Almost Nothing is Absolutely Marvelous

Galpão, a huge delicious looking chocolate cake is being cut. A set of hands scoop it up and put it on a plate where another piece is already waiting. I have just started seconds ago and I already feel like taking a break and going to my fridge to see what’s in there. Good start. Luckily, the camera zooms out and we see Clara, which is enough to keep me in my seat. Clara starts babbling to Verônica about that musician guy that was hitting on her, how she thought they would get involved. Verônica is all ‘Yeah, no.’ Clara replies that he was so gentle, so into her, what more do you want and more of that. But Verônica was in that place where we have all found ourselves in at times, which is that they seem like the perfect partner, but you’re just not feeling it. By the way, I find that frustrating as hell when that happens, because if they seem like the perfect partner, wouldn't it be so much easier if you were feeling it? Anyway. So, Verônica says she wants to be excited, she wants butterflies, but since she had none of those, she totally friend zoned him.

Clara brings up Marina without bringing up Marina and asks her ‘What about the opposite? When the least expected person shows up like a hurricane, turns everything upside down and puts everything on the line?’ Verônica knows she’s talking about Marina because Verônica has eyes and asks if that’s what happened to Clara. First Clara is all ‘Who, me?’ and sort of surprised that she’s is totally aware of this, but when Verônica excuses herself and claims it’s none of her business, Clara decides that confirming it to one more person isn’t going to matter anyway because so many know already and that it makes sense she knows since lately the Galpão has been their location of choice to engage in their hand holding, hand kissing and eye-sexing activities. She answers that it’s alright and that since they both work there all day, it’s logical she noticed their totally couply behavior.

Eyes Full of Finally, by Colette - First Kiss ATC English Fanfic Challenge

Eyes Full of Finally
by Colette

She hadn't seen this coming. She was standing just there where the road started to make a slight curve, she could see a large part of the house from here, but some trees made sure she was out of view from whoever was inside and happened to be looking out the window. The first steps towards the house had been determined, confident, but she found herself slowing down and now standing still, needing some unexpected extra time to process why she was actually here. What she was about to do.

It wasn't like she had no clue before, of course. She knew exactly why she was here. She'd known while making sure Ivan had his bag packed with all the right clothes and his toothbrush, she'd known when she heard him call her with a raised voice because he had been calling her three times already. But she was staring out the window, her thoughts elsewhere, before her son's voice brought her back. When she drove Ivan to the house where the sleepover was, she'd known even better because after dropping Ivan off she knew very well where she was going next.

Her heart had skipped a few beats when Ivan mentioned two days ago that he wouldn't be home that night. She had been unable to keep her thoughts from drifting off ever since. She hadn't seen Marina since that day in the Galpão, the only contact they had been having was that email, phone calls, whispered declarations of how much they missed each other, how much they wished they could be in each others arms right now, bathing in each other's scent, how much they missed feeling their fingers entwined, but they hadn't been able to make those desires a reality yet.

The Storm, by TZ - First Kiss ATC English Fanfic Challenge

The Storm
By TZ


“So, it’s done then?”

Clara looked aside to her aunt. “Yes,” she quietly replied, displaying the paperwork she had been staring at. All of the details were in black and white.

Juliana reached across to clasp Clara’s hand. “Are you okay?”

Neatly folding the sheets of paper as if they were the linen on her bed, Clara replied, “I’m not sure, Ju.” She took a sip of coconut water and contemplated the gentle waves that brushed the shore. “He was so calm.”

After looking at the bright blue sky, Juliana retrieved car keys from her bag. “We should probably head back. We are expecting a storm and that little car of mine will never make it once the rain starts falling.

Clara glanced at the sky then at the waves once more. “Ivan’s with Chica, so you can just take me there.”

On the way to the apartment, the women were silent until Juliana asked, “Did you ever experiment with Marina?”

Her head whipping to her left, Clara frowned. “No, I couldn’t. I was married.”

