now, not angry.

“G, please.”

He didn’t know why but he just laughed a little to himself after having heard her plea, hands falling aimlessly to his sides as he shook his head once more. “I can’t fucking do this anymore.” He heard himself say.

She sighed, this heavy thing that weighed her down before it expanded out into the rest of the room, almost as if it wanted to suffocate not just her but him too. “Can’t do what?”

“This!” He said harshly, hardly even sparing her a glance as he begun to pack away his laptop, his mixing shit, and whatever else cluttered the desk. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“What’s that meant to mean?”

“I just can’t keep fucking pretending! Can’t-” He faltered and faffed his hand about in midair before throwing it downwards to shove a charger into a case, “Can’t carry on like I’m fine. Like everything’s fucking fine, all the fucking time. Like it’ll all work out. Like this is where I’m meant to be.”

A long stretch dragged out between them and all that could be heard was the traffic of the inner city from just outside their flat. He used to love it, but despised it in that second.

“I don’t… I don’t know what you want me to do, George. What you need to make things better.”

He was shaking now, trembling even. Noticed it as his hand faltered when going to pick up the hard-drive sat behind a frame she’d gifted him for his twentieth birthday, one that had sat proudly on his desk ever since he’d unwrapped it.

“I’m gonna go to LA for a bit.” He heard himself murmur whilst he dragged his gaze away from the smiling duo behind the glass. “Stay with Matty, work on the album, explore some of the options out there.”

“For how long?”

Her voice had never seemed so small.

“I don’t know.” He returned and forced himself to continue packing up, tucking his phone into his back pocket and breathing as much as his hollow lungs would allow. “Just, I don’t know, alright. Don’t wait for me, yeah? I’ll figure it out.”

A surprised albeit wet scoff bypassed her mouth then, “What’s that meant to mean? Are you ending things? Is that what this is?”

He squeezed his eyes shut again, if only to appease the swirling storm going on inside his head. His chest ached with the very motion and he fought not to spare her another look as he turned around to head down the hallway.

“George! You can’t just say shit like that and leave.” She shouted, though there were tears in her voice. “If you’re ending things with me, at least have the balls to tell me straight.”

“I don’t fucking know what I’m doing! Alright?” He shouted back at her, the pounding in his head, the whispers, growing in tenfold as he spun around on his heel to stare back the only girl he’d ever loved. “I feel trapped! And I fucking hate it! I don’t want to leave but what else is there? Stay here and drive myself fucking insane?”

She appeared to fold in on herself then, just looked back at him with eyes of dying wildfire and he had to live with the knowledge that he’d been the one to snuff them out.

“We were happy. And I love you. Isn’t that enough?”

The anger was long gone now, replaced only by a hot and heavy pit of grief. “But what if I’m not in love with you anymore?”

George watched her break into pieces, right there on the hallway floor before his very eyes. And he couldn’t even reach out to hold her together, to take back the cruel words.

“I love you.” He croaked, “But-”

“You’re just not sure if you’re in love with me.” She finished for him, wet tears hanging from her chin and drowning out what little flames she’d had left behind her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

It was all he could think to say.

“Sorry.” She mimicked, “Why? Why now?”

He swallowed, but there was a rock stuck there at the very top of his windpipe. He couldn’t get the right words out. Felt as though all his organs were failing.

She shook beneath his hands and it was that reaction that had him realising that he’d crossed the floor to meet her. He was crying too he found, because when he stared into her eyes she was all blurred and disfigured.

She clung to the front of his t-shirt in that next second and he wound his hands around her wrists, not pulling them away, just holding.

“Please.”

And everything inside him shattered with that one word.

Splintered his entire being, in truth, and sent whatever was left of him ricocheting outwards. She’d gotten caught in the crossfire it seemed and he could only lean in a little closer to press his lips to her forehead whilst she sobbed all she had left to give into his shoulder.

—

Her head was rested against his arm and George did his very best not to move a single inch, even with the turbulence of the plane shaking them this way and that, in hopes not to wake her.

The doctor had given her the okay to fly and although the lot of them had been all too happy spending a couple of weeks hiding away in sunny Spain, working on the album and recovering, it was nice to finally be headed home.

The only thing that had him on edge though, was the life waiting there for them. What would happen once the plane finally landed and they were back on familiar ground? He questioned how long it would take for her to realise the massive mistake she’d made. If she would end things the same way he had.

Probably not, she was a lot of things but cruel had never been a word he’d use to describe her.

He glanced downwards then, towards her. She’d taken the window seat, of course, but thankfully he’d been left with an empty seat on the other side of him. The rest of the boys were stuck a little further up, Ross and Matty conked the fuck out, whilst Hann rewatched one of the many Lord of the Ring films.

She looked peaceful whenever she slept and it always seemed to settle some anxious stirring deep within him when he saw her like that. Reckoned it was only because he could be certain that she was fine, that nothing could harm her with him sat this close. Or at least that’s what he used to think. Couldn’t really claim that now though after he’d been the one to tear her to pieces.

George gripped the hand he held a little tighter with that thought, but not enough to wake her.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent into London. The local time is 3:36. Please turn off all electronic devices and stow them away until we have arrived at the gate. For your safety and the safety of those around you, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened and keep the aisles clear until we are parked at the gate. Thank you for flying with us, we hope you have enjoyed your flight.’

He drew in a nervous breath at the overhead announcement, but gathered himself enough to then shift in his seat slightly. He knew that if he didn’t wake her now he’d only drag it out, hold out hope that they’d soon fly through a strange portal and into a whole other world instead of landing in Heathrow like planned.

“Hey, B.” George called softly, jostling the girl sat beside him ever so gently. She sniffed and then took a deep breath in before stretching herself outwards, “B, love. Wake up, we’re landing soon.”

“Hm?” She questioned sleepily, and George could only chuckle as she forced her head further into the darkness his shoulder had to offer.

“About to land, babe.” He repeated again, stroking the back of her head as she continued to rouse herself, “Reckon those pills worked a treat, you passed out twenty minutes in.”

“Praise modern medicine.” Is the reply Birdie gave him and he snorted in return, burying the sound in the top of her head.

“Feeling alright?”

She hummed into the muscle of his chest before pulling away to blink sleepily up at him. “Yeah, neck doesn’t even ache that much.”

“Reckon that’s ‘cause you used me as a pillow.”

With a wrinkle of her nose, the girl then smiled, “I’ll be sure to return the gesture in the cab back then.”

George’s thoughts seemed to still at that and the anxiety he’d been shoving way deep down rose up like the City of Atlantis thought to if Armageddon ever did occur. It must’ve shown on his face too, because Birdie was frowning the next time he glanced over at her.

“What’s up?” She asked him, voice still full of sleep, eyes still bleary.

He opened his mouth to wave her worries away, but found he couldn’t.

“G?” She prodded with a small but beautiful smile. “Go on, you can tell me.”

“I know.” He murmured, but still felt conflicted as his gaze dragged between her own. “I’m just. I-” He lost himself in his head again, each breath growing harsher.

“Me too.” He heard her admit.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She chuckled, smiling again but this time she took his hand in hers. George let it ground him. “It’ll be strange, but we’re together, yeah? Everything will work out.”

He was stuck there, frozen in place, thousands of miles up in the sky, and honest to God gone on this girl. How he’d managed to find her in the first place, he didn’t know, but to have lost her and then won her back also? Well, it gave him the answer to a question he’d been asking for years.

What did he deserve?

What did anyone deserve, really?

He didn’t truly know, but happiness felt like a pretty fair answer.

“I love you, you know that?”

She laughed at him, not unkindly, and he felt her squeeze his hand. “I do. And you’ll be pleased to know it’s very much reciprocated.”

George rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips, “Oh, lovely that. Thanks.”

Birdie grinned as she chuckled, pulling him in close to gift him a quick kiss.

“Love you too, you ginormous sap!”

He could only laugh in retort, shaking his head before he dragged her back in for something a little more substantial.

George felt, more than saw, the grin he was sure matched his and found that he didn’t ever want to pull away again.

Epilogue>

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loumands · 2 years

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After the finale i’ve seen a lot of posts both here and on twitter and reddit suggesting that we can’t trust anything we saw actually happened, and/or Armand brainwashed Louis and implanted and removed memories, and that Lestat was nothing like he was shown and nothing in this season was real. I really don’t think that’s what’s happening and how we’re meant to interpret the show for various reasons:

1) It would be bad writing. Like it would be textbook bad writing. ‘She woke up and it was all just a dream’ is often mocked and used as an example of what you should never do for a reason. Pulling the rug and saying what you earlier wrote never happened almost never works. It takes away your audience’s emotional investment, removes good scenes, creates incoherence and aimlessness in your narrative and basically renders your story meaningless. With Louis we know he’s an unreliable narrator and we’ve seen how that manifests: he emphasizes things that support the narrative he wants to convey and omits things that challenge that narrative, he wants to protect Claudia and himself, he’s uncomfortable talking about his love for Lestat, he’s a master of hypocrisy and self-deception, and trauma and the passage of time have influenced his memories. But i don’t really get an impression that he’s untrustworthy in that sense that he literally actively lies or his memories are literally false. Lestat’s version of the events will probably be rather different but that doesn’t mean neither of them is ‘wrong’. I believe that most of the events in this season need to be true so that emotional and narrative integrity is maintained. I think this show’s writers are too good to erase their own story for a twist.

2) I know that some fans dislike the decision to make Lestat more blatantly abusive and are hoping that Louis or Armand is trying make him seem worse than he was, but that doesn’t make sense to me when you consider how the abuse is portrayed in the show. You can disagree with Lestat’s characterization but the way domestic abuse itself is depicted is very careful, consistent, accurate and realistic. Lestat’s abusiveness is not some extraneous detail you can remove by cutting a couple of scenes; it’s an inherent part of his character and the whole story from the beginning. I would go as far as saying abuse if one of the most important parts of this story. If you somehow take it out it becomes a completely different relationship and different show. Again we come back to the point where it would mean undermining the whole narrative. I also think that since the writers have been portraying this subject so well they know better than to insinuate that abuse victims are lying or imagining things. The DV scene in 1.05 has been endlessly analyzed and i do think we’re going to revisit it later from a different POV because it’s edited in the way that implies that there’s more to it. But i really don’t think they’re going to pull ‘none of this ever happened!’ twist with that or any other scene depicting abuse. That would be just cheap and offensive. I think we will in later season see things from Lestat’s perspective that make him more sympathetic (for example revelation that he really loved Claudia like in the books is something i’m almost certain we’ll see) but i don’t see them erasing something that has been so central for Lestat’s characterization.

