#the beautiful lover of Ivan the terrible

[classicmoviesseriesandmore]

Dmitri Pisarenko as Fyodor Basmanov in Tsar Ivan the terrible (1991)

[bitch-biblioklept]

The Darkling x f!oc

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 <you are here> Part 8

Chapter-7 The Winter Fete

Chapter Summary: With Alina finally harnessing her powers, revenge seems closer than ever to the Darkling. Baghra is afraid of losing the human her son was, and regrets making some decisions.

Word Count: 1.7k

(my gif)

It was done, the sun summoner had finally learnt to harness her powers. Revenge had never seemed closer than now.

The Darkling was ecstatic on finding out that Alina had finally summoned. He might even have done a little happy dance when he was alone, but he would never admit it.

The Grand Palace and the Little Palace had been decorated wildly, untastefully, but he didn’t care much. His time to avenge the assassination of his wife was close, and Zlatan was finally going to pay for his sins. The Darkling even agreed to put up a show for the sake of entertainment.

Alina had started looking better, her face was fuller and less sallow so her similarity to Serephina had almost entirely disappeared. And her blue and gold kefta was a big difference as well. His darling had always adorned a black kefta with silver embroideries on it, and the colors of all the classes; Coporalki, Etherealki, Materialki on the cuff of the sleeves. She had also preferred to wear traditional Suli clothes, even if that made most of the counts mad. She had never shied away from her heritage.

Aleksander had vividly remembered the functions in their wedding with the Suli people, it had been grander than anything he had ever seen since. The Suli were great people too, warm and welcoming to everyone. On finding that they were Grisha, they worshiped them like saints. Sankt Colvin and Sankta Rohini, they were given these lovely names to keep their identity a secret.

He didn’t dwell on the memory too much, but kept it in the back of his mind, in the reachable range to keep up his happy spirits, to remind himself of what Ravka had taken from him after he had worshipped her all his life. Ravka was a drowning woman who dragged his lover with her.

Koroleva Alina, the people chanted on seeing her display of her powers. Koroleva Alina, this is what Serephina had been called when she had caught the attention of the king. The trust between the Grisha and the non-Grisha was fragile and there just because he had won a war for him.

The king had been a recent widower, having lost his queen in the battle between the Ravkan kingdom and the Shu queendom. He was looking for a queen, and that was when he had caught Serephina, who was going by the name Alina at the time, catering to the guests dressed in a servant’s uniform.

“You, you right there,” the king pointed in her direction, and she stilled wondering if she did something wrong. “Come here,”

And keeping the mask of a meek, terrified woman afraid she had done something to offend the king, she walked. Her eyes briefly found his, and she found the grey eyes a bit wide in anticipation.

The noblemen eyed her up and down as she walked in the center of the throne room, a few even making passing remarks on her beauty. Aleksander would have clawed their eyes out right then and there if it weren’t for a gentle gust of wind asking him to calm down.

“You are so beautiful, dear.” The King said. The entire throne room quieted. “What is your name?”

She kept her eyes trained to the marble floor. “Alina, Moi tsar.”

“I am making you one of my personal servants from now on, Alina.” the king declared. “You will be taking care of my son, the prince.”

She looked at him for help, but said, “As you wish, Moi tsar,”

“Good, you are dismissed for now.” The king said. She hurriedly left, but her eyes found his from across the throne room. What had just happened?

They hadn’t guessed that it would be for keeping an eye on her, her behavior, who she met and how she acted. And on seeing perfection, the king had decided that she would be his Queen.

The Darkling gripped his flute of champagne too tightly, hearing a crack and loosened his grip. He downed the contents and left the glass for a servant to take. Serephina said the king had never touched her, and he knew she wouldn’t lie to him. They had even had separate chambers, (he would know, he visited her almost every night,) and her only job was the raise the prince and host the important political guests.

It had hurt him, it had hurt him terribly to see them in public, to see the king holding her nimble hand, kissing her cheek, having her at him arm, when he should have been the one doing all this. The King had loved her, he truly had. But to him she was Alina, and he died knowing that she was Alina.

But for Aleksander she had been Serephina, and she would always be Serephina.

And when the king had taken ill and died around two years later, Koroleva Alina had been given the throne, for the prince was too young to rule. She had raised the prince to become a king, she was raising him to become the king, but he was still too young.

And the years she had ruled had been Ravka’s golden age. The fifteen years she had sat on the throne were the best Ravka had ever seen. The young king took that further after she had faked her demise and it was more than half a century of prosperity and peace for the people.

It was then that he had decided he had to marry her with proper customs and had taken her to the thorn wood monastery in the forest. There the Suli had taken care of them, organized their grand wedding and had made them their Saints.

He was forcing himself out of his memories of her when Ivan had tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

“The trackers have returned.” Ivan said.

“What do they say?” The Darkling asked.

“They found it.”

This was the happiest he had been in fifteen years. His plans would unravel themselves soon enough.

Soon, Moya milaya. Soon. He promised.

.

Baghra was in her hut, pacing around, and waiting for her maid to return with information. She had never before felt this anxious. Maybe, maybe she should just tell him the truth.

She was just pondering all her options when the maid returned, panting. “They found the stag.” She said.

They couldn’t have, it was supposed to be a myth! No one had ever seen it before, then how did the trackers find it? Were they lying to get away from the Darkling’s wrath? Yes, that should be it. There wasn’t any stag found and the trackers were lying. But who would even dare to lie to the Darkling?

So many things were swarming in her head, and there had to be a way that would stop him. If he found the stag and took control of Alina’s powers, he was done for. Ravka was done for. Her son would be gone, pushed beyond the edge of redemption.

She will have to stop him before her son becomes one of his own abominations. There should be a way.

If Serephina was here, she would have thought fast. What would she have done? Baghra paced around, her fingers dancing against each other as her palms sweat. Sere had known Aleksander better than anyone, better than Baghra knew her own son, and that had been a cause of beef between the two of them, albeit it was mostly from her own side because she wanted to spare her son from the heart break and pain of separation that she had suffered.

What would she do? What would she do?

Nothing would distract him, no. She could pretend to faint, but he would call a healer and everything would be a waste of time. Maybe she should run away. She knew him well enough that he would come looking for her first and then go after the stag.

Serephina wouldn’t need anything to distract him. She would have just smiled in his face and he would melt instantly, Baghra scowled at the thought. She wouldn’t even have to smile… she could ask him for his head and he wouldn’t even blink before agreeing. How did Sere get that kind of trust from Aleksander, that would always be a mystery for her, but Sere would do anything for him too. Hell, she had done a lot things for his gain or to save his life.

She decided to think of something else. She wasn’t Serephina and she couldn’t do anything of what Sere could do. It was wasting a lot of her precious minutes.

Baghra didn’t even have much time to think before the Darkling was at her door, knocking. The maid rushed out on seeing him, bowing her head in greeting, muttered a quick “Moi soverennyi,” and then disappeared behind the woods somewhere. Hopefully she wouldn’t be here to hear the experience firsthand.

“My men have found the stag,” He declared. His slate eyes were dancing with amusement she had never seen on him. His thirst for revenge had pulled him under.

There was only one way to stop him now. Maybe if she had had more time, Baghra would have thought a way to stop him without really telling him the truth. Maybe the truth wouldn’t have been uncovered this way. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But she was old, and her mind wasn’t as sharp as it had once been. So she told him the truth, the only way that she thought was appropriate in that moment. She knew it would stop him, change his sense of reality. He might even attack her for lying to him. But it would save him from falling over the edge. He will still be human.

Baghra knew she was going to regret it, that one decision had been the worst she had ever made in her life, but that had seemed like the good way back then. She hadn’t considered that he would drown himself in this thirst for a bloody revenge.

“Serephina is alive,” Baghra’s mouth told the truth before her mind could think of anything else.

*sorry for the cliffhanger there 🤓*

[zorkaya-moved]

kuroshitsuji au: the golden-eyed demon.

King of Hell, Beleth, is known to take particular interest in the northern Europe. The land known for its tyrants and for its winters, Russian Empire. This demon is especially dangerous for her forceful takes of mortals’ souls, sustaining her presence in the mortal world and remain in the world. We’ve suffered several casualties trying to stop Beleth’s feast during the days of Olga of Kiev and Ivan the Terrible, he sacrificed the lived of countless to satisfy her hunger. She is also the one who assisted Catherine the Great in killing her husband and the reason for countless lovers Catherine retained. Beleth is known to give the power of ‘love’ to others. How true it is we cannot prove. However, the fact that this demon hasn’t returned to Hell and doesn’t have a leash around the neck is concerning. (c) Grim Reaper. 

TRUE NAME: Beleth; other writings: Byleth, Bileth, Bilet, Bilith.  NAME USED PREVIOUSLY: Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova. NAME USED NOW: Zarina Sokolova. KNOWN AS: Golden-eyed Demon.

PREVIOUS CONTRACT HOLDER: Catherine the Great, expired upon her death.  WAY OF SOUL CONSUMPTION: Faustian Contract (Olga of Kiev, Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great to name recent few), forceful consumption of swayed people to sustain her presence and her powers in the realm of humans. As her powers lie in manipulation of attraction (’love’), she sways people to give their souls to her. 

Some say King of Hell - Beleth - has a true appearance of a woman instead of a man, making her true form be a ‘Queen of Hell.’ However, such words and stories are written by humans here and there, it means nothing to a demon who takes a form it wants without taking much into consideration. During the days of Ivan the Terrible, Beleth has taken a form of a man, during the days of Catherine the Great, Beleth has taken a form of a woman. The simplest reason for remaining in a feminine form comes with a preference, taking a liking to how much easier it was to charm others and how easier it was to go under the radar. 

The feast of Beleth were known in Hell and among the Grim Reapers, some were jealous of her presence in the mortal world while others wished to return her to the abyss she came from for her feasts were indulgent and befitting a spoiled royalty. If only things were that easy. Then again, it was that simple: Beleth simply wished to experience the simplicity and the colorful world of mortals, those who lived and die, ready to sacrifice their souls for a simple wish. Unlike many other demons, the King of Hell decided to teach and to study humans through that. There were several instances where she was summoned by the people from the regions of Slavic communities (not including other countries): by Olga of Kiev after her husband’s death, by Ivan the Terrible after his son’s death, and by Catherine the Great to kill her husband out of her love for Russian Empire. 

As William T. Spears mentioned about Sebastian Michaelis, he was not one to ‘feast.’ This cannot be said about Beleth, who goes under the name of Zarina. If anything, the summoning of Beleth into the mortal world was always followed by large prolonged feasts that made countless reaper’s jobs that much harder and they’ve always lost countless souls to the indulgence of the bored golden-eyed demon. 

Countless people died during those times. Instead of reaching promised Heaven by the Church, they were fed to the demon who was more than happy to indulge. Souls of warriors, souls of cowards, souls of royalty and nobility, souls of common folk. It didn’t matter. despite the status of so-called demonic royalty, Beleth was more intrigued to understand why each soul would appear to taste different, bringing twisted fascination with the nature of humans. After all, Grim Reapers, too, came from humanity. Everything returned to humanity: to its potential, to its foolishness, to its fleeting beauty. 

The demon Byleth remained dormant, unheard of, for more than ten years until reappearing in Ireland on one night where the souls of several more people were taken away from them right under the noses of Grim Reapers. 

What changed during time when Beleth was under the Faustian Contract with Catherine the Great? Nothing much, but it simply pushed the demon forward to change the scenery she lived in. After possessing the body of Catherine’s long-standing friend, she decided to offer knowledge and teach humans as Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova, traveling the world as the contract allowed her to do what she wished as long as Catherine was not in need of anything. The demon in the body of a human was able to expose herself to the nature of family, of human love, and of knowledge seeking. Once the ‘burden’ of a husband (Prince Dashkov) passed away, she asked for permission to travel across the world, which brought up the 14-year journey of Beleth through the world in the body of a woman who was not aware of the demon who was resided in her body, using her as a doll to do everything she wished. She was able to meet such important people like Benjamin Franklin, continuing to correspond through their whole life. When Yekaterina slept, the demon was taking form and traveling around, consuming souls of some poor unfortunate fools who were mesmerized by silver hair and golden eyes that allured them. 

