#i appreciate him a lot more on my re-reads and during my season 5 watch

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Jouno's "Death" and Characterization

Actually I'm adding onto my thoughts about Jouno's death scene because it really is brutal, even compared to the earlier "deaths" of the arc.

[ID: A screenshot from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga. A vampirized Akutagawa bites into Jouno's shoulder. Blood spatters on Jouno's face, scrunched up in pain. End ID.]

I binge-read the manga very quickly on my first read, and so I think there was a lot that I kind of overlooked, especially when it came to Jouno and his characterization. I found the guy interesting, but I wasn't as invested in his character as I was with some of the others.

But even then, his death shocked me with how... cruel it was. And going back and really paying close attention to his character, it hurts a lot more.

[ID: A set of three images from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga. In the first, a speech bubble says "You have what it takes to join the Decay of Angels." Jouno's face is carefully neutral and he says nothing for a panel. In the next, face still neutral, he says "What are you saying?" In the second, a panel of Jouno, bound and smiling in prisoner's garb, is overlayed by Fukuchi saying "Jouno, you were originally an executive in a criminal organization. Seeing the good prospects in your ability and that sense of hearing, I recruited you six years ago, for the sake of this day." Jouno lifts an eyebrow with a small frown on his face and exhales a small puff of air. In the third, Jouno, smiling, says "Yes. From the start, I've known no pleasure but that of tormenting others. Besides, you even said it, that you initially recruited me for the sake of this day." His smile looks a little tight. End ID.]

Looking at Jouno's face here... I'd honestly say he's a bit hurt by this turn of events. He has a very similar background to Dazai. This is the equivalent of Dazai being told that he was only hired by the Agency because they actually wanted him to take up the mantle of the Demon Prodigy again, but this time for their benefit. Because that's his true nature, right?

Jouno was only recruited... because he was never believed in. He was Fukuchi's little criminal pet project, one that didn't go as he intended at all - and Jouno dies for it, only shortly after he starts to get accustomed to the idea of himself as a good guy (even if he's still... morally ambiguous, to be diplomatic about it lol).

But yeah, let's take a second and look at Jouno's particular brand of cruelty - that sadistic streak where he wants to hear the suffering of others... and how easily this was overshadowed by one old woman's quiet gratitude. Fukuchi remembers the beginning of this scene... but he's left unaware of the aftermath of it and how Jouno changed (fitting, for the man forever caught up in the war; who still lives like he's on the battlefield). Jouno is largely self-preservative - it seems likely that, given his criminal background, you stayed alive by asserting your power over others, and Jouno does this by striking fear into others and deriving pleasure in that reaction - but it pales in comparison to appreciation, which Jouno states makes the sounds of fear like silence. The old lady is such a small thing really, but it apparently left a huge impact on him.

I think it's quite a decision made to characterize a guy who is hyper-sensitive to sensory input as being strongly affected by the kind of reactions he gets from others. Jouno compensates with fear and intimidation, but he actually wants to be appreciated. Whether Jouno genuinely cares about justice as an ideal is up for debate still, I believe, but we can be positive he likes being liked far more than he likes being feared. So, while Jouno thought he was appreciated for his pursuit of justice under Fukuchi, and had come to the realization that he prefers helping over harming - his role with the Hunting Dogs was always a cage. Jouno was likely essentially drafted - he joins or he is probably sentenced to capital punishment. Obviously, he takes the offer - as Jouno does not want to die (again, remember he's self-preservative!). Now he's stuck as a Hunting Dog due to the intense monthly surgeries to maintain their bodies, but he's made a pretty sweet life for himself - Jouno is powerful, respected, feared, and he basically gets to act however he wants so long as he is ostensibly pursuing justice (a corrupt cop, really)... only for him to realize he actually does want to help more than hurt, and to then have it be revealed that he was never expected to change for the better from the very beginning.

He was drafted due to this expectation Fukuchi had for him, and when he did not live up to this expectation... his exits are blocked, he's set on fire to stop him escaping, then stabbed from all directions, like one would trap and corner a threat that needs to be contained, or a wild animal. There's... some pretty significant dehumanization to that.

It gets worse though, because Fukuchi is right about Jouno being different from the other Hunting Dogs, but he's off the mark on what's different about him exactly. The difference is largely in that even though Jouno took precautions in case he couldn't make it out (having Aya follow him), he is not devoted (or solely devoted) to that ideal of justice that drives the rest of the Hunting Dogs, nor was he at all intending to sacrifice himself or accepting of that fate.

[ID: A panel from the Bungou Stay Dogs manga. Jouno wears a concerned expression, a sweat drop on his cheek. His hair flies up a little as he moves across a background of dark lines for dramatic emphasis. The sound effect is a shudder. End ID.]

"Be strong... there's nothing to worry about/Don't panic, it's all fine" <-The words of a man who is very much trying not to panic (also Yuki Kaji did a great job in this scene - chefs kiss. The voice acting in the anime is so so good). Jouno's mental narration grows increasingly more desperate in his attempts to escape, even as he outwardly continues that show of pride and bravado, concluding with his "wish" to hear Fukuchi's later suffering - which is what he does to avoid letting others see vulnerability in him.

All the other people who died to Fukuchi had some kind of acceptance around it - Akutagawa sacrificed himself to allow Atsushi to escape and was accepting of that; Tachihara had no intention of a sacrifice play but was prepared to die rather than be turned by Bram, and found his resolve through a mix of the Mafia's and Teruko's influence. Jouno was not ready to die at any point in this fight, nor was that ever his intent.

About Jouno's dynamic with Tecchou: I find it really interesting that the closing and opening lines of the chapter where Jouno slashes at Fukuchi and "betrays" him are things like "at heart there is one intent" and "if there is evil, cleave it" - while they're really just the external hooks for the audience, not any character's thoughts or anything, I do find it intriguing that this sounds a lot more like Tecchou's philosophy than anything we'd seen of Jouno up to this point. In this way, I think Tecchou (and Teruko as well!) has had far more of an influence on Jouno than even he cares to admit.

And I think it's really good that Tecchou appears to be there for Jouno - he's got conviction in his capacity for justice as strong as a samurai and the ability to call him out and believe in him like that of a best friend. While Jouno's death is brutal, it actually validates Tecchou's belief in him - but this is not something anyone else really seems to see in Jouno, perhaps even Jouno himself until that moment. It recontextualizes their interactions: Jouno is the challenger. Tecchou just seems to kind of humour him, really. He doesn't treat Jouno like a threat or an obstacle. He's completely unafraid of him, either simply not reacting to his goads and threats, or calling him out on his bs when he takes his cruelty too far. It's like Tecchou's socializing a feral cat sometimes hjfhdbjvh

But remember that Jouno's grandstanding and desire to instill fear is likely self-preservative. Jouno sees Tecchou unafraid of him and goes "why is it not working??? He must think he's stronger or better than me, or else, he's just really stupid. I need to prove myself stronger than him so he doesn't think he can gain the upper hand on me." And meanwhile, Tecchou is just like "ok buddy let's go get some lunch. I like spending time with Jouno even though he's apparently mad at me for something idk what." Because Tecchou's lack of fear isn't actually because he's cocky or an idiot, or because he doubts Jouno's skill or strength - far from it. He knows full well how dangerous Jouno is. He just thinks "Jouno wouldn't do that". And it's that simple to him. I honestly believe Jouno hasn't quite figured that part out yet, and that he's reading his dynamic with Tecchou entirely wrong on his end. It's the epitome of that rival dynamic where one takes it super seriously and the other is just like "cool man anyways wanna hang out". Anyways I really hope their reunion is given some attention, when it happens.

You might've noticed I said "when it happens" and also that I put death in quotes at the top there - I actually have a question for all of you since I just thought of this on my re-read. Jouno was stabbed multiple times but since he's a Hunting Dog with advanced healing and enhancements I sincerely doubt that actually killed him. Then he was bitten... but the vampires seem to turn really quickly, and we see Jouno's thoughts for a while afterwards. Jouno didn't actually die in that scene, as it's stated he's "near death", and he's captured and taken somewhere by Akutagawa. It's highly likely he was just turned into a vampire, as he was bitten (perhaps his enhancements make the vampire ability take longer to get a hold), but I'm kind of wondering now if he wasn't "taken with them" for some other purpose and Fukuchi has him captured or comatose or something. Well, whatever happens... I hope he comes back to the manga at some point soon (though probably at this arc's conclusion if I'm being honest).

#storyrambles #bsd #bsd meta #bsd jouno #argh my 4 am thoughts plagued me and compelled me to write this :/ #anyways jouno's cool :) #i appreciate him a lot more on my re-reads and during my season 5 watch #call me ace detective the way i am ace. and also a detective. #bsd spoilers

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Audrey Roget

Audrey Roget has 10 fics at Gossamer, with some different ones at AO3, fanfiction.net, and her website. You might know her from her very good fics or as part of Musea, a collective that all wrote fic and posted X-Files fic recs. I’ve recced some of my favorites of her stories here before, including Three Times Dana Scully Didn’t Go to San Diego for Christmas and The Shirt. Big thanks to Audrey for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)? A little, yes. Not so much by folks who were around in those days. I sometimes go hunting for beloved stories from the early years, both those I read and loved, and those I never got around to. I am always delighted to hear that later generations of fans have stumbled across my stuff, especially since I haven’t posted anything new in a number of years. It’s fantastic that both years-long fans and new ones are out there continuing to rec fic from all eras, and to maintain archives for fans yet-to-be born. What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it? What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general? It may sound corny, but the main thing I think of, and the thing that has ultimately been most valuable and lasting, has been the friendships. The feeling of having found a tribe – not just of TXF fans, but of other people who could be as enthusiastically engaged as I was (if not more so) with fictional stories and characters – was mind-blowing. Since I was a kid, I had often mulled over the books/movies/TV I loved and speculated internally about what happened off the page or off-screen, or created new stories for characters in my head. But, except for an elementary school phase where I and my two BFFs regularly played Charlie’s Angels, I hadn’t engaged in that kind of gleeful immersion in a fictional world with others until TXF fandom. My involvement in fandom followed pretty quickly from getting hooked on the show, so for me, it’s all one big ball of experiences. Even as my interest in/involvement in fandom has waxed and waned over the years, I’ve been lucky to remain friends with wonderful people who I originally connected with as fellow fans.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)? What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

My initial entrée to the fandom was through fanfiction. I didn’t get interested in the show until mid-season 5. Around the same time, I read an article in a zine called Might (co-founded by Dave Eggers) about this thing called fanfiction that people would write and publish online. At first I thought it was satire or a joke – the fic cited involved Wilma Flintstone and a polished sabre tooth, as I recall – but then realized this was an actual thing. So I figured that a show then at the peak of pop culture must have fanfiction, and I went looking. Early on, I scrolled atxc on a daily basis and downloaded stories. But I didn’t engage in discussions about the show on Usenet, since I only knew how to access it with my Earthlink email client, and I didn’t want to post using my real name.

Later, I set up a pseud address with Yahoo and subscribed to a couple of email fanfic/discussion lists, and stayed subscribed to those for years. There was also a period in there somewhere – of maybe only a year or so, when I think about it – when I’d often nerd out into the wee hours with other fans via IM chat groups. That was around the time the small writers’ collective Musea was founded, and we were active for several years after the show’s initial run. In the early aughts, I followed many authors to LiveJournal and eventually set up my own account and stayed involved in fandom that way, until it mostly dispersed as well. What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show? In a word: Chemistry. I had casually watched a couple of episodes during the first four seasons, but I’m not a huge sci-fi/horror fan at heart, and the story lines didn’t immediately grab me. But I happened to tune into The Red and the Black in 1998, and BOOM. For the first time, the intense layers of emotion and attraction between Mulder and Scully really struck me – and then of course, upon further viewing, I realized it was unmissable, an essential element in the fabric of the show. As a wise woman once said, a switch had been flicked. Mulder and Scully’s magnetism was like nothing I’d ever seen, and though I eventually came to appreciate the storytelling, humor, production values, and other components that made the series so successful, watching those characters interact has always been what kept me coming back. Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files? I was part of a list-serv discussion group for The West Wing for a while, which was a fun melding of character and plot analysis with political discussion. Later, I got into the House, MD fandom, again mostly as a fanfic reader/writer. I was finding that other fandoms, unlike TXF, were more dispersed, the networks of people structured more loosely, if at all. There were fanfic and discussion communities on LiveJournal, and fanfiction.net was the other main hub for posting and reading, but if there was anything centralized like Gossamer, Ephemeral, or the Haven, I never found it. Within all those fan communities, as in TXF, there were partisans for various characters and pairings, and flame wars erupted over plot developments that outraged this faction or that. One main difference was that those other shows had larger, ensemble casts and more varied subplots. So on one hand, there was more opportunity to explore back stories and multiple perspectives. In House MD in particular, there were several entrenched rival shipper camps, which were about equally grounded in canon, rather than TXF’s central ship. I was less into TWW fic, but my impression was that readers were less militant about their pairing preferences than TXF or House fans. Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I was deeply fascinated by Greg House for several years. (And the love-hate chemistry between him and Lisa Cuddy was a strong draw for me.) House MD came early in a wave of TV shows centered on anti-heroes, and Hugh Laurie brought amazing complexity and thoughtfulness to the character.

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans) are a lethal pair of antiheroes. The inherent moral conflict of a sympathetic narrative from their POVs, and the global political conflict they embody was TV catnip for me. The internal struggles at the hearts of those characters were so exquisitely written and performed, they completely fascinate me.

The West Wing felt so much like a show created specifically for me. I’m especially fond of story arcs and scenes that centered on CJ Cregg, Charlie Young, and Josh Lyman. Though I loved Martin Sheen’s human portrayal of Jed Bartlet, the fact that he was the President always made him a little untouchable in my mind. But CJ, Charlie, and Josh were basically hard-working functionaries who were ambitious and idealistic and funny and flawed, and they spoke to me. What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom? Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully? Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I do continue to think about Mulder and Scully and watch episodes somewhat often. I’ll sometimes run a favorite episode as background when I want something comforting on. I read TXF fic pretty regularly, which can inspire me to go back and watch a particular episode or story arc I haven’t thought about in years. Just recently, I started listening to The X-Files Diaries podcast (@XFDPodcast, @admiralty-xfd), and that’s a fun dive into the characters, and how other fans react to and interpret episodes.

Every once in a while, a TV show or movie – and more particularly, the characters – will grab my attention and make me curious about how fanfic writers have interpreted the original material. Random example, I saw Singin’ in the Rain for the first time in a theatre a couple of years ago, and the chemistry of the three leads sent me to AO3 as soon as I got home. I also loved the first season of Mercy Street and found some well-done stories in that fandom. I usually peruse the Yuletide gifts every year and have been amazed by the sheer variety, creativity and cheekiness of the output. There are a bunch of other shows I’ve followed faithfully, and sought out fanfic – Broadchurch, The Killing, Agents of SHIELD, Elementary, The Good Wife. Although I’ve found some well-written stuff in those fandoms, I’ve rarely gotten the same charge from them as reading TXF fic. Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

syntax6 (@syntax6) – Universal Invariants/Laws of Motion. I’d also shout out to syn’s Hunter fics, too – well worth reading even for those who have never seen or particularly loved the show itself.

JET – I re-read Small Lives Awake every year around Thanksgiving time. Other annual holiday re-reads: Revely’s The Dreaming Sea and Jordan’s Through the Fire (both set at Halloween).