3) Portraying Louis as some kidnapped brainwashed slave for Armand is at odds with his character and the themes of the show and would also, again, be bad writing because passive characters with no agency are boring, and relationships based on pure mind control are boring as well. Louis at times comes across passive because of his depression and exhaustion caused by trauma and abuse but he’s never been without agency. One of the most compelling and realistic parts of the show’s depiction of abuse is that Louis, like many victims, seeks and stays in toxic situations and relationships by his own volition and ends up repeating the same patterns. Lestat doesn’t coerce him into anything in the literal sense. Louis chooses to get together with him, to stay with him year after year even though they’re unhappy, and to take him back after his assault. Louis is always the one literally and metaphorically locking them in his coffin. I think whatever Louis and Armand’s relationship is like it’s in some ways similar to his relationship with Lestat. I think if Armand is using his powers on Louis it’s relatively minor rather than total brainwashing and quite possibly he’s even doing it by Louis’ own request. I feel that Louis could leave that Dubai coffin house whenever he wanted and Armand or no one else would physically prevent him. But because of how his own mind works he chooses not to. He and Armand are each other’s prisoners in some way and i think that’s much more interesting than Armand just keeping him under psychic mind control.

#is this any coherent at all i'm so tired i should be sleeping #iwtv #interview with the vampire #mal watches iwtv #txt

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littlesugarwords · 11 months

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Hello! May I request a Ericson group x reader, not any of the younger kids, with a partner who doesn't know how to give like affection? Like it's something they're not used to, maybe jumping when touched or feeling bad bc they can't give them the affection the character deserves But one day, reader is sorta tired and works up the courage to actually sit with their partner, and just sorta put their head in their lap ig and fall asleep all happy v they finally did it? Thank you! Love your writing!

this is part 2 to this post here!

Marlon: Marlon was sitting in the library, flipping through the old, withered comic books Willy had found in storage - in the confiscated locker, of course - with Y/N at his side. Y/N was attempting to flip through their own book, but their mind kept wandering. Their eyes kept wandering tot Marlon’s shoulder. Would it alarm him if they just decided to place their head there? Would he hate it? Y/N didn’t want to risk the potential embarrassment. But, deep down, they knew it was the only way to get accustomed to being affectionate. Marlon deserved that. Finally, Y/N closed their eyes, took a deep breath, and leaned over, cautiously resting their head on Marlon’s shoulder. Marlon froze, eyes darting dead ahead, completely past his book. Not wanting to make a big deal - because he didn’t want to freak Y/N out - he simply leaned to his side and rested his cheek against the top of their head and flipped to the next page. Y/N’s face was on fire but did it. Even if Marlon didn’t say it, he was beyond proud of them.

Louis: Louis was stumbling his way through a new song on the piano, mindlessly scribbling notes down on a scrap piece of paper, then returning to playing random keys until he found the one that founded the bets. Y/N slowly entered the room. Even if they had made noise, Luis seldom heard when he was being creative. He was in his own little world. Gradually, Y/N drew closer and sat beside him. He jumped at first, shocked to be pulled out of his trance, but smiled the instant he recognized who it was. “Y/N! I’m so glad you’re here.” He turned to his sheet, sitting it upright for him to look at the notes. “UI want you to tell me what you think about this so far.” Just as Louis placed his hands on the proper keys and began, Y/N leaned over and rested their head on his shoulder, closing their eyes, listening to him play. Louis flubbed a note, stunned at the sweet gesture. “Keep playing.” Y/N said softly. Stunned, and cheeks flaming from being shown such kind affection, Louis smiled to himself and did just that, adoring every moment he got to spend with Y/N being close to him.

Violet: Violet smiled Y/N’s way as they wandered up to her. “You came to visit me in my favourite spot,” Violet said, grinning from ear to ear. It always meant so much to know how well they knew her. Even more so, it meant a lot to know they wanted to share in the things that she loved. “I always love it when you come up here to sit with me,” Violet said. She was fully laying down, hands tucked behind her head. As she was in the middle of speaking, Y/N laid down at her side and rolled into her chest, resting their head there. Violet could feel how tense Y/N was as they did so, and placed a single hand on their shoulder. “Thank you.” She said softly. It was all Y/N needed to hear. They were seen. They were understood.

Mitch: Mitch smiled as he watched Y/N approach. He was almost done with his watching shift and was waiting by the gates for Louis to arrive and trade off with him. The sun had just set, signaling the end of his shift and the start of free time with his sweet someone. “Hey,” he said softly as they approached. Y/N didn’t say anything. Their hands were balled up and their expression was strict. He suddenly frowned. “Are you--” Without warning, Y/N leaned forward, held one of his hands in theirs, and placed their lips against his for a brief, tender kiss. As they packed away, Y/N saw how flushed and stunned Mitch was, despite the kiss being nothing more than a peck. “Uh,” he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. He hadn’t realized he’d dropped his bow and arrow during the kiss. “Wow, uh,” he fumbled, “are you busy right now?” It sounded beyond lame, but it was the only thing he could think to say.

Aasim: Aasim was mumbling to himself as he sketched on some scrap paper Tenn had given him. He was absentmindedly scribbling building ideas, doodles, and writings, scattering as much of the page as possible. After all, they didn’t want to run the risk of wasting anything. Y/N spotted him and smiled to themselves, their heart racing in their chest. They began to approach and, hearing them, Aasim turned around. He beamed. “Hi!” he said excitedly. He worried maybe he sounded too excited, but who cared. They were together. What was wrong with that? “I was about to ask if you--” He was stopped by Y/N setting their hands on his shoulders, their chin resting on the top of his head: a good way to view what he was sketching while still being able to talk to him and be close to him. Y/N briefly closed their eyes, taking a deep breath in to calm themselves. “What are you making? Tell me about it.” Aasim knew how big this was for YN, but didn't want to dwell on it. “U-Uh,” he stumbled, “I’m glad you asked,” he began mindlessly babbling about what he was working on, but couldn’t really focus. Not with such a huge moment for the two of them happening in real-time.

Ruby: Ruby was humming to herself, whittling a stick absentmindedly by the fire. Omar had just left for the night - the last Ericson kid with her - so she sat by herself, absentmindedly working on her hobby as the fire died down. Despite having already dismissed themselves for bed, Y/N approached behind her, taking a seat beside her on the log. She jumped at first, then smiled, noticing who it was. “Hey you,” she said sweetly. Every nickname Ruby called them always felt sweet. “I thought you went to,” just as she set her stick down and turned to face them, her forehead was met with a sweet kiss from a flustered - and very red - Y/N. She blinked, then burst into a bright grin. “Honey!” She squealed, throwing her arms out and wrapping them around her partner. “That was so sweet of you!” Y/N tensed, again, attempting to get used to the affection. Suddenly, Ruby remembered and snapped away. “AGH I’m so sorry!” She began to ramble off apologies and all Y/N could do is smile. That’s how they knew Ruby was the one for them.

Omar: Omar was humming to himself, mixing food for the group for dinner. His favourite time of day was whenever he got to hang out in the kitchen, deciding what he could make with whatever they had. He sometimes described it to Y/N as a puzzle: piecing together what little they had to make the most. As he was stirring, adding whatever herbs and spices they had started growing in their garden, Y/N watched from the stool in the corner. Omar would occasionally chatter with them, not expecting anything back in response. Cautiously, Y/N stood. Hearing the chair slide, Omar turned. “Want some water?” Without waiting for an answer, he reached for a clean glass and began pouring some out of their pre-made reserve. But that wasn’t what Y/N wanted. They wandered forward beside him, sliding their hand into his free one. Omar froze, setting the glass off to the side as he turned to face them. Y/N was avoiding eye contact. Omar’s cheeks burst with colour. “Wow,” he said softly, more so to himself than anything. What a big step they took. And they took it just for him.

Brody: Brody was relaxing on the front steps of the school, watching the stars sparkle in the sky. That was the one thing that the apocalypse had, ironically, made better: the night sky. No light pollution, no highway noises, just peace and beauty. Speaking of which, Brody turned around and smiled as Y/N approached, sitting down beside her. “Hi,'' Brody said softly, as though not wanting to disrupt how pretty the sky looked or scare it away. Before Y/N fully eased into their seat, they leaned in and pressed a quick, sweet kiss to Brody’s cheek. Brody froze, cheeks exploding in colour, and slowly turned to face Y/N. “Wow,” she managed to squeak out through her embarrassment. “That was really nice.” it sounded stupid, but it was all she could think to say.

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 💌☕️♡

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icystorm76 · 1 year

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SPOILERS FOR INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.

I have three theories about the ending and what it could mean.

1. Everything has been given to us completely straight. Louis simply ether has a bad memory or intentionally blocked certain events in his mind. I don’t think this is likely because he gets flashes of a different version and the pages are intentionally torn out of Claudia’s diary.

2. Armand is intentionally making him forget or change events in his mind. This one makes the most sense because he’s shown to be quite powerful and it would makes sense for him to be making Louis hate Lestat more because he doesn’t want Louis to leave him.

3. Louis is lying intentionally. It could be because he doesn’t want Daniel to know, or because he doesn’t want Armand to know. This is my favorite theory personally because is love Louis/Lestat and Louis lying to protect him from Armand. It’s probably not right but I love it to much.

