#ice is just as much of a drama king as his husband | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 years

Note

I’m not sure if anyone requested this yet, but can you write some sweet headcanons where Malleus, Vil, Riddle, Azul and f!s/o bond with their child? Like they've all graduated from NRC and they're adults and parents now. Thanks Raven!

Curiouser and Curiouser...

As the ruling family of the Valley of Thorns, you are often busy with political and economic affairs. One day, your child will become the next monarch, so they follow you around to important meetings (when they’re not with their royal tutors) and sit in to watch you and father work. This way, they are able to learn while also spending time with their parents.

A beloved family past time is taking a stroll in the palace gardens, hand in hand--your child holding one of yours, and one of dad’s. Malleus knows just what their favorite flower is, and sometimes does little magic tricks to get them to giggle--a shower of petals, or perhaps making all of their favorite flowers bloom in unison.

Sometimes Malleus joins his child for their lessons! It can be boring studying history books or practicing the violin alone, so he might read aloud to them, or take up a string instrument himself to show them the ropes!

Malleus also joins his child for the occasional spar. Of course, he never really goes all-out, but he does try to push them to think quick on their feet. Each battle tends to end with Malleus lying on the floor and pretending he has been “slain”--and when his child cautiously approaches to check on him, Malleus strikes back by tickling them until they’re squealing with laughter.

He knows it can be hard to get a grasp on magic, so when the first sparks start to appear in his child, he makes the time to help them control it. Malleus keeps mint candies in his robes to help cool fiery belches, and he kindly guides his child through shifting from humanoid to dragon and back.

There’s always ice-cream--the king’s favorite treat--on hand! He loves to share it with his child (especially if they’ve expelled a fiery burp earlier). Malleus constructs large and elaborate sundae boats to surprise them after a long day of their studies.

Malleus’s imposing height actually makes him the perfect playground for his child! They love to cling to his back or ride his shoulders, all while reaching up for the sky--which they hope to one day soar through with their father.

His status as an A-list celebrity tends to keep Vil away from home for extended periods of time, but he keeps in touch with his beloved family! That means lots of video calls with you and his child--and it makes all the moments you do spend together all the more meaningful. (Your child has a habit of pointing at magazine covers and the TV screen whenever they see their father on.)

Whenever Vil returns from work, he typically has a gift in hand for his child. It could be merchandise from whatever brand he has partnered with at the moment, a souvenir from abroad, or a plushie, flowers, or candy from his fans. It always brings a smile to his kid’s face--because their dad is thinking of them, even when they aren’t together.

Vil’s his child’s greatest supporter. He believes they can do anything they set their mind to, and he actively encourages them to work hard toward those goals. No matter how busy he is, Vil will show up to every sports game, every dance recital, every awards show his child is in.

He takes his child on lots of outings! The movies, restaurants, parks, spas, stores... anywhere, really! He thinks it is important for his child to see and experience as much of the world as they can--and besides, he loves doing anything and everything with them.

Vil allows his child to dig into his vanity and wardrobe for things to use for playing dress-up! He’ll sit at the kitchen counter and pretend to be a commentator as his child struts out in various outfits and looks they’ve thrown together.

Occasionally, Vil will sit down and let his kid make him “absolutely beautiful” with his own cosmetics. There’s a whole photo album in your phone of your husband in crooked lipstick and liner, or wildly messy eyeshadow, courtesy of your child.

If they have trouble sleeping, Vil will read a fairy tale to them--and he’ll crack a little smile when his child tells him he’s like the prince in the story. Other times, he’ll sing lullabies to soothe them. When they’ve, at last, settled into sleep, Vil will brush their hair aside and kiss them on the forehead, wishing them sweet dreams.

Riddle is stern, but not emotionally closed off. He has sworn to never be like the tyrant his mother was to him in his youth. Though he may be upset when his child does an oopsie, he takes a deep breath, brings himself down to eye level with them, and calmly explains why it is he feels the way he does. Together, they’ll talk out their feelings and find a compromise that works for both of them.

He plays tea party with his child, even going out of his way to properly address each of their stuffed animals by their full name and title. Riddle sits down in a small plastic chair and pretends to sip his “tea” (cola heavily diluted with water) and eat his “scones and sandwiches” (colored clay cut into lopsided triangles).

They look after the family pets--a pair of hedgehogs--together. Riddle shows hid child where the hedgehogs like to be scratched, and how to properly hold them and bathe them. They love to give the hedgehogs their food, the lie on their bellies and proper their faces up to watch the pets eat.

He sits down with them to help with their homework. If there’s something they don’t understand, Riddle can talk them through it--though he won’t just spout out the answer. He wants his child to be able to think critically for themselves--he’s there to provide a little nudge, if needed.

Riddle and his child often experiment in the kitchen. He’s sure to pick simple, kid-friendly and easy recipes, and makes sure that his kid follows proper safety precautions. They serve you up the dishes they make, from fruit sandwiches to pasta salads to no-bake cheesecakes.

Whenever he’s eating something with strawberries on it, he offers the fruit to his child, since he knows they also enjoy them. They typically banter back and forth a bit before agreeing to split the strawberries in half so both of them can enjoy~

He often takes his child out on strolls through the neighborhood so they can see what life is like outside of the house. If some neighborhood kids want to play with them, Riddle lets his child run freely--he’ll just keep a careful eye on them from a distance.

Like their father, your child is ambitious and intelligent for their age. You can often find them trying to negotiate with their father for various things: later bed times, more allowance for the week, cake for dessert instead of fruit tonight... Azul usually still wins in the end, but he’s a good sport about it and allows the conversations to drag on a little to encourage his kid to put together a coherent argument.

Speaking of allowance, Azul is sure to make sure his child earns that money through various small acts, like doing the dishes or taking out the trash. That’s part of how he shows his love: by instilling values of fairness and working hard into his kid. He also does his part to teach them about the benefits healthy eating and exercise, so his kid can live a long and healthy life!

His child sometimes surprises him at his workplace. Whenever that happens, Azul grants them their own special table in the corner and serves them himself. There’s plenty of free finger foods and endless refills for them, but he’ll gently scold them if they run the risk of overeating or indulging in too many unhealthy foods.

Azul takes his child to the pool or to the beach to swim! He’s notably less enthusiastic about it if he has to do so in his true form, but he’ll do it if his child begs enough. They’re fascinated by his many arms--and to be honest, they come in handy when Azul needs to make a quick rescue or prevent them from drifting too far out on their own. When they’re old enough, Azul holds their hand, and they dive deep to explore the depths.

When the winter comes, Azul personally secures his child in a scarf and several other warm layers before sending them out into the cold. The Coral Sea can get to frigid temperatures during these times of the year, and he tends to worry for his child’s wellbeing and health because of it.

Azul doesn’t give his child gifts often (he wants them to be appreciative for what they already have), but when he does, they are generous ones--a big kitchen playset, a cash register with tons of play money, a lightning-magic powered car they can actually ride in...

Family board game night! Azul has a cabinet full of tabletop card games and board games specifically for these occasions. Monopoly in particular is especially... stiff competition. There’s betrayal and drama around every corner, but you still have tons of fun regardless.

#twst #twst x reader #Malleus Draconia #Azul Ashengrotto #Vil Schoenheit #Riddle Rosehearts #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland headcanons #Malleus Draconia x Reader #Azul Ashengrotto x Reader #Vil Schoenheit x Reader #Riddle Rosehearts x Reader #curiouser and curiouser #Reader #self insert

934 notes · View notes

tabloidtoc · 3 years

Text

Us, May 3

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Pregnant Meghan Markle: My Baby, My Way

Page 2: Red Carpet -- rufflemania -- Hollywood style stars are tier-ing it up in this flattering design with feminine flair -- Tracee Ellis Ross, Kaitlyn Dever, Margot Robbie, Logan Browning, Nicola Coughlan

Page 3: Lizzo, Maude Apatow, Lucy Boynton, Jessica Alba, Lily Collins

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Anya Taylor-Joy vs. Isla Fisher vs. Regina King in Stuart Weitzman Nudist sandal

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Shonda Rhimes on the intense backlash she received over Rege-Jean Page's exit from Bridgerton, Kelly Ripa on her most embarrassing interview, Luke Bryan on his mother LeClaire's Instagram fame, Blake Shelton on The Voice's new coach Ariana Grande, Reese Witherspoon joking about wearing bottoms that aren't sweatpants

Page 8: Contents

Page 10: A Final Farewell to Prince Philip, his four children Prince Charles and Princess Anne and Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were among the loved ones who participated in the emotional ceremony, feuding brothers Prince Harry and Prince William (and his wife Duchess Kate) put their differences aside after the intimate service, due to Covid-19 protocols the grieving Queen Elizabeth stayed socially distant from the other 29 people who attended the funeral for her husband of 73 years

Page 11: ACM Awards 2021 -- Maren Morris teamed up with her husband Ryan Hurd and won Female Artist of the Year, Thomas Rhett won Male Artist of the Year, Carrie Underwood took the stage

Page 12: Hot Pics -- Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wore an orange coat during a visit to NYC, John Stamos plays a coach on the TV show Big Shot, Zach Braff goofed around on the set of Cheaper by the Dozen in L.A.

Page 13: Eva Longoria on her trampoline while aboard a yacht in Miami, Howie Mandel arrived to the set of America's Got Talent dressed as a bug in Pasadena

Page 14: Jon Hamm and his rescue dog Splash strolled around the neighborhood in L.A., Heidi Klum in all white in Pasadena, Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry take a stroll in L.A.

Page 15: Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes held hands after dinner at Il Segreto in L.A., Patrick Dempsey shot a scene for his show Devils in Rome

Page 16: Rachel Brosnahan in a blue dress and carrying a clear umbrella on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in NYC, Lin-Manuel Miranda at the opening of a vaccination center for Broadway workers in Times Square, Trisha Yearwood feeds one of her rescue pups

Page 18: Gen Z Has Spoken -- these celebs are making the young kids proud -- Baggy Jeans -- Hailey Bieber, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bella Hadid

Page 19: Middle Parts -- Busy Philipps, Lizzo, Jennifer Lopez, Kourtney Kardashian, baguette bags -- Dua Lipa, Elsa Hosk, Irina Shayk, Kendall Jenner

Page 20: Seeing Double -- stars bear a striking resemblance to their famous counterparts -- Elizabeth Banks and Chelsea Handler, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Nina Dobrev, Betty Gilpin and Jodie Comer

Page 21: Rob Lowe and Ian Somerhalder, Jaime Pressly and Margot Robbie, Isla Fisher and Amy Adams, Rupert Grint and Ed Sheeran, Kyle Richards and Kacey Musgraves

Page 22: Clueless Crew -- stars are totally buggin' over Cher Horowitz's style in yellow plaid -- Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, Katie Holmes was rollin' with her homie beau Emilio Vitolo Jr. in NYC, Vanessa Hudgens, Dianna Agron

Page 23: Gabrielle Union

Page 24: Stars They're Not Like Us -- Jay Leno took one of his vintage automobiles out for a spin in L.A., Chrissy Teigen and John Legend took a selfie with a fan while grocery shopping in Beverly Hills, Kylie Jenner has custom vending machines

Page 25: Carrie Underwood in her massive walk-in closet, Denzel Washington signs autographs for fans in NYC, Megan Thee Stallion on a private plane, Drake and his bodyguard in Beverly Hills

Page 26: Stars They're Just Like Us -- Sarah Jessica Parker catches a yellow cab after working at her shoe store in NYC, Brad Paisley picked up five pizzas to go in Montecito

Page 27: Kelly Osbourne handed out goods at a drive-thru food distribution event at the Islamic Center of Southern California, HGTV's Egypt Sherrod transformed her closet into a meditation space in Atlanta, in between filming Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T take a selfie

Page 28: Hollywood Dads -- Scott Porter on parenting his two kids McCoy and Clover

Page 29: Jonathan Tucker on life with twins Hayes and India, parenthood is a lot tougher than Jovi Dufren imagined, Maksim Chmerkovskiy can't wait to show son Shai his work

Page 30: Love Lives -- Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are showing no signs of slowing down -- the pair enjoyed a night out in L.A. hotspot Delilah where they were holding hands and laughing and they're not hiding the fact that they're dating but they just don't want people in their business -- they're a good match and are each other's best friend

Page 31: Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber may look like the picture-perfect couple, but Justin admits that their first year of marriage wasn't what he expected, saying it was really tough and there was just a lack of trust and he blamed the strain on his own personal struggles and said before he didn't have someone to love or someone to pour into but now, more than two years after exchanging vows with Hailey, he has that

* Kacey Musgraves' romance with Dr. Gerald Onuoha is giving her butterflies -- the pair are so happy they found each other and while Kacey, who split from her husband Ruston Kelly last summer, is trying not to get too ahead of herself, her connection to the Nashville-based doc is off the charts and it's got the potential to go a very long way

* Today's Savannah Guthrie is thankful to have husband Michael Feldman in her life, especially given the demands of her early morning work schedule

Page 32: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are getting serious -- all the details on their whirlwind romance

Page 33: Adapting to parenthood has been a breeze for Emma Stone and she's soaking in all the precious moments of being a mom for the first time -- she and husband Dave McCary welcomed their baby daughter in March and Emma is super protective and a very hands-on mom and Dave is also hands-on and helps with their daughter -- thanks to the little one, Emma's marriage with the comedian has also gotten stronger and having a baby has brought them closer in a way they never expected -- Emma is looking forward to getting back to work; she's taken this time off to embrace motherhood and her number one priority is to raise a healthy baby so that's what she's focused on right now

* Britney Spears is setting the record straight -- despite her ongoing conservatorship battle with her dad, Jamie Spears, she is doing totally fine, assuring fans that she's extremely happy and she has a beautiful home, beautiful children and she's taking a break right now because she's enjoying herself -- although the legal drama with her father is heating up, Britney is staying strong and she has this wonderful ability to see the positive even when the odds are against her

* Keeping Up With Us -- production for the Downton Abbey sequel is underway, Mossimo Giannulli is a free man, Chrissy Teigen returned to Twitter 23 days after announcing that she was leaving the platform, Vanessa Bryant remembered her late husband Kobe Bryant on what would have been their 20th wedding anniversary, Helen McCrory lost her battle with cancer at age 52 according to her husband Damian Lewis

Page 34: A Day in My Life -- Whitney Port

Page 35: Colton Underwood is ready to live his truth -- during an interview on Good Morning America, the former Bachelor came out as gay, saying he's run from himself for a long time and he came to terms with his sexuality earlier this year and he's the happiest and healthiest he's ever been -- now that he feels like he can finally breathe, Colton is excited for his next chapter, which fans will get to see on an upcoming reality show with Olympian Gus Kenworthy -- a huge weight has been lifted off of Colton's shoulders and he is looking forward to being his authentic self

Page 36: Moms Tell All -- Happy Mother's Day! From milestones and manners to rules and nanny-bans, celebs and insiders talk about raising kids in Hollywood

Page 37: Bindi Irwin says life at home with her daughter Grace Warrior has been positively blissful and her family with dad Chandler Powell is so full of love, adding that the newborn has already met some of the wildlife at the Australia Zoo where Bindi and Chandler live and work and of course she's seen some crocs and really lit up when she saw them -- while the Aussie conservationist is sad Grace won't get to meet her late dad Steve Irwin, Bindi's brother Robert Irwin and mom Terri Irwin have been by her side constantly and Robert is obsessed with Grace and has been helping out so much and her mom has been the biggest guiding light and she's already taught Bindi so much about being a mother, both in how she raised her and by showing her things day by day and Terri is quite the baby whisperer and she's so great a calming Grace down when she's crying -- first-time father Chandler is also a natural with Grace and he's been the most supportive and involved dad and together, he and Bindi make such a great team -- for now, Bindi, who stars with Chandler in Crikey! It's a Baby!, is hoping Grace will follow in her animal-activist footsteps, saying having three generations of strong women working as conservationists is a dream come true

* Jennifer Garner said teaching your kids is a lifelong job, and certainly values are something you have to show them -- Jennifer, who shares kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with ex Ben Affleck, is staying true to her word and has led by example when it comes to things like kindness and patience and she won't let anyone in the house to judge or speak ill of people, and she enforces the same wholesome, traditional values that she was raised with and the kids have been taught to be loving, hardworking and fair -- Jennifer has always taken a kids-come-first approach to parenting, and it shows as they bake together, enjoy movie nights, read books and have very active lives and it's a very healthy, happy household filled with laughter and love

Page 38: Gwen Stefani has her hands full with her sons Kingston, Zuma and Apollo with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, but she wouldn't want it any other way -- Gwen's a tomboy, so having three boys wasn't daunting for her at all, plus she has fiance Blake Shelton by her side to pitch in with parenting duties and Gwen and the boys have a blast at Blake's ranch in Oklahoma where they enjoy riding their ATVs, and they play baseball and football -- it's not all fun and games, though because Gwen is big on boundaries and manners and she doesn't want to raise Hollywood brats and it's important to her that her sons be gentlemen

* Meghan Markle's pregnancy with Archie was no walk in the park, as she revealed during her bombshell TV interview with husband Prince Harry, the couple had concerns over whether or not the royal family would provide security for their son and claimed there were conversations about his skin color -- but this time around, as Meghan and Harry gear up for baby No. 2 at home in L.A., she's doing everything her way, without the royals and Meghan and Harry feel blessed that they're able to raise their daughter in the U.S. and can live by their own rules and make the decisions they feel are best for their children; having independence is the most important thing for Meghan and she's got free rein to be exactly the kind of mom she wants to be -- her parenting style is really like most mothers out there, and she's been craving pasta and doing yoga two times a day as her due date nears and she keeps a lot of art supplies out to foster creativity and healthy snacks around and she's a devoted mom and wants the best for her kids

Page 39: Kate Hudson has a lot on her plate, so the mom of three, who shares son Ryder with former husband Chris Robinson and son Bingham with ex Matt Bellamy and daughter Rani with boyfriend Danny Fujikawa, knows when to put her foot down as things can get a little overwhelming at times for Kate, but when she says no, it absolutely means no, and the kids respect her very much because of that

* Gigi Hadid, who shares daughter Khai with boyfriend Zayn Malik, wants to spend every waking moment with her precious little girl -- Gigi could easily afford to employ a team of nannies but chooses not to and she prefers to do everything herself and besides, she can't bear to be away from Khai for more than a few hours

* Candace Cameron Bure's three grown kids are flying the coop, but she's still super involved in their lives, despite slowly becoming an empty nester -- the mom of Natasha, Lev, and Maksim with former hockey player Valeri Bure says it's been a very transitional time and she's been trying to help them make decisions they feel good about and it's challenging, but they're figuring it out

Page 40: Oh, Baby! Meghan Markle's due date is just around the corner, and here are all the details

* Bump Brigade -- Halsey, Gal Gadot, Shawn Johnson East

Page 42: 10 Years of the Cambridges -- a look back at Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton's solid marriage for their anniversary

Page 44: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez: What Really Happened -- cheating and lies? The truth behind J.Lo's split from fiance A-Rod

Page 45: Friendliest Exes -- these former couples managed to stay close after going their separate ways -- Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz

Page 48: Gifts for Mother's Day

Page 54: Entertainment -- Ben Barnes on Shadow and Bone

Page 58: Fashion Police -- the most daring Oscars looks -- Bjork, Whoopi Goldberg, Charlize Theron

Page 59: Rachel Weisz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga

Page 60: 25 Things You Don't Know About Me -- Julia Michaels

19 notes · View notes

thebirdandhersong · 3 years

Note

Hey, so I've basically never watched any k-dramas, but I've read a lot of manga and manhwa and the automatic next step does feel like moving into k-dramas. You seem to have watched a number, so I was wondering if you could make a recommended list? Only if you felt like it of course, but it would be helpful! (Preferably of at least some which are on netflix uk, I looked up 18 again but it's unfortunately not on here in Britain :(. But if you have favourites I'd just like to know them so I can look out for them anywhere)

Also yay! Your term's ended!

(yanks open the door) did someone say RECOMMENDATIONS?? I DO have many!!! Boy do I have them!!!!

(YAY!! One last exam and I'm done for the summer!)