“You’re not now,” Ju said as she turned left instead of the expected right. “We are going to the studio,” she said, explaining her actions.

Full Moon, by BecomingLight - First Kiss ATC English Fanfic Challenge

Full Moon
by BecomingLight

This time has been very good to understand who I am for real. And when I fell in love with you, Marina, a part of the Clara that I knew died in me. And now with the separation from Cadu the other part of Clara is taking its leave. I'm full of certainty without being certain and you know what? That is good! Do I sound crazy? But I've never been so clear. Finally I have begun to understand that I am the owner of my own story. Damn, what a responsibility! I can't run away and I don't have the right to do that to myself so the time has come to transform all the fear because without love, nothing is worthwhile, right? Nothing.

I'm sitting on the beach and it's dark. I'm cold and I've been here for far too long, I know I should return home but I don't instead I'm staring up at the moon that rose above the horizon at dusk, pulling away from the horizon as the sun set. It's full, shining it's silver light across the dark skies. I close my eyes and breath in the salty tang of the ocean, listen to the waves crashing, I listen to the beat of my heart in my chest. I do all these things to try and calm my mind.

When they finally said 'I do', a fandom whispered 'I do too' and hoped history was paying attention

So... The show is really over! No more new scenes, ever. We've got to work with what we've got, so that's exactly what we'll do, cause there is much to discuss. Also much fanfiction to fill the gaps with of course. So yeah, Em Família has broadcasted its final episode. The show is over, the ladies ended up together, it's been one hell of a ride, for sure. If not for you, well then, for me it has been anyway.

I've never really been part of a fandom before. Sure, I've followed some ships on Youtube, or watched the eps as they came out on television, but I've never been so actively involved. Part of that was of course because I fell in love with the ship of unbelievable chemistry and unworldly gorgeousness, but another huge part of that has been cause of the other girls I have come to know throughout this journey. This has been an amazing experience and you guys made that possible. Thank you my lublings, you know who you are.

Also, I am planning to continue this blog, I have much to write about still, I don't intend to stop, so I guess as long as people keep reading, I'll keep updating. Before we get all sentimental on each other though, we've had some happenings in the last weeks of the show that I just have to get into, so let's get to it, right after I apologize for taking so long with this update and for the record amount of gifs I included in it, in particular near the end. Anyway...

Sometimes stuff happens, stuff that makes you happy and sad at the same time. Or mush on the inside and at the same time you are fuming. Maybe giggling cause of the cuteness but kind of embarrassed too. I've been feeling a lot of that lately. Cause while we had amazing things happen in the last week of Em Clarina, things also happened that made me cry on the inside a little. I'll go over them with you of course, but I'm not sure yet if I want to list all the good stuff first or start with all the stupid stuff, or if maybe I should alternate a little.

Clarina Fanfic Challenge: First Kiss

Hello girls!

Full Moon by BecomingLight The Storm by TZ Eyes Full of Finally by Colette

I hope you all enjoyed my views on the wedding night that I wrote about in my previous post. I promised you a post about the wedding itself as well, which is close to being finished, but first I got something else. No elaborate scene analysis this time, no character profiling, no diagnosing anyone with being overly obsessive, no. This time it’s about fanfiction!

Looking at the Clarina fanfiction on the internet, there is an abundance of it in Portuguese, but not so much in English. I have some listed on my blog but it’s not a very long list so far. This is of course something that totally needs a fix because there are many international fans that would love to read fanfiction but simply don’t understand enough Portuguese to be able to follow it. I know a lot of people that have said they are thinking about writing something, myself included, but they haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, we’re still painfully lacking those fics in English, so we need a way to get those writers to start writing.

Conclusion: We need an English Clarina fanfic challenge.

Could be a nice way to get things started. The subject is simple. We all dislike the fact that they decided to take a time machine and deprive us of the joy of seeing how our girls got together, so I think it’s only fair we get to imagine it ourselves. There’s your subject right there.