#interview with the vampire #iwtv lestat #iwtv spoilers #iwtv #iwtv louis #iwtv armand

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armandjolras · 10 months

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Dumping an extremely long writeup of my thoughts about the IWTV series here. In case anyone does read it, tw for domestic abuse and rape, because it seems that’s the story we got 💀

The show overall

I absolutely loved the inclusive representation and how naturally the story supported the changes. I’ve distanced myself a bit from the books and film because I’m increasingly uncomfortable with their problematic elements, so it was great to experience the story without those. I loved how gay it was, at last!!! The use of Covid in the new framing story feels very 2021 lol but I think it’s an interesting idea, and the Dubai flat is soooo Armand (/neg).

That being said, if I had to look at the show objectively I would say it’s not very good. I don’t know enough about tv production to say what the issue was, but both the writing and direction felt awkward to me. The climax was too drawn out, and ending the show by revealing Armand’s identity will surely be underwhelming to anyone who hasn’t read the book or seen the film. I really disliked how desaturated and brownish the colour palette was, and I don’t think the mood matched the books. It wasn’t very gothic, but instead had a sort of sterility that reminded me of what I’ve seen of Hannibal. And finally, a lot of things seemed very silly to me. The way they hissed at each other was straight out of What We Do In The Shadows, and wasn’t that mind-reading scene, where everyone is thinking about food/sex, from Twilight??

Maybe this is overly pessimistic, but I have a feeling the show won’t be renewed for series 3. I really would love a decent adaptation of books 2 and 3, but maybe it is for the best, as the books get increasingly sillier, and because of the way Lestat was characterised so far💀

The characters

Jacob is so perfect as Louis. It’s refreshing to see Louis as he originally was, before he was flanderised in later books, and while I don’t think Brad Pitt is as bad as most people do, Jacob fits the character exactly and brings so much energy to the role.

I’m sooo obsessed with Bailey as Claudia, she was so much fun! I was never a huge Claudia fan before, but I love how her personality was portrayed in this, and how prominent of a role she was given, I cared about her so much. And Bailey masters that very creepy wide-eyed stare. I’m glad we got an adult actress as Claudia because of the intensity of the story (even though I did have to suspend my disbelief a bit when the show focused on how Claudia will look so young and 14 forever when she could easily pass as a grown up)

However, I HATED the rape plot. It served little purpose and could be replaced with some other plot point, and it’s such an upsetting, lazy trope to have a female character raped (especially a girl of colour). And I was excited to have an early fang gang cameo before that happened 😭

I’m a bit meh on Eric and how Daniel is written in general. I just think he’s too much of an asshole, and Eric delivers his lines in such a mean way. There’s definitely shades of Daniel’s personality there, and I COULD see Daniel growing up to be like that — I just think he’s a good guy, nicer than we’re shown here. And I really didn’t like the brief appearance of young Daniel, I don’t think he had the right energy at all.

And the new framing story means almost certainly no devil’s minion, but I doubt the show will make it that far anyway.

He was barely in it but I’m already obsessed with Assad’s Armand, his demeanor is perfect, and he really looks like an Armand! So excited to see more of him in series 2.

The minor characters were good, I especially liked having a bit of Louis sister’s arc in there!

I saved Lestat for last because I have a lot to say 💀. I thought Sam did a great job all things considered, so I don’t blame him, just the writing. Even before episode 5 i didn’t love this depiction of the character. There were some things I did like — he was fun, annoying, and impetuous, as Lestat should be. But I didn’t get the sense that he loved humanity, which is one of Lestat’s most important characteristics. Of course that wasn’t in book 1, but the framing story is supposed to be a revision of the original interview anyway. He enjoyed partying with people, but never seemed to care about any mortals. They could have given screentime to that, instead of the abuse. Or maybe they decided to base his characterisation on later series Lestat who does seem to abuse the people he loves /j

Initially, I didn’t know why they made him so abusive. From my perspective, the hard part of adapting IWTV is balancing Lestat’s abusiveness in that book with who he becomes in later books, blending the character attributes, so the audience will like him later on. So WHY would they make him MORE abusive??

I do wonder if it’s because they made Louis/Lestat an explicit romance. It’s a lot harder to believe that Louis would be complicit in Lestat’s death when he’s happily in love with him than when it was Brad Pitt acting numb and miserable. I wonder if they added this graphic and violent abuse to convince the audience, as well as Louis and Claudia, to hate Lestat in the span of one episode. And if so, that’s so lazy! They could have focused more on Lestat’s psychological control, convincing the others that they’re helpless without him, or Louis’s self-loathing about being a vampire and his resentment of Lestat.

And to be honest, while the beating scene was awful, I was more upset by the traincar scene with Claudia. I just watched The Shining last weekend and Lestat bursting into the train with the severed head of the conductor was so Jack Torrence. And if I didn’t misunderstand, i think he threatened to rape Claudia, and told her that if she let that happen, it would upset Louis. Please correct me if I’m wrong! Because that is horrendous.

i don’t think there’s any coming back from this for the character. In the series, the characters are willing to forgive anything over time because they’re all immortal, but I can’t see the audience forgiving. So if they do make it past series 2, it will be interesting to see what they do. (And maybe it’s for the best if not, not only because of Lestat, but also because I’d rather not see any screen time dedicated to Marius lol)

#iwtv amc spoilers #iwtv amc #abuse tw #domestic abuse tw #rape tw

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nalyra-dreaming · 1 year

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Have to admit I only listen to the podcast when the cast are interviewed on it, so I have no idea what their ‘expert’ had to say about armand as a romantic partner at the end of ep 7. Was it really bad and incorrect? Do people really think the the show is about Louis getting with a better guy who treats him right and all that? Did they confuse rashid for armand? Because even then I have to say if I had no knowledge of the books and only the show then I would already assume they had a really weird power dynamic relationship just straight off the bat with how they were shown to interact both before and after the armand reveal. Like the intent wasn’t for everyone to go ‘awwww so sweet’ after Louis said the love of my life line and then the stare into camera with armand looking dead behind the eyes hahaha

Also I know Louis and armand were roleplaying (so to speak) during the season 1 interview but Louis was a real passive aggressive bastard to him throughout lol, like he clearly didn’t care about pissing him off and seemed to enjoy how uncomfortable it made armand and then the big shift after the reveal, armand won’t be as meek next season. Also, it was so funny during the joint Sam/Jacob interview in the podcast when Naomi made the innocent comment how she didn’t believe lestat would have been willing to play servant to Louis and Sam jumped in quite defensively of lestat saying that that didn’t indicate anything about how much he loved Louis haha, Naomi is a really funny host, so nobody should give her any hate, and I’m will be open as the next season progresses and she is great way to judge how show only people are reacting.

I believe it was something along the lines of "he'll be so much better for Louis"... I had a bit of a reaction to that, and others apparently, too :)))

Obviously, some of the fans missed some of the... errr... subtext in the show, if the different asks, Twitter, etc are any indication.

And I agree, Armand will be very different next season, and I for one am looking forward to it, a LOT.

And... indeed, her podcast is probably a very good gauge for people's reactions :) - and as such it could be immensely interesting to listen to it with that in mind (for us coming from the books I mean), because now we know the intention of it is a different one... we can analyze the impact and said intention a bit, can't we :)))

I for one am looking forward to that!

(Like the cloud gift comment and then what became of it in the show^^ - this time we'll all... go at that differently I bet^^)

#Anonymous #asks #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #iwtv podcast #ask nalyra

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undeadorion-archive · 4 months

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The Queen of the Damned is a lesson in how NOT to write a book. Holy shit. I now know why the first book anyone really talks about.

Book 1 of the Vampire Chronicles (Interview with the Vampire) was well executed. It has several solid conflicts that carry through, decent themes, a somewhat morally gray but relatable main character, and a bit of the shock at the end. 9/10, would read again.

Book 2 (The Vampire Lestat) is...not even half as good. You can chalk it up to it being written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. There no real core conflict other than Lestat's flakey sense of morality that only comes up sometimes. Problems get resolved within pages of arriving. Even escaping from other vampires that wanted to kill Lestat (which he'd intentionally made himself a target for) was resolved as they were all killed by some "mysterious" force. 4/10, not worth revisting.

Then there's book 3. Oh boy.

The first half was decent if a bit tedious at times. It was more a collection of short stories of other characters experiencing the impact of Lestat's concert, often with telling their whole backstory first. Sometimes it was to introduce a character who would be involved later or was previously known. Like telling the fate of the guy who interviewed Louis. Then with how much detail was given to Jesse's story of how she came to be involved with this you'd think she would have had a bigger role in the final moments. But no.

On top of all the "wow Lestat's so cool" stuff, there was an added layer of all the vampires (except Lestat) experiencing weird dreams. Loosely telling the tale of two red haired twins from about 4000BC in the middle east who ate the bodies of their dead. Then were tortured and wandered through the desert and no connection to vampires was ever shown in the dreams.

The second half was mostly the telling of the story in detail of how Akasha came to be the first vampire. And explaining who the twins were. Sprinkled in were scenes between Lestat and Akasha as they slaughtered impoverished cities.

This story spanned two separate nights, and was framed as "We must all know the details of what happened so we can find a way to defeat Akasha without killing ourselves" because since she was the first vampire, anything done to her would be felt by all.

All through out the story we were reminded of how the twins were going to eat the brain and heart of their dead mother but were denied. And were reminded that the twin who was lost was coming, through "visions" they all had of what she was seeing.

Mind you, while they were all sitting around listening to this story, Akasha was heading for them and they believed she would kill them. And she could kill with a thought, burning them alive.

Well, it turns out, vampires exist because some sort of invisible entity that they called a "spirit" had fused with Akasha's body and soul. Specifically its core was in her heart. And passing this spirit's essence (aka the blood) to others is what made vampires.

After spending hundreds of pages telling this story, nearly half the book, Akasha finally shows up. And all they do is talk. She sits at the table and argues politics with them all, and throws a childish fit because they won't see things her way. And they just beg her to give them time to show her how good humanity really is. Rather, three of them try to reason with her. Most everyone who was supposedly there barely said a word and I kept forgetting how many people were supposed to be there.

Then at the last second, a mud-slathered mad woman charges in, kills Akasha, and eats (or absorbs?!) her brain and heart. And it's over. In like 3 pages.