I love Eastern entertainment (manga, k-dramas, c-dramas, and movies from Korea and Taiwan) because of several reasons: the scripts are phenomenal nine times out of ten; Asian culture puts a strong emphasis on the importance of family, personal responsibility, learning from one's mistakes, expressing affection through gestures and acts of service, and friendship and I really love seeing that in a story; and they make good use of silence and stillness in shows and movies, which is pretty rare in Hollywood. The quiet moments between characters are more often than not some of the most important in the story and I Love That!!

The dramas I'm (briefly) listing are in bold if they're available on Netflix UK, and in bold and italicised if they're available on Rakuten Viki (which is a mostly-free drama streaming service, though unfortunately they're rather heavy on the ads). The Absolute Favourites are marked with stars (***). Though I can't actually see the whole list of dramas available in the UK, so some of these may be wrong, and it may be worth checking twice!

If you're in the mood for something fast-paced:

Descendants of the Sun (Viki); considered a Classic

- romantic comedy, medical drama, a bit of action

- The confident and charming leader of a Special Forces unit meets a reserved surgeon and they hit it off, after some... interesting misunderstandings. But after dating briefly and breaking up, they find themselves reunited on a peacekeeping mission in a war-torn country. Insert a lot of Suspense and Excitement but also a lot of Comedy and Sincere Declarations of Love.

- if you enjoy Song Joongki's performance, I'd also recommend his movie A Werewolf Boy. If you enjoy Song Hye-kyo's performance, I'd recommend her drama Encounter.

***Come and Hug Me (Viki, but I don't know if it costs money?)

- thriller/suspense, romance, this one genuinely stressed me out but the moments of peace and reconciliation (and the ENDING) were well worth it

- Their first loves during their youth ends in her mother's death and their separation. Years later, the lively daughter of the murdered woman is now an actress, and the introverted son of the serial killer has become a police officer. They meet each other again (Of Course) and have to tackle all sorts of Nonsense (including the serial killer's return, his murderous brother's return from prison, the Media, the ghosts of their past, etc. etc.) together. HUGE focus on forgiveness, hope, healing, unconditional and self-sacrificial love. Also one of the best redemption arcs (I did in fact bawl my eyes out)

- my friend just started crying when we first watched this drama together because the male lead is just so gentle and tenderhearted and steadfast :')

If you're in the mood for something a bit slower

***Goblin/Guardian (Viki); International Acclaim

- fantasy, drama, one of the funniest dramas I've ever watched, but also tears (I cried at a rate of around once every two episodes. This show talks a lot about life and meaning and the effect your actions and words have on the people around you.)

- Kim Shin, a general from the Goryeo Dynasty, is cursed to live as an immortal Goblin (a Korean mythical/fairy tale figure) until his destined Bride pulls the sword from his chest, thus breaking the 'spell' and ending his life. He really did not expect his bride to be the vivacious and irrepressible Eun-tak, though, and What's More!! He did not expect that he would start wanting to live again :))) Includes a surprising amount of comedy, a surprising amount of tears, and EXCELLENT screenwriting. (Descendants and Goblin share the same brilliant writer.)

- fun fact: parts of it were shot in Quebec!! One of the characters refers to Canada as "the maple nation" early on in the story and my friend and I just burst into laughter.

***Encounter (Viki, but I'm not sure if it costs money?)

- melodrama, romantic comedy, FAIRY TALE

- a cold and withdrawn woman, recently divorced because of her husband's infidelity, and a warm-hearted and optimistic young man meet on the streets of Cuba by accident, and upon separating without means of contact, find themselves back in Korea as boss and newly hired employee. This sounds like a recipe for disaster: stuffed to the gills with unnecessary workplace drama and gossip, etc. but the story focuses instead on family, vulnerability, transformation, sacrifice, about art, compassion, mending relationships, opening up to people, and about the beauty in bringing and receiving comfort and love.

- also. ALSO. Fairy tale!!! with illustrated opening and ending cards and everything!!! (they literally refer to her as the Ice Princess. And her Prince is the human equivalent of sunshine. I Love him)

- if you like Park Bo-gum's performance, I'd recommend Reply 1988, too!

***One Spring Night

- melodrama; quiet and understated but very beautiful

- A bright, clever, and sharp-tongued librarian meets a quiet, steady, and gentle pharmacist one day. It turns out that he's a single father, and she's trapped in a relationship that really isn't working out. Friendship! Family! Sisters standing up for each other and saying No I Won't Let You Treat My Sister Like This, You Jerk! Figuring things out! Learning how to love! I really don't know what else to say, except for the fact that I loved it very much!!

- if you enjoy Jung Hae-in's performance, I'd also recommend Something in the Rain (which should also be on Netflix!) for his acting alone. I just think he's neat.

Reply 1988

- slice-of-life, comedy

- In the late 1980s, five friends (four boys, one girl) who have grown up with each other since childhood are Going Through It in high school. This drama is all about the little things that happen in life, and about learning to understand your family and your friends. Deok-sun is just trying to survive all of This as the middle child, and as a young girl who is trying to figure this Romance thing out. In the present, adult Deok-sun is just as lively, and is now happily married..... but to whom? :))) A Lot of '80s Asian culture, daily antics, and good old friendship.

- if you like Park Bo-gum's performance, I'd recommend Encounter too :)

18 Again (Viki)

- romantic comedy, fantasy/time travel (sort of)

- Nearly twenty years of marriage, and things have been going Wrong all over the place. His wife wants a divorce, he's no longer close to his teenaged kids, and he's just lost the job he's been faithfully working at for years. Daeyoung wishes that he could go back somehow, and finds himself 18 once again.... except he's still in the present. Interesting things ensue. He enrolls in school (it turns out to be the same one his kids attend), and decides to pursue the dreams he had to give up when he was a teenager. Antics ensue! But also Healing: he gets to know his kids all over again, and is able to view his relationships with Dajung (whom he still loves. Of course) and his estranged father in a new light.

- I have not finished this drama yet but judging from the first third of it, it is both well-written and well-acted. There are a few things that I am not a fan of, but on the whole Lee Dohyun's performance is wonderful and I have already cried buckets.

Other honourable mentions:

100 Days My Prince: historical drama. Prince caught in an assassination plot, loses his memory, wakes up in a village right when the king issues a marriage law that results in his marrying the spirited 'spinster'.

Still 17/Thirty But Seventeen: 17 year old violin prodigy in a coma after an accident, wakes up when she's 30; the boy who inadvertently caused the accident runs into her again after she wakes up and helps her adjust to her new life. Lots of wacky humour, very sweet!!

#as per usual this is horrendously long #but i hope that this is helpful!!#k-dramas in the past have had some pretty questionable male leads #as in: the aggressively alpha male lead who thinks kindergarten bullying is a form of flirting #and i am very Not Here for that #so my favourite dramas tend to have Oak/Tilney/Wentworth-style male leads #ALSO!! storytelling in Eastern media takes a different approach than Western media #so it is so interesting to me to watch dramas like Goblin and 18 Again that take a pretty unconventional approach #songbird again

19 notes · View notes

razieltwelve · 3 years

Note

Lady Lyara should have found no better match than Prince Edward to whom she was equal in both martial skill and wit. Yet what prompts a she-wolf to seek instead the King Beyond The Wall? Historians will grapple with that question for the rest of eternity and it is hilarious.

Yep.

Some people view it as a heroic sacrifice to ensure peace between her people and the wildlings. They view her as a brave woman willing to sacrifice her own happiness to protect the people of the Seven Kingdoms. Basically, they think she's a martyr. Of course, the majority of Northern historians in the future disagree. There is historical evidence that her husband gave her whatever she wanted and that she was very happy indeed. She wouldn't have gone to such lengths to help build up the area beyond the wall if she was unhappy, and based on their reputations both her father and her brother Robb (who succeeded Ned) would have marched north with all their bannermen if they felt she was mistreated.

Other historians have argued that at least one of her children was actually sired by Edward in an affair they had before going their separate ways. However, this is disputed by the fact that her eldest child, a son, was born with golden hair like her husband and with ice powers. However, some point to the second child, a daughter, who was dark of hair and had blue eyes. It is true that Edward had blue eyes, but the King Beyond the Wall also had blue eyes. More level-headed historians have pointed out that the King Beyond the Wall was supposedly much taken with his wife and would suffer no insult to her, so it is difficult to imagine he would tolerate an affair.

This period of Westeros's history is perhaps the most famous since it marks the start of the First Golden Age where Westeros grew from a realm marked by poverty, strife, and woe to a place of shining cities, learned scholars, and peace.

Edward I is considered the greatest ruler in Westeros's history. He's kind of like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln rolled into one for them, so his life will be the subject of immense research. In his own lifetime he was a legend. In death, he would become something even greater. He would become the ideal that all future rulers aspire to and that people of all factions venerate. Even centuries later, historians will continue to pore over the minutiae of the records left behind to try and learn more about him. Edward will become one of the most common male names because of him just as many girls are named Lyara.

And one of the greatest mysteries of all time will be why he didn't marry Lyara. It will drive people absolutely insane because they were the perfect match. And there will be countless fanfics written about alternate histories where they did marry. There are going to dodgy historical dramas where the two are unrequited lovers and all sorts of rubbish.

You just know that Diana (Edward) is laughing her ass off about it in the afterlife.

#game of thrones #final rose #q and a #diana yun farron #averia yun farron

4 notes · View notes

nanoland · 3 years

Text

new chapter (lucifer fic)

Ponder on the Narrow House, part 6

Mazikeen/Eve/Michael

(Whole thing can be read on AO3.)

Fuck the next bounty.

After thinking about it for ten seconds, Mazikeen turned them around and started driving straight for Los Angeles.

Eve can talk to him. Not me. He needs to talk to someone, and Eve will do.

Barely half a mile later, Amenadiel dropped out of the sky and landed in the middle of the road, just far enough away for her to bring the car to a screeching halt before it would otherwise have slammed into him like wet clay into a steel wall.

“We’ve got a problem,” he said, looking exhausted.

She snorted and pointed skyward. “Yeah. This? Not gonna lie, I was expecting something like this. But I thought it would take, like, at least a month.”

Wincing, Amenadiel said, “No, that’s… that’s a different problem and Chloe’s promised to discuss it with him. Maze, we need you back at Lux. Now.”

“Hi, Amenadiel!” Eve called, waving.

He succeeded in smiling at her without even glancing at Michael, despite his younger brother sitting right at her side, glaring fixedly.

“Why?” demanded Mazikeen, tensely drumming her fingers on the wheel. (Inner voice hissing, Shouldn’t have left him alone, you dumb bitch, you’ve been doing this for centuries and you know what he’s like when you leave him alone for more than five minutes.) “Seriously – what could he possibly need me for? He’s God.”

Sighing, Amenadiel put his wings away. “Mazikeen, we’re all well aware that Lucy often… has difficulty focusing. To put it mildly. There’s a lot more for him to focus on now than ever before. He’s trying to undo climate change. To that end, he started refreezing all the melted ice in the Arctic. But he did it too quickly and, resultantly, there are several hundred trapped ships we need to save and several thousand dead penguins to resurrect and, to be honest, he hasn’t really got the hang of resurrection yet – you remember what Dan looked like for the first few hours after Lucifer brought him back to life…”

“Eurgh. Yeah. Yuck. Totes not the kinda shit you’d wanna see in Happy Feet.”

Michael was snickering.

“Right. And then there are all the changes he’s been making locally,” Amenadiel went on. “The expansion of Lux, the overnight disappearance of all Los Angeles’ firearms, his deciding that the city’s white supremacist population should grow a third ear so they can be easily identified, and, well, it turns out that a lot of Chloe’s colleagues at the police station-…”

“I get it, I get it. Chaos everywhere. As usual. What, exactly, is the problem he wants me to fix?”

Amenadiel exhaled heavily. “The demons. The ones you brought from Hell to help us defeat Michael.”

“Oh, so you do remember I exist,” Michael muttered.

Stonily ignoring him, Amenadiel said, “They’re still on Earth and they’re causing trouble. The one called Dromos, in particular. He’s gathered followers and they’ve surrounded Lux.”

Her brother’s face – his real face, not the human puppet he wore – flashed through her mind’s eye; a memory from when they were unruly children and had raced through Hell together, using the stone pillars that they’d not yet known were cells as an obstacle course. She’d been faster; he, more athletic. Together with a few cousins, they’d made a fearsome team, and not even their meanest older siblings had bullied them.

She folded her arms and looked away. “They’re demons. Lucifer can deal with them. Snap his fingers and turn them into rats or whatever. Make them explode.”

“Mazikeen,” Eve murmured, soft and low, touching her shoulder. “You don’t want that. They’re your family.”

Amenadiel blinked, as though that hadn’t occurred to him. “Er… yes, there’s that. There’s also the fact that Lucifer doesn’t want all of humanity to see him as the type of God who casually annihilates his enemies; a harsh, vindictive God. He wants to be liked. To be loved.”

“Fine. So why don’t you and the other angels sort it out?”

“Come now, Maze. A bunch of angels and a bunch of demons waging war in the midst of a bustling city? Humans will die. But you’re the Queen of Hell now and, by extension, the Queen of Demons. If you command Dromos to stand down, he will. This can all be resolved peacefully.”

Eve’s fingertips were cool against her skin.

Mazikeen looked back at the sky. The cloud letters were starting to dissolve. “What does he want?”

“Who?”

“Dromos. He doesn’t act on instinct. He’s a planner. He wants something.”

Shrugging, Amenadiel said, “He shouted at me about demanding an audience with the king. I didn’t ask for details. I don’t really care. Dromos isn’t someone I’m inclined to listen to at the best of times. The last time the wretch showed his face on Earth, he kidnapped my son.”

“Mmm. Kinda like your sister was gonna do. Kinda like you were gonna do, now that I think about it.”

“Maze!” he gasped, sounding shocked and hurt. “You can’t compared poor Remiel’s misguided actions to-…”

“I’ll do it,” she interrupted. “Take me to Lux. Now.”

“Excuse me? What about us?” snapped Michael.

Mazikeen met Eve’s gentle gaze. “You don’t need to be involved in this. My family drama, it – it’s not pretty.”

“My son killed my son,” said Eve, taking her hand. “My husband loved another woman. I’m used to drama.”

Swallowing, Mazikeen glanced at Michael. “And you, wimp?”

Feigning disinterest – feigning it badly – he said, “You showed up to my last domestic dispute. Guess this’ll make us square.”

“I’ve only got two arms. I can’t carry all of you,” Amenadiel pointed out.

Mazikeen rubbed her chin. “No… but you can carry the car, right?”

He didn’t have time for this. There was so much to do.

“World hunger,” he recited as he bounced from one laptop to the next, all twenty-three of them displaying a different article or video by a leading scientific or sociological mind, “wealth inequality, pollution, cancer, droughts, racism, elderly abuse, housing shortages, cruelty to animals…”

“Lucifer,” said Linda patiently, sitting on his best couch with her legs crossed, a cup of coffee and a laptop of her own beside her. “You said you wanted my advice as to how you should manage this whole ‘being God’ business.”

“I do, doctor! Very much. Your input is invaluable. Blast, where did I put that map of Alaska? I’m thinking of making it bigger; slotting it in alongside the Arctic to help stabilise all that new ice.”

“Right. Thanks. So here – here is what I’m suggesting now; slow down. Seriously. Take a breath, step back, and think your next move through.”

He scoffed. “‘Slow down’? Doctor, I need to work at least three times faster if I’m to keep up with everything. There are people suffering everywhere, millions of them! There are sinners in need of punishment! I’m seriously considering asking Chloe to be my Deputy God. I never imagined omnipotence would entail so much paperwork and she’s always been better at that than me.”

Outside the penthouse, many stories below, the chanting grew louder. None of the human police officers, journalists, and gawkers who’d gathered to watch could understand it; it was in Lilim.

Cursing, Lucifer strode to the balcony and shouted down, “For the last time, would you all kindly piss off? I’m trying to fix an entire planet here!”

He heard the elevator open and moaned. “Detective, not now. Please. I’m very sorry I haven’t returned your calls – I swear I’m not avoiding you – it’s just that I’ve got a lot on my plate today and we did already agree to meet for supper at-…”

“Lucifer,” said Linda, sounding terrified.

“Lucifer,” said someone else, sounding irritable.

Now that he was God, rage didn’t turn his eyes red anymore. It turned them gold and blindingly bright, like spotlights. Fists clenched, he turned to see Dromos step into the penthouse, once again clad in the flesh of the late Father Kinley and wearing a leather jacket.

“Nice trick, making all the doors disappear. Finally decided to climb up the side of the building with a sledgehammer and burrow my way through into the elevator shaft,” said the demon, hands in his pockets and concrete dust coating his beard and his bald head. “I want to talk to you, sire.”

Storming across the room while Linda remained frozen, white-faced, on the couch, Lucifer snarled, “You! You have the nerve to come here, to stand before me, after what you did to my nephew?”

He took Dromos by the neck and lifted him off the ground, his wings opening in fury (he had six of them now).

Stoical even as he choked, Dromos said, “I need. To talk. I will leave immediately afterwards.”

“Oh, you’ll leave, alright! You’ll be lucky if I don’t throw you into an active volcano, you accursed traitor!”

Dromos’ stolen skin began to sizzle beneath his fingers. He waited until the demon’s face was wrinkled with pain before throwing him to the floor hard enough to crack the wood and make a crater.

“I will leave,” Dromos gasped, coughing up blood, “when I have spoken.”

“What could you possibly have to say for yourself? Kidnapper. Child-thief.”

Still on the couch, Linda said tremulously, “Lucifer, you’re… you’re hurting him. Stop it. Please.”

“Let us stay!” shouted Dromos, and coughed again before dragging himself up onto his knees. “On Earth. That’s what I came to say. Let your erstwhile subjects stay on Earth if they choose – at least, those who served you in the battle against Michael. Don’t force them to return to Hell. Let them, let us choose where we live, going forward. That’s my request, your Majesty. My only request.”

Lucifer boggled at him. “Is that a joke? Demons? On Earth, indefinitely, unsupervised? Are you out of your tiny mind, Dromos?”

Baring teeth, Dromos said, “Why not? What does it matter to you now? You’ve got everything you could possibly want. Everything anyone could possibly want! All we’re asking is the freedom to come and go as we please.”

“No.”

He spoke the word bluntly, and then he stepped back, adjusting his cuffs. Regaining his composure. “Never. You’re dangerous and untrustworthy. This world is for humans, not you. Good grief, haven’t I got enough to preoccupy my mind, without the added stress of demons rampaging around town?”

“We won’t rampage. We just-…”

“Why are you even coming to me with this? Mazikeen’s the new Queen of Hell. Didn’t you get the memo?”

Dromos wiped blood from his lips. “I don’t know if my sister and I are on speaking terms right now. And she may be Queen, but you’re God; I assumed you would be tasked with such decisions. After all, there’s never been a demon in charge of Hell before. We were told – we were always told – that only angels could rule us. I don’t doubt Mazikeen’s competence, but I…”

He seemed to run out of steam, spreading his hands and finishing weakly, “Lucifer, you’re the king. You’ve been the king for millions of years. For my entire life. Look, if you really don’t want us leaving Hell, then can you at least use your newfound power to improve it? Let us have the things mortals enjoy? Pianos, dogs, blankets, weekends, all that stuff?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “That would rather defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it? Hell is supposed to be a place of punishment. The ultimate consequence awaiting sinners. I need a carrot and a stick, Dromos. How else am I supposed to convince people to behave if I don’t? Imagine a rapist arriving in Hell and being confronted with demons playing pianos and walking their dogs. Wouldn’t have quite the desired effect, would it?”

Dromos was quiet for a moment, then said without inflection, “Perhaps you could find somewhere else to put rapists. Somewhere other than our home.”

Throwing up his arms, Lucifer said, “More demands! Don’t you see how selfish you’re being? Here I am, doing my best to end all suffering, and you’re complaining about babysitting a few evil-doers – which, might I remind you, is your job. Nay, your very reason for existence. Always has been. Why’re you getting stroppy about it now?”

