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invisible-storyteller · 8 months

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Everybody wants some (Stiles)

(Also on AO3.)

"Dare," Erica grinned after a moment of suspense.

Lydia rolled her eyes, having anticipated Erica's answer ever since the beta had presented her suggestion of a "fun" game to a very tipsy, and very bored group of college students. It had been the fourth pack night in a row after everyone had finally arrived for their summer break and there were only so many movies they could watch, plus it was still better than Scott's suggestion of spin the bottle.

Speak of the devil.

"Everyone has chosen dare so far," Scott noted with the faintest pout on his lips, clearly disapproving of the humiliating tasks distributed so far.

Erica smacked her lips, giving Scott a taunting smile. "Fine. I changed my mind. Truth."

"Can she do that?" Isaac questioned but Scott only shrugged, not caring about the rules as long as no one else was forced to drink spoiled milk from a bowl like a puppy again.

"Okay, so..." Allison leaned forward, a foreboding shadow casting over her face that Erica met head-on, "If you weren't with Boyd, who would you fuck out of everyone in this room?"

Erica raised a single eyebrow, visibly unimpressed. "Stiles, duh."

It was almost superhuman how quickly Stiles straightened up in an instant, his mind having wandered off to fantasies of a certain socially inept alpha who had excused himself from his own living room as soon as the pack had settled down to play, and now getting jolted back into reality.

"That's boring. Everyone knows you had a crush on Stiles." Malia piped up from where she rested her head in Kira's lap, the kitsune's fingers carding through the locks of her hair absent-mindedly.

"You say that like you wouldn't fuck him if you had the chance."

"Of course, I would," Malia shrugged like it was no big deal.

Stiles, on the other hand, nearly choked on his tongue.

"That's not a surprise, either, you actually dated him." Lydia pointed out, and Stiles could only snap his eyes back and forth between the two girls, trying to frantically grasp just when he had lost track of the conversation.

"You don't have to sound so condescending," Stiles mumbled out eventually, his eyes finally pausing on Lydia.

"Oh, honey, you can't be this oblivious."

And Stiles totally wasn't imagining the knowing looks on his packmates' faces.

"About what?" He asked (damn his curiosity), feeling the usual trepidation that came with the whole 'being in a pack with not-so-mythical creatures' schtick.

Erica only snickered as she cuddled into Boyd's side, mischief dancing behind her thick eyelashes and promising no good. "About how everyone wants to breed you in this pack."

Okay, Stiles definitely choked this time (and Scott may have been a bit too enthusiastic with his back slaps) or maybe he fell asleep and was having the weirdest sexy dream without actual sex happening. Although, Lydia's offended yet conceding glance to the side looked pretty real.

"Wha-at?" Stiles wheezed out very eloquently between two consecutive coughs, and got immediately startled by the fact that Mason was the one to answer.

"Everyone in this pack has been attracted to you at one point," Mason clarified as if it was the most common knowledge in the world. Corey's agreeing nod did not help lift the fog in Stiles's mind at all.

"What."

"Say, Lydia, did you ever think of fucking Stiles?" Erica asked, a sadistic grin spreading wider on her firey red lips.

"Of course," Lydia replied, honest and simple, even flicking her hair for extra effect.

"Since when?" Stiles asked, a little outraged. He had spent many years pining after Lydia, so the fact that she hadn't shared this crucial piece of information with him was a bit of a punch into his teenage self's heart. Oh, and there was that tiny detail that Lydia had a boyfriend.

"Remember when we were hiding in the school from a rogue Peter?"

Stiles nodded, eyes squinting in suspicion as he recalled that dreadful night.

"You remember punching Jackson?"

And just like that, Stiles's jaw hit the ground, funny animation movie sound effects and all that. His chest subconsciously puffed out when he heard Jackson scoff indignantly, and continued to stare at Lydia, feeling like he was seeing her in a completely new light. "Wait, you liked that?! That turned you on?"

"Of course," Lydia parrotted with incongruous disinterest, "Still wouldn't have dated you. But I do enjoy a good display of dominance."

This had to be an alternate universe. Or a hyper-realistic dream, Stiles deduced.

"Okay, that makes... wow, three people who thought about getting all up on this," Stiles said in a daze with a half-aborted gesture to his body. Admittedly, the number was impressive (since he had always assumed it to be zero) but, at the same time, it was far from being the entire pack as Erica and Mason had so confidently claimed.

As if reading his mind, Lydia's sweet voice filled the loft once again.

"Hey, Ally, didn't you consider dating Stiles at one point?" Lydia addressed the other girl out of nowhere, making Stiles turn towards his long-time friend with a look teetering someplace between pure shock and utter horror.

"Yeah?" Allison's uncertain response launched her into a pensive moment, probably rummaging through her memories before frowning in mild amusement. "That was actually your fault I think."

"Wha-" Stiles opened his mouth to say something along the lines of 'what the fuck' but Lydia beat him to it.

"It was before prom," Lydia reminisced with an honest-to-God smile, "You were insufferable and tried to convince me to go with Stiles. I told you that if you think he's such a great catch, maybe you should be the one going with him."

Allison snapped her fingers as if the memory had been at once revealed to her as well. "Oh yeah. I remember thinking that he would be a gentleman in bed."

"Ugh..." Honestly, at this point, Stiles's brain was officially out of order. Dial-up error noise, no signal sign, all that jazz. He seriously didn't think the night could get any more absurd, but then again, this was his life, with the constant motto being 'fuck Stiles's sanity', so what was he expecting, really?

"I would feel so grossed out right now if I didn't have fantasies about Stiles, too," Isaac revealed nonchalantly, and to that, Stiles had to make a face. "What? I just wanted to see if I can shut you up."

"With your mouth," Erica added with a conspiring smirk. Stiles really hated her right now. She was the one responsible for this whole avalanche collapsing onto poor unsuspecting Stiles in the first place.

"I had the same thought," Boyd added, apparently joining in on the 'let's wreck Stiles's world' plan, "Although I was planning to shut your mouth with something else."

Stiles's mouth decided at that moment that it was just going to assume a permanent open position, gaping like a fish out of water (cause that was exactly how he felt), which didn't help his case, in hindsight.

"Stiles does have an oral fixation," Malia chimed in, everyone else nodding along like that wasn't news at all.

"Seriously, guys? This- okay, Scotty, help me out here," Stiles pleaded, unsure of how to feel about everything that had been spoken so far, but still solid in the faith for his quasi-brother, "You did not have sexual fantasies about me, right? We're best friends. Brothers from another mother."

Stiles really wished Scott wouldn't have pulled the world's most apologetic and guilt-ridden grimace at that.

"Remember when we went to that pool party in eighth grade?"

Stiles didn't like where this was going, but yes, he could sort of remember. That day marked the first time Stiles had drunk alcohol - some cheap booze their classmate's brother had stashed somewhere in his room. It was also the summer Stiles's body had finally gained some definition so he wasn't too shy about forgoing a shirt.

"You asked me to put sunscreen on your back?" Scott continued with hunched shoulders like he could hide from his own words, and Stiles's eyes popped open in realization.

"Dude."

"That's why I had to go to the bathroom," Scott scratched the back of his neck with flaming cheeks, "Twice."

"Twice?" Liam echoed, and Stiles imagined wrapping his hands around that little pup's throat and just squeezing.

"Stiles's swim shorts were very tight when he got out of the pool," Scott answered sheepishly, and much like a volcano, the pack burst into loud cheers. Stiles was seemingly alone in his mortification, mourning the loss of his innocence and feeling oddly betrayed.

"Since we're being honest," Oh God, why was Jackson talking?, "I did have some dreams about Stilinski, and in my defence, I was still in the closet back then and it was a small locker room, okay? I'm not responsible for my thoughts after seeing what he's packing."

"I did think about making out with him when we were on a stakeout," Theo added, a bit too eager to be part of the pack in Stiles's opinion.

This was all too much. Probably a bigger conceptual change than the discovery of the supernatural's existence. Stiles couldn't help it, therefore, in the following silence where everyone awaited his final reaction with baited breaths, he realized there was only one thing left to do: laugh.

"Okay, wow," Stiles breathed out between bouts of laughter, almost doubling over himself as he clutched his sides, "Nice joke, guys. Really. Prank of the year. Picking on the single pringle in the pack. Did you rehearse this?"

There was something unsettling in the look his packmates shared.

Malia looked around then with a neutral expression and exclaimed. Loudly. "Raise your hand if you ever thought about kissing or fucking Stiles."

Everybody's hands, without exception (Stiles checked), shot up high into the air like they were pulled by strings (Mason might have had to nudge Liam in the side but he, too, raised his hand with eyes downcast in shame), and it was the most out-of-left-field reaction at that moment, but Stiles suddenly felt a glimmer of hope that maybe... no. That was and had always been wishful thinking. Even if, apparently, Stiles was the epitome of bonability in his peers' eyes.

Right on cue, a deep rumble came from the bottom of the stairs, startling absolutely no one besides Stiles who was still momentarily lost in adjusting his worldview.

"What is happening?"

It was truly fascinating how reluctant everybody seemed to answer now in the face of that gruff voice. Stiles, for the most part, could only swallow past the sound of his own rabbiting heartbeat.

"Just playing some stupid game," Jackson deflected as his hands, in comical synchrony with all others', dropped to his sides.

"What game?" Derek pried, arms crossing across his chest and making the muscles bulge threateningly, not that Stiles noticed.

"It's called... 'Who's thought about kissing Stiles'?" Kira replied with a tamer version of the truth, although Stiles had no doubt that Derek had heard the original statement if his 'what brain-dead moron do you take me for' frown was any indication.

Nervous laughter bubbled out of Stiles, and he clapped his hands for lack of a better idea on how to diffuse the situation. The pack was engaging in some creepy version of a stare-down with their alpha, and from Isaac's uncomfortable squirming, it was evident that the others had felt the uncanny chill of Derek's look, too. Even Stiles had the uncomfortable impression of a noose tangling around his neck, awaiting (perhaps) a sentence or an order, and he was eerily reminded of the early days of knowing Derek. Things had been better in recent years so the current tension in the room was all the more puzzling, especially since the pack rarely acted so unassertive around their alpha.

"Well, at least we know one person who hasn't, right?" Stiles joked weakly in the silence, his smile short-lived against the strangely intense leer on Derek's face.

If anything, their alpha's features hardened at the words, his (thankfully still normal) eyes blazing with a heat that Stiles had never seen outside the throes of battle. It was doing some very ill-timed things to Stiles.

Unsurprisingly, Lydia was the first to stand up, the light shake of her head accompanied by a soft "Oh, Stiles" before she made the smart move and left, rousing everyone else into action. Derek kept glaring at the pack until they dribbled out one by one, some sending Stiles encouragement (like Erica with her thumbs up) but ultimately abandoning him in the loft with a displeased alpha to handle. Stiles gaped after his traitorous friends, arms stretched open in disbelief and no clue about anything that had gone down so far. If there was a way to say "???" out loud, Stiles would have done that right then and there.

"Wha- guys?" Stiles asked just as the metal door violently slid shut. It was thunderous in the otherwise empty loft.

He whipped around swiftly and poked his thumb in the direction of the exit because that felt like the next logical thing to do when a murderous-looking werewolf began to move towards him.

"I guess that means pack night's over so I'll just... Umm..."

Stiles could have sworn that he heard a growl before Derek's eyes bled into ominous red, and it was a testament to how fucked up Stiles's self-preservation instincts had become over the years that those weren't the wolfish features that had Stiles's brain melting into syrupy goo. No, that achievement could only be attributed to the sharp fangs poking out from behind Derek's pink lips, and Stiles was like 95% sure that "How would those feel buried in my skin?" was not a normal thought to have in this kind of situation.

"Has any of them touched you?"

Stiles shook his head - you know, once he had enough blood there to comprehend the question - and his hands came up unwittingly to put some barrier between him and Derek. "Hold on, what? No! It wasn't that kind of game- oh well, some of your pups were certainly touching in ways that I tried really hard to ignore- hey, you should talk to them about that! You know, privacy, I'm sure you heard... about... that..."

Derek's eyebrows gradually sank lower during his rant while Stiles's mouth slightly opened to help regulate his breathing (and why was that so hard all of a sudden?). Something in Derek's look made Stiles itchy to speak, like he had to defend himself for some reason. "It's not like any of them would actually want to fuck me- Hey, what's with the looming, dude?"

Derek's eyes narrowed wordlessly onto Stiles's chest where the human's heart rate spiked from feeling the solid surface of the door hit his back. He hadn't noticed how fast Derek was crowding in on him, and something about that fact made Stiles think of one of those National Geographic documentaries. You know, where the gazelle gets mauled.

"Dude, if you want me to leave, just say so. You don't gotta go all Michael Myers on me-"

"Would you let them?" Derek slurred around his fangs, eyes meandering like he was trying to catalogue all of Stiles's (very straightforward and very communicative) reactions, "Would you let anyone in the pack fuck you?"

Stiles shook his head so fast, he almost felt dizzy afterwards.

Derek's eyes faded back to green then, and he withdrew his body heat that Stiles hadn't even taken note of up until that point. With the proximity confiscated, Stiles felt a tinge of disappointment as well as a buttload (hah) of confusion - the same emotions somehow getting reflected back at him in Derek's eyes before the werewolf sculpted his face into his usual neutral look.

Stiles had never had a more life-changing lightbulb moment before (previous truth or dare game included), and he felt the urge to facepalm at himself.