The problem is this part was told from Lestat's perspective, and he was fading in and out of consciousness as Akasha died, so he only saw bits and pieces. Like Akasha was thrown into the window, and the next sentence her head was rolling across the floor. No mention of how it was removed.

This wouldn't have been SO bad, except for the fact that he kept mentioning these weird flashes of visions he'd had, or dreams. Something about two red haired twins eating a heart and a brain that he didn't understand. As if the whole tale had only been from his perspective. Only we'd been told the story in excruciating detail. Okay, sure. But Lestat hadn't been there for it, right? Well, the whole book is meant to be written by Lestat based on things he pulled from the minds of other people, so he could include events he wasn't present for. And still it was written as if he would never know the meaning of those visions.

But the worst writing crime committed was he had to say it out loud. Essentially "The heart and the brain! That's what it means! Eat her heart and brain!" And he even says "But everyone already knew that's what it meant." And we only see the act of removing and then somehow consuming the two organs in the briefest of glimpses. It's the worst version of telling and not showing that I've ever experienced in a professionally published work.

But it gets worse.

With how much detail was given to Jesse's story, and how much was put into ensuring she was there for this all, she wasn't important to it one bit. In the aftermath, Lestat even said that Jesse was the only one who remained conscious enough to witness the full events of killing Akasha. And not a single fucking detail was filled in from this perspective. Either switch perspectives or include something like "What I learned later from Jesse's mind was..." and then explain what happened.

It was like there was a handful of chapters that Anne Rice wanted to tack on to the end of the last book, but it would have been too long. So she decided to stretch them into a whole novel. It's almost all filler. And what story is there isn't even well done. It had potential, but that was tossed out the window in favor of tidbits like Lestat looking at his dick in the mirror in between genocide sessions.

If you're going to have something epic happen in your story, like two ancient women going head-to-head and the one who uses mind powers is bested by the raw physical power of the other, actually fucking SHOW it. Explain what's happening. Don't just cut to "her head lay on the floor, the back of her skull shattered, as Mekare was handed the brain" or whatever the line was. The last book went into detail in a scene about Akasha briefly waking and busting out of the ground to crush a man to nothing more than a quivering pulp just by walking all over him. But for something 100x more epic we get "and then she was dead."

-4000/10, I'd burn it if it weren't a digital copy.

And then there's what HZZ told me about what comes later. Involving aliens and fucking Atlantis. But especially the origin of that spirit that went into Akasha.

#i read so much crap YA #the bar of my expectations is on the fucking ground #and still this managed to slide under it #wtf

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perseabethj · 3 years

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i don't really have an explanation (i.)

When Percy started his senior year in yet another school, he promised himself he would try his best to make sure nothing strange happened; sure, it wasn’t really up to him monster-wise, but he could at least try not to say anything strange to his new classmates or curse in ancient Greek. Besides, the last two years had been a mess and, with his kidnapping, it was not like he had much to say when he was told to introduce himself the first day of class -‘’hey, my name is Percy Jackson, my dad is a Greek god, and I was kidnapped last year and my memories were erased; oh, and I like blue food!’’. Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work.

Thus, Percy was known as the quiet and reserved kid in his school. This was a first for him; sure, he’d never had many friends, but he was always causing trouble. This time, however, he knew that Annabeth would kill him if, for any reason, he messed this school year up and he couldn’t go to New Rome University. He made friends -a first, excluding Grover and Tyson, who didn’t really count if you kept in mind that, well, they were his protector and his brother, and a satyr and a cyclops. He didn’t tell his friends much about him -his step-dad was an English teacher, he had been expelled from way too many schools, he had ADHD and dyslexia, he was very athletic, and he was going to try and join the swim team. He made sure to exclude everything that could be linked to his other life -he didn’t talk about his summer camp, his other friends, his huge dog, his father, or his girlfriend; Percy liked how both things didn’t go together, and he felt like it made everything easier. Whenever he talked, he sounded like a normal seventeen-year-old, and he was glad about that. He had had enough of monsters for a lifetime and, even if a hydra or a hellhound bothered him every other day, he could truly say that he could see a future for him and Annabeth that didn’t include them dying in the next five months. All in all, things were good.

When his school organized a homecoming football game, however, he did invite Annabeth; she was in a boarding school in the city, but it wasn’t that hard for her to sneak out with her New York Yankees cap, and he did want her there; it was a milestone for them. After all, Percy wasn’t supposed to reach senior year. They had agreed on meeting at the school; Percy had told Annabeth he’d meet her at the entrance once she texted him that she was close, since he was already at the bleachers with his friends. He wasn’t used to having a phone yet, however, which, in his opinion, gave him an excuse as to why he wasn’t checking his texts. Moreover, his ADHD tended to slow time down for him, so he was pretty sure that he still had thirty minutes before Annabeth was supposed to arrive.

‘’I swear, man, she was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,’’ his friend Matthew said, leaning over Kayla so he could see him.

‘’You say that about every girl you meet.’’

‘’I don’t say that about you,’’ Matthew told Kayla, who elbowed him in the ribs and, promptly, shut him up.

Percy couldn’t help but laugh at Louis’s mocking expressions behind Matthew. He’d only known these people for less than a month, but they had accepted him into their little club as soon as they’d met him and he was infinitely grateful. As Louis opened his mouth to, probably, laugh at Matthew over his ability to fall in love at first sight everyday, Matthew and Kayla stopped laughing when they looked at Percy. Percy tensed up, his hand moving to his pocket to make sure that Riptide was with him in case he needed to kill a monster, but, when a pair of arms linked themselves around his shoulders from behind, he tensed up for a whole different reason.

‘’I didn’t think I’d see you here, Jackson,’’ a female voice said playfully close to his ear.

Percy disentangled himself from her arms and turned around to stare Mary in the eye.

‘’An athlete at a football game. Who would have though, right?’’ he ironically said.

Mary rolled her eyes and rested her hand on his shoulder. Percy had to resist the urge to slap it away, but he didn’t want to cause a scene -he knew a lot about causing scenes and, with his luck, slapping her hand away would lead to a monster trying to kill him, and he didn’t want to be expelled before he could even take his first test. He didn’t know what he’d done to gain her attention -she was popular and decidedly pretty, and he was an outcast. He knew he wasn’t bad-looking -if Piper described him as a Greek god once more, he might die; Annabeth telling him that he looked exactly like his father also didn’t help, since the two times Poseidon had shown up in the past year while he was with Annabeth had always led to Percy wondering whether his girlfriend found his father attractive-, and he spent so much time swimming that one would have to be blind not to notice that he had a nice body. However, the whole school knew about his experience with being kicked out of school, since some teachers had made sure to remind him to behave during the first week of classes, and the swim team wasn’t regarded as highly as the football or the hockey team. All in all, he wasn’t a mess -unlike thirteen-year-old Percy-, but he was guarded and serious enough not to attract the attention of preppy girls. Mary, however, seemed to be obsessed with him from the day he got her phone out of the swimming pool after she dropped it while flirting with another guy in his team -‘’keep it wet, keep it wet’’, he’d had to remind himself-, and he regretted being a nice guy ever since then. Honestly, if his mom hadn’t raised him to be such a good kid, most of the problems in his life wouldn’t have happened.

‘’You could sit with us if you wanted,’’ Mary told him, signaling to her girl friends.

Percy knew the invitation only extended to him and not to his friends, who were quiet during the conversation. They had been at that school for three years, so they knew Mary and her gang, and Percy knew they sometimes wondered why he didn’t drop them for the popular kids. He also knew that he would rather face the Minotaur again than sit with the popular kids.

‘’I’m quite happy where I am, thanks,’’ he politely answered, trying to end the chat before he said anything rude.

‘’But you would have more fun with us, I’m sure,’’ Mary insisted, running her finger down his arm.

In moments like this, he almost missed being the young kid he was when he first arrived to camp, skinny and short and with a voice way too high for anyone to consider him a man.

‘’No, thanks,’’ he said again, using his other arm to take his phone out of his pocket, hoping Annabeth wouldn’t take much longer. ‘’Besides, I’m waiting-‘’

‘’Perseus Jackson!’’

‘’Man, I am going to need a massage after this’’, he though as he tensed again. He noticed his friends drive their attention away from Mary, who had also looked towards the origin of the voice with furrowed brows, her finger still on Percy’s arm. Before turning around, Percy quickly looked at the time on his phone, silently cursing in Greek as he saw the multiple texts and missed calls that he clearly hadn’t heard.

‘’Why is there a beautiful blonde goddess walking towards Percy, yelling his full name and looking like she wants to kill him?’’ Matthew quietly asked, forcing Percy to stifle a laugh.

He turned around slowly, half-expecting her to have a dagger at his neck. She was still far enough for him to be able to think of a few excuses, but he knew that wouldn’t work. Man, he had been offended the first time she’d called him Seaweed Brain, but she’d really hit the nail on the head.

‘’I can explain,’’ he said while she was still a few metres away.

‘’Explain, then,’’ she told him, now standing in full height before him. He was quite taller than her, but a standing Annabeth with folded arms and a stormy look in her eyes before a sitting Percy who knew he’d messed up was definitely scary.

‘’I…’’ he started. ‘’I didn’t think I’d get this far, honestly. I think this might be the first time you let me explain and I’m not ready for this responsibility.’’

He knew that was the right answer -her eyes were now shining with mirth and he could tell he was holding back a smile. She still had her arms crossed, but he figured she wasn’t going to kill him in front of so many people, so he tugged at them and forced her to sit next to him before he could regret it.

‘’I really thought it was earlier. You know how I am with the time, and I’m still not used to the phone.’’

She finally unfolded her arms and shook her head as she smiled softly, and Percy knew she wasn’t mad any longer.

‘’The fact that I have experience navigating labyrinths doesn’t mean that I want to navigate your high school, Seaweed Brain,’’ she told him.

‘’Completely understandable, Wise Girl.’’

He threw his arm around her shoulder, all his previous conversations forgotten, and he was about to ask her about her day when another voice interrupted him.

‘’Excuse me, Percy, but who is this?’’ Mary asked from behind him.