“I think,” Linda began, taking a tentative step forward before stopping and clearing her throat. “Excuse me. May I interrupt? Um. Okay, so I think that maybe Dromos has a point here, Lucifer.”

“Doctor! This is the creature that stole your baby!”

“Yes, I know. And I’m not saying I forgive him for that, but…”

“I wasn’t going to eat the brat,” Dromos grumbled. “I was going to make him a king.”

“You took him away from his mother!” Lucifer shouted.

“Gentlemen!” said Linda, sharply. “Please! Let’s try to talk this through like adults.”

Overcome with frustration, and only vaguely aware that he’d not been sleeping well lately, Lucifer kicked the nearest chair. “I can’t believe you’re siding with him, doctor.”

“I’m not siding with anyone. I-…”

“You don’t know these people like I do. You didn’t spend millions of years in Hell alongside them. The only demon you’ve ever gotten acquainted with is Maze, and she’s not like the others; even without a soul, she’s learned how to behave like a more-or-less civilised adult, barring the occasional tantrum. But your average, baseline demon has nothing to them besides wrath and cruelty. Lilith made them to be weapons and that’s all they really are. I mean – just imagine, for a moment, how hard it was for me. To go from the Silver City, the most beautiful place ever created, to a lightless nightmare realm full of these bloodthirsty animals. To be surrounded by them, for endless eons, while they nattered mindlessly on and on about how much they love torture and pain and…”

He trailed off. Linda and Dromos were both looking past him.

To the elevator. Where – oh – Mazikeen was standing.

Where Mazikeen was crying.

No sobs, not like when Dan had died. No expression at all, really. Just open eyes, motionless muscles, and steady tears.

Before Lucifer could say a word, she pressed the button to close the elevator doors.

“Wait!” he yelped, sprinting over to stop them.

He needn’t have bothered. Now that he was God, objects did whatever he told them to do. The doors stilled, half-open.

“That sounded wrong,” he acknowledged, clasping her shoulders in apology. “You completely missed the context. What I was trying to say was-…”

“Don’t touch me.”

It was a phrase he’d heard many times before from mortal lovers to whom he had accidentally revealed his Devil Face. Some of them said it in horror. Some of them, the religious ones, said it in anger.

Mazikeen looked neither horrified nor angry. She looked sick. As though the very sight of him turned her stomach.

Lumbering over, Dromos stepped into the elevator alongside her and pointedly pressed the button again. With no idea what to do or say, Lucifer allowed the machinery to work.

The elevator closed.

“What have I done?” he asked Linda.

Nothing I didn’t know.

“Maze?” called Eve, waiting by the car with the others as Mazikeen stepped out of Lux’s front door and into the sunlight.

The door hadn’t been there when they’d arrived. She’d been forced to use Dromos’ route. Lucifer must have decided to put it back. He could do that now. Just decide things. Didn’t need servants, nor followers, nor anyone. Sure didn’t need a ‘more-or-less civilised adult’ whose kin were animals.

“Maze! Wait!”

Mazikeen didn’t know where she was going, only that she was walking very quickly and felt that she’d die if she stopped. She heard Eve’s heels patter on the pavement and heard her say her name a third time, quiet and worried, and that was what stilled her feet.

“What happened?” murmured Eve, cupping her face.

The fifty or so demons who’d been standing around outside Lux when Amenadiel had set the car and its passengers down were still there. Instead of chanting to get their king’s attention, they were now looking at her.

Michael and Amenadiel stood among them, the latter having been trying to convince them to stop blocking traffic.

Which was what she should have been doing. It was what he’d brought her here to do. But she’d been gripped by a sudden, violent need to see Lucifer, to check on him, just quickly, before tending to her siblings. Once a bodyguard, always a bodyguard.

Except that wasn’t what I was. Not to him. To him, I was a Rottweiler on a leash.

“Are you alright?” asked Amenadiel, his eyes overflowing with concern.

That was what cracked her.

To him. Not to everyone. Not to Eve, or Amenadiel, or Linda. It’s not that I’m incapable of earning love and respect.

I’m just incapable of earning his.

Her legs gave out. She crumpled against Lux’s outside wall and started to weep properly, loud and bitter.

Eve immediately dropped down beside her, holding her tight. Michael shuffled closer, rubbing his shoulder while his mouth opened and shut, testing out sentences that were never spoken.

Then Dromos was there, kneeling, his face sad and tired.

“We did what we were told,” she said to him in Lilim, through sniffles. “We obeyed. We were loyal. We… we…”

“We are alone, sister,” he replied. “But I think we always were.”

“We obeyed!”

“We obeyed Lilith and she left. We obeyed Lucifer and he left. No one wants us, Mazikeen. It’s just the truth.”

She took a shuddering breath and squeezed her eyes shut. “No. I want us.”

Seizing his jacket’s shoulder, she hauled herself to her feet and addressed the crowd, her voice raw: “I want you! You’re my family and I want you! And I swear I will be the queen you deserve, for as long as you’ll have me!”

Her human skin fell away, the left side of her face turning cold, bony, and brittle.

Stepping back to join their siblings, Dromos asked hesitantly, “What would you have us do, then, my queen? What are your orders?”

Hurriedly drying her eyes, she studied them one by one. “Whoever wants to can stay here. But I’m going home. Hell is going to be ours, Dromos. No more damned souls. No more angels. It’s ours now and we’re going to make it into something we can love.”

She turned to face Eve and Michael, her heart pounding. “You’ll come with me, yeah? You’ll stand with me?”

“Always,” said Eve, closing in to kiss her.

“Whatever,” Michael muttered, clearly just relieved that the crying part was over.

Amenadiel sighed, shaking his head gravely. “Mazikeen, are you sure this is what you want? You won’t be able to leave Hell on your own – you’ll need to contact me.”

“Yeah. At least until this one grows his feathers back,” she said, gesturing at Michael. “That’s okay. You’ll always come when I call, right?”

“Of course. You’re my friend, Maze. I’m sorry if I haven’t said that often enough.”

Fuck it. Cringing on the inside, Mazikeen drew Amenadiel into a quick, gruff hug. “You too, idiot.”

#lucifer #mazikeen #lucifer morningstar #eve #amenadiel #michael #michael demiurgos #dromos #fanfic #my fic

5 notes · View notes

aer-in-wanderland · 4 years

Photo

구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Lost in Translation EP01

In which my sister and I sat down with a pint of mint chocolate chip and wrote down everything that occurred to us while watching the fan-subbed version of TotNT EP01. Contains mild spoilers.

Prologue

We open with an excerpt from the Hyeonjoonggi (현중기・玄中記), which the internet informs me originated in China sometime between 265-317 CE. In Korea in particular, gumiho are typically thought of as being female, but this is an example of a classical text that says they can be either. From what director Kang Shin Hyo said at the TotNT press conference, the premise of TotNT began with the idea of challenging this base assumption by making the gumiho male and placing him in modern-day Seoul. I would translate the passage as follows:

When a fox becomes 100, it can become a beautiful woman, or become a man who has relations with women. A fox that lives for 1000 years communes with the heavens and becomes a cheon’ho (heavenly fox). Its gifts are like that of a powerful shamaness; it can perceive things more than 1000 leagues distant.”

To my sense, the passage was introduced to show precedent for the existence of male gumiho in traditional folklore, as well as to illustrate that foxes over 1000 (cheon’ho) can be closer to deities than monsters.

On to the show. The year is 1999. I’m surprised the subs left ‘Fox Ridge’ untranslated as Yeou Gogae since it seems like it would be relevant information that the place where the accident takes place is somehow tied to foxes.

When the imposter parents (who I believe are also foxes) chase little Ji Ah up into her room and her not-dad says, “You little brat!” (or at least, that’s what the subs we’re watching say), this is an example of what’s called ‘code switching.’ His phrasing is somewhat old-fashioned, which in this case helps to give the impression that he’s not human since it’s the cant of creatures in traditional fairytales. For anyone studying Korean, the line is, “요 년 봐라,” where ‘nyeon’ might mean anywhere from ‘girl’ to ‘wench’ or even ‘bitch.’

Okay, I have to ask. Does no one else in Seoul drive on Fox Ridge? How did Ji Ah have time to go home, get attacked, and then be returned to the scene of the accident (I’m assuming by Yeon) before anyone came across it?

Also, how did Yeon know where to take her? He tells grown Ji Ah that he just happened upon her after catching the scent of blood, but I get the sense there’s more to the story than that. I feel like this is part of a larger pattern wherein Yeon goes out of his way to rescue someone and then pretends as if he didn’t.

Episode 01 Title Card: What Happened on Fox Ridge

According to Yeon’s alarm, our current timeline begins on Saturday, August 29, 2020, and he has a wedding to attend. 2020 yet no COVID19? I guess this really is a fantasy drama. ;p

The BGM playing while Yeon gets ready is called ‘The Fox's Wedding Day,’ or, more literally, ‘day when a fox goes to be married’ (Yeou ga shijip ganeun nal) and it’s actually Yeon’s theme. I was expecting his theme to be the track entitled ‘Gumiho,’ but I guess not lol

The sun-shower. In both Japan and Korea, a sun-shower is known as ‘a fox’s wedding’ (kitsune no yome-iri/yeou ga shijip ganeun nal), so this is already cluing us in that the bride is a fox (I say ‘bride’ because both these phrasings typically apply to a bride marrying into her husband’s house. The phrasing is different for grooms, who ‘receive’ the bride). This is what Yeon means when he arrives at the wedding hall and says, “That’s because a fox is getting married today.”

It’s strange to me that the bride’s identity has completely dropped out of the subs. She’s Yeou Nui (literally ‘fox sister’), a folklore character of the Brothers Grim-style horror school of fairytales. Her thing is that she’s a gumiho who preys on families with only sons who desperately want a daughter. She insinuates herself into their lives, brings calamity down upon them, and finally, eats their livers. Like most fairytales, there are many permutations of her story, but many of them feature her saying she’s consumed 999 livers. I understand where - absent this context - some people might have seen Yeon as the bad guy here (spoiler: he’s not).

The subtitle here for Yeon’s line says: “But you need to know that changing your identity isn’t as simple as you think.” What he literally says is:

Yeon: How did you go to ground so completely? You think that if you change your face and your identity, your blood-stained past will change too, right? But changing lives isn’t as simple* as changing subway lines. [*Note: ‘simple’ is in English]

This is the first real dialogue we get from Yeon, and one thing it’s doing very intentionally is showcasing just how much he’s adapted to modern life. It does this both with the content of what he says (talking about changing subway lines), as well as with the amount of English loan words he tosses around. So I personally would have kept the bit about the subway in if I had been translating.

Yeou Nui’s line was translated as, “Please forgive me,” but it should more properly be, “Spare me,” or “Let me live.” Yeon is an enforcer, not a judge. (Also, ‘forgive’ is another word entirely).

Yeon’s line that’s subbed, “Listen, you fox. How could you dare dream of having a happy ending after eating so many livers?” is the result of what’s called diagonal translation, which is an unfortunate side-effect of subtitling conventions. What he literally says is:

Yeon: Yeou Nui, after eating the livers of countless adoptive parents and older brothers* how can you dream of a happy ending?

[*Note: The word he uses for ‘brothers’ here is 오라비들, which is a semi-antiquated word, and again, the sort of language used in folktales]

Yeon’s line, “Here’s a piece of advice” is more literally, “Here’s a bit of advice stemming from experience,” which is the first hint we get in-drama that he’s been in a similar position.

Nam Ji Ah

We get our first introduction to adult Ji Ah as she narrates the script she’s editing for her TV program on her way to the wedding hall. When Jae Hwan worries about her changing the script without the writer’s permission (again lol), Ji Ah's response translated literally would be:

Ji Ah: Then let’s go with this. PDs’ livers have to be swollen or coming out of their bodies.

That’s a pretty disgusting image in English, so I don’t blame the subs for changing it to something more sensical and less graphic. But as a cultural note, in Korea and Japan, having a large liver means to be gutsy or brave. Ji Ah’s character description similarly describes her as, ‘a woman whose liver is [so large it’s] coming out of her body,’ meaning she’s about as gutsy as it gets.

Okay, call me a cynic, but I loved Ji Ah’s line about not being able to digest wedding food due to the choking atmosphere of forced happiness pfft

Jae Hwan saying, “Who knows? You may meet your destined partner at a place like this,” as Yeon walks by in the background = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail of the head #1

Lol Yeon acting like a bored kid held captive at a dinner party while the wedding takes place. Bless Lee Dong Wook because I’m sure it’s all ad libbed. I feel like this could be a game: spot the LDW ad lib.

The Wedding Hall Incident

When Yeon returns to her dressing room after the wedding, Yeou Nui changes tactics from begging to putting her hackles up and challenging Yeon. Linguistically, that’s marked by her code switching to an archaic cant. Yeon, however, remains unfazed and responds with the most modern thing possible, completely undermining her bravado:

Yeou Nui: Oh former master of Baekdudaegan, what authority have you to condemn us?

Yeon: Get a hold of how she’s talking (rhetorical). Hey, if it wasn’t for you I would’ve been watching American TV shows while eating ice cream today!

Okay, I love the way Yeon materializes his sword. I thought he was (un-)transforming his umbrella at first, but he later does it with a plank of wood so I assume he can do this with pretty much anything?

On the topic of his sword, I posted a gif set not long ago referring to it as a sa’ingeom (사인검), literally ‘Four Tigers Sword’ (referring to the year, month, day, and hour of the tiger when such swords were supposedly forged). You’ll notice it doesn’t have a cross-guard since they’re traditionally ceremonial swords rather than actual weapons. The first sa’ingeom were made during the reign of King Taejo (1392-1398), but I assume they gave him one despite it being somewhat anachronistic because they’re also said to cut down evil spirits and ward against calamity. Mostly, though, it looks really cool and is very traditionally Korean.

Not for anything, but I love this BGM track that’s playing during the wedding hall fight (‘The Uninvited’). This short action sequence was so great. I wish we could have seen more of Yeon hunting down supernatural baddies. Also more of those gumiho eyes. More gumiho everything in general.

As he stabs her, Yeon’s line to Yeou Nui in the subs was rendered as, “Don’t do something stupid like falling in love in your next time.” I would have translated this as, “If you’re reborn, don’t do something so [useless] as falling in love.” Again, for anyone studying Korean, the phrase is ‘사랑 따위" (sarang ddaui). ‘Ddaui’ means ‘such a thing as,’ and it’s always used to disparage whatever proceeds it. There’s no good way to communicate that disparagement in English grammatically, so I opted for ‘useless’ in an approximation.

The BGM that plays the first time Ji Ah spots Yeon leaving the wedding hall is called ‘White Pupils’ (or literally ‘white eyes’). The imagery typically associated with that is death, so I’m curious what inspired the track title. Maybe they mean ‘white eyes’ like the fortune teller since it’s used at fateful moments?

“Who knows? That may be the story you were destined to cover.” = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail on the head #2

“Were they mass hypnotized or something?” = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail of the head #3. Thank you, exposition fairy. ;)

Okay, when Ji Ah and Jae Hwan examine the scene, Ji Ah’s line is subbed, “I need to see what that woman of this love story looks like,” which is ungrammatical in addition to being wrong. What she actually says is:

Ji Ah: I need to see the face of that protagonist of the Romance of the Age. [And I believe the ‘protagonist’ she was referring to is actually Yeon ;) This is bordering on meta, seeing as he’s actually the protagonist of the epic romance that is TotNT]

Kim Soo Oh

The BGM playing while Yeon sits in the park people-watching and then looks pensively at his hand is called, ‘Thread Rings.’ Between that, what LDW alluded to in his VLIVE, and some still cuts I saw of deleted scenes from EP16, I’m convinced there was something more to those rings that got cut due to time constraints. ㅠㅠ

Fun fact: This scene between Yeon and Soo Oh was the first scene of the drama that they filmed.

When Soo Oh asks Yeon what he’s doing there, the sub for Yeon’s response was, “Nothing other than waiting for someone.” That strikes me as off in tone as well as pacing. I would have translated it as, “Just.....waiting for someone.” (which is literally what he says).

When Soo Oh asks Yeon why he’s waiting, the sub says, “Because a fox can only love one person till death.” I don’t really have a problem with that translation, but what he literally says is, “Once a fox takes a mate they never forsake them. Until death.”

Sub: “How are you coping with that?” / “Not well.” > Literally: “Are you okay?” / “I’m not okay.” I actually like the sub here since it better conveys how precocious Soo Oh appears in this scene. He seems to alternate between precocious and adorably dim throughout the drama depending on who he’s with, though when he’s with Rang, it’s mostly the latter pfft

When Yeon turns down Soo Oh’s offer of friendship he says, “Your nose. I’m not big on men with runny noses. And human lifespans are too short to be friends with me.” Yeon's use of ‘men’ struck me as funny since I guess to someone over 1600 years old, an 8 year old and an 80 year old aren’t all that different. Also, Yeon giving serious life advice to an 8 year old is adorable. He talks to him like he’s an adult.

The Afterlife Immigration Office

Between the BGM and the way the camera pans up the endless levels of shelving, did anyone else feel like Yeon entered Hogwarts for a sec? (not complaining) ;)

For the record, Yeon uses banmal with Taluipa and calls her halmeom (granny). In contrast, Hyeonuiong is pretty much the only character Yeon speaks to in jondaetmal and addresses respectfully as ‘elder’ (eoreushin). He speaks to Ji Ah’s parents politely as well, but it’s mainly because they’re her parents.

The text introducing Taluipa’s character wasn’t translated in the version we’re watching but it reads: ‘The god who rules over the River of Three Crossings (Samdocheon), the boundary between this world and the next.’ The hanja for her name (奪衣婆) refer to her traditional role, namely, removing the clothing of the dead for her husband to weigh on the Uiryeong’su (su = tree) to measure the weight of their sins. This is the same tree that the Uiryeong’geom (the wooden sword that appears in EP13), is allegedly carved from.

Lol Taluipa saying she has to keep up with the times but also using a computer that’s positively ancient (come to think of it, it’s probably from the 80s since that’s her favorite decade)

Again, I’m surprised that Yeou Nui’s character name dropped from the subs completely. The subs here just say, ‘the female fox.’

For Taluipa’s line, the subs say, “You’re to obey the order and capture who you’re sent after,” but that’s a loose approximation. More literally, it should be: “If the higher ups say to bring someone in, then you just have to bring them in.” I’m only mentioning it because the line implys that both Taluipa and Yeon report to someone higher up the chain of command. Otherwise they may be misconstrued as Taluipa’s orders.

Yeon’s line, “My compulsory military service has gone on for 600 years. How could I not go crazy?” is hilarious when you consider that Korean men are required to complete 2 years of military service, and even that often feels like an eternity, so I think for any Korean, the idea of 600 years of it is just exceptionally cruel. The line is iconic enough to have been included in Yeon’s character profile.

I noticed this a while back, but ‘mountain god’ is being consistently translated as ‘mountain spirit.’ Technically, Yeon is (was?) a god, if a low ranking one in the grand scheme of things (the Korean word is ‘sanshin’ where ‘san’ = mountain and ‘shin’ = god). I understand the use of ‘spirit’ though, since he’s not a god as gods are typically thought of in western mythologies.

Lol Yeon sticking his fingers in his ears (I would bet money this was also an ad lib)

Taluipa has a line that’s subbed, “Foxes never stay in debt.” More literally, it should be, “They say foxes repay eunhye no matter what.” You can find my explanation of eunhye here.

Wow, the subs really dropped the humour ball on Taluipa’s line here. First off, she says, ‘Right now’ in English. And while the sub says “Do you want your freedom back?” what she literally says is. “Do you want to be discharged?” (since Yeon had just likened his duties to military service).

On his way out, Yeon actually tells Taluipa, “Halmeom, you’re going to go to hell” (which is not the same as the underworld/afterlife as it said in the subs. Taluipa’s job is literally to ferry souls, so she goes to the afterlife all the time anyway). Also, when he says “I’ll pray for it everyday,” his phrasing is that of an elderly person pfft

As I mentioned, Yeon speaks formally to Hyeonuiong, who in return affectionately calls him Yeon-ie or Yeon-ah, which I find adorable.