However, residing within the body of Yekaterina did not bode well with Beleth as she has left the body of the woman whose career and life she led for more than twenty years, the demon has taken the form of a young maiden named Zarina (later, Sokolova), who traveled with Yekaterina and made sure to correspond with Catherine the Great. By manipulating Yekaterina’s soul, she was able to make sure that she mentions Zarina personally in each and every conversation where it was possible to establish a sense of knowing and to have the demon intergrade herself into the society before leaving when Catherine the Great had finally succumbed to her death, allowing the demon to take the royalty’s soul. 

Upon the death of Yekaterina, whose body Beleth was living in, countless assets were written down to be passed to her. All because everything that Yekaterina created from the young age, when Catherine the Great summoned her, belonged to Byleth as she was the one who led everything forward. The Academy, the research, the praises from Yekaterina that wrote how she was “inspired” the maiden of silver and gold. It didn’t take long for (now) Sokolova to return to her traveling, leaving behind the country that hosted her for a couple of decades and gave her a fun enough time to remain. It was then when Zarina decided to indulge in the findings of underworld, bringing her attention to connections to crime and sin that were so familiar to her from Hell. It wasn’t hard to use her connections from Yekaterina, her charms as a demon also were most helpful in finding holes in rules where she could assert herself and become quite famous a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But one day, when she enjoyed her time in England, a familiar presence was felt by the demon who hadn’t felt such familiarity of the abyss she’d come from. A fellow demon was summoned into the land of the Queen. Golden eyes would gleam excitedly, wondering when exactly will she be able to meet and greet someone who just might assist someone to change the world within this little country. Human history was so exciting, wasn’t it? So short in its memory, but the demon couldn’t care less. She wished to learn more, travel more, devour more. 

It wouldn’t take her long to visit the manor of Phantomhive some time later, a year or two to see if there will be major changes within the social circles of England. There were, such changes that made the demon, who was growing bored of peacefulness, smirk as she was drinking some tea in the early morning, mesmerizing others in her gorgeous appearance of silver and gold. The young earl Phantomhive was a curious person to visit. Wouldn’t it be fun to bring her own knowledge of underworld in other countries where he may not yet reach? It was curious. 

How sad that Ciel’s soul was already claimed by another demon. Truly, a tragedy.

[fanfiction-funtime]

IM SORRY IVE BEEN SLACKING ON HYPING YOU UP

Anyway I’m reading through the Things ™ and wow

Can I request something? There’s an idea I’ve been pondering for a bit. You know already who I’ll ask for, I’m guessing.

What if the reader fell for Xiao in Genshin, in a state where they constantly daydream about him. Rather than working on scenarios and scenes, it happens in real time.

Meanwhile, in another universe, Xiao in a modern setting has fallen for a Genshin character- the reader. He daydreams about them in the same manner.

To the reader, their Xiao is a guardian yaksha, Golden adeptus, and doombane itself.

To Xiao, his (y/n) is something just as exalted. I tend to use a seelie, since they’re an immortal race of ancient and now weak gods.

What they both don’t know is that they’re actually meeting in those daydreams. It’s not just imagination and the longing for company, but an actual relationship with another person.

Bonus points if it’s some sort of soulmate au and they physically can’t find each other and eventually realize it.

I’ve never told anyone about this before, and I’m excited to see what you do with it! I might work with it one day, just not yet.

(Hoo boy, this will be tough, but I'm sure I can do it! Xiao might be a bit ooc as I'm getting his personality from wiki and fanon, as well as modern au [hopefully] gives him less trauma and a slightly different personality.)

(Also, I can't do sad endings. So a bit of deus ex OC at the 3rd part)

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

Your game

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Your pov: the dream eater of your dreams

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You are (y/n)(l/n), and you are in the saddest love story this side of the lake.

Ever since you saw him in that first quest you were in love!

You were just a teen though, so it wasn't real right? After all, your red string wasn't connected to the screen.

Well, your string isn't connected to anything...

Y-your just a late bloomer though right?

(Ten years later)

Your now in your twenties and you still love Xiao!

He permeates your thoughts like how lovers do, you feel an inexplicable hurt in your chest similar to what many describe feeling when they see their soulmate prior to their string appearing, not to mention whenever you aren't busy you feel like you're...slipping...in...in and...

[Daydream]

It was happening again.

It was like a daydream but more...real.

Like a lucid dream.

You saw your string, just like so many other times, and you followed it.

You ran and ran, turquoise clouds parting and making paths for you to find him.

Him..

You ran and ran, glad that atleast in some way your delusions can give you some semblance of true love.

You saw the..wait..that's not the inn.

Well it is the inn, but more modern. And there was a school next to it, and a small village not far away.

Another of thing was that you were in some kind of yellow armor, it reminded you of those baby geovisnaps from genshin impact(that are absolutely BULL-)

You went into the elevator, which seemed more ancient than usual.

And when you reached the balcony, you saw him. But he was different.

Instead of the Yaksha you usually saw, you were greeted by an equally shocked man in a martial arts gi. But it was him.

But different.

You reached out, and he did the same.

And you touched

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Xiao's pov: the midsummer knight of his dreams

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(Clarifying: in this version Liyue is based on European mythology and aesthetic while Mondstadt is based on Chinese. So you are a fae hunting knight rather than a demon hunting yaksha)

Xiao had always been reserved, but what happened to him as a kid drew him further into his shell.

Abusive parents, accidentally giving his sister trauma induced amnesia, he felt the weight of his actions like atlas feels the world on his shoulders.

Luckily, two people took him and his sister QiQi in: QiQi's doctor Baizhu, and Xiao's therapist(and Baizhu's husband) Morax.

It was difficult to come out, even after Xiao stopped feeling so at fault. So he mostly stayed in his room and played video games.

That is until he met you.

Well met is the wrong word here.

He saw your character in his world's version of genshin impact: tribunal eruption

The way you used your weapon, the way your armor shined in the night as you rode to his wanderer. The smile you gave as he handed you (favourite food).

But most of all, the way you used fighting styles from so many martial arts and hand to hand combat techniques.

From irish kickboxing to karate, from assassination arts in ancient history of japan to systema.

It awoken two things in him: first was his want to learn martial arts and make his own.

The second was his love for you.

But don't worry, your physical attributes only drew him in. Your personality made him stay.

Years went on, he became a martial arts instructor for his own style, and moved into an apartment near a small village.

He started teaching at a school nearby, he even gets a discount on rent for giving free lessons to the owner's sons, Ivan and Viktor.

He's also convinced those two have a crush on him but it's pointless.

After all, he was a dream eater, a common group of people who have a strange ability to find their soulmate.

Specifically, the ability to have "lucid daydreams" where they meet their soulmate.

But he must be defective. After all his soulmate kept appearing as...well you. As a knight that would meet him on the balcony every night.

He assumed maybe it was your voice actor or designer, but neither of them have had the lucid daydreams.

He began thinking he'd never find his soulmate

Until one daydream...

He was on the balcony again, like a prince awaiting his knight to rescue him.

But it was different.

The apartment complex he lived in now looked much smaller, as did the tree it was built around, and the building looked far more ancient in design yet so much younger in age.

And the village and school nearby aren't there anymore.

Oddest change of all is that his gi he was wearing just a second ago is now similar to the outfit warn by the mondstadt demon slayer Corps

And when you arrived at the balcony, he noticed a red string, one that connected your heart to his. But you weren't wearing your armor, you were wearing casual, modern clothes.

He knew it was stupid, after all you can't touch your soulmate in the daydreams. But he felt compelled to....to reach out and..

You touched him.

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nothing never comes between you, and nobody helps you get together

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(3rd person pov)

He really did find it annoying, how often mortals would find themselves in the wrong dimension, especially when it's because the writer wants drama. And now he's written in to solve the problem.

Ah well, it's his job.

(2nd person pov)

You didn't know how to feel. You were touching Xiao...and you weren't waking up. Was this...real?

"You... you're real...different but....still the person I love...." Xiao seemed to be equally in a trance at the prospect

"yeah...so are you..."

The armor you wore melted away, and you cant see it but Xiao's fictional clothes melted from him as well. You were both equally real, in your own reality.

But you knew it couldn't last.

"When the daydream ends, I wont be able to see you anymore," Xiao said with a sea of tears in his eyes, "We've actually met now...and now...now the dreams will end."

You lean into him, "then let's make this dream the best one we've ever had."

Your about to kiss when-

"Terribly sorry about this!" A childlike voice called, "you know, interrupting your moment and all that. See for the sake of narrative, you both were put in separate universes. And it's my job to give you a happy ending."

When you both looked, you saw a child made of bone climbing into reality from some kind of hole.

"Now just wait a moment aaannnd-"

The turquoise clouds cleared, and the world rippled into a conjoined reality between genshin impact and tribunal eruption.

"Welcome to your dream world, enjoy eternal love!" The child said as he crawled back into the hole and it closed.

When he was gone, you both observed the world around you: a beautiful mix of aesthetics surrounded you, and both your armor and his adeptus clothing were on you both.

You gazed into eachother's eyes.

He placed one hand on your cheek while another held your hand, "I'm not good with speaking..speaking my emotions..but I....maybe my actions can do that for me..."

You felt your red string radiate with the warmth of love, likewise Xiao felt his daydreams dissipate like a haze leaving his mind.

You grab his hand and place your free hand on his cheek, mirroring his love, as you always have.

"Xiao...your very existence tells me all I need to hear.."

You both leaned in, and kissed.

Two lovers, in a dream made reality,

A paradise for all eternity.

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

I feel it kinda fell apart with the deus ex, but I think I scraped it back together in the end!

I hope it's good enough for what you envisioned buddy, I tried my best!

(Also I think you deserve something just as good as what happens to the reader insert in this fic, story)

(Tagging: @golden-wingseos (this is the writing blog for someone you told to tag you), and @storytravelled (just to keep the idea of tagging in mind))

[nopeferatu]

Nopeferatu's Top 11 (ish) Favorite Fics of All Time

because....i cant sleep, and i wanted to keep this sorted out for my reference as well as for anyone else who may want a fic recc or two (or 11 1/2)

11. American in America by Ferrero13

America, being America, says something he should've known better than to say in his own airport, whereupon he is taken in for questioning and finds it very difficult to explain why this particular nineteen-year-old seems to be as politically active as the President himself.

Starting this list off with a silly canonverse oneshot. What more can I say about it? Its got Alfred at an aiport dealing with TSA and reminiscing on his life with Arthur Kirkland. What more can you want?

10. Lovely as You Are by SadLesbianPrincess...

Alfred 'The Hero' Jones is a young American MMA fighter who has his sights set on the UFC championship. But when he challenges the current champion, Ivan Braginsky, a Russian fighter who goes by the title Ivan the Terrible, things don't go quite as planned, and he finds himself in the hospital. After a few weeks alone in his hospital room, another patient is brought in to Alfred's room: a British model named Arthur Kirkland, whose bad habits have caught up with him. In that room, broken together, they learn their little secrets, see their little beauties, and put each other back together again. Running from the past as it tries to catch up with them.

“You’re like a painting,” Alfred whispered against his lips. “You move like watercolor. You breathe out colors of the sunset, you blink in shades of grass and emerald green. You touch me the way an artist touches brush to canvas, you mark my skin and bleed your paint onto me. Sometimes you’re saturated and bright, sometimes you speak in gray and black hues. Everything about you is beautiful.”

This one is ouchies. Very ouchies. Lucky for me, I love angst! I read this at the beginning of quarantine when it seemed like every usuk fan on IG was reading it alongside me and man. We all had very public emotional reactions to it.

10. ...And Hidden Verse, Hidden Heart by ChampagneSly

University AU with Alfred and Arthur as professors. In which Arthur woos a man who doesn’t know any better with poetry.

Poetry, mathematics, and star crossed lovers? Who knows—a school year holds many possibilities….

