#it was always going to end in tragedy [v: prologue]

[stageplayhero]

@starywisteria cued:

❝ ... I'm flattered, but could you let go of my hand ? ❞ - Kitty

Mark lets go of Kitty’s hand at the request, but doesn’t drop his general mood of excitement. He certainly hadn’t been trying to pull her along to his destination… or not pulling her along too hard, at least, he hopes.

“Fine, just— follow me, okay? And remember to lay low.”

As if in accordance with his own words, his shoulders hunch slightly like he’s creeping through a spy film. In reality, sneaking onto their set at night doesn’t require quite so much secrecy, but he has to have some fun with it.

“They were working on the set pieces while we were gone,” he whispers. Secrecy! This is a very important secret event! “But we can get an early look.”

Not for work, necessarily. They will be working with the set for a while, no need to catch their bearings. But the enchanted forest set seemed like it would be even more awe inspiring at night.

[myfavoriteficss]

Marvel Angst Masterlist

This Masterlist includes all of the Marvel angst I have reblogged. The angst will range from very light to heavy depending on the fic. Enjoy.

Updated: 07/17/2021

Marvel Masterlist's

Masterpost

KEY:

Genre: (F) = Fluff, (A) = Angst, (D) = Dark, (J) = Jealousy, (V) = Violence, (H/C) = Hurt and/or Comfort

Trope: (ER) = Established Relationship, (EL) = Enemies to Lovers, (FL) = Friends to Lovers, (FE) = Frenemies, (FD) = Fake Dating, (F/B) = Friends with Benefits, (BU) = Breakup/Already Broken Up, ( C) = Cheating, (UL) = Unrequited Love, (SB) = Slow Burn, (P) = Pregnancy, (BS) = Bed Sharing, (SR) = Super Reader

Type: (AU) = Alternate Universe, (18+) = Mature/NSFW, (HC) = Headcanon

1. Wanda Maximoff

Written by: @aaron-despair

Not your fault (ER, F, A)

Written by: @abimess

It only takes the holidays (AU, A, F): (1) It only takes a commercial - (2) It only takes a pothole - (3) It only takes a lunch - (4) It only takes a party - (5) It only takes a Christmas tree - (6) - It only takes an unexpected visit - (7) It only takes a weird noise - (8) It only takes a fund-raising event - (9) It only takes a starry sky - (10) It only takes a Christmas gift - (11) It only takes a decision - (Epilogue) It only takes a deed

Too familiar, too hurtful (EL, A, F)

Marry me (A, F)

Written by: @aestethick​

Roses (A)

Written by: @allyouthought​

always (F, A)

Written by: @aphrodite-made-me-write-it

Cast A Spell (On You) (AU, A) 

Written by: @badgerfic

the serum (A, V): Part 1

Written by: @buckyssoldat

(UL, A) (1) Not in that way - (2) Gone

Written by: @c-is-writing

gaze into my mind (A, F) 

good enough (A, F) 

Written by: @cantcontroltheirfear​

Odds (AU, A): (1) Another One - (2) I’m Ready - (3) Bar With No Name - (4) That Much Is True - (5) Still - (6) Second to Last Last - (7) Even

Written by: @captainhotch

Cat and Mouse (A) 

Written by: @certifiedskywalker​

Waiting for Home (A) 

Written by: @dancing-the-hellfire-rumba

Je Te Laisserai De Mots (A) 

Written by: @delfiore​

i sunk in all the memories (A) 

better than losing you (ER, A) 

Written by: @desparadowrites

The Very Awful Not Good Bad Day (SR, A) 

Written by: @empyreanwritings

Almost Lost You (FL, A, F) 

Written by: @fallinforevans

you have me (FL, A, F) 

Written by: @forever-your-soldat

(ER, A) (1) Too Much - (2) Her Love 

I Can’t Hurt You (A, V) 

Written by: @frostedfaves

All Too Well (ER, A) 

Written by: @harringtons-imagines

Monster (A, F) 

Written by: @helloalycia

just a kid (ER, A, V, D): [one] - [two]

Written by: @hiiraya

(A, F) (1) one last dance (rewrite) - (2) one last chance (rewrite) - (3) with you

loving you had consequences (rewrite) (BU, A) 

you are my sunshine (rewrite) (A)

Written by: @jabbagabba

La La Land (A): Prologue

Written by: @jbbarnesnnoble

(ER, C, A) (1) Out of Everyone Else - (2) It's Me You're Gonna Miss

Written by: @kingsmanandqueens

Winsome Enigma (A, F) 

Written by: @lesbian-lilo​

Mission Mishaps (H/C, F, A) 

Written by: @lowkeyerror

I Have To See Her Again (A, V)

Written by: @m-lesmxrales

Safe & Sound (ER, A) 

Written by: @marvel-wlw

Somewhere to Run (A) 

Written by: @marvels-writings

Broken Sense (UL, A) 

Dreams that Come True (F, A) 

Always Safe (A) 

Scared (A, F) 

Hurting You (A, F) 

Wanted More (ER, C, A) 

Written by: @marvelsdc22

What We Thought We Lost (AU, FL, A, F): Part 1 - Part 2

Written by: @may-fanfic​

I Just Want You (A, F) 

Written by: @mcuwritin​

Mission gone wrong (A): Part I - Part II

Frenemies? (FE, A, F): Part I - Part II

Written by: @missmonsters2

About You (A): Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VII - Part VIII - Part IX - Part X

(ER, A) (1) Under the Light - (2) You Found Me

Find Your Way (BU, A) 

Last the Night (ER, C, A) 

Written by: @mymymarvel

Never Is Enough (A) 

Written by: @nermalina

so in love. (A, F) 

Written by: @nervoustrack

We're out in the open sea (A)

Written by: @nothingbutimagines

Last Christmas (UL, A, F) 

Written by: @procrastinatingsapphictrash

The pact (FL, F, A) 

Written by: @queenxxxsupreme

1950 (A) 

Written by: @randomshyperson

Sorry for your loss (FL, A, F): (1) I will grieve - (2) I will try - (3) I will get better. - (4) I will move on - (5) I will love again (18+)

The Scarlet Witch Prophecy (AU, FL, F, A): (1) The First Year - (2) The Second Year - (3) The Third Year - (4) The Fourth Year (Part I) - (5) The Fourth Year (Part II) - (6) The Fourth Year (Final Part) - (7) The Fifth Year (Part One) - (8) The Fifth Year (Part Two) - (9) The Fifth Year (Part Three)

Left Behind (FL, A, V, F): (1) Muddy Waters - (2) R.I.P to My Youth - (3) No Time to Die - (4) Save Me - (5) Someone You Loved - (6) Once a Promise, Always a Promise. - (7) Start a Riot - (8) Fine Line - (9) Please Notice - (10) Atlantis

Road to Healing (FL, A, F, 18+)

Drivers License (AU, FL, F, A)

The One (AU, A, F)

Written by: @rebeliz777

August (C, F/B, A): Part I (18+) - Part II (18+) - Part III

Again (A) 

Crumbling down (A)

Written by: @reminiscingtonight

(BU, A) (1) Better By Now - (2) Run Into You - (3) Still the Same

(FL, A) (1) Through The Dark - (2) If I Fall - (3) Breaking Point

(ER, A) (1) Cellophane - (2) Apologies

(AU, ER, A) (1) Break My Heart Again - (2) Burn It All Down

(FL, A, F) (1) Last Kiss - (2) All I Know - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - (6) Breathe (It’s Out Of My Hands)

A Different Corner (A) 

Need You Now (A)

Let’s Hurt Tonight (ER, A)

Ghost of You (A)

Lego House (AU, FL, A, F)

Not Ready For Goodbyes (ER, A, F)

Hold On (ER, A)

Twilight Time (ER, F, A)

Feel It Twice (A)

I’ll Never Love Again (A)

Written by: @rogue-barnes-16

I’m A Monster (FL, A, F) 

Written by: @saintprinsessa​

Feeling You (A) 

Written by: @sapphicshots

to grow old in (ER, A, F) 

falling (FL, A, F) 

Written by: @shesaidnomaam

Witch & Wound (A, F): Part 1 - Part 2

Two A.M, Two Bottles In (A) 

Written by: @somewhatgreatexpectations

Love Goes (FL, C, BU, A, F): (1) Latch - (2) One Day at a Time - (3) Fire on Fire - (4) Like I Can - (5) Breaking Hearts - (6) Another One - (7) Palace - (8) Writing’s On The Wall - (9) For The Lover That I Lost - (10) Leave Your Lover - (11) Nirvana - (12) Lay Me Down - (13) To Die For

Love Me (Or Let Me Go) (AU, A, F): (1) Leave, Then Go - (2) If you need me, let me know - (3) Walk Away - (4) In the Middle - (5) Love Me, or Let Me Go - (6) Don't Go - (7) Separate Ways - (8) Set You Free - (Alt. Ending) Home

Written by: @spoopy-imagines-writer

Behind These Hazel Eyes (A) 

Written by: @starshipsofstarlord

Two Beds, One Home (A, F) 

Testing. Testing. (A) 

Written by: @subtlebucky

she lives in daydreams with me (A, F) 

Written by: @thenatashamaximoff

Dangerous Love (C, BU, A, V, SR): Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Epilogue

Broken Love (C, A): Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

Written by: @thewitchandtheassassin

Guilt is an Ugly Mistress (ER, A) 

Of Love and Of Loss (ER, A) 

Written by: @waiting4inspiration

Why? (A, F) 

Written by: @wandaownsthisass

If You Need Me (A) 

Written by: @wandaromanova​

Should’ve Been You (ER, A) 

Written by: @wandsolsen​

Champagne Problems (ER, A) 

Written by: @wellsayhelloaagin​

Cross My Heart (ER, A): Part 1 - Part 2

Written by: @wokeupinawalnut

(ER, BU, A) (1) Six Degrees Of Separation - (2) Wherever This Goes

Save The Best For Last (FL, A, F) 

Written by: @young-and-bitchy (deactivated)

Here You Come Again (BU, A) 

Written by: @8plasma

children of tragedy (A): [part 1] - [part 2]

2. Natasha Romanoff

Written by: @aestethick

Last Kiss (A): Part 1 - Part 2

Written by: @allfiguredout

Home (A) 

Written by: @aphrodite-made-me-write-it

To Mend (A, F) 

Written by: @c-is-writing

untangled (F, A) 

Written by: @crimsonspy

Don’t shut me out (FL, SB, A, F) 

Written by: @demxters

bluebird (A) 

Written by: @femreader

Don’t Go (H/C, A) 

Written by: @higherfurther-romanova

Then Finish It (A, V, D): Part 1

Written by: @hiiraya

(A) (1) didn't know what I had - (2) you were good to me - (3) what I want

closure (A) 

Written by: @jbbarnesandnoble

Rainy Season (A)

When We Were Young and Naive (AU, A) 

Written by: @jumbojamba47

Guest Room (A) 

Written by: @lesbian-deadpool

New Surroundings (A): (1) Glad You Are Back - (2) Glad To Be Home

(A, F) (1) We Were On A Break! - (2) I’ll Be Home For Christmas

A Fresh Start (A, F) 

Written by: @lilxberry

I Watched You Die (A): Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Written by: @lndlover

Somebody else (C, A) 

Written by: @lonelyandlovelorn

Loophole (F, A) 

Written by: @marvels-writings

(ER, C, BU, A) (1) Used To - (2) World Turned Upside Down - (3) My Forever

Not Meant to Be (A) 

A Reason to Leave, a Reason to Stay (A, F) 

Perfect (A, F) 

Past Come to Life (A, F) 

Piece of Your Heart (A, F) 

Make it Right (ER, A) 

Can’t You Tell? (A) 

Written by: @marvelouslytrekking

Finding You (A, V) 

Written by: @marvelsbanner

Someone to You (A, F) 

Written by: @may-fanfic

Because I love you (A, V): Part 1 - Part 2

Written by: @missmonsters2

Lead Me Astray (ER, A) 

Leave Me Lonely (ER, A) 

Stars Falling (A, F) 

Written by: @natasha-danvers

Oh (A, F): Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

Longing (A): Part 1

Written by: @pietrosgf

the sweet escape (A): (1) what died didn’t stay dead - (2) you’re alive in my head

Written by: @pigeonp0st

Natasha Romanoff x Reader #2 (A): Part 1 - Part 2

Written by: @procrastinatingsapphictrash

Can’t get over her (A, F) 

The rest of my life (A, F) 

A little help from the team (A, F) 

Doubt (A, F) 

Drunken confessions (A, F) 

Written by: @quickpiet

Walk it off (A, F) 

Written by: @rebeliz777

You saved me (A) 

Written by: @roger-that-cap

(ER, C, A) (1) cardigan - (2) tolerate it

peace (A, F) 

Written by: @romanoffswifey

Point Blank (A): Part 1 - Part 2

Written by: @saltybaltic

Come Back To Me (A, F) 

Written by: @sapphicshots

i can’t live without you (A, F) 

Written by: @satxnsupreme​

Welcome home (A) 

Written by: @shesaidnomaam

Natasha x Reader (A): Part 1

Written by: @startrekkingaroundasgard

“I didn’t mean it.” (A, F) 

Written by: @thenatashamaximoff

Dangerous Love (C, BU, A, V, SR): Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Epilogue

Broken Love (C, A): Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

Written by: @thewitchandtheassassin​

All That Matters (A, F) 

Written by: @vanillann

real or not real? (A) 

Written by: @vulpe-fox

Seeing You (A) 

Written by: @wandavixen

Hurt (A) 

Written by: @wannabe-fic-writer

Old But New (A, F) 

Fed Up (A) 

Written by: @wildhoney323

Moving On (C, A, F) 

Written by: @winedrunkbarnes

Roses and Regrets (A, F) 

Written by: @wisewidow

Gunshot Roses (A) 

Written by: @wokeupinawalnut

(ER, BU, A) (1) Talks That Break Hearts - (2) Talks That Mend Hearts

Written by: @yourmcu

Bloodlust (A, F, V)

3. Carol Danvers

Written by: @hiiraya

stay a little longer (rewrite)

the one (that got away) (rewrite)

get well soon (rewrite)

until the end

Written by: @missmonsters2

Move Me Along

Written by: @wlw-imagines-blog

We Don’t Talk About It

4. Yelena Belova

Written by: @a-simple-imagine

Left Behind

Written by: @empyreanwritings

Old Habits Die Hard

Written by: @marvels-writings

Stay

Written by: @nermalina

mild interference.

Written by: @rogue-barnes-16

Braids

МОЯ ЛЮБОВЬ

Written by: @thewitchandtheassassin

Promises

5. Michelle Jones (MJ)

Written by: @borntobewondering

& Ever

Written by: @heckin-good-holland

In Her Arms

Written by: @leiasfanaccount648

Good Times

Written by: @sensestinging

Curious - Unfolding

[jrob64]

Devastation and Healing (Chapter 10)

Sergeant Killian Jones has had more than his share of tragedy in his life. When he’s injured in an IED explosion, he’s assigned to a physical therapist named Emma Swan. While she tries to help him heal physically, can they help each other heal emotionally?

Rating: T

Part 11/?

Chapter Summary: Emma & Killian go on their first date.

Thanks as always to @hookedmom​, @kymbersmith-90​, @xsajx​ and @kmomof4​, whose help and encouragement make it possible for me to write this story. And also to @captainsjedi​ for creating the beautiful pic set to go with it. 

Read the entire story on Tumblr: Prologue / Ch.1 / Ch.2 / Ch.3 / Ch.4 / Ch.5 / Ch.6 / Ch.7 / Ch.8 / Ch.9 /

And on  A03  &  ffn

******

E: Can you please tell me what you have planned for Saturday? I need to know how to dress. 

K: Just dress casually with comfortable shoes. 

E: Comfortable as in sneakers or sandals?

K: We’ll be doing some walking, but you will be fine in sandals, Swan.