Lol I’m not used to Ahn Gil Kang playing such a friendly character. Seeing him wheedle Taluipa with aegyo is hilarious.

Code Red

Somewhat of a side note, I can’t help but wonder, is Shin Joo’s last name ‘Gu’ because he’s a gumiho, a la My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)’s Gu Mi Ho-ssi?

I wish the subs had just left ‘Lee Yeon-nim’ as-is, instead of changing it to ‘Mr. Lee.' As a general rule, I’m in favor of preserving character forms of address when translating.

Personally, I would have translated the name of Ji Ah’s TV program as: ‘In Search of Urban Legends’ rather than ‘Unveiling Urban Legends.’

I really like the dynamic between Ji Ah and writer Kim Sae Rom. “Should we fight?” / “Yeah, let’s fight~” How great is it that this drama doesn’t have a single catty, bitchy, stuck-up or otherwise obnoxious female character?

For anyone keeping track, Shin Joo speaks to Yeon in jondaetmal while Yeon speaks to Shin Joo in banmal, underlining their master/retainer dynamic.

Side note: There are actually multiple ‘types’ of jondaetmal: what I think of as ‘neutral polite’ (i.e. simply adding ‘yo’ to the end of all your sentences), the more formal polite (i.e. ending with ~[seu]mnida), that which elevates the subject, and that which lowers the speaker. The interplay of the four allows for varying degrees of politeness. The way Shin Joo speaks to Yeon is pretty much the highest degree. That doesn’t mean they aren’t close. Polite language can indicate distance but also level of regard irrespective of distance. This applies to Rang and Yoo Ri as well.

Again, Shin Joo calls Ji Ah ‘PD-nim’ but that became ‘that female director’ in the subs. PD-nim is a respectful (and non-gendered) form of address, and it’s perfectly suited to Shin Joo’s genial and deferential personality, so I wish the subs had just kept it.

I read an episode recap where the recapper mentioned she wasn’t sure what Shin Joo’s deal was. At the time I was confused, but now I think I get it. In the subs, Shin Joo says, “When I’m a seasoned veteran? I’m now up to the point where I’m wondering if I’ve turned into an actual person.” What he actually says is:

Shin Joo: No way~ How long have I been living in this (the human) world? Recently, I sometimes even have an existential crisis wondering, ‘Am I a person or a fox?’

[So he flat out says he’s a fox here, but that wasn’t reflected in the subs.]

Fun fact: this was Hwang Hee’s first scene that he filmed with Lee Dong Wook, and the BGM as they exit is Shin Joo’s theme.

I love the way Lee Dong Wook played this scene where they pay their tab. That is all.

It’s only as Yeon and Shin Joo exit the restaurant that we see that the sign out front reads ‘The Snail Bride’ (Ureong Gakshi). This is another folktale in-joke, since the snail bride’s whole thing is that she cooks delicious meals for her human husband everyday.

For the record, the Snail Bride (Bok Hye Ja) also uses honorific language towards Yeon and calls him ‘Lee Yeon-nim.’ I just assumed it was in deference to his ex-mountain god status, but it turns out she has a personal reason for holding him in high regard as well that we discover in the final episode.

As Yeon and Shin Joo walk away, Shin Joo’s line is subbed, “That show’s actually quite famous.” Since Korean doesn’t require a subject, the sentence is somewhat ambiguous, but I understood him to be referring to Ji Ah herself rather than the show since he says: “[Something is] really famous around the broadcast station.”

Lee Rang

Lol Kim Beom. How are you 32 years old?

I love how sharp and no-nonsense Ji Ah is. It’s so refreshing to not have to wait for the characters to catch up to what the audience already knows.

Rang’s theme that plays as he transforms back into his suave self is so iconic. The music director (Hong Dae Sung) really is a genius. It’s funny when you think about how different Rang’s theme is from Yeon’s.

Fun fact: Kim Beom shared in his Instagram LIVE that Rang ‘picking the wrong shoes’ was actually intentional. He was testing Ji Ah to see if she’d notice.

Okay, Rang says here that he likes, “everything about her (Ji Ah) from head to toe,” (not in a romantic way but in a grudging respect/she’s fun to toy with kind of way) but what happened to that? Are we supposed to assume that he would have liked her if she hadn’t been the object of his brother’s affection? But he approached her knowing that’s who she was...? I don’t know. I do know I wish they’d had more scenes together. Their verbal sparring is great.

Side note: One Korean fan nickname for Rang and Yoo Ri that Kim Beom liked was ‘Hoket-dan,’ playing off the Korean for pokemon’s ‘Team Rocket’ (Roket-dan) and mashing it together with the ‘ho’ from ‘gumiho’ haha

Yeon’s obsession with mint chocolate ice cream is a hilarious counterpoint to his status as a cheon’ho and his ex-mountain god title. Point to the writer. In Japanese, this would probably be called ‘gap-moe’.

When Yeon tells the man behind the counter, “When I’m indebted to someone, I’m obligated to return the favor,” he’s once again talking about eunhye. As a fox, he’s supernaturally bound to repay good deeds done for him. As far as I’m aware, this is unique to the drama and not part of the traditional gumiho lore.

Yeon eating ice cream like a happy kid XD Lol Lee Dong Wook, how are you 39?

Fun fact: Yeon’s line when he answers Rang’s call, “The number you have reached doesn’t exist, you punk” was an ad lib by Lee Dong Wook. The combination of the formal phrasing found in a typical voicemail recording followed by ‘you punk’ is particularly funny. It’s so witty I actually wouldn’t have known this was an ad lib if LDW hadn’t confessed as much himself.

“Let’s meet.” / “I refuse.” / “I’ll set your house on fire.” Hahaha What is with these brothers? Are they 1600+ and 600, or 16 and 6? Are the zeros silent??

Bus 1002

Ji Ah: “If possible, pick a different dream. I’ve been on the clock for 22 hours straight now.” I like Ji Ah so much. She’s unpretentious, intelligent, honest, driven, resourceful and witty.

Lol As Ji Ah struggles with the old man, you can hear Yeon offscreen urging the driver to get moving. Only he calls him, ‘driver yangban.’ Yangban is originally a word for a nobleman, but much like the word ‘lady’ in English, what was once a term of respect is now...not. lol Also, I’m pretty sure this was another ad lib by Lee Dong Wook since it happens entirely in the background.

This scene with Ji Ah piggybacking the old man is so classic spooky-folktale. I love it.

"You’re the only person I saw.” *Close up of the totem pole* They managed to make that whole sequence creepy despite nothing actually happening. Cool cool cool.

So our old drunkard is revealed to be a Mokjangseung (mok = wood). Jangseung in general are totems that stand at crossroads and the entrances to villages. tvN published some backstory info explaining Ji Ah’s past with this particular Jangseung and why he elected to save her which I translated here.

Aaaand we’re back at Fox Ridge. I can’t believe I only just noticed this, but the episode title could refer equally to the accident in Ji Ah’s past and this bus accident in the present.

Of course Rang staged the accident at the site of Ji Ah’s greatest trauma. Also, the fact that he knows that about her is telling.

Appropriately, the BGM playing as Ji Ah arrives at the scene of the accident is ‘Fox Ridge’ (Yeou Gogae). Iconic.

Back over to Yeon. The first time I watched this I wondered where on earth he was heading in that downpour but it turns out he was in pursuit of Rang, who had given him the slip.

Seeing Yeon limping injured through the rain ㅠㅠ Also, while Yeon later tells Ji Ah he carries his umbrella everywhere because he hates his fur getting wet, he clearly isn’t bothered here, choosing to keep it sheathed on his back instead. I guess all bets are off when he’s in Gumiho Mode.

Detective Baek and Ji Ah speak in banmal and he calls her ‘Nam Ji Ah,’ which I assume means they’ve been friends for a while.

Wow, good for Ji Ah for having made note of the exact number of passengers in the midst of all that chaos. I certainly wouldn’t have.

Hospital Encounter

So after Rang gave his brother the slip, Yeon realizes the next day that he’s at the hospital thanks to the news article Shin Joo reads out to him. Idk but I like that shot of the two of them heading out. There’s something vaguely Avengers about it. Which is maybe not surprising given that was another early influence for the show.

I liked this conversation between Ji Ah and ‘Soo Young.’ We get to see Ji Ah’s own resolve and drive in the advice she offers: “Even so, I hope you’ll become strong. It’s way more fun to be a PD than a victim.”

As with when he arrived at the wedding hall, the cinematography + BGM as Yeon approaches the hospital with his red umbrella is just A++

The BGM playing when Ji Ah spots Yeon approaching the hospital information desk isn’t on spotify or anywhere else that I’ve seen. It reminds me a bit of the ‘Tubular Bells’ theme from the Exorcist (a movie I actually haven’t even seen). If anyone knows what it is, I’d love to know.

“My only talent is my face~” pffft Also, decidedly untrue.

When Ji Ah tells Yeon, “Yes, I’m scouting you, but not for that,” She literally says, “but not for that genre.”

And now the subs say ‘Fox Ridge.’ Okay, then.

When Yeon says, “From the sound of it, it won’t be well made,” ‘well made’ is in English. Again, the peppering of English through Yeon’s speech makes him sound more modern.

When Yeon says, “Plus, I’m very devoted” his line is more literally, “Plus, contrary to how I look, I’m the devoted type.” Are you saying you look like a player? pfft

Yeon is such a big softie, so why does he keep threatening to kill people? Does he not realize they might take him seriously?

For this entire conversation (interrogation?), both Yeon and Ji Ah are switching back and forth between polite speech and banmal, almost on a sentence by sentence basis. On the whole, it gives the impression of a verbal sparring match.

“It’s not as if this was a blind date. No thanks on a second one.” lol I do enjoy cheeky Yeon.

Oh, I love that Ji Ah thinks on her feet. Using her leather bag to lift Yeon’s fingerprints was a smart move. Although, I’m not entirely convinced it would work that well in real life.

The ‘grim reaper’s outfit’ exchange was a coordinated ad lib between Lee Dong Wook and Hwang Hee. I mean, of course it was lol Casting Lee Dong Wook is the gift that keeps on giving.

Was that supposed to be Yoo Ri entering ‘Soo Young’s’ hospital room in those boots?

Minor detail, but ‘Soo Young’ calls Ji Ah ‘eonni’ meaning ‘older sister.’ It’s common convention in Korean to refer to people by familial ‘roles’ that fit their general age range even when you’re not actually related. I could digress, but I guess I just find it jarring when they have her addressing Ji Ah by name in the subs since Ji Ah is older and virtually a stranger.

Okay, when ‘Soo Young’ hears that Ji Ah lives alone, the smile she gives is effectively creepy.

The contrast between ‘Soo Young’s’ narration and the events of what actually happened on the bus that we see as viewers is great. Point to the director.

Wow, Rang really just slaughtered a whole bus worth of innocent people without a thought. I feel like we all managed to forget that about him as the show progressed. Hats off to the writer and to Kim Beom’s compelling performance. I actually worried initially that Rang would remain a one-note character because that would have been such a waste of Kim Beom, who is a fantastic actor. I’m so glad that wasn’t the case.

I love the subversion of viewer expectations when it turns out that Ji Ah knew all along that ‘Soo Young’ wasn’t who she claimed. This is something TotNT does repeatedly and well. We get both the dramatic tension of her being in danger and the satisfaction of her having had the upper hand all along. Point to the writer.

I’m pretty sure Ji Ah knocked that pitcher over with the express intent of using a shard from it as a weapon. Point for character consistency. Past or present, Ji Ah is apparently a ‘stab first, ask questions later’ kind of girl.

The Brothers

“Hey you! I clearly told you I didn’t want a second date?!” Haha Oh, Yeon.

I saw comments from Korean fans about how Yeon burst into her house with his shoes on here, and now I can’t not think of them when I watch this scene: ‘Entering the house with your shoes on...in the Republic of Korea...Ha...’, ‘Even if you bust the whole house apart, you have to take your shoes off before entering...’ lol

I love Yeon’s line that’s subbed as, “As if, brother.” In Korean, it’s “Do you want to die, little brother?” The word he uses for ‘little brother’ is ‘아우야,’ which, while still used occasionally today, is an antiquated word Yeon might just as easily have called Rang 600 years ago. It’s also, in contrast to the first half of his sentence, quite an affectionate term of address.

Rang’s line subbed as, “It’s a long story, but the family has a dirty past,” should more properly be: “It’s a long story, but you might say we come from a broken home.” Saying they have a dirty past makes it sound like they’re the mafia or something. Also, as a fun language note, the expression is literally ‘a bean-powder household.’

“Are you worried I’ll be sucked into the Underworld?” should be: “Are you worried I’ll go to hell?” Not sure where they got ‘sucked into.’ Rang just means when he dies. Also, I wish the subs would do a better job distinguishing between hell, the underworld, and the afterlife. They’re three different words.

“It’s because you embarrass me, that’s why.” Lol at the way Yeon covers his eyes. That’s definitely another ad lib from Lee Dong Wook.

When Rang calls time here, he actually calls Yeon ‘hyung.’ I suspect this wasn’t in the script but rather something that slipped out subconsciously on Kim Beom’s part, since the writer was clearly saving that word for when it would hurt us viewers the most. ㅠㅠ

Yeon’s line is subbed, “Old habits really do die hard,” but it should properly be: “You still haven’t fixed that habit?”

“If you don’t find it until the end of the next month, this woman will die.” This should actually be: “If you can’t find [that] by the next end of the month, your woman will die.” The subject is actually omitted so it’s unclear to what exactly Rang is referring, which is intentional. I also understand hearing ‘your woman’ (ni yeoja) as ‘this woman’ (i yeoja), but when they later flash back to this conversation they use a different take in which the line delivery is clearer and I’m confident it’s ‘your woman.’ This also explains Yeon’s confusion, since at this point he didn’t even know she’d been reborn.

I Waited for You

For anyone wondering how Ji Ah got into Yeon’s apartment, apparently his house code is 0000 lol

From his expression as he discovers and then watches the video she secretly took of him, I feel like Yeon is impressed with Ji Ah in spite of himself and I’m 100% here for it.

For the record, from this point forward, Yeon and Ji Ah use banmal with each other. Ji Ah has a tendency to speak to many of the supernaturals in banmal, which is honestly the opposite of what I would have opted for in her shoes.

Yeon’s question of, “How did you come here?” could mean either, ‘What brings you here?’ or ‘How did you get [in] here?’ in Korean, and honestly they’re both valid haha

Minor note, but she actually says his Korean age is 36, which would be 35 by the typical reckoning...except he’s actually ~1636 so it’s a moot point, really.

Ji Ah’s line, “Now I can proudly say that it’s fate,” translated more literally would be: “At this point, it really is fate and not coincidence.”

I feel like Ji Ah’s strategy of throwing herself off the balcony here is possibly the only thing she does in this entire show that strikes me as dumb. Like, I’m pretty sure if Yeon hadn’t been both benevolent and able to fly (and she had no guarantee that he was either), letting her just fall here would have been the easiest way for him to resolve the matter/the only thing he could have done.

Yeon’s line, “Did you just test me?” is one of the rare instances in which he code switches to archaic speech. I guess using his gumiho powers put him in a Gumiho frame of mind. ;)

On the whole, I prefer the instrumental OST tracks to the lyrical ones, but ‘Blue Moon’ is just sooooo catchy. I wish they had continued using it more.

And that concludes Episode 1. I’ve never posted anything like this before, but hopefully it was at least mildly interesting. Let me know what you think.

#tale of the nine tailed #totnt #lost in translation #I've never done this before so think of it as an experiment #this is what happens when language nerds watch dramas #korean language #korean culture #kdrama #구미호뎐

38 notes · View notes

shinymooncolor · 4 years

Note

hey! you don’t have to answer this, but i know close to nothing about hockey and my family and i have never really watched it and i’m starting to get very interested, but i have no idea where to start 😅 what do you think i should focus on first, as a newbie? what should i absolutely know as a fan? what teams are pretty good in your opinion? again, thanks for your help if ever you see this p.s: i really love your posts and they bring a smile to me face, so thank you for your hard work! <3

Hi!

Ohhh well. First of all. Welcome to the nerve wracking, nail biting, jaw clenching, gut wrenching, heartbreaking and utterly incredible world of (ice) hockey. Angry muscle machines on skates chasing a tiny rubber puck in the nhl and their goddess equivalents in wnhl - what’s not to love?

You’ve decided on a hell of a year to join. Due to Covid, the normal system was paused and a recent bubble playoffs series played and later won by Tampa Bay Lightning a few weeks ago. The new season would’ve begun last week but is currently expected to start around December.

I’d say the best starting point would be to watch some games - YouTube has a lot of highlights, game compilations etc. and browse hockey tumblr. Hockey tumblr is a great combination of hockey gossip, game reviews, fans sharing their love, passion and (hateful) opinions about players, clubs and the sport in general.

My personal team faves are a handful - you see, the league is “split” into two conferences - east and west and within here a few other divisions dictating who the teams will play on a more recent basis. The clubs in the nhl being split over North America and Canada means a lot of ground to cover and therefore it’s split like this - time zones, distance and whatever. So maybe decide on a conference first? East or west.

I’m an eastern conference gal meself, but the west sure has its merits too.

So. Teams. You’re about to start a rumble here 😂

I am a personal fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins 🐧 they play good hockey, in spite of their idiot general manager (I’ve got posts detailing why he’s an ass hat extraordinarie). They’re captained by Canada’s hockey savior, Sidney Crosby: hockey robot, yellow crocs enthusiast , triple gold member (youngest captain to get all three?) and the goodest boy in the league. He’s been heralded as the next great one yada yada since he was about 5? And shot pucks into a dryer back in Canada - with that came a lot of shit for the poor guy who, in his own words, just wants to play hockey. And he’s good. He’s got his team of French Canadian d-men (letang, dumo), a whole lot of goalie drama which seems to be a pattern and his Russian (husband) assistant captain Evgeni Malkin who’s got the cutest kid, a really cool wifey (seriously her insta is 10000 better than geno’s own) and a wicked sense of humor which he conviently hides behind his “English big bad today” excuse to avoid media on a daily basis (he’s played this card since his wild escape and temporary defection from Russia back in 2006) seriously google it. It’s wild. They’ve won three cups since 2009, they’re contenders in the playoffs most years and their pr department provides some hilarious videos of captain Canada and his Russian (husband) A. It’s a true love story. Sue me. We’ve got an intense rivalry with philly and the caps. Seriously. That orange flyers jersey is intense - even if philly’s mascot is the next president.

Funnily enough, my strange obsession with Russian hockey players have led to the most disturbing but developing club crush on the Washington capitals who are the penguins’ nemesis.

I mean, this club led by the one and only gr8 8 mr Alexander Ovechkin is a rollercoaster of emotion and hot daddies in skates armed with sticks and a murder Swede.

So. Washington caps used to be a joke in the league until they went and drafted mr ovechkin first overall, brought him to the capital and let him do his thing. He’s got a rep for being a hell of a lot of fun on the ice (if you’re on his team) and one of those players that people love to hate (even if they can’t take away how freakishly good he is at hockey) - look up his impossible goal(s)! He’s an exuberant, fun loving Russian with a heart of gold and a missing tooth. In 2007, the caps went shopping for a center just for ovi who needed a playmaker and a slap shot feeeder - they went and drafted the Swedish angel (maybe assassin) (Lars) Nicklas Backstrom - and the purest hockey marriage was forged. The actual words (we needed a center for ovi and ovi wanted backstrom) have been said. Yes, these two Are now famously the mama and papa of the caps and they have a roster of unruly (and handsome) hockey babies with the fighting menace Tom Wilson, bird impersonator and Russian cat Evgeni Kuznetzov and a whole army of other adorable (albeit hockey playing menaces) babies. Most recently they had the leagues daddiest daddy goalie Mr Holtbeast as the fun and handsome canadien cowboy uncle but he’s ventured to Vancouver to adopt a new group of hockey babies. To compensate, the caps went shopping in New York and brought the one and only king Henrik from the crease in msg to be the goalie mentor for baby Russian caps goalie and to keep the daddy energy flowing.