Amal Nahurriyeh’s Casey universe – the rare post-col fic that felt hopeful, made extra intriguing by a kick-ass original character. [Lilydale note: the series starts with Machines of Freedom and has lots of additional fics and snippets.]

Prufrock’s Love – Finding Rokovoko was genuinely terrifying and tender.

melforbes (@melforbes) – Seaglass Blue is a recent favorite, lyrical and bittersweet.

These are just a few (apologies to those that didn’t come to mind immediately). Fortunately for readers, there’s an astonishing number of authors who have written in TXF fandom whom you can depend on for a good yarn, insightful character study, and/or ingenious “fixes” where 1013 went awry.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Probably the two set in my own (former) backyard of Southern California: Enivrez-vous and Ravenous. I’d first read the Baudelaire poem that was the source of the former’s title back in university days, so I was tickled to be able to use a few lines as an epigraph. Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online? It’s not out of the realm possibility. I’d meant for “Three Times Dana Scully Didn’t Go to San Diego for Christmas” to be followed up with “And One Time She Did.” In fact, the idea for that never-finished story was what inspired “Three Times” in the first place. I have a couple of scenes sketched out and – unusually for me – even know exactly how to end it. Every year, November rolls around, and I think I should finish and post it…maybe in 2021?

Where do you get ideas for stories? Sometimes it’s from my environment. “Enivrez-vous” and “Ravenous” describe places that I’m fond of, that made me want to place Mulder and Scully there. “What Not to Wear” has that element too – I set it in Memphis as a tribute to a great trip there with a sister Musean. But WNTW was also inspired by a kink challenge in a years-ago LiveJournal thread, so sometimes ideas come from fandom discussions or even other fanfics. In the House MD fandom, a fic by another writer made me want to continue the story, and the author kindly allowed an authorized sequel. What's the story behind your pen name? I wanted my pseudonym to sound like it could be a real person’s name – or at least, maybe like a romance writer’s pen name – rather than an online handle. I also wanted to use a slightly obscure fictional character, to amuse anyone in the know. I had long had a bit of an obsession with Whit Stillman’s 1990s film trilogy, which started with Metropolitan; the 3rd installment, Last Days of Disco, came out the same year I started down the TXF rabbit hole: 1998. The central heroine of Metropolitan – who is mentioned in or makes a cameo in the other two – is Audrey Rouget, a lover of Austen and, eventually, a book editor. I altered the spelling of the last name as a nod to every writer’s companion, Roget’s Thesaurus. Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions? I have a few close friends – from outside TXF fandom – who know that I’ve written fanfic. I don’t know if they know my pseud; if they do, or if they’ve ready any of the fic, they haven’t said so to me. They are fannish sorts themselves, but not really TXF fans. A smattering of other friends and family members know or could intuit that I’ve been a fangrl on some level for years. My boss, whom I’ve known for about 3 years, recently mentioned off-handedly that she was really obsessed with TXF “back in the day,” and I am DYING to know if she got involved in fandom, but don’t think I’ll ever work up the courage to ask.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now? Most of the X-Files stuff continues to be generously and steadfastly archived by Forte at The Basement Office. The House MD stories and some TXF things are at fanfiction.net; same for AO3. If ever post anything new, it will probably go to TBO and AO3. I really ought to get it all together in one place, one of these days…

(Posted by Lilydale on April 6, 2021)

#old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #audrey roget

[friendofhayley]

Hooray for all content creators in all fandoms! Y’all make the world go round! This is April’s round-up of fics I read and recommend from multiple fandoms. This fic rec includes 9 fics from the Teen Wolf, Harry Potter, and One Direction fandoms!

Drarry (Harry Potter)

1. Nero su bianco by @zuzallove | oblivious boys in love - we get to see what Draco could have been thinking during 7th year Hogwarts - lots of drama, if you’re into it - Narcissa knows all and is great - 40k

September 1997. Hogwarts is under the regime of Voldemort and the Carrows. Finding himself alienated by both his friends and his supposed enemies, Draco puts quill to parchment, and writes letters. He addresses them to the only person he can think of, as Hogwarts rapidly falls into chaos and ruin: Harry Potter. He goes to great lengths to ensure the letters are never discovered, and he’s pretty certain he’s done a great job.

Until the day of his trial.

2. What’s Eating Draco Malfoy? by @actual-howlinglikeaseaturtle | this is a re-read so it’s v v good - cw eating disorder, suicide ideation, alcoholism - Ginny & Draco being friends is just so special to me - also everything is handled very well - 75k

"Tragedy struck today when Anorexia Nervosa claimed a young boy's life," he spoke loudly. "Very sad. He will be missed by one person, maybe two. Awful. Now to the weather with Carl!"

Ginny could not help herself; she burst out laughing. She didn't know what was more absurd. The way Malfoy joked about his own death or the fact that he had watched muggle TV. Muggle news even.

"You're a bloody lunatic!" she snorted, and Malfoy's smile widened.

Sterek (Teen Wolf)

3. Exactly Like You by Jerakeen | Pride and Prejudice AU whoo whoo!! - werewolves are known - stereotypical A/B/O - but everything else is the same except Scott leaves town with Derek after S1 - 70k

“It was Jackson’s idea,” Lydia explains, looking perfectly serious while standing in front of a March Madness bracket of Beacon Hills’ eligible bachelors.

Jackson looks smug. “It only makes sense.”

Stiles meets Isaac’s eyes over the heads of all the crazy people in the room. Isaac shrugs with a slight wince. “’Tis the season.”

4. But Then What... by Stoney | Derek is the same age as Stiles! - I just love how they’re written like real (horny) teenagers - they’re just so bad at communication - also Jackson is a Jackass - 24k

Senior year is almost over, and all Stiles needs to do is keep his head down to survive. A teacher calls in a favor, leaving him stuck tutoring Derek Hale, one of the most popular jocks in school and a member of a group of douchecanoes who have bullied Stiles for years. He's someone Stiles totally hates. Totally. Like, doesn't like him even a little bit. DEFINITELY isn't attracted to him.

Except that is a total lie. Fuck his life, seriously.

5. We’ll be Better Around the Second Time by @jordansaysno | I don’t know about y’all but this hits my wish fulfillment for running away from home in high school - side Isaac/Scott which is very cool - Stiles deserved better tbh - happy ending - 26k

It's been months. Months of fading contact with the pack. Months of the silent treatment from his father. Months of nothing but himself and the occasional lesson with Deaton to entertain him.

It's too much, and eventually, Stiles leaves.

For years, everything goes great, until of course his dad gets injured, and he is suddenly forced to deal with people he thought he left behind in his past for good.

6. Fireman Derek’s Crazy Pie [Cheeseburger Baby] by @thegloryof | this is such a classic and what I turn to when I’m really craving pie - NYC fic - some parts are just delicious to read (and not just for the food porn) - misunderstandings - 17k

“He can't blame me for the fact that I live in a building full of people united in the singular effort to ogle Hot Fireman as often as humanly possible."

Laura laughs, loud and echoing in the empty restaurant. "Hot firemen can make a girl do crazy things," she agrees, nodding towards her brother's name on the menu. "Derek won't let me date anyone from his company, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the eye candy."

"Send them my way," Stiles suggests, finally loading up a forkful of pie. "Apparently I'm incompetent enough that I need to be babysat at all times, because it would be cheaper than dispatching a truck every time I try to use a kitchen appliance."

7. Don’t Feed the Wolves by Amazonia_8 | another classic fic that’s also hot - cw: Derek thinks Stiles can’t consent - werewolves are known - the jailhouse scene is constantly replaying in my head - 30k

Stiles took the dare, because what else was he supposed to do when the whole lacrosse team was chanting his name? Even though the werewolf pack had left Beacon Hills years ago, nobody was stupid enough to set foot on the Hale property.

Except, apparently, Stiles.

Now he's got a feral werewolf following him around town with the sole purpose of claiming Stiles as his own.

Larry (One Direction)

8. take my hand (and my heart and soul) by @anylessreal | aaaaaa this was so good! - just so much misunderstandings, but it’s so cool that the audience/Harry don’t know what’s going on too! - amnesia - friends to strangers to lovers - 45k

Harry feels nauseous when he opens his mouth. "Hey. Um, hi. It's me," he mumbles before realizing with a jolt that Louis might not have his number anymore. "It's Harry... Styles," he tacks on, screwing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose. This was a terrible idea.

There's silence on the other end for a long time. Harry understands. He shouldn't have called. He tries not to let the static swallow him whole.

"I – yeah. Hi," Louis finally answers, slowly, awkwardly. "I um. Sorry. I heard about your accident. You're alright?"

9. thinking about the t-shirt you sleep in by @absoloutenonsense | this was another re-read!! - traditional A/B/O - misunderstandings due to past abuse (not done by the boys) - get ready for some high/low emotions - 52k

Harry's alpha fraternity donates to a local thrift shop (because of Liam's latent crush on a cute beta in his lecture). Louis' financial situation (and confusing omega instincts) lead him to make some interesting fashion purchases. Lots of pizza, feelings, and not-really-lying.

#sterek #hlsource #drarry #multifandom fic rec #monthly fic rec

[palbabor-writes]

*Sits in my therapy couch*

Oh boy I have some Thots to share about the MVA arc. Idk if you've seen the rest of the episodes by the time you get this ask, but just to make sure uhhh pls don't read until you have lol.

I know a lot of people have been really upset about how MVA was adapted, nothing in depth, i never looked too closely at anyone else's opinions because i wanted to see everything as a whole before i developed any opinions.

With that said....I do like what we got of MVA arc. To an extent.

I like what we got, some episodes more than others, how it wraps up everything more or less. Like most of what I consider important, they did fine with. Sad Man's Parade?? Excellent episode as a whole. Shigaraki's backstory episodes were also great for the most part. (Tho, I'm not fond of the fact they sprinkled some bits of his backstory in earlier episodes as like, some sorta wink-wink nudge nudge to the audience. I'd rather have had it all as a single whole in a cohesive fashion)

The rest of it? Ehh. You can really tell they cut out content that they shouldn't have. I thought the beginning part of season 5 was amazing and it kills me that there wasn't the same level of care during MVA. Wonky off model faces (dabi what have they done to you, you're not even 6 ft-) or detail that was lost to cut corners i feel (that scene where shiggy decayed that mob of people was just. two. frames.)

Side character arcs being shafted or cut completely, spinner im sorry dude you were supposed to be the narrator. A friend pointed out to me that this'll bite them in the ass later because his character arc becomes really important later on for his relationship with shigaraki and to the league as a whole?? and anime onlys are gonna be like ??? wtf why is spinner getting attention like this now?? (SO angry they left out the "beautiful horizon" line)

Like, holy shit Re-Destro's whole introduction. In the anime all he does is make a phonecall to shiggy, threatening to call the heroes on him if he didn't come for a high noon showdown. He just comes into play as a smiling politician, and then away from the cameras he casually murders one of his followers like it was nothing. that's an establishing character moment that should not have been cut out! And just...yanno. Some tiny world building that add context to the storyline as a whole. Sure you might not need it, but a little extra seasoning is appreciated. Toga's quirk therapy, the fuckin KKK esque anima meta quirk cult people. Hate that they were cut out.

anyway uh those are my thoughts, sorry this got so long lmao

hey, hey! sorry this took me so long to get to, but i finally watched all of season 5 & saw the movie this past weekend and i... well, idk what i was hoping for when it came to that, but the movie definitely DID NOT make up for what a mash up some of this season felt like.

warning: major spoilers for BNHA season 5 below the cut

totally agree with you about sad man's parade and the full Tenko backstory episodes! although nothing will ever, EVER compare to the beauty of Horikoshi's artwork and nuance, i was comforted by the care BONES poured into those frames.

however, was also kinda frustrated that they didn't give Tenko/Tomura his red eyes. i always figured that his mother and sister might have them - it makes sense, both genetically and thematically, for that to be a shared trait - not something that inherently symbolizes trauma? evilness? freaky-deaky eye color shifting??? after all, Bakugo has red eyes and they seem to be a seminormal occurrence in the general population as a whole, sooooooo why were Tenko's greyish brown?

but i digress...

because, like you mentioned, SPINNER is a much larger issue & that i do take an active issue with.

when we got to the MVA arc in the manga, it was such a massive switch up because suddenly the villains are our protagonists. we see their struggles and catch a glimpse of what the world, and hero society, looks like through their eyes. And for a downtrodden and discriminated person like Iguchi, (and i put person here because it seems like some of us kinda forget that Spinner is a MAN, not an animal, even though he has a mutation/quirk that makes him look like an iguana/lizard dude, he is a human, with a human brain, impulses & emotions) we see that life in this quirk based society is pretty fucked up.

the first group they square off against is a literal cult called the Creature Rejection Clan and their acolytes hate and actively persecute those who they deem as "abnormal," which in this case often refers to humans with animal like features. sure, they're called fossils but the rhetoric that they spew has always been present in the society of BNHA; it's just usually cloaked as microaggressions, and as we're told in the first chapter:

two of the biggest, or at least the most frequent, perpetrators of these anti-mutant microaggressions are the Todoroki boys. we first see it with Shotō, back during the Stain arc & then with Dabi in the Overhaul arc:

and neither of these are “accidental.” they’re both saying these dehumanizing names purposefully; for Shotō it’s undermining the authority of the police chief, whose assessment of his involvement in the rescue of Native & Iida goes against what Shotō deems to be “true” and “righteous” heroics that saved lives - and for Dabi, well, he’s likely just doing it to irk Spinner, but it shows how low of an estimation he holds for this “lizard” shaped human. 

and don’t think the fact that these are children of Endeavor escapes my notice either. sure, some of this is societal, but the shit we say out loud we’ve often learned is acceptable behavior from the examples that our family and loved ones set for us at a young age. 

but the absolute destruction of Spinner’s involvement in BONES’ adaptation of the MVA arc is pathetic, imo. because quirk acceptance, or non-acceptance in this case, and the Meta Libration’s mission is a MASSIVE point for the overall tone of the upcoming war arc:

and don’t get me started on Re-Destro; they completely took away his impact and terror with that crumby entrance that they shoved together - what with him just sipping on wine & sounding like he’s joking around with the league. because idk if ya’ll remember, but Re-Destro’s original entrance is nothing short of bone chilling in the manga:  

like... we didn’t know who the fuck that WAS.

and he just shows up in a commercial, where he’s all smiles, and then brutally SNAPS THE NECK OF HIS MUTANT ASSISTANT. i’m sorry... imma be what? who? guh. the missed impact of that boggles the mind. and sure, it’s a kid show, censorship, WHATEVER - but Midoriya oozed buckets upon buckets of blood in the new movie - so shoo with that, i don’t wanna hear it.

anywhoo! thanks so much for replying friend! i always love hearing your takes and as always you were spot on with so many of the things that needled under my skin during the watch. i get we wanna sell that the kids are cute, and look at this new and “improved” Endeavor guy, but they missed so much of the meat and potatoes with the MVA portion of the season & for me... the new movie didn’t make up for any of that trimming. 

but lemme know what y’all think!   

#hi #i woke up and chose violence today #bnha analysis #bnha season 5 #bnha season five #bnha season 5 spoilers #bnha anime spoilers #bnha spoilers #pal muses #and rambles #and goes off on tangents #and just goes off in general #asks #answered asks #with-a-whisper #pal and friends #mva arc #anime woes

[101flavoursofweird]

Fic Questionnaire

Thanks for @sixtyfourk for tagging me! I’m putting the questions under a cut because it’s quite long :’)

I’ll tag @northernscruffycat, @northelypark, @edward-elbowlick, @vermontwrites, @asa-liz, @yoshi-g-teh-first, @call-me-rucy, and @aquamarineglow but if there’s anyone else who wants to do this, please go ahead!

