#like NONE of them are likeable or interesting people

[apostate-in-an-alcove]

I genuinely don't get what you people see in The Secret History cause the hype around it sure as fuck was wrong.

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

One thing that’s puzzled me about the fandom in recent years is the increasing hate towards the boys.

That’s not to say I think there aren’t good reasons for disliking them, because there are, I am fully aware that they’re all awful in one way or another, and I’m used to seeing these opinions from people outside the fandom.

I’m just confused as to why you would join a fandom and engage with its content when you don’t like over 90% of the main cast?

This isn’t by any means a complaint because, you know, this doesn’t really affect me and it’s your life and you can do what you want in your own time, I’ve just never encountered another series where I’ve seen this sort of thing and I don’t feel like the story/world-building in DL is good enough in canon to really act as a reason to stay?

I guess the reason why I’m so puzzled is because for me, the cast of DL are what makes the series. Sure, none of the characters except Yui can be described as good people (in fact the rest of them fall under the dictionary definition of a red flag), but I find them interesting enough that it makes up for all of the retconning and the incredibly inconsistent lore.

In my opinion there are series out there with characters who, you know, are not all bastards, and much better storytelling and worldbuilding than DL, but at the end of the day, you do you friends, I will just be sitting here on the sidelines, a little confused.

[darkside-skyguy]

Okay so I saw Wish last night and I have some thoughts. Spoilers below!

The movie wasn’t bad. It wasn’t particularly good either though. It had all the elements that should have made a great Disney movie but it fell flat. And I think it all stems from the way the movie is so non-specific.

First, the world building. King Magnifico built a kingdom where everyone would be safe in exchange for giving him their wishes because…….. something bad happened to his family when he was young? And it prompted him to learn all the magic in the world and become the most powerful sorcerer so that he could…..NOT grant everyone’s wishes? We weren’t given enough background on the kingdom and the way it functions to have any kind of emotional impact in the end. Why does everyone agree to give up their wish? It seems like a raw deal. And also why does everyone only get ONE wish their whole life?? And if the wish is the best part of the person and they give it up, shouldn’t everyone over 18 be like Simon? Boring and sleepy and wish less? But this does not appear to be the case. It’s all too vague and muddled to make much sense.

(On a contrary note, I actually thought Chris Pine as Magnifico was the best part of the movie. You could tell he was having a lot of fun with it, even though the character was so shallow! I’m happy about a return to traditional Disney villains, even if this one wasn’t the best example of it.)

Okay, then there’s the music. It was bad. It was like a pop rip off of Lin Manuel Miranda but with terrible lyrics. (“When it comes to the universe we’re all shareholders”?? SHAREHOLDERS?) None of the music seemed to take inspiration from its vague Mediterranean setting and even the big I Want song was bland. In This Wish Asha sings “I wish for more for us than this.” Okay? So uninspiring! In all other Disney movies you know exactly what the mc wants and why they want it. Ariel wants to be humans because she feels trapped and misunderstood under the sea. Belle wants an adventure because she feels she does not fit in in her small village and she longs for her life to resemble the fantastical stories she reads. Mirabel wants magic so she can fix the cracks in her family. I could go on. Asha wants everyone to get their wishes granted because her grandpa is 100 and hasn’t gotten his wish granted. Very noble. But his wish kinda stinks—he wants to inspire people but we’re never told why or in what way. We never find out what Asha wishes for before she learns about Magnifico. She’s just a cookie cutter heroine with a mix of likeable qualities—loves her friends and family, adorkable, passionate—that all add up to a lot of nothing. She could be any one of us watching, I guess, but the thing that truly makes characters complex and relatable is specificity. And Asha is as vague as they come.

Then there are the other characters. None of them are developed enough. Her friends are the seven dwarves basically, but none of them grow past their one-word personalities (bashful, grumpy, sneezy, etc.) except maybe Simon, but even that isn’t really explored. There are too many of them and none of them are distinct. The goat is whatever. The star is adorable (though I’ve seen the concept art for the star boy storyline and I’m so upset we didn’t get that movie! But that’s a whole other post). The queen could have been interesting, but we never got any backstory on her. How and when did she fall in love with magnifico? What were her plans for their kingdom and do her hopes and wishes mirror what the kingdom has become? Asha’s mom and grandpa were just kind of there. And…. That’s it’s really. No one and nothing stands out.

The end was non specific as well. The people are inspired by the whole “we’re all stars” thing but they weren’t even there for the song the woodland creatures sing to Asha so how come all of a sudden they are so into this idea and it saves them when it never came up for them before? It should have been an emotional gut punch moment but it just felt rote and predictable. I didn’t feel any sense of triumph for any of the characters. There was no real magic behind it. Asha is given a magic wand and the king becomes a magic mirror and that’s it, the end. Overall it was very disappointing and I found myself bored in a lot of places.

I’ve read a lot of critic reviews and the one thing that I disagree with is the references to other movies. They didn’t bother me like they seem to be bothering others. Some of them were silly and over the top but like whatever. Even though they didn’t bother me they added absolutely nothing to the movie or my experience watching it 🤷🏻‍♀️

[quillkiller]

not you ranting 💀 it’s misogynistic to make Harry regulus child when Lily is the mom not regulus GODDAMN.

bro..,.. they’re not real. go touch some grass

listen ive seen people being misogynistic towards lily in order to favor jegulus. it does happen and i wont deny it, however i will simply just stay away from it and not interact. im way more interested in evolving lilys character and give her her own narrative instead of just using her to hate a mlm ship and claim to be feminist about it. like it’s fandom. make your own goddamn peace and create a space that you fucking enjoy. yall are not trying to defend lily when yall do this you’re just trying to be anti jegulus and using her to do it

no one is saying that regulus is ’the mom’ but like. people can do whatever the fuck they want. if people dont want to write lily but they want to write jegulus being harrys parents then by fucking god let them. who CARES. i wont interact with it and it doesnt interest me but oh my fucking god it’s fandom. people are out here writing mpreg and a/b/o and tentacle porn and incest and whatever the fuck else. this is simply not a problem. none of it is. its fandom and its free and its for fun

(i never see any of you complaining about tonks glaring absence in wolfstar teddy fics……..)

just don’t interact if it bothers you. i have things i wont interact with and topics i find problematic, so i stay the fuck away from it. no one is profiting and no one has to fucking read it. its not being advertised and its not being goddamn taught in schools

i will always defend lily and my priority is simply evolving her characters and giving her a narrative that just simply isn’t being a mom or a wife. like bro im in the middle of writing a lily character study canon divergence fic where she simply wasnt home when voldemort came and she doesnt save harry with the power of ’motherly love’. it will be morally grey and highly disturbing and a lot of people wont want to read it. however i want to write it to rebel against her doomed narrative in canon as a dead wife and mother. she wont necessarily be likeable or someone to root for but thats what i want to explore in my goddamn fanfiction

yall are acting as if some people writing regulus being harrys parent actually has a broad negative impact on the political climate or some shit as if its not just a silly little thing people do online bc it makes them happy. GO OUTSIDE…. TURN OFF YOUR PHONE…..????

and as i said. i simply wont interact with lily bashing but that’s just me. that’s my preference. i will consider interacting with this trope if lily just simply isnt involved. HOWEVER. THATS JUST ME. PEOPLE DO WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT.

it’s fandom. it’s not real. no one is profiting. there are no editors involved except for lovely people who will sometimes beta. it’s not professionally done. it’s free. it’s an outlet to be silly and fun and explore dynamics. these are fictional characters that do not exist

[jasminedragonart]

Thoughts about the impact jK Rowling has had on the female character:

I think it's fair to say that we have a long way to go in media and literature to achieve a steady basis of good female characters. That's not to say there's none, but the bad does outweigh the good. The thing is, it is getting better. These days when we look at media we can find a lot of well written female characters. Tina, Louise and Linda Belcher. Star Butterfly and Mabel Pines. Nadja of Antipaxos. These are just a few characters I thoroughly enjoy watching on screen and the reason for this is because they're relatable to me. I sometimes sing to myself like Linda, I've found myself writing fan fiction like Tina. I've had that moment like Louise where I stood there as a child and wondered why others around me don't like the things I do. I'm flawed like Mabel and I like cute things like Star.