Killian and Emma had decided to have their date on Saturday, and he’d insisted on planning it himself, while keeping the plans a secret from her. As they texted each other throughout the week, she kept trying to glean information from him, but he wasn’t disclosing very much. Both of them looked forward to these exchanges every evening.

E: Is there a certain color I should wear so it won’t show if I spill some food on myself?

K: Ah, ah, ah. That might be revealing a bit too much information!

E: I don’t want to ruin our night by having an unsightly stain on my clothes.

K: Why Swan, are you in the habit of being a messy eater? Perhaps I should bring a bib along for you! 

Besides sending messages that made her laugh, he also included face emojis with various expressions, which added to the humor. Sometimes Emma had to remind herself that this was the same man who was so withdrawn and closed-off when she first met him.

E: Why are you picking me up so early? Are we eating a late lunch or an early dinner?

K: Does it matter which it is?

E: I need to know if I should eat lunch at home or wait until we eat on our date. 

Every time she mentioned the word ‘date’, he got a goofy grin on his face. He was still having trouble believing that she’d actually agreed to go out with him. When he’d worked up the nerve to ask her, he had prepared himself to be disappointed in case she said it was too soon. He knew he couldn’t push her, but now that they had a better understanding of where they stood with each other, he wanted to continue to build on it, even if it had to be brick by brick. 

K: Eat something light for lunch. We won’t be going straight to the restaurant after I pick you up.

E: Then where ARE we going? 

K: You’ll have to wait and see.

E: UGH! Just tell me already! I’m dying to know!

K: Tis only one more day. I think you’ll survive until then!

E: (sends a series of angry face emojis, with one winking face at the end.)

*********

Friday evening, before he bid her goodnight, Killian made sure to get Emma’s address to put into his GPS app, and verified that he would be picking her up at 4:00 the following day. 

What he had planned wasn’t anything elaborate, but he’d still had a good time playing the guessing game with her. He hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed, and would truly enjoy the evening. He also hoped that they would find ample time to talk. He’d decided that it was time to tell Emma about Milah. 

*********

On Saturday, Emma dressed carefully in a flowy skirt that hit about an inch above her knees, and a sleeveless V-neck blouse. She finished her outfit with a short sleeve, lightweight cardigan and a pair of strappy sandals that were dressy looking, but comfortable. Her hair was styled in soft waves and her makeup was light and natural.

She allowed plenty of time before Killian arrived so she could take Evie for a short walk and play with her for a while, before she had to be put into her pen. The puppy still tended to get overly excited when she met new people, and Emma didn’t want her jumping all over him. 

By 3:50, she was ready and waiting. She felt proud of herself for planning everything so well that she had time to spare, but she spent that time pacing around the living room, waiting for him to arrive. When the doorbell finally rang, she took one more quick glance in the mirror, then opened the door. 

Killian was dressed in dark wash jeans, a royal blue button down shirt which had the sleeves rolled up, and a dark gray vest, with casual slip-on shoes. When he saw her, his jaw dropped a little and his eyes went wide. 

“You look stunning, Swan,” he said, in a hushed tone. 

“You look…”

“I know,” he grinned. Then he pulled his left arm out from behind his back and produced a single red rose. 

“Oh, it’s beautiful! Thank you! I think I have a bud vase in one of my kitchen cabinets. Come on in while I try to find it.”

He followed her into the house and closed the door behind him, remaining in the entryway. Soon she reappeared with the flower in a crystal vase. She closed her eyes and inhaled its beautiful fragrance, before setting it on the end table beside her couch. 

“It really is lovely, and very thoughtful,” she smiled, picking up her purse and turning back to him. 

“I’m glad you like it.” He looked around. “Where’s your little dog?” 

“I already put her in her pen. I’ll let you meet her another time.”

“Sounds good,” he said, hoping that there would soon be another time. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, let’s go! I don’t think I can wait any longer to see what you have planned!”

He laughed, then followed her out the door, and waited while she locked it. They walked to his truck, where she gave him a big smile as thanks for once again opening the door for her. When he slid into the driver’s seat, she observed, “You cleaned your truck, didn’t you?”

“I had an appointment to have it detailed this morning,” he explained. 

“Wow, you really went all out!”

“Well, I wanted you to be comfortable.”

“It seemed pretty clean when I was in it on Tuesday.”

Killian chuckled. “I try to keep it neat, but I’ve had it for a couple of months now, so it was due for a good cleaning.”

“Now can you tell me where we’re going?”

“Wouldn’t you rather wait just a few more minutes and be surprised?”

“Um, maybe, I guess? It has been fun trying to figure out what you have planned.”

“Any guesses?” he smirked.

“Not really. You’ve been VERY secretive!”

“Well, I hope you’re not disappointed when we get there.”

“I’m sure I won’t be. I trust your judgement.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Will you at least tell me how far away it is?”

“About twenty minutes, give or take. You can turn the radio on if you want.”

As Emma tried to find music that they both liked, they soon realized that it was another area in which they had a lot in common. Both of them named 80’s rock as one of their favorite genres, which led to a discussion of groups and songs that they enjoyed. When an Eagles song came on, Killian started to sing along.

“You’ve been holding out on me, Jones,” Emma remarked as the song came to an end. “You’ve got a really good voice!”

Killian cheeks reddened. “I used to be in my high school choir. I was even in a couple of musicals.”

“Oh really? Which ones?”

“‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and ‘Oklahoma’. I never tried out for a leading role, but I enjoyed having bit parts and being in the chorus. It was a way for me to fit in at school.”

Emma nodded. “I understand that. I participated in band, both marching and concert.”

“Really? What instrument did you play?”

“Saxophone.”

“Impressive! Were you involved in anything else in high school?”

“Just Science Club. I spent a lot of time in the library because I was always reading. I still love to read.”

“We’ll have to discuss our favorite books sometime.”

Killian’s GPS told him to turn right at the next intersection, and that his destination would be on the right. When he’d followed the directions, Emma looked up to see that they were at a Botanical Garden. She turned to him and saw that he was looking at her dubiously, waiting for her reaction. 

“The rose was just a preview,” he explained, before she could respond. 

“This is a wonderful idea, Killian! I have never been to one, and I’ve wondered what they’re like. Have you been here before?”

“No, it’s the first time for me as well. I was trying to find something different than a movie, or dinner at a fancy restaurant.”

Emma unfastened her seat belt. “Well, I can’t wait! It looks beautiful inside!”

He could tell that her excitement was genuine, and not simply so that she wouldn’t hurt his feelings. He hurried around to open her door, and they walked hand-in-hand to the entrance. 

Killian paid the admission and they entered together. Immediately they were met with gorgeous landscapes and displays of plants, topiaries, and flowers of every type and color imaginable.

Emma moved from one display to another, exclaiming how beautiful they were with growing enthusiasm. Killian was enjoying them also, but was having even more fun watching and listening to her childlike exuberance. 

He pulled out his phone to take pictures of her in front of some of the exhibits. When she noticed what he was doing, she insisted that he join her, so he turned the camera lens around to get selfies of the two of them. 

In one area, there was a butterfly room filled with dozens of varieties of the colorful insect. Emma gracefully moved from bush to bush, with a smile so large that he thought her face would start to ache. At one point, two butterflies landed on Emma - one on her shoulder and the other on top of her head. She tried not to giggle and scare them away before Killian could snap a picture.  His breath caught in his throat as he captured the scene on his camera. He didn’t think that he’d ever witnessed anything so beautiful in his entire life. 

They walked and explored to their hearts’ content, until he unlocked his phone to take another picture. That’s when he realized that over an hour-and-a-half had passed, and it was nearly time for the gardens to close. He mentioned this to Emma, whose face fell a bit at the news. 

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her, “we can come back another time, if you’d like. We could come earlier in the day to give us more time.”

“I’d love that!” she replied honestly. “Killian, this was such a great idea for a first date. It’s a very special place, and being here with you makes it even better.”

“I’m glad that we could enjoy it together, Emma,” he replied with a warm smile. 

As they walked to his truck, he slipped his arm around her shoulder, and felt her lean into him. “Are you ready for dinner?”

“Yes I am. Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?”

He chuckled. “Sure. We have reservations in about fifteen minutes at a nice Chinese Restaurant. Not one that’s part of a chain franchise, or the kind with a buffet. This is an authentic restaurant.”

“Mmm, sounds good! Do we have enough time to get there?” she asked, as she settled into the truck. 

“It’s just a few miles down the road, so we’ll have plenty of time.” He handed her his phone. “Would you like to go through the pictures and videos I took and send any that you like to your own phone?”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not. I’ve already unlocked it for you.”

Emma scrolled through his photo gallery to see all the pictures that he’d taken, then went back and selected several that she forwarded to herself. “These are really good, Killian. I’m glad you took so many, even if pictures don’t do it justice.” 

Killian smiled. He’d been worried that she wouldn’t appreciate the Botanical Gardens, and now he hoped she’d like the rest of his plans as much as she had enjoyed them.

They arrived at the restaurant, checked in with the hostess, and were told that their table would be ready in just a few minutes. 

“You planned this out perfectly, didn’t you?” Emma asked with a grin. 

“I don’t know about that, but it has worked out pretty well so far.”

They were soon seated and looked over the menu together. After ordering, they chatted amicably until their food came. They had decided on two meals that both of them wanted to try, so they could share with each other. 

The food was delicious and they had the leftovers boxed up to go. Killian paid the bill, allowing Emma to pay the tip at her insistence. 

When they walked out to his truck, he unlocked it and put the food boxes behind the seat, then closed the door. She looked at him quizzically. 

“There’s a garden with a walkway behind the restaurant. Since the weather has cooperated, would you like to take advantage of it?”

Emma smiled. “That sounds like a lovely idea.” She took his offered hand and they set off for the path that was lit by Oriental lanterns. Along the way, they stopped on a bridge spanning a small stream to share a brief kiss, and when they reached the end of the path, there was a pond. 

Killian led them to a wooden bench to sit down. As they looked out over the water, Emma suddenly called out, “Oh look! Swans!”

His eyes followed where she was pointing and saw two graceful swans gliding across the surface. 

“Did you plan that too?” she smirked. 

He did his adorable nervous scratch. “I’d like to take credit for it, but I have to admit, it’s just a happy coincidence.”

Emma noticed that he seemed a bit tense. “Is everything all right?” 

 He smoothed down his hair. “I, uh, I wanted to....talk to you about something. To explain something, actually.”

She turned to face him fully and placed her hand on top of his thigh. “What is it?”

He took a deep breath. “Before I was deployed this last time, I was uh, I was dating a woman for several months. Her name was Milah. She was older than me by a few years, but that didn’t really matter. I was...I was in love with her, and I thought she loved me too, but…”

Emma gave his leg a squeeze to encourage him. When he remained silent, she spoke softly. “But what, Killian?”

“But when she saw me in the hospital, she uh, she decided she couldn’t handle me being….injured.” He paused and swallowed before looking up to lock eyes with her. “You know, you’re quite perceptive, Swan.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember at one of my first treatments when you asked me if there was one person in particular who called me a cripple?”

Emma sucked in a breath. “Oh Killian, no! She didn’t!” Anger flooded through her at the thought of anyone saying that to him, let alone someone who supposedly loved him. 

He looked down to where her hand had a tight grip on his thigh, just above his knee. Then he set his jaw and continued, “Most of the guys in my unit knew what she was like and tried to tell me that she was no good for me, but I didn’t listen. I was blind to her flaws because I was so enamored with her.”

When he met her eyes again, she saw the anguish in his that had been present in those early therapy sessions. “She called me damaged goods, then she...walked out on me,” he gritted out. 

Emma tried to remain calm, knowing that her indignation wasn’t what he needed right then. Instead, she reached up to take his face between her hands. She gently traced over the scars with her fingertips, and then ran her right hand down his arm to touch his prosthesis. “These are a testimony to your bravery, Killian. Anyone who can’t recognize you for the hero that you are, isn’t worthy of you.”

He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t a hero, that he had just been doing his duty, but when he looked in her eyes, he saw that she truly believed what she’d said. He didn’t know how to respond when his throat was so tight with emotion, so he decided not to say anything at all. Instead, he lifted his hand to run it across her cheek and into her hair. He briefly thought that it was as soft as it looked, before he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. 

Emma shifted to get closer to him, then wrapped her arms around his neck. After a few moments, she slid her tongue along his bottom lip, and he opened for her, teasing her tongue with his.

Killian pulled her into a closer embrace as the kiss went on and on. It wasn’t hurried and it wasn’t a battle between them. It was soft and slow and sweet, and when it came to an end, they pressed their foreheads together while they tried to catch their breath. 

He could feel her caressing his face again as she spoke. “You are a good man, Killian Jones. You are strong and courageous, and don’t ever let anyone make you think differently. I’m so glad that I’ve taken the chance to get to know you better.”

Killian hugged her tightly, and spoke against her hair. “Thank you, Emma. I’m glad you did too.”

*********

Thanks very much for reading, commenting & reblogging!

Tagging @live-in-my-reality @nikkiemms @searchingwardrobes @wyntereyez @therooksshiningknight @kmomof4 @jonesfandomfanatic @winterbaby89 @jennjenn615 @therealstartraveller776 @snowbellewells @emmythedaydreamer @heartofkillian @pirateherokillian @kymbersmith-90 @let-it-raines @resident-of-storybrooke @captainsjedi @hookedmom @ohmightydevviepuu @queen-serena88 @daxx04 @branlovestowrite @theonceoverthinker @laschatzi @coolcat08 @welllpthisishappening @wellhellotragic @resident-of-storybrooke @mayquita @badwolfreturns @djlbg @withheartfulloflove @squidvisious @xsajx @lyssapup27 @tohellwiththepancakes13 @annastasiarinaldiva @hollyethecurious @kday426 @ohmyjoan @oncechi @spartanguard @hookpiratejones @apromisednightcap @andiirivera @swanlovato @ouat-the-hell @adoringjen @killianswannn @imlaxdris71 @xarandomdreamx @everything-person @eeteeaytay @glennaywh @gingerchangeling @lexie27 @reylowillliveon @tumblercanbetheworst @vvbooklady1256 @teamhook @myfearless-love @ultraluckycatnd @timeless-love-story @bugheadswanjones @goblynn @csalltheway @sals86 @badcats-andmice @darthbecky726 @166hours @kissmeretard @sederiana @eherron14 @bubblegum1425 @klynn-stormz @harshini01 @kingofmyheart14 @yasbio2015 @officerrogers @captainswan-shipper88 @sh12pen-bookfan​ @loveliklove​ @singersdd @bluewildcatfanatic​ @lfh1226-linda​ @crick-11 @angellifedeath​ @mythologicalmango​ @socmono @brustudyblog​ @harshini01 @artistoncer​ @hails-paige​ @eleveneitherway​ @broadwaybabe18​ @idristardis​ @captainswan21

[bangstanfics]

☆ MASTERLIST ☆

Key:

[f] = fluff

[a] = angst

[m] = mature (which includes themes of, but is not limited to - sex, blood, gore, triggering topics, etc.)

[♡] = my personal favorites

[✎] = ongoing/wip

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

One Shots

Coming Soon!

Series

Coming Soon!

One Shots

Coming Soon!

Series

Coming Soon!

One Shots

Coming Soon!

Series

Coming Soon!

One Shots

Coming Soon!

Series

Coming Soon!

One Shots

☆ The Strange Case of Dr. Park and Baby Jay [m][f][✎]    Alter Ego AU ⋆ Jekyll/Hyde!Jimin ⋆ Professor!Reader ⋆ word count:

There’s something strange about Dr. Park, the professor who lectures in the hall before you. Some days he’s a sweet angel that chats with you as you prep your material and on others he looks like he’s suffering from a hangover and could care less about your presence. The pieces slowly start to come together one night while you’re out in a strip club and find Dr. Park there… on a pole… half naked.

Series

Coming Soon!