(Seriously why are Swedish players part time models? Their national team strategy is to be so handsome the other teams are distracted. It’s a thing. Look it up)

I also love a handful of other players on other teams (I really don’t dislike any team in particular - but you’ll meet some dedicated and strong minded fans here)

Erik Horse Johnson, Cale Makar and Nikita Zadorov (Colorado Avs - zad have recently been traded to the blackhawks (not sure how I feel about that). Phwucking fun team. Who needs teeth anyways.

Marc Andre Fleury (Vegas now but hell always be a penguin to me)

The Russian gang in Tampa - and giant Swede victor Hedman (seriously he’s massive)

The canes (Carolina) and their collective of Finnish and Russian babies (aho, svech) with chaotic Marty and former penguin Baby Staal as captain

And a whole lot of others too. It’s hard to choose.

The Dallas stars and the most precious bean of them all (Russian) dobby - Anton khudobin their backup goalie turned playoffs hero and fashion icon. The man said we’re not going home and threw the entire team on his back and dragged them to the final. And their homoerotically charged captain and his alt captain and their Hollywood epic soap worthy relationship. Stallions, people, Stallions...

Btw we like to project our brash queerness onto this league. You’ll learn why quickly. There’s only so much talks about hot hands, slick moves, eternal love for teammates and quite frankly obscene (sexy) amounts of kneeling, roughing (let’s face its it’s just aggressive cuddling) and teammates honorably defending teammates.

Anyways. I love hockey. He. Sorry.

Fun fact I’ve dragged @canesinthecrease kicking and screaming into the hellhole that is the caps and I’m working on convincing @dontpuckwithme about the incredibly sexy thing that is Russians and Canadians being secretly married in Pittsburgh.

Great, sexy, amazing, cool, smart and wonderful hockey ladies to follow for even more amazing content on more clubs (the hurricanes - also a team I’m starting to love). They’re my queer sherpas and emotional support network.

Hope you can use this dear (new) hockey friend and mutual 💖🐧

53 notes · View notes

bisexual-maelstrom12 · 4 years

Text

Ranking the Lovelink Matches (a completely subjective list by moi)

22. Clementine Hill / Grace Kim

I already wasn’t into her because she’s a privileged rich girl who uses literary quotes to seem smart (but really it’s just obnoxious). But then she tells us she’s thinking about dumping us for her creepy old professor?? Girl needs an actual job so she can stop relying on her parents and a therapist for her daddy issues.

21. Dominic Wright / Adam Johnson

I’m still pretty early on in the storyline here but so far I’m just bored. A “love” photography theme? Big yawn.

20. Liam Park / Min-Jae Lee

How Is Dating A K-Pop Star This BORING

19. Jake Gonzales / Zayn Kassab

The sexting is fun but honestly his film project sounds terrible and he needs to cool his feelings down like 200%.

18. Angel Reed / Emmalyn Roberts

Look she’s amazing and gorgeous and the animals are ADORABLE but honestly I find her pretty boring compared to the other matches SORRY DON’T HATE ME

17. Antoine Dawson / Noah Cruz

He comes on too strong a lot but I dig the puppies and the sexual tension. I would absolutely enter a FWB relationship with him but nothing more.

16. Albert Bishop / Jonathan Hayes

This ranking is subject to change bc tbh I swiped left on these boys at first (#fuckamericanimperialism). But then other matches finished up and I needed more content and y’know what? Albert’s pretty okay. I like his backstory so far and he’s sweet and sexy. Should def get out of the military tho.

15. Stefan Silver / Oliver Black

I appreciate that he’s a more consent-friendly version of Christian Gray and I like the “defrosting ice king” trope. But I would much rather be using the riding crop on him than vice versa. >:)

14. Jamie Grant / Seth Evans

Jamie is kind of a weird match in that I LOVE his storyline but also the flirting is pretty weak?? Like, I literally would have had to pay gems for the first “date”. I’m not feeling much of a sexual connection here, but I’m all aboard the hacker kidnapping storyline.

13. Austin Russo / Damien Jones

He’s rough around the edges but the character growth is pretty spectacular. Gotta save my boo from death row.

12. Sam Knight / Michael Evans

Never thought I’d be into a jock frat boy but here we are. I like how I snarked at him constantly for a week and he still fell for me. Ghosting us after we call him out on his daddy issues is pretty weak tho.

11. Samantha Clark / Aesha Nora

Okay she isn’t the greatest person or partner but cute gamer gf?? Yes please. And she can cook and bench press me too! *swoon* Also Fiction needs to be real asap.

10. Sage Foster / Vitoria Voznesenky

Sage was one of my first matches and was my favorite for a while. Who doesn’t want a hot goth gf? But then she PUNCTURED MY LIP (does that even heal??) and almost ate me and I’m just not about that. Hopefully she can go give Baba Yaga a talking to and get that curse removed.

9. Skylar Quinn / Jaden Bower

So making us commit a crime and then ditching us on the first date wasn’t cool, and I’m not much for a “rebel without a cause,” but then Skylar hit me with his tragic backstory and, well, I’m weak y’all. Also he’s so smart and snarky and sexy and I want him to achieve his dreams.

8. Eve Rockwood / Alice Martin

Look I’m still pissed at Eve for ditching us in Ibiza. But also I would absolutely drop everything to follow a hot girl to Japan.

7. William Crome / Julien Alexandre

I was never really into the whole dating a vampire thing but William just does it for me. I think it’s the hair and the old timey fashion. And he told off his mom for me, which is more than I can say about SOME of these matches.

6. Hugo Hornsby / Marco Bottazzi

Hugo is lowkey a garbage human who absolutely emotionally cheated on his long-term fiance with us. So why do I love him so much?? Idk, could be my trash taste in men, could be my love of geeks, could be the delicious drama of his plotline. Hugo pls come back from ur convo with ur fiance and d*ck us down already.

5. Kayla Summers / Jasmin Medina

Kayla/Jasmin is objectively the most badass match in Lovelink. She’s hot, ambitious, and didn’t ghost me for a dumb reason. She can kill it in heels AND kill actual killers! Get you a girl who can do both!

4. Raphael Becker / Wyatt Moore

The creepy cult plot is fascinating and Raph is the perfect combination of sweet/romantic and hott. That dream date was amazing. Pls Lovelink, when will my husband* come back from the war**?

* musician boyfriend

** creepy cult village

3. Ryan Byrne

Ryan is lowkey my perfect guy--sweet, nerdy, and SO SEXY OMG. I need his sex scene so bad pls. Also he might have caused the zombie apocalypse and that’s very interesting of him. I’m hooked on his story and I want his **** hooked in my *****.

2. Milena Sarafian / Ana Samarine (also maybe the same route as Ruby Thomas and Julia Greene?? Idk I’m pretty confused by this whole situation)

Apparently my ideal type is an adorable yet sexy computer who discovers love and how to be human through interacting with me. I should probably go watch that Her movie.

1. Cpt. Muffin

CAT. SHY BOY. <3.

#lovelink

70 notes · View notes

whereisten · 5 years

Text

Snowflake - Part 1

Part 1

Summary: You’re moving into the world-famous Sakura Castle for the month and you meet its permanent resident: Yuta.

Pairing: ghost prince! Yuta x duchess!female reader

Word Count: 5.2k words

Genre: Romance, Angst, Drama, Fantasy

Everything around you was a winter wonderland from a very recent snowfall. Sakura Castle was adorned with Christmas lights. The gardens were full of primroses and snowdrops. Horse drawn carriages were coming in and out of the estate. The French Renaissance-inspired chateau was located in the city of Neo Osaka. This would be your home for the next month. However, you absolutely dreaded this time of the year. You didn’t despise the concept of Christmas but your family and their acquaintances had certainly done on a number on your outlook of the holiday.

This year was the first time you visited Sakura Castle to celebrate. The only thing you looked forward to was getting the castle to yourself once your relatives left after Christmas Eve. You lived a very comfortable life. Most people would expect you to wholeheartedly embrace it no matter what. But with this life you were bound to your family. And some of your family...Well, they weren’t the most exemplary people.

You longed to escape your family at times. Change your last name. Move to a new town. Get a job you loved. But for now, you were what many would call a pampered princess. You were expected to be an administrative assistant at your father’s tech company. Then, you would get married to a Robert or a Harrison from Connecticut and he would get a job higher up than you.

Even if you were more qualified.

You would quit. Have his 4 or 5 children. Take up knitting and French pastry baking. It made your blood boil.

You were finalizing your appearance for the evening in your dressing room on the third floor of the castle. Your princess suite was the size of at least penthouses in Manhattan. It was like a little castle of its own. It had its own personal library. A bathroom with a tub as big as a hot tub. A personal gymnasium. Two walk-in closets. A balcony that overlooked the gardens. A King-sized bed that made you wish sleeping was a profession. A lot of renovations were made to Sakura Castle over the years but its integrity remained. The artwork and architecture of the castle. The furniture that dated back to at least 150 years. The skylight in the ballroom. The multiple libraries. The music room. The study rooms. The paintings of the royal families over the years.

“Miss y/n, your face almost matches your dress. Are you feverish?” Your family’s maid, Helena, asked you as she helped flatten the creases on your ruby red ball gown. It was an off-the-shoulder sleeveless satin dress that you wished you could have saved for a night that you would want to remember.

You shook your head. “I’m fine, Helena. Thank you.”

“There are a lot of fine young men arriving, y/n. I envy you.”

You frowned through the floor-to-ceiling mirror. “No...why?”

“Because they’re your suitors. Your choices are the cream of the crop. You’ll land a Prince Charming for sure.”

You wanted to vomit.

Your mother entered your dressing room. “Drop dead gorgeous, my darling daughter.”

You forced a smile. “Thank you, mother.”

“Of course you would be. Given you have my genes.”

After twenty minutes of your mom lecturing you about how to behave and how to flirt with your...you couldn’t even fathom calling them this but what else could you call them...suitors.

Oh, wait.

Bidders for an expensive and highly sought-after piece of merchandise (you). Olympic athletes trying to get the gold medal (you). Customers looking for best piece of prime beef at a local grocery store (you).

This night wasn’t going to be fun. The only thing you looked forward to was the snack table when you would be able to excuse yourself to go to the powder room. Heaven forbid your nose was ever shiny in front of anyone.

You looked forward to getting to know Sakura Castle for the estate was a magnificent being in itself. You haven’t explored the castle yet since you’d arrived a few hours ago. Preparations for the Eve Ball had been underway for months and they’ve finally winded down to the last details. Servants walked in and out of the castle. Some bringing in ice sculptures. Others bringing in King Louis XVI chairs that looked too fragile and pricey to sit on. Not that you would ever find out as you would probably be on your feet all night.

You were escorted to the main entrance of the ballroom where you would be announced. The bidders better get their paddles ready.

“Announcing y/n of House Surname,” the announcer declared into his microphone. The French double doors opened and you entered the ballroom. You were met with applause. You smiled as instructed and proceeded to walk down the steps, thankful for the last few moments you had alone.

Because when you reached the bottom of the stairs, five men were already waiting to take your arm.

Harrison Roberts was at the forefront. “It’s been a long time, Lady y/n. Can I have the first dance?”

Lee Taeyong cut right in. “Lady y/n, don’t waste your time with him. He was flirting up a storm with one of the maids when I was walking in. You deserve to dance with someone who has no wandering eye.”

Jung Jaehyun shoved them both to the side. “Care to dance with a friend who kicked your ass in Jenga too many times to count?”

You didn’t expect Jaehyun to be here tonight. “Jaehyun, how long has it been?”

Jaehyun offered his arm and you took it. “Seven years?”

You remembered seeing him off to college. You two lost touch. He was a family friend that made these kinds of events less dreadful. It was great to see him again.

The orchestra played an awe-inspiring rendition of “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer. Jaehyun led you to the center of the dance floor.

He led the waltz. He spun you around and pulled you close and for a moment, you thought Jaehyun saved the evening. But then he said the next few words:

“Wouldn’t it be cool if I took over your dad’s company?”

You stiffened but still kept moving. “What?”

“We should get married, y/n. Our families would be over the moon. I can get my dream job. Your crush on me can finally be fulfilled.”

The seven years away did not do Jaehyun good. Jaehyun went on and on for the rest of the song talking about where you would have your honeymoon and how he was sure your dad would spare no expense to let you two travel the world.

You were silent. You could feel your parents steely gazes on you as they watched from their thrones...well, from the head table.

The song ended and Jaehyun bowed. You curtsied.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go powder my nose,” you said and quickly walked away. Thankfully, Jaehyun didn’t follow so you found your way to a part of the ballroom where a balcony was left unexplored. You walked out onto it and prayed for a few moments of quiet.

It was freezing outside but oddly enough, it didn’t bother you. You leaned onto the railing and looked down at the gardens. A spectacular fountain with a Cupid laid at the center of it. It felt like Cupid was giving you the big middle finger.

A stray snowflake fell onto your arm, quickly melting away on your skin before you could admire it.

You feared the snow would start and you would be compelled to go back inside. So you prayed to stay out here as long as you can. For any excuse. You sighed and plotted how to get to the snack table with little detection. Maybe Helena could sneak something out to you.

“For the belle of the ball, you seem pretty miserable,” a male voice started.

You jumped. You didn’t hear the balcony doors open. You turned to your right to find a young man leaning against the railing beside you. His pale blonde hair ran to his shoulders, caressing his face that was as elegant as a fairy’s. His skin glistened with the moonlight. Almost as if he was one with it. He was like a winter-themed priceless art painting come to life.

“You scared me,” you said as you put your hand to your chest.

He smirked. “Sorry.” Clearly unapologetic.

Shaking off the stunned feeling he gave you, you rolled your eyes. “Can you please leave me alone? I can’t deal with another suitor. Not this holiday season.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not a suitor, your highness.”

“Don’t call me that!” You started but then you tilted your head at him in confusion. “Huh?”

“You seem surprised. I for one am surprised your ego could be so big to assume that any male in your perimeter is intent on pursuing you.”

You blushed. “That’s not it.”

He chuckled. “Oh, it’s not? Then, what is it?”

“The Eve Ball is my parents’ excuse to get me a husband. Did you not see the turnout in there? Fifty percent of the crowd are eligible men between the ages of twenty and thirty five.“ And that was an underestimation.

The young man raised his eyebrows. “And they’re all here for you?”

“They’re all here for my family’s fortune. So no. I’m...an asset?” Hearing that part come out of your mouth sounded so wrong.

He frowned, seeming to regret his words before. “So tonight isn’t as romantic as you’d hoped it would be?”

You snorted. You couldn’t help it. “I never had any hope for that.”

“You seemed happy with that man you danced with. The pale one?”

“Don’t even mention him. He’s just like the rest of them.” Thinking about Jaehyun’s betrayal reminded you of how much worse this night ended up being than expected.

The young man noticed he’d gone too far with teasing you. “I’m...sorry. I’ve been messing with you non-stop. I thought you were another airhead heiress.”

“You wouldn’t be the first to think so,” you said as you fixed the creases on your dress.

He watched you as you looked down at your dress, He was mesmerized with how long your eyelashes were. How you smelled of roses and peonies. The way your curls fell to your cleavage. You met his eyes again and he looked away.

“Seems like a lot of people are wrong about you, Lady...” He began.

You interrupted. “y/n. No need for ‘Lady’.”

“So no formalities, huh?”

“They’re unnecessary,” you said. “Unless you’re royalty and you’re being modest. I don’t want to make another assumption.” You hoped this guy wasn’t a stickler for calling you by your noble title.

He shook his head. “Can’t say I currently hold a royal title.”

You were relieved and smiled without thinking. “Okay, good. What’s your name, then?”

“Yuta,” he said, beaming at the sight of your joy.

“Well, Yuta, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The first man you’ve interacted with that didn’t want to marry you and wasn’t after your family’s wealth.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He grinned genuinely for the first time. It was a sight to behold.

“Lady y/n!” Someone called from right outside the balcony doors.

“Shit!” You exclaimed. “Hide me now.” You said to no one in particular. The only good time you had at the ball was about to end.

Yuta surprised you when he moved closer to you and held you.

“Yuta, what are you-“ You started.

He placed his fingertip on your lips. “Shh.” He shushed you.

Jaehyun came out onto the balcony. Kill me now, you thought. You didn’t know how Jaehyun would react to seeing you in the arms of another man.

Jaehyun looked around the balcony in confusion.

He looked right through you. In fact, he walked right through you as he looked past the railing.

You prayed you weren’t breathing too hard because being invisible had never felt so good. Feeling Yuta’s strong arms around you. Tight and secure. His body was so warm through his slim fit tux. His head laid on top of yours, teasing you that you were so short compared to him.

“She wouldn’t run off, would she?” He asked himself. He shook his head and headed back inside.

You exhaled when Jaehyun disappeared.

And then you realized what happened. You escaped Yuta’s embrace to look up at him.

“Yuta, sweetheart,” you said, laughing nervously, “What the holy hell was that?”

He smiled sheepishly, “We were invisible?”

You nodded. “Uh huh...I got that much. That begs the question...How?!”

He sighed. “I didn’t anticipate telling you this but...I’m the spirit of this castle.” He shrugged like he just told you his Zodiac sign.

You didn’t know what that meant so you shot him a look.

“y/n, I’m dead,” he delivered, deadpan.

You backed away. How could that be? He was warm and his presence just...glowed.

Maybe that glow wasn’t human like you thought.

Yuta continued as he snapped his fingers and a plate of your favorite desserts appeared on his other hand. He handed it to you.

You were torn between crying tears of joy that the holiday brownies didn’t run out and having a total meltdown.

You couldn’t be high. Your drink couldn’t have been spiked. You get your own beverages, much to the maids’ chagrin.

He nodded. “Come on, y/n. I know you’re hungry. One look at you and I could see the sweet tooth.”

You hesitated to reach out to him even though you were quite comfortable in his arms before. He handed the plate to you and you simply held the plate of chocolate-covered sin, focused on Yuta.

“You’re a warlock?” You asked. That much you could believe in because you always clung to the possibility of there being more than the mundane in this world. Even if it rattled you.

He nodded. “An undead warlock, if you want to be more specific.”

You nodded carefully. “But I...can touch you.”

He said, “Yeah, I can’t explain that either. You’re the first person in a century that could touch me. Which is why I had to meet you.” He looked at you carefully, then.

“A century?” You asked in disbelief. “Wait, when did I touch you?”

Yuta smiled. “I like to pop up around the castle every now and then. You bumped into me. You muttered something about ‘not missing your recording time’?”

You blushed. You remembered that. This morning, you had some free time before you had to prepare for the ball. So you wanted to record for your podcast where you just talked about everything and nothing.

You recalled bumping into a few people and apologizing profusely. You had no idea one of those people was a ghost. Much less the ghost of a sorcerer.

Yuta laughed. “You record? Music?”

You shook your head. “It’s a podcast. I talk into a microphone and record it. Post it online and people can hear it if they want to.” You had a decent-sized following. You modified your voice, of course. Your family wouldn’t approve that their high-profile daughter was posting about her inner thoughts and desires on the Internet. People always asked for your name and your face. But you went by the name Sunflower. It was what your grandparents called you when you were a child.

Yuta widened his eyes. “That sounds right up my alley. I’d love to do that.”

One look at Yuta and you knew he had a lot to say.

“Lady y/n!” You heard again. This time you had no time to hug Yuta.

You turned to him but he vanished. It was your mother, looking none too pleased. “Where have you been? Jaehyun has been looking for you for the past half hour.”

You sighed. “I’m sorry, mother, I...I needed some fresh air.” Suddenly, your teeth started chattering. Was it always this cold since you stepped outside?

Your mother looked down at your hands, seeing the plate full of desserts and frowned. She took it out of your hands and tsked. “That’s plenty of fresh air, darling. Now let’s go back inside. It’s cold out here! Jaehyun has turned into a fine young man, has he not?”

There you were, making chit chat with the Jung family. Jaehyun made no mention of the extravagant honeymoon plans or the kind of desk he wanted in his office. It was all smiles and fake concern for your well-being.