Annabeth turned around, a fake smile on her lips as she took in the brunette girl sitting behind her.

‘’His girlfriend,’’ Annabeth said. ‘’Nice to meet you.’’

She offered Mary her hand, though still wrapped around Percy’s arm, and Mary took it automatically, a shocked expression on her face. Her friends looked back between her and Annabeth, equally confused.

‘’His girlfriend?’’ Matthew whisper-yelled.

Both Louis and Kayla nudged him with their elbows, earning a laugh from Percy, which made Annabeth look at them with a raised eyebrow.

‘’Guys, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend,’’ Percy introduced. ‘’Beth, these are Kayla, Matthew and Louis.’’

‘’You’ve mentioned them,’’ Annabeth said, extending her hand and offering a real smile. ‘’It’s nice to meet you. Anybody who manages to put up with Percy deserves to be admired.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Percy whined.

His friends sat there, flabbergasted, but he didn’t really mind. Sure, he could have told them in advance, but he also didn’t think it was that important that he had a girlfriend; he was not the first guy in school to have one, and he definitely wouldn’t be the last.

He didn’t have time to talk any more before the game started, but he did manage to hear Matthew whispering to Kayla and Louis as the players made it to the field.

‘’So not only is Percy the hottest guy at school, but he’s also dating the hottest girl in New York? How is that fair?’’

Percy smiled softly and pressed Annabeth closer to him, enjoying her warmth and having her next to him. This was how things were supposed to be.

#percabeth #my writing #percy #annabeth #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth fanfiction #i don't really have an explanation

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pi-creates · 3 years

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If tfs had multiple endings (like something like clementine dies or even aj) what kind of endings do u think would be really cool to have? Personally dam now that I think about it an aj death ending is so dam sad but so interesting at the same time 🤧🤧

I'm with you, anon - as sad as more "bad endings" can be, it is more interesting to have those options be there and exploring the consequences fully. And this is the kinda thing I really like exploring - the alternate paths and how those things can play out if you just tweak the little things. So yeah, I hope you don't mind reading, I have a lot of thoughts on this one.

As for what kinda endings I would have liked to see, I'm a fan of having a diverging point in the last episode as you leave the cave after choosing if you trust AJ, and after James' fate is set as cooperative, pissed off with you, or dead.

You exit the cave and I want your level of friendliness with your saved companion to matter - you know how the game lets you BFF or romance the characters regardless of if you're an absolute dick to them? Yeah, well, I would prefer if at this point they only came to help you out if you were nice to them - if you were a dick, then even if you are their romantic partner they don't feel more obligated to help you over the other kids that got rescued. It’s not an act of cruelty on their part, but one of basic numbers - they have several friends to look out for right now.

In that situation you're a man down and Tenn is the one to mention the bridge - you get a scene more focussed on Tenn and AJ talking and get to hear AJ's attitude change towards Tenn based on whether you trusted him more or not. It could be AJ lecturing Tenn about survival stuff and how AJ wants to teach him, or it's them being more childish and maybe talking about Science Dog - just some fluff that makes us happy to see that AJ has a friend.

The bridge plays out mostly the same, and Clem cannot avoid her leg being damaged in the fight if it's just her and Tenn on that side of the bridge - I bring this up because I would like there to be a scenario where Clem can save her leg.

In theory, I would like it if a Clem who has earned cooperation from all of her companions and James has the ability to have another person on her side. James coming up on the bridge in the herd Minnie brings? Him having a character arc where if you pushed that sometimes the peaceful option might just lead to more death? Can you just imagine for a second that he sneaks up on Minnie as she's about to swing that axe down?

So let's say you have 4 theoretical combos happening with how many characters you have on the bridge:

Clem + AJ + Tenn = Clem is injured and Tenn's fate is determined by AJ being able to convince him to let his sister go (through mutual trust between them) or if AJ fails Tenn follows Clem's lead and also feels like AJ is too young to make decisions and therefore trusts his sister's manipulation more.

Clem + AJ + Tenn + Louis or Violet = same as canon. Clem is injured, Tenn and Louis or Violet are determinant on if AJ is trusted.

Clem + AJ + Tenn + James = Clem is not injured, but James will die in his struggle with Minnie - he saves Clem from the axe moment but without the extra backup he gets shoved through the hole in the bridge and falls to the rocks, Tenn's fate is still determined by AJ being able to convince him to let his sister go.

Clem + AJ + Tenn + James + Louis or Violet = Clem is not injured, James stops the axe moment and with the added backup of Louis or Violet he doesn't fall off the bridge, and Tenn's is saved by Louis or Violet while James keeps Minnie back. Louis or Violet also get off the bridge unscathed with James’ help to throw Tenn over. BUT James will always be the last person on that side of the bridge and his fate is determinant on trusting AJ (did you trust AJ to go with his own thoughts? And does AJ still think James wants to hurt them, or have you instilled enough thoughts that people can be redeemed into his head?) - AJ may choose to shoot James if he still views him as crazy, or irredeemable for his actions in the cave - this will still be a point of contention amongst the rest of the survivors.

So going over all that, you could theoretically end up on the other side of the bridge with these combos:

Injured Clem + AJ Injured Clem + AJ + Tenn Injured Clem + AJ + Louis Injured Clem + AJ + Violet

Clem + AJ Clem + AJ + Tenn Clem + AJ + Louis + Tenn Clem + AJ + Violet + Tenn Clem + AJ + Louis+ Tenn + James Clem + AJ + Violet + Tenn + James

And now the combo you get is important, because an injured Clem can't climb that gate, she's stuck going for the cliff climb since she has more time to climb that before the walkers surround it. But an un-injured Clem has the choice of going over that gate - and that is the no bite route.

Going over the gate is shown to be a safe way home for a single kid to manage, so this group is safe at least from walker bites. There would need to be another emotional high point to this route that's the equivalent to the bite, though... and I'm not entirely sure what that would be. Maybe this is the route where that original thing where they wanted Sullene to chase Clem down as revenge for killing Yonatan can happen and Clem and AJ end up separated. I dunno... it's not the same parallel to season 1, but if they are desperate to have a similar feeling of dread maybe they can have another fake out where Clem gets shot in the scuffle and you once again switch to AJ panicking and trying to patch her up but the scene ends with Clem passing out before we know if he did a good enough job before either the rest of the group finds them, or AJ has to leave Clem and find the school. Or perhaps AJ can get shot here and we have another divergence. And to keep things sort of level with the amputation route, let’s call the shot a really bad shoulder hit that will result in that arm no longer having proper mobility even if it heals.

So in that scenario, let's say you can get 4 endings out of it. If you have friends you ended up separated from, then they're searching for you and can help with the medical emergency - they can save the person in time before they succumb to blood loss. But if you have to get to the school because you didn't have friends left here, then maybe it's too late. So Clem can die, Clem can be injured but recovering, AJ can die, or AJ can be injured but recovering. Then you have to incorporate all those other options into the "back at school" moment. So on this route, death situation of Clem or AJ also means Tenn is always dead and Clem's Saved friend is still alive, but they didn't come to find her after the cave, so you have that added tension to explore. Maybe you can even explore if AJ or Clem even wants to stay at the school if that was the end results - I dunno, it’s just an interesting thing to ponder. But the recovering situation can theoretically mean that no one died in the last episode, which is a marvel in and of itself.

But if you have an injured Clem who need to climb the cliffs, or an uninjured Clem who simply decided the cliff was a better option... this is where things get a little more complicated.

I would like it if in this scenario you could ask your Saved friend to either climb the gate (with Tenn and James if they are still alive) or come with you for the cliff. If they climb the gate, then they’re safe, it’s the same as canon and they get back to the school fine on their own. But if you ask them to stay, then there’s another option at the base of the cliff to determine the order in which the characters climb up. If it’s just you and AJ, then AJ always goes first, and everything proceeds as it does with canon.

The problem is that an injured Clem is going to climb slower, so who goes last? If Clem is last, she gets bit, there’s no avoiding it - but if her Saved friend is climbing ahead of her, now they are there for the rest of the scenario watching a bitten Clem desperately keep AJ and them safe.

But if you make your Saved friend climb last, then it’s them who gets bitten, they go through a similar drama to a bitten Clem and plead to at least try to get them back to the school so they can make sure that Clem and AJ get back safely before they go. Same drama as canon, but happening to a different character... the difference being that an unbitten Clem in this situation who didn’t trust AJ to make his own decisions... well.... this one is on her shoulders, AJ’s not going to intervene. Does Clem make the choice to give their leg the axe, or does she kill them so they don’t turn, or does she just leave them there and take AJ to safety? And does the amputation option even work for them? Ehhh, let’s just say it does, Clem can’t be the only example of that working.

But finally... for like an ultimate downer moment, what if Clem is injured and climbs slower, but also asks her Saved friend to climb the cliff last? Well, we’re in for a double whammy. In this situation, your Saved friend is getting bit, and so is Clem. You both struggle to the barn, poor AJ is trying really hard not to break down while keeping the both of you moving, and you end up in the barn with Clem and her Saved friend debating what to do. Do they lament that this isn’t how they wanted things to go, or do they thank you for making sure they don’t leave the world alone? Do they make the suggestion that AJ does about being left as walkers, together forever and all that? And again, I wish there was some divergence here.... like, I get the want to surprise the player with Clem still being alive - but does AJ still make that call when there’s more than one person telling him to just leave, or to kill them? I wish this was another moment where if you built up trust with AJ, then he saves you both by trusting in himself to try to save you, but if you didn’t trust him then he follows your word.

So on this route, you could have Clem die (potentially with the Saved friend as a witness), Clem could have her leg amputated (potentially with the Saved friend as a witness) , Clem could die with her Saved friend, Clem and her Saved friend could both be amputees, the Saved friend could die alone, or the Saved friend could have their leg amputated.

So in total, we’re looking at... 10+ endings if you want to count in all those minor variations on who was romanced, saved, betrayed, etc.