One Shots

☆ The Man in the Mask [m][a][f][✎]    Magician!Tae ⋆ Assistant!Reader ⋆ word count:

V is a world reknowned magician known for his raunchy magic shows and hidden beauty. When his lead assistant goes on maternity leave, he is forced to hold auditions to find a new lead. You, in desperate need of a new job, decide to leap out of your comfort zone and audition. Soon, you find yourself thrown into a magical world full of wonder and lust.

Series

Coming Soon!

One Shots

☆ No Good Deed [m][a][✎]     Mafia Heir!Jungkook ⋆ College Student!Reader ⋆ word count:

In this world there is no such thing as a good deed, only favors you eventually have to repay.

→ ᴀʟᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ: Your simple college life is thrown upside down when the heir to a mafia family saves you and excepts you to repay him.

☆ Stranded [m][a][f][✎]    College Student!Jungkook ⋆ College Student!Reader ⋆ word count:

You and eight other students were suppose to fly to New Zealand for a study abroad program. No one expected for your flight to go down, causing you and your fellow classmates to end up stranded somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Series

☆ A Second Chance at Love:

    ✧ Prologue: Ode to Safe Travels [a][♡]          Historical AU ⋆ Knight!Jungkook ⋆ Princess!Reader ⋆ word count: 4.8k

It was a forbidden romance that was bound to end up in tragedy. You both knew that, and yet that didn’t stop you from falling hopelessly in love with your metaphorical and literal knight in shining armor, Jeon Jungkook.

    ✧ Chasing Stars [✎]

One Shots

Coming Soon!

Series

☆ A Second Chance at Love [m][a][f][✎]    Reincarnated AU ⋆ Multi-universe

We like to believe that love conquers all, but that isn’t always the outcome. In these cases - time, money, power, wealth, influence, social status, etc. seem to out-power love. In the case of true love, however, these individuals always find a way back to each other. This is their story.

[xuxikook]

Transcendent • Kim Taehyung (Prologue)

Summary: Two worlds has been separated for years. What happens when one joins the other once again after tragedy that had happened in the other world?

Words: 2122

A/n: I like this, but i haven’t really figured out some of its parts so..

The shriek of things being thrown echoed in the school campus. The loud screams of each students and cries of young kids can be heard distracting Taehyung out of his current project. The spells he has been practicing for quite some time now seem to fail, day by day that pass by.

"Taehyung," A person called as the door that slammed open, sweaty body and heavy breathing was first thing Taehyung noticed when he looked up to the familiar voice. Jimin, had come. "We need to evacuate immediately. It's not safe here anymore."

Taehyung frowned, as he look up to the ceiling to find a red light, a warning light the school has installed to alert students in any emergency, but it never lit up, ever. The headmaster had put a spell around the school campus in protection of all its students and the campus. But things happen.

He quickly dropped the bunny he had put a spell on, running to the chair near him to grab his cloak before running towards the door where a frightened Jimin was. The sounds getting louder and louder as he got out. He saw light from the spells bursting up on the air, an unfamiliar spell being cast at the school grounds.

"Boys, to the school gymnasiums now!" Shouted a senior as she comes near the two guys, grabbing Jimin's shoulder as she runs, turning him around to face the way to the gymnasium before skipping away. A couple of familiar students started running the same way as the senior has gone to, in full speed.

A guy flew to the air at the end of the hallway, got the two confused boys in shock. An unfamiliar guy appeared on the end of the hallway with a smirk stuck on his face as he watch, the guy who flew and landed in pain, in happiness. How Sadistic.

Jimin started to move backwards as he was petrified on the unexpected guest. He pulled Taehyung's (who was frozen on his place) shoulder to pull him along.

"L-let's go." Demand the older one as he pulled Taehyung aggressively, it wasn't intentional and Jimin started to feel bad hoping that Taehyung knew that he didn't mean to do so.

The two boys started running to the familiar way to the Gymnasium, a place where they love to go to during happy hours or when they're bunking, but now they're going with a heavy heart and a frightened feeling.

"Who was that?" Was the first words that Taehyung has finally let out ever since he got of his work space. Passing by on the broken glass and woods on the ground, a crack sound every time they take a step.

"I don't know also." Jimin began, "All I knew was that headmaster Yoo wanted everyone out of the campus grounds when he was looking out over his office. Suddenly there was a loud noise in the south wing just broke down. I- I don't know anymore."

It got Taehyung blinking as he give his all on running to the gymnasium with all his might. Another scream was heard, before Taehyung could even look back Jimin beat him into saying,

"Don't you dare look back." He said sternly as his eyes focused on the familiar door where every students they find runs into. A bright light can be seen extending out of the room as the two made their way inside.

"Rosé." Called Taehyung as he finds a familiar red hair girl running to the room with her wand on hand. Tears forming in her eyes as she runs towards the door. She nodded her head in reply to Taehyung as she entered the room along with a blonde hair kid, Lisa.

The two boys entered in the gym to find a great amount of students trying to catch their breath and some crying. Taehyung was still confused. He still had no idea what to do, he was afraid even if he didn't know what was happening.

"JUNGKOOK!" Called Jimin who was beside Taehyung before sprinting his way to one of his closest friend. The black hair kid opened up his arms to welcome his friend— which got Jimin shocked, but didn't bother to tell him about it.

His eyes wondered the place, identifying each person in the room in hopes to find the person he's looking for. Some Teachers stood along the group of the students as they cry in front of them, with the same feeling Taehyung was feeling inside.

Some students try to aid each other with a spell they've learn. The moment his eyes landed on the person who has the same features as him, he sighed in relief, making his way towards the man with open arms.

"Dad." Taehyung cried as he felt the warmth of his father as he hugs him. A tear escaping his eye at the thought of losing his father forever. "Taehyung."

His dad replied as he pat his son's back in relief that his son has come to the place.

"What's happening?" Asked the boy to his father he had looked up to ever since he could remember. His dad shook his head replying with a simple, "I don't know son."

The two men pulled away from their hug, Taehyung's father looked at him in his son's eyes before speaking up, "All I know is I need to get you kids out of this place. I need all of you to be safe."

"What do you mean?"

"I need all of you to be able to escape this place right now. Headmaster Yoo has already gave me the permission to take you kids away from this place," Mr. Kim said before pulling his wand from his back, "This is banned but if this is the only way to save you all. Then I'm gonna use it."

Taehyung's eyebrow furrowed, his nose wrinkling as he cock his head to his father. Thirty minutes ago he was just trying to work on his next project to show to his father, thinking of a way to make a mischievous prank to him. Now, his school was a complete wreck. He was confused on things that was happening. He didn't know what was really happening, the new people he saw in the hallway was the biggest questions in his mind.

"V- Via temporis, iam clamo ad te via spatti Te ubio, aperire... Aperi!" Taehyung heard his dad began speaking in the a foreign language. His dad stuttering on the first word in view of the fact that he was agitated, scared that he would fail to save the kids,

or his son.

Mr. Kim never knew he would be needing this spell in the future, the time when he accidentally opened the portal, he had the feeling of joy and worry; knowing that if he get caught by the Ministry, it can lead him into real trouble, but it was a spell that has never been practiced ever since they've separated themselves from the human race, but once, and it was in the beginning.

"Via concurssus— " The words Mr. Kim was saying was blocked when a loud crash echoed the hallway outside, students all around gasped at the loud sound and Taehyung snapped back to watch his dad as he twirled his wand around before pointing it to an empty space. A magical string of light appeared, causing Mr Kim to move backwards. A round smokey portal opened to a dark cold weather, giving Taehyung chills.

"A forest." Taehyung whispered to himself on the triumph of seeing a route to escape from the beloved campus he grew up in. The people around the room were furious of the new spell they have seen.

"A portal." Said a girl before making her way to check it out, she looked inside to see the forest before looking back to Mr Kim. He nod to the little girl before alarming everyone. "EVERYBODY! ENTER THIS PORTAL NOW AND GET AWAY SAFE FROM THIS PLACE!"

His voice echoed the whole gym, some kids hesitated on his words, some students who were sitting down the ground stood up in satisfactory upon seeing a never seen spell before.

"GO IN. I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER I CAN OPEN THIS BUT YOU ALL HAVE TO GET IN!" He screamed once again, the curious girl earlier hesitated before entering the portal, even if she didn't know where it goes to. The students watched before one by one entering the unfamiliar portal.

A loud scream reverberated throughout the hallway snapping the students out of their fascination before running quickly to the portal bumping into one another with no regret.

"Mr. Kim they're coming." Taehyung looked back to find his Astronomy teacher behind him, her face all messed up with her make up running down her face. Her perfect everyday look was ruined on the events of the day.

Her eyes were teary but she tries her best to keep it from dropping. Taehyung knew that Ms Ji was never that person to show emotions, so Taehyung was shocked on the situation his professor was in.

"I know, keep on watch on them and try to block every single one of them coming in." Taehyung's dad demanded without looking back to the female teacher, "We need to get everyone out here and I don't know if I can open this any longer." the kids were already making their way to the other side of the portal in fear.

"Yes Sir." Ms. Ji agreed before calling out all of the teachers in the room, assembling together as the walk out of the door with wands on their hand. The fear that they're feeling was pushed back in order to help save the children.

"TAEHYUNG!" Yelled his father snapping him out of his thoughts. Tears were forming on his eyes feeling like he knows what was gonna happen next. "I need you to go in now!"

"No- no- Why? I- I can be a help here dad! I can help you out!" Taehyung protested, a thing of his against his father. Always wanting to be on his father side in everything he does. His tears dropping down on the thoughts of leaving his father behind on the chaotic place.

Needless to say, his father shook his head on the opinion his son has. "I need you to enter in the portal. I need you to protect everyone else."

"That's the only help I would be needing from you." His dad said as his eyes finally landed on his son's, his heart aching on the sight of his crying child. He looked behind him to find Jimin standing behind them, watching their father and son moment. "Jimin!"

He called snapping Jimin from watching the two of them, "Pull Taehyung inside now! I don't think I can hold any longer now!" He command one of his top student, his hand slapping to the other in support as the force he was feeling increase. His wand close to being sucked inside the portal as the pulling force tries to pull everything in.

Another loud screech echoed snapping the boys to the door only to find Ms Ji flying and falling onto the cold hard ground. The boys felt it, it struck into their bones. Jimin didn't waste time before pulling Taehyung along with him as he runs towards the portal.

"No! No! NO! DAD!" screamed Taehyung as he enters the portal, the dark night appearing above him in within seconds. He looked back to find his dad letting three more children in. Jimin held the boy down tightly, not letting him go back to the wrecked place.

A smile appeared on his father's face as he make eye contact with his beloved son, "I love you son." Was his last words before mumbling something to himself. The portal closing slowly, causing Taehyung to fight against from Jimin's force holding him down. He ran towards the portal as it got smaller and smaller, until it disappeared into the thin air.

Failing Taehyung, making him drop onto his knees.

The children looked around the place only to find themselves into the deep woods. The others holding onto each other as they calm themselves from all of the events that had just occurred. Rosé looked up to the sky to find the moon shining above them, providing them light.

"Its crescent," she gently blurted out, before furrowing her eyebrows. "But we're in the middle of the month."  Rosé informed before looking back to Taehyung who's kneeling on the ground filled with dry and dead leaves.

Taehyung snapped out of his thoughts of his father before looking at the moon.

A Crescent Moon?

[moonlitgleek]

Isn't Rhaegar absolved from his actions due to the fact that the prophecy is true and his son with Lyanna is the savior of the human race? Isn't Jaehaerys II absolved from his since the prophecy was true and TPTWP, in fact, is born of Aerys and Rhaella's line? I know we can mull over how Rhaegar could have done things differently to get his third child, but it seems that it was destiny. With Jaehaerys II, there wasn't even another option but to force the marriage to fulfill the prophecy.

Neither is absolved, no. Because the ends do not justify the means, and destiny is only what we make of it.

So many characters in this series act on the rationale that the greater good merits any number of sacrifices made in its name, which is also often used to justify and minimize blatant atrocities. Varys plays with people’s lives and maims children on the thought that King Aegon will right all the wrongs in Westeros. Mel argues that burning children alive is a necessary price for the survival of everyone else. Rhaegar treats the thousands of lives lost over the course of the rebellion as an acceptable collateral damage for a prophetic enterprise. Stannis is on the path to fall to that same viewpoint of a necessary sacrifice (”we do not choose our destinies” You do, Stannis. You do. You’re the only one who can choose). Robert’s council tries to frame Dany’s assassination attempt in the context of how ending two lives would spare thousands. Tywin tries to spin the Red Wedding as something that spares countless lives that would have fallen if the war continued. Mirri Maz Duur kills an unborn child on a crime he has not committed. Bloodraven may have honed Euron’s magical abilities on the notion that it would be worth it in the end, and he has a history of working on the basis of “the ends justify the means” during his tenure as Hand (e.g, killing Aenys Blackfyre in a breach of safe conduct, letting the Greyjoys pillage and reave as they please because he was too focused on the Blackfyres, etc). Though there is an obvious variance in the overall morality and sincerity between these character, all of them give the same rationale of a necessary evil done in the name of a greater good. If you have to sacrifice a few to save everyone else, if you have to sacrifice one person to save everyone else, it’s a no brainer, right? What is one life opposite everyone else?

The answer is “everything”

Human lives are worth so much more than being means to an end. Putting people on the chopping block for “the greater good” dehumanizes them by reducing them to sacrificial lambs in the name of a higher purpose. But ASOIAF has always advocated for the recognition of the value of life and respect for the sanctity of human life. Though the methods may vary, the text remains loud and clear in its refusal of dehumanizing ideologies, whether the source is human characters like Tywin Lannister, Robert Baratheon or Randyll Tarly, or supernatural creatures like the Others who are the literal embodiment of dehumanization. ASOIAF is about the fight for our common humanity, for recognizing that humanity regardless of things like class or race or which side of a magical wall you were born on. But you can not fight for our common humanity by devaluing people’s lives. You can not use the argument of “doing it for humanity” to disregard the humanity of those being sacrificed. That cold ruthless pragmatism is not the point of this series; the fight against it is. That’s been the point from the first prologue when Wymar Royce stared the abyss in the face and charged at it.

That’s why the support of the narrative lies with characters like Ned Stark and Davos Seaworth who refuse to give into the idea that the cruelty and dehumanization is necessary for the greater good. Through them, GRRM delivers the point that every single human life matters. That saving one person can mean everything. That it’s not naive to think that one life is worth everything. Protecting the one is not inherently inferior to protecting the many. The greater good can just as well lie in saving one person. Which it did in the case of Ned and Jon.

I think it’s pretty significant that Ned had no idea about the prophecy or what role Jon would play when he protected Jon, while Rhaegar who did know made everything exponentially harder. There’s a rather underappreciated irony in the fact that Rhaegar (and Jaehaerys) had little to do with fulfilling the prophecy; in fact, they jeopardized it. They may have orchestrated the circumstances under which Jon and Dany could be conceived, but a closer look shows that Jon and Dany were born mostly in spite of them and their actions. I mean, Jaehaerys married Rhaella off so young it impacted her health and her ability to bear living children. She almost died at Summerhall along with Rhaegar in an ill-fated attempt to hatch dragons, and while that’s mostly on Aegon V, I expect that Jaehaerys was fully on board as well considering the measures he took for the prophecy. Rhaegar impregnated a teenager and left her to give birth in less than ideal circumstances, and spurred a civil war thing that weakened the realm and put his entire family at risk and got a few of them killed. I can only describe their efforts as counterproductive.

But I find it extremely fitting that they ended up doing little and less for the War for the Dawn, because Rhaegar and Jaehaerys embraced the metaphorical cold in their quest to fight it. Jaehaerys reduced Rhaella to an incubator for a savior as if her humanity and her worth are narrowed down to her womb. Rhaegar was willing to see thousands of people die for his vision of what the prophecy required. They allowed themselves to decide people’s worth. Rhaella, Elia and Lyanna mattered only as much as the children they could bear, and those children mattered only as much as their prophetic roles. Rickard, Brandon, their entourage and the rest of the casualties of the rebellion mattered not at all. But that’s not how it works. Rhaegar and Jaehaerys don’t get to decide people’s worth. They don’t get to decide which lives matter more. They do not get to devalue other people’s lives because these lives are not theirs to decide what to do with. Individual lives matter, not because of a prophetic destiny but because of their humanity.