“y/n, can I get you something to drink?” He asked, putting on his best concerned boyfriend face.

You immediately shook your head. “I’ll get it myself.”

Jaehyun protested. “I insist. You’re a lady. A lady shouldn’t get herself her own drink. She should be waited on.”

You were about to speak up but your father halted you with the raise of his hand. “Son, please respect my daughter’s stance on this. We’ve insisted on it for years but she will have none of it. It’s best not to argue with her on it.”

The one thing your parents listened to.

And you’d soon realize that would work in your favor.

You went to the table where there unopened drink bottles (per your request) and poured yourself a glass of champagne.

You were surprised to find a strikingly gorgeous woman with long white hair tied in a French braid and a baby blue long sleeved dress. She looked eerily familiar. Her elven-like face was softer than...

Yuta’s..

“y/n, it’s me...Yu...na.” Yuta whispered playfully.

The woman before you was actually Yuta.

“Yuta?!” You whispered.

He...she winked at you. “Not bad, huh? I may just steal your thunder.” She spun in a circle, making a show of her sparkly blue dress.

You laughed. “Feel free. I’d love to see you slow dance with Jaehyun.” Only for Jaehyun to realize that Yuta was a ghost. And a man. But he’d be passed out on the floor before he reached that tidbit.

Yuta chuckled. “We must catch up...since we’re old friends from horseback riding lessons.”

Puzzled, you asked, “How did you know I...Never mind. What are you saying?”

Yuta took the glass of champagne you drank from and took a sip. “Your parents have to let you get away if a dead old friend wants to catch up.”

“You mean a dear old friend...” You said warily.

He smiled. “Sure.”

Yuta led you back to your parents and the Jungs.

“Father. Mother. Duke and Duchess Jung. Lord Jaehyun. This is my childhood friend, Yu..na.” Excellent delivery, you told yourself.

Jaehyun’s jaw nearly fell to the ground.

Yuta curtsied. “It’s a pleasure. y/n and I took horseback riding lessons together.”

“Oh, goodness. That was so many years ago I almost forgot y/n took those lessons. I went around saying you figure skated,” your mother said, oblivious to how hurtful those words were. That made everyone, except you and Yuta, laugh.

Yuta continued, “Yes, I was hoping to catch up with y/n. Just us girls. You see, I was recently stood up at the altar...The man was after my family’s fortune. But he found love instead. Horrible man. Shouldn’t have led me to the altar if his heart wasn’t in it. Makes me wonder why people don’t just marry for love...I needed to see my dear old friend. Talking to her helps me overcome this immense pain in my heart.” Yuta almost made you laugh with what were surely crocodile tears. You grew more fond of him when you realized he was making a slight dig at your parents.

And it didn’t go unnoticed by them either.

Your father cleared his throat while your mom downed the rest of her champagne. The Jungs were simply confused. Jaehyun looked at Yuta for far too long.

Your mother started. “Yuna, this ball tonight is for-“

“Mother,” you interrupted. “This is the Eve Ball. It’s for all of our friends and acquaintances to ring in the sacred celebration of Christmas, is it not?” Or was she going to admit that this was a mating ritual for her own daughter?

Your parents’ were taken aback. Surely, they weren’t going to admit the truth out loud for appearance’s sake. Even if everyone already knew.

Your father spoke up, “You’re correct, y/n. Well, since you’ve spent some time with the Jungs, you are free to spend time with your friend.”

Translation: Jaehyun was proposing when you returned from your holiday in Sakura Castle. You knew your parents were set on it when you saw how they never left the Jungs’ side. And why Jaehyun persistently searched for you.

You allowed yourself the luxury of relief for the moment, though. “Thank you, father.” You curtsied to the others. “Good evening.”

Yuta cheered. “Let’s go, y/n. Let’s bring out the Ouija board!” She squealed like a teenage girl.

Yuta was a little too convincing at that.

That cracked a smile out of you. She took your hand and you made a beeline out of the ballroom.

You led Yuta up the stairs to the top floor where your suite was. You opened the imposing double doors to your bedroom and pulled Yuta inside.

You undid the bobby pins so all of your hair fell free. You sighed in relief. That hair bun may have been one of your best hairstyles yet but it hurt like a bitch.

You checked yourself in your vanity and turned to see Yuta had reverted back to himself. His face was unreadable but uncharacteristically, he was silent. You jumped at his transformation back.

Yuta laughed. “What’s wrong?”

He knew damn well what was wrong.

You let a man you barely knew into your bedroom, essentially.

You faced him and got up the nerve to talk to him like you were unbothered.

And not that you’d forgotten that Yuta was a man. A ghost, yeah. But a man all the same.

The fairest man you’d ever encountered. “Thank you for getting me the hell out of there, Yuna.” You said his alias pointedly.

He poked his cheek and said in a cutesy voice. “I got your back, sister.”

You giggled a little too enthusiastically. You cringed.

He eyed you. “You okay?”

You sighed. “I’ll answer that when I get out of this dress.” You couldn’t wait to get into a Spongebob tee and some shorts.

Yuta whistled as he twisted your words. “I was going to be a gentleman but if you insist...”

You smacked his arm. “Stop it.”

He laughed. “You make it so easy, y/n.”

As you changed out of your dress and into your pajamas in your dressing room, Yuta waited for you in the library.

You joined him and watched as he picked a book off the self.

“I was wondering...” You started.

“Yes, I will stay the night,” he said with a lazy smile on his face. He flipped through the pages of The Shining by Stephen King.

“That invitation was for Yuna. But actually...How have you been in this castle for so long? I mean, it must be-“

“Agonizing. Endless. Despairing. I could go on. But I keep trucking along. I get to haunt a lot of the airheads when they come stay here. So it’s not all a big downer,” he said calmly.

You hurt for Yuta. All of this time, you thought you were trapped but meeting Yuta made you reevaluate your perspective.

Yuta noted the somber look on your face. He placed the book back on the shelf and took your chin into his hand. “Chin up, y/n. I may not be able to leave this castle but I’m a warlock who was has travelled all over the world before his death. And a photographic memory to boot. So if I wanted to go to Paris...” He snapped his fingers again.

Your room transformed into the sidewalk by the River Seine. The Eiffel Tower was across the street at night. It shined its brilliant shades of oranges and yellows. Crowds of people passed you by. It felt too real. Like this was truly present-day Paris. You looked down at at your clothes and you wore your favorite brand of skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Yuta did as, well, but with a leather jacket.

Of course, he was a leather jacket guy, you thought.

It was spring time in Yuta’s manifestation but as it was nighttime in the scenario, it was a little colder.

Yuta removed his jacket so could put it over your shoulders.

Why didn’t he just conjure up a jacket for you?

Practically reading your mind, he admitted, “I wanted to put my jacket on you.”

Feeling very shy all of a sudden, you looked all around in awe. You haven’t been to Paris since you were ten but you treasured that time always. You visited with your maternal grandmother. She took you to all the patisseries your stomach could handle. It was one of the best experiences of your life. Growing up, you were closest to her. You teared up, remembering her and just being overwhelmed with what surrounded you. The hustle and bustle of the traffic. The faint accordion music in the distance. The laughter of children in the park.

“Not bad for a manifestation, right?” Yuta asked you as he proudly looked around at his creation. Then, he heard you sniffle.

“y/n,” he said, alarmed.

“Oh, no, It’s okay. I’m...happy. I love it, Yuta.” You wiped your tears with your arm. “Oh, look, crepes!” You saw a crepe stand by the river.

Yuta walked with you to the stand.

The vendor greeted you in French. “Welcome. How can I help you?”

Yuta replied fluently in return, lifting two fingers up. “Hello. Please, may I have two Nutella crepes?”

“So you speak French,” you said, preparing for another slick comeback from him.

“I can sing to you in French as you fall asleep, if you’d like,” he said quietly. No trace of mockery in his tone.

Caught off-guard by his candor, you sputtered. “You’re messing with me.”

Yuta shook his head. “I don’t mess around when it comes to my vocals.”

“Do you want me to shift it back?” Yuta asked after you two stared up at the stars together. You laid on the grass by the river.

“Not yet...I...Just a little longer,” you said, barely above a whisper.

Yuta continued, “You have questions.”

Sure, some quiet did you good. But you felt tense around Yuta. Feeling him so close to you. The rise and fall of his chest as he laid so close to you. Without touching you. It was killing you both, actually.

“You said you’ve been trapped at the castle for a century...You died there. So you must have lived in the castle prior. Were you a nobleman? If not, who were you back then?”

“I was the crown prince of Sakura. Before it was renamed to Neo Osaka.”

You turned onto your left side to look at Yuta and found he was already facing you. He pulled at the grass. “The Nakamoto family,” you said, recalling some of the castle’s history from your research.

“So you’ve heard of us.” Yuta met your eyes.

“The history books aren’t very kind, I’m afraid,” you admitted.

Yuta laughed. “Really? Tell me. What do they say?”

The Nakamoto family was the last of the royal line in Sakura before the country reformed. Sakura became a municipality called Neo Osaka. Nobility died quickly. Including any whisper of witchcraft.

“They called us devil-worshippers, didn’t they?” Yuta broke the ice.

How could you tell your new friend that his family’s name was dragged through the mud?

You nodded.

“They were jealous. The lot of them. My family had powers beyond anyone’s wildest dreams,” he said. You were surprised at how his words carried no emotion when they should’ve been spiteful.

“The books said your family was executed,” you quickly let out. Then, gingerly, you inquired, “But how could you still be at the castle?”

Yuta sighed. “You’re good. Getting to the root of my problem...My family wanted me to wed Princess Yena from Neo Seoul. Her family possessed the same powers we did. My parents believed that uniting our families would ensure the Nakamoto family’s eternal reign. Father and Mother were so excited to marry off their only son to a woman he didn’t love.”

And suddenly you had more in common with Yuta than you first thought.

“I didn’t want to marry her, y/n. I was young. I wanted to keep traveling. Meet more people. Improve my skills as a warlock. Maybe if I met Yena down the road, I...would’ve tolerated her as my wife. But as her family and my family pushed, I rebelled.”

Yuta began to shake. And with that, the illusion of Paris faded. You were back in the library, laying on the carpet.

You had a very bad feeling about this.

Yuta continued, “I planned to run and when I was about to, Yena and her family infiltrated the castle. In cold blood, before my very eyes, they murdered my family. My parents. My sisters. Our visiting relatives. All of my existing bloodline.”

You had no words. The only thing you could do was wait for him to finish this tragedy.

“Yena did the honors of saving me for last. And when it was my turn, she cast a curse on me. ‘Darling fiancé, may you haunt these halls for a millenium and remember how because of you, your entire family perished. You may never leave the perimeter. No one can touch you. You can be seen but can never have the warmth and affection of another’.”

You stood there, silent. Heartbroken for the man who stood before you.

He was quiet for a moment. You knew well enough not to say anything along the lines of “my heart goes out to you” or “that’s terrible”. You knew it wouldn’t do any good. It killed you not knowing what to do.

Because you wanted to help him. How? Hell if you knew.

Yuta cried silently, tears falling down and hitting your knees as you sat close to him.

You reached for him and wiped his tears away. Yuta looked at you and the most enchanting smile appeared.

“But you...y/n...you can touch me,” he rejoiced.

That puzzled the both of you. You didn’t know what this could mean. But it gave you great joy seeing how happy it made him.

“If that’s the case...then the curse is not all-binding. You may be the answer, y/n.”

No pressure, you thought to yourself.

Yuta lived with regret all of his afterlife and to find that you could be the key to his freedom...it gave him hope. He took your hands in his and begged, “Please help me. I need you.”

You didn’t know what you were getting yourself into but your heart was telling you that this was where you were meant to be. At this very moment. With this man who was too wonderful for words to describe.

You nodded fervently, “Of course, I will.”

Yuta thanked you profusely and kissed your cheek. You blushed and your eyes shot out.

Yuta apologized, “I’m sorry. I got a little excited, that’s all.” But you could see the smug look on his face. He liked having an effect on you.

You didn’t know this but from the moment Yuta first saw you, he was smitten. From your rose-colored cheeks. To your grace as you danced with that ogre Jaehyun. To the trust you two immediately had for each other in a short span of time. Yuta knew there had to be a reason why you were the only one who could touch him.

And that he was set on finding out.

To Be Continued

A/N: Hey it’s Ari! It’s been long overdue: a Yuta AU! When Yuta covered “White”, I was even more sure I wanted to write this. “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi served as a big inspiration. Shoutout to Krys for the inspiration behind the title of “Snowflake”, originally called The Winter Prince. I hope you enjoy! PS LETSLOVEYUTAONTHISBLOGALILMORETAEYONGISGREATBUTYUTAISJUSTASGREATKTHANKSBYE

306 notes · View notes

codynaomiswireart · 4 years

Text

Gauze in the Wound - Part 23

“..Suddenly you lose your way and lose the thread Lose your cool then lose your head Every loss is harder to excuse Then you’ll see you’ll lose your way and lose your soul Till you lose complete control And realize there’s nothing left to lose Nothing left to lose…” ~ Nothing Left to Lose by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater

“Well, if I were ‘You Know Who,’ I’d want you to feel cutoff from everyone else. Because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.” ~ Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

----------------------------------------------------------------

Pontus slowed to a halt, setting the apple down gently on the ground beside him as he took a much-needed drink from the stream trickling before him. Raising his head to look up at the stars, the water dribbled down the stag’s chin, and the creature caught his breath as he listened for their guidance.

“…There,” he thought as he zeroed in on the location in his mind, took hold of the precious fruit again, and went bounding over the border into Corona’s thick woods.

“Just a little bit longer…” the stag thought as the trees whipped passed him.

--------------------------------------------------------------

“Just a little bit longer,” he thought to himself, pausing to peer up at the steep slope silhouetted against the night sky before him. He grinned, relishing the feeling of being back in a physical body. Though it wasn’t enough, of course. That’s why they were heading to this old, familiar location. He needed more, and here was where they would get it. They just had to open the veil a bit further, and his return would be complete.

“Do not worry, Puer Lunae,” the voice purred, feeling the form on the other end of the coil shiver in response. “This will all be over soon.” He adjusting the pack on his back, and continued his hike towards their destination, grinning as he threw the next jab with his words. “I promise…”

---------------------------------------------------------------

“Try again!” the Captain shouted, as several of the guards attempted to form a human ladder, and tried to hoist themselves over the jagged wall of black rocks. But the tall, steep, smooth sides of the rocks made the attempt difficult, and they only succeeded in one of the guards getting stuck between the crux of two rocks before being pulled back by his comrades, all of them falling in a clattering heap.

“Blast it!” the Captain yelled angrily, kicking a patch of dirt. “Is there any other way out of here?” “Sabine?” King Frederic asked urgently, the healer now seated on the stoop of her home, holding a bag of ice to her aching face. “Is there any way you can warp us out of here to another checkpoint? From there we could-”

But Sabine shook her head. “Alas your highness,” she replied sadly, “that last jump took up all the magic the house had charged up for that purpose. It’ll be another day at least before the house could get us to the next closest point, and I fear we may not have that kind of time. Given what just happened, I highly doubt that Varian intends to just kindly follow through on his end of the agreement.”

“Surely, there must be some way!” Arianna exclaimed as she sat down beside the healer, setting a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder, but also in clear distress. By now, thanks to Sabine’s smelling salts, the queen had largely recovered from the influence of the sleeping draught, and along with the others was now brainstorming about how best to figure out an escape plan to stop Varian from…whatever it was he was planning.

Xavier, meanwhile, sat off to the side, his brain reeling from the last fifteen minutes as everyone carried on around him. Varian had turned on them. Varian had betrayed them. Xavier had tried to help, and he had failed; made things even worse than they already had been. He knew from the moment Varian’s eyes met his that all rationality in the boy was gone, and only malice, pride, and hatred were there now.

What was he supposed to do…?

At least…at least he’d been able to help Varian forge a sword that could cut the amber, he supposed. If nothing else, perhaps there was a chance Varian really was just going to get Quirin back. Xavier regretted not being able to be there for Varian, especially if…if the worst outcome were to be true upon breaking open his father’s golden prison. If Quirin…if he were dead, that may indeed push Varian clear over the edge, and Corona may truly face a threat they were unable to stand up to. But if Quirin were alive, maybe there could be some hope for Varian after all. Varian may be an exile now, but perhaps he could finally find some closure and move on in peace. And perhaps Quirin would still be with him, and he wouldn’t be alone. Maybe he could find a new start in another place at another time, even if Xavier wasn’t to be a part of it.

…But if Quirin wasn’t all right…? If somehow things went badly…?

Xavier sighed, setting his head in his hands. He tried to think up ways of escape as well, and he had this horrible feeling like Sabine that they may not have much time. But it was so hard to think of anything right now. The blacksmith shut his eyes, laying his face in his hands, and silently praying for an answer. Just something – anything – to help would be ever so welcome right now.

…And then-

Xavier froze, his ears catching the sound of a sharp, muffled cry coming from somewhere nearby. Turning his head this way and that, Xavier tried hard to pinpoint the location of the sound.

“What the…?” Xavier thought, his heart pounding as he realized the sound was coming from inside the safehouse. Cautiously, Xavier went back inside, ignoring the confused looks of Donovan and Hilda as he skirted by them on the veranda; the two Saporians doing their best to stay out of all the drama unfolding around them. As Xavier got closer to the first-floor corridor, the cries became louder and clearer. Then, in a flash of recognition, Xavier ran as quick as he could for the door to Varian’s room, and stopped short when he found it locked up tight.

He could hear Ruddiger crying on the other side!

“Ruddiger!” Xavier shouted, hearing the raccoon go silent. “Ruddiger, get away from the door!”

After waiting a couple seconds, Xavier began shoving all of his weight into the door, the hinges creaking and the doorframe splintering a little as he did so.

“What in the-? Xavier!” the Captain called, having heard the commotion and coming to investigate. “What in the world do you think you’re do-!?”

The Captain’s words were cutoff as the door fell inward from its hinges with a crash, and Xavier knelt down as Ruddiger dashed over into the blacksmith’s arms, the little creature shivering and whimpering.

“What’s going on?” Frederic asked as he too came up from behind. “Xavier, what are you-?”

“It’s Ruddiger,” Xavier replied, trying to calm the quivering, distressed animal. “He was locked in Varian’s room.”

“Varian left him behind?” Arianna asked, surprised sadness in her voice as she came up behind her husband. “Oh, the poor thing!”

“For goodness sake Xavier!” Sabine managed to snap as she wove her way to the front of the increasingly crowded hallway, still holding the cold pack to her eye. “You could’ve just asked me for a key you know-!”

But Xavier tuned Sabine and the others out as Ruddiger began chittering frantically to him, and tugging on his sleeve for him to pay attention. Xavier’s heart began to pound hard again as he followed the raccoon back into Varian’s room. As Ruddiger got to the center of the room, the little creature sat down on his haunches, and began waving his paws about, and pointing at the ground in front of him.

Xavier frowned. “What is it Ruddiger? What’s wrong?”

Ruddiger repeated the motions, trying so hard to communicate. By now, the others also noticed the raccoon’s gestures, and everyone stared at him, confused. With a snort, Ruddiger then climbed up onto the dresser, pointing at the blank wall above it. Again, confused looks only met him.

Until-

“The mirror!” Arianna yelped, here eyes widening. “The mirror! It’s gone!”

The Captain looked at Arianna quizzically. “What are you talking about your highness?”

“Don’t you see?” Arianna said. “The outline bleeched on the wall by sunlight? A mirror used to be here! Sabine!” Arianna now turned to the healer. “Did you by chance do anything to the mirror in my room earlier this evening?”

“Certainly not!” Sabine replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Because earlier this evening a strange pattern was drawn in white on the mirror in my room. I would’ve asked you about it, but then…Well…”

Sabine blinked at Arianna with her one good eye, realization beginning to dawn upon her face. In a hurry, Sabine crossed the hallway to Arianna’s room and looked inside, pausing just in time before she stepped on the shards of reflective glass that covered the floor. Arianna’s mirror was shattered.

She had seen this magic before!