All of these women above are women. They're feminine. They allow themselves to embrace everything that makes them who they are and yes there are struggles but they're not standing there telling me they're modernising what it means to be a woman. They're women and I like them.

Characters like these have been hard won. We've legitimately struggled to get them here and every year it's getting harder and harder to keep women like these on screen. The reason behind this, I kind of blame a lot on the impact Harry Potter had not just on media but what it means to be a woman.

Has anyone else heard the phrase 'Be a hermione in a world full of princesses?' Does anyone see how toxic this is? Does anyone else not see the problem JK has created by her series getting popular? A problem she hasn't and doesn't want to address because she doesn't realise the problems in her own books.

Hermione was a breakthrough character in children's media. By that, I mean that people finally saw the bookish girl as holding value in a narrative beyond what she had been before (maybe annoying. Maybe just a side character. Never a main character or love interest.- except no, that's wrong. we had lisa Simpson way before Hermione...

Lisa is more nuanced though. I enjoy Lisa because she's very self aware and does try and improve herself even if she's doomed to love in a sitcom she can't escape her role from.

Back to Hermione. Hermione was new to children at least. She showed kids there was value in reading and learning. But, in all honesty, how much is Hermione's popularity down to Emma Watson's portrayal of her and how much is it down to the character of Hermione.

Movie Hermione is very watered down. In fact she's given a lot of Ron's lines which makes her more impactful and Ron further into the shadow of the comedic best friend. Emma Watson is very pretty too. Even as a child she looked a lot like how a lot of prettier girls in my class looked. Her hair was the only thing that made her an outcast. But even then, this was the early 2,000s. Do you know how many kids my age came to school with Hermione's hair? They brushed those curls out until they were dead. No one knew about the curly girl method in primary. The point is, Hermione is different on screen than in the books. she's pretty, she's emotional, shes more nuanced than she is in the books and I applaud the movies for doing this to Hermione because it did make her more likeable.

That's the thing though. More likeable. In the books Hermione is not a likeable character to a lot of people. She would have been the know it all in class that reminded the teacher they had homework. Yes, she did some good things, she spoke up about the house elves, she saved Harry's life a few times but her character, in my opinion, got worse as the books went on. She remained very consistent. there wasn't a lot of change to her character. She didn't seem to grow because she didn't have to.

Worse. she was elevated.

I don't know if anyone else caught the horrific misogyny in these books but I did and it infuriates me.

JK makes a point of elevating Hermione. Hermione is always right. Hermione will always win. Hermione is the standard we should hold other females to, and I know for a fact it's because her popularity increased as the movies were brought out.

If we look at the other female characters in comparison to Hermione I honestly hate it. Mainly because Hermione is elevated to a point where she isnt feminine. If you show any femininity in those books you're villainised.

Don't believe me?

What colour does Umbridge wear? Pink. What is her favourite animal? A cat. She likes sweet things and lace. Shes everything we've come to know about women but she's twisted inside so we can't like these things. we turn against these things because Hermione doesn't wear pink. she wears blue like at the yule ball. she's almost masculine in her appearance so we don't associate her with natural beauty.

Lavender. Girly girl. Just wants a boyfriend because all girls at that age are boy crazy. She's a very supportive girl. Its turned to clinginess. Something hermione is not. In fact she keeps ron at such a distance I didn't even know they would end up together until the last book. the movies made it more obvious, they did their best with it. But the books didn't.

Cho Chang. Cries a lot. Emotional. Doesn't matter that she's grieving and was forced to give up the location due to a potion. No, she's villainised so Ginny can have a sudden romance with harry that again came out of nowhere.

Luna escapes this thankfully. Only because she's too weird for us to consider her having romantic notions. she doesn't have to be put down or twisted to make way for someone else.

Jk made a whole generation of girls hate anything girly. They turned away from pink. They would rather pick up a book than do their make up. Their interest in Hermione and rejecting femininity is the reason we have so many bad female heroines these days.

My question to jk is why? Why couldn't a girl like make up and reading? Why is it one or the other? Why must we reject the pleasures of being dainty and liking cute and fun things in order to be a good woman? Why couldn't we have a character like Louise? Louise is very much a tom boy. But you know what? Louise wears a dress and bunny ears, pink bunny ears, every day of her life because the writers of that show understood a female character. Louise loves smashing mirrors. She also loves Boo Boo. She doesn't like pixies but she still likes wearing a dress.

For years the girly girls of this world had to put up with characters like Hermione being paraded in front of them and told that they themselves were being bad women because they liked pink. Because they liked cats and boys. It wasn't right. And we really need to ask the question on why JK thought to put women down like this in her books when she herself is- apparently- such a protector on what it means to be a woman.

I spy some internal misogyny. I spy a lot of things and theres probably more i could say but it's late, I'm tired and my phone keeps smashing my words together so I need to stop typing.

This is just my opinion. You don't have to agree. This is just the experience I've had growing up in a world where these books shaped a lot of my childhood. I probably would have explored dresses and brighter colours faster if I wasn't told by a fictional character and the grip she had on me and my femininity that pink is bad. That being a girl is bad.

[jktsukichan]

JkTsukiChan

Content: Wally Darling x Female Reader (in my AU he is tall like Eddie Dear)

Genre: Reader feels slightly creeped out

Warnings: none

Part: one

You had just discovered a website about a lost puppet tv show that was produced in the '70.. It said that a small group of people had found remnants of old episodes and merchandise.

As you scrolled through the website, discovering all of it's secrets and easter eggs, you were left mesmerized by the design of all the colorful and cheerful characters that were the citizens of Welcome Home. Each of them had unique traits that made them likeable and enjoyable characters, but one of them in particular stood out from the rest..

It was the main star of the show, the Wally Darling himself. He had voluminous blue hair, soft and radiant yellow skin, a welcoming smile and large, black pupils that seemed to almost take too much space in the eyes..

His appearance captivated you, and you wanted to know more about this interesting character.

As you watched countless videos on YouTube and scrolled through hundreds of websites about the lost puppet show, you began to feel watched, almost as if thousands and thousands pair of eyes were staring at your very soul. Tired of this sensation, you got up from your seat in front of your laptop and walked towards your bed, deciding it was time for you to catch up some sleep you've been unfortunately missing on.

A shiver ran down your spine as you got under the cold sheets of your bed. Laying your head on the pillow, you closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The following day you woke up feeling a bit more tired that usual. You got up from your bed to wash your face and drink a glass of water. As you stepped in your kitchen though, you almost gagged at the sight of the cereals that your mother bought for you the other day.

《 Skipping breakfast isn't healthy -Name- and you know that! 》

That's what she always says.. but thinking about eating something early in the morning just made you sick. Your stomach always rejects food at that time of the day, and you decided that it wasn't worth to argue with it. You just walked in the bathroom and did your ordinary mourning routine, before heading towards your bedroom to check on your laptop and see if there were any updates on the Welcome Home restoration project.