That’s why I don’t see the prophecy as Rhaegar and Jaehaerys’ absolution, but rather their hubris.I get the sense that they acted on the assumption that the prophecy would make everything alright in the end, especially Rhaegar, and so ended up missing the entire point. They got so entangled in their interpretations of the prophecy that they did everything wrong. Got a lot wrong too since Rhaegar wasn’t even trying to get the Prince that Was Promised from Lyanna; I doubt her was even aiming for a boy. Hatching dragons in Summerhall ended on a tragedy. And of course, no one ever accounted for Tyrion. But the prophecy, true as it may be, doesn’t make things go a certain way; people do.

Which brings me to what you say about how it was destiny that Rhaegar acted like he did instead of other alternatives available to him. This argument fundamentally misunderstands a rather significant theme of this series - that it’s our choices that define who we are. Through the political and magical plots alike, individual choice is held up as immensely important to the point where many characters’ existential victory lies in that choice, the clearest case of all is how the three heads of the dragon have to contend with some version of this dilemma.

It all goes back and back, Tyrion thought, to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance on in our steads.

Does Dany have “the taint” of madness? Is Jon’s decision to fight his or is it an inevitability orchestrated by prophecy and Rhaegar Targrayen? Can Tyrion break free of the toxic legacy left behind by Tywin? Do they get to define who they are on their own terms or are they beholden to their lineage and their ancestor’s legacy? That’s for them to decide.

“Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.”

Maester Aemon lays down the bare bones of this recurring theme in Jon’s arc. Across multiple books, Jon faces the choice of keeping to his watch or leaving several times which only frames the significance of how his destiny as one of the saviors of Westeros lies in him making that choice. Jon’s “chosen one” status has always been linked to him taking control of his future and deciding for himself. It’s him choosing to stay in Castle Black despite his appalled discovery of the reality of the Watch and to take his vows despite his frustration with the appointment to the stewards. It’s him going with Qhorin Halfhand of his own accord. It’s him picking the Wall over deserting for Robb or Ygritte. It’s him making a conscious decision to be the leader of the fight at the Wall over Stannis’ offer of Winterfell. It’s him taking responsibility of the free folk and recognizing that the commonality of being human is what matters. Jon is on the forefront of the text’s central conflict by virtue of his choices.

Dany is also fighting for our common humanity over in Slaver’s Bay. Her arc is basically a hard fought battle for autonomy, whether hers or the slaves’. Dany fights for freedom, for people’s right to choose, for them to be recognized as people not things to be gifted and sold. “Have you asked them?”, she challenges when Xaro Xohan Daxos argues that slaves have no use for freedom because they were made to be used. But Xaro Xohan Daxos doesn’t get to decide others’ fates, neither do the slavers of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen. They don’t get to deprive them of their right to choose. People’s lives do not belong to them to decide what to do with. They don’t get to strip them of their free will or dehumanize them by treating them as things to be used to their satisfaction.

Because that’s what the Others are doing. They are supernatural slavers coming with their ice cold chains and stealing every single choice from humanity, right to the choice of dying. You can’t even die. They will resurrect you and force you to be their undead puppet.Mankind can’t even choose death because they will rip death from your grasp and drag your corpse up to join their army. The real threat in this text is a supernatural embodiment of dehumanization and taking away people’s choice. The War for the Dawn is nothing if not a fight for freedom, for the right to choose and to be human.

So the idea of “destiny” controlling how things go? It goes against the very heart of the series. Destiny is nothing but a series of choices deliberately made by individuals to shape the future. There is no fixed inescapable narrative that they can’t deviate from, or some all powerful cosmic power dictating how they should act. Even in the presence of magical visions, it remains the characters’ choices that decide their future. They get the prophecies but what they do with it is on them because the prophecies do not decide who they are. For all the magical elements and prophetic visions in this narrative, it remains that one of the things that the story emphasizes again and again is that our choices matter. They have meaning and they have consequences. Nothing is inevitable unless we make it so.

And that needs to hold true for the story to have any kind of meaning. Acting as if there is some kind of predetermined destiny that compels people to act in a particular way means that literally no one is responsible for their actions. People were just always meant to do what they did. Everyone is bound with chains of magic, lineage and a mystical force that has free reign to manipulate them. Free will is only an illusion fed to pawns that have no control. And if that’s the case, you can no longer hold anyone accountable. How can you call a person good or evil if no one has the capacity to choose their path? How can you hold anyone responsible either for their heroics or their atrocities? And if there is no good and evil, if honor and corruption get tarred by the same brush, if you have no basis to distinguish between the true knights and the false ones, then the only choice is truly “you win or you die”. Which is bullshit. These are false binaries and are far, far from being the measure of triumph.

ASOIAF has never been a story about the futility of ideals but rather about the fight to hold onto those ideals. About how“the battle between good and evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make”.  It all comes down to a choice and to the accountability for that choice. This series is rife with people trying to sidestep responsibility for their decisions, from Tywin maintaining plausible deniability to Robert willfully closing his eyes to corruption and transferring blame onto the next convenient target to Roose cultivating “a peaceful land, a quiet people” to Littlefinger keeping “clean hands” to Barristan Selmy and Arys Oakheart hiding behind their vows to justify their inaction in the face of tyranny. But they don’t get to outrun their responsibility for their own decisions. No one gets off scot-free, not because of vows of obedience, not because of corrupt systems, and not because of some notion of an inescapable destiny. The narrative won’t let them.

You must make that choice yourself, and live with it all the rest of your days.

[boglog]

HILL HOUSE NOTES !!

Objectively speaking, I like the show as a weird crossover between Transparent and American Horror Story but there are always some cons :/ One thing I will say is that I find it hard to review horror bc I'm too busy swimming in cortisol to notice plot holes but I watched the scary scenes w subtitles and no audio and that will have to do!!!

Cons:

The diologue is occasionally awful.

Scratch that it's terrible and the more the show goes on the more it nears Grey's Anatomy levels of nauseating

Firstly, there are way too many name drops esp when there are only two characters in the room, sometimes even one sentence after another, it's exhausting.

i.e. 'Stay right here, honey. I'm going to talk to the police now sweetie, I'll be right back.' // 'You eat people, Steve. You are a parasite, Steve.'

Second of all, 'Don't do that ever again. Don't do that. Where were you? I thought the house thingy got you.' kids don't talk like this. I know irl children tend to imitate the adults around them but the sheer amount of stock cliches these child actors are required to say is incredible

And honestly overall there's too much talking period. There are dozens of scenes where a character monologues for almost five minutes!!!!

I loved mind doppelgänger Leigh's speech but really let's tally it up: we've got Mrs Dudley's monologue, Olivia monologues a few times, Theo's monologue, Luke 2 or three monologues, one from Shirley, Hugh is not much of a talker so thank god they were consistent. And of course a lot of these are important to the story and even close to entertaining (see also: Nell yelling at Steve) but it's way too much and anything actually significant is diluted in this deluge of info-dump-y speeches

Why god??? Why?

Like this is television not radio but I guess it's another case of Forced Diegesis when summarising w flashbacks would actually be way easier on my psyche but Tacky for these Kinematic Auteurs

I would've liked a more in depth exploration of Olivia and her childhood experiences of paranormal tragedy to give us a better context for her morally grey slip into an evil mother

Still somewhat peeved at how, bc of supernatural instinct, we can justify Theo and CPS taking a child away from her home. Obviously the show can't waste so much time on what's only supposed to be a quick detour into Theo's character and it works within the world of the show given that the guy did confess but portrayals of police, first responders, social workers, ad nauseum making snap descisions like that is Not Good for people's real world perception of their rights. Just sayin.

Maybe a scene where Steve and Hugh apologise for being garbage humans or something idk that would've been nice

This show has many layers and interpretations which could either skew towards clever ambiguity or clumsy indescision and while I'm leaning toward the former, I will say it does go a little all over the place for me.

Are the Crains' superpowers genetic, from their mother? Did it come from the house? Why is the house was so vindictive? What does it want? Or is it more symbolic of the emptiness inside the characters? Why is Olivia decidedly an over controlling mother but Nell is an innocent? Is really the only thing Steve had to do to save his marriage was reverse the vasectomy? Nell died of her own paradoxical haunting that began when she was six so was the cause ultimately a sadness within herself before the house of strictly the house's pull?

Like it's v unclear (probably deliberately) wether or not the story was Psychosis All Along or it was the house's vendetta or bc the Crains specifically are a supernatural mutant family

We never find out what Nell does for a living and I'm curious

Finally: it's really white sometimes. Like. Painfully white. Granted, the Crains come close to my favourite kind of white person, the quirky dysfunctional family of adult children scattered all over the country who only reunite at their dead sister's funeral. Still, the POC tally up to two love interests (one of which DIES), one cop, one naïve widow, and one poor daughter-less foster parent. One could argue only a middle class white family would stay in a haunted house for so long ://

Pros

The show juggles seven characters and two plots flawlessly. Each character is recognisable w a distinct personality after about only two episodes, the nonlinear structure as we alternate between the present day frame story and the main plot in flashbacks before ultimately converging when the family reunites at the house for the last time is not only clear but parses its information in way that's not only not confusing but strengthens the tension and dread. Even while they show the flashbacks' ending (w Olivia and later Nell's death) as well as the epilogue, the build up still feels entirely justified. This is peak plotting right there.

Furthermore, Nell's ghost still manages to be in the spotlight with some jumpscares even after we know who she is

My soul pretty much left my body when Nell's ghost attempts to bond w her sisters via screaming as they argue in the car

A quintessential microcosm of the show's representation of time and memory is Nell's final speech: whimsically disjointed at first, poignant and clear by the end

It's a horror show that is completely dedicated to its characters (and I'm sure some of you already know my love of dysfunctional families) and centres around human themes of connection, mourning, and trauma and the necessity of vulnerability and letting go in order to live a full life. That's very rare in horror where we usually get gratuitous gore with a small spattering of sentimental scenes to further the gore.

Olivia's Forever House served as an excellent symbol for her need to control, the house's monicker implying her fear of change.

An incomplete but not bad portrayal of trauma, a decent addition to the topical and ever-expanding mental illness discourse

Also ft. meta commentary on writers

In the beginning, Olivia really was portrayed as a concerned mother who was always trying to be considerate of her children's emotional well-being despite her occasional snaps. One has to wonder wether her slip into an irrational need to control might reflect society's paradoxically oppressive expectations of motherhood: to have absolute control of your children while also being a benevolent saviour to them 24/7. I mean in all fairness to Olivia, she was working and raising 5 kids. I'd lose my marbles too.

Or maybe I'm giving the creators too much credit and they were only angling for an Other Mother thing. I like this Foucaultian nihilism though so we're gonna go w that.

The show's acknowledgment of Useless Dad and Entitled Eldest Son syndrome.

Spat my tea when doppelgänger Leigh ripped Steve a new one, and since she's a representation of his psyche maybe that means that Steve himself has gained some self awareness. (He should still... apologise to his family....)

I mean they were really spot-on with how birth order family drama goes.

Human portrayal of a lesbian as an adult and a child! As tumblr user Lesbeet said, this is very rare and deftly done!

Theo doing literally anything

Shirl is p adorable

Theo and Shirl: the comedy duo we absolutely need in our lives

Arthur and Nell's romance is joining Up's prologue in the golden vault of world's greatest ten minute love montages. (Both of which ended in tragédie. ☹️)

Shirl's AU dream sequence, which unlike the others, presents us with an extramarital faux pas that we were not previously aware of, manages to seem totally appropriate for her character

The set and costume design are perfect for the primordial fear of the unknown aesthetic the show was going for. Fairy flappers! Gothic stairwells! Punk rock leather gloves! A McMansion that doubles as a funeral home! Motels! A curvilinear LA mansion! The absolutely insane brutalist million dollar rehab centre! Oh boy!!!

Accurate mortician portrayal: they really do gotta wire the corpses' mouths shut. Those damn chatty dead people.

Tldr:

Diologue is lengthy and cheesy while the characters are Too White. The rare portrayals of POC and how social services work were lacklustre. 👎

The show's incredible ambition and dedication to its characters and themes of trauma, dysfunctional family relationships, and the consequences of coping via trying to control your life is amazing. Theo, especially, is amazing. It's a very goth show with clinically depressed ghosts.👍

[myxcenterxstage]

Meta: Priscilla's Motivation in Survival Mode ... and a whole lotta analysis

Author’s Note: This meta is primarily focused on v: Sail On, but can also reflect her character motivation in other verses.

TLDR; just jump to part 3 for the survival mode motivation stuff. But parts 1 & 2 help it make more impactful sense.

Part 1: A Character Analysis Pre-Franklin Expedition

So, let’s first take a quick look at Priscilla’s “Prologue” - her life growing up under the guardianship of her Uncle Charles Kimbleton.

Priscilla’s personality is slightly different in her verse v: Sail On. SLIGHTLY. She’s still her kind, buoyant and quirky self, but she’s also a lot more badass. She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty and isn’t interested in her debutante ceremony or who she’s going to marry. Nope. In this verse, Priscilla’s free-spirited “Wild Child” side is more prominent with her insatiable sense of wanderlust, wanting nothing more than to indulge her obsession with exploring the world as her Uncle Charles’ second-in-command and record their discoveries as a Natural Historian.

She imagines herself as the heroine of her own story she’s going to write about someday, or at least tag along for a grand adventure with like-minded people until she can accomplish that.

Besides v: Sail On being a great high seas & survival story, I like to think it has an underlying coming of age aspect where Priscilla comes into her own, because, granted, she’s a mess of contradictions.  

She’s afraid of commitment and marriage… but she’s a hopeless romantic.

She’s a bit of a rebel to Victorian stereotypes… but she’s so self-conscience of what others perceive of her even if she claims she doesn’t care.

She’s independent… but is so vulnerable and impressionable and wants to be rescued by a hero that’ll sweep her off her feet.

She knows who she is and what she wants… but keeps seeking validation from others.

She’s insightful and a delight to be around and sometimes wiser beyond her years… but is emotionally immature and has a track record of recklessly foolish & impulsive decisions.

She has the courage to stand up to always do the right thing… but when she’s faced with a challenge she runs away from it.

Do you see where I’m getting at?

(I guess you could leave it as she’s a complex character… or I’m still trying to fully grasp her personality as an OC. I’d love some feedback on these ‘contradictions’!)

Part 2: The Aftermath of Uncle Charles’ Disappearance

So, Uncle Charles. He doesn’t physically appear in this verse per se, but boy does he remain an indirect main character.

No matter where in the world they were, Uncle Charles was Priscilla’s ‘home’. He was her bodyguard, her mentor, her storyteller, her shoulder to cry on, and most importantly her conscience to curb her foolishness as she was still growing up. The Kimbleton family isn’t exactly small, but Charles was by far the most genuine. Charles wasn’t just an uncle - he loved and cherished Pris as though she was his own daughter. (Since Charles was a widower who never remarried, I think that’s why Priscilla maybe even learned to cope with grief in this verse surprisingly well all thanks to him too.)

Uncle Charles was certainly one of the biggest influences in Priscilla’s life, and who encouraged her curiosity and scientific obsessions contrary to other relatives who wanted to repress it in favor of her becoming the stereotypical Victorian house-wife.

Unfortunately, Charles was also someone she lost at all too dependable a time. And it was probably a bigger catastrophe than whatever happened to her parents that brought her into Charles’ custody to begin with. Everything that represented her sense of security was ripped away from her, and she was left with a void she didn’t know how to fill.

Even at the urging of her other relatives, she refused to host - or attend - the funeral held in honor of Charles years after his disappearance. Maybe, just maybe, he would come back. Maybe, even against all odds.