How many works do you have on AO3?

107… but a lot of these are just reposts or prompt-inspired fics that are 10 lines long!

What's your total AO3 word count?

378242 words

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Professor Layton, PLvsAA, Layton Brothers Mystery Room, Rhythm Thief, Voltron: Legendary Defender (I only watched the first two seasons, haha…), The Ancient Magus Bride (I was in it for the cute dragon mage— not for the main romance), Steven Universe, Ace Attorney (only as a part of PLvsAA), Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, My Hero Academia

…10 fandoms altogether, but some like PLvsAA and LBMR fall under the PL category.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Aizawa Doesn’t Give Hugs - MHA- 1111 kudos - (Why can’t I update my most popular fic?)

Fireflies - Steven Universe - 221 kudos - (Again, WHY DID I NEVER UPDATE THIS?)

Reset - PL - 134 kudos - (This is the one I feel the worst about because it’s an ongoing long fic for my main fandom and I’ve had so much support from readers but I just can’t find the strength to update it…)

Worth Fighting For - PL - 86 kudos - (My incomplete Whumptober fic!)

Mending - Voltron - 85 kudos - (I think this was one of the first fics I posted on AO3 and I was really happy about the response it got! And for a fandom I’d never written for before!)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I usually respond to comments pretty quickly because I want to show my appreciation for people who take the time to comment :) If I’m ever slow to respond it’s probably just because I’m busy or I’m trying to formulate a long response. If a person leaves a longer comment, I try to make my response longer!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

That’s probably ‘To Boldly Flee’. It’s a fic I originally posted on FF.net but it’s now part of an Aurora & Luke oneshot series called ‘Looking Foward’ on AO3. The fic stars Aurora and Luke in an AU set during Azran Legacy. It diverges from canon after Descole steals the Azran keystone in the Nest. Aurora doesn’t want to go to the Azran sanctuary and face her ‘duty’ as the Azran emissary— she also doesn’t want to get STABBED IN THE HEART— so she decides to run away with Luke.

Aurora receives even more angst in this AU than in canon. After Descole’s betrayal, she starts to doubt herself and her friends, aside from Luke.

With a bit of help from Rook and Bishop, the two of them fly to London and then to Misthallery when they hear Targent have taken over the town. During this time, Aurora has her identity crisis about being a golem and having the fate of the world resting on her shoulders. She eventually decides to help Luke save his hometown because Luke is worth the world to her.

This all culminates with Luke getting fatally(?) wounded and taken to the Golden Garden. Aurora is so distraught by this point that she almost ‘floods the whole world’ in a kind of failsafe doomsday device the Azran may have implanted in her. Luckily, Descole and Layton show up to assure her that Luke is alive— but just barely. Aurora returns to her normal self and they get Luke to hospital. Aurora waits by Luke’s bedside for him to wake up. Aurora mentions that Emmy’s fate is unknown, but they still mourn for her.

In the original FF.net ending, Luke wakes up.

In the AO3 ending, Aurora just keeps waiting for Luke. ‘She could not age, so she would wait until he awoke. Even if it took forever...’

If I ever did write more of this story, Aurora and Co would probably go to the other Azran sites (Ambrosia, the Infinite Vault of etc) to search for a cure for Luke. But at it is, the fic is left open-ended as to whether Luke ever recovers.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really hate but there was one anon review that may have been ‘too brutal’ (their words). I can’t say it hasn’t affected the updates on that particular fic.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I wrote a couple of light smut fics back when I really shipped Layton/Emmy. I think I’d cringe if I went back to read those fics (but then again, I do that with a lot of my old writing). I can’t see myself writing smut now.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I can’t say I’ve had a fic stolen, but I was reading a fic a while ago and the wording was veeery familiar. I’m not sure why because the fic was already good up to that point? Why would they bother copying my writing? XD I can’t complain, though! We’re all technically stealing the original creator’s characters and concepts by writing fanfic.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, for my Rhythm Thief AU, Déjà Vergier! In this AU, 16-year-old Raphael gets taken in by the Vergier family. A Deviantart user called BakApple kindly translated my writing into French. With the help of Google Trabslate, I started translating their French Rhythm Thief fic— ‘July the Fourteenth’— into English, but I didn’t get around to finishing it. My translating skills are nowhere near as good as BakApple’s!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I wrote a PL fic with called ‘If You Only Had Time’ with an awesome writer called Glowbug. It’s an AU (of course) where Rachel Bronev survives and she runs away from Targent with eight-year-old Emmy. Glowbug doesn’t seem to be active online anymore, which is a shame, but I don’t mind! I’m just glad we were able to write 6 chapters.

I don’t think I’d co-write any more fics now… but more for the co-writer’s sake than mine! I’m notoriously bad at updating long fics and I struggle to write under pressure or within a time limit. There’s a reason why I don’t enter Big Bang events, as much as I’d like too :’)

Writing fics is a hobby first and foremost. If I don’t feel like writing something, I’ll leave it and come back later, hopefully with renewed inspiration.

But I’m always happy to discuss fic outlines/ideas/characters’ with other people!

What's your all time favorite ship?

Apparently the ship I’ve written the most fics for is Janice/Melina on AO3?

There seems to be more content for them recently and that makes me SO HAPPY.

Ranhengela might be a close second favourite… Sometimes I literally forget both of these ships aren’t canon.

My favourite characters tend to be those who are so selfless and would sacrifice their lives for the ones they love— e.g. Janice and Henry— even if their significant other is presumed to be dead. I want these characters to be happy but I also want them to through ANGST.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I don’t want to say Reset… but maybe Reset? I haven’t given up completely but I’ve lost a lot of confidence with this fic. What I wanted most out of this story was for Luke to bond with other characters aside from Layton— his parents, Arianna, Emmy, Flora etc.— and to give these characters a chance to shine. But I guess I realised I can do this without all the crazy plot twists and time travel mechanics… like in Ready Now, for example. Most of that fic is just Arianna bonding with Luke, Layton and the others, and it’s hopefully giving Flora her chance to shine too! I guess after giving Arianna her own chapter in Reset I just really wanted to write about her, haha.

What are your writing strengths?

Someone mentioned in a nice review that I often fuse canon with fanon? That’s usually just me poking fun at the series— like when Arianna’s mother asks about Flora’s age and her adoption status, Arianna and Tony just shrug at her comedically. Who knows, really? :’)

I’ll often just make two character sit in a room TALK about their feelings.

Dialogue is an easy one, but I like writing dialogue for characters and getting their voices down. (I will forever portray Dalston with his official Yorkshire accent— not the fake posh accent they gave him the the US version of Miracle Mask.)

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it’s cool! …If it’s not used to mock another language— apart from English. Please make all the English jokes you want. I’ll probably agree with you and laugh at them.

I remember when I was re-reading Goblet of Fire and I cringed every time J. K. Rowling wrote about a character who wasn’t English.

I’ll occasionally throw French words or sayings into Rhythm Thief fics especially because that’s what they do in the game. It’s hilarious how Charlie has an English accent but then she’ll sprout a random French phrase.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Pokemon, but that short oneshot is long gone.

What's your favorite fic you've ever written?

I’m going to be boring and say Bonds Left Unbroken— an AU where Layton and Desmond both get adopted by the Laytons. I think I enjoyed the earlier chapters more, focussing on younger Desmond and Hershel, and especially their time in Stansbury. The later chapters don’t really branch out from canon that much, aside from the fact that Hershel and Desmond are on the same page during Azran Legacy.

I feel bad that I never got around to finishing the ‘bonus’ episodes, but it kind of just felt like the original series with Desmond phoned in :’) But I’m still proud of the original fic!

#Fanfic #answers #long post #my writing #my fics #thanks #TW: JK Rowling mention #Tagging just in case! #Bonds Left Unbroken #Reset #Ready Now #Aizawa Doesn’t Give Hugs #Looking Forward #Deja Vergier

[doakaptan]

i think i finally get mad men and im not happy about it

Two weeks ago I started watching Mad Men for an assignment and accidentally became obsessed with a show that had no premise other than Don Draper bedding various women. 5 seasons in, I bought myself a mechanical keyboard just so that I can live the aesthetic of the show while writing this.

(I will write this post assuming you have read my first blog post about this show but you don’t have to worry about missing any info because the first blog post was me predicting an unpredictable show and cursing at characters)

So turns out, I did not really figure out anything by only watching the first seven episodes. No surprise there. But by diving deep into the first 2 seasons I realized that Mad Men is actually deeper than it lets on and the cheapening effect of its over-sexualized characters don’t really do a great job at hiding it. Actually after a while sex in the show is more symbolism than actual sex. It especially signifies a mental state that is special to Don and you actually start feeling sorry for him whenever a sex scene comes up. 

Well, Don Draper is a villain as well as the hero or to put it more accurately, a tragic hero and as the seasons progress you develop a love hate relationship with him. And if you binge watch 5 seasons and use all your spare time to think about it, you start relating to Don. Surprisingly Don had all the odds against him and lived an awful life without ever doing anything to prompt it. As I learned more about his life I actually started getting mad at the alternative reality of Mad Men because goddamn let the man breathe and be happy for once. 

At the start I was mad about him cheating on Betty with every single powerful women that looked his way and I am still mad, you can’t really excuse that, but as their relationship was revealed more and more I kind of started to understand why he preferred spending the nights somewhere else. Betty is incredibly hard to put up with and no offense but even I’m not sticking around for her character development. She is overbearing, childish, overall a pain in the ass. If I knew her in real life I would have thought that she was pampered too much and was unable to grow up and get a grip as a result. She has mommy issues though and I respect that. There are also moments that she shines and she especially prefers shining only after they get a divorce and when she knows she will get Don’s approval. Before I lose track and continue talk about Betty know that Don is always worse and let me wrap up his analysis. 

Don is, in my opinion, someone who experiences love by avoiding it. (A love avoidant may be the term but I am not really sure). He marries Betty because he falls in love too hard and starts avoiding her right after their marriage, he likes the artist woman too much so he leaves her to be with someone she is more compatible with, same thing with the most of the women he chases. I only realized how hard he avoids the people he likes during season 4 when he decides to marry his secretary (who mind you spend like 4 days with him in Los Angeles to take care of his children) rather than building a healthy relationship with Faye who was probably the best person he could have ended up with. This also relates back to his self-destructive tendencies. He never truly believes that he deserved anything so he makes sure that he ruins it.

He excessively drinks and smokes, cuts ties on a whim, cheats and only ever feels truly like himself while he’s with Anna (who dies later in the series). Anna is and was the friend he needed all along. Even in his stolen identity Anna was the only person who accepted him as who he is and didn’t leave his side even in his darkest times. The man literally went to Korea by himself to defend an area and came back with a stolen id and lots of trauma and adopted himself into the life of her (the wife of the person he stole his identity from) and made sure she lived a life full of love. He shines the most when he can be himself but his old identity is and probably will always be an enigma to him. 

I think he’s slowly starting to find his way and make up for his mistakes but since he is used to self-destructing his set backs get more and more brutal each time. I start relating to him at this point the most. Relapsing in situations like these is brutal and it always feels like it is the last time and for once, for Don, it is the last time. He starts writing to understand himself and starts doing things like, regularly going to swimming or getting into a healthy relationship with someone who will be with him and help him through his ups and downs. He relapses when he decides to marry his secretary and from then on his relapse will only get worse but I believe that he is getting somewhere…

I will update this post once and for all, when I finish the entire series but for now I weirdly have hope that everything will end well for Don. 

And since I overstayed my welcome by going way over the word-limit I will speed run the thoughts I have about the other characters.

Betty, despite my comments earlier is actually misunderstood and deserves more than she gets. She truly loved Don and did everything in her power to make him happy. She even left her very successful modeling career to get married with him while SHE DESERVED BETTER THAN HIM. Her parenting is questionable but it can be overlooked because right now (in the middle of a global pandemic) we can all agree that being stuck with our family 24/7 is not ideal and we have been doing it for only a year while she has been doing it for more than a decade with more children adding up. LEAVE BETTY DRAPER/FRANCIS ALONE. 

(Also, watch the scene where she shoots at her neighbor’s pigeons because he threatened little Sally with killing her dog then talk to me about good parenting…)

Pete Campbell, turns out I really like him and his work ethic. I wish he ended up with Peggy but he is doing just fine with Trudy good for him. good. for. him. Thank god they didn’t follow up Trudy’s ‘old lover’, ‘the one that got away' plot line because it would probably be the thing I hated the most about watching this show. She is not an interesting character and she’ll never be. Good for Pete though, good for Pete. He never gets anything and I don’t know if he deserves getting it because we are not that exposed to him. But he is loyal to the ones he loves and even though his morals can get a bit questionable at times he is hardworking and will build up a great life as far as I’m concerned. (And if he doesn’t you can find me on ao3 re-writing his plot because I am no longer appreciating Pete-slander in this house).

Peggy. GOOD FOR HER GOOD FOR HER. LEAVE THAT DAMN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND HANG OUT WITH WANNABE REALEST OF THE REALEST ARTISTS. Also love the gay girl she should have ended up with her instead of the wannabe artist who only talks about capitalism. Peggy’s job is capitalism their relationship don’t really make sense.

Joan… Joan deserved someone who treated her right but fell into the lap of a charming locker-room-mouthed jock, who tried to be a surgeon and failed then tried to be a psychiatrist and failed and finally got drafted for Vietnam (ngl I hope he dies there). Unpopular opinion she should have ended up with Roger because while I hate ‘the perfect girl fixes boy with problems’ trope I would have eat it up. I like them together and surprisingly they are good together. I think she is the only one smart enough to actually lead cis-het white men who think they own everything because they are men, within their company and she deserves more than she gets with the shit she deals with. 

On a last note, the topics Mad Men deals with sometimes can get a bit triggering or upsetting but I think it is worth a watch.

#mad men #yes #im talking about mad men again #sue me #Don Draper #pete campbell #Peggy Olson #Betty Draper #betty francis #i am still attracted to don #u can sue me idc #he is attractive #joan harris

[sunnydaleherald]

XANDER: She's killed a lot of men. She tortures them. Anyone who incurs her wrath. One time she— (pats his arm, leans back) No, never mind. ANDREW: What? XANDER: It's not important. ANDREW: What'd she do? XANDER: (leans forward) Well, there was this one guy—there was this one guy, he, uh, he hurt her real bad, so she paid him back. She killed him, but she did it real slow. See first she stopped his heart, then she replaced it with darkness, then she made him live his life like that. But he still had to go do his job and see his friends and wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, but he had to do it all empty. Without anything to look forward to. Ever. ANDREW: (unimpressed) Sounds bad. (drinks) XANDER: Well, then she tore out his intestines and rubbed it in his face and took pictures of it. ANDREW: (genuine this time) Oh, God.