Who doesn't love a good professor au?? Plus Arthur being a lit geek and Alfred being a math nerd is always so fun to read!

9. We'll Meet Again by George deVailer

Londoner Arthur Kirkland’s pub, the Emerald Lion, is overrun by American servicemen on leave. One in particular is driving him to distraction - loud, brash fighter pilot Alfred Jones. Unable to stop it, Arthur finds himself falling for Alfred’s charms - just as the pilot is preparing to leave for war.

I know the fandom at large doesn't like George, but I hold this fic near and dear to my heart since it was one of the first pieces of transformative Heta fic that I remember ever reading when I first entered the fandom. For all the Versaverse's faults, I still find this one stands up to the test of time.

8. Pointblank by worldaccordingtofangirls

Arthur is a gifted volunteer doctor. Alfred is a bomber pilot. Love strikes us pointblank, right between the eyes, in the most inconvenient of places. The battlefield is no exception.

I finished this one recently and while it hits a lot of the same plot beats as We'll Meet Again does (even down to some small details like Alfred giving Arthur some chocolate in the midst of Britain's rationing), its definitely its own story, and a fantastic one at that. I loved it all so much.

7. Am I the Best You've Ever Had by dozefallsdownthestairs

Arthur Kirkland was a menace to society by all appearances. Even the McDonalds uniform could do nothing to soften him up. Alfred knew he shouldn't care, but he did anyway. [Unfinished]

I haven't read this since 2018 so I don't remember all of it too clearly, but I will definitely say that even tho I haven't reread it in so long, Arthur's characterization has really stuck with me all this time. I really hate reading abandoned fics...but I think I'll give this another read sometime soon because I remember it being so deliciously angsty and enjoyable that I don't mind the heartbreak that will inevitably come when I get to the last, cliffhanging chapter again.

6. Breathless by OrangePlum

Arthur Kirkland never thought that golden boy Alfred Jones would ever have a reason to attempt suicide. Then again, how much did he really know about the oh so popular blonde? The rumor mill would surely chew him up and spit him out.

This isn't necessarily romantic USUK, but if you want to read its definitely-romantic USUK sequel below, then you have to read this one first. Trigger warning for some pretty heavy topics. Like AItBYEH, I havent read this one in awhile but I really like more unconventional ways of portraying Alfred, and I found that OrangePlum managed to do that really well in a lot of their old writings and heta fancontent.

5. Static by OrangePlum

Arthur always thought that the incident with Alfred's arms would forever be the biggest hurdle their friendship would face. But as the looks change and the touches linger, it becomes frightfully clear that he was dead wrong about that. [Unfinished]

Again I REALLY HATE reading unfinished fics, but man I'm planning on rereading this series again soon, just to get to the last installment of this sequel fic. The build up is just SO SO good.

4. In Loving Memory by a_forgotten_note

Arthur Kirkland is a successful author living happily with his husband, Alfred Jones. The couple has endured many hardships throughout their relationship, but now that they're settled and comfortable, they assume those hardships are over.

That is... until Arthur and his brother are in a car accident.

Now Arthur is lost in his own life, trying to remember who he is and why he's with Alfred.

The race is on for Arthur to regain his memory, but when he can't even remember why he loved his own husband, how can he be expected to trust him?

Okay here we go, getting into top 4 territory. So I just finished this fic maybe four or five days ago and man I gotta tell you...so, I put reading this fic off since I got back into the fandom in 2018. Themes revolving around memory loss and car crashes really strike an uncomfortable chord with me due to some personal events in my life, so when I first tried picking it up two years ago, I couldn't make it past the first chapter. During quaratine a few friends ranted and raved about it at me and so I decided to try and cowboy up and get through it. Best decision I've made all quarantine. What started as a fic that I didn't even read the entirety of the first chapter of has become one of my TOP FOUR FAVORITE FICS OF ALL TIME. I really, truly got absolutely lost in their world and was so sucked in by the nature of getting to discover the story of Arthur's life alongside Arthur that I lost all sense of time when I was reading the fic. Plus, this has got to be one of, if not then it is, my favorite portrayals of Arthur in a fanfic EVER. He's witty and sarcastic but not in that way that makes him seem cold and like he hates Alfred, and he's so loving and pensive and so deeply, deeply insecure. My God. I could rave about this fic forever. TLDR; I love it. Go read it if you haven't yet.

3. He's a Keeper by Zo One

Alfred's had his pen pal, Arthur, since the second grade. But now he's becoming a man and he wants to meet his best friend, hidden behind paper and emails. What he didn't expect was the longing long distance brought.

Ahhh. He's a Keeper. Listen folks, my fic tastes are really basic. I like angsty, believable slice-of-life type fics and this is exactly that. When I first read it back in 2018, I knew I loved it a ton, but when I picked it up again back in June/July I think thats when it was really cemented as one of my top 3 faves. This year I was supposed to hop on a plane and meet my best friend (who shall remain untagged but if you know me then you likely already know who it is) for the first time IRL since we first met back in 2018, but ofc 2020 had entirely DIFFERENT plans for us. Well, long story short, rereading it again under these circumstances hit really close to home to say the least. It deals in depth with the trials and tribulations of maintaining very close long distance relationships, something I have a LOT of experience with, and it also just...generally provided a really nice mental escape for me as I got to imagine leaving quarantine and getting on a plane alongside Alfred and Arthur to begin an adventure in an unfamiliar, refreshing new territory. If you love country boy x city boy dynamics and the drama that comes from ldrs, give this fic a read!

2. Scarecrow's Lullaby by OrangePlum

His name is Arthur Kirkland, and he is in love with his best friend.

This fic. Man...don't even get me started on this fic. Despite the fact that its a one shot, this definitely is one of my favorite fictional works I have ever read, period. I have a super longstanding attatchment to this fic because I actually read it back in 2013 or so, and I still remember how much it broke me that night when I was laying under the covers at 2am and trying to stifle my crying, because I couldn't let my mom know that I was still awake when I had to get ready for middle school just a few hours after that. I have since probably reread this fic about like. I dunno, maybe a quarter of a million times? Theres just...something so achingly lonely about this fic. The prose is so good its almost poetic, and because its written in second person perspective, there is no way to escape the fact that you really are forced to sit and feel every. single. wonderful, fantastic, awful, heart-wrenching, gut-churning thing that Arthur is going through throughout the story. Really what I'm trying to say is that I've read it a million times before and I'll read it a million more. If you've ever loved and lost in any capacity and you just want to ~feel something again~, then this is the fic for you. Make sure to have a box of tissues at your side and good luck diving into the sad, sad life of the man who's in love with his best friend.

1. American Dreams in an English Village by Butterfish

Alfred and his family move to an English village and become neighbours to Arthur and his family. Arthur doesn't like the American, but they befriend each other, and slowly friendship becomes love. But that's not good in a little township!

So we're at my number one favorite fic of all time. God...where do I even begin. I started this back in 2012/2013, before I left the fandom for the duration of my hs life, however I don't remember ever actually finishing it back then. When I came back to the fandom in 2018, it was the first fic I decided to reread because I remember how much of an impact it had had on me when I was just a middle schooler. In doing that, I kinda mamaged to grow up alongside the characters, as I had greeted them when they were both just young middle schoolers like me and I finished the story when they were finishing high school like I had just done. It holds a very special place in my heart for that reason, but also just...the journey that they both go through is so, so compelling. You see as Arthur and Alfred have to navigate what it means to fall in love w your same-gendered best friend in a very closed-minded, pre-internet world. Its just...a classic queer coming of age story, so good that to me it could stand to be its own novel and get a movie adaptation, to boot.

[bigpandahero]

The legacy of appetence(欲望遗产 written by 此人已死  in Lofter）

the original writer :此人已死

the original link:https://ryuusuke.lofter.com/post/1cc28a98_1cb209a44

chapter 2

Salmon

 The first time Wang Yao received a call from Edward von Bok was when Ivan was busy laying wallpaper, and the overly cautious and low voice followed the electric current into Wang Yao's ears.

"Who are you?"

"Lover."

"...What about the boss?" A smart man always knows which voices to ignore.

"He's doing decoration." Wang Yao was chewing gum feeling little bored.With sticky bubbles blowing in his mouth, his voice sounded very vague.

"This is Edward. The metal paint of the original order is out of stock. The other party wants to change the brand. Be in the shop before two o'clock in the afternoon. Wish you a good day and goodbye."

The other party hung up after speaking, without even giving Wang Yao a second to say goodbye.

Neither party left a good impression on that call. And this time, Wang Yao stared at the caller's name, he had a hunch that it would not be much better than the former one.

Wang Yao didn't take the initiative to speak after answering the phone, so the person opposite seemed to perceive something and hesitated to speak.

“Where is the boss?”

Wang Yao was silent, glanced at the person who was eating in the dog pot on the open space next to the dining table.He walked up to him angrily, kicked his dog pot, and the food was scattered all over the floor.

He held the phone in the direction of Ivan, and then Edward heard a string of angry dog barks in the receiver.

This time Edward hung up directly.

It may be difficult for most people to imagine that a person will be like a dog, because for humans, walking on the ground with hands and feet is very funny and unbearable.

But Ivan, oh no, it's Los, he is a dog through and through.

It walks slowly and gracefully, and likes to rub its head on the side of your trousers to coquetry. Those purple eyes had discarded the complexity of human nature, crushed some simple kindness and gentleness, leaving you with the most sincere trust and company. It will always be your most loyal Los.

But Wang Yao didn't like it, which meant he had to take care of it, do all the housework, and sometimes even prevented it from estrus.

 What a joke, even if it had a look of human, he wouldn't have sex with a dog.

Even in just a few short hours, Wang Yao felt that he was dying.

 He is a useless person.

His hands were never flexible and powerful, he couldn’t lift heavy things as easily as Ivan who could even wring out a square rag. Walking for him was also a little inconvenient, which is the reason why he doesn't like to go out.

 When it rains, the bones of the whole body will scream in the figure with pain, and he is so annoyed that he couldn’t wait to take them out and smash them to ashes. At first, Wang Yao didn't realize that there were other personalities hidden in Ivan's body, because they were somewhat similar, and they were not quite easy to be distinguished.

July 3, 2015

 As an adult, Wang Yao and his acquaintance were not very good, worse than the vomit of a hangover.

 Wang Yao stood in the back alley of the bar to sober up. He curled his hands and feet in the cold wind and stared at the puddles on the ground in a daze. He was a bartender, but his works tasted terrible. The reason why he can still work in the bar was only because the guests like his beautiful and young face. The price is that strangers often try to get him drunk.He always gritted his teeth with ulterior motives,supporting his shaky body. .

The rough sound of door opening behind him, and he shuddered.

A drunkard stumbled out from the back door of the bar—he had light blond hair and was as pale as a ghost in the moonlight.The soles of the feet were crushing the gravel, making a disturbing sound in the dark alley,his tall body swallowed the moonlight into the shadows, and he strode towards Wang Yao with his strong fists, rude and frightening.

“Mister......”

Even after a quite long time, Wang Yao never said a whole word in front of this man.

He fell to the ground with a fist, nosebleeds running down his dry lips to his chin. The nosebleeds converged into droplets of thick plasma, burrowed into the soil and disappeared.

“Не повезло тебе, коротышка." (Unlucky for you,imp.)

The man stepped over his fallen body, chanting words of inexplicable meaning, and walked deep into the alley.

Familiar voices pierced into Wang Yao's ears, and memories of wandering around midnight for countless times appeared in his brain. Cold sweat oozes from his palms, and those dark thoughts disturbed him.

I had studied Russian for three years just to remember one of your swear words. "please wait! "

Wang Yao grabbed the stranger's trousers, half of the man's face hidden under the heavy scarf, only a pair of dark purple eyes squinted at his embarrassed body from the night sky. "Tell me your name! имя!" "Отпусти свою руку, Сука." (Let go of your hand, bitch.)

The man tapped his tongue impatiently, and easily pulled the corner of his clothes back from his weak hand.He kicked the bow tie on Wang Yao's chest with his toes flat, leaving the opponent with an indifferent back.