But she didn’t know. What was closure? A part of her didn’t even want to believe he was gone.

And now without him, she became an open target of vulnerability.

This also begins a new, very prominent flaw in Priscilla’s character: her strong sense of denial and running away from her problems given the quickest opportunity. Left to her own devices Priscilla tries to hold on to every good thing her Uncle raised her with, all while struggling to cope with loss and fend off her inevitable foolishness.

{{ Insert Backstory & Priscilla’s Scandal Here }}

Part 3: Franklin Expedition Disaster & Survival ::  From glory... to desperation… to reality.

Okay NOW. Finally to the part we’ve all been waiting for!! THIS is what I had the Eureka for earlier that started this whole meta to begin with!!

So, fast forward to Priscilla running away from scandal and boarding the HMS Terror. She feels she struck gold by being able to follow her dream and her “running away from home” paid off. Fast forward again from the new friendships Priscilla makes and secret crushes and buds of platonic cuteness and everything happy in Baffin Bay etc.

Fast forward again to Priscilla hearing Sir John’s announcement about them sailing straight into the ice pack since they’re so ‘close’. Fast forward again through Priscilla’s impression of Sir John unraveling once they’re stuck in the ice.

At that moment, nothing was more terrifying than the great unknown to Priscilla. She had no place to run.

Parts of her personality she didn’t know existed came out after the ships were stuck in that ice:

Bitterness. Anxiousness. Volatility. Fragility. Restlessness. Fear.

Beneath her thin veneer of mandatory bravery and blind desire to wish things could turn for the better was a mess of emotions she was so desperately trying to suppress. Almost overnight she picked up random nervous habits. Outbursts of skittish laughter, speaking her mind out of place, trivial chatter, zoning out. Sporadic enough to not be of concern, but noticeable to those who knew her well. And all the while she had this gnawing sense of jitteriness to always do something amidst constantly feeling so helpless.

As the tragedy continues, she grows quieter - her radiance dimmer. Her optimism that was fueled by denial slowly comes crashing down into the reality of the frightening dark caverns of her own mind. Writhing in bitterness over Sir John’s hubris that sentenced them all to death, she had begun to realize that she too perhaps had made an impulsively reckless mistake to volunteer herself to begin with.

And once the Tuunbaq attacks begun, she quickly realized they had no place to hide either.

So there was only one option left: she had to fight to survive.

And this, my friends, is when the lioness was awoken. While her struggle between the solace of denial (which still fueled her optimism outside of a genuinely happy moment) was ever-present, and her blind wishful thinking might have helped her to not cripple under from the stress… when backed against the wall of brutal truth she was beginning to realize she had no choice but to unavoidably reckon with herself, which was long overdue. Admit their predicament for what it was, admit her decisions and behavior as a runaway was foolish, admit her feelings of lostness in a cruel world, and admit even though she was not strong enough to face London’s gossip of her she never should have acted so rashly with herself in retaliation. (Let alone other things she may or may not have done on the voyage... to be determined)

But at least in this dead end, she wasn’t doomed to navigating it alone.

After losing her only family, she had gained a new one on this expedition. 129 new family members to be exact, regardless of how well or little she knew them. No matter how many lives she grieved each passing week, she wouldn’t have wanted to trade anything to not know those she especially held dear. And collectively they all shared one supportive notion in common: They needed to survive.

And then, after a burdensome night when she had hit an emotional breaking point and poor medicinal side effects induced a fevered outbreak where she was delusionally mistaking Captain Crozier for her Uncle Charles… the following sober morning she came to an unexpected realization.

Call it the beginnings of madness from the lead poisoning, or her desperation to hold on to whatever threads of hope she possibly could, but a new question of ‘what if?’ became her new obsession:

What if Uncle Charles was in fact still alive? Just like them?

Somewhere, someplace - it felt almost tangibly real to her. The years of disappearing from the face of the earth and civilization - and yet still not dead.

Thus, her own independent motivation to survive against all odds in these Arctic conditions emerged. It fueled the promise she made to her new friends that they’d press on. Ignited the motivation lent her by others. She found a new purpose: not for only herself in the end, but for those who mattered to her. 

And if Charles had the strength to survive wherever he was all this time - then she would do the same. And maybe, just maybe if in these years her Uncle returned home - just like Priscilla knew they could eventually, someday - she would want nothing more than to live so she could run into his loving arms once again.

Come what may, she would march on. She wanted to live. To survive. To love. And most of all, she wanted to make sure her new family would too.

[stageplayhero]

@blueheartedmayor cued:

"Mark? Please. I know you're in there."

The butler had originally answered the door. While Damien had not been allowed in, he had not been dismissed either. Therefore, he would let the distinctive Brooks stubbornness kick in and stay on the porch.

"It's been two weeks since I've seen you. I would like to spend time in your company, as friends do. Besides, it isn't as though these chocolates can eat themselves." A childish play to bribe with sweet treats, but hopefully it would get some form of reaction. (blueheartedmayor, for the WKM mayor)

He's certain Benjamin would have comments about how Mark sits on the other side of the door sulking like a child, but why should he care? There's the much more pressing matter that Damien is here and won't be leaving anytime soon. He didn't become mayor by easily giving up.

He doesn't want visitors. That's not true.

Nudging the door open a crack at the mention of sweets, he leans out enough to glance the mayor over. "Do you have the fancy ones with the fillings I like?"

The question doesn't really hold any bearing on whether Damien will be let inside or not. The door is already open, and it only takes a slight push from Mark to open it further. "I highly doubt it could have been two weeks."

[drakorn]

Vivaldi - Die Fünfte Jahreszeit: Non-Spoiler Review

Hey guys! So, as I said in my previous post, I finally got around to watch Vivaldi - Die fünfte Jahreszeit at the Vienna Volksoper. While I do have the intentions of making a spoiler review later on, this one here will be completely spoiler free. This is just going to be my overall impressions of various details. So, with that in mind, let’s get started!

The Cast

Antonio Vivaldi - Drew Sarich: Drew Sarich is always a win in my book and in this case it’s no different! He is amazing as Vivaldi and gets many opportunities to show off his vast and mighty rock tenor voice. But he also really gets to shine as an actor here! Some people criticise him for constantly playing the same guy in whatever role he is currently in. I can assure you, this is not the case. I didn’t see Krolock, I didn’t see Rudolf, I didn’t see Jesus, I saw Vivaldi. For me personally, Drew was the highlight of the evening. Whenever he was onstage, I was immensely entertained. This is also one of his funnier roles, I have to say. I know, it’s a piece about Vivaldi’s life but there is a surprisingly large amount of sass an sarcasm devoted to the main part and Drew sells it perfectly! He shows that he has great comedic timing. People who already saw the show will know what I mean when I mention that scene, where Drew really pulls out all of his comedy skills. Overall, it was great for me to see Drew again. The last time I saw him before that was Jesus Christ Superstar at the Ronacher, not last year’s show, the one before, so it was a great feeling seeing one of my favourite actors again. And as always, Drew gives a million percent and fully immerses himself into the role. Great casting choice, no regrets.

Carlo Goldoni - Boris Pfeifer: Another good casting choice here. This character is on stage most of the time so they really had to get a sense of good presence with this casting decision! And they have done so greatly. Whenever Boris and Drew are on stage together and interact with each other, the entire performance is elevated. This guy also has a great comedic timing and sells the role of a mischievous playwright really well! Definitely another highlight for me.

Kardinal Ruffo - Morten Frank Larsen: This role is SUCH a wasted opportunity. First of all, Morten is amazing as Ruffo as you really get the feel of a true antagonist from him. His deep voice combined with his look creates a commanding presence on stage. However, there is one problem with this role: He doesn’t show up as much. This is the antagonist we’re talking about here and we really don’t see that much of him. In fact, I can’t even remember if his character had any conclusion. Actually, I can’t remember if ANY character had a proper conclusion, but this I will talk about later. Morten Frank Larsen deserved so much more time on stage. However, he makes up for it with a kickass villain song, which is actually one of my favourite songs in the whole show. Great casting, great role, only too little stage time.

Annina Girò - Rebecca Nelsen: She was a good addition acting and singing-wise but I don’t really think the character herself is written in a very compelling way. Her biggest evolution is in her first scene and we see it happening very literally. However, I did get that she was supposed to be Vivaldi’s great muse, his inspiration for a while. This definitely came across and her self-confidence was very welcome. It was nice to see her trying to stand up for herself, especially in her big finishing number. However, as I said, not really my favourite character of the show. Rebecca Nelsen, however, was fantastic in the role. She has a great and powerful voice and deserves the applauding.

Paolina Girò - Julia Koci: She is great and probably one of the more interesting characters of the show! The whole point of her is being this watcher in the background, documenting everything while sadly being completely unnoticed and unacknowledged. Julia Koci captures this essence really well and this is why her solo is effective, because up until this time she hasn’t really had a presence. But she also seems to be the most loyal and faithful character in the whole show. I won’t touch on this in this review but will do so in the spoiler review. Overall, I was quite intrigued by this character and of course by Julia Koci’s delivery!

Caffarelli - Thomas Lichtenecker: This is the Herbert of this show. With that I mean, him being an absolute scene-stealer. We first see him in a scene where you can already suspect that he might come back and do some mischief. However, when he DOES get his big scene, holy shit! First of all, his costume is the most over-the-top thing of this entire show, and this is saying something because the majority of this show has a lot of over-the-top going for it! Thomas Lichtenecker is also amazing in this role. He isn’t on stage very much but when he’s there, you just know he’s there. 

Of course, there are some more cast members but these are the ones where I feel I can truly talk about in greater detail. Overall, the cast did not disappoint me!

The Story

The story is a mixed bag for me personally. When I look back on it, it sometimes feels like there were two versions of the show: a dark and serious one and an over-the-top crazy one and for the final version they were merged together. I know this isn’t true but it feels like it a bit. I mean, we’ve got dramatic and serious songs like “Sünder, du entkommst mir nicht”, “Lebenslange Haft” or “Komm, mein Kaiser” where you truly feel the tragedy and weight of Vivaldi’s life. But then we’ve got scenes that are just...weird. People who saw this show will know what I mean when I mention the sauna. But even those scenes are not all too bad. At certain parts though, the story felt a little too abstract to me. The main reason for me is the way characters are being handled throughout the show. In that, I mean that none of them really get a proper conclusion. I mean, they get A conclusion but it could have been so much more. The closest conclusion we get is that of Annina. Even Vivaldi himself just disappears offstage towards the end and his ultimate fate is revealed via quick exposition. My biggest issue though was Ruffo because we never really see him again after a certain moment. It just felt a bit like the creators were telling us: “Ah, you probably know what happened to these historical people anyway, so showing it to you on-stage would be unnecessary”. I personally didn’t. The only person I know for sure what happened to is Vivaldi. Everyone else...they just kinda left into obscurity. In pieces like Mozart or Elisabeth, we get to see what happened to the main characters. And if we don’t see their ultimate fate, we still see the ultimate character conclusion for this particular show. In Vivaldi, people just disappear from the stage to not be seen again eventually. Maybe I interpreted something wrong, but at the end, I had somewhat of a “...that’s it?” feeling. Even the ending comes a bit out of nowhere. It felt a bit like someone came to the creators mid-rehearsal and was like: “Guys, we’re about to close, can you hurry up?” Overall, the story is a mixed bag for me. It has its strong parts but ultimately, it left me a bit unsatisfied.

Costumes and Set

Costumes: THIS is where the weeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrd part of the show kicks in. Ok, imagine this: Take costumes from the classical opera, then add costumes from a rock opera, mix them together, get Tim Burton to direct the piece and make the final decision and there you have it. I thought Mozart! was going a bit extreme when combining History with modern day. Boy, was I not prepared for what I saw here XD This is taking modern-day weird costumes to a whole new level. Everyone has hairstyles like they’ve just visited the most hippy-like hairdresser in the country. Goldoni and Ruffo are the only two normal-looking people in the show. Everyone else...wow! I mean, it kinda fits the spirit of the musical but wow XD This is what I call over-the-top.

Set: The set design is actually quite decent in this piece. A lot of Vivaldi’s life is presented as a play within a play and thus they take full creative liberty with that. A lot of the set transitions look like stage-changes in a theatre, including backstage people coming out and carrying pieces on and off. We’ve got massive renaissance-like paintings setting some of the scenes and we’ve got reconstructions of actual places (especially the prologue and the ending have this). But I gotta give the set designers credit that they made sure to make every scene look different. 

Overall, the costumes are VERY weird and the set is quite nice to look at actually!

Music and Songs

Music: The music is actually one of the better parts of this piece. It is in many ways an experimental project, as it combines elements of classic opera with modern rock opera. Christian Kolonovits does manage to successfully intertwine those two...even to such an extent that this musical has been marketed via a pun: A BaRock Opera. That was...interesting to say the least. There was only one moment where I thought it was overdoing it a bit, and that was when Vivaldi’s Spring came up to be accompanied by heavy metal. It sounded like something from a YouTube cover video. But other than that, the orchestrations were really nice. And WOW, THAT is an orchestra, guys. Even the pit itself is gigantic but when I actually looked down to see how many people were playing instruments down there, I was very pleasantly surprised. This is how you orchestrate your piece, everyone!

Songs: The songs are also quite decent. Some of them really do get stuck in your head in the most positive way. My personal favourites are “Vivaldi rockt Vivaldi” (it’s a very catchy beginning, y’all!), “Lebenslange Haft” (another classic Drew song, where he gets the opportunity to properly show off), “Sünder, du entkommst mir nicht” (a kickass villain song for a very underused villain), “Scharlatan” (Goldoni’s golden moment and also a very catchy melody), “Die fünfte Jahreszeit” (Drew Sarich and Boris Pfeifer having a massive duet is amazing) and “Komm, mein Kaiser” (Drew really gets to show off his acting abilities in this one and this became my favourite song of the entire show because it’s not over-the-top or silly or overdramatic, it’s just one guy realising his fall from grace and increasing age, and it’s done so melancholic and simple, beautiful, if only more scenes were like this one). However, I do have one problem with them: SO. MUCH. REPETITION. I heard that that’s a thing on operas, that they repeat entire verses before wrapping up, but to me, it was more of an annoyance: after hearing about someone identifying themselves as an artist for FIVE times or so without hearing anything else, I am a bit annoyed. Seriously, like, some of the songs are 50% original, 50% repetition, aaaaaah XD But overall...the songs are actually really good, especially the ones that are not silly and over-the-top.

Overall

Overall, this is by no means my favourite musical. It just has a bit too many things that I personally don’t really prefer. Of course it’s great that it has gathered such a fanbase but I don’t really think I would like to see it again. However, I would like to buy the CD! When I’m actually not LOOKING at it but just LISTEN to it, I find myself liking it more. The cast is great and the music is great, I will definitely get the CD at some point in time! To everyone who hasn’t seen the musical yet: I would recommend checking it out as it really is one of the more “out there” shows. It’s one of the things you have to see in order to fully believe it. 

[umihoshi-art]

Witch Story. Prologue v.2

These 3 events took place almost simultaneously, 12 years ago.

At first glance, they may not seem connected.

But that midsummer night would intertwine these stories and decide the fate of many people.

A Witch, a Thief and an accumulation of tragedies.

-

A sea of fire had engulfed a 4th part of their city. There hung a heavy stench of sulfur and burned flesh. Moans of dying men, women and children. Everything had a thick layer of ash on it, and scorching to the touch.

One man still remembers vividly how the flames eagerly ate away on his skin as he held his wife in his arms.

Had she always been this small and fragile? he knew it was her, by heart. But even her parents wouldn't recognize her as she is now.

Charted black. Mutilated. And slit open in the abdomen. Her intestines were removed.

When was the last time he told her he loves her? Did he ever even? Perhaps when she told him she was pregnant... But that small shard of happiness in his life now lay lifeless in his arms. And not just her. His sister. His brother in law. His mother. Many people he knew were on the ground, slowly consumed by flames.