~~Buffy Season 7 Episode #131: "Never Leave Me"~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor! Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here. [Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Que Será Será (Buffy/Angel, G) by OveliaGirlHaditRight

Done (Anya, Willow, T) by Aragorn_II_Elessar

Alive Again (Buffy/Spike, M) by RoselynnThornwood

Purple and Blue (Buffy/Spike, T) by Mythstaken

Four Conversations (Buffy, Angel, Faith, G) by a2zmom

Called (Buffy, G, Fast & Furious xover) by Buffyworldbuilder

[Chaptered Fiction]

The Gift: Re-Imagining (Buffy, SPN xover) by BrandiIndigo

Walk the Walk, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, G) by honeygirl51885

Bleeding Poetry, Chapter 5-6 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Dusty

Finding Her, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, M) by scratchmeout

Snippets, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, M) by EllieRose101

The Bond, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Grief Counseling

Rewatching AtS season 4 and I have questions (Buffy/Spike, ) by N7_Chris

The Joy of Sisyphus, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Dandeleon

Daughter of Aurelius, Chapter 44 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Loup Noir

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Spike drinks to 25 Years of Buffy by theartofsilent

[Community Announcements]

BANGELGIFS’ 2K FOLLOWERS CELEBRATION! by bangelgifs

[Fandom Discussions]

two of the most raw and jarring things about ‘The Body’ by girl4music

Tara is finally in the Buffy comics! by ikindamaybewanthertositonmyface

I know it was not necessary but I really kinda wish Buffy elaborated on the difference between blood-kinship and family. by girl4music

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If Whedon didn’t want the audience to identify with Spike, he shouldn’t have written him as identifiable. by girl4music

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Headcanon that during their roommates era Giles started cooking with heinous amounts of garlic by disco-tea

I just think Harmony’s last scene in AtS should have been her saving Angel’s butt by disco-tea

This is one of my favourite interactions in the entire Buffyverse. by girl4music

so I’ve been watching Buffy for the first time by johnsspacesuittight

LGBTQ+ Representation in Media by Cohen

Darla appreciation thread by jdpm1991

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did Anya have a soul in her demon days? by JojoVla

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The church scene at the end of 'Beneath You' was originally written by Douglas Petrie but was rewritten by Joss by InfiniteMehdiLove

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Homecoming by albusdumbledore_

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Buffy's fashion choices by lickthismiff

Spike And Buffy Are Bad by NotJPowell

Unpopular opinion by Caitlink_1990

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by

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[writingtoforgetreality]

Pancakes To Cure The Nightmares - The Devil´s Daughter Chapter Four (Lucifer Morningstar x Daugther!Reader)

[Lucifer-Masterlist], [The Devil´s Daughter-Masterlist]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Your first night on Earth ended with you having this recurring nightmare again. To your luck, Dan was right by your side and calmed you down. He suggested you to come with him to work so his team could help you further.

Words: 1,914

Warnings: Lucifer Season 5 Part 1 spoilers, nightmares (flashback in italics), sassy reader (we´re getting there y´all), I know right now it seems like a Dan x Reader but I PROMISE it isn´t

If you like my work & wanna support me: a coffee would be highly appreciated ❤

Your night was peaceful. As peaceful as it had not been in forever. Though, at like 6 am, Dan was already in the kitchen, preparing the pancakes he promised you, he heard a piercing scream coming from Trixie´s room. Immediately, he left everything behind and sprinted towards you. When he opened the door, and thank God you did not lock it, he saw you writhing in the bed. Your face showed displeasure. Slowly, Dan made his way over to you, soft reassurances out of his mouth. Nightmares were nothing new to him. When Trixie was younger, she got them every now and then. The worst thing one could do was shaking the dreaming person awake. This could cause even more fear. Dan´s hands reached out towards your shaking frame, lightly touching you.

“(Y/N)? It´s me, Dan. You´re safe here. Nobody can hurt you. You´re okay.” he repeated these words like a prayer and after a short time you had stopped tossing. Your eyes shot open and you were faced with Dan right in front of you. The sight of him made you let out a small scream. Not because he was scary but because you kind of forgot that you were at his house.

“It´s alright, (Y/N). Nobody´s here but me.” his smile managed to calm you down. Your breathing was still irregular and your heart was hammering against your chest. Ashamed of what just happened, you averted your gaze from him. For a few minutes neither of you said anything. The only thing you could feel was a strong, warm hand rubbing soothing circles on your back.

“Sorry.” was all you could bring yourself to say.

“What are you sorry for?”

“Everything. For invading your house and now for screaming like a crazy ang-um person.”

“Last time I checked, I was the one who invited you in. As I said, it´s fine.” Dan´s statement made you grin. He was too pure for this world. God would take a liking in him for sure.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he tried.

“About what?” your clueless expression made the man next to you chuckle.

“Your nightmare?” he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. To you, though, it sounded as if he wanted to get more information out of you. In your defense, you were not the best when it came to reading people. It was not like you ever really cared about that. Not until now at least.

“Oh...just a weird dream. One that keeps recurring every other night. Nothing to worry about.” your smile at the end made Dan drop the topic.

“Okay, um. I´m preparing the pancakes I told you about yesterday. Meet me at the kitchen when you´re ready, yeah?” he stood up and walked his way over to the door but not without looking back at you. A small smile was written over your face, one that he copied. Then, he was gone again.

~nightmare flashback~

Your chambers were rather quiet today. Everyone had canceled on game night. Apparently they were all doing heavenly duty. Whatever that meant. Another day all alone. What would you be doing today? Overthinking? Daydreaming? Something like that. Your thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on your door. This knocking technique did not sound familiar to you. When you did not have much to do you started noticing the small details. Like how Michael always knocked four times. How between the third and fourth knock was a longer pause. How Gabriel kind of knocked the words “Gabriel is here” on your door. Or how Raphael used his palm instead of his knuckles. Or how God did not feel the need to knock at all. So who was at your door right now? Another angel, maybe? Highly unlikely, though. Before you had time to process, your door was swung open. All you could muster was a blinding warm light that made your eyes squint. After a few moments, when you adjusted to the brightness, you could see a red-ish figure standing in the middle of your chambers. It had broad shoulders that did not match the rest of its body. itshead, in comparison, was way too small. But wait a second. Its head. Were these horns? You had to take a closer look to assure yourself that you were not hallucinating. Its face was deformed, almost like it had been burned one too many times.

“Daughter.” a deep, manly voice echoed trough the walls. No. No, that was not possible. It could not be. Michael had told you about the Devil´s appearance and it came pretty close to what was standing in front of you right now. Besides, Lucifer was in hell. He was hell´s ruler and if he was here now then it meant that hell was without supervision.

“You really think you can hide from your true self, (Y/N)? You are my offspring. A little Devil. More sooner than later you´ll be just like me.” his arms raised in a convincing way, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

“I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU.” your throat was burning by how loud you screamed.

“Your wings are meant to do great work. You and I, we would be a great team. Torture is in your nature, like it is in mine. Give in, (Y/N). We both know that you want it.” Satan came closer to you, grabbing you by your shoulders and pulling you towards your door. No matter how loud you screamed, how hard you fought, no one heard you and you felt hopeless. No, this was not you. You were not like your father. You did not have any torturous desires. You were an angel, not a torturer. Right before the Devil could push you through the door you had never been through, your eyes shot open. Breathless and shocked of the images that previously danced in your mind.

~nightmare flashback end~

In the bathroom, you tried to wash away the dark images by splashing cold water in your face. That seemed to work quite well. You were definitely feeling way better than yesterday. A look in the mirror reassured your thoughts. Today, you were more like yourself. Hopefully, you would not scare Dan away by your sudden change in behavior. He would most likely understand it, though. When you exited the bathroom you were met with a smell of what you assumed to be pancakes. This would be your first time trying actual breakfast. Sure, you had breakfast in heaven but it was not actual breakfast. You were beyond excited to say the last.

At the end of the hallway you came to a stop and watched Dan in the kitchen. How he flipped the pancakes in the pan like he had never done anything else. The sight of him made you smile widely. Before he could catch you staring at him, you made your way over to the kitchen as well.

“Are you sure you´re a Cop and not a professional chef or something?” this question made him look at you with confusion at first. Looked like you did need that sleep after all. Dan could tell you were way more comfortable today.

“Chef in the morning, Cop the rest of the day.” he matched your tone. “I already put some on your plate. Maple syrup is on the table. I didn´t know how much you wanted on your pancakes.” he pointed to the dining area. You sat down where a full plate was positioned. Unsure of how much syrup would be appropriate you waited for Dan to finish the last pancakes. As he sat down opposite from you with his plate, you noticed his wide eyes, how proud he was of these pancakes. He was cute, really. How he got excited over the small things in his life. Dan was the first to grab the maple syrup and poured a good amount of it all over his plate. After that he handed the bottle to you and you poured just as much all over yours. The first bite tasted heavenly. Did you really use that word? During breakfast, neither of you talked much. You simply thanked him for his efforts.

“Do you want a cup, too?” he asked as he poured himself a big cup of freshly brewed coffee.

“Yes, thank you.” the confidence in your voice hid the fact that you had never even tried it before. There was a first time for everything, right? The first gulp was kind of disgusting but the more you drank the more you liked it. After you guys finished everything, you helped him bring the dishes to the sink.

“I´ll do them later when I get home.” he motioned for you to follow him.

“So, (Y/N). I thought about something. How about you accompany me to work today? We have a great team that could help you out. How does that sound?” the man was in his bedroom, searching through his dresser to find something suitable for work.

“Sounds good. Not to be rude or anything but...do you have any other clothes? There´s nothing wrong with them, they just look rather scruffy.” you stated without a second thought. Suddenly you heard laughter erupt the room Dan was currently in.

“There she is.” he chuckled while exiting his bedroom with dark jeans and a grey tight fitting shirt that hugged his muscular body.

“Didn´t even notice your muscles last night. Working out a lot, I see.” by now your confidence had fully returned. A blush started to slowly rise up his cheeks.

“Aren´t you a bit young to flirt with an old guy like me?” his left arm came up the scratch the back of his neck.

“I´m not flirting, I just like intimidating others. So...about the clothes?” you quirked your eyebrows as you remembered him yet again of your unsuitable outfit.

“Right. Give me a second. I think there should be some of Chloe´s clothes around here somewhere.” Dan ran over to one of the dressers in the living room, opening various drawers to search for anything that you could wear.

“Chloe?” you questioned.

“Trixie´s mom. There you go, that should work for now.” Dan handed you a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a white basic shirt. Grabbing everything you walked over to the bathroom to change into the borrowed clothes. They fit you surprisingly well. Taking another look in the mirror you started gaining faith again. Faith in the future. Faith in Earth. You were finally home.

“(Y/N)? We should head out or I´ll be late for my shift.” Dan´s voice could be heard from the entrance hall where he was currently busy with tying his shoes.

“I´m coming!” you answered while jogging towards him. After you put your shoes on you opened the door and were met with a warm breeze. Hard to imagine that yesterday, you were freezing and today you were perfectly fine with a shirt only.

“Ready?” Dan asked you from the driver´s side after you put your seat belt on.

“I was born ready.” the smirk that followed afterwards made him let out a low laugh. He was glad that you felt better already. Yes, you were a sassy one, one that kind of reminded him of Lucifer, but the only difference was that he genuinely liked you. And he definitely liked this version of you better than the one he was met with yesterday.

~to be continued~

Next Chapter 

Published (09/14/2020) by Cathy

Tags: @fandomqueen2003, @natashaashleymarvelromanoff, @severewobblerlightdragon, @tenderlyunlikelyexpert, @zoseph, @comicbucky-s, @dad-ee-drea​, @xbarrjallenx, @marvelofwitch, @aceofspace95, @julessbrown, @thevelvetseries (let me know if you want to be tagged <3)

#lucifer #Lucifer Morningstar #lucifer s5 #lucifer season 5 #lucifer x you #lucifer on netflix #lucifer morningstar x reader #lucifer morningstar x daughter!reader #daughter reader #daughter!reader #reader insert #imagine #series #original series #fanfiction #fanfic #tom ellis #lucifer x reader #dan espinoza #kevin alejandro #The Devil´s Daughter #The Devil´s Daughter Chapter 4 #lucifer series #lucifer spoilers #lucifer season 5 spoilers

[jadelotusflower]

November Roundup

Some writing success this month - I finished and posted a new chapter for Against the Dying of the Light, and made progress on The Lady of the Lake and Turn Your Face to the Sun. I didn’t work much on my novel, but I did do some editing on the first third so that’s progress.

Words written this month: 6647

Total this year: 67,514

November books

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo - joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize (with The Testaments by Margaret Atwood) this was an engrossing and interesting read. Stylistically unusual formatting and scant use of punctuation that is a bit jarring at first, but you quickly adapt as you read. There’s no plot as such - instead the story is formed by vignettes of twelve black women and their disparate yet interconnected lives. We have mothers and daughters, close friends, teachers and students, although the connections aren’t always obvious at first - we can be exposed to a character briefly in the story of another with no idea that she will be a focus later on. It’s very skillfully done, to the point whereupon finishing I wanted immediately to re-read (but alas, it was already overdue back to the library). There is so much ground covered that we are really only given a glimpse into the characters lives, but there is a diversity of intergenerational perspectives of the African diaspora in the UK, and I highly recommend.

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett - after finishing The Pillars of the Earth I had intended to read the sequel, but this was available on the library shelf and I had to place a hold on World Without End, so the prequel came first. Set sixty years before the Conquest (150 before Pillars) it primarily addresses the growth of the hamlet of Dreng’s Ferry into the town of Kingsbridge, through the lives of a monk with a strong moral code, a clever and beautiful noblewoman, and a skilled builder, working against the machinations of an evil bishop. Sound familiar? This is Follet’s most recent work, and I do wonder if he’s running out of ideas as this covers very similar thematic ground.

Ragna is a compelling female character, but once again the romance-that-cannot-be with Edgar is tepid, Aldred is a very watered down version of Prior Philip, and there’s no grand framing device such as building the cathedral to really tie to all together (although things do Get Built, and it’s interesting but not on the level of Pillars). This is the tail end of the Dark Ages and it shows - Viking raids, slavery, infanticide - and while it seems Follett’s style is to put his characters through much tragedy and tribulation before their happy ending, I wish writers would stop going to the rape well so readily. But at least the sexual violence isn’t as...lasciviously written as in Pillars? Scant praise, I know. But Follett’s strength in drawing the reader into the world and time period is on display, made even more interesting in this era about which we know very little.

Women and Leadership by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - I have a great deal of respect for Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female Prime Minister who was treated utterly shamefully during her tenure and never got the credit she deserved, perhaps excepting the reaction to her iconic “misogny speech” whichyou can enjoy in full here:

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the first woman to be Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs in Nigeria, was also the former Managing Director of the World Bank, and currently a candidate for Director-General of the WTO.

This is an interesting examination of women in leadership roles, comparing and contrasting the lives and experiences of a select few including (those I found the most interesting) Ellen Sirleaf, the first female President of Liberia, Joyce Banda, the first female President of Malawi, New Zealand’s current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and of course, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala themselves.

November shows/movies

The Vow and Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult - I’ve been following the NXIVM case for a while now, when the news broke in 2017 I was surprised and intrigued that it involved actresses from some of my fandom interests - Alison Mack (Smallville), Grace Park and Nikki Clyne (Battlestar Galactica), and Bonnie Piasse (Star Wars). Uncovered: Escaping NXIVM is an excellent podcast from that point in time that’s well worth a listen. There’s been a lot of discussion comparing these two documentaries and which one is better, but I feel they’re both worthwhile.