Damn it.

Wang Yao quickly got up and drew a broken wine bottle from the trash can. He clenched the narrow mouth of the bottle with both hands, and slammed it down at the golden head.

He was not strong enough to smash the wine bottle, but he still let the hapless guy kneel down on the ground.

“Fuck！”

The man covered the back of his head, which was bleeding. He curled up and whimpered vaguely.

He stood up swayingly, squeezing a drop or two of emotionless tears into his eyes, looking at Wang Yao in confusion.

“Are we fighting?”

Wang Yao stared at the man, threw away the wine bottle in his hand, and slammed it on the ground. He rubbed his hands, wiped his nosebleeds, and smiled pleasantly.

“Damn it!We are making love !Now,tell me your name,Russian.”

If anyone asks, Wang Yao will explain like this ---the god of love broke out of the ground and gave him a blow,  feeling like being struck by lightning.

In the early morning of the next day, the victim and the offender did not show up at the police station, but the church

They applied for a marriage license and even took a photo.

The pale picture frame froze them,there was neither smile nor hug .They were like gangsters who were about to go to jail.

At that time, Wang Yao hadn't realized that the person was not Ivan. If he knew, he would fight to death with that person in the alley,but kissing him,making the promise”I would never leave you” like a woman.

See ,what big trouble he caused himself.

Wang Yao forget to close the door when he went out to check the mailbox.Los slipped out of the door, chasing behind his ass .

The Labrador next door was playing frisbee with itself in the yard. He was really clever. Wang Yao wanted to learn how to train dogs from his owner.

The frisbee flew into Wang Yao's lawn for the twentieth time. Wang Yao was trying to snatch it from Los's mouth and return the frisbee to the poor Labrador.

"Los! Fuck, let go of your mouth!If the neighbor saw me I would be arrested to the fucking jail! Damn it!"

Los showed silver canine teeth, clutching the Frisbee tightly, squatting on the ground like a dog, and made a threatening sound in his mouth.

"Well, buy you a Frisbee! A new one! Bigger than this!" Lost reluctantly let go, and Wang Yao was finally able to get the Frisbee that had been gnawed by a dog.The Frisbee was still stained with human sleeping fluid, which turned into a shiny perverted medal on the Frisbee.

Wang Yao wanted to die.

But Los loved Wang Yao a lot.

In the corner of the bedroom, there was a large cardboard box with its name crookedly written in a pencil. It was filled with dog bones and strange sex toys, as well as socks and Wang Yao's panties that had been put in by himself.

He threw the Frisbee back into the yard next door, and then heard a dissatisfied dog barking from the other side-it must be because it was covered with the smell of Los.

Wang Yao dragged him into the house before he opened his mouth and howled in an attempt to quarrel with the Labrador.

In this regard, Mr. Braginsky knew that he had a dog in his body. Every time he changed back to his master, he would be silent for a long time.

*Discloseable information:

Edward is a man who engraved caution into his DNA, and he is the only person in the auto repair shop who knows the truth and is not afraid of Ivan. Wang Yao had met Ivan a long time ago, and he was three years younger than the opponent.

-----------------------tbc.------------------------------

[missroserose]

Wednesday reading, sunny day edition

It’s a beautiful sunny day today, which might not seem like that big a deal except that we’ve had a string of of those brooding dark iron-grey days where there’s little difference between noon and twilight, other than night coming even earlier than usual.  So for all that it’s only supposed to last for a day or so, I’m glad to have the break.

What I’ve just finished reading

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn.  I note right off the bat that the day Solzhenitsyn relates to us is a pretty good one, all told—the various gambles our title character undertakes in order to find minor alleviations to the privations of camp life (swiping an extra bowl of oatmeal at lunch, for instance, or hiding away a hacksaw blade in his mitten despite the threat of solitary confinement if it’s found during searches) all pay off, and he manages to avoid the ever-present threat of violence from either the guards or the other prisoners.  It’s a clever approach, as it both keeps the narrative from becoming unreadably depressing (it’s not hard to imagine what life is like on the less-good days) and also shows exactly how close to the line many prisoners live, as such tiny things bring such intense pleasure. 

That said...I think I’m supposed to admire our protagonist’s scrappy resourcefulness and determination to continue under such unforgiving circumstances—and I do!—but the strongest emotion that his story stirs in me is grief—there’s so much human potential being wasted in these camps and for such objectively ridiculous reasons.  I think that might ultimately be where I have trouble with so much Russian literature—culturally, so many of their stories involve people at the mercy of their environment, whether the harsh natural environment or the harsher artificially-constructed society.  And they either struggle against it and are miserable, or find some way to exist within it and find a measure of peace.  Whereas I, being by nature more of a big-picture person, just sort of sit here shaking my head and thinking but it doesn’t have to be like this...even though I realize that’s beside the point.  For those people living in that world, it does, because there’s nothing they can do to change it. 

I find that a very uncomfortable place to be in, mentally, which probably explains a lot about how tough I’ve found it to exist in America in 2020.

(@coffeeandchemicals​?  @thisisnotmolchanka?  I would love your input here.  Is my reading way off?)

What I’m currently reading

Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan.  This is definitely the sort of story that gives you pause before describing anyone’s “fairytale life”.  The stark and terrible realities of Liga’s life under the thumb of a cruel and controlling father, and then later as a woman unprotected, are softened a bit by some truly lovely prose that gives equal weight to the little poetic moments of beauty as to the deeply-engrained awfulness.  I appreciate the focus on Liga’s internality, as well—it does a lot to make her a character in her own right, rather than simply a victim.

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir.  I’m about a fifth of the way in, and while the plot’s taking a little bit of time getting started, I am absolutely living for Gideon and Harrowhawk’s chemistry.  The sheer and utter loathing they harbor for each other, despite having been thrown together by circumstance, practically throws off sparks—I’ve found myself giggling maniacally more than once, which is probably disconcerting when I’m listening via headphones.  (Props to the audiobook narrator too; she clearly relishes these characters just as much as I do.)  I’m genuinely uncertain if I want this to be an enemies-to-lovers story or an enemies-to-world-shattering-nemeses story or some combination of the above; I may not be sure where their relationship (or the story) is going but I’m completely convinced it’s not going to be boring.

What I plan to read next

Honestly, I’m not sure right now; I’ve got a lot on my plate for the next couple of weeks so I have a feeling my current books will keep me occupied for the next week or two.  Still, there’s no shortage of books in my TBR pile...

Fanfiction spotlight

“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”, by @porthos4ever.  After the events of Dark City, Daniel Schreiber finds himself in the not-entirely-uncomfortable role of potential check to John Murdoch’s godlike powers.  But as his feelings grow, so does the complexity of the role he’s assigned himself.  Can love really exist when you hold the key to your near-omnipotent beloved’s destruction?  But without it, wouldn’t the imbalance of power tear the relationship apart?

If you know me at all, you know I adore complicated love stories, where the space between genuine affection and manipulation is grey and vast, and the balance of power tips back and forth unexpectedly.  This is a beautifully-written example—I love the way their growing trust allows them to navigate the choppy waters of their dynamic.  And I’m pretty sure there’s a very indirect reference to an early-2000s pop song in there, which I feel slightly smug for having picked up on.

[melmothblog]

Upcoming live-streams of Ballet Performances + Other Resources

Bolshoi’s “Swan Lake” - Svetlana Zakharova, Denis Rodkin, Artemy Belyakov.

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Bolshoi’s “Sleeping Beauty” - Svetlana Zakharova, David Hallber, Maria Allash.

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Mariinsky Theatre program

The Mariinsky Theatre has prepared a unique programme to mark World Theatre Day. Each day from 26 to 29 March mariinsky.tv will be broadcasting dazzling performances and glittering gala concerts: the grand opening of the Mariinsky-II featuring Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina and many other stars, the oratorio Ivan the Terrible with Alexei Petrenko and the symphonic tale Peter and the Wolf with Konstantin Khabensky as the respective Narrators, a performance by Alexandre Kantorow accompanied by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev and the ballet Konyok-Gorbunok (The Little Humpbacked Horse) with Alina Somova and Vladimir Shklyarov.

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I’m putting together a list of online resources for ballet lovers. If you can think of any other links that should be on here, please let me know!

Ballet classes and exercises:

Context Pro - Diana Vishneva’s ballet studio

Pro Ballet - Ilya Kuznetsov’s and Sol Kim’s ballet studio

Evgenia Obraztsova (Bolshoi)

Maria Khoreva (Mariinsky)

Tiler Peck (NYCB)

Tamara Rojo (English National Ballet)

Dutch National Opera and Ballet

Watch ballet at home

Stay at Home with Russian Seasons - new online program

Bolshoi Theatre (login / sign-up is required)

Wiener Staatsoper

Metropolitan Opera

Berliner Philharmoniker (free offer expires March 31)

Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Bayerische Staatsoper

Ballet Blogs

Joy Womack

Kathryn Morgan

[alykazamfanfiction]

Songs of a Lost Memory

I wrote this thinking about a possible ending of the series that I would like to see. I apologize that I can't seem to get the "keep reading" link to work out on mobile.

“I’ll never forget you, Marinette.”

“I know, Tikki, and I wish I could say the same.”

“Goodbye.”

“I love you.”

It had been three months since the final battle of the Miracle War. The end of the war, along with the defeat of Hawkmoth and Mayura, brought on a long awaited peace in the city of Paris. But the final victory was not all glory. Emilie Agreste, the long missing mother of Adrien Agreste, and the soul motivation of her husband Gabriel's decent into villainy, was lost forever. The only casualty of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Much to the surprise of the miraculous holders, Adrien was able to let go finally after gaining the closure about his mother’s disappearance. It had also helped that the heroes who stood and fought beside him were not just his comrades, but once the holders of the miraculous were exposed of their identities, they were also his dearest, closest friends.

The hardest task the heroes had to face now that the war was over, was the arrival of the Supreme Guardians of the miraculous. Who came to Paris to retrieve the lost Miracle Box Master Fu had escaped with 176 years before. Meaning that Marinette, as the acting Guardian of the miraculous, once she returned the Miraculous to the true Guardians, she relinquished all memories she had of Ladybug and the miraculous as well.

Though memories of old friends like Alya, Juleka, and Rose would remain vivid in Marinette’s mind and heart as ever. All the friends she gained after receiving the Ladybug Miraculous were lost in the wake of duties being passed on to the new Guardian.

They would be forgotten like the blurred images of a bad fever dream. And those who were aware of that fate, chose not to break their hearts any further saying their goodbyes to Marinette and going their separate ways as her time as Ladybug drew to a close.

Among those who would drift away from Marinette’s memories were Adrien and Kagami who coped with the loss of their best friend by finding solace in each other’s arms, and soon their hearts.

Luka, on the other hand, had disappeared as swiftly as he seemingly materialized in the cabin of the Liberty all those years ago.

But today was not the day to sulk about the Marinette that was lost. Today was the day to celebrate Paris’ newfound peace. A new day to welcome a new Marinette who, despite forgetting all the wisdom she gained during her years as Ladybug and the Guardian, carried herself with the poise and grace of the wisest of sages. And to reintroduce her to those who missed her presence dearly.

Ivan and Melene, who suggested and planned the celebration, called it Marinette’s ‘clean slate' party with a smile that echoed with a tinge of sadness. Though she remembered her two friends fondly, Marinette had no recollection of her influence on their journey in love.

The party was held at the Liberty, the only place in Paris anyone could think of that was worthy of the fun and music the former miraculous holders were about to unleash in the name of a good time.

And it was everything everyone expected it to be. Great food was displayed on many tables and beautiful decorations adorned the deck of the Liberty, which still had plenty of room for all the dancing that would take place. All that was left to do was to wait for the lady of the hour to finally arrive.

Kim, Max, Alix, Rose, and Juleka leaned on the edge of the Liberty, watching the currents of the water move down the Siene while waiting in silence. Reminiscing of their times in school before the rise of Hawk Moth and Akumas.