Write your version of the first kiss between Clara and Marina.
(which may or may not include the first time they have make love, that’s up to you)

For this particular challenge I’m going to set some limitations that every writer has to stick to. Other than that, write whatever you want and let us enjoy the rest. The period in which the first kiss happens has to fit within the actual story, which means after Cadu tells Clara their marriage is over and after Marina reads Clara's email. If you want to write the first kiss in an alternate universe where they had it before that moment, by all means, go for it, but for this challenge, it has to be canon. That includes their personalities, don’t change who our girls are.

‘Guidelines’:

• Happens after the Marina reads the email.
• It has to be in English.
• Try to keep the language semi-decent-ish.
• Don't write porn.
• Length of fic is entirely up to you.
• Enjoy writing it.
• Let us enjoy reading it.
• Don't submit stuff that's not yours.

Authors, please submit your fanfic by mailing it with the following subject: ‘Clarina Fanfic Challenge: First Kiss’, to allthingsclarina@gmail.com.

Do this before the 17th of August. By submitting your fic you give me permission to post it on my blog which I intend to do as they come in, unless you specifically state otherwise. Of course you’re free to post it on whatever other website or fanfic-site you choose, for example fanfiction.net.

Portuguese writers (or any language), we'd love to have your submissions as well, especially if you have already written it. It would be awesome if you found someone who could translate it for you. The English doesn’t have to be perfect, just a little bit better than what Google translate would make of it, would be nice.

Do you know of an awesome fic that meets these guidelines and just has to be included here? Give the author a poke and point them this way.

I hope many of you will take this challenge, if it is a success, we can do more challenges like it, but let’s first see how this goes. I know there are many talented writers out there and I can’t wait to see all those months that we missed filled up by wonderful stories written by all of us.

Can't wait to see what you all come up with. Let’s get writing!

MEDIA INQUIRES

Email All Things Clarina

Two Weeks Later, the Wedding Night Finally Makes Sense

So, wedding night. I've put it off long enough. Lots has been said about it, twitter has flared up about it, I have not been looking forward to diving into this scene but I felt like I had to. I was reluctant to get into it at first, cause to me the wedding night was disappointing. I am very happy I did it nonetheless, because I saw something. Something that opened my eyes and changed the scene for me kind of radically and while it's perhaps not the wedding night I had in mind, it does give it me a whole other view on it, one I like a lot more than the one I had. In fact, the first half of this post is written before I saw it, so maybe you can even tell by my writing when my opinion started to change. In any case, let's start at the beginning, I hope you join me all the way to the end, because by then the aftertaste of the wedding night just might be a little bit sweeter, just like mine turned out to be.

After the wedding ceremony they do the thing where they throw the flowers carelessly across their shoulders towards a battle ready group of single ladies, where Cadu's harem catches 100% of them. In the next episode, Ivan gives them a cute present, everybody is happy and it's all bliss. Then it's finally time for the long awaited night of love. I'm sorry, the 'night of love'. They arrive at the studio which is all pretty and decorated by Gisele, Flavinha and Vanessa. There is champagne, which prompts the girls to make lovely insinuating winks and suggestive looks at each other which I totally approve of. So far so good.

They take it upstairs, Clara pours herself and her wife (wife!) some champagne while they talk about when they met, how Marina knew instantly, how Clara had no idea what to do with herself and couldn't resist Marina, how far they've come and Clara says how proud she is. As she should be, she has come a long way indeed. Clara says she feels even closer to Marina now that they are official and Marina, who was always the free spirit and never thought about marriage before she descended a certain staircase, says with a voice that is about to crack with emotion that it was the most beautiful wedding she has ever seen. They purr happily at the prospect of having their whole lives ahead of them together, Clara blissfully kisses Marina's fingers with the ring on it before she suggestively says that their night is just starting, because now that Clara has discovered the true meaning of sex since she's been with Marina, turns out she can't get enough of it. Marina does not object and after taking one more sip of her champagne, she puts it down, waits for Clara to have another sip as well and then relieves her of her glass.