The Vow gives a primer of NXIVM as a predatory “self improvement” pyramid scheme/cult run by human garbage Keith Reniere, from the perspective of former members turned whistleblowers Bonnie Piasse, who first suspected things were wrong, her husband Mark Vicente who was high up in the organisation, and Sarah Edmondson who was a member of DOS, the secret group within NXIVM that involved branding and sex trafficking. Seduced gives more insight into the depravity and criminality of DOS from the pov of India Oxenburg, just 19 when she joined the group and who became Alison Mack’s “slave” in DOS - she was required to give monthly “collateral” in the form of explicit photographs or incriminating information about herself or her family, had to ask Mack’s permission before eating anything (only 500 calories allowed per day), was ordered to have sex with Reniere, and other horrific treatment - Mack herself was slave to Reniere (as was Nikki Clyne) and there were even more horrific crimes including rape and imprisonments of underage girls.

Of course each show has an interest in portraying its subjects as less culpable than perhaps they were (there were people above and below them all in the pyramid after all) - Vicente and Edmondson in The Vow and Oxenburg in Seduced, but what I did appreciate about Seduced was the multiple experts to explain how and why people were indoctrinated into this cult, and why it was so difficult to break free from it. This is a story of victims who were also victimisers and all the complications that come along with that, although I’m not sure any of these people are in the place yet to really reckon with what happened and all need a lot of therapy.

Focusing on individual journeys also narrows the scope - there are other NXIVM members interviewed I would have liked to have heard a lot more from. There is also a lot of jumping back and forth in time in both docos so the timeline is never quite clear unless you do further research. I would actually like to see another documentary one day a bit further removed from events dealing with the whole thing from start to finish from a neutral perspective. The good news is that Reniere was recently sentenced to 120 years in prison so he can rot.

I saw value in both, but you’re only going to watch one of these, I would say go for Seduced - if you’re interested in as much information as possible, watch The Vow first to get a primer on all the main players and then Seduced for the full(er) story.

The Crown (season 4) - While I love absolutely everything Olivia Coleman does, I thought it took a while for her to settle in as the Queen last season and it’s almost sad that she really nailed it this season, just in time for the next cast changeover (but I also love everything Imelda Staunton does so...) This may be an unpopular opinion, but I wasn’t completely sold on Gillian Anderson as Thatcher - yes I know she sounded somewhat Like That, but for me the performance was a little too...affected? (and someone get her a cough drop, please!) 

It is also an almost sympathetic portrayal of Thatcher - even though it does demonstrate her classism and internalised misogyny, it doesn’t really explore the full impact of Thatcherism, why she was such a polarising figure to the extent that some would react like this to her death:

But I suppose it’s called The Crown, not The PM.

Emma Corrin is wonderful as Diana, and boy do they take no prisoners with Charles (or the other male spawn). I was actually surprised at how terrible they made Charles seem rather than both sidesing it as I had expected (but perhaps that’s being saved for season 5). It does hammer home just how young Diana was when they were married (19 to Charles’ 32), how incompatible they were and the toxicity of their marriage (standard disclaimer yes it’s all fictionalised blah blah). The performances are exceptional across the board - Tobias Menzies and Josh O’Conner were also standouts and it’s a shame to see them go.

I was however disappointed to see that the episode covering Charles and Di’s tour of Australia was not only called “Terra Nullius” but the term was used as a very tone deaf metephor that modern Australia was no longer “nobody’s land/country”. For those who aren’t aware, terra nullius was the disgraceful legal justification for British invasion/colonisation of Australia despite the fact that the Indigenous people had inhabited the continent for 50,000 years or more. While the tour was pre-Mabo (the decision that overturned the doctrine of terra nullius and acknowledged native title), there was no need to use this to make the point, especially when there was no mention at all of the true meaning/implication of the term.

The Spanish Princess (season 2, episodes 4-8)- Sigh. I guess I’m more annoyed at the squandered potential of this show, since the purpose ostensibly was to focus on the time before The Great Matter and give Katherine “her due” - and instead they went and made her the most unsympathetic, unlikeable character in the whole damn show. (Spoilers) She literally rips Bessie Blount’s baby from her body and, heedless to a mother’s pleas to hold her child, runs off to Henry so she can present him with “a son”. I mean, what the actual fuck?

I’m not a stickler for historical accuracy so long as it’s accurate to the spirit of history (The Tudors had its flaws, but it threaded this needle most of the time), but this Katherine isn’t even a shadow of her historical figure - she’s not a troubled heroine, she’s cruel and vindictive, Margaret Pole is a sanctimonious prig, and Margaret Tudor does little but sneer and shout - the only one who comes out unscathed is Mary Tudor (the elder), and it’s only because she’s barely in it at all. It’s a shame because I like all of these actresses (especially Georgie Henley and Laura Carmichael) but they are just given dreck to work with.

This is not an issue with flawed characters, it’s the bizarre presentation of these characters that seems to want to be girl power rah rah, and yet at the same time feels utterly misogynistic by pitting the women against each other or making them spiteful, stupid, or crazy for The Drama. I realise this is based on Gregory so par for the course, but it feels particularly egregious here. (Spoilers) At one point Margaret Pole is banished from court by Henry, and because Katherine won’t help her (because she cant!) she decides to spill the beans about Katherine’s non-virginity. Yes, her revenge against the hated Tudors is...to give Henry exactly what he wants? Even though it will result in young Mary, who she loves and cares for, being disinherited? Girlboss!

This season also missed the opportunity to build on its predecessors The White Queen/Princess and show why it was so important to Henry to have a male heir - the Tudor reign wasn’t built on the firmest foundations and so needed uncontested transfer of power, at the time there was historic precedent that passing the throne to a daughter led to Anarchy, and wars of succession were very recent in everyone’s memory. At least no one was bleating about The Curse this time, which is actually kind of surprising, because the point of the stupid curse is the Tudor dynasty drama.

But it’s not all terrible. Lina and Oviedo are the best part of the show, and (spoilers) thankfully make it out alive. Both are a delight to watch and I wish the show had been just about them.

Oh well. One day maybe we’ll get the Katherine of Aragon show we deserve - at least I can say that the costumes were pretty, small consolation though it is.

#november roundup #long post

[yessoupy]

i recorded an audio file of me talking about the walking dead because i listened to @imetyouonljpodcast‘s episode from today about zombies and i just had so many things? i wanted to say? to @phrasesandmeter and @glycerineclown? but then the file was too big for tumblr and so i cut it down a bunch and it was still too big so i gave up. lol.

anyway i love this show even though i hate it. seasons 1-4 are straight fire; season 5 has some great moments and some annoying ones; season 6 is also kind of a crapshoot but RICHONNE and JESUS!!!; season 7 is fucking sad and i basically hate it for those reasons BUT upon my first re-watch of most of it i did appreciate it more; season 8 is too fucking slow (i think the whole 16 episodes take place over a few days??????) and its only saving graces are baby gracie and jesus’ hair (WHAT is morgan doing); season 9 is when i was resigned to being intensely disappointed BUT THEN there were some great episodes on the front half before THEY KILLED JESUS (who is alive and well at the end of the comics with his boyfriend aaron) and the back half was just .... ugh anxiety-ridden and then after the finale i just felt hollowed out?; front half of season 10 i wallowed through and then in the BACK half it got GREAT again and knowing how the comics end and that they’ve introduced elements of the last big arc i think! i can! finally finish the show!!! below the cut is my more direct commentary about things brought up in the episode so don’t read unless you’ve listened!!

okay SO it was super interesting to hear y’all talk about daryl like you had to be careful around him. idk if it’s because i’ve read so much fic OR listened to norman talk about the character so much, but the impression i have from that (that isn’t jossed by the show), is that once daryl got the corrupting influence of merle out of his life, he was finally able to start being the person he’d always wanted to be but because he was a dixon society hadn’t ever let him be. the bike he rides with the SS was merle’s bike.

in season 4 (??? actually maybe 5) when they’re starting to reunite after fleeing the prison and rick takes down the claimer by biting out his jugular (...uh) and later on when he and daryl are kind of resting after all that trauma rick calls daryl his brother? that’s like the final point where we see that daryl really has found his place. he’s found his family. i do love daryl and his character’s growth.

ALSO! it was so interesting to hear y’all’s thoughts on TWD AUs and that you didn’t think you could get into them. i LOVE them, because it’s so interesting to try to think of the ways that these characters would be different if they DIDN’T meet in the apocalypse. my daryl/jesus longfic is a teacher au, and i spent so much time thinking about how daryl could get to a place where he could have a relationship with a man and it NOT be a coming out story. i basically landed on the idea of getting the corrupting influences out of his life as soon as i could and! he got to be a real person. ANYWAY i was thinking about making a reclist of stuff i loved during the pandemic and i read a LOT of rickyl so look for that. if you want. lol.

LOVE richonne. at the beginning of that episode (6x10, maybe my fave ep for fun reasons) rick and michonne and carl are very domestic and when it aired, since there’s a little time between 6x9 and 6x10 i thought they were ALREADY together? it was so nice seeing them smile at each other and like, exist in that house as a family. so then at the end when it finally DID happen i realized “oh, THIS is where it starts” and then i thought “omg yvette nicole brown is going to be SO. HAPPY.” also that is jesus’s debut episode and rick and daryl get a little roadtrip supply run that is just so nice.

another thing i love about richonne is that michonne was there from DAY ONE of judith’s life. she literally brought judith’s first meal to the prison (which she picked up when merle took maggie and glenn hostage). daryl fed judith her first meal, but michonne provided it. so to see their relationship in later seasons -- mama michonne!!!! -- ugh it’s so beautiful. 

re: the comics. if you think the violence/gore in the tv show is on the border of being too much, the comics WILL be too much for you. it’s black and white, but it doesn’t matter. everything is more violent, there is more rape, glenn’s death is somehow WORSE even though it’s the same .... but if you can handle that, or just do a good job of turning pages, it’s interesting to catalogue the differences between the comics and the show. there are 193 issues (last issue was july 3, 2019, it is DONE) and i think i have through 105 in google drive so hmu if you want access.

#twd #twd-rewatch #the walking dead #i met you on lj podcast

[drakesroyalromance]

I’m the Bad Guy (duh)

Summary: Emma has an accident the morning after her engagement to Drake in the safehouse that turns everyone’s world upside down. Nothing will be the same, no matter how hard Drake tries.

Catch up here!

Pairing: Drake x MC (Emma Barnes), Liam x MC

Rating: Let’s say R.

Author’s note: Firstly, even though this isn’t related to the fic per se, @mind-reader1 and I wanted to tell you guys that we are currently not playing Choices. Neither of us are okay with the way they’ve been acting in regards to BLM and how they treat characters of colour in general. Both of us have also messaged Choices in-app and told them that we want concrete action or we stop supporting them. We encourage you to do the same. Here’s a post that can help. You can also message either of us if you want some help on deciding what to say. Here are the links to a few people who’re doing great work by providing art in exchange for donations - x, x, x. Please tag me in any art you commission by donating, especially if it includes Drake lol. Additionally, if you want to be a better ally, then do yourself a favour and message @mind-reader1. She’ll provide you with some excellent resources. And she’s a trained counsellor, so trust me when I say she knows what she’s talking about.

Secondly, a reminder that this fic deals with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI.) If this is triggering for you, please don’t read this fic. This is the last time there’s going to be a TW for this.

If you’re just here for the fic and had to skim through all of that, I’m sorry. Without further ado:

Tag list: Drake x MC: @aries-light

@notoriouscs

This fic: @marshmallowsandfire @twinkle-320 @ravenpuff02 @ac27dj @silverofdreams @katedrakeohd

Chapter 5, part 1: Bad reputation

Drake really didn’t want to ask Maxwell for help, he felt terrible, emotionally and physically, and Maxwell was a lot to handle at times. Drake wasn’t sure when the last time he had eaten was. Not that it mattered - he’d thrown it all up at the hospital and palace. He was determined to do something though and Maxwell felt like the best option.

They approached his door and heard Maxwell singing along to a collection of sad ballads, apparently Emma had crushed him when she didn’t like his welcome home balloons. Drake had warned him that Emma wasn’t the same, but Maxwell was ever optimistic and hopeful, and got his heart crushed.

“Maxwell?” Liam knocked and cautiously opened the door. Maxwell was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, a wad of tissues surrounding him.

“Emma hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you Maxwell, you’re one of her best friends.” Drake tried to reassure him but it felt like a lie. Emma very well could hate Maxwell now, he had no idea.

“I think she was just overwhelmed, Maxwell.” Liam also made an attempt to comfort him. Maxwell sniffled.

[[MORE]]

“Listen, Maxwell, I, um. I need your help.”

Maxwell sniffled again, sitting up to look at Drake.

“Why? She’ll think anything I come up with is stupid and childish!”

“Maxwell, this isn’t you. The Maxwell I know would do anything to help his best friends be happy again. You were Emma’s first friend here, you were her biggest supporter during the social season. You even made Drake, the biggest grump of them all, one of your best friends. The Maxwell I know wouldn’t give up so easily.” Liam offered a small smile to accompany his words and Maxwell nodded, jumping off the bed.

“You’re right! I’m Maxwell Beaumont! What do you need help with Drake?”

Drake was relieved Maxwell bounced back so quickly, he truly had high hopes for Maxwell’s ideas.

“Emma..she doesn’t love me anymore.” He felt his throat closing up, he was choking on the words, they felt acrid on his tongue. He could see Maxwell trying to contain his emotions, he appreciated it.

“What?”

“When she hit her head, the doctor said there might be changes. It’s like I told you before we got here. I guess that’s one of the..changes.” Drake cleared his throat, watching Liam as he awkwardly looked at the floor.

“Okay,” Maxwell paused, looking pensive. Then suddenly his face lit up. “The Vow!”

“The what?”

“Have you ever seen The Vow?” Both Liam and Drake shake their heads.

“How are we friends? We’re having a movie night and watching it ASAP.”

“Maxwell, focus.” Drake says impatiently.

“Right. Okay, so, this couple is in a car accident. When his wife wakes up, she doesn’t remember anything about him.”

Drake interrupts, “Emma remembers everything, Maxwell. She just doesn’t care!”

He wished that she didn’t remember, the idea that she had forgotten felt less painful than Emma changing her mind, then Emma falling in love with his best friend just hours after agreeing to marry him.

“Okay.” Maxwell kept his voice even and soft, “It’s the same idea though, right? In The Vow, Channing Tatum makes Rachel McAdams fall in love with him all over again.”

Drake groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “This isn’t Hollywood Maxwell, this is our real lives!”

“The Vow is based off of a true story! It has to work, Drake! You and Emma have a beautiful love story, it’s gonna work. You just have to make her fall in love with you again. Let’s recreate some of your best romantic moments! Start thinking! When did you really begin to fall for Emma?”

Maxwell’s idea actually had some merit. Despite pushing Emma away, she’d managed to fall in love with him, so it should be easier when he’s actually trying. Right?

“What do you need from us Drake?” Liam broke him out of his thoughts. He was looking Drake right in the eye. He could see how much it hurt Liam too, but here he was, willing to help.

“Well, the first moment I can think of happened in the Beaumont study.” Drake didn’t want to share more details, he didn’t want to make Liam uncomfortable, but Maxwell probed, “what? In our house? What happened there?”

“We had our first kiss there,” Drake reluctantly shared.

“You had your first kiss the same day I took her on our first date?” Liam asked. Drake awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“We can’t get her to the estate without it seeming suspicious, would Liam’s study work?” Maxwell suggested, changing the topic for which Drake felt grateful. Drake could see Liam repress a flinch, probably imagining worst case scenarios. Neither Emma nor Drake had the heart to tell him just how long their..affair had been going on behind his back, but the cat was out of the bag now.

“I couldn’t.”

“It’s fine with me. Will it work, Drake?” Liam’s voice was strained, his jaw tight. Drake just nodded.