"I mean, it depends..." Stiles trailed off, Derek's hostile yet curious eyebrows making a reappearance. "I, um..."

Instead of bothering with words, Stiles licked his bottom lip as a test and delighted when Derek's eyes followed the movement with failing restraint. With a sudden burst of confidence, he pushed away from the door and violated Derek's personal space as much as he could get away with without actual touching.

"Raise your hand if you have a crush on Derek Hale.

Derek frowned, his eyebrows doing some weird high jumps when Stiles sneaked a hand up into the air and wiggled his fingers for emphasis. This time, when the werewolf's eyes caught his, they were consumed by darkness instead of alpha red but were no less promising. And when Derek grabbed his wrist and yanked him forward, literally tripping Stiles into a kiss, that was something Stiles was for once expecting and welcomed with an eager moan.

As it turned out, nobody wanted Stiles as much as Derek Hale did.

And out of all the reveals that day, that was the only one that truly mattered to Stiles.

#sterek #original: sterek fanfic

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overthinkinglotr · 1 year

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People keep insulting the Amazon Lord of the Rings show by comparing it to fanfiction when really it's the EXACT opposite of fanfiction! It's so interesting/awful because it's like the ultimate ANTI-fanfiction! I was talking to someone the other day and wasn't aware that lots of people don't know about the insane complicated rights issues happening behind the scenes of the Amazon Show but it's wild. To give a quick summary of the Battle of the Five Rights Issues, as I currently understand it: 1. Amazon only has the rights to make a show about the pre-LOTR era as described in the Lord of the Rings books-- primarily in the appendices of Return the King, where a handful of pages give a brief timeline of some events that happened before the stories. In practice this means they are unable to use nearly all of the characters, places, and events people are familiar with when they think about Middle Earth. They have to make up everything out of whole cloth-- from characters to events to settings. This is either because of timeline reasons or for legal reasons or for both. Whenever they do manage to scrounge up the rights to something you might even vaguely remember (like Mithril) they announce it with enormous fanfare like they're a marvel movie introducing an avenger.

(Parenthetical: Another weird thing I noticed is that the series features practically zero quotes from Tolkien. I only counted about like 4 lines that were edited versions of lines from the books? While this is just a wild tinfoil hat theory, It does feel to me like there might've been some kind of limitation on the amount of Tolkien's words they were allowed to use, as well as the obvious limitations on characters and plot points and etc. The show has the rights to so few things and always REALLY wants you to know when it has the rights to something. It's desperate to remind you of the original books. You would think that, when it's unable to rely on familiar characters or places or events or plot points or music or etc, they would rely instead on Tolkien's really recognizable prose/poetry/language to form an emotional connection to the original stories. After all, language is the heart of Middle Earth, the author's love of language is the reason the world was created, and the unique prose of the story is kinda the soul of why it's memorable. And again, they theoretically have the rights to everything mentioned in the original trilogy right? Theoretically? So it's really odd that they don't use almost any of the language, unlike basically every other adaptation. It might just be a weird writing decision, but it's so strange that it really makes me feel like they were limited or at least dissuaded from including lines from the books.)

2. Amazon is legally Not Allowed to feature things that were mentioned in the Unfinished Tales or the Silmarillion, despite the fact that those are the books that contain most of the stuff about the era they're theoretically adapting. This leads to a bunch of really weird stuff where they introduce things you'd only care about if you read the Silmarillion, but can't include any of the things that would actually make you care about it. Like people who Aren't deep into the lore have literally zero emotional investment in Celebrimbor, but people who ARE deep into the lore know that you can't reference any of the reasons they care about it. 3. Amazon's series is NOT part of the same canon as the Peter Jackson/New Line Cinema films. They're not. However they obviously want to trick people into thinking they are because those movies are popular and a prequel to them would make money even if it sucked (see the Hobbit films.) But again, New Line Cinema still wants to make its own LOTR content based on the slivers of rights they've managed to grab onto, and don't want Amazon to step on their toes. So IIRC Amazon actually made a deal with New Line Cinema that they were allowed to imitate their movie franchise's aesthetic (to keep the brand popular and in the public eye)........ BUT if New Line Cinema ever felt like Amazon was infringing too much on their territory, they could step in and stop it. So the show just sorta looks and sounds like a bland knockoff of the New Line films, because that's all they're legally allowed to be XD. Like they're supposed to look/sound just enough like them to trick you, but they're not legally allowed to include the specific things from the PJ films that would actually make you feel nostalgic for them (like the famous musical leitmotifs.) 4. Part of the deal was that the Tolkien Estate could step in and change anything in the show if they felt it wasn't true to the lore-- which is ridiculous because again, Amazon basically doesn't own the rights to any of the lore so they're just making stuff up anyway. From what I can tell it seems like this basically means the Tolkien Estate can arbitrarily veto any creative decisions based on whatever they've decided “Tolkien would've wanted,” which obviously limits what Amazon is able to do (and likely prevents them from actually criticizing the awful problematic elements of Tolkien's worldbuilding)

5. Ok I don't have a fifth one. SO BASICALLY: Yes, the Amazon series is about a bunch of original characters in almost completely original settings featuring original events and original plot points that (for the most part) doesn't even include any of Tolkien's actual words, and also isn't affiliated with and doesn't include the recognizable things like musical motifs from the New Line Cinema films. But that doesn't make it fanfic. Because fanfiction is when you take another's person's characters and stories and write your own weird personal take on them, even if you don't legally own it. Who legally owns the copyright is irrelevant in fanfiction. Fanfic it's about writing a story with the characters and world you love, about transforming a story you're passionate about even if you don't legally own the rights. Amazon Rings of Power is what happens when an entire show is completely written around what you legally own the rights to. Every aspect of it only exists as an elaborate tap dance around copyright infringement. Again, I think the Amazon series is more interesting as "a study of how corporations/megafranchises can do massive harm and also weaken our ability to create good art" than it is as a tv show, alskdjfsdlf.

If fanfiction is "writing something you love regardless of whether you own the rights" then Rings of Power is "writing whatever fits within the extremely narrow box of the rights you happen to own." And that makes it....a very strange thing to exist! It’s kinda a shining example of how giant media monopolies and copyright laws designed to benefit them end up hamstringing everyone’s ability to create meaningful art, even the corporations themselves.

#anti rop #amazon #lotr #the was written under incoherent cold brain don’t @ me

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lovelettersforthedamned · 5 months

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i’m not brave enough to actually verbally request this but this link explains 🫣

https://www.tumblr.com/uncharted4bliss/733772501952380928/the-world-needs-more-premature-ejaculation-smuts

i'm thinking...very, very hard LOL

nsfw below the cut...

tasm!peter parker

he quite literally came from just the slightest graze over his heams when you two were having a very heated make out session.

his heightened senses are to blame tbh.

he tries to hide it at first, but you always know when he’s cum.

his cheeks get red, and his eyes wander to try and avoid your gaze (i need him so bad it’s so not funny anymore)

joel miller–jackson era

this man hasn’t been touched in so long, let’s be honest.

now that he’s in jackson, he can finally let his guard down…especially with you.

he’s grinding into your warm core, you two are both fully clothed. the night just starting.

the friction sends him over the edge.

joel gets embarrassed, and he starts to apologize. you quickly cut him off, letting him know that it’s cute that he can’t help himself (which he doesn’t take lightly…aka he fucks the attitude out of you).

pattinson!bruce wayne

poor baby has been so stressed lately.

he needs you so bad, and you know this. letting him relax for the night.

he’s whining as you sink onto his cock.

you rock back into him for the second time as you feel it.

his cum is shooting into you, there’s no doubt about it.

he’s also very apologetic, but you remind him that tonight is all about him and that he has nothing to be sorry about.

matt murdock

matt is very similar to peter when it comes to heightened senses, except for the fact that matt’s is magnified by one hundred.

he’s eating you out when it happens because matt is a munch (duh).

just the taste of you has him cumming on the sheets.

he’s not even embarrassed (man whore).

he’s too focused on your upcoming orgasm to put his needs before yours.

din djarin

my man is extremely touch starved.

i think that it’s the little things that drive him crazy.

a little kiss on his neck, you finger trailing up and down his arm…things like that.

so when he gets to experience your touch fully, he can’t handle himself.

you’ve been pumping his cock for like a minute max, but as soon as your warm mouth sucks on his neck, his cum coats your hand.

he’s bucking into your hand, needing more even though he just came.

din is breathless, he’s too dazed to care about anything. he just wants you.

--author's note: oh this is...so good. I AM A SLUT OKAY?? I DONT CARE!!! i love my boyfriends!!!!! don't forget to like, comment, and reblog to support your writers. my asks/inbox is open!!! send me more things so i can be silly and feed into both of our delusions:))) ok, bye ily<3333

#tasm!peter parker smut #joel miller smut #pattinson!batman smut #matt murdock smut #din djarin smut #oh this fucks

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m1ssunderstanding · 2 months

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Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 2.3

Yoko, you're hilarious. Sirens going off in her brain. “Alert! They're into childhood bedroom crush confessions territory. Redirect! Redirect!”

But also I find them so ridiculous. All the men in this. Is it just a case of men always assuming women are talking more than they are? Because I am definitely not hearing Yoko talking for John here. Or is this a rare case?

Paul’s scouse getting progressively thicker as the argument intensifies. Trying to finish his point as John's interrupting him. “But. Bot! Boot!! I do think –”Ugh it's so sexy. Sorry, anyway.

Paul's pep talk to John is super cute, but what does he mean, exactly? “we would actually all have dug to see you kick that telephone box in.” What is this metaphor? What does he want John to break? Or does he just mean John should act out more?

Okay but in this interview, she's definitely doing 90% of the talking even when the interviewer specifically asks just John. So if that's how they are in meetings or whatever then okay I could see that being frustrating.

Ow. Fuck. Hate that moment.

John: another Lennon/McCartney original entitled “All I Want is You”. Paul: Allan Wanna Too . . . Al Aronovitz. John: Al Aronovitz if you'll Aronovitz. We'll both Aronovitz together. Ugh sometimes you can just hear the voices in their heads being like “no don't tell him you like his song, that's pathetic! God, you're such a loser for even thinking it.” And sometimes . . . It's this. There's no in between.

John knows if Paul's singing “Darling” he's talking to him. Look at his expression as he's watching Paul sing “stand by me Darling, Darling.”

“Dig it” is actually insane. Paul: if you want it, you can get it. You can get it if you can dig it up. John: I can hardly keep my hands still. John: if you want it all you gotta do is ask for it. Paul: (intermittent with John, starts a crescendo of “yeah. Yeah! Yeah! YEAH!” and “want it. Want it. Want it. Want it.”) John continues: Nicely. Say pretty please and you're gonna get it. You're gonna get it alright, you're gonna get it. This time you're gonna get it good!

The looks as they're making fun of something important to him. Poor George.

See and here's the thing. If George knows basically what happened in India (which from this quote that's what I'm deducing) then Paul knows. You know?

Okay you know the “I love you, blue” moment from Get Back? I was feeling so devastated for John that there was no response to that and someone very smart pointed out in the tags that this moment could be interpreted as Paul's coded reply which I think is a lovely idea. And seems legit especially since John responds with song lyrics.

Paul: no that's good, that one. John: okay, tick it. Paul: I Love that one. John: thank you. Paul: I really do. John: I enjoy it too sometimes.

Peter Jackson why didn't you include these bits in your film? Huh? Huh? Was it because it was too homosexuality for you?

John's voice singing “you can imitate anyone you know” over teeny clips of Paul doing about fifty different impressions. It's so phenomenal.

John's “pleeeeeheeeease” actually makes me want to cry. He's begging with everything he's got. It's like he's a baby, really truly, and it physically hurts. If I was the one he was talking to in that song, I don't know if I could survive.

But Paul is sure. They're stuck. He can't give John what he wants.

Yoko tries to give John a kiss and he's so harsh. “Stop it!” If my boy ever talked to me like that . . . Let's just say I wouldn't be sitting with him at work anymore.

And then he's laying with his head in her lap, laughing madly with Paul. See what I mean? If Paul would just let John lay in his lap, I guarantee Yoko would not be there.

A coded exchange PJ left out. You can tell when they start to talk in code just by their tone. Suddenly they're a bit more even-keeled, a bit slower, clearer in their speech. Paul: achieve something every day. It may in theory sound silly, but . . . John: in practice . . . Paul: it's even sillier. But in practice, it's all there is. John: this is where it's at. Paul: this is where it's at unless that is where it's at. John: this is where it's at now. Paul: teamwork. A good defense. John: you play ball with me and I'll play ball with you. Paul: could be learning something instead of this you know.

There's a reason Let it Be is played at funerals, folks.

Is it just me or has Paul literally never looked uglier? Linda's a babe, though. John and Yoko both look cool and hot ASF.

Again, the song choices. “Goodbye (Paul's Version. From the Vault.)” Played over the double wedding footage? Okay. Goodbye, my love.

#paul mccartney #the beatles #john lennon #mclennon #ringo starr #george harrison #yoko ono #linda eastman #understanding lennon mccartney #ulm

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novelmonger · 2 months

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Some highlights from the Director/Writer Commentary of The Return of the King with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh:

As they mentioned in TTT, they were originally going to put the Smeagol vs. Deagol fight as a flashback during the Dead Marshes. Before they decided to use it to open RotK, their placeholder idea for a scene to open RotK was to do a sped-up helicopter shot from the Paths of the Dead, across the plains of Edoras, to the Golden Hall where Aragorn wakes up from a nightmare (and then goes and talks to Eowyn). Very glad they went the direction they did!