And looking at it all.... I know it’s a lot. But in a world with all the resources, time, and motivation, I would have loved to have that many variations on the ending. It makes a happy ending in a choice based game feel so much happier and deserved when we know a “bad” end was so nearby too. Plus I really like when games provide “middle of the road” endings where they are varying levels of positives and negatives and it’s up to you to interpret if such a thing is good enough to still be considered an overall good situation.

#twdg #twdg talk #twdg s4 #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg james #twdg tennessee #twdg tenn #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg minerva #twdg minnie #long post #i may have gone overboard #but i really like exploring plot divergence stories #and how tiny changes could lead to drastically different results

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usergreenpixel · 3 years

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JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 1: La Seine no Hoshi (1975)

1. Introduction

Well, dear reader, here it is. My first ever official review. And, as promised, this is one of the pieces of Frev media that you have likely never heard of before.

So, without further ado, sit down, relax, grab drinks and snacks and allow me to tell you about an anime called “La Seine no Hoshi” (The Star of the Seine).

“La Seine no Hoshi” is a children’s anime series made by Studio Sunrise. It consists of 39 episodes and was originally broadcast in Japan from April 4th to December 26th of 1975.

Unlike its more famous contemporary, a manga called “Rose of Versailles” that had begun being released in 1972 and is considered a classic to this day, “La Seine no Hoshi” has stayed relatively obscure both in the world of anime and among other Frev pop culture.

Personally, the only reason why I found out about its existence was the fact that I actively seek out everything Frev-related and I just happened to stumble upon the title on an anime forum several years ago.

So far, the anime has been dubbed into Italian, French, German and Korean but there is no English or even Spanish dub so, unfortunately, people who do not speak fluent Japanese or any other aforementioned language are out of luck ( if anyone decides to make a fandub of the series, call me). That being said, the series is readily available in dubs and the original version on YouTube, which is where I ended up watching it. The French dub calls the anime “La Tulipe Noire” (The Black Tulip), which could be an homage to the movie with the same name that takes place in the same time period.

Unfortunately, while I do speak Japanese well enough to maintain a basic conversation and interact with people in casual daily situations, I’m far from fluent in the language so the version I watched was the French dub, seeing as I am majoring in French.

So, with all of this info in mind, let’s find out what the story is about and proceed to the actual review.

2. The Summary

(Note: Names of the characters in the French dub and the original version differ so I will use names from the former since that’s what I watched)

The story of “La Seine no Hoshi” revolves around a 15-year old girl called Mathilde Pasquier - a daughter of two Parisian florists who helps her parents run their flower shop and has a generally happy life.

But things begin to change when Comte de Vaudreuil, an elderly Parisian noble to whom Mathilde delivers flowers in the second episode, takes her under his wing and starts teaching her fencing for an unknown reason and generally seems to know more about her than he lets on.

Little does Mathilde know, those fencing lessons will end up coming in handy sooner than she expected. When her parents are killed by corrupt nobles, the girl teams up with Comte de Vaudreuil’s son, François, to fight against corruption as heroes of the people, all while the revolution keeps drawing near day by day and tensions in the city are at an all time high.

This is the gist of the story, dear readers, so with that out of the way, here’s the actual review:

3. The Story

Honestly, I kind of like the plot. It has a certain charm to it, like an old swashbuckling novel, of which I’ve read a lot as a kid.

The narrative of a “hero of the common folk” has been a staple in literature for centuries so some might consider the premise to be unoriginal, but I personally like this narrative more than “champion of the rich” (Looking at you, Scarlet Pimpernel) because, historically, it really was a difficult time for commoners and when times are hard people tend to need such heroes the most.

People need hope, so it’s no surprise that Mathilde and François (who already moonlights as a folk hero, The Black Tulip) become living legends thanks to their escapades.

Interestingly enough, the series also subverts a common trope of a hero seeking revenge for the death of his family. Mathilde is deeply affected by the death of her parents but she doesn’t actively seek revenge. Instead, this tragedy makes the fight and the upcoming revolution a personal matter to her and motivates her to fight corruption because she is not the only person who ended up on its receiving end.

The pacing is generally pretty good but I do wish there were less filler episodes and more of the overarching story that’s dedicated to the secret that Comte de Vaudreuil and Mathilde’s parents seem to be hiding from her and maybe it would be better if the secret in question was revealed to the audience a bit later than episode 7 or so.

However, revealing the twist early on is still an interesting narrative choice because then the main question is not what the secret itself is but rather when and how Mathilde will find out and how she will react, not to mention how it will affect the story.

That being said, even the filler episodes do drive home the point that a hero like Mathilde is needed, that nobles are generally corrupt and that something needs to change. Plus, those episodes were still enjoyable and entertaining enough for me to keep watching, which is good because usually I don’t like filler episodes much and it’s pretty easy to make them too boring.

Unfortunately, the show is affected by the common trope of the characters not growing up but I don’t usually mind that much. It also has the cliché of heroes being unrecognizable in costumes and masks, but that’s a bit of a staple in the superhero stories even today so it’s not that bothersome.

4. The Characters

It was admittedly pretty rare for a children’s show to have characters who were fleshed out enough to seem realistic and flawed, but I think this series gives its characters more development than most shows for kids did at the time.

I especially like Mathilde as a character. Sure, at first glance she seems like a typical Nice Pretty Ordinary Girl ™️ but that was a part of the appeal for me.

I am a strong believer in that a character does not need to be a blank slate or a troubled jerk to be interesting and Mathilde is neither of the above. She is essentially an ordinary girl with her own life, family, friends, personality and dreams and, unfortunately, all of that is taken away from her when her parents are killed.

Her initial reluctance to participate in the revolution is also pretty realistic as she is still trying to live her own life in peace and she made a promise to her parents to stay safe so there’s that too.

I really like the fact that the show did not give her magic powers and that she was not immediately good at fencing. François does remark that her fencing is not bad for a beginner but in those same episodes she is clearly shown making mistakes and it takes her time to upgrade from essentially François’s assistant in the heroic shenanigans to a teammate he can rely on and sees as an equal. Heck, later there’s a moment when Mathilde saves François, which is a nice tidbit of her development.

Mathilde also doesn’t have any romantic subplots, which is really rare for a female lead.

She has a childhood friend, Florent, but the two are not close romantically and they even begin to drift apart somewhat once Florent becomes invested in the revolution. François de Vaudreuil does not qualify for a love interest either - his father does take Mathilde in and adopts her after her parents are killed so François is more of an older brother than anything else.

Now, I’m not saying that romance is necessarily a bad thing but I do think that not having them is refreshing than shoehorning a romance into a story that’s not even about it. Plus most kids don’t care that much for romance to begin with so I’d say that the show only benefits from the creative decision of not setting Mathilde up with anyone.

Another interesting narrative choice I’d like to point out is the nearly complete absence of historical characters, like the revolutionaries. They do not make an appearance at all, save for Saint-Just’s cameo in one of the last episodes and, fortunately, he doesn’t get demonized. Instead, the revolutionary ideas are represented by Florent, who even joins the Jacobin Club during the story and is the one who tries to get Mathilde to become a revolutionary. Other real people, like young Napoleon and Mozart, do appear but they are also cameo characters, which does not count.

Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI are exceptions to the rule.

(Spoiler alert!)

Marie-Antoinette is portrayed as kind of spoiled and out of touch. Her spending habits get touched on too but she is not a malicious person at heart. She is simply flawed. She becomes especially important to the story later on when Mathilde finds out the secret that has been hidden from her for her entire life.

As it turns out, Marie- Antoinette, the same queen Mathilde hated so much, is the girl’s older half-sister and Mathilde is an illegitimate daughter of the Austrian king and an opera singer, given to a childless couple of florists to be raised in secret so that her identity can be protected.

The way Marie-Antoinette and Mathilde are related and their further interactions end up providing an interesting inner conflict for Mathilde as now she needs to reconcile this relationship with her sister and her hatred for the corruption filling Versailles.

The characters are not actively glorified or demonized for the most part and each side has a fair share of sympathetic characters but the anime doesn’t shy away from showing the dark sides of the revolution either, unlike some other shows that tackle history (*cough* Liberty’s Kids comes to mind *cough*).

All in all, pretty interesting characters and the way they develop is quite realistic too, even if they could’ve been more fleshed out in my opinion.

5. The Voice Acting

Pretty solid. No real complaints here. I’d say that the dub actors did a good job.

6. The Setting

I really like the pastel and simple color scheme of Paris and its contrast with the brighter palette of Versailles. It really drives home the contrast between these two worlds.

The character designs are pretty realistic, simple and pleasant to watch. No eyesores like neon colors and overly cutesy anime girls with giant tiddies here and that’s a big plus in my book.

7. The Conclusion

Like I said, the show is not available in English and those who are able to watch it might find it a bit cliché but, while it’s definitely not perfect. I actually quite like it for its interesting concept, fairly realistic characters and a complex view of the French Revolution. I can definitely recommend this show, if only to see what it’s all about.

Some people might find this show too childish and idealistic, but I’m not one of them.

I’m almost 21 but I still enjoy cartoons and I’m fairly idealistic because cynicism and nihilism do not equal maturity and, if not for the “silly” idealism, Frev itself wouldn’t happen so I think shows like that are necessary too, even if it’s just for escapism.

If you’re interested and want to check it out, more power to you.

Anyway, thank you for attending the first ever official meeting of the Jacobin Fiction Convention. Second meeting is coming soon so stay tuned for updates.

Have a good day, Citizens! I love you!

- Citizen Green Pixel

#review #french revolution #anime #history #television #frev media #Jacobin Fiction Convention #marie antoinette #French Revolution anime #la seine ni hoshi #la tulipe noire dessin animé #la tulipe noire

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drewexe · 3 years

Note

I really liked Fairy Lights. Could you do something similar with Ten or Hendery? This is my first request, sorry if it's vague.

Preview!

Pairing: ten X fem!reader

Genre: rivals to lovers, fake dating, college au

To be published: 07/11

Includes: yangyang as side character; cameos by sicheng, louis and leon later on; mc and ten being at each other's throats a lot; tiny specks of fluff; maybe slow-burn; more to come when the full thing is published!