“Then let’s get to work!” Maxwell grinned.

//

Emma was getting ready for the day when there was a knock on the door, followed by Maxwell poking his head in.

“Oh, good, you’re already up, little blossom. This dress somehow accidentally found its way to my room. It was the one you wore to the Beaumont Bash. You should wear it today!”

Emma raised her eyebrow at him, something about his behavior felt off. Besides, Maxwell never suggested Emma re-wear a dress.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I was just feeling nostalgic is all.”

She narrowed her eyes at him but took the dress and decided to wear it, Maxwell did have great taste.

“Thanks.” She was expecting him to leave but she could sense him hovering in the doorway. “Is there something else?” she snapped.

“I think there was something about paperwork that needed to be signed for your duchy. It’s probably in Liam’s office if you want to see.”

She nodded and Maxwell slipped out.

//

Drake paced back and forth in Liam’s study, waiting for Emma to arrive. He was terrified, his stomach twisting and turning in knots. There was no reason Emma wouldn’t show up. Whether she would stay or not, however, was debatable.

Minutes felt like hours. Maxwell promised he would send Emma over. Their plan was pretty hard to screw up, but it was Maxwell.

Just as he had this thought, he heard her soft knock on the door and mentally apologized to Maxwell. He sucked in a breath. She was here. He needed to calm down, he couldn’t look like a blubbering idiot, she’d tear him apart. Breathe.

“Come in.”

She swept into the room and Drake lost his breath again. She was wearing the same dress as that night. No doubt Maxwell’s doing. Drake wasn’t prepared for that though, he could feel himself being wrenched back in time.

“I thought I was here to sign papers? What is this?” Her voice was cold and just like that, Drake was back in the present. He cleared his throat.

“Um, yeah, right here. Liam’s busy.”

She walked over to the desk and Drake came up behind her, his breath hot on her neck as he leaned over to show her where to sign. He could see the goosebumps rise on her skin, at least she still had some kind of a reaction to him.

“Do you remember that night in the Beaumont study together?”

She turned to face him, her lips just inches from his. His body trembled, aching to touch her.

“We found the money for Savannah.” She whispered.

“And I had a hand on your waist like this.” He slowly placed his hand on her waist, giving her time to move away if she wanted to. Pressing her body to his, he prayed she couldn’t feel the tremble. Drake could see her chest stop rising and falling. She was holding her breath, so he continued.

“Then I tangled my hand in your hair and you did the same.” He did just that, tilting her head back so all he needed to do was close the distance between them. Her hands snaked into his hair and Drake’s heart soared. It was working.

“You told me that it was a bad idea. That there was no us.” She breathed out.

“And then you said ‘what about what I want?’ That was it, I was done for, before our lips even touched.” He whispered against her lips before committing to it. He tightened his grip on her waist, adjusting his hand in her hair so his lips fit perfectly against hers. He moaned as she tightened her grip on his hair, but then it was rough, too rough.

She yanked his head back by his hair, forcing him away from her. He involuntarily twisted to loosen her grip on him. She let go and smoothed out her dress. Crossing her arms and popping out her hip, she stared at him. If looks could kill, Drake would be dead right then and there. It was somehow scarier than any look Olivia had ever given him.

“Was this your big idea? Try to seduce me with memories of us? Hope that true love’s kiss would somehow make me fall madly in love with you and we’d live happily ever after?” She mocked.

“You said it yourself that night, there is no us. You had it right the first time, Drake,” she continued.

Drake could have sworn he saw the venom leave her lips with every word. She’d played him for a fool, a lovesick fool.

#drake x mc #drake walker #the royal romance #the royal romance fanfic #trr #trr fanfic #choices #choices fanfic #playchoices #pixelberry #pb #my writing

[gotarcher94]

The Witcher

So I’ve watched the first season of the Witcher on Netflix and all I can say is holy motherfucking shit. That was a good season. 

I wanted to jot down a few things that I liked about the season, bearing in mind that I haven’t yet read the books and have only played the Witcher 2 and 3. I will be using spoilers so consider this a spoiler warning.

(Also this will be a long post)

OK? OK

Henry Cavill

When Henry was announced I gotta admit I had some doubts over the casting. Not because I don’t rate him as an actor but I just couldn't picture him as Geralt. My personal pick was Zach McGowan, known for playing Charles Vane in Black Sails. He had the gruff voice, he looked like the game version of Geralt, and he even had similar hair. Just dye it white and he was good. 

But having seen the show... I recant every syllable of my foolishness.  

Henry Cavill is perfect as Geralt. He perfectly embodies the White Wolf. From his sarcastic sense of humour, to the subtle emotion on his face to the conflict he has while making the decisions he does. Absolutely perfect casting.

Anya Chalotra

Speaking of perfect casting, Anya is an incredible Yennefer of Vengerberg. Like Henry she perfectly embodies Yennefer. Anya plays the evolution of Yen superbly, from her beaten down and almost broken early days to the immensely powerful and confident sorceress she becomes later, she performs both absolutely perfectly.

And to all those who say that Anya is wrong to play Yennefer because she doesn’t “look like her”.... I cannot say shut the hell up loud enough. She was incredible and deserves all the accolades that should be sent her way.

Freya Allan

And rounding out the three main characters, the show is three for three in terms of perfect casting. I loved her independent and driven nature, continuing to keep going on despite all the trouble going her way despite only been about 11 or 12 (i think, not 100%). Her strong bond with both Queen Calanthe and Mousesack is evident, despite the relative lack of screentime devoted to it. I can’t wait to see how both the character and actress evolves over the (hopefully) seasons to come.

Geralt and Ciri

I loved the “the girl in the woods will be with you always” transition in the first episode, that eventually came full circle in the finale with the two finally meeting (with the run and hug scene!). Having seen their bond fully established in the games (I know they aren’t canon) I cant wait to see it develop on screen

Queen Calanthe

Is a badass. End of story. Ruling a kingdom, fighting at the front of every battle, effectively flipping off destiny and law of Surprise and being an incredible role model for Ciri. Absolute awesome character and Jodhi May did such an incredible job playing her.

Yennefer’s backstory

As a game only fan in terms of knowing much about the characters when I went into this season, my knowledge of Yen’s backstory was pretty much nonexistent, as I can’t remember it even being mentioned in the two games I played (of which Yen was only physically present for one). However, the show delved deep into it, and I’m glad they did. It simultaneously made us empathise fully with Yennefer but also established the basis for her desire to grow stronger and be in control of her own destiny and future, and why she was then so frustrated being in the mire of courtly intrigue, not able to grow higher.

The Yennefer and Tissaia dynamic

One of the most unexpected but welcome events of the show was the dynamic that they two shared. It was not the typical mentor and apprentice relationship and I appreciated the change from the norm. From Tissaia’s initial attempts to bring Yennefer to heel before eventually being the one to tell Yennefer to unleash her chaos during the battle at Sodden was great. 

The striga episode

I mean..... just wow. As soon as they mentioned Temeria I had a feeling that it would be the striga, as it was one of the few things that I knew about from the books. And holy shit they did not disappoint. From the investigation aspect, to the fight scene, to the music. It was incredible episode and one that I cannot wait to get back to when I re-watch the series

Battle of Sodden

The main focus of the incredible finale. I had heard of the Battle of Sodden during the games but to see it was something else. A great battle scene combined great fights, solid battle plans and incredibly cool magical skills. And also,during the night scenes, you could actually see what the fuck was happening. See GoT! It isn't hard!!

Vilgevortz

As soon as his name was revealed in the episode, I’m not gonna lie but i may have gone full fanboy. I know a little from what was mentioned in the books and have read a little from other sources about his story in the books and was immensely excited when he showed up. And I cannot wait to see his story unfold on the show and see him interact more with Yennefer and meet Geralt and Ciri.

Jaskier

From what I know, calling him Jaskier (his original name in the Polish stories) instead of the English name of Dandelion was one of the problems people had with the show. And I have to ask... does it really matter? He still acts like him, talks like him, annoys Geralt like him. He is the same character, the showrunners are just honouring his roots. 

And he brought some comic relief to the series in just the right ways, especially in the djinn and dragon hunt episodes. Joey Batey was great.

Music and Cinematography 

Both of them were absolutely fantastic. Every episode looked and sounded phenomenal. I’ve been listening to a few tracks from the soundtrack that have made it onto YouTube on repeat for a while, most notably “Toss a Coin to your Witcher”. However, one track that I really liked but haven't been able to find is the battle theme from the striga fight. If anyone could send me a link to it, I would be incredibly grateful

Fight choreography 

All of the fights this season were absolutely fantastic. Both the human fights and the monster battles. Geralt and Duny vs the Cintrian soldiers, Vilgevortz vs Cahir and (my personal favourites) Geralt vs Renfri and her gang from episode 1. All of them superb and I couldn't have asked for more from the fight scenes. 

Magic

I really like the magic system they set up in this series. Not only is it incredibly diverse (with the finale alone showing us Vilgevortz constantly creating swords, Triss making poison mushrooms grow beneath the feet of the army and Coral wiping out a whole section of the Nilgaardian army) but I really like the idea that it isn't just them tapping into a great power, that there can be a great cost to performing these spells. Not something that a lot of fantasy series do.

Cahir

He was a great antagonist throughout the season and again I know little in specifics about him but I know that he is important to Ciri’s story, so I am looking forward to seeing that develop further.

Geralt and Visenna

I loved the scene of the two of them in the finale, even if it proved to only be a dream/hallucination. The “How do you like my eyes?” line legit gave me chills. Incredible acting by Henry there

Geralt and Yennefer (Yenneralt?, I think certain parts of the fandom have settled upon)

Now, as a game only fan prior to this, my exposure to the relationship between the two of them was limited, as the games only touched upon it in the Witcher 3. Before then it was told that Geralt and Yennefer had an epic love but it was very much tell and don’t show, as Yennefer didn't appear in person until the Witcher 3 and by then CDPR had developed the Geralt and Triss romance story in the Witcher 2. And I’m not gonna lie, I was fully into their romance during my playthroughs. Not that I didn't like Yennefer but I just didn't have the same basis into their bond that the book fans did. 

After Season 1, however, I am fully onto the Geralt and Yennefer ship, having seen it develop as it did.

Methinks it may be time for another playthrough, as well as buying the books.

Things I’m looking forward to seeing on the show in the future 

1. Yennefer and Ciri meeting

2. Seeing Geralt and Ciri bonding more, with some time together at Kaer Morhen

3. Thanedd Island (eventually)

4. Zoltan! 

5. Regis!

6. Vesemir!

#the witcher #witcher spoilers #henry cavill #anya chalotra #freya allan

[deanie1987]

I’m Not Done Talking About Ian and Mickey

I have finally had time to digest season 10, and by digest I mean watch Gallavich scenes over and over and over and re-read fics from seasons 2-7 and generally stare at them fighting in prison and slow dancing at their wedding.  Looking back now, I definitely enjoyed the season even if I wish that we had gotten more and/or different things.  Rather than post one long treatise on every thought I had about the season, I decided to distract myself from the hiatus by posting lots of things and I would love to read everyone else’s thoughts too!  

I’m going to start with my favorite scenes of the season and I realize that they are a little Ian heavy.  I think that’s because Ian had the most to prove this season and if Cam didn’t sell Ian’s love for Mickey then everything else wouldn’t have mattered. We have known how Mickey feels for years and we really needed to see Ian rise to that level and I think he did.  He was on the verge of tears in every other episode and his “redemption” (I HATE THAT I WROTE THAT!!) was the biggest success of the season, at least for me.

Top 5 scenes:

1. 10x3 Mutual ILYs - I go back and forth constantly but for now I think that this is my favorite scene of the season.  Partly because it was the beginning of the Emotional Ian arc which lasted almost the entire season and we needed it.  This scene really started them off on the right foot and was a prelude for things to come. This episode definitely had funny parts (I will never tire of Dork!Ian trying to be cool), and that Love is Love prison was a bit ridiculous, but seeing Ian potentially sacrifice something for Mickey was worth it. We saw glimpses of Old Ian in 10x2, but he really emerged in this scene. On the verge of tears and vibrating with emotion, he finally says what we all know - that Mickey is it for him and he wants to be with him wherever he is. And of course Mickey is there, acknowledging Ian’s love and generally being the most selfless partner ever.

2.  The Debbie/Ian/Mickey scene in 10x12. I just loved this scene so much. The actors have such natural chemistry and Debbie was so soft and it made me very nostalgic for old Debbie and for Monica. And then the way that Ian clung to Mickey during the dance...ugh. And I was not even pro-dance before that. Shame on me.

3. The tux tying scene. THIS is what I had hoped to see all season. Just a real, straightforward scene of them talking about their future in a way that was perfectly them. Of course Ian wants kids with Mickey, of course Mickey will try to make that happen. The way they stared at each other, the way that they talked softly to one another and then gave each other shit.  Perfection.

4. I’m going to cheat and combine the Lip/Ian scene and the Mickey/Ian scene in 10x9. The crutches going in and out of frame was hilarious and I really missed the Ian/Lip dynamic. I loved Lip saying that Ian should marry Mickey and I loved that Lip truly knows his brother. And although it borders on too little/too late, I just so appreciate the fact that the show revisited Ian’s feelings about himself and his worthiness due to his bipolar. Ian has been lost since the beginning of season six and its about fucking time that the show acknowledged that fact and acknowledged that Mickey is what brings him back to himself. We know it, Mickey knows it and every single Gallagher knows it. I wish that it had been explored sooo much more in depth but I can say that about pretty much everything.  This scene was the culmination of a season’s worth of Ian trying to talk to Mickey about his issues, their relationship and his feelings. I loved it.

5.  The elevator/stairs scene of 10x8.  This was Noel’s best scene this season, in my opinion.  I felt every ounce of hurt, betrayal, embarrassment and disappointment and the way that Noel was able to reveal the layers of history in those moments were incredible. As much as it pains me to say, I found some of Mickey’s scenes to be somewhat “off” this season. Some was blatantly the writing (Mickey isn’t stupid you assholes), and I’m not sure if some of it was the direction or Noel just being rusty where Mickey is concerned but this scene was classic Noel/Mickey and it literally made my heart race. 

I feel like I could add five more to these easily but I’ll leave it at that. I’m curious to see how my favorites compare to everyone else’s so please feel free to share!  We’ve got awhile until season 11 unfortunately.

#i'll never be done talking about it #hiatus is so long #i'm so ready for more #shameless season 10 #what does everyone else think? #gallavich

[captainmarvels]

gliding light | one

Summary: Steve’s a little more preoccupied than usual, and gets (literally) knocked back into his senses.

Steve Appreciation Week Day 3 Prompt: Steve, Bruised and Battered

Pairing: (eventually) Steve Harrington x fem!Reader

Warnings: hockey fight, steve dislocates his shoulder, the usual messiness

Word Count: 3011 (sorry!!!)

A/N: first chapter for my college/hockey player steve au series! yay! I incorporated the steve appreciation week prompt into this chapter because what better way for steve to end up bruised and battered than during a fight in the ice rink? anyways, enjoy and lmk what you think! x

masterlist | taglist - add yourself!

As a kid, you don’t have much say in the trajectory of your life as the years go by. Your parents will have expectations; ideals, really. They aspire to see you grow up as they did; be what they once were; do what they once did. They really just want you to be like them. 

And why is that?

Your teachers will emphasize every year that your dreams are what you make them; that you are the captain of the ship named “My Life”, and that you are the sole determiner of the course that ship will take. 