Who... who could be so demonic?

-

A young boy ran through an endless maze of sewer. He didn't dare look back, it would just slow him down.

Far, far away from that place. That room. From that sweet chuckling, still ringing in his ears.

He clutched on tightly to the item in his hands, cold and steel. It was a bit slippery from his sweat and the damp in the sewer.

But it felt comforting in his hands. As if urging him forward, towards the light at the end of this maze.

Only then, standing in the open air, did he decide to look back. In the distance, he saw black, thick plumes of smoke in the air.

The boy's exhausted eyes slightly darkened at the sight.

Let it burn.

-

a small girl peeked into the room where her sister was surrounded by important people.

She was still too young to understand what was going on. But the look on her sister's face was desolate.

Someone laid a hand on the little girls shoulder.

She remembered vaguely hearing the woman tell her her family had passed away.

Her sister was busy, she was the only heir left. Only her abundant magic could save Salem.

The little girl stared at her own tiny hands.

'Magic'....

If she had magic, she could also save Salem. And save her sister.

One day, surely, that day would come....

[oh-tome]

(why we’re all like Rika...)

As interesting as I think it is to look at mysme through a psychological lense, up until now I’ve really tried not to guess-diagnose any of the characters, simply because I’m not nearly educated enough on the subject to make such inferences.

But I restarted Another Story tonight, and came across this scene in the prologue.

And this is a thought that I’ve had pretty much since my first mysme route (which just so happened to be Seven’s), and seems more relevant now than ever.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they used the other name for daffodils, narcissus, to refer to Rika’s favourite flower here.

Setting aside all other criticisms I may have of her character, I truly think Rika has narcissistic personality disorder.

There’s no doubt that she has an inflated sense of self, considering she amassed a myriad of followers to heed her commands and call her by the title saviour. I’m pretty sure she refers to herself this way several times as well.

Then there’s the need for admiration, the lack of empathy... honestly she hits every mark.

I always thought from the very beginning that it was really arrogant of Rika to think she could cure the pain of others without understanding that pain first, that she and only she had the power to bring happiness to these people. And it was never as clear as it is now after meeting her in Jihyun’s route.

Rika is really...full of herself.

...

But this has also made me realise something.

I already knew I was a lot like Jihyun, the self-martyring idiots that we both are, but...I have something in common with Rika as well.

I really, really, really want to save everyone.

And I think most mysme players can relate to this.

It’s the reason why we asked for a V route in the first place, and it’s the reason that we keep asking for more routes. Because we want to save all of them.

What really pissed me off about Another Story’s ending wasn’t the tragedy or the unfairness of it all. That was definitely there but...what really pissed me off was that I felt cheated out of my happy ending. Because I can take unrealistic and clichéd, but it’s just not a happy ending if I’m left feeling like I failed. And that’s exactly how I felt watching that damn scene (ugh, I can’t even say it, you know the one) and being unable to do anything about it.

V’s route was beautifully written, and considering everything we know about the characters, the endings shouldn’t have come as a surprise to us. But seeing as how many of us are vying for a Saeran route, realistic obviously wasn’t enough to satisfy this time around.

So yeah...

I guess they were all right...in a way we really are like Rika.

Because as selfish or as unreasonable as it may be, we still want to save everyone. And I take solace in the fact that we won’t be letting Mysme go anywhere until we do.

[sk19972]

DORIAN GRAY - An Opera (Prologue)

http://tricostylistpathophobic.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-from.html?m=1

The Picture of Dorian Gray – From the Composer’s Perspective

https://youtu.be/83upL-GUriU

This article was first published in The Wolfian, “a magazine dedicated to delivering political articles on liberalism and social democracy, as well as philosophical, constitutional and intellectual discussion.” The Wolfian is readily available online from both Amazon and iTunes.

The issue of setting a story well-known by the general public to music, especially writing an opera based on such a story, is one of distilling from the text the essence that must be encapsulated by the music, without throwing out the details that make the tale so particular to other readers. This issue is doubled in the case of Oscar Wilde’s novella The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), for this work, more so than any of his other plays and books, is an odd synthesis of philosophy, somewhat dark comedy, and gothic horror. The challenge is therefore to write music that thus evokes each strand of Wilde’s writing, be it a “difficult” or rhythmically, harmonically or melodically complex philosophical monologue, as I have found most of the music of the now complete Prologue seems to be; or bleak, aggressive and turbulent passages suggestive of gothic horror music; or even lush, or otherwise light and charming comic music – without any single one of these strands overpowering the general effect of the music. My solution, as much as I might say I have one, is really two-fold: firstly, to find inspiration in music of previous generations, in the passacaglias of Henry Purcell, Georg Friedrich Handel’s arias, Benjamin Britten, Claude Debussy and Richard Wagner’s operas, and extract some understanding from their works as to precisely how they fit these particular strands of literature combined by Wilde; and secondly, by following Wilde’s text, as it is a guide in itself as to how to set the text – Wilde perfectly balanced philosophy, comedy, and horror in his novella, who am I to try and change this balance?

As a composer who also sings, I find that much of my composition is influenced by the composers I regularly find myself singing. In Britain, most young, classical singers are taught to sing using repertoire from German Lieder and English song, that is, distinctly avoiding opera until the voice has suitably developed the much larger volume that is usually required to sing with the large orchestras utilised by Wagner, Verdi and Puccini. Therefore, I should say that my biggest influence, certainly in the instrumentation of this work, is from earlier baroque and classical-era orchestration, with reduced numbers. This is in order to allow singers with lighter voices to be able to sing this music, allowing for greater choice in the quality of acting, and the delivery of Wilde’s excellent text to the audience - This is also somewhat inspired by the concept of a chamber-opera, typified by Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia (1946), which was scored for a drastically reduced orchestra, and although I use a few more instruments than Britten in Dorian Gray, keep an eye out, Britten will be littered all over this article. In the case of Dorian Gray, I estimate that the orchestra may consist of around 30 players, That is, single wind (with a basset horn or bass clarinet taking the place of the bassoons for a rounder, warmer sound) 4 trumpets, 2 horns, 4 trombones, a harp and off-stage piano, and reduced strings, without double-basses, compared to the usual 70-100 players in a symphony orchestra. With a cast of 8, plus a small chorus of maybe 8 or 12 singers, a total of 50-odd performers in an opera is much lower, and therefore more intimate, than in the colossal cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876) by Wagner, with 34 soloists, a massed chorus, a full symphony orchestra with an enlarged brass section, which requires the soloists to have truly gargantuan voices and vocal stamina.

However, that is not to say that I have entirely disregarded Wagner’s music as an influence – indeed, he is probably one of the biggest influence on Western Classical music since Beethoven’s epoch-marking innovations in the early 19th century. His use of leitmotif (a small musical phrase, rhythm or progression associated with an idea or character, developed primarily by Wagner in Der Ring des Nibelungen and his later operas) from Der Ring onwards has influenced so many that his reach is practically inescapable. I certainly haven’t attempted to avoid it, particularly in the Prologue to Dorian Gray. There are several ideas that one might point to as being leitmotifs, but the one I believe is the best example, first occurs in b.81 of the Prologue (c.03:50), and is an idea that I link either with Art as an idea, or the Picture, or directly with Dorian himself. The rise and tumbling fall of the flute melody (the top line) is actually accompanied by possibly two other ideas that could be regarded as leitmotifs. Firstly, the demi-semi-quaver run up to the zenith of the flute melody is an effect I have used frequently in the prologue to indicate an idea, either musical or philosophical, rising to the fore in someone’s mind (It also creates a graceful way to blossom into a new melody). Moreover, the accompanying rising and falling quavers on the stave below (here, the clarinet) is used as an accompanying figure often when discussing aesthetics, and is not simply an accompanying figure for the flute melody. Thus, I have tried to represent the text (Here, “Why he is a Narcissus” and then, “But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins…”) through the music by the use of motivic writing.

This Prologue is based on the first two chapters of Wilde’s novella, which mostly consists of a discussion of the nature of art between Sir Henry Wotton (baritone) and the painter Basil Hallward (tenor), followed by the arrival of Dorian himself (counter-tenor) and Sir Henry’s first monologue about youth, beauty and hedonism. Such philosophy requires textures that enhance the conveyance of the text; for this, I looked at the vocal music of Benjamin Britten, particularly his opera Billy Budd (1951). Britten makes use of heterophony (several instruments performing the same general melody, with rhythmic differences, ornamentation and decoration) to strengthen the vocal line frequently in this work, such as in John Claggart’s monologue http://tricostylistpathophobic.blogspot.com/2015/01/youtube-wednesday-reviewing-christmas.html, in which the villain declares his lecherous hatred for the hero, Billy. The Trombones are clearly playing mostly the same notes as the villain sings, however, they often do not coincide. Similarly, I used the effect to create a strength underneath the soloist, by accompanying the baritone with the French horn, whilst the viola and clarinet play a rolling triplet accompanying figure, as he sings about the sorrows of growing old, (c.29:15). This can, however, when combined with slower accompanying figures, create a slow, dragging and turgid effect. This is suitable when used with the hedonistic, jaded Lord Henry, but is not at all suitable for the more pure and idealistic artist Basil. To find a suitable mood for Basil’s monologues, I drew inspiration from a romance from Anton Rubinstein’s under-appreciated opera The Demon (1871). Rubinstein utilized a fast, pulsing semi-quaver triplet motif to accompany a promise from the Byronic demon to his lover that she will be “queen of the universe” (https://youtu.be/IIjpB3QuQZI?t=15) With Basil’s monologue, I used full wind and strings to accompany the tenor, with an accompanying melody plucked on the 1st and 2nd violins, as he explains the inescapable effect that Dorian has had on his art – he is everywhere, all pervading. He can be found in certain colours, the curves of certain lines. He is all Basil’s art.

The final notable inspiration I drew on in the Prologue is from Henry Purcell, the English baroque composer, with influences (again) upon Benjamin Britten. The influence manifests itself in Dorian’s lament over the Picture, in which he mourns the fact that (for the moment) the portrait will not age, whilst he, the sitter, will; the portrait will always remind him of his mortality. I set this to a passacaglia (an originally Spanish dance form, which involves a constant bass ostinato, and is usually in 3-time), because, as in many baroque pieces it creates a sense of tragedy through the constant bass line, but the ever developing harmonies over the top. This was used notably by Purcell, but fell out of fashion somewhat in the classical era. It was finally revisited by Britten in the 20th century, particularly when he used one in his opera Peter Grimes (1945) - other composers of the 20th century are also known for their use of passacaglias, among them Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Dmitri Shostakovich, but (as usual) Britten was my touch-stone. My passacaglia, (c.32:25), is somewhat irregular, though, as it is in 4-time rather than the more usual 3-time, and, unlike most baroque passacaglias, it is a vocal piece, whereas most were purely instrumental. In this respect it resembles the famous chaconne “When I am laid in earth” from Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas (c. 1687), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGQq3HcOB0Y even down to the unequal phrase lengths between the voice and the orchestra.

Hopefully this little piece should give any listener to my work a guide to the influences present in the music, and demonstrate the attempts made to balance the three strands of Wilde’s writing. On that note, I hope it serves to illustrate that, as Wilde himself is my guide to the structure of the music here, much more of the music is philosophical for most of the work so far. Going forward, I worry that this creates a rather slow burning Prologue, and therefore the music of the next few scenes must be significantly more varied, be it through the charm of Dorian’s visit to Lord Henry’s town-house, or the farce that is the performance of Romeo and Juliet, with the bombastic, middle-aged Romeo, a wooden, distracted Juliet and a ridiculing, outraged audience.

[morshtalon]

My Top 5 Video Game Intros

Since I haven't posted in a while and since I don't have any ideas for full-fledged reviews, let's do something different today and talk about my 5 favorite intros to video games I enjoyed in the past. Please note that this is a very personal, opinionated list; I have somewhat deliberately avoided really obvious picks (consider Metal Gear Solid 3's and Final Fantasy VI's openings, among others, to be hovering around in spirit somewhere around here). Furthermore, I'm not limiting myself exclusively to that very first, usually pre-rendered opening scene of a game (like, the attract mode before you even press start), because most of the time those are kind of devoid of any meaning and without context, I'd just be judging them by coolness or whatever, which isn't very interesting or inducive to commentary. Anyway, without further ado, here are my top 5 video game intros:

#5: Wild Arms 3's evolving opening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvoueEiVyWE

At first, Wild Arms 3's opening is just a standard anime thing. It's fairly animated and stuff, and that's fine as far as that goes, but there are two things I find quite special with this opening; one that was always there from the start and one that was a product of the localization. First off, there are actually four versions of the opening. You see, the game is separated into 4 chapters, each with a different main villain which is somewhat related to the last, with varying levels of directness. In that way, as has been said before, it feels like seasons of an anime, and I think the game struck a good balance of making itself both a cohesive experience and a sort of episodic narrative simultaneously. To reflect that, the opening "evolves" as you progress through the game, changing key scenes to reflect the current "season" villain. I find that to be pretty awesome and an idea I haven't really seen repeated anymore; I believe mostly due to the fact that WA3 has this sort of unique story direction that lent itself to the evolving intro. Still, more games should adopt this style. They might have, I dunno, this is the coolest example out of the games I've played anyway. The second thing that impresses me is how well the localization performer fared singing the english version of the opening theme, Advanced Wind. I think it's actually better than the original. There's a certain sweetness and determination in her voice that is so fitting with the game's main character, I could almost trick myself into thinking it was actually Virginia hollering those lyrics. Pretty good opening, not higher on the list because it -is- just a pre-title opening I guess, but still. Also, Wild Arms 3 itself is alright, check it out if you're a fan of this kind of stuff.

#4: Cave Story's first taste of gameplay

What makes Cave Story's introduction interesting is that it... sort of doesn't exist. You're just dropped straight into the action with no real clue what's going on besides a brief interaction between two characters that makes completely no sense at that point. Every plot detail is up to you to find out in an immersive manner that doesn't barrage the player with endless backstories and setups and information you don't really need. Even Dark Souls, one of my favorite games and the one I perceive to be closest to the ideal of gameplay and story integration, feels the need to weigh down your mind with stuff before you start. Don't get me wrong, I understand why Dark Souls and many other games need it, but the fact that Cave Story -doesn't- is rather admirable, in my opinion. I love games where you start out without knowing what's going on, solving challenges just based on the fact you're playing a game and need to go forward, to only then start piecing together the great scheme of things from in-game data collection. What's even better about Cave Story is that there's no limitation at the start: you're dropped into full gameplay conditions, without bumbling around a peaceful area while the backstory is exposed to you by an NPC or anything "cinematic" like that. You're just left to figure everything out on your own. Pretty cool.

#3: Dragon Warrior II's extended prologue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OlHofpQ7LA

Dragon Quest 2's original Famicom version started out pretty shitty. It was basically only a slight alteration to the previous installment's intro: you're in a throne room (this time you're actually the prince, sitting on the queen's throne for some reason), some guard from the faraway kingdom of Moonbrooke comes along and warns the king of impending doom before collapsing from his wounds, the king gives you some brief words of encouragement and sets you off on an adventure with minimal financial backup and a crap sword (admittedly, a better deal than in DQ1). For the international version, by some divine intervention causing a brief miracle shining in the face of Nintendo's then-oppressive censorship, an extensive prologue scene was added depicting the events that befell Moonbrooke prior to that guard setting off on his journey. What makes this scene special, however, is how brilliantly it expands on the tropes established by the localization of the previous title. Dragon Warrior 1 had this faux-Elizabethan translation for some reason, which was pretty charming but otherwise just a strange quirk they added for the overseas release. The extended prologue added here actually runs with that theme and frames the story as some kind of fairy tale; a narrator intercepts the dialog message boxes to preface each character's next line, there is some opening text that feels as if some elderly gent from Shakespeare times was weaving a tale in front of his audience's eyes, and it even goes somewhat into detail pretty much leaving no room for the player to doubt that the people of Moonbrooke flat out died. Also, the guard that makes the voyage to your kingdom is given a tiny little bit of characterization, just enough to wrap up the scene pretty much as best as they could have. Overall, this makes Dragon Warrior II have the most engaging start of the original trilogy; it was something they didn't have to do at all, but they did it and actually made the game better for it. At least until you get to Rhone and it starts its genocide of the player's happiness, soul, and reasons to live.