As you stepped foot in your bedroom, you instantly noticed that your laptop was on, and the sight in front of you just creeped you out.. The Welcome Home website was open, and on the map of the neighborhood, there was a new house.. A completely white house, without any windows or decorations like the other ones...

You sat at your desk, trying to figure out if it was normal or maybe if it was a simple glitch.. but when you clicked on the blank house, your heart almost stopped beating.

Just as for any of the other characters, when you clicked on one of the houses the description of the owner would pop out, followed by their illustration, and this one wasn't an exception. The website said, that the owner of that white house..

Was you.

Author's note: I got into the Welcome Home fandom and I can't stop thinking about this sweet, creepy little guy. This part is just the introduction of the Wally Darling x reader fanfiction I want to write, make sure to tell me what you think of it and most importantly, leave suggestions!!

That's all, Folks!

[sweetestpopcorn]

How would you rank Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s children in terms of greatness/potential? For me, Baelon was best out their children with Saera being second. I also think Viserra was a waisted potential. I think she could have done interesting stuff had she lived. Do you think perhaps maybe Baelon should’ve married her after Alyssa’s death? Obviously, no one could replace Alyssa in his heart.

Hi there :)

I have already kind of answered this regarding my thoughts about Saera and Viserra and none of it is good. I will just link them here and here . Legit they are just portrayed as mean girls with no real depth to them, though of the two, Saera is much, much worse. Viserra I can at least sympathise with since her parents seem to not give half a f_ck about her and did not even extend to her the same courtesy they did her siblings of having a say about her marriage (more here), but that's about it. I don't find anything else likeable about her she's just... empty.

I will go from least favourite to favourite.

Saera and Viserra go right to the bottom of my list. Followed very closely by Vaegon by obvious reasons. Like Vaegon, it literally costs you 0 golden dragons to not be so unlikable.

Then I would say Daenerys, she has a lot of sweet moments but dies young so I don't really know how she would have turned out. Besides, I know it's petty of me, but I don't like other characters having Dany's name. I do like Daenerys, Naerys's daughter but... yeah no more. You don't need more Daenerys, we have our Mother of Dragons. Yes, I know I am petty.

Then Gael because... poor baby 🥺 seriously what was George thinking writing a character who is Alysanne's comfort, with some degree of cognitive disability be r...... by some random singer, give birth, lose her baby, and kill herself?! Like enough's enough. It's literally just to add tragedy to her story and honestly Turtle man it's getting f:cking OLD. I swear this man gets his rocks off by adding tragedy and terrible abuse to female characters. This when he can bother to make them more than a walking womb.

Then I would say Aemon. Maybe he would be higher but at times I just feel he's too perfect if that's a thing. There’s just nothing wrong with him like 😂 he literally does nothing wrong.

Daella comes next because I find her funny. She's such a drama queen 24/7 making everyone around her want to protect her XD even Alyssa. I kind of got the vibes at times from her that she kind of knew what she was doing to get attention. Like the fact that she and Alyssa are Rhaenyra's grandmothers just makes so much sense no matter how you look at it. In a way Rhaenyra seems kind of a mixture of both? With tons of stubborn and style added. Another moment that really endeared me to Daella was her very tragic death, and how despite all her suffering she still wanted to be given Aemma and to feed her. Prime mom material right there -> like you can tell both from her and Alyssa that Rhaenyra got some top notch mom genes.

Then Alyssa of course, because she was THE queen. Literally she was just a better behaved version of her son and I'm here for it! I love how despite the fact that she was clearly a tomboy she still wanted to marry Baelon and give him an army of kids X'D because these two things are not mutually exclusive and liking or enjoying traditional boy things does not have to say anything about your sexuality or your desire to be a mother - just like being very feminine and liking traditionally feminine activities does not have to say anything about your sexuality or desire to parent. These are rules a society that does not understand nuance and in a sense is deeply sexist and stereotypical likes to put in place and that I find deeply harmful to people. But Alyssa is the BOMB, so funny, so bold, the way she embarrassed Vaegon who was a little sh:t *chef's kiss*

Then there's the best man ever -> Baelon Targaryen

Had his own cool nickname, The Spring Prince, funny, charming, sexy, single dad who never once forgot about his lady with the mismatched eyes, entered a tourney under the name of the Silver Fool... I don't feel like a need to say more, and in an era where all men were literally so problematic, Baelon was IT.

Baelon is what this fandom thinks Corlys is. Sorry not sorry.

And that's it :D

Also no, and more important that should Baelon remarry, the question is did he want to remarry? And the answer is no, and any Baelon fan would respect the Spring Prince and his undying love for his lady with the mismatched eyes <3

[tarisilmarwen]

Please, if you want, DUNK on the blue bastard.

Oh? I am being given permission to shittalk Thrawn? *rubs hands* Listen, I love the guy as the Affably Evil villain he is. He's imminently polite and respectful towards his adversaries, sharp as a tack brilliant which makes him a formidable foe, he appreciates good work from his underlings, he's hilarious bouncing off other characters. He's a fully three-dimensional, rounded, likable character.

Who also happens to be an authoritarian nightmare bastard.

He is at best apathetic to the Empire's atrocities, at worst, willingly complicit. He genuinely believes in the fascist tyrannical system as the best status for the galaxy, because they put up a "stronger", "ordered" front. He might bemoan some aspects of the Empire but only because he sees them as wasteful, ineffective, inefficient, and he absolutely thinks he could run things better if given the chance. He is the epitome of Machiavelli's Prince, deluded into believing himself some kind of benevolent tyrant, or willing to serve at the behest of one. He is Might Makes Right and The Ends Justify The Means and fits right in with the modus operandi of the Sith Code and the Empire's whole overarching philosophy.

The man is part of Palpatine's personal Triumvirate with Vader and Tarkin. You do not get that high up into the upper echelons unless you are a true believer.

Which is why fandom's constant excusing him because of his supposedly sympathetic and noble motivations is so damn irritating.

Oh Thrawn is doing everything For The Greater Good? He just wants to protect the interests of the Chiss? His first priority is to his own people?

None of that shit matters.

He still willingly inserted himself into the infrastructure of a fascist regime that was installed by genocide and regularly murders its own people and tried to help said regime run better and oppress the galaxy more effectively. He depersons and dehumanizes beings he doesn't consider useful, and sees the useful ones as "assests" ("allies" at best). He is perfectly willing to do horrible things if it suits him or gets him the results he needs. And he sees nothing wrong with his own actions. He is self-serving and self-righteous.

He. Is. A. Villain.

Doesn't matter how cute you think he is with Eli or Ar'alani or whoever or how sad you imagine him or how sympathetic and likable you find him, he is not a good person. He is a Bad Guy, and it's laughable that y'all wring hands over that fact. You're allowed to like the bad guy. You're allowed to find the bad guy hot and sympathetic and likeable and funny. But it annoying as hell when you insist he can't be a Bad Guy because "Oh he did it for a good reason!" which is, again, irrelevant.

And no, Zahn writing him with more sympathetic backstory and likable moments in New Canon doesn't mean he's no longer a villain. It does not mean his alignment has changed. It just means his time with the Empire becomes a corruption arc, as we see how a supposedly good person can become more and more fanatical in the pursuit of their goals.

And Zahn is on thin freaking ice anyway, if the hearsay about his asinine empty buildings headcanon is true.

I hope when August comes and the Ahsoka show has Thrawn being the magnificent bastard fascist asshole he is, fandom comes around to appreciate him properly, as the awesome villain he is.