In the final shot they used when Smeagol takes the Ring out of Deagol's hand, the actor playing Deagol actually blinked, but they liked Andy Serkis' performance so much, they had Weta go in and freeze Deagol's eyes so they could use the shot XD

You know, I forget sometimes that they didn't even have Saruman in the theatrical cut at all. Boggles the mind.

In the scene where Aragorn comes out of the Golden Hall and goes to stand next to Legolas, who's looking out at the night...Viggo and Orlando weren't in the country at the same time, so they shot them separately and then put them together @_@

You know, I never thought about this before, but when Gandalf touches Pippin's face, they had to make sure his hands looked extra big! So they used an actor called Big Paul, who had the biggest hands they could find, and Ian McKellen directed him for how to move his hands in the shot XD And Big Paul is the Rohan guard who gets shoved aside when Merry and Aragorn rush up to the top of the wall to watch Gandalf and Pippin leave!

THEY SHOT A SCENE OF LEGOLAS TALKING TO TREEBEARD ABOUT THE ELVES LEAVING MIDDLE-EARTH?!?!?!?!?!?! :O Originally, it was going to link the Isengard scenes to the scene of Arwen and the other Rivendell Elves going through the forest, but then because of all the Edoras stuff in between, the connection was lost. They also said something about Legolas reciting a poem! And joked again about putting it into the 25th anniversary edition. THAT TIME IS COMING UP, PETER JACKSON!!!! I WANNA SEE THIS SCENE!!!!!!

a;lkdsjs;kdfljds;fjl NOW THEY'RE JUST TEASING US. They talked about a "library scene" during the whole sequence where Arwen goes back to Rivendell and confronts Elrond about how he saw her son, etc. They wouldn't say what happened in the "library scene," but talked about how they should include that in the 25th anniversary edition too. a;ldkfjs;dkfljsd;kfljdslfk

The people on set who had a crush on Sean Bean were called "Beanstalkers"! XD That's the best; every fan to this day ought to call themselves that!

Similarly to the scene with Legolas and Aragorn, the little bit with Legolas and Gimli as everyone's getting ready to leave Edoras was filmed separately because Orlando and John weren't in the country at the same time. So they filmed Legolas' shots with Brett, John's scale double, then filmed John's shots later, filming both of them against greenscreen. Then they took some unused footage from the Edoras set and put it in the background. It just boggles my mind how many of these cobbled-together scenes there are, because it feels so much like all the characters are together in the real location!

RED ALERT RED ALERT THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!! They mentioned Beregond!!!! 8D When talking about why they put in the scene where Pippin and Faramir talk (when Faramir says the uniform Pippin's wearing was made for him when he was a child), in order to forge the connection between them that will ultimately lead to Pippin saving Faramir's life, they talked briefly about Beregond! They describe him taking Pippin under his wing, showing him about the city, and called the relationship between them "quite sweet" :3

Another little connection between Pippin and Faramir I don't think I've ever thought about before, that apparently Billy Boyd thought about when doing these scenes, is that Pippin is the only son of the Thain of the Shire, so there may have been a certain amount of pressure and expectation on him. Obviously, he's so young and probably didn't spend too much time worrying about that while scampering about the Shire, but maybe that's something he thinks about while watching the way Faramir and Denethor interact. Maybe a contrast to the way he would interact with his own father, maybe a reminder of the way he would be scolded? Hard to say, but it's interesting to think about.

Uuuuuuughghghg, so frustrating to listen to them talking about the scene on the steps where Frodo sends Sam away DX No matter how many times and how many different ways they explain why they did it, the explanations never quite make sense to me. "We needed there to be more tension." WHY WAS IT NOT TENSE ENOUGH THAT THEY WERE GOING INTO THE LAIR OF A HUGE EVIL SPIDER?! "There wasn't really anything happening on the steps otherwise." YEAH, BECAUSE YOU PUT THE WHOLE CONVERSATION ABOUT STORIES IN THE PREVIOUS MOVIE! Also, why not just cut from one or two shots of them climbing this awful staircase to a shot of them entering the cave? "There needed to be a payoff for Gollum's scheming." WHY WAS GOLLUM BETRAYING THEM TO SHELOB NOT ENOUGH OF A PAYOFF?! "We knew InStInCtIvElY that Frodo needed to enter the cave alone." WHY? WHY?! I've never understood that. They get separated eventually in the book, so why not just ramp up the tension of that in the movie, instead of making the characters so OOC? "We knew it would shock readers of the book, and if we'd changed that, what else might we have changed?" You know...I really, really love these movies, and I appreciate what these three were able to accomplish so much...but sometimes I kind of hate them too -_-

The horses didn't want to walk down the hill on the cobbled streets of Minas Tirith, because their steel shoes were so slippery on the stones. So they all had to be re-shod with rubber shoes. What were horseshoes made of back in ye olden days, though? Iron? Did people run into the same problems back then?

I never really noticed this before, but Aragorn never wears Anduril on his belt! He straps it to his horse, and every time you see him with it, he's just holding the naked blade. This is because they made Anduril so long it was really hard for him to wear it from his belt or to pull it out of the scabbard in a natural way XD

The aerial shot of all the Rohirrim leaving Dunharrow was originally shot to show Gandalf's cart heading into the Shire, but since they didn't use it for that, they repurposed it for RotK!

To get Elijah Wood to foam at the mouth when he's stung by Shelob, they gave him two Alka-Seltzer tablets to put in his mouth and work up some foam with his saliva. I've always wondered how they do that sort of thing in movies, but no one's bothered to explain until now....

Sean Astin's audition scene was holding Frodo after Shelob ;A; Apparently, they (or at least Philippa Boyens) were a little skeptical that an American actor would be able to do Sam's character right, but actually a lot of the English actors who auditioned for the role had a hard time with the Shelob aftermath scene, but Sean nailed it :')

Other than the close-ups, they used a dummy for Faramir on the pyre most of the time. Now I'm just imagining John Noble crouching on top of the pyre, cradling a dummy XD

The first Orc that Aragorn kills on Pelennor fields is played by his son Henry! XD

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME. They actually filmed Sam pushing past the sort of psychic barrier of the Watchers at the gate of Cirith Ungol, but they didn't put it into the extended edition! I love that part. Like...I'm not even sure why, but I've always thought that was such a cool little detail, and I've always been a bit bummed it wasn't in the movie, though I was thrilled to see the actual Watchers at least there as a sort of homage. And all along, they'd actually filmed something for that after all and I never knew! :O

You know, I never thought about it before, but it makes sense that they had to replace the sky digitally in a lot of scenes in Mordor, because of course when they filmed it, the sky wasn't always completely cloudy, but Mordor needs to have a complete cloud cover at all times.

When Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens first saw the footage of Sam carrying Frodo up Mt. Doom, they sent a fax (lolol 1999/2000 technology) to Sean and Elijah. They made the first page look all formal and official, and then on the second page it just said, "You made us cry." :')

Andy Serkis refused to have Gollum stand on two feet until the scene in the Crack of Doom. There were a few times that PJ directed him to lurch onto his feet or something, but Andy wouldn't do it. He wanted to show the difference in Gollum physically when he has the Ring again. What a cool detail!

Originally, the whole part where Frodo's hanging off the ledge and Sam is begging him to reach for him happens after the Ring is destroyed. It's really interesting to consider the slight nuances of how different that would be. The final version makes it almost seem like the Ring is still calling to Frodo, like he wants to fall into the lava and join it, whereas originally it was more like "I've lost the Ring and now I have nothing left to live for."

PJ made a sweet comment in the scene where everyone bows to the four hobbits: "This is a moment where there's always a huge sniffle in the audience when the movie's going, and it's usually me." XD

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! They shot scenes of what happens to the other characters when the hobbits return to the Shire! There is footage out there somewhere of what Legolas and Gimli do, what happens with Faramir and Eowyn!!!! ;aldkfjsd;fkldslfkjd 25th anniversary edition LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

#lord of the rings #lotr

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sourmiguel · 20 days

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something just like this by allhalethekings (wc10899, general)

Summary: “Hey, did Peter talk to you yet about your new song?” He scrunches his forehead, fingers twitching towards the laptop subconsciously. “No? Why should he? I already told him it shouldn’t be on the market.” Cora snorts. “It’s cute you thought that would work. He already spoke to Jackson Whittemore about it.” Derek’s stomach sinks. This song is private and to find out that it might be in the hands of someone like Jackson Whittemore? Jackson fucking Whittemore? His contempt for them must have shown on his face because Cora smirks. She’s a bitch like that. “Stiles wants that song so Peter already set up a meeting. Have fun!” What the actual fuck. “What the fuck is a Stiles?” Derek asks helplessly.

Musician!Derek is adorable, and I absolutely love the storyline of this one. Everyone fits into this little 'verse so nicely, and the Sterek of it all is also precious.

#fic rec #sterek #sterek au

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slashingdisneypasta · 4 months

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MultiVillains x Reader || Reactions

Topic: You move into an apartment in a dodgy neighbourhood.

Characters Included: (Rarin'-to-Fuck) Buck, Dr Peter Andover, Erik Destler, Freddy Krueger, Bonus!Jason Voorhees, Ian Essko, Bonus!Madame Blavatski, Inkubus, Jim Bickerman, Bonus!Reba, Doom Room's MC, Minister Kratski, Stuart Lloyd, Wayne Jackson, Bonus!Norman Tyrus and Bonus!Dale Acton.

Tagging: @ghouletka , @grav3yardgirl , @marinerainbow , @masqueradeball , @thecourtofgraywaves , @yesthetrashbin and @your-mxnd-is-mxne .

Rarin'-To-Fuck Buck: *Stays right by the window where he can see his car so it doesn't get stolen* "Uh... nice place... " (You: Thank you! I was so jazzed to find it on the market!, it has a dishwasher and everythin- ) "I was kidding Y/N this place is a fucken dump. Lets go- "

Dr Peter Andover: "... no." (You: What. But- ) "We have rooms at the clinic, you can stay there." (You: I cant live at the clinic- ) "Ohhh yes you can."

Erik Destler: "Oh, this is near to the brothel I used to- Ehem. I mean, Y/N this is a very nice, uh... home... you found, here... " || He wants to sweep you away but also he doesn't want you questioning him on that first bit XD So I guess he's just gonna have to stalk you all the time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ With love. For your safety.

Freddy Krueger: "You couldn't find an actual house?? Oh, and wouldja look at that! Guys with guns. *Waiving out the window* Hey fellas- " (You: Newsflash Fred its not the 60's anymore old man and you cant just b u y a h o u s e !! And put your hand down- )

Jason Voorhees: *Nope. No- Jason will not let you stay here XD He takes one look around, picks you up, and leaves.*

Ian Essko: "What filthy-fucking-hell... Oh! Wait wait wait- " (You: Don't you dare take out that black light Ian.) "What? Afraid of what you'll find in this house of horror!??"

Madame Blavatski: "Oh- this is nice. Lovely. I lived in a home just like this in my stripping days in Russia! Very lovely, very good. And you have drug dealers just two doors down, which is convenient. I already visited, they're very nice boys, and I bought you welcome-to-area 'blow'- da? They even gave discount!" *head pats*

Inkubus: *He's very calm, listening to you talk about it and show him all around, until the very end* "Y/N, love, may I ask something of you right now?" (You: Oh- sure? ^^) "Wonderful. Uh, don't be here between eleven and 3 tomorrow." (You: Why?- ) "Mmm, no particular reason... do you think these beams are good and flammable?" || If it is not clear- the man is going to burn your apartment building down so you don't live here, anymore.

Jim Bickerman: *He's been walking around peering out the windows shaking his head. When he finally looks at you waiting for his thoughts, he flashes a big smile.* "We're going gun shopping." (You: Oh no we are NOT- )

Reba: (You: So! ^^ What do you think?) "... well I noticed the police station a block away, I liked that feature."

The Doom Room's MC: "Well its better then my place, at least."

Minister Kratski: *not getting outta the limo*

Stuart Lloyd: "Y/N I saw some hooligans just down the street with switchblades. I don't think this area is safe." (You: Oh don't worry, I have a plan! ^^) "*Genuinely relieved* oh, great. Wh- what is it?" (You: I got these really big ass boots from the charity store- and I'm going to keep them just outside my door so everyone walking by thinks a lumberjack lives here!) "... ... Y/N- "

Wayne Jackson: *He's very quiet. Just wandering in and out of rooms, lookin' around* (You: ... Wayne, is everything okay?) "... preeetty sure I lived here in the 70's. Cant be sure, though." (You: Oh- ) *Pulls an open door away from a wall* "Ah! I did! Heheh, I made that w in bullet holes."

Norman Tyrus: "... no." (You: Norman- ) "Nope." (You: Not another place, Norman- ) "You're moving. You're not staying here." (You: I'm gonna stop showing you my new places.) "How about ya just find a place that doesn't have bullet holes in the front fucken door?" Dale Acton: "OH!!! I know those guys upstairs, I used to buy coke from them a couple years back! Until a deal fell through at least... hey, don't tell 'em you're with me. You'll be fine. We probably shouldn't be seen together, though, so uh... bye babe- "

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beardedmrbean · 2 months

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Zoomer Huey, I tend to see people saying why Gen z don’t have sex much.

Holy

Fucking

Shits

These journalists surprisedly have WORSE self awareness than there boomer relatives

Here a hint https://x.com/swannmarcus89/status/1762582001507323991?s=46

And gender dynamics are…nuked in the fields they are surveying. Women and girls are told that all men are predators and misandry is left unchecked

Also, why Hollywood act surprised about the sex abuse?