“So Max,” Kim asked looking to his smaller friend who happened to wear his best bow tie and suspenders to the event, “is there even a small chance that Mari might remember anything?”

Max sighed and pushed his thick glasses up his nose as he answered. “I’ve done the math several times, and her odds are always the same. 4,786,275,963.72 to 1. Marinette honestly has a better chance of sprouting wings than remembering her time spent as Ladybug.”

The group exhaled a sigh in unison upon hearing the impossibility explained to them, Max included.

Alix turned to Juleka. The violet haired woman stared out at the water. Her head resting on her hand that was propped up with her elbow on the Liberty’s railing. “hey, Jules, is your brother here?”

“Ya.”

Alix looked around the ship's deck and returned her gaze at her quiet friend.

“Um…where?”

“Sulking…”

Alix joined her brooding friend mimicking the same pose on the railing. “it’s not fair, Jules.”

“Life and love never is, Alix.”

Juleka thought of her brother who once had a smile that made her think of the brisk carefree winds of the sea. A smile that had disappeared at the end of the war. She did not know which was worse. Her brother’s loss of the woman he loved, or the realization she returned his affections and confessed her love during the final battle; knowing that the end of the war would bring the end of Paris’s miraculous era, and the loss of his lover’s memory of him. Luka Couffaine assured the former heroes that he was going to be alright and would carry on, but being his sister, Juleka knew her brother and could see him crumbling to pieces inside.

The violet haired beauty was taken out of her thoughts when a soft hand with pink fingernails reached out for her own. She turned to see Rose giving her a smile and a bright blue wink of her big doe eyes.

Rose always knew what to say without uttering a single word. And soon Juleka’s lips turned into a content smile as she gently turned her hand to hold the pixie blonde’s hand in hers.

The silence of the group was broken by Nino running to them as he adjusts the red hat on his head while he spoke.

“Hey guys, Alya just sent me a text. They’re about to approach the dock.”

“Where's Adrien and Kagami?” Rose asked as she took a glance around the Liberty’s deck, “I sure hope they made it. “

“They did,” Nino answered with a smile. “They were gonna meet Alya and Mari at the dock and talk for a minute before heading in.”

Alix interrupts threw conversation with more concern in her voice than she wished to reveal, “don't you think that's a terrible idea?!”

“Chillax dudette, Alya's got it covered. She is my girlfriend after all.”

“Well I hope this party doesn't end before it starts because of this.” Alix harrumphed as she crossed her arms in disapproval.

At the dock, Adrien and Kagami stood before the Liberty. The blonde young model tapping his fingers against his thigh erratically until Kagami placed her slender, sword worn hand on his and laced their fingers together.

“You're nervous,” Kagami spoke, looking ahead with the familiar air of stoicism that Adrien had never seen in anyone else.

“If course I’m nervous," there was a slight quiver in his voice. “Kagami, what if she doesn't like us? What if she does some strange love at first sight thing?”

“Adrien, she could never dislike us. And if she falls for you. We just tell her we're together right away, and she will accept it. We’re just two people making a new friend. And she's about to meet two new friends. History doesn't usually repeat itself.”

Adrien turned to his long time fencing partner and now girlfriend and gently cupped her face in his hand. He still was unsure how he managed to meet such a wonderful and wise person.

“I hope you’re right, Kagami.”

Jade eyes met an amber gaze and, for a moment, there was only the two comrades turned lovers in this world, and time slowed to a standstill around them.

“Heeeeeey! Lovebirds!”

It was Alya walking down the Parisian street toward the dock; hand in hand with a dark haired girl in a light pink sundress embroidered with flowers along the hip. Her hair was loose and draped her petite yet toned shoulders.

It was the princess herself, Marinette DuPain-Cheng.

“C'mon, girl,” Alya was heard saying as she hurried across the last empty street before the dock with their friend. Meeting the couple who were waiting. “I gotta introduce you to some friends of mine.” She held her hand over to Adrien and Kagami drawing Marinette’s smiling face in their direction. “This is Adrien Agreste and his girlfriend Kagami Tsurugi. And guys, this is my friend, Marinette.” The bronze woman turned her hands to her companion's direction.

Marinette smiled joyfully as she waved, “Hi, it's wonderful to meet yo-" she trailed off as she looked into Adrien's eyes and furrowed her brow as she tilted her head in concentration.

“I’m sorry, but have we met before?”

Adrien's blood went cold as he began to stammer his words, “I…uh…umm,” much in the same way Mari used to when they first got to know each other years ago. Before he was able to muster an excuse Kagami chuckled softly into her hand quietly before pointing behind Marinette. Their new friend turned to see a bus stop nearby with an ad for Agreste fashion that had Adrien on display.

With a loud laughter, a hand on her chest and a rosy tint on her cheeks, Marinette felt like a fool for a second. “oh goodness! I should have known you were that Adrien Agreste. How silly of me!”

Before long the four were roaring with laughter only to be interrupted by Nino and the gang calling to them from the Liberty.

“Hey, Adrien, quit keeping the ladies all to yourself and get up here with us!”

“Yeah or we just might start this party without our guest of honor!”

“Yeah!”

The four reunited friends looked up at the Liberty. And Adrien turned to the three women beside him. “well I believe it’s time to head in M'ladies.”

Marinette began to rush on ahead of the group up toward the gag plank, as the guest of honor they referred to was her. She suddenly stopped before turning around and pulled Kagami and Adrien in a loving embrace that took them off guard.

“I’m so glad to meet you both! I hope we can be great friends!”

Adrien and Kagami returned their affection and held their friend tight while saying together “the best.”

A few hours into the party, everyone had celebrated a toast to Paris' freedom from Hawk Moth and the threat of akumas. Afterwards they played games, ate, drank, and were merry as they told stories about the hero’s that helped save the city that Marinette did not remember. She simply assumed she was just too busy to notice.

The party's most anticipated guest was having a wonderful time and thought it was such a kind thing to do for little to no reason. It truly made her feel special and loved, this all meant the world to her. But the young lady could not help but feel that something was undeniably missing. The longer she thought about it, the more she became disgruntled because the only thing that she could picture was a marine teal blue.

“Is something wrong, Marinette?” Melene asked her pondering friend with concern, placing a kind hand on her shoulder.

Marinette sighed and played with her manicured nails.

“For weeks now I have felt that something is missing. So much so that I even dream about it. It’s always the same dream too, I hear a beautiful melody, and I see the most serene eyes looking into my own. Someone says something, but I can never make out the words. I just hoped that maybe I would happen to meet the person with those eyes and finally say hello.”

Marinette looked up at Melene and Ivan who walked up and began to listen. His inner poet compelled to listen to the words of her heart. They looked at her with an aura of sadness about them that the girl wanted to shrug off in embarrassment.

“Eh heh heh, don’t mind me. I’m just talking a bunch of nonsense!” Marinette tried to laugh off the mood she leaked into the room.

“Actually that sounds just like Lu-“ Ivan began before seeing Rose and Juleka waving their arms in a frenzy in the Hope’s he would just stop talking!

Luckily he got the hint.

“Uhh JAGGED STONE! He plays music and says tons of things that make no sense!”

Marinette giggled into her hands as the girls out of her view quietly sighed and wiped their brows in relief. “No, Jagged Stone’s over there talking to Miss Couffaine.” She pointed over to the open stage on the deck where a woman with silver hair in a thick braid talked with an eccentric man with magenta hair and the typical rock star outfit. Jagged spotted her pointing his way and waved before giving them a thumbs up.

“Rockin’ party, kids!”

Marinette waved back before turning around, a sigh escaping her lips. Melene shot a glare at Ivan as he rolled his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He certainly dodge a bullet.

“You know I think I’m gonna grab a mineral water from inside and sit down. I think the sun might be getting to me.” Marinette pointed to the stairs that led inside the Liberty’s cabins, “I’ll just be a few minutes, really.” And she hurried off to the stairs before her friends could respond.

Once downstairs and in the Liberty’s kitchen, Marinette walked to the pantry and pulled out a can of mineral water and sighed to herself. As she readied the tab to open the can, it slid out of shaking hands as the sound of a guitar’s melody flooded her ears.

Though she had never heard the tune, tears welled up in her light blue eyes. She wiped her spontaneous tears in awe as she focused on the music to pinpoint its location.

It came from the lowest cabin of the ship.

Drawn to the song, Marinette stealthed her way down another short staircase and tiptoed down the hall to avoid anyone from stopping her pursuit, and to reach the source of the music unnoticed.

As the melody grew louder and clearer, Marinette’s heart began to skip a beat more and more until she a reached a wide, open doorway. She peeked in to see a dimly lit bedroom, the only light entering from the small round windows of the ship. On the bed that was pushed against the wall sat a man with blue and black hair with his back turned to the doorway. Playing a melody on his guitar that made Marinette’s heart both swell with love and sink in despair. He poured his everything, his very heart and soul, into every note that sang from each string.

The song reached it’s end and the guitarist slowly wrapped his arms around his instrument, heaving a sigh so heavy and shaken, Marinette could almost hear the tears as they rolled down his face.

“Sass,” he said quietly to the empty room. “I don’t know what to do.”

Unsure of what to say, the words “excuse me" escaped Marinette’s lips in a whisper. She didn’t have curiosity about the name he spoke, she only wanted to understand his music.

“I’m sorry,” the stranger spoke in a voice, deep and tired. “Please, don’t worry, I don’t want-"

“No,” the woman cut him off gently. “Please…why does playing something so beautiful cause you so much pain?” The desire to understand this man she had never met grow stronger with every passing second. It was almost painful in her chest.

“M…Miss…” he began without turning around to face her. Marinette began to wonder if he was avoiding looking at her. But something told her it was not to avoid her seeing his tears. But something deeper. “Do you believe in Second Chance?”

“Of course I do,” Marinette answered as she leaned her back onto the doorway watching this mysterious musician who hid himself away. Why did her heart flutter so around him?

“Not long ago you could say it was my superpower.” He said with a short laugh that was forced in an attempt to lighten the mood. “But anymore, the idea seems impossible.”

“How come?” Marinette asked, desperate to understand the man she just met moments ago. Her body desires to inch closer but remained set in the doorway out of respect.

“It…no longer matters. I lost her.”

“Who?”

He remained silent for seconds that felt like years before he slid black painted fingernails up the guitar neck and began to play once more the melody that lured Marinette down to the cabins; it was a siren song that called to her.

“Her.” He spoke of the song as if it were a third person standing in the room.

Marinette could not help herself but to ask “what happened?”

“She’s gone. And all I have left of her is the song in her heart,” he confessed as he continued to play.

“It sounds like you loved her dearly,” she placed a hand to her chest and closed her eyes, but her heart would not calm down.

“More than anything, and I always will,” for the first time in their conversation, his voice rose in volume slightly and was warm with content.

“What was she like?”

The room remained void of words as the song floated around the walls before he answered her question

“Extraordinary.” He began with love and admiration in his voice. “Clear as a music note; sincere as a melody…”

The words he spoke grabbed Marinette by the heart and shook the deepest core of her being. Her cheeks grew rosy and her eyes widened with understanding. They resonated inside a part of her that felt chained away in a secret place that was now free to escape to the surface. Revealing to her heart a secret she had no clue she hid from herself.

Suddenly she pictured those eyes she had seen every night in her dreams. Those deep ocean blue eyes staring into her own. Before she was aware of her actions, the words that fell from her lips matched the ones she was hearing for the first time.

“She was the music that played inside my (your) head since the day we first met.”

Upon hearing each other utter the same words, the guitar’s song stopped as the man slowly turned to Marinette. His eyes wide as if he was looking at a ghost, partially hidden behind scattered tufts of black and blue hair that gracefully fell down along his face were the soulful ocean blue eyes that taunted Marinette every night for the last three months.

Those eyes were now looking into her soul once again in the waking life and Marinette could not help but gaze back into them. She spoke a single word that shook the man down to the deepest center of his soul.

“Luka…”

“Ma…mamaMarinette!”