[izzyspussy]

frankly, i find the whole "abusers are so smart and methodical and calculated and they never leave visible marks and they're always charming and likeable" shit WAAAYYYY more "glamorizing" than even the most half-assed "what if one partner was being abused by someone else and their love interest saved them and it was so romantic" fictional story

my abusers were not methodical and they did leave visible marks and they weren't well-liked among their peers. and you know what else? i didn't cover up for them either! i didn't wear makeup or long sleeves, i didn't lie if people asked (if only because no one ever fucking asked), in fact i volunteered the information!

abusers are not some magical other class of person that are a) all the same and b) have a mystical power to bamboozle the innocent do-gooders all around them. i didn't get help because people didn't help me. full stop. and that's not fucking unusual.

child abuse especially is so fucking normalized, it's a bigger "scene" to react to someone hitting their child in public than it is to do it. source: i've been the child and i've been the person reacting. according to bystanders in those circumstances either i deserved it or it was none of their business when i was the kid, and when i was the one stepping in i was being rude, and when i was not stepping in because i was too busy having a panic attack about it by myself in a corner instead i was overreacting.

like. sorry to still be cheesed off about some random dumbass's comment on my fucking hurt/comfort fandom post or whatever the fuck but are you kidding? are we all fucking kidding right now??

sure, some abusers are doing it on purpose and premeditating it and they're smart about it and don't leave evidence and know how to lie about it and are charming and likeable. their abuse is a skill. but some people's abuse is a lack of skill!! some people's abuse is removed from the concept of skill or not because they don't fucking think about it at all!

i went to school with visible marks. i went to school with clear handprints on me. i got hit in public. i got screamed at and had things thrown at me in public. i got left alone in public places as punishment for something i'd done while there. sometimes my abuser would brag to my other authority figures that they were going to abuse or neglect me later.

i told my friends. i told my teachers, my coaches, my camp counselors, even a therapist. the only fucking people i didn't tell were people in the same positions of authority as the ones held by my abusers. and not a single god damn thing happened about it ever. EVER.

so actually, no, i don't think it's "glamorizing" or "romanticizing" abuse at all to fantasize sometimes about somebody being believed by their crush or hero or whatever and then maybe they kiss about it (and actually the post of mine that got the response that inspired this post didn't say FUCK ALL about any romance or kissing, it didn't even fucking say they were FRIENDS for fuck's sake LMAO).

but i do kind of think it is a bit "glamorizing" to say that's so unrealistic it shouldn't even be indulged in in make-believe because abusers are just too good at abusing people to get caught! go fuck yourself!! LOL!!!

[my-name-is-apollo]

Why is Apollo your favorite god? (And why is Hermapollo your favorite ship?)

Two big reasons: 1) he's the god of sun and music, two of my favorite things 2) he's The Pretty Boy of Greek pantheon

The first time Apollo appeared in PJO I loved his cocky personality a lot. And then I started reading more of his myths, glancing into his cults practices and all, and I found him to be really interesting. Like, he has so much more to him than just the cocky fuckboy trope he often gets put in. In a lot of his myths he's awe-inspiring and likeable too. Like he's done a lot of contributions to the mankind, he's a mama's boy, a good father and there are also myths of him being a lovely boyfriend. And one thing I like about him that sets his apart from other Greek gods is the way he repents after committing an extreme act. There are so many myths of his and they range from him being a fear striking deity to him being a blushing mess in front of his crush lol. I also LOVE entities that have stark duality and Apollo is exactly that. A ruthless destroyer to some and a gentle healer to others. You can see this kind of duality to some extent in every Greek god, but Apollo is like the peak of it imo. He has so many domains and a lot of them contradict, it's kinda crazy. He was super popular back then and people loved him and prayed to him for a lot of the things. He's just really very interesting and versatile and i love reading about how he was perceived and worshipped in those days. I'll stop here cause if i continue and get more specific this will be a long answer XD

To answer the other question, Homer made me ship them it's not my fault. The way it's said that Hermes continuosly loves Apollo, and how Apollo promised to never love any god more than Hermes? ❤️ (I also read a paper that delved into the homoerotic subtext of the hymn and that sold me) Also, get this - Apollo's signature symbol, the lyre, was a gift from Hermes. And Hermes' most prized possession, the caduceus, was a gift from Apollo. Their most famous attribute/symbol is a gift they received from the other 🥹 and they're opposite enough to fall in the opposites attract trope (the god who never lies and the god of lies) but they also have enough in common to be in the "rivals to lovers" imo. They do share a special bond and are seen hanging out together in the myths :3 I just think there's a lot you can do with these two! Also most importantly, none of them can die (unlike most other lovers of Apollo :')) and that's why they're my comfort ship.

[infriga]

What's interesting about House of Usher is that Flannigan usually has likeable protagonists, at least in my experience. Granted I haven't seen all of his works, but I've seen several (Bly Manor, Hill House, Midnight Mass, and I've heard summaries of others) and most of them are generally pretty sympathetic from my understanding, even the ones with more blood on their hands, so to speak.

In House of Usher however, almost none of the main characters are good or likeable people to much, if any, degree. Their spouses/partners are decent people, for the most part (dunno how the siblings landed such nice SOs despite being so nasty), and the granddaughter seems alright (I'm only on episode 5 btw so idk if anything happens regarding her or the other non-siblings, no spoilers pls), and Auguste seems like a decent person (maybe not the best family man, but he at has his heart in the right place especially compared to the Ushers), but all the siblings, and Roderick and Madeline themselves, are pretty horrible people.

But like, they're not one dimensional bad people, they're complex, they feel emotions, they care about people in their lives even if they don't tend to treat those people well, they have fears and insecurities and passions and hangups just like regular people do. So while usually I dislike when the protagonists of a show like this are unlikable, in this show it's actually quite fascinating because like I can't say I hate them either, they feel like they could be good people if they really wanted to be. Especially if they had better influences and were taught better lessons by their father and aunt. They feel human, not evil, but I'm also not rooting for them either. I don't know who to root for tbh, except maybe people like Julius, Tammy's husband, and the granddaughter, who are all side characters lol. Idk who the weird supernatural lady is (death? The devil? God? A witch? No idea) so I don't know her motivations or what kinda person she is, she seems to be collecting on some sort of debt but that's the best I've got on her. I do think it's interesting how she tried to spare Morrie from the acid by telling her to go like she did with the wait staff, but she didn't do anything to help Ali later when she was killed, so was it strategic or does this lady have some sort of code of morals? Does she care about whether people are innocent or not? Why spare the wait staff from death by acid shower but not the other party goers? Is sparing Morrie more about the potential role she'll play in Freddy's death? I guess I'll find out.

But I do think it's interesting that we start off the show knowing who's going to die already, since usually stakes in this genre come from wanting characters to survive (hence why I usually prefer likable protags in horror/suspense media), but it makes sense that since none of these people are very likable, the suspense needs to mostly come from something else on that front, such as wondering how they're going to die or which innocent people they might take with them in the process, as well as wanting to know what caused all this.

Roderick, ironically, is probably the most sympathetic member of the family aside from his granddaughter, which doesn't mean much but I mean, I wouldn't begrudge anyone going through what he witnessed in episode 5. Like gaddamn that's fucked up. He seems like someone who deep down has the potential and even the buried desire or instinct to be a good person, but was too much of a coward to put in the work it would take to be good and stay good in a harsh world when he wants so badly to be someone big and successful and important just like, well, his father. But ultimately he does obviously love his children so I do sympathize with him in that regard.

But the show is making the unlikable protagonists thing work for it, somehow. I don't like most of these people, but I am fascinated by them and what's going down and how they got here. It's like watching a car crash in slow motion.