We all heard about the casting coach, and how suspiciously people from working class backgrounds like Micheal Jackson (yes his dad had his music connections. But essentially mj was a slave and was arguably was the first black child star unless I’m missing someone) and Walt Disney (though not as bad) are painted as monsters while the actual monsters are protected for decades

I mean look at Judy Garland, she was a sweet person and she did help the LBGT in Hollywood and supported the civil rights movement

But her “crazy” behavior makes more sense because she was sexually abused at a extremely young age

And she not the only one, Shirley Temple, the boy who played at the first LA Dennis the Manis

Oh and the Peter Pan actor (a lot of people leave out the part where ALL of Hollywood basically says he can choke and die because he was “too” Disney)

But sorry about the Gen stuff, but the false rape accusations, maybe if you guys didn’t view men (especially white ones) the same way Nazis viewed the Jews while saying all the working class men were Weinstein.

My Gen would have more sex

Entertainment industry has been like that since the beginning of forever, probably less so when women weren't allowed to participate but still a thing I'm sure.

As for Judy Garland it was nice to see people come out swinging in her defense when someone tried to start shit over well

She was not in control of her carer, saying no was not an option for her with this, but dumbasses that can only think in terms of today's standards never think about that.

Jay North (Dennis the Menace) did ok, so did Shirley Temple, plenty of others not so much, more recently we can look at Drew Barrymore and RDJ who both had fairly public meltdowns and problems.

Drew was ruined since her first film was ET and Spielberg takes care of the kids on set, going beyond the legal requirements.

Bobby Driscol was the Peter Pan VA top of his Wiki article.

Robert "Bobby" Cletus Driscoll (March 3, 1937 – c. March 30, 1968) was an American actor who performed on film and television from 1943 to 1960. He starred in some of the Walt Disney Studios' best-known live-action pictures of that period: Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1949), and Treasure Island (1950), as well as RKO's The Window (1949). He served as the animation model and provided the voice for the title role in Peter Pan (1953). He received an Academy Juvenile Award for outstanding performances in So Dear to My Heart and The Window.

He just fell into the child actor pit, where he wasn't "cute" anymore couldn't get gigs and couldn't adjust to not being in the spotlight, the way he went and nobody knowing is awful to think about still.

Jackie Coogan, on the other hand was a different story.

His parents sucked and as a result there's a series of laws named after him California's Coogan Law all about protecting the earnings of child actors from their parents. % goes into a trust iirc.

He ended up OK in the end though

The false accusation thing, #me too hurt women because #believe women was taken advantage of to such a degree that even this coming out to light

has still probably not cleared up for the trooper, and men are opting to not mentor women because of not wanting to risk a false accusation, everyone screams about how rare they are, to which I say so what, why should they assume the risk even if it's minor

Former VP Mike Pence came out and said he won't be alone with a woman that's not his wife in order to ensure that there is no possibility of someone making a claim of impropriety.

And he got this response

Why is anyone going to put their neck on the line when something like what he said is going to get this kind of response.

Maybe instead of crying about how rare false accusations are they should focus on shaming the people making them and coming up with solutions to keep them from happening.

You know instead of blaming the victims of the false accusations.

All this and so much more going on that isn't in this ask goes to the I don't blame people for not having as much sex, it's actually kinda nice too, fewer std's this way.

I went on a couple tangents, hope that's ok

#zoomer huey anon

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frodo-with-glasses · 8 months

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25 Questions with Phil Dragash: YES, SERIOUSLY!

So y'all know how I was reviewing Phil Dragash's audiobook of LotR last year, but kinda fell off somewhere in the middle of Rohan?? Well, guess what! A couple weeks ago, I received a tumblr message from the man himself, saying he'd read through all my reviews, had really enjoyed the little blast from the past, and was open to answering questions if I had any!

So of course, I had LOTS of questions.

The first one being: "Are you actually the real Phil Dragash??"

But I'm delighted to say that after exchanging emails with the work email listed on his website, I can confidently say that it is the real dude, and I've had a blast chatting with him! So for those of you who urged I listen to this audiobook—especially @laurelindorenan for her glowing recommendation—and for everyone else who likes the audiobook and/or enjoyed my reviews: I am delighted to present, ladies and gentlehobbits, this peek behind the curtain!

But of course I'm putting it all below the cut, because this man rambles like I do 🤣

Obligatory disclaimer: All opinions presented by Mr. Dragash are his own, I am not necessarily condoning any of them; please do not come after me for his opinions regarding pineapple on pizza.

25 QUESTIONS, LET'S GO!

1. Tell me how you got into Lord of the Rings!

I was ten years old when my dad took me to the library, and found a VHS copy of Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated Lord of the Rings film. I was already a fan of the “Chronicles of Narnia” and my dad just handed the tape to me and said “Look, C.S. Lewis’s friend made this”. I watched it, and had no idea what was going on. It was so hard to understand.

Fast forward to the year 2002 when “Fellowship” was out on DVD, and we had a movie night at my older cousin’s place, and watched the film for the first time. My 13 year old self was enraptured by it. Dad bought the DVD first thing the next day, and I’ve been a fan ever since! I, my brother, and our dad watched “Return of the King” in theaters four times, which was saying something, considering we only ever saw a movie once in cinemas. Between “The Return of the King” opening in December ‘03, I picked up the books and read (as well as I could) through them. A lot of friends kept joking “tell us how the damn story ends!”, good times.

2. When and how did you decide to make this audiobook? What’s the story behind the entire project?

I was a very ambitious lad, and my first and biggest interest was filmmaking. I used to direct short films with my friends ever since my 11th birthday, and was the youngest in class at the filmschool I attended a few years later. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I had massive ambitions to direct “the Hobbit”, which is silly in retrospect considering I was 16 years old at the time. I even sent my portfolio and DVDs of my films to Peter Jackson’s manager (who actually got back to me with a wonderful response, despite not being able to accept my ‘completely reasonable’ offer) When I was heartbroken and torn to pieces knowing I wouldn’t be directing the movie, a few more years went by, and I decided to reread some chapters of the “Lord of the Rings” books. I remember really well that this was late at night, laying in bed, and going through “King of the Golden Hall” and seeing how close to the movies it was, but also far more expanded. I thought “my extensive home-made short movies experience with sound design and sound mixing could work here, and I could just read a few chapters and try to make the soundscape as realistic as possible. Why not try it?”

So, the next day I tried. The first two chapters I tried were “King of the Golden Hall” and “A Journey in the Dark” (which partly answers your other question about that chapter). I was so absolutely surprised by how well it was going, that I decided to upload them onto YouTube in March 2010 I think. I got a fairly good response, and I was planning on doing a few more random chapters. I never intended to do the whole thing. But this one comment on YouTube I’ll always remember, it said: “I think you should go from start to finish, because you’ll probably get used to the characters and sounds and people can also follow along in the story gradually”.

Taking that suggestion to heart, in August 2010 I went from Chapter 1 onward.

3. Were you inspired by any other audiobook versions of LotR (such as the BBC radio drama)?

I was not, I actually haven’t listened to the BBC Radio drama until far ahead into the project I was doing. I did some research on what other audio productions anyone did with LOTR, from The Mind’s Eye edition, to the ‘60s Hobbit Radio Play; so I felt pretty confident. I just fell in love with the way the films brought Middle-Earth to life and seeing their incredible dedication for authenticity (from the props department, to the music), you really couldn’t do any better than that visually or audibly - at least in my opinion. I just wanted to hear Tolkien’s text but with the realisation of the films.

However, if you listen to Chapter 1 of TTT, and hear how Legolas laments their absence from not being there to help Boromir at Amon Hen, you can clearly hear the inflection from the BBC Radio play’s version. I just lifted that because I thought it was a fantastic way to deliver the line.

4. Did you have any rituals for “getting into character” before recording?

If I were to show you the raw unedited recording sessions, you’d probably be surprised at how underdeveloped it is! I had no real rituals or warmups, I just went for it. Usually went in cold, and tried reading the entire chapter and doing all the voices at once. Then I’d be exhausted, and afterwards start cutting all the mistakes, and separating each character into different tracks – and then re-recording 50%-70% of it, as I was laying in the sounds.

I think any character just needs a few words for me to say in their voice, and that helps for the rest of their dialogue. For Aragorn it was usually: “You cannot wield it! None of us can.” for Pippin it was: “Sometimes”, just random things that make things ‘click’ in my head. If I got lost or didn’t feel like the performances were working, I’d simply just watch scenes from the films to hear the real actors again!

5. Who was your favorite character to voice? Who was your least favorite? And why?

People who know me, know I love doing the villains. Sauron, the orcs, the Nazgûl, etc. I just love the idea of personifying things that scare you. Something completely the opposite of who you are. Always a fun time! Any character I can nail extremely accurately always makes me happy, but I’m always very critical of my own work, so it’s a rare thing.

My least favorite characters to voice are: Imrahil, Denethor, Arwen, Celeborn, Galadriel, Erestor, Lindir, Haldir, Goldberry, Gildor… I think the pattern is pretty obvious if you realize that I am incapable of providing a satisfactory voice that feels unique enough. They just sound to me like “I wish I had a broader range. They weren’t done justice.” I have feelings for most of the characters in this situation, but I’m a mere mortal. I can’t do all of them as well as I wish I could. I wish Aragorn was more like Viggo Mortensen’s voice (I tried with the nasally yells you mentioned!), I wish Gandalf had a richer tone, I wish Saruman sounded more majestic, and I wish Frodo was - in retrospect- more older sounding, too. There’s so much I wish I could do better, but to hell with it, I tried.

Fun fact: my least-favorite to voice are also Orcs because they destroy my throat after a while. Which is ironic, because of my first statement.

6. I noticed that you gave the men of Rohan and Gondor slightly different dialects! Are you pulling from any real-world accents to make that happen?

I did try to listen to Anglo-Saxon, and ancient norse but I just tried to make Rohan and Gondor slightly distinct in any way I could. I never really tried to make things too obvious, but admittedly, I think I just used my intuition (smoothing the R’s for the Rohirrim, making the Gondorians more ‘proper’, etc.). I do want to emphasize that this was a one-person project and keeping things together or consistent is definitely an extraneous exercise when you’re just trying to get something finished by yourself!

7. Some characters (like Beregond and Quickbeam, to name a couple of my favorites) aren’t in the movies, so they don’t have an actor for you to imitate. How did you decide what they would sound like?

Well, in the case of Beregond, I realized he was just “your ordinary guy”, and seeing Minas Tirith through his eyes (and Pippin’s) is such an amazing and interesting opportunity. It made the city feel so real, and I wanted to take advantage of that. I think I started with a ‘generic’ voice, but when I re-recorded him knowing more and more of the context and what he was saying to Pippin, and as a result who he is, made me adjust what I felt were more his personality. But still that ‘ordinary guy’ idea was the bedrock, and it’s been years since I heard that chapter, but I hope it holds up! (I just remembered Bergil is in that too, another voice I wish I could have done better)

Another fun fact: when Pippin scares the kids in Minas Tirith, the audio was from something I videotaped when I was 10 years old with my friends, it had the perfect “kids-going-aaah!” sound.

If I had it my way, I’d have a cast of dozens in this Audiobook, so a lot of times I never felt like my voice was enough to truly capture the “We’re in Middle-Earth, we just have microphones to record it” idea. So I have to make compromises since I was the only one doing the voices. That being said, Quickbeam was a fun surprise because he felt like, as you said “young treebeard”, and these things just worked out through experimentation! I think Quickbeam turned out pretty nice. I like Quickbeam.

8. HOW—I ask with great enthusiasm—DID YOU DO TREEBEARD’S VOICE? How did you get that resonance and woody sound? Did you send your voice through a wooden box and re-record it on the other side like they did in the movies?

It’s really great that you know all the behind the scenes stories from the films! Especially what Ethan Van der Ryn, David Farmer, and the late Michael Hopkins have done with their incredible creativity. I had no such resources to produce Treebeard’s sound. What I did was a digital facsimile: a special ‘room’ reverb, with some other equalizing effects to boost the bass and (maybe, I can’t remember) another higher pitched track of the same voice faintly in there.

You won’t believe this, but I was not going to do The Two Towers audiobook unless I could do a good Treebeard voice. In 2011 after finishing “Fellowship”, I was on the fence about continuing, and only committed once I knew I could do Treebeard right. Treebeard was the key to all this. This should come to no surprise to the ones who played the game, but I used a lot of sound effects from ‘Battle for Middle-Earth’ which contained a lot of clean sounds for ents, trolls, the balrog, the ringwraiths, and other monsters from the films. I used the ent’s footsteps from the games, and recorded my own foley for some of the trees snapping and leaves rustling as well. The “fart” sounds were the low creaking of tree branches, and - as they stated in the making-of for the films - very pitched down cow moos.

9. Tell me about the foley work! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been that nerd who watched the Behind The Scenes featurettes for fun, so I’m very interested to hear how you made the sound effects for footsteps and whistling arrows and jangling horse harnesses and such.

I’m glad you are! I’ve collected sound libraries (ripped from video games, and finding and buying sound packs) for a literal decade, because I always needed sounds for the short films I made when I was younger. I just kept learning about how to mix sounds together, and it’s very creative and very enjoyable! That being said, the foley work itself is mostly recorded by me. If I can’t find a sound in the library I have, I will record it. Clothing rustles, and touch are all recorded while I listen to the audiobook playback and ‘perform’ each character. It’s a really arduous process, but I think it adds so much life into the sound.