But what happens when others have come aboard your ship, taken control of the steer, and claimed it as their own?

What happens when you can no longer have a stake in where your life takes you?

Steve can always be found leaning against the wall of the gym, staring at the ground, with his hair tied up in a messy bun, and his basketball shorts hanging loosely off his hips.

As you make your way over to him, your backpack strap slipping off your shoulder again and again, you wonder what’s happened with his dad this time.

Because it’s always his dad.

“Hey there, Harrington,” 

“Hey there yourself, missy. Debate team run long?” He glances up at you, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Sort of - Nancy was getting a little too into it again,” 

“When’s she gonna let you be captain?” You shrug in response, struggling to keep a steady hold on the mountain of books you were carrying. 

“Here, let me-” Steve catches the few books that manage to slip of the top with ease, chuckling loudly as you lean against the wall opposite him. 

“I swear, I’m gonna need three backpacks just to carry all these,”

“You can have mine if you want - it’s empty anyways,”

“We still on for homework and dinner tonight?” Steve nods, grinning as he opens up his bag and drops the books inside.

“Whose cooking will I be enjoying later this evening?” He asks as leans towards you.

“Lasagna, made by yours truly! My mom said pizza is on her this weekend, so...”

“Sleepover?” You nod, zipping up the bag and slinging it over your shoulder. 

“Can you drive me to practice Saturday morning then?” The two of you start walking towards the student parking lot as Steve continues. “John and the boys want to run a few extra drills before the first home game next week,”

“I can’t believe I’m gonna lose you to basketball practice so soon, it feels like just yesterday was the end of the season,” You say, kicking the car door wide open with your foot before dropping your backpacks in the backseat.

“Well, technically it was last month. But it’s state finals, baby! We gotta get in A-game shape!”

“I hate when you talk like that, it scares me like nothing else ever has before,” You both burst out laughing as you get into the car, Steve’s hand reaching over to take the car keys from you.

“It’s our junior year, sweetheart. You of all people should know we have to finish off strong. If I don’t get us the state championship, I might as well kiss college goodbye,”

You roll your eyes at him, snatching the keys out of his grasp before he can protest.

“Yes, I know. Regardless, you should still apply and try to get in with other scholarships and achievements besides basketball, Steve. Okay?” 

He nods, eyes closing slowly as he turns to face the window.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

On an early Saturday morning, the last thing you expect to see is your childhood best friend barging into your bedroom, telling you to wake up before he’s late.

“Wha- What time is practice at? It’s a Saturday, for crying out loud!” You throw a pillow at Steve’s face, groaning as you cover your own with the duvet.

“I’m telling you, it’s the finals! C’mon, I can’t be late for this and you promised you’d drive me!”

The whole car ride to Hawkins High, Steve was tapping his fingers on his knees, his eyes focused on the road.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this anxious to get to practice, Harrington. Something up?” You ask as you pull into the driveway, parking just outside of the gym doors. He says nothing, and instead gets out of the car, and moves to open the backseat doors to grab his bags. You lock them.

“Hey, c’mon now!” 

“Tell me what the heck is going on with you first!” 

You look at him sternly, pointing at the passenger seat. Steve sighs, and plops back down, not even bothering to meet your gaze.

“Steve, you know I’m not gonna let this go. What’s up?” He crosses his arms over his chest, leaning his head back against the headrest of the seat.

“My dad… he’s been giving me a bunch of shit lately for coming home with shit grades, no job… he keeps saying I won’t get anywhere if I don’t make the basketball thing work, and he’s always on my ass about my plays and shit after every game, even though Coach says I’m the best Hawkins’ has had in years, and I’m the fuckin’ team captain. I’m just sick and tired of hearing that ‘I’m not good enough’ from him when I’m doing everything I can, you know?” 

Steve’s eyes are shut tight, and you know it’s because he’s fighting back tears. You rest your hand on his arm, saying nothing as you start to count his breaths.

1… 2…. 3…. 4…. 5

“I know you’ll prove him wrong, Steve. You always do. You’re better than he’ll ever be.”

Steve only nods, swallowing thickly as he mulls over your words.

You always know how to make him feel better - especially when it comes to his dad. Ever since you were kids, you always stuck by his side, comforting him and reminding him that he was everything his father was not, and it reminded him that at least he had one person on his team. He was always glad that it was you.

“T-Thanks. And sorry I didn’t say anything before now-”

“No worries. You know I’ll never push. Now get out of my car and show your dad you can take his ass in basketball any day, okay?”

He opens his eyes, smiling as he locked eyes with you. He takes your hand in his and squeezes gently before letting go and stepping out of the car to grab his bags.

As he shuts the door, you roll down the passenger window.

“Need me to swing by later or you good?” He shrugs, looking over the car at something in the distance.

Patting the car roof, he says, “I’ll let you know, yeah?” before heading off into the gym. 

As soon as he loses sight of your taillights, Steve books it.

Running across the street without a second glance, Steve can barely pick up the pace as he tries to keep his bags from slipping off his shoulders. 

Almost there.

He’s almost out of breath, but he finally makes it.

As he drops a bag to the ground, the bus pulls up to the stop where Steve is standing, the tires coming to a sputtering stop as the doors open.

Picking up his duffel, Steve boards the bus, and flashes the driver his round-trip ticket.

Once settled in a seat, he sets down his bags in the one next to him and finally looks out the window as the bus pulls away. 

The sign reading “Now Leaving Hawkins” flashes by, bringing a smile to Steve’s face as he leans back in his seat, eyelids fluttering shut.

Logansport, here I come.

Skates strapped on, helmet secured, and hockey stick in hand, Steve is ready for anything.

Well, almost anything.

He’s already on the ice, squatting in front of the net as he watches the team inch closer and closer with the puck coming right for him.

He hears it before he sees it.

Dodging right, Steve manages to knock the puck off course and straight into the rink wall, some of his teammates cheering loudly behind him as he picked himself up off the ice.

“Nice one, Harrington!”

“What a save, newbie!” 

Steve turns around, and is greeted with congratulatory waves and pats on the back as they make their way back to the box.

Well, almost.

Before Steve can step foot off the ice, he’s being pulled back into the rink by one of the older guys, who’s conveniently surrounded by some of his friends.

“Nick, was it?” Steve asked with a muffled voice, his mouth guard still in place.

“How many times you gonna make me look bad in front of Coach, huh?”

The grip on Steve’s shoulder tightened with every passing second, their eyes locked on one another.

“That’s not what I’m tryin’ to do, man,”

“Sure it’s not. Learn to stop kissing ass man, it doesn’t look too good on you,” He spit on Steve’s jersey before pulling off his helmet.

“I will when you learn to make a hard pass, and stop making it so easy for me to block your shots.” Steve pulled off his helmet and dropped it on the ice, the contact making a lasting sound across the empty arena.

“You’re really in it huh, Harrington? Let’s see what you got,” Without warning, Nick moves head on towards Steve, shoving him hard against the tempered glass boards surrounding the rink. Steve feels the back of his head collide with the glass, and thinks for a moment that he’s about to pass out on the spot. He feels blood trickling down the side of his face, and tries his best to wipe it off with the backside of his glove.

Before he can re-orient himself, Nick pulls Steve to him and punches him right in the jaw, his gloved hand scraping the underside of his jaw just before he hits him again.

Steve lifts up his knee and tries to hit Nick straight in the balls, but misses as Nick moves backwards, pushing Steve onto the ice. Before he hits the ground, Steve grabs Nick by the ankle and yanks it towards him, forcing him down with him, and they both hit the ice with a loud thud.

Before he can get up, Steve gets kicked on both sides by Nick’s friends; he can’t make out their faces as the right side of his face is already starting to swell up from the punch.

Hands suddenly appear on his arms, pulling him upright. Steve can barely make out Nick as he comes towards him, pummeling straight onto the ice again with two swift punches - one to the face, and another to the gut.

Steve lands on his side and winces as he hears the unmistakable sound of his shoulder popping out of his socket.

“Fuck,” is all he manages to get out before losing consciousness.

Flashes of bright white bring Steve back to the land of the living, and he finds himself sitting upright on a hospital bed. He glances down, wincing at the sharp pain shooting down his neck, and finds his arm in a sling, a band of ice packs wrapped neatly around his shoulder. 

Way to go, Harrington.

Before he makes any sudden movements, a doctor appears outside his door, tapping his clipboard with a pen.

“Well, Mr. Harrington, you’re lucky that shoulder injury isn’t more severe.”

Steve laughs awkwardly, barely nodding as the doctor moves closer to his bed.

“A harder push, or a different surface of impact, and we’d be looking at a separated shoulder in need of surgery. You’ll need to stay off the ice for the next four weeks though, I’m afraid.”

“No way for a quicker healing turnaround, Doc?” Steve smiled, wincing immediately from the flare of pain in his jaw.

“No can do, mister. If you want to regain full use of that thing, I suggest you keep your sport activities to a minimum, and stay off the ice. I have a painkiller prescription for you here,” The doctor flashes a piece of paper, “in case the pain lingers. If you dislocate it again, you’ll need to come in so I can re-examine it, alright?”

Steve nods in response, grimacing at the random flashes of pain he was getting from his shoulder and neck.

“Your friend is waiting for you outside; I’ll let her know you’re awake,”

Before he could ask any questions, the doctor stepped out, and was replaced by you. 

Shit.

“Glad to know you’re not dead.” 

“Can this… can we wait until we get home? I promise I’ll explain,” Steve says hoarsely, a weak smile appearing as he tries to appease the anger he knows is boiling over inside of you.

“Explain everything, or I’ll make sure that shoulder pops out again.”

The whole ride back to Hawkins was nerve wracking for Steve; a dead silence filling the car, your eyes focused on the road, your mind focused on the different ways you could kill Steve and get away with it. He was terrified of how upset you were, and he knew you were devising some sort of plan for revenge and honestly? He couldn’t blame you.

You were his best friend, after all. And he, yours.

Of course it pissed you off that he ran off to God knows where without telling you and almost died after a stupid, unfair fight.

This was the first secret he’d kept from you in years, and he just hoped you’d forgive him.

Growing up, he put you through a lot of shit, but you always forgave him, no matter what. Whether he’d just broken your brand new bike, or the time he accidentally elbowed you in the nose and broke it, or the five times you had to call firefighters to your house because Steve accidentally set something on fire.

No matter what, you forgave him. 

But he’s painfully aware that this time around is different, because he lied.

And that’s one of your sacred rules.

No lies.

The day you agreed to be friends, you made a pact that you both swore you’d honor to the grave - dramatic for a pair of five year olds, but nonetheless. You shook on it, and ever since then, it was the one rule left untouched - until now.

Once you pull into the driveway of your house, you help carry his bags into the house.

“Go wait upstairs,” was all you said after slamming the front door shut, and Steve followed directions. 

You tossed his things into the empty coat closet by the bathroom before heading to your bathroom, where you grabbed some rubbing alcohol, cotton balls and some gauze. Then you head off to your room, where you find Steve sitting on the edge of your bed, looking mopey as ever.

After shutting the door, you turn to look at him.

“Well, you better start talking, Harrington.”

You lean back against the door, crossing your arms over your chest as you waited for him to speak.

“This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out but,” He sighed, using his good hand to brush back some hair that was falling across his face. “I- I’ve been training and playing with this, this club hockey team over in Logansport for the last few months and,”

“Months?” You interrupt, scoffing at the fact that he had been lying for months now.

“I swear, I was gonna tell you-”

“When? Before or after you got a life threatening concussion?” Steve laughs sarcastically, shaking his head as he drops his gaze from you.

“Before, I promise. I just- I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision - that hockey was really what I wanted to do before telling you. ‘Cuz once I tell you, there’s no going back, and you know that.”

You want to protest his comment, but bite back your tongue instead. Maybe he has a point.

Supporting Steve’s dreams and ambitions meant making sure he followed through on them. Ever since you were both six years old, if Steve told you he wanted to do, be, or have something, you were right there by his side, championing him until he succeeded. But sometimes he’d want to quit, and you wouldn’t let him.

“Anyways, there’s no point in holding out anymore. I joined the club hockey team because I wanna quit the basketball team this summer, after the finals. That’s why it's been a secret for so long - I had to make sure I could do it, and that I wasn’t setting myself up for failure by joining a team for a sport I wasn’t too sure I’d be good at, or even liked. I know I should’ve told you sooner but I wanted to do this for myself, and-”

“For being one of the brightest people I know, you sure know how to pull some idiot moves, ya goof,” He brightens up at your back handed compliment, and flashes you a smile as you look at one another.

“You forgiving me then?”

“Only if you promise to stop hiding stuff from me,”

“I swear, this was it. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you, honest,” He raises his hand up, chuckling when you roll your eyes. 

“So what’s your big plan then?” You sit down next to him, and cup his face gently, turning his head just enough so he was facing you, and start applying the alcohol on the cuts littering his face.

“Get us the state championship, quit before summer session starts, and start practicing with the club hockey team to get ready for the fall season. Easy, right?” He laughs softly and drops his gaze down to his slinged arm as he winces from the sting of the alcohol.

“You’re forgetting something,”

“What?” He glances up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“How are you gonna break the news to your dad?”

tags: @thorsxodinson @jurassicbarnes @ahoyfandoms @messybitchjuice @bittergoldilocks @marvelismylifffe @cxddlyash @l4life @spidey-pal @000bananaclip000 @iydianight @harringtonsbaseballbat @1-800-gotjunk @cant-decide-at-this-moment  @novaddictx @fragcc @conors-my-boy

@mercedesbarnes @sadhwstudent @myhearthurtsss @madeinthemidnightmemories @nancethebadass @okaybutsteveharrington @coffee-and-stories @multifan-smc @stebehairrington @cassandras-musings 

#dailyharrington #steveweek2019 #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #hockey player steve harrington #steve harrington au #steve harrington fic

[kenkamishiro]

Ishida’s Q&A comments from YJ compilation, Part 6

2014 is an interesting year since that’s when OG ended and :re began.

I said I’d finish this by the end of April, but clearly that’s not the case lol...I’ve given myself a personal deadline of May 10 which should give me enough time to finish it plus give enough time for people to send in their questions. I’ve also decided to make each part cover an entire year instead of half a year since I noticed I get more questions done that way.

For anyone who doesn’t know about the relevant Questions to Ishida contest, please read here. You can start from Part 1 here.

The recent set of zakki:re and interview translations take a lot of time and effort, so if you enjoyed it please reblog or leave a like. Thank you!

2014

No. 1

Just under a month left of this year! What do you want to do in this time you have left?

I want to go to the dentist.

Same here.

No. 2

What new feature do you want cell phones to be equipped with?

Shaking it to charge the battery.

It’d be great if I could charge the battery by just wishing for it.

No. 3

Only a few days remain of this year! What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?

Life of Pi.

I was recommended it by a friend who loves movies. I enjoyed it.

No. 4-5

The final issue of this year!! What was the biggest news for you in 2013?

I got my wisdom teeth removed.

Got four of them pulled out.

No. 6-7

First issue sold in the new year! Please share with us your New Year’s resolutions!

Sleeping early and waking up early.

Good luck!

No. 8

What is the rarest item you own?

The handwritten recommendation I received from Togashi Yoshihiro-sensei.

I’ve got it on precious display even now.

No. 9

Already a month has passed since 2014 has begun! What is the tastiest food you’ve had this year so far?

The Chinese bok choy stir fry in my neighbourhood.

This year the grilled pork from this African restaurant has been the most delicious so far.