Summary: being in the college newspaper club was amazing. writing for the university newspaper was a dream come true. except when it came to your lifelong rival, ten lee. you hated the guy with your whole soul. and yet somehow you ended up pretending to date him. you now officially also hate liu yangyang.

Author's note: hello there, i just wanna say thank you for enjoying fairy lights and for the request! i hope that you will enjoy this as well and i do hope that it won't be too far from what you were hoping for! i chose ten for it mostly because i have this problem where i like bullying pisces men; i know this preview doesn't give much but i felt bad for leaving the message in my box for so long and i am almost ready to publish it so please stick around!

“Why is it so hard to find some interesting gossip in this goddamn college,” your best friend Yangyang whined for maybe the 16th time this week. “I have less than a week to come up with something or I’ll lose my spot.”

“Yeah, well better get digging then,” you said, empathy absent in your voice. It’s not that you didn’t really care, your mind was just a little too occupied with the article you were working on yourself.

Both you and your best friend were part of your college’s newspaper club. Yangyang had the gossip page which meant that every month he had to find the most interesting useless pieces of information that the student body could care about and make them sound important. And you, on the other hand, kept a record of the academic achievements of anyone and everyone in your college.

The piece you were working on at the moment was about the science club. There had been a competition recently and sadly they had lost, so now it was your job to report about it in the next edition of the college newspaper. At the moment, you were working on the closing paragraph and you just didn’t seem to be able to make it sound good.

“Can’t you be a little more considerate and helpful?” Yangyang whined once again, breaking the fantasy that you had built in your head of him not disturbing your work. “Come on, you’re basically famous, there must be something you have heard?”

“Whatever made you think that people would come and share their problems with me?” you raised your eyebrows at him in question. “How do you usually find what to write about?”

“I have a large network of spies who provide me intel about people’s dirty business,” he grinned and you would have smacked him if he wasn’t on the other end of the large table in your club room. Instead, you glared at him. “Okay, I just overhear stuff most of the time and then go around asking until I have enough information. But I haven’t heard anything good enough recently”

Your only response was shrugging as you focused again on the document in front of you. It was quiet for a while longer and you managed to finally write your paragraph. Not ideal, obviously, but it was enough for now and you could go back to it if you came up with something better. Once again, you had almost forgotten that your best friend was in the room. Until he spoke up again.

“You’re a terrible best friend, Y/N. Ten would have offered to help me.” You froze in your spot and slowly looked up at him again, death glare on your face.

“What did you just say?” you asked quietly, tone dangerous as if you were giving him the opportunity to fix his mistake before it was too late.

“Ten would have just shown a little more sympathy, you know?” he went on though. “He would also offer to help me find something, he wouldn’t blow me off like that”

Ten Lee, another member of your newspaper club, was nowhere nearly as nice as your best friend implied. In fact, he was a little bitch that would laugh in Yangyang’s face if he heard him complain about something like this (and you could say this from personal experience). You were very aware of the fact that what the boy was doing was manipulating you for his own gain. You were smart enough to know that. But not smart enough to resist.

“Give me three days and you’ll have something to write about,” you said through gritted teeth. The grin that spread on Yangyang’s face made your blood boil. You hated the fact that he could control you that easily. But you wouldn’t break your word.

“You’re the best!” he cheered, shutting off his laptop as if the fact that you agreed to help meant that he had no more work to do. Infuriating.

“Remember that for the next time you decide to compare me with Ten, dumbass,” you rolled your eyes, adding a barely audible “brat”.

"Of course, of course!" he said cheerfully. "I gotta go meet up with Hendery now, but I'll text you later, okay? Let me know if you find anything good!" he said as he packed his things quickly. You hummed in response and waved at him weakly as he rushed out of the club room.

Three days, of course you could come up with something until then. You were an experienced journalist after all.

#nct #wayv #nct ten #wayv ten #ten imagines #ten x reader

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elia-de-silentio · 4 years

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RECAP ON DOMINIQUE AND NOÉ

So, as finally our girl Dominique has been given a well deserved focus after two years of absence, I want to make another recap, this time about her and especially her relationship to Noé.

Above, here's how Dominique is introduced to us. A confident, charming lady in a somewhat masculine attire, her image surrounded in shojo flowers, claiming to be Noé's fiancée.

Her later appearences at the Bal Masqué seem to confirm her 'Strong & Charming Lady' appeal: she's a graceful dancer, she lives up to the sadistic side implied in her name, she swordfights and her open, assertive personality destabilizes more conventional, 'shy' women such as Nox and Jeanne. She's also shown to be very protective of Noé, worring about him and even torturing Vanitas to ensure he wasn't a threath.

But there's also a softer side to her relationship with Noé - who actually keeps her friendzoned - one made of mutual respect, long-standing affection, comprension and willingness to listen to the other troubles ... partially. She listens to Noé, but doesn't actually tell him her feelings or thoughts, even if our cinnamon roll would very likely listen.

At the same time, some cracks begin to appear in this image. She fails to fight her sister away from Vanitas and Noé (and ends up tied and hanging from the lamp for everyone to see); she's later revealed in her chat with Jeanne about Vanitas that she doesn't know much about relationships, despite what her being so outgoing can lead to think.

Moreover, by this point of the story, Noé's childhood flashbacks have started.

Dominique is the one in the frilly dress, hiding behind her brother. As a child, her personality was very different: a conventionally feminine, shy child. This led people to theorize that her change was brought about by her mourning for Louis, an attempt to keep his memory alive by resembling him as much as she could.

Then we have the Arc of Gevaudan, in which she is barely mentioned, and then we have the latest chapters.

First of all, in chapter 43, we see her interacting directly with her older siblings. And while it was hinted that they didn't have that great of a relationship, here she looks to afraid to be in their mere presence. Every single disparaging remark from Veronica and Antoine (and they throw around a lot of them) gets an almost frozen in fear Dominique as a reaction. It's like, in the presence of her family, she regresses to the shy girl of her childhood, with none of her usual confidence.

Next, in chapter 45, in the midst of trying to keep the "insecure" Jeanne from entusiastically yelling to the world how horny she is for Vanitas, she reveals: 1) that she actually is pretty conventional when it comes to love and relationships; 2) that she sees Noé as dashing and strong and is confirmed as head-over-heels for him; 3) that she doesn't think she is good enough for him.

She believes Noé would prefer Jeanne (when he never indicated anything more than a vague curiosity about her), and when reflecting about it, she thinks back to her siblings' insults.

She thinks that she's not as charming as Jeanne, and then she seems on the verge of a panic or anxiety attack, thinking obsessively about Noé.

The ending of the same chapter reveals that there is a good helping from Misha on her situation: he did something to her, to tamper with her control of her own actions, but still her love for Noé is stronger, she fights back against the order of bringing him to the little creep.

The bigger point, as revealed in chapter 46, is: Dominique has zero self-esteem. Like the flowers around her were spewn around by a machine, that first image we got of her was carefully crafted, to hide an extremely insecure young woman.

Since early childhood, Dominique was unfavourably compared to her older siblings; she isn't as strong of a combatant as Veronica, and as Antoine helpfully points out, she holds no political power, unlike him.

And then there's the whole Louis affair.

The story so far has shown the toll his death had on Noé, but here we see the effect on Dominique, and it was devastating.

She wished she had been the one to die. She believes she's at fault for what happened.

And she gets what in her mind is a confirm: the reason why Louis was kept isolated was because he was her twin, and this in the appearently terribly superstitious vampire culture is seen as bad luck. So, in her mind, if she had never existed, her brother would have had a long and happy life.

Moreover, Veronica sees fit to completely destroy her sister's self-worth by bringing up those 'expectations' Dominique failed to live up to.

Then, with an excellent timing, Noé wakes up from an angst-induced fever, and puts the icing of shit on the cake of shit that has been Dominique's day. He essentially confirmed her worst fears: everyone would have preferred Louis to her. Those who theorized that Dominique's new mannerism where due to trying to keep Louis alive were so right, in a likely worst way than they could ever have thought of.

(Random thought I don't know where else to put: Dominique, in all of the manga,has never been seen in her usual masculine clothing around her family. She had either a ballgown or a nightgown, both very frilly and similar to what she would have wore as a little girl; way to represent her feelings of inferiority in front of them).

And so we have it. Dominique's life has been one of regular emotional abuse and a severe trauma; between the image her family tried to force her to live to and the awareness that only a whim of her father and grandfather -independent of any personal characteristic of the children - left her to live instead of her brother, she developed a very feeble sense of self - and what little personal identity she has, she doesn't like. So she tried to hide it all with a mask, to take on herself the identity of her brother to make someone worthier live in her stead ... but it didn't work out very well.

And the saddest part of all of this, is that Dominique has a very definite identity to those who love her, and it's a great one. Despite not reciprocating her feelings (as far as we know) Noé values her the world as his friend. She has always been here when he needed someone to talk to. She worries about him, but respects his choices. Her love for him is so strong, that it overrides Misha's mind control.

And do we want to talk about Jeanne? Dominique barely knows her, but she sees this girl in a social position other vampires despise, and she immediately bonds with her. She encourages her to get out of her shell, tries to give her advice at the best of her abilities, and she was very willing to risk her reputation and the wrath of her family to protect her.

Dominique is a great friend, an observant and caring person, and she doesn't give a damn about her family's racism and classism. If only she could realize it.

Personally, I don't know where her arc is heading. She's in a very precarious position right now. Her death would give Noé a second trauma and a reason to hate Misha that could lead to a clash with Vanitas (who clearly still cares about his younger brother, as shown by his guilt complex), but would also make Dominique's own arc a very tragic one. Her life would have been defined by being used by others, never realizing her true worth. It would lack closure - which narratively is something that can be done to work, but it's not what I personally would like for poor Dominique.

On the other hand, if Noé manages to get her to safety, then she can be helped. She can be cured by whatever Misha did to her, but above that, she can make her own arc one of self-descovery and affirmation, which definitely would have me cheering on for her.

Knowing Mochizuki's reputation, her survival is quite uncertain; but let us remember that the main theme of this work is 'salvation', and that we already got a surprisingly sweet ending for the Arc of Gevaudan, with everyone surviving and happy.