In the moment, the invisible shackles that chained the two bodies still suddenly shattered like glass as they raced to each other. The guitar fell with a harmonic thump as Luka hurriedly climbed off the bed and reached out as they collided into each other in the most desperate embrace. The urge to hold each other was so overwhelming with passion it was almost violent.

Determined to make sure the other was real, they pressed their lips onto any skin they found exposed in hard sweet kisses.

Luka showered his love in kisses he had held back since that moment he opened his eyes and she stood before him in the same cabin when they were young.

Marinette held onto him as tight as she could. Unknowingly the same way he held her the day she crumbled under the pressures of her responsibilities and cried into his chest. Though the memories of her time as Ladybug were forever gone and forgotten, the warmth of Luka’s embrace felt so familiar.

And she never wanted this familiar feeling to slip away ever again.

Luka entangled himself tight against Marinette’s body, hoping to weave his body and soul into hers so that they would never part. He thought of the Snake Kwami of Second Chance and pondered if the magical creature had left behind just enough magic for one last miracle, and if Sass had done so, Luka would remain grateful for the rest of his days.

[wherearemyglassesbro]

Since you’re reading a Greek story, what nations represent the Greek gods do you think

:) There are so many!! I’ll list my favorite Gods in no particular order

Hermès: Feliciano is mischievous, quick and creative! He jokes around a lot with his friends and will pull little pranks on his brother on occasion. You can’t deny that Feli is fast, maybe even faster than the other nations depending on how motivated to run he is

Hades: Ludwig often feels overlooked despite his strength and intelligence. He doesn’t have many true friends but he does try to be friendly with others. His temper gets the best of him because of his ‘youngest brother’ syndrome and he often gets angry and yells because again, he feels like he’s being overlooked and underestimated. But at the end of the day, he’s still a nice guy

Eros: Francis adores love, art and all things beautiful. He is easily attatched and frequently tries to set his friends up with others while daydreaming about romantic dates for himself. He can also be vengeful but isn’t rare now that he’s older. Now he just gossips with others.

Apollo: Yao has a passion for helping others, even if he’s been taking time for himself as of late. Yao practices medicine, locals come to his home for help and other nations call on him for advice on how to feel better if some sort of nation problem is happening. Not only is he smart but he’s also very nimble for his age

Hera: Antonio is dedicated to his family and values love and commitment. When he’s upset he can be terribly vengeful and out of all of the nations, he can hold a grudge the longest however you won’t see it, he’ll just smile and continue on woth his day. You may never know if he dislikes you or not because he’s naturally nice

Zeus: Ivan has the upper hand over the other nations due to his size. He’s very intelligent and powerful, making others more likley to listen to him not jsit because they agree but because they know he could snap their necks if he pleased. However Ivan drinks ‘respecting women juice’ daily and would never cheat on his lover

Ares: Alfred is very rash with his decision making and can be very destructive when he doesn’t think things through. Of all of the nations, he has the biggest fighting spirit. It’s in his nature to fight for things since he grew up hunting and fighting for freedom. Now he’s very mellow but back in the day, he was a fighting machine

Athena: Arthur is very smart and is often underestimated. Every move he makes is thought out and precise unless he’s been drinking but that is aside the point! He’s a great fighter, he’s had a lot of practice throughout his life and he also feels a prominent sibling rivalry in his life that bugs him. He strives to be the favorite, the strongest and the smartest

[classicmoviesseriesandmore]

Dmitri Pisarenko as Fyodor Basmanov in Tsar Ivan The Terrible 1991.

[historically-acurate-headcannons]

Give me some good content headcannona for the Villains of the 2nd movie in NatM, please!

Alphonse Gabriel Capone

- Rough, Tough, No-nonsense type of guy, oh and don’t piss him off unless you want to be on his hit list, very sarcastic, kinda stubborn, however he’s very courteous with the ladies and respectful, he’s the “all women are queens” kinda guy (unless she’s a thot lol), If there’s kids in the museum he’ll ‘entertain’ them and answer whatever questions they have, he’s nice to kids but to a point, if they’re being annoying he’ll tell them to scram but won’t hurt them.

- Once you get to know him he’s a very sweet and charming kinda guy, very outwardly affectionate, especially if you’re his S/O mostly because he wants people to know who you belong to, and not to mess with what’s his.

- His men are his best friends for life, like seriously, messing with them means messing with Al and if you hurt them he’ll destroy you.

- Same goes for his S/O, he’s definitely a family man so like if you mean something to him, like you mean a lot to him, he’ll move hell, heaven, and earth to keep you safe.

Kahmunrah the Pharaoh

- I don’t know, honestly he strikes me as egotistical and stubborn .... Anything and everything that is his he takes great pride in making it look very beautiful and ensure that everything is of the highest of quality. 

- He’s a pharaoh so honestly how do you expect him to act? He’d be just like one. That being said, don’t go messing with him, his people or his stuff, he’ll outright kill you with out a second thought.

- That being said, when it comes to harming others, Nap and Al would probably have some sort of a second thought to it before deciding to do it, but When it comes to Ivan and Kah, if you piss them off just enough, then let’s just say that there’s no room for discussion on the matter.

- His men will do anything and everything to ensure their kings’ safety as well as  any lovers or close friends of his.

Napoléon Bonaparte

- When you first see him he’ll come off as very stand-offish and kinda egotistical but when you get close to him and this man opens his mouth to talk to you, you soon realize that “my god, charming mo’fo” like seriously, his handsome smile.

-  Makes the ladies swoon with his charm, if you’re female he’ll most likely flirt and drop a few flirtatious comments too. He’s also very calm and if you get to know him more and more he’s very caring as well.

- I feel like he’d be stubborn and have a very affectionate and kind side to him as well. If you are in need of help, he’ll offer whatever he can to assist. 

- If he really like you and you two get a long well....if you ask about the French soldiers and if they talk or anything (because they’ve been mute for a while) he’ll tell you that they do in fact talk and what-not its just that, most likely they don’t speak English. 

Ivan the Terrible 

- As stated before with Kah, piss him off and he’d kill you without much of a second thought. (Think of his son and what he did to him.....yeah....)

- His men are like super serious, they’re very no-nonsense type of soldiers, that being said Ivan will get kind-of annoyed if you try to make them be more ‘lax and less tense, he’ll argue with you and tell you that they always have to be alert.

- Like in the movie, Ivan is very enthralled with the imagination and creativity so, if you like art or if you are an artist or perhaps if you write, he’ll be like your very own fanboy and gush over your work.

- You and him will sometimes play games, like chess, checkers, maybe a few fun card games like UNO if you introduce him to that.

[historical-babes]

Fyodor Alexeyevich Basmanov (c.1550-c.1571).

Russian Oprichnik and lover of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

.

One of the best known descriptions is in one of Tolstois book by using multiple sources. : "One of the Oprichniki drew the Prince's gaze especially to himself. It was a young man of about 20 years of unusual beauty, but the look on his face was an unpleasant, cheekier one. He was richer than the others and, contrary to custom, wore long hair. He had no beard, and his movements were almost womanish softness and carelessness. The behavior of the comrades opposite him was a peculiar one."

.

Basmanov is first mentioned in 1562, when he defended together with his father Rjasan against a Tatar attack. For this, he and his father were awarded by the Tsar and Fyodor came closer to the Tsar. In 1565 he and his father joined the Oprichniks. He became commander-in-chief of the Oprichnina troops in the south of Russia, where he mainly convinced with his martial arts.

.

The relationship between Ivan and Fyodor is no longer denied by historians today. Fyodor was a symbol of power as well as an aesthetic sense to the Tsar , and he reminded him of his first wife, Anastasia. Basmanov is described by contemporary witnesses as arrogant and conceited: he loved the wealth, liked to wear jewelry and expensive clothes, which gave him the Tsar. According to contemporary witness, he had an unusually beautiful and feminine appearance but an unpleasant character. He complained to the Tsar about everything he did not like and was a real danger to everyone at the Tsar's court.

.

After he was accused in 1571 by the crazy Tsar to have helped in a plot against him no one knows what happened to him. He was allegedly exiled to Beloozero, where he died young of illness in a monastery, but it is also likely that he was brutally tortured and executed.

[Submission]

Credits go to the artist!

[cutulisci]

1. Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (Griffith, 1919) USA 2. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari [The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari] (Wiene, 1920) Germany 3. Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler – Ein Bild der Zeit (Part 1 - Part 2) [Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler] (Lang, 1922) Germany 4. The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925) USA 5. La Chute de la Maison Usher [The Fall of the House of Usher] (Jean Epstein, 1928) France 6. Un Chien Andalou [An Andalusian Dog] (Bunuel, 1928) France 7. Morocco (von Sternberg, 1930) USA 8. Der Kongress Tanzt (Charell, 1931) Germany 9. Die 3groschenoper [The Threepenny Opera] (Pabst, 1931) Germany 10. Leise Flehen Meine Lieder [Lover Divine] (Forst, 1933) Austria/Germany 11. The Thin Man (Dyke, 1934) USA 12. Tonari no Yae-chan [My Little Neighbour, Yae] (Shimazu, 1934) Japan 13. Tange Sazen yowa: Hyakuman ryo no tsubo [Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo] (Yamanaka, 1935) Japan 14. Akanishi Kakita [Capricious Young Men] (Itami, 1936) Japan 15. La Grande Illusion [The Grand Illusion] (Renoir, 1937) France 16. Stella Dallas (Vidor, 1937) USA 17. Tsuzurikata Kyoshitsu [Lessons in Essay] (Yamamoto, 1938) Japan 18. Tsuchi [Earth] (Uchida, 1939) Japan 19. Ninotchka (Lubitsch, 1939) USA 20. Ivan Groznyy I, Ivan Groznyy II: Boyarsky Zagovor [Ivan the Terrible Parts I and II] (Eisenstein, 1944-46) Soviet Union 21. My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946) USA 22. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946) USA 23. The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946) USA 24. Ladri di Biciclette [The Bicycle Thief] [Bicycle Thieves] (De Sica, 1948) Italy 25. Aoi sanmyaku [The Green Mountains] (Imai, 1949) Japan 26. The Third Man (Reed, 1949) UK 27. Banshun [Late Spring] (Ozu, 1949) Japan 28. Orpheus (Cocteau, 1949) France 29. Karumen kokyo ni kaeru [Carmen Comes Home] (Kinoshita, 1951) Japan 30. A Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan, 1951) USA 31. Thérèse Raquin [The Adultress] (Carne 1953) France 32. Saikaku ichidai onna [The Life of Oharu] (Mizoguchi, 1952) Japan 33. Viaggio in Italia [Journey to Italy] (Rossellini, 1953) Italy 34. Gojira [Godzilla] (Honda, 1954) Japan 35. La Strada (Fellini, 1954) Italy 36. Ukigumo [Floating Clouds] (Naruse, 1955) Japan 37. Pather Panchali [Song of the Road] (Ray, 1955) India 38. Daddy Long Legs (Negulesco, 1955) USA 39. The Proud Ones (Webb, 1956) USA 40. Bakumatsu taiyoden [Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate] (Kawashima, 1957) Japan 41. The Young Lions (Dmytryk, 1957) USA 42. Les Cousins [The Cousins] (Chabrol, 1959) France 43. Les Quarte Cents Coups [The 400 Blows] (Truffaut, 1959) France 44. A bout de Souffle [Breathless] (Godard, 1959) France 45. Ben-Hur (Wyler, 1959) USA 46. Ototo [Her Brother] (Ichikawa, 1960) Japan 47. Une aussi longue absence [The Long Absence] (Colpi, 1960) France/Italy?48. Le Voyage en Ballon [Stowaway in the Sky] (Lamorisse, 1960) France 49. Plein Soleil [Purple Noon] (Clement, 1960) France/Italy 50. Zazie dans le métro [Zazie on the Subway](Malle, 1960) France/Italy 51. L’Annee derniere a Marienbad [Last Year in Marienbad] (Resnais, 1960) France/Italy 52. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Aldrich, 1962) USA 53. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962) UK 54. Melodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Verneuil, 1963) France/Italy 55. The Birds (Hitchcock, 1963) USA 56. Il Deserto Rosso [The Red Desert](Antonioni, 1964) Italy/France 57. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Nichols, 1966) USA 58. Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) USA 59. In the Heat of the Night (Jewison, 1967) USA 60. The Charge of the Light Brigade (Richardson, 1968) UK 61. Midnight Cowboy (Schlesinger, 1969) USA 62. MASH (Altman, 1970) USA 63. Johnny Got His Gun (Trumbo, 1971) USA 64. The French Connection (Friedkin, 1971) USA 65. El espíritu de la colmena [Spirit of the Beehive] (Erice, 1973) Spain 66. Solyaris [Solaris] (Tarkovsky, 1972) Soviet Union 67. The Day of the Jackal (Zinneman, 1973) UK/France 68. Gruppo di famiglia in un interno [Conversation Piece] (Visconti, 1974) Italy/France 69. The Godfather Part II (Coppola, 1974) USA 70. Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo [Sandakan 8] (Kumai, 1974) Japan 71. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Forman, 1975) USA 72. O, Thiassos [The Travelling Players] (Angelopoulos, 1975) Greece 73. Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975) UK 74. Daichi no komoriuta [Lullaby of the Earth] (Masumura, 1976) Japan 75. Annie Hall (Allen, 1977) USA?76. Neokonchennaya pyesa dlya mekhanicheskogo pianino [Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano] (Mikhalkov, 1977) Soviet Union 77. Padre Padrone [My Father My Master] (P. & V. Taviani, 1977) Italy 78. Gloria (Cassavetes, 1980) USA 79. Harukanaru yama no yobigoe [A Distant Cry From Spring] (Yamada, 1980) Japan 80. La Traviata (Zeffirelli, 1982) Italy 81. Fanny och Alexander [Fanny and Alexander] (Bergman, 1982) Sweden/France/West Germany 82. Fitzcarraldo (Herzog, 1982) Peru/West Germany 83. The King of Comedy (Scorsese, 1983) USA 84. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Oshima, 1983) UK/Japan/New Zealand 85. The Killing Fields (Joffe 1984) UK 86. Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch, 1984) USA/ West Germany 87. Dongdong de Jiaqi [A Summer at Grandpa's] (Hou, 1984) Taiwan 88. Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984) France/ West Germany 89. Witness (Weir, 1985) USA 90. The Trip to Bountiful (Masterson, 1985) USA 91. Otac na sluzbenom putu [When Father was Away on Business] (Kusturica, 1985) Yugoslavia 92. The Dead (Huston, 1987) UK/Ireland/USA 93. Khane-ye doust kodjast? [Where is the Friend's Home] (Kiarostami, 1987) Iran 94. Baghdad Cafe [Out of Rosenheim] (Adlon, 1987) West Germany/USA 95. The Whales of August (Anderson, 1987) USA 96. Running on Empty (Lumet, 1988) USA 97. Tonari no totoro [My Neighbour Totoro] (Miyazaki, 1988) Japan 98. A un [Buddies] (Furuhata, 1989) Japan 99. La Belle Noiseuse [The Beautiful Troublemaker] (Rivette, 1991) France/Switzerland 100. Hana-bi [Fireworks] (Kitano, 1997) Japan