No. 10

What is your number 1 most unforgettable anime in your life?

Princess Mononoke.

This year it’s Devilman Crybaby and B: The Beginning.

No. 11

What is the most expensive purchase you’ve ever made?

An LCD tablet, I suppose.

The watch I bought for my editor to celebrate his promotion, probably.

No. 12

What place or object do you want to collect data for the most right now?

Tokyo.

Doesn’t matter so long as it interests me.

No. 13

Hinamatsuri is coming soon! What doll or figure do you want the most?

A half-naked figure of Darth Maul.

Yeah, I bought one. I also remember the one whose leg broke early on.

No. 14

What phrase do you often say without thinking?

When I’ve remember something I say, “Got it.”

When I can’t remember something I say, “Let’s seeee...”

No. 15

What game have you been the most addicted to so far?

Gunparade March.

Bloodborne, I guess.

No. 16

It’s that time of year when plants start budding! What’s your favourite plant?

Tropical pitcher plants.

I’ve never even thought about it.

No. 17

When you stop by a convenience store, what do you usually end up buying?

Drinkable yogurt.

Hot hojicha.

No. 18

Which drama have you gone completely nuts over the most?

Aibou.

Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad.

No. 19

It’s back to school season! What school meal did you enjoy the most when you were a kid?

Walnut buns.

This is when I was living in Koiwa in Tokyo, but I really liked the shortcake there that was called “Kamikoiwa Elementary School cake”. I wonder if they still have it.

No. 20

What’s your favourite four-character compound word that you’ve taken a liking to?

“Mumikansou” (dull and uninteresting).

I was just answering whatever for that. For me it would be “shirimetsuretsu” (incoherent).

No. 21-22

Vacation season is coming soon. What vehicle do you want to ride in the most?

A yacht.

I don’t think that at all.

No. 23

What is your favourite ingredient in sushi?

Engawa.

I do think that.

No. 24

This question may seem out of nowhere, but what do you think you were in your previous life?

A stray dog.

I answered whatever for that one.

No. 25

What materials have you found the most useful when making your current series?

Photos of Tokyo taken by my editor.

Myself, I think.

No. 26

If it was possible, what story would you want to enter the world of?

Star Wars or Hunter x Hunter.

I’d die.

No. 27

It’s time to change clothes for the season! What is your favourite costume or attire (that you can appreciate)?

I think cosplay is amazing.

The question and the answer don’t match up...but is this question trying to expose the authors’ fetishes or something?

No. 28

June 18 is Onigiri Day! What’s your favourite onigiri filling?

Hard-boiled egg.

It’s plum!

No. 29

Which works are you eagerly awaiting the sequel for?

I’m curious about how Star Wars Episode VII will turn out.

It turned out that way.

No. 30

The rainy season is in full blast...what do you eat when you want to feel refreshed?

Soumen.

Probably soba, though soumen is fine too.

No. 31

Which manga character do you want to be friends with?

Tsukiyama.

I can tell you like Tsukiyama.

No. 32

What foods do you eat at night without thinking?

Recently it’s been tofu.

Recently it’s been celery.

No. 33

What’s your favourite attraction at an amusement park?

I’m scared of roller coasters.

The food court I guess.

No. 34

What’s the name of a character who you feel has good fashion sense?

Ei Bi from Kingdom.

It’s because his helmet looks like a shrimp.

No. 35

If you became an entertainer/celebrity for a day who would you want to be?

Shitara from Bananaman.

“That’s right”, huh.

[T/N: Probably one of Shitara’s punchlines during the Bananaman skits.]

No. 36-37

Summer II 24 hour television! What’s something that you can keep doing for 24 hours?

Working on manga.

Hahaha.

No. 38

It’s summer vacation season! What independent research project do you want to do now?

Study anatomy.

Are you feeling ill or something?

No. 39

What’s a mascot character that you like?

Darth Maul.

Kumamon of course!

No. 40

Which foreigners are you paying attention to now?

Orlando Bloom.

The character Jane from The Mentalist.

No. 41

What’s your mobile ringtone that you’ve set up or want to set up?

A rotary dial.

Anything is fine.

No. 42

What quote or proverb do you want to try saying once?

I have the higher ground!

Human life lasts only 50 years, Contrast human life with life of Geten, It is but a very dream and illusion.

[T/N: First quote is from Star Wars Episode III said by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Second quote is said by Oda Nobunaga.]

No. 43

If there was a showdown where you thought, “This is a great match!”, what would it be?

[On break.]

Naruto vs. Sasuke in the valley.

No. 44

Yearly present! If you could accept something what would you want?

[On break.]

Tasty nuts.

No. 45

Autumn is decorated with the colours of black tea! What picturesque scenery/secluded area do you want to visit once?

[On break.]

I think this break period was when I was drawing :re...

No. 46

If you could visit the house of a celebrity once, whose house would you visit?

Gackt-san’s.

Celine Dion’s house.

No. 47

When you see the phrase “last boss”, who comes to mind?

Ultimecia from Final Fantasy 8.

Pepsiman from Final Fantasy 9 is also hard to discount.

[T/N: He means Necron, but JP’s nickname for him is Pepsiman because...he looks a lot like Pepsiman.]

No. 48

Any fantasy creatures you want to be real?

Vampires.

Gods.

No. 49

If you could get your hands on a 3-D printer what’s the first thing that you’d want to make?

A bone sample.

I wouldn’t make it because it sounds like too much of a hassle.

No. 50

Any works that had an amazing ending?

Hoshikuzu Nina.

Amen to that.

No. 51

It’s chilly, any drinks you want because of this weather?

Water.

Hojicha!

No. 52

What group or team do you want to join?

supercell.

The Marvel heroes.

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#Tokyo Ghoul #zakki:re #Ishida Sui #Ishida Q&A #Translations #my translations #i love how he mentioned jane #he watches the mentalist <3 <3

[davetheshady]

may I politely request ⭐dealer's choice director's commentary⭐for pretty much any part of Love is All You Need to Destroy Your Enemies?

Did you mean: infodump about Chapter 5?

We start off in medias res during Pteranodon Attack-Gate from Episode 4: PTA Meeting. Since most of the fic runs parallel to WTNV’s storyline for the first ~two years, the way I narrowed down which events to feature was to read through the transcripts and take note of which ones had Carlos, which ones featured science/magic/time travel-related elements, which ones had weird discrepancies or unsolved details that could be explained by Carlos/science/magic/time travel/all of the above, and which ones I just liked a lot. 

Incidentally, Cecil issues a correction that the winged reptiles in question were actually pterodactyls, not pteranodons, which was then promptly forgotten by the showrunners lol.

"—And then Kelly pulled her hamstring while they were doing the Fixing of a Nail position. I'm trying to convince her that she and Joe should do yoga together, I think it would really cut back on minor injuries and also they both look great in yoga pants. Anything new with you, Carlos?"

"Nothing that compares to... hamstring injuries," says Carlos, from his position on top of the Sciencemobile.

"All right," says Kate, adjusting an enormous pair of mirrored aviator shades. "Then describe the Barstow formation."

Since literal character doubling was such an important part of the plot, I had a lot of fun with thematic character doubling, too. Carlos and Kate (and the other grad students) are actually pretty close in age, and here we see her willing to put herself into danger to get the job done while casually chatting with her colleagues. Also, there’s a nice dose of karma for the books in Carlos having to deal with someone else oversharing details about their relationships, compounded by the fact that unlike his all of Kate’s are actually true. (In nicer doubling news: Kate is the one who gets her degree in science, has functional romantic relationships, AND continues to work in Night Vale, which are all eventually Carlos’ hashtag life goals.) 

"Maybe it was future you," asks Julie, who does not sound appropriately concerned for the potentially diverted course of the Currents of Time. Or for the potentially diverted course of the already unlinear life of Carlos.

This is the first conversation where she’s ‘Julie’ in his mental narration. I enjoyed having her be hilariously unsympathetic to his concerns here, because her priorities are still very different, but it also sets up a baseline. She doesn’t bother worrying about hypotheticals from the weird shit, but actual hard data (like, Carlos not sleeping and having minor breakdowns in her lab) is what prompts her to share reactions besides SCIENCE! and snark.

His stomach roils at the thought of more time travel. "Some kind of illusion is more likely," he says: some person or creature temporarily assuming his form, probably for sinister purposes. He reluctantly adds those weird doubles from the sandstorm to his list of possible suspects, though his dissolved right in front of him in the middle of next March and there haven't been any sandstorms recently.

oh hey haha what’s that

One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is when allegedly intelligent characters ignore obvious plot points so the writer can railroad the story in their chosen direction. On the other hand, it is genuinely difficult to avoid spoiling your plot twists if your main character is actively trying to figure them out. I leaned heavily on “the character has all the basic details… along with so much other information they can’t realistically narrow it down”, combined with some red herrings: an obvious one (illusion magic) and hopefully a more convincing one (time travel as the only relevant plot: it's DEFINITELY involved, but its presence is obscuring another facet of the plot altogether).

There's always a risk that astute readers will figure it out, but, like… so? That just means instead of shocking plot twist reveal, they get an “I KNEW IT!” reveal, which is equally satisfying in a different way. As long as the characters have convincing reasons for not figuring it out, it's hopefully still enjoyable to follow along with them as they wander around in the dark. 

(And just for clarification: that was Doppel-Carlos crashing the town hall meeting when he and Dr. Raith were testing out time vortices.) 

Andre hands him a copy of the Night Vale Daily Journal. “’Look your best to face the void. Smooth-chinned souls are most enjoyed’,” reads Carlos. “‘Burma-Shave.’”

"No, below the ads," says Andre.

1) ‘character reads wrong piece of information in paper’ is a classic goof (“There’s a sale at Penney’s!”) and I found it very amusing to repeatedly attribute it to Carlos, since he’s genuinely trying to locate the important information. Unfortunately for him, he lives in Night Vale and no longer has a filter for “useless nonsense”, because even the nonsense has proven relevant and/or kinda murdery before.

2) Burma-Shave! This was passed down to me as part of our Great American Roadtrip Family Lore (I come from a long line of roadtrippers) and it’s definitely the kind of kitschy 50s detail that fits so well in Night Vale.

"Oh!" says Cecil. "What were you studying?"

"Bioremediation for contaminated pit lakes via sulfur-reducing bacteria," says Carlos truthfully.

Why? Because I edited one of my friends’ papers on it, that’s why. (Birds kept landing on it and dying, which is also a very Night Vale detail.)

When he returns, he finds Cecil standing by the record player with his back against the wall, staring fixedly at Carlos’ vinyl copy of Ixnay on the Hombre.

One of the DF books (I think White Night) had a hilariously high number of characters showing up wearing band t-shirts, and Carlos’ was for The Offspring. (The original file name for this fic was Original Prankster, back when I thought it would be three chapters long.)

“It’s about a wizard stranded in a strange, uncharted desert territory,” [Cactus Judy] says serenely.

Cactus Jane! I decided to make her a recurring character because 1) she’s in a time travel episode (Episode 18: The Traveler), 2) both she and TMITJ had the detail where no one can remember their real name, which seemed significant, and 3) WTNV itself did not have very many recurring female characters at that point. She’s into Shakespeare because I personally knew a lot of relevant Shakespeare quotes, but also as a hint that’s she’s a lot older (and thus a lot more supernatural) than she seems: Shakespeare was a HUGE part of pop culture in the 19th century, particularly in the southwest. Theater companies used to make more money going on tour through states with precious metal mines than they did during their whole season in the big coastal cities, probably because jaded city folks never threw gold nuggets on stage to show their appreciation.

If life is a contest between good and evil, Cecil would be one of the people handing out stickers just for participating.

This is one of my favorite lines.

My plan is fool-proof! It's sheer elegance in its simplicity!

Look, if you enjoyed this fic, WTNV, and/or The Dresden Files, you should probably go watch The Middleman. Yes, I know it’s not streaming, do it anyway. Load up on antivenom and go rent it from your local library.

“Could you [create a time vortex]?""Oh, for sure," says Carlos. "All I'd need would be a couple years to do nothing but work on a highly illegal spell and figure out a way to steal an entire ley-line's worth of power and excise my sense of morality and self-preservation.”

And WHAT are the odds of THAT

It's not that Carlos doesn't like him. It just wouldn't be fair to lead him on when Carlos wouldn't actually—

Well, Carlos wouldn’t mind asking but he doesn’t normally go for—

Okay, Carlos could definitely make an exception for Cecil and—

And—

oh NO he accidentally used logic to make himself admit he has FEELINGS

One of the reasons I love this pairing is that you have Cecil, who is incredibly emotionally open (all the time, on public radio) as a distinct contrast to Carlos, who is so used to putting up a very specific facade that he even does it to himself and then struggles when he doesn't have it to rely on. It creates conflict, but it also means they have very different perspective they can share with each other. 

"Did the earth move for you, too?" says Cecil.

"Bwuh?" replies Carlos.

"At the monitoring station," says Cecil, because right, they're talking about science and not about how Carlos may or may not have accidentally developed a tiny, tiny crush on Cecil, who is standing right in front of him and looking extremely interested in what he's saying and will commit his words to memory and lovingly repeat them for all the world, or at least all of Night Vale and anyone else who received the same odd death curse as Carlos, to hear.

"Oh. Hmm – unh," replies Carlos, then shakes his head. Not talking, that's the way to go. That way he won't accidentally say something he doesn't mean, or worse, something he does mean but probably shouldn't say. Cecil can ask him science questions and he can shake his head yes or no, and maybe refer him wordlessly to supplementary materials, and it will all be very professional and—

"Where did you get your shirt?" asks Cecil. "It fits you so well."

"I'll look at my notes and computer models and see if I can figure out what's going on," Carlos blurts out, and practically runs from the room.

One of the reasons I started writing this fic (SEPTEMBER 2013, BABY god I feel old) was because we all knew Carlos was immensely important to Cecil, but had relatively little information about him, and ALL of it was filtered through our unreliable narrator. So… I just kind of ran with that. 

But on top of the obvious unreliability of “didn't notice Carlos was a wizard from a different series”, I wanted to do it on the smaller scale, too, and put a different spin on the touchstones of their growing relationship that everyone was already familiar with. So this interaction is now a crisis for both of them, and for dramatically/hilariously different reasons. 

“If you’re worried about going native, I’ve got bad news for you, buddy, because you do more chanting than anyone I’ve met.”

Another one of my favorite lines.

“I’ve had to hunt down people I know before, and trust me, it’s not a fun date night!”

Between Molly and fanon interpretations of Cecil, Carlos’ type is apparently 1) weird tattoos, 2) unusually-colored hair, and 3) can kill him

There's a brief hiss from the TV's speakers, and then Cecil says, in a small, forlorn voice, “I don't know if he listens to me, sometimes.”

Carlos puts his head down and laughs bitterly.

I LOVE IRONY 

But even though I wanted to subvert the surface meaning, Cecil DOES still have a point. He got a good look at Carlos’ soul when they first met and still fell in love instantly, but Carlos has a difficult time hearing that because at this point he fundamentally does not believe he’s worthy of that kind of love. In order to truly believe Cecil, he also has to start learning to love and accept himself. (It’s very much a work in progress, but nobody’s perfect.) The title isn’t just meant to refer to romantic love – self-love, friendship, familial love, and unconditional love for the humanity of his trash fire town are equally important, because they all support each other.

hmu for more dvd commentary!

#thusjuniperus #love is all you need to destroy your enemies #Welcome to Night Vale #ask dave #the dresden files #fic #writing