“Oh no…” Sabine whispered under her breath, and dashed towards the end of the hallway, dropping her cold pack as she went.

“What’s wrong Sabine?” Frederic asked as the healer pushed passed him. “What is-?” “Varian is here!” Sabine cried, reaching for a ring dangling down from a chord hanging from the ceiling. “Quick, Captain! If you could help me please!”

“Er, yes. Of course,” the Captain complied, though still clearly confused as a sturdy wooden ladder slid down from the opening to the attic, and Sabine scrambled up it and into the darkness beyond.

“Hurry!” Sabine called to him again over her shoulder, tossing aside an old tarp from a large, verticle mirror. Sabina grunted with exertion as she scooted it across the attic floor. “Help me get this to Varian’s room!”

“But, why?” the Captain asked, though continuing to do as Sabine asked as he helped lift one end.

“Varian is here!” Sabine repeated as they moved down the ladder. “Well, in a sort of way. But he may not be for much longer! We have to move fast!”

“What do you mean, Sabine?” Arianna asked, as she, Frederic, and Xavier all moved to help get the mirror over into the room. “We all saw Varian leave-”

“If my hunch is correct,” Sabine interrupted, directing them to set the mirror down at the far end of the room, “that wasn’t actually Varian that we saw.”

Frederic raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean by that Sabine? Who else could it have been?”

“Not who, your majesty,” Sabine said ominously. “But what.”

As everyone only stared at her in response, Sabine instructed them all to stand with her at the other end of the room, well away from the tall mirror. As Xavier felt Ruddiger scurry up his form and cling tightly to his shoulders, Sabine stretched a hand forward towards the mirror, and chanted another spell.

“Speculum speculum, alium se orbem terrarium ad ianuam, aperi!”

For a moment, various colors rippled across the mirror’s surface, and the reflection of the room in which they stood became distorted. Then, once it had settled down again, everyone stared at the dark reflection of the room that now greeted them…and gasped as they also saw something else there that shouldn’t have been.

“Varian!” Xavier cried, as he saw the boy laying in the center of the floor of the dark reflection, his face buried in his arms, glowing green vines coiled round his wrists and ankles like chains, and the tendrils extending back into the shape of a second mirror (the mirror that had been missing from Varian’s room in fact) that glowed ominously with the same eerie light. Varian didn’t appear to have heard Xavier, nor take any notice of the new gateway that had formed nearby him.

Xavier wasn’t sure if this was because Varian was asleep…or maybe dead.

“No no no, stop!” Sabine yelped, holding everyone back with outstretched arms as several of them made to move forward. “Everyone, keep away from the mirror!”

“What on earth is going on Sabine?” Xavier asked, feeling Ruddiger grip his shoulders even tighter as the creature let out a frightened trill. “What are we looking at? Is that really-?”

Sabine nodded. “I’m afraid so. Varian – the real Varian – has been trapped inside the world of the mirror.” “Trapped?” Arianna gasped. “In the mirror? But how?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” said Sabine. “But I can tell you this. Whoever or whatever has trapped Varian in there has replaced him with a shadow double; an evil doppelgänger created via his reflection in the dark mirror. I have seen this kind of magic once before, and it is a very evil thing to conjure. I suspect that the dark magic Pontus had sensed in Varian before has something to do with it. It’s also clear to me that this interloper somehow arranged to have all of the other sizable mirrors in the house shattered so we couldn’t access it ourselves, should we have figured out this trick. I’ll admit, it was well disguised; making it look like the mirrors shattered due to the magic of the house going haywire, as opposed to deliberately placed destruction circles. Fortunately, her majesty noticed the destruction circle drawn on her own mirror beforehand, which all but confirms this theory to me.” “Well thank goodness we still have this mirror,” Arianna said. “Then what are we waiting for?” the Captain asked, making another move as if to approach the mirror. “Let’s get him out!”

“Careful!” Sabine warned again, blocking the Captain’s way. “If you get too close to the mirror, your own reflection will spaun another evil doppelgänger. And we don’t want to have to face any more foes than we need to.” “So, what do we do?” Arianna asked. “How can we get him out without getting close?” “I’m not sure,” Sabine replied, now rubbing her forehead, hard in thought. “The only way I know of to breach the barrier is to swap places with your doppelgänger, but if we tried that- And with Varian’s own double now far away, he couldn’t even- Oh, kettles and cobblestones! Think Sabine! Think! There must be some way-!”

It was at this moment that Xavier noticed a crucial detail as he looked into the mirror again. While everyone’s reflections showed dimly in it (though not strong enough to spaun any evil twins)…there was one whose reflection was missing. Xavier had to look on his shoulder to make sure Ruddiger was indeed still there, as the creature’s reflection was somehow absent from the dark mirror. Xavier then had a wild, crazy, but not totally unfounded idea form in his mind. If Ruddiger could sense and hear Varian from beyond their world, and if his own reflection wasn’t present in the mirror, and if he’d been able to traverse such planes of existence not long before and bring Varian back…? “Hold on tight to me,” Xavier whispered to Ruddiger, and took a step forward. “Xavier!?” Sabine cried as the man suddenly strode by her, and she reached out to grab onto him. But as her hands closed before her, they closed not on the fibers of Xavier’s clothes, but around the wood of his walking stick as he held it out towards her. “What’re y-?” “Hold my cane,” Xavier said sternly, and then unfalteringly walked right up to the cursed mirror, and reached forward.

-------------------------------------------------

…He had been such an idiot…

Varian sniffed, curling in on himself tighter. Everything hurt. His head, his stomach, his eyes, his throat, his pride, his heart…Everything hurt. He was thirsty, but of course there was no water here. He would’ve been hungry too, if despair hadn’t engulfed his hunger pains with a pain all its own. He’d taken the devil’s poison, and it left him empty.

Varian thought he’d hit rock bottom before when he’d been down in the dungeons that night after his trial. Little did he know then. No, this was truly rock bottom now. He thought he felt helpless before? No, this was true helplessness. He was down a deep, dark hole now, with no way out…and he only had himself to blame.

Varian shuddered as he remembered it all. He remembered how quick he had been to trust the man who looked so much like his father, and who promised him a way to go back. To be fair, the man had shared with him theories and equations that made it all sound entirely possible. All they would have to do was harness the power of the Moon Drop in Varian, channel it under certain conditions, and they could cut a rift into time and space itself – make all that had caused Varian so much grief go away. Start over. Stop all disaster from ever happening, and all would be well again. All would be normal again. All would be happy again. “I dunno…” Varian had said, seated next to those rosy flames. “What…what would happen if we did that? I mean, what if we-? Could we…could we really go back and change things?” “But of course!” the man had said, having a helping of food and drink himself, then passing some over to Varian. “Why else would I be here in the first place, if not for a rift in time and space? Or don’t tell me you believe in ghosts. And you understand the physics, right? Is it not sound?” “I’ll admit that it’s theoretically possible,” Varian had said, slowly but surely picking up the vial handed to him. As his thoughts churned on the subject at hand, and under the gaze of such familiar features, Varian hardly thought about what he had been doing as he began to raise the vial to his lips. “But…that’s only if this…magic…does what you say it will. I mean, there’s no force on Earth that could have those kinds of effects without catastrophic consequences resulting from it.” “True,” the man had said, then gave Varian a smile that he supposed, in retrospect, was meant to give Varian that final jab of pride to throw all caution to the wind. “…But, then again, the Moon Stone is not of this Earth, is it? And you are the one who can wield it. If you’ll let me show you how…”

That was when Varian began to feel his inhibitions about the situation melt away. This was everything he had ever wanted. Or, at least, on the cusp of everything he wanted. It was the next closest thing to his father telling him that he was proud of him, and it was offering him a way out of everything. “Well, cheers to that idea!” Varian had thought, finally downing the first sip of what had been handed to him.

…Little did he realize what exactly had been handed to him, and by whom.

Varian knew he had begun to feel awful soon afterward. Those constant pains in his head and his gut – he had wanted to chalk it all up to the residual effects of his assertions during the battle with the Saporians. But no. While all that had certainly hurt him, these pains were something else in their own right, and had a different source spurring them on.

Too bad he had realized the truth too late.

Fear, anger, pride – all three could be awful drugs. They blurred one’s rationality, made you do things you would regret in your sober hours, and yet demand to be fed all the same. Somehow, despite knowing this deep down, you comply anyway. It feels good at first, Varian knew. It was a relief in a way. He would feel justified. Perhaps even a bit noble. Perhaps a bit cleansed as he felt at liberty to vent all the ugliness piling up in his soul on those he targeted with the blame. But once the rush was over, that dull ache would come back again, and he was left asking himself, again and again, “What have I done…? Why did I do that…? Why did I say that…?” What a fool he had been! Varian felt a fresh pang of shame as he thought about how he allowed that Shade to instruct him on making preparations, and drawing the circles on the mirrors. In one sense, the man hadn’t lied. He had told Varian that all this would allow him to cast a spell that would allow him to become more manifest, and thus be of more use when they arrived in Corona.

But despite the words not being exactly false, they were still meant to deceive.

Varian remembered the terror and confusion he had felt when he had reached forward to draw on his own mirror with the enchanted chalk (taken from Sabine’s own supplies of course), and found his own reflection grabbing him before he could even make the first mark. Varian would’ve cried out, but before he could do anything, he was pulled through the looking glass, and lay stunned as he looked up at the likeness to himself, sneering down at him with red, glowing eyes.

“Aaah!” Varian had cried, shuffling back away from the horrible apparition. Then, he felt himself bump up against another form at his back. “Oh, thank goodness!” he thought in momentary relief.

“D-Demanitus!” Varian exclaimed, scrambling to his feet, and then hiding partially behind the man’s form, still looking in terror at the thing standing before him. “Wh-what is that!? What did I-? I-I don’t understa-!” But Varian stopped, his voice dying in his throat. He staggered back, wide-eyed and pale, as he stared up at the face that looked down at him. The man – Demanitus – no longer wore a face like his father’s. The mask had now dropped. In its place, was the face of a demon.

In a flash, the demon shape lunged itself at the other Varian, appearing for a moment to be a shooting cloud of dark mist. As the mist collided into the false-Varian, Varian watched in horror as the creature twisted, writhed, and groaned as parasite merged with its host. Varian could only stand there, staring, heart pounding, and breath rapid. What was happening? “Rrraah,” the creature eventually moaned, stretching twitching limbs, and cracking the stiffness in its neck and wrists. Worst of all, as it began to speak, Varian heard it talk in his own voice. “Mmm…Yes, yes! Not ideal, clearly. But it’ll do. For now.” As the creature then turned to look at Varian, grinning wickedly, Varian felt a shock of horror surge through him. In a panic, Varian made a desperate rush for the mirror through which he’d been pulled into this place. The next thing Varian knew, he was sent flying flat onto his back, stunned. He’d crashed headlong into the mirror’s surface, and it did not give way.

“No…” Varian breathed, and sprang back up, shoving and pouding and scratching desperately at the mirror’s surface, but it would not yield. “NO! NO NO! L-LET ME OUT!” Varian screamed. “LET ME OUT! RUDDIGER! XAVIER! ANYONE! PLEASE! HELP ME!” “It’s too late, Puer Lunae.” Varian whirled round, coming face-to-face with the monster – his dark reflection. It then grabbed him by the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground with inhuman strength. Varian tried to get it to let go of him, but it was no use. The monster then threw Varian across the dark room, slamming him into the opposite wall.

Varian lay there a moment, struggling to breathe after the air had been knocked out of him. As he tried to rise, Varian felt himself shoved back down by a heel between his shoulderblades, pinning him to the ground.

“Ah ah ah, not so fast,” the voice tutted him from above. “You wouldn’t want to hurt yourself more before the big event, now would you?”

It was at this moment that Varian’s “flight” instincts turned to “fight,” and before he could think to do anything else, Varian gripped at the floor hard with his fingers, causing several black rocks to spring up around him from the ground. Startled, the figure holding him down jumped away, allowing Varian the freedom to get up onto his knees. As he did so, Varian extended a hand forward, giving out a caterwaul as he sent a stream of black rocks at the monster. Unfortunately, his enemy seemed to be ready for this attack. As he dodged the oncoming spires, a twisting, slithering mass of glowing green shot forward, and coiled itself tightly around Varian’s wrist.

In alarm, Varian summoned more black rocks with his other hand, but that one too got entangled in the monster’s cursed tendrils. A moment later, Varian’s limbs were all bound, and he could only lay there helplessly as the creature again came and stood above him.

“Ah, good. You’ve been recovering nicely,” it said. “This will make things easier. We won’t have to wait as long as I had feared. We can begin immediately when we arrive!” “Wha-…wh-what are you talking about!?” Varian asked, his brain reeling. “I-I don’t understand! Demanitus, y-you said-! We were supposed to-!” “Oh, you really are a foolish child,” the un-man said, and Varian winced as its puppet body ragdolled forward at the torso, and the ghostly apparition of the demon emerged from its back. Now, it spoke in its own, gravely voice.

“I suppose in all his lessons your teacher neglected to tell you about my kind. Such a pity. In case it wasn’t obvious to you by now, I can take on any form that suits my needs. A warlock…” Here the form shifted back to its Demanitus appearance. “A demon, as you have seen. A child…” Now its form now shifted to that of a little girl. This form Varian found particularly unsettling, especially as the demon’s interpretation somehow resulted in the child having disturbingly large eyes and a long, twisted, Cheshire-cat grin. “And…even a blizzard.” Varian’s eyes went wide as those last words sank in. “Wait…Y-you!? You were-!?”

The creature giggled – though a haunting, deranged sort of child giggling which made Varian’s skin crawl – and resumed its position inside of the puppet body. As the creature snapped back to life, it knelt down by Varian, grabbing him by the hair with one hand, forcing Varian to look up at it.

“Zhan Tiri? Perhaps you’ve heard of me? Maybe your silly teacher mentioned me during one of your silly lessons.” For several seconds, Varian could only feel terror flood through him as it all began to sink in. Having grown up in Corona, Varian had of course heard the legends of Lord Demanitus, and his battles against the supposed dark creature from the netherworld that had tried to destroy the kingdom in its early days. Like most tales of such spectacular things, Varian had believed them to be mere myth. Or exaggerated tales of something that happened long ago at best. As such, the stories seemed to hold little to no relevance for his own personal life. He had no reason to give them much thought before.

But now-

“N-no!” Varian yelped. “I-I-it’s not true! It’s not true! You’re not real! You were just a- Aah!”

The monster chuckled as Varian’s face twisted in pain as it pulled harder on his hair. “Just a what? A fairytale? A myth? A legend?”

Varian didn’t respond back, only looking back at Zhan Tiri with frightened eyes as he remembered Xavier’s words. “All legends are born of truth.”

But it wasn’t fair! Where was the evidence? Where was the warning? How was he supposed to have known or prepared for a demon suddenly popping up out of nowhere!?

“No!” Varian insisted again. “It doesn’t make sense! Why would you be here, and why now?”

“Were you not paying attention?” the apparition said, finally releasing Varian, who continued to lay helpless on the floor as the un-man paced about in front of him. “Did you not agree with me that the power of the Moon Drop can cause rifts in time and space? I have been waiting centuries for it to finally be awakened enough for me to…slip through one of the cracks.” The creature stretched out an arm, twisting its wrist about, joints crackling. “Of course, I could only project a portion of my soul into the world with a warp that small. I would need something a bit more…substantial if I was to make any sort of progress.”

The creature eyed Varian with an evil, sideways glance. “Too bad you didn’t kill that Saporian spy when you had the chance. It wouldn’t have come to this if you had.”

Varian felt like he was going to be sick. Was this monster really talking about…?

And was he going to-…!?

“A-are you going to kill me?” Varian asked, not even trying to hide the squeakiness of his voice, nor the half-sob that escaped him as the idea passed through his mind.

“…No,” the un-man said, though Varian only felt minimal relief at this. Zhan Tiri had lied to him before after all. The monster smiled. “Fortunately for you – and your comrades as well – I was able to find another way around that problem, as you just witnessed yourself.”

Varian swallowed hard as he recalled what he had seen only moments before.

“I cannot take over a body that still contains a soul, and to kill you would also sever the powers within you. And I still have need of those powers. As I said, the Moon Drop can affect time and space, and as much as I would love to fool around with all of the idiotic citizens of Corona while wearing your face a while longer…” the creature snickered at its own thoughts. “I would very much like to be getting back my original body as soon as possible.” The un-man looked down at Varian. “And you will help me get it back. You will allow me to finally return to this world.”

Varian shook his head. “No! Y-y-you’re wrong!” he shouted. “What makes you think I’d ever help you? You can’t make me! I won’t do it!”

Zhan Tiri stared down at Varian, and for a moment, Varian thought he had actually pointed out a flaw in the demon’s plans. “Of course!” he thought. If it all depended on Varian’s cooperation, he could just say no, and that was it! Check mate! Zhan Tiri couldn’t go any further!

But-

“Oh, you won’t, will you?” the demon then asked, a purr returning to his voice as he raised a hand. “I’m afraid you already have,” and the monster clenched his hand into a tight fist.

“What-?”

Varian suddenly curled in on himself as he felt a sharp, aching pain wrap itself around his heart, and a low humming sound filled his brain. He cried out as it all came flooding out of him – anger, bitterness, grief, hatred, pride; all those feelings that had haunted him since that terrible day, and all the thoughts that came with them. At the same time, Varian felt magic prickle through his veins, and behind closed eyelids he could tell the air got brighter around him. He then heard the sound of the ground crunching nearby him a couple times, until finally the sensation let him go.

As Varian lay there panting, he opened his eyes, looking up to see several new black rocks protruding from the ground next to him. He also saw his shadow-self looking back at him with satisfaction, its own eyes and hair glowing a slight blue-silver.

“A bit of my own concoction, if you will recall” the creature replied smugly to Varian’s unspoken questions, and recalling to mind the vial and the food from before. “It is good fun to play on people’s hunger and thirst for anger, revenge, all that sort of thing. Easy too. So long as I’ve got you here…” The un-man’s glowing vines tightened harder around Varian’s limbs. “Combined with my bonding serum, you are my puppet on strings. I can use your powers as I please.”

Varian grit his teeth, struggling again for a moment. But he was getting so tired now, and helplessness began to weigh in on him.

“Oh, don’t look so down,” Zhan Tiri said mockingly, casually stepping over him to the mirror gateway. “You and I have similar goals, after all. We both want justice, do we not? We both want Corona to pay, right? We want her royals and all her useless citizens to hear us?”

Varian didn’t respond. He just lay there, still feeling the sticky-sweet sensation of his self-righteousness throbbing in his chest. Maybe…maybe Zhan Tiri was right. He remembered the rage that had burned within him when he’d been denied, ignored, abandoned, and locked away. He remembered the bitter glee of finally having the upper hand on those who had wronged him. He remembered the allure of the rush that came with lashing out at those who had wronged him, even to the point of violence. Surely, if it felt right…

And yet… And yet…

It wasn’t all so sweet anymore. It had been sweet when those whom he had hurt had been mere objects in his mind; just pawns in the grand game of good and bad that he had to win. But was he himself not offended at the idea of being seen as merely a pawn? And good and bad!? What did he know about them? At the very least, as Varian thought of the faces of Xavier, Friedborg, Arianna, the Captain, Pete and Stan, and all the rest – did he really think himself such a good person that he could place himself as their Judge?

…But it was too late. Zhan Tiri had a hold of him now.

“Mm. So be it,” the Shade finally said as Varian continued to remain silent. It stepped through the mirror gate to the other side, the glowing green vines continuing to extend through from its back, keeping Varian tethered to it. The monster took a deep breath as it came through, spreading its arms. “Ah, another step achieved!” it sighed, then spied Varian’s sword leaning against the fireplace. Picking it up, the un-man weighed the blade and scabbard in his hands, then strapped it around his waist. Finally, it picked up a nerby blanket, giving Varian one last, sneering, mocking look as it began to drape it over the mirror.

“Come now, Puer Lunae. Destiny awaits us!”