Until next chapter, we just have to wait and hope.

#vanitas no carte #vnc #vnc dominique #vnc noe #vnc meta #the case study of vanitas #vnc jeanne #vnc spoilers #elia's recaps

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bciwasinlove · 3 years

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Hi. I have not been on twitter or even in the fandom long enough so i came here to ask you about something. What's with the song claiming thing? Suddenly ziams are claiming songs that have been claimed as larry song. No I'm not gate keeping. Pardon my word choice.I'm not English. But I'm just curious. As long as i have been in this fandom, no control was a larry song the moment it came out and everyone was ok with it and even ziams never claimed it before.now suddenly they are like oh liam also wrote it? Home has always been larry song considering the timeline, him leaking and all, ziams never claimed it before, now suddenly home is a ziam song too? 18 was taken as a larry song from the moment ed said it was written from 1D perspective and everyone was ok with it considering how Louis used to literally serenade Harry like turning his whole body,changing pronouns etc. No one had a problem untill now. Suddenly in 2020/21 ziams are claiming it. Why didn’t they do it before? Why now? I'm just curious.

Warning selfies have been a thing with Louis for years. Now suddenly it is linked with liam too? How? Did he do it before or something? I genuinely don't know. So let me know plz.

The whole devlin thing, devlin album came out in 2017 i guess and they comparing Louis tweet with zayn tweeting that is from 2016. How does that make sense?

Also some people say larry closeting didn’t work but ziam did...awful thing to say. If it didn’t work then there wouldn’t be so many antis and they are still going through so much. People wouldn’t believe Harry dates every woman that breaths around him. And they claim there are two bbg in ziam relationship right? Why did they need two bbg if it worked? I mean if the closeting worked? Bbg has nothing to do with relationships.

Idk if ziam was real or not but I'm sure gigi was pregnant, she had that symptoms, pregnancy glow,tired face and all. Now whoever the father may be..idk.

I'm not convinced about ziam and how does that make me hypocrite? Also there are some "if this counts(larry),this counts too(ziam)" thread. what's with the comparison?

Sorry about the rant.

Hello anon wow this is long a lot to unpack so I'll start with your song questions.

Idk why ziammies are suddenly trying to claim songs that have ALWAYS been larry related. Especially when Liam said in an interview that Louis and him were a song writing duo for 1D BUT that he wrote the melodies and it was Louis who wrote the song lyrics. Last I checked melodies don't equal meaning of a song so how are these songs about ziam?

Some examples of this....

They are trying to claim Home but Liam said the song was personal to Louis and how when he read the lyrics he didn't want to change them. Home is also a direct response to If I Could Fly with ONLY Harry on the credits. Home was leaked by Louis the night of Belfest when Larry found out BG was being taken pasted the birth of a kid and it pissed off Louis so he leaked Home as payback bc it was clearly a loud song management didn't want on the album.

They are trying to claim 18 but the song was written by Ed who said [compared to other 1D songs he wrote for them] he wrote 18 with a 1D member in mind. [That is why we claim the song at all.] Ed was closeted in the band to Harry next being Louis and Niall he was the least closeted to Zayn and Liam. Side note Ed has a song called Friends that he said was about 2 friends of his who fell in love and when a fan yelled L&H he laughed/smirked and said init so it makes the most sense 18 was written with Harry in mind. Plus 18 is about meeting/loving someone sense they were 18 and it was only Louis who was 18 when they all met and it was Harry who would scream NO 16 when singing the song. Also larry changed the lyrics to HIM and would stare directly at each other when singing 18 livem According to ziam MPs ziam weren't a couple until at least 2 years into the band so why would 18 make sense for them also given they were both 17 when they met & none ever went NO 17 when singing it.

They are trying to claim No Control but that song as we know is about the morning after sex and the second round they end up having. Like stated before Louis wrote the lyrics to 1D songs and Niall plus Larry always made it DAMN CLEAR what that song was about. Also remember when Harry would always jam out hard core when Louis would sing his part in No Control aka majority of the song. Yeah that song is Louis song no doubt.

They try to claim Alive which makes no sense bc Zayn nor Liam is on the credits at all only Louis. They say it's bc Liam said he related to the song ok I see that but still he didn't write it and still how does this song equate to ziam? Alive is more a song used as proof Louis isn't straight bc it's about self exceptance of who you are even tho others around you for along time made u feel there is something wrong with you. It's about Louis who is more confident part way through the story being told and then helping his lover [who seems to be a bit insecure about themselves] except and love who they are. Since Liam didn't write on it the relationship aspect couldn't be about him and Zayn. Since he said he just relates to Alive at BEST it could mean he might not be straight but it can't be used as proof of who his partner is when he didn't write on it.

There's others but I think you get the point they have always been larry or hinting at Louis sexuality songs so I don't get why or how they are suddenly saying their ziam songs? Myself @lovemylarents and @fearlessmoon09 think bored people in quarantine is what happened to change the landscape.

To your next question warning selfies...

So warning selfies was something Louis did everytime something BG stunt related was going to happen. He started it and did it a ton back in 2016/17 when BG stunting was massive for him. Liam never had anything to do with warning selfies and Louis warning selfies were ALWAYS like I said BG related so suddenly ziammies going Liam does warning selfies for things involving Maya or Gigi makes no sense. It was ALWAYS a Louis thing.

For the Devlin thing...

You hit the nail on the coffin with that one the album with the song Cold Blooded that had the lyrics "so is it true XXXX fathered a baby? I don't really think so, if you ask me he don't like ladies. Could have been HARRY, yeah, I bet it was HARRY" [emphasis on Harry bc I saw a ziammie change the lyrics to Liam] came out in 2017 while Zayns tweet was done in 2016. Unlike Louis tweet which was specifically about this album not just the artist and tweeted during the height of BG stunting. So not the best comparison. They really should fact check before making these "larries are hypocrites" threads bc veteran larries know and fact check everything.

Next thing you mentioned what I call their slogan "larries closeting didn't work but ziams did that is why less talk about/believe in ziam then larry" piss me off so much and what you said it right. If larry's closeting didn't work then we wouldn't be here complaing about how the GP sees Harry as a queerbaiting womanizer, how solo henries who want to have sex and suck Harry's dick exist and how some locals don't want to join Louis fandom bc they think Louis and his fans are homophobic or that twarries exist thinking Louis is a deadbeat dad. Tell me again ziammies how their closeting didn't work? It is so invalidating to everything larry has been put through. Also if larry's closeting didn't work but ziams did then why did they need 2 BGs for Ziam and only one for Larry? Myself @kaybutlarry @babyhoney-28 and @onlythebravestan are still waiting on an answer to that question haven't gotten one.

As you said about Gigi yes she definitely looked more pregnant then Briana ever did. The reason I don't believe in their BG with Gigi is bc their story is inconsistenent. Side note back when Liam had a kid no one besides a few on tumblr ever said it was BG 2.0 they didn't start saying BG 2&3 until Gigi happened. Back to inconsistenences so their original story when we first learned Gigi was pregnant was it's fake just like Briana there's no kid, then when Gigi did the livesteam showing she had a bump and a round face you get when pregnant the story changed to she's pregnant the kid is just not Zayn's.

Then I recently saw some who [after the kid was born] went back to the story the kid is fake there is no kid OR they are using a child actor. Unlike Louis BG they don't have a consistent story that makes sense. Also the kids are never shown unlike with Louis kid F gets posted every damn day with creepy and bad photoshop, and a million articles about how he is Louis twin to shove it down our throats the kid is Louis. The situations have NEVER been the same with Louis vs even just Liam kid.

To your last point ziammies keep calling and making threads about how larries are hypocrites bc we don't believe what they do which is damn annoying bc they constantly say just leave us alone why do you care we exist but then constantly make threads like that getting mad we aren't all ziammies. If your going to make threads against us then yeah were going to say something and respond to your threads the way we would to a debunking larry anti thread. Their threads like that are either using funny coincidences of larry that we don't use as concrete proof to compare to ziam OR their ziam version of our proof has been debunked already like the Ziam Levine Stylinson sticker on the bears. [If you want more info on that ask @lovemylarents.]

They constantly take what is a larry proof and say it's also about ziam [Example the songs] or have a ziam proof that mirrors a larry proof. [Example the devlin thing or selfies] In their threads they always compare miniscule larry things that aren't our MAIN proof. See the miniscule proofs are the house and the big proofs are the concrete foundation that without it those miniscule things would not be able to really count as proof of larry and the larry house would fall. Ziammies ONLY have miniscule proof not a very solid foundation so I'm unsure how long their house will last.

I have been in this fandom for 10 years I have seen MANY ships come and go [Examples: Ziam, Ziall and Narry] but the one ship that has always been here was Larry. Larries have been here for 10 years, Larries are the ones who are talked about in the media, Larries are the ones constsntly gaslighted, Larry is the one ship that needs to be denied a bunch [poorly might I add] there's NEVER been any other ship or ship group people have hated, gone against or talked about this much besides Larries/Larry.

Funny [not for us] but funny that Liam goes through all the trouble of gaslighting Larries and talking about EVERY Louis stunt but he never mentioned Ziam which is a ship that actually involves him or the Ziammies who say Bear isn't his kid. Why did he talk about US and not THEM which involve him? Also funny Liam can easily say the word Ziam but Louis can't pronounce an EASY @ just bc it has the word Eroda in it.

My mutrals and I all agreed we didn't give af that ziammies existed until they kept talking shit about how we aren't ziams to and then go why are larries acting like antis hating us. First off it was NEVER larries hating on them it was toxic solo Zsquad and solo Liam stans who were. We didn't get involved until the entire tl was LARRIES ARE HATING US AND BEING HYPOCRITES. Second off and my last thought it's easy if you don't want us in your replies then don't make threads about us being hypocrites and use easily debunked ziam proof or miniscule larry proof to mirror bc we will point it out bc you think were hypocrites thank you.

#twitter ziammies #ziammies think larries are hypocrites #stop stealing larry songs #stop stealing larry proof #larries

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