I went out into the woods (or backyard) with my mic to record footsteps, sometimes I would listen to the audiobook with headphones while performing the footsteps. When I would have traveled somewhere with different terrain I would be sure to record more foley (rocks being moved, or pebbles being stepped on) knowing I’ll use it for certain chapters. I do not want to reveal a huge secret about the predominant foley for the character's clothes, but an old backpack I used were 90% of the characters’ ‘movements’. Some wingflaps of the fell beasts were just my jeans. It’s a really creative process trying to find things that ‘sound’ right for an environment or action. The magic is putting them all together and hearing the result. Also, yes Sam’s pan is my grandma’s frying pan, and I know it’s sometimes annoying, but - look - Sam has a lot of stuff to carry.

I start with the background sounds (wind, tree rustles, water if there is any, etc.) lots of layers of them just to make them sound unique and not the same. Then I move to selective and nearer environmental background sounds. Then, the ‘hero’ sounds, the effects that are integral to the story (if it’s sword clashes, or an explosion, or who knows what), and finally the foley (footsteps, clothing rustles, breaths, etc.) - I had a friend record her own horses breathing and moving for a lot of closeups of the horses in the audiobooks. I think even if you can’t really hear some of their low breaths, their presence is still ‘there’. I personally think I got a lot better by the end of LOTR than when I started!

I wanted to add, the sounds for little Elanor in the very last scene of “The Return of the King” (the baby sounds), I was not happy with the stock baby sounds I had, and asked my older cousin (an audio person too!) to send me recordings he made of his then-1-year-old daughter in a studio. So, my first-cousin-once-removed is Elanor! She’s 22 now. I feel old.

10. Do you have a favorite sound effect from this project? Mine is the “pat-pat” against cloth that’s used to denote a hug.

Absolutely, do you remember the two “watchers” before the tower of Cirith Ungol? The vulture-like statues that block the hobbit’s path out? The alarm sound is a wholly original sound design I did, and I’m really happy with it. It’s just ugly sounding, and that’s the point. I always wished I had more Nazgul, and I think the worst moments I had with mixing were the battle scenes. There’s just too much to handle and make it sound good. But I really tried.

I’m very glad you heard the ‘pat-pat’s. I try my best to perform every character when recording foley, and want even some of the sounds to convey something in the telling of the story.

11. What's the thought process behind your use of the various musical motifs from Howard Shore's score? (Read: Why do you use the Shire theme so often, and why does it get me in the heart every single time?)

I want everyone to know that this is a really important and valuable question, and one I never really get to talk about: To me, Howard Shore’s music is one of the very best things to come out of the films. He truly made an opera out of the story, and all his leitmotifs and orchestrations are a stroke of genius. They work on their own, and when reading the books as well, and as a nerd for films and all that stuff, I wanted to put a lot of care into how I’m placing the score, and for what scene, emotionally and leitmotivically, if that’s a word.

The Audiobook I did is obviously a ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ situation, so I can’t credit myself for the majority of the Audiobook I did, but I wanted to use all my filmmaking intuition to properly use the music to enhance the telling of the story. So, just like the filmmakers had to change and mix lines from the book, or make changes to make it work as a film, I felt like a lot of instances happened with the music for the audiobook. Obviously, I used the score when applicable to the intended scenes, but there are very often cases where they won’t work. I read as much as I could in the past about what the motifs were and where Shore used them in the movies, so I followed that trajectory for the most part. Gondor is Gondor, Rohan is Rohan, Mordor is Mordor, etc.

Changes happen when I feel the emotions for a scene in the books do not match up to the ones in the films, and then there are brand new scenes and characters not in the movies at all, that I have to figure out! Take the pause from music between Gandalf falling into the chasm with the Balrog, and the fellowship successfully escaping. It’s perfect in the film, but I knew I couldn’t put the lamenting heartbreaking music in there yet, since the descriptions all drive the idea that escape is paramount. So I treated it as a ‘shock’ moment. No music until they’re completely out of the mountain, then the grief comes in. Things like that, a lot of fun creative thinking to get those emotions working!

I recall you mentioning the ‘Gimli / Legolas drinking game’ statement and how I used the hell out of it throughout the Audiobook, which is a good example. I pitched it up and down, for different moments, and it just has that hobbit mundane and jolly quality to it. So, in it goes to fill moments from the books.

I also edited and modified existing motifs for completely different scenes and ideas. One of my favorites is when Treebeard talks about the Entwives. I needed this melancholy yearning sound that was really essential, and found it by reversing Eowyn’s theme, and pitching it down so the violin sounds like a cello/bass. To me it just felt extremely appropriate for the sound of a long-lost relationship while portraying a larger-than-life creature.

Let’s also say Bombadil. I made up the idea that the last statement in the credits for “Return of the King”, was Bombadil’s theme. It’s actually just a reference to Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner, a very verbose beautiful crescendo, but I thought “I’ll pretend like it’s Bombadil, he’s last in the score even though he’s the first in Arda”. So I used that musical progression in his songs, that’s his leitmotif now (to me, anyway) He sings in that wavy up-and-down melody. Which is why you hear a lot of that in those chapters.

I also try to use recordings not from the original score: I looked far and wide for alternative recordings, predominantly the album by the Royal Prague Philharmonic, and the “LOTR Symphony”, just to make the Audiobooks feel different. I pitched down and moved and reassembled a lot of different cues for different scenes as well.

There are not a lot of instances of music from other movies, however, they do exist! I used music from “Battle for Middle-Earth”, the game “War in the North”, and for the last few chapters, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” since it just came out at the time. I used a lot of music from Howard Shore’s “Seven” and “The Game” during Shelob (I think), and for the Barrow-Downs. I used a tiny bit of underscore from the brilliant Don Davis’s “The Matrix Reloaded”, it had a really eerie choir which made me feel like it would be perfect for the fatigue and dizzying unreality of Mordor when Sam and Frodo were on their last leg, trying to get to Mt. Doom. Lastly, I used a little bit of music from Howard Shore’s “Twilight: Eclipse” for some dialogue scenes during Return of the King! And music from the independent film “Mongol” by Tuomas Kantelinen for the Woses when Theoden has to get help from Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Also the ending of ROTK has a few cues from “The Lord of the Rings musical”, lovely stuff.

It may surprise you that there is a small amount of score I actually ‘wrote’ with help from my brother (he’s a musician). It’s in the coronation of Elessar. It’s not very good but I needed something. There is also a cello version of “to the edge of night”, which I kindly asked permission to use by YouTube celloist, but I sadly don't think that video is up anymore.

Lastly, I use the Shire music so much because - just like Howard Shore said - it becomes a ‘hymn’ or an ‘anthem’ for the hobbits as they leave their comforts behind and are in a wide and unfamiliar world. Every little bit that reminds them of home, or relates to each of them, usually deserves a little ‘shire’ statement here and there. I feel if it’s in the characters’ hearts and minds, it has to be expressed in the music!

12. Out of all the chapters I’ve listened to so far on the Internet Archive, “A Journey in the Dark” is the one most plagued with editing issues; Sam’s temper tantrum over leaving Bill the Pony is cut out entirely. Which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to hearing your take on that. (Is it strange to say that I wanted to hear you break down into blubbering tears? Probably. Let’s ignore that and move on.) Is there any chance that you have a cleaner edit of that chapter somewhere?

I think you’ll be very unsurprised to know that “A Journey in the Dark” is the first chapter I ever recorded. I think you’ll also need to know that I did FOTR when I was 21 years old, and my grasp on doing better sound mixing or even getting the characters right was still a work in progress. I learned so much going chapter-by-chapter and felt that each succeeding one improves from the former. As a demo-run, I did “King of the Golden Hall '' and “Journey in the Dark” in early 2010 (in fact, I did only the first half of “JITD” back then. Stopping right after they are barred inside the mines, as the Watcher destroys the gate. I did the second half once I caught up with the story going chapter-by-chapter.)

There are so many issues with it, and I haven’t listened to it since. If you have headphones you’ll also notice that none of the voices really pan from left to right, or feel like they’re ever anywhere else except the dead-center. I was lazy back then.

When I read the chapters, at the time, I was sharing an ‘office room’ with my younger brother, and as a teenaged younger brother does - continues strumming his guitar no matter what the other brother is doing. It was really fun, and funny and I was extremely sloppy with editing things out, and taking it too seriously. So, for sure you can hear ‘someone’ in the background during the early parts of FOTR, and I was too lazy to re-record or edit out the noises that weren’t supposed to be there.

Forgive me if this part is a lot longer, but now that you mention it, I want to get on my soap-box and rant about how many things I agree with about the Audiobook’s shortcomings and how many things have changed since the wee days of 2010:

I didn’t really get a grasp on the characters, and I had no idea I was going to do the entire book. I did not take enough care with sound mixing (it’s a highly technical and rigorous practice, I’ve discovered. Even now, ten plus years later - it’s too technical for me to fully understand yet), and I did not thoroughly re-listen to the chapter when I was done with an edit or a sound-effects pass. Therefore there’s always been mistakes still in there, and just unpleasantly careless placement of sounds and music. I have often thought about re-recording it to get it up to scratch, but it’s been over a decade and I haven’t properly preserved all the sound stems without having to re-sound-mix the whole chapter again, and there is that little thing called ‘burnout’ which is hard to ignore. So, I apologize to everyone who has to suffer through that huge drop in quality with “A Journey in the Dark”. It quite literally was my first attempt, and it definitely shows.

The good news is that a fan asked me the same thing about the missing piece in that chapter (the one you mentioned! With Sam and Bill!), and I’ve heard the same comments about it throughout the years. Why is it missing? I don’t know why! I recorded it, but in my loose run-and-gun past when I was a wee lad, I was careless, and just had the mp3 with that part missing. A rendering error, perhaps! Stupid 21 year old Phil just hodgepoging everything.

A Few months ago, I did get another email about that missing piece. I thought “okay, once and for all, I’m going to find that missing part.” - and I searched my old harddrives for some kind of archival copy with that part in it. Amazingly, it was a lot harder to find than I thought. Every rendered version of JITD either stopped right before that scene, or had it omitted. I actually found one half of it as a ‘demo’ piece I rendered years ago for a ‘sound trailer’, and then I finally found the original YouTube video I made - which had it intact! Now the hardest part was stitching it together with the rest. Took longer than I thought, but I finally amended this horrible incompetence. And yes, I will share the link to you! And be prepared to be disappointed at the 2010-era quality!

I don’t know if anyone knows this, but with the mp3s circling around, I have taken the liberty of re-recording and re-working some chapters from their original versions. I try my best to preserve the originals, but I also wish people to listen to the re-records. I have actually re-recorded and re-mastered “A Long-Expected Party” three times. 2011, 2013, and 2014. I re-recorded “King of the Golden Hall” in 2013, and “Shadow of the Past” in 2014. I usually try labelling the dates on the mp3 files themselves. The one I’m most proud of re-recording bits of, is “The Pyre of Denethor” as the first time I had Denethor say his last words he was mildly raising his voice, but I listened to it again one day and went “this man should be at the edge of sanity.” - so he absolutely yells now, and it’s such a night-and-day comparison.

Another addendum: I completely understand the complaints about ‘the sound/music drowning out the dialogue’. It’s been the #1 complaint over the decade. I completely understand. I never had professional sound mixing gear, nor did I have proper mixing headphones or speakers or a proper studio (most of the audiobook was recorded at my grandmother’s house!). The balance of the audio making it sound immersive, (like you are there!) and having clear dialogue to hear is - like I said - an extremely technical and complex process that I’ve never had the ability or tech to master. Let alone for a book that’s 48 hours long, and has so much sound and music to it. Nothing would bring me more joy than to work with an experienced sound mixer, and find all my audio stems, and for us to work together to clear up any and all issues. But as this project was a simple fan-made work, and I haven’t distributed it myself for a decade, who knows?

This is also why I never went on to do “The Hobbit”. Burnout is real, and I’ve never recovered from LOTR. The burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

13. What was your favorite scene to record and mix?

Mount Doom. Can’t get better than trying to make the climax as horrible and eucatastrophic as that. It all led up to this, and it was such a rush to work on. I remember how I was at the edge of my seat watching ROTK in cinemas for the first time, and how amazingly they pulled it off, and I wanted to definitely imitate that, but using Tolkien’s own writing. Just so cool.

I have two favorite chapters: The first one is “The Scouring of the Shire”. I remember well, when I was working on it, I realized this has never been ‘dramatized’ before. At least not in full. I felt so special being the first one (probably) to do it. I could imagine the entire chapter in my head like a film, and I could bring it to life with very little outside influence. Such a poignant and shocking chapter.

I don’t think I would have done it as well without the experience I gained doing the rest of the Audiobook. Showing the strength of the four hobbits, portraying the dignity and resolve of their kind, giving that pathetic yet dangerous authenticity to Sharkey, and the ruffians, illustrating the battle of bywater with sound… this was done in 2013, so we all were able to listen to new music by Howard Shore (for The Hobbit), and I would be able to transpose motifs from that, into “Scouring”, and honestly I wouldn’t know how it would have worked out if the Hobbit films didn’t come out just at the right time. I think the score fits so well with the events of “Scouring”, there is a ‘mordor’ theme but it feels ‘unfinished’, like the remnant of an old defeated foe; there’s that wily progression for Radagast in the films, that I used for the hobbit’s rebellion and the conflict, and there’s a new ‘hobbit/shire’ motif that worked so perfectly for a ‘wounded, but recovering’ Shire. I feel so silly talking about decisions I made for this, but I always wanted to share some thoughts I had!