Akira Kurosawa’s List of His 100 Favorite Movies

[skippyv20]

Thank you😊❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

         Sapphires in culture

According to legend, Helen of Troy owned a large star sapphire, which was believed to hold the key to her desirability.  According to Apollodorus, she had at least thirty suitors vying for her hand.  Although she married King Menelaus of Sparta, she was abducted by Paris, an act that led to the Trojan War.  Perhaps the beauty that “launched a thousand ships” owed it all to the allure of sapphires. It is not often that star sapphires are seen at the centre of such a legend, but their beauty and mystical appeal is unmatched. The stones are said to impart deep spiritual enlightenment and inner peace on those they touch. It is no wonder that if Helen of Troy was in possession of such a stone that it would be seen as incredibly powerful.

In Medieval Jewish, Islamic, and Christian legends, King Solomon had a magical ring known as the “Seal of Solomon.”  According to legend, it was an inscribed sapphire, which gave him the power to command demons and speak to animals. Although it was purportedly inscribed with a hexagram or “Star of David,” it is not hard to imagine that it may have also been a magical six-pointed star sapphire.  King Solomon is said to have used the magic of sapphires from the island of Sri Lanka to seduce the Queen of Sheba.

Charlemagne, the founding father of France and Germany and the first ruler of the Western European Empire after the fall of the Roman Empire, was an intensely religious man. To Charlemagne and his contemporaries, sapphires symbolised heaven and the promise of eternal salvation.

Charlemagne owned a sacred amulet in which a relic of the True Cross was placed between two sapphires.  The amulet was buried with Charlemagne in 814, but exhumed about 200 years later by Otto III.  

 Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon, wore it at her coronation in 1804.  Later it passed to Napoleon III, and on his death, his widow gave it to the Archbishop of Rheims.

Pope Innocent III was Pope from 1198 until his death in 1216.  He is primarily remembered for reasserting and extending the prestige and power of the papacy.  He is also known for giving four rings containing precious gemstones to Richard the Lionhearted, King of England (d. 1199).  According to Kuntz (1917):

“With the rings, the pope sent a letter from St. Peter’s in Rome, dated May 28, 1198, in which he wrote that the four stones were symbolical.  The verdant hue of the emerald signified how we should believe; the celestial purity of the sapphire, how we should hope;, the warm colour of the garnet, how we should love; and the clear transparency of the topaz, how we should act.”

According to some sources, Innocent III also gifted four gemstone rings to Richard’s successor, King John of England, at the end of their long power feud.  Apparently after many years of squabbling, the two reached an acceptable compromise: power was yielded to the former and tribute or service money granted to the latter.

As part of the truce, Pope Innocent III forwarded a gift of four gemstone rings, each containing a single emerald, sapphire, ruby, or opal.  Although the rings do not survive, the letter that accompanied the gift does.  In it, the Pope instructed the King to allow the inherent “virtues” of the stones to guide him in his daily life, as they represented faith, hope, charity, and good works, respectively.

Although he is not remembered for his gentler pursuits, the fearsome Tsar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible, was known to be an avid sapphire lover.  Sir Jerome Horsey, envoy for Queen Elizabeth of England, quotes Ivan the Terrible as saying, once translated to modern English:

The sapphire I greatly delight in, it preserves and increases courage, gives the heart joy, is pleasing to all the vital senses, and it is precious and sovereign for the eyes:  it clears the sight, takes away bloodshot and strengthens the muscles and strings of it.

There are a number of rumours surrounding Ivan’s demise, including death by mercury poisoning—which does not say much for sapphire’s legendary ability to neutralise poison.

The court of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II was filled with alchemists, lapidaries, and artists who wielded considerable power.  Although Rudolf II was not a good leader, he was reportedly a decent painter and lapidary. He was also taken with mysticism and assembled a league of astrologers and physicians to counsel him on the healing and occult powers of gemstones.  His extensive collection of gemstones and exotica included mermaid teeth, unicorn horns, phoenix feathers, and nails from Noah’s Ark.

Gemmarum et Lapidum historia by Anselmus de Boodt.

Rudolf II’s collection was maintained by a famous mineralogist and physician, Anselmus Boetius de Boodt.  De Boodt authored one of the most influential mineralogy texts ever written, the “Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia.”  In this major opus, de Boodt described about 600 minerals, and provided information on their properties, imitations, and medical applications. As for Rudolf II, De Boodt tells us:

“The emperor loves precious stones not as a means of enhancing his own dignity and majesty, whose greatness requires no external support, but to contemplate the greatness and ineffable power of God in the stones, which unite the beauty of the whole world in such tiny bodies.”

    Catherine II of Russia was known as an enlightened despot.  She became Empress after a bloodless coup deposed her husband, the eccentric Peter III.  Under her rule, the Russian Empire grew by some 200,000 square miles. Like her predecessors, Ivan the Terrible (see above) and Peter the Great, she had a great love for gemstones.  She was fond of decorating entire rooms with stones such as agate, jasper, marble, malachite, and porphyry.

An admirer gave her a magnificent 337-carat sapphire, which remained among the Romanoff jewels until it was sold by Nicholas II to finance a hospital during World War I.  “Catherine the Great’s Sapphire” later became part of Harry Winston’s celebrated “Court of Jewels,” but it is now owned by a private party.

Joséphine de Beauharnais was a widow and mistress to several prominent political figures in France until she met Napoléon and their tempestuous love affair began.  Soon after their wedding in 1796, Napoléon left to lead the French army in Italy, where he became a collector on a truly imperial scale.  So much art, sculpture, and jewellery were looted from the Italians that they gave him yet another title, Il Gran Ladrone (The Great Thief).

It is said that Napoléon lavished Josephine with jewels–many of which were the spoils of his military campaigns–but others believe he was a reluctant provider, as he frequently and bitterly complained about her excessive spending habits.

One of Joséphine’s favourites was the parure of Queen Marie Antoinette, a seven-piece jewellery set containing approximately 29 sapphires—many larger than 20 carats.

The penultimate ruler of Burma (now Myanmar), King Mindon, was considered an able and just ruler, but he was also obsessed with rubies and sapphires from the legendary Mogôk Valley.  

When King Mindon moved his capital to Mandalay in 1859, it is said that he buried a trove of precious sapphires and rubies under the foundations of his new palace to appease malevolent spirits called nats.

Such was his obsession that King Mindon ordered samples of gem gravel shipped from the Mogôk sapphire mines hundreds of miles away so he could personally sort the material in the palace courtyard, eyes peeled for rough sapphires and rubies.

A selection of rough sapphire crystal such that King Mindon would have inspected.

He taxed the gem trade by confiscating stones over a certain size and quality.  He also taxed sales at the Royal Gem Bourse in Mandalay after it was established in 1866.   Any miners caught smuggling or otherwise cheating the crown out of its “royal stones,” could pay with their lives. After the death of King Mindon, King Thibaw, the last ruler of the Konbaung Dynasty came to power amid great scandal and intrigue—including two ghastly massacres that eliminated all other contenders for the throne, their allies, and their families.

King Thibaw wearing some of his gem-encrusted regalia

At ceremonial affairs and in a number of photographs King Thibaw wore splendid gem-incrusted regalia including a “sapphire ring worth a monarch’s ransom.”King Thibaw was a profligate spender who incurred great debt despite Burma’s enormous natural bounty.  Under King Thibaw’s reign, conditions in the Mogôk region deteriorated as the miners were increasingly taxed and repressed.

When the British invaded Mandalay in 1885 and forced him into exile, the royal treasury and countless jewels mysteriously disappeared, despite the fact that they were entrusted to the British Chief Political Officer, Col. E.B. Sladen. 

[cocoisbestgirl]

Fanfic I can’t think of a name for pt 8

Magda’s head ached fiercely as she got out of bed. The sun seemed to scorch her eyes, and she pulled her blanket over her head to hide her face from the light. She groaned as she felt the sun peek through her blanket slightly. 

‘Gah… I shouldn’t have drank so much…’ Magda thought as she took the blanket off and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She gripped her head for a few seconds before her door opened.

“Miss Magda, Miss Felicity ordered you some medicine…”

Magda waved the maid off without a word, and she heard a light click as the maid put down a metal tray on her bed stand. Magda plugged her nose as she drank the liquid. Only for her face to unclench. It wasn’t...terrible…

It definitely tasted just slightly off, but nothing Magda couldn't stomach. She remembered the sludge of medicine that she used to choke down in the slums. Whatever it was usually worked if you managed to get a whole sip of it down without throwing it up seconds later. That horrid medicine, awful as it was, was cheap and usually came in big bottles. It was one of the only ways a girl at the bottom could have her cheap thrills without feeling like death was at her door the next day.

Magda felt her body surge with energy after getting the medicine down. Her head ache faded as a few minutes past.  She breathed heavily as she curled back in her bed, this time being able to fully relax in the morning sun.