[coeluvr]

Hi Coe! I played through the demo yesterday and I wanted to say that I really love your story! ✨ There's one thing you've done which is very hard to do and that is making the antagonist of the story very human and likeable relatable. I guess you could argue depending on how you play the game that MC is on their villain journey, but I want to talk about King Luceris. Now, before people come at me with pitchforks and torches, hear me out! I don't agree with a lot of what he's done, but I think there are things he says and does that proves he's a multifaceted person and not evil for the sake of being evil. You can argue that a lot of the things he does are solely to fulfil his wish for revenge and the little empathy he shows towards MC is calculated, but I keep going back to the moment after he makes the deal with MC to be his consort and his interaction with Lancelot which I find to be... Very interesting 👀 I find most of the interactions between Luceris and MC to be almost comical regardless if the MC is hostile or not. If they're hostile, which Luceris expects them to be, it feels like he feeds into it and have some sort of self-deprecating satisfaction from it if not downright fun. If they're civil it seems to take a minute for him to register and buffer. 😂 I guess what I see as a small redeeming quality of his is that he's still aware of the horrible things he does and how it affects other people, and he feels bad for it even though it's something he "has" to do. I'm saying all this knowing full and well that I'm petty AF and will strut down the same villain path😂

Hi! Thank you for your kind words. 💗

I think none of the characters are downright evil, even if they appear to be so at first, and I'm glad that many people feel the same way.

My execution wasn't the best but I'm glad I could show how he is with different people, the scenes with Helios or Lancelot are so different from his scenes with MC lol 🤭

He definitely has fun with a mean/sassy type of MC while he "struggles" with a genuinely nice MC because he has this idea of who MC is or what they should be and the nice MC breaks that mold.

In my opinion, it's only a redeeming quality if he tries to right his wrongs which technically I think is impossible unless everyone is somehow alive lmao 😭 I think redemption is overrated and not everyone has to be "good" but who knows how Luceris will be by the end.

[adrianasunderworld]

💕 Twst: The Cost of Love Fan Event 💕

With it being February, it seems like an appropriate time to have a Valentines day themed event.

My fellow co-creator on this is ever cool @marrondrawsalot ,we came up with this together, so show her some love for the credit. 💜

Every year as part of a February fundraising event, RSA hold a big Valentines school festival, where the main attraction is a student bachelor auction. The students fellow peers visiting the event can place bids on the schools eligible boys and win a picnic date with them after the auction, complete with a carriage ride. Needless to say, the event is very popular among the young people of Sages Isle. There's a reveal right before the event showing an all star cast of available dates to win, some such bachelors are none other than one Neige LeBlance and the sea prince,Rielle.

The boys over at NRC, like every year, are jealous of all the attention and buzz surrounding the RSA event. It garners so much publicity and has girls fawning over them left and right. But this year, Vil as part of the committee for the own February event, is extra motivated now that Neige in the picture, and they decide to one up RSA with their own auction and do everything even bigger and better than them. But, in order to know exactly how the event goes, they need a spy of sorts to scope it out and make notes of what they did well, what they can improve on, etc. With the school rivalry being so intense and so many students acting on sight with RSA students, Vil decides Yuu is the best candidate. They don't take the rivalry so seriously, and no one at RSA really recognizes them as an NRC student. Yuu agrees once Vil says he will give them all the funds for the event. Tagging along with them is, of course, Grim. Along with Rook, who volunteers to go with and help. (and definitely NOT to bid on Neige. Noooo.), and Azul who says he wants to scope it out as well for ideas of what to serve at Mostro Lounge when their festival rolls around.

On the day of the auction, the four of them head off to RSA and things start out pretty normal and laid back. They check out booths, take pictures of the decorations, etc. They run into Che'nya who recognizes them and strikes up a conversation, asking what brings them to his neck of the woods. Yuu simply replies they're there to enjoy the festival and check out the auction. They continue to talk, and Che'nya comments on the food of the festival, and how the picnic baskets for the bachelor dates were exceptionally good since they were catered by gourmet chefs. A fact that greatly interests Grim and makes him invested in winning a bid. Afterwards Che'nya says he has to do something and leaves and shortly afterwards they run into another RSA student. A red headed boy that seems to recognize Azul and happily greets him.

Yuu asks if it's afriend of his and Azuls only reply is that they aren't friends and simply former classmates, though it's obvious Azul is tense about something. Rook recognizes the boy from the date roster as none other than Prince Rielle. Rielle happily greets Azul like an old friend and introduces himself to the other three. Rielle right off the bat is a friendly and likeable boy, curious about the group and asking all sorts of things about them and making conversation, clearly the type of boy that makes fast friends. He offers to show them around the festival before he has to go to the stage, and despite Azuls reluctance, he agrees. Insert Twisttune of the group running around the event and having fun.

However, the fun does not last, as another boy calls out to Rielle, and the prince visibly tenses and looks displeased. The other boy, who is twisted from Sebastian, comments how he's been looking everywhere for Rielle, and he's been wanting to talk to him. Rielles cheery demeanor changes to that of irritation and coldness. He tries to leave, but the boy won't let him, begging to talk to him. This continues with Yuu trying to interrupt, Azul not saying anything, and Rook and Grim standing by watching it, commenting how diffrent Rielles mood switched. Eventually Rielle makes an excuse that he has to go and rushes off.

Sebastian: Just talk to me! Where are you going?

Rielle: Why? So you can tell my father, since you're so good at that?

With Rielle gone, Sebastian is visibly upset and Azul asks what that was about. Sebastian tells his former classmate about how he and Rielle had a falling out in middle school right before he ran off to RSA. As Sebastian wanders around the festival a bit with the group, we get tidbits of what happened. From what Yuu can gather, Sebastian did something he is truly sorry for, but Rielle has refused any communication and Sebastian decided to just go to the surface to see him and apologize. They were good friends once, and Sebastian truly misses and cares about him, and want's Rielle to know he never meant any harm. After that Sebastian takes his leave to go do something else. Azul comments that he never known Sebastian to be a good liar, so the boy is being genuine. Especially when he recounts how much he did not like the surface and insisted it was better under the sea, so Sebastian taking the plunge to come all the way out here for Rielle is a huge deal.

Afterwards Rook comments that it's almost time for the auction. The group head over and see Sebastian in the audience. They sit near him, and the auction begins. Early on Rielle takes the stage and Sebastian puts in a bid, and Rook asks why, to which Sebastian replies that if he wins the bid, Rielle will have to speak with him. But his plans are dashed when Grim decided he wanted the contents of Rielles basket at the mention of tuna and placed a bid. Betting all the money Vil gave them, they win the date with Rielle. Later on Neige is saved for last, and Rook bids, but quickly found he spent more than he expected on Neige merch from a vendor at the event and is quickly outbidded.

Afterwards, Once everyone goes to meet their dates, Rielles smile fades when he sees Sebastian standing next to Yuu. Sebastian tries once again to talk to Rielle, but the prince is not having it. He grabs Yuus hand and says it's time for their date and hurries off to where the carriages are, Grim following close behind. A row of two seater carriages decorated in flowers for each of the bachalors await and Rielle escorts Yuu and Grim to theirs. His smile has returned now that they were far from Sebastian. Yuu asks where they are going for their picnic, and Rielle replies to someplace special. Here theres a twistune of the carriage ride while we see some of the others pass by.