Fun fact: I had a wonderful person ask if she would be able to play Rosie Cotton back in 2013, and I asked her to perform her lines. She was great, but I realized a very strange thing: when I put her in the audio mix, it would actually break the immersion, because you can hear a voice that wasn’t mine, and as a result - I couldn’t help but keep thinking - my voice for Rosie’s mother sounded like a Monty Python skit in comparison! And thus her lines had to be unused. It kind of just opened the fourth wall, breaking the illusion. Which is a shame, because I always dream of having a fully-cast LOTR Audiobook, maybe someday officially.

The other favorite is “The Tower of Cirith Ungol” just because I listened to it one day in 2014, and heard no errors. I was so proud. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to change substantially. No one dislikes all the errors more than I do!

14. What’s your best memory from this entire project?

My late dad drove me and my brother out into a clearing at midnight in the forest. The sky was so clear and starry. And we were here simply to just yell at the top of our lungs to record material for “Helm’s Deep”. All the clear yells: “Elendil!!!” “Gúthwinë! Gúthwinë For the Mark!”etc. Etc. - I lost my voice, it was a fun time. He held the microphone for me as I splashed around a stream (for Gollum), once again at midnight since there were fewer background sounds.

I also tell this story a lot: A friend of mine who was listening to the chapters as I finished them - she hated the sound of knuckles cracking. And hated spiders. So, obviously, Shelob would have to have knuckle-cracking sounds for her limbs. So I recorded my own knuckles cracking and tried using it as much as I could for Shelob’s legs moving about. My friend was soooo ecstatic to know this fact.

15. If you could do it all again today, what would you change?

I would consider doing a ground-up re-recording of everything. With a budget, with a cast, with a lot more understanding of the story and intentions behind them. With VR sound options. With extra original music. That’s the dream.

If we’re back to reality, I guess I’d just re-record a bunch of chapters since they could always be better, and tighten all the technical errors. But that would require a lot of assembling of the raw archived files, and re-building of sounds, and re-recording of lines. Also, as I stated before, I do not want to distribute my unofficial fan work just because I know that it’s a copyright nightmare. And burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

I like taking other people’s opinions to heart, such as the issues with Frodo’s youth or inflections and intonations for certain scenes that I didn’t quite fully grasp the first time. I would love to adjust things and make it closer to the book now.

- - - - -

And now! The Silly Questions Lightning Round!

(With thoughts from Lady Glasses in parentheses and italics!)

1. In Fellowship, long stretches of dialogue would often have someone randomly cough in the background. Tell me about the Cough. Why is the Cough there?

No one hates the coughs more than me. That’s either my brother minding his own business in the other end of our ‘office room’. I think you now know I was 21, I didn’t care, so these things are just left in because I was careless. However, sometimes there are intentional coughs to make it feel more realistic. It’s been years since I listened to it, so unless I somehow do a massive commentary stream someday (thinking about it), your guess will be as good as mine! The coughs heavily subsided once I did Two Towers, since I was by myself.

2. During the dinner scene with Farmer Cotton, someone burps. Who was that?

Mine. I have no regrets with that one. Or Pippin. I guess it could be Pippin.

(Darn! And here I thought it was Farmer Cotton, LOL)

3. How did you manage to make Bill Ferny’s voice so perfectly obnoxious?

I imagined Bill as an obnoxious guy. The image in my head gives me a good idea of what he’d sound like, and I’m so glad he’s so obnoxious that you had to mention it.

(He sounds perfectly punchable. Thanks, I hate it.)

4. Did you crack yourself up at any point in the recording?

Oh yes, in fact I have a whole outtake reel just for you!

(Warning to anyone who clicks the link: the April Fool's audio had me ON THE FLOOR)

5. Voice acting aside, who is your favorite character in LotR and why?

If you asked me in 2002 it would be the Balrog, if you asked me now it would be difficult because so many of them mean so much to me, and each of their aspects have something to aspire to. Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, Frodo, Galadriel, the list goes on and on.

(That's beautiful, and so true. The story really grows with us, doesn't it?)

6. What’s your favorite color?

Blue. Always has been.

(Blue is a good color! 💙)

7. Political question: Pineapples on pizza, yes or no?

Yes, I still don’t get what the fuss is about

(Oooh, controversial)

8. Is a hotdog a sandwich?

No, it’s a hotdog!

(Counterpoint: A hotdog is a taco.)

9. What’s your opinion on geese?

They’re racist

(Racist against the entire human race, apparently)

10. How much would I have to pay you to say “I love boats!” in Merry’s voice? (It’s an inside joke with my friends.)

Nothing, it’s on the house!

(HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOU)

- - - - -

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! What are you working on nowadays?

I’ve actually had a few people ask me if I’ll ever do more audiobooks like this, and I seem to have tapped something. Yes, in fact! I’m working with a few creative collaborators on a small company to do the exact same sonic experience with other books! Since we’re very small, we are starting with stories in the Public Domain, and have successfully kickstarted (and finished) “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. Which will be out (hopefully, officially) by early September! I’m really excited and hope this will lead to more projects, and - hopefully- back to Tolkien someday, in an official manner. Please follow my Instagram or Facebook for more info about it. (I also have a Twitter and Tumblr and more, but they’re all completely unrelated to LOTR and are just me drawing doodles and being a nerd, very unlike the Audiobooks I did, which is a bit confusing, I admit.)

- - - - -

And that concludes our interview! As I told Phil, it was so much fun to discuss a fellow fan's passion project like this. The more I read about it, the more I realized just how similar it was to my own experiences as a fan creator. We all start out as just a noob with a few unpolished skills, making something because we love it, and we learn and grow and hone our talents along the way. It's legitimately inspiring.

Needless to say, I am stoked to finish listening to the rest of this audiobook! Is it a bit weird knowing the creator of the thing might drop in and read my reviews?? Yes. Yes it is. But I'm gonna do it anyway. No holds barred! If I hear another cough, you're gonna know about it, Phil!

Also I may or may not do something with that audio of Merry because I'M STILL DYING OF LAUGHTER HELP

Anyway! If you made it to the end of this, you deserve a cookie! Everybody say thank you to Mr. Dragash, and go check out the other stuff he's doing nowadays! Namárië!

#phil dragash #audiobook #lotr audiobook #interview #CATCH ME SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

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ass-deep-in-demons · 5 months

Text

Boromir's adventures in New Zeland

screens and transcript from the Reunited Apart: LotR edition

Sean Astin: The first time Elijah and I met Sean, we were in Queenstown and there was a big flood and they were building sets on the squash court to try and find some way to uh…

Peter Jackson: As soon as somebody gets remotely boring it just freezes.

Sean Astin: The point is we were playing a video game and Sean Bean's character was 006 and I shot 006 in the head on screen with a perfectly photo-real likeness of Sean and then Sean walked right by afterwards.

Peter Jackson: ... The best story about that flood was that everyone was driving from the top of the South Island to the bottom to shoot, and some people were flying and some people were driving and Orlando and Sean Bean were in a car with Bridget Bourke, our production coordinator, and we were checking in with them to see what they were about.

Peter Jackson: It's a very remote part of the country (...), but what happened is the car that Orlando and Sean were driving over a mountain and they come around a corner and it's got a huge slip, you know, that the hillside's falling down, 'cause it was a torrential storm. They had to turn around to head back and do this long detour, they go around the next corner and it... the landslide was in front of them. They thought they'd actually left the landslide behind them! Okay so they were now stuck between two landslides in the remotest part of New Zeland, by themselves. There's an old lady living by herself in the house, so she invites them in for a cup of tea and they end up staying with her for about three days. Is that right?

Orlando Bloom: It was sort of like that. Okay, what happened was we got to a gas station, they said well... we were stuck between two roadslides and they said well, we've got some lodges accomodation, like backpackers' accomodation… And the first thing, the frist thing Sean got was...

Orlando Bloom: OH NO, NO, WE GOT MONEY! WE CAN PAY. So we had this one room and I remember Sean had the bedroom, I slept on the couch with Bridget in the same room. And then the whole crazy thing about this story though for Sean is that he hates to fly. Like literally, we had to take a helicopter to get to work and I remember sitting next to Sean in this helicopter going up over the...

Orlando Bloom: ... we had to go up over the [inaudible] to get to Queenstown and his hand on my knee, I will never forget it. It was like white knuckle… it was like a drop of only white and nothing…

Peter Jackson: ... It was because of that, that when we within a week or so we had a scene that we all had to be helicoptered up to this lake and it was quite high in the mountains, and Sean just said...

Peter Jackson: Look, I can't do it. I'll come very, very early, I'll get on me gear or borrow me gear and I'll start to climb. Just on foot. We were flying up and I looked down and there's this vast, vast cliff, and on the mountain I could see Sean, like a human fly, climbing up.

Elijah Wood: [hysterical laughter]

#shoutout to our girl Bridget who got stuck in that car in a flood with THEM #and then spent the night on a couch with Orlando friggin Bloom #because Grandpa Sean needed his undisturbed beauty sleep #Bridget you're our hero #lord of the rings #lotr cast #reunited apart #boromir #sean bean #peter jackson #orlando bloom #legolas #sean astin #elijah wood #[arda]#ass deep in demons

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cantsayidont · 11 days

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I am generally fond of the Peter Jackson LORD OF THE RINGS movies (much more so than THE HOBBIT trilogy, which is an unmitigated disaster from start to finish), but I still feel that it was a tremendous error to remove "The Scouring of the Shire" from the ending of RETURN OF THE KING. I think I understand the rationale for omitting it — it further complicates what's already a protracted finale, and it is kind of a downer — but I suspect it's one of the changes to which Tolkien himself would have most objected.

First, it's an essential element in the arc of Frodo. Frodo has already been wounded in a way that even Elrond and Gandalf can't entirely fix, even after they remove the notch of the Morgul-knife. After enduring an impossible ordeal, he returns to the Shire to find that the war has come home in a way that, at least for him, can't be fully set right even after Saruman is dead and much of the immediate damage repaired. Frodo's original conflicts have been seemingly resolved: At the beginning of the book, he's seen in Hobbiton as an irresponsible youth of dubious background who grows into another suspicious eccentric like Bilbo, but by the end, they want to make him the mayor (to which Frodo only very reluctantly and temporarily agrees), and even his feud with the Sackville-Bagginses is ended. Even so, Frodo is left far more alienated than he ever was to start with, which is why he finally chooses to go over Sea rather than live out his life in the Shire.

Second, while it is superficially rather grim, I think Tolkien might have argued that it's actually his most hopeful chapter. Tolkien says in the introduction to the second edition that "The Scouring of the Shire" had its roots in his own childhood:

The country in which I lived in childhood [in Warwickshire] was being shabbily destroyed before I was ten, in days when motor-cars were rare objects (I had never seen one) and men were still building suburban railways. Recently I saw in a paper a picture of the last decrepitude of the once thriving corn-mill beside its pool that long ago seemed to me so important.

Thus, it seems significant that the shabby destruction of the Shire at the hands of Saruman and his men is actually set right remarkably quickly. As soon as Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin return, they're able to rouse the other hobbits to action and drive out the ruffians within a matter of days, and Sam is even able to use Galadriel's gift to replace most of the trees that have been carelessly destroyed, with a magnificent mallorn-tree in place of the beloved Party Tree. The Shire hasn't wholly escaped the scars of industrialization, but the hobbits have come to their senses and turned back before it was too late.

That is really the most optimistic element of the story's finale. Aragorn's coronation means a restoration of order to the West, but magic and wonder are fading away or departing over Sea. Arwen has made the choice of Luthien and is doomed to eventually fade and leave the world; in the Appendices, after Aragorn's death, she returns to Lórien, now deserted, and essentially lies down and dies. Tolkien did not feel the Ents would ever find the Ent-wives, so they too will probably never flourish again. However, the Shire endures, in a way that the country where Tolkien grew up did not — not by remaining completely aloof from the world, but by rejecting the new mill and the smokestacks, and by "thousands of willing hands of all ages" deliberately tearing down everything built by Saruman and using the bricks "to repair many an old hole, to make it snugger and drier."

#movies #books #lord of the rings #lotr #peter jackson #return of the king #jrr tolkien #the scouring of the shire #frodo baggins #saruman #tolkien's ecological imaginings are not above criticism #they're still rooted in a kind of pastoral fantasy #but it is somehow heartening to imagine #that the horrors of industrialization aren't irreparable

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theslay3d · 1 year

Note

Percy Jackson x daughter of Dionysus where Dionysus walks in on them making out or it looks like they’re making out from a specific angle and he goes crazy

Percy Jackson x Daughter of Dionysus!reader

Gender:Female

Warnings: none

Word count:858

A/N hi im like about to start reading the third book in the magnus chase series very excited!

You were dating Percy Jackson. Even though your dad kind of hated him and Percy didn't necessarily like him. You guys were dating anyway. Plus it's not like your dad even knows that you're dating.

Well at least he didn't know until now. Let's rewind.

You were in your cabin by yourself as usual. When Percy came in because he “Was bored” apparently. So you guys just chilled in the cabin for a little bit until Percy and you started to make out. It eventually led to you both on the bed still kissing. Until your dad came in.

He has been super protective ever since Castor passed and understandable but can he knock?. He busted the door open and stood in the doorway for a few seconds. You thought maybe you broke apart quick enough for him not to see but your hope died out when a crazy look in his eyes appeared.