#2: Suikoden II - Reminiscence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WLyjRex0ac

Suikoden II's emotional storyline and comparatively grounded narrative offer a nice contrast to the PSX's library of jRPGs concerned with elevating their epicness to ridiculous degrees. The game really cements this approach on the introductory flashback scene that functions as the opening credits. To me, the reminiscence scene is pivotal, serving a variety of functions that cause ripple effects lasting even beyond one's playthrough of the game. The setup is simple: The main character and his best friend run afoul of a ploy to abruptly terminate a cease-fire between two nations; they are pursued by some knights and cornered at a cliff above a river. You and your friend, then, etch a marking on a spot in the cliff wall and jump into the river below, planning to return to the etched spot should he and you get separated. While you are being carried by the currents, the scene itself begins. It's simply a flashback montage showcasing glimpses of the life you and your friend led leading up to your enrollments in the army and departure for the sabotaged expedition, accompanied by a relatively simple piano piece. However, it's a scene that is central to the themes of the entire game. It provides, first and foremost, a contrast between a perceived bright future with an everlasting bond of friendship and the tragedies that will soon occur in these characters' lives. It's a window into the will and emotions of the main character himself in his comfort zone; the life that he will so clamor to return to as the game progresses and things get increasingly more unwieldy for everyone. It sets up everything you need to know about the relationship between you, your best friend, and your sister on a 2-minute scene with no dialog; conveying all it needs only on its fantastic sprite work and score. It lets you know that this is, first and foremost, a game about feelings and about interpersonal relationships, using the war that you expect to happen from having played Suikoden 1 more as a backdrop to explore introspective consequences and how it affects people's visions. Most importantly, however, is that it serves as a reminder of what it was like for you, the player, when you come back from having completed the game. I literally cannot watch this scene anymore without shedding a tear or two. It happens every time. I actually prefer the normal version with the sepia filter, but I couldn't find it on its own like that, so here's the full-color version of it that you get from doing some ludicrous stunt before you jump into the river or whatever. Either one's fine, really. By the way, get the bad ending. The good one completely ruins the message and weight of the entire story, almost making the game meaningless.

#1: Vagrant Story - Climax of the Graylands Incident https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4m42OmAczo

Vagrant Story is an odd game in many aspects. Its gameplay is a crossbreed of roguelikes and rhythm games, it has yet another strange Shakespearean localization, the characters are dressed all weird and BDSM-y and showing a lot of skin... Anyway, one of the game's odd quirks is that it has tons of stuff that you can miss by pressing start at an inopportune moment. One of them is the simply amazing opening; an epic 11-minute in-engine "cutscene" (with occasional gameplay sections that transition very smoothly because it's all done with in-game models and graphics) jampacked with plot detailing the events leading up to the game's start, with even the music trying its best to synchronize itself with the cutscene's many shifts in mood and intensity. You can easily miss all this because it starts with a long wall of text that most players would read faster than the time it takes for it to disappear and press "start" because they think they're done with it and there's nothing left to see. A shame, really, because to me this one part of the game almost manages to outshine the entire rest of it. There's just such a density of things happening here; this urban gray rainy moody setting is more fitting to the localization's flowery prose than the things that happen in Léa Monde, and it's all just done so well with the PSX's limitations. While pretty much every other game ever opts for FMVs or an otherwise pre-rendered solution for its openings and important moments, Vagrant Story does it all with the same exact rules (well... excluding the vapid meaningless pre-opening that happens before the title screen shows up but just forget about that one), and the result is that everything feels like it has much more weight to it. Also, as I said, there is the advantage of transitioning smoothly into gameplay, which the game -does- go on to use a few times later on for short "boss appearing at the boss arena"-type cutscenes, but those all lack the juice and meat of this glorious opening scene. It's just a meticulously created, awesome example of Video Game craftsmanship, outside of just being really awesome to watch as well. I absolutely love it.

Here are some runners-up: Wild Arms 2's Disc 2 cinematic (US version); Fire Emblem: Thracia 776's opening (before title screen); That part in Actraiser when you descend into Fillmore stage 1 and go into the statue and that kickass track starts playing; The brief scroll down on the dark forest scene in Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) before the title screen shows up (really fascinated me as a kid); Lufia: The Legend Returns (odd pick but it has a pretty charming intro with some nice artwork for the GBC); Probably many others that I'm forgetting right now.

Anyway, from this list you can sort of tell what games I like to play so I can excuse myself from writing a dreaded positive review of something for a while. Also, I noticed that things that are done with the in-game engine tend to impress me more than things that aren't, even though it's technically actually more work to do an anime FMV thing I guess? Well, whatever, I'm a hypocrite and stupid so make sure to share your own opinions too if you want I guess I dunno.

[itsonlycody]

Cody’s Top 15 TV Shows of 2016

I'm trying to keep introductions short this year. I don't need to go on again about we're in a new golden age of television, there's too many shows, etc. There's a lot of good TV out there and nowhere near enough time to watch all of it. These are the shows from last year I felt were worth making time for.

Honorable Mentions:

Black Mirror, Love, Silicon Valley, Orange is the New Black, Speechless

15. Game of Thrones (HBO)

After a somewhat lackluster fifth season that struggled to adapt the slowest, most aimless books of it's source material, Game of Thrones was back in top form for it's sixth year by finally passing George R.R. Martin in his story. As a result, the show felt fresher and more exciting than it has in a long time. After years of build-up, we finally begin to see signs of the end game for the many characters of Westeros. The show delivers it's usual thrills, with deaths both heartbreaking and satisfying, breathtaking visuals, epic battles, and solid acting across the board. One of the elements that makes this past season stand out is the heavy focus on the female characters of the show. After seeing hours of abuse and terror heaped upon these women, we finally see deep, complex characters like Sansa, Arya, Cersei and Daenerys regain their power and take action. While Game of Thrones initially seemed to be a story portraying the realistic yet poisonous power of men in charge appears to be the story of brave, determined women rising up and overtaking their oppressors.

Best Episodes:

“Home”, “The Door”, “The Winds of Winter”

14. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)

Between this and the fantastic documentary, O.J.: Made in America, O.J. Simpson was surprisingly everywhere in 2016, and with good reason; despite the progress we've made over the past few decades, there is still an undeniable race problem in America. Ryan Murphy's miniseries highlights how little has changed in the past 20 years in regards to how black people are treated by the police and the media. I envisioned the worst when I heard Murphy was telling this story, imagining all of his worst campy tendencies being indulged while portraying the media circus that was the O.J.trial. Instead, we got a gripping, in-depth look at the lives of everyone involved in the case and the struggles they faced, most effectively seen with a trio of outstanding performances by Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown as the attorneys prosecuting and defending the Juice.

Best Episodes:

“From the Ashes of Tragedy”, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”, “Manna From Heaven”

13. The Good Place (NBC)

The high concept sitcom has made a bit of a comeback in the past year, with shows like The Last Man On Earth and People of Earth taking ambitious, heavily serialized stories and reformatting them into a half-hour hangout comedy format. The Good Place is set in the afterlife and follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell, in her best role since Veronica Mars), a fairly bad person in life mistakenly sent to the titular "good place" after her untimely death. With the help of her assigned soulmate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper, a true stand-out), she attempts to become a better person and earn her spot in The Good Place. That premise provides a decent amount of material to do a decent "good deed of the week" format. Instead, creator Michael Schur and his team of writers (many from Schur's Parks and Recreation) constantly keep the story moving with twists and revelations arising on a near weekly basis. The Good Place is the rare sitcom that came out of the gate strong, and is still running strong with a hilarious cast (including Ted Danson, still as charming as he was in his Cheers days), smart storytelling, and a lot of heart and mind.

Best Episodes:

“Pilot”, “The Eternal Shriek”, “Most Improved Player”

12. Westworld (HBO)

There's not much more I can say about what is probably the most heavily discussed show of the year. Some complained about the heavy emphasis on mystery, with an abundance of teases about the true nature and motivations of the Hosts and employees that populate Westworld. While it's true the show occasionally got a bit lost in it's puzzle box narrative, it's hard to deny that Westworld is just flat-out entertaining with one of the best ensembles on television. Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton give the show it's heart with performances that are alternately heartbreaking and chilling, often in the same scene. Jeffrey Wright provides a wonderful moral center for the story, giving the character of Bernard a quiet thoughtfulness that makes the occasional bit of necessary exposition compelling. Then there's Anthony freaking Hopkins, who even in his late 70s gives a masterclass in true acting and is riveting every second he's on screen. While the first season of ultimately feels like a bit of a prologue for what's to come, it's a damn good prologue; one that leaves me very excited to see what's next.

Best Episodes:

“The Original”, “The Adversary”, “Trompe L’Oeil”

11. Fleabag (Amazon)

This British import pulls a bit of a bait and switch on viewers; it starts out as a raunchy comedy about a young woman struggling to get her life together, albeit a very funny one with a striking central performance by writer Phoebe Waller- Bridge. However, by the end of the first episode, and with each consecutive episode, Waller-Bridge reveals the dark, sad heart at the core of the series. Fleabag takes the convention of the rude, promiscuous 20-something that we see on so many cable comedies and really digs into the person underneath; what makes this person act the way they do and make the choices they make? Yet, the show never judges Waller-Bridge’s character, even if she judges herself. The show also boasts a solid supporting cast with brilliant character details. The central relationship between Waller-Bridge’s character and her sister is one of the better sibling relationships on TV, and no character goes wasted; a character present in one short scene at the beginning of the series ends up unexpectedly returning, and providing some of the most poignant, revealing moments in the story. There has been no word yet if Waller-Bridge will bring back Fleabag, but we can only benefit from hearing more of her unique voice.

Best Episodes:

“Episode 1″, “Episode 4″, “Episode 6″

10. Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)

2016 was a rough year. The nightmare circus that was the election, and it’s results, left a lot of people feeling drained, upset, and uncertain of where the country would be heading in the near future. Many comedy shows that deal in political satire seemed unsure of how to tackle the rise of Trump. Late night hosts such as Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Trevor Noah went for an angle of frustrated disbelief, while Saturday Night Live was unsure what comedic approach to take after providing an unfortunate spotlight for the Donald the year before. Jimmy Fallon took the approach of goofing around with him and tousling his hair. Enter Samantha Bee. The former Daily Show correspondent could not have been given a better time to get her own show. Bee needed no time to settle into her host role, instead giving the sense of anger and outrage that many people felt about everything happening in the political sphere. She took on topics such as the Syrian refugees, gun control, abortion, and both the Republican and Democratic parties with blunt honesty and empathy. The laughs came from pointing out the hypocrisy and absurdness of the election, and from just needing a release of the extreme tension we were experiencing. Just beginning it’s second year, it looks like Full Frontal will be around for a while, and it’s a good thing; as the political landscape looks as if it is going to only get worse before it gets better, we need someone like Samantha Bee to help us through it more than ever.

Best Episodes:

“Cleveland”, “Republican National Convention”, “President Obama”

9. Veep (HBO)

When creator Armando Iannucci left Veep after Season 4, there was concern that the show would lose the hilarious bite that came with Iannucci’s razor sharp dialogue. Thankfully, new showrunner David Mandel maintained the show’s quality in it’s fifth season, bringing what may be the show’s best year yet. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was as perfect as ever as Selina Meyer works to win over congress when her presidential election ends in a tie. As great as Louis-Dreyfus is, the whole ensemble really makes Veep work, with Timothy Simons’ Jonah and Sam Richardson’s Richard being highlights, and Sarah Sutherland getting a much welcome increase in screentime as Selina’s daughter films a documentary and gets in a new relationship. The season built wonderfully to a genuinely surprising conclusion that promises an entirely different show when it returns. In a time when real world politics seem like satire, Veep continues to provide a hilarious alternative.

Best Episodes:

“Mother”, “Kissing Your Sister”, “Inauguration”

8. Better Call Saul (AMC)

A Breaking Bad spin-off was always going to have a lot to live up to. Following one of the most popular shows of the past decade was tough enough, but making the focus of that spin-off a relatively minor supporting character used primarily for comedic relief? It seemed destined to be a mess, but the first season gave a surprising amount of depth to the man who would become Saul Goodman. In it’s second year, Better Call Saul truly finds it’s voice. Less reliant on the action and tension of it’s parent show, Saul instead plays as a slow motion tragedy, as we watch Jimmy (in a wonderfully layered performance by Bob Odenkirk) struggle to do the right thing, all while knowing he is doomed. Michael McKean continues to be as good as ever as Jimmy’s manipulative brother, and Rhea Seehorn gets a much appreciated larger role as Kim, the one person who could possibly pull Jimmy back from the brink of corruption. Those who enjoy the more thrilling, gritty style of Breaking Bad will enjoy the continued presence of Mike Ehrmantraut, who at times seems to be in his own, equally good series as he navigates the Albuquerque crime world and comes across some familiar characters. The journey of Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman can only grow worse, but it will surely make the journey for those watching all the more captivating.

Best Episodes:

“Rebecca”, “Nailed”, “Klick”

7. BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

The best comedy about depression starring a cartoon horse maintained it’s wonderful mix of hilarious absurdity and dark truth in it’s third season, as BoJack works the award circuit for his leading role in the Secretariat biopic. The show expands it’s experimental streak with an episode set entirely in 2007 (complete with reminders of the time), one with almost no dialogue, and a drug bender episode with chunks of the story missing. Will Arnett as BoJack rivals his work as Gob Bluth for the best performance of his career; he is able to play BoJack’s pain and sadness just as well as his arrogance. Additionally, Aaron Paul and Paul F. Tompkins show new depths to the primarily jokey characters of Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter. Despite all of the adult animated comedies out there, BoJack Horseman feels like something new and original. It uses it’s medium to do things a live-action show could not do, but still is able to find a deep, emotional truth.

Best Episodes:

“Fish Out of Water”, “It’s You”, “That’s Too Much, Man!”

6. Atlanta (FX)

One of the ideal goals of any story being told is to transport you and let you witness a life that you don’t encounter in your everyday life. This could mean going to space or entering a world of magic and fantasy. In some instances, however, it simply means learning more about people you see every day, who are still underrepresented by most modern media. In interviews for Atlanta, show creator/star Donald Glover said he wanted viewers to experience what it felt like to be black. Atlanta itself ends up being a captivating, surreal and empathetic show that is really unlike anything I’ve seen before. Glover plays Earn, a young man in Atlanta who’s essentially homeless; after learning that his cousin, Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry), has a rising rap career, he offers to become his manager in order to support himself and his daughter, as well as proving himself to his daughter’s mother, Van (Zazie Beetz). That set-up provides plenty of opportunities for a weekly grounded series. Instead, Glover makes Atlanta a show that exists in a slightly different world; where Justin Bieber is black and where an entire episode is a talk show from a fictional black entertainment network, complete with fake commercials. Despite the bizarre touches Glover adds, Atlanta is also achingly realistic; Earn’s constant struggle to make money and provide for his family, and all the detours in that journey, from dealing with Alfred’s public reputation to sudden bursts of gun violence, provide a melancholy touch along with several hilarious setpieces. That mix of the sad, strange, and comical is what makes Atlanta so unique and what makes Glover’s voice so essential.

Best Episodes:

“Streets On Lock”, “Value”, “B.A.N.”