Rielles special place he chose for the date was a small lagoon. He had a row boat prepared and the plan was to eat on the water. They row further out in to the lagoon, and three enjoy their lunch together. Grim very pleased with himself as the choice to bid on the food. Not long after, Grim falls asleep with his full stomach, leaving Yuu and Rielle to chat. It starts off as simple get to know you type questions. The player would be given a couple options to ask Rielle and his answers vary on the question. Like asking if he had siblings, (six older brothers back home) Any hobbies, (He enjoyed collecting human things and singing) Rielle will ask Yuu questions in turn and the player can s elect from the presented options. The answer does not alter any outcomes. Finally Yuu ask why he's avoiding Sebastian or why Rielle chose to come to RSA. Both questions lead to the same outcome where Rielle explains the trouble.

He and Sebastian were childhood friends. But while Rielle was ever curious about the surface, Sebastian was fine with being under water. He comments his father, the king, has never been a very understanding merman. He always said it was fine for other merfolk to come and go to the surface, but a prince of the sea belonged only in the sea. Rielle hid his collection of objects from his father because of this. However, he wanted to attend magic school on the surface instead of an underwater academy like his brothers. Rielle had applied to RSA and he figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission to go, and fully intended to leave under his fathers nose and not say where he went until he was on the surface and settled. Sebastian, as one of Rielles closest friends, knew all about it, and told the king. Rielle and his father had a horrible argument which resulted in the princes collection being destroyed. After that he wanted nothing to do with Sebastian, and Rielle ran away from home shortly after, going to an estranged aunt on the surface to give him shelter till school started. He does not go into detail as to why, but its implied Azul had a hand in how Rielle was able to come to the surface at all.

As they continue the conversation, Yuu brings up the points Azul made about Sebastian being genuine in his apology, and how him coming to the surface was a big deal for him. Rielle doesn't deny these things, but replies it does not undo the damage done. Though he does admit he seeing him again after the two years he's been away made him realize how much he missed his friend. Yuu points out that Sebastian must miss him too.

After their boat ride, they ride back to RSA since Rielle mentions he has to close out the festival. There they find Sebastian, Azul and Rook are still there. Sebastian and Rielle stare at each other for a moment and Rielle says he's finally ready to hear Sebastian out. The boy once again apologizes for how things happened in middle school. He was scared Rielle would get in even more trouble if he up and left without a word to the surface. He said the king noticed how cheerful Rielle was, not knowing it's because he got accepted to RSA. When the king asked if anything good had happened, Sebastian told the truth and the rest is history. Sebastian once again apologizes, he knows it wont undo the damage. But he cares about Rielle and misses his friend. Then he moves on to the matter that he's been trying to get to all day. Rielles father and brothers were planning to show up unannounced in a couple weeks and Sebastian came to warn him so he wouldn't be ambushed.

Rielle and Azul seemed shocked the king would come up here and Rielle is freaking out about what that could mean or if his father was planning on dragging him home. As much as Rielle misses his brothers, he isn't ready for a reunion just yet. Yuu asks Sebastian if they are planning to stay long, and he replies it's only for a weekend since they can't be away long. Yuu then offers their new friend to have a sleepover at Ramshackle if he truly isn't ready to face his father. Reasoning that a couple weeks is enough time to get the permission to leave campus. Rielle agrees to this plan and thanks Sebastian for coming all this way to warn him. The two agree to keep in contact to try and rebuild their friendship.

Afterwards, Rielle says he has to go to the closing ceremonies for the festival, which is a concert held by the students and he was the final act. The last Twistune of the event is Rielle singing a love song that pays homage to/is inspired by 'Kiss the Girl' while seeing The characters dance in the audience.

After the party is over, Yuu, Grim, Rook, and Azul go back to NRC only to find Che'nya is there causing mischief and being chased by a bunch of NRC students. Once he sees the group has returned, he happily greets them, saying he was entertaining their classmates while they were away and calls for his buddies he snuck onto campus that it was now time to go. Vil finds the group afterwards and asks if they got any good info on the event, and Yuu realizes they stopped taking notes after meeting Rielle and had next to nothing to give to Vil. It ends with Vil being irrated and berating all of them for wasting time when they had one job.

[thornpixie]

The Summer I Turned Pretty Rants :)

Well, I recently watched the show and I have some thoughts as always. I’ll probably get hate for them because I’m going against the grain here…

Let me begin by saying I have not read the books. I have no interest in reading the books. I know what happens in them because I looked it up (curiosity got the better of me), but for the avoidance of doubt… I am talking only about the show, as a completely separate entity to the book.

Okay, so here goes…

First off, Belly is honestly not a likeable character. She’s whiney and annoying. ‘Oh the guy I fancy doesn’t fancy me back’. Get over it. Tell me one person who hasn’t crushed on someone who didn’t feel the same way. I get she’s a teenage girl and teenage girls make mistakes and all but honestly, I don’t think she deserves either of those boys. They’re brothers, and upon seeing what it was doing to their relationship, someone should’ve told her to get over herself and let them both go.

Second… all of this hype for Belly x Conrad must purely be coming from the book because I saw nothing between them on the show. I completely get the girl fancying the older guy who seems like he’ll never look at you that way. I do. But she showed up with no braces and contact lenses and suddenly Conrad is in love with her? Show me the development. I saw none whatsoever. Even in the flashback scenes, yes he was sweet to her when Steven and Jeremiah were being jerks, but it was only in the way you’d expect him to be towards his moms best friends kid. I understand a young girl falling hard for the handsome older boy who taught her to dance and stuck up for her against her brother but I saw no indication that Conrad had feelings for her, or why. Literally did I miss an entire chunk of the season because I’m lost??? Just seemed like there was nothing and then all of a sudden Conrad is in love with her. I feel nothing for this ship. If the writers want me to believe in it, they’re gonna have to make more effort.

Jeremiah on the other hand… I could tell from the first episode that he liked Belly. He wanted to hang out with her. He actively sought her out. He was excited when she showed up to the beach bonfire. He was unapologetic and honest about his feelings. He was respectful to her, and so happy when she said yes, that she thinks she could love him. When he said he had often wanted her to be more than his best friend, but he didn’t say anything because ‘there was always Conrad’ and then there was Cam… I believed him. I’ve seen other people say they think it’s bullshit and he just wanted her so Conrad couldn’t and I don’t see it. At all. THAT is a relationship that was believable to me.

We will see what season two brings (the cancer card from the trailer was a low blow, but he’s a teenager too. If Belly gets to make mistakes and be exonerated, then he should be too. He was hurting and he lashed out. Acceptable? No. Understandable? Yes. Give him a break).

To summarise - imo Belly doesn’t deserve either of them, but if it has to be one of them, my heart is with Jeremiah.

[robotlyra]

I said I was holding off final judgement on Trigun Stampede until Wolfwood showed up, and now that he's here I'm laying down my stamp: the show is flash over substance, and how they handled Wolfwood's intro solidifies it.

Spoilers inbound  

Wolfwood was confirmed as a member of Knives' squad right at the end of the episode he was introduced so there is no time to experience him as anything other than a threat. His critical moment of "comforts a distressed child" that establishes his kind heart and dedication to children was completely neutered because it was an act he pulled with Zazie the Beast in cahoots in order to trick Vash into trusting him more. Even his official job is no longer "priest", but "undertaker", which is like the cherry on top of the sundae of the show's failure to understand the likeability of its characters, and just focusing on making them as cool as possible.  Now, instead of a kind hearted stranger with a surprising toughness and pragmatism and his darker realities only shock us much later, he comes across as snarky, aloof and edgy, and an immediate danger. He's not a comrade to be walked with, he's a problem to be solved. The roles of "who sees through the other's façade on their first meeting" are even inverted, so instead of Wolfwood pointing out Vash is faking his smile, Vash is seeing through Wolfwood's supposed ruthlessness and it makes it seem like Vash's job is to fix him by seeing the good in all people, instead of Wolfwood revealing that Vash's pacifism and attempt to run from his past has its own dangers.