His mouth opened in shock and he lifted a finger to point in between where you and Percy were on the bed. “That's- no” He walked forward and grabbed Percy by his arm and dragged him out.

“Wha- Dad!” You said and quickly got off the bed to follow him out. He was still dragging Percy by his arm. “Where are you taking him?!” You yelled out as he was a few feet ahead of you. He didn't reply but you could hear him muttering something to himself.

He made it to the Big House, walked in with Percy and shut the door. You're glad that their wasn't many campers there that day as you banged on the door. “DAD! Let me in!!”

“NO! You'll see your little boyfriend in a minute! Be patient”

“PATIENT? Like you patient” You questioned his choice of words.

Percy was panicking. What else was he supposed to do when his girlfriend's dad pulled him out of her cabin and into the big house. He just went along with it plus Dionysus already hated him. Why not make him hate him more?.

Once Dionysus pulled him in the house and forced him to sit on the couch is when he took a breath. Dionysus was pacing in front of him. He could hear him muttering under his breath “Why Why Why” “Not my daughter” “Why Peter?”

Percy guessed he was Peter as that's what Dionysus usually called him. “You know contrary to the campers belief I don't actually hate you Peter Johnson I'm just not necessarily excited about your existence. So now why would you do this hm?” He stopped pacing and was now staring at Percy who shifted a little on the couch.

“I-” Dionysus stopped Percy from talking by going “Shush i can't handle your voice yet give me a minute” Percy doubted he would ever be able to even defend himself if Dionysus wouldn't even let him talk. He could hear you banging on the door still. It comforted him that you were still there in case Dionysus decided to kill him at least you would hear his screams.

“OK speak Perry”

Percy didn’t see any point in even correcting the name as he started to speak “Listen Mr.D-Sir um i’m dating your daughter…and i’m not just doing it because you hate me or well i thought you hated me i’m dating her because i actually really like her and i want to date her”

“Ugh you've made it worse” Dionysus rolled his eyes and continued pacing. “This is what I get, hm Zeus? Perry dating my daughter of course of course”

Percy was watching him pace back and forth until he stopped and stared Percy in the eyes “Listen…Percy im only giving you one chance because i see how my daughter looks at you and how you look at her. If you hurt her i'm not afraid to turn you into wine consequence be damned”

Percy almost smiled at Mr.D finally calling him Percy but held it back. “Yes Mr.D thank you”

“Yes yes now get out” He waved his hand in a get out motion towards the door.

Percy got up and walked to the door he opened it and saw you sitting near it with your head in your hands. Percy shut the door and kneeled down to where you were sitting on the floor. “Hey you ok?”

You snapped your head up and quickly hugged him, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Oh thank the gods your ok i thought he might have killed you”

Percy laughed a little and said “Nope all good”

“What did he say?”

“Just that he…approves, kind of it's fine let's go back to your cabin?” Percy said avoiding the question so you wouldn't know about the threat as you would go in there and say something to your dad.

You narrowed your eyes but agreed to go back.

As you grabbed Percy's hand to start dragging him back Percy turned his head back to The big House without you noticing.

He saw Mr.D at the door and he did the “im watching you” sign. Percy nodded back and continued walking with you.

#percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson x you #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson #im in love with percy #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson and the olympians fan fiction

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taeswolfie · 6 months

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𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 : 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆

☽︎𝑪𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓☾︎

Ch.11 - Ch.13 (coming soon)

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x fem!Reader

Word count: 5.1k

Peter stands over the bloody and unconscious bodies of Y/n and Lydia, Stiles on his knees near them. Now that Peter has the information he wanted, he wants to go and take Stiles with him. "No, I'm- I'm not just letting you leave them here."

"You don't have a choice, Stiles. You're coming with me." He wipes the blood from his chin.

"Just kill me. Look, I don't care anymore."

Peter steps up to Stiles and puts his claw under the boys chin, making him stand up. "Call your friend." He lowers his hand. "Tell Jackson where they are. That's all you get." Knowing that this is the best he'll get Stiles pulls out his phone and calls Jackson, only telling him that the girls are badly hurt and that he needs to get them. Peter strides off and Stiles takes one more look at Y/n before he reluctantly follows the man.

Y/n stirs. The first thing she's aware of is that everything hurts. She shifts a bit and groans. She opens her eyes and they still glow their vibrant amethyst, her magic already working to heal her. She carefully hovers her hands over the slashes to help speed it along enough for her to move. As soon as she's able she gets up and looks around. Stiles and Peter are gone, but Lydia is still here. "Lydia." She breathes and moves to check her over. She puts a hand on her head and sighs after a moment. She'll be alright.

Y/n looks up when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye from afar. Jackson is coming for them. She can't go to the hospital, she'll heal too fast and she doesn't want to deal with questions about that or her eyes. With a grunt of effort she stands and then, with a bit of assistance from her magic, she runs away and to the woods. Jackson will get Lydia help. For now she needs to help herself. Jackson doesn't see her leave, his focus on Lydia when he sees what state she's in and carries her back to the school for help.

Y/n keeps running until her legs give out and she collapses, leaning her back on a tree as she takes labored breathes. Her hands grip where she was impaled, slashes nearly done healing with only pink scars that will soon fade to nothing in another hour or so. She leans her head back, closing her eyes with a sudden dry sob. Everything is going so wrong and she blames herself. If she had just listened to her senses, Lydia might not have been hurt and Stiles wouldn't be God knows where with a psycho.

"Stiles..."

...

The blue Jeep speeds down the road, Stiles is tense as he drives while Peter casually looks out the window from the passenger side. Stiles sighs and Peter looks over. "Don't feel bad. Your girlfriend will be healed soon enough." He says nonchalantly.

"You don't know that. You didn't bite her." He says this, yet his mind goes to her eyes.

"The Bite would do nothing for someone like her."

"What do you mean 'someone like her'?" Stiles doesn't understand, but he can guess that maybe Y/n isn't human like he thought.

Peter just gives him a smile, not intending to answer him and Stiles lets it go with another sigh. "You know, if the red head lives, she'll become a werewolf. She'll be incredibly powerful."

"Yeah, and once a month, she'll go out of her freaking mind and try to tear people apart."

"Well, actually, considering that she's a woman... Twice a month." Stiles looks over at him in disbelief, very much not appreciating the joke. They eventually pull into a parking garage. They get out and Peter quickly rounds the car to grab Stiles by his collar and pull him along. He stops at the back of a car a few spaces down and Peter pulls keys from his pocket.

"Whose car is this?"

"It belonged to my nurse." Peter simply replies as he starts to open the trunk.

"What happened to your n- oh, my God!" Stiles jumps back when the trunk is opened and the body of Jennifer is revealed. Peter grabs the bag from under her arm and hands it to Stiles, the teen too stunned to look away.

Peter looks between Stiles and the body for a second. "I got better." Is all he answered him with before he closed the trunk. He soon set up for Stiles to track Scott's phone and find Derek.

"Good luck getting a signal down here." And then Peter hands him a small device. "Oh, MiFi." He takes it and Peter opens up a laptop. "And you're a Mac guy. Does that go for all werewolves, or just personal preference?"

Peter ignores his remarks. "Turn it on. Get connected."

"You know, you're really killing the whole werewolf mystique thing here." He gets to work. "Look, you still need Scott's username and password, and I'm sorry, but I don't know them."

"You know both of them."

"No, I don't." Stiles still denies.

"Even if I couldn't hear your heartbeat, I would still be able to tell that you're lying."

"Dude, I swear to God-" He's cut off by an exclamation of pain as Peter roughly shoves his face onto the keyboard.

"I can be very persuasive, Stiles. Don't make me persuade you."

Stiles doesn't need the 'persuading' as Peter lets him go and Stiles types away. "What happens after you find Derek?"

"Don't think, Stiles. Type." He demands.

"You're gonna kill people, aren't you?"

"Only the responsible ones."

"Look, if I do this, you have to promise to leave Scott out of it."

"Do you know why wolves hunt in packs?" Stiles lightly rolls his eyes at the impromptu lesson. "It's because their favorite prey are too large to be brought down by one wolf alone. I need Derek and Scott. I need both of them."

"He's not gonna help you."

"Oh, he will. Because it'll save Allison. And you will, because it will save Scott. Your best friend whom you know so well, you even have his username and password." Stiles sighs. He has no choice, he has to put them in. He taps seven keys and Peter looks a bit bemused. "His username is 'Allison'?" Stiles presses seven more keys. "His password is also 'Allison'?" He looks unimpressed now.

"Still want him in your pack?" He raises a brow at Peter.

...

Y/n is healed now, eyes having dimmed to e/c, but she's still in the same spot she was when she collapsed. She keeps thinking about how she messed up, what she didn't do and what she could have done. It's not normal for her to be plagued with so much self-doubt, but in a situation like this, it's very normal.

She knows Lydia will be fine, for now at least, but what about Stiles and Scott? Stiles was with Peter, which, in and of itself, wasn't good at all, but she hadn't seen Scott since the dance. What happened after he left for Allison? Nothing good she guessed. This whole night has been no good.

She perks up a bit when she hears a distant howl. Scott is calling for Derek. A few minutes go by before another howl rings through the air. Derek is calling back.

She finally looks down at her hands. What is she doing here? Scott is out there trying to help Derek and she's just sitting here beating herself for nothing. Yes, she didn't do something then, but she can do something now. And this time, she's ready. She clenches her fists and looks up in determination. She stands up and looks around for a moment trying to decide what to do, but a twinge in her chest decides for her. Scott can handle Derek. Right now, she needs to find Stiles.

...

"Wait, what the- that's where they're keeping him?" Stiles asks, confused at what he's seeing on the screen. "At his own house?"

Peter squints at the screen in thought until a look of realization dawns on his face. "Not at it. Under it. I know exactly where that is." A distant howl makes him turn his head. "And I'm not the only one." Peter gathers the tech and puts it in the back of the car, another howl reaching his ears as he closes the door. "Give me your keys."

Stiles sighs and fishes his keys from his pocket, holding them for Peter to take. "Careful. She grinds in second." Stiles assumes he's wanting to take the Jeep, but all Peter does is bend them so that they're unusable. Stiles takes them back in disbelief as Peter moves to the driver's seat of the late nurse's car. "So you're not gonna kill me?" Peter looks at him and takes a few steps making Stiles shrink back a bit. "Okay, I-"

"Don't you understand yet? I'm not the bad guy here."

"You turn into a giant monster with red eyes and fangs, and you're not the bad guy here?"

"I like you, Stiles." Stiles sighs. "Since you've helped me, I'm going to give you something in return. Do you want the Bite?"

"What?" Stiles asks after a moment.

"Do you want the Bite?" He repeats a bit slower. "If it doesn't kill you, and it could, you'll become like us."

"Like you."

"Yes, a werewolf. Would you like me to draw you a picture? That first night in the woods, I took Scott because I needed a new pack. It could've easily been you. You'd be every bit as powerful as him. No more standing by his side, watching him become stronger, and quicker, more popular, watching him get the girl. You'd be equals. Or maybe more." He takes Stiles' wrist and holds it up. Stiles doesn't resist, seemingly falling into the web woven by Peter's silver tongue. "Yes or no?" Stiles doesn't say yes, but he also doesn't say no. Peter takes that as a yes and opens his mouth, fangs bared, and brings his wrist closer. But then Stiles yanks his arm back from the wolf's grip.

"I don't wanna be like you."

"Do you know what I heard just then? Your heart beating slightly faster over the words 'I don't want'. You may believe that you're telling me the truth, but you are lying to yourself. Goodbye, Stiles." Peter gets in the car and drives away leaving Stiles by himself. He has a moment of pause, what do I do now? Then it hits him. The hospital. He looks at his Jeep and his ruined keys before he breaks out into a sprint, running the whole way there.

When he finally gets to the hospital he squeezes past the elevator doors before they're fully open because he's desperate to see if they're okay. He rushes forward towards Lydia's room because that's the first one he sees, but his dad stops him. "You know what? It's a good thing that we're in a hospital, because I'm gonna kill you." Noah says angrily.

"I'm- I'm sorry. I lost the keys to my Jeep. I had to run all the way here."

"Stiles, I don't care!"

"Are they gonna be okay?"

"They? Who's they? Are you telling me someone else besides Lydia is hurt out there?"

"Y/n... she's not-?" Stiles trails off suddenly confused, but then shakes his head. He's stuck between being relieved that maybe she was okay and worried about where she was and if she actually was okay. "Nevermind. I-I thought... Is Lydia gonna be okay?"

Noah glances back at the girl in the hospital bed, looking back with a small sigh. "They don't know, partially because they don't know what happened. She lost a lot of blood, but there's something else going on with her."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"The doctors say it's like she's having an allergic reaction. Her body keeps going into shock. Did you see anything? I mean, do you have any idea who or what attacked her?"

Stiles looks at his dad for a moment. Yes, he knows, but he can't tell Noah that because he wouldn't believe him, so he has to lie. Again. "No. No, I have no idea."

"What about Scott or Y/n?"

Stiles glances over the mention of the girl and instead focuses on the fact Scott wasn't there. "What do you mean? What about Scott?"

"Did he see anything?"

"What do you- is he not here?"

"What are you talking about? I've been calling him on his cell phone. I've gotten no response."

Stiles looks down and then at Jackson over Noah's shoulder. Jackson just gives a shrug saying 'I don't know'. Stiles sighs. "Yeah, you're not gonna get one."