About an hour past before Magda heard the door open.

“Hey, Magda. Good news,” Felicity walked into Magda’s room and smiled at her brightly.

“Let’s hear it.”

“You have the whole day to yourself, mostly anyway. Ivan wants to meet up with you today.”

“Ah...where?”

“So, there’s this greenhouse….”

Despite the winter cold, the greenhouse was warm. Magda was nearly sweating from the heat, even though she wore one of her lighter winter dresses. Which still shielded her from the cold outside, but didn’t scorch her the second she stepped indoors.

‘I’ll have to get some summer dresses before spring hits,’ Magda thought to herself as she paced near the rose bushes.

“Hello, my lady. I’m glad you came.” A voice boomed from behind her

“Ah! Ivan! You came!” Magda turned around and greeted Ivan.

“Uhm….Magda...I-I wish I would’ve known you were a noble… I would’ve treated you better..”

“What? You were always kind to me, what do you mean? Anyway...what even happened to you? You just got up and vanished one day!”

Ivan smiled a bit as he remembered something...

It was him ,far younger than he was today, quietly packing his bags, looking out of the windows every so often. Hoping to see Magda just one last time before he had to leave. The silence of his family home broke everything inside of him down to a sliver of resistance. A once lively household reduced to a mere shell. Death and debt plagued his family. It had not helped that his father…..

“I’m sorry Magda,” Ivan said to the blonde girl in front of him, “My family. Well it wasn’t stable. At all,really.”

“Ah! I’m sorry I-”

“Nope, don’t worry. You’re fine ,my lady.”

“Ivan, just call me Magda. You know me.”

“Magda, I’m sorry. We don’t really know each other anymore.”

Magda felt her shoulders drop, and hints of anger building in her voice.

“Ivan, what do you mean? I’m the same Magda I was back then. Nothing changed.”

“I mean...you’re….” As much as Ivan wanted to say something else...something nicer he couldn’t, “You’re a nobility now.” “Does..that change anything?” Magda could hear her voice rising despite her attempts to keep her cool.

“No...I mean, yeah kinda. My lady, I’d love to remeet you.”

Magda’s anger burned into a blush as he smiled at her. Ivan looked at her blush.

“You blush at everything.”

“I do not!”

“You always did! Even as a kid if a boy ,or a girl for that matter, even smiled you blushed like a tomato. I remember you and Alan. Lovebirds.”

“We were nothing of the sort! What about you and that oren girl! Now you two were real lovers.”

“Coco and I were nothing more than friends-”

“Most of the time,” Magda pulled a fan out and covered her mouth to chuckle.

Ivan blushed and pulled the fan away from Magda’s face.

“Your cute Magda, Don’t cover your smiles.”

Pink? No, Now magda’s face was bright red at this point. 

“Don’t make fun of me!”

Felicity looked down as she watched Magda return from her visit with Ivan. She felt her heart grow with some sick disgusting feeling. A growing void overtook her heart and left her chest empty.

“Oh, Felicity! It was amazing! He is just the same as I remember!” Magda hugged her friend tightly, “I’m so happy right now! You planned it all out for me. I-I I could kiss you right now!”

Those words struck Felicity’s heart hard. She forced a smile ,and hugged her …friend? 

“Always, Magda. I’m always here for a pal!”

“I can see that! I owe you a big favor!”

“I’m not a debtor Magda, You keep your favor for now.”

“Ah...Felicity haven’t seen you here in awhile,” One of the many nobles Felicity had become... acquainted with greeted her. He held his hand out.

“No, not again. Do me a favor and leave.”

“Come on Fel~ We all know you can’t do much better than me. Why not?” He purred as he reached for her hand.

“Do you want to get punched again, I’m really not in the mood for this.” Felicity said as she stood up from her chair, the piece of furniture made an ungodly squeal as she moved it aside.

Felicity made her way out of the Tavern. She wasn’t in the mood for...him.  She never was in the mood for him anyway.

‘I only got with him because I thought he was cool! It was nothing bigger than that!’

 Her fist clenched as she started down the dark streets of Finsel. 

Felicity’s confidence drained from her, her gotty make-up along with a shirt that barely covered her breasts and definitely didn’t cover her stomach once made her feel on top of the world, now it was only a reminder of everything she wasn’t. She was a noblewoman, she had more money than she really needed, and she even had the illusion of a family. She lacked almost everything else, confidence, beauty, a nice voice… She looked down at her body. The one thing she lacked now was true freedom.

She quickly began to speed walk home. She heard the distant whirrings of machines, and horses hooves clicking on the cobblestone roads.

“Ms. Ellenstein?”

As soon as Felicity heard the voice she quickly turned around. It was Alan. The blondie from the guards.

 “You scared me! Don’t do that!”

“Aren’t you cold? It’s the middle of winter…”

“Nah, it’s all good. I’m just heading home.”

Felicity felt comfortable around Blondie. She never felt his eyes drift away from her face or eyes. No matter how seductive she thought she looked he never looked at her as anything other than a noblewoman.

“Alan, why are you even out here?”

“Just...patrolling..” Alan’s eyes went to the road for a few seconds.

“Bull. I know you’re up to something. Come on! What is it?”

Alan reached into his pockets and brought something shining out of it. 

“M-Ms. Magda left her earrings at the last ball! I wanted to return them to her…”

“You sure you didn’t steal them?”

“I-I would never! Felicity please understand-”

Ivan failed to listen to the rest of the conversation. All his thoughts were about those earrings….

“Ah, the two Ellenstein sisters, how lovely!” Ivan cheered as he handed Felicity a drink and at least tried to give one to Magda.

“Thank you, Ivan. I uh...learned my lesson.”

Ivan smiled a bit, as he put the drink back on the plate he was carrying. Felicity gave Ivan a small wink as he departed, he winked back.

“What was that all about?” Magda asked.

“Nothing, I just like the drinks he gives.”

“I’m talking about all the winking. I’m not as naive as you think I am.”

“Ah, well he’s growing on you isn’t he?”

“W-what?”

“He’s not just a friend is he?”

“Huh!? We are just friends. Nothing more nothing less.”

“I have a hard time believing that, Magda.”

“Well, I don’t have any feelings for him. He’s very sweet, but…. I can’t see him as anything more than a friend.”

“You’ve gone on what? One date? It may change!”

“Felicity...I already…”

“Whoa whoa there! Who is it! Girl code! Girl Code!”

“You already have it narrowed down to two.”

“If it’s not Ivan it’s either Alan or Xavier. Alan, isn’t it? I don’t even think you’ve met Xavier yet he’s been gone for like 3 months.”

“Yes..” Magda blushed a little bit as she knew Alan was going to be at this ball.

“Oh, Don’t be embarrassed! Every noblewoman or noble thinks he’s at least a little cute!”

“I actually knew him before I was brought into the Ellenstein family.”

‘Brought in?’ Lynna thought as she hid behind a wall, obscuring her from being caught and humiliated by the Ellenstein sisters.

‘Magda acts as if she’s nothing but a stray dog.. I need to find giulolo. She’ll know more about this.’

The green lady walked away in search of the redheaded Oren girl. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew those Ellensteins were becoming more and more prestigious. They had even been invited to the senate in just one year. It had been over a year since Magda was found, and Lynna still found it all too convenient. How on earth did Eliza find her twin in such a place as Finsel? There was no way that after over 10 years of searching they just happened across her while looking for a maid.

‘There’s no way...not a single way! Magda is a fraud! I know it!’

Lynna walked around the overly crowded ballrooms. People seemed to be shoulder to shoulder, she put her arms to work and started pushing people away from her. The small Redhead was already speaking to somebody. A blonde girl whose name Lynna didn’t care to know, and never would. 

“Giulolo, a moment,” Lynna demanded as she hip-checked the blonde girl away.

“Ah, Miss Lynna, what do you need Giulolo for?”

The blonde girl protested at Lynna.

“You have no right to shove me away!” the noblewoman pointed her finger in Lynna’s face

“Quiet! Little noble! Now leave, you aren’t wanted here!”

The blonde huffed as she sashayed away from Lynna. Even a lower noble knew that it wasn’t worth the battle for an oren’s attention.

“Well, Giulolo. How much do you know about this...Magda Ellenstein?”

“Well, she was born to unknown parents-”

“I knew it!” Lynna had already began to celebrate in her head.

“Who was then revealed to be Eliza Ellenstein when she turned-”

“Get to the point, Oren!”

“Ah! Miss Lynna is scary… Well uhm… she grew up in the slums after being kidnapped and now she’s returned to her family.”

“There has to be some more information! Anything!”

“Unfortunately, since Magda was kidnapped and grew up in the slums Giulolo has little to no information on her… She did wear some earrings that-”

“Ugh! I don’t care about her stupid earrings!” Lynna whined as she walked off without saying goodbye to the Oren girl.

‘I’m gonna find out what’s up with Magda. She isn’t a noble! She can’t be!’

Magda’s dress spun in the wind that blew through the ballroom. She looked like a rose in full bloom. Alan wasn’t the only person to take notice of it. He saw a few others looking in her direction.  He knew he wasn’t the only man who thought about her, but in a bad way of course!

“That Magda girl really is a beauty!” One nobleman said as he smiled towards her.

Alan didn’t flinch at these comments even a single bit. They were true after all. She was the true beauty of Finsel. At least to Alan she was, anyway.

“Imagine being her. All that attention! Must be nice!” A noble woman walked down the stairs said to her, probably, sister.

That comment didn’t phase him either. It really must be nice being nobility….

“Hm… imagine that. Being so pretty, and yet so naive ...” One man looked at Magda with strange eyes that Alan was all too familiar with. 

Those words made him perk up slightly. It wouldn’t be the first time he had to kick somebody out of a ball,but more or less he was curious about what they were going to say about her..

The man looked over at a boy who had to be around Alan’s age if not a bit younger. The boy looked up at his brother? More likely his father, but still.

“How to you feel about her?”

“I uhm…” The boy shuffled uncomfortably, “She’s kinda pretty I guess?”

“Listen kid, she’s the talk of Finsel right now. You have to at least try to make a move on her before it’s too late!”

“But she’s older than me…”

The talk between the two kept going for a few minutes before Alan tuned out of it. It wasn’t every day that Alan took advice from a complete stranger, but he came to learn that they sometimes are smarter than the playboy Alan used to go to for advice.

“Lynna, go to sleep.”

“Mother, this is important!”

“DID I STUTTER?! I won’t have you seen with peasants! You’ve made enough of a name for yourself today!”

Lynna flinched at Tilla’s words. She raised her hands to her face for a second. 

“N-no...I-”

“Don’t even continue. If you have bags under your eyes tomorrow ...”

Before Tilla could finish her sentence Lynna was under her covers and curled up.

“Good,” Tilla shut the door loud enough to shake the windows.

‘If I’m quiet enough I can sneak out of here…’ 

The night was dark and frozen, but Lynna felt the heat of both hatred and curiosity in her head. She discarded her nightgown in favor of a slightly warmer coat and gown. The gown was brown, all Lynna would have to do would be to steal an apron from a servant. That would be easy enough. Her footsteps were near silent down the hallways and stairs. All she needed to do was-

“My lady, what are you doing up so late?” 

Lynna’s heart jumped then softened as she saw her favorite person, her servant….

“Shh! Quiet, I-I have a favor to ask of you Lawrence.”

“Anything, My gorgeous radiant star-”

“I need you to get me an apron, don’t ask! Just go grab one and hurry back. I ca- I can..make it worth your while, I promise!”

“Lynna, you don’t owe me a-”

“Lawrence! Just go.”

In just a few minutes Lawrence returned with an apron. It was dirtied with mud and stained with something reddish...

“I’m sorry I could not find a clean-”

“Perfect!” Lynna snatched it from his hands and strapped it around her waist. She pulled Lawrence down her his level and kissed his cheek before disappearing into the darkness of the hallways leading to the front door. She felt a small spark in her heart afterward.

‘Perfect now all I need to do is-’ She paused, she snuck out of the house.

She did something her mother could not stop.. She escaped….