And this isn't really a spoiler, but Roberto continues to be the worst character on the show: he exists only to offer verbal exposition to make up for the fact that the show is plunging hard and fast into action from the manga that the OG never got to, at the expense of slower, more thoughtful exposition. Other than that, all he does is drink, smoke, complain and be a big glaring cynical black hole that only amplifies what was lost when Millie was cut.

I miss the original show's goofiness. None of this show has any of the charming ridiculousness that made the shift to tragedy all the more shocking. There's none of that playing with "is this guy actually that good, or is he just obscenely lucky?" There's no "Why does a priest have guns in his cross? Why is he THAT GOOD at shooting?” Instead everyone's cool and badass and perfectly animated in glamour shots right off the bat

My main takeaway is that even though the original Trigun may have had its flaws (and a big drop in animation quality in the middle), what makes people fall in love with it is the characters. People LOVE Vash and Wolfwood, that's why people hollered when they had all those previews. It wasn't so much the story as the fact that they were going to see characters they loved again. So when this new show does so very little to actually focus on the characters and what kind of people they are, and just kind of plunges headlong into all the stuff that from the manga that the og series never covered, it's a disappointment. Trigun Stampede is basically like an abridged series done by somebody who was only interested in how badass they could make it instead of getting to know the characters as people.

[0alanasworld0]

Grand Piano (Yassine Bounou x reader)

Description: Yassine meets the reader for the first time as they both happen to be hiding away from an event

Warnings: none

Yassine didn’t care for fancy events in general. When he became a footballer, he thought that maybe he’d be going to the odd celebration dinner. Y’know… shake a few hands, take a couple photos etc. Poor Yassine couldn’t fully grasp the popularity of the sport, nor did he realise the true significance of what he achieved in it.

Regardless of his general lack of awareness, he was regularly sought out at a lot of events and was encouraged to attend them with one of his coaches or managers or if he was lucky, one of teammates joined him. Who’d have thought that a glowing clean sheet record and loyalty to his team would make him such a hot shot? 

At the very least, the man liked to hover near the snack bar where he wouldn't be disturbed from his thoughts as often. But there was also no doubt he had a friendly face and pleasant demeanour that naturally attracted people to him, much to his dismay. He was likeable and also didn’t have it in him to make his disdain for these events visible, a people pleaser at heart. 

This was one of those events. He didn’t quite understand why Gillette decided to hold an event in such a lavish ballroom but the beauty of it does slightly ease his distaste. At the very least he didn't have to look down and twiddle his thumbs or look through the settings on his phone but could now admire the venue. The painted ceiling, hand-carved gold accents lined the walls and glinted softly in the chandelier and candle light. The windows were adorned by blue silk curtains that matched the walls and were streaked with delicate gold threads. They were draped in the most melodramatic way possible with each fold in the curtains flowing perfectly across the windows. He felt like he was in a painting and he loved it. The music brought it all together, the melody was soft and cushions the little bubble he’s created for himself. It's so vivid that he thinks he sees a princess float across the room for a second but is quickly brought out of his little fantasy by one of his coaches, introducing him to some hot-shot business exec that's interested in a sponsor. To be quite frank, he didn't care. He’d do the commercial so long as he didn’t have to take any risky photos and his face wasn't plastered on a billboard. 

He’d just about tuned into the conversation but there was enough space in his mind to push forward with that little fantasy. He sees her again: the dress was a rich cream colour, embossed with pretty patterns throughout and the skirt flowed elegantly from the embroidered bodice to reach at her ankles. She wore a pair of simple heels that matched her dress. Her hair was in a bun that framed her pretty little face perfectly. She held onto her bag tightly and had an innocent, lost look on her face as she continued to float around the room. She was certainly on theme. More so than most of the guests. 

He loses the girl as his coach delivers a firm smack to his back, shocking him back into the conversation.

“So what do you think, Yassine?” giving him a pointed look, he knew that he probably digested none of the past 10 minutes of conversation. 

He winced slightly under the sharp gaze and nodded semi-enthusiastically at the man, still not entirely sure what he was doing or what was going on but shook his hand anyway. The guy smiles back so he must have responded appropriately at the very least. His coach leaves with the man to further discuss the sponsorship and Yassine is once again left to his own devices. 

He scanned the room in search of the girl but to no avail. He was disappointed at that and decided to explore the rest of the venue instead. Various rooms were left open and each contained a few people: some admiring the beauty of the place, others just enjoying each other's company, engaged in quiet chatter. Once again, the idea that this is a Gillette event makes him laugh on the inside. He was actually having a pleasant time, wandering aimlessly through the corridors of the hall. He is brought out of his little haze when he hears soft piano music from the room ahead. He recognises this one: The Merry-go-round of Life. One of his guilty pleasures is those studio ghibli movies that gave his childhood that little bit of magic and hearing that familiar melody again gave him peace. He peers carefully into the room to see you. His princess. Sat at a grand piano, totally lost in your own world. He leans on the doorframe with a soft smile on his face, focussing solely on you and the beautiful tune you’re playing and looking like an angel as you went about it.

A long intertwining web of friends of friends of friends landed you with this invite. You searched up the venue as the final decider for the event. your university course left you with very few free nights and you need to know whether this event is worth one of them. You were shocked as the results bear photos of the most stunning hall you have ever seen. Straight out of a fairytale. The lavish fountain outside with luscious gardens surrounding it. The rolling hills and expansive bluebell forest surrounding it. The Edwardian architecture and extravagant interior. 

You prayed with all your might that they would allow for the whole place to open up as your eyes lingered over one specific photo: a piano room. You dreamed of places like this when you played your keyboard, imagining the pressure of your fingers against porcelain piano keys as opposed to the plastic buttons. You quickly fished out the dress you wore to prom. You loved it so much that you wore it around the apartment from time to time to live out your little fantasy for just a few moments. You would delicately prance around the house, practising those ballet steps you were still familiar with and soft classical music playing from your phone. You may not have taken those classes for years now but it still brought you that little bit closer to your dreams so you strived to remember them.

It had been a month now. A month of telling all your friends at the university. A month of sketching some of the photos of the venue. A month of meticulously checking over the embroidery of your dress and fixing any little breaks in the stitching. A month and the day of the event finally comes, you now count down the hours until your scheduled revision period in the library is over and you can finally leave to get ready. You put on your dress, smooth it down and do a little twirl. It's stunning and you finally had an excuse to wear it out again, you pat yourself on the shoulder for spending months hand-embroidering the bodice. You put on your jewellery: a pair of simple pearl earrings and a gold necklace with a pearl pendant. You were quick with the hair and makeup because you simply can't wait any longer. Once you were satisfied, you quickly pad along to the door where you put on your shoes and grab your bag and head to the taxi.

When you finally arrive, you are in awe. It's so much prettier in person and the sunset just makes everything feel so much more romantic. The air was cool and crisp against your exposed arms and the gravel crunches under your heels as you excitedly walk over to the main doors.

It was a shame that your time in the venue wasn't as joyful as the entrance. It was still gorgeous but so crowded and loud and you just don’t know how to cope. You spend a good portion of your time just getting through the crowd to try and look for anywhere else to go. Not even a snack bar?! This is not worth risking your best dress over. 