--------------------------------------------------

“Destiny,” Varian thought with absolute misery as his thoughts came back to the present. He’d heard people talk about destiny before, mostly Xavier and Rapunzel – a wisened blacksmith and a magical princess. Of course, destiny would be an appealing prospect for them. Their kind were always the heros in all the stories, always the ones to break through to the light of day.

But for someone like Varian? Perhaps “moon child” was a fitting title for him. Destined to always be in the dark no matter what he did. To never be free from it. To never break out and see the sun.

“…It’s all over now…” was all Varian could think to himself as he buried his face further into his arms, feeling utterly defeated.

He had failed… Again…

…Then-

Varian’s head shot up as out of nowhere he suddenly heard the sounds of fighting. For a moment, Varian thought he was hallucinating or dreaming as he saw a large, moving shape in silhouette against a large, oval light that had somehow appeared a few feet away. Then, as he continued to look, Varian realized it wasn’t one large shape, but two. And they were men! Two men, wrestling and fighting with one another! And not just any men, but Xavier! Two of him! And…Ruddiger!? Was Ruddiger clinging to the shoulders of one of them??

Varian had no idea how to respond as the two Xavier’s grappled with one another. He could only watch wide-eyed as they pushed, tugged, grabbed, and even threw a punch at one another here and there. Had he gone insane? Or was Zhan Tiri feeding him more illusions to mess with him?

After a minute or two, one of the Xavier’s appeared to gain the upper hand (the one with Ruddiger on his shoulder), and after getting a firm grip on the other, sent his opponent sprawling back out into the light. Varian then heard him shout something after the fallen Xavier, something that sounded like, “Keep him down! I’ll get him!”

What in the name of Herz der Sonne was going on??

Varian then froze, frightened as the Xavier on this side of the light turned towards him, then went running at him (or, at least, running as well as his clear limp would allow).

“X-Xav-?” Varian barely managed to say before he found himself scooped up into a tight hug in those strong, familiar arms, and heard a familiar chattering noise at his side.

“Oh Varian, thank heavens!” Xavier voice thundered in his ear. “It’s ok! It’s going to be ok! Are you hurt? I’m here now! I’ve got you! You’re going to be all right!”

#i'm so sorry this took so long!#tts #rta #fan fiction #gitw #gauze in the wound #varian #xavier the blacksmith #zhan tiri #queen arianna #king frederic #captain of the guard #ruddiger #rudiger #angst #sabine the wounded healer

16 notes · View notes

forsomeonessake · 5 years

Text

Slow Snippets

For @mia-ugly ...

Hey! Fixomnia here, radioing in from my GO!Sideblog. This is the simplest way I could think of sending a longpost your way.

I think you know how deeply your Slow Show has resonated with me. It’s been a rare delight to anticipate each chapter. These are just some random fluffy clouds that drifted by as I was reading (and re-reading) that I thought I’d share. Feel free to take them as a compliment, mere reflections of the light you’ve sprinkled about – or do what you will with them!

Having the kids down to the cottage to give Sarah and her husband a weekend to themselves now and then. It’s awkward at first, but Anthony turns out to be a wicked kids’ cooking teacher. He somehow doesn’t mind icing sugar all over his black jeans while holding forth on Meringue Technique.

Even the eldest teenager opens up to him, feeling weird and lonely and nothing like the rest of the family. Anthony knows an adolescent anxiety shrub when he sees one and takes the kid for a walk. He nearly teaches him to smoke, but doesn’t. God help him, he teaches the kid pranic breathing and sensory grounding tips by the river, like some hippie guru.

Uriel and Beez genuinely loathe each other, but the two of them are grudgingly in awe of each other, and they realize they’re each holding half of a goldmine if they can handle working together. Because Beez suddenly has Anthony, Avery, Anathema and another half dozen variously non-conforming young actors on their list and everyone wants a piece of them.

Beez has to deal with being regarded as a Safe Space and a confidante. Jesus wept. Eyes could not roll any harder. It’s not tough love they practice so much as battlefield foxhole tactics to keep everyone alive another day, but it works. Mostly. Beez gets so wrung out that it’s Anthony’s turn to talk her down from a fugue state score now and then.

Anthony and Avery manage to escape their first Christmas with The Families. Avery’s not ready to deal with being Uncle Avery and Uncle Anthony quite yet. (Sarah’s youngest came up with Uncle Az and Aunt Tony, which shows signs of sticking.)

Anthony is tempted to bring Avery to his parents’ New Years All Day Champagne Brunch out of spite. Who better to parade in front of their noses than Avery Class Act Fell? Because Anthony knows that whatever quotes his parents’ publicist released, they aren’t exactly proud, even if they generally wish him well. Vera and Reginald knew they’d be crucified in the press if they were anything less than supportive of their famous gay son’s prodigal return to health, love and career success, but they will never understand how they could have a son like Anthony.

Avery’s dad, unlike Anthony’s, does get to meet “that actor chappie friend of your’n”, before the big wedding. They have nothing in common except for a working knowledge of Vera and Reginald Crowley’s film career, but it’s enough. They both love Avery deeply. And Anthony’s scones don’t hurt.

During the visit, the Garrity lads’ teenaged kids come round to ask for autographs, to the Garrity brothers’ chagrin. Pints together down at the local doesn’t cancel out the hard years. (Anthony insisted on accepting the invite, with a sharkish grin, and threatened to femme out completely, though he settled for sparkly diamond earrings and a scarf. Totally demure by London standards.) But it’s worth something to see the younger Garritys teaching their elders about simple appreciation of different kinds of folk.

After that, Avery seeks out Daniel, to finally have that talk. It turns out Daniel had known instantly what Avery was going through, when they were kids. He’d kicked himself for nudging Avery too hard towards an admission when he wasn’t ready. They were both painfully young and inexperienced at the time. Unlike the Garrity situation, this one ends in a genuine friendship that just skipped a few decades. Daniel and his family are delighted to attend the wedding.

Tracy and Shadwell are actually married-married within a year. Shadwell looks like he doesn’t know what’s hit him, but it’s definitely good. Trace doesn’t go off with the ladies for a long while after, preferring to find jobs on film sets near Shad, wherever he’s working. After keeping Avery going for so long, she’s a natural actor’s PA. And part-time psychic. It starts as an improv in someone’s trailer, showing off her old persona, but Madame Tracy Draws Aside the Veil soon turns into her popular party thing.

Turns out Anthony can sing. Properly sing. He used to have a decent New Romantics croon, back in the 80s, but it’s mellowed into a Nick Cave-ish I’ve-seen-some-shit baritone when he wasn’t paying attention. Avery catches him singing along to some afternoon piano junketing, and prods him into an actual duet. Avery has a stage-trained lyric tenor, self-conscious, but sweet. (“Trace was always the one for singing in the car or while she was doing the hoovering. I just hummed along. Bit of a metaphor, really.”)

Getting Avery to let out his full powerful singing voice becomes something Anthony can actually help him with, something they can work at together. You can imagine how many buttons that pushes for both of them, the sensitive ones and the good ones.

Oh, God, and Beez gets wind of their musical interludes, and next thing they’re signed up to do that Christmas charity CD. And then a West End Panto, one Christmas season when Sir Patrick and Sir Ian are both away filming in America. Avery was made for Dame roles, and Anthony for the Evil Magician. It becomes an annual thing.

One of Beez’ young clients, kicked out after coming out to his parents, ends up billetting with Avery and Anthony for a while. Then he gets into Central for drama school, and it’s decided he might as well move properly into the bottom floor (technically the old servants’ quarters of the London townhouse Avery and Anthony bought together) with a classmate till they’ve finished their course.

The usual papers start to get slimy about them moving a pair of young gay men into the house, but they tackle it head-on with a blistering interview about the rates of homelessness, depression and suicide among LGBTQ youth without support. Avery speaks powerfully about setting himself up for a life of hidden abuse and self-loathing while Anthony manifested his on the outside, and how close they both came to disaster.

The response is so great they find themselves doing something of a speaking tour, working to publicize youth support networks and self-resilience campaigns. It’s not what they’d expected to become Their Social Cause, as actors, but once Avery sees how they’ve been able to help even one young man, it’s as if his shackles have fallen away. (Anthony can’t stop grinning through it all, because people keep congratulating his parents on having such a son.)

Thirty years later, they both somehow end up with Knighthoods for Services to the Arts, a few years apart, and a couple more major industry awards each. The recently crowned King William V recalls watching Avery as the conflicted missionary St. John Rivers in a mid-90s BBC-1 Jane Eyre, with his mother Diana, which makes Sir Avery tear up.

Sir Anthony too. Big Diana fan, him, after all.

#good omens #slow show #mia-ugly #go!fanfic #good omens fanfic #fanfic homage #fanrambes

283 notes · View notes

jaxsteamblog · 4 years

Text

Blush

Click here to read the full fic on AO3

Katara stood in the garden watching as Thuy paced back and forth, a large boulder floating beside her. As she walked, Thuy chewed on her thumbnail and mumbled under her breath.

“I don’t understand the problem.” Katara said.

“I have aphantasia Katara!” Thuy cried and flung her arms out. The boulder went flying, thankfully crashing into the outer garden wall and not the palace.

“And that means?”

“It means I have no inner eye. I can’t plan anything out.” Thuy replied, her voice thin as she whined.

“No I get that. I just don’t understand why we’re terraforming.” Katara said.

“Because it has to be perfect.” Thuy froze patches on the pond to walk across, heading toward the boulder. Katara held the stepping stones of ice as she followed.

“You can just ask him.” Katara stepped onto the grass and watched as Thuy pried the boulder loose. As it popped free, she then attempted to smooth away the dent in the rock wall.

“He’s the Fire Lord. It’s a little bit different than asking people who are expecting it.” Thuy muttered.

“I just don’t think you need to go through all this trouble. Zuko would be happy to do it.”

“You haven’t seen him since he became Fire Lord. He’s all grumpy and stressed out now.”

Katara flinched at Thuy’s words. “I have seen him!”

“I meant in person.” Thuy turned and trotted back across the pond. It took a minute before Katara followed.

It was true, she hadn’t seen Zuko in the months since his coronation. She was still technically being trained, and Zuko now officially had his kingdom to run. Plus, with Ozai and Azula in prison, he was under a lot of emotional stress.

They had talked it out over their video chats, but time was scarce for both of them. Katara was only here in the Fire Nation because it was Thuy’s birthday; she had missed his birthday a few weeks prior. What felt like her attempt to make up for it, the ever romantic Thuy wasn’t kidding about what she had said in the Avatar State. She was clearly showering Zuko with her favor, and now Katara wondered how much of it was an unnecessary bribe.

A lot of people were reading into Thuy’s birthday party plans. The televised Agni Kai had in fact almost caused an international incident. The Fire Lord had openly attacked the Avatar, which was generally frowned upon. And while Zuko had triumphed, Ozai’s betrayal left a sour taste in every leader’s mouth; they had been dealing with Fire Nation turmoil for a hundred years after all.

Since the fight, Thuy was attached to Zuko. She frequently commented on their shared ancestry; his through blood and hers through reincarnation. Whenever Toph would let her off for a break, Thuy would travel to the Fire Nation to see a show or visit a beach. It had gotten to a point where rumors were flying that Zuko was set to become her official master.

Such a practice had been abolished after what happened to Kyoshi.

It was wildly unusual - the Avatar’s master was always a Bender of their birth element - and this perceived power shift made people nervous. And if Zuko was a different person, Katara could understand the fear. But as he wasn’t a sinister person, the favoritism ended up saving him since he had no interest in political machinations.

Tonight was going to upend those rumors at her birthday party. She was planning on asking Zuko to become her firebending instructor and her official residence was going to be on the literal middle ground: Avatar Island in the United Republic.

Now, Thuy was upset that the garden where her party was being held wasn’t perfect.

Katara spent hours helping her adjust the landscape as much as she could. Toph wandered out for a moment and stood on the ground, watching them in the strange way she did. Finally, after a few frustrated minutes, Toph finally walked out and started doing the heavy lifting.

The Earthbender was terse, but funny. As Thuy kept pointing out things, Toph kept reminding her that she was blind. Thuy responded by stamping her feet and yelling “YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT.”

“Do it yourself then Wet Wipe.” Toph would retort and Katara couldn’t help but laugh.

By the time the landscaping was how Thuy wanted it and she went inside to get dressed, Katara was exhausted. She and Toph sat on the deck; Katara watched the palace staff bring out tables and chairs while Toph chewed on a piece of dried grass.

“She’s a good kid.” Toph said suddenly, flicking the grass onto the ground and rubbing it into the dirt with her heel.

“She really is.” Katara agreed.

“You gotta stop babying her if you’re going to be her master though.” Toph went on.

“Me? I’m not her master.” Katara said, looking at her in confusion.

“You sure? Who else is supposed to teach her to behave all upstanding and everything?”

“That’s usually someone who knew the previous Avatar. So, probably Tenzin.” Katara shook her head. “But Avatars don’t take a master any more.”

“I think Thuy’s gonna need it. Her parents were really smart, but the world’s changing. Borders are getting weird, loyalties are shifting.” Toph stood and kicked up a small mound of dirt. “I don’t think anyone in the swamp is going to understand it.”

“And I do?”

“I think you know a lot about shifting boundaries and making unusual loyalties.” Toph remarked and turned her head. Zuko exited the palace from further down, directing people with ladders.

Putting her foot down, Toph flattened the mound without touching it.

“The girl needs a master.” She added and walked back inside.

Letting her head loll back, Katara watched the clouds pass overhead. It was still light out, even as the day stretched on. It was almost summer again.

It was a very long time ago that she worked in Sokka’s flower shop.

“What are you thinking about?” Zuko asked as his face came into view. Katara smiled and raised her arms. Zuko moved himself so that she could put her arms around his neck. He lowered his head towards hers and she kissed him.

“Do you remember the first day you saw me in the flower shop?” She asked and released him. Zuko sat down beside her and looked up at the sky himself.

“Sure. You gawked at my scar.” He said and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She sucked her teeth as he smirked.

“You gave me a snowmelt flower.” She said.

“Did I?”

“It’s my favorite flower.”

“Is it?”

“So how long have you known about me?” Katara questioned.

Zuko sat up and looked at her. Silent, he took her hands and held them in his lap.

“Sokka is really proud of you.” Zuko started, staring down at her hands. “And he would talk about you a lot. It almost felt like…”

He drifted with a light laugh before looking into her eyes. “Did you ever watch that stupid drama about a king in the Earth Kingdom and how he was tricked into marrying this lady?”

“You are going to have to smooth this over really fast Zuko.” Katara replied dryly. Zuko chuckled and lifted her hands up, kissing her knuckles.

“There’s a noble family that has gone bankrupt so they try to get their daughter married to the king. Her cousin works at the palace and talks her up to the king every day. He ends up falling in love with this hyped up mystery woman and proposes before ever meeting her.” Zuko explained.

“So Sokka talked about me so much, he tricked you into falling in love with me?” Katara asked.

“Well, not exactly. I did have a girlfriend at the time.” He said. “I just really started to like you as a person. You were a fighter, a survivor, and then you were accepted into medical school. All I ever did was sabotage my own country and serve tea.”

“Zuko, you are the strongest person I have ever met because when life kept handing you crap, you thought you deserved so you just took it.”

“You literally carry the bond of a spirit.”

“You survived what should have been a lethal burn to the face because of how connected you are to your bending.”

“You fought through three different countries trying to save your parents.”

“You fought your father and sister, who were trying to kill you, and didn’t want to hurt them.”

“I want to tell you you’re beautiful because of how much you love the rest of the world but I still get caught up in your eyes.”

“Well I can’t think about how much you love me because I’m terrified to admit I love you that much in return.”

They both stared at each other and, as if in a staring contest, Katara clenched her mouth shut. Still feeling the blood rise in her cheeks, she nonetheless saw Zuko’s face flush first.

He turned away, covering his face with his hands, and he was steaming. Katara laughed and put her hand on his back.

“Come on hun, we’ve got to get ready for the party.” She said. Zuko nodded and then rubbed his face vigorously. As he stood, he pulled Katara up.

“You are the worst.” He said. Katara patted his chest and smirked.

“Get used to it.”

The party went very well. The Earth King, having basically been a shut-in, related oddly well to the equally sheltered Avatar. Tenzin and the other head monks circulated through the crowd with varying degrees of success. Rohan had shaved their head for some reason, Jinora was there with her baby, and Ikki flitted about with her new husband. Meelo was sitting at a table looking forlorn, lamenting the imprisoned Azula.

Iroh had dragged the White Lotus members out and found some Fire Nation natives that were allies to sit as the Fire Nation contingent. But Katara could tell that Zuko felt alone, standing in his uncomfortable red robes and seeing so little reflected back.

There was a lot of blue. The majority of the party was actually split between green and blue; the people from Kyoshi Island jumping sides with the blue while the Swamp Tribe balanced things out in green.

All of Thuy’s planning, with Katara’s envisioning ability, turned the small garden into a meandering spot. Small hills forced people around and turned them as if they were walking through a labyrinth. It helped people talk for longer as the short distance around took more steps than first assumed.

Toph had also raised a small waterfall in the pond, using metalbending to create a vacuum system that would keep it going. Katara didn’t comment on the bending, unsure if she was supposed to know already or not. Internally, she panicked.

The effect, with the string fairy lights in the trees and softly tinkling water, was a softer place that glowed with ambient light. Around the tables stood the large torches to keep the cool spring nights at bay, but around the pond it was certainly twilight.

After the meal and with drinks being served - with Thuy trying, unsuccessfully, to get her hands on one - Zuko took Katara by the hand. They strolled around the grassy hillocks arm in arm and Katara was surprised by how quickly the noise dissipated.

“What are the customs for birthdays in your tribe?” Zuko asked suddenly. Katara turned away from the party and regarded the pond.

“There’s not a lot of ceremony that surrounds just us as humans. It’s more about celebrations of the world around us, or the spirits.” Katara replied, staring out over the water. “Things like birthdays and weddings aren’t usually very big.”

“There are rules to birthdays here.” Zuko blanched and Katara smiled to herself.

“It must be nice though, to have things like this.” She replied.

“The necklace is a North Pole custom, right? For engagements?” Zuko asked. Katara touched her neck and shrugged.

“So I’m told. But I don’t ever see me getting rid of it.” She replied.

“Modern conventions can sometimes be more fun than custom.” Zuko said.

“What does that mean?” Katara turned as she asked and found Zuko on a knee. “What.”

“We did talk about this.” He said, holding the box out.

“In theory!” Katara whispered sharply. Her throat tightened and tears stung her eyes, but she almost started to laugh. Zuko grinned up at her.

“I love you Katara. I thought up a lot of fancy words to say but right now I am so nervous and your face is so pretty.” He said as tears fell down his smiling face. Katara did laugh then, the choking laugh that comes with tears.

“I love you Zuko.” She murmured and put her fingers over her mouth.

“Will you marry me?” He asked.

Her throat sealed shut, Katara could only nod. As Zuko gasped and stood, she could see his hands shaking and she laughed again.

“Yes, of course.” She finally managed.

Zuko slid the ring on her finger and Katara jumped on him, kissing him deeply.

“WOO!” Thuy yelled and Katara laughed. They both had to wipe their faces as they walked back to the tables; everyone stood and clapped for them. Feeling the blood rush to her face, Katara put her face into Zuko’s shoulder.

“Congratulations, nephew.” Iroh said as he walked up.

“Thank you uncle.” Zuko replied.

“Let. Me. See. THE RING.” Sokka demanded and darted around Iroh. Katara still didn’t show her face but held out her hand.

“Moonstone? Spirits Zuko, you are so cheesy.” Sokka said.

“It’s what she wanted!” Zuko snapped defensively.

“Hey Katara.” Thuy said as she slid behind Zuko.

“I thought you were going to ask Zuko to be your instructor.” Katara hissed.

“Oh I did that last week. Tonight, I just announced that you’re going to be my master!” Thuy said.

“WHAT.” Katara squawked and jolted upright. All the blood drained too quickly from her face and as everything went dark, she fainted.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

#zutara #fanfiction #jax writes #modern au #zutara month 2020 #the fic that prompts built

44 notes · View notes