Eventually Stiles gets Noah to tell him about his investigation, that Lydia had nothing to do with an almost ten-year-old arson case. He definitively decided it was arson when he got a key witness, one he won't tell Stiles the identity of. He tells Stiles that it was probably organized by a young woman who wore a defining pendant and that she's in her late 20's by now. Noah has to take a call and Stiles rubs his head in frustration trying to think, and then suddenly he pieces it together.

"Oh."

"Hey, where are you going?" Jackson asks Stiles as he follows him through the hospital.

"To find Scott and Y/n."

"You don't have a car."

"I'm aware of that. Thank you."

"Here, I'll drive. Come on-" Jackson puts a hand on Stiles' shoulder making him stop and round on him.

"Look, just because you feel guilty all of a sudden doesn't make it okay, all right? Half of this is still your fault."

"Look, I have a car. You don't. Do you want my help or not?"

"All right." He finally relents. "Did you bring the Porsche?"

"Yeah." He pulls the keys from his pocket.

"Good. I'll drive." He snatches the keys from Jackson's hand.

They go to continue walking, but stop when they see Chris Argent and two more Hunters. "Boys. I was wondering if you can tell me where Scott McCall is."

"Scott McCall? Um... Haven't seen him since the dance." Stiles plays it cool.

"Hmm."

"Jackson, you?" Stiles keeps his eyes on the man in front of them.

"Uh... I... Uh..." Jackson can not play it cool for even a second.

"Oh, for the love of God." Stiles knows they're screwed. They throw the teens into an empty room and lock the doors.

Chris holds Stiles against the door. "Let me ask you a question, Stiles. Have you ever seen a rabid dog?"

"No. I can put it on my to-do list if you just let me go."

"Well, I have, and the only thing I've ever been able to compare it to is seeing a friend of mine turn on a full moon. Do you wanna know what happened?"

"Not really. No offense to your storytelling skills."

"He tried to kill me, and I was forced to put a bullet in his head." He enunciates his words by roughly tapping on Stiles forehead. "The whole while that he lay there dying, he was still trying to claw his way toward me, still trying to kill me, like it was the most important thing he could do with his last breath. Can you imagine that?"

Stiles shakes his head. "No. And it sounds like you need to be a little bit more select-"

He cuts Stiles off by slamming his hands into the door behind him. "Did Scott try to kill you on the full moon? Did you have to lock him up?"

"Yeah, I did. I had to handcuff him to a radiator. Why? Would you prefer I locked him in the basement and burned the whole house down around him?"

Chris points a finger and gives a small chuckle. "I hate to dispel a popular rumor, Stiles, but we never did that."

"Oh, right. Derek said you guys had a code. I guess no one ever breaks it."

"Never."

"What if someone does?"

"Someone like who?"

"Your sister." Chris clenches his jaw as he looks at the teen.

He eventually lets the boys go and leaves after he made Stiles explain what he meant. Stiles and Jackson stand in the hall for a moment to just recover from that ordeal. "Stiles!" A sudden call of his name from a familiar voice makes him whip his head towards the sound, a sharp sigh of relief when he sees Y/n running to him. He stumbles a bit when she throws herself at him and hugs him tightly, his arms going around her just as tight. "I'm so glad you're okay." She breathed.

"Me okay? Are you okay?" He pulls away from her, his hands still holding onto her biceps to look her over. There's not a scratch on her, not a drop of blood, even her dress was mended, no sign of the claws that had torn the fabric to shreds. "What- how-"

"There's no time to explain right now. I promise I will tell you anything and everything, but we need to find Scott." He wants answers now, but he knows she's right so he nods and they all race to Jackson's car.

...

Kate has tried to get Allison to kill Scott and Derek yet she couldn't do it. When she went to do it herself Chris showed up and stopped her saying he knew what she did. Chris makes her lower her gun from Scott and then the door to the Hale house opened. Peter rushes past them in a blur. He knocks down Chris, then Allison, and lastly Scott, leaving Kate standing alone. He catches her right before she shoots him and he makes her drop it, throwing her onto the porch of the house. He drags her inside and Allison follows. He has Kate by the neck, claws poised to kill, and he makes a deal with Kate. Apologize for decimating his family and leaving him burned and broken for years and he'll let Allison live.

"I'm sorry." Kate breathes. A second later Peter slices her neck open, letting her fall to the ground to bleed out. Peter looks at Allison and decides that her apology didn't sound very sincere. He took a step towards her, but stops when Scott and Derek come in, shifted and ready. Scott tells Allison to run and she does, a moment later the two Betas charge at the Alpha. The three fight as Allison checks on her dad who is still unconscious. As the werewolves fight Peter slowly shifts into his large monster wolf form.

...

Stiles races down the dirt roads trying to get to the Hale house as fast as possible. "Hey, hey, hey. This isn't exactly an all-terrain vehicle." Jackson complains from the back.

"Yeah. Did you pay for it?" Stiles asks as he drives.

Jackson sighs. "No."

"Then shut up." Y/n looks over at Stiles with a grin. Probably not the best time to find something like that attractive, but damn, was that attractive.

...

Peter throws Scott out of the window and Allison watches with wide eyes. Peter goes up to Scott and picks him up, holding him up to his face. His feet dangle off the ground. Scott glares at him and gives him a hard kick in the chest making Peter drop him and flail back, falling down. Tires screech and a horn honks as Stiles pulls up, the lights of the car shining right on the Alpha. The three jump out and Stiles throws a conical flask filled with liquid towards the beastly man, but he catches it. "Ohhh, damn." Stiles deflates.

"Nice catch." Y/n sarcastically remarks as she stands in front of the Porsche, eyes glowing angrily. She stretches out a hand, Peter growls. She snaps her fingers. The flask explodes and the contents ignite, coating his arms in flames. She takes a few angry steps forward as her hands become covered in purple tinted flames. She gathers the flames in both hands and hurls it at the Alpha, his whole body now aflame. He roars in pain and sets his eyes on Allison, lunging at her in a last ditch effort.

"No!" Scott yells, jumping up and kicking him away. Peter stumbles as he shifts back to his human form, falling to his knees, burned and gasping for air, and falls onto his back. Allison goes to Scott and when he turns his face from her she tilts it back. She kisses him and he shifts back to normal. Y/n turns her head to Stiles as her eyes dim and she nervously clenches her teeth. He walks over to her and gently takes her hands, turning them over for any burn marks.

"You're not hurt?" He asks.

She let's out a startled laugh before she shakes her head. "No. I'm completely injury free. Promise. You're not... Freaked out?"

"You still have some explaining to do, but... No. I'm not freaked out. Honestly that was kinda hot." He smirked and she laughed again.

"You're such an idiot." She smiled fondly, putting her hand on the back of his neck to bring him closer and kiss him. They pull away at the sound of crunching leaves and everyone looks over as Derek walks up to Peter while he gasps for air on the ground. He stands over him, a foot on either side of Peter, and kneels down.

"Wait!" Scott runs over. "You said the cure comes from the one who bit you. Derek. If you do this, I'm dead. Her father, her family- what am I supposed to do?"

Derek doesn't answer and everyone watches tensely. "You've... already... decided." Peter breathes out between labored breaths. He forces himself to look at Derek, his eyes shining red. "I can smell it on you!"

Derek raises his claws.

"Wait! No, no! Don't!"

He slashes Peter's throat. His eyes fade and he gurgles, choking on his blood. Peter exhales one last time. Derek stands up and looks back at Scott. His eyes glow red now instead of blue. "I'm the Alpha now."

...

Y/n sits in a chair across from Scott and Stiles who are sitting on her couch in her living room. All of them have changed clothes and she asked them here to finally tell them the truth. "So..." She starts off and takes a deep breath. "I've been keeping a secret from you both. At first it wasn't relevant, but now that Scott's a werewolf and you both know about the supernatural, I've been lying and I'm sorry." She frowned a bit.

"What have you been lying about?" Scott asked.

"Everything pretty much. I knew more than I let on sometimes and if it wasn't obvious already, I'm not human."

"That would explain the glowing eyes and the fire hands." Stiles lightly jokes and she huffs a quiet laugh.

"Yeah."

"So if you're not human, what are you?" Scott wondered.

She sighed and clasped her hands together. "I'm a witch."

Stiles raises his brows and the boys glance at each other in mild surprise. "A witch? Like- like spells and hexes, type witch?"

"To put it simply, yes." She nodded and looked between them, worry written in her eyes at how they'll react.

"That's so cool." Scott smiles and Stiles nods, eagerly agreeing. She smiles in relief and lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"Do you ride a broomstick?" Stiles suddenly asks and she rolls her eyes.

"Pretty sure that's a myth. Although I wouldn't be surprised if another witch out there somehow made it happen. I, myself, have not done that."

"Was your mom a witch?" Scott wonders and she nods.

"What else can you do?"

"Um, I can heal wounds, manipulate the elements, see the dead."

"Wait, what?" Stiles cuts her off. "You can see the dead?" She nods. "Badass." He smiles.

"I also have heightened senses, like I can smell things normal people wouldn't if I pay attention and I can hear things too. Like how nervous I make you sometimes." She smirks at Stiles and his eyes widen slightly in embarrassment.

Scott smiles at the exchange. "Is that normal for witches?"

"I don't think so, to be honest. I actually think those things came from my father, but I have no idea who he is so I have no way of knowing for sure." She shrugs a bit.

"Can you show us something?" Stiles asks with a hint of excitment in his tone.

"More than the fire?" To her slight surprise both of them nod and she shakes her head with a smile. "All right." She takes a breath and her eyes glow. She reaches out with her magic and makes her grimoire levitate down the stairs and into her hands. The boys watch in amazement and she grins at them. "This is my grimoire. I made it myself when I was 13. It holds all of the knowledge my predecessors had gathered before me. This is how we learn and when we learn something new, we write it down and pass it on." She handed it to them to let them look at it.

Stiles looked up at her with a sudden thought. "Do you think you could tell what's happening to Lydia?"

"What's happening to Lydia?" Her smile fades as she now becomes worried. With everything that's happened tonight she hadn't been able to check on her or even hear anything about her till now.

"My dad said that the doctors don't know what's wrong with her and that her body kept going into shock like an allergic reaction."

"What the hell are we sitting around here for?" She exclaimed as she stood. She quickly snags the grimoire from their hands, sending it back up to her room, and hefting them up by their collars to get them out the door.

Y/n, Scott, and Stiles snuck into the hospital, keeping low to the ground to avoid being spotted. "Shut the door." Scott whispers and Stiles grabs hold of the handle, starting to close it with a loud squeek. Y/n squints her eyes in disbelief and motions for him to stop, which he thankfully does. A flash of her eyes and a wave of her fingers coaxes the door to close quietly, a twitch of her hand makes it lock. The boys look at her and she smiles a bit smugly. Although it falls as they stand and she looks at Lydia.

She walks to Lydia's left and gently touches her hair with a frown. "Oh, Lydia." She says quietly as the boys join her side. She sighs and moves her hand away to lift the side of her gown revealing the bloody bandage. Stiles looks away as she gently peels back the tape and lifts the bandage. Her and Scott look at the spot in confusion.

"Is it completely healed?" Stiles asked.

"No, not at all." Scott answers. Stiles looks over in shock and, true to his word, the wound was still very much there.

"I don't get it. The doctor said she'd be fine."

"She will, but the bite isn't healing." Y/n said. "She's not a werewolf."

"Then what the hell is she?"

Y/n frowned and replaced the bandage, taking Lydia's hand in hers right after. She closes her eyes and lets her magic flow over Lydia, feeling for anything. There's something there, but she can't tell what it is. She opens her eyes and looks at them with furrowed brows. "I don't know."

...

The moon shines brightly in the sky as Stiles lounges in his backyard. Y/n walks over and smiles down at him before settling down and laying next to him to stargaze. They point out different constellations and Y/n laughs every time he makes connections for random things like a her shoe and even the Jeep, things that she could actually see which made it funnier. She looked over at him as he smiled, a bit victoriously at having made her laugh again. She admired the moles that dotted his skin and found she'd rather make connections between these stars instead of the ones above.

She reached over and gently traced patterns on his skin, her fingertips leaving tingles in their wake. He's not sure if he'll ever get used to that sensation, but a part of him hopes he never does. It's addicting. He turned his head to look at her, turning his face more into her palm in the process. "Are you sure you still want to be with me even though I'm not like you?" She asks, her voice barely above a whisper. The question had been on her mind ever since she told him what she was. She's glad she did it, but it still worries her what he'll do now that he knows.

"Y/n, you don't have to be like me for me to fall for you. Honestly, if you suddnely came out and told me you were, like, a three headed bird lady, I'd still want to be with you." Y/n suddenly laughed, words eerily similar spoken by Alan ringing through her head. He furrowed his brows at her yet still smiled.

"Good." She finally said and sat up, propping herself up on an elbow to look down at him. "Because you're stuck with me now, Stilinski."

"I think I can live with that." They smiled at each other and he reached a hand up to cup her cheek, moving it to the back of her head to bring her down for a kiss. She laid back down next to him and he put an arm around her. She raised a hand up to the sky, eyes glowing with a soft violet. She conjured glowing sparks like glittering fireflies that danced around her fingers. She set the moon in her sights, tracing a heart shape in the air, the sparkles staying where she left them. She then wrote their initials in the middle like something from a cheesy camp movie. She thought it was cute and Stiles seemed to feel the same as he let out a little 'aww' at the gesture. He pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her temple. She scrunches her nose up a bit and chuckles. She turned to the glittering heart and gently blew on it, dispersing the magic and letting it drift into the sky.

Ch.13

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