Finally, you see an open doorway which looked familiar and you suspected it lead to that piano room you’d been dreaming about for the past month. You walked through the corridors, stopping every once in a while to admire the hand-painted portraits on the wall until you finally reached a familiar door. Seeing people within the other rooms of the hall grants you a bit of relief regarding your little escapade. 

Sitting down, you place your hands on the familiar keys, relishing the feel of the cool porcelain against your fingertips and start playing your favourite tune, losing yourself to the fantasy world you finally get to bring to life.

A soft clap of hands brings you out of your daze and you look up to one of the most gorgeous men you have ever seen. Tall with dark hair, an adorable freckle on his cheek. He had the most dazzling smile that fills you with warmth and there was a small dimple that appeared on the apple of his cheek as he did so. And that suit fit him well too. 

“You play beautifully.” he spoke in a baritone voice and slight drawl that somehow had your heart beating even faster than it already was.

“Thanks! Any more requests from my wonderful audience?” you cringed at the joke as it came out. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. How could you mess up on the very first sente-

He laughs. A proper laugh that has you relieved that your awkward disposition and corny jokes haven’t turned him away from you. 

“Y’know, Howl’s Moving Castle has to be one of my favourite films of all time. I’m Yassine by the way.” he commented and you thank him internally for steering the conversation away from the dumb joke and not running for the hills.

“It’s a solid choice, I’m more of a Castle in the Sky girl myself, honestly.” he hums and shrugs in understanding as he begins to walk over to you. You encourage him to sit with you by making space on the stool for him. To your relief, he picks up on the hint and takes a seat. Managing to tower over you still.

“Play something for me,” he said, teasingly nudging your shoulder a little. He was so warm and smelled like sandalwood and pine and it all made you feel a bit dizzy. 

“Any preferences?” you asked, hoping to impress him a little bit.

“I’m sure anything from you will be perfect.” he quipped, looking down at you while you looked at the keys, blushing furiously at the compliment. Eye contact is already a struggle for you. You weren’t built for socialising, You tried your best but conversations with new people just had alarm bells ringing throughout your entire body. And when they were as attractive as yassine? You simply struggled to function. He smiles at your shyness although you’re too busy trying to think of a piece to notice.

You finally have your chosen piece in mind and place your hands,  beginning to play. He’s struggling to choose between looking at your adorable concentrated face or your pretty hands that gracefully dance along the keys. He sees you mouthing some of the notes and your eyes close as you reach your favourite part of the piece. He rests his head on top of yours and closes his eyes. He wished that this moment with his the princess would last forever. He was intoxicated by everything about you and he was so glad he managed to find you.

“Would you like me to play another one?” you asked as you finished the piece. Enjoying having him so close.

He desperately wanted to say yes but knew that his coach needed to speak with him again. It pained him to have to leave.

“I’m sorry, beautiful but I have to get back before coach throws a tantrum.” he notices your features drop marginally and feels awful but remembers:

“How about you give me your number and maybe we can continue this another time? over some dinner?” he feels a bit of reprieve in seeing your eyes light up. He wants to see that more often, that's for sure.

You both exchange numbers and he gives you a quick peck on the cheek, taking one more glance at you before leaving to talk to his coach. You remain in the music room to continue playing by yourself. Now with a permanent smile on your face as you think about Yassine, gushing over the interaction.

Yassine finally finishes talking to the coach and the event calms down considerably with people beginning to make their exits and for some reason, he returns to the music room. You surely would have left now but he follows his instinct and goes anyway. He doesn’t even hear the music but peers in anyway to see you pacing. Your taxi had cancelled, the venue was in the middle of nowhere and you were going to have to walk at least a mile for the next bus stop. 

“Everything okay, pretty?” he asks softly. As you look up, he can see the panic in your eyes but they soften just slightly at the sight of him.

“My taxi cancelled so I’m just preparing myself to walk to the bus stop” you smile sadly, too stressed to care about dumb joke number 2. He walks over to give you a hug, enveloping you with his warmth, rubbing your back soothingly as you bury your head in his chest. 

“If you’re comfortable with it, I’d be happy to drive you home.” he offers, smiling at the fact he could feel you relax against him with that. You nod against his chest and he guides you back to the main hall and then his car with a warm hand on your back. Being the gentleman he is, he opens the door for you before getting in the driver’s seat. You give him your address and you spend the journey in a comfortable silence until you reach home. He rushes out of his door to open yours and the second you’re out, you give him the biggest hug you can manage.

“Thank you so much for this, Yassine. I’ve loved talking with you today.” and he gives that signature smile, shaking his head as he bends down to give you a peck on the cheek. 

“The pleasure was all mine, princess.” you blush profusely and you walk to your apartment door. You turn around one last time to give him a wave as you walk into the comfort of your apartment. Sighing wistfully, you flop onto the couch and smile, thinking about the handsome man who helped you out today. You sure hoped he meant it when he mentioned going out for dinner.

The pair of you have been going strong in your relationship for about 4 months now. His comments still never failed to make you blush but you’ve recently been learning to do the same. You learn that he is just as shy over compliments as you. With every match, you made sure to let him know how proud you were. You’re always telling him how pretty he is and he revels in the affection you shower him with.

His place was basically a second home to you at this point. He’s organised your clothes into designated drawers and wardrobe spaces. Your toothbrush, skincare, make-up and shower stuff in the bathroom. One of your spare coats hung on the coat rack by the front door along with a couple of pairs of shoes. Your presence had even started showing through the decor as he actively sought out art works, duvets, cushions and throws that he thought you would like.

As you arrived at his place for movie night, you noticed that he looked especially excited. You couldn't pinpoint it exactly but there was a glint of mischief in those dark, brown eyes. You walked over to the door slowly, your eyes narrowed in suspense.

“Yassine?” you ask hesitantly while he’s bouncing up and down quickly on his feet. He only has one thing on his mind. And you were completely clueless to it. 

Growing sick of your slow pace, he runs over to you, immediately grabbing your hand and pulling you towards the house, couldn’t even wait a second longer to acknowledge your words. As you reach the door he slows, standing behind you and holding his hand over your eyes while the other softly grips your waist, continuing to guide you into the living room.

Once he finally has you where he wants you, he slowly removes his hand from your eyes and rests it on your waist. Your eyes take a second to adjust to the light but your heart just about stops when you see it. It's beautiful, like it came out of one of your dreams. You don’t know what else to expect from him. In all fairness, this is very on-brand for him. Really, you shouldnt be surprised. 

Eyes tearing up a little, you whisper,

“Yassine I-”

You don't have time to say another word as he’s still dragging you to the stool, excited for you to play again but on a proper grand piano rather than your dinky little keyboard set.

“Wait! I have an idea!” as you push him to sit down first. You sit in his lap, placing your hands on the keys, playing a few notes to gain some familiarity. He rests his head in the crook of your neck, wrapping his arms around your waist and closing his eyes as he prepares for you to play again. But he’s momentarily confused as he instead feels your hands grabbing his much larger ones and placing them on top of your own. He quickly gets the idea and follows with the other hand, himself. He’s paying attention now, watching as you play together. He closes his eyes and returns to the crook of your neck, smiling at the feeling. He presses soft kisses into your shoulders, the back of your neck, behind your ears as he relishes your company. 

“I love you, my princess” he confessed, she tenses for a moment and relaxes again into his warm body. He didn't need to see her smile to feel it, relieved that he didn’t push her away with the confession.

“I love you too, my prince” she replied as she pulled one of his hands up to her mouth and kissed the bandages that adorned them.

i really hope you guys like it! it is a first attempt so i would love to hear any feedback too! sorry again about the account troubles, please do resend those asks! xxx