5. Halt and Catch Fire (AMC)

In it's first season, Halt and Catch Fire was fine, if flawed; a ­look at the '80s computer industry that occasionally leaned too heavily on the moody antihero trope that had grown so tired. It held just enough interest with it's strong performances and a promising narrative shift towards the end of the season. In Season 2, the show took a huge leap forward as it shifted the central focus to it's female characters, Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna (Kerry Bishe), while revealing the weak, sad nature if it's male protagonists, Joe (Lee Pace) and Gordon (Scoot McNairy). In it's third year, the quality of Halt and Catch Fire continued to skyrocket, turning itself from a very enjoyable series to one of the best dramas on television. A location change to Silicon Valley give things a renewed sense of energy. All four leads are given roughly equal screentime, but have evolved so much that all of their stories are equally captivating. Joe MacMillan is still devious and cunning, yet Pace reveals more of the wounded, insecure man underneath. As Gordon struggles with both his brain damage and his career aimlessness, McNairy beautifully plays the pain and frustration Gordon is feeling. Davis is as terrific as ever as Cameron stubbornly tries to keep control of her company, and Bishe continues to show new layers to Donna as her opportunities rise and increase. As the season progresses, the characters have to make some tough decisions, and with the writing and performances have grown so strong, it leads to some truly stunning and heartbreaking dramatic sequences that occasionally rise to the level of Mad Men. AMC was kind and smart enough to give Halt and Catch Fire time to find it's identity. The ratings remained low, but they stuck with it, including an opportunity to finish out it's story with a final season this year. When the show started, I didn't think I would care so much to see where these characters end up. After a stellar third year, I'm not quite ready for them to leave yet.

Best Episodes:

“The Threshold”, “NIM”, “NeXT”

4. The Americans (FX)

There's not much more I can say about The Americans in it's fourth season than I did in it's first, second, or third season. The spy family drama gets better and better each year, both in content and as a payoff to everything that came before. Stories that have been building up since the very beginning of the series continue to pay off, showing how expertly The Americans plays the long game. That long game is reflected by it's performances. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys give Elizabeth and Philip a consistent tired, beaten down in their performances. All of the horrible decisions and actions they have chosen to take over the years are starting to show, turning the excitement and vigor of their early adventures into a struggle just to make it through the day. That weariness extends to the people surrounding them, with Holly Taylor's Paige and Alison Wright's Martha getting significantly increased roles. Paige's story in particular makes quite an impact. On most prestige dramas, from The Sopranos to Breaking Bad to Homeland, the teenage character is usually seen as an annoying distraction from the main action. With The Americans, that character not only becomes essential to the main narrative, but manages to be sympathetic and just as captivating as the main characters we've been following for the series. While The Americans has never been talked about as much as some cable dramas, it's easily on the same level. With each season, the Jennings family grows more and more fascinating as their lives and relationships grow more and more fractured.

Best Episodes:

“Chloramphenicol”, “The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears”, “Dinner for Seven”

3. Horace and Pete (LouisCK.net)

Louis C.K. is a comedian and storyteller who is a master of the unexpected. His brilliant stand-up features constant reversals and punchlines that sneak up on you with brutality. When given his own HBO series, C.K. went against expectations and made a Norman Lear inspired sitcom filmed in front of a studio audience.  His second series, Louie, challenged the idea of what a half hour comedy could be, featuring a highly cinematic style, stories that spanned several episodes, and episodes that were primarily dramatic at times. His latest series, Horace and Pete, took everyone by surprise, in many different ways. It arrived completely unannounced; one Saturday morning, those subscribed to C.K.'s mailing list received an email with a link to the first episode on his website. Viewers were treated to what amounted to a 67 minute filmed play (complete with intermission) with a dark, dramatic tone and an impressive cast, including Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco, Jessica Lange, and Alan Alda. As the weeks went by, a new episode would be released, ranging from 30 minutes to a little under an hour, and could be almost anything. Some episodes dealt with current political issues and featured references to news events from recent weeks. One was one long conversation between C.K.'s Horace and a previously unseen character played by Laurie Metcalf, opening with a nine minute monologue solely framed on Metcalf. Horace and Pete features some of the best writing of C.K.'s career, reaching depths of extreme sorrow while still remaining his dark, vulgar wit. It helps that he has such a solid cast performing his words; Alda shows a side of himself that has almost never been seen, and Buscemi plays Pete as wounded live wire, constantly captivating you with his every moment on screen. One of the most impressive things about Horace and Pete is that it's a complete story. The 10th episode provides a definitive ending. It's hard to think of many artists who would create a show in secret, release it without it any notice, and then end it, and move on, but that kind of creativity is what makes Louis C.K. one of a kind.

Best Episodes:

“Episode 1″, “Episode 3″, “Episode 10″

2. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (The CW)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend seems like a tough sell; a musical comedy with a potentially alienating title and a penchant for awkward moments. As the theme song notes, however, "The situation is a lot more nuanced than that." Co-Creator and star Rachel Bloom (along with co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna) is well aware of the troubling tropes of romantic comedies, and uses her show to deconstruct the elements of these types of stories while still embracing their more engaging elements. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has honestly been an eye-opening experience for me. There are so many tropes and narrative choices in romantic stories, be it a major plot point or even just a throwaway joke, that have become so commonplace, we often overlook the implications of what it's implying. The writers call out these moments head-on, with Bloom's Rebecca sometimes halting a scene to question an offhand comment. It's honestly made me look at certain types of storytelling in a completely new light. Aside from the more thoughtful aspects, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is also flat-out hilarious and entertaining. The comedy is so sharp, with quality jokes coming at a rapid pace. The songs (written by Bloom, Adam Schlesinger, and Jack Dolgen) are terrific, playing as clever satires of popular music both old and new, while still holding up as smart, catchy original songs. The show has also developed a great stable of supporting characters, running jokes, and callbacks, making the show's setting of West Covina feel like a fully realized place. Nearing the end of it's second season, Bloom & McKenna have pulled no punches, unafraid to completely change the narrative and dynamics of the show at a moment's notice. It's this bold inventiveness that makes Crazy Ex-Girlfriend truly special, and, yes, nuanced.

Best Episodes:

"That Text Was Not Meant For Josh!", "When Will Josh See How Cool I Am?", "When Will Josh and His Friend Leave Me Alone?"

1. Stranger Things (Netflix)

This is a really predictable choice for my #1 show if you know me well. It pretty much hits all of my genre interests. A coming-of-age/sci-fi/horror show set in the early '80s that feels like Stephen King by way of early Steven Spielberg with a bit of John Carpenter and Freaks and Geeks mixed in. It would be very hard for me not to love Stranger Things at least a little bit. My anticipation was through the roof before it debuted, and thankfully, it did not disappoint. I understand the complaints of some. Yes, at times, it leans a bit heavily on it's influences, but to those who say people's enjoyment of the show comes solely out of a warm sense of nostalgia, I have to disagree. Yes, it's kind of cool to be reminded of the movies that The Duffer Brothers pay homage to, but Stranger Things really succeeds with it's characters, particularly it's young leading cast. Visual references can only go so far (and did for some), but the story would hold no weight if not for the talent and charisma of Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, and especially Millie Bobby Brown. The kids have an instant rapport, and as the season progresses, you really grow to care for them; you want them to be happy and grow tense when they are in danger of getting hurt, both physically and emotionally. The adult cast holds their own as well; Winona Ryder does some of her best work in years as the emotionally distraught Joyce Byers, and David Harbour embodies the gruff, heroic leading man perfectly. Yet the smaller episode order doesn't restrict the growth of the characters. Even supporting characters like antagonistic Steve (Joe Keery) get a full arc, and minor characters like concerned friend Barb (Shannon Purser) and teacher Scott Clarke (Randall P. Havens) make an impact. The Netflix format suits the show very well, neatly structured and moving along at an exciting pace, yet not overstaying it's welcome at 8 episodes. By the end of the first season, the stories have closure while still leaving much more to be told in the future. I realize Stranger Things isn't the most revolutionary show out there. It doesn't tackle serious issues and embraces it's genre themes and influences wholeheartedly. However, there was no other show in 2016 that I had a better time watching; each episode felt like an event, and left me theorizing and anxious to find out what would happen next. Sometimes that's all you need with a story, and Stranger Things delivers.

Best Episodes:

“Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers”, “Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly”, “Chapter Eight: The Upside Down”

[fandomlife-giver]

Black Maid: Prologue

Summary: You are a Demon and has been a loyal servant to the Phantomhives for years, but after a great tragedy, what will happen when another Demon comes into the picture, and not only holds a deal for the soul of your young master, but also made it his mission to turn you into his mate?

Warnings: Demons

Word Count: 1117

3 Years Ago...                                                                                                       

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You were currently walking around the town square in London, searching for your young master. Tomorrow was his 10th birthday and you were given the job of managing his birthday party, as ordered by your master, Lord Phantomhive.

It was snowing and a large decorated Christmas tree was placed in the middle of the square, amongst the ladies and gentlemen walking around it.

He had wandered off from your master and mistress who had ordered you to search for him.

You finally spotted him in his green suit, brown gloves and red and white cover you had dressed him in earlier. You watched him closely as he approached a man.

"Hey Mr, tomorrow's my birthday, exciting huh!" He beamed up at the man. You swiftly moved to walk up behind them. "Oh, my young lord, please." You said, putting your hands on his shoulders.

"I apologize, sir. Please forgive my young master." You said while bowing your head. "Not to worry Madame, he is a very charming young man." The man said with a smile while removing his top hat. You gave him a closed-eyed smile in response.

"(Y/N) said that since tomorrow's my birthday, I can sleep in the same room with mother and father tomorrow night. And mother said she's going to read me as many stories as I want!" He happily informed.

You opened your eyes and peered down at him, your smile still on your face. "Well, that sounds very exciting, yes it does" The man said with a smile as he looked down at Ciel.

"Thank you sir, now young master, we best get back to your parents." You politely said while gently assuring him in the other direction. "Goodbye, Mr!" Ciel called, waving at the man, who only nodded his head with a small wave.

"(Y/N), how many times do I have to tell you to call me Ciel?" He said while poking your side.

You chuckled "My, my, you have been spending far too much time with Lady Elizabeth, my young lord." You said with a smirk as you both walked up to Your master and mistress.

"Oh, Ciel! There you are!" Rachel said as she ran up to Ciel, kneeling down and hugging him. "Oh (Y/N), you found him!" She happily exclaimed, letting go of Ciel and looking up at you.

"Yes, my lady. I found him sharing the good news of what tomorrow is to a very kind gentlemen." You informed as you helped her up.

"Well, at least you are alright, Ciel." Vincent said as he ran his hand over Ciel's face, making him giggle.

"Now, shall we go?" Vincent asked as he extended an arm for Rachel to take. She took his arm while holding Ciel's hand with her other. "Come, (Y/N)." Vincent said as they began walking. "Yes, sir." You said as you walked behind them.

You all arrived at the carriage and you opened the door for them. You bowed your head as you offered a hand to Rachel. She gladly accepted and climbed inside. Ciel did the same and Vincent stopped before entering.

"(Y/N)." He said turning to you. You lifted your head and looked at him. "Yes, master?"

His face fell serious as he was silent for a moment. "I would like a word with you in the morning after your chores." You gave him a charming smile and bowed your head. "Yes, my lord."

The Next Morning...

*At The Phantomhive Estate*                                                                     

"Young master, it is time for you to wake up." You said as you entered Ciel's room. He continued to snore as you opened the curtains and tied them in place.

You turned to see him yawn and rub his eyes. He groggily sat up and dangled his feet over the side of the bed while you gathered his outfit for the day: A white dress shirt, brown shorts, a brown jacket, black knee-high socks with their garters and brown heeled oxford shoes.

You pulled his night shirt over his head and pulled the sleeves of the night shirt over his arms, buttoning it up. "Pardon me, my young lord, but you don't seem as enlivened as I thought you would be this morning." you said as you pulled up his shorts before draping a brown tie around his neck, tying it into a perfect bow.

"Huh? Why would I be, (Y/N)?" He asked as you put on his jacket and buttoned it up. "Well, today is a very special day for you, is it not?" You questioned as you pulled up his socks along with their garters and elegantly placed his feet in his shoes.

He pondered for a second before his face lit up. "That's right!" He exclaimed, getting off his bed and looking up at you. "Today's my birthday!" He shouted as he ran out the door and down the hallway.

You sighed and walked out of Ciel's room. You closed his door and turned to see an old man with a monocle, wearing a butler's uniform.

"Good morning, Tanaka." You greeted with a smile. "Good morning, (Y/N)." He greeted back, returning your smile. "Lord Phantomhive has requested our presence." He informed. "Of course, then let us go." you said with a nod as you both started to walk to Vincent's study.

You knocked on the wooden pine door once you both arrived at his study. You heard a muffled 'Enter' and you opened the door, the both of you walked in.

You came to stand in front of his desk, he was standing with his back turned to the both of you, gazing out the window. "Sir, you requested our presence?" Tanaka asked. "Yes." He simply replied, not turning to face you. "Master, the arrangements for the young lord's birthday party have been made and I must say, he seems quite eager for his celebration." You informed, but he only hummed in response, still facing the window with his hands behind his back.

"I'm afraid the Queens guard dog will soon be destroyed." He said in a monotone voice.

Your eyes slightly widened while Tanaka's jaw dropped. "It can't be!" He said in complete shock.

He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Her majesty will obliterate the Lord Phantomhive, in other words...me." He said, still not looking at the two of you. "I don't understand." You said in confusion, stepping forward. "Yet I can bare no grudge against her, these are such troubled times..." He continued while closing his eyes. "But still-", he began, now turning to face the two of you. "I would appreciate it if you both keep it from Ciel, it is possible that I will be killed. You both should still remain loyal."

You narrowed your eyes at him and kept your face emotionless. "My Lord, it is my duty to protect you with my life, to remain loyal to you, even if I breathe my last breath-" "No." He firmly stated, causing you to stop and look at him in surprise.

"This is an order, (Y/N). In the event of my death, you will make no attempt to save me." He ordered in a firm voice.

Tanaka was still in shock, so he didn't notice the contract mark on the back of his neck brightly glow along with the contract mark on your left hand brightly glow underneath your silky white glove.

You closed your eyes and internally sighed before getting on one knee, doing a low bow. "Yes, my lord." You said. You lifted your head, your eyes turning a Fuischa pink for a moment.

"But my lord" Tanaka pleaded. "What have you ever known hatred to accomplish?" Vincent questioned with a soft smile.

You kind of felt bad for the fate of your master. He had a good soul, you have seen him be a good man, a great husband and an even better father and he surely didn't deserve the fate that was given to him.

Tanaka bowed his head with a sad expression. "Of course, sir, you are right...now I must go check the final arrangements." He said, quickly leaving the room with tears in his eyes, leaving the both of you in an awkward silence.

"Master" You finally said after a moment of silence. "I simply cannot stand and watch as the one thing I am supposed to prevent happen to you. After all, a demon's master always comes before any order given, now if I couldn't due something as simple as that, then what kind of maid would I be?" You said with a devilish smile.

He slightly laughed "Well, it appears you will or else you will break our contract and as you said, you will remain loyal to me until the end. Not to worry, you will still obtain my soul afterwards." He said, sitting down at his desk.

"(Y/N), may I ask a favor of you?" He said, looking up at you. You gave him your signature fake smile. "Of course, my lord"

He sighed. "I would very much like if you would keep this from Ciel, not only as my servant, but as my friend. Please...will you do me this one favor...as my friend?"

You went stiff for a moment, you have never been called a friend before. You were a demon and was only ever referred to as one or as a mere servant.

"If that is what you wish...Vincent." You said with a genuine smile. He smiled back at your words.

"Thank you, now, there is one last order I have for you." He said as he stood from his desk and walked to stand in front of you. You remained still and held an emotionless face, awaiting your orders.

"This is an order, (Y/N)." He began, both of your marks starting to glow. "No matter what may come of me, your first priority will always remain Ciel. You will protect and serve him as you have done for me and more, by any means necessary." He strongly ordered, your marks now shining brighter than they ever have before. Your eyes turned Fuischa and cat like as a dark, demonic ora began to surrounded you. "Yes, my lord."